I am LEGION??

For I number a touch more than you thought I did!


So, as is blurrily apparent I built and base coated all of my Legion, barring the AT-ST and T47. It turns out to be a few more figures than I realised when they were all in separate piles around the place.


It's all able to be put on the table now, though as mentioned previously I'll be working my way through the Rebs first. Based White and the Zandri Dust they've all had a light brown wash to bring out the detail, pre-brush.


This has highlighted the fact that due to the softer state of the Pl-esin that I believe that they're made of the level of detail isn't as sharp or crisp as you'd expect from plastics. Not the end of the world but something to keep in mind for painting. With four squads I'm looking at varying the camo;


Squad Alpha: Mid-desert brown Splinter
Squad Beta: Mid-desert Pea Dot
Squad Charlie: Khaki and Dark Grey (Rogue One)
Squad Delta: Mid-desert Tiger Stripes


Vader is Vader. With two Lukes it'll be Tatooine Tan and Jedi Black. I already favour the dark side :)


Compared to Rebel pre-shade I've gone for zenithal sprays of Black. The Fang (Blue-Grey) and White for the troopers. Possible a touch more grey-white than I originally envisioned but nothing I'm unhappy with.


I've told myself that it's troopers to the front of the painting queue with walkers as a bit of a break in between squads. This is why the T47 isn't prepped for paint yet. That and it currently seems difficult to get your points back from it


Still not had many games but I'm away for most of June so I'll wait until I get back to start putting in the reps. That will also allow for Leia and, hopefully, the Commandos to hit the shelves and hopefully even up the Wave 1 Meta a touch. That's not a complaint, more fact of life. Legion is a good game with plenty of depth that rewards intelligent play. I'm definitely in for the long haul.


I definitely need to apply some discipline on this one. Though I've already given in and ordered a Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor from Shapeways to stand in for Leia and Luke......


Rule of cool ;)

We are LEGION!

Evening!

So, no I didn't forget and no, I didn't quite achieve my very modest goals....

As I'm sure you can work out the Rebs are built, based and base-coated while the bucket-heads have a little way to go. In fairness it's just mould lines across the tops of the helmets and a pair of speeder bikes to go.

As previously mentioned the Rebs are going to be Rogue One inspired. Gadzooks Gaming provided a nice set of alternative, alien, heads and with some boiling water I've even managed dome minor tweeks.

The AT-RTs have had some stowage added and are likely to be rocking a distressed paint job. The squads will be similarly battle-stained and I'll try to alter the pallette / cam scheme across the four squads. Peadot springs to mind and I can myself drawing from various WWII schemes. The AT-RTs will likely be wearing some form of dapple scheme. I'm looking forward to cracking on with them :)

Otherwise the hot topic of token / dice storage is sorted. The main thing I need to do is line up some games. I'm definitely keen to run Reb for a while even though they're clearly weaker out of the box AND second in line for reinforcements. As much as the T47 is seriously cool it doesn't yet cut in on the tabletop.

But hey, Rebellions are built on hope ;)

May the Sith

Hello people,

So, not back to work until Tuesday so still a day to go with Legion ;)

Today myself, Ian and Charlie had a day out playing 5 rounds at Warboar in an ETC (European Team Championship) Qualifier / Charity event. In truth numbers were a bit thin at 21 and I'm not sure too many were there for the ETC. All the chatter was, understandably, Simeon Dellapina taking Worlds and X-Wing 2.0.

I ran a variant Nym-Gar list for 5 very tough, very fun games. First it was quad TLT followed by the dreaded Nym-Randa. Both were wins, primarily through identifying the wrong approach and then not taking it! For the first time in quite a while I felt like I was clicking back into the groove. I was reading the table-state well and working out decent engagement plans for whatever was across the table from me.

My final 3 games were Lohwrick/Fenn/Randa (Joel North), Palp Aces (Sim Pone) and Kylo Aces (Martyn Chivers). From a 21 man field I don't think it could have got much tougher and I managed to compete strongly in all three!

