Momentum (and yet another update)
So much about my hobbies for me seems to be based on momentum. I get going on something and I'm really into it and then something happens to break the momentum - holidays, work, even a new interest. And then I end up putting away my stuff, and once that happens it's months before I get anything out again. It's why my playing, painting, and this blog seem to come in spurts.
I just went through my blog history and deleted a bunch of posts with broken images or which were pointless with the passage of time (meaning I did not discuss much of substance or lasting interest). Many of the things I updated seemed to be my occasional (or as I discovered, more than occasional) update posts. Feeling the urge, I'm now composing this new update post which I will likely delete a few years from now, digital life cycle being what it is.
LIFE EVENTS
Since my last string of updating lost of things happened. I drifted away from my miniature gaming and ended up playing more RPGs. I got a new job that moved me from Houston to South Carolina. About two weeks before the moving truck was scheduled to load, Hurricane Harvey came calling and put (only) 2-3" of water across the floor which... complicated the move. After a crash evacuation out of Houston, returning to do clean-up and pack, the move itself, and spending the next several months of weekends replacing (read: assembling replacement) furniture (mostly shelves for books and games) and unpacking our house, we find ourselves in South Carolina. We went from the fourth largest city in the country with at least five really good gaming stores and a very active RPG and miniature gaming community to a city that is less than half its size with one really decent gaming shop that we can find. We know know one. I've been using social media and the Mantic forum to reach out to find people with my interests. I'm confident that I will eventually find my hobby place here, but I already know I will miss a lot about Houston in this regard.
RPGs
In the last couple years in Houston, most of my hobby focus was here with the lion's share being Dungeons & Dragons while a smattering was one-offs of all kinds of eclectic offerings. So far the schedule here in S.C. is much less crammed. Of course, here, the game store is 30 minutes away in good traffic, not 10. They do have Wed. night Adventurer's League that we will eventually want to play. I'm not sure what all else is going on though game wise. It may be a matter of finding the right or a group which we would do through the local hobby store I suspect.
40K
The new edition of 40K (8th I think) just dropped and, as with every new edition, all kinds of people are saying how they finally fixed the game yada yada and some people think they ruined it completely. I've been so mad at GW so many times for the way they treat customers, for the way they market, and for the prices they charge, that I am reluctant to resume any involvement in their game in order to avoid the inevitable moment of betrayal. I wish they were not in such a commanding position in the industry.
I still have my 40K holdings mostly. I have a CSM army that is selected based on what looked the most steam-punky. I have two Space Marine forces. One is green and black and is nominally the Disciples of Caliban Dark Angel successors. These guys have come to have a bike and terminator focus in the collecting (big shock there, n'est ce pas?). I also still have my White Templars who look like storm troopers. That collection is leaning toward being assault and scout oriented as a Raven Wing successor (I say this without knowing how GW is going to screw it up with new fluff). And finally, I have my Dark Eldar, the Kabal of the Malevolent Storm. This is a pretty full collection of Dark Eldar though, most recently, I built out the wytches, hellians, and scourges - mostly because they seemed under utilized in 6th edition builds (which dates my last involvement with 40K). I have them. I'm tempted by 8th edition. I'm hesitant. And, if I can fill my miniature needs (and more importantly painting time) with other games, they will likely stay in the box.
KINGS OF WAR
This is where the lion's share of my interest has been in the last couple months. I have three armies (in boxes anyway) and the lust for one or two more. Hopefully, I can contain my urges and get something painted before I branch out. I feel as if I've said that before.
