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Post by commandersasha on May 1, 2014 8:02:42 GMT
Personally I am pleased to see a TO trying to make a tournament that will be fun for people who don't want to go the hardcore route.
This isn't Adepticon, I presume there are no huge cash prizes...it is about a bunch of players trying to get a mini tourney in a gaming environment that has become too obsessed with power.
At 1,000, that many MCs IS tough for some armies (although my DE would rub their hands with glee!); you said the Tau player also got told to take his other Riptides away; good.
You can't create a specification list of banned units that will "save the game" now that GW has screwed the pooch with balance, and absolved itself of any responsibility.
The TO looked at your list, and thought "That's a bit hard mate, please lower it". He may be right. Or he may be biased. Or he may be wrong. The trouble is, now that GW has given up caring about balance, we're all in this boat.
Go to the event, take a less MC-heavy list, have fun...and if the Tourney gets swept by the TO's favourite army, come back and tell us, and we'll agree that the world hates us. Come back with a tale of a competition that wasn't dominated by cheesy power builds, and we'll all envy you for having had a great time!
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Post by commandersasha on Apr 22, 2014 16:16:34 GMT
Paint your models for you. If you want to get better, learn from others and practice. You could become the best painter on the Hive, but then a quick look at CoolMiniOrNot will make you cry again,
Personally, I find painting a chore, so coloured undercoat, colour-by-numbers for the other bits, and a slosh of Devlan Mud, and that's as good as I need to make my armies look cool. I envy CMON artists, just as I envy those guys on Youtube who can flip their bikes 60ft in the air, but as I don't want to be one of those OTHER guys on Youtube, who feature in the Fail compilations, I don't mind not being that good.
And what if you did become the greatest mini painter ever? Would you then be happy? Would the mayor give you the keys to the city? Last I heard the prize for Golden Demon wasn't 72 virgins, or even a couple of 35 year old divorcees(which would be my preference).
Compare yourself to others for positive encouragement; don't use them as a stick to beat yourself with.
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Post by commandersasha on Apr 22, 2014 7:59:53 GMT
You completely skipped the section labeled "units in cover" and the example given in it. That section doesn't mention anything about the three Orks in blue getting a cover save from their buddies; would it be 5+ from majority? Or 4+ from best? You're reaching for rules that don't exist. No! Wounds are allocated to MODELS! The unit is targeted, but once those hits become wounds, they are allocated on a model-by-model basis. Correct: the first model gets no cover save. The first wound die kills him. Now the next wound die is used against the first guy in cover, and so on. The above example of AB(CDE)FGH is exactly right. A dies. B dies. C rolls cover... You seem to be confusing when things are done simultaneously, and when they are separated for resolution. SHOTS are fired simultaneously, which prevents a Marine squad firing their Melta at a transport, then their bolters at the escaping passengers, but Wounds are dealt with one-by-one. Again, model by model, wound die by wound die. No wound benefits from rules pertaining to a different die. In your example, use 3 red dice for the Deathspitter, 6 Yellow for the Impalers. Roll all the HITS simultaneously. Discard the misses. You now have 2 red dice and 4 yellow. Roll To Wound, simultaneously. You end up with a red and 3 yellow. You, as the firer, can choose to give your opponent the red die first, or all the yellow dice. The red DS dice don't get Ignore Cover. Give him that one first. He rolls, He fails, his lonely guy dies. Now the rest of the squad is in cover, would normally get that cover save, but Hey Presto, Impalers ignore it! Have a good read back through this thread, I really think you'll find that you have this a bit wrong, and it sounds like you may have a bit of a mix up with some hangovers from 5th? :-) (Sort of Ninja'ed by Stingray )
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Post by commandersasha on Apr 22, 2014 7:28:51 GMT
Wounds are allocated one at a time; this has changed since 5th. Officially you should roll each wound dice separately, allocating to the closest model, then diverting with Look Out Sir, or rolling a single appropriate save FOR THAT MODEL.
In other words, although the "Unit" may be in cover, for the purposes of their next movement, charge etc, their cover saves are done on a model by model basis.