The list for the day was as follows;
Dengar: Predator / Boba Fett / Counter Measures / Glitterstims / Punishing One
Nym: Vet Instincts / Harpoon Missiles / TLT / Ion Bomb / Extra Munitions / Guidance Chips /
          Havoc / Trajectory Simulator / Genius

Theory craft says that Nym hammers your shields off with Harpoons for Dengar to follow up and hopefully Boba blows off your most useful upgrade. At times it did exactly that. Other times Predator couldn't produce a reliable damage output and Glitter doesn't help dice without pictures! Part of that comes down to barrel rolling with Dengar a fair bit and not having a green manoeuvre planned to cope with his Glitter addiction I.E. fly a better.
Against Joel and Sim I got one hand on the win just to see it slip away on luke-warm red dice. All three games went to time and I thoughly enjoyed every minute, even running over two debries fields for 3 damage! Finishing up 2-3 it didn't feel that way. I know there's room to fly a bit better and I need to remember Boba crew a bit more often ;)

Driving home via Nandos I was waxing lyrical about feeling comfortable back at the top tables with a Tier 1.5 list that I enjoy, know how to fly and can actually compete with. Don't get me wrong I'm still a Dirty Casual, just with an extra edge if grit.

Happy days :)

Trading Up

Hola!

So, I'm currently in the middle of two weeks off work. Previously I've set some some hobby goals during these periods. Last week was far more fluid but achieved the following;

1. I've finished up the Plague Marines and sold off 40K.
2. I've watched the first season of Lost in Space, which is pretty damned good!
3. I spent Sunday playing 5 games of casually competitive X-Wing.

With 1 I sold EVERYTHING (rulebook, codecies, squishy dice) to a lovely chap working as a second hand seller. It was the whole 40K bundle, a pile of Dreadball and an unused niche WWII board/war-game.

I got £300 and a day out with a good gaming mate. Driving home I would have been happier with a bit more than that but discussing it as adults I came round to the WeBuyAnyCar.com reality. I.E. the guy is running a business and he's doing all the hard graft and dealing with the agg that I'm not, so fair deal.

So here's what the bulk of my £300 looks like, otherwise known as the bulk of my hobby for the foreseeable :) As with X-Wing I've been looking to fly some more Meta Armada lists and the Liberty will let me do that for Rebs.

Legion meanwhile fills a specific modelling / panting hobby hole. I don't NEED Legion in my gaming roster but it's a big side of the Hobby for me and it's another good strong game. For variation I'm likely to focus on the Rebs first, looking to go Rogue One (sabbatoeurs / assassins) with the feel of the force. I've got a few sprues of Warlord Royal Marines knocking about for some extra packs and stowage, plus a bunch of berets! I've also picked some alternative alien heads from Gadzooks Gaming. A set of mix and match camo pain't schemes will seal the deal. Looking forward to this one :)

With 3 I've moved from Thweek-Gar and been playing about with a Nym / Dengar list which really seems to work rather well. Sunday was six of us playing some competitive lists with two of our number off to Worlds.  Nym-Gar gave an unexpectedly strong account of itself, even beating Rebel OP3 flown by James Finlayson who's been terrorising Regionals all over the country with it. As such it's going to the ETC Qualifier at Warboar Games on Sunday.

It will also be my first official outing as a "Dirty Casual", a tittle that I feel I can justify with Scum Nym as opposed to Rebel Nym ;)

Meanwhile the target before I go back to work is to get the Legion stuff built and base-coated. Hope springs eternal :)

#MetaMatters

Hola!

Not a new conversation I appreciate but, hopefully, a different point of, personal, view.

For any gaming system there is always going to be a prevailing Meta. The state of that Meta often seems largely out of the hands of those playing within it. Outside of the regular Meta debate it's always going to have an effect on the players within it.

It's accepted by most that Tier 1 X-Wing is currently about Ordnance, particularly Harpoons and Bomblets,  Rebel Jank and Palp Aces. There's probably about a half dozen top end build templates out there. Compared to previous eras that's pretty good.

For many the issue lies in the FACT that the gap between Tier 1 and everything else is currently more of a chasm. Stray away from Tier 1 and rather than the fight being uphill it's now a cliff. Factor in a much larger competitive playing base, within which there are a lot of players putting in a lot of reps, there seems to be little space left for the dirty casual flying a "fun" list.

For many gaming buddies this has become a negative play issue and a move away from the competitive X-Wing scene. That's a fair choice. Up until recently I had drifted away myself. In hindsight that was also for a number of real world issues. I was clearly in a place where I, subconsciously, wasn't prepared / able to make the necessary commitment to keep up.

