A while posting and looking forward to 2024

 Well it has been a while posting real life has been limiting my hobby time.

But I have been collecting and researching my projects for 2024. In this post I will put a little detail in to what I aim to be focusing on in 2024.

1. Legions Imperialis

This was GW latest release into the Horus Heresy era with the core set bringing us both Space Marines and Solar Auxilia and the new frame for the Warhound. Once again it seems that the manufacturing side and promotion sides of Games Workshop do not communicate with each other fully. As the initial launch has sold through the base core items needed to build your armies. So hopefully this will not allow the release of the game to stall. 

My focus from the starter set will be the Solar Auxilia and I have picked up a couple more box sets of infantry and Baneblades. My planes from Aeronautica will be used to fill out my army to hopefully hit the 3000 point mark. But we are still waiting for some of the core releases from the rulebook to be released. So hoping to see the Leman Russes, Malcadors, and Vanguard units released shortly. Or there are going to be some very very beige and boring army lists without the variation needed.

2. Black Templars

With the release of 10th Edition 40K, I have taken my time deciding what force to start with. Always had a hankering for the crusading forces of the Templars and also going to add in some Sisters of Battle as an allied force.

3. Star Wars

This project takes on many guises:

Role playing Game: I have started to run a Star Wars Campaign set just after the decree of Order 66. The group have a number of Jedi so they are currently focused on escaping the planet and ensuring that they lose the chasing Clone Troopers.

Within this project are a lot of 3d printed models done by my friends at 3D Kingdoms.

Legion: I have a only Ashoka, Clan Wren to finish my rebel army, then I will be working on my Empire force focused on the occupation of Jedha.

Shatterpoint: I have all the releases so far from Atomic Mass Games and will be using these figures to focus and improve my painting techniques. I am not sure if and when the group will play the game. 

Armada: I think that this game may be dead in the eyes of Atomic Mass Games at the current time. So I will use this as time to paint up all the unpainted ships. 

Looking forward to 2023

 

The days are shorter and the nights are longer and we are reaching yet again the end of another year. 2022 has been a year of me recovery and rebuilding my hobby love from the Covid years. I am not much of a reflector I tend to look forward more and focus on the future. My Blog is my meanderings and reflections on what I have done in the hobby that month. However for 2023 I want to have a bit more of a focus to my Hobby Year. So I have chosen 5 areas that I want to be my main focus for 2023.

Number One: Star Wars Legion.

This has been my latest new starting Hobby project and so far played 2 games and really enjoyed the flow. My first army is the Shadow Collective and have enjoyed painting the models so far so expect to see some completion shots over coming months.

I am looking forward to the complete rulebook coming out in mid January and will do a write up of the book once I have got hold of it.

Yearly Goals: 

1200 points of painted Shadow Collective. This will allow me to have a selection of choices to build 800 point armies.

Build a themed table: At the moment I am toying between a Hoth and Genosis table. But more on this to come.

Number Two: Horus Heresy

HH was my major hobby achievements of last year. Having completed the starter box baring the Spartan and painted a lot of the other releases. So I really need to get some pictures posted up of the completed units.

I have still not played a game of the new system and really want to get this sorted out early in the new year. 

Yearly Goals:

Buy and Paint Horus as a focal point for the army.

Play at least 3 games in the first quarter of the year.

Start a 1000 point loyalist army so that I have an opposing force for someone to use on the table.

Number Three: Commemorative Models

On tidying my hobby room I have found that I have a load of commemorative models that have been bought and not painted and added to the pile of shame. I also want to improve my painting skills on single focus models and this is a great reason to reduce the pile of shame and improve my skills. 

Number Four: Secondary Games

I have a number of secondary game loves and want to make some time for getting these painted and have some games. The great thing with games like Bloodbowl, Necomunda and Battletech it is a small model count and quick game time, means that they can be nice break up projects.

Number Five: Online Gaming

I have not really ever talked about my online gaming. I have two loves the first being Eve Online which is a deep immersive space game. Now that sentence really does not do Eve Online any form of justice. But will delve deeper into the game in future posts. 

