6th edition: A 40k post!

Ok I took some time off from the internet for a bit, but there is lots to talk about!

Now that I have had time to digest the rule book, and play in some tournaments, I want to say that I absolutely love 6th Ed.  Mostly because it is now any bodies game!

Allies have leveled the playing field folks. And they are here to stay. Embrace the madness!

But it makes sense.

WWII, The Gulf War... any major engagement the US enters is not without allies.  Why would the 41st Millennium be any different?

Allies serve the exact purpose they are supposed to. They allow armies to flush themselves out and fill holes in places they are weak.  They help each other.

In 40k this is the answer to all that was wrong with 5th Ed.  Gone are the days of "The Leafblower" where a single codex would dominate all comers.

At DaBoyz (I have a GT review in queue at BOLS, come on Larry post that sucker!)  I faced a beautifully painted Tau/Eldar army by Ricky Johnson, but not only was it pretty to behold, it was down right nasty.  Previously neither of those armies would compete alone. Sure you would see the rare exception where a good player squeaks into the top three with Eldar or Tau, probably due to soft scores, but the number of GT wins between the two is indeed small.

I love that Ricky was able to play an army he obviously cared about and do it with style. Allies is allowing players to dust off those old models that have been rotting on the shelves for years. I got to actually play Tau at Mechanicon, to unfortunate results, but I still enjoyed painting and playing them!

Some see it as a marketing ploy to move more plastic. Well DUH!  What a great idea GW!  Rather than constantly codex creeping individual books to try to sell the flavor of the month, just let us play whatever we want!  I'm honestly shocked we did not see this sooner.

Allies were a great decision that help the game, and the guys who love to make armies. I for one will get to make my Armageddon army, and now I can finally do my own Eldar that was back burnered last year, by giving them some Tau buddies.  Look to see a renewed interest in my Ulthwe army soon! Hey Eldar guys, are there any fluffy examples of Ulthwe working with Tau I can draw upon for inspiration?

6th Ed is more than just allies though. Flyers are huge too.  They can be nasty, but I have yet to see them make a huge impact in the game.  Ben Mohoelieliee played Cron Air at DaBoyz, and took Best General, but I have to believe that it would be fairly common for him to run into armies designed to blast him.  My experience vs flyers has been one of adjustment. They sure change the way I play 40k, but I have not seen them over power things. I love playing my Storm Raven now!  It adds a tactical element to the game that I believe a lot of guys have over looked.

I am not too crazy about 6th ed missions since most games I have played have been pretty heavy on just grabbing objectives.  This sorta tips the game in the favor of those combinations who can pack the hardest hitting "Troops" on the table. But again, Allies fixes this too.

I think my biggest complaint about 6th is hull points.  Sure it makes it easier to beat Leafblowers, sorta, but I hate how it completely invalidated my Drop Pod Dread army before it even saw the light of day.  Before I could drop 4 dreads on the table and reasonably expect at least one or two to survive a round of shooting. Extra armor and Smoke meant that I would get a couple into assault, backed up by a couple more next turn. Well now every STR 5 and 6 gun in the game is a dread killer.  Before I would just shrug off glances, especially DC dreads who outright ignore shaken and stun, but now multi lazers, star cannons, and even heavy bolters are bonified dread killers through hull points.

To balance HP though, come Warlord traits and new powers. I love that I can swap out codex powers for Divination.  It adds taste and variety!  Plus some beef to replace weak codex powers.

We have definitely not even cracked the surface of some of the combinations possible in 6th.  But the days of the single overpowering uber codex are over.  (replaced by overpowering uber combinations)  But at least now there are many many more choices!  Great Job GW on making some good decisions.

On a related note, I have a little rules discussion for you. The new 6th ed approach to special rules is pretty easily abused. Ricky Johnson had his Tau Suit Commander upgraded with Stabalizers, and claimed that this granted the effect to the entire squad he joined. SO, this meant that he commander could join a squad of broadsides and they could all move and shoot without penalty.  Same for Black Sun filters too I believe.  How do you guys like them apples?  Do Broadsides get the benefit of a suit commanders stabilizers?

The Walking Dead reviews soon!

Jawaballs

More for sale.

Ok folks here is the first wave of pics and prices set to move. I need cash and it is time to sell. Each of these models, except for Crowe, has appeared in many Best Painted armies. If you know my blog, you know these models!  Email me immediately so I can end the ebay auctions. I would prefer to resolve the sales outside of Ebay. Every thing will be given a once over and touched up before shipping. Some of the models have had parts replaced and need refinishing.

 Auto/Las Number 9: 125.00

Auto Las Number 10: 125.00

Hand painted Rhino A: 125.00

Hand Painted Rhino B: 125.00

Hand Painted Rhino C: 125.00

Crowe 50.00

Corbulo 75.00

5 man Forgeworld Assault Squad with matching TL Las Razorback 250.00

My original 10 man Tactical squad, you know the one: 200.00

Also Available: Space Hulk Factory Sealed 200.00 

Island of Blood opened but brand new on sprue 70.00

Space hulk, unpunched, in box, no models: 50.00

Space Hulk Genestealers 50.00 on sprue

3 more Razorbacks with Las/Plas or Asscan, your choice. 125.00 each

Dante and Sanguinor metallic gold ??

Five painted Metal Blood Knights (Gorgeous) ??

Horus Heresy board game opened, unpunched unplayed

Lizardman Stegadon opened on sprue

3 Iyanden Wraithlords!

My award winning and beloved Assault Marine/mephiston/Sanguinor army with custom

battle foam pack go transport is on the block. I am open to serious offers.

Time to score!  

Jawaballs

Space Hulk for sale!

Selling it here first! I have two Factory Sealed Space Hulk 3rd edition, plus a full set of Genestealers on sprue, and one full set of the game, unpunched, minus models in box.  Here is a list of things and my prices: All prices do not include shipping, which will be the cheapest I can do for your address.

