NaFar says No... again

   We started a new lunch game, this one with custom built decks.  Na'Far Diplomacy and Destiny (myself), Centauri Imperialism War Deck with Londo, Minbari Warrior Caste, Psi Corps (shudders), Minbari Vorlon Diplomacy were the players.  The two Minbari players are old hands (and need faster decks, IMO) and Psi Corps player a veteran card game player and already the guy to watch, and the Londo deck ran by two on the new players as a team (I helped build this deck, in all humility, its good and doesn't need anything other than raw Centauri power to win).

    We used a rather standard fare house rule for us: game goes to 30 power instead of 20.  Decks must be 60 cards, cannot exceed 100.  Everyone insisted they were ready for a full on deck of mine and so I let my deck run.  This is a game I should win, but since we have 5 players we agree that the game will go on and play for second place too, the winning player dropping out, but with States and Global effects still in play.  

  So, giddy up, NaFar shuts down everyone's tensions, dropping most to 1 by end game, quickly has 20+ power and uses destiny mark upgrades from aftermaths and to give NaFar stats in the teens in Diplomacy and Intrigue, 8 point damage reduction, and 8 points of automatic opposition to all conflicts.  By himself he will end most conflicts before they start, denying influence gains probably half the time they are drid

  With media cards and strong/cheap defensive fleets, there's not much that scares me and I soon drop out at 30 power.  However the fight for second was quite interesting.  The Centauri deck starts burning through cards, drawing four free cards a turn, and building a military that would have crushed the Narn, had we not already won and withdrawn.  Neron powers up slow and runs second fiddle to the Humans and Religious caste.  Psi Corp runs well, but too conservative, and the Minbari deck, right at 100 cards, is too cumbersome when the wrong cards keep coming up and just fizzles.  In the end, they agree to play until someone runs out of cards and then call it.  Victory Centauri, but I should point out that if they played RAW, the Psi Corps player, with more cards and a recycling conflict would have eventually won, and the Vorlon deck could have got second with an agenda that counts Vorlon-Shadow influence as power (so in this game an additional 20 some... though not until NaFar had already exitted stage right).

  All in all a good game.  The newer players got to see their decks run, and the Centauri players decided to build their own decks as the Psi Corps player is working on a Non-aligned deck on the side.  Should be interesting next game.  Na'Far will take a break.  Maybe I'll bring out my (crusade free) G'Kar Defense in Depth deck.  Its not ran around unchained for awhile.  

Narn, Na'Far is Your Friend Deck, and the end of the Lunch Game #2

Well Na'Far won.  He weathered a Gunboat Diplomacy (Leveled the Playing Field), and took an influence hit the following round from an intrigue conflict, but pushed a Power Politics through (with Homeworld, netted a +2) which put him to 20, and an earlier trade pact, gave 21... game over, standard Narn victory.  

I've decided that I'll sit out the next lunch game and just help with rules disputes and mechanics... more fun to what it sometimes anyway.

If you're looking for Narn cards on ebay, CLICK HERE

Not that it won anything big: but here's the deck

Staring Hand:

Na'Far

Councilor Na'Far

Euphrates Treaty

Nowhere to Hide

Characters:

Mary Ann Cramer

Sh'Sak

Ta'Lon

G'Sten

Na'Toth

G'Drog

Narn Agitator x3

Narn Aide x2

General Na'Tok

Du'Nar

G'Obel

Narn Captain

Ja'Doc

Na'Mel

Kha'Mak

Groups:

ISN

Narn Rabble

Aftermath:

Pariah

Glory x3

When Duty Calls x3

Fleets:

Colonial Fleet x2

Picket Fleet x3

Homeworld x2

Support Fleet x2

Security Fleet 

Locations:

Narn Homeworld

Quadrant 14

Events:

Universe Today Feature x3

Level the Playing Field x2

Trade Windfall x3

Wisdom of G'Quan

Spirit of Cooperation

Enhancements:

Attache'

Man for All Seasons

Pride of the Kha'Ri

Book of G'Quan

Preeminence

Conflicts:

Alliance

Trade Pact x2

Diplomatic Intrusion

Officer Exchange

Affirmation of Peace

Affirmation of Power

Strange Bedfellows

Agendas:

Power Politics x2

The Path to Peace x2

Contingencies:

Under Our Protection

Revenge is Sweet

Power in Consensus

Bluff

Further Gains

Its not sprinter lean or fast, but its NFL fullback trim and thundering.  Is it better than Cyborg G'Kar?  No.  Can it win in a Shadow War? Maybe.  Is it fun and competitive in a 4+ player game?  Yes.  Is it cheesey and makes me feel guilty if I win?  No.  I hopefully can get it in a weekend game (or the Neroon deck... oh the honorable pain it can reap... maybe I'll post that deck next).

