Counters Vs. Models

[darklord4]

How many people play with counters? Are counters used as proxies until models are built? Seems like flights of fighters would make a good candidate for a mixed counter/model fleet.

Is there official word on whether a new counter set will be made? i.e. SFOS plus the new stuff since then?

 

[EDFDarkAngel1]

I personally think that using counters for fighters has made using them SO much easier.

Dark Angel

 

[Taran]

Counters for fighters so far.

And also for a couple ships I don't have yet. Like when I field 8 Tethys Gunboats and an Explorer. I only have 2 Tethys models and no Explorer...

 

[Mister_ELK]

I think this topic has been knocked around a bit before.
But now, with Second Edition well circulated, players are experimenting with new ships and it makes sense that it would come around again for further discussion.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of counters all the way. They are a part of the reason I got into this game. (With my limited experience in 'table top' gaming, I have yet to hear of another game out there where counters and tokens are 100% acceptable in any "official" game play.)

Granted, not all the new ships and fleets have counters yet.... (I specifically say "YET" as to encourage Mongoose to continue providing counter sheets... <hint!, hint!> ).... but with a few well placed substitutions, one is capable of carrying everything needed to play any fleet in one, single, easy-to-carry box! (Again, in my limited experience, the expense of mini's seems to limit players to one or two fleet for constant play. While I tend to favor the VREE or even the RAIDERS, I don't necessarily want to play them, especially the Raiders, all the time.)

My aversion to miniatures is mostly an issue of space. Or more precisely, lack there-of. (No place to work on them. No place to store them at home. Little room in the car to transport them.)

The mixture of "capital ship" miniatures and "counter" fighters does seem to be a good compromise though. With fighters moving last, it's sometimes helpful to have the flat surface on the gaming table so movement of miniatures seems less cumbersome. (...no easy way to describe that, but anyone that's played that way knows what I'm talking about.)

There is my totally unsolicited opinion..... It may seem like petty reasoning, but I tend to find the most practical issues usually wind up being the greatest influence on us.

-Mister_ELK

 

[Ripple]

We use a mixture around here to try out ships and configurations as well as fill out fleets that we don't want to buy more of. There is a local game that used to have some real rules holes because folks simply didn't want to pay the money for the extra models, one of my friends proxied up a couple dozen of the model in question to prove it was unbalanced if you had the money to make a bunch. We proved the point restat'd the thing and everyone has had a better time. The counters let us do similar things in ACtA.

I never wanted to own 10 of any ship (I do now on two models... but that is for doing variants). But we need those to really test the game.

On a general play note we really only use counters a lot for fighters.

Ripple

 

[Da Boss]

Counters are good for people to try stuf out and I use em them exclusively for fighters - easier that way...........

 

[Triggy]

Ripple - for playtesting purposes counters are essential. For fleets like the Gaim, even more so, as you don't know exactly how good each ship is and they have bucket loads of fighters to boot.

I personally own at least 5 FAP at Raid PL for a majority of fleets and more with many of these but this still isn't enough to try out *any* fleet combination (I have enough only for EA/Minbari/Abbai in this respect). It's always fun to try out wacky fleets, sometimes it catches your opponent off guard and sometimes they flop spectacularly but either way, counters allow you to try things out that keeps the game fresh.

 

[Banichi]

I've got a few fleets, but still play with counters now and again, and used to play heaps with counters before I started to collect minies. Likes the others said they are great for trying new things, and sometimes I am not able to carry several boxes of minies about the place.(wouldn't look good in the work car).

The counters kind of suprised me when I started playing this game. Up until I found out about mongoose, and actas, I'd only really played gw games. (and warzone, but that disappeared I loved that game. Go the brotherhood!!!) I was used to a company that wanted to get every cent it could in mini sales. It came as a very pleasent shock to find that the old box set had just about everything you needed, and you could happily play without ever buying a single mini.

 

[Iain McGhee]

Far prefer models, got into this hobby 30-ish years ago through Airfix 1/72 vehicles and troops ("Hmm, what more can I do with these.....what's this wargaming thing in the Military Modelling adverts section ?") when the hobby was far more widespread. Looks better than counters (even with my painting ). Easier to tell what is what across the table too. Still use counters (or Vassal) to try out races I don't have models for, and played with them for quite a while when I was deciding what fleets to go for.

 

[Ripple]

We regularly try to resurrect Warzone locally... plan is a game for next Sat.

Great game, though we eventually had to lower the fire rate of heavy machine guns. It was just too hero oriented for what we wanted. Having to brace to fire at all fixed it largely, with fire rate reduced to once per turn. No step out and fire a burst and step back like it was an assault rifle.

Ripple

 

[gallusgames]

Does anyone have a complete list of the counters in the Mongoose counter package? £15 seems quite steep so I want to know exactly what I'd get6 for my money.

Thanks

 

[Centauri_Admiral]

Vorlons, shadows, minbari, earth alliance up to third age?, narn, centauri, all the league races bar gaim, civilian ships, raiders ships.

I don't think the dilgar, or drakh are in there, but all of the pre-SFOS ships are there along with copious amounts of fighters. If you are planning on playing the game only with counters, then its a good deal, if your planning to use miniatures I'm not sure I'd bother. Photocopy the fighter counters sheet from the back of the rules book for your fighters, and buy models, I had counters anyway and I use them for the fighters.

 

[gallusgames]

Centauri Admiral

Thanks for the information - looks like a good place to start.

Alun

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

there's a couple of ships and fighters missing from the SFOS countersheet as I recall. Can't remember exactly which ones, but LBH was compiling a list...