Space Hulk 3rd Factory Sealed: Routinely sells on Ebay for 250+.  My price is 220.00 each

Space Hulk Genestealers: On sprue. 60.00

Game minus models, in box: 50.00  (there are multiple ones on ebay now with bids for this price)

I will entertain taking on a painting commission for Space Hulk as well.  I have my personal set of termies I would let go, as well as my genestealers, and I would do the ones listed above.

I won't open the factory seal on the boxes. So sorry no single termies.  I will ship overseas, but it will cost more as I have to go to the PO and fill out paperwork and wait in line. That sucks.


If you are into Fantasy, I have a couple untouched boxes of Island of Blood for reasonable prices.

I also have two 6th Ed mini rulebooks for sale, 20 bucks a piece.

I will be listing up a bunch of painted models at reasonable prices very soon.  Including my auto/las predators, dante, sanguinor, squads of infantry and more.  All of which has appeared in at least one Best Painted army!

Be looking soon for my DaBoyz writeup on BOLS, plus I owe you a Walking Dead review... So much to do!

Email me directly if you want to talk business.

Jawaballs

The Walking Dead... holy crap

HEAVY SPOILER ALERT:

Do not read any further if you do not want the episode spoiled.















Holy Crap.

Ok. Lets start with this. I have not watched Revolution since episode three. But allow me to show you how a terrible actor portrays grief/sorrow/agony at the sudden death of a loved one:

There it is. You can almost feel the anguish! (not) Actually it is a little hard to tell if she just lost her surrogate mother, just found out her pet goldfish that she won at the carnival the night before went belly up, or if she just heard Keeping Up with the Kardashians was cancelled.  

Observe true acting:

First, I suppose if her expression is supposed to emulate the shock of a 10 year old who just shot his mother in the head after watching his little sister ripped from her bleeding womb, than she is spot on. Their expressions are very similar. But for Carl's case, it is appropriate. For Charlie, it is bland. But looking more closely, you can see that Chandler Riggs is indeed a better actor. (Bear with me, I know this is just a picture, I am referring to this moment of the scene, not the image itself.) While the two of them share the same blank downward stare, his is a true look of shock, loss and disbelief. Hers? It looks like she is channeling her inner five year old, remembering what it was like when she stubbed her toe and went crying to daddy. You can see the walls he is erecting against the demons growing inside him. On her face all you can see is her disappointment in waking up on a Saturday morning to find that her little brother drank all the milk and she can't eat her Lucky Charms.

But Charlie and Carl are not why I am showing these pics. Do you want to see anguish? Take a look at Rick. His acting in this scene, while a bit exaggerated, was fantastic. You can't script this sort of scene.

I can imagine JJ Abrams telling Charlie "Ok, now go hug your uncle and look sad".  She complies. "Hmm. that's terrible. Oh well. We are out of time and over budget. Perfect! CUT! Wrap."  It doesn't matter. NBC will air the crap and the public will eat it up.

Thankfully The Walking Dead expects more, and gets it.

Andrew Lincoln channeled something few people can fathom. He portrayed the anguish of a man who has had just about every thing sane in his life ripped from his heart, one bit at a time.  You can see in his facial expression the shock and horror, the incredible disbelief, and desperate seeking for an answer that is not there, all at once.  Most lesser actors, like the chick playing Charlie, would have run up to Carl and hugged him in a sobbing embrace being all melodramatic and pathetic and using it as an opportunity to bury their face and hide the fact that they have no idea how to portray anguish. Well Andrew Lincoln tipped the scales of sorrow, and you could literally see Rick descend into madness. His unfettered flop to the ground in agony of the heart, almost wrenched my own out of my chest. I could actually feel what he was feeling. I don't think I have ever had that experience watching TV, ever.

If he fails to win an Emmy... I will probably flop on the ground myself.

This acting folks, is why we love this show and laugh at Revolution. Scenes like this, and the one that led to it, are what make TWD one of the most fantastic television shows, of any network, of any genre, ever.

Now that I got that off my chest!

This episode left me staring at the screen for a good long time.  Since my power was off for almost all of time between this episode and the week prior, I didn't get to see any previews. From what I did see, I don't remember seeing any thing that led me to believe what was going to happen here.

In the last episode, that I did not get to write about thanks to Sandy, we were treated to an entire hour of watching Andrea look all doe eyed at The Governor and Michone skulk about looking all skulky. I think that was about it!  Some more plot was revealed, including Merl showing a little more of what makes him tick. Are they actually going to turn him into an anti-hero? But the episode was forgettable at best and could have been summed up in a 3 minute flashback.

Well they made up for it this week.

First the convicts went to the group appealing to humanity. The poor guys got a dose of what the new reality of the world is. I felt that Rick's decision to expel them was correct. While they possibly could have become good members of the group, there was just too much mystery involved, and too much chance.  But all of that  didn't matter once the walkers started doing their thing.

The next 45 minutes could have been a season finale any other year for any other show. But for season three of TWD, this was just episode four!  The group gets splintered by a herd of walkers surprising them from behind.  Hershel and his daughter safely lock themselves up in a cage, while Maggie, Carl and Lori run inside and Tdog and Carol make a break in another direction.

Tdog shockingly gets bitten in the shoulder. Something I was absolutely NOT expecting. It took me several minutes to understand that we were witnessing the death of a major character!  I was like... "Wait a second, this means he is going to die!" Man this episode just got more interesting.

Then to make matters worse, Carl, Lori and Maggie make it to safety, but Lori starts going into labor. Lord when it rains it pours!  At worst at this point I am expecting more complications as walkers hear the baby being born and Tdog to have some emotional good bye like the guy from season one.

NOPE.

Just as we were adjusting to this episodes shocking events, it gets even worse!  Lori, who already had a problem pregnancy, developed complications. She was not dialated and was dripping blood.  I have a pretty good idea that Lori knew from the start that with her history, this baby was a death sentence. How could you possibly have a successful C-section performed by a vet or his untrained daughter in the middle of the wilds of a zombie apocalypse. Deciding whether or not to take the abortion pills had nothing to do with the babies life, it was her own at the time. She knew the baby would kill her. She decided then that the babies life meant more and that she would make the sacrifice.

