2018 wrap up - and plans for 2019

Ah, the end of the year summary and planning for 2019.


What did I promise in 2018.... Nothing!
What a mastermind I was. No promises done, nothing to break.

Well, I did try to hold the famous "Don't buy, Paint" philosophy every gamer tries to hold every day or so.
Results:
- I painted half of what I promised.
- I bought twice what I planned.
- I painted more terrain for my fantasy campaign
The good news, because we have to be objective at the beginning of the year, is that I painted more than I acquired.

Gaming wise, PUBG screwed me. That and a promotion that meants more business travelling away from home. More than 60 days only for the last semester of 2018. And we also implemented a Thursday RPG with a group of friends, alternating who is the Game Master.

I did little games at home, but did few X-Wing games, boardgames with the family, a big Bolt Action game and that's it.

2019, what should I look for?
- Well, first, buy less, clean up some shelves of stuff that will never be painted.
- Enjoy my painting with things I will put on a table and play them
- Play games

The blog is not dead, just time is short

So long since the last post... And so little hobby has been achieved in between.

I will soon post, once finished, the miniatures I have been painting. There has been time for painting, but a lot less for playing, beside the Game of Life and some Citadelles games.

Beside work, I spent a lot of time on World of Tank (aka WoT). Mostly for research (finally a job where playing video game is a job duty). As any online game, it can bring frustration and epic moment. The key part in WoT is that it kind of reflect tank battle. Communication with other tanks is limited, which feels ww2 like. You have to trust your teammate to do the right things.

More soon, about minis!

2016 - Wrapping up the year

End of the year.
Not much communication this month, it was all about plotting for Xmas, hiding toys and making secret plans.

A quick recap of the year

Video Games:
Colonization, because I can't get enough of it. I used the R&R mod and usually team up with another random computer player with domination as an aim.
Mordheim City of the Dead, after failing miserably with Skaven and Sisters, I built up a mercenary team and finished the campaign.

From left to right: Tamme Feuerhertz, Jogger, Gogol, Captain Mc Douglas, Popol Grossfrap, One Eye, Bob Francis, Lologolas, Eul' Jeunot

I really enjoyed Mordheim, but I am skeptical about what publisher do these days about DLC and stuff. The game would greatly improve by opening up modding.

Battlefleet Gothic. The latest game I am playing. Trying to hold the Gothic system against everybody, I get more accustomed to some of the small strategic decision (which system to defend for instance). I build my fleet around firepower, castle mode: All the ships together, ganging up against single enemy and destroying small ships as fast as possible and moving up the ladder.

Miniature games:
Bolt Action - Partisan vs German. Only one game of Bolt Action this year. My partisan fought against german elite units. I almost wiped the Germans, but with the scenario rule, it ended up as a tie.
Fantasy Campaign (3 episodes so far). I am planning to play at least 1 game before year end.
Star Wars Campaign (3 turns, but with the new movie, the mojo is coming back).
boardgames game (Space race, Citadelle, Settlers of Catan, Monster Cafe, Entdecker)
Basing (Morikun's challenge). I did the challenge. I stopped seriously basing my models some times ago, and switched to clear bases. Taking the challenge was fun, but I've lost the mini somewhere.

Painting:
I painted more 1/72 vehicles. To be honest, I don't know why I am painting them as nobody play them around me. Maybe because it always end up in 1/72.
I painted more fantasy than anything this year, and more in WIP. It was followed by genestealers and aliens. I have space marines waiting for proper heads, which is to say beaky helmet for me.
Terrain-wise, this has been a dungeon year with most of my tiles painted and all the props done.

Youtube wise, I have spent the past year enjoying Morjax (here) take on "the Walking Dead", the video game, and watch Military History Visualized (here)

Finally, we went to Beijing for Xmas and enjoy some snow there. On the airplane, some entertainment where I saw the category for Ghostbuster 2016: DO NOT USE. I watched it and agreed completely. A really sad reboot.

September progress: rebasing and Genestealer horde

Remember, remember, the month of September.

Well, with a very hectic agenda, canceled business business, late meetings and social events, there was very little energy left to plan a proper game.
So it ended up as paint sessions, and with fellow bloggers who decided to paint tabletop quality, I felt less ashamed to do the same.

Genestealer horde, so support my dear aliens in actual combat

Some terminators I have decided to glue.

An old (Ral Partha?) thief

a dwarf that acted in a coca cola commercial

And the final shot with the new base, while watching Battleship, a very terrible movie.

