A Taste of Things to Come

I've talked about 2014 already elsewhere, but it was a bit of a damp squib when it came to painting figures. I've had a think about what sort of things I want to aim for in 2015, and decided to concentrate on completing small chunks rather than whole collections. This should serve two purposes - firstly, it will give me a sense of progress as I (hopefully) tick items off the list and secondly, it will (hopefully) prevent me getting too bogged down in painting the same things all year. I say hopefully because, as anyone who's been reading the blog for a while will know, I'm not the greatest at sticking to any sort of plan...

So, here's the list of aims for 2015:

• Bloodbowl Wood Elves - I have most of the figures converted already. I need to build a couple more Linemen and then the team is complete and ready to be painted. 15/16 figures
• Vikings - As already stated, there's the promise of a campaign in the not-too-distant future so this will be amongst the first projects of 2015. Using SAGA rules, this could be anywhere between 20-50 figures...
• Relics - We've only played one game so far, but with only 9 figures in the starting warband, this should be an easy project to complete. 
• Pirates - I have all the figures I need, a mix of actual pirate figures and conversions, so all they need is paint. 20 figures
• Mordheim - I have Sisters of Sigmar, Beastmen and Dwarf Treasure Hunter warbands, plus a few additional figures for my existing Witch Hunter warband 30-ish figures
• LotR - I'm halfway to completing both my Dwarves and Moria Goblin forces, so getting those done is the aim. I have 47 Dwarves, and about the same number of Moria figures to paint. A sizeable target, but it would be a big achievement. c.100 figures
• Skaven - The End Times has renewed my interest in Warhammer, and the Skaven are about to get their own instalment (which I've pre-ordered). Painting up at least a couple of new toys would be a good addition. A Hell Pit Abomination, one of the new Verminlords (also pre-ordered) and a big unit of Plague Monks are the targets. 42 figures
• Wood Elves - Continuing with the End Times theme, there are several toys that should have been added to my Wood Elves last year that I didn't manage. I'm aiming to complete the last 10 Eternal Guard plus a Highborn, my second Treeman, the Wildwood Rangers I meant to paint last year, a unit of stag-riding Wild Riders and my Dragon. 50-ish figures

It sounds like a lot, and it is - roughly around 300 figures - but I'm hoping that by breaking it into manageable chunks and varying projects, I can keep my focus and motivation up. If I can come back in 12 months and cross at least half these items off the list I'll be happy. 

Braaaaaiiiiinsssss!

Another Christmas present I received was a copy of Zombicide by Guillotine Games and CoolMiniOrNot. The game has been around for a couple of years now, but it had largely escaped my notice until about six months ago. It's at the top end of the price scale for a board game, but with all the content you get in the box it's certainly value for money. I was still surprised to receive a copy though!

There has been plenty written about the game (and it's several expansions) so I won't go into too many details other than to say that it's proven to be a fantastic, fast-pace and intense game, and already a firm favourite. It's even got my other half hooked!

We played several games over the festive period, with two, three and four players at various times, and each game has proved be fun and exciting (and often, pretty tricky!)

The survivors all begin together, with only the most basic supplies and equipment available

Zombies spawn in buildings whenever a door is unlocked - this can lead to quite a mob forming!

Our first game (after the tutorial mission) saw us jump right into the deep end and attempt the "City Blocks" scenario, rated Hard. Our thinking was "how hard can it be, really?" Turns out, pretty damned difficult!

The culmination of our first mission attempt - two survivors left, trapped in a room with a zombie horde...

Our second attempt at the same mission saw us last a bit longer, thanks to taking the time to open a couple of smaller buildings first and find some half-decent weapons, but ultimately ended the same way

This time we managed to claim two objectives before being eaten!

At this point, we realised we'd bitten off more than we could chew and opted to try something easier! The "Grindhouse" mission looked more manageable so we gave it a try

Doug unleashes his dual Sub-MGs and clears the room in a single burst

We managed to complete Grindhouse in a single attempt, which I'm not ashamed to admit elicited much high-fiving and celebration! Several more games followed, including a few on New Year's Eve when my dad and brother got involved and had much fun slaughtering plenty of zombies before eventually getting eaten anyway. 

And so Zombicide has been added to the list of board game favourites, and also to the substantially shorter list of games that my other half will play, which is an achievement in itself! 

The one thing that is giving me pause for thought though are the figures; specifically, whether they should be painted or not. I like the "board game feel" that comes with using the figures as they are, coloured plastic. On the other hand, I've seen some great examples of painted Zombicide models that look fantastic (not least at Carmen's Fun Painty Time, who seems to have painted every sort of miniature out there...)

To help decide what to do, I'm going to throw the vote open to the world and see what comes of it. To paint or not to paint: that is the question...

New Figure Gallery!

I spent some time today taking updating pictures of my completed Wood Elf units, using my new photography setup (much better lighting, tripod etc. for hopefully much improved photos!)

