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The hobby doesn't stop. I am glad to have helped. Let me know how it goes for you.

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Hey Everyone and happy Friday. It is no secret that I have been traveling quite a bit for my job recently. While it is fun flying across the country and seeing new places once the work day is done it can eat away at your hobby time. Today I wanted to share some tips for keeping your hobby going strong even when traveling. I tend to travel a lean as possible be it for work or pleasure. I enjoy not needing to check a bag when flying and being able to make just a single trip to my hotel with my luggage. A single bag is all I ever take and as such, I need to make sure I can fit what I need for my hobby in a small and durable case. Only a few months ago I would put everything into a small sturdy box packed as nicely as I could with tissue paper to prevent items from moving. While this method worked in the short term I knew it wasn't and ideal solution for the long term. Thankfully my solution came to me while I was at Adepticon this past March. I stopped in at the Battle Foam booth and found their Pack Mini. I grabbed the case and 3 different foam layouts. One being the standard pluck foam so I could create my own travel layout. I cannot recommend these bags enough. I plan to switch entirely to Battle Foam within the next few months as my only foam and bag brand to transport my models and you can expect a review when I do. While having hobby to enjoy at your leisure in the hotel room at night you cannot forget to have some books and podcasts ready to keep your hobby mind working during your flight or drive. I listen to a fair number of Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 podcasts and audiobooks so that is my usual preference during my travel. It also allows you to stay light by downloading the podcast or audiobooks to your phone for convenience. It may be tempting to bring a lot of models to try and crack through them in the hotel at night, but I would recommend against this train of thought. We all have one of models or units laying about that we promise ourselves we will paint one day. When you are traveling this is the perfect time to fulfill that promise yourself. It is a chance to paint something different while keeping to the thought of painting light. Recently I chose to bring and paint the event model from Adepticon 2017. I typically paint armies or more recently terrain so this was a nice escape and a chance to experiment a bit. Also since it was a one-off piece I didn't stress about recording my paint recipes and simply let my creativity flow. While it may seem as if you will have a lot of downtime in your hotel I found it more common that I had less time than usual to hobby at night. I was either out with a vendor or exhausted from the day of travel so a few nights I barely managed an hour, but I planned for this to be the case. I decided I would only to the color blocking and a bit of blending. Holding off on any Washing or Highlighting until I had returned home allowed me to stay lean. I was able to pack fewer paint pots and brushes to keep the eventual security stop at the airport to a minimum. It also gave me the piece of mind that I wouldn't open my bag at my destination to find a pot of Nuln Oil spread through my clothes. For this same reason, I typically do no build models while traveling due to possibility issues with Super Glue leaking. The one time I have built on the road it was a short trip in a car and only a few infantry models to stay lean. It is also worth noting that hotels will often have a few of the necessities such as a desk to hobby on, cups to wash your brushes, and paper towels or tissues to keep your painting area neat and clean. The one item that varies the most from Hotel to Hotel is the lighting as you can see in a few pictures above. This reinforces my thought to avoid washing and highlighting on the road. I don't plan to travel with any lighting soon and keeping to the basics on the road will prevent any frustration due to any poor lighting. When you arrive home it is time to fix up any missed mistakes and finish the piece. It is very satisfying coming home from traveling and spending only a short while more to wrap up a model. If you packed lean like I typically do then there isn't much to put away either to get your hobby base back to normalcy for the next, and probably, more in-depth, project. I hope my insights are helpful if you have any travels coming up and your planning on hobbying while abroad. Stay lean, keep it simple, and take something different to work on. I find it a good way to keep my hobby flowing and motivate me to dive back into army projects back home. Let me know if you have any tips or if you go in a completely different direction to Travel hobby. As always feel free to follow me on Twitter. Also, one of my local Groups Steel City Sigmar has planned their next event on July 9th so come out and join us! If you're participating in Coalescence this weekend I hope you and your group have an excellent time crafting a great story! I will be covering my Coalescence event as well as the global view on the event next week so until then, Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey everyone! It is Wednesday so it is time for my weekly hobby update. My Hobby hasn't slowed down despite a lot of work travel lately, but the more hobby the better. From Club Days to Coalescence preparation, and even my Youtube Debut it has been frantic and fun. I was lucky enough to be brought on as a guest on last weeks Warhammer Weekly Hosted by Vince and Tom. We did a review on the "New" Stormcast book and I was honored to join them and hope to be back on in the future. Check out the video here and be sure to catch his live talkss every Wednesday. This past weekend my club held its second Barter/Buy day and lots of minis exchanged hands in a fun filled day. Some of my gains can be seen below. I was able to round out a full 2000pt Blades of Khorne list with a few recent additions. It isn't my ideal list, but I can finally begin painting these guys soon and a new project is always an exciting feeling. Also, I got my hands on an unwanted Unforgiven army. I will be stripping it to ready it for a new paint job for my #New40k army. I am currently debating on stripping my older Dark Angels for a fresh coat of paint as well, but time will tell with that endeavor. Last on my table has been my final preparations for Coalescence this Saturday. Packs are printed, the terrain is painted, and the players are excited so it will be a great event for everyone. The prizes and awards will be fun to track and hand out. I will be doing a follow up to my event next week as well. As always feel free to follow me on Twitter to see what I am working on in more depth as well as letting me know what you have going on. Until Friday, Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to talk about Steel City Sigmar's Second event. Sadly I was unable to attend, but one of the local club members Mike S. was gracious enough to write up his games and thoughts from the second event. I met Mike at the local Warhammer store and he has been part of the scene since the first day. He admittedly is a bit of a Meta Chaser, but always a fantastic gentleman to play and have a beer with after the dice are done rolling. Check out his game recaps below as well as pictures from the event! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Game 1: vs Dave D. and his Iron Jaws Blood and Glory Great opponent and friend. His experience in 40k really made him a difficult opponent even when it was his 5th game of Sigmar and never played against beast claw. I let him come across the board figure I play the movement game with another Destro army. There he got 3 Gore Gruntas into combat with my Thunderstusks on turn 1 but wasn't enough cause the 12 mortal wounds coming out a turn are just too overwhelming to deal with for some armies. I was lucky to table him basically by turn 4. He was doing really good dmg but just couldn't keep up with 1/2 dmg stone horn. 1-0 Game 2: vs Alex W. and his Kharadron Overlords and Stormcast mash up. Border wars I made tactical blunders and turn 1 he killed a Stonehorn in the shooting phase. Never seen an army do that before. We played all the way to turn 5 and it came down to an initiative roll.. who won the roll off wins the game. I lost. I am not used to these shooting armies in Sigmar. I left my 2 big guys in shooting range and it was a bad idea. Even though 1/2 all wounds still wasn't enough. 1-1 Game 3: vs Grant and his Kunnin Rukk (X2) Escalation Grant was working hard for a top spot and I decided with 460 shots a turn I have to do something unorthodox to get a victory. So... I basically fed him 2 units of moon clan grots. This gave me time to get my big guys into big charge range on turn 2. I got my Stone horn and thunder tusk into combat buffed with bellowing tyrant and battle brew. I killed like 60 out of 80 orcs in 2 turn and on the other side I killed another 25. I ended up tabling him for max points and a major victory. 2-1 I got 2nd place overall and a bit of prize money that went right to Tyranids for 8th ed 40k! I had a great time at the event, rolling tons of dice is awesome. Very good times! Final Standings from the event! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am very happy to see the day went well and fun was had by all. It is great to see the scene growing and a strong regular turnout to these one-day events. I will be looking to join the Steel City Sigmar Club in their next event and hopefully do better than my first outing. Until next week everyone, feel free to follow me on Twitter and Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone! It is Wednesday and time for a brief update on what I have had on my hobby desk. It has been a light week as I prepare for the upcoming coalescence and I am currently in the midst of a lot of travel for work, but I always try to squeeze some hobby in every. You will be able to see my Travel Hobby in an upcoming Friday in a few weeks. I was able to complete my first model that wasn't terrain in quote a while with my Knight-Venator Conversion. I am very excited for the New 40k and have taken a few more recently painted of my Dark Angels and removed the basing in preparation for my new (and second) Unforgiven Force. The awards are all set for June 10th to go along with the prize support I received my FLGS. After June 10th I will have a full run down of event! Last I have begun my attempt at NMM - Gold. It is not much yet, but it is a start! Let me know what you have been working on and as always feel free to follow me on Twitter! See you with Friday's Post. View the full article

