Blog Wars Feedback Discussion

Normally at this point in the posting schedule following a Blog Wars event I'd be asking for feedback to try and make the next BW better. However, as you've probably already read, BWX was the last Blog Wars event. That means that rather than informing my choices for the next Blog Wars. This discussion will help with what's to come. I'll be announcing my proposed ideas early next week but in the mean time I want to hear your suggestions for what I can make better or do completely differently. I think BW grew from humble beginnings into a brilliant event (if I do say so myself) and it only did so because you guys had a say in the running of it. Going forward I want to continue that system of cooperation.

To give a bit of structure to this let's look at some of the key areas I want to cover:

Scoring System
Of course, the new events may not share the same system but I want to know what you guys thought of the use of the "Fluffageddon" system this time around. Do you think your placings better represented how your day went? Do you still feel like you had good matchups? Do you think it make any difference at all?

I'm keen to maintain the BW-style system where how well you win actually matters. I don't like pure W/D/L as it doesn't differentiate between a narrow victory and a pasting. Equally I want each round to be worth the same number of tournament points regardless of the scenario being played. Hopefully that means the particular matchup you get is less important.

Scenarios
Think back over as many Blog Wars as you've been to (and can remember). What scenarios worked and what didn't? I think those that worked best were ones that only slightly varied from the rulebook missions and weren't overcomplicated. I'd like to try some different things out though so any suggestions or just things you've liked that you want to see return would be great.

Painting Competition
BWX saw the first outing of a single category per player painting competition. There were three categories: Best Painted Army, Best Painted Hero and Best Conversions. I personally think it worked pretty well and rewarded different aspects of the hobby. Best Army obviously goes to a force which appears full cohesive and stands out on the battlefield whereas Best Conversions showcases those armies that feature unique models that have been slaved over before paint even hits them. Best Hero on the other hand allows players to really go to town on a single model and show off their painting and conversion talents to the maximum. Obviously this fits in well with the compulsory SC mechanic at BW. The general impression I got was that people like the new format to the competition (well, everyone except Liam!) but any feedback would be great.

At GW events they've started to introduce several categories for individual models. They have one for characters but also separate categories for monsters and for vehicles. I could introduce these at the next event but my concern would be that there'd be too much to judge in such a short lunch break. I think three categories is probably the maximum but what do you guys think?

Venue and Lunch
I have a good relationship with both Darran (the owner) and Element Games (the in-house shop) so I'm keep to stay at the NWGC but I know it isn't perfect. What could I suggest to the venue to improve things or should I be looking elsewhere?

At the last couple of events the catering has come from Subway which seems to have gone down well. They're pretty good at handling allergies and dietary requirements too. I also think a cold lunch makes sense as then it's not going cold if it arrives too early or the event is running late for some reason. A hot lunch is great but inevitably takes more time. What do you guys think though?

Timings and Points Limits
Part of the reason for having a limit of 1,850 was to allow people plenty of space to include SCs without it feeling like too much of a penalty. I think it also helps to increase the variety of armies showing up. There have been comments before about the timings though and not having enough time for games. There didn't seem to be many games that came down to the wire this time but I obviously can't really tell how many turns people are managing to get through? Would a points limit of 1,750 be more sensible or should I even go as far as 1,500? Given that whatever event I run will have an emphasis on friendly gaming rather than outright competition perhaps a lower limit would allow for more relaxed games in the time? That or I could even up it to four two-hour games perhaps?

What kind of events would you like to attend?
I've flirted with the idea of running different kinds of events in the past but never really got away from the one-day singles format. Would people be up for trying something different like doubles or a full weekend event?

I've shied away from full weekends so far because they're a big drain on my time and for a casual event I doubt many people would commit to a full weekend either. If there's a huge demand though perhaps I can talk my wife into it! Doing something with doubles or teams appeals though. Matt and I have always enjoyed the GW doubles events but since they now allow EVERYTHING, including Unbound, we haven't been so keen. Blog Wars was originally invented in a backlash to the stingy prizes at GW events and the way they were run so perhaps I can take on doubles next? Teams are an interesting idea too. Of course it relies on you having another 3 guys to join you but I could easily take entries for singles and create teams on the day.

It could also be fun to run a smaller points limit skirmish day with say 500pts a piece and a lot more games? I've enjoyed the Summer Skirmish events in the past using this format but you soon grow to hate your 500pts if you realise early on you got the level completely wrong and then have to play through another 7 games!

