Showing posts with label Game Plan 2021. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Plan 2021. Show all posts

Friday, December 31, 2021

Looking Back at 2021

Wow... where did THIS year go!? It seemed like it was going on for-EVER and now it feels like it never even happened!? 2021!? SERIOUSLY?! It feels like we just got through the 24th month of 2020... 

Still... my calendar says the year happened and now it's pretty much over. 

So... what did we do...?

PLANS

As with the last two years, I developed Quarterly plans - which seems to work much better that the yearly plans I tried to do in the past. 

You can see them here:

Game Plan 2021 - Q1

Game Plan 2021 - Q2

Game Plan 2021 - Q3

Game Plan 2021 - Q4

Rethinking that plan...  (for Q4)


GAMES

We played a lot of games this year. 

By "we" I mostly mean me and Amanda. I did get Finnegan playing a few miniature games with me. He actually got excited enough about 40K and Kill Team that he bought the Chalnath boxed set! I even got Keiran playing a few games, here and there, after a bit of a hiatus. 

The most played games were two new (to us) games - Warhammer Underworlds and Wingspan. 

I tried, with each Quarterly plan, to do a 5x5 Challenge - pick five games and play them five times within the quarter... Success was... variable... and the challenges remained... Fluid? I would change which games I would play part way through the Quarter - or I would simply declare retroactive challenge changes... 

By the Fourth Quarter I realized there were more than a few games that I had either already played ten or more times and enough others that were... well... close enough, that I considered a 10x10 challenge. That, too, was amended, MULTIPLE TIMES in the last three months...

10x10 Challenge

The ten games I played ten (or MORE!) times... 

  1. Wingspan x31
  2. Kingdom Builder x17
  3. Retro Loonacy x12
  4. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x12
  5. Azul x12
  6. Century: Golem Edition – An Endless World x12
  7. Terraforming Mars x11
  8. Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault x10
  9. Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team x10
  10. Codenames: Pictures x10

Technically Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm and Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault are the SAME GAME... just... different settings... (as are Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire, Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave, and Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep). Unlike a lot of other games, there isn't a CORE GAME to which all expansions are added, each year a completely new core game is published and the older ones go out of print. Though they CAN all be mixed and matched I've kept the boards from the different settings separate and logged the games set in Shadespire as Warhammer Underworlds: Nightvault plays (because it was the first box I got for that setting) and games I play set in Beastgrave I log as Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm, for the exact same reason. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this going forward... I might continue to do the same... adding Harrowdeep as a third setting...? OR, I could just log all games as Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep for the next year, as it is the CURRENT set...? We shall see. I have them as two separate games here as I played it enough that I could... 

Codenames: Pictures and Retro Loonacy were easy "gimmes"... I would have liked two more miniature games or at least some more substantial board or card games to grace this list... but we played a LOT of Wingspan this year... Like, a LOT... I could have taken up three spots on it's own on this list... So that, at least, makes me feel a little less bad about including a couple of simple games, that can be played in minutes, on the list. 


I played a lot of other games as well... 

OTHER GAMES PLAYED

  • Kingdomino x7
  • Necromunda x6
  • The Castles of Burgundy x5
  • London x5
  • The Arrival x4
  • Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains x4
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar (Third Edition) x4
  • Abyss x3
  • Carcassonne x3
  • Century: Golem Edition x3
  • Savage Worlds x3
  • HârnMaster (3rd Edition) x3
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound x3
  • Fate x3
  • Marrying Mr. Darcy x2
  • The Silver Bayonet x2
  • Splendor x2
  • 7 Wonders Duel x1
  • Dominion x1
  • Dragon Rampant: Fantasy Wargaming Rules x1
  • Habitat x1
  • The Hanging Gardens x1
  • Just Desserts x1
  • Lords of Waterdeep  x1
  • O Zoo le Mio x1
  • Patchwork x1
  • Sidereal Confluence x1
  • Viticulture Essential Edition x1
  • Warhammer 40,000 (Ninth Edition) x1
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Warcry x1

TOTAL GAMES PLAYED: 212

That's a lot of games... Can't complain... 


