2020 In Review; Anticipating 2021

 That was quite a year. While I was fortunate in getting through it relatively unscathed, it was still really, really unpleasant. Hobby-wise, even with multiple lockdowns I didn't get much painted. And gaming, of course, was impossible after mid-March. I very much missed going to the highlight events of my planned year: Enfilade, Lock & Load, and Ambuscade here in Portland.

For painting, at least, I completed two projects - both GW. "Completed" is pushing it, as both projects need work on the basing and I'm not completely happy with the paint jobs. But they are ready to hit the table in friendly games, and that's good enough for me.

Ironjawz "orruks" from Age of Sigmar.

Legio Mordaxis "The Deathbringers" and Knight House Aerthegn, from Adeptus Titanicus

The whole year has dampened my enthusiasm for pretty much everything, and the hobby is no exception. I've managed to maintain some spirit through painting and podcasts, plus the occasional paint night on Zoom, but on the whole... well. It's seemed trivial these past ten months.

As for 2021, I am making no great plans on the hobby front. I dearly hope to finish a couple more armies - AoS Skaven, because I love the vile little ratmen, and perhaps a historical force or two. I have several unopened projects waiting for some love, or to be passed on to someone else who can deal with them.

At the moment, I'm debating whether or not to buy into Warlord Games' new Epic Battles: American Civil War. In the anti column are that it's a slightly odd scale ("true" 15mm, and thus smaller than most 15mm figures), the infantry figures are going to be damn difficult to separate from their 10-man castings if I don't want to field ranks of 10 men, and that while I like Black Powder, I prefer Regimental Fire & Fury, another nominally 15mm rules set.

Buuuut... It's also going to be very cheap for what you get, Black Powder isn't a bad rule set, and it seems like a very good way to get some new folks into the historical side of the hobby. And the photos of it do look very nice.

I shall continue to waffle. (The prudent thing would be to buy nothing, since if there's one thing 2020 taught me, it is that I have enough things to paint and game with for a good long time.)

Warhammer Figures for Sale

Clearing out the ol’ painting queue the easy way. Cash or AdMech trade only, and only within an hour’s drive of Portland, OR. No shipping. I will not break up these lots.

Necrons
List price: $216 Asking price: $80
These are painted in the classic Necron scheme of “Rattlecan Silver Primer”
Cryptek
3 Canoptek Stalkers
5 Immortals
5 Lychguard
Codex: Necrons

Seraphon
List price: $248 Asking price: $120
NIB Skinks, NIB Start Collecting: Seraphon (the old one with Carnosaur)
Saurus Scar Veteran on Carnosaur (basecoated)
8 Saurus Knights (Basecoated)
Order Battletome: Seraphon

Gloomspite Gitz
List Price $502 Asking price $200
These are a mix of painted, half painted, primed, and unpainted. It is, however, a full 2000 points of squigs.

Loonshrine
Gloomspite Gitz Endless Spells (not pictured)
Fungoid Cave Shaman
Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig x2
Loonboss on Mangler Squigs
Mangler Squigs
10 Boingrot Bounders
10 Squig Hoppers
6 Sneaky Snufflers
24 Squig Herd & Handlers
Battletome: Gloomspite Gitz

Skaven
List price $466; Asking price $180
Mix of conditions
Verminlord Corruptor
3 Stormfiends (mostly painted)
Warplock Bombardier
Grey Seer
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
Plague Priest
20 Plague Monks
20 Clanrats
Doomwheel
Warp Lightning Cannon
Plagueclaw
Battletome: Skaven

Start Collecting: Slaves to Darkness, assembled but unprimed. List $90, asking price $40.


Also up for grabs at $20 each
Battletome: Sylvaneth
Battletome: Legions of Nagash
Battletome: Flesh Eater Courts
Wrath of the Everchosen
Kill Team Core Manual

Early February: Gaming and Painting

Yesterday, I played my second round of Adeptus Titanicus against Dan, and then headed over to Andrew's for a bit of AK-47 Republic, a game of late 20th-century warfare in Africa.

Deployment; my Warlord stands proud in the foreground.

