- The Monsterpocalypse Community before GenCon 2009

“He got lucky.”
“Statistically, Alex would have won the majority of masters”
“Now that the game is on YouTube, their gameplay was so weak!”

- The Monsterpocalypse Community post GenCon 2009

This is a reality check. For me. For you. For everyone. Anyone who said the above was in denial, period. Whether or not you care to admit it, I guarantee that we will see a fair share of morphers in the top cut at both Masters for MonCon 2010 and GenCon 2010. We will see them being used in all the online tournaments that Team Covenant is going to host. If you plan on using them or not is irrelevant. You had better be ready to play against them and beat them. If you’re force cannot account for these little titans, be prepared to be knocked out of the high-level tournaments.

Let’s take a look at the benefits and the costs of running morphers.

Benefits

1. Setup – one of the primary advantages of morphers is the fact that you can start them on or next to any spawn zone or in the original monster spawn zone. This generally means that you can have a very, very powerful power base by spawning just one or two units. A prime example is getting two or three morphers next to a Newspaper Office that is next to two spawn points. This allows you to spawn on your unit turn and make free movements, creating some amazingly efficient turn 1 unit turns. Another advantage of this is that you can have your monster on both sides of the board. This allows for a turn 1 hyper up on either side of the board so your opponent has to be extra careful about their first monster turn if you are going second.
2. Disruption – regardless of whether you are on a map that has teleporters are not, these little monsters are great for disruption. You can slide one morpher into your opponents power base and they can’t just do 1 damage to it to get rid of it. After a turn or two of sitting in your opponents power base you can hyper up and land on a building or two deep in your opponents base. This is a distinct advantage.
3. Hyper – As I mentioned in both 1 and 2, the ability to hyper up anywhere on the board is critical. From forcing your opponent to make a tough decision on turn 1 to soft disruption. Add on top of that the difficulty in screening. If your opponent uses all of their a-die on a monster turn, you can use your monster turn to get a morpher next to their monster. Subsequently you can hyper up and be base to base for an almost unpreventable power attack. This makes screening and positioning extra critical for your opponent.
4. Mobility – due to speed zones and teleporters, morphers are extremely mobile. Combine this with the benefits above and it just gets nasty.
5. Meta Busting – Although this is somewhat true currently, it might not always hold up. Right now, not only do most armies not specifically account for morphers, most players are very unexperienced against them. Some who are quite good at the game don’t even know all of the specific rules for morphers. Tag this along with the fact that there are now 5 pieces to a monster instead of 4. It’s much more difficult to think through the things that a monster can do when there are that many of them than when there is just an alpha and a hyper. I know in my game against Marcus during Monday night Monster I was not only unexperienced against morphers, but I also didn’t know his specific morpher. He was able to do things I had no clue were coming. Obviously, he dominated me in this game.

Costs

1. Low Defense (Squishy) – morphers do in fact have a bit of squishy-ness to them. The average defense if 5 with some even have 4 defense. Throw in some form of defense reduction and you are now hitting a monster at 3 or 4 defense which makes for easy damage for your opponents unit turns and efficiency for your opponents monster turns.
2. Splash Damage – Radial attack, explosion, etc. are very dangerous for morphers. If your opponent is able to disrupt (literally the ability) your ultra or mega morpher or you make the mistake of positioning your morphers next to each other at the wrong time, you are looking at 2-3 damage on a unit turn… Yuck!
3. A-die Economy – For around half of the game you are taking monster turns that require lots more dice to be successful. Each morpher costs 1 to move, 1 to attack. Although this 1 monster turn into 1 unit turn form of playing can be leveraged successfully, some times it’s tough to keep up with a player that can go back to back to back successfully due to morphers low defense.
4. Busted Meta – This is the flip-side to number 5 above. More and more factions are getting easy access to explosion and the like and more and more players are making sure that they have some kind of splash damage available from their units and / or monsters. If you are going to use morphers you need to be very careful about positioning. Just like your opponent has to do more thinking due to the increase in figures and abilities with morphers, you’ll have just as much thinking to do. This can of course be curbed by practice with and against morphers.

There’s a lot to consider when it comes to morphers. I’m barely even scrapping the iceberg. I’ve just now started diving into using Legionnaire and playing against the other Team Covenant guys wielding their respective morphers. One Voltron and series 6 hits we’ll have an entirely new batch of morphers to deal with. Morphers are a big part of this game and if you’ve been ignoring them, it’s time to reconsider.

