List for 2010

Since most of my friends have made a list of things to do for 2010, I'll give it a shot. I'm going to try and keep it simple for 2010. With the move back to Arizona coming in late May / early June I really do not want to buy too much while still here in Chicago just to haul it all back. So here we go.

My main goal for 2010 will be to concentrate on two core games Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy.

Warhammer 40K: PLAY MORE.... thats my goal. I really do enjoy playing this game, especially with 5th edition. I love the idea of playing for objectives and the random games. You never know what will happen. I'm looking forward to the new Missions Book that will be released in March.

Hobbying: try to finish 1750 points of my Imperial Guard before I move back. I will then work on expanding that army after I move. IG will be "my" W40K army going forward. I also have a Space Marine Ultramarine Drop Pod army that is sitting just basecoated, these will bot be touched till after the move. I just "boxed" them up yesterday. Not sure how much more I will get done on my son's Space Marine army. I have 1750 points painted for him, and plenty more models that we can add to his list. The Salamanders are his W40K army that we will always expand on.

Warhammer Fantasy: Recently I started playing WFB more and more and I'm also starting to really enjoy this game again. The Dark Elves have rejuvenated myself and Fantasy. I was getting tired of always losing with my Empire. I am also organizing a "Spring League" here in Illinois and looking forward to those games. I definitely want to play more in 2010.

Hobbying: Get my Dark Elves done to 2250 points before I leave. I am really making progress on these guys and I can see this happening. I really want a Skaven army, this will also wait till after the move. The DE will be done and gives me another new army to start. I also plan on getting the Wood Elves finally done for my son. We'll slowly add new models for him replacing some of the older versions. I have been making a lot of progress on this. I finally also decided to let him paint some of his own models. He's starting with the Treekin. Not sure what Fantasy army he will want next. Maybe he'll try out my Empire army for awhile. There is some models we can replace/add for that Army. My Dwarfs are in a good state right now. I have a 2250 point list that I like to play with the options of changing it up from time to time. Just need to redo the bases on some of the models.

LotR: My son's not going to like to hear this....... but I have no plans for LotR in 2010. The interest for me is just not there at the moment. Maybe when the new "Hobbit" movie comes out, or if I get a little burned out from W40K/WFB I may then paint a few. My son really loves this game, but hopefully we'll be playing the above 2 more and he'll start to like those more.

LotOW: I have buildings, I have models..... I have not really done much or played much in 2009. That will change in 2010. Again as soon as we move, I can see LotOW replacing LotR as my third game system. I hope living in the desert again will spark my interest.

LotHS: I need to play this game.... I have yet to play it. I did get a crew finally painted up. My goal when I go back to Arizona is to play this game with Tim K. Before we play any other game together, we are going to PLAY LotHS. I'm calling you out Tim.

FOW: I have an American Tank army painted and a partial Soviet Tank army painted. I would like to finish up the Soviet Army just so I can have two armies to play the game. I played FOW a few times in 2009, 2010 is looking a little bleak at the moment. I will keep the models/books though in case I want to throw down.

So I thinks that's it for 2010. I need to try to go back to the core and not stretch myself out. If all I play is W40K and WFB I'll be happy ( as long as I actually play). If I get to play the others also, that will be bonus.

OK, onto 2010.......

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June Is REALLY Here

Boy did May really fly on by. Seems like I didn't really get much done, oh wait I didn't. Here is a recap what I did do in May, along with what I hope to accomplish for June.

LoTHS:

As you can see, I finally did get my Pirate crew done for Legends of The High Seas. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the Pirate campaign that was scheduled for May 15th. Last minute our family had to go out of town for the weekend. I am really hoping that John invites me to the next one and that I can attend. At least my crew is done for now.

LoTOW:

Nothing to report here. No models painted yet, and I wasn't able to get any games in. Now that my "TV" shows are done for the season, I'm hoping to get some more weekday gaming in. "Hoping" is the key word. June is already starting to look pretty busy.

W40K:

Imperial Guard: I did manage to assemble all my Infantry for my 1750 point IG Army minus 2 Officer's. I still have 8 Chimera's and 2 Devil Dogs (Devil Dogs are due out in August) to assemble to complete my IG list. Currently I'm in a GW funk, so we'll see how much gets painted this month. My "goal" is to have my IG done by October in time for the "Wild West Shootout" in Phoenix.

Six of us did start a W40K Gentleman's League in May. The games are all between 1000-1500 points and we are using the 3 missions/deployments from the main rule book. We get 3 points for a Win, 1 point for a Draw. The League will last for 5 Missions and 10 weeks. Each mission you have 2 weeks to schedule a game with your opponent. We are almost done with the second mission. I will get my second game in tomorrow night. My first game was a Draw.