Hey Everyone! This past weekend my club held a very important event in place of its standard gaming days. We had determined at our Town Meeting that our terrain was in need of a facelift and we committed to repairing, repainting, and if needed replacing terrain from our club collection. I also committed to painting up all of my terrain so when I am running Age of Sigmar events such as Coalescence I can also bring a few extra tables of quality terrain as well. I went to this project with the mindset that if I am unwilling to paint my own terrain how could I possibly motivate others to fix up our community terrain? While painting my own terrain was motivating for the club as we came up to the club terrain day it really began to stretch my endurance. While some terrain like the new Games Workshop has a lot of fun little detail to spend some time on other proved to be monotonous with priming and dry brushing becoming the standard. All that said it was educational going through the process on my own terrain. I also spent time using a hot foam wire cutter and some sharp knives creating hills along the way. I cannot express how easy these were to create and very friendly on the wallet as well. If you are needing some simple terrain to get on your or your clubs table I can honestly say you could have a table full of line of sight blocking hills done to a decent standard in an afternoon. Our local library which is our normal meeting location was completely booked through the month. Thankfully we had another FLGS nearby with a lot of space who was willing to host us as we got to the task. I picked up the clubs terrain early from our club FLGS and headed over to the hosting FLGS. I arrived and one of our younger members Luke had already arrived and was eager to get going so we began unpacking and setting up shop. Over the next hour or so more and more club members became coming in to help out. It was great to see every rally around a single task to improve the club as a whole. There was a wide variety of hobbyists as well. The hardcore gamers, the high-level painters, and the casual group all joined it. The time really passed quickly as we all chatted hobby and upcoming releases. It was a real bonding experience for those who were able to attend. I think the key detail of the day was who showed up to begin taking our club to the next level. While it is worth noting that a few members who let me know there were schedule conflicts and they couldn't attend I noticed that those who showed up were the younger players. I feel I was able to relay to them how important they are to the future of the club as it will be them leading it one day. They are enthused about what I have been pushing with taking the club to a higher level and growing once again. It wouldn't be possible without the support of the entire club, especially the younger players. The fruits of our labor paid off as we managed to repair and repaint all of the club terrain in about six hours of hard work. It was great seeing the looks of accomplishment on everyone's face and the care with which everyone put the terrain away in its boxes to be transported back to our FLGS. The club showed up and took ownership and they will see the fruits of their labor during our next game day when we play with the terrain. If your club is in needs to up their game tables I can recommend dedicating a single day to repairing and even building new terrain. It is a great way for everyone to take ownership in the club as well as bond as a community. If you do have a day like this coming up let me know as I would love to check out some pictures or offer any advice I can. Follow me on Twitter if you would like to see pictures from the next club game day where we will begin using the freshly updated terrain. Until next week Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Happy Wednesday everyone! Over the past week, I have finished all my terrain in preparation for my Coalescence event. I have also been working up fun teasers for my event to hint at what my places could expect during as the narrative unfolds. My Club also held a terrain build/repair day that I will dive into more detail during my Friday post. I also received a nice surprise from a local commission painter and club member! Teasers for my Coalescence Story! A Club mate who goes by BrushForHire painted this up for me. Finished all my personal terrain in preparation for Coalescence. My Local club showed up and put in work! Let me know what you have been working on and follow me on Twitter. I have some travel coming up for work so the Travel Hobby will be in full force along with pictures from my travels. See you with Fridays Post and Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone! This week I wanted to take the time to discuss the value that I have found in using a Hobby Journal. Earlier this week I also put out a Poll on Twitter to ask the question "Do you use a Hobby Journal" I will dive into the results, but while there was a lot of votes for no it seemed those who did use a Journal were passionate enough to discuss how they use this handy tool. Hopefully, by the end of the post, you will run out and start a Hobby Journal of your own! When I first picked up a Hobby Journal it was with the intent to be a painting journal. A place to record paint mixes, army color schemes, and even order I apply different layers to my models. For a while, that was its one and only purpose. After a few months, I started using it to write down ideas for my blog. In fact, the ideas and concepts that lead to the creation of my blog are in the journal! Later it became a notebook for conversion ideas, custom scenarios, army schemes, and community building ideas. While it has begun serving other duties it still serves as a painting journal. More recently my Journal became a place to record games played. So far I have only used it for Larger events and not simple friendly games, but I might change that in the future as I playtest armies for events such as Nova, and Adepticon. I try to keep it simple otherwise I would get so absorbed into tracking the game I would forget to play. I jot down the opponents name, their army, any formation they might have in their list, and I put highlights from the game. A failed charge or a 12" charge could be huge to the outcome of the game and those are the moments I write down during play. After the game, I will record if I won or lost and by how much as well as any comments that might be more important in hindsight. I ran a Twitter poll this past week regarding the subject on whether or not people used Hobby Journals. Near the end of the poll it was 40% yes and 60% no. It was a much closer split then I immediately expected. Looking through the comment threads it seems most people are using them solely as a place to record paint recipes and paint schemes. While I have combined my Journal to be multi-purpose I think a lot more people will split their journals to be more dedicated and focused if they are choosing to have journals for different aspects of their hobby. For example, Ben Johnson keeps two separate hobby journals as he expressed on twitter. One is for painting and the other is games played. You could easily have as many journals as you feel you need. There are plenty of options as to what journal to buy? You could get a large book that will last for years to come or you could get something slimmer that might only contain your thoughts for a short span of time or perhaps a single project. I have gone with the humble pocket journal for ease of carrying. Going with a pocket size has allowed me to carry it with me everywhere. Going out with friends, working at the office, or sitting at my hobby desk I always have it with me in case a hobby related idea strikes me. It is great to always have a piece of your hobby with you and I feel you cannot go wrong with a pocket Journal. I hope you consider picking up a journal of your own soon as this tool will be a great way to look back on past hobby and help plan out your hobby future. Feel free to follow me on Twitter as always and until next week. Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone. This past week of hobby saw more work on painting my Terrain in preparation for Coalescence as well as finally getting back to some gaming. Outside of that, I have been planning out my posts for the next few weeks as I have a lot of travel for work coming up, but you can still expect my usual Wed and Fri posts along with some nice pictures of my travels and travel hobby. My Garden of Morr made its way from The Old World into The Mortal Realms Some Classic Terrain pieces I touched up My recent purchase of a Hot Wire Foam Cutter has paid off Small and Large practice games were had this past weekend Let me know what yo have on your Hobby Table and follow me on Twitter to see my future Travel Hobby Projects. See you on Friday. Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone! Today I will be following up from my Guest Post on the How to Neo Blog on TGA and will be discussing how I plan to run the event itself on the June 10th. The best way to prepare for a large event is to take time the day before to set up the gaming area. I am currently planning to head down to the Library the evening before to set up tables as well as lay the mats and terrain. The quicker I can get to the venue in the morning and the lighter I am able to travel the better. I have been asking players for my event to register with me via email and a good number have done so, but it is inevitable that some local players will show up without having registered which is not an issue but this eventuality needs to be part of my preparation. Hopefully, I will have enough tables set up for the day without eating up any extra space for the other game systems going on that day at the club. So I am all set up and get to the venue early. Now it is time to lay out all the prizes and set up a small space for myself so I can lay out any documents to hand out to the players. One of the best parts of any event is the excitement right before it all begins and if I am fully prepared I can spend some time chatting with everyone before we kick off the first game. I also plan to have the players sign in and determine what Faction they are fighting for within the event as well as note their army. Once the players are settled it is time to begin and in most events, I would set up random pairing followed by Swiss pairings for each round in most events, but most events I run are matched so I can have a bit of fun with this step. I plan to look at the players and their armies and mix them up so everyone can play someone new in each round as well as pair players up based on general skill or army capability. This may seem like a bit of micromanaging, but with a narrative event focused on story over winning I think it could lead to some exciting moments with not much additional work on my end. One item I am currently planning out is game time length and this is a bit tricky as each game is of different point sizes but with a narrative focus, it is hard to predict how long the games could take. Finding the happy medium is key as I also need to allow time for lunch and judging of Armies and painting. Do to the venue we must wrap up by 4:30 to give ample time to put tables away and store the terrain. Being a narrative event the awards are also based around the narrative and as such the judging is a bit more involved. Some of the awards will be player chosen, others will be chosen based on impartial judges, and a few will be determined by myself. I will be asking players to track some statistics on their sheets, but the best way is always to be around the tables. One to answer any questions and to see the stories develop myself! Each player will be experiencing their won story, but I have the fortune to watch the overall narrative develop as all the games are being played. This will let me see who could be best suited for some of the awards being given out by myself at the event. Another possibility to be ready for is to play the ringer. Typically it is best to have a second person help you be the ringer, but with a narrative setting I will be the ringer myself if needed After clean up, we will head over to the FLGS to hand out prizes. Norm who runs the shop (The Toy Soldier Gallery) will be helping me present the winners their awards. This is what it is all about! The excitement of announcing the winners and explaining what each award represents is the fulfillment that makes running events worth it. Expect to see pictures posted on my Twitter from the event as well as going Live on Twitter to hand out the awards! When the awards are all handed out, there are only one thing left to do. Head over to the local bar to share a drink and talk about our victories and defeats of the day. This is a great time to ask the players what they enjoyed about the event and what they did not. The info you gather at this time is paramount for the last step of any event. Planning for the next one! Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter with any questions you may have. Until next week Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey everyone! Here is what I have kicking around on my hobby table this week! In preparation for The Global Coalescence event, I have been painting up all the gray terrain I have had sitting around for the past few years. This mixed with the terrain repair/build day coming up for my local club we should have some nice looking tables for the event and for ourselves going forward. I also took my Display board and Imperium Force to be judged for the upcoming Inner Circle Event coming up this weekend at my local Warhammer Store. I am looking forward to going after on of the medals up for grabs! I also picked up a few odds and ends at my FLGS as well. My White Dwarf, Khorne Battletome Cards, and an old Blister of Metal Catachan Leaders so I can make one into Sly Marbo for quick Armageddon games. Feel free to follow me on Twitter and let me know what you are working on. See you with Friday's post! Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone! This week I wanted to continue my new segment where I talk to a club mate about their journey in Age of Sigmar and this Hobby. Today I will be talking with Aleks who is part of my local club Ligonier Legions. He hangs around twitter so follow him here (or on Instagram here)! Aleks being carried by me (just like our games) Hey Aleks, Thanks for being letting me chat with you for a bit. "I am happy to be with you" So Aleks how did you begin your journey in this hobby? "It started when I was about 12 or 13 back in my homeland Russia. There was a little hobby store near my school that I always visited. One day I bought the cheapest models I could and the cheapest paint and began painting. The owner of the shop was a commission painter who helped me quite a bit. I remember painting a small goblin with about 3 colors total on it." What made you decide to make Age of Sigmar your main tabletop game? "I was introduced to Warhammer through Dawn of War on PC. I asked my dad to send me a kit Moscow where he was working. He sent me some Orks. I soon found Fantasy and got an Orc Battallion I messed around with, but when 8th dropped I picked up The Island of Blood and fell in love with the High Elves. Soon after I moved to the US and I brought my High Elves with me and found the local hobby store where I bought more Elves. I choose to paint all my models before I played. Actually, you were my first game of Fantasy when we played High Elves on High Elves. I remember using my Russian Rulebook it was a mess. I kept with Fantasy through Age of Sigmar and haven't let go. We knew each other, but really became friends when Age of Sigmar dropped. You were the only one in the area who pushed to play Age of Sigmar from the beginning and I don't want to go anywhere." Aleks has a large custom Free People's Halfing Army What armies are you currently working on or playing? "I am playing High Aelfs, about 2000pts. I still have Skaven around 2000pts. I am currently working on a Free Peoples Halfling themed army. I also have an extensive Moon Clan army. My biggest focus currently is building Disciples of Tzeentch." In regards to Open, Matched, and Narrative play where do you fall? "Absolutely Matched Play! I feel I am still hung up in the illusion of balance points bring. I am happy doing custom games or events, but I always like to have points." Are there any aspects of this Hobby that you really enjoy? "I enjoy competitive army building. As a college student, I like to squeeze out the best army possible with least amount of money spent. I also enjoy converting models to make them unique and my own." These High Aelves have seen battle against my forces plenty of times On the other end, what parts do you perhaps not enjoy? "I do not enjoy painting when I have to paint. Working to deadlines isn't fun. I prefer to paint for myself as I take a lot of joy in putting a lot of effort into each model." What is your Dream Goal for yourself in this Hobby? "My ultimate fantasy about this hobby is to go to a major GT and win either overall, best of, or best painted." Can you share with us a memorable experience within Age of Sigmar? "It is not so much a memory, but a realization. My favorite part about Age of Sigmar is how Gamesworkshop is handling this game. The community team, videos, and articles are what is making this game as good as it has become!" His Abomination is always a must kill for me... Where do you see the U.S. Age of Sigmar Community regards to Locally, Regionally and Nationally? "Right now it seems very dispersed. It is like everyone is in their own bubble in the mortal realms. Not enough people get together to really solidify the US community due to the size of the country." What would you like to see in the U.S. National Age of Sigmar Community? "It would be cool if there was a U.S. ranking system that was accepted by everyone and there was a US Grand Tournament or Masters event." Thanks again Aleks! "It's over already? Thanks for having me." As always feel free to follow me on Twitter and let me know if there is any aspect of the hobby you would like me to discuss! Until Next week, Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone! I hope you all have been on a roll with your hobby. There is plenty to prepare for such the upcoming Nashcon, Coalescence, Socal Open, Cross Roads GT, Nova and the new Midwest Meltdown (Ask Domus for more info)! I am still trying to prepare the terrain for my local Coalescence event as well as prepare a Display board for my Warhammer Stores Inner Circle event. 