Postponed by a Combat Patrol

First off, USA WON MEGABOWL II!!

Or, to be more exact, Team USA beat Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup, a sort of preview of the World Cup. Going into the knockout round, Team USA was down by 5 (goals, I assume?), meaning they would only advance if they beat their next opponent, Egypt, by 3, and Brazil beat Italy by 3. However, both these things happened, giving the US the chance to play against top-seeded Spain in the semi-finals.

Spain, as it happens, had just achieved a world-record 15-game winning streak, and had tied the famous Brazilian record of 35 games unbeaten. The US was widely regarded as being in the finals purely by chance, and a crushing victory was expected.

Crushing victory, indeed. 2-nil, to be exact, but it was the Americans doing the crushing. Thanks to Howard's impenetrable goalkeeping and two goals by Jozy and Dempsey (FIFA's "Man of the Match") , the USA shocked Europe by defeating Spain and earning the right to play in the final against either Brazil or South Africa. So that was pretty awesome.

That said, I messed up rather severly. Turns out the Intern Training thingy (Accident Reconstruction, hence the promise of death and seatbelts) is actually scheduled for tomorrow, not today. This lead to me wasting an afternoon hanging around Rockville. Also, I locked my keys in my car. Way to go, me.

So instead, tomorrow comes today. While I'm waiting for the new models I ordered, I'm putting together a 400 point 'Combat Patrol' army list to play Eyob's gradually-assembling Imperial Gourd. The Combat Patrol format has a few restrictions on it to ensure the game is still balanced at such a small points level, and like Rumsfeld I'll have to go to war with the army I have. So without further adieu, the list:

Troops (1 required for CP):

1 Firewarrior Team
-11x Shas'la (110 pts)
-Devilfish Transport w/Multitracker, Flechette Dischargers, Disruption Pod (105 pts)*

Elites:

2 XV-8 Battlesuits (2*47 pts)
- twin-linked missile pod, flamer**

3 XV-15 Stealthsuits (3*30 pts)***

Total 399 points

Notes:
*I've probably over-upgraded the transport here, especially since the Disruption Pods probably won't do anything all game (meltaguns are only 12" range anyway) and moving >6" per turn means assault is unlikely (so no chance to use the Flechette Dischargers, either). However, this is the transport I want to run in a full list, so I'd like to use them authentically.

**A two-man Deathrain team, equipped with flamers. These should (read: had better, or I'm screwed) take care of any transports he brings, and once that's done the flamers should help them maintain at least a little relevance in the end-game.

***Stealthsuits don't show up in my hypothetical 1000-point list, but I've always wished they did. The models (old pre-Tau Empire Codex XV-15s) are some of my favorites, and this is a great place to try them out. I've always had mixed feelings about their performance, but I'd like to give them another shot.

Basically, this list brings a heck of a lot of Str 5 AP 5 guns to the table (36 per turn), but not a lot else. Only the XV-8s have anything higher (Str 7 AP 4 missle pods), so if those can't pop transports, I'm kind of out. That said, they're twin-linked and brought in pairs, so its not exactly betting on a glass cannon.

Oh, but I guess I owe you more Archilochus. Unlike the others, I didn't translate this one myself (from Latin, of course - I only wish I knew Greek). If you were looking forward to some grimness this post, here it is:

When dead, no man finds respect or glory among the men
Of his town. Instead, we living hope for some small sort of
Favor. The dead are always mocked.
-Archilochus

Because real men are cynical bastards. You heard it here first.

Next Time: Car Crashes & Kierkegaard's Views on Death (for real this time)