Rebel Without a Cause

So I've already dropped out of the Build Up event at Galaxy. I am disappointed because I was looking forward to one-upping Jawaballs and fielding an 11 drop pod SM army. (That's right--mine goes to 11!) Unlike his Blood Angels, I was looking forward to dropping 6 pods around Half of the Objectives Plus One on turn one and then playing defense from within my wall of fully armed pods and 6 dreadnoughts. C'est la vie. Probably not a viable strategy anyway. School is crazy, and as soon as this semester is over, my wife may be bedridden for weeks from a back surgery, so building a new army and committing to playing several games a month is a little to ambitious for me. Especially considering the rate at which I do anything. "A man on a mission...a very slow paced mission", remember?

So what is the mission now? Man, I don't know. I just picked back up the Eldar codex, and it sure looks sweet after spending the last few weeks trying to fine tune my strategy for a drop pod army. (You wouldn't believe the number of circles and triangles I've drawn. Mathhammer can definitely be taken too far, but I at least proved that if you drop of enough pods around a triangle of objectives, the randomization of any one pod scattering is offset by the rest of the group. I dropped out of the Build Up before completing the final proof, but it is looking like 12 is the perfect number of pods to be guaranteed (greater than 95% chance) to construct an impenetrable wall around an Objective Triangle. But that's not terribly useful knowledge for an Eldar player...)

I celebrated my escape from the Imperial Stategicum by throwing myself headlong into a defense of the Swooping Hawks over at Brent's. I didn't even convince myself. Ok, so there is ONE more possibility I want to check out...hopefully it won't take very long to run the numbers...

But I really do need to give some serious thought what I actually want field since I should be playing some pretty tough games in upcoming tournaments. (I don't think defending the Hawks counts as serious thought.) :)

I confess, I was a little disappointed that I dropped out of the hobby for a few months, buried my head in a notebook with pencil and calculator, figuring every unit and gun's best use and then started putting together my killiest list, only to discover that this had all been done to some extent or other and was posted online for all to consider. True, it was a bit gratifying to see my Theoryhammer vindicated by others' experience, but it seems like now I must decide between showing up with a netlist and a good chance to compete, or a longshot list that allows me to express myself creatively. Who knows, maybe that explains my mad fascination with Hawks right now!

Anyway, I wrote all this...because I'm procrastinating. But now my homework calls. What is your excuse for reading this far? ;)

Ho Leak Rap

So apparently having a hobby, or even a life at all, is too ambitious. I'm taking an online class right now. Maybe rape is too strong a word. Maybe.

When I'm done the state might think I am fit to instruct the youth of this nation. Might.

The Man has his way with us, doesn't He? Hail the Emperor!

(And you wonder why I started with Eldar?) Anyway, I DID play a 2500 pt list one month ago. It wasn't particularly competitive and I have let a month pass without playing another 2500 pt game. So. I am failing in my modest undertaking. There is good news, however, so stay tuned. (Don't let the commercials scare you away! Oh wait, you are American...nevermind.)

My opponent won a minor victory. That's what I get for not reading the secondary objectives. But I can't complain. My two squads of Hawks performed admirably, which must have been a fluke. The 6 rounds of Nightfight helped the Hawks out (crazy 'Ard Boyz scenario). I meant to do a BR on that game, but honestly, it wasn't that exciting. We unwittingly ruled a piece of terrain as impassible early in the game, and it ended up keeping our best CC units out of CC. D'oh!

I have played a few smaller games. Fun. Not fast. I think I'll buy a chess clock. That will help me in practice and intimidate any slowplayers in tournament games, because I'll have evidence against them. But the good news you've (the hypothetical you) been waiting for:

I'm signed up for a "build up" to the 'Ard Boyz tournament. 3 games per month in addition to a tournament every month. 1000 pts in December, more every month. I'm playing Space Marines. Not Eldar? No. It's cool. I think I've got an angle on this that should prove interesting. I don't know if I can share my progress through the months or if that will tip my hand. But if I give into the madness, there should be an interesting story by next summer.

Adelphos: Philos or Fratricide?

I also like to get in a game of any type with my brother when I can. These are leisurely affairs that often devolve into rules-research sessions and strategy discussions. Beer-drinkers and hell-raisers, we are. However, he has agreed to shift gears and push me to speed up my game. This will be helpful, since a non-mech army will have a higher model count and more close combat than I am used to.

I also plan to use these smaller games to test out some ideas I have for battle-reporting. I have the feeling that this type of writing hasn't quite matured. Some battle reports grip me, others lose me mid-battle. With the possibility of video, audio, revolving slides, animations, roll-over pop-ups, and more, I feel like there is room for improvement in this genre. If anyone has format suggestions or consistently good sites to recommend, I am very interested.

I hope I can succesfully command my force AND report on its exploits simultaneously. If not, my brother will gladly dispatch the dispatcher. So stay tuned!

Out of the Gate...

...let me set the bar comfortably low: I'm currently modeling a piece of terrain. It's a rock. For anyone wondering how to model a rock, I suggest first finding a rock. Oh, alright, so I didn't even do that--it's a chunk of asphalt. And no, I can't be bothered to photograph it. Not yet anyway. Maybe later, after I coat it in glue, spray-paint my black rock blacker and then dry-brush some texture back onto it. I just hope it's big enough to hide a Wraithlord.

In the grim darkness of the far future, birds of peace are marinated in soot, baked in the fire of battle, and ground--bones, feathers and all--between the teeth of warmongers. Actually, most of my miniature warmongers look like they have been rubbed in soot as well, and a few even look like they may have been chewed on. Perhaps I was indiscriminate in some of my early E-bay purchases. I may not be much of a collector, modeler, or painter, but then, I don't aspire to be. (Yet?) I also may not be much of a general yet either, but that I am interesting in becoming. Thus, the 'Ard Boyz tournament is my current interest. I'm not into 40k for the hobby; I'm in it for the kill.

Sadly, it's a battle just to make time for the game. So I have a very simple goal. One serious game per month. 2500 points, 2.5 hours playing a list with real tournament potential against a competitive opponent. Hopefully that is not too ambitious. This should leave me with an entire month to nurse my wounds, derive my lessons, and post my findings here.
And now for the challenge: I'll be field-testing a static Eldar army. I realize that current conventional wisdom is that mobility trumps all, and even my "perfect" Eldar army list ended up being basically a Saim-Hann list, but I'm just not convinced that a non-mech Eldar army won't be competitive. As always, list-writing will be important, and in 5th edition, deployment has gained importance. The factor that will require more attention now that I am eschewing speed is objective placement. I actually expect this to become the linchpin of my future success. I can see it now: I'm either going to surprise some people, or I am going to suffer a long string of ass-whoopings.