Conclusion
Anything else you want to throw at me is equally welcome. As far as I know right now BWX went well but if there was something that pissed you off (or that you thought was excellent for that matter) I'd like to hear it. I already have in mind the kind of events I'd like to run in the next year but I'm always open to suggestions for the future. Right, hit me with it!

Blog Wars X - My Battle Reports (Part 2 of 2)

Let's continue going through my battles from Blog Wars X. It was so good to be able to play and get to chat to people. I didn't really need to make many rulings, I think this was in part down to people being quite relaxed about the whole thing. Anyway, onto my battles:

Game Two: Space Wolves vs. Space Wolves 

After a reasonably strong win in the first game (25/30 TPs) I was around the top end of the mid tables on table 7. My opponent would be Daniel Johnson with his Khornate Space Wolves including a stunning Chaos knight conversion (a cut'n'shut of a lord of skulls and a knight) which you may have seen on the conversion competition post. It was effectively a mirror match then with both of us fielding Space Wolves accompanied by a lone Imperial Knight. The big difference was that Dan's Warden had the crucial D chainsword. Not only that but a pile of thunder hammer toting TWC that would equally make a mess of my IK. 

We'd be playing Emperor's Relic on Vanguard Strike. That meant there wouldn't be much distance to close for Dan to get stuck into my army. On reflection I should've deployed far less aggressively and made this TWC come at me for a couple of turns whilst peppering them with fire. This would've also protected myself better from this drop pod. The key thing though is that I wanted my games over quickly so aggressive was the way to go. Dan deployed spread across his lines with TWC on one flank and the Knight on the other. I deliberately placed my Knight opposite the TWC hoping that I'd be able to hammer them with all of my firepower and maybe kill a couple before they got stuck into me. I'd then hope I could at least take a load of them down with me with some stomps. 

Dan dropped his pod of wolf guard in straight behind my Redeemer and Arjac and his melta-toting veterans made short work of one of my land raiders (I wish I'd remembered Stealth from Night Fighting!). This left Ragnar and co. pretty vulnerable to the Warden's gatling cannon leaving just a couple grey hunters supporting their Lord. The Knight let rip at the TWC but could only kill one. The Knight headed into combat and managed to take another before being literally hammered to death. I again rolled 3 stomps but that elusive 6 didn't appear and the S10 catastrophic explosion scattered 11" out of harms way. I was now massively on the backfoot. 

The other grey hunter pack hopped out of their land raider and were joined by Ragnar and the remnants of his squad in charging Arjac and his squad leaving just Arjac standing after Ragnar passed all his invulnerable saves (including one with a re-roll). The triumph would be short lived though as the TWC were inbound. The TWC helped Arjac finish off the rest of the grey hunters whilst he finished off Ragnar. The Khorne Knight charged the land raider and made short work of it (Dan's Stormfang had missed it's shots) and that was the end of Dan's turn 2 with me effectively tabled! If I failed my reserves roll I would be.

The Stormwolf blasted onto the field and downed the Stormfang. With no real anti-air threat Dan was resorting to krak grenades and hoping for 6s followed by 6s from the gatling cannon. My Stormwolf therefore carried on to all but annihilate Dan's Wolf Guard holding the central objective whilst the Helfrost cannon had a cheeky shot at Arjac and finished him off. Still zooming the flyer headed to Dan's objective whilst the Helfrost cannon finished off the central squad. I was able to cut down a couple of Wolf Guard but I'd now need to hover next turn to get the Blood Claws out to try and finish them off. The Blood Claws charged into combat but cancelled themselves out against the Wolf Guard leaving two of each alive. The flyer turned against the TWC but its fire was deflected away by their storm shields.

Leaving the rest of the TWC to hold the central objective the Lord charged at the hovering flyer and smashed it apart with his hammer. The last remaining Blood Claw was still holding on until the Lord charged into the combat and ended things with a tabling for Dan and a 33-1 win.

Game Three: Space Wolves vs. White Scars

Dropping down to table 15, I found myself facing David Seago's White Scars army with another Imperial Knight in tow. I'd be struggling again as this time it was an Errant but again with a D chainsword. We'd be playing Maelstrom on Dawn of War. 

