Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Typhon2222]

Originally Posted by ZBeeblebrox

I agree with my fellow judges...just not enough availability for e common squad.

I vote NO to review the Equiceph Bonechargers.

fwiw, the days of good common squads are nearing the end as the pre-painted minis dry up. But with the Pathfinder Line coming soon and the new D&D Skirmish Line by WoTC...they may come back. Meanwhile Unique Squads are going to more of the norm, and if these were tweaked to be a cool Unique squad, the availability would be about right.

Too bad. Yet one more way in which the deck is stacked against common squads.

[caps]

Originally Posted by Typhon2222

Too bad. Yet one more way in which the deck is stacked against common squads.

It's not like the judges want it to be that way.

Besides, heroes are more fun anyway, really.

[Typhon2222]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

It's not like the judges want it to be that way.

No no, don't mean to imply they do. Just shaking my wee fist and stamping my little feet at the ever-diminishing supply of minis.

Although as regards heroes being more fun.... Well.... I dunno. I feel the game shines most at those moments when heroes and squads interact in beautiful ways. Given the current over-abundance of heroes relative to squads, I just feel the game could benefit more from more of the latter rather than more of the former. Which is why the diminishing supply of figures is so saddening.

[dok]

I agree that the interaction of heroes and squads is a big part of the fun. However, there's still a ton of options for squads, even common squads, out there.

It's unlikely that you will be able to come up with an idea for a common squad, design it, and then find an appropriate set of sculpts that are available at the quantity and price needed. However, if you are willing to start with the options that are available and design to them, it's easy enough to keep pumping out common squads. Even ones that aren't same-sculpt.

[Kroc]

Originally Posted by dok

It's unlikely that you will be able to come up with an idea for a common squad, design it, and then find an appropriate set of sculpts that are available at the quantity and price needed. However, if you are willing to start with the options that are available and design to them, it's easy enough to keep pumping out common squads. Even ones that aren't same-sculpt.

Perhaps not in this thread, but could someone from the SOV come up with some examples? I too am sad that most of the nominations for the SOV are heroes. Commons are the lifeblood of this game.

OK, maybe I didn't mean to be THAT extreme.
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[mac122]

It would be helpful to know what the acceptable quantities are for common and unique squads, as well as common, uncommon, and unique heroes. What are the thresholds for consideration of a unit? Thanks.

[nyys]

The number can vary from unit to unit, since, depending on the price of the unit the number 'needed' in an army can vary.

Each judge has his own idea on how much or little the unit cost affects the quantity needed.

For me (and these are rough estimates):

Common Squad: Minimum 100 (120+ preferably)
Unique Squad: Minimum 75 (100+ preferably)
Unique Hero: Minimum 40 (50+ preferably)
Common Hero: Minimum 75 (100+ preferably)
Uncommon Hero: Minimum 60 (75+ preferably)

Again, those numbers can (and will) vary depending on the cost of a unit. A 3-figure, 40pt common squad will need higher availability than a 3-figure, 90pt common squad. Same goes for a 3-figure Unique Squad compared to a 4-figure Unique Squad.

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by mac122

It would be helpful to know what the acceptable quantities are for common and unique squads, as well as common, uncommon, and unique heroes. What are the thresholds for consideration of a unit? Thanks.

As nyys says, it depends on the unit and how I would expect it to play.

Taking extreme examples, a unique hero who boosts the Earth Elementals just a little bit might be one where the availability would not need to be that high. Fifty? Maybe not even that. Though I don't count eBay numbers; I don't trust them.

But typhon's single sculpt 3-figure squad presents a serious challenge: availability of 100 means only 33 squads, and considering many people would want 3 squads, that's only 11 people getting them, assuming all 100 went to 'Scapers.

My calculation would be different if the squad was 2 figs, or if the squad was 3 figures but 170 points each. That's how my thinking process goes.

[nyys]

Yep, even 100 for a squad like that is really too low, but trying to find 200+ of anything is a real challenge (keeping both pre-painted and $$ in mind).

[mac122]

Thanks, guys, that is helpful. I have a few units I'd like to nominate, eventually. Now I can have a better idea if they will pass the first hurdle.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Originally Posted by nyys

The number can vary from unit to unit, since, depending on the price of the unit the number 'needed' in an army can vary.

Each judge has his own idea on how much or little the unit cost affects the quantity needed.

For me (and these are rough estimates):

Common Squad: Minimum 100 (120+ preferably)
Unique Squad: Minimum 75 (100+ preferably)
Unique Hero: Minimum 40 (50+ preferably)
Common Hero: Minimum 75 (100+ preferably)
Uncommon Hero: Minimum 60 (75+ preferably)

Again, those numbers can (and will) vary depending on the cost of a unit. A 3-figure, 40pt common squad will need higher availability than a 3-figure, 90pt common squad. Same goes for a 3-figure Unique Squad compared to a 4-figure Unique Squad.

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

As nyys says, it depends on the unit and how I would expect it to play.

Taking extreme examples, a unique hero who boosts the Earth Elementals just a little bit might be one where the availability would not need to be that high. Fifty? Maybe not even that. Though I don't count eBay numbers; I don't trust them.

But typhon's single sculpt 3-figure squad presents a serious challenge: availability of 100 means only 33 squads, and considering many people would want 3 squads, that's only 11 people getting them, assuming all 100 went to 'Scapers.

My calculation would be different if the squad was 2 figs, or if the squad was 3 figures but 170 points each. That's how my thinking process goes.

I pretty much agree with my fellow judges. But a common squad depends on it "sweet spot". If you can get away with only using one or two squads (like C3Vs Marro Gnids), then 100 is a good number...but if you are thinking three squads is a good number to stat with, then 120-150 is better. But if you are taliking a squad like the Stingers, where 4-5 squads is good...then you are taliking 180-240 avaialble. My overall criteria is: Can 40+ Scapers find the units in "Sweet Spot" numbers?

[Sertorius]

Because Typhon2222 and I are not at all interested in anything not fantasy-related (soulborgs, droids, army men, Marvel, space vixens, et cetera), the options for new cards, especially common squads, become very limited. Still, for our own personal consumption (and all our friends that play) I think we have accumulated a nice addition to the game. And we have a lot of fun with them, which is the point. If anybody sees a custom, either ours or that of anyone else, and wants to play with it, they can grab the card, grab the figures, and go for it! Not to knock the SoV process, but the availability issue is a killer as far as customs I myself want to make which might also be suitable for SoV. And that's okay.