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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There is a fairly new convention in the Chicagoland area called 
In yesterday’s post about attending 
I was supposed to have a game lined up for tonight versus my Trollbloods friend out in Kalamazoo, but yesterday afternoon he asked if we can play last night instead. So my son and I packed our bags and drove out East.
After having spent some time the last few games practicing for 15 Points “Speedmachine”, it was time to get in some practice of “Breakfastmachine”. “Breakfastmachine” is an event at this years NOVA Open played with 50 Points, and while playing your game, you are served breakfast items to eat, I could not pass on an event like this.
The nice thing about being on vacation for a few days, I am able to get in some gaming and painting. Yesterday was our day to stay home and get in a few games of Warmachine/Hordes. The NOVA Open is two months away and I still wanted to get in some practice for “Speedmachine”. “Speedmachne” is 15 Point armies and played with 3:00 minute turns. The 3:00 minute turns is really allowing me to learn my army better and play faster, I am hoping this faster play will rollover to when I play the larger 50 and 75 Point practice games.
Wow, this is the first week in 2018 that I did not get a model completed for the blog, that is what happens when real life gets in the way. I have been busy remodeling a bathroom last week and that will continue on through this week. I may have one model to show this week if time allows and that will be for the Batman Miniature Game.
Yesterday my friend TJ and I took a drive out to 
I do not know why, but for some reason I have to urge to play X-Wing again. It may be since I am fresh from coming back from AdeptiCon and I saw a lot of games being played there and the fact Fantasy Flight Games were selling a bunch of models, or the fact that they are pre-painted and easier to get them down on the gaming table. I am leaning towards the latter. I have already ruled out purchasing into the new Star Wars Legion (I do not not have the time to paint more miniatures) so than there is X-Wing. I have not played a game in 
I have two months until my oldest son moves up North and I thought today was a good time to re-organize the mancave and make some room for his gaming items. Currently the closet in what will be his bedroom held all the family board games so those were going to have to come down into the basement, then my current miniature gaming shelves in the basement I was going to have to re-organize and make some more room.
Well today is my birthday...Happy Birthday to me!
