Merry Christmas

Not really any hobby progress this week with getting ready for the holidays.  A couple dozen more mechs got a wash layer and I made a basing material purchase as well.  So I hope you all get some hobby cheer for the holidays or at least something good for one of your armies or game systems.

See you all next week and holiday on!

The Coming Year

So I didn't have any real hobby time this past week other than a 4 way battle of X-Wing Saturday night against Cheef, Wolfie, and Chris the Panda.  I ran my quad B-WIng list again with some pretty good results even considering that Cheef tried to make it a 3 v 1.

So I want to take this post to sort of lay out my hobby goals for the next year.  This will give me a checklist to refer back to and something that you my readers can prod me about if you don't see results.

So first on the list is my BattleTech.  My 21st Striker Regiment of Eridani Light Horse needs 4 more aerospace fighters acquired and the other aerospace fighters finished painted.  I also need one more base of half tracks from GHQ to finished off the mechanized infantry.  Then lastly a large number of the mechs need based.

The 151st Light Horse Regiment has begun but needs all the artillery vehicles, tanks, aerospace fighters, infantry, and some more mechs.  I've got enough mechs for 17 lances but while over half are painted, none have been based.  (I really have to buy some more of the ballast sand I use to base my Eridani Light Horse and get going on some of this).

Lastly for BattleTech I need to get 3 more warships and a bunch of jumpships/dropships to get my AeroTech fleet together.

So next up is Mordheim.  I've got all my dwarves purchased and have started painting on them, but only as far as priming and first major color on each model.  I'd like to get these done in the first part of the year so I can get some games of Mordheim in.  I know a couple others in the group I game with have been talking about Mordheim as well.

I also want to get my SAGA warband finished so I'll be able to talk someone into play testing it with me.  Most likely this will end up being Bob as he does historical gaming with his dad and is also slightly interested in SAGA.  I've got all the models I need for my Viking warband but none of them are more than partially painted.

So next up is X-Wing.  There are a few purchases I need to make and I need to get back into my repainting so that my ships match.  I want to get all my B-Wings flipped to horizontal flight as well.

And then there is small terrain projects.  I've got a couple pieces I'm dabbling with to make into factories for BattleTech.  I need to revisit the HPG Station I built for BT as well and finish it off.  And then there is stuff I bought for my Mordheim Dwarves.

Yesh, I'm in for a busy year as this doesn't even include Bolt Action armies which has died off after a big initial push and the 15mm army for Gruntz which Cheef is trying to stir a bit of interest in.  Plus I'll get some Aeronuf from a Kickstarter sometime in the spring.  So that's what I'm up against for goals for the next year.  I'm going to do my best to get items ticked off the list and done.  Hopefully you all out there will help push and prod me if you see me off on distractions or not making progress.

That's all for now and I'll see you all next week.

BattleMech Assault Coming

So, it's been a week of making progress on the BattleTech pile of things to do.  The batch of plastic hex bases I ordered arrived the middle of last week so everything that had been based green is now on a base.  I also got 45 mechs done with the hightlight color and the wash layer so they're ready for basing.  I need to get a new batch of sand from the hobby store so I can get started basing.

The Light Mechs

The Medium Mechs

The Heavy Mechs

The Assault Mechs

   I need to take an evening to get them all slated into spots in the overall TOE for my Eridani Light Horse.  Hopefully I'll have that for next week's update.  I've also got about 30 some more mechs on bases now and need to get the highlight color and wash on them still.

Tie-Advanced in the Crossfire

I also managed to get some gaming in this past Saturday night  I played a 3 sided game of X-Wing against Cheef and Billy the Bill.  I fielded a list of 4 B-Wings against Billy's Scum list and Cheef's Imperials.  Instead of asteroids we parked Billy's Corvette in the middle of the board to fly around instead.  Cheef and I both hit Billy pretty hard early on before tearing into each other a bit.  I got a bit lucky and outlasted them both with a single surviving B-Wing.  It was an enjoyable game and I like the amount of damage that 4 B-Wings can dish out as well as absorb.

That's all for this week and I'll see you all later.

Yikes, 41 Snuck Up On Me

Well, tomorrow I'll hit 41 years old.  Man does time fly by when you're not paying attention to it.

So, as a gamer I of course treated myself to a few hobby related fun things for my birthday.  Being the fan of Dreadnoughts that I am, one of them was one of the new Contemptors from the Calth set that I snagged off eBay for what I thought was a very reasonable $26.  It's very comparable to the Forge World one and the Kheres assault cannon is MUCH easier to assemble in plastic than it was in resin.  I did hit the bits box to add a bit more to the new model to get it a bit more relic looking.

