Last Post of 2024!

A bit late, but here is a single picture from the Christmas Day game.

The above was taken near the end of the game. The tension had been ratcheting up gradually until finally it all hit the fan - the bogeyman, wraiths, wolves, AND wendigo all out on the table. 

The wraiths were super annoying (in my play tests and in the real thing). I just borrowed an existing monster from the rulebook - a spirit, I think. When killed they respawn 8" away. There is no way to actually kill them.

The party lucked out during the final rounds - I rolled poorly when checking against the threat level and the villains only recovered hit points once. By concentrating their attacks, the party was able to kill the wendigo. With the evil destroyed, the wolves were released from their trance, the wraiths were dispelled, and the bogeyman, who had profited from his lurking around the wendigo lair, took off deeper into the woods.

Huzzah!

While the players enjoyed the setup, figures, and terrain, (and 2/3 liked the game system) to my surprise, what really tickled them was the cotton "smoke" for the fired muskets. As a staple of Horse & Musket wargame pictures I have seen over my nearly 20 years of miniature gaming, I thought nothing of it, but for them it was revolutionary (no pun intended, given the game's period). 

I was reminded that it's easy to take for granted those things that we do or see every day and how much impact the littlest thing can have on someone who hasn't encountered it before. It also reminded me of something I read in a book long ago, about how, when you invite people to dinner at your house, you should make them what you would normally make, don't aim for fancy or different or to impress, because what is a typical meal for you will still be a treat for your guests.

In any case, I am quite satisfied with how it looked and played, and I look forward to playing it as a solo venture since Perilous Tales supports solo play out of the box and utilizing the "campaign" rules which allow for character advancement. But that's for 2025 - the Christmas game was the last game of 2024. 

Of course, I'm knee deep in my reviewing 2024 and goal setting for 2025 (for everything, not just hobby), so more on that will probably be my next post.

Until then, Happy New Year!

Play Test Pics and Merry Christmas!

Got in my last play test on Christmas Eve afternoon, so despite starting what seems like forever ago, it came down to the last moment!

The game covers two 24" x 24" tables. The first is all woods, but the second is a bit more varied and features a cave at the villainous end (as it's referred to in the rules).

The rock is not real. It's aluminum foil with thin layer of clay.

The orange glow is courtesy of an LED tea light candle. The cave is a tissue box glued behind layered cardboard and foam core. It's filled with cotton batting to diffuse the light.

Below is the Big Bad, a wendigo. 

If you were expecting a deer skull and antlers, that's not the traditional Algonquin myth, but the popular fiction version that took shape over the 20th century.

Something like this perhaps? I decided to make this just because. It's a little too tall and was described by a friend as a "glorious demonic angel", which I think suits it. It's a wire armature, clay and tissue soaked in 50/50 water and Mod Podge.

I'll paint this like the other monsters, but with the bone stuff as uh bones. But not until after Christmas sometime.

Speaking of, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Santa brings you whatever is on your list (if you celebrate or a nice day-off if not, and if you're working, well, i hope it's a quiet day at the very least)

Holiday Game Preparations Continue

Somehow, despite starting earlier than in years past, it is still coming down to the wire to get everything ready for the Christmas game.

First up, here are the finished captives and the last of the colonist militia types for this game (you can see their in-progress pictures on an earlier post)

The prisoners came out quite a bit better than I anticipated. The scout guy was harder to paint than the others since his pose blocked easy access to his clothing.

 Once those were finished, I started in on the monsters.

I had thought about building armatures entirely from wire, but then I thought, "Why not shortcut the process and start from a figure?"

 I have a pile of 54mm-ish blue Marx-style knights and this seemed like a good a use as any for them.

For the first creature I was going to make, i lopped of the arms and legs. Then I thought,"Why waste the legs?" Two monsters for the price of one!

It's just a flesh wound.