Near the end; I've traded my Warhounds for his knights and one Warhound. (Not a good trade) My Reaver's pretty beat up, too.

End of the game; my Warlord has just detonated spectacularly, taking the Warhound on the far left with it.

A UN medical convoy with escort enters a town stricken with ebola...

... but is attacked by militia controlled by a local warlord. Fighting in the town is intense...

... but the convoy is lost, though most of the relief workers survive and are picked up later. Fighting is inconclusive; the UN force retreats after badly bloodying the warlord's forces. Nobody wins...

And today, I finished up a couple Grymkin models. Almost done!

Zevanna Agha (left) and twenty Dread Rots (right)

January's Final Update

Didn't get as much painted in the last half of January as I'd have liked, but I did enjoy some games.

Saga: Vikings vs Anglo-Danes and Pagan Rus

De Bellis Antiquitatis evening

DBA: Scots vs English at Bannockburn

ECW Game Report & Painting Update

Had a pleasant week of not much work done, as this week's big project was cleaning out the basement. But I did find time to do a number of touch ups and repairs on my Grymkin collection; not the sort of thing that justifies posting pictures, but nonetheless rather satisfying. As of this morning I've started in on twenty Dread Rots - pumpkin-headed zombie-like farmers. Hope to get them done rather quickly.

More fun was actually getting a game in with Spencer and Nathan over in Spencer's basement. He's a long-time fan of Dan Mersey's rules, and put together a quick English Civil War battle using the Pikeman's Lament. A ragged (but large) force of Royalist conscripts marched south of London to face a disciplined (but outnumbered) Parliament army on Mustering Green. I took the part of Parliament while Nathan and Spencer split the Royalist forces between themselves.

Deployment was simple; mixed pike and shot in the center with cavalry on the flanks. Well, Parliament placed a bit of cavalry on each flank, while the Royalist cavaliers were off on their left flank.

Early rounds. Failed command checks have left the Parliamentary line rather ragged.

First losses to Parliament - a unit of shot badly fails a morale test and scarpers off.

Things have gotten worse for Parliament; that pike block has seen off some mounted cavaliers, but those cavaliers got there by wiping out my own cavalry...

And now those pikes - and their accompanying shot - have been been routed. Things are looking quite grim for Parliament.

And then Spencer remembers the duelling rules, and Nathan can't resist challenging one of my commanders to a duel. He loses, his commander is killed, and the resulting morale test grants me some breathing room

Naturally, I capitalize on this by challenging all his commanders to duels on my next turn. By great good fortune, I win all of them.

At game's end, Parliament has suffered some severe troop losses and hasn't taken the field, but all the Royalist commanders are dead and their conscripts are pondering desertion.  

I believe the next day dawns with Parliament retreating in good order to recuperate, and a scant core of Royalist forces trotting back to London as their reluctant conscripts melt away into the countryside.

On the whole a pleasant couple of hours throwing dice and pushing little toy soldiers around a table. I'll have to clean off my own basement table and see if I can return the favor soon.

Painting Report: Shieldmaidens and Orruks

I've kept myself busy from the start of the year in the painting nook. Mostly cleaning and organizing the painting nook, especially transferring pot paints (Citadel and Privateer Press) to dropper bottles, though some my P3 paints are so old and chunky it may not be worth the effort... However, I've accomplished one of my quarterly goals already: the Bad Squiddo Shieldmaidens are complete to a tabletop standard!

such professional photo

I feel the shields could be fancier, but that's a matter of finding decals I like that fit them - freehanding skill is one of the things I want to work on this year, but for now I'm happy they're done. I hope to add some boys to the warband to bring it up to a quantity that can play in Lion Rampant or Kings of War, and some fantastical creatures (especially giants) for various fantasy games. But right now, they're good to go for Saga.

