(note: I wrote this a few weeks ago - along with the Looking Back post, and was in a pretty sour mood... I've MOSTLY rewritten the whole thing... twice... it starts off with echos of that downer mood I was in, but I assure you the rest is a BIT more positive and upbeat!)
I guess the first thing is... do I bother with a blog anymore...?
In the Looking Back post, I noted that I didn't do as much here last year - and there were reasons (and other reasons)... but also often I wonder how many are actually even reading this anymore. I don't blame people, there is SO MUCH MORE out there on the internet... I mean, *I* barely read other blogs anymore!?
Google Analytics tells me each post will gets a few views, but the numbers are way down and it can't tell me whether those are bots or real people... I do get a comment or two for each post (which I GREATLY appreciate). But for every comment notification that is a real comment from a real person, I get a DOZEN (or more) that is just spam (which gets a little discouraging... Y'know, you get that little dopamine hit when you see the notification - Yay! a comment! - and then open it up to see it's just links to penis enlargement or online gambling or dating in malaysia websites..).
I guess I'll keep this going for a bit longer...
Am I even going to have TIME to do this stuff, while working on ART STUFF....?
GAMES
Challenges?
I like the idea of the 5x5 Quarterly Challenges and the 10x10 Annual Challenges - in that it kind of forces inspires one to dig a little deeper into individual games and learning the game a little better through repetitive plays... I also HATE reading rules, and having to read a new set of rules for every game (if one is playing a new game every week - or whenever) SUCKS! I also tend to get more things done when I HAVE A PLAN as there is less to think about - no deciding WHICH game to play on a given night, just FOLLOW THE PLAN. The trick is, trying to figure out WHICH games I'm going to be interested in over the next few months, let alone an entire YEAR, is a bit of a challenge as my interests and focus can change VERY ABRUPTLY - and if I have ZERO INTEREST in following THE PLAN... the plan will not be followed.
In 2021 it worked great. I mostly completed 5x5 challenges each quarter, though I think they invariably ended up NOT being the games I set out to play at the beginning of each quarter... AND I DID complete a 10x10 challenge... mostly by looking at what I played in the first nine months, as we arrived at the beginning of the final quarter, and focused on finishing up however many games I needed to finish the 10 plays of 10 games.
Another DOWNSIDE of how 2021 rolled out, was in that fourth quarter, we abandoned games that we already had ten or more plays of... which is what KILLED the momentum that we'd had paying Warhammer Underworlds... momentum that I couldn't get going again in the new year... and STILL haven't gotten going again!?
Now that I've noticed that, it may also have contributed to why we have not played Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress after June of 2020... Got focused on other games for The Challenge instead of just continuing with a game we were clearly having a LOT of fun playing.
So... do I bother with Challenges...?
Maybe JUST focusing on Quarterly challenges and definitely NOT even bother to try with 10x10 Annual challenges! That way, I can have the SAME GAME in each of the Quarterly Challenges and end up playing it (them!?) 20+ times per year.. and if I only play five different games TWENTY TIMES in the year... That's still 100+ games!? It's even MORE focused than a 10x10 challenge!?
So... to start... The first challenge, which is subject to change at any time during the quarter...
2023 Q1 5x5 Challenge
- Splendor
- Pikeman's Lament
- FATE
- One Hour Wargames
- ...?
Games to Play
One thing that I do have SOME confidence will happen is a monthly game with Neil and Jasper. This started off a group of guys that were interested in participating in a role-playing game that Finnegan ran. We started off with a few one-shot adventures to settle on WHICH game we'd like to play a campaign of... and settled on Dresden Files Accelerated... but then Finnegan admitted that it was a bit much to plan and run a game for me and my friends... on top of the two other D&D campaigns he's running AND university course work AND his part time job AND his side projects... But Jasper and Neil are interested in continuing to get together to play once a month, so... there might be THAT, at least... for now the plan is to try and go forward with Dresden Files Accelerated, or at least some form of Modern Urban Fantasy powered by FATE
Miniatures Games... The miniature games I play are generally dependant on what miniatures I'm painting (painting inspires thinking about scenarios and games)... but painting is inspired by playing or excitement about the actual possibility of playing... I kind of just need to get PLAYING something to get going on a game and the painting and more playing will follow... until something upsets the flow... In previous years an external deadline has also helped - like an upcoming EVENT like the Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming weekend or ToonCon or a Campaign of some sort that I've planned... So I've been thinking about campaigns a bunch over the last few weeks... but maybe just running them online - see below!
Board Games...? there are SO MANY I'd love to play. The trick is finding someone to play with.
Birthday Bash/Winter Wargaming Weekend
Might be a bit late... Usually by this point I'd have a pretty clear idea of what I'd like to be doing and who might be coming.
