http://www.thedarkcity.net/t12210-2000pt-de-harlequins-vs-ge-ig
Recent battlereport for a game I did. I play only about 4 games a year now due to a lack of motivation and my distaste for the average 40k player.
Since this blog is unlikely to be viewed by *anyone* I feel confidant enough exposing here a few things.
Well to begin with lets do us a SinCounter of things that went wrong here:
no GK/IG army list.
Didn't confirm him rolling for his powers
he selected the mission without roll off.
preselected his table edge and set up.
Walking off during the game at least 10 times.
Suspicious use of rules lawyering for advantage.
Did you notice that terrain density? huh?
It's funny how some people start off fast and loose with the rules but as the game drags on and the margins of error get tighter and tighter they start puckering up and looking for advantages. The competitive spirit of this guy lead him to several rules debates with store staff and the local rules lawyer. And he was wrong every time.
When I saw at the very beginning before we even got started how he was going about it I decided to take a few liberties myself. Does that make me a better player or person than him? Sure it does. Because I was 0.2% of my army list over in points and rolled for fleet incorrectly like one time. In other words if I must be labeled a cheater it was pretty benign compared to him.
I played him psychologically, talking up how good the saves on my harlequins were and how powerful their attacks were and shit, fully knowing that by infiltrating them so close to him they were just going to get pumped full of psybolts until they disappeared. I wonder if he ever realised how much energy he wasted trying to kill them seeing as I never even rolled to shoot with any of them and stopped trying to use psyker powers with my shadowseer after turn 2. The deathjester and shadowseer literally did nothing but roll invulnerable/cover saves for 4 turns until they died. I played on my opponents target priority, reminding him that you can't consider weapons to be part of the model you're shooting for Line Of Sight purposes so what was his response? He moved around until he could. Even if it meant 1". Even if it meant that his fucking librarian couldn't see any part of my shadowseer but magically was shooting witchfire attacks at her anyway because "Fuck Logic(tm) I will cheat in order to achieve my objectives". Since he was such a good sport about ignoring the rules in order to win I let him as he was doing a really bad job at it anyway.
I think it's the money people pour in to 40k that makes them so crazy about it. No that can't be it. I'd go for an even more base assumption: these kinds of people are so hungry to win they will do it if they can get away with it.
He never went as far as making shit up on the spot or model swapping which is where I'd have been calling him WAAC and to be blacklisted, but it is very telling that when someone you're playing against can't even do the simple courtesy of telling you what's in his army list and that by the end of the game the satisfaction of beating this guy anyway is eroded and drained away that you might be playing either a bad game or are just associating with bad people.
And it's the people. It has for the very most part always been the people. And game stores are the worst offenders for it because they principally will not deny access to games for players who have proven themselves unable to handle the responsibility of not breaking the rules. Socially awkward little kids who feel the need to stroke their tyranid models and put off their substantially older opponents like they're being a psyops master. It's not. You're not. You're just being a creepy little anti-social shit and your incessant jokes about stupid things is only going to result in noone wanting to play with you.
I really do miss living in Auckland, the 40k social club in ellerslie was a collection of 20-30 18+'s who joined up once a week to play some dice in a private setting with a bar and restaurant. Perth doesn't really seem to have a dedicated club space that I know of and that's a damned shame because this game is so, SO much better once all the retards and their bullshit is removed from the equation.
Monday, May 11, 2015
This is going to be a lightning fast note on my #1 complaint with 40k: the community.
For reference, the webcomic about space-elves Outsider has more forum activity than *most* 40k blogs and forums. We're talking about a webcomic that has produced 103 pages in almost 14 years.
What makes the difference? Go take a look and draw your own conclusions.
The community for 40k is shit and has been actively getting worse and worse, evidenced by blog writers and their substituant communities bailing out one after the other. More to come.
For reference, the webcomic about space-elves Outsider has more forum activity than *most* 40k blogs and forums. We're talking about a webcomic that has produced 103 pages in almost 14 years.
What makes the difference? Go take a look and draw your own conclusions.
