Random Facts about the first week of the NA LCS

The first week of the NA LCS is over.  The season started off with a super week and 16 action packed games.  I watch every game and took a few notes.  After crunching a few numbers I notice a few interesting facts.

40 different champions were pick over the weekend and there were 21 unique bans.  Hecarim was the only champion to be banned but not picked.

Teams that earned First Blooded or got the first Dragon won 11 out of 16 times while the team that got the first Baron won 15 out of 16 times.  Coast was the only team to lose after getting the first Baron against Curse.

Elise and Kassadin were the only champions that were 100% picked or banned.  Annie and Shyvana were the next most used champions at 15 and 14 out of 16 games respectively.  Kassadin was also the most banned champion with 15 bans.  The next closest were Kha'Zix with 8 bans and Riven with 7.

The champions with the best win record and were picked at least 3 times were  Olaf, LeBlanc, Thresh and Caitlyn.  LeBlanc and Olaf had perfect records while Thresh won 82% of the time.  Caitlyn was not far behind with a 71% win record.  On the opposite end of the spectrum the champions with the worst records were Trundle, Lucian and Gragas.  Trundle went winless going O and 3.  Lucian was not much better with a win record of only 11%.  It makes Gragas 20% win rate look decent.

Teams choice for first picks were interesting.  There were 3 common first picks and 4 that were only first picked once.  The common picks were Elise with a 50% first pick win rate, which was better than her overall win rate; Olaf with 100% first pick win rate because Olaf never lost; and Annie with a 66% win rate, double her overall win rate of 33%.

Next I looked at the unique champions between the teams.  By unique I mean a champion that was only played by a single team.  Now this does not factor in bans i.e. one of EG's unique champs was Kassadin who was also banned in every other game.  XDG Gaming had the fewest unique champs with zero.  Cloud 9, Team Coast and Dignitas had 1 each.  C9 had Teemo, Coast had Varus and Dig had Katarina.  Team SoloMid had two unique with Nunu and Sivir.  Team Curse also had two unique; Akali and Pantheon, both of whom which were devastating against XDG.  Counter Logic Gaming had the most unique champions with four; Cassiopeia, Ezreal, Vayne and Zac.

The last bit of random information I gather from the LCS were the different champions used in each role.  Top and Jungler had each 10, Mid had the most at 15, Adc had 7 and support had the fewest at 4.  Annie, Leona, Lulu and Thresh were the only champions used as support.  While Adc had more, 4 Adc champions were unique to a single team; Varus for Coast, Sivir for TSM, Ezreal and Vayne for CLG.  That means there were only 3 Adcs used by all the teams; Caitlyn, Jinx and Lucian.  Taking the unique champions out of the other roles you get Top and Mid tied with the most at 9 and the Jungler with 8.

Outside the above, what surprised me the most going over the numbers was that Rengar and Orianna was neither picked or banned.  Now Rengar might still have been globally banned because of bugs.  I do not remember any of the casters mention it but I possibly could have just missed it.  Orianna on the other hand I do not understand why she was never picked.  Maybe because I have been watching a lot of Korean games lately with Orianna being a hotly contested pick over there but I could have sworn she was also pretty big over here at NA.  Maybe teams are waiting later in the split to bring her out.  If this week has anything to go on, with the exception of Scarra, maybe players should look towards playing her instead of Gragas!

New Year's Return

I never meant to be gone this long.  One thing lead to another and now I find myself months later without having done an update here.  So much has change for me in terms of interest and focus.  My initial instincts was to explain in detail all the reasons for the delay but after thinking it over I decide it would be better to just use the New Year as an opportunity to reset.

Flames of War - I have not touch the game since I wrote the second battle report.  My friend has also been working on other projects and played his first game of Flames of War since our game about two months ago.  So that video report I wanted to do will probably not happen any time soon if at all.

