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Author Topic: David and Paul - Kedashi Swarm Playtesting  (Read 2973 times)
Carcharoth
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« on: December 30, 2014, 11:08:55 am »

David and Paul have given me a lot of feedback on the Kedashi Swarm rules, so it seems like a good idea to compile them here!

Kedashi Swarm Playtest 1 (David)

We had our first playtest game last night and as there were 4 of us and I was dying to play Inferno, so we did that.  First off, I really wanted to play this as the scenario is totally unique and have never played one like it in my decades of gaming and it proved to be fantastic, everybody commented on it, with the advancing fire you do feel a time pressure on you rather than just a turn limit - great game.

We had a few adjustments by playing on a 3' table as that is what Paul had ready and as we had 4 players, one could start on the hill, as I had initiative that was me and my Enguan Hunters.  We also used Pluton Mechanicals and War in the North but removed a knight as their pts cost is way above the others.

A brief synopsis. My Harpooners despatched the Delgon bodyguards on my right who were also attacked by Danomar and his knights.  Both of these wiped each other out just before the fire reached them, only one knight survived a moved onto the hill just in time.  We sort have had a non-aggression pack/Alliance with each other as both are Empire soldiers.  Ollies Kalgush took out 2 Draals before being ridden down.  The priest and Delgon soldier made it to the hill but were easily cut down.

Paul's swarms rapidly advanced and used the Frenu like javelins, the first took down an Engu Axe, the next 2 failed to harm my Kapa and were easily cut down after.
The medium swarms were a shock when I found they cast 5 stones who killed a model, I didn't support with my Garosa due to only having one Support stone and I opted to fight independently which paid of due to low Tough of the swarms and mine being powerful.  Now we both know this, I expect Paul will put more stones into defence next time.  After the initial swarms hit, the fire overtook the rest of his force due to me rolling mainly sixes for its movement speeding the fire quickly up one side of the table.

Paul seemed to use most of his abilities to good effect but was hampered by not having many of his initiative stones being drawn or I expect he would have activated his Frenu multiple times to get them out of the fight and back to the Bagrun before a Combat stone was drawn.

I found facing the Swarms fast & powerful but very fragile, no complaints or suggestions so far and is looking good.  Paul and myself should be having some one on ones at Sunday club.
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Carcharoth
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« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2014, 11:11:13 am »

Kedashi Swarm Playtest 1 and 2 (Paul)

I know Dave has already told you but, we played a 4 player on Friday – my first game with the Frenu.
 
We have been using Harpies as stand ins for the Kaopi, Bat Swarms as stand ins for the Medium Swarm, and Grifflings (from Arcworlde) as Small Swarms.
 
Any chance of a sneak peek at any art work for how the Kaopi will look?
 
Despite not winning I learnt a lot about how to use them.  I came unstuck at one point, in that I grew a Small Swarm and 3 Frenu into a Medium Swarm (did this twice), then realised I had no way to reduce the Medium Swarm down as the Reduce Swarm ability only states about reducing a small Swarm and replacing with 3 Frenu.  I believe this to be good, but it did make me think about tactics a bit more.
 
Today we played 4 games using Scenario 0:
 
1 – against Devanu, this ended in a draw as although I was able to kill 3 of his elites for the loss of only 1 of mine, his last elite killed my final one in the same Combat turn.  The Devanu are really tough with that many elites and the amount of Stamina they each have, but it was a very close game in the end (especially ending in a draw).
 
2 – against Droghu, Dave did admit to making a mistake in his set up.  I was able to kill his Captain by sending a Frenu with the Charge ability, and Dave having bad luck.  I charged 3 Frenu against his Beast Handler, but he survived so I moved a Medium Swarm into combat him as well.  Before the Combat Stone came out he charged his boss on beast against my Medium Swarm.  I elected to go all out attack and even though my Swarm died they took his boss with them.  This gave me a win in 2 turns.  With none of my Elites ever being at risk.
 
3 – against Droghu (again).  Because Dave set his Beast Handler and Captain closer (using the Beast Handlers ability) I was able again to target his Captain and Beast Handler with Frenu fired from within 1” of the Bagrun.  I took out the Captain and was able to get a Medium Swarm close enough to his Beast Handler to move in when I could next activate it..  The first 2 turns ended quickly with not everything being able to move and the Droghu big boss and 4 spears were still too far away from where the action was.  I won initiative and was able to move my 3 Frenu back to the Bagrun to rearm, while sending 2 others out to target individual models.  The Medium Swarm moved against his Beast Handler and was able to kill him giving me the win again.
 
4 – against Engu.   This game I ended up losing, but I did kill his lesser captain with a Frenu sent from the Bagrun.  The other ballistic Frenu failed to kill his Chieftain, however they did take down a couple his other troops.  Because I had to use more Frenu to give the Small and Medium Swarms Stamina, and he had been able to move into contact and kill others, I ended up with none left in the final turn.  Unfortunately the stones did npot go my way and both Kaopi were slain, while his Chieftain survived all my attempts to kill him.
 
