Remember the notorious “countdown to a countdown“? Well I’m afraid this is pretty much an article to tell you that there’s no proper article this week. I’ve had no time to compile the results of the Listbuilding Challenge, so I’ll be pushing that one back to next Friday, and directing you towards some other stuff I’ve enjoyed recently instead. Like one of those episodes of the Simpsons where they just show you clips from other episodes, but without the decades of established goodwill to carry it off.
Ready? Let’s go.
Unidentified Wargamer
I’m pretty selective about going on podcasts or YouTube shows, but Sam is a great interviewer and I’ve been enjoying listening to this series, so I was rapt to take part in his show last week.
We talked about life in wargaming and beyond for a little over an hour, and enjoyed every minute. Go check it out.
The FAQ Is Up
GW have uploaded the latest FAQ and there are a few interesting pieces in there. I do like this one, tucked away in Sylvaneth but with broader ramifications:
This is something that comes up from time to time with various armies (Fyreslayers springs to mind), so it’s good to have a clear resolution.
I’m also glad to see that a few Battleline status questions have been tidied up:
There is honestly still a lot that has been left hanging – I know that the TOs for Snake Eyes GT in Melbourne next month have been utterly bombarded with queries, and the FAQ addresses maybe half of them (if I’m being generous). One Battleplan to watch very closely is The Lurkers Below, which doesn’t seem to stop you controlling an objective before the first Battleround (unlike Head On Collision, which is worded differently) – I’d be asking your TOs about that one for sure.
Warhammer Weekly covers the FAQ nicely at the start of their most recent show, which leads me on to….
Kruleboyz Revisited
I remember a senior Exec at DC comics saying that every time he’s at a work function, at least one writer will sidle up him at some point and tell him that they know how to fix Aquaman. Kruleboyz are 100% the Aquaman of Age of Sigmar – they sit in this weird spot where they are simultaneously popular and unpopular (people like them but nobody plays them), and everyone has a whole bunch of ideas for how to fix them, that they will rattle off at the slightest opportunity.
And you know what? They’re all right. All of them*.
There is no end to the ways in which the unbearably poor quality of life** could be improved for this army. What this conversation comes back to every time is that while we wait for the redesign that the army desperately needs, a significant points drop for Gutrippaz would be a bloody good starting point. 180 points is utterly laughable and only the reason people are even talking about things like 160 points is because we started so far out of the money. It’s classic anchor pricing, and I’m still staggered that Gutrippaz didn’t get anything in the latest GH to at least start moving in the right direction.
Anyhoo. Vince and the gang did a great job throwing their suggestions out into the world, so go check it out:
Fam Wargaming
You might know Ellar from his regular Competitive Innovations articles on Goonhammer – he might not be the best AOS writer the Goons have ever had, but he’s pretty damn close.
Well Mike has started up his own YouTube channel, with a couple of good videos up there already:
Mike is a really thoughtful wargamer, so this will be a channel to follow for sure. Don’t mess about.
Historical Wargaming For Badasses
And I’ll leave you today with one final tip, for something outside the classic AOS bubble. A lot of you will be familiar with Ian from his days on the Just Saying podcast, whose competitive Battletome reviews were always (in my opinion) the best in the business. Ian’s running a 30K channel these days which is well worth a look.
I’d love to get involved in Heresy myself, but I don’t have the time or money to invest right now so I’m enjoying it from a distance, by appreciating all the sweet models I keep seeing on Twitter – and this channel. The video below has some really specific and practical tips on curating the right experience for you and your gaming group, most of which could easily be applied to Age of Sigmar or any other system, and it’s well worth 23 minutes of your time.
So with that, I’ll leave you to it. Have a good weekend ladies and gents, and I’ll see you on the other side.
Oh and one more thing – Carn the Pies!
*Well except for the guy in the live chat on WHW who wanted a points increase for Gutrippaz. He’s wrong.
**Why make it possible to get zero Dirty Tricks instead of just giving them D3? Whyyyyyyyyyyy!
Plastic Craic 