Project Updates: 3/31/2009

Well its been almost 2 weeks since my last post and an update is well overdue. Been busy with various projects, playing games, and weekend birthday parties and of course getting ready for AdeptiCon which is taking place this weekend.

Besides running the LotR Singles Championships this Friday (which I really did not have to much to do beforehand, Jamie W is the TO for the event and he had written all the scenarios/scoresheets, I'll just physically be running the tourney.) I was tasked with making Tournament Packets. I used to do all the packets for AdeptiCon years ago, but with the event growing every year, I only had time to put together the following: Battlefleet Gothic, Bloodbowl, LotR Singles/Doubles, Necromunda, Warhammer 40K Combat Patrol, Warhammer 40K Youngbloods, Warhammer Ancient Battles Singles/Doubles. Thats still a lot of packets and it is very time consuming to make them all nice and pretty. Then the TO's sometimes have typo's and I have to go back re-edit and re-PDF the packets. I'm happy to say that the packets are all finally done.

Now onto some of the projects and what's left to do.

AdeptiCon:

Display board for my sons LotR 350 point army: Almost done, board is put together and base coated. Need to dry bush a highlight layer and then flock with static grass. Its nothing fancy, just something to make it easy for him to move his army around between games.

Movement Trays: Trays for my Empire Fantasy army that I will be playing in Sunday's Team Tournament have been repainted to match the new color of my bases. All thats left is to "matte" coat them.

Army Lists: Need to print multiple copies of all Army Lists for my son and I.

Batttlefleet Gothic:

Imperial Navy: I had about 1200 points of Imperial Navy (mostly from the starter box) so I built and painted these up last week for my son to play. We also played another game of BFG last week and it was good time. No pics at the moment, but I'll try and get some up soon.

LoTOW:

No updates to report. Models are still sitting unprimed. Unfortunately these slid down a little bit on my list of projects.

LoTHS:

No updates to report. Not sure when I will get to finish these guys.

LotR:

No updates to report. The last model I finished was the Mordor Troll. Waiting for WotR to come out this weekend and then I'm sure I'll have plenty to assemble and paint.

Warhammer Fantasy:

Empire: Re-based 1000 points so I can match my teammate for the AdeptiCon Team Tournament. Eventually I will get around to re-basing the rest of the army.

Dark Elves: No updates to report. Besides buying some models in Arizona before I left for Chicago, they have been sitting untouched.

Dwarfs: No updates to report. I have about 2000 points of Dwarfs painted, and about another 2000 points that need basing and touching up.

Wood Elves: No updates to report. This is my sons army, and I have not touched it in awhile.

Honestly I thought I'd be playing more Fantasy when I moved back to Chicago, but I prefer playing LotR and W40K over Fantasy. Plus the model count is a lot less. (until WotR gets released). Once in awhile we will throw down a Fantasy game, but I don't see myself finishing up any of these projects in the near future.

Warhammer 40K:

Dark Angels (son): He's had his DA army for quite a few years and we have been slowly adding to it. Recently we purchased some Terminators so he can run a Deathwing list. The models are all assembled and primed, they just need to be painted. This one also slid down the list a bit since I am painting a new army for him.

Salamanders (son): Shortly after the new Space Marines Codex came out at the end of 2008, my son and I have started to purchase models for him so he can play a "generic" Space Marine list that will be themed after the Salamanders. Since he purchased a lot of these models with his own money, I have slid this army to the top of my painting list. We have about 1000 points already assembled and primed. This past week I finished painting his 2 Troop Squads, they came out quite nicely (pics to come soon). Last night he purchased a Land Raider Redeemer. We'll be using this in his 1250/1500/1750 point lists. Its all about having fun with your toys. I know at 1250 its probably overkill, but who cares, let him have some fun. My goal is to have 1500 points painted by the end of April, 1750 would be nice.

