MiniWargaming's Open video letter to GW

Websites like BoLS, Dakka, and the Warstore increase my hobby participation. The Warstore is my mainstay for big purchases, but I still spend my hard earned dime at Canton Games and the occasional GW.

100th post

And it's a less than pleasant one.

If you are on the internet at all, you're well aware of the gigantic shit-storm GW has caused by cutting off the Pacific Rim, moving to cheaper materials and raising prices, changing their marketing strategy to announcing new products one week before their release date, and rendering puppies and kittens down into a fine powder to snort.

And what does this have to do with me? I'm just getting done with my semester, and I was looking forward to spending the summer working and gaming. Games Workshop was going to get some of my hard earned dollars on a new Daemonhunters/Grey Knights army. And now, after all of the above? I'm done.

Will I still play the game? Yes.

Will I buy GW models? Yes and no. There are many other model companies that I can purchase from to get my GW fix, and they don't abuse their customers. I'll purchase from them, and fee-bay is always there to hook me up for things that aren't alternate models.

If they come around, and stop being evil, I might reconsider, but damn, it'll take a lot.

Things have spiraled out of control

I was pricing Apothecary bits this morning, and the cheapest place I found them after a casual search?

Games-workshop.com

I can buy a RARE OOP APOTHERCARY (poor spelling intentional) from GW for $11.50 + tax. Or I can spend $3.00 more for one I'd have to soak in Simple Green for three months to get all the smick off it.

When did it come to this? :)

Wargames Factory has a melt down

You know those neat alternate models that could be used for IG, put out by Wargames Factory?

Well, it looks like they're in rough seas.

A press release from Wargames Factory Sales Director Lonnie Mullins -formerly of GW Trade Sales- detailed that CEO Tony Reidy is no longer with the company in an official capacity, and that with Tony's departure, the supply issues would be resolved post haste.

Reidy, not to be outdone, posted an open letter that all that was bollocks, and Lonnie Mullins was someone who would "[throw] me under the bus" and who "has no honor whatsoever." It seems at some point, Reidy sold the majority of his company to his supplier, and this is a cause of great regret for Reidy, as he has no say.

More information can be found on this Dakka thread, including a link to a further staffer's letter regarding the situation. The long and the short of it, though? If you got those great coat troopers, count your blessings, as we're not likely to see them ever again.

NOVA Open Round Three

The third round saw me facing Joseph Trueblood, a gamer I had not met before. He plays mostly in the VA area, and, like me, was undefeated coming into the round. Scenario 3 saw us setting up as a pitched battle, with table quarters as the primary, with objectives as secondary, and VP's as the tertiary. As you can see from the very brief video above, I completely slacked on the recording of my games as the day wore on. This was the last video that I took for the day.

Joe was playing a highly mobile BA force.
Mephiston
3 5 man assault squads with various special weapons in Razorbacks
3 Furioso dreads
3 Vindicators
3 Baal Preds, 1 flame storm, 2 Twinlinked Assault Cannons

I won the first turn, and set up in the far corner, castling and waiting for the pain to come my way. He toed the deployment line, getting as close to me as he could. He attempted to sieze initiative, but failed.

He scouted forward, and my valk scouted to the flank to get side shots on his preds and vindicators. The valk also served as a distraction to draw away fire power, as did my ratlings, which were also deployed to get side shots. I had Marbo and a guard squad in reserve. The guard squad was to enter on another table quarter and hide to add 75 points to my total there.

With the set-up we had, I was able to whittle him down over time. Anything that threatened my area of the board got unloaded on until it was stunned, immobilized, or destroyed. He clumped his vehicles together, which allowed my manticore, devil dogs, and medusas extra leeway in targeting, and indeed, got me extra hits. That being said, it was still a hard row to hoe. I had to maneuver to get shots in his vulnerable side armor for his baal predators and his vindicators. He made excellent use of cover as well. My guard squad that was meant to hide was actually forced to do something, and plasma-gunned on of his vindicator's guns off.

It was another desperate, hard fought battle, but in the end, it was tied for quarters, tied for objectives, and I won in VP's. Set-up was very favorable to me, and it accounted for my victory.

NOVA Open Round 2

Round two was possibly the hardest fought game that I had. The impossible happened, and we ended up going through tieing all three victory conditions until a winner emerged.

Out of eighty-eight possible opponents, my foe was no less than Leigh Brady, a fellow Fr.A.G.er. I knew I was in for a hard fight, but little did I know how hard. I don't have his list, but you can see it on the video: Razorspam with Gating Terminator bully boys and Dakkadreds. It was hard as hell, and twice as ugly to have to face. The mission was objective capture, and the deployment was pitched battle. Secondary tiebreaker was VP by a 250 point margin, and tertiary was table quarters.

