Warhamer 40k - New Deathwing models

I managed to find some time to start putting some new Deathwing models together (from the box my sister sent me a few weeks ago).  I have to say that the box was quite impressive considering all the parts and weapons and stuff on the sprue.  Here's a preview pic of what I did.

Sadly I still don't think the box is worth the price tag GW is asking (no disrespect to my sister, it was a very thoughtful gift and I will enjoy it immensely).  The hobby has really become a luxury that I definately cannot afford on a regular basis.  Thankfully I have a large 40k army already so I won't need to actually buy anything for years to come (when they make Deathwing terminators 15 points a piece, then maybe I will need to buy more).

League of Legends - Grouping Up

League is getting fun again.  After a few days of struggling to climb Silver V and getting nowhere, I decided to stop playing ranked and try something else.  As I mentioned in my last League of Legends post, I convinced my friends to get futuristic skins/champions and we could all play as a themed team.  It was quite fun and we managed a few wins against some random folk.  No ranked play as only two of us have lv30 accounts (our midlaner is almost 30 but our top laner and support are only 15 and 8 respectively).

Our current set up is (our summoner names in brackets)

• Top lane (Salcomine) - Galactic Renekton
• Jungle (Deathwing40k) - Galactic Nasus
• Midlane (ManEatingDuck)- Cryocore Brand
• ADC (Eloesha) - Pulsefire Ezrael
• Support (alexwarrior) - iBlitzcrank

Mind you if we're not all together we just play whatever.  I've gotten really good at playing Miss Fortune, especially when paired up with our iBlitzcrank support.  Those rocket grabs and power fist knock ups give me so much time to just unleash Miss Fortune's abilities on to the poor unfortunate soul.  Of course almost any ADC will work well with Blitzcrank's style of support.  Salcomine plays a lot of Malphite which works really well with my junglers (usually Xin or Jarvan) so we have some awesome initiates which are devastating if our team capitalizes.

Did I stop my attempt to get to Gold division?  Hardly, I just don't grind ranked games anymore.  I've taken to playing one ranked game every day or every other day.  So far it's been working great and I'm on a win streak (finally!).  Still in Silver V but slowly earning league points and about half way to the promotion series.  In the meanwhile I've taken to playing ARAM games.

I'm very glad that ARAM queues got implemented too as it gives me something to do in between ranked games that's kind of relaxing.  It's strangely satisfying to roll a totally random champion and then just fight the other team.  No jungle to worry about, no ganks to worry about, just fighting.

Warhammer 40k - Deathwing Terminators & Orktoberfest 2013

So my birthday came and went and I got a pleasant surprise from my sister (who happens to live on the other side of the country).  She was kind enough to send a box of Deathwing Terminators in her care package to our parents (who live in the same city as me) and I picked it up while having dinner at their place.

Haven't quite gotten a chance to open it up and start building but quite excited as I've been wanting them for a while now but between the price and GW's business practices have been totally put off.  Getting the box was also great as I had just gotten into talks with the folks who run NPC-Con and we decided to run both NPC-Con 2013 and Orktoberfest 2013 at the same venue.  This does a bunch of things for both parties.  We can share the cost of the venue, share sponsors and share players.  Win-win for everyone involved.  The only thing is I might have to cap the participants for Orktoberfest due to space limitations but that's ok as I've never hit the maximum of 32 in the past 3 years.  Always around 20-24 which is just right for the venue that NPC-Con is using.

Unfortunately though, with GW's recent behaviour towards Faeit212 and BoLS, not sure if I want to promote 40k as the system for Orktoberfest 2013.  Seriously considering switching to Warmachine/Hordes as there are a lot of those players in northern BC.  The only thing stopping me is that I don't play that system and I don't want to shell out a bunch of money to start playing that system.

League of Legends - Adventures in Silver Division V

A few weeks back I started my trek into League of Legends ranked play and I have to say it's been quite an up and down ride.  Getting out of Bronze Division I was easy enough (only took 15 games I think?) but I'm having a hell of a time climbing Silver Division V.  Currently I've played some 20+ games in the new division and I haven't gotten anywhere.  Seems like I win one or two games but then lose 3 or 4 right after.

