Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 4: Chandra Nalaar

Chandra Nalaar is a red mage turned into a card. Her abilities are all based on dealing damage directly to creatures and players. This is no bad thing.

Chandra Nalaar costs five mana to cast, two of which must be red. She enters the battlefield with six loyalty counters. She has three abilities.

The first ability adds one loyalty counter and deals one point of damage to a player. At the melee table this can be quite an interesting ability, as you have four potential targets.

The second ability is -x, where you can choose how many counters to remove. Chandra will then deal that much damage to target creature. This can be a very useful ability, used to remove a troublesome attacker or blocker the turn you cast Chandra. As she starts with six counters, this ability can be used to deal up to six damage in this way.

The final ability combines the multiplies the effect of the first two. For a cost of removing eight loyalty counter, Chandra Nalaar will deal ten damage to a player and also to each of that player’s creatures. This ability can be used to finish off a player who is low on life, or else simple remove a large attacking force coming your way, or a large blocking force giving you trouble. All in all, Chandra Nalaar provides a neat little package for the red mage, combining what would otherwise be several cards into one card with multiple abilities.

Verdict: Marginal. A deck built around Chandra Nalaar is unlikely to do well, but the card is a useful addition to some other decks.

Connections: Like Chandra Nalaar? You may also like [Ajani Vengeant] [Koth of the Hammer] [Chandra, the Firebrand]

Don’t like Chandra Nalaar? You may prefer [Ajani Goldmane] [Jace Beleren] [Garruk Wildspeaker]

 

 

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South Burnett Boardgames

For those living further north than Brisbane, coming to LXG meetings is not going to be a regular thing. Fear, not for we have received word recently of the South Burnett Boardgames Society. These boardgamers meet quite regularly in the area to gather and play some favourites, including Settlers of Catan and Pandemic.

For more information, and word of their meetings, check out their Facebook page.

A League of Extraordinary Gamers Review by Truhlsrohk – Dungeon Run (Pt 1)

Hi all,

Thought I would do a review of the game Dungeon Run. This is usually a game for 1 – 4 players although it can be played with 5-6 or as in this case SOLO. In the normal game, it is played as a co-operative game to start with, with the objective to get the Summoning Stone out of the dungeon alive…. Players work together to find the Boss Lair. Here they must defeat the Boss, grab the stone and hightail it out of there! Up until someone picks up the stone, you cannot be killed. You get knocked out. But once the stone is claimed and the end game starts… you die and are knocked out of the game…

Players can level up during the game and each character has unique abilities that can also be added to as you become more experienced. Treasures can also help, but only if you are trained to use them! I will run through a number of single dungeons (with a story line) and hopefully give you an insight into how the game plays.

Story will be in this text and game rules and explinations in this.

So let’s begin……

The war was not going well, infact the realms future was looking bleak. Up until now. The court historian had found a scroll that mentioned a “Summoning Stone” hidden and guarded by vile creatures in the catacombs below the city. The Summoning Stone had uniques powers that the king felt may turn the tide against the foe and ensure the future safety of the realm. The eight entrances to the catacoms had been sealed in his great grandfathers days and many deemed that a good thing, but maybe now was the time to reopen them in search of the Summoning Stone…..

The texts mentioned that the stone would turn friends into enemies, so it was deemed that 8 champions would be found and each would enter by a seperate gate. The one who brought out the stone would be a hero, the others, if they returned would be heaped with glory for the efforts they made. Eight heroes stepped up and the king allocated them their entrances.

By the North Gate: Birodin – The Mountain Vargath Aspirant, By the South Gate: Emma Goodluck – The Adventuring Grounder, By the West Gate: Paelleall – The Phoenix Elf Ranger, By the East Gate: Vargagg – The Tundra Orc Outcast, By the Gate of Darkness: Dorgan – The Dwarven Treasure Hunter, By the Gate of Fear: The Fourth Vessel – The Corrupted Acolyte, By the Gate of Wrath: Addolgar Vayne – Questing Knight of the Vanguards and lastly, by the blackest of holes: Stabbins – The Cave Goblin Sneak.

In the game at set up, players are randomly given a character from those above. Each character has a set of ability cards which are shuffled face down. Two are drawn and the player decides which one to keep and discards the other. This creates a slightly different charater each time you play. You repeat this as you level up thereby getting a little stronger each level. In the solo game, abilities are disregarded and not used. Each character also has two unique abilities on its card plus another that only comes into play in the end game when you have the stone.

The Fate of Birodin

Birodin stood looking at the dark doorway. He listened as he let his eyes adjust to the dimness. There was no turning back now… he moved into the darkness through the doorway before him, a silent prayer to his gods on his lips…

 Players set up the enterance tile and place their model on it. Each turn, the player can complete two actions: Move, Escape, Battle, Equip, Search or Advance. I will explain these as I use them. The first action here was move. If the player is on a board edge he may draw a tile and place it (legally) next to the tile he is on. You can’t place a tile if doorways do not align. The play moves his model onto that tile. There are two types of tile, basic and special. When moving onto a basic tile (in this case) you roll one dice and consult the small chart at the base of the tile to see what happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As Birodin enters the room a large and filthy Mole Ogre turns to face him…

 

This tile has Treasure 1-3 and Encounter 4-6. I rolled a 4 causing an encounter. I turn over the top card of the encounter deck and find the Mole Ogre…. A monster will always attack as soon as you enter the tile.