I've now added a standalone gallery page to the blog (which you can access via the navigational tabs at the top of the page or directly from this link) showing my Wood Elf army thus far. Naturally, I've only included those figures that are completely finished, including bases and movement trays, so there are some models that have featured on the blog that aren't in the gallery yet - namely, more Eternal Guard and the Treeman who have yet to receive the necessary snowfall on their bases.

Of course, as more units are completed they will be added to the gallery in time. I'm also planning on adding separate pages for other armies and collections - most likely, the completed units for my Clan Rictus army will be the next to gain a permanent position on the blog, once I get round to photographing them all.

Raiding Party

As I mentioned before Christmas, there are tentative plans in place to begin a Viking SAGA campaign soon and so we've all begun frantically assembled various northman figures to build our warbands. The plastic Gripping Beast Viking Hirdmen kit has been exceptionally useful in getting a large bunch of warriors together in a short time, and I've still got some left to assemble! But for now, here are the beginnings of my Viking warband...

Two character figures, also from Gripping Beast - Jarl Sigvaldi on the left, and Egil Skalagrimsson on the right.

The select few who are fully built, including shields

Those warriors who will not receive their shields until after painting...

And the whole bunch together, including some who have yet to receive heads! 

As of now, I have ten Vikings only partially assembled and a whole sprue (ten more Vikings) still in the box. Once those are assembled as well, I'll have a grand total of 46 Vikings to form my SAGA Warband. More than enough to play our little campaign, I should think.  

Let There Be Light!

So here we are then, the first blog post of 2015. First off, a Happy New Year to all - I hope the festive season brought much merriment and joy! 

Of course, Christmas also brings presents and I thought I'd start off the year by sharing one of mine. Technically, it wasn't a Christmas present (I got it in the January sales...) but it arrived today and so I've spent the morning tinkering with it. The present in question is a lightbox; more accurately, it is a "Portable Photo Home Studio" that includes a light tent, two 240v GU10C Daylight effect lamps, four different coloured backgrounds (white, black, red, blue) and a mini tripod stand for my camera, all packed up in a handy carry case. As I said, I've only begun playing around with the kit this morning but my first impressions are very good and I can already see big improvements in the few photos I've taken. Given the price (a little over £25) I absolutely cannot grumble! 

Here are a select few of the photos I've taken this morning, just because I feel like sharing...

Grey Seer Pritislik and his Screaming Bell are possibly too big for my little tent...

A Wood Elf BSB, courtesy of Asrai.org's Miniature Exchange and the talented paintbrush of Baardah

Warlord Queek Greyclaw of Clan Rictus!

My Mordheim Witch Hunter warband

Classic Wood Elf Archers!

The newest addition to my Wood Elf army...

And finally, the Doomwheel

So there you have it. I'm pretty impressed so far. The first couple of pictures shown were taken with just the two lamps provided, after which I brought in my desktop lamp to supplement the lightning, which seemed to improve the overall shot. It's not a great light source (it's not designed for photography after all) so I may look into getting another lamp specifically for the light tent, but it will certainly do for now. The only other thing I'll need to sort out is the creases in the background sheets - a quick iron on a low temperature should smooth out any issues (if you'll excuse the pun!)

The Blog That Time Forgot...

OK, so I know I promised a few more posts to hurriedly fill out the blog before December and 2014 ends, but turns out (as is so often the case) I rather over-estimated my productivity in that department. I optimistically thought I might have time to write up a couple of posts that have been waiting for some time, but I work in retail and Christmas is always a nightmare - to say it's been manic is a massive understatement! (As an aside - Christmas is the *same day every year*, and yet there are always those people who don't seem to realise until Christmas Eve...)

Anyway...

Instead of rushing through the posts I'd planned to make, they'll show up as the first few posts of 2015 (which will give me time to actually write them!)

It's been a funny old year for me, and one that has seen life take quite a few twists and turns, especially in the last six months - some bad but mostly very positive, which is nice. 2014 started out well and only got better over the first few months - I got a new airbrush and compressor in February, I started ploughing through my unpainted Wood Elf figures in March/April with the Tale of Duelling Gamers hobby project, I got a new (and long-awaited) Wood Elf army book in May and I got plenty of shiny new Wood Elf models to go with it.

June was when things started to go downhill on the hobby front - the World Cup was a real spectacle, but distracted me from painting up the then-new Wildwood Rangers figures I'd bought. A bit of a disaster with spray undercoat meant the Wildwood Rangers have not been seen on the blog or the painting table since, and it was then that real life stuck its oar in to halt my painting progress (and participation in the Tale of Duelling Gamers). July went by in a bit of a blur until August arrived and we went on holiday for just under three weeks. During said holiday, my girlfriend and I got engaged, and wedding plans started immediately (although I have been a mostly innocent bystander in that regard - I just nod when needed and open the wallet when asked...). I got a promotion at work in September, and work has pretty much taken over for the past three months as the so-called "golden quarter" leading up to Christmas kicked in. What spare time I've had for the hobby has been spent on the biggest of my intended projects for the year - building our 'Malta' gaming boards.

