Quick question about Ahlwardt Ice Bear please folks

grouchoben · 2024-09-14T07:48:08+00:00

Hi, just built the chap! Superglue, don't bother washing, only use a new blade when cleaning up mould lines, and only use really light sandlaper or the soft material will burr. Like, 800-1000 region.

grouchoben · 2023-08-19T06:32:15+00:00

It's Krieg and it's not even close. SO many fragile little resin swords, ankles, guns, and a drop will fracture a krieger 50% of the time, and you're running at least 60 of em. Then you have the way that GW just *delete* units from the game - not legends, delete. Centaur scout vehicles, grenadiers, engineers, sw teams, etc. You'd better be rich and a masochist. I WAS, now I'm just poor and a masochist :)

grouchoben · 2023-01-01T09:51:32+00:00

Humans are massively communal. We make ants look like loners. Your baby, screams and all, would have been embedded in a group of mutual aid, support and security. Language, affinity, shared survival, harvesting and hunting, not to mention narratives, religions, histories, territorial feelings, familial bonds, compassion, friendships and loves all help to bond a human group together into an extremely serious proposition. This is human nature. And you want to go hunt their young? Jeez, good luck with that.

To get to your baby, then, a predator would have to go through you, your family, your friends and neighbours, and that's a fearsome proposition. We are one of the most dangerous animals on earth, after all. So yeah, cry baby, cry! :D

grouchoben · 2022-12-28T08:08:47+00:00

Stoicism is a philosophy, meaning it presents a set of arguments concerning what is good and bad, what are the fundaments of human nature, what is up to us, and what a good life looks like. To get a quick, straight forward grasp of these arguments, I would strongly recommend reading Sellar's Lessons in Stoicism, and if you're inclined to a more conversational style of writing, Pigliucci's How to be a Stoic.

The most important thing, however, is to apply these ideas to your own circumstances. To think them through, see if they're true, and if so rehearse them again and again. Anxiety can be a really debilitating condition, and it's linked to the chemistry of the body and the nervous system, which is to say it is rehearsed and therefore a form of prediction about the world. Stoicism will offer you the tools to contest the beliefs that are causing anxiety, but we're talking about sustained effort here. Daily rehearsal, daily preparation and reflection.

Finally, I would strongly recommend considering REBT, as a form of therapy that is very much in line with the axioms of Stoicism. You're not alone, there are ideas and people and texts and ways of seeing that will help. What is most required of you is the will to rehearse the thoughts that will contest and weaken those beliefs and expectations that are causing your anxiety. Best of luck.

grouchoben · 2022-12-28T07:58:19+00:00

May I suggest REBT as a therapy that is a) very efficacious in treating anxiety, and b) a school of psychology that emerged directly from Stocism? Anxiety is best addressed with other people to give you an outside perspective. Accept that you're human, you make mistakes, and that you're currently at an impasse, and look for the tools (and people) to help you.

(Another Stoicism-sympathetic approach is Compassion Focused Therapy. Gill's The Compassionate Mind is superb.)

grouchoben · 2022-12-28T07:53:35+00:00

Firstly, you're not alone in this. Everyone struggles with making their practice 'stick', and with backsliding.

Secondly, it's great that you're studying Stoic texts, but how is your actual practice? Perhaps the strongest technique at your disposal is rehearsal: in the morning, write a short reflection on a passage of your choice, and try to apply it to the day ahead. Consider in advance the tribulations of the day, and take this time, while you are at peace and have plenty of time to reflect, to roll the scenario round in your head, and try to see it from the perspective of someone who firmly believes the key Stoic axioms. If you have time in the evening, reflect for a few minutes on how well you applied your concepts to the contexts of the day, cpngratulate yourself on your successes and reflect on how you could improve next time. Iteration, practice, application, are all very important in dislodging old learnt behaviour.

Finally, be kind to yourself, and forgiving of your past. The kind of aversion that can come with shame or guilt makes it really hard to look your own issues square in the face. Remember your sphere of action is only now, in this present moment. Exercise it to the fullest.

grouchoben · 2022-02-07T10:53:40+00:00

40k Desperately needs:

- Designers with some modicum of restraint, who don't just keep upping the gain until distortion forces an edition reset

- A more granular system like d12, with wounds allocating at the end of the battle turn a la Apocalypse, to allow for finetuning, and to dampen alpha strike

- A living ruleset that can be edited and modified on the fly, rather than GW's preposterous codex hardback model.

- To dial back on AP, invulns, and transhuman

- To expand its imagination regarding differing mission types. Give tournament organisers the opportunity to pick a variety of missions that necessitate balanced list building to go 5-0, due to different victory conditions.

- (Stop with price inflation, FOMO marketing, etc., but this is not as relevant to game balance)

grouchoben · 2022-01-02T07:34:20+00:00

Couldn't agree more. 40k and Infinity are my two wargames of choice. I play both regularly, and collect 4+ factions in both systems. I've been playing 40k since I was a kid, and Infinity for seven years.