 

With a gutteral scream, the huge ogre charged Birodin it’s wicked claws that are used to gouging rock scything through the air. One claw caught his shoulder and agony spread across his face.

 

The Mole Ogre has 6 attacks and rolled 665521, Biodin has a Brawn rating of 5, and a Magic rating of 3. He can use lightining to add another 3 dice to his Magic rating but takes 1 wound if he does so. He decides to roll his Brawn and scores 65521. Now the Mole Ogre scores a potential hit of 5 & 6 so has 4 potential hits. Birodin can use his dice to block or wound the Ogre. The Ogres defence is 4+. Birodin can only block 3 attacks and so takes a wound.

 

Birodin instantly presses the attack (second action – battle, unfortunately the Ogre rolls first, monsters always do…), again the claws rake across his body and another welt shows through his armour.

 

The Ogre rolled 655421, Birodin rolled 44332 and takes another wound. The turn now ends. Turn two begins…..

 

Birodin has no choice but to fight on, his chance of escape is slim and the shame of returning empty handed is to great a thing to concieve. He yells as he swings at the Ogre. (Action 1 – Battle)

 

To escape from a monster, you must beat its escape rating (in this case 4+) by rolling a number of dice equal to your skill rating. Birodin has a skill of 2. If he fails to roll 4+ on one of those dice he would face a free attack from the Ogre.

 

The Gods must be against him! He staggers as once again the savage claws rip into his flesh. He can start to feel his energy waining….

 

The Ogre rolled 665542 (this Ogre is unbelievable….) and Birodin rolled 55533 (he’s also being quiet lucky believe it or not….) Let’s have a look at the Ogre….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Through the fog of pain, Birodin fights on… (Action 2 – Battle). His mailed fist slams into the Ogres jaw, stunning the brute and knocking out a large tooth.

 

Ogre rolls 666322 and Birodin rolls 65442, now note here that Birodin only needs to roll 4+ to hit the Ogre. ANY successful hit can be used to block so Birodin can use a 4 to block a 6. As he hit the Ogre 4 times he scores 1 wound on the Ogre – GO Birodin! End of Turn. Turn 3 starts.

 

The Ogre howls in rage and throws itself upon poor Birodin (Action 1 – Battle), who wildly tries to fend of f the enraged beast. He yells out in pain as the creature sinks it’s foul teeth into his already wounded shoulder.

 

Ogre rolls 665543 (can someone please check the dice?) and Boridin rolls 55432 taking 1 wound.

 

Birodin is now desperate and with all his might shoves the beast away and races for the door closest to him in a bold effort to escape (Action 2 – escape), nowing that it may be his last chance. The beast staggers and howls as his foe disappears in the darkness of the doorway.

 

Birodin needs to roll 4+ on one of the 2 dice he has for skill. he rolls 52. Maybe the Gods do watch over him…

 

As Birodin lunges through the doorway he finds himself leaping from instinct as a channel of icy water passes below his feet. He lands safely on the other side and collapses against the wall trying to catch his breath.

 

 

Safe for the moment..

 

 The next room was a special tile called “Underground Channel”. Special rooms must be resolved immediately. This one states: Roll Brawn upon entering 2 rolls of 4+ = Success Failure = 2 wounds. Birodin rolled 64421 and succesfully jumped the channel. Had he failed he would have drowned as he only has 2 wounds left….  Before the end of turn when tiles contain monsters without a hero they roam. In a multiplayer game, the player who has the first turn button may move the monsters one tile. The Mole Ogre however has a special ability called Burrow. When he roams he can be moved to any eligible tile in play. As I am the only player I randomised the tile by die roll and he decided to stay where he was nursing his empty tooth socket. End of Turn. Turn 4 begins.

 

Birodin considered his options while resting. They way back meant another jump and a possible re-encounter with the Ogre. He reluctantly concluded that he had to go on. (Action 1 – Move). Cautiously moving forward, he surveyed the next room. Nothing moved. (Action 2 – Search)His eye caught something stuck amongst the roots growing in the corner. He moved over to investigate. It was a Bow. Wonderful…. next to useless to him as he had never trained with one. He attached it to his backpack, it looked enchated and could be worth a nice amount to someone…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Trueshot Bow.... Next to useless

 

On entering the room I rolled a 3. The tile indicates a treasure for 1-3 and encounter 4-6. The Trueshot Bow adds 1 extra dice when rolling with Brawn. Now this would have been good, but Birodin cannot use it. Each treasure has various training requirements and this ones are WAR and TALENT. Birodin has PRAYER so cannot equip this item. End Turn. Start Turn 5. The Ogre again decided to stay put (random roll).

  

Time to push on (Action 1 – Move)… In the next room, standing against the far wall, was a suit of armour. Birodin carefully looked around. He stepped into the room and as he did, the armour lunged at him! He felt light headed, as though he had no strength! He would have to rely on his magic…. Something was amiss here! In the split second all this happened, Birodin unleashed a Lightning Bolt at the armour which he now realised was a Golem of Waels. He had read of these creature that sap your strength…… He felt the damage the spell did to his body and swayed slightly. Both opponents missed their targets and staggered back to face each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Opponent!

