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).

B5 CCG Lunch Game #2, Third AAR... what are the stat's on the Warleader's Fleet again?!

A few more excellent rounds in our lunch game.  I finally put an ultimatium on the table... "get out enough diplomacy to stop Power Politics, or I win".  They took me seriously after I rammed a Power Politics through and tapped the Narn Homeworld for +3 influence.  Combine that with Councilor Na'Far's +2 power from having tension 1 with Humans and Minbari, and I'm sitting at 17 power... one more round like that and I would have won.  So now Warleaders, Ministry of Peace workers, and Centauri notables suddenly found sponsorship.  Meanwhile on only 10 influence, the Centauri have developed a solid cast, Warleader Shakiri and his fleet are flat out impressive and Neroon is spending 16 influence a turn (an impressive and powerful 2nd place showing for the new guy), Psi Corps is reeling from a Centauri Gunboat diplomacy (and needs to get some more cards in play soon... locations and telepath groups... where are you?).

I did build all three of these decks, so its interesting to see them in play.  However, Bester just needs to be aggressive, so its a poor pairing with its player.  Neroon is the deck I wanted to really see do well, and it is (yippee!), so there's some vindication there.

Refa is a little frustrated, as Sheridan has a vehicle to get the Combined Fleets into play and the Warleader's Fleet all look very OP to him.  He's looking at his thought-to-be a juggernaut Centauri conquest deck, and lamenting the lack of fleets over military 10 (what until he see's the Grey Council Fleet).  I'm trying to explain to him that a War deck doesn't need/want the big fleets, as you aren't running Border Raid or the like anymore.  You want many small fleets, that way enemy fleet attacks are blunted by the mechanics of the game and with a salvage yard, you can recycle those military 5 multiple fleets all day.  Not to mention, with the Centauri ability to make enhancements global, those +1 Modern Refits, and Establish Bases, and Lifepods, become even greater force multipliers on weaker/cheaper fleets... but he's not seeing it and instead is trying to build a Gather the Rebels Shadow deck... sigh... time to break out the old pure Narn War deck and show the kid how it's done.  Sad thing is, the Centauri are actually better at it too.  Oh well

As for my peace loving Narns: I need to get a few more fleets out, just as a deterrent for Minbari military conflicts (I have them at tensions 1, and once someone figures out the ruining that will help someone else win the game, I'm in trouble).  Also worrisome, I don't have any conflicts in my hand. I know that I have about 15 in the deck, but until I have them, I only have Power Politics to build with and that shouldn't be an option anymore (though I could wait until the Humans and Centauri all place conflicts and then activate one myself... if nothing else it's paying 9 influence to keep them from using characters as they want).  I also played a rather pointless card, Thenta Makur... I've got everyone's tensions at 2 or below, and I think I can hold them there for quite awhile.  Who am I going to be able to attack with all those new-found strife marks?

  

In other news:

I just got 4000 more plastic sleeves (for under $20, I might add, name brand ones too), so I can finally get the entire collection protected.


I did find this promising Dilgar War Fanfic (disclaimer: I've not read it yet... so caveat emptor), I hope it proves to be interesting.

Also, while I use Vorlon Space and it's Card Finder for all my card gallery needs, I also found this   Russian B5 CCG gallery.  Looks like an excellent backup.

Home Faction Ambassador B5 CCG Lunch Game #2, second AAR

A little progress on our lunch game, looks like the Neroon deck has some real potential.  We're kinda playing open hands here, so they've all seen mine and I've seen theirs.  Almost all the fun Minbari warrior caste character/fleet combos are already in Neroon's hand and now its just growing his influence enough to get them in... we'll have to see today if he can.

In other decks, Refa's frustrated as this is a war deck of 80 some cards, 20 of which are fleets, none of which are in his hand.  Meanwhile he's pumping Ragesh III to bring in a 1st-3rd fleet early and then I assume Border Raid or the like with that (we Narn aren't worried).

Bester is slowly getting things out, but I really hope he'll be aggressive.  You can't play Psi Corps and play nice (well, he can be nice to someone, but he needs to pick on someone too).  Its a race right now between him and Sheridan to get Earth out and get some of the limited fleets too, but I'm trying to drill into the Bester that a few Psi Corps locations, a couple high power telepaths, and Military Telepaths are all he needs to stay competitive in military conflicts and that's good enough.

Sheridan is a pure B5/Diplo deck.  I think it will do well in this meta rather than the Shadow War/Military heavy games we've had in the past.  He needs to focus on things other than B5 influence and just grow his own power pool.  Right now, I could Power Politics and make them all tap out, but nothing gained (other than making them give +2 influence to someone other than me), but once Sheridan and the Senators are all up in running, that will change.  Hopefully he and the other players will get that working together to stop Power Politics is a must right now.

