Titanomachina: Kinetic Angel

I wonder about this configuration of Arms x2, Plantigrade Leg x2, Wings x2, Sponson, Sensor, Coolant, Crew x4, Extra Armour x5, Shields x2, Harpoon Gun, Pincer. It is oppressive? Yes, that is something of the intent. It's going for board control and not giving up card advantage. 

It can dole out a number of attacks, something like ten: Arms, Legs, Wings are 6, Harpoon gun is 1-2, the Pincer is 1-4 attacks, counting collisions as 'exploding' damage. There can easily include a body slam attack, maybe even two given two wings; a jump action from a wing still requires another limb to be activated to convert collisions into body slams. That seems likely if an arm or leg has already attacked. 

Power-wise, the arms, legs, and sponson are 0 charge, so they don't require any sacrifices, but the wings are 2 charge, so probably one use every four rounds unless there's some emergency or clever double-jump available, although diverting power from the sensor, coolant, and a couple of extra armour systems might do it. The shields can be used to power the weapons, and may otherwise be disposable in the sense that they aren't going to be activated, and just held to power other systems. 

Titanomachina: Quaternary Quarrel

After last week's scaly violence, last night's donnybrook saw Sagacious Rhea knock out Rapacious Eos in round 9, for a score of 29-25. Instead of the battlefield being flattened in an egregious display of collateral damage, only four habitats weren't detected, and actual increase in the number of surviving yellow habitats prior to Rhea's arrival. Eos only lost one habitat from the 24 They came to protect from Rhea' opportunism, although the loss of an arm, armour, and both gun batteries perhaps has Eos regretting Their choice of configuration. My plan, such as it was, was to use Eos quaternary configuration's arms and light weapons to methodically chase and dismantle my opponent's choice of Titan. My opponent went with Rhea's quaternary configuration, something packing more armour and heavier guns, but slower and perhaps less agile. 

The armour wasn't an issue, as I had planned to knock it off Rhea with Eos' guns and hand, and it was this notion of maintaining the initiative that caused me to succumb to temptation and line up my senior crew behind the laser battery and take the opportunity to stab Rhea through both layers of frontal armour and and render Her sensor too heavily damaged to effectively function. The idea was to eliminate Rhea's protection and initiative so that Eos could deliver a knock-out blow. My opponent, however, took the initiative and did something similar to Eos, utilizing the high explosive effect of Rhea's macro-guns to disable first Eos' superior mobility, and then chew off the armour protecting Their gun batteries. While both Titans where capable of using their sensors to detect buildings, and were well suited to clearing buildings, stabbing Rhea in the eye with lasers and being ahead on buildings meant that my opponent's option for winning was a direct confrontation, and I had been gambling on my opponent trying to win on buildings. I think Eos quaternary would have been a good choice had I not had the first choice of Titan, as a reaction to a Titan like Tethys quaternary from last week; I certainly found myself wishing Eos had brought some plasma howitzers. 

I had the initiative and perhaps deployed too conservatively given how I was packing both guns and the laser battery in the initial load of systems I drew to my hand. I wasn't terribly interested in getting into an immediate exchange of fire though, and figured I could go right or left depending on the direction of ambush. I think setting up closer to the middle of the board like my opponent ultimately chose was the better more as I would have the first shot and then could manoeuvre. I'm not sure this was a mistake, but given my opponent chose a gun-boat, and what happened the last time I had set up there, I'm not sure it was a great idea either. 

Round 1 was something of a battle of nerves, which is to say I don't think either of us wanted to go first. Me because I was in cover and had the initiative, which meant that my opponent could react to me leaving cover before I could shoot, and my opponent perhaps because he didn't have the initiative and was well-wary of wasting Rhea's limited power supply and allowing Eos to overwhelm Rhea's endurance with capacitor-fueled action. Sometimes it's two samurai squinting stonily at each other, and sometimes it's two fighters shaking out theirs shoulders and stretching their necks...

Well, Rhea wasn't going to exhaust Herself, so I announce Eos' presence by caving in a yellow habitat, hoping to give the impression of preparing to go on a rampage. Rhea understands the taunt, but replies by detecting a two-habitat-tall building behind Eos; "Look," she seems to say, "I have two more just like it." Eos cracks out Their back, flexes Their front armour, and curtsies. Rhea directs Her master crew to aim the right macro gun in a rude gesture, but not to fire. 

