2021 Year in Review

As I always say each year, the two blog posts I enjoy writing the most are "What's in store for" (next year), and the second one is my "Year in Review". 

2021 started with a "What's in store for 2021!" so we will use that post as basis for our year in review.

Arena Rex 2021

Painting Goal: None, I am not setting any expectations for painting.

Gaming Goal: I missed my planned goal of 5 games last year with only 2 played, so we are going to shoot for 3 games played in 2021.

Arena Rex was a big MISS in 2021 with no models painted and 0 games played.

DCU Miniature Game 2021

Painting Goal: If Knight Models would ever ship me my models, there may actually be a goal in place.  I placed an order in November and still have not heard anything from them, honestly I do not think I ever will.  If my models arrive, then I may put a few on the painting table through out the year.

Gaming Goal: Just like with Arena Rex above, this game be played every now and then when we want to change it up.  I think 3 games played may be a good expectation.

DCU was pretty much a MISS, but I did get a few models completed in January 2021, but 0 games were played in the year.  I did offer to play a game with my son, but then we ended up playing Warhammer 40,000 instead.

Blitz Bowl / Blood Bowl 2021

Painting Goal: 1 full Blood Bowl team box of 12 players will be my goal for 2021, I really think this is attainable and may surprise myself with another.  I just need to decide which team will be first.

Gaming Goal: I have high expectations for Blood Bowl this year (at least with Blood Bowl 7's).  We are planning on playing an in house League with 4 Teams to start the new year off and then add a few Teams in future Seasons.  Blood Bowl does still take a few hours to play, so combing Blitz Bowl/Blood Bowl.... I am going to shoot for 30 games played in 2021.

I had really high hoped for Blitz Bowl / Blood Bowl in 2021, with purchasing a lot of new armies for the game.  But with like most games lately, it was a big MISS.  We did end up playing 2 games of Blitz Bowl, so far that is better than the above two games.  I also did not get a Team painted for the game either.

Middle-earth SBG 2021

Painting Goal: I did buy a lot of models at the end of 2020 for quite a few different armies so I may concentrate on getting some of them done.  I am not really setting any goals or armies completed, where I can see myself painting a few models / warbands here and there through out the year.  There is a big convention in the Fall (that actually may happen) where it would probably kick my painting into high gear if I elect to play MeSBG there.

Gaming Goal:  My plan is to try and play 1 game a month, so in theory that would be 12 games for the year, but we all know other plans do happen.  So I am setting a goal of 10 games for 2021.

Well I did paint a few models for Middle-earth SBG, like with DCU above, they all got completed in January 2021, and nothing since.  NOVA Open 2021 was cancelled, so that Fall event did not kick start me into a higher gear.  Unfortunaltly 0 games were also played this year.

Warhammer 40,000 2021

Painting Goal: With AdeptiCon 2021 already cancelled, it is tough to set any painting goals.  I think it will be more like MeSBG above and when I am in the mood to paint a model for Warhammer 40,000, I'll just paint it.  I have fully painted Imperial Fists army for 1000/1500/2000 point games, and plenty of more models to add to that army.

Gaming Goal: Last year I had a goal of 30 games and I hit it with 38 games played.  If we are not attending any events this year for Warhammer 40,000, I have it scheduled for twice a month which would be 24 games.  That is less than last year, but we are adding MeSBG and Blood Bowl into the mix.  I think I will stick to what is scheduled and set my goal of 24 games played in 2021.

Warhammer 40,000 was our mainstay game of the year and we stuck with it.  This is where most of my painting time was spent with expanding my Imperial Fists army, and in October starting a whole new army with the Necrons and completing over 2000 Points of them.  I had a low amount of games set for the year with 24, and we barely just hit that with 29 games played, at least I did hit my goal for the year.

X-Wing 2021

Painting Goal: Not Applicable (pre-painted miniatures)

Gaming Goal: Last year I lowered my expectations with a goal of 6 games played, and I hit it with 10 games played.  For 2021 I will keep the same goal of 6 games played.  If more games are played again in 2021, that will be a bonus.

X-Wing was another HUGE MISS for the year, I honestly thought we would get more than 1 game played in the year.

Events 2021

As I had thought, the early part of 2021 were not good for events with most of them being cancelled due to COVID.  The first event we attended was Motor City Mayhem in April which was a nice event and close to home.  Then in October was the Michigan GT that we attended and once again was close to home.  At least we were able to get away to two events for the year.

New Games Played 2021

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

Painting Goals: None

Gaming Goals: None

Warhammer Age of Sigmar was a new game I picked up for 2021.  We started off the year pretty hot about it with building a whole Kharadron Overlords army and playing 4 games, and then it kind of simmered.  Age of Sigmar v3 was released in the Summer and thought we may get a few more games in, but it has still been sitting.