The community for 40k is shit and has been actively getting worse and worse, evidenced by blog writers and their substituant communities bailing out one after the other. More to come.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Reading through some of my own older posts after more or less forgetting about 40k as a hobby for 4 years. What a trip. I was right sometimes and wrong sometimes as well. I wonder if this is how every commentator feels when they write their memoires? Except we aren't done yet. Oh no.
I really want to write a big post about the problems with 40k. I want to write this post because the game is a lot of fun but has it's fair share of issues and I would summarise them as thus:
1. Community. Head and shoulders above all other problems this game has is the community. 4 years ago I wrote about being excited to be in a new country and experience a new community to play in but instead it slowly sapped my enthusiasm. The community itself is this games own worst enemy and this topic is totally worth its own complete blog post.
2. The company. GW gets eaten alive everywhere it is mentioned, but to date YTTH still did it best pointing out the arrogance and hubris of the management in this business. His own status as an (ex-)investor gave him a particular degree of insight in to a company he bought many thousands of dollars of products from and these managers in the end discredited themselves and disgusted Stelek so much he sold off his shares and threw in the towel on the company completely. This is a very damning thing for GW, a popular internet personality refusing to be browbeaten by threats and then pointing out a total loss of confidence in your sustainability does say many bad things.
3. The models. The game does have some of the best models on the market. Their production quality is very high and it's obvious great lengths were crossed to make them among the very best given the subject matter. Unfortunately they're very small and kind of unimpressive to outsiders. People walk in to the store, see what are essentially fancy chess pieces and then walk back out. This is neither a commendation nor a condemnation of the artistic direction for the pieces, I just feel the models themselves are kind of sold short by being flimsy and hiding the quality of their production via the extremely small scale. Objects observed from a distance lose more detail than lower quality ones viewed slightly too close.
4. The art direction. I bring all non-physical game products together under this banner. I expressed elsewhere disappointment at certain things in this fictional setting and I think they bare repeating here. 40k is numbing. It has too much gore and violence happening far too much. Picking up the harlequin codex and expecting to read some extracts of ancient (2nd and 3rd edition) material to provide some background and context to this army instead produced a non-stop series of "we found bad guys doing this, so we bust outta nowhere and wrecked their shit in ways that make us practically indistinguishable from the settings villains". The harlequins faction went from being silent achievers and a society of concerned patrons of goodness to be being another faux-noble collection of disgusting and sadistic sociopaths. This is the art direction of 40k in a nutshell. Everything unique and beautiful gets boiled down in to a 2 dimenional or even 1 dimensional parody of its own earlier incarnation. Harlequins serve a god who transmits his message to those who matter through the medium of art and dance. They work to limit the power of chaos and cut the chords slaanesh has over the eldar race. In modern interpretations they do this through practically invoking demonic energies themselves and committing heinous violence while driving divisive wedges between members of their own race and own faction. The same theme now runs with CraftWorldEldar too. They've gotten more violent, more accessible and suffer more infighting than before. They're no longer surreal astral ancients shrouded in legacy and mysticism, they've been stylistically degraded in to homocidal lunatics engaging in dangerously irresponsible practices justified by weak allusions to higher authority (their gods are dead). See: wraithknights, wraithguard, Codex Iyandan, hemlock wraithfighters as just some basic examples. See also Necrons as the worst offender. They're unrecognisable in their current fluff direction.
5. Non-tabletop incarnations. This is the last pain point of 40k and GW. The lack of quality control on the digital versions of their games is inexcusable from the damage to their reputation it engenders. Giving out their licence to seemingly anyone no matter how disingenuous they are does not foster good PR. Dawn of War 1 still gets mods and mod updates. If GW had the brainpower to say that they want a game roughly analogous to their main product line as a vessel by which to sell more plastic crack then another *decent* DOW is the answer. We've been calling for it but haven't seen anything. The stupid lane defence model of DOW2 should never be repeated either and certainly not streamlined any further as it degraded the experience that a strategy game should be offering. People aren't scared of complexity, the kind of player who is scared of complexity in their strategy game sure as fuck isn't going to be a client of the tabletop game (with its 200 page rulebook). If you want players to buy your products with both hands then try putting food in both hands instead of leaving one empty or callously filling it with sand and broken glass.
