Warcry - The Skaven's Prize

Below Carngard, the Reaver City, the largest settlement on the Bloodwind Spoil the ancient sewers and catacombs never sleep. Hordes of Skaven scrape and skuffle constantly. Their numbers are legion and could easily dominate the city, possibly the entirety of the Bloodwind Spoil, and threaten Varanspire itself, if ever they could just stop fighting each other! 

Finnegan and I tried out Warcry Thursday afternoon - a skirmish game set in the Age of Sigmar. Initially the game involved only Chaos warbands - drawn to the Eightpoints to battle each other and find glory and treasure and possibly earn a place in Archaon's innumerable legions of the Everchosen. Eventually rules were added so other Warbands could be used in the game. 

I've been working on getting a couple of Skaven Warbands ready to play. 

Warbands need to include a minimum of three and a maximum of 15 models totalling no more than 1000 points and there can only be one leader model. 

The Squeekhawg Scurrypack - played by Finnegan, - are lead by the vicious Clawlord Skreekmaw and consists of a band of Clan Rat and Storm Vermin warriors of Clan Verminous. The lot of them are Natural Born Schemers - ready to stab another skaven in the back (even one of their own warband) to get ahead.

The Silent But Deadly Scurrypack - played by myself - is lead by Grey Seer Krektkata and consists of a gang of Gutter Runners, a Night Runner, a Scryre Acolyte, a Plague Monk, and a Pack Master with its Giant Rats. They are dirty fighters that don't know the meaning of honour. Like, literally. To be honest, though, I'm not entirely sure there's even an equivalent word in the skaven language...? Calling them "fighters" might be a bit of a stretch, as well. "Murderers" would probably work better, being the sort that would rather strike an entirely unsuspecting foe from the shadows, rather than actually face the possibility of combat. 

THE GAME

To start the game off we rolled off for priority - and I won. 

Then starting with Finnegan (Not Priority) we split our forces into three battle groups - Dagger, Hammer, and Shield - which will determine where (and when) they are set up. There must be at least one model in each battlegroup, no more than half the force can be in any one battlegroup and at least one third of the force must be in the Shield group. 

Finnegan put the Clawlord, two Storm Vermin and two Clan Rats in Shield, a Storm Vermin and two Clan Rats in Hammer, and the remaining two Clan Rats in Dagger. I put the Grey Seer, the four Gutter Runners and the NIght Runner in Sheild, the Pack Master and three Giant Rats in Dagger, and the Scryre Acolyte and Plague Monk in Hammer. 

After that we deal out cards from the Battleplan Card Deck.

According to the rulebook there are supposed to be four decks - Terrain, Deployment, Victory and Twist decks. But I only seem to have the latter three in the pack of Battleplan Cards I bought last spring or summer...? Seemed to work out, though, as we would have ignored the missing Terrain deck card, anyway... 

Though I had picked these (and the Slaanesh cards) last spring or summer, I never really had much of a look at them. I didn't even really look at them when I was reading the rules in the Core Rulebook... So I surprised a little when I read that the games lasts THREE ROUNDS!? I don't recall anything in the rules about how long the game lasts - other than the length of the game was determined by the victory card!?

Well... now I knew why they didn't bother with morale rules - this was going to be fast and furious! a quick and brutal fight that ends as quick as it starts. 

Having Quickly glanced at the deployment card and our terrain, we noted that we'd have to adjust it slightly as one group would have had to set up inside a solid rock, and one of the reserve groups would have to enter on an edge where there were no entrances!? We said the reinforcements could come on at either of the entrances nearest the edge they were supposed to show up at, and the group that started on the board we just moved a little closer towards the center of the table so as not to be deployed in solid rock. After the game, I realized that we probably should have shifted the OTHER group and equal distance away - as the deployment card had them set up 12" away from each other (6" from the center of the table) but as we'd moved the one group's deployment location closer to the center by about 3-4" the two groups started much closer - with in range of charging and fighting in the first round!  

According to the Victory card, one group was carrying some treasure that the other wanted. According to the fluff I came up with for the two Scurrypacks, it seemed more likely that the Squeekhawg Scurrypack would be attacking the Silent But Deadly Scurrypack - as the latter would be more likely just to sneak in and steal it - rather than openly trying to rob another group at knifepoint. In fact, we decided that the Silent But Deadly Scurrypack had done just that - stolen some shinies from Skreekmaw stash and the Clawlord was determined to get his stuff back and punish those audacious enough to try and steal his things. 

Finnegan setting up his warband. 

Starting positions - each of us only started with our Shield battlegroups on the table. 

Clawlord Skreekmaw ofthe Squeekhawg Scurrypack confronts Grey Seer Krektkata and the Silent But Deadly Scurrypack that he suspects stole from his stash of Warpstone.... 

ROUND ONE

At the beginning of the round is the Hero Phase, which we start with rolling six initiative dice... These are then organized as singles or groups of like dice.  

Finnegan (top) rolled four singles and one double (the two ones), I rolled two doubles, and two singles. The Groups - Doubles, Triples and Quads are used to power abilities throughout the turn, but the number of singles determines who gets initiative during the turn (ties rolled off).

After this initial roll, each player gets a wild die that they can use to either add to a group or add another single - to try and seize - or secure the initiative. The player that starts with the initiative goes first. 

Finnegan added a third one two his Double, making it a Triple. I had no chance of seizing the initiative, so I added a six to the single six making it a double. I could have powered THREE double abilities this turn... y'know... had I REMEMBERED to!?  So many things to keep track of!? 

Starting things off, the excessively violent Clawlord Skreekmaw charged and attacked the nearest Gutter Runner - Bladow - and caused four damage! he also used the Triple to power the Lead From the Back ability... though he seemed to be doing the opposite!? The ability meant, for the rest of the battle round, any friendly fighters within 3" would add half (rounded up) the value of the ability (the number on the dice powering the ability) to their attacks characteristic! Luckily it was only a one (halved, and rounded up, still one) had the dice been sixes, he'd have been adding THREE attacks to any friendlies that got up there... 

