Adepticon! Almost Live

Greetings all.  I am in the trenches running the Spartan Games events at Adepticon.  The Halo Fleet Battles tournament is in the books as is The Schaumburg Clash! Dystopian Wars North American Championships.  The Russians took top honors in the Clash.  Congrats to Bob Schroeder on his win and claiming the title of North American Champion.  The Covenant dominated the Halo Fleet Battles tournament.  Andrew Karolus was crowned champion in the Fall of Reach.

We also premiered several new models at the convention.  STL Traders, Pathogen, OSO Corsairs will all have models very very soon.  The first Leviathan slipped its moorings to join the battle as well.  The Relthoza have been up to no good!  The Flashpoint Amber Campaign also kicked off today.  Check out the Firestorm Armada section of the Spartan Community forum for details.  Now for the picture dump!

The Road To Adepticon pt 1: The Flashpoint Narrative Event!

Greetings everyone! SeerK here to talk Adepticon. I wanted to start going into specifics for each of the events we are running this year. As I said a couple posts ago we have expanded the events to include almost all the games that Spartan makes. I am going to give some details about each event starting with the new ones joining the mix in our Road To Adepticon series. We have Firestorm Armada, Firestorm Planetfall, Halo Fleet Battles, Halo Ground Command and Dystopian Wars this year. Spartan Fans can look forward to an event every day of the convention except Wednesday. I am planning on doing an unofficial mixer and meet and greet Wednesday night, but I am still deciding what to do. I wanted to start our series with our new Firestorm Armada Event. In addition to the North American Championships we decided to add a fun event for those who want to play, but may not be ready to throw into a tournament. Friday night we are proud to bring you The Flashpoint Narrative Event!

GateCon FSA Megabattle Debrief!

Greetings all. It was a busy weekend for me. I had two events going on this past weekend. I played in an I.T.S. event and we had an FSA mega battle at Evolution Games on Sunday. It is this event I want to talk about. We decided to kick off the War Gaming season with a Massive fleet battle that tied into the Flashpoint Amber campaign. Granted we did take some liberties as we wanted our own FSA personas to be involved. This was a 5 on 5 game of Zenian League vs Kurak Alliance. It was 1000 points per player for a total of 10,000 points of ships on the table. We got a little bit of a late start due to the grilling of steak. You can’t battle on an empty stomach. The whole battle took about 6 hours or so. Let’s dive in and take a look at how the battle unfolded.

Relthoza Tactics: SeerK Style

Erebi's Awesome Fleet From the Spartan Community Forum

Greetings my spidery brethren.  SeerK here to talk Relthoza.  I recorded an episode of The Hub System Podcast with Alex Mann which was posted a few weeks ago.  The main topic was the Relthoza and the tactics of this rather hard to play fleet.  Craig, from the FSA Focus Group, was also a guest host.  Both of us have been Relth players for a while, but like most Relthoza players I have met,  we all have very different play styles and tactics which basically all move towards one common goal.  Sowing discord in your opponents fleet and directing them where you want them in a well laid web of destruction.  I wanted to share my style of spider.  So lets take a glimpse at the Relthoza from my perspective.  I will be be rather General in this post and I feel as though it is time to delve into the fleet once again now that we have a bunch of new ships.  More tools for the tool box.  Lets dive in.

The New OSO! SeerK's First Look

Greetings all! SeerK here to talk Firestorm Armada. Spartan Just released the stats for the new OSO ships this past week. We had all our old favorites see updates in the model department and we had some new ships added to really flesh out the fleet. The new ships are following the trend set by Firestorm Task Force. That is we had a light cruiser and escort carrier added to the mix. The addition of an actual cruiser has helped immensely in terms of fleet building. Lets take a look at the three new vessels.

First Look: Dropfleet Commander

Greetings all!  SeerK here with another follow up to Origins 2016.  As some of you have probably seen already, Hawk Games gave people a chance to try out Dropfleet Commander at Origins 2016.  40kOrigins, the group I work with at Origins, had the exclusive rights to premiere Dropfleet Commander at Origins this year.  We ran some Leanr to play classes using the top secret Beta Rules book.  I was able to get some tidbits despite my busy schedule of running learn to play Firestorm Armada classes and Infinity Boot Camps.  Lets take a look

Origins 2016: After Report (Warning Pic Heavy!)

Greetings all! Telarion and I survived Origins.  We are back home and getting unpacked.  I have to say I spent way to much in the vendor hall this year.  I picked up a bunch of Infinity stuff and picked up some Guildball as well.  I had a demo and it was very fun.  Look for some future articles on Guildball as I play and explore the game with the Battle Creek and K-Zoo crews.  I also got tempted back into Warmachine.  The deal they had for the MK3 starter boxes was nice and I could not resist.

