PotMS on a Vindicator - Just Think About It

It's time to stop resisting the urge to talk about the recent Dark Angel and Black Templar FAQs.  I know its a little bit like low hanging fruit, but its a pretty monumental thing for the player base.  Not only does GW care about you, they care about their game.

There's some pretty ridiculously cool things that are going with the 'new' books beyond the equipment normalization.  For instance: the DA FAQ used the word 'penultimate' at least once.  CRAZY!  Some equipment costs were even updated too.  That's really what I'm excited about - it bodes well for Space Elf buddies in relation to their evil cousins.  I'm not saying its gonna happen - just that it could.  I could get some much needed pricing love in the future. 

The image we all had in our heads is now a gaming reality.

Old News: GW updates FAQs

For the guy still living under a rock, GW went ahead and did the unthinkable - they updated the Dark Angel and Black Templar codices to make the rules and equipment more in line with the rest of the marines.

I wont get into to the rules updates (the blogosphere is awash in posts about it), but suffice it to say: I am super excited about that.  If you go back far enough in my archives, you can see me rage quitting the Dark Angels rigt around the same time the harbinger of all things marine to come was released.  The Dark Angels have always had a special place in my heart and its just plain good to see them being made good again*.

Prior to the new FAQ,  Jessica Alba was the only dark angel nerds cared about.

Especially since the last time GW addressed the equipment problem they handed us a load of "the most important rule' bullshit.  This is what really drove me up the wall in the last FAQ.  They might as well have written this:


Q:  Is there going to be an update to bring the DA equipment options in line with the Vanilla Marines?
A:  No.  FUCK YOU!

The Word Bearers Are Pretty Bad Ass

So my intro to what was supposed to be this post got a little out of hand.   Now its time to go exploring.  I'm coming down from a sugar high, so here's to hoping this makes sense.

As part of GW's plan to expand the defining moment in the time line of the 40K universe's pretend history, Black Library has been publishing the shit out of novels about the Horus Heresy*.  For the most part, its been pretty good.  They've gotten some pretty good sci-fi authors working on it and Prospero Burns is actually in the New York Times Literary Review.  Crazy.

Like a lot of you, I have mixed feelings about the amount of information we now have on the Horus Heresy.  I'd like to talk more about the whole fun of trying to fill in the details ourselves prior to Dan Abnett, but that's a post for another day.   In short - I think the mystery and ambiguity of the story as presented in the 2nd edition rules was in many ways more fun.  However, all the detail we have know allows us to play games other than 'fill in the  blanks'.  Let's play 'historian'. 

I Don't Usually Swear In My Post Titles... But Tyberous is Fucking Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

My friends, a war is being fought against common decency and propriety.  Its been going on for some time and it has to stop.  Our very souls are being preyed upon by the miniature industry and there subversion of our good Christian morals.  Just look at what those vile filth peddlers are are debasing us with...

Underboob - the so-called gateway drug that sucks the naive and unwary ever deeper into the smutty back alleys of society.

What About the 40k Universe Lends Itself to the Word 'Fluff'?

Ah, the  fluff.  Or back story - even flavor text if you prefer descriptively better and less loaded words.  Its a part of almost all the games we play these days.  From Warmachine to freaking Candy Land and everything in between, there's this need we have to create stories (and I'm using the broadest possible definition) for our games - even if its the barest shred of an idea.  It's just one of those human things.  Even Chess has its own narrative what with the king being the objective and all.  In that same vein, you're deck of playing cards has a pack of royal persons in it too.

Especially Battle Chess

 Sure there are things like Jenga and checkers that seem to defy that trend, but they seem to be the exception to the rule. Then again, who the fuck cares about Jenga and checkers who aren't past the age of 12?  Actually, I have some fond memories of drunken Jenga but that's another set of stories (dear Penthouse Forum...) and you do get kings in checkers.  Anyway, the really memorable games tend to have stories on some level and it's not the kind of thing that you stop enjoying once you get past the Chutes and Ladders stage of your life.

/generalizations

It's a new year, time for a new post

2010 was a fun year for my hobbies.  Recaps are trite, but here are the highlights:

• Started a 2nd army to languish in the hell of my backlog of unfinished projects.  Sitting next to my desk is an entire box of Deamons. Painting them has been a blast, thouhg.  Now to make sure they don't take a year and a half to be playably ready to go.
• Completely collected and then completely abandoned a Warhammer fantasy army. My poor dino-horde is why I continue to have mixed feelings about 8th edition despite knowing better.  The silver lining is that I broke even and didn't waste time with wood elves.
• Got my first and only hate mail from a man very confused about how the internet and logical arguments work.  Bonus points on this one for receiving one worthless rant and then receiving a spell-checked version with a polite explanation on why I was getting two copies.  Also, thinly veiled threats of physical violence.
• Started up the House of Paincakes with Dethtron.  It's killed my ability to write for this blog, but the whole thing been fun as hell and great for networking.  Its going strong and getting lots of love.
• Discovered the wonder that is the wet palette.  For your own sake, go get one. Now.
• Entered a BoLS painting challenge.  Got third place as far as I can tell; they never announced winners to my knowledge. 
• Got tons of fantastic books from GW and Forgeworld.  They're relly stepping up the quality of what they produce and it is fantastic.  Badab War II is on the way and I have a bit of a hobby boner.
• Sold a bunch of my old crap to pay for new crap.  The viability of hobby cannibalism is firmly established for me.  I also got better at letting go of my precious, precious work.

 I think 2011 is shaping up to  be better.  I have an army pretty close to done and if the job-gods are kind to me, I'll be in a better position to actually make some games happen and then fart around with new stuff.  Plus, the Eldar will actually be done and ready to play.