Poor Avatar Pandora

I don’t like Avatar Pandora. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of regular Pandora either, though for entirely different reasons. She is far and away my least-used Neverborn master. I don’t like to use her because I think she’s a negative play experience for my opponents most of the time. Even with the plethora of changes that have come down for her over time, some directly to her rules (not being able to Incite/Pacify friendly models anymore, etc.) and others that have happened to rules she uses (making fleeing not quite as devastating as before), she is still a top tier master. It’s not that I think top tier masters are negative play experiences, it’s just that the way Pandora tends to win can be a negative play experience for your opponent. Everything fleeing when it’s least convenient, and all your massive melee beasts whacking themselves to death with their own weaponry… that can start to grate on people. Add to that her defenses which are ample… “You tried to hit me? Sorry, failed your WP duel so you take a wound AND I push out of the way so you can’t even try again.”

But I digress. This article is not about how good regular Pandora is. It’s about how bad Avatar Pandora is. And quite frankly, it comes down to a single ability on her card that makes her terrible: Immobile.

Immobile: This model’s position in play may not be changed by movement effects or placement effects. This model cannot be buried.

I get that the fluff has her planted to the ground and tentacles shooting out of the ground all around her. I get that it fits with the fluff to have that ability. But really? A master who is completely unable to move. Come on. So much of this game is dependent on maneuvering that planting your feet when you manifest does two things:

1. It prevents you from reaching any schemes or strategies that you need to move to get to.

2. It allows your opponent to move freely towards their strategies and schemes that you have not planted yourself on.



So what do you gain from manifesting? You do one damage whenever your opponent fails a WP duel, which you could do anyway. You can make your opponent hit themselves with their weapon, which you could already (admittedly you can sometimes make them hit themselves harder than you used to). And if you get a crow on that spell, you paralyze them too! Though you used to make them fall back, which is generally a stronger effect. You get Anathema for your Terrifying, but it’s so easy to avoid a model that can’t move that it’s no big issue.

The problem is that once Avatar Pandora plants, unless she’s planting where she needs to be for the rest of the game, you’ve lost her as a useful model. You’ve traded one of the fastest models in the game for the slowest. You get Candy in the trade, but she’s more fragile and a bit slower.

My issue is that anything Avatar Pandora can do, regular Pandora tends to be a better call for. And in certain situations, Avatar Pandora’s Immobile is such a disadvantage that it actively hurts your ability to play.

I have used Avatar Pandora a fair shake of games. The majority of the games went in a familiar pattern: Pandora came out strong, was winning early on, then manifested and due to her limitations manifesting, my opponent was nearly able to recover and push the game back in their favor. Had I remained with regular Pandora, I would have wrapped the game up earlier. I still win games with Avatar Pandora. It's just that often it is in spite of manifesting rather than because of it.

It’s really too bad. I love her model.

Nekima and Lilitu Should Not Play Together

Yesterday I got a game in with a Pandora list that I was trying out a new combo for. I should say it's not a new combo to everyone - I know people have been talking about it and using it for several months - but this was the first time I had given this particular combo a try. My list was:

Pandora + 8 SS
- Primordial Magic
- Nekima
- Lelu
- Lilitu
- Terror Tot

The basic combo involved just Nekima and Lilitu. The rest of the list was built to compliment that combination of models.

Nekima activates and uses Nephilim Heart to give all Nephilim around her an additional Mask on one stat. In this case, she chooses CA. At that point, Lilitu can use Lure with an automatic double-Mask and thus automatically trigger Double-Take every time. As long as the target fails its resist, she's going to be casting the spell again. If they do pass their resist, Lilitu has two more actions with which to start the chain again.

The rest of the army was built to support this chain. Pandora was present so that every time someone failed a WP duel (as they would when they were testing against Lure), they would take 1 Wound if they were near enough to Pandora. Models attempting to target either Pandora, Lilitu or Nekima would have to succeed in WP duels first. Nekima would grab a couple of blood for herself over the first couple of turns (using Lilitu to heal herself back up if possible) so that if the cards came around, Lelu could sacrifice the Terror Tot to create a new Lilitu.



The combo worked wonderfully. On the first turn, Lilitu, with the help of Pandora and Nekima, was able to Lure a Belle and kill it with the continuing one point of damage for failing a WP duel, and the melee attacks for Lure ending in range of Lilitu. Over the course of the game, things just continued along that route. Crooked Men and Guild Autopsies all took damage from Pandora rushing through on a Pacify track, and Lilitu just picked one or two models to kill every turn while keeping herself and Nekima suitably protected. Once the opposing master made it into the fray (on turn three - not like he was holding back), Pandora dropped Project Emotions onto him and two other models, forcing all to flee with Mental Anguish. At that point, fleeing and Metal Anguish gave Seamus a double-negative-flip on WP resists and Lilitu Lured him into the lines and killed him.

