New Years... A Time to be Resolute!

So the new year is just near a whole month in and we find that at this point most of us who have chosen to make New Years Resolutions are probably failing them at this point.  I usually don't buy into the resolution type thing because I know how flighty I am and that I'll often be one of the many who drop off quickly after making the decision.  This year though I've decided that instead of making a general sweeping resolution I'm going to set myself goals.  I know that the generic 'eat healthy' or 'lose weight' are too foolish to ever be achieved to a satisfactory end.  So to this I've chosen to give myself 10 goals for which I must achieve by the end of the year 2013.  I'm going to list tangible goals.  Things that I can definitely look at come the end of 2013 and say without question that this did or did not get accomplished.  At the end of the year I'll score myself.  A completed goal is worth 10 points and a half completed goal is worth 5.  Anything that I count has half completed will have to literally be half completed so if I say finish 2 things, 1 of those has to be done!  My end goal is 80%.  We'll shoot for a B.  I was never a real A student anyway.  So, game on!

1. Finish painting my Warhammer Quest set.
Last year I made the final movement into getting the rest of the Warhammer Quest collection.  That isn't to say that I own every model you could possibly run into in the game, but I do own nearly every piece that was specifically made for Quest itself.  In fact last year I managed to completely finish painting the entire base set and now I'm left with Lair of the Orc Lord and Catacombs of Terror along with the rest of the independent characters.  I'd really like to finish this bad boy up and get some good foam for it from Battlefoam maybe, but let's just work on the painting right now.  This shouldn't be too bad.  I think total this is only about 20 models.  There will be no half points for this.  It either does or does not get done. 
0/10pts

2. Finish Bretonnian Army
Ah, what good hobbyist doesn't have this specific goal?  Considering last year I nearly completed two armies (Skaven and Empire) I see absolutely no reason that I can't complete the Bretonnian army by years end.  I started this army just near the end of last year so it hasn't even been shelved off of the table yet since I've procured it.  I have a specific set of models for this army right now and the goal is to completely finish what I have and buy nothing extra.  This may of course be overridden by GW bringing out a new Army Book. Unlikely, but possible.  The original purchase of this army was for the Adepticon Team Tournament of 1,200 points.  I now own about 2,500 points worth.  If I manage to get 2,000 points of it painted we'll call it 1/2 credit. 
0/5/10pts

3. Finish 2 Unfinished Projects
Yup; another resolution that pretty much every hobbyist has.  I guess really the Quest set kind of falls into this category but I'm speaking of everything in general.  I actually did finish my Dwarf army years ago, but I still have about 30 models for the Empire army and probably 50-60 for my Skaven army.  I'd really like to finish them up.  I also need to construct a display board for both the Bretonnian and Empire armies.  So these will be my projects.  Note I designated (2) projects, and not every one of them because lets face it; you'll never manage that!  Skaven or Empire for 1/2 credit.
0/5/10pts

4. No More Board Games
I own too many games.  I've known this for years, but I keep a pretty accurate count due to insurance reasons.  I have just a hair under $10k worth of Games Workshop product of some kind and a couple of hundred dollars under $3k in Board Games.  I know better than to think that I wont be buying more GW stuff, but considering how rarely I actually get the Board Games to the tables I've decided to put a moratorium on Board Games for the year.  This means avoiding garage sales, online excitement, etc...  So I'll be dovetailing my activity on Board Game Geek and everything else.  Its going to be rough because I'm a very flighty person who always wants what I see when I get excited about it.  I've bought many a game through quick impulse.  Full or none!  I either avoid buying or fail and purchase.
0/10pts

5. Play Every Board Game (And sell them!)
This is a two part...  Having gone through my collection I find that I own just over 175 board games.  Now, not all of these are mine specifically; I've gotten plenty of games that are just for my sons (age 4 and 10).  I keep my games quite separate from there's and my goal is to play every one of my games at least once this year.  I'm going to buy a sticker sheet of little orange dots from the store and every game that gets played will get a dot.  At the end of the year any game without a dot will go onto the chopping block and be sold off.  I'm the kind of person who is loathe to part with things and accept change that said there is no real tangable 1/2 way for this, so again with all or nothing.
0/10pts

