zOMG it's a bug!

So last night I went to my first local competition.  Unfortunately, my pal couldn't make it with me, and it was a bit under populated, but it was superbly fun!

Again, I can not say enough about the community for MonPoc.  Last night I met three fellow players in my local area, never having met them before, and felt immediately accepted, even as noobish as I was.

we were told to bring a Unit base of up to 15 units, so having limited supplies, I brought the following with me:

• 2 x Howitzer Ape
• 2 x Elite Howitzer Ape
• 2 x Airborne Ape
• 2 x Elite Airborne Ape
• 2 x Stealth Ape
• 2 x Command Ape
• 1 x Green Fury Van
• 1 x Pteradactix
• 1 x Fire Kami

Then, we each bought a Monster Booster from the NOW set.  since we had no clue what our monsters would be, I was thinking I would be at a HUGE disadvantage of course, as nothing may synergize here.  So what did I open?  A BUG!

Manticon it was.  I had heard many things about Manticon reading online, but had NO clue how to use him.  In a very nice move, the first person I played, Bill, allowed me to borrow his character cards he printed from Boardgamegeek.com.  I'm not sure where yet on their site, but somehwere are really cool character cards for the monsters that explain all their powers and stats in one easy place so if you aren't as familiar with the icons, they rule!

Bill and I had a slow start to our game, but it picked up quick after a few building destructions.  He was playing Gorghadratron who is superbly cool looking.  He swiftly came in after setting himself up in a screen and bashed my buggy brain in for 4 damage, followed by a switch to alpha form.  I went after him and got him down to three, but learned real quick, positioning is key, as much as not missing your dice rolls are too :-)  In the end, I was thrown mercifully into the fire as time ran down, me with my Alpha form destroyed, and he with only 4 damage on him, taking the win and putting me at 0-1.

My next game was against a really funny guy name Matt.  He was hilarious to play against and played like I have envisioned the game should be played... he made sound effects and witty remarks, fitting of a guy being filmed in a big rubber suit smashing a city to bits for Godzilla lovers.   He was fielding a group of Protectors mixed of the Guard and the elementals, and had Anglax as his boss.  Anglax, I learned fast, is a wrecking ball with super rampage!  both of us ended up destroying multiple buildings and almost leveling the entire city on Skull Island map, before the end came.  I was able, in Hypre ultra Form, to brawl and chain into power attacks enough to Destroy his alpha form, fittingly, after tossing him into his own buildings.  Time ran out and I was able to go to 1-1 after taking out the Alpha.

My next game, and I apologize if I'm wrong here, but I think his name was Bill as well, or something with a B (I'm terrible at names, really!), but he was also a great person to play against.  His city and army looked much better than anything I had faced yet, with a mix of utility units from all agendas and a Imperial State building, which is way better looking in person.  He was fielding Drillcon-Vorionikk as his monster.  This was a battle right down to the end.  He killed my alpha, and then I came back and killed his Ultra!  He took me down to two health, and I took him down to 2 as well!  In the end, I moved into fire, taking a point of damage, and rolled all my dice to bodyslam his Alpha into another fire, doing 2 damage and winning the game!  It was amazingly fun and a super hard victory.

This put me at 2-1, and taking second place!  Not that shabby for a first timer!  I won a Glass Airorne Ape which will go quite nicely with my Empire too!  Bill, the first person I played won the entire thing at 3-0, and took home a Mega Incinerus which was awesome looking!

If you are new too, don't be shy, get out there and get meeting, greeting, and beating!  It's amazing how much fun it can be.  And, a big thank you to everyone last night for the advice and tutorials, everything helps and it's much appreciated!

You Damn Dirty Apes!

So, tonight marked the first booster case opening I have gone through with MonPoc!  My friend and I went in together on a case of Units for MonPoc Now and boy did we have fun tonight!  We decided to split the case off what we needed/wanted, so since I was looking for Apes, and he was looking for Invaders, it actually worked out well.  We got enough for a full army each between what we had previously and what we got tonight, and finish out with some good buildings as well.

Interestignly and oddly, I got a Music Producer, but it's a Publishing House... or is it a Music Producer... see, the model is a Publishing House, but the card in the base, is a Music Producer... so we have no clue what to do with it.  It also didn't come with a building tile which kinda sucked.

After that was behind us, we sat down to play a full game.

Me and my Empire of the Apes, and he and his Krakenoctus Invaders team.  We played on Highway to Hellvue and had an Epic battle.  In fact, we finished as he needed to leave, and if anyone can let me know about the rules question I'm about to ask, I would appreciate it.

Here was the set up:

Forgive the right side of the map, I only put up the side that matters in Vassal to depict this.

At this moment in time, it was my turn, and I could activate my monster or my units, having 6 dice in my monster pool and 4 in my unit's.  I had 7 power dice, and after powering up with 1 die, I had 9 power dice total.

I had two life left, and my friend had 5.  Here's what I did to end it in one turn:

I stepped up adjacent and base to base alignment with Krakenoctus, just south of him, taking one damage form the fire I walked into and smashed him with all my dice, hitting, sending him flying across the board!

Now, I think that this did 5 damage to him, as it resulted in this set up:

Since the smash sent him flying int the Hotel (which has Spire), the Oil Refinery (which is flammable) and the Cathedral (which is probably a sin), I did the following:

1 Damage for the hit
3 Collision Damage - 1 Damage for each building Krakenoctus collides with along the path (Hotel, Oil Refinery, and Cathedral)
1 Spire Damage for hitting the Hotel (with Spire)
1 Hazard Damage - Passing through the fire created by the Oil Refinery

Total = 6 points of damage

Even if I'm wrong about the Fire, which is my question, it's still 5 I'm positive of, and a dominating, Ape type hairy chest beating win!

So the question is, does the Krakenoctus take damage from the Fire Hazard created by the collision with the Oil Refinery, from the Smash Power Attack?  I think so, as Smash in the rulebook says the target Monster collides with all buildings, units, and hazards in it's path.

Either way, it was an epic battle, with the Apes coming out victorious!  This puts me at 1-1 and feeling a bit more confident.  Either way though, win, lose, or draw, this is one of the most fun times I've had learning a new game.

If you too are new, head on over to the Team Covenant community pages.  They have lots of advice, and I have learned a ton with their new Mastering Monsterpocalypse series that is up online now here: http://teamcovenant.com/category/monsterpocalypse/

Suplex for the win...

o I got a chance to play another game tonight and it was a wild one!

My buddy and I got some more boosters today, in fact we each bought a monster and a unit booster.  He went with a mix of I Chomp NY, Rise, and All Your Base, while I went all I Chomp NY (Being from NY originally, that is fitting).

He pulled a Lazer Knight monster and I pulled a Ulgoth.  Both of us were immediately impressed with Ulgoth, he's super detailed and extremely well painted!

We decided to have some fun, and being noobs, just laid down Smashville and went two on two monsters, with a bunch of units with mixed faction since we don't have enough (yet) to play full armies of factions or agendas.

Unfortunately, we had to cut it short, but there was one kill.  After all four buildings were destroyed in the center of the map, and all were either burning infernos or ignited to be on fire, my opponent, playing my Ulgoth (because I was nice and let him use it) suplexed me (Body Slam Power Attack) over his head, onto a burning inferno for 2 damage, leaving me in range of Krakenoctus to blast away and deal 1 more damage, taking my Lazer Knight Alpha from 3 to 0 and getting a hella cool kill out of it.

Two Monsters against each other is really interesting, especially with resourcing your dice correctly.  We recently bought a booster case of NOW, so we can't wait to open them later in the week and hopefully finish out our first armies!