Painting Points 2021

January 2021 started the year hot for Painting Points with 66 points for the month, then it cooled way down until the Fall when I decided to start a new Necron army for Warhammer 40,000 and the points really picked up and saved the year for me finishing with 293 points.

By reading the above post, you'd probably think that 2021 was not that good of year, but in all honesty, I did pick up Bass Fishing as another hobby and some of my weekend time in the Spring thru Fall were spent Fishing instead of playing games and painting.  To me, I had a satisfying 2021.

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2020 Year in Review

As I always say each year, the two blog posts I enjoy writing the most are "What's in store for" (next year), and the second one is my "Year in Review". 

2020 started with a "What's in store for 2020!" so we will use that post as basis for our year in review.

Arena Rex 2020 

Painting Goal: 1 model, I purchased 1 model at GenCon 2019 and would like to get it completed.

Gaming Goal: Lowering my expectations quite a bit this year, even though 0 games were played last year on a goal of 20, we are going to shoot for 5 games. 

Arena Rex was a sort of a hit and a miss for 2020. My Painting Goal was to finish a model I purchased from GenCon 2019, that did not happen, but I did complete 1 other model for Arena Rex. The Gaming was a miss, I lowered my expectations for this game, but it was lower than I had planned. I was shooting for 5 games to be played, but it ended up just being 2 games played.

Batman Miniature Game 2020 

Painting Goal: This is a tough one for me, I have a huge backlog of BMG models waiting to be assembled/painted. It is on a hold pattern at the moment till we can see how the game is, interest may pick up if we like the game. 

Gaming Goal: I am going to try 3rd Edition, so it really depends how much we like the game. If we like it, it will probably be played quite a few times (since I built a lot of buildings in 2019).

Batman Miniature Game was a "no go" for 2020. We never did purchase 3rd Edition to try the game out, with the use of all the "cards" for the game really changed the game play and I was no longer interested in playing. With that feeling, no models were painted for the game either. I really do not think this will see the list for 2021.

DCU Miniature Game 2020 

Painting Goal: A lot of the DCU models are the same models as BMG, so we have a pretty good collection. I do have some models that are DCU specific so those may be completed this year.

Gaming Goal: First we need a test game, so I can say 1 for sure, if I like the speed/ease of play it may hit table more frequently and in place of Arena Rex. My plan is to get a game in early this month so we can evaluate how we like it. 

DCUMG was so so for the year. I did paint 4 models for the game and we actually played 2 games. This one will be staying on for 2021 but in a limited capacity.

Guild Ball 2020 

Painting Goal: I still have quite a few recently released Captains that need to get completed, so I do not see myself painting any complete Guilds for 2020, but at least a handful of models.

Gaming Goal: As mentioned above, I really like the game....I am going to have a new high priority game for 2020 (see below) so it is tough which game will be my second. I have a feeling it will be Guild Ball so I will set a reasonable expectation of 20 games played. Currently I do not have any events lined up for Guild Ball, but there may be a weekend here or there where I may be able to attend one.

Guild Ball was probably the biggest MISS of the year. With my renewed interest in Warhammer 40,000 all my painting time went to that and away from Guild Ball. Then came the announcement from Steamforged Games that they were ending Guild Ball and that just put the nail in the coffin. So there was no models painted and no games played of Guild Ball in 2020 and I already found a replacement with Blood Bowl.

Middle-earth SBG 2020

Painting Goal: Once again no expectations, if anything gets done, it would be an accomplishment.

Gaming Goal: Keeping my expectations low again like last year, I think at least 1 game in the next few months before AdeptiCon so my son can refresh on the rules, and then we'll see what happens. 

2020 was not so hot for MeSBG, but the fire is still burning. I did recently paint 2 models, 'Durin' and the 'Witch King' for MeSBG and 3 games were played. Looking forward to 2021 to see what happens.

Warhammer 40,000 2020 

Painting Goal: My #1 goal is to finish what I need for my 1000 points and 1500 point lists for AdeptiCon which is for my Imperial Fists army, long term goal is to get them completed to 2000 points. My plan with the Imperial Fists is for them to be my "main" Space Marine army with which to add new models too, so the army will be growing. The collector in me likes to see other armies too, so my plan is to add another Warhammer 40K army in 2020 and for now that will be Tyranids. The reason for Tyranids is, I like the look of the models and it it something different to paint than just Power Armor. I believe with the Tyranids I am going to look into the new GW Contrast Paints for them. Going to start small with them (1000 points) and we'll see.

Gaming Goal: As stated above, Warhammer 40K will be my highest priority in 2020 but I will be realistic. I'll be getting in around 8 games just at AdeptiCon, so let's set a goal of 30 games for 2020 (I still have to squeeze in all the other games in too). 

