Wednesday, February 12, 2014

100th Post, LVO, and Double FoC


Well First off this is my 100th post!  So far so good, never really thought I would get this far and certainly not so quickly. Thank you everyone that has supported and commented, the comments and discussions are probably my favorite part about this blog. I plan on this continuing for as long as I am able and have interesting things(I hope) to talk about.  While I have not really done a whole lot of 40k in the last couple of weeks, big things have happened in the community.  The LVO has come and past.  Please not I did not attend so cannot speak to the quality of the event(great from what I've heard).  So what has come out of it.

The world has ended, 40k is broken, and seer councils rule us all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  What ever shall we dooooooooooooooo!?!?!?!?  Yep that is pretty much it.  So if you are not aware because it really isn't that important, the winning player brought a seer council list and ended up winning.  Note he was not the only one.  I want to point out that the PLAYER won.  Too many have been talking like the army list won the tournament.  Well it didn't.  Alex Fennel won the LVO.  Get over it.  He used a Very Strong list, and you know what, he almost lost to Tyranids but dice gods were with him.  Yes I did say Tyranids.

Why has this now become the tipping point.  What were people really expecting some one to win with a Khorne berserker fluff bunny list?  Eldar are good, not a new thing.  Nor is the Jetseer council.  So why now is this an issue.  Well its because many gamers hold on to that little conceit that if THEY had brought the list, THEY would have won too.  Get over yourself.  I have no problem admitting that Mr Fennel would have stomped 9/10 with an under power list against the best IG army I could field.  Because he is BETTER than me.  Its ok to admit that you are not the fucking chosen one sent to lead the masses and show true 40K victory.

Look at the names on top, guess what, they appear in a lot of top lists at tournaments.  You know why?  They are good.  Sorry its the truth.  Sure I have dreams to of showing up to one of these tournaments too and curb stomping them and taking the gold.  Well reality is different.   I am not a bad player, but I by no means know enough or play enough to be in that tier.  And I will not be blaming my army list because of it.

So if you are in the camp of how this is the last straw and we need to do something about these uber cheesy things and return to days of yore when balance reigned.  Sorry those days never happened, that's just nostalgia kicking in from when YOUR codex was awesome.  The thing with this edition is that every one of these stars has a weakness, mainly it doesn't bring a lot else and it relies on combos to work every time.  Don't worry, the seer star is not the end, and if anything the LVO proved that other armies can do well that are not ultra cheese.  THe top eight is full of it, and then there is the fact that Nids actually had one of the most winning armies by ratio there.  Interesting.

Ok enough ranting on that, Mr Fennel deserves his victory and all that it entails.  Now one thing that I have been thinking on is that of the FoC.  For so long it has been inviolable, but no longer.  Now at the beginning of 6th the game had a little thing where you can take double FoC at 2000+.  This immediately scared everyone and was thrown in hole to make people feel better.

Now though with supplements, allying with yourself, data slates, is the FoC really helping.  With the way things are, some armies are severely restricted by FoC.  This is partly due to bad codex design, and that only so many armies are 6th ed.  By allowing Double FoC at all levels, this would solve a lot of problems for a lot of armies that have certain slots that have a lot of good units in.  Now a well written and balanced codex would  not have this issue.  But it is one we live with.

By allowing any army to access the D FOC at any level, it would open up the playing field and allow a lot of armies to seriously shine.  Note  you would still have the same requirements, so you are spending points on 4 troops and 2 HQs mandatory before anything else.  For some lists this is fine, for some that is a drawback. 

With all the other data slate stuff and supplements there really isn't anything to fear that we have not seen already.  Units that people cry will be spammed already are, this won't change that.  This by no means the end, but I think an interesting thign to try out and see where it leads.  That's my thought at least

GG

8 comments:

  1. "Alex Fennel won the LVO. Get over it. He used a Very Strong list, and you know what, he almost lost to Tyranids but dice gods were with him. Yes I did say Tyranids."

