Comics: Ctrl+Alt+Del

Ctrl+Alt+Del

Sometimes the great blogosphere runs a little dry, and I find myself seeking other diversions. This includes web comics, and I wanted to share the brilliant Ctrl+Alt+Del by Tim Buckley.

I started from the beginning and lost a couple of weeks of my spare time just flicking through. Mad, bizzar, gaming related fun. Enjoy!

List-Fu: Australian Masters 2012

3++ is the New Black

The Wolves were out in force at the recent Australian Masters, with Dave Teoh taking 1st with a Logan list. I haven't been able to find a breakdown of the list anywhere as yet, but will add this if I can get my hands on it!

3++ have covered the event in some detail, including the majority of the other lists and the overall rankings.

I find it very interesting that of the 16 armies present, while the flavour of the month screamer and flamer heavy Daemon lists placed very well (3 out of the 4 Daemon list placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th), and 'Cron air also featured heavily in the top half, Space Wolves were the marine army of choice, once again showing the strength of the codex.

I would note, however, that if you look at final standings you will see that with the exception of Dave Taoh, all of the other Wolves lists place in bottom half.

I'm not sure if any concrete conclusions can be drawn from these overall lists, although it is tempting to suggest that MEQs are still working on how to beat the current Daemon and Necron lists, even when trying to switch up mobility options by using drop pods.

Anyway, congrats to Dave for bringing home the win at a very competitive event, and another major win for the Wolves!

Happy Christmas!

Lego Nativity Scene

Wishing you all, readers and searchbots alike, a very Happy Christmas!

For anyone with an enquiring mind or with big questions, I thoroughly recommend the following shortlist of books:


Hope you all have a great break.

Blogs: Lexicanum


Lexicanum is an unofficial, Wiki-style encyclopedia for official 40k background, and there really is a lot of it. Need to read up on the fluff of your favourite army or characters or want to know what happened during a particular battle? This is the place to go. There is just pages upon pages of interesting stuff. Highly recommend.

Blood Bowl


I play 40k primarily as a competitive game, and although I'm happy to tone it down and play 'for fun' (see the CONCEPTS: Fun?!? post for more of my thoughts on this), I enjoy it the most when I'm pushing hard with the best army I can field against a strong opponent. However, I've been considering possibilities for an alternative game, just to break up playing 40k.

Firstly, the game needed to be fun - in the 'I'm not trying flat out to win or improve in my free time and I don't care too much about the result' kind of way. I still struggle to turn off trying to win when playing though, so the game needed to have enough strategic depth to keep my interest.

Secondly, it needed a low minimum investment in terms of both time and money. So assuming that the game would be model based (computer and card games are still an option), I wanted something that wasn't going to be anyway as near as expensive as 40k or require a large number of models to make or paint. I refuse to play with a model that is, for me, sloppily painted or has mold lines everywhere. Work in progress is fine and I have no issues with other player's standards, but I'm not willing to compromise on this for myself!

It also needed to be significantly different from 40k, either in medium (e.g. computer or card games as noted above) and/or in theme (fantasy or possibly steam-punk).

Lastly, I needed to be able to have a group of local players to play with! Because playing against myself would be a lot less fun...

So with these criteria in mind, I finally settled on... Blood Bowl (a shock given the title of the post!).


I used to love this game and only sold my previous collection a few years ago (typical, but mouths to feed and all). I was delighted when I found that the current rulebook is still in digital print and available free from Games Workshop. Yes, free. From Games Workshop. I still can't get over that.

Anyway, for those who don't already know, Blood Bowl is a rather brutal fantasy American football game based in the Old World (so the same as Warhammer Fantasy). You can either play a straightforward game, or you can develop a team in leagues/tournaments where your players (e.g. Throwers, Catchers, Blitzers) can gain experience and skills and even pick up ongoing injuries. Managing and improving your team is what appeals to me most, much like the brilliant Necromunda, and the games themselves tend to be fast and furious too. Oh, and there's the Xbox 360 game too!


There are enough guys at Walberton Wargamers that have played in the past/play occasionally now that getting games in won't be a problem, and as a starting team generally consists of 12 players, getting some models together isn't going to break the bank or take an age to get onto the table. I've already picked a team, and will run through my choice in the next Blood Bowl post!

Food For Thought: Dealing with Deathstars


Some are big. Some are expensive. Some even dish out a ridiculous amount of damage. If you pick the right one, it can soak up a massive amount of damage too while it eats through an opposing army.

Deathstars. These uber units of doom can be found in many lists, but creating and using them effectively can be very difficult against a prepared opponent. Typical examples include Draigowing, Fate-crusher, nob bikers, thunderwolves and seer councils on jet bikes. This list goes on, but hopefully you get the idea.

So to help when playing against these super-killy units, I suggest reading Nikephoros' post Back to Basics: Dealing with Deathstars on 3++ is the new black. This really helped me early on, and is another reason I consider mobility and MSU when making my lists. Enjoy!