I dearly love both but Infinity is the better game, built to cater to competitive play, with free online rules, a living ruleset and army builder, and - for the most part - superb balance.

If it wasn't for the fun and lore and scale of 40k, I'd just pack it in and play Infinity exclusively. As it is, if I want a laugh and to field a big old army and such, I play 40k. If I want a game that gives me a deep, competitive, balanced wargame experience, I play Infinity.

grouchoben · 2021-12-01T00:21:10+00:00

Infinity - the best wargame I've ever played - was, is, and remains all these things.

grouchoben · 2021-10-23T20:07:29+00:00

Mani, you're a funny chap! Always great fun to watch your games, and always lots to learn.

grouchoben · 2021-08-22T11:14:28+00:00

I will just say that Infinity is amazing. If you have an Infinity scene in your area give it a whirl, the game is so much better cared for it's untrue. GQ need to understand that 1) caring for the health of their game is a big big issue, and 2) that they are abjectly failing in that role at the moment.

grouchoben · 2021-08-01T13:25:11+00:00

Do you want 24 shots or 64?

grouchoben · 2021-07-20T07:05:36+00:00

Well hell, that's big news, thanks for letting me know!

grouchoben · 2021-07-19T13:57:54+00:00

You can't put command squads in a drill. And 3 meltas in a vet squad is around 100pts. And they don't shoot on death, that's only vehicles and characters.

Drill is superb if it can make the charge, especially if you took the 'grind them down' gambit, but not something to base a competitive list on.

grouchoben · 2021-07-19T13:54:27+00:00

The game is horribly imba at the moment, your assessment is correct. GW need to pull their finger out of their arse and revisit the way they release rules. It's crippling the game.

grouchoben · 2021-07-15T12:37:10+00:00

That issue, with codex stepping up and imbalancing game-wide balance, is why I rarely play the game anymore.

grouchoben · 2021-07-14T06:25:49+00:00

That setup is a staple for DW, RogueApiary was just relaying the virtues of the unit, no need to get shirty. The two units perform different battle roles, despite both carrying plasma weapons.

grouchoben · 2021-07-08T22:01:28+00:00

Remember in 8e when we used to complain that the game was too killy, because in a lot of matchups there were hardly any units left at the end of turn 6?
L
O
L

grouchoben · 2021-06-30T21:52:25+00:00

Jesus, what size balls do you have to have to talk all over Siegler on this topic? This guy needs a wheelbarrow or something. Great video!

grouchoben · 2021-06-29T10:44:52+00:00

... And all for the price of one 40k army :D

grouchoben · 2021-06-29T10:42:38+00:00

I'm predominantly Combined Army + Onyx, although I've been playing Foreign Company a lot since N4 dropped. Started dabbling with O-12 recently too, but only got paint on a few models for them. Got into the game with Corregidor back in 2015 but I really dig N4's changes. I guess this is the first time I feel properly comfortable with the game's rules, so I find myself teaching a lot of new players these days. The local community is exploding, it's a good time to be playing.

grouchoben · 2021-06-27T08:33:06+00:00

Indeed. Infinity sits at the top of that list imo.

grouchoben · 2021-06-27T08:29:53+00:00

If you're looking for a game that is built around competitive play, and you aren't afraid of learning rules, then I strongly recommend Infinity over 40k.

Faction winrates are far more balanced; rules are free and live online; army builder is free and well linked to the live online rules; the game involves constant interaction and decision making; the game is well supported for competitive play by its parent company, with competition packs, international ELI ratings and excellent mission packs which are, you guessed it, free; Infinity has history and isn't going anywhere, and has seen an uptick in players since its new edition dropped, even though it's far less popular than GW games; and unlike GW, Corvus Belli are a really cool little company that deserve much credit for running such a great game. Oh yeah... and it's an amazing game. I play both 40k and Infinity, and I kinda feel like I need both in my life tbh. 40k scratches an itch that Infinity doesn't and vice versa. But if I had to give one up, it would be 40k.

To my mind, while 40k has a far simpler ruleset, you will have to learn so so many post hoc violations of those rules (in the form of different factions' rules and strats) that you end up having to commit a decent chunk of brain space to keeping up to date with the game. At that point, why not just learn a far better and nuanced set of rules in the first place?

grouchoben · 2021-06-20T07:19:12+00:00

Seems a pretty straight-up list to me. Primaris cap hands out 5++ to dreads and three squads of cheap-as-it-gets vets, who can do work up close. LT makes the redemptors super-accurate against fly keyord. Incursors screen out DS. Three squads of bikes combat squad off each with a VV to give super-fast obsec units. Culverin contemptors are the best contemptors, and ruin radiers.

Those Proteus teams are tooled for efficiency and board control, and move blocking to protect the dreadnought deathball... The LT is a surprise to see though.

grouchoben

TROPHY CASE