Back of Beyond - Winter 1920/21

 As cold winds blew in from the North, the armies of the region took up winter quarters and gathered what resources they could. Reinforcements were recruited and trained. In some cases, entire new battalions raised. Then they marched in preparation for spring campaigning. 

Some took a longer, more circuitous route through back woods deeper into the motherland of Russia! 

Dispositions at the beginning of Spring 1921. 

Unless things get REALLY EXCITING and players reengage, this will probably be the last year. The outcome of the Russian Civil War would ultimately be decided elsewhere... But this may redraw the borders between China and Russia somewhat! 

ORANGE

• Commander of the Field Army: Lieutenant General Sir Percy Arbuthnot-Worcester-Gruntfuttock-Smythe
• Faction: Western Interventionists
• Army: 14th Allied Eastern Expeditionary Army
• Base of Operations: Canadar 
• Other Cities: Canuckand, Molsensk, Stlojia, Borschka
• Resource Points: 18
• Field Army:
• 3rd Battalion, Winnipeg Grenadiers (15)
• 5th Battalion, Cape Breton Highlanders  (15)
• 2nd Battalion, Regina Rifles - Heavy Infantry Battalion (15)
• 105th Canadian Fusiliers - Heavy Infantry Battalion (15)
• 8th Battalion, South Saskatchewan Regiment (15) 
• 8th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles - Cavalry (15)
• 37th Field Artillery (15)
• 38th Field Artillery (15) 
• 69th Armoured Regiment (15) 

YELLOW

• Commander of the Field Army: Hedwig Markus von Eggenberg, Margrave of Grosswardein
• Faction: Tsarist
• Army: East Asia Cavalry Division 
• Base of Operations: Gura
• Other Cities: Wurumchi, Driutsek 
• Resource Points: 1
• Field Army:
• 337th Infantry Regiment (Heavy) (15)
• Mongolian Cavalry (15)
• 38th Hussars Cavalry (15)
• 77th Imperial Artillery Regiment (15) 

GREEN

• Commander of the Field Army: Altan Baatar Kahn
• Faction: Warlord Chinese
• Army: The Red Horde
• Base of Operations: Lung-Hu
• Other Cities: Sui-Pei, Bashkent 
• Resource Points: 42
• Field Army:15
• Heavy Infantry Battalion (13)
• Heavy Infantry Battalion (13)
• Infantry Battalion (13)
• Infantry Battalion (13)
• Cavalry (13)
• Artillery (13)
• Tank (13) 

LIGHT BLUE

• Commander of the Field Army: Win-Cao Lo-Fat, The Most Illustrious Beacon of Celestial Light and Commander of the Arm of Earthly Might
• Faction: Warlord Chinese
• Army: The Illustrious Arm of the Nine Illuminated Terrestrial Immortals 
• Base of Operations: Wei-Li
• Other Cities: Ching-Ho, Ulaan-Goom, Pyrohy, Holopchi
• Resource Points: 11
• Field Army:
• 1st Heavy Infantry Battalion (15)
• 2nd Heavy Infantry Battalion (15) 
• 3rd Infantry Battalion (15)
• 4th Infantry Battalion (15)
• Cavalry Regiment (15)
• Artillery Regiment (15)
• Tank Regiment (15 )

DARK BLUE

• Commander of the Field Army: Kombrig Mahat Mikhan
• Faction: Bolshevik
• Army: Ist Guard Regiment, Ipatiev House
• Base of Operations: Kubassa
• Other Cities: Kroptkand, Bakunin
• Resource Points: 6
• Field Army:
• 1st Heavy Infantry Battalion (15)
• 6th Artillery Regiment (15)

RED (of course) 

• Commander of the Field Army: Commissar-General Lev (Leon) Davidovitch Runstein
• Faction: Bolshevik
• Army: Первый Бабушка Армейский корпус (Ist Babushka Army Corps)
• Base of Operations: Baboushka
• Other Cities: Vlodkask
• Resource Points: 0
• Field Army:
• 1st Transuralian Peoples Infantry Battalion (Heavy)  (15)
• 2nd Transuralian Peoples Battalion (Heavy) (15)
• 3rd Transuralian Peoples Battalion (15)
• 4th Transuralian Peoples Battalion (15)
• 1st Babushka Cavalry Regiment (15)
• 1st Borschka Artillery Regiment (15)

Xenos Rampant - Daemons of Sidon IX

 Other Tim popped around Tuesday evening to have a go at Xenos Rampant. 

