Battle of the Titans: 9th Age Tournament

    A few weeks ago I took the time to participate in a 9th age tournament.  It was a great group of guys, most of which I have played with before.  The tournament was held in the studio for Titan Terrain Studio (which as I understand it, does more than terrain now).  Click here for Titan Terrain Studio's Facebook page. Website is here.

    The tournament was fun, and it helped me get a better grasp of some of the rules changes, especially for my High Elv...errr....Highborn Elves (still not sure why they changed this, High Elves, Dark Elves, Wood Elves all cannot be trademarked or copyrighted. That's why GW did away with them in Age of Sigmar, But oh well). Like the the fact that you have to pay for the upgrade to have a Repeating Bolt Thrower (now called the Sea Guard Reaper).  In my 2nd game I was informed that I could not shoot 6 shots with my Reaper because I didn't buy the upgrade.  Totally didn't see that I had to upgrade to something that had been standard for my army since at least 5th edition (when I started playing).

     Tournament was 1600 points, 5 games with 6 players.  A true Round Robin.  I din't fare very well in two of my first three games, getting destroyed in round one and three by Ogre Khans and Kingdom of Equitaine.  I did pull off a good win against Saurian Ancients in round 2 though.  Round four was a fun game for me, though maybe a little frustrating for my opponent.  My good Friend KingG did a battle report on this game and I'll post it here.

   KingG does a lot of great battle reports on his YouTube Channel.  You can find that here. You should check it out.

     Too bad I had to give up the objective in that game, but I didn't think that I could take out those Knights without getting the charge, so I played it safe.  But that Bolt Thrower shot was probably the best single bolt shot I've ever had in my 18 years of gaming.  And as KingG points out in the comments on his video, the imagery is awesome as well.

     Game 5 I won in convincing fashion against a Daemon army.  I knew the game was going to go my way when a Soulgrinder ( I don't know the new name for this) charged my citizen spears in the flank round 2, fluffed all of it's attacks, didn't do a single wound, lost combat and poofed because of the Daemonic Instability rule.  Yup, skillz.

     I ended up in 3rd place, which isn't too shabby for how I started out.  I had a lot of fun, got to play a bunch of 9th Age (5 games is a lot for one day, but it was fun) and hang out with some great guys.  All-in-all a great time.

The 9th Age

I don't love 9th Age. I mean, I like it ok, but I don't love it. I would rather just play 8th edition. I will keep playing 9th Age, mainly because I like the guys I play with and playing 9th Age is better than letting my models sit in a box. but I have serious problems with 9th Age, and they aren't what you think they are.

My biggest problem is with the simplification of the rules. What I LOVED about Fantasy is that it was complex, it was meaty, it wasn't perfect but the rules had FLAVOR! that is the biggest problem with 9th is the lack of flavor and character in the rules because they decided to "simplify it."

For instance. "Mounts Protectiion 6+/5+" and "barding." Now, Highborn elves just don't have the option for "Ithilmar barding", but they can take "mounts protection 5+" which, yeah, it's the same thing as "Ithilmar barding", but dammit "Ithilmar Barding" has a lot more character to it that "Mounts Protection 5+" High Elf Phoenix's now don't have the chart for what you rolled on the winds of magic. It's just gone. Why? It wasn't broken, but we are now "simplifying." but in the process we are losing fun and flavor from the game in my opinion.

They are trying to make a game that is perfectly balanced and streamlined for tournaments.  That is impossible without removing all character from the rules set.  Having the Martial Prowess rule for High Elves was awesome and fluffy.  It put in rule form the fluff that every High Elf was well trained to fight because of need.  Now, maybe the rule it's self was a little over powered, giving it to every unit.  I like how 9th Age has only given it to a few units in the book, but they just call it "Fight in an Extra Rank."  Now that is boring.  I'm not saying they should call it "Martial Prowess"  but they should be able to think of something.  They won't though,  because that would add complexity?  Really?

Also, balance. Frankly it is impossible to completely balance the game out. The game is unbalanced, and it always will be. That's another thing that I loved about it. The armies weren't the same and some, yeah, were disadvantaged.  Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't try to bring the extremes back to the middle a bit, but I would rather sacrifice balance in the name of story and fluff any day. I played a long time with Elves that sucked, Tomb Kings that sucked worse and Dwarfs that weren't much better, but it was FUN. Getting my wizard blown up in turn one because he happened to roll two 6's on two dice was fun and you know it. Sure, it sucked because you were behind from something random, but you can't tell me you don't have fun telling those stories.

