MobileFra.me

As I've mentioned before, Michael Raichelson has a site where he's selling frames.  It's called MobileFra.me.  He started out with Chubs and now he's expanded to also handle Scramblers.  You still purchase a set of five frames but now you have several choices between base colors and accent colors.  In addition to that, you can also purchase several different pieces of terrain.  He's also featuring links to other frame companies that are being offered for sale by their owners.  So check it out, you may find something you like there.

Purity: A2224 Transformers Devastator Combiners Review

Let's finish out the week with the last of the Decepticon Combiners.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99.  Price per piece is $0.13.

Instructions & Stickers.

Kreon  Bonecrusher.  Tile Clip, cheese slopes, a 1x2 Plate w/Bar (open ends), a new headlight brick, and a 1x2 cheese slope.  Plus the usual Kreon bits.

Kreon Mixmaster.  I have a ton of those wheels now.

Lampholder, and that funky, SNOT, Modified brick.

Kreon Scavenger.  Another Tile Clip, a 1x1 Plate w/Bar (closed ends), a 1x1 Plate w/Double Bar (closed ends), a 1x1 Plate w/Double Clips (horizontal), a cheese slope.  And the Kreon pieces.

Kreon Scrapper.  A 1x2 Brick w/Studs (1 side), a new headlight brick, 

a jumper, a 1x2 tile, a 1x1 Plate w/Clip (horizontal), a 1x2 Plate w/Bar

 (open ends), a 2x2 Slope w/1/3 Cutout, and more Kreon parts.

Parts.  We have more of the Combiner specific parts, which are coming in handy in making a new frame.  There's also that 1x1x2 Round Brick, a 1x1 Plate w/Bar (closed ends), a 1x2 Plate w/Bar (closed ends), and two Kreon micro-wings.


The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  The Kreons are good for 4P scale.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: B- (-5).  This one could be a good army maker at 4P scale.  It looks like all of the Combiners sets are going to have the same score.

Purity: A2225 Transformers Bruticus Combiners Review

Another review from the batch I purchased last Saturday at Target on 50% Clearance.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99, which gives us a $0.13 price per piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Kreon Brawl.  Olive green!  Plus it has those "tank tread" pieces, that Kreon bazooka, and a 2/3 height 1x1 brick.






Kreon Onslaught.  That is quite the smorgasbord, a Clip Tile, a 1x1 Plate w/Double Bar (closed ends), a Clip Plate Horizontal, a 1x2 Plate w/Bar (open ends), a jumper plate, a 2/3 height 1x1 brick, a 1x2 Brick w/Studs on 1 Side, a 2x2 Slope w/1/3 Cutout., and Handlebars.  And all the Kreon parts.



Kreon Swindle.  A 1x2 Tile, a Lampholder, a new style Headlight Brick, a rounded 1x2 Plate, and a 1x2 Studless Slope.

Kreon Vortex.  The helicopter blades are cool,

as is that 1x1 Round Plate w/Vert. Bar.

Parts.  We have more of those 1x2 Modified Bricks w/Bar & Technic hole, and they do fit a Technic Pin.  Those other 1x2 Modified Plates w/Vert. Clip and some other sort of attachment will fit a bar in the open hole



The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  The Kreons are good for 4P scale.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: B- (-5).  This one could be a good army maker at 4P scale.  This one does have a wider color selection than the Predaking set.

Purity: A2227 Transformers Predaking Combiners Review

I saw a bunch of these on Saturday at Target on 50% Clearance, so I grabbed them.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 -- they usually sell for more than that -- which means that we have a $0.13 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Kreon Divebomb.  We have that neat Double Stud Plate, a bar plate, two clip plates, and two wedge plates, along with all the Kreon attachments.

Kreon Headlock.  I see a bar plate, a clip plate, a grooved cheese slope, and two cones, along with the Kreon attachments.

