Little minor thought occurred to me after watching Three Days of the Condor again.  I've heard since my time in the First Gulf War the liberal/progressive chant of "No Blood For Oil" and simply put it down to their usual brainless silliness.  However, here we have a post-Watergate movie that specifically portrays a "rogue" operation inside the government that is all about destabilizing parts of the Middle East so the USA can invade to secure the oil fields.  The guy who discovers the plot gives it all to the NY Times to keep himself safe from retaliation, hopefully. BTW it is a GREAT spy flick.

Reading multiple comments from various movie sites, a common thread comes through about "how believable this was, especially after Watergate.", and I simply started to wonder, since along with the No Blood for Oil comes the idea that the wars in the Middle East are caused by some kind of conspiracy of insiders who are beyond the government.  Just a thought.

GW might have had some logic from their point of view for eliminating the Black Templars.  I was bored for a bit this morning and had a little time so I was typing up my designer notes that I use to justify my logic for how I was going to treat the Black Templars in a codex.  Then I started realizing...here was a "Chapter" that was as big as a Legion, more secretive than the Dark Angels, at least as good at CC as Blood Angels, at least as non-compliant as Wolves, potentially with as widespread an intelligence network as the Inquistion, still true to the Emperor's decrees & mission, with possibly the most powerful fleet in existence (certainly one of the top three Imperial starships), apparently totally independent of support requirements from anywhere in the Imperium (can you say generations and generations of workers on the support ships?!), Techmarines who wll put up with Mechanicus' rituals & secrecy...until in interferes with the success of a Crusade and thereby the Emperor's will, AND finally beyond all oversight of any official Imperial body.  Not just technically, but literally.

Then given Sigismund, their founder, close to both Dorn and the Emperor, selected by Dorn and approved by the Emperor to be the first, and only while the Emperor was active, Emperor's Champion as the paragon of what a Space Marine should be.  Which probably means that the Black Templars have inherited the Imperial Fists original mission and Dorn's original role.

Think about how much of a nightmare that would be if they had kept developing it instead of eliminating it.  So, roll the suckers up and turn them into whiny little candy arses who wish the Emperor would let them have their own psykers again so they could worship them or some such.

Having looked over the physical aspects of the changes to the Black Templars, I'd have to say that the units came out about like I expected, which was a bit short of what should have happened.  Mainly, ignoring the fluff aspects, it was to the good as far as cost of units, wargear options, etc. 

1) It surprised me how many people on the Internet, even non-Black Templar players, agreed that rerolls to hit in CC should have been have been standard for all Black Templar models.
2) Expected fail on GW's part to correct the cost of the plasma pistol.  Seriously, it was pegged at 15 points back when you could use it in CC (and it would be darn well worth it) for its S/AP.  For the last two editions, it should have been dropped down to a more reasonable 10 points at the very least.
3) Keeping the ability to have a special & heavy weapon in a 5-man squad was a little surprise, the plasmagun going up to 15 points was not.  The increase in PW/PF costs was also expected. 
4)  I think Marshal Laeroth is correct.  By RAW, if you upgrade one Initiate to Sword Brother, then you can only have 9 Neophytes from the phrasing.  I don't think that is the intention, but there it is.
5)  As expected, no price break on the LRC, but the LRR does get a little break.  The LRC should have shared that break, and I would have called it down to 225 each for base costs.  GW missed the boat on not giving Black Templars a benefit to being the discoverers/inventors of the LRC by giving Crusader squads (+ICs) that total 16 models a serious price break on the LRC, say down to 175.  "Oh you can take LRCs in your troop choices, that rocks soooo hard.", just doesn't cut it when it is still the same price as anyone else pays.  Pretty much any Marine group can take some LRCs and shove troops into them by giving up HS choices.  Sure, they lose HS slots, but at those prices who can afford much other HS for those slots or need more than 2-3 anyway?
6) Sword Brethren units becoming equivalent to Sternguard/Vanguard was expected and not a bad thing if GW had intended to be honest about upgrading the Templars while saving some effort by placing them in the same book.
7)  The EC pretty much...stinks.  Not bad, but overpriced.

