The Streets of Spinespur: 100 point lists, Dark Faith and GOD

Welcome to another installment of The Streets of SpineSpur!

This time, I'm taking a bit of time to talk about some introduction lists I like to play. I know some folks prefer to use a higher total in their games, but I really think 100 points is perfect for introducing people to SpineSpur. You only have a handful of models, not as many special rules to keep track of, and the games go faster. Mind you, I'm starting to find that I'd rather play 150 point games for fun, but that's a topic for another time.

To start off, let's look at the Dark Faith list:

Cardinal Anhelitus

Sisters (x2)

Torn (x3)

Thugs [Bludgeoning] (x2)

Thug [Molotov]

Central Character: Anhelitus

I picked this Cardinal over the others for a few reasons. First off all, he has Clouded which will keep him alive longer against Distance Attacks. Then there's Putrid, which means he'll hurt models that get in close. The Soul-Sucker ability also heals him a lot more than any of the other ones in the Agenda. His ability to boost Torn is cool and makes them even more deadly. The Weighted Chain can be used to slow enemies down by Toppling them. All in all, I've found him to be a good generalist Central Character.

Deployment:

For this list, I like to deploy in one particular way: Torn in front, providing Blocks to everything behind them and since they can survive a lot of damage with Undying, they'll make the enemy waste shots firing at them. Behind the Torn comes Anhelitus and the Sisters, trying to keep them in a group. Because the Sisters are immune to Putrid, they can benefit from his Clouded and also keep them alive. Lastly, I put the Thugs in the back, just outside of the Clouded/Putrid bubble.

General Tactics:

The goal of this list is to be a wave that advances on the enemy. With the Torn in front, you want to cast Virulence on one in the middle, providing Clouded protection to all of them as well adding the Putrid assistance. Since Torn don't move that fast, you'll be a bit slow but that does help you with Anhelitus maintaining Virulence. You use the Sisters and the Thugs for 'rapid response' to threats and flanking enemy models. While they aren't really great in a stand-up fight, they can help. If enemy models are trying to get up close, use the Thrown Blades from the Sisters to slow them down or wound them on the way in. Additionally, you can use the Molotov from your Thug to hit enemies that clump up.

As the game advances, you can use Anhelitus' Soul Tearing to cause some problems for the enemy Central Character or other annoying models. The fun thing about this spell is you can use it to prevent models from having Fear Tokens spent on them. If Anhelitus starts taking damage, try to make sure you've got a Thug or a Sister near him so he can Suck a Soul and gain six points of Health. Personally, I find it to be useful to do it to a Sister that's taken a few hits and is out of blades or the Molotov Thug after he's thrown it. If you're maintaining Virulence, he can also pick up some weapons to throw around at enemies.

Now, for the 'Mormons'... I mean GOD. Here's the list:

Aniel

Warriors (x2)

Fists (x2)

Central Character: Aniel

This guy is hands down my favorite character in the GOD line-up. I think he's better than Michael because you are almost guaranteed to get Round Controller due to Bullheaded. Tactician is AMAZING. No, look at it. Since you're always outnumbered by the enemy with GOD, the ability to make the them activate models until you're even can screw up their end game. Or, you can make them skip a turn while you get two turns in a row. Or, you can let a Warrior Lock-On and pop off two rounds. He's very useful in several situations. He also adds another Conciliator to the gun line and those things are nothing to sneeze at.

Deployment:

With such a small force, you have a lot of flexibility in deployment. You can clump up, keeping them in the Tactician bubble, or you can spread them out to give you more room to maneuver and deny the enemy area. I usually go for a gunline with Aniel in the middle and the Fists on the edges to engage melee enemies.

General Tactics:

Honestly, you've got a lot you can do. But, you have to think ahead and react to things as they happen. But, GOD has some things going for them. GOD is the best at long-range combat, flexibility, and teamwork. By keeping a gunline, you can bring down enemies on their way to you. The Fists can selectively switch between their modes, choosing between having Protect – 1 or doing more damage in melee, and if you use Aniel to give them an additional Half-Action, they can have that Protect up, switch modes, then do two melee combats in a turn. You can use them to screen your gunline, then charge forward and engage stuff you want to keep away. But, your Warriors aren't terrible in close combat, it's just not what you should be using them for.

