Hey everyone.  Let’s get back in the saddle shall we?  It’s been a slow couple of weeks, partially due to life hitting me like a sack of bricks, as well as lack of interesting topics to blog about.  With a codex that is as old as ours, material becomes a bit redundant and overused after awhile.  It’s one of the reasons I’m going to start blogging about DE soonish, as I’m going to start putting my crap together.   They have been sitting in boxes for a good while, as my attention has been on my Nova Open BT.

Speaking of which, I think I’ve nailed down the final list.  If you’ve been following along at all, then you’ve kind of seen my progression and evolution of my Nova lists.  I started with my Gunline list, but as competitive as that list is, it still has some inefficiencies in it.  It’s a very good list, but I don’t think it’s a champion list.  So I wanted to create something more efficient and powerful.  And with everyone’s input and discussion, I believe I have something that can do this.  In my last Nova post, I gave two options for lists.  Ultimately, the list I went for was the first one.  I wish I could squeeze 45 more points out of it to give me some melta, but you can’t have everything can you?  It just feels more balanced and gives me more options against a wider variety of opponents.  More on this later.

Just a quick battle report, since that is really all I have time to do.  This battle took place a couple of weeks ago, so forgive me having the details incorrect.  I'm getting old okay?  ;)

To give myself a break from playtesting my Nova Open list, I decided to run my heavy mech list.  I was explaining to my opponent how humorous it would be to roll into the local 'Ard Boys and wreck face with an upscaled version of this list.  I know that people would not be prepared for it, and with a triple raider list, the terminators are getting to the enemy's line (except against very "paper" opponents).  My goal isn't to win 'Ard Boys, its to help teach people to build balanced lists...as far too many of the players around here don't listen to my advice and build just ridiculous lists, then pretend they are awesome.  So, I'll crush them with an imbalanced list.  And maybe, just maybe...I'll win myself a free army.  ;)

Anyway, now that I went on a tangent...my opponent was commenting how the list would get destroyed against my "paper" opponents.  I never denied this fact.  My point was that besides that and balanced lists (maybe), most opponents wouldn't have the tools to beat the list because of failings in the list building stage of the game.  He claimed to be able to prove otherwise and busted out his list.  It was on.

I know its been a few days since my last update.  I've tried to stay on top of the comments as best as I can, but now its time to make an update.  Topics for articles have been a little short lately, especially with my mind on the coming Nova Open event (*hint hint*).  Yes, its like 5 months away.  Shhh.  ;)

But anyway, I have something that I want to try.  I'm not sure how its going to work, but it involves another list.  But it won't entirely be mine.  I'll leave it at that for now, because I need to figure out how I'm going to go about accomplishing the task.  :D

Just wanted to let ya'll know that I'm still here and you'll see updates from me shortly.

I believe that I've hammered out most of the kinks in my army and how I think it should play.  This has narrowed my focus down to two separate lists, both very similar, but both heavily focused on the Alpha Strike element.

Before I go on, I thank everyone who has commented and lent their opinions or suggestions.  There are even a couple of you that I know will be at Nova Open, so there is always a chance I'll be facing you...but yet you still have offered up suggestions.  Its appreciated, even if I don't always use them.  :)

Its been awhile since I received an email that provided me with enough content to make a blog post about, but yesterday I got one.  I think it'll be an useful look into some of my thought processes, so I figured I'd let people see what my response was to this email.  Beware, this email is very long.  My comments and reply will be in the usual purple throughout the article.

Remember, stay on topic if you're going to comment.  Discussion is good, but no flaming or anything like that.  If I see it, the comment is gone.  With that, read on!  :)

One of the things that I enjoy immensely about the game of Warhammer 40k is the list building aspect.  Generally speaking, I'm quite good at it.  I can spend hours analyzing and optimizing lists I've written to make them better on the battlefield.  My latest Nova Open tournament list is no different.  Since I've not had to change my original gunline list for so long, I've had to think about what I could possibly face at the tournament and build to cover those weaknesses as best as I can.

Editors Note:  This is a continuation of my first post here.

As many of you know, I've long stated that I'd be bringing my Black Templars to Nova Open.  I've also said that it'll be a gunline list that is going due to my belief that it is the most competitive archetype available to the Black Templars right now. 

As an aside: If I had the Drop Pods available, I'd likely bring my Defensive Drop Pod list instead, as it is quite good as well.  It'd be perfect for the mission set that Nova is running this year.

Now that MVB has released the preliminary mission pack for the tournament, I've come to the realization that perhaps my gunline list could be optimized a bit more for the missions and opponent's at hand.

As I already mentioned in a previous post, I intend to do some freshening up with the BT 101 guide.  A lot of this has to do with organization, but in addition to that, I'll be tweaking some of the information found there.  I've long since updated everything as a result of the newest FAQ, but I feel that to provide the best beginners guide I can, I need to go over everything in there and map out what needs to be said and what doesn't.  Some areas of the guide could use constriction and more concise arguments.  They simply don't need as much discussion to get the point across as I currently give.  Readability is important too. 

However, there are other sections of the guide that need more detail.  One such area is the Tips For Beating Other Armies section.  Beyond the Tyranids, most of the information listed is extremely generalized and could probably be discovered by a new player after a few games against each army anyway.  Because of this, I hope to expand it a bit by going more in depth.  While I'll still only provide basic tactical advice against each army, I will go into more detail on the strengths and weaknesses of each.  By having this information, you'll be better armed to make decisions in your games.

This will likely become a series of articles here on the blog, that will be gradually integrated into the BT 101 guide as those articles are published.  I still have an article in the works from a long time ago regarding "Target Priority", as well as one discussing the virtues of differing point values when making your list (i.e. 750 point lists play significantly different from 2000 point lists).  Both of these will likely be added to the guide.

On top of all that, I want to make some clarifications to the Building a 5th Edition List series.  This will be to explain more what I'm trying to accomplish by doing those articles, as well as clear up recurring questions.  You might even see the introduction of a new list from me, but that one might be pushing it.  I don't like using lists that aren't tried and proven in battle (i.e. they have to be competitive).  ;)

Changing course completely: Now that I'm able to actually sit down at my computer without dying, I'll return the emails I've gotten the past week while I've been sick, within a day or two.  Thanks much for you patience and understanding in this matter.  :)