Rhea has shown Her hand, so to speak, and so Eos comes charging through the pink habitat left from Their initial attack on that building, and locks in for a shot; Rhea aims Her left macro gun at Eos' laser battery and staggers Eos back as They block the shot with leg armour, with the blast catching Eos' exposed back-left arm. Eos is patient though, this was expected, and keeps a Rhea in Their sights while Their master crew helps the adherent crew aim. As Rhea stomps closers, Eos unleashes a precise set of laser beams that burst Rhea's front shields, and carve deep into Her front like claws raked across the face and chest of a human. Rhea isn't phased as She blasts Eos again, and punches Them as Eos tries to capitalize on the gaping holes in Rhea's front; Rhea still has plenty of armour, and in Her wisdom (or perhaps in the wisdom of Her master crew) has not fired Her vulcan guns yet. Eos' elevated rate of activity will come back to haunt them in later rounds as card advantage has been sacrificed... 

Now as Eos attempts to suck wind and re-fire Her ichorplasma spiracles Rhea seizes the initiative and unloads with Her vulcan guns. Eos gets Their shields back up, somewhat, and isn't knocked off the battlefield, but They waste their rapaciousness and perhaps power turning around somewhat...

Eos needs to get away from the edge of the battlefield to avoid a ring-out, and has a hand available, so They chase Rhea and try to smash Her into buildings in tile 37, but only succeeds in tearing the armour off Her side. Rhea holds Her patience, if not Her dignity, and kicks Eos for good measure.

Now my tunnel vision starts to tell, as I get Eos to keep firing in the hopes of capitalizing on Rhea's loss of armour: if I seize the initiative now my opponent can't get it back for Rhea until the sagacious personality is loaded to his hand in round 8. But first I have another crack at taking Rhea's head, but Rhea has the initiative and in the exchange of fire damages my gun battery, and I fail to destroy Rhea's back armour as She takes the shot on Her back armour. Here is where I think I made a major mistake, something easily identifiable as such, which was turning to face Rhea. Admittedly it meant that I had shields between Eos and Rhea, but taking cover would have helped more next round where Eos had lost card advantage. 

Now that lack of cover starts to hurt as I scramble to minimize incoming damage and Rhea keeps hammering Eos with perfectly functional systems. It's worth noting that while Eos is defending themselves, and I'm actually still winning at this point, Eos is out of gas and rapidly running out of functional body parts. 

As Rhea keeps beating on Eos I keep trying for an offensive solution to a defensive action, and while raising shields on Eos' damaged sponson helps absorb some of the damage from a hefty kick, Eos is down to 10% shields and is one good hit away from something bad. 

A pair of kicks from Eos does not prevent Their dismemberment, and fails to stomp in Rhea's vulnerable, tenderized face. Eos is bracketed and battered by Rhea, first losing one gun battery, then an arm, and finally the left gun battery to an enthusiastic stomp from Rhea. With the loss of the second gun battery the score of destroyed systems was 8 VPs for Rhea and 2 VPs for Eos, scoring a knock-out win for my opponent and mighty Rhea! Unfortunately I managed to lose the screen-shot that would have recorded the exact end-state of the board, perhaps related to this final position shot that I have used here, as it would help readers understand some of my post-game thoughts. 

The first of which is that Eos Quaternary is not meant to exchange heavy hits with another Titan, but instead is supposed to go for board-control, using Their suite of light-weight, low-powered weapons and unusually high number of limbs to dance around opponents while laying waste to their habitats. For the purposes of a punching match, this configuration of Eos is under-powered. Could I have done that with my opponent attempting something similar? I think so had I started the game more centrally and more aggressively, so that each weapon could be activated three times in the course of a 9-round game, and perhaps spread my shields out to protect Eos' rear arms to maintain mobility. Where I had planned to absorb hits on my leg armour, I should have expected my opponent to use the high explosive trait of the macro-guns to slip that damage in. Losing the armour would have been less painful that losing the arms. 

Additionally, despite the utter temptation, I should not have made that laser shot. I could have done something similar with the left gun battery, and either done damage to Rhea's guns (initial target) or knocked Rhea back into the habitats at the center of the board. Likewise I should have used the hand to bottle Rhea instead of grappling, as exchange of leg armour for facing benefitted Rhea much more than Eos.