MINIATURES

Going into the year, I had NOT been painting ANY miniatures for almost five months... part of this was due to chaos of renovations (that are STILL not complete) and general malaise (largely due to the state of things in world...) 

I DID get painting again... and here is what I painted.... Though not nearly as much as previous years. Not even as much as in 2020 - where I didn't paint for half the year!? But it was something, and something is not nothing!

In the end I managed to paint 231 28mm Foot figures and a handful of little terrain bits. 

I did try to keep acquisitions down, again, this year. I already own more than I'll likely ever get around to painting, and, honestly, I'm running out of room to store the stuff! 

I acquired 328 foot, 37 mounted, and 78 terrain bits... that breaks down to: 

137 Warhammer underworlds - wow... all those little warbands add up! 

64 Cursed city - 60 that came in the box and four more to use with. 

58 x assorted Astra Militarum in a Big Used Imperial Guard Lot that I couldn't pass up!? Without this, I'd have been almost at 250 - the lowest in decades. Of course I could have said the same if I'd just not bought Cursed City.... 

37x 40K models for Kill Team - mostly the plastic from the two boxes (Octarius and Chalnath) 

20x Napoleonic Monster Hunters

and I think the rest were a few, assorted, fun things that showed up with the Reaper Bones

The 37 mounted were all for a Slaves to Darkness force for Age of Sigmar that I planned, but haven't even started, really... I've assembled a few and one is ALMOST painted... 

Few tanks and such from Big Used Imperial Guard Lot.

PILE of terrain bits - between two Kill Team boxes, two Warhammer Underworlds terrain sets, and a bunch of Reaper Bones V Kickstarter stuff that finally arrived.

PAINTED

28mm Foot

Q1

Q1 Total 28mm Foot: 76


Q2

Q2 Total 28mm Foot: 28

Q3

Q3 total: 59

Q4
Q4 Total: 68 

Total 28mm Foot: 231

Terrain

Little Bits/Markers


PURCHASED 

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

28mm Foot

Q1

  • 7x Grymwatch (Warhammer Underworlds Crypt Ghoul Warband) 
  • 6x Grashrak’s Ravagers (from Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave) 
  • 5x Skaeth’s Wild Hunt (from Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave) 
  • 4x Myari's Purifiers (from Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm) 
  • 4x Dread Pageant (from Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm) 
  • 8x Khorne Reavers (Garrek's Reavers x2) 
  • 15x Stormcast Eternals (mostly from Warhammer Underworlds Warbands) 
  • 1x Gryphhound
  • 4x Khagra's Ravagers (Warhammer Underworlds Chaos Warband) 
  • 4x Nighthaunt Myrmourn Banshees (Lady Harrow's Mournflight) 
  • 5x Thundrik's Profiteers (Warhammer Underworlds Duardin Warband) 
  • 4x Ylthari's Guardians (Warhammer Underworlds Sylvaneth Warband) 
  • 4x Mathias variants (Hasslefree)
  • 7x Thorns of the Briar Queen (Nightvault) 
  • 3x Morgok's Krushas
Q1 Total: 81

Q2 

  • 60x Warhammer Quest: Cursed City models
  • 4x Battle Mages
  • 1x Herald of Slaanesh
  • 4x Crimson Court
  • 3x Wurmspat
  • 6x Hrothgorn's Mantrappers
  • 5x Elathain's Soulraid
  • 10x Daemonettes of Slaanesh 
Q2 Total: 93

