Looking Back at 2022

(TL/DR; I did stuff. There were REASONS!) 

It was a slow year here on the old Game Blog... 

You just have to look at the number of posts on the blog to see that things have slowed down around here. In the past sixteen years I've been doing this, I've created between 100 and 199 post per year (average 145), this year I only managed 83...? There are a few reasons for this... 

The biggest reason for less posts on this blog, is I tried to focus on some other things - getting out and riding my bike more, and making ART more. This is evidenced by the activities on my other blogs over this past year. The Bicycling Blog has had an average of 12 posts per year, and this past year I did 36! The ART BLOG, on the other hand, has had an average of 11 posts per year, and this year there have been 187!?

Part of the drop in posts has been the drop in interest in/engagement with blogs in general. I get comment notifications every day, but at this point, 99% of those are just spam comments that I delete. I can't blame people for not reading blogs anymore... I mean, I hardly read anyone else's blogs anymore - of course, a LOT of the people I did regularly follow in the past have either stopped, or just don't post as often, and so blogs have lost their critical mass for me. If things don't happen as part of a regular routine, they just don't happen in my life. I stopped checking my list daily, when there stopped being new stuff every day, and then I just stopped checking at all!? Now I just check in when I remember and have some time - which tends to be every few months... but by then it's just do daunting to leave a comment on all the blog posts... so I often just don't... (Sorry fellow bloggers!) 

I do check social media daily, for my dose of hobby/art inspiration. I've found a few past bloggers that post more regularly there, which has been really nice. Mostly instagram. I did rejoin twitter a little over a year ago and strictly limited things to hobby and art stuff and it was a much better experience... but wow... things have gotten a little weird over there and I might delete my account again... if the whole thing doesn't implode first!? I also started a Tumblr... but I don't love that site. It seems less intuitive to navigate and interact with and I haven't really found any hobby stuff to follow there. 

(If you DO have a social media account where you share your hobby stuff, let me know where to find you in the comments!)

A lot of other big things happened, outside of gaming.... I turned fifty and the day before, Russia invaded Ukraine - triggering all sorts of deep trauma of growing up in the 80s - raised by parents where were very involved in the anti-nuke movement and being HYPERAWARE how very close we were to utter annihilation in a nuclear war at any given moment - the popular media of the day didn't help! It was so bad, one of my core beliefs became "fuck it, who cares, probably not going to survive to adulthood" So many bad decisions were made based on this core belief. I think somewhere deep down in my brain it's lived on all this time... so imagine my surprise when I suddenly realized I had an ADULT CHILD (Finnegan turned 18) and I turned FIFTY!? WTF!?!?! I swear I was a teenager last week!? 

Finnegan also finished high school and started university! Runs two weekly D&D games and has just started posting videos about his D&D campaigns (they aren't four-hour live play-throughs - it's kind of animation... sort of... and, like, eight minutes long. You can see it here: The Goat Saga on YouTube) 

Keiran starred in their first musical and been very involved in school activities.

Amanada's just been CrAzY busy at work, and if that weren't enough, was teaching SIX different yoga classes on top of a full-time job!? 

GAME PLAN 2022

What I HAD planned to do last year can be seen here:

GAME PLAN 2022 - Q1 

GAME PLAN 2022 - Q2 

GAME PLAN 2022 - Q3 

Extra Thoughts about 5x/10x Challenges

GAME PLAN 2022 - Q4

50 Miniature Games 

I had wanted to make 2022 the year of getting back into miniature gaming. The plan was to play at least ONE miniature game every week of 2022 and post a game reprt of said game. I thought it MIGHT be possible. The previous year I'd played nearly fifty games (Warhammer Underworlds x22, Kill Team x10, Necromunda x6, Age of Sigmar  x4, The Silver Bayonet x2, Dragon Rampant x1, 40K9E x1, Warcry x1) and 51 the previous year (Blackstone Fortress x23, 40K8E x8, 40K9E x8, Hellboy: The Board Game x5, Necromunda x5, Battlefleet Gothic x1, Kill Team x1), so why shouldn't I be able to do at least 50 this year...? 

That totally DID NOT HAPPEN... 

GAMES PLAYED

5x5 (Quarterly) Challenge - 10x10 (Annual) Challenges 

The past few years these quarterly challenges had worked out okay and I totally even managed to pull off a 10x10 challenge - it worked out better if I didn't define WHICH ten I'd play for the year in January, because there was no telling where my interests would have gone by the end of the year. I figured the same model would probably work for this year... 

It did not. I just didn't play enough games overall... I didn't even make it to 100 games in TOTAL. The previous two years I played OVER 200 games. 

Here is what I DID end up playing this year:

1. Terraforming Mars x11
2. Wingspan x11
3. Carcassonne  x10
4. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x10
5. Azul x8
6. Five Tribes x8
7. Wrath & Glory x6
8. Quebec 1759 x5
9. Stone Age x5
10. Splendor x5
11. Andean Abyss x2
12. Dresden Files Accelerated x2
13. Hellboy: The Board Game – Deluxe Edition x2
14. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep x2
15. Wizard Kings x2
16. Angola x1
17. Bananagrams x1
18. For Sale x1
19. Kingdom Builder x1
20. Marrying Mr. Darcy x1
21. Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game x1
22. The Silver Bayonet x1
23. Space Base x1

So a total of 96 games were played this year. 

I guess if I looked at the top ten played games and expressed the games played as a percentage of 10 i got through 78% of a 10x10 challenge... a passing grade, I guess... a solid B (story of my life - "If only Tim would APPLY himself...") 

Wargaming Birthday Bash/February Game Weekend

Also just didn't happen. I played a few boardgames with the family... that's it... 

Next year...? I don't know... I've had thoughts... Don't know if it will happen... Might be too late.

TOONCON

There WAS a ToonCon this year. I did not go. The provincial mask mandate had ended and while some businesses and organizations continued to require staff and patrons to wear masks - for at least a little while, most did not. ToonCon had no mask mandate and the province was in a huge spike in Covid cases... so I decided not to go. 

Every year it's been a bit of a "Do I REALLY want to go do this...?" I didn't LOVE large gatherings of people BEFORE the pandemic began - too many people, so much noise... I had an okay enough time, but was UTTERLY EXHAUSTED by the end of the weekend, and NOT always a "good" kind of exhausted. 

I told myself that the games I ran were promoting the games, and getting more people playing the games I love could only be a good thing and it would be an opportunity to meet some new people that I might be able to play games with in the future. But, taking an honest look at the games I've run at conventions over the years, I don't know of ANYONE getting into a game because they played it with me at a convention, nor have I gained any new friends because of them... so... maybe I won't even bother with these in the future, even IF the pandemic ever fizzles out (which it is showing no signs of doing in my neck of the woods, despite pretty much EVERYONE's insistence that it is "over")

OTHER EVENTS

Nope. 

