January 30, 2023

MCP: Mysterio (Quentin Beck)

Once 'Rhino' was completed the weekend before, that meant that I only had one more model to finish in order for all of our "Spider Foes" Affiliation to be completed, and that model was 'Mysterio'

'Mysterio' has always looked a bit intimidating for me to paint, but Saturday night after dinner I sat down at the painting desk and got to work on some of the base colors.  Next thing I know he was getting pretty close to done.  Sunday morning I wrapped up the finishing touches, and completed the base.

I think once AdeptiCon is completed in March, I am going to look into playing Spider Foes more, probably just for fun.

Mysterio (Quentin Beck)

Mysterio (Quentin Beck)

Painting Points: 2

January 23, 2023

MCP: Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich)

When this model (Rhino) was first announced by Atomic Mass Games, not so much that I am a big fan of Spider-Foes, but mainly that I am a fan of larger models (Hulk size) and they get me excited to paint.

My 'Rhino' arrived this past Tuesday (due to MLK day here in the US on Monday) and I was able to assemble the model on Wednesday night.  I primed the model on Friday night to prep for weekend painting.  Saturday my son and I had a Bolt Action tournament that we played in, so no painting was done on that day, but come Sunday morning, 'Rhino' hit the painting table.

I have been looking at photo's of other completed models on Facebook, so I had an idea on how I wanted to paint him, and I quite happy on how he turned out.

Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich)

Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich)

Painting Points: 5

January 17, 2023

MCP: Pyro (St. John Allerdyce)

Slowly but surely models will get completed this year.  We already have a nice selection of painted models to play with, so I am currently just painting models that I think will be fun to paint and what interests me.

So up next is the second model in the "Blob/Pyro" box, with 'Pyro'.

Pyro (St. John Allerdyce)

Pyro (St. John Allerdyce)

Painting Points: 2

January 9, 2023

MCP: The Blob (Fred Dukes)

With a new job that requires me to actually go into an office, it looks like the number of models being painted in going to start to decline.

This past Saturday I actually had a little bit of time, and started/finished 'The Blob' for Marvel Crisis Protocol.

'The Blob' is a new release for the game and he is tied to the "Brotherhood of Mutants" Affiliation.

The Blob (Fred Dukes)

The Blob (Fred Dukes)

Painting Points: 5

January 1, 2023

What's in store for 2023!

Happy New Year 2023!

Well, today is the day I write out all my goals for the year only to find out on December 31st that I fell short once again.

So I think for 2023 like I did for 2022, I am going to keep it short and realistic.

This list will be again much shorter than last years, and if by chance I do play something not on the list, well then that will be a bonus. It is a little sad that some of the old staples will not be on this year.

Bolt Action

Bolt Action has not been on this list for some time, but not long ago when the AdeptiCon preview cart was made available, there was an event called "Combat Patrol" that sounded like it could fun, 450 points with quick games to be played on Thursday night.  This itch made my son and I did out all our Bolt Action models and see what we have and start working on lists.

There is a semi-local 1000 point event on January 21st that we are going to attend to help us shale the cobwebs off.

Painting Goal: None currently, we have enough models painted for the 1000 point event and plenty for the 450 points for AdeptiCon.

Gaming Goal:  We will probably be playing 3 games at the event, and I can see at least another 2 for the year.  For now I am going to keep it real low at 5 games and we shall see what happens.

Marvel Crisis Protocol

Well since around February of 2022, Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP) has basically taken over all of my hobby/gaming time. I love this game for a plethora of reasons, some are, it’s Marvel!, it plays quick (90 minutes and we can play 2 games in the time it takes 1 in other systems).

MCP will be my staple game for 2023, a new Crisis card set was just released three weeks ago so we have new missions for the year, and there are plenty of models scheduled to be released.

Painting Goal: I am not making any promises on this one. For 2022 I painted around 100 models for the game and we now have painted what really need. I still have 30+ models in the back log for the game and I am currently painting them when I am in the mood. I am sure when a “new, cool” model gets released it will take priority.

Gaming Goal: With 60+ games played in 2022 (which was a record for me with a single game system), 2023 “should” be a good year too. I am going to set my goal of just shy of 1 game a week with a total of 50 games played for 2023.

Middle-earth SBG

MeSBG making the list once again this year because there is still a small chance I may be playing in the Battle Companies event at AdeptiCon or Doubles event at NOVA Open.

Painting Goal: This one is hard to say, nothing is currently planned, but there is a chance that a model here or there may need to be completed.