Initially drawn to the ranks of the saline doom-sayers I decided to step back in to the game to form an informed decision. The short version of the results are as follows;
- X-Wing is still fun.
- I am now a fully committed Dirty Casual rather than the competitive player I once was.
- I can accept flying more Meta lists but draw a personal line at those I feel are a Negative Play Experience.

Having attended a couple of events recently I've confirmed that that I'm not alone in that approach. In fairness I never thought I was and my club-mate Ian is in that same place with me, which has been hugely appreciated.

Last Sunday I played five rounds at iBuy in a Quarter 1 GNK. I ran Dengar / Thweek that Ian and I found online and having been raving about ever since. I went 2-3 with two auto-losses, a close loss which was an excellent game, a decent win which was another excellent game and a walkover win which barely broke a sweat. I placed 21 of 28 which was outside of the alt arts. I had a decent day. Flying Thweek better would have helped but that's down to me and not the Meta. With all thing a few more reps wouldn't hurt.

I've accepted that that's how X-Wing is for me know. I'll fly what I'm prepared to fly as well as I can and take it from there. As a result I'm less likely to be rocking up to big weekend events but we'll see what happens ;)

Fly Dirty (Casual)

Tumbleweed??

Hello people??

Yes, another unintentional hiatus....I pretty much ran out of anything to say that I felt had any relevance. Also, the foray back into 40K didn't really work out, which was genuinely disappointing.


In short I do now feel like I have potentially relevant things to say.....lucky you!


In fairness I'm not expecting any rapturous applause, or any applause at all. The blog has always been symbiotic with my personal "Hobby Mojo" and has waxed and waned on that basis. Currently I'm on an up and wanting to maintain the climb and thus posting again. Yes, it's all about MEEEE!! :)


Status Drift:


Following a bit of a hobby meander I've got a purpose back and made some decisions;


1. 40K hasn't worked out. I'm finishing up the paint and selling up.
2. Netrunner is now a dormant game for me. Not selling up though.
3. I'm back in the saddle with X-Wing and Armada. They will be my main focus for the foreseeable.
4. Legion is the new cool kid on the block. I've played a couple of games and will finance investment from 40K.


As such I'm returning to the Rule of Three whilst getting the necessary brush-time with Legion. Accepting this has been a reasonable step and also allows some regular guilt free X-Box time. It feels rather cyclical and ALMOST like growing up??


Weekly posts is the plan. Brace yourself (Optional) ;)

Inexorable Advance

Rejoice once, Rejoice twice, Rejoice THRICE!!!

Nurgle be praised I have finally finished up some Death Gaurd, specifically the Malignant Plaguecaster and the two Hellbrutes :)

As previously mentioned it took a while to work out what I was doing with the paint / wash balance so reverted to my tried and tested method of finishing up the bases to give context. It worked a charm!

So that leaves;

1 x Lord

1 x Noxious Blight bringer

21 x Plague Marines (3 7 man squads of course!)

1 x Rhino

2 x Blight Drone

 

As such I of course spent some payday moola sorting out a winged Daemon Prince which after an afternoon's construction is just requiring final detailing and a suitably bubonic base. I've had my eye on the Maggoth Lord kit for a while, was a dream to work with and has supplied a wealth of spare parts for further character conversions. An E-Bay Plague Drone provided the wings which, by fortune, suit him particularly well. The level of detail is fantastic to the point where I'll struggle to add too much more. The 40K twist will likely be subtle and mainly from the base.

So that'll be plenty for now. Typhus and some Mantic Zombies will drag themselves onto the Christmas list but need to be earnt first.

Happy days ;)

Rule of COOL

So, three weeks later I have;
- been busy....again
- had a stinking cold for 10 days
- actually almost finished some Death Gaurd
- got my Death Gaurd scheme sorted in my head
- played a load of games!

Some of these things are better than others but I'm happy enough and more than comfortable with my more relaxed approach to TOYS.

With the Death Gaurd the two Hellbrutes and the Malignant Plaguecaster are all but done and just await final touches. Taking my time with them I'm now happy with the scheme and techniques to be employed so things should speed up from here on in.

