Battle Report: Debut Dust-Up

We had a new player for this game.  Pete is a long time associate who finally got hip to the ways of Lego wargaming.  Let's see how things went with a new player in the mix.

The point totals for the beginning of the game were as follows:
Me (3 frames & 11 systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (4 assets) = 28 points. (Ostrichs)
   Lime Medium Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/1B/1Gd8/2W.
   Purple Tank --  2Rd+d8/2B/2W.
   Black Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W.

A Team (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 15 points.  (Enforcers)
   Purple Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.
   White Shoot'n'Scoot -- 2Rd+d8/2G/2W.
   Orange Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Pink Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

Occam's Spork (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 points per asset) * (5 assets) = 15 points.
   Arty (recon by fire) -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Brawler (brawler) -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.
   Rhino (moving wall) -- 2B/2G+d8/2W.
   Mantis -- 2Rh+d8/2G+d8/2W.

Narbey (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 15 points. (Skitterers)
   White Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Lime Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.
   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.
   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

Pete (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 15 points.  (Landsharks)
   Orange Fast Swarmer -- 2Rh+d8/1G+d8/1Y/2W.
   Blue Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.
   Red -- 2Ra+d8/1G/1Y/2W.
   Yellow -- 2Ra+d8/1G/1Y/2W.


Here are the pictures from the start of the game.  Pete volunteered to be Primary Attacker.




Events of Turn 1 (DDC@11): The first action of the game ends up getting passed to Pete who is low man on the totem pole.  His attack from his artillery frame fizzles but I get to strike Occam's Spork's Mantis frame for 2 damage with my Black frame.  A Team's Pink frame then hits the Mantis frame for 1 more.  In revenge Occam's Spork's Arty frame hits my Black frame for 2.  Narbey's White frame hits my Purple frame for 1.  A Team's Purple frame unloads on Narbey's White frame for 4!  Narbey's Red frame attacks Occam's Spork's Arty frame for 1 and Narbey's Lime frame also hits it for 3.  Pete finishes out the round with an attack from his Red frame hitting my Purple frame for 2.

Me: 28 points.

A Team: 15 points.

Occam's Spork: 15 points.

Narbey: 15 points.

Pete: 15 points.

Events of Turn 2 (DDC@9): A Team's Orange frame hits Occam's Spork's Mantis frame for 1 damage, the Mantis frame then seizes my Station that I had left undefended.  In retaliation Occam's Spork's Rhino frame hits A Team's Orange frame for 1 damage then seizes her Station.  He then targets Narbey's Lime frame with his Arty frame and does 2 damage.  Narbey's White frame then does 1 damage to A Team's Purple frame.  A Team's Purple frame then proceeds to destroy Occam's Spork's Mantis frame and seize the Station it was defending.  Over in the corner, Narbey's Red frame destroys Occam's Spork's Arty frame.  Unfortunately for Narbey Occam's Spork had already maneuvered his Brawler frame over to keep control of his Station.  My Lime frame then destroys A Team's Purple frame with 2 damage but I can't move close enough to regain the Station.  Left free to his devices at the end of the turn, Pete's Orange frame destroys my Purple frame with 2 damage.  Then his Blue frame destroys my Lime frame with 3 damage.

Narbey: 15 points.

Pete: 15 points.

Occam's Spork: 12 points.

A Team: 12 points.

Me: 7 points.

Events of Turn 3 (DDC@6): Pete's Yellow frame opens up the turn by hitting Narbey's Lime frame for 2 damage.  Occam's Spork's Brawler then tags it for 2 more.  Narbey's White frame then destroys the terrain it was hiding behind in a fit of pique.  Pete's Blue frame proceeds to destroy it with 2 damage.  Occam's Spork's Rhino frame hits A Team's Orange frame for 2 damage which then destroys my Black frame with a 5 point hit.  In the ongoing battle for Occam's Spork's Station, Narbey's Red frame hits Occam's Spork's Brawler for 2.

Pete: 15 points.

Narbey: 12 points.

Occam's Spork: 12 points.

A Team: 12 points.

Me: 0 points.

Events of Turn 4 (DDC@4): A Team's Orange frame opens up the turn by hitting Narbey's Red frame for 1.  Pete swings his forces towards the Station in the center.  His Yellow frame hits A Team's Pink frame for 1, then his Blue frame hits the "Stargate" for 1 damage.

Pete: 15 points.

Narbey: 12 points.

Occam's Spork: 12 points.

A Team: 12 points.

Me: 0 points.

Events of Turn 5 (DDC@2): Narbey's Red frame hits A Team's Pink frame for 1.  Pete's Red frame does the same, then his Blue frame destroys it with 1 damage.  Narbey seizes the Station that A Team lost with his Red frame that had moved beside it.  A Team's Orange frame then hits Pete's Red frame for 1 damage.  Occam's Spork solidifies his position by having his Brawler destroy Narbey's Lime frame with 4 damage, removing the threat to his Station.

Pete: 15 points.

Narbey: 12 points.

Occam's Spork: 12 points.

A Team: 6 points.

Me: 0 points.

Thoughts & Observations:

• I really should have thought out my squad better.
• Also, I should have come to the table with an actual plan.
• Single Shot Rockets were not used in this game.
• I think I missed some events during Turn 4.
• Once again the new player won the game.

