Game Plan 2021 - Q3

 Wow... Q2 feels like it just FLEW by... 

Looking at the actual Game Plan 2021 - Q2 post, it seems like I, once again, had a lot of vague ideas with not much of a defined PLAN at all...

Miniatures

As planned I did pick up Warhammer Quest: Cursed city and a bunch of new warbands for Warhammer Underworlds (The Crimson Court, Elathain's Soulraid, The Wurmspat and Hrothgorn's Mantrappers).

I also happened to pick up the Battle Mages box - hoping I'd get a copy of the hardcover Cursed City novel and the bonus character card that was to come with it... I did not... But the mage models are fun and I'm sure I'll make use of them somwhere (and pics of the card were easy enough to track down if I ever want to play that character... If I ever get around to PAINTING all those Cursed City models!? 

And I also picked a Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed and some more Seekers of Slaanesh and another box of Daemonettes and a Herald of Slaanesh. 

And what did I paint of all that....? Nuthin. I barely painted anything at all this past month or so. 

(Well.. I did paint the Herald of Slaanesh) 

Looking at my 2021 Painted Versus Purchased Page I did get SOME painting done earlier in the quarter:

• 3x Steelheart's Champions
• 6x Stormsire's Cursebreakers (3 for John) 
• 3x Ironsoul's Condemnors
• 3x Castigators
• 1x Gryph-Hound
• 3x Morgok's Krushas
• 7x Grymwatch
• 1x Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh
• 1x Ogroid Thaumaturge

Mostly stuff for Warhammer Underworlds... almost all of which (save the Herald and the Ogroid Thaumaturge) was painted in early April. SINCE then, we kind of stopped playing Warhammer Underworlds and have been pretty much exclusively playing Wingspan... and when I'm not actually playing a game on the regular, it gets REALLY HARD to maintain focus and motivation to paint miniatures for it. 

Now, I have not been entirely idle the last two months... there was a lot of assembling going on - of all the Cursed City stuff, AND a bunch of stuff that had been bought on the last two Boxing Day sales that had been put away "until the Game Room was finished"... This included the Shadow and Pain boxed set (Starter including Daughters of Khaine and Hedonites of Slaanesh) and a Start Collecting Slaanesh box and a couple of spare boxes of Daemonettes. 

Also I've been doing a LOT of re-basing - older fantasy stuff being rebased only plastic based (from washers) - many of which are topped with cobblestone or flagstone (thanks to my fancy, new rollers from Green Stuff World). Also a few historicals, originally on multi-figure stands being split up and based, individually, on freed up washers! 

Since completing the Game Room and having access to ALL THE MINIATURES (and having lost focus on all things Warhammer) I found myself through much of May plotting and planning and rebasing and touching up a few things in order to play some games... which I have yet to actually get around to playing... 

With the immanent release of the new edition of Age of Sigmar, interests have been shifting again, and it seems I'm back at painting Warhammer fantasy stuff again... but STILL not getting anything FINISHED!? 

I've also been doing a LOT of RIDING (and even got out for a paddle) and a bit of drawing and painting. 

Terrain and Other Hobby Projects

Well... I did get the GAME ROOM finished up... 

Not that it's seen much use... 

5x5 Challenge

The plan was something like.. 

• Warhammer Underworlds
• MORE Warhammer Underworlds
• Warhammer Quest: Cursed City
• Amanda's New (TBD) Board Game
• Some Other Game(s)

Um... well, what we actually played was: 

• Wingspan x15
• Warhammer Underworlds x4
• The Castles of Burgundy x2
• Terraforming Mars x2
• Azul x1
• Carcassonne Big Box 2 x1
• Century: Golem Edition – An Endless World x1
• Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains x1
• Dragon Rampant: Fantasy Wargaming Rules x1

So... While I didn't exactly get around to playing five different games, five times each - the whole POINT of the 5x5 challenge - I DID play more than 25 games. Wingspan kind of takes up three spots on the challenge board - now if only I could say I played the base game 5 times, the European Expansion 5 times and the Oceana Expansion 5 times... alas, I cannot... I only got in about two games with each of the expansions. 