 

 This room reads 1-4 Treasure and 2-6 Encounter. It is possible to get both on a roll of 2-4. Unfortunately I rolled a 6 and only got the encounter – a Golem of Waels. This creature (below) does not allow you to use Brawn and has a defence of 6+ making it hard to hit, he also hits you on a 4+ but only has 3 attacks. On the up side, you only need to hit it once…… The Golem immediately attacked and rolled 322 all misses, Birodin had to use his magic rating (3 dice) and also used his lightning ability to add 3 more in an attempt to get a hit. In doing so he had to take a wound – he is now only 1 wound away from death. he rolled………. 544321 all misses……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One tough cookie.

 

 Birodin knew he could not risk the lightning again… He prayed to his Gods and lashed out at the Golem one last time (Action 2 – Battle). His aim was off, maybe due to his loss of blood or just pure fatigue. The Golem looked down upon him and drove its sword deep into his chest and then again… Birodin slumped to the ground, his last breath a plea to his Gods to accept his soul into the afterlife. The Golem marched back to it’s spot near the wall and once again stood motionless until the next intruder entered it’s domain.

 

The Golem Rolled 662 and poor Birodin rolled 551 receiving 2 wounds (remember he needed 6′s to hit)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so it ends....

 

 I hope you enjoyed this run through. Part 2 will follow the exploits of Emma Goodluck. See you then.

 

Regards Truhlsrohk.

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 3: Liliana Vess

The first black planeswalker is thoroughly evil and therefore thoroughly suited to the melee. Table. Her abilities can reach any player in your range to truly ruin their day (and make you smile). Also, Liliana can bring the card you need to the top of your library when you need it, always useful when you need a particular card now.

Liliana Vess costs five mana to cast (two of them black), and enters the battlefield with five loyalty counters. She has three abilities, and as with Ajani Goldmane and Jace Beleren her first and third abilities are connected, while the second is useful on its own.

The first ability adds a Loyalty counter and causes target player to discard a card. There are times when the best player to target will be yourself, but usually you can look left and right and see which of your four opponents in range would be the best to target with this ability. Removing cards before people get to use them is good. With Liliana as you will see, if this causes them to discard a creature card, so much the better.

Liliana Vess’ second ability is another black ability, the tutor. For the cost of two loyalty counters, you may search your library for the card of your choice and put that card on top of your library. Now you can be sure of drawing something useful! There there nothing wrong with casting Liliana Vess and using this ability for the first two turns, before switching to her +1 ability. Two cards of your choice can often mean the death of an opponent.

The third ability is huge for Grand Melee especially. For the cost of 8 loyalty counters, take all creature cards from all graveyards and put them onto the battlefield under your control. Including yourself, that’s five players’ graveyard you get to grab creatures from. This can easily add up to 20 or more creatures, for those of you looking to the achievements in the 2012 Grand Melee League. At most times this gives you a massive advantage that s worth taking the time to build up to.

To finish, Liliana Vess is a worth inclusion in almost any black deck at the grand melee table. Even if you only use her second ability you can set up some devastating combinations. Her first and third abilities combine into a devastating combination of their own, so Liliana Vess is a card that gives you powerful options.

Connections
Like Liliana? You may also like [Sarkhan the Mad], [Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker], or [Liliana of the Veil]
Don’t like Liliana? You may prefer [Ajani Goldmane], [Nissa Revane], or [Chandra, the Firebrand].

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Game Review: Deadwood

(a review by Keith Done)

Deadwood is a relatively new release from Fantasy Flight that has become an instant hit with gamers at LXG. It’s a wild west themed game that uses the title of the famous frontier town made (in)famous by the HBO TV series of the same name. However, while the game shares the same name, it is not a simulation of the TV series in any way.

In Deadwood, each player controls a faction that seeks to make its fortune by fair means or foul before the railway comes to town and Deadwood gets civilized. The one with the most money at the end of the game wins.

You start the game with:

3 cowboys each with a rating of 1, 2 or 3, representing their prowess in a gunfight.
$5 in cold hard cash
A skedaddle token (lets you avoid a gun fight and run for the hills)
A cartridge token (allows you to roll an additional die in a gunfight)

The money and all pieces are printed on thick card stock with the art-work in a wonderful cartoon-style rendering. The board is small and contains three main areas:

Plots (where buildings are set up at the beginning of the game and during the game)
Boot Hill (where dead cowboys go and never re-enter the game!)
The Hideout (where cowboys who skedaddle end up until called home)

There is also the ranches – which are basically an off board areas where you keep your cowboys when not active on the board.

At the beginning of each game you sort out a quantity of buildings into piles labelled 1, 2 and 3. The buildings all have different functions and make every game of Deadwood a different experience. Several buildings (the Sherriff’s Office, the Mayor’s Office and the Saloon) are permanent starting
fixtures every game.

The game mechanics are very simple; basically you have two options each turn – you can send any one (only) of your cowboys on your ranch to a building in town or bring any or all cowboys home to your ranch (this includes cowboys in town or at the hideout).