    You just made my working morning much funnier and better overall :)))

    But seriously, thanks for the post. For me as newbie and not exactly young chap anymore is still surprising and maybe scary the wave of pure hatred some guys can produce - in this case against man who dared to win competetive tournament.

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    1. Glad you liked it.

      Its crazy. I have been in this hobby for a while, I don't really get the anger at the guy for winning and that now somehow this is the last stram. Its a lot of egotistical a-holes who think they are gods gift to 40k, that they most lower themselves to our level, so they will play the lower lists and when they lose, oh its just becuase they didn't take a better list, not that they aren't as good.

      Don't be disuaded by the hate. It exists mostly on the net and its not something worth thinking to long over. Have fun and keep playing

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  2. I don't see what the fuss is about, you go to a competition to win and you take the list you think will win it for you. that's what happened! don't understand it all.

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  3. oh, and I about believe its the 100th post, doesn't seem like its been that many, but I've greatly enjoyed every one of then.

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    1. its 100, I checked my blogger profile and thats what the number is :). Glad you have liked them and I will try and keep the quality there.

      Yeah I don't know either, I am confused when people are upset that someone brought the best list they could field to a competitive event. Oh my how dare they. Its not like he brought it to his FLGS ans stomped the new kid.

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  4. Congratulations on your 100th post!!!
    This blog is still my favorite one, it's always interesting, and I'm glad it's always constructive discussion in contrast to other-site's nerdrage and flaming.

    After all the fuzz about LVO, the only thing I'm not comfortable with is that it shows how few options of a codex are really necessary at the end of the day.
    The list has just the Jetseer star, as many serpents as possible, and that's it.
    No in-depth tweaks, shenanigans or new little twists.
    In that case I prefer the IG list (top 8), at least it used some units I haven't even heard of, besides the mandatory broken units necessary at that level.
    A new approach, not just the netlist of today.

    As for the double FOC below 2k points, that would open up the system for abuse a lot more than dataslates and allies can.
    Just imagine 6 riptides (and the mandatory 24 firewarriors and 2 kadre fireblades, plus a few pathfinders) at 1500 points, that would be even worse than any quad riptide list anyone could imagine.
    The current development bends the FOC system, but double FOC would outright break a lot of limitations.
    Some codices and balanced lists could really shine, but if maxed out, this could worsen powergaming a lot.

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    1. Really don't think it will open anything up more than it already is. With Tau, Farsight + Firebase data slate, those are if anything, worse since you don't have as much minimum requirements to take them, plus the freebee bonuses for the firsbase.

      Plus at those low points, taking that many riptides, means thats all your taking beside a few things. Without markelights and support, riptides really are not that scary. When they are BS5 with ignores cover they are scary, but when they only have one markelight in the unit.

      Also its funny that some units can't be spammed but some can. A deathwing army is fluffy, but its not a whole lot different than spamming a bunch of riptides. You have low model count with a lot of 2+ saves.

      Is there possiblity for abuse, sure, but below 2000 its as much of a trade off as a bonus. Personally I am willing to risk facing the occaisional abused list (The exist without DFoC BTW) if it means giving some of the lower tier armies some breathing room. But that is me and I know i am a minority.

      Thanks for the wishes, glad you like it. I try and keep is civil, as I see no real need to get all Ragey. Plus I enjoy discussion far more than arguing.

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  5. Congratulations on post #100. They have been very enjoyable. As for the topic, couldn't agree more. A perfect example is a tournament here where one guy slaughtered everyone in his wake at a major tournament. The next tournament that came along, someone brought along the exact same list as the winner from the previous and he only came mid-way. Hell, I played Daemonhunters and when they changed to Grey Knights, I still was not getting very far up the tournament rankings. I think people who blame codex imbalance are doing the players a huge injustice.

    Anyway, keep up the good work and we can all look forward to April (or May, or March, or whenever :) ) and the new IG codex.

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