Do I go with the Limp Bizkit or Chamillionaire "Rollin" joke?

Well, I've had my computer back for a couple of weeks now but have honestly touched neither it nor anything Warhammer related in a while. I don't expect this to change drastically for a few more weeks, and here's why.

About the time I fixed my computer, (had to go through OCZ's warranty program to get a new PSU which, while not an incredible experience in customer service, was at least smooth enough to not be worth complaining about) I also picked up Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii. Being a huge fan of, and investing a serious number of hours in, all of the PS2 and PSP games to date, I have not yet been disappointed with this installment. I've basically been playing it every second of spare time I get at the complete exclusion of everything else leisurely. As such, Warhammer et al. has suffered. On the one hand, this is sort of disappointing to me, but on the other hand MAOR MONETSR HUNTYR PLOX!!!

This weekend, the 'Ard Boyz semi-finals are being held at a hobby shop near(ish) to me, so I'm thinking of trying to make it over there to get some spectating in if I can manage it. Hopefully seeing all the high(ish) level play will get my juices flowing (???) again I'll get more motivated about the hobby. We shall see how that goes.

Today, though, instead of delivering another army list like I was planning to, I've opted for the less time-dependent task of redoing my blogroll. This choice was made, very easily, to ensure that I waste as little time as possible outside of Minegarde*. The blogs I have on my reading list are ones that I visit pretty much every day, and so I thought I'd take a second to talk a little about them.

Without further ado, what I'm reading:

Blogs I no longer deem worthy of my presence
Chainfist
I started reading this blog in the middle of the big Stelek v. Mkerr internet fight and thought it was hilarious. This was really my first exposure to the violent, petty world that is the WH40k blogosphere. I had at least heard of YTTH but didn't really know what it was, and so when I stumbled upon this blogfight, I thought it was the greatest thing and that Stelek was a total fuckshit.

I read the fight exclusively from Mkerr's point of view and really supported his side of things for a while. I have known of a lot of people with the type of personality he was describing in Stelek of YTTH and, despite my normally 'no worries' demeanor, they really bother me. So I was checking Mkerr's blog daily looking for the newest bit of info or commentary on what was happening and getting all worked up over what an asshat Stelek is and how people like him are the bane of human existence.


Blood of Kittens
Eventually, I got tired with Mkerr's less than frequent posting schedule and started to branch out in my blog reading. This is when I landed on Blood of Kittens where I found even more Stelek-bashing. There was more entertaining controversy on this blog, so I was hooked and, once again, immediately began thinking of what a serious piece of shit Stelek must be. Here I found, accidentally, two blogs having serious internet fights with him in which they look to be fairly reasonable and he looks like a complete jackass. Seems pretty clear to me.

This lasted for a little while too, but again I decided to branch out some more and began browsing around other blogs. During this time, I found most of the blogs that are still worth reading: Spite, B40k, and BoLs(sort of, more on this later) namely.

I also ended up on Stelek's own YTTH. At first it was sort of like "well, let's just see what this is all about" or "alright he's a jerkass, as has clearly been established, but he actually writes some good stuff" and finally "let's see if I can find more about his shit fight with Mkerr and Tasty so I can beat some more entertainment out of that horse". A funny thing happened, though. I realized that Stelek is actually an alright guy, and the real assheads were the ones from those other blogs. Funny, that. I came into the situation with an incredibly biased (negative) opinion about the guy, but after spending a week or so roaming around his blog, seeing his side of the story, it became very obvious to me that they were the ones in the wrong.

I'm not saying Stelek is a total victim here. He promotes a lot of drama on his site due to his style, but that's just what it is: his style. He has a very frank way of putting everything in perspective that (apparently) rubs some people the wrong way, but in the end that's just what he does. His website is called "Yes The Truth Hurts", from that alone we might assume that he isn't going to be anything but brutally honest at all times. And besides, he does actually have some pretty cool articles with some really competitive lists.

Further proving my point (to myself?), I sent him an email asking a tactical question. This email was well-formed, but I was proposing something relatively preposterous and the answer was completely obvious***. I was not disapointed by the response I got. He, in a manner that was in no way impolite while still maintaining that frankness he likes so much, told me why what I was suggesting was wrong. He even made a joke with me in the response. This joke was not directed at me, nor was I or what I had said in any way the subject of said joke. All in all, it was not an unpleasant question/answer experience.

