One Ring to Tempt Them All

Seems GW is resurrecting their Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, what with the Hobbit movie due out in December and all. I've been on a bit of a LotR resurrection myself for the last year or so – rewatching all the extended movies and testing out the new RPG The One Ring from Cubicle 7 – so it's surely tempting to jump aboard at this time.

Now, I've never actually played the game but I have read the rules. To me they feel very streamlined and seem to offer a surprising amount of tactical depth, at least compared to the usual, old and somewhat tired-feeling GW rules engine ("roll to hit, roll to wound, roll to save").

I have some Rohan miniatures painted up for a Basic Impetus Fantasy project but I have long considered rebasing them on individual bases to make them more flexible. I also have a small Isengard force, still in their boxes/blisters, and forty or so badly painted uruk-hais that I bought cheap from and online auction site. Getting it all ready for some test games should be a fairly easy thing.

Hm, need to think about this some more ...

Projects for 2012

Finally I've decided on my projects for 2012. I'm probably not alone in having a big list of ideas I'd like to get done some day, but these are the projects I'm going to concentrate on for the coming year. They are prioritized according to the aspects in the previous post.

SAGA
I'm going to finish my two 4 points warbands, vikings and anglo-danish. Originally I thought about doing some more terrain, and also custom made Fatigue markers, but these will have to wait until I've actually played the game. If it's as fun as I hope, then all these will eventually be done along with the additional troops to bring both warbands up to 6 points. But not before the next project is finished.

Old West
I took advantage of Foundry's clearance sale: All their books were 50% off and shipping was free (normally their shipping charges are ridiculous to say the least). Looking in the books section I found the Rules with No Name Mega Starter Set – rulebook, 13 models, brushes (not that I need them) and 12 "paint packs" (36 pots in total). I worked out that the paints alone would cost me more than the mega deal (yes, even if I bought them from the excellent Caliver Books). Well, that's a deal if I ever saw one.

So the next project, after the SAGA 4 points warbands are done, is two posses for Legends of the Old West: Lawmen and outlaws. This will be a fairly quick one, as I only need to paint six models each for the posses. Now, the terrain though, that's an entirely different matter ...

Basic Impetus
My Wars of the Roses projects trudges on, gaining and losing steam on an irregular basis. To get the damn thing finished at last, I've decided I will do a complete "type" (eg billmen, bowmen) in-between each project as well as in-between each "team" for the projects. That way I will have the entire project done during the year.

Three smallish projects should keep me well occupied for 2012 considering my usual speed! But in the unlikely event I need something more, here are the bonus projects:

Pulp

I ran a three part mini campaign for some friends a couple of years back using the splendid 45 Adventure rules. Now, it wasn't the best or most imaginative scenarios but we had fun nevertheless. I've been itching to do something with the player characters developed for the scenarios. Perhaps a mystery in the jungle will pique Ms Roundtree's and Professor Wolcott's interests? Or an excavation in the desert, or something in the Antarctic, or ... Too many idead, too little time.

The Smoke
This is my secret steampunk skirmish project I've been thinking about for some years. Not decided on rules yet, but possibly 45 Adventure or some tweaked Legends of X. I recently learned of Westwind's Empire of the Dead, which looks as if it will give me some ideas. 

Well, there you have it: My plans for 2012. Now for the hard part – sticking to them!

Not gone

Just a quick update to say I'm not gone, but I am rather busy what with job, a baby with a cold and yes, even some painting.

The happy news is that the Vikings are done. Yes, indeed. Pics forthcoming.

The anglo-danish are all prepped and ready for undercoating.

The projects list are still a WIP, though most of it I have decided.

And finally there's been some progress on the WotR project (although not without its hiccups). More on that later.

Hopefully I will post a lengthier update later this week, including som much needed pictures. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Prioritizing

In the projects post i mentioned my plans for 2012 and before I talk about them I need to talk about my gaming situation. See, the people I game with are really cool and I like them a lot, but they are not wargamers. Therefore, if I want to try a new game I need to paint up at least two armies/warbands/teams and make all the neccessary terrain myself. All of which means that the start up time for any new periods/games tends to be rather long. 

(I've thought about joining a club, to get more "into it" gaming friends, but so far I've not done it. Maybe this year?)