Q3
  • 7x Yokai (Reaper Bones) 
  • 4x Glaivewraith Stalkers (Warhammer Underworlds Starter)
  • 4x Castigors + Gryphound (Warhammer Underworlds Starter)
  • 7x Sepulchral guard
  • 4x Magore's Fiends
  • 3x MORE Steelhearts Champions
  • 3x MORE Garrek's Reavers
  • 4x Ironskull's Boyz
  • 4x Mollog's Mob
  • 10x Death Korps of Krieg (Kill Team: Octarius) 
  • 12x Space Ork Kommandos (Kill Team: Octarius) 
  • 5x Tempestus Scions - BIG USED GUARD LOT
  • 45x Assorted Imperial Guard infantry - BIG USED GUARD LOT
  • 8x Heavy Weapon Crews - BIG USED GUARD LOT

Q3 Total: 120

Q4

  • 4x Xandire's Truthseekers (Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep)
  • 5x Da Kunnin' Krew (Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep)
  • 10x Adepta Sororita Novitiates (Chalnath) 
  • 5x Space Marine Scouted (metal, used, ebay) 
  • 20x Assorted Napoleonic Monster Hunters
Q4 Total: 34

Total 28mm Foot: 328

28mm Mounted

  • 1x Chaos Lord on Daemonic Steed
  • 1x Chaos Sorcerer Lord on Daemonic Steed
  • 5x Seekers
  • 20x Chaos Marauder Horsemen
  • 10x Chaos Knights 
Total 28mm Mounted: 37

28mm Artillery

4x Weapon Platforms - Q3 - BIG USED GUARD LOT

28mm Big Beasties/Vehicles

  • Yogsothoth - Q3
  • 3x Leman Russ Tank- BIG USED GUARD LOT
  • 1x Manticore Self-Propelled Multiple-Missile Launcher- BIG USED GUARD LOT
  • 1x Valkyrie Assault Carrier - BIG USED GUARD LOT

Small Terrain Pieces

  • 11x Campground bits
  • 4x Walls of Stone
  • 4x Walls of Thorns
  • 6x Japanese Shrines
  • 3x Dock Bits
  • 4x Crates
  • 3x Barrel Stacks
  • 5x Larger Brinewind Bits (boats, etc) 
  • 17x Assorted Ork Scrap Fort Bitz (Kill Team: Octarius) 
  • 7x Ruined Basilica (Chalnath) 
  • 6x Beastgrave Primal Lair
  • 8x Nightvault Arcane Hazards
Total Small Terrain Pieces: 78



Welp, that's about it for this year's look back. On with 2022! 

(in case you missed it, I already posted my Q1 plans for the new year!) 
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Monday, November 29, 2021

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. 

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Stocktaking 2021 - Warhammer Underworlds

 I thought I'd start with Warhammer Underworlds... Not because it is the game I am MOST interested in playing (though I am very interested in playing a lot more of this!), it just seemed the easiest. There is a finite set of options - a set number of warbands with a set number of models within it and no options to fiddle around with... 


THE WABANDS 

There are, to date, thirty-eight different warbands available. Many are long out of print and hard (and expensive) to track down. 

I currently own twenty-eight of them (and there are a few I have multiple copies of... for... REASONS!?)!? ALL of them I have acquired in the last year (I picked up my first warband on Boxing Day last year and only started playing in January)!

That first warband I bought painted up for myself was Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven. I initially picked it up because I thought I'd be able to make use of it in Warcry and or Age of Sigmar... and also keep it as teh ONE Warhammer Underworlds warband I'd have that would be MY warband... should I ever play the game... Then, in doing so, got sucked down the rabbithole of Warhammer underworlds. 

Amanda, once I introduced her to the game, quickly claimed Morgwaeth's and HERS and has almost exclusively played with them!


DONE...

The warbands I have that are DONE and ready to play with any time! 

