A new GW Embargo dawns on the USA.

 

Hello there Reader.

 

Back in 2011 we published an article sharing with our readers our info about the imminent enforcement back then of new trade policies concerning independent retailers. In what was to be known as the “GW Embargo” Games Workshop prohibited trade account holders based in the European Community of reselling their products to consumers outside the EU.

 

It should come as no surprise that the hobby community down here in Brazil was severely affected by those new policies given that most of us here purchased from the two giant retailing stores in the UK back them.

 

One of the ways people found of circumventing the embargo was purchasing from US based stores. Their shipping charges were not as reasonable as the ones from European stores but we could still purchase our models at discounted prices.

 

It seems that window has now been closed by yet another of GW’s trade policies. In a document dated March 15^th 2013 addressing North American Trade Account holders GW’s disclosed its new blow against consumer base and independent retailers alike.

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Black Templars Vs Blood Angels – Battle report.

 

Hello Reader.

 

It might sound strange to you seeing me posting stuff here on the blog after having just complained I had no internet access right? Well, I have had today’s post in the pipes for a while, just hadn’t had the time to sit down and write it before the move. Even the pictures had already been uploaded to Photobucket so it was only a matter of sitting down and writing the article. Yes, the internet is still down here but I’m using a horrible 3G connection to try and keep things running. Let’s see how long that’ll work.

 

Wee, it’s been a while since I last published a Battle Report here on the blog, and since the one featuring my Eldar against Ton’s Blood Angels seems to be one of the favourite posts here on the blog it’s only fair enough I give you more epic combat in the grim, dark future of Warhammer 40.000.

 

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Planet Nimbus – Tamit IV.

Strata – The Ebony Gardens.

 

The early morning breeze blew over the leftovers of what was once a thriving imperial city. Constant orbital bombardment on an earlier engagement had reduced the sky high hab-buildings and Administratum palaces into little more than rubble.

 

The Ebony Gardens which were once, according to the planetary governor Lord Hertz, the three hundredth twenty third marvel of the Imperium were now the stage of a massacre. The Imperial forces led by the Lord Inquisitor Xerxerius had been ambushed and systematically butchered by imperial renegades. A brave few, led by First Sergeant Hermovitus of the first Austral Phalanx, managed to reach the prize they were fighting over, a crio tube marked as “=][= Traitoris Extremis – Malek =][=”,  only to be reduced to cinder and ash as the powerful hexagramic protections put in place over the crio tube worked to prevent it from being opened.

 

Now the prized crio tube lay amidst the corpses and wreckage of those who fought to reclaim it. The huge human form within stood still, biding his time as his nefarious influence compelled others to him. He’d be free again. He was sure of it.

 

Meanwhile hidden amongst the ruins scavengers moved cautiously picking up anything salvageable from the corpses of those who had died here. There were more deadly predators stalking the battlefield, but these were a lot stealthier than the human dregs and went unnoticed thus far. Dressed in bright red armour and donning the winged blood drop symbol of the Blood Angels chapter these super human soldiers scanned the area using their magnoculars.

 

+++ We’ve located the package Captain+++ We’re marking its location on the grid with laser designators for the extraction team+++ Awaiting further orders sir+++

 

+++ Acknowledged+++ Scout team Alfa proceed towards your extraction site+++ We’ll take it from here+++ Good Job+++

 

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The marine pilot of the foremost Rhino let the engine of the vehicle power down to an idle humming as it stopped in front of an old warehouse. A second Rhino stopped advancing behind the same warehouse offering some measure of support to the brother spearheading the extraction mission.

 

 

 

Orders had been issued by the Blood Angels’ Taskforce Commander on Tamitzaa, Captain Manus himself, to verify the distress signal from a crashed transport ship and recover anything of value. Apparently there were other parties interested in recovering what they were after

 

Close by two units of Black Templars, a mix of Initiates and Neophytes occupied positions on the battlefield intent on securing what they believed was a valuable asset on the fight to save the Tamit system from impending doom. The first of them, led by a Marshal, chose to occupy the rear of a miraculously intact plascrete bunker while the second unit occupied the ruins of what was once a water distribution facility.

 

 

 

 

Recognizing the threat posed by the Black Templars to the completion of his assigned mission the Blood Angels’ captain committed his forces to a head on assault on the Templar forces.

The safeguard of vital information gathered by the early deployment of scouts was entrusted to a pair of veterans entombed in Dreadnoughts and a small squad of Assault Marines. A squad of Devastators which accompanied the extraction mission deployed quickly into the battlefield occupying a bunker adjacent to the warehouse. At the same time a Baal Predator and a Predator Annihilator advanced towards the Black Templars trying to use the ruins of another bunker to gain cover. A Land Raider, trusting its layers of ceramite armour advanced openly towards the Black Templar squad occupying the ruins of the water distribution facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having received no answers to his attempts to communicate with the Blood Angel force a d realizing the situation was quickly spiralling out of control the Black Templar’s Marshal also committed his accompanying forces to battle deploying a Land Raider of his own, an Assault Squad and a Predator Annihilator to counter the advancing Blood Angels’ Rhinos which threatened his position. On the western flank another Predator Annihilator advanced onto the battlefield taking aim on the Baal Predator, shooting, and finally immobilizing the enemy tank thus nullifying the threat posed by its short ranged weaponry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Predator deployed to counter the Blood Angels’ advance opened fire and managed to immobilize one of the Rhinos. The Second Rhino was assaulted and destroyed by the Black Templars’ Assault Squad which employed its melta bombs to deadly effect. The immobilized Rhino was assaulted by a squad of Assault Terminators which disembarked from the Land Raider. Despite their powerfull weaponry the Terminators were unable to dispose of the damaged Rhino.

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing their brethren were perilously threatened the Space Marines aboard the remaining Rhino disembarked and prepared a counter charge against the Black Templars. Two squads of Assault Marines and a Captain of the Blood Angels engaged in close quarters against a squad of Terminators led by The Emperor’s Champion and an Assault Squad. In the vicious fight which ensued the tally reaped by the Templars was higher, including the ill-fated Blood Angels’ Captain, and the squad that acted as his retinue fell back leaving the Assault Squad from the destroyed Rhino behind to face their destiny.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Black Templars still had forces to commit to battle and a Dreadnought dropped from the skies aboard a Drop Pod peppering the retreating Blood Angels with a fusillade of shells. The Terminators finished off the Blood Angel Assault Squad and advanced towards the enemy occupied ruins.

 

 

 

 

Elsewhere on the battlefield Blood Angels’ reinforcements arrived in the form of the legendary Sanguinary Guard which arrived with firm intend of removing the Black Templars from their cache of retrieved data from the crash site. The Blood Angels’ Land Raider also disgorged its terminator upon the Black Templar Squad occupying the ruins of the water distribution facility.

 

 

 

 

 

The Sanguinary Guard started firing upon the Marshal’s squad behind the bunker while the terminators from the Blood Angels fought the Black Templars amidst the ruins.

 

 

 

After losing the remaining Terminators to the Devastators fire the Black Templar Marshal voxed an order to the Land Raider that advanced towards the Blood Angels entrenched on the warehouse ruins.

 

 

More Blood Angels reinforcements show up in the form of a Land Speeder which aims to arrive in a position to threaten the Black Templars objective but scatters away.

 

 

 

Despite the immense punishment inflicted upon them by the Black Templars the Blood Angels still kept coming. After being displaced of the objective it had been protecting the Marshal realized the folly of fighting a fellow astartes chapter. There was no glory here, no greater cause being pursued, only the wasting of precious soldiers lives.

 

+++ To all Black Templar forces+++ This is Marshal Adon+++ Disengage from the Blood Angels’ forces and regroup at our set rally point+++

 

+++What about our objective sir?+++ We’re close to dislodging the Blood Angels and securing the battlefield+++

 

+++That was an order pilot+++ Disengage immediately+++ They fought hard to keep their prize, let them have it+++

 

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And I guess that’s it. As you can tell the Blood Angels won this game pulling a victory on the last few turns after being pummelled by the Black Templars during most of the game. Perhaps me assuming captaincy over the Black Templars had something to do with this. The fact remains that due to their special rule which demands they advance towards the enemy after suffering a wound (and after passing a Ld test) Black Templar squads make for very poor objective holders.

 

Over and out.

 

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Da Fork of Mork III – 1st Place “Best Painted Army” & “Overall Champion” interview.

 

 

Hello there.

I bring you today the third, and final, interview with the winners of the “Da Fork of Mork III” Tournament.

If you’re a regular here you’ll probably already know this, but for the sake of any newcomers I shall repeat myself. I’m from Brazil and this country is huge. It should come as no surprise that our gaming community is spread all across our continental country hence most of us only know each other through the internet, either by chatting over at MSN or through exchanging messages at the Brazilian web forum.

Our interviewee today is one such guy. I’ve known Cristiano “Normal” for a while now, we first met over the internet but since then I’ve had the privilege of meeting him in person when he attended an earlier edition of the Fork of Mork (or was it a Spoon of Gork?) bringing alongside him his incredibly painted Orks. I was in awe of his models and not only remember bugging him about what colors he had used on his Ork’s flesh but also havea been following, with enthusiasm, his exploits in the wargaming world. Here’s some examples of his early work:

 

 

 

If we lived in The Matrix back then, I would have said Normal was one of the “potentials”. Has he become “The One” yet? I won’t know for sure but he surely has been taking large steps towards that. It came as no surprise to me when I was told he had won the 1st place prize for “Best Painted Army” and “Overal Champion” to boot.

Again I’ll let you, the reader, be the judge of how accurate his conquests were judging from the following photos taken from his army:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incredible right? I know. I was flabbergasted as well when he first started churning out his Space Marines. Well I’ll let the man speak for himself now. Here are his answers to our questions:

 
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The Painting Frog: First of all I’d like to congratulate you not only for winning one of the “Best Painted Army” prizes awarded at the Fork of Mork III tournament but also the “Overall Champion” prize. What are your considerations about the event? Were there any negative aspects to it? What could be improved in future editions of it? What would you like to see in a 4th FoM?

Cristiano “Normal”: Thanks! The event was really nice, the place is great, broad and with easy access from the subway, the gaming tables were fantastic, which gives an extra flavor when we play on them. The choices for the missions were very good too, giving a good variety for the games since every match had a different objective; I think this is much better than just hacking and slashing. I don´t remember anything negative from the event, except maybe the low number of attendants that was fewer than I expected. I don´t know if anything could be done about this, everybody has their own agendas, maybe not all can attend a 2 days event. In a FoM IV I expect to meet new people and meeting the others that are always there.

The Painting Frog: You’ve won the first prize at the “Best Painted Army” category awarded at the 3rd FoM with a Space Marine army. Could you comments on the reasons why you chose this army and about the assembly and painting process you adopted with it?

Cristiano “Normal”: The Marines were one of my first choices when I started with the hobby, perhaps because of the starter set (Battle for Macragge), along with the Tyranids. But I fell in love with the Orks and for about 2 years I dedicated myself only to them. At the beginning of 2011 a motivational challenge was started at the Warhammer Brasil forum and I decided to assemble them, and at the same time take a break from the Orks, since assembling and painting a horde can be quite exhaustive. I began choosing a color that I like (blue) at the same it is easier than painting reds or yellows. The first thoughts were to build an Ultramarines army, but in the end of 2010 I decided to create my own chapter, and after a lot of research on the web I decided to build them directly associated with the Adeptus Mechanicus. Despite the “official” colour for them being red, I kept the blue simply because I like it, but to separate them from the Ultramarines, I chose a tone of grey for the shoulder pads, weapons and vehicles. After this, I just fitted these colours in the “fluff” that I´m still writing. It was also my opportunity for more serious “scratchbuilding” and developing my skills with freehands.

The Painting Frog: The paintjob displayed on your army is really eye catching, especially on the tabletop. The weathering techniques used on them are really incredible. What are your tips for players aiming to achieve a similar result? What is your advice for the player who’s never able to finish painting his army?