Warhammer 40,000 was huge for me in 2020. I was able to get everything painted that I needed to for AdeptiCon and then as we all know, COVID-19 hit. I was slowly painting more models for the game throughout the year and I am happy with my progress. I did start on some Tyanid models, but the Contrast Paints were not working with for me and had to go back to regular paints. I did not get too many Tyranids completed unfortunately as I was concentrating on my Imperial Fists. In regards to gaming, I did hit my goal even without attending any conventions, 38 games of Warhammer 40,000 were played in 2020.

X-Wing 2020 

Painting Goal: Not Applicable (pre-painted miniatures)

Gaming Goal: Last year I set a goal of 20 games, and I just managed to squeeze that in. I think with trying to add in DCU and possibly MeSBG, 20 may be a bit tough. I do like that the game only takes 75 minutes to play, I think realistically 6 games would be a good goal (1 every other month). 

I was right on par with my prediction for X-Wing, 6 games was a good expectations and 10 games were actually played in 2020. More than likely my expectations for 2021 will be kept the same.

Events 2020

Well 2020 will not be a good year for events for me. I am attending AdeptiCon at the end of March, but that is basically it for the year. My vacation days are very limited in 2020, 3.5 weeks will be spent in Europe over the Summer, and then another week in the Fall with my wife on a cruise. Any events I attend after AdeptiCon will mainly be just single day events on Saturday/Sundays and those will even be tough this year. There is a very loooooong shot that we may be able to attend NOVA Open again since its falls on a Holiday weekend, I will need to look at the schedule of events and see if it is worth it. 

So I predicted 2020 was not going to be a good year for events, but it was because of a planned vacation to Europe and not because of COVID-19 shutting down the World. Every event that we had planned was cancelled for the year and as of now it is not looking to good for the early part of 2021.

New Games Played 

Blitz Bowl 

Blitz Bowl is a faster board game style game of Blood Bowl. We picked this up late in the year just to have something to play in an hours time. I am liking it a lot since it uses the same models as Blood Bowl. We managed to get in 7 games with this late pickup. 

Blood Bowl 

Just like Blitz Bowl above, Blood Bowl was a late game pickup for us this year. At the end of November, Games Workshop released the newest edition of the game with an all new starter box, and since we just started Blitz Bowl, I thought it would be fun to grab Blood Bowl. We only played through 1 full game to learn the rules and 1 game of 7's (less models/smaller Pitch). 

Painting Points 

Painting Points were not as good as the previous 3 years, but I still managed 200+ Points. Even though COVID-19 had hit and a lot of people were stuck at home painting, I was really busy, so at the end of the day I did not feel like sitting down to paint. Another reason was all the events being cancelled. Usually I sit down to paint models I want to play in an upcoming event as a motiviation, well obviously that motivation was not to be had. So it was not a great year, but it was not bad either.

All in all 2020 was not too bad considering dealing with COVID-19. Honestly most people would think that I would have gotten in more games played, but THANK GOD my real job was keeping me busy all year long. Tomorrow we shall see what will make the list/expectations for 2021.

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What's in store for 2020!

Happy New Year 2020!

It is the first day of 2020, and the day to predict my gaming future for the year.  Each year I always say I am going to try and be reasonable, but somehow things always change.  So once again for 2020, let's try and be reasonable.

Yesterday I posted my "2019 Year in Review" and some of those game will not make the list for this year, so below are my list of games that I think will make it through 2020.

Arena Rex

I need to keep this one on the list for 2020, even though it was a huge MISS in 2019, it still is a nice game to throw down for a quick game.

Painting Goal: 1 model, I purchased 1 model at GenCon 2019 and would like to get it completed.

Gaming Goal: Lowering my expectations quite a bit this year, even though 0 games were played last year on a goal of 20, we are going to shoot for 5 games.

Batman Miniature Game

This one is going to be a tough one for me.  The rules for 3rd Edition were just dropped the day after Christmas electronically on Knight Models (the physical rules/starter box are yet to be shipped).  I like most of the changes they did with 3rd Edition to speed up the game, but they also introduced Objective Cards to be used instead of objectives on the table, and no Victory Points for casualties unless it is on the Objective Card.  So currently I am on wait and see.....waiting to see if the Rulebook and Objective Cards will be sold without the starter box, if they are, we will make the purchase and see how the game goes.

Painting Goal:  This is a tough one for me, I have a huge backlog of BMG models waiting to be assembled/painted.  It is on a hold pattern at the moment till we can see how the game is, interest may pick up if we like the game.

Gaming Goal:  I am going to try 3rd Edition, so it really depends how much we like the game.  If we like it, it will probably be played quite a few times (since I built a lot of buildings in 2019).

