Posted By RockoRobotics

Posted By RockoRobotics

Posted By RockoRobotics

[Tabletop Battlefield Review of Ex-Illis][Ex-Illis: First Look][Ex-Illis Website]

Bastion Studios really wanted to do something new with Ex-Illis. The only problem is that their idea is way ahead of the technology that currently exists. The hybrid miniatures/video game approach only solves problems that Ex-Illis created in the first place. In the end, Ex-Illis neither a good video game nor a good miniatures game.


Since this review was written, Bastion Studios have made a number of changes to Ex-Illis. for details, see the updates at the bottom of the article.

Posted By RockoRobotics

Back in Season 2/Episode 1 of the Tabletop Battlefield, I(Jason) issued the challenge of rewriting the rules for I game I didn't really enjoy. We chose to take on Star Wars Pocket Model. Though to avoid any legal issues, I am just going to build an abstract space combat game from the ground up in my own universe.

The game has come a along way since then, including a name change. With the Alpha 3 rules just about done, I'm looking to get back to play testing.

For the review of Star Wars Pocket Model: Go Here

On Season 2 Episode 11 of the Tabletop Battlefield, we first discussed the alpha rule set of the game.

Season 3 Episode 13 Saw the discussion of the 2nd Alpha Ruleset.

Legends of Kalidasia

Posted By RockoRobotics

Posted By RockoRobotics

Related Links:

The Tau Forest Tigers

Adeptus Fanaticus

Pictures from the Battle

Live streams of the Campaign Battles

Tau Forest Tigers - Warhammer 40K Campign

Posted By RockoRobotics

For my debut tabletop game, Legends of Kalidasia, I am to the point of play testing/balancing all the units. This basically means playing the same battle over and over to check if the win/loss ratio for each of the forces involved is about equal. In the event that one of the forces is too powerful, I then have to tweak either the unit stats or the point cost/army structure of the force. The battle report follows a play test session between two Surakari Frigates and a Heragul Destroyer.

Surakari Fighters tend to slightly out perform their Heragul cousins. As a result, the Hergaul destroyer opts to take a cautious approach, hoping to take out an enemy wing with his long ranged Arc Cannon. Unforunately the Surakari Fleet does not take the bait and waits just outside the cannon's range.

In true unified fashion, the Surakari fleet charges as one into battle. Plasma beams flash through the vacuum of space to strike the enemy destroyer. Fire Torpedoes tear into one frigate while Fire Cannons lightly damage the other. As armor bubbles away, both fleets several critical hits. Ahead of the warship lines, the forces' fighter compliments trade light weapon's fire.

The assault continues as the Surakari demonstrate their superior maneuverability. One frigate takes the brunt of the destroyer attack while the other races behind to target the more vulnerable rear portion of the ship. Most of the fighters move into close range dog fighting while a few execute precision attacks against exposed warship systems.

Desperate to escape a bad situation, the Heragul Destroyer breaks free of the trap and turns around to face his attackers. While he can evade the frigates, the fighters continue their harassment. Both sides have suffered damage, but the destroyer has suffered worse. As a frigate charges, a full barrage from the destroyer leaves it in a crippled state. Klaxons sound throughout destroyer as more armor disappears from the Surakari's plasma weapons.

In one last act of defiance, the heavily damaged destroyer charges the lightly damaged frigate with all its firepower. Despite having a damaged targeting system, several key shots strike the ship inflicting a number of critical hits. Still, the damage was not enough, return plasma fire blasts through the last of the destroyer's armor. Systems throughout the ship fail.

By now, the nearly burned out hulk of the destroyer drifts forward, unable to get away from its pursuers. The weapons that remain try to fire, but they are too damaged to have any real accuracy. Both Surakari Frigates close in and destroy the enemy with combined Plasma Beam and Plasma Cannon Fire.

