Ok so the year has finally finished and what a mental one it has been (at least for me). We started the year in a new rental house in Bingley West Yorkshire (UK) and ended the year in a rental in Wilton (NZ).
Anyway I set myself a goal to start playing the Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game by Games Workshop as my alternative fantasy fix now that Warhammer 8th edition was broken. So how have I done.
Well I started out the year with a few games at my local club in Halifax with Andy and Chris and tried to get some interest going but it was quite difficult, gamers being the stubborn sods that they are! In amongst all this fantasy based goodness I continued to play Bolt Action, taking part in mate Geraints campaign day and painting up a German army in two weeks to add to my existing DAK army (that was also painted in about two weeks!)
Anyway Lord of the Rings has pretty much captured most of my hobby time this year. Having gotten to grips with the basics of the game I started painting up some Rohan models I managed to acquire, and in the process roundly cussing GW for such cheaply made models. The style is spot on and some of the metal minis are brilliant (primarily due to the Perry brothers) but the plastics are cheap and nasty with a lot of detail you have to infer through painting. Anyway I managed to crunch out a few Rohan figures, both mounted and foot before we had to pack up the house for our impending NZ migration.
From our rental home we moved into a caravan pending our visas being issued. All our possessions were packed away and due to lack of space in our luggage I only kept the LoTR Fellowship figures for my paint fix along with a few paints. I didn't manage to get as much painting done as I wanted in the caravan, the UK having possibly one of the best summers in years, I couldn't get any paint to stay wet on my brush before it got to the figures. Anyway I managed to finish the four Hobbits and Gimli before we flew out to NZ, then finished both Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas in NZ whilst waiting for our container to catch up to us.
Before we flew I also managed to get a few games of Zombicide in, this has satisfied my zombie gaming urges that I alluded to earlier in the year, sui much so that I managed to pick up a copy of the Prison Outbreak version of the game here in NZ. I also achieved that rarest of things for us gamers and that is to get your spouse interested in playing something, my wife thoroughly enjoyed playing Zombicide to the point where we're now playing it in campaign mode! Hopefully I'll still explore the wargaming side of the undead scourge however I'll settle for the board games solution until I can give it the attention it deserves.
Then it was like all my birthdays at once when our stuff arrived in NZ and we moved into a proper home, unpacking my hobby and gaming stuff after not having it for the last four months was awesome! So I promptly got cracking on some more LoTR figures (after all what am I going to paint when in middle earth?) and as I'd arranged to hook up with local blogger Scott thought I'd better begin my Isengard as it's the most rounded force I have in my lead/plastic pile. So I finished off a few orcs (which needed repairing as they were second hand) and built up a some Uruk Hai, these being slowly completed over the last four months of the year.
I also somewhat foolishly entered the fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and am now somewhat feeling under pressure. Obviously self imposed as there's no-one to push me but me, but still its been fun so far as it forces me to focus on models that have lingered without completion for a while and get some projects finished off.
2014 also saw my return to Flames of War, I've always liked the idea of the game but never found an opponent of the same mindset. Luckily local gamer Ashley is easy going, has a large garage and a nice collection, so it brings some light relief from all that Middle Earth tomfoolery!
And that brings me smoothly into 2015. So what have I got planned for my first year in NZ? Well I have a nice pile of LoTR figures to paint before I even contemplate buying anything else (Gondor rangers, Uruks, Warg riders, the house of the Steward, more orcs, more Rohan, Elves and loads of goblins with two trolls!). And that's just the Lord of the Rings stuff. I've still got my 28mm DAK and 8th Army to finish along with running some demo games of Bolt Action. Then there's the 15mm WW2 to paint and the occasional VSF model for my occasional forays into that genre. I think that's probably enough for 2015 although if I get chance I'll try and generate some interest in Saga.
So I hope you all had a great holiday season, if you are the sort to make new years resolutions good luck in keeping them (I've never managed which is why I don't bother anymore).
All the best for 2015
Ste
Anyway I set myself a goal to start playing the Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game by Games Workshop as my alternative fantasy fix now that Warhammer 8th edition was broken. So how have I done.
Well I started out the year with a few games at my local club in Halifax with Andy and Chris and tried to get some interest going but it was quite difficult, gamers being the stubborn sods that they are! In amongst all this fantasy based goodness I continued to play Bolt Action, taking part in mate Geraints campaign day and painting up a German army in two weeks to add to my existing DAK army (that was also painted in about two weeks!)
Anyway Lord of the Rings has pretty much captured most of my hobby time this year. Having gotten to grips with the basics of the game I started painting up some Rohan models I managed to acquire, and in the process roundly cussing GW for such cheaply made models. The style is spot on and some of the metal minis are brilliant (primarily due to the Perry brothers) but the plastics are cheap and nasty with a lot of detail you have to infer through painting. Anyway I managed to crunch out a few Rohan figures, both mounted and foot before we had to pack up the house for our impending NZ migration.
From our rental home we moved into a caravan pending our visas being issued. All our possessions were packed away and due to lack of space in our luggage I only kept the LoTR Fellowship figures for my paint fix along with a few paints. I didn't manage to get as much painting done as I wanted in the caravan, the UK having possibly one of the best summers in years, I couldn't get any paint to stay wet on my brush before it got to the figures. Anyway I managed to finish the four Hobbits and Gimli before we flew out to NZ, then finished both Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas in NZ whilst waiting for our container to catch up to us.
Before we flew I also managed to get a few games of Zombicide in, this has satisfied my zombie gaming urges that I alluded to earlier in the year, sui much so that I managed to pick up a copy of the Prison Outbreak version of the game here in NZ. I also achieved that rarest of things for us gamers and that is to get your spouse interested in playing something, my wife thoroughly enjoyed playing Zombicide to the point where we're now playing it in campaign mode! Hopefully I'll still explore the wargaming side of the undead scourge however I'll settle for the board games solution until I can give it the attention it deserves.
Then it was like all my birthdays at once when our stuff arrived in NZ and we moved into a proper home, unpacking my hobby and gaming stuff after not having it for the last four months was awesome! So I promptly got cracking on some more LoTR figures (after all what am I going to paint when in middle earth?) and as I'd arranged to hook up with local blogger Scott thought I'd better begin my Isengard as it's the most rounded force I have in my lead/plastic pile. So I finished off a few orcs (which needed repairing as they were second hand) and built up a some Uruk Hai, these being slowly completed over the last four months of the year.
I also somewhat foolishly entered the fifth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and am now somewhat feeling under pressure. Obviously self imposed as there's no-one to push me but me, but still its been fun so far as it forces me to focus on models that have lingered without completion for a while and get some projects finished off.
2014 also saw my return to Flames of War, I've always liked the idea of the game but never found an opponent of the same mindset. Luckily local gamer Ashley is easy going, has a large garage and a nice collection, so it brings some light relief from all that Middle Earth tomfoolery!
And that brings me smoothly into 2015. So what have I got planned for my first year in NZ? Well I have a nice pile of LoTR figures to paint before I even contemplate buying anything else (Gondor rangers, Uruks, Warg riders, the house of the Steward, more orcs, more Rohan, Elves and loads of goblins with two trolls!). And that's just the Lord of the Rings stuff. I've still got my 28mm DAK and 8th Army to finish along with running some demo games of Bolt Action. Then there's the 15mm WW2 to paint and the occasional VSF model for my occasional forays into that genre. I think that's probably enough for 2015 although if I get chance I'll try and generate some interest in Saga.
So I hope you all had a great holiday season, if you are the sort to make new years resolutions good luck in keeping them (I've never managed which is why I don't bother anymore).
All the best for 2015
Ste
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