Deny the witch

[Zeratul29]

I understand what you mean there, and for me it's black templars and dark angels.

 

I really like the model, tis really cool, my friend made the Salamanders chapter master Tu'shen using the new calgar model but he's wielding dual thunder hammers :rolleyes:

[Judaz]

Plus one for what Darius said :lol: I have a lot of respect for Thade but some people "enjoy" WAAC playing and I can learn from these players who optimise.

Purely an aside, but since it came up....I put on as good a show as I can in my not-so-silent, lonely war against what I'd call "angry WAAC" (pronounced "angry whack"). I do value fluff and affection (as in, for a given model that is provably sub-optimal) as a basis for army choices, and I really appreciate it when other players follow this similar path. That's not to say that I dislike optimization or that I judge others poorly for doing it. (At least, that's not my intention.) I often play against lists that are optimized where mine seems not to be, and - usually upon request - I will field "tournie practice lists" for my friends to clash with. I don't judge people based upon their desire to attempt to optimize, nor their enjoyment of doing so.

 

I work in software research, but much of my work goes into speeding things up and shoring up memory leaks and access violations. I'm the "pointers guy" (if you've ever seen C in your life, well, that *is* my life) so optimization defines much of my career. When I am home for the evening I really need a break from it, and that is why - personally - I derive extreme pleasure from throwing Captain Vehemus on the table: my power-armored captain who dual-wields Thunder Hammers.

 

He seems sub-optimal, right? The cost of the second Thunder Hammer is the same as the first, but adds only one additional attack. At times people ask me "Does he count as having only one Thunder Hammer?" to which I reply, "No, my entire army is completely WYSIWYG; he's dual-packin'." People fear this guy as he (at least seems as if he) has an unnatural ability to weather fire, solo-charging across the table long after his unit was cut down by anti-tank fire, plowing through units and weathering lascannons and missiles as he does so. In reality he's just as likely to go down as you'd expect, but that's not the way people treat him. Also, I custom built the off-hand thunder hammer - one of my earliest conversions - so I have increased affection for it. <3

 

I do my best to (both passively and actively) encourage people to step away from angry WAAC...not from optimization per se, but from the attitude that seems to pervade at least most tournies I've been to (with a few spectacular exceptions). The attitude that "If I don't win, I most definitely did not have fun." The attitude that one must argue and gripe about any rule that he or she perceives to put them at a disadvantage. The one who builds an entire list around a small loophole, trying to sell us all on things like "Yes, my four transports full of Psyker units make my assassin here shoot Assault 40". That's the stuff I don't like. I see "fluff and model affection" on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, and so that that is where I try to sit and what I kind of preach about. Sorry about the preaching. I do like to gab. <3

 

Optimization and "angry WAAC" are different things; one can optimize and not be a WAAC player. A WAAC player, however, cannot help but optimize. That's the only connection, really. That makes sense in my head; I hope it does here too. :cuss

 

+1

 

Fluff will always win the hearts of other players.