Q3 PLAN

Miniatures

As mentioned above, the new edition of Age of Sigmar is being released at the end of the week and that's got me interested in THAT again. I have a wild assortment of older models I could use for a few skirmishes (or Warcry) and a solid start on two or three OTHER armies!? 

I have the Daughters of Khaine that came in the Shadow and Pain boxed set. Once I finish painting those up, I'd like to add in a few more things - get it up to at least a 1000 point force, probably with the addition of a Start Collecting box. 

I also have a considerable force for the Hedonites of Slaanesh. It kind of started as a 40K Daemons army with the stuff from the Wrath and Rapture box and since I have added a Start Collecting box, a few more boxes of Daemonettes and the Slaanesh side of the Shadow and Pain box. Oh, and Syll'Eske - which I picked up used from a local guy who ended up with a spare from a lot he bought from someone else....? Not a lot is PAINTED, just yet... but I will have a considerable force once they are done. 

And then I decided that the Slaanesh Daemon army wasn't quite enough... I picked up a Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount and ordered some Chaos Knights and Chaos Marauder Horsemen. I figured with the Mark of Slaanesh, they could be an allied force (or maybe the Slaanesh Daemons could be an allied force in a Slaves to Darkness army?) 

So, there are all those I'd like to paint this quarter... 

AND a PILE of Warhammer Underworlds warbands... 

AND the Cursed City miniatures.... 

AND a few Frostgrave things for a friend... 

What is ACTUALLY going to get done this coming Quarter...? Who knows!? 

Terrain and Other Hobby Projects

Eh... I would like to get a table-topper-extension-thingie made for the game room - the table in there is HUGE - but it's not quite 4' across. I did save the top from the old table and thought I might build a frame underneath the two parts so they could be set up on top of the Game Table to make a larger playing surface for BIGGER games! 

5x5 Challenge

Yeah... hard to say... The Gaming has really petered out here this last month. So it is hard to guess what's going to be popular and played over the next three months where NOTHING is of interest enough to see action on the tabletop.

If I HAD to guess, it might look something like:

• Wingspan
• Age of Sigmar
• Warhammer Underworlds
• Some other Board Game?
• CURSED CITY! 

I threw Cursed City in there at the end because I AM still hopeful I'll get around to finishing up these minis and getting the game on the tabletop in the next three months or so... It MIGHT be in September, but better late than never, right. At least it looks like there's not going to be nearly so many expansions as there were from Blackstone Fortress. 

Who knows, though... Maybe I'll get playing Necromunda and 40K again!? 

June Games

With the end of May/beginning of June came some easing of the Saskatchewan Public Health Orders - we were now, theoretically, allowed to have TEN PEOPLE over to our house - so long as social distancing was maintained between households!? Despite all that, we did barely ANY game playing - even among ourselves. 

We did have ONE person over. Luckily our new game table is ABSURDLY huge and some measure of social distancing COULD be maintained... We decided to keep the "bubble" small and just had the one friend over, who, like us, doesn't go out much and has very limited contacts and had had his first jab. 

Amanda and I both got our second doses at the end of last week and the kids had their first at the beginning of the month and should be eligible to get their second in a few more weeks. Seems like most restrictions will be lifted mid-July, which, despite the whirlwind roll-put with the vaccines, an alarmingly high percentage of the population is just not getting them - despite being pretty readily available to anyone free of charge!? I don't know... might be keeping our bubble small for the time being. 

Kurtis came over on Friday and we played wingspan. On Friday night we tried out the European expansion. During the first game we realized, part way through, I'd accidentally shuffled all the Oceana birds in with them!? Some had already been played, but we went through the deck and took the rest out. 

Goals for Game one. I was Red, Amanda was Purple, Kurtis was Blue. 

