I still need a couple more bits and models though, to be honest. I need a couple more of the rhino vehicle upgrade panels, as well as two more dreadnought Twin-Linked Lascannons and two more dreadnought missile launchers. Some where in there, I will also pick up some IST minis, as I figure I should have accurate models of those guys as well (I've been using converted guardsmen).
I have finally received my four lascannon bit sets from the Urbanvikings ebay store. Now I have nearly everything so I can actually run non-proxied games with my gunline army. I hate proxying so much. It feels like I'm cheating the system, nor does it do the look and feel of the game any justice. Now, it might take a while to get them painted...but that's fine. Actually having marines with proper weaponry is much more preferable than the alternative.
I still need a couple more bits and models though, to be honest. I need a couple more of the rhino vehicle upgrade panels, as well as two more dreadnought Twin-Linked Lascannons and two more dreadnought missile launchers. Some where in there, I will also pick up some IST minis, as I figure I should have accurate models of those guys as well (I've been using converted guardsmen).
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I've noticed that Friday mean a huge spike in viewership for Implausible Nature. The site does reasonably well each day, especially considering it's content caters to a smaller community of players. On average, I do between 85-150 page views a day. Fridays, however, bump this number to the 300-500 page views. I'm close to my 50 thousandth view soon. That makes me happy. The popularity of this website is steadily increasing. Slow, but sure. Google has even noticed; we're on page 3! Still working on Bing and Yahoo though. :D
I feel somewhat bad about making so forceful a push in the online communities where I frequent, to check out Implausible Nature. I was talking to Redfinger about this the other day. While some of this is just shameless plugging, a lot of it is a legitimate desire to improve my fellow Black Templar player's skill level. I'm by no means perfect myself, but I hope to prove myself during next year's tournament circuit. Still, when I began searching the internet for Black Templar resources a few years back, they simply did not exist. Or if they did, they were old and out of date. There are so few places out there for people to go who play this awesome army, that it drives me nuts. And even fewer that provide good information in my opinion. I can count these on one hand, with a finger or two left. This is why I want Implausible Nature to take off. The goal is to make this website the ultimate resource for everything Black Templars. It might seem to others that its just me wanting viewership, and yes, I do want people to see and appreciate the work I put into this site. Sure, I'd like to become known as one of the prominent Black Templars players in the world. But honestly, who doesn't want to be this for their respective armies? Quite a few people know me now, but I'm far from being the internet sensations that Stelek, Jwolf, TastyTaste, Kirby, etc are. Someday, perhaps, but that is not the mission of Implausible Nature. It is to help new, veteran, or returning BT players become better than they were. There is always room for improvement, even for me. The more voices and viewers I have giving their input, the better the site is at fulfilling its mission. I don't run advertisements on my website, unlike almost all other internet personalities. Nor do I get free hosting. Implausible Nature's financial burdens are completely out of pocket. Our community is important to me and I'm willing to put my wallet behind creating a strong, competitive Black Templars playerbase. So spread the word. Mention Implausible Nature if you see a fledgling BT player. Link to us. Talk about us on your forums. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool, and I would appreciate anything you'll do to promote this website. It isn't just for me, it is for the betterment of our Black Templars community. I certainly don't want new players picking Black Templars, building an army, and then consistently lose with their poor lists. This will only cause them to leave the game and quite honestly, with as fragile an economic situation Games Workshop is in, we cannot allow that. So lets hear from you guys and gals out there. Give me suggestions, critiques, input, or whatever else. Have questions, need list help, or want to talk tactics? Hit me up in an email! It can only make our community stronger! :D Comment here or in any other blog post. Send me an email. Private message me on Bolter and Chainsword (I'm Marshal Laeroth). Fill in the BT 101 Reader Satisfaction Survey. There are many ways to contribute to Implausible Nature. ;) So I've come to the realization that most newer BT players don't know how to properly outfit their units. I've always kind of explained things basically in my army list overviews or sub-consciously assumed that they knew what to take.
WRONG! Honestly, I'm surprised that I didn't realize this sooner. Marshal Wilhelm has a good thread going doing something similar, but I don't think I'll go quite as deep into the numbers as he is. Or maybe I will. There is quite a bit in his review that I disagree with. Knowing how to properly equip your units is an essential part of army list building. You also have to know how some things work in one army archetype verses another, as not all equipment is good in all builds. I will probably go into unit combos here as well. Add this to the TO DO list! On a side note, I started painting a set of neophytes because I completed my previous set of initiates. Fully highlighted, based, and sealed! :) So I've been talking to several members of the Black Templars sub-forum on the Bolter and Chainsword website, trying to glean some suggestions from readers. Slowly be surely, my viewership is increasing. Most visits only result in one or two pages being viewed, but others are taking the time to actually read the stuff written here. I've gotten some really good feedback, and those that have sent me emails or feedback on my BT 101, thank you much! I really appreciate you taking the time to write out your opinions and giving me suggestions for the future! Its things like those emails that keeps me driven to develop and maintain this website for anyone and everyone interested in Black Templars!