This is the fourth time I've ran this particular battle and every time, the outcome is the same. The Surakari frigates usually take out the destroyer without too much trouble. I've been tweaking some rules to reduce the power of the Surakari and the latest battle was probably the closest one yet. I'm think the next step is to slightly improve the firepower of the Heragul Destroyer.

Legends of the Kalidasia Play Test Battle - Frigates vs Destroyer

Posted By rmadman4

This play test review is with one army of Halo characters and one army of DC characters. The scenario is a fight to the death, last army standing! The Halo Army is 590 points. The DC army is 640 points. Lets dive right in!

(CARD STATS)
:The Halo Army:
Master Chief:LIFE 6 MOVE 6 RANGE 6 ATTACK 3 DEFENSE 5 PT 240, Arbiter(Thel Vadamee):LIFE 7 MOVE 6 RANGE 5 ATTACK 3 DEFENSE 4 PT 230, UNSC Marines (4 per squad):LIFE 1 MOVE 5 RANGE 6 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 3 PT 120.
:The DC Universe Army:
Batman(Bruce Wayne):LIFE 4 MOVE 6 RANGE 1 ATTACK 5 DEFENSE 5 PT 190, Two-Face(Harvey Dent):LIFE 4 MOVE 5 RANGE 4 ATTACK 4 DEFENSE 4 PT 130, Scarecrow(Dr. Jonathan Crane):LIFE 4 MOVE 6 RANGE 1 ATTACK 3 DEFENSE 5 PT 140, Huntress:LIFE 5 MOVE 6 RANGE 1 ATTACK 5 DEFENSE 5 PT 180.

(ROUND 1)
UNSC Marines rush forward only to be one space out of range for an attack. Scarecrow moves forward to face the UNSC Marines. Arbiter moves forward and attacks Scarecrow with the Energy Sword attack but Scarecrow avoids it. Huntress moves forward and takes out 1 UNSC Marine. Master moves and aims for the Huntress with his Spartan Laser Special Attack and give Huntress 1 wound.

(ROUND 2)
Huntress shoots at Master Chief but Master Chief absorbs both shots with his shields. UNSC Marines fire at Huntress, She receives 1 wound. Two-Face shoots at Arbiter, Arbiter receives 1 wound.

(ROUND 3)
Batman moves forward, UNSC Marines open fire on Huntress and Batman, Huntress is wounded 2 times more. Two-Face shoots and wounds Arbiter 2 times. Master Chief lines up for a Spartan Laser Special Attack aimed at Batman, Huntress and Scarecrow and ROLLS 4 SHIELDS!!! :-( Arbiter deals 3 wounds to Scarecrow.

(ROUND 4)
UNSC Marines throw their Frag Grenades and give 1 wound to Batman. Huntress takes out another UNSC Marine with her crossbow. Arbiter takes out Scarecrow. Master Chief punches Batman and Batman receives 1 wound.
(ROUND 5)
Huntress deals 1 wound to Arbiter. Arbiter gets enraged and takes down Huntress for good. Batman faces off with both Master Chief and Arbiter and Batman gets wiped away! (Poor Two-Face all alone now.)

(ROUND 6)
Arbiter moves to Two-Face and wounds Two-Face 2 times with his Energy Sword. (And Two-Face is now crying like a little girl.)
(Round 7)
A UNSC Marine shoots and Two-Face receives 1 wound.
Arbiter finishes Two-Face with a grunt and a ROAR!!!!
THE HALO ARMY WINS!!!!!
Special Thanks to the custom card creators: (Samurailord, GeneralGrievous13, GreyOwl and IAmBatman)You can find them and their customs at www.Heroscapers.com

(END GAME SUMMARY) The things I liked about these stat cards were Master Chief's and the Arbiter's unique shield ability to have an automatic shield before you even roll their defense dice. It reflects a little of how they play in the Halo video games which I like. One my first playtesting of these stat cards it seemed that the Halo characters were very strong but after playing a few games with them I find that Batman and the other DC characters are strong in dodging and avoiding attacks and still have very strong hit ability. Thats it for this playtest review if you want more info on these cards please go to: http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=27441
and
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=11744
and
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=8888

I came upon an idea for a Tabletop Battlefield Show while I was checking out Heroscapers.com. I found hundreds of custom Heroscape cards for different hero figures from all universes such as Star Wars, DC, etc. I decide to pull and playtest cards from Halo, Star Wars, DC comics and Lord of the Rings. The best custom cards will be reviewed on the show later this summer.

