I have a long history of incomplete hobby projects. My usual method of operation is getting excited to start a project, buy all the models to make it happen, start the hobby part of the project, add to the project to make it larger than the original scope, get burned out on the project, and then move on to the next project with the original unfinished. With Blood Bowl being my main hobby project, it’s no surprise that almost half of my teams are incomplete to one level or another. With the prospects of a retro Blood Bowl event in 2024, I figured now was the time to wrap up my longest unfinished project.
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.
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.
Cruising through my painting queue this year, I wrapped up models 149-154. So far, this is a banner year in painting. These six Nobility models sat primed in storage for a good long while until I could settle on a theme. I’m envisioning this set from the Border Princess region maybe and with a bit of a Spanish flair.
I’ve had these models assembled and primed for close to three years now..or whenever it was when the first edition of Blitz Bowl came out. The long delay in getting ’em painted was because they looked a chore to paint, and I wasn’t sure what color scheme I’d go with. Turns out they were pretty easy.
One of my goals for 2023 is to paint up all the dungeon dressing for the base box of Dungeon Bowl. Last post I showed off some doorways from the classic Warhammer Quest and above we have the WHQ minotaur immortalized in bronze. I felt it fitting to have him as the center of a dungeon’s maze, but I was also able to knock out everything else for my Dungeon Bowl set.
Short post here. As I’ve done with Blitz Bowl pitches, I’ve decided to dress up my DungeonBowl dungeon with some 3d dressings. Well, I’ve previously done the portals and chests, but those came with the game, I’m referring to a few extra bits starting with the doorways.
Wyrd Stones and Tackle Zones 