Sunday, January 26, 2014

Flames of War WIP - Everything glued!



Here's a good look at what my 1750 pt LW Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie list is going to look like (numbers wise anyway, it will be fully painted) when it hits the table.  I have no idea if this will look imposing to my opponent, or if it will be a complete pushover.  Regardless, I think it will be fun to play.

As you can see, I've got my HQ and one Panzer IV platoon finished thus far.  This should keep me pretty busy for awhile...

I have ZERO FoW experience, so I'd definitely be interested to see what some of the FoW veterans thought of it...

... oh, and PANZER VOR!

This Geek's Week...




- Working a ton on my FoW stuff.  I was going to take it slow, build a single platoon, paint a single platoon, rinse/repeat.  BUT I may have found a few people interested in getting a game in, so instead I went ahead and glued everything together to get it on the table much quicker if need be.  I've also started painting the Stugs.  I still need to finish reading through all the rules first though...

- Played several rounds of War Thunder, with some mixed results.  I did manage to get several rocket kills, which I love because the enemy plane just disintegrates!  I also unlocked a Corsair...

- Finished "Master of Devils" by Dave Gross.  Started reading "The Hobbit", and before I start getting all kinds of flak, yes, I have never read any of Tolkien's novels.  However, I've grown up with his stories, with The Hobbit being a personal favorite of mine as a small child.  Thus, I thought it would finally be time to give them a read...

- Made it to the shop after many, many months away.  I stayed up there until 2 am, but only got to play 2 games of the DC Deckbuilder, doing horribly in both.  (But it was still fun)  Mostly I just hung out and chatted...

Friday, January 24, 2014

Spoiler Free Book Review - Pathfinder Tales: Master of Devils




After finishing up Prince of Wolves, I was all too happy to dive into another adventure featuring Count Varian Jeggare, and Radovan, his Hellspawn bodyguard.  This time, they head to Tian Xia...

Master of Devils - by Dave Gross

From the back of the book:
"On a mysterious errand for the Pathfinder Society, Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard Radovan venture to the distant land of Tian Xia, on the far side of the world.  When disaster forces him to take shelter in a warrior monastery, "brother" Jeggare finds himself competing with the disciples of Dragon Temple as he unravels a royal mystery.  Meanwhile, Radovan - trapped in the body of a devil and held hostage by the legendary Quivering palm attack - must serve a twisted master by defeating the land's deadliest champions and learning the secret of slaying an immortal foe.  Together with an unlikely army of beasts and spirits, the two companions must take the lead in an ancient conflict that will carry them through an exotic land, all the way to the Gates of Heaven and Hell and a final confrontation with the nefarious Master of Devils."

Sunday, January 19, 2014

This Geek's Week...

This week was pretty much all about the Lord of the Rings LCG...


- Played several solo rounds of the Lord of the Rings lcg.  I'm still working on fully grasping the rules, but man, it is a hard one!  I've been playing the "passage through mirkwood" (difficulty 1), and I keep sputtering out.  My Rohan themed deck lacks the punch to deal with monsters, and eventually the heros just get too wounded.  I also made a few rules mistakes during my game with my Tactics/Lore deck, but it handled the monsters much better.  I think I just need some additional cards to further tailor my decks... as well as work towards locking down all the rules a bit better.

- My first platoon for my German FoW Tank Company is now finished and I am starting to build the second platoon.

- Played several more games of the LOTR lcg.  Thus far, my Tactics/Lore deck has gotten the closest to making it through the "Passage through Mirkwood" scenario.  I made it to the final stage, but through a bit of a misplay (I got too greedy with the end in sight) it all came crashing down.  I flipped the "Ungoliant's Spawn" spider, who proceeded to then devour my heros.  To add insult, I also flipped an orc chief the next round too.... and to think, everything was looking so good just 1 round earlier!  With my other deck, I swapped out one of the blue (spirit) Riders of Rohan in favor of Aragorn.  Not only will he add some needed punch, but after a few games I noticed I drastically needed more purple resources than blue since they are so cheap.  Hopefully that'll help sort things out...

- My Wings of Glory WWII stuff finally arrived.  I've been working on unboxing all the stuff, punching all the tokens, etc.  It looks really fun, and as an added bonus, it looks to be solo playable as well.  I also did a slight repaint/re-decal of the 
P-40 Warhawk. Hopefully I'll be able to get in a game soon.