Day 19 Challenge

1. Post a blog on the community entitled Day 19: Titlehere
2. In the blog, discuss:

• Your answers to morphers
• Reasons you might struggle against morphers
• The morpher you believe you’d do best against
• The morpher you believe you’d do worst against

3. Reasons you think morphers are good / bad
4. Post a link to the blog in the comment below (new community coming soon!)

I look forward to seeing what everyone things about Morphers! Almost 2/3 rd’s of the way done! Who is bold enough to finish?

Zach

So now… I want to talk for a second about the honors and awards that are going to be bestowed upon those of you who complete the journey within a few weeks of me writing day 31. Part of what you’ll be getting is a SICK shirt that you can only get by finishing the challenges in the appropriate time frame. You’ll also be included in something that I am putting together later AND you’ll be getting some exclusive goods. Part of what you will be getting involves the new community site, which of course I cannot announce just yet, and another part involves some honors you’ll get if you show up at MonCon.

So now let’s get back at it. Day 18. One of’s? Did I read that right? Yes, you did. We’ve picked a monster, built an army, searched out units far and wide, built cities, chosen maps, covered tactics, and decided how our early game would go… What a ride! So what’s up next? Where do we go from here?

Refinement

When we first decided on our armies we had barely used them… Now it’s time to make them more efficient. One Of’s is a term I picked up playing card games, but it transfers to miniatures pretty well.

So what is a one of? It’s a figure that you only use one of in your army. This isn’t a monster, but rather a unit or a building that you specifically include for certain situations. Examples would be using a pterdactix for tow, a spikodon for explosion, or a fire kami for ignite.

What I have found as I have progressed at Monsterpocalypse, is that in time my armies start using more and more one of’s. Let’s go back… back in time to when I first started playing Monsterpocalypse.

Oh, these were the days. I was using Sky Sentinel and Steven was convinced he could make planet eaters work. I started off using 2 rocket choppers elites and 3 grunts, 2 g1 elites and 3 grunts, 2 repair vehicle, 2 mobile ops centers, and 1 g-tank. As time progressed and new sets came out, my list began to change… I cut back to only using 2 grunt rocket choppers and no elite, 1 repair vehicle, 1 fuel truck, etc. My list was getting more efficient and I didn’t really even notice.

At this point Now! came out and I switched to Gakura / Kondo. In the beginning I was using all kinds of doubles, but if you read my BashCon report (BashKondo) you’ll notice there are all kinds of one of’s in my list: pterdactix, shadow spikodon, brontox, fire kami, raptix, command ape, etc. But why is this relevant? Does it really improve efficiency? Let’s take a look.

The Army

In any given army, you’ll find 15 units. There is no negative associated with running a full 15, so it’s somewhat pointless not to. If you and your opponent have been playing for a while, it’s likely that at max in any given game you’ll have 10 or 11 units out. Even this is rare. Yet, why is this relevant. Why does it matter that we only have at most 10 units out at any time?

It’s because if you consistently have the same units left over no matter who you are playing and which army you are against, some of these left over units can be converted to one of’s. Knowing that most of the time you’ll only use 10 or so of the units in your army can really effect your army list.

Let’s take an example, the fire kami. I believe that almost every army should at the moment include a fire kami for ignite. The idea that on a unit turn even if you aren’t the protectors agenda, you can pay 2 to spawn, 1 to move, and 1 to ignite for a damage is devastating. The damage it does is actually more of a mental game than anything else. Your opponent now looks at rubble tiles as guaranteed damage. In fact, I’ve had games where what I thought the opponent would and should do was take the 1 damage hit for the optimal move… They see the fire kami and just know they have to avoid rubble.

Another example is pteradactix. This is one I consider splashing in every army I run. I generally splash the grunt. The main purpose of this is so that if I am going second, my opponent knows I can pay 2 to spawn, 1 to move, and 1 to tow and dismantle his power base. More times than not, my opponent sees this and now is forced to over-secure his power base. He has to make sure that my pulling away one unit doesn’t ruin his entire plan. Because of this, I generally don’t use pterdactix at all. His best use is just sitting over in my unit pool making my opponent think a bit more.

