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.
Anyways, it's the first time, to my knowledge, that I've been "net-listed." It was a strange feeling. Part of me was happy that someone thought my list was good enough to emulate. And part of me was thinking "no, wait, that list's not really that great, if I was writing the list for someone else to use I would make different choices."
For example, three Lone Wolves are really cool and I enjoy using them but would I advocate for that in a general purpose GT list? Maybe not. Or my foot Multimeltas. Sure it works but would I put them into a 'netlist' army without a Pod? Probably not. (I have to scratch build my pods which is why they aren't in there now).
So it was a weird feeling, both good and bad. I think I write pretty good lists, but I'm not sure that I would hold them out as some kind of beacon or pattern to follow. If anything I would hope that people would understand HOW I build lists and WHY I use them the way I do, and then make their own.
I'm not saying it's bad to use netlists. It's not. They are a great way to learn about list building and get your legs under you with a decent army. And sometimes you find a list that you really like and realize that you wouldn't change a thing, even if you are perfectly capable of writing your own lists.
I felt that way when Stelek wrote "Best of Space Marines: Part Deux." I thought then and still think that it's a fantastic list, lots of fun and competitive to boot. There's nothing I would change about the list, so I just play it as is (when I still play it).
I guess what I'm trying to say in the end is this: some people produce lists that are meant to be copied and used by others, and do it well. And that's good and a service to the community. I'm not one of those people. When I post my Army Lists up it's because I want people to know what I'm using so they can follow along with my trials and tribulations and hopefully learn something along the way. When I post up "theoretical" lists it's because I want to talk about some of the crazy ideas I have sometimes and get your guys' input on them.
That doesn't mean you can't try my lists, feel free. Just recognize that I'm not pushing them as a model for anyone to follow. So if you're using them, use them because YOU as a player think they are good, not because "Purgatus told me this was good."
As always, feedback appreciated.