The second in roleplaying with COVID it stopped our gaming group from meeting up so we moved online and tried out to varying degrees of success online platforms. Having settled on the FORGE I have now been part of an online group for around 18 months now. Call of Cthulhu being our favorite system so far, but we have tried other games such as Alien, D&D and using the systems to play through some our fav horror and sci fi films of the 80s and 90s.

Work is coming up to some major projects that I know are going to hit on my free time out of work. So my hobby is going to be an important part of keeping me sane throughout the year. 

So with the last post of 2022 all for me to say have a Happy New Year and I will see you in 2023.

Horus Heresy: The Countdown begins

 The wait is almost over.......

“We do not need to be mighty when we are faced with weakness." - Ezekyle Abaddon”

Over a year since the first leak 

4 Months since the trailer was released

2 Months of awesome Warhammer Community updates and creator blogs and You-Tube vidoes.

10 Days  until release......

Like many others I was up early last saturday and I queued for only 10 minutes, popped the core starter, both books, both weapon upgrade packs, and a Kratos tank. I left the rhino out as I had found one lurking in my box of shame.

It kinda looks like this but just swap the Rhino for the Loyalist book.

The worst part or best part is I away in Greece for our first holiday since Covid.

So for me it is 19 days and counting.

Preparing for the release I have the first 5 books of the Horus Heresy series downloaded on Audible.

I am sorely tempted I there are box sets left when I get back from holiday to pick up a second box,

My hobby progress has been pretty solid, my unit of Justarion Terminators are complete, the Mark III Sons of Horus are complete, and Rhino complete. I am trying to find some time before I go away to get some pics taken.

What is in your pre-order? Pop a comment below

Horus Heresy: Imperial Fists Legion

 

With pledging to the Sons of Horus, I do want to have a second army available for anyone who pops over to play a game. As I had long time ago purchased some Imperial Fists models it only seems right to finish them off and have a small force available. I think once I have painted the Templar Brethren and a couple of character models it will be just the box set for them as an army.

Below are their Legion Rules

This really focuses the force into being an Auto weapon and Bolt Weapon heavy army, why not make use of that +1 To Hit Rolls. 

This looks like a great Advanced Reaction, allowing an Imperial Fists unit to tie up an enemy unit that gets a little to close for comfort. If they break that unit it could lead the Imperial Fists punching through the front line and causing havoc in the back field.

Templar Assault allows the Imperial Fists to take units of Templar Brethren as Troop choices. So expect to see lots of black armoured Templar's in the field of yellow armoured Imperial Fists.

Just need to nail down the paint scheme for the standard Imperial Fists so that I can get them painted quickly. 

Is anyone else hitting up with 2 forces for HH?

Horus Heresy: Sons of Horus Legion

 

The Horus Heresy Hype train is at full speed on the Warhammer Community page, I have been following the updates daily hoping that my Legion would be next. Finally yesterday the true and only Legion had their day in the sun. Yes the Sons of Horus finally got their Legion update.

To see the full article click on this link

The XVI legion like to get up close and personal like their World Eater brothers, but unlike those blood frothing lunatics do not suffer the red mist.

With Merciless Fighters this is leaning me towards building a fast close combat focused army. With the new box set not being far away I am going to make the Terminator squad geared up for close combat and all those MkVI marines are getting those lovely chainblade attachments.

The Death Dealers advanced reaction seems a little odd to me. It reads fine all the way through and is seemingly a way to get an extra round of shooting with a unit. It is just the last sentence that seems odd to me that the models removed as casualties still get to shoot. I guess once I play through with it a couple of times it will make more sense.

With the wife away at football tomorrow this is going to give me the chance to complete my Terminators and first squad of marines.

I have spent so much time reading blogs and watching You Tube videos this week on unboxings and play throughs I am so stoked for this release. Hopefully it is on pre-order before I go on holiday fngers crossed.

With my soul given to the Sons of Horus what legion are you picking? Drop a comment below 

Warhammer The Horus Heresy Cinematic Trailer

 This cinematic trailer was released 2 weeks ago at Adepticon 22, this has pretty much been a daily watch for me. This has made my mind up on the two, that's right two factions for Horus Heresy. The simple matter of two factions is so that I always have an opposing force for any player that does not have one when they come to play.

