Age of Sigmar: the first battle

After coming to terms with the death of the Warhammer Fantasy I've known since my start in wargaming, I decided to purchase and paint the starter box for Age of Sigmar.  The models are what really interested me about the new game and I figured, at a minimum, I'd have both sides to be able to run games with friends in the future.

Tim. the local manager of my GW store, and I guy I've known for many years, was gracious enough to find time to play my first game of AoS.  It was my Stormcast Eternals versus his Khorne Bloodbound.  Tim is an AMAZING painter as you can see from the pictures of his Khorne stuff below.  

Stormcast Eternal Liberators prepare to receive the charge of a horde of  Blodreavers

3 Prosecutors ready to pounce into action

A unit of Retributors with their leader, A Lord Relictor, in the background

The Watchful I Studio

A good friend and fellow gamer, Joe Krone, has started a new venture in the gaming arena with the founding of his new company Watchful I Studio.  He has covered all the Internet marketing and you can check out the companies progress on the web (watchfulistudio.com) and Facebook.

Plus, like any good miniature project these days, Joe has started a Kickstarter to help get his company off the ground.

The master miniatures shown so far plus the painted versions he's done look fantastic.  So of course, I had to jump in on the Kickstarter.  Looking forward to seeing how far the project gets and what goodies get unlocked.  It only took 6 days to reach his goal so I have high hopes for the remaining 23 days.

So please, check out Joe's project and help support a great guy and fellow miniature gamer.

2015.....the year of ME.

We are well into 2015 and I figured I needed to take stock of my hobby goals from 2014 and start a list of my plans for 2015.

I had seven goals last year of which I completed three with a fourth partially complete.

• Finish my Fallschirmjager additions for FOW (Fail)

This has gone on the back burner for the foreseeable future. 

• Finish Jordanians for Arab/Israeli war FOW (Done)
• Finish FOW terrain (Partial)

I finished all of the Jordanian models I originally intended and have actually added two anti-aircraft tanks, so this was a true finish for me.  I also did terrain for this FOW game (The palm trees, roads and an oasis)

• Play in a FOW tournament at Adepticon (Done)

I finally had the chance to play FOW in a tournament setting at Adepticon 2014.  I played in the FOW Team Tournament with my friend Tyler.  We both ran Germans, me with my Fallshirmjager and Tyler with his Stugs.  We did horribly in our games, losing all of them.  Yet, we had a good time and certainly learned more about playing the game.

• Paint a 750 evil force for LotR (Fail)

With the slow death of Lord of the Rings, what with the recent Hobbit releases from GW (or lack thereof), there has been little interest in rings around the area.  With other priorities nagging at me, this ended up staying in the painting Que for the time being. But I'll be back to LotR regardless of GW.

• Paint 1000 points of IG (Fail)

I did manage to assemble almost everything, base coated most of it and even painted a few models. But since this was more a personal project than something I was required to complete for some event, I just didn't have the time so this project was postponed.

• Play 40k (Done)

I actually got to play 40k a few times last year and I really enjoyed the games.  A big thanks to Andrew, the manager of the GW Lakeview Plaza store for taking time to teach me the rules and play a few games.  I barely scratched the surface of the game as we never got too far past the basic rules.  But every game left me more determined to finish painting my Astra Militarum (as they are now known).

ON TO 2015!

I'm calling this The Year Of Me as I intended to devote more time to doing the projects I want as opposed to preparing for tournaments or events like Adepticon.  

• Paint an Imperial Knight
• Finish my ECW Royalists
• Finish my Astra Militarum army (at least 1500 points)
• Paint 1000 points of Empire for Fantasy
• Paint my Battle of the Five Armies box and put on a game
• Paint 1000 points of Space Wolves

My track record of completing these year-long hobby lists has not been good so check out how things go this year for me,  Wish me luck!

Hobby ADHD

I think many of us have it: Hobby ADHD.  You know, the problem where you are so psyched about a project but then you see something new and shiny and suddenly you've put that other passion project on the back burner?  Well, that's how I've been feeling of late.  I have my "To Do" list: English Civil War, Land of the Free (AWI), Gorgon Studios figure painting, Fate of a Nation.  Then there are those little distractions that I just can't get out of my mind.  For instance......

An Empire Captain for Warhammer Fantasy!  I haven't played Fantasy in many years but the new End Times book "Nagash" along with some folks at the local GW had my mind pre-occupied with thoughts of the Empire and my Fantasy glory days.

OR....

 A Space Wolf Blood Claw!!  Now, I actually have played a couple of games of 40k plus I  have a 1500 Astra Militarum force assembled (and 5% painted).  But when the Stormclaw Starter Box was released many months back I had to scratch the itch.  I've always been interested in Space Wolves, loved the new models and my buddy was itching to buy it for the Orks.  So, we both purchased it and then traded each other so I got all the Space Wolves and he got all the Orks.

