On the New Avalon Hill releases + some other musings

Good Job Hasbro!

So the new Avalon Hill releases have been pretty nice.

I own Diplomacy and now Acquire.

I think the quality is quite good, despite the pieces being all cardboard. The board AH is using is similar to what Fantasy Flight Games uses for all their uber-thick counters - so it's pretty durable stuff.

Granted, these new editions of Diplomacy or Acquire aren't as good as previous editions (particularly Acquire) but the argument there is mostly from an aesthetic viewpoint. With Acquire a plastic board like the older 3M/AH version would have been nice. That edition was designed such that the hotel tiles couldn't slide around the board (think the Deluxe Edition of Scrabble). But playing Acquire with Scrabble-esque "don't bump the board" rules is fine by me. Nothing is going to top the 1999 edition of Acquire, however, but then again the new edition is in print with an MSRP of $30. Last I checked the 1999 Acquire still goes for around $100 used on eBay. No thanks. I was pleased to see one of the hotel chains in this 2008 edition is named "Sackson." Much respect to an awesome designer!

A note on the Diplomacy Counters: They're actually doubled sided, with different art on each side. Basically one side shows the Unit art (different type of boat/cannon/or flag) while other side simply displays a solid color. Each type of counter is a different shape so you wont be getting confused if you opt to use solid color side. I thought that was a nice touch.

The actual gameboard in the new edition of Diplomacy is beautiful. Really good looking map on a nice single piece mounted board.

AH actually included a ton of Planning Maps too which was really nice. I was shocked months ago when I bought Downtown: The Air War Over Hanoi, 1965 - 1973 and found out it only came with three planning sheets of each kind that you needed (map/aircraft loadout) which was not even enough to play all the game's scenarios! Ah well, GMT is still a quality outfit in my book.

Some other musings:

40K + Xbox 360 have been consuming quite a bit of my entertainment income as of late. Thats not a bad thing, since I am enjoying 40K and I believe i'll be playing video games until I die.

There are still some boardgames i'd like to get though, particularly I want (need) to get Combat Commander: Med to finally round out the base game. Since Chad and co over at GMT have pretty much stated that all future Combat Commander: Europe expansions will require Med. Plus i'm pumped for that Stalingrad battle pack, which I preordered.

I also would like to get Federation Commander: Klingon Attack to round out my Klingon forces. From there, who knows? There are just so many ship options available and a host FedCom products. I think I'll pick up either another attack module or some boosters.

So Agricola is supposed to be shipping soon. Am I excited? Not really. This shit is overhyped to the max. Bear in mind, however, that overhyped does not in any way mean it wont be good. It will be a pleasure to play with some friends who have never heard of the game and won't be influenced by the hype machine. Personally, I think the game is going to be fun but certainly wont replace my current favorites. From a thematic standpoint I think the game is totally awesome.

It's about farming. Sorry, that's rad. I guess i've just done too much reading in History/Anthropology/Geography courses to not think that agriculture isn't completely awesome.

I mean, who doesn't love Harvest Moon anyway?

Only time will tell if I regret this pre-order.

Can't Sleep

Well, Warhammer 40k sure is expensive. I enjoy the modeling aspects though, so the financial aspects of the hobby are moot in my opinion (so long as the prices of the models don't become prohibitive, however).

Basically the core of my Ork list is shaping up to look something like this:

2 Shoota Boyz Mobz of 20 models each.
- Each mob will include 1 big shoota boy, 1 rokkit boy, and one PK/Slugga Nob. The rest of the boyz are armed with Shootas.

2 Trukk Boyz Mobs of 12 models each
-Each mob will include 1 rokkit boy and 1 PK/Slugga Nob with Bosspole. The rest of the Boyz are armed with Sluggas and Choppas. Each mob has their own dedicated transport (the Trukk) which is armed with a Big Shoota. Trukks will most likely have red paint jobs, armour plates, and rams. Not sure about other options.

1 Warbiker mob of 6 models
- including 1 PK Nob.

1 Loota mob of 8 (10?) models.
- I don't have my first box of lootas yet. Word is that you only get 4 burna/deffgun boyz models and 1 Mek model. If true that you only get 4 burnas/4 deffguns then that sucks. We'll see.

1 HQ Unit.

-Right now I have a Warboss w/ big choppa. I also have a Big Mek w/ KFF. I sort of wish I had the PK boss or the attack squig boss. Whatever, i'll use the BC Boss until i get the plastic warboss in the 5th ed starter set.

I'll probably field the Mek w/ KFF just to take up points and give my Boyz 5+ saves.

This is the core for now. I don't know about the points because I haven't refigured them out.

I might need an additional mob of 20 boyz.

I have a Deff Dread that will see some action in my list too.

I figured i'd try to fo a 1000 point corp of Boyz/Bikez/Trukkz and then have 500 points to "swap out"

My Army name is "Lagduf's Ladz"

Trukk names are: Da Wheelz of Mork and Da Wheelz of Gork

Clans featured so far are Blood Axes and Evil Sunz (for trukkz and bikez). The Lootas will be a different clan, as will the next shoota mob.