The last unit example I want to highlight actually won me a game at BashCon: command ape. I run 1 copy of this guy and usually use him to secure a building as far away from my opponent as possible on my very first turn. Most games, he will just sit there in the same spot for the rest of the game. But sometimes he does much more than this. He sits there all game securing a building and in the last minute of a game I remember I have command. I can now get a unit across the board for that critical extra unit in a combined attack or for that critical soft disruption. I think for most armies there are nice one of’s nestled within the faction (cough*brontox*cough).

And finally we get to buildings. There are lots of copies that by their very nature are one of’s due to their limited skill (monuments, etc.). Although I do see Statue of Liberty and Imperial State Buildings on most maps, I hardly ever see a map that doesn’t have at least 1 Insurance HQ. Of course, the creation of Anti-Insurance HQ Buildings (Stock Exchange) are also not to be seen on most maps along with the good ole Privateer Press building. While these buildings are the typical one of’s I’m more interested to see what other buildings are being used as one of’s. I know I’ve personally use Electrical Power Plants, Sports Arenas, Oil Refineries, and Radar Arrays as one of’s. Let’s see what you’ve got!

Day 18 Challenge

1. Post a new blog on the community site entitled Day 18: YourTitleHere
2. Go find your original army list and copy and paste it into a new blog on the community site
3. Although I’m sure your armies have changed since then, discuss what could potentially be taken down to a one of or a two of in your current army to open up space for more options. Also discuss what other changes you have made to your army.
4. End the blog with your current deck list in light of one and two of’s. Below the deck discuss how your army has progressed since the beginning.

If you have yet to start Mastering Monsterpocalypse, you can find all of the challenges here. While it may seem like a large burden to catch up, I promise it’s not that bad. Of course, the longer you wait the harder it will be to catch up but at this point you’ve got time to catch up. Until next time, have a blast! (or a brawl…)

Zach

Long Term

When you first start getting into Monsterpocalypse, there seem to be endless options on each and every turn. While you go through these options mentally, you generally choose the one with the best results for the turn you are taking or for your next turn. While this is okay, particularly when learning the game, it’s not a good habit for winning.

I remember when Steven first brought up the topic of thinking ahead I really started to think deeply about this. At that point, I started to subconsciously measure the length of games in turns and realized how short each game actually was. Thinking 3-4 turns out was sometimes thinking to the end of the game. While there is likely no way to calculate every move, getting in the mode of long term thinking will change your gameplay. It will also lead to you winning a lot more often.

The Kondo Conundrum

While testing Kondo for San Diego, playing him at San Diego, and playing with him afterwards I noted something that I think is quite significant. I could easily tell if a player was thinking long term or short term within the first few turns of the game. I could then adjust my gameplay and often win because of this knowledge. But how could I tell?

It’s really quite simple. On my first unit turn, I would secure a power base that included the Insurance HQ. I generally used Stealth Apes to make it harder to disrupt. Then on my first monster turn I would move, brawl a building, and then use riot to stomp. At this point, I would normally be in place to take a 3-4 damage attack because of buildings, etc.

Here was the first chance to see if my opponent was thinking long or short term. If he was thinking short term he could come over and do 3-4 damage to me and likely be forced into a unit turn on his next turn. If he was thinking long term, he would go for my power base immediately.

Then came the second opportunity. On my next turn I would normally have Kondo in a position to step, step, brawl a building, rampage through power base. Now I’m on my opponents side of the board. At this point, they could do 2-4 damage or go for my power base.

Why is this relevant? Why do I care how they are thinking? Well, depending on how they think you will have to play different to increase your chances of winning. If they think short term you can distract them with big attacks or clusters of units to waste their unit turns on. If they think long term, you’re going to have to do something radically different.

Although it’s possible there are hybrids out there (players who use a mix of long and short term thinking), it is likely that a player will generally lean one way or another. Knowing this, you need to develop two long term game plans that you are really comfortable playing.

For example, with Kondo I have two ‘general’ plans (note that it’s not a must do plan. Only a guideline that I can practice).

If they think short term and go for me, then I have the advantage all game. I have a power base and Kondo’s ability to generate p-die. With shuffle I can take 4-5 monsters turns for each unit turn. Once I get in quantum, there is nothing that can be done to stop from dying when I have this advantage.