DCU Miniature Game

DCU was not on my list last year, and it is now on my list since I do not know the outcome of BMG.  DCU 2nd Edition was released right around time of GenCon 2019, my son and I did not purchase the rulebooks till late November while we were up at the Renegade Open.  We have yet to try the game, but we will.

Painting Goal:  A lot of the DCU models are the same models as BMG, so we have a pretty good collection.  I do have some models that are DCU specific so those may be completed this year.

Gaming Goal:  First we need a test game, so I can say 1 for sure, if I like the speed/ease of play it may hit table more frequently and in place of Arena Rex.  My plan is to get a game in early this month so we can evaluate how we like it.

Guild Ball

Guild Ball was my main priority for at least the beginning half of 2019, the last few months it has taken a back burner.  I can honestly say I love the background, the models, the low count of models to play but I do not think it will be a high priority for 2020.

Painting Goal: I still have quite a few recently released Captains that need to get completed, so I do not see myself painting any complete Guilds for 2020, but at least a handful of models.

Gaming Goal:  As mentioned above, I really like the game....I am going to have a new high priority game for 2020 (see below) so it is tough which game will be my second.  I have a feeling it will be Guild Ball so I will set a reasonable expectation of 20 games played.  Currently I do not have any events lined up for Guild Ball, but there may be a weekend here or there where I may be able to attend one.

Middle-earth SBG

I am going to take a chance a chance and include this one once more for 2020.  As of now I have too many unknown variables with what games will be played that this one may slide in.

Painting Goal: Once again no expectations, if anything gets done, it would be an accomplishment.

Gaming Goal: Keeping my expectations low again like last year, I think at least 1 game in the next few months before AdeptiCon so my son can refresh on the rules, and then we'll see what happens.

Warhammer 40,000

This game was a huge surprise for me late 2019 with my interest in the game resurfacing, I think my son is just as excited for the game as I am.  As of writing this today, Warhammer 40K will be my highest priority game for 2020.  I am signed up for the Friendly and Team Tournaments at AdeptiCon 2020 so I know I will need practice games for that, plus I already see myself looking at other armies like I have years and years ago.

Painting Goal: My #1 goal is to finish what I need for my 1000 points and 1500 point lists for AdeptiCon which is for my Imperial Fists army, long term goal is to get them completed to 2000 points.  My plan with the Imperial Fists is for them to be my "main" Space Marine army with which to add new models too, so the army will be growing.  The collector in me likes to see other armies too, so my plan is to add another Warhammer 40K army in 2020 and for now that will be Tyranids.  The reason for Tyranids is, I like the look of the models and it it something different to paint than just Power Armor.  I believe with the Tyranids I am going to look into the new GW Contrast Paints for them.  Going to start small with them (1000 points) and we'll see.

Gaming Goal:  As stated above, Warhammer 40K will be my highest priority in 2020 but I will be realistic.  I'll be getting in around 8 games just at AdeptiCon, so let's set a goal of 30 games for 2020 (I still have to squeeze in all the other games in too).

X-Wing

Painting Goal: Not Applicable (pre-painted miniatures)

Gaming Goal:  Last year I set a goal of 20 games, and I just managed to squeeze that in.  I think with trying to add in DCU and possibly MeSBG, 20 may be a bit tough.  I do like that the game only takes 75 minutes to play,  I think realistically 6 games would be a good goal (1 every other month).

Events

Well 2020 will not be a good year for events for me.  I am attending AdeptiCon at the end of March, but that is basically it for the year.  My vacation days are very limited in 2020, 3.5 weeks will be spent in Europe over the Summer, and then another week in the Fall with my wife on a cruise.  Any events I attend after AdeptiCon will mainly be just single day events on Saturday/Sundays and those will even be tough this year.  There is a very loooooong shot that we may be able to attend NOVA Open again since its falls on a Holiday weekend, I will need to look at the schedule of events and see if it is worth it.

The list is actually longer than I had intended, there were a few games I purchased last year that did not make the cut along with some others.  We shall see in 364 days on how well I did.

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2019 Year in Review

As always, the two blog posts I enjoy writing the most each year, the first one is my "What's in store for" (next year), and the second one is my "Year in Review".

2019 started with a "What's in store for 2019" so we will use that post as basis for our year in review.

Arena Rex

2019

Painting Goal:  I still have quite a few models in my backlog for Arena Rex (11).  I honestly feel it may be a doable goal to have these all completed, as long as I do not add anymore to the backlog.  I think as long as I stick to the two Ludus' that I have, this goal should be completed (especially if one the games way down below takes a back burner).  Once these get completed (maybe by GenCon in August) then I may add a third Ludus.

Gaming Goal:  Currently Arena Rex for me is just a game I am playing for fun, the play is quick and enjoyable.  At least in the first quarter of the year I do not see myself partaking in any events, but the goal will be to at least play the game every other week.  I am going to shoot for at least 20 games played in 2019.

