The Week That Was: April 14

Hello hello hello!

I thought that I would stop by and make a report on gaming since the last time I posted. It was a semi productive week and I would probably chalk it up to me deciding that I would not be playing any Dota 2 at all. Funny how that happens.

In regards to the miniature hobby, I had planed to finish my Civatas troops for Brushfire but got sidetracked. This doesn't mean that I didn't get any painting done though, I did manage to get the first coats of paint on my other Brushfire army. So I would still consider the weekend a none bust. This week though I WILL! finish my little mouse band!

On the gaming front I managed to beat Bioshock Infinite, so yay for finally beating a game! I am going to leave a final impressions a bit later this week. I also have been putting some time into Hearthstone, I finally hit level 20, so I will be getting some cool new card backs. And there was also a buy one get one sale at my favorite local used game store. I purchased Devil May Cry 4 (thought it was DMC...sigh), Castlevania: Lord of Shadow (may get into), and Dishonored (really enjoying). I have been tinkering around with all three but probably will just stick to one of them.

Well that is it for now, check back next week, I should have some painted figs for you to check out!

Kruppe

Warmachine: Cankerworm

I finished the first model in my up and coming Warmachine army, the Cankerworm. I love the base that this model comes on but for theme I am going to have to think of how to do the bases for the other models in the army. I could see it as become a bit expensive and a pain if I build up the list. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know!

I took the color scheme right out of the prime book, for the most part using three layers. For the base I used Cryx Bane Base and worked up to Cryx Bane Highlight.

New Years Resolutions: Hobby Games

Sorry it this is a bit late but unfortunately I had some real life things that had to be taken cared of. Oh such is life. Any way, I will not boor you all with what I had to deal with. Instead, lets get to my new year resolutions that deal with hobby gaming!

1. Though I am kind of worried about the longevity of the game, I really want to get a group of L5R players going on in the area. I have two places where I could play and I should not let them go to waste. I am not planning on playing competitively but would like to play casually monthly. I may post my thoughts on the game latter.

Goal: Create a local play group and play at least 12 matches of L5R.

2. I haven't been playing a lot of of magic lately, probably another topic I will post about soon, but I still have a place for the game in my heart. Which is why I would like to finish the cube that I have been working on. I started it late last year and managed to get a small chunk of it completed. I am using a list that already existed, it is just a matter of finding all of the cards. It will probably take me a very long time to finish the cube if I wait to play with it till I have all of the cards, so I am willing to proxy the more expensive cards for now.

Goal: Finish building my cube, with proxies aloud for cards over $15 dollars. Then I want to draft with this cube at least once.

3. I have finished painting my Heavy Gear models just in time for DreamPod 9 to drop a new set of Alpha Rules. Though I haven't been able to play the game yet, I did have some thoughts about the rules that I was kind of turned off from. But I had planned on playing the game because JT had wanted to play. I am hoping that the alpha rules do manage to alter some of the rules that I had problems with.

Goal: Read the alpha rules and post my thoughts. Then play at least four games either with JT or a game group.

4. There are two miniature games that I have been itching to play for a while now, Medieval Tales and Ron and Bones. Both are now out of print games but they have awesome models and small skirmish rules. The models have been sitting in my to do pile for a very long time now and I am feeling very guilty about this. I should paint the models at the very least.

Goal: Paint all the models that I currently have and play at least one game of either or.

5. I have been wanting to play Warmachine for some time now, I even have an army that I won at Templecon a while back and I have a small number of models for another faction. As this is the big game to play at Templecon, I really should learn to play the game. My buddy Darkstar is trying to get into the game as well.

Goal: Challenge my buddy Darkstar to an escalation league of Warmachine.

6. Speaking of Templecon, I really need to get more games in. It seems that whenever I go I end up doing demo's, buying stuff, and generally just walking around. Now don't get me wrong, that is a wonderful way of spending a weekend, but I really could throw a lot more gaming into the weekend. I mean that is what the con is really about right? The problem for me and the convention is that I never have enough models to field any armies.

Goal: This one may be a bit tricky as you don't really know what games are going to be available till closer to the con but by the end of the year I should have a good idea on what games will be on the agenda. So my goal is to have two fully fleshed out armies that I plan on taking with me to templecon.

7. I really have not been doing enough Roleplaying. I have always loved to play but ever since I moved to my new location I have been pretty much out of the loop. I would like to change that.

Goal: Play at least four games of any RPG system.

Well that is the overall goal of the year, though I am sure many of those will change. We shall see. Post your goals below in the comment section!

