Old Stuff Day: Past Articles

Thanks to Warhammer 39,999 for inspiring this and gogo Australia for being ahead of everyone in terms of time :P. March the 2nd comes early here! lol As most of you have seen a bunch of articles from other sites have been re-published by their owners or with their owners permission. Very nice of them. There's still more to come from Chumby (who is that guy) but this post is going to send you to a bunch of different places (mainly 3++...) but gives some shout outs to our favourite blogging buddies and some of their better posts. Let's start with the 3++ links.

VT2 - Forumitis: I only play for fun

VT2 doesn't mince words and whilst you sometimes have to wade through a bunch of whining and raging in his articles, the pointy end of the article is often good enough to ignore his whining :P. In this article VT2 certainly does his share of the above but also looks at a point a lot of us dislike on forums. Namely, people get upset and yell at you when you look at our hobbies from a competitive side and use the term 'playing for fun' as an excuse for bad armies. A very mixed response form viewers but also a very thought provoking article.

Old Stuff Day: Chumby's Nexus of Necron Nowledge

Howdy folks, Chumby here again.  Since we're dusting off some oldies today I figured I'd put up something of my own as well.  The original is here on B&H, but Kirby could use the boost in actually good content, so I'm doing him a big favor ;)

Necrons? People still play them?

Ah, I'm just messin' with ya, all four of you. You're on 3++ now, it's 10 of us.

Necrons are in a tricky place currently. The Codex is old as a tomb world and 5th edition certainly didn't do them any favors. Gauss isn't what it used to be and combined with the increased resilience of vehicles a mech army can generally roll right over the poor tin men. What's worse, combat became even more dangerous and with only I2 losing essentially spells doom for your Warriors, bringing you ever closer to the dreaded Phase Out.

We talk a lot about competitive lists, optimized builds, and strong armies, but sometimes it's about bringing the army you love. I'm guilty with my Orks and Deathwing. And if you don't bring Guard, Tau, Marines, or Eldar you won't auto-lose. They may have a lot going against them, but a well built and well run Necron army can still hold its own. And if competitive play isn't your thing, then Necrons will do just fine in casual play.

Let's start with a quick analysis of the various units and options in the Codex. It shouldn't take too long, yay for limited choices!

Old Stuff Day: Mike Brandt's Social Contracts and Needs in Wargaming Between Strangers

For Old Stuff Day MVB has kindly allowed this article from Whiskey & 40k to be re-posted (according to Brother Loring anyway...he better be telling the truth!). Enjoy :).

Social Contracts and Needs In Wargaming Between Strangers - How to Behave at a Tournament, and Other Thoughts 

I was reading a post or two over at MKerr's blog, Chainfist.com. He reminds me of some other players I know in that I believe we are probably very similar PERSONALLY, but are very different in what we EXPECT out of other players - especially strangers.


The Concept of Needs and Emotional Maturity

All of us need things in life. We need food, we need water, we need breathable air. Needs are variable ... and sometimes they are just "wants," but it's important to note that emotionally, needs are pretty flexible, and immensely different from person to person.

Some people need to be loved, others need to be respected, others need to be treated as if they are awesome, etc. When these needs are not fulfilled, negativity results - people feel unfulfilled, unhappy, angry, sad, a variety of emotions that most human beings do not wish to reside in (with exceptions ... let's avoid the exceptions for now, as this is more a lead in to a discussion about gaming, than a discussion about psychology).

Old Stuff Day: That Land Raider Was a DISTRACTION!

This was the article that effectively launched my Blogging career, after I submitted it to Danny Internets and was accepted as an author. I'm still proud of it, it might be the best thing I've written.

It's not uncommonly heard. I've blown up more than my fair share of expensive units, only to have my opponent tell me that they were a distraction/all part of the plan/suicide unit. I smile and play along, sure guy, your 250 point Land Raider was a distraction. Whatever. It's obviously ludicrous.

But then I got to thinking, what is a good distraction unit in 40k? What am I looking for when I talk about that nebulous support role? I needed a definition. The one I like best is also very simple: “an obstacle to attention”

Aha! That's a good one! The important thing to realize about this is what we mean by “attention”. We aren't just talking about the opponents attention (though anything that can grab that is indeed a bonus). We're talking about the attention of units. At it's simplest level, this is putting a more durable unit in front of a less durable one to ensure survivability, in the way that Rhino's are often found behind heavier tanks. More subtle players recognize the value of those same Rhino's ability to function as a “moving wall” that can be used to block enemy line-of-sight. I'm sure most of us are aware that Land Speeders are excellent for zooming in front of enemy units and blocking assaults; this is the same idea. Anything that diverts an enemies function and mission is a “distraction” by our definition.

Old Stuff Day: Warhammer Fantasy Battle Movement Basics

Right folks. This is an article about the movement phase. Definitely the most important phase of WHFB. This is where your games will be won and lost. Yeah, big talk. Big decisions. As a note, this is the phase that differs most from 40k, of the big 3.

So, movement. Huh, well, I'm gonna need to break this down. For now, we'll cover remaining moves. "Remaining moves? Isn't that a weird place to start?"

Not really, it's where the majority of your movement will be done to be honest. So, what is the remaining move phase? Well, if it's not a charge, a flee or a doomwheel (or the like) then this is when it will move. This is the phase for general, all inclusive, utility movement.

So let's cover the basics.

THE MOVE
Your unit moves up to it's movement characteristic in a straight line. See, this stuff isn't so hard. This is a tactic commonly employed by armies like WoC and Orcs and Goblins.