What's in store for 2024!

Happy New Year 2024!

Well, here it is, the day I write out all my goals for the year only to find out on December 31st that I did not meet my expectations..

2024 I believe is going to be simplistic, very simplistic.

Bolt Action

I am going to keep Bolt Action on the list for another year.  I know last year I had thought I'd get in a few more games than what I actually did, but you never know.

Painting Goal: None

Gaming Goal:  None

Marvel Crisis Protocol

MCP was my main game in 2023, and it looks to also be in 2024.  I honestly do not currently see a game system that will be taking over in 2024.  I am excited for some of the new releases coming out early this year and it will allow me to play a new Affiliation.

That is one thing that I like about MCP.  If you get tired of playing one Affiliation, just change it up to another (and you can still "splash" in your favorite characters).

Painting Goal: 2024 will be much like 2023 in regards to painting, when I am in the mood or when a “new, cool” model gets released it will take priority.  I still have to get to some of the models in the newest Core Set that was released a few months back.  Right now models are getting done to fill in spots/roles in our current rosters.

Gaming Goal: With 80+ games played in 2023 (which once again was a record for me with a single game system), 2024 “should” be a good year too. Just like last year, I am going to set my goal of just shy of 1 game a week with a total of 50 games played for 2024.  I need to keep it reasonable just in case "life" gets in the way.

Star Wars Legion

Star Wars Legion (SWL) is one I am unsure about just like Bolt Action above.  Usually when I have time to get a game in, we play Marvel Crisis Protocol.  I think I will leave this one up as a "just in case".

Painting Goal: None

Gaming Goal: None

New Games for 2024?

I can HONESTLY say that I am not looking into any new games for 2024.  Star Wars Shatterpoint was a possibility last year (and we did not jump on that) and I really do not see anything else this year.  Atomic Mass Games is doing a nice job on releases for Marvel Crisis Protocol, and it is keeping me excited.

Events

2023 was actually a pretty good year in events for me and as much as I would like to keep that up, I think realistic 2024 may be a few less, and a few changes.  AdeptiCon is our yearly staple event and especially with living in the Midwest, so as long as we can get registered for the events we want, that one is a must attend. 

 
New for this year will be Cherokee Open 2024, the Tournament Organizer for Marvel Crisis Protocol in 2023 is not able to run it in 2024 and Frontline Gaming had asked for a volunteer.  I decided to step up and offer my services.  I do like attending Frontline Gaming events and had never been to the Cherokee Open yet, so I thought this would be a fun event.  This is where a lot my time at the end of 2023 went into painting terrain for this event.

Unfortunately with adding a new event, some previous events will fall of the list.  One of these is Frontline Gaming's Atlantic City Open.  I really enjoy attending Atlantic City Open, and we made it out there the last two years, but my vacation days are limited this year and I cannot justify that long of a drive.  Another event with distance in Nove Open.  I really thougt we had a chance in attending in 2024, but my company changed some of their days for their floating Holidays and removed a day from Labor Day weekend and added it to Christmas.  So with a shortage of vacation days, NOVA Open in 2024 will be tough to attend, but we still may do it.

A new event we attended in 2023 was Warfaire Weekend in St. Louis.  St. Louis is not a far drive (about 5 hours), but I was not too impressed with the event.  It may have to do that the location was under construction and some of the restaurants that were opened in years past have been closed/torn down.  It "may" be one to add again in the future, but I do not think it will be one to use up vacation for this year.
In the fall we also have a couple more local events, Michigan GT and Second Wind.  2023 saw us attending both of these events for Marvel Crisis Protocol, and I think these are two we will be shooting for once again in 2024.  Both events are less than a 2 hours drive, the issue with Second Wind will be if we can get in.  This event sells out quickly.

One of the big events of the year, Las Vegas Open is going to have to be a pass again in 2024.  2025 is doable (as I still have airfare credit), but it will depend on how much money is spent on our Fall 2024 events.