I really want to write a big post about the problems with 40k. I want to write this post because the game is a lot of fun but has it's fair share of issues and I would summarise them as thus:
1. Community. Head and shoulders above all other problems this game has is the community. 4 years ago I wrote about being excited to be in a new country and experience a new community to play in but instead it slowly sapped my enthusiasm. The community itself is this games own worst enemy and this topic is totally worth its own complete blog post.
2. The company. GW gets eaten alive everywhere it is mentioned, but to date YTTH still did it best pointing out the arrogance and hubris of the management in this business. His own status as an (ex-)investor gave him a particular degree of insight in to a company he bought many thousands of dollars of products from and these managers in the end discredited themselves and disgusted Stelek so much he sold off his shares and threw in the towel on the company completely. This is a very damning thing for GW, a popular internet personality refusing to be browbeaten by threats and then pointing out a total loss of confidence in your sustainability does say many bad things.
3. The models. The game does have some of the best models on the market. Their production quality is very high and it's obvious great lengths were crossed to make them among the very best given the subject matter. Unfortunately they're very small and kind of unimpressive to outsiders. People walk in to the store, see what are essentially fancy chess pieces and then walk back out. This is neither a commendation nor a condemnation of the artistic direction for the pieces, I just feel the models themselves are kind of sold short by being flimsy and hiding the quality of their production via the extremely small scale. Objects observed from a distance lose more detail than lower quality ones viewed slightly too close.
4. The art direction. I bring all non-physical game products together under this banner. I expressed elsewhere disappointment at certain things in this fictional setting and I think they bare repeating here. 40k is numbing. It has too much gore and violence happening far too much. Picking up the harlequin codex and expecting to read some extracts of ancient (2nd and 3rd edition) material to provide some background and context to this army instead produced a non-stop series of "we found bad guys doing this, so we bust outta nowhere and wrecked their shit in ways that make us practically indistinguishable from the settings villains". The harlequins faction went from being silent achievers and a society of concerned patrons of goodness to be being another faux-noble collection of disgusting and sadistic sociopaths. This is the art direction of 40k in a nutshell. Everything unique and beautiful gets boiled down in to a 2 dimenional or even 1 dimensional parody of its own earlier incarnation. Harlequins serve a god who transmits his message to those who matter through the medium of art and dance. They work to limit the power of chaos and cut the chords slaanesh has over the eldar race. In modern interpretations they do this through practically invoking demonic energies themselves and committing heinous violence while driving divisive wedges between members of their own race and own faction. The same theme now runs with CraftWorldEldar too. They've gotten more violent, more accessible and suffer more infighting than before. They're no longer surreal astral ancients shrouded in legacy and mysticism, they've been stylistically degraded in to homocidal lunatics engaging in dangerously irresponsible practices justified by weak allusions to higher authority (their gods are dead). See: wraithknights, wraithguard, Codex Iyandan, hemlock wraithfighters as just some basic examples. See also Necrons as the worst offender. They're unrecognisable in their current fluff direction.
5. Non-tabletop incarnations. This is the last pain point of 40k and GW. The lack of quality control on the digital versions of their games is inexcusable from the damage to their reputation it engenders. Giving out their licence to seemingly anyone no matter how disingenuous they are does not foster good PR. Dawn of War 1 still gets mods and mod updates. If GW had the brainpower to say that they want a game roughly analogous to their main product line as a vessel by which to sell more plastic crack then another *decent* DOW is the answer. We've been calling for it but haven't seen anything. The stupid lane defence model of DOW2 should never be repeated either and certainly not streamlined any further as it degraded the experience that a strategy game should be offering. People aren't scared of complexity, the kind of player who is scared of complexity in their strategy game sure as fuck isn't going to be a client of the tabletop game (with its 200 page rulebook). If you want players to buy your products with both hands then try putting food in both hands instead of leaving one empty or callously filling it with sand and broken glass.
The following out-takes are from YTTH, the chatango application in which I posit counter-cultural ideas to that famously jaded and misanthropic website. I should also point out that the website has basically lost all cultural relevance since it stopped updating but it is nice to read its archives sometimes as things Stelek said are still really clever, it's just a shame that his website did eventually attract a large number of internet heroes with opinions bigger than their sense of presence.
