Opening the vault

             A dense fog wafted through the corridors of the ancient vessel as Amallyn Shadowguide stepped off the Maglev with the small group of Rogue Traders. The path split, the eldar veteran pulled her rifle up to her chest and scanned the left. Then the right.... her keen eyes trying to pierce the darkness. Pausing. A mechanical whir forced her eye to the scope of the gun. But it wasn't mechanical at all that too her first bolt of fire. A patrolling guard almost walked passed the corridor if it wasn't for the 3 shots fired at him, two of which brought him to the ground. 

Yes, the gretchins are the spindle drones.

         Yes! It happened! My D&D group wasn't able to come together (fully), so we/I forced/begrudgingly agreed to learn Blackstone Fortress. The first round was a bit rough, looking up rules, and figuring out how the hostile enemies played out depending on certain situations (no line of sight, multiple PCs, etc.) I also decided to skip the reinforcement step as well. But my group seemed to enjoy, specifically Andrew. He was one of my friends that started playing when we were in high school. We both fell out of Warhammer for years, but now with games like Kill Team, Blackstone Fortress, even 8th edition streamlining the rules. It's definitely making a come back. 

       Pious Vorne was eager to enlighten the heretics that squatted in the Emperor's holy vessel. Anyone who doesn't believe in the Emperor is judged by flames!

The zealot traitor guards charge into the flames, several being burnt to death as Pious sets the room ablaze.

Janus unleashes a volley of rapid fire shots, but the guards keep coming.

         With the first game under our belt we can start playing more seriously, maybe even a legacy game.

Things to come!

Escalation League started, no games yet, but will have time off soon for Warhammer games. Comic Readers has also announced a Kill Team League which I joined, my skitarii will see the table soon.

    

Pile O' Shame

      Whelp! This is a bit embarrassing! Every year I dig through my D&D miniatures, tabletop game and board games and I try to figure out what I need to focus on for the year to paint. 2018 I got a bit carried away with how much stuff I bought compared to how much I got painted or played with. I feel it's important to see your grey tide for what it is and realized what you can get to or what you should sell off. With Kill Team, I find it easy to fall down the rabbit hole. I mean, it's only like 5 miniatures, oh but wait, I should get a commander and maybe some units for some variety... well I might as well make another army. Been there before!

Before I get to my grey tide, I will show off all the models that I did end up painting in 2018.

Excited to field my Harlequin, might need a commander though....

Start Collecting Clan Pestilens Box, Nightvault, Saurus Guardians and a butt load of nurgle!

Endless Spells (excluding Prismatic Palisade) and my custom Feculent Gnarlmaw

      That's not quite all of the figures I got finished, but it's close. I also painted the Kill team starter set terrain and a death world box of terrain too, but they aren't quite finished. That at least looks like a lot of work!

         And now for the pile!

Blackstone fortress!

Chaos has corrupted my paint area, figuratively and literally!

H&T was cheap, thought they would make good D&D figures.

Assortment of Battletech, Tau, Orcs and Bones minis

KT box is finished, my death world terrain was missing a piece so GW sent a new box of terrain to add to my pile.

Test of Honor is assembled! Haven't had to work with metal models in awhile.

My Boxing Day order from Thunder Games and Gifts! But which God will they worship?!

Oh boy! That's a lot to paint and play with! Both things I will aim to do more of this year. And of course, I have some Vostroyan Firstborn coming in the mail. They will fit nicely into kill team. I traded the genestealer Hybrids in the Kill Team box for the Ogryns, maybe they too will be come a converted part of the vostroyan firstborn, only time will tell!

Things to come!

        Beginning in February, I'll be organizing a Age of Sigmar Escalation League. It will be fairly beginner friendly, mostly aiming to get more people into the hobby. Quiet a few people getting into the game for the first time or trying out new armies, so it should be fun! Till then I'll continue to pluck away at the Blackstone Fortress, hoping to get 2 more heroes finished and get a game in.

2019 Hobby Resolution

            Looking back at 2018, I didn't get many of the items on my to do list done. Mostly because I was distracted with other newer and shinier things (curse you Kill Team!) The only thing I managed to do was assemble my Malifaux crew and play more games. At the start of the year, I was in a skirmish group, which helped move my painting along. Every game you played, you would get more points to spend on units, meaning more units to assemble and paint.

        But I did get a fair bit of painting done. This year I started adding bases to my units making them feel more immersive on the tabletop.

Completed Painting List

Nurglings (3)
Saurus Guard (8)
Clan Pestilan Start Collecting Box
Putrid Blightkings (5)
Tau Ethereal
Plaguebearers (10)
Myrmourn Banshees (4)
Skitarii Rangers/ Vanguard (5 and 5)
Harlequin (6)
Malign Sorcery Box (Only Prismatic Palisade left)
Custom Feculent Gnarlmaw (2)
Nightvault Warbands
Sepulchral Guard
Owlbear
Space Hulk Genestealers

       I started to work on my Space Marines in Space Hulk, cutting up the bases to use the Necromunda bases. Then don't convert very easily. Once Christmas hit though, my girlfriend bought me Blackstone Fortress. Let's just say it moved Space Hulk off the table for a bit.

2019 Hobby Resolution

New year's resolutions are better if they are compass goals, they are something you are interested in learning about, wanting to try, or would better yourself in someway, but it's more about the journey and the people you meet with similar passions that make it worth while. Without further ado, here is my list.

- Try Malifaux - I have the minis, might as well give it a go.

- Paint up Blackstone Fortress - excited to get this game on the table and introduce some of my friends that don't play much tabletop games. The minis are really nice too.

- Play Test of Honour - A samurai skirmish game? Count me in! I have been looking at Mutant Chronicles - Mishma for awhile now, but figured it would be just another game to add to my ever growing pile. When my girlfriend and I were in Calgary, we went to Sentry Box and they had almost any game you could think of! We both picked up a box to play against each other. Might grab the starter box later this year too.

- Play more buy less - Last year I was a bit aimless with my purchasing, figuring I would eventually make this unit into a kill team or use that in D&D. It felt like I didn't appreciate what I already had (pile of shame pictures to follow later this month.) before moving to the next big purchase. With that said, I have the battleforce box of Slaves of Darkness and some Vostroyan Firstborn coming in. I have always wanted a small group of Firstborn, and with kill team, that's all I need! There is always one (or two) more things on the way, such is the hobby.

- Post more often on blog - If I have more games set up, I should have more interesting items to post on the blog. Win/ win right? Last year I didn't really have a goal with the blog, just a place to throw up some pictures, but I want to make it into a journal, with updates to projects and to help keep the motivation high.

Games workshop just posted some amazing miniatures. I guess getting the Ambull and Skitarii Kill Team box won't hurt right?

Next time on Jon's Hobby Desk

I'll be working diligently on Blackstone Fortress till my Vostroyans show up. Once my hobby room is a bit more organized, I'll show you my grey tide that has gotten a bit mountainous.