Faction One: Imperial Fists

Faction Two: Sons of Horus

More to follow as I start my test models

Hobby Butterfly Part 2 The Reckoning

 

Over the course of this week I have gone through most of my plastic pile of shame and also looked at the games I have and what I realistically want to play going forwards. There are going to be two piles of shame going forwards.

1. Models to keep and paint.

2. Models to sell and make way and space.

Looking at the games I own and trying to weigh up now the time that I have available to paint and game So I have rationalised my list of games to the following:

Bloodbowl

I have always loved Bloodbowl and remember picking up the 1st edition from GW York way back in the mists of time. So looking forward to bringing back my Skaven team and painting up some of the new teams,

Necromunda

Was a big part of my gaming time when I worked in London, playing after work at the now closed Plaza GW store, with good mates Dean and Matt.

Horus Heresy

Well who isn't going to play Horus Heresy after the latest announcement from GW?  I have loved the novels for a long time and seeing the new trailer and the figures for the upcoming game it is time to dust off the Imperial Fists and Word Bearers that I have. Its going to be a real hardship to go through the novels again to pick up inspiration,

Adeptus Titanicus

This was the first game that I ever bought, a long summer of cleaning cars in York and picking the box set. This was the set that contained the polystrene buildings and red and blue titans. My friends dad had built them a custom built sculpted table and the summer was recreating battles that we read in White Dwarf. 

Aeronautica Imperialis

As my last true gaming event that I attended it is one my last completed fleets or lists. Also getting given the latest box set for Christmas it would be rude not to get them painted up. 

Kill Team- For Terrain if applicable

Terrain basically will need to fit in Necromunda or Horus Heresy.

There is an absence of Age of Sigmar and any fantasy related hobby, this is mainly as even though I do love some of the models in the range, I just cannot get my head round the background and the rules. Tried many a time but just feel like I am playing a version of 40K. I am looking forward to when GW release Warhammer Old World as that is my kinda fantasy game.

I am also going to add in something called Showcase Model

This will basically allow me to pick a model from any range or company that I would like to paint. I am using this a chance to improve my painting techniques and push to create my best paint job.

Hobby Butterfly

 OK I admit it I AM A HOBBY BUTTERFLY......

and I have come to realise not in a good way. Hopefully by getting my thoughts down on electronic paper I will come a place of inner peace and some more focus on my hobby choices. 

Like many of us I have the plastic pile of shame however in the last 2 years rather than seeing models being painted and taking pride in a model finished. I seem to have the hobby of buying the latest new release, building it and then it either sitting in a box or on a shelf.  I tried to rationalise this with it was a lake of gaming, Games Workshop bringing out so many great new releases, my hobby room is a mess.

The above are true, but some of the other unwritten truths are, fear of missing out, greed, shopaholicism. 

Over the last few weeks I have come to rationalise my Hobby and what it is.

So what is my Hobby?

Writing and Roleplaying - This has been a large part of my life ever since I was introduced to D&D when I started school. Over lockdown I was very very lucky to find an online group of roleplayers and we have been meeting weekly ever since playing Call of Cthulhu, Aliens, Inquisitor and a series of One shot adventures based on our pulp films of the 80s and 90s. This is something I have never Blogged about, but will start 

1. Painting -  Ironic Huh considering my lack of completed models of late. But I do enjoy the process and seeing a completed model.

2. Building - I know some people see this as a chore, but I do love a good build, especially love looking at the techniques that the sculptors are using to get the level of detail on the models.

3. Reading / Audio books - I have always loved reading sci-fi and fantasy and I have to thank my Dad for his library of classic sci- fi from Asimov to Heinlein. So I was always going to be drawn to the sheer depth that GW and now Black Library

4. Gaming - Kinda at the bottom of the list and this mainly as I have not gamed in over 2 years. My last game was up at Warhammer World when I took part in an Aeronautica Tournament.

So next steps for me is to look through the pile of plastic shame and rationalise what I want to keep and focus on.

