Happy New Year!...And the Year in Review

Well there it goes...another year! How its flown by, but likely due to my having so much fun! So sure, go ahead & blame me...

 

I've been working on a couple of projects to end the year, though neither will be ready to showcase yet.

First up is trying to wrap up the first commission for the game store that I was doing for buildings. I am going to use the Tabletop Workshop plastic kits as guides to the builds. I started the request of 10 buildings in May (while I was stuck at home with a broken foot)

 

This time around I am going to make 2, 2 story buildings & a chapel like structure that will be kept fairly generic for RPG's. Again the goal is to be able to use the insides whilst playing.

 I am also continuing to bling out my Zombicide game. At the beginning of the year I had painted up the walls set I had found on Thingeverse for the first game. Day 0.

I still have a lot more of them printed, but they still need to get painted up. However for today's post, I was looking at the boards & noticed a large number of garbage cans shown & then something triggered a memory. I had painted a bunch of garbage cans way back in 2021....so I went & grabbed them & sure enough, they were pretty good matches for what was displayed on the board.

I had already used some Battle Systems pieces for the dumpsters, but they are a little small. I had gotten these from a trade I believe & think they were resin pieces. However a quick visit to Thingeverse provided me with some more files to print more to cover all the garbage cans on the scenario board.

Trash & Garbage by TommyGMC on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3029551

I was also able to snag some garbage bag piles from MyMiniFactory & a creator called Tiny Furniture

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-garbage-station-398646

This will provide me with the dumpsters & garbage piles. And yes I know that when the game gets going, these will be in the way as the spaces fill with zombies. Not an issue as we can just remove them as the game progresses. I just feel adding all these things makes the game more immersive & as well can be used for all the other Zombie Apocalypse games that are out there.

I started printing them today after getting my Bambu networked so I could view the progress from my computer...kinda freaky!

For those who really can't not watch their prints, you can have the app on your smart device to watch it too.

Now on to the review. Here is what I posted as my first post in January

What to do in 2024?

Now for what I hope to do for this new year & to keep it inline with what I posted last year, I will make 3 goals.

1.  Continue to divest myself of hobby items I know will never get done.  This was started in 2023 & will continue.

This did occur with my attending a couple of swap meets throughout the year. Though I did move some things, not many of the big items went. This will continue going forward, though now that the postal strike is done (for now) it may be time to spread the word further to garner some sales.

2. Select another game system from one of the many kickstarters I've done & get the core box of figures done for it as well. I think this may be a goal every year going forward. I seem to have this odd quirk where I don't want to play the games without the figures being painted if I believe it will make the game look better. 

This was successful as I fully painted the figures for 'The Thing' I also got about halfway through the figures for 'In Too Deep' Guess those will be on the paint queue to finish for this year as I like this goal.

3. As with the previous year, work at getting more stuff painted up. I did see an improved amount of figures done in 2023 though I don't have one of those tally charts that many use....maybe thats something to look into.

 Still no tally sheet, not really my thing as I am always painting stuff up for the 'next game' it seems. This past year tended to be more focussed on getting terrain built & painted, so I will still count this as a success.

As I like things to be simple, I will continue with those 3 goals into 2025 & see where it lands me.

Well thats a wrap for blogging in 2024! Hope everyone enjoys the New Years Celebrations as they like & we will catch you all on the flip side! As always, thanks for visiting & commenting.

Merry Christmas!

 A little late getting this post done as we are well into Christmas Day. It's that crazy time of year where time flies like Santa & as much as we try to focus, our thoughts are drawn to family, friends & loved ones.

OK I am getting distracted as the smells of the turkey fill the house! We were up early as dinner prep needed to happen & got down to opening our gifts over our Eggnog coffees. First were these 2 Cover of Darkness mags which were follow-ons to the first issue. My wife bought these at the Expo & hid them away.

This was followed by the large Wet Palette set from Army Painter that has the silicone cups for speed paints.

I also got The Mandalorian game with the Acrylic playing pieces...SWEET!

There were a couple of other gifts (sweater, etc) which aren't game related so remain beneath the tree.

I haven't gotten much in the way of painting figures done, however I have been busy getting all the Zombicide game cards sleeved & blinging out some of the addition things to prepare for another run at the campaign. Started laminating again after picking up some more sleeves prior to Christmas.

As well I picked up a Bambu P1S during Black Friday sales & have started printing out one of the first STL kickstarters I backed. The Fishing Village. Here is Building 1

I didn't have a lot of luck with the printed netting, so will use some cheesecloth or mesh from Orange bags to fill that role. The winch swings back & forth. Here is an image from his set & its available on Myminifactory! As you can see I have a lot more printing to do!

