May 10, 2010

ArdBoyz Kill Point Wackiness


So I have read a lot of whining about the published scenarios for the upcoming Ardboyz Tournament. To be fair, I wasn't overly thrilled with the rules for mission 3 either (let's see... I can take my 43 KP mech Eldar, or my 42 KP shooty Space Wolves). But after a bit of thinking, I'm not so much on the "THIS SUCKS!" bandwagon.
As I see it, there are two real concerns, one valid and one semi-valid.

The valid concern: What counts as moving over 6"? This normally isn't an issue - can a unit move more than 6"? But what about Drop Pods, Mycetic Spores, Spore Mines (Deep Striking or fired), or any other non-fast Deep-striking unit (Tau Battlesuits, etc)? I honestly don't care either way, but I see arguments for both sides - and I would hate for this to be in the hands of the tournament organizers.

The semi-valid concern: This is way too big of a mech Nerf. It kinda is - 2 KP per vehicle would have been a big enough nerf without throwing everyone into disarray. My problem isn't that my army suddenly became 42 KP (15 pts higher than it would have been). It's that it is going to cause people to do stupid things. Yes, I will gladly sacrifice my 150 pt unit with two meltaguns just to take out your rhino... I get 3 KP, you get 1!
But the the whole mentality that mech armies won't be able to compete in game 3? PLEASE. Who do you think is going to BE at the top tables in game 3? THE MECH ARMIES! So you you will have your 35-50 pt army and sitting across from you will (ta-da) be the same thing.
And if it's not? Celebrate - you have a leg up. Table the sumbiscuit. I went to the 2008 Vegas GT with my Immolator Spam list with 24 KP at 1750 pts. Everyone said I was foolish for taking that to a tourney with KP missions. The two KP missions were the two most lopsided victories I had there.

The moral of the story is: When the game throws obstacles in your way, you have two choices. Adjust to it or don't play.
Posted by at 6:12 PM
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7 comments:

  2. While I absolutely agree...the sheer extreme of poor scenario design by GW here makes me very angry indeed. We shouldn't have to put up with this BS (admittedly, I couldn't play Ard Boyz if I wanted...) It's their game, but we want to be able to play good, balanced missions, without unnecessary 'fun' additions.
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  3. I really hope I get to play mission three, my Tyranid list is going to love that. Really you just have to play little bit conservatively with the transports, or go for the massacre. No sympathy from me, my tyranids have died in droves for KP far more than my liking in the past.

    People are really just whining cause they are going to have to think strategically with their tanks for once.

    and its move more than 6 in a phase, tau move again in the assault phase. and I believe drop pods count as having moved cruising speed, but that does not give a distance per se so eh.
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  4. As my vehicles are only Stormravens, I'm not too worried. Alpha strike on turn one with 12 Blood Missiles in the mech's face, then jet around dropping death star units on unsuspecting mobs of troops. Shouldn't be too bad.
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  5. I've playtested a few Kill Point variations (such as stacked in favour of HQ) and the like, but the best I've found, and which is generally accepted as a good house rule at my local gaming club, is kill point percentages.

    Too many games had a 11 KP army almost wiped out, with a rhino hiding in backfield, win against a guard army that had lost 12 out of 25 KP and thus couldn't win without tabling the opposition. By working out a percentage (about 90% to 50%) a fairer reflection of the game was given. Any difference of less than 10% counts as a draw.

    SO long as you agree in advance it isn't a bad system.
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  6. WTF? Can't you just get points for a win, loss and draw?
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  7. 3 KP is too much, but you are spot on in your analysis. The first 2 scenarios almost require you to be mobile, and mech is the best way to do it.

    I'm taking Loganwing, all foot barring a few TWC, so I love the 3rd mission loads. But, the first 2 missions require me to grab objectives and quarters, and I don't have that kind of mobility. I think at best I'll be able to get Majors for the first too. I'm gonna have to hope that'll be enough that I can score a super massacre in the 3rd round and plenty of bonus points to catapult me into a good position.
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