LocalOrk: I
doubt GW give a toss about garage gaming, frankly. It doesn't generate
as much profits as "oh, I NEED to buy 2-3k army of newest XXX to kick
ass in tournament".
anon3844: No,
what's idiotic is the expectation that people drop triple-digit sums on
rulebooks and are then expected to rewrite them in order for them to
work properly.
mrbenis: @randumbwon: randumbwon: i cannot respond to such an obtuse remark, you should research the forum you're speaking in before making inane comments
Sorry bro but I don't subscribe to the echo chamber you crave to live in. I've been here for years too which indeed you would know if you searched for my name in it. GFY
mrbenis: I've just gone back and re-read these two GREAT articles:
http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2014/07/games-workshops-annual-flub-2014/
http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2014/01/open-letter-to-the-community/
While I don't pay a lot of attention to what happens outside of Australia the general consensus is following trend and we can see that over all there are less unique individuals by % in my LGS each time I go in (roughly once a month). Everyone's a regular only by virtue of there being noone new.
GW desperately NEEDS another Dawn Of War to get people hyped again. Their codexes are nice but massively overpriced. Their game is still most commonly played on a 6x4 table but this is just too small for an average size army. The rulebook itself doesn't encourage breaking the mould (despite saying it itself imposes no limitations on physical setting) and the stores only provide 1 experience. There's no excitement left in 40k because the animal is changing but the scenery is the same. It's easy to switch off and not even pay attention to something new.
One final point is the 18,000 visitors quote from one of the articles. Yes. Before other forms of home entertainment really took off. PC gaming only really became a big thing in 1997 but consoles were around for much longer and playing on consoles is a lot cheaper than GW product in a pound-for-pound kind of way.
elotar: You know, that the rules are shit, but you are still buying them for a hundreds of dollars and you think GW is idiot in this story?
mrbenis: @rickmachine
I could produce the platitude about not buying what you don't like but
instead let me offer you something even more cynical: since GW has a
stated aim to prioritise large sum purchases from new customers, let
these doe-eyed individuals take the fall and instead buy their
pre-assembled models for 50% off on ebay (I've seen up to 80% off) when
they drop out of the bottom because of lack of product support. The lack
of reasons to use the models once they're deliberately obsoleted and
the toxic community that has developed for this game constantly
undermining and draining any desire to interact with other players
because they're borderline sociopathic. Just like the kind of people who
cynically wait for others to get stung by exploitative business
practices and then buy up their underpriced second hand goods.
If you're like me and ever done "pick up" purchases you can sort of vicariously drink in the emotional baggage every model carries, especially the ones assembled and painted by late-teens and perfectly conforming to the 'studio paint job' that the company wants you to comply with. Because originality is dead in 40k and everything you do is just advertising for the game.
And I stand by that sentiment. Originality in 40k is dead. The theme and iconography of the game is 25 years old, most of it is unchanged. In adding new armies the overwhelming negativity of its jaded and neglected customer base bubbles up to the surface with people complaining in private commodes about how expensive everything new is, how it doesn't cater to their desired direction for the game and how it negatively impacts their ability to play or even enjoy the game (and from the looks of things some of them have in fact NOT been playing for years) and that the company finally producing new models for a range people have been desperately wanting for years is met with cynicism and doubt. Yes the models are expensive - but if you're complaining about prices in a game with toy soldiers you have some seriously messed up priorities. Video gaming is far worse, Battlefield 4 famously had one edition of it selling for $120 and that included vapourware shit like the nebulous term "DLC", paying up front for a product sight unseen and not even know what the fuck that DLC will even be (there's no guarantee you won't get strictly cosmetic horse armour tier garbage or even worse: gamebreaking exclusive items for multiplayer that explicitly punishes people who don't blindly invest in pre-orders).
I do tend to use a lot of strong language in my communications with the other human beings on the internet but this is because of their desensitivity to anything that doesn't offend them. Engaging in a higher level of dialogue is impossible with some people because they're incapable of distinguishing between critical commentary and insults. See the above black text.