If I did do anything this year, it'd be something small.... like inviting a group of 3-4 people to play something like Warhammer Quest for a weekend - to see how far through a campaign we could get... or coming up with some sort of campaign that COULD be played through in a weekend over a half-dozen scenarios.
That or a role-playing campaign that could be entirely played through over the course of a weekend.
ToonCon
It's happening again... I have no plan to attend or run anything. I have a feeling I may just be DONE with convention gaming though...
Online Campaign(s)!?
In previous years I ran miniature wargaming campaigns online - players, not in Saskatoon, played the heads of state of fantastical nations that negotiated with each other and then sent in orders for the movement of their armies. These movements then worked as a scenario generator for tabletop Hordes of the Things games that I played with friends in town.
For a few years I've been toying with the idea of using the old Games Workshop Mighty Empires game engine to run a campaign using one of Dan Mersey's games (Dragon Rampant or The Pikeman's Lament). The strategic maneuver element in Mighty Empires is a "Banner" which consists of 500-1500 points of troops (which, when used as a campaign system for Warhammer Fantasy meant that is the point value of troops you used). I figured a Banner using Dan Mercy's games could be 10-30 points. A regular game of Dragon Rampant or the Pikeman's Lament is generally played with 24 points though it can be played with a few more or less...
Over the last month or so, I got thinking about the English Civil War option again and have been planning and organizing and figuring about what, at minimum I would need to paint to have ready to play a game with six players.
The idea would be each player is a minor lord of some sort in a remote part of England (on the border with Scotland). None have answered the call to send of forces to support either the King or Parliament because they are all certain their neighbours will use the lawless chaos of the political upheaval to invade and takeover their lands, should they march off to war... so... low level fighting takes place between these lords - in the name of King or Parliament.
More on this soon.
Maybe.
Or, perhaps I'll start with a Fantasy version of the campaign...? As I I think I HAVE full forces, ready to go! (maybe...?)
Maybe I'll do BOTH!?
This also got me thinking about a few other ways I could use this system (and games by Dan Mersey).
Maybe playing a short Colonial Campaign (using Men Who Would Be Kings) of European Imperialist powers carving up the very last bit of Africa at the end of the 19th Century - the region that will one day become Timbogo (anyone remember Timbogo? The fictional central African nation I invented for playing AK-47 Republic...? but then also set some Force on Force games there as well...?). French, British, German forces could be invading from different directions. They might bump into some native Africans who are less than enthusiastic about European Imperialistic aggression.
Also a Post-Apocalyptic Xenos Rampant campaign...? Set in Germany circa 2000 (like in Twilight:2000) Using modern/cold war figures and assorted armed civilians and the new Xenos Rampant rules. Each Faction would have a base of operations and be vying for control of surrounding villages and settlements... I have Soviets and Germans, and a few East Germans, British, Americans.... Maybe they're still loyal to what semblance of civil government/military command remains... Maybe they're just out-for-themselves survivors making due in the bombed out ruins of civilization...
I ALSO got thinking about using One Hour Wargames and and even SIMPLER campaign system (like the one presented in the older versions of DBA). Two ideas that immediately popped up where the Back of Beyond and Space: 1914.
The Back of Beyond would be in the Eastern end of Russia/Northern China/Mongolia during the Russian Civil War. I have enough minatures to put together two forces of White Russians, two Bolshevik forces, two Warlord Chinese, and a Western Interventionist forces. This could largely be done without painting a SINGLE figure. (this might end up happening BEFORE I even get to the ECW campaign!?)
The Space:1914 campaign would involve the Colonial Powers during the Great War... ON MARS... the narrative would be extrapolating the timeline of GDW's Space:1889 game to 1914 and playing out the conflict between such powers on the Red Planet! I have a mix of miniatures that could put topgether forces for British (and the Commonwealth), France, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Belgium, America(!?), as well as High Martians and Canal Martians (Oenotrians!). This would require a LOT of painting to finish up the forces... but IF I did get these campaigns going... this could be a FUN one to play... it would have a set number of turns (based on earth years), quarterly from autumn 1914 to autumn 1918 - or maybe winter, because it could take time for word to get from Earth to Mars that the war has ENDED!
There is the Dark Ages DBA campaign option. I STILL HAVE all the armies I used for the campaign I ran nearly Eleven Years Ago...?! No reason why I couldn't run that campaign online and use those minis and DBA...
Just a few of the ideas I have tumbling around in my head... Like I said, more on this soon.
In-Person Campaign(s)!?
Also, I've gotten thinking about some possibilities for an in-person weekend campaigns. This would be the sort of thing I'd have done for my Birthday Weekend... but I'm not sure I'll be ready for then. Maybe some time later in the year... Or maybe next year...
