Something different

So I'm going to step away from the geek for amount and layout whats on my mind right now. I went to Charleston, South Carolina on July 3rd and got back on the 12th. I went to see a friend and well lets just say the trip ended up being far more interesting that I expected it to be. When I was at the airport to go home I met two girls that were standing in line with me. We were in line because or flights were delayed and our connection flights were no longer going to work for us. Anyway so I started talking to these girls and we hit it off pretty well. They were from Alabama and were visiting Charleston to see one of their friends. When it came time for me to board my plane it was a little sad to go since I was having a lot of fun talking to them. I come up with the idea that we should try and meet up in the Atlanta airport and hang out until our planes leave. One of the girls thinks its a great idea. She asks if she can have my number. So I give it to her and we part ways.

So now I have the number to a girl named Elizabeth. She's cute, funny, and cool. A pretty good combination if you ask me. We're texting to stay in contact while we're waiting for our planes to tack off which have been delayed, again. When my plane finally takes off I turn my phone off. I land in Atlanta and find out that they're plane turned around and they won't be flying into Atlanta until 6 a.m. the next morning. Sucks but what can you do. So I continue talking to her over the phone until my plane for Utah begins to board.

By this point I'm getting pretty convinced that I won't here from her again. I land in Salt Lake City and turn on my phone. There's a text from Elizabeth asking how my flight was. I reply that it was good and I asked her how sleeping in the airport was. Just silly banter for the most part. Since then though we still text ridiculous amounts to each other and we have had some crazy long conversations every night this week.

Not to sure what to think about this situation or where it might go but as of right now its a lot of fun. We're even of talking of seeing each other again. She wants me to fly out to Alabama and go to a three day outdoor concert with her at the end of September. I'm trying to get her to come out here during the winter. She's never played in the snow and what better place to do it than Logan, Utah.

Well that's whats on my mind and I just felt like getting it out there.

Awesome article

So I get a newsletter from IGN.com and the recent one featured and awesome article on the history of Final Fantasy. Any fan of the series should check out this article. I even learned a few things. I had an idea that they switched out director's and producers but I was surprised to see how very little they did. I also found out that the creator of Final Fantasy was only 21 years old! There's hope for us young gamers yet!

The Legion

Here's some pics of my Legion of Everblight models that I've painted. Enjoy =P*

Alpha War Beast Angelius
War Beast Carnivean

Warmonger War Chief Solo

Not my sort of thing

So I normally don't do stuff like this but wow I'm pissed off right now. I'm tired of being dragged around with promises that come up short. What are you supposed to do? Stand your ground and being a dick about it or just take it and hope that things turn around? I have no idea what do to so I'm ranting to keep from exploding...

School and Hobbies

So I'm sitting class and I'm debating what homework I'm going to do before I go to my last class today at 5 p.m. I will most likely write one of my news stories. Hooray for the Richmond city farmer's market.

The other topic on my mind is the Hordes/Warmachine tournament finale tonight. I'm sitting at 2-0 and I'm excited. I'm doing really well which surprises me. I've only been playing the game for about 3 months. I think I'm playing trolls tonight and maybe another. I can't remember how many rounds the tournament is. I do think its hilarious that my rounds have been forever long in the tournament. Its frustrating and funny at the same time. Maybe tonight's games will be shorter. I'm probably gonna get my face pounded in something fierce.

Almost over!

Two more weeks, just two more weeks. I keep telling myself this when I think about my empty wallet and being burned out of school. Just two more weeks until summer kicks in and I can start making money again that will all be spent on the next school year. Vicious cycle that needs to be done to get an education. Procrastination is my enemy and yet my friend. It makes me feel frantic when the semester is so close to an end and yet gives me peace of mind when I'm going crazy.

On another note I never got around to posting the other two battle reports but with the tourney over I just didn't feel like posting them. I took 2nd place and Kennan Chaos Space Marines took 1st. He and I played a mock game with our tourney lists and I went to town on him. It was pretty nasty.

Been playing a game called Hordes lately. Another table top miniature war game. Just started a tournament on Wednesday and right now I'm sitting at 2-0. I'm a bit surprised to be honest, I just started playing this game and I'm picking it up pretty quick. The tourney list is limited to 350 points, mangled metal for Warmachine players and tooth and nail for Hordes players. This means only Jacks and war beasts are allowed.

