It’s one thing to set resolutions, and quite another to hold oneself to them. I intend to review my progress monthly towards each of the resolutions. Welcome, then, to our roundup for August 2023. Let’s start with a reminder of the resolutions and where we were at the end of July:
Painting
- Finish 3 army-sized Warhammer projects (~2,000 points). (July Status: 1/3 complete)
- Finish 2 starting forces each for 2 smaller, non-GW games. (July Status: 1/2 complete)
- Paint a Warhammer Underworlds Warband. (July Status: no progress)
- Paint a Blood Bowl Team. (July Status: no progress)
- Paint 6 miniatures unrelated to current projects. (July Status: 14/6)
- Paint 365 miniatures this year. (July Status: 331/365)
Gaming
- Play 40 different games. (July Status: 36/40)
- Play a new (to me) skirmish game. (July Status: no progress)
- Play 3 non-D&D Roleplaying games (July Status: 3/3 complete)
Writing
- Complete 12 book/game/media reviews. (July Status: 8/12)
- Release 3 titles on DriveThruRPG. (July Status: 3/3)
Onward, to August!
Painting
I started the month working on a fun, little project. I decided to take part in Woehammer’s Path to Glory campaign. In doing this, I also decided that even though this campaign was online, I was going to try to follow along with the campaign, painting the models I acquired along the way. I started off by working towards my starting list, with the first items being some 3D-printed Frostsabres:
Now, I only have 2 in my list, but I never knowingly underfill a build plate! I printed 8 of them, along with a suitable proxy for an Icebrow Hunter. I figured that this would protect me from one or two being misprinted and, if they all printed fine, I couldn’t really see myself ever needing more than 8; I’d be set. They printed well and I painted them up!
My next unit was the core of the starting force; the Gluttons! These were nice and quick to paint, as there’s not really all that much to them:
I don’t really have a huge amount to say on these guys. They were quick and easy, and they’re done. Woot!
Finally, I moved onto the most enjoyable bit of the list; the characters. I used the plastic Ogor Tyrant and a 3D-printed proxy for the Icebrow Hunter. I really liked the hunter mini from Avatars of War!
With these chaps finished, I had (along with my Mawpot) my usable 600 point army. Woo and yay!
As we continued with the campaign, the first unit I added to the army was, foolishly, the Yhetees. I say foolishly because I was way too timid with adding units to the army and should have just doubled down and grabbed some heavier hitters. Still, I really enjoyed these 3D-printed Yhetees from Epic Miniatures:
Again, despite only having three in my army, I filled the build plate and printed 6. i was worried about misprints, but really I’m not getting many of those any more, except when I’ve made some poor choices with supports. Another unit that was quick and fun to paint.
I then stepped away from Ogors for a bit, digging out a Nurgle miniature which had been sitting for a while, Gutrot Spume:
I just used my usual Maggotkin of Nurgle colour scheme for this chap. He looks pretty good! I’ve not used the Maggotkin in a while, but will need to fit him into a list when I do.
The rest of the month saw a focus on my Flesh-Eater Courts. There was a lot of printing, building, converting, priming, and painting going on with these chaps. I was delighted to finish 40 Crypt Ghouls:
These turned out great. Some of the shields are a little rougher than I’d like, but they’re fine. It’s alright. The basing turned out really well, too. Yeah, I’m delighted with these.
My final painted miniature for this month was a fun one. I printed up a Black Knight miniature from Highlands Miniatures and magnetised the pieces to use as an Abhorrant Ghoul King:
The magnets have proven to be a bit of a pain and the paint hasn’t stayed on that well in the magnetised areas, but he looks good, all in all. Again, I’m happy with his basing, too.
Total: 64
And, just like that, we pass the goal of one miniature per day for the year! Fantastic! I’m so happy with my progress this year. I’ve met my goal, but let’s see how far we can get with the remainder of the year, yeah? Is 500 doable?
In September, I expect to make some good progress with the Flesh-Eater Courts. That’s the focus. I’d also like, if possible, to push on and expand my Sons of Behemat and keep going with the Ogors. I’ve added a Frostlord on Stonehorn to my Path to Glory army, so I need to get him painted up.
Gaming
Here’s a reminder of the games I had played at least once already this year:
- Ticket to Ride
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Star Wars: Rebellion
- Galaxy Trucker
- Century: Golem Edition
- Root
- Age of War
- Malifaux
- Call of Cthulhu
- Warhammer 40,000
- Blitzkrieg
- Cyberpunk Red
- Avatar Legends RPG
- Twilight Struggle
- Quadropolis
- Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
- New York Zoo
- King of Tokyo
- Quirkle
- Clank! Catacombs
- King of New York
- Tiny Towns
- Dice Miner
- Monopoly
- Codenames
- Santorini
- Lords of Waterdeep
- Sushi Go!
- DC Comics Deckbuilding Game
- Euphoria
- Zombie Dice
- Endangered Orphans: House of Rath
- Isle of Skye
- Hive
This month, I added two more games to this list:
- Betrayal at House on the Hill
- Frostgrave
I didn’t get as many board games to the table this month. I wasn’t able to attend club on Tuesdays, so the opportunities just haven’t been there. I’ve gotten a few games in though, and played Betrayal at House on the Hill for the first time in years. I can’t claim that it’s a game I especially like, but I had a good time with a good group. That’s not unusual with these games, I suppose.
On the last day of the month, I got to play Frostgrave. I had finished some warbands for it previously (some cultists and some soldiers) and it was great to get them to the table at last. The game went really well. I got crushed, but I feel that was largely down to some very unfortunate dice rolls, particularly in combat. The game flowed really well and I’m keen to explore it further.
This skirmish game not only counts as another game towards my target of playing 40 different games this year, but it also fulfills my goal of playing a new skirmish game. Fantastic!
Writing
My favourite recent posts have all been RPG-related, including:
- The end of my series on investigative play
- Some thoughts on the nature of storytelling in games
- Commentary on my own taste in games
- Thoughts on making RPGs accessible to dyslexic players
- Some thoughts on improv in RPGs
- A plea to maybe, possibly, perhaps play something else?
Only one review again this month, and it was in my Game of the Month post from yesterday. This month’s game is Tiny Towns. I didn’t think I was going to like this game when I first saw it, so I was delighted to be proven wrong. I’ve played it a lot since, and I think it’s really fantastic.
I’ve not released anything new on DTRPG, despite assuring you that I would definitely have something out in August, but I should be able to finish something for September. We’ll see if I can muster up the motivation to meander through Maryhill!
August 2023 Summary
Painting
- Finish 3 army-sized Warhammer projects (~2,000 points). (Aug Status: 1/3 complete)
- Finish 2 starting forces each for 2 smaller, non-GW games. (Aug Status: 1/2 complete)
- Paint a Warhammer Underworlds Warband. (Aug Status: no progress)
- Paint a Blood Bowl Team. (Aug Status: no progress)
- Paint 6 miniatures unrelated to current projects. (Aug Status: 14/6)
- Paint 365 miniatures this year. (Aug Status: 395/365)
Gaming
- Play 40 different games. (Aug Status: 38/40)
- Play a new (to me) skirmish game. (Aug Status: 1/1 complete!)
- Play 3 non-D&D Roleplaying games (Aug Status: 3/3 complete)
Writing
- Complete 12 book/game/media reviews. (Aug Status: 9/12)
- Release 3 titles on DriveThruRPG. (Aug Status: 3/3)
Onward, to September!
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