Initially I'd wanted to use my Grey Seer to blast the Clawlord, but, it turned out, he was TOO CLOSE... AND I'd positioned the Grey seer poorly as he couldn't move through other models to get clear!? 

So, Shadow moved out of the way, sneaking around the side of Clawlord Skreekmaw (which, I just now, noticed I missed one "K" on his base!? GAH!?) and stabbed him - causing one damage. 

Krashk - one of the Storm Vermin rushed to its master's aid - scoring two critical hits and taking Shadow out of action! YIKES!

I moved Quiritikmikza out of the way - and it chucked stuff at some of the Squeekhawg rats still standing in their deployment zone doing one damage to one of them. Greshk moved up, but couldn't quite get close enough to attack. Greshk COULD have gotten into contact with  a Pair of Gutter Runners - which would limit where they could move... OR they could just attack TWICE - with four rolls per attack... 

Then, finally, the Grey Seer Krektkata moved out far enough away to do his Blast attack - but BEFORE that I used the six pair to power the Consume Warpstone Token ability - as they were sixes I got to roll six dice - for each 1 the Grey Seer took one damage, for each 4+ they added +1 damage to each hit with its next ranged attack.... Krektkata took two damage, and the blast at the Clawlord caused six!

Clan Rats Nik and Tik moved up and stabbed at Quiritikmikza, each scoring one hit for a total of 2 damage. The rest of the Silent But Deadly rats attacked the Clawlord. Blador did one damage. Jawn, the Night Runner did one damage. The Blade attack and caused THREE Critical hits for a total of nine more damage - finishing off the clawlord... on the first turn!? 

I forgot to use my other dice pairs to make abilities go... 

Whoopsie....

ROUND TWO

Round Two started out with another Hero Phase and dicing for Initiative. This time, Finnegan rolled two doubles and two singles, and I rolled a Triple, a double and one single. Finnegan used his Wild Die to make one of the singles into another Double - which also meant he now, also, only had ONE single and we would dice to see who had the initiative... Unless I used my Wild Die to make another single - which would Seize the Initiative! Which is what I did. 

Next was the Reserve Phase and the rest of our Battlegroups (Hammer and Dagger) showed up at their respective locations. 

Then, at the beginning of the Combat Phase of this second turn, I had to declare who, among my scurrypack was holding The Goods. Whoever held these at the end of the Third round would win the game. The SMART thing to do, would probably have been to say the Pack Master held them - as he was furthest from any of the enemy and had three rats to use a meatshield - blocking any that might TRY to get there. But it made more sense to me, narratively, to have the Grey Seer holding the prize.

So, on my first activation, the Grey Seer RAN FOR IT! Trying to get as far from any of the opposing scurrypack as possible. (Luckily, they had no ranged weapons!). There were the two newly arrived Clan Rats from the opponent' Dagger battlegroup nearby. 

Also a Storm Vermin and two more Clan Rats were in a position to chase. 

And chase they did - the Storm Vermin, Niktriq, followed the Grey Seer into the adjoining cavern into which he had fled. 

Bladow moved to the passage and squeaked "NONE SHALL PASS!" (Though it should have been "None MORE Shall Pass" as Niktriq had already run through there! Then chucking many things at one of the approaching Clan Rats (using an Onslaught ability) - scored a critical hit on Dik and caused 3 damage! 

Krashk attacked Blade - also making use of the Onslaught Ability - and caused 6 damage! 

Blade attacked back - twice, using both actions - and did a total of 10 damage - taking the Storm Vermin out of action! 

Greshk then moved in and also attacked Blade - and was able to finish off the Gutter Runner. 

The Scryre Acolyte, Lemsldab, having just arrived, moved to aid his leader and three poisoned wind globes at the newly arrived Clan Rats causing 3 damage to Other Mik (originally I had named two of the Clan Rats Mik and Xik... but when I painted the names on them, I ended up painting Mik twice... so one ended up being Mik, and the other was Other Mik).

Rik, who had arrived with Other Mik, rushed forward - using both actions to move - came into contact with the Grey Seer. Having used both actions, he couldn't attack, but the Grey Seer would have to use a Disengage action to move away rather than run at full speed, if I wanted to try and just get away from the enemy ratlings. 

The Plague Monk moved past the Scryre Acolyte, into the cavern, and Other Mik gave chase - stabbing poor Nervim and causing four damage! 

Quiritikmikza moved to join Bladow in the gauntlet, to prevent other members of Squeekhawg from getting to their leader - blows were exchanged with Dik and Mik. 

Two of the Giant Rats tried to chase down Nik. Nik turned and took out one of them. 

ROUND THREE

This round I rolled one Double and four Singles and used my Wild Die to secure the initiative. Finnegan rolled one Triple and three singles, as I'd added a fifth single, he couldn't even contest it, so he added his wild die to the Triple to make a Quad. 

The beginning of Round Three... 

First off, Grey Seer Krektkata, made a run for it! He Disengaged from Rik and ran as fast as he could, as far as he could. 

Finnegan used his Quad to use the RAMPAGE ability with Niktriq - effectively allowing him an extra move followed by an attack... and then Niktriqs two regular actions - which would also be attacks (unless the Grey Seer was killed with one of the first two - in which case that last action could be used to step up and pick up the treasure. He managed to do a total of eight damage - but it was not nearly enough. 

Effectively I won the game right there, as there was no one else that could to the Grey Seer in time to take it out and collect the loot. We played out the rest of the round, though, just to see what would happen. 

the Plague Monk took out Other Mik with its first action and them moved to engage Rik - to prevent it from chasing down the Grey Seer. Rik took out the Plague Monk, and chased after the Grey Seer anyway - even though there was no chase of getting there. 

