Adama and Kat

For those of you who regularly follow Strictly Average (hi Mom!) you know I make a point of posting regularly, usually daily.

I'm Ye Ol' Blogosphere's first Personality-Centered Hobby-Blog.tm - which means I'm not so talented I can afford to lose readers through laziness!  We lose 'em through lack of talent, though.

Still, I hope you'll forgive the last week's somewhat scattered posting schedule.  I started grad school on Thursday, so these last few weeks of registration, financial aid, buying books and so on has been tiring.  In fairness, I still made my deadlines over at Bell of Lost Souls and Blood of Kittens, but as the home of the Empty Digital Headache I can't ignore Strictly Average.

Breaking Down an Idea: Part II of III

Does it seem pretentious to make this a 3-parter?  It does?

Good!  It's what I was going for.

CliffNotes: Brent does a pretentious and media-poor Part II 'cause he's gotta get ready to drive to the Comic-Con today!

Competitive is Consistent: Initial Thoughts, and on Daemons

CliffNotes: Brent answers a reader's question about Daemons!

Before we get started, check out my article on Blood of Kittens: The Int'l House of Paincakes Serves Up Pain!

Tom said...

Hi Brent, long time reader first time writer.  At least you wrote - that's a free blog post for me, so any of you fine folks out there wanna write, DO IT!

I too play daemons, though perhaps not as well as you. So true, so true... I'm super awesome I am.  I had a thought about a different way to build heralds, and wondered what you thought.

WarGames Con: Game 6

So, we're almost down to the wire!  Here we are in Game 6 of WarGames Con, and as it turned out it would be Daemons vs Space Wolves in a fight for the center.

It's worth pointing out here that I mentioned this scenario and the controversy on the top tables in my super-awesome article for Blood of Kittens, The Strange Case of Michael Strange.

Go check it out, then come back.

...

I'm waiting.

CliffNotes:  Forget Brent's stupid CliffNotes - go check out the House of Paincakes.  Come back or not; your option!

Ack! It's 4am and I'm a Drivin'

I have orientation for graduate school today, so I've got to make the 2-hour drive to the Metroplex this morning.  I'm in the University of Texas at Arlington now (UTA) doing graduate work in Social Work.

For No Apparent Reason

Sometimes your friends let you down. Five years ago, my business partner stole every dime of my savings and destroyed my business overnight.

Sometimes you friends disappoint you. Within a year, my closest friend played bedroom games with my ex-wife, so I washed my hands of both.

The House of Paincakes is Open for Business!

Brent's not around, is he?  Good - let's chat!

Have you heard about the House of Paincakes?  All you need to know is the cool kids all hang out at the House of Paincakes, drinking spiked coffee and using foul language.

You wanna be cool, don't you?

Many of your favorite Internet Personalities have already joined the rolls and will be providing articles and advice. Brent's not cool enough for the HoP, but I've already agreed to steal his new series Read Up to Keep Up, and that's just the tip...

Heh. Just the tip!

...of the iceberg.  What did you think I was going to say?  You've got a dirty, dirty mind.

You'll fit right in!  What are you still here for? Go check it out!

...

What's going on here - where's everyone going?  Hello?

Learning Warhammer

At the FLGS, we're all learning how to play Warhammer Fantasy by participating in an army build project similar to the one we did for 40K.

Okay, so there are some obvious differences.  For one, 40K is the primary game at the store; we all play it, some of us at a pretty high level.  Better have the goods to back up the statement, yes?  We knew what we were doing there, but this is a different animal. 

CliffNotes: Brent yaks briefly about some thoughts on learning a new system.

Caption Contest Update

So when is too much too much?

I'm not sure; I'll know when I get there!  Take a gander at the next picture - it belongs to the dude who owns the army with the unfortunate Catachan-Counts-As-Men-At-Arms unit that we all made fun of so mercilessly last night.

I think he was a bit down, feeling like he was the butt of a joke he couldn't share - or something like that, I don't know.  Not sure why... it was really funny.

From what I gather, he didn't have the money to purchase 2 boxes of Men-At-Arms to add to his very small Bretonnian army.  He wanted to play in the tournament today and doesn't believe in proxies... so he built a unit and tried to make it WYSIWYG.