Chaos Thousand Sons: No updates to report. I have close to 1000 points painted and have 1750 assembled and primed. Eventually these will get done.... I did say eventually.

Orks: No updates to report. Close to 1750 points are assembled and just sitting bare plastic. I decided to go with a "horde" army. Oh well, I want to get these done just to have another evil army to play, but I have other armies I prefer playing instead. I don't mind playing these "bare" for now. This is one army I am highly considering outsourcing to paint, but that will be pricey. Never know, maybe I'll ship them to my friend Tim K in Phoenix to paint for commission :)

Ultramarines: No updates to report. Back in Phoenix I assembled and base coated a 1750 point Ultramarine Drop Pod list after the new Codex came out. If I have time in April (after the Salamanders) I'll start adding some of the highlights. This is one army I really want to finish and I have plenty of other models/vehicles I can expand with this army. The Ultramarines will eventually become my Space Marine army that I will always expand on.

Imperial Guard: Well the new Codex for Imperial Guard comes out May 2nd. As always I got the itch then to start an IG army. I had a very nice one years ago, but never played it much and then sold it to a close friend. Now I'm regretting it, but it allows me to start fresh. I've been slowly picking up some of the Cadian Troopers. Right now you can get 20 Cadians for $35.00. The rumor has it they will start to be packaged as 10 for $22.00. So a lot of people are picking these up now. I'll hold off on the tanks for awhile until I see what kind of variants Games Workshop releases. I'll probably start assembling some of the Troopers in downtime (or just when I dont fell like painting) and move this army to the top of the list for the month of May.

I can see the IG and UM as my future W40K Armies that will be expanding. I'll always have other armies to play with, but these will grow.

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BFG: First Game

Well its been almost 4 years since I painted my Chaos Black Legion Fleet for Battlefleet Gothic and I finally got in my first game of BFG on Monday night. I scheduled an intro game with my friend Robert at the Battle Bunker, (Robert will be the Tournament Organizer for BFG at AdeptiCon 2009).

We played with 750 point fleets just so I could get a hang on how the game plays. Some of the advanced rules like ramming and boarding we did not cover in this session. Again I just wanted to get a feel on how it plays.

It was very fun, and its very different. Tactical is all I can say. There were times where I didn't want to move because I like my position for the shot, but in BFG you must move each ship in the Movement Phase at least half its distance. The thing is, you cant go backwards, always forward and most ships are only allowed one turn.

I'm looking forward to getting a couple more games in under my belt so I can fully understand the rules. I was hoping to get back out there last night, but I didn't finish painting my sons Imperial Fleet in time. Hopefully Friday night we'll head back out.

Here are some pics of my Chaos Black Legion, again these were painted close to 4 years ago.

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LotR: Mordor Troll

After GitD 2008, I picked up the new plastic Mordor Troll and it's been sitting on my shelf for months. With WotR coming out next month, and my urge to work on my "Dol Guldur" list for LotR, I decided to break out my Mordor Troll.

I spent Saturday with my oldest son showing him how to build some models while I worked on the Troll. I started painting the Troll on Monday, and finished him yesterday.

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LotR: Giant Spiders

So after playing as the "Ringer" in GitD 2009 with Tim K's "Dol Guldur" list, I had an inkling to come home and build some Giant Spiders.

For now, I decided to go with 6 Giant Spiders. These will fit in nicely with my LotR lists and be a nice ally for my Mordor WotR armies.

I completed the 6 Giant Spiders over the weekend and here is a pic of 2 of them.

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WotR: Quick Start Game

So yesterday my son and I headed to the Chicago Battle Bunker with models in tow to try out the new Quick Start Rules and sample Scenario for War of the Ring.

We played the following armies based on the Scenario that was given.

