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!

Bushido Part 1

A game that I am getting into is Bushido. I love the miniatures, the rules are tight, and I love the smallness of the game. It may be the last miniature game that I may pitch in to. So I plan on documenting my time with here. First up is that I am planning on getting a starting box for one of the factions right away but I am trying to figure out which one that I would like to play. The forums for the game are a great source of information, also their rule book is free for download! The following link has a good rundown for what are available for factions. http://www.bushido-thegame.com/forum/greeny-508

Also over at A Crit of Gamers their newest podcast is Bushido specific. A great listen for a fun talk about the game.

Anyone else getting into this game?

PS. As I figured, last week was pretty light on the hobby side so I didn't even bother making a post about the week. But this week is looking much better. Stay tuned!

Kings of War Week at Beasts of War (and a new Brushfire mini)

Hey guys, I feel kind of guilty but I also think that this is just to cool not to post about. Over at Beasts of War they are having Kings of War Week. In case you don't know what their (insert game) Weeks are check them out. They basically post videos all week that introduce a single game by showing the rules, factions, and an actual demo of the game. I really think this is awesome for people like me who don't have a local gaming community with varied game arsenal because I get to see the models and the game in action. Really it is the second best thing if you don't have someone to do an actual live demo for you. Plus their videos are entertaining and pretty professional. As an added bonus the offer prizes. Check out their opening video here. And while your there check out their weekly series called the Weekender. I look forward to this every weekend and will actually put it on my tv, sit in my recliner, and drink some coffee.

And before I go, check out this new mini for Brushfire...

Anyone interested in Kings of War or already play it? I really am looking at getting into the game. I have been looking for a large scale fantasy game but I don't want to support GW.

The Week that Was:

To help me keep focused I think it would be a good idea to make a weekly post about my accomplishments over the week and what my goals for the coming week are. So without further ado...

I put in the last few finishing touches on my mouse conscripts which leaves three more models to go in the Civitas starter box for Brushfire.

I'll add some better pictures later

I also worked some more on my Cankerworm for my Cryx army and I started my Veiled Assassins for my demo army for Brushfire.

As for this week, I think that I have to keep things a bit light. I have a wedding this weekend so there goes a large chunk of time, but I get to head to my home town and chill with my good friends so I can't complain! I also really need to finish staining the deck so my other most of my extra free time will be spent with that. So with all of that in mind I am looking to put some highlights to my assassins and my Cankerworm. I am also going to start figuring out how to grow my local gaming community, as soon as I figure out where to start. As for my posts I think I will start my Brushfire adventure as well as look more into Mercs.

What is on your table for the weekend?

First steps of organization

I wanted to make this my first post but I wanted to start documenting my Mercs escapades. But now that it is off and posted I would like to introduce myself and discuss some of the things that I will be discussing in the future.

If you ever needed to find an example of someone with gamer ADD, I would make a great specimen. Currently on my ready to pain shelf I have minis from five different games, ten decks from five different CCGs that still need completely built, a number of uncompleted collections from many different interests, and a man cave filled with everything else. Honestly, it was put me into hobby overload. I have found myself in a weird state when I would make my way to my man cave sit down and just look at all the stuff that I need to do and basically just look at it all with a sense of hopelessness. I was simply overwhelmed. And the worst part, because nothing was completed, I didn't get to play any games... Frankly I was bummed and started to think about just selling everything.

But I can't do that, I really do enjoy this hobby way to much! So, one of my goals is to organize my hobby life. This includes both gaming and collecting. I hope at the end of the day we may all learn some new things, I become more organized, and we all have some fun!

To start things off I decided to use a white board I acquired to create a web diagram of all the things that I am currently doing and that I hope to finish... man, this is going to be a heck of a task...

Well, next time we will look at how we start navigating this mess.

How do you guys keep your Shiny things organized?

Mercs: Let's get it started in here

So yeah, I have a lot of toy soldiers that I want to play with! I had some free time today while the little one (TLO) took a nap. While listening to Starcity Games on Twitch, I decided to get my ebay order of Merc minis into something respectable. I don't know much about the game other then reading some reviews but at the buy in price I found in auction and a chance to play at Templecon next year, I decided to dip my toes into the water.

First thing that I have to do is clean up these models. I don't wish to be upset as I only payed around $25 for the entire box but becoming a victim of poor packaging sucks. I should have took a picture of the packaging that he sent the order in but I forgot in a state of total bummer. But to give you an idea, the box was very flimsy from prior use, just a handful of packing peanuts, balled up plastic shopping bags, and the minis all bundled together. Part of the reason I decided to go with the auction was that I was getting two armies that required no work as they were already painted. But unfortunately for me the state they were left in after their travel will require me to strip the painted mini's due to chipped paint and glue some pieces back to their respective places. So bottom line... more work for me. I am not going to work on all three armies at once so it is time to choose one and get to work...

So it is time for the FCC squad to take a bath...

So that is it for now, more later!