Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

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Curu Olannon
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Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2004 6:21 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1621 Post by Curu Olannon »

I have this thread monitored, i.e. if someone replies here I get an email and check in ;)

To be honest John, if you want to become a better player in any miniature game you have to be willing to suck it up and accept some hard truths. Some certainties exist in every game. In good ol' ETC Warhammer for example Daemons being broken is one of them. There is just no arguing this point because the numbers and results speak for themselves. I find that putting it across bluntly often serves a double purpose: You come off as bombastic enough so people actually hear what you have to say. Furthermore though, and perhaps more importantly, the ones speaking up against you are more often than not the ones who don't have the mindset it takes to really become a top player. Of course it's not that simple and even the best players make mistakes at times, but generalized that is how I perceive this. Depending on Wargame and players the "general player mindset" can vary and frequently the opposition of "fundamental truths" about the Wargame in question will vary accordingly. For example in our internal ETC team discussions this year we rarely disagreed. When we did, we simply played it out. No long discussions on whether X could beat Y when we know that 9 times out of 10 Y comes out on top given that the player wielding Y knows what he's doing. I think our results this year point to us being on the right track. It takes a lot of time to build a skilled group of players. As long as the games we play aren't at the highest level, our conclusions will inherently be faulty. Given another year or two I believe Norway could have been world class, assuming the motivation held up (that is a big if though).

Please get in touch with me if you consider getting into Warmahordes John. I'll start going abroad for tournaments in March/April I believe (I am moving in the meantime, hence the delay! Otherwise I'd love to go in December and February already, some great tournaments happening in the Netherlands and UK at those times!) so I imagine this miniature hobby will get really exciting quite soon again. Stateside is also something I'm strongly considering and of course, I still have many Ulthuanites I hope to meet in person despite not being into Warhammer anymore :)

@sparky - Sadly, no. Personally, I don't believe in 9th. I just don't see the future. Perhaps it lives for a year or two but without company backing I can't see the system recruiting players at a higher rate than losing players. Inevitably it will die out, assuming my assumptions are right. For all I know 9th may be the best edition of Warhammer we've ever seen. I'm just not willing to take the risk. I spend too much time on silly little tin things (I would've said soldiers, but have you seen Warmachine Colossals?) to waste a year or potentially two at something which I truly believe is a life support solution. Warmahordes on the other hand is growing at an insane rate and with the established environment worldwide I really can just jump straight into it. The game itself has thoroughly surprised me as well, in 3 distinct ways especially compared to Warhammer:

1) Almost all matchups are extremely close. RPS effects exist here as well, but in practice my experience from ~100 games thus far (including 4 tournaments) is that the vast majority of games really are games. Much unlike Warhammer where many matchups boiled down to avoiding a big loss, capitalizing on a good matchup or trying lucky shots to have a game.

2) The strategical depth. The degrees of freedom in this game and the nature of the scenarios, threat ranges and special rules make it extremely complex and near-impossible to predict. This in turn creates a dynamic where you have to plan long in advance and be prepared for some crazy moves. Having experience from 40k I am very surprised a skirmish game manages this to such a degree.

3) The ability to win consistently without relying on dice. This is a bit ironic seeing as in Warmahordes you instantly lose if your general dies, but what I find in practice is that in this game, if you are better than your opponent you can reliably win the game without fearing dimensional cascade, failed LD-test deathstar off the table etc. I find that with careful list creation, a specifically tailored reliable playstyle and experience, Warmahordes is a game where the skill difference is a huge factor in determining the outcome and luck less so.

Lastly I would like to note that playing with a clock suits me perfectly. I have lost count of the times I've played Warhammer and had my opponent literally spent over 2/3rds of the time we have. That is inherently unfair and some of the biggest "time thieves" I knew from Warhammer now often struggle with the clock in Warmachine. It feels like justice has been served :D

As far as Norway is concerned I think we will be sending a 9th team next year. A couple of cities have gaming groups which play it. I don't know how many there are because it's nearly as dead as AoS in Oslo where I play. KoW is the alternative here for those wanting to play ranked infantry fantasy battle wargames. Conceptually I'm a fan of KoW and I hope the game succeeds. Having said that I haven't tried neither it nor 9th at all so game differences are not considered.

---

Wow, that was a way longer reply than I had intended. Hope it will be worth the read for y'all ;)
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
sparkytrypod
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Location: ireland

Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1622 Post by sparkytrypod »

thanks for the reply bud.

where you moving to?

i must read up on warmahordes, the models do interest me but none of our group play it unfortunately. id say we haven't played any war-games in 3-4 months, :( hoping to give 9th a spin this weekend. Ireland has such a small and broken gaming community that it makes most sense for us to follow the ETC as it is generally these guys that organize tournaments here.

i totally get what you are saying regarding 9th being a life support, i am hoping kings of war takes off for the reasons you mentioned. Visually it looks good and you have a clock.
death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain

do an rpg personality test, im from Ireland and I get...