Under-Carngard - I have a PILE of old Skaven miniatures. occasinally I think I could paint them up and use them as an Age of Sigmar army... but that would be daft... What I COULD use them for is to make up a half-dozen or so Warcry warbands and have a little campaign over a weekend - different Skaven factions vying for control of the tunnels and caverns under the ruined city of Carngard!
Back of Beyond - the online campaign above... but in person. I played a similar campaign using a modified version of DBA a little over 13 Years Ago. It'd basically be the same campaign... but using One Hour Wargames instead of DBA.
MINIATURES
Miniatures will probably be painted... How many...? hard to say!? Hopefully MORE THAN LAST YEAR!?
If I were smart, I would probably just decide to NOT BUY ANY MORE MINIATURES. I have gotten better... and, looking back at last year, that SHOULD be a sign I should just STOP. I did only buy 80 x 28mm miniatures (and some terrain). That amounted to two Kill Team Boxes, Warhammer Underworlds: Nethermaze, four other Warhammer Underworlds warbands, and eight individual old metal Harlequins to expand my existing force.
While I did manage to paint SIX Warhammer Underworlds warbands in 2022, not ONE of them was one I purchased this year - all of them were ones I was trying to catch up on from the previous year. I didn't even assemble a single miniature from any of the Kill Team boxes, let along paint any... and I STILL haven't finished ANY from the two Kill Team boxes I bought the year before!? There is NO WAY I could reasonably justify to myself buying another at this point...
I so have a few of ideas of some miniature games I'd like to PLAY - largely for the campaigns mentioned above, but also, others... - and if I got playing any of them, that could definitely inform what I might end up painting... Knowing how things have gone in previous years, it is ludicrous to think I could plan out anything for a year... but here are some of the games I've been thinking about lately and wouldn't mind getting to play (and paint miniatures for!)..
The Pikeman's Lament - I have been reorganizing, rebasing, and painting up a few English Civil War models over the last month... thinking about the ECW and this idea for a campaign thats been stewing for a year or two (see above)... I have enough that I could play one-off games. Maybe playing a few of those might motivate me to get enough done to run the campaign!?
One Hour Wargames - I've been thinking about this a lot again over the last few months. the ONE period I have stuff that could readily be used for this is the Great War (or Industrial Age Wargaming - as it is called in the game). I'm not sure how great it would work for trench warfare... but some of the battles at the beginning and end of the Great War - and elsewhere (Russia, China, Africa, MARS!?) could easily be played out with these rules.
I've been thinking of putting together a little narrative campaign to play out parts of Canada's Hundred Days - following elements of the Canadian Corps through the last 100 days of the Great War, kicking off at Amiens, then actions at the Somme, the Scarpe, Canal du Nord, Cambrai, the Selle, Valenciennes and finally Mons.
Nothing NEEDS to be painted here... though if I DID get playing, it might motivate me to paint up the rest of the early war French and Belgians and finish rebasing and reorganizing the Warlord Chinese. Also, as I was preparing for the big Vimy game that never happened... to cut time I painted up understrength German units - I wouldn't mind finishing up all the German units to their full strength of 15
Warhammer Underworlds - I am not buying into the new season - Warhammer Underwoods: Gnarlwood - It looks REALLY COOL... but, it's just gotten too expensive, and I have SO MUCH that I haven't even PLAYED yet!? I would like to finish up the warbands I have and get playing again. It's a game that I'd really need to play with some regularity, so I can remember what all the cards do and how they interact with each other. Looking at the Warhammer Underworlds Warband List, I still have 16 warbands to paint up! I do have 20 that I can play with any time, maybe I need to start with that... which might motivate me to paint the others... but maybe NOT try to put the pressure of HAVING to finish a warband for each new game (as I was trying to do in 2022-Q4)!
Warcry/Age of Sigmar - If I got playing enough of the Warhammer Quest games or Warhammer Underworlds, it wouldn't be hard to segue into expanding some of those warbands into Warcry warbands or finishing up some Age of Sigmar forces to continue the narrative into larger scale actions - no new minis needed, I have SO MANY that i could paint... I also have a PILE of Skaven... Occasionally I think about painting them up to build a (small-ish) Age of Sigmar army... But I think the smarter thing would be to paint them all up and make, like 6-8 Scurrypacks for Warcry that I could use to host a little weekend tournament!? It could be the Battle for Under-Carngard. Do I buy into the NEW EDITION, though...?
Epic Apocalypse - I had gotten excited about this a few months back and hammered out a whole bunch of Epic 40K minis in hopes of using them in both a Wrath & Glory RPG and some 40K Apocalypse games... I have SO MANY more I COULD do, if I got going on the game...