I remember playing a 5th edition game of where 1500 points of my High Elves Teamed with 1500 points of Undead against 2-1500 point Brettonnian armies. On turn one the Brettonnians happened to take out the Vampire General, and he had no other characters in his army, which back then meant that the whole army just died. Poof! Gone! so it was just my 1500 points of High Elves V. 3000 points of Brettonnians. Sure I lost, but I gave them my best and it was one of the best games I've every played. The Undead player just played another game with somebody that showed up later. I remember once in a tournament I lost all 6 of my Silver Helms in one shot because I failed 7 2+ saves. I won a prize for that! Or the time that I blew up both of my Dwarf Cannons in one turn and they both had the Rune of Forging on them.

I love these stories, and now I will not have nearly as many because my wizard will not be sucked into the warp only using 2d6. The Doom Bell can't just blow up, fewer crazy things happen, and to me that is not a good thing. 9th Age is fine, and I enjoy it, but you can't tell me it has the same character.  The problem is that I can't find anyone to play 8th Edition Warhammer with.  

Finecast

   A few weeks ago I attended a small tournament 1500 pt tournament.  I ended up taking second place and as a prize I received credit to the store that hosted the tournament.  I decided to pick up my very first Finecast model.

This Vampire is a very simple model to put together so I figured it would be a good first test for me on Finecast.  If any of you reading this blog do not know what finecast is, you either are not a table-top war-gamer or you have been living under a rock for a LONG time.  Put simply, Finecast was touted as the "end-all and be-all" of model medium.  Better than plastic and better than metals, finecast was supposed to be the choice material for models, but...it didn't quite work out that way, now did it?
      See, when finecast was released it had a lot of problems and was quickly labeled as "failcast" by those not to happy with Games Workshop for making the change over.  So here is my first finecast model.

As you can see from these two pictures, this model has a lot of flash on it, particularly on the sword and on the very top of the vampire.  I also inspected a lot of other fincast models spanning different ranges and they all seemed to have a lot of flash on them.  this seems to be a common thing in finecast.

  Now, flash isn't a big deal, it comes off easy and you usually don't know it was ever there after the model is assembled and painted.  The bigger problem is if there are air bubbles and miscasts in the model.  This has been a problem since the Fincase release.  I inspected the model and could not find any miscasts or air bubbles.  the sword was even straight.  Win for me.

     I was able to get the flash removed from the model very easily.  I normally hate scraping mold lines and flash off of a model, but finecast is much softer and the flash came off so easily.  not a problem

It even came off of the sword very easily and no damage to the sword its self. very easy to work with and very quick.

And here it is fully assembled.  it was also very easy to glue together, much easier than plastic or metal.  in conclusion, I loved working with finecast.  I think it is very good medium when you get a good model with no defects.  The problem is that people have been getting defective casts and that pisses them off.

What We Geeks Listen To

As an avid Warhammer player and an enthusiast of the hobby that it includes, I just thought I would take some time to discuss the Podcasts that help all of us keep on trudging while we scrape off mold lines or put on one more highlight.

   I first discovered the Warhammer podcast, as most people probably did, with Jeff Carol and Podhammer.  Though Podhammer has been in hiatus for quite some tome now, Jeff inspired many new podcast to come forth.  The show went through it's ups and downs, but i loved every moment of that show.  I will always love Podhammer for what it has brought me, hours and hours of entertainment.  Jeff Carol is the father of the Warhammer Podcast, and for that, I am very thankful.

    You see, I work at a job that has me working alone for much of the day, and were it not for the podcast's that I listen to, I would have god mad ages ago.  Were it not for the Warhammer podcast's we would not have the warhammer community as strong as it is today.  Through these podcast's I have connected with people from all over the country and the world.  I would like to take a moment and recognize some of my favorite podcast's.

Garagehammer- the first American Warhammer Podcast that I listened to with two GREAT hosts...well one great host and one great former host.  Dave, you are a hobby machine and you inspire me to push through my own Vampire army.  If you can do 200 zombies, I can do 60.  Chris, You are such an amazing podcaster and your voice will be missed.  you two have gotten me through countless long days at work.  GREAT PODCAST!!!  Also, I love the fact that it is "family friendly."

