Game Plan 2023 - Q3

Holy Carp!? How are we already half way through the year!? 

Lets start by looking back at the Q2 Game Plan...

Games

I didn't really have any idea what sort of games I might play for any sort of Quarterly 5x5 Challenge... I did end up getting sort of close to playing five different games, five times! And, despite only playing ONE GAME in June, played over thirty in April and May... 

Here are the games I played this past quarter: 

• One-hour Wargames x5
• Wingspan Asia x4
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Wingspan x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x2
• Tinderblox x2
• Azul x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Cryptid x1
• Imhotep x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Splendor x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

What I've played, so far this year... 

• One-Hour Wargames x20
• Codenames x11
• Wingspan Asia x7
• Splendor x5
• Wingspan x5
• Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x4
• Agricola x3
• Century: Golem Edition x3
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Tinderblox x2
• Azul x1
• Beyond the Sun x1
• Boss Monster 2: The Next Level x1
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig x1
• Cryptid x1
• Hellboy: The Roleplaying Game x1
• Imhotep x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Shakespeare x1
• Terraforming Mars x1
• Terraforming Mars: Prelude x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Vinci x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

Any possibility there might be a 10x10 in there...? Certainly there could be five games I'd play 10 times this year (One Hour Wargames and Codenames I've already done, it would be easy enough to get in five more games of Wingspan, Splendor and Wingspan Asia)... If I actually got going on playing Kill Team and Warcry, it would be easy enough to get in ten games of each of those... but that's only seven. Maybe if I ended up running a role-playing game in the fall and/or another online campaign...? 

Maybe I just need to try and play some games and see what happens.  

Miniatures

I didn't get a tonne painted... and I DID buy a few things... but I don't really see any need for any more purchases in the foreseeable future (Unless I got playing 40K on the regular and decided to pick up a few Harlequins or other Aeldari to fill in holes in 40K armies...) 

Q3 Game Plan

Things are still very much up in the air. The basement renovation still drags on and there is a lot to do before it's going to be finished. Demolition is complete, the last of the plumbing has been upgraded and concreted has been repoured... But things are kid of on hold now, until the end of August, when the contractor we hired to do all the finish work is available. So, I probably won't have full access to the game room or a proper hobby area until Q4...  That will limit what kind of gaming and hobby projects that can be worked on.

Also there are a few vacations being planned for this summer. Amanda and Keiran are heading off to visit Amanda's folks and sister and her family later in the summer. Then Amanda and I are theoretically going off on a vacation of our own afterwards  (as well as maybe a few shorter excursions earlier in the summer...?) 

Still... I would like to get going on some games of Kill Team and Warcry. I'd like to finish up a few of the new kill teams and Gallowdark terrain and a few more skaven for Warcry.

Hopefully we can still play a few board games from time to time. 

Not much of a "plan"... but... It's about the best I can manage right now. 

Hopefully by Q4 I'll be back into the swing of things... 

November Games - Part II

 

Didn't get in QUITE as many games in the second two weeks of November as we did in the first two.. but still... games were played. Fun was had. 

Thursday, 18 November 2021

On Thursday Finnegan and I tried out The Silver Bayonet for the first time. 

There is a full game report with more pictures, you can read it here:

The Silver Bayonet - Wolf Pack

Friday, 19 November 2021

Friday evening Amanda suggested Terraforming Mars, again. 

! just could not get stuff together to grab ANY of the milestones. 

And hardly got any cards out... well... compared to what Amanda put in play!? Despite that, I was only trailing by about 16 points - I was way ahead of her in Terraforming Rating and managed to get a lot more cities and greenery on the planet... 

This was our 10th game this year - so we don't NEED to play anymore... also it was the 43rd play of all time... still like playing it. Mostly... 

Monday, 22 November 2021

I'd hoped to get more games in over the weekend - and Sunday had started to be our Warhammer Underworlds night again... but then movies (Red Notice and Free Guy) and TV (The Great!) and Book Clubs happened and we didn't get any games in. 

Amanda did have Monday off so after doing a few errands we sat down to play a game of Warhammer Underworlds: Night Vault! 

There is, as always, a complete game report with loads of pictures here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault - Stormsire and Lady Harrow

This was, officially, the tenth game we've played in the Nightvault of Shadespire... and so that's another game that I've played ten times this year! Woo! 

Next year I'll probably just start logging all the Warhammer Underworlds games at Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep... 

I guess I better get painting THOSE warbands! And Elathain's Soulraid! Harrowdeep seems like just the sort of place THEY'D be hanging out! 

Over the next day, or so , I actually DID some stocktaking of all the Warhammer Underworlds warbands...

