In Defense of Coaching in 40K
There are a lot of things I don’t like about Competitive 40K. This is…known. The hot takes (irony, I know). Some of the toxic personalities and poor gamesmanship that comes […]
Tournaments
Coronavirus, Cons and the Tallyman of Nurgle
We’re going to take a bit of a break from MathHammer to consider what I do in my real life – the study of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. We’ve used […]
Why Competitive 40K Is So Easy To Talk About
So awhile ago, on an episode of Splintermind I somehow snuck onto, we got to talking about why, when the internet talks about 40K, they almost always talk about Matched Play […]
My (Belated) Takeaways from the LVO Warhammer Panel
The Las Vegas Open was awhile ago, and the Warhammer Preview panel that was held the first night has been detailed in depth, as has the tournament itself. The results […]
Murder Your Darlings (or: Why I’ll Never Be a Serious 40K Contender)
“In fairness, ‘The Floor is Lava’ may not be the strongest competitive build.” – Val Heffelfinger, paraphrased There is a notion in writing called “Murder Your Darlings”. Basically, what it […]
2018 NOVA Open Invitational Bracket Benchmarks
So the 2018 NOVA Open Invitational is coming up, and there’s a bracket at https://challonge.com/NOVAinvite18 . Predictions based on brackets are always interesting, because they both give you the chance to […]
Are Small Countries at a Disadvantage in the ETC?
I’m going to briefly channel the spirit of Adam Abramowicz of The Best General, and talk about 40K via an extended analogy to an obscure, expensive sport that’s dominated by […]
The Big FAQ: The Variance Hammer Hot Take
So it’s out, a mere half-month off schedule: the first of the major FAQs that Games Workshop has promised will be on something of a “tick-tock” cycle. So what’s in […]
What is “Balance” Anyway?
This blog – and the mini wargaming community as a whole – talks about “balance” a lot. Is the tournament scene balanced? Is the new Killslayer Deathskull Codex balanced? Is […]
How Long a Long Shot? Forecasting Adam Abramowicz’s WZA 2018 Chances
For the most part on this blog I stay away from discussing individuals, both because it makes me faintly uncomfortable to talk about strangers on the internet, and also because […]