Playing Some Guild Ball

Once our local Scrum (month long Steamroller) has finished, I kind of got sucked into Guild Ball again.  This is a fairly odd development, partially because I haven't played the game in roughly 7 months.  Back in July of last year I had to stop all miniature gaming to help my wife through the end of the pregnancy and then birth of my youngest daughter, but before that happened I was a bit upset at the way Guild Ball was played because of how imbalanced things were.

Of course when I stopped gaming, Steamforged released an Errata in July that largely fixed a lot of the problems, and while I was raring to get back into Trolls as soon as I could start gaming again, a few things pulled me into playing Guild Ball and I've really been loving the game all over again.  I figure I'll go through what that was, as well as some of the things I really like about the game in general.

Pulling Me Back In

During the same month of our Warmachine Scrum, a Guild Ball Scrum was also being run, with some playing in both games.  This was handled as promotional event that would allow players who played to get a Lucky model. Since my first team was Brewers and my friend Brian has no intention of playing Masons or Brewers, he was kind enough to give me the model.

Lucky is my first PVC model and Steamforged is making all new teams come in very cheap $50 boxes with 6 PVC models that require no assembly, plus some extra terrain.  They also recently changed the Official Play Document to say that you can now use unpainted PVC models in their tournaments. While I'm pretty good at modeling, it's not really my favorite thing to do, so this kind of setup seems great to me, it's also a great value for starting a new guild.

Another old friend of mine, Kevin plays mini games off and on, but he's not a modeler or painter, so this PVC setup is perfect for him.  After talking about it and him watching us play at the local shop  Kevin ended up buying the Kick Off set which has to be one of the best values in miniature gaming at the moment.

Since he was free to come over on Friday's when my wife would get a girls night out, I could strap my youngest to my chest, have my oldest help roll dice, and get some extra games in each week!  I effectively became Kevin's unofficial Pundit, teaching him the game.

Since I already played Brewers and they're considered a lower tier team, myself and others recommended Kevin start with the Kick Off Masons, which is actually quite a strong team. 

Since then I've basically spent the last three weeks playing only Guild Ball with my gaming night out and then again on Friday's while my wife has her girls night out.  I've gotten double the games in for nearly a month now!

I'm actually good friends with Paul who runs the My Life With Dice YouTube Channel and you can see me play my first game of Pin Vice ever, and my first engineers game in 6+ Months:

Please note, I'm extremely rusty here - many mistakes were made.

Since then, I've been playing some Brewers, Engineers, and I've purchased the last few models to flesh out my Union - getting something akin to Guild A.D.D.

Hobby

One of the nicest thing about Guild Ball is the fact that it's a small model count game that has as much intensity as larger miniature games.  Small model counts plus the fact that you're really only ever painting a model once (ie. no units with duplicate models), it's so easy to get a fully painted force.  This has triggered a kind of OCD for me to immediately paint my Guild Ball models within a few days of purchase.

I'm not a good painter by a long shot, but I truly enjoy playing with fully painted forces, and that's hardly ever the case when I play Warmachine (or when I played 40k or Fantasy).  As such, I really like how achievable it is to play fully painted in Guild Ball.

The game is also nice that you are encouraged to build an optional goal post for your teams that can let you flex your hobby muscles if you wanted. I was excited to finally use my old Bugman's model from Warhammer Fantasy, mostly because it enabled me to put a beautiful Dwarf model I love on the table and actually have it be fun (Dwarfs were miserable to play with and against back in Fantasy). He makes a great Brewers goal post.

My Guilds

The game is also sort of dangerous since it's really not expensive to get into a guild at all, and that was back when everything was metal and starters only came with 3 models.  I started with Brewers with a few Union models added slowly over time, then got a very different team in Engineers to play a more goal scoring game, and then it was "only two more models" (Captain and Mascot) to make a fledgling Union team.

