New player enters the fray.. barely in time

[rakath]

Hi!

I've been playing and painting minis for years and years. Started back when Wh40k was called "Rogue Trader", and Games Workshop was a name you didin't have to spit after you said it

Babylon 5 has been my favourite scifi series, and I've been very interested in ACTA. Never actually bought any minis for it, or even read the rules. It's been one of those "I'll buy some ships later" kind of deals.
But now, with the sad announcement, ACTA has gone to the top of my priority list. So I ordered 3rd Era Earthforce, Minbari and Shadow fleet boxes, and I'm cosidering Vorlons, Narn and Gaim, too. Just so that I'll have those magnificient miniatures.

Of course I'm going to play the game, too. Are those fleet boxes completely playable, or should I buy more ships to enjoy the game? I'm not going to any tournaments, I'm content of playing small games with my friends.

I also bought the 2nd ed rules, and I'm just loving them! It feels that every aspect of the game is created with the TV show in mind. Many times when reading the rules, I thought "that's exactly what they did in the show!"
Haven't played it yet, though. Maybe during the easter holidays.

Anyway, yesterday I painted my first ACTA ships. The minbari ships are very fast to paint - no fiddly details, just blue all around. Very relaxing to paint them with basic ink/drybrush/wash techniques.

Here's the picture:
http://figuja.googlepages.com/minbarit1.jpg/minbarit1-full.jpg

I put the minbari fighters on metal wires, as I didn't like how they looked laying flat on the base. A few blue patches remain on the black sticks, but I'll fix them later.

I'll be back with my noob questions after I get a few games under my belt..

 

[JayRaider]

Welcome to the game and forum

 

[darknight]

welcome to the game, minis look good too

 

[Jim?]

You should be fine as is with the Shadow fleet box as is.

For the Minbari, I'd personally add at leas one Sharlin, two Troligans, two Neshatans, and another couple of Tinashi's. That'd give you a decent fleet with a few options open to you, but if you *really* want to go silly, you could get a Morshin, another Leshath and lots more Nials, but that's only to completely round the fleet out.

For 3rd Age EA, on top of the fleet box... at least one Warlock (it's the best looking ship in ACTA, in my opinion...), 2+ Artemis, at least one Explorer, at least one Oracle, some Badger Starfuries (they're amazingly handy.. I'd go for at least 8 flights in total) and at least two packs of Hermes. I'd possibly add another 2 Hyperions, another pack of Olympus and another couple of packs of Hermes, T-bolts and Auroras to fully round the fleet out.

Some prople swear by the Nova, but I've found it mostly ineffective in 2e ACTA, so get another one if you want to try it out... but personally I'd leave it at one.

The rules for Gaim are being reworked, but the minis are beautiful. Expensive fleet to collect though, as you need *loads* of fighters (or lots of counters) to play them properly. I don't play them myself so I'm not sure about fleet composition... possibly someone else could give you some advice.

The Vorlon Fleet box gives you almost everything that you need for them, you could boost them a bit by possibly adding some more fighters and a heavy cruiser, but apart from that, there's enough in the box, really.

As for the Narns... You'd need a *lot* to make a competative fleet in it's own right, in addition to the fleet box... at least one each of a G'Vrahn and a Bin'Tak, 2+ Dag'Kars, 2+ Var'Nics, 2+ Thentus, 2 Sho'Kars, 4 Sho'Kovs and a few flights of Goriths should just about be OK...

Hope some of that lot's useful to you!

 

[Locutus9956]

To be fair whilst Jim has some valid points thats all stuff youd need if you want to be able to field a really competive fleet for any possible occasiona at any level, you can happily play with the fleets out of the box for pretty much any race (even Narns though Id say for Narns you could probably do with some more skirmish ships).

But all the boxes are quite playable

 

[rakath]

Thanks to all!

I'll use Jim?'s list as a basis for my long-term aquirements. Although I'm probably going to choose the ships mainly based on their appearance. Still, it's good to know what I'd need for competitive lists.

Nice to know that the fleet boxes are completely playable. In WH40k that's not given - battleforce boxes can contain just the bulk of the army, not the required HQ-units and stuff like that.

 

[Blu_Majik]

loving those ships!

 

[Nihm]

Welcome aboard and enjoy

 

[Shadow Queen]

welcome to the fun palace, if you need to expand just get the Sky full of Stars Counters

 

[Shadow Queen]

Minbari look sweet.... here is one of mine minus the shadow tech

 

[Omnipotent]

Moro!

Someone should put up a tournament in Ropecon = biggest RPG in Scandinavia, yes there are alot of other stuff going on too, it is huge! Atleast there has been tournaments there in ACTA, I think
It seems that there are quite a few ACTA players around in Finland after all(lol we are 5,5million so =)...I got a few friends I play with every now and then, few games a month maybe.

Well, be sure to get enough, I just expanded my Centauri fleet a bit more then I first intended, but when u start thinking about fleet rosters u just have to have options, to make the game more fun in the long run :lol:

Ouh, and I play :twisted: = Dilgar mostly :wink:

Edit: Thy ´=)

 

[Shadow Queen]

Roosters ....... :? you mean rosters ... thought for a moment you were changing the topic to chickens in space

 

[Omnipotent]

Chickens as in Abbai :wink:

 

[Shadow Queen]

they are aquatic .... thinks of chickens with an aqua lung

 

[Omnipotent]

heh, well they fight like one