Okay, so it was a huge failure, I still have a respect for someone who paints and flocks his miniatures.  He pointed out the poop-brown color works well once it is dipped.

Fair play - at least he's trying!  And, let's face it, sometimes the money ain't there. 

Last thing, go check out the Master Manipulator (every store needs one)'s blog, which is now at home in the Bloggers Who Blog section.  He used his new camera to take some great pics of Little Barrera's Vampire Lord.

EDITED: Caption Contest, He Exclaims

The following post has been removed to protect the guilty.

Video Battle Report: Tomb Kings vs Skaven

Here's a first for Strictly Average, a Video Battle Report for Warhammer Fantasy.  This game pits my Tomb Kings against Sam-I-Am and his Skaven.

We're still fairly new to Warhammer at the local game store, so forgive the unpainted miniatures and any mistakes we may have made.

Let me know what you think.

Day 2, Game 5: Daemons vs Guard

This was a put up or shut up game, from my point of view.  I've talked plenty of times about my win record against the local Imperial Guard, ably lead by Evil Homer.  My contention has been simple; Guard armies in the current meta don't have quantity shots, they have quality shots... so what happens when the Guard run into Daemons with their Eternal Guard and Invulnerable Saves?

What happens is I usually win.  I know how good Evil Homer is (as in, very) so I felt plenty prepared when I saw my opponent for Round 5. 

As it turns out, Paul was the only Guard player I'd face that weekend, but he made up the lack with a subtle leadership of his plastic toys which lead to a barnburner of a game... and it came down to the last dice in the last assault.

Quite Right Old Chum!

Dude; that was so last week.  I'm all better - consider it dropped!

Read Up to Keep Up: Week One

So you wanna be a blogger?  Every week there's a few must-reads you need to see if you want to keep up with the cool kids.  Normally you have to ferret this stuff out for yourself, but I'm going to do you a favor and help you out.  There are no pretty pictures today; if it seems like work... it is!  You wanna succeed at this, don't you?  That's the spirit!  Here they are, in no particular order.

Stelek v Dash

Dash on Orks (and thanks to Danny for the link)

Kennedy on the Nova

THE Article of the Week!

Dethtron on iamaddj's Article of the Week!

Kirby on iamaddj's Article of the Week!

Mkerr Snowmobiles Kirby!!
 
And I'm spent... still, check out mine if you haven't already.

A Goatboy Monday Monday Monday!

I made the deliberate decision to take a break from Strictly Average this weekend, partly because the Nova has turned Ye Ol' Blogosphere into a desert, partly from fatigue due to a busy week registering for grad school... and a big partly from general discouragement over the NotBrentus and NotBrandt fiasco.

CliffNotes: Brent talks about writing and shows off a Brent and Goatboy Team Tournament video!

I think that's probably a dead issue now, and even though it bothered me no end last week... that was last week!  I'm an eternal optimist I am.  I woke up today with a million things I wanted to talk about!  Still, a picture is worth a thousand words: what's an incriminating video worth?

Currently, I've got Strictly Average plus an article a week on Blood of Kittens and Bell of Lost Souls... tha'ts a lot, but I'm enjoying every minute of it!  I started blogging primarily to teach myself writing discipline, so after a year I'm finally flexing my mind-muscles.

My Friends Aren't Funny; the Joke is Dead

Here's an issue I'd hoped never to have to deal with. Some friend(s) of mine - and I don't know who - have engaged in behavior I'm ashamed of and effectively ruined a funny gag. Allow me to explain.

CliffNotes: Brent talks about   Strike all that; basically, someone isn't as clever as he thinks he is and killed a good joke.

WarGames Con: Painting Competition

Forgot to add, check out Part IV of On Blogging over on everybody's favorite gossip rag, Blood of Kittens!

So Tired

I've been dealing with grad school stuff this week, such as financial aid and registration, so between that and work I've been pretty beat.  In fact, I only just now finished this week's On Blogging article for tomorrow!

Hopefully my editor TastyTaste won't fire me.  Since I'm tired, I'm grabbing some images for today's post - which I'm aware is late!  These are from my new Eldar army, of course that I originally developed for WarGames Con.  I was experimenting with warm colors in Photoshop.  I'm not sure that I like the effect.  Thoughts?