Coming back into the game in the last month, I elected to buy the last few models I wanted to flesh out my Union with Grace and Benediction and getting a captain I'm very excited to play in Blackheart.  Since Brewers are more of a Take-Out team, and Engineers a more Goal-Scoring Football team, the prospect of playing an all 2" Melee team lead by Blackheart that can adapt to whichever game plan I want, but easily do 2 Goals - 2 Take Outs to win is very appealing to me.

Brewers

Engineers

Union

As it is, every model I own besides Lucky is metal, and after assembling the new Grace and Benediction models, I really am looking forward to when I can just buy PVC models from here on out.

Gaming Nirvana

Out of all the options I have to play with in Guild Ball at the moment, I'm spoiled for choice and I'm liking the way things are going. Apparently the game still has some balance issues with Thresher and Farmers, and Corsair Fishermen are still a bugbear in the meta - but supposedly an errata is coming soon.  I've not played against either of those things yet though, and I'm not good enough to expect to win against competitive players so I just look forward to playing and learning in the near term.

Plus with my Hooch Hauler finally arriving, and with two local players getting the new God Tear early access/beta set, I've got a LOT of really interesting gaming time coming up in the weeks and months ahead.

I hope to put up some more content for each of the games I'm playing shortly.

Guild Ball New Resin Models Review

So after Captain Con all the Guild Ball talk from my buddies got to me and I'm completely hyped for the game all over again.  It's odd, it was roughly around this time last year that I had the same thing happen to me as I go back and look through the blog posts.  I guess I just have to accept that my love for Warmachine and Guild Ball will wax and wane for seemingly no reason.

But since I am interested in the game, I wanted to pick up the minor guilds for the main guilds that I already own.  This meant picking up Navigators and Miners. What's more is that Steamforged surprised us all and released new captains for 4 of the original guilds, one of which is for a team I own: Yukai on Fishermen.

Since I had to skip out on game night tonight, but I did get time to build the models which arrived I figured I'd put up a review of sorts.

It wouldn't be Steamforged if there wasn't some kind of oddity with how the models were being released.

The good news was that the Captains were being released individually, not in a big box that had models for various guilds! Sweet!

The bad news was that it was basically direct only! Boo!

I tried to order through my FLGS, but when they had setup their retail account on SFG's website, they were effectively ordering at cost which seemed...odd?  As it ended up, they couldn't order for me since the models I wanted were out of stock at the time and since they weren't making any money on the sale it seemed like a waste to try and line up when the models would pop back in stock AND I'd have to get over to my FLGS to effectively put a web order in for me that they weren't even going to get a cut of.  In the end, I simply placed my order through SFG once the models popped back into stock a day or so later.

The last odd bit was that the Miners guild and all the new captains were being released in resin.  I have not yet really seen any of SFG's resin minis. The rationale according to SFG was that Miners had such big models that it made sense to use resin, and they were obviously having problems getting the PVC models out of manufacturing in China.

That last part is a bit of a shame since I'm an absolute huge fan of SFG's PVC models.  I have Blacksmiths and now Navigators and the fact that you open the box and can use them with zero assembly or fuss is amazing. The sculpts are solid IMO and they've painted up nicely so far.

So what about the resins? Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. It seems like the original Games Workshop Finecast models when they originally released. It feels like a kind of soft/fragile resin.

Here's my assembled set of new models:

The models don't look particularly bad, especially not 3 feet away, though there are a few rough bits. 

The first issue I had was stability. When I had seen my friends Yukai model at game night last week, they were kind enough to let me play a game with it to try out their new rules. What immediately struck me was how light and flimsy the model felt. It doesn't help that the model attaches to the base via a single leg connection. 

As you can see below, both Yukai and Spade both use the single leg connection. It looks cool, but that's just touchy and is begging to come off the base.  

My solution was pinning through the leg as deep as I could manage without damaging the model. I then pinned through the base itself, which is tad shorter height wise than the usual base height you'd expect.

In both cases I went right through the base immediately and after pinning through I had to cut off the paperclip pin and then file down the bottom to make it flush. You don't want to go tearing up the nice neoprene mats we play on.

Once I did pin through the leg and base, the models definitely feel a bit more solid. I highly recommend it. 