Each building in town usually provides a once of financial reward that you get when you visit it and another special effect. For example, if I visit the Gunsmith I receive $1 and 2x cartridge tokens. This is a once only effect. I can only get this if I send another cowboy to that building again and the building has to be empty for me to activate it (so i would have to bring the cowboy already occupying the Gunsmith home first before I sent some else to get cartridges an $1,

Some buildings have a special permanent effect (for example if I have a cowboy on the Undertaker’s, I get a one off payment of $1 when I first move there and, as long as I have a cowboy there, every time any cowboy dies I get another $1). There are many buildings with differing effects and what makes Deadwood a challenge is to manage these effects to maximise your income and control of the town.

Of course the different factions will try and occupy key buildings as long as possible and, as only one cowboy can occupy a building (except for the Church) at any one time, you can opt to initiate a gunfight to drive them out. You move a cowboy to an occupied building to do this. The occupier has the option to beat it and run to the Hideout (by playing a skeedadle token (if they have one). If not, a gunfight takes place. Both sides have dice pool equal to the level of their cowboy. Both sides can opt to add one more die by playing a cartridge (if they have one).

Single dies are rolled – 6’skill outright, 4’s and 5’ds do a wound – two wounds = death. If a cowboy’s pool starts with more dice than his opponent, those dice are rolled first and the results applied immediately. If the cowboy with the fewer dice in his pool survives, both cowboys roll the rest of their dice one at a time. All results are simultaneous, the effects taking place after each die is rolled. It is possible for both cowboys to die in a gunfight.

If the occupant of the building is killed (or skeedadles before the fight) the cowboy who started the fight controls the building and immediately collects any money and uses its abilities if applicable. Any cowboy who starts a gunfight also collects a Wanted Poster, which has ramifications on scoring the game. Wanted Posters deduct money from a cowboy faction at the end of the game on an accumulative scale (not just one for one). You can get rid of wanted posters by visiting key buildings like the Church and the mayor’s office.

The mayor’s office is a key part of Deadwood in that it’s special ability brings down more buildings. However, it also forces the player who activated it to lay a piece of railway track, which brings the game closer to conclusion. There are four pieces of track and once a fifth track is to b laid, a station is placed in town and the game ends. Railway tracks must connect and are placed sequentially on empty town plots or, alternately, existing buildings are removed to make way for the railroad (entrenched cowboys are sent to the Hideout).

A strategic benefit of the placement of railroad tracks is that they cause any buildings to activate if they are placed adjacent to sites controlled by cowboys. When the station is placed, all occupied buildings next to it are activated twice.

Deadwood can also end prematurely if any faction has no cowboys on the board or at their ranch (and it can actually be a strategy to get your cowboys killed in gunfights if you are sitting on the highest pot of cash!) Deadwood also ends if the Wanted Poster Pool runs out (unlikely).

My first experience of Deadwood was to have fun going into town and challenging everyone to a gunfight. It was only in later games that I found t winning was a far more subtle game of manipulating control of buildings. You can win without firing a shot by carefully planning to occupy combinations of buildings at the most appropriate time.

In summary, Deadwood takes an average of an hour to play. Its game system is simplistic but its strategies require some forward planning if you are going to come out on top. The interaction between the different buildings that come into play each game makes for a unique game experience every time. The only negative comment is that two of the faction colours, purple and blue are very close and sometimes are mixed up and the ornate skill level numbers on the cowboys get lost in the art-work.

But, other than that, grab a copy of Deadwood and send your cowpokes into town to raise some hell – yeeha! (or you could just have a nice cup of tea at the local church).

4.5 out of 5 stars.

If you enjoyed this review, you may also enjoy our reviews of:

Aqua Romana
Dominion
Settlers of Catan

New Edition of Dungeons and Dragons

It’s been a busy January for gaming, and not just at LXG! Wizards of the Coast recently announced a new edition of their flagship roleplaying product, Dungeons and Dragons.

The current fourth edition, released in 2008 has had a ‘mixed reception’ in the market. New players seem to like it, most existing role players didn’t care for it. With popular new product being released, D&D found itself facing declining sales in a rising market. Never good.

Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG system, built by gamers who preferred the older style of play, now outsells fourth edition. Five years ago, Pathfinder didn’t exist, because it didn’t need to. Also Fantasy Flight Games’ Dark Heresy roleplay system is selling well, based around the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

On the face of it, this is a good year to release a quality RPG system. The market is increasing, even while computer games sales decrease. It seems that people are coming back to the face-to-face interaction offered by RPGs. As the oldest RPG D&D has failed to take advantage of this trend as much as it could have. The fifth edition may well change that. Certainly Wizards of the Coast have committed themselve to extensive playtesting and feedback.

LXG meetings don’t typically involve RPG sessions, even though we have many role players in our membership. The reason is mainly logistical – our current meeting place is one big open hall, a space not conduce to role playing sessions. However December’s trivia contest worked very nicely on the stage area, so it remains a possibility, if any members want to try that out…

More New Games for LXG

The committee managed to pick up another six brand new games for the club at the last meeting. Club member Peter H designs games, and one of the companies he designs for sent him a selection of their games. These games are usually quite difficult to get hold of in Australia so the committee were happy to acquire them!

The games are:
A Castle for All Seasons
Change Horses
Havana
Power Struggle
Principato
Sherwod Forest

These game already appear on our huge list of games, and they should all be available for use on our next meeting day in February.