I am also still thinking about adding another Canadian event weekend, it is just a matter of finding the right one and what dates will work.

Here is my tentative list of events for 2024.

January 18th - 21st: Las Vegas Open (Not Attending)
February 23rd - 25th: Cherokee Open (Tournament Organizer)
March 20th - 24th: AdeptiCon
June 14th -16th: Atlantic City Open (Not Attending)
August 29th - September 1st: NOVA Open (?)
October xx - xx: Michigan
October xx - xx: Second Wind 6
October 31st - November 3rd: Warfaire Weekend (Doubtful)

As you can see above I still included events that I know we are not attending for sure, just so that I still have a record of the dates.  Michigan GT and Second Wind 6, the dates are unknown as of this writiing.

Now we’ll see if the above holds true for 2024. 

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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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Daily Chronicle: Announced "NOVA Open 2019" August 29th-September 1st, 2019

The other day I received one of the semi-monthly newsletters from the NOVA Open and in real big letters it had said that the room block was 80% sold out.  For the heck of it I decided to log into my NOVA Open Store account just to see if anything was there.  All of last years events have been removed and there was a note stating that on February 1st, 2019 they will be reactivating the site.  I also noticed under my account settings that I had $15 available in store credit, I then proceeded to login with my son's account and it showed the same, $15 credit available.  These credits are on our accounts because last year we signed up for an event and then changed it for another event, the credit difference was placed into our accounts.

That then got me thinking... My plan for 2019 was to skip over the NOVA Open this year, with a family vacation two weeks later and hopefully SteamCon USA a month later, I thought another Con may be too much.  I really do not want to leave that credit to go to waste, so I went back to the newsletter and click on the link for the Hotel block and chose my dates, Thursday-Saturday nights and it came back that no rooms were currently available.  I then had read on Facebook that they may try and open up some more rooms if they can.  Just before I went to bed for the night, I refreshed the screen on my phone and now it had showed my room selection as available, I went ahead and booked my three nights (if we end up not going, I have 72 hours before the event to cancel my room).

Now my son and I need to decide on what events we will want to play.  We are leaning towards something a bit different for this event.  Most of my trips this year I am signed up for Guild Ball, the one's my son can attend he will be signed up for Guild Ball and Batman.  Last year we attended NOVA Open strictly for Warmachine/Hordes, that may be an option for 2019, but the NOVA Open is one of the largest conventions for Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game with some of the best scenic tables in the game.  If the schedules stay the same like last year, we are looking at playing in the Doubles event for MeSBG on Friday, and the Singles event for Bolt Action on Saturday.  Yes Bolt Action, after we get our game in June for D-Day, we may have the itch to play again, it will be nice to use NOVA Open to change it up a bit from what we are playing through out the year.

We shall see come February 1st when the NOVA Open Store goes live and we can get a look at the schedules.  If something interferes with one of our options, we may swap it out for X-Wing (or if they shock us with new events like Arena Rex).

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Happy New Year! What's in store for 2019

Happy New Year 2019!

One of my favorite posts of the year where I lay out my plans for 2019 and try to stick to them without swaying too far.  Last year I kept it a bit realistic and I was happy with my outcome.  With the additions of a few games in 2018, 2019 may be a bit more of a full plate for me.

As with last year, my plan for painting will continue to break down my queue in calendar quarters, I think this worked very well for me and made my queue a bit more manageable.

As of now, these are the games that are of interest for 2019, in alphabetical order.

Arena Rex

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.

Batman Miniatures Game

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.

Bolt Action

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.

Guild Ball:

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).

Middle-earth SBG

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 horse.

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.

Warmachine/Hordes

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 through out 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).

X-Wing

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.

With all the above games, that puts me at around 110 games played for the year for my goal which would break my record from 2018.  Not included in these games are any card games that my son and iI enjoy playing like Star Wars Destiny.

Playing all these games will obviously cut down in my painting time.  I think it will be hard to surpass the Painting Points from 2018 and 2017.