Posted By RockoRobotics

The Tabletop Battlefield Presents The Recon Report

News Stories Covered

Most Recent Episode

Posted By rmadman4

This play test review is with a set of LOTR custom cards. The scenario is the Fellowship of the Ring being surrounded by Orcs. The Orcs goal is to take out Frodo, the Fellowship's goal is to protect Frodo and eliminate all enemies. The Orc Army is 800 points. The Fellowship of the Ring is an 975 points. Lets dive right in!

(CARD STATS)
:The Orc Army:
Lurtz:LIFE 4 MOVE 6 RANGE 7 ATTACK 3 DEFENSE 4 PT 90, Ugluk:LIFE 4 MOVE 6 RANGE 1 ATTACK 5 DEFENSE 4 PT 100, Cave Troll:LIFE 6 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 3 DEFENSE 3 PT 100, URUK-HAI SCOUTS SWORDSMAN (3 per squad):LIFE 1 MOVE 6 RANGE 1 ATTACK 4 DEFENSE 3 PT 75, Moria Goblin Archers (4 per squad):LIFE 1 MOVE 6 RANGE 6 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 1 PT 60, Orc Archers (3 per squad):LIFE 1 MOVE 5 RANGE 5 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 2 PT 60, Orcs Squad (4 per squad):LIFE 1 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 2 PT 60.

:The Fellowship of the Ring Army:
Frodo Baggins:LIFE 4 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 3 PT 60, Samwise Gamgee:LIFE 4 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 4 PT 60, Meriadoc Brandybuck:LIFE 3 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 3 PT 30, Peregrin Took:LIFE 3 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 2 DEFENSE 2 PT 25, Gimli Son of Gloin:LIFE 4 MOVE 4 RANGE 1 ATTACK 4 DEFENSE 6 PT 110, Legolas:LIFE 4 MOVE 7 RANGE 7 ATTACK 3 DEFENSE 4 PT 120, Boromir:LIFE 5 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 5 DEFENSE 4 PT 150, Aragorn:LIFE 6 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 6 DEFENSE 5 PT 200, Gandalf the Grey:LIFE 4 MOVE 5 RANGE 1 ATTACK 4 DEFENSE 4 PT 220.

(ROUND 1)The Cave Troll charges after Pippin, Legolas and Gimli. Gimli receives 1 wound. The Cave Troll is wounded by Gandalf and Legolas. Pippin is shot at and wounded by Orc Archers.

(ROUND 2) Legolas takes the Cave Troll down with his Elven Knives ability. Legolas shoots Lurtz for 1 wound and then Gandalf charges Lurtz and the Uruk-Hai squad. Gandalf uses his Begone Shadow special attack and wipes out Lurtz and the whole squad. Gandalf moves and takes out another squad of Orcs with Begone Shadow.

(ROUND 3)Ugluk and a squad of Orcs rush Gandalf and give him 1 wound. Gandalf responds by using Begone Shadow and wiping out the Orc squad and leaving Ugluk heavily wounded. Legolas picks off two Orc Archers. An Orc squad attacks Frodo and Boromir. Legolas shoots down two more Orc Archers. Gandalf finishes Ugluk. Legolas takes out the last two Orc Archers.