- Played even MORE LOTR, and finally managed to win my first game, using my Spirit/Leadership deck.  I got pretty lucky with the encounter flips, but I really think a lot of it came down to me swapping one of the blue heros for Aragorn, as he really helped out and held his own against the monsters that spawned.

- Played a few rounds of War Thunder.  I also played a few of the single missions which mainly consisted of obstacle courses, stunt flying, and other challenges.  

Sunday, January 12, 2014

This Geek's Week...




- Worked on my FoW German army.  Tank #3 from my first platoon is now finished, and I've started #4.  I'm planning to finish this platoon completely before moving onto the rest, in the hopes that I wont feel overwhelmed by having loads of tanks to paint on my deck.

- Played a bit of War Thunder.  I believe I completed all the challenges needed for the free plane.  Some of the challenges were fun, like getting to hop into my German biplanes, or getting to fly my old beloved Italian aircraft, and some were a bit of a challenge like trying to shoot down fighters with the G-2 Stuka (which I enjoyed), or having to target a specific nation's aircraft, which I did NOT enjoy simply because it was often hard to find planes from that nation in the air at times.

- Ran Sajan through the first of the Hook Mountain Massacre scenarios: "Them Ogres Aint Right".  i stacked the monster deck so that I face only ogres and ogrekin.  It was pretty easy, although Mammy, the Villain, was a bit annoying.  I failed to defeat her the first time around, her target number was 21, I rolled a 20.  Shuffled her back in, defeated her that time, although she ignores her first defeat.  Shuffled her back in, encountered her for the 3rd time, and whooped up on her.

- My copy of the LoTR LCG arrived this week, I read through the rules and slapped together a deck.  My first one will be Rohan themed...

Sunday, January 5, 2014

This Geek's Week...




- Still playing War Thunder, and am continuing to work on their challenges for the free plane, although after starting my new job, I have had a lot less time (and energy) to play.  One of the challenges gave me an excuse to hop back into my Italian planes, and despite the fact that most WT players despise the Italian tech tree, I actually really enjoy flying them, despite some their faults.  These challenges also got me to hop in the old biplanes, and I absolutely wrecked face in them!

- Picked up the 3rd adventure deck for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.

- Picked up a B-Wing, and the Hawk-290 for X-wing.  I've started touching them up a bit and painting the exhausts.  I like to think of it as making the Moldy Crow a bit more... moldy!

- Picked up all the rest of the models that I needed for my Mid/Late War FoW German army.  Basically the "Open Fire!" box set, then a Panzer IV H platoon box (plus 1 additional Pz IV blister), a Tiger, and 2 recon vehicles.  Looks like 2014 will be a FoW year!  I've got 1/2 of my first Panzer IV platoon painted, now I'm working on painting up the second half...

- Ordered the Lord of the Rings LCG core box.  I miss being able to play the other LCG's, but the LoTR one is solo-able so I'm hoping it will help fill that LCG gap.   I also ordered the Wings of Glory WWII core set.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Flames of War- LW HG Panzerkompanie list...



My company command and 2ic Panzer IV tanks...


     When it comes to gaming, I always try to  "plan before I buy".  The main reason is that it gives me a specific "to buy" list when I go to the LGS, which helps cut down on buying excess models that I wont/can't use in a given armylist.  Flames of War is no different.  My first list is a Late War German Panzer kompanie (German spelling).    As I stated in an earlier post, I'm focusing entirely on Operation Husky/Shingle, the allied invasion of Sicily and mainland Italy.  Through some research, I came across the Hermann Göring Panzer Division, and found their overall history interesting.  (Side note: one of my favorite things about FoW is all the research opportunities involved.)

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Top 5 most played games of 2013...



Just out of curiosity, I utilized one of Board Game Geek's main features just to see what my top 5 most played games of last year were, and what exactly were their numbers.  I'm sure no one else will really care, but my top 5 most played games were:

Android: Netrunner - 34 plays
Sentinels of the Multiverse - 27 plays
Pathfinder Adventure Card game - 19 plays
Legend of the Five Rings - 17 plays
Star Wars LCG - 11 plays

Aside from the X-Wing miniatures game (with 10 plays last year) everything else was in the single digits.  Like I said, just something I was curious about...

If you also record your plays on BGG, what were your most played games of last year?