Ending 2016 on a High Note

I haven't gotten much done on the painting front lately - I'm waiting on a set of magnetic bases to attach my Teutonic Knights to before I go whole hog painting them up.  I did get two more figures assembled since last post - my general and Army Standard Bearer.  I've got some paint on them now too, but I'm holding off on showing them until they're complete and I can post them to the Painting Challenge.

general on the viewer's left, Standard Bearer on the right.

All I'll show you is the freehand I've done on the general's shield, as well as my reference image:

While I haven't been doing much painting, I did, however, fulfill a long-time dream of mine this week, and I'm going to count that as ending 2016 on a high note.

I played a full, army-level wargame for the first time ever this past Wednesday - something I've wanted to do since, oh, I started high school, back in the Olden Days of Yore.  At the time we had a Games Workshop store and Warhammer 6th Edition was rolling out - I had no idea there were other games besides Warhammer and 40K, but it didn't matter because back then I had so little income that I couldn't afford to build an army.  

Wednesday I got to play Warhammer Ancient Battles (second edition) at one of the local game stores - not my primary locale of Just Games, but Boldo's Armory, a smaller store catering more to wargamers.  They have a Warhammer night every other week and I was invited to come experience a demo game.  

I borrowed a medieval Polish army and sat down across the table from Daniel, who had brought a Holy Roman Empire force.  Boldo watched over us, pointing out useful tactics to me or explaining points of the rules.  I didn't think to take any pictures so this won't be a full AAR, but let me just say that my dice were hot that night - and Daniel's were decidedly not, especially when it came to Panic Tests.  Enough of his army routed off the table to give me the victory.  All in all, the game - with 2800 points and around 100 miniatures on each side - took about two hours to play through to its conclusion.  

Unsurprisingly, I'm eager to play again, and my big project for January and February is going to be finishing my Teutonic Knights army so I can play with my own figures instead of borrowing off someone else longer than I need to.  Currently my plan is to end 2016 with the assembly of my second unit of mounted knights and maybe ring in 2017 with a unit of dismounted knights.  For anything less than a 3000 point game I just have two more units left to purchase, so I'm feeling pretty good.  

And with that, I'm going offline until 2017.  Hope everyone has an enjoyable New Year's Eve and see you next year.

Merry Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas to all, and strongest possible wishes for your continued health and good cheer in the new year ahead.  I hope everyone was able to spend time with loved ones, eat well, and received every bit of gaming loot their hearts desired.  I made out like a bandit this year:

Three boxes of Fireforge plastics and one of Perry Brothers - apparently my mother picked up some in London and then bought more on Amazon when she got home.  The box of Teutonic Infantry and one of the boxes of Knights (damn army list composition restrictions!) will form the basis of a Teutonic Order army for Warhammer Ancient Battles, while the Perry Wars of the Roses infantry will likely become the basis for a retinue for Lion/Dragon Rampant.  The second box of Teutonic Knights I'll hold on to in case of very large games of Warhammer Ancient Battles.

Finally, the board game "Elder Sign" was a gift from my sister, knowing my interest in Lovecraftian gaming.  Gina and I may give that a go later tonight.

We're in for a small bit of unseasonably warm weather, so I've begun assembly in hopes of getting some priming in tomorrow while I'm off work for the holiday. As of right now I've got a unit of 10 knights with command assembled and ready to go:

Challenge Eve

Tomorrow morning the 7th Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge begins.  I've got a figure set out and ready to start applying paint to once I wake up in the morning, and I believe something like 60-70-odd 28mm figures assembled, primed and ready to go, plus some Reaper Bones figures, most of which are large enough to count as 54mm figures for the purposes of scoring.  Plus on Saturday I'll be seeing family for Christmas and my mother has made no secret of having bought more figures for me to work on, so I should be in good stead to accomplish my goal of 500 points even without the bonus rounds.

I suspect I may be using some Christmas money to buy *even more* figures, as I've been invited to join a group that meets at one of the other gaming stores in the area to play Warhammer Ancient Battles.  I'm going to attend their next meeting and observe, and if I feel good about it, start putting together an army, likely either German knights of the Baltic Crusades or a War of the Roses force.

New Acquisitions & General Update

I recently added two more collections of Call of Cthulhu scenarios to my library, at long last; De Horrore Cosmico, a selection of Roman-era scenarios (i.e., "Cthulhu Invictus") inspired by Lovecraft stories, and Tales of the Crescent City, a selection of Jazz Age adventures set in New Orleans.  Both of these have been released by Golden Goblin Press.  De Horrore Cosmico was my early Christmas present to myself; Gina "purchased" Tales of the Crescent City for me, but between some store credit I had at Just Games and my accumulation of customer loyalty points it only ended up costing her $1.39.  De Horrore Cosmico I've read through and found the adventures thoroughly enjoyable just from a reading perspective, and I hope to run some soon enough.

I spent this morning reading through Tales of the Crescent City, and while I tend to feel a little out of my element with Hastur-centric scenarios (of which this book contains two), overall I like what I'm seeing with this book, I'm looking forward to adding the New York companion, Tales of the Sleepless City, to my collection as well.

In other news, my parents have been in England for the past two weeks, visiting London, Leeds and York.  My mother requested some information about game stores and miniatures I was interested in for the purposes of Christmas shopping.  She has proceeded to stop at every miniatures and hobby shop she sees in the UK and send me photos from them.  She's apparently become fascinated by my hobby and how widespread it seems to be in the UK.  To quote one of her emails, "The Brits sure love their miniatures. There must be a whole industry of just making and painting these."

Mom was really impressed by the painting contest this store in York is having, and frankly, I am too - I may suggest something similar to Matt at Just Games for next year.