New Tricks

So I'm learning new things over the last few days like the below:



While this may be old hat to you, being new to the game, it has me somewhat jealous that I ONLY have apes at the moment, and it also makes me want some of the older pieces.  I'm sure in due time I will get these of course, but I can drool in the spare moments between.

Additionally I've been posting on the forums and I must say, the community is 100% solid.  As I've mentioned before, I've played WOW Minis since it's inception, and this was my first tabletop experience other than dabbling in warhammer, and this is not a slight in any way against WOW Minis or it's community, as I think it's one of the best communities for games out there on the web, but I find that everyone I have read posts by on the forums thus far, and definitely everyone who has answered me in my numerous rules questions posts, to be open to my questions and understanding of me not being experienced with the game.

This is a nice thing to have when you are fresh to a game that has a good amount of experienced players already.  It is very easy as an experienced gamer, to forget that new people may not understand or know the rules and abbreviations for said game as well as you, but everyone has been great.

Another thing I learned was that when you have someone like Gakura, and he brawls, his triggers go off... well duh, I think everyone knows that after reading the instruction manual, but what I didn't know, was that if he has the chance to make a second brawl attack, as his Blitz trigger lets him do, that his brawl triggers will trigger off that too... my apes just got better... WAY better :-)

I'm learning every day and so far, I love every minute of it.  I have yet, in my playtesting on vassal by my lonesome (by choice, many people have wanted to play but I'm a still only ankle deep), been bored for one second.

Army Training

So I'm going apes, as if you haven't guessed by now, for my first army.  I was able to purchase a few things from Trollandtoad.com (which is a tremendous resource for any gaming material you may need), and here's how it's looking so far:

Gakura and Ultra Gakura for the main Monster:

Two Airborne Apes:

Two Airborne Apes (Elite):

Four Howitzer Apes:

One Howitzer Ape (Elite):

One Stealth Ape:

Two Command Apes:

As you can see, that's only 12 Units.  I need more Stealth Apes for sure, just have to find them.  I like the idea of throwing in one Fire Kami as well, for incinerate.   With as much building destruction as Gakura will be doing, I think that's a nice added bonus to any Body Slams or Power Attacks that would have normally landed someone on Rubble.

Building wise, I have the following:

1 Insurance Building and 1 Cathedral:




4 Electrical Power Plants:




2 Newspaper Offices:



2 Posh Apartments:



1 Privateer Press Building:

So, to sum it up, it's coming along, I just need to find some final pieces.  If anyone has suggestions or thoughts, please let me know.  I know a lot of people play with the Imperial State Building, but with the amount of P-Dice Gakura gets when brawling an electrical Power Plant, I think that means I don't necessarily need the ISB unless it's maybe late game and things are destroyed.  I figured, securing the Insurance Building, then brawling a Electrical Power Plant nets me 7 P-dice alone, which is pretty rocking, not to mention the Demolish capability, and the option to blitz and attack again!

Virtually Smashing

Today I ventured out on Vassal.  I have played on Vassal many times before, but not Monsterpocalypse, so I was, as always, a bit concerned about the community I would find there.  People either get Vassal, or don't.  And if you don't, you usually REALLY don't and never take the time to figure it out.  Those who do or have, find it's extremely useful in my opinion.

I added links to the Monpoc items for Vassal on the sidebar, so please I highly advise, go get them.

Remember, I'm new.  So today, I learned that with my Empire of the Apes I'm building... I can use these guys!

T-Rex!  Yes, this makes the game even that much more fun!  I've also learned that monsters can traverse great depths, and water means nothing to them.  Why would I think that a 61 meter tall behemoth would have a problem, hell, they are puddles to him!

So back to the community thing... First, I posted online a few rules questions and introduced myself.  Usually these things can go one of two ways with one being "n00b!" comments.  However, everyone was VERY nice.  I got answers to all my questions and learned a thing or two about a thing or two.

