Why does everyone have Grey Knights?

I've been out of it for a couple of months now because of the whole house thing, but I kept up with blog feeds and tournament reports.  As if the metagame wasn't stale already, it seems like everyone and their mother plays with Grey Knights now.  That's all I see on major gaming forums, all I see on major blogs and frankly I'm sick of it.  This is probably the biggest bandwagon in the history of 40K.  I've been playing the game since 3rd and I can't remember when everyone played the same army.

Am I crazy?  But come on..
Cheers to the death of originality and fun.  I'm gonna start posting more fun BA and SW stuff soon.

Playing some Space Marine!

Come at me bro.

Have you guys played it yet?  I'm loving the Multiplayer especially.  I haven't played single-player at all, but I've been hacking away at some faces in MP.  My main class is Assault, but I do like to roll Tacticals every now and then.

Chainsword/Bolt Pistol

Swordsman's Zeal

Air-cooled Thrusters

A lot of people complain that everything's overpowered, but hey you know what?  If everything seems imbalanced, then I'm willing to bet it's balanced.

Sample Ogres list

So I've been toying around with the new Ogres army book recently and man do I think Ogres are funny.  Truth be told, I've been looking around for an army that's on the opposite end of my High Elves and I think I might of found the right one.  High Elves are small in stature, elite, loves Dragons and has powerful game-changing magic.  Ogres are big and fat, ugly as sin, has a pretty small army size (I guess they're elite?), and are just overall hysterical because they're physically everything High Elves aren't.

I don't know, what do you guys think?  What would you say are the opposite of High Elves?  I already have a VC army sitting in the closet, but I don't think I'll break them out just yet.  From the looks of things, 8th Ed. is heading in a great direction and all the books I've seen so far are balanced.  For the first time in forever, Games Workshop has been writing balanced books.  I know right?  Crazy..

As for my Ogres list, check this thing out:

2501

Tyrant = 322
Heavy Armor, Great Weapon
Dragonhelm, Giantbreaker, 4+ Ward
Other Tickster's

The Tyrant here is supposed to be me on the battlefield.  A personal avatar if you will.  He's big, powerful, is swinging at S8 (-5 to your armor!) and has a 4+/4++ save.  Not the best save in the world, but with his ability to make other folks re-roll successful ward saves, he's bound to do a lot of damage.  With S8 attacks, anything with a 2+ save gets no armor saves against him.

Lv.4 Slaughtermaster = 285

Maybe I only need a Lv.3 with Ogres, but I decided to spend the extra 35 pts to bump the Slaughtermaster up to a Lv.4.  Time will tell if I need more on him.. but for now he's running naked.

Bruiser = 191
BSB, Great Weapon
2+ save, Dragonfire

Simple Bruiser BSB with a 2+ save and the Ironcurse item to give the unit a 6+ save from Warmachine fire. Better than nothing I suppose.. the other contender is the 2+ ward vs. fire/flaming attacks.

Lv.1 Firebelly = 154
Great Weapon
Scroll

Just a scroll caddy + S4 breath in close combat.  The Firebelly also allows me to take away those Regen saves so my Tyrant and Bruiser can go to town.

7x Ogres (Ironfists) = 259
Full Command

The Slaughtermaster chills in this unit and just buffs up the rest of the army and provides dispel support.  When needed, they go charging in after the main blocks of units engage.

9x Ironguts = 422
Full Command

The main fighting force of the army right here.  With 9x of these dudes, the Tyrant, BSB and Firebelly, I form a 4x3 unit of face-breaking fun.  One of the strongest units in the entirety of Warhammer, anything that gets caught in its path gets completely trampled into the ground.  Now.. if only I can get into combat without getting molested by Purple Sun or Pit of Shades..

