An interesting topic of discussion on a forum....

VS

On a forum at a local gaming store (LGS) a hot topic came up among the Warhammer Fantasy players to start using “Lowhammer” rules, these are just guidelines and rules used most often agreed upon by two players in friendly games or official at an event to ensure there is some balance to all the armies.

The concept comes from the school of thought that not all army books are balanced. So, by limiting what more powerful armies may take or general magic spells/items that just tend to unbalance the game in a single roll of the dice making a gaming experience less enjoyable.  Often to the point that either people don’t want to play at official events or against certain people because frankly they are not playing a game, they are playing a list.

Most often, these people have various labels including competitive gamer, asshole and power gamer among others. They will build an army list to bring to events to be “Ard” if you will, to think they are the best, but instead it is the list winning for them as well as dice ruling the games. Not the simple and most basic concept of a strategy wargame that is being a good general and having good tactics.

 I have seen lists out there in both Fantasy and 40k that you can give to a total newbie, give them 3 practice games and they will do just about as well the top players you may see at some events. Mind you, not all top players at events are like this, but if you watch you will find a pattern out there. Think I am crazy? Ask for copies of their lists, look in the internet to see other winning lists and the use of specific things like “Death Star” units (units that are expensive, powerful, often large and designed to be impossible to destroy as well as strike with such force it cannot be stopped), MIN/MAX units, multiples of the same unit, Hordes, common spell groups (in Fantasy)….you will even see a pattern of armies that tend to go to the top of the list quickly.

Elements you won’t see in these lists are those that follow fluff, variety, the use of units that may be considered “inferior” with the current rules or theme. The concept of a tournament is to bring a good general list and challenge other players in games at how good of a general you are against their skills. Not how well you can build a list and how lucky you are at throwing dice. Lists are a crutch to many players out there. Many know this as a fact; others don’t even realize they are doing this.

This is generally a bad thing for a gaming community, why you may ask? Simple, if you bring a list and roll over someone and they play another list just like it….because it works and wins. So, the player is no longer winning, the list is! When you see these lists over and over, players get sick of them. They don’t want to play against them or rather the player unless they have to in say a tournament setting. I can say that I have walked away from games against players with these lists with a bad taste in my mouth, not because I lost (sometimes I win against these super lists with luck and skill) but rather it is the same flipping list over and over you see on the internet. Usually this army is played by someone that thinks they are “all that” as well and that attitude bleeds over into the game as they think they are God’s gift to gaming. Sadly, they are not. People don’t want to play against these lists or these players. People will avoid going to a tournament or showing up on a specific gaming night to avoid playing when certain people are not around.

Someone called it “Pussyhammer” on the forum, but really they are playing “Powerhammer”, so take your choice of label. Personally, I like pussy so you know where my opinion is on this topic. I like balance and fun over a one sided game that was won with a specific list or a one trick pony that wins at the flick of a dice.

Many other games use various rules at events to balance a game:

·        Flames of War: Uses Early/Mid/Late Era to define what units you can bring to an event.

·        Warmachine/Hordes: Limit lists to what you could include, or ask to bring multiple lists to an event. So you never know what you’re playing.

·        Magic the Gathering: this game posts up banned cards, limits to types of cards you can included among other things. They are designed to create some balance.

Simply put other games have put rules and limits out for their events to keep the peace among the players to prevent abuse of the rules to win at games. Just because something is there does not mean you have to include it into your list. It is about attitude and balance, not what you “can” take and what is “the best” and what is not.

I may offend some people with this post, but perhaps I am hitting the nail on the head to the matter. All I can say if you feel that you were offended and this applies to you then you have something to think about when it comes to your lists and how people look at you. Don’t cry when one day you show up at an event and nobody is hardly there to play or you’re playing the same people over and over, perhaps with very similar lists. If you drive off the new players with crazy ass lists and power gaming you will. Kill the community or grow the community that choice is up to you.

Merry Christmas! One and All!

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever holiday you celebrate that it is a great one! Take a moment to be thankful for everything we have and enjoy the time with friends and family.

May the Emperor light a candle and let there be peace on Earth! At least for one day! Then it's back to painting and throwing dice in the name of war and fun!

