Summoner Wars Catch All

have you guys been invited to random games with people who aren't on your friends list? It keeps happening to me and I'm not sure how to decline it without just letting it time out.

I have no problem playing strangers but it's almost like I get a random deck. This last time I was assigned cloaks. I'm not sure I've played cloaks against people. If I'm going to play against people who I don't know, I'd like to at least pick my deck, y'know?

/shrug

oilypenguin wrote:

have you guys been invited to random games with people who aren't on your friends list? It keeps happening to me and I'm not sure how to decline it without just letting it time out.

I have no problem playing strangers but it's almost like I get a random deck. This last time I was assigned cloaks. I'm not sure I've played cloaks against people. If I'm going to play against people who I don't know, I'd like to at least pick my deck, y'know?

/shrug

I've not experienced either of those issues. Whenever I receive a game invite I can always select to choose deck.

Yeah, I haven't experienced that either.

Also, if anyone is looking for more matches, there is a league going on Quartertothree which Hereafter and I are playing in. It's pretty informal (not a set schedule or anything), but it is a good source of games. http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=70169

oilypenguin wrote:

have you guys been invited to random games with people who aren't on your friends list? It keeps happening to me and I'm not sure how to decline it without just letting it time out.

I have no problem playing strangers but it's almost like I get a random deck. This last time I was assigned cloaks. I'm not sure I've played cloaks against people. If I'm going to play against people who I don't know, I'd like to at least pick my deck, y'know?

/shrug

I've noticed this too, just in the last few days. I've received invites from 3 people not on my GC friends list. When I accepted the first (thinking perhaps it was someone else from GWJ) it took me to the matchup screen, but I was unable to select the deck I wanted. My only option was "Join". Not sure what's going on.

Kind of glad it's not just me which proves I'm not crazy. But it's too bad it isn't just me, though, as those invites are annoying.

In other news, who is drawing the short straw of organizing a tournament for this? Because we should do that.

Good game Boudreaux. Cloaks mirror matches are always interesting. Getting a bunch of games in tonight at a local game store training for the GenCon tournament I'm playing in. Tomorrow I'll send out a bunch of invites for new games. Trying to get as much play in before next week as I can.

I agree a tournament would be great. If we can agree on a format, I'd be willing to handle the administrative details. Just a normal single elimination tournament, a fancier double elimination tournament, or something else (group play to qualify for knockout rounds etc.)?

thejustinbot, if you want to play against any faction in particular, let me know (although I can not vouch for my abilities with cloaks or goblins ).

thejustinbot wrote:

Good game Boudreaux. Cloaks mirror matches are always interesting. Getting a bunch of games in tonight at a local game store training for the GenCon tournament I'm playing in. Tomorrow I'll send out a bunch of invites for new games. Trying to get as much play in before next week as I can.

Ha! It's funny, every time I check this thread and somebody says "good game" to me, I immediately think "I have no idea what they're talking about. Aww, must have lost another one."

MitchellW wrote:

Got my physical copy yesterday with 9 total factions (Master set plus mercenaries, filth and vanguards)

Setup a game of Vanguards for my wife and Mountain Vargath for me. Never played either deck, but for a first game, I would highly recommend not giving the new player Vanguards! They are pretty defensive in nature and when positioning really counts, that's not very easy for a new player. Live and learn. In other news, she forgives me and thinks we can enjoy a different matchup soon. :-D

Where did you find the Vanguards? I haven't been able to get them or the Cloaks in physical form. Other than those two, I also need the starter sets ( got the Master set ).

Cragmyre wrote:
MitchellW wrote:

Got my physical copy yesterday with 9 total factions (Master set plus mercenaries, filth and vanguards)

Setup a game of Vanguards for my wife and Mountain Vargath for me. Never played either deck, but for a first game, I would highly recommend not giving the new player Vanguards! They are pretty defensive in nature and when positioning really counts, that's not very easy for a new player. Live and learn. In other news, she forgives me and thinks we can enjoy a different matchup soon. :-D

Where did you find the Vanguards? I haven't been able to get them or the Cloaks in physical form. Other than those two, I also need the starter sets ( got the Master set ).