Well, this was a huge MISS for me (mostly in part to picking up BMG this past year).  My Painting Goal was non existent, and only 1 game of Arena Rex was played for the entire year.

Batman Miniatures Game

2019

Painting Goal:  Maybe the occasional one off miniature to paint, I am not setting any expectations on getting a Team completed.  I do have some models already completed painted that I can play with.

Gaming Goal:  As I mentioned yesterday, my feeling right now for BMG is just to be a punching bag for my son so he can warm up for AdeptiCon, who knows, maybe after all those games I may actually enjoy it some more.  I can see us playing a handful of games before the end of March and then I will need to reevaluate.

This one was a huge change of events and probably received the most time from me in 2019, at least in the Painting aspect of the hobby.  My Painting Goal expectation was not even to get a Team completed, well I far exceeded that and painted around 100 models for BMG this past year.  I also managed to play 24 games of BMG which is much more than I had expected. Although the last 2 months of BMG has taken the back burner with the release of 3rd Edition, and currently I am not sure where I stand with the game.

Bolt Action

2019
Painting Goal:  As of now, no expectations to paint anything for Bolt Action...again that may change come June.

Gaming Goal:  The current plan is to play at least two games of Bolt Action this year.  A warm up/practice game, and then a game to be played on June 6th, 2019 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.  After playing this game, the interest to play more may happen.

This was another MISS for me and nothing was ever done with Bolt Action.  In fact most of my models have been packed away in my storage shed. I really do love the era, but there is just not enough time.  I can probably say for certain this one will not make the list for 2020.

Guild Ball:

2019

Painting Goal:  I need to make this one a bit realistic compared to what I actually want.  I would love to say to finish up my entire backlog plus any new models that are released.  Right now my backlog is at 39 models (not including the Union Guild) nor the Cook's Minor Guild releasing in February.  Main priority will be to finish the one off models to complete my Guilds, then I will tackle some of the Minor Guilds. With Guild Ball being planned to be my main game for 2019, my painting priorities will be with Guild Ball.

Gaming Goal:  I shocked myself at the end of 2018 having played 32 games of Guild Ball (with the majority of them coming the last two months of the year).  If I want to be somewhat decent at playing the game, I cannot take long breaks in the game. My goal is to attend a monthly tournament (if there is one in a close vicinity) and to try and play a friendly game at least once a week.  The total goal for the year will be 50 games of Guild Ball (which is very doable with the tournaments).

Guild Ball was my main priority at least for the beginning of the year and I can say I am pretty happy with my outcome.  I did not complete everything in my backlog, but I did manage a few one off’s, some new Captain’s, Rookie’s, and the new Cook’s Minor Guild were completed.

I was short of hitting my Gaming Goal of 50 games, but 40 games played of Guild Ball is still pretty good.  I also managed to host 2 events, one in February down in South Bend, IN and the second one this past October at the Michigan GT.  I did start out of the 2019 gate really good with games played, but it also has recently taken a back seat as priorities have changed.Guild Ball will definitely make tomorrows list for 2020, I just need to see how much.

Middle-earth SBG

2019

I actually almost forgot about this game, that is how much I have been thinking about it recently.

Painting Goal:  No big goals for me.  An accomplishment would be to finish the models I have for my The Dead of Dunharrow army.  I believe I still have another 20 models on foot and 8 riders on horses.

Gaming Goal:  I have a feeling that this one may be a lot like Bolt Action where it may only see 1-2 games for the year.  Considering we have only played once since the release of the new rules set back in September.

Another MISS for me. No models painted, nor any games played this year.  I know my son is still excited for this game, but the playstyle no longer interests me.  I won't count it quite Dead yet for me.

Warmachine/Hordes

2019

Painting Goal:  I own a lot of models for Warmachine/Hordes (between what I own and what my son has).  I feel that for WM/H I will still will be painting them throughout the year. I know there will be times when I want to paint something different than Guild Ball or Arena Rex, so that is when I will throw down a WM/H model to paint.  I have a lot of models that I received in the last half of 2018 for a Cryx army, and thought of a fairly quick paint scheme, so I may decide to work on them a bit.

Gaming Goal:  This is a tough one...between my son and I, we have a lot of completed models between my two main factions Khador/Minions and his Cygnar/Circle.  I opted not to sign up for any WM/H events at AdeptiCon 2019, but that does not mean I will totally be giving up on this game. I just do not feel it will be played as much as it was in 2018.  I think it will become the occasional throw down game just to have some fun. Goal for the year, probably a bit low, but lets shoot for 12 games (average one a month, especially with no tournaments planned at the moment).

I wouldn’t technically call this one a MISS, more like there was/is no more interest in the game for me at the moment.  This will be a tough one for tomorrow’s list, it may still make the list for 2020.