PAINTING

This was the least productive year for painting in the fifteen years I've been tracking this. By, like LOTS... On the plus side, this year also saw the lest acquisitions. 

Only looking at 28mm foot figures (by for the most common miniatures I own/paint), over the previous 14 years that I've been tracking painting, I've painted 9586 28mm foot figures - an average of 684 per year. The most I painted in one year was ten years ago in 2012 when I painted 1231 28mm foot figures. Over the previous 13 years that I've been tracking purchases/acquisitions, I have acquired 12906 28mm foot figures, an average of 992 per year. The most I acquired in one year was also 2012 when I acquired 2470 28mm foot figures!? Seriously, WTF was I thinking!?!?

By contrast, this year I only purchased 80 28mm foot figures, but only managed to paint 57. And the majority of the ones I painted were NOT the ones I PURCHASED this year!? 

Here's what I DID paint this year.... 

28mm Foot

Q1

• 1x Gug
• 7x Napoleonic French Naval Officers and Crew
• 13x Regency Monster Hunters
• 1x Vivandière
• 1x Horror
• 4x Magore's Fiends
• 4x Drepur's Wraithcreepers
• 3x Wurmspat
• 5x Hrothgorn's Mantrappers
• 4x Mollogs Mob
• 4x Xandire's Cursebreakers
• 2x Kamu No Oni
• 7x ECW Highlanders
• 1x ECW Musketeer

Year Total: 57 

28mm Mounted/Smaller Beasties

• 1x Lifeguard Cavalryman
• 1x James Graham, The Marquis of Montrose

28mm Big Beasties/Vehicles

• 2x Great War British Tanks
• 1x Oni No Akuma

Little Bits/Markers/Tokens

• 3x Treasure/Clue Tokens
• 1x T'au Rocket Pod Thingie
• 3x Warhammer Underworlds: Beastgrave Terrain Bits
• 1x Bushwakka's Trap
• 1x Porta Potty
• 1x Disapproving Hand Spell Effect
• 4x Furniture and stump

Total Bitz: 14

The above stats ignore other scales, as they are dwarfed by the amount of 28mm stuff I have. This year, I DID manage to get to painting a BUNCH of the micro/"epic" scale miniatures I've acquired over the years, which partially accounts for why I painted so little 28mm stuff. Here's what I got done:

Micro Foot

• 33x Imperial Guard
• 60x Ork boyz 
• 4x Ork Commanders
• 1x Chaos Sorcerer
• 5x Chaos Space Marine
• 81x Orks

Total: 181 Mirco Foot

Micro Mounted

• 1x Killa Can
• 4x Warbuggies 
• 4x Warbikers
• 4x MOAR Killa Kans
• 1x Skullmaster, Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut
• 5x Chaos Space Marines on Steed of Slaanesh

Total: 19 Micro Mounted

Mirco Tanks/Vehicles

• 10x Leman Russ Tanks
• 2x Gorgon Heavy Transporters
• 1x Xoxigar Pattern Shadowsword
• 4x Morkanaut (or maybe Gorkanaut?)
• 10x Trucks
• 1x Leviathan Command Vehicle 
• 2x Daemon Engines of Khorne
• 5x Emperor's Children Landraiders
• 3x MOAR Ork Trukks 
• 1x MOAR Daemon Engine of Khorne

Total: 39 Micro Vehicles

What DID I acquire this year...?

I bought two Kill Team box sets (despite STILL not finishing ANY of the stuff from the previous two I purchased last year), Warhammer Underworlds: Nethermaze, four warbands for Warhammer Underworlds, and 8 old metal Harlequins off ebay - to fill out a small contingent of Harlequins in an Aeldari force (after picking up the 9th Edition Aeldari Codex) 

Other than the Kill Team boxes and Nethermaze, I only bought ONE other boardgame this year (Stone Age). I did pick up a few sets of rules for miniature games (that I have yet to play); the new edition of Lion Rampant and Xenos Rampant. 

There were a LOT of VERY TEMPTING THINGS that came out in the last year that the ADHD (OOH! SHINY!) part of me really, REALLY wanted to get in on... but I somehow managed to NOT buy! So, there's that... 

The Warhammer Horus Heresy box set was SUUUUUPER tempting to buy... and I didn't... and STILL haven't (despite there still being a copy sitting in my FLGS!!). What's kept me from buying it (beyond the fact that it would be ridiculous to do so, given how much I've gotten painted this year) is that the rules are basically a throwback to pre 8th edition 40K, which is just not my thing... what still keeps me interested is COOL MODELS, and the fact that I could probably paint them all fairly quickly, being mostly ONE COLOUR and all.... and having read a few of the Horus Heresy books, it would be super fun to play out some of those engagements... AND most of the guys that got in on the game, locally, are the fun guys to play with... Fuck, I hope someone just buys that box and removes the temptation... 

Also haven't bought any of the new stuff for Necromuda, even though there has been a new core started box for the Ash Wastes with super cool vehicles and giant-bug-riding Ash Waste Nomads... and a few books to go along with that. Again SUPER COOL stuff... One of the things that's helpedhold me back is the fact that ALL of the miniatures I've been using in Necromuda, so far, are my OLD metal ones. to get in on Ash Wastes would mean new plastic models... which I'm not so opposed to these days as I might have been in the past, but... just not excited to MIX plastic and metal in a collection... 

I also didn't buy into the new edition of Warcry. Only played ONE GAME of the previous edition, so... It was a fun game, and I wouldn't mind playing it again... but given how much I've been playing miniature games in general, I just couldn't justify it. GW did release ALL of the stats for all the miniatures from the previous edition as pdfs... so I COULD just buy the Core Book if I wanted to get in on it... and I don't think I'd need ANY new miniatures (I might need to paint a few that I already have...) 

WHAT HAPPENED!?

Well, as I mentioned, I focused on making art is what happened.... for the most part... Making art meant lest time/energy for miniature painting. Miniature painting is what inspires me to play miniature games. 

Miniature gaming only accounted for about 20-25% of games played the last few years, so what gives with the drop in playing boardgames? I think part of that was everyone pretending the pandemic was OVER and going back to... doing other things and not having time to play games. A large chunk of the games played in 2020 was role-playing games I ran online or games I played with Amanda who had nothing better to do. That began to fizzle in 2021, and pretty much completely died in 2022 - I played more IN PERSON role-playing games this year than with the online group. 