Cristiano “Normal”: One must practice, a lot, and be not ashamed on consulting other people or references, like someone else´s miniatures, tutorials or books; you can learn a lot from them, even the ones focused only on the basics. If you compare my first Rhino with my last Predator, you will notice that the weathering is different. At first it was only drybrushes, now is something much more elaborate (but still with some drybrush). You can practice on pieces of plasticard or sprues, or go straight for the model. I go for the 2nd option, I like the challenge of risking something different straight on the model; the tension and care to avoid mistakes help me refine the technique. Even so mishaps happen, but nothing a basic retouch can´t fix. The best tip I can give to someone paint an army, is that you must have patience, eventually you´ll finish hehe. And assume the task, of course. Whoever chooses to paint an Ork army will have more work than one that goes for Marines or Eldar.

The Painting Frog: In your opinion what was the differing feature from your army when compared to the others at the event that might have contributed for your position in the ‘best Painted Army” category?
Cristiano “Normal”: I believe it could be the extra attention I give to details, like highlights. I paint everything I see, and almost always I paint before assembling to make the work easier with some parts. If I did this only in a few models, the details are evident if you look closer, but having done in all of them, the overall effect is more beautiful and evident.

The Painting Frog: How do you approach building an army list for a tournament? What determines the inclusion of a given unit over another? What about painting an unit/army? When participating on a tournament such as the FoM III which rewards excellence in different aspects of the hobby, do you focus in a single one of them, in your case the painting?
Cristiano “Normal”: This is where it becomes catchy for me, since I have little experience with the game itself, but I try to fill a little of each role that can be useful in the match, like long range weapons, infantry for close combat and contest objectives, etc. But I think I have much to learn yet, I need to play more! As for painting, it is always better to paint a whole unit before the next, and have a good planning with color schemes for infantry and vehicles, to keep things more uniform. Unless the focus in the army is a large variety of colors between units. In the specific case of FoM III, my greater focus really was the painting, since I know I´m not the most experienced player (I rarely play), I did my best to get the most points I could with the painting.

The Painting Frog: What’s your opinion about the importance of painting an army in order to accrue points and compete in the “Overall Champion” category in events such as the 3rd FoM?

Cristiano “Normal”: It´s essencial! See my case, with the points from painting, I jumped from a 4th place as general to first overall! This was also an advice you (Estevao from The Painting Frog) gave me at the 2nd FoM in 2009, and if I recall you were also overall champion like this.

The Painting Frog: Finally what are your tips for other players that wish to become more proficient in painting and want to win painting prizes at tournaments? What are your future plans for your Space Marines? Any tournaments you look forward to attending?

Cristiano “Normal”: Paint you army with this goal in mind, and not only to have a whole painted army. Is like entering a contest, you seek to give your best. My next step with my Marines will be to add a few other units to make the list more competitive, at the same time expanding the army to Apocalypse with some super-heavy vehicles and titans, and also the complete 2nd company. I intend to dedicate the next year (2012) for this, and also for my Orks! But no other tournaments in sight for now, just waiting for the next FoM!

 

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And with that we wrap up our series of articles about Da Fork of Mork III. I hope not only to have instilled in you the desire to participate in organized competitive gaming but also to have contributed that you do so with information which might contribute, not only for your victories on the tournament field, but also to your overall enjoyment of the hobby

See you around soon.

 
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Salve Leitor.

Pra finalizar a sequencia de artigos sobre o “Da Fork of Mork III” trago hoje a última das entrevistas realizadas com alguns dos vencedores do torneio.

Posso começar falando que se tivesse rolado um bolão sobre os resultados do FoM III eu teria acertado pelo menos 3 deles. Assim como cantei a bola de que o Tavitin levaria o prêmio de “Melhor General” eu também apostei no Cristiano pra levar “Melhor Army Pintado” e “Campeão Geral”. Bola de cristal em casa? Não, acho que foi mesmo conhecimento de causa.

Assim como sabia que o Otávio vinha mandando muito bem jogando com os Dark Eldar (ainda mais levando em conta o desempenho do cara no Torneio Polar onde ele esbugalhou seus competidores) eu, e o restante da galera do Warhammer Brasil, pudemos acompanhar a construção do exército de Space Marines do Cristiano “Normal” ao longo de 2011 e, a menos que alguém surpreendesse aparecendo com um army nunca antes visto, era claro pra mim que esse prêmio seria dele.

Pra quem ainda não o conhece o Cristiano “Normal” já é um dos veteranos da comunidade e desde que ele apareceu com seus Orks numa edição anterior do FoM (ou seria um SoG?) venho acompanhando o fantástico trabalho do cara. As fotos que abrem este artigo mostram justamente esse trabalho anterior.

Se o cara já se esmerava na pintura dos Orks (e nas conversões já que a buzzsaw do kopta que ilustra o artigo não é nada menos que incrível) o que dizer desse army de Space Marines? Executado com maestria o army é impecável e mostra um dos “weatherings” (envelhecimento) mais fantásticos que já vi executados em um exército brasileiro. Pra não ficar soando como um fã babão do trabalho do cara deixo uma vez mais que as fotos que ilustram o artigo ilustrem meu entusiasmo.

Assim, sem mais enrolação, as respostas do Normal as nossas perguntas:

 
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The Painting Frog: Em primeiro lugar parabéns por sua colocação na categoria “Melhor Exército Pintado” no torneio Fork of Mork III. Quais são suas considerações acerca do evento? Houveram aspectos negativos? O que poderia ser melhorado em edições futuras? O que você gostaria de ver num FoM IV?

Cristiano “Normal”: Obrigado! O evento foi muito bom, o lugar é ótimo (o mesmo do FoM II), é amplo e de muito fácil acesso, e as mesas estavam fantásticas, o que dá um gostinho a mais na hora de jogar. A escolha e preparação das missões foram muito boas também, o que deu uma boa variedade nos jogos, já que cada partida tinha um objetivo diferente; eu particularmente acho isso muito melhor do que o mata-mata tradicional. Não me recordo de nada que tenha afetado negativamente o evento, exceto talvez o número de participantes, que foi menor do que eu esperava. Não sei o que poderia ser feito pra incentivar mais gente a ir jogar, cada um tem suas ocupações e talvez nem todos possam se dedicar à um evento de dois dias. No FoM IV espero ver mais gente nova e voltar a encontrar o pessoal de sempre!

The Painting Frog: Você venceu na categoria “melhor Exército Pintado” no FoM III com um exército de Space Marines. Você poderia tecer alguns comentários acerca da escolha desse exército e do processo de pintura e confecção do mesmo?

Cristiano “Normal”: Os Marines foram uma das minhas escolhas iniciais quando comecei no hobby, talvez pela facilidade da caixa básica (Battle for Macragge), juntamente com os Tyranids. Mas acabei me apaixonando pelos Orks e por uns 2 anos me dediquei só a eles, praticamente. No ínício de 2011 houve a abertura dos tópicos do Desafio Motivacional no fórum Warhammer Brasil e decidi começar a montá-los, ao mesmo tempo que tirava um descanso dos Orks, já que montar e pintar uma horda pode ser um tanto enjoativo. Comecei escolhendo uma cor que eu gosto, azul no caso, ao mesmo tempo que é mais fácil de pintar do que um vermelho ou amarelo por exemplo. A idéia original era fazer Ultramarines, mas no fim de 2010 decidi criar um Capítulo, e depois de pesquisar bastante na net, decidi fazê-los diretamente ligados ao Adeptus Mechanicus. Apesar da cor oficial do Mechanicus ser o vermelho, mantive o azul simplesmente por gosto pessoal, e pra não ficar igual demais aos Ultramarines, escolhi um tom de cinza para as ombreiras, que depois também seria usado nas armas dos marines, assim como nos veículos. Depois dei um jeito de encaixar essas cores no “Fluff” que ainda estou bolando. Foi a minha oportunidade também de começar a praticar “scratchbuilding” e desenvolver pinturas à mão livre (os “freehands”).

The Painting Frog: A pintura do exército realmente chama a atenção na mesa de jogo. Em especial as técnicas de envelhecimento (weathering) empregadas. Quais são suas dicas para quem busca um resultado semelhante? Quais são as dicas para o jogador que não consegue terminar de pintar seu army?

Cristiano “Normal”: Tem que praticar, bastante, e não ter receio de consultar outras pessoas ou referências, como fotos de outras miniaturas, tutoriais ou livros específicos; dá pra aprender bastante com eles, mesmo os que se concentram mais no básico. Quem fizer alguma comparação entre o meu primeiro Rhino e o último Predator, verá que o weathering é diferente. Inicialmente era apenas “drybrush”, agora é algo bem mais elaborado (mas ainda há etapas de “drybrush” hehe). Você pode praticar em pedaços de plasticard ou de sprue, ou ir direto para o modelo. Eu uso a segunda opção, gosto do desafio de arriscar fazer algo diferente diretamente na miniatura; a tensão e o cuidado para não errar muito, me ajudam a refinar a técnica. Mesmo assim erros acontecem e fazem parte; nada que uma repintada básica no local não resolva. A melhor dica que acho que posso dar pra quem tem dificuldade em terminar de pintar um exército é ter paciência, eventualmente você vai acabar hehe. E assumir a tarefa, claro. Quem decide pintar um exército de Orks vai ter bem mais trabalho do que quem vai de Marines ou Eldar, por exemplo.

The Painting Frog: Em sua opinião qual foi o diferencial do seu exército em relação aos demais que possa ter contribuído para sua vitória?

Cristiano “Normal”: Acredito que tenha sido a atenção extra que dei aos detalhes e ao acabamento, como os “highlights”. Eu pinto tudo o que eu enxergo, e geralmente pinto antes de montar algumas partes, pra facilitar o trabalho. Se fosse só uma miniatura ou outra os detalhes só ficam evidentes olhando mais de perto, mas fazendo em todas, dá um visual geral mais bonito e evidente.

The Painting Frog: Qual a sua forma de abordar a confecção de uma lista para torneios? O que determina a inclusão ou não de determinada unidade? E no que diz respeito à pintura de uma unidade/exército? Ao participar de um torneio como o FoM III que premia a excelência em diversos aspectos do hobby você se foca em tão somente um deles, no caso a pintura?

Cristiano “Normal”: Essa parte é a que me pega, já que tenho pouca prática com o jogo em si, mas no geral eu procuro atender um pouco de cada função que pode ser útil no jogo, como armas de longo alcance, infantaria para bater no corpo a corpo e pegar objetivos, etc. Mas ainda acho que tenho muito a aprender nesse aspecto, preciso jogar mais haha. Quanto à pintura é melhor sempre pintar a unidade toda de uma vez, e ter um planejamento prévio com esquema de cores tanto para infantaria quanto para os veículos, assim fica tudo mais uniforme. A não ser é claro que o foco do exército que está sendo pintado seja a variedade de cores entre diferentes unidades. No caso específico do FoM III, meu foco maior realmente foi a pintura, já que sabendo que não sou exatamente um jogador experiente (raramente jogo), fiz o meu melhor para conseguir o máximo de pontos que pudesse com a pintura.

The Painting Frog: Qual sua opinião acerca da importância da pintura de um army para fins de pontuação na premiação da categoria “Campeão Geral” adotada no FoM?

Cristiano “Normal”: É fundamental! Veja o meu caso mesmo, que com os pontos de pintura, pulei de quarto lugar como general para o primeiro lugar na pontuação geral! Isso inclusive foi um conselho seu (Estevão) dado no FoM II em 2009 e se bem me lembro você também foi campeão geral de uma maneira parecida.

The Painting Frog: Por fim quais são suas dicas para outros jogadores que almejam ficar em primeiro lugar na categoria de pintura do exército? Quais são os planos futuros para seus Space Marines? Algum torneio em vista?

Cristiano “Normal”: Pintar o exército com esse objetivo em mente, não apenas para ter um exército todo pintado. É como participar de um concurso, você procura dar o seu melhor. Meu próximo passo com os Marines é montar e pintar algumas unidades para tentar deixar a lista mais competitiva, mas ao mesmo tempo com a intenção de expandir o exército pra Apocalypse com alguns super-heavy vehicles e titans, assim como a 2a companhia completa. Pretendo dedicar o próximo ano para isso, também para os meus Orks! Mas sem torneios em vista por enquanto, apenas aguardando o próximo FoM!

