Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Best Army In 40K...and a word from my heart.



On Facebook I recently asked my friends to supply questions for a Q and A post on my other blog. While most of the questions were close to the topic of that blog, there was one question asked by friend and regular GT winner Matt Root which stuck out from the bunch.

He asked…What is the best Warhammer 40K army? I respond with the following 1850 list.

Coteaz

Inquisitor (Psy lvl 1)
4 x 3 Acolyte
2 x 12 Acolyte
2 x Storm Raven (Melta/Lascannon)

3 x Imperial Knight (Paladin or Errant depending on the meta)

I think that the Imperial Knights are really good, especially when you have multiple divination sources also on the table. I think this list overcomes a lot of the issues had by other Imperial Knight lists; lack of scoring units and vulnerability to flyers.

Coteaz and the other Inquisitor deploy in the 12 man units of Acolytes, in order to give them plenty of ‘Look Out Sir’ opportunities, and try and stay out of LOS from enemy units while each spotting a Knight to give it benefits from their psychic storehouse. You can allocate your Knights as Paladin’s and Errants as needed depending on what your local tournament meta looks like.

Two of the three man units of Acolytes deploy in reserves and will hug cover to grab objectives near our own table edge. The other two small units of Acolytes naturally hang out in the Storm Ravens, ready to hop out on objectives in the late game. The Storm Ravens are configured in order to deal lethal damage to other flyers. Their Mindstrike Missiles are also key in handling the other psychic based armies currently seeing play.

I feel this list gives a tactically minded player who is capable of planning movement several turns ahead all the tools they need to overcome any opposing army…or maybe not. I have no idea what makes up a competitive list. In fact, I can’t even remember if allies of convenience can target each other with psychic powers. Other than one game as ringer at the Renegade GT, it has been eleven months since I have played any Warhammer 40K.
 
Last Spring I was coming off of my best string of tournament performances I had ever had. With 3rd overall at two GT’s, 6-1 at another, and Best Sportsman at Bugeater I was not only at the top of my game but having more fun than ever. Going to gaming stores was less about getting ready for tournaments and more about seeing friends and building up the community.

Last May I graduated from college and began preparing for a year of ministry abroad traveling to eleven countries in the developing world over eleven months with only what I could carry in a backpack. Not only would I be using all three of my degrees but I would also be fully living out my faith and social justice values.

As part of my preparation it became clear in my heart that I needed to give up table top gaming. I already was selling all of my other possessions as part of my fundraising, so it would be out of place that I would hold onto this while casting off the rest of my life. Plus not playing freed up time for me to both get an additional job and spend a greater amount of time preparing mentally and spiritually for what was to come during my year abroad. I played in one final tournament on my birthday; placing third with a silly list that was made up of models borrowed from seven of the gamers who had became my friends thanks to the gaming community.

Then it was over. I had joined the uncounted ranks of former Warhammer players. 

Teaching at a school in El Salvador this March.
Honestly though, I am glad I quit cold turkey. On one hand it was, and will always be, worth it by virtue of making my present life of teaching orphans in El Salvador, working with gang members in Honduras, and speaking messages of freedom in Albania possible; on the other hand, in a less immediate sense, it is a full expression of a truth which hides just beneath the surface and is never fully talked about in our community.

The Warhammer community does a lot of good; Foodhammer, Toys For Tots drives, and numerous events to support members of our gaming family who have faced tragedy. Even the Nova Open has/is becoming a charitable endeavor. Our community is full of bright minds, incalculable skills, and bold hearts which seek a more just world. What if the time, talents, and vast financial resources of our community, rather than being invested in the games we both enjoy and challenge ourselves with were instead applied directly toward curing the ills of the world. What if those events which bring out the best of our community became the focus of our community?

This is not a call for everyone to abandon table top wargaming, I cannot make that decision for everyone, that is for you to discern. I would though challenge you to ask the questions which were in the back of my mind as I rolled dice and sought glory on a miniature battlefield. I encourage you to address with your gamer buddies the elephants in the room.

How do we justify spending the sums we do on models in a world where innocent children are dying every day from starvation? How do we account for the hours spent building and testing lists when that same degree of research and strategy could bring great strides in tangible plans to stop the rampant human trafficking that enslaves a greater number of human beings than were captive at the height of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade? What if the devotion and consistency we applied to reading 40K blogs and listening to Warhammer podcasts was applied to further educating ourselves and generating true civil discourse over these and other issues which challenge our society and world?

These are the elephants in the room at every tournament hall. It may only be now that I am abroad that I physically look into the eyes of the starving and hold the cold fingers of those who could have their lives saved by our community, but I have known for a long time the cost my (our) actions and choices. Maybe you play these games to, “Get a break from the real world,” but to deny that each hobby room contains the resources necessary to change lives is to disregard the empiric fact that if we choose to continue to use our discretionary income in this way then we sentence other human beings to death. To refuse to accept our connection to these issues to use the same defense that has been used by the bystanders who allowed the greatest dehumanizations and violent acts of our world to occur. That is not flagrant hyperbole, that is the true that is before my eyes each day.

Working with the homeless and sick in Guatemala in February.
If you read this and change nothing, keep on playing and enjoying the game that I loved and I look back on with the fondest of nostalgias, then I am sorry. Despite the pain that would place in my heart, I cannot judge, I continued to play and spend and invest my time even though I knew these truths. If this leads something to change, or a conversation to happen in your gamer group though, I would love to hear about it.