Here is the second one, with wire looped to form a claw and a start like hand, slathered in air-dry clay:

He's kind of cute. And kind of grotesque. Exactly the kind of thing that I find most disturbing.

Here both are, awaiting priming:

In their natural air-dried state.

Using more knights from the same pile, I lopped off bits - faces, arms, a head, and covered in strips of Mod-Podge soaked tissue to look like rags (you can see them to the left below)

Black, followed by a white dry brush (and for the clay guys, I added some glowing dots and some frosty blue dry brushing on the the hands) and voila:

Are the dots eyes? The actual monster? A lure? A magic missile weapon?

Here's a close-up of the headless guy to show off his head:

You can tell he has a helmet on, but my players won't notice.

Yesterday, a bag of 100 2" tall skeleton warriors arrived:

Bag O' Bones

And I promptly set about hacking a bunch of them to pieces. These will be used to make some scatter terrain for the final game board:

It's like watching a Law & Order episode.

100 is far more than I need for this project, and I will have enough left over to fill out a 750 point Age of Fantasy Vampiric Undead army (they have skeletons, zombies, and werewolves in addition to vampires). 

I might even replace the clay monsters in this scenario with some skeletons strategically covered with rags(tissue to hide the "ancient armor" bits). Since I think the bogey men (or whatever they are) kind of deserve their own scenario.

Still lots to do. So many more hack apart

I really want to make a cave lair to put at the Big Bad's board edge, but we'll see what happens. The Big Bad itself is far more important to the game than the cave.

Code Word: Santa's Got a Brand New Bag

Like a lot of wargamers, I purchase my own Christmas presents. I know I know, you can hear the piteous violins softly in the background.

But we do what we must and bear the terrible burden.

Now, I could wait until after Christmas to share my modest haul, but I am too excited by the last item pictured to wait.

So without further ado, here is what Santa will be putting under the tree this year.

First up is Space Marine Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons. 

After going most of my wargaming life without making any Games Workshop purchases, I've made one each Christmas for the last few years (I blame my son). The tradition will continue this year with another of their self-contained box games.

I really enjoy Fireteam, Space Marine: The Boardgame, and Blitz Bowl, and Alex (UpTheBlue) did a play through of this awhile back and it stuck with me. So, when it was on sale for Black Friday, I took advantage. 

 At the very least, at less than $20 USD for five GW miniatures it was a no-brainer.

Will I paint the figures? I might. I might not. If I paint them, I'll probably paint them all as Blood Ravens, despite the heresy of it all.

Next up is a bundle of new recruits for my lizard folk army. My goal is to field a 2000+ point 28mm force for Age of Fantasy that I can bring to the local One Page Rules gaming group meetups. This lot, plus several sprues of Wargames Atlantic lizard folk I still haven't touched, and a second Dark Heaven command set, also taking space in the Pile of Shame, will get me there.

The one in the baggie is possibly my favorite - it's an old Grenadier model:

He's a bit vertically challenged but I'll just build up his base so his head is about even with everyone else.

Though it's jumping the gun a bit, I have already decided his paint scheme will be based on the yellow-headed gecko (not to be confused with the yellow-headed day gecko)

I had considered picking up the Grenadier lizard-man champion with lance, which was one of the first miniatures I ever had (in a Grenadier box set, when I was a kid, around 12 years old- when I had started playing AD&D - from Kay-Bee Toys, a gift from my Grandma). But seeing it now - it isn't nearly as grand as I recall it. I suppose that's true of many of the things of childhood. 

That said, even as I type this I still want one, so maybe for my birthday!

For now, all of the above is hidden away - although I hope I can remember where I stashed them when the day comes. I'm quite good at forgetting where I put things.

Santa himself will probably gift me some cash this year, and so a book or two is probably in the cards as it wouldn't be Christmas without some new reading material, but I don't want to presume anything and spend money I haven't got.

Rest assured, I have quite a long list of potential titles! 

