Goodbye 2015… Hello 2016

Well if 2014 was a quiet hobby year, 2015 was positively comatose. I think I managed less than half a dozen games of anything all year and less than a dozen hours painting! …in a whole year!!

I kicked off the year by buying a load of random models in the hope of kickstarting something. I got my mojo back a few weeks later painting up the dynamic duo, ready for a game of Batman. Eventually – in mid April – we got to play our game… Batman vs the Joker. As fun as it was the rules just didn't do it for me and left me a little flat. But never fear Salute was just around the corner!

Salute this year was the best in a long time. We saw quite a few start up games on show and it was great to see people trying to get their own ideas out there. Very inspiring. So much so that I got back into my Normans vs Outlaws project and tried to get things moving. I decided to give myself a year to get it as far as I could before making a decision about investing serious money into it and having a proper go at launching a game. Roll on Salute 2016!

August saw another flexing of the Batman's muscles as he took on Mr Awdry's Penguin (on a wonderfully appropriate gaming board). And this was swiftly followed up by a sunny afternoon's worth of Zombicide with Mr Awdry and Mr Bull.

It was at the end of August that I let slip that my secret project is called Hood, and spent a little time explaining what I have in mind and showing off some of the commissioned artwork. This has been a slow burner in the background and, if I'm honest, has kept me going when no other form of hobby activity was possible. Whether it's any good or not will be decided later but hopefully we'll see some playtesting of the re-re-rewritten rules in the next few months.

I was still floundering in hobby oblivion at the end of October when Bull suggested I find a cool model to paint, to get me back in. I went back to Guild Ball, a game we had invested in at Salute, and bought a few more models. It was enough to give me a jump start and November became all about GB. I even started painting a model or two! November ended up having the most blog posts since 2012!!

December has followed November's trend of 'how many blog posts in a month' and has been quite an eclectic month which saw a passing interest in Frostgrave emerge.

And so the year has come to a close – lots of enthusiasm but not a lot of time to spend partaking in our wonderful hobby.

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As for 2016, I'm not sure I can have too many hobby resolutions. My family will no doubt come first as it has for the last 12 months and that will restrict available time.

Having said that, I'd like to play more games. Bull moved closer during the summer so there are no more journeys over to Tunbridge Wells to game. My friend Chris recently expressed an interest to get involved with the gaming to some degree and I have discovered two more potential gamers within our NCT group. Running out of excuses not to play!

I'm hoping Guild Ball gets a decent run at the beginning of the year. Both Bull and I have invested some cash in this game and it remains very appealing. We finally got our first few games of Guild Ball in today – more on that later.

With GW announcing the re-emergence of the Specialist Games division we're eagerly waiting to see the Blood Bowl and Necromunda releases. No doubt these games will find a way onto the gaming calendar again this year too. Be interested to see how playing Blood Bowl compares after a few games of Guild Ball ?!

Then there's Zombicide and Black Plague. With Mr Awdry, Bull and myself all pledging for the latter (and receiving boxed games in time for Christmas) it can be guaranteed that you will see a zombie-related blog post or two here soon.

I'd also love to get back into the painting with some regularity. I've enjoyed my time with the Guild Ball Butchers so it would be great to carry that on (but not painting all those plastic Zombicide zombies).

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year!

Merry Christmas One And All…

With Christmas Day arriving imminently I thought I'd sneak a quick Merry Christmas post in before I close down for a few days. We're away for a bit this holiday but will be back in time for New Year.

Bull and I finally got a game day booked in the diary – the opening bout of Guild Ball on New Year's Eve!

That's right, the painting clock has started ticking as myself and Bull looked to face off this time next week – it'll be good to get a game in before the start of the New Year. This has naturally instilled a certain amount of panic as, despite only having three models to paint, I'm only half way!

Stay tuned to see how all this turns out, no doubt there will be a game (battle) report on New Year's Day (or thereabouts).

Merry Christmas everyone and all the best for the New Year!

See you soon.

A Frostgrave Warband?

I get a lot of non-hobby time (like whilst I'm at work) to think about, well, everything and anything really. Today I was contemplating whether I had enough of the right models in storage to create a Frostgrave warband (should the need arise). I have to say it seems likely, so let's have a quick look!

First of all you need a Wizard. Obviously I'm going to go with one of the darker wizarding arts, such as Necromancer or Summoner, so the models need to reflect that. The obvious choice in my metal mountain would be my GW Dark Emissary (above). I'm desperate to use him for something after so many years in a box and he would be perfect for this. 

Image from War Games Store

I also have a Warhammer Chaos Sorceror (painted!) but he looks rather daemonic and is crouched very low – great for dodging arrows but not very intimidating. He may work as an apprentice though… hmmm.

Another alternative for an apprentice is this Sorceress from Heresy. She may be looking all blonde and lovely in this image, but if I were to paint her with black hair and a dark dress she could well look the part.

I like the idea of including a Knight and/or Templar in the list (despite the coin cost) and have a few potentials. The above Knight from Otherworld Miniatures was made for a game like Frostgrave.

I also have a stack of Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Warriors who would fit the bill, if a little static with the pose. They would really fit in with an evil Wizard!

A while ago I bought some Reaper and Darksword miniatures. Whilst I can't remember the exact contents without looking in boxes, there are a couple of potential Templar models. The guy above is very eye-catching. You can imagine him in a dark paint scheme and maybe a red cloak looking utterly evil. He maybe a bit too much of a main character for a lowly soldier though.

I also have this character, who is already looking rather evil. I'd even be tempted to shave his hair off. He would definitely fit in with my Necromancer's warband but again, is he too characterful?

Another Otherworld miniature I have is the Cleric I bought at Salute last year (or was it the year before?). He could serve as an Apothecary perhaps or even some kind of melee soldier.

I do have some leftover Lord of the Rings plastic rangers. These would be great to cover the role of Ranger or Archer – maybe even Thief – and it would be handy to have some form of ranged attack in the warband.

Finally I have an untouched box of plastic Norman infantry. These would certainly fill the role of Man-at-arms or even Knight.

Then there's always the models from Zombicide: Black Death that I received recently… oh yes!

So without even looking through any boxes it's clear that I have models to fill many of the roles available in a Frostgrave warband. The only real issue I see is scale. Half of these models are 28mm and the rest are heroic 30mm. I guess I need to dig them out of their hiding places and let hem stand side by side to be sure.