Events

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)

Wow, that is quite a bit for Guild Ball, I honestly hope that I do not get burned out, but the more games I play, the better I can get.  The events for Spring/Early Summer are more of a wish list, out of the three listed during this time, reality may be attending only one.

One major event that my son and I attended in 2018 was the NOVA Open, but with the dates for 2019, it is too close to another family vacation in September, so NOVA Open for 2019 does not seem doable.

Also in November is Warmachine Weekend.  2019 marks new ownership for the Warmachine Weekend, maybe the new owners will be better prepared and start providing information for the event earlier, if that is the case and my son and I have the itch for WM/H, that event may then make the list for 2019.

As of now I am not looking into any new games for 2019, but I tend to say that every year.  There are a lot of cool miniature games out there, and it is just a matter of finding time for them all.  Spread myself to thin and then I tend to forgot how to play the other games, but when you walk the vendor halls of AdeptiCon or GenCon, it's like "I want that".

Let's see if we can stay the course for 2019.

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2018 Year in Review

There are two blog posts that 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".

2018 started with a "What's in store for 2018" so we will use that post as basis for our year in review.

Guild Ball

2018

Painting Goal:  This is a tough one.  I would love to say to be able to complete every Guild Ball model that I have so that all Guilds are completed.  It is doable since I currently probably have around 40 models left to complete.  I have the new six for both the Farmer's and Blacksmith's, the second six for the Brewer's and the remaining are for my Mortician's and Union.  I do have a few one off's left (Smoke and Lucky) and I am wrapping up Skatha for my son's Hunter's Guild.  I think realistically I will shoot to complete the Farmer's, Blacksmith's and Brewer's (along with the few one off's).  This will give me some room for some of the new Minor Guilds that will be released in 2018.

Gaming Goal:  Here we go, I always want to be able to play more games each year, but real life always gets in the way.  I prefer the collecting/painting over the gaming anyways (hence the reason why I have every Guild for Guild Ball), but the plan for 2018 will be to concentrate on two gaming systems (Guild Ball and Warmachine/Hordes).  AdeptiCon 2018 is coming up at the end of March (coincides with the end of my first painting quarter) and for Guild Ball I am signed up for the AdeptiCon Championships on Friday, and the Homelands Cup on Sunday.  Here's my problem, I have yet to play in an official event for Guild Ball, all my games have just been friendlies.  So that is my goal for 2018 is to play in more Guild Ball events.

Painting Goal:  This past year turned out to be a pretty decent year in painting my Guild Ball.  I started the year off strong, had a lull, and then kicked it right back up recently.  Unfortunately the second six Farmer's nor my Union did not get completed, but I did finish the Blacksmith's, Brewer's, Mortician's and my son's Hunter's.  Steamforged also added some new Veteran models to existing Guilds so i wanted to get some of those completed.  The Minor Guilds that were released this year, Ratcatcher's, Falconer's and Navigator's did not see any paint on them.  Stay tuned tomorrow to see where they fall on my list for 2019.

Gaming Goal: Guild Ball gaming did not start off as strong as I had hoped for in 2018 and actually swapped out events at AdeptiCon.  The gaming stayed slow for me until this past October with the release of Season 4.  Season 4 really got me excited for the game and I finally attended 2 Guild Ball tournaments.  Before the release of Season 4, I had only played 3 games, my total for the year is now 32 games, that is how much I have been enjoying Season 4.

Warmacine/Hordes

2018

Painting Goal:  I still have quite a few models in my backlog for Warmachine/Hordes (mainly with Trollbloods), but I need to concentrate 2018 on my two main factions, Khador for Warmachine and Minions for Hordes.  In those regards, the backlog is not too big.  I have a few Units and Warjacks that I need to complete for Khador and there are some new models coming out for Minions at the end of this month that will take high priority in my painting queue.  Let's not also forget the new Minions 'Dracodile' that will be posted tomorrow.