So, then, it seems obvious to me that Stelek is an ok guy with a blunt attitude that happens to rub some people wrong. This attitude should be completely apparent to anyone who spends more than a few minutes on his website (or more than a few seconds reading the site's title), and so how can he be held responsible for someone else taking what he says personally? At worst, he is still way better than people on Gamefaqs who respond to questions with "search bar", because if it is something that he hasn't yet addressed in a previous article, he will usually explain it out.

In the end, I just don't really care that much anymore for these guys, and that's why I decided to stop reading Chainfist and Blood of Kittens. BoK at least has some interesting articles occasionally, but really it isn't enough to keep me interested such that I feel like it needs a place on my blog roll. I might check it out every once in a while to look for tournament reports and whatnot (because Tasty does do a pretty good job of that, and I still do like him actually) but honestly, I don't really care that much about tournies that happen in places I have no access to. 'Ard Boyz I can get into because it has local participation, Alamo 40k not quite as much.

Jawaballs
Jawaballs, or actually his YouTube channel, was the second source of internet 40k stuff I ever encountered. (first being Mini War Gaming's YouTube channel) I really liked watching his batrep and hobby videos, so during the time I was expanding my 40k blog reading, I decided to check his out and add it to my list. I never really spent a whole lot of time there though, because without his voice or hairy arms in the picture it didn't interest me very much. So, while I still think Jawaballs is a pretty cool guy, I just never actually look at his blog, so I'm clearing up the space. I'm still subscribed to his YouTube channel, so I can at least keep up with him there.

Blogs I thoroughly endorse
Spite for the Dice Gods
This is a relatively small, unassuming blog that, as it turns out, is really fething good. Lots of great articles, batreps, hobby stuff, good writing, it's all here. I stumbled across this blog because I liked the name and I do not regret my decision to stick around.

Back 40k
This is another good one. Not quite as free from controversy as some of the others, but a very good blog nonetheless. I sort of feel like Sandwyrm is the guy that everyone always wants to pick internet fights with, but he either doesn't care enough or simply knows better than to stick around to try to argue. His site sports some pretty good writing as well, and he also has some incredibly awesome articles on color theory that are worth their weight in souvlaki****.

Also, how can anyone with a game like this under their belt not be worth reading?


Yes The Truth Hurts
Ah, the infamous Stelek. (cool name, btw. has a nice ring to it, I always thought) I've already explained my history with the site to some degree so I won't go into again too much here, but....

From what I can tell, the big problem everyone has with him is his ego and his credentials; he thinks he's the best player in the country, but has virtually no way of proving this past or present. There are lots of things that he claims to have done, or whatever, but his detractors basically maintain "pix or it didn't happen". Personally, I couldn't give a shit less about his credentials. I don't care if his entire life is a fantasy world and that he actually lives in his parent's basement and only plays games against himself all day long (as some of his opponents tend to insinuate), the fact of the matter is that he gives good advice. If there is one thing he excels at, it is building army lists.

I really don't understand what the problem is. I can see how his credentials might be an issue if he was giving bad advice, or if he was just starting out and trying to sell his brand of kool-aid (as he likes to say) over that of everyone else. But really, spending some time on his website and just reading what he is saying is proof enough for me that this guy knows what he's talking about. Sure Stelek makes some lists that are quirky, or sometimes he does things that aren't perfectly optimized (for example, his all Space Marine bike list, which I will go into some more in my next army list article... but to his credit this is literally the only example I have of this that I can tell) but it is all completely overshadowed by the good stuff he does put out*****.

Also, he tackles every single list request he gets with his most competitive effort. It is one thing to send him an email with "I <3 Blood Angels, can you make me a good list?" it is another completely to say "Can you make me a competitive Blood Angels list with max Storm Ravens, max dreadnoughts, no librarians, all jump infantry, and no melta weapons?" (this isn't a request I've actually ever seen, but it is the sort thing he does get where they want a super competitive list, but...) He gets requests like this with all sorts of arbitrary restrictions and he always does his best to make it work anyways, and then explain why it's hurting itself by having the restrictions. There aren't many reasons left to not like this guy. He bad-mouths GW too much? I dunno, maybe. Ooh, I know, let's hate him because he loves his wife and takes every opportunity he gets to say as much. Yeah, what a jerk. Blogs that are staying on my roll anyways
Bell of Lost Souls
I think everyone hates BoLS now. Even the people that hang out there. It used to be alright when I was first getting into these 40k blogs, but anymore there is such a vacuum for content over there I don't know how they keep readers. (and they apparently have tons of them, the biggest baddest YTTH article might get up to 60 comments, on BoLS pretty much every one gets into the 100s in the first few hours of posting)

Their articles all seem like pilots, or lead-ins for real articles.
"I'm going to write about this great tactic known as XYZ."
Alright, that sounds cool, what's that all about?
"Oh...that was the whole article. You just read it."
...