Babylon 5 CCG Saturday AAR #2

Well we didn't use this card, but G'Kar was the Great Machine and then some on his own

Ok, Techno-Mage citizen G'Kar goes on the shelf, at least for awhile, at least for me. He tore through just about everything and tanked the rest. With over +5 to Diplo, Leadership, and 3 Strife and Destiny marks, Invisibility, all four Legacy contingencies, a couple nasty regular ones, and every techno-mage card in the game in play (except We're in Charge... I needed to pull a few punches), nothing could touch him.... And then it got better, I stumbled on The Tech on an empty Legacy deck just recycling contingencies and events. Combing this with Isabella, I was putting a contingency back into play a turn. Just wow.  I could sacrifice serious boosted strike fleets and then salvage them back into my hand.  For awhile the Babylon 5 War Council was up and running.... oh the discounts, oh the healing, oh the disposable, recyclable fleets along with recycling Protection and such... only catch, I had to be left alone until influence 35+ to be able to juggle all the flaming knives... but that's what happened.

My deck was based on having a Preeminent Defense in Depth, with techno-mages and Khari dancing around the planetary influence maypole.  Things like "Rally the People" are pretty scary when you can throw 30 points of Elizabeth Trent, and 30 points of ready Diplomacy at it (with Narn, that's 5 influence from one conflict... add a contingency and you're at 6... hello late game push).

The Others:

Drakh (well a non-aligned front government):  By far my real competition.  So much Shadow, so many discounts, so many marks.  Shadows probably averaged 3 influence every 2 turns for most of the game.  Supposedly the Centauri were going to go to war and this deck was going to ride that wave.  Would have worked, if Refa would have pulled the trigger.

  

Centauri (threaten war deck):  A very nasty deck, but made four mistakes... needed two events to declare war on (in case someone shot one down), needed to get to war before the Shadow War (didn't, truthfully, was being nice as Earth was wide open), needed to concentrate on one foe and tear him apart, and needed to not talk smack to Citizen G'kar when he has an Exodus Fleet, all the above upgrades, and every techno-mage in the game boosting the Exodus fleet, along with the Hi-Tech weapons, a couple aftermaths and the Pride of the Kha'Ri... I think I was doing 28 damage and resisting or basing away 19 damage with the Exodus Fleet.  Refa challenged G'Kar and he wiped two top fleets out of space with no lasting damage in return.

Vorlon (Minbari deck):  Needs to be a bit thinner and generate a bit more influence on the Minbari side before bringing in Kosh.  This deck ran a close third, and the Minbari and Non-aligned players did an excellent job trying to keep me contained.  Man, I hate "You're Not Ready".  Messes up all types of fun, and for 1 point generates 2 Vorlon Influence.  That being said, I still think that this is the best deck I've built.  Again the Minbari player had to come in late (turn 12 ish) and still was a contender and a major broker the entire game.  I like how he runs this deck and I will definitely take his pointers on making it better. 

Human (Earth Gov Senate):  Good, but this deck just won't run.  I gave it a higher character to card ratio than the Vorlon or the Narn deck and it didn't get them in until late.. too late.  Its some sort of curse, either on the deck (I used it before and was tied for last) or the faction.  I think next game I might hand off G'Kar the Machine to the Earth player and run this deck as mine... something's just not clicking here and I need to fix it/figure it out.

Notes to self: 

I have a disease, the cure More First Ones, another Isabella's Quest, a thinner Crusade deck, 2 more planets (don't know where I'll find them though, at 10 already) and We're in Charge could really make this deck hum... I think I'll hone it and then store it for a rainy B5 day (or pass it off to someone else in the club to enjoy).

We'll start another lunch game tomorrow... I think Neroon or Na'Far will be my deck of choice... or pass off Na'Far and play the Earth deck myself to see if I can get it going (probably not).