Ohiohammer- another great podcast, but amazingly what got me hooked on this one was Andy's love for College football and the Ohio State Buckeye's.  I guess it just helps me justify the fact that I am a HUGE college football fan my self and my passion for the University of Utah Utes is at least as great as Andy's love for OSU.  If he can miss tournaments to watch OSU, then I can miss a tournament for a Utah game.  Most of my geek friends don't understand, but I know Andy does.  This podcast has been great so far, and I expect great things in the future.  The cast works well together, and has given me a lot of laughs.  GREAT CAST.

Wisco Dice- Great insight from the two hosts.  I love the "Consey's Rant" segment and have always agreed with him.  They always have great main topic, and tend to stay on-topic more than some of the others.  Also a GREAT CAST!

The Deployment Zone:  This cast is great for me because it is more "local" for me.  Most of the other casts are centered in the Midwest, and this one is based in Oregon, much closer to Utah, thus their meta game is much closer to my own.  Brian always has great hobby advice, and Josh and John always have great info for all to have.  I also love the "Diary of a Bad Gamer", it reminds me of...well, me!  GREAT CAST!

These four are my favorite and have been posted in no particular order because, well, I love them all!  Thanks for all that you podcasters do for the gaming community, even if you weren't mentioned here, you are awesome!!

Do Lizards Eat Cake?

A little over a month ago was my 29th birthday.  I had a very good time.  A tradition in my family that has really taken hold the last few years is that of the Birthday Dinner.
   My wonderful sister took it upon her self to start cooking everybody their favorite meal and a cake on their birthday.  Now, my sister is a wonderful cook and great at cakes and she made this one just for me.
   She typically makes cakes that reflect the interests and hobbies for the birthday boy or girl.  She got my wife to steal some of my models and dice to put on top(I may have to re-evaluate my security system).  You should see some of the cakes she has made for others in the past.

My 28th Birthday (Big Cubs Fan)

Her oldest daughters 12th birthday

Her third child's 7th birthday

Our fathers birthday March 2012

   Everything on these cakes is made by her.  That's right, the Cubs Jersey, the Drum n' Feather logo on my dad's cake and the everything else all done by her hand.
   I just though I would take a moment to show you how great my sister is and how awesome my Birthday cake was!

Game Stores

Ok, I am posting this out of frustration and a bit of anger, so just bear with me for a min.  I want to talk about game stores and how they can help, and hurt themselves.

