Purity: Kre-O A7387 G.I.Joe Outpost Defense Review

I'm going for a trifecta of sorts this week.  Reviews of Lego, Kre-O, and Mega Bloks sets of roughly the same size.  Here's the second entry for the week.

Box.  Amazon has it for $29.99 but I believe the original price was $11.99 for a $0.12 Price per Piece.  This was a Toys'R'Us exclusive.

Instructions.

Kreons.  Not sure why Beachhead has a suppressed AK-47.

I can understand the crossbow for Storm Shadow though.

Parts 1.  Plates, Wedge Plates, Tires, Rims,
Mudguards, Axle Plates, Bricks, Round Bricks,
Kreon Dynamite, two Kreon Guns, and a Tile.
  

Parts 2.  Tiles, Plates, Jumpers, Bar Plates, Clip Tiles, Slopes, Headlight Bricks, Kreon guns, Kreon Handlebars, and some sort of 1x3 Double Jumper.

Build.  A battlecart (2Rd/1G/2Y/2W+SSR(x2)) and a 1 Hit wall.  I

 probably could have made a Station but it was late and I was tired.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- 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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  A Frame, Terrain, and plenty of pieces left over.  A better price could have made this a good set.  Unfortunately the score is a little suspect because I don't have an accurate price.

Review: 75160 Star Wars Microfighter Series 4 U-Wing

Here's a Microfighter review for Monday morning.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.09 Price per Piece

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts 1.  Plates, Slopes, Cones, Technic Pins, Mod. Plates w/Pin Hole, Technic Link Cylinders, Technic Bushings, Round Tiles,Grille Tile, and Minfig Blaster.

Parts 2.  Minifig Heads,Plates, Hinge Plates, Stud Shooters, Brackets, Inverted Slopes, and a Large Jumper.

Build.  Weird Walker (2Rd+d8/1G/1Y)

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  I thought this was going to be a cool set but, there just aren't enough SNOT pieces for my taste.  Two Friction Pins would have changed everything about this set.

A Lego Blog That Might Interest People

Keeping in "theme" with the last few posts this month, I'm pointing out the Little Brick Root blog to people.  It's a fairly standard Lego blog with pictures of cool stuff, but where it really shines are the posts about Lego building techniques.  Of greater interest to the MFZ community are his posts on microscale tree building techniques.  I know I'm going to be using some of them in the future.

Terrain Workshop

Since I had a little time before the last game started, I took a shot of the empty table.

The game area is 57" by 38" for a total area of 2,166".  There are 33 total pieces of Cover on the board.

Now, let's look at the table with all the player's pieces set up.

Doesn't look quite so empty does it?  This is what I was talking about in point number three of the Terrain Primer post.  The small tree clusters cover 2.34", the large ones 9.38".  The wall sections cover 7.03", the Moai cover 3.5", and the tower covers 1.56".  That all totals up to 69.48".  Subtract that from the total area of the battlefield leaves us with 2096.52".  Which, astonishingly, leaves 97% of the battlefield open.  A shorter, square battlefield (38" x 38") would have had a total area of 1,444".  With terrain that would have left us with 1374.52" of open space.  That table would be 95% open space.  Which is a long way of saying that (Total Table Area - (Total Pieces of Cover * Total Area of those Pieces)) = a variable that really can't be planned for unless you play on the same table constantly.  Also, as long as all the players are happy with the amount of cover on the table does it matter how much area it actually covers?

Also, this set up "violates" the formula I put forth in point number two of that blog post as well.  The wall sections take 2 Hits before being reduced under the Height Minimum for Cover.  Each individual tree will take 3 Hits before being destroyed.  The Moai and the tower take 5 Hits before being destroyed.  So the light cover is only 6% of the total, the medium cover is 85%, and the heavy cover is 9%.  I'm not sure if that is reflected in the fact that only three pieces of Cover were damaged through the entire game.  That is something that I'll have to research in my battle reports.

Post Game Interview 3

I broke out the questionnaires at the last game because Narbey hadn't had the chance to fill one out yet.

Here are the questions I asked.

1.) Why did you choose the squad composition and size that you brought to today's game?

Chuck: I thought I should try to optimize a bit for points.
Narbey: I like artillery.
Tom: Wanted to use my new guys, wanted to be offensive, went down a System to try and squeeze an extra PPA point.
Me: I wanted to test a theory about a new squad composition we had discussed after the game at Greenfield Games.

2.) Did you have a strategy for today's game?

Chuck: Yes, of course I did.
Narbey: No.
Tom: Yes.
Me: Yes.

2a.) If so, what was it?

Chuck: Don't suck.
Narbey: It involved dragons but dragons are not allowed.
Tom: All out offense, utter destruction.
Me: Run Away.