It's been a pretty low year all around. The unending social upheaval and never-ending pandemic has really taken it's toll and, despite trying really hard to focus on positive things and make more art... I've been pretty depressed... 

Maybe next year will be better... 

I have most of the Game Plan (such as it is) for 2023 written... I MIGHT get around to posting that tonight... or maybe I'll leave it to tomorrow. 

Sorry this has been a bit of a downer... Hope you all had a better year and all of us can have an even better one in 2023! 

December Games

In December, we played GAMES!!!

It gets cold out. we're less inclined to go out... so... 

Also I severly strained my hamstring at the end of November so there were a few weeks I didn't even leave the house... 

Saturday, 3 December 2022

Saturday afternoon we played a game of Carcassonne, while Finnegan was out at work and Keiran was at an all-day dress rehearsal for the musical they were in the following week. 

Sunday, 4 December 2022

Sunday afternoon, Amanda wanted to try Stone Age as a two-player game. So we did. It was okay. Amanda soared ahead of my in points DURING the game, but I went whizzing past in the end-game scoring. It was still pretty close when all was counted up, though. 

Tuesday, 6 December 2022

Tuesday evening Finnegan was recording upstairs after work, so Amanda and I hid in the basement for a bit and played another game of Stone Age. I think the game ended up playing faster (and was a bit lower scoring) because we had a clearer idea of what we were trying to do and do it faster than the other... and that brought the game to a conclusion quicker, but with fewer points scored all around.  Amanda won this one. 

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

Wednesday evening we played Terraforming Mars. Mostly because I'd given up on the idea of getting any sort of challenge finished. Amanda had suggested Stone Age again, but I felt like playing something different. I like Stone Age... but not enough to play it three times in a row. 

Mars after 14 generations of Terraforming. 

I was playing Helion with Ecology Experts and Early Settlement. Amanda played Valley Trust with Biofuels, Aquifer Turbines, and Galilean Mining - she took Generalist and Tychoon milestones and Celebrity, Desert Settler, and Benefactor Awards. I got the Ecologist Milestone... 

Amanda won, obviously... 

Sunday, 11 December 2022

Stone Age. Again. 

Amanda won. 

By LOTS! 

Saturday, 17 December 2022

ON Sunday we were supposed to be playing another session of Finnegan's RPG - the first session of the new Dresden Files Accelerated RPG campaign he was going to run for me and my friends Neil and Jasper. As we got closer to the day, I checked in with Finnegan to see if he was ready and still interested to run the game - from the get-go I realized this was a bit of an imposition on him, being busy with his first year of University, running his two weekly D&D games, his part-time job an the library AND his side-passion-projects... and he admitted it was starting to cause him some stress having to come up with and investigative, mystery-solving campaign... 

So talking to the guys, we decided maybe I could take over and GM a game... though there was little chance I'd have anything ready by Sunday... so I suggested we try out Hellboy: The Boardgame. Everyone seemed keen on that, so it became a plan. 

Unfortunately it's been over two and a half YEARS since I last played, and, though it isn't a terribly complicated game, I thought maybe I should try playing through one of the scenarios to remind myself how to play. I can TOTALLY be played as a solo game, and I would have done so, but Amanda graciously volunteered to try playing through a game with me the night before. 

We just played the easy introductory scenario... It's kind of a cake-walk - designed to learn the important basic rules. Everytime I've run it the players win... 

It did NOT go well for us... Yikes. teh Boss monster - the Giant Frog Monster appeared and just kicked our asses. I was playing Abe Sapien... this is him about to be knocked out... 

Amanda was playing Johann Kraus... Here is Kraus, surrounded by Frog Monsters, a GIANT FROG MONSTER bearing down on him, and the room is ON FIRE.. this is where we called it. The writing was on the wall (which was on fire...)

It occurred to me afterwards, I think this might be the first time we played it WITHOUT Hellboy! 

Sunday, 18 December 2022

The next day Jasper and Neil came by and Finnegan, though he just didn't have time to PREPARE a role-playing adventure, figured he did have enough time to play the boardgame with us. He may even join the game that I run for Neil and Jasper. He only has to show up and role-play one afternoon a month, seems doable. 

Neil played Hellboy, Jasper played Johann Kraus and Finnegan played Abe Sapien. I kind of just ran the show and pushed around the frog monsters. 

They had a MUCH easier time of it... 

Especially with Finnegan making attack rolls like this, when Abe was shooting the Giant Frog Monster!? BLAM!! (because they'd acquired two insight tokens, the Giant Frog monsters Resilience was reduced from 4 to 2, I think...? or maybe the insight tokens are what upgraded the dice...? I don't remember... so this dealt NINE - or 7? - damage... the poor creature only HAD 20 wounds.. Abe shot him twice and then Hellboy PUNCHED him and... that was about it...). 

Fun times. Looking forward to trying running a role-playing game for these guys next month. 

Saturday, 31 December 2022

Amanda AND Keiran said they's play a game, and Keiran suggested Splendor.

I totally crushed it - ending the game with 17, Amanda took a final turn and got to 15... Keiran suggested we play again. I was very lucky... I couldn't POSSIBLY have that kind of luck again!? 

Ummm... apparently lightening DOES strike twice!? I won this game with EIGHTEEN points?! Amanda didn't even make it to 15. Keiran scored higher in the second game so they were pleased enough... They really like the game, but have only even won it on two occasions! 

Aaaaaaand... that's it... 

We played next to NO GAMES over the holidaze (compared to previous years!)... Which was kind of a major bummer... for the last decade and a half, that's kind of what we DID over the Holidaze between Xmas and New Year - pay lots and LOTS of games... I had really thought those last two weeks might be filled with gaming!? 

Part of the problem was Amanda got roped into cat sitting for almost three weeks!? Initially, there was an understanding that Keiran would help out... but then didn't... and then this last week we had CrAzY amounts of SNOW!? Which made it harder to get back and forth to the house and the snow had to be cleared off sidewalks and I couldn't even help out because I've strained my hamstring during the first snowfall in November and it just gets worse every time I try to shovel snow or walk over any kind of uneven ground - like across all the uncleared sidewalks all around our neighbourhood... So Amanda's just been exhausted and the kids are kind of into their own things... so...   

Ah well... maybe next year... 

Still to come this evening - Looking Back at 2022 and maybe Game Plan 2023 - Q1...?