LEAGUE OF RHORDIA
With the last Westfalia Kickstarter (Second Breakfast), I have enough halflings that I could do them as their own army, and I can fill almost any role in this army except the two human militias. That said, I'd probably prefer to use both the humans and the halflings together in keeping with the fluff. This remains the army that I am most excited about, possibly because it is the road less traveled as far as KOW armies go. I also enjoy the halflings - well it's probably more accurate to say I like Westfalia's miniatures. I suspect that if all I had were buck-toothed, potato-nosed chicken riders, I'd be completely put off the halflings. This army seems a little thrown together though as opposed to planned by Mantic. Some parts don't make much sense or seem inequitable. For example, everyone else gets +1CS with a 2 handed weapon. Not halflings. Mantic's explanation is they are halflings which is fine for fluff, but not for a rules mechanic reasoning. But there are some cool things I can do with it. The Iron Beast is obviously a Empire Steam Tank, except there is nothing in the write-up that indicates being steam powered. So I decided mine is clockwork. I used a Reaper guardian beast instead since it only needs melee attacks and a breath weapon. To a halfling, that would be an iron beast - I just wish it was a bit better. No one makes Aralez minis (a sort of giant (winged) dog). I am trying some temple gatekeepers that looked sort of dog like - we'll see if I can fit some knights on them for my Honour Guard. The downside here is that I have none painted.
FORCES OF NATURE
I like the flexibility and the style of this army - the merger of the different creatures - the fact you have druids. I like all it and in terms of things like that, of the three, this army is my favorite. I have a ton of minis, mostly Reaper, to flush it out. I just need to paint it and then rather play it than my Rhordians. Right now, that's not the case. The idea I'm currently toying with is to try to make this army flighty and fast, backed up by a lot of healing. This uses some of the less used units in some ways for this army though the problem is getting hordes and regiments. About all you have is air elementals. So them, plus sylphs, monsters, and winged unicorns. You could have one hero that normally doesn't fly who flies, but you also have the Green Mother and one of the named heros who flies. Unlike a lot of all-fly armies, this one might even be able to participate in all phases of the game which, by some people's definition, is "balanced."
ELVES
This is the largest KOW army I have in being, largely because it descended from a WFB army I once had. I made them Southern Kindred (again because no one else seemed to want to do that). I'm focused mostly on Gladestalkers and chariot units to the extent I'm focused on anything (by which I mean I am not actively building or painting any elves). I'm also planning to use Dragon's Breath warmachines instead of bolt throwers because the former are mobile and I want the army to move. You can see my elves "in action" in some previous batrep posts in this blog.
I just went through my blog history and deleted a bunch of posts with broken images or which were pointless with the passage of time (meaning I did not discuss much of substance or lasting interest). Many of the things I updated seemed to be my occasional (or as I discovered, more than occasional) update posts. Feeling the urge, I'm now composing this new update post which I will likely delete a few years from now, digital life cycle being what it is.
LIFE EVENTS
Since my last string of updating lost of things happened. I drifted away from my miniature gaming and ended up playing more RPGs. I got a new job that moved me from Houston to South Carolina. About two weeks before the moving truck was scheduled to load, Hurricane Harvey came calling and put (only) 2-3" of water across the floor which... complicated the move. After a crash evacuation out of Houston, returning to do clean-up and pack, the move itself, and spending the next several months of weekends replacing (read: assembling replacement) furniture (mostly shelves for books and games) and unpacking our house, we find ourselves in South Carolina. We went from the fourth largest city in the country with at least five really good gaming stores and a very active RPG and miniature gaming community to a city that is less than half its size with one really decent gaming shop that we can find. We know know one. I've been using social media and the Mantic forum to reach out to find people with my interests. I'm confident that I will eventually find my hobby place here, but I already know I will miss a lot about Houston in this regard.
RPGs
In the last couple years in Houston, most of my hobby focus was here with the lion's share being Dungeons & Dragons while a smattering was one-offs of all kinds of eclectic offerings. So far the schedule here in S.C. is much less crammed. Of course, here, the game store is 30 minutes away in good traffic, not 10. They do have Wed. night Adventurer's League that we will eventually want to play. I'm not sure what all else is going on though game wise. It may be a matter of finding the right or a group which we would do through the local hobby store I suspect.
