Saturday, February 26, 2011

Old Stuff Day - Check It Out



I will be participating in this year's Old Stuff Day.

I will be scheduling several of my old posts from Yes The Truth Hurts that I'm particularly proud of to get re-posted here in honor of this day. If you have a mind to I would encourage you to participate as well.

Tyranids Second Wave - What Becomes of Our Conversions?



I've been hearing rumors that there will be a Tyranid second wave coming out around August. If the rumors are to be believed there will by a Tyrannofex/Tervigon kit included in plastic, as well as a Harpy kit.

This has kind of got me worried, to be honest. It will be great to have a buy-and-go option for new Tyranid players, sure. But what about us poor bastards that have spent months hawking our souls for old Carnifex kits to build our own Monstrous Critters?

I'll be honest, I was excited to play Nids from the time they first came out. But it's taken me quite a while to actually get this project off the ground, and I certainly can't afford to drop 200 plus bucks on new models if the new kits are completely disproportionate to what I already have.

I guess this is going to be a "moment of truth" in a way. If GW decides they want to "stimulate sales" they can make the Tyranofex/Tervigon much bigger than the Carnifex that most people have based them on. This would immediately invalidate every converted MC out there for tournament purposes.

It would truly be a form of cheating to take a MC to a tourney which is significantly smaller than the "official model."

Or they could, ya know, make them really, really gorgeous and awesome kits. Then I might find it in my heart and budget to replace say, just the Tervigons with their official model and keep my T-Fexes.

I sincerely hope they go the latter route.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Hobby Progress: Got Some Paint On My Tervigon

Hola.



It's not close to being done, some of the stuff looks kind of sloppy at the moment and no highlights have been applied, but the basic colors are pretty well represented so you can get an idea what the final product will look like.

NOVA 2011 Missions Primer



Mike posted up the missions primer here.

I've had a chance to give them a first read through, so I thought I would share my initial thoughts. I'll be sitting down with a beer later and giving them the attention they deserve.

Let me just start by saying the NOVA missions are the best tournament missions I am aware of today, in terms of ease of use, fairness of play, and strategic depth.

I know there were complaints last year about the lack of Kill Points. Most of the complaints centered around the allegation that Kill Points are an effective balance against MSU and the lack thereof unbalanced the missions in favor of MSU.

In Defence of the Heavy Venom Cannon


So I've heard a lot of talk about how useless Heavy Venom Cannons are. Let's talk about that. First of all, they ARE improved from their incarnation last edition. I hope everyone caught that. They ARE capable of destroying a vehicle on a pen, which is a bonus.

For the uninitiated, the Heavy Venom Cannon is a 36 inch range, Strength 9 AP 4 Small Blast Assault 1 weapon. Sounds pretty good right?

Well, the drawback is that against non-open topped vehicles it gets -1 to the vehicle damage roll.

Bummer.

Well, it is if you are using your Heavy Venom Cannons to kill tanks. That's not really what I plan to use them for in most cases.

Let's take a moment to do some maths around this topic. You all know how I love maths. If you have been following along with my little mini-series on basic Warhammer Probabilities, most of this shouldn't be new to you. After all, we are just doing a simple weapon damage calculation.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Reflections on Netlisting (Yes, I got netlisted)!

 Pic only vaguely related, but funny. ;D

It was the weirdest feeling... I backtracked a referring link to a forum and found someone talking about how they were going to be playing a Space Wolves player soon who was using MY Loganwing list, and then he linked to my blog.

I'm not going to link to the forum post itself for two reasons:

A) I don't necessarily think it's polite to expose some random forum thread to the whole internets.

B) I made a rules mistake there and I don't want anyone to know about it. I didn't think you tested for Dangerous on a run move for some random reason. Oh, wait, did I just tell everyone about it? Lol. I have a bad habit of exposing my mistakes to the world. Makes you tough. So really it's mostly about reason A.

My Nids - Fine Tuning



So, having gotten a game in with my test list and having given it a lot of thought of late, I have come to the following conclusions:

-Nids are a really, really fun army to play. They are just so different from Marines. They are just a pleasure to move around on the table, with so many "neat" things to do. Tervigons aren't just "good" - they are fun! Spawning gaunts, throwing around Feel No Pain (kind of a mini-target priority game in itself!), and ya know, being big and mean are just cool.

