Better Know A Blogger: Part 52- Languor Management

Better Know a Blogger is back, and kicking it off this week is Iapedus Maximus from Languor Management. 

Languor Management has a strong focus on Iapedus' T'au army, with frequent painting posts, and tournament reviews to sink your teeth into. You can also find a whole host of ebay rescue stories and unboxings of the latest goodies from GW.

A recent post that caught my eye was his aim to go a whole year without buying any new miniatures. Madness, I hear you cry, but I wish Iapedus every joy with his foolish endeavour!

Be sure to check out and follow his blog, it is one of my regular reads and a great blog that I keep coming back to. I really enjoy the tournament reports, its a great insight into playing a different army competitively and seeing the experience of other people at events.

Here are Iapedus' answers to my questions:

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off?

I must have been about 10, and was visiting some friends of my mothers who's kids just happened to have got a copy of Heroquest for their birthday. Up until that point I didn’t really enjoy going around their house to visit, but from the moment I saw all those little figures and doors being setup and was handed my little scrap of paper to note down what happened to my character, I was hooked. From then on I always looked forward to going round, sometimes even convincing my mother to let me stay on and walk the mile home through the fields and lanes just so I could finish the quest we were on. It was great. 

2. What was the first model you ever bought/painted? 

First thing that I owned was Space Crusade – my parents had obviously been paying attention to what I was doing at their friends house but either couldn’t find Heroquest or thought this looked similar enough and just as fun –and they were right! Heorquest might have been my gateway game, but it was this that really dragged me in to the wider world of 40k. I loved how easy the game was to play, and how detailed the tiny amount of background story was – it hinted at a bigger world that I wanted to know more about. The first miniature I actually bought for myself though would have been the big box of the old RTB01 space marines, the one with 30 marines on sprues inside. A friend of a friend gave me a copy of Rogue Trader and a few bits and bobs that he didn’t want anymore, which got me even more into the universe and keen to expand my collection. I loved making the beakies – they are still my favourite power armour class - and they would often battle the combined hordes of the space crusade ‘baddies’ on a table top of book shaped hills and domino walls. 

3. What is your favourite aspect of gaming? 

I enjoy it all to be honest. Most of them I have a pretty steady enjoyment of, but the one I have a love/hate relationship with is gaming. Sometimes I love it, and can’t wait for my next game, but every now and then I come up against someone who’s attitude is not in sync with mine (be it overly competitive play, net listing or is just a jerk) and it really knocks my love for the gaming. A couple of years ago I had that experience at a tournament and it really took the wind out of my hobby sails, taking months for me to want to play again. 

4. Fondest memory in gaming? 

 The Titan fall Campaign I played while living in Hong Kong. I met a really great friend there who was totally in tune with how I played and getting the right mix of fluffy yet competitive list building that reflected the campaign and what it was about. It was also played in great humour and with civility that I am yet to find anywhere else. The campaign itself was a 15 part Tau vs Ultramarines story covering Imperial efforts to return a traitorous world back to the Emperor's light. Most of the battle reports are up on Dakkadakka and gained quite a following on– over 15,000 reads – but the change in Photobuckets third party sharing rules meant all the images no longer work, so I am in the process of transferring them all to my blog (as well as writing up the last three reports which are over two years old now!). 

5. What are you working on right now? 

Lots of stuff. Mainly preparing for my upcoming Taros Campaign, which means lots of scenery to do as well as expanding my Imperial Guard forces. I am also working on a list for an upcoming tournament which needs some Tau bits added to it. Then there is the writing – I currently have two grimdark book projects on the go, but both are pretty slow going. One is a ‘guardsman’s tale' kind of book, while the other is a collaboration with someone I met through dakkadakka, a story about a young Longstrike and his journey toward being a hero of the empire. 

6. When you are not conquering the tabletop, what do you do? 

I’m an architect by trade, which means I spend a lot of time drawing and making models. Since moving back to the UK I have shifted focus and set up my own practice – instead of Skyscrapers I now do houses and extensions, which is fine by me as it leaves more time for family and hobby. 

7. What would you say about your blog to someone who has never read it to draw them in? Shambolic, ridden with inconsistency and hypocrisy, plagued by bouts of lethargy and inactivity, but above all an honest account of my time at the coalface of the grimdark. 