I won an ebay auction that had lots of factions in it (the 9 mentioned above)

Boudreaux wrote:
thejustinbot wrote:

Good game Boudreaux. Cloaks mirror matches are always interesting. Getting a bunch of games in tonight at a local game store training for the GenCon tournament I'm playing in. Tomorrow I'll send out a bunch of invites for new games. Trying to get as much play in before next week as I can.

Ha! It's funny, every time I check this thread and somebody says "good game" to me, I immediately think "I have no idea what they're talking about. Aww, must have lost another one." ;-)

Good game, and you didn't lose our last one.

Pacman wrote:

Yeah, I haven't experienced that either.

Also, if anyone is looking for more matches, there is a league going on Quartertothree which Hereafter and I are playing in. It's pretty informal (not a set schedule or anything), but it is a good source of games. http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=70169

But our secrets!!!!

I'm trying to add more people to my game center friends list so I hope no one minds.

Regarding the random friend requests, if you are a friend of a friend they can request a friend request...

Stratego - fantastic game! I thoroughly enjoyed that. I thought I had you when I managed to swoop Vlox all the way across the board and away from Archangel. My prediction of the winner went back and forth about 5 times - I was thinking about 3 moves ahead, but you kept putting the perfect blocks in my way. I thought I had you there at the end with three units around Sera, but alas.

One mistake I made was not bringing in the Cloaks champion (I forget her name) that lets you charm an opposing unit. I could have used that to move one of your Guardian Knights away from Sera, which would have let me put a lot more wallop on her. I realized that about three seconds after I summoned something else and I didn't have enough magic left.

My hat's off to Pacman and Hereafter as well, after many many games I cannot for the life of me figure out how to beat either one of you.

Well, I'm with you in not knowing the secret to beating Hereafter. I am 1-12 against him so far ( so he accounts for over half of my total losses ). As for beating me, obviously Heafter has it figured out. I'm also in pretty poor position in games against Gunner and Dysplastic currently, so they might be able to offer some ideas as well :p

Only thing I can think of to suggest, is keeping close track of your opponents event cards (in general knowing the possible cards is very important). I didn't realize this till fairly recently, but you can look at your opponents discard pile. So you don't have to remember what they played, you can always check there. This also lets you see that they have discard events to build magic sometimes, but only after they have spent the magic. This lets you keep track of whether you need to be worried about unit counts (magic drain, reinforcement), spikes in unit strength (heroic feat, holy judgement), and other event card effects. Not saying you aren't doing any of that, but that is something that helped me up my game.

Pacman wrote:

Only thing I can think of to suggest, is keeping close track of your opponents event cards (in general knowing the possible cards is very important). I didn't realize this till fairly recently, but you can look at your opponents discard pile. So you don't have to remember what they played, you can always check there. This also lets you see that they have discard events to build magic sometimes, but only after they have spent the magic. This lets you keep track of whether you need to be worried about unit counts (magic drain, reinforcement), spikes in unit strength (heroic feat, holy judgement), and other event card effects. Not saying you aren't doing any of that, but that is something that helped me up my game.

That's a good tip, and yes I do try to do that during games. I'm familiar enough with the decks (either from playing with them or against them) to be able to anticipate most of the events. That actually has helped me in several occasions, especially being able to check their discard pile (I figured that out awhile ago too).

Part of my problem is that I don't think things through enough. I play a LOT of board games, and I've spent so much time actively trying not to bog games down with analysis paralysis that I probably err too far on the other side. I come up with tactics and just run with them. If a plan occurs to me, I tend to follow it through despite clear indications that it's not working. I'll also admit that in Summoner Wars I am guilty of trying hair-brained schemes just because it would be so cool if they worked, like swarming a champion with Cloak Slashers or gunning for huge suicide runs with Orc Fighters. I am DEFINITELY guilty of rushing a Summoner whenever they're open, even at huge risk and without any sort of follow-up plan. I lose a lot of units that way.