Anyway, for 2012 I've decided to make a list of projects I want to do, rather than just buying things at random. They will be rated according to a couple of aspects, to find out which projects are to be prioritized. These aspects are, in descending order of importance:

1. Likelyhood of it getting played when finished.
2. Number of miniatures to paint.
3. Amount of new terrain to be made (also, how generic/usable are the new terrain).
4. Cost.

I'm putting gaming at the top, because in the past I've realized that nothing is more motivating than an actual plan to put it all on the table.

2 and 3 are related, as they are all about the time it will take to get the damn thing finished.

To tell you the truth, number 4 hasn't been too important in the past. But since I will be on paternity leave for most part of the year, the family budget (and as a result my hobby budget) will be a little tighter this year. Also, I'd rather spend my money on something that gets played than something that just get tucked in my bulging cupboards.

I'm still mulling the list of projects over, two projects are already decided, and hopefully I will post it in a day or two.

Viking Ulfhednar

I'm pressing on with the viking ulfhednar/berserkers. Last night I managed to get all the skin done, and then started on the shields. After that it's just the metals and they are done. Yes! Hopefully I will have time to finish them tonight. As usual I wait until all models are done before doing the bases, to keep them consistent.

 Sorry about the lousy picture. I used my mobile phone and the light's not very good today either.

If you look closely, you can see two of the final five models for the 4 points warband in the background. I had time to glue them to their bases and attach their shields. The plan is to start painting them this weekend if I can find the time.

Current Projects

Well if I'm going to get this thing rolling I need to form some sort of plan and to do that I need to know where I am right now and start prioritizing (more on that in a later post).

Let's start with a list of my current projects and their status:

SAGA
Two warbands, Vikings and Anglo-Danish, 4 points each to start with but eventually I want to bring them up to 6 points.

Vikings
Warlord – done
Hirdmen (4) 1 pt – done
Bondi, hand weapons (8) 1 pt – done
Bondi, spears (8) 1 pt  – 3/8 done
Ulfhednar (4) 1 pt – Almost done

As usual I will do all the bases at the end, so the done aren't really "done-done" yet.

To bring them up to 6 points I will add a unit of 12 archers and another unit of 4 hirdmen.

Anglo-Danish
Warlord
Huscarls with axes (4) 1 pt
Huscarls with spears (4) 1 pt
Ceorls (16) 2 pts

I haven't started on these yet, but since the vikings took a little longer than expected I will probably do these quickly using Army Painter's dip.

Added to these will be a unit of 12 slingers and some more huscarls to bring the warband up to 6 points. 


Basic Impetus
Two Wars of the Roses armies, early Lancasters and Yorks, using 6 mm Baccus miniatures. The original plan was to cover all the options for both armies, bringing the total number of bases to 24. An easier approach would be to stick with the basic lists, and a total of 17 bases.

Here I've only managed to finish all 4 bases of dismounted men-at-arms/nobles. The 4 bases of billmen are mounted on painting sticks and undercoated. 

Blood Bowl
Human team, "Altdorf Altdorfers". 14 miniatures.

Won these classic miniatures on eBay in the beginning of last year when I had a sudden urge to play Blood Bowl. Really struggled with painting these as they have a sort of weird feel to them, very "unclean" in an old school way. I'd say I'm about 70–80% done, but looking at them now I'm not very happy about the painting and just want to strip them and start over. Well, we'll see.

So there you have it, my list of unfinished projects. Of course, if I were to look closer I'd come up with a couple of more, older ones (to say nothing of all the miniatures bought and added to the dreaded lead pile ...). These are the projects started in 2011.

A New Beginning

Hi there!

My name is Jonas. I'm 37 years old and live in Stockholm, Sweden with my fiancé and our baby boy.

I've been gaming for most of my life, mostly RPGs but also boardgames and miniatures wargames.

This blog will be an excuse to post about my various wargaming projects, with a sprinkle of battle reports, random ramblings and whatever takes my fancy.

Like many (most?) wargamers I suffer from "oh shiny"-syndrome, starting many projects but finishing few. This past year, 2011, has been a complete disaster in that regard. I therefore vow that 2012 shall be my Year of Finishing Stuff and this blog will hopefully help me accomplish that.

Please stay along for the ride if you like – post comments, ask questions and cheer me on.

Thanks for reading,
Jonas