The Contemptor assembled

I might just be looking for more of these at a good price in the future.  It's a nice kit if a little light on weapon options, but hopefully that will be addressed in the future.

Next to a FW Contemptor for comparison

Now that the holidays are upon us, thoughts turn to Santa Claus and his 12 reindeer and Rudolf to lead them along, bringing gifts to all those on the nice list  Well I had to take it one step farther cause that's what we as gamers do.  So I've got a Knight Titan and his 12 ancient brethren lead by a chaplain dreadnought to bring retribution to all the heretics out there.

Heretic Beware

Now if this can't get you in the hobby spirit during the holidays then you must be the heretic, the alien, or the traitor, in which case keep an eye over your shoulder for an avalanche of walkers coming for you this holiday.

That's all for this week and I'll see you all later.

Busy Week

Well, since I'm in retail management plus also involved in staffing a new store that will be opening in January, it's been a pretty busy couple weeks for me.  I haven't had much hobby time but I did get in an order that I had been expecting.

My 28mm Forge from Armorcast arrived to use as terrain for my Mordheim Dwarf band.  I plan on it being part of their camp, an abandoned blacksmith shop on the outskirts of the city that has been put into use by the expedition.

I also just went in on a Kickstarter.  I've had pretty good luck with them with 3 successful and good time frames and only one failure that didn't deliver.  The risks on this one is low as it's being done by the creator of Gruntz and is being assisted by two established companies, Brigade Models and Army Painter.  I've always liked the idea and aesthetics of Aeronuf, so it being recreated as Imperial Skies as an alternative WW1 is interesting.  The link for anyone interested is here.  Many thanks to John of John's Toy Soldier fame for putting it on my radar.

That's all for now and I'll see you all next week.

100th Post

Wow, hundredth post, these things really start adding up without you noticing.

So we've got some progress on the Mordheim Dwarves this week.  First I got them all primed one evening after work.

After that I started getting a base color down on most of the models.

Captain Maeglin Draykhelm

So I've made a few decisions on the fluff for the band.  The overall leader of the expedition is Captain Maeglin Drakehelm from the Dwarven fortress of Beledur in the Grey Mountains.  The Drakehelms are one of the three clans that rule Beledur.  He formed this expedition to Mordheim for a couple purposes.  One is the potential wealth and honor to be won within the city.  The other is a chance to settle some grudges against the forces of Chaos and Skaven found in and about the city.  He's gathered his force and set up camp just outside the city in a small abandoned village.

Maedhros Drakehelm, Maeglin's brother

Maeglin's expedition leadership is made up of his brother Maedhros Drakehelm and the engineer Aesgir.  He also managed to attract a pair of slayers Gaelthir and Hradmin.  Captain Maeglin is also accompanied by his eldest son Aesbiorn.

The Slayers Gaelthir and Hradmin

The Engineer Aesgir

Maeglin's son Aesbiorn

So that's it for now and I'll see you all next week.

The Dwarves Are Upon You!

First of all, let me apologize for this going up a day late.  Yesterday turned into a real train wreck of a day and I just ran out of time.  With that said, it's on to the main event.

Mordheim, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.... wait, wrong wretched city.  So we're looking at starting up Mordheim again, with a possibility of running a full blow map campaign. I've always played Mordheim with empire warbands with a brief foray into a vampire list.  This time I want to do something different without the pull into utter chaos or evil, so I settled on a dwarf list.  I've got all my models now and just need to finish up the fluff.

 

First up are my heroes.  I've got 3 models that I can use as Nobels.  One for my primary and then two others in case of "Lad's got talent" rolls.  There is also an Engineer and a pair of Slayers.  I thought there would have been a Rune Smith option, but alas no.

Next up is my dwarf warriors, or clansmen as the list refers to them.  I've got more than needed for rounding out the band as needed as well as replacing casualties.

 

After that is my archers and thunderers again with a few extras to replace casualties.

I'm hoping to have it all primed by next week as well as having the fluff done enough to get it posted.  There also some small side projects going in case we do go ahead with the map campaign.  These include some models and terrain bits to set up a Dwarf encampment.  I'll be trying to get these to the point of being ready for the next post as well.

That's all for now, but if there are any experienced Mordheim players reading this who have experience with the Dwarf list, I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions you have.  Take care all and I'll see you next week.