-Heavy Venom Cannons are staying. They aren't meltaguns, no. They are something else, but they bring a certain utility that is very nice. TL Devourers are also excellent, but against the threats I am MOST concerned with (Razorback spam, Blood Angels Jumpers, Dark Eldar Mech), they have what I need.

-The biggest thing I missed in the army was Preferred Enemy bubbles. I don't want to just add one and make a single Tyrant a priority. I know a lot of people question the double tyrants in general, and that's fine, but for now I'm staying with them.

-Monstrous creatures are quite easy to get cover for when you have Gargoyles and Hive Guard running around.

This leads me to the following thought:

If I drop the Tyrant Guard entirely, I have exactly the points I need to buy Preferred Enemy bubbles for both Tyrants as well as give them both a 2+ armor save.

Pros:

-Much more survivable versus Missiles, Poison Weapon, Autocannon, Multilasers, etc.
-Get Preferred Enemy bubbles.

Cons:

-Less survivable versus AP 2 weapons.
-More difficult to get cover versus AP 2 weapons.

I am forced to think about the threats that I may face. The scariest armies to me (and perhaps I'm missing some) are Space Wolves Razorspam, Marines Razorspam, Dark Eldar Raiderspam and Blood Angels Jumpers. Losing the Tyrant Guard makes me more vulnerable to the AP 2 but less vulnerable to torrents from poison weapons.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

YesTheTruthHurts - Stelek's On A Roll!

Someone lit a fire under that man, and boy howdy.

He's changed the format, and is churning out quality material that is catching everyone's attention.

In short, Stelek's back, hopefully to stay.

This post in particular was good, I play lizzies and have been itching to play more Fantasy, so it was nice to see.

Go check out the new look, the new content, and the great discussions.

Ads Are Back

My wife said if I'm going to waste as much time as I do blogging I'd better at least be getting some hobby money out of it.

*sigh*

She's always right.

Book Review - Prospero Burns


Image Copyright Games Workshop, used without permission. 

Well, I said I would put up some thoughts on this, so here we go.

Out of all the Black Library books I've read, it's the first I've really felt "compelled" to spread the word about, so that should tell you something.

Full Disclosure: My main army is Space Wolves. So I'm a bit biased towards the furry dudes.

If you have been living in a closet, you may not have heard of the Horus Heresy books.These books are set in the early days of the Imperium, usually just after the Emperor turned over control of the crusade to Horus and tell the story of Horus' betrayal of the Emperor (Wait, should I have given a spoiler alert for that part? Sorry guys, Horus turns out to be a bad guy. ;)

BlogDex - Go Use It People!

Email in:

Purgatus!

Congratulations on the almost immediate success of your new blog. Well earned and well deserved. We subscribed straight away and are really impressed so far, despite our high expectations!

We hope you can spare us a moment for this.

A few weeks ago we started the GDMNW.com BlogDex. An index of hobby blogs with thumbnails and links to each site. Next week we’ll be uploading RSS details for all of the sites as well as some RSS bundles which will allow users to subscribe to all of the blogs in a section with a couple of clicks. There are just under two hundred in there at the moment.

With the news that Ron of From the Warp is putting his site ‘in stasis’ we wanted to step up our efforts to let people know about this resource. It’s a great way to find new blogs and sites to visit and unlike blog rolls always includes all of the sites, all of the time.

The post explaining how it works is here. An example of the BlogDex pages is here. The link is to the Warhammer 40k blogs list.

As the GDMNW.com BlogDex expands we’ll break large categories down into sub-categories to keep the listings a manageable size. For example, we may create a 40k Advice section for blogs which specialise in list building and general 40K advice.

We’d love it if you’d help get the news out there! There’s a wealth of small blogs that are worth reading but often aren’t because they’re not updated very often or just aren’t well integrated with the rest of the blogosphere.

If you could give us a shout out that would be absolutely marvellous.

Cheers,

Gareth
GDMNW.com

Take note people. You lead in with a compliment, and then you slip in the request.

Consider the shout out... shouted.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Leader of the Pack Rule, Acci-cheating, etc.

I've been an acci-cheater before. Acci-cheating is when you don't really intend to cheat, but you do it anyways. It has to be something that benefits you though or else it's not acci-cheating, it's just being a dumbass.

Oh, and here's an email I got. It's related:

"Hi Purgatus,

DaveLongTooth here,

I know I am 4 weeks late... but it just dawned to me that in your GT Logan and Njal both have the Saga of Majesty.
How does that work out given the sidebar Leader of the Pack on page 81? One of them loses it?

