What's on your table right now?

[bayonetbrant]

come to Origins and play for the weekend at the Academy Games booth...  :)

[BanzaiCat]

Well if you're there, get some review copies!  :D

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

That looks pretty cool, SDR.

I swear, it's like an arms race around here sometimes...you buy something cool and make ME want to buy it, and then I feel like I have to one-up you...fortunately I have such impulses under control now, especially after the whole X-Wing Minis run. And I still haven't gotten into Armada, thank God!

Yeah, but Armada waves III and IV are coming out now as well as a campaign system!  It's gonna be awesome!  I actually put my X-Wing stuff up for sale this week.  I find that the game doesn't feel like Star Wars anymore due to the state of the meta game. It feels more like I'm flying against a team of corporate accountants who've gone through a spreadsheet of all the card modifiers to create a squadron that exploits every flaw in the rules to their benefit.

[BanzaiCat]

It feels more like I'm flying against a team of corporate accountants who've gone through a spreadsheet of all the card modifiers to create a squadron that exploits every flaw in the rules to their benefit.

Well...isn't Armada like that, too?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Somewhat but there's more depth to the gameplay so the modifications introduced by the cards don't feel as pronounced as in X-Wing.

[BanzaiCat]

Dammit, don't tell me that...LOL

One thing that's made me afraid of going off to play in the weekly games is exactly what you posited - some clown probably made an Excel spreadsheet and min/maxed everything to figure out the ultimate combination of death-dealing in any situation (probably with fifty-plus tabs along the bottom to deal with any and all situations). Me, I'd be a lot more seat-of-the-pants - "hey this card looks cool, why not do this, and umm, okay, this one...alright, I'm ready."

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Most don't bother with the spreadsheet themselves.  They just read the FFG forums to find out what the winning build is and then field that squadron.  Right now, it's 3 Jump Masters with contracted scouts or some such.  It gets kinda frustrating to show up for a casual drop in game only to fly against the same build every single time a new wave gets released. I tend to just goof around and make a squadron based on ships that I haven't used in a while (or ever).  It usually gets a bemused or incredulous reaction.  "Really?  You're using B-Wings?  They haven't been good since wave III man."

[BanzaiCat]

Duh, didn't think of that. Why not let someone else do all the work instead of painstakingly doing it yourself?  ::) Kind of takes the fun out of it (not out of making Excel sheets, but trial-and-error discovery of what works and what doesn't).

I'd rather goof around with it, too, and not even think about it until I sit down to play. And B-wings are badass...or they are in my mind anyway. I actually have one of them but haven't taken it out of the case yet.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

It can still be a lot of fun with the right players.  Some of the scenarios included in the expansion packs are great fun to play.  A few guys are willing to play the cinematic scenarios but most here are all about tournament rules.  I'm trying to get some interest in a 2-card per ship casual session once a month.  We'll see if there are any takers.

[Cyrano]

Just before I headed out on vacation I rounded up enough "Sails of Glory" ships to do Cape Ortegal.  That and some time spent at the Tall Ships festival hereabouts set me on my weekend.

Crawled all over the remake of the USS Niagara and got into a fun debate with the docent about the relative merits of carronades versus long guns.  My observation that she was basically a floating shotgun looking for British to shoot seems to have won the day.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Jealous!  I love playing Sails of Glory.  Can only manage to round up players about once every two months though.

[smittyohio]

I've finished off 2 solo games of At the Gates of Loyang, and 1 of Healthy Heart Hospital this weekend.   Reading the rules for D-Day Dice tonight, and am going to give that a spin.

[GJK]

ASL game day hosted at my place today.  Does "Hube's Pocket" bring back any memories for you old Squad Leader players?  This is the updated version for ASL.  Fun scenario...that Panther with the 9-1 armor leader is deadly.  I used the Soviet doctrine of swarming it in order to get a number of shots on it from various angles and got the hits but the rounds just bounced off (couldn't get a flank shot which is a requirement unless you get a lucky critical hit).  My 34's were able to swarm on a couple of frisky PzIVH's however and took them out but I still have that pesky Panther out there and he's set himself up to lead the convoy of SPW's that have to move across the map. We're halfway done (turn 7.5 of 15) and it's going to be a fun finish.  He (Germans) has to get 10+ vehicles in convoy off the map on the opposite map edge (apologies again for crappy camera pic).

[GJK]

Also, if you're an ASL player, you no doubt know of "Bounding Fire Productions (BFP)".  Rick Reinisch and Sam Tyson are the principle's with them.  They are active (dominate) people in our CenTexASL group and I was fortunate enough to have Rick over playing today playtesting a scenario from one of their upcoming packs.  In talking to him afterwards, I can tell you that BFP has a TON of really cool stuff coming out in the near future including reprints of some of their classics and all new packs that include a HASL for Pelilieu that has a map of about 2/3rds of the island.  There's an East Front pack in the works that will include all of the classic "Onslaught to Orsha" as well as other goodies with over 30 scenarios plus maps and counters included.  'Schmidt' has been in the works for *ever* and is *finally* near completion.  I can't recall everything that Rick said was in the pipeline but it's enough ASL to keep the hobbyist going for years.  I'm going to playtest some of the scenarios next month and I can't wait to see how they play out!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I played Ora et Labora down at the FLGS today.  It was my first time playing on the France board.  Good times but my god it was frustrating.  The girl who was ahead of me in the turn queue took the exact action I was planning to take at least 3/4th of the time.  I ended up with a pretty dismal looking cloister and surroundings but still managed to beat her by 3 points to come in a distant 3rd.