In terms of quality, I'm conflicted. Yukai looks good, but the model had a bit of odd flash that had to be shaved off the chin/neck which was a bit tight. 

There were some definite issues with Fissure (the Tank), at least on the back of the model which was a bit of a mess and required a bit of cleaning. I'm sure the paint job can hide a lot of the problems here, but the back isn't anywhere near as pretty as the front. It's odd, because from literally every other angle the model is gorgeous IMO! It's a Metal Slug that plays murder-soccer, I was 100% sold the second I saw the render.

The other odd thing was that on the large bases the texture for the base looks kind of ill defined.  There are also a good amount of mold lines to clean up which I'll have to go back and do. It's not the end of the world and nothing I can't fix up with paint and basing materials, it's just a little disappointing.

On the plus side the guild comes with a tiny little tank-ball. ITS ADORABLE! 

Final thoughts

Based on a podcast interview with Double Dodge, CEO Matt Hart spoke about the problems they've been having with production and the desire to just hit a release date and knock a release out of the park, no delays.

On that front, they nailed it. While the captains did fluctuate in and out of stock, I was able to order both Yukai and the Miners guild on March 1st. It did take a week for SFG to get it out the door, shipped March 8th, but then the package made it from the UK to New Jersey by Tuesday, March 12th.  I understand I was in the second wave which is what caused my delay. If you had ordered as soon as the models went up on pre-order they were arriving very promptly. 

The cost on the captains isn't bad. $15 for a single blister is pretty much standard and I didn't think twice before ordering.  The Miners box was a bit more of a stretch. It was $80 for the resins plus terrain and (tank!) ball.  Given that the old 6 player guild boxes used to retail for $75 and were metal models, I have to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to just do the Miners in metal if they had to meet production. 

So while they're able to hit the date, the models are in what feels to be a worse material than the PVC, require assembly, can feel flimsy, and are as expensive as metal without being metal. 

On the other side the model designs are great, the rules are nice, and the problems aren't anything an experienced modeler/painter can't solve.  If I had seen what I'd get before I ordered I'd still have bought them all over again, though it does feel a bit steep for what you're getting. In the end, I like the game and company enough that I was going to buy the models. 

I would definitely be hesitant to tell my newer to the hobby friends or less hobby inclined friends to order the Miners guild vs. any of the PVC boxes which are amazing in both value and quality in contrast.

In the end, I do hope SFG is able to sort out their production issues since I think their PVC products are excellent when it comes to minor or new guilds. 

Conversely, if this is how we get single blisters of new captains or models, I am 100% behind the approach if it's what allows the releases to work economically for SFG. Having seen/held Veteran Boar, the models is much more solid than Yukai, but it's also just a bigger model so it's easier to execute I suppose. 

DE: Black Heart Kabal With Alaitoc Allies

Eldar brings the pain.

With the new book coming over very soon and with my experience with it so far, I've decided to visit some old comrades of mine to see how they can benefit us to the fullest.  One thing's for damn sure:  Our cost savings have been huge and Black Heart Kabal has been absolutely fantastic for me.

To give you guys an idea how kick-ass Black Heart has been, last night I must have saved at least 15 or so wounds from rolling those 6+++ on my vehicles over the course of THREE turns.  I also started with 5 CPs since I was trying a hybrid Wych build and taking extra Relics and Warlord traits, but ended the game on T3 with 4 CPs AFTER casting a counterspell and multiple Cunning rolls on all the Strategems that were being thrown out.

I stand by firmly what I said before:  Kabal of the Black Heart is the best Kabal.  It's just too flexible and gives you a fantastic amount of protection for free.  The Wych Cult that I brought yesterday was also freaking insane.  I had a unit of Wyches with the Succubus in a Raider and the Succubus herself with the Whip and Blood Dancer threw out 14 freaking attacks (6s to hit turn into 3 hits!).  Check out the article from yesterday to get some better insight into my thought process there.  Sure, my friend had SS Termies eating all those Agonizer wounds (I think 9 or so) and saved like a boss, but if they were any single-wound model, she would have annihilated everyone.  That felt awesome.. especially since you can look at her cost and just shake your head how cost-effective that is (she's 54 points).

