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Strength_Hammer

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  1. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I wanted to start a new article series about lessons in life but applying them to our hobby of Miniature Wargaming.  As we mature in our lives we discover little bits of knowledge that we carry with us through our time here on earth.  Some simple while others grander in nature.  Often times we are taught these lessons by a Parent, Close friend, and sometimes through hindsight.  What I find interesting about these lessons is how they can help someone improve their quality of life if the lesson is applied correctly and how they can be applied to every part of one's life.  This includes Miniature Wargaming.


    What can The Terminator tell us about success in Miniature Wargaming? Turns out quite a bit.
    Today I wish to discuss the lesson on having a goal to give you purpose and having the vision to see the goal to end will make you successful in this hobby.  While I feel everyone knows the benefits of having a goal to a lesser extent I find that they still continue their hobby journey with no substantial goals.  If they do have a goal it is often very short term.  Above you might be confused by the image of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Vision, Goals, and Success methods he utilizes in his Career from Bodybuilding, Acting, and now Governing are universal and I hope to relate them to you here through the language of Miniature Wargaming. 

    A goal is simply defined as "The result or achievement toward which effort is directed".  I would ask you, my reader, to take a moment and write down your Hobby and/or Wargaming Goal.  You may have a few goals or more goals than you find capable of being accomplished.  Now that you have your goals written down separate them into long-term and short-term and ask yourself some of the following questions.  Does your short-term hobby goal help me achieve my long-term hobby goal?  Do you have one key long-term goal for the hobby or many? Which hobby goals give you a sense of purpose for what you are doing and which do not (if any)?  Based on your hobby goals, what is your purpose?

    I have done this exercise myself and wish to share it as an example to help with the understanding of what I feel is a necessary part of Wargaming, Hobby, as well as life, having goals.

    Long-Term Goal(s):
    Unify the U.S. Age of Sigmar Community without Homogenizing
    Put out content beneficial for the Age of Sigmar Community
    Create lasting friendships with hobbyists within the community around the world

    Short-Term Goal(s):
    Paint to a higher standard on my next army project
    Complete Final Version of U.S. AoS Modular T.O/Player Pack with U.S. AoS Community Group
    Add Models to Khorne Army
    Add Models to Stormcast Army
    Add Models to Sylvaneth Army
    Play Aelves as primary army (return to my first love in Warhammer)

    The difference between long-term and short-term goals are down to the individual creating the goals, but often times spending a bit of time critically thinking into each goal will sometimes cause a shift of a goal from one camp to another.  For example Completing the U.S. AoS Modular Pack was a long-term goal for me months ago, but as I thought about it more and more I saw it move to a short-term goal this is in part due to the nature of my long-term goals and some comparison between the two categories.  A long-term goal for a new hobbyist might be "Have a fully painted 2000pt army".  There is nothing wrong with this at all as it is a great goal, but over time it is good to know that having another painted army might shift to short-term or even off your goal list entirely.

    Over time you might see goals disappear or change as you mature within the hobby and become more confident and begin taking deeper and deeper steps in Wargaming.  If you look above at my list I have noted about adding models to my forces and improving my painting skills, but I don't list anything about painting an army to completion.  A few years ago it would have been top of my list, but where I am at within my hobby journey I have painted numerous armies.  The concept of painting the army I am working on is so natural now that it is not a goal anymore.  It is just part of my hobby, if I begin a new army I will paint it so I have no need to list it as a goal.  The point is to not be afraid to reexamine and readjust your goals as you journey through the hobby.

     You might look at my long-term goals and say "Can you ever complete those?  Why set a goal that might be unreachable?"  My response is "Are you ever done with an army?  Do you feel that competition model is ever good enough?" I feel setting easily obtainable goals is missing the point, at least for the long-term goals.  Now I feel they need to be reasonable and obtainable, but they need to push you outside of that comfort zone so you are always reaching for more.  In every aspect of my life, I utilize goals like this, whether it is in my professional life, home life, lifting at the gym, or in my hobby journey as they give me purpose in what I am doing.

    All goals give purpose no matter long-term or short-term or if they are easily attainable or not easily attainable which is the underlying point that can be missed by those who not regularly set or examine their goals.  Without purpose, you will be aimless and it will be near impossible to get very far in your hobby journey without a purpose.  That desire to achieve your goals is what will drive you forward and continually push you to do better than the last time and continually set higher and higher goals for yourself which will, in turn, push you even more.  It is a self-serving circle if you treat it as such and it is entirely for your own benefit to do so.  If you are a regular reader and thank you if you are, I believe you get a sense of my purpose in putting out posts regularly and to the schedule, I put forth.  Imagine if I had no real goal and therefore no purpose or drive to writing my blog, I doubt you would read regularly or at all as I wouldn't have the drive to give you something worth reading.  Early on I will admit I didn't know my purpose, but over time I set a goal for my blog and it has helped me ever since and I hope it comes across to you, the reader, as well.

    So at this point, you have set goals and found your purpose with those goals.  So how do you begin achieving those goals?  The easy answer is to just do it and don't waste a minute in achieving the goals you have set for yourself, but even this will set you up to fail.  You need to visualize your goals, ingrain them into you by imagining them to keep focused on working toward them.  If your goal is to have a fully painted army (we will use this goal for the remainder of the article) then imagine that army painted whether you are working on it or out at the movie.  See yourself playing with it on the table and displaying it on a shelf in your room or house.  Perhaps put a few of the finished pieces as a phone or computer wallpaper so you keep seeing it in your mind.  This visualization will continue to inspire you after that first spark of inspiration fades and will help you continue on when you hit some of the low points working toward your goal.  In our example you might not be achieving the exact result you are after or find your color choices are off, but having that inspiration through visualization will help you push on and work through any issue.

    Be sure to always give yourself a deadline that gives you a sense of urgency.  Be it an upcoming event, game, or a date of your choosing.  Without this sword above your head you can lose sight and despite you visualization of your goal you may become aimless and lose interest and fail at your goal.  Not that failure is a bad thing, but failure without giving it your all should make you mad.  Mad that you didn't put everything you had to succeed at your goal.  If you are going to fail, fail giving it all you have so you can still hold your head high.

    The key, especially through the low times while working toward your goal is to keep doing.  To continue with our example don't ever quit painting your army if you set time aside to paint.  It is so easy to blow it off because you are tired or just don't feel like it at the moment, but the slope gets steep fast and each session is easier and easier to brush off.  The goal is gone and you visualize it less and less and the inspiration is gone.  If you set a goal keep up with working toward it.  Attack the goal and eventually, you will fall in love with the process of achieving that goal.  There are two good sources of external inspiration to help keep you motivated as well.  The first is those who support your visualized goal and offer encouragement.  The second and what I find to be a very good source are those who might feel you cannot accomplish your goal because it is too lofty or unreachable.  Proving this group wrong is great motivation, it lights your fire to not only achieve your goal but surpass it.  While I admit we have a good community with supportive folks you will still find those who might not be convinced that you can achieve your goal as you see it and while they are still supportive overall you can take the bit of doubt to fuel your hobby drive.

    The goal of having a painted army requires different tasks that hobbyists can find mundane or tedious.  Sometimes they outrightly hate part of the process.  In our example goal let's look at the painting as this is typically the part people dislike the most or do not enjoy, but through your goal and visualization of the goal, you will begin to enjoy painting.  I am not saying there won't be boring or tedious times during the process, but they won't be an issue because you will find happiness in moving toward completion of your goal the more you do and as such falling love with the process, even if that includes painting.  This is important as by developing a love for the process of completing your goal you remove another barrier to actually working on your goal and remove excuses that keep you from the goal you are visualizing.  While visualizing your goal is tremendously important you must also keep in mind how to track your smaller wins, or goals within the goal if you will.  With our example completing a unit or hero can be considered a small win and they reinforce that you are on your way to achieving your goal of a painted army.  If you can, look for these small victories often to keep the inspiration going strong.

    As we explored above goals will change as we move toward them from time to time.  You might find that as you are just about finished painting your army that your goal is now expanding the army or perhaps learning to play it to a high level.  They key here is that your hobby journey may start with a simple goal of painting an army, but it will evolve and the vision of that army will change.  Simply put, the journey does not end.  You have accomplished your original goal, but what has really happened is that you have gone that much deeper on your hobby journey and your goal has grown, your vision changed to be outside easy reach once again and hopefully, you still have the inspiration to chase it and grow alongside the journey.  There is always another step, there is always a way to do something better, there is always more to accomplish if you want it bad enough and can visualize yourself achieving your goals.

    As you begin to see the next step as your goals change and grow to keep in mind that simply visualizing your goal is part of achieving the goal, but is not the actual action in achieving your goal.  Seeing that painted army in your head is key, but to achieve it you actually need to paint.  There can be a very uplifting feeling when you visualize your achieved goal, but do not let that feeling reward you, in the same way, that actually finishing the army will have on you.  Look at New Years Resolutions as a source for this false reward.  Each year millions of people resolve to finally get in shape and hit the gyms.  They do for a while, but they did not vision the result properly or they might have let the satisfaction they received by visualizing their ideal body alongside the encouragement from friends and family to work toward this goal be all they needed.  They stop going to the gym every day and eventually stop entirely and the cycle repeats the following year.  The reward should come from the actual accomplishment of your goal which should then inspire you to go after that next step.  You painted your army to completion, be satisfied with the completion, but look to go podium at a local tournament before you ever finish the last brush stroke.

    Continue to set your bar higher, move that goal farther as you progress.  You are capable of more than you realize and one day you will realize that you have become the hobbyist you are visualizing yourself as right now.  Even then there will be more work ahead, more goals to reach, but you can do it if you set the goal, visualize the goal, fall in love with the process of achieving your goal, and never be satisfied after you accomplish your goal, stay hungry.

    Until next week, Happy Hobbying.


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  2. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  I wrapped up my Army and Display for the upcoming Armies on Parade coming up in a few weeks and decided to begin painting up a few extra models I had around instead of diving into another army right away.  Also with Shadespire out this weekend, I am working on my paint schemes for that as well.  I might stick with my current schemes as they are for my full armies, but an idea put out via the Shadespire Whatsapp chat by Ben Johnson was to paint two versions of your Shadespire force.  One standard and the other for when the models are inspired. I believe I am going to do this for at least one of the armies at the start of the upcoming Leagues I am running for the release of the game locally.


    I have had this little guy since Adepticon 2017 where he came in my Swag Bag.  Being Halloween I decided now was a good time to paint him up for some fun.  Still more I plan to do on him this week.

    I found five Bloodreavers in my bits bin and thought I might paint them up for some fun in a different color scheme then my White Khorne.  Although they might be paired with the Shadespire force to give me a full ten man unit I can treat as a regiment of renown for my army.  Also, I re-primed my Sayl, The Faithless to give him another go with a better paint scheme then I had a while back when I first attempted him with a quick and loose paint job.


    I also got another game in at one of my FLGS with a club mate Jason.  We played Knife to the Heart at 1000pts and after a very bloody battle I took the win with my Khorne but had to retreat to hold an objective at the end.  I might have won the game, but I am pretty sure I displeased Khorne.

    As I have said I have completed my Armies on Display entry for this year and while there might be a few tweaks here and there I am happy with how it came out.  I plan to go into a full post in the next week or so about the project and army about its completion so be sure to check back for that soon.  If you want an early look to follow me on Twitter as always.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
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  3. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone and happy Friday!  Years ago when I began my hobby journey and began laying Warhammer I never imagined how it would become more than a hobby and truly a part of my life.  I cannot see any future that does not involve Warhammer and Tabletop Wargaming as a key aspect of my life.  Beyond being a healthy and enjoyable hobby I have come to realize, over the past year or so, that it is a community of so many different people.  This community is the single greatest part of this hobby.  There is no doubt that completing your latest model or army is satisfying and making a podium at a tournament is thrilling, but the best part is sharing it with the community to give it true meaning.  My hope for this article is to help you branch more and more into our community (please note this will be from my perspective in the U.S.).