I think I actually won this game. I don't know. I just have fun putting birds in the habitats. 

Played a second game. 

Goals for Game Two. 

I think I won this one too...? But this insane winning streak did not last long... 

On Sunday we tried out the Oceana Expansion. 

I liked it. It was fun. Kurtis won this first game. 

Goals for Game one. I was Yellow this time, Amanda still Purple, Kurtis still blue. 

Game Two. 

Game Two Goals. 

This is also the end of Q2... but maybe I'll leave that until the next post - Q3 Plans.

Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh (and Ogroid Thaumaturge)

 It has been a while since I posted any newly painted stuff. I haven't been ENTIRELY idle... I have been assembling and priming and rebasing and organizing and plotting and even painting little bits of this and that, here and there... but overall, not terribly productive in the finishing painting miniatures department... This was made totally clear to me when I went to save these pictures (which are usually saved in monthly folders) and realized I never even made a folder for May!? 

The first of these, I actually finished some time ago... I was just lazy and never got around to posting it earlier... I've jumped around a LOT this last month or so between Cursed City stuff and Age of Sigmar armies and loads of other games from all different periods - but with the new version of Age of Sigmar coming out in a week, that's kind of focused my attention back on those armies and trying to get some stuff together for a small Paths to Glory skirmish campaign over the summer - with the goal of working towards a few 1000 point armies and building up one army to about 2000 points

Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh - usable in either 40K or Age of Sigmar. 

It was painted rather quickly, mostly with Contrast paints. This was my plan for the entire Slaanesh Daemon army - to knock them all off quickly with contrast paints... but it's been taking rather longer than I expected to get them done... 

Hedonites of Slaanesh will, I think, be my primary army for Age of Sigmar. As with 40K - Chaos fights EVERYONE - including other chaos factions! As I don't have a full version of the previous versions (I figured a new edition might be coming out and held off on picking up the full Core Rules) so some of the army building rules are a bit confusing to me. I think I'm leaning toward putting together a Godseekers host - which will mostly be daemons and mortals mounted on seekers and a few chariots... so... this Viceleader won't be much use... Nor will the piles of Daemonettes I've cobbled together... Ah, well.. I'll find use for them at SOME point. 

These might be bolstered by some Slaves to Darkness (with a Slaanesh Mark of Chaos!). 

Other forces I am working on are Daughters of Khaine, and an assortment of other Chaos forces based around the miniatures that came with Finnegan's two Warhammer Quest games (Silver Tower and Shadows over Hammerhal) and my Wrath and Rapture box. 

One of the largest immediately useable forces I have is actually Blades of Khorne - because I have slmost all of the Khorne stuff from Wrath and Rapture and the Warhammer Quest boxes - I just need to finish up the Bloodcrushers. 

Ogroid Thaumaturge - a big nasty Disciple of Tzeentch wizard.

This one came from one of the Warhammer Quest boxes. Between the boxes there is a significant number of Disciples of Tzeentch - in addition to this Ogrid Tahumaturge, there is a Gaunt Summoner, Kairic Acolytes, Tzaangors, and Pink, Blue, and Brimstone Horrors.

Unfortunately not in numbers included in the boxes are not terribly useful for proper games of AoS... Most are normally fielded in units of 10, but there are 16 acolytes, 6 Tzaangors, 2 Pink Horrors, and 4 Blue and Brimstone Horrors... ugh... 

A Gaunt Summoner gets 5 "rolls" on the Paths to Glory tables (or you can just PICK five followers). The Ogrid Thaumaturge counts as two. There is a total of 10 Horrors, though not of one type... but still, could be used as a unit. There are less than 10 Tzaangors, but there are a few extra Acolytes... so, I figure that could make up for the understrength Tzaangors. Once all painted, It'd all be a good STARTER warband for Paths to Glory. I hope i can quickly paint up most of these with Contrast paints as well... 

That's all for now. Not sure what I'll be finishing next... I feel like it'll probably more Age of Sigmar stuff.