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Strength_Hammer

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  1. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  The snow and the cold are still very prevalent in my part of the world creating a very cold hobby area for me, but there are projects to complete.  Thankfully I was able to gain respite outside of my basement to watch The Grand Tournament Heat 1 for Age of Sigmar this past weekend.  A nice cup of coffee and a day of streamed games while my hobby area warmed up is the best kind of weekend to have when there are ice and snow covering the outside like a Beastclaw Raider invasion.




    When my Hobby space finally warmed up and I was able to move to my basement I finally got to begin using a wonderful gift I received a few months ago.  Many people will cringe, but I never used a wet palette before as I I would just thin the paints on some Citadel Palette Pad if not just pulling from the paint pots themselves.  I am always working to improve my hobby and go outside my comfort zone and forcing myself to finally begin using this tool fit both those categories for me and I have come to discover how much I enjoy this tool and cannot understand why I took so long to begin using one.  I highly suggest picking one up to make your hobby life easier.


    My Adepticon Army is coming along nicely as well as I managed to complete a lot of the color blocking on my four units of Witch Aelves.  They currently have Hair Color, some of the armor, and squad markings all done and I plan to finish up the leather and metal armor by the end of this week.  I am very happy to be so far along with this project as I am.  I expected to be struggling to paint so many models, but I have been able to get back into the groove of "assembly line army painting".  It feels like a form of meditation when I am knocking out model after model doing the same part over and over again.

    It is not just Daughters of Khaine filling my Hobby time as I have rebased a few more Aelves to round bases as well as managing to prime and base my Slaves to Darkness for the Malign Portents Painting Competition coming up on February 10th as well as working toward my #Hobby500.  They have announced the awards for the event at official local Warhammer and Games Workshop locations and while they are not anything much I am enjoying how my local community has gathered around participating as an excuse to jump fully into whats to come and start new armies.  The community gathering should be great at my local Warhammer store and to me, that is the best part of events such as these.  Having fun talking about Warhammer is what I look forward to the most, but that doesn't mean I won't put forth my effort to win out against my community.

    In an unexpected turn of events, one of my local game stores has seen more and more players take interest in Age of Sigmar and willing to lay down their bolters for a while and battle it out in The Mortal Realms.  The best part is that a local player has organized it which means I can play and fight it out to try and win as opposed to when I run events and I do not count myself for any placing despite games I play.  The league is a bit of a learning league and as such we are playing at 1000pts which is a great way for me to test my half of my Age of Sigmar Adepticon Team Event list that I will be bringing to battle alongside Michael and his mighty Skavenm Horde!



    I hope you are having a Hobby filled week and are staying warm if you are in the area of the Everwinter.  If you are participating in the Malign Portantins Painting Competiiton let me know in the comments so I can check out how your Start Collecting Box is coming along!  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!

    - Chuck Moore
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  2. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I am happy to bring you another interview with Dan Moyes who is a member of The Rend 4 Age of Sigmar Club.  You might recognize Dan from my Weekly Hobby Update posts as he was the gentleman who was pushing me to Hobby as much as I did over the past few months.  Dan is local to Colorado but met Neil at Adepticon last year which is how he joined the club.  It was fun getting to know Dan better through some friendly competition and soon we will be sharing a drink at Adepticon together as we recount the tales of our recent Hobby rivalry.  
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Chuck: "Dan, how did you get into the Hobby?"  
      Dan: "I was a long time Warhammer 40k player (going back to Rogue Trader days in fact).  My small gaming group of a few friends would play 40k on a regular basis.  Age of Sigmar came out and we picked up the starter set and gave it a go.  We immediately liked the faster play, having rules in one place and the thematics of medieval style soldiers and monsters fighting over strange lands.  I was always a fan of fantasy, but the requirement for large blocks of infantry was always a turn off in terms of financial costs and the time sink of getting all those models ready for the tabletop.  Sigmar seemed to offer the medieval/fantasy flavor on a smaller skirmish level which was a big attraction to many 40k players like myself."   Chuck: "What do you currently have on your Hobby table and what are you planning for the future?"  
      Dan: "Currently more Seraphon and some Stormcast that have needed paint for forever.  I do have various miniatures from other game systems that I would like to get painted as well.  During the Rend 4 Hobby Hero competition, I did complete all the basic heroes (and Tzeentch heroes) that came with Silver Tower and would like to get the rest of the miniatures painted up as well as include some exotic adversaries for a future season.  My son, who is 10, will be attending Adepticon with me this year and playing Sigmar teams with me and is entered into the Sigmar youngbloods competition.  I have some last bits of a Seraphon army to get tabletop ready for those events."   Chuck: "What is one of your favorite memories of this hobby?"  
      Dan: "For me, the allure of AoS is those games that come down to the wire and hinge on one last dice roll (or several last dice rolls) that decide the fate of the game.  One that I remember fondly in our group was the remaining Seraphon had the last Khorne model, a Bloodsecrator surrounded, in cover, on the objective, and unwounded bottom of turn 5.  The Secrator was rocking a crazy save and was eventually whittled down to his last wound with nothing left to strike except for the Kroxigor jaw attacks (that are usually uneventful).  Jaws like a Steel Trap was triggered (6 on wound) that causes a dice off between them and their victim. Final dice off for the game (Khorne would be tabled and lose the objective to boot), Khorne rolls….a 2…Seraphon roll…..a 3! And cause one mortal wound, the last wound, thus winning the game.  It doesn’t really get much closer than that.               I also have great memories of my first Adepticon trip.  My friend and I basically on a whim decided to go last year and booked at the last moment.  The events that still had slots at the time were mostly Sigmar (and we both decided against any 40k events).  The AoS crowd was pretty laid back and fun and I learned a lot about the game since I was pretty much the FNG at that point.  We played AoS until we puked doing Vanguard, Teams, and Championship all that weekend.  I actually got matched up against my buddy in round 3 of the Championship which was unexpected.  We also got paired up with Ben Johnson and Robin Cruddace in round 3 of teams which was a complete surprise (and we were thoroughly crushed)."   Chuck: "How do you balance Hobby, Work, and Family?"  
      Dan: "It was tough up until recently.  I had been on 12-hour shifts at work with an irregular schedule, so I was always tired and worn out.  Hobbying was my balance to Work and Family since I tended to de-stress whilst painting and planning my next build, color scheme etc…  My kids always like to see what I am up to at my paint station."   Chuck: "What is your favorite part of this hobby?"  
      Dan: "For me it is the painting and converting and coming up with new techniques for miniatures.  I enjoy spotting items at stores that I can quickly identify for a terrain project or basing material.  You never know what may crop up."   Chuck: "What is your least favorite part of this hobby?"  
      Dan: "Probably assembly.  Many times I am rushed to get models on the table and things get put together quickly.  Later on, when I go back to paint I have to spend the time to get things fixed before I paint."   Chuck: "We recently battled it out over the Hobby Hero award as part of The Rend 4 club's winter event season.  What can you share about your experience?"  
      Dan: "It was exhausting I had retaken the lead after doing my hobby board and was determined to keep you beat down in points till the end.  By the end of the season, I had perfected knocking out models to a tabletop standard in as little time as possible.  That did give me new confidence in being able to compete large projects quickly.  During the season I managed to complete a Flesh Eater Courts and Seraphon army and have a good chunk of a Slaanesh army complete.  I also put a dent in the Silver Tower set which the family loves to play.  We both cracked 300 points which is basically a 2k army worth of stuff a month for the last 6 months!"   Chuck: "The competition really pushed us both to squeeze out as much Hobby time as possible.  What tips can you share about painting plenty of models within a short time frame?"  
      Dan: "Plan ahead both your time and models that you want to tackle.  Plan ahead a color scheme and keep it simple, 3 colors (primary, secondary, tertiary).  After all the planning, execute until it is done!  If you can make hobbying a part of your routine then that is even better.  I started to set aside some time almost every night to get at least a few things done.  An airbrush which is a big expense in many people's hobby budget will save you loads of time.  I use mine mostly for base coating and for some effects."   Chuck: "You recently began a small Facebook page dedicated to producing armies quickly and to nice tabletop quality.  What can you tell me about the page?"  
      Dan: "There are a gajillion painting pages out there that you can get techniques and tips from.  For me, it seems that many people get bogged down in the psychology and motivation of getting their armies on the table and cannot see the forest for the trees.  That is what I want to focus on, the psychology of hobbying.  The recent competition helped me overcome some of those hurdles and I would like to return some of the knowledge to the community.  We can also talk about the challenges of getting younger kids into the hobby since I have started down that path with my son so far and my daughter has shown interest as well.  Come over to GOML (Get Off My Lawn) Painting and join in."   Chuck: "While the Rend 4 Club is located in Northeast Ohio you are based in Colorado.  What type of Age of Sigmar and 40k scenes do you have out that way?"  
      Dan: "I am wholly unqualified to answer that since I typically just game with a few friends and we like to game in what I call a “friendly competitive” environment.  We try to not cheese it up too much with lists and be “that guy” during games.  We game at each other’s houses and we are fortunate to be able to have all the additional items that come with the hobby when you home game (game tables, terrain, game mats).  We have played at our LFGS before but it is overrun with Magic."   Chuck: "If there is any way someone might be able to reach out to you for a game in your local area?"  
      Dan: "My group is looking for additional players that share a similar game mindset and people that are looking to learn the game or get better in a low-stress setting.  We are very laid back and will be joking and messing around the whole time having fun.  We cannot game every day as work/life balance is decidedly more towards work but we try to fit in a game night once or twice a month.  If you are looking for a game just send me a message on Facebook and introduce yourself."   ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you enjoyed today's Player Spotlight with Dan.  If you live in Colorado be sure to reach out to him about meeting up to play some games!
    Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

    ~Chuck Moore
     
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  3. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Malign Portents is finally getting underway as we see bits and teasers being put out here and there.  I am very excited for what it is bringing to Age of Sigmar and if you haven't taken the time to dive into every part of the website I highly suggest you do so as soon as you can.  There is a lot of great bits of information for the Malign Portents and for the Age of Sigmar setting as a whole.  To kick off this new chapter Games Workshop is running events to help players get an army prepared for the coming Age of Darkness.  On February 10th local Games Workshop and Warhammer Stores will have an event with prizes around buying, building, and painting up a Start Collecting! box.  While I really enjoy the new Lord-Ordinator and plan to pick him up the Darkoath Warqueen has really captured my attention so I plan to paint up some SLaves to Darkness to go alongside my Blades of Khorne for the event.




    While myself and others at my local club, Ligonier Legion, are preparing new projects we also just wrapped up a three-month Firestorm league with a 2000pt three-game tournament.  The weather kept a few of the regulars away sadly, but those who were able to make the journey out had a great day of fun and competitive Age of Sigmar.

    I created three awards for the event using some Age of Sigmar art and my basic photo editing skills to award "Best Painted", "Tournament Champion", and "Hero of Firestorm".  The "Hero of Firestorm" was for the top players of the league as a whole while "Tournament Champion" was for the player who won the one-day event.  I wanted to give players that were unable to make previous league days something they could try to win to join in on the fun.


    Due to an odd number of players during round 1 I was able to play as the ringer to get some practice in with my Daughters of Khaine.  While I was playing the ringer I didn't hold back entirely and I was very impressed with how the Army did on the table and I look forward to playing many more games as I prepare for Adepticon.
    Round 2 saw a late participant braving the cold arrive so I stepped out the event as the ringer and back into the T.O. Role.  The games went very smoothly with very little questions which allowed me to prime my army during the course of the day as well.  It was great to see the club having such a good time while getting some needed Hobby in.

    At the end of the day, we saw great games that were very close and a very tight finish for the top awards.  Luis (left) walked away with "Hero of Firestorm" as well as "Best Painted" while Cole (right) took the "Tournament Champion" in a very close finish.  Congratulations to the both of them and to everyone who played in the event.  The club saw some great games and a lot of new models getting painted and as such everyone should be proud!


    I have had some good progress on my two current Hobby Projects in the past few days.  The bits and bases arrived allowing me to begin priming my Daughters of Khaine and my Slaves to Darkness Start Collecting! set I am painting for Malign Portents is fully built and it should be warm enough for me to prime in the next day or so.  A total of 144 models to paint in the coming month alongside many other community-driven projects I am pushing to wrap up as well.  It promises to be a very busy month for Hobby, but the prospect of it all is not unwelcome.

    With painting finally beginning on my Daughters of Khaine I wanted to share my Cauldron of Blood that will represent my General on the board.  I wanted the final piece to be all Games Workshop models but wanted to be different from the standard statue of Khaine that is on my other two Cauldrons of Blood.  Calling back to The End Times I decided to put a statue of Tyrion as "The Avatar of Khaine" and I am quite pleased with the result.

    You might recall the last few weeks I Hobbying as much as possible to win the "Hobby Hero" award as part of The Rend 4 Club's Winter event season.  As I previously announced I did manage to take the win in a very tough Hobby battle with a gentleman Dan M, who I have interviewed for this Friday's post, and Neil L. has updated the Trophy with the season winners and I am very happy to say that Roger, Mike, and myself are all from the Pittsburgh area and members of Steel City Sigmar.  Pittsburgh swept the cup this year and we always enjoy taking toys away from those living in Ohio.  All in good fun however as the next season has already begun and I sit woefully behind once again.