    When you share your hobby with the community you get validity in what you are doing and we have a supportive community that you should connect with as you grow in your hobby.  That is not to say that there are not people who can be critical within the community, but as The Honest Wargamer has pointed out recently this is part of a healthy community.  Now there are people who will be negative for the sake of being negative and people who are positive for the sake of being positive, but they are there no matter what you are doing in life. You shouldn't let this keep you from connecting to the larger community as the more people you have to share your hobby with and chat to will broaden your thoughts and views about the hobby we all share.  It is good to keep in mind that every level is different as cultures and subcultures exist as human nature, but at its core, we are all here for the same thing and that is Age of Sigmar.  The best way I have found to describe this is "Unifying without Homogenizing".  That is my dream for our community.
    So how do you connect to this community?  I feel it is best to break down everything down into four levels that I will cover. Local, being your Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS), local friends or club. Regional, being your larger area such as your state or surrounding state for larger events or playing with other clubs.  National, is your country of origin and the major events within that country.  Global is the connection with those in the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zeland, and any other part of the world.

    One of my FLGS
    Local:
    One of the best ways to connect is to find the closest shop in your area that sells Age of Sigmar.  Chances are they have space to play and you might even see some people playing a game.  If you do walk up and talk to them, but don't interfere with the game.  Chances are they are more than happy to talk about the game, their army, and when they play.  Also, ask the Shop owner if anyone plays the game regularly and see if you can stop in when they usually play to connect with them.  It is very possible the shop has a Facebook page or that there is a local club with a Facebook group you can follow or join to begin playing at local club days that you might not have even known are happening close to you.  It is also good to see if you have any friends who have interest in the game who can join you in their own hobby journey.

    There is a possibility that there is no one really playing the game and in this instance, you have the opportunity to plant your flag and begin building your own community.  At this stage, it is a great idea to begin looking for Age of Sigmar Blogs (like the one you are reading now) as well as Youtube Channels and Podcasts.  These content producers are often looking at the National and Global already and help you connect the community in their own ways.  There is also a The Grand Alliance forum which is a great way to begin connecting to every level of the community and discuss Age of Sigmar.  On top of all of this Games Workshop has the Warhammer Community page to help keep you informed as well with daily articles being posted.

    Midwest Meltdown 2017
    Regional:
    You know have a local group you play games with on a regular basis and that is fantastic, but how do you grow from there within the community and continue to connect yourself?  Begin to look on Facebook for groups based on a part of your country, state, or even your closest large metro city.  There is a very good chance there are more FLGS the farther you branch out into your region and find the Facebook pages for larger areas you can usually see when clubs within your region meet or maybe even run tournaments that you could attend.  Reaching out to people on Facebook can help you connect your club to other clubs to form a larger and larger scene.  You can even visit the Facebook Pages of the farther away FLGS and often times post there to find players from that area.  On these group more Regional Facebook Pages you will also see events such as Grand Tournaments (GT's)  that may be a one-day or two-day event.

    These are fantastic ways to connect more to the community as people are often willing to travel a bit for these events so you get to meet, play, and hang out with fellow hobbyists from across your region.  At this point, it is great to look into using Twitter as well and exchanging Twitter handles with people within your region.  The Age of Sigmar community has a strong presence on Twitter as it was a refuge after The End Times and it has retained a strong presence even as Facebook pages for the game grew.  Twitter will be useful in the higher levels as well.

    Nova Open 2017
    Nationally:
    When you begin looking at the National Age of Sigmar Community you will undoubtedly be looking at a few major events that draw in wargamers from Age of Sigmar and many other game systems to a single place.  In the U.S. the biggest three are Adepticon, Las Vegas Open, and Nova Open.  These events will be across all forms of Social Media including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as having their own dedicated websites where they post all the detailed information for the event.  These events will fill up the Twitter Feeds and Facebook Groups as they draw near as people from all across your country will travel to share in our Hobby.

    We often times see people from other countries traveling to these events as well.  Just as it was with the Regional events it is a great time to make more friends and connect with them on Twitter and Facebook to keep in contact.  These are the top events and you can often times talk and chat with the podcasters, bloggers, and Youtubers and never be afraid to go say Hi.  We are all just passionate Age of Sigmar players just like everyone else and I know I love to talk about Warhammer as much as possible to anyone.  Not only are these events amazing times, but you will walk away with new friends of similar interests and a connection to the game at a very broad level.

    Warhammer World Age of Sigmar Grand Final 2017
    Global:
    When you begin connecting nationally you will encounter those who connect globally and by doing that will begin to connect you globally as well.  If you are following Podcasts, Blogs, Youtube Channels, and The Warhammer Community site you are aware of what is going on with the Global Community.  Also if you are on Twitter and Facebook as well as following or friending players from across the globe you are already interacting with the Global Community.

    One more layer you could look at is asking to be added to a Whatsapp grout for a specific army or other various Age of Sigmar related Whatsapp groups.  The last big step, which is one I need to take myself, is to travel to another country to play in one of their major events to make even more connections to the countries community and create our Global Age of Sigmar Community.

    This is no way a set roadmap you need to follow as you could just as easily attend one of the National Events without having a local club or friends who play, but I encourage you to try to create connections at all levels as it will enrich the other levels within this community.  I am sure I have missed items as well so if I have please mention it in the comments to help us all.  Age of Sigmar has a strong community full of great people and I hope you participate at all levels to help the game grow as it will help keep a healthy and active community while bringing more awareness to our game.  If you have a link to a Facebook group, Blog, Youtube Channel, or even to your Twitter please post it in the comments as well.  I am also very happy to chat more about this as I love thinking about and working to grow the Age of Sigmar Community so feel free to reach out to me.

    Until next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  4. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  It has been a flurry of Hobby for me this past week as the approaching date for Armies on Parade draws near.  Thankfully taking a drybrush technique for the bulk of the army has paid off and I have turned out just over 1000pts for my display board as well as three Citadel Woods.  My Harvest Sylvaneth really came together quickly at a decent Tabletop Quality and I it was fun to use bright colors such as orange and yellow which I don't normally use while painting with any regularity.

    I still need to base the army, but the basing will be similar to how I am making my display board so I will do that all of once instead of making two smaller batches of the basing texture paint.  There is quite a number of pictures below of the painted force.  I doubt I will get to it before Parade Day, but I do plan to add more to the army int he future to be able to field a fun 2000pt army with Alarielle at its head.




    My Spite Revenants surprising became my favorite unit.  They were easy to paint up nicely and had more character than I originally thought.  I went bold with the choice of yellow, but I think it really paid off in the end and they really stand out in the army. 


    While similar in some aspects to the Spite Revenants the weapon and the head difference really changed up the look and added much more to look at while painting the model.  I decided to do the standard ghostly weapon color for lack of any other idea and it really adds a cool color to the army that I am happy with, but I do need to go back eventually and add some edge highlights to these weapons.  If possible I will do it before Parade day.

    I only have ten Dryads at the moment, but they were the quickest unit to paint up with dry brushing as expected so adding twenty more in the next few weeks isn't out of the question, but the display board will take priority in prep for Parade Day.


    While looking at the army as a whole I would rather have some added range with my Kurnoth Hunters wielding bows, but I wanted to keep to the theme of Autumn Harvest so Scythes seemed more appropriate.


    I had spare Dryads so I converted them up as a Branch Wych and a Branchwraith.  I do plan to buy the actual sculpts in the future and when I do these will become unit champions.


    Long ago when I built some of this force as part of my Wood Elf army I wanted to see my Treeman wield a spear alongside all of his Elven allies.  The plus side is I could use him as a Spirit of Durthu or a Treelord Ancient in my future games.


    Any Sylvaneth army isn't complete without a set of Sylvaneth Woods.  If you are wondering I did glue the trees down, but I positioned them to give as much clearance as possible to move through during gameplay.  After a brief look at these finish woods on my Display Board, they really become a focal point and add a nice frame to the army.

    I was also able to get a 2000pt game in against a local clubmate Jason.  My Khorne versus his Nighthaunts  Nighthaunt.  It was a bloody game and while Jason could have won the scenario by retreating he decided that going all in was a much more exciting way to play a friendly game.  It was bloody and Khorne reveled in the killing to take the win! Let me know if you are working on your display for Armies on Parade and I would love to see some work in progress as well.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
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  5. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone.  This past week we have seen a debate regarding the controversial topic of requiring specific paint schemes to unlock certain battalion rules in Age of Sigmar.  We saw precursors of this with Stormcast Eternals and Kharadron Overlords Battletomes, but the new Season of War: Firestorm campaign box has added additional bonuses to specific Free Cities from The Mortal Realms.  I want to be upfront from the beginning that I respect the debate and those debating it as arguments for and against the handling of these new rules have validity.  I feel the debate is necessary, but it has overshadowed other great things part of this release.



    The extra battalions, in essence, add free formation rules for a specific set of allies with the requirement being that the army you deploy are from the set list of allies and are painted in the scheme of the Free City.  No need to pay extra points and they can be in addition to battalions you can buy normally if you build your army within an allegiance that is part of the set list of allies.  The only requirement is that your army is from specific factions and, controversially, it is painted in the colors of the Free City.

    The debates have been heated in some cases and civil in others.  I have seen both sides to the argument bring valid points to the debate as well.  There is a topic thread going on over at The Grand Alliance as well if you wish to check it out.  I don't plan on going into the debate here despite what the title of the post might indicate because T.O.'s will make their call on the subject in their event packs.  Some will require the painting specifications as per the written wording while others will not.  This decision will not be a deciding factor in what events I will attend.


    What has really got worried about the debate is how it has overshadowed the biggest part of this release.  When Age of Sigmar began we saw Stormcast Eternals fighting back against Chaos and saving people who managed, against all odds, to survive The Age of Chaos.  The shattered remanents of all the cultures were clinging to the thought of surviving another day, but hope grew after Sigmars triumphant return.

    That hope was Season of War: Seeds of Hope campaign which was a great event that inspired a lot of exciting games as we all enthusiasm in tracking how our allegiance was doing in our respective cities and perhaps most importantly gave us something to anchor ourselves to within The Mortal Realms.  Recently we had the release of Season of War: Firestorm which is a continuation of the narrative in the form of a map campaign.  It is a great box set and I highly recommend picking one up to run campaigns for your club or gaming friends to enjoy.


    At this point, you might be wondering where I am going with all of this so I will get to the point.  I am not unhappy that this debate has arisen as I see both viewpoints, but respectfully do not count myself in either field.  What I feel is being missed and being overshadowed by this debate is we now have real cities in the realms once more.  That is what I choose to focus on as it is driving my hobby more and more.  Those who are debating and choosing which side of the fence they sit have every right to do so and I respect the arguments both sides are bringing as they all have a validity since Matched Play is a very large part of our Community.  However, I hear very few voices talking about the importance of these cities and what they bring to the lore of Age of Sigmar.


    In 8th ed. Fantasy people proudly painted their models as Reiksgaurd, Saphery, and Barak Var to name a few.  Not everyone did this and many players chose to make their own schemes from a city created by their own imagination, but people rallied their army around places within the lore.  I had a large army of High Elves from Ellyrion, famous for their horses so I almost always added some cavalry to my forces for example as I felt a connection to that place in my mind.  There weren't additional rules at that time so there was no need to worry about a debate such as the one going on, but some of us still wanted to anchor ourselves to a specific city and feel connected to this fantasy world.

    The World That Was is gone, but now we have The Mortal Realms.  Instead of Altdorf, we have Greywater Fastness.  We have The Phoenicium to replace The Shrine of Asuryan.  We have places of importance that will anchor our stories and narratives and we have wanted it since the release of Age of Sigmar.  Now we can establish Cities in the Realms as well with tools to help us build our own Free Cities, granted without additional layers of abilities.  Some of the greatest Hobbyists in our Community have been embracing this with their armies for quite some time and I hope to begin building my Free City soon as well.


