Conversations: A new DiskWarrior to an old Veteran

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="251e1c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Navigation Links</div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Garrison 188 "><U>Garrison 188 </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Disk Wars: The Articles"><U>Disk Wars: The Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Intermediate Issues 1: Army Con"><U>DiskWars Intermediate Issues 1: Army Construction</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Intermediate Issues 2: Army Uni"><U>DiskWars Intermediate Issues 2: Army Unit Composition</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Intermediate Issues 3: Trade To"><U>DiskWars Intermediate Issues 3: Trade Topics</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 1: Conditional "><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 1: Conditional and Threat Disks</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 2: Range Consid"><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 2: Range Considerations</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 3: Missile Drop"><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 3: Missile Drops</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DiskWars Advanced Issues 4: Terrain"><U>DiskWars Advanced Issues 4: Terrain</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Disk Trades Central Page"><U>Disk Trades Central Page</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="163df0e3.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Mojo Dojo</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mojo Dojo"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <B>Conversations: A new DiskWarrior to an old Veteran</B></div> <div> <B>Mojo,</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>As usual I am coming to this hobby late and am now in the uncomfortable position of playing catch-up. As a proponent of our hobby you may be able to help me out.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>When I decide to do something it is usually all out. I have chosen to go all out and get all the disks for DiskWars.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I was hoping you could offer me the best advice for pursuing such a course. I have only recently been at diskwars.com and have seen that they have complete factory sets of Revised, Waiqar's Path, and the Wastelands. Each are $100 and that seems pricey because buyers of those will be buying them to collect the flats and not punch and play the disks. I want to do the latter.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>So what is your advice? Should I say I will trade (in money) for all disks at a reasonable price on diskwars.com? Should I go ahead and get the three factory sets? Should I wait and get the Broken Shadows and Moon over Thelgrim factory sets also? Should I buy lots from Ebay (always overpriced for my tastes?) </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Thank you in future tense.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>David Reese</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Well, David, you've got a couple of competing ideas as far as I can tell: you want all the disks, but you want a play set too....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>My first advice is to go through my series of articles at http://www.fortunecity.com/underworld/rpg/1235 </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>My second advice is to consider moderation.  I tried to "collect them all" and found out that I just don't have the time to maintain, let alone play, armies from each faction (you'll note that I wound up doing that anyway).  So I concentrated on armies I felt I would enjoy which happened to be (because of artwork and my perception of "coolness") all the typically evil factions, Mahkim and Dwarf.  I've tried to keep one army of each of the good factions just for the sake of having something for others to use and to occasionally tell myself that going uncharacteristically evil was a good idea....  It's easier to trade good to great disks for like disks when you only go after one, or a few, factions.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>My third advice: go to the Salt Lake DiskWarrior's site and see what is on each flat.  It will take some work, but will save you money if you note what is on each and how many you would wind up with if you bought one, or more, of each set.  Buying Legions boxes are good if you have a particular faction in mind.  At least you have a viable pair of armies....  Random acquisition is just that, random.  IF you decide to build armies on paper (not necessarily a bad idea) you could tailor your purchases in this manner.  Just buy from the core/expansion that suits you best.  If you just gotta have all the disks, then you'll spend much more in random acquisition than if you buy the factory sets.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Ebay is expensive unless there is something that you just gotta have.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Bouldergames.com has the cheapest prices on the net....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Well, you've got a lot to think about.  Read as much as you can on my website and on the SaltLake site.  Make an informed decision, and don't hesitate to ask as many questions as necessary (of me) to make the best decision.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo Po,</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Thank you for all of your fine words and I will tell you that I have read all of your online articles. They were great. In fact I was a fence sitter on DiskWars before I read your articles and your articles pushed me over the fence or off of it. I have been hesitant to get involved in any collectable game so far but found your articles informative enough, capturing the entertainment value of DiskWars, that I decided to take the plunge. So in some regards you are responsible for my current fascination. I thank you in some regards.