2018 6x6 Challenge

Happy New Year, everyone!

As I mentioned in the 2017 6x6 wrap-up post, the Challenge won't be continuing this year, due to a variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean I can't make it a personal goal! 

Unlike some others in the group, I found the challenge's focus helped me finished painting models for some games, and helped me bring out rulesets for other games that I hadn't played in some time. 

So, here's the list for 2018:

Arena Rex

The only repeat from last year, Arena Rex is another one of those rulesets where, like Saga, I have a fully painted force, but it's sitting unused. Hopefully I can find some locals in the area who are willing to jump in. 

De Bellis Antiquitatis

DBA is an old workhorse ruleset that I kind of feel an obligation to play, especially since I have the newest ruleset and four armies (Early Imperial Romans, Ancient British, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings). I've also got a fantastic 2'x2' tournament mat from Gorgon Studios that deserves to be used more often. 

Muskets & Tomahawks

The French & Indian War is a personal favorite period in history, and I've got enough painted miniatures to start with smaller games. Thanks to a kickstarter from AW miniatures, I've enough civilians and regulars to bring the games up to a larger size. 

Test of Honour

Yes, this is a bit of a cheat since I'm already involved in an ongoing campaign. But I've put plenty of time getting these miniatures painted, so I'm just going to give myself at least one easy goal. 

Warmaster Revolution

I've always enjoyed Games Workshop's Old World setting, but apart from a few games of 8th Edition back when I first started in the hobby, I never really had the chance to play in it. My plan here is to use some paper counters, and hopefully graduated to a miniature-only force by the end of the year.

WWII

A second cheat, but for a good reason. Ever since Flames of War died out in the area, I have a bunch of fully painted 1944-45 British that haven't seen the light of days in a couple years now, and an equal amount of unpainted Germans from the same period collecting dust on a shelf. I'm going to try and find at least one ruleset that I enjoy and lets me get these models out on the table again. However, this may also include any dabbling and experimentation with other scales and games, like playing Rommel in 6mm, or Bolt Action in 28mm. And, potentially, it may get a little "weird."

So, that's the plan. A little more daunting than last year (especially since I failed to complete 2017's challenge), with less skirmish sized games. But even if I don't make it, at least I'll be able to end the year with more miniatures painted and a few games played. 

A Year in Gaming - 2017

As promised last year, I'm taking a look back at the games I played in 2017.

First off, here's the list of games I tracked for this year:

Games Played in 2017

• All Quiet on the Martian Front - 1 
• Arena Rex - 2 
• Blood & Plunder - 1 
• Blood Bowl - 22 
• Congo - 2 
• Empire of the Dead - 5 
• Fistful of Lead - 6 
• Gruntz - 2 
• Guild Ball - 3 
• L'Art de la Guerre - 13 
• Men of Company B - 1 
• Muskets & Tomahawks - 1 
• Open Combat - 2 
• Retro Raygun - 2 
• Saga - 6 
• Shadow War: Armageddon - 14 
• Strange Aeons - 5 
• Test of Honour - 3 
• Warhammer 40,000 - 3 
• Warhammer: Diskwars - 1 
• Warmaster Revolution - 1 
• Wrath of Kings - 1

97 games in total, and like last year, that's not counting the various board games and role-playing games I played over the year.

The tally's not quite as high as last year, although I can chalk that up to playing less than a tenth of the amount of Guild Ball compared to last year. Those tournaments add up!

Let's take a look back at the all the games I featured on the blog:

All Quiet on the Martian Front

Arena Rex

Blood & Plunder

Blood Bowl

Congo

Empire of the Dead

Fistful of Lead

Gruntz

L'Art de la Guerre

Men of Company B

Muskets & Tomahawks

Open Combat

Retro Raygun

Saga

Shadow War: Armageddon

Strange Aeons

Test of Honour

Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer: Diskwars

Warmaster Revolution

Wrath of Kings

Here's to another year of gaming in 2018!

2017 6x6 Challenge - Retrospective

Earlier this year I announced that I would be taking part in the 6x6 Challenge proposed by Alan over on The Stronghold Rebuilt.

I was a fan of the idea, and submitted a list of six games that I hoped to play at least six times over the course of the year.

Those games were:

1. Arena Rex - 1
2. Blood Bowl - Completed
3. Blucher - 0
4. Fistful of Lead - Completed
5. Saga - Completed
6. Strange Aeons - 5

So, how did I do?