Gaming Goal:  For the past year I have been telling myself that I am going to try and play in the 'local' (40 miles one way) WM/H league in South Bend.  I have yet to play in that league.  It runs for 5 weeks, then they take a week or two off and start back up and continues through the year.  The first session for 2018 will be starting up shortly.  If I want to remember the rules for WM/H, I have to play more (as with Guild Ball), so I will try and finally play in some of the league sessions when I know it does not interfere with any vacations.  On Saturday at AdeptiCon my son and I are signed up for the WM/H Team Tournament, so I need to make sure I know what I am doing.

Painting Goal:  I did really good in the beginning of the year painting my Warmachine/Hordes models, all but one of the Minion models were completed and I also did some work on my Khador army.  There are still a lot of Warmachine/Hordes models in my backlog though and we shall see when they get done.

Gaming Goal:  I still never attended the "league" down in South Bend, but I did play a lot of WM/H for me.  Playing in events at AdeptiCon, NOVA Open, Michigan GT and the occasional casual games with my friends saw me playing 38 games of WM/H last year.

Events

2018

I enjoy attending events through out the year (when once again life doesn't get in the way) and the funds are available.  Not always to compete in events, but just also hanging out and getting in some friendly games.

2018 will be very similar to my plans for last year with a few subtractions and additions.  

For the last couple of years I have been starting out the year with the Las Vegas Open, well this year I will not be attending.  There is no organized play for Guild Ball this year, so the only interest would be Warmachine/Hordes.  With AdeptiCon only two months later, I am flying my son out for that.

AdeptiCon in March, as just mentioned above, this one is a must.  Now that I am in the Midwest again, this is a 'must' attend event for any gamer.  Registration opened up early December and my son and I are all signed up.  This year I also decided to book the hotel onsite in case we have any late night gaming (though I'll probably be tired).

Vacation plans will once again get in the way for the Summer months (at the end of May I will be going back to Arizona and moving my oldest back with us to Michigan), so the funds for June will then be limited.  Muse on Mini's throws a Con that same weekend we will be driving and then there is Privateer Press Lock & Load in either June or July.  Lock & Load would be very fun to attend, but the airfare for two to Seattle will get pricey (along with the hotel room).  I try and attend events where I can still drive where gas is still cheaper than airfare.  We shall see about Lock & Load, but my hopes are not high for this one.

Now comes the Fall/Winter and there is a quite a few I would like to attend, once again funds will limit our choices along with dates.

September has the Nova Open in the Washington DC area over Labor Day Weekend, this one is reachable by car for us and is an option.  I have never attended the Nova Open, but here that it is a really big event.

October is the Michigan GT in Lansing.  Mainly it is for Warhammer 40K, but over the past few years has branched out to other gaming systems.  Last year I was signed up for the WM/H Tournament, but a totaled van kept me from attending.

November has Warmachine Weekend in the St. Louis area (just a 6 hour drive for us).  I really feel this will be the year my son and I will finally attend the Warmachine Weekend.  I also have some friends from here that will be attending and I enjoy the 'fun' types of events that they run.  I am just not happy with the lack of information (and late information) they provide on their website.  I like to plan my events well ahead of time (so I can schedule the time off), and it took them forever to get a listing of events up on their site.  Besides that little issue, I have high hopes for this event (especially if we do not attend Lock & Load).  More than likely it will be one or the other.

Now we come to December and this past year it was the first ever SteamCon USA in Chicago.  Steamforged Games recently asked social media for any other locations that people are interested in.  So we will have to wait and see for this one.  If by chance it is again in Chicago, we are most definitely there (as long as there is some time gap from WMW), if it is in any other city we will need to see how far that drive and costs will be.  I also have to take into account my son will probably have a job working weekends, so I have to plan these accordingly where they will not interfere too much with his work schedules.

I missed on two events listed above for 2018.  I attended AdeptiCon, NOVA Open and the Michigan GT.  I missed out on Warmachine Weekend and SteamCon USA.  One event that was not on my list was GenCon.  I actually made it to GenCon this past year for one day to do some vendor shopping.