 

Thit

The Imperium Is Driven by Hate. Warhammer Is Not.

There are no goodies in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. 

None.

Especially not the Imperium of Man.

Its numberless legions of soldiers and zealots bludgeon their way across the galaxy, delivering death to anyone and anything that doesn’t adhere to their blinkered view of purity. Almost every man and woman toils in misery either on the battlefield – where survival is measured in hours – or in the countless manufactorums and hive slums that fuel the Imperial war machine. All of this in slavish servitude to the living corpse of a God-Emperor whose commandments are at best only half-remembered, twisted by time and the fallibility of Humanity.

Warhammer 40,000 isn’t just grimdark. It’s the grimmest, darkest. 

The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in. Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.

For clarity: satire is the use of humour, irony, or exaggeration, displaying people’s vices or a system’s flaws for scorn, derision, and ridicule. Something doesn’t have to be wacky or laugh-out-loud funny to be satire. The derision is in the setting’s amplification of a tyrannical, genocidal regime, turned up to 11. The Imperium is not an aspirational state, outside of the in-universe perspectives of those who are slaves to its systems. It’s a monstrous civilisation, and its monstrousness is plain for all to see.

That said, certain real-world hate groups – and adherents of historical ideologies better left in the past – sometimes seek to claim intellectual properties for their own enjoyment, and to co-opt them for their own agendas.

We’ve said it before, but a reminder about what we believe in:

“We believe in and support a community united by shared values of mutual kindness and respect. Our fantasy settings are grim and dark, but that is not a reflection of who we are or how we feel the real world should be. We will never accept nor condone any form of prejudice, hatred, or abuse in our company, or in the Warhammer hobby.” 

If you come to a Games Workshop event or store and behave to the contrary, including wearing the symbols of real-world hate groups, you will be asked to leave. We won’t let you participate. We don’t want your money. We don’t want you in the Warhammer community.

For those heroes out there running their own Warhammer events, we’d love for you to join us in this stance.

Over the years, we’ve been fortunate enough to support events like AdeptiCon, the Las Vegas Open, Blood & Glory, and many, many more with terrain, prizes, and goody bags. We’ve also provided staff to help with organisation and rules queries, and to judge painting competitions and run seminars.

This is a re-posting from the Games Workshop Community web page that I fully endorse and support.

Rest In Peace

Yesterday was one of the toughest days in a long time for me and Tracey, noticing that our big cat Oz had been steadily losing weight we took him to the vets. In my heart I was certain that this was going to be a one way trip. This was sadly true and we put him to sleep at 1 pm to remove any future pain.

Oz was a big cross breed either Maincoon or Norwegian Forest but we could never be sure, he was a big eater and particular when and where you could him fuss. Always one to sit on the chair when ever we had chicken or fish, and reaching out with his big paws to swipe some food if we were not watching. 

Gonna miss him so much, but now he is resting peacefully and using them big paws to catch butterflies.

Love you and miss you Oz 

Rest in peace.

via Instagram

Barbarian jumps on to bear rolls to attack zombie recklessly oops

So Thurs night was our regular D&D session. Kratos the Half Orc Barbarian enraged by the foul odours emanating from the fountain flew into a rage, leaping atop of the shape shifted Druid swung his mighty axe. What could go wrong with having an advantage on the roll......

Cruel Seas Mini Review

Cruel Seas

As a part of my New Year Hobby Resolutions, I pledged that I would try and play one new game a week. This was after a conversation between myself and Gareth where we came to the realisation that there is currently a plethora of games on the market. Surely 52 new games in a year isn’t too much to aim for??

Come Friday, we sat down and cracked out Warlord Games’ latest skirmish game Cruel Seas.

Cruel Seas is a skirmish game based on small coastal fleet actions in the Second World War. The starter set introduces us to the Germans and the British. Other playable nations are Italians, US Navy and the Japanese.

I played the German Kreigsmarine, taking command of two E-Boats, whilst Gareth took the Vospers of the British Royal Navy.

