Looking into 2022

    Now, 2022, after a year of maternity leave for Rachel, she will go back to work. This will begin my paternity leave for 6 months. This will be a good time to go out for family vacations for the summer. Rachel is already planning a trip to Prince Albert National Park to pick up some seeds that she wants to plant in our backyard. That won't be the only park we visit this summer. Grasslands National Park, Candle Lake, Narrow Hills Provincal park, Sask landing and Great blue Heron were on Rachel's short list of places she wanted to experience as well as old favourites, Riding Mountain, Echo, and Douglas.  I know Rosalind will be ready to explore nature by then!

    Rachel also mentioned making a point of playing 2 board games a month, a mix of revisiting old board games and learning rules (or relearning in some cases) for new games. We made up a list of games to play

Rachel's New picks

Mice and Mystics - haven't gotten passed the second chapter, I usually teach the first chapter as it gives a good feel to the game.

Root Underworld Expansion - haven't played the Corvid Conspiracy factions

Everdell - played less then a handful of times.

Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - this was a last year? Christmas gift, got out maybe 2 times

Rachel's Old picks

Lords of Waterdeep

 Dinosaur Island (aka Rachel's OHS nightmare of a park)

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - Finished main game once, haven't played The Monster Box of Monsters Expansion

Pandemic - have been playing that for a year and a half, am I right? 

Takenoko

Scythe (hope to play the expansions with more players, one which is a legacy game)

Castles of Mad King Ludwig

Machi Koro

    All of Rachel's picks I am game for, she picked out these from memory, this list will get longer as we actually look through our collection together. 

    As for me, I have a few games for solo play, because, let's face it, at some point I might not have people in my house this year. On a less somber note, is that most of these games I could show off to others after fumbling with the rules on my own. Also I am adding skirmish games, if you don't like it, make your own list.

Jon's New List

Reign in Hell - Models agnostic skirmish game, one of the reasons I picked up the Dreamblade models last year. 

Super Mission Force - Repainting and purchasing old heroclix for this, I have 12 repaints done. I wouldn't say anything solid for a team, so that will be one of my goals.

Shadows of Brimstone - With the core set mostly done, I hope to get this on the table soon! I even picked up a Doctor/ Nurse hero to entice Rachel a bit more to play.

Mage Knight - I hear it's a good solo game with some crunch, doubt I will try playing it with others.

Rising Sun

Robinson Crusoe - great solo game, even has a fan made expansion that has you trying to capture King Kong!

Don't Look Back! - Cooperative slasher flick, might be awhile before this gets on the table... painted anyways.

7 Wonders Cities - never played the expansion yet

Formula D - Played beginner, would like to try an advanced game, with 10 players!?

Five Leagues from the Borderlands - solo grimdark fantasy solo game with a focus on narrative play.

PrimEVO - prehistoric tribal survival game, has solo play too. Might not get to all the indie skirmish games, but would be nice to try each out.

Jon's Old List

Lord of the Ring's LCG - Rachel bought this like 5 or 6 years ago, and I found another copy used to make the game 4 players. I want to try getting a full group for this game, I enjoyed playing it before.

Memoir 44 - Light wargame that isn't too hard to teach.

Star Wars Imperial Assault/ Descent - Another two games that could be solo or with other players.

    I am sure I could convince Rachel to play some of the skirmish games on my list She also wants to do more regular paint nights and get me to assemble to metal Onna Bugeisha or Female martial arts practitioners from Test of Honor. 

    As for goals, I have some loose goals that I would like to see happen.

One Character a Month - Over at Dead Dick's Tavern, the Angry Piper runs a challenge for himself, and anyone who wants to join in on the fun, to paint up one character a month using different classes from Dungeons and Dragons. What a great opportunity to clear out some of my Reaper Bones models from the pile of creativity. I haven't decided if I will also create backstories (or character sheets) for these miniatures or if I will stick to just fantasy models. We shall see how invested I get with the models.

RPG try outs - Last year I picked up the Alien RPG starter set, which gives you all you need to play a cinematic version of Alien. After all, if you aren't a higher up in one of the main factions, you are expendable. Rachel also had some interest in playing the Root RPG, we got the quick start rules at an RPG day, but haven't dug into them. Another RPG I would be interested in running is Slasher Flick, a 80s campy horror film that puts you in the shoes of the teenages (usually each player plays two) that are making all the wrong cliché decisions. Go ahead and tease the killer, go skinny dipping with that hunky boy, it's your funeral!

Painting Goals - A bunch of the skirmish games listed on my New list aren't painted, so if I want to show them off on the blog, I better get my brush onto plastic! Finishing off Shadows of Brimstone core set, is definitely an easy win, only 3 models left! Painting up all the expansions, roughly 21 models, might be a more reasonable goal, especial when we start playing and enjoying that game. 

Don't Look Back is a bit more involved, 10 heroes, 1 killer, and 3 MDF terrain pieces plus scatter terrain. I guess only 4 heroes and a killer are required, who wants a plain looking board though?

Terrain/ Board creation - I have talked about custom rules for Space Hulk a few times, adding in Dark Eldar or Orks would be fun and making a 3D board for 40mm Terminators. Heck, add in other Tyranid bugs, even go as far as using genestealer cults for xenos that have taken over dead crew. Exciting stuff! I will also need to make a playing area for DLB and Super Mission Force, a generic grass field one or urban streets. 

That's all my goals for now! 2022 is a moving target, if I get through half my goals I would be pretty pleased. 

Next on the Hobby Desk!

My brothers and I played some Mice and Mystics, I will have a few things finished on the paint desk to show off.