Grande abraço!

 
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E acho que era isso. Concluímos aqui a série de artigos focada no Da Fork of Mork III, esperando não só ter feito justiça ao trabalho dos organizadores, mas principalmente ter fornecido à você Leitor e colega de hobby subsídios para decidir, ou não, participar de um torneio e, em caso positivo, informações que o ajudem a se preparar para fazê-lo.

Até a próxima e um grande abraço.

 
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Da Fork of Mork III – 2nd place “Best Painted Army” interview.

Hello there.

Today I bring you the second installment of our series of interviews with the winners of the “Da Fork of Mork III” tournament held in São Paulo, Brazil, in November 2011.

Hailing from Minas Gerais this was the first tournament (if I’m not mistaken) attended by Marcus “Arminor”, where he took home the prize for 2nd “Best Painted Army” of the event. Having painted a lot of Black Templars for a friend recently I can appreciate how much he invested into painting this beautifully painted crusade.

I’ll let the photographs speak for themselves:

 

 

 

 

 
Here are his answers to our questions:

 

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The Painting Frog: First of all I’d like to congratulate you for winning one of the “Best Painted Army” prizes awarded at the Fork of Mork III tournament. What are your considerations about the event? Were there any negative aspects to it? What could be improved in future editions of it? What would you like to see in a 4th FoM?

Marcus “Arminor”: I’d like to start by thanking the organizers of the event because they’ve given their blood in order to make the 3rd FoM a reality. This has been my first 40K tournament outside my hometown and it surpassed my expectations with great localization, pleasant and spacious environment and with gaming tables worthy of photos like those we see on GW’s website. I also have no complaints about the organization as everything went according to plan and I had a good time. I don’t believe there were any negative aspects but I hope that we have more players with painted armies on the 4th FoM. Anyone who missed this year did so at their own loss!!!

The Painting Frog: You’ve won the 2nd place prize for the aforementioned category with a Space Marine Army, Black Templars specifically. Could you make some comments about the reasons why you chose this army and about the assembly and painting process you adopted with it?

Marcus “Arminor”: Honestly I was surprised with my placement as I never imagined a “black army” would stand out amongst the “colored” ones which are more eye-catching. I’ve chosen the Black Templars because of their codex rules and the focus in close quarter combat but I have plans for another Space Marine army (Imperial Fists). Before I started painting I tried to convert and add variety to all miniatures. It took me three months to work on the army as I have little spare time so, sometimes, I invested all my weekend to speed up the process. I also researched a lot about colors and details so I could spice up the black base color and in the end I really liked the final result.

The Painting Frog: The paintjob of your army is really eye catching, especially on the tabletop. One thing I’d like to point out is the uniformity between the different units which are part of the army and the way you painted the templar cross in many of them. What are your tips for players aiming to achieve a similar result?

Marcus “Arminor”: My advice would be to do extensive research on the internet. The Warhammer Brasil forum has helped me a lot with tips on how to use the paintbrush, which paints to buy (I use Citadel and Vallejo), how to dilute the paint, etc. About the symbols I had to paint some of them (with a lot of practice) and for the decals I had to cut them really close to the symbol in order to make them sit properly on the uneven surfaces.

The Painting Frog: In your opinion what was the differing feature from your army when compared to the others at the event that might have contributed for your position in the ‘best Painted Army” category?

Marcus “Arminor”: I tried to follow what was dictated by the 3rd FoM’s manual when it came to points. As I didn’t have enough time to detail every single miniature I tried to cover the basic points in every one of them, finishing the basic level of scoring points, and then started working on the parts which set the army apart.

The Painting Frog: How do you approach building an army list for a tournament? What determines the inclusion of a given unit over another? When participating on a tournament such as the FoM III which rewards excellence in different aspects of the hobby, do you focus in a single one of them, in your case the painting?

Marcus “Arminor”: I research lists on internet forums to base mine on, but I believe that a well balanced list for tournaments should be tested against a variety of armies to present a good notion of what to use and what to leave out. I believe my list was well balanced to achieve 3rd or even 2nd place as “Best General” but I’ve made many tactical mistakes forgetting the objectives, perhaps given being nervous and emotional for attending a tournament, but also given the gaming level of the other participants. I should add that, overall, my hobby focus lies on gaming over painting.

The Painting Frog: What’s your opinion about the importance of painting an army in order to accrue points and compete in the “Overall Champion” category in events such as the 3rd FoM?

Marcus “Arminor”: Some play, others paint, and others game, paint and invest in this hobby. The return you get in satisfaction from it is really good and thus deserving of the “Overall Champion” title.

The Painting Frog: Finally what are your tips for other players that wish to become more proficient in painting and want to win painting prizes at tournaments? What are your future plans for your Black Templar crusade? Any tournaments you look forward to attending?

Marcus “Arminor”: My advice for other players is dedication, training and liking what you do. The future of my Black Templars is uncertain as we might get a new codex next year (2012) so, for now, I’ll wrap up the painting of my army e game against my friend. As for tournaments I’d like to attend: FoM IV!

 

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And that’s all for today. Next in line is our interview with the winner of 1st place “Best Painted Army” and “Overall Champion” prizes.

See you soon.

 
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Salve Leitor.

Conforme prometido trago hoje a segunda entrevista da sequência realizada com alguns dos jogadores brasileiros premiados na 3ª edição do Fork of Mork.

Nossa entrevista de hoje é com o Marcus “Arminor”. Oriundo das Minas Gerais, mais especificamente Belo Horizonte o pólo mineiro do Warhammer 40K, esse foi o primeiro torneio em que ele participou e já levou pra casa um dos prêmios de “Melhor Army Pintado” com seus Black Templars.

Sem muita rasgação de seda deixo as fotografias do army que ilustram o artigo apresentado falarem por si mesmas:

Também sem delongas a entrevista:

 
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The Painting Frog: Em primeiro lugar parabéns por sua colocação na categoria “Melhor Exército Pintado” no torneio Fork of Mork III. Quais são suas considerações acerca do evento? Houve aspectos negativos? O que poderia ser melhorado em edições futuras? O que você gostaria de ver num FoM IV?

Marcus “Arminor”: Primeiramente parabéns aos organizadores do evento pois deram o sangue para que o FoM III  fosse realizado.Este foi meu primeiro torneio de Warhammer 40k fora de minha cidade e superou minhas expectativas, ótima localização, ambiente agradável, espaçoso com mesas dignas de fotos que se vê no site da Games-Workshop. Quanto a organização nada a reclamar, tudo foi feito conforme estava previsto, no mas foi tudo de bom. Acho que não teve aspectos negativos, mas espero que no FoM IV aumente o numero de jogadores com todos os exércitos pintados. Quem não foi esse ano perdeu!!!

The Painting Frog: Você ficou em 2º lugar na categoria “melhor Exército Pintado” no FoM em São Paulo com um exército de Space Marines. Black Templars especificamente.  Você poderia tecer alguns comentários acerca da escolha desse exército e do processo de pintura e confecção do mesmo?

Marcus “Arminor”: Bom, sinceramente fiquei surpreso com minha colocação, pois nunca imaginei que um exército “preto” poderia se destacar entrou os “coloridos” que chamam mais atenção. Escolhi os Black Templars pelo Codex devido ao combate corpo a corpo, mas tenho planos para outro exercito de Space Marines (Imperial Fist). Antes de pintar tentei  converter e variar todas as miniaturas. Foram três meses de trabalho devido ao meu tempo curto e às vezes investia todo meu final de semana para acelerar o processo.  Pesquisei muito sobre cores e detalhes para destacar o “base color” de preto e no final gostei do resultado.

The Painting Frog: A pintura do exército realmente chama a atenção na mesa de jogo. Em especial a uniformidade entre as diferentes unidades que compõe o exército e a execução do símbolo templário em diversas delas. Quais são suas dicas para quem busca um resultado semelhante?

Marcus “Arminor”: Minha dica é pesquisar muito na internet. O fórum Warhammer Brasil me ajudou bastante sobre dicas de como usar o pincel, qual tinta comprar (eu uso as da citadel e vallejo), como diluir a tinta, etc. Dos símbolos alguns tive que pintar (com muita pratica) e os decal tive que cortar bem rente ao símbolo para adequar bem à superfície que não era plaina.

The Painting Frog: Em sua opinião qual foi o diferencial do seu exército em relação aos demais que possa ter contribuído para sua colocação?

Marcus “Arminor”: Tentei seguir o que dizia no manual do FoM III com relação aos pontos. Como não tinha muito tempo para detalhar cada miniatura resolvi investir geral em todas aplicando menos detalhes para concluir o básico na pontuação e depois passei para as partes que destacavam o army.

The Painting Frog: Qual a sua forma de abordar a confecção de uma lista para torneios? O que determina a inclusão ou não de determinada unidade? Ao participar de um torneio como o FoM III que premia a excelência em diversos aspectos do hobby você se foca em tão somente um deles, no caso a pintura?

Marcus “Arminor”: Pesquiso listas em fóruns para basear a minha, mas, acho que uma lista bem equilibrada para torneios deve ser testada contra vários exércitos para ter uma noção de que usar ou descartar. Acho que minha lista estava equilibrada talvez para conseguir um 3º ou 2º lugar, mas errei muito na estratégia esquecendo o foco do objetivo talvez pelo nervosismo e emoção de estar no torneio e também pelo nível de jogo dos participantes, mas em geral meu foco é mais no jogo do que na pintura.

The Painting Frog: Qual sua opinião acerca da importância da pintura de um army para fins de pontuação na premiação da categoria “Campeão Geral” adotada no FoM?

Marcus “Arminor”: Alguns jogam, outros pintam, outros jogam, pintam e investem nesse hobby. O retorno da satisfação que você tem é muito bom por isso merece o titulo de campeão geral.

The Painting Frog: Por fim quais são suas dicas para outros jogadores que almejam ficar em primeiro lugar na categoria de pintura do exército? Quais são os planos futuros para seus Black templars? Algum torneio em vista?

Marcus “Arminor”: Minha dica para outros jogadores é dedicação, treinamento e principalmente gostar do que faz. O futuro é incerto, talvez no próximo ano tenhamos o novo códex de Black Templar então no momento vou finalizar a pintura e jogar com os amigos. Torneio em vista…. FoM IV !

 
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E é isso por hoje. Em breve a última entrevista da seqüência com os ganhadores do FoM.

Até logo.

 
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Da Fork of Mork III – “Best General” interview.

Hello there.

If you’re a regular reader here at the “The Painting Frog” blog you might have noticed I’m talking a lot about tournaments specially the “Da Fork of Mork III. I understand that by doing so I’m running the risk of sounding tedious with a recurring topic, but I do so consciously as I believe there’s a lot to be gleaned from such an event, especially if you’re entertaining the idea of taking part in one sometime soon.

I happen to have a very particular approach to my wargames as I see each game I play as an unfolding narrative, a story being written as the game is played turn by turn. Playing like that, no matter the outcome of the game, I still have a good time in the end. Tournaments, by their own nature, have a completely different focus as the main objective there is competing against other players and winning. In fact I believe “Winning” should be the right mindset for anyone considering a participation in a tournament. What’s the point in doing so if you’re not going to try your best? And you’re only going to try your best if you have victory as a goal. In the end, winning or losing on a tournament depends on a lot of other factors but trying your best beforehand is a huge part of being successful.

Having said that, I’d like to demystify the process of building an army list and painting the models of a competitive army as I believe anyone can do so if one tries hard enough and studies a little while doing so. To do so I’ve emailed the winners of the “Best General”, “Overall Champion” and “Best Painted Army” (1st and 2nd places) awarded at “Da Fork of Mork III” and I now share their answers with you on this post and on the 2 follow up articles on the subject.