Blood Bowl Game vs Ogres and Season Review for the 4th Round

Well, we are moving into the 4^th round of our league season leaving just 3 games left to decide who moves on to the finals. Everyone just has one single match in the 5^th round with the final 4 teams will play to determine who enters into the Squigball finals to determine the league winner.

At this point my stats look something like this:

5 Wins, 1 Draw and 1 Loss.

Two out of three Lineorcs has leveled up. One with +1 STR and another with Block.

My Thrower just earned his first XP this past game when he caused a casualty from a last minute block

The Blitzers have really beefed up with two with two increases and the other two have at least one. One has Dauntless and Mighty Blow, another with Strip Ball, another with Dodge and Tackle and the last with Guard. At first I thought it would be a mistake to not take the same skills but I have found that the variety of skills has allowed me to adjust my play style in some games to the best benefit.

None of my four Black Orcs have had a chance to roll for an increase but short of a MVP or a casualty they won’t get much opportunity to earn points otherwise.

 At this point I have managed to purchase two more reolls for a total of 5 along with my Apothecary to help protect my team from the dice gods.

My general stats right now:

Total Winnings: 410k

Season Record: 5-1-1

Points For: 12

Points Against: 4

Casualties For: 11

Casualties Against: 6

My last three games are up against Ogres, Lizadmen and Slann for the last round. At this point it appears that the Undead, Rotters, Ogres and my team are in the running for the playoff games. The Slann could pull up a few wins (or draws) and if someone takes enough losses over the next few games there could be a shift as to the final teams playing. In any case I am going to be playing some class A tough teams here.

Thursday I went up against Tim and his Ogres. While they have not have had a great season they have not had a bad one either. Most of his record is draws with a 2-4-1 records (looks like he played one game early). This team is a returning team from last year and the extra game has seasoned his team further with more experience. The team has 5 Ogres and 6 Snotlings (3 journeyman status). Two ogres are pumped up with 42 and 51 experience points and the others range from 22, 8 and 6. Two Snotlings have some major XP built up at 10 and 15 making one a good fouler with Sneaky Git and the other with Catch. One of the Ogres got two AG increases and Strong Arm making for one hell of a thrower! One of his newer Ogres has Guard and the other is ST 6! The other is a beast with Break Tackle and Dodge.

This was a great game despite some setbacks on both sides and some amazing highlights. Taking the game 2-0 was a surprise after my disaster in the first quarter when I ran one of my Blitzer’s to the corner end zone afraid to make a “go for it” to score as I had used my reroll already. Only to have Tim bash me with 3 Gnobblar bastards knocking me into the fans and getting taken out of the game! ARG! What is it they say? If it can go wrong, it will in Blood Bowl!

This quote lived up to the name again with his AG4 Ogre chunks a pass downfield for a long pass only to be caught on a 6 by a Lineorc that intercepts the ball and runs it to the Thrower that runs it downfield. He just about was caught by an Ogre that fell on his go for it rolls and the other orks managed to chase away the Gnoblar annoyances to allow him to score. I wanted to run the clock but I knew if I didn’t play ball Tim would punish me in other ways.

The kick off again landed close to the main line and the Orcs piled into the Ogres again. Early on the first half we managed to put one ogre out of the game a few Gnoblars so the second half saw only 9 for Tim and 10 for me as I was short a Lineman that will miss next game due to a gouged eye.

Luck happened again as my Dauntless Blitzer with Mighty Blow took down another Ogre to the bench before I scored the first time and Tim again failed to bring either ogre out of their KO status. With only 3 Ogres (sadly one his high AG and the other the STR 6 brute) and 5 Gnoblars I had to work quickly to even the score. I managed to pull a good defense on the second kickoff and managed to turn over the ball and snatch the ball up to score again during the last part of the second half. At this point it was game called and time to roll our results.

My team gained another point of fame, earned 50k in cash rolling a 4 for earnings. My Lineorc (with STR boost) gained an Interception, two Blitzer’s was able to cause a Casualty, my Thrower making not one but two touchdowns and my MVP going to my Lineman that had 2 XP prior due to a lucky casualty last game. I managed to get two skill increases (For my Thrower and Lineman) and quickly took Block for both.

Tim only had one casualty against me (the other was the crowd push by the Gnoblar) and the MVP went to one of his Ogres.