If you have designed or are thinking about designing a board game, Board Games Australia has some useful pages for you to read.

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 2: Jace Beleren

Jace Beleren is the archetypal blue planeswalker. Aloof and taciturn, and more likely to act on the mind in order to avoid anything resembling physical contact. Jace Beleren has three abilities and these match blue’s ability to ‘mill’ cards from an opponent’s library, and blue’s card drawing.

Jace Beleren costs three mana to cast, enters the battlefield with three loyalty counters, and has three abilities. Jace Beleren is one of the cheapest planeswalkers you can cast, with most costing four, five or six mana to bring to the game.

The first ability adds two loyalty counters. Each player draws a card. As with cards such as Howling Mine, you gain additional cards at the cost of giving other players additional cards too. The advantage with Jace Beleren is that you are building quite quickly towards his third ability.

If you don’t like the idea of giving four other players a card every time you want a card, the Jace Beleren’s second ability is more for you. For the cost of removing a loyalty counter, you and only you draw a card. Casting Jace Beleren for three mana, drawing a card, and then drawing two more cards in successive turns before seeing him off is no bad thing at the melee table. You’ll miss out on his third ability, but maybe you don’t mind that.

The third ability requires the removal of 10 loyalty counters from Jace Beleren. This is a lot, although Jace’s +2 ability means you get there quicker than you might think. Also, if you cast Jace Beleren and only use his first ability, then by the time you are able to use the third ability you’ll have 11 loyalty counters, so Jace Beleren will hand around the battlefield after you use the ability.

The ability lets you target a player and have that player put the top twenty cards of their library into their graveyard. In Grand Melee with a minimum of five other players this is not a particularly exciting ability. Chances are you may very well help that player rather than harm them. When you additionally consider that most players turn up with decks of 80 cards or larger, you are very unlikely to remove anyone with this ability.

In summary Jace Beleren is cheaper than other planeswalkers but has less utility. His first ability helps four other players and his third ability is unlikely to trouble anyone. His second ability is nice but if you’re playing blue you probably have less convoluted ways of drawing three cards. Jace Beleren’s third ability could be useful, but only as part of a deck specifically designed to remove cards from your opponents’ libraries. This is rarely a successful Grand Melee strategy.

Verdict: Weak. A deck based around Jace Beleren is highly unlikely to work, though he has a marginal role in other decks.

Connections
Like Jace? You may also like [Jace, Memory Adept] [Gideon Jura] [Venser, the Sojourner]
Don’t Like Jace? You may prefer [Ajani Goldmane], [Liliana Vess] [Garruk Wildspeaker]

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Grand Melee League, Round 1 Standings

Round 1 of the 2012 Grand Melee league was played out at the meeting on Sunday. Fourteen players turned up, resulting in two tables. As this was the first melee of the year, the tables were divided roughly according to people’s standings from last year. This meant there was no free lunch for the top place getters from 2011, they all had to play one another!

The games went quite similarly at least in score. On table 1, David K took out the game with 4 kills, with Adrian R and Courtney J each collecting a point. On table 2 new club member Tim H took out the game, also with 4 kills. Newcomer but non-member Jacob picked up two points on table 2 – Jacob if you join LXG next month your points will be added in.

Below is the table showing current standings. Players are ranked first on points, then wins, then number of achievements gained, and finally on rounds played.

Pos.	Name	Pts	Win	Ach	Pld
1=	David K	6	1	0	1
1=	Tim H	6	1	0	1
3=	Adrian R	1	0	0	1
3=	Courtney J	1	0	0	1
5=	Jason C	0	0	0	1
5=	Keith D	0	0	0	1
5=	Jeremy N	0	0	0	1
5=	Leanne J	0	0	0	1
5=	Eddie C	0	0	0	1
5=	Megan B	0	0	0	1
5=	Geoff H	0	0	0	1
5=	Alex S	0	0	0	1
5=	Alex D	0	0	0	1

Achievement Pool: 10 Packs
Prize packs distributed to date: 4

A Games of Games Update, January 2012

A busy start to the year, with twenty-eight club members gaining in points this month. We also have our first member to reach the rank of Baronet – Adrian R, whose total score is now exactly 100, the minimum needed to reach that rank. Congratulations Adrian! Adrian played War Machine, Quarriors, and Magic: The Gathering this month.

We also have three new knights – Courtney J, David M and Alex D, and two new Esquires, Daniel McG (at his first meeting, no less!) and Angela C. Well done all!

Next month is a full weekend meeting for Summer Legends. On the Saturday, all games played will be worth double points for A Game of Games, so be sure to come along for your chance to charge up the rankings!

January Meeting Preview

This coming Sunday January 15 will be the first LXG meeting for 2012. Whether it’s your first or fifty-first time, come along and see all that our extensive games library has to offer!

This meeting will be our first opportunity to get together post Christmas. January is usually a quiet meeting with some members still away on holidays, but this cam also be your chance to get a hold of that board game that always seems fully booked whenever you want it. The Grand Melee league will also kick off for another year this month.

Planeswalkers in Grand Melee part 1: Ajani Goldmane

Welcome to our new series looking at the Planeswalkers of Magic:The Gathering, with specific reference to their role in the Grand Melee play variant, our popular club feature.

