Post by twogunsblazing on Oct 15, 2012 1:49:51 GMT -5
...Ok, I'm just thinking out loud here guys....tossing a few things around in my head...
First of all -> Is there a +2 Damage bonus to Assaulting a vehicles rear armour like there is for shooting a vehicles rear armour?
So last night I had my first game with my new Aliens and it was also my first game with an all Assault force...and I used the new Assault rules (the flow chart was very helpful).
The first card picture below is the card I used last night. The second card pictured below is the card I am using tonight.
Although it's been only one game and these things have to be observed across several games to determine real balance. Last night I was quite happy with the balance of the Aliens Assaults against the Commando Gruntz. However one thing I wasn't happy with, was how easily the Commando's IFV got torn apart by the Aliens. The IFV was a medium GSV so had 16 damage points...the excess wounds caused by the Aliens scoring over the required damage on their damage rolls was too much and caused the IFV to be destroyed a lot quicker than what I feel an IFV should have been destroyed...after all, this is kind of it's speciality.
Having said that though, I had two broods of Aliens assault the IFV with 12 out of the 20 getting in base to base....so it was literally 'Swarmed' by Aliens!
So for the successful Assaults, the AP of the Aliens damage rolls took the IFV's Soak to 15. Then with 2d6 +7 for the Assault, -2 damage penalty for Gruntz Assaulting a vehicle leaves me with anywhere from 1-3 points of damage on successful rolls. With 24 attacks (12 with the initial Assault and then another 12 for leaving Assault). The IFV was torn apart...this will be worse if Assaulting the rear armour is at +2 damage
...or is this about right. 2 x Aliens Broods is 60 points and the IFV come's in at 44 points. Should 60 points of game expenditure get me basically what amounts to a 1 turn kill on a 44 point game expenditure? Maybe it should, but for me thematically, a medium IFV should be able to last more than a single turn against a swarm of Aliens.
So I could change a few things;
1) I could give the IFV Uber Amrour,
2) I can reduce the Assault strength of the Aliens by 1 point (which also removes the 1 point of AP),
3) I could reduce the Assault stat of the Aliens (so they get less hits in),
4) I could use the V1.0 rules for Assault Damage where a successful damage roll only causes a single wound, no matter the excessiveness of the damage roll, and
5) Whenever I'm playing against someone using my Aliens force, I could give them loaded dice so that they very rarely make a successful Assault against my IFV's
Point 1 - I'll do this if what I've currently done doesn't help.
Point 2 - Have done this for tonight's game.
Point 3 - I really don't want to do this at this stage because it seems to be quite well balanced against the Commando Gruntz.
Point 4 - This will be my last choice...and if I do use it, it will only be a special rule that will apply to my Aliens army because there are pretty much going to always be a heap of these beasts on the battlefield, I feel they will be too powerful if every single Gruntz model has the ability to cause multiple wounds against IFV's etc.
Point 5 - Just joking, of course
So I will see how this goes tonight. Basically the Aliens will only caused damage now if they roll double 6's for their damage roll, unless they Assault the rear armour (if that makes a difference for Assaults), which means they will cause some form of damage on rolls of 10+. After the game I might even just play out a few deliberate Assaults between a couple of Broods of Aliens and an IFV and see what happens...maybe reducing the Assault strength is going a little too far in the opposite direction...maybe I should just go with Uber Armour for the IFV...but that means replacing one of the other perks, which I quite like having on the IFV...
First of all -> Is there a +2 Damage bonus to Assaulting a vehicles rear armour like there is for shooting a vehicles rear armour?
So last night I had my first game with my new Aliens and it was also my first game with an all Assault force...and I used the new Assault rules (the flow chart was very helpful).
The first card picture below is the card I used last night. The second card pictured below is the card I am using tonight.
Although it's been only one game and these things have to be observed across several games to determine real balance. Last night I was quite happy with the balance of the Aliens Assaults against the Commando Gruntz. However one thing I wasn't happy with, was how easily the Commando's IFV got torn apart by the Aliens. The IFV was a medium GSV so had 16 damage points...the excess wounds caused by the Aliens scoring over the required damage on their damage rolls was too much and caused the IFV to be destroyed a lot quicker than what I feel an IFV should have been destroyed...after all, this is kind of it's speciality.
Having said that though, I had two broods of Aliens assault the IFV with 12 out of the 20 getting in base to base....so it was literally 'Swarmed' by Aliens!
So for the successful Assaults, the AP of the Aliens damage rolls took the IFV's Soak to 15. Then with 2d6 +7 for the Assault, -2 damage penalty for Gruntz Assaulting a vehicle leaves me with anywhere from 1-3 points of damage on successful rolls. With 24 attacks (12 with the initial Assault and then another 12 for leaving Assault). The IFV was torn apart...this will be worse if Assaulting the rear armour is at +2 damage
...or is this about right. 2 x Aliens Broods is 60 points and the IFV come's in at 44 points. Should 60 points of game expenditure get me basically what amounts to a 1 turn kill on a 44 point game expenditure? Maybe it should, but for me thematically, a medium IFV should be able to last more than a single turn against a swarm of Aliens.
So I could change a few things;
1) I could give the IFV Uber Amrour,
2) I can reduce the Assault strength of the Aliens by 1 point (which also removes the 1 point of AP),
3) I could reduce the Assault stat of the Aliens (so they get less hits in),
4) I could use the V1.0 rules for Assault Damage where a successful damage roll only causes a single wound, no matter the excessiveness of the damage roll, and
5) Whenever I'm playing against someone using my Aliens force, I could give them loaded dice so that they very rarely make a successful Assault against my IFV's
Point 1 - I'll do this if what I've currently done doesn't help.
Point 2 - Have done this for tonight's game.
Point 3 - I really don't want to do this at this stage because it seems to be quite well balanced against the Commando Gruntz.
Point 4 - This will be my last choice...and if I do use it, it will only be a special rule that will apply to my Aliens army because there are pretty much going to always be a heap of these beasts on the battlefield, I feel they will be too powerful if every single Gruntz model has the ability to cause multiple wounds against IFV's etc.
Point 5 - Just joking, of course
So I will see how this goes tonight. Basically the Aliens will only caused damage now if they roll double 6's for their damage roll, unless they Assault the rear armour (if that makes a difference for Assaults), which means they will cause some form of damage on rolls of 10+. After the game I might even just play out a few deliberate Assaults between a couple of Broods of Aliens and an IFV and see what happens...maybe reducing the Assault strength is going a little too far in the opposite direction...maybe I should just go with Uber Armour for the IFV...but that means replacing one of the other perks, which I quite like having on the IFV...
