Back again

So the whole reason for a blog is to keep up with steady posts but I have neglected to do so. Not that it's to big a deal with only a few even intersted in it but I will continue do update as often as possible.

On the gaming side of things it's been a great summer and fall with lots of new board games, some painting of miniatures and playing lots. Fallcon was a blast, although I had small turnouts for the events I did get to play quite a number of games.

Hello all, again it's been a while, guess I'm not so good at this blog stuff. Anyways I recently got the new Warhammer book a little before release date and have a few comments. The game is definetely going to move faster, although the mechanics of the game are basically unchanged, Move, magic, shoot and combat there are significant changes in each of these elements. You can always premeasure for movement, shooting, magic and warmachines. Charges are more random, 2D6 plus move inches so unless your very close almost within your move rate it's easy to fail a charge. Magic phase has changed a bit, you now roll 2D6 for the Winds of Magic and every wizard can roll to try and get a 6 which adds a dice to the pool max 12. Dispell dice are the total of the highest dice rolled for the winds plus each wizard can try to add one on a roll of 6 as well. Casting is 1-6 dice and add the level of the wizard. Casting values in the Lores are much higher now. If a wizard rolls two natural 6's the spell is cast with irresitable force so go off no matter what but then the player must roll on the Miscast table and suffer the damage.
Shooting is the same except you can always shoot in two ranks and premeasure.
Combat is strictly iniative based and you can get support attacks from the second rank. All ranks are 5 wide except monsterous creatures who are 3 wide. If you have double the width, a horde, you can get support from the third rank.
There are some more changes and I'll update.

Just a few images of more figs I have been working on recently. Haven't played many games though, a little quiet in that department but tonight we will be getting together again.

Yesterday was a great day indoors not so nice outdoors with more snow and unseasonably cold May weather here in Calgary. I enjoyed the day at the Sentry Box playing War of the Ring (GW) and some Warhammer Invasion. Later I played Dominion Intrigue and Starfarers of Catan with the Wife and daughter. We also played a couple of games on Friday night as well, Oregon and Catan Germany one of my favorites of the series.

Thursday Albert and I had a 3,000 point battle of Orks (me) vs. Chaos Dark Legion of Epic Armageddon. The Orks got the upper hand but some of the Chaos units are impossible mainly due to size. Especially when you can have 12 units of Chaos Marines, Landraiders and Obliterators all in one formation. I just went after the smaller units and the objectives. Still my favorite mini game by far.

Well the time just zips by and here we are a Friday before the May long weekend. Just going to relax for the most part but do have a large game of Epic Armageddon planned for Sunday with John. Probably going to play my Eldar since last time we did a 6,000 point battle I used my Tyranids and it was quite the game.
This past week we played Rum and Pirates, a very entertaining game of pawn placement game to pick up tokens which provide VP's. There is also a little bit of dice rolling when you wrangle to see who ends up with the best sleeping beds. Fun.
We also tried to beat Witch's of Salem, an impossible coop game and even with some added house rules we still couldn't beat it, maybe next time.
Wednesday Dan brought along Zombie State, an independent game but nicely produced and used a reverse system rather then building up you try and prevent the greatest losses of areas on a map as the Zombies grow in numbers. We all kinda liked it, may need to try it again.
Last night Bill Ramsey and I were planning on some 40K but instead decided on the new Horus Heresy which in turn lead us to set up and play the original version. Close game too, with Bill as the Imperium almost killing Horus on the 4th turn but I pulled out a list minute win by going against the odds and attacking the Emperor in the Inner Palace and with some lucky rolls and rerolls killed him thus ending the game, awesome. Since we had set up the new Horus Heresy we played through a bunch of turns as well.
I just love gaming.

I know that blogs are more about regular updates and such but lately time finds me not as frequent in front of the PC. We have been busy, with some travelling but I am still playing lots including today. A great new game is Horus Heresy from FFG a remake of a GW classic and very well done indeed. I have played three times all as the Imperium trying to prevent the spread of Chaos and the death of the Emperor. If your a fan of GW's 40K universe and like two player war games with lots of eye candy this is a game for you.
Also this week we played Carson city, Myth, Ticket to Ride and Cyclades and I got in a game of 40K with my Tyranids vs Alberts Blood Angles, a bloody fought battle and loads of fun.

Sorry it's been a while since I posted but we were enjoying a week in Los Cabos, Mexico. Had great time, relaxed, ate and the highlights were the zip lines, just awesome with grappling and rock climbing. The other highlight was all the games we played together, my wife and I, which has become traditional for us on holidays and I always bring quite a selection.
Tonight I plan on either playing the new Horus Heresy again or if that falls through I'll be at the Sentry Box for the meet up.
I'll post again soon, hope everyone is doing well and playing lots.

Last night I had a great time at one of my favorite Board game meet up groups at Tim and Karens place. My wife wanted to come but fell ill and there was quite a number of other players who didn't show up as well.

I got to play a game I've been meaning to try and buy eventually, Hansa Teutonica, and it's all that I thought it would be. Played with four if us, three new players and one who tried it once before. This will be a definite addition to my collection once a NA distributor releases it.

Next Tim, Karen and another new member played Albion, a area expansion game by the designer of Carcassonne and it was quite good, another one on my hit list and most likely to be added to the collection as well.