Greshk attacked the Night Runner and did 2 damage, and when the Night Runner fought back, Greshk took 5 damage and was taken out of action. Quiritikmikza and Bladow were both taken out by Clan Rats, but heal that bottleneck long enough for the Grey Seer to escape. Nik took out another rat, but was bit by the last one for 5 damage! 

And that was about it... 

Finnegan had to scurry off to an online appointment, so I ran both Scurrypacks through the post game sequence.. 

The Silent But Deadly scurrypack claimed Eight Glory (5 for winning and 1 each for participating, taking out a third of the enemy and taking out the leader). The Squeekhawg Scurrypack scored two (participating, taking out 1/3 of the enemy). 

Both of the Giant Rats taken out died, but the rest survived their wounds and were able to fight another day. Dik, technically "lost favour", but as it had not GAINED any Destiny Levels... it didn't really matter. 

Checking for Destiny, the Pack Master and the surviving Giant Rat both gained destiny levels... which seemed odd, as they seemed to do the least out of all the Skaven on the table!? 

Searching for Lesser Artifacts, the Silent But Deadly pack found a Skin of Flame Ale... I figured that is what they stole from Clawlord Skreekmaw. The Squeekhawg Scurrypack found nothing... 

And that was Warcry. 

I like it. It is quick - or, I imagine, it WILL be once I have the rules all solid in my head and not having to look things up and remind myself how things worked - I got a few things confused and mixed up in my head as I also recently read the core rules for Age of Sigmar... and then there are bits of Kill Team and Necromunda rules floating around in my head. 

The dice rolling and Wild Die mechanic in the Hero Phase is interesting - sometimes being presented with gaining the initiative or doing more cool abilities in a round. 

Looking at the Victory cards - it seems a LOT of the games are only played for THREE rounds - fast and furious - there are a few that could take more - or possibly less! But most seem to be three rounds. It's been a while since I played either, but I feel like Kill Team and Necromunda were more open ended with the turn limit and could go on for ever if both sides hunkered down in cover and just plinked away blindly at each other. I guess there is not a lot of missile weapons here - so you have to get in there and get it done!

Looking at the number of wounds characters had 4 for rats, 8-10 for Skaven, about 20 for each of the leaders - when I'm used to models in GW games having ONE for rank and file and maybe 2-3 for heroes, it seemed like it might be hard to take ANYONE out - but that just wasn't the case - with 2-3 (or more!) dice being rolled for each attack action and the possibility of using BOTH actions to attack - if a model starts its activation in contact - a lot of damage can be dealt out in a single turn. 

I like that attacks are streamlined down to a SINGLE roll - gone are the roll to hit... roll to wound... roll to save... (and in the other skirmish games - like Kill Team and Necromunda - ANOTHER roll to see if they are taken out or just had a flesh wound)! In Kill Team pick a weapon and a target, check the range, check the strength of the weapon, versus the toughness of the target, roll dice equal to the number of attacks the fighter has with the chosen weapon - if the strength is higher than the toughness a hit is scored on 3+, if they are equal hits are on 4+, if the targets toughness in higher, hits are scored on 5+, a 6 is always a critical - apply damage for each hit or critical hit (critical hits generally cause more - like a LOT more). No more saving throws - armour is factored into the fighters overall toughness - very clever, super streamlined. I like it.

With 36 different Deployment cards, 36 Victory cards and 36 Twist cards... that adds up to a LOT of different combinations - giving wildly different scenarios each time. 

I'm looking forward to playing more of this. Luckily, Finnegan said he liked it too and is keen to try more - so I don't even have to wait for the Plague to end before I get in another game. 

Rat Fight!

I managed to organize all those Skaven into TWO Warbands. I realized I had enough to make TWO Warcry Warbands out of the miniatures I had so I put together two one under the Clawlord, the other under the Grey Seer. At fist I basically split all of the group/types as evenly as possible between the two - two Gutter Runners in each, three Clan Rats in each, three Storm Vermin in each... Which seemed a bit boring, but I wasn't sure what else to do, I haven't played the game, I don't know their relative strengths or what works together and didn't even really know any of the fluff... So, I read the fluff. Then I had new ideas that - whether they made sense tactically - at least made a bit of sense NARRATIVELY! 

I ended up building the two along clan lines. The first is a Clan Verminus warband centered around the Clawlord. The second is a minor clan warband - with a heavy Clan Eshin presence - centered around the Grey Seer. 

Squeekhawg - Clan Verminus Warband 

Squeekhawg - Clan Verminus Warband 

The Clan Verminus warband is lead by Clawlord Skreekmaw and consists of a band of Clan Rat and Storm Vermin warriors. The lot of them are Natural Born Schemers - ready to stab another skaven in the back (even one of their own warband) to get ahead... 

Clawlord Skreekmaw - a Vicious Fighter - keeps the warband in line with an iron (third) hand and responds with brutal violence for even the smallest slight, lest his band of backstabbers think he's getting soft and they can get away with anything.

Storm Vermin - Krashk, Greshek, and Niktriq

Clan Rats - Dik, Nik, Rik. Mik, Tik, and Xik 

The Silent But Deadly - Clan Eshin Warband

The Silent But Deadly - Clan Eshin Warband

The Clan Eshin warband (with a little help from the other lesser clans) is lead by Grey Seer Krektkata and consists of a gang of Gutter Runners, a Night Runner, a Scryre Acolyte, a Plague Monk, and a Pack Master with its Giant Rats. They are dirty fighters that don't know the meaning of honour. Like, literally. To be honest, though, I'm not entirely sure there's even an equivalent word in the skaven language...? Calling them "fighters" might be a bit of a stretch, as well. "Murderers" would probably work better, being the sort that would rather strike an entirely unsuspecting foe from the shadows, rather than actually face the possibility of combat. 