Given the changes to fluff, the spurious "chapter tactics" and the fact that the above, where it is good, is all the good there is...GW drives yet another person away.  I was chatting with my FLGS manager yesterday and after he thought about it, the few "serious" players they have left drop about $500 with each codex release, plus a bit from others who have that army.  The owner (manager of the second store) is already discussing what to replace their GW product wall with because of declining sales overall.  So the manager was happy to talk about me filling an empty game table on 40k game days with something else that others might want to start buying.

The most common refrain from the GW apologists for the massive changes apparently coming to the Black Templar is the title along with "... because all Marines lost that since 4th Edition."  Let me blunt, they are stupid, morons, idiots & arseholes with the addition of various Anglo-Saxon derogatory four letter words added for additional emphasis..

True, 40k Radio may be not have the final print copy they claim and GW might have removed its collective head from its rear, but these are the issues being justified by that false to fact excuse.

"Slow Play Penalties

A very insidious problem in the competitive 40K circuit is that of slow play as a game strategy. Normally, this is one of those areas where people feel like nothing can be done, but I strive to tackle even the tough problems to make my tournament as enjoyable as possible.

Right now, I have some fantastic ideas on how to handle the Slow Play issue. More on this to come once it has been nailed down!" - Neil Gilstrap  11th Company

This one is going to be a very "insidious" problem, especially trying to "fix" it in a 6th Edition context.  First of all, what exactly is "Slow Play"?  Well, simply put, it is deliberately trying to play a game at a slow speed to shorten the number of turns in the game, which is only relevant in the modern timed tournament context.  Neil isn't the only one I've talked to about this and it seems the perspective that "if I don't get five full turns, then you are a Slow Player" has its champions, usually with an example of Joe Blow, Jane Doe and Billy Bob Smith (who are not readily available for contact) who could move 200+, 300+ or 400+ models around, roll all their shooting every turn and somehow manage to play a five turn 2000 point game in 2-3 hours.  Competitively in 6th?  I call BS.

IMO, MVB is making a step in the right direction here.  Dropping the points to 1850 is a good thing for several reasons, but the stated one of worrying about "Internet chatter" is the weakest IMO.  First, it will stress the lists a bit more since the major difference between 2000 and 1850 points in most lists boils down to one unit.  Second, 1850 point games do play a little faster which will help on the time issues, as will the proposed 3/3/2 game format (Fri/Sat/Sun). 

I would have like to have seen how a double FOC would have worked out, but this works too.

Speaking of the tournament victory condition of "Table Quarters".    Mike Brandt of NOVA posted up something about it on his Whiskey & 40k blog, which I tried twice to reply to, but it seems the apparent issues with Blogger & OpenID continue, so my posts show up as published immediately, but a refresh has them deleted.   (EDIT: I just posted again a couple of days ago, same issue, looks like I'm persona non grata on Whiskey & 40k.)

Pretty much MVB appears to be trying to salvage "Quarters" from 5th to 6th.  His three options offered are:
1.  Require all the models in a unit to be in one quarter or it doesn't count. 
2.  Create a "dead zone" in midfield that doesn't count for scoring any quarter.
3.  All units count for quarters except Designated Transports & Flyers.

All three cause game balance issues and alter the way the 6th edition victory conditions work.  As Marshal Laeroth pointed out to me in a comment on the draft copy of this post, the problem isn't Table Quarters, it is trying to make a 4th Edition scenario victory condition work using 6th Edition scoring unit rules.  Although from the discussion I've read on the subject, nobody is interested in making everything but ICs and DTs scoring units for the purposes of Quarters, totally randomizing which quarter gets scored on for units in more than one quarter, or making is so that the only way to score a quarter is to have the only scoring unit in it.  One crucial point that most people don't seem to want to bring up...it is easy to tie Quarters.  Way too easy.  Which means <drumroll>, it is essentially useless as a victory condition in virtually all games.