Overall on the day it was 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss for the Frenu.  They seem reasonably balanced as they are, and there are times when you have to try to reign in your impulse to send in all your Frenu or expand the small swarm to a medium.
 
The individual Frenu are very useful both as a ballistic shot, but also in any ensuing combats where you have swarms or Kaopi close by in combat.
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Carcharoth
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« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2014, 11:14:06 am »

Kedashi Swarm Playtest 2-5 (David)

We got a few games in today playing scenario 0

2.  Was against the Devanu, Paul thought he had won until I pointed out that I forgot to add a support dice of my Hunter to his combat with the Handler, so I went an all out attack on his last Kaopi and killed it for a draw (what are Kaopi BTW?)
This was a very close game and my high amount of Stamina and good combat value helped me survive the Frenu missile onslaught.
Survivors: Hunter and Grishak V beast, Handler and a Frenu.

3 & 4.  Was against the Dhogu and both times were defeated by turn 2.  Having a low combat and Tough value and little Stamina meant I had no protection from initial Frenu missile attacks.  None of my bows had any effect and any wounds caused could be farmed out to sacrificial Frengu.  Paul was stupid-lucky in both games and kept scoring 3 hits with these attacks and I was unlucky in that re-rolls kept failing and even if successful, I still failed the Tough rolls.  Basically it was impossible to defend from so many Frenu missile attacks. 
Survivors: almost everything apart from 2 of my Elites.

5. Was against the Engu who got my only victory.  These guy's are quite tough for the Swarm player to take down due to the Elites being good fighters and Tough, and their powerful attacks easily take down the weak Kedeshi models, meaning I put more stones into defence knowing just 1 hit will kill. 
Survivors: Chief & 2x Dhogu V beast and handlers

A good thing to note is that the Kedeshi player does need to change tactics to beat different armies, there is no one way to defeat all-comers.
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Carcharoth
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« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2014, 11:16:20 am »

Kedashi Swarm Playtest 6 (David)

(sorry, missing the pictures at the moment... - MT)

After discussing this force and objectives, we decided to play Scavengers with swarms unable to pick up items.

I drew most of the initiative stones, so spread my force out restricting Pauls deployment.  In theory I could have prevented his deployment completely, maybe some thought should be put into this if any tournaments are run.  I left my Trapper until last so I could deploy behind his protofubarni in the hope I could kill one of them.

When deploying the trapper we had a conflict of rules, their rules say that they can deploy within 9" on an enemy but the scenario rules sid not within 12" of an objective or enemy.  We applied both, so more than 12" from an objective but 9" away from his models. Sound right?


​Deployment, also have an archer to the far right

The skerrats did charge a proto, but she and the others just moved away, with the Trapper fending of a Frenu attack.  Everything else moved towards the center except for a newly formed medium swarm sent in to attack a skerrat.

My left hand archer got the initiative and pinched an objective under a Kaopi's nose, withdew and shot and missed, nothing is mentioned in the scenario if opposing models are in contact with the objective so we allowed it.  In the center the other Kaopi and my spearmen collected 2 objectives and my commander and skerrats had a bundle for the other.  This went on for several combats with nothing happening until Paul changed goals and went for reducing skerrat instead of killing my warlord. 



This then allowed room for the warlord to grab the objective and walk away with it.  By this time, I was expecting my warlord to die (as he always does) and got into the mindset of having to roll to keep the objective.  Paul's Kaopi have meanwhile retreated to a corner and were about to trade objectives so one could fly back into the action.  But as he now controlled 3 (he killed my archer who grabbed one) and I 2 plus a contested he decided to flee to end the game.  I rolled to keep the warlords (which I now realise I shouldn't have done as I didn't flee) and lost it and rolled just 5 on 2 dice, Paul rolled a total of 4, yea Smiley, but then had to roll for his third item and rolled, I think a 2, so he just beat me.  I then jokingly rolled high with what would, and should have been my third as well and would/should have won.




So, all in all, despite the stupid rule error, it was a great game and certainly made Paul play them differently with the protofubarnii playing a much more important role in the game.

We've been playing that a model can't move out of contact with an enemy into a new enemy, but I can't find this in the rules, can a model do that?

I haven't played them yet, but the forces that had the free stretch goal mini's, should these be included in the playtest games, IE. does the Orel force get 2 knights or 3, 3 takes them to over 300pts

I am finding the medium swarms horrible to play against (which is not necessarily a bad thing) as they can get in with Frenu support and kill your elites so easily with almost certainty of getting 5 hits on them, especially as they don't lose their combat action when attacked.
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