    To Wrap up my thoughts I worry that things such as "Generating Your Free City" and all the Cities now established within the lore will be lost in the shuffle.  It is a great time to be in the hobby and an even better time for Age of Sigmar as we finally begin diving deeper and deeper into parts of the setting that really give it character.  I hope as the debate settles we will see more and more focus from within our community on these cities and what they each represent as more is revealed about the setting we all know and love.

    Until next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  6. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  This past week has been full of hobby, and gaming (and painting my deck) so as usual here is my current hobby and recently played games.  This past Saturday was an Age of Sigmar Club Day at one of my local clubs.  We played Skirmish and a few rounds of 1000pts matched play using the scenarios from GHB2017.

    It was exciting to finally get my freshly painted Blades of Khorne on the table and they had a good showing overall and I learned a few lessons on playing the army as well.  The army wasn't built with a competitive focus, but with a few tweaks and additions, I could turn it into a more competitive force.  I really enjoyed how the army played and the level of synergy and positioning required to do well it is safe to say they are much less forgiving than my Stormcast Eternals.  It looks like I will be busting out the Ulthuan Grey again in the future.





    I was finally able to begin making headway into my Armies on Parade force as well.  I picked up a Rustoleum Camouflage Spray Paint (Earth Brown) to prime my force after hearing it recommended numerous times on Tabletop Minions Youtube Channel.  After the primer dried I can see why it was it has been suggested so often.  It has absolutely no shine and considering its use for painting Camouflage it should not have been a surprise at how Flat it came out.  It is great stuff but is limited in its color range at the moment.


    I plan to work on the army at least a few hours a night as I only have 21 days to complete it all before the big event.  I have a feeling the display board will take just as many hours as the army to complete, but a deadline is the best motivation!


    Don't forget to tune into Warhammer TV on Twitch this weekend to watch the Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament Final Stream.  It promises to be exciting games to watch as well as seeing the Twitter Feeds fill up with Age of Sigmar goodness.  It should help motivate me to get a lot of work done on my Sylvaneth I am hoping.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
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  7. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  The Warhammer Community team released an article earlier this week on generating a random Free City (Check out the original article here).  The concept really captured my imagination so I wanted to dive into creating a randomly built Free City within Age of Sigmar using the Charts from the Article as well as various other tools online.  I might even paint up a hero or unit to represent a city in the future, but my current project is taking up all my time so a side project like that will have to wait for a bit.

    I have always enjoyed tools such as this as it leaves it up to Luck, Fate, or whatever you wish to call it.  The fun of finding out what you might get is a thrill in and of itself, much like opening a random pack of Magic The Gathering Cards I feel.  I don't play Magic The Gathering anymore, but I still buy a blind pack from time to time for the fun of what I might get (hopefully Elves).  After you have the basics from your randomly generated city you can them craft its story in as much detail as you wish.  With the Cities being set within The Mortal Realms almost anything is possible.

    To begin building the city we can use the charts from The Warhammer Community Page's Article.  We will also need a few D6 as well to use the charts.  You can roll physical dice, but if you are wanting to build a Free City along with me you can use this Random Dice Generator here.

    To Begin we need to generate our Free City Name.  First, we Roll D66 (using 2d6).  My dice came up 52 so I will begin with "Bale".  Secondly, we roll D66 again and my result is 25 so my Free City is named "Bale Port"!
     

    Next, we need to generate a bit more detail about our new City "Bale Port".  First, we will see what Realm or Realms we will be settled by rolling D33 (roll 2d3).  My Result came up as 5 and 6 so it looks like "Bale Port" will be a Twin City.  After 2 more rolls on the chart, Bale Port is a Twin City between the realms of Chamon and Ghur.  Second, we need to see how large our new city will be so we roll a single D6.  I toss the die and get a 5.  It seems "Bale Port" is a decently sized City.  Last we should find out who lives in Bale Port so we go to a single D6 once again and roll it D3 times.  I rolled a 4 so there will be three races making up the sum of the city's populace as I get a bonus roll due to the size of my city.  I roll a 2, 1, and 3 which gives me Aelves, Humans, and Duardin which seems a pretty typical cast of characters.
     
     

    After we have the basic Census of "Bale Port" generated it is time to add the exciting and strange details about our city that we can use to expand upon within our Narrative.  Since I am City Sized I will add 1 to my D6 roll to a maximum of 6 for the Number of Distinguishing Features my City contains.  I roll a 2 and add 1 to give "Bale Port" D3+1 Distinguishing Feature of General Novelty which gives me D3+ 1 Features.  I roll a 4 on the die and then add one for a total of 3 Distinguishing Features

    To find out my features I go back to D66.  I roll 25, 52, 46.  "Bale Port" will have a Kharadron Overlords Trading Port, a Notable Freeguild, and a Relic from The World That Was.  Not a bad selection at all.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Next, we need to find out what our city looks like on paper.  We could draw out a map or simply let your imagination dictate how everything is laid out.  However, for our purposes, we will use a City Map Generator that was shared by Runebrush over on The Grand Alliance Thread about the article.
    The City Map Generator is located here and after we adjust a few settings we can randomly generate out the city.  Since I have rolled a Twin City I will be making 2 maps to fuse together.
     
     
     
       
     
      Now that I have a layout for my city I can begin to see where my Landmarks might be at and begin crafting my story, but before I dive into Bale Ports Narrative I must first find some colors for Bale Ports Flags!  Once again I decided to go to a Random Generator for Colors to see what fate has in store for me.
    The Color Scheme Generator I used can be found here.  I let the colors generate a few times and eventually locked on one I liked and proceeded to generate a few more times to find something suitable for my needs.  The colors are a bit dark, but I can work them into my narrative quite well.
     
     
     
     
      So we now have everything our city might need except its story.  Why is it here and why is it still here?  Who are the major players and their motives?  How does this Twin City rely on each other for survival?  Now is the time to answer all these questions and the real crafting can begin.  Time to put on my NEO hat and get to work.   "Split between the Realms of Ghur and Chamon is the City of Bale Port.  Each Sector was it's own Hamlet without a connection until the Relamgate was discovered and they merged into a single thriving City after the Realm Gate Wars in what was known as The Seeds of Hope. 

    The Chamon Sector was founded by the Dispossessed Clan Guinnieson who lost their Mountain Hold during an assault by Tzeentch Daemons.  Despite their defenses, the Daemons found their way into the hold where they began melting into Molten Lead, filling the entire hold and eventually solidifying.  Clan Guinnieson has held a Grudge against Tzeentch ever since and developed a grim nature even for Duardin.  This sector is also home to a Kharadron Overlords Trading Post which offers support in defense as well as trade.  The Trading post is maintained by Clan Guinnieson and sees various Skyports coming and going.  Its reinforced structure offers a safe harbor from the Copper Storms prevalent in the area for their vessels.

    The Ghur Sector was is home to Aelves from many walks of life.  Aelves known as Wanderers Keep the sector safe from the outside preferring to stick to the wild over a walled city.  Inside the walls, the core sect of Aelves identifies as part of the Darkling Covens know as The Duskhearts.  They rule with a hard, but fair hand.  They work closely with a group of Scourage Privateers who are given free reign of the docks in exchange for their food, clothing, and if the rumors are true slaves for the unseen, but the still known Daughters of Khaine presence.  The Daughters of Khaine are more than simply tolerated however, they are the keepers of a great artifact.  This artifact is also why Wanderers have kept so close the area and offered their service.  They hold the remnants of  "The Reaper" which to the Wanderers is a legend beyond legend as it was believed to be the greatest of work by a great weaponsmith from the World that Was and during the time long lost was wielded by their ancestors.  The Daughters of Khaine and Darkling Covens also know the legend, but know that the weapon is but a shard of the great blade originally wielded by Khaine himself.

    Normally these two different races would be hard pressed to live in peace, but a Freeguild of Notability occupies both halves of the city and while they don't involve themselves in the public affairs of each sector they do garrison and patrol the city as a whole and are the core defenses within the city.  The Freeguild is known as "Amala's Adamant" are veterans who held secure Greywater Fastness during The Seeds of Hope and after boredom set in shortly after setting off for more adventure.  They are who found the Realmgate connecting the cities and have been the guardians of it ever since, which helps to keep the separate sectors working in cooperation.
      Despite the differences amongst the races within Bale Port, they have found a working relationship that has allowed the city to grow and thrive.  Both sectors rely on the other for support and while tensions run higher than other Twin Cities both sides offer full aid when the other comes under attack.  Both sectors also maintain a small garrison of Honor guard who resides in the opposing sector as a sign of their willingness to work together and to keep an eye on each other as well if they are being truthful.  Together they survive and together they thrive as they all shout "No City for us beyond Bale Port!"
            The Banner of Bale Port
      There you have it, a narrative for my generated city that is even now making me want to create a small army to portray them on the battlefield.  I really encourage everyone to try this exercise for themselves and create your own part in The Mortal Realms and perhaps inspire yourself on your next army!  If you do run through this exercise please let me know as I really enjoy seeing what everyone created or feel free to head over to The Grand Alliance Thread created about others Free Cities.  I truly hope Gamesworkshop continue to give us these tools in the future as they are fun to use and help spur our hobby forward.  Until next week, may your Free City's banner always fly and Happy Hobbying!
       
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  8. Strength_Hammer
    Hey everyone!  Today I want to show you my completed Blades of Khorne army.  I managed to finally wrap up the painting last week and the basing over the weekend.  It is always exciting to complete an army and really give you a lot of satisfaction on seeing the army laid out as a whole.  I have seen some hobbyists who take a well-deserved break after completing an army to prevent burnout, but for me, the opposite effect happens and I get really excited to jump into my next project.  Thankfully I was able to jump right into my display board for Armies on Parade 2017 and keep the hobby flowing.



    One of the best parts of completing a new army is getting it on the table.  Thankfully this Saturday I will be running Age of Sigmar at my local club and will be able to blood this army properly!  I really need to sit down and figure out how each unit will synergize with the army.  I built and painted this army on what I felt looks cool so I really not sure how to use the army to its fullest effect, but that will be part of the fun!  Although finding a place to display the army will prove to be a challenge.

    Once I do find that space I will have plenty of working space on my current project for Armies on Parade 2017.  I only have three kits to build and the force is currently just shy of 1000pts (in matched play), but I also have three wood's to paint alongside the army as well as a display board.  It is about to get frantic in my hobby space with less than thirty days to do everything.

    I really need to buckle down and keep grinding away at my Armie on Parade project.  With such a small window to complete it a missed day or two could keep me from completing the project to the level that I am aiming to achieve.  Working through a project in such a short space of time might be a future article, so let me know if it sounds interesting as a topic. Also, let me know what you have on your hobby table and until Friday's post.  Happy Hobbying!

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  9. Strength_Hammer
    Hey everyone!  Happy Autumn Equinox!  Today I wanted to begin talking about my project and army plans for Armies on Parade 2017.  The date is already fast approaching, but I wanted to ensure I wrapped up my current Khorne army before diving into this one.  As of this post, there are Thirty-Two days before our parade week beings for Age of Sigmar.  On October 23rd Warhammer and Games Workshop stores across the globe will be full of amazing themed and painted Age of Sigmar Armies and I intend to be one of them while looking to earn a Gold place once again.  With the changes to Armies on Parade this year there are different paths for me to accomplish this as well.