Bully Bully Bully!

(Before we begin, my first article on Bell of Lost Souls is up!  Check it out!)  So, here we are in Game 4 and I'm back on the proper side of the room, where I'll stay for the rest of the event.  And I get to play Bully Mike!  I didn't show it, but I was actually pretty excited; this is one of those dudes who simply doesn't blog enough, but I've been over his material a number of times.

CliffNotes: Daemons vs Eldar in Round 4 of WarGames Con.

Before we'd begin, I'd like to point out the obvious (I'm good at that).  This is a beautiful army.  As an Eldar player myself, I appreciated the design, and Mike's reds made me realize I needed to put away that color.  As in, forever!

WarGames Con Pictures

Well, I'd like to write up Game 4 of the 7-round Tournament, but those pictures are still trapped in my camera since Herr Fernseher has my camera and laptop equipment.  It's a conspiracy I tell you.  Anyway, let's just show you some eye candy and be done with it, shall we?

Au Contraire!

Remember this gem?  A gentleman by the name of ZatoichiBlindSword (actually Jeff, but nicknames are what they are, I guess) offered some unsolicited advice on my YouTube account.

CliffNotes: Jeff comments and I respond.  Fun!

Depending on how long you've been reading Strictly Average, you may or may not know that I sometimes delve into the crazy world of Video Battle Reports.  Why?  Why else?  I want you to like 'em.  Still, some of them are better than others, and ol' Jeff is right about one thing: the video he commented on sucks pretty hard.  Still, I don't edit myself...

Game 3: The Great Misunderstanding of 2010

With me so far?  This is WarGames Con 2010 - just one short week ago - and here's the report for my game against the Order of Etoiles Mortelles, a Witch Hunters army.

CliffNotes: Brent's Daemons against an unknown player with a misunderstanding you may want to comment on.

So I'd just suffered my only loss of the weekend in Game 2 - does that ruin it for you?  It's an idle thought, but obviously you're going to have a general idea of how the rest of the games I report on roll out.  I'll let you know in advance I went 4-1-2 on the weekend; 4 wins, 1 loss, and 2 draws.  I hope that doesn't ruin the suspense or anything.  Moving on, I was on the wrong side of the room and in the uncomfortable position of knowing I had to do well or remain there.

I met my opponent, whose name I don't recall and that's driving me a bit nuts... if any of you know him, please leave me a comment.  He traveled to the event with a club from his local area.  I have his roster but I didn't realize his name wasn't on it.

A Former Indentured Servant Speaks!

Herr Fernseher, formerly known as the Artist Formerly known as the Indentured Servant - or something like that; I'm losing track of my thoughts already, so let me start over.  It's one in the morning and I'm bitterly disappointed that Sonnen didn't win, though it was lovely to see Silva take a 20-minute butt-kicking.  Anyway, Mr. TV himself was kind enough to post for Strictly Average during my weekend at WarGames Con and he's sent along an after action report.  Read on, Hillary McDuff, and let loose the Warhounds... never mind.

CliffNotes: Herr Fernseher speaks.

Spending three days at War Games Convention last weekend meant I’ve just had a tough week playing catch up in my personal life.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely.

This morning has been a long, gradual climb up Highway 287 to Amarillo.  The hum of the tires and the hiss of the maxed AC resolve into a hypnotic, reverie-inducing chord.  The hundreds of miles of flat asphalt I’m crossing contrast sharply with the rounded curves of the Texas Hill Country I skirted last weekend.  Then, I bummed around Austin: urbane Texas with a west coast vibe.  Today, I sought succor at a “Safety Rest Stop” riddled with rattlers…

… watched my son play on grounds shared with snakes.

As we drive up out of the lowlands, the temperature seems to be dropping.  The humidity certainly is.  At 11 a.m. it is not even 90 degrees, and it feels great outside.   If the sun is behind a cloud.  Or you’re in the shade and the breeze picks up.  It is still summer in Texas after all.  Moving further down the highway and up onto the Llano Estacado, the arguments over the perfect AC setting begin, made worse by the fact that “3” on the blower switch no longer works.

You Gotta Have a Thick Skin...