Also, the comments work on your blog!!! I just saw that tonight, yay!!!

Take care,

 Dave"


Thanks Dave, and good looking out man! This is just an example of a writing fail on GW's part. They are notoriously bad at cross referencing things. For example, always read both the full entry AND the entry in the back of the book for every unit. Otherwise you don't know what the hell's going on.

It's just GW's way of punishing those who don't read their shit like it's the bible: from cover to cover, over and over.

Thankfully, I DO read my codices like the bible! Page 64 where it explains Sagas says the following:

"...no two characters may bear the same saga. The exception to this rule is special characters, who have their own stories and abilities above and beyond the sagas. For instance, you could take a character of your own invention and purchase him the Saga of Majesty, despite the fact that you intend him to accompany Logan Grimnar, who bears the same saga."

So long and the short of it is that for special characters the saga rule goes out the window, BUT the FAQ does clarify that even special characters may not bear the exact same wargear as any other HQ character.

Wierd, but it is what it is. So I'm not an acci-cheater today.

We'll see about tomorrow. ;D

I'm glad the comments are working for you, and please feel free to make use of them!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Hobby Progress: Hive Tyrant, Now With More... Colors?

So, here he is:



And in some different lighting:



Yes, I still fail at having a decent lightbox. Sue me. Or make me a lightbox.

I'm not sure how I feel yet, to be honest. This is still a "test" model, and I'm torn on the greens. Too many colors pulling him in too many directions? Or does he give off a nice "I'm a Nid. F your sensibilities." Vibe?

You tell me.

I'm still waiting for Sandwyrm to come in with a flash and a poof of smoke and save the day with his color theory awesomeness. I guess I might ACTUALLY have to email him, or something.

Sigh.

Things Not To Say On 40k Forums

I've seen so many posts that start out like this:

"I'm not sure what the rule says, but I'm going to guess it works like..."

They never end well. And yes, I just saw this exact quote, on a forum. For reals. ;D

Any others for the list?

Basic Warhammer Probabilities - A Guide, Part III

Now let's embrace yet another wrinkle: the meltagun!

Melta-weapons are interesting because as soon as you start throwing more than one dice during the same "gate" you get an entirely different pattern of possibilities. It's not a straight 1-6 anymore, but instead looks like this:
 
Dice Roll Outcome
Chance out of 36
2
1
3
2
4
3
5
4
6
5
7
6
8
5
9
4
10
3
11
2
12
1


There are 36 total combinations you can roll on 2d6. So you can see that the left side shows the "results" of the roll, and the right side shows the odds of getting that result out of 36. There is only one combination that will result in a result of a "2": a one and a one. Likewise there is only one combination that will result in a 12: a six and a six. But you can roll a seven the following ways:

1 plus 6
2 plus 5
3 plus 4
4 plus 3 (yes these are different!)
5 plus 2
6 plus 1

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Basic Probabilities - A Guide, Part II

This is a continuation of this post, where we cover the very basic steps required to determine the likelihood of a weapon wounding it's target.  Now let's take a look at something a little more in depth.

Let's say we are a Space Wolves player and have a few Long Fang squads in our army. We want to know what the odds of destroying a Rhino are when firing 4 Krak Missiles at it. A reasonable question.

Well, we can find out the odds of destroying a Rhino are from firing ONE krak missile, using the method we outlined above.

Step one: "Hitting Gate." As in the above example we are BS 4 so we hit on 3+ giving us a 2/3 chance of hitting. Good so far?

Step two: Now instead of a "Wounding Gate" we have a "Penetration/Glance" gate. This one is a little bit trickier but let's think it through. For vehicle damage you have to calculate the Glancing hits and the Penetrating hits separately and then add them together. In this example we will glance on a roll of a 3 (Strength 8 Missile plus 3 = 11), and penetrate on a roll of a 4, 5 or 6.

Let's start by looking at the penetrating hits and come back to the glances. We penetrate on a 4 - 6 so one half. 2/3 (hits) times 1/2 (pens) gives us 1/3 penetrating hits per shot fired. So far so good.

Basic Warhammer Probabilities - A Guide, Part I

This is for all you non-mathletes out there who want to be able to perform some basic calculations. I find it helpful to use Excel when I start to get into trickier calculations - it's amazing what you can do with a spreadsheet.