Our first interviewee is the winner of the “Best General” prize, Otávio “Tavitin”. Otávio is a recent addition to the Brazilian wargaming community (and a member of the “Tropas Polares” Club in Curitiba) who has been having a lot of success in his participations in tournaments (If I’m not mistaken this was his second victory since he started taking part in organized competitive gaming – And so far he has only taken part in two!) with his dreaded Dark Eldar. His focus lies undeniably on the tactical aspect of the game and I believe his results do show his dedication to this aspect of the game.

Without further ado the interview:

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The Painting Frog: First I’d like to congratulate you for winning the “Best General” prize at the Fork of Mork III tournament. What are your considerations about the event? Were there any negative aspects to it? What could be improved in future editions? What would you like to see in a 4th FoM?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Thank you. The tournament was very interesting, I’ve met new people and different players from what I’m used to. I also found the gaming tables wonderful and, if I could, I’d play on the tables presented at the 3rd FoM every Saturday! The negative aspect of the event, which reflects my personal preference, was having the artistic part of the hobby and competitivity together in a single event. I am a competitive gamer and that drives me towards the strategic aspect of the hobby in opposition to painting and converting miniatures. I am, and will always be, leaning towards having tournaments which focus on strategy and competitivity and others which focus on the artistic part of the hobby. I love converting models (or help people to do them), and would definitely take part on an artistic tournament with a miniature (or a squad of them) purely converted. In order to be improved I believe the Fork of Mork needs more participants.

The Painting Frog: You’ve won the 3rd FoM tournament in Sao Paulo after winning the “Torneio Polar” in Curitiba earlier this year. In both occasions you have used the Dark Eldar army. Do you believe that in order to win at 40K tournaments a player must use the most recently published codex? Or do you find possible to win at tournaments no matter the army being used?

Otávio “Tavitin”: In order to win at tournaments your Codex won’t matter (much). What matters is how strong your will to win is. I trained a lot with the people from my club, Tropas Polares, to whom I’m deeply thankful (and also to whom I dedicate this victory in Sao Paulo as they have not only introduced me to the hobby but also accepted me as a brother). Any new releases will take players off-balance all over the world thus creating the illusion that a recently released Codex is stronger than all those that came before it. Take the Imperial Guard as an example, still one of the strongest codexes out there (in my opinion) after 3 or 4 codexes were released after it!

 

The Painting Frog: How do you approach building an army list for a tournament? What determines the inclusion of a given unit over another? Are your lists tested prior to the tournament?

Otávio “Tavitin”: First I look at the points cap for the tournament and if it’s lower than 1500 points count me out of it. I also look at the missions taking notice if any of them subverts the rules in the Big Red Book (the rulebook), taking in consideration these changes and treating them as limits, for example the mission in FoM III where the army’s general was worth double victory points, my general only cost 50 points (a Haemonculus with no upgrades). I’ll then make a list with what I was able to create thinking about the missions.

After having an initial army I’ll take the list to the gaming tables against a variety of armies (always using the tournament’s missions and the time limit): Daemons of Chaos, Space Wolves, Grey Knights and Orks are my most frequent adversaries, and I make mental notes about the performance of each unit and the list itself, which can lead to drastic changes on it or even the abortion of the original idea (bringing me back to Army Builder to try again).

Is it fun to attend an event to fraternize, meet new people and recognize the work of the organizers? Definately! But for the player who wants to win there’s study and preparation to be done. Always trying to give your best and mainly being humble with all your adversaries while training as it’s them who will point out to you the mistakes you make and the weak links in your units.

 

The Painting Frog: In your opinion what was the difference from your army, in comparison with the ones from other players, that might have contributed for your victory?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Shooting, shooting and more shooting. A lot of shooting, too much shooting and then some. My army didn’t have any point sinks (over spending points in any given unit) and enough vehicles to increase what I call “AV Pressure”. Let’s look at it in parts:

SHOOTING – After a long time I realized the shooting mechanic is more reliable than the assault one in the 5th edition of 40K. That led me to bet all my chips and build my list focusing on the shooting phase with a little help from the movement phase and a brief moment on the assault phase (I believe I only made 3 or 4 assaults in the entire tournament).
POINT SINKS – The more you spend on a single unit or vehicle the less targets you’ll be able to threat during the course of the game and you’ll depend on luck a lot more than is desirable
AV PRESSURE – The more vehicles you put on the table, the more pressure you’ll put onto your adversary because as you start to destroy his anti-tank weaponry he’ll have to ignore a percentage of your weapons mounted on armor.

 

The Painting Frog: The list you have used at the 3rd FoM sports a number of duplicated units (Unit SPAM). What’s the reason behind using duplicated units in such a way? What do you think about the penalties applied to lists such as yours in tournaments (namely in Europe) with the adoption of army composition points?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Because it’s easier to come up with army lists that way. Honestly, when I came up with my lists I try to find purpose for each unit. I could easily modify the list I used at the FoM with completely different units that would be used in the very same way or very similar ones. The important thing in the end is not the spam of identical units but having units in the list which have the same “mission” and the same “capabilities” (because that’s how you’ll create duality in your army). For obvious reasons having identical units fulfills both criteria but it’s perfectly possible to meet those criteria (army composition points) with different units, perhaps not as well as you would with identical units but it’s definitely possible.

The Painting Frog: What’s your opinion about the importance of painting an army in order to accrue points and compete in the “Overall Champion” category in events such as the 3rd FoM?

Otávio “Tavitin”: I’m a general not an artist.

 

The Painting Frog: Finally what are your tips for other players that wish to become 40k tournament champions? What are your future plans for your Kabal of Dark Eldar? Any tournaments you look forward to attending?

Otávio “Tavitin”: My advice:
– Balance your Anti-tank firepower in vehicles and infantry.
– Balance your Anti-infantry firepower in vehicles and infantry.
– Don’t have any Point Sinks!!!!! (Try to create an army with units costing, at most, 150 points each, not counting their dedicated transport).
– Use reserves only if you can manipulate the dice result somehow
– Shooting is the way to win games and championships, everything else you do are mere tools which help your main phase: Shooting Phase.
– Never play with a defeatist spirit.

The future of my Dark Eldar now lies in winning more and more tournaments. I want to be number 1 and I’m not ashamed to admit that. I’m thinking about exchanging some shots with the “Gauchos” (people from the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil) in January 2012 and if all goes according to plan I’ll be in the CGW’s Summer Tournament. And I won’t be alone as, as usual, my “aguardente” (sugar cane liquor) will be alongside me!

“The emperor inebriates!”

 

 
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I guess that’s all for now folks. Do come back for the second in this series of articles in which we interview the 2nd place in the “Best Painted Army” category.

See you soon.

 
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Salve Leitor.

Se você anda acompanhando o blog deve ter percebido que ando escrevendo uma série de matérias dedicadas a torneios, em especial ao Da Fork of Mork III.

Sei que corro o risco de cansar vocês com a super-exploração do assunto, mas corro esse risco voluntariamente no intuito de esmiuçar ao máximo as particularidades de um torneio e de nossa participação como jogadores neles justamente no intuito de fornecer a você Leitor que anda considerando participar de um torneio subsídios para fazê-lo com sucesso.

Devo admitir que tenho uma forma muito particular de encarar minhas partidas de jogos de estratégia já que vejo cada uma delas como uma narrativa em movimento, uma estória sendo escrita a cada turno. Com isso acabo extraindo grande satisfação de cada partida, não importando se ao final sai como vencedor ou perdedor. Torneios, pela sua própria natureza, têm um foco diferente já que o objetivo principal ali é competir, seja na pintura, seja no comando de seu exército, e assim o foco ali é ganhar. Assim cada participante deve, em minha humilde opinião, engajar-se e expender esforços no sentido de obter somente um resultado: A vitória. Ganhar ou perder em um torneio depende de vários fatores, mas acredito que cada jogador deve aportar ali com a certeza de ter produzido seu melhor, seja na concepção e execução artística do exército ou na escolha de unidades que compõe uma lista devastadora.

Dessa maneira eu gostaria de tentar desmistificar um pouco os processos por trás da construção e pintura de um army competitivo. Para tanto realizei uma pequena entrevista com os vencedores dos prêmios de “Melhor General”, “Campeão Geral” e “Melhor Army Pintado” (1º e 2º lugares) e divido com você leitor as respostas no post de hoje e nos dois posts seguintes com a continuação deste artigo.

Nosso primeiro entrevistado é o ganhador do prêmio de “Melhor General”, Otávio “Tavitin”. O Otávio é um jogador recente, membro do clube Tropas Polares de Curitiba, e tem obtido grande sucesso capitaneando um exército de Dark Eldar em torneios. Seu foco no hobby inegavelmente reside no aspecto tático dos wargames e penso que seus recentes resultados mostram seu acúmen nessa faceta do jogo.

Segue a entrevista:

 
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The Painting Frog: Em primeiro lugar parabéns por sua colocação como “Melhor General” no torneio Fork of Mork III. Quais são suas considerações acerca do evento? Houve aspectos negativos? O que poderia ser melhorado em edições futuras? O que você gostaria de ver num FoM IV?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Agradeço os parabéns. O torneio foi muito interessante, conheci pessoas novas e jogadores diferentes do que estou acostumado. As mesas eu achei maravilhosas! Por mim eu jogava nas mesas montadas no FOM-III todo sábado! O aspecto negativo, que na verdade é mais preferência pessoal, é a comunhão de Hobyismo com Competitividade. Eu sou um jogador Competitivo, o que acaba me levando mais pro aspecto estratégico do hobby do que pro aspecto de pintura e acabamento dos modelos e conversões. Eu sou e sempre serei a favor de campeonatos puramente competitivos e campeonatos puramente artísticos. Eu adoro fazer conversões (ou ajudar a fazer conversões), e com certeza participaria de um torneio artístico com um modelo (ou um esquadrão de modelos) puramente convertidos. Para ser melhorado, o Fork of Mork precisará de mais participantes.

The Painting Frog: Você venceu o FoM em São Paulo após ter vencido o Torneio Polar em Curitiba realizado anteriormente neste ano. Em ambas as ocasiões você usou o exército dos Dark Eldar. Você acredita que para vencer em torneios de Warhammer 40.000 é necessário usar os mais recentes exércitos lançados? Ou você acredita ser possível vencer não importando qual exército se utilize?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Para ganhar um evento não interessa (muito) o seu Codex, interessa a sua vontade de vencer. Eu treinei muito com o pessoal do meu Clube, a quem agradeço profundamente, minha vitória em SP é dedicada ao Pessoal do Tropas Polares que não só me introduziram no hobby como também me aceitaram como um irmão. Qualquer coisa nova acaba baqueando os jogadores no mundo inteiro, e criando a ilusão que um Codex recém lançado é mais forte que todos os anteriores. Veja o Imperial Guard, por exemplo, de longe o Codex mais forte (na minha opinião) e teve pelo menos 3 ou 4 Codexes que foram lançados depois do mesmo!

The Painting Frog: Qual a sua forma de abordar a confecção de uma lista para torneios? O que determina a inclusão ou não de determinada unidade? Suas listas são testadas antes do torneio em si?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Primeiro eu vejo a pontuação, menos que 1500 pontos estou fora. Vejo as missões propostas e se alguma delas possui alguma mecânica que contraria o Big Red Book (livro de regras), levo em consideração essas alterações diretas no manual e as trato como limites, por exemplo, a missão do General que valia o dobro de Victory Points do FOM-III, o meu general custava apenas 50 pontos (um Haemonculus sem nenhum upgrade). Depois eu faço uma lista com aquilo que eu conseguir criar pensando nas missões propostas.
Depois de ter um Army inicial, levo a lista para mesas de jogos contra exércitos variados (sempre usando as missões do próprio torneio e o tempo limite): Daemons of Chaos, Space Wolves, Grey Knights, Orks são meus oponentes mais freqüentes, e faço anotações mentais no desempenho de cada unidade e no resultado final da lista, que pode levar a drásticas mudanças ou até mesmo aborto completo da idéia inicial (fazendo-me voltar ao Army Builder piratiado e tentar outra vez!).
É legal participar de um evento para confraternizar, conhecer pessoas novas e prestigiar a organização do mesmo? Com certeza! Mas para o jogador que quer ganhar, há todo um estudo e preparação. Sempre tentando dar o melhor de si e PRINCIPALMENTE ser humilde com qualquer oponente nesta fase de treino, pois é seu oponente que vai apontar as principais falhas das suas jogadas e das suas unidades.