If however, they go for my power base I then go for their power base. Kondo is extremely good at generating p-die, so he doesn’t really need a power base at all. The main purpose of it is to get shuffle, which you should have on other buildings on your side of the map. When it’s time for the win, I’ll secure the building and take 3-4 monster turns for the win. The goal here is to kill form for form until I’m stuck quantum. In these situations, the game moves very fast because Kondo really puts himself out there.

Day 17 Challenge

1. Play… Play… And Play some more.
2. Develop 2 distinct plans when facing different thinking opponents
3. Post a blog that includes:

• Title of Day 17: Yourtitlehere
• Results… How did this go? Anything interesting happen?
• Discuss both your short and long term plan

4. Post link below.
5. Read and post comments on blogs linked.

I’ll wait a few more days to post the next challenge to give you time for this challenge. Try to get some games in when you can.

‘It’s All About Winning’

Then he says, ‘Tim, it’s all about winning.’ We all start dying laughing.

Winning

Today we are going to talk about winning. Particularly, winning at Monsterpocalypse. Believe it or not, winning is different for some people. Some people define winning as beating your opponent. Other players define it as pulling off that awesome combo that they have built in their army just for this week’s tournament. Still yet, others define it as having a good time at a local venue (even if they get hammered).

This is critical for a few reasons. First, you need to know what it is that you consider to be your win condition. Are you only going to be happy when you win a tournament? Or is getting a random promo as a door prize enough for you? Secondly, you need to know what the win condition for your opponent is. Sometimes it’s possible for both players to walk away thinking they’ve won.

My Win Condition

It’s really difficult for me to lose. I say this because even when I’m getting my face smashed in I’m learning. However, at the end of the day my win condition is my monster standing and my opponent’s laying in the flames. As harsh as it may sound, I’m competitive and for me it’s all about winning. My primary win condition is beating my opponent into the ground. Yet it goes beyond this. I want to be in control of the game. Turn in, turn out, I want to force tough choices on my opponent.

Unlearn What You Have Learned

Often times during games we get so caught up in doing things that we had planned on doing with certain units or forms or buildings. Maybe it’s towing with that Pteradactix you splashed or landing that Earth Avatar on a power zone. In fact, in challenges before this we’ve talking about combos, why this building works with your units and monster, why this maps works well this way, etc. Whatever it is, get it out of your head. Mentally flush away the idea that these are things you are bound to each game.

These are options, not mandatory tasks. In a recent podcast Steven talked of the player way over-securing buildings and power bases. Why was he doing this? It’s because subconsciously he knows that in the past when he did A + B he got C and ultimately won the game. Yet, if you want to master Monsterpocalypse you have to understand that A + B does not always equal C. Every game is different and unique. It’s the mastering of this chaos defined in the subtle differences of each game due to your opponent, figures, maps, etc. that will make you a master.

For example, when I went to San Diego in the third round I was forced to play Kevin (who was kind enough to host me). Before the event, we had probably played 7-8 times and each time he had cleaned me up. When we played, we were using the exact same lists on the exact same maps. Knowing that what I had been doing previously wasn’t working I made lots of radical moves intentionally to mess with his head. He was planning on me doing A and B and I did F and X. This put me in control of the game and him in a bit of a daze as to what to do in the situation.

Ironically, before the event we had talked about the strategy of doing odd things just to mess with your opponent’s head. I didn’t intend to do it, but looking back that’s exactly what I did. Honestly this was one of the most epic games I’ve ever played and we have it on tape. I’m hoping to have it available to everyone in the near future.

Create Chaos

So where does this leave us? This is probably going to be the oddest challenge yet. What I’m going to ask you to do will be difficult. Are you up to the challenge?

Day 16 Challenge

1. Start winning. By winning I don’t mean barely. Take control of your games. Know that you are going to win. If what you are doing now isn’t working, try something different. Something radically different. Start making moves with the intent of controlling what your opponent is going to do. Force them into tough choices.
2. Play your friends. Play on vassal. Then play some more. Control these games.
3. Post a blog that includes:

• Title of Day 16: Title Here
• Results. Could you control your games.
• What worked?
• What didn’t?

4. Post link below
5. Read and comment on other blogs linked below

Also note that I won’t be doing challenges daily. This is to give you more time to complete these challenges. They should take a bit more time as you will need to play.