In my first turn the Knight was doing a grand job of making the bikes jink whilst chipping away at them. This didn't last long though as the Sternguard arrived and immobilised my Land Raider. The other knight charged mine and we sat in stalemate. That was enough to stop mine firing though allowing the bikes to had free run of the battlefield. One squad of grey hunters disembarked and took on the Sternguard (who hit and ran like cowards!) the other Redeemer blasted forward so Ragnar and his squad could get stuck into Khan's command unit (who also hit and ran!). 

My knight was soon finished off by the other one who was now on two HPs remaining. The blast was on target this time but I rolled a 1 for it's strength! Typical! The command squad shot and charged Ragnar's squad again and finished them off over the next couple of combats. The knight now ripped into the immobilised land raider and destroyed it. The Redeemer turned it's attention to the sternguard and with help from the grey hunters finished them off. The problem was that whilst all this was happening David had racked up a 10-2 lead in VPs as I kept drawing awful cards and his bikers had no trouble sweeping round the objectives. The Stormwolf kept away in reserve too which probably saved his Knight as I could've get crossfire on it. 

When it eventually arrived the Knight managed to pass all of its invulnerable saves and live to fight another day. With the battle pretty much over by that point (it was now 15-2) I thought I'd put an end to things and hovered the flyer for another shot at the Knight and to charge some bikes with the Blood Claws. The Knight fell this time but not before it had wrecked the remaining land raider and finished off the grey hunters. With the Blood Claws being cut down I now just had my flyer left and that didn't take long to remove since it was hovering. We still made it to turn 6 though giving David a 27-5 win leaping him up to 16th and dropping me down to 42nd!

Conclusion

Well the main thing with these games was to get them over quickly. The first game didn't need to be such a rush as I've got lunch to do the results but I needed to enter both the round results and painting competition votes so my second and third games had to be over sharpish. I'm not saying I threw the games by any stretch but I did do some things that I wouldn't have. Frankly I'd have taken a whole other list in the first place! Probably one that looked more similar to Daniel Johnson's or even my Tau.

There were some highlights to my games though. The utter dominance of the Knight in the first. The ridiculous flyer antics in the second and the Ragnar vs. Khan showdown in the third. I was also spoilt in all three games by playing against some great opponents with stunning armies so thank you to them on both counts.

As I said in the previous post, this was my first time using a Knight competitively and it was fun to try out the Crusader variant. Clearly against armies without D-weapons it's going to shine but if there's another Knight in there I'd be better off with the sword. I think a Warden with autocannons is probably the way to go as it gives you a decent anti-air combo and threatening light vehicles and MEQ alike. 

Well with that over, and apparently no major controversies this time (eyes the comments section nervously), it's onto the feedback discussion in the next post. Obviously this won't be for another BW event but I still want feedback on a few things that will be use in the new events. Stay tuned for that and have your comments and criticism ready.

Blog Wars X - My Battle Reports (Part 1 of 2)

When I had a player drop out a week or two before the event I tried to sell the final ticket but also figured I ought to write a backup army list in case I couldn't fill the slot. Right up until the day I wasn't expecting to play as there's nearly always an on-the-day dropout. Not this time though, the full 49 showed up so I quickly unpacked. Here's my army list. Bear in mind this is just a sensible TO's army. It features very few models (only 3 to deploy), has no psychic powers, no horde and not all that much complication. I basically went for "how quick can I spend 1,850pts?".

Let's start with a Knight Crusader with rapid-fire battle cannon, meltagun and ironstorm missile pod. Throw in a Land Raider and Land Raider Redeemer (with multi-melta) and that's nearly 1,000 spent already. Add in 5 Blood Claws in a Stormwolf (with multi-melta) and Ragnar Blackmane that gives me just under 400 pts to throw an 8-man Grey Hunter pack in each LR (with melee weapons, melta and WG pack leader sporting CM/PF). Obviously, some armies will find AV14 LRs and an AV13 Knight pretty tough to deal with but it's by no means a good list. Let's see how it fared:

Game One - Space Wolves vs. Dark Mechanicum (Skitarii/Cult Mech)

Archie Homer's Dark Mechanicum army was always going to be joy to play against. Firstly because there are some stunning conversions in there and secondly because I've yet to play a game against the new Ad Mech stuff so I was looking forward to it from the off. Archie did his best to explain what everything did but I didn't take a lot of it in and obviously with so many conversions I wasn't always totally sure what was what (despite Archie's handy picture reference book). What I did hear was "they have haywire guns" so I knew what to shoot first!