The events we ran at the convention also did very well.  We had well over 30 people participate in the Learn to Play Firestorm Armada classes.  The tournament turnout for the Columbus Incident and the Columbus Brawl I.T.S were not great, but both events fired.

I want to congratulate our winners and thank all the participants.  Blood in the sun being on the same weekend as Origins was a big factor me thinks.  I am really hoping that the events do not overlap next year so I can attend both and hopefully get some more players.  Lets look at our winners!

Maximum Spider: The Relthoza "Cruise Dozer"

Greetings denizens of Aziza Prime!  SeerK here to talk Relthoza in Firestorm Armada.  Specifically I am going to be talking about my list development at the Patrol and Battle Fleet levels.  The events taking place at the Nova Open this year got me thinking.  Since I am not running things at Nova I have the opportunity to play.  Bill and Mike are giving us a whole slew of events at Nova this year and I am planning on playing in at least one of them.  The Singles GT tournament on Saturday of Nova is what I am planning on playing in.  This is an 800 point 4 round tournament.  This presents a little bit of a challenge.  You can do quite a bit at 800 points, but playing in a competitive environment and the nature of the missions dictates your selections.  I have a few thoughts and potential lists to share.  The Relthoza have gotten quite a boost with the addition of the Task Force ships.  The new fleet guides have also opened up a ton of new possibilities in terms of fleet building.  You can put a lot of hull points on the table now, even in smaller games. his has changed the meta, especially in at the home base of the Michigan Crew Lets take a look!

New Marauders! Syndicate and Omnidyne OSO!

Greetings all, SeerK here to talk about the new releases from Spartan Games for Firestorm Armada.  It looks like we are getting into the Marauders finally.  This month and June we have the Syndicate and Omnidyne fleets releasing.  I am pretty excited for these releases for the sheer fact that we are into the Marauders book,  Not only that but we have new models for ships we have had stats for and a substantially expanded OSO fleet.  It is more of a core fleet for the Marauders fleet now. Tier 2 is really fleshed out by the look of things.  Is this going to set a new trend for the Marauders.  I hope so, but I digress Lets take a look at the new models.

The Lists From Adepticon!

Greetings all.  SeerK here with another after report from Adepticon 2016.  This time we are bringing you the top 5 lists from The Schaumburg Prime Offensive.  We had Aquans in the top three spots this year.  This was a major change from last year, as we had no Aquans in the field in the inaugural tournament.  This year we upped the points from 900 to 1000.  We are looking at the data, the feedback from the players and  feedback from the community at large to evaluate what effects this had on the tournament if any.  Initial discussions and data is pointing to possibly going down to 900 points.  This of course does not take into account the new Task Force ships or the new fleet entries for them.  The Task Force ships as escort vessels is also a factor that will come into play.

I plan on talking about the Task Force vessels in FSA more in depth once the rules are 90% stable and I get the chance to play with them a lot more.  The new escort rules, especially with the Relthoza, really change things for me.  I have many more tools and avenues in my fleet construction.  I digress though.  Lets take a look at the lists!

Adepticon 2016: The Aftermath!

Man what a weekend!  Adepticon has come and sadly gone.  It was awesome seeing everybody and meeting new people.  I wanted to post the results of the Schaumburg Prime Offensive and the Schaumburg Beach Head.  We had two sold out tournaments and some pretty fierce competition.  We also have a new North American Champion!  

I want to thank all the players who participated in both tournaments this year.  We do this for you guys and its great seeing two full events full of happy players.  I also want to thank our generous sponsors.  Spartan games, Evolution Games, Broken Egg Games and of course Adepticon for playing host.  The Adepticon staff are the unsung heros who put this whole shindig together.  Without their hard work and long hours we would not have such a great convention to play our games at.  This year was the first year for Planetfall and the 2nd year for Firestorm Armada.  Last Years Champion was on hand to defend his title, but fell to the might of the Aqans.  We have a new Champ!

Lets get to the winners!

First Impressions: Firestorm Taskforce

Greetings Admirals and Fleet Marshals!  I have had a chance to look through Spartans latest release finally.  People in the good old United States should be getting their two player starters and Reinforcement Group boxes.  I received my Relthoza box today in fact.  Task Force is being toted as a fast playing game that can be played in 60 minutes or less.  From what I have been reading from across the pond this is pretty accurate.  I was expecting a very scaled back and simple rule set, akin to X-Wing and other games like it.  The Rulebook is longer than the X-wing book and this game is simpler than Firestorm Armada, but at first Glace seems to have a lot more to it and some tactical depth!  Needless to say I was surprised.