To let you in on a little secret, the challenges beyond day 15 change a bit. I didn’t realize this when I was crafting this 31 day trek, but challenges after day 15 have a much different feel to them. Also, this will be the only challenge for the week, but I think there are a lot of you that need the time. Lastly, remember that those who complete this challenge by two weeks after the posting of day 31 are in for some really sweet stuff. So let’s begin.

P-die Generation

Today’s challenge is honestly pretty straightforward. Nothing tricky. How are you going to get p-dice? Are you going to secure buildings and power up? Have units with amplify on power zones? Brawl buildings? Have super rampage or super stomp? Kill tons of units on one attack?

Power dice begin to flow in all throughout a game. I know there have been several times where I am securing buildings or on power points and have 8-10 p-die, making a power up really irrelevant. By considering how you are going to be getting p-die before going in to a game, you can avoid wasting units on positions they don’t need to be filling.

Standard

The most standard way of gaining p-die is through the securing of buildings. Some factions are really good at this because of units that get the additional p-die, like the Shadow Sun’s Sun Drone. There are also some buildings that help specific factions, like the Bank Headquarters by granting additional p-die as well as buildings like the electrical power plant that don’t really care what faction you are. This type of gameplay is best suited to a monster who doesn’t brawl a lot of buildings or doesn’t have access to something like explosion or chain attack.

Power Zones

When starting out in Monsterpocalypse, this and the securing buildings are definitely the default thoughts on how to get p-die flowing your way. This is particularly good for factions with a unit like the Earth Avatar, who get 2 p-die when on a power zone instead of 1. This is also fairly common among armies with units like the brontox, who grant +1 brawl b-die and can spawn a unit by being on a power or negative zone.

Unit Destruction

This is one of those ways of getting p-die that I didn’t really calculate until recently. One common error is using 3 units to secure a building solely for the p-die. It is likely that you could have killed at least 1 unit with those same three units netting you the same p-die along with killing one of their units. While in general this can be goods, it specifically good to armies with units like the spikodon (explosion) or the airborne ape (radial attack), who can takes lots of units out at once. Monsters with chain attack, etc. are also good at this method of p-die generation.

Building Destruction

Whether it be brawling, stomping, rampaging, or throwing, buildings are little storehouses of p-die. Any monster can brawl a building as good as the next, however some monsters are just built for this type of generation (Kondo / Gakura) because of abilities like riot. It is likely that you will use this type of maneuver no matter your monster, but knowing that you monster can do this effectively can free your units up to do things other than stand watch over buildings.

Day 15 Challenge

1. Post a blog with the following:

• Tile of Day 15: Yourtitlehere
• What is your primary form of getting p-die?
• What is the form of getting p-die you use the least?
• Do you think you could be more efficient at getting p-die?

2. Post link below
3. Read / Comment on Other Blogs
4. Read Below

Normally I say come back tomorrow, but there won’t be another challenge tomorrow. Like I mentioned earlier, I think some of you need some time to catch up. That being said, I should be back to blogging next Monday when I return with Challenge 16. There are some intense challenges in store for you. Take some time over this week to go back and look at all the challenges you’ve posted and where you’ve come. If you are behind catch up!

I also want you to take a second and read Day 0 again. In that challenge I lay out some things that you should remember to be doing all the while completing these challenges. These included: reading team covenant, playing in tournaments, playing on vassal, playtesting, joining the community, and reading the monsterpocalypse forums. A reader recently said he was disappointed that the challenges had required play yet, but theory. I want to make sure everyone doing this challenge remembers that, as mentioned in day 0, playing is necessary to growth. Don’t just talk about the things you put in these blogs. Test them.

Until next week,
Zach

Hard Disruption

I’ll never forget in one of the first games that I blogged about (found here) I was playing against Jonathan Wooley and his Ares Mothership. It was actually the first game where I had access to Rocket Choppers, let alone G1 Strike Fighters. I made two primary mistakes in this game dealing with disruption. I chose the wrong target and I relied too heavily on securing one building. I had a Statue of Liberty on my side of the board and had secured it with 3 g-tanks. I had built my entire game around powering up with the Statue of Liberty.