X-Wing

2019
Painting Goal: Not Applicable (pre-painted miniatures)

Gaming Goal:  I really like what was done with the release of X-Wing 2.0 bringing all the Factions back to a balanced playing field.  So for at least for the first half of the year I see that this game being played the second most behind Guild Ball and to prepare for AdeptiCon.  After a few months my mood may change. Having this game and Arena Rex to counter some of the games played of Guild Ball will be a nice change. I did not get in as many games of X-Wing since the release of 2.0 (8 games), so I will be once again realistic and will place a goal of 20 games played for 2019.

I can say I really enjoyed X-Wing for 2019.  I hit my goal of 20 games played for the year (barely), but it was still achieved.  Like stated above, it was a nice game to play as a filler game, and it does not take more than 90 minutes to play.  I did try signing up for a few events, but only played in 1 game at this years NOVA Open. This is one that will still make the cut tomorrow.

Events

2019
So what kind of events and I am looking at for 2019.  In my previous years, this section mainly was for the larger conventions that I had hoped to attend.  But for 2019, there are a lot of 1,2 day out of town Guild Ball events that I will be looking at also.  There is still not much info out there for the later part of 2019, but here is what I am looking at:
February: Bourbon Trail Open IV (Guild Ball)
March: AdeptiCon (Guild Ball, X-Wing)
April: Spring Fling ? (Guild Ball)
May: MuseOn Con ? (Guild Ball)
June: East Canadian Nationals ? (Guild Ball)
August: GenCon 1 Day (Vendor Hall)
October: SteamCon USA (Guild Ball)
December: Second Wind (Guild Ball)

To be honest, 2019 was a really great year for Events and exceeded the above list.  In June, I did not attend the East Canadian Nationals, it ended up being too close to MuseOn Con in dates.  SteamCon USA never happened in October, so in September we attended NOVA Open again, and October I hosted the Guild Ball Championships at the Michigan GT.  I cancelled Second Wind in December in favor of attending the Renegade Open in November. 2019 saw a lot of travel to events, and unfortunately the list for 2020 will be very slim for me.


New Additions:

Aristeia!
While at AdeptiCon 2019, Aristeia! really caught my attention and thought it would be a fun game to throw down every now and then and I jumped all in.  Well it was another MISS, we played 3 games and it has since been just sitting on the shelf.

Judgement
Boy did AdeptiCon 2019 do a number on me and bought into another game, just like Aristeia! Above, it was MISS.  Models are still sitting in the same boxes as purchased and no games were played. I am going to have to look at unloading these models as I really see no time for this game.

Comebacks:

Warhammer 40000
This one really surprised me!  The past few months I got the itch to break out Warhammer 40000 again, I had told myself I was done with GW, but we seem to always get sucked back in.  One of the huge benefits of this game is that you can find models at any gaming store, and I like to impulse buy, so it is nice to walk into a gaming store and purchase a model and not just a pot of paint.  We are still getting our feet wet with the rules of 8th Edition, but I see 2020 looking really good for this game, with a new Imperial Fists army that I am currently working on, and I have my eye on one more for 2020.

Conclusion:

All in all, I can say 2019 was actually a really good year for painting models (mainly BMG) and getting in some games.  I had a goal of 110 games played, but fell short of that mark, not too bad as it was still in the 90’s.

Here’s to 2020! and Happy New Year1

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BMG: 3rd Edition Rules Available Now!

I woke up this morning to an early Christmas present from Knight Models.  KM has decided to release the rules for Batman Miniature Game today and they are available on the KM website under the Downloads section, or click HERE.

I took a quick look at some of the rules (I still prefer thumbing through a physical copy), but I still need to take some time and go through them all.  With the time needed for me to relearn Warhammer 40K and be prepared for AdeptiCon, I am not sure how much time BMG will be getting next year, I have a feeling it will be a one off game along with DCU.  We'll see if that changes once I can get a copy of the physical rulebook/objective cards without having to buy a whole new starter box.

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Weekly Chronicle 2019 #47 (Renegade Open Recap)

Last night my son and I arrived back from the 7th annual Renegade Open up in Minneapolis, MN.  Unfortunately the weekend did not go as planned for me, but at least it was 1/2 planned.

Renegade Open was this past Friday-Sunday and our plans were to use Thursday and Sunday as travel days, and play Batman Miniature Game on Friday and Saturday.

Thursday
I knew this was going to be an interesting weekend when I woke up to find out we have no hot water in the house and the electronic pilot light was out and I could not restart it.  We managed to hit the road around 8 AM Eastern Time and at least the drive was uneventful.  We had a couple planned stops along our way.  Along the way to our first stop, I managed to get a hold of a local Plumber and scheduled for them to come out later in the day to take a look at the hot water tank.