A close combat squad of Plague Marines have been added and battle tested. Disgustingly lethal against vanilla Marines. I've also 90% settled on what I'm going to do for Poxwalkers and planned a fantastic Daemon Prince conversion. More about them later in the week.

Meanwhile the Dark Sphere X-Wing League has kicked me back into gear and got me trying out some different lists, generally featuring a whole lot of Guri, which will continue unabated post mega-nerf.

I've also been playing a fair bit more Armada, enjoying myself fabulously, which will be the vehicle for my musing......

Myself and former Nordics National Champion Nigel Gray have received entry been decrying the ever increasing race for activations via Flotilla spam. In short its a negative play experience but one that wins tournaments, and has been for some time. With Thrawn and two alternate ISDs spoiled I was frothing like a proper fan boy,  HUGE Thrawn fan. I was also interested in the option of twin ISDs.

Chatting in the car on the way home from plastic crack we felt that we were going to refuse to join Flotilla spam. On that basis if you're not going to compete for activations why not go completely the other way and make the most of it. We agreed that a tanky ISD was a prerequisite with support to taste. With London Masters hosted at Warboar this weekend just gone and Wayland's monthly event the week before we had our challenge.

Nigel went for a Victory II (Disposable Capacitors for long range punch) with an Ace-ball. I went elsewhere apeing the Motti ISD Bomber-ball tactic with a Quasar rather than triple Gozantis. Building the Quasar for purpose it could push 6 squadrons a turn with 4 Defenders, 4 Bombers and 2 Jumpmasters as the attack wing. The ISD was tanked to the max with a Damage Control Officer and Reinforced Blast Doors.

It appealed on multiple fronts as I've previously tried to make Bomber lists work and failed, who the hell flies a Quasar and two activations a turn is much easier on my brain across a day of Armada. Also, anti-meta seems to be a "thing" these days.

It's wasn't entirely pink and fluffy with a 24 point initiative bid and the intent to hit hard and then either run away for the win or mop up stragglers, given that 7-3 wins are also now a thing.

On the day we both had a lot of fun and held oir own going 2-2 for 23 and 24 points over four rounds. I had quite a few compliments on the list, as well as "that's brave", with some good post game analysis from interested parties.

First game I was indecisive and paid the price, second I tabled my opponents with the assistance of hot dice. Third I won 25-0 against double ISD with both of us scared of the other. Final round I only just list in round 6 having lead since the initial engagement.

Themes of the day;
- I gave up almost every mission by only having two ships / activations.
- Aggression paid dividends WHEN EMPLOYED CORRECTLY. Approach to initial engagement and target priority was key.
- Mid game Squadron orders on the ISD are strong.
- The anti- meta shock effect is strong
- Less decisions to make was helpful
- I really enjoy the list and it has legs

In short I had a great day. With more practice / better flying I can see myself running it for a while. Thrawn double ISD will be the next step. Minister Tua and Reinforced Blast Doors is effectively 11 hull with Motti.

Rule of Cool engaged! :)

Creeping Death

So, I've actually been doing some painting, a fair amount if painting actually and pretty much al of it Death Gaurd. Happy Days!.....literally :)

I've stuck with the relatively experimental pre-shade and wash technique that I wanted to try out and it's worked pretty week so far. Using the Rhino as a test piece I've worked out the basic principles and issues to the point where everything, bar the poxwalkers is at the initial shade stage.

Using the Rhino for stage by stage....

....this is where it currently sits. Pretty much all of the basic detail is blocked in and I've started playing around with some rust and weathering techniques. This will set the bench-mark for the vehicles while I've nearly finished the sorcerer to do the same for the infantry.

All good so far, I've realised that I don't HAVE to pre-highlight and wash EVERYTHING. Standard techniques still apply for detail work. I've been mindful not to let everything become too busy. Between the level of detailing on the figures and my 8ntended level of detailing thers going to be plenty of contrast. Going for grim rather than gaudy.

At some point I'll set up a couple of poxwalker testers but currently I'm still unconvinced about the models themselves.

The club escalation campaign kicked off last night at which point I realised I'd been doing a couple of things wrong and that Assault is just as brutal as billed.

It's a fairly quiet weekend on the horizon so hopefully a few finished figures by Sunday. Creeping death indeed!