November Games

September and October were pretty slow months for gaming... (I mean, I was pretty busy, just with OTHER STUFF!). I was pretty determined to get playing games again in November, however! I sat down at the beginning of the month to try and figure out how many of which games I'd have to play to actually complete either a 5x5 Quarterly Challenge or a 10x10 Annual Challenge (or BOTH!!) and, at that point, things weren't looking great... I don't want to make playing games UNFUN, by feeling like I HAVE to play a game TEN TIMES in ONE MONTH, just to complete a challenge...  or.. MULTIPLE games... 

Wednesday, 2 November 2022

Azul!? 

We'd planned to start playing Warhammer Underworlds on Wednesdays again, and I was pretty excited to try out Mollog's Mob... But, when Amanda got home, she was just feeling too tired to play that... but she said she'd play Azul. 

We played a pretty quick game and I squeaked out a win... 

Amanda decided that just wouldn't do, so we played a second game... 

And she just crushed me - I got less points than my first game and she nearly doubled her score!? So then we called it a night...  

Friday, 4 November 2022

Amanda and I finally got back to playing Warhammer Underworlds. This was the final game we were playing in Beastgrave (for now). For the rest of the year we are planning to play game set in Harrowdeep on Wednesday evenings (plus two extra games over the holidaze), which will get in 10 games of Harrowdeep - for the 10x10 Challenge. My plan is to also paint a new warband every week for Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven to face... 

This evening the Blade-Coven faced Mollog's Mob - a Dankhold Troggoth and assorted squig-beast followers and hangers on. Normally, when trying a new warband, I generally try using the cards that come with them - to get a sense of what they're supposed to be about and how well those cards work. Mollog's Mob is one of the Shadespire releases (the first group of releases) and... it shows... Just a quick glance through the cards it became pretty apparent that a LOT of the cards were just garbage and playing them would be very, very frustrating. So Friday evening before playing, I quickly edited the deck... and totally won... With a bit more deck editing, it could be a really nasty warband to face! 

You can read a full report and see lots more pictures of the game here:

Warhammer Underworlds - Morgwaeth's Blade Coven vs Mollog's Mob

Sunday, 6 November 2022

Sunday afternoon, despite our first big snowstorm of the year the previous evening (our power was out for a few hours, but luckily it wasn't terribly cold!) Neil and Jasper joined us to make characters for the Dresden Files Accelerated Role-Playing Game campaign that Finnegan is going to be running for us. 

We are playing Agents and consultants for the Vancouver office of the RCMP Special Investigations Division. A Division that is not well known and even less understood. They look into cases that seem strange and inexplicable. 

I'm playing a Weregoose that was first recruited about five years previous to the start of the campaign. My Character has previously been an adrenaline junkie/backcountry guide living in Squamish. The character have no control over the changing and blackout during the episodes. During one such episode that involved a number of people being terrorized and/or injured by a giant Canada Goose in Stanley Park one night, and ended up with them waking up in an observation room at a Mental Health facility after they were found in the area at dawn, naked and very disoriented... well that drew the attention of the RCMP Special Investigations Division. 

I have some other nebulous background ideas... haven't settled on a name... or gender... I guess I better sort that out, soon-ish! 

Wednesday, 9 November 2022

Warhammer Wednesday happening again - we played our first game of Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep. More or less the same as all the other Warhammer Underworlds - a few rules added, others tightened up. 

Morgwaeth's Blade Coven faced Xandire's Truthseekers in The Hall of Sublimination and The Tortured Coil (actually from Nethermaze)

We tied at 9

You can see more pics and read the complete battle report here:

Warhammer Underworlds - Morgwaeth's Blade Coven vs Xandire's Truthseekers

Friday, 11 November 2022

Friday Evening we played Carcassonne with Traders & Builders and Inns & Cathedrals.

 Amanda was kind of tired and not super into it. So, I won. By a lot. Like, 243 to 190. 

Amanda lamented that I win this game a LOT. And maybe suggested that's why she doesn't love the game. Because it's "[my] kind of game, and [I'm] very good at it..." And... that's not UNtrue... but I resent her suggesting that I win "all the time..." 

I actually keep track of these sorts of things on Board Game Geek for this very reason... 

I have logged 44 games of Carcassonne on BGG. 11 of those I did not note the scores. Of the remaining 33 games where I did record wins and scores... The kids played in less than ten of them. Ananda played in 28 of them. I played in all 33. 

There were three ties (Finnegan and Keiran, Amanda and me, and... I forget the other...?) 

Amanda won 12 - 43% of the games she played in. 

I won 13 - 39% of those games I've played

The kids won the remaining games. 

Sunday, 13 November 2022

Wrath & Glory 

I forgot to take a pic DURING the game... Fun was had, I got to make use of all the EPIC stuff I'd been painting over the last month and got to run a role-playing game again... which I kind of missed. 

You can read more about the adventure and campaign here:

Campaign on Xoxigar - 3rd Squadron  - First Contact

Wednesday, 16 November 2022

Warhammer Wednesday was postponed due to dog yoga. 

It's a thing. 

(which worked out well, because I wasn't actually DONE this week's warband!) 

Thursday, 17 November 2022

After pointing out the stats regarding the statistical reality of our Carcassonne play outcomes, Amanda was a little less grumbly when I suggested it again this week. 

And as if the universe just needed to strike that point home, Amanda could just not stop drawing THE EXACT PIECE SHE NEEDED ALWAYS and beat me by 50 points... Before the end game scoring, she was well over 100 points ahead of me. Only massive unfinished cities and super farming saved me! 

Saturday, 19 November 2022

Warhammer Underworlds! Finally got to try out Da Kunnin' Krew. 

You can read the full game report here:

Warhammer Underworlds - Morgwaeth's Blade Coven vs Da Kunnin' Krew

Saturday, 26 November 2022

Distracted this week again and didn't get a new Warband finished for Wednesday... so we didn't end up playing any games until Saturday. Played another game of Carcassonne, but instead of just playing with Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders, I also broke out, and reread the rules for the Abbey & Mayor and River II expansions - which was fun. We hadn't played with those for a few years, I think. I hope we'll be able to keep them in the regular play from now on... 

Sunday, 27 November 2022

Since we weren't getting to play a Warhammer Underworlds game this week (because I was distracted painting Oni) we decided to get in another game of Carcassonne...  While I won Saturday's game, but a LOT (308-233!?), this game was SUPER close (308-305!?) with Amanda just squeaking ahead! 

So that WAS a few more games played than last month! 

I'm not so sure I'm going to complete any challenges... 

Games Played so far this Quarter:

• Carcassonne x4
• Azul x2
• Dresden Files Accelerated x2
• Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep x2
• Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x1
• Wrath & Glory x1

Not looking like any 5x5 challenge getting completed... I mean, it COULD happen... but I feel like it would all be quick games and very forced. 

Games Played so far this Year!