Garrek's Reavers 


I have THREE of this warband... two are painted - and I did a SUPER FAST (and not-to-pretty) job just to get them DONE... the third I still have to do and might take my time with those ones... You can see both painted ones here (one was given to Finnegan to use with the rest of his Blood Reavers - which I painted up at the same time): 

Khorne Bloodreavers and Tzeentch Horrors


The Dread Pageant

The Dread Pageant - The second warband I painted. For myself, that is, I'd painted a bunch for my friend John - in fact, I got Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm - from whence these came, in exchange for painting two of his other Warhammer Underworlds warbands...  strangely, I got into this, thinking I'd end up playing with him... and we've yet to play a game... 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds: The Dread Pageant


Khagra's Ravagers


Khagra's Ravagers - another one of the early warbands I picked up - right when it came out in March and painted up straight away - I was very excited about Chaos stuff at the moment... Haven't played them for a while. 

More pics here:

Khagra's Ravagers


Sepulchral Guard

The Sepulchral Guard I bought a used copy of Shadespire and with it came this warband. It had been completely painted... so I mostly just touched these up and made them look a little more like the other warbands I have... 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds - Sepulchral Guard

I also painted one of these for John some time ago, you can see them here: 

Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire - Sepulchral Guard


Thorns of the Briar Queen

Thorns of the Briar Queen came from the Nightvault box and I painted TWO of them (one for me, one for John) at the same time (as John bought two Nightvault boxes and gave me one in exchange for painting the two warbands in the box for him)

More pics (of both warbands) here:

Thorns of the Briar Queen


Lady Harrow's Mournflight


Lady Harrow's Mournflight was originally released in Dreadfane - a simplified version of Warhammer Underworlds sold as a standalone in Barnes & Noble stores... then released as part of Beastgrave as Champions of Dreadfane - along with Ironsoul's Condemnors. 

They are proving to be a TOUGH warband to beat! 

More pics here:

Lady Harrow's Mournflight


The Grymwatch

The Grymwatch - Ghouls of the Flesheater Courts - released as part of "Season Three" - Beastgrave.

I've played them once or twice... Larger warbands are tricky... They do some cool things and you almost always never run out of guys to do stuff with... but they bleed Glory to your opponent as they just slaughter your weak little warriors... 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds: The Grymwatch


Ironskull’s Boyz

Ironskull’s Boyz - one of the warbands from "Season One" (Shadespire) - this warband I picked up in the same used lot as Sepulchral Guard above (and Magore's Fiends, below). 

More pics here:

Ironskull’s Boyz

This is another warband that I'd painted a copy earlier for my friend John. You can see those here:

Ironskull's Boyz


Morgok's Krushas

Morgok's Krushas - three large and terrifying Ironjaw Orrucks. Released as part of Beastgrave. I played them ONCE, so far, and they just smashed Morgweath's Blade-Coven to bitz... Point proven... moved on... 

I'm going to have to try them against Lady Harrow's Mourflight. 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Morgok's Krushas


Steelheart's Champions

Steelheart's Champions were one of the first two warbands released for Warhammer Underworlds -  included in Shadespire - the very first box set for Warhammer underworlds. They were also rereleased as a Nightvault warband - and that it what I originally pick up... two of them... and then I got a third when I picked up a used copy of Shadespire... 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Steelheart's Champions

I also painted one of these, years ago for a friend when he first picked Shadespire when it was first released, you can see those here:

Stormcast Eternals Warband for Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire


Stormsire’s Cursebreakers

Stormsire's Cursebreakers are all battle-mages of the Sacrosanct Chamber. Yes - ALL THREE are mages - and inspire by successfully casting a spell. Stormsire's Cursebreakers were included in the Nightvault core-box along with the Thorns of the Briar Queen. 

More pics here (including the second team I painted for John):

Warhammer Underworlds: Stormsire's Cursebreakers



Ironsoul's Condemnors

Ironsoul's Condemnors, the Third Stormcast Eternal warband I painted, are Sequitors of the Hammers of Sigmar. Sequitors are the line infantry of a Sacrosanct Chamber - the same chamber Stormsire's Cursebreakers hail from.