My son and I were scheduled to attend Warmachine Weekend, but the LACK of event information really put a bad taste in my mouth.  Waiting until the week of the event to post any rules is ridiculous.  Then my son was not able to get that weekend off, so I decided just not to go.

Steamcon USA was also missed this past year.  I had thought it may be taking place in December like in 2017, but they had moved it up to October.  I already had a family vacation planned for October so there was no way I was going to be able to do both..... next year.

Other Games On The Radar

Malifaux

2018

The game of Malifaux has always intrigued me even though I have never played the game.  I really do like the look of the models.  There is a group in South Bend that plays every Tuesday night so I know there is a local following (although this past year at the Michigan GT all the Malifaux events were cancelled due to a lack of registrations).  I think if by chance I do get into this game, I need to stick just to one Faction.  I will need to control the collector in me.  One drawback is that my son never really had an interest in this game, so that may keep me from playing.

Nothing happened with Malifaux for me in 2018, though I was tempted twice at AdeptiCon and GenCon.  Looks like Malifaux will be removed from any future list.

Batman Miniatures Game

2018

I am just throwing this one out there for now.  My son plays this game and he is playing it Friday at AdeptiCon while I play Guild Ball.  I am intrigued by Team Arrow so you never know what will happen.  Unlike Malifaux above, I do not think that anyone locally plays this game.  So it's a complete opposite from above.  No locals but my son loves it and with Malifaux it has locals but not my son.

So right now these two games are just a small blip on the radar.

I did play one game of BMG at the NOVA Open with my son.  As much as he loves the game, it really does not do too much for me.  I purchased a 3x3 gaming mat and some terrain for the game also.  I know I will be getting a few games in next year to be more of a punching bag for son to practice for AdeptiCon.

Bolt Action

2018

So where was Bolt Action in my above plans for 2018.  Well originally it was going to be a fairly large part and my son and I were going to play in the Team Tournament at AdeptiCon.  But our interests has slid a bit (mainly with Guild Ball for me).  Now I still plan on keeping all my armies, will I paint anything for them...maybe...my passions change through out the year.  Will I get some games in...I really think so, especially when my son moves up, it will not be frequent, but every now and then.

Absolutely nothing was done with Bolt Action in regards to Painting or Gaming, that does not mean it is totally off my radar.

That is all that I had on my list for 2018, now here are some new additions and comebacks that I saw in 2018.

New Additions:

Arena Rex
I saw this game for the first time at AdeptiCon 2017, then again at AdeptiCon 2018 and both times the game looked very tempting.  Well finally at GenCon I made the purchase of models for my son and I.  I do not have them all painted yet, but I did do a lot of work getting terrain completed for the game.  I really enjoy this game for the quick play.  I was not able to sign up for any events at AdeptiCon 2019 coming up (they all interfered with other events), but I still plan on playing the game in 2019 and working on the models I have.  I did manage to get in 13 games of Arena Rex this year.

Comebacks:

X-Wing
X-Wing 2.0 was released in September of this past year.  Just like with the release of Season 4 of Guild Ball, the release of X-Wing 2.0 reignited a spark in for the game.  Not as much as it did with Guild Ball, but enough for my son and I to keep playing the game casually and even signing up for an event at AdeptiCon next year.

Final Thoughts
If you are still with me through all of this, I would have to say that it was a really good year for me Painting/Gaming, especially in the Gaming department.  I am usually lucky to only play 20-30 games in year, and 2018 saw a record 93 games played.  Also with all that gaming, I was able to surpass last years mark in Painting Points.

One other accomplishment I had in 2018 was hitting 200 blog posts in a year, that was a goal of mine ever since I started blogging.  2018 was a record year for me with this post being #284.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post and lets see if anything changes for 2019.

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2017 Year in Review

This is actually one of my favorite posts each year when I get to look back and see what I did and did not accomplish for the year.

2017 started with a "What's in store for 2017" so we will use that post as basis for our year in review.

