tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3088271400335959002024-03-14T09:40:11.763-04:00The Dead Tau ProjectThis blog was once about my 40K Eldar army, modeled in conflict with the Tau. It has grown into my hobby home on the internet. Basically that means anything I do from a gaming standpoint is written about here.Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-49544343595298214172017-03-14T10:31:00.000-04:002017-03-14T10:31:23.672-04:00Big League in a Day
I've recently condensed the Big League experience down to a single day event for my local community. This went over fairly well in my local group and lot of people in the global Guild Ball community expressed interest in how I accomplished it. Here's a write-up on what I did and what I would change.
General Idea and Objectives
Steamforged Games released the campaign rules for Guild Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-56523527601231713622016-10-10T07:30:00.000-04:002016-10-10T07:30:07.561-04:00Minx the Maligned (Guild Ball)
The following article is a mix of opinion and tactics specifically centered on the Union player Minx. I was torn on which label I wanted to apply and decided it's best to go with both and leave it at that. It's not uncommon that outside my local guild ball group I hear disparaging comments about how Minx is not very useful. I specify outside my own play group as my local area has come to Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-66901393272024044632016-09-26T07:30:00.000-04:002016-09-26T07:30:00.169-04:00Painted Models - Hunters
During the Summer I typically have the opportunity for a Work-Cation trip to New England. This is a two week period of time where my wife, mother-in-law, and kids get to go to the beach and I settle myself out on the porch and work. One of the high points of this week is the relaxation and an increased chance to paint. This, along with Christmas, is typically my highest level of yearly Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-65641402421529063412016-09-20T07:30:00.002-04:002016-09-20T07:30:09.512-04:00Improving "The Best 4 days in Gaming" with Geek Nation Tours
This year my family and I attended Gencon 2016 with Geek Nation Tours. Yesterday I wrote about my background with Geek Nation Tours and the Head Geek Teras. I also talked about why we (my family and I) chose Geek Nation Tours for our Gencon 2016 trip and how the lead up to the convention was improved being part of the tour. I also talked about the madness that was our trip to Gencon, starting Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-41385029889837070272016-09-19T07:30:00.000-04:002016-09-19T07:30:04.771-04:00Pre-Gencon 2016 with Geek Nation Tours
This year my family and I decided to take the trip to Gencon 2016. This is not an insignificant undertaking, trekking 3 of us nearly 600 miles across the country for a 7 day visit to one of the largest game conventions in the world. Of course we decided to make things a bit more complicated in a couple ways. First, we realized the week before Gencon my 17 year old daughter got an unexpected Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-48623559397765354992016-08-22T07:30:00.000-04:002016-08-22T07:30:11.175-04:00All the Games
I have recently returned from Gencon 2016 and found myself in a place where I am conflicted, overwhelmed, and incredibly blessed all at the same time. I'm finding myself the embodiment of "The Golden Age of Gaming", with too many games and not enough time nor groups of friends to play them all. It's a strange place to be, as my collection sis beginning to resemble one of those board-game box Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-76568425880539344272016-08-15T07:30:00.000-04:002016-08-15T07:30:00.176-04:00Rise of the Kage - Revisit
Last December I wrote a review of the board game Rise of the Kage and it's associated expansion, Docks of Ryu. I shared this review to Board Game Geek in February of this year, receiving a couple replies. Anyone interested can go back and check out either of those links for my original review. In summary, I felt there was a good game potential but was unable to recommend the game due to Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-17542845828836057112016-08-08T07:30:00.000-04:002016-08-08T07:30:01.157-04:00Guild Ball Tactics - Shock and Awe
It's a balmy early July here in the Washington DC metro area and I've been thinking lately. I've been thinking about Guild Ball, specifically playing it competitively. All this has come about for a couple reasons, including a series of recent tournaments and the upcoming US National Championships at Gencon. At the time of writing Gencon is 3 weeks away.