Initially I thought he was bringing his Emperor's Brethern Space Marines, and I had initially thought I'd roll out the Chaos Space Marines... but that seemed boring. I figured an asymetical battle might be more interesting - xenomorphs vs heavily armoured marines... I didn't have enough tyrnids/Genestealers/Generic Bug Aliens, but I DID have a bunch of Daemons! So, I cooked up a bit of background fluff and a scenario that seemed like it might be fun.

Then he brought Eldar...

SITUATION

There has been a great disturbance in the warp. 

Astropaths working for Inquisitor Marnie McGuffin of the Ordo Malleus, have detected a warp anomaly on Sidon IX. It is entirely likely that local heretics, performing dark rituals, have opened a gate in the fabric of reality and daemons of the warp may very well be pouring into realspace and corrupting the planet rich with valuable resources. 

A Strike Cruiser of Emperor's Brethern Space Marines are in the vicinity - just a short warp jump away. Less ideal than the Grey Knights for investigating such a disturbance, they are the closest Marine detachment, by far and time is of the essence. The Inquisitor has despatched them to investigate the anomaly.  

Farseers of the Unixos Craftworld have detected a warp anomaly on Sidon IX. It is  likely that local Mon-kee, performing dark rituals, have opened a gate in the fabric of reality and daemons of the warp may very well be pouring into realspace and corrupting the planet rich with valuable resources. 

A Strike Craft with a Host of Aspect Warriors was despatched to Sidon IX to investigate and, ideally, deal with whatever they found. 

SCENARIO

We played Scenerio Echo: Orbital Drop - straight out of the Xenos Rampant book.   

There was a target locale at the center of the table that the Attacking Marines Eldar need to solely control at the end of the game. Deployment for the attackers was determined randomly at six landing zones spread out across the table. 

FORCES

Emperor's Brethren Detachment 

Unixos Eldar Craft World War Host 

Autarch and Striking Scorpions - Heavy Infantry (@2), Incread Unit Size (+2), Assault Doctrine (+2), Close Quarters Doctrine (-1), Infiulltrators (+1) = 6AP

Dire Avengers - Light Infantry (@1), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 2AP

Falcon - Transport vehicle (@4), Skimmer (+1), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 6AP

Jet Bikes - Light Infantry (@1), Increased Unit Size (+2), Reduced Model Unit, Mobile (+1), Undisciplined (-1), Heavy Weapon (+2), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 6AP

RAngers - Recon Infantry (@2), Sniper Team (+2) = 4AP

Daemons of Khorne

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne - Leader (Aggressive) - Berserk Infantry (@2), Single Model Unit, Increased Squad Size (+1), Demonic (+0), Unarmed (-1), Heavy Armour (+2), High-Powered Blades (+1) = 5AP

Bloodletters - Berserk Infantry (@2), Increased Squad Size (+1), Demonic (+0), Unarmed (-1) = 2 AP 

Karanak, The Hound of Vengeance - Greater Xenomorph (@4), Single Model Unit, Demonic (+0), High-Powered Blades (+1) = 5AP 

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Because I was playing Khorne, I was sure to wear my MAGA Hat: Make Angron Great Again! 

THE GAME! 

Daemons of Khorne, running rampant in the ruins of this small industrial town. 

The Bloodmaster watches over the portal through which it expects more daemons to join them! 

The first to drop was the Falcon grav tank...