Grey Seer Krektkata. This Grey Seer possesses the "Withered Word" - it's squeaking oratory inspires a limited form of courage in their minions - or at least a seething rage and desire to see their enemies fall... 

Gutter Runners - Blade, Shadow, Bladow, and Quiritikmikza the Deadly Silent

(and one Night Runner  - Jawn - sort of a Gutter Runner Juve, in the back) 

The Night Runner miniature is actually an old Skaven Slave, but that doesn't seem to be a thing anymore. As the Night Runners (and Gutter Runners) are the only Skaven with short range missile weapons, it made sense just to call this one with a sling a Night Runner (because he didn't have the same weapons - or look nearly as bad ass). 

Representing Clan Pestilens - Nervin, a Plague Monk and a Clan Scryre Acolyte Lemsldab. 

Pack Master - "The Masterbeater" - and Giant Rats - Sik, Lik, and Fik.

No one ended up wanting to play the other evening. Not sure when I'll get another chance. Now that we have Netflix, that's all anyone wants to do... I might have to set up a game and solo it! 

Looking at what else I've got, I could probably put together four or five (or SIX!?) warbands... and THAT got me thinking that I could run a small campaign with just them - fighting for the control of the sewers beneath some unfortunate city in the Mortal Realms! Y'know, when this pestilence, brought on by the Year of the Rat, subsides... 

I may need to build some Sewer Terrain TIles to match up with my Cavern Tiles... 

I started rebasing and repainting some more stuff for Warcry... It's getting a little silly, really. I should probably endeavor to PLAY the game and make sure it DOESN'T SCUK before I get too carried away!? 

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne (and Warcry Warbands!)

 My first newly painted miniature in... almost 5 months...? I think the last were some Grey Knights and Obliterators

(I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos... it's been a while... I was in a rush and just wanted to get these DONE and on to other things this afternoon...) 

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne. 

Not his best angle... but I didn't have any terrain on hand to droop in as a background... so you get this odd, from-above angle, that just looks terrible... but here he it is, proof that I haven't totally given up on the hobby and returned to painting! 

The Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne, joins a small, but mean, force of Daemons of Khorne. I guess it could serve as a leader. Or perhaps lieutenant to Karanak, The Hound of Vengeance? Karanack is definitely higher on the totem pole of Khorne Daemons.... But, I'm not entirely sure Karanak is much of a leader...? It's kind of got its own thing going on; Hunting down those unlucky enough to be chosen by its master to be marked for death? Perhaps Karanak will do its own thing, along with its massive pack of Flesh Hounds, and the Bloodmaster can lead the rest... which, for now is just a pack of ten bloodletters...

For now this is about 630 points of troops in Age of Sigmar - which is loads for a skirmish (which seems to be about 250 points) but not quite enough for a Meeting Engagement (1000 points) much less a Pitched Battle (2000 points). I do have three Bloodcrushers to finish up, which would bring thr total to about 750. 

Also useable in Warhammer 40k, this amounts to a, rather LARGE, Combat Patrol of 22 Power - good for starting a narrative campaign in the New 40K.

For the time being, however, I was mainly interested in getting a few warbands ready to play Warcry! 

Daemons of Khorne Warband for Warcry. 

Here the Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne, is the absolute ruler of the Daemons of Khrone Warband. With is are nine Bloodletters and a Flesh Hound, for a total of 990 points (warbands can be up to 1000). I could have used the Bloodreaper (the regular leader of a unit of Bloodletters)... but I had the Bloodmaster, so I went with that.

When i finish up the Bloodcrushers, they could be used. I could mix up the number of Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds. Flesh Hounds are over double the points, per model, though, so it would be a much smaller warband with more of those. 

Karanack can not be used in Warcry. 

Daemons of Slaanesh Warband for Warcry.

I've also cobbled together a warband of Slaanesh Daemons to use in Warcry. This one consists of an Allurer, nine Daemonettes, and a Seeker. I think it comes to 950 ponts? 

Finally, I've embarked on a bit of a rebasing project involving a PILE of old metal Skaven models that a friend passed on to me some time ago. I'd stripped and repainted a bunch five years ago, with the intention of using them in Song of Blades and Heroes - and maybe building it up to a force for Dragon Rampant... but they have been used in neither.

When I picked up Warcry, they were one of the first groups of models I considered fur using in the game... and for no real good reason... I decided rebasing was necessary... 

All the Skaven so far!

I haven't actually organized them into a warband just yet. I think there may be enough for two? I still have a pile of them to paint (or RE-paint) and will probably end up with a useable Age of Sigmar army (of about 1300 points!) 

An assortment of models that could be used as leaders. I'm not 100% sure what there WERE back in Warhammer Fantasy Battles, The one in front could be a Clawlord. The one with Horns I might call a Grey Seer. The one with a gas mask I figured could be a Plague Priest. maybe the one with a musket could be a Warlock Engineer...? 

In a Warcry Warband there can only be ONE leader. I'll probably go with the Grey Seer or the Clawlord. Or maybe I'll build a warband around each?

Also on a larger base, but not an leader

Storm Vermin! Looking back at older Citadel Miniatures Catalogue, most of these were listed as Clan Rats... but I think that might have been before there even WERE Storm Vermin. Basically all the ones with better armour and helmets, I called those Storm Vermin. 

I have a few more of these to fill out a unit of 10 for Age of Sigmar.

Clan Rats! The rank and file Skaven without helmets are going to be used as Clan Rats. 

I have a few more of these, as well - enough to fill out a unit of 20 (or maybe more!?) 

Gutter Runners - need to finish up one more for a unit of five in Age of Sigmar. 