I mentioned writing this article and my Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-41369010724000012292016-08-01T07:30:00.000-04:002016-08-01T07:30:39.590-04:00Rumble Cup tournament report
On July 24th I attended a Sunday tournament, the Rumble Cup, at The Island Games in Chantilly VA. I don't prefer Sunday tournaments as my Sundays are already pretty crazy with family and church activities. I had missed out on a recent tournament and a couple Guild Ball game nights so decided to attend this one. I really wanted to get in 3 solid competitive games with an eye toward additional Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-22985561825036457102016-07-25T07:30:00.000-04:002016-07-25T07:30:09.678-04:00Season 2 Guild Plots
Several months ago near the beginning of the year I wrote an article talking about the Season 1 Guild Plots. I broke down each of the plots into categories, analyzed each one, shared my opinions on the best and not-best uses, then ranked them. Although it was not my most viewed Guild Ball post it was a fairly popular one.
Season 2 is not strongly underway and we have a new set of 12 Guild Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-11565187432151533962016-07-18T07:30:00.000-04:002016-07-18T07:30:01.958-04:00Guild Ball - Must Take Players?
I struggled to determine how to classify and tag this post. On the one hand I'll be talking about tournament strategy a bit. It'll be a look a Guild Ball player who is quickly becoming a key choice for tournament players. On the other hand I'll be discussing how the idea of a "must take" player annoys me. After everything I decided to jump in and start writing, then made the decision after Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-5945510901965452092016-07-11T07:30:00.000-04:002016-07-11T07:30:37.477-04:00Guild Ball - Captain Veteran Rage
I'm a bit surprised to find this article unfinished in my draft folder. I've been playing Captain Rage for a while now, although I cannot put my finger on how many games I've gotten in with him. I know I've used him at the "Get Over Here" tournament in April, which I won. I played him a couple games before that and have played him a fair bit since then. I also wrote a bit of an overview to my Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-77119890615094767882016-07-04T07:30:00.000-04:002016-07-04T07:30:25.666-04:00Book Review - Legacy of Shadows by Craig Gallant
I got Legacy of Shadow's shortly before the release thanks to the very fine folk at Winged Hussar publishing. I have been waiting for this novel since I first heard that Craig Gallant would be branching out to write his own series. I was not aware he was writing Science Fiction, but was excited to see what he put out regardless of genre. I've enjoyed Craig's other novels which were written in Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-61380742669387985282016-06-20T07:30:00.000-04:002016-06-20T07:30:14.499-04:00Guild Ball - Graves, Scalpel, the fun list
My locals have observed that I suffer from fairly severe Guild Attention Deficit Disorder. My brand of GADD presents itself with a fairly constant swap of guilds and teams, even from game to game. Apparently the only time I play the same Guild back to back in casual play is during tournaments or when required due to a campaign (such as the Figo League).
I enjoy switching up guilds and playing Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-10710309851272477392016-06-13T10:58:00.000-04:002016-06-13T10:58:10.197-04:00Guild Ball - The Scalpel Experience (3)
I have now played through my obligatory 6 learning games with Scalpel and am deciding how I plan to proceed on my casual games. I'm pretty comfortable with how she works and what she does, spending the last couple games not maxing her influence. Scalpel is certainly a team player, not a super-solo captain by any means.
