Looking Ahead to 2015

Time for my obligatory attempt to state what I'm going to work on this year. I think it's pretty safe to say I'm probably going to get involved with some project I've not even thought of yet. Well, that won't stop me from setting out a few thoughts.

This year I'm going easy on myself. The last few years have seen me involved with a lot of different projects, not all of them actually leading anywhere. I wasn't always like that, and this year I need to get back to my happy place of only working on what I intend to play regularly. Having a table filled with unpainted models and a room full of painted but unplayed miniatures and games bums me out. I don't enjoy the feeling of having wasted money, but more importantly having wasted time.

So, I'm scaling back projects this year. I don't want to undertake new things until I've completed what I've got already, or decided that I'm not following through on these other projects. This really applies to miniature games more than anything. I'm at a point where I don't want to paint hundreds of models (and I refuse to play with unpainted models), find a way to store them, then buy and assemble specialized terrain and store that as well. It's a huge time and cost sink. So while I do have plans for miniatures this year, I'm not entertaining any other ideas.

Well, having gotten that bit of grumpiness out of the way. What do I see for 2015?


Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: This is the game I've been waiting for all my life! It's a bit of a storage and set-up hassle, but otherwise it's a magnificent game that is inexpensive, endlessly re-playable, and most importantly fun. It's great solo and with a group, and I play it in both formats. I plan to finish Skull & Shackles this year with my regular group as well as the next adventure path. This game will likely be my mainstay game for the year. 

Memoir 44: I got the base set and a few expansions for Christmas this year. I've already played a half dozen or so games and I love it. In a nutshell, I've basically got every expansion for this game on order, and will have the complete experience soon. This game scratches my itch for a simple yet challenging WW2 game with minimal setup hassles. Best of all my son enjoyed the game and might play it with me. I know others will as well, and there are solid solo variants that will at least give me a taste of the game when no one is available.
  

 Warfighter:  Here's another recent discovery for me. This is a 1-6 player game of modern tactical combat. While it is all card based it honestly plays like a miniatures game. You select your squad, gear them up, and send them on missions. I've got all the expansions and have done the Kickstarter to add additional nationalities and gear. I'm almost done with the first campaign (drug cartel for those who know the game). This game is hot and with the KS coming mid year I expect it to remain hot for me most of the year.



 The above three games are probably pretty safe bets for the year. By no means is this everything I plan on focusing on. Here's the rest of the list.

X-Wing: Goes without saying this awesome game will stay in my top games of the year. I can't imagine dropping it. I've got some catching up to do with the releases, but I'll get to them.

Kings of War: I did the Kickstarter and signed up for a new army. This is going to be a challenge, as my storage space is already at a premium. But 28mm fantasy at that KS price was too hard to pass up. Not sure how much it will be played, but I want to get my Kickstarter army painted at least.

Tiger Leader & Hornet Leader: These DVG "Leader" games are awesome. I'm hoping the "Warfighter" franchise takes off like these. I did the Kickstarter for Tiger Leader and got a copy of Hornet Leader with it. I expect to play at least one campaign for each, and would love it if I could do more this year.

CAV: I did the Kickstarter along with several friends. I'm already pissed that the models don't fit on the bases provided. So strike one against this game. I did it more for the value of the models than the actual game anyway. Not sure if I will like it, but with many of my friends similarly invested I'm sure this will get some table time this year. At the very least I plan to paint what I have.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Ed: The first ever appearance of an RPG on this blog! While I can't say how much this is going to be a focus in 2015, I hope it will pan out. D&D is what started it all for me and my first love in gaming. This is no wishful thinking either. Three other guys are going to give this a whirl with me as we work through the premade adventures that released alongside the game.

Here are a few projects I'm considering scrapping or delaying.

15mm Hail Caesar: I know I've not even updated my blog with what I've already done. But even in 15mm this is a shit-ton of models to paint. They're not even interesting to paint, being four color paint jobs and a wash. And once again, I'm not going to play with naked lead. That just looks stupid on a 3D table. So while I'll probably press on, my enthusiasm is waning. Not a good sign.

20mm WW2: Fun sized models and my favorite period for miniature gaming. The terrain needs suck, along with its corresponding storage problems. Not to mention I'm burned out on miniatures in general and WW2 miniatures specifically. I may pick it up again, but not very high on my priority list for 2015.

There you have it. There are dozens of other cool games I'm sure I'll play and enjoy. But the above games represent my projects and focus areas as they stand right now. You can see I don't have as many miniatures planned. Not sure what that means for this blog, but I plan to continue updating and sharing whatever is on the painting table at the moment. I've got enough unpainted models to last quite a while, so I'll be back soon with new things to show you.

Wishing you all a happy 2015!

2014 Year In Review

Heck yeah, time for looking back on all stuff I said I was going to do this year and discover how far off I was. Of course, maybe I wasn't too far off. All will be revealed momentarily as I look back on the year that was 2014!

What I Said I Planned To Do

Ah, plans and good intentions. I start the year with my head full of these, crap like losing weight and using my exercise bike for something as other than a clothes hanger. Fortunately this is a gaming blog and I don't fave to fess up to those disasters. (Seems I just did.... moving along.) If I look back to this post and compare to actual, here's what it looks like.

Miniatures Games
Bolt Action: I did succeed in this venture. I played about 15 - 18 games this year, but haven't touched it since July.

Other WW2 Rules: I gave Chain of Command about 3-4 walk-through games. I enjoyed it but the problem is I'll forget the rules between games and no one else is playing it. Anyway, the mission was to try it out and I did. Never got to Battlegroup Kursk, and the big fat rule book glares down on me from the bookshelf whenever I'm painting my figures. I'm still calling this a success.

Campaign Games: I played a campaign using Platoon Forward which was based on Operation Cobra and lasted seven games. I also did Operation Bagration this summer. So success here. I'm on a roll! 

Air Combat: We're moving into "mixed bag" territory here. I assembled and completed both US and Japanese squadrons for a Guadalcanal campaign, but beyond a few games I never got anywhere with this. I'm going to have to call it a defeat on the "plan to actual" scoreboard. Wings of Glory is a fantastic game that gathers dust at an alarming rate. Just never worked it into the rotation. And that Bag the Hun / Squadron Forward combo never happened. I did add Angels 20 to the list, and played several games before resigning myself to it being a game to play once every other year. I guess air combat never really got off the ground in 2014. (But I have increased my frequency of lame puns.)