Stocktaking 2021 - Warhammer Underworlds

Friday, 26 November 2021

BLACK FRIDAY

I did go to my FLGS and picked up a few things. Warhammer Underworlds terrain (Arcane Hazzards for NightVault and Primal Lair for Beastgrave - they look like they'll work as interesting scatter terrain bits for other games as well!) and the latest White Dwarf... That's it... 

I had thought of picking up Stargrave... but they were sold out. I looked for Rangers of Shadowdeep or Five Parsecs from Home - a couple other games I've been thinking out - also didn't have any. I EVEN looked for a single Gloomspite Gits Leader - either the Fungoid Cave-Shaman or possibly the Loon Boss... (for... REASONS!)... but, nope... So not much there. 

I did break down and pick up the Rangers of Shadowdeep PDF later in the day as it was on sale at Drive-Thru RPG. My printer died printing it off... It was on it's last... whatever - we've probably had it for the better part of a decade... but it finally gave up the ghost just as I was printing the last few pages... The last 20-30 pages are crap... I'll probably reprint them when we get a new printer. 

I also picked up some stuff from the HPL Historical Society (as they were having a Solstice Sale - a little EARLY!?). Actually, that was the night before, now that I think about it... 

AND I ordered some Regency Zombie Hunters from MiniFigs/Matchlock Miniatures... but they weren't even on sale... 

Later in the evening, Amanda and I played Castles of Burgundy.

I actually filled all my pastures, which, I almost rarely EVER do!? Amanda almost always scoops up the critters and I grab buildings... But Friday's game was almost the entire opposite. 

SHE was grabbing all the buildings right off the start to try and fill a large section of her map that needed them. 

Sunday, 28 November 2021

Sunday evening Amanda and I played Marrying Mr. Darcy. Amanda played Georgiana Darcy and I played Elizabeth Bennett. 

Georgiana Darcy ended up marrying colonel Fitzwillaim and Elizabeth Bennett married Georgiana's brother Mr. Darcy. 

We BOTH ended up tying a twenty-six points in total, but Georgiana had a higher dowry (Tie-breaker #1), so Amanda won. 

It's okay as a two-player game, but I recall it being way more fun with more players. Especially players who are fans of Jane Austen! I did ask the rest of the family if they were interested, but they were more interested in electronic devices...  

Kids these days, amirite? 

And that's about it for November...

Looking at my 10x10 Challenge Plays to Date:

1. Wingspan 27
2. Retro Loonacy 12
3. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm 12
4. Azul 11
5. Century: Golem Edition – An Endless World 10
6. Kingdom Builder 10
7. Terraforming Mars 10
8. Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault 10
9. Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team 8
10. Necromunda 6

So we got to at least ten for everything except Kill Team and Necromunda. Getting in two more games of Kill Team in December shouldn't be a problem. Four more games of Necromunda might be a bit more tricky... I've almost been thinking it might be easier to get in nine more games of The Silver Bayonet, or six to eight games of... something else we've played a few games of so far this year... 

• Castles of Burgundy (4 plays, so far - need to play 6)? 
• Kingdomino(3/7)? 
• Carcassonne (2/8)? 
• Splendor (2/8)? 
• 7 Wonders Duel (1!) 
• Dominion (1!)? 
• Just Desserts (1!)?  
• Lords of Waterdeep (1!)?  
• Viticulture (1!)? 
• MARRYING MR. DARCY!? (1!)

Finnegan and I are pretty keen to play some more of The Silver Bayonet... I guess we'll see how the first week or two goes... The kids have the last two weeks off, surely I can talk them into playing a few games then? We already have plans to play Wingspan again next Monday. I'm sure we'll end up with THIRTY games of that before the end of the year! I think there was one more Centruy Golem Edition combination that we hadn't played (all three?), so we'll likely get in one more game of that. 

October AND November Games

I didn't play a LOT of games in October...

I know it looks like there are a lot of has-marks on the 13th and 14th - but that represents one or two plays of the same game, each logged separately, with a few expansions being use with each...

As previously reported, I played a few games over the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend.

I got in a couple of games of Necromunda with Amanda (Escort Mission and Rescue Mission) 

and one with Finnegan (Battle for the Bronze Gates) 

...And then some Not-so-Necromunda games with the family...


Friday, 11 October 2019

Unstable Unicorns

Race for the Galaxy


Saturday, 12 October 2019

Century: Golem Edition

and Splendor...


Tuesday, 22 October 2019

The only other games I got in through October were a couple games I played with Bruce (the Paisley Wizard) on the 22nd...

