The Eternal Warriors

The basic Capture and Control mission in the rulebook has been called many names by people in the 40k community. Names such as “roll dice and tie” and “draw-fest” have become popular in describing this mission. I often use these names to describe this mission, but have recently having a major question about this.

Why are more draws likely to happen with this mission than others?

This mission is by its design more linear than other missions. There are only two objectives, placed within deployment zones (often on the back line or back corners). Kill points is harder to defend against, because the opponent can get points by targeting any units they want. Seize Ground is more difficult as well because there are multiple objectives, spread across an area. It is relatively easy to secure some objectives you want and send just enough to contest the others. While that idea is the same as Capture and control, the application ends up very different. This is due to your choices becoming very limited in Capture and Control.

Another way to look at this is to consider a concept from “Game Theory.” “Game Theory” is a portion of mathematics that is applied primarily to economics, but also many social sciences to account for behaviors in situations, often conflicts. The “Hawk-Dove” game (also called “Chicken”) is a model that’s used to illustrate conflict given a series of limited choices. The classic example is the game of “Chicken,” where two people are racing straight towards each other in cars. Each person has a choice to keep going straight or to swerve away to avoid a potential crash. These are the limited choices that can be made. If one player swerves and the other doesn’t, then the person who “swerves” loses for being perceived as a “chicken” or coward. If both players “swerve,” then it results in a tie. If neither player swerves, then it results in a crash, where both people still tie, though end up suffering even more of a cost. I think this relates back to the Capture and Control mission, because of the linear nature of this mission.

He’s about as likely to win a Capture and Control game as he is to punch through that wall.

*This is my model of a Capture and Control game. It takes assumptions into account as any model does, but overall I think it is a good starting point, based on overall experience playing the mission.*

Assumptions made:

• While there are two objectives in the mission, players will seek to obtain at least one more objective than the opponent to win.

• Players will commit resources greater than zero to each of the objectives.

• Players will commit the majority of their forces towards one objective, while using the minority to either hold or contest the other.

• Player skill is equal.

• The quality of the army and choices taken are of equal quality.

• Choices given in the model reflect action taken by majority body of army, as minority will attempt for alternate objective.

• Both players will place objectives such that attacking forces will have reduced or minimal contact with another attacking force (i.e. placing objectives in opposite corners for pitched battle deployment.)

• Both players commit the same percentage of their force to the “majority” force. (i.e. if player A commits 85% to majority, then player B commits 85% to their majority).

The choices then for each player are either of the following: A) Bunker down and use the majority of your army to hold the objective in your deployment zone, counting on your shooting and counter-assault to stop your opponent, or B) Attack with the majority of your force, counting on your rush to overrun your opponent and take the objective in your opponent’s deployment zone. With either choice, you’d save some small cheap unit to secure or at least contest the objective you’re not aiming for.

Choose Wisely…

There are 3 possible outcomes dependent on the choices made.

-If both players choose to bunker down and hold their own objective, then they will be able to easily defend against a small portion of an enemy’s force sent to attack. As a result, both players will hold their own objectives, resulting in a tie.

-If both players choose to send their forces to attack the other objective, then they will overrun the objective in their opponent’s deployment zone, whilst losing their own. Each player’s majority force will encounter and defeat the opponent’s minority force. This will again result in a tie, though with more casualties involved, because the majority forces are heavily committed, as opposed to sitting at their objective.

-If one player attacks whilst the other player defends, then there are two symmetrical fights for each objective (Majority of player A defending vs Majority player B attacking or vice versa), then the fight is subject to specific die rolls of the engagement, as no clear winner is immediately apparent. If both players committed an equal quality and quantity of forces to their majority groups, then both sides will fight to a stalemate, neither gaining an advantage. This will be the same for minority forces competing for the other objective. While this outcome is more uncertain than the others, it is still set up to end up with a tie more likely than not.

This mission (the way I have it modeled) is designed with the intention to make ties as common as possible. Some might ask “What if I commit more to my ‘majority’ force than my opponent to defeat their ‘majority’?” That makes the mission more like the first two outcomes in the model. If your “majority” force is greater than their “majority” force, then you’ll defeat them, but that leaves your minority force weaker than theirs, making you lose that objective.

Model Summary: No matter what you do in the model, your only chance to win is for one player to attack whilst the other defends. Even that option is well within the normal range of die rolls of either winning, tying, or losing. If both players attack simultaneously or defend simultaneously, then it will result in a draw.