(the post title is from the movie, Elf, spoken by my favorite character - the toy department manager)

Christmas Day Game WiP

Last night, I began putting paint to figures for this year's Christmas Day game - a folk horror scenario set in winter, on the American frontier in the early 1770s.

 First up, a colonist:

 

I was torn on painting style, but knew that "toy soldier" would not cut it for this scenario and the horror atmosphere. For the first attempt, I went with a base color-wash-second base color approach. This figure is *not* done yet - I am just testing to see how it looks.

 

So far, I dig it.  

I still have the musket barrel, shoe buckles, powder horn and flesh to attend to. Although, I do like the flesh as it is - just a white base coat and Agrax Earthshade - there is as large area on his face where it pooled and needs to be brought back down to something a little less "fell in a mud puddle".

 

 Up next, the first of the antagonists (SCS Direct wolves, from one of their monster boxes):

I will be painting up 10 wolves and wanted something quick to paint, but that conveyed the menace they represent. 

Inspired by a suggestion Roger (of The Hobby Blog for Model railways, Wargaming and Military modelling) made in a comment on a previous post, I went with a dry-brush only approach, and the result is just what I had in mind.

For my own notes: Black basecoat, Hippo Grey dry brush, Bridgport Grey dry brush, White drybrush. Easch dry brush layer was progressively less heavy as well.

Frankly, I was quite pleasantly surprised by how much detail these figures have - it was impossible for me to see it on the unpainted figure. So, I had expected the dry brush to yield, well, not much.

Eyes (maybe, and if so, in something unnatural) and basing and I will call these done. And then just 7 more to go 

My hope is to knock out the manfactured figures rather quickly over the next week, so I can have the rest of the time to make some home-made monsters and do any necessary terrain acquisition/creation.

2023 Christmas Game

Christmas Eve, 1942

The Germans have a vise-like grip on Europe with little signs of cracks in their defenses. They’ve made holiday present delivery nearly impossible with anti-aircraft guns firing at anything in the night sky. For obvious reasons, we can’t risk The Jolly Fat Man.

Our battalion is tasked with delivering presents to some isolated but occupied mountain villages. The children have had a terrible year under German occupation and we’re going to bring them a small spark of joy.  And by “bringing them a small spark of joy” we mean toys and killing Nazis.

Your platoon will be dropped South of Le Village Au-delà Des Pommes de Terre (a village in the alps between Italy and France)

Your mission:

• Eliminate and Infiltrate German defenses south of the village..
• Deliver the right present to the right recipient.
• Blow up the railway.
• Escape to the Extraction Zone.

If you miss the extraction flight, head south over the alps until you reach Italy. There you can make contact with Agent Dominick. The Reindeer cannot climb the hills of Italy, as you know.

You will each be given two spheres of Christmas Magic to assist you. Use them wisely. 

Good luck, and we’ll see you in the canteen for eggnog, post-mission.

Maj. Gen. Blitzen

Such was the set up for this year's Christmas day game for family and friends.

Players would each play a member of Santa's Animal Nighttime Tactical Assault Force (the acclaimed S.A.N.T.A. Force) - each worth 100 points in One Page Rules terms for Grimdark Future Firefight.

Of the three cats present, only Theoria was interested in helping.

The table layout. A tripod MG-42 team has the central hill, the others are held by bipod-mounted MGs.

Sam the Snowman is a North Pole operative deep undercover. Players can rendezvous with him for additional Christmas Magic.

By this point the PCs had handily eliminated the MG teams. Rat King (missing an ear) orders his Swarms forward

Rat Swarms engage a German infantry squad.

Rat King (foreground) makes contact with Sam the Snowman. Penguin thinks twice about standing in the road with a mobile MG barreling down towards it. 

One of the presents that had to be delivered.

Penguin trying to avoid the kublewagen's MG.

German reinforcements start to arrive.

Penguin takes out the driver and the kublewagen crashes and explodes,

Hedgehog is carrying the beacon and starts heading for the hill.