Na'Far is sitting pretty.  He's contingency protected, will soon have 2 strife marks on him, and is sitting at a 10 diplomacy right now.  I might try and ram through one more Power Politics conflict but I think almost all the homeworlds will be in soon and this might be a pretty quick game for everyone but Refa.  Right now he's got the biggest challenge besides Bester.  They both need two turns to make most of their influence, where as Neroon and Na'Far can easily make 2-4 every turn.  However there are some Alliance cards floating around and I'm going to encourage them to not target me... that should elevate the others quickly, but this one's going to be a race to 20 not a Major Victory (sorry Bester and Refa)... unless something unexpected happens, and just like in the show, it often does.

In other news:

The Screenings Continue

The Mrs and I are still watching the season 1 and we've just finished the first disc and started the second.  All and all, I think she's getting it (not understanding it (which of course she is), I mean "getting it", as in seeing what redeemable qualities the series had and why people liked it).

Episode 4: Lumbering Plot device and Ducky betrays the Doc

Me:I like the look into the short-sighted and aggressive policies of EarthGov.  Much like when the show aired, the current distrust of politicians makes this even more relevant. 

Mrs: I think the lack of well done parallel plot lines in this episode made it less interesting for her.  I don't want to say that this is a throw away episode, but as much I as remember liking it the first time through, this might be one to skip if you're trying to speed a new view through the first season... just mention ISN and move on

Episode 5: Londo's Party and G'Kar's Peril

Me: Good ole Parliament of Dreams, might be one of, if not my favorite episode of Season 1.  G'Kar is overacted, and I'm glad that he's toned down in theatrics but deepened as a character later.  We get to meet Na'Toth (one of those characters that I wish we saw more of, but since actress was allergic to Narn makeup, that happens).

Mrs:  Found G'Kar a bit too much of a ham... and, sadly, he was.  However, I think Londo and Sinclair are growing on her... but oddly enough, not Delenn (given what's coming, too bad on all accounts, I'm curious to see what she thinks of the season 2/3 changes).  All in all, a solid episode for her.

Episode 6: Bester Arrives and Ironheart

Mr:  Good ole Bester, we meet the Psi Corps, finally, and see just how controlling it is.

Mrs:  I knew this wouldn't be a strong favorite for her... the over acting, psi powers in general, and the suspension of belief needed on this one was going to make it weak.  She's not a scifi person, so things like psychics in the scifi sense, just aren't a given for her... I hope this doesn't make her like season 5 even less than most people do.

All in all, its growing on her.  I'm curious to see if she's emotionally invested enough in the characters to feel the betrayal and inner conflict of the next two seasons... I think she just might.  She did mention the other day that she was enjoying the series and found it entertaining... if she can say that on season one, that's a pretty good sign for me.

BTW, here's an Excellent episode guide for those looking

Homeworld Factions abound in Babylon 5 CCG lunch game #2

We launched another lunch game this week, 5 players this time... and only one has a Babylon 5 vote. The decks were all picked independent of the others, yet we have no Shadows, no Vorlons (I think), and only 1 B5 ambassador and none of the original 4.

The decks go as follows (starting in the top left, clockwise): Sinclair (4 card), Bester, Na'Far (me), Refa, and Neroon.  We're all still in the process of building, but I had the Euphrates Treaty in my starting hand along with Council Na'Far and Nothing to Hide (if Refa wants to run up tensions to get to war, it will at least hurt a bit), so right now I have a Diplomacy 9, DR 3 ambassador.  The Humans and Neroon are at influence 7, Refa is at 5, I'm at 6 (I took a turn off to get Na'Toth in... though we are unsure whether Na'Toth is considered Na'Far's ambassador right now or not.  Either way, I'd have put her in (only character I've drawn and I need another Inner Circle sponsor).  Neroon's a first time player, but the rest have all played before.  I'll still give advice freely, and I know Refa will too, so they should do fine.

My Na'Far deck is the normal win via tension, but I'm already wishing I have a few more cards to keep tensions down (the extra power can't hurt, especially late game). We've already had a B5 vote, kinda funny, Sheridan played the card and then got to have the only vote... but I know Neroon and Na'Far both have the agendas that enable their right to vote.  No Shadow, Vorlons, Crusades, Non-aligned, or original ambassadors... should be interesting at least.

Babylon 5 episodes 1-3 reviewing again

The Mrs. and I are slowly watching the series from beginning to end. She's never seen them before, clearly, I saw them all back in the day. I've watched seasons 2-5 within the last year, but not season 1 and not all the movies.

Episode 1: Ragesh and Raiders

Me: wow, I forgot how dated the CGI was. Also, I forgot how much G'kar was one part villain and one part buffon at this point in the show.  Sinclair's a better character than I recalled. Londo is very much the flawed good guy.

Wife: That looks like an old video game. Found the characters weird, really didn't see the acting that bad. Not convinced, but being quite the sport.

Episode 2: Soul Hunting and new medical digs

Me: ok, written like a Shakespeare spin off. Good, but still rough.  I did like the Grey Council teasers.

Wife: noticing the forced costumes and CGI. She's liking Garibaldi and Sinclair.

Episode 3: Aides and Maids

Me:  Again, I forgot how sympathetic Londo was and how much of an antagonist G'Kar was too. I also appreciate how much JMS kept the feeling of being in space, in a major trade hub. Nice to see the main characters interacting with each other and friendships forming.