Games Workshop has gotten very clear on the differences of within or WHOLLY within. The scenario said the unit has to be set up WITHIN 6" of the marker (that little barrel with a Zombie coming out of it), Other Tim took this to mean "at least part of the unit must be within"... which is what GW defines as "Within" (if at least part of the unit is within). I feel like the meaning was what GW calls WHOLLY WHITHIN - i.e. all parts of the unit must be set up within... but whatevs... it came back to bite him in the ass the next turn. 

The reason for setting up here was to not be within Wild Charge range of those Bloodletters and getting a chance to shoot them at least once before they charged. with Armour of 5, I'm not sure he had that much to worry about... buuuut... 

The autarch and his host of Striking Scorpions landed in another corner of the table. 

The Rangers landed within charge range of the Flesh Hounds which did indeed charge, and utterly shredded the unit!? 

Bloodletters come out to play. I don't think he even got a shot off in the end, because he tried to activate the Jet Bikes and Failed... ending his turn. So I went again and these Bloodletters charged and dealt it enough hits to lose a Strength point... and they are FEARSOME, so the tank failed Courage and had to retreat... off the table... 

Flesh Hound poking its nose around the corner sniffing out it's prey. 

Karanak went after the Jet Bikes and leapt into the air swatting one down. It pounced on the rider and tore them to shreds! The bikes did get in some shots and injured the Beast of Vengeance... but the Beast slaughtered a few more the rest flew away (off the table). 

Flesh Hounds charged the Striking Scorpions and their Autarch. Every time, tearing limbs and slashing arteries. 

With the Tank out of the way, other Flesh Hounds Charged the Dire Avengers. Those not killed in the initial assault fled away off the table! 

There was a bit of back and forth between the Striking Scorpions and the Flesh Hounds. 

Things were starting to look bad for the initial pack of Flesh Hounds that had attacked the Striking Scorpions... 

But then the other pack arrived... (that had killed the Rangers) 

and then the OTHER other pack arrived.... (that had driven off the Dire Avengers) 

Soon it was just the Autarch, trying their best to hold back the tide and allow their wounded warriors the chance to slink away into the shadows - to hopefully regroup and plan a better method of attack! 

So that was Xeno Rampant. 

I like it. 

I like all of Dan Mersey's rules. I kind of wondered how this one might work with all it's little tweaks and changes, but this played out very fast. I was worried it might - with Heavy infantry fighting heavy infantry, it might get drawn out into a protracted shooting match where no one was able to take out any of the enemy... Part of the reason I went with Xenos and Berserk infantry - figuring an asymmetrical battle would go one way or the other quickly! I did NOT expect it to go SO poorly, SO quickly for Other Tim's troops! (he did have a few abysmal activation rolls...) 

I am keen to try it out again with other eras. Modern, Wierd Wars, post-apocalyptic or zombies (it's been a LONG time since I played a game with ZOMBIES!!).   

It's kind of also got me thinking about Other Dan Mersey games again - Dragon Rampant, especially... 

Back of Beyond - Autumn 1920

Kind of feels like this campaign is fizzling out... No communications have been sent in weeks and only two (of the remaining six) players sent me orders for this turn. 

 The Illustrious Arm of the Nine Illuminated Terrestrial Immortals held their position at Pyrohy, ever vigilant for another counterattack - which never came! Instead Kombrig Mahat Mikhan led what remained of his Ist Guard Regiment, Ipatiev House back to Bakunin!? The sad train marching to Bakunin was described by one obsever as being "a handful of gunners apprentices riding on an empty artillery caisson, pulled by a decrepit three-legged yak".

The Reds at Borschka also prepared to defend their base of operations against an attack by the Western Interventionists, that never materialized. 

Altan Baatar Kahn remained with The Red Horde in Bashkent. Bored and somewhat demoralized that their leader would not lead them to relieve the siege at, some of his troops started to dessert, while others were killed in drunken brawls that became almost a nightly occurrence in Bashkent by the end of Autumn. 

