Hobby Goals - November

So November was actually quite productive other than the whole blogging thing!

Yearly Goals - November

1.  Get 4 games of Warhammer 40K/Age of Sigmar/Kings of War/Frostgrave/other miniature game per month.

Again a pretty huge success (which is really the point of the blog).  I managed to do 2 different tournaments at Armada Games giving me 4 and 3 games.  I also played my buddy John over the Thanksgiving break to playtest my Jekyll Con list over 2 games.  All in all 9 games, quite the success!

2.  Paint 1 unit (Warhammer 40K/AoS/KoW) or 1 war band (Frostgrave) per month.

Here I did very well.  I managed to paint a Horde of Lycans, a Regiment of Lycans, 2 more Beast Packs, 2 Troops of Tribal Hunters, 1 more Shaman, 1 mounted Totem Bearer, 1 Brutox, and 1 more Regiment of Longhorns.  Phew!  All are tabletop at best (pictures coming over the next few posts).  But that only leaves me with a Regiment of Chariots, 2 Regiments of Spirit Walkers, and a Guardian Brute hero.  I suppose I have other units I can build up (a Regiment of Eagles)...but we'll see what I decide to do!

3.  Attend 1 tournament every 3 months (helps with #1).

Double success!  Two different Kings of War tournaments at Armada Games.

4.  Post 1 blog post per week.

So by the time November 30th hit, I will have had at least 4 blog posts.  That counts, right?!?

Look Ahead

The big event moving forward is doing what I need for the Jekyll Con Kings of War tournament.  I will work to finish up the remaining Kings of War units I have for my Herd list and then will either double back to 40K to prep a list with Tyranids (again 90% sure that will be the army) or I will focus on my Kings of War Dwarfs.  I mean...Forces of Nature?

So Games Workshop has been knocking it out of the park.  I admit that while Necromunda seems cool, it isn't something I want to focus on at the moment (though ironically it would be good as it is easier/faster to get games in).  The big focus will ultimately prepping for Adepticon.  Yup, I managed to snag a VIG ticket and opted to join in for both the Kings of War and 40K singles GT's.  Quite a bit step as either would easily be the largest event I'd ever done for either game.

More to come!

Hobby Updates

Well I meant to type a bit more about Crucible but found myself busy with work and getting to get some actual games in.  So all in all, I can't say I am sorry I didn't get to post as it meant I got games in...but I guess I do want to write about some of what happened.

Crucible 6.5 - Warhammer 40K Narrative

So though I was unable to provide an update about the 40K Narrative event at Crucible 6.5, I guess I can quickly do so now.  In general, I found myself matched up against some of the tougher opponents or matched up with a less tactical team mate (which itself was cool given it was a narrative event and the purpose was to have fun).  I was a member of team chaos as I alluded to in the fluff for my army in previous posts.  Unlike the last Crucible event, I had the ability to play all 5 of my games and the teams stayed pretty evenly distributed throughout the weekend.

By the end of the two day event, I found I had gone undefeated.  lol, while not 5-0, I had gone 2-0-3 which was not bad at all.  Two of those ties were losses where I pulled out a tie in the last turn.  One of those ties was a guaranteed victory where I let the game slip away in the last turn.  Our team managed to capture the overall victory for the event for the Chaos gods.  I myself managed to get an award for the best fluff for the weekend too!  I was stoked that Tim, the event organizer, had chosen my story for the award.  Though it seemed that nobody cared (not sure if it was that I was a stranger to most of them or if they simply cared not wanting to hear the results for the 40K Grand Tournament)...I still was very pleased to win!

Kings of War

Since Crucible, I have really focused heavily on Kings of War.  On improving my movement and just getting games in.  I went to Armada Games over in Tampa with some of the friends I met during the Crucible team event.  In both tournaments I opted to field my Herd as they were the army I knew best (and had mostly painted).

The first tournament was simply a 1000 point tournament where I went 1-2-1.  In each game I learned a little bit more about my army and different movement tactics for armies ranging from Forces of Nature to Goblins.