Originality and promoting personal flourishes in the interpretations of 40k's universe and artistic direction is one of the pillars that made GWs original game so popular. Allowing and encouraging everyone to introduce their unique touches to each unit design is what essentially helps to distinguish their product from more interactive media like video games because video games inherently cannot allow very much deviation from the lead designers doctrine. Case in point: when I was last in a GW store to buy my solitaire model, I was encouraged to look at and use the painting scheme that the UK studio used for its model. This happened to be a completely independant book from the codex itself and covered things like officially endorsed colour schemes and markings and designs. The distaste for this product didn't hit me fully until I got home however because I wasn't quite clicking with the idea that GW either has so little faith in the general customers imagination or that they pessimistically don't want their customers to diverge from their artistic direction for "reasons". The optimist might just point out that they want to provide some inspiration for you, but I'd say thats ridiculous when talking about an 80 page book you no doubt have to buy for some seriously big $$$. Everything about modern GW seems to centre around controlling their IP and eroding any sense of artistic adventure within their community because they've openly stated that they feel their interpretation of the universe is the only valid one, nevermind the way that this state fluxes when they have a change of staff.
randumbwon: i can't wait til 40k gets bought out by mattel
mrbenis: Why on earth would you want that?
mrbenis: I
get that people are bitter about 40k but it began as a game played by
friends in the garage and that's where it is returning. Hosting games in
shops inevitably gets troublesome with idiots turning up.
randumbwon: i cannot respond to such an obtuse remark, you should research the forum you're speaking in before making inane comments
thatmg7: GW
business strat, ignore audience/customers, make lumps of plastics buy
me now choices, half costs with new plastics, double the cost of units
due to price increases/model number reductions. Fire any staff that
shows any sign of game design knowledge. then fire the other people who
just did nothing wrong, then wonder why the gravy train isn't working,
however keep doing the same thing because ignorance is the best answer,
an pray dumb investors give us money
thatmg7: because dividends is the only goal.
elotar: I think generally the main idiots are not GW, but players, who totally can't organize and make competitive rules.
mrbenis: @randumbwon: randumbwon: i cannot respond to such an obtuse remark, you should research the forum you're speaking in before making inane comments
Sorry bro but I don't subscribe to the echo chamber you crave to live in. I've been here for years too which indeed you would know if you searched for my name in it. GFY
mrbenis: @LocalOrk:
LocalOrk: I doubt GW give a toss about garage gaming, frankly. It
doesn't generate as much profits as "oh, I NEED to buy 2-3k army of
newest XXX to kick ass in tournament".
I would counter that with noone except stelek knows who actually among the customer base buys the most models. GW may bank on newbies with more cash than sense but since you don't get surveyed at the counter I have a hard time believing that GW itself actively knows where most of its money comes from. Maybe I'm wrong but if GW doesn't take a census of its consumer base then where are they pulling their numbers from? If GW really did care about their game being taken seriously in tournaments... wouldn't that compel them to host some?
I would counter that with noone except stelek knows who actually among the customer base buys the most models. GW may bank on newbies with more cash than sense but since you don't get surveyed at the counter I have a hard time believing that GW itself actively knows where most of its money comes from. Maybe I'm wrong but if GW doesn't take a census of its consumer base then where are they pulling their numbers from? If GW really did care about their game being taken seriously in tournaments... wouldn't that compel them to host some?
mrbenis: 'If GW really did care about their game being taken seriously in tournaments... wouldn't that compel them to host some?'
By which I meant with regards to using tournament performance as a yard stick to sell models against. They could simply be letting the players do the work here for them but things like CompCounter and big youtube channels shitting on their rules day in-day out can't be doing them any favours on that front so, no, I don't find any merit in the suggestion that tournaments are vessel by which sales are delivered except among those 1% of people who actually attend them.
By which I meant with regards to using tournament performance as a yard stick to sell models against. They could simply be letting the players do the work here for them but things like CompCounter and big youtube channels shitting on their rules day in-day out can't be doing them any favours on that front so, no, I don't find any merit in the suggestion that tournaments are vessel by which sales are delivered except among those 1% of people who actually attend them.
http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2014/07/games-workshops-annual-flub-2014/
http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2014/01/open-letter-to-the-community/
While I don't pay a lot of attention to what happens outside of Australia the general consensus is following trend and we can see that over all there are less unique individuals by % in my LGS each time I go in (roughly once a month). Everyone's a regular only by virtue of there being noone new.
