Hobby Resolutions For The Next Few Months At Least.

Ok it may be a bit late..... I will try and think of a few things that I can do over the next couple of months and maybe some long term goals as I think that works better for me.

2015 In Review.

Happy New Year!

Another year of gaming has passed by and just at the end papa Nurgle decided to give me the lurgy. Thanks.

Before the year was out I finished these two Warmachine models. Saxon Orrik and my Christmas present from Ed Ogrun Bokur.




I tried a different undercoat this time using bone by Army Painter as I was getting tired of using black and finding it difficult to see some of the details in the models. After doing this I might have to start using this a bit more often or a lighter coat of white or grey at least as it really seemed to make things a lot easier.

Talking of Christmas presents I was a very lucky boy. Following on from my games of X wing at the Essex Legion I got a load of Star Wars X wing ships even the new starter set. So I now have lots to choose from (not as many as Ed though ;) ) After seeing the film twice I want some more T90's and look forward to what new ships Fantasy Flight bring out. (Ghost...cough....)

So on to the year that was 2015.

The year started by coming back to gaming again after a brief spell away and headed straight in at the deep end with Warmachine.



I really added to my army during these months working on what units I liked and introduced some new casters, solos and jacks to my collection.

During the months that followed I was able to get some good experience playing Ret thanks to Ed.



Sylys with his Leroy Jenkins moment... yes he did hit but only scratch the paint work..


2015 was also a year of trying out some new board games.

I had fun playing as a smuggler in Firefly.

Also on the table was AvP which I feel in love with due to the minis and had to grab a copy.

unfortunately I am known as the worst Predator player according to Riot having played them once in an Alien heavy mission.. Should not have split them up sigh.. This will change in 2016!

I also went on a few trips this year.  My first trip was in April where I went to Salute and it was packed with toys. I walked away with new terrain,  Warmachine minis even some free Terminators..





In october a group of us headed down to Warhammer World and our minds were blown. Lets just say grown men were acting like kids. We even got a kill team game in where my Nugrle marines were victorious.

 

During October I made my first visit to the Essex Legion and played a few intro games of Warmachine.

Over the last months since going along to the club I even got back into X wing playing in a league which finished up in a huge epic battle.





At the tail end of the year the last project I started was to work on my Deadzone figures.




Phew 2015 was packed full of gaming goodness. It was great to get back into some old games as well as discovering some new ones to. Most of all it was great to reconnect with some gaming mates old and new again and find a new club that is buzzing with ideas and lots of access to play different games each week. It was also great to get out the brush and work on some minis.

So on to the new year. My gaming plans for 2016 are to try and play as many games as I can and get some more Warmachine games in before the upcoming journeyman league at the Essex Legion as I have not played in months. Also I need to build my AvP models and finish my Deadzone project.

At the start of this year I have had a quick look at the Frostgrave rule book and it  looks like a fun game. I have not really delved into any fantasy games so this could be a good place to start. Another good part is it should not cost me anything to start playing as I have some Lord of the Rings figures that I am sure I can use.

So what's your plans for 2016?


To finish off I thought I would post some of the minis I have painted or things I have made this year. I hope to be able to keep chipping away at that pile of plastic and metal.

X wing League: Smash N' Grab (Epic Battle)

The X wing League at the Essex Legion drew to a close on the weekend. It was the last meet of the year and in celebration of the new Star Wars film an epic 500pt X wing battle was to be played.

To get you in the mood watch the video first before reading on...

The mission for the game was to get at least one of the Rebel transports to the other side of the board before they were either blown up or taken captive by the Empire or the on coming Scum ships..

Empire and Rebels are set up either side with the first wave of scum pilots in the middle.
Han in the Falcon was flanked either side by Luke and Biggs with Wedge on the right and two A wings leading on the left and the deadly formation of B wings on the right.

The Empire are flying a fleet with the Emperor himself and Darth Vader..... Dun Dun Dah!!

Rebels start first....

All the Rebel ships move forward at maxim speed with the A wings boosting forward.

The Scum meet the Rebel ships head on and they start to strip away the shields on the Falcon dealing a critical hit.

The Scum are delt some deadly damage to taking hits and suffering losses. Some ships fall to the might of the Tentive and are simply crushed by the sheer mass of the ship.




X Wings move in to try and help out the Falcon. Luke loses his shields while Biggs fly's at his side for support. An A wing is suddenly shot and damaged beyond repair as the Flacon begins to get swarmed by the sheer number of Scum ships. Sadly it just is too much for the Flacon to handle and gets shot out of the sky.

Luke crashes in to slave one and takes out one of the Scum ships. He then K turns to get behind Slave one but does not see Talon Bane who destroys Luke's X Wing.


Tantive starts to fire on the Scum taking some casualties as the Scum try desperately to fire back at the huge rebel ship.








The Empire on the other side of the board are slowly moving forward to meet the Rebels watching with glee as the Rebel fleet is slowly being picked apart when suddenly a second wave of Scum Ships meets them and start to attack the Empire.

The Rebels are nearly half way towards there goal as they start to encounter the other battle between The Scum and The Empire.



The last 2 ships of the first wave of Scum are left fighting the Rebels one trying desperately to hang on to one of the transports while the other dangerously close to the Tantive as the Rebels begin to engage the Empire..

