Thursday 11 April 2019

We're still around!

So, it's been a while..... A lot has happened, not just for me personally or with what I am up to in the hobby but in terms of what is happening in the world of tabletop gaming. There have been new editions of multiple games, expansions, new armies and new games entirely. Some games have even come back from the dead! 

I'm going to give a quick run down on what I have been up to in the past 12 months to show what armies I have, what I have played and what I have had fun with.

I have tried not to flit too much between games in recent times but it's just impossible with so many great systems out there. I have actually stopped myself from buying into everything (I'm looking at you Necromunda) and kept my gaming in the past 12 months down to these systems:

Age Of Sigmar
Warhammer Underworlds
Blood Bowl
Infinity
Malifaux
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

As for systems that I am also collecting and building in the background:

Warhammer 40K
Beyond the Gates of Antares

Ill run through each system and cover what has been going on.

Age of Sigmar

I've had a lot of fun playing through multiple systems but Age of Sigmar is the game I have played the most. It's a pretty simple game and it's been fun collecting a Nurgle army. The lore for AoS is becoming more fleshed out as the months go by and it is starting to feel like an actual world now, much like the older fantasy realm. The Nurgle models have also been fun to collect and paint. I haven't really decided on what sort of army to collect, instead going for models I like the look of.





My son has also been having fun painting up and collecting an order army themed around Stormcast Eternals and Lizardmen. We have painted a few models together but the best unit is his skinks. With a bit of airbrushing, some shading and some metallics they came out really nicely:



Warhammer Underworlds

Underworlds is the fantastic, relatively new, competitive miniatures game. It's more like a competitve board and CCG than a wargame and is a lot of fun to play. I have had a lot of fun playing this game but there are a few caveats when it comes to the system:

1) New warbands are being released all the time so it can be expensive to keep up with the ever changing meta
2) It's quite tricky to get good at unless you play a lot. I have really struggled with understanding the tactics of the game and almost never win.

It has been fun and it is one I would like to continue with.

Blood Bowl 

So the latest edition of BB came out a few years ago and after a couple of games it pretty much sat on the shelf for 2 years.... Until fairly recently. I recently took the Orc team out for a few matches and have had a lot of fun. It's not exactly a fast game to play but It is easy to transport and fast to set up meaning we can easily get through a game in an evening without being chased out of the shop at closing. Win!

Infinity

There has been a lot of new additions to the game of Infinity over the past 12 months. We've seen the rise and fall of sectoral armies, non aligned armies, expansions and more. Infinity remains one of my favorite games to collect and play. The miniatures are gorgeous and it's a great fun, if brutal, game to play. It isn't easy to learn but the rewards when it all goes to plan are high. I did manage to paint a model and start painting some more:


I recently picked up some models for a new sectoral army: The Invincible army for Yu-Jing. Haqqislam are agreat faction but with a vanilla non sectoral Haqqislam army you're looking at close to 18 models. With the Invincible army you can easily run at just 10 models so I thought it would be a great opportunity to collect some awesome looking figures and hopefully get them all painted up!

Malifaux

Malifaux is going through some big changes at the moment from 2nd to 3rd edition. Part of this change is the removal of some characters from the story line. One of those is the master that I run.... Ramos. They haven't stopped supporting the model and it's rules but officially, he's out for now. I totally understand as things can't stay stagnant but it has turned me off for the time being. Its a great game with some great mechanics. I have managed to get one game in over the past 6 months which was fun but with limited time and resources this may sit on the back burner for some time to come.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

Last year saw the release of the 4th edition rule book for WFRP. I was so excited for this release. The Old World is a very special realm for me and this enables me to get my fix when I can. I threw myself in at the deep end and decided to run a mammoth gaming session from a Friday afternoon through to early Sunday morning (yes, we did sleep and eat). Having never DM'd before I totally immersed myself in the lore and watched and read so much about DM'ing that it all but consumed me. It was a fun process but it did take up a lot of my energy. It was a great weekend though and the three payers thoroughly enjoyed it, as did I. In the build up to the weekend I made quite a bit of terrain and collated a lot of figure for it so have quite the collection now:









Since then I have run a little game for my family which they really enjoyed. I love DM'ing and can't wait to run some more games!

What else?

Whilst all the above has been going on I have also been keeping my eye on a couple of other games that I enjoy: Gates of Antares and Warhammer 40k. The former game is one that, despite having the starter box for ages and having never played a game of, I am still very keen on. It's a fantastic rule set based upon Bolt Action but has been modified slightly. I have recently got the box out and built a few more models for this game so fingers crossed I can get a demo game in soon!

When the new spoace marines were released for 40K I wasn't overly taken with them but recently I got the urge to build and paint a Crimson Fist army so I have some Intercessors and  new dreadnaught. This is going slowly and really is more for the collecting and hobby side of things. That being said, I will play with them, they just won't be optimised for game play.

In conclusion...

So there we have it. That's where currently am with the hobby. It's been a funny few weeks recently as I have had so much going on with work and other personal projects that I haven't even had a game for about a month or more. I have a short break coming up where I intend to recharge and set a plan for the coming months in all aspects of my life with the intention of making sure the hobby is part of that plan. Lets see how that goes :) 

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