The second tournament was an escalation tournament where we started at 1000 points and went up to 1500 and finally 2000 points in the end.  This time I managed to go 0-2-1.

I was definitely touched that in both tournaments I received the sportsmanship award for the day.  Both times I picked up more of the MDF bases Armada makes as well as some Dwarfs for my potentially next KoW army.

General Hobby

Since then, I have managed to paint up the entire force I seek to take to Jekyll Con up in Jekyll Island.  I've also managed to paint up quite a few other units that will help me field more versatile forces for some of my more friendly games and matchups.

There will be 4 games on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.  At the moment we have 16 participants, easily the largest KoW tournament I've ever attended.  I fully expect to go something like 1-3-1 or 0-4-1...but who knows, maybe I will manage to finally pull out some victories!

At the moment I have put my 40K participation on hold.  In part because I have been focusing on Kings of War.  In part because between the holidays and work (over time) limits what I can actually play.  But more than anything because I'm waiting for Chapter Approved to hit and for me to finalize what army I will play competitively moving forward.  I'm 90% sure I will opt to field Tyranids, but Deathguard and Eldar are still a possibility.  Kinda funny given that I was hell bent on playing an Imperial army for the longest time for 8th edition.

Hobby Goals - April

Better late than never?  Quick and dirty, lets get to it!

Yearly Goals - April

1.  Get 4 games of Warhammer 40K/Age of Sigmar/Kings of War/Frostgrave/other miniature game per month.

This was a success.  I was able to get in some games at the beginning of the month at Crucible and then followed it up with a small tournament over at Strangeway Games in the middle of the month.  The rumblings of 8th edition were starting even then with GW's presentation at Adepticon.  I meant to do a tournament over at Dogs of War as well but had to adult.  :(

2.  Paint 1 unit (Warhammer 40K/AoS/KoW) or 1 war band (Frostgrave) per month.

After having done so much in March, I definitely slowed down in April.  I was able to at least assemble and convert quite a few things.  Worked on my dwarfs for Age of Sigmar (changing them from square to round bases) and primed them to boot.  But the big success was painting an Apothecary, two thieves, and some tokens for Frostgrave.  With that I feel I did accomplish my goals to an extent.  I was even able to paint a forge, a book case, and a couple of small buildings for use in Kings of War.

3.  Attend 1 tournament every 3 months (helps with #1).

I was able to attend the tournament at Strangeway Games but that was it.

4.  Post 1 blog post per week.

Yet another big fail.  I started posting well at the beginning of April and then work plus hobby time sidelined most everything else.  Still, I feel I've been able to make some headway on making terrain and prepping stuff for Frostgrave in anticipation of teaching my buddy Sanjay how to play.

Look Ahead

8th edition looming has a lot of my 40K stuff on hold.  I am trying to keep up with rumors but by in large I am focusing my attention elsewhere.  I'm building up my Frostgrave warband and am working on extra minis so I can sit and teach Sanjay about the game.  I'm also slowly working on Age of Sigmar minis (dwarfs).  The Kharadron Overlords are really appealing but other than a unit and their army book, I'm trying to hold off on doing much else.

Terrain is still the focus.  I am building some trees and a few towers but am mostly waiting on some terrain I ordered from Urban Matz for Frostgrave.  It should be enough to cover a 3x3 play area.  I am needing to complete some gantries and walk ways...but can use more terrain.  I do have the ruins of Osgiliath to work on.  They come with some neat statues too to help add flavor to the games.

Hobby Progress - Kings of War/Terrain

I've been focusing on trying to get more Kings of War guys ready to go to help my buddy Sanjay learn how to play the game.  It also gets me to the point where I play more Kings of War games with multiple options.

With that, I also need to be prepared to have *SOME* terrain for playing Kings of War.  So I managed to assemble a couple of cottages that aren't quite to scale, but should work great in a scenario where one force is assaulting a village.  I need to build up a few of my GW forests but for now, at least I have the beginnings.

I did manage to do a bit of work on some of my Beastmen too.  I had originally envisioned that these guys would be my Spirit Walkers but turns out Spirit Walkers are on 20 mm bases whereas only Longhorns are on 25 mm bases.