2 day Display Board! I was able to work up this fairly generic display board in a few days for the local Inner Circle Event as well as having it on hand for anyone to borrow at future events due to their travel arrangements or limited time. It turned out well enough, but the best part was finding precut 2x2 foam boards at my local hardware store. It made things much quicker! Perhaps I will try to get more Sisters. Really fun Model I did manage to finish painting my Sister I had on hand, but I might take my Eldar to the Inner circle instead as it is a much larger and more impressive force to display. The other option is to bring a mixed Imperium list which could be just as fun. It will most likely be a snap decision. Blood for the Blood God I also built some Khorne kits I ha.d on my desk I am very happy how the War Shrine turned out with the Blood Reavers carrying it. Now to go buy some Daemons to grow the force and begin painting within the next month or so. Much to PJSchard's Displeasure I also decided to redo one of my Stormcast Conversions. I am already much happier with my new Venator. I just cannot put the StormBros down it seems. Let me know what you are working on and as always follow me on Twitter for "up to the minute" hobby. Until Friday, Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Welcome to Part 5 of my "Building a Community" Series. If you have not read Part 1, 2, 3 or 4 please check them out in the links below. Today I will discuss the recent town meeting I held at my local club and the rather quick turnaround I have seen in members since. At our last club day, I felt it was best to hold a town meeting to get everyone together to discuss the future of the club. I felt a lot of what I was trying to do wasn't being received properly or was being misinterpreted. I was told that a few people felt I was going to ruin the club! I needed to get everyone on the same page as me, and I needed to alleviate any fears while finding out what they wanted as well. We took an hour at the beginning of our Club day and I lead the discussion. I began by explaining what my views on where the club is at, what I feel we can be, and how I felt we could get there. I think it shocked a few members when I told them where I felt the club was as a whole currently. Our poor tables and fractured philosophies made us unwelcoming and unattractive to gaining new members or having other clubs come visit. After I a few minutes of explaining how our current environment was road blocking us it began to sink in and we started going around the room giving everyone a chance to voice their thoughts. It became obvious that I wasn't the only person who felt our club was stagnant and needed to change as a whole to survive. I am thankful that we had a fairly diverse group at the meeting albeit a smaller turnout than I would have liked, but it was also Easter weekend and the opening day of trout, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. Competitive members, Narrative members, and Hobbyist members all offered advice on how to improve the aspect of the club they found themselves within. As the ideas on how we can and should improve were discussed I challenged each of them to implement these action items themselves in order to help the club as a whole become more of what they would like to see. Ideas such as going out to other FLGS's and clubs to play with them and discuss our local scene and what we wish to do. Setting up monthly hobby days on Skype with one of our best painters discussing tips and just to work on projects together. We discussed ways to improve our current table situation and committed to 12 Tables total, with 4 tables having quality terrain within a few months. Some members offered to us their 3D printer to make nice centerpieces for tables and others generously offered to cast terrain themselves, they even brought in a few painted pieces they had cast they would exactly what we are looking to add to our tables! The club is also dedicating its next meeting day to repair and create new terrain for our tables. The biggest change we all agreed on was to remove the original change I had put in place when I began organizing the group. Originally I felt that dedicating each day to one specific game would help each game grow, but over time it was obvious that people who played one game simply didn't show up if their game was not the focus. After suggestions from a few of the members at the meeting, we will now be running all three of our main games, 40k, Age of Sigmar, and Flames of War at each club day. We want to be more attractive to others coming in and what is better than a room full of gamers as opposed to the small groups we were getting with the focused days, Afterward, I described the meeting as a Minor Victory. I felt a lot of the misconstrued ideas and plans were streamlined and everyone began to take ownership in that their actions will make our break this club. It was a week or so later that I saw it was closer to a Major Win. I saw members going to the other local FLGS's to play games and gain interest in new players to come join us and see what we are doing in Ligonier. Suddenly the Facebook group began having daily posts and discussions from everyone, not just the same few who were always posting. I feel energized to put forth whatever more effort I can to improve the club because for the first time I don't feel like the only horse pulling this cart. The younger gamers, the older gamers, and even those who I felt were poisonous gamers are all going the same way and I could not be more proud. I will continue posting updates as the club continues to improve, but I feel this is a good place to wrap up this series, for now at least. If you would like to check out what we are about please check out the clubs Facebook page here or follow me on Twitter. Perhaps in the next year or two, you might see us at Adepticon or Nova wearing the club shirts we are creating or if you are within driving distance we would love for you to join us one day. Until next week Happy Hobbying! Edited by Grudgegamer Building a Community: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 View the full article

Hey everyone! This week's Hobby is all about preparing for Coalescence on June 10th. The word for the event has spread much quicker and farther than I originally thought it would have for my club. I decided to keep pushing and have been hitting up local stores to hang up flyers I printed off for the event and hopefully get players to register via email so I can get a somewhat accurate headcount. My Local FLGS's and even my local Warhammer Store has allowed me to put up flyers to help generate more interest in the event. They all are helping spread the word with hopes that all ships will rise with this tide. Talking up the event and organizing it is a big part of my hobby right now and will be for the foreseeable future. I have also confirmed I will have Prize support in the form of Games Workshop Kits for the event on top of the trophies I had planned for the event. While it is very exciting it is a bit intimating to make sure The Club tables are ready as we are lacking in quality terrain and mats. This was a topic of conversation at our recent Town Meeting for the club, but I will go into detail about meeting in Fridays post. Thankfully we have set up a day to work on fixing and building terrain for the club, but I plan to put in as much effort as I can to ensure we are ready! People have already donated some foam to the cause and I feel confident in what we will accomplish. I will be using this deadline as pressure to also paint my own terrain collection to finally get it done for myself as well as the Coalescence event. The other hobby I am getting into is creating a small Display Board for my Warhammer Stores Inner Circle event. I plan to take some of my Sisters of Battle to display in hopes of getting one of those wonderful Deathwing medals being awarded at the event. I even have a last minute addition to the force in the form of the Canoness Veridyan. I cannot wait for the new edition of Warhammer 40,000 after this week's recent news and Q&A session! Let me know what you are all working on with your Hobby. I would love to see and be inspired by it. As always feel free to follow me on Twitter and see you all on Fridays post where I wrap up my Building a Community Series with Part 5. Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hey Everyone! This week I wanted to begin a new segment where I talk to a club mate about their journey in Age of Sigmar and this Hobby. Today I will be talking with Matt who is a consistent member of a local group based in Pittsburgh, PA. I am dragging him back to Twitter so follow him here as well! Matt (Background) and myself at Adepticon 2017 Hey Matt, Thanks for being my first test subject for my new Blog Article Series. "No Problem. Happy to help and talk about Age of Sigmar anytime!" So Matt how did you begin in this Hobby? "It started off with going over to a Lan party focused on RTS, specifically Dawn of War. I spent hours playing before the party and afterward I was introduced to the lore of Warhammer 40k by a friend. A few years later I got the itch to try painting some of these models. I went to my local Store and Picked up a unit of Space Marine Devastators. I spent three weeks painting five models. A friend who was into 40k and he convinced me to pick up a few more models to play a game! Many months of painting and preparation later I played a game in which I got my the tar kicked out of me. I picked up the Age of Sigmar Starter box and I didn't do much with until I met you." What brought you to Age of Sigmar? "You did! To be honest, I was in love with the rule set at the start. As long as you trust your opponent and participate int he social contract you can have fun in the game without getting too serious." Some of Matt's Dispossessed What armies are you currently playing in Age of Sigmar? "I tend to dabble across the board until I find an army to match my play style. Currently, I have Dispossessed, SCE, Nurgle, and recently began Slaanesh." In regards to Open, Matched, and Narrative play where do you fall? "I don't like the idea of focusing on one. I feel all three are very important to the hobby. To prevent any fatigue it is best to play them all! Matched play is the easiest and more common way to play it the Open and Narrative play are overlooked but are essential to explore the full extent of the creative side of the hobby." Are there any aspects of this Hobby that you really enjoy? "The delightful banter between a friendly opponent! I really enjoy the community and friendships built through this game. Of course playing the game and list building are near the top as well." On the other end, what parts do you perhaps not enjoy? "I do not enjoy players who play strictly to the Meta simply to win. I feel the game is more fun if people take lists they think are interesting despite power. Tactics of lists! I do not enjoy the amount of time Painting takes me. If I could get quicker to have table top results faster it would be marvelous!" Matts Scheme for his Current Army Project - Stormcast Eternals What is your Dream Goal for yourself in this Hobby? "I would love to be known as The Dispossessed Player. I want people to look to me as the be all end all of the Army. Also going to Warhammer World would be nice." Can you share with us a memorable experience within Age of Sigmar? "I was playing against My local Warhammer Store owner. It was my Warden King against three Kurnoth Hunters with Swords. It took 5 rounds, but he managed to kill every one of them while only taking one Wound. there was plenty of Ribbing and John Cena References being flung across the board to my opponent!" Matt's entry into a local Painting Competition (Random Hero and paints were given to use) Where do you see the U.S. Age of Sigmar Community regards to Locally, Regionally and Nationally? "I haven't delved deep into the National or Regional scene, but as far as local it is interesting. I have the dichotomy of my local group and your local group. My scene is an odd mix of Hobbyist who play once a month but enjoys the painting. I also have the aspiring Tournament players who are trying sharpen their game as well as a few High-End Tournament Veterans who come in and show respect to all players despite experience. It is a diverse community who gets along even if they don;t agree on Armies, Play Style, Or game but they come together over the Hobby. Your scene is more of a club but shares the same love for the Hobby despite the game and gather around each other to build friendships. A commodity if you will." What would you like to see in the U.S. National Age of Sigmar Community? "I would like to see a ranked system. While competitive isn't my focus giving us a chance to talk smack about ranks could be fun. Mostly, I would love to see points of contact within the U.S. scene to help guide it all and assist new groups/players would be a strong influence to get the U.S. growing in a positive way." Thanks again Matt. "Sure thing Chuck." I hope you all enjoyed my first Player Spotlight article and perhaps got some insight into how who Matt is an Age of Sigmar player. Feel free to message me here or on Twitter if you have any questions you would like me to ask in future Spotlights or let me know what you thought of this series! Special shout out to everyone attending South Coast GT this weekend, good luck and I can't wait to see Twitter coverage! Also be sure to keep an eye on the Games Workshop Coverage on Twitch. Until Next week, Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hello Everyone! I have made the decision to take my blog from once per week to twice per week. I want to have a short post about what hobby I have going on or a short hobby related topic every Wednesday, which is the post you will see today. I also plan to continue bringing you longer more in-depth posts at the end of the week on Friday. If you have any topics you would like to see covered in my Shorter Tuesday posts please let me know. Today I want to share with you all the projects I am currently working on as well as what is coming down the pipe for my hobby. My current army project is Blade of Khorne and I could not be more excited. I have settled on a White/Gold color scheme and plan to work on my Airbrushing skills with this army. Expect to see a Bloodthrister from em soon as the pictures above are just the beginning! I have had a small Sylvaneth grove in my backlog since the beginning of AoS and I keep adding more to it slowly. The assembled Treelord and Dryads were originally meant to be part of my 8th Edition Wood Elf Force, but with the separation of the army. They, as well as three Citadel Woods, are sitting silently on the side for that rainy day. Aelves are my first Warhammer love and I eagerly anticipate the first Aelf army that will join the fight in The Mortal Realms. I have picked up the Balewind Vortex, a Mistweaver, and a Shard for when the new Aelves are finally released. I currently have an Aelf army consisting of models people gave me after The End Times when they decided to "Quit the game for good". I used the army to practice my airbrush skills and jump on the Concept Army Bandwagon that was all the rage. However, I plan to go back and give them a proper paint job soon. Possibly in an AOS28 style! A humble Liberator Prime sits waiting for me to begin a side project I am very excited to being. This hero is slated to be my first Nonmetallic Metal model. Outside of all the painting, building, and buying, I am also prepping for Nova Open as well as planning out my event for Coalescence on June 10th that I finally committed to running for my local club. I have a lot of focus on building communities right now so these events are usually at the forefront of my hobby thoughts. I have come to learn recently this game is so fun and exciting because of the players and growing that aspect will only further the game. That's all I have on my Hobby Table at the moment, but it is ever changing and growing. Let me know what you think of this new addition to my blog schedule so I can put out the content you wish to see. As always feel free to follow me on Twitter and until Friday. Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Hello everyone! I wanted to take this week’s post to run down my games from The Age of Sigmar Championship that I participated in at Adepticon 2017 this year. I decided to take the Stormcast Eternals to the event. My intention was to take the Warrior Brotherhood, but after the changes that occurred in the new book, it simply wasn't a worthwhile option in my opinion. With only a limited amount of time to adjust my list, I decided instead to use the Hammerstrike force. Because the Hammerstrike force acts similarly to the old Warrior Brotherhood, I decided to go with what I was more familiar with. An added bonus was that it also meant I only had a few late painting nights to be prepared for Adepticon. Now on to the games! My List for the Event Game 1 - Opponent: Steven, Army: Sylvaneth Steven and I had a great game, despite my nerves at playing my first tournament game at Adepticon. He made sure that we had a good time playing. The game really had a back and forth sequence, with no one ever gaining the upper hand until the final turn. In this first scenario, we were to fight over pieces of terrain each round in order to score points. I decided to play very aggressively and kept him from ever leaving his deployment zone. I was able to keep my objective secured, but due to how the scoring worked with battle line units versus non-battle line units, I was behind on points. Sadly I was unable to kill off his Kurnoth Hunters quickly enough in the remaining rounds to prevent him from capturing his objective for one round giving him the win in the end. I really enjoyed myself and Steven was a great opponent. My only real criticism was his substitute GW forests. He had cut the shape of the Citadel Wood on a Mousepad material and was using them for his forests. It took a bit away from his army and since there were no trees in his forests or even circles to represent where the trees were supposed to be. This really allowed him freedom of movement and line of sight that would have otherwise would have been obscured. That said, I would happily play him again in the future if some more accurate representations for forests were used. Game 2 - Opponent: Gabe, Army: Stormcast Eternals Game 2 put me in a mirror match of sorts. I have always had the Achilles heel of not being able to beat my own army, in a matter of speaking. Gabe was still new to Age of Sigmar, but his commitment was obvious as he had an exceptionally painted Stormcast Army. In this scenario, we were fighting over 4 objectives and we deployed spread out knowing we each had a Hammerstrike Alpha-Strike waiting in the wings. He had the initiative which meant I had to blunt his spearhead. He devastated my right flank with shooting and Paladins. The survivability of my Concussors, and a few brave Judicators who punched above their weight class allowed me to essentially take his large paladin unit out of the game. I targeted his flank in the opposite corner from his Alpha-Strike with my ten Retributors and deployed my Protectors on his other flank. I was gambling here as my Prosecutors were killed off, but both units made clutch 9" charges to get me into combat and gain the upper hand. With his Retributors essentially removed from the fight and mine cleaning up, I just had to stall his battleline with mine to claim victory, which I successfully accomplished. Another great game under my belt and I went into game three 1 -1. Game 3 - Opponent: Cody, Army: Sylvaneth I went into game three feeling great and I met Cody at the table and felt a bit worried as I saw Sylvaenth yet again and I feared I would suffer the same fate as before. The scenario involved waiting for meteors to arrive, so turn one went quickly, but we had traded some shots between our forces. I had some lucky rolls on my part, as his dryads were removed entirely from the board. Cody had deployed entirely in the center section which paid off for him as his meteor arrived in the center of his army, while mine fell to my left. I was able to put a strong defense on my objective and I knew I had to break through his army to prevent him from scoring to try and take the win. Once again I found my Prosecutors dead after turn one, but some great charge rolls from my Retributors, Concussors, and Lord Celestant on Dracoth allowed me to strike into the heart of his army and begin fighting toward his objective allowing me to prevent him from scoring for a few turns. The game got very bloody and we were cheering each other on the whole time as we removed our toys. I took off most of his force, but Allarielle wouldn't fall. She remained steadfast to the end and even managed to kill off my General in the last round for a moral victory. I took the game, but found a great opponent, and had one of the best games of Age of Sigmar I ever played. Game 4 - Opponent: Gavin, Army: Flesh Eater Courts Scenario four saw us fighting over multiple objectives once again, and I knew I was in trouble due to the lasting power of Flesh Eater Courts. I went as aggressive as I could, and threw everything I could at his line. He held on and began to regrow which put me on a back foot for the rest of the game. I managed to throw some curve balls at him managing to keep the scenario to a draw. In the end, though, he came out ahead on kill points which gave him the win. Sadly, this was my least memorable game and it did not have anything to do with the army or how it was played. My opponent didn't seem to want to participate in the game. I tried cheering on his Zombie Dragon eating my Retributors, but was denied any response. When I finally whittled down the monster, I was met with a grumble as he removed his model with irritation. I felt this could have been a much more exciting game, but the social contract was not met, so I put my hopes on my last game being a more memorable ending to the event, win or lose. Game 5 - Opponent: Peyton, Army: The Legion of Azgoth Game five paid off as Peyton was my favorite opponent of the event. He played exceptionally clean with his entire army and he was one of the finalists for painting which meant I got to play against one of the best painted armies I have ever seen. The last scenario had us running for three objectives in the middle and holding onto them to score while keeping them away from the enemy. We both went very aggressive and I managed an early lead. However, the number of points you scored was based on the turn number so even with an early lead, it was anyone's game. Peyton baited out my Alpha-Strike and kept my Paladins out for most of the game. This was a bloody game like the others, but with some power stances and clutch rolls on defense and offense from both sides. The game was thrilling all the way down to the end. With each of us holding one objective elsewhere on the board, the game came down to my Lord-Celestant and lone Judicator Prime chasing down his General who held the third objective. He had one wound and all I had to do was kill him to take the win. I rolled max attacks for shooting and melee and Peyton stepped up and rolled every single save allowing him to retain the objective and win the game! This was a thrilling and memorable end that I had hoped for in my final game. Overall I really enjoyed the scenarios as well as the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Objective system. My only critique is the scenery needs and update. It was clearly built for eighth edition fantasy and lacked Line of Sight blocking terrain. Alex who T.O.'d the event has already acknowledged this and plans to correct the situation. Alex put a lot of heart and effort into running a great event and from my perspective, I can say he succeeded! I managed to place 44/104 in the end and scored well in Sportsmanship and much better in painting then I expected. This has become a must-attend event for me yearly and I look forward to what next year will bring to the Age of Sigmar Championship! Feel free to follow me on my Twitter so we can meet up next year if you are attending. Until next week Happy Hobbying! Edited by Grudgegamer Scenarios and Secondary Objective List: View the full article

Welcome to Part 4 of my "Building a Community" Series. If you have missed Part 1, 2 or 3, please check them out in the links below. Today I want to talk about how I will attempt to bring unity to my local club. Later this month my local club, Ligonier Legions, will meet as we usually do. However, instead of setting up immediately for a gaming event, I have set up an open forum to let members determine the future of the group. After speaking with a few dedicated club members, I believe an open forum is my best option to bring us all together. I see three major cliques that make up our club that I hope to have a meaningful discussion with at the meeting. In previous articles, I spoke about a small subsection in my local community who were poisonous to the whole with how they wished the club to be run while not actively stepping up to run events themselves or thinking beyond their own short term goals. On the opposite side, I have another small group dedicated to my vision. The third group is the majority of the club. They are made up of younger and newer players. I wish to let everyone voice their opinions so they get their points across and let the group as a whole react. My hope is that I can perhaps bring them around to my long view approach to growing our club. The majority appear to be enjoying the current games that we conduct and do not seem to mind too much one way or another how things are run or handled. This majority is just looking to show up and have a few games with some friends, but I hope this will give them ownership in the club and help get us all moving in the right direction. My major concern is that the small group, who does not appear to be happy with the recent changes, speaks out in a negative non-constructive way. What I predict is that they voice their displeasure without offering any positive ideas on how to improve on my ideas to grow the club. I hope I am wrong, but I am preparing to lead the conversation away from negativity to be sure we come up with positive ways to enact any change members wish to see in the club. While I am preparing for this inevitability, I have hopes that we will be able to clear the air and find the common ground that I am sure is there. While it may seem that the point of the meeting is to get the grumblers on track with me, I am more focused on the younger members. The younger players are the future and will one day take the wheel and lead this club. I want to make sure I lay down a solid foundation for them to