Good evening everyone!

      I thik it's safe to say that many people here [in the GW 40K forum] have noticed that I play Blood Angels... no, I know you're all shocked, but yes - it's true, I do play Blood Angels.... but recently something else is becoming more well known (perhaps everyone should sit down for a moment - okay? are you ready?)... here goes... 

 I play other armies as well.

GASP!! (I hear from the forum as a collective whole)... Surely this can't be!! (I hear from a worried voice off in the corner).... HERETIC! (someone shouts from the back)... (the crowd begins to settle down somewhat and a single question rises from the noise to be heard "But what can this mean?" Well my friends, I will tell you :-)

  It's taken me this long to finally become familiar with the Blood Angels, and to have a passing understanding ofthe other armies as well - but the time has come when I want to truly test my Blood Angels against the very best of our enemies. I want to find the worst that the enemy can bring to the table - and I want to see how that will play out! To accomplish this, I will have to learn a great deal more about the other armies I have - I will have to learn some of their darkest ploys and strategies if I am to truly test my Blood Angels.

   In the coming months (likely a year or so) I'll be pestering veterans from ALL the armies of 40k as I explore the armies - all the while with the firm intent of learning how to break Space Marines - but Blood Angels especially :-)  I am confident that the lessons learned will also benefit the other Space Marine assault armies as well, and also likely Khornate armies (what can I say they're really similar to Blood Angels!). I will keep records of the battles via our visual battle reports which many of you have already seen - and over time I'll keep adding to the tactical articles in the Ex Libris Mortis tactical library. As I discover things I'll keep sharing them with the message board, and hope that some of the information will be useful to others out there seeking to better their game, or perhaps address some pesky specific problem (I think anyone who's played for more than three months already has a unit or two that they hate!).

     Now someone out there may ask why will I do this? Geez - that's the easy part :-)  I love the game :-)  I love the super complex problem solving, I love the modeling, I love the creativity of the whole process and I especially love the room that the whol hobby has for individuality, MY Blood Angels will fight MY way, according to MY strengths, and MY weaknesses - the more I learn the better I MAY get, but I'm still me, and there will always be those errors that I am just prone to making (cough cough overextending an assault cough cough cough)... :-)  I love the hobby - I'm going to do this for fun for my own enoyment - the notes and pics that I make are for myown records, but I'll post them online for others to enjoy because (frankly) it's been a LOT of fun to hear from all kinds of people about how my website and my goofy notes have helped them enjoy the hobby a little more somehow. So any way you slice it I win. I get to play an awesome game, I get to make cool minis, I get to study the ways of my opponents and make records of their most effective assaults (later I'll figure out the appropriate way for the Blood Angels to counter them!) :-) and I get to share all this fun with other people who enjoy the hobby - what's not to love about this? :-)

   And now for the last - if you didn't think me mad before this you will surely see I'm mad now. It would be alright if I wanted to play other armies just to play them - but as much fun as other armies are (and they are fun!) I actually want to (and you'lllove this) I want to try to "Master" the Blood Angels someday. I want to know their strengths, and their weaknesses to the extent that I can play (and hopefully win!) with STYLE. It's the difference between being able to sing a song and hit all the right notes - and being able to sing that same song with all the right notes and with FEELING. It's a subtle difference - but it is something that you can feel when you do it, and sense when you see someone near you do it :-)  Lucky for me the Olympics are on right now because we can all see these amazing skaters who can do these amazing skating routines - but still at the end we feel that something was missing - while OTHER skaters that we see can somehow (almost magically it seems) capture a beauty and grace that goes beyond their routine - and somehow we all feel that we've seen something special. Now sure this is an idealic goal, an unreachable spire to aim for - but hey - it's a hobby, I enoy it, and I've got time - lots of time - to play the game, to make mistakes and learn from them, and I'm convinced that I will get better (even if it takes a while!) and someday, maybe someday I'll hit that level of skill where things just seem to flow together :-)  a modest dream perhaps to want to excell at a tabletop game - but for me there's a fair bit of thinking involved. And seeing as how the rest of my world is pretty much in order - I think spending one's down time in fun/challenging intellectual pursuit isn't a totally bad thing :-)

wow - I rambled quite a bit tonight, geez - and I have so much painting to do! :-) well I must depart now friends, thanks for listening, see ya on the board :-)

Glory to the Emperor, and all who make 40k fun :-)

~ Blood Angel Brother Edward 
http://www.dragonrealm.com/exlibrismortis