Our first was stop was in Madison, WI at Noble Knight Games, I came across this gaming store on the internet and thought it would be cool to check out and pick up any items we needed on our way.

It is a really nice, clean, and large gaming store.  I ended up picking up some Citadel paint, and a couple more Citadel paint handles so I can have at least 5 and work on 5 Space Marines at a time.

The plan now was to head an hour North to Wisconsin Dells and grab some lunch at 1 of 2 our favorite pizza locations in the Dells, the stop on the way up was Mossejaw Pizza & Dells Brewing Co.

Once lunch was completed it was time to hit the road once again with about 4 hours left in our drive, of course we had to hit some of the St. Paul/Minneapolis rush hour traffic, but we made it to our hotel around 6:30 PM Central time and checked right in.

We got settled into our room and then looked for a place for dinner that was close by, found a nice Pub/Grill that was not far and enjoyed some street tacos, beer and NHL on the TV.

Friday
Today was Day 1 for BMG for us and it was the 250 Rep event and I was playing my Joker Crew, and my son was playing Brave and the Bold.

 My Joker Crew

Brave and the Bold

The event was not scheduled to start till 12:00 PM and was to be 4 rounds and 90 minutes a round, it was going to be a pretty long day.  I started off really good against the Watchman and pulled a Win to start the event.  My second match was against BatB led by Gordon and had Grifter and the game ended in a Draw (my opponent in this game ended up coming in 1st for the event), and my third match was against Donovan (one of the Boy Wonders podcast crew) and it was Joker vs Joker.  Donovan got the Win in the match.  Just before this game started I got a call from the wife saying the pilot light was out again....great more headaches.  We decided to drop after 3 matches (I was 1-1-1 and my son was 0-3) and grab some dinner and then head back for the awards.

We actually got some really good stuff in the awards ceremony, new 3rd edition Red Hood Joker, DCU Aquaman, some Muse on Minis tokens, a Vallejo paint set, and my son received a plaque for coming in last place.  Plus the two of us each received a BMG Renegade Open crew tray when checked in for being 2 of the first 10 players to sign up for the event.

After the awards ceremony we decided to drive out to the Fantasy Flight Gaming Center and check out the HQ's for FFG.

Another really cool looking store with plenty of gaming space along with a separate events room where they hold all the Worlds events.  We picked up some folding dice trays since we left ours at home to use for Saturday (there were no table clothes on the tables and the dice were bouncing everywhere).

After the FFG Gaming Center, we headed out to another local gaming store that some of the Minneapolis players mentioned to us, Source One Comics & Games.

This place was big and had just about every game inside.  We took some time walking up and down all the isles.  My son found a copy of new DCU Rulebook on the shelf, so we finally got a copy of that.  We are going to be trying out DCU while we wait for Third Edition of BMG to come out.

Saturday

Today was a much earlier start and it was the main event, 350 Rep / 4 Rounds.  I woke up early and took care of my morning duties and then checked in with the wife when she arrived home for work.  The water heater is out again.  It was time now to head downstairs, but I decided to cancel (and my son went down) and spent the next 2.5 hours in my room pricing out water heaters and getting a hold of a company so we can have a new heater installed.  I was able to get a hold of Lowe's and pay for an "assessment" over the phone (since it is usually done at the store) and they will be calling me back today (Monday) for them to come out and give me a full quote to replace it.

With being in the room for the entire first round, obviously I did not make the event.  I did decide to head on out and visit the local Games Workshop store that was only 10 miles away, I wanted to pick up the new Faith & Fury book for my Black Templars that just came out that day.

I arrived back at the hotel in time for my sons lunch and had McDonald's waiting for him.  Once we finished lunch and he head back down to the BMG room, I decided to check out some of the other events that were going on....Warhammer 40K, Bolt Action, Kings of War and the Vendor Hall.

My son wrapped up the awards ceremony around 7:15 PM (no last place today), but he did pick up a Gaslight Batman, the rest of the items were not as good as what we received on Friday (we already had most of the models available).  We then proceeded for some all you can eat Sushi and I retired back in the room while my son went back to the BMG room for some Batman trivia.

Sunday

Our travel day home, and we had another planned stop back in Wisconsin Dells at our second pizza stop, the Pizza Pub where we ordered the Big Kahuna, a 20" pizza (the plan was to bring the rest home for dinner).

We made it back at a decent time, and arrived home around 6:45 PM Eastern time (we had another stop in Northern Illinois at my fathers grave).

On our way home we realized it was hunting season and we came across seeing at least 7 of these deer behind trucks/cars.

Well that wraps up Renegade Open 2019.  As of now I have no plans on returning next year (as I only have 1 vacation day allowed for events and it will be AdeptiCon) so we shall see what happens in 2021.

