First Post of 2010

Wow! It is 2010 already. How did that happen? It is hard to believe that I started this blog three years ago, almost to the day. In all the time I have been doing this blog I have avoided the whole "New Year's Resolution"/"Here are my grand plans" type of posts. This blog has always been about whatever I was doing/thinking at that moment. But times have changed. For the first time I think I will go on record with what I would like to do the for year ahead. Planning anything for me is usually a bad thing....

So here we go. The items listed below are in the order in which they entered my mind.

Warhammer 40,000 - From a player perspective this has been my main game for the last couple of years, and it looks like that will be the case for 2010. Over the past summer I started work on an Ork army and after a few games I am really liking them. So the plan is to expand this army over the coming year and get in a bunch of games with them.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles - A couple of years ago I acquired a Beast of Chaos army and I started working getting it painted. At the time I tried to get my friends to to join in...with limited success. With the new Beasts Codex coming out next month I will definitely be getting back into this project. It also appears that my game friends will also be building armies and playing games.

Necromunda/=][=munda/Inquistor - Tim and I started working on some small skirmish games based on the 40K setting. We have yet to settle on a rules set and will probebly use a mix of Necromunda and 40K 2nf edition (=][=munda). I would like to keep working on this in 2010.

Black Powder Era - This is a very broad and vague category. I have lots of interesting in games set in various battles from 1700 to 1900. I am mostly interested in the American Civil War and the Napoleonic Wars. I have the start of a large 28mm ACW collection but I need a reason to paint it. I would also like to build some armies with the new plastic Perry and Victrix Napoleonic figures. Rules for this period have always been and issue. I want something fun and easy and I am not sure there is anything out that fits the bill. The Warlord Games Black Powder rules look interesting so I may be checking those out this year.

Warhammer English Civil War - I played this game several years ago and really liked it. I started building an army using figures from Renegade and Bicorne. The figure were terrific but very expensive. I also had a huge block when it came to painting them. It took a long time to make any progress on the project and before I knew it everyone had moved on and sold their armies. I was bummed and eventually sold my army as well. Warlord miniatures has released a new line of plastic ECW figures that look fantastic! The prices are good and I may just start working on this again. This time I will do it for me and plan on both sides.

Flames of War - Last year I started building any army for FoW. I spent lost of money on an army and the books. I have painted up about 600 points of British 8th Army for North Africa. Sadly, I have yet to play and my dislike of 15mm minis is starting to take hold. I am not sure where this project will go in 2010. It seems to me it is about 50/50 whether I continue the project or sell it all off. Playing would probably help.

Legends of the Old West - I have lots of Cowboys and the start of a town. I would like to play some games and paint some more terrain and figures. This could be a fun distraction.

Lord of the Rings: SBG - Funny. I have no real plans for this game in 2010. I have a couple of figures to paint for the Gathering in the Desert in February. Other than that, I probably will not be doing anything for this game.

28mm World War II - This is my true love when it comes to miniatures gaming. I have a huge collection and a desire to do so much more. The last several years I have been working on a set of rules based, loosely, on 40K with some LOTR mixed in. I even sent it into Warhammer historical in hopes of getting it published. Alas, it was not to be. There were big changes at WHW and they now how their own plans for WW2. This was a very discouraging development and lead to my experimentation with FoW. You see, I don't want to be one of those beardy gits that plays their own, home-made, rules. This year will be the year of finding a published set of rules for 28mm WW2. Right now I am looking at the Iron Ivan stuff. I have played it a couple of times and it look like it might do the trick.

Other Games - I really want to get in some more games of Descent this year. I have played a couple of times and I really like it. I would also like to get into Wings of War, either WW1 or WW2. Memoir '44 is also looking interesting. I like the fact that they have so many expansions.

So there you have it. This is what is on my mind right now. In a while I will have something else on my mind and will probably end up forgetting half of this. Throughout the year I will try and come back to this post. Maybe it will help to keep me on track.

40K Game Images Part 3

A couple of weeks ago a few friends and I met up at Imperial Outpost for a day of 40K. We had five players - me, Tim, Tom, Brandon and Lonnie. The armies that took the field were Tyranids, Sisters of Battle, Imperial Guard, Space Marines and Daemonhunters. We managed to get in three games.

The Sisters fought the Tyranids and...well...the Sisters got wacked. It was not pretty.

The Imperial Guard fought the Daemonhunters and it was a close game that ended in a draw.

The last game was Imperial Guard vs. Space Marines. This was another close battle that also ended in a draw.

It was good to get the guys out for a day of gaming. Two of the five players played their frist games of 5th edition. Everyone had a great time.

40K Game Images Part 2

Today we have another collection of game images. This is from a game played at my friend tim's house in April of this year. The match was Sisters of Battle vs. Imperial Guard. This was a small 1000 point game.

I do recall that the IG captured the center building early and punished the sisters trying to turn the flank closest to the camera. I also recalled that he sent in his Stormtroopers to clear the building. I tried to get around the far building with mu Sentenels and got bogged down.

I think this game was a draw but it might have been a victory for the sisters. Either way it was a fun game. I realy need to remember to take pictures throughout the entire game and perhaps take some notes.

40K Game Images Part 1

This is the first of a series of posts I will be doing of pictures I have taken in various 40K games. These posts will be of pictures for games that I should have done battle reports for and never got to or battles that I did not take enought pictures of to make it worth it.

The pictures below are of a game played in, I think, April of 2009 (maybe not, I really can't remember) between my Kinghts of Eden Space Marines and my friend Lonnie's Tau. Lonnie was breifly back in town after working for months overseas and we decided to play a 2000 point battle.

I remember that this was a good and close game. The Tau pulled out the victory on the last turn. The game was played at Empire Games in Gilbert, AZ.

Social Studies Project

My daughter, Sharleen, has a project for her 6th grade social studies class to build an ancient Greek house. Naturally, being a model builder, this is a school project I am perfectly able to help with. The model represents an Athenian house that would have been home to a well-to-do citizen. Sharleen did all the research and designed the floor plan. Dad built the building and we both worked on the painting.


The model is 15"x15" and is on an 18"x18" base. There are two floors and a removable roof. The house is made from corkboard tiles and framing mat board.

When working on translating Sharleen's plan into the model I decided to build this as I would a 28mm gaming model. It is what I am most familiar with. She turns it in tomorrow and hopefully she gets a good grade. I am a little concerned that I may have helped a little too much...