    Teaser Poster for my Project
    Quite a long time ago, before the ending of The World that Was.  I had hoped to one day create an Autumn themed Wood Elf army.  Autumn is easily my favorite season due to all the festivals, and pumpkin flavored everything.  When I finally got to painting my Wood Elves I went a different route in order to allow mixing of the Elven races due to the End Times lists that could be created, but I put my Trees on hold as they were now Sylvaneth and for the past few years they have sat in my hobby room waiting to be painted, but other projects kept popping up I felt the need to do more.  Stormcast Eternals, Blades of Khorne, and finishing my newly named Aelven models.
    I have wrapped up my Khorne and was looking for a new project.  I decided to rebase my old Alef models on to rounds, but that is a very simple project despite the time it will take.  Then I saw Armies on Parade announced for 2017 on the Warhammer Community Website.  I immediately looked to my Khorne as it is freshly painted and painted to a higher level than other armies I own due to my improving skill.  However, I couldn't come up with a unique theme to a board for the army.  The color scheme is unique but beyond that, I haven't put created a narrative for the army.  Then I looked at my unpainted Sylvaneth, resigned to their fate of always being on the back burner and I decided I would paint them and find a fun and unique twist on the olf Autumn theme I wanted to do for so long.
    A glimpse into my Hobby Journal
    It was over coffee (Pumpkin Spice Latte if you were wondering) with my wife that the theme struck me and stuck.  We were talking about how much we enjoyed the Fall Harvest Festivals in our area as well as reminiscing about our early days on World of Warcraft and the fun Autumn Holiday events that went on within the game that we spent many hours enjoying over the years.  I thought why not theme my Sylvaneth around this?  So I set to task and drew up a plan and wrote out a list of what I would need.  I don't plan on any extreme or silly conversions on the models themselves, but I plan for tilled fields and Autumn Harvest for basing.
    Some Inspirational Art to help me plan
    I wanted to theme the board as a farm in the process of harvesting its crops in preparation for the upcoming festivals I have imagined within my own little slice of the Realm of Life.  I will incorporate my current model's int he army as well as three Citadel Woods as well.  With my plan laid out, I headed off to a local hardware store to pick up some great precut 2'x2' Foam boards as well as some miniature rustic farm tools and equipment from a local craft store.  I am sure there will be more added as the weeks go on, but I had enough to get started with my concept.

    Perhaps an Allarielle is needed to complete this project
    I plan to build and prime my models this weekend which shouldn't be much of a challenge as it is only around 1000pts in matched play.  I will prime with a darker brown and go over it with a reddish and lighter brown to help blend the Autumn Foilage that will be prevalent in the force as well.  It will still take quite a bit of effort, but I am up for the challenge.
    As I said earlier there have been some changes in Armies of Parade this year that add more award categories to the event.  The first large change is the separation between Age of Sigmar and 40k by having parade weeks separated by games.  My area is very 40k heavy and most of the armies last year were from that system.  That might have helped me stand out and achieve Gold last year, but I like that I will now be competing against other Age of Sigmar armies specifically this year.  They have also offered different categories to win.  Young Bloods, First Army, Monsters and Machines, Best Theme, Best Scenic Board, Best Painted are now all up for grabs and I believe it will add more diversity and participation.  I plan to contend for Best Theme and Best Scenic Board with my project this year and I am excited to really get stuck in with this project.

    Fun Fact:  I carve these same two pumpkin designs every year

    I will be posting continues progress here as well as on Twitter and plan to do a full post as the project comes to completion.  If you have a Games Workshop or Warhammer store nearby I highly suggest you participate this year.  Time is running short, but there is nothing like a deadline to complete a project.  If you are working on a display for Armies on Parade let me know as I would love to see what you are planning.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

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  10. Strength_Hammer
    Hey everyone!  Hope your week is going strong as well as your hobby.  This post comes with a bit of satisfaction as I have completed painting my Blades of Khorne as of last night.  I still have basing to do, but that should be wrapped up by the end of the week allowing me to start into my Harvest Sylvaneth I will be doing for this year's Armies on Parade.  I will go into more detail this next project in my post this Friday.



    I truly saved the best of the army for last as I wrapped up my Bloodthirsters of Insensate Rage and Skarbrand as my last two models to paint up.  I really enjoyed painting the Bloodthirsters from beginning to end.  They have a character about them that I never really appreciated before my Fall to Chaos and I can easily see myself returning to add a few more in the future.  Skarbrand did offer enough variety from the standard Bloodthirster kit as well as providing a bit more of a challenge, but rewarding and enjoyable all the same.

    With only basing left to do I got my first chance to lay out my painted force last night and really appreciate the work I had done.  I typically add heavy washes to my models giving them a dirty darker feeling, but I really wanted the challenge of a bright army that pops on the table and white, a notoriously hard color to paint, was a color I felt I did not have much proficiency with since my White and Red Stormcast are painted with a pure white and a heavy wash.  This army only ever used a pure white with its primer and after completing it I feel very comfortable doing with large areas of white going forward.

    The color palette I used for the army was surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly,  limited compared to other armies I have done.  Ulthuan Grey was my primary color with Abaddon Black to contrast.  I used Mephiston Red as a spot color and chose my Browns and Gold to match the warm red.  For the basing I have tossed around many ideas that I received via Twitter and friends, but I want to reveal that alongside the completed army in the next few days.

    I cannot wait to get this army on the table and perhaps add more to it in the near future.  I do need ten more Bloodreavers to get my Horde bonus after all, but I am happy with how it looks now and excited to see what it will do on the table.  I don't feel it will compete on any higher level as the models were chosen from an aesthetic standpoint more than power, but a few adjustments could change the dynamic easily enough I feel.  I would love to know what you think about the army and see what you are working on as well.  For now, I will leave you with the teaser of my next project for the upcoming Armies on Parade that I call "Harvest Sylvaneth".

    Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!

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  11. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I wanted to wrap up my Nova Open Impressions series with a run down of all the Age of Sigmar games I played during the event.  I opted to leave out army lists as the event chose to use the original Generals Handbook so most of the armies were built around the older points and meta.  It was fun to get one last go around with my Warrior Brotherhood, but I think the event would have been much more exciting if it had used the Generals Handbook 2017 as it would have made the field of armies much more diverse and interesting.

    I also want to note that Painted armies and round bases were not required during these events and as such the hobby level at the event was low overall, but there were a fair number of players who brought amazing painted and themed armies completed and ready to game.  Those who did paint got points toward their overall score which was a nice bonus, but playing against unfinished models can really pull you out of the game at an event as large as Nova Open.



    -----------------------Age of Sigmar Doubles-----------------------
    First up was the Age of Sigmar Doubles event.  I partnered up with my good friend Matt to drop the lighting on our opponents as we both brought Stormcast Eternals.  I went a more traditional route with my army while Matt went with the shiny new Hunters for some movement shenanigans.  Team Thunder Buddies hit the tables!


    Round 1 saw Matt and myself play against Zach with his Nighthaunts and David with Ironjaws.  The first game of an event can really be nerve racking, but Zach and David really knew how to keep it relaxed and fun while still playing a top level strategy.  
    When I looked at their armies we realized very quickly that trying to kill off Zach's Nighthaunts would be a fruitless endeavor so Matt and I decided that picking on Davids Ironjaw's was the way to begin since they would stay dead when we killed them.  A strong Alpha strike on our part really put his force on the backfoot, but being Orruks they charged in regardless as Zach's March of Death toward our lines began.  The game was well fought and my Lord-Celestant earned his keep by holding off a lot of the Nighthaunts for most of the game.  Careful positioning and cheeky building hoping by my Relictor helped Matt and I win the scenario in a very bloody and fun game.  Zach and David you two were a blast to play against and I hope to see you on the tables in the future!

    Matt and I went to lunch before Round 2 with a win and a bit more confidence.  We came back and looked at the pairings and saw our next opponents were some gamers and buddies from our local scene out here in Pittsburgh, PA.  Roger and Ryan ("Okami") smiled at us as we realized our fate in playing them and their finely tuned Death Army.  Roger knows well my inability to beat death on any consistent basis, but I always have fun when I play against him so win or lose I knew it was going to be a good couple of hours rolling dice.  Ryan, while local, was a bit of a new face as despite seeing him around I never really got to talk with him so it was a great excuse for the four of us to chat and get to know one another better.
    Matt and I chose to be the Defender, mostly for thematic reasons and knew a win was not likely so we tried a slow retreat tactic to hold on to as many points as we could.  Thankfully, Roger and Ryan deployed in a way to give us space at our backs.  Matt deployed off the board to try and ensure we had surviving units near the end game and I set up to hold out as long as possible.  I think I surprised Roger and Ryan a bit by throwing my Alpha strike Retributors to kill off as much of their weaker Zombie units as possible and secure a few points from a secondary objective.  The game got more intense as my turtled up Liberator, Judicators, and Lord-Castellant braced for the charge from their Necropolis Knights and Spirit Hosts.  The dice were rolled and all but one unit of Spirit Hosts failed their short charges and hope sprang in our hearts!
    Sadly that hope would be ground down through the rest of the game as my force began to collapse.  Although my standout of the game was seeing a lone Liberator Prime survivor as his unit was wiped out, passing battle shock, and locking the entire army in combat for one more round!  Matt and I stuck to our plan, but in the end lost the game decisively. Roger and Ryan played a great game and we all had a fantastic time.  Be sure that our vengeance will come soon to you both Roger and Ryan, we know where you play!

    There was a short break before Round 3 to rest up, but the day was beginning to wear on us as it was for everyone.  We met two more great opponents in this game in Zach with his Soulblight and Mathias and his Chaos force.  Zach had painted up objectives to match his army and he was kind enough to let us use them for the round.  We deployed and began throwing dice!  Once again Death was our bane as we just couldn't kill off more than could be regrown and after a quick switch of tactics to focus on the Chaos forces we saw some amazing saves from Mathais to really keep the game tight.  
    Zach and Mathias played one of the best games of Age of Sigmar I have ever witnessed first hand.  Their tactics were tight, precise, clean and brilliant to watch.  The level of strategy they brought was exciting to try and break, but we weren't able to shatter their lines and in the end saw them victorious over me and Matt.  Zach and Mathias were fantastic gentlemen and brilliant gamers to play against.  I wish we could have given them a better game, but the fatigue was really setting in, but I hope to pair off with one or both of them in the future.


     -----------------------Age of Sigmar Narrative Triumph & Treachery-----------------------
    After a few hours to relax after the doubles I headed down to play a game in the Age of Sigmar Narrative Campaign.  There were Narrative events throughout the weekend to play run by Aaron Bostian that linked to an overall narrative.  I opted for Triumph and Treachery as it was the best expansion I have ever played during my time with 8th edition Fantasy.  As I said above we were using the original Generals Handbook so the rules for the event were a homebrew created by Aaron that worked nicely and was not too far off from those in Generals Handbook 2017.
    I sided with Queen-Neferata's forces to secure order over the rebellious upstarts and possibly establish a connection between Nagash and Sigmar in a future alliance of the Gods.  My opponents this game were Chris playing Khorne, and Peter who had Seraphon.  Both rightfully feared my Stormcast Eternals and left me alone as they deployed opposite each other and as far from Sigmar's wrath as they could.  Chris and Peter were great fun to chat with and play against, but sadly when combat began between the two I found myself with little to do for quite a while.  Thankfully Vince and Sean were roaming the halls and I was able to chat at length with them on various topics while my opponents battled it out.
    Once I got stuck in however I knew it was my time to shine and I let my mind wander in devious ways playing them against one another.  Offering no win deals they couldn't refuse and other Treacherous solutions to their issues.  I was my trickery awarded with being awarded Most Treacherous at the table and managed to have the second highest coin total at the end of the game.  It was fantastic fun and I cannot wait to crack into the new rules for more Triumph and Treachery soon.


    -----------------------Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament-----------------------
    Saturday came as well as the Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament.  I took my Warrior Brotherhood list out for one last spin.  I have been playing Stormcast since the game launched and I do love the army, but I feel the need to try something else.  Something a bit more Aelven.  When I really began honing the army it was with The Warrior Brotherhood style of play and since this was going to be the last event with the original Generals Handbook I felt it was the right way to put a bookmark in the army until I pick up the hammer once more.