Owl targeted the NCO.

Beaver would single handedly destroy this tank. His chompers have a bite of AP4 and he tore it up like it was a tin can.

Hedgehog lit up the extraction beacon. The smoking SDK was thanks to team effort with Beaver delivering the final blow.

S.A.N.T.A. Force members made their way to the hill. The vehicle takes two turns to arrive.

Owl finished up some business first.

Extraction unit arrives and the party begins to climb in.

The pilot takes off under a hail of MG and rifle fire (the party's minis don't all physically fit, but in-game they had all boarded)

A completely successful mission!

****

For the third year running, I have run a game on Christmas for our family and friends. It is safe to say at this point that we have a tradition. And there is talk of someone else picking up the reigns for a Thanksgiving game next year (I run a game for our Family Fall Festival and Christmas, I need the break in between).

This year I wanted to make use of things I already had, rather than making or buying anything new - it seems a waste to make these things for a single game, never to see the light of day again. So, you may have recognized some of these things from previous games.

To add variety, I looked to the missions.

There were five presents, each to go to a different house. The present was an image representing the title of a Christmas song. Each building contained a piece of paper with the name of a song. The present had to be given to the house that matched. The song for each house could onl be revealted by a delivery attempt.

The images weren't difficult to decipher but some were just enough of a challenge to be entertaining. It also provided a challenge for the players, as quite often the player with a needed present was nowhere near the right house. Players could pass presents to other characters(owl for instance took one ,as he was faster and unhindered by terrain) but no animal could carry more than two presents, or one present and the extraction beacon.

One really game-y rule I put in place was that all player figures had to be beyond 18 inches from their baseline before any presents, but other than that, the players were free to handle the objectives in any order they desired.

To blow up the train tracks, the player had to roll a die, with the chance that it might not go off, or worse, it might be far bigger than expected. In the event, it only blew up what it was supposed to!

The first reinforcement (a single squad) arrived one turn after shooting started. No other reinforcements were set to arrive util turn 8. That gave the party 8 turns to take out three MG teams and a squad, and deliver presents, before the bulk of the German force arrived. 

Players were not required to contact Sam the Snowman, but if a player did, then Sam would give them a Christmas riddle to solve - a couple of them were math based, some were brain teasers. I let the whole party participate but only the player who met with Sam got the reward (two more Christmas Magic beads)

To avoid any kind of unfairness, I involved the players in the German reenforcement placement.

I indicated six spawn points on the table. On turn nine, Germans would arrive from two spawn points, for each of the next three rounds, but they could only arrive from a given spawn point one time. 

The players were asked to indicate which points were used for which turn, but they didn't know what would arrive. In the meantime, I had a list of order in which the reinforcements would arrive but no idea where each would come from. 

This worked out better than expected, with the party splitting up to deal with different threats before they decided on a plan for the extraction. 

Oh, one last thing, Christmas Magic. The player received two silver beads. They could be turned in for either:

• +2 to the current roll (even after the result was known)
• 1d3 wounds healed
• Force the enemy to re-roll

I wanted them to have interesting choices to make rather than specifying a particular effect. This is not dissimilar to Hero Points in FUBAR.

The game ran for a little over 3 hours of play time, with a break for dinner around the two-hour mark (We were supposed to be done BEFORE dinner, but there was some confusion and some people didn't arrive for two hours later than initially indicated). It seemed like everyone had a good time and with the exception of my son who was very tired by the end, everyone was engaged until the final flight back to the North Pole.

PSA: One Page Rules Patreon

When I was first trying to come up with a scenario for the annual Christmas game (this year is the third year!), I realized that I really needed to know what rules I was going to use, or I wouldn't be able to plan things outside of broad strokes.

Scene from tonight's playtest. Yes, that hedgehog did blow up that kubelwagen, with grenades and spells (it's a psykker/caster). 