Again, I'm hoping to start painting the IG Infantry this month, but we shall see. I have plenty of other 40K armies to play with in the meantime. I still would like to get my son's Redeemer done and another 10 man Tactical Squad for him. But they may have to wait till July/August.

FOW: (Flames Of War)

Here is a new entry for me. Flames Of War. Years ago before I moved to Arizona I had built a US Rifle Company for Flames Of War. I never did learn how to play the game and ended up selling the army.

When I moved to Arizona, I still didn't know too many people that played the game. But I did like the models and I do love the WWII history. My Grandfather was a Major for the Royal Yugoslav Army and was captured in April 1941 and spent the rest of the war in camp. After the war, he was exiled from Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia became Communist after the war) and lived in Austria for awhile before coming here to the US. Anyways, I had decided to purchase some more models and hopefully learn to play the game. I purchased the models, but never learned the game. I ended up building a Mid War / Late War US Tank Company. I can interchange the US Tanks between both time periods. I finished painting all my tanks in Arizona, but stopped when it got time to paint the Infantry for my Rifle Platoon. Seeing those small (15mm) infantry got scary......

Anyways a few weeks ago, my friends in Arizona NOW decided to start FOW. This started to also give me the itch and on Memorial Day I decided to break out my FOW army. My son and I visited a local game store on 5/27 (Games Plus) where they have a large crowd that plays the game. We sat and watched them for the night playing a large battle and we started to pick up on the rules. I've got the movement/shooting down, but still need to understand the assault phase a little better. I decided to pick up some Soviet Tanks so I can also start a LW Soviet Tank Company so I have something to play against my son.

After watching the game on Wednesday night, I decided to start to paint my Infantry for the US so I can have 1500 in Late War complete for the US and about 2200 in MW (US tanks cost more in the MW). They were not as hard to paint as I had originally thought. I went pretty basic with just base colors and then used one of the new GW washes (Devlan Mud) to wash the entire model. They look pretty nice. I have most of the Infantry done. I'm shooting to get them done by the end of the week. Plus I need to get the Soviet Tanks assembled/painted. I put together one just to see how it goes.

My plan is to head back to Games Plus on Friday 6/5 for a couple starter games with my son so we can go through all the phases of the game. (My Mom comes into town today for the next 2 weeks, so its gonna be hard getting out to play, kids are going to want to visit with her. But we'll see what we can manage.)

Like I mentioned earlier, I always had a "love/desire" to play WWII. I am really hoping that I am going to enjoy this game. One of the problems is that Games Plus is about 15 miles / 30 minutes away and they are the closest indy store to me. All the other store are actual Games Workshop stores, so obviously no FOW there. So getting out to Games Plus on a week night is tough. Luckily they meet on Wednesday's and Friday's so I'm thinking Friday's will be my night for FOW.

LoTR:

No models built/painted last month for LotR. I did get in 2 games of SBG which were really fun. 2 weeks ago I played my son in a very friendly "made up" scenario, then last Sunday I played my friend Jamie (AWC LOTR club founder) in "Meeting Engagement". Both games were a blast and it was great to play the skirmish game. I have yet to feel the "love" for War of The Ring (WoTR)

Blue Max / Canvas Eagles:

A friend that I met at the Chicago Bunker when I first moved back kept on raving about a game called Blue Max which is about WWI aerial combats. A group of his friends meet up at his house once a month and play the game.

So last Sunday after my LoTR game, my son and I headed on down to check out the aerial action. What a FUN game and easy to learn. The game we played was on a 4x6 felt mat with 3" hexes, and the models that he uses are the WWI planes from the game "Wings of War". The planes are 1/144 in scale and come pre-painted. The models are then glued to a 6" pole/base.

The original Blue Max rules which were written in the 1980's does not use "altitude" in the game and all the planes can only shoot straight. It keeps the game fast and simple.

Others (Canvas Eagles) have modified the rules slightly and have added altitude to the game and slight modified some of the damage charts.

The rules for the Canvas Eagles edition (which is frequently updated/maintained) can be found here: www.eaglesmax.com

The rules for the original edition of Blue Max can be found here: www.youplay.it/play/bm_GameRulesFull.asp

I think this Friday night while I'm up at Games Plus I'm going to be picking up some planes. My plan is to start to play with the Canvas Eagles rules since they're site is updated with Plane charts and Damage charts (minus the altitude rules, we'll learn those later) and when we meet once a month with my friends, we'll then play by the Blue Max rules. If you know how to play by the Canvas Eagles rules, then playing the Blue Max rules is very easy.

