Only a Few Game Nights State-side Remain...

Tuesday night was possibly my last night playing at one of my FLGS, and sadly I originally didn't plan on playing. My intention was to show up just to return some Drop Pods I borrowed from fellow gamers for semis, however another Marine was there and asked me to play a 2000pt game against his IG list. I accepted and quickly got to work scratching up a list.

Game turns out to be 5 objectives, the majority of which we placed on the left side of the board. Big mistake for my opponent, great for me. Unfortunately he won first turn. He gets to deploying in a turtled up tank fashion in his two corners with some Scout Sentinels and junk in the center. I reserve everything, which made him a very sad panda.

Turn 1O: He sits back and sulks that there's nothing to shoot.

Turn 1M: Drop pod with Furioso Libby comes down, Libby pops two Manticores. Yay!

Turn 2O:  He immobilizes and shakes Libby Dread, fails to kill it. It can't shoot next turn though. Bummer.

Turn 2M: Dante and Honor Guard toting meltas come in by his Russ'... They fail to do anything aside from immobilize one of them. Death Co StormRaven also comes in and boosts 24" across the board, fails at melta-ing a Russ.

Turn 3O: He shoots a crap ton at the Stormraven, lots of misses and cover saves are made. I survive the onslaught. He shoots up Honor Guard and kills one.

Turn 3M: Stormraven moves 12" and drops a Death Dread. Dread and Stormraven shoot up Sentinels, killing one or two. Dante and Honor Guard hop behind a Drop Pod for some TLoS cover and attempt to pop a Russ to no avail. A Rhino also came on and shot 18" across the board, popping smoke.

Turn 4O: He tries to pop the Rhino to no avail. Tries to pop the Raven and succeeds. One Death Co Marine is lost to ensuing firestorm.

Turn 4M: Another Rhino comes on and mimics the first ones move. The first one moves up 12" to be within range for Assault on T5 along with an objective grab. Death Co move out of crater towards a Russ. Libby Dread pops said Russ. Dante and HG pop other Russ and Death Dread makes a mess of IG Vets.

Turn5 O: He tries to pop the first Rhino and succeeds in forcing an emergency disembarkation. Fails to pop the second. Shoots up half the Assault Marines from Rhino One, they make Leadership tests and prepare for Assault next turn. Another HG Marine and a Death Co Marine fall to gunfire.

Turn 5M: Last Rhino comes on, we forget about it. Not like it was needed though. Dante and HG move into position to rape. Assault squad do their job and rape a Guard Mob, claiming the only objective close enough to my opponent. Rhino 2 Claims a second objective. Didn't get to roll the assault for Dante and HG as my opponent had to leave.

Over all, very good game for me. It kind of stunk that my opponent didn't do too hot, however it turns out he's only been playing 6 months. I also have been playing for about the same time, playing properly that is. (I don't count my time in Europe as we didn't really know the rules yet).

It wasn't until I was leaving the store that I realized this could be my last time seeing the crowd there. I felt fairly down about it and choose to have a drink at a bar before going back to my barracks.

'Ard Boyz Stumble

Played in the semi's yesterday. Had an amazing time and played quiet well... however my body did not take to kindly to the day. As I am still recovering from a broken leg, have caught some upper respritory crud and am fried (nasty sunburn) from washing cars all day Friday, my body just shut down on me. Maybe if the store wasn't blistering hot and muggy... But what do you expect in a small crowded place full of grown men? Of course it was going to be nasty.
So I played in two games. The first game went amazing well in my favor. I gave up maybe 400 VPs total and claimed a Major Victory againt my 'Villa Space Marines opponent. He was a very polite and well mannered player despite how brutal a beating he was taking. Major props to him for not letting the game drag him down.
Not much to say on the game, I went second and weathered the storm of gunfire he threw at me and from then on it was assaulting and steam rolling....