What bugs me is that the opponents I'm facing are no different than those I faced in Bronze Division I and I had a way easier time against them when I was in Bronze Division I.  Even more frustrating is that I haven't really run into a lot of ragers/afkers/toxic folk so the games are actually decent (except for the losing part).  One thing I did consider is that I'm not playing my favourite/best role as a jungler in a lot of my recent games.  Getting used to a new role takes a bit of learning and my first few games as an ADC (attack damage carry) was not the greatest.  I'm getting better though especially after I decided to practice some of the basic skills (like last-hitting and positioning) in normal games.

Gonna try and rank up some more and hope to hit Gold by the end of Season 3 (I want that shiny gold name plate!).  In between ranked games though I've been playing with my friends in duo or trio queues.  One of them picked up Blitzcrank and the cool iBlitzcrank skin and I got the brilliant idea to convince everyone to get a champion with a cool futuristic/mechanical/space like skin.  Each of us thankfully has a favourite role so it just came down to finding a champ that fit each role.  As such our proposed team is going to be composed of the following champions

• Top lane Galactic Renekton
• Jungler (me) Galactice Nasus or Full Metal Jayce
• Mid-Lane undecided so far.  He might end up playing Full Metal Jayce mid.
• ADC Pulsefire Ezrael
• Support iBlitzcrank

We've yet to actually all get together as a full team but it's quite fun even duo-queueing with themed skins.

Outlaw Shizzle - The Story so far (episodes 4-6 recap)

Been a bit behind with the story of Outlaw Shizzle.  Lots of stuff going so what I present here is just a quick recap of what occured in the last 3 episodes.

Episode 4 - The Fall of the Fox
The group manages to fight their way through the Fox's undead minions and his magical traps and eventually confront the Fox in his lair.  A vicious fight ensues with the elite undead guards of the Fox and the Fox himself.  The adventurers use every technique in their arsenal and manage to bring the Fox down.
Looting his lair, they learn that the Rage's family has been sending food stuffs and other supplies to the denizens of the Northern Reaches, a mountain chain east and north of Babel Gilga.  In return, necromantic reagents are being smuggled into the city.

League of Legends - Ranking up

With the price increases by GW and the general lack of anyone playing Warhammer in the area (either fantasy or 40k) I've been spending more and more of my free time playing League of Legends.  I've even started watching some of the more prominant streamers as I want to improve my game play.  That last bit baffled my wife as she didn't quite understand why I would want to watch someone else play.  At which point I told her it's just like a sport (the only real difference is LoL is played on a computer and most other sports are played in a larger arena).  To be honest, after watching some of this weekend's European LCS, you'll think League of Legends was a major sporting event.

Anyways, the most interesting aspect I find about competitive LoL is their impressive ranked play system which I never did participate in when it was first introduced about 3 years ago.  Since I'm currently on my spring break it was only natural I spend some time gaming and I managed to grind out enough in-game points to get enough champions so I could start playing ranked matches.

Oddly enough ranked matches are really no different than normal matches and I actually really like the draft format of the ranked matches (reminds me of drafting MTG which I don't do enough of either).  After my 10 placement matches I managed to land in Tier 1 of the Bronze Division which in layman's terms is basically the best of newly ranked players (see my profile here).  Will I play enough to get higher?  I dunno, but I do want to try and hit Gold division (at that point I think my nameplate becomes a cool golden colour).

So begins my journey through all the ragers, haters, leavers, afkers and feeders to try and reach Gold division.  For anyone interested my summoner name is Deathwing40k and I like to jungle (though I have played every role now and it has dawned on me that I need to get a few champions for each role)

League of Legends - Returning to the League

So as mentioned in my last post, I have recently gotten back into League of Legends (otherwise known as LoL).  Not entirely sure how or why to be honest.  One of my friends just asked if I played and I said yes and he invited me to a game.  I kinda felt bad though as I have a lv30 account and he just started so the skill disparity was quite obvious (even if I had not played in about two years I stopped just before season 1 started).