    My first round opponent was Tom L. and I have rarely met such a happy person.  He was there to have fun and he brought a great Kharadron Overlords army themed in the realm of death with subtle conversions and a great looking army!  We both had the same mindset of rolling dice and having fun with a fellow gamer.  We were cheering each other's big rolls and smart positionings and it really made the game a great experience.  In the future, I probably won't remember the results of the game, but I will remember Tom and how great he is to throw dice with.  
    I went strong with my Alpha strike on him as I had taken the first turn and really put the hurt on him, but his first turn saw a strong counter and I learned to fear the Kharadron Overlords shooting very quickly, but I had held my Paladins in reserve and when it was my go once again I threw them right at his Frigate.  We played to the end and Tom fought back against every step I took, but in the end, Sigmar won the day by holding one more Objective, but due to secondary scenarios the game final score was much closer than it originally seemed.  It was a great start to the end in taking a win and more importantly meeting a great hobbyist who really enjoys the game and having a good time.

    Round 2 paired me with a Tzeentch player by the name of Nate.  I have never really played against a Skyfire list, but thankfully Roger from my local scene (and one of my second round Doubles opponent) was nearby and knew the army well.  He helped me work out a plan to victory and I set to the task.  
    I planned to throw everything I could and knock out his Skyfire units.  Nate saw this coming and deployed them inside a protective bubble of Chaos Warriors to minimize my attacks.  After the first round few rounds, I was able to take out one unit, but the second escaped and began to regrow.  Nate was set on the backfoot and the entire game was played in his deployment zone, but due to the scenario, where objectives are randomly removed, all the objectives ended up on his side anyway.  We had a long fought battle with quite a bit of fun along the way and we ended in a draw in both objectives and secondary objectives.  Neither one of us were upset with this result as far as I could tell.  Nate was a joy to play against and coming away with a draw against a hard list I had no practice against was a win in my books.

    My third game was humbling in both results and the level of respect an opponent can give to their opponent.  My opponent was Walker was also playing Stormcast and I have always had an issue in mirror matches.  Not that we had the same list or play style, but ever since I began this hobby I have always done terrible when playing against the same army.  Sadly this was no exception.
    Walker baited me and I fell for it with my Alpha Strike.  He weathered it with little loss and I was outpaced every step beyond that and I knew it.  Walker was a true gentleman by bringing me water from the cooler and making sure I was having a good time.  In the end, he won thoroughly and we hugged and parted as friends.  He was even generous enough to toss a few Black Library Novellas he had won but already owned with the intention of it being a gift and not a consolation prize.  Walker, I hope we cross paths again and that you keep doing Sigmar proud!


    As I mentioned in my previous post I ended in perfect Hobby Karma with a 1-1-1 record and due to some Saturday night fun, I chose to drop on Sunday.  It was nice seeing everyone from the prior day still battling it out, but I had found a good end to playing out of the original Generals Handbook as well as a nice bookmark on my time as a Stormcast Player.  Have no doubt they will be back in the future, but for now, I feel the calling of my Aelves and I must answer.


    The Hammer might be hung up for now, but I still love my Stormcast and Nova was a great event to bring them to bear.  I do hope that next year we see a painting requirement as well as enforcement of round bases at the event.  Playing at a national event like this is great, but I feel it should also have higher hobby requirements.  Regardless of this, I will be back next year without a doubt.   Thank you to all my opponents for the great games, as well as all my friends I got to see and chat with, and thank you to Matt for being my Thunder Buddy through a rough few rounds.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying

    Previous Articles in the series: Capital Palette Recap Nova Open Impressions Part 1
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  12. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  I am getting back to a normal hobby schedule post-Nova Open.  That being said I have gotten some work done on my Khorne and should have them wrapped up by this Saturday.  I have also been giving a bit more thought on my Aelf Rebasing project as well as finalizing a theme for my Sylvaneth who have sat unpainted for far too long.



    I am very happy with how my converted Chaos Warshrine turned out, but it was quite the challenge to paint.  The detail on the model wasn't unexpected but demanded me to look over the model more than a few times to ensure I had the model how I envisioned it.

    The last two models in the army are a pair of Bloodthirsters and I have just really dug into one of them, but as soon as I began putting the first coats of color down I fell in love with the kit and could easily see myself adding, even more, Bloodthirsters to the army in the future.

    One issue I have had with the army is how to base it once it is complete.  The above picture was only a few ideas but after a few suggestions I believe I know how I will base everything, but I will leave that to next weeks hobby post (or pictures on Twitter).  I am excited to wrap up this army and get it on the table soon.
    Hopefully, your Hobby is also going strong and if you live in the U.S. where the weather is cooling it is a great time to prime those winter projects so be sure to get out there soon as we settle in for Winter Hobby Projects.  I will be back Friday with the second part of my Nova Open Impressions series where I dive into each of my games over the event and wrap up my overall thoughts on the event.  Until then, Happy Hobbying!
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  13. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Hope you had a great week of Hobby with plans for more throughout the weekend.  Today I want to bring you more coverage of my time at Nova Open 2017 looking more at a general recap, how I spent my time and all the great people I got to know better, meet, and spend time with throughout the weekend.  In one of the next posts in this series, I will do a more in depth breakdown of my games so keep a look out.  I am sure I missed mentioning a few people in the sections below and if I did I apologize, but know you helped make this an amazing experience for me and I cannot wait to see you all at the next one!


    My driving skills have mixed reviews apparently
    Any trip to a convention is a great time with the excitement and promise of a fun weekend when you arrive.  I am very fortunate that Nova is only 3.5 hours from my home and I had a few friends coming along so it made the road trip quite a bit of fun!  Myself, Matt, and Sean loaded into the car after work on Thursday and hit the road!

    We arrived late in the night and after settling in headed up to the Nova Open Charity Lounge which was going strong.  It was a very relaxed scene where we could grab drinks and chat with other Hobbyists about our armies, games, and upcoming events.  I was also able to finally meet Aaron Bostian who runs the Narrative Age of Sigmar Events.  We shared a few drinks and got to know each other a bit more and had a great evening.  It was nice seeing other familiar and friendly faces all gathered to share a good time.

    Thunder Buddies for life
    Waking up Friday saw myself and Matt dawning the Title of Thunder Buddies in the Age of Sigmar Team Event.  We each rocked up with Stormcast and meet great people in our games and even got to play with a few of our local scenes top players in the second round.  Lightning only struck once as our record will show, but it was three great games of Age of Sigmar.

    A quite Age of Sigmar/Hobbit Hall
    After the armies were packed away a few of us headed out to grab some dinner followed by me heading back for another game.  This time it was Triumph and Treachery in one of the Age of Sigmar Narrative Events.  I got to meet some great people including Chris, who was introduced to me by Aaron, as we played on the same table.  The game was an odd deployment which actually kept me out of most of the game as my Stormcast had to foot slog it over the board.  During that time I got to chat with Vince quite a bit and share ideas of the future of the game, lore, and other musings.  After a while, I managed to get within range, due to some shady deals and got stuck in and after more wheeling and dealing I was awarded most Treacherous from those at my table which in a game of Triumph and Treachery is a goal of mine.

    A day of gaming was wrapped up and it was time to head to the Charity Lounge again for a few drinks and socializing.  I got to meet some a few great people while hanging out such as Jason who handles Warhammer 40k at Adepticon (if I recall correctly) and I was able to meet the man himself Mike Brandt who runs the show at Nova with the support of all the amazing volunteers.  Mike is very passionate about the event, the volunteers who he refers to them as a family, and what we as a community are doing for charity through Nova Open.  It was nice to see Pete and the rest of the crew from Games Workshop hanging out as well and talking hobby with everyone.  It was another great night catching up with friends and meeting new people.

    Warhammer TV was out in force
    Saturday morning saw me awake bright and early to grab breakfast before the Age of Sigmar Grand Tournament.  I headed down with a bit of nervousness and excitement for the games ahead.  I shouldn't have been nervous as I had three of the best games I could ever hope for anywhere.  My opponents gave me a challenging game while keeping it all about the fun and I did my part to do the same for them.  High-fives and cheering each other on is what really made these games.  I ended the day in what was later dubbed as Perfect GT Karma (1-1-1).  I was also able to catch up a bit with my friend Miles who arrived to hang out with everyone for a few days.  It was great seeing more and more friends at the event including others from my local scene such as Bill, Roger, Ryan, Mike S., Jason, Linda, Christian, Jenn, Matt, Aaron, and Evan!

    The lovely lobby at the venue
    I followed my gaming with a brief rest in the hotel room.  I met up with Vince, Kelly, Miles and headed to a seminar presented by Games Workshop talking about Generals Handbook 2017 and beyond with David, Andy, and Pete.  I was also thankful to meet someone who I have followed on Twitter for quite a while, Joe, who will be running Age of Sigmar for The Renegade Open in November.  Joe is a great guy and it should be an exciting event.  I won't dive into the details here as Vince covered it nicely in his latest Warhammer Weekly video, but I can say this will be a very exciting year for Age of Sigmar!

    Directly after I was fortunate enough to sit down with Kelly, Vince, Miles, and Joe to talk with Pete Foley in a follow-up meeting from Adepticon discussing the U.S. AoS Community.  After a great talk, we headed over to a Shadespire Seminar which got me excited to buy this game when it arrives this fall.  Deciding which faction to play will be the hard decision.

    Live Music, Drinks, Friends, and helping charity
    Saturday night saw Mike Brandt's band playing live in the Charity Lounge and boy did they blow the roof off.  I won't lie that I partied a little harder and longer than I expected this night.  I bought a few rounds for the great team from Games Workshop and Forgeworld as well as other friends who were out having a good time.  They all, in turn, did the same for me right after I finished my drink.  I did not get to wild, but I knew I would be hard pressed to play in my last two games of the GT on Sunday.  I still can't tell if I was a bad influence on Dan or if he was a bad influence on me, but it was a great night!  After climbing into bed around 4:30 am I knew I would not be gaming and dropped from the event so sadly I will not be able to bring you coverage from those last few games.

    I should have known this crew was going to be trouble
    While I might have dropped I found I enjoyed hanging out with everyone and just wandering the halls quite a bit.  It reminded me that the community is more than the game, but the game is how we all connect and is integral.  I spent the afternoon watching Vince do very well at the Capital Palette as well as my friend Sean achieving a medal with his first entry into the event as well.  You can read more about that in my prior post.  It was great to sit back and cheer them on and see them do so well.

    The evening wrapped up with one last Seminar hosted by Games Workshop on Building a Community.  Those who know me well will realize this was the one I was waiting for as I love the Warhammer Community and am doing everything I can to help it grow, connect, and become bigger than ever before and I couldn't do it without all those around me who feel the same.  It was nice seeing others opinions on the community and even making a few more connections of like minded people who care a lot about our community.  Games Workshop really cares about the community and I am of the mind we should do all we can to help each other grow.

    Closing/Award Ceremonies
    The whole event wrapped up with a Closing/Award Ceremony.  After the awards were handed out and the goodbyes were exchanged me, Matt and Sean hit the road homeward and after a few hours of telling our stories, we made it home in one piece.  I have been asked if I prefer Nova Open or Adepticon by a few people and I can safely say "Yes".  They are each top level events, but there is no comparing as they each have their own charm and reason to attend.  I will be back at Nova next year without a doubt and I will count the days until its back.

    New Album from  the new Band "Grim Dank" coming soon
    See you all next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  14. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  I am back from Nova and sadly don't have much in the way of my own hobby due to the event, but today I did wish to bring you my pictures (warning there will be a lot of large images on the page) from The Capital Palette Painting Competition that was held at Nova Open.

    What I really enjoy about The Capital Palette is how the awards are based on the skill of each individual model and not a standard 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  In any category, there could be four golds or no golds etc... It feels more attuned to encouragement without taking away the honor and pride in receiving a Finalist Pin or a Medal in the event.  I am nowhere close to being able to enter the competition, but just seeing the beautifully painted pieces of art is inspiring to improve my hobby even by a bit.  It is really a top Painting event and if you are ever able to make it I would suggest you do.

