Twins Basil, Twins!

Figured it was time to do a write-up on the Epic Rhyas and Saeryn unit now that I’ve had some table time with them.  Where to start?  My initial impression was an underwhelming one, middle of the road stat line, solid spell list, only 1 beast point, and the loss of some signature abilities.   More of a huh reaction than a OMFG! reaction.  That being said, these ladies add up to much more than just the sum of their parts.  They are like good old down home country cooking, basic ingredients, but mix it all together and what comes out is finger licking good!

First things first, this unit is NOT pRhyas and pSaeryn clumped together.  Comparing the two to one another model to  model is a complete waste of time and will result in only disappointment and a completely skewed view of their potential.  They are a unit, and as such are made to compliment and facilitate one another.  They do this beautifully if viewed and played in this way.

Initially their defensive stats gave me pause.  At def 16, arm 14, with 8 hp, the first thing that comes to mind is victim stats.  On the table though I have found them to be surprisingly resilient.  Tenacity really helps, I won’t go as far as to say a shredder is a must with them, but I would highly recommend one. Probably their best defensive stat is the spd 7.  Being that fast really allows them to leverage terrain and positioning.  This is crucial for them as I have found I keep Occultation out on another unit most of the time, or at least until the battle is well under way.

So what do they bring to the table?  Board control.  This is not the board control of say Haley2, Denny2, or Krueger2.  They don’t bring the hard control of the aforementioned casters through spells and feats, theirs is a soft control, that of implied threat.   End with your caster within 12″ and Rhyas can charge you, to a max of 15″ with certain builds.  Boosted pow 12’s kill casters, so pow 12 weaponmasters with crit decap need to be taken seriously.  Scenario has to be looked at differently against these ladies as well.  Their feat, in combination with the fact that both have to be dead to win by caster kill, allows them to play a very aggressive scenario game.  Being able to bring one back means I can hang one out in the wind, usually Rhyas since she is the muscle, in a way I wouldn’t with a single caster to clear a scenario and steal points.  Under commit to a zone or flag and I can safely clear it and take points, over commit and you just opened up another section of the board for me to leverage.  Being able to switch places with the feat also makes for some hard to account for threat vectors against both casters and key pieces.

Their actual threat ranges and ability to aggressively pursue scenario aren’t the only way I have found they offer board control.  Their spell list does this in spades as well.  Occultation, Banishing Ward, Psychic Vampire, and Onslaught, each of these can and do allow a Twins player to dictate when and were an engagement begins.  Obviously each has its time and place, the Twins are not win button casters, far from it!  But what their spell list gives is options and leveraged properly allows a savvy general to dictate the flow of the game.  If you can do that, if you can dictate what you opponent is or isn’t doing, then as the man with tiger blood in his veins once said,”Winning!”

Lastly, positioning is everything with these ladies.  They have very low hp and they are on an 8″ tether.  At first this may seem like a deal breaker, but if you are cognizant of that and pay attention to positioning they are hugely rewarding.  In the vein of soft board control and implied threat, how you position them in regards to one another is important.  When camping 7+ fury I have found it effective to keep them close to each other.  Plenty of fury to transfer off any aoe’s, and with Tenacity up a melee attack is a risky proposition.  Miss Rhyas and she is going to hit you with a weaponmaster riposte and the potential to decap, miss Saeryn and she is going to hit you with a dispel riposte knocking off any buffs.  Are they killable in a melee run, absolutely, but it is risky enough that opponents have to think twice about it.  Less than 7 fury camped and I tend to spread them out enough that it is difficult to get on both.  That way should one go down I’m still in the game and can potentially feat her back.  Like many things in life, remember location, location, location!

Obviously this is just a quick, general overview of the Epic Twins and many more games will be needed to get a solid bead on their place in the hierarchy.  Are they S tier? I can’t say yet.  Are they high-end? Undeniably.  Overall I have found them to be an extremely fun and rewarding drop.  In my opinion they offer the perfect blend of options, power, and finesse.

The list I have been running with them

Epic Twins +1

Zuriel-10

Scythean-9

Naga Nightlurker-5

Shredder-2

Swordsman-Max + UA-11

Raptors-Max-10

Anyssa Ryvaal-4

A Few Thoughts on Sportsmanship, part 2

So last week I touched upon dice and being a pleasant opponent.  This week lets take a look at a few aspects of sportsmanship that aren’t so glaringly obvious.

This year I had the pleasure of attending Lock n Load 2015, it was a fantastically fun experience, but after three days of non stop gaming I came to truly value what I feel is an under appreciated aspect of good sportsmanship, namely clean play.  I have had the privilege of gaming in an LGS these last couple years that puts a great deal of value on clean play and I must say it truly does make a game much more enjoyable!