    I am very excited to be running the Spring Coalescence event for my local club once again and have begun working on the awards for the event to build up the hype in the coming months.  Everyone is very excited to see what the event will entail as more is released.  If you wish to run the event and join the many groups running this Global One Day Narrative event be sure to sign up to be emailed all the latest information.


    Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!

    ~Chuck Moore
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  4. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! It is hard to believe, but a new Event year is finally upon us.  Great events such as L.V.O. and Waaagh! Paca will be taking place this month, but sadly I am unable to attend either of these excellent wargaming events.  My focus is turned toward March where we will see a Coalescence event followed directly by Adepticon 2018.  I plan to post monthly updates about my hobby, games, and other preparations for Adepticon this year.  I did a similar article series last year for both Adepticon and Nova Open that I very much enjoyed writing and sharing.  These events are great ways for the community to connect for a long weekend of shared comradery and I hope my excitement comes through as you follow my Road to Adepticon 2018.  Today I want to talk a bit about my choice in my army and how its progress is coming along.




    A little while ago I began to think about the army I wanted to use for the 2018 event year.  I had decided to take a break from my Stormcast Eternals, which I had been playing since the release of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, but wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do next.  I managed to fill my Hobby time well with my recent Khorne Army inspired by a small slow grow league with a few friends.  Sadly that mini-campaign fell away, but the new Nurgle release has reignited the flame to do it again.
    I had given a lot of consideration to adding units to my Khorne army in order to play them a bit more competitively this year.  While I will add to my Khorne this year I never envisioned the army as a competitive force.  I originally built it to be more thematic and casual in play.  Some recent events have shown me that it won't stand much of a chance in its current form so while I am not done with Khorne I decidedly easily that I won't be using them at any major events this year.

    The upcoming Malign Portents for Age of Sigmar is promising a lot of love for Death and Nurgle, but neither of these has ever really grabbed me as armies I wish to play.  I am excited to see them on the table, but I knew that neither was going to be an army I could put my heart into for the coming year.  It's no secret that I have been one of the few eagerly anticipating the release of Aelves, in any form, over the past few years.  While it seems we will have to wait a bit longer for a release, which only promises the reveal to be even greater, I decided I did not have to wait to play Aelves again.  I have plenty of Aelves I am currently rebasing that I could have easily pulled from to make my army, but some of the fun in leading up to an event is seeing everyone create their armies and I wanted to make sure I was doing the same.

    I originally looked at Darkling Covens or Wanderers as their recent Command Traits and Items in The Generals Handbook 2017 feel very powerful and could create a competitive force.  I built a few lists, but nothing really stuck with me as I made list after list.  Then I had the sliver of a thought in running Daughters of Khaine.  It started as a simple idea, but after talking to some community members on Twitter the concept really began to sink it's daggers in me and refused to let go.  To be honest, the only thing that held me back was the cost of the army, but the more I looked at it the more I gave up that excuse and decided Khaine's Daughters would be storming the Mortal Realms this year!

    Oddly enough, once I decided on Daughters of Khaine and list building began I began moving away from using a list that is highly tuned toward competition play.  With some help on Twitter I had built a few very tuned lists, but the more I looked the more I wanted to take something a bit more fun and perhaps crazy.  I decided to forgo a few options so I could fit in 120 Witch Aelves as the idea was too great to not do.  I know there has been some Daughters of Khaine armies out on the scene, but I don't think anyone has been crazy enough to bring 120 of them so hopefully that counts for something.

    Also before I get too far ahead of myself I have reached out to the T.O. of Adepticon to verify how he is going to rule on the potentially stacking 5+ saves and if the Cauldrons receive the save as well.  There is some odd wording that could allow it to be ruled either way.  Whatever their decision I am fine with as this army is much more out of doing it for fun and for the love of doing an army like this and not about pushing to win the event.  Overall I just want to make sure I practice and play the army at the event how the T.O. decides to prevent and "gotcha" or "bad feelings" at the table.

    EDIT:  The T.O. has let me know that the Cauldrons will not be allowed to stack their 5+ save for Adepticon 2018 so my defensive capabilities go down, but my ability to spread out a bit goes up.  While I don't expect this to change my list much if at all, I will consider putting the Medusa on one of the cauldrons as I playtest.  Either way, it is good to have a quick ruling on the issue so I can prepare accordingly.

    One last little detail I am planning to add in is the statue for the Cauldron who will be my General.  I wanted to add a small throwback to The End Times without theming the entire army around The World That Was.  I purchased a Tyrion model on eBay and it should be arriving soon and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.  It should be a subtle nod to the great story of Tyrion's Fall while allowing my opponent to clearly see which Cauldron is my General on the field of battle.

    I cannot wait to get the army on the battlefield to begin playing here very soon and I will be sure to post up progress pictures and game recaps in my "Weekly Hobby Update" posts as well as on Twitter so feel free to keep an eye out for all of that fun very soon.

    If you are attending Adepticon this year be sure to let me know in the comments below and what you are doing to prepare for the events.  Also, if you will be there feel free to come up and say "Hello" as meeting new people is one of the best parts of National events such as this and I will take any excuse to talk some Hobby.
    Until next week, Happy Hobbying!
    ~Chuck Moore
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  5. Strength_Hammer
    Happy New Year Everyone!  As we head back to work, and away from our Hobby tables, I hope the post-holiday blues don't keep you down for too long.  I am doing everything I can to keep my Hobby moving forward and not fall into a slump.  Thankfully I had a great year-end push with painting and gaming that has kept me really excited about my current projects going into the new year.


    Currently rebasing all my Aelves The year ended with two great games with some of my regular opponents.  Aleks continued to prove that my Khorne is no match for his Freepeople in another crushing defeat despite the initial momentum oh my army.  Later in the week, I played Jason at my local shop with his Flesh Eater Courts going up against my Khorne.  True to form the Flesh Eater Courts blunted my attack and it felt as if they would run over the rest of my army, but my Bloodthristers decided to step up to the task at hand and turned the tide.  Jason and I went into the bottom of Round 5 being tied on victory points.  I choose to run off the objectives, in fair play, to end a great game in a draw.  I couldn't ask for a better game to finish on for the year.


    My brush continued to be busy this past week as well.  I finished up a few individual models as well as some units.  Aleves continue to be the theme on my hobby table, and that won't be changing anytime soon.  I did get to paint up the old Sigvald The Magnificent model as a gift for a friend that was a joy to paint.  I am happy to have finished up the last few models I planned to complete before diving into my army for Adepticon 2018.  


    It has been a lot of fun having Aelves back on my Hobby table.  As I have said before I feel very comfortable painting them since I have done so many throughout the years.  While I sometimes get tired of painting the same thing over and over in other armies I never feel that way with my Aelves.  I feel very connected to the armies since I used them so often in Warhammer Fantasy Battles and the idea of fielding them regularly again is exciting and I plan to continue adding more Aelves throughout the year.


    I am happy to say that all of this Hobby and gaming was enough to take the Rend 4 club "Hobby Hero" award I have been striving for the past few weeks.  It was very tight all the way to the end and Dan, the gentlemen who came in second has pushed me to hobby more in these past few weeks then I felt I had all year.  He is a true warrior fighting against the grey and he has already put up some numbers for the clubs next "Hobby Hero" season.  I plan to have Dan on for a player spotlight in the near future as well so be sure to keep an eye out for the interview.

    In some unexpected news, Coalescence is coming early this year!  Games Workshop has worked with some of the NEON team to create a fun one-day Global event in support of the upcoming Malign Portents for Age of Sigmar.  If you are curious there will still be the yearly summer Coalescence event on June 23rd to continue the story we began last year with the Godbeast Eristrat.  So we will have two great Global Narrative events this year and I cannot wait to run these for my local club.

    It has been a great finish to the year I do not plan to rest on my laurels as I have plenty of Hobby still unfinished as I prepare for Adepticon, work to complete The U.S. AoS Modular Pack, and continue to improve this very blog.  I plan on participating in the #hobby500 on Twitter and finish a total of 500 models this year.  It is a daunting task, but one I am excited to make an attempt.  Let me know how your Hobby year ended and what you have planned going into 2018. 

    Happy Hobbying!

    -Chuck Moore
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  6. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  The year is coming to a close and a new year is about to arrive with abundant blessings from Papa Nurgle.  If you haven't seen the Nurgle reveals head over to the community site to check them out, especially the video from the Warhammer Community Team.  As typical at the end of another great Hobby year, I want to take a look back and make share my hopes for the year to come, but instead of focusing on releases I wanted to look at it all from a Community standpoint!





    We came into the year in stride as a community.  We were growing and connecting more than I have ever seen and more and more people began putting out content for us all to enjoy.  We were secure in the knowledge we would receive a new Generals Handbook and we have some great releases like Blades of Khorne, Disciples of Tzeentch, and Kharadron Overlords to keep the meta constantly evolving on our tabletop.  While the release of The New Warhammer 40,000 did pull some players it hasn't done much to slow down the pace of our community and honestly the break-in Age of Sigmar releases was a good chance for us all to catch our breath as we readied ourselves for the coming year.

    Locally, my club went through some changes as well over the past year.  We had lost the gentlemen who organized our events and we began to band together once again due to an illness.  A few people began to try and get some momentum again, but they tended to focus on only Warhammer 40,000.  Other games such as Age of Sigmar were stagnant despite the overall positivity and a large number of releases.  It motivated me to take the reins and organize the club.  While there were some who didn't like the changes I was trying to make or the direction I was trying to steer the club in I had supporters.  Those supporters were more often than not the younger players who are our future and their enthusiasm really kept me going.

    My local club now has a great new venue, multiple club days each month that let us play all of our favorite game systems, and now new club shirts for us to wear when we all venture forth to events like Adepticon this March.   I am happy to say our club is working together better then we have before.  There is still plenty of room for improvement and the road ahead isn't any less difficult, but seeing this turnaround has been one of the most satisfying hobby accomplishments I have achieved to date.

    New Banner for my local club
    While I am excited about my local group it is hard not to be just as excited about all the positive changes going on elsewhere in the country as well.  We have seen multiple new(er) Regional level events in Midwest Meltdown, Nashcon, Renegade Open, SoCal Open, and Battleshock Bash to name a few.  I am sure there are some I missed but as Age of Sigmar grows more and more events keep popping up and the National events such as L.V.O., Adepticon, and Nova Open are seeing more and more players for Age of Sigmar each year.

    We can't neglect that Narrative play is firmly part of the scene now as well.  Coalescence was a great success, we have seen the release of Battletome: End Times, other great narrative events such as R.A.W., Nova Open Narrative, and the upcoming R.O.E. and Adepticon Narrative are really solidifying Narrative play as one of the three pillars of Age of Sigmar just as much as Matched play has been for a while now.  They have begun stepping up their blog as well with more regular posting so be sure to check it out!

    The greatest thing we have received this year is the chance for us, as a community, to recognize our Warhammer Heros.  We all have them in our lives and Games Workshop is giving us the tools to acknowledge them and their hard work all so we can enjoy this game to its fullest.  To be nominated by anyone is an honor as it lets your hero know their effort is having a positive effect on you, and your community.  There is still a few days left as of this post going up so if you haven't done so be sure to nominate your Warhammer Hero.

    New Nurgle on the way!
    So such a great year behind us, what do we have to look forward to as a community?  We have already seen that Nurgle will be getting his own Battletome to put him on the same footing with Tzeentch and Khorne.  The Malign Portents clock is continuing to count down with a few reveals of the mighty champions we will be adding to our armies.  I suspect that Slaanesh and Aelves will see some sort of a return this year as well either in a new army or at the very least a bit more lore about what is going on with that plot line.

    We also have even larger events to look forward to as well!  Adepticon and L.V.O. are reporting the biggest Warhammer Age of Sigmar turnout seen to date.  It is promising that more and more players will join our community over the next year as the popularity of the game continues to grow.  The Regional events will most likely be larger and even your local scene might see more fresh recruits or returning veterans to the roster.  Knowing that we will be receiving another Generals Handbook in 2018 as it is officially a yearly release will reinforce to newer and returning players how supported this game is and that Games Workshop wants to continually improve the game with the support of the community.

    While we know that Games Workshop will continue to reach out to us and us reaching back to them to help grow and improve Age of Sigmar I want to talk about a project you can look forward to coming out shortly after the new year.  The U.S. AoS Community Modular Pack.  I and many other U.S. Age of Sigmar players, community supporters, community leaders, and content creators have been working together since an initial meeting with Games Workshop at Adepticon last year.  I am happy to say that the project is coming into the final stages and soon will be released.

    Just some of the U.S. AoS Community Group
    The pack is created by U.S. Age of Sigmar players for U.S. Age of Sigmar players.  That's not to say it doesn't have merit elsewhere in the world, but there are unique challenges that the U.S. faces with growing our community and where this game could grow that we hope to answer.  There will be more details to come soon, but the pack will break down into multiple modules such as sports, scenario selections, painting, and much more while focusing on the three levels of play we see here within the use due to our countries size being Local, Regional, and National so please look forward to it very soon.

    Last, but not least we should take a moment to congratulate the Warhammer Community Team over at Games Workshop.  They have really stepped it up this year with their involvement directly with the community.  Creating great content int he form of Daily Painting Videos, fun release trailers, and openly talking to us through all forms of social media.  They keep setting the bar higher and higher and they keep reaching for me and I cannot wait to see what the year to come has to offer.


    I hope everyone has had a similar great 2017 with Warhammer Age of Sigmar and that your hopes are even higher for an even better 2018.  I do want to take a moment to thank you,, my readers, readers for continuing to be my motivation to improve this blog and keep to the twice a week schedule.  I am very happy with how far along my blog has come over the past year and, but there is still parts I am looking to improve in the coming year.  I am happy with where the blog is, but I am not satisfied as my goal is to continue to improve for you and myself.  Let me know what you loved best about 2017 and what you might be hoping for in 2018. 

    Happy New Year and as always, Happy Hobbying!


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  7. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  I hope your Holiday season is going well so far and that you have had a lot of hobby over the past week.  The year is quickly coming to an end and if you have been following my Hobby Update posts you know that I am in the running for the "Hobby Hero" award as part of the Rend 4's club event season.  It has been a very tight battle between me and gentlemen by the name of Dan who has pushed me to keep up with him as the deadline of Dec 31st. looms.  I am also very pleased that the new shirt for my local club, Ligonier Legion, arrived this past week and I cannot wait to wear it to the next club day!



    As the Holidays decided I  was able to get a game in with Jason and his Nighthaunt army in Scorched Earth using my Khorne.  We both bet big on opposite flanks as the game began.  It seemed as if we would circle each other wiping out each other back lines, but thanks to my Blood Tithe abilities I was able to circle one of my Bloodthirsters to help stall his advance and securing the win.  It was fun to get a game in before the Holiday and it was a fun atmosphere as you can see by Evan, pictured sitting below, had a smile just watching the carnage.  Evan plans to start an Age of Sigmar league soon at the local store and I cannot wait to participate.


    Games are only one of the ways to earn points for the "Hobby Hero" award.  The other and quickest way to earn points is by painting and while my brush has always been fast to get models to a tabletop standard it is not nearly as fast as an airbrush.  Dan, who I mentioned above, has been ahead of me for quite a while now by using his airbrush to knock out models fast and furious.  It has been great to complete all of these Aelf Heros, but despite this effort, I remained firmly in second after even these.

    This leads me to my biggest push to take control of first in the competition.  After my game with Jason, I asked him if he would mind if I helped him out with painting his army.  Jason is well aware that I am trying to win Rend 4's Hobby Hero award and he had no complaints about an offer to paint the bulk of his army for free.  My competitive drive was in its highest gear at this point and directly after our game I drove home, grabbed a bit of food and drink and set to work.  Five Hours later, Jason, had his models painted and finally jumped to first place, but with a few days left I need to keep my foot on the gas to ensure I keep the lead.

    I can't complete today's post without showing off a bit of the Christmas haul.  Thanks to my loving wife and great friends I received some great gifts and while some are still being shipped I am very humbled by how generous everyone was to me this past holiday.
             
    I hope your Holiday is going well and, unlike myself, have many days off to hobby until your heart is content.  If you received some great Warhammer gifts let us know in the comments.  Be sure to come back Friday as I look back at this past year and offer a few Warhammer and Hobby Wishes for the coming year.  Until then, Happy Hobbying!





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  8. Strength_Hammer
    Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!  Today I wanted to bring you something a bit different to hopefully bring a bit of festive cheer.  It is very much outside my comfort zone, but it was a nice exercise in writing for me and I hope it is a good read for you as well.  Grab some Cocoa and a plate of cookies as you read my take on a Classic Tale of "A Christmas Carol" set in our favorite place, Warhammer Age of Sigmar.  I present to you, A Sigmas Carol".
     
       
    Part 1   Sigmar glared out the window of Sigmaron his mighty fortress, watching the mortals below in Azyrheim move about the city.  It had been almost seven years to the day since his return to The Mortal Realms and his war to recapture was still in its early stages.  Looking at the Mortals below, however, Sigmar would never be able to tell there were mighty battles being fought throughout The Mortal Realms.  Mortals and Demi-Gods alike where giving their lives to drive back Chaos, but below he saw Joy, Laughter, and Celebration, it irritated him.   "Humbug" Sigmar Growled with gritted teeth.  "How can they Celebrate while we sit on a knife edge for survival against the denizens of Chaos?"   Sigmar knew the Mortals were creating a new tradition in honor of the first Lighting Strikes of Stormcast Eternals setting foot in The Realm of Fire.  It was the eve of that mighty anniversary and one Sigmar saw as just another day with each passing year.  The Mortals, Aelf, Duradin, and Human, chose to honor the day, and those leading up to it, with an event they called Sigmas.  Sigmar didn't feel it was a good name at all, but it had stuck as the tradition began to take shape.     The Mortals would feast, exchange simple gifts, sing songs, and decorate every bit of space they could for the holiday and all sense of work ceased for a few days despite the war effort and its demands.  As if on cue Sigmar heard a knock at the chambers might door.   Sigmar shook his head.  It would be the Grungni asking permission for his Duardin smiths to partake of the festivities.  Sigmar resisted this allowance every year prior.  He needed his Stormcasts Reforged and their weapons honed by Grungni's smiths.  War didn't end simply because of a silly holiday.   "Enter."  Sigmar bellowed, but the door was already opening as The Duradin Smith-God strode purposefully toward him.  Sigmar wasn't shocked by Grungni's forwardness, in fact, he very much liked this about him, but the sight of Grombrindal walking behind Grungni caught him off guard.   "You know why I am here Godling." Grungni said approaching Sigmar.  "You have said no every year prior, but this year I will have my way!"   Sigmar sighed.  "Without your smiths how will the army be reforged?  What battles might we lose by taking part in this ridiculous tradition the Mortals have created."   "They created it in your honor!"  Shouted Grombrindal before Grungni could stop him.   "I asked no such thing to be done.  I asked for their support in the War against Chaos, not for this distraction."  Sigmar responded cooly, tired of the played out argument.   Grungni stepped forward giving Grombrindal a sideways glance informing him to shut up.  "Godling, you were Mortal once and you held traditions that I found silly, but they meant a lot to you and your people.  Let them have this brief escape, they need it.  Besides your armies are doing well and the souls returning from the field of battle have slowed to a crawl."   Sigmar sighed once more knowing to continue to resist was fruitless, shrugging he gave finally gave in.  "Very well Grungni, let them have tonight and tomorrow off as the tradition has become."   Grungni smiled and began to leave, but Grombrindal held fast prompting Sigmar to raise an eyebrow inquisitively.  "Is there something else?"   Grombrindal shifted from one foot to another uncomfortably for a moment.  "Sigmar,  my feasting hall is open tonight and I want to extend the warmth of my Hearth to you.  Join us in celebration tonight."   Sigmar glared down at the Mighty Duradin  Gormbindal shared a lot in common with Sigmar being from The World That Was and once being Mortal before coming to Godhood.  However, their shared commonality would not persuade Sigmar.  "While I allow this ridiculous tradition to grow it does not mean I like it in any way.  Your offer is mighty, but I must refuse it as I hope to see this silliness become a memory in the future so we can focus on what matters.  Defeating Chaos is the only thing that should be on our minds."   Grombrindal scowled clenching his fists dangerously.  "Fine, do as you please."  Growled the Duradin as he stormed out.     Sigmar saw a sadness in Grungni's eyes as the pair left, but it was no matter.  Defeating Chaos was all that mattered.  He turned back to the window as Celestial Snow began to fall.  There would be a storm this night.   As night fell on Azryheim Sigmar brooded over the war table in his chamber, plans forming in his mind in his War on Chaos.  A noise from behind caught Sigmars attention and he whirled around to face the unknown intruder but froze upon seeing who it was that stood before him.   "Forgive my intrusion."  Whispered the Ghost of Karl Franz.  The ghost stood there obviously weary.   "How are you here?  You died defending Altdorf millenniums ago as my spirit entered your Mortal form that fateful day."  Sigmar replied attempting to hide his shock.   "Just as you held on to the last remnant of our dead world so to did I cling to you and my old body.  I am of your lineage after all.  I have come to deliver a message."  The ghost said.   "What would that message be?"   "Tonight you will be visited by three spirits.  Heed their wisdom.  To not do so would mean victory for Chaos and the death of another world."   "I will win this war against Chaos have not doubt, my armies will prevail!"   "Have caution Might Sigmar.  No all battles are on physical and not all worlds lost can be clung to.  Heed their message to save us all."  The ghost of Karl Franz pleaded before fading away into the darkness.   Part 2   The hours passed and Sigmar let the conversation with his dead descendant pass from his mind.  A bell tolled from the city below and a sudden gust of wind blew open a large window in the Chamber scattering papers from his War table and letting Celestial Snow blow about the room.  Sigmar walked over to shut them back up but was stopped by the first messenger The Ghost of Karl Franz promised would come.   "And just who are you to make such a frigid entrance into my warm hall?"  Sigmar growled as he closed the window with a slam.   "Come now, you do not recognize me?  It has been years beyond counting since you thought of me, but I thought you would know me."  The messenger replied as two ghostly wolves appeared from behind the figure.   "Ulric?"  Sigmar said with awe.   "Whats left of me.  It is taking all my will to cling to this form after what that Aelf did, but I come to bring you a message and guide you as I once did when you worshipped me as a Mortal."  Ulric said flatly.  "Come, time is short for me to give you this message.  Take my hand."   Sigmar complied.  Still shocked to see his long-dead god before him.  As their hands touched the windows burst open once again letting the Celestial Snow envelop the pair.  Soon all Sigmar could see what the blind whiteness of the Celestial Snow.   Suddenly Sigmars Vision cleared and he was standing in the center of a bustling city.  Sigmar did not know the city well, but he knew which city he was in.   "Altdorf...but how?"  Sigmar gaped at the buildings all covered in fresh snow from the night below.   "You ask far too many questions Son of Bjorn."  Ulric replied.  "This is the past, before The End Times."   "Why bring me here?"   Ulric simply pointed toward a group of people gathered in the square.   The pair walked over to see why the group had gathered.  A royal wagon from the palace was handing out ale and roasted meat to the men and women, and small toy swords to the children.  Sigmar watched as two young boys played Knight and Orc.  They battled fiercely shouting the names of Sigmar and Reiksguard as they went about.  The child playing the Orc dropped his guard for a moment and took the wooden sword to the army causing a slight bruise to begin forming.  Sigmar knelt down to heal the wound instinctively, but as he reached for the child his arm passes through him.   "It is a vision Sigmar.  We cannot interact with this world."  Ulric instructed.   As Sigmar stood he was once again whisked away by Snow to discover he was in a new location.  Sigmar froze being overwhelmed by memories and emotions.  It was the home of his birth, The home of The Umberogen Tribe. Sigmar said nothing as he had no words for what he saw.  The one women he ever truly loved was walking past him singing to herself.  Ravenna was her name and due to a cruel twist of fate she was killed before Sigmars eyes in the past, but here she was whole and alive.   Sensing his thoughts Ulric spoke.  "It is well before her death."   Sigmar watched as she busied herself with her task.  She was wrapping different items in some simple cloth on a table outside her home.  Once complete she carried door to door offering them as a gift to celebrate the coming of winter.   "She celebrates a holiday Son of Bjorn.  Or is that a bit ridiculous?"  Ulric Mocked.   "I-I was unable to prevent her death."  Sigmar stammered.   "This isn't about death Sigmar, it's about life.  She the joy she spreads and how the gifts she freely gives is lifting the burdens of those around her.  There is still battles being fought, but this moment is what makes those battles worth the fight."  Ulric said.   Ravenna turned suddenly and for a moment appeared to lock eyes with Sigmar and offer a smile, but as she walked toward him she passed through him as if he was a spirit to who she was really looking at, her brother.   "Take me home spirit.  Your message is delivered."  Sigmar demanded not taking his eyes off Ravenna.   "So be it son of Bjorn."  Ulric stood still as snow whipped up around the pair to take them away.   Sigmar was alone in his chamber as the snow vanished from sight.  He sat down with his head in his mighty hands.   Part 3   Sigmar recovered himself quickly as the next hour or so passed, but he tensed as the bell tolled below once more.  He stared at the window waiting for the next messenger.  After a few moments, he let his body relax.  Perhaps his ordeal was over.  As he turned to go sit next to the roaring fire in his chamber he saw an unfamiliar Duradin standing by the fire.   "Are you the next messenger?  You seem more corporal then the others."  Sigmar questioned.   "Aye manling.  I am.  While I look whole I can assure you I am as dead as the others.  The name is Bugman."  The Duradin offered Sigmar a mug full of ale.   "My thanks."  Sigmar said taking the mug and quaffed a mouthful.  As he did the world began to spin until all became blackness.     When Sigmar awoke he was in a great hall where feasting and merriment filled the atmosphere.   "Welcome to Grombrindal's feasting hall,"  Bugman said as he sampled a bit of ale from a discarded mug spitting it out.  "Weak..."   Sigmar looked around to see all of Grungni's Smiths filling their bellies with Ale and Meat.  There was a roaring hearth and sat by it was Grombrindal looking as sour as ever.  He sipped on a mug staring into the fire.   "Why does he appear so Bugman?  What has caused him to be so isolated when surrounded by so many others?"  Sigmar asked.   "There is very few here who share his struggles and the one who could share his connection with has decided not to attend the feast,"  Bugman replied.   "It is me, isn't it?"  Sigmar said already knowing the answer.  This was no trip to the past, but the present happenings going on within his very realm.   Sigmar watched Grombrindal as he shut himself off from those around him becoming more and more irritated by the festivities around him.  Festivities he was trying to embrace.   "If the present course continues then this festival will die as you wish, but so will some of the spark that keeps all these Duradin going."  Bugman stated.   Sigmar kept staring at Grombrindal realizing for the first time how the stubborn old Duradin sought to connect with his past in any way he could and how Sigmar had been killing that past for The White Dwarf.   Bugman offered Sigmar another mug of Ale and without thought, Sigmar gulped another mouthful.  The world spun and Sigmar awoke back in his chamber with no sign of the Bugman other than a barrel of Ale labeled with XXXXX.   Part 4   Sigmar sat in silence waiting for the bell to toll from below once more and bring him the third and final messenger.  As the bell peeled its notes darkness enveloped the room that event the roaring fire could not push back.  A tall figure in black robes, wielding a scythe in one hand and an hourglass filled with ash in the other while a raven perched on his shoulder.   "You have come.  Let's get this over with Morr."  Sigmar said exhaling.   The spirit said nothing as he transported them through the darkness to their destination.  After an eternity of darkness, they stood in the streets of Azryheim.  People trudged through the snow filled streets hurrying to their destinations wearing grim faces and saying little if nothing to others they passed.  The air was filled with brooding that weighed heavy on Sigmar.  Celestial Snow fell from above, but its presence felt as if it was closing in on them.   "What has them in this state?  Have we lost the war is Chaos winning?"  Sigmar asked.   The spirit shook his head and pointed toward Sigmaron up above.  Mounted to the great fortress was four heads of the mightest daemons Sigmar had ever seen.  One representing each of the Chaos Gods.  Above them, all staked on the wall was the body of Archaon himself as dead as the others.   "Have we won?  Are we winning the war?  Why is everyone so sullen?  Show me someone who is happy about this I beg you!"  Sigmar pleaded.   The spirit complied and took them outside of Sigmars chamber in Sigmaron.  The door was open and Sigmar could see his future self-smiling as he overlooked the scene of people below, oblivious to their downturned mood.   "Does he not see that his people suffer despite these mighty victories?"  Sigmar asked.  "Who has sapped their joy?"   The spirit of Morr simply pointed at Sigmar, but not his future self, but at him directly.   "Me, but how?  Defeating Chaos is my goal and there should be cheering in the streets at all fo this!"  Sigmar shouted.   Morr wrapped them in darkness taking them to the great hall of reforging.  Before him, Sigmar saw the Smiths reforging Stormcast at a rate that would exhaust even his mighty form.  He strode out of the smithy to the chamber beyond he saw row after row of countless Stormcast reforged and ready for the next battle, but they were as machines.  Each one was entirely void of emotion and presence due to countless reforging.  On the far side of the hall, Sigmar saw a portal they were marching through directly to the realm of Chaos.  The Stormcast where throwing themselves unendingly at the Chaos Gods very Realms only to be sent back, reforged, and march forth to do the same again in what seemed like only minutes.  The cycle was unending and horrible to behold.   "How am I any better than them."  Sigmar whispered.  He was shocked that he had become that which he hated so much and his future self-appeared to be happy about it all.  Relishing in his victory, but taking the very heart from those he fought to save.   "I do not wish to see any more spirit!  Take me back!  Sigmar beggingly shouted.  The spirit did as he wished and Sigmar fell into darkness as he continued to shout to be free of this vision.   Part 5   Sigmar awoke sitting bolt upright with sweat running rivulets down his head.  He threw himself out of bed running to the window to see Celestial snow covering the city reflecting back the glow from Mallus.  He dressed and ran out of his chamber grabbing the Barrell Bugman had left him the night before.  He paused only as he saw Grungni ahead of him in one of the mighty halls.   "Grungni, what day is this?"  Sigmar asked.   "Much to your displeasure it is Sigmas Day.  I am off to talk Grombrindal out of his insane plan to launch a new campa-" Grungni said being cut off.   "Where is he?"  Sigmar demanded.   "Still in his Feasting Hall, I am told."  Grungni barely gave the answer before Sigmar set off.   "Have Sigmaron's entry chamber opened and invite all in for a drink, food, and merriment!"  Sigmar shouted back as he headed to Grombrindal's hall without knowing if he was heard or not.   Sigmar ran on still carrying the barrel until he came upon his target.  He took a few breaths and entered.  Before him, he saw Grombrindal, the Smiths, and countless other Duradin surrounds Grombrindal in full battle gear.   "What is the matter Sigmar?"  Grombrindal demanded.   Sigmar looked at the Duradin and smiled.  "It is Sigmas day and I have this ale.  I need friends to help me drink it if they are willing."   Grombrindal shifted uncomfortably as he did before, but this time he cracked a smile and let out a laugh and shouted.  "The campaign is off until that barrel is empty at the very least!  "Merry Sigmas one and all! "   The End   I hope you enjoyed my attempt at an Age of Sigmar Twist on a Holiday Classic.  Happy Holidays Everyone!  Until Next time, Happy Hobbying!    
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  9. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  The year is almost over, but with the cold weather, that means the time for games and painting is in full force for most people.  My club has had some great attendance at our past few Club Days with everyone working on their armies and projects going into the Holiday season.  Most are anticipating having, even more, models to paint after Christmas so they are trying to wrap up what is on their table currently.  I am no exception and with the Rend 4's Hobby Hero award coming to a close in a few weeks I am working toward closing the gap between myself and the current leader.



    This past weekend I ran the second event in my club, Ligonier Legion's, Age of Sigmar Firestorm Escalation League.  We had eleven people show up to play with everyone having painted additional models for their force.  Next month we will be wrapping up the campaign, but the excitement for Age fo Sigmar is very high for us right now so I need to begin planning what is next.


    While I managed four Major Wins on Saturday with my Khorne running over all who came against me I was humbled a few days prior by my good friend, and regular opponent, Aleks as yet again he proves his Freepeople cannot lose to my Khorne.

    My Hobby hasn't been just games, however, as my brush has been working overtime as I work on earning those Hobby Hero points.  I know have more Death Hags then I will ever need and have managed to paint up more Aelves in the past week then I have in the past year.  I am thrilled to be painting Aelves again and coming back to them feels comforting as they have always been my favorite aesthetic in Warhammer.



    Continuing with the theme of Aelves I have officially received the last of my Adepticon 2018 army in the mail.  While I am still waiting on bases to arrive it is nice to have everything ready for the coming months of Hobby as I paint up 120 Witch Aelves.


    Let me know how your Hobby is coming along and be sure to check back Friday for what will most likely be an article about Aelves.  Until then, Happy Hobbying!
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  10. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I will be continuing my series on "Life Lessons and Wargaming".  The point of this article series is to look at the little lessons we learn throughout life and how we can apply these to our Wargaming hobby.  In today's article, I plan to talk about continuous improvement and wrap up my thoughts and hopefully persuade you to go after your goals and use all those lessons you have learned throughout life to help you become better hobbyist and gamer.  I might return to this series in the future, but today I will place a bookmark on it here.



    It doesn't matter where you might be at in life or with your Hobby as long as you are walking the road toward improvement.  It is when you are sitting on the side of the road refusing to go anywhere that you truly fail.  Getting started is the key, but continuing to improve is how you open the door to your success.  Sometimes you find yourself stopping even if you don't realize it at first and you need to persevere to keep working toward your goals.

    If you are the type of person who heads to the gym happily to lift iron and push your body to its limits then you might already see the correlations between this article series and the mentality prevalent within that type of atmosphere.  I wasn't one of those people, but I am now as I daily head to the gym for an hour or more.  The basic ideas learned in this atmosphere translates into other aspects of your life including your Hobby.

    A little over a year and a half ago I was the perfect example of someone not working toward their goals simply sitting on the side of the road to success.  Sometimes I would have the motivation and move a bit down the road, but more often than not I was stagnant.  Even when I was moving toward my goals I always felt like more like a passenger than the driver.  While I won't go into the details just know that at some point I realized all of this and decided it was time to change and take the lead.  I don't want to come across that I was unhappy as it was the exact opposite.  I have a beautiful wife, lovely home, the greatest friends I could hope to have, but I wanted so much more.  A switch was beginning to turn on even though I didn't realize it at the time.

    I say beginning to turn on because it wasn't some overnight change I experienced, but realization over a few months that while I was happy I wasn't satisfied.  I wanted so much more from myself out of this life then what I was currently getting.  I decided it was time to drive and stay ahead of the direction of my life in multiple ways, most of which I will leave out of this article, but a few of which were my Health and my Hobby.

    I began to sort out that I was living in my comfort zone but going nowhere.  So as I headed to the gym and fell in love with placing myself outside my comfort zone to improve my body I also began to live outside my Hobby comfort zone.  I decided to paint an army with white as the primary color because white is a challenging color for me.  Instead of waiting for someone else to take the lead in some group projects I grabbed the rein myself.  It was hard and failure is very real, but it is worth it.

    Now I feel confident painting with white as well as handling small and large projects, even multiple at a time.  I cannot say I am the best at either and the truth is that I am probably not, but I am better than I was and I want to be better than I am.  I have found happiness and motivation beyond where I was by reaching beyond myself and trying things that, perhaps, no one else has attempted before and even if I fail I know I tried and gave it everything I got.

    I set goals regularly and put in my all to accomplish them because I have fallen in love with the process of doing the work and letting the results come.  I now live my life always happy, but never satisfied.  A year ago this way of living would be very alien as being happy should be the goal in and of itself, but while I felt happy where I was in the past it was only because I didn't come to learn what really makes me happy.  I am happiest when I am working to improve.  It has almost become an addiction as I eagerly look forward to my Hobby Fix, going to the gym, or working to improve me and my wife's life.  Being obsessed isn't a bad thing, but essential to keep yourself motivated to improving day after day in the way you wish to improve.

    I wish I could say this was a road walked alone, but it very much isn't the case.  I haven't covered this much in this article series, but having a support group, tribe, club, family, or whatever you wish to call it is needed to stay fueled and motivated when you being to sputter.  At the gym, my friends are there to spot me and allow me to push more and more while encouraging me.  Likewise my wife, friends, and Family encourage my Hobby from my painting to my games, to my community projects, to this very blog you read.  They don't all necessarily know what it is all about, but they see my passion and obsession and know the joy it is bringing me.  My wife asks me how my games were after an event and will listen to the details of my battles earnestly.  My Mother will like every post from my Blogs Facebook page despite not knowing what I am saying most of the time.  My friends, both online and nearby, buy me paints and models while always being eager to take a look at their latest models I have painted and ask how my Hobby is going sincerely.  Without these support structures, there are times I might have quit.  Without them all, I couldn't become the best version of myself be it with my Health or my Hobby.

    I have never been more fulfilled in my life as a whole, Health, Hobby, Family, and Friends as I am right now.  I credit this to my new found love of the process of hard work, goals, and continuous improvement.  I encourage everyone to take those hard steps down the road to improvement in their Hobby or any aspect of life.  It doesn't matter how fast or slow you go down that road, only that you keep moving and keep improving.  I believe anyone can do this and if you are working toward improvement share your journey with us and help motivate us on our journeys.  Our Community is in this together and by supporting each other our journeys we will improve the larger journey of our Hobby as a whole.  Don't ever give up.  Accomplish your goals.

    Until next week, Happy Hobby.

    Previous Articles in this series:
    LifeLessons and Wargaming: Goals and Purpose
    LifeLessons and Wargaming: Self-Discipline vs. Self-Control
    Life Lessons and Wargaming: Don't Focus on the Outcome
    Life Lessons and Wargaming: Failing to Succeed
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  11. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Wednesday everyone.  The snow seems to finally be hitting the country around where  I live which means plenty of time to get some Hobby time.  My "Great Aelven Rebasing Project" has slowed down a bit as I am waiting for more bases I have ordered to arrive, but thankfully there is plenty of other Aelves needing my attention.  Not to mention the games that need to be played!



    Recently I purchased some old metal Executioners and other various aelves and I felt it was time to get some paint on them as I make my final push toward winning the Hobby Hero Award for The Rend 4 Club's Hobby season.  I really like the old metal Executioners and they paint up rather quickly so a few hours saw twenty of them completed to tabletop standard.  I also built and primed the two Aelves released so long ago with The Silver Tower game.  I should have these painted up within a few days as well.


    My club mate Matt B. gave me some Pheonix Temple Bits he had lying about from his brief time in Age of Sigmar.  Extra bits are always great and I there was enough to build a Caradryan/Anointed Hero on Foot.  After he was built I knew I had to immediately paint him up and I finally got to use my new Citadel Painting handle for it as well.  It felt great to hold and really kept my hand from fatiguing even slightly.  As you read in my recent post I had a tough showing at a recent one-day event so I thought painting up my Baelwind Vortex would make me feel a bit better and it certainly did the trick.  Hopefully, it can see me to some victories sooner rather than later.

    I also took some time this week to work on updating my local club, Ligonier Legion Wargaming,  Facebook Page as well as work up a club shirt for us as well.  I put up a few initial ideas and received feedback that led to the final design below.  I placed my order and set up a group order for everyone as well.  A good number of us are attending Adepticon this year and hopefully, we can coordinate to all wear them on the same day as we support one another even though we will be playing in different events.


    I was able to get a game in with my good friend Matt H. with my usual Stormcast list versus his, test, Party Boat list.  We played Duality of Death and due to smart tactics from Matt, despite poor shooting rolls, he pulled ahead to win the major by turn four.  Matt has been struggling with Kharadron Overlords for a while now, but he seems to be finding his feet and with the shooting potential I worry for the future of my Khorne Army in my local meta.


    Hopefully, your Hobby is flowing and your dice are rolling to your heart's desire.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
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  12. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Friday everyone!  Today I wanted to cover a recent one-day tournament I attended hosted by The Rend 4 Club based in Northeast Ohio.  The event was held at their local store, Battlegrounds, in Ravenna, Ohio*.  The store had an excellent set up with their product centralized between two separate rooms for Board and Card games on one side and Dedicated, specially built tables for Warhammer on the other.  The shop was about a three-hour drive from my home, but I was joined by my good friend Aleks for the trip and a day of great games as we represented our club, Ligonier Legion Wargaming.




    If you read the recent interview with Neil you will know he organizes The Rend 4 Club as well as most of their events.  Neil really invested a lot of effort into his first Matched Play Tournament with Awards for Best in each Grand Alliance, Best Overall, Best Painted Model, and Favorite Opponent.  He even brought in the Club Trophy where he has the winners name, from select events throughout the year, engraved.  When Aleks and I walked in we were greeted by some familiar faces we know through the clubs Facebook group as well as everyone else we ran into as we settled in for a day of gaming.  While this was an Ohio clubs event we had great representation from the Pittsburgh area with Mike and Roger from Steel City Sigmar attending as well.  It was great to have locals to cheer on and talk tactics with as we attempted to invade the Ohio scene.  The atmosphere was great and the credit goes to all the players.  We all brought lists to be competitive but throughout the day it was evident that fun was everyone's goal.


    Neil added a very nice touch with nameplates for each player and the club they are most associated with.  It really showed how different clubs can grow together and form a larger and more diverse scene to play Age of Sigmar.  I plan to use this idea for my events going forward.  The other great touch as one of the players traveling from farther away was how the local players brought in snacks and Neil had a basic lunch planned out as well.  Neil event tested out brief post-game interviews with the players after the first round and I really enjoyed participating and watching these on their Facebook page the day after.  All of this, as well as a club Shirt and Dice for the entry fee, made the event worth the drive.  Playing Age of Sigmar and meeting new players was the cherry on top of the day!  
    While not the most competitive list I could have brought I had my heart set on taking Blades of Khorne to their first tournament and see how I faired.  I took the Gore Pilgrim's Battalion along with lots of bodies and Heros to capitalize on a few of the scenarios.  I felt confident early in my games, in part to my opponents fearing Skarbrand, but then would quickly watch my army melt before my very eyes.  I have dived into my Hobby Journal to review the game notes to hopefully improve in the future with the army.  We were using Scenarios from The Generals Handbook 2017 as well as some fun Secondary Objectives themed toward each army.


    My first game was not a walk in the park as I faced Tzeentch being run by Tyler of The Rend 4 Club.  The scenario being used was Duality of Death and my higher Hero count gave me hope.  Tyler had an exceptionally painted army with beautiful blending and transitions.  My poor photo skills do not do it justice, but playing with two fully painted armies really took the game to a new level.  I began very aggressive and took priority at the top of the turn.  Sadly I would not win another priority roll in this game which really hurt.  I was able to stay in the game into the final rounds with some unfortunate casting rolls on Tyler's part and careful use of my Blood Tithes points, but losing the priority really kept me on the back foot after my initial push.  Tyler played cautions and it paid off as he was able to take the Major win in the final rounds.  He was a great opponent who made the game fun exciting and fun and I was very happy to have an opponent like him to begin my day win or lose.  Thankfully I was able to score my secondary to keep myself on the mid tables in the next round.

    After judging for the best-painted model and some lunch we went in to round 2 and much to our surprise Aleks and I squared off in Battle for the Pass.  Aleks had brought his custom Free Peoples "Halfing" army.  Up to this point, my Khorne had never beaten his Free Peoples and sadly this day only continued his streak.  Once again I took priority in the first round and pushed very aggressively striking him hard and fast.  While up on points his shooting, as it typically does, began scything through my army with abandon.  While I had some poor dice rolls on my end the biggest was my failure once again to win any of the priority rolls seeing my windows of opportunity close quickly.  I admit there was a moment in this game I got a bit salty with my luck, but Aleks being the true friend he helped me get back on the right mindset to enjoy the game and my day.  Aleks took the Major win and held me from taking any of my secondaries promptly kicking me to the bottom tables.  It is always great to play Aleks and having him around to cheer me, along with the other Pittsburgh crew, was a blessing to help me through a rough day os losses.

    The last game was using the Starstrike Scenario and I typically do well with this type of objective as my mindset is more adept and adapt and overcome then plan ahead so I was hoping to salvage part of my score with a win.  My opponent was Matt, who was bringing a strong Clan Skyre list.  While it felt odd I had a good feeling about having many more bodies on the board them him.  He openly joked that one of the requirements for playing the list was guilt for what it does.  His attitude was jovial and relaxed through the whole game and it was an enjoyable game.  Matt had the choice of priority for the first round and he offered it to me.  I stayed a bit cautious as I waited for the comets to fall and it was a mistake.  While I did have a few emphatic victories, like finally winning a priority roll, his shooting and dishing out of Mortal Wounds had taken out my protection and biggest combat threat in turn two.  Admittedly he bet heavy and put his force on one side of the board prior to any comets dropping as he tried to take me out as soon as he could.  His bet paid off as the comets fell right into his lap.  I managed to score my secondary again this game but winning the scenario slipped through my hands very early on.  Matt and I really got into the game as we cheered for each other and lamented each other's failures, but he had the Major win at the end.  While my third loss it was a great game to finish the day.

    While my performance was poor I managed to stay out of dead last due to my secondaries.  Roger from Steel City Sigmar took the day and it was great to watch his results and cheer him on as he battled it out to take home the top spot for Pittsburgh.  Aleks managed to come away with Best in Order and it was great to see another win for our local area!  Everyone had a great attitude and it made for enjoyable games for all.

    The painting award was also claimed by Mike from Steel City Sigmar, who you might remember I interviewed recently as well.  He puts in maximum effort into each model of his Stormcast Eternals army.  His Stardrake took the prize, but I am confident he could have out any model from his army to compete and still be very likely to have claimed the prize.  There was a lot of exceptional models on display for the award this day and it was a great line up as the judging happened.

    The first event for The Rend 4 was wonderfully run with opponents I hope to play again sooner rather than later.  Congratulations to the winners and to Neil as well for organizing the event and getting the groups together for a day of merriment and Age of Sigmar.  Neil plans to have more events going forward including mixing up the formats to keep it fresh and fun.  After we gathered for a parting shot we headed over to grab a drink.  While my performance on the table was very poor it only made the drink with friends, both new and old, that much better.  it was great to have local friends there as well to cheer each other on chat with one another throughout the day.  Aleks and I parted for our three-hour trip home and chatted for a good portion of the drive about the fun we had, how I could improve my list and play, and excitement to Hobby and play even more!  Be sure to check out The Rend 4 Club's Facebook Page for even more pictures from the day.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying.



    *As a fun side note that got me excited was that this town was full of Black Squirrels.  I am not sure why but these little critters really brightened my day as it was something I had never seen before.  I was informed they were everywhere and are a breed from England that was being studied and ultimately released by a local college.  If you are ever passing through Ravenna, Ohio keep eye out!


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  13. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Welcome to my 100th blog post!  I don't know if that is an achievement or not, but it is fun to say nonetheless.  I have had plenty of Hobby over the past week and with the madness of the Holidays coming up I am doing my best to squeeze in as much time to complete all my projects while enjoying the fun with family and friends.  Also, Tomorrow is the last day to take The Big Community Survey put out by the Warhammer Community team.  It is a good chance to submit your feedback to Games Workshop and have a chance at a gift voucher as well.  Be sure to take a few minutes today if you can to complete the survey.





    My "Great Alven Rebasing Project" is still in its infancy, but I have managed to rebase all my Dragons as well as every Infantry Hero I have in my collection.  I am still debating on exactly what my basing scheme will be, but just getting everything on rounds is a big step so I plan to rebase all of my Aelf Armies before I decide.  Chances are I will stick to a unified theme with pieces to match my Stormcast Eternals so I can easily play mixed order and have it look uniform.  The rest of my Bases should be coming in from my online purchases in the next few weeks and I hope to have everything on Rounds before the New Year.  After that is done I will be committing my hobby time to wrapping up some exciting community projects and painting my Adepticon army.


    While rebasing has turned out to be more enjoyable than I originally thought I still need to keep paint flowing off y brush.  Thankfully I have a bunch of Aelves in need of some color and I finished priming them just the other night.  These will be done for Christmas so I can shift my Focus to the previously mentioned projects in the New Year and help me earn some more hobby points for a fun competition for The Rend 4 Club run by Neil who I interviewed recently.  The deadline is the end of the year and I am currently sitting in third and need to push hard to take the win.


    I have also very excited to have my Aelf models be a part of Battletome: The End Times and I have been working to improve my photo quality and sending as many as I can over to Alexander to for review.  I am not sure what all of mine will end up in the book, but I am happy to have contributed even in a small way and I cannot wait for the final document to be released.  

    Speaking of The Rend 4 Club.  They held their first one-day tournament this past Saturday and I was lucky enough to attend along with other great hobbyists for a fun day.  Neil and the store ran a great event and I plan to cover the day in depth with Fridays post so be sure to check back in a few days to see more*.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!




    *Spoiler: I didn't do well at all.
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  14. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I will be continuing my series on "Life Lessons and Wargaming".  The point of this article series is to look at the little lessons we learn throughout life and how we can apply these to our Wargaming hobby.  In today's article, I will be exploring both the Success and Failure you will encounter while working toward your goal.  Expect to encounter both of these concepts as you grow and work towards your goals, but you must never let failure discourage you and never being afraid of success.

    Even one of the greatest players of the NBA failed regularly
    You might fail, but don't let that bother you all that much though.  Failing is part of life and we have all done it through our lives, usually in small and regular tasks.  While we accept these small moments of failure we typically don't take failing in larger goals and tasks as well as we do in the smaller ones.  However, in order to succeed we need to embrace our failure.  Failure is essential for us to grow and for us to gain knowledge to succeed.  Basically, when you are working toward a goal or task and fail you have learned one of the ways to not achieve that goal or task.

    While failure is simply a step in the process of success it is often where most people simply give up believing that this single failure is the end.  They give up despite that fact knowledge has been gained and they are closer to succeeding in their goal or task.  Let's look at an example common in our hobby to explore success and failure a bit more.  You have set yourself the task of winning a gold medal at a painting competition.  This specific goal will alter based on if it is a Local Competition, a National Competition, or even a Global Competition, but the concepts are the same as the concepts are universal toward any goal you set for yourself in life.

    There is a painting competition coming up in a few months or so and you set to work, or have been hard at work, on a piece for the competition.  You may have been painting for years or perhaps only a very short while, but you are pouring hours and hours into your piece using all the skills you have accumulated.  Now to get to the level where one feels comfortable in submitting a piece for judging would typically mean they have painted many figures to practice techniques and most likely are considered failures as they work to perfect the technique they are practicing.

    However, they should not be considered failures as they each model, each brushstroke has helped to get the technique right that will be used in a competition piece.  I should take a moment to acknowledge the fact that I have never met a competition painter who views their models this way because they are viewed as a step in their process.  These are small steps in the process to our goal of winning a painting competition and are usually viewed as such, but how would not winning the competition be viewed?

    It is likely that something that has had, potentially hundreds, of hours put into it would become a source of pride and attachment, which seems totally normal.  The piece is submitted at the painting competition and after a stressful time waiting the result is revealed.  The piece lost and it didn't even receive a finalist pin, which at a lot of higher level events is a win in and of itself.  You failed, there is no way to sugar coat the fact you failed at your goal.  There are two choices after your failure.  Give up on competition, or realize that your failure could be the catalyst for your future success.

    The piece might have failed this competition and could possibly succeed in another competition.  What the piece has done is taught you what might not work for the competition, assuming you requested feedback and looked into the detail about the pieces that did win.  You only gained this knowledge by failing your goal, not by succeeding.  If you had won gold in your first competition you might not have asked how to improve and while you accomplished your goal you are ultimately failing at improving for the next event.

    Don't be afraid to fail, embrace it when it happens.  I am not advising purposing failing as that is completely counterintuitive to success.  When you do fail, though, don't hide from it, be happy that you have taken another step toward the success of your goal.  Changing how your mind views failure will only help you on your way to succeeding your goals.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying.

    Previous Articles in this series:
    LifeLessons in Wargaming: Goals and Purpose
    LifeLessons in Wargaming: Self-Discipline vs. Self-Control
    Life Lessons andWargaming: Don't Focus on the Outcome


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  15. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Wednesday everyone!  We are fully into the Holiday season now and I hope you are finding plenty of time to work on your Hobby.  I finally began getting back into my Hobby grove last week and I am trying to kick it up a few levels this week to carry me through to the end of the year.  I am happy to say "The Great Aelven Rebasing Project" is in full swing!  Soon my Aelven forces will be marching to war in The Mortal Realms!





    I decided to get things going with my rebasing by putting some recent acquisitions onto round bases.  While I don't have plans for a Darkling Covens army as of right now I am well on my way when that time comes.  I also took an evening to count all of my Aelf models that are being rebased during the cold winter months that are coming fast.  In total, I have 954 individual Aelf models and thanks to a bit of friendly encouragement, I will add more to ensure I have over 1000 Aelves by mid next year.
    I am also very excited to be helping with Battletome: The End Times creator Alexander Nygård of Fjordhammer with some key battle pictures with my newly rebased Aelves.  Hopefully, my photo skills will do this project justice.


    Outside of rebasing units for specific battles, I decided to rebase my Heros first.  I will be sticking with the expected sizes for the Heros but for the older named compendium Heros, I will be upping the size a bit just to give them the presence they deserve on the battlefield. While they will not be used as their older named representations they are still fantastic models that feel right being on slightly larger bases. 

    With rebasing in full swing I finally got around to painting my Orion Model I have had for a while now.  While I am a bit sad that I never fielded him in The World That Was I am still happy I held on to him as he is a great looking model and it was great putting a brush on an Aelf model once again.

    My last bit of Hobby has been purchasing all of the models I need for my Adepticon 2018 Army.  I have about half of what I need so far and in a few weeks, I will have the rest on my Hobby desk.  I plan to crack into that project before the end of December and I plan to do a small article series as the project comes together so expect a lot of With Aelves in the future.  Be sure to come back Friday as I continue my "Life Lessons and Wargaming" article series, until then, Happy Hobbying.
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  16. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I am happy to bring you another interview with a community leader, Neil.  Neil runs the Rend 4, Age of Sigmar Club located in Northeastern Ohio and has really done well creating a friendly group to share and support hobby with the clubs page on Facebook.  I was lucky enough to get to know Neil on Twitter before finally meeting him at Adepticon this past year.  He participated in the Coalescence event I held at my local club and I will be attending his first club tournament in only a few weeks and I am excited to meet more members of his local scene.  If you are in Ohio be sure to look him and the club up!

    Neil winning a well-deserved prize at Coalescence 2017


    Chuck: "Neil, what is your Warhammer Origin story?"

    Neil: "When I was 11 yrs old I received my first Warhammer set, it was the 4th ed Elves and Goblins starter box.  My younger brother took goblins while I went for the elves and have loved them ever since.  Over time I picked up some extra heroes for my brothers growing WAAAGH and my Noble Elves to give us strong heroes in our games.  I played all the way through college adding a unit per year while only getting a few games every year with my brother in classic basement hammer style.  Later on, I found a shop in Columbus Ohio called The Guard Tower during 6th and 7th ed that really got me going into the game and hobby even more so until I went Grad School."

    "During Grad School, my hobby was mostly listening to Garagehammer and reminiscing about past games, but sadly there wasn't much time outside of my studies.  After grad school, I came back just as The End Times wrapped up and Age of Sigmar began.  I saw it as a great fresh start and dove full in and haven't regretted a day of it."
    Chuck: "What Armies do you currently play/own and what do you have on your future hobby table?"

    Neil: "I currently own and play Blades of Khorne as my main army.  I also have a small force of Nurgle and a bunch of Tzeentch which are mostly slaves to Darkness.  Outside of that, I have various Aelves I am working on expanding such as Order Draconis, Phoenix Temple, and various units from the old Dark Elf range.  My brother recently gave me his old empire army as well so I plan to build on these in the coming year if possible."


    Chuck: "What is one of your favorite memories of this hobby?"

    Neil: "Adepticon 2017 without a doubt.  It was inspiring to me.  I had built up my club which was very rewarding, but going to Adepticon for my first time and getting to talk and play with all the hobby heroes from across the podcasts and Warhammer Community.  It really stuck with me and validated all the effort I put into this Hobby."

    Chuck: "How do you balance Hobby, Work, and Family?"

    Neil: "I try to Hobby after the kids head to bed.  My wife will be grading papers for her work and I take that time for myself to paint a few hours a week at least.  It is really about sticking to a routine.  Mine typically is going to the gym in the morning, taking care of the kids during the day, spending time with my wife, painting and then to bed."



    Chuck: "What is your favorite part of this hobby?"

    Neil: "Community Building.  When I set out to make Rend 4 I wanted to find people who love this Hobby as much as I do.  I love talking to players about what they enjoy and listening to their stories as much as telling them mine.  It is such a joy seeing people have fun at events especially if you had a part in making it happen.  I feel this hobby is the community more than the game itself and it gives meaning to the games and the work we put into all of this."
    Chuck: "What is your least favorite part of this hobby?"

    Neil: "It used to be painting, but as I did it more I began enjoying the process of painting more and more.  Now. however, it is the members of the community that are more divisive than constructive.  Sometimes it can be negativity for the sake of being negative.  I don't know the purpose of it and I would rather rally around positivity."
    Chuck: "You created and also lead "Rend 4: Age of Sigmar Wargaming" club.  Can you tell me a bit about the club?"

    Neil: "It is built to have something for everyone, Hobby, gaming, competitions, tournaments, etc...  I intended it to be focused on the local area and branch out to the smaller isolated groups to help connect them all.  I met up with a few locals through an online map I heard about on Twitter and Facebook and I decided to start a club with those locals and I wanted to give everyone a name to rally around with T-Shirts, etc...  I also wanted a place where people can celebrate what others are doing in our community.  Any levels are welcome and we want to encourage and grow by staying positive."


    Chuck: "How has the Age of Sigmar Scene grown in the area and how has the club helped?"

    Neil: "Where I live there are two local shops and I would post on the forum for the shops, but I felt like an outsider trying to intervene with people more established at this shop.  It was intimidating, but starting our own Facebook page was a way to help alleviate that feeling.  Originally it was just me posting and try to get the communication going.  I wanted everyone who joined felt included in the group and make sure if someone posted their hobby that someone would respond to engage.  Honestly,  I feel I need to do more, posting flyers and trying to connect the isolated groups out in my area a bit more."

    Chuck: "What Challenges, if any, have you encountered growing the club?"

    Neil: "It is a challenge getting people motivated to participate.  The barriers to entry monetarily for the game has dropped, but the barrier of entry regarding the social contract and interaction is still high.  It took me quite a while to branch outside of basement gaming and meet new people and I think that is still a challenge overall, especially for new players."


    Chuck: "What are the plans you see for the future of the club?"

    Neil: "I want to grow.  Ultimately, I would like to run a two-day Grand Tournament.  I am running some one-day events to get practice currently.  I also plan to travel to other shops in the area more to meet new players and help connect them through the club.  It would be great to grow the connection all the way throughout Ohio creating friendly rivalries across the state between the clubs."
    Chuck: "How can someone reach out to you or The Rend 4 Club?"

    Neil: "You can follow me on Twitter and search Rend 4 on Facebook and join us there.  Even if you're not in Northeast Ohio we would be happy to have you as part of the Facebook group so please feel free to check out the page to share your love for this game and hobby."


    Be sure to head to the clubs page on Facebook and check it out.  If you haven't followed Neil on Twitter yet be sure to do so as well.  Come back next week as I continue my Article Series "Life Lessons and Wargaming".  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

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  17. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone.  Hope your hobby week has been going strong!  I have finally managed to get over my painting lull I have been in the past few weeks thankfully as my Adepticon Army is going to require quite a bit in the very near future.  Speaking of Adepticon, registration happened this past Friday and events fill up fast.  I signed up for the Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament as well as the Team event.  I am also assisting Paul to run the Narrative event on Thursday which will be a real treat.  Currently, the event is full but waitlisting is never a bad idea, expect more info on this event as we draw near!  It feels good to have my Hobby Train back on track again and some of the motivation was due to the start of the Firestorm Escalation League we kicked off at my local club this past weekend.

    If you are in one of the countries that celebrate Thanksgiving I wish you happy feasting and hope you get plenty of time to get some hobby in as well.




    This past Saturday saw my local club begin our Firestorm Escalation League.  We had a nice turnout for the first month and expect a few more to join us as we progress.  I used the basic outline of the Firestorm campaign but added a few other elements and simplified others to have it work for an escalation league to help everyone get their models painted.  We began at 1000pts this month with plans to go to 1500 in December and cap it all off with a 2000pt tournament in January.  There was already a lot of painted models for the first round and it really helped encourage everyone to catch up for next month.



    Our missions are being pulled randomly from the Open War cards to help keep the games varied and fun.  The deck is really great for more relaxed events such as this and it helps prevent burnout on the scenarios in the Generals Handbook as we go into the new year of Conventions and tournaments.

    I am a fan of Trophies as handouts for events.  I enjoy handing out awards just as much as I like winning them so I created some for the conclusion of the League.  I took a piece of artwork for Age of Sigmar, added the club and blog logos as well as the prize name and event name.  I went to a local convenience store to print them out on photo paper for $0.46 each and bought frames for around $1.00 each.  I first did this at Coalescence 2017 and they went over very well so I decided this will be my go-to method for awards going forward.

    As I mentioned above I finally go my Hobby Train back on track and after weeks of slacking off, I finally finished the five Bloodreavers I had on my desk.  Since Blood Reavers are minimum units of ten I decided to use these extra ones on my Bloodthirsters base as it was a bit too barren.  It really helps make the model feel a bit larger I feel and while it is a lot of work for looks I would happily do it again on future models if the opportunity arises.

    Also, the nominations for Warhammer Heros has officially begun.  I love this idea and I hope everyone goes out and nominates someone they think is a true Warhammer Hero!


    May your week be full of Turkey, Pumpkin Pie, and Hobby.  As always be sure to check back Friday for another post.  This week I have an interview with Neil who runs Rend 4: Age of Sigmar War Gaming Club.  Until then, Happy Hobbying! 
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  18. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I will be continuing my series on "Life Lessons and Wargaming".  The point of this article series is to look at the little lessons we learn throughout life and how we can apply these to our Wargaming hobby.  In this article, I wish to explore the idea of not focusing on the outcome.  You may think back to my original article where I wrote extensively about visualizing your goal and wonder why I am now telling you to not focus on it.  At first, it can seem that way, but visualizing your goal and not focusing on your outcome are two distinct things.


    Focus on the climb and not the view at the top


    Visualizing your goal is essential to achieving your goal as it keeps it at the front of your mind and gives you the clarity on what you are working to accomplish.  However, if you focus only on the outcome of your goal then you will ultimately fail as you lose sight of the all-important hard work that will get you to the outcome you desire.  As time goes on and you are working toward your goal you will begin to lose the passion and motivation in the process of achieving your outcome.

    A real-world example would be making more money in your career.  If you focus on making money you will trip up and most likely not make it where you want, but if you focus on the here and now with the process, which in this example is doing your current job to the best of your ability will more likely lead you to the goal of making more money.  So how does this apply to our Wargaming hobby?

    Let's assume our goal is organizing and developing a local club to play games with on a regular schedule.  You will most likely begin by enjoying and crafting the idea of a room full of like-minded players enjoying gaming together for a day of fun and dice rolling.  This is a great thing to imagine as you can visualize what your goal is and you can keep it in your mind as you work toward your goal.  However, if you only focus on the outcome you will be distracted from the work and little details that need to be tackled to achieve that goal.  When you set up a club you need a venue, tables, terrain, a way to communicate to your community, and a lot more to really get to your goal.  If you keep daydreaming about the room full of gamers rolling dice you could easily miss that you don't have enough terrain or you lack a way to communicate.  You might show up to your first club day with only one or two other players and maybe no terrain.

    At this point, most people will become discouraged and likely give up and their visualized goal will never come to fruition.  Mistakes will happen and you will forget items as it is part of our human nature and those little lessons that we learn as we grow outside of our comfort zones.  However, if we focused on the work and the preparation then our mistakes would be minimized and there is a good chance you would get the word out better and have enough terrain, etc...  Now you may still only have a few people showing up, but by not focusing on the outcome you will see the beginnings of achieving your goal rather than the failure of your goal.

    The other key to learning from mistakes that happen as you work toward your goal is by living in the present and focusing on the hard work to achieve your goal will allow you to learn from those mistakes much quicker and prevent repeating them.  If your mind is always cast forward to the outcome then you will likely repeat mistakes and prevent yourself from achieving your visualized goal.  Mistakes will happen, but don't fear them.  Embrace them, learn from them, and move beyond them.

    The joy we get from visualizing our hobby goals gives a small sense of satisfaction, even more so when we begin to work toward the goal.  Although a lot of people focus on that goal so much that when the amount of time and work to achieve their goal begins to reveal itself they lose that sense of a satisfaction.  The feeling of satisfaction is tenfold if you put in the work and focus on the process of achieving your goal. It seems odd, but the best way to achieving your goal is to not pursue the goal directly.

    Continuing the example of having a successful club to wargame you need to figure out exactly what needs to be done to achieve the goal.  You need to direct your focus on the tasks to achieve your goal and not the goal itself.  Create a Facebook group to communicate and make it look nice and invite community members into the group.  Make sure you have the venue set and there are enough tables to have more then you expect to show up for a club day.  Put in the effort to have enough terrain and mats to game on.  Set up a club day and keep it consistent to create consistency so everyone has an idea of the next club day before you post the details.  Keep posting about events over and over to make sure everyone sees what is happening.

    If you direct your energy to the details and hard work of achieving the visualized goal you will find at some point your goal has been achieved without putting the emphasis on the goal.  It is also very likely that by this point your goal might have changed a bit and that is a fantastic thing to happen.  You have begun to enjoy the hard work and the process and subconscious realized your goal will happen as you visualized so you began looking at what is next.  You are working to more than just a single goal.  You are working toward the constant improvement of the club and yourself as a hobbyist.  This idea, no matter if you are using it for Wargaming, Hobbying, or any aspect of life is the real key to thriving and not simply existing.

    Ultimately the concept can be broken down living in the present to achieve the future you want.  If you are working toward your hobby goal then focus on the tasks at hand to achieve the goal and let the realization of accomplishing your goal arrive naturally.  Until next time, Happy Hobbying.

    Previous Articles in this series:
    Life Lessons in Wargaming: Goals and Purpose
    Life Lessons in Wargaming: Self-Discipline vs. Self-Control
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  19. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone.  I hope your hobby has been going well this past week.  Mine hasn't been as fruitful as I would like with painting and gaming, but despite that I have been busy building lists, reading through warscrolls, looking at points, and diving into some other community projects that have really taken center stage in my mind and hobby.




    A visit to my local game store this past week did give me a chance to play a game of Shadespire.  It was the first time I was able to play Khorne and despite the learning curve I enjoyed their playstyle and I am going to focus on them for my next few games to get a good feel on how I want to build their deck.  I was also able to pick up the new Citadel Miniature Holder and despite never really buying into using cork or an old paint pot with some tack to hold models I must admit I really like the feel of this tool and plan to use it when painting Hero's and side projects.  If you haven't picked one up yet I recommend you do so as it feels great and is very affordable.

    The small bit of painting was getting a bit more color on some Bloodreavers I have been slowly getting through.  I also started looking at painting the Dark Angels I rebased during the release of the latest edition of 40k.  I am not sure when I will dive fully into my 40k army as I have also begun collecting the models I need for my Adepticon Army and with the prospect of over one hundred models to paint in a few months, it might take priority on my desk.

    My local club also hosted an Apocolypse game for 40k this past weekend and while I was unable to join in myself I was able to stop in to watch a round and see all the fun that was going on.  One thing I did realize after taking these pictures is that our club lacks chairs.  Thankfully everyone made due with what was around in the form of rocking chairs and wheelchairs.  Sadly no one utilized the baby high chair against the wall.

    I am currently traveling for work down near Jacksonville Flordia and had a chance to pop into the local Games Workshop store.  The store was impressively large for the small one-man stores I have seen on my travels and while it isn't as large as a lot of FLGS's we have over in the U.S. the store could easily host multiple games comfortably.  Each table had great scenery and the store had a great atmosphere overall.  The manager was working away on trophies for an upcoming event and we had a great time talking about the hobby and our shared passion.  It was a great time and if I find myself back down here in the future I will be bringing an army to get a game or two at this shop.
    I hope your hobby is going strong and if you are in a rut with painting like I am set a deadline to help build that urgency to push through it.  I plan to have my Bloodreavers done by weekes end and you can expect to see them painted in next weeks Hobby Update on Wednesday.  Friday I will be back with another installment of my Life Lessons and Wargaming series so be sure to check back then.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying.
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  20. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone.  I recently got to sit down and chat with a local Community builder Mike from one of the local clubs I belong to called Steel City Sigmar to talk about his experiences building the Age of Sigmar Community in the Pittsburgh Area.  The club is one of the bigger groups in the area and if you have seen me around Adepticon or Nova Open you can often find wearing the clubs shirt on one of the days.  Mike is a man after my own heart as he has really involved himself in building the community for Age of Sigmar to connect the separate groups in the area and it was a pleasure to sit down and chat with him about his experience creating the club.


    Mike with a club shirt he made for Dan of AoS Shorts


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    Mike, Can you tell me a bit about yourself and how you found yourself in this hobby? "I got into the hobby at the age of thirteen when I was playing a lot of Magic: The Gathering.  I went into a local hobby store to buy more cards and saw an army of High Elves being played at one of the tables.  I left that day with Dwarfs instead of the Magic cards I went in to buy originally.  Ever since then I played garage Warhammer up until the release of Age of Sigmar and having an official Warhammer Shop opening in our area around the same time.

    What Armies do you play or plan to play in the future? "Since the release of Age of Sigmar, I was grabbed by the Stormcast Eternals.  I enjoy their narrative and the look of the army.  They also have a great deal of diversity to how they can be played which really keeps me coming back to them again and again.  I have had some interest in starting a Kharadon Overlords, but their one-dimensional play style has held me back from buying an army."
    What is your favorite part of this hobby? "I really love the Age of Sigmar models.  They have all been fantastic and keep getting better and better.  They are packed with so much detail and I find assembling models really scratches my hobby itch."


    What is your least favorite part of this hobby? "It is painting without a doubt.  I really enjoy playing with painted armies, but I am very obsessive in perfecting my painting on each model to the point of making a chore out of it.  It isn't stopping me from painting mind you, but it is my least favorite part."
    What is one of your favorite memories of this hobby? "It was the first Age of Sigmar tournament held at the newly opened Warhammer Store.  It was the first time I really played with strangers and outside of friend's basements or garages.  Everyone was having fun playing and meeting each other and I felt I had finally become part of the Warhammer Community I had only read about as a garage gamer."

    Can you share your dream hobby goal? "That is easy.  I dream to head to Warhammer World to meet the people who make the models and the game and play some games there while having a beer from Bugmans."
    You created and also lead the Steel City Sigmar Club.  Can you tell me a bit about the club? "I actually Co-lead it with a great gentleman Jose Cosme and it was created as a club for Age of Sigmar gaming.  The club is built to get players together within the Pittsburgh Region while trying to connect the various smaller communities in the surrounding area.  The idea was really inspired by a podcast by Ben Curry about "Building your Community"."
    How has the Age of Sigmar Scene been going in Pittsburgh? "We have been hosting one event a month at one of the larger stores in the area with an average of twelve people at each event.  There has been a bit of plateau in attendance and we haven't been able to really attract much new blood, but the regular attendees are very committed to the game and the club."


    What Challenges have you encountered as well as any victories in setting up the scene? "The biggest challenge besides attracting new players to the group is trying to consolidate the separate groups together.  Despite trying a wide array of events it is a struggle to get the groups playing together.  My biggest victory was the first event as seeing the turnout and the fun everyone had really validated all the effort I put into getting it together.  I want to give big thanks to my friend Bill for helping push the event as hard as he did to really get the word out."
    What are the plans you see for the future of the club? "We have had a successful first year of consistent meetups, but my future plan is to connect the different and separate Age of Sigmar groups in the community.  I also hope to really engage the wider community with Social Media as we only have a small Facebook Page at the moment."

    Mike's Stormcast Eternals Army
    How can someone reach out to you or Steel City Sigmar? "We currently have our own dedicated Facebook Page called Steel City Sigmar, but we also post out events to the Pittsburgh Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar group as well.  You can also email SteelCitySigmar@gmail.com"

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    If you are close to the Pittsburgh area be sure to check out the Facebook page for events or even pickup games.  The club usually meets at the end of each month on Sunday for friendly tournaments as well as relaxing hobby days at one of the local shops.  I have been lacking in attendance myself, but hope to remedy that in the coming year.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!


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  21. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  It has been an exciting weekend of Age of Sigmar with Blood and Glory happening over in the UK where they had some exciting announcements as well as Holy Havoc happening over here in the US.  Twitter was full of great armies and games being played!  While I was not fortunate enough to be attending either of these events my friend Matt was running a one day Age of Sigmar Narrative called Fawkes Hunt at his house which really made for a great end to the weekend.




    While I have been a bit lacking in painting lately I did begin work on five extra Blood Reavers I had around that I plan to use to spruce up my Bloodthirster's base in preparation for an upcoming event I am attending in December run my Neil over at the Rend 4 club on Facebook.

    The Fawkes Hunt event was small with only four players, all close friends, with Matt acting as The Wizard Fawkes as well as the Game Master.  We really had a lot of freedom in adjusting parts of the game and creating cool moments by interacting with The Wizard Fawkes throughout the day and Matt ran a great event with the focus on Fun and telling our Armies Narrative.

    I created up a short narrative for the event using my Khorne with Direct Focus on having one of the other player's army as my nemesis.  I wanted to help set the move for why my bloodthirsty army would be here at all and what my main focus would be.  Ultimately, my goal was to cause Chaos and shed blood.  As I found out Khorne cares not where the blood flows.  Matt also created special spells and abilities we could purchase from The Wizard Fawkes throughout the games with coins we earned while playing.

    Despite it being autumn we had Thunderstorms moving through our area.  Perhaps it was Sigmar's displeasure with me at taking a break from playing Stormcast Eternals.  The storms managed to knock out the power for an hour or so, but thankfully books and dice still work without power and the natural light of Matt's house allowed us to push on through and keep gaming!
     
    At the end of it all Dave and his mixed Aelves, who were also my nemesis, managed to take a commanding lead and come out on top.  Dave is still a new player, but his focus on gathering up coins and avoiding the politics of Triumph and Treachery helped him secure the treasures and leave with the blessing o The Wizard Fawkes.  It was nice playing in such a casual one-day event with a small group of friends.  We got to hang out, share a meal, and play some Warhammer which will always be a fantastic day in my book.

    I hope your hobby and gaming is moving along nicely as well.  Let me know what you are working on in the comments below.  Please come back on Friday when I will have an interview with Mike who is a prominent member of my local Age of Sigmar Community and one of the Organizers for The Steel City Sigmar Club.  Until then, Happy Hobbying!
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  22. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone.  Today I wish to continue my series on "Life Lessons and Wargaming".  The point of this series is to take lessons we learn throughout life and how we can apply them to our miniature wargaming hobby.  We often will learn these life lessons and put them to use here and there, but often these lessons are universal and can be used to improve every aspect of our life, including on the tabletop.  The topic for this post is the difference between Self-Discipline and Self-Control and how to use both of these life tools to improve your hobby as well.


    Kobe has truly mastered his mind. Can we do the same for wargaming?

    I would like to begin by defining what each tool is before we explore their similarities and differences.  Self-discipline is defined as "Correction and regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement" while Self-control is defined as "Restraint exercised over one's own impulses, emotions, or desires".  Both are very clearly their own tool, but they also work together and work off each other in a cycle of constant improvement.  These tools combined are immensely powerful in wargaming as well as in life.  Looking at Kobe Bryant and his "Black Mamba Mentality" you can see how his self-discipline and self-control were cultivated and used to give him an edge that set him farther above the rest.

    Based on my prior article in this series regarding setting goals and having a purpose you may be wondering exactly how to achieve the goal you are visualizing.  Let's look at a new example within wargaming and assume we have the goal of winning first place in a Grand Tournament. The path toward any goal is often quite simple.  If you want to win a Grand Tournament you need to practice a list while studying the games changing meta and examining other high-level player's tactics.  It is not the "How", but the "how do we practice" the "How" that is the most challenging.  The secret to achieving any goal is simply hard work.  These two words are what ends the quest for our goals before we even start, but there is no way around them to get where you see yourself and achieve the goals set for yourself.  So let us get into the hard work of achieving our goal and using the tools of self-discipline and self-control to make hard work simply become work and potentially even fun.

    So let's continue with the idea that you wish to win an upcoming Grand Tournament and you are visualizing your goal of holding that first place trophy aloft at the end of the event.  You begin looking at the top lists from various events across the global community and begin to assemble a list.  You need to begin cultivating your self-discipline because the community will focus on something new and change often, sometimes week to week, and it's tempting to chase the new shiny army or jump on the new off boxed game, but you need to have the self-discipline to stay your course and focus on your goal and keep examining your army and playing your army. After a while you will find your interest waning, but not due to any change to your goal.  You will be so far into doing the hard work for your goal, but you might not see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Perhaps you are losing game after game despite adjustments to your list based on your games and studying the meta.  The hard work will not appear to be paying off, but this is simply not true.  At this point, your self-discipline is what will keep you going.  It will keep you adjusting and studying your list.

    The hardest part in developing and maintaining your self-discipline is that you will never know when the hard work really begins to pay off.  It is hard to pinpoint just when it begins to click because by maintaining the self-discipline you will be growing, even if you feel as if you are losing every game with your top tier list.  However, at some point, you will be winning more and more of your games and finding the flow of the meta is matching what you are doing just as you are matching the meta.  Each moment spent on studying lists and playing games is a moment closer to achieving your goal.  Use the tool of your self-discipline to become almost obsessive at achieving your goal.

    Now how does the tool of self-control help you achieve your goals?  You might feel that self-discipline covers everything regarding self-control, but it does and it doesn't.  Let's continue the example to explore this a bit more.  If a new army that grabs your interest comes out you might want to run out and buy it, but if in doing so you know you will build and play with them a fair bit then you need to use and develop the tool of self-control.  You might have the self-control to buy the new army and set it aside until after you have accomplished your goal, but others do not.  Self-control is not switching armies due to a potential meta shift, it is not making drastic changes that do not appear necessary to your list based on what you are examining in the meta as a whole.  Self-control is choosing to throw yourself against the toughest opponents to improve, it is choosing to do the hard stuff while using your self-discipline to reach that goal through hard work.

    Having the self-control will let you maintain your self-discipline.  It will keep you on track toward your goal as your discipline keeps you looking toward your goal.  However, it does not guarantee you will achieve your goal.  You can and will fail on your way to your goal.  Failure is a way in how we learn and you should not be afraid of failure and I will look at Failure in a future article in the series, but for now, know that you will need both self-control and self-discipline to fail and get back up and chase your goal.  Your self-discipline and self-control will only help you become the best hobbyist version of yourself be it in gaming, painting, or any other aspect of our wonderful hobby.

    When you use these tools of self-control and self-discipline you develop a mental state that is essential for achieving your goals.  Once this mental state and your discipline and control are cultivated and moving you begin to see the change you are after in order to get to your goals.  To our example, you might find that lists you once feared are nothing to worry about and scenarios that might have put your list on a back foot now become a smaller and smaller hurdle.  Then the discipline and control you put into your work will become a habit and perhaps even enjoyable as you develop your routine around these tools to help you improve and ultimately reach your goal.

    There is no way around putting in the hard work to achieve your goal.  Push to be better and always improve and use your self-control and self-discipline to keep the mental edge to get to those goals.  It will not be easy and will not always be fun until you realize that these tools and hard work are getting you closer and closer to your goals.  Let me know how you are using your self-control and self-discipline to push for your goals and develop that mental edge.

    Until next week, Happy Hobbying.


    Previous Articles in this Series:
    Life Lessons and Wargaming: Goals and Purpose



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  23. Strength_Hammer
    Happy November everyone!  I hope you had a ghoulish All Hallows Eve as well as a great Parade day for Age of Sigmar Armies on Parade this past Saturday.  I ventured out with my Harvest Sylvaneth and came away with a few awards myself.  I got to spend the day chatting with some local friends and gamers while playing Warhammer Underworld: Shadespire so, all in all, it was a good day of Warhammer despite a few critiques I have for Armies on Parade overall this year.



    I also want to give a shoutout to the Neo's and gamers at the Realms at War 2017 even that happened in the UK this past weekend as well.  My Twitter feed was overflowing with amazing pictures from the Narrative event.  Check out the Hashtag #RAW17 on Twitter to see all the fun! 
    This year Games Workshop decided to mix up their event with additional awards and splitting of the two game systems into separate Parade Days.  All these changes were put in place with the intention of improving the event and it is great to see Games Workshop working to improve their events.  however, in my store at least, splitting the event really hurt the overall atmosphere as we do not have an even split amongst the two systems.  I don't feel there was a lack of competition as everyone who joined it at my local store had great looking armies, but the amount of participation suffered greatly.  In all honesty, I prefer to compete and lose against a large number of opponents then win against only a few.  The day's event didn't feel like much of an event and to an outsider looking in would seem to be a typical day at the store. 

    I felt that the Store Manager was also left a bit in the dark on how to run with the new changes.  He gave it his all and made the best of what he had, but it was obvious that perhaps he was not provided all the tools he should have had to make the event as big as it could have been.  The final critique I have was seeing how Warhammer Worlds Facebook Page handled their Parade Day.  It followed none of what was posted and instead appeared to run the event as it has the previous year with a single 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medal and combining all the game systems into a fun and exciting day.  The pictures and my Twitter feed really gave me the feeling their atmosphere was as exciting and fun with a plethora of great Hobbyists out to show off their best work and have a fun day.  It felt odd to see their event run in a similar manner as the rest of the stores across the globe.

    Armies on Parade has always been an event I anticipate with a lot of enthusiasm.  Before I was lucky enough to have a Games Workshop store near me I would eagerly scan the pages of White Dwarf to see the entries and hope to one day participate and create armies and boards as amazing as the ones I saw.  Last year was my very first Armies on Parade and it was an exciting atmosphere in the store as gamers from 40k and Age of Sigmar all battled over the coveted 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medals.  I was humbled to be voted number one and it only inspired me to do even more this year.  I diligently kept up on the posts from the Armies on Parade web page, but I was honestly a bit saddened at the lack of consistent updates that normally help keep the enthusiasm going.  There was never a very clear message on how the parade days would work so it felt a bit more ad-hoc then prior years.

    If you participated in the event, or plan to this weekend in the 40k Parade day and come away with new inspiration or some awards for your hard work I want to offer you my deepest congratulations, despite and hiccups the awards are well deserved.  I do hope Games Workshop continues to work on making the event even better and put forth, even more, of an effort to hyping it up and creating fun atmospheres for the Parade Days while defining the event clearly to the benefit of all.  I know I will be participating next year despite this year's critiques as this will always be an event I look forward to participating in with my fellow hobbyists.

    Sticking with the topic of Armie son Parade I did add a few last minute additions to my board I wanted to keep secret, even from my previous blog post.  I felt I captured the whimsy of Autumn Harvest festivals in my board, but I also wanted a dark aspect almost hidden from first glance.  Above you can see the somewhat subtle additions to the board to give it the creepy Halloween vibe.  
    I was also able to complete my Khorne half of the Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire set.  Just in time for the next expansions to come out and be put on my Hobby table.  It is really a great game and if you haven't had a chance to play it yet I strongly suggest you do.

    May your week be full of Hobby as we venture into the Holiday months and begin planning our armies and projects for the upcoming year.  Be sure to check back Friday as I continue my series "Life Lessons and Wargaming".  Until then, Happy Hobbying.
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  24. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I wanted to show you my completed Entry for Armies on Parade 2017.  This weekend Hobbyists from around the world will be heading to their local Warhammer or Games Workshop stores to participate in Age of Sigmar Parade Day.  Last year was my first Armies on Parade as it was also the first year of my local area having an official Warhammer Store outside of Friendly Local Game Stores (FLGS).  I took my Stormcast Eternals on a pretty simple Display Board with a raging river running through and due to fan vote I was able to take Gold and it has driven me to reach outside of my comfort zone and push myself past last years efforts to strive for Gold once again.




    As you may have caught above this Saturday is Parade day for Age of Sigmar which is a change from how Armies on Parade used to be run.  In its prior form, all armies across Age of Sigmar (previously Fantasy), 40k, and lord of the Rings were entered and judged and voted on together with a single Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal being offered to the winners.  The new change sees Age of Sigmar and 40k judged separately and on different days.  They have also added multiple categories with the chance of winning a Gold Pin while everyone who participates gets a Silver Pin.  The new categories for this year are Best Painted, Best Theme, Youngbloods, Best Board (and possibly more).

    I am curious as to what the "possibly more" could be as it is stated on the official Armies on Parade website, but sadly they haven't been as proactive on the posts there running up to the event.  I imagine it could be along the lines of "First Army", "Most points painted", etc...  I really find the event enjoyable both before and after having a store able to participate, but I outside of Twitter and White Dwarf there wasn't much build up this year.  Granted it has been very frantic and fun in the way of releases so I cannot complain too much, but those without a shop near are missing out on all the hobby goodness across the world I feel.  Hopefully next year we will see a bigger build-up to the event and even more improvements to the overall structure.

    My Theme this year was to take the 1000pouints of Sylvaneth I have had laying about for the past year or so and create The Harvest Sylvaneth where I would blend the fun of Autumn harvest festivals with a touch of the dark and wet days of fall before winter begins taking its grasp.  A lot of the project was really just going with my gut and not overthinking anyone aspect.  If something looked off I just reworked it until I felt happy with the result, which in hindsight did not happen as often as I would have expected simply jumping in with both feet.
    I really focused on painting up the bulk of the army first to get the color's set that I would need to compliment and contrast on my board, but after I felt finished with the army I found myself returning to them as I worked on the display board itself.  While I was viewing them as separate projects coming together they really became a single project where I could not look at one without seeing the other so the board and army really grew together as I neared completion.  It really became an organic project that took on its own life.  

    I plan to take the army to a full 2000pts in the near future despite my earliest intentions to paint it and walk away from it post Armies on Parade.  It was a joy to paint and the quick pace my scheme allowed me to turn out models really keeps the motivation high.  I would be foolish not to include Alarielle as it is a fantastic model and if I am honest I bought these models just for the excuse to buy her new model to paint up.  I think I will also add a few more units of Dryads as well as Drycha and finish up with some more Kurnoth Hunters with Bows and Scythes.  It wouldn't take much to give the army the boost to be competitive on the table.

    I also feel that I will revisit the board, although in subtle ways.  I am also considering the large undertaking of buying five more pieces of 2x2 foam and creating an entire game board using this theme with more static terrain built directly on the board such as more fields, hills, and perhaps some ruined cabins.  While I have Terrain as well as an FLG Mat I think a custom made autumn board could be fun to make and use during some fall gaming events for some fun.  The challenge would be keeping ti consistent and as damage free as possible during storage.

    This year with the changes to event and inclusion of new categories I plan on competing for a few specifically.  While I am happy with the painting standard of my army there are plenty of fantastic painters in my local area and will be a heavily contested area.  I decided to put my effort into Best Theme and Best Display Board.  These categories play more to my strengths within the hobby and as I continue to work on improving my painting techniques and skill before next year's Armies on Parade.

    One of the other goals for this project was to get more comfortable with colors I do not normally use. This was also the goal of my recently finish Khorne Army that used White as its primary color.  Yellow and Orange have always alluded me in ease o fuse in my painting, but using them throughout this force have given me a new level of comfort for future projects.  With more comfort, I have more flexibility in future armies and projects and hopefully improvement of my skills as a hobbyist overall.

    There was one aspect of the army that gave me pause for thought.  Basing.  I wanted it to match the dark and wet display board, but the army itself has dark tones throughout and I was worried it would blend too much.  Thankfully after some input, I added some Leaf Litter to the bases to give it a bit of brightness against the muddy basing which helped separate it from the display board but still allowing it to be part of the scene as a whole.

    I struggled with this same issue on my Khorne.  Basing is one of my weaknesses as that I hope to correct on future armies.  I always tended to be lazy and do the quickest finish in the way of green turf, but this can get very boring unless you put a lot of extra work into the base.  I still wish to rebase all my older armies as part of "My Great Aelf Rebasing Project".  However, I have found myself waffling on if I should rebase them all or simply create a new Aelf Army in line with my "Generated Free City" using new models and sculpts as well as my improved level of painting skill (opposed from when I painted the armies years ago).  Time will tell if the project involves rebasing or a brand new army.

    What has pleased me the most is how well received this army has been amongst friends and different chat groups.  Medals are nice and winning is the goal for Armies on Parade, but the sense of satisfaction and happiness I already have from the compliments and encouragement to continue this army has really motivated me.  I am holding back a tiny bit though as I wish to knock out some small project laying about as well as continue working on my Shadespire armies.  Have no doubt that these won't take long and I will be back into army painting in no time as I just can't seem to stay away from it for too long.
    If you are participating in Armies on Parade this weekend I wish you luck in taking Gold.  Regardless you should be proud of completing a project for the event!  If you can post a picture of your project in the comments so we can all check them out.  If you are not participating and I have a Warhammer store nearby I really suggest stopping out to get some inspiration and join in on the fun of Parade Day and consider participating next year.  I will post pictures of my local Parade day on Twitter and I hope to see the feed fill up with everyone's Parade Day pictures as well as pictures from the Realms at War Event that is happening as well over in the UK (#Raw17)!  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  25. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Wednesday everyone.  It has been an exciting few days with the release of Warhammer Underworlds Shadepsire this past Saturday and Twitter and Whatsapp have been full of wonderfully painted units from the game and some excellent conversions as well.  If you haven't picked up the game yet I highly recommend it and if you want to watch some games played to get a feel for it before dropping the cash there are plenty of videos on Youtube by various people going through games step by step.  There is also a few Facebook groups popping up now as well that are great to join to see peoples hobby and games played.

    I also wish to give a shout out to Rhellion who is setting up streaming for games as well as the possibility of playing opponents using cameras and online streaming to bridge players together.  It promises to be exciting and I have been enjoying seeing his idea come to fruition.



    Not only did Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire make its way to my hands, but a good friend of mine picked me a tool missing from my hobby desk, a wet palette as a surprise.  I won't lie I never got used to using one of these, but if I wish to improve my painting I need to make it a regular part of my hobby.

    My good friend Aleks came over Friday night after I picked up my copy of Shadepsire to try it out with me.  I took Stormcast and he took Khorne.  After a short bit of building and grabbing some proxy Liberators, we dove in.  I have watched a fair number of playthroughs on Youtube and felt confident with playing straight away but felt we should go through the quickstart game first.  After a few confusing moments with the quick start we went for the full rules and after a few activations in the first game we had the basics down.  We need to remember Knockbacks better, but we played three solid rounds.
    Aleks was a bit skeptical going into the games as you can see in the first picture, but by the end of game three he was a convert and excited to play more and get invested.  That look of his in the final image is deep thought on what army to play with next and in no way smugness in winning two of the three rounds against my Stormcast.  You can follow Aleks journey in his newest Blog on TGA here where you can see his view of the tables.

    I decided to repaint my Sayl and Nightmaw this past week as I was very unhappy with my first attempts on them a month or so ago.  I kept Sayl neutral to any colors associated with the Chaos gods but kept to my White/Black theme matching my Khorne.  I am pleased with how he turned out although the cloak highlights could use more work if I am honest with myself.  Nightmaw received colors from all four Chaos gods although as it felt more right with the model.


    With my Introductory/Demo leagues starting this week for Shadespire I didn't want to waste any time putting painted models on the table for the game.  The gameplay will sell itself, but having painted models will only encourage new people picking up the game to join in.  I decided to kitbash my models to keep the theme matching with my Stormcast Eternal Army and I am very happy with how they came out in the end.  Khorne is coming along, but have a fair bit of work to call them complete.

    Finally this past weekend my friends and I headed off to a local farm to buy pumpkins for our Jack-o-lanterns during the Halloween season.  I give you Grek and Grog, the same Jack-o-lanterns I carve every year for tradition.  Don't forget Armies on Parade is happening this weekend and weekend for Age of Sigmar if you have a Warhammer or Games Workshop store nearby be sure to check it out.  My Friday post will be about my Entry for Armies on Parade and pictures of the finished army and board.  Until then, Happy Hobbying!
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