GW desperately NEEDS another Dawn Of War to get people hyped again. Their codexes are nice but massively overpriced. Their game is still most commonly played on a 6x4 table but this is just too small for an average size army. The rulebook itself doesn't encourage breaking the mould (despite saying it itself imposes no limitations on physical setting) and the stores only provide 1 experience. There's no excitement left in 40k because the animal is changing but the scenery is the same. It's easy to switch off and not even pay attention to something new.
One final point is the 18,000 visitors quote from one of the articles. Yes. Before other forms of home entertainment really took off. PC gaming only really became a big thing in 1997 but consoles were around for much longer and playing on consoles is a lot cheaper than GW product in a pound-for-pound kind of way.
elotar: You know, that the rules are shit, but you are still buying them for a hundreds of dollars and you think GW is idiot in this story?
LocalOrk: I mean, how else You sell sprue worth (in plastic) of infantry for 3 times as much, other than with hollow robot shell?
randumbwon: hot
damn mr. dumbass, this isn't politics, throwing around echo chamber
just makes you look like a tool. but you say you've been here for years
so obviously the game is better off now than it was 6 years ago
mrbenis: @randumbwon
Your trollfu is weak.I think the community has more to answer for than
GW does. Also echo chambers have nothing to do with politics. If I could
block on this thing I would because you spout nothing but hate and
garbage.
Witness here the delusional nature of some of its members. They don't come here for genuine discussion, they come here to vent internalised issues and seek positive reinforcement from other equally bitter posters. I like to break that mould where I can because people like these should never be permitted to be the sole point of reference for online opinion pieces.
If you're like me and ever done "pick up" purchases you can sort of vicariously drink in the emotional baggage every model carries, especially the ones assembled and painted by late-teens and perfectly conforming to the 'studio paint job' that the company wants you to comply with. Because originality is dead in 40k and everything you do is just advertising for the game.
And I stand by that sentiment. Originality in 40k is dead. The theme and iconography of the game is 25 years old, most of it is unchanged. In adding new armies the overwhelming negativity of its jaded and neglected customer base bubbles up to the surface with people complaining in private commodes about how expensive everything new is, how it doesn't cater to their desired direction for the game and how it negatively impacts their ability to play or even enjoy the game (and from the looks of things some of them have in fact NOT been playing for years) and that the company finally producing new models for a range people have been desperately wanting for years is met with cynicism and doubt. Yes the models are expensive - but if you're complaining about prices in a game with toy soldiers you have some seriously messed up priorities. Video gaming is far worse, Battlefield 4 famously had one edition of it selling for $120 and that included vapourware shit like the nebulous term "DLC", paying up front for a product sight unseen and not even know what the fuck that DLC will even be (there's no guarantee you won't get strictly cosmetic horse armour tier garbage or even worse: gamebreaking exclusive items for multiplayer that explicitly punishes people who don't blindly invest in pre-orders).
I do tend to use a lot of strong language in my communications with the other human beings on the internet but this is because of their desensitivity to anything that doesn't offend them. Engaging in a higher level of dialogue is impossible with some people because they're incapable of distinguishing between critical commentary and insults. See the above black text.
Originality and promoting personal flourishes in the interpretations of 40k's universe and artistic direction is one of the pillars that made GWs original game so popular. Allowing and encouraging everyone to introduce their unique touches to each unit design is what essentially helps to distinguish their product from more interactive media like video games because video games inherently cannot allow very much deviation from the lead designers doctrine. Case in point: when I was last in a GW store to buy my solitaire model, I was encouraged to look at and use the painting scheme that the UK studio used for its model. This happened to be a completely independant book from the codex itself and covered things like officially endorsed colour schemes and markings and designs. The distaste for this product didn't hit me fully until I got home however because I wasn't quite clicking with the idea that GW either has so little faith in the general customers imagination or that they pessimistically don't want their customers to diverge from their artistic direction for "reasons". The optimist might just point out that they want to provide some inspiration for you, but I'd say thats ridiculous when talking about an 80 page book you no doubt have to buy for some seriously big $$$. Everything about modern GW seems to centre around controlling their IP and eroding any sense of artistic adventure within their community because they've openly stated that they feel their interpretation of the universe is the only valid one, nevermind the way that this state fluxes when they have a change of staff.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Australian gamers
Since moving to Australia for work in the last couple of weeks I have since discovered that Perth has a lively and interesting 40k scene.