Today, since I wasn't at the Sentry Box running events and I had just picked up the new Horus Heresy from FFG, I had Devin join me in a game of this fantastic new reprint of the old GW version. It was fantastic, great looking and very well designed mechanics. Closely fought with an Imperial victory, this game may lead me to having more 2 player evenings at my place in the future. I highly recommend this game to those who enjoy 40K and good wargames.

So last night we tried out Betrayal at House on the Hill one that I haven't played in a while and was enjoyed by all. Several of us had played it before so it went quite quickly and the scenario #50 was quite easy.
Then we tried Age of Gods, a very chaotic game where you battle with a multitude of races and find out over the course of the game which ones you are trying to control, it was great fun.
We finished with Thunderstone a deck building game with a fantasy theme and incorporates a dungeon mechanism where you have to fight monsters which in turn provides the VP to win.
A great night of gaming.
I was going to play something tonight as well but turns out my opponents got ill and couldn't make it. I could go to the Sentry Box but I feel like a quiet night at home instead.

Wow already Tuesday but I did play a few more games since Saturday.
My wife and I tried Samarkand on Sunday and I have to say it went over well. I was reluctant about this purchase having decided lately that I should try and buy less games, titles I really want instead of kind of want. But this game will see the table more in the future and I'll bring it out on one of our games nights so I can try it with 4 or 5 of us.

Yesterday I headed over to Alberts, a very good friend of mine and gaming buddy. He was also a GW Grey Knight with me for a time and we enjoyed running many events together as well as attend a Games Day in Toronto a while back.
Normally we would play 40K, Epic, Warhammer, Warmaster or Gothic but last night we played a couple of rounds of Duel in the Dark, me as the British (although Albert is a Brit himself) and Albert as the Germans. This is a really cool game where you plan out a bombing run on a german city and your opponent uses fighters and tiles to atain victory points.
Afterwards we tried Wings of War, a World War II plane combat game.
Great night of games.

Tonight the guys are coming over and we'll be playing a few games. I'll report later.


So we were going to try Colesseum and were waiting for Kelly and Spence to show up so Dan, Devin and I tried Straw, a small card game about breaking a camels back. Once the others showed up we were discussing games and someone brought up Shogun (not the old MB one) and so we decided to play that and had a fantastic session. It truly is a fantastic game and everyone really enjoyed it and on top of that I actually pulled out a win. Maybe we'll try Colosseum tomorrow.

I was planning on some games on Thursday night but we had a freak blizzard hit Calgary in the afternoon and I got home a little later then usual. Friday we went to visit the daughter her boyfriend and our grand daughter. My daughter is also fond of playing games especially Settlers of Catan which she has introduced to many of her friends as well. So now her boyfriend is also enjoying games and we played Catan: Struggle for Rome for the second time and another favorite of theirs Sator......

Today we ended up playing a number of games including Pick & Pack, Camelot Legends, Cyclades, Vasco Da Gama, Thunderstone and a few others. Turnout was low but still a good day of events at the Sentry Box.

Well I have added the new Tyranid Pics on my site along with Gors for the Chaos page and Dryads for the Woodelf page.


Tonight we are getting together for a game most likely Dungeon Lords or Vasco Da Gama. Maybe we can squeeze in a second game as I would like to try either Mystery Express or Samarkand. I will update later.

We ended up playing Dungeon Lords and I tried explaining the rules thoroughly since there is a lot of actions and decisions to make. The conclusions were a bit mixed, all three players found the game hard to grasp. It can be punishing if you get knocked out of an action because all 3 spaces available have been taken. Everyone only had a monster and trap card so it was hard to stop the conquering of the dungeons. Overall score was 10 for Spence, 8 for me, 4 for Bill and 3 for Dan. They all want to try it again now that they know the rules somewhat. We also tried Mystery Express and that went over well, lots of interaction. Intersting clue finding game with involving mechanics and nice components, always the case with Days of Wonder. Spence won this with 4 of the clues right, the only one with the correct time clue was Bill and I was able to get one right. But I really play games like this for fun and to see how well I do with memory.

Still need to get Samarkand to the table, maybe this Saturday at the Sentry Box.

The latest games I have acquired are Cyclades, Fresco, Samarkand and Mystery Express. I tried Cyclades with two players and we both enjoyed the theme and mechanics of building up units, ships and structures. Then you head out to conquer islands in order to gain more income and maybe take over your opponents buildings and even Metropolis of which you need two to win the game. It was a close game and Dan took the win. We tried it with four players and it was a little more chaotic but just as fun. We also tried Fresco in which we are painters who gain points for acquiring different coloured paint cubes in order to finish parts of the Fresco or Altar. Money plays an important role as well and planning for each turn is much of the games strategy. I really enjoyed it the others thought it was ok.

News, games and minis

So I thought I should start this blog to keep some up to date info on what's going on in our gaming life. I hope to keep the posts regular rather then just the once a month update on my web site. I will be posting some new images on my site, mainly Tyranids like the new Trygon and some Beastmen as well as Dryads.

I will also post what new games I have added to the collection and which ones we play on our games nights and try and include a quick review. At least these are the plans we'll see how they go.