I was lucky enough to have a Falcon's Prey pre-release event nearby and attended today. The turnout was 20 people, a few last minute ones causing the event start to be delayed.

The FP boxes are indeed shiny, and feature 3 JF mechs and a JF Elemental.

I pulled and used

The LE Benj Maltus Gyrfalcon
Swordsworn Stinger
2 x DF Skandi VTOL
SH Elemental BA
HL FLamer Team
Merc Skanda Lt. Tank

And also had
Liao Panther
SH Elemental BA
Merc Gnome BA
JF Gun Nest
Merc Gun Nest

Of the 60 boosters, five LEs were pulled... I didn't get a count on the uniques, but there were a few.

Then, four rounds of savage combat! I went 2-2, with a technical loss after dominating the battlefield, a total loss with all but the flamer team killed and two wins from VC1 and 3 points.

I picked terrain before the pull, so had no hindering that Benj might have used. He's definitely going on the trade pile. A defense of 16 is simply pathetic, and his range 14 doesn't make up for it. I was not able to pull of a single DFA, though a few were done on me in one match.

Sylphs change the game radically, and not for the better. In the rout game, a player pulled and deployed three of them. Any light or medium vehicle becomes essentially worthless. Tactical positioning and breakaway means nothing if the basing Sylph can just move against your unit and pulse fire at your rear arc. Look for high demand on the better AA vehicles.

The Skandi VTOL is a handy unit, the equivilant of a Repubic Balac, though its 3 anti-personnel damage wasn't at its best in a game where almost no one had three infantry of the same faction.

The Skanda is also handy, with 10 infiltrate and 16 range, it can blunt a forward movement quite well. Two would be even better.

There are a lot of high-range infantry units, and that really alters the dynamic. Things like the Gun Nest or Sniper Teams with 12" ranges and 2 damage can hold off a much larger force due to the fear of a first strike. And with so many reactive armored infantry, AnP isn't as all-powerful.

Conversely, the mech ranges are often poor... the SS Koshi (which I traded for) has two 0/4 energy attacks and little else. The Gyrfalcon outranged many newer mechs, but was splattered like a bug against the ROTS Vulture, with its 6 AP 14" attack.

As for the new gear, I saw one Full Strike at another table, against three infantry at once, was hit by a single targetting beacon which did no good as I cleared the area of other attackers. Not once did I see or hear about a TSEMP attack.

At the end, I traded one of the VTOLs, HL flamer team and the JF Gun nestfor the SS Hasek MCV and Koshi. Having an aggressive fighting transport should be interesting.

I also went out to a Pre-release today. The games were being run in 8 person flights with 2 rounds each. I was there for 4 flights and played in 3, so I got to see a lot of new pieces in action.

My thoughts... Well there is a lot to love about the set in the infantry and vehicle department.

Infantry:
Sylphs ruled the game and took the place of ATV squads (deep, fast basers). They are very useful, but for ~30 points per, I'm not sure they will overtake the ATVs in popularity. Especially since they are vulnerable to AA fire. The best is the Jade Falcon one with pulse. They have salvage -- Wierd!

There are now loads of long range infantry, which will be VERY useful for infantry drops and controling areas.

Tracked, fast infantry. Very nice for basing mechs in all terrain.

Vehicles:
Paladin Defence Tanks. In sealed these are game winners, since there are practically no fast basers. The two that are incredible are the Liao and HL. Liao has 3 pog for 2 damage and a drift which enables you to hit a high percentage of the time. The HL one has point defense for 22. Which is extremely nice when you have mechs with an 18 defense.

Kelswas: These are ok, but why would you take them over a schmitt? (Yes, retirement, I know -- As soon as that happens, these will likely be the drops of choice!)

I like all the transports (though some seem rather overcosted!)

Mechs:
Ok -- My big problem with the set. The mechs pretty much all blow (although they look cool!). Most have an 18 def, and many have a 9 attack. In sealed that is less of an issue, but in constructed play these are going to sit on a shelf.

The few that I liked (in sealed):
Monic Deleportas. A good solid mech. 21d is pretty good when you consider the low attacks abound in the set.
SC Pather is not bad for 130 points with 16in range and pulse
SH Griffin: I used this as a guard for the paladin. Suddenly my 18 defense skyrockets to a 22. Add to that a 2/14 range for *6* damage balistic and you have a nice mech in sealed. (you do need the point defense.
Merc Koshi. I didn't play it, but it seems like it would be more playable than most, especially considering its agility. low defense means you have to be extraordinarily careful with it.

Other thoughts:
Homing beacon is a nice way to give a firing unit +2 to hit, even if you don't care about negating cover (damage is still done).

The new pieces let turtle armies be more viable.

I can't really see Jade falcon being a particularly viable army in faction pure, at least not with mechs in a combined arms.

Artillery played a huge role in the sealed events.

Highlanders made out like bandits!

Played the SC Warhammer, HL 24 point defense tank, 3 different gun nests( which can move when a towed AC can't?), and a DF bike thing.

Went 2 and 0 with the gun nests doing most of the work.

All and all most of us weren't impressed with the stats outside things like the LI Palladin, some of the LE/UNQ's( Not the Stingers and Koshi's though), the mentioned HL tank and some of it's other ranks.

