Ard Boyz Semi Final Scenarios, they're kidding right?

This seems to be GWs new overall business strategy.

Well the semi-final scenarios for this years Ard Boyz have finally been posted, find them here, and once again we are looking at a Victory Point mission (and no KP mission!).  The other two missions are hinky as well.  A King of the Hill type scenario for Mission 2 which may well be this rounds draw mission, and for Mission 3 you don't know that the objective is until turn 3...  Ok, let's take a deeper look into these missions after the break.

Next Level Gaming: The Competitive Mindset

Sand here with another article about gaming within the game! This time we're moving away from the mind games and morally ambiguous tactics that everyone loves oh-so much and into a zone that many don't think about: the completely different mindsets of casual play vs. tournament play, as well as those found between different games. Having been slandered by people I do not know at a far-away game store as well as on the interwebs (Please open and read this thread in the Privateer Press forums in order to better understand the situation that has prompted this article: How-to-deal-with-power-gamers), I've decided to manifest my thoughts upon the matter. More after the break!

Bay Area Open: The Warmahordes Side

It's been a while, but Sand here!

Though almost a month has passed since Bay Area Open, I've finally gotten my thoughts in order and onto paper - or in this case, the interwebs - laying out my lists and how I felt they performed. The 50 point tournament on Saturday ended with a disappointing 3rd place; I lost to Trollbloods (Borka Kegslayer) with my Thyra list. However, the 35 point tournament resulted in the oh-so-satisfying redemption of 1st place. I'll describe some elements of the tournament and how it generally ran. More after the Break!

Draigowing, good at 2500?

picture by LynxC on DeviantArt

There has been an awful lot of talk on the internet about Draigowing and if it is good or capable of being competitively viable. Personally I think Paladins are an amazing unit but the idea of a "Draigowing" where the army is made up entirely of Draigo and Paladins/Terminators doesn't seem workable to me except at the highest points range. Luckily for us it is Ard Boyz season, so let's take a look at Draigo and his wing of Paladins at 2500 points. More after the break.

Victory Points in 5th edition Ard Boyz are TERRIBLE!! And Battle Points suck too...

Yesterday I touched on the fact that Victory Points were a terrible mission objective in the 3rd round of Ard Boyz.  I had previously discussed this in another article in-defense-of-kill-points which was more about why KPs are better than VPs.  After having tested the 3rd mission and now having played it at Ard Boyz two days ago I can say clearly that VPs really have no place in 40k anymore.  If you read my article yesterday, ard-boyz-prelims-run-down-of-my-day you will know that I played in the last round at the top table and that both top tables had their games end in a draw.  This round also had more draws than any of the other rounds, and brought up the only major rules dispute/ruling from our TO.  More in depth after the break.

Ard Boyz Prelims: Run Down of my day.

Ard Boyz Preliminary rounds are now over.  At our FLGS the Capture and Control team swept the 3 top spots.
1. PythNutD and his Space Wolves
2. Sand and his Grey Knights
3. Me with my Space Wolves.
Overall the tournament was fantastic.  The field was good, albeit a bit small since the pool of players was diluted across the other gaming stores in the LA area, but it was a competitive group of players and lists.  Safely ensconced in my 3rd place position and with an invitation to the next round let me run down how the day went.  More after the break.

Are Grey Knights the new Mech Eldar?!

Remember back to 4th edition?  Come on, think hard (unless you're under 17, then you probably didn't play or were too young to notice) there was a nearly unbeatable army out there.  Can you recall what it was?  Darrian, if you're reading I know you can!  Mech Eldar.  Mech Eldar were the bane of the 4th ed tournament scene, nigh on indestructible transports, awesome psychic powers, and the ability to shoot an opposing army off the table by turn 3.  Think about that last bit, doesn't that sound a little like an army currently trouncing around the tournament scene?  If you answered Purifier Spam Grey Knights then you're correct.  I would accept Mech Guard or Missile Spam Space Wolves for partial credit.  After the break I will present a Crowe taxed list at several point levels and let's see what we can come up with to counter it.  I predict it will be difficult to do...

Sisters of Battle News?

GW announced today that Sisters of Battle now have their own section on the GW website replacing the old Witchhunters category.  The following was released:

The Sisters of Battle, an elite Sisterhood of warriors, possess a fanatical devotion to the Emperor, and this month, their faith has certainly been rewarded. Not only has part one of the new Sisters of Battle Codex been published in White Dwarf, but they now have their own section on games-workshop.com. It's never been easier to buy the entire range of Sisters of Battle models.


While they now have their own section and the full range is available you should note that none of the range is new, they lack Finecast models, and you can only buy your Troops as single models or in packs of 3.  Not sure why they would want to announce this debacle as if it were good news...

To sum it up, all the SoB models for the range are the same, but now in one spot (which they were before), and their name has been updated to be more kid friendly just like the Grey Knights.  So no more parents complaining about Daemonhunters and Witchhunters being an inappropriate book/army for their 10 year old, that leaves only Chaos Daemons who still need the PC update.

I am pretty underwhelmed by all this.  I think SoB players have been waiting long enough that they should have gotten at least new models OR a real codex.  But no, they get neither.  Thoughts?

In Defense of Kill Points.

The Annihilation Mission in the Warhammer 40,000 5th edition rule book was one of the most drastic changes to 40k from 4th to 5th.  Gone were the days of adding up your Victory Points at the end of the game and hoping you were ahead of your opponent.  Kill Points replaced Victory Points and the knee jerk reaction was, as usual, pessimistic at best and downright out(nerd)rage at the worst.  With Ard Boyz missions constantly bringing back the Victory Points mission objectives of yesteryear/yesteredition I figured revisiting why Kill Points is superior to Victory Points as a mission objective wasn't completely unfounded.  More after the break.

Bay Area Open Coverage part 2

The Bay Area Open was last weekend and I promised you all coverage of it but I have been with out access to the internet, other than my Blackberry, for about a week so I apologize for the delay!  First off the event was awesome, Reece and his team at No Comp did an amazing job of running the event and making sure things ran smoothly.  There were a few snafus but they were very minor and didn't really impact the enjoyment of the weekend at all!  I sincerely hope this event becomes the Adepticon of the West and anything I will do anything to help it become that.  Now, on to my own dismal performance.  Despite it being a fantastic and fun weekend I didn't perform anywhere near as well as I hoped.  More on my weekend and pictures from the event after the break.