From there it gets medieval. Tdog knows he is done. He is trying to get Carol to safety, and comes across a group of walkers between them and an exit.  So instead of going out like a punk, he charges the walkers, sacrificing himself and getting his throat torn out in the process while Carol makes a run for it!  What a way to go. Tdog proved, if only to himself, that he was NOT weak.

I love TWD for this. It is full of little personal struggles and victories.  You could see a moment of clarity in his face. His conversation with Dale on the highway was sort of a premonition. But in this case, Tdog chose his way to go.

But then came the even more unexpected.  Lori also having a moment of clarity, and also making that choice.  

She knew what to do when the time came, and made it so.

The director framed the light of the window on her face, a sort of absolution for what she has done. And this is the moment where you can see her clarity. And where you can see the last visages of Carl's childhood slip away with her last breaths.

Like the scene with Rick, Lori went a little over the top with the "you're good, stay good" stuff.  But it still felt right. And the scene where Carl comes upstairs after the gun shot... chilling.

Hulksmash said of my last article that I was reading too far into it, that there was no comparison between Carl and Shane. Well readers, I think we can officially equate Carl's shooting of his mother to Shane's shooting of the fat dude. Different circumstances yes, but same result. Just think about it, in less than a year, a 10 year old kid had to shoot two of the three people he loved most in the world. The zombie apocalypse takes another victim without a bit of flesh being taken at all. When it is Rick's turn for a bullet in the head, my money is on Carl to complete the trifecta. I think we can look forward to some seriously dark content involving Carl in the episodes to come. I can't wait!

Side note:

I wonder if he actually managed the shot, or just shot the ground, or if he failed to do her brain in. It would not be surprising to see a walker Lori after all this!  That would take huge balls for TWD and I would cheer.

So where to go from this?

The episode was literally exhausting to watch. I was drained.

The convicts earned the trust of the group, for now. What little is left of it.  But with a baby now here, they are going to need the infinitely and potentially more useful duo more than Tdog and Lori. It will be satisfying to see how they integrate with the group, and just how much more badass the group becomes.

I see leadership issues cropping up with Rick, especially as he pulls away from the baby that is probably not even his, but serves as a reminder to his friend that he killed, and the wife that he all but left while she was right next to him. That is going to leave Maggie and Glen doing most of the parenting. Hershel gets a stay of execution for now.  I was expecting him to be written off fairly quick, especially since I expected at least one of the cons to join the group. There is only so much room in the budget!  But the complete right hook of killing Tdog and Lori opens up that slot. We will see more death from the other side of the plot I'm sure.

Speaking of the other side...

Merl is going to go to the farm, then track his brother all about Atlanta. Eventually that is going to lead The Gov to the prison.  We are going to see several confrontations.

Merl vs Daryl:

Yup, Daryl and Merl are going to be happy at first, but then Daryl is going to be forced to make choices as it becomes clear that Merl is incompatible with the group. Blood is thicker than water.

But hold on!  With Rick and Carl both descending into madness, will there still be such a conflict of interests between them and Merl?  Perhaps they will find each other a bit more agreeable!

It is too hard to tell now, and impossible to predict, but we are going to see a lot of struggling when the two groups meet, both external and internal. Demons are going to come rearing their ugly heads, and death will follow.

I don't know what sort of weirdness we will see from Andrea yet, and likewise from Michone.  She is definitely going to end up in bed with The Gov. From there will we see her bad side emerge? Or will her sense of goodness pull through. I believe that previously, it was only Dale who maintained her, otherwise we would have seen her pulling a Shane. Unfettered and seemingly betrayed by the group, I think the zombie apocalypse is going to take it's toll on her.

We will see what happens when her or Michone snoop their way into the basement and find that room full of zombie heads in fish tanks.

Well there you have it. Absolutely brilliant television. If they keep this up, we will be seeing TWD mentioned a whole lot more at next year's Emmies.

I for one will be driving 90 all the way home from DaBoyz on Sunday in order to get home in time to see the show. (I don't have DVR).

Jawaballs

EDIT:
Another interesting side note... In the opening credits when they show the little scenes of things related to the characters played by the actors whose names are up on the screen, when they got to Andrea and Lori, they combined the scene. They had some shells representing Andrea and some centipedes representing Lori I presume. (Fitting)  But as things turn out, the cut scene is actually fitting for Andrea alone, with the shells and bugs, while they made it easy to edit out Lori completely!  I also wondered why there was no cutscene for Tdog, seeing as how he has been there since the start. But along that same line of thought, I don't believe there is one for Glen either... uhoh... Might this be a predictor for who bites it next?

The quiet after the storm

It was a quiet week for me after the storm. It only took three days for my power to come back, but my cable/internet took a whole week to come back. Thank the gods. Just in time for The Walking Dead, which I am crafting a post for now. :)

Later this week I will be posting my TWD review and talking about my list for DaBoyz. I have some surprise changes for you! The Tau experiment failed miserably at Mechanicon. I am taking a very different route for DaBoyz.

Oh and for those who have been asking, yes we have some WarTV coming up.  With Fritz working on some big time important stuff necessitating his presence close to home, we have been having a hard time getting together. We were going to do one last week but Sandy gave us a face palm. I think Smurf managed to get some footage up from Historicon the other day.  Check the site!  It is sorta in a holding pattern while I rework the idea, develop a site, and get content providers signed on.

So Fritz maybe I can pop over to your joint soon and we can get in some Talisman!

jawaballs

Mechanicon!

The big news this weekend was Feast of Blades.  I really wish I could have gone, but frankly, I would probably be stuck in Denver had I flown out there until this storm blows over, so I have to say I am glad I did not go.

Plus I got to play at Mechanicon!  Mechanicon was one of my first GT Cons and has always been my favorite. I really enjoy the atmosphere and the guys who run it.  Tony Spino and crew are friendly, open and generous. But more importantly, they simply love gaming.  I didn't get much time to join them, but at any given time there were games of Fantasy Flight's new X-Wing, or Talisman going on, among many others.  Plus, they like their booz!