Review: Red XBotz

Another review in an attempt to bring you more items you can use to play Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack.

Front of package.  I picked this up for $1.50 at 5Below.

Back of package.  As you can see

there are three different versions.

Parts.  The connection on some of the joints isn't great.  I really had to push one of the arms on to get it to stay.

Size Comparison.

Assembled.  I'm guessing 2Rd+d8/2Y/2W for stats.

The Questions:
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  Below.  (+5)
Is it a good size to use in a game?  Yes.  It's a little on the large size but I'll allow it.  (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Four.  (+5)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  Not bad for a find in a markdown store.

Sales Alert

Target is running a couple of sales this week.  First up is 15% off Crossbones’ Hazard Heist or Black Panther Pursuit.  If you click through, you'll see there's a lot more than just two sets listed though.  The second is 20% off All Nexo Knights, Minecraft and City sets.  Which is just fantastic in and of itself.

Toys'R'Us is running a sale on 20% off select Lego Disney Princess sets, 20% off Marvel Lego sets, and 20% off DC Lego sets.  There are rumors of a Mega Bloks Halo sale, but nothing is showing up online.

Review: Gundam Assault Kingdom Kampfer A

I've had this sitting around for a while -- since the last round of Gundam Converge reviews -- and I'm finally reviewing it.  This is one of my favorite Gundam designs, so I'm interested to see what the final result is.

Box.  I bought this at Barnes & Noble for $9.95.

Instructions.  On the inside of the box again.

Parts.  The hands and the Mine Whip come attached to sprues.  Be careful assembling the whip as the attachment points are tight and can easily be snapped off.

Assembled.  All of the joints have a decent range of motion.

Equipped.  So it has a shotgun (2Rd), whip (2Rh), and two rockets (SSR2).  There are more removable pieces but I wouldn't really designate them as "Attachments".

The Questions:
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame?  At.  (0)
Is it a good size to use in a game?  Yes.  It's a little larger than the Chub.  (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems?  Two.  (0)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +10 (A-).  It needs a few more pieces to have a better score.

Double Set Challenge

I'm sure by now all of you are familiar with my Single Set Challenge.  This is something similar that I've been mulling over for a while.  I reviewed the Mega Bloks Hot Wheels polybags and -- while you can build something with them -- there's not quite enough pieces to build something interesting.  So I decided to take two of the same set and combine the pieces.  Viola!  Instant interesting build.


Red Cruiser.

Green Cruiser.

Yellow Cruiser.

Blue Cruiser.

I also tried it with a slightly larger set, the Star Wars ARC-170 Starfighter polybag, and was able to make this.  Flickr page.


I also made a couple of mecha from the 82691 Kre-O Transformers Battlechangers Hound set just to show it could be done with those too.  Flickr page.





Although both of those last sets violate the rules I'm about to stipulate.

Rules:
1.) Pick a small set, it can be any set old or current, but it can't be more than 50 pieces.
2.) Build any number of items from that set.
3.)You don't have to use all the parts but you have to use only those parts in the set.
4.)To keep things fair, I say everyone goes by the Bricklink Catalog set lists.
5.)You can do this "in the brick", on LDD, LDraw, or any old way you can manage put some bricks together.

You can post a link to your results in the Comments section of this page.  You can also post a picture to the Flickr group,  the Hangar forums, or the Facebook group as I'll be cross-posting this challenge to those sites as well.

I look forward to seeing what people build.

Sales Alert

Both Target and Toys'R'Us are running Star Wars Lego sales this week.  Target is 20% off three select sets, with 10% off other sets.  Toys'R'Us is 20% off of Star Wars Lego.  Good hunting!

News

Since it's a holiday for me -- and Labor Day to boot -- I'm just going to do a quick blog post of some news items.

First up.  According to Brickset the Mixels line is coming to close with the end of the TV series and the ninth wave of Mixel sets.  This looks like an unconfirmed rumor to me  as I haven't seen any mention of it on other Lego news sites.  Still, you might want to start buying up any Mixels sets you have your eye on.

Second.  A company called Flexo is running a kickstarter for a Lego-compatible project.  They are some flexible tendon-like pieces and the Plates that anchor them.  Pretty interesting and I may back this one.

Purity: Kre-O A6955 Grimlock Street Attack Review

One of the older Kre-O Transformer sets I finally got around to reviewing.

Box.  MSRP is $19.99 for a $0.10 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Stickers.

Kreons.

Parts 1.  The T Rex head.



Parts 2.  Lots of Ball Joint Bricks, Slopes, and Modified Bricks.  Some regular Bricks and Plates too.

Parts 3.  Here's all the fiddly bits we like.  Smaller Ball Joint Plates, Double Sided Plates, Bar Claws, even regular 1x1 Round Bricks!  Plenty of Slopes, Plates, and Barbs too.

Parts 4.  Two nice Arch pieces, two nice Curved Slope roof pieces, along with the three prong Ball Joint piece, and the Inverted Slope pieces all catch my eye.

Build.  I managed two frames out of this one and some terrain.  The one on the left is (2Rd+d8/1B/1G/2W) the one on the right is a Soldier loadout.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  At.  (0)  (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: +15 (A).  An excellent score for a Licensed set.  A double handful of more pieces and it would have made the max score.