The Great Terrain Debate: The FSA Meta Big 3!

Greetings all!  SeerK here to talk terrain.  That is Terrain for Firestorm Armada.  I might even mention terrain in some of the other games I play for reference, but I am mainly going to be discussing the current meta of Terrain in Firestorm Armada.  As it stands there are 3 distinct terrain metas out there.  The Canadian Meta, The European Meta and the Lansing Meta.  I wanted to touch on all three and give a breakdown of what makes them unique.  I may not fully understand all of the nuances of the Meta's I have not played in, but I wanted to give my opinion on them and maybe offer a different outside perspective on them.

Adepticon is right around the corner and the web cart goes live on November 23rd.  The Schaumburg Prime Offensive returns this year.  We have 32 initial spots with room for more if the demand is like it was last year.  I wanted to really be preemptive and plan better this year.  I also wanted players to be in the loop so they are fully briefed and battle ready for the tournament.   So here we go, the "Big 3" FSA Meta's.

The 2nd Schaumburg Prime Offensive: The Road to Adepticon 2016

Greetings all!  The time has come to plan for Adepticon 2016!  The WayGate team is hard at work planning the 2nd Schaumburg Prime Offensive at Adepticon.  Missions are already mostly developed as is a new method of doing terrain.

We plan on being bigger and better this year and expanding the offering of events.  We have a learn to play Firestorm Armada class as well as the big show The Schaumburg Prime Offensive.  I am working on a format as well as logistics for a Planetfall Tournament as well if there is interest in the community for a Planetfall event.

I have a little Survey up at The WayGate Facebook Page that I would like to ask people to take a couple minutes and vote on.  We want to run an event that is professional and reflects the will of the community.  So we want to see what point level people would like to play at.  800, 900 or 1000 points?

Go Vote!

I apologize for the lack of updates.  The trusty laptop finally died and I am forced to try and work on posts at work.  I will be more vigilant in the coming weeks.  I have a bunch of events to plan for the Store as well as getting all my stuff together to run Firestorm Armada and Halo Fleet Battle Demos at U-CON in Ann Arbor.  Come check it out and say hi if you are in the area!


Until next time...


Crush the Alliance and as always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!

Michigan GT Results!

Greetings all.  I apologize for the lateness of the update.  The trusty laptop decided to kick the bucket and I have been in a scramble to try and get things replaced and retrieved from it.  Thank goodness I can do this at work!  The Michigan GT has passed by us now.  It was a great weekend with new attendance records being set.  This was the first year for Firestorm Armada and sadly attendance was not where I wanted it.

Despite the low number of players we still put on our events with the same energy as we do at Adepticon.  We ran a 1200 point tournament on Saturday and our 800 point tournament on Sunday ended up turning into a 4 on 4 Zenian vs Kurak narrative battle.  Myself, Spellduckwrong and Dreadbeard all stepped in to play.

I would like to congratulate our winners.  Micheal Lietzke aka "Ryjak" on the Spartan community forums was our Grand Admiral in Saturday's Alpha Sector Clash 1200 point tournament.  Austin Proux aka "DemoMaster" on the Spartan Community forum was our Narrative event Winner on Sunday's Alpha Sector Incursion.

I would like to thank the players who came and showed their support for Firestorm Armada at the Michigan GT.  I would also like to thank the organizers for all their hard work in making and growing this convention in the heart of Michigan.  Look for a return of Firestorm next year and bigger and better things from the Michigan GT.

The Waygate Team is now setting its sights on Adepticon.  Planning has begun and Events have been submitted!  We will be growing this year and bringing you a bigger Schaumburg Prime Offensive.  We are working on some things for the future as well, so stay tuned.


Once i have my technical issues figured out, I will be posting much more regularly.  I am now a contributor to Bell Of Lost Souls, so keep your eyes peeled for articles on BOLS from your truly.

Until Next time


Crush the Alliance and as always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!

Update From The Front: Origins 2015 So Far!

SeerK here almost live from Columbus Ohio.  I am here with 40kOrigins running war games and seeing the sights.  I have been learning and running a ton of Malifaux for the past couple of days. I have had the privilege of working with Kelly and Aaron at the Wyrd Miniatures booth running Intro to Malifaux sessions.


I have also got a glimpse at some of the new ships for the Drop Zone Commander space ship game currently in development by Hawk War games and GW legend Andy Chambers.  I thought I would post an update and show you some of the things I am seeing.  So here are some pictures from Origins 2015 so far.

