BoardWars.eu

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

It’s done! It’s over! And it was a blast! 37 Players from 2 continents and 9 countries played 90 games. And it would not have been possible without Trevor’s amazing work on the Imperial Assault Skirmish VASSAL Plugin.

We did cover a few of the games on our Youtube Channel. But since the tournament is now over, you all should have the chance to look at the lists each player brought to the fight and also some of the log files you can watch yourself in VASSAL.

Participants and their lists can be found here

Boardwars VASSAL Tournament – Winter 2017 Log Files can be found here

In the end, the US prevailed, with both players from the US bracket advancing to the overall finals. There, frotes did score a pretty clear win against nick. Congratulations to all players though on playing their games within their scheduled time and just generally being awesome.

If you now have a taste for blood in your mouth, fear not. The next opportunity to crush your opponents with your list is right around the corner! A new league just opened it’s doors on Reddit. And if you prefer tournaments, we do plan on running one again, so keep listening to the podcast and read the forums. You should know early enough.

Last but not least, if you want to just fool around in skirmish, discuss the myriad of rules questions or just like to banter with other Imperial Assault players from around the world: Join us on Discord!

The tournament is in full swing and it has been a total success so far. Not only have the players played 18 games so far, I also managed to snag 3 log files and convert them into short battle reports for your viewing pleasure!

EU Group – Al_Ph vs. SeanO
EU Group – Locu vs. DerSeb
US Group – frotes vs. cnemmick

You can also follow the scores and upcoming pairings here:

EU Group on Challonge
US Group on Challonge

Of course you are invited to join us on discord server where we discuss the games, strategy and the meta.

Here’s towards an exciting week 2!

The registration for the tournament closes on Jan.22nd 12am PST! If you missed what this is all about, read up on the article detailing the tournament and what you need to do to sign up.

A few words regarding the new tournament regulation changes from FFG: The tournament will be played with the newest regulations in effect. This means points are scored when figures are defeated. Also, like announced, the new tournament legal map Anchorhead Cantina (formerly known as Anchorhead Bar) from the Obi-Wan Kenobi pack will be a tournament legal map.

After feedback from already signed up players the tournament round time was increased to 90 minutes excluding setup. And a special clause was added to allow games to be played up to completion (disregarding any time limit) should both players agree to do so. This gives players new to Vassal the time to learn the program as well as providing more experienced players the opportunity to test their lists in real-world scenarios.

All registered players will also recieve an email with tournament details after the registration closed down.

Like always, if you have questions, refer to the up to date article about the details of the tournament, ask in our discord channel or just write an email to podcast@boardwars.eu.

Over the past year, the Skirmish part of Imperial Assault has exploded into colorful mess of lists and strategies. With the new Regionals season, a new big box full of tools and the European Championships just 1/2 a year off, we wanted to provide a platform to test out new strategies and get prepared!

So we are holding our 2nd Imperial Assault Vassal Tournament.

But what is Vassal? It’s a tabletop gaming framework anyone can write plugins for. Luckily, a dedicated fellow by the name of thereisnotry on the Boardgamegeek forums for Imperial Assault already did all the work. You can find the module right on the Vassal web page. With this, you can play the Skirmish part of Imperial Assault online against other players, which is ideal to get prepared and try out new lists and strategies. If you need help in getting starting with the software, you can find a tutorial on our youtube channel:

The Module will be updated with the contents of the new releases around Jabba’s Realm shortly. Once it has been updated, we will be starting our tournament. If you want to participate, you can register now! To do so, you need to check a few easy marks:

• Be from a European or US timezone
• Join our chat server: http://discord.me/bweu
• Send an email to podcast@boardwars.eu with the topic “Boardwars Winter Tournament Registration”
• In the email, include:
  • your real name
  • your email address
  • country of residence
  • chat server nickname
  • your army list (in writing or as link to ia-armies or Tabletop Admiral)

Registration ends midnight Jan. 22nd 2017 and the tournament will start on Jan. 30th 2017 (provided the Vassal module has been updated by then. Also, since this tournament is held online, the official tournament regulations will be extended by a few clauses which you can find linked here. Most of it is about scheduling the games and the details on how to set up matches using the chat server. The only real change is the time limit for games (90 minutes) and the map pool. And in anticipation of Nelvaanian Warzone being excluded soon, we decided to swap it for the Anchorhead Bar from Obi-Wan Kenobi’s pack. You play test games on Vassal using the following 2 saved games where the map is already set up:

• Anchorhead Bar mission A – Gaining Favor
• Anchorhead Bar mission B – Line of Fire

The tournament will be held in 2 swiss groups, one for each European and US timezones. The groups will last for 4-6 rounds, depending on how many players sign up. The best 2 players of each swiss groups will advance to a knock out round that will determine the ultimate winner in a final.