Kreon Razorclaw.  I see a clip plate, a grooved cheese slope, and two cones, along with the Kreon attachments.  That piece in the middle is cloth.  It acts as the mane in Razorclaw's animal form.






Kreon Torox.  Two cones, jumper plates, and clip plates, a double bar plate, a 1x3 Slope, and 1x1 round plate w/bar, along with the Kreon attachments.

Parts.  Here's where it gets interesting.  There are five 1x2 Modified Bricks w/Bar and what looks to be a Technic hole.  There are also five 1x2 Modified Plates w/Vert. Clip and some other sort of attachment.  These parts should be really interesting to play with.  There's also a Kreon's "hip" part to play with, along with three more Double Stud Plates, two jumper plates, two 2x2 plates, two grooved cheese slopes, two 1x2 slopes, a 1x1 round plate,


The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  The Kreons are good for 4P scale.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: B- (-5).  This one could be a good army maker at 4P scale.  Especially if you find it at $0.07 per piece like I did.

Purity: A0794 Battle Boat Review

This one has been out for a while.  It's finally dropped down to an affordable price with TRU's Clearance sale.

Bag.  Normal retail is $4.99, and that gives us a price per piece of $0.19.  Which explains why I waited so long to buy one.

Instructions.

Parts.  There's not really much here.  Those funky brick + round brick SNOT pieces in black are nice.  I also like the two piece steering wheel.  The sci-fi bazooka could also come in handy.

There's a poster included that really pads out the polybag.

Front.

Back.

Kreon.

Here's a quick IO Frigate I built.  This is about the most you're going to get out of this set.  It does come with its own stand though!

The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: B- (-5).  Buy this one if you want the parts.  Otherwise it really doesn't have much to recommend.  It's currently on 60% Clearance at Toys'R'Us so you should be able to get it for a decent price.

Purity: A2234/A2205 Transformers Dragon Assault Review

This set and the other small Beast Hunters set are both on the bad side of the price/piece-count ratio.  Yet they both intrigue me with handfuls of useful parts.

Box.  MSRP is $6.60 for 42 pieces.  Price per piece of $0.16.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts.  Lots of those double Horizontal Clip Plates.  A couple of Clip Plates, Open End Bar Plates, plus a handful of Closed End Bar Plates make this a good choice for arm or leg articulation.

Kreon.  That backpack and gun look like useful little bits.

Super Mecha Insect.  I think this is a pretty fun little build.  It did take me a while to get the backpack connection to work though.  It's also missing a jumper and the Kreon's gun which would have given it 2Rd+d8/2Rh/1G/2W for stats.

Dude!  Where are my arms?!?

And, for a moment of fun, a Micro-Kreon.

The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Not really.  (-5)
Score: B- (-5).  This one's a parts set.  It's currently on 50% Clearance at Toys'R'Us so you should be able to get it for a decent price.

Random Bits

Here's a few pieces of information for your Monday morning.

Sale Alert.
Target is running a sale of $25 each on three different Lego Movie sets.  These sets are already a good deal and this just enhances it.  Other Movie, Creator, and City sets are also on sale.

Another Lego Ideas Submission.
Mugbearer has another submission to Lego Ideas.  In the FAQ he specifically calls out making a "Tabletop Miniatures Wargame" for his submission.  Hmmnnnnn, what if there already was one?  :-)

Neat 3rd party stuff.
I came across this from an article on Brickset.  A company called Minifigs.me is making printed tiles in a few different sizes.  The smallest one is a 1x2 Tile.  I think this one may be my favorite.  They're based in England, so be careful about shipping costs when ordering.

Non-Human 11

Here's a few mecha for your Friday enjoyment.

K-Drone by Si-MOCs.  This one's sick.  It even has a carrier.

Sunder by Mitch.  Great use of stickers and color on this one.

Mantis 1 by Paradoxboy.  It needs a bit more secondary color for contrast, but this is a great build.

