“Pocket” Pocket Battles Thoughts: The Gaesatae

The Gaesatae in the Celts army are very intense units. Apparently the real Gaesatae went into battle naked and, I assume, extremely crazy. (If you look on the little graphic for the Gaesatae unit, they’ve got nothing on but intricate blue tattoos or skin paint, and their swords are strategically positioned over their microscopic naughty bits.)

While they’re wisely paired with any unit with two or more wounds, since they can only be in two-unit formations, I’ve discovered through accident (basically, playing armies generated by some ruby scripts I’m using to draft armies automatically, although it’s more like S-M-R-T at this point) that pairing them with Horsemen produce the deadliest results.

Horsemen: two engagement dice of same value, 2 wounds, Fast.
Gaesatae: two engagement dice of different values, 1 wound, Overwhelming and Fury.

An ideal Horsemen-Gaesatae combination provides 3 different values of engagement dice (like 3-3 and 5-6), which means a 50% hit probability per die—not as good as having an ideal Noble Cavalry-Gaesatae team-up, which would result in a 66% hit probability per die, but nothing to snub at. And given that Fury allows Gaesatae to roll 2+ dice on defense and 3+ dice on charging, even Horsemen up the odds enough.

Now, even though a Horsemen only provides two extra engagement dice, both of the same value, they have the Fast power, which means a Horsemen-Gaesatae unit will also be Fast, ((There are people who complain about the combination of powers like this—i.e. how can little naked men suddenly run faster because in a real battle, they’re not riding the Horsemen’s horses. Thing is, Pocket Battles works at a level of abstraction above that. The game’s not for people who want battle simulae in a pocket, which isn’t going to happen easily, but for people who want units that can be combined to produce various effects, probabilistic and/or logistic, which are then applied to a game of movement and probabilities.)) and greater maneuverability turns the Gaesatae into a menace. If they start in the center, they can redeploy to an opponent’s wing section that’s weakened, which dramatically increases the chances for the Gaesatae to execute a second charge with their Overwhelming power.

And any time the opponent is dealing with the Gaesatae, usually they’re taking both orders and wounds to do it, which is good news for the rest of the Celts. I find that with two Gaesatae units still on the field, the Druid actually does have time to Heal the Warrior Queen at the end of a Battle Round.

Here’s an example 60-point army the S-M-R-T drafting script came up with for the Celts:

- #02 Warrior Queen [engage 4-5-6, 2 wounds; +1 Wounds, Fast, Impetus]
- #05 Gaesatae + #12 Horsemen [engage 5-6-3-3, 3 wounds; Overwhelming, Fury, Fast]
- #06 Gaesatae + #14 Horsemen [engage 3-4-5-5, 3 wounds: Ovewhelming, Fury, Fast]
- #07 Javelinmen + #08 Javelinmen + #22 Slingers + #24 Slingers [engage 3-4, shoot 3-4-3-4-5-6, 4 wounds]
- #21 Slingers + #23 Slingers [shoot 3-6-4-5, 2 wounds]
- #13 Horsemen + #27 Warband [engage 4-4-4-4, 3 wounds; Fast] ((This is a bad unit. Should have been another Warband so that at least there was a 33% hit probability per die instead of 16%. More considerations for the next script version….))
- #26 Warband + #30 Warchief [engage 3-3, 2 wounds; +2 Engagement] ((Should have been an least a Horseman….))

I like the Javelinmen/Slingers arrangement up there in a way I usually don’t.

And so we refine the script….

My Basic Problem

I don’t believe I deserve anything good. I don’t believe I deserve love.

I can deal with deserving pain and bad things. If good things happen for some reason, it causes a kind of dissonance in my head.

When I think of people or even pets maybe loving me, it makes my head hurt.

(Apparently this is fairly common with PTSD sufferers.)

My Contribution to Cuil Theory

PTSD flashbacks are experienced at 5 Cuils. ((Sample size 1.))

New Year’s Resolution #1

Stop
trying
to
predict
consistently rolling
perfect 20s
all through
the last leg
of the
dungeon.

It Makes Sense That It’s Not Over Yet

It’s just not very pleasant.

Perry Rhodan: The Cosmic League

As of this writing, Perry Rhodan is one of two science fiction themed games in the Kosmos 2-Player series. In particular, the franchise covered here is a German SF Western-styled, long-running fictional series, the adventures of Perry Rhodan. They’re originally in German, though English translations of the series are are trickling their way into the states.

