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I just read the new article by Jervis and almost gagged to death reading that utter tripe. Has anyone else read it yet and if so what did you think? Jervis is seriously demented with his view of the game. I have met no one who plays the game how he describes the majority. I think the letter he posted was fake.

G

Where?
White Dwarf? GW Website? His website (if he has one)?

Oh and if the answer is WD, could you perhaps give a brief summary of what his idea of the "majority" is?

In the latest WD.

G

For those of us who don't want to shell out a ludicrous sum for that catalogue, a summary?

What is this...WD you speak of?

Yes please I want to laugh at JJ too, but I don't want to pay @$10.00 USD to do it.

A summary would be appreciated.

It was basically a letter from a basement dweller who said that GW was right and that no one cares if the rules suck.

I spoke to JJ at the Chicago GT - he is so convinced that competitive players are doing it wrong that any suggestion pretty much bounced off him.

Flashman wrote:Jervis is back (Woo. Hoo.) but was clearly still a little pressed for time as he simply reprints a letter from some American fellow imploring for the release of more expansions to add character to the games and then agrees with the sentiment. Seriously JJ, I could do your job.

from this thread

For all my grumbling about WD 352 content in that thread (yes JJ's stuff was utter tripe and not worth summarising beyond what I have said already - see above), there are a few pages worth at least a flick in your local newsagent.

Army of the Month makes a belated return. I used to love this section from old WDs and found it quite inspiring as a youngster to look at what other people were doing outside of 'Eavy Metal. Anyway, the article looks at a World Eaters Army that includes a pretty good Angron conversion. Unfortunately, they begin the article by saying that it will be an irregular series (grr...).

Citadel Hall of Fame continues, a bit of self worship this but not without some justification. This month John Blanche nominates Jes Goodwin's Plastic Space Marines. Good call! Probably the best GW plastics ever.

There's also a not bad article on Warhammer Campaigns (Empire vs Goblins). I was impressed by the goblin boss's giant spider, but there's no close up of the model. Was this a conversion or the "Direct Only" spider released a couple of years ago?

EDIT - The Stompa Painting article might have been good were it not for the complete Stompa overload still coursing through my brain from last issue.

I think that the letter is a fake. I really do.

G

Green Blow Fly wrote:I think that the letter is a fake. I really do.

G

Well he said he lurked on forums, maybe he'll step forward. To be honest, I didn't think there's anything wrong with the sentiment of the letter (though personally I would have found something else to do with my time). It was the fact that Jervis used it for pretty much his entire article that irked me. The guy who wrote the thing should charge him per word.

I think it was H.B.M.C. We all know that he's a Jervis fanboi at heart!

Nah. I wrote it.

I wanted Jervis to have something to grasp tightly in his hands and point to frequently while he is on his hobby high horse and use the bait as an example of his supreme righteousness about how everyone else is an idiot and doesn't know how to play HIS game.

He falls for it every time.

Hellfury wrote:I wanted Jervis to have something to grasp tightly in his hands and point to frequently while he is on his hobby high horse and use the bait as an example of his supreme righteousness about how everyone else is an idiot and doesn't know how to play HIS game.

See, and right there is the crux of it. GW, and maybe JJ in particular, have this idea about how the game is "supposed to be played". And they look down their noses at the great unwashed masses who are "doing it wrong". You know, the ones who want a balanced codex. The ones who want to play in tournaments. The ones who want tight rules. Those types.

If GW does have a way the game should be played, locked away in their little minds, then they need to either:

1) write the rules in such a way that "their way" translates to the battlefield; OR

2) just write a tight ruleset and let the chips fall where they may (my fave option).

There will likely be nothing but back and forth: gnashing of teeth from the community, and elitism from the GW ivory tower, until they get this idea out of their head that there is only one way to play the game. Their way. You know, the way the game was designed.

There must be something about the game you guys like, though, or you wouldn't be putting so much time into talking about it. True?

Frazzled wrote:What is this...WD you speak of?

It's me! White Dragon! WD! Somebody change the glossary please?

I haven't seen the article, and I'm not paying $10 to find out.

Perhaps, Jervis can post these things to the web?

Anyhow, I'm generally on board with with Jervis' view from the ivory tower.

Of course, I'm a casual / Apoc gamer who couldn't really muster the slightest concern over Tournament play...

I still like WD...
But I don't bother buying it because I can browse in the store.

I have played some of the developers and I found them to be very competitive and loose with the rules. They want to win and would at times attempt to bend the rules for an advantage. This whole ivory tower thing comes across as a total facade to me. In fact Alessio won the Italian GT one year which is extremely competitive and his first claim to fame which got him some notice from the head office. I find Jervis to have his head up in the clouds completely out of touch with how the actual majority plays. Campaigns are for background and story telling, certainly not one off games and competitive tournament play. Nothing sells the game more than tournaments and that is the key driving force behind the GT system, RTTs and other annual events such as the Ard Boyz.