We had a good bit of fun at this year's Family Fall Festival with One Page Rules Grim Dark Future: Firefight 

Everyone picked up the rules quickly and they could engage in some RPG-lite, have spotlight moments when their abilities made something cool happen, and they enjoyed discussing the tactics and how best to utilize special abilities to benefit the rest of the party.

So, it was a no-brainer really.

While I am happy to use the free force builders, and reskin things as needed, I learned that if you join the OPR patreon, you get access to the web app that you can use to build custom army lists. 

It is absolutely worth the price of admission ($5 USD/month and you can cancel anytime). There are other benefits too, like free copies of the full rulebooks (1 per month - which are available for sale on Wargamevault otherwise).

Each of the player character figures for the Christmas game is now stated out in a manner that makes them unique and reflects the type of animal they are.

You can even create your own custom weapons. For example, the beaver has "tail slap" as a close combat weapon. Much more evocative than "CCW" (close combat weapon).

I highly recommend joining the patreon if you enjoy the free OPR rules already and your toys aren't GW sci-fi or fantasy standards.

Some Things for Under the Christmas Tree

Despite having yet to plan the Christmas game for this year, I've been gathering up a plan for 2024!

While thinking over my collection and what kind of games I most enjoy playing, it dawned on me that  "games my son will play with me" top the list. Historical games have some appeal to him, especially if they involves tanks (Panzer Kids Deluxe for the win!), but it is sci-fi and fantasy that really capture his attention and enthusiasm.

I can't say I blame him - I was the same way at his age.

Last year, he did a book report on  Skavenslayer, and this year he did a report on Trollslayer. We've been playing Age of Fantasy: Skirmish lately - he's running an orc warband (Reaper Bones miniatures) through a very loose campaign  of the best-of-five variety. And, as I may have mentioned previously, we've been playing a b/x / 1e D&D mega-dungeon campaign since July - sometimes playing three or four times a week. He is also in a 5e D&D campaign as part of an after school club he is in, and in our family & friends 5e campaigns.

As much as he enjoys all of the fantasy settings and creatures, 40K lore has more or less taken over his life (thanks, YouTube). 

While he plays some of the video games, and has mods for other games that add 40K skins, he has not been particularly driven to play anything on the tabletop. Possibly in large part because I have nothing to entice him with - although we have on occasion raided his toy bins for Star Wars figures to use with Grim Dark Future : Firefight.

I have, then, after much deliberation, decided that 2024 will be the Year of Grimdark.

Although I got him a starter paint box with three Infernus space marines for his birthday, if I can get him to paint those three, it may be a miracle. So, it's safest to assume that all of the painting will fall to me.

In that case, I might as well acquire and paint figures I want to paint. 

However, I couldn't justify buying figures for myself - austerity measures and all that - EXCEPT, I realized if these are Christmas presents for myself and I cannot do anything with them until Christmas Day, AND i'm travel immediately after until New Year's Eve, they are really just 2024 purchases that arrived early.

"The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma." - Patrick Star

Here then are much of what will be 2024's painting queue and what will be waiting under the tree for me this year.

First up, Plague Marines / Death Guard:

My son loves Nurgle. I don't know why. I guess slime, snot, and disease are fun? 

In any case, I find the Plague Marine/ Death Guard compelling as figures - sort of Lovecraftian abominations.

These were acquired fully assembled and primed from Frontline Gaming - the neoprene mat people. They also, I have learned, do a brisk business in second-hand figures. The price was quite reasonable - less than the cost of a single box of the same figures shrink wrapped on the sprue and it saves me from having to decide on options which I couldn't care less about.

Next, Space Marine: The Board Game:

This is a Target exclusive. 

You get 22 Tyranids and a single space marine character, and some other stuff that might be handy(like the play mat) plus the game itself, for $39.99 usd.

The character figure will bulk out  my son's three Infernus (the ones he has yet to paint) to a 200+ point Grimdark Future : Firefight force. The 22 Tyranids will give us a similar point force, using about 15 of the models! 

