On Absences

So, I've been away for a while. The reason for that is several-fold.

First, I've been busy. I may not be in school anymore, but my life still likes to find things to make me do.

Secondly, I had a sort of intense high followed by a terrible crash relating to 40k. After posting the Tyranids list I went and read the codex to actually see what it is like. This codex is incredible. Way better than even the SW codex that I loved so much. It's amazing to me how much variety it has and how well everything works together.

Units I love:
Hive Guard
Tyrannofex
Tervigons
Tyranid Warriors
Death Leaper
Trygons
Hormogaunts
Harpies
Carnifi
Old One Eye
Raveners

Hey, guess what, that's most of the available units. I just love how much overlapping support everything can give, and how troops are so dedicated to their roles. Want cheap CC? Bring Hormagaunts. Want a small elite army? Bring Warriors. Troops that are generalists that aren't really good or expensive enough to care what happens to them? Termagants. How about FREE TROOPS? Tervigons are good for that. One thing I hate about SM armies is that their basic troop is so good and expensive. Basically, I'd feel bad if I was wasting them sitting on an objective, or using them to block or as sacrifices or anything like that. Why do those things with the 15-20 point a model guys with actually decent stat lines, when I can do it with these Gaunts that are like 5 points a pop? (I suppose the reason there is that SM have actually decent stat lines)

Also, MC's seem like an obvious solution for someone that hates tanks like I do. Especially Harpies. Man those things are sweet!

So, I made that realization and decided to completely forsake the entire intent and title of this blog and switch my plans into making a Tyranid army. This was the high.

First, I thought I'd go the AdMech route because they're awesome and have a lot of things that mesh well with the Tyranid paradigm. (crazy technology enhancements really aren't that much different from crazy biomorphs) Then I realized that in order to make my average number of termigaunt-count-as units, it would cost me around $300 and probably most of my life. That's not even considering the other units I'd need. Or the fact that I still have no idea what to make for a Tervigon.* So, I thought that perhaps that wasn't such a good idea.

Then I (briefly) considered just running Tyranid models as Tyranids. Novel idea, right? Call me wishy-washy, but I feel like any past indiscresions I've had with the little extra-galactic bugs can be forgiven on account of their codex being totally the fucking shit. That, however, would still be a ton of money and effort. So I decided not to do that either.

This was the terrible crash. I'd gotten pretty worked up over how awesome the Tyranid codex was, and then was faced with the crippling realization that I can't ever play them.

So, I took some time off of wargaming. I still read some of my 40k blogs because I like the communities, but I basically quit caring about the actual content for a while.


Then I got back into the idea of Warmachines. And when I say Warmachines, I actually mean Warmachines/Hordes.** Before I started this blog (and before I had decided to get back into 40k) I had decided I was going to start Warmachines instead. I loved the models and lore, and the gameplay seemed really interesting so I thought I'd try something new instead of sticking with 40k. Also, the nationwide Warmachine campaign was just starting (or it was just about to start I think, I don't remember) and that really intrigued me. The PP boards have posts dedicated to selecting leaders for each faction and giving goals for the week, etc. It just seems like a really cool community-building thing. I had also thought it might be cool to try to learn it with my girlfriend. She is always looking for things that we can do together and while she isn't really into that sort of thing, she has expressed interest in my hobby for the sake of sharing hobbies. I thought WM might be a decent opportunity for this.

So, I got big into reading about the factions and had not quite convinced myself which one to play, when I realized that Warmachines lacks a certain level of inspiration. 40k sings to me like a muse. Look at the intent and then first revised intent of this blog? Custodes and AdMech armies. Things I would have to convert heavily. Things 40k makes me want to convert heavily. WM doesn't really do this for me. I look at the models and can barely even see myself painting them differently than their faction's traditional colors.

Perhaps this is because all the PP models are already awesome. Who knows.

Anyways, right now I think I'm leaning towards WM again. All of the awesome things that I love about the game/lore coupled with its insanely cheap entry fee are beginning to weigh on me. We'll see if it develops into anything, but for now it looks like my 40k-playing days are over before they even began.


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* - I kept coming back to this idea of, like, a dreadnought-legged walking mech thing that was basically a surgeon's table with all sorts of mechanical arms with various cutting utensils on them. Sort of like a field repair-station for injured and/or assimilated AdMech marines. Or possibly the same sort of idea but with a giant stasis-tube full of goo or something. Not exactly sure how either would come out, but those were the best I could come up with.

** - The way I see it, Hordes is like an expansion to WM in the video-game sense and therefore it is unnecessary to distinguish. Warmachines covers everything just like Starcraft actually means Starcraft: Brood War and Diablo II actually means DiabloII: Lord of Destruction.