Gondor:

2 companies of Minas Tirith Warriors

1 company of Minas Tirith Archers

3 companies of Minas Tirith Knights

3 companies of Rangers of Gondor

Mordor:

3 companies of Morannon Orc Warband (with shields)

3 companies of Warg Riders

2 companies of Orc Warriors (with shields)

1 Mordor Troll

I played the Evil Force, while my son played the Good Force.

Deployment:

Victory Condition:

To win this scenario, the forces of Evil need to get

at least a quarter of their companies off the board

via the eastern board edge, whereas Good need to

destroy enough of the Evil force to prevent this.

Note that monsters, such as the Mordor Troll, are a

single company.

The Good Forces ended up defeating the Evil Forces as I was not able to get any one off the table edge.

WotR seems like a fun game, but I did not care too much for the QSR. It does not include a lot of charts for Shooting and Charging which I think could have possibly changed the game.

I also do not think WotR is for these type of scenarios. I can see myself playing WotR with more of a Pitched Battle type of game.

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First Games of LoTOW

Sorry for the delay in writing this, but actually been busy painting. Getting ready for AdeptiCon 2009, I had to touch up my Warhammer Fantasy Empire Army for the Fantasy Team Tournament, and I have to work on getting together a 350 point force for the LotR Team Tournament.

Anyways, this past Saturday 2/28/09 my son and I got in a couple of LoTOW games. We played two games of High Noon. Figures/Building are not yet painted (they will have to wait till after ACon) but we threw down anyways.

I played the Lawmen consisting of 8 models, a Sheriff/Deputy/3 Vigilantes/3 Citizens. My son played Outlaws consisting of 10 models, a Desperado/9 Rowdies. We each had a mix of weapons from sixguns, heavy pistols, rifles, repeating rifles, and shotguns. We each played with $200 starting posse.

In the first game, the Lawmen won, and in the Second game, the Outlaws won. They were 2 fun games and quite different from LotR. I really enjoy all the shooting that takes place in the game. Its a good change from all the HtH that takes place in LotR.

We'll be playing again this weekend, and I think we'll probably start doing a campaign between the two of us. Seems like it will be fun playing with the experiance and upgrades and purchasing more models for the posse. My son really wants to play with Billy the Kid, so we'll see if he can earn enough money.

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Cowboys Assembled

Well, I spent the last two nights assembling all 48 cowboys and got them done. Painting them will be a different story. With AdeptiCon coming up the first weekend in April, I still have alot to get ready for that. I need to make sure my sons armies are done for LotR and W40K. I need to make sure my Fantasy army is ready for the Team Tourney, and I just found out yesterday I may be playing in the LotR Team Tourney that Saturday. If I end up playing on Saturday, I may have to paint up some more LotR to add to my army.

So the cowboys will probably wait till after AdeptiCon before they see any paint (then WotR will also be coming out......)

I'll still play with the cowboys unpainted until then, but probably just at home. Playing at a store with unpainted mini's is something I really dont like to do.

So come back tomorrow for a write up of our first LotOW game.

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Back in the Saddle

Well I'm back in the saddle after a great weekend at Gatering in the Desert 2009. You can read more about how the weekend went at my co-organizers site Cursed Treasures, I can say it went really well.

The entire weekend was a blast for myself. Here is a quick breakdown of events.

Friday:
3:00 AM Limo came and picked my cousin (helping me drive back) and myself up and we headed for O'Hare airport.

We got to O'Hare pretty early (3:30 AM) and the flight wasnt till 5:00 AM. But thats OK, better safe than sorry.

I still had status with U.S. Airways from all my travels with them for work, so we both had First Class all the way to the desert, it was nice and relaxing.

We landed close to 8:00 AM (local time) and my parents picked us up and we headed out.

After a quick cup of coffee and a smoke, my cousin and I decided to head out to Old Tucson Studios. This is the Hollywood for Arizona, where films like Young Guns 2 and Tombstone were filmed. My cousin is a Cowboy at heart (horse/sixguns and all) so he really enjoys visiting places like this, as do I. We spent the entire afternoon there and around 3:30 PM headed back for Phoenix.