Showcase - The showcase will be on hiatus for a little longer.  I have more than a few models I want to put on the showcase but first I still need to pick up that carrying case.  Also I want to wait until it warms up first. 

GM Campaign - I have decide to scrap my plans to cover the campaign here.  The campaign is still going along with a few bumps and hiccups.  There are a few reasons I have come to this decision but I will only discuss one here.  The core issue was that the nature of the campaign and what I wanted to do here were at odds with each other.  The only public information in the GM campaign is the location of banners, special events and alliances.  The composition of those banners are secret, known only to the GM.  Writing up battle reports here would put my opponent and me at a disadvantage in that the other players will be privy to information they should not have.  Even the short stories I wanted to write would hint at elements in my army.  I tried to think of ways to get around this issue but I could not come up with an answer I was satisfy with.  I do not know what my gaming group has plan after the GM Campaign concludes, if anything.  However since we are still literally in the middle of the GM Campaign, the next adventure will not be happening anytime soon.

Battletech - What is most surprising to me is that Battletech is the area where I have the most news on.  I've played more games of Battletech than I have of Warhammer or any war game for that matter in the last six months.  I have also expanded my collection.  In addition to my Valiant, I now own a Goshawk, a Helepolis and a Neptune submarine (well two submarines as that is what came in the pack). While playing games at the shop, we had attracted a lot of attention from other gamers.  It seems there is enough players and interest in the area to start up a Battletech league or some other long term campaign.  Lastly I have plans to work with a friend to develop a show about Battletech.  Progress on the league and the show have stalled in the last few weeks but I am confident the show should be up and running in the next couple of months or less.  The same with the league though I have a little less confidence in it.  We shall see in the coming weeks and months.

League of Legends - It feels weird taking about League of Legends here but the game has been a major part of my life for almost two years now.  With the League  of Legends Championship Series just starting up I want a place to voice my thoughts on the pro scene.  I did have long term plans to kitbashing models to look like LoL champions.  Will probably be doing the LoL kitbashing sooner than I initial thought as it would go with my writing LoL articles here.

That is it for now.  Hopefully my next update won't take as long.

Update in Chaos

This month have been disappointing in terms of progress for this blog.  Hopefully I can turn that around soon.  In the meantime here is the statuses of my blog projects.

Flames of War - After posting the last battle report I learned the global campaign had ended two days earlier.  *sigh* With the campaign over I will not be doing much with the game.  I still enjoy Flames of War but my funds are limited and I have a very long list to use them on.  Before I say goodbye to Flames of War for the near future I want to play one more game dealing with Operation Overlord. and post a video battle report.  Obvious it will not affect the campaign but it was the next Flames of War related thing on my to do list.  It will also give me practice doing video reports.

Showcase - I have miss posting a showcase for the last couple of weeks for a variety of reasons, none of them good.  Last week I left my home to do some painting and photo work but I never made it to the shop.  I did learn one thing from that trip.  I have a cockatrice that I have mostly basecoated at home and will be added to the painting log.  I say mostly because it is missing some spots which prove I do not have the proper lighting to paint at home.  I do not have anything to carry the cockatrice in so I've just been holding it by hand when I transport it.  On my failed trip to the shop last week I notice that I have somehow been striping the paint off the cockatrice with my fingers.  I guess I must be holding it too hard or something.  It is frustrating but not a big deal as I am still basecoating it.  However now I must find a carrying case for it and my chimera that I've recent put together before I can do any detail painting on it.  My current plans is to do a new showcase next week on Tuesday.

GM Campaign - Beside me being horribly late in updating, the campaign is proceeding reasonably well.  We are currently on Turn 6 and the last turn had a free for all Storm of Magic mega battle.  The game had some "interesting" events to say the least.  My current goal is to write and post my prologue story that have been hiding in my head for a few months now by this Saturday.  The first campaign recap I hope to post by next Monday.

