This year is already looking exceptionally busy on all fronts (whether it is home, work, or hobby/gaming) and whilst I should set realistic expectations of what I want to achieve, it is far more fun to dream of doing more.
Team Yankee
Let’s be honest I am pretty excited about Team Yankee and all that it entails. My copy of Team Yankee (along with a host of other great “Cold War Gone Hot” books) were read over and over again way back when and the chance to return to some modern gaming using our figures is too appealing to pass on.
Americans: I’ve been chipping away at my US force for a while now and making slow progress. They are largely assembled and some parts are painted. I think I just need a burst over the course of a weekend to really push them along. Of course it wouldn’t hurt if this year’s FlamesCon had a TY event as part of it!
Soviets: On the list somewhere – who doesn’t want to paint up 6 Hinds and then terrorise their opponents. I’ve managed to hold off since I haven’t finished my US force and because I haven’t really worked out a hook for the force yet. It will come though.
Germans and British: I’m in… end of story! I have a plan for the British but still need to work out something for the Germans.
Other nations: I spent a little time over the Christmas break assembling some more of the Syrians and I figured that I could proxy their T-55s for Soviet T-72s until I work out a list that appeals.
Terrain
I’m pretty happy with how the first couple of test Tablescape pieces have started and whilst there is still plenty to do to finish them I’m going to push ahead and get the rest of the pieces airbrushed up to the point where I can start putting oil washes on them – primarily so that I can mix up a couple of batches of different oil washes and not run out half way through and need to remix.
The new Team Yankee terrain also has me pretty excited and I am planning on doing a short article for the website on enhancing the Petrol station with a couple of easy steps; painting the pumps white and roofline in yellow with a red band, putting some product posters up etc, and maybe making a base that it can go on alongside the road.
Trollbloods
Yeah, you know the drill…. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but let’s see if I can get my first 50 points finished this year…
US Marines
With the Pacific book Gung Ho due our shortly I am definitely planning on building a Amphibious Tank Company with the intent of taking the basic building blocks of it (i.e. the first 1000 points) to Panzerschreck later this year.
Sounds like a full year’s work, anything else?
Probably… who knows what will strike my fancy part way through the year and completely distract me? I’m still keen to paint up my Armada fighter squadrons and there will be a plastic Berserker kit for Warmachine that would go nicely with Karchev. Not to forget the thing, with the thing… (and so it begins!).
What about Tanks!
Too
early to say much about this one, but it is coming soon, it’s cool, and
along with the rest of the team here I helped to design it. Definitely
going to be painting a few Pershings just for this project!
Looking back 12 months ago I can see a year filled with a measure of confidence and a hint of common sense. Did I manage to achieve anything from my plan?
Flames Of War
Yeah, let’s cut to the chase there and say… no. Most, if not all of the items on my list did not progress very far at all. I still want to do my British Comets and got to see how good a list they can be when handled well at FlamesCon last year. The Masters were a wish that I never even came close to achieving after only heading out to a handful to tournaments. I feel a bit guilty about that given I work for the company but I do get to spend my days thinking about all sorts of Flames Of War goodness that it's nice to have other things on the go.
Dust Tactics
The hiatus continues on the Dust front. I have my extra Steel Guard units now (Thunderbolt and Lightning) but haven’t had the enthusiasm to get them primed and painted. I blame Victor for not organising some games for Andrew and I.
WarmaHordes – aka The Year (Decade) Of The Troll.
I actually did a decent amount of painting last year! I didn't finish my 50 points but I made more progress on it than any preceding year. My friend Chris Baker gave me some wonderful pointers on airbrushing 28mm figures and I was able to do a pretty decent job of remembering some of his tricks. Certainly the army (half finished) looks really good and given a concerted effort I think I could push my way to 50 points for the next big tournament that I am likely to get too (in August/September). I also took the half-finished force out to Lords Of Ruin in Wellington last year and it was excellent. Almost every game ran the full time on the clock making for hard fought, exciting games where I felt like I had a chance to win – unlike most of my WarmaHordes games. The recent nerf to Warders has dented my enthusiasm a little, but being competitive in WarmaHordes is not a priority so I am sure I will bounce back.
X-Wing (and Armada)
Loving it. Having less hobby time now than in the past I am really enjoying the casual nature of the game and the low requirements (i.e. zero) on my hobby time. I took 3 Phantoms to the NZ Nationals last year and had a blast. It was not a very competitive list (could have been the Squadron Leader?) but it really surprised a few opponents. The NZ meta is quite variable with a good mix of lists, so vs low pilot skill hordes it was awesome, whereas elite high pilot skill squadrons it suffered. Taking such a wacky squadron made the day loads of fun. Looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings after the release of The Force Awakens.
Building Battlefields
Yet another year went by on this front… in the middle of 2015 BF moved offices and we lost our massive gaming/hobby space and I have not been organised (or incentivised?) enough to make a space at home where I can leave everything laid out for a while as I paint and flock up a pile of stuff. I still want to tackle all my Battlefield in a Box product though and get them all flocked up as the roads and forest bases (especially) look better with a little flock on them. I did spend some time on my Tablescapes Urban Tiles and the sample tiles are coming along nicely!