One of the best things about this list is how cheap it is. For about $30, you can pick these guys up. Also, having a low model count is good for someone just starting out.

Now, both of these lists are Agenda build lists and it's kind of important. You see, without the Agenda bonus of the Dark Faith, Torn are almost useless. For GOD, the ability to spend a Fear Token instead of activating a model is extremely useful, especially in the later game, as you're going to have to earn those Tokens.

The Streets of SpineSpur: Random Conflicts

Tired of playing the same scenario over and over again? What a bit more variety in your games, but not sure how to do it? Well, I've got an something for you. I've taken all of the stuff from the back of the book and made a nice little chart you can roll on when you want to play but can't agree on things with the other player.

Now, one thing I need to talk about, is that I've put in Region as something you can roll but given how drastically different the terrain from Region to Region, you might only want to roll on it if you an extensive selection of terrain.

To make things easier, I've also included the required Region rules next to their name on the chart.

Scenarios: (Competitive)

1: Kill The Head

2: High Ground

3-4: Survival

5: Ambush

6: The Better Part of Valor

Region:

1: Hellheart (Superior Construction)

2: Shitlands (Tunnel Warfare, Bulkheads)

3-4: Ghetto (Shoddy Construction)

5: Scrapyards (Scrapyards Construction)

6: Tainted Fields (Farmland)

Region Rules:

Hellheart -

1-2: Watchful Eyes

3-4: Baleful Omen

5-6: Whispered Rumors

Shitlands -

1-2: Infestation

3-4: Stankass

5-6: Flow Control

Ghetto -

1-2: Ripper Ravaged

3-4: Ruins

5-6: Leave Us Alone

Scrapyards -

1-2: Look, Free Shit!

3-4: Shanty Town

5-6: Watch Your Step

Tainted Fields -

1-2: Scarecrow

3-4: Corn Maze

5-6: Trappers

Storyteller Rules:

1-2: Got Yo' Money, Bitch

3-4: I'll Kill You For That

5: Painful Wounds

6: Valor and Honor

So if you use this a lot, you should end up playing a lot of Survival Scenarios in the Ghetto with the Ruins Special Rule... Which might not be all that different for you. But, at least you have the illusion of random selection, right?

Gone But Not Forgotten: World of Warcraft Trading Card Game

Once upon a time in the land of Azaroth...

Many years ago, I starting playing a game on my computer called 'WarCraft'. Little did I know then that it was the beginning of one of the biggest phenomena of my generation. After the original WarCraft, there was WarCraft 2, then WarCraft 2: Tide of Darkness, and finally WarCraft 3. As EverQuest started to fade, the guys over at Blizzard put the final nail in that coffin with their own MMORPG: World of WarCraft. It took our world by storm. They had ads with William Shatner and Mr. T. It was everywhere. I'm sure you've heard of it.

Since nerd hobbies have expanded and crossed medias, Blizzard first partnered with Upper Deck to create a Trading Card Game. After a few years, Blizzard partnered with Cyptozoic and the game improved drastically.

The basics:

Like many card games these days, the WoW TCG relied on resources, spells, and 'monsters' cards in play. Unlike Magic, there were no 'colors' of mana or cards. Instead, resources were 'Quests', 'Locations', and here's the best part, any card played face-down in the resource row. Quests were used like Land in magic, except you could pay a cost listed on them and gain something, usually health or a card draw, making them more useful than face-down cards. Locations were similar to Quests, except you didn't turn them face-down when you used their abilities. Another change between most other CCGs and WoW was the use of the Hero card. Your Hero would determine your Faction (Alliance, Horde, and later, Monster), your class, race, and health. Each Hero had Health that varied by class, race, and etc. In addition, your Hero had a power that would require 'flipping' the card. Some powers were one-time-only while others were continuous once you flipped your Hero; in the last few Blocks they released Heroes that had powers on both the front and back of the Hero card.