2016 Planning, quick summary of 2015. Planification de 2016 et court resume de 2015

My brain version of Inside Out

2015 saw the closure of my two campaigns: The Reich of the Thousand Deads and USS Serenity. I had good fun running them and they are a good benchmark of how I will write reports.
2015 a vu la fin de mes 2 campagnes: he Reich of the Thousand Deads et USS Serenity. Cela a été très amusant à jouer et c'est une bonne référence pour comment écrire mes rapports de bataille.

2015 is over, hello~ 2016.
What? I am 20 days too late? As Joan of Arc said in the movie: "Better late than never".
2015 est fini, salut 2016
Quoi? 20 jours en retard? Comme disait Jeanne d'Arc dans le documentaire de Luc Besson avec Mila, "Plutôt tard que jamais"

So, I have finished 2015 in a bust, with a Star Wars Armada and victory of the Empire, followed by a skirmish of Mordheim (video game).
Then, there was a FFG X-wing game the week-end thereafter.
J'ai fini 2015 sur un feu d'artifice, avec un Star Wars Armada et une victoire de l'Empire, suivi d'une partie en ligne de Mordheim.
Puis, ce fut une partie de X-wing (FFG) le week-end suivant.

Victoire de l'Alliance Rebelle

It is very auspicious. Star Wars will be one of the theme of the year, with solo campaign reports. I have almost finished polishing the space battle rules of THW.
Cela résume bien ce qui va suivre cette année. Star Wars sera un des thèmes de 2016 avec une campagne solo dont j'ai bientôt fini de polir les règles (en m'inspirant des regles de THW)

Star Wars Theme is strong in my family. I have it, my son has it, my daughter has it,...

Then, I am back to painting. I have a strong wish to play a special campaign using the tens of tiles of dungeons kickstarters I have received/am receiving.
Puis, je suis de retour avec de la peinture. J'ai une bonne inspi pour une campagne spéciale en utilisant les dizaines de tuiles de kickstarters de donjons que j'ai reçu ou sur le point de recevoir. 

Good stuff from Daedaloom (Etsy)

Buy from Daedaloom here

 

That will mean less zombies for now and new stuff to do.
Also, there may be some bolt action mojo left, and it will be put in good use if I can.
Cela signifie moins de zombies et plus de nouvelles choses. Il y aura encore du jus de bolt action et cela va être utilisé à bon escient. 

In 2015, there is one thing I did not complete, the basing challenge. I had a good start, but too lazy/no inspiration to finish.
En 2015 il y a une chose que je n'ai pas complètée, c'est le concours des 100'000. J'avais un bon départ mais j'ai été trop fainéant/sans inspiration pour finir.

WIP. J'avais pensé faire la même base pour les 5 thèmes.

 

Back from China and other travels - A gone month

Keep out of gaming...

After a month of travel, I have done very little on the game scene.

It should be going better until mid-March where I am supposed to fly again.

I received few boxes for my birthday, increasing my lead size by 240 miniatures (FireForge)


Any suggestion how to play while traveling?

November: Painting front progress

I am putting a small update.
I am undergoing few mass painting projects:
- Ongoing. forty something German Elite forces (the one that can't be named in Germany) for Bolt Action
- Completed.Three US mecha for Secret of the Third Reich that I had in stock for a long time
- Completed. Weird World War 2 survivors. I have British survivors left but no real mood to finish them. Shelved for now.
- Ongoing. Battle for Alabaster beasties and zombies. I need few additonal strokes to complete them.

Jean-Jacques and Jacques. They were petty criminals during the zombie outbreak. Jacques was accountant for the Mafia and Jean-Jacques a thug.When Hell broke out, Jacques convinced Jean-Jacques to flee the city. Since then, they fight and survive, bit always trying to chose the winning side.


I start to work on my new campaign for 2015 that will replace The Reich of Thousand Deads, in apocalyptic settings.

What happened to September?

September is really a short month. Not yet started, already finished and I haven't done anything on the hobby side.
Well, I had few business trips who broken my mojo (tired, traveling on weekdays + week-ends).

I have achieved little and I am now late by 2 scenarios for The Reich of the Thousand Deads. Trying to make one scenario before end of the month,... running out of time...

Most of the month was spent on getting my BattleSystems ready. Great stuff overall, but it can be very painful when the sheets are not well cut. For instance, my stairs and railway sheets were all badly cut (the cutoff area was partially cut, the printed area was not properly aligned).
Gamewise, once setup, the terrain is very sturdy and highly flexible. It is way beyond my painting capacity, so I will highly recommend.
They recently ran a kickstarter for fantasy. I am running out of space, so I couldn't back it up.

Right, my little trooper is happily helping out and brought his playmobil to a gun fight

Small setup with few walls and props.

Close up on the boxes and the beds

Deploy the team!

