What I Learned on the Forums This Week 9

This weeks On the Forums sponsored by Bob’s Amnesia Rays for when you need to forget that someone said Rebuke on Harbinger was totally OK!

Nemesis: The Lich. 10 – Inciting Blighted Breath

“My angelius overtakes to here, and that will do him.”

“Okay, not so bad.”

“I activate Saeryn, move up, I’m going to blight bringer, then cast tenacity on her, then feat.”

“And so we play the waiting game… I hate the waiting game…”

This week we’re going to talk about how to deal with Epic Asphyxious, the Lich Lord, when playing Legion of Everblight. First we will discuss legion models and tactics that are useful in this matchup, and then I will go into the warlocks that deal well with it, both unusual and the more expected choices.

How to Train your Warjack: Affordances

“Warjacks can’t really perform some of the simplest mathematical equations done by a calculator, yet can intuitively grasp the physics of the world by similar instincts as we use when catching a ball or throwing one. They are most certainly not adding machines”

This week, I’m going to talk about affordances. The concept of affordances is foundational to the radical embodied cognitive science viewpoint I spoke about last week. In the traditional informational processing account of perception, raw information hits our perceptual system, is coded into mental representations, then processed by a series of algorithms, and that process produces instructions for action. Under the RECS model, mental represenations are not necessary to explain action – they write a different story of how our perception works. This account heavily informs my thinking on steamjack cognition, and also sheds some light on the distinctions between warjacks and labourjacks.

What I Learned on the Forums This Week 8

Shhhhh be vewy vewy quiet. I’m hunting Fowums!

It’s in the Blood #2: Hunter’s Grim, the List

The Hunter’s Grim are the Trollbloods’ newest Warlock and his little friends and they are absolutely brilliant. They have so much potential that it is hard to know exactly what the best way to play them is. As with all brand new releases they will require thorough testing to determine what the best lists for them are. On the page before you I will be chronicling my various experiments with The Hunter’s Grim. In this our first discussion I will be focusing on my current 50 point list and pick it apart in extreme detail.

How to Train your Warjack: Embodied Cogs.

“Warjacks can’t really perform some of the simplest mathematical equations done by a calculator, yet can intuitively grasp the physics of the world by similar instincts as we use when catching a ball or throwing one. They are most certainly not adding machines”

Embodied cognition is one of the most interesting developments in 21st century psychology. And from reading the above words from Doug Seacat, I wonder if he’s read any Gibson (not the one of Neuromancer fame). But if not, it’s just an interesting coincidence that got me interested enough in warjack cognition to run a game that centres around it. The basic ideas underlying REC (Radical Embodied Cognition) are 1) Perception and Action are coupled together forming a single system 2) No internal representations are neccesary for cognition 3) We perceive the world in terms of affordances, in terms of opportunities for action.

Nemesis: The Lich. 9 – Innocuous and Soulless

“How far forward did you run those sentinels?”

“The full ten inches.”

“Excellent, I run this arc node up then activate Lich. He’s going to cast excarnate on the nearest one.”

“Measure range please.”

“It’s definitely in ten”.

“But is it in… FIVE!?”

“F—-ing soulless!”

What I Learned on the Forums This Week 7

Hello everybody and welcome to What I Learned on the Forums This Week with your host…Me!!

Bricks Ruined Warmachine, Damnit!

The Brick as a tactic has existed since Mk. I and yet now in the wake of the whole Hardcore Bitchfest (see last weeks installment) it has suddenly been declared unsporting by the Forums more moronic members. Hey guess what guys? Some people play Brick lists because they’re a legitimate tactic and fun!

How to train your Warjack: Reader Comments!

“Cortexes are really nothing like computers… They are simulated brains, not calculating machines executing lines of code. They are more trained than programmed.” – Doug Seacat

One of the things I like about this series is that it basically lets me play at sci-fi with my science. One of the things I love about running RPGs is the ability to put my own spin on a fantasy world and collaborate with others in doing so. Because of that, I want to repsond to some comments on the first article and think over what was said in them.

What I Learned on the Forums This Week 6

This week we journey through the looking glass into a world of very bizarre logic.

The Thrullg is Great!

I don’t know how I never saw it before but the Thrullg is apparently actually quite good. He’s definitely better than the Trollkin Sorcerer and even though he costs three times as much you should take him instead of the Sorcerer every time for upkeep removal. Now I know you might be thinking that he costs two more points and has to kill one of your models to work but really those are only nit picky differences. This is especially the case when you consider how much more work the Thrullg does than the Sorcerer. There is in no way a game where the Thrullg will achieve nothing while the Sorcerer could totally get killed in a game without doing anything. The thing that never ceases to amaze me with the Sorcerer is how much time people spend talking about Winter Storm, a basically shit ability, and how little consideration his Magic Ability 6 RNG 10 POW 12 shot gets. He’s a one point model with a RAT 6 magic hand cannon. Sure it’s 2 inches shorter than a proper hand cannon but come on, he’s one point! In what backwards ass land is the Thrullg the better option for your list!?