Super Dungeon what what?

One of the questions I've asked myself about writing this weblog is how inclusive I should be. I mean, obviously, it's all about the minis games. but what about other types of gaming? I play video games once or twice a week (Team Fortress 2 is my main squeeze, but I have been digging Gotham City Impostors so far.) And my friends and I do enjoy board games from time to time (top items are Pandemic and Ticket to Ride.)

Along those messy lines, last week I also tried out Super Dungeon Explore. Now, it is a board game, designed to emulate the 8-bit dungeon crawl games of the 80's. But those minis cry out to be painted, and it is certainly marketed at the minis gaming crowd. So it is really a board game, per se? We'll find out when I convince the wife to try it out. Heh.

But yes, played last week, and it's good fun. Killing the monsters, looting the potions, etc. Game is fast-paced and runs smoothly even for first time players. There is a certain amount of strategy involved, but that becomes clear pretty quickly. Art and sculpts are high quality and entertaining. And I do thoroughly enjoy a good dungeon crawl.

Haters gonna hate.

Not knowing how to play, I went with the Druid, and pretty much just went with turning into a bear at the earliest opportunity. This lead to me foolishly rushing into a room by myself and solo'ing a spawn point. Which I did eliminate, but ended up on the receiving end of the Australian Death Cuddle from the beastie above. A noble end!

Yeah, bet you wish you had your bearform buddy now!

Oh, and, playing again tonight.

almost a sefadu batrep

So initially I was slated to play Malifaux, but then my dance partner dropped out. I suggested trying out 7tv, but then I realized I didn't have time to properly prep for that, and I want to make sure to get it right the first time. Crucial for selling a new game to a gaming group. OK, so we dithered back and forth and decided on bringing back AE-WWII, and I was all ready to go with that. But then, a day out, we switch gears, and it's time for Mercs. We're indecisive like that.

That overpass should have sefadu on it, not FCC. Whoops.

I'm diverging from my usual loose and woolly style of batreps here, and I will explain why. Yes, there's lots of fun moments. Me ace-ing the first initiative roll, me blowing that initiative on nothing productive. My Grenadier chucking some firebombs at Maurice's FCC camped out on the overpass. etc.

But, as this is was my first "real" game of Mercs, I did find one thing. It went by fast. It's only five on five, and you more or less get one action each go-round, but even with my lack of experience with the system, there was always something happening, and something I had to be paying attention to. This is a real strength of the game. What you give up in realism, you make up for in high-speed action. And that's a positive in my book.

As noted above, I threw lots of nines and tens for activating on the first turn. What I should have done, in retrospect, is bounded my slower guys, and essentially redeployed all up and over the overpass. What I did was play conservative, and get into cover, so the next turn I could get stuck in. This cost me dearly, as the FCC Housemaster and Chem-Engineer took the overpass instead and used it to rain death down on me for the rest of the game.

My only footnote is an MVP award for the Berserker, who performed exactly as expected.

The paint jobs are... coming along slowly.

The lesson here is aggression. The sefadu megacorp (yes, it's lowercase) is all about move and fire, and I should have relied on that maneuverability rather than hoping for a slightly better cover bonus for one turn. My other error was not deploying the sniper in the backfield in elevated terrain. Again, I was concerned there was no cover up top, and that the overpass itself would block too much line of sight. And that concern cost me, as the sniper could have been covering my approach to the overpass. So! Formally schooled.

Oh, and, there's this.

huh?

Maurice made me take this picture, by sticking his hand in front of my phone while I was trying to take a pic of the board. He never explained. He's like the wind, baby!

vs. the 11+1 Challenge

As noted earlier this week, I'm taking on the 11+1 Challenge. Now, mind you, it's not a lot of figs, and I am hoping to really bear down and get these sorted in short order. But I am not great about finishing off figs, and sometimes a little artificial deadline like this is what I need. My picks were mostly influenced by figs I had on hand that were assembled and primed. Links go to pics.

My 11+1:

1. Skyline (Pulp City)

2. Twilight (Pulp City)

3. Servitor of the Outer Gods (RAFM Cthulhu)

4. "Bob the Alien" (Zombiesmith)

5. Velmarius Elazarin (Reaper Pathfinder)

6. Plague Doctor (Reaper Pathfinder)

7. Netikerti (Reaper Warlord)

8. Rhasia, Zombie Master (Reaper Warlord)

9. Sascha Dubois (Reaper Chronoscope)

10. Nick Stone (Reaper Chronoscope)

11. Andromedan Vizier (Reaper Chronoscope)

+1. Astrid Berger (Reaper Chronoscope)

So yes, a lot of Reaper there, and specifically the Chronoscope line. I've been neglecting the 'Heroic 28mm' scale these days, since 15mm has been so... captivating. But reading 7tv and talking Pulp City has certainly influenced my choices above. Many of these are slated for double-duty, to boot. Rhasia is the alt I will be using to try out as Zoraida in Malifaux. Sascha Dubois will likely be my star in 7tv, and others on this list will be showing up there too. The Plague Doctor would work in, like, half the games I play. "Bob" looks to have so many fun uses.

Already got a little work in Thursday night. More to follow tonight, fingers crossed. If I get these done in a month, it'll turn into a 22+2 challenge. Make it happen!