The Siege of Wurumchi

With no sign of their Khan coming to relieve them and the citizens nearly ready to revolt, the city garrison finally capitulated and gave up the town to the mongrel band of brigands led by the Margrave of Grosswardein; Hedwig Markus von Eggenberg (who still referred to his band of thugs as the East Asia Cavalry Division)

The Back of Beyond at the end of Autumn 1920. 

ORANGE

• Commander of the Field Army: Lieutenant General Sir Percy Arbuthnot-Worcester-Gruntfuttock-Smythe
• Faction: Western Interventionists
• Army: 14th Allied Eastern Expeditionary Army
• Base of Operations: Canadar 
• Other Cities: Canuckand, Molsensk, Stlojia, Borschka
• Resource Points: 2
• Field Army:
• 3rd Battalion, Winnipeg Grenadiers (11)
• 5th Battalion, Cape Breton Highlanders  (15)
• 2nd Battalion, Regina Rifles - Heavy Infantry Battalion (12)
• 105th Canadian Fusiliers - Heavy Infantry Battalion (12)
• 8th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles - Cavalry (15)
• 37th Field Artillery (11)
• 38th Field Artillery (15) 

YELLOW

• Commander of the Field Army: Hedwig Markus von Eggenberg, Margrave of Grosswardein
• Faction: Tsarist
• Army: East Asia Cavalry Division 
• Base of Operations: Gura
• Other Cities: Wurumchi, Driutsek 
• Resource Points: 0
• Field Army:
• 337th Infantry Regiment (Heavy) (9)
• Mongolian Cavalry (5)
• 38th Hussars Cavalry (7)
• 77th Imperial Artillery Regiment (10) 

GREEN

• Commander of the Field Army: Altan Baatar Kahn
• Faction: Warlord Chinese
• Army: The Red Horde
• Base of Operations: Lung-Hu
• Other Cities: Sui-Pei, Bashkent 
• Resource Points: 12
• Field Army:15
• Heavy Infantry Battalion (13)
• Heavy Infantry Battalion (13)
• Infantry Battalion (13)
• Infantry Battalion (13)
• Cavalry (13)
• Artillery (13)
• Tank (13) 

LIGHT BLUE

• Commander of the Field Army: Win-Cao Lo-Fat, The Most Illustrious Beacon of Celestial Light and Commander of the Arm of Earthly Might
• Faction: Warlord Chinese
• Army: The Illustrious Arm of the Nine Illuminated Terrestrial Immortals 
• Base of Operations: Wei-Li
• Other Cities: Ching-Ho, Ulaan-Goom, Pyrohy, Holopchi
• Resource Points: 3
• Field Army:
• 1st Heavy Infantry Battalion (9)
• 2nd Heavy Infantry Battalion (5) 
• 3rd Infantry Battalion (7)
• 4th Infantry Battalion (10)
• Cavalry Regiment (14)
• Artillery Regiment (4)
• Tank Regiment (14)

DARK BLUE

• Commander of the Field Army: Kombrig Mahat Mikhan
• Faction: Bolshevik
• Army: Ist Guard Regiment, Ipatiev House
• Base of Operations: Kubassa
• Other Cities: Kroptkand, Bakunin
• Resource Points: 0
• Field Army:
• 6th Artillery Regiment (6)

RED (of course) 

• Commander of the Field Army: Commissar-General Lev (Leon) Davidovitch Runstein
• Faction: Bolshevik
• Army: Первый Бабушка Армейский корпус (Ist Babushka Army Corps)
• Base of Operations: Baboushka
• Other Cities: Vlodkask
• Resource Points: 5
• Field Army:
• 1st Transuralian Peoples Infantry Battalion (Heavy)  (10)
• 2nd Transuralian Peoples Battalion (Heavy) (10)
• 3rd Transuralian Peoples Battalion (12)
• 4th Transuralian Peoples Battalion (10)
• 1st Babushka Cavalry Regiment (12)
• 1st Borschka Artillery Regiment (11)

Game Plan 2023 - Q2

Looking back at Game Plan 2023 - Q1. Which... wasn't much of a plan... I did some of those things I guessed I might do... others... not-sop-much....