If you are interested in contacting me or following my journeys in the developing world, my personal blog at anthonyguidotti.theworldrace.org is the best way of doing so. To those in the community who have supported me and my mission thus far either in prayers, financially, or in another way, I am eternally grateful. To my 40K friends in Minnesota and across the country, this is not the end of our time together, and I look forward to seeing you all once I return.

Anthony “Turn 7 Wargaming” Guidotti
Sofia, Bulgaria
5/12/2014

Developing sustainable agriculture at an orphanage in Honduras in January.
 
PS: To those of Christian faith reading this, I encourage you to read the first part of Colossians 3. This scripture has came up time and time again for me as I debate these issues and the way in which I am called to live my life. That said, I don’t think the points I make here rely on Christian beliefs, but rather are truths that are universal to our global human family.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Video Battle Report: Bugeater GT Winning Tyranids vs. Blood Angels/Imperial Guard


I will have a full rundown of Bugeater later, but in short I went 3-3, my worst showing ever at a GT, but in the process won best sportsman and was nominated by the judges for best painted. While I am quite perplexed as to how my army, many of the models included having been painted in the car on the way down to Nebraska, got a perfect score on the initial appearance rubric, I am more than honored that my opponent’s thought so highly of me that I would earn the sportsmanship award.

Only the best armies are painted in this manner.
Before I go more into Bugeater (and all the GT's I have played in this Spring), I thought I would share this battle report which has been lost in a sea of tech troubles. It is timely though, as in it I face off against Matt Root, who not only won Bugeater for the second year in a row, but did so with the list I face here in this video. Facing off against his monster of a list, I will be using my triple land raider blood angels with imperial guard allies.

You can check it out after the jump!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Bugeater GT List: Nidzilla Tyranids Return!



On top of graduating from college the last few weeks have been filled with a revolving door of armies all vying to be my army for Bugeater. Chaos Daemons, Blood Angels, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Angels, my Orks hit the table in a serious list for the first time in ages, and I even started an Imperial Guard army out of unbuilt models I had sitting around. The only thing I didn’t dust off was my DE. In the end though, after much pushing by defending Bugeater Champion Matt Root, I was back with the bugs. Nidzilla is back!


Hive Tyrant (Wings/2 Twin-Linked Devourers)
Hive Tyrant (Wings/2 Twin-Linked Devourers)
Doom of Malan'Tai (Mycetic Spore)
10 Termagants
10 Termagants
Tervigon (Catalyst/Onslaught/Toxin Sacs)
Tervigon (Catalyst)
3 Biovores
2 Carnifex (2 Twin-Linked Devourers Each)
Trygon (Toxin Sacs)

The meta has changed a ton in the eight months since this army last saw the table. Back then Flyrants couldn't use skyfire, utilizing blobs was only something you heard about in obscure corners of the internet, and a shocking four armies have had a new codex printed. Heldrakes were not even a thing yet. A lot has changed, and this list represents some of those changes.


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Blood Angels List: Three Land Raiders and a Blob (and a RTT Report)

I have always like land raider redeemers. The idea of AV 14 bringing a payload of S6 AP3 flamers is far too awesome to not like. I decided to start playing Blood Angels at the tail of 5th strictly because they could bring more redeemers than anyone else. I tested my old list out right when 6th drop, and after it did not perform I put them in a box for eight months, taking them out to play in an 1850 point tournament with only 90 minute rounds because I knew I would be able to play fast. Chaos was giving me much to focus on so I forgot them again. After being disappointed by the abundance of bad matchups for daemons I decided to start looking at the old raiders again. Something was missing though. with changes to FNP in the new edition the assault marines were not cutting it for me. I have always wanted to play with an Al'Rahem outflanking IG blob...and finally the opportunity had presented itself.

Librarian
5 Terminators (5 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shields)
~Land Raider Redeemer (Melta)
5 ASM
~Land Raider Redeemer (Melta)
5 ASM
~Land Raider Redeemer (Melta)
Vindicator (Dozer)

Company Command Squad (Astropath)
Infantry Platoon
~Al'Rahem Platoon Command Squad (Chimera/Vox/2 Melta)
~Infantry Squad (Axe/Vox)
~Infantry Squad (Axe)
~Infantry Squad (Axe)
~Infantry

 Find out how this list is supposed to work after the jump:

Friday, May 3, 2013

Ork List: And Not A Assault Was Given That Day

Woah. Nothing says crazy post Adepticon meta shifts like a random list to end the week. On the way back from the Gt we started talking about some of the things that we do and don't see in orks after seeing both the successes and failings of our nob biker/60 boy teammate. I have for a while been thinking about how to create a full ork shooting list, and used this opportunity to build such a list. Taking suggestions from my other team mates and a friend who won Bugeater last year with Orks we came up with this concoction at 1850.

Warboss (Squig/Armor/Cybork/Klaw/Slugga/Bike)
15 Lootas
15 Lootas
15 Lootas
11 Gretchin (Runtherd)
30 Shoota Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
30 Shoota Boyz
Dakkajet (Extra Gun)
Dakkajet (Extra Gun)
Dakkajet (Extra Gun)
Skyshield

My thoughts after the jump...

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