Sunday, January 24, 2016

Thrice Bitten - Gamer A.D.D.

I have been bitten a few times by other game bugs. I've been whipped around with "Ooh, I want to play that, no wait, I want to play this!" a lot recently. This may possibly jeopardize some of my Soft Goals, and it will most definitely interfere with my Lofty Goals.


First bite...
The more I read about this game, the more I fall in love with it. Many have been reporting that it fills the void where Mordheim used to be. I find myself with a ton of unused plastic Reaper Bones minis wanting to be used for something. I think I found it.

What attracts me to Frostgrave is the frozen city aspect and the campaign system. What didn't initially attract me was that it was just my human wizard and henchmen against your human wizard and henchmen. Once I looked into it more, I saw that there were about 10 different flavors of wizard, all with a list of possible spells, a good variety of henchmen, and everyone seemed to be okay with using whatever minis you want, as long as you clarify with your opponent what is what.
Enchanter Behrun Farsetter, his animated construct, Grudgebringer, and Ragnar Thingrim, the apprentice.
So I have this idea for a Dwarf warband. A Dwarf Enchanter who animates golems by hammering runes into them, and empowers his minion's gear using the same method. And the members of his henchmen are all from his Clan's hold. I greenstuff'd a stone beard on the golem and replaced the wizard's icon with a pair of tongs holding a glowing magical rune from GW's Dwarf Runelord kit.
This piece of ruins is made with 1 mold, cast 16 times. Now replace that green with ice and snow, and you get the idea.
Due to the nature of this game wanting to be played on a terrain heavy table, I have wanted to buy some more Hirst Arts molds, but for fantasy terrain, mainly for Age of Sigmar, but this game solidifies that plan.

Second bite...
Now we're going back to the golden age of GW here. My brother, Jarom, is a big Ork fan, and he started talking this game up to me. It's essentially Mad Max Fury Road: the Game, but with Orks. I had to admit what he was telling me about it sounded really badass. It has a campaign and leveling system, vehicle combat rules on the skirmish level, locked on a desert planet, and much more.

The rules are written in the old school GW style, but I can dig it. Luckily Jarom and I are both veteran gamers, so it shouldn't be too much for either of us to pick up.
The core rules cover warring Ork bands and campaigning. I was thinking of doing a savage orc themed force, with all their naked green glory. The idea of the vehicle combat, boarding actions, drivers and riders really excites me with this.
Then I read about the Muties, a faction of mutated humans descended from an Adeptus Mechanicus force who ride around on mutated horses and wield the most powerful advanced weapons on this planet. They don't use vehicles, but the conversion potential with these guys is really getting the juices flowing.

So which should I choose? I was at an impasse, and I told my brother of this dilemma. He gave me this answer:
From what he explains, these games go by really quick, so we can knock out 2 a night. So each of us having 2 warbands would be possible and it would provide some variety in the games so we are not facing the same 2 armies each game. I'm on board.

Third bite...
A big update was released about the Heavy Gear Blitz kickstarter, and it showed the final contents of the box set I will be receiving. I have loved Heavy Gear for a very very long time, so this news is rather exciting. On top of that one of my favorite YouTube channels released a video battle report of the game's latest edition, and the old feelings started to creep back up. So who knows what will happen when they finally deliver.

So with all these bites, what is a wargamer like me to do? This year should be eventful.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

2016 Year Goals

Now to discuss my plans for the new year. These are not new years resolutions, but goals. We know nobody keeps their resolutions.

HARD GOALS
These are goals that I must get done this year.

The Coven of Verminlord Skrax (Warhammer 40,000 - Dark Eldar, Haemonculus Covens)
I put up a little teaser image of the logo I designed for this new army project. It is a skaven/ratmen themed Haemonculus Covens army. All I have built so far is pictured above. I played a small points game with a couple proxies and I did lose because I am becoming familiar with it still, but I love it because it is different than any army I have ever played and a challenge. The reason this is a hard goal is because I want to get it done by the Harvester of Souls in October. Luckily for me the model count in this army is relatively low.

SOFT GOALS
Things I would like to get done before year's end, but only to break up the monotony of the Hard Goal.
  • Paint all my Dwarfs
  • Paint all my Forgesworn Eternals
  • Collect and build my Nurgle/Pestilens warband for Age of Sigmar. This is also a new army project I want to do, but no set goal for its completion. I still have some stuff to collect and there will be a lot of conversions planned for it
  • Finish building all the Zone Mortalis tiles

LOFTY GOALS
Things that will most likely not get done before the year's end, but maybe depending on how the moods strike me.
  • Finish building and painting my Grand Inquisitorial Retinue
  • Build that new Devilfish kit into something
  • Paint the rest of my Tau 
  • Completely paint the Zone Mortalis Tiles
  • Paint my Nurgle/Pestilens warband