So What Happened?
I was sitting on the train heading home one night last year and found myself getting annoyed at how little gaming and “hobby stuff” I’d done over 2015 and I realised that there were a number of things getting in the way.
1. “Life” –The average week day looks like this; Get up, shower etc, organise breakfast for my son, walk to train, catch train, walk to work, work, walk to train, catch train, walk home, have dinner, play with my son, bath (for my son), put him to bed/do dishes and tidy up, and bang, its 9pm at night, watch TV or play some World Of Warships to decompress after the days activities and it is off to bed. Another day done. Weekends have more time spare but 70% of the week looks like this.
2. “Laziness” – Looking around my traditional gaming group (which goes back over 20+ years to university days) that instead of gaming we tend to sit round playing Clash Of Clans during our usual catchups. Instant gratification, no effort, and when you are all playing in the same Clan you get a similar feeling to tabletop gaming where you can discuss raids, plan for Clan Wars etc. Our “group” decision was that this year we will make much more of an effort to put down the tablets and play a game or two a month. So far it has worked.
3. “Kids” – My son is three and a half and loves playing with dad so there is plenty of time kicking footballs, playing with lightsabers, watching Thomas the Tank Engine etc. We have also recently added another member to our family and as time passes I am sure he will want to do the same thing. Bottom line, less time and less energy for hobby stuff.
4. “Work” – Some (or more than a usual amount) of my blog energy last year seemed to be directed towards stuff for work. Whilst there was no one project that consumed it all, it was a thing here, an article there, and some painting for that.
I am envious of my friends that have similar constraints on their time but still seem to do it all. Guess I need to train up the kids to paint.
So Whats The Plan?
I’ll cover this in another post but I am heading into 2016 with a realistic take on things, but still deluding myself that I’ll get a lot done. Team Yankee, Terrain, Trollbloods, and US Marines are all on the schedule for this year and that’s taking into account an almost four week old baby at home.
However the one New Years resolution I plan on keeping is that this year there won’t be so many posts on the blog starting with “So its been a while since I posted anything…”
2015 has finally come around and it is time to start thinking about what I am going to paint if I am going to make "The Year Of The Troll" a reality.
First up how do I build a list that is going to be fairly competitive? Looking around the forums it is pretty easy to see that all the talk is about the "Miserable Meat Mountain". There are a lot of different builds that people are touting and the key seems to involve a couple of units of Warders (defensive infantry) with a Krielstone Bearer (defensive buffing infantry). Throw a good caster, a tough warbeast, and some strike infantry and it sounds like you have a good list.
Now that I know that much I am throwing the rest out of the window and building something that I like to look of!
First up lets find a caster. There are some really nice looking models in the range. One of my favourite models is Grim Angus. His feat is quite defensive which seems to pair up nicely with the whole theory of the list. He can buff friendly troops to help them get into combat, and he can annoy enemy units, making them drop their defence or be unable to charge. Sounds good to me! Plus he has a gun and I love a good gun line.
When it comes to warbeasts everyone loves Mulg. His ability to protect his caster and knock the socks off enemy ones makes him a powerhouse on the tabletop. Plus I watched him roll over me in a game in 15 minutes a few years ago and it would be nice to do that to someone. Does not really matter what you add after that!
Units. The Meat Mountain people seem to have that under control but I am going to make some changes. Warders and a Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes are a no brainer. I like the idea of the Champions rather than the second Warders unit. They are semi defensive but have attacking power on the charge. Plus it means that I don't have to duplicate units. Last but not least I am going to add some Fennblades. I love the models and I have real trouble knocking them off when I see them across the table.
Flavour the list with a couple of solos to help the Fennblades move around the table, and a Fell Caller Hero to get them back up when they are knocked down, and it sounds like a pretty decent list.
My 50 point Meat Mountain List
Grim Angus
- Mulg the Ancient
- Troll Axer
Fell Caller Hero
Fennblade Kithkar
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts
- Stone Scribe Elder
Trollkin Fennblades - Leader & 9 grunts
- Fennblade Officer and Drummer - Officer & Drummer
Trollkin Champions - Leader & 4 Grunts
Trollkin Warders - Leader & 4 Grunts
I've already started thinking about expansion options - Kriel Warriors and Highwaymen are looking pretty great but I should probably focus on the first 50 points before I start thinking about the next!
Time to hit the brushes!
I'm on the last day of my Christmas holidays and before I call them over I wanted to take a few minutes to think about what this year would hold for me on the hobby front!
Flames Of War
I can already feel myself going down the proverbial rabbit hole with FOW this year. The impending release of Nachtjäger has me keen on building two different companies. First up is a German Panther / Jagdpanther company - this has been on my "to-do" list for many years but I've just never gotten around to it. With the new plastics coming and the IR gear I think it might be time to take the plunge and paint up a really late war company. The British are pretty exciting too with the ability to build plastic Comets, supported by plastic infantry, riding in plastic M5 half tracks. My current plan is too keep the list tight with 8-10 tanks, a motor platoon and a carrier patrol.