Quarterly Challenge

I wasn't sure if I was going to bother with challenges anymore... but had guessed that, if I did, it might be:

2023 Q1 5x5 Challenge

1. Splendor 
2. Pikeman's Lament
3. FATE
4. One-Hour Wargames
5. ...?

What I DID actually play was...

• One-Hour Wargames x15
• Codenames x11
• Splendor x4
• Wingspan Asia x3
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Century: Golem Edition x1
• Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Terraforming Mars 1
• Wingspan x1

So... not even close to playing five different games five times... but I did play FORTY games, so... that's something. Over a third of them were solo games... and nearly another third of them were games of Codenames that were played in one evening... so... 

(I don't mean to knock solo gaming, it's been really fun playing those games... It's just, when you don't have a regular sort of day job that takes you out of the house, and the only regular, in-person social interactions - other than visits to doctors or grocery stores - is playing games... NOT playing a LOT of games is generally a sign, for me, that things haven't been going well...)   

Of course, for most of the last few months, I've been running the campaign... which is playing a game... but just not sit down at a specific time and play it (other than the actual tabletop battles). 

Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend

Didn't happen. I didn't even play a game with the family on my birthday. Which was kind of a bummer. I did get a Ukulele... so there's that... (I haven't touched it since my birhtday, though... so there's that...) 

ToonCon

It is happening. It's in April. I'm not going. 

Online Campaign

I DID actually get an online campaign going! It is still raging on, at this point! It's been fun. There have been a few surprises. I made a few mistakes. I know I would do some things differently if I do another one. What all those things are, precisely, I will save for when the campaign has wrapped up. 

Miniatures

I was all over the place in December/January. There were TOO MANY THINGS that I WANTED to do IMMEDIATELY... but couldn't do them all... and couldn't choose.. and mostly settled on the idea of painting stuff for campaigns. In the end I settled on a campaign that I didn't NEED to paint a lot for. I did SOME painting at the beginning and a lot of rebasing for that - and still have a LOT that I want to rebase for the Back of Beyond collection - but mostly moved on to thinking about preparing for future campaigns.

I did do a LOT of re-basing and organizing of Fantasy armies (as that might be the next campaign I do run - once the back of Beyond campaign has wrapped up and the dust has all settled). The English Civil War one has been moved to the back burner, for the time being. Fantasy stuff was easier to complete forces for. 

There was also a new Astra Militarum Codex out and that got me all fired up about getting my assorted Guard regiments all BATTLE READY!! Most of the actual PAINTING I've done during the first quarter has been for said Astra Militarum forces. I also completely rebased ALL of the Guard armies (a few hundred miniatures, in all!). 

Of course this was all done just in time for GW to announce a NEW EDITION with fundamental changes to stats and play and all the existing codexes will be "retired"... Thanks GW... (I'm not really THAT upset about it... I haven't really played for a few years and I mostly just paint them up for fun and organize them so they're theoretically ready for action). 

Rebasing miniatures (Fantasy, 40K, some of the Back of Beyond and ECW) ended up consuming, like, 90% of my hobby time (partly why so few newly painted miniatures have been posted - or games have been played).

What I painted:

• 2x Nazgûl
• 1x Troll
• 9x Tallarn Infantry
• 9x Tallarn Mortars and Crew
• 9x MORE Assorted Tallarn Infantry
• 6x Tallarn Missile Team crew
• 12x Kroot Farstalker Kinband
• 4x Tallarn Roughriders

48 Foot, 4 mounted

the only miniatures I bought were the two teams (and terrain) that came in the Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team: Soulshackle box.

GAME PLAN 2023-Q2

What to do through the spring....?  

Well... 

