Because it's been a while

There hasn't been a whole lot going on in hobbyland here.  With school in session and hockey season starting up, free time is at a premium.  That doesn't mean that nothing is happening though.  A bit of speculative business first.  Navel-gazing to follow, you've been warned.

News from the ashes

Looks like my eyes were bigger than my mouth here.  I burned out pretty good these past couple weeks, haven't touched a die or a paintbrush since my last post.  I think the biggest part of it was the mega battle report, but I'd been on a gaming rampage for a while.  It'd be dishonest to say that Starcraft 2 had nothing to do with this, but it's not the root of the thing.  Since classes start back up on Monday, this is effectively the end of my break, and so a (depressing) list update is in order.

 
Painting
ID battleship
ID cruisers
Humans
Assemble and prime all languishing WM minis
pSorscha
Manhuntress
'jacks
WGI
other Khador

Reading
WM: Escalation
White Noise
The Maya

Other
Renew Driver's License
Clear the DVR

As you can see, absolutely no painting.  I have read a chunk of Escalation, but it's a tough slog through scenario after scenario.  While there is a narrative to pick out of it, reading through a campaign that I won't play is not the most exciting thing ever.  I also started reading Horus Rising, which is a poorly written book, but it does scratch that Space Marine itch that I've never been able to get rid of.

I'm going to break out the paints in a few minutes and see if I can't finish the frigate I started.  With a fuller than usual class load, gaming time will be slim at best, as will updates.  Hopefully not having time to paint will recharge the batteries and make me eager to get back at it again.

US Battle Report - Two Games, One Night Part Two

We had 5 people show up on Monday night for US, which meant we had a two 1 on 1 games going, which meant someone was watching.  The spectator was kairaven, who suggested we have a group game after the individual games were finished.  EV had just been violently introduced to the Bone Griffon gunline and understandably didn't want a piece of the action.  The BG player had to go, which left just kairaven, vatank, and myself.  We settled on a starter box game, knocked out some deployment zones and went at it.

Paint on a human ship

It's been a long time coming, but I finally have some non-primer paint on a Human ship.  I picked up some paint last night, notably the GW foundation yellow that was the reason I took on painting yellow in the first place.  I just did the base coat, and not the entire ship at that, but I wanted to get an idea of what my scheme will look like in reality instead of just how I imagine it.  I think it will turn out like I wanted it to.

Behold the base coated beauty.

The brown will lighten up a bit, but I want to keep it dark to contrast the lighter wood of my ID.  The yellow will brighten up as well, but the blue is about what I intend it to be.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the railing, and I want to put some squadron/fleet markings on the hull, and then there's the base to do as well, but it's a very nice feeling to make some actual progress.

I should also mention that despite my initial reluctance I've settled on Space Wolf transfers for the sails.  I found a big sheet in my box, and EV had another, that have a bunch of different wolves in roughly the same size.  I plan on using a different design for each class of ship and varying the sail striping to differentiate between squadrons.

US Battle Report - Two Games, One Night Part One

We had a good turnout at the FLGS last night with 5 US and 2 Firestorm Armada players.  I got in two games with the humans, the first an Elves vs Humans battle with vatank.  I hadn't played him 1 on 1 yet, so it was good to get a game in. 

US Battle Report - Piled with Pictures part 4

The tables swung wildly last time.  The Iron Dwarves held a solid advantage at the beginning of turn 5, but by the end of turn 7 the tables were level at best, and more likely in favor of the Shroud Mages.  With the ID battleship far from support, and facing the on-rushing Shroud fleet, things look to go poorly for the good shorties.  But the ID have ships in the rear of the Shroud fleet.  Can the ID support take out the Shroud ships before they demolish the ID battleship?  Or will the now dispersed ID be clobbered by the bricked SM?  All will be revealed in the (hopefully) thrilling conclusion to the most epic battle report I've ever written.

US Battle Report - Piled with Pictures, part 3

Last time in the super-long 750 point battle report it started to hit the fan.  While the fleets have engaged, the Shrouds are poised to slip around the SE island and put a temporary halt to the violence.  But will the Iron Dwarves let their prey escape?  Are the Shrouds moving to flank, or are their motives more sinister?  Lots, though not all, shall be revealed in this installment.

US Battle Report - Piled with Pictures, part 2

The first installment covered turns 1 and 2, which saw a lot of maneuvering and a little bit of action.  Now in turn 3, the gaps are smaller than ever and things are about to get hot and heavy.  My ships are poised to take the center of the table.  EV is feeding me a squadron of frigates while sending the rest of his fleet on what looks like a long flanking action

US Battle Report - Piled with Pictures, part 1

EV and I got together on Wednesday morning/early afternoon to try out the proposed Bellows changes.  I thought this would be a good time to do a blow by blow report, complete with a picture for each activation.  Though it made our game much longer than it would have normally been, and will make the reporting process much longer as well, I think it will be interesting and informative.  Whether or not we do anything like this again is up for debate, and the amount of work that goes in to this report will no doubt be considered.  Long as the process will be, getting started is the only way to make it shorter, so here goes.

The new between classes list

The new list looks an awful lot like the old list.  I'm abandoning the ID spreadsheet because tech7 already created a whole program to build fleets with that trumps any crappy spreadsheet I would produce.  I probably mentioned that I finished book 12 of Wheel of Time the other day, so that's the first item crossed off the list before I even write the list.  Speaking of lists, here it is.