Ironsoul's Condemnors were originally included in the game Dreadfane - a simplified version of Warhammer Underworlds exclusively available through Barnes & Noble. The models and their cards were rereleased as part of the Beastgrave line in Champions of Dreadfane (along with Lady Harrow's Mournflight) 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Ironsoul's Condemnors


Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven

Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven - the very first Warhammer Underworlds warband I painted - for myself! I initially picked it up because I thought I'd be able to make use of it in Warcry and or Age of Sigmar... and also keep it as the ONE Warhammer Underworlds warband I'd have that would be MY warband... should I ever play the game... Then, in doing so, got sucked down the rabbithole of Warhammer underworlds. 

Of course, once I introduced Amanda to the game, she quickly claimed Morgwaeth's and HERS and has almost exclusively played with them!

I even bought the fancy warband specific dice for them! 

More pics here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven


Storm of Celestus

Storm of Celestus - yet ANOTHER Stormcast Eternal warband. These were released as part of the current Two-Player Starter - After Direchasm, before Waterdeep, with boards reprinted from Shadespire/Nightvault, and making use of Easy-Build miniatures that had previously been released... but not previously released as part of a Warhammer Underworlds set (also included were Drepur's Wraithcreepers). 

I haven't actually painted the ones from the box... but because I had bought the previously released Easy-Build kit and painted those... I instantly had another useable Warband. 

More pics here:

STILL MORE Stormcast Eternals


So... I have a LOT of warbands I can play with at any time... and have done so throughout this past year. We have played TWENTY-TWO games of Warhammer Underworlds so far this year. Some of these are clearly better than others and may or may not get used THAT much... 


STILL TO DO...

These probably all should be fairly HIGH PRIORITY - they are small, relatively easy to quickly paint up (when I can remain FOCUSED, on ON THING!) and can immediately be used in a game that I HAVE been playing a LOT of!!!

ALL of these are assembled and primed... though I have noted that, for a few of them, it would probably have been better to paint parts of them BEFORE fully assembling... 


MORE Garrek's Reavers

Yeah... I have MORE of them... 


Magore's Fiends

Came with the used Shadespire box. Hopefully they can be combines with Garrek's Reavers to make up a pretty bad-ass Warcry warband. 


Grashrak's Despoilers

These are part of the Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave core box... which was bought for me, by John, in exchange for painting some Frostgrave figures... which I haven't finished yet... so I feel kind of funny about painting these, if I haven't painted those yet... so... I should probably GET TO painting those!!!


The Wurmspat

Normally I don't go for Nurgle stuff, but these looked fun.. and there was a fun little story about then in the Direchasm short story collection. I bought a FEW warbands, just based on the short stories in that book. Darn them... 


The Crimson Court

SUPER COOL looking Vampire Lords that I HAD to pick up as soon as they came out! 

So cool were they, that there were more people that wanted them than my FLGS got! Luckily, I'd asked waaaaaaaay in advance, so I got a set. 

So cool were they, that the other people that wanted them, locally, didn't even want them FOR Warhammer Underworlds... One wanted them for their Vampire Age of Sigmar army... another apparently wanted them to convert to Drukhari!? 

Also though, along with the Cursed City miniatures, I'd have the beginnings of a small-ish Vampire army for Age of Sigmar... or at least a Warcry Warband...? 


Drepur's Wraithcreepers

The other Easy-Build set that made up the Two-Player Starter set. 


Mollog's Mob

Funny story... these look like a fun little mob... the Warhammer Underworlds warband is long out of print... but, as with MOST of the out-of-print Warhammer Underworlds warbands, they've been re-released as Easy-Build kits for Age of Sigmar. My Other Other Friend named Jon pointed out an online listing of Age of Sigmar stuff in Regina - the other city in Saskatchewan, in which he resides - and included in it was the CARDS for Mollog's Mob - because the guy had bought the Underworlds warband to use the Troggoth in his Gloomspite Gitz Age of Sigmar army... so I got John to pick those up for me (they were $5) and I ordered in the EAsy-Build kit and *BOOM* I have Mollog's Mob... now I just need to get them PAINTED.