Wife:  we talked about the silliness of the "futuristic" civilian clothes (and yet how 80s/90s it all felt).  There was some confusion between Kosh and N'Grath (stupid character and stupid costume, glad they dumped him) as they both live in climate controlled zones.

I think she's enjoying it, but certainly not hooked. I did skip The Gathering (would have hated for that to be the first impression). I also lowered expectations as best I could (PC CGI effects, poor acting, mood inconsistencies etc. in season 1), so that helped too.

I'll post again once we've screened some more.

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.

Babylon 5 CCG AWOLs

Only 187 cards missing now:

Premier: 8
Shadows: 15
Great War: 22
Deluxe: 2
Psi Corps: 53
Severed Dreams: 26
Wheel of Fire: 32
Crusade: 29

I finally have every Narn card and every techno-mage (fleet or character), so that's fun.  It just amazes me that Psi Corp is the expansion that one cannot find any boosters for anywhere.  I've also got the sneaky feeling that I probably have 10 of the missing cards, I just haven't counted/filed them correctly.

Argh! the Psi Corps cards, so tough to get at any reasonable cost. Anyone wanting to sell an Emperor Mollari, let me know about it.  Here's some B5 mod action:

...a few extra turns and something of interest

  

We got a few more turns in on the lunch game:  Long story short, I'm a jerk.  I left one conflict uncontested and then dropped the above on it at the end of the turn... 21 opposition dropped with one card... lols.  The other card I generated support with Elizabeth Trent... after having Genius Loci hop into it, doing damage to everyone.  Tap a homeworld, and 19 influence.  Now they brought a bunch of stuff in, and I'm holding a planet (they don't follow the blog, don't tell them)... but if think I'm just going to build up fleets and try to hasten the Shadow War.  Unless it targets a card I hold, I'll probably even let them steal a little influence here and there.

As to the Saturday game, we ran out of time, but I feel confident that we'll have one this next Saturday.  Looks like three players for sure, maybe 5 if I'm lucky (I like the bigger games).

As a parting note, if you've not seen this, I recommend it highly for any B5 fans, unfortunately though some rough language, so its pulling gold out of slag... beware:

...and Londo makes his move

  A few more turns on the lunch game.  Supporting characters coming out for everyone, assistants finally show up (and homeworlds).  I'm Mr. Money bags, but I'm strongly encouraging the other players to start targeting me.  When we called it, everyone had just revealed their conflicts

  Delenn:  Supporting characters everywhere... from a cast of 6 to a cast of 4... He's feeling a little disheartened at the weakness of the supporting row, but I'm hoping that he can see them as cheap and expendable.  A fleet is now in play and Vorlon's march on with our first Final Destiny in play (let the recyling and growing Vorlon marks/influence being... good, I want the Shadow War sooner than later).

  Sheridan:  He and Londo are teaming up to try and push a Partnership for Peace through (against me).  This will give each of them an extra 8 influence to spend next turn (if it works).  That could really help them.  I'm contingencied against the loss of influence, so I'll make them earn it, but not attempt to stop it.  Sheridan got Ivanova in and improved (so that helps).  At this point, I think buying cards with the possible windfall here might be the best move.

  Londo:  Slowly building up his hand, if he pushes Prey on the Weak through, and he might, with his Homeworld in play, he can start the climb to a solid influence rating here.  His character pool is small, but they're pretty powerful and he's already got plans for what to do with influence gained from Partnership for Peace (basically 2 characters and a planet).  I'm not sure I can stop it if I wanted to, but I don't want to get too involved.  Refa is a nasty axe man for him right now.  I think in his mind he'll attack with him every other turn (healing on the off turns).  I like Londo's willingness to attack, most of the new players (not the learning ones, though this applies to them too) are gun shy in attacking, Londo is not, and that's good... playing conservatively does not work well in old B5,

  

  G'Kar:  I've got the cards to win, but I really want to see where this goes, and I'd like the Shadow War to start (gives the learning players more turns to learn the game, and then I've exposed them to the different victory sets).  Right now I've spent my Legacy Deck.  All its characters are out, all but one of its fleets, and its just enhancements and aftermaths until I recycle the conflicts through.  I know the Minbari deck has excellent abilities to strip off enhancements, so I'm going to try and play it careful (like wait until I have two of a card and then play one with the other as a back up).  Typically I try and convince all three of the other players to come at me once the Shadow War begins, so I'm trying to setup for being a bear for them to take down.  Its fun for them to work together to obliterate someone and its fun for me to see how resilient I can be.  My conflict is Hi-Tech Weapons, and I just want to win that and not lose Prey on the Weak.  It will be good for the game for all three of the other conflicts to go through, and I don't think I can stop them anyway without exposing cards that I'll need later in the game.

 We'll see if I can pull off the weekend game... it looks like it will happen soon.

 Until then, check out Vorlon Space for all your B5 CCG needs... this site really makes the game run these days.