This series assumes you know all about Planeswalkers in magic. If you don’t, read the official article first.

Ajani costs four mana to cast, and this is often considered the sweet spot for Planeswalkers. High enough to be effective in their abilities, but not so high that you can’t cast them until it is too late.

Four mana gives you a white Planeswalker with four loyalty counters. Not a bad deal. Ajani Goldmane has three abilities, as most (but not all!) Planeswalkers do.

The first ability adds a loyalty counter and you gain two life. Not so spectacular, but this first ability plays into Ajani Goldmane’s third ability, to both give you the loyalty counters to use it, and make it more effective when you do. However if you do decide the third ability is where you want to be, you’re going to have to gain some life first.

The second ability is in my opinion the strongest and is what makes Ajani Goldmane a worthy card for inclusion in your white deck. White is the colour of cooperation and a ‘together we are strong’ theme. White decks will typically play lots of small creature that get larger thanks to effects that work on all of them.

Ajani’s second ability fits this perfectly. At a cost of removing a loyalty counter, every creature you control receives a +1/+1 counter, and gains Vigilance until the end of the turn. In a typical white deck with say five creatures in play at the time, this is five extra points of power, and the ability to attack without tapping. Being untapped at the end of your turn is great in a melee. Ajani’s middle ability grows your attacking power while also leaving your creatures free to block. Great stuff. The icing on this cake is that these are counters, not a temporary boost, your creatures are stronger for as long as they remain on the battlefield. The Vigilance is temporary though and only lasts for the turn in which you use the ability.

The third ability puts a white Avatar creature token onto the battlefield. This creature’s power and toughness are each equal to your life total. As you gain life it gets stronger, as you lose life it grows weaker. This costs a whopping 6 loyalty points and in my opinion is not worth it. If you have that much life you’re not really worried about being attacked, and Ajani’s second ability allows your existing creatures to defend you anyway. The Avatar has no abilities such as Flying, that would make him worth having. Better to take white’s usual supply of Flying, Lifelink and First Strike creature and make them bigger and better with the second ability.

In summary, Ajani Goldmane is a solid Planeswalker who works best in decks with lots of creatures. White or White/Green decks that play with a lot of creatures will particularly enjoy what Ajani Goldmane can bring.

Connections
Like Ajani Goldmane? You may also like [Elspeth, Knight-Errant] [Elspeth Tirel] [Sorin, Lord of Innistrad]
Don’t like Ajani Goldmane? You may prefer [Jace Beleren] [Tezzeret the Seeker] [Sarkhan Vol]

See all articles in this series

Warhammer at Summer Legends

Summer Legends will take place this year on February 18 & 19. The first event we have details for you is our Warhammer Fantasy Battles tournament, run by club President Eddie C.

SUMMER LEGENDS 2012

WHEN: February the 18th and 19th, 2012

WHERE: Cavendish Road State High School Assembly Hall, Cnr Cavendish and Holland Roads Holland Park QLD

Warhammer Summary:
Two day tournament, 2500 points
Cost $25 to club members and non-members who pay by 12 Feb, otherwise $30
Prize support generously provided by War Puppy
email contact: eddiecromptonATgmailDOTcom

Full Rules follow:

Overview
The Legends tournament is a 2500pt Warhammer Fantasy Battle Event. Using pure 8th edition rules. With one Special Character allowed. Which will consist of five games over two days (August 20th and 21st 2011)

Saturday 19th of Feb
• 8:30 – 8:45am Players arrive at Cavendish Road High Assembly Hall, register and set up their armies.
• 8:45 – 11:30am Game 1. Random pairings.
• 11:30 – 11:45am Lunch.
• 11:45 – 2:30pm Game 2, seeded based on previous round Battle results.
• 2:30 – 5:15pm Game 3, Seeded based on previous round Battle results.
• 5:15pm go home!

Sunday 20th of Feb
• 8:30 – 8:45am Players arrive and set up their armies.
• 8:45 – 11:30am Game 4. Seeded based on previous round Battle results.
• 11:30 – 11:45 Lunch
• 11:45 – 12:00 Beauty Pageant
• 12:00 – 2:45pm Game 5, seeded based on previous round Battle results.
• 2:45 – 3:15pm pack up, prize ceremony.

The categories used to determine the overall placings will be:
• Battle Results – 104
• Sportsmanship – 25
• Painting – 25

The methods used to score each of these categories are addressed in detail below.

PRIZE CATEGORIES

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
• Legend of Legends – Character (chosen by player) performs the best. Details below.
• 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall – players with the 3 highest combined scores.
• Best Sportsmanship – Highest score in Sportsmanship.
• Best Presented – The player who scores highest in Painting and Presentation Votes.
• Lucky Dips for the non place winners.

Each player will be eligible for a single prize only. Tie breakers will be used if needed. And any player who wins more than one prize will receive the bigger of the two prizes.

REQUIREMENTS

Armies must be drawn from the latest Games Workshop published WFB Army Books, or in the case of Dogs of War and Chaos Dwarfs use the lists on the GW or other reputable website, as they’ve had minor updates. Due to the fact that they are not available to all armies, armies from the ‘Back of the Book’ will not be permitted.

Armies should be of 2500 points or less. With one special/named character allowed per army. This includes the named unit champions and upgrades.