Oh well, that's all for now I need to pay attention to class now.

The Maserati Adventure

So when spring break rolls around, most students get all excited and get ready to get out of town or party like crazy. What did I do? I went to Salt Lake City to work during the break. I put in over 50 hours in the five days I worked. Over the first couple of days it was pretty busy, but nothing special came up.

On Wednesday one of the nearby body shops brought over a Maserati to have its color matched. This color was intense. It was a black with a metallic flake. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except the side cast was a nightmarish muddy yellow. What made the yellow cast so hard to match is that the color changes based on the position of the sun.

I worked on the Maserati color for the last four hours of the work day and packed up the paint to get it ready to go. I took the car around the block a few times for my on sanity. Honestly, wouldn't you have done the same? After the short drive I took the car back to the body shop.

The next few days were practically dead. It was pretty freaking boring! After work on Friday I went home, packed my stuff, and drove back to Logan. Thats how I spent my spring break. Pretty crazy I know, gotta put a leash on me or something...

Hooray for March!

Oh man. It's March already, this semester is flying by isn't? Spring break is next week and guess what I'm doing. Working! Yea kinda boring I know, but the money will pay for the rest of the semester since I make bank at my other job. Hollywood Video pays crap so I have to keep my other job that isn't as fun. This Saturday some friends are looking at through a party and it just happens to be on my birthday. So it looks like it's gonna double as a party/b-day party. Double fun! But first, I have to work Saturday night, lame. I still have two more battle reports to post and they should be up this week. The tournament is over and Chaos Marines won, go Kennan! I think I took second or third, I ended the tourney at 3-1, wins over losses.

What Makes a Game Fun?

People have asked, “Why do you play that game?” or, “Is that game fun?” These are such broad questions when they are asked to a person that has been playing board games, or any other type of game for and extended time. These veteran gamers may respond with a simple, “Because I like it,” or “Of course it’s fun or else I wouldn’t be playing it!” Looking at what players look for in a game will let one know what is fun for them but what about the person next to them? The types of board games that will be discussed and what may make them fun will be strategy, role-playing, and action/adventure.

When thinking about strategy board games what comes to mind to a player. Paul (last name), owner of Phoenix Games in Logan, Utah said, "Chess comes to mind when I think of strategy, but only because it's been around forever!" Other games brought up were "Risk" and "Axis & Allies." For a strategy game to be successful it needs to have a learning curve and be challenging. Patrick Carroll, from the google group, "Think about Games," (TaG) said, "Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) is a fantastic game and probably one of the best when it comes to strategy war games." In ASL the player has many small squads at his control and each member of a squad may have different equipment or abilities. Carroll personal opinions on games and some of his favorites are here.

Next stop is role-playing games. This may be the widest and most diversed genre of board games. There are games like Rune Bound where a player will game levels for her character and hopes to defeat the evil boss of the game. Other styles of role-playing board games are, "Arkham Horror," which is a survival horror variant and, "Descent,"another fantasy game but set underground. Jacquelyn Smith,21, has played various board games for more than 10 years and said, "Role-playing board games are by far my favorite, especially Rune Bound! I love how the game tells a story and that I get to kick the Evil Dragon Lord's butt!" To see Carroll's opinion on why role-playing games may still be so popular check here.

Action/adventure games are much like the role-playing games except that they focus on immediate action instead of a developing story. Travis Emery,24, said, "For an action/adventure style board game I personally enjoy Zombies!!!. It's a nice, fast game with cool pictures and great jokes." The game Zombies!!! puts you in the situation of being one of the few survivors in a zombie outbreak. Other games like, "Ninja vs Ninja" and "Killer Bunnies" fit into this category. Fast games are the norm when it comes to an action board game. These will fit the niche for those who may not like to put a few hours into a game.

David Kidd has written an article on a rating system that matches players to games they may like. The rating system is called S.T.A.V.N. This system is more intended towards video games but it can be used on board games if you break down the game using the system. For an example Chess would have a high strategy and tactic rating while Rune Bound will have a high Artisan, Visceral, and Narrative. Just by looking at these three different genres one can tell that it really is up to the individual when it comes to what style of game they may like. (Paul) said, "There are so many different styles of each genre of board game that it makes it hard to say that everyone will like one game over the other. Each player needs to play around to find out which one is there to their liking."

