Beyond the Gates of Antares - Game Reports Ghar vs Concord

[Humorous_Conclusion]

I have a new post on my blog about my latest Beyond the Gates of Antares game.

Here's some preview pics



and the blog

http://wargamestuff.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/for-my-latest-beyond-gates-of-antares.html

I don't think I posted my last game either. Still Ghar and Concord, but slightly smaller.





http://wargamestuff.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/beyond-gates-of-antares-but-i-feel-fine.html

[Harwood Hobbies]

Good stuff!  I have to get mine painted...   

[Major_Gilbear]

Looks like a good game, and reading the note at the end I'd guess that you're really rather enjoying Antares more than you perhaps imagined you would?. 

[Melnibonean]

Great AAR. I'll have to have look a this game. It looks like it has some nice ideas.

I'm using a mix of things including Antares stuff for Firefight and it's interesting that your Concord is the first stuff that I've seen painted and you chose the same colour scheme as I did.

http://this28mmlife.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/facing-plague-hordes.html

Great minds must think alike!
 

[Humorous_Conclusion]

Major_Gilbear: I think I am. I'm certainly engaging with the rules a bit more than I expected given that even the author described them as "fussy." I've found them surprisingly easy to get to grips with.

Melnibonean: Blue and white/silver just seems to work for the Concord. Certainly better than the slightly odd green/cream colour Warlord have chosen for the own. I don't know what the thinking was there.

[Momotaro]

Nice battle reports!

The Ghar have a lot of bad luck - in one game we scored a hit on one battlesuit and his reactor blew up, taking the other two in the squad with him!  That's a lot of 10s to roll...

[Humorous_Conclusion]

I've found that 10s seem to come in clusters. I've had two Assault Suits go down in one round of close combat and two leaders die having rolled a 10 and then re-rolled a 10.

[Major_Gilbear]

Odd question, but have you tried using D20s that are numbered 0-9 twice instead of 1-20? I find they roll better, and use these in preference to the more usual designs.

Same with eight-sided D4s numbered 1-4 twice (okay, they still don't roll brilliantly, but it's much better and clearer than a normal D4).

[Momotaro]

Even rolling 4 tens on 5 dice has a chance of 1 in 2222.  Which isn't really all that uncommon when you think of all the dice you're throwing around.

Short of a statistical test of your dice to confirm bias - both singly and in groups - I suspect we tend to remember the exceptional rolls rather than the "nothing special" results.  Clustering of results is nothing out of the ordinary - a bit like stars in the sky.

Definitely an interesting thought though Major - I've heard several people say that D4s are basically useless, and I'll give the D20s a go some time.

[Major_Gilbear]

More than huge statistical bias, I was more thinking that often people pick up and roll dice again quickly when they are rolling dice as part of a series (to-hit, to-wound, to-save for example). I believe that does lead to some results bias just because the dice are not being rolled randomly enough.

For example, think about a D6: if you roll a number, pick it up and roll it again quickly, the dice pretty much travels like a cylinder would. That means that the numbers on the left/right sides have a much lower chance of showing up if the dice doesn't tumble or such before it stops. I think it's why number streaks seem to be higher in wargames, because these sequential rolls with a handful of dice are common.

Having double-numbered dice that roll better helps reduce this effect I feel, as all the numbers should have better chance of showing up in these quicker roll sequences.

Anyway, once again I fear that I may have over-analysed something simple!  

[Momotaro]

With you now!  It's entirely possible.