    First up is the entries for the event!
     
      It is hard to say there were standouts as every piece of art in these cabinets was exceptional quality, but here are a few that caught my eye.       The award ceremony was held prior to the General/Closing Awards ceremony up on the Rooftop Floor, with exception of the Fan Favorite Vote Winner.  I joined Vince Venturella of Warhammer Weekly, who had numerous entries into the event, at the smaller awards ceremony and watched the genuine love all of these amazing artists have for their craft and their community.  It was great to be off in the corners watching this group support each other and share their passion for what they love to do.     It was a lot of fun seeing the winners go up to accept the recognition for their hard earned work and my friend Vince was able to walk away with quite a few awards for his entries.  I am also very excited for my friend Sean McAfee of Brush For Hire as he was always the painter in my local scene and he joined me this year in going to Nova and had a few entries as well in what was his first true painting competition.  His goal was a Finalist Pin and he walked away with one as well as a Bronze in the Singles category.  Vince and Sean, I want to offer my congratulations for all of your hard work.  The art you to and other like you produce is inspiring to all of us in the hobby.  Keep up the great work!        Take care everyone and come back on Friday when I cover part of my Nova Open experience (except a few posts on the event in the coming weeks).  Until then, Happy Hobbying!  
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  15. Strength_Hammer

    Hobby Tunes

    By Strength_Hammer,

    Hey Everyone!  Nova Open is in full swing right now with live coverage from Warhammer TV as well as pictures all across Twitter so be sure to check out what is going on.  Today I wanted to discuss what I listen to while I am building or painting in at my Hobby Desk and what I have heard others do as well be it for background noise, a distraction, or a form of motivation while they are deep into the Hobby.  At the end, I added some playlists on some of my Hobby Music Playlists for you to judge and enjoy while you Hobby.

    I also want to note that this post is partially inspired by Chris T. over at The Black Sun Weekly.  His love of music is very apparent and I often find new music and bands through his intro and outro music selections.
          Podcasts: One of the best parts about our hobby is all the great contributors who put out great podcasts on a regular basis.  They can range in focus from Narrative, Competitive, to Hobby related shows.  I find podcasts an enjoyable way to pass the time Hobbying and it allows my mind to wander about the hobby without being too distracted from what I might be building or painting.  There is also a plethora of other podcasts outside the hobby as well worth checking out as well.

    Audio Books:
    Audio Books are another great option, but with a bit of a warning.  I have found that from time to time I am unable to concentrate on both and may find I missed a spot of detail on a model due to listening to an exciting part of an Audio Book or that I have no ideas what the last few minutes of the Audio Book were about due to concentrating on painting those eyes just right.  I tend to limit my Audio Book listening to when I am priming or color blocking models as it requires less of my concentration and is easily corrected if a mistake happens.
     
    Television/Movies/Youtube:
    I have heard of hobbyist putting on a movie or favorite television show while Hobbying.  Sadly, this is one that doesn't work well for me outside of the odd sporting event, and even then I usually prefer the radio.  The visual addition of the media is far too distracting for me to concentrate on just the noise, but I can see the appeal in how it allows you to spend time with your family even when you Hobby.  Often times significant others enjoy watching some of the new Dramas on TV or watching something a bit more family friendly with the kids or even a Lets Play video on Youtube and with Time being limited this might be a good way to mix family and Hobby time.

    The one caveat I have with this is Hobby Related Youtube Videos and Warhammer TV.  Often times the Youtube and Twitch channels related to our Hobby are themed to be more audible and as such I often Hobby while putting them on from time to time.

    Internet Chat/ LiveGroup Hobby:
    Either via Skype, Discord, Google Hangouts, or meeting up in person this is a very fun way to pass the time Hobbying, but it suffers from the same pitfalls that Audio Books do in my mind with wanting to concentrate on who is talking and your model at the same time can be a challenge.  However, the added benefit of talking with someone with similar interests and who can provide instant feedback to your work is invaluable and needed from time to time to prevent us from becoming shut ins.  I really enjoy doing simple bits of Hobby while doing this or working on a group project together.  If you ever see someone online wanting to Skype while Hobbying I suggest you jump in and enjoy the comradery.
     
    Music:
    Music is my personal favorite way to Hobby as it allows me really get lost in whatever songs are on while I put my full focus on my models.  Pandora is often a helpful tool in this as well as I can choose a genre and let it do the rest.  I will range from Classical to Trance, to Pop, to Rock, to really anything.  I hold a special place in my heart for Spanish Guitar for an unknown reason.  Music really helps me forget about everything but what I am working on at that moment and keeps me distract from how long I might be sitting in one spot.  If you haven't really put on some sweet Tunes and let the music flow I highly suggest you do and soon!

    Silence:
    The last way I can think of to Hobby is in Silence.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with Silence and while it can be used for an entire Hobby session I prefer to let it dabble in any of the other listening options.  Chatting with a group is great, but sometimes a comfortable silence among friends all working on Hobby can be pleasant.  Even the greatest tunes can really get us going and a few minutes of silence is a nice way to recenter on what you are working on and maybe switch genres of music with a less jarring effect.  All in all, I don't enjoy long periods of Silence when Hobbying, but it is not something to avoid either.
     
    Whatever media you pair your hobby with I hope you branch out and give something else a try.  If I missed anything, and I am sure I have, please let me know so I can try them out myself as well as anyone else looking to mix up their Hobby.  As promised you can see a few examples (but certainly not everything as it would be an entire post in itself) of what I listen to while hobbying.  Feel free to judge my tastes and until next week, Happy Hobbying!

    Podcasts/Youtube/Twitch Channels:
    Scruby & Wells
    Garagehammer
    Mortal Realms
    Warhammer Weekly
    Tabletop Minions
    The Black Sun
    Bad Dice
    Rolling Bad
    Age of Sigbrah
    Bravery One
    Facehammer
    Fjordhammer
    HeelanHammer
    The Independent Characters
    Life After The Cover Save
    Forge the Narrative
    Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
    Warhammer TV
    AoS Shorts 

    Music Playlist for my Hobby:
    Sadly I was unable to share my Pandora stations so here is a general run down of what I listen to while hobbying.
    Modern Pop Music
    Classical Music
    Dance Music
    "Irish Pub" Music
    Heavy Metal
    Classic Country
    90's Music
     
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  16. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Wednesday everyone!  Safe travels to everyone on their way to Nova Open and please feel free to say "Hi: if you see me around the convention when I arrive late Thursday night.  If you are not able to attend you can follow what I am doing there via Twitter as always.  Now, on to my Hobby from the past week and there is a lot of Red and White being put on models.  Honestly, I look forward to doing any other color with my next army, but it has been nice to tackle the challenging color of white to add it comfortably to my list of Hobby Tools.  Perhaps I will try to incorporate yellow into my next army if I find myself motivated or inspired to do so.


    I finished up two Slaughterpriests bringing my total up to three to maximize my Gore Pilgrims Bubble is I find the need to do just that.  I really love this sculpt and was very happy that it came free with White Dwarf during its Monthly relaunch.  It made getting my hands on a few very easy.  I may even try to get a few more to do some fun conversions in te future.


    I may be in the minority but neither one of these models are my favorite in the range despite the nice sculpting job.  There aesthetic never clicked for me even though they are very Khornate and Chaos inspired, but after painting them I found a new appreciation and I hope we see a Korgorath kit soon to add more dynamic poses to the model as I wouldn't mind adding one or two to my army.


    A might army needs it's Might Lord and he was a joy to paint and not as challenging as I expected he would be to complete to nice Tabletop level.  Up next is my Chaos Warshrine converted to be carried by Bloodreavers.  It looks to offer a real challenge, but I am excited to see how it turns out as one of the armies centerpieces.  Not pictured are a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage and Skarbrand which I am very excited to paint in the coming weeks.


    My last bit of hobby was the addition of a converted Knight-Heraldor which is part of my Nova Open army this weekend. I enjoy how simple and fluid Stormcast painting Stormcast has become for me, but sticking with the same army for a few year will do that I suppose.  It is a bit bittersweet knowing this will be the last Stormcast I will be painting for a while unless Blightwar sinks its teeth into me, but I am excited to begin rebasing my Aelves and possibly painting the Sylvaneth that have been sitting on my Hobby Desk for the past year.

    Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
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  17. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Happy Friday and happy last weekend to wrap up your Nova Open Projects and Armies if you are attending this years convention.  Today I wanted to follow-up from a post I did quite some time ago entitled "Why I still have Squares".

    In the article, I flat-out refused to rebase my old armies seeing them as bought for 8th edition and I wanted to honor the plan I had in my head for the army so I was leaving them on square bases and moving forward with my Stormcast Eternals force with plans to create new Aelf Armies in the future.  When The Generals Handbook released and I saw how the Aelves were broken into many many sub-factions I reasserted the thought to not rebase all my old Elf Armies and pushed onward.


    Over time I found myself looking again at my Aelven forces sitting on display and began looking at how to create a mixed order force of Aelves.  Mostly, this was due to the fact that we have gone a very long time without an Aelf in sight and while I love my Stormcast Eternals I simply couldn't resist looking back at original Warhammer love of Aelves.


    Fast-forward a year to the imminent release of The Generals Handbook 2017 with the points adjustments, allies system, and a plethora of other new fun elements to the game.  I am eating my words because I have decided to rebase my Aelves.  Initially, I was looking to rebase a few at a time as allies to my Stormcast, but that simply didn't satisfy my need for more Aelves on the gaming tables so I will go all in and rebase my old High, Wood, and Dark Aelves for use and I am excited to get started with the project.  In some way, I still felt that I might revisit 8th  edition at some point, but it has been over two years and it is safe to say I am not going back so time to round out my armies.


    I still have Khorne to finish and a small contingent of Sylvaneth to paint, but a rebasing project isn't something that cannot be accomplished quickly with a plan.  Once I decide how they will all be based I imagine a could rebase an army in a weekend.  However, the debate on how to base them will be a tough decision.  Do I base them all the same in order to ally easier?  Perhaps I base them all individual and simply buy new kits to blend both painting and basing of allies into one of the forces.  It won't be an easy choice, but if I ever change my mind I could rebase once again since I no longer refuse to rebase my models.


    Tomorrow we will have The Generals Handbook 2017 in hand and I look forward to exploring all the ways I can get my Aelves back into the battle and finally get my armies story established in The Mortal Realms; and off of the green turf.  Let me know what you might be planning for your allies if you have decided to start a brand new army with the new book or if you are digging out an older army to field with all the changes!

    Next week is Nova Open, but you can still expect my usual Wednesday and Friday Posts and if you will be at the convention be sure to reach out to me to say "Hi"!  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  18. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! The Nova Crunch enters its final stages with only eight days until the fun begins at Nova Open 2017!  I had many goals to complete by then and while quite a few will happen there is a bit that will not sadly.  However, it is no time to quit and while the goal will not be met I will readjust the timeframe for them to keep the goal in sight and reasonable.
    I was hoping to have my Khorne completed before Nova.  I did not plan to take them to Nova, but I was using the convention as a landmark goal.  I did manage to complete my unit of thirty Bloodreavers this past weekend as well as Skarr Bloodwrath.  That only leaves ten models left to go, but they are all Heros or Behemoths and I do not wish to rush through them simply to get them complete.  Time is drawing to a close, but I will push my deadline to complete this army to mid-September to keep the goal of completing the army close to my original goal but giving myself a reasonable amount of time to complete it all.  Including deciding on a basing scheme for the army.

    The Bloodreavers were very much a challenge and I don't recommend painting thirty of them at once.  The detail of the unit really slowed me down and is in part a reason on why I am behind of my original goal.  While the level of detail is extensive it does really make the unit pop and despite my struggles, I am really happy with how they turned out in the end.