WARNING: This is going to start out really basic. Don't eye-roll, some people don't know how to do this stuff. We will get to slightly trickier stuff in later parts but if you are any kind of mathlete this stuff might be review.

If you ARE a mathlete, however, feel free to check my work! ;D

Anyways, let's start with something simple. We have a BS 4 bolt pistol firing a single shot at a Space Marine. We want to know what the probability is that it will kill the space marine.

Great.

You can think of each of the steps here as a single "gate." Each "gate" is narrower or wider depending upon how difficult it is to get through. We are trying to see how likely it is to get through all the gates to the end of the path. Ok?

First step is to calculate the "Hitting Gate." So at BS 4 we hit on 3's, 4's, 5's and 6's. We miss on 1's and 2's. That means that we will hit FOUR out of SIX times, or two thirds. So we take our one shot and multiply it by two thirds and get... two thirds.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Nids Hobby Progress

Have grabbed some minutes here and there - mostly making progress on building up the reds on the Hive Tyrant but also added some color splashes and details to the Hive Guard test model. I think I'm getting close to the final selections for the detail colors. I can't figure out what color I want the Lash whips and "Feed Tubes" for the Heavy Venom Cannons to be. Any thoughts are appreciated.



I think I will take these guys to an upcoming 1750 tourney. Should have them three color standard by then, and don't really care about taking home any trophies. Maybe I'll bring the wolves though. Not sure yet.

Foot Armies, Mobility, Random Thoughts


So, things have been kind of interesting in the blog-o-sphere of late.

It's nice to see Stelek back, s'alls I'm sayin. Keeps things interesting.

But not going to address that directly at the moment, just going to talk about mobility in foot armies.  Warning, this is just a sort of meandering stream of consciousness so feel free to tell me I'm full of shit if I am.

The first inspiration was Kennedy over at 40k For The New Professional. He talked about whether Tyranids are a "slow" army. I think he hit the nail on the head here - they are not a slow army, but they are not a fast army. They are a "normal" army in terms of mobility, that benefit from fast elements (as most armies do).

Thursday, February 17, 2011

NOVA Style RTT Batrep - Blood Angels Mech vs. Imperial Fists Mech

Ok, this took a while, lol. Nick did most of the work, of course, putting together the Vassal pictures and writing the comments. I guess I could have just thrown them all into the blog, but I just HAD to upload them to Picasa and make a slideshow... lol.



Jeez guys, you really beat the shit out of each other, lol. You need to watch the slideshow in full screen to get the full effect.

Also, I'm going to be throwing the Batreps onto their own page, because let's face it Batreps are cool and fun to read. ;D

Email In: Help With Nichley's Loganwing, Pt II

Like every other blogger in the world, I'm getting behind on my emails. My biggest problem is the images that people are sending to me don't seem to want to upload properly. I blame it on my being on a Mac... Anyways, this email has no pictures so up it goes!

Purg,

Sorry to hit your email up twice in one day (I am TRYING to get your other post up Nichley!), just would like yours and the community’s help on this list decision I have been debating with myself the past few weeks (inner monolog is starting not to be so inner…)I feel ya man, I agonize over lists... It's an issue. ;D.

Here are the two lists I am trying to decide between, one is very specific on what I need to do tactics wise and has counter built in to the varied threats (see what I did here, eh?).

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm taking a day off from my little space mens to show my appreciation to the woman who lets me play with them.

I suggest doing the same.

;D

Dessicator Swarms vs. Shreddershard Beetles - The Debate

Not really much of a debate but anything for the page-views, amirite?

In all seriousness though, I've taken off the ads. I felt like a sell-out and they had made me like ten bucks so... no more ads. My Stiffneck Studios project is going to have to pay my way to the NOVA... or I'm not going to make it. *sob*

Anyways, I've heard some folks online saying that they are taking Shreddershard Beetles rather than the Dessicator Swarm because Shreddershard Beetles are better for shooting at Feel No Pain Marines, such as Blood Angels all clustered into a deep-strike clump.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Why "Dicing It" Doesn't Work - Statistics, Probability and Bias

Yes, my post title sounds like a peer-reviewed journal article title.

Sue me.

Anyways, there's been a few comments made recently regarding Shattershard Beetles.

References were made to the usefulness of rending versus the increasingly common Feel No Pain USR. The kicker came from comments made both here and in a few other blogs about how they had "diced it" and come to the conclusion that it was a good idea.