Boudreaux wrote:

I am DEFINITELY guilty of rushing a Summoner whenever they're open, even at huge risk and without any sort of follow-up plan. I lose a lot of units that way.

Yeah, I have that problem too. I don't thnk starting out with the jungle elves helped, as they tend to support that style of play, so I was just reinforced. It is especially hard, because you don't want to overcorrect and become too cautious. Threatening the summoner can force someone to respond and disrupt their plans. And a few early hits can prevent them from trying to use their summoner offensively also. So it is a real judgement call of when to go for it, and when not to.

As for analysis paralysis, I think being asynchronous means you can indulge yourself and take as long as you need, trusting that the other player is going about their day

Nice game athros!

I really didn't think I was going to pull that out for a while. Your Archangel caught me in a pretty bad position, but fortunately you weren't able to roll 6 of 6 on hits so I survived. That was only 2nd game with the Cloaks (well actually first finished, started one earlier with Boudreaux that is still ongoing), still not sure how I feel about them. They have almost nothing with any real punch, and aren't especially high in hit points either. Seems to take some tricky maneuvering.

Pacman wrote:

Nice game athros!

I really didn't think I was going to pull that out for a while. Your Archangel caught me in a pretty bad position, but fortunately you weren't able to roll 6 of 6 on hits so I survived. That was only 2nd game with the Cloaks (well actually first finished, started one earlier with Boudreaux that is still ongoing), still not sure how I feel about them. They have almost nothing with any real punch, and aren't especially high in hit points either. Seems to take some tricky maneuvering.

It was a great game Pacman!

When you turtled up in the corner, I had to pull Archangel back. There was no way I was going to get through that barricade with one wound left and have him survive long enough to get that last hit on Vlox. I think I moved Sera up too fast.

Tricky maneuvering is the name of the Cloaks game, especially Scam's. That extra 2 movement after an attack is critical in the end game, especially with Vlox copying him.

I'm up for a (re)match anytime!

Nice game Boudreaux, I totally spaced on that charm ability.

It turned out to be far more useful than I expected. And I can't believe that was only the second game you played with the Cloaks, that was a nail-biter. I seriously thought you were going to school me there for a bit. But for a lucky die roll here or there, that could have gone either way. I'm not too proud to admit that I did a short, tasteful, but entirely enthusiastic victory fist pump after that win.

I'm still back and forth on the Cloaks - like you said, they're fairly light on offense and easy to kill. Their strength really seems to be in movement, both the Scrappers and champions like Scram. My biggest struggle is keeping enough magic to use all their powers. Best strategy seems to be to stay away from enemies, hit from a distance where possible, and use the movement powers to suddenly swarm a unit and kill it fast. If die rolls don't go your way, though, you're toast.

Boudreaux wrote:

It turned out to be far more useful than I expected. And I can't believe that was only the second game you played with the Cloaks, that was a nail-biter. I seriously thought you were going to school me there for a bit. But for a lucky die roll here or there, that could have gone either way. I'm not too proud to admit that I did a short, tasteful, but entirely enthusiastic victory fist pump after that win.

I'm still back and forth on the Cloaks - like you said, they're fairly light on offense and easy to kill. Their strength really seems to be in movement, both the Scrappers and champions like Scram. My biggest struggle is keeping enough magic to use all their powers. Best strategy seems to be to stay away from enemies, hit from a distance where possible, and use the movement powers to suddenly swarm a unit and kill it fast. If die rolls don't go your way, though, you're toast.

When you play the Cloaks, chances are you'll magic drain your opponents. If your opponents try to pair down his board presence (to not to be magic drained), use your Thieves, Gunners, Violet, Scrappers, to kill his Summoner. Just keep in mind you need to involve Vlox quite a bit in your game (I noticed you didn't in our game together). Also, don't burn through your deck too quick. You don't need magic as much as you think you do.

Here's some combos I saw that was interesting:

Summon Violet. Vlox copies Violet. Cloak of Shadows on Violet. Violet move in front. Vlox moves behind her. They both attack the target and Violet doesn't have a high chance of getting hurt.