The other major differences between Magic and WoW is that in combat, you picked who fought who, and they didn't heal between fights. If your Ally took damage one turn, it would carry over in to the next one.

In general, if you've played Magic, you know how to play this game. However, for me, the differences made the game.

Card types:

Hero -

While we've covered the basics of this card, there's a bit more to it. As mentioned, your Hero picks Faction and Class. But, there's several different Heroes of each class and faction. Let's save you want to make a Horde Hunter deck. There's several different Heroes you can use, including Sylvanas. Either as a High Elf or as an Undead. Hero cards are double sided, making them easy to find if they get mixed in to your play deck. Some Heroes have a 'one time flip' power, where you pay the cost(s), flip your Hero, and do whatever you got. Other Heroes have a 'constant' power. Pay the cost, flip the Hero and you get an 'always on' ability, something like “All Allies you control have Stealth”. In the later expansions, they released some very powerful Heroes that have both front AND back side abilities.

Equipment -

Unlike Artifacts in Magic, only your Hero uses equipment, and equipment is limited by your Hero's class, and there's slots for items, too. Armor could stop some damage and weapons would let your Hero deal some damage in combat... If you pay the weapon's strike cost (which can be as low as 0). Your Hero can carry both melee and long range weapons, shields, armor, helmets, and all sorts of Trinkets.

Abilities -

These are your 'spells' if you will. Most abilities are based off of your class but some can be used by several or all classes. Abilities can be the game-changers for many decks. Abilities are usually based on class abilities in the MMORPG but not always.

Allies -

By far, most of the damage dealt in the game comes from Allies. When you bring an Ally in to play, they join your 'party'. Some Allies have special abilities that activate when you bring them in to play, others have abilities that activate when they leave play and others provide synergy between all of our allies of same type. In the last few blocks, they made great synergy for Murlocks, Demons, Night Elves, Tauren, Orcs, and Humans.

Quests and Locations -

Quests are by far the most common resource included in decks. Since you can only include four copies of each Quest in your deck, you'll see two, three, or even four Quests with different names but all have the same ability. Locations are rare, and as I said before, they don't flip when you activate their powers, but they usually require you 'exhaust' (read: tap) them, so you'll only be able to use them once per turn. Some require building up a bunch of counters before they're worth anything beyond a normal resource.

Master Hero -

One of the rarest types of cards, but one of the most power, Master Heroes are real game changers. First of all, they have a high cost, usually around 10 or so. They replace your Hero card, so you lose whatever abilities they had, but you gain some supremely powerful ones in exchange. They also have absurdly high health, so they'll keep you in the game longer. If you include a Master Hero in your deck, you want to make sure you can get it out right when you need it, so keep that in mind when building your deck.

Raids:

Like the MMORPG, the game came out with Raid Decks. Inspired by the Raids in the game, you could battle some of the biggest villains in the game. Unlike normal games, Raid decks required (at least) three players, all playing their decks cooperatively again the Raid deck. That right there is one of the things I love about Raids, being able to play with my friends, not always against them.

Let me make one thing clear right now: Raid Decks are HARD. Even on the 'easy' setting, I've seen some of the most vicious decks get gutted by Raid Decks. Unless all of the decks are balanced for a Raid, they'll start dropping like flies. To help you out, the older Raid Decks included Hero cards you could use to make a special deck just for the Raid. These Heroes are usually very powerful, so they're banned from normal play. Some of the Raids included full decks to be played against the Raid.

