BBC Celebrates 40K's Birthday

I know I'm late to the party on this.   However I just found it, and since I liked it I wanted to post about it.

BBC featured a video and article about 40K on their site that depicted 40K in a fairly honest and non-exploitative manner.  I was very impressed, and I highly encourage you to check them out.

Another Rut Ploughed Through

If there's one constant theme through my blog it's that I'm an idiot and don't know the game I love all that well.  But if there's another less overt theme it's been an interesting (well interesting to me anyway) chronicle of the ups and downs of my interest in 40K.  I'm never not interested in 40K, but like anybody it waxes and wanes.  At times I'm fired up and it's all I want to think and/or talk about.  At times I just can't muster the energy to do anything with it.

This is natural.  And since this is my blog, and a personal journal of my journey into, and greater understanding of 40K, it's also been a journal of the peaks and valleys of my interest in 40K.

Currently I am on the upswing out of another valley.  You probably noticed the lack of regular updates to the site.  That's a direct result of my valleys.  Happens all the time.  I've been swamped at work, and with the holidays, and while I loves me Space Marine, I've spent more time lately playing DC Universe Online (hey new free MMORPG games are always good).  Plus I took a break from podcasts and was listening to sports talk radio (because hey, my beloved Detroit Lions don't completely suck this year).

A couple weeks ago I dusted off the old podcast app, and started listening to my favorite 40K podcasts again.  And today I'm going to start another lunchtime series of gaming with my buddy Steve.  We should be done with it by next week so I can have a good write up after that.  And as the holidays descend on us, I hope I can find the time in the madness to update the blog.

But lord knows I'm glad to be moving up and out of the valley because it's a lot more fun.

40K's Bad Rep

Normally I don't ape material for this site from the Blogosphere.  The game is big, we all have our take on it, and generally if it's a big enough story I'll have my own opinion about it and will rant and rave on my own.  But every now and then something comes up in a fellow blogger's site that I feel deserves the attention.

Such is the case with the 122nd Cadian's recent run-in with irresponsible journalism and 40K.  He makes some valid points in regards to what the reporter has to say.  I really encourage you to head over and read it.  I myself tread this same path a couple years ago in regards to a blog post that PBS posted about the evils of 40K.  A lot of what I said was in direct response to that post, that no longer exists by the way.  However, I still feel very strongly about a lot of what I said.  And I hate the fact this game we love so much has to deal with uninformed opinions or commentary biased by agendas.  I'm fully aware that we play a niche game that doesn't appeal to everyone, but it isn't a bad game.  And if you're looking for a positive view of the game and the people who play it enjoy the Hammers of War video.

40K Neotube - Fan Made Lord Inquisitor Trailer

So a fan crafted a CGI animated fan film for Warhammer 40,000 called The Lord Inquisitor.

I'll just say this.  After Ultramarines The Movie, I was skeptical that a movie would ever be made that had the epic grand gothic flavor of 40K.  Ultramarines was OK.  It wasn't as great as I'd hoped, but it didn't suck.  It did well enough in all facets to be enjoyable, but didn't stand out enough to lend itself to the greatness I'm sure most 40K fans hoped for.  This guy has animated a movie that looks better than Ultramarines, the scope is much larger, it features vehicles so less walking (badly animated walking at that), this LOOKS like the movie was hoping for when Ultramarines  was announced.  Other than being nowhere near Ultramarines in voice acting (Codex had a great cast put together) this movie looks like pure win to me.

You can learn more about this fan film at its site.

Battle Report 10/17/00-10/21/11

This.  This is how 40K is supposed to be.  Fun.  Competitive.  Suspenseful.  Intense.  Aggressive.  I've had some good games.  I've had some not so good games.  Never have I had a game that was clearly anyone's to win right up until the end.  This was a game where we each had bad rolls, but the dice were not an issue.  The deciding factors were the strategic and tactical decisions we made, and how we used our forces, not the fickle whims of the dice gods...well except for ONE fickle whim.

My buddy Steve spent the week working the graveyard shift, and was home during the day.  As he lives about 5 minutes from where I work it was another opportunity to get together and game.  These weekly games are quite interesting.  We split the game up into hour long blocks.  Monday is usually setup, with Tuesday - Friday being the actual rolling of dice.  What makes it interesting, is that with the carry over, we spend a lot of time thinking about the game, so we are really prepared for our moves.  Each of us was devising game plans and strategies throughout the week that we would apply with great intent when lunchtime hit.