The Painting Frog: Em sua opinião qual foi o diferencial do seu exército em relação aos demais que possa ter contribuído para sua vitória?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Tiro, tiro e mais tiro. Muito tiro, tiro demais e mais um pouco de tiro. Meu exército não possuia nenhuma Point Sink (gasto excessivo de pontos em determinada unidade) e Veículos suficientes para aumentar o que eu chamo de “AV Pressure”. Vamos por partes:
Tiros – Depois de muito tempo eu reparei que a mecânica de Tiro é mais confiável que a mecânica de Assalto na quinta edição do 40k. Isso fez com que eu apostasse minhas fichas e construisse minha lista inteiramente em volta da Shooting Phase, com auxilio da Movement Phase e um breve momento na Assault Phase (acho que eu realizei uns 3 ou 4 assaltos no campeonato inteiro)
Point Sinks – Quanto mais você gasta em uma única unidade ou veiculo, menos alvos você consegue ameaçar no decorrer do jogo e fica mais dependente da sorte do que o desejado.
Av Pressure – Quanto mais veículos você colocar na mesa, mais sob-pressão seu oponente vai ficar, pois assim que você começar a destruir as armas Anti-Tank dele, ele terá que ignorar uma porcentagem das suas armas montadas em Armadura.

The Painting Frog: A lista apresentada no FoM possui diversas unidades duplicadas (Unit SPAM). Qual o motivo de empregar unidades repetidas dessa maneira? O que você pensa acerca da penalização de listas como essa em alguns torneios (principalmente na Europa) com a adoção dos pontos de composição de lista (unit composition points)?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Porque é mais fácil montar exércitos desta maneira. Sinceramente quando eu monto minhas listas eu procuro propósito pra cada unidade. Eu poderia facilmente modificar a lista usada no FOM-III com unidades completamente diferentes, mas que iriam ser usadas de forma idêntica ou parecida, o importante no final da lista não é Spam de unidades iguais, mas sim ter unidades que possuam a mesma ‘missão’ e mesma ‘capabilidade'(porque assim você cria Dualidade no seu exército), é claro que unidades IDENTICAS conseguem atender ambos critérios, mas é perfeitamente possível atender estes critérios com unidades diferentes, talvez não tão bem quanto unidades iguais, mas é possível.

The Painting Frog: Qual sua opinião acerca da importância da pintura de um army para fins de pontuação na premiação da categoria “Campeão Geral” adotada no FoM?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Eu sou um General e não um artista.

The Painting Frog: Por fim quais são suas dicas para outros jogadores que almejam sagrar-se campeões em torneios de 40K? Quais são os planos futuros para seus Dark Eldar? Algum torneio em vista?

Otávio “Tavitin”: Minhas dicas:
– Equilibre seu Anti-tank em veiculos e infantaria
– Equilibre seu Anti-infantry em veiculos e infantaria
– Não tenha Point Sinks!!!!! (tente criar um exército com unidades de no máximo 150 pontos cada, sem contar o veiculo dedicado)
– Use reservas somente se possuir manipulação no dado
– Tiro é a forma de ganhar jogos e campeonatos, todo o resto que você faz são apenas ferramentas que auxiliam a sua fase principal: Shooting Phase
– Nunca jogue com o espirito derrotado.

O futuro dos meus Dark Eldar agora estão em ganhar mais e mais campeonatos, quero ser o numero 1 e não me envergonho de dizer isso. Estou pensando em ir trocar tiro com os Gaúchos em janeiro de 2012, se tudo ocorrer conforme o planejado estarei no Torneio de Verão do CGW. E não estarei sozinho, como sempre minha aguardente vai me acompanhar!

“O Emperador Embriaga”
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E acho que é isso por hoje pessoal. Em breve a entrevista com o 2º colocado na categoria “Melhor Army Pintado”.

Até logo.
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Torneio de Inverno – Clube Gaúcho de Wargames.

Hello there.

I could swear I had already written about it here. If you follow the blog you might have read a report on a tournament I participated in, back in May held in Curitiba/Brazil (if you haven’t read about it yet do check this). After that I did participate in another one, but hadn’t talked about it thus far and that was unfair of me given how much fun I had.

One of the nice things going on in Brazil right now is that the local player communities have finally started organizing themselves into gaming clubs. It’s not a recent phenomenon, the first one we had was based in Rio de Janeiro and was named “Martelo de Guerra” (Warhammer in english) but unfortunately it no longer exists. Then we had B.O.S (an acronym for Bomb Of Slaanesh – no idea on the origin of the name) located in São Paulo and those two were the options to look for if you wanted to get into organized play and competitive gaming for a good while. Over the last couple of years more people have seen that getting together is indeed the best way to arrange other players to play against and also meet other like minded people and thus more and more gaming clubs are appearing all over Brazil.

The tournament I attended in May was held by one of these new clubs, “Tropas Polares” (“Polar Troops” in a loose translation), and so was the one I attended in July, held in Canoas/RS and organized by one of the newest clubs we have around, the “Clube Gaúcho de Wargames” (or CGW for short).

The CGW is indeed the newest club to appear in the Brazilian gaming scene, but I’ve know a few of its members over the internet for a while now, so I figured attending one of their meetings would be a nice way of getting to know them in person and also getting me a couple of games in the process.

Well, it turns out they decided to have a tournament on the Saturday I’d be there (I was going to be there for the weekend but Sunday would be devoted to another of the club’s interests: board games). I attended bringing my faithful Eldar in tow and, to my honest surprise, ended up winning the “Best General” (1^st place) and “Best Painted Army” trophies.

I have to say it was an uphill struggle. My first match was against Rici and his Tyranids and I think I’ve never played such a tense game. Every turn he had new bugs arriving on the table. Coming from my flanks, dropping from out of the sky or emerging from the ground there were bugs everywhere and the gaming was hanging by a thread until the very end when I managed to score a victory dominating two out of the three available objectives.

On my second match I was paired against the clubs local boogeyman. Phan (short for Phantasm) is a nice guy who has mastered his Orks quite quickly and has yet to meet this match on the gaming table. From the very beginning things were looking grim for my frail Eldar. “Butchered” is an apt word to describe the situation as Phan hammered me every turn. I had a couple lucky moments, like when my Fire Dragons dealt with two of his Killer Kan units, and ended up winning, in another lucky moment at the very final turn when my Dire Avengers mowed down one of his Loota units, by a meager killpoint.

Lucking out on my second game landed me against another tough opponent, Ismael and his brand new Dark Eldar. The dark kin some call them but, unfortunately, my Eldar can call no kinship to those guys as they hit like a brick, with a hammer attached to it. Every time Ismael got to shoot one of his venoms he was rolling something like fourteen envenomed shots downing with ease two of my hardest hitting units. I had thus to be even more devious than the dreaded Dark Eldar so I turned to Eldrad’s magic tricks, feigning a deploy and then repositioning my units. Ismael fell for it so I got to divide his forces. I also got a lot of help from lady luck. Suffice to say I had never rolled so many “6’s”. Ever. Couple that with the Dark Eldar’s jaw glass and I did manage to score myself another win.

Being the sole player with 3 wins I scored first place. Not surprisingly second and third places would be decided between Ismael and Phan who managed a tie when their points were compared, even after tie breaker scores were consulted. Phan graciously conceded the second place to Ismael settling the dispute.

Then it was time to vote for the “Best Painted Army” award. There were only two eligible armies, given that most participants used unpainted armies, and I was up against a fellow Eldar player. I won’t remember the exact score but I managed another marginal victory when all votes were counted.

Sunday was a very atypical day for me as I got to play a few board games. I played those growing up but hadn’t played one for years. Suffice to say I had a very fun day playing “Battle Star Galactica” and another game I won’t recall the name right now. It was such a nice experience I’m decided to purchase a few to play with friends and family.

In the end I had a very good time with the friends from CGW. Good conversation, good food and good games made the weekend a memorable one that I’m keen to repeat in the very near future (January is just around the corner again and I hear the guys are having a Summer Tournament this time).

To wrap it up I leave you with some pictures from the weekend:

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Olá.

Percebi hoje que havia me esquecido completamente de mencionar aqui no blog acerca do último torneio do qual participei.

Já havia relatado aqui ter participado do Torneio Polar, organizado pelo clube Curitibano Tropas Polares, em maio do corrente ano. Naquela oportunidade fui tão bem recebido pelos amigos de Curitiba que fiquei motivado a visitar outros clubes brasileiros.

Eu já conhecia alguns dos membros do Clube Gaúcho de Wargames (ou CGW) através da internet e quando surgiu a oportunidade de participar de um dos encontros mensais promovidos pelo clube pensei que seria uma ótima oportunidade de conhecê-los pessoalmente e, por tabela, disputar algumas partidas contra adversários diferentes dos meus habituais parceiros de jogo. Assim não me fiz de rogado e embarquei com destino ao Rio Grande do Sul para participar do encontro do Clube Gaúcho de Wargames.

O CGW é o mais novo clube a surgir no território nacional, trilhando o caminho de outros tantos jogadores que entenderam que agremiar-se é uma das formas mais construtivas de curtir nosso hobby já que os clubes permitem encontrar oponentes com facilidade bem como conhecer outras pessoas com interesses semelhantes aos nossos.

Ao saber que eu iria o Monty, presidente do clube, acabou organizando um pequeno torneio no qual acabei me sagrando campeão após três partidas complicadíssimas.

Na primeira partida enfrentei o Rici e seus Tyranids num jogo que, pra falar pouco, foi tensa do começo ao fim. O exército capitaneado por ele era reforçado a cada novo turno com criaturas que adentravam o campo de batalha pelos meus flancos, caindo dos céus, ou emergindo do solo. Não saber o que esperar a cada novo turno me manteve atento e me obrigou a priorizar alvos e remover ameaças. Acabei tendo sorte por que os reforços do Rici foram chegando aos poucos o que me permitiu concentrar fogo e abatê-los, não sem que sofresse algumas baixas. No final conquistei a primeira suada vitória ao dominar dois objetivos contra nenhum dos Tyranids.

A segunda partida foi contra o “Bicho Papão” do CGW, O Phan. O Phan começou a jogar há pouco tempo, mas dominou com rapidez os Orks no 40K. O army é bom, mas nas mãos de alguém que compreende bem suas forças e fraquezas os Orks são devastadores. Desde o começo ficou bastante claro que o Phan viria para o meu pescoço, avançando em pinça sobre as posições ocupadas pelos meus Eldar. O jogo parecia ganho por ele desde o começo, já que turno após turno os Orks infligiam pesadas baixas no meu exército. Devo admitir que devo minha vitória contra o Phan à dois lances de sorte que me concederam um mísero Kill Point de vantagem e assim a vitória.

A partida final contra o Ismael tinha tudo pra ser um massacre. O cara joga também a pouco tempo com os famigerados “primos” dos Eldar, os Dark Eldar. Um exército bastante rápido e agressivo, que nas mãos do Ismael despejava a cada turno um volume de fogo assombroso contra mim. Uma vez mais devo grande parte da vitória a sorte já que rolei muito bem durante todo o jogo garantindo assim a vitória final e o primeiro lugar no Torneio.

Uma coisa que me agradou bastante no torneio foi a adoção de objetivos secundários para cada missão o que acabou tornando as partidas mais dinâmicas. Embora eu tenha adorado passar um dia descompromissado no domingo jogando jogos de tabuleiro penso que se tivéssemos tido um segundo dia de jogos, com duas partidas a mais, por exemplo, os resultados do torneio de modo geral seriam bem distintos.

Um bônus bem vindo foi ter vencido também o prêmio de melhor army pintado. Coroou minha experiência com os Eldar, que espero revisitar, mas que devem entrar em semi-aposentadoria a partir de agora.

Que venha o Torneio de Verão!

Blood Angels vs Eldar – Battle Report!

Hello there!