3.) Why did you place your squad on the table the way you did at the start of the game?

Chuck: Tried to keep them somewhat together, but I don't think it will work very well.
Narbey: Put most Frames behind cover.  Should have put Station and artillery behind cover like Chuck.
Tom: I attempted to set up close to the center, so I could make a ??? ??? to all players, but Occam's Spork stuck some guys behind me requiring me to place guys back there to deal with him.
Me: I wanted to push everyone out as far away from me as possible.

4.) Did your strategy for today's game change at any point while we were playing?
Chuck: Yes.
Tom: Not really changed, but I wasn't able to execute it well.
Me: Not really

4a.) If so, how?
Chuck: I tried to take the center Station, and was able to hold it, but I lost too many Frames for it to make a difference.
Tom: Occam's Spork rolled really well in the 1st round, dealt damage to my guy and I didn't really do much to him.  That slowed me down and I spent the whole second round ??? at his guys.  So I wasn't able to attack other players like I needed to do.

5.) Any personal comments you'd like to add?
Me: This was a very interesting game with a lot of idiosyncrasies.

The answers I received are under the corresponding questions.  Any mistakes in reporting are mine.  Occam's Spork declined to answer, citing it would give away his secret to victory in this game.

I hope this gives some insight to the strategy and tactics of the Sand & Trees game.

Battle Report: Sand & Trees

For the last weekend of September the usual suspects got together to play another game of MFZ: Rapid Attack.  There were a number of experiments going on with this game.  I tried combining two setting ideas for the first time.  I also tested the trees for an upcoming setting.  I was also trying out a new squad idea.

Me (3 Frames & 12 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (4 assets) = 28 points.  (The Draz)
   Blue Defender -- 2B/1G+d8/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Red Defender -- 2B/1G+d8/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Grey Defender -- 2B/1G+d8/1Y/2W + SSR.

Occam's Spork (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (5 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 25 points.
   Grey Spotting Bodyguard -- 2Rd/2Rh/1B/1Y/2W +SSR.
   Green Spotting Bodyguard -- 2Rd/2Rh/1B/1Y/2W +SSR (x2).
   Orange Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Blue Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

Narbey (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (5 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 25 points.  (Skitterers)
   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   White Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Yellow Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

Chuck (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (5 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 25 points.
   Purple Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Yellow Light Tank -- 2Rd/2B/2W.
   Red Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W + SSR.
   White Moving Wall -- 2B/2G+d8/2W + SSR (x2).

Tom (5 Frames & 19 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (6 assets) = 18 points.
   White Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Purple Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Green Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Red Static Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1Y/2W.
   Yellow Squad Leader -- 2Rd/1B/2Y/2W.

This is what the table looked like at the start of the game.

Events of Turn 1 (DDC @ 11): I capture Tom's Station with my Red frame before the game starts.  My Red frame then moves into cover behind the nearest wall.  Occam's Spork's Orange frame opens the game with a thunderous strike to Chuck's Red frame, dealing 6 damage and destroying it.  Occam's Spork's Grey frame moves up and claws Tom's Green frame for 3.  Tom's Green frame moves into cover behind the Moai and hits Occam's Spork's Green frame for 2.  Occam's Spork's Green frame hits Tom's Purple frame for 2.  Tom's Purple frame turns towards Occam's Sporks Frames and buzzsaws Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 2.  Narbey's Yellow frame targets Tom's Red frame but blasts the top off the tower instead with 3 damage.  Narbey's White frame moves to the other side of the trees and hits Chuck's White frame for 1.  Narbey's Orange frame hits my Blue frame for 2 which then retreats towards my Station.  Chuck's Purple frame hits Occam's Spork's Green frame for 2.

Me: 35 points.
Occam's Spork: 25 points.
Narbey: 25 points.
Chuck: 20 points.

Tom: 15 points.

Events of Turn 2 (DDC @ 8): Occam's Spork's Orange frame hits hits Tom's White frame for 1.  Tom's White frame closes range and buzzsaws Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 2 after climbing on its back.  Occam's Spork's Blue frame punches back for 3.  Tom's Yellow frame hits Occam's Spork's Green frame for 1.  Tom's Purple frame chases down and buzzsaws Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 1.  Narbey's Red frame hops over the tree stand then hits my Blue frame for 1 and the tree it was hiding behind for 3.  Narbey's Yellow frame follows up that strike with 2 damage that destroys my Blue frame.  Tom's Green frame moves out of cover and hits Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 1.  Chuck's White frame hits Narbey's White frame for 3, then runs over and captures my Station.  My Red frame launches its SSR and hits Tom's Red frame for 3.  Chuck's Yellow frame hits Narbey's White frame for 1.