8. What is your favourite article that you have written? 

 My ‘First Step’ article, written in the wake of my inventory of gaming goods after getting back from Hong Kong. I started writing it as a tongue in cheek appreciation of the fact that I had quite a lot of stuff, but soon came to realise that I actually did have a bit of a problem with my constant EBay bargain hunting, which had led to an unsustainable collection that would just never get dealt with. It was very cathartic to write and really helped me have the determination to stop what I was doing and start making it right. I think a lot of people who read the article also related to it was well, and it is always comforting to know you are not the only one struggling with something (no matter how pathetic it is compared to real life issues!) 

9. Which rule would you like to see changed or removed entirely? 

In 7th I could have gone on all day, but in 8th this is a lot tougher to answer. Most of the rules changes have been good, and in general I feel the game is simpler to play, flows better on the tabletop and is less bloated. However, the main problem I have at the moment is with stratagems, Most are just a bit of fluffy fun that adds a bit of spice to the game, but there are a few that are utterly game breaking and are open to abuse from those looking to exploit the rules for an advantage. This leads to toxic net listing in he same way that formations did in 7th, and the imbalance is clear when you see certain factions left trailing in the dust of other purely on the basis of one or two stratagems. For me, the solution is to just rewrite some of the more powerful ones and rein them in, or level the playing field and play without stratagems all together. I recently played a few games without them and it was awesome – much more focus on tactics and decision making, and less focus on annihilating your opponent in the first two turns. The games were very close because the massive ‘knock-out blow’ that some stratagems deliver didn’t occur, and both players were in the game right up until the end. 

10. Which of your armies is your favourite? 

I will always have a soft spot for marines, as they were my first love (like so many people) but my favourite is definitely the Tau. I know that won’t win me many friends, but I love everything about them – the aesthetics, the battle suits, most of the background fluff is good but with plenty left to explore, and I like the way they play. You can really go for the Kauyon or Mont’ka style when building your list, and very few other armies allow you to play that fluffily without damaging your performance in some way. However, their time might be numbered – I have amassed a small force of original RTB01 marines and rogue trader paraphernalia which I can see surpassing the poor tiny blue fisted dudes purely on the grounds of nostalgia. 

11. Secret wargamer or loud and proud? 

Totally secret. I even blog under a pseudonym, but that is mostly to protect my wife and family from terminal embarrassment (who was that masked man?!?- Mike). 

12. Any hobby tips or cheats to share? 

Read before you buy! There are loads of great blogs out there offering opinions on factions and units, and the easiest way to limit your spending but grow your collection is to have a good focus on what you want to build. Aim for 1000 points, but have a list in mind all the time. Also, if you are unsure how something will perform then proxy it before buying it. There is nothing worse than buying a new model, building and painting it, only to discover that it just doesn’t suit the way you want to play and ends up on the shelf gathering dust or being eBayed. 

13. Tournament or Casual? 

I like both, but definitely more causal and fluff games. Tournament are ok if everyone is just out to have fun, but it only takes one rule lawyer or WAAC-ineer to start their ‘rule interpretation acrobatics’ midgame and it just ruins it for me. My long term gaming friends are all people who prefer the fluffy games, and in truth playing them is far more rewarding than just who won or lost on the night. 

14. Nintendo or Sega? 

I never really got into consoles as I went straight into PCs. I guess for me it would be a question of PC or Mac? All my life it has been PCs, but last year I got an iMac for work and I have to admit it’s pretty damn snazzy. I might have to turncoat in my old age. 

15. Xbox or Playstation? 

Ha ha, I never played on either. In my student days our house owned an N64 on which we religiously played Goldeneye and Mario cart multiplayer on. Does that count? 

16. McDonalds or Burger King? 

Maccers for price and consistency, BK for taste but either for an ultimately disappointing and guilt ridden expereince. 

17. Coke or Pepsi? 

Cherry coke (Ugh, you monster!- Mike). The only drink worth losing your teeth and waistline over. 

A big thanks to Iapedus for taking the time to answer my questions, be sure to check out Languor Management and subscribe to get all the great posts.
If you run a gaming blog and would like to appear on Better Know a Blogger, please get in touch at corrm83@gmail.com