Vlox copies. Push your Scrapper forward. Cloak of Shadows on Vlox. Scrapper attacks the enemy. Vlox warps from the other side of the board. Vlox is unhurt. Next round Vlox copies Thief adn steal then warps back to safety.

Scam and Vlox (if he copied Scam) can attack anything to escape. Include Cloak of Shadows and next round you can steal and or assassinate the summoner.

Raid can be used on Vlox if he copies a Thief.

Vlox and Sin-Sin can be used in conjunction to move an enemy's common 4 spaces. Chances are you can take a few pot shots at the summoner.

Vlox copies Gunner. Cloaks of Shadows. Moves 5 spaces. Potshot @ summoner. Next round, steal to warp away.

Some tips from when I noticed when I played the Cloaks. Kill 1 gunner in the beginning, the other one can be useful in the second round. Don't kill your Thief until you draw for the first time. If you do draw a Thief, then kill the one you have. If you draw a Raid event and no Thief, don't kill your starting Thief. Sin-Sin or Violet are both good but only 1 in your deck. Scam is the best Champion you have.

I'm not particularly good with the Cloaks though so take my advice with a grain of salt :-).

@Oily. If it made you feel better about the 0/3 with Krung. I had enough firepower to do 5 damage to 1 unit regardless if my Drake died or not. I hope you don't mind 2 pieces of advice though. Don't freeze common units, it's not worth it. I rather kill them to get 1 magic back and summon another one (or 2) for the same cost as unfreezing them. Also, unless you have reinforcement and can use it, throw your ice walls to the magic pile. If you lay them down, chances are it's free magic for me.

@Pacman, I think you're giving me too much credit. Our games are usually pretty tight. I think the only reason I do come out on top is you're a little too cautious when playing me. I sometimes have a really bad hand but you give me enough time to recover. Of course luck helps too :-).

Hereafter wrote:

@Pacman, I think you're giving me too much credit. Our games are usually pretty tight. I think the only reason I do come out on top is you're a little too cautious when playing me. I sometimes have a really bad hand but you give me enough time to recover. Of course luck helps too :-).

But thats because being too aggressive got me burned too many times against you already! I think you are totally in my head at this point :p

Good game justinbot. That inital fury roll was impressive to say the least

For the rematch I select the Phoenix elves again. I figured you want revenge. Let me know if you want someone else and I'll switch.

Pacman, that was a great move bringing out that champion and wiping out my units that turn. I was sure you built him for magic since I thought you would have played him sooner, otherwise I wouldn't have left those units so vulnerable. Great sneakiness. You got screwed on that last die roll to kill my champion, you deserved to win that game.

Thanks Dysplastic, that 0 for 2 was a bit painful

I was hoping you would think I had nothing left of use when I started maneuvering the summoner around. I was hoping for a direct shot at your summoner with Baldar, but that seemed unlikely to materialize, so I decided taking out the other two units was the way to go. I figured it would at least get me a shot at your summoner as long as you did not hit on 5 of 5 attack dice. And my cunning plan succeeded....right up until my summoner whiffed on the shot.

That was a good game though, send me an invite whenever you want another match

Hereafter - sorry for the forfeit - I started playing a live game and it kept wanting to bring me back to our game, and I didn't want to be running two games at once. I'll send out a rematch invite when I'm done.

Hereafter wrote:

Good game justinbot. That inital fury roll was impressive to say the least

For the rematch I select the Phoenix elves again. I figured you want revenge. Let me know if you want someone else and I'll switch.

I'll play whoever. I always end up wanting to play the Tundra Orcs like I do the Mountain Vargath, real in your face with the summoner floating around to lend support. Halfway through each game I remember that the TO play much more defensively and by then it is too late.

Good Game Pacman! You really need to stay out of the corners. Seriously. I need to start playing with a different deck. CG I think I'm going to start working on next.

I'll stay out of the corners when you stop bringing out Archangel ;). Fallen kingdom is particularly good at turtling up the summoner like that, since you can keep raising dead to surround you.