This game had me worried for a moment when the first half went to the crapper and I was afraid Tim was going to pull out the magic and crush me utterly in the end. I always enjoyed playing Tim and his models are A+ painted!

Here are some pics to enjoy from the game!

First little guy downed (he was just removed on the right side there)

The Fight for the ball!

Pile in!

The Dugout after the first TD.

The end is near! Grab that ball and RUN!

Team Tournament in December at Darkside Comics.

Chris and I loaded up for our only tournament for December at Darkside Comics. We went with a good pairing of Space Wolves and Imperial Guard. Alas, I forgot my chip to the camera and at the start of round 1 I was annoyed I forgot to check the camera! ARG!

Space Wolves:

2 Rune Priests, 1 with a Chooser of the Slain, both with living lighting and Jaws of the Wolf and Murderous Hurricane.

3 Troop choices of Grey Hunters with a power weapon and melta gun with a rhino. Two was 8 strong and 1 was 9 strong.

4 Wolf Guard with comi-melta and power fists, they join the Scouts and the three Grey Hunters.

Long Fangs x6 with 5 missile launchers, razorback with heavy bolters.

Large scout squad with melta gun and power fist.

Imperial Guard:

Command Squad with 4 melta guns, Chimera and Astropath

Vet Squad with Harker, 3 melta guns and Chimera

Storm Trooper Squad with melta and plasma with Chimera

1 Platoon Command with 4 flamers.

3 Troop squads in Chimeras with melta guns.

Leman Russ with Lascannon.

Vendetta

Game 1 vs Necrons and Orks

I am bad with names and forgot the Necron player’s name, but Zack was playing orks. Both of these guys are regulars at the store and great guys. Never played against the Necron player before but we have had several great conversations in the past about the Necrons among other armies discussed... Zack and I have often been paired off in many tournaments.

Their list from memory….

Necrons:

Doom Ark (the cannon that is STR 9)

Several Cypteks with lances with the STR 8, AP 1 shots.

Large unit of Immortals

2 Units of Warriors with Ghost Arks

Praetorians with shields and swords with a standard Necron Lord.

Orks:

Mad Doc

2 Large Ork blocks with cybork, big shootas and a Nob with a Klaw.

2 Units of Kommandos with one with a Klaw and the other with Snikrot.

Dreadnought

We played the first Scenario from Adepticon 2011, with the command token that allows you to issue one USR to one unit. The primary was to hold the center of the table with the most units with the highest VPs and the Secondary was to Capture and Control (two objectives, one in each deployment zone).

They won the dice off and deployed first. Their objective was off to the side with the gun and troop ark holding the objective. The Immortals to the middle, off to the other side where our objective was the two ork blocks and the Dreadnought. The last transport was near the middle to swoop down the middle.

We hid one Rhino behind a building and a Leman Russ behind a large terrain feature to avoid being shot at by the big cannon of doom the Long Fangs deployed in cover to take the big guns opening shot. The opening was as we expected, they advanced up and we lost a rhino on turn 1 to shooting. Turn 1 for us was quick moving into a building and the Long Fangs shot down the Doom Ark in a blazing doom.

Turn 2 nothing much happened, some shooting but no major losses and several orks moving towards us. We rolled reserves, Chris got one unit of Grey Hunters and nothing else. I got everything but one troop choice. I flanked the Vendetta near the objective with the command squad in it. Harker and the Vets appear behind the Necron lord to threaten the back side. The Stormtroopers pile in behind the Orks ready to burn them.

The rest of the game saw the Wolf Scouts assaulting the Immortals, my vendetta flanking near their objective. I sacrificed Harker and his crew to draw the Necron Lord and his unit. The next turn the Wolf Scouts finished the Immortals as the rest of the army was slowly chewed down to nothing. We managed to repel both Kommando units after taking the loss of a Leman Russ and a Chimera and the large squad of Orks was reduced to ash leaving Mad Doc’s large unit to deal with. Sadly, as there were  closer units he ran back towards Harker and lost ground moving to the center. We wiped out the Necrons in the center and piled as many units as we could into the middle for the win taking a full 28 points for the win.

Game 2 vs. Space Wolves and Grey Knights

Our next game was against Steve and Matt with Grey Knights and Space Wolves.