FoW #2

Being late seem to be a common theme for me this week.  This battle took place 2 weeks ago and I'm just now writing up a report.  This will be a brief summary of what happen.  The next battle will be a video report which should allow me to post it faster.

There was a lot of proxying in this game on both side.  I will try to point this out but I am not that familiar with the American units and the entire German side was proxy with Americans.  With that out the way, on to the report.

SS-Panzerkompanie

Fearless/Veteran

Headquarters

SS-Panzerkompanie HQ

     2 StuG IV

Combat Platoons

SS-Panzer Platoon

     3 StuG IV

SS-Panzer Platoon

     3 StuG IV

Weapons Platoons

SS-Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon

     3 Sd Kfz 7/1 (Quad 2cm) (armoured)

Divisional Support

Fallschirmjager Platoon / Allied Platoon

     1 Cmd Rifle/MG team

     9 Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team

Motorised SS-Artillery Battery / Fearless/Trained

     1 Cmd SMG team

     1 Kfz 15 field car

     1 Staff team

     1 Kfz 68 radio truck

     6 10.5cm leFH18 howitzer

     6 3-ton truck

     2 Observer Rifle team

     2 Kubelwagen

Rocket Launcher Battery (Heer) / Confident/Veteran / Allied Platoon

     1 Cmd SMG team

     1 Kfz 15 field car

     1 Observer Rifle team

     1 Kubelwagen

     2 21cm NW42

     2 Sd Kfz 11

Rifle Company (1st I.D.)

Confident/Veteran

Headquarters

Rifle Company HQ (1st I.D.)

     2 Cmd Carbine team

     2 Bazooka team

Combat Platoon

Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Rifle team

     1 Bazooka team

     9 Rifle Team

Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Rifle team

     1 Bazooka team

     9 Rifle Team

Rifle Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Rifle team

     1 Bazooka team

     9 Rifle Team

Weapons Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     4 M1919 LMG team

     3 M2 60mm mortar

Weapons Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     4 M1917 HMG team

Machine-gun Platoon (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     4 M1917 HMG team

Divisional Support

Field Artillery Battery (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     1 Staff team

     1 Observer Carbine team

     4 M2A1 105mm howitzer

     5 DUKW truck

Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (1st I.D.)

     1 Cmd Carbine team

     1 Staff team

     2 3/4 ton truck

     1 Observer Carbine team

     1 Jeep

     4 M1 155mm howitzer

     4 M5 high-speed tractor

Air Support

     7 Priority Air Support P-47 Thunderbolt

The Battlefield

 1st I.D

The Germans

Quick thing to notice is that we did not have enough howitzer models for both side.  The Priest were used as howitzers.  For the Germans the tanks that are group up with the Priest were also howitzers.

The mission was 1/1, free-for-all.  Both sides deployed as follows:

In the top right corner are the German's howitzers.

The red and white bases are two separate platoons for 1st I.D.  Next to them were the 155 howitzers.


Germans got first turn but could not use any bombardment.  The Germans moved up and only manage to kill a single team in the shooting phase.  The Americans first turn was far more deadly.  The airplane came in and attack the howitzers.  My AA guns had a shorter range than I thought and was unable to give cover fire for them.  The plane destroyed 2 howitzers.  On the other side, the 155mm  bombardment destroyed both rocket launcher batteries as I was looking up rules for them.  The near by platoon was pinned down because of the bombardment.

Turn 2 had the Germans failed to rally from pinned down and the howitzers failed to range in on the enemy 105mm howitzers.  The tanks manage to killed a few teams but there was so many troops for 1st I.D. that it felt like it barely made a dent.  On the Americans turn 2 they decide to assault the tanks left too close to them.

Unfornately for them that they only manage to bailed out a single tank, lost a few teams in return and was force to retreat.

The next 2 or 4 turns were similar to each other.  The Germans failed to rally from pinned and range in for the howitzers.  The tanks and later the AA guns killed a few more teams.  The Americans failed everything they attempted.  For 2 or 3 straight turns, this was the exact result.  It might have been 4 turns and the Americans might have gotten another plane in but it was shot down by the Germans AA guns.