Kill Team/40K - I mean, I was interested enough in Kill Team I bought FOUR of the box sets... so much terrain... so many minis I could paint for those... all of which could be expanded into small forces for 40K... (or ADDED to existing forces for 40K - that might be the smarter move...). Early in the new year the 9th edition Astra Militarum codex should be released and I'd like to pick that up and reorg my Guard forces and get them worked up to PLAY some 40K... whether I get around to it or not... I don't have much that needs to be painted for the Generic/Cadian Guard force of my Guaiacan Jungle Fighters... I have LOADS of Tallarn that could still be painted...
Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress - did not play a single game all of 2021 or 2022... In fact, I have not played it since JUNE of 2020 - we played 23 games of it between February and June of 2020 - right at the beginning of the pandemic with NOTHING else was going on - and it WAS a fun game! I do have a bunch of stuff for it that we've never played. I really liked the game, I'd love to get back to it and finish the other campaigns! There is a fair bit I could paint up for this (like the miniatures for the last three expansions - Escalation, No Respite, Deadly Alliance, and Ascension... but there is loads I could play with RIGHT NOW! Maybe starting with that might motivate me to finish off the rest of it!
Warhammer Quest: Cursed City - bought this when it was first released because I'd so thoroughly enjoyed Blackstone Fortress... but never even got the stuff painted up for it. I got SOME of it painted... I don't have THAT much that I'd need to paint up to get a started game going, which then might get me motivated to paint more so I could play more. it's a game I could just play with Amanda.
Other Warhammer Quest Games - Finnegan also has Silver Tower and Shadow Over Hammerhal. He assembled the minis and played through them both with my Dad, years ago. I had started painting the minis for him, thinking I could get him to play it again and/or with Amanda. There is quite a bit to paint... but I THINK I've painted a few of the heroes... and most of the opponents for one of the games is mostly disciples of Tzeentch, which wouldn't be TOO hard to paint up...
Hellboy: The Board Game - got in a few games at the end of 2022 after having not played since early 2020. I went ALL IN on the Kickstarter, so I have a LOT of stuff for the game... so it'd be nice to chip away at the minis and at least play through all the scenarios once or twice... I have enough to play at least the first three scenarios, maybe more... getting going on some might motivate me to paint up the rest.
Xenos Rampant - I was pretty excited when this was released a month or so ago... I'm not sure it will replace 40K or anything. I thought it might be fun to use with some of the other sci-fi miniatures, but then realized I'd have a fair bit of painting to do to play a game... What DOES seem more likely, is to use it for something a little more modern - presented in the book are options for weird wars (Great War and WW2 - both of which I have LOADS of stuff ready to go at any moment) and modern/post-apocalyptic/near future which I also have PILES of stuff that could be used... just need to settle on ONE to start with and get PLAYING!?
Five Parsecs from Home?! Modiphius had a Black Friday sale and I picked up Five Parsecs from Home as a PDF. I've been looking at it a while back as something that looked interesting for some sort of small-scale sci-fi miniatures campaigning. It's a solo game, I'd been looking at Solo games either in 2021 or early 2022 at some point when I was really feeling the desire to play some miniature games but was having a hard time finding anyone to play with... Amanda would play just about anything, if I asked... but sometimes I feel like it might be interesting to try out solo gaming, if I could find something fun and simple that doesn't take a lot of time...This looks like it needs very few minis to play with, so I would have loads I could start with - and so many more I could paint up to add in as new characters, once I got going.
Dragon Rampant - Lion Rampant - I did pick up the new edition of Lion Rampant last year when it came out... might be fun to try, I have two generic European medieval retinues I could use. I have a third, plus crusader and Islamic retinues I COULD finish up for Lion Rampant. Same goes for Dragon Rampant - I HAVE lots i could use to get started... getting started means I might get to painting up some more. In the last month I started reorganizing my Legends of the Five Rings: Clan War miniatures for Dragon Rampant - including rebasing and painting up a few things...
Rangers of Shadowdeep - as with Five Parsecs above, I bought this thinking about trying some solo gaming... but never got around to trying it out... maybe THIS will be the year!? As with Five Parsecs, I think I only need a few generic fantasy minis, of which I have LOADS to get started with... maybe it might motivate me to get working on them on a larger scale and finish up UNITS for Dragon Rampant.
I'm sure if I thought long enough I could think of MORE games I'd like to play and miniatures I already have that could be painted for them (all the Ganesha Games - Song or Blades and Heroes, etc). I've let go of the idea of playing Frostgrave or Stargrave or the Silver Bayonet any time soon...
Ugh... that's enough for now... I think I have a vague, general idea: Play some games, paint some miniatures...