Most of all, and this happens in most board games and wargames, is that I need to remember that I am not fighting the last battle, but the next battle. It's one thing to suppose that because an opponent turned left in the previous game that they will then turn left in the next game, particularly as the local conditions change. It's more a case of remembering the tricks and tactics that they used in the previous game so that they can't pull it over on you in the next game. Which is funny, after a fashion, because having flattened the board in the previous game this was the slug-fest I was planning on having. 

From a game designer perspective this game was fantastic for how I have envisioned the game to play and to be experienced, in the sense that I had a material strategy (Eos quaternary) that might have worked out but for my mistakes, effective counter-play by my opponent, and a critical switch in the initiative that I had anticipated but not fully prepared to counter (the idea being to knock out my opponent's ability to control the initiative). Plus a knock-out win!

So glory to my opponent and glory to Rhea! Maybe revenge needs plasma weaponry...

Titanomachina: The Surging Tide SWEPT ALL BEFORE HER!

Last night a gracious Tethys Quaternary configuration faced off against pugnacious Styxx Senary configuration, with my opponent taking the initiative and the configuration of the pink Titan that starts with its entire complement of habitat blocks on the board. I was starting with only 18 on the board, putting me at 6 down to start. But Styxx mounts three sensor systems, and I could put up 12 or so in the course of the game. Perhaps more. I was planning on a knock-out, using the plasma howitzer to suppress a card advantage by forcing Tethys to use extra armour to defend, and generally setting up shots and pruning buildings with Styxx' other weapons. I understand that my opponent was looking forward to caving Styxx in with full-spread rocket barrages. Without the initiative I demurred to skulking Styxx around in the north -west quadrant (south is up in the images), instead of trying to bottle Tethys up in the south-est quadrant. I still set up in range in the hopes that my opponent wouldn't wait for a clear shot and try to guide it in with Tethys' lone sensor array. There was also a meaty vein of prink buildings that could be cleared efficiently. 

Something that I noticed was that by the buildings getting decimated, line of sight not only opened up, but line of sight to further targets. Part of the difficulty in placing buildings was detecting them where they could not be immediately or efficiently engaged by my opponent. To further complicate things, while that was an easy way to get points, it required me to ease pressure on my opponent which allowed him to slowly recover card advantage. Which meant that, at the end when my opponent had won, my opponent could afford to forgo placing a 4-habitat building, but instead walked over and saved Styxx the trouble of kicking Herself! My opponent conducted something of a scorched-earth campaign that took the initial advantage in buildings, and pushed it pretty high. I was not able to recover, and frankly it could have been worse. 

Not setting up in Tethys' face gave me time to load up my hand with Styxx's systems, either options to be taken, or power for those options. Tethys used three cards to kick a building and gradually advance into the roundabout at tile 26. I showed all three of Styxx's weapons so that my opponent was aware Styxx was ready to shoot. My opponent put Tethys' adherent crew on deck to operate next round.

Here my opponent makes a choice. Actually, my opponent probably made that choice before, when activating the Adherent crew. The choice is accepting some friendly fire from rockets destroying pink buildings, just so that green is pushed further into a points deficit. It's cold and fishy, and very much in character for Tethys. Tethys blasts the two buildings in front of Styxx to rubble with a cunningly aimed spread of rockets. Styxx needed to start moving, and I play an arm without activating it to play for time and to let my opponent know Styxx had slowed down. Then I play another arm to move forward into plasma howitzer range. I need to get a shot off. My opponent backs Tethys off against the tile 59 on the western edge of the board. My master, who I was prepared to activate to fire the shot, stood down on the general principal that I was willing to wait, and needed to conserve cards anyways. 

As Tethys' crew takes an early break, I activate with Styxx's un-activated arm from last round, closing the fire and pivoting to center the plasma howitzer on Tethys. We both activate master crew, and it looks like it's time to brace for an exchange of fire. Getting hit by a barrage of rockets isn't going to stop me from melting one of Tethys' armour pieces. Tethys is gracious however, and declines a churlish exchange of fire, preferring to swing up the north-west road to settle in waiting being a line of buildings in tiles 43 and 34. 

