Game Plan 2021 - Q1

Plans.... 

Well... 

I'm trying to be positive and optimistic and working under the assumption that this next year will be... well... less of a dumpster fire. I'm not planning for any larger in-person events - like a game weekend in February or ToonCon, but I do want to make SOME plans to work towards. 

Generally, what I currently feel like I'd like to do this year (these will be broken down into Quarterly plans)... 

Miniatures 

I'm kind of all over the map with possibilities - I haven't really done any miniature painting - or even playing any games for the last six months. I'm really excited about getting back into it in SOME way, but just don't know what just yet...? Here are some of the top things I've been thinking about over the last few weeks that might be a thing this year (Or... maybe it will be something entirely different. 

English Civil War - Ideally I'd like to put together six forces that could be used for a  Pikeman's Lament campaign - four English forces and two (or maybe three?) Scottish forces. Some of this will involve simply rebasing miniatures that were already painted and based for DBA-x, others will involve painting stuff that was already earmarked for Pikeman's Lament or minis that were originally earmarked for more DBA armies,  but weren't yet painted. More on this campaign in a moment. 

Deamons of Slaanesh - 40k/AoS - This seems like it should be a priority as it can be played in both Warhammer 40K AND Age of Sigmar. I have the Infernal Enrapturess and Fiends from the Wrath and Rapture box to finish up, and then a Start Collecting Slaanesh box, a box of Daemonettes, Syll'Esske: The Vengeful Allegiance, and finally the minis from Shadow and Pain. So,  in total, to paint:

• Infernal Enrapturess
• Lord of Pain
• Syll'Esske: The Vengeful Allegiance
• 3x Fiends
• 40x Daemonettes
• 2x Hellflayer/Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh
• 10x Hellstriders
• 5x Seekers

IF, I get all of those finished... I might consider treating myself to a Keeper of Secrets - a Greater Deamon of Slaanesh. Also They just previewed a bunch of really cool-looking new models for the Hedonites of Slaanesh (for Age of Sigmar) which would be fun to add to the Fantasy version of this force. 

Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines - I have a few more things to finish up for this force - 10-15 Noise Marines, 10 Chaos Space Marines, 10 Terminators, 4-5 Raptors, and a pile of Cultists... Doesn't seem like much and it could all be DONE and I LOVE having things that are complete and Chaos is really the BEST force to play in Warhammer games (for someone who loves NARRATIVE) because Chaos will fight ANYONE - including other Chaos forces. If/When I get these done, however, I might treat myself to a few new things - I think it would be fun to pick up a few vehicles/monsterous thingies. The Heldrake and Forgefiend/Maulerfiend look fun - maybe some Rhinos for transport...? Bikes...? Not going to worry about those until I've finished what I've got. 

Valhallan Imperial Guard force for 40K - I have a LOT of them... like, a LOT. There's a local guy that's seems really cool that's been doing Necrons with snow on their bases and, as much as I've HATED playing against Necrons, he seems like a fun guy to play with (big into the NARRATIVE) so I thought I'd get back to working on Guard forces. You know... if/when the pandemic ever ends... 

Blackstone Fortress - I have a handfull of miniatures still to do for Blackstone Fortress - so we can get back to playing THAT sometime this year...

Daughters of Khaine - A Warband for Warcry and maybe a small force for Age of Sigmar. I'm not sure how I'm going to paint them though... do I go with the standard super-pale-skin-with-white-hair albino look...? I feel like I want to do something else... Like DARK skin - brown or dark purple of black - with either black hair OR brilliantly coloured hair (like red or pink or something like that) 

Skaven  - Also a Warband for Warcry - which is really just a rebasing project, plus maybe a few repainted additions. I probably have enough, though, that I also could do a small-ish Age of Sigmar army with them. 

TITANIC Units for 40K - I have a few BIG THINGS to finish off - Eldar Wraith Knight, an Eldar Phantom Titan and two Revenant Titans (all old ones from Armorcast), two other Knights (one will probably be an Imperial Knight and the other will be a chaos knight) - If/When I get ALL of these completed, I'd like to pick up a few more Chaos Knights - maybe a few of the smaller ones (wardogs?) just to fill out a complete Super Heavy Detachment. 

Necromunda? - I have lots I CAN play with - should we get playing again... but I also have loads more TO paint... 