Toxic Relationship?

Hello people,

Long time coming this one, in several different ways. As previously mentioned I've taken the plunge back into 40K with 8th Edition. GW and I had parted many years ago but I've been tempted back by Papa Nurgle.

With any break-up there's a period when you swear that you're not going back, ex's are ex's for a reason. You're moving on and so are they, you tell yourself. You tell other people that you're pleased that they're doing well, just as well as you.....obviously. As time passes you check in virtually, it's not stalking honest, and can admire at a distance relatively safely.

The issue really rears it's head when mutual friends mention them in passing. How they've moved on, how good they're looking, how they're new and improved......a new Edition...

And so it was that 8th Edition was mentioned to me, how it was more streamlined,  less power-cheese, more skirmish, more old school. Though we had turned our noses up at Age of Sigmar, whilst quietly applauding trying something different, as far more juvenile 4OK 8th was somehow retro. The memories of Rogue Trader through to 4th beckoned. Where Stormcast were ridiculous Primaris are cool x 2 and just look at the new Death Gaurd. Didn't you used to have Death Gaurd army? You'd have a great time putting together the new figures? Fancy swapping out a starter set??

So thats a double starter set plus a pair of Hellbrutes, a Rhino and a "spare" set of Plague Marines, E-Bay bargains all, later. With the Codex it made sense to pick up the cards and the plague-ridden dice are rule of cool. Ordering from my local store I ended upgrading to the collectors edition codex because it's just that bit sexier and I knew I'd be dissapointed with the standard one otherwise. Apparently time is my most finite resource these days but £72.50 still left a mark, though it was definitely the right call.

Currently everything but the "spare" marines and 20 Poxwalkers are built and thanks to a number of donations I've kit-bashed them all to individuality, a personal necessity. Painting has begun in earnest with a pre-highlight and wash scheme that I've not used before now approved. I've even play3dchalfa dozen games and rather enjoyed them. Things to unlearn but I particularly like the objective cards adding a random element. The game feels more brutal than I remember and though I'm sure power-cheese is more than possible I can see myself playing on a regular basis.

All on my own terms.....obviously ;)

Spoils of War

Hello people,

++++ WARNING: OBLIGATORY POST GAMING EVENT POST ++++

So, back from Nationals. As previously mentioned it was a very positive weekend being a geek. I also made out like a bandit for swag;

Alt arts are clearly a big thing these days, I was gifted a full half dozen to go with the gorgeous X-Wing participation Howlrunner and the Destiny BB-8 that I traded for an Armada Screed, Rebel Transport and X-Wing.

Getting a few side events in I gathered enough tickets for the Netrunner mat and picked up Hey That's My Fish! as it's an awesome pick up game.

The Netrunner mat won out over an Armada Howlrunner alt art. Part of that was because after the weekend I'd rather look at Netrunner than Destiny.

I played 10 games of Destiny over the weekend, loosing every single one. I still enjoyed those games but I simply can't compete with the card pool that I have. As much as I'm sure I could have played better I was meeting Teir 1 lists even on the lowest tables, as well as the "casual" side events. Without spending a couple of hundred I can't get close. Not salt, just reality. Still a fun pick up game but no longer an event game for me personally.

Getting back up to speed with Netrunner will mean putting in the effort with game time and going back to a steeple learning curve but that's always been a lot of the attraction for me. As an LCG I can take out the random element of the card pool and concentrate on playing better.

That's the theory ;)

Rediscovered Country

Hello people,

I tap this via the App whilst sat in a concrete room vaguely full of geeks in Liverpool.

Yes, that's correct I've found myself attending Fantastic Flight Games' UK National Championships!

It's been a more interesting event than you may think as it was this event last year that marked my decent into X-Wing burnout and 6 to 9 months of general X-Wing  discontent. The upside if that was getting into Armada.

For Friday the choice was between Armada and Destiny. I went for Destiny for extra laid back funsies. I really enjoyed Destiny at the European Champs. My 3-7 record quite simply wasn't an issue because I was having a ball all day long. As much as anything it was a decision to play just the one full on event plus extra lols.

With a notionally more focused deck, I went 0-5 plus a bye before dropping the final game. It was a positive decision to avoid any salt issues and to switch decks for some side events.

