So it’s been a good while since my last update and for that I apologize. Real life has once again gotten in the way and sucked up most of my free time. The good news is that hopefully for the next couple of months that has changed.
When I last posted I was in LGS’s summer WH40k league and doing pretty well with running my traditional Deathwing Army. Well, I ended up getting 4th place overall (20 players total) and I walked away with the Best Painted Army award for my Terminators. So overall I succeeded in my goal to play more games, develop better tactics and to learn the 5th edition rules better. In the end, I have an almost completely painted 3000pt. traditional Deathwing Army that consists strictly of Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders.
I really like the addition of the TLLAC Mortis Dreadnought to the list as while it is more expensive when forced to use the Forge World rules it is very useful in many of the scenarios that we played over the summer. It is very effective against light armor and most everything else in an opponent’s army. Hell, I even used it to chew up and knock off most of the wounds on a Daemon Prince recently; took an armless, immobilized Venerable Dreadnought to kill the DP in the end ….what a game that was too! The point is that I think the Mortis variant is a great addition to the line-up and I look forward to using it in the future. Hopefully, when GW gets off its ass and releases the new Dark Angels codex it’ll be in there properly and cheaper to boot.
Now to change gears a little, when the league finished up back in August, I decided to finish exploring into putting together a Skaven army for WHFB. I collected several boxes of Clanrats, a Regiment Box, Doomwheels and even one of the new starter sets. The army looks very interesting in the army book and I like some of the tricks and humorous outcomes that can happen when playing with this army. What bothers me the most is the sheer number of models that you have to assemble and paint in order to play a decent game in WHFB.
Part of the reason I elected to play Deathwing over the summer was the small number of models that I would need to paint to have a functional army. With Skaven, I’m looking at having to paint close to 200 models just to have a decent army list. Most of the games around here are in the 2500 - 3000pt. range so I’ll need to run bigger blocks than I had originally intended. Now understand something here, I have all this money invested in an army and game system that I have yet to play. Hell, I only played a demo game a few years ago but because I decided earlier this year that I wanted to help expand the store’s WHFB experience, I went full bore into the project without really thinking about the amount of work that it was going to take to complete the army.
I decided to use Army Painters product line of primers and dips to speed things up when painting the core troops. I tested the new process on five models and they initially turned out pretty good but when a clear flat coat was applied to dull the sheen of the Strong dip, the affect was ruined. The flat coat crinkled up and didn’t adhere properly to the glossy dipped surface of the models. So out of frustration, I set the models aside and haven’t really touched them in the last couple of weeks. I’ve been looking at altering the dipping technique a little by brushing on the Strong dip instead as that may still do the job and provide the affect I’m looking for. At the moment though, the project is on hold until I can completely resolve this issue.
So that pretty much covers what I’ve been doing with regards to my miniature painting and gaming since summer ended. However, there is one other item that has been bothering me for the last several months that really seems to have had an impact on my enjoyment of this hobby. So I’m going to take an opportunity to vent a little here.
When I started this blog, it was meant to be a way to share my experiences within this wonderful hobby but I’ve been dealing with a problem recently is that has impacted my enjoyment. I enjoy the various aspects of the hobby but occasionally the one thing that causes me the most grief is the human factor. By that I mean in having to deal with people that have become extremely difficult to deal with while playing. When I started in this hobby well over a decade ago, it was easy because I was in my mid-twenties and most of my close friends played and they helped introduced me to the game. We had a great time but as with all things time marched on, we got older, started careers, got married or started families and in many cases they moved out of state. As a result, I was forced to play at various stores, meet new players and develop new friendships along the way. It wasn’t all bad but every now and then I would run across certain people that just rubbed me the wrong way. When this happened, I would usually delve into why they made me feel upset or what caused the situation in the first place. I would look internally to see if it was something that I might have done or what was the specific trigger was that had caused me to feel that way; in most cases, I came to realize that the person in question was just an ass so no further explanation needed :)
My point in all of this is that at certain times in my gaming career, we all come across people that just suck the fun out of everything and cause us to question why we’re in this hobby. Me, I’ve been feeling like that for most of the past year due to an individual at my LGS. I’ll admit that I have a strong personality but I have a good heart and I’m willing to help out just about anyone with anything. I’ll be the first to state that this person and I are very much alike in certain ways but in others we’re vastly different. Hell, one buddy described the situation as him being a deadly disease but that I’m the cure that’ll probably kill the patient in the process ;) what are friends for right? I’ve tried to discuss the situation with this person and few others but it usually falls on deaf ears or people would listen but didn’t have the power or desire to intervene.
As we all belong to the same gaming club in addition to playing at the same store it has been rather difficult to get past some of the issues. Partly, due to his gruff attitude and unwillingness to either change or compromise. As a result of these events, I had strongly considered resigning as both a club officer and as a club member a few months ago but I was talked out of doing that by some friends. The part that really bothers me is that the behavior still continues and he either doesn’t care or doesn’t see how it is affecting the gaming community. His behavior lately can be compared to that of a Troll sitting under a bridge waiting to harass anyone that comes by. In this case, he sits in a corner of the gaming area and will make various disparaging remarks to people, often unsolicited, about their choice of army or their playing style. He is sad example of how to be a poor sport and a poor individual altogether when it comes to interacting with other gamers.
Normally, I’d stay away from posting issues like this on a public media site but, hell, it’s my blog and I said I was going to use it to vent a little. I’ve more or less realized over the last few days that I cannot let this issue continue any further because frankly it’s causing me to not enjoy something that has given me so much enjoyment over the years. So I think that a time has come for me to make a change, sadly, I think that means traveling well out of my way to play at another store. The person in question has strong ties with the store’s owner so I don’t see him changing anytime soon. I’ll keep in touch with those people that are my good friends but for the most part it looks like my regular games will be happening someplace else.
Well it looks like I have a lot to think about over the next few days and hopefully I can come to a decision that’ll lead to me enjoying this great hobby once again.
Until next time….