At the end of 2019, I splurged and bought an Age of Sigmar army: the comically and terrifyingly destructive Ironjawz. Since I enjoy assembling more than painting, they're all set for playing, if you don't mind gray plastic:

I do mind gray plastic, but I've come to realize I'm a lot more motivated to paint models that I'm actively putting on the table, or are part of armies that are seeing table time, so I'll forgive myself for it. These guys are on the painting table as a speed-painting project after I finish my Grymkin... and figure out a color scheme. Green skin, of course, but I can't decide on an armor color. Leaning toward weather steel.

2019 In Review & Plans for 2020

The last quarter of 2019 really has not been much of a gaming one for me. I've attended very few game nights, and only one or two tournaments. Painting has also been hit and miss, though I've gone on a bit of Games Workshop spending spree. In looking over my shelf of shame opportunity, I see a lot of unfinished projects...

Still, it hasn't been a bad year. I enjoyed Enfilade and Lock & Load, and had very few bad or boring gaming experiences on the whole. I played a lot more board games than I have, and I think that trend will continue; ease of play is very hard to argue with when I'm chronically short of time. I've very much enjoyed playing Root and Scythe on the regular, and I'm looking forward to exploring some new games.

What with the holidays, I actually played a couple games this week:

Sunday I got in my first game of Adeptus Titanicus with Dan, at the local GW store. I lost horribly (gotta pay attention to firing arcs and reactor overload!) but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The game plays at a good pace and I do love stompy robots.

Monday evening I played my first game of Warcry with some unpainted Ironjawz versus the Corvus Cabal, Nighthaunt, and Untamed Beasts in a four-way brawl. Turns out my green guys are slow and tanky, so I might bring some squishier, but faster, goblins next time. Played quick and easy.

What's next?

Gaming

I would very much like to see more gaming in 2020. To that end, I'm committing to playing a tabletop wargame at least once a week if at all possible. I'm also going to try to hit a convention or a local tournament once a month; Gamestorm, Burning Cat, Enfilade, and Lock & Load are all reasonably local, and I've no excuse for not going. The Cog Collective runs a couple tournaments a month as well, so I should be able to squeeze in a few games of Warmachine.

As for the games themselves, I look forward to playing Saga, Warmachine, Age of Sigmar, and Adeptus Titanicus. I think I'll be looking at more skirmish than big battle games; unless it's an event, two hours is about all I can spare for a game and that may include travel time.

And, of course, I'm looking forward to regular historical games with the Saturday night group. Scheduling conflicts prevented me from attending any nights over the last couple months, and I'm eager to push some ancients or Napoleonics around again.

Hobby

As usual, I have a bunch of started and unfinished projects - too many to list, really. I'm only going to plan for the next three months, instead of all of 2020. My big focus this year is going to be finishing projects and building terrain. I have a lot of figures, but no really usable terrain sets for playing on. So, my first five projects are:

• Finish my Grymkin for Hordes. I've been sitting on about forty or so unpainted figures for this collection for a few years, and once they're done I'll have it complete. 
• Bad Squiddo Shieldmaidens (for Saga). These are mostly done; just need to paint shields and do some proper basing. This is the one I should probably do first, in time for January's Saga day.
• Gloomspite Gitz. I bought hard into this, and I'm finding them a little more annoying to paint than I expected. I'm trying to do most of the army with GW's Contrast paints as an experiment.
• Adeptus Titanicus. I'm going to try printing off some decals for my own Legio (The Grave Walkers) and do some proper basing and weathering on the first four Titans, plus paint up another couple Titans so I can play around with different maniples.
• Ironjawz. This was my Christmas present to myself: a full army of elite stompy orcs orruks orcs for Age of Sigmar and Saga: Age of Magic. It's going to be a speed-painting project; I'm going to try to knock out the entire army (minus maybe the big orc on a monster) in about a week, probably in early February. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to.

Notably missing from that list is small-scale historical stuff. I still have an enormous number of 6mm Napoleonics, and I'm planning on putting those together for Blucher or other big battle games, but they aren't even begun.

After all that, though... it's time to look at throwing together some proper terrain for 28mm fantasy/dark ages, and for 6mm SF.

Long dry summer

It's been a long hobby drought since Lock & Load, both in game time and painting time. Family activities have kept me away from the toy soldiers, but now that school is well back in session and we have less going on... well, at least I'm back at the painting table.