One thing I consider of utmost importance to the hobby is writing Battle Reports as follow ups to the games I play. I give them such importance because I believe they’re a great way of showcasing the wargames we play to potential new players who are interested in the games but haven’t delved into them yet. Not only that but writing Battle Reports is also a great way to share tactics and approaches to the game with other like minded people who can not only lear from you accomplishments but also offer insights into improving the way you play or field your armies.

Even though I give such importance to them, battle reporting is one of those things I hadn’t done much in this blog. It’s not that I don’t game that often (I get to play games around once a month when I’m back at my hometown), but my reports end up, more often than not, on the Brazilian gaming forum of which I’m a member: Warhammer Brasil (yep, Brazil is spelled with an “s” in Portuguese).

Well I’ll remedy that today and promise a lot more yet to come.

The battle I’ll be reporting on today was a Warhammer 40.000 one in which I played my Eldar against a friend’s Blood Angels. There’s a bit of fluff involved as we’re both enrolled on the national campaign being run in the aforementioned forum.  The game wasn’t worth any campaign points as we’re both enrolled on the “ORDER” side but it was such a nice game, with such a nice background to it, that I decided to include it as fluff on the campaign.

So there we go:

Planet Mirella – Tamit II.

Abandoned settlement to the south of the “Las Estrelas” spaceport.

Standing amidst the destroyed building and the Tyranid digesting pods which dotted the landscape the Eldar Farseers awaited the arrival of the Mon-Keigh leader. From where they stood they could see the devastation from the combat between the Mon-Keigh and the emissaries of the TAU empire.

The seers stood a good ways apart from their scorting soldiers. Their intent was to present no threat to the Mon-Keigh. They had come in peace and it was imperative that was unmistakable from the start.

“They’re coming” said the oldest of the pair. Mon-Keigh were quite obvious creatures, their transports resounding loudly even in the distance. Even after a thousand, thousand years they still lacked… finesse. Perhaps in a few millennia of evolution that despicable trait would be erased from their race.  Perhaps not.

The column of vehicles stopped as soon as the Farseers came into view. The enormous Land Raider and accompanying assortment of Rhinos and Predators were certainly evaluating their offensive potential. So predictable thought Ma’a-Lik.

“Permission to engage Farseer?” sounded Ma’a-Lik’s auricular communicator.

“Permission denied” answered the Farseer “We came to parley with the Mon-Keigh”.

El”Drak Ulthrum’s visions had been very clear. In order to stand a chance against the coming onslaught, saving the entire system, and foiling the plans of the great enemy it was imperative that they cooperated. Not only Eldar and Mon-Keigh, but all forces involved in the defense of the so called Tamit System had to work in unison. That was why they had come. The Mon-Keigh had to understand, had to overcome their own failings, their bellicose nature, and work with the sons of Eldanesh.

“They wil understand” uttered Ma’a-Lik, unconsciously voicing his thoughts.

A few more minutes went by before the Land Raider started moving again. The vehicle left the company of its escort and advanced towards the Farseers stopping it’s course a few meters away from the Eldar.

The vehicle’s front doors opened with the characteristic hiss of a pressurized environment. In a split second fouf Mon-Keigh, Space Marines, disembarked their weapons aimed at the pair of Farseers.

For the Eldar Mon-Keigh were all the same, an inferior breed of ignorant primates. The Space Marines, however, earned themselves some degree of respect as they were somewhat different. Even though they shared the same genetic code with the lesser specimens of their race, Space Marines had been engineered to be mentally and physically superior in all aspects, but no less stupid or violence bound. They were perfect war machines, but no more than that.

It was with these breed of Mon-Keigh that they had come to establish a truce.

The Mon-Keigh commander was the last to leave his vehicle. He exuded arrogance with his every step and made clear with his body language the profound loathing to be in the presence of what he deemed his inferiors. “Filthy Xenos” as their breed referred to the Eldar. His golden armour was opulently ornamented as were the weapons he ostensively displayed, two massive combat gauntlets, as it was commonplace amongst Mon-Keigh leaders, specially the group to which this one belonged: The Blood Angels.

++State you purpose filthy psykers++ Sounded the rasp, metallic voice of the Mon-Keigh leader through the Vox magnifiers in his helmet ++this truce ends as soon as I convey your message to Lord Dante++

“We came to deliver no messages Mon-Keigh” answered Ma’a-Lik in the poor, inelegant, language of the so called Imperium “Our purpose is to warn you about the impending doom of this system and of the terrible consequences of not facing the true enemy which even now acts to destroy this entire system”.

++Madness! Do you truly expect the Imperium and its most faithfull servants to bow to witchcraft and psyker tricks of one of our most devious enemies? I waste valuable time here, time best spent hunting down the TAU or even Eldar sorcerers like the lot of you++ barked the Space Marine ++ I am Brother Captain Manus of the Blood Angels and I take it as a personal stain to my honour subjecting myself to your presence, it disgusts me to hear the Imperial language being desecrated by your filthy xeno lips++

“Listen to my words you damned Mon-Keigh and let your betters judge how to act upon them as it is clear now your restricted intellect prevents you from undertanding what’s at stake here” retorted an angry Ma’a-Lik “An ancient power acts in this system, forces loyal to those you call chaos gods strive to sacrifice all life in this system for the glory of their masters and it is only united behind a common purpose that we stand a chance of hampering their plans and…”.

++I’ve heard enough++ barged in the Space Marine as he turned his back to the Farseers while touching his helmet with his right hand ++Broadcast to Lord Dante a vox register of our encounter with the xeno++ While he boarded the Land Raider the Space Marine turned towards the elder one more time pointing at them with his right index finger ++You have a minute to leave this place unscathed++

“NO…” was Ma’a-Liks furious response as He advanced towards the Space Marine Captain reaching out for him with a stretched hand. He was held back by the firm hands of El’Drak Ulthrum on his shoulder, seconds before the four Space Marines which accompanied the Mon-Keigh leader opened fire.

++Mount up++ sounded the captains voice through the vehicles vox casters. His orders were promptly followed by the four Space Marines.

“We must go” Said El’Drak not hiding the sorrow in his voice as the Land Raid pulled back in reverse gear, weapons still aimed at the pair of them “The Mon-Keigh will attack soon… we have little time” sentenced the ancient seer.

Knowing the Blood Angels would attack soon El’Drak Ulthrum summoned images of their accompanying Eldar Guardians and Rangers which had remained hidden thus far. He also projected an image of Ma’a-Lik on a nearby building. It was a simple trick, designed to work on inferior minds, but it would allow the Farseers to reach safety and the remaining Eldar units to position themselves before battle was joined.

The Blood Angels were surprised by the sudden appearance of so many enemy soldiers so close to their lines and thus opted to enter the battlefield in a more defensive position taking cover behind a ruined Imperial temple at the northeast corner of the battlefield.

As soon as his illusions had fulfilled their purpose El’Drak Ulthrum dispelled them revealing the real positioning of the Eldar units on the battlefield.

As soon as they noticed the Eldar trick the Blood Angels wasted no time and advanced towards the enemy. The Land Raider advanced towards the closest objective while the Assault Squad advanced at the eastern border of the battlefield trying to hide behind the huge Tyranid organisms which occupied a huge portion of the eastern flank.

As no targets had presented themselves yet the unit of Eldar Guardians deployed in the Center consolidated its position in an attempt to dominate the central objective which lay near the wreckage of a civilian Mon-Keigh vehicle.

The Blood Angels kept advancing and so did the reinforcements which had just arrived on the battlefield. A newly arrived Tactical Squad advanced behind the protection of the Land Raider while a unit of Devastators entered the battlefield taking shelter behind the Imperial temple ruins. A Land Speeder advanced moving flat out on the eastern flank leaving the Assault Squad behind but also hiding behind the Tyranid organism.

The first Eldar reinforcements arrived in the form of a Falcon transporting a unit of Fire Dragons and two Wraithlords. The Falcon advanced towards the centre of the battlefield while the Wraithlords advanced flanking the building occupied by the Pathfinders and Ma’a-Lik striving to protect the Eldar lines of the thread posed by the Assault Squad and the Land Speeder. Some shots were fired in the direction of the enemy and the first casualties came from the Blood Angels Assault Squad.

Once more reinforcements joined the battle on the Blood Angel side. This time a pair of Chaplains and a Predator tank adavanced towards the Eldar lines. The Assault Squad, intimidated by the enemy fire backed away from the Eldar looking for shelter behind the Tyranid organism. The Predator and the Land Raider opened fire on the Falcon but failed to cause any serious damage. The Blood Angel fusillade would prevent the Falcon from firing on the next turn.

In the centre of the battlefield the first unit of Eldar Guardians still occupied the wreckage of the civilian vehicle.

Soon more Eldar reinforcements joined the fray. In the eastern flank El’Drak and his retinue of Dire Avengers advanced and disembarked from their Wave Serpent transport while a second unit of Eldar Guardians advanced in support of them. Taking the offensive the Falcon advanced towards the enemy Land Raider disembarking the unit of Fire Dragons transported within.

Without wasting any time the Eldar lines opened fire against the enemy. In the eastern flank the Dire Avengers, guided by El’Drak, poured fire into the Assault Squad wiping the entire unit and removing the threat they posed, while the Fire Dragons removed the ancient Land Raider from existence leaving in its place a fuming crater filled with molten slag and occupied by the survivors of the Death Company. The Pathfinders didn’t waste the chance and fire against the exposed Death Company iling them all. The Guardians in the centre of the battlefield opened fire against the Predator tank immobilizing it with an unerring shot of their brightlance

A new Land Speeder, this time crewed by Death Company Marines advanced to support its twin on the eastern flank. The immobilized Predator opened fire against the Falcon which hovered in front of it destroying one of its weapons. The Space Marines were furious by the destruction of the Land Raider a revered chapter relic, and so opened fire against the Fire Dragons killing all but the brave Exarch who refused to flee from the enemy fusillade.

The Eldar, sensing the Blood Angel’s cowering moved in in an attempt to bring down as many enemies ass possible. The Falcon relocated in order to flee from the Predator’s line of sight positioning itself so that it could fire on the more vulnerable armour on the Predator’s side.

The Fire Dragon’s Exarch, last survivor of his unit, realized He had na unique opportunity. The enemy leader which thus far had advanced on foot behind the protection of the enormous bulk of the Land Raider was left exposed in the open by the sudden destruction of the vehicle. Without a second thought the Exarch advanced toward the enemy which greatly outnumbered him trying to close the distance between him and his prey potting the enemy commander in range of his lethal weapon.

The Wraithlords advanced to give support to the Eldar daring attack. One moved towards the centre while the second moved in direction of the eastern flank where it would take down the first Land Speeder.

Left alone the Death Company Land Speeder would soon be targeted by the combined firepower of the Wave Serpent and the Dire Avengers. The Avengers would bring the second Speeder down in a hail of shuriken fire.

At the combat’s most dramatic moment the Fire Dragon Exarch took aim at the enemy commander…

… taking him down with an unerring shot from his firepike. Neither his armour, force field, nor his super-human physique was enough to save the Space Marine Captain. In the end all that was left of him was a smoking pool of melted ceramite.

Demoralized by the loss of their general all that was left to the grieving Blood Angels was to avenge his death, unmercifully bringing down his assassin with a storm of bolter fire, under the view of the advancing Wraithlord which was too far away to save the brave Exarch.

With their spirit undone, and despite having survived the engagement nearly unscathed, the Blood Angels withdrew from the battlefield they had won from the TAU with great effort  a couple days ago leaving for the Eldar the spoils of war.

Sitting on the stairs of the very building he had occupied since the beginning of the battle Ma’a-Lik observed the withdrawal of the Blood Angels. The Eldar had won. But at which price?

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Salve Leitor.

Uma coisa que fiz poucas vezes aqui no blog foi postar “Battle Reports”, em bom português “Relatórios de Batalha” ilustrando minhas partidas.

“Battle Reports “são a meu ver importantíssimos para os jogos de estratégia (Wargames), não só para apresentá-los para possíveis novos jogadores, e também mostrar as miniaturas do jogo, mas também para que outros jogadores possam aprender com suas experiências e, ou, sugerir novas táticas e estratégias para melhorar seu exército.