    Skarr was a fun model to paint and really easy as well.  My color scheme assisted since most of his model was left white on his armor and white with gray detail lines for the skin.  I might go back and add a bit more variation to the skin on this model to help differentiate the armor and skin a bit more, but he is tabletop ready once I get him based.
    I am curious to see what everyone is working so let me know in the comments or on my Twitter feed and until Friday's post.  Happy Hobbying!
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  19. Strength_Hammer
    Hey everyone!  Happy Friday and Happy GenCon Weekend!  Time is closing as Nova Open draws near Thirteen Days is all that remains until the big show and I feel vastly behind in my preparation, but determined as ever!  Hopefully, the rest of you are nice and relaxed and fully prepared, but if you are like me and fully in the Nova Crunch I wish you all the luck I can spare.



    I have managed to get a fair number of practice games in with my Stormcast Eternals, but since I have been playing this army for the past few years I feel confident with playing it in the events.  The one downfall currently, is the constant restructuring of my list.  Not that tweaking a list is bad in any way, but I feel as if my list hasn't been all that stable since the release of the current Battletome for the army.

    I decided to look at this a bit further and honestly ask myself why it has felt this way and why was it more constant before the new Battletome.  There is no doubt the Battletome brought a lot of great things to the army while removing some of the unfair, and to be honest, less fun shenanigans the army had in its utility belt.  I thought back to all my discussions about my Stormcast army on my Blog, during my guest appearance on Warhammer Weekly, The Whatsapp chat and various talks with friends around the community and I found that I was always referring to my army as The Warrior Brotherhood style and that is why I played Hammerstrike Battalion as it is, in a way, a toned down version of the over-the-top Alpha Strike that Warrior Brotherhood brought and which I played all the time.

    After this realization, I decided to look at the idea of using The Warrior Brotherhood despite its changes at The Nova Open GT.  I dug into the player pack for the event and the more I read the more I saw the benefit that the Warrior Brotherhoods board control could bring.  I even toyed with the idea of taking the battalion to Adepticon, but I choose against it and in a way, I am sad I did, but not this time!  I also plan to shelve my Stormcast for a while after Nova to play my Khorne and begin a new Aelf army so playing the Warrior Brotherhood is a great way to close that chapter of Stormcast being my Primary Army.


    While I have my list set, except for a few possible Hero changes, I still have one model to buy and paint.  A Knight-Heraldor, the Toot-Toot himself.  I plan to pick up one this weekend and hopefully get him built and color blocked as time runs out, but that will eat into time set aside for my Khorne Army.  I had set a goal for myself to have the Army completely painted by Nova, but I am still slogging through one of the last units with some larger models still left.  As much as it hurts to admit defeat I am afraid I must admit defeat in this aspect.  I will have the army done shortly after, just in time to face Grandfather Nurgle's Ascendancy.


    As far as army transport is concerned I have had a wonderful Feldherr case for the past number of years that was given to me as a gift.  It has always been my companion to my battles and has carried countless warriors, mages, cavalry, and beasts for me.  However, after Adepticon it became painfully aware that the case was best suited for my older armies and smaller bases.  The foam has also seen better days.  Thankfully while at Adepticon I picked up the Case Mini from Battlefoam while in the dealer's room and I knew this was going to be my new Army Transport case.  I have ordered a Pack 352 with Pluck foam to get started, but after Nova, I will order some custom foam for Storage and plan to do a full review when I do.


    With my list almost finalized and my new transport system on its way I am all set to print out my lists in color with custom images of my army using the Azyr App.  Thankfully this is no more than an evenings worth of work, but with time running out I will need to get on this within the next few days in order to have it all set and ready.


    I also planned to order Custom Combat Gauges from 6 Squared Studios once again o hand out to my opponents and with my new logo I still want to do this, but looking at the time frame it might not be feasible to have them ordered and shipped to me on time but stay hopefully I can still get this done in time.

    I still have a bit of work ahead of me, but I remain excited about Nova Open and the fun to be had there.  If you are going please reach out to me to meet up or at the very least stop me and say hi!  If you are not attending I will be bringing you my coverage from the event via Twitter and will recap my games and experience in a few follow-up posts in September.  Until next time, Happy Hobbying!
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  20. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Time for another look at my hobby and games from the previous week.  Also a brief salute to a man who has ingrained himself in our hobby minds and left his mark as a Warhammer Legend (not that he is done growing his legend yet!).  Enjoy!



    Rob Symes finished up his time with Games Workshop as one of the Hosts for Warhammer TV last Friday.  I think it is safe to say his commentary and insight will be missed on the streams, but it will also be nice to see him return to the community as a player and enjoy the creative freedom only he can bring.  I want to offer him my thanks in all he has done for the community and I look forward to seeing what he has in the future and wish him all the best in his adventures.

    A 21 Toot Toot Salute.  Thank you, Rob.


    I have become a Co-Host on my friend Ed Hornes (EvilEd) 40k Vod/podcast entitled HeresyCast.  I am very much an Age of Sigmar player, but I have always enjoyed 40k as well and with the new edition I am excited to play both game systems.  I still plan to keep a stronger focus on Age of Sigmar and if you check out the latest episodes (avoid Ep1...we had audio issues) you can enjoy me comparing everything in 40k to Age of Sigmar.  much to the chagrin of Ed and our other host Chad.


    I am continuing progress on my Blades of Khorne.  Currently up in my last large unit which consists of 30 Blood Reavers.  I am still planning to finish the army this month, but it has been a daunting task.  After this unit, I imagine the painting will move along much quicker as it is only Heros and Monsters left to do.


    My local Club has successfully moved into our new venue located in a local Church's Basement.  They were generous enough to give us an area to store all of our Terrain between Gaming events in their Belfry as well.  Overall everyone is really excited for the new venue as it gives us a bit more flexibility in how we run the events from the perspective of time, dates, etc.  We may have an issue with needing more tables as we grow, but there is plenty of space to utilize and I feel we will be very happy at the new location.


    Also, I was asked to give a shout out to an upcoming event Da Boyz Grand Tournament in Rochester, NY on November 17th - 19th.  They will be running events for multiple game systems such as 40k and Age of Sigmar.  I might try to make it up there myself if I am able.  You can register at DaBoyzGT.com or if you have questions reach out to @Khornelord on Twitter.

    I hope your Hobby is going strong and I would love to see what you are working on as well!  I case you are counting like I am, there are only 16 days left until Nova Open and it is very much crunch time.  Happy Hobbying!
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  21. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I wanted to talk about Khorne in a light not usually seen, but these parts of his persona were integral in my choosing to follow the Blood God over any other as I began my Fall to Chaos.  These character traits also helped in the choice of my color scheme choice of White and Gold across the army.

    Everyone sees Khorne being all about Blood, Rage, and Skulls and while these are indeed part of who Khorne is he also represents Strength, Honor, Discipline, and a Motivation unsurpassed by other Chaos Gods.  Khorne is a warrior above all else and to be a warrior is to be steps away from being in his service.  A lot of these positive traits can be viewed in Hero's across the Mortal Realms, Sigmar, for example, could be seen as Khorne's mirror image, but with the control to not fall so far into the Rage that consumers The Blood God.

    Khorne is about strength.  He doesn't even skip leg day at the gym!  Might of arms and the ability to kill any opponent you might face in hand to hand combat is his way and the way of those who follow him.  Using other means to kill such as a bow, poison, magic, or having others fight your battles is a good way to earn his ire.  We can all relate to wanting to be strong and wanting to be able to handle any situation we may encounter.  Being strong allows you to tackle things head on physically and anyone who goes to the gym on a regular basis enjoy pushing themselves to be stronger.  Khorne would be pleased.

    You always know where you stand with Khorne, he hates you, but he might respect you if you share qualities with him, qualities of an Honorable Warrior.  He won't stab you in the back or use trickery to come after you.  You can be certain that if Khorne is after you, it will be on the field of battle with weapons in hand.  His honor will not allow him to kill you in any other way.  He wants you to put up a fight and is not opposed to Champion Duels to settle things.  He would rather see two champions fight to the death in an honorable duel instead of a watching an army slaughter the defenseless or cowardly.  If his champion wins then his strength and loyalty will be rewarded, but if his champion falls then he knows he was weak and not worthy of saying his name.  As I said you always know where you stand with Khorne.


    In order to follow Khorne, you must be disciplined of mind and body.  While it is true the rage of his persona can ruin discipline among his followers that are only if his champions fail to maintain discipline.  Why are his Champions able to hold Discipline in an army of frenzy murders?  They are the most disciplined and examples of who Khorne is and what he represents.  This filters down and while the army appears to be screaming lunatics running across the board they are in fact a disciplined army using their straight forward martial tactics to win the day.  Sadly, Rage can cause this to break down from time to time, but the same can be true due to pride or the promise of power in other armies.


    Khorne's followers, to me, are the more proactive and motivated bunch.  You don;t see them sitting around and waiting very often and if you do they are usually not happy about it.  The Chaos Gods are always ascending and descending, but you never really see Khorne stop and regroup.  He and his followers simply carry on killing as much as they can, even amongst themselves.  Nurgle is happy to wait for his time in the sun, Slaanesh will revel in excess to extremes, Tzeentch will play his grand game.  Khorne can receive the Death of a world as a gift and immediately go looking for more.  He is always pushing himself and his followers for more.  Khorne the Motivator!


    So I have fallen to Chaos and I plan to enjoy it a bit, at least until the Aelves drag me back into the light.  I really look forward to finishing painting my army so I can get it on the board. I see a nobility in Khorne and that is what I am painting them with Whites and Golds as they are typical colors of purity.  I will focus on their noble aspects and I do enjoy the duality the colors are giving to the models.  Perhaps turning a blind eye to the rage and blood is proof of my fall?

    I think I will end my Falling to Chaos series here as I don't know where else I could take it at the moment, but I hoped you enjoyed my insight on Khorne and my new found love of Chaos.  See you all next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  22. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Wednesday Everyone!  I hope your hobby is going strong as we enter the final stages of summer.  If you are going to Nova Open there are only 22 days left to finish up your army or projects!  Here is what has been going on with my Hobby and Nova prep this past week.

    My Club, Ligonier Legion, recently moved venues due to some renovation at our local Library where we normally met.  Our new gaming hall is the basement of a local Church which has plenty of table space, storage for our terrain and gives us a bit more freedom for our events in the future.  The atmosphere is positive for the switch with the only down sides is a bit farther walk to our FLGS.


    We broke in the new hall with games of Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k.  My good friend Aleks was happy enough to help me test a potential list for Nova.  I built my Stormcast very defensively to survive potential shooting heavy armies.  He brought out his Free Peoples with plenty of shooting.  I started with a good lead, but he clawed back to draw the scenario and get a minor win on Kill Points.  It was a great game but forced me to reevaluate my list once more.


    Warhammer 40k 8th edition has really sparked my local club and they came out to play in order to prepare for our upcoming Fate of Konor Event at the end of the month.


    My Blade of Khorne are really beginning to take shape and I knocked out a few heroes to lead my force for some small point games as I paint the remainder in the coming month or two.  I still plant o finish the army before Nova, but the life is a thing that can get in the way, but you can be sure I will be ready for Aelves when they release!
    Currently, I am painting my unit of 30 Blood Reavers and I played with Skin shades a bit and below you can see the four variations I am using across the entire army.  Left to right the mixes are One layer of Reikland Flesh, One layer of Reikland Flesh plus a layer of Seraphim Sepia, Two layers of Reikland Flesh, And a mixture of Gorthor brown, Druchii Violet, and Nuln Oil. 


    Also, I have set up a WhatsApp chat group for Aleves and if you have an interest in joining please get in contact with me and I can get you into the group.
    Let me know what Hobby you have going on as I would love to see.  If you are going to Nova Open please feel free to hit me up and perhaps we can meet up to chat or at least say hi!  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
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  23. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Today I have a very special guest interview for you all.  Dan from the new AoS Shorts Podcast took some time to talk about Hobby, Age of Sigmar, and his new Podcast.  Dan is a great guy with a love for Age of Sigmar and if haven't yet, be sure to reach out to him.  You will find his contact information below.