• Wingspan x11
• Terraforming Mars x10
• Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x10
• Carcassonne x9
• Azul x8
• Five Tribes x8
• Wrath & Glory x6
• Quebec 1759 x5
• Splendor x3
• Andean Abyss x2
• Dresden Files Accelerated x2
• Stone Age x2
• Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep x2
• Wizard Kings x2
• Angola x1
• Bananagrams x1
• For Sale x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Marrying Mr. Darcy x1
• Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game x1
• The Silver Bayonet x1
• Space Base x1

That's 88 games, so far... and that's not a bad thing... I just can't see getting to play ten different games ten times each for a 10x10 challenge... and that's okay... 

Am I still going to play a lot of games in December? I sure hope so! I'd like to bring that total to 100! Twelve games over the holidaze? That seems totally doable! I just don't think I'm going to even try to finish a 10x10 Challenge. 

I would like to get in a few more games of Warhammer Underworlds - and finish up a few more warbands. I wouldn't mind another game of Carcassonne and two games of Azul and Five Tribes. That would get those to ten plays this year! Then I'd have about six or seven games that I've played ten time each. Over half of a challenge done, and that's not nothing. 

Other than that...? Few more games of Stone Age and some role-playing games (Dresden Files and Wrath & Glory). Maybe some games we haven't played in a while... 

I like the IDEA of a 10x10 challenge - I like the idea of playing a game a bunch of times, in a relatively short period of time to really LEARN the game! Part of the reason I like the idea is I have a really hard time READING and understanding rules, so it would be nice to just have to read a few new rules and really learn a game well enough that I wouldn't have to re-read them again every time we played!? It'd be really nice to really learn TEN new games every year... but I just don't think these challenges really work out for me. They always feel a bit forced by the end of the year. 

I need SOME kind of roadmap, though, or I end up going NOWHERE... I'll have to come up with something different for next year. Maybe just the Quarterly 5x5 Challenges...? I'm not sure they went so well either, though... 

Game Plan 2022 - Q4

 Well... I don't know what I'm doing. The Q3 Plan did not work out at all... as outlined in the Previous Post. It doesn't look like much is about to change... 

GAMES

The last suggestions for the remaining challenges were:

Q4 5x5 Challenge

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
2. Carcassonne 
3. Wrath & Glory
4. Kill Team
5. Stone Age

and...

2022 Annual 10x10 Challenge

1. Wingspan
2. Terraforming Mars
3. Five Tribes
4. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm
5. Azul
6. Carcassonne
7. Stone Age
8. Wrath & Glory
9. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
10. Kill Team

So far this year, I have played:

• Wingspan x11
• Terraforming Mars x10
• Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x9
• Five Tribes x8
• Azul x6
• Carcassonne x5
• Quebec 1759 x5
• Wrath & Glory x5
• Splendor x3
• Andean Abyss x2
• Stone Age x2
• Wizard Kings x2
• Angola x1
• Bananagrams x1
• For Sale x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Marrying Mr. Darcy x1
• Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game x1
• The Silver Bayonet x1
• Space Base x1

Wingspan and Terraforming Mars are done. Two games of Five Tribes shouldn't be too hard. 

One game of Direchasm...? Shouldn't be a problem for the 10x10 list. What held us up on playing Warhammer Underworlds was me insisting on getting a new warband done each week... and then not getting that painting done... One game of Direchasm won't be a problem... 5 or 10 games of Harrowdeep...? I don't know. It COULD happen... if I started pumping out Warbands and we played (almost) EVERY WEEK for the rest of the year... 

Azul and Carcassonne shoudln't be a problem. Those could be on both lists. 

Stone Age...? maybe the 5x5, but we'd need to play EIGHT games to get to ten now... I don't know... I don't know if we love it THAT much!? 

Wrath & Glory...? If BOTH groups manage to get in a game each month October, November, and December - I'll totally made that one. 

Kill Team... If I got motivated and got some of those new teams painted by the holidaze, I could probably convince the kids to play a few games when school is over - five would be very doable (for the Q4 5x5 challenge). Ten, though...? I don't know... 

There is very little chance I'm going to play any more of 1759 or Wizard Kings... Although, if I made a category of "Columbia Games Block Games" I could endeavour to get in three games of Hammer of the Scots and that might finish THAT off...!? Seems more likely than eight GMT COIN games... or... ten of something else...? 

Q4 5x5 Challenge

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
2. Carcassonne 
3. Wrath & Glory
4. Kill Team
5. Azul

2022 Annual 10x10 Challenge

1. Wingspan
2. Terraforming Mars
3. Five Tribes
4. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm
5. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
6. Azul
7. Carcassonne
8. Wrath & Glory
9. Kill Team...? 
10. Columbia Games Block Games (Quebec 1759, Wizard Kings, Hammer of the Scots)...? 

So in addition to five games of each of the 5x5 games, I'll need to play ONE game of Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm, TWO games of Five Tribes, THREE games of Hammer of the Scots... and then FIVE additional games of Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep and TEN games of Kill Team. 

MINIATURES

I have not been getting a LOT of painting done this year... Mind you, I haven't been buying a lot either... Though it is STILL more buying than painting. It would be nice to get into the black. 

Currently sitting at:

PAINTED

28mm Foot: 39

28mm Mounted: 1

Tokens and Bits: 6

Terrain Bits: 3

Micro Foot: 113

Micro Mounted: 9

Micro Tanks/Vehicles: 27

PURCHASED 

28mm Foot:80

Terrain Bits: 72

I'd like to paint at least 42x28mm figures - so I've painted MORE than I purchased this year. There are 89 days left in 2022. So... one every other day, on average. (plus all the micro scale stuff I'm trying to finish up!) 

Oh... and then there is the terrain... If I can batch paint the Kill Team: Into the Dark interior wall bits, I'd be happy. 

What is 44x28mm miniatures going to look like? 

Imperial Navy Breachers(12)

Kroot Farstalker(12) 

Mollog's Mob (4)

Da Kunnin' Krew (5)

Xandire's Truthseekers (4)

Skittershank’s Clawpack (5)

Blackpowder's Buccaneers (5)

That's 47... plus Terrain... Plus finishing up a few "Epic Scale" items. That's probably the best I could possibly hope for at this point... BUT, if I were to get anything else done... 

More Warhammer Underworlds...?

Elathain's Soulraid (5)

The Crimson Court (4)

The Exiled Dead (7) 

The Shadeborn (4) 

Myari's Purifiers (4)

Hexbane’s Hunters (6)

More Kill Teams...?