From what I can see, the word "unit" is not mentioned at all whilst discussing cover saves, until the bottom of page 18, in Focus Fire.
Seems pretty clear to me
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Post by commandersasha on Apr 22, 2014 7:12:47 GMT
I am now merely a lurker, as the Skavenids are shelved for the moment (Dark Eldar distraction, and not wanting new Skavenid models), but from what I've seen aren't Venomthropes very popular now, often a single one to help with first turn anti-shooting?
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 31, 2014 19:13:38 GMT
I posted the above article on TheDarkCity (Dark Eldar forum), and the two Facebook groups I belong to: I am very pleased to discover that I am not alone, and that other people are feeling betrayed, but don't want to lose their hobby.
It IS a huge cop-out on GW's part: If they solely traded as Minis and Fluff (as some Manga toy companies do), I would have no problem.
The problem is that in a wave of greed and carelessness, they broke their game.
I think that 6th has been the best system I have played, and before my friends started using fliers, it was a fun, balanced game.
Fliers were the first problem, but Allies was the biggest. Inter-codex balance used to be maintained by the strengths and weaknesses of each army. Tau can't punch. Orks can't shoot. Eldar die easily. Guard can't move much. There were inevitably imbalances, but they didn't ruin games.
Allies, and subsequently all the other FOC-breakers, have removed that balance.
My hope is that the next Rulebook has a core ruleset, based on infantry-rich pure codex armies; it then has many appendices, each offering an optional bolt-on expansion concept, such as fliers, fortifications, D-weapons or Allies. Formations are best left as £10 PDFs, but should be sold as complete army concepts, mini-codices that stand up in their own right.
An incomplete rulebook is a con. Tyranids were the worst insulted here, with a poor codex anyway, but some of their standard units unusable, and extra cost Dataslates released within months. That was disgusting. Genestealers are as iconic as Terminators, you should not have to pay extra for them to be viable in your codex.
Back to positivity, based on my post in my Facebook groups, I have been inundated with offers of games at 1,500, pure single codex, no fliers. It's been a good day for my game!
Sasha
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 31, 2014 18:55:08 GMT
...I know if it were my game and players were demanding clarifications and FAQs, I'd be all over that in my free time. I'd also trying to tweak for balance, and introduce my revisions into new printings of books (or immediately, for online releases). Oh, absolutely! How can they take so little pride in their work that they refuse to fix issues brought to their attention? I appreciate they can't answer every whining fanboy who wants AP1 on their Gaunts, but some response is possible, surely?!
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 30, 2014 21:23:02 GMT
I have just started a new thread that is also pertinent to this discussion, so I won't double-post, but the gist is that GW now presents us with a game-building kit, rather than a finished game system: it is up to us as the players to find opponents, agree rulesets, and include or preclude what we want from the vast range of power and models that GW offer.
Johnson has likened it to a restaurant menu, where you choose your meal: I think a better analogy is a supermarket, where you choose your ingredients, then compose your own meal.
My only remaining criticism is that it used to be a really nice family restaurant, whereas now they've turned it into Tescos, and at Waitrose prices! (Apologies to non-UK readers, to whom the brand references will mean nothing!)
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 30, 2014 21:16:00 GMT
I just read the Jervis Johnson article in this week's White Dwarf, where he says that he is a big fan of gaming groups (such as my 40-member Facebook group), where like-minded players agree on how to use the huge range of models available in 40K to create balanced games. His emphasis was on how GW have done the best they can for their fans by creating a hugely diverse power spectrum, and the onus is now entirely on the fans to make the game playable, balanced and fun. I must concede that from the point of view as a shareholder company in a capitalist market, his point is valid, and that whereas before, GW provided us with a game that was ready to play, now they provide a kit for you to build a game system yourself, and requires customisation.
I am one of the keenest critics of the past year's power creep and breaks from FOC, but I guess this is the way forward with 40K: we have to specify our own game parameters now. GW have declared that game balance is no longer their responsibility, much as D&D won't stop your level 3 Halfling cleric joining a group exploring a level 80 dungeon!