As a little incentive, the best players of each swiss group, as well as the player with the most innovative/funny/quirky army list will be receiving an Ally or Villain pack of their choice as prize (provided they are available on amazon)!

The start of the tournament is right around the corner and you can only register for 4 days (until the 28th of February) to participate. To do so, you must be from Europe and send an email to podcast@boardwars.eu with your name, an ia-armies.com link of your army list and your VASSAL nickname. More information about the tournament can be read here: VASSAL Spring Tournament News

Additions and Changes to the Official Tournament Rules

• Unless otherwise specified, the official FFG Imperial Assault Tournament Rules apply
• There will be no 55 minute mission time limit. Missions continue until one player has scored 40 Victory Points.
• The winner must send in via email to podcast@boardwars.eu either a screenshot of the VASSAL window with the final score visible or send in a VASSAL log file of the game.
• The tournament will have a round robin group stage. The first 1 or 2 players (depnding on player attendance) will advance into the final elimination round.
• Players need to join our discord server at http://discord.me/bweu to make scheduling games with their opponents easier.
• The weekly mission will be sent out via Email to all participants and also communicated on Discord
• Players can change their faction, the army and their command deck once after the group stage ended.
• After the group stage has ended, the mission deck will be re-shuffled, so all missions are available for the elimination stage.
• Opponents need to play their weekly game and submit their score until sunday 10 pm CET of that week.

Since this is more of an informal Tournament, you can ask me (Stephan) on Discord or via mail for clarifications.

Return to Hoth cam with 4 associated Ally and Villain packs. That’s the largest batch we had since the Core Set! All of them of course play their role in the story campaign of Return to Hot, but they also bring new stuff to the table for the Skirmish side of the game. Especially Leia Organa and the Echo Base Troopers turn out to be valuable additions all around.

But enough teasing, go have a look for yourself at our complete Ally & Villain Packs Buyers Guide at

http://boardwars.eu/ally-and-villain-packs-for-star-wars-imperial-assault/

So for people who do not listen to the podcast and still want to get into that sweet skirmish action and maybe even win some prizes, here is a rundown on what you need to do to be able to sign up.

• Min players 8 – Max player 32
• 1st place: Return to Hoth expansion – 2nd place: Wave 5 (Return to Hoth Wave) Ally Pack, player’s choice
• Players have to be from Europe (excluding Iceland, Russia and Turkey)
• To sign up, send an email to podcast@boardwars.eu with:
  • Your army list as an http://ia-armies.com link
  • Your fully name
  • Your VASSAL nickname
  • If you enter the playoffs you will also need to provide your adress
• Send your email until the 28th of February to sign up!
• All material up to and including Return to Hoth allowed
• Maps are taken from the current tournament rules (Kuat Space Station, Mos Eisley Cantina, Training Grounds)
• Check out how to set up Vassal here.
• Join our Discord server to find other players: http://discord.me/bweu

Obviously the tournament will be played online via the Imperial Assault plugin for VASSAL.

Happy hunting season!

I am usually a bit late when giving out presents, but most of the time they are a different to what you usually find under the tree. For our listeners, viewers and followers I prepared something special this year.

Core Box and Wave 1 digital assets

You can use these assets to play the Core Box campaign (including Wave 1 additions) on Roll20.net. Setting it up still requires a bit of trickery, but if you are familiar with the site, you can grab the .zip file and start right away. Of course you still need the campaign guide included in the game to set up and play the actual missions.

If you are unfamiliar with Roll20.net, we still got you covered. Over the next few weeks I will guide you through using the site to set up missions, players, decks, dice, everything. So stay tuned for that.

Happy new year and have an awesome 2016!

It’s been almost a year since the release of the core box and a question still posted quite frequently on Reddit, Boardgamegeek and the FFG forums is:

Which expansion should I buy after purchasing the core box?

Of course people chime in all of the time and most answers are helpful. But what really lacked so far is a comprehensive guide to which packs offer what for either the campaign or the skirmish game mode.
So we just decided to create one. When you click the link on the menu bar titled “Imperial Assault Expansion Pack Buyers Guide” or just click it here, you will find a list of all the currently available Ally and Villain packs. Today we finished creating short reviews for all of the Packs in Wave 1. So if you are one of the players who just recently bought the game, head on over to the guide and look up all of the packs to see what best to spend your money on.
We plan to extend the guide to Wave 2 and Wave 3 in the next few weeks, so you can maybe even adjust your holiday shopping based on the information in the guide. Until then, have fun reading the Wave 1 reviews and leave feedback either in the comments or on podcast@boardwars.eu.

With the next Podcast episode being posponed to next week, I figured I update you on something else. I  finally finished putting everything together for us to start our first online campaign. We played our first mission last week and it was rather successful. Everything worked and we even livestreamed it. If you missed it, you can watch the re-upload on Youtube of course.