To my utter shock, on his first monster turn he flies over and shoots the statue of liberty. He could put himself in bad positioning because I wouldn’t have power dice (didn’t use the action on the statue of liberty). I honestly did not even conceive that this is something he would do. Of course, that was a long time ago. I know better now.

Regardless, one of the most permanent disruptions is to literally destroy buildings on your opponents side of the board. Some monsters are inherently good at this and some just aren’t built for this type of gameplay. Regardless, getting rid of buildings that might be key to your opponents strategy is normally a very valid move within the first few turns.

Soft Disruption

This is the version of disruption I find myself using most often, although with Kondo and Gakura I seem to have a few turns of hard disruption every game. Soft disruption is simply not allowing your opponent to secure a building by putting a unit or monster next to the building or removing a unit from securing the building (destroying, towing, etc.)

With Sky Sentinel I normally disrupt by sending a G1 across the board or by using a Guard Defense Base to transport a unit to the other side of the board. There are also times where I will position Sky Sentinel next to their power base with screens to keep my opponent from powering up. I normally only do this when I really don’t want them to be able to power up

Disruption

Disruption is so powerful because your opponent has normally calculated odds and made moves based on the fact that they can power up or they will have access to certain skills and abilities. By taking away the power up or the ability, etc. you can really throw a wrench into your opponents plans.

Day 14 Challenge

1. Post a blog with the following:

• Title of Day 14: Title here
• What is your primary form of disruption?
• How can you defend against disruption?
• Are there any units you could include that currently aren’t in your army that would help with disruption?

2. Post a link below
3. Read / Comment on other blogs
4. Come back next week!

I want to take a day and just look at the synergy in our armies. Synergy is found at all levels of our armies. The first, and generally most obvious synergy is a result of your monster. So let’s dig in.

The first synergy found is when your monster grants abilities to your units. A primary example of this is Sky Sentinel’s Wing Leader skill, granting an additional boost die to all blast attacks made by units in his army with flight. Specifically, this works with G1 Strike Fighters and Rocket Choppers. Other abilities might be berserk, fortify, dig in, etc.

Yet synergy doesn’t end here. It works the other way as well, as in units to monsters. An example of this is when you have a unit with fortify (such as brontox) within two of your monster (such as King Kondo), giving him an additional b-die to brawl a building. Because Kondo has riot, he takes it a step further by getting to include that b-die in his stomp, ram, or rampage attack.

The next level of synergy is units and buildings. As discussed on the day when deciding on buildings, some buildings just seem to fit with certain units. The example I keep going back to is the Bank Headquarters and G1 Strike Fighters. They can fly in from across the map, secure the building, and get the additional b-die on their blast. On top of this, they get you an extra p-die when power up because they are Protectors.

There are also some buildings that have synergy with your monster. For instance, the Statue of Liberty grants you access to beacon on your unit turn, which can be really good for certain monsters. Or securing the Insurance HQ gives you access to shuffle which can really help you take back to back to back monster turns. With green abilities this can be taken a step further, granting your monster abilities like distract or energy drain.

All of these elements working together and there is yet one more aspect, which we have touched on: maps. Certain maps are honestly just built for certain factions or monsters. While there are probably some obvious synergies in your army, I want you to take a moment during this challenge and see if there are some synergies that you have yet to really abuse.

Day 13 Challenge

1. Post a blog that contains:

• A title of Day 13: Yourtitlehere
• Discuss at least one synergy for each:
  • monster to unit
  • unit to monster
  • unit to unit
  • unit to building
  • unit to map
  • map to monster
• Find an discuss a synergy that you have yet to use effectively

2. Post a link below
3. Comment on other blogs
4. Come back tomorrow!

Turn Two: Going First

I think the balancing here is completed because you get to take the first monster turn. Some argue that taking the second monster turn is more beneficial and I cannot help but somewhat agree (at least initially). The argument from that perspective is that if player one decides to go mid-map it makes it possible for the opponent to easily reach you, therefore it doesn’t reward courage.

Yet I, as of late, would beg to differ. I think this has largely been impacted with my recent choices of Monsters (Gakura and Kondo). Here is how it normally breaks down when I go first. I take a unit turn, my opponent takes a unit turn. Then I take a monster turn getting a ton of p-die without spending too many a-die. At this point, I leave a 3-4 damage attack open for my opponents monster, which they normally don’t take because it will result in me doing a 3-4 damage attack right back. At this point, they normally stomp or brawl a building.