Eldar vs Necrons

So this didn't go as planned. I'm too nice sometimes I swear. So I had Paul, the owner of Phoenix Games, sit up a fair, unbiased board. He does what I ask and I'm content, all of it was impassable, blocking terrain. My opponent shows up and blows a lid over the board. He goes off saying that there is no cover for him to shoot from. I tell him to take it up with Paul. Paul tells him to either leave the board or have someone else sit up the board that knows nothing about the game. He then turns back to me and begs to have some wall terrain on the board. After 20 minutes of this I give in and tell him to make it balanced. He puts down three wall pieces in each deployment edge. I agreed to it and we started play, he got first turn.

If I had known that he was playing two sniper squads and a six-man Dark Reaper squad I would have told him to shove off on changing the board. This was my first time playing against the new Eldar Codex and I got served by being a nice guy. I will tell you what, I'm done with that, This is a tournament and dammit I should be and asshole when it comes to the battlefield. Oh well, what's done is done and I lost. the margin was about 250 points between us but the game was really one side once the terrain was placed.

The Eldar army benefited from cover saves, which it bonuses too. The snipers alone had a 2+ save! He had characters that were denying me the cover saves that were supposedly meant to be fair on my side so I go screwed. Especially when the weapons fired by these characters went through standard armour saves. I got totally hosed for being a nice guy. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

I did manage to destroy Maugan Ra (spelling?) and one scout squad. The warlock commanding the Wraithguard he deployed died as well and my scarabs killed on Vibro Cannon crewman and tied up the cannons for the last two turns of the game. He destroyed a squad or warriors that tied up the Avatar of the Bloody Hand for two turns and my Heavy Destroyers and one squad of Destroyers got owned.

Needless to say, I screwed myself but oh well, I'm not going to let him do this to me ever again. He may whine all he wants but I'm not gonna give him an inch of space on discussions. Lesson learned.

Round 2 Pairings

All right so after my out right slaughter of the Orks have now been paired up with the fragile but deadly Eldar. I got a sneak peek of his army list and I'm a little concerned. He has a Vibro Cannon and the Avatar of the Bloody Hand. Cheezy is what that is. The Vibro Cannon can shoot through all terrain and hit every squad that it fires through. The Avatar is by far way too nasty for 155 points. He's like weapon skill 7 or 9, strength 6, toughness 6, and 5 wounds, with initiative 5. How ridiculous is that. He's better than a fully geared out Space Marine Chapter Master and less points. Oh well I got plans for what I'm going to do with him and that damn Vibro Cannon. The game is this Thursday at 3 p.m.. Hopefully I will have better pictures this time. I took that last ones with my camera phone.

Round 1 Complete

Ok so first and foremost, I DESTROYED my opposition! He came in with a Looted Wagon, 10 Nobs, half had power claws and they were inside a truck. Two Scrocha wagons and a Big Mech with 3 Deffdreads. Five Deffkoptas finish his list. Oh and he also had Gaz'gul with his Nobs.

I let him have first turn since I'm silly that way. In the first time he scouts and turbo-boosted his Deffkoptas and bombed a Warrior squad. He knocked over one Warrior after some nasty scatters and poor rolls. He knocked down three more with his Looted Wagon and its nasty strength 8 AP 3 large blast cannon shot. That would be the end of his turn one. My turn one was a bit different. First the one Warrior that got dropped by the bombing run got back up and the two of the Warriors downed by the cannon did the same. That makes one dead Warrior. I turned my remaining 29 Warriors on to his Deffkoptas. Now remember that when you turbo-boost with the new rules you get a 3+ cover save now. After 34 shots I killed two Deffkoptas, poor rules and the filthy things are toughness five and have two wounds. Sadly they did not run away. Turning my Heavy Destroyers onto the Deffkoptas, I hoped to kill atleat one but I only managed to dish out one wound. One of my Destroyer squards then turned their guns on the Looted Wagon. Fifteen shots later the Wagon no longer had its nasty cannon. My other Destroyer squard fired upon the Ork Truck that was carrying the Nobs and Gaz'gul. The truck had cover saves but I hit with three penetrating hits and two glances. He made the cover saves on the glances and one of the penetrating hits. I roll a six and POW vehicle destroyed. The vehicle then careens towards his deployment edge before exploding into nothing. No Nobs died in the explosion. I then turbo-boosted my scarabs up to a piece of terrain for cover. End turn one.

