“You think this is a f’n’ costume? This is a way of life.” – Suicide, Return of the Living Dead.
For this gang, I was thinking that maybe I’d have each model be unique in their own colors, but…nah. Unified gang colors make the models easier to paint. Plus, as they could be a unit in Xenos Rampant, probably Berzerk Infantry, I want them to have a unified aesthetic that’s better for gameplay. Besides, anyone who’s spent any time in and around punk circles has probably seen the irony in there being a bit of conformity.
Almost two and a half years ago, I created a few ninja vehicles for Gaslands. At the same time, I put together some foot models to go along with those rides, but I never got around to needing them. Well, since then Xenos Rampant has come out, and we’ve started developing some light house rules for pedestrian models in Gaslands. The time was right to get some ninja on-foot models ready for Roswell ’98.
Last year, all of my Battletech mechs were painted. Towards the end of the year, I picked up two lance boxes. One was the Inner Sphere Heavy Lance, the other the Inner Sphere Urban Lance. With BT models being so easy to paint, I thought I’d quickly get my BT back to 100% painted
Playing some games of Gaslands recently, I realized that I needed a few more obstacle types. I determined that I needed markers to represent vehicles that get wrecked, but I also wanted some destructible terrain.
Nothing new to see here. Just collecting images of all my Gaslands gangs in one post, so I can link players here to see the available gangs I have to run. There won’t be anything new posted here. Sorry if it spams your inbox.
2023 was the first year I ever tracked hobby goals and I can’t recommend the process enough. Not only did it help me stay focused to complete high priority projects, but having a checklist of sorts became a little intoxicating. Seeing tasks getting that strike-thru of completion gave me a real sense of progress. For the first time, it felt like real work was getting done. There’s light at the end of this tunnel! In fact, crossing through projects was motivating enough to see me completing far more than I anticipated.
Why did a “2023 in Review Part II” post appear across your feed/search from this little hobby blog? I realize that my review post only captured models painted. Sadly, I omitted the heart of this hobby for me…games played and time with friends. This mini post will capture all the non-painting wins I experienced this year. Like the high number of models painted, this was also a banner year for other accomplishments.
I play in a large (14-16 coaches) Blood Bowl league that consistently meets every other Wednesday. I’ve attended four Blood Bowl tournaments, and performed the best I ever have when it mattered most… the largest BB tournament on US soil… Chaos Cup 2023 in Orlando, Fl. I placed #13 out of over 200. I got in my first games of BattleTech Alpha Strike and Classic (surprisingly, I think I prefer Classic), Ronin, DungeonBowl, Gutter Bowl, and Gaslands (finally!). I played many games of Blitz Bowl and Pokemon against my son. Was able to fly out, or host, games with dear friends scattered across the country for gaming to include running a small BB 7s tournament at the house. And not minis related, but the family was finally able to travel to Japan… which became a large inspiration for my Ronin village. Additionally, I was able to get my post-apoc minis published in an issue of Wargames Illustrated (#428 August 2023 – pic above). The same issue also had articles from Daniel Mersey, Rick Priestly, and the Perry twins. For kicks, I can joke with my friends that those illuminaries of the hobby are “WI contemporaries of mine” hehehehe.
All in all, at 48, I’ve probably had the best year in this hobby that I’ve ever experienced. I’m excited for 2024 and hope I can make the 2023 results the start of a trend!
2023 was a banner year for me regarding number of models painted and projects done. Going into the year I had no intention of painting a Black Orc Blood Bowl team, but I already had 10 models for one previously painted (six goblins and a troll from the Goblin BzB team and three black orcs from the Black Orc BzB team). Painting three Black Orcs was low hanging fruit to get another full BB team option in my locker-room. What else did I knock out this year? Read on for the numbers.
A year or two ago, I expanded Dwarf and Union Elf Blitz Bowl teams to full Blood Bowl teams. Though I have yet to ever play with the Dwarves, and have only fielded the Union Elves sparingly, I found myself with a few of their star players which sat unpainted for a good long while. As 2023 wraps up, I’ve done pretty good about completing projects here and there, so I figure I might as well wrap up the unpainted models I had for these two teams.
In my games of DungeonBowl, I’ve pretty much made it the norm for each team to have a College Wizard for free. They’re all the same cost, at 100K, so it balances out. Plus, it helps further separate DB from BB proper with each team having a Wizard-Coach. I picked up the Collegiate Arcane – Mystic Battle Wizards box as it comes with enough bits to make four wizard models of multiple college types.
Wyrd Stones and Tackle Zones 