Their lists:

Space Wolves:

Wolf Lord with runic armor, talisman, mounted on a wolf with saga of the bear and had a frost weapon or claw with a storm shield.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader, same with the Hunter Saga (which was illegal, infantry only, GREAT JOB ARMY BUILDER). Matt said he saw someone using it at another event but here is what you get when something isn’t proofed.

1 Unit of Grey Hunters with a Rhino, think they had a power fist or power weapon with plasma or melta.

1 Unit of Long Fangs with mix of missiles and lascannons.

Large unit of Thunderpups with storm shields, power fist…the usual unit mix.  Not sure if the whole unit had storm shields or just part.

Wolf Scouts with power weapons and melta guns.

Grey Knights

Drago

Complex unit of Paladins with Apoth, mix of weapons, etc…for wound allocation shenanigans.

1 unit of Grey Knights with psycannons.

2 Riflemen Dreads with psyammo

What you have here is a clear min/max list that is designed to be low kill points, loaded with a few death star units to handle all issues.

We won the dice off and let them pick the table side.

As it was Dawn of War they deployed their very little the Paladins I recall was sitting near both objectives in the center. Ours was off to the side opposite. We setup nothing holding much to move in first turn and flanking with Harker, Scouts and Stormtroopers.

A dread and Long Fangs took up one building on the far right (of them); center was a Rhino with the Grey Hunters and his Paladins with Drago in a building for cover. One unit of Grey Knights to reserve, the Thunderwolves setup to charge down the middle to our objective and the scouts went into flanking reserve. They elected their Thunderwolves and one Dread to be a Troop choice at the start of the game.

There isn’t much too really say about this game except our dice was just bad, real bad. That along with their rolls was on fire, Matt was not failing a single shield save except two the whole game I think when we shot at the Thunderwolves. It wasn’t till the end when he separated the Battle Leader was he taken down.

By the end of the game was able to contest only one objective. Sadly if the dice was in our favor we could have contested two more objectives. This would have left them with a lower score of 5 points instead of 15 for their win along with other bonus points and the secondary objective against our zero for the game.  I forgot special orders for “run run” with two units that could have helped on two of those and that was my fault. Orders has always been a weak point for me with IG due to the nature of how I mech up.

If I had the Manticore or the Executioner with plasma cannons I feel the game could have played out differently. That and some better dice rolls.

Game 3 vs. Necrons and Grey Knights

The last game was a great match against Grant and George that helped take the sour edge of the final game.

Their lists:

Grey Knights:

Librarian: Hammerhand, Might of Titan, Quicksilver, Sanctuary, The Shrouding, Warp Rift.

Grey Knight Terminator squad with halberds and a demon hammer with a psycannon.

Dreadnought with Psybolt Ammo with an Assault cannon

Stormraven Gunship with twin linked plasma and multi meltas.

Grey Knights Strike Squad in a Razorback with force swords. Razorback had a heavy bolter with psybolt ammo.

Vindicare Assassin

Another Terminator Squad similar to the first.

Necrons

Overlord with Res Orb, Tachyon Arrow

Royal Court with 2 Harbringers of Destruction with  Lances and one of Transmogrification that had the Tremor Stave and Harp of Dissonance.

5 Immortals with Telsa Carbines

10 Warriors in Ghost Ark

10 Warriors in Ghost Ark

7 Scarab Swarms

Monolith

Deathmarks

The game:  Declare one list that counts for kill points. At this point my IG was picked and we choose the Necrons. The other objective was two objectives on each side of the table.

Deployment: Table Quarters (objectives was placed in the opposite quarters in the center). They won the dice and deployed first.

The game:

Overall this was a good game, we had a few rules bumps but each time we was able to resolve them and keep the tempo of the game going at  a great pace. I held most of my stuff in reserve to ensure they could not shoot it and have less turns to score kill points.

Here are some of the highlights I recall from the game:

Vindicare getting splattered by a missile early in the game after a failed cover save.

Early on we wiped the scars from the table quickly and moved to disable the transports with the Necron Warriors inside. I was able to flank the Stormtroopers and Chris got his scouts to appear near them and we was able to attack from a weak angle that helped us change the tide of the game. On that corner of the table, only towards the end did the Grey Knights leave the Razorback to engage us and by then the game was pretty much over. The Deathmarks landed and was shot off the board the turn they landed with ruthless firepower. Our goal was to keep the pressure on for kill points.