First I introduced him to Century: Golem. I won the first game, and then he crushed me in the second... 

and then I introduced him to Splendor... 

I typed this up at the end of October... but really didn't feel like there was much there and didn't post it...

So... November... 

Things didn't really get going until we were already a week into the month. Thereafter games were kind-of-mostly just played on Friday and Sunday evenings... More than in October... but less than other months...


Friday, 7 November 2019



On the 7th I played a game of The Pikeman's Lament (well... sort of... there were some fantastical elements added in from Dragon Rampant!). I initially set up the game for my friend Bruce, who, at the last minute, was unable to make it... so I played it out on my own... a full report of the ensuing escapades (with LOADS of pictures!) can be found elsewhere on this blog:

Whit's Fur Ye'll No Go Past Ye

Over the Remembrance Day weekend, we got in a few more games...


Friday, 8 November 2019



Starting with Friday evening, Amanda, Keira and I played Castles of Burgundy. I finally feel like these games are starting to go a BIT quicker (still not anywhere close to the reccomended game length, but still.... quicker than we've played it before...)



I played, like, my BEST GAME EVER and totally won! Woo!


Saturday 9 November 2019



Saturday evening Keira ran us all through character generation for a role-playing game called Epyllion - where we all play young dragons (sort to like Tales from the Loop... but Dragons?).



 I'm playing a lean, red, daredevil dragon with lots of spines, a barbed tail and an overbite.



I also have a burrowing horse-armadillo-alligator companion animal... It seems we are all genderless vegan dragons that like to eat cottonhoney (wait... is cottonhoney vegan? Maybe we're not Vegan... but we apparently don't terrorize humans or eat them or their livestock, so... ethical vegetarian dragons?).



Finnegan's playing a green naturalist dragon and Amanda's playing a black seer dragon.

It's kind of weird.

I kind of dig it.

I was really looking forward to playing the first adventure the following week... but that kind of didn't happen..

There had been a plan to play Necromunda on Sunday... And another plan for a game Monday evening... but both kind of didn't happen either...


Friday, 15 November 2019



Friday evening our friend Laura came over to play games. We started off with Race for the Galaxy - with only the first expansion (as I think it only added cards and no new rules). It was actually really fun to play this way again!




Afterwards we played Kingdom Builder... I was so wrapped up in the game I forgot to take a picture until we were done and had put it away... We played with Lords, Citizens, Merchants
Oasis, Boats, Standing Stones and Inns... or at least that's what I noted in the BGG entry. I forget which is which - the first three are what we got victory points from, the latter four are the boards we played with...


Saturday, 16 November 2019



Kids playing in Finnegan's D&D game - they play every Saturday. I just don't always take pictures and I never log the games on BGG - because I'm not playing with them! But occasionally I remember to mention that these games happen!



We had so much fun playing with the very basic Race For The Galaxy the previous evening, we played TWO MORE games on Saturday evening!



Keira bailed on the second one...



In the second game I had a pretty sweet Gene/Uplift theme going on... but I just couldn't find the 6 cost developments that could have gave me loads of points for such a theme...



THESE are the cards I needed...


Sunday, 17 November 2019



Sunday evening Orion came over to give Necromunda a try.



He played my Cawdor gang and I played the One-Eyed Red Snakes (Delaque gang)

The ensuing shenanigans were fully reported on here:

For All Those Who Seek Redemption

Since this game Orion has picked up the new boxed set and is busily working on a team of Enforcers! Hopefully we'll see them cracking skulls in the under hive sometime in December!



Friday, 22 November 2019

Our friends Bruce and Adele came over for supper and games.



Adele was running a bit late, so Amanda Bruce, and I started off with a 3-player game of Century: Golem Edition



Totally crushed it! Yeah... that's over 100 points!



Then we played a few more games when Adele showed up.



After that we recruited the kids to join in a six-player game of 7 Wonders. (forgot to get a picture of the game while playing... again.. so this is us putting it all away!?)

I played Menneken Pis, which is really weird.... I ended the game with 41 points. Amanda Plante Played Olympia and scored 49 points. Adele crushed it with Stone Hengescorring 61 points!
Bruce played Ephessos and scored 48 points. Finnegan played the Great Wall of China and ended with 44. Finally, Keira played Rhodes and came in second with 54 points.



After the Andersons took off, Amanda Keira and I played a quick game of Carcassonne - with just the basic set. I just squeaked out a win over the others by FARMING - had it not been for the couple farmers I put down, the Grrlz would have both been waaaaaaay ahead of me! I probably won't get to do this again... assuming we play again soon enough that they REMEMBER!