Turn two. The orks rush forward their Scorcha Wagons and the Deffdreads. Gaz'gul and his Nobs attempt to get out of the crater left behind by their truck but weren't able to get completely out. The Deffdreads fire their twin-linked missiles into my warrior squad and kill two not chance to get back up this time. The Deffkoptas then turn around and fire into the same squad with their twin-linked missiles killing one. The Necrons stand tall and don't run even when the Deffkoptas charge in. After a flurry of blows no Orks or Necrons die. End Ork turn 2. At the beginning of my turn I fire all my Destroyer shots into Gaz'gul and his nobs, 30 shots in all. Killed all but one nob and Gaz'gul, lucky they all had two wounds each. The poor Nob turns and runs. Lucky for Gaz'gul he was no longer attached to the squad after the shooting and keeps his nerves. My Heavy Destroyers fired upon one of the Deffdreads and Hooray for a failed cover save they blasted apart one of three standing. My scarabs fly to the back of the Deffdreads and the Big Mech. Two warrior squads move in on the one Scorcha Wagon that moved into range. The Warriors only managed to stun the crew. The Deffkoptas managed to take down a Warrior and the Warriors failed to retaliate. The Deffkoptas then manage to remove themselves from combat to assault in again on the following turn. They retain their nerves. The Scarabs charge into the Big Mech and managed to dish out a wound while he responds by giving one of his own. End turn two.



Turn three. The Orks have been bloodied but they are not yet broken and they push forward. Gaz'gul initiates the WAAAGH!!! and charges forward quickly get to combat. The Scorcha that is able to shoot fires its flamer into my warriors and downs two. The Big Shoota that is still on the Looted Wagon continues to fire on my Destroyers, failing to do any damage. The Deffkoptas fire their missiles into my Warriors but failed to wound any. The Deffdreads turn around and charge my Scarabs. My poor Scarabs didn't even have a chance. The two Deffdreads and the Big Mech destroyed them before they even got a chance to fight back. The Deffkoptas charge in to combat with the Warriors and no damage is dealt again between both sides. End Ork turn three. This time the Warriors were able to destroy one of the Scorcha Wagons and the Necron Lord fires his Staff of Light into the other, doing nothing. All Destroyers fire upon Gaz'gul and only gave him two wounds out of 30 shots, holy crap 2+ saves are awesome! The Heavy Destroyers fire on the Deffdreads but were unable to get through the cover save given by the Big Mech. The Warrior squad that didn't shoot charge into combat with the Deffkoptas. The Deffkoptas knock down three warriors and I do no wounds, Necrons manage not to run. Deffkoptas fail to leave close-combat, end turn three.



Turn four. Gaz'gul continues to move toward the Necrons with murderous intent and fires his Big Shoota into the Destroyers and fails to bring any down. The Deffdreads and Big Mech move towards the Heavy destroyers and fire their missiles and down one. The Scorcha Wagon still remaining torches seven warriors but only dropped two. The Looted Wagon fails to wound a Destroyer, poor Looted Wagon. The Deffkoptas down two more Warriors in close-combat and they continue to suck it up in returning damage. Warriors miraculously still do not run away. End Ork Turn four. One squad of Destroyers fires upon Gaz'gul and deal another wound to him. The other Destroyer squad turn their guns on the Looted wagon and blow it up to nothing. The two remaining Heavy Destroyers fail to get through the Big Mech's shield yet again. The Necron Lord charges into close-combat against the Deffkoptas and kills one. The two remaining retaliate and give the Lord a wound and the Warriors finally managed to wound the Deffkoptas only to have them shrug them off. End game.



The victory points that my Necrons received in this battle was 1,083, that's ridiculous in four turns! The Orks only got 182. Not a great battle for the Orks but they still held out, if only the Deffdreads were able to get into combat I would have been hosed. If the Nobs didn't get obliterated I really would have been in trouble. Some bad die rolls really hurt the Orks early on. Overall I feel that his list is solid he just didn't have luck on his side this time around.

