Three Armies From Feast

Ah, the holidays! It's been a lovely 4-days off from work - and 5-days off from blogging - but I'm out the door and on the web again. I wrote a Cyber Monday article on Bell that will drop at 10am; until then, here are three armies from Feast - one of which was my favorite.

Saw: Saw Studios (Custom Terrain Builder)

The Fabricator General

I'm starting to feel darn right rested.

The last few weeks since Feast has been insanely busy, so after a few abortive attempts I didn't bother trying to post.  It's been my longest Blogger vacation since I began this mad journey Oh, Those Many Moons Ago.

Heck, I've even got material in the pocket!  But I wanted to bring you this, first.  You may have seen it in last week's Terrible Tuesday article on Bell.

It's educational it is!  And worth the investment in time.  You'll learn something.

Random Goodie Drops

Man, it's taking me awhile to get back in the swing of things!

Right now I'm the only active *job* on the treatment team, so I'm pulling double duty.  By the time I get home, I crash on the couch for an hour then it's off to bed.

Here's a partial clip from a video I made - just including it as a test of Google's service.

Still, there is a light at the end of the tunnel; I'll catch up on content shortly.  Until then, a few items.

Greenman Designs Inc

I've been... exhausted.

Between Feast of Blades and taking my wife to see To Kill a Mockingbird at the Wylie last Tuesday, then fitting in five days of work in two...

...I've been exhausted.  Have no fear, I'll get caught up.  There's a lot to say!  'Till then, here's a repost of my video, my (very late) contribution to Bell this week.



sales@gdesignsinc.com for ordering info!  His website is in development.

Feast of Blades: Update 5

Okay, I'm in the third bracket, having gone 2-1 yesterday.  I missed the second bracket due to my scores in the seeding game, which was Round 1.

Here's the link for the UStream account for Feast of Blades.

I just won my first game today, putting me at number 2 in my bracket.  Number 1 is Thomas, the dude who beat me in Game 2 yesterday.

Rematch!

It's going to be Pitched Battle Objectives...

Wish me luck!

More pics after the jump...

Feast of Blades: Game 1

Here's Game 1 of the Feast of Blades Invitational.  I won the option of going first... but I would have been better off losing it!

Note: the link is for the UStream - check it out today!

I think I've learned something about my game that needs fixing; when I'm reacting to someone, my game is top notch... not so much the other way around.  If the Tau had set up first, I would have set up my army in response to what I was seeing.  Since I was setting up first, something in my mind completely ignored his army, and what he would do in response to me.

(Wasn't much of a deficit when you were playing Daemons all the time, huh?)

As you can see from this picture, it isn't exactly rocket science.  My opponent was a strong player, so he didn't miss the obvious.  Refused flank, away from Logan's (Hogan!) squad... effectively neutralizing a significant chuck of my army.  Later, you'll also see I didn't pay much attention to the Kroot.  I assumed they'd come on piecemeal; yea, I know what you're thinking, too.

(Now.)

Feast of Blades: Update 4

I'm in my room, hanging out with Nick and Rob.  I just played Game 2.

I just lost Game 2!

Earlier, Nick asked, "Do you want me to tell you what's wrong with your list?"

Darkwynn reminds me of my friend, the Master Manipulator (every store needs one); with that in mind:

"Nope."

Not until I'm sitting down!

My first game was a close affair, and since it was only a seeding game, it wasn't a bad deal.  I scored right there in the middle.

Second game... I was outplayed by a Vulkan build.

My opponent, Thomas, was awesome, but he was also very accomplished with his army.  He told me he's been perfecting it for years.

Me?  I just realized something...

I CHANGED MY ARMY BEFORE AN EVENT.

Again.

(Evil Homer and the Master Manipulator (every store needs one) will know what he means.  Hell, Darkwynn already knows.)

It's a thing.

So I have a list Logan no longer makes sense in.  Also, static firepower isn't so hot anymore.  Most importantly, I simply need to play better.

You see, after Game 1 I realized I needed to centralize Logan (Hogan.  HOGAN!) so as to get the most use from him... but then, in Game 2, I stuck him on the flank.

Again.

