Re: [Epic] War Engine Names

From: Chris Miller <ironstar_at_...>
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 13:21:03 -0600

>A special thank you to Chris Miller for the links. And a moment of
>silence please for the passing of the
>U.S.S. Virginia, decommisioned in 1996, awaiting scrapped. :(
>
>
>Anvil Doombringer Ancestor Lord
>
>aka Patrick Odell
>
---------> Well, thanks back -like the name choices too. Although, this
does open you up to the Patented Chris Miller Annoyance & Morale Breaker
Tactic. This was developed in Star Fleet Battles and perfected in Epic and
Man O War.

Step 1) Engage opponent in coversation before the game, steering
conversation towards favorite pieces/mini's, paying special attention to
units obviously painted to a higher standard than the rest or with special
names. Find out his favorite.

Step 2) When game starts, take every opportunity to pump up opponent's
attatchment to particular units. Examples:"Boy, that Klingon dreadnought is
really nasty- I haven't faced too many of those." Or "Jeez, those squat
Cyclops are pretty potent - bet they're going to be hard to deal with."

Step 3) Immedeatly concentrate all available firepower on the opponents
favorite target at the first opportunity. Two approaches to this - One: Be
especially nasty about using those gimmicky lucky hit weapons (hell-hammers
in MOW, Vortexes in Epic, Weird drone types or maulers in SFB). Method 2 is
to avoid the special weapons and just dump raw firepower on 'em - Fp in
E40K, Massive drone waves in SFB - so they can't moan about the lucky
hits...

Step 4) Once you kill the target, act like it was unexpectedly easy and
perhaps even apologetic - "Gosh, I didn't expect THAT to happen." or "Whoa -
sorry man - guess I just rolled really well. What're you going to do now?"

    This works best on individual high-value units, like titans, though in
SM/TL it works well if someone is really attatched to one of those stupid
special characters like Ghazgull or the Space Wolf nuts. In SFB, it was
great as we always pickd ship names , and everyone was really partial to
their dreadnoughts.

   Illustrative Personal Story: Playing Star Fleet Battles, I'm the
Federation (the good guys of course), he's the Romulans (who I also like,
but not this day). Opponent stupidly cloaks his entire fleet except for the
Condor class dreadnought, which is his flagship, the _Battlequeen_.
Unfortunately , half of the fed fleet is holding proximity fuzed photons at
the start of the game and unloads on turn one impulse one. "Battlequeen"
takes 22 photon torps through the front shield, crippling it at the start of
the game. Player concedes after one turn, even though this ship is about
1/10 of his total points.
   I've also seen it work in SM/TL on one guy who was way too attached to
his Goff Ork Clan - too attached to tolerate casualties well...


 - and regarding the Virginia, well, at least she's in good company: The CG
Texas and the Iowa's are done in this incarnation also...

Chris Miller
Received on Sat Feb 21 1998 - 19:21:03 UTC