    AoS Shorts is a great tool to help tighten up your rules knowledge to improve your game whether you are a beginner or a budding top table player.  I find myself listening to the short episodes multiple times to help smooth out my gameplay for myself and my opponents.  Also, his companion blog for each episode is a great way to get the most out of his discussion topics.  I hope you enjoy the interview.


    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Dan, can you tell me about who you are and how you began in this Hobby?

    Hey, I'm a (predominantly) matched play gamer living in Auckland, New Zealand.  I was born and raised in the U.K. and was aware of Warhammer while I was there but only really dove in with 5th edition after I’d moved to NZ.  I took the Brets and played some 40k with Imperial Guard.

    Everything kinda then went on hold, until I rejoined the hobby when I was working in London in 2012-2014. I came back in by listening to podcasts from Bad Dice, Heelanhammer, Black Sun, Garagehammer and the Dwellers before picking up a dwarf army when the 8th Ed Dwarf book dropped.  Really had to make the use of UK pricing and the VAT refund before coming back to NZ.


    Dan (pictured left) handing out some prizes

    What armies are you playing currently and what’s next on your Hobby Table?

    I’ve been playing Sylvaneth since the Battletome came out and absolutely love them.  The sheer movement flexibility is amazing.  I suspect that Death will be my next AoS army but I'll be holding fire until after GHB2017 and any signs of a new Death Battletome. There is something right about Death following Life.

    Dan's growing Sylvaneth Army
     Do you have a local Club or group you play with and how often do you get to play games and work on Hobby?

    Unfortunately, I don't get as much time to play as I would like due to my work and a young family at home.  So I haven't ever really been able to commit to a club. I play casual games in mates’ garages, with the Auckland Model Citizens, and host tournaments with the Auckland City Guard.  On the hobby front, I try to get a few hours in each week - usually 30 mins or so early in the morning and perhaps a night a week.

    Can you share with us your favorite Hobby movement?

    “Hobby movement” - what a great phrase.  There are so many things that could be captured by this - the move to scenic bases, the #roadtoscgt crew, the NEOs, Games Workshop’s re-engagement with the community, the explosion of hobby podcasts, Warhammer TV.  I can't just pick one.


    Dan's Hobby Area
    What about your least favorite time in the Hobby?

    The destruction of the old world was an unsettling shock, I played one game of AoS when it was first released and then decided to just let the dust settle and see where things went.  Me and my mates played a Necromunda campaign, we dabbled with KoW and I picked up Guild Ball. In the end, I threw myself into AoS as the game grew and found new gaming groups (my 8th ed. mates are now all playing T9A or 40k).

    If Money and Time were not an issue what would be the one dream Hobby project you would want to tackle.

    I have about 3,000 points of Dogs of War (almost every unit from the 5th edition book) still sitting mint in box.  With the death of 8th, I was going to use them in 9th Age or KoW but never got round to them.  I’d love to get them finished as a painting project on large diorama bases.  Other options would be a Luthor Harkon Undead Pirate army, a marauder Chaos force themed around a local raven god (which is actually a manifestation of Tzeentch), and a Harlequins force for 40k


    The dream army in the wings
    I often hear about challenges that our Wargaming Brothers and Sisters face being in this Hobby in your part of the world (New Zealand, and Australia), is there any insight you can share on this subject?

    The obvious issue is the pricing differential (significantly higher than the exchange rate plus shipping) however that is old news.  Unfortunately, it really does limit new blood into the hobby and make it hard for local gaming stores to make sales because everyone just buys offshore.

    The more complex issue is that we are a country of just over 4 million people in a long country that stretches from Lake Erie down into Florida or from Scotland into Spain. Our gaming scene also split hard three ways with the death of 8th. So achieving a critical mass for gaming clubs and tournaments can be hard. We are only now starting to get 40 player tournaments and that usually requires about half the field to be flying (or catching a 10-hour bus ride) to get there.

    Durthu has great basing that Dan is using across the entire force
    You recently started a new Podcast called AoS Shorts.  What can you tell me about it?

    AoS Shorts is a series of podcasts, videos and blog posts on strategy for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.  This series will help you get better fast.
    Think of it as a Cliff Notes version of Facehammer etc.

    There is so much great information out there in the AoS community on strategy and tactics, but it is largely buried in 100-page forum threads, 3-hour podcasts or hundreds of hours of video.  The aim with AoS Shorts is to distill this information for the time-poor gamer. Basically, I’ve started the podcast I wanted.

    Each show focuses on a key AoS topic, such as list design, deployment, and scenarios,  and is accompanied by diagrams, tip sheets and a blog post for you to digest or refer to later.

    Who is your target audience for the podcast and what is your goal with the show?

    The show is aimed at people who want to improve their performances at tournaments or other competitive games. The show really isn't going to have anything new for top-end tournament gamers who usually podium. However, for players in the mid- or lower tables who want to start winning more games, or feel like they are in those games for longer, I hope my show helps.


    So far you have List Writing, Tournament Play Tips, Scenery in The Age of Sigmar, Deployment, and the Priority Roll what is next for the show?

    At the moment I'm trying to stick to the core mechanics of AoS until GHB2017 comes out.  Once that drops, I'll have episodes on each of the scenarios, summoning, piling in and combat, certain list builds, scouting reports on particular factions etc.

    I also want to grow the show into videos because it is so much easier to explain strategy and tactics by showing rather than telling.  I want to illustrate the key concepts of the game with great painted armies on good tables.


    What is the best way for someone to reach you and where can they download your latest shows?

    You can find me on Twitter at @antipodean7 or AoS Shorts on Facebook.
    All the articles and resources can be found at aosshorts.com.
    The show is on iTunes, Podbean, and RSS.

    -----------------------------------------------------------
    I love what Dan is doing and I hope you take the time to check out his podcast and Blog.  I plan to use them as some last minute tournament preparation to Nova Open as I listen to his previous episodes on my drive down to the venue.  As always feel free to follow me on Twitter and until next week, Happy Hobbying!
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  24. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Wednesday Everyone!  Welcome to the fresh look for The Realm Gate!  I felt it was time to step up my game and give the blog a more professional look with a new logo I worked up as well as a cleaner design to the site.  I made do subtle tweaks here and there and any input is appreciated.

    The new logo.  I was originally going to commission one but decided to try my own hand at it in the end
    Now for another Hobby update as I have begun to find my Hobby Rhythm and gaining momentum each and every day!  It is helping that Nova Open is right around the corner and nothing helps the hobby like a goal or big event on the horizon!


    Fresh faces and ready for Blood

    I am in the middle of painting my Blades of Khorne and finished up my Unit of ten BloodWarriors.  I was surprised at how much detail these models have considering they were from the starter set.  They took much longer to paint than I expected, but they are beautiful models to add to any Khorne army.


    Totems and Icons galore!
    After I painted up the unit I realized that I needed to add in an Icon Bearer and after an extra night of work I was able to convert up something simple but effective for the role.  To treat myself I plan to paint my Bloodsecrator next.


    The set up before we all began to run right due to the meteor drops

    I managed to get some gaming in as well!  My friend Matt hosted me for a game of Age of Sigmar and 40k.  I took my Double Hammerstrike List I am considering for Nova Open against his Celestial Vindicators in Gift from the Heavens.  It was a fun game back and forth, but my Stormcast Took Victory in the end.  After playing the double Hammerstrike I find it powerful, but with a few weaknesses so I will be trying out a few other lists before Nova.


    Movement is really easy if you lose before you get to move
    After Dinner and some chatting, we dived into a game of 40k where my Dark Angels faced off against his Mixed Imperium List in a game built from the new Open War cards.  Despite the cards creating a fun Scenario my lack of knowledge in 40k play and how my army truly functions led to me losing in the Top of Turn 1.  Since it was all about the fun so we decided to just play on...until I was tabled at the bottom of turn 3. A great day regardless and I it really motivated me to improve my 40k skills to match that of my Age of Sigmar skills.





    Some of the great work people are contributing to this great Cause (various artists)
    I wanted to take a moment to share with you some Hobby Inspiration with the #RainbowWarriorsProject seeing the community come together for a great cause is wonderful and that they can do it using their Hobby skills makes it that much better!  Check out The Lonely Havocs to keep up to date on this great Project and where you can go to for the charity raffle to win this great army.

    Until Friday feel free to follow me on Twitter and Happy Hobbying!



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  25. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! There are only four more full weeks until Nova Open and my excitement is growing!  While this is not my first Major Wargaming event, Adepticon 2017 holds that title, it is my first Nova Open and the excitement isn't any less.  However, I have been much more relaxed about my preparations for the event.

    One of the best ways I found to prepare for a GT's is to listen to Podcasts and Videocasts discussing different armies that you are likely to see when attending these events.  Lately, there has been a number of great shows doing just that.  Tyler Emerson of Scurby & Wells discussed Tzeentch in his latest show with Rob Moar.  Vince and Tom of Warhammer Weekly had Andrea Schwandt on this past week discussing her first-hand experience with Kharadron Overlords. David and Alex from Garagehammer just put out an episode about Beastclaw Raiders that I plan on listening to this weekend.  I can also highly recommend you check out AoS Shorts by Dan S. which is a great quick way to tighten up your rules knowledge of the game.



    I was planning on taking a copy of my Adepticon Army.  It has been nice to not have any Hobby Crunch Leading up to the event, but a recent change to my list has created some work for me, but thankfully not much.  Beyond the addition of another unit to my Stormcast Eternals, I do have a short list of items to prepare as well.  It seems the Hobby Crunch can never truly be avoided.
    To round out my list for the Championship I need to purchase, build, and assemble a unit of five Protectors.  Thankfully they are one of my favorite units in the army so it won't be a chore of any sort, but I do need to make sure I have all the paint for the scheme on hand.  I do want to add a bit of customization to this unit to differentiate it from my current unit of Protectors so it will add a bit more time to the getting the unit done, but I think it will be well worth it.  I also plan to touch up my Display Board a bit as well, but thankfully it has been safely stored since I last used it at an event.


    During Adepticon this past March I ordered some custom Combat Gauges from 6squared Studios for this blog that I handed out to my opponents for some shameless self-promotion and give them a nice tool to use in their following games.  I plan to order them once again for Nova this year and the sooner I get on this the better.  I am working on having a true logo created currently, but sadly I do not believe it will be completed in time to put them on the Combat Gauges.  This is due to my failing at sorting out what I want exactly, but once it is completed you will see it here first!
    Currently, I am signed up for the Team event with my buddy Matt for Friday, which is also the day we arrive.  I am also competing in the Championship Saturday and Sunday, but thanks to Aaron Bostian I plan to add another event.  There is a narrative campaign going on all weekend and I plan to jump into the games on Friday Night for some Narrative Driven Gaming.
    The template for the Combat Gauge at Nova Open
    At Adepticon I went all out with a short story explaining the Lore of my Army as well as color copies of my List from the Azyr App with custom Images I took of my Army.  I plan to do the same for the Championship event, but the this is sounding more and more like it will be a last minute item to complete due to everything that needs to be done prior.
    As I do before any event I try to play as many games as possible with the Army to ensure I know what each unit does in order to keep my game moving as quickly and accurately as possible.  I felt as if my game hasn't been as clean or tight as it could be as of late.  Mostly due to my hobby time and energy being put into playing less and less.  I want to try to get at least two games in per week before the event.
    All done...almost...
    I am also painting my Khorne to possibly take to the NArrative event.  Currently, I have added 30 Bloodletters to my assumed total, but I will not truly count them unless they are based and I do not plan to base until the army is fully painted so it will be all or nothing on my end.  Either way, it is fun to have a little hobby crunch to keep motivated!  However, once I pick up the last box of Protectors I need they will move to top priority!
    I hope to see you at Nova Open if you are attending this year.  If you are hit me up on Twitter and we can chat hobby for a bit.  Have a great weekend and until next week, Happy Hobbying!
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