New Years Resolutions: Video Games

I started to compile a list of things that I wanted to do this coming year and then quickly realized that I had a very, very large list. So to break it down into bite sized manageable chunks I will be breaking down my resolutions into categories and making separate posts. For my first go around let's look at what I want to do with video gaming.

1.  My buddy and I have been having a trophy war on the PS3 for some time now. Currently I am smashing him by such a large margin that it has kind of diminished the excitement. We now believe that if we focus on platinum trophies perhaps that will peek our interest again. I know I have already been working on getting platinum on a number of games so I think this is doable without me dedicating all of my free time to trophy hunting. Two games that I have in mind are Assassins Creed 2 and Sleeping Dogs. Goal: Earn two platinum trophies on the PS3.
2. I have a large catalog of half finished games. Some times I just dropped it for the latest hot and shinny and sometimes the game just got a bit to frustrating. I am the king at playing a game till a hard part and then telling myself that I would just step back for a bit and tackle it again. Needless to say I forget them entirely. To clear my conscious, I wish to play a handful of these games and complete them. Goal: Complete five games that I started before the New Year.
3. In addition to task number two, I know that I will be getting some new games this year. I mean, with Steam sales every quarter you know this will happen! So I would like to complete at least three of the games I buy this year. Goal: Complete three games that I bought after the New Year.
4. I also really want to enjoy some classic games this year. This means games that are not current generation games, or even PS3 or 360 games. I am talking about games that are important to video games as a whole, such as memorable story line or innovative mechanics. Goal: Play one classic game this year.
5. I have a love for grand strategy games or 4x games. Titles that fit this build include Crusader Kings II, Europa Universalis, Endless Space, and Civ 5. Problem is that these games tend to take so long to play that I rarely ever finish a play session till completion. The only one that I can think of was one game of Civ 5. I would like to change that. Goal: Play at least to games of this type to completion.
6. Technically I want to keep these resolution lists to five tasks to keep things manageable but I really just thought of this one and want to follow through on it. I don't know why I left this game, I loved it so and really should go back and figure out what happened. Goal: Play Guild Wars 2 and see if I simply got swamped with other games or if there is something about the game that I know longer like.

Well that is it for my video game list, stay tuned for the other lists.

What are your resolutions in terms of your video gaming this year?

So yeah, about this blog...

Hey guys, sorry long time no blog, but unfortunately life decided to step in and keep me busy. First I had some family problems to deal with, nothing life or death just very stressful, and then the holiday season really kicked off. It is funny, every year I have planned to really get a lot of hobby time in but then it is over and I barely accomplished anything.

But fear not! I now have most things under control and should get this site back up and running shortly. Some of my plans for this month include:

• A first play review of the board game Rattus
• A quick review of the third Percy Jackson Book
• My new years resolutions! 

So please stay tuned!

Playing with the Wife! Ticket to Ride

The wife and I decided to break up our nightly ritual of watching TV in bed with breaking out a board game. As of now we don't really have that many options, we obviously need two player games but with the additional caveat that they don't reek of gamer if you get my drift. The only two games that I have right now that fit that bill are Dominion and Ticket to Ride. As you can see last night we busted out Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder.

Now be warned, if you are looking at getting this game for you and your special someone you are going to need a couple of game components. See, the base game does not support two players but has all the required pieces such as the colored train cards and the trains themselves. In order to play with two people you need to get the Swedish Expansion. This expansion comes with a board for 2-3 players and destination cards specific for the board. So once again, just to be clear, you need the base game as well as the Swedish expansion to play 2-3 players. But in my opinion that is perfectly alright as having the base game is a great gateway drug for introducing your friends to the hobby!

I think that this was the second time we played this expansion and I may review it latter but overall I enjoyed it as well as the wife. Something that came up was there seemed to be more hunting for specific colors then normal but that may have been just last night. I will have to look out for that the next time I play. In the end, it was an incredibly close match with me wining by just five points.

What games do you play with your non "gamer" significant other?

Heavy Gear: All painted up

As you can see, I have completed my Black Talon box for Heavy Gear. The models themselves are pretty cool looking and were for the most part easy to put together, with no real finicky bits. Painting basically all black armor was a bit of a bore to do but I am now glad that I did it because I do see it has learning some new skills in the painting department in regards to trying to highlight black. Turned out harder then I thought it would be.

But I do have a complaint about the box. If you are suggesting something as a starter box then perhaps instead of specialty and auxiliary units you could have just used it as a core unit. I guess that is what happens when you don't do enough research before making a purchase. 

So now question for you, where should I go next with the army? I need core units, should I just go with two primary insertion units, or do you think that infantry is worth it? Leave a comment and let me know!