6. Run A Tournament
Some of you know that between myself and many people in Bloomington that I already run tournaments.  These are small tournaments though that tend to draw anywhere from 8-16 people.  The most we've had at that.  I want to not only run a better tournament; but I want to run 20 people minimum and have a nice set of tables and terrain there.  I'm looking at emulating Invasion Kenosha basically.  Hopefully I'll see this idea come to fruition.  I've already been working on it and maybe we'll see it happen.  I'm a busy man with two kids, tournaments I already run, etc...  If I manage to at least complete the terrain for 10 tables worth I'll consider this 1/2 credit.
0/5/10pts

7. Get My Son to Play Miniatures
My oldest boy is 10 years old (11 in July) and while he has shown mild interest in Warhammer he's never really been 'for' it.  A casualty of the 'video game' era is the only thing I can come up with.  I have absolutely no idea if I'll ever succeed; but my plan is to get him and some of his friends started as easy as I can and throw them into some games of HeroQuest.  I ran across a box of HeroQuest some time ago completely unpunched and still on Sprue and while I'd planned mostly to sell the thing I'm thinking more now about using it as an entry point for the kid.  While the ultimate goal is to get him into Warhammer if I can at least get him and his Friends to play this game a minimum of (5) times I'll throw 1/2 credit.  If it actually leads to a game of Warhammer full points!
0/5/10pts

8. Play 52 Miniature Games
This is a yearly goal and has been for the last 4 years.  Every year I come quite close but 2012 was the first time I'd achieved it!  I run the Blood Bowl on-line league which I didn't count in 2011 (which means I probably would've made it that year too).  This time I'm counting it though.  It may seem  like a bit of a cheat, but screw ya'll considering the time and effort I put into the league.  If I can breach 45 games I'll go 1/2 points.
0/5/10pts

9. Crack a Top 20 or Podium Award
I've been playing in tournaments now for 4 years.  Competitively I've never been a super solid player and I always go more for the fun and drunken shenanigans.  That said I've never been in the top 20 of any tournament.  My tournaments this year will be Adepticon Team Tournament, and Blood in The Sun at the minimum.  I'm on the wait list for the Adepticon How You Use It Tournaments and hopefully they'll either expand or enough people will drop that I can get in.  I must either crack a top 20 somewhere or god bless make a podium of some kind which is to say win an award.  The two need not be connected.  So if I were to get Sports or Players Choice or an award of some kind it would count.  Barring an award at least one tournament with a top 20 placing would be good.  Hell if I manage both I'll throw in the bonus of extra credit and give me an extra 10 points for the effort.
0/10/20pts


10. Lose Weight
So I know that I said up top that this was BS and a cop out.  Fact is I'm going to use it anyway.  Garagehammer and crew have been hosting #Fathammer in which a boatload of Warhammer players have been trying to drop weight.  While the competition began before Christmas I didn't take it seriously and consistently floated and even gained weight before 2012's end.  So in 2013 with renewed vigor I shall drive forth and take it off!  I currently weight in at the time of writing this 221.8lbs.  My goal weight is 200lbs.  If I can hit that mark at some point this year and end 2013 under 210lbs. I will consider this half credit.  If I can hit that mark and end the year under 205lbs. we'll go for full.
0/10pts

So then.  Now that I've made a game of this whole thing I think I'm a lot more likely to stick to my goals.  Some of them are pretty lofty and I feel are less likely than others but I'll give them all my full effort.  I think a big part will be trying to set specific schedules to stick to otherwise I'll likely bounce around so much that I'll never accomplish anything.  I'll drop a note on here and Twitter whenever I do manage to complete one of the goals, and particularly I'll let you know how much credit I get.  At the end of the year I'll tally up my total and we'll see if I got a passing or failing grade.  Heave ho with me!  If any of you have hobby goals that you'd like to set up as I have let me know.  Should be interesting and fun.