The combination proved to be far more effective than I had expected. In the past I argued that if someone spent 27 points on this combo (13 for Nekima, and then 7 each for Lelu and Lilitu - need to take both twins or they will end up dying too fast), they should have a strong combo. The other issue is that there are several lynchpins for the combo to work. If Nekima dies, it falls flat. If Lilitu dies, you had better hope you have a 13 to resummon a new one (I never got that chance during the game yesterday) or your plan falls flat.

However, and admittedly after only one game, I find the combination may be too powerful as is. I would want to try it against other lists, but I have the feeling this particular build might go the way of my Hamelin crew - put away unless someone specifically asks to play against him simply because of the negative play experience.

Simply put, the automatic Double-Take Lure is quite powerful. In my limited experience using it, I would easily say it ranks among one of the most annoying combos I've seen out there. In conjunction with Pandora, it's essentially an automatic kill on any model within 18" of Lilitu (there are some exceptions, of course).



If I were to recommend changes to the abilities to bring them down to earth after only one game, I would suggest a change to Lure - that it cannot be cast on a model in base-to-base with you. Once Lilitu brings you into base to base with her, she cannot cast the spell on you anymore. The fact that after she casts the spell she can keep casting it on you even if you do not move makes it brutal as every time she'll get a free attack. Alternatively, change the Double-Take trigger so that it can only go off once when she starts casting Lure. So each Lure essentially can turn into two Lures, but not beyond that into three, four, five, etc. This will keep her ability still powerful, but manageable as she'll only be bringing in up to six Lures in a single activation.

Again, this is a gut reaction after a single game of seeing it in action. I am not usually one to complain about combinations in a game as overpowered, but I feel this might warrant attention.

Poor Hamelin

I am by no means an expert with Hamelin. I have played him a half dozen times since his whole crew came out. I recognize that there could be more to him than I’m doing with him. I use less than half of his spell list. I rarely use most of his other abilities. I tend to concentrate on a couple of chief tactics with him, and so far the only game I’ve lost with him is the first one I played with him, before his whole crew was available.

I have come to a simple conclusion with Hamelin: he’s just not really that much fun. For myself or for my opponent. I have had people walk away from games against him angry or frustrated more than I have with any other master, and I’ve been playing crews like Dreamer and Pandora before. Not long ago, one of my opponents was frustrated enough to leave the store after a game against Hamelin. Another week, an opponent who is normally one of the most easy-going guys I play couldn’t keep his frustration out of his voice when we finished. I play the game for the enjoyment. I do not enjoy leaving people angry about having played the game.

For myself, I usually enjoy the very beginning of a Hamelin game – perhaps the first three turns or so. During that time, Hamelin is vulnerable and I’m racing as quickly as I can to shore up his weaknesses and make sure that he’s locking down his opponent. By turn four or so, that’s usually done and I find the game just a boring grind. The game’s conclusion has usually been set by then, and it’s just a matter of finishing it out.

The primary issue with Hamelin is that he makes opposing models Insignificant. This trait does two things for a Hamelin crew. First, Hamelin himself cannot be targeted by Insignificant models, and the Rat Catchers are harder to target by them. So it makes his crew harder to beat down. Second, Insignificant models cannot be used to score points for most Schemes and Strategies. Here’s the rub – while I’m making sure you can’t do anything to my crew, I am also making sure you can’t do anything to win the game. Usually models have one of two purposes: either stop the opposing crew or win at their own missions. In one swoop, Hamelin takes away both of those purposes and leaves the model with nothing to do. That Hamelin has multiple ways to achieve this means that by the end of the game, usually his models are the only ones out there that count for points.

In the end, there will probably turn out to be some methods to stop him that are sifted out. Colette and Dreamer used to be considered over-the-top, but over time, strategies to beat them have been discovered and while they’re both considered very good, neither is unstoppable. I believe that Hamelin will turn out the same – that some key strategies to stop him will come out or that he’ll have enough weaknesses that he’s not always going to be a grind, but for now even the players that would normally not blink twice about playing against anything are asking me to leave Hamelin behind.

A shame because he was a pretty expensive crew, and I had been looking forward to him since the book first came out last August, but I understand the frustration with him. Fortunately I have plenty of other options to take.

My Abusive Relationship with Spartan Games

I have a full Dindrenzi fleet for Firestorm Armada, including two Battleships, six Cruisers, twelve Frigates, six Escorts, a Carrier, three Heavy Cruisers and three Gunships. At least one full squad of everything available for Dindrenzi.