Bolt Action
2017
Painting Goal: Just before Christmas 2016, I took advantage of a 'deal' that Warlord Games had on a Great Britain army package. $500 plus dollars of models for around $300. Probably close to around 3000 points (if not more). I had always wanted to start a British army, so my goal for 2017 will be to work on this army. My 'plan' is to work on this army over the entire year to keep me busy. No need to really speed paint these guys. I already have two armies painted that I can play with, so I am just going to enjoy myself modeling/painting this army. I still have a few models I can also add to my Soviet and German armies if I get a little bored with the British. By chance I get the British done before the end of 2017, then we will scope out another army to start.

Gaming Goal: Well there are no gamers that are 'real' close to me, but I did find a Facebook group called 'Michiana Bolt Action' and they meet once a month in Michigan City, IN (about 50 miles from me). The first meetup for 2017 will be January 22nd, so I do plan on heading out for a reintroduction to Bolt Action along with Version 2 of the rules. So the plan, try to meet with these guys once a month if possible. Other than that, most of my other game will probably come from events that I plan on attending in 2017. I will be heading out to LVO next month (more details below) and I offered my 'ringer' services to BA Chef on that Saturday of the Bolt Action Tournament if needs it.

Painting Goal:  Well I sort of accomplished what I wanted to do with Bolt Action.  I did manage to get quite a few models completed for my British Army, I think pretty close to 1250 points.  I also managed to get a few vehicles completed for my sons United States Army.  Once March came along, the painting projects slid to other games.

Gaming Goal:  I played a few games with the ‘Michiana Bolt Action’ crew early in the year and played in the Bolt Action AdeptiCon Championships in March.  After AdeptiCon, just like with the painting, my time went elsewhere.  I was able to get in 9 games for the year.

Warmachine/Hordes
2017
Painting Goal: As of right now, I have no painting goals for WM/H. All my models/paints are back in Arizona. When I go back at the end of May to pick up my wife and youngest child, if there is still room in our van, I may bring back my models with me. I really do enjoy the models from WM/H and enjoy painting them. Gives a nice break from painting WWII. But I am not setting any expectations for me.

Gaming Goal: Well without my models I obviously cannot get many games in. I do plan on getting in a game or two with my oldest son at LVO though.

Painting Goal:  I am actually impressed with myself on this one.  My expectations were very low, but I did manage to get decent amount of models painted for my Hordes Minions Army.  Towards the end of the year, I also painted a few Warjacks and Solo’s for my Warmachine Khador Army.  I am really happy with the results.

Gaming Goal:  When I picked up my family at the end of May, I also grabbed my Warmachine/Hordes armies and brought them back with me.  I did not get in as many games as I had wanted, and every time I was going to play in a local league, something else came up.  I met a friend out in Kalamazoo and played a few games with him and then when my son visited a few weeks ago for SteamCon USA, we also got a game of Warmachine/Hordes in.  For the year, I played 8 games.

Events/Conventions
2017

I actually think this will be a busy year for me in regards to events and conventions. Last year my plan was to attend Las Vegas Open (LVO) and Privateer Press Lock & Load and I attended both of those. This year I think I have a little bit more planned out.

I will be attending the LVO again next month with my oldest son. I will be flying back to Arizona, and the two of us will then drive to Las Vegas. So in the car I plan on bringing my WM/H armies, along with my sons United States army for Bolt Action (in case BA Chef needs me to 'ringer'). I think my son and I will also split his army into 2 and play some US v US just so he can refresh on the V2 rules.

At the end of March, we have one of the largest conventions in the US called AdeptiCon in Chicago. Before moving to Arizona in 2005 I had always attended this convention (and helped run the Warhammer events). I had been back once in 2010 and my son went a few years ago by himself. Now that it is only 2.5 hours away from me, I will be going back in 2017. I was just going to go and catch up with some old friends, but I saw they still had openings in the Bolt Action US Nationals for Saturday/Sunday. So I decided to sign up for that event, and I think I will be playing my Germans (have not fully decided yet). I have NO expectations on winning any games, for me it is just to throw some dice and meet up with the Chicago Bolt Action crew.