Naval Combat: I'm going to try to slip this past you, so here goes. I played a game of Axis and Allies War at Sea.  I purchased a bunch of ships, threw them in a bag, and now watch them take up space in my hobby room. Does that fulfill my intentions for 2014? I'm going to say no, as I really intended to do more with this. War at Sea is solid, so maybe I'll revisit next year.

15mm Fantasy: This one's a cinch --never crossed my mind again after writing my blog and a few idea exchanges with friends. Fail.

Samurai Action: OK, I can redeem myself here by noting I completed assembly of the base set of Command & Colors Samurai Battles. It wasn't what I was thinking about when I set this goal, but I played a few games of it and it really scratches that Samurai itch. I'd like to actually paint these figures one day, but that's for another post. I'm going to call this a success.

Figure Scales: Yes! But in the opposite direction of what I planned.  At the time I was thinking 10mm WW2 for company sized battles or expanding my 6mm collection. Instead I took on 20mm WW2. The project lost steam for me, as I can only paint the same damn models so many times before burnout. I still have work to do on this in 2015.

Other Games: Fail. Neither Malifaux nor Savage Worlds made an appearance in my gaming this year.

Board Games
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Massive success. I've been playing in a regular group biweekly and we're almost done with the first adventure path. We're going to tackle the next one in the upcoming year. Additionally, I've played on and off solo with my own set throughout the year. This was probably my favorite game of the 2014.

Combat Commander Series: Fail. Never touched them and forgot how they play. Too bad as I was high on these for a while. I'll get them back into some sort of rotation again.

Descent 2: I finished that campaign in the early part of the year and realized it's not such a great game after all.  Success, but in a sad sort of way. Don't have much interest in this any more.

Elder Sign: Never touched it. Great game though. Fail.

DVG "Leader" series games: Success, but not as much as I'd have liked. I played another campaign of Phantom leader, and one test game of Thunderbolt Apache Leader. These games are incredible. I did the Kickstarter for Tiger Leader this year. I should play them more often than I do.

Living Card Games: Mega Fail. In fact, I've divested myself of these games except Warhammer Invasion. So I went the opposite way. I realized financially I can't keep up and that the "cycle" problem means you're playing with half a card pool most times. I just backed out completely and didn't even jump on the 40K version of Conquest when it came out.

Surprises for 2014

I went off in unexpected directions this year. It's not that I'm rigid about these New Year plans that I put in place, so I generally don't care what I'm doing as long as I have fun. Hence the sudden swing into 20mm WW2, etc.  Beyond what I already mentioned, here are a few other things I hadn't foreseen.

28mm Horror: I started collecting zombies and zombie survivors with the intention of playing a modern zombie apocalypse game. Where did this thought come from? Not sure. I started reading the Walking Dead comics, so that probably did it.

Zombicide: I just love this game. Hell, I even painted the board pieces. Again, came from nowhere but I'm glad for it. I got in about a 8-10 games this year and introduced it to some friends.

Judge Dredd: Though I've not actually played Warlord's Judge Dredd game, I decided the campaign system looked so awesome that I bought the starter box and painted the forces. Now I've got to get them on the table!

Warlord: You'd think being a Reaper fanboy that I'd have tried this earlier. I've now got a complete army for the game. Again, just have to find time to play it. I gave the rules a walk-through and found them enjoyable with some weird parts. Overall, I think I'll love it.

Prehistoric Games: I actually started on cavemen and Neanderthal tribes this year. I intended to get prehistoric mammals for them to hunt or fight, but didn't follow through. This may be revived again, as I think it's an interesting idea.

Hail Caesar in 15mm: You may be wondering about this one since there're no blog updates around it. However, right now a crap-ton of 15mm Imperial Romans are on my painting desk. I read the rules late in the year and started gathering forces to be able to field Romans vs either Germanic tribes or Britons. I've been working most of this month on the Roman infantry and will have an update soon.

WH40K: I was talking about selling my 40K armies. Instead I got the new rules, finished painting the Tau I have, and will soon be getting my Codices updated and adding more models. So the about-face was a shock for me, but I realized how much I love this game. There's really little else like it.

Star Wars X-Wing: I forgot about this and had to go back to edit my post to include it. Of course, this turned out to be a big hit for me and just about everyone else I know. I have multiples of most popular ships and even invested in a KR Multicase to keep my ships ready for gaming. I played the game a number of times, including several with my son and one large group game with friends. I had dawdled about buying into this, but once I took the plunge I've never been happier with a game.

Thunderstone Advance: This deck-builder game is great solo and with others. I had been eying it for a while, then went all in to get the base game and expansions. I'm still not caught up yet!  It's a fantastic game, though the most complex deck builder I've seen. I probably played 6-8 games this year, so it's not the biggest hit of the year. However, I definitely made a financial commitment to it that I was not expecting! Anyway, I highly recommend it for fans of deck builder for both the crunch and the fantasy theme.  I'll be enjoying this one for a long time to come.

Well, by now you're probably sick of hearing about my year. I know I am.  Overall, I had a good year for gaming. I wish all my four blog readers a very happy and safe New Year!  See you in 2015!

Cavemen

Here are two blisters of Reaper Miniatures Cavemen. These are really nice models with a lot of character.  Click for a larger picture.

These figures have a lot of utility. They can be used in nearly any genre to serve as any type of primitive humanoid. I'm not sure what I'll do with these yet, but I can see a few applications. In fact, some prehistoric games might be a nice change of pace. I've had my eye on some of those very nice prehistoric models at Acheson Creations. Maybe it's time for a mastodon hunt!

You can readily see the contents of the blister, as I've got two of every model represented except the female. I wasn't too big of a fan of some of the workmanship shown on the handle of her staff/club thing. It takes away from the primitive feeling of it. Also, since she's so distinctive I only painted one of her. I guess I could convert the extra model's staff and "magic bag" into something else. Not sure it's worth the effort at this point.

So now I'm thinking of expanding my cavemen collection. Copplestone Castings has some nice cavemen as part of their Lost Worlds range that are worth looking at, and I may have to get them now that I've got this idea in my head. Stay tuned!