Now, I can probably see through those buildings using Styxx's sensors, but I see an opportunity that I had planned for, namely three exposed pink habitats I can pick off using the the turret and adherent crew. So I somewhat unwisely indulge in this spree of destruction (and discovery as Styxx detects a two-tall green habitat in tile 94. See, at this point there was still places to detect buildings without worrying to much about Tethys hammering them flat with rockets. The gap has been narrowed in points, but I believe I over-extended Styxx here, and ended up paying for it by ending up with a card deficit. 

Now Tethys starts running, getting past Styxx in the middle of the board, dodging past a Styxx that was expecting them to stay and exchange blows, and allowed Herself to indulge in detecting a building in tile 61 and then detecting Tethys hiding behind those buildings. Styxx awkwardly transitioned from a fighting position to chasing Tethys down the south-east road. Both stomped or kicked habitats during the chase. Styxx lands a solid kick, but Tethys soaks it on a shielded left leg and that slews Her around to face Styxx. 

Styxx was chasing Tethys, for sure, but again, the goal at this point as primarily to play catch-up taking out pink buildings as efficiently as possible. Part of that was threatening Tethys, and my opponent pretty successfully kiting me with Tethys. Some shields were popped and armour shattered, but nothing Styxx or gracious Tethys couldn't handle; nothing substance or irreplaceable.  

Meanwhile, Tethys' continues to pancake the city with massive, deliberate salvos of rockets, not simply picking off green habitats, but demolishing the blocks of buildings containing them. In perhaps an example of psychological warfare, my opponent made sure every yellow and blue habitat was placed with the green habitats on my side of the table. Not that I hadn't made peace with collateral damage as once again I spent four cards with the vulcan gun to remove three buildings, including a blue habitat). I try to use the capacitor to staunch the bleeding (of cards). 

I was running low on cards, but I reasoned that while my opponent was definitely going to get some free actions after Styxx ran out of gas he also probably had four extra armour cards in hand that wouldn't really contribute at this point. Slowing Tethys down is good too, so I stagger Styxx over to tile 66 with a kick to the pink habitat in 76. My opponent backs 

I had Styxx take a last couple of swings, but it was too little, too late, and I had run Styxx out of gas while my opponent was winning, which is not how you want to do these things. I used Styxx's arms to destroy habitats in 75 and 43, while Tethys annihilated habitats in tiles 28, 74 and 73, as well as detecting a habitat in tile 94, seizing the initiative, and kicking Styxx up the ass, destroying Her left deflector array. A nice little injury to go with the insult of pushing 6 missing green habitats to 16. Without anything more than scuffed armour and perhaps some fining of the rocket launcher repair (by the grace of the Titan and assisted by junior crew), the final score was 11 victory points to 8. That was from starting scores for 24 to 18. So while I did not win, I was successful in closing the gap somewhat. 

So while I had started out with a plan, my opponent out-played me, and perhaps even out-thought me if the production of "hmm" sounds counts as measure. I did make a couple of mistakes, including forgetting to draw five cards at the end of round 3, which maybe could have turned out differently had I started the round with the card hand. At the time I figured it was a pretty good round and that the five forgotten cards probably kept me in the game after squandering card advantage. Styxx really is a squamous lizard mech, requiring slow, careful pacing before tearing into an opponent, and giving chase to Tethys (and ostensibly slower Titan) gassed Styxx out. Gears were definitely ground today.

I think my opponent raised an interesting point, in that Tethys' 24 starting habitats really lend themselves well to sacrificing a few to rocket barrages where senior crew can operate the rocket pods and optimize their spread. Losing one pink habitat to destroy two green habitats, even going at a 1:1 ratio may be a winning strategy where Styxx starts off 6 in the hole. Which is why I was aiming for the knock-out, because as the game went on I was losing places to hide buildings when a well-aimed rocket pod could take out nearly an entire two-floor block of buildings. Splitting senior crew between limbs keeping Tethys moving and kicking habitats, and rockets flattening entire blocks, one can see 

So two strategic mistakes. The first was not deploying for the first shot and aligning shields to tank the rockets I would have had to soak in order to get that in. The second was not seizing the initiative earlier, allowing Tethys to duck, dodge, dive, and waddle around me in a big circle or fish-icon. I failed to do this, but doing so would have been bad with good deployment. Specifically I should never have pinged Tethys, and instead kept the sensor at low power to scan and seize the initiative.

Still, despite making a wasteland and calling it victory, glory to gracious Tethys! Glory to my opponent!