Yesterday I pheonixed from 0-3 to my standard 3-3 for almost every major X-Wing event I ever played in. The difference from last year was that there were no easy games / match ups, even on table 130, and that I enjoyed myself throughout. Maintaining X-Wing respectability was a bonus ;)

Meanwhile there's been another five of us up here from the club plus dozens of other gaming mates enhancing reaquainiting myself with a swarm of X-Wing. As always it's the community that makes so much of the game, especially now that I've accepted and embraced my more casual gaming status.

State of mind people, it makes a huge difference :)

Points make Prizes?

Hello people,


So no flurry of update posts just yet, apologies, but the pipeline is charging up :) As well as getting back to gaming I've also got back to painting, both on a more casual basis than previously.


With the current re-launch I've decided to ditch the Painting Points. The past tally, on your right, will remain for posterity but is now in stasis. As my hobby shifted there was less to paint, which in turn saw Points drop, which then helped to accelerate the mild malaise.


In the last couple of months I've mainly been painting Armada, which is also generally less technically demanding, but without a particular plan or schedule. In the last week or so I've added a pair of Hammerheads to my Freedom Fighters and a bunch TIEs in response to Admiral Sloane's release and my intention to get her on the table sometime soon.


The foray back into 40K 8th has provided me with a longer term Hobby project, which has always been a major factor for me, but more about that next post :)



A BLANK is built on Hope

Hello people,...person?


It's been a bit busy in the real world the last couple of months and the club has had to close for the summer due to local road-works limiting accessibility. This meant about a month without any games......sad face :(


The last couple of weeks I've been getting myself back out to events and this Bank Holiday Monday was Armada at Marquee Models in Harlow. It was a field of six, five from the club plus another gaming acquaintance so fantastically casual.


With X-Wing I don't fly Terrorist (Rebellion), partly to focus myself and more because I LOVE the Scum. Mmmm......Boba Fett..... With Armada I initially continued the theme, picking up a very good deal on E-Bay for the nucleus of an Imperial fleet. A good mate then donated me his entire, rather dusty, Armada stockpile which gave me three cores plus extras :)


Having learnt the game with the might of the Imperial Navy it was only a matter of time until I made the spin to the other side of the coin......but I don't fly Terrorist...


Then Rogue One happened, which for myself at least has saved Star Wars canon from Disney shmaltz, and another option became apparent. Saw Gerrera and his band of freedom fighters appealed to me hugely and also gave me the scope for a particularly rag tag fleet. I've really enjoyed the painting project and the ability to be less formulaic.


So, knowing that Monday would be super casual I took a small ship Freedom Fighter list as a learning day. I definitely learnt a lot, though relatively painfully, across three games. Game 1 is was happy with, Game 2 went horribly wrong, Game 3 was my habit of pushing past the envelope to establish where the limits are.


I came away with a set of alt art Assault Proton Torpedoes, some acrylic Objective Counters and a better of appreciation of what not to do with a Freedom Fighter fleet, speaking of which;

The LONG walk....

Hello peeps,

Yes it's been a while, almost a year in fact......
I tap away in a slightly guilty manner as the hiatus was long, unannounced and primarily down to burnout on my part. I've primarily used the blog to fuel and track my hobby in a somewhat symbiotic manner. As the Hobby dialled back a bit I found that I had less to say, of value or otherwise, and was becoming rather repetitive. Less fun for everyone involved ;]


The Ugly;
Looking back it came down to a couple of things;
1. X-Wing Burnout: After Nationals last year I ended up badly burnt out and sub-consciously took a big step away into Armada which was new, shiny, fun to discover and also gave me one of my prime hobby motivators; painting.
2. Real Life: a (good) move at work meant my most finite hobby resource, time, became a bit more squeezed. As such the blog slipped down the priorities as well as in relevance. Needing to make the most of my hobby time made it more valuable and as such I needed the blog push less.


The Bad;
During my blogging wilderness I also ended up violating The Order of Three adding Armada and Destiny to the mix. Armada has stuck where Destiny has dropped away.