Looking Forward to 2014

Here I am in 2014, a year that sounds to me like a date from a science fiction novel, but I guess that will only get worse as time goes on. Anyway, enough about how old I'm feeling. It's time to think about what I'm going to focus on this year.  If I don't do this post, I'll have nothing to look back on and laugh about in twelve months.

Miniatures Games

Bolt Action: I plan to keep going with this for the near term at least. As I push the rules a bit with my historical scenarios I'm finding a lot of limitations that I haven't seen before.  Still, I expect to keep up with the game.

Other WW2 Rules: I've got at least two teed up to try out: Battlegroup Krusk and Chain of Command. Both look to be great games, but I've got to get my head around CoC. I will probably continue to explore different rules.

Campaign Games: I much prefer the historical scenarios to the generic "kill each other" or "steal the same prisoner/object/thing-a-ma-bob" scenarios of most rule sets. I'm going to do Operation Bagration this year in honor of its 70th anniversary. (Actually because I have a bunch of 15mm Russians unpainted, but the timing is right.)

Air Combat: This is a no brainer, as I've already bought the planes! I'm jumping into 1/600 scale planes, focusing on Guadalcanal to start but later shifting to Battle of Britain. There are two rules sets that work well for this. I plan on using Bag the Hun paired with Squadron Forward for solo campaigns, and Check your Six! for games with friends.

Additionally, I want to expand my Wings of Glory collection. It's a great game and deserves more attention than I gave it last year. I'm going to stretch myself a tiny bit and say Angels20 is also interesting to me, but the collectible aspect may kill it.

Naval Combat: I don't know what I'm doing for this, but want to try. I've kicked the idea around forever, but it might be time to do something about it. Sails of Glory will hit the stores soon, and I'm likely to get hooked on that. Not sure about this one, but on my mind.

15mm Fantasy: I've got an itch for large fantasy battles, but just don't want to do it in 28mm.  I have five viable armies for Kings of War (six if I throw in my Vikings), but the scale does not fit the size table I have. When I deploy my orcs, the units line up end to end from one side of the table to the other. What fun is that? You just move forward and die until you win or lose.  Smaller sized bases will work better on a 4x6 and still preserve maneuvering room.  Anyway, my mind has been coming back to this constantly.

Samurai Action: Ronin looks hopeful for 28mm, and I am sweet on the idea of a large 10/15mm samurai force for some as-yet-unspecified rules set. I just keep seeing ranks of colorful samurai and want to play something like that without breaking the bank and renting a new house to store it in.

Figure Scales: Each different scale has its good and bad points. I have been consistently getting smaller in scales and have settled on 15mm as a preferred scale for cost and storage considerations. I will probably continue to go smaller, and have been considering 10mm for company sized actions for WW2. So I expect to continue this downsizing, for larger scaled games of course.

This does not mean 28mm is dead, and in fact I'd like to put some 28mm squads together for more skirmish / squad level actions. Plus 28mm is the "social scale" as few other people are prepared to game at any other scale, so I'll continue to invest here as needed. Sign me up for at least a few more squads for WW2 at 28mm. I also have a lot of Reaper models in this scale... ahem.

Other games I'm expecting to be a focus for me in 2014: Malifaux has been great and I want to go further with this.  Savage Worlds will provide for my fantasy skirmish replacement that LotR created when it went ridiculous. That's about it here.

Board Games

Whereas last year I wanted to try more, this year I want to try to get more play time for some of my favorites and work in new games.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: I can't believe I left this off my list of most played games in 2013! I love this game and will play all the campaigns completely, maybe even with multiple characters.

Combat Commander Series: These games have proven to been excellent investments. The games are not too difficult to teach to new players but have a lot of depth. Also, they play well solo, which is a huge consideration for me. I hate to drop $80 on a game and play it only three times, particularly when the game is as good as this series.

Descent 2: I've been playing in a campaign which is close to finished. I know the expansion introduces another campaign, which I hope to play in. It has been a great game and I expect to continue to enjoy it into 2014.

Elder Sign: While the expansion prolonged the game somewhat, I enjoy this game a lot and try to show it to anyone with interest. It will get played more often this year, at least that's my plan.

DVG "Leader" series games: I've got Phantom Leader and Thunderbolt Apache Leader, which I plan on playing to death! I may get Hornet Leader as well.  These will be a mainstay throughout the year.

Living Card Games: Time to finish my Call of Cthulhu collection and keep up with Warhammer Invasion, Netrunner, Star Wars, and LotR!  I want to play more LotR than I did last year, and get CoC back on the table too. 

Since new games are coming out all the time, it's hard to say what else should be on this list. For Christmas I got Conflict of Heroes:Awakening the Bear. I expect to love it. Discwars: Warhammer is also out and I'm sure to like it as well. I also have Command and Colors Samurai Battles, which is a huge game.

Other Hobby Stuff

Divesting from old games: I'm not playing 40K, WHFB (or Kings of War for that matter), nor am I playing LotR SBG or WAB or Warmachine. So why do I have so many of these armies? It's time to sell them off. Right or wrong, I have some emotional attachment to my Space Marines. My son and I spent a lot of time painting them together and many models were gifts from him to me (which he bought with my money, but that's beside the point). Maybe they won't go. Everything else should go, along with other games I'm not playing.  I need storage space.

Painting: I've got to take a chunk out of my pile of Reaper Bones models. This has to happen because (allegedly) in nine months I'm going to get hundreds more dumped on me. My wife will kill me if she sees models pile up!  Plus I WANT to paint the stuff.

Storage Solutions: I'm cheap when it comes to storing my models. If I invested in some nice KR Multicases or Battlefoam stuff, I'd have compact, portable storage. I need to get serious about this in 2014.

Well, I'm probably the only person who thought this was an exciting post. In any case, I'm excited for 2014 and the various projects I've outlined for myself in the upcoming year. We'll see what I get through, but it's an ambitious list.

Happy New Year to all!

2013 Wrap Up

Well, it's time to wrap up another year here a my Big Picture blog. Like I do every year, I posted up my focus for 2013 back in January. I never look back at these posts except for the last day of the year, where I see how closely I stuck to those ideas. A lot of bloggers do these year-end wrap ups and I enjoy reading them. So here's my contribution to this theme.