T'au Pathfinder Kill Team (10)

T’au Fire Warriors (5) + Drones

T’au stealth Suits (3) 

T’au Drones (many)

Corsair Voidscarred Kill Team  (10) 

Chaos Space Marine Kill Team (10) 

Assorted Objective Markers? 

Ork Kommando Kill Team (10) 

Not sure how much of this I'm going to get done THIS month, however as I'm busy with not one, but TWO daily drawing challenges!? You can see what's going on there over on my Art Blog:

https://artgeekbrown.blogspot.com/2022/10/

September Games

 So... September happened... 

Probably the best thing that came out of RPGaDAY 2022, was I organized THREE different groups to play role-playing games with this fall. 

One was the online group I'd been playing with through the pandemic. I basically got them committing to playing a new Wrath & Glory campaign this fall. I'd actually talked to them a few months ago about it and we'd gotten as far as making characters... but then never really ended up playing. This time around I suggested playing ONCE a month - doesn't even have to be the same afternoon or evening... Just fine ONE evening or afternoon each month that EVERYONE can commit to showing up and play a game then! 

Another was a group of local 40K players. They also agreed to play Wrath & Glory. That game will also be once a. month. 

Both Wrath and Glory games will, effectively be THE SAME CAMPAIGN - both are starting as a Tallarn Tank Crew on Xoxigar Secondus. One group is in 1st Company, the second group is in 3rd Company. 

The third RPG groups started because of the Day 15 question; Who would you like to Gamemaster for you? My friend Jasper chimed in with "Finnegan!" (Jasper runs the after school games club at the high school just down the street where Finnegan played for two years before the pandemic. The first year he played in a campaign run by Jasper. The second year Finnegan started running a D&D game for the club. That group continued online throughout the pandemic and is back playing in person. Another member of group, Beau, also chimed in and said he would be down with that - he had come over with his son to play D&D with Finnegan a few years back. 

To this I said, "that can probably be arranged...?" After some discussion and inviting a few others, it was decided that Finnegan would also run a once-a-month game for me and a few friends. We didn't settle on ONE game, though, we through we'd try out a few different one-shot games through the fall and if any went well, maybe we'd continue with a short campaign of the one we liked. 

Monday, 5 September 2022

Mutant Crawl Classics

Though Finnegan's been making good use of the Game Room and running in-person The first of the one-shot games Finnegan ran for us - a Mutant Crawl Classics Funnel Adventure. We each made up a team of four, zero-level adventurers that decided to strike out on their won to prove their worth to their community...  

My four characters were; Hunter S. Hashpipe - a female porcupine manimal hunter, Wüd Kutr - a pure-strain human gatherer, B. P, Hovercraft - also a pure-strain human gatherer, and Sweet Pea - a plantient (mutant plant) gatherer. 

Jasper played Morpho - a mutant human gatherer with insect mouth-parts (butterfly!?), Mason Jar Murphy - a pure-strain Human gatherer, Chadlick Northington III - a pure-strain human hunter. and Cedress Murgo - a Cedar Plantient gatherer.

Neil played Foxy - a female panther manimal gatherer, Knuckles - a four-armed mutant human gatherer, Chonk - a green-skinned mutant human gatherer, and Pierre - a lemon-yellow skinned mutant human hunter. 

Nine of these suffered horrible, violent deaths at the hands of ANT MEN! (Oh, except for B.P. Hovercraft, who died when a rock fell on him... and... maybe someone was killed trying to figure out some new bit of ancient tech we came across...? I can't remember...) The only survivors were Hunter S. Hashpipe, Foxy the Panter, and Madon Jar Murphy - one of each of our characters! So we have our party should we play this again! 

The two players Neil and Jasper, I actually met BOTH of them in a Physics class during one of my brief attempts at higher education, 29 years ago this fall! I might have played a role-playing game or two with Jasper back in the day, and in more recent years, since he moved back to Saskatoon and started teaching at the high school, he's been over to play lots of board games (pre-pandemic). Neil never started playing role-playing games until a few years ago. I ran into him while riding my bike one morning in the first year of the pandemic - found he had moved back to Saskatoon and was playing D&D with... Brother-in-law...? and maybe running a game for his son and nieces and nephews and their friends...? So it was great to get together with these two and play games. I am SUPER looking forward to next month - we are planning to try out the Dresden Files RPG (or maybe Dresden Accelerated...?)

Saturday, 17 September 2022

Wrath & Glory Online Campaign

I actually got three of the four players out to play and we tried out a short adventure - mostly to try playing out an encounter to remind ourselves of how the system worked and what I'll need to remind myself of and what stats and tables I'll need to print out and have handy in the future. It went pretty well. 

The new vehicle rules in Church of Steel worked pretty good. I need to make up some extra rules to quickly determine what happens with all other vehicles in an encounter. I was thinking about using regular 40K or Apocalypse Rules. Or the old Epic rules, if I can find my copy...? 

Sunday, 18 September 2022

Wrath & Glory In-person Campaign

Three of the players got together and made characters, which was fun. 

We had planned to start playing the following week... but then two players were sick... and the following weekend the other two were moving... so... 

And that wraps up Q3 - How did I do on the Challenges I set out... not well... 

For the Q3 5x5 challenge, I suggested:

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm (4 more) 
2. Warhammer Underworlds: HarrowDeep
3. GMT Games
4. Kill Team
5. Hammer of the Scots

But later in August suggested changing to:

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm
2. Warhammer Underworlds: HarrowDeep
3. Stone Age
4. Kill Team
5. Wrath & Glory

In the end I played:

Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x4

Wrath & Glory x3

Stone Age x2

Terraforming Mars x2

Angola x1

Five Tribes x1

Kingdom Builder x1

Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game x1

Space Base x1 

15 games in all. Yikes... 

The last suggestions for the remaining challenges were:

Q4 5x5 Challenge?

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
2. Carcassonne 
3. Wrath & Glory
4. Kill Team
5. Stone Age

10x10 Challenge

1. Wingspan
2. Terraforming Mars
3. Five Tribes
4. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm
5. Azul
6. Carcassonne
7. Stone Age
8. Wrath & Glory
9. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
10. Kill Team

So far this year, I have played:

• Wingspan x11
• Terraforming Mars x10
• Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x9
• Five Tribes x8
• Azul x6
• Carcassonne x5
• Quebec 1759 x5
• Wrath & Glory x5
• Splendor x3
• Andean Abyss x2
• Stone Age x2
• Wizard Kings x2
• Angola x1
• Bananagrams x1
• For Sale x1
• Kingdom Builder x1
• Marrying Mr. Darcy x1
• Mutant Crawl Classics Role Playing Game x1
• The Silver Bayonet x1
• Space Base x1

Wingspan and Terraforming Mars are done. Two games of Five Tribes shouldn't be too hard. 