In honesty I was always wary of Destiny as a CCG and so it has proved, though I've managed to limit the damage and properly consign it as a side game. I've got enough to put a couple of half decent decks together and that's enough for me as a fun, pick-up side game. Nothing more than that.....
Armada meanwhile has established itself as a staple with considerable investment made into a substantial Imperial fleet, with a burgeoning Saw Gerrera Seperatist fleet (I don't fly terrorist) massing near Jedha. I've really enjoyed the learning curve and the more tactical style of play. It's been my preferred game of much of the last 6 to 9 months with a gaming community just as good as X-Wing.


The Good:
In short I've still been playing games on a regular basis as well as painting stuff, on a slightly less regular basis. Having been through the cycle before, though rarely for this long, my X-Wing mojo has pretty much returned. I finally got back to "competitive" X-Wing this Saturday at Warboar, as much as a field of 13 primarily casual players is "competitive". I had fun and went 2-2, which is pretty much where I stepped out.


The remaining headline is that I've recently invested in 40K 8th.........
Yep, I've gone there, but then so have the majority of the club so that's guaranteed games. In honesty


I've always had a squishy spot for Plague Marines and I couldn't resist. It's a long term hobby project and IF it all goes south I know that I can get a good return via E-Bay or the like.
As I said at the start sometime a go I found that I had less to say, of value or otherwise, and was becoming rather repetitive. It feels like I now have the ability to remedy that. Brace yourself for a flurry of update posts but after that I'll be aiming at a post a week as something practically manageable.


Back in the saddle and pretty happy about it :)

Ugly Ducklings?

So, I've actually painted something ;)

Though in honesty these are re-paints of re-paints ad I've been rather unhappy with the original re-paints or more accurately the overdone transfers applied to them.

I'm MUCH happier with these versions. Painting as a pair I've gone for reversed schemes and kept everything much cleaner, the main detail work being the rather heavy weathering......if that makes sense.....

Neither have seen the table-top for quite sometime. I don't have a Palpatine knocking around and am still on too much of an anti-meta kick at the moment to give him a go.

Anyway I'm still claiming the Painting Points, six in total, while I move on to Victory Star Destroyers.

To the MAX!!

So Sunday I headed out to the BABW, Bring Another Brit to Worlds, Netrunner event at Scenario gaming pub in Stoke Newington.



In short there are a network of such events running up and down the country to raise funds to financially assist the eventual winners with costs to attend Netrunner Worlds in Minnesota. This is a fantastic thing that the Netrunner community generates for the Netrunner community, which is to be lauded.


For myself I was there primarily to support that ethos and also play a few games. For that I got an alt art Maxx card which was very pleasing.


Just as well really given that after splitting my first game I tanked like a stone. Unfortunately this was an event where the TO decided to play despite creating a Bye, pet peeve, which I collected in the final round. It was the only thing that kept me from the wooden spoon.....technically.


In honesty I didn't play that well at times though it didn't help that my Corp deck insisted on Agenda flooding me at every opportunity. During what turned out to be my final game I was sat with an entire hand of them at one point.


So once again a few lessons learned, decks tweaked and the determination to play more. I shall also be trying out a Maxx deck :)

The Turning Wheel

So Thursday last week I dropped down to the Post Office early doors to pick up my great big package of Armada.

Whilst I was in town I had a bumble about, picked up a latte and strolled into WHSmith looking for potential new reading material. As is the custom I had a browse through Wargames Illustrated and Miniature Wargames, primarily as a blast from the pass.

Back in the day (10-15 years ago) I was an avid reader always looking for the next period / theatre / scale from skirmish to Grand Armee, literally at the time, in our triumvirate gaming group.

What struck me was how much my hobby has changed since that time. I later realised that it was actually I and my circumstances that had changed and that my hobby had simply morphed in my own image. I'm sure this must be a common misconception? Back then I worked for Gee-Dub and in hindsight more than likely pursued historical gaming as a diversion from the day job, along with alternatives such as Warmachine and Hordes. That is after all the purpose of a hobby?

Moving on, employment and otherwise, in time has seen me gravitate back to my first love of sci-fi / fantasy but without without ever returning to the "scene of the crime". As with so many of us there's a LOT of games that I've played before I arrived at my "Triple Shot" that has worked pretty well for the last little while.

These days I have a couple of golden rules that seem to have pretty much written themselves;

1. Is it Fun? As simple as "do I enjoy playing it", as complex as does it have a depth of mechanic and strategy to keep me engaged and keep me coming back for more.

