Sunday, May 6, 2012

Why Mech is King and Purgatus Sucks at Warhams

Hello fellow bloggers.

I am back from the TSHFT Invitational. I had two good wins, two good losses, and two... I don't know, bad losses?

I must admit I didn't really devote any time to studying the format of the event, or the scoring system. For those interesting in the format, you can find out more here.

Suffice to say I am not a huge fan, which is probably to be expected.

I'm not a fan of Battlepoint tournaments. I'm not a fan of crazy missions or whacky "bonus" objectives. I didn't carefully select pairings of secondary and tertiary objectives for each of several different types of opponent armies.

I basically focused on the main mission, and tried my darndest to win it come hell or high water. Many players simply played for draws, and focused on the bonus missions, which were actually worth more than a win.

When you are diving full strength for a win, and your opponent is holding back conservatively and not taking risks to also try to win, sometimes you basically  hand your army to them.

This is doubly true when the "win" condition for two out of six games requires you to take objectives in your opponent's deployment zone, with a foot slogging army. Doubly especially with out any line of sight blocking terrain against a Grey Knight army with 100+ anti-infantry shots that you have to walk into in order to take objectives which are all on your opponent's half of the board.

Ugh.

Now, it didn't help that I didn't sleep very well before or during the weekend.

It didn't help that I basically haven't been playing the game for the better part of the year.

And it certainly didn't help that I was basically playing a whacky battlepoints tournament as if it was a win/loss tournament. So there is certainly plenty of blame for myself.

But the reality is that I didn't have fun. And I get frustrated when I play in settings that are like that. It's not my "schtick." So I won't play in those types of tournaments anymore.

And I'm not going to try and play "unique" armies anymore, either. I'm not going to play footsloggers just to be different. I'm going to mech up, play my Grey Knights like everyone else, and not give a fuck what anyone says about how common, overpowered, or cheesy they are.

But for the record, Psychotrope grenades are complete and utter horseshit. Just sayin'.

So, expect Razorbacks, Psyflemen Dreads, and lots of Psycannons. It's just the way this edition works. Sixth edition might be different but for now I'm just going to play my Knights.

Anyways.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and for the record, all my opponents were completely pleasant and probably putting up with a really bitchy and cranky Purgatus, so I apologize to them.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Heading to TSHFT Invitational

My bags are packed... I'm ready to go... Leaving... in a Hyundai... I'm pretty sure that I'll be back by Sunday...

Yeah, I'm pretty poetic. Anyways, I've earned a spot at this year's The Seattle Heart of Fire Tournament (TSHFT) Invitational. So I'm throwing caution to the wind and going to a GT instead of studying for my midterms. Hooray!

To show just how "unplugged" from gaming I have become, I spent the evening today gathering my crap for the tournament. I couldn't find my codex for like 45 minutes, I was missing several minis, and... I can't find my dice.

Like, at all.

I got so desperate that I had to raid my old RPG dice bag for all the odd colored, mismatched D6's I could find.

How embarrassing.

I also can't find my Tac Template, which is just really really shitty. Playing a foot army without a Tac Template is just asking for trouble. Ugh.

Anyways, I'm heading out early tomorrow morning. I'll try to post the results up here for you guys, along with some photos if I can.

My army list tomorrow, for those who care:

 Logan Grimnar

Rune Priest, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist
 Lone Wolf, Terminator, Storm Shield, Chainfist
Wolf Scouts x 5, Meltagun

Wolf Guard x 10, Terminator x 2 w/Cyclones and Chainfists, Arjac Rockfist, Power Armor w/Combimelta and Wolf Claw
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone
Wolf Guard x 5, Terminator x 1 w/Cyclone

Longfangs x 2 w/Lascannons, Packleader
Longfangs x 2 w/Lascannons, Packleader
Longfangs x 4 w/Multimeltas, Packleader, Drop Pod

2000 Points

Doesn't look like much, but... well maybe it's just not much. Lol.

 There's a few ways it could be improved, but it's painted perty and that's important. I'm waiting till sixth to do anything new. Arjac rides with the Loganbomb Longfangs in the Drop Pod, and the Combimelta/Wolf Claw goes with the scouts. The remaining eight man unit along with the Rune Priest are my midfielders, supported by two smaller five man units and the Lone Wolves. The two units in the backfield give up a Wolf Guard each to the Longfang units (which should be missiles but I have Lascannons painted so bite me) to make them not totally die to a gentle breeze. And then Logan's unit comes in and hopefully just causes a ruckus. They usually do.

I'm excited to try out Arjac for the first time (giggle).

Later gents.