What I DIDN'T Bring Back From Toronto

 Back from a trip out east. Well... east from where I live... Amanda had a work thing in Niagara Falls, and for the first time EVER, I got to tag along! We also had a few days in Toronto on either end of the trip, which was nice. While in Toronto I popped into two games stores - 401 Games (on Younge Street) and Meeplemart. For both I had a few things I was lookng for... but in the end decided I could just wait until I got home and MAIL ORDER it!? And that' what I did... 

401 games was INSANELY BUSY when we popped in. They had a LOT of stuff... but for the most part it was the same stuff I could get anywhere - including my own FLGS.

they also had a My Little Pony deck building game that I had not seen before. I took a picture to send to Finnegan... He didn't reply... I didn't get it... I figured we could get the Dragon's Den to order it in if anyone was THAT interested. 

They also had a shelf of smaller "indie" RPGs that... maybe if it wasn't so insanely busy and it wasn't so late in the day and I felt like I had time to fart around, I might have had a look through those for giggles. There was one I remember called Sapphic Space Pirates that I briefly thought of picking up thinking ONE of the kids might think it's fun... Kind of regret not picking it up now... 

The only thing I'd really been LOOKING for was a copy of Wrath & Glory: Redacted Records... which they had online, but they didn't have at that location... 

Later I got to pop into Meeplemart. Holy CRAP did they ever have a LOT of stuff there... it was a bit overwhelming. like boxes and boxes of miniatures in blister packs. I had a longer list of things to look for but didn't even know where to start with some of them and quickly decided it would be easier to just mail order the stuff when I got home - save me having to spend hours looking for things, save us having to try and figure out HOW to get it all packed into our luggage!? 

One of the first things I saw that hadn't been on my list was a copy of Pax Viking! Now, my local store has a copy of it... but this was nearly half the price they're selling it for locally. I realized later it was on the "Ding and Dent" shelf and there was a "ding" in the back of the box. I do LOVE the Pax series of games and ... HALF PRICE!? Amanda said we could figure out a way to stuff it into the luggage... I have my doubts it would have fit and it was at that point I for sure decided i'd just order stuff when I got home. 

Also saw this neat looking game called Crows (or... "Tyler Sigman's CROWS"...?) 

Keiran is ALL ABOUT crows these days, so I took some pics to remind myself to look it up and ask about it at the Dragon's Den. 

When I got home a week ago I placed an order for Pax Viking and a few of the miniatures and bitz I'd wanted. It arrived today!

The miniatures are a Turtle Warrior from Darksword Miniatures and a trio of Space Dwarf Special Operators from Kromlech Miniatures. the other packs are kilted legs from Kromlech... somehow I have a BUNCH of Imperial Guard Catachan torsos and arms and heads... but no legs!? I think they came in some used lot I picked up at some point. I thought it might be funny to make a Kill Team of Catachans in Kilts... 

There were a few more miniature items I had wanted to look for, but by the time I got home I'd talked myself out of them (some Tau and Aeldari aircraft for Aeronautica Imperialis, and the Cruel Seas core rulebook and a Vosper and S-Boat flotilla!? Maybe a few more things from Kromlech and Darksword miniatures...)

Of course I'd ordered this BEFORE checking into the availability of the Crows game... and it turns out it was a Kickstarter game from a few years back and is NOT-so-available and Meeplemart was selling it for quite a bit less than it seems most places were selling it for... so I placed ANOTHER order for that a day or two later (and a Wrath & Glory book...) 

Speaking of having to place extra orders... I also stopped into The Beguiling the same day (AMAZING comic book store!) and I'd had a list of things to look for there... but forgot to LOOK at the list... and I did remember a few of the things ( a couple of books by Ralph Steadman) I forgot to look for an art book by John Blanche their online catalogue said they had in stock... so now I've had to order THAT from them... Ah, well... 

While there (on the same day we went to Meeplemart and The Beguiling) I was able to meet up with one of my favourite humans in the whole world, my old pal Christian! He took the train down from Barrie (which is near CFB Bordern, where he is currently posted) and, in addition to checking out Meeplemart and The Beguiling, we played a bunch of games at Snakes and Lattes on College... but more on that in the Monthly Games Wrap-Up! 

Work-in-Progress Wednesday - Noise Marines and Squats!

The local 40K club (Hunters of the Warp - if you're in or around Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) does a little Work-in-Progress Wednesday post each week where everyone shares what they're currently working on. I thought since many of you might be at home and bored and desperately looking for NEW CONTENT on all of your favourite blogs (and this one!) I thought I'd share the pics, that I posted there, as well...

The lighting in my painting space is not... ideal... hence not-so-great photos...



Starting in on the next batch of Noise Marines! Also, OBLITERATORS!

These Noise Marines are ALL METAL! Like, HEAVY METAL!

There is less of a panic rush on these, as I fully expect Battleforce Recon to be cancelled (and if it isn't cancelled, for some reason, I doubt I'll go...)

Last night I also finished assembling the last of the units in the Start Collecting Chaos Space Marines box (so far, the only one I've painted is the Venomcrawler) while watching a couple of episodes of Impulse with Amanda. Still to paint is a Master of Possession, two Greater Possessed, the two Obliterators pictured above, and ten Chaos Space Marines. They all look really fun, but I think I'll wait until all the Noise Marines are done until I seriously get started with painting them.



Another little side project that's been on and off my workbench for a couple months - Squats! Primarily I was thinking they could be used as a Venator "gang" in Necromunda. A Venator gang is basically supposed to represent a group of bounty hunters all ganged up together to go on a hunt - but they have different stat blocks you can choose from - and one of the sets looks remarkably similar to that of Squats - slower move value, toughness of 4, etc.

Three of these are some of the oldest 40K miniatures I've owned - recently stripped of their original paint job. One is from Victoria Miniatures, two are from the Astropolis II Kickstarter and the other five are ones I've picked up on eBay over the years and finally have a purpose for them. I also have 3-4 squat bikers, all from back-in-the-day, that I might paint/repaint (only one of them was ever fully completed, the others have been in a half-painted limbo for nearly 30 years!)

I had thought I'd wait until they were ALL painted before posting them all together with a group along with some extensive background fluff I've been working on... but here they are.

I DO have ANOTHER side project that is partly completed that I'm also waiting to complete ALL of the miniatures for to post together with some even MORE extensive background fluff... that one I WILL wait for. I'll give you some hints though - It's a 40K Kill Team... and it in some way involves some more of the oldest GW figures I have, and some very new ones, and... Blood Bowl... and the destruction of the Old World... How the hell do I tie all THAT together!? Well, you'll just have to wait and see!


In Other News...

We spent a bit of the day yesterday trying to figure out Roll 20 so Finnegan can keep his D&D games going in this era of social distancing. I happened to note that there are Wrath & Glory character sheets available on there...

ALL of the Amanda and the kids activities are cancelled and we're already finding we have a LOT more free time on our hands - I hope this will translate into MORE GAMES being played and more time to post game reports - to entertain all of you stuck at home in quarantine or self-isolation.

What are you all working on?

Getting in any extra games (solo, online, or otherwise)?

Have your kids reached Willing-to-Play-Games-with-Parents-Again levels of boredom? (Mine have!)


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably the Noise Marines above completed.

The Squats will probably take longer.

Game Reports of games with the family?