Now having spent a couple of consecutive afternoons at the local store I can see myself coming back however what I'm more interested in is getting these people out of their retail happy-fun-vibe shells and into something a bit more brutal and competitive.
In looking at Kirby's post about competitiveness in people he is fundamentally correct. At a psychological level people who play sports are instinctively compelled to compete against others for material benefit, despite any claims to the contrary. Whether that material benefit is measurable eg money or un-quantifiable eg prestige and leadership value is moot. They tend to come hand in hand.
One minor observation about Australian players so far is that they have no, read 0 (zero) functional knowledge of the direction of GW and performance based analytical review of what they're using, where or why.
Simple example: yesterday I was watching IG and CWeldar fighting it out on a 4x4 board. I'm assuming about 1k each player though I could be wrong.
Rough estimation of player forces:
Eldar; farseer with guide. (yes only guide. No army list but no other power or wargear expressely used so this is my assumption.)
Bikeautarch w/ laser lance
roughly 20 guardians with support platforms (2x scatter lasers) with warlocks in each squad.
1x10 dire avenger squad
Wraithlord with brightlance and sword?
Nightspinner with shuriken cannon?
falcon with scatterlaser. no upgrades.
IG; 6man command squad with at least 1 voxcaster, one commander and 1 commissar.
2 chimera with heavy laser thingies both containing melta veterans
1 basilisk (? really. so retarded)
1 mortar squad of 3
3 hwts with MLs & HBs on opposite side of board.
Amazingly the IG player lost. The falcon died in turn 3 having accomplished fucking nothing but shaking the basilisk and the guardians did fuck-all as well. Autarch creamed a chimera and its veterans before dying like a chump to MLs.
CCS did nothing. Like literally nothing except fire off orders once and dying like bitches to moving after being hit by nightspinner. Idiot. So fucking stupid. Basilisk fired once AT GUARDIANS WOO.
I could go on but it's just so sad.
I mean look, these guys are nice enough but they're obviously new and totally can't accept an alternative point of view on what they're fielding. The eldar player told me he'd been playing for 3 years which is hard to believe since he was using store models in 2 cases. Even if he was telling the truth he took himself pretty seriously while he chopped up a total newb with a bajillion unpainted models with his own craptacular army.
It wasn't just the list construction that was poor, it was their utilisation as well. The whole game reeked of amateurish decisions with little to no understanding of the underlying principles of the game. I'm all for playing 'just for fun' but these two clearly thought they were pretty pro, even going as far as to argue (admittedly only a little) over a couple of things. Totally pointless. I would savour bringing my army to the local scene here and totaling that other eldar player. I wouldn't even need to build a list specifically designed to do it either, a balls-standard army could have done the deal in 3 maybe conservatively 4 turns.
My list to use against that other eldar player?
3x5 Direavengers w/ gunxarchs in eml waveserpents w/ scannons.
1x autarch w/ pw & fusion gun
2x falcons with eml and holofields.
that's roughly 1k isn't it? I don't even care to count.
9 s6
10 s8
everything able to move 24"
reserves manipulation.
Anti-infantry to deal with stupid troops choices.
Why holofields? Simple. Falcons take only 1 hit to kill. So holofields increases chances of weapon destroyed? As if I give a shit? I have only 2 MBTs, if weapons get popped that's better than losing the chassis and everything else at the same time. The 70pts those holofields cost me wouldn't be justified by taking more troops, another autarch or warwalkers or whatever since the falcons themselves are there to suppress infantry and KILL tanks.
Who is the workhorse here? Noone, really. Waveserpents carrying 3 s6 1 s8 can multirole, falcons can multirole, autarch is there to mop up. Direavengers dont have bladestorm since that's a waste of points. The extra Ld and a higher I for at least one guy seems justified though.
And there you have it. Resilient and flexible. Not even designed to specifcally kill his list, it just will though, through being better constructed.