The ragequitter in me is angry for how they have ruined my game and I am going to stamp my feet and set my hair on fire...and I think that Johnson and his co-designers have taken a lazy, cop-out approach to the responsibilities to the fan base that has paid their wages for 30 years, but this article has in fact made me feel better about my game: I no longer feel any compulsion to try to keep up with new developments.
From now on, when I want a game, with my good friends, with new acquaintances, or even pick-up games, I now feel entirely justified in specifying what I will and won't play against.
It still feels petty, but that is where the game is now, so at least I don't feel like such a freak for asking!
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 30, 2014 2:33:47 GMT
I am a huge fan of Terraclips: modular clip-together 4mm card, glorious print quality. A set of "Streets" will give you enough for your 6xD6 terrain needs, including LOS blocking walls for infantry, though not MCs; a set of "Buildings" will give you half a dozen small houses, or several big ones with multiple floors, balconies etc, and a set of "Sewers" about 1/3 of a board of gantries, tunnels etc.
It's not cheap, but it is stunning; I have one of each set, and can fill 2/3 of my board with dense city, including roads (for your tanks to speed down! THAT rule that you never get to use!), water features, alleyways too tight for anything but infantry, and rooftops for your Gargoyles to swoop from!
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 28, 2014 9:21:39 GMT
My wife cheerfully derides "Snorehammer", but knows I love it, so buys me great tools, orders me to go out gaming if it's been a while, and we enjoy trips to the crafting suppliers together, as she sews, beads, carves and welds.
Tylertt, your wife should be writing rules for games, I like how she thinks! Actually, I refer to my earlier post, she was actually empathising with the characters, rather than just treating them as plastic game pieces.
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 27, 2014 22:41:17 GMT
Overread- Scouts was originally for boys, Guides for girls. In the UK Scouting went mixed in the 90s I believe. Guides is still girls only.
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 27, 2014 18:55:49 GMT
A small stone, hematite bead or stainless ball bearing will help stir up old paints, a friend of mine just re-awoke some of his old pots.
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 27, 2014 18:51:43 GMT
I'll add a couple of musings: 1) I am a Scout leader, primarily Beaver Scouts, which is the 6-8yr old group in the UK. For seven years we had no girls, and the few that came along tried it for a week, and didn't like it; then last summer 4 started at once, loved it, and now we have 7. There's a critical mass effect, I think; decades of feminism aside, there are still enough differences that a lone girl will stand out, and disrupt the environment: that can be very intimidating, enough to drive off an inquisitive newcomer, and 40K has a BIG entrance curve: before you get good enough to play, and win, and not get trounced, you have to learn building, playing, and probably painting: a supportive peer group is essential.
2) This game is deceptively maths-rich: you need to be naturally confident with statistics, probability, measurement and abstract reasoning, plus good spatial imagination; the subset of humans to whom this is not just comfortable, but actually fun, is very limited: most of the kids in GW Kingston, Surrey are also in the top maths sets at the local schools. A quick look at the statistics for gender balance in degree level pure mathematics courses shows that there is still inequality there!
3) All the gamer geek girls that I know seem to be much more interested in connecting with characters rather than commanding faceless minions: there is a huge female fanbase in roleplaying games, where you play your character, and a reasonable takeup in small skirmish games like Malifaux, where you have a very personal crew of half a dozen named characters, but less in games with lots of models. Similarly, the Cosplay explosion sees geek girls putting fantastic effort into character emulation. Eldar are a very characterful army, maybe this is why Eldar are so popular amongst female players?
I believe anyone can do or be anything, but the bulges on the bell curve will see 40K appealing to noisy boys more than girls, but there are many female players, they will never be short of attention (good and bad!), and the game is always richer for more diversity.
I hope you find many friends amongst your community, and that you become a regular face on the hive!
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Post by commandersasha on Mar 27, 2014 18:19:44 GMT
Mind you, when a GW shop guy told my wife that the Fortress Of Redemption was a limited edition, she bought it for me when I wasn't looking; now it's back on general release. {Flips table, quits, sets fire to hair}
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