I know there are two events I do plan on attending in the fall. There is the Michigan GT the weekend of October 6th-8th in Lansing, MI (and more than likely they will have a Bolt Action tournament again). In November there is Operation Sting back in Chicago (if I can get quickly registered for this event, it sells out).

This one I was 50/50.  2017 started off really good and I was able to attend both the LVO and AdeptiCon and then when the Fall arrived I missed out on the two above events.  I had car issues in October and missed out on the Michigan GT (though I was registered for the Warmachine/Hordes Tournament) and Operation Sting happened to be the same weekend as Warmachine Weekend in St. Louis, though my car issues kept me from attending that event also.  A new convention that popped up on my radar was SteamCon USA a few weeks back at the beginning of December.  I flew my son out from Arizona and we did attend this convention.

Guild Ball
2017
Painting Goals: Not Applicable
Gaming Goals: Not Applicable

Guild Ball from Steamforged Games really snuck up on me in 2017.  I previously heard about the game but it was not until I attended the LVO in February where I was able to get in a quick demo game and get a better look at the models.  I always prefer games with low model counts (quicker to setup) and each Guild on the Pitch only plays with 6 models, and most Guilds have about 12 models.  As I have previously mentioned numerous times, I am more of a collector than I am a gamer.  So back in February there were about 9 Guilds so roughly around 108 models.  I could easily collect all the Guilds and models and have fun playing the game.  Well guess what, mission accomplished.  I now own every Guild in Guild Ball (including the 2 new Guilds introduced late in the year, Farmer’s and Blacksmith’s), every model (besides some Limited Edition models) and nearly all of them are painted.  I did not play as many games as I had hoped for (14 for the year), but Guild Ball is now my favorite game that I own.  When you read my post “What’s in store for 2018” in a few days, you’ll see Guild Ball high up on the list.

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Daily Chronicle: What's in Queue for September/October/November

I have a tendancy to get involved in too many game systmes at one time, but this year I am kind of shocked that the last 6 months I have mainly concentrated just on Guild Ball.  The problem I am having is getting games in.  Where I am at there is no one that close that can play, I do have one person, but with his work schedule it can be tough.  My other option is to drive 170 miles round trip up North to Grand Rapids and I have yet to make that trip.  So right it now it has mainly just been collecting/painting the different Guilds.  There is a friendly Farmer's Guild event taking place on Sepetember 16th up in Grand Rapids that I am playing on attending.  It will be good to get a few more practice games in and my first with the Butcher's Guild.

So what is the plan for the rest of September?  I am finishing off showcasing the Mason's Guild that I have been working on at the end of August and I have 2 models for this month, 'Hammer' and 'Tower'.

Then I plan on filling in some missing models for a few other Guilds.

Buther's Guild I have 'Veteran Brisket', 'Veteran Ox', and 'Truffles.

Alchemist's Guild I have 'Veteran Katalyst' and 'Flask'.

I still have a Union Guild that needs to get done (only 'Harry the Hat' is completed), but that may be a long term project or when I feel like painting a few different models.

For the Fall time at the end of the Month, we will be starting on the new Farmers's Guild "The Honest Land".  More than likely that may fall (pun intended) into October.  Being only 6 models, it should not tale me too long to get them done, but I plan on spending a little extra time on these guys.

The Farmer's Guild

Then for November, the plan is to start on the pre-release Blacksmith's Guild that was available at GenCon a few weeks ago.  I happened to just ordered a box on the secondary market (for not a bad price) and these guys will see the table then.  I am in no rush to get them done right away, so I will dedicate the month to them.  The plan is to get these guys done by SteamCon USA the first weekend in December.

