Despite the fact that this blog has been dormant for the last year, I'm still pretty ok with how the year has gone. To be honest it's been a bit of a wake up call. I came out of 2013 with my first bits of tournament experience under my belt and thinking that I was 'the big dog', and to be honest, in the first 8 months of this year I really felt I was progressing, and I was playing the best 40k I had ever played by the end of it, but in the grand scheme of things I was no where near winning anything and was very much a middle of the pack player. Finishing consistently top half, but now occasionally giving ETC players good practice, winning my first ever awards outside of sportsmanship (well, physically, I still count the doubles at the end of October 2013 as a tourney win, there's a rant back there somewhere), and striving forward in the scene.
Then 7th hit, I started to get more and more into PC gaming, 3rd year University hit, and I reverted back to complete scrub status.
So what am I looking to achieve in the next year. First and foremost I want a trophy. Not a certificate. I want a big ass cup on my mantlepiece, and a KR case with a label on it. I don't care if it's 20 man, my aim is to win it. I don't want to be in mid table obscurity anymore, and the step to that is to stop playing like I belong there. I'm giving myself until the GT finale to get my form from the end of 6th back, and then I intend to press on, getting any games I can and playing against ETC calibre players at every opportunity, as I also want to make a serious push on the England team for the 2016 season.
As for the blog, I have been wanting to rebrand for a while now. The original name came from my forum alias which is really both far less known than my real name on the tournament circuit and far worse as a name than my IGN on PC. I've also grown up a lot these days, and the players and forums I used to beg for advice from are now my equals all over the world and 9 year old Jimmy down the club. I may press on with this in the next few months, the site name is also likely to change so keep your eyes peeled for that but all the content should still be up there.
Anyway guys, thanks for sticking with me. I've got some exciting things that will be coming up at the end of next month, so prepare yourselves, the next year is going to be exciting....
Sunday 28 December 2014
Sunday 16 November 2014
Getting Political - UK Voting Age
A bit out of left field this one, not much has really been going on 40k wise since my last post. Been trying to get in as many games as I can to really get used to the list before the England event in December, but I've been watching Sky News and they have an advert about their youth politics programme or whatever it is, and in it a point is raised regarding the voting age. It is a point that has been raised on the eve of at least the last 2 general elections here, and the statement went as thus.
'She's allowed to vote, she's 19, I'm 16, and I'm not allowed to. It's not fair'.
Ok, there is so much wrong with this statement, so let's dive in.
Firstly, I'm 21, and I still don't think that I should be allowed to vote. I'll get into that a little later, but first of all lets rip apart the quoted sentence.
Number 1: If you are a teenager, and you end your point with the phrase 'It's not fair' you lose any credibility that you and your viewpoint may have had for the purposes of that argument. You are literally using the most sterypical quote quote for your demographic and playing directly into the assumption that you are naive, immature, and with a completely unwarranted belief that you should have more power in the world, i.e, the power to vote.
Number 2: So let's ignore the above for a second, assuming that it in fact is not fair, you have still not made your case for this. 'She's 19', so? 'I'm 16', ok? Therefore, 'it's not fair' that I can't vote.... I can take 2 facts and come up with a completely unrelated conclusion as well. If you were to say that the age and maturity difference is negligible and therefore you have just as much of a right to vote as your sister or whoever, ok, at least you've made a point here. Regardless of how strong of one it is at least you have some foundation.
As for the legitimacy of the above point, the 19 year old has been alive more than 15% longer than you have, and has far more experience of the world as she is no longer stuck in a system that she is legally bound to in the form of school, which, even if you are no longer in school, you cannot have been out longer than a few months come the election. This is not a question of age, one party has experience of the outside world, one does not.
Number 3: Which brings me very nicely onto my next point. Voting age is not a question of maturity, I've met some very mature teenagers and some very immature people in their 20s (I'm a prime example). But coming back to why I believe I should not be allowed to vote. I have not been a part of the working world in its entirety. I went straight from school, to 6th form, to University, and yes I have worked a summer job I have not had experience of the outside world without the safety net of a mentor or a teacher or without accommodation provided for me via outside funding.
Even at University I have never been solely responsible for myself. I've never been out on my ass trying to make it or completely provide for myself or a family, it is very difficult (with the exception of tuition fees) to become a victim in society due to political decisions. In short, I am directly effected by very few political choices, therefore I lack the experience of the consequences of those decisions to give an informed weighting to any policies and therefore any party.