I love the game. I think it has its flaws (I don't believe the fighters mechanic works right, I have specific issues with the Dindrenzi carrier, I think it works better with missions which are not provided by the company), but overall I think the game is solid and it fills a niche in my collection. It's my sci-fi fleet-sized game, and I love it for that.

But more and more I feel like the company that puts the game together, Spartan Games, is dropping the ball. They have too many games they're trying to support, and in the end, the only one that gets any love is the game that's out most recently. In this case, Distopian Wars.

Spartan Games promised the Firestorm Armada players that they would not be left behind in 2011. They promised updates to the website (the disorganization of which is another issue) in January, pdfs of the new "Alliances" in February, etc. Here we are in March and we're still holding our breath for the scenarios they promised in January. Word on the pdfs is that "It's not ready." No clue when it will be, or what we'll be seeing.

In the meantime, they continue to push Distopian Wars and essentially neglect anything else.



I've taken a look at Distopian Wars. It looks like a good game. It looks like the next evolution of the mechanics that have gone from Uncharted Seas through Firestorm on to Distopian Wars. If Distopian Wars came out before Firestorm Armada, I would probably have a fleet of them instead. But the thing is that now I've spent enough money on Firestorm to build the fleet I want, and I won't start that all over again.

In our playgroup, we have a few players with Distopian Wars fleets and a few with Firestorm Armada. Neither wants to play the other game. Those with Distopian Wars feel it's the superior game (and I can't really disagree - it looks like the rules are more refined). Those with Firestorm Armada don't want to abandon this fleet only to jump to DW and have that game stall and stop when Spartan Games comes out with their next big game. As such, Spartan Games just doesn't really get played.

I love the game Firestorm. I want to play it more. But I'm faced with a company that does not support it to the level that I would want, and constantly slips with release dates and promises. That's not how I want my game of choice to be treated. I wish Spartan Games would stick with Firestorm Armada, but even if they picked it back up again, I would be hard pressed to jump back in with both feet. Been burned enough by it.

Dissatisfaction with Food

I love barbeque Fritos. For my money, it can't get much better than that. They're not that easy to find, though. People stock regular potato chips and the like before they bring in the tasty goodness of barbeque Fritos.

But my vending machine here at work stocks them. Great news, right? Well, I thought so too. But when I went to get one today, I noticed the bag was nearly deflated when I pulled it out of the machine. Well, that's no good, I said to myself. And then when I opened the bag and started eating them, they were stale! Oh, the horror of it all! So what was going to be my wonderful snack turned out to be just a depressing bout of awfulness. I couldn't even finish the bag, they tasted so bad.

Oh, life is difficult sometimes.

Things I Dislike: Deluxe Edition

There are more than a few things I dislike in life. A fatty piece of meat when you're expecting juicy goodness. One of those dexterity puzzles in video games that make you have to re-do them from the beginning if you miss the first jump. A hangover, no matter how well-deserved.

But now I have a new thing to add to that list. I dislike the hoses that go between my water pipes and the washing machine. Why? Let me tell you about my Sunday morning.

Sunday was supposed to go like this: wake up early, head out with Laura for our engagement photo session, Laura would go to class and I would chill out at home for an hour or two, and then we'd head over to her parents' place to tackle a bunch of invitations with Tini and Mike. It wasn't going to be a fantastic, over-the-top day, but it was going to be a dang good one.

Instead, at 7:30 in the morning when Laura walked out to take a shower, she pauses. There was a hissing noise and she couldn't place it. "Mike, what's that noise from downstairs?"

I take a look downstairs and see a massive water stain on the carpet. Laura usually tells this story better, because I went into red-haze mode at this point, but I'll try to piece together what happened.

Evidently I ran down the stairs yelling "F***!" loud enough to startle Laura. I landed on the carpet and water seeped up to the top of my feet. I looked around and threw open the door to the bathroom, where the sound was loudest. A geyser of water about two feet long was shooting out of the wall above and next to the toilet. I was afraid it was the pipes in the wall for the toilet, but when I looked through, I realized it was the aforementioned hose that connects the washing machine to the pipes. For those who know how my house looks, yes, that means the water was shooting out with enough force to cut a hole in the wall between the bathroom and the laundry room.

I ran over and shut off the water to the house, all the while yelling "F! F!" Once the water stopped flowing, I walked back to the front of the house, fell to my knees and screamed as loud as I could. Evidently Laura had never seen me yell like that, because it scared her a bit.



We could have used this guy.

