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Progress and.. Changes already! - 01/19/2025

Hello again! 
Time for another update and this time it has only been a week! I've been trying to make progress on my projects and this blog is part of that. Still playing a good deal of V-Rising on PC with my brother but we've almost beat the game then I'll sink into the hobby side more.

Last week I went to LVO here in Las Vegas for the first time and definitely got some inspiration to continue on the the miniature gaming and prepare some armies to play in convention settings towards the end of the year or at least by the next LVO. That and I found two more games, one of which I bought into already the second is in the wings and waiting on me to get existing projects painted. LVO was awesome to be immersed in miniature gaming if I had stayed any longer I would have walked out with a 40k army. So many players and it looked fun to participate. The side rooms and other games all looked excellent as well. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to head to a miniature gaming convention with armies to actually play soon. 

Conquest (First Blood and Last Argument of Kings has climbed to number 2 for me, see number 2 for more details. The other game I stumbled upon at LVO was Judgement: Eternal Champions. This is a game I originally backed in 54mm on Kickstarter in 2017 and even before that reviewed the rules when they released on my original gaming blog. (bonus points if you can find that one) The miniatures looks crispy and very diverse and the game is MOBA-based which is unique in miniature gaming and worth a closer look. I won't be buying the core set of this until I accomplish a goal or two in my top five but look for more info on it coming soon. 

The last LVO note is I rounded out my paint line from Pro Acryl at the convention. I have been all P3 for paints since ~2012 or ~2013 when I stopped using Gamed Workshop paints. With times changing I ended up going with a newer line as some of my pots are drying up and/or running out. If P3 comes back through Steam Forged Games (beyond the Kickstarter which I'm bummed I missed) then I may keep both lines on the desk if not I'm going to slowly phase out P3 for Pro Acryl.

I'll continue keeping the list limited to my top five to narrow the hobby focus but it'll be an evershifting focus it seems. The goals have already changed. But that's just the way it works with hobbies and life too probably. 

Outside of miniature gaming, I played the first two scenarios solo of the board game called Undaunted 2200 Callisto, long name but a very fun game with good solo play AI for the enemy. Working my way through the game. I'll dedicate a post to it and go into more detail after beating all 8 of the scenarios with one faction. Safe to say it's an awesome game and will have me watching for future Undaunted or similar games to play solo.  

1) Warmachine


The number one focus remains the same (for now..). I'm dedicated to getting the Orgoth painted and played. My first two boxes arrived last week and I got them all ready to go with most of them primed and awaiting paint. Two jacks are awaiting new magnets; mine were too small to interchange the warjack arms and heads. Unfortunately, the QA problems that Steam Forged Games had been having a few years ago have not been corrected in one box I had nothing broken but in another, I had 4 out of 12 models broken in the packaging. I reached out to SFG for help and hope to be able to get replacements as a few of the breaks are not going to be very strong if I just glue them. I may be able to pin them but ideally want unbroken models for the money I paid for them. So that's a little bit of a work in progress. 

I did settle on a paint scheme idea and that is to go dark brass and silver similar to the standard Orgoth models but introduce a dark purple instead of the black used on the range. There are some different races within the faction to consider. I'll start blocking out some of the base colors to perfect the scheme off and on this week. 

Also, my first box of the Cygnar faction arrived! With one model broken.. again. But this will be my little 30 points of opposition to learn the game and have two factions in-house to do some battle reports on. These guys are going to be painted up pretty standard for Cygnar, blue and bright gold with some attempted Object Source Lighting on the electricity. I also saw a guy use gardening wire painted bright to look like electricity that could be cool to try but maybe annoying. 

I'm a little hesitant about adding bigger/badder (read, more expensive) models from the range but let's see how the customer support is and get some paint on the Orgoth to decide for sure. 

Goal: The goal here is to paint Orgoth and Cygnar, and play 10 games against folks online or in Vegas. Write a battle report or two and play another 10 games to get better so I can play at a convention.