Sunday, 24 November 2019



This week Jacob came by to try out Necromunda.



We played another game with Cawdor and Delaque gangs.

Retribution!

I think I may have him hooked - he's already planning an Orlock gang!



Friday, 29 November 2019

Friday evening we invited more friends over for supper and games. This week it was Darrin and Jackie. We haven't played games with Darrin in, like, forever!? And we've never played with Jackie - honestly I didn't even know she played games - but she actually brought along a few of her own!

We started off with Anomia - on that Jackie bought. I'd never heard of it. It's a pretty like word association game.



After we played Set - again one she brought along (though we do have a copy and have played it a lot - though not recently - and we were feeling woefully out of practice!). Amanda started off by lamenting that she NEVER wins this game... and then crushed us!



We played a round of Exploding Kittens... I'm not a HUGE fan of the game - but we played with the NSFW deck mixed in, which I hadn't played with before, so that brought out a few laughs as I read some of the new (to me!) cards...

Finally we played Dixit (which Keira loves playing - but I will only play if we have at least five players - and we had five players in the house last night!).

November ain't quite over, but I'm pretty sure we're not playing any games this evening, so I think that's about it.

I like that Friday is, at least, finally becoming BOARD GAME NIGHT - and we've even been getting other people to come over. I'd hoped Saturday would become Family RPG night... but that just hasn't happened...YET! And I'm excited that Sundays are becoming SKIRMISH SUNDAYS and I've been getting in some games of Necromunda!

I've got another Necromunda game planned for tomorrow. There won't be a Board Game Night next Friday because it's the Rosebud's Burlesque Clubs annual XXXmas Show... But the following Friday we do have plans to have another couple over for supper and games AND another group of friends coming over on the Saturday that weekend. I'm sure there will be LOTS of gaming over the Holidaze! Stay tuned!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

As mentioned, I do have a Necromunda game planned for tomorrow, so I'll probably be posting a game report of that on Monday (or maybe later Sunday evening - if it's SUPER fast and bloody!!)

Still have more Necromunda gang posts to finish up...

Should have some Hellboy miniatures coming up in the next few weeks! 

2019 - Q4 Plans

This weekend I have my Necromunda gaming weekend coming up and have been working feverishly to try and get everything ready for that. Despite that, I've already been casting an eye towards what's coming next...

For the last... well... decade (or MORE!?), I've generally tried to come up with a PLAN for the year. You can see them in the labels off to the left there, Starting with Game Plan 07 (of course the labels include updates and addendum throughout the year, so if you click on one, you're likely to get the last update first and have to scroll through a few pages to find the original plan - although the last one might be a "Year in Review" post, which will usually include a link to the initial plan...). While I absolutely believe that it is always good to have a plan, I've been finding, however, that it's getting harder and harder to stick with one plan for an entire year. It's been harder to gauge what will hold my (and the family's collective) interest - hence the regular addendum! I've been thinking that, going forward, I should probably just do QUARTERLY plans.

Quarterly plans, being shorter term, seem like they might be a little more attainable. Maybe instead of doing a 10x10 gaming challenge for the year, it will be a 5x5 challenge for each quarter - so we don't have to guess which games we're going to be interested in for the ENTIRE YEAR! And painting plans for a shorter period of time

As we're already over a week into October, there are actually only 12 weeks left in this Quarter (and the year!) - and this week is going to be madhouse busy trying to finish up things for the Necromunda gaming weekend!


10x10/5x5 Challenge

Looking at the 10x10 Family Game Challenge... What have we done and what could we still achieve....? Can that be made into a Q4-5x5 Challenge...?

Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress - for reasons that will be explained later, this is just not going to happen... it will likely be replaced with another game, though...

Terraforming Mars - DONE! we've already played 10 games of this so far this year! We'll probably get in a few extra games before the year is done!

Splendor and Century: Golem Edition - we have played nine and eight games of these, respectively, and I'm quite certain we'll finish off 10 - I mean, the remaining three could all be played in an evening... so, likely won't include them in a Q4-5x5 Challenge.

Castles of Burgundy - we've played five games, have five to go, this seems a likely candidate to add to a Q4-5x5 Challenge...

Shadowrun: Crossfire - we have played ZERO games of this. It was one of Keira's choices. She says she's still interested, so I might add that to a Q4-5x5 Challenge

Sentinels of the Multiverse - One of Finnegan's choices. I really just can't be bothered with this game... probably done with it.

Race for the Galaxy - played four, six to go... it's a pretty easy game, so it could be added and be very attainable...

Abyss - played six, only four left - also very attainable candidate.