As is natural for us, Steve played his Blood Ravens, I played my Orks.  We decided to throw a wrinkle into the game by trying out some home-brew Blood Raven rules.  Blood Ravens like their Librarians, but rather than allow them to field a bunch of Librarians, we allowed Steve to upgrade his Tactical Marine Sergeants to be Sgt. Librarians.  They each had access to one Librarian skill, but not the biggies (Gates of Infinity and Vortex of Doom).  Each Sgt. Librarian cost an additional 50 points.  I'm not sure this really played out in this game, but the thinking is that by giving the Sergeants limited Librarian skills it reflects the progression of Space Marines through the ranks of the Librarian heavy Blood Ravens without causing substantial game balance issues.

Another note on our lists.  We went 1500 points, and surprisingly both of us didn't bring any type of Walkers.  Normally Steve has some sort of Dreadnought in his army, and I rarely run without either the Deff Dread and/or Killa Kans.  This was not something that we planned ahead of time, it's just an interesting coincidence.

Hit the jump for the turn by turn recount of the action.

Self Reflection and the Burning Flame of 40K

I'm not going to lie, I've been in a rut when it comes to 40K lately.  Yes, there is my normal summer malaise where constant family activities and outdoor shenanigans get in the way of my 40K time.  Yes, I've just started working again which has cut into my free time.  But I'm still dealing with this sort of funk in 40K.

I think it started the last gaming party.  I played 2 games and lost them.  One (against Steve) was close, and had the dice rolls gone my way on ending the game I would have won.  The other (against James) was a complete beat down.  I was obliterated, and what few models remained were completely violated in the butt by James' Tau.  I don't play very often, actually quite rarely, and so my handle on strategy, tactics, and list building alwasy seem to loosen between games.  But the fact I have not won a game really started to weigh on me.  I lost both games in what could be (depending on how you look at it) the worst way possible:  So close I could see victory, and so devastatingly bad I should have given up before the first round started.  For me the loss against James was the worst.  I cobbled together a list based on what wasn't being used in my game with Steve, and pretty much put together a list that fed right into James' strengths but had nothing to overcome my weaknesses.  Combine that with an assault that destroyed my entire Nob squad before they could do anything, and yeah I was bitter.

Can you blame me fore bing a little bitter?

So fast forward to last week when I started using my commute to play catch up on my 40K podcasts, and I listened to Episode 30 of The Independent Characters.  Episode 30 featured some great talking points about how to move from being a newb to being a veteran.  Within the overall discussion (which I highly recommend) they had a discussion about what 40K means to you.  The gist of the discussion was you have to understand what you are looking for in the game.  Are you looking for wins?  Are you looking for fun?  Is this a hobby, or a game?  And the light came on.  In the wasteland that is my game record I was losing sight of what 40K means to me.  I mean hell yeah I want to win, and hell yeah I want to kick those squishy fishy Tau in the teeth.  But more importantly, I want to get together with my friends, salivate over each other's paint jobs, listen to the compliments about the few pieces I've painted well, nerd out, and have fun.  Winning is part of that (there is a game to play after all), but 40K is so much more than just a game.  And the hobby encompasses more than just the gaming aspect.

I enjoy painting.  I enjoy the fluff.  I enjoy the discussion and debate about the rules.  And I enjoy writing about it all.  I have my dormant times, I think we all do.  It's just human nature to not be on fire all the time.  We're fickle, and we have other interests and influences that pull us away.  But like any good hobby, it's always there, and we always come back to it.

So I'm putting forth a challenge to myself.  Even with all the distractions that come with summer, by Labor Day I am going to have my customizable magnetized Nobz squad finished.  By Labor Day I'm going to have my customizable magnetized Deff Dread finished.  And by Labor Day I'm going to have another 20 Assault on Black Reach Ork Boyz finished.

I'm going to get some WIP pictures taken and set up something in the sidebar so you can track my progress.  It's going to be tough.  I have 2 camping trips, some family gatherings, and who knows what else on the agenda between now and then, but I have a lot of work that needs to be done, and I need to keep myself focused on more than just my pathetic win/loss record.