There are interior details added as well. I am still printing out the windows & door.

So as I am being called to assist with the dinner, I will end this post with a thank-you to those who visit my blog. May the remainder of your year be filled with joy & good tidings. Spend time with your family & friends & enjoy each others company.

Merry Christmas!

Zombicide Campaign - Game 7: The Escape!

Tonight was our last club night of the year. It being the 2nd club night of the month meant it was time to continue our Zombicide Campaign.

 

The survivors were down to 4 members, with Doug being the last of the originals. They had a lot to accomplish, however I had added 2 survivors into the item deck, should their searching prove fruitful.

They got to the Z mart & opened the door early (whilst all in the blue). Not too shabby with the results as it was just a few walkers to deal with.

 

However it wasn't long before a Fatty caused a lot of grief as their were no weapons amongst them that could deal with it...thus all the walkers with it were protected. Add to that the untimely arrival of the Abomination!

 

The group dragged the shambling hordes through the building & exited the far end by the Police Car. As they were all searching it, they discovered Watts inside the trunk. They then drove away leaving Watts to follow as best he could. (There were no other seats available for him in the police car).

 

They successfully ran over several Zombies, but the car was taking lots of damage, it had a single damage point remaining. Doug was driving it at this point.

 

It was at this point that the Runners got another activation & swarmed in, killing both Troy & Doug.

 

As Doug gurgled his last breath, the curtain falls & the campaign ends. I will set this game aside for a few months & then see if there is interest to start another campaign of it. We had a few who had never played before & all who did seemed to enjoy it. I will also tweak some of the campaign rules before the next run as well.

 

Thanks to those who followed the campaign. 

Stargrave - The Last Prospector - The Scrapheap!

Continuing our Last Prospector campaign, today we had 4 crews setting down at The Scrapheap!

 

Again, rumours had led us here as a location where the Prospector visited frequently. We arrived to find no living persons about, however several mining robots were busy.

 

Aroogah leads the first of his crew into the site.

 

The remainder of the crew follow along, its about this time that some of the robots began to act strangely...

 

Chen's crew arrived at the far end of the site.

 

"What the?" The mining robots begin to attack.

 

As other Mining Robots begin to arrive. This is getting worrisome.

 

Chen's Droid drew some unwanted attention as well.

 

Craig's crew suffered the first casualty to the Mining Droids.

 

Chen had played one of his sidequest cards. A Bileworm appeared after a robot was destroyed. Chen had to collect some samples from it.

 

Continuing to advance against the robots. The crews were beginning to get the upper hand.

 

Dan's crew

 

Craig's crew was dealing with a couple of robots, but managed to take them down.

 

A temporary setback for an advancing mining robot.

 

A quick unlock of a physical loot just in time for a Mining bot to interfere.

 

Down goes one of my sentry's

 

With the game coming to a close, as most of the crews had grabbed what they could & departed.

 

So even with having several of my crew downed, all made it back to the ship without sustaining injuries. Craig & Chen each garnered 3 Investigation, so rolled off. Craig won & had designated scenario 4 as our next game which will return next year.

The Dead of Winter at EWG

On Tuesday we had an excellent showing of folks coming out to game. 9 total players, which is something we haven't seen for some time. Guess with it being the 'Dead of Winter', it provided a good opportunity.

 

With Scott & Gaston continuing their Commands & Colours epic 'play it all' off to the side, we were lucky enough to have Craig & myself bring out our copies of the game. We just had 2 many players for a single running (this is a good problem to have at a club!) Craig ran Colin & Chen with him, whilst I had Anne, Evan & Kurt join me.

 

We were playing the Raid scenario, where we needed to clear out 2 locations of cards in order to secure a victory.

A very auspicious start as Anne had both of her folks get bitten while travelling to the Gas Station...don't think we had anyone else go to that doomed location afterwards.

 

With our Crisis cards, we were generally able to complete them & not suffer the ill effects.

 

The folks at the compound start hearing the banging on the doors. The bonus skills of each of the survivors began to tell. One of mine was able to add a barricade every turn without spending an action.

 

It was all going so well until.....with Anne being the last player in the turn, we were sitting at 10 cards in the waste pile. She returned to the compound, got bitten & spread it. My cook was infected, but with a roll of the die, stopped the spread. However it was too late.

 

With no-one able to clean the waste we dropped our last morale & lost the game.

 

It was a good game with several at the table never having played. They realise quickly how dark & unforgiving this game can be...which is what makes it such a great game! Thanks everyone for coming out!