Drazi and Campaigns

[Democratus]

This may be something I just missed in the rulebook.

What Initiative do the drazi get for a campaign turn: is it +1 or +2?

This isn't their initiative in the individual battles in the campaign, that's easy. This is their roll at the start of each turn to determine the order that they can move to strategic locations.

Thanks!
-D

 

[Iain McGhee]

Pretty sure it's +1, that's what you use in any scenario they aren't specified as attackers so I expect it works the same way for campaign initiative.

 

[AdrianH]

I agree. Drazi get +2 initiative when they are the attacker, but at the time of rolling initiative for a campaign turn nobody is attacker. I would think that the Drazi will get the +2 initiative after campaign initiative has been rolled and it's the Drazi's turn to attack someone.

 

[Democratus]

It sounds reasonable.

But both the +1 and +2 initiative in the Drazi fleet book state that these initiatives are for "any Scenario". Initiative rolling for a campaign isn't in a scenario, so neither value is valid.

Just wondering if there was ever any official word from Mongoose on this one. Thanks for the input!

 

[Burger]

I think you just answered your own question. Wording in the book is considered official word from Mongoose, unless overruled in an errata. So if the rule book says it only applies during scenarios, then it only applies during scenarios - not the campaign turns.

 

[Democratus]

Then that means the Drazi have no initiative at all. Because it says the +1 is during scenarios and it also says the +2 is only scenarios.

:?:

We're a very RAW group, so I'm just trying to get what evidince I can for our campaign building.

 

[Burger]

Oh yeah, LOL.
I'd use +1 based on "or where this is not specified", although that's referring to scenarios too, it's the best fit.

 

[H]

but no plus is not unheard of.
but I think the common sense approach would be +1

 

[AdrianH]

Oh yeah, LOL.
I'd use +1 based on "or where this is not specified", although that's referring to scenarios too, it's the best fit.

The exact quote is:

In any scenario where the Drazi are designated as the attacker, their Initiative bonus increases to +2. However, in any scenario where the Drazi are designated as the defender (or where this is not specified), their Initiative bonus decreases to +1.

It is possible to interpret this so that the bit in brackets does not refer only to scenarios but to any time that the attacker is not specified. In that case the campaign initiative, being rolled at a time when the attacker is not specified, would use the +1 bonus.

 

[Democratus]

Good call, AdrianH!

I think that's the best way to go at it!

I'll be posting the first chunk of prose for the new campaign within the week. Just have to get a few ducks in a row and have a massive mini building and painting session with my fellow geeks here in Austin.

Then it will be time to start our biggest campaign yet!

=========

Okay. New question. I'm looking at the P&P rule for the Drazi "Start Attack Run!" order. It states that when an attack is made, you re-roll hits.

How have you folks handled this with regards to beams? Do you only re-roll hits for the first handfull? Do you re-roll every subsequent hit with a beam that has rolled 4+?

With the Twin Linked exception of no re-rolls at all, it seems that maybe beams fall somewhere between a normal weapon and a TL weapon.

Any experience, comments, or ideas are appreciated.

 

[Mean Mutton]

Good call, AdrianH!

I think that's the best way to go at it!

I'll be posting the first chunk of prose for the new campaign within the week. Just have to get a few ducks in a row and have a massive mini building and painting session with my fellow geeks here in Austin.

Then it will be time to start our biggest campaign yet!

=========

Okay. New question. I'm looking at the P&P rule for the Drazi "Start Attack Run!" order. It states that when an attack is made, you re-roll hits.

How have you folks handled this with regards to beams? Do you only re-roll hits for the first handfull? Do you re-roll every subsequent hit with a beam that has rolled 4+?

With the Twin Linked exception of no re-rolls at all, it seems that maybe beams fall somewhere between a normal weapon and a TL weapon.

Any experience, comments, or ideas are appreciated.

What we do is roll out the entire beam attack and then count up the total number of hits made and reroll those.

So if you have a Warbird Cruiser, you'd roll the 4 AD of the Particle Cannon. Say you get 3 hits. You'd roll 3 additional AD. Say you get one hit. Now you get to roll one additional AD. Say that misses. That would be a total of 4 hits. You'd then do your rerolls of those hits to determine how many actually hit. You wouldn't get any additional AD to roll on these like you would a normal hit.

 

[AdrianH]

That's what I would do as well - roll the whole attack as normal, then re-roll all hits.

Another thing to note is the alternate beam systems. They all score hits on 3+ but have different ways of determining how many additional hits are scored. Intended to reduce the randomness of beams, these systems give the same average number of hits as the standard system, i.e. 1 hit per AD, meaning they don't affect game balance. However, if a Drazi on "Start Attack Run" uses one of these systems and only needs a 3+ to confirm hits then it is better off using an alternate system, which is exactly what should not happen. So, regardless of which system you use to score the original hits, I'd say that re-rolls to confirm hits should succeed on 4+.

 

[Democratus]

Excellent suggestions! That's exactly what I will propose to the group.

Thanks again for your fast and helpful replies.