40K
The new edition of 40K (8th I think) just dropped and, as with every new edition, all kinds of people are saying how they finally fixed the game yada yada and some people think they ruined it completely. I've been so mad at GW so many times for the way they treat customers, for the way they market, and for the prices they charge, that I am reluctant to resume any involvement in their game in order to avoid the inevitable moment of betrayal. I wish they were not in such a commanding position in the industry.
I still have my 40K holdings mostly. I have a CSM army that is selected based on what looked the most steam-punky. I have two Space Marine forces. One is green and black and is nominally the Disciples of Caliban Dark Angel successors. These guys have come to have a bike and terminator focus in the collecting (big shock there, n'est ce pas?). I also still have my White Templars who look like storm troopers. That collection is leaning toward being assault and scout oriented as a Raven Wing successor (I say this without knowing how GW is going to screw it up with new fluff). And finally, I have my Dark Eldar, the Kabal of the Malevolent Storm. This is a pretty full collection of Dark Eldar though, most recently, I built out the wytches, hellians, and scourges - mostly because they seemed under utilized in 6th edition builds (which dates my last involvement with 40K). I have them. I'm tempted by 8th edition. I'm hesitant. And, if I can fill my miniature needs (and more importantly painting time) with other games, they will likely stay in the box.
KINGS OF WAR
This is where the lion's share of my interest has been in the last couple months. I have three armies (in boxes anyway) and the lust for one or two more. Hopefully, I can contain my urges and get something painted before I branch out. I feel as if I've said that before.
LEAGUE OF RHORDIA
With the last Westfalia Kickstarter (Second Breakfast), I have enough halflings that I could do them as their own army, and I can fill almost any role in this army except the two human militias. That said, I'd probably prefer to use both the humans and the halflings together in keeping with the fluff. This remains the army that I am most excited about, possibly because it is the road less traveled as far as KOW armies go. I also enjoy the halflings - well it's probably more accurate to say I like Westfalia's miniatures. I suspect that if all I had were buck-toothed, potato-nosed chicken riders, I'd be completely put off the halflings. This army seems a little thrown together though as opposed to planned by Mantic. Some parts don't make much sense or seem inequitable. For example, everyone else gets +1CS with a 2 handed weapon. Not halflings. Mantic's explanation is they are halflings which is fine for fluff, but not for a rules mechanic reasoning. But there are some cool things I can do with it. The Iron Beast is obviously a Empire Steam Tank, except there is nothing in the write-up that indicates being steam powered. So I decided mine is clockwork. I used a Reaper guardian beast instead since it only needs melee attacks and a breath weapon. To a halfling, that would be an iron beast - I just wish it was a bit better. No one makes Aralez minis (a sort of giant (winged) dog). I am trying some temple gatekeepers that looked sort of dog like - we'll see if I can fit some knights on them for my Honour Guard. The downside here is that I have none painted.
FORCES OF NATURE
I like the flexibility and the style of this army - the merger of the different creatures - the fact you have druids. I like all it and in terms of things like that, of the three, this army is my favorite. I have a ton of minis, mostly Reaper, to flush it out. I just need to paint it and then rather play it than my Rhordians. Right now, that's not the case. The idea I'm currently toying with is to try to make this army flighty and fast, backed up by a lot of healing. This uses some of the less used units in some ways for this army though the problem is getting hordes and regiments. About all you have is air elementals. So them, plus sylphs, monsters, and winged unicorns. You could have one hero that normally doesn't fly who flies, but you also have the Green Mother and one of the named heros who flies. Unlike a lot of all-fly armies, this one might even be able to participate in all phases of the game which, by some people's definition, is "balanced."
ELVES
This is the largest KOW army I have in being, largely because it descended from a WFB army I once had. I made them Southern Kindred (again because no one else seemed to want to do that). I'm focused mostly on Gladestalkers and chariot units to the extent I'm focused on anything (by which I mean I am not actively building or painting any elves). I'm also planning to use Dragon's Breath warmachines instead of bolt throwers because the former are mobile and I want the army to move. You can see my elves "in action" in some previous batrep posts in this blog.
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