The A wing shoots at the Hounds Tooth with its missiles and gets 4 hits and deals 1 hit to every enemy ship close by.

Not long after in revenge for the earlier attack the A wing is destroyed by the empire as the Reming X wings and B wings start to target the Empires fleet and remaining Scum ships.

The last remaining ships for the Scum drastically start to thin out and leaves the Empire and the Rebels to battle it out.

Just as the Rebels and Empire start to really engage each other in battle unfortunately time had to be called to the game as it was getting late....

It was an epic battle with huge ships and lots of dice rolling to be had. The Rebels managed to get half way up the table with out loosing any transports. Everyone enjoyed the game and it was so awesome to see huge ships on the table.

Here's Ed with his Favourite ship....

At the end of the night prizes were awarded to the players of the league. Ed and Macca came joint 1st in the league representing the Empire and the Rebels. Well done guys. Thanks to www.cogotwo.com for the prizes for playing in the league.

My prize for 5th place. These should help with my focus...

Well done to all that took part in the event and thanks to Phil at the Essex Legion for arranging the league and the epic game. It was really fun to get back into X wing and a great way to celebrate the new film.

As it was the last meet up at The Essex Legion for 2015 I have to say thank you to all the guys at club not only for the Christmas food put on this year but also making the long travel down these last couple of months worth it.

You guys are always welcoming and have created a great atmosphere and community spirt. I look forward to what you guys do in 2016.

Bark At The Moon

During the last month while riding the bus to get to The Essex Legion or for work. I've been reading The Space Wolf Omnibus. It follows Ragnar Blackmane's rise through the ranks of the Space Wolves. I'm really enjoying it and would recommend any one to have a read if they get a chance.

So with this it inspired me to continuing my raid through all my miniatures and had a little look at my Space Wolves collection.

I have always like the Spaces Wolves as models and thought about making a Space Wolves army for a while now.

I got a box of Space Wolves and a Starter Army set of Space Marines I found cheap a while back and got to work on making some Blood Claws, Grey Hunters, Wolf Lords and some Scouts.

This week I also received a box of more Space Marines from Ebay which included another Rhino/Predator.

First thing was to strip some of these marines so I could make some Long Fangs which would all be using rocket launchers. As I had spare rocket parts from Rhinos etc I decided to magnetise some of them to the shoulder pads of the Space Marines.

I also went about making up 2 Rhinos/ Predators and used some of the spare marine accessories to stick on the Rhinos. I also tried to add some bullet holes to the side and front of one of the Rhinos by drilling out small holes and using a craft knife to add impact marks around the holes.

I also seemed to have collected a few HQ's as well.

I had to get my paint brush out and got to work on Ulrik the Slayer.

I need to get the latest codex so just going by an older codex for reference for now but I want to give the Sons of Russ a run out in the new year.

X wing League. Game 1 Rebels Vs Scum and Villainy

Tonight is the first night of the Essex Legion X wing League to coincide with the build up to the new Star Wars film. There are 6 players and we hope to play at least 2 games each.

I have to admit I've not played in a while which is a shame as I've been waiting to use my Millennium Falcon I got at Salute this year.

The games are going to be a standard 100 point battle. As I am not great at making lists. I found a List Maker here where you can just click what ships you have and it creates a list with the extra equipment cards and upgrades.

I deiced to run with Chewbacca in the Falcon with marks man, Red Squadron X Wing pilot with R2 D2 and proton torpedoes and a Rookie pilot with R2 F2.

My opponent Paul was flying the flag for the Scum and Villainy using Two Star Vipers and a Kihraxz Fighter

We both are a bit rusty at the game so it was a good intro back into the game for both of us.

In Formation

We set up as so.

All ships turn towards the middle of the map trying desperately to avoid the on coming asteroids with the Kihraxz Fighter hiding behind the Star Vipers.

The Star Vipers acquire target locks against the Falcon and on one of the X wings.

The vipers manages to take off all the shields on the X wings while the Falcon gets two hits on one of the Star Vipers.

The Falcon moves forward while the Vipers and Kihraxz moves in for the kill. They distroy the Rookie X wing piolit dealing a double damage card and hit the Falcon which loses a shield. 

Luckily R2 D2 was on hand for the Red Squadron leader to fix both shields on his X wing.

The Kihraxz is hit by The Falcon and his weapons are disrupted which will not allow it to deal it’s devastating close quarters damage. (phew)

Sensing the danger The Red squadron pilot takes aim and destroys the Kihraxy pilot and target locks one of the Vipers. The two Vipers turn 180 to try and surround the X wing. The Falcon meanwhile does a full turn to advance into the battle zone.

The Falcon moves into the middle of the field as the X wing gives chase. The X wing fires on the target locked viper and destroys it.

The X wing carries on its pursuit of the last Viper while the Falcon decides to turn into an asteroid near missing (Chewbacca must be drinking something?) The Viper turns to engage its foe.

The Falcon shoots and hits the Viper and the X wing follows its lead.... Thus ending the game for a Rebel victory.

It was a very enjoyable game with very good dice rolls for both players. We were also lucky with the damage deck as my Rookie X wing pilot got a double damage card and Paul getting the worst card he could get which was weapons failure on his Kihraxz missing out on one of his biggest tools in close quarters firing.

So it was my first win in the league which is great but as Han Solo said “don’t get cocky” as its still early days and we will see what happens next time in a galaxy far far away...