SinSynn Supplemental: FoW for the LOLZ!

Hey folks, SinSynn here.

Welcome to the second part of my irregular Supplemental Series, dealing with my headfirst dive into Flames of War.

As of last time, I had played a couple of test games, gotten a 'basic handle' of the rules, and gotten my hands on some models.

I took an immediate shine to the tactical nature of the game. I really liked the different scale, as 15mm models on a 6x4 foot table, combined with the in-game effects of long range shooting, concealment, etc, makes for...well, more 'thinking ahead' than I was used to with 40k.

I guess I'm one of those guys that's a sucker for cool, interesting terrain, as well...I just never knew it.
I mean, seriously- lookit THIS:

*this is like Flames of War porn for me*

Oh my goodness...Flames of War is bonkers with terrain!
You wanna lot of it? Do it!
You want next to nothing? Desert Scenario! Do it!
Pfft!......awesome, is all....no excuses necessary here.

User Content Friday - A Long Diatribe and one Little Tip

Since the Top X was short, I thought I'd increase you;re Friday enjoyment with a brief return of User Content to Fridays.  This time 'round we've got a lovely (yes, lovely) post from a new member blog called Hive Zero.

So, I'm finally recovered from Adepticon. 
Well, that's a bit of a misleading statement. The day after Adepticon ended, I began a new job. As an old dude, I can tell you that even good changes are difficult. For the past ten years, I flew out on Mondays and flew home on Thursday nights. Ten years. There were pockets of time when I would be at home for months at a time as well. Both extremes are extremely difficult on the partner or spouse, and I need to acknowledge and marvel at my wife's infinite patience and ability to shoulder seemingly-insurmountable burdens while maintaining her own identity. And she tolerates, nay, encourages, my addiction to plastic and pewter.

The Weekly Top X - In the Spirit of the Quickfire Challenge

Hey cats and kittens, this week's top x is gonna be a short one.  The planets just weren't aligned this week and as a result, the mystical forces that this column relies on weren't howling at full force through the skull we use as a writing aid.  But never fear, we've found some excellent stuff to share!  We'll be back next week just as soon as I get the courage to talk to that base and vile character who calls himself Not Brent.

1) Frontline Gamer - Review: Dreadfleet
It's sad to see a HoP Idol contestant go because of not losing the vote.  Actually, that's sad too.  In any case, Frontline gamer gets a parting piece for all of you in the form of this excellent review.  Turns out that FG is a huge fan...  of tearing this game a new asshole. 

2) Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop - So what happens when the side projects are no longer on the side? 
There's a lot of Warhammer weltchmerz these days as the realities of competitive play become apparent in a game that cots $600+ to get into.  But fear not, there's this post!  I solid bit of introspection, some truth about the way Warmahordes plays and a reminder that GW still has crazy fun options for you.

HoP Idol (Not) Quickfire Challenge: Lantz

Next up in the non-competition that is the now defunct round of quickfire challenge entries we have Twin Linked Awesome's Lanzt here to spin a yarn about his first forrays into gaming.  Remember, this is not an article for which you'll be voting and no longer has any bearing on the HoP Idol competition.

I remember the good times, I remember them well. Things used to be good. I used to have money, uncut hands and glue encrusted fingertips were things in fairy tales. I remember the good times…

That all changed one drizzly Tuesday afternoon with one word; free. The gentlemen in my gaming group had all played tabletop games before, more specifically Warhammer 40,000. They knew what they were doing, and yet they continued anyway. They lured me in with the good stuff only for me to find that I needed more. And more I could have, but…it would cost me…

SinSynn's WAAC Tactics for the Fluffy Gamer

Hey folks, SinSynn here.

I have recently come to the conclusion that I'm basically a Fluffbunny.
I have absolutely no problem with this realization, but there it is.

*It's not so bad...I just really fear hawks now*

On the flipside, I have no problems whatsoever with 'competitive types.'
This is their hobby, too, so...whatevs, amirite?
I'll gladly exchange jokes and jabs with the likes of GMort (our own 'power-gamer extraordinaire' here at HoP, and author of GMort's Chaotica) , and I've had many interesting back 'n' forths with Stelek, over at YtTH, regarding the Tau.