2. Would I go to a competitive event? By this I don't mean win but hold my own, learn etc in a positive manner. Infinity struggled for me on this front. Once you reduce your gaming circle for safety I think that's writing on the wall time.

3. Hobby, Hobby, Hobby? I'm a hobbyist before being a gamer. Can I customise through modeling, painting etc? Netrunner is an anomaly here outside of deck construction and sleeves but it's huge meta is variation in itself and playing straight out if the pack is a major strength.

It's been an interesting transformation, in hindsight. I was never much of a card gamer. A bit of Magic a long time back and then Warhammer Invasion, which I've still got, as a replacement for Fantasy. Now I can't seem myself ever not playing Netrunner and the new Cthulu Mythos card game from FFG is hugely tempting.

As a result of my gaming shift I have less opportunity for modelling and painting I do spend a lot more time actually playing games. I still find projects for myself but army painting hasn't happened in quite sometime. The introduction of a lot more boardgames has compounded this also. I kind of miss it but not badly.

Anyway I've rambled enough for now ;) Onwards and upwards?

Event Horizon # 4

So the end of a long week off. Tradition dictates a wrap-up post.

The last couple of days I've played a few games with Rich who also took me SUP-ping, stand up paddling Monday morning. We'd played a couple of games of Halo on Friday. I got a bit more into it and won both of our very close games. I'd quite happily play it again. After SUP it was Duck, Duck, Go which was pretty much all I could, or wanted, to handle. Fantastic game!

It's been a good week off,  playing plenty of games and eventually getting round to some painting on the last day. It's kind of been the point to not have a specific project this time round and recharge the gaming battery a bit. A hackneyed phrase but the change has been as good as a rest and I'm keen to get stuck into Armada. Rich kindly donated me a bunch of ships so I've got plenty to be getting on with.

Deciding to go full broadside I've blacked in the bases, including all the card piece edges, and got basecoats on the Imperial capitol ships. I have plans to use tiger stripe and dazzle camo schemes on them. I see them as a very rag-tag outer rim force. Ill crowbar Thrawn in there somewhere, somehow.

Its good to have a positive focus back and by indulging myself elsewhere I've reminded myself why I'm playing the games I do. X-Wing will always be there but Netrunner and Armada will be my focus for a while.

The triumvirate system is still working for me, just need a touch of readjustment :)

Event Horizon #3

Hello again.

So Wednesday I headed down to Warboar in Bromley for a day's gaming with a long time mate, Alan, and also to pick up some FFG prize kits for club events. We had a good chat about all sorts, including our time working together for the big Gee-Dub, but fairly obviously plenty of hobby.

Fairly spontaneously I prevaricated as to my recent gaming woes and came to the conclusion that my self-imposed "Rule of Three" probably hadn't helped in some ways.  All this whilst Alan set up Rebellion along with sage nodding and occasional supportive throat noises. It occurred that most gamers are notorious magpies leaping from one game / system to another, often hoarding multiple half completed projects in protective coatings of dust. I had dared to challenge my hard gained affliction and fallen foul of my own good intentions.......

Maybe nothing quite so drastic but variety is the spice of life and with so many, MANY, quality offerings out there its a good release to dabble on a regular basis as much to remind yourself why your staple games are so. Even better if you can try before you don't buy through mates, clubs or board games cafes such as Warboar / Paradice.

My considered review of Rebellion is that it's a good game, FFG after all and I rather enjoyed trolling around as the Imperial fleet crushing the Rebellion wherever I found them. After forcing and winning a major engagement I did eventually locate the Rebel base on Ryloth, but not before leaving Coruscating open to a Rebel terror cell. Forced into a last desperate assault my favourable all game dice failed me and the Rebellion triumphed.

I'd definitely play again but I'm unlikely to ever part with cash for the privilege as I don't have to. Shared resources amongst a group of gaming buddies is a given. I'm off to do the same today with Rich. It's the lack of variation that hasn't helped my, first world, gaming issues and this week is dealing with that nicely.

I also picked up my Armada package from the Post Office yesterday and fairly obviously supplemented at Warboar whilst I was there, rude not to. As such the weekend will feature a bit of overtime in the shipyards for a potential deployment at the club on Tuesday.

Brace yourselves ; )