Escalation League: Week 6

Advance force scenario!  Wait, you don't have an advance force?  Oh well.  In the week six scenario, scouts, skirmishers, fliers, and vanguard got to deploy normally first turn and the rest of the army was reserve forces.  For most games, this just made the game a little shorter because little happened the first two turns, but it added an interesting twist to a few of the games.  Eleven battles were fought, and after screams of battle died out, here's where the standings fall.

Rank	Player	Total Score
1	Baughman, Josh	111
2	Vincent	98
3	Willworth, Paul	96
4	Douglas, David	88
5	Flesch, Taylor	84
6	Storme	71
7	Oliver	71
8	DeRemmer, Jeff	67
9	Johnson, Ryan	61
10	Flickinger, Jordan	57
11	Bailey, Chris	55
12	Kem, Eli	54
13	Kingon, Wiley	51
14	Maurice	49
15	Macintyre, Kyle	49
16	Jones, Nate	48
17	Sathrum, Ben	47
18	Odam, Ryan	46
19	Guzman, Issac	43
20	Kinyon, Matt	42
21	Evans, John	37
22	Bathke, Tony M.	35
23	Rosenous, Chris	33
24	Schwarz, Gustav	33
25	Devyn	33
26	Holt, Ian	32
27	Hines, Clayton	29
28	Fogg, Mike	20
29	Dustin B	16
30	Scott, Terry	10
31	Johnson, Quinn	8

BEST GENERALS      1.  Jordan Flickinger 2.  Josh Baughman 3.  Taylor Flesch

MOST PAINTED     1.  Vincent 2.  Jeff DeRemmer 3.  Josh Baughman

BEST SPORTSMEN 1.  Storme 2.  Kyle MacIntyre 3.  Vincent

Escalation League: Week 5

First a note about last weeks rankings.  I made a mistake and did not include the points scored for the objectives in those results, so if it looked like your overall score was missing the objective bonus... well, it was!  Those points are added in with this weeks update though.  This week we had 20 players throw down a 1,250 point army.  Here's the latest league standings after week 5:

Rank	Player	Total Score
1	Baughman, Josh	92
2	Vincent	80
3	Willworth, Paul	75
4	Flesch, Taylor	71
5	Douglas, David	68
6	Storme	61
7	Flickinger, Jordan	57
8	Oliver	54
9	Bailey, Chris	47
10	DeRemmer, Jeff	47
11	Sathrum, Ben	47
12	Johnson, Ryan	45
13	Maurice	44
14	Jones, Nate	39
15	Kem, Eli	38
16	Kingon, Wiley	38
17	Evans, John	37
18	Kinyon, Matt	36
19	Ryan O	34
20	Macintyre, Kyle	34
21	Schwarz, Gustav	33
22	Devyn	33
23	Holt, Ian	32
24	Guzman, Issac	31
25	Bathke, Tony M.	29
26	Hines, Clayton	22
27	Rosenous, Chris	19
28	Fogg, Mike	17
29	Dustin B	16
30	Scott, Terry	10
31	Johnson, Quinn	8

BEST GENERALS         1. Jordan Flickinger 2. Josh Baughman 3. Taylor Flesch

MOST PAINTED           1. Vincent 2. Jeff DeRemmer 3. Josh Baughman

BEST SPORTSMEN 1. Storme 2. Kyle Macintyre 3. Vincent

Dragon Age

Bioware has been making great single player role playing games on the PC for a long time.  From Baldur's Gate, to Neverwinter Nights, and now Dragon Age.  When I heard that Electronic Arts would be joining forces with Bioware to work on Dragon Age, a little trepidation crept into my heart.  EA, really?  EA makes the games I don't play, what do they know about making an epic RPG?  I feared the worst, but remained optimistic enough to be a little excited about the game.

Diving in to Dragon Age: Origins was a radical change from Neverwinter Nights, but most of that change was for the better.  Though it took a while for me to let go of this aching for the radial menu I had grown so used to.  What did not change was the great storytelling and character development.  Infact, it was taken to a new level.  They push the experience closer and closer to that of being a person in an epic movie.  It's safe to say that the first Dragon Age impressed me.

Reviews for the sequel to Dragon Age were not wonderful.  Once again, I was worried.  Was the streak of excellence about to end?  I did not buy it right away.  Not to long ago, the price dropped down to the $30 sweet spot, so I nabbed it.  If nothing else, I wanted to find out what happened to Morrigan!

Well, apparently I didn't do my homework.  Dragon Age II is not a continuation of the Dragon Age storyline, but runs in parallel to it.  This put a little damper on it, and added to what seems an awkward start to the game.  Fighting familiar darkspawn, you find yourself fleeing Ferelden, leaving the blight behind to lead your own quasi-epic non-blight riddled storyline.

While some people complained about the occasional re-use of dungeons in the game, that did not bother me much.  The biggest shortcoming of the game was the lack of a high level purpose.  The first two-thirds of the game felt like you were some exceptionally gifted townie doing various mercenary work.  As time goes on, your fame and power grow, and you become involved in a bigger story, but it felt pasted in.  Maybe foreshadowing is difficult in a game, or maybe I'm too stuck in a linear mindset, but it felt fragmented.