Você pode se perguntar então o porquê de eu não postá-los por aqui costumeiramente dada essa importância que atribuo à eles certo? Bom o motivo pelo qual eu não o fazia, até agora, era por que acabo postando a maioria dos meus “Battle Reports” no fórum da comunidade brasileira de adeptos desses jogos: O Warhammer Brasil.

É justamente o caso do “Battle Report” apresentado hoje na língua inglesa. Eu o empreguei como background narrativo na campanha nacional que estamos desenvolvendo no fórum mencionado. Assim, se você se interessou em lê-lo em português, não deixe de conferir o seguinte link.

Muito em breve trarei novos “Battle Reports” por aqui.

Até a próxima.

“Games Workshop’s Embargo – Part 6” or “A light at the end of the tunnel!”

Hello there.

It’s finally refreshing to have good news to share with you people. Wayland Games has finally issued a comment about the whole Games Workshop embargo situation thing.

Here it is:

Hi Everyone,

 

Before we start, if you’d allow me to present a little background about Wayland before we get into the meat of the issue I’d be grateful.

 

We laid out our little web store back in August 2008, our beginnings were humble, with my brother and I packing orders in a spare room. It wasn’t ideal but it was what we had to start with and we grew and grew through the continued business of our loyal customers through four warehouses to our current location. In thirty three months we have gone from a spare room in Essex, UK with my brother and I packing boxes to a global operation with fourteen full time staff which is now positioned as one of the largest if not the largest independent hobby retailer in the world. We run our business today as we always have done, in a professional and ethical manner both within the letter and the spirit of the law. Almost all suppliers like us, customers enjoy our openness and service-oriented outlook and whilst we’re realistic enough to know we’re not by any means perfect we will always strive to improve to ensure our central tenet of great prices and better service.

 

Managing such growth has been far from simple; we have experienced growing pains like any business in any sector that has exploded in market share terms. Our growing pains have also been more painful as we continually seek to adjust to a shifting commercial landscape from our dominant supplier, Games Workshop. Like many of you, I believe that Games Workshop produce a fantastic product which gives endless joy to countless people. I am proud to be associated with them.  Unsurprisingly, therefore, I read with real concern the statement by the CEO Mark Wells over the new trade terms which effectively prevents us selling Games Workshop supplied products outside Europe. Mark’s statement can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/notes/games-workshop/our-changes-to-european-trading-terms/227996923881812

Mark seems to be clearly of the view that on-line retailers (and we are not purely that, of course given our bricks and mortar presence) “free ride” on the back of Games Workshop’s bricks and mortar outlets. We have sought over the years, and I thought with some success and recognition, to demonstrate to Games Workshop the value that we provide not just in terms of sales but also in terms of pre and after sales service (not to mention our activities at trade fairs), which is clearly equivalent to the service that is provided on the “ground” by bricks and mortar outlets. Quite aside from the legality of Games Workshop’s actions, we are confused by the commercial attitude of Games Workshop which hampers our ability to sell to hobbyists to the clear disadvantage of both Games Workshop (albeit maybe not their retail arm) and the hobbyists themselves.

I will not air anyone’s dirty laundry in public. Therefore, I am writing to Games Workshop separately (its board, lawyers and their principal shareholders) to share my concerns in greater depth. I hope that commercial common sense will prevail and that we can continue to work with Games Workshop to expand their market and bring a great product to as many people as possible at the best price possible. After all, Games Workshop not only has a clear responsibility to the market but also a clear responsibility to its shareholders (which, after all, could be you and me!).

In the meantime, we believe after the announced terms are implemented we shall be able to continue to offer all of our loyal customers the same product range that we offer today. There may be a small lead time to implement but we’ve been given a rather short period to react. We will comply fully and completely with the new terms and conditions of sale imposed upon us and will not contravene them in any capacity whatsoever (albeit we would not wish that to be seen as acceptance of their legality), all we seek to achieve is that customers both old and new are able to benefit from our view of the market wherever they are located. We all love our hobby.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be providing updates as to how the process of implementing these changes is coming along, the chances are we’ll use Facebook to disseminate this information as it is a great platform for customers to interact with us and each other.

 

We look forward to continue to serve you and we always will.

 

Keep on Wargaming.

 

Richard.

Wayland Games

Like I said on previous posts it is really reassuring to hear that a company such as Wayland is willing to fight for it’s costumers. They are indeed a business and are getting paid in the end of the day but Rich and everyone else there have not opted for the easy way out and stood up for us.

The underlined part of their public statement show that, thanks to their efforts, those hobbyists outside the E.U. might still have a hobby after all.

Way to go Rich and thanks for stepping down into the trenches with the affected community, the respect you’re garnering through your actions will surely strengthen your company’s position not only in the market but also in your consumer’s trust.

Over and out!

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Salve pessoal.

A Wayland games soltou hoje sua posição oficial acerca da proibição da GW no que diz respeito às vendas para fora da União Européia.

Vou replicar aqui a parte mais importante do comunicado que diz:

“In the meantime, we believe after the announced terms are implemented we shall be able to continue to offer all of our loyal customers the same product range that we offer today”.

 

Traduzindo:

“Enquanto isso, acreditamos que após os termos anunciados serem colocados em prática seremos capazes de continuar oferecendo a todos nossos clientes leais a mesma gama de produtos que oferecemos hoje”.

 

Aparentemente a Wayland encontrou uma forma de continuar nos vendendo, possivelmente como já especulávamos na forma de “Direct Only”, ou seja, por encomenda pagando o preço cheio GW (sem os costumeiros descontos). Ainda assim a Wayland continuará sendo uma opção viável e acessivel através da internet para que toda a comunidade brasileira continue efetuando suas compras e não seja excluída unilateralmente do hobby cada vez mais popular por aqui.

Prestigiemos a Wayland Games então em nossas compras pessoal. Eles estão fazendo por merecer.

Até a próxima!

“Games Workshop’s Embargo – part 5” or “Hearing straight from the horse’s mouth!”

Hello there.

It appears that Games Workshop has indeed taken notice of the turmoil raging over the internet about its announced embargo to countries outside the E.U.

Mark Wells, chief executive for Games Workshop, publicly answered an email of a concerned hobbyist explaining why GW would enforce such a policy:

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Dear Anthony,

  

Thanks for contacting Games Workshop about the change in our trading terms for European accounts. I know this has frustrated you and for that I am truly sorry. As a long standing customer, you deserve to know why we made this decision.

  

As you know, we introduce people to the Games Workshop hobby of collecting, painting and gaming with Citadel miniatures through our Hobby Centres and local independent trade accounts. Games Workshop Hobby Centres run introductory games and painting sessions, beginner lessons, hobby activities and events. We provide all these services free of charge. We only recover this investment if customers then buy products from us.

  

Where we don’t have a Games Workshop Hobby Centre, we support local independent trade accounts. These businesses provide a convenient place for customers to buy our products close to where they live. We support these businesses with local customer service teams and warehouses to ensure customers have immediate access to our best selling products and new releases. Many customers discover the hobby this way.

  

In addition we invest millions of pounds every year in our design studio and factory to ensure that each month we release more new products. This makes the Games Workshop Hobby more exciting for existing customers, helping them stay in the hobby longer. We can only afford to do this because of the volume of customers we have recruited and developed through our local Hobby Centres and trade accounts.

 

 It is for this reason that we have changed our European Trade terms. Over recent years, a number of currencies have moved a long way from their historical relative values, and this has opened the door for some traders to try to take advantage of these currency movements and offer deep discounts to overseas hobbyists. This has been the case with European internet traders selling to some of our customers overseas.

  

While this may seem great in the short term, the simple fact is that European internet traders will not invest any money in growing the hobby in your country. Their model is to minimise their costs and free-ride on the investment of Games Workshop and local independent shops in creating a customer base.

  

We on the other hand have to keep paying our Australian staff, rents and utilities in Australian dollars. While some customers have suggested we halve our prices, the only way we could do that is if we halve our Australian staff’s salaries, default on our rents and not pay our suppliers until exchange rates move back into alignment. That’s the reality of what a price reduction of this scale means. And we both know that customers who are motivated by price are not going to change their behaviour if it was any less than that.

  

The inevitable consequence if this was allowed to continue is that Games Workshop would not be able to operate Hobby Centres, nor to support local trade accounts. And if this happened in more territories outside Europe, the loss of volume would leave Games Workshop no choice but to scale back our investment in new product development, further eroding our customer base. Not something that we or our customers would want us to do.

  

That is why we took the decision to take legitimate action to restrict European trade accounts from selling the goods they purchase from Games Workshop outside Europe. None of the other alternatives were viable.

  

While I understand that you may still be unhappy with our decision, it was taken to ensure we can continue to support the Games Workshop hobby communities around the world through our Games Workshop Hobby Centres and local trade accounts. And to ensure we continue to invest in developing the best possible new product releases every month. I hope therefore that over time you will see the benefits of this decision for you and your hobby.

 

 Yours sincerely,

  

Mark Wells

 Chief Executive

 18 May 2011

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Well that answer confirms what we had said here the other day: GW is trying to solve a problem by addressing the wrong cause. What should be understood by their chief executives is that people aren’t buying from indie stores in Europe because of the discounts said costumers offer. They do so because prices were they live are OUTRAGEOUS.

I would buy from a Local Gaming Store given two things:

1 – If it existed  here in Brazil and supported the gaming community like GW’s representative implies. I’ll say this once more for the sake of argument: There are no gaming stores carrying GW’s products in Brazil. The ones that did carry such products a while ago only sold them but did absolutely nothing akin to supporting the gaming community. I’ve visited quite a few of them and NEVER came across a single one which had a table you could play the game in or staff to explain the nuances of the hobby like they do in GW stores in the UK. Their sole interest was bleeding us dry of our money a lot like the colonialist model I’m mentioning a lot these days.

2 – Prices were at least similar to the ones of GW UK. People have been pointing that prices here are not fair. Let me add that prices here are OUTRAGEOUSLY UNFAIR. Think “Space Hulk” for instance. It was a limited release which goes on ebay today for about 200 dollars on average. That’s already expensive, and it translates in320 reais (Brazilian currency). I’ll add to the price the 60% import tax charged down here and find a grand total of R$ 512,00 (again five hundred and twelve reais). Well the same box goes for R$ 990,00 (yep… NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY REAIS!!!!) on a LGS which carries GW products. I should add that said exists solely on the internet.

I can hear people saying “AH! But that’s a limited release… prices are bound to be more reasonable in a brick and mortar store down there”. Well there’s another store which has some GW products for sale. It is a brick and mortar store which also sells on the internet. So let’s compare prices of… a dire avenger set. I need more of those for my elder. It costs £ 20,50 at GW’s website, which would translate into R$ 53,00 (fifty three reais), again adding taxes I get a grand total of R$ 84,00 (Eighty four reais). The same box on the afore mentioned LGS costs … R$ 210,00 (two hundred and ten reais!!!). Seriouslly! You can check it here (scroll down on the product list).

And before people say I’m contradicting myself because I’d said there were no LGS carrying GW products I should mention these are leftover stock from GW’s last attempt in establishing a foothold in Brazil through indie stores and a local distributor. Check the link and you’ll see lots of stock missing and there’s no inboud restocks. If you feel inclined to do some more calculations the  exchange rate today for the pound/real is £1,00 pound for R$ 2,60 reais.

Back to GW’s open letter, the more I read it the more it sounds like: “We’re doing it because we want more money … Indie stores are ruining are local businesses thus decreasing the amount of money we’re able to take from you. If you’re compelled to buy from a LGS at double prices we’ll make double the money… simple as that!!”.

It kinda makes sense from a company’s point of view right? GW only wants to protect its consumer base as clearly stated: “… the loss of volume would leave Games Workshop no choice but to scale back our investment in new product development, further eroding our customer base. Not something that we or our customers would want us to do”.