We were playing Cleanse the Xenos (effectively Purge the Alien) on Hammer & Anvil deployment. Archie gave me first turn, hoping it would get me in range without suffering too much damage. However, with PotMS and decent range on the IK I was able to cut down all but one member of one of the aforementioned haywire squads (Skitarii Rangers?). The IK made short work of the Ruststalkers with his gatling cannon too giving me First Strike. He'd infiltrated his Sicarians behind my lines but I figured I'd ignore them and hope to be able to come back for them with my Knight or flyer later on. In response Archie was able to strip three hull points from my LR with haywire from two squads but he needed help from the Dunecrawlers to finish it off. Fortunately for him my Grey Hunters were pinned by the fire coming in from all sides.

The Space Wolf response was pretty brutal with the Sydonian Dragoon falling to the IK's gatling cannon and all the Rangers (?) dying to fire from the Land Raiders and newly arrived flyer. The snipers (Rangers/Vanguard?) also met their demise with fire from the Knight and the Redeemer. The Kastellan Robots loomed menacingly close to the Redeemer but fortunately for me failed their charge. This bought me time to finish off the Dunecrawlers with the Knight and the Ironstriders with the flyer. The Robots would be easily in charge range this time though and tore the Redeemer apart. That left them wide open for a charge from both Grey Hunter squads and the Imperial Knight meaning the game would end in a brutal battle royale!

Ragnar did everything he could to try and kill the Dominus in a challenge but it just kept passing saves. Ragnar did the same though, using his Incredible Reflexes to make a crucial re-roll. The IK managed to get three stomp attempts but sadly no 6s appeared so the combat resulted in a narrow win for the Space Wolves. They then caught the Robots in a sweeping advance. I protested that they must be Fearless but Archie couldn't find anything saying they were (he realised later in the day unfortunately). It was a shame to end the game on a false victory but it felt very one sided by that point anyway. I walked away with a 1755 to 716 (27-11) victory and 25 of a possible 30 tournament points. Not a bad start eh?

Conclusion
I'll cover the rest of my battles in the next post. I wish I'd seen more of the Cult Mech and Skitarii stuff but once the Haywire was gone they really struggled to do any damage to me and the Knight was too dominant. It's only the second time I've used the Knight and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I learned later in the day they can be pretty fragile but in that game it felt unstoppable and probably did most of the damage.

Blog Wars X Painting Competition - Best Painted Hero (pic heavy)

The final category in the BWX Painting Competition was Best Hero (formerly Special Character). There were as many entries in this section as in the other two combined. I think this is a good way of allowing people to showcase their skills in painting a single miniature rather than it being lost in a full army. This was a much closer competition too with just a single vote separating first and second. Who knows what would've happened if the full 49 players had voted?!

Incidentally, these figures were displayed on the prize table so you can see what was on offer! Plenty of new Tau stuff, Execution Force and a F.A.T mat. I wonder why people like Blog Wars....

Runners Up
Luke Capper (Swarmlord), Ian King (1st Edition Librarian), Dave Halfpenny (Tigurius), Tom Capper (Corbulo), Will Pomfrey (Sgt. Garadon), Alex Martin (Maugan Ra) and James Winsor (Vulkan He'stan) all get a mention here for their fine entries. All of which are well ahead of anything I've produced! Hopefully I can enter something at Fluffageddon if Matt has a suitable category for me. Just missing out on the top 3 were Rob Hill (Lemartes) and Matthew Grimes (Ahriman).

Third Place
I'm pretty sure Chris Benstead has won Best Character with his Abaddon at some point in BW history but nevertheless it still catches peoples' eyes. With good reason too as it's a great centrepiece for his stunning Iron Warriors force (if technically in the wrong Legion....).

Second Place
Tess Yoxall rather controversially entered his Eldrad Ulthran who wasn't actually his Hero for BW purposes. He had cleared it with me in advance though and I've had allowed anyone else who asked to do the same. It isn't that serious an even follks! Anyway, I think you'll agree it's a stunning piece and was only pipped for first place by a single vote!

