Gaming Aplenty

So thought I'd update you all the games we've been enjoying over the last couple of weeks at the Gwent Reavers Tabletop Gaming Club. I'll hopefully get a post up soon about our first D&D session but for now, heres what we've been playing!

A few weeks ago Gav picked up a few games, one of them being Dixit Odyssey. I'd played the original version and this is much of the same, and just as enjoyable as the first version. More beautifully illustrated cards to try and describe in a vague way yet that people may guess right to earn you some points. Its a difficult one to master but such an easy premise, really works well for new and old players!

Gav also picked up Francis Drake, a resource gathering blind voting point grabbing extravaganza. The first turn of the game we played was hilarious as we had no idea what we were doing, but as we got through the rounds seeing people realise what they needed was fantastic. 

Its also a gorgeous looking game with some awesome components, little chests to keep gems in, the lovely map to roam around yet containing so much strategy I can't wait for another game. I was winning for most of it but kept saying I was gonna be last, everyone didn't believe me but when we added up the bonus points I did end up in last place! Four of us finished with just 10 or so points between 5th and 2nd place, while Gav actually managed to win on his first attempt at his own game, leading by around 20 points. Highly recomend this one! 

With Louis puffing on his vape we couldn't resist adding some mist to the high seas!

Speaking of Louis, he also brought up two of these polystyrene structures. Now what to build with them! Im thinking some sort of cathederal structure perhaps, but we'll see. Something large and epic is certainly to happen however.

Another new game for the club, this time purchased by Morg, is Spartacus, by Gale Force Nine, who also made a club favourite, Sons of Anarchy. This is very much in a similar vein as SOA, but with a lot more depth!

Theres plenty of scheming to be done with the intrigue card system, plus each player gets their own special rules with their player card. Trading and deals can be made before being stabbed in the back, much like in SOA, but where this game takes it to another level is in its advanced combat arena. 

Here warriors are thrust into the fighting pit, where combat comes down to a 'trump off' system. I don't mean in the bum windy way, but in having to beat values of the dice. Each fighter gets different stats and rules, all of which make a difference.  Its still quite simple but adds a nice element that Sons of Anarchy could do with.

 

Alliances have been made and broken already in just a few games that we have played, and its been a joy to watch every single time. Another game we highly recommend!

Finally myself and James had a game of Xwing, 100pts rebels derby match! I fancied taking an easy to use list where I didn't need to remember rules, so everything I took was PS 2 or lower. 2 B Wings, 2 Headhunters (which I still don't like) and 2 Awings (which I adore!). James took an Xwing with Biggs, a PS 3 Ewing and Han solo. 

I lost ships slowly as I slowly battered Han, eventually knock his shields off while losing two ships. It really felt like we were dealing clubbing blow after clubbing blow to each other, and it eventually came down to two ships. 

One B wing vs one X wing, James managing to dodge my shots and delivering the last of my hull points to the god of dead ships. He only had one hull point himself making this an incredibly close game and very enjoyable to play! Taking 6 ships was nice, although if I was take a similar list I'd drop the Headhunters, take another Awing and a couple of upgrades, fire control systems perhaps for the Bwings. 

So thats the last couple of weeks of gaming from us, we've got a few more games to get to play including an expansion for Dominion and Splendour to try, plus I think Spartacus wants to be played again. And if I get to try and gain revenge in Francis Drake I will be ready! 

So what have you guys been playing and would recommend? Leave your thoughts below!

Epic Play - X-Wing Thoughts

Xwing at club has been a little underloved, so to bring the new year in our first club night of 2016 consisted of our first game of Epic. Josh and Bam both had big ships, the Raider and the Assault Carrier, and were eager to use them in a game so myself and Scott, of the Crow Valley Crusaders, took 200 points of small ships to counter this Empire threat. Scott went for quite a competitive list, 3 Bwings and lots of Headhunters,whereas I went for ships I wanted to use because I love using them. 3 prototype pilots, Han with engine upgrade, a couple of B's and an Xwing. Josh took his Raider with one of the Slave one pilots and a ti fighter, and Bam took the Assault Carrier, several tie fighters and a decimator.

First things first, I don't remember many details on the game but I want to talk more about 'Epic Play'. As we got more and more through the game it became more apparent that Bam and Josh were a little underwhlemed with the larger ships. Its possibly because myself and Scott didnt take any, although if I had one I'd have been tempted. Bam also didn't realise one of the rules which may have changed a few things but it was still an odd yet interesting game. Josh's Raider didn't seem to do much, and I think he needed to fly it more aggresively towards my ships and just try to take them out by ramming them. His weapons didn't seem to do that much either, so it would be interesting to try again and see if it was down to the dice or if Epic ships just aren't that great against a lot of smaller ships.

