Fantasy

20 October 2010

Death Angel...through Skype!

After our initial concept test last week, it was time to give it a go!


Comrade James took the Librarian and Heavy Flamer combat teams, while I took the Sgt Lorenzo and Assault Cannon teams

Setup – Toxin Pumping station via the Munitorium and Baal Crypt.

We each ran matching card layouts on a table with a computer with camera facing our boards and a skype video call running.  I was the master controller from a card perspective, with James following suit on the ones I randomly drew.  I also had a beer (Evolution Ale, by Man Cave Brewery to be precise) but in keeping with his Librarian values, James kept his mind and body pure from potentially mind altering substances... 

The game progressed well and despite a few tense moments along the way we lost only a single Marine in compartment 3 (Brother Valencia, one of mine.  The Emperor’s peace is with him).  Brother Zael’s heavy flamer was instrumental in burning out the few larger swarms that showed up, though Brother Leon’s assault cannon and the Librarian’s psychic attack did for more than a few as well and we managed to kill most stealers before they could attack or congregate in large numbers.  Good use of support orders ensured that most marines also carried a support token or two for those essential re-rolls.  Marine Victory!  The pairs of terminators selected seemed to have good synergy, with strong attacks and useful special abilities that helped out by neutralising swarms when attacking wasn't possible. 

Comment on the use of Skype
In the end the cameras weren’t a great deal of use, though it was good for watching key die rolls, showing the results and watching the cards come up. But it was the use of voice that was key.  The only game modification was the “instinct’ cards which couldn’t really be played as such and there was a bit more discussion than technically permitted.

Playing via Skype also induced a bit of extra playing time (this game took right on two hours) because each time we travelled we spent a few minutes double checking our setups to ensure we had the same layout, and talking through each move to make sure we were aligned. Still being relatively new to the game probably didn’t help either.  

Overall, playing over Skype worked well despite the time issue - it was great fun and far better than playing solo.   The next evolution I think would be playing a three player game, incorporating the Lad, via Skype.

Spearpoint 1943 would work well over Skype too (hint hint Comrade!!!)

Death Angel Reference Cards
Thanks to Comrade for finding the very useful QR cards now up at the Universal Works here:

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