We played a slow time game for a couple of turns to get the feel of the game and how it plays in it’s mechanics. I can honestly say that Warlord have managed to capture the feel of small boat actions, with an intuitive turn system based upon their Bolt Action ‘Draw a Dice from the bag’ action to determine turn order. This greatly differs from most other Wargames and the traditional You go, I go system and does work. It makes actions unpredictable and the game that bit more exciting because of it.

The weapons on the ships are varied enough that the tactical aspect of the game is varied each turn. The system of movement is based on slow, steady and fast ratings, whereby your speed dictates not only how far your ships can move, but also modifiers in the shooting phase based on speed when rolling the D10 to hit the enemy.

The starter set includes quick reference unit cards for the main ships, but the rulebook also has extra stat lines for other ships for the main navies in the game.

The game plays fast and there is not a lot of time to sit around. I certainly found myself throwing my ships into battle with no finesse at all. But soon the tactical side comes in I found myself playing better to angles, thinking where to place my ships.

On the whole the rules are easy to read and follow. We eventually found the quick reference guide at the back of the rulebook, but flipping back and forth wasn’t an issue and the game flowed.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed our first game and look forward to going again on another lunch break.  Now to decide on my preferred camo scheme and potentially my next article.

 Vapian

Hobby Resolutions January

Hobby Resolutions January

To further keeping on track with my hobby resolutions for the year I am going to try and break this down into monthly goals.

If all the goals are achieved then I get my Hobby budget for the month. If not it will carry over to the following month.

That is going to be a tough one to commit to but gonna try.

So my Hobby Goals for January are:

1. Paint my Ork Blood Bowl team.

2. Plan out my 40K Ork Army.

3. Paint the HQ for the Ork Army.

4. Attend the Blood Bowl Blitz event and write up for the blog.

5. Play through This War of Mine on solo play so that I can teach others how to play.

Hobby Resolutions 2019

With the end of 2018 rapidly approaching I have been taking time during the festive break to look forward to next year's hobby projects. Before I jump into that I will have a small reflection on 2018.

This year was about getting myself back into the blogging flow. Over the year I have to be honest a hobby butterfly and had little focus on completion of many of my projects. I expect that bell rings true for many of us hobbyists. So after the break I am going to layout my 2019 Hobby Resolutions.

Christmas Bauble

Christmas Bauble

Just received my Christmas Hobby supplies from Element Games and received the usual welcome candy but also nestled in the parcel was this Element Games Christmas Bauble.

Following the link below to get your hobby supplies in time for Christmas and if you spend over £80 you get this great bauble.

Also if you enter in this code GAR8014 you will get double crystals.

https://elementgames.co.uk/

Blog Changes Up Coming

This month has been a slow posting month for me due to increased work load with the upcoming Christmas period and returning from the Essen Spiel has kinda wiped out my Hobby time and MoJo.

During the long road trips out to Essen and back me and co driver Chris spent a lot of time chatting about our hobbies and had a lot in common in regards to what we like to play and our styles of collecting, painting and playing. 

So over the next few weeks Chris will be adding the to Blog.

A few changes will come in play the first being a change in the name, still to be decided. Then up will be the layout and style.

But then it will be back to the usual hobby butterfly approach that is our hobbies.

Thanks for reading.

Kill Team

End of July if the rumours are true sees GW releasing Kill Team with V8 rules. As I am moving more into skirmish size games this is going to be a must buy me thinks. Watch the video see what you think.

After the break will link more images of what GW will be releasing.

Age of Sigmar Nighthaunts

With our open day being on Saturday I did not have time to pick up my copy of Soul War so will need to wait till Monday. Gives me time to clear the desk ready for assembly and painting lines.

I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the NightHaunt models the undead has always been one of my favourite fantasy army in all editions. Cannot wait to read their background and start painting.

If this weeks releases was not enough GW have dropped another huge range of models, the wallet is gonna take a hit over the next couple of months. Check out the images after the break.

Asked for a cheap tacky gift and boy they delivered

So today was our Open day Mark Nesbitt our Scottish ranger travelled down. I challenged them to find the cheapest tacky trinket they could find. So they delivered. My turn then