Game two was another great game with a top notch opponent. My BA Stormraven build vs a fairly well ballanced JP/Mech BA build. The game was leaning in my favor till the top of 4.... A risky move on my part to kill a Vindicator (it succeeded) cost me my Stormraven that help my 10 man Assault Squad that I needed to pull a Major Victory. At this point I considered playing for a Minor Victory or Minor Loss, but that would kill both of our chances at Top 3 so I changed my game plan to allow a slightly better outcome for one of us... Needless to say, my opponent was very pleased with the game results.

Over all I had a great time. The crowd was very friendly and well mannered. The store was well organized and the staff were very helpful and curtious at all times. The only real downsides is my sucumbing to ailment and the blasted AC being too weak.

The three and a half hour drive home sucked too... Trying to smoke a black and mild while fighting some upper respritory infection is not smart.... Cough attacks all the way back. Ugh.

Yes The Truth Hates

Some may have heard of this "gem" of gaming advice and tactica, the aptly named 'Yes the Truth Hurts'. For those of you who don't know, its a website that focus' on one aspect of the hobby; competitive play. Overall its not a bad place, however it is full of pretty closed minded people if you ask me.

Now I'm not hating on them for saying my recently submitted 'Ard Boyz lists sucked, as I knew it had obvious flaws that I am not willing to change. I'm hating on them for expecting me to change it into something more commonly accepted such as Razerback spam. Can you say ewwwww?

I understand that the general consensus out there is that DC lists suck, Stormravens aren't worth the points (however my store claims they're broken), and Dread Spam belongs only in Dread lists. To have the three come together is absolute unfocused rubbish! Yet I fail to see how running 3 Storm Ravens, 2 DC and 5 Dreads is an unfocused mash-up of ideas. It's rather obvious that they come together as a fast moving brick to the face.

Now such a "tactic" is flawed. It's very flawed. My list lacks scoring power as it only has 2 scoring units... 3 if I combat squad the larger Assault Squad. Also, if I don't go first or some how get shot down early game, a large wrench is thrown into my gears. I actually like this. That's the beauty of playing a heavy aggro style. If things work out you absolutely wreck, if not then it's a hard time with much wrecking still taking place.

Away from OT ranting in defense of my bashed list and back to YTTH.... The people there tend to be very closed minded and of conformist nature. They assume to know what can and can't work in all possible builds, and if you're ideas fall outside the box it's passed aside as "improper" or "too flawed". These are folks who don't like risks, don't like taking chances, and will never take a leap of fate.

Basically, while I too know where the boundaries of what works and doesn't lay, I find it boring to run with the flock and stay with in the fence. I like to break free, stand out and do something different. I like ingenuity and originality. YTTH lacks these things, and for that I'm disappointed.

For any Zomby's reading this, don't hate. Take a chance, do something different. Break away from the mold and enjoy something new. You might not win with a different list, its a risky venture, but if you do it will feel great! Taking something that is 100% you're own creation, uninfluenced by any of the 'Nets input, and winning is one of the best feeling you can have wargaming. Try it.

The Endtimes Near...

Alright, well not really.. But I am going to be doing a whole lot less blogging in the coming months...

See, I finish my contract with the Marine Corps n August 20th and currently have over 60 days of leave (vacation) to spend... I'm moving to Europe in August as well, so I want to spend a lot of time with family and friends before I go....

We also have to take into account where wargaming falls in my list of pass-time priorities....

1. Party
2. Drink
3. Girls
4. Sports
5. Poker (Drinking)
6. Nerdtime

With vacationing and living in europe as a recently freed man, its easy to see in which direction my life with gravitate.

I do love my plastic crack, and I will post some new stuff from time to time. But this will sadly fade away to a once a month sort of deal for me...

Still Alive

My Blog hasn't gone AWOL just yet, only on an extended weekend vacation back home in Ohio. All my 40k stuff is back in VA, and honestly, hasn't crossed my mind once.

But no worries. I drive back to VA tomorrow and after a couple days of rest I'll be back to posting regularly again..