Babylon 5 CCG Game #2: End of the Lunch Game... new game coming

So yeah, I "won" a game... the two new players did well, but I think this game really shouldn't count.  I might need to go back and hone that Human deck some more (or maybe just rebuild it from scratch).  Feels like its can't ever be more than a strong supporting cast member.  I let the game go until the end of lunch and then played two planets and a contingency to close at a standard victory with 21 influence.  Londo's annoyed for sure (he wasn't playing a learning deck), but techno-mages did just fine keeping Refa, the Emperor, and Londo off my Inner Circle,

In other news, I'm only needing to log about 500 more Shadow cards from having all of my cards documented and organized... here's the system so far:

Also in trying to hunt down any other current B5 CCG players, if found this  Old RPG forum discussion on B5 CCG.  Pretty interesting, even if it was 7 years ago. 

Looks like we've got a game for Saturday for sure.  Non-aligned, Centauri, and myself.   I'll let them pick between Narn Power Politics, Techno-mage G'Kar, and Neroon Ranger deck... doesn't matter to me, the G'Kar deck is probably the weakest (just too slow), but I think they'll probably direct me toward the Ranger deck unless we have someone running the Minbari/Vorlon deck (and I hope we do) and maybe even someone running the Sheridan deck (I've already tweaked it to have a shot at putting President Sheridan in).

I'll get that AAR up as soon as the match happens... a few more games under our belts and I'll start posting deck builds for your viewing pleasure.

Narn deck won't narn... and hello old friend

Yeah, no Narns in my Narn faction, just 5 Techno-mages and a Banker... so weird

A few more turns (3 or 4?) on the lunch game.  Predictably Londo the Gambler and G'kar the Techno-mage are going head to head.  Its kinda broke down into two games, Narn vs Centauri (the two veteran players) and Minbari vs Narn (learning player and veteran).  Unfortunately for the Human player (also learning) his cards just aren't coming up.

Londo: Got some of his heavy hitters in, Refa's up into the Inner Circle, and Emperor Turhan with his Imperial Telepaths are up and firing.  I tried to block his Hunter, Prey (which gives him an auto Intrigue 2 on all future conflicts), but stuff got real.  Galen and Genius Loci jumped in with both feet... Refa attacked them and Londo supported the conflict along with Turhan (thus all the damage tokens).  Arthur has been a big help to him getting cards.  With two cards that can generate intrigue conflicts as an action, this deck is always doing something every turn.

Delenn: Now with 11 power and 10 influence (benefited from a Narn Legacy Conflict), He's got a solid Inner Circle and good supporting cards, Vorlon influence is at 11 (I actually want the Shadow War, so I'm kinda helping subtly, much to Londo's dismay).

Sheridan:  Now an Extra Conflict John Sheridan (just need conflicts now), and with a captain and a won conflict successfully pushed through (at 11 influence), he's just sitting on every great late game, 12 cost, card you could want.  Hopefully the low cost quantity over quality cards that are everywhere in this deck start coming up soon.  He's got no more conflicts in his hand... just waiting on the right cards to come up!

G'Kar: Well what a weird set of 3/4 turns.  Played Faces in Stone on the first of the turns and was able to get Blaylock, Isabella (who got demoted last turn), and Genius Loci all in (and Genius Loci into the Inner Circle).  I pushed through two Well of Forevers (cheap, I know) and an Isabella's Quest to gain 2 more influence, along with another pair of conflicts, I was able to get up to 15 influence and spending 18.  I'll drop one planet next turn and then focus on guiding the Humans up to 15 influence too (its a learning game after all, and I'm in a spot to just sit back and build supporting cast and let the others fight it out).  G'Kar will just play power broker for now.  I did look at Londo's deck and discard Prime Minister Mollari (evil, I know), but what good G'Kar can pass on keeping Londo in his place?

Things learned:  When it happens, Legacy decks can get OP... I've got 5 Techno-mages in play (G'Kar is one now).  My Narn deck is too thick, I can't get any good non-Legacy cards in my hand (even with Isabella giving me extra draws)...  I need to make hard choices and cut it down to 70 cards (which I'm not good at doing).  Luckily the Legacy deck is keeping me in the game... I've also got two Portraits of the Past in my deck somewhere... at this rate I might use them both if they come up (lets me recycle my Crusade Pile... hello more Wells of Forever). Also, as said before, I really need to emphasize shuffling decks well to new players.

In other news... I'm still cataloging my 4k extra cards I just acquired (see a couple posts below), but I also got a little something for me.  I don't know how rare this is, but I'm thrilled to have it.