(ROUND 4) The remaining Orc Squads swarm the Fellowship. Frodo receives 1 wound. Boromir wipes out three Orcs. More Orcs swarm Frodo. Boromir becomes evil from the Lure of the Ring ability and attacks Frodo giving Frodo 1 more wound. Gandalf wipes out more Orcs with Begone Shadow. Gilmi receives 1 wound from an Orc. Aragorn faces of against the evil Boromir! Aragorn deals 3 wounds to Boromir.

(ROUND 5) Aragorn finishes Boromir with the swipe of his sword. Legolas takes out the last Orc.

END OF GAME
THE WINNER IS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING!

Special Thanks to the custom card creators: (Boromir_and_kermit, Jaz1597 and Sherman Davies)You can find them and their customs at www.Heroscapers.com

(END GAME SUMMARY) The things I liked about these stat cards were Boromir's unique ability to turn away and become an enemy of the fellowship. Gandalf can be a real powerhouse with his Begone Shadow ability as well as a few other great abilities but I think Gandalf might be a little too powerful and the Orcs a little weak. (I did play more games with these cards and found if Gandalf is unlucky with his Begone Shadow the Orcs can wipe him out pretty quickly.) The whole time during this game the Fellowship did not move a space with the exception of Gandalf and Aragorn moving to take out Boromir. I think the Cave Troll could be a little more powerful but it does match well with the Moria Orc Archers stat card. I like these stat cards but I think the other Lord of the Rings stat cards by are going to be a little better we shall see when I review them. Thats it for this playtest review if you want more info on these cards please go to: http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=25487 and http://boromirandkermit.wordpress.com/heroscape/ and http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=27072

I came upon an idea for a Tabletop Battlefield Show while I was checking out Heroscapers.com. I found hundreds of custom Heroscape cards for different hero figures from all universes such as Star Wars, DC, etc. I decide to pull and playtest cards from Halo, Star Wars, DC comics and Lord of the Rings. The best custom cards will be reviewed on the show later this summer.

Posted By RockoRobotics

Posted By RockoRobotics

Component Quality and Value

Game Theme

Tactics

Expandability

Fun Factor

Results

Posted By RockoRobotics

"How ironic it is that as fast as we spread progress and hope throughout the galaxy, the Tyranids spread death and despair. Only united can we hope to stand against them."

-Aun'shi

Forest Tiger Division - Tau Empire

Army Photos

The Tau Forest Tigers

Tau Forest Tiger Tactics

News and Battle History of the Tau Forest Tigers

Common Army Lists

Posted By RockoRobotics

Many people had a mixed reaction to the news that Wizards of the Coast would be taking over the management of Heroscape. Now that their first master set, The Battle for the Underdark, is available, the uncertainty of their capabilities is more solidified then ever. While the new master set is still Heroscape, it definitely suffers from obvious cost cutting measures. In all honesty, Battle for the Underdark feels more like a large expansion that a stand alone starter set.

Heroscape Master Set 3 - Dungeons and Dragons: Battle for the Underdark

Posted By RockoRobotics

Up to this point, everything I have played from Privateer Press has been awesome, but I suppose that streak had to end at some point. The end is their new game called Grind. This full metal “battle” sport takes the “Play Like You Got a Pair” motto of Privateer Press to an all new extreme and drains the game of fun. If you want to play a sports board, go check out Game Workshop's Blood Bowl.

Review of Grind by Privateer Press

Other Photos

Posted By RockoRobotics

Considering the history of Wizkids, when I first learned of Wells Expeditions and Arcane Legions, I was a bit skeptical. Fortunately, I was in for a pleasant surprise when I actually got to play the game. Arcane Legions has its rough patches, but the game play is generally smooth and a lot of fun. There is one obvious and ugly downside. Arcane Legion's miniatures not only don't look very good, but the overall construction quality is poor at best. If this one problem can be overlooked, Arcane Legions is a definite must play because this game really does change the world of mass action miniatures combat.

