Rohan Royal Guard on Foot

These figures are the last of my Rohan army for Gathering. Here we have three Rohan Royal Guard on foot. These may be my favorite models in the entire Lord of the Rings line. I loved painting these and I wish I had more.

Warriors of Rohan

Wow...I am cutting this project close. Here we have 24 Warriors of Rohan that will be serving as dismounted Riders of Rohan for the upcoming Gathering in the Desert. These guys are quick and sloppy paint jobs on figures right out of the box. I am really glad these are done as they have been sitting around in primer for years.

OK, just a couple more pieces left on this project.

Eomer, Captain of Rohan and Standard

With Gathering in the Desert 2011 happening this weekend it time for me to get this army done. I am taking an all mounted Rohan army and I needed to finish the heroes. Here we have Eomer, a captain and a standard. These are fairly quick paint jobs but they look ok I guess. I was having a hard time getting into this project.

I also finished the dismounted figures. These are a must have for the game as it is very likely the horses will get killed at some point. If you don't have the dismounted figures then the model is removed.

I still have a few more items to finish up before the event. I still need to finish the dismounts for the rest of the army.

Direction for 2011

It is that time of year again. The time in which I sit down and try to imagine what I will be doing for the year ahead. This is generally a useless exercise but it is still fun. So without further ado here are the things that pop into my mind that I think will be fun projects:

Lord of the Rings: SBG - With the Gathering in the Desert coming up towards the end of February I really need to get moving on this. I need to finish a few mounted models for my Rohan army. I need to paint up about 24 dismounted figures. I have also committed to doing some terrain for the event. After that I think I will be working on a new Dwarf army.

Legends of the Old West - I had a blast the few times I played last year and I would love to get in some more games. After watching the Wild Bunch the other day I have been thinking about some Mexican Expedition games. Old Glory makes a nice selection of US Army and Mexicans for this period.

Legends of the High Seas - I am not thinking about Pirates but I have been wanting to do some French and Indian War skirmish and these are the perfect rules for this. I love the Conquest figures for the period and I am dying for a reason to buy some.

Black Powder - Work continues on the ACW collection and hopefully some games will be happening soon. I can't wait to see what periods they expand the game into this year. Almost any supplement for this game is likely to get me working on a new project.

Flames of War - I have a lot of plans for this game in 2011. First off I am planning on participating in my first FoW tournament/event this year. I will be working to complete my mid war Fallschirmjager company and I have plans for an early war French force. On top of all that I have a later war German force to paint as a commission. I need to do more terrain for North Africa and Italy. There is lots going on with this one.

Warhammer 40K - This year should see the completion of the Orks. Other than that, and playing some games, I have no major plans so far.

Other Games - I will be keeping an eye out for a good Ancients game. I am hoping the new rules from Warlord will fill this slot. I have no real thoughts on 28mm WW2 at the moment. The search for rules will continue. Warhammer Fantasy Battle has dropped off the radar and the army may go. Time will tell on that one.

That is all I can think of now. It will be interesting to see which of these ideas generates a spark. We'll see in December I guess.

2010 Gaming Year in Review

Back in January I posted some ideas for 2010 gaming. It was just some random thoughts and did not constitute anything like a plan. Here is the original post. With the year winding down I thought would be interesting to see which of things I talked about in January actually happened. Plus it is an easy way to pad my posts since I have not painted for weeks.

Warhammer 40,000 - The plan was to keep building and painting Orks and that is what I did. I completed nearly 90 models and got in 6 or 8 games. I am enjoying them more than ever.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles - The new codex, new rules and new models all conspired to sour me on this game. I spent a ton of money on the Beastmen this year and painted a few models. I still have not played and the majority of my likely opponents have gotten rid of their armies. This was a major boondoggle. It may be time to cut my losses and sell this collection off.

Necromunda/=][=munda/Inquistor - I have done precisely nothing with this this year. It is still an idea that I like and I have lots and lots of ideas. Maybe 2011...

Black Powder Era - Things went better in this area than I really expected at the beginning of the year. I bought the Black Powder rules from Warlord games and really liked what I read. I managed to get a couple of friends to do a small walk-through game and I thought it was cool. It inspired me to paint a bunch of 28mm ACW figures and make a few more purchases. I now have 6 regiments of Union painted along with 2 guns and 2 caissons. I would love to get a big game on the table in 2011 but I have lots more work to do.

Warhammer English Civil War - This was another bust for me. I did nothing for this game or era. The release of a Black Powder book for the period would get me collecting the Warlord plastics.

Flames of War - This was a great year for this game but could have been even better. I finished my 1500 point 8th Army Infantry Company and painted enough extras to do a 1500 point 8th Army Infantry Tank Company. I also started a Tunisia/Italy Fallschirmjager Company that is about 1/3 painted. I got in several games this year and I an starting to get a good feel for the rules. It has been great fun with more to come.

Legends of the Old West - I had low expectations for this. It turned out to be a pretty good game this year. I painted only about 13 more figures but I did get to play in a campaign day that was lots of fun. This one is a keeper.

Lord of the Rings: SBG - I played a bunch of games for the GiTD and in preparation for the event. I traveled to Colorado for the Mayhem in the Mountains event. I played in a primer event last month for next years GiTD. I am starting the planning for next year's army and I am still collecting lots of minis for the game. Not much painting but after the New Year I need to get busy. This was the most played game for me in 2010, hands down.

28mm World War II - Not much happened this year with 28mm WW2 gaming. I got a copy of the Rules of Engagement and Tim and I tried out a couple of games. I liked the rules and thought they had some potential to be a regular game but Tim was not so sure. Other gaming stuff came up and we never went back after the initial test games. We tried out the Legends of the Old West/Legends of the High Seas/LOTR:SBG rules for some WW2 skirmish games and it worked really well. I need to do more experimenting in this direction. I added a bunch of new models to the collection but I didn't do any painting.

Other Gaming - I did manage to work in some general board games and card games with the family and friends. My daughter got interested in Magic: The Gathering for about 2 weeks. It was kind of fun to pull out the old Magic decks and get in a few games. Her interest died quickly, oh well. This area turned out to be a fun way to enjoy some social time with people who are not interested in miniatures gaming.

All in all 2010 has been a good year for games. I wish I would of had more time to actually play games but when I did the games were all fun. That is what it is all about.

More Orky Goodness

I have been painting lots of 40K Orks lately. I just finished another 35 models for the army. First up are 5 more Nobz for the Warboss's bodyguard. These are all AOBR Nobz.

Here we have a couple of weapons Orks. These guys will see time as Meks in my Loota units.

I have painted up 6 more 'Ard Boyz to bring the unit total up to 20 Boyz. The Rokkit Launcha adds a bit of punch.

ANd finally we have 2 elven Ork Boyz Mobs. Each has a Nob and a Big Shoota. These are all AOBR figures.

I still have lots of stuff to do for this army. The Deff Dred is very nearly done. After that I have a couple of Battle Wagons and a bunch of Koptas to do.

76th Pennsylvania Infantry

Here is my 76th Pennsylvania Infantry regiment. I still need to do the banners for the unit but it is done enough to show-off. The figures are Sash and Saber.

This is the sixth regiment I have painted for the American Civil War this year. My production has slowed down in the last few weeks. I am still hoping to get in another Black Powder game before the year ends. I thing it might be time to paint some rebs.