[CENTER][url=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm][img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/24.jpg[/img][/url][/CENTER
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1623 Post by Curu Olannon »

I'm just moving to a bigger apartment in Oslo. I bought my first apartment with my girlfriend last year. Now we want more space, seeing as the first one was rather tiny.

Fragmented gaming groups are a problem without a doubt. In my experience it takes someone with a missionary approach almost to get things rolling. The problem with switching systems though is that there's a big investment in buying new models. I've spent around $1.000 thus far on Warmahordes and I am not even close to having a complete collection (enough models to vary a bit but there are many builds I cannot play as of now).

I guess it might be easier if you try and find an existing community. I'm sure Warmahordes is already played and established in Ireland (they managed a respectable 15th place out of 51 attending teams at this year's WTC: http://www.discountgamesinc.com/tournam ... ts/view/73) ;)

Going with the ETC makes sense, but it also means that you are inherently spending time on a system whose future you don't believe in. You guys came to Sheffield last year so you're already willing to travel. I think what you need is a little push, one way or the other, to simply decide which system you want to be playing. Although wargaming is a niche hobby I'm certain that you'll find plenty of action in both 9th, KoW and Warmahordes in Northern Europe throughout 2016 :) The advantage with the former two is of course that the armies you already have can be used.
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
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Browncastle
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1624 Post by Browncastle »

Hey Curu, Id like to Invite you to our first 9th age tournament, in Stavanger. Warcry, has booked metropolis for a tournament in march. Our target is about 20+ attendents. I know most Fantasy players in Kristiansand, have started playing 9th, and here locally fantasy has now moved to 9th. Ive heard that Oslo is now more or less all warmachine, what a shame:P

Id really like to see some of the old fantasy top dogs, taking the trip.
[url]http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41281[/url]
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1625 Post by Curu Olannon »

Heya :) Unfortunately for your tournament, what you heard is correct. Warmachine & Hordes is by far the biggest in Oslo now with an exploding community. Some people play KoW as well (and personally I hope this game grows as well and becomes the de facto fantasy wargame) but I haven't heard of anyone playing 9th.

While I'd love to make the trip to play as I believe Norway's gaming community should hold together and create bonds, I simply can't prioritize going to a tournament for a game I don't play. All my focus is on Warmahordes now. Some players are hybrids but I am not, whatever I do I do 100%.

I wish you all the best of luck with Warcry :)
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1626 Post by Curu Olannon »

Hello Ulthuan! It's been a while :) I just thought I'd stop by to check up on y'all and give you a little update on my own endeavours.

The last year has been pretty crazy. I've played around a dozen tournaments of Warmahordes and done very well in a number of them, 5 first place finishes (including the Swedish Masters!) and the rest mostly around top 5. The gaming community in Oslo is better than it's ever been, literally buzzing with activity. Last weekend I played 11 games from Friday -> Sunday. Warmachine & Hordes released a new major ruleset this summer and it's a great improvement to an already exceptionally well made game.

I hope you all are well and are still enjoying miniature wargaming. From what I gather all major platforms struggle to recruit players, at least in Norway. I hope at least one prevails so that people who still love the fantasy setting can play in said setting.

Tomorrow there's another tournament and tournaments is part of the reason I started writing this post: I am going to the Netherlands twice this year as well as another trip to Sweden. I hope to make it to London next year to a major event there. If anyone's interested in meeting up I'd love to arrange for it, have a few beers or whatever and just chill out. I used to play computer games a lot. Part of the reason I switched to miniature gaming is the event and people aspect of the hobby. Although I have never met most of you guys I still feel I know you and as such it would be great to meet up.

If you're interested leave a reply or a PM and we'll figure out the details :)

Oh, the Swedish Masters finals is on YouTube. If you're interested you can check it out here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoGU2YO ... xeXdI-v8PE
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
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Giladis
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1627 Post by Giladis »

It is good to hear you are having fun.
Ferny
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1628 Post by Ferny »

Do you have contact at all with the T9A ETC team? I met one of them at a small tourney in Manchester earlier this year - definitely seemed a very competent player (as you'd expect!), and a really nice guy. He had (in old money, as you're not a T9A person) a mono-slaanesh army, really well painted too, with a nice centerpiece Greater Deamon. I hope Norway do well, it seems such a shame the scene got shattered given how good you guys were. I am glad you've found a new avenue to devote your competitive wargaming into though, and it sounds like you're excelling at it too :).
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1629 Post by Curu Olannon »

I have sporadic online contact with a few of the T9A ETC team members.

Norway's ETC result this year wasn't great but they took home best sportsmanship :)
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
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Giladis
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Re: Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

#1630 Post by Giladis »

They were giving away hearts and sausages. It would have been strange if they haven't won it :mrgreen:
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