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>David Reese</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo Po,</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Whenever you get around to it. I have begun to think seriously about what faction fits me and my personality. If I had to choose I would unfortunately choose two of what is considered for many the weakest and/or most difficult to play. At the top of my priority list is the Elves, that would mean trying to get many Tree-ents and Fairy Swarms from what I have read. I am also very drawn to the Acolytes and some Elementals to incorporate into an Acolyte Army. On the evil side I think I would choose the Undead and the Orcs. The undead because of</B></div> <div> <B>the variety of their disks and the Orcs because sometimes I like the horde factor. The Knights also interest me. I would like to try an army of fliers. An air force. Which faction had the most fliers? the Elves? Have you ever seen anyone play only factionless disks and would that work (Lots of centaurs, Pixies, elementals. etc.)?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Let me know.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>David Reese</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Well, Dave, let's see:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Elves</B></div> <div> <B>A faction that I'm mostly out of touch with.  The Tree Ents are real good, but prone to being pinned into ineffectiveness.  The BIGGEST problem for the elves is their lack of an effective 3pt line troop.  I have only one elven army that I only play for shits and grins.  While it has 75 points of elves, they only comprise about 9 out of 20-something disks....  I like them more for mixed archery support.  Especially effective are the "move and shoot" units.  Combined with enough Centaur archers you might cause a stir....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Acolytes</B></div> <div> <B>I like the Acolytes even less.  They have only one easy trick and that is Brother Dalmu and his 24" Twister.  They were a quirky, difficult, it-takes-a-genius-to-run-them-and-win type of army before the issuance of Abaley Guard and Flesh Molder.  Now they're just another mob; 'cept they're a mob with awesome tricks that activation advantage makes pretty much broken.  The only drawback (and only in League/sanctioned play) is that you are restricted to the number of Rampaging Homunculous (via the Flesh Molder) that you own.  And they are rarer than a properly playtested gaming product....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Undead</B></div> <div> <B>I can't decide if I like Undead, Orcs, or Uthuk the best.  The Undead have the best art, best SAs and a slew of specialized troops.  And then there's Vampires....  The real question is just where you want to go with this faction.  Kinda like having an unlimited credit card in a cathouse....  Both of my armies, pure and mixed, are "trick" armies.  One is based on the Ghost Ship producing extra troops and the other is based on 4 Werx Werewolves spreading the plague like... well... the plague!  Someday soon I need to resurrect my Vampire army....  Last time I played it I romped and stomped a typical TOUGH Dwarven army.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Orcs</B></div> <div> <B>I love these guys sooooo much for their cheap and awesome champions as well as the ultimate in Zen Mastery: Zharta Khun!  They also have an abundance of cheap, effective line troops as well as the startingly mobile Urkan Horde/Urotok Warrior combo.  We effected a local ruling to not allow out-of-faction, factioned uniques in other army's to keep me from putting Zharta-Urotok-Urkans in every evil army.  With the issuance of the Dragon's Xotallus Magi, mixed Orc armies now have access to a cheap lvl 3 spellcaster.  The only small drawback is the lack of cheap, effective flyers....  With the mobility of Urkan Hordes this is not that much of a drawback.  The worst thing may be that these troops blind one to the use of other awesome troops.  Oh, and don't forget the awesomeness of the new Raven-and-his-troops....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Continue on with the questions, I'm actually enjoying this....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In a combined letter:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Now we're getting into the really soft aspects of opinions.  I'll give my best shot:</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>>Mojo,</B></div> <div> <B>></B></div> <div> <B>>The comments you have made are great and I still have a couple of unanswered questions.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Gee, if I had any shame I'd blush....  Thanks, really, I do like serving the DiskWars community when I can.  Comments like this at least help me to know that I'm in the ballpark sometimes....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>1. Is it possible to have an army made completely of flying units? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Anything is possible.  Usually what you are looking at in flying units is an additional cost factor for the flight characteristic.  The better question might be, "Can an effective army be made out of all flying units?"  Maybe; your cheapest flyers are in the Undead faction, but I wouldn't make an army of bats....  Dragons are probably the best bet, but you'll have to concentrate on speed and an early kill as you will eventually, if not sooner, loose activation advantage.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>Which faction has the most fliers? Would such an army be competitive? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Ah, so you did think of the more appropriate question!  That's good!  There are so many themes and variations that it sometimes comes down to what army you took against what your opponent took.  I've had games where we were still fighting fiercely after the 10 turn limit we impose; and games where my opponent looked at the setup and surrendered.  Fortunately not so many of those....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>How do flying units interact with non flying units? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Only enemy flying units stop your flying units.  Otherwise you only have to worry about where you end movement.  Per the rulebook, your flyers are assumed to land at the end of movement.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>What is the most effective flying unit?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Helspanth X'Ru!!!  