Mollog is the biggest Baddest mofo in the whole game... only one with SEVEN wounds... the others are kind of useless. One doesn't even move. Another flies around and can't hold objectives. Not really sure what their deal is... probably just MOLLOG SMASH! but can he smash enough, quick enough to do well...? 


Hrothgorn's Mantrappers

Funny little story about them in the Direschasm short story collection. Kind of what inspired me to pick them up. They look so crazy - one REALLY BIG hard hitter, a Giant Chompy-Cat, and a bunch of little useless gitz. Hilarity ensues! 


Da Kunnin' Krew

Da Kunnin' Krew. Kruelboyz Orruck warband that came with Harrowdeep. Hope there are Age of Sigmar stats for these at some point. (maybe there are and I just haven't looked...) 


MORE Steelheart's Champions

ANOTHER set of Steelheart's Champions. 

I don't know. 

They were a good deal. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time. 


STILL MORE Steelheart's Champions

This set of Steelheart's Champions came with the used copy of Shadespire I bought... I don't know... I initially thought I'd just repaint them... but they are pretty well painted... I'll probably leave them for now. Maybe I'll give them away. 


Thundrik's Profiteers

I can't, for the life of me, remember why I picked these ones up... maybe just thought they looked cool at the time. Honestly, that's the MAIN reason I buy ANY miniature... and am almost always disapointed that their performance in the game isn't commensurate with the coolness of the model... 

I found them listed in a store in Barrie, Ontario, of all places, and they weren't absurdly overpriced - I think they were just selling them for their original price...?

Loking at the cards when they arrived, I'm not sure how well they will perform in the game... seem pretty weak... for DWARVES!? 


Ylthari's Guardians

Same story as Thundrik's above - The story in Barrie happened to have these as well, and while I was paying for shipping, figured I might as well get them at the same time. At this point, I'm actually MORE interested in these than Thundrik's. These Sylvaneth look like they might have some fun tricks up their sleeves... or... bark... or.... whatever... 

THIS is one of the warbands that I'm kind of regretting fully assembling before painting... Not sure how I'm going to paint that base for Ylthari under all those vines?! 


Skaeth's Wild Hunt

Same story as Grashrak's Despoilers above... 


Myari's Purifiers

Came with Direchasm. Got REALLY EXCITED about getting them done right after the Dread Pageant.... then... got distracted. The first story in the Direchasm short story collection was about a battle between Myari's group and the Dread Pageant. 


Elathain's Soulraid

Creepy, Soul-Sucking Murder Elves with Chompy-Fish and Giant Crab... who could pass THOSE up!? 


Storm of Celestus

The Other set of Castigators - that came in the Two-Player Starter box. 


Xandire's Truthseekers

MORE Stormcast Eternals - that came in the Harrowdeep box. 


PRIORITIES

Part of this taking stock is to try and set out some priorities and help me focus to get things done in a sensible order. Some considerations:

Easy to Paint

Mostly Done

Number in the Group

Which Look Fun and/or Interesting to PLAY! 

Wurmspat seems an obvious place to start. There are only three. They're MOSTLY painted. They're not the EASIEST... to paint... but being MOSTLY done already goes a long way... and they have a fun narrative and they look TOUGH - not sure if that will make them any good in the game... but they're close to the top of the list of THINGS TO DO

Before them, though, I'll probably finish up Drepur's Wraithcreepers. There are only four. They're mostly painted - I think I only really need to finish the bases...? Can also be combined with other Nighthaunts - like the Chainrasps from the Thorns of the Briar Queen and the Myrmourn Banshees from Lady Harrow's Mournflight. 

After those...? Probably Hrothgorn's or Mollog's warbands. They seem like a bit more work, but I'm curious to see how ONE BIG BADDIE will do against some of the other warbands - in particular against the ones Amanda likes to play... 

After THOSE...? maybe Magore's because they'd be easy enough to finish up... 

THEN!? Who can say... I should get these four or five done and re-asses... 