As I alluded to, I've gotten some suggestions for improving the website. Several of them pertained to having picture-oriented battle reports so that readers can follow along with me as I play my games. Writing everything down only goes so far. Basically, they want to know strategies for deployment, how to deal with certain situations, etc. I'm working on this. I don't have a camera at the moment, as mine bite the dust some time ago. I've been relying on borrowing my roommate's, but she is a photographer and normally needs it for her work. When she's not using it, I try snatch it up to take some pictures, but our schedules do not normally match up. Getting a decent camera for taking macro pictures, as well as battle reports is one of my top priorities. Besides that, there were some general suggestions about needing more specific tactical articles on deployment, game-play, unit usage, units in list building, etc. That's all well and dandy, and I'll do my best trying to figure out how to fulfill those wishes...but if you guys could let me know what you desire specifically, I would be most appreciative. You can shoot me an email in the usual place here or put in a comment on this blog post. Also, I'd like your opinions regarding the layout of the website. Is there something you think should be more visible than other things? I've put the links in the navigation bar in such a way, that I believe it is easy to navigate and find whatever you desire here on Implausible Nature. If I'm just smoking something and its hard to find what you want, let me know! Ease of access is one of the most important parts of a successful website, and if I'm putting something in a place where its not easily accessed, that's a problem. Anyway, I thank you in advance for your comments and emails! I hope to be hearing from you soon! :D If you've not read this article on YTTH, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. Combined with the comments that follow, it is easily in the top 5 most important blog articles I've seen posted. You should immediately go over there to read it and the comments following it. Anyway, there is a quote in there that struck me especially hard. It references a topic that is quite dear to my heart, so I'd post it up to air out. Perhaps some conversation will come of it. :) Stelek says: "We can't do anything about GW's decisions to price themselves out of the market, seriously, we can't do anything other than tell the new guy with the 50$ a month budget that in a YEAR he can play a serious game. Right there, that stops most people. Now add in new players who get curb stomped after patiently waiting a year, and almost right after there is a new battleforce army up on Ebay. Well, I can and do help people as much as I can with that. Few others can be bothered to." I want you to digest that for a moment. What does that statement mean to you? Maybe it means very little, or you don't care. Perhaps it does something for you, as it has for me. Let me know what you think about the quote, as I believe the topic merits discussion. There have been a couple things on my mind the past couple days that are starting to bother me. Several are within my control, others are not. Regardless, putting them out there will ease my mind. Read More after the cut.
As frequent readers of this website will know, I frequently tweak my lists for competitiveness. I'm always trying to find that niche that allows us the best chances to win, and I will do quite a bit of play-testing to figure out if its any good or not.
Well, accidently inspired by Redfinger on B&C, I've taken a list he built and turned it into one that I believe is more optimized for competitive play. Of course, this is all on paper and based on my experiences with the Black Templar, it still needs play-testing to tweak it if needed. Anyway, feel free to check the list out under the cut. Many of you will notice a change in the design of the website over the past couple days. While I really enjoyed the other theme, it was too constricting of the text. With this theme, the text boxes are much wider and will result in significantly less scrolling to get to the bottom of a page. If there is a particular problem with the website that you notice (such as fonts being too small, text being hard to read, etc), let me know as soon as you can by sending me an email. Thanks in advance!
Now on to the meat of this post. As there seems to be a peak of interest in Drop Pod Templars recently on the B&C forums, I think I'll go ahead and write up the "Building Another Competitive 5th Edition List" article early. This will specialize in Drop Pods, as I just mentioned, as it is one of the Black Templars most competitive builds right now. It probably won't be finished this evening, but look for it to be finished tomorrow night. In addition, I want to talk about the Nova Open and how it went down this past weekend. There has been lots of coverage on the event, and I was there in the Ustream chatroom with many well known players around the blog-o-sphere and watching the live videos of internet personalities such as Stelek, Danny Internets, Chumbalaya, and "Drunk Guy". My take on the event will be released the beginning of the month with my normal updates! :D As many of you might have already found out via Yes The Truth Hurts, there is a new blog out there for our hobby. Its called: gdmnw and you can find the link here.
I've exchanged a couple emails with the webmaster of the site, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy. It seems he's looking for some constructive criticism on the look and feel of the website, so I encourage you to head over there and throw him an email if you have any comments. Of particular interest is his blog links, where it is his plan to do a review of each of his links there. He has agreed to link to Implausible Nature, and I look forward to seeing his review. :D The tournament scheduled for this weekend has been canceled for undisclosed reasons. There goes that. :(
Next one I believe is next month. :/ |
Laeroth's Blog
This blog is devoted to the Black Templars chapter and the tactics, list building, and general musing associated with them. Readers will see occasional posts from Marshal Laeroth -- "Bob". Archives
July 2023
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