My son tells me no one non-ironically likes Tyranids, but I do. I think they're cute. Especially in light of the Tiny Tyranid shorts on YouTube.

Finally, while there is a three Intercessor and paint starter box (which would bring the space marines up to 7 total figures), there is a better deal to be had with a used copy of Fireteam which also includes enough Necrons for yet another Grimdark Future: Firefight force, in addition to a whole separate board game that looks intriguing.

That order was just placed so it's on the way and I was too impatient to wait for it before I posted. 

Speaking of board games (how was that for a slick transition?) I also picked up Der Welterkrieg: The Italian Front. My son won't play this with me most likely, but that's fine - I bought it to play solitaire:

Picture from BoardGameGeek because I'm too lazy to walk to the back of the apartment to take a picture of my copy.

I haven't been this excited for my own Christmas presents in awhile!

Happy New Year!

 Happy New Year, one and all!

This is my favorite time of year on the wargaming blogs - I love reading year end reviews and reading about plans/predictions/possible ideas for the coming year. 

Robot wooden soldiers. Clothes-pin dolls, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, pom-poms.

Not coincidentally, I also like doing that kind of post myself. In a change of approach, rather than pepper this post with pics of games from throughout 2022, I am posting pictures of the forces involved in the holiday game - their close-ups if you will.

I had a fairly minimal plan for 2022.  How did I do?

Play 1 toy soldiers game per month

Well, I played at least one figure game each month, save one, but in some months, I played several. So, I'll call it a goal met!

It also seems that I played no less than 15 different sets of rules. Some of the only once mind, but still. The standout "discoveries" for me were Age of Fantasy and Age of Heroes (used for the Christmas game).

The Rats! Air-dry clay, popsicle sticks, tooth pics, pipe cleaner. 

Play 1 board game per month (not even a wargame necessarily)

Board gaming started strong and then dropped off. Not for lack of interest, but there's only so much time in the day.

Get at least one Venusian force with options ready for the table

I completed my Venusian lizard force which I can field with either the Triceratops with howdah or with a Spinosaurus or Tyrannosaurus with beast-master. Of course, I love this force more than anything else I have in my collection and want to give them a few options more,

My Tanitians almost made it before my painting mojo up and left. Five figures remain. If I had an orange paint that didn't require half-a-dozen or more coats to cover black (like for touch-ups when I overpaint), they would be done. None-the-less, they are still functional as Dark Elves, for Age of Fantasy and even won the round-robin.

My French Foreign Legion force also almost made it but is one figure short of my initial goal for the project - they need a hero/leader figure. 

Clara. She began life as a Disney Little Bo Peep figure from Dollar Tree that I had picked up with the belief that I would find a use for her. A paint conversion and craft foam to turn her outfit into a holiday dress was all it took to finally get her into a game.

Bring each WWI force up to three "companies" (H.M.G. suggests 8 figure Bersaglieri and 9 figure Austrian) and 2 MG bases.

This project has always had a moving goal post.  I reached the three companies/2 MG goal, if you count 6 figures as a company. Which I decided part-way through the year that I do.  While I am quite happy with where I'm at figure-wise, it's easy to justify painting a handful of figures more on each side yet.

Post less, Comment more

I started the year with this in mind and did indeed cut back on my posting and increased my commenting. However, with my dad's passing, I really doubled-down on this goal.

I am fortunate and grateful for the readers I have, many of whom comment. I am the kind of person who would write whether anyone read it or not - indeed before I had my first blog, I had notebooks and then a Google Doc, of my gaming ramblings. That said, it's always uplifting to receive comments and to feel like you're having a conversation with like-minded hobbyists and not just shouting into the wind.

I am trying to pay-it-forward if you will.

Now, I don't track how much I comment (that just seems crass), but I know that it is far more than I have in the past. I have also upped my participation in forums I read, whether a simple thumbs up on a post of someone's figures or an actual comment when I have something to contribute in regards to a question.