Following on from this I have a small pile of Israeli Jeeps that are undercoated and ready for pin washing. I'm really enjoying the look of the Sayeret list from Fate Of A Nation and whilst I don't have much to paint to field a Jeep company I am worried about how I will fit it in given all the other projects competing for hobby time this year.
During the break I've also taken the opportunity to tidy up my garage and I came across a pile of Soviet ISU assault guns that I bought during the River Of Heroes play testing, so many years ago. Given how much I love playing tank destroyers in World Of Tanks, the idea of building a small focused ISU company is very appealing!
Last but not least, I'd like to make an effort at qualifying for the NZ Masters this year. I already have a feeling that I wont have the time but I will leave the thought sitting in the back of my head and see what my chances are looking like come the middle of the year. Of course I want to have a little side challenge... I want to do it using Romanian tanks! With the release of the StuG and Panzer IV plastics I can build most of the army using these new kits. Throw in some infantry in 251s, heavy artillery, recon and maybe a Stuka and I might have a fun list!
Dust Tactics
I've taken a bit of a hiatus on painting my Dust models after getting the first 100 points completed, but playing in the tournament at FlamesCon has gotten me pretty excited about pushing on and getting the next 100 done. I just need to make a call as to what it will be. I've completed all of my Steel Guard models, so I need to turn my focus to either the SSU heavy tanks, or Red Guards infantry. Both are tempting and will look great when done. I guess I need to schedule in a tournament to help me focus my energies!
WarmaHordes - aka The Year Of The Troll
Yep, 2013... I mean 2014, no wait, 2015! The Year Of The Troll... This year I am making a serious attempt at putting a fully painted, 50 point, Meat Mountain on the table! I'll explain the Meat
Mountain later in a future post, but suffice to say it involves lots of Trolls, with lots of hit points. To help me achieve this lofty goal I've enlisted the help of local WarmaHordes painting guru, Chris Baker. His ability to paint to a high standard, at an exceptional pace has become legendary round these parts. Of course no matter how hard he tries I wont be able to paint as well, or as fast, but he has shown me a few tricks that I have been trying over the Christmas break. More on that later too!
X-Wing (and Armada)
I don't really need to say much on this front. There is nothing to paint, you just put the models on the table and away you go. Of course there are some exciting releases that FFG have already shown off that I really like the look of. It is nice to have a distraction that does not require any brush time.
We have been doing a lot of lunch time X-Wing at work and the ability to power through a game in 2-3 lunch breaks has been really good. We are also really lucky to have a vibrant tournament scene here in NZ thanks to a couple of local organisers and some pretty outstanding local stockists. Which reminds me, I have to go and check out the new store that just opened - sadly here in Middle Earth that is not a statement that we get to make very often! I hear that they are running quite a few 1 day events that would be fun to get involved with.
Building Battlefields!
A bit like the Year Of The Trolls, this is something that has been on my Christmas "to-do" list for a number of years. I have bought a lot of the Battlefield in a Box range of products because they are the perfect combination of pre-painted and well priced! That might sound like a sales pitch but I really believe it when it comes to these items. I generally cannot be bothered building terrain from scratch, let alone painting it (I'd rather be painting miniatures) so the range ticks the box for me. What I would like to do though is put a little flock on them and spruce them up a bit. I've picked up some storage tubs in the Christmas sales and will get everything sorted out and hopefully at some point this year I'll get them all finished.
I also came across a blog post from my friend Pete over at The Fields Of Blood and I am pretty envious of his finished Tablescapes Urban Tiles!
His painting guide was really good, and most importantly made the task sound really easy... so it looks like I will need to make an exception to my "not painting terrain statement". Somewhere on the 2015 painting plan I need to find time to knock these out. He said it only took about 12 hours, how hard can that be to find!
So, that is my 2015 plan... 1 week into the year and I am feeling confident!
Good luck with your plans and hopefully the new year treats you well.
I thought I would take a quick look back at 2013 and put this year to rest by picking out a couple of my highlights and low lights!
Best Moment: Fate Of A Nation
Watching Phil, Mike and Wayne working on their projects is a real privilege as you see how the sausage is made and sometimes you close your eyes and hope that things work out okay, and other times everything seems to just come together like magic. I was a little apprehensive when Phil started work on FOAN as I was so passionate about the project and sometimes it is hard to put your own feelings aside and let the guys just do their thing! FOAN worked out so much better than I could have expected and the finished product is awesome and I cannot wait till the next time we visit the Sinai Desert and Golan Heights!
Honorable Mention: DUST
DUST is just cool, simple as that! I've enjoyed meeting Paolo and Olivier and chatting to them about their game and the products and are looking forward to what comes next. Of course and excuse to add cool toys to my collection is a definite bonus!
Worst Part of 2013: The Year of the Trollbloods (and not the internet type!)
I was so looking forward to tackling my Warmachine Trollbloods army this year and thanks to a couple of (by my standards) large FOW painting projects it got shelved. I would say that 2014 will be the year but I have already worked out that this will not be the case, so hopefully 2015, The Year of the Trollblood!
Dis-Honorable Mention: X-Wing
Such a cool year of X-Wing products and somehow I think my last game was in February or March. Going to have to remedy this in 2014.