Now having spent a couple of consecutive afternoons at the local store I can see myself coming back however what I'm more interested in is getting these people out of their retail happy-fun-vibe shells and into something a bit more brutal and competitive.
In looking at Kirby's post about competitiveness in people he is fundamentally correct. At a psychological level people who play sports are instinctively compelled to compete against others for material benefit, despite any claims to the contrary. Whether that material benefit is measurable eg money or un-quantifiable eg prestige and leadership value is moot. They tend to come hand in hand.
One minor observation about Australian players so far is that they have no, read 0 (zero) functional knowledge of the direction of GW and performance based analytical review of what they're using, where or why.
Simple example: yesterday I was watching IG and CWeldar fighting it out on a 4x4 board. I'm assuming about 1k each player though I could be wrong.
Rough estimation of player forces:
Eldar; farseer with guide. (yes only guide. No army list but no other power or wargear expressely used so this is my assumption.)
Bikeautarch w/ laser lance
roughly 20 guardians with support platforms (2x scatter lasers) with warlocks in each squad.
1x10 dire avenger squad
Wraithlord with brightlance and sword?
Nightspinner with shuriken cannon?
falcon with scatterlaser. no upgrades.
IG; 6man command squad with at least 1 voxcaster, one commander and 1 commissar.
2 chimera with heavy laser thingies both containing melta veterans
1 basilisk (? really. so retarded)
1 mortar squad of 3
3 hwts with MLs & HBs on opposite side of board.
Amazingly the IG player lost. The falcon died in turn 3 having accomplished fucking nothing but shaking the basilisk and the guardians did fuck-all as well. Autarch creamed a chimera and its veterans before dying like a chump to MLs.
CCS did nothing. Like literally nothing except fire off orders once and dying like bitches to moving after being hit by nightspinner. Idiot. So fucking stupid. Basilisk fired once AT GUARDIANS WOO.
I could go on but it's just so sad.
I mean look, these guys are nice enough but they're obviously new and totally can't accept an alternative point of view on what they're fielding. The eldar player told me he'd been playing for 3 years which is hard to believe since he was using store models in 2 cases. Even if he was telling the truth he took himself pretty seriously while he chopped up a total newb with a bajillion unpainted models with his own craptacular army.
It wasn't just the list construction that was poor, it was their utilisation as well. The whole game reeked of amateurish decisions with little to no understanding of the underlying principles of the game. I'm all for playing 'just for fun' but these two clearly thought they were pretty pro, even going as far as to argue (admittedly only a little) over a couple of things. Totally pointless. I would savour bringing my army to the local scene here and totaling that other eldar player. I wouldn't even need to build a list specifically designed to do it either, a balls-standard army could have done the deal in 3 maybe conservatively 4 turns.
My list to use against that other eldar player?
3x5 Direavengers w/ gunxarchs in eml waveserpents w/ scannons.
1x autarch w/ pw & fusion gun
2x falcons with eml and holofields.
that's roughly 1k isn't it? I don't even care to count.
9 s6
10 s8
everything able to move 24"
reserves manipulation.
Anti-infantry to deal with stupid troops choices.
Why holofields? Simple. Falcons take only 1 hit to kill. So holofields increases chances of weapon destroyed? As if I give a shit? I have only 2 MBTs, if weapons get popped that's better than losing the chassis and everything else at the same time. The 70pts those holofields cost me wouldn't be justified by taking more troops, another autarch or warwalkers or whatever since the falcons themselves are there to suppress infantry and KILL tanks.
Who is the workhorse here? Noone, really. Waveserpents carrying 3 s6 1 s8 can multirole, falcons can multirole, autarch is there to mop up. Direavengers dont have bladestorm since that's a waste of points. The extra Ld and a higher I for at least one guy seems justified though.
And there you have it. Resilient and flexible. Not even designed to specifcally kill his list, it just will though, through being better constructed.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Working on some fiction
So earlier this week I started writing up some background to my army. In lieu of actually being able to paint/build what I've got since it's in another part of the country, I've taken to writing up some speculative fiction on them to stay interested.
It probably won't last but it's worth starting anyway.
It probably won't last but it's worth starting anyway.
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