2013: The Year With No Focus Whatsoever

Well, I suppose my goals for 2013 were pretty much a free-for-all. I promised myself I wouldn't get hung up on having unpainted models. I sure took that to heart. I now have tons of stuff that I've not painted and probably never will get painted. I can't exactly call that an achievement. This time around I better get more specific with goals for next year!

Things I Planned for 2013

Let's review what I thought I was going to do.

Bolt Action: I completed a 1,000 pt painting challenge and got my Russians completed. I played a few games with these guys and liked them well enough. I let this game sit for the middle part of the year then resurrected it for 15mm games.  I'd call this a major success, and I see myself playing it long into 2014.

Fantasy Skirmish / Sci-Fi Games: This was partially successful for the fantasy games at least. I discovered Savage Worlds makes a great tabletop game. It will probably work for Sci Fi as well. However my goals was to replace a 40K sized game, and I failed in that aspect. I didn't even look into it. I'll call this a draw.


Card Games & Board Games: This is where I spent most of my game time this year. I have developed a serious liking of board games with a miniatures theme. I've also invested heavily in the Living Card Games (LCG) formats from Fantasy Flight Games and played lots of these games this year.

For card games, I've ended up with quite a collection: Warhammer: Invasion, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, Netrunner, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings. Whew! I didn't play much LotR this year, and Cthulhu didn't see table time either, though it's a great game. Also deck builders were huge on my list, with both the LotR and DC deck building games getting lots of play time.

For board games, I played a lot with friends this year and bought copies for myself. My most played board games this year were Combat Commander Pacific & Europe, Relic, Sergeants Miniatures Game, Descent 2 (almost done playing the campaign), Super Dungeon Explore, Phantom Leader, and Battle of Westros. There are probably a dozen other board games I've played as well, but these are the main games.

Dreadball & Blood Bowl: Bust on Blood Bowl, and will not likely ever do anything with the team I painted for it. Dreadball has some hope, but I only played one game. So, I'm calling this a bust for 2013 plans.

Malifaux: This one squeaked in at the last minute. I've painted my force and playea few games. This game rocks, and I'm hoping to play more of it.

Relic Knights:  This is why I'm wary of Kickstarters. They've been very good about communicating and the game is coming out soon, so I'm not too worried. But they've had my money for over a year and I'd like to see the actual game soon.  Bust for 2013.

Other Things for 2013

Campaign Projects: By mid year I had latched onto the idea of developing my WW2 collection of both terrain and armies by focusing on campaigns. By using historical re-creation campaigns from Britton Publishers and Skirmish Elite I had a focus for the types of models to buy. So now I can fill a 4x6 table with nice looking 15mm terrain along with sizable forces for WW2.

I actually completed one of these campaigns as a solo endeavor and am in the middle of another. When it comes  to historical campaigns, I've actually preferred playing them as a solo effort. Originally I was trying to get my son into it, but gave up. In the end, I've enjoyed them as an alternative to PC / Console games. (My World of Warcraft subscription lapsed for the first time in many years!)

If only I could find something similar for fantasy or sci-fi themed games!

New Discoveries: Several new games for me in 2013 that I liked but just haven't got back to: Infinity, Dark Ages, Wings of Glory, and Blitzkrieg Commander. I enjoyed all four, but just don't know what I can invest toward these going forward.

A few total busts for the year:
Dropzone Commander: I'm going to sell this stuff. I don't like the rules.
Armored Clash: Still in the box, not sure I'm as keen on this as when I bought it. Probably will sell it.

What I Wrote Off in 2013

I actually sold a lot of armies and models this year:
Flames of War: Sold all of it but kept some of the vehicles for myself
Hordes: Ditched my Everblight
Battlefleet Gothic: When you don't play a game for nearly a decade, it's time to sell
LotR: Sold my elves and plan to sell three other armies to completely divest

So that's the whole of 2013 in a nutshell.Wishing everyone a happy and safe 2014!

Random Thoughts on Random Events

I've been using Bolt Action rules to work through a Pacific war campaign, which I've covered previously.  Since this is primarily a solo endeavor I've been having some fun with tweaking the rules to my liking. After all, my opponent doesn't really care. For the most part, these are minor things to make up for my lack of models or certain terrain.  However, one thing I've done is added random events to the game.

Adding random events is obviously not my original idea. It's easy to add a different die to the dice cup, and add an event when it comes up.You can read about one of the best applications of this idea at this link. In fact, I've stolen from these guys!

So for my games, I place a yellow die in the cup and when it is pulled I roll a D6 and on a 6 there's a random event. I've been using the random events table from Platoon Forward in the past. However, these are rather generic.  Since I'm playing a specific campaign in an historical location, I thought I could customize my random events table.

Here's what I've done. I've tried to incorporate things I know about the operation and the conditions of the battle. I thought I'd share it as inspiration for others, much the way the original post I referred to above inspired this table.

 

 This is obviously a screen capture, and you'll have to click on it to see the detail.

I've used the layout of reinforcements versus "story events". Both serve to add spice to the game being played and help create a less predictable experience. I also altered table odds by using a D8 versus a D6. I roll one d8 for the row and another for the column and, presto, I've got my event.

I've given a slightly better chance of the Japanese getting reinforcements, but their reinforcements are more likely to be Inexperienced or Regulars at best. The US reinforcements are less likely to occur but when they do, they will be better trained. The First Marine division at this stage of the war had been through quite a bit of the Pacific war. I figured they'd have better overall experience levels.

As for story events, these were a lot of fun to create. I tried to mimic real events I've either read about or figured would be likely. Again, not every idea was totally original. I set these up to run the gamut of bad, neutral, and positive events for the unit subjected to the event.

