DaBoyz GT T - 11 Weeks - hyv3mynd

It's been a boring week on the hobby front as I've been scrambling to assemble and prime the final pieces of my 1850pt GT list.  I was able to finally sit down with a brush and work on the spirit seer's mask.

Yesterday was the first day in a long time with low heat and humidity here so I primed the batch of models I've been assembling.  This includes my second serpent, third shadow weaver, five avengers, and an artillery gunner.

I also primed the cork bases for wraith guard, avengers, and artillery gunners.  Like I said, nothing too exciting but it needed to be done.  I hope to get everything airbrushed 3 colors for next week's monthly tournament which will be 1850pts so I can test out the list.

I do want to spend a hot minute talking about the comp restrictions and FAQ for DaBoyz GT this year.  If you know anything about the event, it's that (aside from last year due to the new edition release) the guys who run this believe the game should be played with a certain feel.  It's a hold-over from days gone by and losing popularity from the internet community, yet the years I've attended have been heavily supported by hobbyists and pro-gamers alike.  A large portion of America's 2011 and 2012 ETC team attend every year as well as writers from BoLS.  Despite a lack of support for the "comp" mentality online, people seem to genuinely appreciate a different format where people aren't sporting identical netlists with triplets and sextuplets of the best units.  Even the most competitive players have toned down their lists for this GT and traveled up from Texas, Ohio, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.  I even played a chap from the United Kingdom in 2011.

So here we are more than a year since 6th edition was released and DaBoyz have brought comp back into their event.  This year there are hard caps on units instead of a comp score factored into the overall.  This is actually my favorite form of comp because it sets the bar at a new level but allows everyone to build lists as they please as long as they follow the restrictions.  And there's no need to stress over a judged comp score and how it will effect your overall placement.

The restrictions are very simple this year:  All non-troop units are 0-2.  Troop units and troop transports are 0-4.  No army may contain more than 4 flyers.  You may include unique characters from one codex, but not two. (Full document here)

Some people say "it's not real 40k when you impose restrictions" which is a harsh label, but I can understand the frustration.  However if you look at any group of 100 or 200 at a big GT, more players would fall into the "casual hobbyist" category than "competitive powergamers".  And for a large part, casual hobbyists enjoy playing their armies as they were meant to be: a hobby driven collection of lovingly modeled and painted figures.  For this group, playing 4 riptides or 9 wave serpents or 6 FMC's simply isn't interesting or fun to play with or against.  This is the group that DaBoyz GT caters to.  With Adepticon, WargamesCon, NOVA, and Bay Area Open, people all over the country have access to huge events where they can spam their hearts out.  DaBoyz GT offers an outlet for the painters and hobbyists to play the armies they're passionate about without having to face the flavor of the month netlist that can suck the fun out of enjoying a game.

Of course, the restrictions can be gamed to a point, but most would agree that facing 2 riptides instead of 3, or 4 wave serpents instead of 6, or just 2 daemon princes is a step in the right direction.  That's all I'm going to say on the subject as it's a hot topic that will never be agreed upon when you have fierce competitors and casual hobbyists in the same group.

Now we move on to DaBoyz GT FAQ (also here).  There's mostly clarifications in there with one major counter-RAW rules change: Flyers and FMC's can never control or deny an objective, even in the scouring and BGNT missions.  This counters the RAW because the missions explicitly allow this in the rulebook, as long as a flying vehicle's hull is within 3" of the objective.  Hence the much hated scoring heldrakes since their wings hang so low.  Also, FMC's being non-vehicles are inherently granted denial status and heavy support daemon princes (or fast harpies) would be allowed to score in the appropriate missions.  We can probably speculate that these choices were made to reign in flyers a bit since there are still a few armies with absolutely no anti-flyer units, and the ability for flyers to ignore the assault phase and most of the shooting phase makes for some really lopsided games.  Again, I'm not here to challenge these rulings as I intend to play in the event no matter what, but I hope people do their research and come prepared.

The combination of comp restrictions and FAQ rulings will create a meta at DaBoyz GT that won't be seen anywhere else in the country.  Some will love it and some will hate it, but the point is this event will "feel" different that Adepticon, BAO, and NOVA, which is a good thing in my book.  Not because they are bad events, because they aren't.  Because offering diversity in events is a good thing and it encourages people who are too put-off by netlists, spam, and powergaming to come out and play against more moderate armies.

In preparing myself mentally for the meta, here's what I anticipate:  Tau, Eldar, and Daemons will each see around 15% representation similar to NOVA.  There won't be any triptide lists, but expect to see many doubles, double wraithknights, and riptide/wraithknight combos.  Daemons can still fit 2 princes and 2 greaters into the comp format, but I expect a lot more beast/cavalry lists.  20 strong units of corn dogs, seekers, etc are great counters to riptides and Tau in general.  Space marines will be the wild card with the new book arriving soon, but considering their status as the golden child of 40k, I expect 15-20% representation between primary and allied detachments.  Centurions will be the hot new unit with the ability to match Tau shooting with respectable resiliency.  Space marines, tau, and eldar are all battle brothers so I expect tons of hybrid mixes, especially by those wanting to make up for the comp restrictions and "game the system".  Tigurius, farseers, and tau commanders are the best force multipliers in the game right now since they have so many battle brother combos.  DaBoyz GT has some of the most dense and highest quality terrain of any event in the country, but by now you should be prepared for all the "ignores cover" that Tau and Eldar bring to the table.

I'll stop there for now, but continue my own personal theory hammer and preparations in the weeks to follow.  This coming week will be all airbrushing and next week I'll start getting some 1850pt battle reports in with my final list.