Nids WIP - Photos and Update

So just a few quick photos of my WIP Nids to satisfy the curious. As you can see there is still a long ways to go, lol.

Currently debating whether my paint scheme (as exemplified by the Hive Guard with the Brown Faded Carapace and Red spiky bits) has enough "pop." My buddy has noted that I like subdued color schemes, but we all know that even excellently painted models that look "dull" to the uninitiated can be looked down upon by judges who get infatuated with bright colors and harsh highlights. (Sandwyrm, you got robbed bro, your army is the cat's meow).

Now, this army is not going for any painting awards, but I have been thinking about this a lot and wanted your feedback. Is the brown fade scheme too "bleh?" Could I stick with the brown faded carapace but add some other colors to make it more interesting?

I think on the larger Monstrous creatures the reds really spice it up a lot. I also need to decide what colors I am going to use for my "fleshy bits" like the Venom Cannon Feed tubes, the lash whips, and the plethora of tiny little "gill slits" that all Nids are covered with (I could in all fairness leave the "gills" the way they are but they do represent an opportunity to add some visual variety.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the colors thus far.


Took The Nids For a Test Drive

*aahhhh*

Still has that new army smell.

Here's my current test list:

Hive Tyrant, Heavy Venom Cannon, LW/BS, Tyrant Guard
Hive Tyrant, Heavy Venom Cannon, LW/BS, Tyrant Guard

Hive Guard x 2
Hive Guard x 2
Hive Guard x 2

Tervigon, Catalyst, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Spine Cluster
Tervigon, Catalyst, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, Spine Cluster
Termagants x 10
Termagants x 10

Gargoyles x 10, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs
Gargoyles x 10, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs

Tyrannofex, Rupture Cannon, Dessicator Swarm, Spine Cluster
Tyrannofex, Rupture Cannon, Dessicator Swarm, Spine Cluster

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Critical Thinking Time Folks - What's Wrong With This Mission?

Ok, so a local tourney just posted up their missions. For background, it's a Battle Point tournament, 1750 armies.


Scenario One:

Deployment: Pitched Battle - You may not deploy within 12 inches of the short board edges

Players alternate deploying units starting with Heavy Support. Once a player has deployed all of their heavy support choices, they move on to their Troops units, followed by Elites, HQ, and finally Fast Attack.

Friday, February 11, 2011

NOVA-Style Rogue Trader Tournament - Lots of Photos

Hey guys. As promised here are some pictures from the Rogue Trader Tournament I ran last Saturday.

It was the first tournament I had run myself, and I had a blast.



24 players came out, which was just about perfect - filling the available tables without straining our ability to put adequate terrain on each. Some of the tables ended up better than others, but on balance I don't think there were any tables where someone would have felt completely hosed by terrain.

Stiffneck Studios IG Project - Shipment Arrived!


Oh boy. I've got my work cut out for me. I'm still waiting on six more Chimeras...
I have to admit, I'm pretty excited to get all this put together and get my first game with Guard under my belt. I need to decide on a paint scheme. I'm hoping that the color wheel gurus over at the back 40k might give me a hand with that... something that catches the eye and brings the army together nicely.

For those not following along, I have been presented with a rather unique opportunity - write a list, any army, anything I want. Build the army, paint the army, then Stiffneck Studios will sell it. 

If all goes as planned, the army plus the ad revenue from the blog should pay my way to the NOVA Open in August. 

That's the plan anyways. Wish me luck!

Still Alive!

Jeez. Miss a DAY without posting and people get worried!

Just been busy. I've been trying to write posts in the evening and scheduling them for posting the next day but Wednesday night I was just bone tired so didn't do any work. (Shame, shame, I know).

Well, it's the weekend and I have a few articles (including some guest posts that I've had a hard time getting the pictures to upload on, sorry Nichley) that I will be finishing and putting in the queue.

Thanks for your patience!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Conquest Seattle - Lots of Pictures

This should make SinSynn happy.

Seventy seven photos I took at Conquest before my camera gave out. Mostly taken at the beginning of the tourney when everyone was laying their stuff out. I think I got a picture of almost every army there.

Enjoy.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Conquest GT - Game 3, Vulkanistan Dual Land Raider

Ok, so here's where the wheels fell off, lol.

You may recall my Logan/Njal list, which you can see here. You may also have recalled some discussions over at YTTH where I boldly proclaimed that I was taking out my unit of Wolf Scouts (and their meltaguns) in favor of a third Lone Wolf.