ARE THESE going to be THE priority? I don't know. I have other games I want to play and things I want to paint for them... Stay tuned, I guess...? 


STUFF TO GET!?

Of the warbands that have been released that I don't have.... There is one I'd definitely like to pick up - The Starblood Stalkers (and, convenietly, still readily available). There are two others that are also readily available that I MIGHT pick up... Rippa's Snarlfangs and Hedkrakka’s Madmob... Of the out-of-print ones there are two that, for various reasons, I think might be fun to pick up, if ever I found them for a reasonable price - Eyes of the Nine and Zarbag's Gitz... and... maybe The Chosen Axes and 2. Spiteclaw's Swarm just to have some Fyreslayers and Skaven... 

AS for upcoming releases... 

"Season Five" is looking a little slimmer than previous seasons. There have been about 8-10 warbands released with each of the previous seasons. We know the one in 2022Q1 is the Ogre Pirate... and then nothing else until Q2... Should give me a chance to catch up with what I have to paint and reassess whether I want to continue to pick up MORE for this game...!? 


The handy thing about all of these warbands is MANY of them can be combined with other Warhammer Underworlds warbands of the same faction - or other Warhammer/Age of Sigmar miniatures I happen to have (or... could get...?) to make Warcry warbands. I did buy ALL the books for the game (Core Rules and the four Grand Alliance army books - that have the rules for ALL of the different warbanda that could currently be played!) and I DID play ONE GAME of it back in January... which was fun... Maybe I will do Warcry next - as it is also easy and relatively limited in scope (because there are very specific warbands that use very specific, proprietary miniatures... ) 


I think I may also publish this as a PAGE for more easy reference in the future... 

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Stocktaking 2021

Every few yeas I do some sort of stocktaking - where I go through every draw and box I use to store miniatures and count them all up and publish the numbers as totals and painted versus unpainted across a number of categories Period/Genre then by Foot/Mounted/Guns/Monsters/Vehicles… 

Here are a few of those posts:

January 2008 - Taking Stock of Stock Taking 

October 2009 - More Lies

November 2016 - Stocktaking 2016

Partly I do it out of curiosity. I love statistics and data - you can’t properly make decisions about how to move forward if you don’t properly know where you are at! Often, there is also an element of trying to SHAME myself into NOT BUYING MORE STUFF! I have gotten a BIT better (a very little bit) at buying less stuff… I wanted to take a bit more of a positive approach this time around. 

I have to admit, I’m kind of flailing here. I have too many projects I want to work on - too many games I want to play - too many miniatures I want to paint and I want to DO IT ALL RIGHT NOW!!!! Obviously that can’t be done. 

The Silver Bayonet has been a bit of a revelation for me (or a reminder, really).  A new game that was shiny and exciting - that I could just play right away and didn’t NEED to really paint much. The Dragon Rampant game I played earlier this year with stuff I’d painted ages ago (which I'm not sure I'd EVER played with, and then some of which was rebased more recently - like, last year... and then STILL never got around to playing with) 

I’d really like to play MORE miniature games. I mean, THIS is a MINIATURE WARGAMING BLOG after all!? Miniature games are its raison d’être! I like miniature games that are more like role-playing games - narrative-based, designed scenarios - ideally as part of a campaign that continue the narrative through a series of games. Doesn’t have to have a crunchy, campaign “system” - in fact, I’m starting to believe that there really isn’t a codified rules system for miniature campaigning that will ever really work all that well… (more on that in another post… do’t hold your breath though, it’s been sitting as a draft for over a month and a half…) 

One of the biggest, but conceivably fixable barriers I have to more gaming is WAY TOO MANY miniatures in my current painting space. There is a circular pattern I've noticed to gaming and painting habits. I get motivated to play games and dream up scenarios for games WHILE painting miniatures… Conversely, playing the games motivates me to paint more miniatures for a game! I feel like I’m not doing much of either, right now, and a lot of that block, has to do with the lack of getting things done and the reason I’m not getting things done is the aforementioned TOO MANY MINIATURES ON THE PAINTING TABLE! On the rare occasion I am not feeling too overwhelmed by it all, and I actually DO a little work on any of the projects, I will do a bit of work on this and a bit of work on that and a bit of work on the other thing  and NONE of it EVER gets FINISHED!

this is what my painting station and the surrounding area is currently looking like... 