Things are kind of up in the air at the moment. It looks like the basement renovation might genuinely be moving forward again and that will disrupt a lot of things and probably require a lot of things be squirrelled away for some time... unfortunately PART of the work might be done sooner rather than later... but then the rest of the work putting it all back together might not be until August/September... and in the meantime...? I may have limited access to the game room and we'll have all sorts of other stuff from the basement continuing to take up every nook and cranny upstairs, potentially for months, making it hard to even move around, let along sit down to play games or work on other hobby stuff. 

It feels like the Back of Beyond Campaign might be winding down. I had hoped to get another campaign going soon after, but that might have to wait until autumn... That might not be a bad thing. It could give me time to sort out what I want to do and get armies ready. 

GAMES

Ideally I'd like to play some games. It might be smaller quicker games that are easy to play on the kitchen table... 

At first I was thinking it might not be miniatures.. but then... maybe this might be the chance to get Kill Team going again or Warhammer Quest Blackstone Fortress or Warhammer Underworlds - something small that COULD be played on the kitchen table and could mostly be sorted in a few boxes upstairs. 

MINIATURES

I do still have a little painting station upstairs and some space to store things I'm working on nearby. Honestly there's enough up there to keep me busy for half the year... as long as it continues to interest me! 

If I could hazard a guess what it might be I work on over the spring (and summer...?) Maybe more 40K stuff to finish up formations (that may no longer be relevant in a few months) or Kill Team - I have SO MUCH STUFF for that and WOULD love to get playing again at some point!? 

February and March Games

I felt like I didn't play a lot of games in February (and was feeling tired...) so I didn't end up posting a regular, monthly February Games post, figuring March would be much the same and I'd combine the two... Then I played more games in March, so there's a bit here!? 

Sunday, 5 February 2023

Kicking off the month - one game of One-Hour Wargames for the Back of Beyond Campaign. You can read more about that here: 

Back of Beyond Campaign - Summer 1918

Saturday, 11 February 2023

While i HAD been playing a fair amount  of miniature games for the Back of Beyond Campaign... I hadn't board games with the family in over a month. Saturday afternoon I cleared off the kitchen table so we could play some games while Finnegan was running his D&D game in the basement game room. 

Initially I'd suggested Codenames and/or Kingdom Builder - both of which are fairly quick to play. Keiran suggested ALSO playing Splendor. In the end we just played Codenames... lots and lots of Codenames!?

THE FIRST ROUND - we were playing with the Two-Player Variant with one spymaster and two spies all on the same side and the Opposing side is run by an AI. Here we were the Blue agents and NOT off to a great start... New York and Bridge were out there - right next to each other in the middle of the grid... so I said "Brooklyn"... Amanda and Keiran guessed POLICE!? (because Brooklyn Nine-Nine!?) 

WE all took turns being the Spymaster. 

Keiran did exceptionally well as Spymaster (seriously want to be on THEIR team if ever we played against others!!) 

Though... occasionally they were frustrated by what morons their parents were!?

We ended up playing TEN GAMES of regular Codenames. 

Because apparently that wasn't enough.... 

We even tried mixing Codenames with Codenames: Pictures - and tried the variant with two spymasters and one spy... 

realized just before we started we didn't have enough to make a 5x5 grid... then realized after, that you only use 4x5 for pictures or the hybrid variant... oh well... 

Keiran (blue) was off to a commanding lead... but then I missed a few of their clues and Amanda and caught up and WON!? 

Finally we played one game of JUST Codenames: Pictures. Again, I think Keiran was a bit frustrated by what morons their parents can be. 

Sunday, 12 February 2023

There was one field battle to play for the Autumn 1918 turn of the Back of Beyond campaign. I played it on Sunday afternoon. You can read more about the battle and the season on campaigning here:

Back of Beyond Campaign - Autumn 1918

Saturday, 18 February 2023

Played one quick game of Splendor with Amanda and Keiran, while Finnegan was running his D&D game downstairs. 

Sunday, 26 February 2023

Sunday afternoon, my friend Jasper joined Amanda, Finnegan and me and I tried running them all through making characters for Hellboy the Role-Playing Game. 