Oh Trebuchet, oh Trebuchet!

So it's been a long while and while I've all but finished a 2nd unit of Knights they look just like the 1st so why post pictures. I did also however finish my 1st treb. So new pictures... Click for larger.

Blood in the Basement... and or Garage...

So our campaign has officially begun and we’re all pretty stoked about it.  I’ve only finished painting about half of the Might Empires tile set, but I’ll keep pounding away at that and hopefully it’ll be done by the end of February.  I’d say this month, but I’m getting slammed at work and doing a lot of overtime so my painting ability has been greatly diminished.  As I said before we’re running most of the rule set from the Blood in the Badlands campaign, produced by GW.  As such we’ve each created characters for our armies that have set groupings of equipment and can be killed, etc…  So to start out I’ll list out our characters here for everyone.

Dan (Light Blue) Chaos Dwarfs

General

General Renlock (Banner Pole Army marker)

Level 4, The Blood of Hashut, Sword of Battle, Channeling Staff, Great Taurus, Lore of Hashut (Seed of Rebirth, free item)

Lieutenant

Lt. Grimlock (Horse & Skull Army marker)

Infernal castellan

Fireglaive, Shield, Black Hammer of Hashut, Luckstone, Healing Potion

Lieutenant

Lt. Menlock (Pile of Skulls Army marker)

Daemonsmith Sorcerer

Level 2, Naptha Bomb, Pistol, Channeling Staff, Healing Potion, Lore of Death

Joe (Dark Blue) Bretonnia

General

Louis the Heroic (Helmet with Pegasus Army marker)

Bretonnian Lord

Pegasus, Shield, Sword of Swiftslaying, Dragonhelm, Mantle of Damsel Elena, Potion of Foolhardiness, Virtue of Heroism

Lieutenant

Harod the Confident (Helmet with Antlers Army marker)

Paladin

Grail Vow, Warhorse, Lance, Virtue of Confidence, Gauntlet of the Duel, Enchanted Shield, Luckstone

(Sword of the Lady’s Champion, free item)

Lieutenant

Roderick the Impetuous (Helmet with Horse Army marker)

Paladin

Warhorse, Lance, Shield, Virtue of Impetuous

Josh (White) Dwarfs

General

Cardinal Nikelaus (Standard Army marker)

Runelord

Great Weapon, Shield, Anvil of Doom, Rune of Spelleating, Rune of Resistance, Rune of Stone, Master Rune of Balance

Lieutenant

Archbishop Balthazar (Stone & Pick Army marker)

Thane

Shield, Oathstone, Rune of Fury x2, Master Rune of Swiftness

Lieutenant

Benny (3 Axes Army marker)

Thane

Great Weapon, Shield, Oathstone, Master Rune of Swiftness, Rune of Snorri Spangelhelm, Rune of Fury

Great Weapon/Runes Need Fixed

Ryan (Black) Ogre Kingdoms

General

Torgarth Goreluster (Slab of Meat Army marker)

Slaughtermaster

Level 4, Ironfist, Fencers Blade, Glittering Scales, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Maw

Lieutenant

Vargett Bloodboiler (Barrel of Powder Army marker)

Firebelly

Level 2, Hellheart, Lore of Fire

Lieutenant

Gondek Mawfeeder (Blood Vulture Army marker)

Hunter

Harpoon Launcher, Ironfist, Light Armor, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Endurance, Stonehorn

Dave (Orange) Demons of Chaos

General

Ragnorox the River of Blood (Standard Army marker)

Bloodthirster

Spellbreaker, Immortal Fury

Lieutenant

Ferangul Manbreaker ( Khorne Sigil Army marker)

Hearld of Khorne

Armor of Khorne, Soul Hunger

Lieutenant

Tarisa Man Drinker (Skull Army marker)