I was suppose to be playing my buddy Tim K in an LoTOW game that night, but we had just missed each other.

Saturday:
Saturday was the start of GitD 2009. Like I stated it was blast. As a "Ringer" I got to play in Game 2 "Light the Beacons" against Keith H from Colorodo. What a fun game.......

Saturday night a group of us from GitD all went to BJ's for some microbrew and sandwiches. The dinner was great, and it was nice to be able to relax with the players who attended.

Sunday:
This was Day 2 of GitD, and again I got to play in Game 5 "The Last Alliance" against Kyle K (owner of Empire Games). Another great game as I saw my Spider Queen run off the table.

GitD was over around 4:30 PM and we started to pack things up.

Later that evening, my cousin and I decided to visit Rawhide. Its a 1880's Wild West town in Phoenix. They have a saloon and plenty of stores to pickup gifts. We walked the town while drinking our Root Beers. I ended up getting a t-shirt and a cactus to bring home.

Monday:
Time to make the "road trip" back home. My plan was to have a 5:00 AM start, but that turned into a 6:30 AM start. That was OK, since we were heading West through the city of Globe, traffic was not going to be a problem. We wanted to do some sight seeing on the way home so we cut the corner of the state of Arizona to get to New Mexico instead of going on the Interstate. It was a very scenic drive.

As we are driving through New Mexico we decided to make a pit stop and veer off the interstate and head towards Fort Sumner. In case you do not know, Fort Sumner is where Billy the Kid is buried. We toured the Billy the Kid Musuem and took photos at the gravesite. Perfect timing, as we finished up the photos, the sun decided then to set.

Tuesday:
After driving straight through from Phoenix, at 4:00 PM I walked in through the door and crashed on my bed for a nap.

It was a very fun packed weekend and I had a blast.
Now its time to start building my models.....

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I'm so excited!

The doorbell rings....... I had a feeling it was the Old West building that I ordered. I go and answer the door. The mailman is holding a large box, yep its my buildings. "What's this" I ask myself seeing a smaller box on top. Black Scorpion Minatures... oh yea, my Old West mini's came in at the same time. That's pretty quick considering they came from England.

When I get back this weekend from the GitD 2009, I'll take some pics of the buildings.

It's gonna be busy when I get back.... cleaning/paintingg buildings, building the mini's, and I'm gonna work on building an Old West table.

So stay tuned.....

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Gathering in the Desert 2009

Gathering in the Desert 2009 is fast approaching this weekend February 21st-22nd, 2009. All that is left to do is "dot the i's and cross the t's".

So what is GitD2009. Its the annual The Lord of the Rings SBG Indy GT that my good friend Tim K (author of LoTHS) and myself run down in Phoenix, AZ.

The forces of good and evil are gathering in the desert once more, and you have been called to serve and fight. Will you answer the call? Come fight for the forces of good or the forces of evil in the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix AZ for the second annual The Lord of the Rings Independent Grand Tournament February 21st & 22nd 2009. Enjoy 5 exciting games over 2 days testing your strengths against some of the best players in the country.

This weekend's event will be the second annual Indy GT. In 2008 we held the event over the Fourth of July weekend, and summer time in Phoenix is a no-no. So for 2009 we moved the event to February so all the out-of-towners can enjoy the beautiful weather at that time of year.

Also in 2009, GitD will be part of the Games Workshop Tournament Circuit. We will be the first event for LotR of the year.

Alot of hard work is being done to make this event very successful and I want to THANK everyone that was involved. Obviously Tim and myself, but also to those that helped with making Themed tables, T-Shirt designs and Empire Games for hosting our event. They are a top-notch indepedent retailer in Mesa, AZ. Thank You.

Now that is left to do is board the plane on Friday morning and have a fun weekend.

For more information on GitD 2009, please visit Adeptus Arizona.

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