Power Grid Deluxe - also played four and have six to go... I'm not sure if people are as interested in this one. Could be this one or Castles of Burgundy...?

Hellboy: The Board Game? Not originally part of the Challenge. We Kickstarted this a last year and had planned that it would be our family Xmas gift to ourselves and that we'd spend the holidaze playing through the scenarios. Amanda did say I could open it early and look through it and paint the minis - so they're ready to go for the holidaze. THIS might be the thing that replaces Blackstone Fortress on our challenge...

Q4-5x5 CHALLENGE

Hellboy: The Boardgame
Castles of Burgundy
Shadowrun: Crossfire
Race for the Galaxy
Abyss
(and/or maybe Power Grid Deluxe...?)

Oh, and there will be at least five games of Necromunda played... I guess it could replace one of the other games on the list...? Or count it as one of the "Additional x10 Personal Challenge" items, since I'm not really going to get to anymore of those... Yeah, I've more or less given up on getting in any more games on my additional x10 Personal Challenge (Mercy Games, Eklund Games, GMT/COIN games, Wrath & Glory, etc)... Maybe I'll add some of those to next years' 5x5 challenges.

In addition to this Keira is going to be running a few more Role-playing games. I, however, am giving up on running any myself this year. It is ANOTHER thing I'm hoping to get back into in the new year!!


The Painting Plan - 2019 Q4

The painting plan for a quarter, should probably take into account games I'd like to play in the FOLLOWING quarter - to give myself some time to get stuff done - so there will be SOME longer range planning beyond simply the next quarter.

Sitting down to think about what I want to do next, I decided the priorities should be finishing up a few last Necromunda things (as I would like to get another campaign going in the new year) and getting the Hellboy stuff done - or, at least, ENOUGH of it done that we can play over the Holidaze and into the new year.

Each week I'm hoping to paint a "unit", which generally be a group of 5-10 figures that are hopefully similar enough that I can batch paint them and get them all done in a week - OR a single larger beastie or vehicle...

Painting - 11 weeks (AFTER this weekend) - 11 "units"

1 - Escher
2 - Orlocks
3 - Van Saar
4 - Other Assorted Necromunda
5 - Hell boy Heroes (Abe, Liz, Hellboy, Johann, Roger, Agent Corrigan, etc...?)
6 - 10 Frog dudes
7 - 10 Frog dudes
8 - 10 Frog Swarms (they're small) plus Giant Frog Monster
9 - Rasputin and Tentacle Monster
10 - Conqueror Worm
11 - Nazis

That should complete most of the stuff from the base game plus the Conqueror Worm expansion - and a few of the Kickstarter bonus figures. I also have the "Beasts and Monsters" for the BPRD archives expansion to do and MORE bonus figures... and the BOX FULL OF EVIL (containing the Darkness Falls and Hellboy in Mexico Expansions) should be arriving immanently with five new Heroes, an additional back-up Agent, two Boss Monsters, two Mini-Bosses, and thirty more minions! (Big Box of Evil, alone, looks like it will eat up HALF of 2020 Q1! This is the kind of planning I really need to do - it will hopefully keep me from spending on things I REALLY DON'T HAVE TIME FOR!!!! ...let alone space!)

Wow.... I had REALLY hoped to get some Blackstone Fortress stuff done as well - so we could play that over the Holidaze... but, if I'm going to be realistic, it seems that's just going to have to wait....? Just the stuff I already have looks like it would take another eight weeks...? So, that, with the remaining Hellboy stuff, has Q1 all wrapped up...

Maybe...

There are, of course, OTHER things I was hoping to get to in the new year!! I will probably host a game weekend on the Family Day weekend in February and/or plan a big game event for my birthday the following week. Also there will HOPEFULLY be another Battle of the Abyss Apocalypse Event  - using the NEW Apocalypse rules! - that I might like to finish up some stuff for (Keira's suggested she might be interested in teaming up with me to field an Aeldari force - so I might like to finish up the Eldar Titans - since then I picked up an additional revenant Titan, so I COULD field an entire Super Heavy Detachment of Eldar titans... of course, I already HAVE an Eldar Super Heavy Detachment...)!

So, perhaps I'll wait until the new year to plan out what I'm gong to do in the new year...

Now the Chibi Madness looks like an even BIGGER mistake than I was already feeling it was... (oh, I'll probably sneak one or two in, here and there... but I have no idea when I'll get to the rest of them... so now I can at least say to myself - yeah, I don't need any more of those....)


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

NECROMUNDA STUFF!!!