This ignorance is not down to me not paying attention to politics, I've eagerly followed the politics of the UK and the United States in particular for the last 5 years. I ran a politics forum for a year in the 6th form and am always happy for a debate. The ignorance comes from the lack of experience. It is one thing to read and article or a book and make a decision based on that but that article or that book will already come from the perspective of its author, which in turn will be influencing you.
So how can you possibly say, as a 16 year old, that you have enough experience of the world outside of school and the fallout of political decisions to make an informed and educated opinion on how our country should be run?
Sit back down. [/rant]
'She's allowed to vote, she's 19, I'm 16, and I'm not allowed to. It's not fair'.
Ok, there is so much wrong with this statement, so let's dive in.
Firstly, I'm 21, and I still don't think that I should be allowed to vote. I'll get into that a little later, but first of all lets rip apart the quoted sentence.
Number 1: If you are a teenager, and you end your point with the phrase 'It's not fair' you lose any credibility that you and your viewpoint may have had for the purposes of that argument. You are literally using the most sterypical quote quote for your demographic and playing directly into the assumption that you are naive, immature, and with a completely unwarranted belief that you should have more power in the world, i.e, the power to vote.
Number 2: So let's ignore the above for a second, assuming that it in fact is not fair, you have still not made your case for this. 'She's 19', so? 'I'm 16', ok? Therefore, 'it's not fair' that I can't vote.... I can take 2 facts and come up with a completely unrelated conclusion as well. If you were to say that the age and maturity difference is negligible and therefore you have just as much of a right to vote as your sister or whoever, ok, at least you've made a point here. Regardless of how strong of one it is at least you have some foundation.
As for the legitimacy of the above point, the 19 year old has been alive more than 15% longer than you have, and has far more experience of the world as she is no longer stuck in a system that she is legally bound to in the form of school, which, even if you are no longer in school, you cannot have been out longer than a few months come the election. This is not a question of age, one party has experience of the outside world, one does not.
Number 3: Which brings me very nicely onto my next point. Voting age is not a question of maturity, I've met some very mature teenagers and some very immature people in their 20s (I'm a prime example). But coming back to why I believe I should not be allowed to vote. I have not been a part of the working world in its entirety. I went straight from school, to 6th form, to University, and yes I have worked a summer job I have not had experience of the outside world without the safety net of a mentor or a teacher or without accommodation provided for me via outside funding.
Even at University I have never been solely responsible for myself. I've never been out on my ass trying to make it or completely provide for myself or a family, it is very difficult (with the exception of tuition fees) to become a victim in society due to political decisions. In short, I am directly effected by very few political choices, therefore I lack the experience of the consequences of those decisions to give an informed weighting to any policies and therefore any party.
This ignorance is not down to me not paying attention to politics, I've eagerly followed the politics of the UK and the United States in particular for the last 5 years. I ran a politics forum for a year in the 6th form and am always happy for a debate. The ignorance comes from the lack of experience. It is one thing to read and article or a book and make a decision based on that but that article or that book will already come from the perspective of its author, which in turn will be influencing you.
So how can you possibly say, as a 16 year old, that you have enough experience of the world outside of school and the fallout of political decisions to make an informed and educated opinion on how our country should be run?
Sit back down. [/rant]
Sunday 9 November 2014
GT Heat 3 Report and T.Leighton vs National Rail
Prepare yourselves for a pause and restart post because this one is going to be an essay, all encompassing events over 4 days. Oh Joy. Before you think about the pain of reading this lengthy abomination, think about the pain I'm going through writing it. The events documented in this post may have scarred me for life (especially Friday, that was awful).
Thursday 30 October 2014
A Glorious Return - Who Am I Now?
When I started this blog it was designed as the documentation of the introduction into the UK tournament player. This player was an 18 year old kid who got his ass handed to him at Throne of Skulls, losing 3 games including 2 tablings and only picking up 1 win. If I had the opportunity to talk to this scrub I'd have instructed him to sell all of his 40k and to go and spend his money playing something that was more to his skill level. Like Minecraft. This kid went by the alias of Rampage, and despite the humiliation of getting bent over a table by a group of GW store egos, for some reason he wanted more (maybe he just swung that way or it was some kind of weird fetish I don't know), and if this story intrigues you go and have a look at the 200 posts that proceed this, you'll be in for a fun evening if the alternative was attentively watching the BBC News Channel et al for the 8 hours that such a marathon would take. Still, it's a higher standard of writing than the 50 shades series that thing is trash.