G

Green Blow Fly wrote: Nothing sells the game more than tournaments and that is the key driving force behind the GT system, RTTs and other annual events such as the Ard Boyz

Um, yeah... I'm going to have to, um, sorta disagree with you there... yeah...

While tournament players may buy their share of stuff, I don't think tourneys are what "sells the game". Friendly play in a relaxed atmosphere was what sold me and I'd wager that for every GT and Ard Boyz entry there are two or three players that don't play in tournaments.

GW has publicly stated that their tournaments are there to sell the game period. That's what I am saying.

G

JohnHwangDD wrote:I haven't seen the article, and I'm not paying $10 to find out.

Perhaps, Jervis can post these things to the web?

Anyhow, I'm generally on board with with Jervis' view from the ivory tower.

Of course, I'm a casual / Apoc gamer who couldn't really muster the slightest concern over Tournament play...

To be honest I agree alot with his stances on gaming as well, but then again I am also a very casual gamer.

But I do think when he starts pontificating about how the game should be played and how everyone is basically wrong, thats where I stop agreeing with him and start wishing he would shut the hell up.

There is a fine line between suggestion through positive reinforcement and other such tact, its quite another when the man you pay to create fun for you tells you that your idea o fun is wrong that to my mind is just simply unacceptable.

Less snide ivory tower and more reinforcing the ideas of the people who put food in your mouth.

I've heard a lot about this Standard Bearer column in general, but no way am I plunking down $8-$10 to read them, is there a (legal) online archive of some of them so I can see what the fuss is about?

Green Blow Fly wrote:GW has publicly stated that their tournaments are there to sell the game period. That's what I am saying.

Well now... that's a horse of another color. I can buy that. It's certainly *A* draw, but I'd stop before saying it's *THE* draw.

Pity they pulled the plug on a lot of their tournaments and Gamesday events, but that's another conversation. But I'm not bitter about Atlanta Gamesday and GT going away... really.

dietrich wrote:I think it was H.B.M.C. We all know that he's a Jervis fanboi at heart!

Jervis is my homeboy. Get it right...

And I'm not American.

Hellfury wrote:But I do think when he starts pontificating about how the game should be played and how everyone is basically wrong, thats where I stop agreeing with him and start wishing he would shut the hell up.

Wait, hold on Hellfury. Are you talking about Jervis or JohnHwangDD in this statement? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that they both do what you're describing there.

Green Blow Fly wrote:Nothing sells the game more than tournaments

Aside, of course, from Apocalypse, which bends tournaments over the table and pounds away until the cows come home.

The very idea that Tournaments drive more sales than Apoc is completely ludicrous. Tournaments stop well short of a single FOC, with a max of 3 Heavies all told. Apoc pushes for Datasheet upon Datasheet, each with 3 Heavies / whatever. And then there are the Superheavies which aren't playable in Tournaments at all, but seem to be selling like hotcakes...

No, it's abundantly clear that Apoc is the clear seller of 40k.
____

ubermosher wrote:Veteran Squads
10 for 80pts.
May take 3 special weapons, 2 Vets can form a HW team. May take Camo Cloaks

May purchase a squad speciality for 30pts (this doesn’t change weapon options):
Demolitions – Grants the squad Melta Bombs and 1 demo charge
Reconnaisance – Infiltrate and Move Through Cover
Grenadiers – Carapace Armour, no Camo Cloaks

Ugh. Full size and full cost is a 40 pt cost increase for no significant benefit. With increased Plasma cost at 15 each, that's right out. Triple Melta is probably still the best choice, but totally conflicts with Camo.

Demolitions is good in Apoc, when you can take Flank March, and Recon *might* be worth 30 to get a Scoring unit where it needs to be, but Carapace definitely isn't worth 30 pts (it wasn't even worth 20 under Doctrines).

Overall, I'm not hugely impressed.
____

Asmodai wrote:If the specials are +10 points for Plasma or Melta

We've already seen Plasma is going to +15 each, despite being only worth +10 for Guard.

Apoc is okay but there are a lot more people playing in tournaments.

G

As much as I love tournaments...I've got to agree with John that it's a ludicrous idea that tournaments drive massive sales.

Take a GT like Baltimore. 120 40K players, 120 Fantasy Players, 20 LotR players. That's 260 players total. Best-Case, each player purchases a new army for that tournament.

That's 260 armies.

I've built numerous GT-armies...they usually end up between $400-$750 per army, once they're complete and tournament ready. So we'll say $600/army.

260 armies at $600 each is $156,000. Now, that may sound like a lot...but for a company like GW, it really isn't.