Though the overall story lacked, your companions and enemies are vivid believable people for the most part.  To the point where you become conflicted as to which of your companions to chose to adventure with as you can only pick three, but want to pick more.  Except Carver.  Carver can go fall on his greatsword.

Dragon Age II featured an adapted conversation system, which I liked for the most part, because it allows you to be sure of the intended meaning that goes along with a response.  On the other hand, there seemed to be less important conversation related to questing.  I liked the parts in Dragon Age where you had to collect information from people, and sometimes debate enemies, with the outcome affecting the game.  Dragon Age II was more straight forward.

Overall, I would say Dragon Age = Wow, Dragon Age II = not bad.  Is Bioware + EA leading the best streak of RPG games off the rails?  I don't know, but maybe it doesn't matter if Star Wars:TOR is awesome and I never play any other game again.

Escalation League: Night 4 Results

Nine haunted wizard towers were fought over in week four of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles escalation league.  The scenario this week was a twist on the normal watchtower scenario, and players who secured the tower at the end of the game earned 5 bonus league points.  Here's the latest league standings:

Rank Player Total Score 1 Baughman, Josh 70 2 Willworth, Paul 65 3 Douglas, David 57 4 Flesch, Taylor 57 5 Vincent 50 6 Storme 48 7 Johnson, Ryan 45 8 Oliver 43 9 Flickinger, Jordan 41 10 Jones, Nate 34 11 Bailey, Chris 33 12 Kem, Eli 33 13 Maurice 33 14 Devyn 33 15 Holt, Ian 32 16 Sathrum, Ben 30 17 DeRemmer, Jeff 29 18 Macintyre, Kyle 29 19 Guzman, Issac 28 20 Kingon, Wiley 27 21 Kinyon, Matt 24 22 Ryan O 23 23 Bathke, Tony M. 23 24 Evans, John 20 25 Rosenous, Chris 19 26 Fogg, Mike 17 27 Dustin B 16 28 Schwarz, Gustav 15 29 Hines, Clayton 12 30 Scott, Terry 10 31 Johnson, Quinn 8

BEST GENERALS 1. Jordan Flickinger 2. Paul Willworth 3. Josh Baughman

MOST PAINTED 1. Josh Baughman 2. Paul Willworth 3. Storme

BEST SPORTSMEN 1. Storme 1. Kyle MacIntyre 3. Josh Baughman

Escalation League Week 3

The League continues strong with 27 players showing up for the first 1000pt battle on week 3.  People are able to fit a bit more fun toys in their armies now, so the table tops looked a lot different from the past couple weeks.  Here are the overall standings so far:

Rank	Player	Total Score
1	Baughman, Josh	53
2	Willworth, Paul	51
3	Flesch, Taylor	46
4	Flickinger, Jordan	41
5	Douglas, David	40
6	Vincent	37
7	Storme	33
8	Holt, Ian	32
9	Oliver	32
10	Sathrum, Ben	30
11	DeRemmer, Jeff	29
12	Johnson, Ryan	28
13	Bailey, Chris	27
14	Kingon, Wiley	27
15	Devyn	26
16	Guzman, Issac	24
17	Kinyon, Matt	24
18	Maurice	23
19	Ryan O	23
20	Bathke, Tony M.	23
21	Kem, Eli	22
22	Macintyre, Kyle	20
23	Rosenous, Chris	19
24	Jones, Nate	17
25	Dustin B	16
26	Fogg, Mike	13
27	Hines, Clayton	12
28	Scott, Terry	10
29	Evans, John	8
30	Johnson, Quinn	8
31	Gustav	3

And now those special standings I promised.  These are based on average performance so far, and only include those who have played more than one game so far:

TOP GENERALS    1. Taylor Flesch 2. Chris Bailey 3. Paul Willworth

MOST PAINTED    1.  Jeff DeRemmer 2.  Ian Holt 3.  Josh Baughman

BEST SPORTSMEN(3 way tie) 1. Josh Baughman 1. Storme 1. Kyle MacIntyre

Escalation League Standings Night 2: Team Scenario

The scores are in from the second night of the Warhammer Escalation League.  Twenty players participated in a team scenario where two 800 point armies teamed up to fight the combined forces of two others. Here are the overall League rankings so far.

Rank	Player	Total Score
1	Baughman, Josh	38
2	Willworth, Paul	35
3	Douglas, David	33
4	Holt, Ian	32
5	Taylor	29
6	Vincent	29
7	Flickinger, Jordan	27
8	Oliver	20
9	Guzman, Issac	19
10	Rosenous, Chris	19
11	Storme	18
12	Kingon, Wiley	18
13	Kyon, Matt	18
14	Dustin B	16
15	Bailey, Chris	14
16	Kem, Eli	13
17	Sathrum, Ben	13
18	Ryan O	13
19	Bathke, Tony M.	13
20	Ryan J	12
21	DeRemmer, Jeff	10
22	Hines, Clayton	10
23	Jones, Nate	10
24	Scott, Terry	10
25	Maurice	9
26	Fogg, Mike	8
27	Macintyre, Kyle	8
28	Devan	8
29	Evans, John	4

After week 3, we should be able publish more rankings like top general, painting, and sportsman based on averages.  See you next week for a standard battle with bigger armies.  1000 points!