I think I'm going to switch it around so that the fluff in my army states that once a unit becomes a Longhorn, they paint their bodies in white for war.  That allows the rest of my units to still be whatever general Beastman color I want.

These guys aren't done super well but they're a work in progress.  I've picked out some details but haven't finished up what I'm doing.  For now I'm leaving them on square bases until I am done painting them and can put them on a scenic base.

Other Thoughts

I definitely need to work on my battle reports.  I know I've become a bit lazy when typing them up.  Normally I'm excited the night of but as time goes on the details fade and it gets harder to re-collect exactly what happened.  I try to take pictures at the top of every turn and at really big moments in the matches.

I've been toying with the ideas of recording batreps.  Does anybody have suggestions on what type of camera I should try to acquire?

Hobby Goals - March

I guess I just can't seem to hit the right day!  February I was early.  March I'm late.  But still, I've made some progress on the hobby goals.  Gotta keep at it!

Yearly Goals - March

1.  Get 4 games of Warhammer 40K/Age of Sigmar/Kings of War/Frostgrave/other miniature game per month.

So I'm going to go ahead and say this was a success.  Going to Crucible 6 on the last weekend allowed me to play a total of 6 games over the weekend.  I played 3 matches on Friday in the Doubles Tournament.  Unfortunately car troubles sidelined me on Saturday morning so on Saturday + Sunday I only got a total of 3 more games in the narrative portion of the weekend.  I know that technically should be April but they were what I was building towards all of March.  Check!

2.  Paint 1 unit (Warhammer 40K/AoS/KoW) or 1 war band (Frostgrave) per month.

Things definitely slowed down after the end of #squaduary.  I kept working on my Necrons but at a much slower pace.  I was able to paint my Nightbringer C'Tan, a flying Hive Tyrant, two 5 man squads of Flayed Ones, and squad of Immortals.  Though I still think I need to do more work on them, I definitely completed this.  Check!

3.  Attend 1 tournament every 3 months (helps with #1).

Big check.  At this point I've done 3 tournaments and two narrative campaign days for Warhammer 40K.  All in all that means I was able to do a total of 5 events.  Much better than all of 2016 and we're only 3 months into 2017!

4.  Post 1 blog post per week.

This was a pretty big fail.  With all the travel and work taking up my time, I rarely had the desire to pop onto my computer at night and type.  When I did, it was to polish up my list or do some research on other things (trips, activities, etc).  I only had a whopping 2 posts in March.  I'd like to make up for it and have a much stronger April.  I don't think this post should count but hopefully I can get back to roughly 10 or so posts.  I have plenty of pictures from Crucible and should have plenty of content.

Look Ahead

So I didn't get nearly any instructional games in.  But March was also big as GW announced a lot of new games and such.  Already we have Shadow War: Armageddon to look forward to but even bigger are the whispers of 8th edition.  I had planned on perhaps honing my skills and working on an army for competitive events...but with a change on the horizon I feel I should dedicate more time to Kings of War (as it shouldn't change nearly as much).  I have yet to even look at anything in the most recent Clash of Kings update.

I should keep painting my Space Marines at the very least.  I know my Necrons are going to go back on the shelf for the moment along with my Tyranids.  I'll have to figure out what I want to play for Shadow War: Armageddon, but that shouldn't be too difficult.  I think?

I've already started work on some of my Beastmen/Herd army for Kings of War.  I need to paint them up and base them and then move back to finish up some Minotaurs I started back in October (!) of last year.

I also plan on working on some terrain for use in both Frostgrave and Kings of War!

Hobby Goals - February

So I know there is technically 1 more day in February but I want to make it a habit to re-hash my goals and whether I'm keeping up or not.  So without further adieu...

Yearly Goals - February

1.  Get 4 games of Warhammer 40K/Age of Sigmar/Kings of War/Frostgrave/other miniature game per month.

I have managed to get in 6 games total for the month of February.  I played 3 games at the Crucible Narrative prep at the beginning of the month and 3 games at the Strangeway Games 40K 2000 point tournament this past Saturday.  Check!