I know this one would have been a Skaven Slave in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I'll call it a solitary Night Runner for Warcry - as they're the only ones that have any missile weapons... and it doesn't look nearly badass enough to call a Gutter Runner. 

Plague Monks - the one with the scroll would be a Keeper of the World - the leader of a Plage Monk unit in Age of Sigmar - which is also ANOTHER leader option in Warcry. 

Packmaster and eleven Giant Rats! 

That's all for now. I had hoped to get in a GAME of Warcry this evening... We shall see... It might still happen. If it does, I will (hopefully) post a game report in the next few days. 

Painting-wise, I have a few Warhammer Underworlds gangs to paint up for a friend (and one for MYSELF), that I think I will try and get done next. 

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! 

Looking Back at 2020

I actually feel like Adam Sandler in Big Daddy - I kind of just want to cover up the awful puddle in the corner of the room that was 2020 with a handful of newspapers and just kind of ignore it. Let's just pretend that never happened. What happened in 2020, stays in 2020... that sort of thing. 

It's been a rough year - for me, for everyone - it's been a rough year for gaming and hobby stuff - with the pandemic and the upheaval of the never-ending-basement-renovation and... other... existential-crisis-inducing events....

I haven't even painted any miniatures or built any terrain or even played any miniature games!? On the flipside, I have been doing some OTHER PAINTING.

PLANS

Even in more stable times, without a clear plan, I get NOTHING done. Well, that isn't totally true. I am ALWAYS busy and on the move and doing things. I get things done. It's just without a clear plan that I can focus on and follow, my activity is rather scattershot and energy ends up spread too thin to be noticed as having accomplished anything - so I've tried to have big GAME PLANS for more than a few years... Sometimes they were followed. Sometimes they were abandoned. Sometimes they were modified - or entirely replaced - part way through. This year I tried to go with Quarterly Plans - to keep things more flexible and requiring focus over a more reasonably attainable period of time. 

You can find the plans here: 

Game Plan 2020 - Q1 Plans

Game Plan 2020 - Q2 Plans

Game Plan 2020 - Q3 Plans

Game Plan 2020 - Q4 Plans

I liked the felxibility of Quarterly plans. Events kind of wrecked some of those plans. The overall instability of the year made it hard to even any MAKE plans at all - even just for a few months - for most of the year. But I think it worked better than and annual plan and, being the perpetual optimist, I will continue with this. (Game Plan 2021 - Q1 - Coming soon!)

GAMES

What DID I play all year...? Well, according to Board Game Geek (where I log all of my game plays), I played the following:

• Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress x23
• Terraforming Mars x19
• Wrath & Glory x18
• Azul x12
• Carcassonne x11
• Warhammer 40,000 (Eighth Edition) x8
• Warhammer 40,000 (Ninth Edition) x8
• Fate Accelerated x6
• Splendor x6
• Viticulture Essential Edition x6 (3x with Tuscany!)
• The Castles of Burgundy x5
• Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains x5
• Hellboy: The Board Game x5
• Necromunda x5
• Century: Golem Edition x4
• Four Against Darkness x4
• 7 Wonders Duel x3
• The Big Bang Theory: The Party Game x3
• Monarch x3
• Patchwork x3
• Sidereal Confluence: Remastered Edition x3
• Abyss x2
• Betrayal at Baldur's Gate x2
• Century: A New World x2
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Dogs x2
• The Hanging Gardens x2
• Power Grid Deluxe: Europe/North America x2
• Railways of North America x2
• Retro Loonacy x2
• Battlefleet Gothic x1
• Blend Off! x1
• Castle x1
• Century: Spice Road x1
• Dominion x1
• Dominion: Intrigue x1
• Fauna x1
• Firefly Fluxx x1
• Ingenious x1
• Kingdomino x1
• Legendary Encounters: A Firefly Deck Building Game x1
• London x1
• Machi Koro x1
• Mouse Guard Roleplaying Game x1
• Peptide: A Protein Building Game x1
• Power Grid x1
• Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Star Trek: Five-Year Mission x1
• Virulence: An Infectious Card Game x1
• Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team x1

215 games...? Did I add that up right..?! 

Damn!

I guess at the beginning of the Pandemic Shutdowns Amanda and I DID play a LOT of games - like almost every day for a month...? Or maybe more...? Wasn't much else to do!?  

MINIATURES (and Other Hobby Stuff) 

I did manage to get quite a bit done in the first half of the year.... less so for the last few months...  

You can also see this same info - with links to the posts where I shared pics of the stuff painted on a separate page: 

2020 Painted Versus Purchased

PAINTED

Organized, roughly, by scale and type and when I painted it. 

28mm Foot

Q1

• 5x Khorne Flesh Hounds
• 10x Khorne Bloodletters
• 10x Slaanesh Daemonettes
• 20x Nurgle Plague Marines
• 2x Daemon Hedgehogs
• 1x Chaos Sorcerer
• 1x Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour
• 2x Chaos Space Marines
• 8x NOISE MARINE
• 1x Inquisitor
• 4x Imperial Fist Space Marine Scouts
• 1x Tangermarine Space Marine Scouts
• 1x Imperial Guard Commissar
• 1x Daemonhost
• 12x Blackstone Fortress Characters 
• 4x Blackstone Fortress Spindle Drones
• 4x Blackstone Fortress Beastmen
• 14x Blackstone Fortress Traitor Guard
• 3x Blackstone Fortress Chaos Space Marines
• 4x Rogue Trader Glitchlings
• 4x Space Millipedes 
• 4x Necromunda Scavvies 
• 11x Necromunda Plague Zombies
• 1x Necromunda Giant Greenback Spider
• 1x Hellboy Frog Creature
• 1x Servoskull
• 1x Hive Scum
• 1x Ratling Bounty Hunter