Playing with Scott was an eye opener too, seeing how his mind works when taking a list was intriguing as I'm not the most competitive when it comes to playing. I'm hoping a few of us will be looking towards playing a tourney or two this year so will be speaking to scott about what lists are in and doing something very different while trying to win a game or two!

The game itself went pretty much mine and Scotts way, with Scott hammer away at the ties, decimator and assault carrier where I took on the raider and its attention. Han flew up the middle, got shot at by the raider then swept back in towards the bounty hunter, giving Han the engine upgrade is just an absolute joy, especially with push the limit and the millenium falcon tile so he can get an evade every turn too. Tie fighters are jerks, the swarm still works incredibly well and I think if Bam had taken 200 points worth of them we'd have had a lot of trouble! I also still think the Slave One is a great alround ship. Throws out some good firepower, moves well too and is quite resilient.

We ended the game with the Imperials not having much left, both big ships out while we still had a decent amount of ships, but not without our own losses. Epic play is something I want to try again, and myself and my nephew Josh are going to switch sides so I can try a big ship in the near future while he gets to try rebels for the first time. 

Future releases are exciting too, I cannot wait to get the Ghost expansion, being a fan of the Rebels series. If you've not seen, THEN GO! The Inquisitors Advanced Prototype looks deadly too, Bam has mentioned his excitement for getting his grubby mitts on the ship. 

So a Question to the Xwing players out there, how competitive are you guys and how does this affect your ship choice? What are you guys looking forwarf too and anything on your wishlist of things for new expansions? I was surprised a couple more new ships weren't featured in The Force Awakens, so if we'll see many new ships is unlikely. Fingers are crossed!

Incoming updates will depend whats played over the next few weeks, but I'm pretty sure Spartacus will be featured (we had an amazing game last week of this as Morgan picked it up) and also the start of our look at Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. We have a group of between 6-8 players and we're having our first regular night on Saturday. Exciting times!

Scum and Villainy Progress

'This blog post is a wretched hive for scum and villainy. We must be cautious'

 Ah the Scum and Villany, the third faction for Xwing came out a little while ago yet failed to post my progress so far. I hadn't intended to add any weathering to the models but they looked to flat and as my highlighting skills aren't great weathering is a great way to add some edging to models... so out came the silver!

Let it be known, I'd pay plenty of Galactic Credits for some Scyk Interceptors. I didn't fancy these when I first saw the stats, but playing them they're so much fun. You can make them heavy therefore adding cannons, they're quite survivable especially if you take Serissu, who is the opposite of Howlrunner in which nearby ships get to reroll an evade dice and I just love flying them around the board. I've gone for a purple and light grey scheme, but I'm undecided yet whether I like the yellow for the canopies. I'm kinda tempted to go for a cherryish red.....

Heres the Starviper, a ship I've only run once but it didn't seem too bad. The only grey I've added on here was for the weapons and engine, I quite like the panels/wings plain as the metal contrasts nicely with the purple. 

And finally the IG. This ship is also incredibly fun to fly, and whiles its a big ship, you can't fly it like one, its just not quite as durable as the Slave, Falcon or certainly the Decimator. But it can do so many good things. I'd love to get another to try out some of the awesome combos that A, B, C and D can do, plus they look awesome. Its a cross between Galactus and Cyclonus. Don't know em? Google!

So thats how Scum looks so far, little touch ups and whether to redo the canopies and they'll be finished. I don't plan on adding much more as I can use a lot of my rebel ships with them if I wanted to play a big game but another IG might be nice.

Rebel Aces: DBD Thoughts

And the Rebel forces rejoice, the Rebel Aces are released! I got mine on Wednesday, but have yet to game with them. Regardless, I thought I'd take a couple of pictures and have a look at the options...

These ships have a much more cleaner look than the previous versions, fitting really when they're sort of prototype versions. Will I repaint them? Likely, but I may do them differently to the rest of my Rebel forces. 

Obviously I don't have to go into their movement dials, as they're both exactly the same. The B-wing is ok across short distances but has a nice beefiness to it, the A-wing much more manoeuvrable. Its the pilot and upgrade cards however that make these pair incredibly tempting.

I'll start with Nera Dantels in her PS 5 B-wing first. Being able to fire outside of her normal arc with the bomb like symbol is pretty vicious. Fly her straight up and past the ties and just fire some proton torpedoes. This takes the pressue off losing a ship before you use the proton torpedoes, I'll be intrigued using her! 

