[Epic] [EPIC] Cheese and diversity

From: Eric Larsen <nimhbus_at_...>
Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 00:24:17 -0800

IMH,H,HO

Although I'm in the vast minority, I just don't necessarily subsc=
ribe to the "many of one unit/card type army" being the main cause of chees=
e, in general terms - the UNIT itself will tend to be cheese or not...

O=
bvious example - thunderhawks ARE cheese - they are too cheap for what they=
 do, while still retaining way too many cool rules: carry 6(!?) troops, onl=
y fired upon in first fire, start off board, independent of troops they car=
ry, etc. etc. etc... The UNIT ITSELF is cheesy - when you buy a hoop of the=
m, you can simply smell the cheddar more easily...

The current "standard"=
 answer to this (to prevent player conflict or bad feelings) is to force an=
 artificial "number of cards" maximum - which is really implying that "you =
must buy lesser value troops to balance the cheesy ones, or we feel that yo=
u are cheating/min-maxing the system"... Which will sorta work... kind of.=
.. except for one important factor... what if a given race has more forms o=
f cheese than another? How many different "cheese" cards does IG have vs. =
Orks: answer: very few!

Besides, if diversity in army composition is tru=
ly a bonus in a real conflict, it should also BE SO IN EPIC... In other wor=
ds, if you take a bunch of one unit type there should be game play related =
drawbacks when fighting a balanced composition of forces...
- If this is n=
ot the case, if the actual use of a "single unit type" armies cause overwhe=
lming victories (as has been mentioned) - the cause is A PROBLEM WITH THE S=
YSTEM... - most likely related to the rule "biggies" of unit cost, initiati=
ve, pinning, movement and/or damage resolution.

Yes, some of this is whini=
ng (I really hate all the funky chaos cards - and they won't be limited to =
artificial "card maximums"), but most of this is based on a wish for a fun =
to play system that doesn't make the player feel guilty for purchasing card=
 combinations the way they see fit (while still technically legal).

- Eric=
 (we all dip a little fondue, sometimes) Larsen

p.s. Just so you know, I t=
end to play fairly large battles - 9,000pt +, and our group (specifically, =
our chaos players) treat LOBs as command units (because of the rule ambigui=
ties)... in my last big game, it was me (Marine/T.G.) vs. 3 chaos players a=
nd I faced 6 of them (command LOB units)!! It wasn't pretty...
Received on Sat Feb 01 1997 - 08:24:17 UTC