So I am not the only person at our FLGS trying to learn either a new army or 5th Edition rules.
My buddy FunDave has been an Eldar player for as long as I've known him. He loves his space cows (inside joke) and I was really surprised to hear him not only TALKING about another army, but building a list for one. Even stranger (to me) was that it was a Marine army. FunDave's been pretty vehement that he doesn't "DO" Marines, and to see him pushing dudes with backpacks around seems very odd to me.
However, he wanted to try something different, and so he broke out Space Wolves the other night. He borrowed the guys to make up his list from another regular, and tried his hand at Puppies. I'm absolutely astounded to say that he won, despite being blown almost entirely off the board by his opponent. He seemed to have a good time, but I heard a lot of "what does that do, again?" over the chatter in the room. I guess starting something new wasn't so hard to someone that's actively been playing a lot for several years now. I'm glad to see FunDave doing something new. It means a shift in the balance of the meta at our store, and maybe will make him deploy differently. (He loves the all-reserve approach.)
Another friend was looking to get back into Eldar after at very long break. He wrote and brought a list based on old assumptions and discovered the units he used previously just weren't as good anymore. I think (but could be wrong) the drastic differences in effectiveness and editions really threw him off. He is trying again- looking at what he has and seeing how to use it (perhaps proxies or changing parts to be something else) so that he can join us. I'd love to see him play with us- he's really fun and I think our group is sufficiently without extra cheese that he'd have a good time.
Doing something new or different can be pretty scary. I know I waffled on playing again for a lot of reasons, but I am really glad I'm back in the game. I'm making friends, learning something, painting again (I FINALLY found a scheme I like after about 5 or 6 test runs) and enjoying the company. I'm playing like a total idiot, but I'm having fun (for the most part).
The store has renewed and/or fresh blood; new eyes and new perspectives, and I like that a lot. Our playing will be enhanced and our friendships will be enriched. It's pretty nice to see.
Our local comic shop just started carrying some 40k (and fantasy/lotr) stuff and pushing interest, and I'm getting to see some of the same things on my end. It's always cool helping people have fun. Our store is pushing small armies at the moment, and it is a totally different atmosphere than the traditional 2000 point tournament scene.
ReplyDeleteI am a competitive player by nature, so I'm getting together with some friends to test out a lot of things for 500 points and find out where the codex math breaks down at that points level.
I've learned the system at the higher levels, but if I really want to help all these newer players I need to understand where they are going to be having issues.
I think the laid back atmosphere and helping everyone just figure out the rules is gonna be a blast. With such a hands-on approach I can get them used to wound allocation, multiple assaults, and all the fancy tournament 'tricks' and ease them into things while making sure they have fun.
I'm hoping that means somegood-hearted competitors come out of it in the future, but the ride up from 500 points should be fun too.
Yeah, it felt really good to put Wolves on the table after commerserating for like 3 years on it. Of course it didn't feel so good as said Wolves were systematicly removed from the table, but it was still a fun game. As far as the "all off" deployment, I do have a 7 drop pod list hehehehe :) Guess old habits die hard.
ReplyDeleteWho did you play?
ReplyDeleteAnd who was the returning eldar player?
Ray: that sounds ideal for a new player. I'd love to come over & play sometime. I need a small-to-larger tutorial.
ReplyDeleteFD: You would.
ND: I didn't- tables/opponents didn't work out well for me. The returnee is the quiet, older blonde fellow.
The quiet, older blonde fellow, would like to thank FunDave for his advice, as well as my friend Dusty and others. Also, there are a lot of good ideas on the net, including DakkaDakka and Seer.
ReplyDeleteNow I just need to mull things over and see what I can put together.
Tom
Tom
@T Anytime. Always glad to help a fellow Eldar player.
ReplyDelete