2.  Paint 1 unit (Warhammer 40K/AoS/KoW) or 1 war band (Frostgrave) per month.

So I've been participating in the #squaduary challenge online.  While I haven't finished 100% on my Necron Immortals I plan on putting some snow on the bases to finish them up.  I did go pretty simple (primed white, washed black, dry brushed white, picked out blue details and highlighted with a brighter blue)...but they still look pretty good for tabletop.  Even better, I did a squad of 10 which in most cases will be two squads of 5.  Check!

3.  Attend 1 tournament every 3 months (helps with #1).

Victory!  So I wouldn't count the Crucible prep as a tournament persay, it did have the general feel of a tournament.  Plus I had already played in a tournament in January so that (technically counts).  Lucky for me, I played in a tournament this past weekend.

4.  Post 1 blog post per week.

I've made 12 blog posts in February (not counting this one) meaning I on average posted 3 per week.  I understand that I didn't state "average" but in this case I did post at least one per week as well.  I was talking with my best friend and mentioned that this is mostly for my own use to be able to better reflect on what I've done this year.  Still...if anybody gains some entertainment and/or knowledge from this blog, even better!

Look Ahead

March is definitely looking like a month where I will be busy with work and perhaps some amount of travel.  Still, I should be able to still get some more games in.  I'm hoping to play some how-to games with my close friend Sanjay and should also have Crucible at the end of the month (granted it straddles March and April).

I'm thinking this might be the list I take to Crucible for the 1850 portion of my games:

Necron Combined Detachment

HQ - Destroyer Lord (Warlord, Phase Shifter, Warscythe, Nightmare Shroud)
HQ - Orikan the Diviner
Troop - 5x Immortals
Troop - 5x Immortals
Troop - 10x Warriors (Ghost Ark)
Elite - 6x Lychguard (Hyperphase Sword, Dispersion Shields)
Elite - 5x Deathmarks
Elite - 10x Flayed Ones

Formation - Conclave of the Burning One

Elite - C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer - 240 points
HQ - Cryptek (Phase Shifter, The God Shackle, The Solar Staff) - 115 points
HQ - Cryptek (The Veil of Darkness) - 90 points

So I understand that the list is far from complete.  I am trying to figure out a way to bring in more Crypteks to help me with some units.  In an ideal world I even get an Overlord in on the action for some AP2, Armorbane goodness.

I'm trying to refrain from bringing flyers but I may not have many options.  But for now at least I have a basis.  If I could bring a Decurion detachment, I'd be set as I'd simply bring a play on what I took to the tournament this past weekend.  Perhaps that isn't quite in the spirit of the narrative play.

Still, if the "practice" session we had at Dogs of War was any indication, other people will not be pulling the punches.

What should I bring?  A Triarch Stalker?  Some more Canoptek goodies?  Perhaps the markings of a small Scarab Farm?  Flyers?

Crucible Hobby Time

So as I alluded, I came up with some lists that I think I may want to take to Crucible for the Narrative event.  I won't lie, they lie somewhere between ultra competitive and fluff bunny.  From the narrative day over at Dogs of War, I realized I needed to have a few hard units that would let me win games.  I think not having access to the Decurion detachment automatically softens a Necron list.  Still, I also get the chance to field my Conclave of the Burning One at 1850 points.  Here are some thoughts:

Necron List - 1000 points (CAD)

HQ - Destroy Lord (Phase Shifter, Warscythe) - 155 points
Troop - 5x Immortals (Night Scythe) - 215 points
Troop - 5x Immortals (Night Scythe) - 215 points
Elite - 15x Flayed Ones - 195 points
Fast - 6x Canoptek Scarabs - 120 points
Heavy - 2x Canoptek Spyders - 100 points

The idea is that you have a soft Scarab Farm, some flyers to help support, and then the rest is just a big unit of Flayed Ones with the Destroyer Lord with them.  I've considered changing this up and dropping the numbers, but I like a chance to field my Flayed ones.

