30 January 2016

Averaigne campaign - session 06




[The story so far]

Session 06 - Corcelle at last

After a good night's sleep, the party (now including the halfling thief, Gowmac) set off to Corcelle with the aged priest Berignon and the cart of trading goods which had been the charge of Berignon's late comrades (the first adventuring party who had met an unfortunate goblin-related end)

25 January 2016

Lego Rampant - battle for the crown

Ba'al Harredzar (evil wizard, wicked uncle, kicker of cats, and all-round Bad Sort) was in need of a stronghold, an income stream, and a veneer of respectability... Oh look! A small out of the way kingdom! Perfect.....


23 January 2016

Lego Rampant

I can't quite believe I'm the first to do this, but a quick spot of googling seemed to say otherwise. I give you... Lego Rampant!

Tidying up after another day in which my boys seemed to have the sole aim of carpeting the house in tiny bits of... stuff, I realised that their Big Present from Christmas (a rather fab Lego castle) would provide them with a warband apiece for a game of Dragon Rampant tomorrow.

Introducing the dramatis personae. First, the "goodies"...

King Larenath
Elite riders, Level headed, Single Model Unit, Leader [8pts]

18 January 2016

Chaos warband [DR]

I've mentioned Dragon Rampant in my last couple of posts (I've also just ordered Lion Rampant for the extra options, scenarios, and for straight pseudo-historical gaming), and this one will continue that theme. It's also an Oldhammer post because the figures I'm using have that vibe and these warbands will be based in such a way that they can be used for Warhammer 2nd and 3rd editions.

Although my stated plan is to complete a 24pt warband of chaotic ne'er-do-wells, it would be nice to give myself some options, especially as I reckon I could manage 30pt games on my table without it being so crowded it wasn't worth it. I'll start with what I've already got, then move on to the additions I hope to paint this year for this small section of my own personal Geekstarter.

The swan knight
Elite riders, Level-headed, Leader, Single model unit
8 points



15 January 2016

Fresh from the jar

Whew! Busy week! Nevertheless, some geeking happened. I've picked the models I'm going to paint this month and got them pretty much prepped (four beastmen to take me up to twelve for a full Dragon Rampant unit of Bellicose Foot, and the two Ral Partha skeleton ogres to give me some Heavy Foot for my undead DR warband). I had intended to paint last night but after a couple of clumsiness incidents went for clearing out my ice cream tub of stripping models. Quite a variety, it turns out!

What can you spot?

I did at least get to continue our Swords & Wizardry Averaigne campaign this afternoon. Details to follow.

Enjoy your weekend,
Rab

10 January 2016

Some die are cast

EDIT - I've changed the title to the die are cast because I realised that in 49BC this was the day that Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with the immortal gamer's line "alea iacta est"

First game of the year, and first game of Dragon Rampant. It's great!


Younger son (EM, aged 5 1/2) has been pestering for a 'knight game' for most of the week, usually just as I'm heading off to work or he's being put to bed... Today I put that right!

I had to cheat a little with my usual gaming rule to only play using painted miniatures, but they were ghosts/undead so it didn't feel as bad. Don't judge me!

We played a straight battle, despite my very very strong preference for narrative or scenario gaming, while we got the hang of the rules. I took a chaotic warband and my two boys generalled the undead I've been painting recently.

6 January 2016

The costs of gaming - December 2015

Jan 2015  -  £00.00   (0/0/0)

Feb 2015  -  £24.99   (5/5/0)
Mar 2015  -  £46.11   (20/7/-13)
Apr 2015  -  £06.40   (2/12/10)
May 2015 -  £07.07   (-25/2/27)
Jun 2015  -  £34.00   (25/0/-25)
Jul 2015   -  £00.00   (-2/3/5)
Aug 2015  -  £00.00  (1/0/-1)
Sep 2015  -  £00.00   (1/3/2)
Orc 2015  -  £34.00   (27/2/-25)
Nov 2015  -  £22.04   (3/0/-3)

