Latest Dark Eldar cravings

I haven't posted any games or battle reports of my Dark Eldar lately and I'm sorry.  Most of my games for DE have been quite short (delicious and sinister victory) so I don't think I needed to post.  I will, however, share with you some of my lists that I've been using.  One of the more fascinating things about playing DE lately is that I've noticed one important thing:  DE tend to be better at smaller games.  I think as the points go up, the stronger some armies get.  The best example of this would be IG, since their vehicles, armor and firepower seems to scale exponentially.  Another example would be Grey Knights, but that's because they can't fit in their Paladins combination with a full set of Psyflemen.  Most of my games as of late with DE has been 1500 and the occasional 1750.  I'm beginning to enjoy the smaller games a lot more now, and it's mainly because I find the tactical aspects a lot more challenging.  I also feel that I'm actually able to outmaneuver my opponents since they don't have a billion units on the field and I can take advantage of terrain more.

There's no place like home

Spending my monies since I was 15.

Do you guys have that one army that you just absolutely love and you keep coming back to it no matter how many armies you have?

No matter how shiny, attractive or kickass other armies are, I always miss the feel of my High Elves.  I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's the models, or the lore or maybe even the rules that gets me going, but there's always something about them that keeps pulling me back.

I love to experiment.  I buy every new codex/army book that comes out to familiarize myself with the new army, their models and how they play.  Sadly, sometimes I give in and I end up buying a bunch of their models or playing the fuck out of them by borrowing a friend's army or on Vassal.  However, I always go back to my roots.

When I look at Ogres, I'm thinking:  Where's my White Lions?

When I look at Empire, I look a their pitiful WS and BS and laugh.

When I look at Skaven, I realize I don't care about the 234th Skaven slave who dies.

When I look at Vampire Counts, I just don't care for undead and their raising ways.

Right now, I'm sad and happy to report that I've sold pretty much all my WHFB armies except for my High Elves, and I'm going to be faithful from now on.  No more buying new armies, no more building people free models, I'm going to stay with High Elves.  Besides, I have enough Warhammer 40K stuff to keep me occupied for years.

The current headcount at my house looks like the following:

High Elves (since 6th)

Dark Eldar (since 3rd)

Space Wolves (since 3rd)

Blood Angels (since 3rd)

Death Guard (gifted to me in 5th)

Space Marines (since 4th)

I have parted ways with:
Grey Knights (since 3rd)

Eldar (since 4th)

Vampire Counts (since 7th)

Skaven (gifted to me in 8th)

Ogre Kingdoms (since 8th)

Dwarfs (since 7th)

Am I a fucking addict or what? Please support the "Don't let HERO buy another army" foundation.

Empire Review Podcast

This is my first attempt making a podcast and I did it on the fly.  By fly, I mean I just turned on the mic and started speaking into it with no rehearsal or cuts, so pardon my hesitation (and cursing) at times.

Click here for the download.

Please leave any feedback you have for me here!  I was doing the talking with the old Empire book opened and the new one as well, so I was going back and forth.  Don't worry though, the emphasis is still on the new book.  I was going to mention that even though Light and Heavens Wizard Lords can ride on the Luminark and Hurricanum, they are still available in the Rare choices for all.  Somehow, I managed to forget mentioning that in the podcast.

Enjoy!

WHFB Review: Empire

The coolest guy in town!

In the last couple of days, I've seen the majority of the internet shit a brick over the upcoming Empire book.  By this, I mean that they were dreading the latest creation by Robin Cruddace.  Given the fact that Cruddace doesn't have the best track record, and the fact that the majority of the core units for the army has been increased, I can see why people have been crying virtual tears.  However, not all is doom and gloom.  There is a lot of flavorful changes in here and I think this army book will be fine for 8th Ed. standards.  By that, I mean a fun and balanced book.  Let's begin.

Writing army lists vs. Army Builder

Need some crutches?

Oh hi!  I wanted to touch upon an very interesting topic as of late and I wanted your opinions.  As you can see by the title post, I wanted to talk about writing lists by hand vs. writing lists via army builder.  Call me old fashioned, or crazy, but I'm very much against the idea of army builder.  This is something unique in my personality because I also consider myself a tech junkie.  I love new tech, and I love using tools that make my life easier.  It min-maxes time, resources (brain power) and other finite little things that take up the most precious commodity of all:  Time.  Yes, I said it again for good measure.

The reason why I don't support army builder is because I feel that every gamer should know their armies inside and out.  I used to teach GW Academy.  My favorite seminar to teach aspiring nerds was how to build your army lists.  For me, building army lists is a hobby in itself.  Maybe it's because it hits my designer bone, but I love designing an army to play on the battlefield.  I pay for the models, I spend time putting them together, so why not give them a good showing on the table?  I strongly believe that writing army lists by hand makes you a better gamer.  You learn the rules quicker, you understand why you take certain weapon choices over others, you give your units definition and purpose, and you know how much they cost.  Your familiar units become almost second nature to you since you've committed them to memory.  I mean after all, you've written down the same units (unit bucket!) over and over and you really know them.  When the time comes and you've got to change to change your list from 2K competitive to 1750 casual, you can adjust your list in 30 seconds.

I don't believe Army Builder accomplishes the same thing.  It is merely a tool that allows you to add and subtract units with all the USRs and special rules written onto a piece of paper.  When someone asks you what that unit does (points at a unit on the battlefield) and what it's equipped with, most army builder dependent people pick up their sheet of paper, and then read off the rules.  Does this make you a better gamer?  Fuck no.  Does it save time for a player who doesn't care much about his gaming aptitude but instead likes the paint scheme of his models?  Most likely.  What if you had to cut a 2K competitive list down to 1750 casual as a army builder addict?  I'll see you in 30 minutes.

So what about you guys?  Army builder or no?

PS - WHFB new Empire book comes out this weekend.  I will have a review up ASAP :)