I should have an update or two with a few more minis I'm trying to finish up before the weekend, and after that there will probably be five separate game reports - on for each of the games/scenarios I'm planning to run this weekend

Oh, and some fantasy Orc/goblin blood bowl team/warband for Mordhiem or Frostgrave or whatever... but that's a whole other story!?

Fall Plans

Over the long weekend we all sat down to go over our clandars and sort out schedules for school and work and other activities and appointments and such. Looks like it’s going to be a busy fall and winter with all the extra yoga and dance and music and theatre classes lined up. Keira is taking six - SIX! – dance classes and volunteering at another for dancers with special needs! Both kids are taking Improv. Amanda and I are both taking two dance classes (Irish for me, a Burlesque Group dance class for Amanda and we’re taking a Ballroom Dance class together!)… Cello… violin… Amanda’s teaching FOUR regular yoga classes… it’s a little crazy!

We did manage to set aside a few times a week for games, though – mostly on the weekends!


GAMES

Friday Night is Boardgame night – Ostensibly a FAMILY boardgame night, but I’m not forcing anyone to play. The idea is to pick a game we’ll play on Friday evening, see who is interested in playing, if the kids aren’t I’ll see if other friends are interested. I’ve decided to further reduce the requirements for the 10x10 “Family” boardgame challenge to me (as it was MY idea) and at least ONE other family member… so it may be just me and Amanda finishing off that challenge… but whatever…

Saturday Afternoon, Finnegan is planning to continue running his D&D5E game. Currently there are SIX players (including Keira) – three guys, three girls! It gets a bit noisy when they ALL show up. 

(Finnegan is ALSO still playing in a D&D game on Alternating Tuesday evenings and will likely be involved in another through the tabletop games club at the local High School - he may be showing less interest in playing board and miniature games with his dad, but gaming is still the kids main passion - especially role-playing games and Four Against Darkness)

Saturday Night is going to be role-playing night. I really want to get a Wrath & Glory game going this fall. Keira has been wanting to run role-playing games for AGES and has amassed a pile of them (Shadowrun -5th Edition, Firefly RPG, Song of Ice and Fire RPG, Epyllion, and others) so I thought I’d alternate running games on Saturday evening with her.

Sunday Night – Skirmish Night – On Sundays I’m going to arbitrate (and play in) a Necromunda Dominion campaign for the family – starting this Sunday and running for thirteen weeks (rather than the suggested seven) - more on this shortly! I might run another one in the new year and open it up to other players.

I’m hoping to wrap the Necromunda campaign up by mid-December – right around the time all our activities will be wrapping up for the term. At that point, I’m hoping to run the family through a Blackstone fortress campaign and then, over the holidaze, I’m hoping we’ll play through a Hellboy campaign of sorts!

There will be a few evenings (or entire weekends!) where we miss the occasional game – like when Amanda and I attend plays at Persephone Theatre (we’ve been subscribers for some time). Actually, most weekends in October will be out. The first weekend is the Saskatoon International Burlesque Festival (which Amanda is involved in). The second weekend is my Necromunda gaming weekend – so there WILL still be gaming, but it will be ALL Necromunda! And the last weekend the Rosebud Burlesque Club will be putting on its annual Peek-a-Boo Halloween show over two evenings (which, again, Amanda is involved in). I’m sure there will be other things that come up… but it’s good to have some kind of a plan – otherwise NO gaming would happen ever!

For the last few years, in September, the kids and I have done a 30 days/30 games challenge. As general interest has waned a bit, I thought I’d just make it a personal challenge to play a game every day in September and hopefully the family will humour me enough to play a few of those with me. So far I played Nautilus with Amanda and Brent on Sunday (the 1st) as well as a game of Century: Golem Edition with Amanda (and then Amanda and Keira actually played Patchwork while I was making supper), and yesterday I played 7 Wonders Duel with Amanda. Tomorrow I’m heading over to Kurtis’ to play Perikles again with Brent and John and maybe Darrin. Not sure what or when I’ll get in a game today, or Thursday, but it shouldn’t be too hard to convince Keira to try out some of those little games she’s picked up over the last year or so and never had a chance to get them on the table, or try out all the different boards she got for Flash Point she picked up at the ToonCon game auction last year that are still in shrink wrap!


PAINTING

For the next five weeks, I’m going to be concentrating on painting up miniatures and terrain for Necromunda – for use in both the Dominion Campaign and the Necromunda gaming weekend I am hosting over the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend in October. I’m hoping I can finish up my Escher, Orlock, Van Saar and Ratskin gangs, as well as a gang of Chaos Cultists for John (made up of Mantic Games Vermyn) as a pile more walls.

After the Necromunda stuff is completed I’m going to start work on the Blackstone Fortress figures and Hellboy figures.