One game of Direchasm...? What held us up on playing Warhammer Underworlds was me insisting on getting a new warband done each week... and then not getting that painting done... One game of Direchasm won't be a problem... 10 games of Harrowdeep...? I don't know. 

Azul and Carcassonne shoudln't be a problem. 

Stone Age...? We'd need to play EIGHT games... I don't know... 

Wrath & Glory...? If BOTH groups manage to get in a game each month October, November, and December - I'll totally made that one. 

Kill Team... If I got motivaed and got some of those new teams painted by the holidaze, I could probably convince the kids to play a few games when school is over - five would be very doable (for the Q4 5x5 challenge). Ten, though...? I don't know. 

What's been going on otherwise...? Well have I have been riding bikes and making art... 

Game Plan 2022 - 5x/10x Game Challenges

 I was thinking a little more about what games I might like to play in the coming months and try to solidify that into a challenge (or two... or three...?) 

Looking at the games I've played so far this year... 

• Wingspan x11
• Terraforming Mars x9
• Five Tribes x7
• Azul x6
• Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm x6
• Carcassonne x5
• Quebec 1759 x5
• Splendor x3
• Andean Abyss x2
• Wizard Kings x2
• Wrath & Glory x2
• Bananagrams x1
• For Sale x1
• Marrying Mr. Darcy x1
• The Silver Bayonet x1

So, give that, and some of the games I'd like to focus on, I thought I'd come up with a 10x10 Challenge list to try and help maintain that focus. Some were obvious (as I'd already played ten, or very nearly...). Others, less so... and might get swapped out at some point.

2022 (PROVISIONAL) 10x10 Game Challenge List 

1. Wingspan 
2. Terraforming Mars 
3. Five Tribes 
4. Azul 
5. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm 
6. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
7. Carcassonne 
8. Kill Team
9. GMT Games
10. Role-Playing Game? Or Columbia Block Games?

Wingspan is DONE, don't have to play any more... though I'm sure we probably will

Just need to play one more game of Terraforming Mars and that one is done too. Five Tribes only needs three. So neither of these will even feature in the Q3 or Q4 5x5 Challenges, as I'm sure we can just pick those up along the way. 

I've already played 6 games of Warhammer Underworlds (set in the Beastgrave - which I log as Direchasm on BGG because it was the set I started with...). My plan is, over the summer, run a narrative sort of campaign for Amanda with Warhammer Underworlds... 

The idea is the campaign will follow the exploits of Amanda's favoured warband: Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven. I'll throw different warbands at them each week and try to weave some sort of narrative between the clashes. The plan is to play five more games set in Beastgrave/Direchasm over the next month while I get a few of the Harrowdeep/Nethermaze warbands finished up. Then we'll switch settings - Morgweath will have found a way... well.. if not home, at least a way OUT of Beastgrave and closer to home (as Harrowdeep is actually located just off the coast of Hag-Nar - Morgweath's home temple from which she and her blade-coven were dispatched to the Beastgrave!). 

I like Carcassonne. Amanda is ambivalent. She'll play. We've played five games already, so I thought I could add that to the Q4 5x5 Challenge and we could knock those out in the winter. 

The kids and I are planning to play a little Kill Team campaign this summer. Initially it was just going to be me and Finnegan, and I was planning something similar to what I'm doing with Amanda with Warhammer Underworlds - run a little narrative campaign that focuses on the story of HIS Kill Team (probably the fancy new T'au Pathfinders from Kill Team: Chalnath!) and I'd come up with a series of scenarios for him to play through facing different opponents. 

I only just found out today that Keiran was DEPLY HURT that I didn't ask THEM to join us!? I only hadn't because the last time we spoke of whole 40K thing, they said in no uncertain terms then NEVER liked and of 40K - regular 40K or Kill Team or any of the role-playing games. They said they TRIED to get interested in it because everyone else was interested... but they just couldn't.... So I respected that and didn't even try to persuade them to play ever since... I mean, they've shown NO INTEREST in ANY games for over a year!? 

I guess Finnegan somehow got them watching If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device and they've had a bit of a change of heart... 

(I guess I'm going to have to watch it now, too...) 

Rather than trying to play any of the GMT games TEN times, I thought I'd make it a broad category that could include COIN games (Andean Abyss, On a Distant Plain, Fire in the Lake), Labyrinth, Twilight Struggle, Paths of Glory, etc... It might be two games five times each (as I DO like the idea of playing a game a few times to really get to know it!) or three games 3-4 times each... but it probably WON'T be either on game ten times or ten different games, once...

The Columbia Block Games, like GMT, is more of a category of games. These include Quebec 1759, Wizard Kings, Hammer of the Scots. I've played Quebec 1759 five times already. I've played Wizard kings twice, but probably won't bother trying it again... I COULD just play Hammer of the Scots three times and call it DONE, but I think I'll try and add it to one of the Quarterly 5x5 Challenges... 

I'm still holding out that I MIGHT get a role-playing game of SOME sort going on again in the fall... 

So here is what the Q3 and Q4 5x5 Challenges might look like:

Q3 5x5 Challenge

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm (4 more) 
2. Warhammer Underworlds: HarrowDeep
3. GMT Games
4. Kill Team
5. Hammer of the Scots

Q4 5x5 Challenge

1. Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep
2. Carcassonne 
3. Role-Playing Game? Or something else?
4. Kill Team
5. GMT Games

Should keep me busy! 

AND hopefully get me motivated to start PLAYING again... 

I HAD really hoped I'd get in some games of Song of Blades and Heroes and a few of the Osprey Wargame Series this year. Maybe I'll try to set up a few one-off games over the next six months and try to focus on those next year! 

Game Plan 2022 - Q3

Looking back at the Game Plan 2022 - Q2, one should note, I did post it on April Fools day... How did it go...? 

5x5 (Quarterly) Challenge

I hadn't laid out what might be in the Q2 5x5 Challenge, but guessed it might include Five Tribes, Wingspan and Terraforming Mars... and had HOPED I might get going with Kill Team again... 

Here's what we actually got to playing:

Games Q2

• Quebec 1759 x5
• Warhammer Underworlds x5
• Wingspan x4
• Andean Abyss x2
• Terraforming Mars x2
• Wizard Kings x2
• Splendor x1

So... TWO games played five times... a third made it to four... Yikes.

Maybe Next Quarter...

OTHER GAMES 

I had some plans involving other games... Getting back to some kind of miniature games - probably skirmish, preferably a campaign... Kill Team... Warhammer Underworlds... Warhammer Quest - both Blackstone Fortress and Cursed City... Necromunda...