Q2

• 1x Amazon Hoplite
• 25x Imperial Guard
• 1x Penitent (for Blackstone Fortress)
• 8x Traitor Guard (Blackstone Fortress: Servants of the Abyss)
• 2x Nega-Volt Cultists (Blackstone Fortress: Servants of the Abyss)
• 2x Chaos Beastmen (Blackstone Fortress: Servants of the Abyss)
• 1x Chaos Space Marine (Blackstone Fortress: Servants of the Abyss)
• 1x Rogue Psyker (Blackstone Fortress: Servants of the Abyss)
• 1x Traitor Commissar (Blackstone Fortress: Traitor Command)
• 1x Chaos Ogryn (Blackstone Fortress: Traitor Command)
• 2x Ogryn Retinue Characters (Brogan Brothers) for Blackstone Fortress
• 1x Ogryn Pit Fighter for Necromunda
• 1x Gellerpox Infected for Kill Team Rogue Trader
• 1x Eversor Assassin
• 1x Vindicare Assassin
• 1x Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn
• 1x Inquisitor in Terminator Armour
• 1x Death Watch - Watch Master
• 1x Death Watch Space Marine
• 1x Grey Knight Brother
• 1x Genestealer Patriarch
• 3x Grey Knights
• 1x Grey Knight Terminator
• 2x Imperial Fists Scouts
• 1x Master of Possession
• 2x Greater Possessed
• 13x Kreuger's Unvalids
• 1x Little Robot Thingie from Space Hulk 
• 2x Chaos Space Marine Raptors
• 1x Necromunda Hive Scum
• 29x Genestealer Cultists (for Finnegan)
• 12x Kroot Warriors for (Finnegan)
• 2x Fabius Bile and Surgeon Acolyte

Q3

• 12x Death Guard (Plague Marines and Terminator Lord)
• 4x Inquisitorial Stormtroopers
• 1x Genestealer Cult Sanctus (for Finnegan)
• 1x Genestealer Cult Kellermorph (for Finnegan) 
• 1x Kroot Shaper (for Finnegan)
• 3x Inquisitors (including one for Finnegan)
• 7x Deathwatch Veterans (for Finnegan)
• 1x Daemonette
• 13x Flesh Hounds
• 6x Grey Knights

Total 28mm Foot Painted: 303

28mm Mounted/Smaller Beasties

• 1x Karanack, The Hound of Vengeance - Q1
• 1x T'au Commander in XV86 coldstar Battlesuit - Q2
• 5x Seekers of Slaansesh - Q3
• 2x Chaos Space Marine Obliterators - Q3

28mm Bigger Beasties/Vehicles

• Hellflayer - Q3

28mm Super-Heavy/TITANIC

• 1x Renegade Knight Acheron - Q1

Wee Planes

• 2x Imperial Navy Thunderbolt Fighters - Q2

Micro Space Ships

• 2xChaos Cruisers - Q3
• 3x Imperial Escorts - Q3
• 22x Assorted Ordanace (Fighters/Bombers/Torpedoes) - Q3

Terrain

Little Bits/Markers

• 1x Chaos Objective Marker
• 1x Space Hulk Objective Chalice

Ruined Bits (Walls, Rubble Piles)

• 8x Assorted Wall of Martyrs bits (trench, 3 emplacements, 4 end bits) - Q3
• 2x Small Sector Imperialis Ruin bits - Q3
• 4x Chaos Monoliths - Q3

Buildings and Larger Bits

• 2x Daemon World Rocky Outcroppings - Q3
• 3x MORE Daemon World Rocky Outcroppings - Q3
• 1x BFG Planet - Q3

Terrain Tiles

• 1x 4'x4' Game Board - Q3

PURCHASED (or otherwise acquired - gifts, trades, etc.)

It was a (somewhat) lighter year for purchases... largely because I wasn't doing any miniature hobby-like-stuff for the last half of the year, it made NO sense to buy anything NEW!? 

(I did pick up a few things in this past week - I blame Boxing Week Sales and Hope For a Brighter 2021)

28mm Foot

Q1

• 1x Necromunda Scavvy
• 29x Nurgle Plague Marines
• 1x Nurgle Malignant Plaguecaster
• 3x Squats
• 4x Imperial Guard
• 1x Eldar Farseer
• 2x Space Marine Scout
• 8x Cultists of the Abyss
• 10x Chaos Cultists
• 18x Noize Marines
• 13x Chaos Space Marines (to be converted into Noise Marines!)
• 5x Chaos Space Marine Raptors
• 7x Chaos Terminators
• 1x Master of Possession (Start Collecting Chaos Space Marines)
• 2x Greater Possessed (Start Collecting Chaos Space Marines)
• 2x Obliterators (Start Collecting Chaos Space Marines)
• 10x Chaos Space Marines (Start Collecting Chaos Space Marines)
• 1x Chaos Space Marine (Servants of the Abyss)
• 1x Rogue Psyker (Servants of the Abyss)
• 2x Negavolt Cultists (Servants of the Abyss)
• 2x Chaos Beastmen (Servants of the Abyss)
• 2x Ur-Ghuls (Servants of the Abyss)
• 2x Spindle Drones (Servants of the Abyss)
• 7x Traitor Guardsmen (Servants of the Abyss)
• 1x Goblin Commissar
• 1x Inquisitor in Power Armour
• 1x Female Psyker
• 20x Ngoni Tribespeople (gift from John)
• 6x Plastic WW2 Germans  (gift from John)
• 6x Plastic Landsknechts  (gift from John)
• 10x Plastic Roman Legionaires  (gift from John)
• 3x Ogryn