One of the most comical moments was trying to blow up the Monolith. We either could not hit it, fail to pen it or we would roll poorly on the glance/pen chart getting nothing but Stun and Shaken results! Finally we took off the big gun towards the end! What a steak of bad luck again!

Sadly, I forgot to roll for Harker after the first reserves and Chris even reminded me later (and I thought everything was on)! Would have it made a difference? Maybe but not by much, they would have either help wipe out the Necron HQ or perhaps would have been able to roll on and grab the other objective for a few more bonus points.

We held one objective and had more kill points than they did to score up a decent tally. Depending on how things went with the rules error (see below) or Harker showing up this could have shifted our game by a few points putting us back into the rankings as we was just four points shy of third place.

I did discover one rule error after the game that nobody caught when the Raven went flat out and was shot down. Instead of the passengers disembarking they should have been dead per the FAQ. This would have been a huge game changer for us as we would not have wasted time trying to kill the Dreadnought, Librarian and his Terminator Squad but instead moving towards objectives, removing the other Grey Knight Squad and blowing up the Monolith earlier instead of allowing it to linger on the field.

Lesson learned is what I say, I should rebuild my FAQ binder I used to haul around with me but I got sick of dragging that extra material so I gave up the ghost a few months back. Now it comes back to bite me! Hah!

Co-creator of Captain America Dies.

Saw this on Yahoo....

Joe Simon, who along with Jack Kirby co-created Captain America and was one of the comic book industry's most revered writers, artists and editors, has died. He was 98.

RIP Joe, thank you for the one of the great comic legends of all time to entertain us and grace our literary world!

Sherlock Holmes

Chris and I had the pleasure to watch an early screening of Sherlock Holmes 2 on Monday the 12th at the Veteran's 24 in Tampa. It was luck that I won tickets to perhaps one of the movies we really wanted to see this year and for free. Alas, we pulled a Francis Drake and much like he, drove past the exit as the ramp I was looking for was only in the northbound lane and not the southbound expressway lane! So, we went round and round until we finally found the round. Irony had it that at least once if we turned right instead of left we would have found the theatre faster. Being that it was 6:30 and the show started at 7:30 we had to eat at the theatre instead of doubling back to a decent place to eat to avoid not getting a seat. Often they give away more tickets than there is actual seats.

We was stuck on one of the closer rows to the front but it worked out ok, some of the fight scenes hurt my eyes due to being so close but again the movie was worth it. The plot continued from the last movie, it carried on Watson's wedding as a great secondary plot and held the right mix of action, comedy and intrigue to make this entertaining from start to finish. RD Jr did an excellent job and is a superb actor that carried the move along with his co-star in such a way that I never felt at a loss for time while watching.

I don't care to spoil the movie by saying much more but I can recommend that on Christmas Day or after, go see this movie! What more do you want in life? A great movie and to get away from your family for a few hours? YEA! Serious, go see it you won't hate it.

Blood Bowl: Orks Win 2-1 against the Dark Elves

Had a great game last night against IMO one of the best players in the league when it comes to sportsmanship and just general great attitude about the game. Had a close game until the end when I was able to knock down enough models to score a second time. It was a strange game with only one casualty that I inflicted and one  knocked out that I did. Everything else was stuns and knock downs! Also, not much armor breaking either. Neither of us didn't want to risk fouls either and take the loss of a player from the field. Of course I forgot the camera to take some pictures AGAIN!

I opted to buy Legends of the High Seas rules instead of going to a local tournament this weekend. Sold my soul to the devil, actually my lovely wife and I can spend time with her instead and Xmas shop. It was bothering me that we had alot going on this month and not much time around one another and I was looking forward to spending time with her during the Xmas break we will be taking.

After talking to some of the guys at the shop, there seems to be some interest not only for the Legends of the Old West but also for the Gladiator and Legends of the High Seas miniature game also. This is very cool and I am getting really pumped to plunder some money together to go buy some minis! I am already talking about the next Cabanahammer being a Warhammer Historical (perhaps pirates) and looking at Adepticon now to making a trip to play a few tourneys. The Blood Bowl 2 day event looks to be insane, they also host a Legends of the High Seas event and a Necromunda tournament. Wow! All my stuff could fit into a duffle bag with some clothing for a gaming weekend! Whoo!