My turn again. I use this monster turn to rampage through my opponents power base. My opponent once again has a choice. They can do 3-4 damage or do something else (like disrupt my power base). If they decide to do the 3-4 damage, I have enough to come back with at least a 3 damage attack. As you can see, health is about equal but there is an important imbalance… They don’t have a power base and I now do.

So why does all this matter? Well, with some monsters it can be advantageous to go first. Now all the Sky Sentinel and Ares Mothership players out there are throwing things at me. I don’t prefer going first with Sky Sentinel, but sometimes you have to.

Make the Best of It

In these cases, you have to take what has been given with you and work with it. I cannot promise that it’s equal footing for each monster, but use your superior skills after this 31 day trek to beat some face in. For some of you doing this challenge, you’ll find that going first couldn’t make you happier. Some of you will pray that you get less hits on those five a-die.

Day 12 Challenge

1. Read through the past 3 blogs from other players like crazy. What are you going to be dealing with?
2. Post a blog with:

• A Title as Day 12: Titlehere
• Is Your Monster Good at Going First? Why or Why Not?
• Worst Map and Monster to Go First Against
• What Can You Do On Your Unit Turn to help going first with your monster?

3. Post a link below
4. Read and post on other blogs
5. Come back tomorrow!

Turn One: Going First

So what’s your plan when you are going first and it’s the first turn? We all have those buildings that make our armies work so much better, whether it be a radar array, a skyscraper, an insurance hq, or maybe an Imperial state building. How much better are G1’s when you are securing a GUARD defense base?

Option 1

I know during the early days of playing this game, I would always look for those opportunities to secure three or four buildings with five units. While they do exist, I have found that, in general, they are rather easy to disrupt if my opponent has a clue as to what he is doing. He might send in a Pteradactix and tow away the one unit that acts as the third unit for two different buildings, or maybe he will use underground network and have a Katana next to two buildings and blast a unit securing a different building.

So the first option for turn one is to secure as many buildings as possible and hope your opponent cannot really do anything about it. I’m not a big fan of this method, because I’m so accustomed to getting disrupted. While disruption cannot be prevented completely, I’d like to look at some alternatives to the typical securing of several buildings.

Option 2

By the layout of the map, it is normally obvious that your opponent is gunning for a particular power base. Knowing this, you could potentially send units over and be disrupting them before their turn even occurs. While this may seem odd, if their monster is just plain bad without that radar array, they are now going to have to waste a-die to remove your unit. If you force them into this situation, they are going to have a lot less dice to disrupt your power base.

This is normally a good option when there is a building that really just gives you the edge. You can use 3-4 units to secure that building (and maybe one other alongside it) and then send the fifth over to act as a distraction.

Option 3

There is nothing so frustrating as an opponent that doesn’t need or want a power base. These are the guys that play two earth avatars and send them to power points. Sure you can tow them, but what do they care? They have monsters good enough without a building and they are ready to come stomping and rampaging through your side of the map.

A viable option to securing buildings is power zones with units that get extra p-die (power pod, earth avatar, etc.).

Option 4: A Little Odd

While I am no where near as skilled as Jason Miller at coming up with wacky armies, I would like to think I am fairly skilled at figuring out tactics and strategies that no one has really thought to do. I can do this because I normally don’t take the status quo of ‘optimal’ to the bank, so it helps me to keep an open mind.

So where is this going? Well, consider this. If you’re going to be disrupted anyway, why not just be completely annoying? There are situations where you can get units on to 2-4 of their spawn points (teleporter maps). Remember two challenges ago when we are calculating what to do on our first unit turn going second? That looks a bit different when you have a unit sitting on every spawn point now doesn’t it.

I cannot vouch for it’s viability in every situation, I will say that this is something to consider. Onward to the challenge!

Day 11 Challenge

1. Take a long hard look at other maps. Also look at other blogs about what players are looking to do on their first unit turn going second. This will help you understand your best choice for your first turn on another players map.
2. Post a blog with:

• A title of Day 11: Titlehere
• Discussion of at least one map that is going to be rough for you
• Discussion of one map where you know exactly what you would do the first turn of the game
• Fit all the units into the most suited option above and discuss why

3. Link below
4. Comment / read on other blogs
5. Come back tomorrow!