Great War - I have a few Early War things to do - finishing up British, French and Belgians - but I don't really have many Early War Germans... and I'm not really excited about BUYING any right now... so I'm not sure what the point of painting the things I HAVE is...? I do have a few later war things I can finish up - just to complete forces and options and be DONE (the late war Canadians and Germans for Vimy, etc). Now that I think about it... I also have some stuff for the Middle East - Turks, Australians, etc... but I think I'll just stick with European theatres for now...  

Seven Years War? For Rebels and Patriots? Or One Hour Wargames? It keeps coming up... but I have so many other things I want to do... realistially I might have to wait another year for this one... and so many other things I've been thinking about recently... 

Terrain Projects

Trenches - I would like to do a few more 2x2 generic trench boards Maybe four more front line trenches and two or three that are just open areas of No Man's Land - I worked this out some time ago for various arrangements/scenarios. I'm been toying with the idea of getting back to work on the Vimy Project - with no real pressure or deadline - just, over time, getting the terrain build for the four divisional areas of operation. 

Frozen Terrain - for the Valhallans to battle on... and... others... Frostgrave, maybe...? I might just buy a neoprene battlemat - so I don't have to build dedicated terrain boards - and just build some snow/ice features to put on top of said battlemat. Huge snowdrifts or snow-covered hills, rocky outcroppings, snow-covered ruins, etc. 

English Village/Countryside Buildings - For English Civil Wargaming - but also just generic fantasy... 

AS the basement renovation wraps up... or... PARTS of it wrap up... (like, the GAME ROOM) I want to build a miniature gaming surface that can fit over the big table we have for the room when it's done. It's a BIG table - I think it's about 30' wide - so a lot of smaller games could be played on it, as is... but the megalomaniac in me still wants to play Apocalypse games with Titans and hordes of... stuff... I kept the surface from the old table and want to clean it up and build a frame for it that could go over the table that will be down there and lock in place to potentially provide a 5'x8' surface to play on (MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaa...)

Game Plans

As I mentioned, with the uncertainty about how the vaccination program will roll out and when it will be cool to play in-person games, I'm not really planning on any - other than with my family - certainly not any BIG events for the first half of the year. 

Saturday Online RPG Night - This has been a life-saver through 2020 and I hope to continue it through the next year (and beyond!). CVT is planning to run Harn for us in January and when he is done (in February?), I'm thinking I'd like to get back to running the Wrath and Glory game! it'd be nice to sort of wrap up the current story arc that I'd started last year. I didn't get in on the Kickstarter, but I'm kind of interested in checking out the Hellboy Role-playing game when it is released later this year. 

February Game Weekend - for the last decade or so I've been hosting a large game on my birthday in February or an entire gaming WEEKEND. Obviously not doing THAT this year - at least not in-person - I have been toying with the idea of running a one-shot role-playing games online (using a mix of Roll20 and/or Discord) on my Birthday OR and entire SERIES of one-shot adventures over the last weekend of February!? Originally, I was thinking SIX games - Thursday Evening (my actual birthday) Friday Evening, Saturday Afternoon, Saturday Evening, Sunday Afternoon, Sunday Evening... but that might be a bit much... maybe just four in the evenings over the weekend... or  Thursday-Friday-Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon....? Could be some Wrath & Glory... Could be some Fate (or Fate accelerated)... Might try out Those Dark Places... We shall see... 

English Civil War Campaign - This is an idea I've been toying with for some time. Currently, the idea is (once I finish painting/rebasing a few more forces) I'd run a campaign based on the old Mighty Empires game from Games Workshop. It would involve a fictional chunk of the English countryside (bordering on Scotland!) in the midst of the English Civil War. With the war mostly going on elsewhere, a group of lesser lords us the ensuing chaos as an opportunity to seek out vengeance for past grievances and/or expand on their territories at the expense of their rivalling neighbours. The campaign players (who would all be playing remotely) would each represent one lord and the campaign would be played out over a number of months. Each week would represent about a month of campaigning. There would be some negotiating via email and, once a week, players would need to submit moves for their forces for the campaign turn. This would effectively be a scenario generator for tabletop battles I could play out using Pikeman's Lament. The outcomes of the moves and game reports of any actions taking place would be posted here on the blog and then we'd start all over again. I've run similar campaigns using DBA/HotT and it was a lot of fun. Probably won't get to this until the summer, though. I have a lot to finish painting before I could do this... and.... other things are a bit more of a priority RIGHT NOW! 

5x5 Quarterly Challenges

Like last year I'd like to continue with the 5x5 Quarterly challenges. They seem more attainable than an annual 10x10, but ultimately the same number of games get played!