Almost all of us agreeded that the falcon DFA rules are about as over powered as you can get. There isn't a non UNQ/LE mech in the set that they can't DFA with lower than a 50/50 chance.

First flight I had 2 HL repair mechs, a 24 def JF tank, the HL Kinnol, and some liao and SH infantry, went 0 and 2 but that was just me.
Second round I took the Uni Eyrie the SH Griffin (kept at long range) a trio of JF infantry and the ROTS KInnol,( that is definately a candidate for their replacement PO II)
Thord flight I managed to pull the 300 pt Uni Gryfalcon, JF Sniper atry, 2 JF Slyths, and one of those JF track thingies, went 2-0 but had to leave family emergency, which turned out to be a false alarm. All in all I have 2 LE's and 3 Uni's oh and for the tally on what Le's got pulled.
1 DF Tundra Wolf
1 HL Warhammer
1 HL Thor
2 or 3 HL Templar
1 SS Cyclops
1 SF Tiburon
1 SH Panther
1 Merc Repair Mod
2 RotS Vultures
all the Uni's got pulled at least 1 once or twice
for the record this was from 6 cases, with 12 or 15 of the boosters still left.

I thought 20 was good at this place, considering that they drove off all their players last year by not running any events... they haven't been a venue for a full year. Lord knows how they got a plum like a pre-release tourney. They had the HC Ultimates PR as well, and only six turned out for that.

Regarding the Jade Falcons as a viable pure faction... I see a two tactics. First is base and break using the long-range mechs and two types of Sylphs. The second is base and DFA.

All I know is the place was packed. With the notable lack of the infamous Furry's.

There were at least 6 flights before I left SAT night and who knows how many will be there SUN.

First game I pulled:

Shone Roshak
JF Shadow Hawk IIC
JF Spider
JF Longtom
JF Skadi (The one with Homing Beacon)
JF Sniper Team
JF Gnome BA
SH Kinnol MBT
(4 other assorted infantry)

I used:
Shone Roshak 300pts
JF Longtom 70pts
JF Skadi 42pts
JF Sniper Team 20pts
JF JF Gnome BA 18pts
===============
Total: 450 (faction pure) points

I went 2-1 with 7 VC's. The second game I lost b/c my opponent used the HL Warhammer, SS Paladin, and the SH Shadow Hawk IIC. He kept the Warhammer and the Shadow Hawk out of my range for most of the game, then he moved in the Shadow Hawk. I MDFA'ed the Shadow Hawk for 7 damage (I had taken 5 damage from the Warhammer already). On the next turn I fired and hit the Shadow Hawk for enough to kill it. On his turn, my opponent pulsed Shone to death. The rest of my units had been damaged along the way and couldn't take down the Warhammer.


We too only had about 25-30 different players through out the day. We had an average of 2, 8-player, 3-round tourneys going at once. JF is definately Faction Pure viable. As for the Paladins, the SS one is a killer. It only drifts backwards and does 2 AP damage. Even with the drift its fairly accurate as long as you plan for some drift. Other than a Sniper Team or two and the JF Gnome, I didn't use much infantry, just b/c I didn't get any useable formations.

25-30 players? Yer kiddin' me, that's AWESOME.

Our pre-release is tomorrow, and the store's already offered to order in pizza and soda for all that want it. It's gonna be a hell of a day.

Yeah, at the most we only had about 8-12 players plus 5 battlemasters.

Couldn't go to the local one...

At most we have about 11 players here but usually only about 4-5 at each normal tourney but if its a big occasion(Prerelease/nationals) there will be more and I think about 8 people went to the one here, including 2 BMs, 1 is a semi-playing one too.

I Several of my players and I went to a Pre Release Yesterday. I think there were around 28 that showed up. Yes the Boosters looked very ...Shiny and Wk went overboard on a nice presentation of the product.

Man the Keslsa ( SP) takns are Hella Crazy! Most of the Vehicles are very playable and very deadly! THe new Artil is just CraZy. Even the SC get a great Artil....

All the Inf that I saw were killer. Elementals , New Gnomes ( awesome!) , Flamer team, The bunker teams that A:move, B: have huge range 16 or so, C have that new Beagle Active Probe.

Most of the Mechs I and many other of the players ther were very dissapointed with. Mechs are to be the kings of the game , not tanks and Inf.

THe Jade Falcon faction rules are just not fair... THere is no risk at all for the JF player to NOT take a DFA if the have it. Very busted , 4 dice to hit a DFA with already high attacks?

I Saw the TIberon in action and I traded a M.D. Thomson for it and a couple Keslwas ( SP). We don have many Sea Foxes now but man they are going to be crazy! The faction abilitys are going to come in useful for the Charge monkeys...

you pulled all CJF??!

could not go to a PR of FP :( but I did make an army (in my head)

shone roshak 300pts
K.A.T CJF 100pts
gun nestx2 CJF 24pts
=448

We had two cases opened up for the first flight. 21 players. out of the boosters pulled, there were 21 uniques and les. 3 shrikes, and every gyrfalcon. even got 2 najeh hammond tiburons. no dock, no kava, no cacey, but every other unique was pulled.

it was insane

i love the skadi attack vtol, elementals, and gun emplacements.

i would have to say that this set is weak in the mech department, but the vehicles and most infantry are sweet.

nice way to round out an army for my Highlanders and Spirit Cats.