Some of my thoughts on these "story" ideas:

• Battlefield confusion is that scene from every war movie where soldiers argue with their officers on what to do in the heat of battle, inevitably with someone getting shot. I left out the "getting shot" part.
• Heat exhaustion was a real threat on Peleliu and this is how I modeled it in game terms
• Storms seemed a likely thing to complicate fighting in the tropics. While I didn't have any examples from the 1st Marines, I do know the 81st Infantry Division experienced storms.
• Renewed inspiration is another movie moment. I figured once the unit fails an order test, they've lost their nerve and become normal again. 
• Stray mortar rounds make sense to me. My battle isn't the only fight in the area, as the rest of the company would be attacking alongside me.
• Suicide surrender was hard to model in game terms. I think this does it. Basically, the Japanese used surrender as a means to kills themselves and as many enemy as possible. Amazingly the Allies seemed to fall for it over and over. The d2 hits pushes this event to be a potentially more favorable trade for the Japanese side.
• Non combat casualties occur in every battlefield, and the rush of combat combined with weapons and a dangerous environment makes this scenario likely.
• Time table decreased. Sorry, I just can't call it Tea Break. I'm playing Americans!

 So what has my experience been with this? Well, in the first game I got no random events. In my second game I got a useless event at game end, where the last die pulled was the random event die and I rolled for Time Table Dencrease at game end! I've decided that if I get a random event at game end I will ignore it if it has no impact. Otherwise, if I roll an event that doesn't have an effect, I'll just roll again (eg, I have only veteran units and no pinned units, then "renewed inspiration" is a waste).

Additionally, random events are seasoning and not the meal. So no more than two per game, otherwise I risk ruining the intent of the scenario. In certain scenarios, I'll plan some restrictions, like no reinforcements being available, etc.

Well, this is a whole lot of "no pictures" and lots of words. I hoped you enjoyed this and can borrow or steal some of this for your own games.

Putting Some Focus on 2013

In my year end post I reviewed what I had planned for 2012, but I failed to comment on where I think my gaming is heading this year. Without that to look back on, I'll have no material for a similar type of post. Let's fix this deficiency!

Giving Myself A Break
I'm not even going to try to catch up on unpainted lead, like I promised last year. In fact, this year I'm giving myself a clean slate. I'm scratching unpainted stuff off my "must complete list" if it's not something I'm currently prioritizing.

This gives me a little more breathing room by putting aside some of my more "greedy purchases" of last year. I have a ton of 15mm WW2 that I'm not likely to get on the table. I can safely put aside all 40K models. Not sure if Kings of War is coming back, and can probably relax on my Dark Elf project. I'll be going through my list of painting projects to prune it to essentials.

Where I Think 2013 Will Take Me
OK, so enough about what I'm not going to consider! Here's what I'm planning this year.

US Rangers lead the way in Bolt Action!

• Bolt Action and 28mm WW2. I'm loving Bolt Action and loving that scale and historical period. So WW2 is going to be big on my horizon. I already have three armies more or less done (US, German, Japanese), and another in the works. More on that in another post.
• Fantasy Skirmish / Dungeon Crawls  The Reaper Bones Kickstarter is going to send me over the cliff. I see myself playing a lot of Song of Blades and Heroes or similar games. I'll have a full gamut of fantasy models to use in dungeon crawlers... now just need a good rules set.
• A Sci-Fi Game replacement for 40K. This could be Gruntz or Warpath or a game I haven't discovered yet. I want something that allows me use of my current model collection (Warpath) or has a low entry cost (Gruntz). We'll see.
• Card Games! Oh how I love the Living Card Game systems put out by Fantasy Flight Games. I've got a large collection of Warhammer: Invasion, Lord of the Rings, Call of Cthulhu, and soon to add Netrunner to this. With the collectible factor removed, these games are economical and fun to play. Since these aren't mini games, I won't blog much about them, except for occasional stuff.
• More Board Games: Again not strictly miniatures, but they're fun for a change of pace. I got Super Dungeon Explore for Christmas, which has a strong minis component. I'd like to look at a few others, but am not entirely sure which ones. 

 Other Expectations for 2013
Just a few things I'm looking forward to in the upcoming year.

• Relic Knights I got the Kickstarter and am hoping this game plays as good as it looks!
• Malifaux I got a starter box and the rules. The game looks easy.... just like differential calculus and parabolic geometry.  I'm hoping I'll like it to justify buying more of the models.
• Dreadball / Blood Bowl: I didn't think I'd like sports games. In fact, the one game of Blood Bowl I played was exciting though confusing. Dreadball looks like it's going to be great. So new and old games to explore here.

There you have it. A long and self-indulgent list of what's on my mind. For the blog, I'd like it to be more than "I painted a mini and here's a picture." I'm sure that's where it'll end up by December. For now, however, I'm going to try to do a bit more. I need to get back to battle reports, maybe dare a step-by-step of my painting process, and cover other games I play. We'll see.

Happy New Year to all!

Yes, Another Year-End Post You Must Read!

With three days remaining, I'm going to call it. The year is done. This means it's time for yet another year end post. I actually enjoy reading these kinds of posts, so I'm doing one of my own. It's good to summarize what I did and how things played out.

At the start of the year I posted my focus and predictions for 2012. Let's see how I did.

My Focus for 2012

Focus: Don't buy more models before the last batch is painted.

Actual Result: Total bust. I went nuts this year, buying into every game in sight. I have even more unpainted miniatures than I did in 2011. With two Kickstarters shipping in early 2013, a top secret project also coming in 2013, as well as all my existing unpainted lead I'm bringing into the new year, I'd say I'm screwed. Hello, my name is Jerry and I have an addiction.

Things I Wanted to Get Done in 2012

Dust Tactics: Nope. Never played that game again. But Dust Warfare released and I played three games of it and bought a few new figures to go with what I already have. Which are unpainted. See above.

Terrain: So I did make an attempt at more terrain this year. I picked up a bunch of 15mm WW2 terrain.... just in time to stop playing Flames of War and start up on 28mm Bolt Action. I'm so embarrassed. My towering genius is showing again.  I guess I can give myself a point for effort.

Warmahordes: Can I just drop this? Why do I keep talking about Warmachine and Hordes like I'll ever play it again?  Is there a pill I can take to fix this? I made a token effort then lost focus. But those Privateer Press models are soooo sweet..... maybe next year!

15mm and Skirmish Gaming: At last something I carried through on!  Hooray for me! I built up three 15mm fantasy armies, two15mm WW2 armies, and bolstered my 15mm Sci Fi forces. I even did a micro armor force. So it was a good year for going small. As for gaming, almost everything I played all year was skirmish sized.