"I love Lone Wolves" I proclaimed. "I don't need no stinkin' melta!" I boasted. "Besides, I have split firing relentless longfangs with Multimeltas. I mean, who runs Dual Land Raiders anymore anyways?"

Lol.

Hobby Success - Paint A 2k Dark Angels Army In A Week, Take 2nd Best Paint At a GT.


I know a lot of people who got excited when the Dark Angels FAQ got updated. But one man got a BIT more excited than most. Here's his story:

What’s up all?

My name is ChappyDBC and today Purgatus has given me kind permission to guest post on his blog about an army I painted up and took to the Seattle GT this year. I won second best painted with it. The kicker: it took me seven days to complete from start to finish. 

Including the build time.

First, a little about me. I have been playing Warhammer 40,000 for about 11 years now. A buddy of mine got me into the hobby when I was hanging out in the halls of Montezuma and at the shores of Tripoli (Editor's Note: For those not "in the know" my buddy is referring to his time in my beloved Marine Corps). 

I loved the fact that I got to play a game that I was able to put my creative effort into building and painting. I became an avid collector quickly amassing over 30 armies to paint and play with. I was never an overly competitive player (Hah! That's not what I heard...), but I was always super conscious about how my stuff looked. I toured around several game stores in the area to play in tournaments, but was never any good at amassing battle points. So I took a track that I knew I was good at, and I focused on it. 

I endeavored to become a great painter (And he succeeded). And now, with the not-so-gentle help from Purgatus, I am learning to play the “game” more effectively. 



Sunday, February 6, 2011

Tournament Structure Deep Dive: Part II - Voluntary Comp?

I noticed a very interesting thing in the results of the tournament yesterday which I would like to share.

The tournament used the NOVA system for sportsmanship scoring: Rank your opponents in order of enjoyment. Most people will get average Sports scores under this system. It minimizes sportsmanship drama and "gaming" the system (though it's possible to a degree). But you really only benefit if ALL of your opponents had a particularly high opinion of you, and you are really only punished if ALL of your opponents had a particularly low opinion of you, especially in a three round format. I like it a lot.

Well I noticed that when I looked at the Sportsmanship scores, the "average" scores were about the same for the first and second rounds, but quite a bit higher during the third round. I also noted that when you look at the number of "3's" that were scored (meaning that that game was the best for your opponent out of the three rounds) there were TWICE as many scored in the third round as in the first or second.

Tournament Structure Deep Dive: Part I - What Makes a Great Tourney?

So, for those of you who haven't been following along, I had the opportunity, nay, the privilege, of organizing and running a Rogue Trader Tournament for the first time this last Saturday. I had 24 players attend the event, and overall I came away from the experience very glad to have done it. I can now say that I have attended numerous RTTs and several Ard Boys, attended a Grand Tournament, and run my own RTT.

Every new experience in this hobby has opened my eyes and helped me to learn more about this hobby and about myself.

So, like I said I was very glad to have done this tourney. But here at Best Overall we not satisfied with the rousing cry of "good enough!" No, there is always room for improvement, and we should always be striving to better ourselves in every aspect of our lives and (more relevant for our purposes) our hobby.

Right?

Right.

Ok then, let's get started. I have all the lists and documents so now I can "piece together" the results in a way that are useful and interesting to me. I wanted to start with some basics. What are the goals of a tournament?

Well, ultimately a tournament has one overriding goal, which is the enjoyment of its participants. Now we can't guarantee that EVERYONE is going to have the time of their lives, but to the greatest extent possible we should be keeping the good times of our attendees in mind. I hope on that point we can all agree.

Now, the thorny issue that immediately arises is that different people have different definitions of "fun."

I view players as falling on a grid with two axes. One axis covers the "competitive/non-competitive" nature of the player, and the other axis covers the "hobbyist/non-hobbyist" nature of the player.

So we get something like this:

Synaps3: A Blog After My Own Heart

This guy's mission statement basically reads like my New Year's Resolution. He's got some great material here on playing Tyranids competitively and I highly recommend giving him a read.

I also really like his Nids conversions and paint-schemes.

Anyways, here's the link, and he's also been added to my blogroll:

http://synaps3.blogspot.com/

Saturday, February 5, 2011

TO Purgatus is Tough But Fair

So, at the end of the day I'm still alive, we were able to identify the winners without any drama, there was relatively little drama at the tourney, period, and everything seems to have gone quite well.

