Noob question :)

[sgtobidiah]

Hey Everyone,

I've lurked for long enough! I'm the argyle sweater paintin' fan of strange aeons. Anyway i finally had a chance last weekend to actually try a game of this out and we had a rule question.

Activation.
The way i read it is you roll off to see who goes first. They activate a model and then the other side does so, and this goes back and forth until all models have been activated. now for the next turn we were playing it that you kept going with the you go i go thing so the guys who went first in turn 1 would start out the round again. is this correct? it seemed a bit off because it almost seemed as though one side could go with all of their models in a row before the other player if they had more models. in our case the lurkers won the initiative and had more models so here's an activation play by play to explain:

Turn 1

lurker goes activated cult leader who activates 2 more cultists

threshold goes with character who activated the other 2 threshold agents (this is all their models)

lurker goes with remaining fish man and 2 cultists

Turn 2

lurker goes with cult leader again who activates 2 cultists again (this is the part where it seemed odd)


Any help would be appreciated, other than this the game was awesome. It was a nasty fight and got down to the lead agent fighting the fishman and the cult leader, they overtook him but not before putting up a good fight. We are planning to play again this weekend and maybe try out some more of the models to see how they work.

[Mason]

The way I understand it, although I could be wrong, is that you are doing things right at the begining, with steps 1 and 2, but you do not do step 3;

Step 1; lurker goes activated cult leader who activates 2 more cultists

Step 2; threshold goes with character who activated the other 2 threshold agents (this is all their models)

Step 3; lurker goes with remaining fish man and 2 cultists

Repeat, etc.....

You have to choose carefully who you are going to activate, as you may not be able to activate every single one of your models.
'Command' distance is key, as is the lack of 'command' if your Character is 'down' or engaged in combat.

I hope this is right, because that was my interpretation.

[styx]

Yea, Mason you are right. The key is activate and being able to manage your Lurkers or Threshold Team without waste.

I wrote some articles about that on my blog if you care to read them. Some good stuff there I think, granted they are just my personal opinion.

[sgtobidiah]

aaah,

i see where i made the mistake. The book says until there are no more models on left on the tabletop. I assumed it meant no more models that haven't been activated. well, that will make a difference then!

thanks for the help.

[Mason]

You are welcome, Sarge!

And welcome to the Cult, er, um, I mean Forum.....
 

[Ithaquatini]

So lets see if Im doing this right...
Threshold team:  figure A (with command), figure B, figure C, figure D.
Lurker team:  figure 1 (with command), figure 2, figure 3, figure 4.
Threshold has Initiative.
TURN 1:  Threshold activates figure A and uses command on B and C.  figure A activates, then B activates, then C activates.  Figure D can do nothing this turn.
Lurker activates figure 1 and uses command on figure 3 and 4.  figure 1 activates, then activates 3, then activates 4.  Figure 2 can do nothing this turn.
END OF TURN ONE
TURN 2:
Lurkers have initiative.
Lurker activates figure 3 (for some reason he didn't feel like activating the figure with command).
Threshold activates figure A and uses command on B and D. then activates A, then B, then activates D.  Figure C can do nothing this turn.
END OF TURN 2

This sound correct?

[Mason]

Hi Ithaquatini!

As far as I can tell, mostly right.
Your examples of each turn are correct, but it should alternate between Threshold and Lurker, so Threshold turn, Lurker turn, Threshold turn etc..

That is the way I see it, but I may be wrong.

The example you gave would result in the Lurkers taking two turns in a row befor the Threshold player acts. That does not seem right to me.....

[styx]

Yep, once the order is established you maintain it. Otherwise it could become unbalanced.

[Ithaquatini]

ack! your right.
Revised:
Say Threshold won the roll-off on who goes first.
TURN 1: Figure A uses Command and nominates B & C.  Figure A activates, then figure B activates, Then Figure C activates.  Figure D does nothing.
TURN 2:  Lurker Figure 1 uses Command and nominates 3 & 4.  Figure 1 activates, then 3 activates, then 4 activates.  Figure 2 does nothing.
TURN 3:  Threshold figure A uses Command and nominates B & D.  Figure A activates, then B, then D activates.  Figure C does nothing.
TURN 4:  Lurker activates only figure 3.  Figures 1,2 and 4 do nothing.
etc..
that sound right now?

[Mason]

Yep!
That sounds right to me.

[Anatoli]

The turn sequence in this game may feel a bit "unfamiliar" but once you get used to it then it works quite well.

Essentially one turn initiative roll per game, and then you go back and forth activating single models or models with the "command" skill in which case you get to activate groups at a time.

There is no requirement to activate all models on your side before proceeding, as such you can end up with activating the same character several times in a row while his underlings just stand back.

Remember to use the "Alert" (p.21) rule which allows models to use their guns out of sequence if they had not activated the previous turn.