Typical gamer’s reaction after winning a Capture and Control game.

Comments of the model: As I mentioned above, this is in the “Hypothesis” stage. I’d really like to devise a way of gaining some observational data or experimental data to be able to refine the model. I had to make several assumptions to be able to evaluate just the mission by itself.

There is never a 40k game that player skill, codex, army list, tactics, and player strategy will all be identical. While the mission itself can lead to more ties, there are loads of variables that can make winning this mission very possible and realistic. The biggest are player tactics and strategy, from objective placement, to how they play the game against their opponent. Another is codex inequality (sending 85% of a competitive Space Wolves list at 85% of a defending Necron force is hardly equal.) Another factor that is not accounted for is the effect long range shooting can have, where it can be possible for an army to defend with the majority of their force, yet “attack” the other player’s objective with long range fire.

I think Capture and Control is a very challenging and fun mission to play.  Because it is so heavily designed towards tying, it makes winning that much more difficult and rewarding.  Even if a win is not achieved, in forcing a closely designed game, they have the potential to create  many fun and intense battles which is the most important aspect to the hobby. The other missions in the game result in less ties due to the multitude of ways to go about winning the game. There is a greater variety in basic strategies in the mission besides “attack” or “defend.”

That basic strategy gives Capture and Control a charm all its own.

Here is a link to a site I’ve mentioned multiple times on the show that appeals to the SciFi fluff nut in me.

Jeff Russell’s STARSHIP DIMENSIONS

It, better than any other site I’ve ever seen, demonstrates visually exactly how large warships in 40K fiction truly are.  What inspired me to write this post was the book cover from A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeil and Cain’s Last Stand by Sandy Mitchell (Alex Stewart).

See all those little dots up in the sky over the pyramids of Tizca?

See that thing in the upper right hand corner over Cain’s shoulder?

Those are battleships and cruisers in orbit.  They’re big, really friggin big.  Big enough to make out individual details of the ships from the planet’s surface.  But is that an accurate portrayal or just another example of artistic exaggeration?  After all isn’t orbit really far away?  The largest man made object currently in orbit is the International Space Station and every time I’ve seen it overhead it was nothing more than a bright fast moving dot.  See for yourself on a clear night.

So I began to try to figure out just how big do 40K starships appear during an assault/bombardment when they enter low orbit?  To answer this out I needed to find out how high assault/orbital bombardment orbit was.  My answer was found in chapter 19 of Cain’s Last Stand when he describes a Chaos cruiser needing “….about an hour.  More or less.” to line up an orbital bombardment shot.  That duration of orbit around what’s described as an Earth sized planet would put an assault/bombardment orbit at just under 150 miles high.  If a Retribution class battleship is 7.5 KM long then it’s distance during an assault/bombardment would be about 20 times it’s length from the viewer.

Do you want to see with your own eyes just how big these ships are?  Open this image in another window and leave it full sized, walk back about 14 feet and turn around.  This is how big it would appear to the sorry sap on the receiving end when it’s firing shells and assault craft are being launched,

Does that put the size of these things into proper perspective?  Black Library book covers may be a bit on the dramatic side but they’re accurate with the background imagery.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It’s that time of year to eat copious amounts of turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potatos, kapusta (if you’re part of the Swizzy household), pecan pie and whatever else tickles your fancy. Don’t forget watching football while trying to not fall into a food coma, lol.

But the real reason for Thanksgiving is to think about what you are thankful for. I for one am thankful for my girlfriend, brother, parents, family, friends, coworkers and my job. I’m also thankful for all the fans out there that listen to the show or read our blogs. It really makes me feel fuzzy inside knowing that people like and appreciate what we do just for fun.

So from me and the rest of The Eternal Warrior’s Crew, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

A while ago, I started up a contest out of frustration over a very poor quality tactica posted by GW on their website. This tactica was regarding a hilariously bad chaos space marine list that featured a chaos spawn. After seeing it being torn to shreds on Blood of Kittens and on our show, I started up a contest entitled “What’s Worse than a Chaos Spawn?” In it, I asked people to come up with current codex units more worthless than a chaos spawn and be able to justify their responses.

I just don’t see any conceivable way anyone would spend the points to buy this unit as a choice. It slowly rages towards enemy units with no save at all, so it gives up an easy kill point. The moment it hits an enemy in close combat it falls apart. The chaos spawn to me is just about as productive as hopping into a garbage can and rolling down a hill towards a bear.   Sounds like a mediocre idea at the time and ends up horribly even worse than you’d expect.