I’ve never read this series and know nothing about it, although I imagine knowing the series makes knowing the planets here easier to grasp; but knowledge of the novels and stories isn’t necessary to enjoy this game.

As for the game itself, it’s mainly of the pick-up-and-deliver genre. Each player is a space trader transporting goods from planet to planet, receiving money on each delivery. With a limited number of actions per turn, the focus of the game is on optimizing your pick ups and subsequent deliveries as you pilot your little spaceship to and fro.

Your optimization problem solving is helped out by special action cards drawn from your own deck. Some of these give you a temporary boost, and some are improvements of your little spaceship that yield permanent powers. You can only afford so many of the latter, of course, and only play so many of the former per turn.

The main decisions in specializing your trader ship, quite an important part of the game, will alter your strategy as opportunities to buy parts come up as you go through your deck, getting more expensive the more you outfit your rig. Are you going to go for mobility or extra capacity to transport more stuff? These are quite finely balanced—so long as you remember the rules of the game.

And the rules are among the more complex of the series. I rather wish they had at least included tokens to count down the specific actions taken a turn—there are three types with a total of at least five overall actions per turn, which can be ordered in almost any way one desires, and counting too many or too little can severely offset the game balance. Summary sheets would have been nice as well… ah well.

This game is right up your alley if you like a sci-fi theme, delivery games, special powers, and like a more complicated ruleset that leans away from a bare abstract. These characteristics are tightly coupled enough—even the theme and mechanics go hand in hand—such that if you don’t like any of them, this game’s probably not for you.

I like this game well enough; it scratches my pick-up-and-deliver itch in a small box, and plays tightly (as such a game needs to be), yet casually, for two. And unlike many such games, it doesn’t occupy a huge swath of table. If anything, I wish there were more aids in the form of better card icons, more of a playing board, and action counters.

I’ve never played its similar-yet-not counterpart, Starship Catan, though I’ve observed many games of it. Starship Catan differs from Perry Rhodan in that it’s much more about building/development game than delivery, not surprising given its roots in the Settlers of Catan series. The rule complexity is about the same for both—though if you’re a fan of the Catan series, The mechanics of Starship Catan will make you feel right at home. Perry Rhodan is more adventuresome.

Pocket Battles: Data Crunching

If you don’t know what Pocket Battles are, there’s a wonderful video summary and review by The Dice Tower. That review is for a historical set, Celts vs Romans; there’s now a fantasy set, Orcs vs Elves, and expansions are planned for both branches. Not to mention that, if you’re of a Heroscape bent of mind, you can combine the two sets. Mainly the difference right now, apart from theme, is that the fantasy set is quite a bit more dynamic than the ancients set. Quite a bit. I feel that the balance is still there, but there’s definitely far more back and forth than with the more controlled ancients set. A matter of taste, that.

Anyways, one thing I noticed while using an impromptu drafting variant ((By the way, with the variant, both sides seem to almost always end up within the range of 60 points per army, so taking 30 points seems a quick way to deal with determining game end conditions without having to individually calculate army sizes post-drafting.)) is that point values for a few similar units—well, apart from army affiliation, the same units with different names—can differ from army to army. Obviously this was designed from the get-go with pre-game army construction in mind, but it’s a little strange when it comes to impromptu drafting.

A little bit of ruby script, and thus far there’s only one type of unit across multiple armies that’s the same for all attributes except for point values: the Elves’ spearmen (worth 2 points) versus the Orcs’ orcs ((Not a typo.)) and Romans’ Legionaries (worth 3 points).

Is it an error? I have no idea. It does make Elves a little more powerful with constructed armies, since they can include a few more points, so it’s a bit strange—of course, I haven’t used the Elves anywhere near enough to determine if this is simply the way it is to balance pre-constructed armies. I use drafting mode for now and don’t terribly care.

For people interested in units that are the same across multiple armies, including point values, here’s a complete list (note that the particular distribution shooting or engagement dice may differ across armies; these are simply counting the number of shooting/engagement dice), modulo mistakes in my little YAML database of units.

