Actually, I think they will. See, they're already annoucing Firepower (which kills LI) for May, leaving, at that point, only CA as 'old school' and, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to see a July/August release of a set to kill that.

If they're really feeling aggressive, we might see a November/December set to get rid of FP and, hopefully, bring all the factions to the same level (anyone who got mechs in FP got hurt).

I think you need to double check something, as retirement was scheduled for yearly rotations. Ergo, LI and onwards will be legal for all of 2005. Firepower will add to the mix, but not knock anything out of play.

Jan 2006? THEN things get interesting, but I doubt FP will get axed then, after ~16 months

PS - I didn't find the WK news item I was looking for, but I'm open to seeing where WK announced they're bumping expansions into retirement as new sets are released (IE, Firepower forces LI into retirement).

Actually TopGun505 a Mech gets a +2 target defense modifier when using an assault order vs a non mech target. so the Liao PDS would get a 23 defense.

Huh? Wanna find that in the rule book and quote it? doubt you can.

I have played several games with this rule set and think it makes for a fun game. You have to be aggressive to fight a serious warpogger but it is do-able. If any one were to ask me I think a good solution for arty would be an artillery card... something like for every 15 extra points you can add ONE artillery piece. The promised faq'ing of the current pieces will help some. I must say however they will continue to be necessary to the game as units with high defences will become prevelent and artillery is there as a counter to those and swarm armies.

Give us the new units!! ;)

:rolleyes:

Please do not forget that we now have GEAR cards to enhance are 'Mechs as well.
So now mechs can become AA Blasters!:knockedou

Or who knows what else will be available to better the KINGS of the battlefield.

"...never give up! NEVER SURRENDER!..."

...only fools turn their backs to danger!...

...never tease wild animals...

"...never trust a smiling cat!..."
(My personal favourite!)

@ invader zim you ar ethinking about the "Called Shot" ability, enemy units target of an attack and are in base contact with units friendly to the attacker get +2 if they are infantry or vehicles or +1 if they are a mech.
Assault Order only gives +1 to defense.

My recollection was that 'limited' (i.e. retirement affected) tournaments would use the last 3 expansions. With this phrasing, as soon as the most recent expansion hits tournament legal, it bumps the oldest one out.

Since the tournament rules haven't been updated, there's no solid answer.

That's exactly how its going to work. One of the articles or interviews said as much. They were going to slow down the rate of expansions and once AoD comes out only LI CA and FP will be legal for anything but unrestricted games.

Once the next expansion comes out LI gets benched.

We also have to remember that CA was pretty much planned with some of the changes that go into effect in AoD.

i have seen the joys and horrors of set retirement in mage knight, it doesnt make as large an impact as one would think, especially since unrestricted is unaffected. As for competitive play, it keeps things from stagnating, it keeps everyone on their toes so to speak, as for the assult order, i cant wait until one of my heavy hitting mechs runs into someones back arc and reintroduces them to the meaning of pain

We were told that the Jan retirement would be the only retirement for 2005. My guess is that there will be another multi-set retirement in 2006. After that old sets will retire as new come on.

Here's Kevin Goddard's quote regarding set retirement from the September 15 chat.

*Quote*When MechWarrior: Age of Destruction releases in January of 2005, Dark Age, FFE and DA [sic] will be retired. These will be the only MechWarrior retirements for 2005. *enquote*

Well, given how much of a pain it was for me to find it, I'm not surprised how confusing this issue is to everyone. Worse, it's not from the News Forum, but the original announcement of AoD.

From the Sept 15, 2004 Chat Transcript:

[16:27] {JasonM} {Raverrn} Does a new base set mean set retirement is on the horizon? If so, when can we expect it, and how many sets will be retired?
[16:28] {KevinG} {Raverrn} When MechWarrior: Age of Destruction releases in January of 2005, Dark Age, FFE and DA will be retired. These will be the only MechWarrior retirements for 2005.
[16:28] {KevinG} The next will be in January of 2006.

Link to
Chat Transcript

I'm not a fan of cyclic rotations (one set in, one set out) as it establishes a pretty steady rate of change, something beyond casual players. I'm viewing that rate of change in terms of time trading/buying specific pieces, the cost of keeping 'competitive' or even having all of a (few) faction(s) and still have time to build/play armies. If sets are coming out too fast, even three a year, I begin to worry as folks barely have time to get a hand on the 'current' set before the following set arrives.

Aside, I think we'll see a set in late (September) 2005. I still don't like it, but I don't see how WK can avoid having a lot of sets next year as they fully establish AoD's rules, cards and additions. Back to topic . . . .

The 'once a year' rotation will be interesting in January 2006, primarly to whether or not FP is retired (I'm wagering against it). After that, anything released in 2005 will be gone in 2007, anything in 2006 gone in 2008, etc. Should be interesting towards the end of the year, as folks dump 'retiring' units like we've seen on eBay for the last few months.

Finally, I sincerely doubt Counterassault was planned with AoD in mind. AoD was in planning for eight to nine months prior to the announcement (AoD FAQ). English: About the time CA was released, they started working on AoD. Counterassault is a powergaming set, containing an insanely high number of 'good' units that were min/maxed a too far (ATVs compared to DFA's Trike Squads, anyone?).

PS - bah, ncluff! You caught me previewing my post! :confused:

Edit: Oopsie on an the italics

I hope that is true. I love my Liao Targe :)

But some of the stats in CA sure do look like they were planned for AoD type play. Increased price in arty, mechs with lowered primary damage values, lower defenses, lower attacks........