Q2

• 1x Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn
• 3x Plague Marine miniatures (Blackstone Fortress: No Respite)
• 6x Poxwalker (Blackstone Fortress: No Respite)
• 1x Traitor Commissar  (Blackstone Fortress: Traitor Command)
• 1x Chaos Ogryn  (Blackstone Fortress: Traitor Command)
• 1x Arco-flagellant (in trade from Orion)
• 109x Mantic Space Orks (gifted from Other Tim)
• 15x Burnaboyz (gifted from Other Tim)
• 2x Warboss (gifted from Other Tim)
• 2x Fabius Bile and Surgeon Acolyte

Q3

• 2x Daemonifuge – Ephrael Stern & Kyganil
• 11x Flesh Hounds (including old version of Karanack)
• 2x Syll'Esske (okay, it's ONE model... but there really are TWO distinct figures, so I'm calling it 2)
• 1x Rubrik Marine
• 1x Thousand Sons Sorcerer

Q4

• 5x Morgwaeth's Blade-coven miniatures
• 10x Melusai
• 5x Khinerai
• 1x Melusai Ironscale
• 10x Daemonettes
• 1x Lord of Pain, champion of the Hedonites of Slaanesh

Total 28mm Foot Purchased: 373

28mm Mounted

• 1x Zoat!
• 10x Hellstriders 

28mm Big Beasties/Vehicles

• 1x Aerosan transport (to convert for use by Valhallans!)
• 1x Venomcrawler (Start Collecting Chaos Space Marines)
• 1x Mantic Ork Warbuggy (gifted from Other Tim)
• 2x Hellflayer

Small Terrain Pieces

• 1x Tactical Command Table

Wee Planes

• 2x Imperial Navy Thunderbolt Fighters
• 2x Imperial Navy Marauder Bombers
• 3x Ork Air Waaagh! Dakkajets
• 2x Ork Air Waaagh! Fighta Bommers

Mirco Tanks

• 2xOrk Bone Krusha Tanks

Micro Sailing Ships

• 2x Wee Ships  (gift from John)

DISPOSALS(Traded or Sold)

• 12x Old Plastic Space Marines (traded for Arco-flagellant!)

Welp... that's it. 

Hope you all had a... well... good-ish year. 

I REALLY hope 2021 is better for us all! 

December Games

 Still not painting miniatures much, but I have been doing character portraits - which I've posted on my Art Blog:

Tim's Art Blog: December - Part One - Character Portraits

I did get in a few games - mostly within the last week... 

Saturday, 5 December 2020 

Finnegan ran another game of Four Against Darkness for us again this week - Christian joined us and make a swashbuckler character - Herbert Quornfeld - Accountant of Adventure - he fighted with a giant stamp and a brutally sharp letter opened. There was just no end to the accounting jokes and receipt writing (or demanding). 

As before, I was playing Gronq the Barbarian, Jon was playing Felquis the Cleric, and Chris was playing Leif Qdingleberries the Elf. With Herbert joining us, Quincy the Halfling left the party - figured he was too good for us lunkheads who didn't respect him and the 2nd level he gained... 

Only one of us got to try and level up this game, and the group decided it was my turn, and, carrying on the tradition of ineptitude, I rolled a "1"... the only thing I could roll that would not let me advance to level 2... just like Jon and Chris had done the previous game... so ridiculous. 

Other highlights of the game- we swindled a giant out of all his gold, killed a trolgre (half ogre, half troll - it was NASTY!) and killed a pair of Witch Hunters and I befriended their warhounds and took them as my own. Also added an emerald necklace to my collection of "bling". 

I did a rough sketch of a comic logo - inspired by the old Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian comic. 

I had been thinking of doing a Character portrait of Gronq - as I've been doing the Wrath & Glory game (that we aren't even PLAYING right now!?) - but then had the idea of doing it like a comic book cover. I even thought of doing short comics about the adventures we go on each week, but then realized that would be WAY to much work... or... would it? Maybe it would be the sort of "challenge" I need right now to get me producing a LOT of drawings, quickly!? 

Son't hold your breath... 

Saturday, 12 December 2020 

Another game of Four Against Darkness.. 

Friday, 25 December 2020

Despite University staff being off a week earlier than ususal, we didn't get any gaming in all week. Probably had something to do with signing up for Netflix. 

Xmas day I actually convinced Amanda to play Terraforming Mars with me. Guys, it must have been a Christmas Miracle. or something because I WON!? Against AMANDA!? 

(there have been allusions to her "throwing" the game, but I think more likely the terrible things the greasy left-over take-out food was doing to her bowels that threw her off her A-Game).

This was one of the LEAST covered boards of any game we've played this year! 

I was playing Point Luna with ... I ended with a TR of 

Initially we thought we'd tied - and then Amanda won the tie-breaker with cash, but then we noted that we'd double counted a few of Amanda's points - I'd counted some points for water next to her Capitol, and she'd counted those same points as point awareded by a card - so I eked out a win by two points!? WOO!!!

Saturday, 26 December 2020

In the afternoon the kids played their weekly game with friends on Roll20, in the evening finnegan ran us through another game of Four Against Darkness. 

We finished up clearing out the dungeon we'd been in. Met some dwarfs on the way out and billed them for vermin removal and headed back to town. After partying there for a while we headed out on our next adventure which involved some cross-country travel. 

I'm not sure if this is what Finnegan had in mind, but I'm pretty sure this is how the rest of us envisioned the Dual-Axe-Wielding Undead Dwarf Mini-Boss we encountered this Saturday. I have to say I was a little sad when we crushed it's bones into dust. I'm sure we all felt, at that moment, the music died... again... some more...

...and then the cleric failed to make it to second level for the FOURTH TIME IN A ROW!? Seriously!? Who rolls that many ones!?

Monday, 28 December 2020

Despite no painting or miniature gaming for the last six months (or maybe it's been five? it was the summer...), I headed over to my FLGS and picked up some boxing week deals. I guess I was feeling hopeful for some return to miniature gaming and painting in the new year... 