AND THEN THIS......

A fraking Imperial Knight!?!?  This one is thanks to a friend who is running some games at Adepticon including Adeptus Titanicus and a Imperial Knights Tournament.  He was trying to recruit me and although I attempted to resist, he made an offer I couldn't refuse.  Hell, who am I kidding?  It didn't take much for him to convince me.  OF COURSE I want to paint an Imperial Knight!

So there you have it. Three models I didn't need or plan to do at this point but there they are.  The Empire and Space Wolves will go back in the queue for another day but the Knight is now an ADDITIONAL project I need to complete for Adepticon 2015.  

And that, my friends, is what happens if you don't control your hobby ADHD. 

Fate of a Nation: Our First Game

When the Flames of War supplement for the Arab-Israeli War came out, I was inspired to paint up some forces for the conflict.  After talking to a couple of fellow gamers, we chose our sides and made a commitment to complete our first 1000 points.  Two of us managed to reach that goal, myself with a Jordanian force and Sam with an Israeli force.  Our first game was set at 1050 points (the amount I had ready).  Sam was joined by another member of the group (John) and to battle we went.

My Jordanian Artillery Battery

I had an HQ platoon and 3 armored platoons  all with M48 Patton tanks 

plus a mechanized infantry platoon with M113 carriers.

The Israelis had a n HQ Sho't tank, 3 Shermans and a Mortar Platoon on their left flank

On their right flank that had 2 Magach tanks plus priority air support

Things on my right flank went well as two of my M48's took out the Israeli Shermans over the course of several round.  This negated the Israeli left flank and made it impossible for them to capture their objective on my right flank.  Unfortunately, I had dismounted my infantry and then realized to late I had the opportunity to seize my objective from their depleted left flank.  I remounted and moved at the double to try and take advantage and rush the objective.

My left flank was ineffective in dealing with the two Magachs across from them.  The Israelis used smoke to force me to move forward and thus reduce my rate of fire.  This, coupled with air support and the Israeli mortars, slowly took its toll on my left flank.

Near the games end, I had destroyed two Israeli Platoons but had lost three of my own.  My left flank, which included my HQ tank was utterly destroyed.  With his forces depleted and my still having two tank platoons, a mechanized infantry platoon and an artillery platoon, I decided to rush the objective on the Israeli left flank.  We ended the game at that point with it looking like a win for the Jordanians but in reality it would have been close and might have come down to assault with his remaining forces.

I'm already planning my additions to my Jordanians for our next game.  Sam is looking at doing a UAR force so we will have all the sides available via the Fate of a Nation rules.

Rome Triumphant!

Another fun Ancients game at Mike's house.....well, fun for the Republican Roman commanders at least!

Republican Romans faced off against the Carthaginians and allies.  As usual at Mike's, we used Tactica as our rule set.  Before gaming with Mike I had never encountered these rules before.  As I learn more I like the rules. They are fairly simple compared to many rule sets so lend themselves to a easy game for people new to the rules.  The hardest part for me is movement, as the rules try to replicate the style of Ancient warfare by making maneuvers fairly difficult to perform.  This can make taking a flank difficult as you usually have to break some units first to break through and then turn on the flank.

As I alluded to above, the dice were not with the Carthaginians this day.  As for the Romans, things went much better.  In particular, my Roman cavalry (supported by skirmishers) destroyed Mike's left flank force quickly enough to bring their numbers to bare on the exposed infantry flank.  Considering how poorly I usually roll, I think Mike was stunned at my sudden good fortune.  The good new for Mike is that my luck never holds so it could be 2015 before I get another run of dice luck like this game.

My cavalry charging in to destroy Mike's light cavalry.

The right flank of the Carthaginian line.

The glory of Republican Rome.

Some beautiful Carthaginians (yet to be released) from Gorgon Studios.

Pikes, Elephants and More Pikes!

Once again I had the pleasure of playing in my friends Michael's ancients game.  This month was Macedonian Greeks with an awesome array of pike units.  The models looked great but I did manage to stick myself with several pikes in my arm and partial destroyed a stand of Greeks due to me catching the pikes and pulling the unit off of the table!

In addition to all the pike units, we had cavalry (light, heavy and Cataphractii) as well as some scythed chariots and Elephants.

My co-general, Bill, devised a plan of waiting back and letting the enemy come to us.  I held the right flank and was facing the Cataphracts which I was very nervous about.  I held up his lighter cavalry on that flank and positioned myself to be able to flank but all for nothing.  His cavalry broke through my wing and began to attack my infantry flanks.  My unit held a few turns but I failed to do enough damage in the center to break any of my opponents models (plus some damn good rolls on their part as well!).

We had broken through on their right flank as well but one unit of infantry held up our forces and bought their army enough time to break us in the middle.  In the end, it was a defeat for our side, but still a really fun and awesome looking game.