Then, venturing onto Vassal, I got to watch two great games tonight.  The Subterranean Upriser, Grindix (which I personally think is one of THE funniest names ever for a giant phallic thing that comes out out of the ground at you) utterly whipped the snot out of Aquosia.  Then, I got to watch a match between Incinerus and Grindix again, with Incinerus winning this time.

Both times, I had questions during the game, and while I hate interrupting people on Vassal, everyone was VERY nice and open to my questions.

Communites make or break a game, and thus far, my experience has been great!

Now, I have to figure out how to get to my local shop to play sealed on the 9th... which is my daughter's birthday... and family is in town... hm, where is that Green Fury Van when you need it!?

PS - these dudes are REALLY cool looking:

MonPoc Now!

So I have been an avid gamer for some time now, and until the creation and launch of world of Warcraft Minis, I never really enjoyed tabletop gaming.  I played around with Warhammer and 40K, enjoyed painting, but never got much into the games themselves.  At one point I was actually painting for cash, but then I graduated college and got a real job.

Then last week, in the midst of making it to my local gaming store early, I had an urge.  I wanted to play something new, and so did my friend with me.  We both said we had wanted to look at Monsterpocalypse for some time now, and with the recent introduction of the newest expansion, Monsterpocalypse Now, we figured why not now?

There are certain things in life that immediately hook us.  The reach into our souls and touch a place that even our subconscious doesn't know exists.  It hits a home run and scores in a flash... for example, when I was 4, the first movie I saw in a theater that I can remember, was Star Wars.  Hooked, from the moment the words started scrolling, even though I couldn't read half of them... and then that giant ship came into view... yup, I was a lifer.

This same thing happened with MonPoc.  I bought a starter, and said, "Oh wow, they have giant Apes!" as i looked over the box.  I immediately said, "That would rock if I got an Ape."  Guess what I got?

Yup, Gakura!  This dude is a giant Ape, hairy, angry, and is wielding a train.  A TRAIN!  Not often do I get to sit down, play as an Ape, a train wielding ape at that, and get to be told, "Yes, you can throw me into a building."

This game rules so far and as such, I made this place for me to chat about my experiences in learning to play it from scratch.

Perhaps my favorite thing, is all the models are very detailed and superbly painted for pre-painted minis.  Major props to Privateer Press on this aspect.

As such, tonight was my first full game.  My buddy, Daniel, who bought the game with me, came over and we decided to sit down and destroy some buildings.  I went out and bought a Unit Booster as well as the Privateer Press building with the All Your Base Map Pack, and we decided to play on Highway to Hellvue as our map.

This was an interesting thing, as we don't have a ton of buildings, but we had enough to cover the green foundations.  A few apartment buildings, a few newspaper buildings, a constructions crane, and a privateer press building later, and it was on to clobbering time.

Me with my Gakura, and him with his Krakenoctus, the Invader Triton monster.  We both had very few units to speak of, let alone matching ones, but I was able to secure a few more apes, so we decided to pay without faction cost penalties and speed things up.

I really enjoy how the dice are your resource in this game.  In short, you start with 10 Action Dice (A-Dice) in your Unit Pool.  When you spawn, move or attack, you use one or more A-dice to do so.  Those used, are then shifted to your Monster Pool.  As the game progresses, you can choose to use your Units or Monsters, and the dice in each one's respective pool is at their disposal.

The thing I think I like is there are so many options.  The pivitol turning point in our game came when Krakenoctus used a Power Attack with 6 Red Power Dice (P-Dice), 1 Blue Boost Dice (B-Dice) and 7 A-Dice to hit Gakura with a Power Attack: Throw, sending me flying 6 city blocks backwards, and hitting a Newspaper building.  This did 1 damage for the hit, 1 damage for the collision with the building, and 1 damage because said building turns into a towering inferno when destroyed!  3 damage!  This may not seem like much to the average gamer, but when you only have 6 life and no current owned way of healing... it hurts!

In the end, Gakura fell to the power of Krakenoctus, but not without turning the entire cityscape, except for the indestructible Privateer Press building, to rubble and or fire!

So I'm 0-1, and yet, left wanting more... more apes that is!