40kOrigins Necromunda Table

Drop Fleet Commander Ships

The Wyrd Miniatures Booth

Whiskey Golem!!

Not sure what game it is, but it was big

Battle Tech Pods!

Giant Settlers of Catan board

Front of the Main hall

Battle of Hoth

Rivet Wars Chibi Mech at Cool Mini Booth

Well that is all for now.  I will post more pictures as I get them uploaded.  I have to track down fellow Firebase Delta Podcast host Robert as well.  He is working over at the Calliope Games booth, so if you are here and a fan of the show or blog come say hi to us both.

Until next time...

Crush the Alliance and as always......

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!

Planetfall Achieved! Thoughts On The Game So Far

Directorate Wraith Leviathan on the Hobby Table

Grettings all. SeerK here to talk Firestorm Planetfall.  With Adepticon over and my move finished, the local crew has been able to really start playing Firestorm Planetfall.  We have been getting in several weekly games and so far we have been liking it.  There have been a few hiccups though and we do have some critiques of the game.

I am not going to go into an in depth overview of Planetfall.  If you are reading this I am going to assume you have at least read the rules and have maybe even gotten a few games in.  Myself and the rest of the "Michigan Crew" have been and will be recording with Firebase Delta in the coming weeks doing a complete walk through of the game including the basics of the game, Army Building and some tactics.  Today I wanted to address a couple things I have noticed and some stuff brought up by our local game group.

9 Days Until Adepticon!

SeerK here once again.  Well we are about 9 days out until the best 5 days in war games.  The anticipation is killing me.  The guys and I have finished the terrain and we are putting the finishing touches on everything else.  It has been quite an experience planning and putting this whole shindig together.  I am really happy with how things are shaping up and turning out.

I would like to announce that we will have product available for those interested in purchasing fleets and Planetfall armies.  Just look for one of the Authors in a Waygate t-shirt or inquire at our demo tables.  We will also have stuff available at bits night.  This is not in an official vendor capacity though as it was a last minute decision.  In no way are we trying to take away your patronage to the fine vendors showcasing their wares this year.  We just wanted to make sure our tournament players and Spartan games fans were taken care of this year.  Selection was very thin last year at the vendors.  This may not be the case this year though so if you don't find what you are looking for in the vendors hall ask one of us and we can direct you to our guy.

I really want to thank the staff of Adepticon for their dedication and helping us put together this whole endeavor.  They have been very helpful and professional.  Its the first year that Spartan games will have some bigger events going on.  Philip from Firebase Delta and Chris from the Black Ocean did demos a couple years ago and got people interested.  The growth of the game and the explosion of the player base has allowed us to put together events that allow Firestorm Armada and Spartan Games to take its place amongst the great games and events that make Adepticon the biggest and best war games convention in North America.


I am looking forward to the convention and meeting all the players.  I am also looking forward to showing the game off to all the war gamers attending.  It is my hope that this year is the start of something great.  A Spartan Games presence at Adepticon that will continue to grow in the years to come.  Well I have painting to finish and some packing to do.  I will see you all at Adepticon.  Look out for almost live updates from the convention and updates on twitter!

Until Adepticon.....


REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!


WE RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enter The Spider: Relthoza First Impressions

BUGS!!!!!!

Hi all! SeerK here once again.  It has been a very busy couple of weeks and I apologize for the lack of updates.  I have been scrambling trying to get painting projects done.  The guys and I have also been working on terrain and tables for The Schaumburg Prime Offensive at Adepticon.  We finished the last of the tables today despite the cold.  It is kinda sad when you are waiting for the temperatures to get into the mid 20's to paint.  This is what classifies and "warmer" here in Michigan as of late.

We also had a Primer tournament last weekend which had a decent turnout.  We even had a fellow Vanguard drive from Wisconsin to test his mettle against our local players.  he brought a very nicely done pathogen fleet and got in a bunch of games.  It will be great to see him again at Adepticon.  I actually got to play in the Primer event and actually took 3rd.  I did not field my RSN though.  As near and dear as the RSN is to me, they have not been performing well for me.  To everyones surprise, including my own, the fleet that has been really kicking ass and taking names for me as of late has been the Relthoza.

I know what you are thinking.  The Relthoza? Really?  SeerK aren't known for just charging blindly into battle like Leroy Jenkins?  The answer to all those questions is yes.  My play style is very hammer and anvil.  The Ba'Kash, Dindrenzi and Terrans generally fit my style of play.  I was just as shocked as Spellduckwrong when I cleared the table of his  Pathogen fleet the first time I took the Relth out for a spin.  I was using a pretty strait forward basic Relthoza fleet.  I have a patrol fleet box plus a cruiser box and a frigate box, so I have not played with some of the more unique ships in the fleet.  I thought I would share some of my impressions after getting in a few games in.