Eventually the Fallschirmjager Platoon rally and was able to advance forward.  The howitzers on both side started to range in and stuff started dying.  The Germans manage to wiped out the 105 but most of their StuG in returned was destroyed.  The Americans assaulted the Fallschirmjager when the moved up close enough but their defensive fire force the Americans to retreat.  The Fallschirmjager launch their own assault with cover fire from the AA guns.  The Germans wiped out the American platoon in a very bloody battle.  However the second American platoon avenge their fallen brothers by assaulting and wiping out the remanding Fallschirmjager.

Moving toward the end of the game, Germans only hope was to get their remaining StuG to the objective that was being covered by the American machine gun platoons.  The 1st I.D. on the other hand was trying to get the surviving rifle platoon to the undefended German objective for the victory.  In responds, the German sent the AA guns to intercept.

The American machine gun platoons assaulted the StuGs, passed the tank terror test and destroyed the last remaining hope.  The 155mm bombard the AAs and took one out.  The rifle platoon move on to the objective, forcing the last AA to move up next to it to contest.  On the Americans next turn they assaulted the AA, blew it up and the game was over.  The Americans won 5 to 2.

*update*

My opponent has inform me that machine gun platoons can not assaulted and that it was another team that had moved across the board for a few turns to help support the machine gun platoon that actually did the assault on the StuGs.  I thought that sounded right when I heard it from him.  Still the end result of the game was the same.

Getting back on track

I finished the photography part of "this" weeks showcase Tuesday.  However when I sat down to write my mind went completely blank.  Since this showcase is so late I will post the next one this Friday.

One of the things I wanted to talk about was changes to the showcase.  The forsaken and the Valiant still needs a little/lot of work but I am taking them off my painting log schedule.  The Valiant is nearly done but I haven't touch it in weeks because I am unhappy with the color of the axe.  Until I can decide on a new color for it, there is no point to have it on the schedule.  The forsaken are a little different.  Their problem is what work they need is very tedious.  It feels every step I take on them I make a mistake that sets me back.

So what is on the schedule?  For starters the three Chaos Knight horses that I've work on before will be staying.  They are also the only thing I work on this week.  Joining will be a cockatrice as soon as I prime it.  Also joining are two Chaos Warriors I had on my shelf.  Prime and ready to be painted.

No Showcase this week

I did do my weekly painting Tuesday but I it was not as much as I hope.  I figure I would go back to the shop Thursday to do more painting.  I also wanted to get in two Flames of War battle this week since I did not play one last week.  I made the mistake of scheduling a game Thursday, a mistake in that it killed any chance of me getting any additional painting in.  Next Tuesday I should be able to make more than enough progress for worthwhile pictures.

The Showcase returns

Its late but here is this week's showcase.  I did very little work on the forsaken, not enough to be worth showing.  I could not get myself motivated to work on the small details that is left on them.  Instead I did work on the trio of Chaos Knight's horse.  In particular I mostly just work on one.  I still consider myself a new painter and I'm mostly learning from trial by error.  One thing I would like to know if it is easier to paint the knight and horse separately instead of after they are glue together.  To find out I need to finish at least one horse as fast as possible.  I am pleased this horse is almost done, but I do not look forward to working on the mouth.  These pictures were taken at my home.  I did the painting at my LCS but the pictures I took were way too shiny.

FoW: First Campaign Battle

FoW



Parachute Rifle Company (101st) Vs. SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie

We played our first game of the Operation Overlord campaign and it was interesting to say the least.  There were many mistakes on both side but overall it was a fun game.  The 101st was played by neaceul and I played the Germans.  As I still don't have any models yet all the German models were proxy with Allies with a little Soviet forces borrowed from a friend.  I believe the 101st had some slight proxying as well.  I will try to make things as clear as possible.