Anyone who has read any of their articles lately will understand what I mean. Goatboy is pretty cool, and I like checking out his site from time to time, and I do really legitimately like Fritz, but so much of the site is just lacking in actual content.

Not to mention the fact that BoLS harbors the vilest piece of shit I've ever encountered on the internet. There are some pretty big dicks out there who get into some serious internet fights, but in almost all cases there is at least some reason they feel they can be so stubbornly resilient to the voice of reason. Maybe their logic is completely flawed and wrong, but for some reason they looked at their codex and decided that, in their mind, Footdar just really made sense competitively. It doesn't matter if they're wrong or right, they think they are right and they think they have a good reason for thinking so. While it doesn't make it ok for them to be engaging in such violent arguments, at least they are just trying to defend their position. Melissia, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have any such reason for being the internet's fattiest corpuscle.

All that being said, they do have the rumor mill on lockdown. I can't be expected to keep up with every nonsense forum out there, but no fear, the BoLS crew will do it for me. For that reason, I am keeping them on my blogroll. Otherwise, they would be off.

Also, I just found this article when I went to grab their url. It's about Warhammer through the eyes of Grimlock of the Dinobots. While I can't help but feel like the article is a farce, I feel like it is my civic duty to post things that involve the original Transformers.

Honorable Mentions
Space Wolves Grey
This was the first 40k blog I ever got into, and it is a good one. It is made up of a couple of guys who all play Space Wolves and like to write about it. They hold the very interesting feat of being completely out on their own, untouched by any other sites. Pretty much all of the other blogs I frequent know each other in some way. They all pee in each others pools, so to speak. SWG seems to be all out on their lonesome, and it is just sort of refreshing to see such a purely genuine 40k blog. And they're all great guy to boot!

Strictly Average
Brent is sort of my internet hero, and I'm not ashamed to say it. His are usually the comments I most agree with during internet fights; he's always the complete voice of logic and reason. In the midst of big arguments he is either making short quips to try to defuse the rage, or long, incredibly well-thought comments sincerely trying to help. Every time I see his digital blue head in a comment list I always stop by to read what he has to say, and his blog is no different.

Besides, he made a pretty sweet Storm Raven conversion. (that was apparently ill- received?)

Dick Move
This site I just found earlier this week, and within a few days had read every article Dethtron's ever written. The point of the site is pretty much to find ridiculous 40k- related internet fights and post them in the worst possible light with hilarious commentary added. So I get to read all the terrible 40k arguments that I find so entertaining, except that I only see the best parts and don't have to read through every last soulrending post? And there's hilarious commentary? Sign me up! The community here is pretty cool too. There are like 8 guys that post comments regularly, and they all happen to be guys that I recognize and respect from other sites. Sweet! (Sorry Kirby and TKE for not rolling your blogs, I promise I've been meaning to) Maybe he's a bit harsh in his presentation, but it's all hyperbole.(right?) He's just trying to be hilarious and to point out how dumb it is to be arguing so militantly about which regiment of Imperial Guard is the best, or whatever other nonsense he finds.


So there it is. Everything that I'm reading with briefly (??) laid out descriptions of what they are and why I read them. That ended up being a huge post and taking quite a while, but I still think it probably less time overall than my next posted list will be. When I get another piece of time I'll try to put that one together. Here's a teaser: it's a Custodes Jetbikes counts-as army.

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* Minegarde being the world Monster Hunter is set in.**

** Yo Dethtron, lemme hold them footnotes.

*** It's not like I sent him a useless question that was a complete waste of time. It was still something I had been thinking a lot about, and even though I was pretty sure I knew what he was going to say, I really wanted to hear his take on it.

**** how much do internet articles weigh? For the sake of my own purposes, I'm going to say these 3 in particular contain mass approximately equivalent to the sun.

***** "Stelek....he does put out." is a nice quote I cleverly mined out of this sentence.