These guys BLEED competitive, and I embrace them as brothers.
It is what it is...different strokes, different folks and whatnot.

HoP Idol (Not) Quickfire Challenge: The Other Guy

Today our free-lance blogger finalist, The Other Guy, is going to share the story about how he got turned on to the hobby that we love so much.  Hope you guys are enjoying getting to know these contestants a bit more.  I know I am.

My Hobby Journey

My uncle bought me my first models when I was around 10 years old. 2 of my uncles played Warhammer regularly together, and I loved going round their respective houses, looking at their Dwarfs / Skaven and admiring the love they put into their armies.

Making a Silk Purse From a Sows Ear...

There's an old saying about Silk Purses and Sows Ears which is basically telling us that some things are just so fundamentally sub standard that nothing can be done to improve them by any kind of noticeable margin.

Though that is the more polite version of the saying, I prefer 'You can't polish a Turd' as it almost has a swear word in it which is (as I'm sure your aware) how I judge the quality of any sentence. It's also probably a better description of what I'm going to be waffling on about.

The theory is often put forward that a non-optimised list can effectively become optimised in the hands of a general of sufficient talent or at least one who's used a certain list forever. Of course should both of those things be true of that person then we get all sorts of oddball pieces of shit doing well despite many competitive gamers claims that it shouldn't happen.....

The fact is that it does.....Though they're right in the fact that it probably shouldn't,

Lets look at why, shall we?

HoP Idol (Not) Quickfire Challenge: Inquisitor_Dunn

Taking the wayback machine all the way back to when I thought we could do quickfire challenges, here is Inquisitor_Dunn (now out of the competition) taking the wayback machine to talk to you about his first gaming experience.  Remember, this doesn't count for immunity, voting, or anything else anymore, it's just for funsies.

Take a Trip in the Wayback Machine!

by Inquisitor_Dunn





For this week's Quickfire, we are to tell a tale of how we got into gaming. To tell this tale, I first need to explain who I am. I am Inquisitor_Dunn on the interwebs and I have a little blog, 2 Cents on 40k. I started my blog to keep me painting my 40k armies by posting up stuff I'm working on. I had to do this because I needed to break my World of Warcraft addiction. This was not my first video game addiction.....( you are now entering the wayback machine )

Important HoP Idol Update

After the views expressed by you dear readers and some contestants, we've decided to call a do-over on this week's HoP Idol contest.  While we recognize that this may seem unfair to those who followed rules there is an added complication that has made this necessary.  Sadly, and due to personal reasons not related in any way to any HoP Idol drama real or imagined, Frontline Gamer has had to bow out of the competition this week.  We're sad to see this highly talented writer have to go but are more than sympathetic with his current needs.

This has pretty much made this week a wash, since we've lost a contestant regardless of the results.  As such, we're keeping the remaining 4 and will be starting a new challenge round soon, hoping to forget that this week ever happened (except the interview part, because they were all fucking great).

New Member Monday - Three and Three

See.  I TOLD you that HoP Idol was still going.  Swish.

That's enough self aggrandizement for the morning.  I've got words to spew out at you.

New Features
1) I've enabled the social media link sharing.  So you can post all of our genius to facetube or twitbook or whatever other joke name site you can think of.  Plus the the REAL ones.

2) I've enabled a little star based rating system.  So now you can award between 1and 5 stars to our awesome posts.

3) I've added a google page translator.  Because we're international.  And because I really think being able to read us on Afrikaans is what we need to unlock the South African demographic.

[Musings of a Game Store Owner] Selling Pens

Lauby loves Loquacious' language and laments the lack of locution in the Lady's letters of late. Letting our league learn of his longing for the lively loosening of lessons in literacy, our leader leans on the legend to locate  landmarks of lexicons.

Let's linger longer in learned locations, letting our leader listen to our luminous Lady and her legions of lexemes.  The lamentations of the librarian are likely lessened as he loudly lords his license to lead over the litanies of our loveable losers, limiting the lack of literacy with licks of lengthy legends.

Congress of critics, concentrate as we commence conversations on commerce. Cease the crushing cascade of comments, and continue creating conclusions. 

Yeah, chew on that, folks!