As for other predictions I made at the start of the year, I took a few pot shots at GW because it was easy to do. In fact, I don't think I was too far off the mark, at least for my teeny tiny world of gamers. Most of my local group has sworn off 40K, and we all consider The Hobbit Game (hey they stole my title! I'm getting my IP lawyers on their asses!) to be priced out of our reach and not the game we want to play.  In the wider world, things are of course much different.

But the only world that counts is mine.  Just wanted to clue you in on that.

Things I Said Good-Bye to in 2012

In the spirit of every year-end retrospective, I'm going to look back on all games that have "died" last year. It's like when USA Today recaps all the out of shape in shape guys from the 50s who croaked during the year, only with games.

This won't take long.

Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game: This game left me breathless, especially if I tried to speak the entire proper name. I played in the Fifth Gathering in the Desert tournament in February, which was supposedly to be the last one. During this time, GW released new army books and removed the Legions of Middle Earth book from the game. Crap move.

The new books demonstrated that whoever put them together did not know the game or its players.  We got to meet new armies like the "Walkers of Rohan" for players who wanted to muster the Equinophobia-him. I am now a proud owner of an expensive Far Hard army whose main troops are the "Ball-less Warriors of Harad." There are doubtless other fancy new armies, but I couldn't bear to read more. Even worse, I bought all the books.

I could go on, but with the insane prices of buying into a new force and a new army construction that requires those expensive models to use what I have I'm confident in saying LotR SBG is dead to me.

Flames of War: It got a new edition this year. I built a new tank company for it this year. I realized I just don't like this game this year. I don't know what it is about it. It's not the scale, not even multi figures per base. I can't put my finger on it, but I don't like the game. I'm done trying to figure out why. I'm just not going to put another dime into it. I'll keep it around and maybe play an occasional game. But good-bye FoW!

Summing Up

This was an unfocused year for me. I painted a ton of stuff, played a bunch of new games. But I didn't have the "big project focus" of other years. I think, like a lot of others, the figurative death of GW games left a hole in my gaming. LotR SBG had been my go-to game for years before, and with it's demise so early in the year I drifted around searching for my next "go-to" game.

If anything,  feel like 2012 was a transitional year in gaming for me. 

As for the blog itself, I'm pretty okay with it. I kept up a good posting pace, just falling short of my goal of one post per week. I did try a few new things, like book reviews, which were a dud. I got the coveted and extremely rare Liebster Award (thanks again, Tim and Mike!) That seems to have increased traffic if not followers.

I'm excited for 2013, as I am for every new year. I wish all my blog readers the very best in the new year and every year after. I appreciate every comment and am really happy when I make contact with other gamers in the big wide world.

Merry Christmas and Thank You, Santa!

Santa was good to me this Christmas. And here I thought I had been naughty all year.

Massive Victory for GW's IP Lawyers.... Evil Copycat Empire Destroyed!

Check out this article:

Games Workshop gets someone’s book yanked from Amazon for using the term “Space Marine”

I sort of get why GW goes after these things, especially where there's huge money involved. I also get that they have to go after everything, because they can't know what might become big. But can "Spots the Space Marine" honestly be confused with the dark future of the WH40K universe? Spots the Dreadnought. Spots the Deathwing Chapter Master.  Not really.

This is lame. GW's complaint is lame. Amazon's total lack of balls is lame. The whole thing creates a perpetual lameness engine.

Well, at least everyone at GW's headquarters is breathing a little easier now. Once again the day is saved.....

Liebster Award

 Amazingly, I have been selected for a Liebster Award.  Since receiving this award, I've signed with a talent agency and have been referring to myself in the third person. Jerry is ready for his debut.

So Jerry must give a big thanks to Mike over at Da Greenskins for nominating him. This award comes with a short to-do list. Jerry must nominate five other blogs with under 200 followers. The idea is to share the love and raise awareness for lesser-known blogs.

Time for Jerry to make his nominations. Some of these blogs have already been nominated, but there was nothing in the rules for multiple nominations.  So Jerry is going for it!

Also, Jerry will no longer refer to himself in the third person, as his 15 minutes of fame ran out while selecting his five nominations. It was fun while it lasted.


Cursed Treasures is a blog I've been reading for years. It helps that Tim is a good friend of mine. I was shocked to find the blog had under 200 followers (but is close to it). Anyway, Tim runs some great events, has interesting ideas and commentary, and of course his miniatures and terrain look great. Well worth checking out.

Delta Vector is an awesome site. The real attraction for this blog is the in-depth game reviews. He covers a ton of different games in all scales. I generally look to this blog for opinions on a new game. Good stuff here.

10-4 Miniatures is a place I've just discovered, but I've been working through the posts. Lots of nicely done battle reports on a variety of games. He really puts time into the battle reports and it shows. He is also into a lot of different games, which I enjoy reading about. I highly recommend this blog.

Scott's War-gaming is another blog I've followed for a while. Scott posts regularly, writes great battle reports, and his figures and terrain pieces are outstanding. He's usually working on an interesting project or three, and checking out his site is worth your time.

Solo Nexus is an inspiration to me. JF has solo adaptations for a lot of miniature games, RPGs, and board games. The site is also a portal to other solo gaming sites. I've read every post on this blog, and a few of them multiple times. If you think solo games are just making two player games an anti-social experience, read this blog and open your mind.

So there you have it, five quality blogs with under 200 followers. Get clicking on those links!

Four More

I've been more active at my painting table this week, and I've got a lot done.  Here are four more models that I completed.  But in all honesty, one of the models I did weeks ago and haven't gotten around to taking a picture of it. So I painted three more, and photographed four. 

These are all Reaper models, the monsters are from the Bones line and the Viking is from Dark Heavens Legends. These pictures are okay, but not that good. Since they're not for a major project I'm not going to retake them. You can get an idea of what they're like, though the colors are a little off.

Here's a minotaur I plan to add to my Song of Blades and Heroes beastman warband. I really like this model. I wanted to make him dark but not black, which proved harder than I thought. He either looked like a primer-covered model or came out too light. Here's what I ended up with:

Next is a so-called "cave troll." I guess that's what I'll use him for. He has a nice rocky texture to his back. I painted his hair green, like moss, but it's not too obvious in these pictures. Also, his skin tone is a little bluish and not as gray as these pictures make it seem.