(sorry about the blurry pictures, there is really terrible lighting in this room!?) 

Stuff on the desk, proper - at least six different kill teams, two Warhammer Underworlds warbands, an assortment of miniatures for The Silver Bayonet, Objective Markers for 40K/Kill Team... 

On one of the wings - MOAR Kill Teams... MOAR Warhammer Underworlds Warbands - some more 40K stuff to expand current Kill Teams into Combat Patrols for 40K... 

One of many other precarious piles in the immediately surrounding areas of stuff that was one the table and was temporarily shifted off to make room for new stuff... or brought up and realized there was no room for it and left in a pile nearby.... 

None of this is new... I made this same realization earlier this year and this is what was supposed to happen - ONE unit/warband/project on the table at a time and the rest in labelled boxes nearby to grab the next project when I finished the one I was working on... 


So what does this all have to do with stock-taking? 


STEP ONE 

BEFORE stocktaking... I want to reboot CLEAR OFF the workstation and everything around it… REboot the mess of it and spread it all out on the BIG GAME TABLE downstairs and, that leads us to...


STEP TWO

The Stock-taking - go through it all - and all the other stuff in boxes and drawers and take stock of things, GAME-by-GAME. Rather than just cont number of painted and unpainted of this and that, I’d like to see what I HAVE for the games I’d really like to play sort out the forces that I’ve collected to play those games and see where I’m at with them. What is DONE? What else NEEDs to be don in order to actually be able to PLAY the game? What else do I have that COULD be done, that would add options for new scenarios and build the narrative, etc. 

THEN, put stuff in labelled boxes and have a general idea of what things I want to do in what order and go back to ONE warband/unit/etc on the table at a time... and the rest in clearly labelled boxes so I can find the next one, ONCE I"M DONE the one I'm currently working on! 


What ARE those games I’d like to play!? 

Well, I have been playing a LOT of Games Workshop games the last few years - 40K, Kill Team, Necromunda, 40K Apocalypse, Age of Sigmar, Warcry, Warhammer Underworlds, Warhammer Quest (Blascktone Fortress, Cursed City),etc… I am still very interested in all of these and have a LOT of stuff I could play with. 

I also have a LOT of other games I’d like to try or get back to playing… All of the Dan Mercy games - Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, The Pikeman’s Lament, Rebels and Patriots, Men Who Would Be Kings, etc… All the games based on the Song of Blades and Heroes game engine developed by Andrea Sfiligoi - Song of Blades and Heroes, A Fistful of Kung Fu, Fear and Faith, Flying Lead, Of Gods and Mortals, Song of Shadows and Dust, etc. A bunch of the games by Joseph McCullough - Frostgrave, The Silver Bayonet, Stargrave, etc (I wouldn’t mind picking up Rangers of Shadowdeep at some point and giving THAT a try…). And so many others - De Bellis Antiquitatis, Hordes of the Things, One-Hour Wargames, One-Hour SKIRMISH Wargames, Force on Force, Ronin, En Garde, 

Over the next month, or so, I'm going to take stock for each of these games - and post about where things are at - and, hopefully, that will help with making some decisions about what to do in the new year - what games I will play, what things I will focus on to paint - which will likely be revealed in the 2022 Game Plan! 

I was thinking I would like to PLAY and post a game report for 50 miniature games next year - about one per week - this seems like it should be an easy thing to do. I have so much I can already play with. I have at least two people in the house that are, usually, willing to humour me and play a game from time to time... and I'm totally willing to try out some SOLO gaming with Frostgrave (using Perilous Dark) or The Silver Bayonet...? 

We shall see... 

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