...to put yourself out there with a blog or videos.  Check out this conversation from YouTube re: one of my videos.

So he hates my voice?  No problem!  So he hates my style?  No problem!  I care not one whit, truly I don't; he's lines on my computer screen.  He might as well not exist for all the concern I'm wasting on him - I'll spend my time relating to any number of cool people I've met through the online application of this hobby.

Just remember this... DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!

EDIT  Check out what someone just put up on YouTube!  Comic genius (adults only, please)!

WarGames Con Game 2: A Bitter Pill

So, after Game 1 against Kenny, I knew I'd need a solid win under my belt in order to salvage the day.  Still, my draw was taking me to the right side of the room, where I intended to stay.

Can you say, foreshadowing, boys and girls?  I knew you could!

CliffNotes: Brent get's hit butt kicked and takes his only loss on the weekend in a great game against Allen from Colorado and his Vulcan-variant Space Marines.

Goatboy and Brent at the Team Tournament

So, you gotta know that Brent would eventually write 2000 points or more on each game... and why bother, right?  I mean, Thomas has already done all the work over on his blog, so let's just steal it and start from there.  If he minds... well, Brent will take the hit for it, won't he?

This weekend was a hell of a lot of fun and I got to talk face to face to a ton of people. Hopefully I didn't piss anyone off and get a nice round of cheater mic cheaterson comments on my supposed Casino dice :). Kidding aside this event was a lot of fun. I mean seriously, we leave our hometowns/basements to have a weekend of fun with only conversations about little plastic models, beer, and hopefully some mindless bitching about bad dice rolling.

(As you can see, I even got in a few pictures.)

I judged most of the event and only played in the team tournament and was the ringer at the end of the Winners Bracket. I played with Brent from Strictly Average and I had a blast in all 3 games. In fact, even though our armies were unoptimized we did pretty well with what we had to play with. So all in all it was an awesome time. Here is a very brief hazy memory Battle Report.

The 40K Wrecking Crew Plus Me and You

Okay guys, Brent here addressing the big blue Shark Tank and all you colorful ZombYe types about the wonderful world of tournament play. I’ve got some observations to make, so we can all have fun arguing about ‘em, but I decided to do a little something different and intersperse my commentary with the Battle Report for Game 1 of WarGames Con.

As many of you may know, I played in the Team Tournament with Goatboy; if you’re interested, there’s a rather funny video of us drunkenly playing the first game. That’s right: Friday morning and we’re high on life and a bit toasty on whiskey and Coke! Good stuff.

(Me and Goat's display board.  You'll notice I brought the Storm Buster, the Dyson Pattern Storm Raven, to sit on my display board... 'cause screw 'em, that's why!)

BoLSCon - er, sorry: WarGames Con...First Thoughts

This is Brent; I'm back, baby!

First of all, big thanks to my Indentured Servant, Herr Fernseher.  I think he did a bang-up job running my event coverage.  For those who care, I want to point out I didn't edit his content nor would I go back later to adjust it.  I don't believe in moderating someone's voice.  Certainly he covered it in a different way than I would have but that's what I loved about it.  I have literally hundreds of great photos he took, not to mention all my battle report photos... I hope you guys won't get tired of hearing about this event over the next month, 'cause that's going to happen.

CliffNotes: A quick review of the events and the people.

So, here's what I have to say about the 40K Wrecking Crew...

Cheating At BoLSCon!

TastyTaste from Blood of Kittens has publically accused me of cheating! This slight on my character will not be tolerated. I'm going to enlist the likes of Dethtron to help me set this right!

PS: If anyone sees Not Brent, tell him he's freaking me out. I'm the attention-seeking-net-stalker around here, not me.

Car Wreck: A Close Call after BoLSCon

I'm beat. 

It's 1am and I'm off to bed.  I won Best of the Worst - and don't think I won't get mileage out of that - after the reset. 

Basically, they ran a second tournament on Sunday, which I won.  The top spots from Saturday played on for the big prizes.  Obviously I've got a million things to say.

Later.

On the way home I avoided a huge wreck.  I pulled in front of an obvious drunk and only a couple of moments later he lost control, swerving along 3 lanes of traffic before smashing into a red jeep with two teenagers.  I watched in the rear-view as the jeep rolled 5 or 6 times straight at me, launching pieces across a quarter mile.