Bill McFadden and Simon Lean (Simon missed his girlfriend)

Mechanicon has joined forces with The Warstore to become one of the headline events at The Warstore Weekend.  Which in my opinion was a huge boon for the con.  Mechanicon has always prided itself as the gamers con, where it is not just about 40k, but for every one. They were one of the first GTs to also offer tournaments for other events such as Flames of War, Blood Bowl, Warmachine, and many others.  Also many budding game companies ran demonstrations, and clubs ran small events like Kill Team tournaments.  There were even separate painting competitions!

While this was a great idea, I believe that it thinned out Mechanicon a bit too much. The 40k GT was getting 50 to 60 entries, but some of the other events were running with just a few players as most of the guys playing 40k were unable to play Blood Bowl for example as they sometimes ran at the same time.

Being part of The Warstore Weekend enabled Tony and crew to focus on running the best 40k GT they could while Neal from The Warstore focused on providing all of the rest of the gaming fun that Tony always wanted.

Before I get to my personal report, I will go over some pros and cons that I saw at The Warstore Weekend in their second year of existence.

Cons:

Well, the most comparable con that I have been to is Templecon. And there is absolutely no comparison. Templecon has had a few more years to build in popularity, and also caters to a bigger crowd including the cos play Steampunk crew, but TWW (The Warstore Weekend) is essentially doing the same thing.  If Templecon is so awesome, you would think that TWW could pull it off too!  For a huge weekend of gaming, all I saw was two larger tournaments going on with a smattering of demos and bits and pieces.

BEFORE YOU FLAME ME: I know there was more going on than just Warmachine and 40k. But my point is that it was not visible. There were no signs aside from a few hard to read ones, no displays advertising what was going on and no direction. You really had to search for things that you didn't even know were there, and if you are trying to catch the eye of some one there focusing on 40k for example, who has a few minutes in between games to check something out, it should not be hard to find.

The solution? Who knows. I am not a con planner. Maybe pay a couple models to dress up as Steam Punk Hotties and walk around guiding guys towards certain events.  What I am saying that in my observation, TWW looked like a Warmachine tournament going on at the same time as an unrelated 40k tournament at the same hotel with a few game demos going on.

If Neal is going to continue running TWW he would be smart to take a good look at what Templecon does, and adjust accordingly.

Venue. Not good.  I spoke to Tony for a while about the venue, and he expressed many disappointments. First of all was security!  He had to physically wire the doors to the 40k hall shut to secure them over night.  The hotel dropped an extra last minute cost on them for tables forcing them to get them from an outside source, and the bar in the 40k gaming room, a Mechanicon staple, was charging something like 7 bucks a bottle for Coors light.

When are these hotels going to figure out that the secret to making money at a con is NOT charging 7 dollars a beer.  I went to Mechanicon with a VERY limited budget after taking my losses from pulling out of Feast of Blades, and when I went up to the bar to get myself a Coors Light and Ted Nagel a tonic, 12 dollars was a little too much to stomach.  Yes, I paid 12 bucks for a bottle of Coors and an 8 ounce Tonic with nothing in it.

All Ted and I did was pop out to the package store next door. I got myself a case of Coors Light and I was good to go. I set my army transport up as a little cooler and dismissed the bar entirely.  By the way, yes I know Coors Light is water in a can. But when I am spending 12 to 14 hours hanging out in a con room, playing games and socialilzing, I don't need to be drinking Scotch or even 5.6% micro brews.  I can drink Coors all night long and barely catch a buzz. :) The hotel could have charged 3.50 a beer and sold five times what they did as most of the guys there would have simply bought the beers from the bar rather than going through the charade of hiding their own booze.

The location itself was a turn off to a lot of people I suspect. The Meadowlands, just outside of New York, is a geographically ideal spot. Guys coming up from the south don't have to cross NY bridges, and guys coming from the north can skirt the city by using the Tappan Zee bridge and Garden State Parkway.

 However, there is not a person, myself included, who has gone to the Meadowlands for a game and not been jaded by the experience.  I remember the first year that TWW was in existence, I was supposed to go out there to play in the GT but as the event approached, was dismayed at the thought of driving out there.  And the pure suck of navigating that part of the country is no exaggeration. A couple friends and I went to find a restaurant just a couple of miles away, but to get there we literally had to merge onto and off three different highways, going around in circles, missing our turn twice because it was so hard to decipher that Sherlock Holmes would have missed it, and finally arriving to find about 90 million other cars jamming the parking lot.

To say the least, they will be finding a new location for next year.

The Cons:

The con!  Despite the difficulty in deciphering what was going on and where, TWW was packed with cool stuff and can only grow!  I did actually get to check out some sweet models called Heavy Metal I think, and got to pop in and see some Warmachine being played.  I think numbers were down because of the impending "Perfect Storm" but there were still a lot of guys playing a lot of games.

The Mechanicon was great as always.  The number of players was much smaller than in past years because of the change in location probably, but there was also a change in price so they missed out! Previously it cost 125 bucks to attend Mechanicon. Now it was 85.  That was a bargain!  Plus the hotel itself, while nickel and diming us on drink prices, was a much nicer venue physically. The old place was quite ratty to say the least.. My last room smelled like Curry and old socks.

The tables, already some of the best GT tables I have ever seen, got even better as the guys improved the terrain. Each gaming table existed on it's own separate table, allowing us to easily play hammer and anvil by being able to walk 360 around the board, and most of the tables had operational anti aircraft guns included as part of the terrain!  Each table is hand crafted with a wooden frame that keeps dice from rolling off the edge.  They have a balanced combination of hills, ruins and obstacles and even have an extra space for you to put your armies. How many of you have been to a tournament where there was NO place for you to put your stuff while you were playing except on the floor, and little place to display them while not playing without being yelled at by judges for moving terrain...