So...the question becomes, if it is this much trouble to balance and make it work, then why are we using 5th Edition tournament rules based on the victory conditions for a 4th Edition scenario for 6th Edition tournaments in the future?  It is one thing to rush job to 6th for NOVA 2012 and make it happen, it is another to be trying to plan how to force it to work for NOVA 2013.  Especially given the fact that it changes the balance of 6th Edition, establishing an exclusive meta for NOVA, no matter the decision on how to "balance" it.  The question may now become more pertinent given MVB is looking at changing to 1750/1850 instead of 1999+1 or going with an actual 2000 points (and double FOC).

Who should Black Templars ally with?  I've been reviewing my Guard fixation and what I've come up with is....there really isn't another choice.  Who have we got?  Other Space Marine codices?  Sure, but is there anything we really, really bring to the table that makes us a great match.  Not really.  Yeah, there are a few nifty units for a small (350-600) allied detachment, but we don't bring much.  The only one who matches up (and IMO, they matched up well with everyone) is Guard.  They can be built flexibly to cover whatever holes you want covered.  Sisters had some possibilities, but until someone figures out the huge retcon coming down over this "desperate allies" treatment, they aren't any help.

There really isn't any other choice except for gimmick lists.  Now some of them look like fun and might develop into something more, but for now, except for maybe a C:DA build of some sort, Guard bring a whole lot of what we don't have. 

Yes, NOVA related.  I've already thought of Mike changing the schedule to 3/3/2 (Fri/Sat/Sun) and going with three hours per game, but...to make it work would require some changes by both sides at the event, staff and competitors.

• There is a lot going on at NOVA and I'm sure some tables were being used for some of the other games, which will cause scheduling issues for MVB & crew.
• Game time starts when the seize the initiative die is rolled.  Everything prior to that should be done when the players arrive at the table.
  
• Matchups need to be released on a timely basis and if a computer crash happens, then the times need to be adjusted realistically around the time to play.  Which includes at least a 15 minute window after they are announced for everyone to get to their tables.  Really 10 minutes would do it, but time allowance for people in bathroom, smoking upstairs or just chatting with a vendor when the delay happened.
• Players need to be present at their table NLT 30 minutes prior to the game start.  Failure to do so should result in a penalty, just as if showing up late for the round would be.  In two of my games, the shortness of the playing time could be directly related to my opponent showing up at the table ~5 minutes before the game time clock was started.  Then they had to set down their army, introduce ourselves, be pleasant and "sportsmanlike", exchange lists, and oh crap, the timer has started.  Of course, one could be a richard about it, but that would violate the justifiable "play nice" rules that all tournaments need.

I've done some more playing with it and from seize the initiative to end of turn five wasn't hard, but again, this is among friends.  Although virtually all of the players I met at NOVA were great guys, there were a few who weren't, which means a bit more verification and time spent on details (on both sides), because all it takes it one "less than great" guy and you are screwed.  Of course, MVB might change the format for next year and then it won't be the same issue.  I've got all year to paint another 75+ models to replace the 25-30 I'd swap out from my list if it stays the same.

The choice of all my list building right now.  Currently, it is officially IG primary in all of them and even in the ones where it is BT primary officially, IG gets the bulk of the points while providing the bulk of the firepower along with the bulk of the scoring units.  The main advantages that Black Templar bring to the table are about the same as those from 5th: Tank Hunting Dual Cyclone Terminator squads, cheap Drop Pods,  and cheap Typhoon Speeders.  We lost several of our strengths, which is why I no longer list our Assault Terminators as a chapter advantage, our Drop Pod rules or being able to use the EC as our HQ choice.

The funny part, the biggest determining factor on which set of initials comes first?  Who needs the extra HQ.

Given that, I'm swinging between 9xChimera bodies + Vendetta down to no vehicles at all but 250+ models on the table (no, you do not want to know, it won't quite work...well, not at 2k anyway) along with the various variations in between.

Yes, I'm in list churning mode for BT right now, but unless I