Gaming Goal: Also as above, a few games of practice will be needed, in either case, I think maybe I can get in 1-2 games in for the year.

Warhammer 40,000

I was way off with Warhammer 40,000 for 2022, but I am going to leave it on the list for 2023 “just in case”. You never know what may happen with this game or MCP.

Painting Goal: Currently no plans.

Gaming Goal: Currently no plans.

Star Wars Legion

Star Wars Legion (SWL) was a new game we added in 2022. The goal for us was to play this game with the Skirmish rule set and we did get a few games in. We picked up this game as filler between MCP games and I think this will still be the case for 2023. I have painted 800 points of Empire, so playing Skirmish games at 500 points is easily doable. There is a chance this game may get shelved for us (see below).

Painting Goal: No plans, but a few models may get painted in between painting MCP.

Gaming Goal: Tough to say with what we may see coming out this summer (see below).

New Games for 2023?

As I had mentioned twice above “see below”, Atomic Mass Games (makers of MCP, and current owner of SWL) are releasing a new Star Wars game this Summer called “Star War Shatterpoint”. AMG currently has only teased the game with planned demos at AdeptiCon 2023, but as of now looks to be played very similar to MCP. If that is the case, this game will be competing for time with Star Wars Legion.

Events

I originally had planned quite a few events for 2023, but a change of jobs recently is going to damper those plans. I am still working on what events we want to attend, I have thoughts in mind compared to what reality might be. Realistically it will probably be a Spring event and a Fall event.

March 22nd - 26th: AdeptiCon
August 30th - September 3rd: NOVA Open ?
October 6th - 8th: Michigan GT ?
October xx- xx: Second Wind ?
November 3rd - 5th: Warfaire Weekend?

As you can see above, the Fall event is still undecided. I really wanted to go back to the Atlantic City Open in June, but I do not think that will be possible.

Now we’ll see if the above holds true for 2023. 

December 31, 2022

2022 Year in Review

Well it is New Year's Eve, December 31st 2022, and you know what that means.  It is my annual "2022 Year in Review"

As I do each year, 2022 started with a "What's in store for 2022!" so we will use that post as a basis for our year in review.


Middle-earth SBG

Painting Goal:  This one is hard to say, as stated above, if we play in the Doubles, I'll have to finish an army in time.

Gaming Goal:  Also as above, a few games of practice will be needed, in either case, I think maybe I can get in 1-2 games in for the year.

Well MeSBG had a small chance this year, and I failed to live up to that little bit.  The urge to play would come and go, and I even painted a few models to prepare for AdeptiCon 2023 just in case.  With a goal of 1-2 games, 0 games were played.

Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 will be the bulk of 2022 for me.  Between adding on more Units to my new Necron army, and new Codex's coming out for armies I already have to attending tournaments, all my time will be mainly spent here.

Painting Goal: In all honestly, I think for the first time I do not have a painting goal.  I would have said my Necron army, but this past Fall I managed to paint over 2000 Points of Necrons, so 2022 will be adding to that army.  I also have a Chaos Space Marines, and a Tyranid army on the back burner that are waiting for a new Codex, so we shall see who gets a Codex first and that army probably will hit the painting table next.

Gaming Goal: Last year I had a goal of 24 games and I hit it with 29 games played and I think 24 games will be another realist goal to hit.  I do think that with events somewhat opening back up, this number should be easily attained.

I cannot believe what a FLOP! I had with Warhammer 40,000 this past year.  W40K was going to be my bread and butter game for 2022 and half way through the first month of January things really turned around.  I did attend the Las Vegas Open 2022 and played the first day of the 'Warhammer 40,00 Friendly' with the second day shopping and enjoying myself at the bar.

A few more of my Necron models did get completed, but with a gaming goal of 24 games, I only managed to play 5 games in 2022 (and 2 of them were in Vegas).

X-Wing

X-Wing is a great game that can be played in 75 minutes, so it always seems to make the list for the New Year.

Painting Goal: Not Applicable (pre-painted miniatures)

Gaming Goal: I had a goal of 6 games for 2021 and I fell way short with only 1 game played.  An updated version (v2.5) will be coming out early 2022 so I know we will play a few games to try out the updated rules.  So for 2022, I think I will set my goal to 5 games.

As with the three games above, X-Wing was another FLOP! for me.  We did not try the new v2.5 rule set, nor reached my goal of 5 games played, kind of hard to do when 0 games were played.  I have a feeling in 2023 this game will finally be officially shelved/boxed for me.

