Dr. Z’s Mailbag (Special Holiday Celebrity Edition)
This month’s mail bag will be made up mostly of questions not posed to me by this hobbies wide ranging cast of bloggers, podcasters, and generally good looking guys.
Without further adieu and presented to you in red and green for your (nondenominational) holiday enjoyment, real questions from real people who didn’t ask them.
Reece Robbins: Hey, Reecius here from Frontline Gaming. You can find my question on our website frontlinegaming.org, or on our twitter page also Frontline Gaming (@ReeceRobbins). You can also see the video I posted of my question on our YouTube channel Frontline Gaming. Or you could stop by our store Frontline Gaming located in sunny Martinez, CA where I’ll ask you my question for 20% off. While you’re here you can pick up one of our Frontline Gaming and Tablewars F.A.T. Mats.
Doctor Z: Reece, you can find my answer atdoctorzslaboratory.blogspot.com
For the record I also received a letter from Fellow Deldar player Frankie Giampapa but I make it my practice not to respond to anything written in crayon.
Kenny Boucher: Yo dog, the boys and I want to know of the literally 1 billion pimps in 40k who’s holiday pimp hand is the strongest? This debate is getting real, I need your Yoda like Guidance to help keep it fresh up in here.
DZ: this guy.
Kenny again: Word, I was hoping you’d say that.
Carl Tuttle: Hey Doctor Z big fan of everything you and everyone else does. I just got back from my second trip to England. And while I was there I went to Warhammer World in Nottingham which is in England, where I was for the second time. I was just wondering why everyone calls Warhammer “plastic crack” it’s simply not true. At least that’s what all the Black library novelists I know personally and spoke to when I was in England told me… when I went there for the second time… to England.
DZ: Carl, you might be right, “Plastic Crack” may be a little strong of a term. I think in your case plastic was just the gateway drug. Clearly you have a resin problem. I have it on good authority you were seen in the men’s room at Warhammer world with a lighter, a spoon, and some pre-heresy Word Bearers shoulder pads. Get help man.
32mm Base Manufacturer: Doctor Z, I’ve got great news just in time for Christmas our 32mm bases are available as stocking stuffers for anybody that plays a Space Marine army… but I mean you don’t have to use them…
DZ: F@%K you.
Kenny again, again:
Word, I was hoping you’d say that.
In non-made up mailbag news
I’ve gotten a couple of very nice emails from people over the course of the first 2 months that I’ve been doing this. And I thought I’d share some of them.
I got this first one just before I sat down to write this it’s from a native Spanish speaker so go easy on his language (I have no excuse).
Salute Doctor.
I’m Korvalus, collaborateur and staff member of the spanish blog Cargad (You’re welcome here. Hope you understand the language). I’m in charge of the Warhammer 40.000 section in said blog and sometimes I read other blogs posts and see what’s out there. Recently I read the post you wrote, Don’t forget to love the game in the portal Bell of lost souls. I have to admit that I liked it, a lot.
But one thing that I liked most was the part that you said that you are a competitive player. That left me… bluffed.
First and foremost, I have to admit that it isn’t the first time I met that kind of player in the tabletop. Being me more focused in the “fun” part of the hobby and doing fluffy lists, you can guess how it usually ends… This leaves me with a certain impression of competitive players, and yes, it’s not a good one. I hate your guts (no offense, at least for you), intensely. I feel like the level of powergaming in the competitive fanbase has skyrocketed and worst of it, is spilling to the rest of the fanbase. Practically I blame such kind of players of the actual state of the fandom, even if I ACTUALLY believe that it is not (entirely) your fault. People asked, and those players delivered. I agree that if you travel X000 km to play a tournament you don’t go to make friends, but that attitude has spilled to the more common playing gound in recent years and is spoiling the fun of those who, like me, doesn’t care about “overpowered unit”-spam lists or uses armies and units because we like them (I play CSM, go figures. Even I know that they lack things).