That should keep me busy enough – but I do have a few other projects lurking in the wings that I may do a little work on from time to time; I have TWO Imperial Knights that are very nearly finished and, darnit, I woud REALLY like to just have them finished off! There are nearly a dozen Imperial Guard vehicles – many of which are assembled – that I’d like to get painted over the fall/winter, even though I have no immediate use for them either. Those Eldar Titans… A bunch of Epic stuff… some other 6mm stuff (modern)… and much, much more… stuff I’ll work on when I need a break from the main projects.


Coming Soon to Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

A painting update of an assortment of odd and sundry items.

News and background for the Necromunda Dominion Campaign I’ll be running with the family this fall.

MORE Necromunda stuff!!!

July's Games

We did get in a few games in July....


Friday, 5 July 2019



On this first Friday of July our friend Laura came over for the evening and played Terraforming Mars with us. Finnegan even joined in!



We played on the Hellas board and... there wasn't a lot of ON BOARD developments - compared to some of our games! I can't believe how few cities there were! Amanda didn't have a single one!



I played Helion (Yellow) and just BARELY squeaked out a win in a very, VERY close game!! I took the Diversifier Milestone and the Magnate Prize (which I'd sponsored) and second place in the Space Baron prize with a total of 53 points.

Laura was second with 52 points! She had been playing Tharsis Republic (Black) and had taken the Polar Explorer Milestone and was in a three-way tie for second in the Cultivator Prize along with Amanda and Finnegan. Keira had won the prize. In fact, I was the ONLY one who didn't get any points for the Cultivator prize!?

Keira (Ecoline - Green) and Amanda (Phololog - Red) were tied for third with 50 points each! Finnegan (UNMI- Blue) wasn't too far behind with 46.

I felt like the game went too fast and that we had all barely just started getting things going and - boom - it was over...


Saturday, 6 July 2019



Finnegan was running his Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign.

I rode over to Dragons Den Games and bought Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse!


Sunday, 7 July 2019



Played our first game of Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse!



Amanda and Keira played a combined force of Asuryani and Drukhari.



Ian and Finnegan played a massive horde or Tyranids!

There is a full report of that action and loads more pics elsewhere on this blog:

The Defence of Elamdavar


Monday, 8 July 2019



On Monday we played a SECOND game of Apocalypse! This time it was ME and Keira combining out Eldar/Asuryani forces to battle the hordes of buggy things.



Again there is an After Action Report of the encounter elsewhere on the blog with loads more pictures...

Elsewhere on Elamdavar

 Wednesday, 10 July 2019



On Wednesday Other Tim came by to try out Apocalypse.

 

This game, lacking the BIG GUNS of Super Heavy and TITANIC elements, wasn't quite so epic...

 You know the deal...

Assault on Throshi Station

Thursday, 11 July 2019



Next it was Orion's turn to try out the Apocalypse - bringing his wolf lords to battle it out with my Eldar!



Game report... find it here:

Wolves Strike!


Sunday, 14 July 2019



On Sunday, Other Tim was back for another round.



Coming of the Comet!


Monday, 15 July 2019



Then... we took a break from the Apocalypse and played a game of Castles of Burgundy.



I won, but we've since learned that apparently that's a pretty common occurrence when playing with board #8...?


Wednesday, 17 July 2019 



Back to the apocalypse, and finally facing some substantial opponents! Orion brought his KNIGHTS!!



Aw, yeah!

Assault on Ynysafallon

Friday, 19 July 2019



This time Laura joined us for a game of Castles of Burgundy. Amanda totally won this one... with 222 points!



I wasn't too far behind with 221!

Laura, who was playing the game for the first time, finished with 201!!! Keira was a bit further behind with 187...


Saturday, 20 July 2019

 

My old friend Woody was passing through town - from his home in Calgary to visit his dad. He had some time in Saskatoon, though, so I set up a game of apocalypse for him. It's been a LONG time since I got to hang out or play games with Woody! Such a good time!

 

I played my Asuryani - and got a little help from Keira's Wraithknight!

 

Woody played with some Astra Militarum Tallarn armour and the Titans of the Eritque Arcus Maniple of Legio Amare Feles

 More pics and a detailed report can be found here:

Legio Amare Feles Walks...

THIS is what Apocalypse was meant for!!!


Sunday, 21 July 2019



I spent Sunday at Brent's house playing High Frontier with Brent, Keith, Darrin and April.