As with the last post, my camera work was hit and miss, but I hope that it lends you all the impression that after turn two, I thought I was done. My losses at that point: My Devil Dog, two Manticores, a Chimera, a Platoon Command Squad, and I was sitting looking at Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators squarely in my deployment zone.

Then it all took a turn for the better. I torrented the Libarian away from the Terminators, and they took a ton of wounds. I passed my Weaken Resolve roll, and they fled for the rest of the game. My hydras, Chimeras and autocannon squads pummelled his vehicles senseless, and my melta vets captured a key objective in the center. Each of us were tearing each other to pieces, but the game ended all too soon. At the end, we tied on objectives with two each, we failed to clear a 250 threshold for a VP victory, and both of us had two table quarters. It came down to raw victory points.

I won the game by 5 points. Let me repeat that: 5 points. Less than 1/3 of a Marine. But a "W" is a "W", so... Leigh sucks. Forever.

Seriously, though. This was a hard fought game, and it couldn't have been closer had I tried. It also goes to prove that whole addage of "never giving up". Had I conceeded after turn two, I never would have had that great game. Neither of us can beleive that the game turned out that way. It just goes to show you what massed firepower can do.

NOVA Open Recap, Round 1

After watching these videos from the weekend, I realize that I am unqualified to do these things in a tournament environment. I'm far too into the games to actually remember to take the videos in the first place. But the videos are all I have, as my still camera crapped out on me. So, they're what you get. My apologies.

That being said, the NOVA Open was a great time. 4 rounds of some of the best (and closest) 40k games I've ever had. I can't say enough about the level of competition and sportsmanship on display this weekend, and the dedication of the staff on hand to resolve issues that arose during the game. The format can be found on the Whiskey and 40k blog.

So, let's get onto the games, shall we?

Game 1 had me facing Casey Campbell, from the Iron Fist League, a group of veteran gamers based in Northern Virginia/DC.

His list:
Swarmlord
2 Tyrant Guard
Warrior Prime with Lashwhip/Bonesword, Deathspitter
8 Warriors with Rending Claws, Deathspitters, 1 Barbed Strangler
9 Stealers+Broodlord with scything talons
9 Stealers+Broodlord with scything talons

10 Termagants with spine fists - 60
Tervigon with catalyst, scything talons, cluster spines, adrenal glands, toxin sacs - 200
3 Hive Guard
3 Hive Guard
Doom with Pod
3 Ravenors with rending claws

What did I bring? The glorious Valhallan 42nd Mountaineers, pride of the Motherworld!

Lt. Sorin Company command with lascannon, plasma x 2 Chimera with HHB and TML
Chef Gordo Ramsey and Kitchen Crew (3 Ratlings)
Psyker Battle Squad 7+1 Overseer, Chimera with HHF, TML
Guardsman Marbo
Revnik's Ragers, 1st Platoon, Faith Company
-Platoon Command, flamer x 4, Platoon Commander, Chimera with HHB, THF
-3 Autocannon/plasma squads
-Commissar Price, power weapon
Veteran Squad with 3x Melta, Chimera with HHF, TML
Al-Marakesh's Irregulars (Veteran Squad) Plasma riflex3*
Devil Dog, HHF
Devil Dog, HHF
Vendetta Gunship *(The plasma rifler's ride)
Manticore
Medusa squadron of two
Hydra squadron of two

Mission: Dawn of War set up, VP primary objective/Table Quarters tie-breaker/Objective secondary tiebreaker

How do I sum this game up? It was a dawn of war mission with a shooting army opposing a close combat army with no real form of transport. Casey's only chance was getting his infiltrating stealers into CC early, and getting Doom quickly to distract me. Due to his terrain rolls and reserve rolls, it just wasn't happening. He made some interesting choices for his list that-- which as someone who doesn't play tyranids-- I just didn't understand. Not spawning, including warriors, not including another tervigon, allowing termigants to slow the Swarmlord down... I think the cards were stacked against him, but I think at that point, you have to play more aggressively than he did. He attempted to keep the termigants in cover, and the tyrant guard/Swarmlord squad behind them to give them cover. All that ended up doing was hold the Swarmlord back, and I never had to worry about him. I know what he was attempting to do, protect all at all cost, but that was the wrong strategy to employ with a Tyranid list. He was so afraid of failing that he ended up failing. All my list had to worry about was: the Hiveguard, stealers, and the Doom and pod. 2000 points versus 806 points tells you how that scenario will end, no doubt.

Not-so-Serious Soap Box: Smoking is bad for your habit.

