9.23.2009

An Open Letter re: Hard Boyz

(I wrote this on YTTH re: Darkwynn's Hard Boyz win.)





Okay folks, this is some bullshit.

The Flylords have every right to roll out the red carpet for one of their own winning a major US tournament. There is zero wrong with that; had someone here at YTTH done the same, you can bet they'd post it. None of this is 'crowing from the rooftops' or bragging, and you can't minimize this away: for right now, with the scene the way it is, Hard Boyz is THE competative tournament.

Now Stelek is planning a tournament next year that promises to, if all goes well, take that spot. I believe he can do that; I'm planning on attending. But that's then and this is now.

Getting to the tournament isn't easy, no matter how you cut it. Sure, the first round can be hit or miss, but by the time you play in Round Two you've got to wade through some nonsense. Placing is an accomplishment, and certainly luck is involved in doing it. Luck is also useful in winning the whole thing: who you play, choice of move, maximizing points, et cetra. Keep in mind, there was no special rules in this last round.

Each scenario was right out of the book. The scenery was spread evenly on every table. The judges deliberately didn't want anyone claiming they'd win Hard Boyz 'if only I didn't play in table 10...'.

I'm guessing some of you are thinking you'd have won if only you'd been there. And I call bullshit. It wasn't a soft event.

Now, all that notwithstanding, I've got no beef with Stelek taking a shot at the list - it's what he does. Frankly, I don't think anyone else does army creation better (and I had my nose rubbed in that last weekend, thank you very much), so it's always interesting to visit YTTH.

Just keep some perspective. The King has it right; congratulate the man before you have a go at him.

Anyway...

In Round Three the top table was IG v Ork, IG v Ork, and Ork v Eldar. I took a picture and frankly was thinking it would be funny to Stelek, figuring it would be hard for him to say Orks weren't competative after all. So then what happens? The Orks all lose.

I found that pretty interesting, considering that the best armies, with of course the few odd exceptions, made it to the top tables.

Anyway, enough of all that. As always, take care all - Brent

(And of course I put some pics up there to look at...)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi the is dj from ard boys i most say i have ejoyed reading your blog

Darkwynn said...

Brent, I told you :D

Jwolf said...

There are a lot of random factors that go into winning tournaments and being at the top tables at the end, and these are more important as the number of rounds is reduced. With the scenarios given, I would have expected more Mech Eldar at the top tables and fewer Orks, but it seems like people got more aggressive for the finals than I would have thought. Agressive deployments helped Nick to win, but would have been very problematic if his opponents had siezed the initiative (probably not nearly as much in scenario 1; Dawn of War is really great for a Guard Alpha army). This takes nothing from Nick, because after all other factors are figured, he won, and no amount of kvetching changes that.

As to comments from the peanut gallery, what is there really to say? A guy who has never won a championship denigrates people who do win and claims moral superiority for not even trying - why would anyone take such a person seriously? I got the same garbage after winning Gladiator, and I even won with my list moreso than my play. I would have thought that the "list is the most important thing" crowd would have viewed that as some sort of personal triumph, but instead, I got poop flung at me by every monkey in that cage.
Of course, anyone who thinks there is such a thing as a "best of" list for any army has already demonstrated a lack of competitive prowess. What is best changes over time, as the evolution of lists in a competitive environment naturally marginalizes the list that was best last tournament (or week, or yesterday). Building lists to beat the expected competition means making some choices that seem suboptimal in order to have all the right tools in the box. "Best of" conceptually tries to force every task into driving nails, which is great if you only have nails to drive, but 15 hammers sort of sucks for sawing boards and pouring a foundation.

Bruce said...

I think the one thing that caught me off guard for this event is that all of the scenarios in the previous rounds were objective heavy, and the finals were mainly annihilation. I guess it was poor planning on my part, but I think that Brent and myself were definitely focused on taking objectives. I think that our army list reflect that kind of mission. I know for me kill points was just a second thought, especially with three drop pod in the list. Just something to think about.

(A new favorite!) Anon: I haven’t even bothered playing a game of 6th yet, cause I have read the rules, and actually understand how they interact with units. I know my armies no longer function how they should, and so I need to change them.