The list

Parachute Rifle Company (101st)
Parachute Rifle Company HQ (company command carbine team, 2iC command carbine team, 3 bazookas)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Rifle Platoon (hq, mortar squad, 3 rifle squads, 3 extra rifle/mg teams)
Parachute Machine-Gun Platoon (hq, 1 machine gun section, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Mortar Platoon (hq, 2 mortar sections, 2 bazookas)
Parachute Field Artillery Battery (hq, 2 gun sections)
Priority Air Support
 

   

Panzergrenadierkompanie

Headquarters HQ

SS-Panzergrenadierkompanie HQ

2 Cmd Panzeraust SMG team

1 Kfz 15 field car

1 Motorcycle & Sidecar

Combat Platoons

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon

1 Cmd MG team

6 MG team

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon

1 Cmd Panzerfaust SMG team

6 MG team

SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon

1 Cmd MG team

6 MG team

3 3-ton truck

Weapons Platoons

SS-Mortar Platoon

1 Cmd SMG team

1 Kfz 15 field car

3 Observer Rifle team

3 Kubelwagen

6 8cm GW34 mortar

6 3-ton truck

Divisional Support

2. SS-Panzer Platoon (Fearless Veteran)

4 Panther A

SS-Tank-hunter Platoon

3 Marder III M

part of the proxy German army.

The Game

We played the Airborne Assaults Rules & Seize and Hold mission.  101st parachuted in on the unsuspecting Germans a little before dawn.  It was a long night.  The table looked as follows:

 

Both sides had to hold half of our forces in reserved.  The German side look like this:

The units with dice next to them were what I held in reserves.  Those were all three of the Panzergrenadier Platoons and Marder III Tank-hunter Platoon.

Because of the way the objectives were place, the game was split into 2 halves.  For easy I will call it the West and the East.  German had to deploy their 3 units first anywhere on the board.  My HQ was on the board but they essentially did nothing all game.  On the West I had my mortar platoon.  The East had my platoon of Panther As.  The Panthers were spread out to also defend a third objective that was removed by neaceul.

The mortar platoon in the West

The mortar team's observers resting in buildings

The dreaded Panther As

 The 101st also had 7 units so only 3 could come on at turn 1 plus reserves.  No reserve showed up.  Since the 101st platoons are parachuting in, they showed up on a random position on the board.  In short, on a 6 six sided die a roll of a 1, 2 or 3 the platoon would land somewhere on the East, 4, 5 or 6, the West.  It just happen that all three landed in different places on the East.

The 101st had first turn.  They move up but had nothing shoot because of night fighting rules.  My turn 1 saw a Panzergrenadier Platoon enter from reserves.  The panthers started the game bailed out but all four passed their skill test to get back in.  The Panzergrenadier Platoon and the Panthers moved up and shot a lot of machine gun fire at the red and blue teams of the 101st.  The results were lackluster.  Only a single blue team was killed. Neither were even pinned down.

The Panzergrenadier Platoon tried to move to a better position with the storm trooper move but the 101st was not having it.  On turn 2, still with no reserves the 101st moved up and shredded the Panzergrenadiers leaving only two alive.  They failed their motivation test and the last two were removed.

My turn 2 I was able to get the Tank-hunters from reserves.  The Marder and Panthers shot into the two Parachute Rifle Platoons and manage to inflict several casualties and even pinning them.

Here is where I think I made my first major mistake.  I had forgotten that no one could win the game until turn 6.  I did not move my Panthers because I did not want the 101st to control the objective.  I also had fault faith in my defensive fire.

So far my mortars have not done anything.  This was because all the action have been on the East and because of the night fighting rules they could not see far enough to shoot.  This change at turn 3.  The 101st received it first reserves and they landed on the West.

However the game was essentially decide when the red Parachute Rifle Platoon assaulted the Panthers.  They passed their tank terror test and the Panthers failed to get 5 hits on defensive fire to force them to retreat.  The assaulted was brutal and ended with ...