Well, not too bad, but not great, either. I completed three of the six games, and came very close to completing a fourth entry on the list. Some of that was due to a move in early November for a new job, displacing me from my regular gaming group.

Let's take a look at each of the games.

Arena Rex

I had expected to see more Arena Rex this year, but my games played fell flat. I'm still looking forward to getting this out on the table in 2018, especially since I have the entirety of the Ludus Magnus faction painted and ready. 

Blood Bowl

The first of my completed games for the 6x6 challenge! I owe some thanks to Games Workshop, as their re-release of Blood Bowl generated enough interest for me to participate in not one, but two leagues. The Baltimork Reavers came close to taking the championship in the first league, and the Zharr-Angkor Immortals are performing fairly well at the moment.

Blucher

Ah, Blucher. Another game I had such high hopes for. Unfortunately, the rapid pace of changing games with my old group meant that I could never find the time to get this game on the table, especially since I would need to be the one explaining the rules and providing the terrain and units. 

I may attempt to play this in 2018, especially with the New Jersey Wargamers Association. 

Fistful of Lead

Another success! I owe it to Carl and his collection of Wild West terrain and miniatures, along with Gary, Russ, Kevyn, and everyone else who decided to play games of cowboys and banditos. Fistful of Lead is a fantastic ruleset, and I'd like to play more games of it during 2018.

Saga

The last successful entry in my 2017 6x6 Challenge was the entirety of the Age of the Wolf campaign played between Kevyn's Vikings and my Norse. Although the Vikings had a rough start, Kevyn rallied brilliantly and ultimately crushed the Norman warlord by the end of the campaign.

Strange Aeons

Ah, so close! Strange Aeons was another game that was being fueled by a campaign between Kevyn and me. Unfortunately, due to scheduling problems, we never managed to get our last game in, leaving this entry incomplete. 

So, that's 2017's challenge! It seems that Alan's not planning to run the challenge in 2018. That's a shame, but I appreciate the effort Alan put in to tally and link the games from various sources.

Chaos Dwarves vs. Humans, League Game - Blood Bowl AAR

My opponent for this match was Jolene, who entered the league late with her Human team. As such, her Team Value was far less than mine. But the difference in Petty Cash allowed her to fire the legendary Griff Oberwald for her team. 

Jolene won the toss off and elected to receive in the first half.

While I did managed to stop Jolene's drive and recover the ball, the resulting scrum caught up the slow moving Chaos Dwarves, and the first half ended with neither team managing to score.

The second half opened with the Humans kicking. I sent the ball up the pitch with the two Bull Centaurs, who managed to reach the endzone and score a touchdown. 

Unfortunately, I let my guard down, thinking that Jolene couldn't make it through my defense to score in the remaining turns left. She (and Griff) proved otherwise. Though I managed to knock down the famous Star Player with a charge from a Bull Centaur, an escorting - and unmarked - Lineman caught the dropped ball and ran it in for a turn 16 touchdown, ending the game in a tie. 

This Is My Swamp! - Test of Honour AAR

Last week saw the proper start of the local Test of Honour campaign. Four players were able to attend. After declaring whether we were for the Emperor or supported Tokugawa's bid for power, and rolling our territories, we set up our games and played. 

My opponent was Kai and Lord Edo, who supported the Emperor. Lord Jiro led my warband for Tokugawa. Our terrain was a swamp, with the darker area acting as rough terrain.

I thought this would push the fighting in the center of the table, but Kai had other plans.

Our warbands, entering from the opposite ends of the road, made slow progress in the first turn.

Both of Kai's samurai decided to try something tricky, and decided to get their feet dirty in the muck.

I had to shift my spear ashigaru to face the oncoming samurai, who could easily wipe out the commoners on their own. I did manage to score a light wound with a musket-armed ashigaru.

With blades flashing, Jiro and Edo engaged in combat. The fight ended as quickly as it had begun, with Edo falling to the muck and Jiro triumphant. But there was still Edo's second-in-command, who retreated after seeing his lord cut down.

As the ashigaru engaged below, the two remaining samurai exchanged blows atop the rocky outcropping.

It was Jiro that emerged victorious, and Edo's remaining followers fled the field of battle without a samurai to direct them.