If you go here -
http://register.novaopen2014.com/add-ons/
You'll find you can pre-purchase Frontline Gaming Mega Mats for pick-up at the NOVA Open.
These are for pre-purchase only; we won't offer any for sale at the show proper. The sale ends on August 17. It is a sweet deal for one big reason - no shipping. Reece and Co will be bringing the mats with them to the NOVA. Furthermore, we're working out a % of profit to donate to the charities supported by the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation.
By not paying shipping, you save literally 15-20% per mat, depending on whether you want a 6x4 or 4x4. All the various patterns they have are available, selectable during the check-out process.
This is a cobblestone Mega Mat in use testing out the layout of our Malifaux Cobblestone/"Urban" board layout for the Malifaux events at the NOVA Open this year.
These things are super rad, and acquiring them does a few things - saves you money vs. ordering them direct due to shipping (shipping is $17 per mat), helps the NOVA Open out a bit, and helps out charity a bit. Plus, you know, you get a sweet gaming surface to play on.
To the meat of things, as promised, our draft missions and FAQ by July 1!
The Draft Missions:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XJ20WB96DzRE635aokDX3XbhOHzw4Xt0UobUZ5j56JM/pub
There are some tweaks and things that need to be made that have been caught already. Playtest, provide feedback, help us catch little draft edits, and get yourself ready for the NOVA Open. The Indie Mission Catalog incorporates many of the game-play effects and concepts behind both the Eternal War and Maelstrom Missions while putting game control back in player hands and allowing more flexibility in army list construction by letting missions be semi-tailorable to your particular army strengths. By not having to play a fixed mission that may or may not be terrible for your particular army, the game is less dependent on match-up and less dependent on trying to net-list your way to that perfect army for all the missions at an event. Instead, build and optimize the list YOU want to play, and then tweak your mission choices to suit your capabilities (while knowing your opponent will be doing the same!). Instead of having to take down the dreaded 2+ Re-Roll stars on their own terms, you compete to see if your army can accomplish its terms better than they can accomplish theirs.
The Draft FAQ is out, and also has some edits that are already being caught as far as carry-over rules tweaks and what-not; please provide your feedback and discussion here as well!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13mcnnnPW_nDoAKsWMDOQVnUi3hIizsVrNzppGggzEVs/pub
Finally, just a source of pride, we started finishing our Malifaux boards. Here's our December Board layout. Malifaux at NOVA has room for 54 players, and is being attended by Justin Gibbs and Mack Martin - the two guys who wrote the game. Talk about a high caliber rules judge to reference ;) ... furthermore, they've both been involved in looking over and a-ok'ing the terrain layouts we've built, to the point that I think the word "Amazing" came up from Justin :)
Come play some of this amazing game (it really is, the only other game I'm hooked on after 40k!) and hang out with the very creators (plus players from as far away as Australia already!) at NOVA this year. There'll be sweet swag as well, stuff that you can normally only get at GENCON from Wyrd!
Aw. No uses of tactical missions into the draft? It would be cool if they followed Bay Open Area's format where tactical missions were secondary objectives and the current secondaries were tertiary. 4 points if you win the primary, 3 points if you win the secondary, and 1 point per tertiary objective?
ReplyDeleteThe Asymmetrical Mission Catalog largely replicates the net impact of the Tactical Objectives / Maelstrom missions, but without succumbing to the randomization or lack of choice inherent to them.
DeleteBy being asymmetrical and containing considerable %'s of the missions and mission options with accrual components throughout the game, you get the same net impact, but with a more polished and tournament-friendly presentation. Control is pushed to the players instead of the luck of the draw (even with mods), and the net result is you broaden the meta instead of narrowing it to a smaller field of codices that are able to field an effective enough army to handle any possible direction.
To be clear, I don't consider modified Maelstrom inclusion to be bad; we just went with the 50+ contributors to the Mission Catalog, revised for 7th Edition, and reflecting the same net game effect as Maelstrom, as a more reliable and tournament-ready mission set.
That said, we'll continue to take inputs and take a look at things as we go!
I like the maelstrom missions, but I can understand their being excluded due to randomness. Speaking of random, I was wondering why witchfire got hit with the nerf bat. Do we really need to add another step to the already dizzying opportunities for witchfire to fail? I wonder how many FMC there are out there with a Ld less than 9. Perhaps the ruling requiring an extra to hit role was intended to allow Look out sir for focussed witchfire in conflict with wound distribution rules per BRB.
DeleteAlso I went over your FAQ and I was wondering if you had a stance regarding jink saves against overwatch. It's a debate that was brought up in the Miniwargaming community.
ReplyDeleteWe'll take a look at it, thanks for bringing the question to our attention!
DeleteI love the terrain, I just want the roads to not go under the buildings! :)
ReplyDeleteI noticed in the FAQ that the imperial bunker was not allowed. I was wondering what the reasoning was for this.
ReplyDelete