build off of when the burden is placed on their shoulders. I need their input so I can try to set the club up for future success. I want to see what they like and what they do not like. Perhaps we are playing a game that is getting to much focus, while one they really want to play isn't getting enough attention. Is gaming the only thing they want to do when we meet? Would more hobby days be in order or more seminar-style events to teach better tactics? Do they want a competitive or narrative focus? This majority is my focus and I look forward to what they will have to offer. After Adepticon, I have come to realize just how different my club’s mindset for this hobby is compared to me. At Adepticon, I was surrounded by so many people who cared about every aspect of the hobby. There were beautifully painted armies, strategically satisfying games, and opponents who want to have a fun game instead of focusing only on winning. My local club is lacking in these philosophies and I have set my path to correct these failings. It has to start somewhere and it needs to start with me. I will be reporting back next month sometime to let you know how the first open forum club meeting went. After that, I will be focusing on other articles besides the Building a Community series so I can put a light on different subjects. If you have any tips, advice, or have done this within your own club please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@odiamh) as I would love to talk more about this before the meeting. Until next week Happy Hobby! Edited BY @Grudgegamer Building a Community Series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 View the full article

@GRex and @David Griffin the pleasure was all mine. I am trying to Nashcon you can be sure of that! I also plan to hit Nova this year as well.

Hello, everyone! I have recently returned from my first Adepticon and I wanted to share an overview of my time at the convention and run through my experience. Spoilers...it was great! I traveled out with my buddy Matt and from Pittsburgh, PA. We took a predawn drive Thursday morning through a few states; Indiana being the worst due to construction, and seven hours later we arrived at our hotel. After a bit of unwinding, I headed over to the Convention Hall to Register and explore. My Arrival at my First Adepticon First off I was blown away by the amount of Swag I received just for registering. An entire copy of Runewars, the new Hordes Book, tons of models, bases, and a bunch of other little things. It was so much I immediately took it back to the car so I could be free of any burden as I walked around. My first stop was the AoS game hall! The AoS Vanguard and Warhost events were in full swing and I got to check out all the great armies on the table. One thing that was palpable on entering the area was the positive energy in the room. Everyone was having fun playing this game. No one seemed stressed from the bottom tables to the top. It was a great thing to see and made me instantly glad I finally came to Adepticon. As I walked the room I began to recognize people I knew from Twitter and I began introducing myself and being introduced to others as well. One of the strengths of this community is how welcoming it has been and this was no exception. One of the highlights was getting to play a fun 2000pt game with Tyler Emerson from The Scruby & Wells Podcast. His Sylvaneth were a beautiful army and my Stormcast were put to the task in 5 great turns of AoS. Tyler pulled out the win and his Durthu was the star of the match for him making three consecutive 9" Charges! Tyler's Durthu had his running shoes on this day Day 2 began early as my excitement kept me from sleeping all that much. I didn't have much planned for the day until evening so I really got to explore the convention in earnest. The vendor hall was fantastic and I was lucky enough to meet some 40k podcasters while spending a fair portion of my funds on all the great miniatures in the hall. I spent the rest of the day meeting folks I know from Twitter until my evening when I was lucky enough to attend one of Duncans Painting classes. This experience was eye opening. Roger (the man behind the camera) and Duncan were very open and clearly enjoy what they do. I took away a lot of army painting knowledge from this event as well as insight into how the community creates and posts their videos. I have learned that in order to get to the next step of my painting skill I have a lot to do. Roger, Myself, and Duncan Saturday arrived and so did the AoS Championships, which I will go into detail in a future post, I had three fantastic games of AoS. I gave out Combat gauges made by 6 Squared Studios to all my opponents who all immediately used it in the games played! Honestly, they were some of the best games I have ever had, despite a few small critiques. The time flew by and I pulled our a 2-3 record for day one and felt happy in where I sat. Later that night I was humbled to be part of the US AoS Community Meeting. This whole concept began as an idea I sent Tyler Emerson months ago to get us all together to work with Games Workshop in order to take AoS to the next level. Games Workshop was welcoming and very open and the community leaders really rallied and will continue to help push this game to bigger and better things it the future you can be sure of that! After the excitement, I managed to get a bit of sleep and head to the next day. My and Duncans model (He gave me his! On the left) While most people were tired from the previous night I had another two games of the AoS Championship. While my first game suffered due to a lack of engagement from my opponent, but he played well and without issue. My final game was easily one of the best games I have ever played in and enjoyed every last moment. I ended with two losses but ended up 44/104 in the event and for my first event I feel proud and look forward to improving year after year. The AoS US Community Group meet up (missing a few folks) After the awards ceremony, I said my goodbyes and was once again humbled by acceptance of the community ad hated to leave, but did so knowing I made a fair number of new friends who continued contact with me via twitter with nothing but excitement for our shared hobby. I drove home that night with my buddy Matt and arrived home at 4:40 am. After a night fo sleep and a day of relaxing and recalling stories to my wife, I found a new legitimacy and motivation for this hobby that has yet to die off. Adepticon is now a must-attend event for me and I am looking at other events such as Nova, LVO, and Nashcon to a possibly attend in the future. Until next year... If you have ever thought to attend Adepticon I can whole heartily say do it. Jump in and join us in this fantastic event. I meet so many great people and cannot wait to see what the following year will bring to this great game. I hope to see even more of you next year at Adepticon 2018! Feel free to follow me on Twitter as I prepare for next year! Until next time Happy Hobbying! View the full article

We have at last come to the week of Adepticon 2017. This will be the first major Wargaming event I will be attending and the excitement is incredible. Games Workshop will be out in force this year with event support and hobby seminars galore. It is going to be big and I cannot wait for Thursday to arrive! Over the past few months, you could see a few posts about Adepticon preparation appearing in your social media feeds. As we grew closer more and more appeared as the Hobby Crunch time swung into full effect. I personally experienced this crunch for other hobbies and conventions, but it was very unique this time around and that is due tot he community. My Lists to hand out As my Stormcast army was changed with the release of the new book I kept struggling on what army list I would bring to the Championship (spoiler it will not be Warrior Brotherhood). I had no idea what else I needed to paint, but along the way, I received lots of support from the Twitter Community as well as my close friends. They would constantly tell me "You can do it! We believe in you!" and it is heartwarming to hear those words from the people I call friends. To top it all off every picture I posted via Twitter on hobby progress for Adepticon was met with words of encouragement and a plethora of likes (hearts?). Which Gryph-Hound made it into my list? (Digby or Becky) I found myself searching for those prepping for Adepticon to offer my own words of encouragement and support. It has been great to see how a community can bond and keep pushing itself more and more while keeping the fun. From finishing my army to working out some giveaways to my opponents I have enjoyed every minute, even the stressful ones. We have a very unique and close-knit community and we cannot forget how great a thing that is as we continue to grow in the future as a game and a hobby. Who will prevail? Only the Faithful! I don't believe I will accomplish everything I intended for Adepticon, but I will be ready enough with the few hours remaining to prepare. I look forward seeing some of you at Adepticon and please do come up to say hello and chat for a bit! If you are not able to attend keep an eye on my Twitter as I will post up as many pictures as I can for everyone to see all the fun! Until next week Happy Hobbying! View the full article

There was not at this event.