The Chaos Spawn is not the bear in this picture.

I received more than 30 entries and appreciate the response from you guys.

I wanted to share with you guys the winning entry, supplied by Frank aka “Aun’Fra”.

Dear Eternal Warriors,

My name is Aun’Fra and I am an Ethereal of the Tau Empire. I would like to relate to you why I am the best unit in the 41st Millennium, as per this contest you are holding on your podcast that we intercepted. I would have had my Water Caste secretary send this to you but she’s busy polishing my drone, if you know what I mean.

First off, if I may be so bold as to compare myself to the ubiquitous Space Marines. You know, the 8 foot tall megalomaniacs? They may look bad ass in that armor that can stop most weaponry, but I wear some sweet ass robes. Now these robes literally have no armor quality whatsoever, but I look good. What’s more important when you’re the Headquarters for your army? Really.

Now, what do they carry for a weapon? A boltgun? Boltgun? Could they call it anything more generic. I carry two “symbols of office”. They let everyone know that I’m the mutha fuckin’ boss. Sometimes though, I exchange those for an honour blade to bring in to battle. Sounds pretty cool, huh? I know. Now don’t start with all that bullshit that every backwater planet has invented the “staff” or it’s just “a long stick”. Mine’s like this staff with a blade on each end. The damn quarter master won’t just let me take it though and charges me “10 points” to take it. So I go in to battle with this staff and start swinging it. I can’t hit shit, but I look cool as hell in my robes. There was one Etheral who was actually pretty decent with it, Aun’Shi. We kicked his ass out of our club though. He couldn’t party.

Beware the mighty robes and “symbols of office!”

So, now I’m kickin’ it on the battlefield, swinging my staff like a mo’ fo’. Sometimes I’ll bring some Firewarriors with me. These guys cost the tax payers more to bring along, but they can shoot better. That’s important to us. They don’t do anything else as well as the aforementioned Space Marines, but now they can shoot just as well. Awww, yeah… Honestly, I think they’re just bigger pussies than the other Firewarriors. They so don’t want to get in to hand to hand they practice shooting even more. Speaking of being pussies. Did you know that if I “strategically withdraw” from the battlefield these pansies panick and shit? Start running like little bitches. Yeah, they’re afraid of reverting to the backwater slugs they were before us Ethereals showed up. They just start running. The ones who stay though, they get pissed! Instead of them being the equivalent of fighting a 7 year old girl in a pillow fight, it’s like they’ve got 2 pillows. Look out powerfist wielders!

Okay, so this whole time I’ve been comparing myself only to the Space Marine Tactical Squads. They’re just a Troops choice. Hardly seems fair, does it? Why don’t we make this a little more even. I’ll compare our Tau exalted leader Aun’Va to the Ultramarine’s Marneus Calgar. Now we’re in for a fight!

Ok, so Aun’Va would totally get his ass handed to him in a straight up fight with Calgar. I can’t deny that. His stats are through the roof in comparison, and Aun’Va is old as fuck! Of course, that’s what you get for 45 more “points”. Well, that and the fact that Calgar’s troops will rally for him and not beat feet. The dude’s got a power weapon too. Aun’Va has got a cool weapon though. It’s a staff too. “Ceremonial” they call it. Calgar has got some cool Special Rules at his disposal at the battlefield such as “Titanic Might”, “God of War”, and “Eternal Warrior”. I don’t even know what that shit means, but it sounds bad ass. Well fuck that, Aun’Va has got these 2 bodyguards. Now these guys have a job. They’re like his posse. Good job, traveling with the boss-man. Downside is you have to dress in this S&M garb that only an Eldar would like. Honestly, they’re soft. Must be all the hookers and blow. A Tac Squad Marine would probably whoop them. Hmmmm… So in closing, Aun’Va has a pretty pimpin’ disc he rides around on. There’s no denying that. Calgar be hatin’ on that.

So, that’s my point. Ethereals in general and Aun’Va specifically have it pretty good. We show up, cost the taxpayers a shit-ton, and don’t really have to get our hands dirty. We’ve got the Earth Caste for that. I’ve got to get back to my secretary. She thinks that because I’m typing an email that she can slow down.

Aun’Fra

While I chose this as the best entry, there were so many good entries that I honestly don’t know what’s the worst unit. There’s very strong cases for several units.