Q1 Plan

So... with all that in mind... What do do over the next three months? Experiencing more-than-usual scatteredness and a some serious decision fatigue is making this a challenge... Trying to take all the wild ideas into something focused, specific, realistically attainable!? 

5x5 Challenge

Rather than picking out five specific games RIGHT NOW - because I'd like to finish this post before February - I'm going to leave some of this as vague possibilities...

A Role-Playing Game - I'm pretty sure i'll get a bunch of role-playing in over the next three months on Saturdays... just not 100% sure WHICH games and if I'll play FIVE of them!? I'd really LIKE to get Wrath & Glory going again... 

Miniature Skirmish Game (probably Warcry) - something i can play on the kitchen table, in case the renovation CONTINUES to drag out waaaaaaaay longer... 

Three Boardgames - I'd like to challenge myself to playing some longer boardgames. The Century Golem Edition games and Other short games are fun... but it feels a little... too easy...? To just say I'll play Century Golem Edition five times... I mean, I could do that in an afternoon. 

I think ONE might be Carcassonne - which we CAN play pretty quickly now (along with Traders & Builder and Inns & Cathedrals) - but maybe with one or two more of the expansions that are in the Big Box we have. I know we've tried them ALL at SOME point and some I liked and just need to familiarize with again... others... less so... 

Others....? Maybe something like Terraforming Mars or London...? I don't know... so many games... I'd like the challenge to be a way to force myself to play a NEW game (or one I've forgotten how to play) enough times to really learn (or, relearn) the game. Try something new! This last year has not been a year where I was all that interested in trying something new - I mostly played the same games over and over... 

Painting Miniatures

So many things... 

I would like to get a few forces ready for Warcry - to try that out. I have ONE Khorne Daemon and a handful of Skaven I'm just finishing rebasing this morning. Beyond that? I've been digging through other Fantasy miniatures I have and seeing which might be useable in Warcry. I have a few possibilities... not as many that I could just use as-is as I'd hoped. 

I really want to finish up the last few miniatures from the Wrath & Rapture box I got LAST YEAR (I told myself I had to finish those before i can open the Shadow & Pain box I bought Last Week!). It's only three Fiends of Slaanesh, the Infernal Enrapturess, and a three Bloodcrushers of Khorne - all of which are at least partly painted, and some are very nearly finished. 

Once that (and the Game Room) are finished I'll rack that Shadow & Pain box (and get out the OTHER Daemons of Slaanesh I've had squirrelled away since last December) and work on THAT! Probably start with enough Daughters of Khaine for a Warcry Warband, then fill it out to a Age of Sigmar Skirmish force. Then keep adding to the Slaanesh forces. 

We dug out Finnegan's Warhammer Quest miniatures (From Silver Tower and Shadows over Hammerhal) to see if we could make any Warbands out of them. We could TOTALLY put together a Tzeentch warband. A Khorne Warband could also be cobbled together - with the addition of a couple of my Flesh Hounds. There are some Stormcast Eternal Champions - that could be the leaders of warbands - but no rank and file types... mind you, a $20 box of Easy to Build Castigators or Sequitors could probably fill that out (they are not cheap - pointswise!) - if, y'know, anyone actually want to PLAY those...? NONE of these are painted, though, and Finnegan is unlikely to paint them himself, and I'm not interested in playing against unpainted forces.... and I'm not SUPER-DOOPER excited about painting Disciples of Tzeentch (that aren't even MINE!?)... but it is just a warband of a dozen miniatures... I could do that... 

I have a few outstanding miniatures I said I'd paint for my friend, John, that I'd like to FINALLY finish up - at least the Warhammer Underworlds gangs, and maybe the Frostgrave Warband. The Warhammer Underworlds gangs could likely be used as Warcry Warbands as well - though perhaps smaller ones... or.. the beginnings of ones... 

So... looking like mostly Warhammer Fantasy stuff for the next few months. I'd LIKE to get working on ECW stuff... I'd LIKE to work on some of those 40K projects... but, realistically, with the basement still in turmoil and no dedicated painting station, I can't see a LOT getting done. So, I need to be FOCUSED and use what little time I DO find for painting miniatures to get a few things I want to USE NOW done! 

Terrain and Other Hobby Projects

For the first Quarter, this will likely be limited to FINISHING THE GAME ROOM!? 

(and maybe the table-topper for Epic Miniature Gaming)

And... I think that's about it... For now.

What are YOU all planning for the new year? New projects? Ongoing ones you'd like to see completed? Tell me in the Comments section below!