Necron List - 1850 points (CAD + 1 Detachment)

HQ - Destroy Lord (Phase Shifter, Warscythe) - 155 points
HQ - Orikan the Diviner - 120 points
Troop - 5x Immortals (Night Scythe) - 215 points
Troop - 5x Immortals (Night Scythe) - 215 points
Troop - 5x Immortals (Night Scythe) - 215 point
Elite - 10x Lychguard (Hyperphase Sword, Dispersion Shields) - 300 points
Fast - 5x Canoptek Scarabs - 100 points
Heavy - 2x Canoptek Spyders - 100 points

Formation - Conclave of the Burning One
Elite - C'Tan Shard of the Nightbringer - 240 points
HQ - Cryptek (Phase Shifter, The God Shackle) - 100 points
HQ - Cryptek (The Veil of Darkness) - 90 points

The idea here is I effectively have two main threats and then a bunch of stuff to clean up.  The Conclave of the Burning one is fairly hardy needing to wound on Toughness 8.  The Crypteks allow the C'Tan to have a 5+ FNP plus in general most everything has a 4++ Invulnerable (save Mr. Veil of Darkness).  I learned from what little I've done in the past that I need to be aggressive and Deep Strike them ASAP (i.e. Turn 1 if possible).

Orikan and the Destroyer Lord generally will join up with the Lychguard.  That allows me to have a 3++ Invulnerable with the Lychguard (with 1's to re-roll) and then a 4+ Reanimation Protocols.  In general that also means I am Toughness 5, so relatively good.  Orikan can go Super Saiyan and otherwise the Destroyer Lord does work.  Until Orikan goes Super Saiyan, I have to depend on my HQ to take out armor.  The Immortals are still meant to hold a position and of course I have AA via the Night Scythes.  I retain the Scarab Farm to help me with armor and in general to provide a smaller, less important threat.  Enough Scarabs will take out quite a bit with 4 attacks (5 on the charge).

The idea behind the list is that the C'Tan has driven the Destroyer Lord and Crypteks mad so they serve as the C'Tan's workers.

#Squaduary

I follow a blog named St. Andrew's Wargaming.  Generally I enjoy reading this guy's game progress and think he does a good job of getting his guys to table top (superior to me in most situations).  In any case, he joined up with everybody else on working on a squad for Squaduary.  I've decided I need to strip and re-paint my Necrons and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.

I'm a bit behind everybody else but at the moment I've at least stripped and re-assembled my Necron Immortals.  In this case, I'm assuming a squad of 10 even though I plan on going with 2 squads of 5.  I primed my guys tonight but here's a picture of my dudes pre-priming.

Apologies for all the shadows and lack of focus.  I didn't message the Squaduary guy on Twitter, but all the same this goes along with my yearly goals of getting stuff painted up.

Well That Was Quite Some Time...

Hrmmm, two posts in a row when I apologize and write about how long it has been between posts.  No good!  I was listening to some random podcast a week or so ago and someone mentioned that it was always a bad idea to try and dive into new year's resolutions after new years day.  I guess they mentioned a myriad of reasons why it was potentially a doomed venture but stated that it was better to aim for your birthday or really any other month of the year to get started.  I guess I'm going to try and use my recent birthday as a spring board.  Unofficially I'll "start" my resolutions come February, but I'm already undertaking quite a few of them semi-successfully.

That said...

Here are some of my resolutions pertaining to the hobby for 2017 February and on:

1.  Get 4 games of Warhammer 40K/Age of Sigmar/Kings of War/Frostgrave/other miniature game per month.
2.  Paint 1 unit (Warhammer 40K/AoS/KoW) or 1 war band (Frostgrave) per month.
3.  Attend 1 tournament every 3 months (helps with #1).
4.  Post 1 blog post per week.

Pretty simple eh?  The way I see it I should be able to do the stuff above at the very least.  Yeah, the bar was set pretty low but I guess it is only to help me feel more accomplished.  Gotta start somewhere, right?!

Luckily I'm already well on my way to painting up my Centurion Squad for Warhammer 40K and my Brute (i.e. Minotaur) squad for Kings of War.  I also attended a tournament at a local game store this past Saturday where I got 3 great games in.  Here's hoping I can continue to make good progress on everything else!