outlawmoon
02/11/2003, 13:22
Hi folks,
I got my son a Sentinel for Christmas. He was really jazzed, being 6, an age where big and strong-looking equals power. I assumed that, points being points and games being (reasonably) balanced, the big guy would hold his own, alone, at 100/200/300 points.
As anyone who has one knows, this is not at all the case.
Each time he's played the Sentinel, he's gone in raring to kick ***, only to have his own handed to him in short order. This is the case even though I'm playing for fun, not to win, and am particularly not playing aggressively because, as I said, he's 6, and always losing is demoralizing.
Thus, the $16 Sentinel is demoralizing. REALLY demoralizing. And the little guy is getting to where he no longer wants to play a game he was really enjoying, because he thinks he's bad at it.
I've read lots of comments in the forums about what a wuss the big guy is, and I've seen scattered recommendations on ways to beef him up. Most suggestions fall into the "Use figure x, y, and z to run interference for him" category. But I'd like my kid to be able to play this thing as a force unto itself, with a roughly equal chance against a force of equivalent point value.
I had a few notions so far I'd like to run by you guys, and I'm very open to other suggestions. I'm not campaigning to change the oficial rules, mind you, I'm just hoping for help in coming up with effective house rules.
These are my thoughts so far:
1) During those clicks in which the Sentinel has Deflection, give it instead a +2 to defense against all attacks. Or, in addition to the +2 vs. ranged, give it a +1 vs. close. The thought here, of course, is to make him tougher to hit early on, allowing him to retain his power longer in the game.
2) Start him one click higher on his 100 & 200 point versions, i.e. 100 points he starts with 5 clicks, 200 he starts with 2.
3) Start him a level up from where he would normally start, treating the 200 point version as the 100 pointer, the 300 pointer as the 200 pointer.
4) Give him additional actions as appropriate to the power level of the game, ie. 2 actions at 200 points, 3 at 300. The problem I see here would be that he'd be able to move and then put down a captured fig all in one move, which would be a bit too much. In this case, perhaps make the "put down" action count as two actions.
5) Eliminate push damage and give pushing a limit, i.e. must pass after 3 or 4 tokens.
That's what I've got so far, and I'm interested in your comments on which or what combination or what other ideas might best work to make the Sentinel the one man army my kid dreamed he would be. And, for the sake of the many out there who just want him tougher in general, with or without a team, how such changes could or should be used in a team situation.
Thank you very much in advance.
I got my son a Sentinel for Christmas. He was really jazzed, being 6, an age where big and strong-looking equals power. I assumed that, points being points and games being (reasonably) balanced, the big guy would hold his own, alone, at 100/200/300 points.
As anyone who has one knows, this is not at all the case.
Each time he's played the Sentinel, he's gone in raring to kick ***, only to have his own handed to him in short order. This is the case even though I'm playing for fun, not to win, and am particularly not playing aggressively because, as I said, he's 6, and always losing is demoralizing.
Thus, the $16 Sentinel is demoralizing. REALLY demoralizing. And the little guy is getting to where he no longer wants to play a game he was really enjoying, because he thinks he's bad at it.
I've read lots of comments in the forums about what a wuss the big guy is, and I've seen scattered recommendations on ways to beef him up. Most suggestions fall into the "Use figure x, y, and z to run interference for him" category. But I'd like my kid to be able to play this thing as a force unto itself, with a roughly equal chance against a force of equivalent point value.
I had a few notions so far I'd like to run by you guys, and I'm very open to other suggestions. I'm not campaigning to change the oficial rules, mind you, I'm just hoping for help in coming up with effective house rules.
These are my thoughts so far:
1) During those clicks in which the Sentinel has Deflection, give it instead a +2 to defense against all attacks. Or, in addition to the +2 vs. ranged, give it a +1 vs. close. The thought here, of course, is to make him tougher to hit early on, allowing him to retain his power longer in the game.
2) Start him one click higher on his 100 & 200 point versions, i.e. 100 points he starts with 5 clicks, 200 he starts with 2.
3) Start him a level up from where he would normally start, treating the 200 point version as the 100 pointer, the 300 pointer as the 200 pointer.
4) Give him additional actions as appropriate to the power level of the game, ie. 2 actions at 200 points, 3 at 300. The problem I see here would be that he'd be able to move and then put down a captured fig all in one move, which would be a bit too much. In this case, perhaps make the "put down" action count as two actions.
5) Eliminate push damage and give pushing a limit, i.e. must pass after 3 or 4 tokens.
That's what I've got so far, and I'm interested in your comments on which or what combination or what other ideas might best work to make the Sentinel the one man army my kid dreamed he would be. And, for the sake of the many out there who just want him tougher in general, with or without a team, how such changes could or should be used in a team situation.
Thank you very much in advance.