The Blacksmith's Guild

As you can tell, my Warmachine/Hordes interest has slipped the past 6 months.  I think it is mainly due to all the CID changes I hear and theme/rules changes, it is getting harder to keep up with all the changes.  I still love the models from the game....and you never know....I may throw one on the table here or there.  After the new year and my son and I prepare what events we are going to want to play at AdeptiCon 2018, you may see some more models hit the blog (along with possibly a few Bolt Action models if time allows...I am really slacking on getting our Airborne armies done, we may have to fall back and use armies we already have completed).

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Daily Chronicle: Back From Arizona and What's In The Pipeline For June

Last Wednesday morning I flew back to Arizona so I could pick up my wife and youngest child and move them here with me to Michigan.  We were not planning on startingour drive back to Michigna till the next day on Thursday, so Wednesday I had the day to get a few gaes of Guild Ball in with my oldest son.

I brought my Guild Ball teams with me, and decided to give my Fisherman's Guild a try while my son played the recently painted Alchemist's Guild I just finished up.

We ended up only playing 2 games, the first game we played with no clock and took our time while we were still learning the new Guilds.  Plus the dice were not with me and I had missed 3 shots on Goal (2 from 'Shark' and 1 from 'Salt').  I still ended up winning 12-0, buit should have been 24-0.

  'Angel' finally gets the game winning goal.

In our second game, we decided to go ahead and play with the chess clock.  If we made a mistake, oh well, the clock was going to teach us how to play faster and prepare for any tournaments that I may get to play in the future.  To be honest, I actually liked playing with the clock.  It turned the 3 hour game into one that was probably just an hour.

We both elected to play with the same Roster as the first game (since we just learned the rules for those models) and that helped with the speed of the game.  I actually played really smart and was really quick with my clock (unlike when I play Warmachine/Hordes with the clock and always 'clock-out'). I also ended up winning the second game, 12-4 and this time the dice were a bit better.

I do like the playstyle of the Fisherman and really need to get more games in with them (the problem I have where I am at in Michigan).  There is a tournament coming up on June 24th, but that is 3 hours across the state near Detroit, so it is very slim that I could make it out there.  Hopefully maybe I could at least get a few more friendly games in for June.

 The 'Shark' Show

After our game we headed to a local Gaming store (Desert Sky Games & Comics), they are mainly a "Magic the Gathering" store with a few miniatures. They just recently announced that they are moving to a new location and are having a "moving sale", so we decided to see what they had.

Well, I walked out of the store with quite a few models at a GREAT price.  I was able to find the last model I needed to complete the entire Engineer's Guild with 'Veteran Velocity'.  Retail price $14.99, and I was able to get her for $5.99.  We were also able to find 'Smoke' for my son's new Alchemist's Guild (which now he will have to paint on his own) and then I found a great start for a new Butcher's Guild.  Unfortunately they did not have the Starter Set for them, but I was able to pick up a lot of solo models.  'Princess', 'Meathook', 'Shank', 'Tenderiser'.  I'll go ahead and place an order soon for the Starter Set and probably include 'Fillet' with my order, and it will be a great start for the Butchers Guild.

 

   

Now what do we have in store for the month of June? May is just about over with and I do not have any model prepped to be painted yet, so we will have to concentrate on June.  I'll probably prep a model or two tonight to get ready.

For my Engineer's Guild, I have 'Mother' and 'Veteran Velocity' that I would like to complete.  Once these two are done, then I will have the entire Engineer's Guild paiinted.

Just before I left to Arizona, I received a lot of Union models (like Harry The Hat I finshed before leaving), so I may throw in a a few models to finish.

I would like to get all the Butcher's ordered and possibly start on them, but more than likely they will be a July project.

Finally, I still have to continue on our Bolt Action Airborne armies.  I think I will get my sons second US Airborne squad completed for sure, once this squad is done, it will only leave me with 2 MMG Teams and a Howitzer to complete for his Army.  I do have till March of 2018 to finish both the US and British, but why wait till the last minute.

I think that will probably be it for now.... I have a week's vacation coming up mid June, but that will be reserved for 'house chores' so I'll lose some hobbying time then. 

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