This is now part of how I approach the hobby.    

***

So, all said and done, not a bad showing. 

The figures the players chose for the holiday game. Yes, the fox is smoking a cigar (splinter of popsicle stick). I imagined the fox as Hannibal from the A-Team when I made it. The deer is obviously a plastic toy, the rifles are Toy Soldiers of San Diego The figures, except the deer, are air dry clay.

However, going into 2023, I am avoiding any kind of commitment or plan. Not that I've ever felt bound by these things, but I think, for 2023, I'm going to just say, that as of today, this is what I'm feeling is likely.

Not to say I haven't put a lot of thought into it - I've been writing this post for weeks now. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that whatever I do this year, I want to game more and worry less about painting. I'm in a good spot for that, as most of my collections are in a game-able state. 

Evil Industrialist (Sir Topham Hatt) and conductor (both are prepaints, by Ertl). Iron Golem Nutcracker (wooden craft kit nutcracker)

What I do paint, should bring something new to the table - pun absolutely intended - not just more of the same (for example, I could use some more Austiran and Italian regular rifle bases, just in case, but that doesn't give me anything new). Thinking of the games I want to play, here is what I foresee working on:

WWI Southern Front:

Objective: Add on-table air power to Italy and Austria and give the Italians the ability to field cavalry sufficient for One Hour Wargames force lists.

• 1/48 Nieuport 17
• 1/48 Albatross D.III
  
• 3 Italian cavalry (2 would be plenty, but the third allows for a cavalry leader figure for Trench Hammer)

WWII PTO:

I have not really used these figures at all in many years and want to get the back on the table and with one of my favorite rules sets.

Objective: Give the USMC support weapons to allow both sides to field either attacker or defender for Dick Bryant's small Crossfire scenarios. 

• 1/72 USMC MG team (2 figures)
  
• 1/72 USMC mortar team (2 figures)
  
• 1/72 USMC Forward observer (1 figure)
• 1/72 USMC bazooka figure (1 figure)
  

The figures the players didn't choose. The beaver with the flamethrower was a popular option but in the end no one chose it. I am most happy with the owl - both the yes and the look of feathers. Air dry clay, pipe cleaner, Toy Soldiers of Sand Diego Thompson.

Weird World War I:

Objective:  Play a game of WWWI set on the Western Front

• 4 WWI 1/35 French (finish them)

Fantasy: 

Objective: Give my lizards options for how to deploy archers. 

• 4 Lizard archers
  

Objective: Play Blitz Bowl

• Skaven and Reavers Blitz Bowl Teams (12 figures total) - Blitz Bowl? GW? What? I'll discuss in a future post, probably.

These are wooden "mother" peg dolls. They were the zombie like cyborg workers in the warehouse for the holiday game. They are based on the drones from The Black Hole (Disney, 1979, one of my favorite movies when I was a kid).

The above also gives you an idea of the kinds of games I am thinking about playing. What's not listed there, but could be under Fantasy, is a D&D 5e campaign. 

I'll be running the Starter Set campaign, Lost Mine of Phandelver, for family and friends (the same as the participants in the holiday game) as we all want to learn 5e - primarily out of curiosity but also because that's what the kids play at my son's school, and he's expressed an interest. This will kick off in late January.

If it goes well and we like it, the other DM in the group may run the Essentials Set adventure or a homebrew or who knows, and I'll get a chance to run a PC - it's been a few years!

***

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and you're able to get in some hobby time and games, even if it's not as much as you'd ideally like. 

And if you can't, maybe just read some blog posts now and again, visit the forums (I like Lead Adventure and Little Wars Revisited), read some history, read Lone Warrior or one of the other gaming journals. Watch movies and documentaries.

Whatever you do, you are still a part of the hobby.

Happy New Year!

(As a bonus, here's a recent picture of Peppermint, cone-free, enjoying the sun and the grass, and loving life)