I'm all for individual freedoms, but I'm all for people realizing the costs of their bad habits. And the bad habit I want to talk about is the big daddy: smoking. I've never smoked myself, beyond the odd bummed clove while drinking. The main reason was that I was too cheap. And smoking is stupid expensive in the long run. Let me illustrate it for you.


One of the fellows on the Freebootaz forum quit smoking for six months, and with his savings, was able to buy the following:


A Chaos Warhound and 2 turbolaser arms
2 Renegade IG Conversion Kits
1 Renegade IG Enforcer kit
1 Renegade IG Priests
2 Shadowsword kits
3 Manticore/deathstrike kits
1 Basalisk Kit
1 Wii


Just think about that amount of stuff. That's just six months after quitting. Don't make the decision for health or whatever else. Make the decision to quit because of the shiny stuff you'll get otherwise.

The Fun Army

At this point I have four fully purchased (but not fully painted) 40k Armies, my Flesh Tearers (Blood Angels), my Celestial Lions (Codex Marines), my Valhallan 42nd Imperial Guard, and last, but not least, is the Host of Hope's Demise, an all Nurgle based Epidemius army, full of Nurglings, Plague Bearers, and assorted corpse yellow goodness. The 42nd and the Flesh Tearers are competitive minded, and I consider the Celestial Lions and the Host as "for fun".

What makes a "fun" army? That's the nebulous part, since fun is different for everyone. For me, the fun army is one built with form over function. You have to look at the army and say "Yes, that makes sense from what I know of the background of 40k.", not "How the hell did he shoehorn that nonsense in?".

In that mind, I created a list that I still think will win games, but due to thematic elements, will likely have vulnerabilities that most tournament savvy players will exploit.

Host of Hope's Demise - Chaos Daemons

HQ
Epidemius 110
Great Unclean One Cloud of Flies Aura of Decay 185


Troops
Plague Bearers, 7 Chaos Icon 130
Plague Bearers, 14 Chaos Icon 235
Nurglings, 7 91
Nurglings, 7 91
Nurglings, 7 91
Nurglings, 7 91

Heavy Support
Daemon Prince, 1 Wings Iron Hide Mark of Nurgle Cloud of Flies Noxious Touch Daemonic Gaze 235
Daemon Prince, 1 Wings Iron Hide Mark of Nurgle Cloud of Flies Noxious Touch Daemonic Gaze 235

Points Summary:
HQ: 295
Troops: 729
Elites: 0
Fast Attack: 0
Heavy Support: 470
Total: 1494

So, we have an army that's random, and controlled by the whim of the Chaos Gods, but if the right wave comes in first, it will start murdering any ground troops available, adding to the Tally of Nurgle straight off. Then, when the Nurglings come in, the little nasties will hopefully have Noxious Touch straight off, and will be wounding on a 2+ in close combat. This army is highly vulnerable to mech, with only three models being able to pop armor (the two daemon princes, and the Great Unclean One). Any high toughness foot army needs to watch out, though! So that's nids and Eldar Iyanden Armies, then, I suppose. For that exact reason, it's not exactly a take all comers list, but it makes for great moments. Moments like nurglings murdering a Bloodthirster in close combat because they wound on 2+ with no armor save. Just avoid Sisters Of Battle and Vulkan Marines. Template weapons will clear you out in a hurry.

Brutal honesty

"People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty." - Richard J. Needham

Too often, the anonymity of the internet allows us to hide behind our jolly pirate nicknames. These faceless knaves look at lists posted on boards by underdeveloped hobbyists, and reply with savage intensity usually reserved for child molesters and line dancers.

But that's too easy. Tearing down someone serves no purpose. It's less than useful. Mentoring someone is hard, and it takes honesty and patience. The only reason I got into this hobby is because people took the time and the effort required to be mentors. The people who sheltered and nurtured my desire to participate were the ones who gave me honest appraisals of my lists (crap), my painting (still crap), and my generalship (better than it was). Without them, I might have missed out on 17 years of fun.

I'm not asking that people coddle anyone. What I'm asking for is a basic respect that you would give to any stranger on the street. Every list that gets attacked might push some 14 year-old kid out of the hobby, which hurts us all in the long run. Tell a kid honestly why you think his list is poor, -- that it lacks anti-tank, or that lacks mobility-- and advise him how you think he should change it. Ask him why he took that one subpar unit, and advise him to try subbing a different unit to test it out. Don't be surprised if he doesn't take the advice immediately, but over time, that stuff sinks in.

It takes more effort to be a mentor. It is more difficult than snapping off a snarky comeback. But it's worth the effort in the long run.