There is trace of gun fight (note, I forgot one of the ramp)

And now, A pink King Tiger, next to princess stuff.... I love Hong Kong for stuff like this

Trip to London (June 2-June 8)

I am sure my wife would do that to prevent me for buying stuff...

I am planned to hit London Heathrow next week and getting excited.
Can anybody advise a shop within reach of London Public Transport for a quick shopping spree (miniatures, models, ...)?

That would be my second time in London (last one was 11 years ago!) and even if it is a business trip, it sounds good time to buy stuff without shipping cost or Hong Kong prices (a box of Dad's Army cost about HK$ 580 at the local store, or around 55 euro)

On the gaming side, I am planning the next episode of the Reich of the Thousand Deads on Saturday, just before taking my flight.
I have also almost finished my APE (Secret of the Third Reich, American Heavy Troopers, Terminator like, that will be 11 of them and French Foreign Legion version), painting more survivors, trimming my Gurkhas (and even found a scenario idea from last episode of Reich of the Thousand Deads).
I have sold 20 US Airborne, so that they can hit a tabletop one day and get painted.
I have also printed the card of Run n' Steel and plan a little game.

So, I am hitting the 60% of my mountain lead painted for the first time ever. 

On the Kickstarter front: 

Mein Furher, your kickstarter has been blew by the RAF here and here...

Battle System (Kickstarter) is coming along (July I believe).
Incursion (Kickstarter, with hundreds of weird troops) is coming around September. That's good, I was expecting a year delay. Bad, I need to find space.
Heroes of Normandy (kickstarter) is coming too. For APAC shipping the company in charge of shipping had cold feet and backed away, giving a 2 month delay to the delivery. But I am also having second thought about the game. Do I really need it? Well, we'll find out when I receive it.

 Gosh. 3 kickstarters at once.
And there is a secret FRP order coming its way with ships to replace OoP Bretonnian (can't find them anymore) for my Man o' War.

US Military has a plan for... Zombie Apocalypse

ok, it sounds phony but... it is real.

Military planners have to plan everything, just in case. And they actually worked on plans for zombie apocalypse with all different flavour : zombie from space, zombie with high contageous factor, even zombie chicken(!)

Find more here:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/13/exclusive_the_pentagon_has_a_plan_to_stop_the_zombie_apocalypse

hey, that can even give ideas for our zombie games!

do we have a plan for the real threat? Cthulhu is real...

August wrap-up

August was eventful, thanks to readers.

I increased the number of followers and now, I stand at 19.

I kickstarted Incursion and it was successful. I supported at Bucket of Blood level, and that will give a lot of miniatures that I can use for Secret of the Third Reich.

I also fell into a trap last week, I followed a Bolt Action game and ended up with the Rule Book and the Great Britain Codex. I also went on the warlord website and pre-ordered the incoming France and Allies because there are Partisan rules. And I have a lot of partisans to play.

On top of it I painted more than expected even if the photos have not been up and plan to complete a lot more this month.
I am getting excited about the next scenarios of ATZ-FFO, having worked on the stories, and, as it seems to happy more often than not, lost some miniatures in one of my stash, hidden from the dear-one who may be upset if she realized the quantity of non-edible stuff I acquired this year....
More on that later!

Thanks for reading.

I am being followed

"Somebody is following me"

 First of all, thanks to Sean to promote me on his blog. He has a great content and an interesting project with 1:72 plastic models, which I like a lot.

http://seanswgcorner.blogspot.hk/

So, welcome to the followers and thank you all for coming and reading. I never thank people and I know this was impolite.
The list, in no particular order:

• Sean
• Colgar6
• Langming Chung
• wargamer
• styx
• spprojectblog
• James Brewerton
• Gary Amos
• Edwin King
• laughingferret
• john
• Andrew Saunders
• scotty
• Tim
• Chris Stoesen Francis Lee
• Warlord Paul

 Next week, I am planning the Scenario 8 of ATZ, while waiting for my next batch of kickstarters to come. The long awaited Sedition Wars phase2 (here), Zombicide Season 2 phase 1 (here) (incredibly on time!).

Next would be Achtung Chtuluh (here), and Heroes of Normandy (here)

I also lately pledged for Incursion (here) (loved the game and a good opportunity to jump in). The latest content is incredibly good value for money even if it requires a Kickstarter PhD to understand clearly what's available.

And I also pledged for a small guy company trying to develop nice tiles, Living Dungeon (here)

Next projects are:

• Continuing my Secret of the Third Reich US/Free French force - 3 Light Mech and 6 A.P.E. to do. Infantrywise, about 20, but I'll likely commission it.
• Completing my Fallout-themed guys. For my Sci-Fi inspired game, I will finally get to Fallout. Known world and easy to set.
• Painting more ATZ-FFO '44. I have 50-60 miniatures left. 
• Maybe get into Bolt Action because the only HK FLG is promoting it and I have troops for it. (and a good excuse to buy that fancy Die Cast Hetzer at the Tamiya shop, or the Puma, or the Pz IV,... ARG!)