This was the runner-up, sent by Kevin P.

As of this writing, your wonderful podcast, a highlight of my week, has gone off the web. It gave me a smile and material to chew on during my weeks.
I have two major arguments:

The Case against the Pyrovore:

First, let’s look at the Pyrovore itself,
The ranged Flamespurt is highly limited to the reach of a template, easily within assault range. If the ‘vore gets lucky, he’s softened up a unit that he has to charge into, else rely on others for support (typical of a moderately friendly ‘nid list). It takes some serious finesse to get a hold of that style of use. To perform in any held-back manner, Synapse Support is required, else the ‘vore takes off to find someone to feed on. This requires a limiting of tactical options to keep positions and direct a deeper strategy.

In a given game, a Pyrovore has one flamer shot, then it’s stuck in combat. Once in combat, the pitiful 2 Wound beast won’t live long against MEQs, and so the ‘vore falls in combat before a power fist could offer a kamikaze-like pity-blast of Volatile. (Str 3, AP-). The Marines laugh and carry on. Even with multiple Pyrovores, it takes a significant investment in time and money.

Flame ON!!!  Pyrovore riding to the fight!

Secondly, let’s cover the performance of the Pyrovore from a list-building standpoint. While it is said that the Tyranid codex fosters inter-dependant units, most of these combinations rely on two units in tandem to work together and each gains back protection, a symbiosis or force-multiplier. More units must be dedicated to making any strategy involving effective pyrovore use function on the tabletop(One to provide synapse for it, and a bodyguard). One does not need such a limiting factor during list construction, so few gamers will select this route.

Lastly, let’s look at how the pyrovore faces in the overall mech’-heavy meta-game. In my area, as I have heard about in many others, there’s what’s called a preponderance of Tanks. I appreciate them, but they’re difficult to kill without the right tools. A Pyrovore is not the right tool for that job. The placement of Pyrovores in the same force-org slots as a majority of ranged armor busters forces a player to lose tactical options in area that needs every reinforcement that a Tyranid army can muster. Loo
king over the ’Nid codex, there are plenty of ways to deal with a horde, but few ‘Nids can handle a Land Raider at range. And should one throw a load of pyrovores at a Land Raider… Squish.

This covers how utterly useless the Pyrovore is on the tabletop, when faced with list building, and how it deals with the meta-game.

The Case For the Spawn of Chaos

As for the Spawn of Chaos: That thing is a close combat beast if you’ve the points, landing it somewhere near shooty-only troops, (like those snipers in the back corner) and it ought to stick them for awhile, and they’ll suffer at least a few wounds.

Despite slow and purposeful, there’s a 12” charge on a Beast. 2d6+12” Range and it’s slow. What would be the point cost be to kit out a Tyranid Warrior like that? Still wouldn’t get the speed.

A spawn would easily run down a transport, potentially throw down a flurry of attacks, and drop it to the ground of its own accord. If it pops up early game, sweet! With plenty of busses to chase, it could really make a menace of itself. And what’s a transport gonna do? Hit back? You win, you dismount a unit, easier to shoot at. Should that unit hop out for the fight (Dark Eldar *cough*), they’re unhorsed and stuck in combat, a place no Eldar player longs to be in. Spawn can do the damage if ignored, which makes them a wonderful spiky ball to run around in the enemy backfield if brought in with Deep Strike (or Boon of Mutation, my wife plays Daemons).

Due to the reasons I have stated above, there is almost never a case for a pyrovore, as one can be made against it at every manifold look of gameplay. At least a Spawn can earn his bones… and teeth…and tentacles.

These two were my favorite responses, but what do you guys think is the worst unit in 40k?

Here is a link for the foam cutting table that I mentioned in episode #3.  It’s a simple hobby project that is cheap to build and works very well.  Feel free to e-mail me at dan@theeternalwarriors.com if you spot a problem with the plans or have a suggestion to improve them.

Please don’t try to “supercharge” the cutting of foam with more power than is necessary.   The 6 volt battery is more than enough.  The only modification I ever did was to hook a second 6 volt battery to the table.  While it did cut much faster it also had a tendency to melt the 28 gauge wire I was using.

While this table will cut you up a ton of hills in no time it’s also got a lot of other hobby uses.  I’ve also used it to make duck and dove decoys for hunting as well as archery targets.

http://www.mediafire.com/?418p1nszrtyb6bg

If deafness were contagious, you might catch it from this episode.