The last Bones model is a werewolf. I'll eventually use this one in Empire of the Dead, but he can fit into a lot of different lists.

Finally, I played a game of Saga and really enjoyed it. So I picked up a special model for my Viking leader.  Meet Gunther One-Eye:

I liked this model and the name that I came up with for him (he's missing an eye, which I clumsily left out of the picture). In fact, I gave him a small part in my next Viking novel (which should hopefully be published end of year or early 2013).

So that's it for now. I'll probably "go dark" for a bit while I wait for my WW2 US riflemen to arrive. I'm expanding my 28mm WW2 collection so I can get in larger games of Bolt Action.

Bones Kickstarter

The Reaper Bones Kickstarter is over.  I'm pretty excited about being part of this. The final count is something like 224 models for the $100 pledge, plus options to get some nice stuff at really low prices.  The amazing thing, for me, is that there's not a single model in the package that I can't think of a use for! I updated the graphic on my previous post to the final rewards package.

This ended up being the third largest Kickstarter to-date.  Wired.com ran an interesting article on this.  Check it out here.

R.I.P. Mr. Brush

Mr. Brush 2007 - 2012 

"Do not go gentle into that good night"

I  finally admit that my beloved Windsor & Newton Series 7 #2 miniature brush had to be put down forever. Five years old is quite an age for a brush, at least in my experience. I tried to deny the signs. "Oh, he just doesn't have the spring of a new brush; but he's fine!", or, "That lacquer was just getting in the way. No worries!"  But most damning of all, "You're just as good as ever with half the hairs remaining in your ferrule. This is great!"

Mr. Brush had a good life. I only ever use one brush when painting, unless I'm painting something big. Mr. Brush painted hundreds of figures over hundreds of hours.  There was a time when Mr Brush's hairs formed a point so sharp I used to paint and dot eyes on my 28mm figs with him.

As you can tell, I have a love affair with Windsor & Newton Series 7 brushes.  But I'm speaking specifically to the miniature brushes.  The shorter hairs give you great control over the paint.  You do trade some capacity to load up the bristles. But you shouldn't be spending money on W&N brushes if you're glopping paint.  That's not what these brushes are for!

I've moved on now that Mr. Brush is dead.  Here's my new painting partner at Mr. Brush's wake. Notice the family resemblance.

Maybe in another five years, Mr. Brush II will be on his deathbed.  But for now, I look forward to working with him.

GW Announces Dry Paint! WOOOOOHOOOOO!

Hey, just checking in with everyone.  I haven't got around to documenting my recent projects, which haven't been much.  I've had a week off, too, but was wasteful with my time.

So Games Workshop has announced their new line of paints.  I just don't know how I've been doing it all these years without 145 different colors.  But from today forward every new GW paint guide will surely explain why I need 86 different colors to paint my skeleton warriors.

But the best thing yet is the announcement for dry paint. At $3.70 plus tax these paints are a steal!  Think of how long it used to take GW paints to dry out.  Why.... it usually took me 2-3 days after opening a paint pot for it to coalesce into gel.  But now you buy dry paint.  Genius!!!  To quote another game, "Time is money, friend."  Thanks GW! You're always thinking of the hobbyist.

I'm particularly glad that GW stayed away from paint names that are pronounceable.  Who wants to hear about light reds or burnt oranges?  I'd much rather have fun laughing at people as they stumble through Jokaero Orange, Coelia Greenshade, or (personal favorite here) Fuegan Orange.  Talk about a fuegan blast!

Well, I could just go on and on like a silly little fanboi. But I've got go create a flowchart on how to use the base, shade, layer 1, layer 2, dry, glaze, texture, and technical paints in the right order.  I wouldn't want to fuck it all up!

2012 Focus and Some Predictions

I thought it would be interesting to jot down what I want to focus on and what I think might happen in the gaming world this year.  At least it would be interesting to me.  I'll check back here at the end of the year and see what actually happened.  Wow, my first year long project!

Adjusting the Focus
Last year was the "Year of Unpainted Lead".  I produced a lot, but also bought a lot and didn't do anything with it.  That is the total bane of my existence.  Unpainted models are my kryptonite.  They sit in my painting room, emanating their weakening force on me.  Before long I'm laying on the floor, clutching my head and screaming.  So I want to get back to my happy space in 2012, completing a project before buying a slew of models for the next "big thing."

Well, that was relatively painless.  I think it's good to select a single focus and work on that.  But here are a few other things I want to get done in 2012.

• Dust Tactics: I really liked this game and the models.  I want to get these painted and play more games. I hope to expand my collection too.
• Terrain: I did more terrain last year than I expected.  But this year, I want to add more and varied pieces to my collection.
• WWII in 28mm: I've put this aside for a while.  I expect it will pick up again for me this year.
• Warmachine/Hordes: I've been saying I love those models and want to collect them again.  Let's see if I can make that happen.  Maybe I can even play a game.
• 15mm: This scale is appealing for solo gaming and even non-solo games.  Some friends are considering HOTT this year, and I want in on that.  Terrain becomes a slight problem, as I don't have any buildings or trees at that scale. But storage and cost is delightful.
• Skirmish Games: I'm almost cheating by putting this here.  I'm not really entertaining the "big game" anymore, with exception of maybe HOTT. 

  Now as for predictions, well, I'm sorry to have strung you along this far only to reveal that I don't have any great insight into the gaming world of tomorrow.  I know, it's just like that scene from the Wizard of Oz.  But let me share my hunches, seeing how you worked your way this far down the post.

• The new edition of Warhammer 40,000 will totally ruin the game and render it unplayable under any circumstances whatsoever.  You'll never play it again.  Evah!
• The new 40K rulebook will be about 10 pages of rules and 380 pages of fluff and painting instructions. Someone will drop the new rulebook on his foot, crushing it, and sue GW for an undisclosed amount.  As a result, model prices will be increased.
• The new Hobbit movie will rekindle interest in the LotR SBG.  This will hopefully result in more models and updated or reissued rulebooks.  It will hopefully also result in a shorter name, like "The Hobbit Game".
• The update to LotR SBG will totally ruin the game and render it unplayable under any circumstances whatsoever.  You'll never play it again.  Evah!