Herald of Slaanesh

Siren Song, Sporific Musk

Chip (Red) Warriors of Chaos

General

Belenose Bloodstained (Bloodthirster Army marker)

Demon Prince of Khorne

Mantle of Chaos, Fury of the Blood God

Lieutenant

Mephisto the Red (Khorne Icon Army marker)

Exalted Hero of Khorne

Axe of Khorne, Favor of the Gods, Blood Curdling Roar, Skin Hidden Plate, Juggernaut (Skin Hidden Plate, free item)

Lieutenant

Argost the Malign (Skull Totem Army marker)

Exalted Hero of Khorne

Ogre Slayer, Talisman of Preservation, Steam of Corruption, Shield, Steed

 

We got together on Wednesday 1/9 to actually get the 1^st turn moving along.  Due to size of the map and the fact that we picked up a 6^th player whom we hadn’t intended on the starting areas were forced as opposed to being a select your own type deal.  With only 52 tiles and 42 required for 6 players to have their opening area it left only 10 spots which means if a single person had picked a placement it would’ve thrown the map from anyone else being able to place.  Also since I only owned a single set of the expansion tiles instead of building Wizards towers we placed the two onto the board in neutral spaces between everyone so they could be heavily fought over tiles.  Also we’re not using any of the other special markers that were used in the Badlands book.  We rolled off for area choice and then went in reverse order for the first turn sine there was no smallest empire we let the guy who placed last go first.  The map below is the picture of the initial placement on the map.  The fortress floated around a little bit but stayed pretty central of the map.

We then proceeded on to our even rolls for the round and boy did it see some crazy things happen on the 1^st turn.

Dan        -66-Reinforcments from Home: For the rest of the season, you gain an extra army.

Ryan      -43-Scouting Force: In your next game, after deployment you may redeploy D3+1 units and gain +1 to go first.

Joe          -16-Plague: Remove a one of your fortresses from the obard but retain control of the tile.

Josh        -41-Spies: In your next game you make look at your enemies list before you pick your own.

Dave      -11-Recalled from war: Remove one of your armies for the season.

Chip       -26-Seize the crown!: Pick an enemy city (other than his capital) and take control of it.

So you can see some seriously big drops here.  I lost my only fortress, Dave lost an army, Dan gained an army and Chip got nothing from his event.  After this the movement began.  Dan having gained an extra army and being positioned next to Dave who lost one went strong into his territory going after his fortress, capital and an open tile.  Ryan went into the same open space that contained an army of Dans and after Chips fortress.  I went into an open space and into a Wizards tower.  Josh went into two open tiles.  Dave moved into an open tile and to defend his capital and finally Chip moved to invade me and to fight me for the Tower while his final pieced stayed where it was.  You can see the map after the events and movement below.

After the movement phase we went on to the roll for our mines.

Dan        -5- Fabulous Treasures!: Dan gained 1 Relic and a free 10pt magic item for one of his hero’s.

Ryan      -3- Gold and Iron: Ryan gained an additional 300pts into his next battle.

Joe          -6-Fabulous Treasures!: 1 Relic and a free 60pt magic item for a hero.

Josh        -1- Collapse!: The mine was exhausted and removed.

Dave      -4-Gold and Iron: Gained an additional 300 pts into his next battle.

Chip       -6-Fabulous Treasures!: 1 Relic and a free 60pt magic item for a hero.

Dan chose the Seed of Rebirth which he placed on General Renlock.  I chose the Sword of the Lady’s Champion for extra dueling capability on Harod the Confident.  Chip chose the Skin Hidden Plate for the extra protection on Mephisto.  So for the turn Dan and Dave will have to fight over Dave’s capital city in what will become our first Siege game.  Nobody is fighting close enough to the Flying Fortress to play a Storm of Magic game.  Chip and I will end up fighting over the Wizards tower and while Josh and Ryan didn’t actually have a tile to fight over they are going to play a game and use their event/mine rolls to play for gaming sake.