I was too afraid of my opponent's Rock, which consisted of Vulkan and 7 Thunder Hammer Storm Shield Terminators in a Land Raider.  I threw way too much into destroying them, ultimately costing me the game.

I'm having a blast!  All of the above is secondary to playing great games of Warhammer, plus I love playing the Brotherhood.

Gotta run - Game 3, coming up!

Feast of Blades: Update 3

Just wait!

Good morning again!

It's 6:27am local time and only a few minutes away from the alarm ringing.  I'm up and ready... and typing away in the dark.

Didn't want to wake my roommate.

So yesterday was a blast and I didn't even participate in the tournament.  I wandered around making a nuisance of myself and generally scoring tons of video and pictorial footage...

...and some of it was very, very unexpected!  I met with a dude whose product I genuinely believe will make him a rich.

(Alarm just went off.  Robb just woke up:  "Are you blogging?")

I'll go into more detail later; the important thing is I finished painting the two squads of Grey Hunters to a 3-color minimum I can live with:

Feast of Blades: Update 2

Good Morning to all!

I helped Duke and the FoB guys set up the tournament hall last night, so I got to be around 2pm.  I wasn't the only volunteer - by far!  People were coming out of the woodwork to help.

Despite getting to sleep late, I was up early this morning.  Good thing, to, 'cause my wife's car battery went dead...

...and I had to talk her through jump starting it over the phone.  The conversation was something like, "...the reverse T thing?  What do you mean?  I mean the bolts!  Not the screws - the bolts, right?"

Confusion reigned!

Feast of Blades: Update 1

As I write this I'm sitting in the hotel lobby of the Red Lion Inn in Denver, Colorado, enjoying a Heineken after a 12-hour day of driving and junk food.

My hosts have been just awesome.  Rather than rewrite it, let me borrow from myself:

I'm lucky enough to be attending the Feast of Blades this weekend, an event I was looking forward to but marked off my calendar.  It was especially disappointing since missing the Nova; after my father's illness, there was no extra money for entertainment.
Now, I'd beggar myself to see my father well after an aneurysm, not to mention being blessed with enough disposable income to attend a few national events each year to begin with!  Still, I'm human enough to admit there was a level of disappointment about Feast...
...but the expense simply wasn't justifiable.  Family comes first.
Duke, the Tournament Organizer (and rightly feared Mod of the BoLS Lounge), touched base with me on it all out of the blue last week.  He could have said, "Sorry to hear that, see you next year," and I wouldn't have thought a thing about it.  Instead, he took time out of his day to make calls on my behalf - and found me a spot in a caravan heading north to Denver!  The next day, he called to let me know he found someone I could split a room with...
...and suddenly it was coming together.
The caravan is leaving out of Dallas on Thursday, and I called Sid to touch base with him about a spot. Now, I assured him of the standard stuff - like being respectful and covering my portion of the gas - but let's face it, these guys don't know me and surely didn't need my contribution.
These dudes don't know me, but they had a spot and they allowed me to fill it.  It was very cool of them, and I genuinely appreciate it - there was simply nothing in the budget for a plane ticket.
But you know, as I sit here typing I'm just not surprised.
You hobbyists are good, decent people.  Meeting like-minded folks is the reason for the season...
...you're not alone!

Sid, Neil, Phillip, Chris, and Bryan are all tournament veterans from the North Texas area.  I actually recognized Neil and Bryan from past events, though I don't believe I've played them, and Sid more recently at Comic Asylum.  Sid and Neil are the drivers, and I made the trip up here first with one then the other.

Maybe there was hugs and gropings.  I'm not saying - but I will say that these guys were very hospitable and I genuinely appreciate it.

(Knowing Brent, he probably doesn't feel he gushed enough.  Bet he made people uncomfortable.)

Feast of Blades: Not Enough Time! Gak!

Not even 48-hours ago, I found out I'd be able to attend the Feast of Blades after all.

Doh!

Ultimately, I just won't have time to complete the two additional Grey Hunters squads I'd like to have, so my army won't be quite as optimized as I'd like.  Still, I worked hard these last two nights trying to make progress.

More pics after the jump!