I'm tired of Christmas...

I'm normally not very Scrooge'ish or Grinch'ish, but I've had enough. Grumpy wife home from work...psycho kids showing me their new toys over and over, fighting over who gets to play the Xbox next and who touched who's toy...Chirstmas clutter piled around everywhere (actually I cleaned up the kids' messes yesterday, but the wife's crap is EVERYWHERE...).

So, I'm retreating to some peace and quiet and a quick blog post to help restore sanity!

FFS, at least get dressed!

Remember when 3++ was good?

I mean, there was a time where if you had a unit with a 3+ Invulnerable save...it was GOOD!

It was so good, some cool guys down under named their blog after it!

Amongst all the chattering about nerfing 2+ rerollable invulnerable saves, it occurred to me today...that's what you need to survive!

There are no D Weapons in Dropzone Commander!

I'm at once both amused and horrified at the upheaval caused by the Escalation update for 40k, amongst other things these last few weeks.

I'm having a hard time getting my head around the mad swinging of the ban/nerf bat that doesn't seem to address the core issues or balance problems that abound in the game.

Frankly, if folks nerf Daemons (if you haven't read, prominent vocal people are advocating banning the Grimoire), this will just make Eldar even more dominant. Dumb, reactionary, subjective, and really won't affect the core issue, that there is little to no competitive balance.

But, while I am amused and horrified, I'm also happily plugging along getting my head around Dropzone Commander!

I'm a bit fed up...

I really enjoy 40k, but for me and what I want from the game, the last several releases have started something of a downward spiral of unpleasantness that has me very dissatisfied. In the last two GTs I've attended, the lack of variety in top-table performing armies was really disappointing...


...in other words, if you're not Daemons, Tau, or Eldar (or some combination there-of), you may as well not even try.

These new Advent Calendar digital releases have me even grumpier. I don't want to play mini-Apoc. I don't want to see every army including a detachment of Tau. I want to see more armies being more viable, more internal and external balance between army books, and a more reasonable representation of all armies in tournaments.

I love Chip, and I know this is not his intent, but seeing how uncompetitive most of the non-new army books are (and even some of the new ones! Sorry, Dark Angels!!) in the data from Torrent of Fire is really the final nail in the coffin.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not rage-quitting or anything. But I'm simply not excited to play competitive 40k. I will. I hope to go to Templecon, I'll do Nova, local events that Brendan runs at Gaming Etc...

...I guess to simplify my thoughts and feelings, I don't expect 40k to be my "main game" anymore. At least until thing get a bit more even-keeled!

So what will I play? Good question, I'm glad you asked...

11th Company GT

Amidst a gaming draught, I took a quick trip down to Myrtle Beach, SC to see my friends Neil and Pat and get some gaming in!

I'm not dead yet...

I haven't been blogging, haven't been hobbying, haven't been sleeping, and in fact am having a hard time remembering what I have been doing at all!

Home from NOVA!

Holy $hit am I exhausted! I played in the Invitational, the Open, and at the last minute we formed a Trios team, for a grand total of 16 games of 40k played between Thursday night and Sunday evening. My knees are still aching and I can barely keep my eyes open!

Last Night before NOVA!

NOVA has come, and I'm still not done painting! I have to finish repairing one more guy (I'm rough on my toys!) and paint a new Herald of Tzeentch on a Disc...and it has to get done tonight, because there will be no time tomorrow!

I'm leaving my house before 7am on Thursday, to ride down with my friends from Battle for Salvation, and I'll have football practice until 9pm on Weds...so...this is it! A quick wash or two, some gold and silver parts, boney horny parts, and he's done! I'm not a perfectionist...

So, I've settled on a list that focuses on killer DPs and a (hopefully) just-big-enough Screamer-star with (hopefully) just-enough-rolls on Divination for Forewarning:

Fateweaver
Tzeentch Herald (Level 2, Disc)
Tzeentch Herald (Level 3, Disc, Exalted)
Tzeentch Herald (Level 3, Disc, Exalted)
10 Horrors
10 Horrors
10 Horrors
7 Screamers
Daemon Prince (Tzeentch, Wings, Armor, Level 3, Two Greater Rewards, Lesser Reward)
Daemon Prince (Tzeentch, Wings, Armor, Level 3, Two Greater Rewards, Lesser Reward)

No surprises, nothing flashy, in fact it will probably play extremely boring. But, it's my Daemons, it's the only Daemon build I feel comfortable using (in other words, I think non-Screamerstar lists will not do well...I reserve the right to be proven wrong!)

A shout to my friends Neil and Pat at the 11th Company Podcast who will be "live-casting" the top tables for the Invitational and Open all weekend. I invite you to check it out, though I assure you you'll not be watching me! The livestream can be found HERE.

For the record, my goal in the Invitational (which has an AMAZINGLY tough field of players!) is to NOT be the 0-5 guy!
My goal for the GT is to make one of the top two brackets, in other words to go at least 3-1 for the first part!

Wish me luck, hope to see you there!!

NOVA cometh: Practice RTT at Gaming, Etc

Football season has started, leaving me very little play time, and virtually no blogging time. For those that don't know, I help coach my son's Pop Warner football team...I rush home from work, drag him to practice, deal with 7-9 year-olds that would rather be playing video games until 8pm, coaches talk, home to feed and shower the kids, and I'm not sitting down for myself until 9:30 or so...by then I don't want to do anything but eat and sleep!

So, I've not done anything new or exciting since Connecticon...until now, that is! My friend Brendan ran a "NOVA Practice Tournament" this past weekend at Gaming, Etc in Stratford, CT. For a relatively small venue, there was a great turnout with some of the region's biggest names attending: Sean Nayden; Alex Fennel; Kurt Clauss; Mike Morales; Jawaballs; Werner Born...Nick Nanavati was going to come, but he heard I was going so wimped out. :) (Actually he had family obligations, but I reserve the right to ruthlessly talk shit!)

ConnectiCon!

Last weekend (July 12-14) I attended ConnectiCon, a "Multi-genre" Convention that was primarily anime and pop-culture CosPlay and Gaming.

Yes, Warhammer 40k and little hotties wearing skimpy outfits and pink hair! What's not to like?!

If you zoom in and look close, that guy's staring at her boobs...which is cool, cuz I was too...and so are you!