My hated broadsides. And look at that extra space for my display!

The Mechanicon is famous for being the tournament for the hobby rather than the competition and this was no different.  Ever army was beautiful and every player was cool. All five of my games were fun and entertaining. My opponents were fair and the atmosphere was jovial. At some tournaments a cloud of suck follows some of the players or lingers over some of the tables as guys who take things way too seriously suck all the fun out of the room.  Not so at Mechanicon!  At every table there was laughing and jokes. I played, and lost to, a Tau player, and we both agreed it was one of the more interesting and fun games we have ever played. I got tabled by a British dude named Dave playing some nasty demons, and ended up chilling with him for most of the weekend cause he was such a good guy, and pulled the classic "Turn Five I WIN" move against a player named Evan to wrap up my weekend and we laughed about it for an hour. (To be accurate, I did most of the laughing,but he was a great sport about it.)

The best part about it was that Ted Nagel, another Mechanicon birther, (One of the guys who has been to all of the Mechaniocons) finally won the event from out of no where!  It couldn't have gone to a more deserving player.

I got second best painted, with the honor going to a Space Wolf player who had an army with about 76 infantry, each painted to the same VERY high standard with multiple highlights and every detail picked out.  He truly deserved the win! I can only imagine the hours he put into that army.

The best thing about Mechanicon is that I lost all three of my first games, but still had a chance to place in the top three with two big wins on day two.  It truly is any bodies tournament where any one of a dozen contenders can grab it at the last minute, as opposed to 256 guys know they are out of it by game three of eight and end up watching just two play for the win. Mechanicon uses an even split between Sportsmanship, Painting and Battle Points to determine the winner plus a few bonus points like a fluff quiz and points for entering some other event over the weekend.

I think this works to weed out the flavor of the monthers who throw together terrible looking dry brushed armies just to field the strongest army of the week and destroy their opponents.  Sure they might win best general, but best overall is certainly out of their reach. The guys who play at Mechanicon have pride.

And the players aren't bashful about letting you know if you are douching it up! I caught crap all weekend for playing Tau allies with my Blood Angels!  Even thought I was getting my ass kicked. Good hearted ribbing of course.  It didn't matter that my Tau looked great along with my marines.  I was "That guy".  :)

Oh and did I mention that only having to play five games is a blessing!  It seems that events nowadays are just going for bigger more epic weekends where guys are playing six to eight game tournaments after playing in three to five game tournaments on Friday.  More is NOT better.  Especially for dudes who had a hard time standing for that much time.  

I love Mike Brandt and The Nova Open, but 8 games is just too many, and while most of the guys at The Nova are decent dudes, the Feel Good atmosphere of Mechanicon simply outshines The Nova. And for guys who want to play in a GT and leave with a good taste in their mouth there is no better choice that I have experienced.

The Mechanicon is that good.

Ok that is enough for now. I will upload some video and do some batreps next time.

Jawaballs

Here are some of the armies:

Some one actually played the Fortress!

Ted Nagels GT winning army. Chaos!

Who said tanks are dead? Oh I did... Woops!

For the record, I played Ted on Friday night

in a pickup game and blasted him off the table. Then I 

took his son's head on Sunday. Jawa 2, Nagels 0

I lost to this Tau army in a tightly contested capture the flag. 9-8

He got first blood.

Mechanicon List and The Walking Dead

Hey Folks!

Mechanicon first.

I will be heading over to The Meadowlands tonight and entering The Mechanicon at The Warstore Weekend.  What am I playing you ask?

Being a 1500 point tournament, my Lamenters were not going to work.  That army is designed for 2k.  Luckily I had a fairly effective list set up for around that point total using my Blood Angels and Tau!

Here we go:

Blood Angels:
Librarian with JP
Assault squad x10 Melta x2 PW
Assault squad x10 Melta, Flamer PW
Scout with Snipers x5 with Missile and cloaks
Priests with JP and PW x2
Aegis Defense line
900 points

Tau:
Suit Commander with TL Burst Cannons and Missile Pod, drone controller and 1 shield drone
Fire Warriors x6
Pathfinders x8 with markers, Devil Fish, Drone Controller, gun drone, bonding knife
Broadsides x3 with  2 Target Lock (multi targets per squad) and 1 drone controller with 2 shield drones
600 points

1500 total

Strategy?

Well, I sorta sit back and annoy people by stripping them of cover saves with the pathfinders and blasting them off the table with my suits.  That's about it!  In a lot of games, broadsides push opponents out of their comfort zone and force them to make decisions they would not otherwise make.  This may mean rushing forward when they would not normally. Hopefully there is armor to blast!  Any way, I thin the rushing herd, and focus on what gets close first with my assault marines.  The fire warriors hide for their lives, and jump into the Devilfish when it comes out of reserve. Or both stay in reserve and hopefully come onto the table at the same time. Then they do their best to be useful. Usually this means the fish goes out and provides cover for me when it dies, and the warriors cower behind a rock and go to ground, hopefully within 2" of an objective.

I don't expect to win a lot of games, hopefuly three out of five.  But I'm not going there to really win games this weekend. I just want to go hang out with my buds and shake off the disappointment of losing out on going to Feast of Blades.

The Walking Dead, Episode Two, Season Three:

I don't have time to do the usual write up this week, but I have one thing to say: Rick Grimes is No Joke.

My only question is, why did he not machette that con the minute he mouthed off?  Fear of the rest of the group? Rick would understand that those guys would understand one thing only, strength.  Hacking that guy in the head would have been all he needed to earn their respect.  Instead he waited to be in a situation where he was relying on this douche to perform, and of course the guy screwed him and threw a walker at him.

I did love the scene though.  No hesitation. Whack. Dead con. Even more heartless though was how he dealt with the other guy!  I loved it!  "Here is the door, you better run."

I didn't understand the decision to give a group of armed cons their own cell block.  What the hell did they think was going to happen?  It was going to be a matter of minutes before the cons were doing what cons do best.  Any way, the end result was as it should have been. 5 cons, who survived for 10 months, are reduced to two by Rick and company in a matter of minutes.

