Most Enticing Unit

[ollie]

Tomorrow I will have a 'scape board set up with some miscellaneous figures on it. The goal is to make people excited about the game, but they won't get to play it until next week. The cards will be around, but we won't talk about the rules or anything other than what the game is about in pretty abstract terms.

What units do I put on the board?

Using the method of grabbing the first ones that came to hand that seemed to make sense, I have Krug, DW9000, Nilfheim, Grimnak, Raelin, Omnicrons, KMA, 4th Mass, Tul-Bak-Na, Syvarris, Venoc Warlord and some Venocs.

What should I add/subtract? What's the one killer unit that will make everyone desperate to get involved?


[The reason for this and other threads I'm creating at the moment is a class I'm teaching about games and puzzles, of which 'scape is going to be some fraction (exactly how much depends on how interested the studetns are in it compared to the other stuff). If you want to bombard me with other cool ideas that's good too. It's weird to be at work and legitimately posting here rather than goofing off. ]

[Sir Heroscape]

Fen Hydra. So cool and so fun, will definitely catch the eye.

[mtl1998]

I always thought Brunak looked really cool. I'm sure Jotun would be a good choice as well.

[mcmeeple]

The Marro Hive always gets people attention at my house...especially if surrounded by some of the big figures and a swarm of squads.

[Dysole]

Rats...

Okay, seriously I think including a Major is a good call. Giant robots and all that. Also zombies.

~Dysole, noting that the bigger figures catch peoples' attention.

[Dad_Scaper]

First of all, the correct answer is

Originally Posted by mtl1998

Jotun

as mtl1998 said.

Second, after that you want a mishmash of genres. Redcoats, aliens, robots. Mix it up. You'll be playing with these same units so don't do anything that it'll be a pain to teach, like Tor Kul Na or the Airborne Elite. Krug would work well, too, because his powers are simple and he's a big, adorable mini.

[JairEmia]

I always thought Sonlen looked very epic, or maybe kameon awa?

[kevindola]

Ne-Gok-Sa. Mindshackle is such a fun and tense power.

[Tornado]

Dragons.

We used to always give Nilfheim and Braxas to a new player.

[ollie]

Excellent ideas everyone, I'll roll some in.

The playing/teaching angle is not such a big deal. They'll see it all tomorrow, but it'll be a different session next week (maybe even later) where they learn, so unless there's anything they fall in love with and insist on, I can take that as a separate issue.

What I usually do to teach this size group (probably about 6) is have them play one-on-one games with small (~250pts) pre-built armies. Before I stumbled on this, everyone spent far too long examining cards---to learn I think it's best to get in there and roll the dice, the unit preferences can come later. The armies I use tend to have one huge showpiece unit and then a squad (and another hero if there's space) and are definitely taken from the more straightforward end of the spectrum.

[Dad_Scaper]

Hmm. I'd keep squads at x2, and try to mix heroes & squads as much as possible. Maybe 300? Everybody gets a hero + ~2 squads of something, and the total is high enough that some people can get Jotun or Nilfheim. My . Have fun!

[ollie]

Yeah, as well as an eye-catching unit, I try to make sure each army has at least one hero and one squad and at least one melee unit and one ranged one. In the past I've kept commons out at the first pass and introduced them later, but this will be an older audience and I might drop some in from the start.

I haven't used Jotun at this stage before, but Charos and Tarns was an army last time (breaking my range rule) and it was a big hit to have the hero take up such a fraction of the army compared to the more balanced ones. Breaking the rules again, I might have Jotun as a solo army. Or maybe I'll edge the points up. (I also don't worry about exact point totals too much when people are learning.)

I also keep explicit synergy to a minimum and let them discover that for themselves in future sessions.