Keyan Farlander has a great ability too, which means if you're stressed you get to use that stress token like a focus token when attacking. That means if you target lock after perhaps pushing the limit, you can get a really good attack out. I think this guy will see a lot of use especially with an autoblaster.

Gemmer Sojans ability isn't so noticeable at first, but I can see her becoming a very useful pilot to have. Get her in amongst the enemy and she'll become pretty tought with an extra agility for being within range 1 of an enemy ship. Not the greatest of abilities, but something that will really annoy the enemy and cause him to need to deal with her.

It has to be said I love boosting. I think its because for so long I couldn't. I tried a list recently where I gave the boost addition to the Falcon and an Xwing, then had the one card for the E-wing where if you target lock someone you can boost. Well heres another booster, this time on Jake Farrell, where if you perform or are assigned a focus token, you can boost OR barrell roll. I really like this ability as it can help you dodge some of the enemy firepower the Imperials can now bring to bear. BOOST!!!!

Cards wise, Chardon Refits are a great way of bring the price down of your A-wings, as long as you don't use the missiles. A-wing test pilot is something I'm looking forward to seeing how people use, being able to take two Medal Cards is insane, its free too! Proton Rockets could be a useful tool too, as its 1 firepower, but you add your agility to it. Those A-wings are 3, so you'll get 4 firepower each time. B-wings can now take an upgrade that allows them to add a crew card, enhanced scopes makes your pilot skill '0' in the activation phase letting you move first and shoot second which I see a lot of potential for. 

There are also two new crew cards who will look familiar from their HWK flying days, Kyle Katarn, who lets you take a stress away then recieve a focus (mixed with Farlander this could be insane as you'll get a focus like attack after spending a stress, then get a focus for defending). Jan Ors lets you assign an evade token to a ship at range 1-3 instead of them focussing, which could help keep a vital ship alive that you need.

All in all a great little package, I had this for £17 posted and can't complain one bit! I now have 3 A-wings and 2 B-wings, so can see myself trying a list using all of them at some time. Have you discovered any great combos using the new cards yet? Perhaps with the two medal card ability? Let me know!

10 years and an Update.

As you may or may not have noticed, regular posts on Death By Die have become a rare thing. Its not because I've lost interest, motivation, or my passion for tabletop has waned. Its been life, that ohg so hectic thing! I've recently opened up a photography studio in the valleys of South Wales, and its taken over my time. However, times are a changing. With the studio up and running, and a PC at hand to 'work' on, it means that blogging can once again come to the fore. Not only that, but with the studio being fairly spacious and the club being a bit smaller in terms of members, the Tredegar Reavers have moved to Abertillery and we'll be having our first club night here on Monday. Not only that, but the club has been renamed, more on this later! 

Before we get to whats happening and what may lie in the future, what6 has actually been happening? Well, a few weeks ago we had our Tenth Birthday celebrations. Yes, the Tredegar Reavers got to 10 years old this year and many games were played to celebrate. One of the new darlings of the group, is Munchkin!

I didn't get to try it this day, but soon after I did and have fallen in love with it, Its nice and quick, deviously tactical and games where you can equally help and backstab other players are always going to be good! I've even got my own copy now, so heartily recommend to anyone else out there!

With some visitors from the Mid Wales Wargaming Society, one of their number was keen for some 40k action, so myself and Alun took on his Necrons! It was Matts first go at using the new tactical objectives, so we did have an edge... but he did have a C'tan! 

Our first turn gave us 3 cards, one of which was where you have to get all objectives and claim a nice bonus. Looking at the battlefield this could be acheived... I had two drop pods to bring down first turn, this landed on objectives, and Alun zoomed a Raider across the board to capture the 6th objective. We'd both spoken before about whether it was possible, and thought maybe at the end of a game where the battle is probably already won, never thought we'd manage on the first turn!

Matt suffered some bad luck throughout, his monolith simply not wanting to deepstrike and being delayed until turn 4 after rolling for mishaps.  The C'tan made a meal of killing my dreadnought, which held up the star god shard admirably.

From what I remember the Dark Eldar managed to get into combat and did reasonably well against the Necrons, although they did lose some numbers.

Alun looking Dark Eldar-like. With a bit of 'gimp' thrown in. 

As the game went on we could see we had the edge and pressed home the advantage. Matts luck was still lacking, and we won the game by a large number of points. The Monolith did finally land, on the landing pad of all places and did some damage, but it was too late in the game. We all enjoyed the game though and it looked pretty good! It was nice to play against Necrons and actually win too, I've not had much luck against the metallic blighters! 

