1st Game of 2014

Rhys and I played our first game of 2014 on the 1st, which bodes well for the year if you believe in such things.  One of the presents that Santa brought was a copy of Battles of Westeros by Fantasy Flight games.

Image from Fantasy Flight games.

2013 in Review and 2014 Plans

This is one of my favorite times of they year for reading blogs.  I love the year end wrap ups and predictions for the new year.  It's great fun to see not only what everyone has accomplished but what they didn't get done.  I also look forward to the preview of the year to come, even if it sometimes (often?) doesn't unfold as predicted.

This is also when I sit back and take stock of my hobby year, another self indulgent exercise.  This blog is all about chronicling my hobby interests, so it is a good thing to examine those, in depth, from time to time.

Hail Caesar game.  EIR vs Carthage.

Happy Birthday USMC!

Today the United States Marine Corps is 238 years old.  We're looking mighty good for our age.  Happy Birthday Marines!

238 years of too much of this.

Natural Disasters

This last week in Colorado has seen the worst flooding in our history.  Thousands have been rescued by the National Guard and local first responders, rescue teams and their neighbors.  Almost 200 people are still missing.  It just doesn't rain like this here.  The last time we had flash flooding of this sort was in 1976.  That was in one valley.  This storm is affecting the entire front range.

Some areas have been destroyed while others are completely untouched.  Happily, my town has had nothing worse than some roads closed.  My family are all safe.  Most of my friends are unaffected, but some have had their basements flooded.  The last week has seen the most people rescued by helicopter since Hurricane Katrina.

Here's a photo album of scenes from the Front Range.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/flash-floods-in-colorado-slideshow/

Happily,  the rain is supposed to stop today and turn to sun.

Treasures from the past VI

More treasures from my childhood.  In a Battletech box, along with the mechs, there were a bunch of miniatures.  These were used for roleplaying.  They are a little bit worse for wear, but nothing that can't be fixed.

The lot of them.  Divided up, more or less, by faction.

Treasures from the past V

Dragons of Glory.  Wow.  I have no idea if this was a great game.  I just know I loved it.  I'd read the books.  This was simply amazing.  Fighting the entire war out on the planet of Kern.  It was fantastic.

Treasures from the past IV

Yet another bit of my juvenile past, pulled from the dusty doom of a storage unit.  I played a fair bit of D&D as a kid.  My first exposure was when I got the Red box from a distant relative at the beginning of a long summer on a mountain in Wyoming.  It was hit or miss over the next few years, but it was a steady part of my childhood.

Re-discovered modules.

Treasures from the past III - Mechs

In all of the bits I found a couple of months ago, some of my favorites are the Battletech stuff.  I played this obsessively, as only a teenager can obsess about something.  I played full, two battalion games, solo.  That's 36 Mechs on a side, with all the record keeping that goes with it in a game like Battletech.

Notice the sharp black paint scheme.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

The year is now half way over.  Give it a minute.  If you're like me, that's pretty mind blowing stuff.  I can't actually account for about half of that time.  I had some big plans at the beginning of the year.  I think it's time to stop and take stock and see if I'm on track to make my goals.

A new blog to follow

My friend Jonathan and I have been blogging for awhile now.  I, obviously, have a few battle reports on my page.  Many of those have been against Tony and his Corsairs, playing LotR.  Tony has finally succumbed to the dark side of the hobby, and started his own blog.  Please take a moment and drop over and gander at his first couple of posts.  Huntsman's Hobbies is, currently, chronicling the rise of a new faction for In Her Majesty's Name.

The Mercenary Company of Captain Charles Grey look like they will be a flavorful and interesting opponent for my Clerks and Writers.

And now for something completely different...

I have not accomplished much on the hobby front in the last few weeks, but this weekend has been very productive.  For four years I've been planning the game table I wanted to build in the basement.  Something has always come up that stopped me from working on it.

The table, nearly complete.

I won a Prize!

I entered a prize draw on the Trouble at T'Mill blog, which is well worth your time to check out.  I'm not sure how I beat out those gits Ray and Fran, who win approximately 80% of all blog draws on the internet.

My prizes are visible on this post.  I'm quite excited as I don't have a commissar for my IG army and can always use some more gribbly aliens.

Thank you very much Mike.  It's very generous and much appreciated.

P.S.  I have never actually met Ray or Fran and cannot confirm or deny their gitness status, though they seem like lovely fellows, from all accounts.

Memorial Day

Treasures from the past II - Books

In one of the boxes, pulled out of storage, there were a bunch of books.  In my teens I was very much in to Battletech, and it all started with this book.

A chance purchase after school turned into an obsession.  Look at the price on that thing too.

Bloggers for Charity

There are a couple of bloggers in the UK who have decided that it is time to give something back.  They are harnessing the power of individuals to effect change.  The same power that makes Kickstarter work.  The same power that makes our societies function.  It's the power of many individuals doing a little bit to make something great happen.

Bloggers for Charity

In Her Majesty's Name III

The book has finally arrived.  I've been anxiously awaiting this since I put in the order last month.  It's a quick read.  Very good first impression of the rules, though the proof will be in the playing.

Treasures from the Past I - 6mm?

Yesterday I set the scene for today's post.  One of the treasures I found was a bunch of 6mm armor.  Back in the day, twenty five years ago now, my father and I played Twilight 2000.  This was the only game we played together, and it was very special to me because of that.

USMC LAV-25 with 6mm flame job.

Treasures from the past

Last weekend, or two weekends ago, or some time in the recent past; I was helping my folks empty out their storage unit.  There were two boxes of my stuff, treasures from my child hood.  These were things that I had wondered, vaguely, where they were over the last couple of years.  All of these finds helped me through many friendless hours as a teenager.

It looked nothing at all like this.  At all.

Over the next few days I'll be trotting out these treasures, one group at a time.  It's a strange feeling to be digging through my gaming toys from twenty five years ago.

Introduction
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

April Accomplishments

As some of you will remember, March was an abject failure on the hobby front.  Happily, in April I turned that around.  I painted a ton of models, played a few games and, in general, just got back in to my hobby groove.

Praetorians!

A Milestone

This month, for the first time ever, I've hit a milestone that I never thought I'd hit.  As of April I have painted more models than I have bought or assembled, for the year.

It says a lot about our hobby that some people will find this remarkable, because it took so long.  Others will find it remarkable because it actually happened.  The variety of personalities and priorities that fit within the "wargaming hobby" is one of the things that I love about it.

I like to game, first and foremost.  I'm a gamer.  All other things are secondary to that.  I also like to assemble models, minus the cleaning part.  I've assembled many armies for my friends over the years as well as the commission work I do for the local painting service from time to time.

The painting has always been my least favorite part.  I've thrown some paint at my Warhammer empire from time to time.  I have a few units painted.  I've got two painted armies for Lord of the Rings.  That's where I really started to paint.

Over the last couple of years I've come to appreciate my responsibility for the look of the game.  I've always liked painted models, but was ok with the game if they weren't.  Partly, this blog has changed my viewpoint.  When I post pictures of unpainted models I can see just how poorly they show.  It hurts my pride and makes me want to do better.

The same goes for terrain.  I have a lot of terrain, most of it unpainted.  It's another thing that has bothered me more the last year or two and that I'm working to change.

The point of all of this is that I'm not just thinking about changing my style, I'm actually doing it.  Gaming is still my priority but the painting is catching up.  I'm pretty happy about that.