I guess I DID get back to playing Warhammer Underworlds. 

Also had some plans involving getting games that were just shy of the five or dime lists on BGG some plays or playing some games that I hadn't played before. I DID play Quebec 1759 and Wizard Kings... but none of the Five and Dime list stuff. 

PAINTING (and purchasing?) 

Wow... I had a WHOLE LOT of very optimistic plans about painting a BUNCH of stuff for 40K and Kill Team and.... NONE of THAT happened!?

I DID completely clear off the paintings table - in an attempt to create some order... and then... I painted ONE Warhammer Underworlds Warband!? NO Eldar... NO Harlequins.... NO 40K Chaos stuff... NONE of the other Kill Teams... 

Purchasing...? 

I did buy Nethermaze - the second box set for Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep. And the Restless Undead - another warband expansion for the same. the releases for this season of Warhammer Underworlds have been relatively limited TWO boxes in one year, plus two other warbands... a couple of extra decks. I've actually picked up ALL of it!? haven't painted ANY of it though... so, unless I do a LOT of painting and playing over the summer, I think I might be done with buying any more Warhammer Underworlds... 

I did NOT buy the new  Necromunda Ash Wastes box! It looked SUPER COOL! But I just couldn't do it... so much other Necromunda stuff to paint, so little stuff actually being painted. 

Even harder was resisting the urger to buy into the new edition of Horus Heresy - there are a bunch of local dudes that bought in and they'd have been fun to play with... and SO MUCH STUFF in that box and it's all Marines, so they could have pretty much been sprayed and washed and pick out a few details and done! But I just couldn't justify that to myself either... considering how little I'd painted in the last few months... 

There was also a local guy doing a clearance of his collection of board games that had a bunch I was interested in - Newer edition of Pax Renaissance, three COIN games (Andean Abyss, Pendragon, Colonial Twilight) and a different version of Leader 1 (not that I've played the one I HAVE!?). I snoozed and I losed, though. Brent bought the copy of Andean Abyss, someone else snapped up Pax Renaissance and the other two COIN games and... bah... just couldn't be bothered with the other (even though it's out of print and he only wanted $15 for it... maybe I should see if it's still listed...?) 

So...

GAME PLAN 2022 - Q3

GAMES

Quarterly 5x5 Challenge

Despite my failure to complete last Quarter's challenge, I'm still going to try for one this Quarter. What's likely to be on that list...? I don't know... 

Warhammer Underworlds - Amanda and I DID get playing again after a six month hiatus. I have a feeling we can keep that ball rolling. I'd like to get at least a few of the Harrowdeep warbands painted so we can start playing there. I could go so far as to suggest Underworlds might be TWO of the 5x5 slots - five games of Direchasm and five games of Harrowdeep? 

Wingspan...? Seems the game Amanda keeps inviting other people over to play. No one's gotten sick of it yet. 

Five Tribes...? despite not playing it ONCE in Q2, it's been one that's been suggested a few times. 

Kill Team or 40K? Finnegan is DONE High School FOREVER and has suggested he'd like to play a small campaign of Kill Team or 40K - or a campaign that uses a mix of the two.. 

Might get in some more COIN games with Brent - can we play FIVE games of Andean Abyss...?! Maybe I could include COIN games in the Annual 10x10 - as an open category 10x Assorted COIN games...? 

I also have Hammer of the Scots i'd talked about playing with Brent.

Terraforming Mars...? 

I keep hoping to get a regular role-playing game going again. I feel like I HOUNDED the Saturday night guys about trying to get something going over the last three months (and I HATE having to HOUND people about playing games - especially role-playing games)... but half the time I posted something, no one even responded and we never got in a SINGLE session. Maybe I just need to give up on that lot and find some local people to start playing in-person games with...? 

I don't know.... 

I've been thinking a lot about other games and miniatures as well... Song of Blades and Heroes, all of the Dan Mersey games, or Neil Thomas, etc. that I'd LOVE to get back to playing... The GW games always seem so much easier to get on the table and find opponents for, tho... 

MINIATURES

Painting

Honestly, give how much I got done last quarter, I can't imagine getting much done at all... 

I need to set aside some time to work on painting stuff - just a little bit every day or ever other day or a longer session once or twice a week. 

What I will get done will depend on what, if anything, we get playing. If Warhammer Underworlds does get going, I'll probably work on a new warband or two for that. If Finnegan and I do get playing 40K and/or Kill Team, I'll probably paint a few things needed for the next scenario or things either of us want to add to a team... 

Purchases 

Given how little I've been painting, I think it will be hard to justify ANY further miniature purchases... 

There have been some hints at an upcoming Kill Team box... WE'll find out this Sunday, but it loos like it might be shipboard actions?! or, like, Kill Team: Space Hulk. Damn, THAT's going to be tempting... There's no way I could possibly convince myself (let alone Amanda) that I should get that, considering I haven't finished ANY of the Kill Teams from the last THREE boxes I bought!?!?!

The Hellboy RPG also looks really interesting... is it even out yet, though? Seems like that Kickstarter has gone on for-EVER!? On the kickstarter page is said all rewards should have been mailed out in May, but I have yet to see my FLGS announce anything about it arriving!?

April Games

We did not play a lot of games this month..... 

Actually, we only played ONE game this month... 

Monday, 25 April 2022

Kicking off the LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH, Amanda and i played a quick game of Splendor... 

I actually won - which I haven't for a while. Amanda made it to 15 first, but because she went first, I got one more action and was able to pick up a card worth three taking me to 17!? Woo! 

I've almost always played this as a 3 or 4 player game. Two is weird. There are only three... merchant...? Tokens...? I forget what they're called. And way less gems in play. My strategy is usually pick up as many of the cheapest (green back) cards as FAST as I can and use those to grab merchants tokens for points and then a couple of the yellow backed cards if I can just pick them up with the cards I have.. I almost NEVER pick up those blue-backed cards... 

This game... I somehow acquired THREE of the blue-backed cards - including that final one that won me the game! 

Kind of held out hoping we'd get in a few mroe games before the end of the month... but that just didn't happen. 

I guess I did do a bit more bicycling... and I have been doing a LOT of drawing and painting... (So much so, that I've posted more on the Art Blog so far this year than I have on any other year in its entirety! 

I've also just been feeling really TIRED and by the evening (when we's usually play games) I just want to sit and watch Netflix... Mostly we've been working our way through all six seasons of Lucifer this month, but we also watched all of Heartstopper in one evening, and watched a fun little movie called Metal Lords. I'm sure there were others... but I can't remember them...