In segment 1, we discuss what we’ve done and give some shout outs. Next we discuss a Dark Eldar vs Necron battle report where even the new guys go for phase out. We wrap up the first segment with a discussion of the new FAQ/Errata for the 40K 5th Edition rule set. Also, Dave announces the winner of the “What’s Worse Than A Chaos Spawn” contest.

In segment 2, get into some internet round up by discussing the Hyperion 2010: Soul Harvest campaign, give a mention to Deep Strike Radio and the Happy Tanks-Giving contest run by the Table Top Hooligans. We round out the segment with a rebuttal to our Voidraven Bomber unit of the week and give free advice to GW on what the Necrons need in their next codex.

We finish the show with segment 3 and an email from Cpt. America on his FLGS policy of pay to play.

We hope enjoy this episode and remind you that doing lines of blow from a gay hooker’s penis is not a good thing.

As a reminder, we are looking for someone to help create a cool looking pdf for our next home brew project and we are also looking for guest writers to submit articles for our front page so please send me an email at richard@theeternalwarriors.com.

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This weeks guest writer is, yet again, Inquisitor Medina bringing you his Combat Fatigue experience.

Wow, what a great day.  In the end I decided to take a wolf list but with some unusual choices; I took

LONE WOLF: Frost blade, power armour, storm shield, melta bombs, 2 Fenrisian wolves.

5 WOLF SCOUTS: mark of the wulfen, sniper rifle, melta gun

5 GREY HUNTERS: Melta Gun, Mark of the Wulfren, Razorback (h Bolter) wolf standard

5 GREY HUNTERS: Melta Gun, Mark of the Wulfren, Razorback (h Bolter) wolf standard

I wanted to try scouts and a lone wolf, which I’ve never taken. I also wanted to keep away from Long fangs, thunder wolf cavalry etc. There were some big weaknesses that quickly became apparent.

The club had some great terrain, and everyone was really friendly. There was plenty of tea too!! So how did it go? Well as expected, the main armies appeared to be Orks, Marines, and Guard. The orks and guard had big advantages at 500 points (both can take tons of stuff), but also the tables were only roughly half size, so the orks could really get stuck in quick.

The sheer pressure of cramming 7 games in made things really interesting; you really had to watch the clock. There was also a mass of terrain, so there were lots of choke points.

• Game 1 – Draw: Marines (2 Razorbacks Ass Cannon, and H Flamer, plus 2 speeders). The long wolf tore a Razorback to pieces. It was on a knife edge, and another turn would probably have won it for me.

• Game 2 – Draw: IG (Footslogging guard: the Empire base Milita list. The autocannon/heavy bolter models were converted to sit on warhammer fantasy great cannon frames, and the las guns included autoguns, and mustkets. A real scratch concript PDF force). This game saw a movie marine moment – one Mark of the Wulfren holding against 30 guardmens in CC, led by a commissar and still standing proud at close of play.

• Game 3 – Lost: Orks (Mech – won best painted Lots of tucks, the ones I immoblised). Came down to the last CC phase; and my lone wolf failed to kill the last two orks contesting an objective that would have given me a draw.

• Game 4 – Lost: Orks (Horde with stormboyz)

• Game 5 – Lost: Orks (Killer Kans list). This was a difficult game, against one of the top players. 12 (ish) killer cans with grotzukers etc. I completely screwed up my deployment and tactics. My lone wolf died like a Trojan fighting 4 killer cans for nearly 4 turns.

• Game 6 – Lost: Imperial guard ( Hydra’s and Walkers). One of my fave opponents of the day. We had a proper slog fest. Armoured sentinels tied up my squads in cc for ages and I couldn’t penetrate the armour without powerfists. The hydra flak tanks were seriously hard!!

• Game 7 – Lost: Chaos (Plague Marines) This game was on a knife edge. Probability went out of the window, and it was a tough match. It came down to a last turns shooting & cc. I had a chance to win, but then a bad break test left two of the three objectives in chaos hands. The last one could be won by 5 grey hunters killing one chosen marine, and the heavy bolters of two razorbacks then had to kill two plague marines to clear a 2^nd objective to allow me to scrape a draw.