6x Leadbelchers = 258

These guys are at 6x right now but I'm also thinking about dropping them to 4x (in 2x2).  Right now with 6, they're putting out 6d6 BS3 S4 armor piercing shots with no moving to fire penalty at 24".  That's pretty damn impressive.  But with 2x2, they're small and agile enough to shoot down Eagles on my flanks and with the extra points, I can buy Sabretusks to go Warmachine hunting.  I don't know, what do you guys think?

4x Mournfang (Ironfists) = 360
Full Command
Dragonhide Banner

A huge threat to anything that lives and breathes.  On the charge, they put out 4d3 S5 impact hits, 16 WS3 S5 attacks, 13 WS3 S4 attacks, re-rolls all 1s to hit, wound and failed armor saves (Wolf Standard in WHFB wtf!), has a 2+ armor save with parry and is T4 with 3 wounds each.  Talk about the bulkiest heavy cavalry to ever grace the game of Warhammer.  Damn.  If I want the unit I'm holding onto to stay still, I just pop the Dragonhide Banner's S3 breath attack and everyone that gets hit is striking last next turn.  Ridiculous.

Thundertusk = 250

It's a freaking mammoth, why not?  Comes stock with 6" ASL aura to all enemy models effected, built in Stonethrower, Bolt Thrower and random 12" S6 Killing Blow ranged attack.

Ogres, Sisters and other news

It's been a long time since I made an update and I apologize for that.

First, I'd like to say that I'm officially an homeowner.  I'm now knee deep in moving so I'll remain elusive until that's all done.  Then there's a few repairs I need to do with the house so who knows when I'll get back to minis.  However, I have been keeping up with my minis news via White Dwarf, updates from every known forum on the internets and from my fellow bloggers.  Thanks everyone!

The second thing I'd like to talk about is the Sisters codex.  I was disappointed when I checked out the first WD where it had the special rules.  I was disappointed again after seeing their point costs in the 2nd WD.  Needless to say, I think they're going to be a middle of the ground army that adheres to fluff and fun more so than competitive play.  They're just not that good, especially now that their Faith points are not guaranteed and the powers themselves are weaker.  Kirby said it pretty well in his review here.  One of my biggest gripes with the codex is how unreliable their FP system is.  Sure, you can stack HQs in the unit to make it more reliable, but putting more RNG in a RNG-based game is not good game design imo.  It simply takes away with what you can do with them in the future.

I guess my only other follow-up for 40K is the Nova open.  It's been a while since I commented on the metagame, and the only thing I have to say about it is that it sucks.  There's just so many MEQ players these days that tournaments don't facinate me anymore.  Grats on the Draigo player taking GK to the final rounds, can't say I saw that coming.  Wonder what his list was.

And lastly, I want to say that I'm very excited to get my Ogre Kingdoms book in the mail.  For the first time in a long time, it appears that GW has finally gotten their shit together in terms of designing books.  If you look at the current trend of 8th Ed. books, all the books are balanced and tame compared to the 7th Ed. atrocities.  I still think the super killy spells is bad news bears in terms of game design, but the balance of 8th Ed. Fantasy is going in a great direction.  This, on top of the ridiculously awesome models they've been putting out is nothing short of awesome.  Let's just hope GW keeps this up.

That's it for now guys.  Let me know what you think.

Minor update

You guys are probably wondering where the hell I've been.  Well for one, I'm currently in escrow for a house!  Been really busy house hunting the last month with my wife, and we lucked out on a short sale on a really nice place so we're knee deep in escrow.  We're scheduled to close at the end of the month so I've been swamped in paperwork.

As for minis related stuff, I picked up a Covenant of Antarctica fleet from Spartan Games but have not put anything together.  I have a whole VC army sitting in the corner that I haven't touched, and an ALEPH army that's semi-put together.  Needless to say, I haven't really touched anything super time-consuming for a month.

Really busy guys!  Hoping for a more relaxing September..