So, while thinking of this, here's a vid in memory of Andreas Katsulas

and this epic tribute too

Upcoming: going to try and get a veterans only game together this Saturday.  I'm going to try my 60-ish card Neroon-Ranger One military deck.  Sounds like a Centauri war deck and a Psi Corps deck will be waiting for me... maybe a Non-Aligned worlds deck and a Shadow deck too

Very Cool Q'quan Cruiser Flyby

Awesome Q'quan CGI... check it out

I recommend playing it on HD and full screen... a little dated, but hey, it's B5

Cybernetic G'Kar and Card Vault

  Well we finally completed our second full game.  This one was wild.  The players were Lethke (same as before), Delenn (different player than last game, but not his first game... and another veteran gamer), Sheridan (not me this time, again, not first game, but first full game for this player... another veteran), and myself, finally back in the Narn race with a Legacy side deck.

  So the Non-aligned player was a complete powerhouse.  His deck took off.  Fleets, influence, expanded Inner Circle, everything.  Sheridan was playing conservative (need to put a mean bone in his body), but was able to create a formidable fleet and stay competitive.  Delenn started playing a little late, so we put her (him) at tided with the lowest other player in influence, put the first three sponsorable cards in play, and gave him all the cards to that point as his starting hard.  I put Vorlon Space in the starting hand along with Who Are You?  and a Vorlon marked aftermath (don't remember which one)... so we let him have 3 Vorlon marks, and due to Vorlon space we added 3 to the Vorlon influence... big mistake.  While the 3 of us continued checking each other and allowing slow sustained growth, the Vorlon influence just took off.  Then my own starter hand (as I built that monster of a deck) bit us.  He took on Order Above All as his agenda, and I forgot that it was a major agenda (13 years off the game is my excuse)...

  We panicked, in about 3 turns the Minbari deck went from 10 to 13 influence, but the Vorlons had gone from 7 to 12... with Order Above All, that's adding 8 to the Minbar total... so 21 (standard victory, if you're like me and forgot that it was a Major Agenda... which I had).  In our panic, and desire to keep the game going, we banded together and raised my influence to 21 also (thinking that ties had to be broken... which of course is wrong, we would have both just scored a standard victory).

  Lessons learned... more than one person can win, know if an agenda is a Major or standard, and wow, Minbari-Vorlon decks can fly if they have the right cards in hand (and well played by Delenn too).

  ...so, mistakes aside, we continued the game, started the Shadow War, and called it when I was at 33 influence and spending 39 (Independent Support).  G'Kar was a beast.  He was a techno-mage, immune to the first 2 attempts to neutralize him, at Leadership 9 (yeah, 9), had 3 strife marks, and 2 damage resistance.  I had him invisible too (briefly) but the Vorlons took my enhancement away :(.  I never remember having totals that high back in the day.

  Other lesson learned, 5 players is way more dynamic than 4, and we need a Shadow or First One roflstomp deck if someone is playing Vorlons.

  Fun time... we just started another "teach the game" session with two new players, myself and the lethal Londo Gambler deck/player.  I'll keep you posted on that.

 In the meantime, check out Card Vault.  Its an excellent CCG card tracking program.  While you have to pay for future updates, there's no need as the B5 files are complete and no need for anything beyond the initial Card Vault.

 

Just getting started here: an introduction to the discontinued CCG, Babylon 5

   Back in the day, my good pals would sit around and watch the Babylon 5 TV series.  While the first season certainly showcased the greener qualities of the cast, by the end if, we were hooked.  Seasons 2-3.5 were incredible.  The acting got better, the special effects smoother, and the story line more and more compelling.

  Somewhere along the way, we discovered the CCG (collectible card game for those not into Magic or the like).  I wanted to be Earth or Minbari, but we all thought it would best for both collecting ease and the sharing of boosters to split cards and each play a separate faction.  So I took the Narn (I think I would have happily played any of the main four, Centauri being the forth).  We played on and off, but I truthfully can only remember at most a dozen games.

  For whatever reason I got the collecting bug on this one and slowly built up a sizable collection. While Narn synergy cards still dominated my collection, I soon went after trying to get them all.  I'm still not there, but I'd guess I'm past 75% percent of the way there.  Sometime around 2001 I stopped collecting.  Until about a month ago.  I found my old cards, was looking for something else to do with my weekly Warhammer 40k crew (great game, BTW), and I'm slowly trying to lead a B5 CCG revival.

  I plan for this blog to be a journal of my B5 CCG experiances.  I'll refer to my players by their ambassador (for internet anonymity) and post AARs (After Action Reports) of each game and a few objective but kind comments as we go.

Go Here: Vorlon Space, for all B5CCG needs