At first glance the Relthoza can be a bit confusing.  They have very long range torpedo weapons with very close range primary weapons.  My first assumption was that they pepper the enemy with torpedoes then close the distance and engage with their primary weapons.  I was corrected by several Relth players that told me they have to be played "cagey", that is they are not that great close in and you avoid combat and pick apart your opponent at range.  You use your stealth systems and cloaking shields to keep you safe from harm.  Still other players said you must slam into the enemy fast and hard and use the close range weapons to obliterate the enemies ships.

After mush thought I realized all of these points were valid and must all be used in conjunction with one another.  I have taken on the mentality of a hunter when using my Relth.  I stalk my prey and learn about it.  I test it and find its weaknesses and then exploit them.  I then lure my target in and pounce upon it.  It almost as if the Fluff in the Zenian League Fleet Manual is a guide to how the Relthoza should work.  I will elaborate, The Stealth Systems and Cloaking Shields protect the Relthoza ships at range and from what I have noticed, from the dozen or so games I have played with them, they really frustrate my opponents.  I am not usually very patient when I play.  It has always been a weakness of mine.  Patients is the real key to the Relth.  Not so much you being patient, but making your opponent loose their patients.  I have had great success luring ships into striking distance by staying cloaked and keeping just far enough away to make sure the stealth systems are forcing those hit re rolls.  It has allowed me to control the flow of the game.

Game flow control and forcing your opponent to come to you seems to be the real trick to using the Relthoza.  Limiting target choices and misdirecting target priority means you can control where the enemy weapons go and also by proxy controls where ships are going to position themselves.  Decloaking one ship in a squadron can draw fire from the others.  Presenting easy targets helps you get the alpha priority targets into the proper position for your Heavy hitter to do their work.


I am still trying to figure out the Relthoza on the ground.  We have not been able to get in a lot of Planetfall games yet with all the tournament preparation.  I have a feeling the lessons I have learned out in space might help me on the ground.  I have to say I do have some favorites in the fleet though.  The Huntsman Heavy cruisers have been MVP's in just about every game I have played.  They have been working the best when I keep them in reserve and battle shunt them into play.  They are very robust and have been very hard to kill.  They tend to draw a lot of fire and this allows me to get the rest of my fleet into lethal range.  I am also a fan of the Nidus frigate.  Although they are not as tough as the Drone Frigates they do have weaponry in 3 arcs and can carry a wing.  You can engage several targets and with an SRS token with up to 4 wings strong you can do a lot with the squadron.  You can get a big point defense bubble with interceptors.  Bombers are great to give the squadron a one two punch.  My personal favorite is assault shuttles.  4 assault shuttles gives you 8 AP, which is pretty good for taking capital ships.  You can target defensive systems on larger vessels and leave them open to attack by your other vessels.

I am going to be picking up some more ships.  I want to try out the battle cruisers and the Battle Station. I have used the Relth TAC that allows you to shunt a squadron to within command distance of  your Admirals vessel.  Its a nice bait and switch tactic to lure large vessels into a kill zone.  being able to bring a Battle Station into the fight from across the table is pretty cool.


Well thats all for now.  I am continuing my journey along the path of the spider.  I have been mixing in some Ba'Kash with great success and I will be reporting on that in the not to distant future.  I am hoping to get a couple more posts in before the big show at Adepticon.  We are once again sold out and the event is shaping up to be pretty cool.  I hope to see you all there.  If you are looking for anything in the way of Firestorm Armada product our resident merchant of all things gaming will have a lot of product on hand at the convention.  Look for him at the tournament and at bits trading night at the convention.  I guarantee he will have what you are looking for!


Until next time crush the Alliance and as always....


REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!

The Road To Adepticon: Making Terrain!

An Example of Table Coverage, about 25%

SeerK here once again with a Schaumburg Prime Offensive Update.  Adepticon is only 30 days away!  With that in mind The WayGate staff is hard at work making schedules, Painting models and Making Terrain.  I thought I would give people a little taste of the terrain we will be using at the tournament.  This will give you an idea of what to expect so you can practice with similar terrain.


We will be using 3D terrain at Adepticon.  Asteroid fields, Debris Fields, Gas Clouds and Planetoids are all on the menu.  The fields sizes vary and their boarders are clearly defined.  We use Craft Foam cut out into various shapes to denote the boundaries of the Field.  This allows you to clearly see where the field begins and ends and makes it much easier to tell if your line of sight is obscured.