There is so much I just LOVE about this game, but damn does it take a LONG time to play and can be frustrating in the extreme... We played for eight hours. Not even close to finishing. I think around the five hour mark I realized the thing I'd been working at for a few hours already would probably come down to a 50/50 die roll (in ideal solar flare conditions)... at some point... and if that failed, it would effectively set me back to where I was two hours into the game. That die roll came at the seven hour mark. Luckily, I "succeeded". If I hadn't I probably would have just left as... well... what would be the point if I'd need another five hours to get to where I was before the die roll!?

I played the United Nations and ended with 11 victory points. Early in the game I'd shot a rocket out to an asteroid and successfully prespected it... but.. that didn't count for much... It took hours and hours to get all the right equipment to be able to launch a rocket back out to, basically the same space, with enough stuff to set down and build a factory. When we called it I had one rocket sailing around to other nearby asteroids, trying to prosect them... I feel like if I were able to play the game, like, ten times in a relatively short period of time, I MIGHT get to the point where I have enough of a clue that, playing with others who equally had enough of a clue, we MIGHT actually complete a game in less than eight hours... but who has that kind of time to invest in learning a game that well when there are so many other great games that can be played in two hours or less at the first sitting and be... well.. almost as satisfying.

Brent played China and directed us into a decade long war, which made everything harder and everyone paranoid that everyone else was going to steal all their stuff... which made the game drag on longer than it could have... 

April was playing NASA and managed to get some stuff on to Mars. When she did I actually suggested we just quit and play Terraforming Mars to see how Aprils settlement of the planet went. She seemed interested, no one else did...

Darrin was the ESA and Keith played Shimszu I think he won with 16 victory points...?


Friday, 26 July 2019

After a busy week of bike rides and getting Keira to and from Girls Rock Camp (You can still see some of the glitter-glam-make-up from the days activities on her face in some of the pics).

In the afternoon Amanda invited Kurtis to come and play games with us this evening.



We started off with Just Desserts.



I got pretty close - had two of both green and yellow customers (you need three of one colour or five different colours to win) - but Amanda won in the end.



Afterwards we played YET ANOTHER game of Castles of Burgundy! Kurtis had never played and always wanted to try it, and we've all been having fun playing it - Amanda, after our last game had suggested we play it every night for a week to learn it really well, like we had done for Race for the Galaxy a few years back. Unfortunately, Castles of Burgundy takes a bit longer to play than Race for the Galaxy... so we never really even tried to do that. WE DID get in three games of it this month and I think everyone is feeling like they have a bit better idea of how to play!



Amanda won this game with 224 points. Kurtis wasn't far behind with 221.

I had the board with a donut of yellow (Knowledge?) tiles in the middle, and I stuck my first palace right in the middle of it, thinking it would motivate me to fill that area and have a bunch of bonuses - or know what my end game points would be and that would give me some advantage through the rest of the game...? Well, that was the idea. I kept forgetting to USE the bonuses - like the +/-1 for placing green or blue tiles... I'm not sure I EVER remembered to use that!? I DID get four of the building I got victory points for and I did get all of the colours of goods (which I got points for)... but it wasn't enough to win! I was a bit behind the leaders at 205, and Keira was just behind me at 199 (so close to breaking 200!)

And... that was it...

The kids did do some the role-playing - on Saturdays, and Monday and Tuesday of this week... but that didn't involve "the family" or me, so... I don't really keep track of that stuff...


THE 10x10 CHALLENGE(s)

Well...



At this point, we should have played about 58 games... we've played 41...

Haven't played a single game of Blascktone Fortress - mostly because I have yet to finish painting all of the miniatures (or... any of them really, except for the Ur-Ghuls!), nor have we played any games of Shadowrun: Crossfire. It's Keira's game. I told her SHE needs to read the rules and say "okay, I've read them, here's how we play" and we'd set aside a month or so to play through a campaign - much like we did with her Harry Potter game...



Right now she's a little more interested in sewing and knitting and learning the guitar and not-so-interested in reading rules for games!



Very little movement has been made on the other Challenge as well... Although I DID get in ONE game on the list (High Frontier - a game by Phil Eklund!) I did play a LOT of Apocalypse (which isn't, but COULD be on the list...) I've played over 15 games of 40K so far this year - in addition to the half dozen games of Apocalypse I played this month. I should probably add Necromunda to this list - as I'm sure I'm going to play a lot of that in the coming months... then it will look like I got a bit more of the list games played...

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably more Necromunda stuff... I've started a new NECROMUNDA GALLERY in the pages section - where you can see all of the Gangers I've done so far.

here is a fair bit of Imperial Guard stuff (and Imperial KNIGHTS) on the workbench that I've been plinking away at... we shall see...

No immediate plans for any games... but hopefully we'll get in a game of Necromunda soon!!!