I pulled onto the median and ran back to render aid.  The drunk waved to me as he drove off.  I didn't know what to think.

I honestly thought the passengers would be dead, but the kid had pulled his girlfriend from the wreckage before I could get there.  I did stop him wandering in traffic, but I couldn't do more than wait for the cops.

It got me thinking, for obvious reasons.  Here's hoping everyone made it home safe.

And I hope the drunk enjoys prison.  The cops found the car, so it's only a matter of time.

A Quick Announcement...

...before Brent gets back.  He may yank this post later, but for those of you waiting with baited breath for the tournament results, here is an interesting tidbit:

Brent won 1st Best General.  You might wonder how.  It might have something to do with the fact that he is the kind of guy who almost misses the awards ceremony because he is sitting down writing the list he plans to bring to the Con next year.  Fortunately someone came into the Lounge and told him he was missing out.  I would have a picture for you, but just as I was snapping a shot of the victor, my phone announced it was full.  Instead, we'll revisit what is still my image of the weekend:

In fact that is where he'll find me when he finishes hobnobbing with the blogging and gaming elite.  Sitting alone in a dark corner of a hotel bar that doesn't even permit smoking, I write my last post for Strictly Average.  I'd like to think, after fetching so many Red Bulls, that he couldn't have done it without me, but I know that probably isn't true.  I'm proud of him.  He never played on the top 3 rows of tables, but kept giving his best effort and garnered an accolade.  Good job, man.  Congrats, Brent!  And Dear Reader, please don't punish Brent for this weekend's content.  He was a good friend to let me tamper with his project.  Hopefully I didn't break anything...

Herr Fernseher, signing off!

WAR Games Con Winds Down

For the final game, Brent is on table 20.  Honky-slayer is winning games, because he's creeped up to table 5.  Brent just phoned in an order for another Red Bull and a Gatorade.  He must be waiting for the 5 hour drive home with me to explode.  Just my luck.  At least we're in his car.

This an earlier round, but in Game 7, Brent is playing amidst stucco-looking buildings for at least the third time.  Weird, because I would say the terrain has been good and fairly varied at this event.

I have been hungry like the wolf .  And I found him--

Having a Blast at WAR Games Con

Herr Fernseher here, Brent's dilatory drudge.  Brent scored more points than his opponent in game 5, but called it "a tie, basically."  He has moved up a couple of slots to table 25 for round 6.  This is only 14 slots behind the Honky-slayer.  If Brent wins game 6 big, and the Honky-slayer loses big, we could see the match-up I know all you at home are hoping for in game 7.  I mean seriously, can you think of a bigger Honky than Brent?

This is one of the nice Austinites I've met this weekend.  Cool dreads, cool tats, and hot pink.

In tracking down the Uberjerk Space Wolf general, I had to lean over Honky-slayer's table to see if John Doe on my list of suspects was playing wolves against the Honky-slayer or not.  He wasn't, but I stupidly chose that moment to clear my throat, completely interrupting their game.  Honky-slayer shot me a disgruntled look, but seem immersed in his game enough to ignore that fact that I am pretty white.

Cliffsnotes:  Next up, Sweet Pix, the hunt continues, results for game 6, and swag!

Final Day of WAR Games Con, Day Two of Singles Tournament

Herr Fernseher here, Brent's lackey of late.  Brent himself is currently playing game 5 on table 27.  I have to say that the players on that side of the room seem like serious competitors.  Tough lists, better rules knowledge than I saw yesterday, and a no-nonsense attitude.  Anyone who understands the enjoyment that comes from a good challenge will know that these contestants must be having a great time, but you wouldn't know it to look at them.

The pace of the games here in the bottom 40 tables is less frantic.  There are more rule checks and smiles over here.

There is a player with "FORTUNE" writ large across the top of his army list.  As an Eldar player, I cannot tell you how many times I have forgotten to use my fortune psychic power.  That guy was in the bottom 40 when I saw him.  I may have to go seek him out to see if he's been remembering to "fortune."

This squad is reminiscent of the Eldar army Brent brought to this Con.

On the topic of seeking, I've been hunting a hunter...