We will continue with the 2nd mission today. If everything works out fine, we might even have a guest player. But more on that during the livestream. If you are not from central Europe, here is a fancy little countdown for you:

We recently expanded our galactic empire to twitch.tv/boardwarseu. Yesterday evening, we streamed our first live Skirmish game there. If you missed it, fear not, I also uploaded it to Youtube.

To never miss another live game, or if you want to watch them on demand, follow us on the usual sites:

Boardwars.eu on Facebook
Boardwars.eu on Youtube
Boardwars.eu on Twitch.tv

Due to scheduling conflicts and a new development for the podcast, the recording for Episode #7 will be posponed. The new date is Monday 8th of June which also means that you can send in entries for the Episode #6 contest until Sunday 7th of June!

In the meantime, if you are yearning for more Skirmish videos because Team Covenant didn’t put one out this week, we got you covered. Herwig found out that FFG recently livestreamed Imperial Assault Regionals on their twitch channel. I can’t say how long the VODs of these matches will be on there, so go watch them now as long as they are available!

http://www.twitch.tv/ffglive/b/664282239
http://www.twitch.tv/ffglive/b/664298772
http://www.twitch.tv/ffglive/b/664306657

The last one is 6+ hours long, so it should keep you entertained over the weekend if you like watching Skirmish. But don’t forget to send in your Supply Cards until Sunday to get entered into the contest for the Rebel Trooper Pack!

So Episode #5 is out and it’s finally down to a more enjoyable length! With that out of the way, we are onto our last 2 giveaways for the first wave of Ally and Villain Packs. So for Episode #6 we won’t have the traditional lore question, but something a little different. What exactly … well you’ll have to listen to the episode in about 2 weeks. In the meantime, the next Pack we will give away will be the Rebel Troopers Ally Pack.

 

 

Keep an eye out for more Articles between now and the release of Episode #6!

 

On a more serious sidenote, the next podcast recording is still scheduled for this thursday. We did some changes to the structure based on user feedback and can’t wait to improve the show with them.
Of course we will continue our card reviews in Episode #5 and we have a special question to all our listeners. So listen in this weekend to Boardwars.eu Episode #5!

With Episode #4 we transitioned into the 2nd half of our first wave raffel. You can still send in your answers to the question posed in Episode #4! But to wet your appetite for Episode #5, the next Pack you can win is: the Chewbacca Ally Pack.

Also a short update on shipping the packs to the contest winners: As of yesterday I cleared the backlog from Episod #1 to Episode #3. All the winners were from the US, so it still will take them some time to receive them in the mail, but they should get there eventually.

I actually fogot to announce the raffle for Episode #3, so let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again. With Rebel packs occupying the spotlight in Episode #2 and #3, it’s time to turn to the dark side again. In Episode #4, you will be able to win the magnificient Royal Guard Champion.

So be sure to listen in after Star Wars Celebration somewhere around the 22nd of April. By this time, the packs should finally arrive at my place and I will then start sending them out. *fingers crossed*

 First Campaign Expansion: Twin Shadows

FFG anounced the first Mini Campaign today. It will feature Boba Fett, C3PO, R2-D2 and Kayn Somos (a Sandtrooper). It will come out in early Summer, whenever that actually may be. Stay tuned as we will talk about it front and center during the next Podcast this weekend!

 

Damn, it’s about time!

A few hours ago, FFG updated their upcoming products page which now lists all Ally and Villain Packs for Imperial Assault as shipping.

From there it usually takes about 7-10 days for the packs to appear in Stores in the US, about 1-2 additional days for Canada and about 1-2 weeks for Europe stores. So even we should get the new packs in time for Episode #3 of the podcast. In light of that, we changed our scheduled topics around a bit to finish talking about the base rules in Episode #2 and hopefully talk about the Ally and Villain Packs from Episode #3 on.

With the first episode out of the door, it’s time to start thinking about Episode #2, probably the best episode yet! For the raffle, since we served the evil forces last time, I think we should give the light side some love this time around. You will be able to win a Han Solo Ally Pack!

And, since we forgot to mention a cut-off date for the Episode #1 raffle, you will be eligible to win the Han Solo Pack, if you send the answer to the question in Episode #1 after we record Episode #2, but before we release it. It’s complicated I know, but this way you don’t end up sending answers that get disregarded. For the future, the cut-off date will be Wednesday the 2 weeks after we release the podcast. So you have about 10 days to participate.

We recorded Episode #1 yesterday evening. Unfortunately, Matti couldn’t make it (he’s gonna be in Episode #2, fingers crossed), so Herwig and I rambled on about the game for a bit longer than an hour. I will start editing the podcast today and hope to get it during the weekend, but I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

In other news, the intro jingle for the show was finished today. Arranged by my personal friend Oliver Sima, it’s 27 seconds of reinterpreted Star Wars goodness. As a limited time sneak preview, you can listen to the jingle here. I’ll probably take the link down when Episode #2 hits, so listen to it while it’s hot. Jingle removed now.