Hungers by Nikita Lazarev.  Very Xenomorph-ish.

World Domination by A Plastic Infinity.  Great color use and composition in this one.  It even has a little bit of scenery for that undersea look.

Battle Report: The First Battle of June (Part 2)

The battle is continued from Part 1.

Top View

Table View

Side View

The following events occurred in the second  round.
Grafvonbarnez dropped control of Stevenik's HVA.
Grafvonbarnez destroyed Tom's Frame Company.
I seized Stevenik's HVA.
Grafvonbarnez dropped control of Stevenik's Cruiser.
Grafvonbarnez seized Tom's Cruiser.
Tom seized Stevenik's Cruiser.
The Doomsday Clock was ticked down to 2 from 6.


The scrum in the center of the battlefield is still pretty tight but it's starting to expand.

Top View

Table View

Side View

The following events occurred in the third  round.
Grafvonbarnez seized then dropped my HVA.
Stevenik seized my HVA.
Tom dropped control of Stevenik's Cruiser.
Stevenik destroyed Tom's Cruiser that was under the control of Grafvonbarnez.
Tom seized my Frigate.
Stevenik  rammed my Frigate.
The Doomsday Clock was ticked down to 0 from 2.

Grafvonbarnez ended up winning.  The scores were Grafvonbarnez (5 Assets) 20 points, Tom (3 Assets) 15 points, Stevenik (4 Assets) 12 points, and myself (1 Asset) 6 points.

Thoughts on IO:

• Even though there were no Support range weapons on any Tactical Asset there was still no place to hide on the table.  Movement is fast enough that you can be brought back into range even if you attempt to flee.  Never mind the "instant movement" of launching a Frame Company.
• I'm not sure I agree with a ship not having some sort of defensive roll against being boarded by a Frame Company beyond having a Point Defense attachment.  Given the utility and strength of Frame Companies that basically demands every ship have at minimum a split range weapon with Point Defense being one of the ranges.
• Keeping track of point totals can be a bit taxing.  Especially with Frame Companies jumping on and off Assets at a moment's notice.

Battle Report: The First Battle of June (Part 1)

On Sunday, June 1st, 2014, four people gathered together to wage interstellar war.  Grafvonbarnez, Tom, Stevenik, and myself inflicted great hurt on each other via little Lego spaceships.  The table we used was only 4 ruler lengths long by 2.25 ruler lengths wide so we ignored the normal "terrain" placement rules.

The squadrons broke down as follows:
Tom (4 Tactical Assets & 7 Systems) = (5 Points per Asset) * (5 total Assets) = 25 Points
Me (3 Tactical Assets & 9 Systems) = (6 Points per Asset) * (4 total Assets) = 24 Points
Grafvonbarnez (4 Tactical Assets & 8 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (5 total Assets) = 20 Points
Stevenik (4 Tactical Assets & 10 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (5 total Assets) = 15 Points.

Tom started out as the Defender.  I was the Primary Attacker, and Grafvonbarnez and Stevenik were the other Attackers.

Here are pictures of the start of the game.

Top View

Table View

Side View

As you can see, we're all sort of arrayed in an arc facing Tom's ships which are in the lower left corner of the Side View picture.  Grafvonbarnez, in the upper left of the same picture, is at least arrayed to take on both Tom and Stevenik -- who is in the upper right of that picture.  I'm in the lower right side of the Side View picture.  Then the dice start rolling.

Top View

Table View

Side View

At the end of the first turn the following had happened.
I had destroyed Tom's Frigate.
Stevnik had destroyed one of my Frigates.
Grafvonbarnez had seized Stevenik's HVA with a Frame Company.
Stevenik had destroyed Grafvonbarnez Cruiser in one shot.
Grafvonbarnez had seized Stevenik's Cruiser with a Frame Company.
The Doomsday Clock was ticked down to 6 from 11.

The battle report will be continued in the next blog post.