So overall, a pretty good year to be honest, even though the blog has suffered somewhat. Things will quiet down again in January though, and I've got plenty of hobby projects to be getting on with. The primary aim for next year is to play regular games - we keep coming up with ideas, and buying figures, and building terrain, and then we always end up playing less and less games each year. I think in the whole of 2014 I've played a grand total of maybe four games, and two of those were demo games at shows (WMMS in March and Wargamer at the end of November). In fact, prior to Wargamer I haven't played a game since April!

Of course, if we're aiming to play more games it's always nice to play with painted figures, so the two should work hand in hand - the more games I play the more incentive I'll have to paint, and the more I paint the more games I can play (well, in theory at least!) On that note, there's already been talk of a SAGA campaign in the New Year which has got us all frantically building Viking warbands.

The single most motivating factor recently though, for me at least, has been the release of The End Times from GW. Warhammer Fantasy has always been my favourite game, as much for the background as for the game itself (possibly more so, in fact) and the End Times books are the single biggest fluff "supplement" for the Warhammer World since...well, I don't know. I won't spoil anything for those who haven't read any of the books so far, but the series is a huge advancement of the Warhammer timeline and a massive step for Games Workshop itself - never before has the Warhammer World experienced such dramatic change. There are people who have declared themselves "GW Fanboys for Life" in admiration of everything, claiming the End Times is the single best thing GW have ever produced, and there are people who have rage-quit over GW "destroying the hobby". I'm in neither of those camps, although I daresay I'm closer to the fanboys than the rage-quitters - I don't always like what GW write, make or do but I still stick around, collect the figures and have an interest in their game worlds and background. Anyway, I digress...

It's too early for me to declare a final verdict on the End Times as a whole (I'm only two parts through - the third book, Khaine, is waiting in Santa's sack for me to open tomorrow morning...) but what I can say is that it most definitely is dramatic. There is a lot going on. Truth be told, the overriding emotion I have from reading the first two books is shock. There is a lot that hasn't truly sunk in yet, simply because of how shocking everything is. Major characters are dead, nations have been destroyed, the whole world is aflame and chaos is everywhere (quite literally, in some cases). There have been points where I've simply had to put the books down and stop reading to absorb what I've just read. Despite the fact that a world that has stayed largely stationary for at least the 15 years I've been playing Warhammer is suddenly being turned on its head and torn apart in the most violent fashion, it has got me really exciting about Warhammer again - I don't think I've felt this excited about GW's new releases since the last Wood Elf book was released back in 2005. Even though I am scared and worried that GW *are* destroying a world/background I love, I'm also really excited to see how it all ends (and what's left of the Warhammer world when it does).

So far, I've only spared cash for the three books that have been released so far - Nagash was incredible, but I don't play Undead; the Glottkin didn't really interest me (Nurgle's always been my least favourite Chaos god) but I had to get the book to continue the story; Khaine *does* interest me but didn't have any figure releases to accompany it - but the next book could see some significant expenditure. It's been rumoured for a long time that the fourth End Times book would feature the nefarious schemes of the Skaven and today it's been confirmed, with early sightings of next week's White Dwarf proclaiming new Skaven releases - including a plastic Verminlord that rivals Nagash himself for size!

Supposedly, this new kit makes five different variants of Verminlord - a real treat for Skaven players. Naturally, I need one. Let's just hope Santa brings me this week's winning lottery ticket. And on that note...

See you in 2015!

"Mayhem in the Med" - The Aftermath

So, the game itself was a success, with plenty of people taking an interest and stopping to tell us how impressed they were with the boards, the figures and the game as a whole (head over to Tales From GHQ for a brief review of the show, and some favourable comments on our game!) Naturally, we've already come up with a list of things we want to change and improve ready for our next outing, but that's why we always use Wargamer as our first test run, so that we can address any issues in time for 2015!

So what else went on at Wargamer? Well, best game was ultimately won by this excellent Plains War game, which got our vote for best game as well. Unfortunately, I don't know who was putting this game on, but congratulations to whoever it was!

And finally, of course there were some purchases to be made. I happened across a couple of Citadel Fortress towers, unassembled and going cheap, and as I only currently have a single tower that we're using for the Malta game I figured I'd buy three more so that I now have the complete Fortress set. 

Special mention also needs to go to Andy Lyon of Ainsty Castings. We were positioned quite close to the Ainsty stand, and he came over to the game a few times to have a chat and a gander. Of course, it helped that we were using several of his ships in the game (and also that we bought a few more of them at the show) but he very kindly provided a few bits and bobs that were missing from our game - namely, ships wheels and deck cannons for the ships, which weren't available when we first bought our ships from him, free of charge. A very kind gesture and so Andy, in the unlikely event that you're reading this - thanks very much!

So, that's Wargamer over for another year, but it won't be the last outing for Malta. In the meantime, there are other things to update you on and with Christmas fast approaching, there's not much time left in 2014 to post about it!