Now, I do believe that the remaining two can be of use if Rick would just smarten up.  Especially the black dude. He no doubt has a certain code, and I believe he would honor it if given the chance.

The rest of the episode?  Hershel got bit by a telegraphed zombie. I wish they had just had one rush in as usual and get a lucky bite off. Instead it was playing possum.  But then Carol all the sudden being able to do surgery because Hershel "taught her a few things"?

Carl almost had a moment of greatness. He did the Shane thing and ran off and got the meds. But then when faced with his over bearing mother, ruined it all and reverted to temper tantrum kid again and ran off.  I think this was a great time to have him show signs of Shane even more deliberately. Maybe him storming off sort of was a parallel.  At any rate, I think we can expect good things in this regard and need to pay attention to Carl who is no doubt haunted by Shane's ghost.

We can expect a heavy dose of Michone and Andrea next week.  It will be interesting to hopefully get some answers about the military, and finally see what the story is with The Governor.

Cant wait! I love this show.

See you guys at Mechanicon! I will have some footage soon.

Jawaballs

What army do you choose?

I get this question a lot: (Or some version there of)

"jawa what army should i start iam new to painting so what would be the easiet army to start out of choas blood angels or necrons and what army is good to learn very easy"

The answer?  I have answered this several times here, but this particular one always bears repeating.  

There is no easy answer!  

One thing that I can say for sure is that the models you start with will probably not be the models you are playing with two years from now.  First of all, you are going to go through a lot of trial and error with your painting. You are going to assemble them without cleaning the mold lines. You are going to give them weapon combinations that no unit should have. You are going to have fun with your plastic.  

That is the point.

When I bought my first tactical squad, I had guys sporting a plasma and a bolt pistol, plus one guy holding each special weapon. I had a guy with a bolter with extra missiles attached to his legs, a scope and bayonet on a melta gun, and purity seals draped every where I could.  

I had fun assembling them, and then destroyed them with way too much priming, and layers upon layers of paint as I learned how to paint. 

I still have a few of them and look upon them with a smile.

It was over a year and a half before I finally painted a Blood Angel.

SO I say go with your gutt. Look through the GW catalogue, and buy the models you like, and paint them. Once you have a few under your belt, work up to a 500 point list, and learn how to play. During the course of that process, you will no doubt paint and repaint your models several times.  Once you get to 500, if you don't like what you have, then reassess. Pick the aspects you like most about your army, and focus.  Do you like shooting? Perhaps Space Marines are not quite for you and maybe Tau or IG are more your taste.  Or if you prefer assault, Chaos or Blood Angels.  

Whatever the direction you take, the last thing you should do is follow the advice of most of the internet blow hards, myself included.  :)  Love it or hate it, 40k has a LOT going for it. It is a diverse game with years and years of background and lore.  I have been involved for over five years now, and I have barely scratched the surface of what is out there.  

So pick the models you like, and go from there.

Jawaballs

Mechanicon next weekend!

Mechanicon is coming up next weekend!  Ted Nagel reminded me about it and if you are free next weekend, and live in the NorthEast, it is a great way to spend your weekend.

It is being held at the meadowlands, near Giants Stadium.  Or some where around there.  But it is not just Mechanicon any more!

The boys of Mechanicon have joined forces with Neal at The Warstore as part of Warstore Weekend at The Meadowlands Crowne Plaza.

Mechanicon first:

This is their fourth year as a GT, and still remains one of my favorites.  It is the true hobbiest GT.  I won Mechanicon a couple years ago, coming back from 10th place for the win.  At most places, a guy in 10th place pretty much has no chance. But Mechanicon evens the field by taking away some of the focus on battle points, and strengthening the focus on Painting, and Sportsmanship.  This reduces the net list impact, and allows most guys a chance!  I took 3rd my first year and 1st my second, and hardly played lists that were traditionally killy. But being a good dude, and having a pretty army carried me through.  That is what makes Mechanicon special.

But also, Tony Spino and crew are just good dudes.  Mechanicon has a happy, family friendly feel to it.  More than one player will be there with his young son for example.  More so than at any other GT I have been to, the players seem to gel and socialize. There will be competitive lists, but the overall feel of the event is one of just having fun.  Not so with so competitive a tournament as the Nova Invitational.  There is nothing wrong with that competitive drive, but it is refreshing to go to a GT where even the guys at the top tables are enjoying a beer and sharing a conversation while playing rather than lording over their armies for 3 hours, oblivious to the fact that there is some one standing on the other side of the table.

Having to bail on Feast of Blades has opened a window that I may be able to take advantage of for Mechanicon this year. If I can work it out, I will try to scoot over as it is only an hour away from me. But if YOU are fee next week, this is one event you should definitely check out and see for yourself!

TheWarstore Weekend:

Two years ago Neal at The Warstore started a Warstore Con for the gamer. I didn't make it, and the following year I believe it was cancelled due to a personal issue, but this year it is back in force!  It fits with every thing that Mechanicon was about. Mechanicon was about more than just a 40k GT. They offered multiple rooms of gaming fun and events covering all sorts of games and interests. Well, now The Warstore has that covered! Makes sense to me. The point is that there are many different tournaments going on, and you even get bonus points at Mechanicon if you play in another event during the weekend!  You can definitely see for yourself all of the awesome that is The Warstore Weekend. So take a look and see where your interests take you.

You still have time to register for Mechanicon. If you get your list in by this weekend, you get bonus points. It is close to every one, so take a look! I am going to see if I can swing it.  Maybe see you there!

Jawaballs

No Jawa at Feast of Blades... :(

Life lesson learned.

And Larry, no comments from the peanut gallery!

I take full responsibility for this one.  

I will not be attending Feast of Blades. 

WHY? Well I'm an idiot.

I booked the flight in April, and bought my ticket to play, bought the limited edition "one of thirty" swag bag, and arranged for hotel, made plans to broadcast events on WarTV, and even set up a Mountain Pizza Challenge. Mere days from my flight though, I realized I had to actually request the days off, I was planning on missing Friday and Monday. 