The game is fun and very easy to learn. You can also play on a smaller scale (which I may do if I find the planes).

Thats about it for gaming for May.

Hopefully I'll get more updates for June. Sorry for the lack of them in May.

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LoTHS: Pirate Crew Is Complete

I know Tim..... finally....

My Pirate Crew in is finally complete. Really looking forward to trying them out on the 15th. Eventually in due time I'll have to get a Crew painted up for my son.

Captain Christopher Condent, Mate Roosevelt Read, Quartermaster William "Patch" Dampier

Cutthroats Fineglin' Darius Scarr & Musket Ball Ferdinand

Rogue's Bernard Mauvebeard, Hubert the Cash-Strapped, Seamus the Off-White, Laird the Hatless, Edmund Kidd, Bryan the Back-Stabber, Brody Dregg

The Rogues were the last seven pirate's I had to complete for my Crew. I'm actually quite happy how they turned out. I got to play around with the GW Foundation Paints and GW Washes on these guys.

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LoTHS: 3 Down 4 To Go

Making Tim proud!!!!!

A little over a year ago, my buddy Tim K in Phoenix, AZ released his miniature book "Legends of The High Seas" for Warhammer Historical. Just before the book was released in the US, I went over to Eureka Miniatures USA and purchased myself around 30 pirates to prepare for the book.

When my miniatures arrived, I quickly assembled/based/primed 12 of them for my Pirate Crew. I finished painting 5 of them and the other 7 just sat in their primed state waiting for attention. The funny thing, the whole time I was living in Arizona, I never did get to get a game in. Most of the time Tim and I would hook up and play LotR or to discuss items for Gathering in the Desert.

Like I wrote in a earlier post, John@PlasticLegions will be running a LoTHS Campaign this month on the 15th. He sent me a message telling me I can play if I could have my Pirate Crew done in time.

Well the 7 lonely pirates came out of hiding this morning, and I was able to complete 3 of them. There not high quality paint jobs, but they are tabletop quality for sure. I have 4 more to get done in 11 days. This is very doable.

I only need 10 complete for Pirate Crew of 200 Gold Doubloons, but I figure to have 2 extra in case I find some more gold.

Once I get the 12 complete/dull coated, I'll post pictures of my crew.

-Aargh Maty-

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May Is Here

So the month of May is here, you know what that means? The new Imperial Guard Codex gets released tomorrow and my month will be busy building a new IG Army.

Besides a new IG Army, here is what else I have on my plate for this month.

LotHS:

I need to get 7 more pirates painted by May 15th. John@PlasticLegions is going to be running a Legends of the High Seas campaign on that day, and he is trying to squeeze me into the campaign. The campaign is called The Spanish Main and you can read more about it HERE. I have 5 pirates that I completed last year and its finally time to get them done to 12. These will be my highest priority for the next 2 weeks.

W40K:

Salamander's: I need to get the Land Raider Redeemer completed for 1750 points, I'd like to also complete two Attack Bikes to round out the list to 1850. There is a 1850 point Youngbloods tournament on May 23rd so that will be my goal. If I cannot complete those three items by then I'll have him play his Dark Angels or another army.

Imperial Guard: Yep, this month will be dedicated to my new IG Army. A friend of mine from Tucson built me a 1750 point Mechanized list, and I think I'll start with this list for now. Eventually I will be expanding the IG to play a variety of different lists. There are so many cool models for the IG that I think they will become my army that I expand on for myself. Space Marines for my son and IG for myself.

Ok, time to get back to building..... 20 IG Infantry legs just finished drying to their bases.......

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Welcome!

Welcome to The Old West Chronicle. The blog for Miniature Gaming set in the Old West. I will use this blog to detail and keep track of my progress with my gaming and miniatures from the Old West era. I also have miniatures from The Lord of the Rings and Legends of The High Seas that I will also be posting here. The miniature scale that I use is considered to be 25-28mm.

The main ruleset that I will be playing with for Old West is "Legends of The Old West" by Warhammer Historical. This is a "skirmish" style of game play where each posse has a maximum of 12-15 miniatures (not including "Hired Guns"). LoTOW gameplay is very similiar to the other two games mentioned above, LotR and LoTHS. These smaller style skirmish games is what I enjoy playing most now, and the low model count helps in getting them painted.

Well sit back and relax and I hope you enjoy the wagon ride out west.

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