I'd gotten really excited about this as I LOVE the Hellboy comics... and made it through the character creation section. I'm not sure we'll ever play, though. Just too damned many rules... I'd love to run a modern supernatural game using FATE or something like that. Might have to have another look at the Dresden Files RPG (which is basically FATE). 

Wednesday, 1 March 2023

I played two quick games of One-Hour Wargames for the Back of Beyond campaign. You can read all about those here:

Back of Beyond Campaign - Spring 1919

Sunday, 5 March 2023

I played a single quick game  of One-Hour Wargames for the Back of Beyond campaign. You can read all about those here:

Back of Beyond Campaign - Summer 1919

Saturday, 11 March 2023

While Finnegan was running his Saturday Evening D&D Game in the basement game room, Amanda and I played a quick game of Kingdom Builder (with elements of the Marshlands expansion). She beat me by ONE POINT! 

Sunday, 12 March 2023

Played the final battles of 1919 for our Back of Beyond Campaign. 

Full report of those actions can be found here:

Back of Beyond Campaign - Autumn 1919

Monday, 20 March 2023

Monday I played two quick games of One Hour Wargames for the Back of Beyond Campaign:

Back of Beyond - Spring 1920

Saturday, 25 March 2023

Friday afternoon I stopped by the Dragon's Den to pick up some paint. It was busier than usual and there were a few people lined up at the till when I'd found my paint, so I took a meander through the boardgame section while I was waiting. I was wondering why I even bothered as I was feeling ZERO need to buy any new games as I have a hard enough time finding time to play the ones I already have and like!? As I happed to walk past the Wingspan games, something caught my eye - a wingspan box that I did not recognize!? Apparently a NEW expansion (that can also be played as a two-player game on it's own) was released sometime last year!? 

I texted a picture to Amanda and she said "BUY IT!?"

So... 

Saturday evening we tried it out! The new "Duet Mode" was interesting - added something a little different to the regular two-player game. More to think about... 

Totally lost... But, hey, I got to play a game with Amanda! Yay!

The unfortunate thing, I realized after the game, was I was so focused on the MECHANICS - what's changed, what's different... that I never even took much notice of THE BIRDS!? I'll have to play it again and take more time to read about the birds and bust out wingsong.

Sunday, 26 March 2023

Sunday Afternoon, my friend Jasper came by and Amanda and I introduced him to Terraforming Mars. While he scooped up most of the Milestones and Awards, he didn''t quite cotton on to the importance of cities and greenery on the surface quite quick enough. I'm pretty sure it'll be a totally different game next time we play! 

In the evening after supper, Amanda suggesed we have another go at Wingspan: Asia. 

Monday, 27 March 2023

I played two quick games of One-Hour Wargames for the Back of Beyond Campaign.

Bolsheviks and Chinese fighting in the West.

Bolsheviks and WEstern Interventionists fighting in the East. 

For a full report of that action:

Back of Beyond - Summer 1920

Tuesday, 28 March 2023

Jasper was back, along with Brent, to play a few games. 

First we played a game of Wingspan. I was really excited because I got the higher point value on two bonus cards by getting four birds out in my last three actions!? Photographer - Birds with colours in their names, and one that required birds that ate fruit (Viticulturist...?) 

And then, because we had some time, we played a quick game of Century Golem

Brent just crushed the two of us, finishing the game with six scoring cards, while Jasper and I only had four!? 

They look so serious in both photos!? We were having a really good time. Maybe Jasper was just concentrating because both games were totally new to him! 

Wednesday, 29 March 2023

One more game of Wingspan: Asia! 

I'd actually arraged to play a game of Xenos Rampant on Thursday with Tim Miller, who I haven't played a miniature game with for AGES.... and then completely forgot until he showed up at my door... Unfortunately I was just starting to make supper for everyone and had not prepared at all for playing... so we had to postpone until next week. But he did hand out for a bit and we got caught up, which was nice. 

Also... I've been spending a RIDICULOUS amount of time playing Star Battles on Puzzle Baron this past month... Which is kind of gaming... 