The game continue on until turn 6 but the Germans had little control in the East.  The 101st was able to neutralize any threats in the East relatively quickly and reserve showed up to help with the West.

The 101st wins 5 to 2.

Again no showcase this week

I had two major games today (Flames of War and Warhammer Fantasy) which took up all my time.  Battle reports of those games will be coming soon.  The Flames of War game will be post tonight or tomorrow.  Playing the Warhammer fantasy game reminds me I need to get back to work on painting and putting together models.  So much to do.

No Showcase this week

I did not get any painting done this week and I had to run some errands to today so I did not make it to the shop either.  I thought about doing some painting at home but I do not have enough proper light in my apartment.  Its the reason I've been going to the shop every Tuesday to paint.  I hope to be back at the shop next Tuesday.  In the meantime I will be working on my prologue fiction for the GM campaign as well as an update for the campaign.  Until next time.

Flames of War fantasy?

A couple of my friends wanted me to try out the Flames of War game.  I initially resisted because I thought it clash with my hobby goals.   Flames of War is a historic World War 2 game and I know many in its community take the historic aspect very serious.  And they have every right to.  It is a game that can help people explore events where real people fought and died.  It is a subject that deserves respect.  Truth be told I also enjoy studying history.  However when it comes to miniatures my interest lays in fantasy.  I want to create my own stories with my miniatures and use my own paint schemes to achieve those ends.

In May as I prepared for the GM campaign I also had an urge to try out other types of miniature games.  So I gave my friends a call and they were more than happy to show me the game.  I found the game to be fun, easy to learn and seems to be pretty balance.  Learning the game was help with the fact that Battlefront, the makers of the game, has a series of youtube videos explaining how to play.  After playing a few more games I have fell in love with Flames of War.  It also helps that it is on the cheaper side of miniature games.  My only mild complain is the scale of the game is different from Warhammer and most other miniatures I'm thinking of picking up.  This is only an issue because one of my long term goals is to do a miniature comic with my miniatures and having such a difference in scale (and setting for that matter) will make such a project much harder.  Nevertheless I have a few options make it work so I will be adding Flames of War to my collection list.  My Flames of War army will be on the fantastical side in a similar vein as the anime Pumpkin Scissors or the video game Valkyria Chronicles with my own twist.  Maybe at some point down the road I will do a more historic accurate Flames of War army but for now I am all fantasy.  For this blog I figure the change would be a few tanks in the painting log every so often.

And then I learn about WWPD's Flames of War: Operation Overlord campaign.  Its a world wide campaign where every Flames of War battle you play can affect the outcome of the event.  As cool and exciting the campaign sounded I was not planning on participating.  I currently do not own any Flames of War miniatures and for an event like this I prefer at least using some of my own figures.  But then I learn my friends really, REALLY wants to participate and at the time I was their only German player.  So I decide to signup for the campaign.  The icing on this cake however is that for players' battles to be counted in the event, a battle report of the game must be post somewhere online.  Neither of my friends have a website nor do they want to write the battle reports.  So I volunteered this space to have the Flames of War reports.  I had planned on expanding the number of games I would write battle report on and post them on Chaos Magic, just not this soon.  Oh well.  The global campaign will be starting at the end of this month.  Between the Flames of War campaign and the GM Warhammer fantasy campaign, this space will be getting busy real quick.  Watch this space.

Trio of horses

Sadly this will be a short update.  I put the finishing touches on the troll but since those were small changes I didn't take another picture of it.  I did more work on the Valiant but it literally fell apart when I was trying to picture it.  I have since glued it back together and will picture it next week.  The only thing left that I worked on are these trio of Chaos Knight horses.  Once the Valiant is done I will probably add these to the painting log.  Next week I will be going back to the forsaken but I'm thinking I will be working on only two or three so I can get a few models done.