Key tactical lessons learned:

• In games against orks; shoot the transports, and charge them. Orks are much less scary in cc with marines if the marines get the charge.
• Don’t take lone wolves.
• Mark of the Wulfen absolutely rocks.
• Don’t play a game where you have no weapon with more than strength 5 that can shoot more than 12 inches. I had 2 heavy bolters (36”) but the rest were bolters and 3 meltas. Not good. No capacity to hit anything at range, and was usually glancing on 6’s.
• Don’t ever take a list without a powerfist. What was I thinking? No heavy weapons and no powerfists – I was asking for pain!!
• Don’t overestimate the speed of vehicles; a terrain heavy board will rob then of space to move, and 12 inches is not as fast as you think.
• Wolf scouts with outflanking might take out a tank, but one melta gun misses too easily. Don’t over rely on them, and remember that they are not good in cc so take Mark of the Wulfen.
• Remember a pen, and to charge your camera!! (So annoying.)

All in all a great day, which showed how much work had gone into cramming 30 people into a small hall with tons of terrain and fun.

So, what was the result? Well I came last! 30 out of 30. On a good note though, I had a great time, with plenty of games. The level of sportsmanship was really high. Hardly any disputes that I saw, and everyone was really into the feel of 40K. I got the wooden spoon moral victory award. This came with a signed copy of Last Chancers by Dan Abnett. Plus to my absolute surprise and pleasure, I was given the award for best sportsman – a lovely KR dice case with dice and a tape measure.

Wait a second, a rule book isn’t a unit!

I know, I know but hear me out on this.

So GW came out with a new FAQ for 40k, (available here) and it kind of got me going a little. Let me bring your attention to the very first sentence “Although we strive to ensure that our books are perfect, sometimes mistakes do creep in”. And then there’s 6 pages of amendments, clarifications and errata. So I read all 6 pages and it really affirmed my belief that 5th edition 40K is very flawed. The rules are way too broad and general, not enough specifics. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate GW attempting to fix their mistakes, but there’s just too much to fix at times…

So after reading the FAQ, I picked up my Warmachine Prime MKII book and gave it a quick glancing. Comparing 5th edition to MKII is like comparing day and night. You are very very hard pressed to find a vague rule description in MKII, in fact at times the rules are overly wordy and complex. Do I find that annoying at times, yes, but at lease I know all bases are covered. Privateer Press has also put out FAQs, but nowhere near as bing as that 6 page monster that GW just put out.

So do yourself a favor, pick up a copy of MKII and see what a well written rule set is like.

There are a finite number of army list permutations for a given codex just as there are a finite number of chord progressions for a given key structure in music. Before their latest codex, Dark Eldar had one or two viable lists. Grey Knights have two or three just as Necrons do. In 40k, as you go backwards from the newest release to the oldest release, the diminishing viability becomes more apparent. In music, it is quite the opposite – just ask the Axis of Awesome with their 4-Chord Song!

Turn here if you can't make your own list.

With the internet a basic staple in most households, it is quite easy for anyone to communicate their ideas and equally easy for someone to borrow/copy/steal those same ideas. Getting a net list from the internet can be good for many reasons provided your intent is not to stomp your local scene with tactics/ideas that aren’t your style. If you have run out of ideas or need inspiration, then a net list might be get you over the hump. It has worked for me on several occasions. I even hate to admit  that I have also borrowed a net list (with a revision or two) because I was tired of trying to reinvent the wheel.

Many players new to 40K go to a net list because they lack experience. I firmly believe new players should have at least 50 games under their belt before using a net list. Going to the internet too soon provides a short cut past the valuable experience they need and takes them directly to what they think is the promised land. Often times the road to the promised land is paved with derision (if they have smart peers) or a false sense of winning (if they have not so smart peers).

These shortcuts are detrimental not only to you but your gaming club or group and quite possibly to 40K players world wide. The Imperial Guard Leaf Blower list virtually swept the world after the 2009 ‘Ard Boys tournaments. At Adepticon 2010, most Imperial Guard players had some variation of this list and most of their opponents had some list that could deal with the Leaf Blower because they knew they’d eventually face it at Adepticon. Now you don’t see the Leaf Blower too much because with the passage of time, it has invariably earned it’s reputation: flash in the pan.

In my younger days with 40K, I avoided using net lists because I knew I was not getting better as a player. When I faced net lists, I took great delight in defeating them. Now that I enter the veteran gamer phase, I do not have quite the same outlook anymore as I used to. I know now that net lists should be used as the salt & pepper of my gaming experience, not the meat & potatoes. Be careful of which reason you choose a net list for and bon appetit!