Remember the percentages when designing your army. Max 25% lords, Max 25% heroes, Min 25% core, Max 50% special, Max 25% rare.

Army lists will be “closed” for this tournament. What that means is that magic items and banners need not be disclosed at the start of a game but instead referred to as magical stuff. So when you deploy a unit that has a war banner you say “unit of …. with magical standard” similarly when you deploy your characters you say “lord with magic sword, armour and enchanted item”. The idea with this system is to hint at what magic items are in an army without telling exactly what they are. Adds a bit of surprise to each game.
NOTE: you must still explain what each unit is and what mundane items they have. You cant deploy a unit that looks like free company but when they get into combat tell your opponent that they are greatswords!

Army lists must be submitted by the 12th of Feb 2012 at the latest.
All lists will be checked by the TO for accuracy Army lists can be submitted via email to the Tournament Organizer at eddiecromptonATgmailDOTcom You can also pm me the lists. (note plain text lists only please)

Players are requested to bring their own pen/pencil, tape or other measuring device, sufficient dice, deodorant, a legible copy of their army list, and copies of the reference materials used to design the army list (eg. WFB Rulebook, WFB Army book etc).

GAMES

Games will consist of 6 turns, or as many as can be completed within 2hrs 45mins. The timings for games will be strictly adhered to. Players will be given 30 minute and 10 minute “warnings” prior to the end of the game. At the 10 minute point, if players are not finished their game already, they are to finish the turn they are on, and end the game at that point. This is needed to allow the TO to process the results and get the next round underway asap.

Scenarios will be drawn from those in the rulebook with the exception of the “battle of the pass” and “watchtower” which will be combined in to a special mission.

Round 1: Battle Line (as rule book)
Round 2: Meeting Engagement (as rule book)
Round 3: “Tower of the Pass” (uses deployment rules and the bottle neck rule from battle for the pass but
uses the win condition from watchtower and lasts 6 turns not a random number)
Round 4: Dawn Attack (as rule book)
Round 5: Blood and Glory (as per rule book but breaking enemy does not end game)

The tower and blood and glory scenarios award and automatic win condition. Play these games as normal but instead of an auto win award 2 bonus battle points for that round.

THE DRAW

The “Swiss Chess” system to determine the draw. The first round will be drawn randomly, from the second round onwards the draw will be seeded (i.e. you will be paired with an opponent who is on a comparable battle score). Under no circumstances will you play the same player more than once.

CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING THE CATEGORIES

1st, 2nd, 3rd overall.

Combined score from all categories.

After each game, tally up victory points as normal for a pitched battle scenario (units destroyed, table quarters, captured standards, etc). Also work out how many models you have in your army. Monster riders and war machines count as one. If you have lost half or more your opponent is entitled to 4 bonus battle points. This is called a massacre. Determine the number of battle points you score by comparing the margin of victory against the following table:

Victory Point Margin Battle Points

Difference – Win/Loss
0-350 – 10/10
351-700 – 11/9
701-1050 – 12/8
1051-1400 – 13/7
1401-1750 – 14/6
1751-2100 – 15/5
2101+ – 16/4

You will be given a results card to fill for each round of the Tournament. Please note that it is the battle points from the table above you need to record here, not the victory point margin. Please ensure that the card is filled out correctly and that both players have agreed to the results and then bring it to the organizer’s desk.

SPORTSMANSHIP

Sportsmanship will go to the player who score the highest using a per based system. At the end of each game you will be asked to score your opponent against the following criteria:

• A good game. I look forward to playing this person again. 4 points
• I had fun in this game. But there was nothing outstanding about it. 3 points
• I didn’t really enjoy this game, and would think twice before playing this person again. 2 points
• This person cared about the win, but not about the game. An unenjoyable experience. 1 points

At the end of the tourney you will be required to give one of your opponents a +1 for outstanding conduct in their game.
Players will therefore receive a total of between 5 (for being given 1 point by all of your opponents) to 25 sportsmanship points (four points each from all your opponents and 5 +1′s). At the end of the event you will be asked to nominate from the opponents you faced, one player who stood above all the others when it came to Sporting behavior. Each player that is nominated will receive an extra point, with 5 possible points available.

PAINTING POINTS:
Up to 25 points. You will receive 1 point per 1/5th of your army painted per round over 5 rounds. So if you have 100 models in your army and 60 are painted. You will get 3 points per round equaling 15 points for painting. If you want to bring the brushes and paint in between rounds to increase this score you are more than welcome!

There will also be a beauty pageant on day 2 where players will set up their army’s with a name tag. And then go around to vote on the other armies, in order of 1st best, 2nd and 3rd. The highest score from votes will win. This must be a player that was awarded 25 out of 25 in the above criteria.
Players who did not paint their own army are not eligible to set up their army for votes in the beauty pageant.

LEGEND OF LEGENDS:
Each player will be required to select one of their army characters to compete in this award. Keep track of any unsaved wounds that he, his mount, any spells he casts and any wounds from missile weapons he uses.
The character that inflicts the most unsaved wounds over the 5 rounds will win the “Legend of Legends” award and all the bragging rights that go with it.

TIE BREAKERS:

In the event that two players are tied in scores for a particular award category the following order is used to determine a winner. Overall score, Battle points, Sports points.