This past weekend I was able to attend the first event for The Steel City Sigmar Series. The event was hosted at Legions Hobbies and Games. Organized by Bill Souza and acting as T.O, Mike Ryan. I wanted to run down my games and give some of my opinions from the event. I took Stormcast Eternals to this event using the Hammerstrike and Thunderhead formations. I do want to mention that this club is separate from the local scene that I am trying to grow within my immediate area that has been the focus on my "Building a Community" Series. Steel City Sigmar is where I simply show up to play and compete. It is vastly different from the local group I am struggling with currently. The event consisted of three matched play games at 2000pts using the ITC format. Entry was $20.00 with prizes for First, Second, Third, Painting (although painting was not a requirement), and Smoking Boots (i.e. Last place). As I mentioned above Legions Hobbies and Games hosted the event and we had plenty of tables and space to play. All prize money was given in the form of Store Credit and everyone was scoring ITC points for attending as well as our own in-house point system for Steel City Sigmar. I feel the entry fee was a bit high for a local event, but there were thirteen players who show up to play so perhaps it is what the local scene sees as reasonable. After a bit of banter and coffee, the games got under way. Game 1 My First game was against a club mate Roger who brought a Tzeentch army with Archaon at its head. While I have known Roger for a bit, we have never faced off one another across the table so I was very excited. The first Scenario was "Three Places of Power". Roger had more heroes than I did, but my shooting kept all but Archaon cowering in the back for a large portion of the game. I took an aggressive move early to try and rack up the points before Archaon and his magic began to remove my heroes. The game had a lot of back and forth and stayed tight until the initiative roll for turn four. If I would have won, I would have been able to shoot off one of his scoring heroes. We rolled and he came up with the big roll to seal the game. It was a great game and I learned how to handle Archaon on the table as well as the power Tzeentch is bringing. My big mistake in the game was attempting to drop my Prosecutors from the heavens on a 3 up in order to allow my Hammerstrike Force Paladins to attempt to alpha strike his line. They did not arrive until turn five. A harsh lesson learned to start my game with the Prosecutors on the table. Game 2 Game two was Gift from the Heavens down on the bottom tables after my loss. I was paired off against Pat who was new to Age of Sigmar, but a long time Fantasy player. Pat had a good humor about him and seemed excited to be playing. Pat brought an Eight Edition Dispossessed Army with lots of artillery and shooting. Pat did his best with an underpowered army, but I quickly neutered his army by baiting his killing units away from the objectives and shooting off his artillery crew. I did my best to give him a proper game and we made it through four rounds despite the primary being wrapped by me up in the first few turns. Game 3 (My terrain error is easily seen) I was going into my final game as 1-1. I knew I was most likely out of the running, but I was ready strive to place as well as possible. The last Scenario was "Border War", and I was playing Tom and his Stormcast Army. Tom was new to gaming, and despite a few of the bad habits we all had when beginning he was a good opponent. This game I made my biggest mistake. I am sad to say I did not give Tom a proper game. I took myself out of the game after I realized my mistake. That mistake was that after deployment began I realized terrain had been pushed to the edges by the person before packing up their army. I was stuck deploying on objectives with no cover to be seen. I should have been more aware before deployment or called the T.O. over to rectify the situation, but I mentally took myself out of the game. We threw dice, we did have some fun, but by turn three it was all over. I did my best to give my opponent a good game, but I am sure my attitude wasn't as sporting as it could have been for the game. Tom played very tight and clean and I hope to play him again in the future and have a better experience on the table between the two of us. I placed 12th out of 13 at the end of the day and while the gaming experience wasn't all that great I did learn quite a bit about my army. It didn't work well with how I wished to play. I am currently adjusting in preparation for Adepticon and still considering running Warrior Brotherhood, but more and more I feel the Stormcast Eternal Battalions are too much of a point sink and a strong list might not need to include any. I also got to experience a bad day of gaming and reflect on how I can handle it better in the future as well as look inward to improve myself. Overall what I took away from the event was immensely more valuable than a podium. Club Shirt (Front) Taking a step back to view the event separate from my personal experience I would say it was a good first event. It was organized well and we did great as a club to get the word out to ensure a good turnout. However, I feel the $20.00 entry fee was too steep for the drive and the potential to have a lackluster day. My other concern was the lack of soft scores. The ITC is known to be very competitive, but this kills hobby and ultimately can kill the enjoyment of the game. Only three armies, one being my own, were fully painted and based. I didn't get to play against a finished army that day, which added to me wondering if the drive and entry fee were worth it to me. One bright spot of the day was receiving my Club Shirt. While the first event didn't go all that well for me the next one could be much better and I intend to continue supporting and growing with the club. The turnout was great and I hope it grows to improve the wider scene. Hopefully even my own, more local, group. Bill and Mike did a great job and I have expressed my views of the first event to them both prior to this article. Open feedback will help improve the next event and I am always happy to share both the positive and negative. Club Shirt (Back) Until Next week (Adepticon week!) Happy Hobbying! Edited by Grudgegamer View the full article