December 2015


  • BOUGHT - two OOP Santa figures from Wargames Foundry (+3 freebies!)  £4.00
  • BOUGHT - Warhammer Fantasy 2nd Edition (boxed, complete) £4.00
  • SOLD - a bunch (approx 160*) of 15mm HYW figures £36.10
  • BOUGHT - three oldhammer undeads from FB £5.00
  • TOTAL for December - £28.10   (-32/24/56)


Total net. expenditure for 2015 to date         = £182.68
Remaining acceptable expenditure for 2015 = £-32.68

In something similar to the LAF lead-hoarders vow, I'm also recording the number of figures purchased versus the number painted, which is what the numbers in brackets after each month's total represents - (net unpainted acquired/painted/net total for the month). *I'm counting the 15mm I sold as 0.25 figures for this purpose. So, here you go:

Net. unpainted figures acquired in 2015   = 25
Of which, painted to date        = 26
Total no. figures painted         = 56

Net. unpainted hoarding status 31

Yeah, baby, finishing the year in the green! For hoarding at least, if not for spending ;)

So, a whole year of keeping track. It has kept my spending down and I take a certain pride in having managed to reduce my leadpile by so much! I'm not sure I'll be quite so detailed in 2016, but I will keep track, if only to keep Malc happy!

Toodle-oo,
Rab

2 January 2016

Geekstarter - more details



Last night I posted about my idea to "kickstart" my 2016 hobby endeavours (I work best when I have a structure with achievable goals!) within my pun-tastic idea of a personal Geekstarter, and how I was going to split it into four sections (Painting, Building, Gaming, and Blogging), each with Core and Stretch goals.

My Core aim overall is to play a two games of Dragon Rampant on my own gaming table, using different warbands I've painted myself in each game, and to keep you lot informed of my progress. So what does that look like in detail?

1 January 2016

Old year / New year

I love New Year.

It's not that I'm a party animal, or that I have any great fondness for Auld Lang Syne, I don't make resolutions that I tell myself will make my life better. I don't use it as an excuse for catching up with family as I am thankfully on good terms with all of them, and I'm lucky enough not to need to undertake some punitive diet or exercise regime for the sake of my health, so there's no false self-promise of "this year it will be different". I'm a fairly contented chap, really.

I love the freshness of it, though. I have previously admitted to my enjoyment of stationery and to the deep sense of satisfaction that a new sketchbook or notebook gives. New Year (and any new beginning, for that matter) shares some of that same potential for me. I also am something of a traditionalist (conservative with a small "c", if you like), and it is traditional to review the year just gone set out one's stall for the year ahead. Here goes.


2015

At the beginning of 2015 I set out three aims for myself, modest aims. And I failed in all three! I didn't finish writing Knights' Quest, I didn't finish painting my giant, and I didn't build my gladiators' arena. I did, however, build a gaming table, paint some of the aforementioned gladiators, and get my teeth into developing Knights' Quest in a way that made the core more solid and the additions (skills, traits and magic) consistent and balanced. I was scrupulously honest about my spending (an interesting exercise!). I put together some thoughts on undead creatures in 2nd and 2rd edition Warhammer that were well received. I also painted fifty-six miniatures! More than my secret goal of averaging one per week, and some of them turned out to be pretty snazzy in my eyes. In addition to December's splurge of skeleton painting, my chaos warband in particular got some attention:


That lot, along with the more recent chaos warriors that I painted will form a burgeoning warband for Dragon Rampant as well as their Oldhammer duties!

Enough of the old, on with the new! Look at that lovely blank page....



2016

Encouraged by the kick that painting for Deadcember gave to my output, I looked around for another structured project approach that would kickstart my output and minimise my outlay. But what to choose? I needed a kickstarter... no, I needed a:


Borrowing the structure from the crowdfunding site, I shall set out my core project and stretch goals to see if I can successfully complete my stated project by the end of this year. I'm going to have four categories: Painting, Building, Gaming and Blogging. Each will have their own core and stretch goals and I will monitor progress towards them each month in the way that I tracked my spending in 2015.

More on the details over the next few days, but now to bed.

Happy New Year,
Rab