Events

COVID has really messed up 2020 and most of 2021 for attending events, 2022 has more events scheduled but there seems to always be a new variant coming out, so events are always risky at the moment.

We do have quite a few events planned out so far for 2022:

  • January 28th - 30th: Las Vegas Open
  • March 23rd - 27th: AdeptiCon
  • May 13th-15th: Motor City Mayhem
  • August 7th - 14th: Cruisehammer
  • September 30th - October 2nd: Michigan GT 
If we can make those 5 events, it will be a good year.

Some of the events above we did attend (LVO, AdeptiCon) and some we did not (MCM, Cruisehammer, MiGT) but we added a few other events for the year.  One of the biggest add-on's for the year was the Atlantic City Open (ACO) and I had a really good time there.  We had a few more planned for the Fall, but personal reasons kept us from attending.

New Games for 2022?

NONE....  I have too many games already sitting on the shelf.  Warhammer Age of Sigmar did not make the above list and we do have plenty of models for the game now, so if its played, as originally stated way above, it will be a plus.

Okay, here are where things took a change and I believe for the better.  Back on January 24th of 2022 in my "Weekly Chronicle #4" I talk about the game Marvel Crisis Protocol (MCP) and how it has started to interest me after attending Universal Studios Florida.  That happened to be the week before Las Vegas Open 2022.  While at LVO, there were some vendors selling MCP at a really good price so a lot of models were purchased, followed by vendors at AdeptiCon and so on and next thing you know we have almost every model in the range including two copies of the Core Set.

I have always liked games that are quick to play, and MCP is that game (plus the added benefit of Marvel Super Heroes).  Between setup, playing, and clean up, you can be done in 2 hours.  Each game is 90 minutes (and we play on a clock) and there have even been days where we would get a back to back game in.

So as you can see in the original games above, of the three games, only 5 games were played in total, that is because I had played 62 games of Marvel Crisis Protocol this past year and I do not see it letting up anytime soon.

Another game we picked up in 2022 was Star Wars Legion, we have been going back and forth about this game for awhile and finally picked up some models.  We were going to be playing in a Narrative game at LVO 2023 (but that is not going to be happening now) but I did manage to paint up a 800 point force.  We also played 5 games this year and then it kind of sizzled again due to MCP.  Not sure what will happen in 2023 for this game with talks of a new Star Wars game coming from AMG similar to MCP.

Come back tomorrow for "What's in Store for 2023!"

December 18, 2022

MCP: Carnage (Cletus Kasady)

More than likely, this will be the last model to be completed for 2022, and it was the most intimidating model as of lately.

I have been slowly working on completing our "Spider Foes" Affiliation in anticipation of 'Rhino' arriving next month and I was down to the final two models, and one of them 'Carnage' is now completed.

Carnage (Cletus Kasady)

Carnage (Cletus Kasady)

Painting Points: 5

December 9, 2022

MCP: M.O.D.O.K. (George Tarleton)

We originally only purchased M.O.D.O.K. for the Crisis Card that comes in his character pack, so he has been on the shelf for awhile.

Well this has been the week that I was slowly working on some back log, and painting him came to mind.  Usually a model sits on the shelf (unless it is a rush need) until I think of a way on how I want to paint the model (quickly but tabletop quality) and with M.O.D.O.K. it came to me the other day, so yesterday he hit the painting table.

M.O.D.O.K. (George Tarleton)

M.O.D.O.K. (George Tarleton)

Painting Points: 5

December 8, 2022

MCP: Omega Red (Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich)

Currently there is not a model that I "need" to get completed, so I am just slowly working on our backlog of Marvel Crisis Protocol models.

This is another model that has been sitting around for awhile that we actually have not used yet, but you never know, one day I may want to play Criminal Syndicate or Cabal and throw this model into my roster.

Here is 'Omega Red':

Omega Red (Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich)

Omega Red (Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich)

Painting Points: 5

December 6, 2022

MCP: Kraven (Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff)

This is now back to back posts on Spider Foes with 'Lizard' being done yesterday and now 'Kraven' today.

The other day, Atomic Mass Games (AMG) revealed a new model coming out in January 2023, and it is 'Rhino' and it is more than likely he will be part of the Spider Foes.  I really like the look of this model and I am excited for it, hence the reason to try and get more of our Spider Foes completed.

Here is a look at the new 'Rhino' model from AMG.


Back to this original post and 'Kraven'.

Kraven (Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff)

Kraven (Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff)

Painting Points: 2