But back to the point, not even I can understand the insanity that crossed this kid's mind, and to this day 2 1/2 years on his Win/Loss is very much mid table. That said, I am not the same player that I was 2 1/2 years ago, I have moved on from such things as having a terrible alias and attending tournaments as merely an objective (seriously anyone can fork over some money and turn up at a table). Phase 1 of my journey as a competitive gamer was to consistently finish in the top half of tournaments and give top level British players a tough game, and when I'm on it I can do that. After about half a year's break from the hobby I'm back with a new objective. Challenge for podium spots at big tournaments, win small events with ease, and represent my country at the ETC. So let's begin with a quick rundown of where I am now.
But back to the point, not even I can understand the insanity that crossed this kid's mind, and to this day 2 1/2 years on his Win/Loss is very much mid table. That said, I am not the same player that I was 2 1/2 years ago, I have moved on from such things as having a terrible alias and attending tournaments as merely an objective (seriously anyone can fork over some money and turn up at a table). Phase 1 of my journey as a competitive gamer was to consistently finish in the top half of tournaments and give top level British players a tough game, and when I'm on it I can do that. After about half a year's break from the hobby I'm back with a new objective. Challenge for podium spots at big tournaments, win small events with ease, and represent my country at the ETC. So let's begin with a quick rundown of where I am now.
Thursday 22 May 2014
In the last 6 months I...
In June 2013 'Wargaming with Rampage' hit a peak, almost making 5,000 reads in a single month. Since then, I have struggled for motivation, and this has been all too evident in the crappy content that I have put out since. This has at part been due to University, partly due to my growing League of Legends addiction, and partly due to the fact that I no longer feel I need to validate myself by posting maths on the internet and hoping no-one complains. A good example of the latter is Blackmoor's blog, not much content been going up on there since he's been on the 11th company (just kidding I'm not Blackmoor (I'm better than that guy (bring it Blackmoor! (Just not on Vassal I play really badly on that system)))).
So, in short what have I been up to in the last 6 months. Well, I went to the GT heats, was sick in a gutter and missed out on automatic qualification by 1 slot because people didn't turn up for day 2. However I still got through courtesy of 'Best Chaos Marine player at heat', and then turned up at the final in March and claimed best CSM player in that too, despite being docked points for not being able to write lists properly.
In January I went to the Caledonian Uprising, where I bagged my first top half finish, again using my prized Chaos Space Marine army. 2 weeks ago I decided to pick up Necrons for the first time and take them to an escalation tournament. Which I then flopped at because I wrote a really bad list. And then last week I went to the War of the Roses, a 2 day tournament in which I only lost one game, albeit because I made a stupid mistake but still only one game, which I was happy with, making me a more consistent top 50% player.
In addition, I have been heading to the England squad days and weekends on a regular basis, helping the 9 out and getting some top level experience, which has served me very well in the last couple of big events.
In short, I'm really looking forward to get back into blogging, not for my own self validation or for an ego boost, but because I enjoy writing, and with the game getting shaken up so much in the next couple of weeks, things are going to get interesting.
So, in short what have I been up to in the last 6 months. Well, I went to the GT heats, was sick in a gutter and missed out on automatic qualification by 1 slot because people didn't turn up for day 2. However I still got through courtesy of 'Best Chaos Marine player at heat', and then turned up at the final in March and claimed best CSM player in that too, despite being docked points for not being able to write lists properly.
In January I went to the Caledonian Uprising, where I bagged my first top half finish, again using my prized Chaos Space Marine army. 2 weeks ago I decided to pick up Necrons for the first time and take them to an escalation tournament. Which I then flopped at because I wrote a really bad list. And then last week I went to the War of the Roses, a 2 day tournament in which I only lost one game, albeit because I made a stupid mistake but still only one game, which I was happy with, making me a more consistent top 50% player.
In addition, I have been heading to the England squad days and weekends on a regular basis, helping the 9 out and getting some top level experience, which has served me very well in the last couple of big events.
In short, I'm really looking forward to get back into blogging, not for my own self validation or for an ego boost, but because I enjoy writing, and with the game getting shaken up so much in the next couple of weeks, things are going to get interesting.
Sunday 2 February 2014
Brothers in Arms - Tournament Report and an Explanation
I haven't played a game of 40k since 28th October, but despite my lack of effort in getting back into playing, I'd like to write a bit more. As such, here is a tournament report from the last event that I went to. It was a doubles tournament, with 750pts per player.
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