That's it.  We'll see if the results of my vision quest to bring you 2012 predictions holds any water come December.  Have a great 2012 everyone!

Year End Post

Here's my ego-centric and totally me-focused year end post!  Think of this as Cliffs Notes for my blog this year.

The High Points of 2011
The biggest highlight this year was the rebirth of this blog and the general rebirth of my miniature gaming hobby.  For about three years I was in "maintenance mode" and not doing much.  Actually I was playing World of Warcraft in all my free time.  I saved a ton of money, though.  Being "reborn" in miniatures gaming means you just lost a few bills to get caught up on everything.

A few happy things I didn't expect going into the year:

• My wife letting me take over the front room and drop a gaming table into it.  Pure win.
• Building up three 28mm WWII armies over the summer.  Gotta remember how I did that.
• Discovering a love for smaller games and non-GW games like Song of Blades and Heroes and a bunch of the THW games like Nuts!
• Not burning out by July

My top game in 2011 was still LotR SBG.  I played in the Gathering in the Desert.  I also played a lot of games over the year.  I completed 700 points of Elves for The Tale of Four LotR Gamers challenge.  I also filled out my Far Harad army from about 275pts to a full 700pt force.  Overall this game got the majority of my focus. I still enjoy LotR as much as I did when I first started playing it.

The Low Points of 2011
Nothing really was a low point.  There were a few duds this year:

• Infinity: Everyone's absolute favorite most best-est game of all time.  For three days.
• Heavy Gear: Blitz:  A classic game beloved of fans.  Starter set includes two rule books: one that advises you to ignore the other rule book included with the starter set.  That should be a sign of something.  Starter set was missing parts for three models and assembly of the other models has given me a nervous twitch.
• World War I:  At least I liked the rule books and they were on sale.

Other Thoughts
This section is here because I thought ending the post after "low points" was too abrupt.  I don't have many other thoughts.  I enjoyed the year, got in lots of games with good friends, and found my own gaming preferences.  Also, I was not maimed or diagnosed with a horrible disease.  Overall, this was a good year.

Here's looking forward to a wonderful 2012!  Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog this year.  I especially appreciate those who left comments.  I look forward to reading what people have to say.  Let's do it again next year.

The Other Blog

OK, true confessions time.  I'm cheating on you guys with another blog.  There, I've said it.  And I'm afraid that my other blog might be unacceptable to you, as it's only tangentially related to mini games.  Oh my.  This is getting serious.

For the few of you who actively read my blog, you might know that I enjoy solo gaming with a lot of my minis.  I picked up Mythic's Game Master Emulator (GME) as a means to help run the "NPC opponent"  in these games.  Of course it was only a mater of time before I used GME for it's intended purpose: RPGs.

What started as a small experiment for me with the GME turned into a full blown game.  I've been playing a series of Dark Heresy games (hence the tangential connection to this blog)  using the GME.  It has been a blast and I'm going to stick with it.  To that end, I created a blog to specifically address my solo gaming activities.

I invite you to check out my other blog, Solosaurus.  It's very new and there are not a lot of posts to read.  However, my first complete story arc of a Dark Heresy game is recorded there in a few posts.  Click on the Dark Heresy label to get all the posts.  I've written up all the sessions, really almost becoming 40K fan fiction.  I was finding my way with this at first, but have settled into a stable format now.

If you like what you find, please consider following the blog.  I'll be starting up a new story arc for Dark Heresy, and plan on doing Deathwatch very soon.  I'm also looking forward to Black Crusade, if it ever gets released.  This just opens the door to uber-geekdom, and I've done a bit of Pathfinder and am seriously considering Call of Cthulhu.  If I find a good pulp adventure RPG, I might go there too.  Anyways, please have a look!

Space Marine is Here!

I just got the new Space Marine game for Xbox 360 tonight.  I lucked out and got it as a rental from my Gamefly queue.  This almost never happens with new releases.  My son is actually playing it first, and I have the easier job of just watching.  Actually it's just as well, since I suck at shooters and you're really just moving through a linear story anyway.  So watching is cool with me. Let someone else press the buttons.

I've watched about 90 minutes of game play.  I will say that the graphics are spectacular..... and tremendously bloody.  This is just the sort of game that will help fuel those "video games lead to violent behavior" pundits.  I suppose the next chainsaw accident involving a teen will be tied back to watching Space Marines eviscerate hordes of Orks with chainswords.

At any rate, they've done a great job capturing a forge world under siege.  The Ultramarines are deployed to deal with the Xenos threat (Orks) and to recover a Titan that is on the forge world. The Marines are perfectly modeled, practically look like real people.  The Imperial Guard are less impressive.  The Orks are spot on, including that ape-like gait I imagined that they should have.  I do get a little tired of them screaming "Space Marines!  Kill 'em!"  over and over. 

The Orks attack in massive hordes, and you only have three space marines to counter them.  In a real game of 40K those space marines would be pulped seven times over.  But in this video game, they are truly gods among men.  One chainsword  slash liquefies about five Orks at once.  Awesome.

So you know where I'll be for the next several days!  If you can, get your hands on this game and give it a shot.  It's also available on PC, if you don't have an Xbox. 

Building a Gaming Table, the Final Outcome

At last the table is completed and in the house!  Tim and his son came over this morning to help move it inside and attach the top to the base.  It looks absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to get some gaming done on the new surface.  Tim had me throw a die on the table for good luck. I got a "4", which was pretty encouraging. 

I had to hit it with some touch-up paint to cover some of the mistakes.  It's funny because every time I look at it or see a new picture of it, the table looks like it needs more touch-up.  I have a big storage compartment underneath it, and I'm going to plan how to use it best.  I'm terrible at taking advantage of space.  For one, I'm putting as many of my armies into stacking boxes as I possibly can.  I have too many metal tool boxes, etc, that don't stack well.

Anwyay, here's a shot of the table in the front room.  Overall I think it looks great.  I just need to buy a few bar stools to sit on while gaming. 

I'm glad this is done!  Thanks a million to Tim and Mike for building me this great table.  I'm looking forward to plenty of fun games with it.  Now I just have to build terrain to put on it!  Stay tuned!