My MTG decks

White deck mascot lawl

Since the Magic phase is continuing, here comes a post dedicated to my decks:

Blue Illusions
Aggro/Control

Main Deck:
23x Island

4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Phantasmal Image
3x Adaptive Automaton
3x Phantasmal Dragon
3x Grand Architect

4x Spell Pierce
4x Vapor Snag
4x Mana Leak
4x Ponder

Sideboard:
4x Spreading Seas
4x Mental Misstep
4x Into the Roil
3x Flashfreeze

I like aggro and I like control, so the deck above showcases both of these to its fullest.  Blue is often considered a pretty control-heavy style of play, but I like being able to dictate the ebb and flow of the battle.  In card games, this is known as tempo.  The purpose of this deck is to be able to drop down cheap and effective creatures while providing them with ramping +1/1 buffs and hexproof.  Since the Phantasmal Image can copy the LotU and Adaptive Automaton, I am able to pump out these buffs like crazy.  Phantasmal Dragon is there to punch people in the face with Flying and Grand Architects buff my creatures while putting the Automatons on the board faster.

As for control, I'm running 4/4 Spell Pierce to Mana Leak for counterspells, Ponders for card draw and manipulation and Vapor Snag for creature bounce.  A lot of people don't run Vapor Snag but I think that's a huge mistake.  Blue has problems dealing with bigger creatures or creatures that can block and trade so bouncing them is the best option.  It acts almost like a counterspell for creatures because they can't tap out and play big creatures without getting sent back.

The sideboard here is pretty standard.  Spreading Seas helps takes care of lands that can possibly block your tempo and choke other decks out of mana.  Mental Misstep gives me protection against 1-drop weenies or creature destruction (such as mono-red or white) and Into the Roil gives me additional bounce.  This deck's biggest problem is equipment and creatures so additional resets are always appreciated.  Flashfreeze is there just for Red/Green hate.


White Knights
Aggro/Enhancement

Main Deck:
23x Plains

4x Student of Warfare
4x Knight Exemplars
4x Mirran Crusader
4x Squadron Hawk
3x Hero of Bladehold
2x Baneslayer Angel

4x Honor of the Pure
4x Brave the Elements
3x Swiftfoot Boots
3x Oblivion Ring
2x Angelic Destiny

Sideboard:
4x Celestial Purge
4x Kor Firewalker
3x Divine Offering
3x Day of Judgment
1x Oblivion Ring

This is my Knights deck with an angelic twist.  The Student of Warfare is a powerful starter since he can go up to a 3/3 with First Strike on turn 2.  Knight Exemplars apply +1/1 to all my Knights and make them Indestructible.  Mirran Crusaders have Double Strike and when they're equipped with Angelic Destiny, things just get ridiculous.  Hero of Bladehold works nicely with Swiftfoot Boots since she gains Hexproof and Haste and can apply her Battlecry instantly.  Like I said, this deck has a angelic twist and what good is a angel deck without the Baneslayer Angel!  She's just there to hang out and watch the Knights do the work.

For my spells, it's really quite self-explanatory.  Honor of the Pure gives all my white creatures +1/1, Oblivion Ring exiles trouble cards and Swiftfoot Boots keeps the big hitters safe.  Brave the Elements also allows me to walk through creatures trying to block and gives me protection from any destruction cards.  Angelic Destiny is there for the angel-theme and when correctly played, can send a Mirran Crusader from good to amazing.

The sideboard is there to better protect myself from black and red and board aggro.  If my smaller and more elite army is overwhelmed, Day of Judgment is there to reset the field.  To be honest, there's a lot of options out there for white.  Another option can be to run Condemns, but I'd rather keep things simple and kill/exile everything I see.

A new MTG format?

This is mainly for us casual players at work who want to play with the new stuff.

I was thinking of a new format which consists of the current standard (which is M11, M12, Scars block, Zendikar block) + the future block. The only difference is, once Innistrad rolls around, we won't drop Zendikar and M11.

What do you guys think about this?
What should I call it?
Right now, I'm calling it T2-1, what do you guys think of the name and format?