My sixth game was against the Butchers, played by one of the local pundits Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-240879918756176352016-06-06T07:30:00.000-04:002016-06-06T07:30:05.249-04:00 Guild Ball - The Scalpel Experience Stage 2 (Morticians)
Sessions 2 and 3 with Scalpel netted me three more games with Scalpel. I'm starting to feel fairly comfortable with her, although I've begun to deviate from my stated testing plan. In my most recent game I began spreading influence around the table, not focusing on loading her up to 6 every turn regardless of circumstances. I'm feeling fairly comfortable with what she does on the table and partNixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-70773123114886010052016-05-30T07:30:00.000-04:002016-05-30T07:30:25.035-04:00Guild Ball - The Scalpel Experience (Morticians)
Remember back a couple months ago when I posted an article talking about my start with Morticians? It's over here for those who do not remember, http://deadtau.blogspot.com/2016/02/guild-ball-learning-morticians.html, and I wrote about picking up Obulus and my experience overall. I have continued to pursue that front, painting and learning the team and have become half-way decent playing them. Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-2663696632906925192016-05-23T07:30:00.000-04:002016-05-23T07:30:13.901-04:00Guild Ball - Get Over Here! tournament report
Recently I attended "Get Over Here!", a small tournament in LaVale MD run by Duane. It was a 2 hour drive up for me but Duane has come out to many of our local tournaments and I wanted to support his first event. In addition to supporting him I was able to see some players from the WV Mountaineers guild ball group which was fun. Unfortunately things did not line up during the day and I ended upNixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-2149816601582578972016-05-19T07:30:00.000-04:002016-05-19T07:30:05.749-04:00It's getting Dusty around here!
Things have been quiet around here since February, it frustrates me to look at that. It's not that I haven't had idea for articles, it just life has piled up on lack of motivation.
A variety of reasons put me in a situation where I decided to jump into online college courses at the end of last year. The program I've decided to do requires I take some very basic level college classes. This is Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-46679874550576088162016-02-15T07:30:00.000-05:002016-02-15T07:30:26.761-05:00Painting Update
It's going to be a lighter article today, nothing controversial like previous opinion pieces nor heavy on math like my analysis article last week. I've been pushing myself to carve out time to paint over the past couple weeks. I've not been the most successful, but have made sure to grab time here and there. I'm moving through my Morticians, having gotten all but 2 painted and some of the base Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-31378229335285517742016-02-08T07:30:00.001-05:002016-02-08T07:30:10.323-05:00Guild Ball - Learning Morticians
This may not be among the best tactics articles on DTP, but its a glimpse into tactics nonetheless. I prefer to write tactics articles that help players do better with their teams, or to discuss a particularly misunderstood portion of a game. I prefer to provide a small tidbit or insight that lets someone maximize the return on playing a model or using a group of models. One example would be a Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-23848362262682503232016-02-01T07:30:00.000-05:002016-02-01T07:33:05.668-05:00Guild Ball - Damage Dealing Captains
A little while ago I read an article on another Guild Ball blog, Parting Blow, that was handing out "awards" for different models performance in Season 1. One of those awards was specific to Captains and damage dealing. I responded (you can see my response by following the link above) and that started a big of a discussion. I decided to take some of the analysis I did in that discussion and Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-56303274820983207972016-01-25T07:30:00.000-05:002016-01-25T07:30:12.462-05:00Tournament Report - Guild Ball Snow Ball
on the weekend of January 16th I attended a Guild Ball tournament in the Philadelphia area, Snow Ball. I was able to pull out 4 wins during the tournament, grabbing first place overall for the day. Overall results and round by round pairings can be found on the Snow Ball Tiebreak page.
I thought I'd take a different approach to writing up a tournament report, I'd love your feedback after Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-69090562370522169192016-01-18T07:30:00.000-05:002016-01-18T07:30:01.242-05:00Guild Ball Butchers Pictures
Now it's Monday, and there's a regularly scheduled post on DTP! I had a bit of an advantage, grabbing the following picture set at the same time I grabbed pictures of last weeks team, Fishermen. Now we're going to take a look at the Butchers.
John does a great job painting, and these models show off that skill just as nicely as the Fishermen did last week. There are subtle smears of blood Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308827140033595900.post-41714789566182785852016-01-12T10:21:00.000-05:002016-01-12T10:21:30.052-05:00Guild Ball Fishermen pictures
It's Monday isn't it?
No?
Damn, missed the deadline to get this post out. Ironically, I realized I missed the post yesterday morning and headed down to my cave to grab some pictures. I had planned to grab these pictures before, but over the holidays it just did not happen. On arriving at my humble photo set-up I realized I had a dead battery in my camera and needed to recharge. Now it's TuesdayNixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08771913395327076284noreply@blogger.com0