Friday, January 21, 2011

Why are we stupid?


So now I would like to talk about one of the most fundamental changes that the interwebs has brought to me, a simple truth that has reshaped my entire logical process. The question of "Why".

I am slowly but surly moving from being a teenage hooligan to a young adult and am finding that I am being challenged far more then I ever could comprihend. My religion, my political veiws, my  hobbies, and even my dreams for the future. I am no longer given a simple nod and left to my hopes like you get in high school, I'm in the real world starting next fall and now have to stand for myself. The question of "Why" is the biggest challenge to someone with little experience in the world and its forcing me to dwelve deeper and find reasons for what I belive or choose to act upon.

How is this about 40K though I hear you ask. Well almost a year ago I started to take an apperence on the interwebs through the Grimnar Angband on Yes The Truth Hurts and very quickly I found that I had little idea what I was talking about. To be challenged was a product of my own lack of initiative. I took Stelek at his word for the longest time and that certainly changed my veiw of the game, but that was it, I was only using someone else's ideas and that only got me so far. Well after I started my Logan Wing I found that I became quite good, I knew my army inside and out and atg my first major event my win, lose, draw, record was 2/2/1. Impressive more that my two loses were so close that a single dice roll, or in one case the time clock kept me from at least another victory and a draw.

I wasn't there to win big, mearly have fun and prove to myself that I could play as well as I thought I could. I came back to a changing world on the interwebs for my Logan Wing, Lone wolves were being subsituted for Wolf Scouts and Thunderwolves lost their storm shield and power fists in favor of Wolf claws. I was now suppose to make these changes to be competitive. I had just learned the streanths of my army and honestly though different to the common norm. I stood for my choices in my army and was made the better for it. Now people constantly find me debating for the P-Fist and storm Shields and I love being able to but heads with a few known interweb folks ( I'm look at you Purgatus lol). But this is the point. I know WHY I use the models I do.

I know their strengths, weaknesses, ranges, sizes, mobility, and I learned this through experience. By now working off the regular norm I am forced to bring the full scale of my knowledge to the front. This in turn has helped me grow in this game and in my life as well. This isn't an excuse for being stupid and stubborn however for I have my shares of stupid moments and I have developed the maturity to move forward and except it. Having criticism isn't a bad thing, it causes you to stand back and ask your self "Why?" Surprisingly I find few people who can give me honest answers in some cases, sad really, more sad that I was like that.

Are you using a model cause its cool,
Cause someone said it was good,
because you like the background,
or is it because of your own experiences?

This question will force an answer to a lot of interesting points and is a self reflective gold mine for finding out why you like and play your toy soldiers. I ask that you guys never stop asking these questions, Its one of the few things I make a point of when writing a list. Best example would be my old How to: World Eaters Article, man I got flamed for a few days, then I came up and stated my reasons and what do you know? People back off, It's called making sense. People were just throwing an argument because I dont use the Desent Of Angels rule to drop my entire army in front of everybody. But that was it, there wasn't any substance to the argument, people were arguing just because they heard that that's how to play them (BOLS... I hold you responsible for alot of it).

This is the biggest crime of the Bloggersphere, it allows people to think they can "cheat the system" by reading about other peoples sucsess. I learned it doesnt work like that. Experience is needed and even more important is an understanding on your side. Your army shouldn't be someone else's, it can end up looking similar to other people's (thats normal with lists like the Logan Wing and others) but the inspiration for using the unit has to come from you. I play my Logan wing now not because Stelek wrote the list for me, but now because I know how to play it. I make my choices now based on what I think can work. People like Stelek and Purgatus are now sources of insight I use to bounce ideas off of and we go about this not in a leader - follower but as players discussing tactics... like it should be done.

I stand by this simple principle, play what you have come to understand as good, challenge the norm, but at the same time be ready to except the truth, even if it means you wrong.

Peace out guys...my hands hurt.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent article mate.

    Blogs, articles, forums and lists are great ways to give yourself a "head start" or "refresher" but its not a cheat sheet to winning.

    I myself try to absorb info from various places, good or bad, and decide why its bad and why its good. That helps develop your experience, your knowledge, but at the end of the day that has to be put into practice, into an actual situation and from there discern what you've learnt and can apply going forward.

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