2018 Reflections

First of all - Happy New Year to all the hobbyists out there in the blogosphere!

Midnight on Sydney Harbour, as viewed from the backyard of the Man Cave 

Which also means its time for my annual, self indulgent recap of my 2018 Hobby Year.

Overall it was fun but curtailed, my returning to sea seeing me away and offline for multiple extended periods.  Painting was down, games were down, blog posts were down to barely 30 for the year - but what Hobby I did, I quite thoroughly enjoyed.

My AHPC 8 tally

I really enjoyed participating in AHPC VIII, meeting my stretched goal and gaining two RU position in the Bonus Rounds. Always a great event backed up by a wonderful online community.

The favourite entry of AHPC 8: Freikorps Armoured Car

Games wise, Battlegroup continued to be a favourite, with Dux and I playing the Barbarossa Campaign followed by a number of really enjoyable Battlegroup Tobruk games with Slowpainter John.

Dux takes in the lie of the land as his British Armour advances against my DAK recon force in Nord Afrika

I also discovered Frostgrave this year, thanks to Dave of the Left Handed Panzerfaust - a fun, quick game which really suited my schedule.  Lots of fun

My Orc warband for Frostgrave

At the club we also played a number of WW1 games as our homage to the Centenary of Remembrance

Some other stuff I painted this year:

Dwarf Command Group for the Lad

Orc riders I painted for Slowpainter John

Celtic Roundhouse I really enjoyed building

The start of my Romanised Orc army

I did get to one convention this year: MOAB. Me and the lad caught up with Comrade James and had a great game of Gaslands - riotous fun!

The Lad betrays his godfather on the race track - probably my fav game of the year

I anticipate 2019 will be similar - lots of absences and dalliances with a range of gaming projects, though I do hope to get to CANCON at the end of this month. I'll just take it as it comes, surrender to the new shiny, and enjoy the great company along the way.

Best wishes to all for an enjoyable and hobby filled year.

AHPC IX sets sail in the Nautilus!

Its finally here - AHPC Season 9 has begun! This year I wanted to submit an entry in the opening 24hrs. Naturally, I went with a relatively simple model: the central playing piece from VPG's solo boardgame Nemo's War:
https://www.victorypointgames.com/nemos-second-edition/

I am a long time fan of Captain No-one and have been intrigued at the different ways he has been portrayed over the years.  In this very enjoyable game his technological marvel has been given a artistic makeover and I wanted to give it due tip 'o the hat.

I eschewed the traditional metallic and iron grey and instead adopted the serene underwater hues that this more organic looking Nautilus would acquire in her natural element beneath the waves...

VPG's artwork for Nemo's War

My Nautilus is also my opening salvo in the Naval themed side duel, "Engage the Enemy More Closely!"  So I am off the mark - only 998 more points to go!

Merry Christmas!

Dwarves and AHPC Preps

Its been a busy run up to Christmas and the end of the year.  After a number of deployments and periods at sea, I am looking forward to a good few weeks off at home with family and hobby.

Most of the latter right now is about preparing for AHPC IX - particularly the mass (for me) of 15mm DAK Infantry that will soon accompany my Panzers for games of Battlegroup Tobruk and Torch.  In the meantime, I have also been clearing the decks of some unfinished projects

I enjoyed completing this Dwarf Command Stand, comprised of old Grenadier models that I picked up at the MOAB Bring and Buy a few months ago. They really clicked together and I wanted to build them into a dynamic looking base. I quite enjoyed this project, which is destined for the Lad's Dwarf army.

BTW The F style rune is the one Gandalf carves into Bilbo's door, to lead Thorin's Company there in The Hobbit

I must admit that I was so over prepping models that I just had to paint something else - mea culpa!
Also from the MOAB Bring and Buy stand, this Chaos Dwarf Hero will join my evil Army, and mercilessly seek out the Dwarves of the above Command stand in battles to come!

Hammer time!