Occam's Spork: 25 points.
Narbey: 25 points.
Me: 21 points.
Chuck: 20 points.

Tom: 15 points.

Events of Turn 3 (DDC @ 5): Occam's Spork's Grey frame jumps over and captures Tom's Station that I was controlling.  Narbey's Yellow frame hits Chuck's White frame for 1 and it does the Station Dance.  Occam's Spork's Green frame moves towards chuck's Station, launches its SSR, and hits Chuck's Purple frame for 1.  Chuck's Purple frame hits Narbey's White frame for 1.  Occam's Spork's Orange frame hits Chuck's Purple frame for 1 and the Moai it was using as cover for 2.  Narbey's White frame hits Chuck's White frame for 2 then moves beside my former Station.  Tom's Purple frame buzzsaws Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 1, it does the Station Dance, and Tom takes his Station back.  Narbey's Orange frame moves towards the next stand of trees and hits Chuck's White frame for 1.  My Grey frame glides up beside Narbey's White frame -- that has a 0 Defense -- double hammerfists it for 7, and destroys it.  Tom's Red frame hits Occam's Spork's Grey frame for 4, destroying it.  My Red frame moves over beside Tom's Station.  Chuck's Yellow frame hits Tom's Red frame for 2, destroying it.

Chuck: 25 points.
Occam's Spork: 20 points.
Narbey: 20 points.
Tom: 15 points.
Me: 14 points.

{And somehow I forgot to take pictures of this round.}

Events of Turn 4 (DDC @ 2): Narbey's Orange frame hits Chuck's White frame for 1 then moves up to my former Station.  Occam's Spork's Orange frame hits Chuck's Purple frame for 2 and the Moai for 2.  Occam's Spork's barely surviving Green frame -- it has 1 White die left -- lurches across the battlefield, smashes into Chuck's Purple frame for 5, destroys it, and captures the Station it was guarding.  Occam's Spork's Blue frame punches Tom's White frame for 2, destroying it and finally getting the monkey off its back.  Tom's Yellow frame moves towards the scrum around my former Station and hits Chuck's White frame for 1, destroying it.  Tom's Purple frame moves down the battlefield towards Occam's Spork's Station and hits Occam's Spork's Blue frame for 2 which then does the Station Dance.  My Red frame captures Tom's Station again.  The Doomsday Clock is ticked to zero.

Occam's Spork: 25 points.
Me: 21 points.
Narbey: 20 points.
Chuck: 10 points.

Tom: 9 points.

Here's a bunch of during/aftermath pictures.

Tom's White Frame, Turn 1

Tom's White Frame, Closeup,Turn 1

Occam's Spork's Station, Turn 2

Occam's Spork's Station, Turn 2

My Station, Turn 4

My Station, Turn 4

Tom's Station, Turn 4

Chuck's Station, Turn 4

The table, Turn 4

Thoughts & Observations:

• The composition of my squad was conceived over dinner after the game in Greenfield.  The base concept was inspired by the whole "Always Punch Up" conversation from the RA game before that.
• I wasn't sure what I wanted to use for a setting for this game.  I didn't want to debut the setting that I'm going to use at PAX Unplugged, I felt the Oasis setting still needed a little work, and I didn't have time to dig the Science Colony setting out of storage.
• So I combined the Oasis setting with the trees for the PAX Unplugged setting.  It seemed to work okay.
• We had a roll off to determine Defender between me and Occam's Spork.
• Concerning that opening salvo from Occam's Spork's frame -- I had Spotted Chuck's frame for 6 and Occam's Spork's Attack was 6 versus a Defense of 2 -- it was commented that that was the first time we've had an instant kill on the first attack of the game.
• Occam's Spork's Frames dealt out 30 points of Damage this game.
• There were eight Frames destroyed in this game.  Which is, I think, a record for us.
• I made a rookie mistake and ignored Occam's Spork's heavily damaged Green frame.  I should have attacked it on Turn 3 and made a play for Chuck's Station.
• Only having three Direct Fire attacks for the entire game had me lost in analysis paralysis for a lot of it.
• It felt like the game broke down into fights between Chuck & Narbey and Tom & Occam's Spork, with me in the middle going "What do I do now?".
• This might not have been our best game, it took us forever to play, but I think we're going to be talking about it for a long time.
• Tom was having fun posing his White frame for the camera.

Toys'R'Us Returning?

According to several sources, the owners of the Toys'R'Us intellectual property cancelled the auction for said IP and are looking to reorganize and open new retail sites.  This article doesn't get too technical but it doesn't pull any punches about the BS surrounding the company's demise.  As other people have said it's probably too late for them to get in on this year's Christmas.  But it would be nice to see people potentially get their jobs back.