Same with Jim, we work in the same school.

Any way, I submitted the paper work to my principal, who asked why I was requesting the time, then he made a scrunchy face and sighed. 

Uhoh.

Without getting into the hows and whys, the end decision was that I could take the days unpaid if I wanted and lose a substantial amount of money. 

I don't. Shit.

Oh, and Travel Insurance offered by Orbitz is a scam. Don't buy it. They make you think you can cancel a flight for any reason. You can't. Pretty much they have the same list of reasons that would get you out of paying extra change fees to any airline straight up, like death in the family and other emergencies. Only you pay more to have the insurance company say you are shit out of luck. Whatever you do, don't tell them the truth. "My boss rejected my days off" was not on the list of reasons I could use the insurance. 

After an hour of wrangling with Orbitz and the travel insurance company, I called back and told them that I was actually cancelling my flight because my wife's father was just diagnosed with end stage COPD and I did not want to be in Denver if something bad happened.

They accepted that one.  

It is actually true by the way, I am not that good a liar. (In fact I'm terrible) This is especially important because they sent me 10 pages of documentation I had to have signed, including physicians reports. I guess they don't take people at face value. All for a couple hundred bucks.  

Maybe it is for the best in that regard. This sorta bubbled to the surface after I spoke to Chandler last night and broke the bad news. I hadn't really considered it. He thankfully is out of the weeds this time, but I really would have hated to be in Denver and have him slip again.  The doctor called my wife last week and told her she should get down there when he was admitted. It did not look good. If that happened while I was in Denver for four days... Maybe the Emperor is trying to tell me something. I hope not.

So any way. No Mountain Pizza. No Goatboy and Brent. No bloggers round table. No armies on Parade. No GT.  No Chandler and Larry and Rob Baer. Well I guess no Baer is not such a bad thing.  :)  He makes me do bad things. 

The biggest loss here is I don't get to see my friends that I have been looking forward to for a year now and I don't get to be part of a community that I enjoy so much.  I don't get to see Denver and I don't get to blow off steam.  :( I love being at these events and enjoying the company of good people. 

My hugest apologies go out to Chandler who was counting on me to broadcast some events, and to the readers and viewers who were looking forward to seeing the coverage.  I guess the cleaning ladies wont mind though. Four nights of Jawa funk in a hotel can be pretty taxing. 

Whats next for me? 

Well the wife is happy as I get to go to the Scarecrow Festival with her, her friend, and two screaming 2 year olds.  

But also, DaBoyz GT is in November and I am still planning on going to Rochester NY.  Goatboy and Brent have gone to that one, hopefully I will see them there. 

Sad week for me.

JB

The Walking Dead: Season 3 premiere

New Bottle of 12 year old Scotch: Check

Old recliner taken off a neighbors garbage pile: Check

LCD TV newly optimized for HD display: Check

Season three premiere of The Walking Dead: Oh Yeah.

SPOILER ALERT! If you have not watched the season three premiere of The Walking Dead, DO NOT read this article.

I have been waiting for this night for over six months. I love AMC.

After weeks of watching one of the biggest networks in the world fumble it's way through Revolution, finally a show that knows how to get it right is back, on a network that used to be known for playing old black and white movies.

I was giddy all weekend!

I watched with baited breath as the counter ticked down while watching last seasons finale. I waited and waited to crack my new bottle. I have an order, a sequence, a way of doing things. It's a mini tradition. 

Get the ice at 8:40, let it frost in the room temp

Crack the bottle at 8:50, let it breath

Pour it at 8:55, let it settle

Look at it drooling

Pick it up when the AMC Production screen comes on, enjoy the sweat trickling down the side and temporary stick of my fingers to the side of the glass from the frosty condensation. 

Smell it a while, take in the aroma, count the scent points...

Upon the first glimpse of new footage... take the first sip into my mouth, allow it to surround my tongue, and experience the flavor. Then the carnage!

Who says TV cannot be spiritual?

Season three began with a closeup and fade out from a zombies eye. I sipped with greed from my scotch. The Walking Dead had found me again.

So the first five minutes pretty much explained the last several months of real time without a word being spoke. The crew had grown together and had a method. They stormed a house like a swat team, but found nothing but Dog Food. Carl went to work opening it, but Rick showed his growing frustrations by taking the goo and throwing it.  OH, and Carl jacks his first zombie. They didn't bother making a scene out of it. Just made the point. This was a new character.

It was poetry!

I have always praised TWD for it's smart writing and way of doing things. This beginning was the epitome of my praise. They didn't go over board, didn't bother to fill the beginning with too much expository, just got to business. After the intro, they ran the opening credits then filled in some back story.

The survivors had been on the run for a winter. Lori was about to pop and they had exhausted their options. A herd was surrounding them, and there was little for them to do. They established that Rick was in uncontested control, that Carl had aged (12 year olds age and change much faster than adults). Only a couple months passed in the show time between seasons one and two, but Chandler Riggs had aged a couple of years... He was starting to show.  Most importantly, without much ado, it was demonstrated that they were desperate.

Carl from season one. Young, innocent, useless.

Carl from season two. A plot device. He didn't do much, but

half of the show was about him.  Strange.

Carl in Season Three. They made him into a character

who takes point!  

Look how mature he looks! 

But lets start with the opening!  The credit sequence was pretty cool. In seasons one and two they sorta followed some of the cast members names with images of the characters.  Well, in season three they drop in cool images to correspond with each actor/character.  For Rick they show his badge, discarded and blown into the open by the wind followed by some discarded shells an centipedes, perhaps representing Shane.  For Carl they show the farmhouse that Sophia presumably hid in. Or was that Daryl... It flashed past so fast that I had a hard time keeping track, plus I was sipping m scotch with fervent vigor.  More on the opening once I have had a chance to digest it all.  It was pretty sweet.

On with the show!