Update:  I dropped the Cygnar force after assembling it and the results are grim. Might wait now to buy a second force now until after the Orgoth are painted. It was a sign.. 

2) Conquest (First Blood & Last Argument of Kings)


When I noticed Para Bellum the Polish company behind Conquest would be at LVO I started looking back into the game to see what has changed over the years. The models are just fantastic and the orcs riding dinosaurs won me over. I bought a starter set for their faction called W'adrhun and the dwarven faction called Dwegholm. I don't plan to play Dwarves as scale but needed a second starter to have for games here in the house and a potential battle report. 

My little brother is going to start playing this one too and play the faction called Nords. Excited to game with him and share my hobby and love for these games. He used to hang out with me when I would be painting 40k in my bedroom when he was young.

The game First Blood (FB) is a skirmish/regiment-level game similar to Age of Sigmar (maybe?). It requires fewer models and has models moving freely outside of movement trays. 

The game Last Argument of Kings (TLAOK) is a rank-and-flank-style fantasy war game similar to Warhammer Fantasy (maybe?). 

Both games use the same models so I'll be doing First Blood first while working up to being able to play TLAOK. I ordered a big ol' 5th-anniversary box of the orcs on dinosaurs to reinforce the starter and also got a leader riding a triceratops because.. who wouldn't? 

Found a discord for the game and ways to play on Tabletop Simulator so it should be easy to find online games and difficult to find in-person games but the minis are beautiful the lore seems cool and the game seems fun so far. I'll start doing some specific game articles later and be sure to discuss both of these games. This does however knock Fantastic Battles off my top 5 but the stands mean I could play Fantastic Battles with these models too someday. (Keep Focused!)

Started assembling the kits over the weekend and magnetizing some arms for troops that can be two different units depending on their gear. 

Goal: A new game on the list means a new goal and this one is to paint all of the W'adrhun I have ordered, all the Dwegholm too. Learn with small games, write a battle report and play 10 games online. Then I'll consider expanding from this to a full conquest army or potentially collecting a second army like Dwegholm, City States or the recently announced Yoroni faction. 

3) Malifaux 3e

Still love Malifaux and want to get my collection to a real playable state to be able to be able to jump into the current meta and get some more regular games in. The card mechanics, lore, model range and scenarios are brilliant and I think many popular games continue to adopt and adapt on the Malifaux way of things. The "Malifauxication" of miniature gaming if you will. 

Bayou and Guild are my two for this one and I have ~2 crews done for both Bayou and Guild. Most of the painting work is done on that too so it would be making sure the lists are up to date and still competitive before deciding on a third master for each faction to round out my collection while I play more Malifaux this year. 

Goal: Painted and updated 2-3 masters for Bayou and 2-3 for Guild and play 10 games.

4) Strike Legion: Platoon Leader

This one remains on the list. The units stare at me from beside my hobby table. They will keep waiting gas I get to these other projects but I'll get here soon. Unless another game knocks it off this list. (Battle Tech or Judgement: Eternal Champions

Goal: Finish painting the two factions I have and the terrain. Play the first few sample missions to learn the game (5 games) and write a battle report or two.

5) L'Art de la Guerre

Crunchy yet not crunchy historically accurate yet not accurate. This is my kind of game and I can't wait to get to it but it is a little dry and doesn't climb the list very well. I'll need to finish a few more projects to turn back towards this. 

Goal: Paint my Magyar faction (all cavalary..), buy and paint up a second faction, play 5 games and write a battle report or two.

If I finish any or maybe even all of these then the next project would be Battle Tech, Marvel Crisis Protocol, Land of the Free, Gaslands, Fantastic Battles, Judgement: Eternal Champions or Starmada.

The Game Backlog:

Gruntz, No Stars in Sight, Strike Legion Tactical, Force on Force, 'Nam, Clash of Spears, Muskets and Tomahawks, Task Force Zeta, FNG, Charlie Company, Mayhem, Castles in the Sky, Infinity, Bushido and Godslayer.

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