The entire day was shot. I got a vac from Brian, as well as a dehumidifier and a few fans. Called the insurance company, and then the plumber and ServPro. We had to move EVERYTHING from downstairs to upstairs, so now there's no room in any room except my bedroom. Fortunately I had a few people helping out - a heartfelt thanks to Brian, Mary, Laura's mom, Kevin, my mom, Dan, Ellen, and my dad for all coming out throughout the day to lend a hand as they could.

We have some pictures of the devastation. But my computer's no longer hooked up, so I can't show them to you. Sorry about that. I'll have to update it later.

News Flash: Unscrupulous Characters on the Internet

I've been playing this game, Urban Rivals, for about a week now and have been having a blast with it. Takes about five minutes to run through a match and there's no shortage of players out there.

So I was working on a new faction and happened to get a second of one of the most powerful characters in that deck. Unfortunately, you can have only one of each character, so I took some time to level him up to the max to make him a little more valuable and put him up for sale on the auctions. It didn't take too long, and it was no real effort on my part. The game has a training room where you can go to just grind through a few matches to get your characters to higher levels. So within a half hour or so, he was maxed out and I put him up for sale.

Not too long later, I had a message in my box offering a trade. He posted up one of the really good characters for another faction I like, and I thought, hey, why not. So I wrote back and said "sure" and pulled my card off the auction. Then, with a lapse of judgment, I asked him what to do to effect a trade. Privately sell it for the minimum amount, he said, so feeling a little unsure, I did anyway. Of course we know what happens next. He buys the 13,000 card for 50 and then doesn't sell me the other one in exchange. Instead, he blacklists me so I can't send him messages or see him any more.

It was my stupidity that let him get away with it, so I wasn't really that mad. In the end, he cheated me out of an imaginary card. I had a second copy of it, so it's not like I lost anything, and in perfect karma, later that day, I opened a pack and got the guy he was supposed to trade to me. Not too shabby! Still, it was disappointing to have someone be a jerk like that.

Note to self: don't trade in the game. And if you're going to, make sure they send you the card first.

I Wonder How Much All That Cost

So yesterday in an HR meeting, our HR VP confirmed something to us that we had long heard rumors about: the headquarters for our particular group is moving from Reston to Tyson's (again). Which means that the head of our sector is moving back to Tyson's. Which means my group is moving back to Tyson's. After I got over my initial disappointment (I've moved on to my mid-range disappointment now), I started to figure out just how many times my Company has moved me, and compared it to my other two companies before this one.

State Department Federal Credit Union (15 months) - They brought me in out in Old Town Alexandria and kept me there for the entire time. Never once moved.

Quest Diagnostics (2 1/2 years) - They brought me in over in Chantilly and kept me there for the multi-year stretch.

Northrop Grumman (4 years and counting) - Here's where it starts to get insane...

I started in Dunn Loring where I remained for about two months. Before too long, I was moved from there to a building out in Merrifield. I had a nice long stretch there (about half a year) until I was moved from Merrifield to Herndon. We had a month there before we crossed the beltway and went to Tyson's. I got to enjoy the long, grueling commute for almost a year before I was moved out to Chantilly. By then I had my new house, so the commute was actually pretty nice. I must have stayed there for about a year and a half before people realized they had not moved me in a while, so they moved us to Reston earlier last year. I've been here for about a year and sometime this year, we're moving back out to Tyson's. So in a little over four years (by the time we move), I'll have been in seven locations.

The argument for all this movement is it makes business sense and it will help cut costs. But I can't figure out how we're cutting costs if we have to keep paying to move people.

I Dislike the US Post Office

I don't tend to get a lot of mail. Usually I check my mailbox once a week. A week and a half ago, Laura and I were sent an oversized catalog that filled up our mailbox, and the post office immediately put a hold on our mail until we went to pick it up. So the day after we found out, Laura and I went to the post office and picked up our mail. I went back to the mailbox to pick up last week's mail, and it turns out there mail is still on hold. So I called the post office 1-800 number and spent about five minutes trying to navigate their menu of options. I ended up with the phone trying to get me to deliver a package, which was clearly not my intention. I tried to get back to the main menu, and it hung up on me. So I called back and tried some different options. A couple of minutes later, I was talking to a real person. I told him the situation and he told me I had to talk to the post office. I asked him who I was talking to and he said I had to talk to a different post office. He got me the phone number for my post office and I called them. By this point, it was 5:55. The post office closed at 6:00, according to the website. Nobody answered. They said they closed at 5:30

So now I'm stuck without getting mail still, and I need to get over to the post office (which, strangely, is the one ten minutes from my house rather than the one two minutes from my house) sometime during the work day in order to stand back in line and tell them again to take the hold off my mail box. Very frustrating...