Arcane Legions Website

Wells Expeditions

Tabletop Battlefield's Review of Arcane Legions

Roman Empire Army


Egyptian Imperium Army

The Killing Fields Scenario

Review of Arcane Legions by Wells Expeditions

Other Links

Photo Gallery

Posted By RockoRobotics

First Look at Grind by Privateer Press

Posted By RockoRobotics

The World of Miniature War Gaming - 2009 in Review

Posted By RockoRobotics

MW:AOD Nuclear Plant

MW:AOD Helipad

Old Episodes:

Series 1:
1) Tau Seeker Missile Battery
2) Mechwarrior Barracks
3) Wild Grasses
4)40K Objective Markers
5)Custom Buildings for Monsterpocalypse

Other Resources:

Basing With Free Materials - From the Warp

Upgrading the Tau Missile Battery - Youtube by Lexicon 1971

Other ideas for using trash in art projects

Green Gaming

Past Projects

Posted By RockoRobotics

G.U.A.R.D Battleforce

Posted By RockoRobotics

I built this Warband for the Episode of The Tabletop Battlefield in which we faced off Monsterpocalypse with WOW Minis. The strategy is to use Ona Skyshot and Varimathras to deal out and take damage while Lotherin and Varimathras' Vampiric Aura heals them from the back.

In my first game, this worked well and while Kyle got out to an early lead, I eventually racked up more kills at key times and won the game.

The second game things went south early. There were two VP's and I sent Lotherin by himself to one and that got him killed in a hurry. Without him, my other warriors took lots of damage and eventually died. Another mistake was not properly finishing off Ruby Gemsparkle. She ended up doing a lot of damage.

World of Warcraft Minis - Horde Warband

Posted By RockoRobotics

Shas'ui Christopher Lasser of the Tau Empire

Posted By RockoRobotics

Set just prior to the beginning of the Heresy, Legion follows the story of the manipulative Alpha Legion and their motivations for the role they will take in the coming civil war. After the diversion of Descent of Angels, Legion brings back an enjoyable story with solid action, entertaining characters, a few quirky moments, mystery, and all the elements of the 40K universe.

Review of Book 7 of the Horus Heresy Series - Legion

Posted By RockoRobotics

Board Size: 6' x 4'
Deployment: Except for deploying along the long edges of the board, normal rules are followed.
Control Regions: Two control regions are placed according to normal rules.
Scoring: Normal scoring rules are followed. The first player to 21 points will win.
Army Size: 7000 points
Command Points: 10

Arcane Legions - The Killing Field

Posted By RockoRobotics

The Dark Angels descend from a group of knights called the Order. After his discovery on Caliban by Luther, Lion El'Johnson quickly became the leader of the Order. The story follows the training of a recruit named Zahariel. Zahariel eventually becomes a full Knight by killing the Beast of Endriago with the help of psychic powers. While on the quest, Zahariel encounters mysterious hooded humanoids who tell him that he is tainted and he needs to leave the area. These hooded characters never appear in the story again. After a war with another group of knights, the Imperium and arrives and the Emperor himself makes a visit to Caliban. Zarhariel stops the assassination of the Emperor and is thanked personally by the Emperor. However, he will never remember it because a librarian erases his memory. After the Dark Angels chapter is reunited with their Primarch, they leave to bring some planet of humans who wear masks into compliance. These humans wear mask to hide some disturbing secret, but the secret seems to be irrelevant to the story because it is never revealed. These people delay the compliance process because the Chaos demon they worship tells them that the Space Marines are evil. Luther almost betrays the Lion and then the Space Marines fight and destroy the demon. The story ends with many of the Dark Angels being sent home in disgrace. No explanation for the disgrace is given, leaving readers confused.

Descent of Angels is the sixth book in the Warhammer 40K Horus Heresy Series. The problem is it leaves out much of the 40K part and doesn't even mention the Horus Heresy. If it wasn't for the fact that this book is the first part of a Mini Dark Angels series, I would skip it and move onto Legion.

Review of Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon