Strength_Hammer

I was chatting with my friend about our preparation for Adepticon that is rapidly approaching. An interesting topic came up on where we saw ourselves in a level of competitiveness. I thought it could be a good talking point to discuss how someone might see themselves in the various levels of competition. So much to do and so little time... I see myself as a very competitive player. However, Adepticon will most likely change my perspective on the matter. In my local scene, I hang around the top tables with a high level of consistency. I developed my taste for winning during 8th edition Fantasy and found enjoyment in developing new competitive lists and testing them on the table. When I found that list I would play it for months constantly refining it, and committing the play style and stats to memory. It may sound dull, but if you mix in the background and the story it can feed into a competitive style of play, at least for me it has. I can look at my past and feel proud of my accomplishments and awards. Recently, however, I have been challenged and it is very refreshing to get your teeth kicked in once in a while. That may sound odd, but it is the truth. In a few short games in which I lost has given me more info about how to improve then all the wins combined. Always ask why you lost and be honest in self-critiques. My hobby space with my local event trophies sprinkled about to keep me motivated! It is easy to say that your dice went cold or your opponents dice were hot. We all know this is a dice game and there is a level of luck involved, but when you build and play your lists you should be working to minimize how much luck affects the game. There is always something that you could have done better. Maybe you made one wrong move or buffed the wrong unit that swung the game against you. Being able to see your mistake and work to correct it will make you a better general. A good strategy I have used in the past is to play a game with a like-minded individual, but remove as much of the dice as possible. Instead of rolling to hit, wound, or save use the average of what your dice can produce. Same for Battleshock, running, and charging (this one can be difficult). The only dice that I feel needs to stay random is the Turn Order roll. Keeping that random helps you prepare to be double turned while taking advantage of gaining the double turn. This type of practice is not for everyone, but I find it invaluable. Getting out of your comfort zone and playing new people is an exciting a scary idea. I like the group I play with and I do well in the local group. I could leave it at that and be content with my current status, but what is the point. I want to climb the next mountain no matter its height always reaching for the impossible. I am about to go to Adepticon and I have the confidence to show up and do well, but I also know there is a good chance this mountain will kick me off its rocky slopes. Honestly, I am not afraid to fall as I will learn from my failure and when I stop falling I will stand back up, spit the blood from my mouth and start climbing again! Ever forward! It would be amazing to bring home one of these beauties. Dramatism aside, I look forward to Adepticon and I am going in with confidence. If I win every game I will be over the moon, but if I lose every game I will enjoy the process of learning while meeting and playing new people. I am competitive by nature, but I always see more opportunity to learn from my defeats. Look forward to my post-Adepticon article that will most likely be titled “Big Fish, Little Pond”. Until next week Happy Hobbying! Edited by Grudgegamer View the full article

Welcome to Part 3 of my "Building a Community" Series. If you have missed Part 1 and Part 2, please check them out in the links below. Today I want to talk about my local club’s tables, terrain, etc... I need to be honest with myself. Building and painting terrain can be a chore for the common hobbyist, with the exception of a few notable exceptions. When I go home to hobby I would rather build lists, paint, or convert models while catching up on Warhammer TV streams. I could go on and on about the parts of the hobby that I love, but it would take some time until I mentioned building and painting terrain. I am falling short in raising the bar in that regard for my local scene. When I took over the leadership position of my local club, I inherited a ramshackle assortment of terrain and gaming mats that the club has collected over the past decade. Most of which has been donated from less hobby enthused patrons, to say the least. It is the same terrain in service today. While it is great to have anything to put on the table when you are just starting out, our club has been around for a number of years. Despite my motivation to take the club beyond where it currently stands, I have not managed to rectify this situation. A classic piece of terrain, but it has seen better days... When we show up for Club Meets, we begin by setting up uneven tables in the basement of our local library. Old felt mats, not even cut to the proper size, are then laid out. Terrain, that has seen better days, is then spread out among these felt mats. It is time to correct the situation. My goal has always been to motivate others to play and enjoy Age of Sigmar, and that must include playing on quality tables. Basic field at my local events Many hands make light work, and building and painting does not require a high level of hobby skill, but it does require a time commitment and perhaps even a few dollars. Hopefully, I can get the club on board with taking a few of our standard Club Meets throughout the year to spruce up our tables. My goal isn't to have Holy Wars or Realms at War level of tables, but I would like our club to be able to host a small size one-day event without the feeling that the playing area is lessening the experience of the players. While I need help from my club to improve the tables, I realize I will have to take on most of the responsibility myself to make it all happen. I have worked with my FLGS owner to purchase some Games Workshop terrain for use at the club so each table can have a few high-quality pieces. I need to motivate myself to paint these up quickly to inspire everyone else to put in their effort, so we improve our club as a whole. It won't be an overnight change and it might not be very easy, but it needs to be done. A beautiful table by Steve Herner One day I hope to play on it myself! Luckily, I have a few stalwart friends that I know I can count on. Others I may have to drag along in this process, but that is part of being a motivator. My hope is everyone steps up to help, even if it is only in a small way. The fear is that there are a few who feel they are above this endeavor or do not feel like it is a good use of time. No matter who is on board or possibly not on board, I will give it my all to inspire and motivate others within my club to create the best playing experience possible. A lovingly crafted table by Ming Another thing to keep in mind is that our club currently shares terrain between 40k and Age of Sigmar. While this is great for starting out it will have to change so we can theme our tables wholly within The Mortal Realms. While hills can easily pass for both games I doubt a High Elf Dragon Prince would land next to a power generator and a chemical plant any time soon. As a club, we will need to acknowledge and sort our terrain between the two games to prevent unnecessary damage and keep it thematic. I have seen firsthand how players from other systems can be careless and downright abusive to terrain that they know is not theirs. Hopefully separate tubs will be enough. I have fallen short of my goals for this club so far, but I will work to correct it with their help. Currently, I am striving for having 6 tabletop standard tables with 8-10 quality pieces of terrain for each prepared by the end of this summer. I would like to invite anyone who has advice on the matter or from anybody who has been in a similar situation. I will continue to keep everyone posted on my progress on this topic. Until next week, Happy (Terrain) Hobbying! Building a Community Links: Part 1 Part 2 Edited by @Grudgegamer View the full article

Hello everyone! This week I wanted to give you a short update on my Adepticon 2017 Preperation. Adepticon 2017 is now less than one month away and I am feeling the hobby crunch in full force. This is not a new feeling, as I have experienced it before, although it feels just as stressful and fun as it always has in the past. Perfecting my models, my list, and stashing aside those few extra hobby bucks for an impulse buy constantly occupies my mind. As you may have seen in my previous posts, I plan on taking a Stormcast Eternals force. You will be happy to know that I finished painting the last of my Warrior Brotherhood last Friday night, just in time to see my original plan change the next day when I picked up my copy of the new Stormcast Eternals Battletome. I am in no way upset that Warrior Brotherhood has been altered and that some warscrolls have been changed. I believe it was a necessity for the health of the competitive gaming scene. There appears to be quite a bit of potential in the new Battletome as well. Diving into a new book is always an exciting time, especially “educating” your unfamiliar gaming buddies by catching them off guard. However, I have chosen to stick with my initial plan of taking the Warrior Brotherhood. I may splash into something new from the new Battletome, but I see no reason to alter my plan. I believe the Warrior Brotherhood can still work and I intend to give it a go at Adepticon. I am excited as a Stormcast player, but I feel that I may be running out of time to have an army that I am comfortable with playing. I typically play test a list for a few months before I am familiar with it. It is when I am comfortable playing the army that I can simply enjoy a fun competitive game with some new opponents. I do not want to find myself second guessing my lists and abilities. I feel keeping the bulk of my list as the Warrior Brotherhood will keep me in my comfort zone that I have developed, while at the same time bringing in something fresh. I have a chance to field some new models and units in a competitive environment with a book that is a bit of an unknown. I feel that including some of the newer units could prove to give me a slight advantage over players who are unfamiliar with the change, given that new mechanics and new list compositions can mix things up. I just have to get my head wrapped around the new book and how I can supplement the list I wish to bring. I may feel terribly behind on what I want to have completed for Adepticon, but I am staying motivated. I keep the thought of meeting some of the people I know from Twitter and enjoying time celebrating this hobby. I hope everyone is feeling more confident in their preparation than I am, but if not just stay positive and keep toward your goal as I am doing. If you see me at Adepticon please come say hi! Until Next week Happy Hobbying! Also, I want to apologize again for the delay of last week's blog "Building a Community : Part 2" Feel free to check it out on the link in case you missed it! Edited by @Grudgegamer View the full article

Article edited by @Grudgegamer

Welcome to Part 2 of my Building a Community Series. If you missed Part 1 please check it out here. I apologize for the delay in getting this article posted. In this installment, I want to talk about poisonous players and the current challenges with this type of player that I am currently facing. I will not be calling out anyone by name, as that is not the direction I want to take this article. My wish is to show you my personal dilemma that I have encountered while trying to grow my local scene. Hopefully, my experiences can help others to better prepare for these obstacles. So first let me set the scene. When the 8th Ed. Warhammer Fantasy scene died, I decided to take the reins and lead the Age of Sigmar division of our gaming club, Ligonier Legions. Our club has three main game systems that we run, Flames of War, 40k, and Age of Sigmar. We typically meet twice a month, and Flames of War. Flames of War is the most popular of the games and was guaranteed a date each month. This left 40k and AoS competing for the other date. During this time, I was only in charge of running the Age of Sigmar events. I did not have any authority on picking the dates for which games would be played. This worked for about a year, until recently. The senior member who handled all the higher level duties, as well as running the other game systems, burned out trying to manage it all. He tried listening to everyone in how to run things and gave in to every request. By trying to make everyone happy, this quickly made everyone unhappy. Instead of playing the three main games we were supposed to be dedicated to, we were playing older editions, board games, open games days, build leagues, paint leagues, etc. This led to bitter people blaming everyone else and generally beginning to create a poisonous atmosphere. This should bring everyone up to speed. At the end of 2016, I arrived at a combined 40k/AoS event. The senior member who had been running things up to this point told me that he was done and needed a break from all the aggravation. I was thrust into the position of club leader and running the 40k events as well. I now organize all the events; however, I did have to put someone in charge of running Flames of War, as I am unfamiliar with that system. I had seen this coming, so I had a bit of mental preparation to take over long before it actually happened. The thing I wasn't prepared for though was the complaining that followed, and the poisonous players trying to assert their views. I never realized how a few people could bring a group down and inhibit its growth so easily. Over the past year of running AoS, I have learned to run events and gaming groups with the view that "if I was a player, how would I like this to be run". My first order of business was to adjust how we shared time. I wanted more focus on 40k and Age of Sigmar. These two game systems have a bit of player cross over, as well as a stable core. We now have a solid rotation of 40k and Age of Sigmar, and are able to keep Flames of War consistent each month. Unless the group wants to run an open games day, in which case Flames of War has to volunteer to give up their day. It did not take long after this adjustment for those poisonous players to assert their opinions and make demands that had pulled down the previous leadership. It has been challenging, to say the least. These players have refused to accept that Games Workshop has changed for the better and cling to older editions with zeal. They have had no love for 40k as it stands now for the past year, arranging for previous edition play outs that have had a reduced turnout month after month. When I put the word out that we will rotate 40k and Age of Sigmar they suddenly began defending the game of 40k as if nothing was all that wrong with it anymore. They debated my change because I was taking time away from their failing games for Age of Sigmar. I have explained myself, but they didn't grasp my long view. I understand they want their old editions to become the “new” way to play in the area, but I know we can grow all of our game systems to be equally supported by the player base. They talk about wanting to run older editions of Fantasy and 40K even though in the past these events have failed to draw players. I decided to not simply say no, as I feel that isn’t the right path. I told them that it could be a fun idea and they should organize it on one of our open days. I put the ball in their hands and said go for it. So far they are unwilling to step up and organize it but continue to nag and make comments to other players. You must be cautious if you have players who may be poisonous to your larger group because they could easily get the ears of the newer players with negative remarks or even outright complaints. When my new players show up, I just want them to have fun playing some games, and not have people who take a negative view on the game drag them down. When this happens in my group, I combat the problem in two ways. I counter with my excitement for the game. If this fails, I have no problem pulling the person aside and asking them to set a better example for the younger players. I have seen this succeed in the short term, but old habits tend to die hard so you need to keep aware of the poor attitude returning. The long and short of all this is there will be some people that may be poisonous to your local group for one reason or another. My advice is to set your course and see it to the end. Some people may drop off, but others will join you and those are the players you will want to focus on. It is important to adjust your course from time to time but always head towards your goal of growing your scene. Don't let anyone drag the whole group down, keep motivated, keep active, and keep it fun along the way. All the negative talk will not be able to stand up to the real examples of fun and excitement you will bring to the community. You will fall occasionally, but focus on the good and don't let it drag you down. Until Next Time, Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Keep Trying. AoS is getting so much support that I am sure they have noticed and if you continue to try and show them your enthusiasm they will eventually give it a chance. We lost players to other games as well as people just hanging up the hobby entirely. Some have returned and others have not, but being consistently persistent is the key. The group will ebb and flow, but make sure the core group is making anyone interested welcome in joining in. Maybe ask everyone what kind of AoS they might like to try (narrative, competitive, Triumph & Treachery, etc...). Emphasize that the game is very quick to pick up, but if they want a challenge they can really dive into the warscrolls to find more depth. Have them bring a few of their old models and show them how to download the app for their rules, build a list that's comparable to the points they have and do a demo. Try to do as much as you can for them so they only need to show up with models and dice and have some fun (it can be thankless, but it could work). Work with your FLGS to set up a family game day and give Demos. Maybe there is a group of younger players that are intimidated to come ask to be taught, but an open stress-free event might get them in the store. Just keep trying!

I indeed have! It was incredibly well laid out and perhaps it could be broken up and redone in your new AoS Daily format (which is part of my daily commute). A lot of the principles and challenges of setting up and growing your local scene crosses the ocean, but I am curious to see how things change as you look at larger and larger scopes.

Thanks! That is an excellent goal and I would be curious to see your progress so keep us updated! I have been looking at getting the US scene moving in a (bit more) unified direction and the more people we have growing the scene the better. I know @Ben has mentioned this before, but I would love to see an App that allows Wargamers to have a small profile, post what armies you play and maybe what list you are currently running to allow more people to connect. It could encompass what style you prefer (narrative, casual, competitive, etc..) and allow messaging within the app to set up games and have push notifications for events within your preferred travel distance. Sadly this is beyond my skill, but I hope someone can take this idea and run with it! I would be happy to help as I could lol.

Hello everyone! I wanted to start a sub-series focused on building a community around Miniature War Gaming (particularly Age of Sigmar) by sharing my experiences. My hope is to speak with other community members during this series, and share ideas to use with local gaming groups. Part one of this series will focus on developing your local scene. I will explore connecting a personal gaming group to a larger scene in future articles. Before I dive in I want to preface the article a bit. I had written an article about building the community, but after some friendly and honest critique, I saw how generic and boring the article was to read. Instead, I am bringing you a fresher and much more personal experience, my experience to be exact, of the challenges in developing a local scene. Please enjoy. At the end of Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition, my local scene was falling apart. My friend that was leading it all at the time was out of steam. The dropping of Age of Sigmar took what little wind he had in his sails away. I can't blame him either, as he had been playing for over 20 years in the Old World. Within a few years, the scene went from tournaments of 24 attendants and up to just him and myself showing up. Thankfully he has returned to the scene and is playing games somewhat more regularly, but he is no longer leading the group. I decided to take up the reins and try to regrow the scene shortly after. I debated with myself “why I had chosen to lead the local scene?” I found my answer after a bit of thinking. I truly love this hobby and this game, and I didn't want to see it die in my local area. So I began taking steps to rebuild. I began showing up to play and teach Age of Sigmar to anyone who would try, but it was weeks until I managed to get anyone to throw dice with me in a game of Age of Sigmar. I won't lie in the fact that it was very rough and heartbreaking at times. My best advice is to never give up and keep showing up to play. You may not get a game in every night, but eventually, you will be playing consistently with a small group. Over time I had a few small groups of people playing regular games and it felt rewarding, but I faced a new challenge. These small groups played only 15 minutes apart from one another, but no matter what I did they simply would not communicate and to this day they still are separate entities with the only connecting being myself as the consistent Age of Sigmar player who leads the scenes. This has been immensely frustrating, to be honest. I have tried to set one-day tournaments with prize support, narrative events, and even simple open games days to get everyone together. Nothing so far has worked, but I have not given up on it happening yet. I hope to ultimately bring these groups together and get them playing with my consistent group (a scene I happily play with but have no part in leading) of game buddies that are a bit farther away. I do not know if this will ever happen, but I continue trying. There have been very exciting times within the groups that made then take leaps and bounds in a positive direction. The first was the release of the Generals Handbook. Many players who were on the fence were finally convinced, as they now had an easier way to set up a game with other players. Those players who held off for so long found themselves with points and small local groups within reach to begin playing with and we welcomed them with open arms. Shortly afterward, we had The Season of War, which we all had something to play for in capturing our perspective cities in order to change the future of the narrative. It was a fun and exciting time. As scenes grow, more and more types of players will join in. Occasionally, however, you will attract people who can be harmful to a local scene. This is a topic I am going to save that for the next installment of my "Building a Community" series. I hope my honesty won't keep anyone from stepping up to lead their local scene. It is a very tough and can be thankless work, but if you are doing it for the right reasons (love of the game and hobby), then the happiness you will experience as positive growth happens will outweigh any of the drawbacks. Feel free to follow me on Twitter and until Next Time Happy Hobbying! Edited by @Grudgegamer on Twitter View the full article

Last week was the anniversary of my blogging career, and I wanted to take a moment to look back on this previous year. On January 23rd, 2016 I released my first blog post. I loved the idea of running my own blog to share my thoughts and ideas with the community in a format beyond Twitter. Truthfully I felt a little intimidated at first. I believe I spent a week or two designing the blog layout and reading articles with titles such as "How to write your First Blog Post". Soon I realized that I just needed to jump in with both feet and enjoy the plunge. Humble Beginnings... I did my best to consistently put out one post each month. I was successful in posting once or twice a month. I, however, did miss a post in the month of August. The topics I discussed were varied and typically what was on my mind at the time. I was able to follow and respond to the trending topics of the Age of Sigmar community at large. It is very likely that you will continue to see the same general composition of topics in the coming year, but I hope to add new topics of my own as well. I believe responding to current events in the community and introducing topics of my own will create a continuing narrative between you, the readers, and myself. This year I decided to make a few changes to my blog. The biggest was switching to a weekly release format. I am still adjusting to the new level of output, but I am very happy with the change. One of my goals is to ensure I post entries on the same day every week within the next few months. The other big change was the addition of my friend Tom as my editor. If you have read my blog before, it isn't a secret that I am not the best with grammar or sentence structure, but I am striving to improve on this. Tom has stepped up to edit my posts in order give you an improved professional product. I have had a lot of support throughout this past year. I want to end by offering my thanks to everyone who joined me on this journey. First, let me thank those in the Twitter community who have retweeted my blog posts, encouraged me along the way, and read my blog. Second, I want to thank Tom who is now editing my blog. He is volunteering his time to help me produce a better product. He also has been my longest wargaming buddy. He has taught me a lot about the way of gaming and tactics throughout the years. Next, I want to thank my closest friends who are always there encouraging me. They are not all wargamers, but they can see my love for this game, and buy me brushes, paints, models, and put up with my questioning of "What color scheme should this army be?" or "How does this look?". When they visit my home, I am always humbled by the amount of time they spend looking at my latest work. It truly fills me with joy having friends like this in my life. Last I want to thank my wife for many of the same reason as my friends, but also because she allows me to put the time into my hobby as well display my armies throughout our home. And of course, I cannot forget to thank you, my readers. I am always pleased to see when my reader numbers increase every month. Without you, this blog would not be worth it. I hope you have enjoyed my first year and are looking forward to the coming year of posts. The best thing I can hope for is that every one of you will share my blog with you gaming friends and clubs. I also encourage you all to reach out to me about any topics you might be interested in seeing in the coming year. Until next week, Happy Hobbying! Edited by @Grudgegamer on Twitter View the full article

That is fantastic! I hope it translates as well over on the east coast. It is up to all of us to grow our hobby beyond where it has ever been before.

Hello Everyone! I wanted to talk this week about my local club, and the exciting things that are happening. The club is located in and around Pittsburgh, PA, and several small Age of Sigmar groups have popped up all over the place. Clubs from Latrobe, Ligonier, Pittsburgh, Bridgeville, Monroeville, and I am sure others I have missed, are off playing Age of Sigmar together at their friendly local gaming store (FLGS). Occasionally people from these gaming groups pop into our new Games Workshop Warhammer Store, but there is very little cohesion. A few of us who frequent the Warhammer Store have begun playing competitively on a regular basis, and have decided to work on a way to bring these clubs together under one roof. This will hopefully branch out to others even further away. The Steel City Sigmar Tournament Series hopes to bring a friendly, competitive Age of Sigmar gaming environment to the region. The club have been working with Frontline Gaming to be added to their ITC ranking system. As you have seen on some recent blog posts, we are consistently running smaller tournaments monthly, but the hope is to grow large enough to qualify for Grand Tournament status. In conjunction with the ITC ranking system, it will also be using a local ranking system for the Steel City Tournament Series that you will gain throughout the season to count toward prizes and bragging rights. Not only will you be able see where you place nationally, but also be able to see where you stand in a regional sense. As the series moves through this process, they are looking for any critiques or advice, so that they can make positive changes. The first event will be held on March 12th at Legions Games, one of our local FLGS near Pittsburgh, PA. The event will consist of three games with random round one pairings. The entry fee will be put to prize support in the form of Store Credit for the FLGS (the event is not run by the FLGS, but we want to "Pay where we play"). I look forward to writing a full and detailed report about the event, as well as a brief overview of the games I will play in a future post. If you are thinking about joining us feel free to check out the event pack here and if you have any questions on attending these events or helping out please feel free to reach out to the contact below. Mike - mikosan18o2@gmail.com As always feel free to follow me on Twitter (@odiamh) Until next week, Happy Hobbying! Edited by @Grudgegamer (twitter) View the full article

Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in this week's blog post. Nurgle has blessed me with a plague and it has been a struggle, but I am battling back! Enjoy! This past weekend, I attended a Competitive Tournament at my local Games Workshop Store (Bridgeville, PA). It was a six player 2000 point event, with three games scored on Win/Loss/Draw. The Tournament was free, but that didn't mean the competition was any less fearsome. (Sadly my phone was down so I only have a few pictures from the event) My first game was against a club mate, by the name of Michael, who brought Beastclaw raiders to the table. The Battleplan (rolled randomly from the general’s handbook) was Take and Hold. I brought my Warrior Brotherhood to the table, and despite the Mortal Wound threat from his army, I saw my opportunity to win the Scenario based on my higher model count. I began my turn one by dropping my Judicators to shoot off his Mournfang Cavalry. With the help of some lucky battle shock rolls, I was able to reduce his force more quickly than I expected. Michael pushed back and killed off my shooting with ease, much to my dismay. I responded in kind by dropping in my Knight- Azyros (using my Knight- Vexillor to pick him back up and drop him closer) and my ten man unit of Retributors with four Starsoul Maces. I ignored the obvious threat of his Stonehorns and proceeded to destroy his Yeti and a few more Mournfang. After I took my beating back, I dropped the rest of my army to try for the Turn 3 victory, but I failed and watched my army melt as the Stonehorns took over the battle. I was able to get a few characters in line to block my back field Liberator units holding my objective, and with a lucky roll of my Lord-Celestant’s Cloak, I was able to kill off his last Mournfang model. That left him with only four models left in his army, allowing me to secure a victory. My Second game put my Warrior Brotherhood against a Club Member Pat, who brought his Tunneling Skaven army. The Battle Plan for this game was Three Places of Power. We each had three Heroes and Armies that could Strike anywhere on the board. We both began defensively by exchanging a bit of shooting between the Judicators and Warp Lighting Cannons. The dice were in my favor as I killed off one cannon and one of his Heroes, preventing him from scoring. I went all in on my next turn, and deployed most of my remaining army and destroyed the rest of his Heroes, while scoring on all three objectives myself. The game was won, but Pat asked to continue for one more round and I agreed. I watched in horror as he tunneled up his entire army to seek revenge on my Retributors and Knight-Azyros. It was a good laugh and fun seeing the raw power he could have brought to bear if things had gone slightly differently. Two wins under my belt put me on the Top Table for game three. I was going up against my friend Bill Souza, who is exceptionally fun to play against. We have only faced each other a few times, but it is always an intense and laugh out loud time. Bill brought a mixed Order Army that took many by surprise. We rolled for our Battleplan and ended up with Gift from the Heavens. Bill set up a perfect bubble around his Heroes to protect them from my Alpha Strike. It was perfect except for my use of my Knight-Vexillor to drop my Knight-Azyros in the middle of the bubble and spread my Retributors around his Heroes. His commanders died ignoble deaths, but the Fyreslayers at his command quickly crossed out any grudge before it could be recorded. I had made a mistake by committing my force, but it sure was fun seeing his face when I circumvented his deployment strategy to protect himself. Bill then proceeded to play a great game, and by the end of it he had the better of me, due to my inability to contest his meteor while he was able to contest mine without much issue. The game was over by turn three, but we continued on just for fun and I am glad we did. We had a blast trying to kill off that damn Hero who wouldn't die or seek revenge on a particular unit while just enjoying the game. Bill's List In the end I nabbed second place behind Bill (a recurring theme I intend to change!), but what a fun day of Age of Sigmar against three great opponents. Events like this are getting me more and more excited for Adepticon 2017. I apologize for the late post once again and until next week, Happy Hobbying! Edited by Tom Schubert (@Grudgegamer on Twitter)

Really like your banshee model. Nice little store i being told in the piece.

Perhaps a Duardin weapon made for Stormcasts. The Blue in the top Right looks like a cloak, but the bottom right looks more crystal like then feather (to me anyway). A new type of Azyr creature?

We are less then three months away from Adepticon 2017 and I still feel as if I need more time. This will be my first Adepticon and my first Wargaming convention. I am very excited to finally participate and see what all the fun is about! I have attending local tournaments and events and they have been enjoyable and well run, but I have a feeling they will not compare. I am also excited to meet many people I know though the Twitter community Face to Face ( So please feel free to say Hi to me anytime!) and on top of that Games Workshop will be attending! I have decided to participate in the 2 Day Age of Sigmar Championship and have worked out a few list options that I am play testing. I have also discovered that I will need to paint a bit more than expected to run the lists I have created. That is all before I touch up the previously painted models in the army. I wanted to share my road to Adepticon by dedicating one post a month (of my new weekly format) to Practice Games, Painting and the like, but I will be holding my list back until the event. Although after a few weeks of deciding on an Army I settled on Stormcast (as it has the least amount of prep work to get it ready) so my list should be pretty obvious... A Combined Force of Bloodbound (Played by Tom) and Undead (Played by Frank) against my Stormcast (2Kpts) This past weekend I began getting in as few practice games to test the list out and see what it can and cannot do. I discovered that spreading out my force against undead is a very very bad idea. This game also served as a farewell game to one of my fellow Wargamers Frank who is moving across state soon. Hopefully it will not be the last time our forces do battle! A small table game played against my friend Matt and his Duradins 2k (pts) I was able to get another game int he following day against my good friend Matt. Due to a busy day at our local Games Workshop we played on a 4x4 which only assisted in my now focused assault. We had an enjoyable game nonetheless and Matt truly helped me prepare by doing mock scenarios of combats with alternate weapons and turn order to see how to (possibly) adjust my list. 6d3 Mortal wounds!!! After a weekend full or tough battles and lessons learned I sat down to add some much needed power to my list as you see above. I added a second StarSoul Mace to my already painted unit from the starter set as well as building another five Retributors. After finding myself short of Starsoul Maces I converted a few up for my Protectors using the extra Decimator Axes heads and they turned out alright (they might get a bit of greenstuff). I won't deny that I am bringing a Hard list that is very high up in the Meta, but I still have much to learn in how to use it before the Tournament and a fair bit of painting as well. As I said I do not feel I have enough time, but I hear that is a typical problem for these large events and I am up for the challenge! However, I am not without worries. I am worried about being to serious about it all. This game is fun and the community are a great bunch from what I have seen online. I want to enjoy the games I play and I want my opponent to do the same. What is better then getting to talk with someone with a mutual interest while enjoying said interest? Not much. I am fully aware that I am competitive and can get very focused when competing, but I want it to be about the fun while still aiming for the top. I am keeping this in the front of my mind when practicing as well to help keep it as a priority. If you are going to Adepticon let me know as I would love to say hello ( I will have Yeungling Lager to share!). If you care to share what you are doing for the event or what you might be bringing let me know in the comments. Until next week Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Well so far you are behind on your goal. Better step it up...

@Criti That is an amazing redo of your space. Very clean and organized! I hope you two get that Hobby Heaven! Keep me updated I would love to see where this space goes from here! Great work!

Happy New Year everyone! 2017 has finally arrived and that means setting a few goals and resolutions for the coming trip around the Sun. Here are my Hobby resolutions and goals for 2017. 1) Attend more Events and go for a Podium. I have always been competitive and while I am one of the consistently better players in my area I am pretty sure I will be suffering "Big Fish, Little Pond" syndrome with this goal. Nonetheless I want to try to hang around the top tables at some major events and go for a podium. All that said I want to make sure I have fun and give the best game possible to my opponents. 2) Make more friends in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar Scene. As I attend more events I want to try and meet some of the people I talk to on social media face to face. I would also like to try and create or join up with some Hobby Sykpe nights as well. I am usually to timid to jump into one I might see posted on Social media, but if I wish to create more friendships in the scene I will have to overcome this feeling. We have a great and welcoming community and I doubt I have any need to worry. 3) Grow my Hobby. If you take a look at my Cover Photo you will see I have created a Facebook Page for my Hobby uploads Called "Odiamh Wargaming" in order to consolidate some of my Hobby picture spam and blog posts as well as create a brand (of sorts) for my Hobby. My Twitter posts will appear there as well as I hope to reach the goal of 1000 followers this year. As I begin this new chapter I welcome all positive critiques to be sure I can put out good, quality content. You will still be able to find my Blog in the usual place as well as posted on TGA.Community. 4) Help my local scene grow. When The End Times ended I found myself pretty much alone. Most of my group disappeared due to school, work, or just being done with Warhammer. I held onto the glowing chuck of The World That Was right along with Sigmar and eventually people began to join me in the Mortal Realms. Some players are new and some are returning players. It is time to move forward more then ever and grow the groups I either run or am a part of. I dream of a healthy Age of Sigmar Scene in my area for competition and Hobbying (maybe even enough interest to have a Grand Tournament in the area). What are your goals for 2017? Let me know in the comments. I wish everyone the best for this coming year and may you hobby go wherever you want it to take you. Don't forget that I will be bringing you this blog weekly so be sure to comment and let me know if you have any topics you would like me to cover. Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Let us be honest 2016 has been a terrible year, but the shining gem this year has been Warhammer. I honestly doubt I would have survived this trip around the sun without all the good going on in the Hobby. Now on to my Warhammer Top 5 for this past year. 5) Games Workshop Reaching Out: When the year started no one could have predicted the cultural change at Games Workshop. Age of Sigmar was still a bit of an unknown, but now it is a thriving and continually growing community of great Hobbyists and Gamers. Rumors are put to bed quickly with witty videos and high quality pictures from the Warhammer TV Team. Facebook is a place of true interaction with quick and quality posts and responses. We even have daily Painting Tips with the Lord of Layers himself. What else could we ask for? Well if we think of it we should ask because we will probably get it! 4) Community Growth: After the Generals Handbook dropped people took notice. The Naysayers all but gave up as players left other game systems to come try and ultimately fall in love with Age of Sigmar. Some players are those who left during the End Times and it is great to see their return. Others came over from Warhammer 40K and are bringing a fresh perspective along with them. We have also seen an influx of people new to Wargaming entirely and it has invigorated some local scenes in my area. It has been rewarding to help these players out and watch them grow within the Hobby. 3) The Generals Handbook: What can be said for this that hasn't already been said? Not much. The community before the Generals Handbook was tight knit and supportive. After the Generals Handbook it has only grown. I myself was worried that Ultra-competitive players would come in and take the joy away, but I have been happily wrong as The Generals Handbook is all encompassing. Let us look forward to next version of this resource! 2) Hobby Milestone 412 (and maybe more) models painted this year: I set out this year to paint one model per day on average and I managed to blow this out of the water. As of 12/28/16 I have 412 models painted for the year across Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k. This total is based on model count alone. Monsters, Heros, infantry all counted as one model. This next year I am going to slow it up a bit and put more time into individual models and focus on more quality then quantity. I am proud to say I crushed my goal and hope to do the same with next years Hobby Resolution. 1) Warhammer Live: The latest and greatest thing to come out of the Community Team. I subscribed during the free week because I had faith that the content would be quality and exciting. Think about that for a moment. As a long time fan and customer of Games Workshop who dealt with *insert the old usual issue here* on a regular basis I now have blind faith that they will do right by me and the community. I am not the only one considering how lively that Chat was on day one. This has become my usual evening entertainment and I look forward to see where it will go from here. Major League Wargaming here we come? See you next week as this blog begins going weekly! Until next time Have a Happy New Year and Happy Hobbying! View the full article

Another thought. I would like to see points for individual models to help fill the occasional point gap when building an Army. However, I would only like to see this on Battleline scrolls.

Happy Holidays everyone! Today I wanted to take some time to discuss your Hobby Space and give you some insight to future content I will be putting out (with help) to the community in the coming year. Where the hobby happens... Above you will see my new dedicated hobby area (Video Tour here). There is still more lighting to add as well as general improvements due to it being my basement, but that will come with time. While it will always be in constant development I could not be happier to have my entire hobby (except models I am displaying) consolidated into one space. My hobby space, like most, started out as some newspaper on my kitchen table. Sometimes I miss that simplicity of those times. Just sitting down with a model, some paint, and a worn out brush and taking a few hours to myself to create what I felt was top quality work. While I enjoyed this time of my hobby career there was a lack of commitment on my part. As I grew within my abilities and commitment to the hobby I eventually put in a permanent table opposite my computer desk. I felt this finally legitimized what I was doing with my hobby. I was able to make a mess without care and leave projects on my desk until I finally completed the project. This space gave me a constant reminder to build and paint while giving me a comfortable area with which to work. The one unexpected benefit of a dedicated hobby space was the bubble of hobby it created around me in that dedicated space. Times when I didn't feel like hobbying were easier to overcome when I sat down at my table. I knew the space was for building and painting miniatures and just by being in that space got my hobby juices flowing immediately. A while ago I took up Airbrushing and that meant I needed to set space in my basement strictly for airbrushing. This worked splendidly, but I only did the minimum with my airbrush due to it being so far away from my main hobby space. I can tell you lugging models from my basement to my second floor and back again began to get old quick. So I made the decision to move everything to the basement and I have not been more energized to paint in a long time. Thankfully part of the set up is an old workbench that was in the house when I moved in. After moving my upstairs hobby table to the basement I opted to build a third table for a bit of extra space. I have only had this space set up for a few weeks, but I have already begun painting and building and I am happy as can be. Having a dedicated hobby space really allows you to grow and offers you a constant reminder to keep the paint and glue flowing. If you do not have the space to set up a full table for your hobby I would recommend purchasing The Citadel Hobby Box (or other MDF/Plastic options that you can buy around the internet)to give yourself a small space that is easily stored to allow you to get up and hobbying quickly. Sometimes the setup can be the biggest hindrance to wanting to hobby. Get creative and you could build your own setup to suit your needs! If you do I would love to see pictures in the comments below! Until Then Happy Holidays and Happy Hobbying! Future Content Update: Hey again everyone. I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on some of my plans for 2017. My initial goal is to move this blog from monthly to weekly. I tend to keep my posts short and instead of a longer monthly post I would rather offer the shorter length more often. Please expect this to take place in January 2017. My other goal is to begin putting out content via Youtube in the form of Tactical Battle Reports, Breakdowns, What if scenarios, etc... While this blog leans toward a hobby focus I cannot lie that I am a competitive gamer at heart. I will be working with a very good friend to get this going sometime within quarter one of 2017. I have also tossed around the idea of doing a monthly podcast with my local group in a open talk format to discuss our games and hobby, but at this point it is only an idea as I do not want to over reach my time constraints, but who knows what could happen. View the full article

It is a new tool just as any other, but it speeds up some color blocking very nicely!

Thanks! Don't be afraid to just go at a model. Be sure to post up pictures so we can check it out!

I would love to see an official Measure from bases statement first and foremost. While the community as a whole has adapted to make this be the norm I think an official stamp on it would be nice. I also feel that the split up of older Armies (specifically the Aelfs) was very drastic and perhaps adding in race specific Army Battleline, Allegiances, magic item would go a long way to keep the armies diversified until newer versions of the armies come out.