Winner
Rounding out a clean sweep for the "Friends of Dave Weston" crew, Ben Houghton's Ghazghkull (from an equally stunning Ork army) was a well deserved winner. Let's all bask in the Beast of Armageddon's glory:

Blog Wars X Painting Competition - Best Conversions (pic heavy)

A new category at the last event, Best Conversions is intended to showcase a different side of the hobby and reward those who prefer to use a sculpting tool rather than a brush. That isn't to say these aren't stunningly painted miniatures but their conversion work sets them apart. There were some excellent entries here and indeed the same number as in the painting competition. Like Best Painted there was also a runaway winner. Let's look at everyone else's efforts first:

Again, apologies for the poor photos but this was due to a combination of bad lighting and Liam using a camera he wasn't used to! I didn't have time to do them myself. If anyone got some better shots please get in touch.

Runners Up
Matt Calow and Graham Sanders both got a vote each for their Astra Militarum armies. Graham's were converted Squats though and Matt's were joined by some Astartes. In fourth place was Daniel Johnson (my second round opponent) with his Khorne Space Wolves (at least they aren't followers of Tzeetch!).

Joint Second Place
Despite receiving some friendly stick for entering them, Luke Fogg's objective markers managed to scoop 7 votes. They're basically Epic miniatures on bases but apparently 7 people loved them so who am I to judge? Here they are anyway:

Joint Second Place
Archie Homer's Dark Mechanicum force were my first round opposition meaning I was pretty spoilt to play two Best Conversions entries and a Best Painted entry in my three games. There are some beautiful pieces here and I'm surprised he didn't get more votes to be honest. I love looking at conversions and trying to work out where all the parts came from and Archie's certainly had that appeal.

Winner
With over half the votes in the category, Liam Ainscough again took an award at Blog Wars for his stunning Chaos Space Marine force. I'm insanely jealous of Liam's skill with a knife and sculpting tool but grateful for it since I own a set of Grotesques that he crafted on commission for me. Again, I'm just sorry I didn't get time to look at them for myself. I could see them in the distance from behind my desk at least! Had I allowed him to enter more categories I'm sure his Typhus would've been a strong contender in the Character competition (see the next post). It's almost like I'm out to get him! Notice how he managed to get some good pictures of his own army.....

Next up (Saturday evening), it's the Best Painted Hero category and then onto my battle reports.

Blog Wars X Painting Competition - Best Painted Army (pic heavy)

Before I get stuck into my battle reports I'm going to give a run down of the painting competition. Blog Wars 9 saw the introduction of a Best Conversions category but since all the armies were displayed together I felt that some of them were lost in the sea of miniatures. For BWX then, I decided after some discussion that it would be better for the armies to be displayed according to the category they were entering. That meant each player could only enter one category but hopefully gave more people a chance rather than one person scooping several awards *cough*Liam Ainscough*cough*. Today then, I want to run down the Best Painted Army category. There were only five entries here and when I asked why it was apparently because people had seen the eventual winner's army and thought "sod that!".

Apologies for the poor photos but this was due to a combination of bad lighting and Liam using a camera he wasn't used to! I didn't have time to do them myself. If anyone got some better shots please get in touch.

Runners Up
Despite not actually entering the Best Painted competition (instead entering Best Conversions), Graham Sanders managed to get a single vote for his Squats (AM)! The other runners up with Chris Buckle and Michael Corr (great use of old school cardboard scenery) both with Dark Angels (Chris' joined by SM).

Third Place
David Seago took 3rd with his Space Marines (White Scars) and Imperial Knight. David was one of my opponents too so I got plenty of chance to admire his army as it demolished mine!

Second Place
Kevin Stonebanks' Orks took a well deserved second place. I'm just sorry I didn't get to see them properly for myself as I was too busy crunching numbers! I'd have loved to take on a Stompa too!

Winner
The winner was Chris Otterburn with his stunning Tyranids. I can see why they put people off entering but it's still a shame there weren't more armies out there. I certainly spied a few that could've been contenders. Anyway, congratulations to Chris not least because I'd be ready to end it all if I'd had to paint all those gribblies! I'm always jealous of anyone with a Tyranid army as I'd love to have my own but I really don't need to add to the pile of unpainted plastic in my cupboard! Chris continues the fine tradition of his mate Dave Weston who's Tyranids have take a pile of awards at previous BW events.

The next post (on Thursday) will run through the Best Conversions competition so come back for that.

EDIT: Check out Matt Calow's Facebook album for much better pics, particularly of his army...