Most Raids work like this: The players sit down and take their turns in order, just like normal. When the Raid Deck's 'turn' comes around, someone flips the top card of the deck over and does the actions listed there, plus whatever actions are listed on the Raid Deck's Hero card. This is usually targeting and attacking one of the players, placing token Allies, and placing counters on things. Notice that Raid Decks don't use resources or a graveyard. They're an 'auto-pilot' deck designed to run themselves. There is at least one Raid Deck that runs like a normal deck, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

When I play a Raid, I usually like to have five people involved. One person manages the Raid Deck, while the others play their normal decks. I find four decks also balances better for playing, as you can have two casters (one healer, one combat) and two melee types (usually one long-range and one close range) working together. It also fits the classic adventuring party troupe.

Lastly, the person running the Raid was suppose to go out and by 'Treasure Packs' which were extra-special-amazing booster packs that included foil cards. But, since they were more expensive than regular booster packs, I've almost never seen it done. Now that the game is out of production, you might be able to find boxes of them for cheap.

So there you have it. The WoWTCG was fun and it's a shame to see it go the way of so many other great games. 

Repairing Road Kill, Part One

Let's face it: Road Kill has some very serious issues. It took my most recent re-reading of the rules to figure out what 'Unwieldy' does. There's no stats for the Assault Rifle, even though models are armed with it. They said there were three Scenarios in the book, but there's only two. And let's not even start on the misspelled words, the repeated sections of text, and whatever else you can find with a glance. But, at the core, there's something salvageable there. So, I'm going to fix what I can, make house-rules that work for me, and even expand the game. Because I'm awesome like that. Or, I have no life.

For this first part of this series, I'm going to start with the basic rules I don't like and the gaps that need to be filled (like Unwieldy and the stats for the assault rifle).

Let's begin...

I always like to start things off with BANG! Hahaha!

Pre-measuring:

I don't understand why games don't allow this. “Your highly trained and disciplined troops, almost ancient beings with centuries of experience, bio-enhanced to combat monsters from across the stars, etc... Have no idea how far their weapons reach, and thus, will make you waste an entire turn by firing at something to watch their rounds drop before their targets.” This. This right here is what I hear in my head when games don't allow you to measure before making an attack. Most people know the rough range for a pistol (10 yards is a good guideline for the average shooter), and if you use the damn gun, you'll figure out pretty damn quick what your range is with it.

So, I say we allow you to measure ranges before a model you have spends any AP.

Initiative:

Let's face it, the initiative system as presented in the book is, well, kind of dumb. And time consuming. And doesn't allow for a lot of strategy. If you deal the cards face-up, your opponent KNOWS you're holding a card, who you're holding it for, and can probably figure out when you're going to use it. The constant shuffling takes time and doesn't allow you to hold cards between turns. It also doesn't feel very dynamic. So, I have a few solutions:

Instead of dealing each card to a model, each player is dealt an 'initiative hand' with cards total to the total of models the player controls (plus any additional cards from Special Abilities). The player then selects what model uses what card when the card comes up in order, holding cards as normal. When the turn is over, players discard any remaining cards in their hand, except for any they are holding, and draw back up to their total number of models in play. A player may hold only one card between turns and for no more than two turns in a row.

The initiative deck is drawn from until there are no more cards to draw. The deck is then shuffled and cards distributed (if needed).

Alternatively, you can have players draw five cards from the deck (plus any additional cards from Special Abilities). The player with the best poker hand activates one of his models first, then the other player activates a model, and players alternate activating models until all of the models have been activated. Then cards are drawn again and the process is repeated.

Seems legit...

Missing Information:

Unwieldy -

Weapons with this Special Trait -1D to CC defense and -1D to defense Agility.

Assault Rifle -

Cost: 32

Damage: 8[1]

Special: Burst Fire

ER: 28”

ENC: 2

I figured out the stats for the Assault Rifle by taking apart Young Clem and the Wandering Brother and found 30-32 points missing. The Special Forces unit provided the range and damage, which I found matched the stats for the Modern Rifle. So, I took the stats from the Modern Rifle, took the higher of the point costs from the units I looked at, and added Burst Fire.

There we go. The most basic fixes for Road Kill. But don't you worry, I've got plenty more planned. Stay tuned!

YEEE-HAAAW!