First Round - Orks vs Necrons

So I'm paired up against Orks for my first round. This should be interesting. Lots of close-combat units against my pure shooty army. Pictures and battle report coming soon.

The Army List...

So I've been tasked to create a 1,500 point list for a Warhammer 40K tournament that the local hobby store, Phoenix Games, is hosting. Each round of the tournament is a week long and the tournament itself is gonna last the whole month of February starting today. I've chosen to bring my Necrons to battlefield. I've played against almost everyone that plans to play in the tournament at one point or another. Much like almost all tournaments that I have been in Imperium is going to be the bulk of the armies. I know for sure that one player will bring at least three Land Raiders (cheasy but oh well). One will play I.G. Armoured Company, thats just swiss cheese for a Necron Army. One might play an artillery heavy I.G. army or his Space Marines. Others will be two Chaos Space Marine Armies and possibly an Eldar army will be present. Thats pretty much all that will be there unless others show up that I haven't met.

Now for my list. I've chosen to go for maneuverability for this tournament give how out gunned Necrons are. For my HQ I'm bringing in a Necron Lord on foot with a Ressurection Orb and a Disruption Field. Troops will consist of three, Warrior squads and 10 models each. I plan to keep them all fairly close together and the Lord's Ressurection orb in range for all three. Fast Attack will be two squads of Destroyers and five models each and seven Scarabs with Disruption Fields. The Destroyers of course have great maneuverability and and firepower. The Scarabs are meant to munch on tanks but if need be they will play as speed bumps. As for Heavy Support I'm bringing in a squad of Heavy Destroyers. The Heavy Destroyers are going to play support for the Destroyers. If the Destroyers don't kill it the Heavy's will, atleast thats the plan.

Overall I feel this list is strong for what Necrons can do. I hope it makes my opponents worry about what they have to do to take me out. I know for sure that one or two players have catered their list to kill my army, how cheasy is that. Oh well, I'll take that as a compliment that they have that much concern about my army owning theirs =P*. My hopes are that they see the scarabs and either shrug them off or waste a turn or two trying to pick them off. If they do the sooner then for sure one tank is atleast not going to shoot on the following turn. If the later happens then it might give me two turns to advance my army into fantastic firing positions, especially the Destroyers and Heavy Destroyers. To be honest besides the tactics with the Scarabs this list kinda feels like a spray & pray list. But isn't that how necrons handle vehicles anyway?

HQ--Lord on foot, Ressurection Orb, Disruption Field---145 pts.
Troops--10x Warriors---180 pts.
10x Warriors---180 pts.
10x Warriors---180 pts.
Fast Attack--5x Destroyers---250 pts.
5x Destroyers---250 pts.
7x Scarabs, Disruption Fields---112 pts.
Heavy Support--3x Heavy Destroyers---195 pts.

Total Points---1492 Points.

Kinda sucks when the cheapest thing a Necron army can field is a Scarab at 12 pts base and for wargear you can field a Disruption Field on a Lord for 5 pts. 8 pts and nowhere to put them, sad.

Let the Necrons destroy those that claim that the galaxy of the 41st Millenia belongs to them!!!

The All Nighter

Oh man here I go again. My second all nighter this semester and it's only been 3 weeks. So not good but that's what happens when you procrastinate. I'm currently in between papers right now so I decided to give an update. Kinda funny that so far this blog has not been all that geeky so far. Just wait I'll post my Necron army list for an upcoming tournament real soon and possibly pictures from the Rock Band party I'm throwing next Saturday. Oh man, here's the shout out, if you are in the area and know me you are welcome to the party!

Trepidations of a Journalism Student

So procrastination is my enemy. Spending more time doing what I want instead of doing what I should be doing is catching up to me. My major does not give me really any room to slack off and yet I still find time to not do my assignments. Now when I do my assignments I sacrifice sleep instead of taking the time to do it when I'm more coherent. It does not help either that I'm also a bit lazy. I need to be more pushy on myself and the targets of my assignments.

Now that my logical thinking in regards to education is out of the way lets hope that I can focus on the more enjoyable aspects of being a geek!