  First, i should start with a little back ground.  In 1998, I started playing Warhammer: Fantasy.  My parents got me the 5th edition starter box for Christmas, and soon I was deep into building and painting a High Elf army.  I Read and re-read the rule book several time.  I tried to play some games with my friends.  but try as I might, I couldn't get the rules down.  So I went (rode the bus for two hours) to a game store in a nearby game store called Games People Play.
   While there I was treated well, I learned the game and made friends that I still have today.  It was a great time.  I could be found there every Friday night, except during Football season when i had games.  That was Where i made the jump from 5th to 6th editions, and if you thought the jump from 7th to 8th was big, you 'aint seen nothin'.
   Anyways, this was where I played until I turned 19 (2002) and decided to serve a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I served my mission faithfully in Taipei Taiwan and when I returned, I could not wait to start gaming again.  But my beloved game store had changed.
   They had moved locations (not a big deal) and had fired the manager.  They had stopped getting regular shipments of new things from GW, and by all accounts were on their way to being a full blown toy store rather than a gaming store.
    At this point I moved north, to Ogden, Utah to attend school there.  games People Play was an Hour and a Half away, I had no car and was pretty much stuck on campus.  from 2005 to 2007, I did not play a game of Warhammer.  These were dark times indeed.  at this point, something interesting happened.
    I had moved back to my home town and was playing in a regular D&D group, playing every Sunday night.  In early 2007, two of our number moved out of state, and two of our number were arrested.  This left me and my friend Big Game as the only two law-abiding players in our group, so I took to the internet.
    Games People Play had basically ran off all their gamers, so i knew that wasn't an option, so I went to the only other game store I knew, Dragons Keep.  I went on their forums and pleaded my case.  My friend and I needed a D&D group badly, and the Keep answered.  We went for our first gaming session and i saw people playing WARHMMER!  My heart jumped, I couldn't believe it.  There, in front of my own eyes were people actually playing my beloved warhammer.  I found out when their regular game night was and from that point on I was a regular.  Not only was I a regular, but I took the reigns and started leading the group.
   We started running tournament, campaigns, escalation leagues....anything you can think of related to Warhammer, we did it.  these were truly great times.  but it would not last.  In late 2009 I met and started dating my future wife.  in March 2010 we were married (quick, i know).  With my new family beginning (my wife got pregnant is September 2010) and work and school, i didn't time to go to The Keep every week, then they started shooting themselves in the foot.
   They fired the very employee that reached out to me and my friend and got us coming in. He was very great at helping whoever came in the store, teaching anybody every game they had there.  I know he had his faults, but all the customers liked him.  Then they started moving their game nights.  Warhammer went from Monday to Tuesday.  From Tuesday to Wednesday.  From Wednesday to finally Saturday, where it died.  the problem with having a regular game day on Saturday is that is the day you run your events.  Half of the Saturdays we couldn't play Warhammer because all the tables were being used for other game systems tournaments.
    this Brings us to today.  the Warhammer community at Dragons keep is non existent.  The officially have "Games-Workshop" night on Thursdays combining both 40k and Fantasy.  Every time I go in on a Thursday, there is no one there playing.  they used to run a Warhammer Tournament every other month, but they refuse to advertise for it.  the most they do is, if you buy something for Fantasy they say "oh, were having a Warhammer Tournament Saturday.....if we have enough people."
   Then there is the fact that the employees there are just plain rude.  My wife has gone in there several time to buy something for me for my birthday, christmas, fathers day and in each event, she had to call me to get the help she needed.  she was totally ignored when she walked in.  On a different occasion my friend Big Game went in to pick up the new Empire book.  When he was checking out the employee said "I thought nobody played Warhammer anymore."
   Well, Dragons Keep, nobody plays Warhammer THERE anymore.  The above examples are just a few of the things that have made us feel unwelcome.  We were tired of being thrown around, pushed aside and ignored.  We were tired of seeing every other game system get supported but ours, so we found a home where we were wanted.  Just a short drive to the north and I found a thriving Warhammer community playing at BlackFyre Games.
   Here, on a Tuesday night, were at least 14 players playing Fantasy.  You know why Dragons Keep?  A few simple things. 1) They are nice!  They acknowledge every person to walk through the door.  They ask if you need help and help you if you do.  The go out of their way to make sure your experience in their store is a good one.  2)  They Advertise.  Now, they are not using every thing they have available to do so, but at least they advertise.  they have signs in their store, they post on facebook and twitter and they e-mail.  Guess what, people show up to their tournaments.  3) They support all their games equally.  Yes, one game might not be as popular as the next, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve prize support for their tournaments.
    In conclusion, Dragons Keep, you were good to me for a while, but then you started to make decisions that hurt you.  I even wrote you e-mails, called and talked in person.  I told you my concerns, offered you suggestions and help.  but now i am done.  I have found a new place where I am accepted and wanted.  All I can do is Pray BlackFyre doesn't go the way of Games People Play and Dragons Keep.

Dragon Coversion

Ahhhh, our good friend Norbert is back.  If any of you don't know who Norbert is, I suggest you read this blog entry.  Anyways, I have a purpose for bringing him back today.

   Now, Norbert is my second High Elf Dragon that I owned.  The first was the second High Elf model I ever purchased. It was the OLD, all metal Imrik model.  I think it was made for 4th edition, but I bought it in 5th ed.  That old Imrik model was also the first model I ever painted.  Needless to say, it was pretty bad.

   Norbert was different though.  I had been gaming for several years now, I was 24(ish) instead of 14, and I had a basic understanding of shading and highlighting.  Yes, I think I did a fair job on Norbert, but one thing that has always bugged me about this dragon is the head.

   Look at it.  I mean really look at it.  Here, let me help you a bit.

Especially look at the horns on this thing.  now, when you see those horns, does this truly look terrifying?   NO!  I've seen scarier antlers on a reindeer!  I wanted a dragon that really personified what I envision when I think of these beasties.

  Now,  when the new Stegadons were released I got two of them.  Now those thing come with not one, but two sets of awesome horns.  Then I won "best painted" at a tournament for my Lizardman Army and I got a brand new High Elf Dragon.

  So with this new Dragon, I decided I would make it look like I wanted.  As Imrik was my first model painted, this would be my first conversion project.  First thing would be the Head.

   So I took the horns off of the stegadon and pinned them to the head of the dragon.  I liked the look a lot, but it had gaps that needed filling.  I had never really used green stuff before, but it was a necessity in this case.

  So I set to work with the green stuff.  I think I did a fairly good job, especially for my first real try.

   Now, I need to order some Balrog wings to throw on the back of this baby!