The Weekly Top X - Haute Couture

Here I am, hanging out in the bathroom of the International House of Paincakes all by my lonesome. Where the hell is he? This sucks, and if Ye Ol’ Blogosphere doesn’t watch out I’m gonna go full rant all over the place!

Lauby? Lauby old chum..?

Lauby: Sorry about that, matey... what the hell are we doing in the bathroom?

Brent: …...

Lauby: Anyway, I was out and about on the internet checking some facts then I got sidetracked by a fashion site I found. Midway in the process of trying to figure out whether I’m an autumn or a spring, I realized I had places to be. Though I think chainfist.com has some valuable tips for all of us.

Brent: Ah, Chainfist! Monty aka Mkerr, formerly from Bell of Lost Souls - it’s been awhile since I’ve checked it out...

chainfist.com

...what the hell? Someone want to tell me what happened?

1) Blood Ravens Army Project - The Whole Damn Thing
Brent: Why am I starting this thing out - I’m still in shock. What happened to the mighty Chainfist?
Lauby: Dude, c'mon.  This isn't like all the other times where we can meander all over the place - this is some serious shit. 
Brent: No, no - I agree! I don’t want to take away from this site, which is basically a blog promoting a charity drive. These dudes are going to build a Blood Ravens army and hold a raffle so someone can win it, and of course all the money will be donated to charity.
Lauby: I think it'll do pretty well.  The Storm Wardens pulled in quite a bit of scratch and I think if the word gets out, these guys could do just as well.
Brent: I hate that I have to ask, but let’s put this out front: are we sure this isn’t a scam? This is all on the up and up, yes?
Lauby: That question's been asked a lot lately.  As far as I can tell, these guys are serious and I know Child's play is legit.  Would Gabe or Tycho lie to us?
Brent: Excellent! I’m looking forward to following this project, and maybe lending a hand at some point.

Gaming on a Budget: Going Clubbing

Full disclosure: this was not the article that I'd intended to write for today, but it seems like fate and the highly changeable weather of the Midwest are conspiring against me. Seriously, how does it take quick dry plaster over 24 hours to dry, even if applied quite liberally?

Regardless, we'll soldier on and dive into something that I was saving for later down the road: pooling resources with your friends to save money. It's time to build your own table and terrain.  Get help financing it- start a gaming club.  Next week I'll be giving you a full blown tutorial and will probably expand on what I was going to present, since I've got more time now, if that shit ever dries.

Lets Punch Cancer in the Balls!

Just a quick heads up on a wonderful new project Red over Miniature Wargame Conversions is starting up.

With Pay it Forward coming to its end in the near future, Red is pumping his charitable spirit up TO THE MAX and starting the LiveStrong Wargaming movement to raise money for a cause very near and dear to his heart.

If you're interested, you can head on over to this post to get the full details.

There's even a little logo you can grab to show your support.  Red has helped us out in the past and his cause is so good that we couldn't resist flying it ourselves.

User Content Wednesday - Being Gamist: How and Why of Counts As

I figured that with all the 'discussion' about Counts As armies recently, I'd draw some extra attention to this post.  RayJ over at Hidden in the Warp has my vote for the best post on the subject.  Now, after you've al read this, can we get back to the more serious issues plaguing the games we love?  I am, of course, referring to the evil that isthe Achilles Land Raider

When someone normally mentions the words “Counts As”, what image pops into your head? Do you see a wonderfully converted army of kit-bashed miniatures wonderfully painted and modeled to represent the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus? Do you envision Space Marines in robes and Dark Green armor being used with a 5th Edition codex, being led by Pedro Kantor, Logan Grimnar, or Mephiston? Do you envision a swarm of Tyranid creatures and monsters deep striking onto the planet below coming in waves using the rules from Codex: Chaos Daemons (or vice versa: using Chaos Daemons with Codex: Tyranids)?

This post is going to discuss the various opinions I have seen on the topic as well as give you my opinion on the subject. I’ll tell you straight up that most of you will absolutely disagree with me, and I can’t fault you for doing so. As with all articles in this series just realize that these ideas are coming from someone whose greatest enjoyment of Warhammer 40k comes from playing the game and mastering the system. I don’t want to deny you what makes the game fun for you, I just ask you give me the same courtesy.

I am gamist. Some would even say I play to win at all costs. In a competitive setting they are entirely correct. I will use the rules in every legal way possible to defeat my opponent. I will be gentlemanly and courteous. I abhor bullying (and conflict), but I thrive on competition. You see, being WAAC doesn’t make you rude or a cheater. Being rude and cheating do, and I personally don’t like much of either of them.

Keep that in mind as you read this post. What I am going to say will rub some people the wrong way, but it needs to be heard. For too long has this voice been silent, and with the sweeping changes to tournament formats the world over, this idea may just be able to gain some public acceptance.

Kill Points.....Balanced or Bollocks?

Most successful articles either go for controversy in order to drive home their point or aim for a balanced point of view in order to inspire reasoned debate.

I'm going to be honest right from the start and say that I dislike the 'Kill Point' mission a great fucking deal and any 'balance' will need to come from the comments section at the end.....

I suppose I should tell you why though or this is going to be a bloody short article.

The fundamental basis of the game of Warhammer 40K is that points cost is equivalent to value. Now I know that certain units points value reflects the effect that they give the rest of the army but even that keeps to the 'points equal importance' system.

New Member Monday - Moving Day

No no no, we're not moving.  But you could be.  Actually, its more of a spring cleaning...  huh...  I think that may actually be the first time I've ever gotten to use that phrase while it's actually spring while  I actually intend to clean.  Neat!

Right...  Now that we've gotten the four blog rolls up and running, its time to do some maintenance.  Over the next couple of weeks or so, we're gonna be going in and checking for and removing dead links.  We're also gonna re-organize the rolls so that the two fullest ones only have 100 items each.  Which means that roughly 20 blogs will be moved to another roll.  If anyone wants to go ahead and volunteer to move to the Krootberry Paincakes or Two Eggs and Chaos rolls, shoot us an email to info@houseofpaincakes.com.  I think we'll give it about a week before we actually move anyone.

Contest Winner - Reminder
Speaking of blog rolls, I just wanted to remind everyone that rkik from Meandering the Dune Sea won the day and walked away with $50 worth of Dragonforge bases (courtesy of MWC) and a Menoth Warjack.  Sweet!

[New Kid In Town] Getting to The Table

After struggling through making a LEGAL army list, the next task for me was to actually play a game. That would mean finding guys in my massive bags of doodz and finding the right ones. How do you pick when you literally have 100+ choices?

I think for most guys, this is the easy part. Grab some guys, put em on the table and go…

For me, it was pretty difficult. I didn’t buy, assemble or paint any of my guys, so I really didn’t have any connection to them. Some guys may have found a ready made army a bonus, for me it was a liability. I didn’t have any sense of what I had, or what I didn’t. I didn’t know WHY certain choices were made, and I didn’t have a clue what sort of order they were in- they were just sort of a big jumble to me.