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Weekly Chronicle 2019 #46 (Week Of Renegade Open)

In 4 days we will be leaving for the Renegade Open up in Minneapolis, Minnesota for one of the largest Batman Miniature Game tournaments ever and I believe I am all set for the event.

We will be playing a smaller 250 Rep event on Friday, and the main event on Saturday is 350 Rep and there are close to 50 people signed up for that event.  I originally was going to play my 'Joker' crew on Friday and 'League of Assassins' crew on Saturday, but sometime a month or so ago I elected to change it to my 'Joker' crew for both days.  I think just having to remember the rules for one crew for the weekend will be much easier for me.  I am hoping that after 4 games on Friday, I should know them well enough for Saturday.  We did manage to get in one practice 350 Rep game in this past Saturday, and I was very happy with my result, a win 29-13.

On the painting side of the hobby this past week, nothing was completed, but instead I took my time assembling my models for my Imperial Fists army.  All the models I need for 1500 points are assembled, and I only need one more completed for the full 2000 points.  I also do have some models on my painting table, so I am hoping to get one more Unit completed before we leave to Minnesota on Thursday.

Models Completed: 0
Games Played: 1

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Weekly Chronicle 2019 #45 (AdeptiCon Event Schedule Preview)

Another week goes by (Week #45) and at least it was not as bad as the past few weeks.  Warhammer 40K seems to be my main concentration as I await the new rules for BMG (3rd Edition this Christmas).  The painting is not going as fast as I would like, but it is slowly getting there.  This past week my 'Redemptor Dreadnought' and 'Primaris Captain' were completed, I have 2 Units of 'Primaris Eliminators' ready to go next on the table, and I spent the weekend getting some more models assembled.

This past Friday, AdeptiCon also released a sneak preview of the upcoming schedule for 2020, and there are still some events that are missing (just like last year, Steamforged Games is late to the party in submitting events).

With my shift in wanting to play Warhammer 40K recently, I am now looking into these events.  Mainly I am interested in the Warhammer 40K Friendly on Friday.  If it is like last year, it is a 1500 Point single Detachment event, and it is meant just to have a good time.  Honestly as of now, this is the only event I am interested in.  I may for the first time ever sign up for some Hobby Seminars, I am interested in the ones dealing with Contrast paints and would not mind to learn more about these, but we shall see.  If I do not get into W40K Friendly event, then I may play in Batman Miniature Game tournament (its 5th year), I may like III edition a lot and want to play in this, but for now, that will be my backup plan.

Registration for AdeptiCon will open up on December 8th and I better be quick in getting that event.

Whats on the plate for this week? I am hoping to maybe get some painting time on my 'Primaris Eliminators' (I still have 2 Squads to finish) and then to finish assembling my 'Primaris Intercessors'.  This coming weekend will be another 2 practice games of BMG (250/350) to get ready for Renegade Open next weekend.

To help keep track of Units I need to complete for my Imperial Fists army, I put together a Painting Tracker, you can find my full 2000 Point one HERE, and I came up with a 1500 Point version for AdeptiCon, HERE.

Models Completed: 2
Games Played: 0

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Weekly Chronicle 2019 #44

It was a pretty quiet week in the hobby/gaming front and not much was actually completed.  I did continue working on my 'Redemptor Dreadnought' and it will be posted tomorrow morning.

Renegade Open is just under 3 weeks away and I still have to finalize/submit my lists and get a few more games in.  My plan is to get a practice game in the weekend before so that the rules are fresh for the event.  Then once we get back, I think BMG will be quiet until we get our hands on III edition.

Models Completed: 0
Games Played: 0

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Weekly Chronicle 2019 #43

This last Painting Quarter of the year has been off to a slow start, but I think soon a flow of models will be hitting my table.  I have been recently purchasing some Space Marines for Warhammer 40000 to work on a new Imperial Fists army, soon I will have enough models to keep me busy into the new year.  I did get one model built this past week that will be getting primed soon and hopefully worked on sometime this week.

Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty of Batman Miniature Game models to paint (and some Guild Ball), but right now I am in a holding pattern with BMG.  Knight Models teased a release of BMG III (3rd Edition) and then went silent, a 3rd Edition card was released on Facebook and the rules were all speculation.  From what I know, it looks like BMG III will play a bit faster (which is a good thing) but until I know more, the desire to play BMG II has slowly faded.  We have Renegade Open coming up next month which will probably be the last hooray of BMG II and my BMG gaming probably until III gets released (especially since we just got back into W40K).

For Gaming this past week, my son and I got in another practice game of W40K yesterday afternoon at a 1000 point level (still keeping the game smaller as we go through all the rules) but we changed up some of our Units to see how they work.  We also started to play a mission from the ITC packet (which seems to be the norm for tournaments).  We only tried using the Primary Objectives, and our next game we will give the Secondary Objectives a chance.

Models Completed: 0
Games Played: 1

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