Shooting dice 2, formation 4, wound 1, points 3:
   Romans' Archers, Elves' Archers, Celts' Slingers

Shooting dice 1, engagement dice 1, formation 4, wounds 1, points 2
    Celts' Javelinmen, Orcs' Goblins

Shooting dice 3, formation 1, wounds 1, Reactive and +1 Shooting, points 5
    Celts' Hero, Romans' Scorpio ((One's human, the other's a catapult. I double-checked.))

For folks concerned that there’d be too many unit copies across the different armies, well—there’s not, apart from the most basic of backbone foot units.

I like this game series. And not only because I’ve been so riddled with PTSD and bipolar the last week that this has been the only one I can endure the length of. It’s very short, especially for a wargame, but it’s satisfying and there’s still a depth of gameplay that one wouldn’t expect out of a game so small. There’s some luck, but it can be mitigated with formation building—yes, even during the drafting variant—and, for what it’s worth, mitigating risk while managing logistics is pretty much what non-abstract wargames are about. And abstract ones, too, if you’re hoping your opponent doesn’t notice what your last move just did, and that you’ve grasped the implications of what your last move just did.

Also, I love shooty unit formations where the chances of hitting something are at least 50%. ((I absolutely love the Orcs’ Boulder Thrower, and before that the Romans’ Scorpio and the Celts’ Hero.)) Those and big wound-soaking units or sacrificial engagement units ((Never underestimate the utility of single-unit formations. Plus there are plenty of 30% hit chance engagement units these days.)) are the only things that hold back the Celts’ Gastae from overtaking the board—but they can be rather effective. Then again, I also love overwhelm-and-rush formations.

Me and myself, we tend to be polar opposites, us.

Lord, it’s like a hard candy, Christmas

I’m barely getting through tomorrow
But still I won’t let sorrow bring me way down.
– Dolly Parton, “Hard Candy Christmas”

Yes. It’s a Total Party Kill again.

Positives: in the living room, my couch is the base of operations with cows and such.

Downside: I think I’m starting to lose the bedroom as a result. But that could just be a result of not spending all my time up there anymore. I like to think it’s the latter.

General PTSD stuff: Good gods, there’s no way I can get through this dungeon without major, even permanent, damage to my HP.

Maybe I’ll just get drunk on apple wine—

Sadly, I’ve gone back to denying. It’s hurting and… well, maybe I’m facing it a little by not resorting to the “be unconscious for several days in a row”, because so far it’s the only ledge my PTSD is giving me that seems… free. But probably, like the really horrible GM it is, that’s only a trick, and the purchase will crumble under my feet at the last moment.

Last year, this is where I ended up. And that was when I thought I’d be fine… I’m just crashing.

Friend of mine on the island told me a year ago that I was simply thinking myself into the PTSD.

Ah, ha ha ha ha. I don’t even know how to prove to him that it’s not that way. Some people you can’t convince.

As I progress through all this, I’m trying to get my sleep, get my nutrition, get… something else. I’m falling apart. I don’t know what to do. Every path, it seems wrong…

Thus far, I am engaging in Mythbusters as a destruction. And playing war games with myself—although given that I can only handle complexity on the level of really bad strategy in the Pocket Battles series, this is making me depressed too. (Pocket Battles is a great little series, actually. I could see it having been a Kosmos 2-player, if German games were more confrontational.)

The really, really upsetting thing is that I’ve lost a lot of my cognitive ability even after a full night of sleep, and eating enough, and so I spend time late into the night trying to prove to myself that I’ll be fine.

I’m not gonna be fine.

But…

I want to actually be awake and aware this Christmas. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll learn something. Or maybe I’ll resort to Xanax and Ambien. I kind of… want to measure what happens over the next few days. Maybe that means I really am going to face it—but I can’t help but remember last year.

YES.

hat tip: @rosefox
via: @SenatorReid

Everything Changed

The fear is back like a jackhammer in my heart. The stress never went away, of course. It’s all flight and no fight at the moment.

Underestimated my PTSD again. It slammed me the moment I got up, although when I recall my dreams, they were getting more and more frantic than usual instead of being all-out nightmares. Does this mean nightmares will come soon?

Blogging this instead of just tweeting it so I have a record for next year.

Fear is so bad I feel too sick to eat and there’s a horrible headache, possibly because my blood pressure is in suck range, which it normally isn’t, modulo the times when my PTSD really, really, really gets me.