Things I learned:

-Though very pretty, the full NOVA packet is unnecessarily detailed for a RTT. I can trim the fat and make it simpler without losing the meat.

-For the Kill Point mission, winning by four more than your opponent is a tad too difficult. Win by three is what I will go with in the future.

-The NOVA format missions are overall just really, really good. When you combine them with good terrain setup (I think our terrain was good though not perfect) you really minimize a lot of the drama and angst.

We had 24 players come out. I think most everyone had a good time. We had some really competitive players, some really beautiful armies, and even some really competitive, beautiful armies. I was pleased to see two of the best painted armies in the room going head to head during the last round - I got pretty flash happy, you guys will get to see some nice photos soon.

I will have to dig through my documents and piece it together a bit (I ran the tournament "blind" so I only knew the player's numbers right up till the end when we were announcing prizes) but of the three players that went undefeated, I KNOW one was Dark Eldar and I'm pretty sure the last two were Black Templars and Eldar.

We had no one show up with Space Wolves. Yes, SinSynn, I'm sure you're happy about that, lol.

Off the top of my head I'll see if I can come up with our army representation (in no particular order):

Blood Angels (several)
Codex Space Marines (several)
Black Templars (at least two)
Dark Angels
Eldar
Dark Eldar
Necrons
Chaos Space Marines
Chaos Daemons
Imperial Guard
Orks
Daemonhunters (A really pretty pure Grey Knight army played by a guy who is, I'm sure, VERY excited to get his new codex)
Tyranids (who went 2-1, very respectable).
Sisters of Battle

So the only armies we didn't have represented were Tau and Space Wolves. Pretty amazing spread really. Tomorrow I'll dig into my materials and get some more stats and analysis.

I wanted to give shoutouts to Nardy and Frowbakk, it was great getting to chat with you guys a bit, thanks for making it down.

Nardy sorry we didn't get more time to chill man - I was way stressed during the tourney and my mind was still going 1000 miles an hour afterwards, lol.

In the final analysis - running a tournament is really tough and very draining, but also very satisfying. I recommend it if you can dedicate the time and energy to doing it RIGHT. I say that knowing that even though I did it WELL I didn't do it PERFECTLY (there were things I will improve next time).

Tourney Today!

We'll see how many times I get yelled at!

I think I'm all set. The print order was sent to Kinkos last night, I got my Excel tool ready, etc.

All good.  Wish me luck, and if you are in the Northwest and can make it, we'll hope to see you at Olympic Cards and Comics in about an hour!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Blog Roll Added

I've imported quite a bit from my Google Reader. Some of you may have been missed as I did this quite quickly. If you aren't on there, it's not because I don't wuv you wots. But if you're not on there in a week... I probably don't like you. Lol.

Just kidding of course, if you aren't on my blog roll and would like to be, just shoot me an email and ask. I reserve the right to say no... but I probably won't.

Enjoy.

In other news, I'm running a tourney tomorrow. Sort of a first for me, so wish me luck. I hope you will also understand most of this evening will be spent printing out score-sheets, double checking my pairing program, and otherwise tweaking out before the big day. So this is likely to be the last post until Sunday (but who knows, I might get a wild hair up my ass yet...).

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, don't forget to get some hobby time in!

Nichley Talks Tau: Part I

Here you go, for your reading pleasure:

Purg,

In response to our comments on Tau I guess I will submit my Adventures with them and you may post if you feel like it is a healthy addition to your Blog. See below: (Let me know if you want these in a word doc format in the future)

I have recently returned to Warhammer 40k after a 2-3 year hiatus (Got Married, Got a House, Got some dogs, and then got a new Job, life its fun that way). I decided to browse the blog/forum scene after my first game back in the 5th edition, last time I played it was 4th, and had my teeth kicked in with my “fluffy” Space Marine list. I was looking for information on Tactics and analysis of units and see where 5th edition had taken my hobby. I toiled in forums and blogs until I stumbled upon YTTH. I read the mission statement and some other items and found what I was looking for, answers.

Fast Forward to 2010 (Spare you the mundane details).

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Tyranid Test List Mk II - Now With More Awesome! (And Hive Guard!)

Ok, I'm sorry that the posts have been a little slow. My previous ability to throw up material during my breaks has been impinged. When I get home I'm totally wiped out with kids and housework, etc. etc.