Actually it depends.  Effectiveness can be measured in several ways.  My Evil Dragon Army uses Jythal the Patient rather than a larger flyer because the "trick" of the army is to swap Jythal and Helspanth X'Ru with each other.  The Displacement spell requires that neither disk be attacking or attacked.  Jythal is much easier to fly into a small hole than one of his bigger brethern; therefore, Jythal is more effective in that instance.  For the Good guys it's Fairy Swarms and Flaming Phoenixes.  Fairy Swarms usually tie up a unit/or units for four turns.  FP can place a fireball and reanimate.  With their good movement they are cheaply costed at 9 points.  Dragonflights, at 5 points, are probably the best evil, although a couple of bats and several vampires are tres difficult to deal with.  Soul leeches are devastating....  Nearly every flyer is worth something just due to the movement possiblities, but more important is how they fit into the overall army.  An army of all Soul Leeches doesn't strike me as very wieldy or survivable.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>2. Have you ever seen a pure factionless army? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Technically illegal as you have to have 50% of one faction.  No I personally haven't.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>I know it seems strange but would an army composed entirely of >factionless disks be competitive? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Unknown.  The biggest question is where are you gonna get your activations and destructive power.  Were I to field such, I would look toward using, primarily, Centaur Archers, Fairy Swarms and Flaming Phoenixes.  The number of activations would truly suck, but the army would be highly mobile with damned good toughness.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>>Would the lack of champions hurt such an army or are there >factionless champions?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>All champions are factioned.  Usually (or so the official saw goes) the champion disks are better for the cost in exchange for making one use only that factions disks.  I asked Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny about this and they said so....  The only thing that hurts an army is lack of activations and how one plays to the army's strengths, and avoids its weaknesses....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In summary I would look at Dragons as the best source of an all flying army.  Personally I would be nervous about my cheapest unit costing 5pts but a sharp cookie cutter could make it work.  I do remember a long ago game where I kept a squadron of 5 Dragonflights just far enough away that my opponent couldn't attack them and couldn't attack my front lines without being counter-attacked.  Combat Air Patrol at it's finest!  Good Luck with it.  Keep the questions coming and consider asking on the bulletin board as I am not the fount of all wisdom (though I have no problem taking email questions either.)</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo,</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I will truly embarass you by saying I wish all others on the diskwars.com list were as nice and understanding as you. You have done a great service to the diskwars future as now I am a diskwarrior. Purely from a slefish reason you should be happy about this as I have placed an order for two copies of the new expansion when 500 are needed.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>so for further support from Fantasy Flight Games the DiskWars community needs to do exactly what you have done. 1. Provide good advice. 2. Provide for the most part free disks that are ubiquitous to get the newbies started.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>You have done both. I wish I could say the same for some of the other people I have talked to.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Some guy tried to sell me twenty ordinary disks for the Acolytes for $20. A dolllar a disk is a bit steep and perhaps I felt that I was being taken advantage of because I am a newbie. So perhaps you could tell me what I should be looking at regarding price. The only pricelist I saw was no longer available.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I have one deal cooking where one fellow will give me approximately 600 flats at .40 cents a piece. A mixture of fixed flats and many randoms. Mostly from expansions not from the revised. Some promos. All of this for $300 dollars.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Is this worth it? Whould I be bidding at ebay? What are your suggestions?</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Again Thank you.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>David Reese</B></div> <div> <B>---------------------------------------------------------------------</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Hmmmm, in all honesty I would be hesitant to buy without going hard out on research.  Then again, if you've got a spare 300 dollars....  DiskWars is not quite like card games where there is a solid secondary market.  Most disks are, market-wise, worthless.  I've only paid a dollar a disk if I REALLY wanted them.  On the $300 deal, a rough estimate could be made by splitting the fixed disks into sets of three and the randoms into sets of five.  This is an averaging of the revised/expansion schemes.  Multiply the number of "sets" by $9.95 and see if it is worth it.  Actually you can get regular expansion sets for $6.50 at Boulder.com....  So I might use that as a standard.  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Before agreeing to big bucks I still think you ought to look at what you really want.  I think GuvHelper once said that an experienced DiskWarrior, which you aren't but bear with me, knows of the 100+ disks that are really worthless.  And others are really powerful in masse.  Again this is why I suggest restraint and assessment of what you really want to play.  If you do go with buying stock boxes, then you can focus a little, and enjoy the ups and downs of trading.  I am not pushing for this option, just giving you ideas....</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mojo</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>