At present I'm working on some Gloomspite Gitz (i.e., goblins with trademarkable names from GW), some Bad Squiddo Shield Maidens, and some Adeptus Titanicus stuff. The family schedule prevents me from getting any weeknight gaming in, but I was able to drop in to the monthly Saga day in October and field the shield maidens in a quick match against some Normans.

Warlord titan, two Warhounds, and three Questoris Knights with basecoats done.

Shield Maidens face off against Normans in October

Lock & Load 2019

Lock & Load 2019

Lock & Load was the end of June this year, and I headed up looking to play some Warmachine and Monsterpocalypse. Mission accomplished! Also, I managed to walk away without buying a new faction. So that's good news for my wallet.

Pictures!

The Heretic takes on the Convergence of Cyriss on an extremely annoying board. The giant hut and tree in the middle messed us both up.

Versus some nicely painted and murderously effective Legion of Everblight birds - Absylonia 2 turning them on for a serious assassination list. Unfortunately, every bird was rather top-heavy, so that board was a bit of a hassle.

Watching an airbrush seminar. Pretty helpful.

The Child vs. the Retribution of Scyrah, aka the Dawnmower faction. This wasn't the best field to be facing off against a ranged-heavy list, but the scenario was quite fun - we had to trade feats, so he got to find out how Garryth 2 uses Arcana and I got, well, a kind of mediocre feat for my list.

Second game of MonPoc. I'm totally sold on this game now. Very fun.

Last game of the convention, and the only one I actually won. Also, we were both really tired, so it was one of those games that takes twice as long as it should with plenty of unforced errors...

Enfilade 2019 Report

Memorial Day weekend brings me to Olympia, Washington every year for Enfilade! This year was a bit different: my usual convention buddy is in Japan, brewing beer, so my wife came along for some much needed quiet, the child being dropped off at the grandparents'. Therefore, it was a bit more of a date/getaway than the usual gamer marathon, which was nice, because we haven't had many getaways recently.

But gaming is what this blog's about, so...

I actually only played in one game this year (!), a combination of a late start and not finding many of the open games appealing, and also being inexplicably terribly tired all weekend.

Mexican-American War with Reg. Fire & Fury

The one game I did play was Terry's Mexican-American War game with Regimental Fire & Fury, a system that's really growing on me. I took charge of the Mexican cavalry and the game went unexpectedly well for them - thanks in no small part to some terrible dice on the Yankee side. Not everything went so well for the Mexicans, as our center collapsed under an American assault. At the end of the period, with the Americans holding the center but the Mexicans closing in around the sides, we called it a draw.

Mexican cavalry prepared to ride down the Yankee invaders.

 I spent the rest of the convention puttering around, planning future games, chatting, and helping out at the Bring & Buy. I did snap a few more pictures, though:

Russian Civil War- the Tsarevich is on the armored train, and the Reds must capture him.

Mammoth hunting - I though this one looked very cool

All Quiet on the Martian Front - someone went all out with that tripod on the upper right.

Muskets and Tomahawks

This year left me with an odd conflict: while the convention itself was really well done, and there was a plethora of good games to be had, most of them left me uninterested in playing. The obvious solution: Next year, I'll have to put on a few games. Leaning toward some big battle ancients, Napoleonics, and possibly World War 2.

I was also a little peeved at not getting an entry into the painting competition. This was mostly because it was difficult to get info about the competition, and at the last minute I was put off by word that entries had to be part of a game as well. That was evidently untrue, as at least one entry was a bust of a Templar knight, but that's the rumor mill for you. I'm also annoyed that I forgot to take some pictures of the entries, as there were some really nice ones. I'll have to try for an entry next year, regardless of the quality of information floating around.

As an aside: since I was with the wife, we did the usual exploring of restaurants. I can recommend Hash on Harrison Ave NW for breakfast, and Hops on the Hill made a pretty good (if very moist) brisket.

Ambuscade Photo Dump

I've not had much chance to do gaming this month, so here's all the photos I took at this year's Ambuscade. Very pleasant day of gaming.