PAYMENT AND REGISTRATION

Contact eddiecromptonATgmailDOTcom
Once you send a list with your name on it will consider that your entry form.
Cost for the event is $30 per player ($25 for LXG members or payments recived by 12th of Feb).

2012 Grand Melee League

This is the official post with the rules for the 2012 Grand Melee League.

The league is open to all LXG members.

Format: Vintage Constructed. 60 card minimum

Play variant: Grand Melee, range of influence of 2

Cost of entry
Cost of entry to any melee round is one sealed booster of magic product. Boosters are available at the club for $5 each. These boosters form the prize and achievement pool (see below)

League Play
Each time you kill a player (directly cause that player to lose the game) you gain 1 point. Last player standing wins the melee and gains 2 points. There will be one melee round played at each LXG meeting in 2012. If more than 11 players turn up, the table will be split to ensure a game that can be played to completion. The round will generally start at 3.00pm, though a start of 2.30 is sometimes used if everyone is ready. If any rules issues come up during play the organiser’s decision is final.

Standings will be posted to the LXG website following each round. Positions are based first on total points, then number of wins, number of achievements gained, and number of rounds played in.

Prizes
In 2012 prizes will be awarded throughout the year as achievements, and for winning a melee round.

Winning a melee – 2 packs (3 if the melee has 9 or more players in it)
For each achievement gained – 1 pack

All packs left in the achievement pool in December will be awarded to entrants in the finals.

Achievements
Stayer: Attend 6 melees during the year
Legion: Attack with 20 or more creatures in a single turn
Big Hands: Draw 10 or more cards in a single turn
Almost Immortal: Get up to 100 life in a melee, without winning that melee
Dark Horse: Get at least one point three melees running, without winning a melee in that time
Permanent trophy: Win a melee three months running
Top 8: Be in the top 8 by points after the November melee (no pack awarded, this achievement grants entry to the finals in December)

Banned and Restricted.
The official vintage banned and restricted card list can be found here. Banned cards may not be taken in your deck. If a card is restricted, a maximum of 1 copy of that card can be used in your deck.

Additional banned and restricted.
Sometimes it is necessary to ban or restrict additional cards, as they interrupt the play of a multiplayer game, or become overly dangerous in Grand Melee.
Additional banned cards:
Hive Mind
Additional restricted cards:
Chancellor of the Dross
It is possible for other cards to be added to this list over the year, though it hopefully won’t happen.

League Calendar
January meeting – Melee round 1
February meeting – Melee round 2
March meeting – Melee round 3
April Meeting – Melee round 4
May meeting – Melee round 5
June meeting – Melee round 6 – PLANECHASE cards will be used in this round
July meeting – Melee round 7
August meeting – Melee round 8
September meeting – Melee round 9
October meeting – Melee round 10
November meeting – Melee round 11
December meeting – Melee finals and Christmas special (these are played separately and will be announced closer to the time) Neither the finals nor the Christmas special require a pack to enter.

MAGEKNIGHT The Boardgame

Well, I opened the box and took a peek inside! Many wonders did my eyes behold!

You get the following:

Two Rules books (one a walk through).

4 figures (very nicely done to boot!)

And lots and lots of cards and tokens…….

This is not a novice boardgamers game in my opinion. The rule books need a good reading (probably 2) before you start and then are referenced many times in your first run through. In the solo game I played, you use a dummy player to help determine the length of each round.

The game does look good set up and I did enjoy the “feel” of the play. I am eagerly awaiting the chance to play with 3 or 4 players as I think the interaction will be interesting. The rule book has a number of individual and co-operative scenarios.

There is a good video walkthrough of one round at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/video/11547/mage-knight-board-game/walkthrough-of-1st-turn-of-solo-game well worth watching.

Below I include some photo’s of my solo game to give an idea of the components and set up.

Well into the first solo game

Attack the tower, orcs or Monastery??? Choices, choices, so many choices!

 

 

The game has some interesting mechanics such as leveling up and the benefits that each level brings. It may give you more units to recruit or extra skills and tactics. This is all recorded on a Fame and Reputation board (below). You can also gain spells and artifacts during the game.

 

Where all the goodies come from as you level up!

 

 

The rounds are played alternately day & night. Things change at night and spells become more powerful.

 

Your actions are governed by two resources:- The cards in your hand (normal 5) and your mana or crystal sources. There is a pool of dice used to supply mana to the players, but you can only use 1 each turn to boost your cards in hand. Once used it is rerolled and put back into the “Source”. An interesting aspect is that if you roll a dark mana during the day, the dice is depleted and can no longer be used…. If you roll a gold at night, it is also depleted and useless for the rest of the night… This means that you can run out of mana during the round and be restricted to the minor actions on the cards.

 

Movement and the building of the map is easy to follow, but not always easy to do if you don’t have the movement cards…. Another neat mechanic of the game is the ability to play cards sideways to boost Move, Fight, Block and Influence. However, you need to do this sparingly as you may need those cards later in the round! When a player has no cards in hand or depletes their deck, they can call an end to the round and all the other players get one last turn before you start another round.

 

All in all an intriguing game that warrants much more play and exploration!

 

Happy New Year!

 

Signing off – Truhlsrohk.