We also got some X-wing on the go too, I battle and triumphed against another of the MWWS members, this time Lee, who you may remember just got a win against me in the tourney we recently played for Help For Heroes, I really enjoyed playing Lee then and the same was true for this. We both learnt a little from playing each other, and luckily this time I managed to get the win. My nephew Josh also played Lee, and lost after they were both down to just one ship each, but Lee was able to win. 

Here they are looking at the range of a firefight. Note Graham sat down, the other member from MWWS who came down to visit and general allround nice bloke. He even got an extra cake! 

Heres Mike having an intro game against Bam. I don't remember who won but Mike did say he enjoyed the game, more people to fight against hopefully! 

Myself and Bam played, and it was he who took the win. Always fun playing Bam, we've known each other a while so winning is always nice, and the trash talk is always good!

Owain turned up eventually and Dredd was played! 

He and Mike battled it out for control of Megablock, and they seemed to enjoy themselves immensly. Looks like the Adeptus Arbits have close ties to the Judges... Hmmm..

And there we have the tenth birthday of the Tredegar Reavers. 

As I mentioned in the introduction, we'd decided to move the club. Convenience and money being the main issues, as most of the members were now from other areas Tredegar was becoming a difficult place for many of us to get too, and with only 3 and a half hours it was difficult at times to fit games in that were more involving. We were also paying a lot for what was, in all honesty, a really good venue but it was simply too expensive for us. 

Now however even though its a smaller space, we can still fit four 6x5 tables in here easily, have a slightly larger store room and its only half the price. Perks of having your own studio! We also now have internet access, which means blog posts can be done while at club, which is a huge bonus for me. The main benefit, is that we now have 8 hours of gmaing time! from 2-10pm every monday, we  shall be rolling dice, flipping over cards, or painting our latest models. With the move, came a name change. Abertillery Reavers did not seem right in my mind, and I wanted it to be more all encompassing. So reborn.... 

The Gwent Reavers. This covers the more general area and better shows where its members are from. Lets hope we continue to grow and evolve to become an even better gaming club! 

As for the future of this blog, expect more posts, whether about news, reviews of games, and I'd love to get into making videos too. 2 HD cameras will make that tempting! Cheers for sticking by the blog anyways, there be more to come!

The Longest Night: CVC hardcore gaming!

If that first image hasn't scared you off this post, then nothing will. Welcome to a little report about the Crow Valley Crusaders Longest Night event. Running from 9am on a saturday, until 6pm on sunday, its a heck of a gaming session! Much Kudos to Byron who was there the entire time, nutter! Myself and Alun travelled down, getting there in time for the pizza order and staying until 7am, so a good 12 hours for us. We even had a few guys from the Towy Valley Tyrants, another of the GCN Welsh clubs and general good guys to boot. They were just setting up an huge 40k game, about 5k points per player so 20k in total!

As you can see, it looked like a cracking game, countless orks, huge Eldar machines of war, and some of the Imperiums finest all battling for supremacy. 

Byron and Gareth getting some Dreadball in, I heard there were a few games of this played. 

Whats a gaming day without some Cubequest?

As for me and Alun, we played a doubles game, renewing our rivalries with the CVC taking on Shaun once again but instead of Mike was Dave and his Chaos force. 

We got some luck with tactical objectives and managed to get a nice little lead and hold it for quite a while. Note similar shirts. 

It didn't all go our way of course, many Dark Eldar were harmed during the making of this battle.

 luckily this fight went our way. My Chapter Master slayed Shauns, much enjoyable!

This was nasty however... Shauns termies deep striking down, just clearing the inch needed to teleport and need not roll on the mishap table!

We held on for a good victory, winning 24-13 I think it was. Capturing objectives worked well as either we needed to obtain the ones I held back on, or the ones opposite where Aluns Dark Eldar were facing so he could boost across and swipe them. Great game and look forward to more! 

I also played some X-wing against a great guy called Scott, who used this against me. 

Scotts an experienced player, and showing me his collection I wanted to steal it and run! He had loads of ships and it was very impressive to finally see the Tantive in person! Scott mentioned that I'd forgotten something in the game that would have helped me most likely win, unfortunately he took out my headhunter and claimed a victory for the Imperial. What did I forget? Corran Horns ability to shoot in the end phase! I could have finished a couple of ships off with this and most likely have a rebel win, ah well, we play and learn! Scotts a great opponent though and I really enjoyed the game. 

A game of Zombiecide in full swing, looks insane! 

 

As myself and Alun readied to board our transport shuttle, I noticed this artisan had drifted off to the land of nod, somewhere near where myself and Alun were headed! Poor Gareth, hes lucky I didn't get a marker pen out though, could have given him some Savage Orc Tattoos!