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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Well, he might be right.

I stumbled upon Fujin's Blog here, and he has a less than stellar description of me as a person (I'll let you read it yourself). I quite like the man, so instead of being insulted, I thought a bit about it, and he might be right. I could state that I simply write about the things I know, but the truth is that I rarely write about my complete failures. With that in mind I looked up the definition of arrogant:
  • Having a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance.
  • Thinking that one is much more important than other people.
I'm not sure I like being called arrogant. This Blog is about a miniature wargame, and no matter how many readers I have, I'll remain an underpaid Librarian in real life. I don't see myself as being worth more than anyone else, and I'm sure my work here won't ever be called important, but I will accept the label of Know-it-all instead.

The Know-it-all

Like every other person in the world, I fail. I might not write much about it, but there are plenty of failures hidden behind those spotlights, so I've made a little list. These are the spotlights I've struggled the most with so far.
  • The Lesser Warlocks: It took me about twenty games in as many months, losing the warlock almost every game, to figure out what I was doing wrong, and I had to write the solution on the back of their bases, to avoid forgetting it during play.
  • Pistol Wraiths: It took a week long discussion with a club member, before I abandoned my assumptions and took another crack at them. They turned from awful to awesome in a single game, but only because I took his advice on how to run them.
  • Helldivers: I had totally discounted them, until another club member performed amazing tricks with them. This became my favorite light jack, and remained so until the Scavenger arrived.
  • Bile Thralls: I had parked them up front like everyone else, failed badly a couple of times, then placed them on the shelf for six months before the idea hit me. It took me about five games to define the concept of defensive Bile Thralls, and every game I find out more about them.
  • Bloodgorgers: I was close to selling these guys, since they constantly failed, died, or simply got in the way of everyone else. It took me forever to figure them out, and I still let them down occasionally.
Then there are the models I still haven't figured out, and it's not for a lack of trying. I've had them in plenty of games, and I've talked with other players about them. I've read reports, and run tactics and scenarios in my mind, but reality refuses to accept my ideas.
  • Gorman di Wulfe: I can't get him to perform the feats of amazing, that everyone else can pull out of his ass. He's always falling behind, missing his grenades, or simply getting killed by random blasts.
  • Orin Midwinter: Such potential, and such failure on my part to achieve it. I can't wrap my mind around his abilities, and I always end up getting him killed.
  • Scrap Thralls: I've killed more of my own guys with these, than I've killed of my enemies. I've only ever had one great moment, when a unit of Widowmakers shot him from an inch away, and that was my opponents failure and not my success.
  • Necrotech: I can't figure these guys out. They're never where they're supposed to be, and I know it's my fault, but I just can't predict where I'll need them. When I do manage, the jack drops dead anyway, and I can build some Scrap Thralls instead (and I've already told you how well that works out).
  • Bloat Thrall: Just like with the Scrap Thralls, I've taken down more of my own guys with these, and I dismembered them both to build claws for a jack quite recently. I've given up on them, and I don't think that will ever change.
As you can see I struggle with quite a few things, but you rarely see that here. I don't often write about things I need help with, because I do that over at the forums. If you actually want to hear about my horrible failures then let me know, but I always thought writing about the things I actually know, would be more interesting :D

8 comments:

  1. I am a newish player myself and I personally find posts on successes of models the internetz discount quite useful, and don't see it as arrogance per say. It helps me see what works with not necessarily straightforward, fragile models, ie Pistol Wraiths.

    If you are looking to balance out your posts, maybe include some battle reports where you encounter a weakness in a model or a strategy, or where you simply got outplayed. Each of those would add insight on how to better play Cryx.

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  2. That could work. I'm always forgetting to take pictures, and get caught up playing, but I'll give it a shot :D

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  3. We learn more from our failures than from our successes. Analysis of your failures could help your readers avoid those same mistakes.

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  4. Mate - don't read too much into "arrogant". I apolgise unreservedly it's use in fact; perhaps "exceedingly self-confident and expressively understanding of your own limitations" would be a more apt descriptor :)

    This blog is the last word for Cryx as far as I'm concerned - you present the information and your opinion with clarity and this is justified by experience and practice in most cases. I have not yet found another site or blog that goes into the depth and detail you invest into areas such as the wonderful "Spotlight" articles.

    I love that you champion and promte many of the underdog choices and find ways to make them work. It gives me more faith in the longevity of this game system.

    I do find the occasional "this stuff is too easy to use" comment quite bemusing (again... "arrogant" was too strong a word) but dammit, this is your blog - you write what you want!

    Oh - to correct one point - that isn't my blog. It's a collective of posts/posters from NZ :) My blog became defunct after I turned to the dark side and embraced Warmachine (leaving Warhammer behind in the process).

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  5. "exceedingly self-confident and expressively understanding of your own limitations": I asked my wife, and she agrees with you :D

    Don't worry about apologizing, I didn't take any real offense, and it got me thinking about the way I do things (which can never be a bad thing).

    I'm looking forward to seeing your posts, on the Blog that isn't yours :D

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  6. Meant to reply to this one a few days back. Keep doing what you are doing. This blog of yours is perhaps the most insightful source of tactical tidbits on all things Cryxian.

    I appreciate the time you take to write these. You do a good job weaving tactical advice into your spotlights. There are plenty of places where a person can find someone explaining the abilities of a model or unit. You however explain tactics. I'll give three examples from your more recent posts:

    Warwitch - you said run her first turn. Never occurred to me. I tried it. Its much better than the clunky walk first turn and give jack a focus. Heck on the first turn your warcaster can afford to grant the focus to the jack so the witch can run. Thanks for pointing that out.

    Croe's - I'm going to go out and buy these fellas because of your post. You mentioned leading with Croe so his reach covers the access to the rest of the unit. Nice tactical post.

    Biles - Truth be told I'd already been playing them as a backup unit but you wrote about it and talked about how to use them.

    Keep writing about *how* to use stuff. Positioning, game theory, etc... All good stuff.

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  7. Oh and as for the items you're puzzling out. I've worked with a few.

    Gorman - usually third turn epic shenanigans for me. First two turns he's usually dropping clouds working his way into position. Third turn he's rusting, blinding, or just dropping corrosion on that group of enemy infantry that clumped up after the charge. He's good stuff. I hope you get him to work for you.

    Necrotech. Really tricky bugger to use. Really tricky due to the 5" SPD and no terrain navigation. He has to stick like glue to the back of whatever jack you care about. I find he works good with the support ranged jacks - because they stay still and he can move up and fix the gun arm if it gets shot off. That's his job. Haven't had him do much else.

    Bloat Thrall. I really really want to make this guy work. Unfortunately I have not had much luck either. Only thing I can think of is he's got to come in third turn once the armies have already collided.

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  8. Thanks Vermi :)

    I'll work on that damnable Gorman!

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