Strictly Average: 'cause 6-inches is all you get.

Stalking Jawaballs since 2009.

Jawaballs: "My butt just tightened up."

Brent, preferred 2-to-1 over Not Brent in a recent, scientific poll.

Brent: emptied the Kool Aid and DRINKING YOUR MILKSHAKE with an extra-long straw.

Unicorns don't exist.

Home of the Stormbuster, the Dyson Pattern Storm Raven.

I'm a comment whore and this whore is getting no play.

Not Brent hurts Brent's feelings.

I think, therefore I blog.

"You should stop writing for everyone else and worry about your crappy blog." - Anon.

Not Brent has been spotted lurking around with a green marker.

He's not like a bad guy from a cartoon, all devious but never quite evil, Not Brent is bad beans, man, bad beans.

Dethtron: "Again I feel obliged to remind you that trying to sound smart only works if you are."

MVB: "I am not one to join the unwashed masses of self-titled 40k experts out there distributing advice from their blogs about exactly how your list should be built..."

Shiner Bock on tap: that's how I choose hotels.

Strictly Average: The Home of Hugs and Gropings.

Don't feed the trolls!

MoD: "Welcome to Brent's head."

Competitive is Consistent.

Dethtron: "...you could use that extra time to figure out a way to get your panties unbunched and perform a sandectomy on your vagina."

Dethtron: “When calling someone an idiot, it's generally best to avoid making grammatical mistakes.”

Warboss Stalin: "You know, if it actually WAS funny, maybe I wouldn't mind."

Mike Brandt: "It's not a successful bachelor party if you don't misplace someone".

"The Master Manipulator (every store needs one): "...now, enough stroking."

Kirby: "I don't know about gropings. Seriously, Brent, keep it in the pants, please."

Loquacious: "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Hugs & Gropings or Stalks Jawaballs into Brent's little tribute."

Captain Kellen: "I rate this article a Brent on the Faith Hill to Nancy Pelosi scale!"

Drathmere: "Come for the balls, stay for the Brent? Kind of disturbing, man."

Go no further, lest thee see something thine eyes would fain look past!

Isabelle: "So, thank you for supporting your local and not so local unicorns. A noble gesture like that can show some scared kids out there that they don't have to hide from everyone and it's ok to be who they really are."

There is nothing more interesting than We The People... in all our beautiful, ugly glory!

On Internet Advice: You see, I have an almost religious belief that's it's a huge, colossal waste of time.

...I think I'll call it the Gun Shy Pattern Stormbuster, because after the Internet destroyed my first humble effort, I find I'm a bit worried about the reaction to this one.

Lauby: "Is it left over from that time you thought that you could just complete step one 12 times to meet the mandates of that court order?"

Not Brent: "I guess we'll have to read on and find out. Signed, Not Brent. Especially today."

Cynthia Davis: "I think the scrolling text is from Glen Beck's new book."

Grimaldi: "Spamming certain units creates interesting possibilities but also fatal weaknesses."

Purgatus: "Math can inform decisions. It cannot make decisions."

Thoughts? Comments? Hugs and gropings?

You'd be that much quicker to figure out what I mean when I refer to a Unicorn if I covered it in a rainbow flag.

SinSynn: (To Brent) "Curse you and your insidious influence on the internets..."

Dave G (N++): "You know you're an internet celebrity when your following is more akin to tabloids."

I prefer the term Internet Personality (or IP) myself, seeing as how I coined it.

Lauby: "Your attempt to humanize him as failed. I feel nothing but scorn for his beard - it's like a warcrime or something."

BBF: "I've always thought you are a good player but I finally figured out that you are a great player. It's hard to see sometimes because your personality is engaging, sincere and quite charming - to me that is kind of a rare combination."

'Clearly cheating?' I didn't misspeak: you jumped to conclusions. If you'd like to apologize I'll be happy to send you an autographed picture of my ass.

Ass.

I thought I was doing alright before I realized I was losing.

Age and treachery beats youth and vigor every time.

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