So why not make prices fair to the same consumer bases? The current prices were set back when the british pound was strong (I remember going to the UK with a 5:1 Real:Pound  exchange rate) and should be reviewed now that other currencies are stronger. I believe that in the long term the sales embargo will achieve the exact opposite and people WILL drop out of the hobby. I’m not saying I’ll do so but I’ll definitely buy a lot less. There’s a veritable host of other nice games out there and it’s high time Games Workshop noticed it only came to a position of prominence because of the very same consumers it’s trying to alienate now with embargoes and unreasonable price rises (resin was supposed to make models cheaper and prices went up!!!!).

Exchange rates will not “move back into alignment” as countries like Brazil and Australia are growing in the world scenario. Our money is getting stronger as a consequence of our economical growth and not because of some warp spawned abnormality. It’s Games Workshop who should try and adhere its way of doing business to something we call nowadays “Global Economy” instead of going so low as to have to enforce an effective embargo on sales to the afore mentioned countries. Seriously GET REAL!

I should also add that Wayland and Maelstrom did A LOT more in supporting the hobby in Brazil than Games Workshop, its local distributor or any local trade account as it was Wayland and Maelstrom which made the hobby largely available to people in the first place.

Instead of beating around the bush trying to justify an unreasonable and disrespectful policy, not only towards its costumers but to long time trade partners which are being openly accused of taking advantage of GW’s investments by “free riding” them, Mr. Mark Wells should state clearly that Games Workshop is a business hence it’s trying to maximize profit at the expense of alienating some consumers around the globe.

And don’t blame the amount of money invested on us hobbyists. We’re not kids! (Ok some of us are) GW does that amount of investment because it knows that money will be recouped in sales latter. GW invests money to produce top notch products not for the sake of its costumers but because said products sell, and sell for expensive prices, and well. Please do NOT take me for a fool.

In the end situation remains the same. I have been prohibited from exercising my basic consumer rights. Games Workshop is violating them. I have not been buying from Maelstrom Games or Wayland Games or even GW stores, when I have the opportunity to go abroad, because they offer discounts. If they sold me at full GW products I’d still buy from them because it would still be cheaper and because they’re much more convenient that any LGS in Brazil which would be at least 1.300 Km (one thousand and three hundred kilometers) from where I live (it’s a BIG country).

I have to add that the way Games Workshop has chosen to treat it’s Brazilian costumer is nothing short of regrettable. Time will tell the long term consequences of alienating costumers in a country where all the hobby had to keep going strong were the costumers themselves. Shame on you Games Workshop.

Over and out.

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Salve Leitor.

Acredito que muitos estejam acompanhando os posts sobre o embargo levado a efeito pela GW contra a comunidade brasileira devotada a seus jogos.

Ainda não leu nada sobre isso? Bom nós já tínhamos anunciado por aqui que a GW implantou uma nova política de vendas aplicável às lojas independentes baseadas na Europa efetivamente proibindo-as de vender para países fora da União Européia.

Essa noticia caiu como uma bomba sobre a comunidade brasileira uma vez que a absurda maioria de nós compra seus produtos das lojas independentes vitimadas pela proibição da GW.

“E qual seria o porquê dessa proibição?” Você pode se perguntar. Bem, como especulei com alguns amigos o cenário mais possível era que lojas locais, não só no Brasil mas também na Austrália, Nova Zelândia, Japão, Estados Unidos e no Canadá, pra nomear alguns países, tenham reclamado para a matriz da GW acerca da “injusta” competição com lojas como a Wayland Games e Maesltron Games (que segundo rumores responderiam juntas por um terço ou até mesmo metade das vendas de produtos GW na Europa).

Bom minha especulação foi confirmada hoje por uma carta aberta postada na internet onde Mark Wells, Principal executivo da GW, fala sobre os motivos que levaram ao embargo (traduzida livremente aqui):

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Caro Anthony,

 

Obrigado por contatar a Games Workshop acerca das mudanças em nossos termos comerciais para contas Européias. Eu sei que isso lhe frustrou e sinto muito por isso. Como um consumidor antigo você merece saber por que tomamos essa decisão.

 

Como você sabe, nós introduzimos as pessoas ao hobby da GW de colecionar, jogar e pintar miniaturas Citadel através de nossos Hobby Centres (Centros de Hobby) e revendedores locais. Os Centros de Hobby da GW conduzem jogos e sessões de pintura introdutórios, lições para iniciantes, atividades de hobby e eventos. Nós oferecemos tudo isso de graça e só conseguimos recuperar esse investimento se os consumidores comprarem produtos de nós.

 

Nos locais onde não temos um Centro de Hobby GW, nós oferecemos suporte aos revendedores independentes locais. Essas lojas fornecem um local conveniente para que os consumidores comprem nossos produtos próximo do local onde vivem. Nós oferecemos a essas lojas times de serviço ao consumidor local e depósitos para nos assegurarmos que os consumidores tenham pronto acesso aos nossos produtos mais vendidos e novos lançamentos. Muitos consumidores descobrem o hobby dessa maneira.

 

Além disso, nós investimos milhões de libras a cada ano em nosso estúdio de design e fábrica para nos assegurarmos de lançar mensalmente novos produtos. Isso torna o hobby Games Workshop mais excitante para os consumidores existentes ajudando-os a permanecer mais tempo no hobby. Nós só conseguimos cobrir os custos de fazer isso por causa do volume de consumidores que recrutamos e desenvolvemos através de nossos Centros de Hobby locais e revendedores.

 

É por essa razão que alteramos nossos termos de comércio Europeus. Ao longo dos últimos anos diversas moedas distanciaram-se de seus valores relativos históricos e assim abriu-se uma porta para que alguns revendedores explorassem essas variações cambiais e oferecessem grandes descontos para hobbistas em outros países. Foi esse o caso com revendedores europeus na internet vendendo para alguns de nossos clientes em outros países.

 

Enquanto isso pode parecer ótimo a curto prazo, o simples fato é que os revendedores Europeus na internet não investem nenhum dinheiro no crescimento do hobby em seu país. O modelo de negócio deles consiste em minimizar seus custos e aproveitar-se dos investimentos da GW em lojas locais e em criar uma base de consumidores.

 

Nós por outro lado continuamos a ter de pagar nossos empregados australianos, aluguéis e encargos em dólares australianos. Enquanto alguns clientes sugeriram que diminuíssemos nossos preços pela metade, a única forma com que poderíamos fazer isso seria diminuirmos pela metade os salários de nossos empregados australianos, o mesmo com nossos aluguéis e não pagássemos fornecedores até que o cambio se normalize. Essa é a realidade de reduzir preços nessa escala. E nós dois sabemos que consumidores motivados somente pelos preços não mudariam seu comportamento se as mudanças fossem menores que isso.

 

A consequencia inevitável é que se permitíssemos que isso continuasse GW não seria mais capaz de operar Centros de Hobby ou dar suporte aos revendedores locais. E se isso acontecesse em mais territórios fora da Europa a perda de volume não nos deixaria outra escolha senão diminuir nosso investinemto no desenvolvimento de novos produtos, erodinfo ainda mais nossa base de consumidores. Isso não é algo que nós ou nossos consumidores gostariam que fizéssemos.

 

É por isso que tomamos a decisão de tomar ações legítimas no sentido de restringir os revendedores Europeus de vender os produtos comprados da GW fora da Europa. Nenhuma outra alternativa era viável.

 

Enquanto eu entendo que você possa não estar satisfeito com nossa decisão, ela foi tomada para garantir que nós possamos continuar a oferecer suporte às comunidades do hobby GW em todo o mundo através de nossos Centros de Hobby GW e revendedores locais. E para garantir que continuemos a investir no desenvolvimento dos melhores produtos a serem lançados mensalmente. Espero que com o tempo você verá que os benefícios desta decisão serão para você e seu hobby.

 

Sinceramente,

Mark Wells.

Executivo chefe.

18 de maio de 2011

 

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Eu não sei vocês, mas para mim essa carta é uma tentativa pífia de justificar o óbvio. A Games Workshop é uma empresa e como tal está tentando maximizar seus ganhos obrigando os jogadores a comprarem de suas lojas e revendedores locais. Se um revendedor para de comprar da GW alegando decréscimo nas vendas é claro que ela vai tentar tomar medidas para evitar essa evasão de clientes.

Só que a meu ver essa medida é burra. É burra porquê a maioria de nós não se sentou lamentando e aceitando essa decisão, mas sim ficou chateada com tamanho desrespeito à pessoa mais importante nessa equação que é o consumidor.

Essa carta é uma tentativa rasteira de colocar a culpa nos próprios consumidores alegando, em suma, que a Games Workshop investe milhões em prol de seus consumidores e assim nós deveríamos simplesmente pagar os absurdos preços implementados aqui sem reclamar. Ora nenhum de nós é um imbecil acéfalo. Graças ao bom Deus o hobbista que se dedica aos jogos GW por aqui tem um pouco de erudição e entende que toda essa balela é fruto única e tão somente da vontade de aumentar os lucros da empresa ainda que a revelia de clientes como os brasileiros que com o embargo ficam impedidos de adquirir produtos da companhia.

Enfim… É lamentável a situação em que a Games Workshop nos coloca e a forma como trata o consumidor brasileiro nesse momento. Somente o tempo vai mostrar as conseqüências do embargo para o hobby principalmente neste país onde os maiores defensores e progadadores do hobby são os próprios hobbistas.

Até a próxima.

“Games Workshop’s Embargo – Part 4” or “Someone stop the time machine… I want out!”

Hello there.

It’s been a day and now pretty much everyone already knows about the latest blow dealt by Games Workshop against its own costumer base outside Europe.

If you haven’t heard it yet I’ll summarize it for you: GW has enacted new terms and conditions to independent retailers located in Europe thus preventing said stores from selling to costumers outside the European Union.

Therefore, like the true empires of yore, Games Workshop is dictating who can buy its products and which prices each costumer should pay. I might be getting something wrong here but isn’t that plainly illegal? Shouldn’t prices be determined by the market itself? Shouldn’t the costumer buy from those who offer better prices and service? In the end, shouldn’t the choices pertaining my hobby be entrusted to the sole interested person, and by that I mean me!

I have to admit being in a mild state of shock since yesterday. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I have been alienated from the hobby which has occupied a great deal of my time and thoughts over the course of the last 13 years.

I should point out I live in Brazil. The gaming community here is pretty spread apart and even if there were stores carrying GW products at reasonable prices here, which there aren’t,  ’d still have to travel an average 1.500 Kilometers to get to them, so it should come as no surprise that buying online has been my main source of models over the years.

Before going any further I should profess that, even though I don’t condone GW’s way of doing business I am a hardcore fan of the games the company produces and of the fictional universes such games are in. I understand GW holds the IP rights over all its creations but one thing should be clear to them, these games and fictional universes are as much ours as they are theirs. We, as gamers, and readers and fans, have invested as much commitment to the game as GW itself, but, without being paid a single penny for it.

Plain and simple I believe this new policy being enforced by GW is wrong in the sense that it alienates its costumers and goes against our consumer rights as it prevents me, as a costumer, to buy choosing the best price offered. Not only that but it also goes against the established market economy and perverts basic economy tenets like free trade, supply and demand and competitive markets. I wouldn’t be surprised if people found out these new terms enacted by GW are in breach of international antitrust and competition laws.

There’s been some criticism about my choice of words for when we first broke out the rumours about the incoming “surprise” GW had for us. Some claimed “Embargo” was too strong a word to describe the situation. I have to answer such criticism by pointing out “Embargo” is indeed the word best suited to describe what’s going on right now.

According to Wikipedia, and other dictionaries, an “Embargo” constitutes a “… partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it”. Well, pardon my french, but that’s exactly what Games Workshop is doing when it enforces a policy prohibiting independent stores from selling to costumers located in countries outside the E.U..

It is my firm belief that Games Workshop could learn a lot by studying the errors of its countrymen from the past, namely those involved in the episodes which went down in history books as “The Stamp Act of 1765” and “The Boston Tea Party”. As for me and the hobby I’ve dedicated myself to in over 13 years. Well I have to admit being hurt and still having not clearly decided which way to go. More on that soon.

Over and out.