So what is clean play? Simply put, it is precise measurements and clearly marked effects.  Bending the tape or moving without measuring, even when you are certain the range is under the models speed are a few examples.  Not huge breaches of etiquette, but all it takes is one or two instances of gaining an advantage that you shouldn’t have and the “sloppy” label comes out.  That is not a descriptor that any of us want attached to our names!  As for effects, its pretty simple.  Clearly mark all animi, upkeeps, or triggered effects in play and place them were the opponent can see them.  Personally I have a bad habit of not marking triggered effects as I tend to track everything in my head.  This has caused a few tense discussions when an important play is on the line!  Yes, the things I am talking about are small, but they can have a tremendous impact on the game and result in a death of enjoyment by a thousand cuts.  Spend a turn setting up an assassination run only to charge and have the war-noun admonition away because the token was hidden behind the base and you will know exactly what I mean!

Another aspect is game flow when playing under a clock.  This really connects back the social aspect I mentioned in the previous post.  We play to have fun, not nickel and dime each other with petty crap.  If you have effects that require die rolls during the opponents turn have them ready to go as soon as the effect triggers, tough, continuous fire, etc.  If you or your opponent are using aoe or spray attacks have the templates ready to go, be ready to mark and measure drifts.  Simple, subtle things yes, but they have a serious impact on the flow of the game and your shared enjoyment.  Things like this are similar to a job well done, do it right and few people consciously notice, but win or lose the game has a better feel.  Do it wrong or get petty and don’t be surprised if your opponent wants to turn your dangley bits into a speed bag.

Lastly, win or lose, do what you do with dignity and graciousness.  Remember, your opponent has sunk a great deal of time and money into this shared interest, they chose to spend time playing a game with you.  The least we can do is not belittle a fellow player simply because we lost or they got the short end of the stick.

Well that should just about cover it for now.  Agree, disagree, or feel I missed something, let me know.

Cheers,

Alycard

A Few Thoughts on Sportsmanship

Sportsmanship is one of those topics that is seldom touched upon, but the effects of which are keenly felt throughout an LGS or meta.  It strikes me as a tricky thing to fully define as much of what makes for “good” sportsmanship is very subjective, with that in mind ill try to stick to general themes.

What is it that makes some players a very enjoyable game, while others an exercise in self-control?  There have been games were I was taken to the cleaners and walked away from the table smiling, while others I have tabled an opponent and gone home livid.  Why? Simply put, the opponents sportsmanship.  It is the one quality a player possesses that I have seen ignore skill level while making or breaking a reputation.  So, what is good sportsmanship?

For myself I never gave it much thought until the 2014 Fall IMC.  I had picked the game up a little over a year before, I learned quick and was enjoying moderate success in the LGS, so when the chance to play in larger tournament came around I jumped on it.  I’d had no illusions of winning the whole thing, but I had been fairly confident of doing well.  Suffice to say I drove 6 hrs to suffer the wrath of the dice gods.  My first game I was outplayed handily, the next 2 I set up perfect assassination runs with Bethayne and Belphagor and proceeded to roll trip 1s three times straight followed by 4 on 3d6 needing 8 to hit, 4 times.  I did not react well to put in mildly, dropped, and went to downtown Ogden to wallow in self-pity.  On the ride home it hit me that I had been a colossal ass and those games probably hadn’t been enjoyable in any way for my opponent.  That was when I decided to do a little self-examination and kick some bad gamer habits.

I love page 5 of the rule book, but for me it is entirely to long-winded.  It can be easily summed up in one sentence, Don’t be a bitch! Rule 1 of DBAB, and yes this is a rule, do not complain about dice. Rule 2 of DBAB, for the love of the Devourer Worm you are a grown ass person, stop complaining about your dice!! This will ruin a game faster than anything I can think of, both for yourself and for your opponent.  Full disclosure, when I started playing Warmachine/Hordes I was poster child for dice rage, I can say from experience that putting the kibosh on that habit has made my gaming experience exponentially more enjoyable.  A solution to this is put the money together and buy precision dice.  Seems simple, but the mental question marks it removes will grant a surprising peace of mind for both yourself and those you play against.

Probably the simplest aspect of good sportsmanship is be pleasant, win or lose.  Easy to say, not always so easy to do in the heat of the moment.  In my personal experience this has done wonders for both my enjoyment of the game, and how I react to adversity during a match.  Lets face it, when we play we tend to feed off one another’s enthusiasm or negativity, therefore winning or losing DBAB!  Two things I have noticed since I’ve started implementing this into my play, one I find I simply have more fun playing.  Enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm and it is infectious.  Two, when things aren’t going my way and I don’t allow myself to get frustrated, (I still do occasionally, sadly I’m still human), my play doesn’t suffer.  When I do allow myself to react poorly I’ve noticed I tend to make more mistakes and small setbacks seem to loom larger, subsequently my play suffers.  Besides those things, and probably the most important thing to keep in mind, Warmachine/Hordes is a social game.  No one wants to hang out with an asshole.  We get together to let our inner 12-year-old play with toy soldiers, hang out with friends, and have a good time.

Ill touch on more in my next post, till then let me know what you think makes for good sportsmanship.

Cheers, Alycard