I was mostly doing the 10x10-2 stars... but occasionally do a 14x14-stars - like this one above (14x14 grid each row, column and colour have to have exactly 3 stars in them!). 

(Because as soon as you finish them they disappear, this screen-shot was taken about four second before I finished, once I realized what had to be moved about to complete it)

I played it SO MUCH so that I ended up being in the top 20 (worldwide) in March... 

Ha-ha! Waaaaaay down in 17th place there... 

It was fun... but I played WAY TOO MANY puzzles to get there. Won't be doing that again! (I mean, trying to compete - I'll still play Star Battles and do Logic Puzzles... just not enough to score enough to place anywhere in the top 20... or even 100!?) 

Amanda has suggested a game of Wingspan: Asia when she got home from work on Friday, but because I'd ended in the top 20, I kind of just wanted to do a few more puzzles to keep my place there. having never done this before, I had no idea how competitive these puzzle-doers were and how many would be on there last minute trying to increase there score. Considering I was a solid SEVENTEEN THOUSAND points ahead of the player in 20th... I probably should have just played Wingspan... 

And that wraps up both March and the First Quarter of 2023.... I'll probably be posting a look back and the Quarter and Second Quarter plans later today or tomorrow! 

40K Kill Team - Kroot Farstalker Kinband

 This week I decided I should really assemble all the 40K Kill Teams I have and prep them for painting and, y'know, maybe PAINT some of them!? And I did that. Well, I started. I assembled and painted the Kroot Farstalker Kinband from Kill Team: Into the Dark - the first of the Gallowdark series of Kill Team boxes. 

Gallowdark is a Space Hulk - a bunch of derelict voidships that have been smashed together to form a gigantic mass the size of a moon, floating through space. It is also the setting for the latest series of Kill Team boxes - and include boards and terrain to make up rooms and corridors of the interior of a space hulk. 

Embarrassingly, this is the first Kill Team I've actually COMPLETED of all the boxes I've bought from the new edition!? (And I've bought a LOT of them!?) I did assemble and prime and partly painted three of the others (The Death Korps of Krieg Veteran Guard and Ork Kommandos from Octarius, and the Tau Pathfinders from Chalnath).

(and I've painted NONE of the terrain that came with any of the boxes!?)

(Heck, I STILL haven't painted ALL of the Kill Teams and terrain from the PREVIOUS edition!?) 

(and yet, I STILL want to get the next one they just announced!? I mean, Squats Leagues of Votann and Beastmen!? How can I NOT!?) 

It is a bit ridiculous... 

Kroot Farstalker Kinband Kill Team 

Not the most pretty figures I've even painted... but they're DONE! (and they're not for me, anyway - they're Finnegans!) I knocked these out very quickly with contrast paints. I don't LOVE the way they look. And... they are a bit quicker to paint... but not THAT much quicker... I largely did them this way so they'd match the OTHER KROOT I previously painted for Finnegan a few years ago (except for, y'know, the bases!?). 

Ahahkkhe Gabt - Kroot Kill Broker - the leader of the Kinband

Tahra'grakh Drr'rr and Ahocda Pre'lek, the Stalker and Cut-skin

Doakh'ka Prok, Draak Ghoko, and Bakor'ab Garoch. 

Doakh'ka and Bakor'ab are warriors, Draak is a Cold-Blood

Byahk Chorka and Krrob'yo Yrr'dk, Bow Hunder and Pistolier

Khor'tcha Cho'yar and Ghorek Rrok, Longsight and Heavy Gunner (with Dvorgite Skinner)

(I think...) 

The goodest hounds in the universe: Tcho and Cheh - Oh yes they are! Oh yes they are! Who wants a treat!? 

Finnegan is wrapping up his first year of university in a few weeks, I'm hoping over the summer break I can convince him to play a few games of Kill Team with his new Kinband... which I am hoping will motivate me to paint MORE Kill Teams (and some of this space ship interior terrain!?)