With that said, I've been having a blast with Dark Eldar so far.  They feel like they're in a good place so how do we turn it up a notch?  Well for one, we should look to our nearest kin who is CW Eldar.  Harlequins is right around the corner and there might be some good synergy there, but let's first look at what Psykers can bring to our army.

Here's the list:

1999 // 7 CP
Black Heart Battalion +3 CP

HQ:
Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 94
Cunning, Living Muse

Archon, Agonizer, Blaster, PGL = 94

TROOP:
5x Warriors, Blaster = 47
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114
10x Warriors, 2x Blaster, Dark Lance = 114

+++

Black Heart Spearhead +1 CP

HQ:
Archon, Blaster, PGL = 92

HEAVY:
Ravager, 3x Disintegrators = 125
Ravager, 3x Disintegrators = 125
Ravager, 3x Disintegrators = 125

PARTY BOATS:
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85
Raider, Dark Lance = 85

+++

Alaitoc Patrol +0 CP

HQ:
Farseer Skyrunner = 135
Doom, Mind War

TROOP:
5x Rangers = 60

FLYER:
Hemlock Wraithfighter = 210
Jinx

Hemlock Wraithfighter = 210
Jinx

+++

Firepower:
9 Disintegrators at BS3+
6 Dark Lances at BS3+
7 Blasters at BS3+
3 Blaster at BS2+
26 Splinter Rifles at BS3+
4 Heavy D-Scythes at Auto

Yes, I was always an Alaitoc player.  Said no Eldar ever.

Here's what the Alaitoc Patrol offers:

• Hemlocks - These things are insane with the -2 to Hit from Alaitoc and their auto-hitting S12 AP-4 D2 damage weapons.  Not to mention they can Smite, have Jinx and have built-in Spirit Stones.  Let's also not forget that they debuff leadership within 12" of them and that works very nicely with our sped up PFP table thanks to Black Heart, PGLs and Mind War.
• Doomseer - This is damage consistency at its best.  The Skyrunner gives you movement to keep up with our army and Doom is arguably one of the best spells in the game.  It drastically increases the killing potential of all of your units on a single target and works perfectly with Disintegrators due to needing 5s in some cases vs. heavier armored targets.  This works very nicely in conjunction with Jinx because you're just increasing damage so much higher, turning Dissies into AP-4 in most cases vs. 2+ armor or removing that cover save bonus.
• Mind War - With leadership debuffs, you can actually get this off pretty reliably and kill key targets before they ever get a chance to hit your lines.  When you have the right kinds of debuffs, this becomes a much more reliable Smite that can seriously threaten even the most daunting of foes i.e. Magnus.
• Psychic Protection - Let's not forget that the Farseer can dispel twice a turn and so can the Hemlocks.  Enough said there I think.

Sure, I lose firepower overall, but I also gain Heavy D-Scythes that are utterly ridiculous in their own right.  I also gain the ability to turn up the damage big time on key targets when I want to and that cannot be underestimated.  What do you guys think?  Is this more powerful than pure Kabal?

Intermission

Today I gave my brain a break and used my free time to get a few more units onto their bases and to do a bit more of touching up of the 4" grid.

The Rebel brigade has two units deployed (representing a typical 1870's heavy skirmish line with supports with 2 units formed in column in support.

I did run my brain over some rules ideas though, helped, as so often, by some of the thought stimulating comments on the last couple of posts. Thats one of the reasons I enjoy getting comments in addition to the confirmation that someone is indeed out their.

I'm almost ready for another test game but Saturday Jeff is running another group 15mm Nappy's battle and my old Cossacks will be expecting me!

Brave Browser the Best privacy-focused Browser of 2019

Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.

An extremely productive year for Brave

Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.

Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.

The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.

Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:

"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"

Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.

Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now

If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.

The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.

AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.

For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.

Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.

Earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) with Brave Web Browser

Try Brave Browser

Get $5 in free BAT to donate to the websites of your choice.

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