After a brief planning interlude where they show that Rick is the boss, giving orders like "Take Point" to Carl, then showing that the crowd knows better than to question him, Rick and Daryl stumble across the prison.  

It doesn't take long to put it together...

Here is one thing that has always bugged me about zombie movies.  At this point, one of your most valuable weapons is a sharpened ski pole, or some other sort of lance.  Especially since zombies seem to group up at chain link fences and snarl.  Glen went down the line lancing them all with some sort of broad skewer. Why did they not all have one at this point? They had crow bars... but why not good quality spears?  In a world where the rules for killing zombies are firmly established, you would think that the survivors would have taken on a sort of Romanesque way of doing things. Short swords and shields in the front ranks, and spears in the back ranks, going over their heads.  Zombie lawn mower!

Small issue.

So they storm the prison!  The first task is to take the grounds outside. Rich runs through to the inner gate with the intention of closing it. They had a jury rigged set of clips for that purpose.  And the others took up position on the ramparts, shooting their new found military weapons.  But again more issues. Why risk Rick's life running in there? Why not just stay at the fence all day, luring over the zombies and stabbing them in the face.  Even the ones up inside the inner gate! The ones in the yard come first and get lanced, then the ones trickle down from up the hill.  But instead Rick runs in to shut the inner gate, and the gang shoots off dozens of rounds.

Oh well.

Shoot and skoot and it's all done!  

Without getting too too much into the episode, the rest plays out as we have seen in the previews. At this point, most of you, and I have read some of the comics or at least a synopsis. I have checked out a wiki that talks about how the comics are different yet follow the same plots. You will see parallels. That does not mean you are invited to discuss the comic here though!  However I can! :) In the comic, Sophia and Carl hook up in the prison. With Sophia dead, who is the next girl in line?  Poor Hershel has to watch all of his hot daughters getting boinked. They set that stage.

And of course they cannot have a new season of a TV show without putting a main character in peril.  My only question though, why did Rick hack through the lower leg when he could have more easily hacked through the soft knee tissue? That lower leg bit is probably going to end up coming off any way...   

Kudos to the budding love scene between Carol and Daryl!  I loved the jokes, especially the one about Daryl going down first.  You have to wonder if they have not already screwed!  Over 8 months, I bet they have.  It is just about certain. She is sorta hot in an old redneck lady sort of way, especially since she has quit crying about Sophia, which is all she did last season.

And just like that, months of waiting came and went and the show was over. I gobbled up every scene and it was done. Maggie looked less hot some how. The little blonde though, looked much hotter! I wonder if Maggie appreciates being upstaged by her little sister.

One of the most compelling plot twists was the relationship between Carl, Rick and Lori.  They are torn apart. Rick and Lori obviously are done as far as their marriage, but worse, Carl seems to have created some distance between himself and Lori as well.  When they are sitting at the fire, there is at least five feet between them, when in the first two seasons they were joined at the hip.  Obviously Rick has turned his back on her. It is only his sense of honor that keeps him civil. He offered her his food and she sheepishly rejected it, but he didn't bother with the "Honey you have to eat" shit, he just held it there, refusing to budge until she took it.  Not saying a word. It appears that Lori, after two seasons of manipulating and twisting, has been reduced to a sniveling sap.  

Then Lori tries to question rick privately, and he puts her in line. Then walks away from her like the manipulating bitch deserves. I love it. "I'm doing stuff... things... isn't that enough?"  Then he just turns his back on her and goes out on patrol. 

This episode reinforces where last season ends. There is no question. Rick is in charge. 

That is about it!  

How do you feel about the sorta love scene between Michone and Andrea? I don't even think there were necessary at all this episode. There was plenty to do at the prison. The cut scenes sort of slowed things down.

I liked how in The Talking Dead, the shows producer discussed the "emergency pack" for taking off body parts and how Hershel and Rick planned for that eventuality. However, he was bitten, but then they dragged him around.. At that point wasn't it already too late? Blood was pumped from the bite and up past his knee. They should have taken his leg off at the knee immediately!

I think the prison clearing scene that devolved to a cluster fluck chase were sort of silly and forced. They were clearing the prison, and marking off which way they came, but then some how areas behind them were full of zombies. Sure it is possible the hallways were circular and zombies could have gone around, I just think they would have been much more cautious and though about that after 8 months of surviving together. Hell, for as long as I can remember from playing Dungeons and Dragons, as we clear out dungeons, we don't move forward until we are sure that our backs are safe.  

I particularly liked the scene where the prison guards in riot gear came around the corner. It annoyed me that they tried a few futile attempts at breaching the riot helmets before figuring out that they just lift the visor and stab em in the face... but the humor was there.  It felt very video game, in a good way. Those were the "badass" zombies. 

Any way, it was pretty much a nerds wet dream. Zombie survivor room securing tactics, building a fortress in the middle of Zombieland, and at least half the guys potentially getting some.  What lucky survivors where all the chicks are hot, even the old lady!  

I love this show.  The next several episodes promise to be good. I hope that the plot with The Governor does not slow things down though. I am anxious to see how the military fares, and also to see how The Gov sets up his little town.  I hope they do some flashbacks. Hell, I wouldn't mind if they devoted a third of the series to flashbacks. I would love to see the fall of Benning! I can care less about Michone and Andrea though.  Andrea annoyed me in the first two seasons, and is no less annoying now.  She was hotter in The Mist. By the way, if you didn't notice, Frank Darabont is a total nepetist! Sure he was fired because he fought for his vision, but that aside, he was responsible for the cast!

Did you ever see The Shawshank Redemption? How about The Green Mile? And as I just mentioned, The Mist?  Take a look at some of the actors in TWD and see how many of them appeared in those other movies, also done by Darabont. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I just think it is interesting that the actor who played Dale was in three of them!  I guess he and Frank are buds!  Maybe some one can do a break down of who appeared in what...

Jeffrey Demunn in The Green Mile

Dale and Andrea in The Mist! 

That is all for now!  Can't wait for more.

Jawaballs