Yes, I’m ranting. Too much bile accumulated. Sorry for that.
What I meant is that, having such image about competitive players, one of them start talking about playing games just for the heck of it, playing what you want, even if it isn’t “optimal”, talk about units and characters background made by their players(this specially hit me deeply. I’m one of such) and coolness of the looks of a model (that Tu’Shan can only look awesome. Any pic?). In short, things that seem too alien to the mindset I builded about your kind of player surprised me in the good way. Now I know that not all of competitive players are like I used to believe, and makes me not lose faith in that kind of player yet. Yes, there will exist people like I described, but at least I’m going to give the rest a chance. Blame to you for that.
Of the post itself… What can I say? That, especially the fluff part is what I’m trying to educate to other players, in Cargad or in my local groups. And some listen, while other are genuinely surprised of that point of view. I can only agree word for word to the idea. Many more shoud know that way to view the hobby. Not game, which the game is only a part, but hobby.
So my most sincere thank you, Doctor, for the post. For illuminate me about the competitive players and for the post itself.
Seeya, and hope many 6’s (unless in Ld checks) to you.
Korvalus
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| Oh my, I’m all a-flutter |
DZ: First of all thanks for the email. I decided to post it in its entirety despite the length because it says so many nice things about me. It also brings up an important subject that I hadn’t even considered when writing last week’s column. We as competitive players really do have to make an effort not to be dicks. The gap between casual and competitive army builds has never been bigger than it has been the last year or so and I would say the responsibility is on us as the more competitive players to make sure that everyone has a good time. If you’ve got a Lance Formation and your opponent is rocking Khorne Berserkers you should probably rethink your choice or you could make us all look bad. I know for a fact that I’ve failed to do this in the past and immediately regretted it. I’d say only about 1 in 20 tournament players are just dicks, but it’s not hard for the rest of us to come off that way on occasion if we’re not careful.
Made-up Kenny Boucher: Word, always practice responsible 40k
I got this one shortly after my A Misunderstood Evil Part 3 Column went up this one is from an Italian (I think).
Michele says: Great article! 🙂 I like it very much and I have to say that your articles are pushing me to the dark side of the Eldar…. I had enough of being the good guy when everyone is saying “yeh, you won with the eldar, ‘cose Eldar are broken”. They don’t like us to be the good guys…. so let show them how evil we can be….! :-p
I’ve read that your next article will be about “how to defeat xxxxxxxxx”…
There are 2 lists in my meta that I am afraid of:
– the white scars moto death-star list (that one with a ton of grav gun, 3+ cover, 3+ invul shield, s8 vp2 hammer, -and they are quik and ignore dangerous terrain… they seem a wind rider list, but really much stronger!)
– and that daemons unit, that one with the 2+ inv REROLLABLE save, really fast, multiple wound, hard hitting…. a nightmare! You can put a wound on them after 108 shots (BS4 poisoned 4+.) and that will not even reduces their offensive potential… Meanwhile the rest of his army is free to do whatever he likes… s o, how can we deal with them? they are too strong to ignore them, too fast to run away, our unit are too small to block them in combat (I guess they would also have Hit & Run); and I don’t like the idea of them eating every unit he wants….
DZ: Michele, the fourth part of that series is still forthcoming but I need to play some of these matchups a little more before I post the article so it may be a while yet. That or I could just make stuff up. In the mean time if anyone has advice there is a comment section below.
This guy is American. Well kind of, he’s from Texas.
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| This is the face I made when I watched his movie |
Mail bag
Once again if you’ve hated everything I’ve had to say or if you have a 40k related question or comment of any type please send it to me at [email protected] and I may just but it in my next mailbag column
Do you have advice for Michele? Do you have a great Idea for a 40k movie? Are you Kenny Bucher, Carl Tuttle or Reece Robbins’ Lawyer. if so tell me in the comments?
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