Anyways, enough bellyaching.

Since SinSynn was kind enough to equip me with some more Hive Guard and the second Tyrant I needed, I now have the models to run the following list. I think it's mostly very "inside the box" but could still be pretty interesting to get my feet under me with a very different army than my normal 3+ armored duders.

Tyranids Invade: No Spores Used, Arrive by US Post

So what did my eyes behold when I got home from work yesterday?

A package!! From the Bronx!

Addressed to "Purgatus!" (My wife rolled her eyes).

Inside: Two Hive Guard, a Hive Tyrant, a Terminator Chaplain and Sgt. Tellion!

Oh boy, Christmas in February!

Sin, you are the man. This gives me more flexibility in the Nids armies that I can try out.

I am pretty sure he only gave them to me because he hates the Hive Guard model and has no more use for a Hive Tyrant, but man that's a nice thing to do for someone you've only ever talked to online!

Unless...

...wait...

...now SinSynn has my physical address.

Oh god.

I will have to stop talking about Space Wolves. All Nids All The Time folks! I don't want an angry Bronxer (Bronxite? Bronxian? Bronxanian?) knocking on my door.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Reader Email: Help With Nichley's Loganwing

Email In:

Purgatus,
Having fun watching the Seattle GT coverage hope you are having a blast. As I noted earlier I was gonna send you a version I like of the Loganwing. Like to hear your thoughts!
Here we go:
2000pt Loganwing
Logan Grimnar: Gear as descibed in the Dex
Rune Priest: BP, Runic Weapon, Master of Runes (Powers to be decided)
WGBL: Wolf Claw, Stormshield, TWC, MB, and Saga Warrior Born
Lone Wolf: Terminator Armor, Chainfist, and Storm Shield
Lone Wolf: Terminator Armor, Chainfist, and Storm Shield
Lone Wolf: Terminator Armor, Chainfist, and Storm Shield
Wolf Guard: 3x BP/CCW, 1x Combi-Melta, 1x Terminator w/CML, SS, PF
Wolf Guard: 3x BP/CCW, 1x Combi-Melta, 1x Terminator w/CML, SS, PF
Wolf Guard: 3x BP/CCW, 1x Combi-Melta, 1x Terminator w/CML, SS, PF
Wolf Guard: 3x BP/CCW, 1x Combi-Melta, 1x Terminator w/CML, SS, PF
Thunder Wolf Calvary: 1x Power Fist/Storm Shield
Thunder Wolf Calvary: 1x Power Fist/Storm Shield
Land Speeder Tornado: Multi-Melta/Heavy Flamer
Long Fangs: 4x Missile Launchers
Long Fangs: 4x Missile Launchers
Point Total: 1995
I plan on DS the Speeder, not sure it will do anything...
So may other thought is either drop a Long Fang squad and the speeder which will free up more than enough for an additional WG squad and another 40 points that I can tweak the Lone lone fang unit or add Wolves to the WGBL.
So My take on this is the ability to hold the Mid-field, and cover the flanks with Long Fangs supported by Grimnar and the WGBL there to counter and DS surprises. The Rune Priest can hang out with the WG while the Lone Wolves soak up fire power. All while waiting on a single LS to drop in for a drive by.
Let me know if you can see anything tweakable. I wanna stay away from Loganbombs at this time, IF possible. Thanks for the support!
Hey Nichley, I'm sorry it took me so long to answer this. Things have been... crazy. I think it's fine, and you will likely tweak it a bit as you go. 
A few things to start with though - I'm not sure why the Rune Priest has Master of Runes. Just like the Epistolary upgrade on Nilla Librarians I don't know that it's worth it. Njal makes good use of two powers per turn because he has access to the entire list. I don't think your regular Rune Priest will be able to make good use of it.

On the same note, you mention that your single Land Speeder might not be sufficient. Well, if you drop Master of Runes and the Heavy Flamer on the Land Speeder you can make that a squad of two with Multimeltas to make it a bit more of a sure thing. Or you could use a drop pod Wolf Guard Squad with Combimeltas. Either way, it would be better than Master of Runes I think.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Email In: Help with Vegas GT List - Blood Angels

Email In:

I made my list for the Las Vegas GT. Just want you to to Pick it apart or blog it.

Mephiston

7 Death Company
x1 Powerfist
x3 Powerswords

Death Company Dread
Talons
Magna Grapple