My hope is that with the Shadow & Pain box I'll be able to add a bit to my Daemon Army for 40K as well as being able to field it in Age of Sigmar at a Hedonites of Slaanesh army - and also get a solid Daughters of Khaine warband for Warcry. The deal is, though, I don't get to open the box until I a) Finish the Game room and b) finish the last of the minis from Wrath and Rapture I got LAST YEAR!? 

Later in the evening, Amanda and I played Century Golem Edition: Eastern Mountains. After five games, she's finally figured it out... which pretty much means I'm never going to win again... Ah, well... 

Later in the evening I actually assembled the Bloodmaster - first hobby thing I've done in nearly 6 months! 

Tuesday, 29 December 2020

In the morning I made another trip to the Dragon's Den and picked up a couple of the Faction Books for Warcry... 

In the evening Amanda played a couple more games with me, between watching episodes of Shadowhunters with Keira. After five years and nearly 30 games... Amanda finally figured out Farming in Carcassonne.... I will probably never win another game. (Which is actually totally fine, I mean, the whole reason I like Carcassonne so much is because I LOVE making maps! Winning has always been secondary to making a map that looks nice!) 

After another episode of Shadowhunters we played a quick game of Azul. Like, REALLY quick! I think it's the fastest game we've ever played!? It was pretty low-scoring compared to most others too!? 

Wednesday, 30 December 2020 

Another game of Carcassonne. 

Another big win for Amanda gaining 65 points at the end of the game from a combination of Farming anf Goods (from Traders & Builders) 

I went a little overboard with a massive re-basing/reorganization project to make old minis into Warcry Warbands (and maybe Age of Sigmar ARMIES?!) 

More on that in the Game Plan 2021 - coming in the next day or so... 

Thursday, 31 December 2020

Last day to get in games in 2020 - and for the final Quarterly Challenge

I got in two quick games of Azul with Amanda in the morning. 

Man, I was ON FIRE - totally rocked the first game! 99 points! (Amanda was doing pretty good too, she was only a few points behind!) 

Second game went even quicker, but was a bit lower scoring. 

After Azul, Amanda participating in an online dance thingie, so I went out for a ride and popped by Dragon's Den for one last little treat for myself. I don't actually HAVE Beastgrave - or ANY of the Warhammer Underworlds games... and I'm not really planning to GET any of the Warhammer Underworlds games... but I have a friend who does (I've painted all of his warbands for him) and this pandemic will end SOMEDAY and I thought it might be fun to try it out and have my own warband to play with.... AND the set includes five unique Daughters of Khaine miniatures that I will be able to use in Age of Sigmar and/or Warcry. 

Later Amanda and I played ONE LAST GAME of 2020 - another game of Carcassonne! 

I robbed her of some Farming points this time... but it wasn't nearly enough to deal with... 

ALL THE DAMNED GOODS she scooped!? 

I did score 40+ points from farming... which made it a much closer game that it had been all along... 211-208... but, yeah, she just crushed it all week with Carcassonne! 

And that was it for December. Oh, there are a few hours left in the month - and the year - but no more games are going to be played - the evening plans mostly involve supper and Netflix. So... 

This kind of rounds up Q3 of 2020... I didn't really have a plan, per se, at the start of Q3, but in a later post suggested I could "retroactively" pick out five games to play five times for the Quarterly Challenge - just to keep up with THAT part of the plan. At the time I suggested I'd probably go with Fate Accelerated (as I'd already played six games by that point!), Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains (we'd played four games) and then Azul, Carcassonne, Codenames: Pictures, or Monarch (as we'd played two or three of each). I also considered Four Against Darkness an option, as I knew Finnegan would jump at the opportunity to play that with me. 

In the end, I played the following games over the last three months:

• Fate Accelerated x6
• Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains x5
• Azul x5
• Carcassonne x5
• Four Against Darkness x4
• Century: A New World x2
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Monarch x2
• Terraforming Mars x2
• Abyss x1
• The Castles of Burgundy x1
• Century: Spice Road x1
• London x1
• Patchwork x1

So... I didn't play five games five times... There were five games that, between them, I played 25 times...? And, in total, I played 38 games!? I like the Quarterly 5x5 Challenges - it's a little more flexible than a 10x10 Annual Challenge, but the same number of games (in total, 100) get played. I think I will continue this tradition. 

I do have a Looking Back at 2020 post in the works, but if I don't happen to finish that up before midnight (and anyone happens to be reading this evening) I do want to thank you for popping by and taking an interest in what I've been up to - and everyone else who stopped by all year long - especially those that commented and were so positive and supportive through a very rough time - you are fabulous people and I can't thank you enough. I also want to wish you all the very happiest of new years and sincerely hope that 2021 is less of a dumpster fire for everyone. 

All Is Not Lost

 I case you were starting to wonder if there ever might be miniature gaming or hobby stuff on Tim's MINIATURE WARGAMING Blog (believe me, you are not the only one!), I have some good news!

After a hiatus of almost six months, I did a hobby thing... 

I assembled this Bloodmaster of Khorne! 

It's a start... 

Maybe I'll even prime the blighter before the new year!? 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have a few posts in draft form coming up soon!

December Games - There wasn't a LOT of gaming this month - hence only ONE post - but Amanda and zi have gotten in a few games the last few days (in a desperate effort to complete the 5x5 Quarterly Gaming Challenge!).

A Look Back at 2020 - It will be brief... probably best to just put all that behind us. 

Game Plan 2021 - General plans (or "hopes") for the coming year and more specific plans for the first Quarter

There will also be posts on the Bike Blog and Art Blog in the coming days, for those interested in such things. 

For anyone that wishes more regular, up-to-date look at what I've been up to, I do have an instagram account where I post Game AND Bike AND Art stuff (and other stuff) on a pretty regular basis. You can find me here:

https://www.instagram.com/tim.in.saskatoon/