Thank you for reading

My personal take on "10 Questions for Gamers, Hobbyists & Likewise Interested Folks: This One Goes to 11"

Let me take the challenge posted by David on the Laughing Ferret

1. Dinosaurs or Dragons?

Somebody called me? (personal artwork)

Dragon. I take the Tolkien view of the Dragon, evil monster spreading darkness wherever they go. They are formidable enemies and more than a fair match for any would-be heroes.
Dinosaur are just animals, and therefore are not evil or good. 


2.  In an RPG would you rather be a Player or DM?









DM on the universe I like, and Player on new one, as long as the game allows room for non-stereotypical characters. Nothing is more boring than having a detailed universe and to stick to the standard Warrior/Priest/Rogue types because your character never play, use or match his background and the only usable skills are Range Attack and Melee.

You can impersonate who you want, but you shall never, never look alike Chuck Norris

3. You have a Time Machine: you can only take a trip to the future or the past. Return or not is your choice.  Which direction & how far?




I'll go back 1300 years before, to see the Dark Ages and see with my own eyes if our limited knowledge of this time was right or not. And come back :)

At these, give me the club#9 for a birdie meant something different

4. Favorite Online Comic
Giant in the playground games.
Here

"No Encounters Today"

5. Of these Empires which do you feel is the BEST Empire and the WORST Empire?
Roman, Mongol, Spanish, Russian, British, American.
How you define Best and Worst is up to you. 
If you're feeling up to it, rank them from best to worst 1-6.





The Roman Empire was the best. It lasted a thousand years and left a huge legacy, even today (Ever wondered who decided the width of the road?)
The worst was the Mongol Empire. It lasted 2 generations at most and exploded after the death of his founder. How great is that? It's easy to conquer, it's more difficult to occupy.

Somebody behind me to stab me to death? Come on, I've known that joke for year.

 
6. Who wins the fight?  Roman Gladiator or Samurai ?
Samourai. He does not care of his own death, whereas the Gladiator fights for entertainment.

Please, 2 out of three.

7. Who wins the fight?  Darth Vader or Witch King?



The Witch King. He has no asthma so he shall win in the long run. Plus, he is already dead.

Can you get into that Corellian Corvette now? You know, it means a lot for the stormtroopers

8. Who wins the dogfight?   Starbuck in Colonial Vyper or Luke Skywalker in X-Wing?
Luke, as long as people don't whisper everytime he wants to do something. Obiwan Kenobi was the first Smartphone with annoying ring or the first Whatsapp application.

Luke, your zipper, you forgot your zipper

9. Who wins the battle of wits? Tyrion Lannister or Wesley?
Tyrion. Because he's a good badass guy.

...You've just talked? Sorry, how do we say "I don't give a sh.t in your language" ?

10. Money & Time no object, what movie or novel would you like to have the armies and terrain in miniature to recreate and expand on, and in what scale?
Too many in my mind. But I think I will go for Tolkien, First Age period.15mm because I like to see the end of the gaming table without binoculars.
First Age was when High Elves just scared balrogs by looking at them and dragons had to get out in group in case they meet good guys. 
Glorfindel, just as an example of badass Elf of the First Age. Thing about an army of them....
Here

Me, Glorfindel, Prince -not even king- of the Noldor, I take the boss of the Balrogs (aka boss of Sauron too) anytime, anywhere.

11. Human Beings die off. What species rises to take our place, becoming the next sentient species with a global civilization?
The ants. They will build cities over the planet, kill many species, wage wars between themselves for supremacy, have internal revolution and pollute with their mushroom caves. That's how we identify great species.
Here about an abandoned ant megalopolis in Brazil.

Miniature, terrain update May

Good first half of May, with tons of time for hobby.
Little update on the painting front. Resistants and Partisans are increasing in numbers. I made also more rifles as I almost ran out last time.
In addition, I finally painted my APE for my Secret of the Third Reich French units and got 2 new buildings to increase the variety of my ATZ-FFO terrain.

A Mongoose Judge Dredd wasteland

the forefront three are from Artizan Design

From left to right: Warlord, Warlord, Artizan Design, Warlord, Artizan Design

Group shot. Artizan Design and Warlord

Westwind/Grindhouse American APE

APE with French marking

Flamer's back

Sergeant's back

Foldable Dave Graffam building.

Destroyed tower, Dave Graffam, back (foldable)

Destroyed tower, Dave Graffam, front (foldable)

Destroyed tower, Dave Graffam, front (foldable)