Tease, Tease, Tease!: What is in the Hopper for 2017

The New Year holiday was a boom time for me and my hobbies.  That time is over now, and the reality of 2017 is starting to set-in.  Most of my time is going to be spent working, working, and then some working on the side that I will call family time but will actually be working.  Such is the life of an entrepreneur/wage slave.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.    

In between working, I will be squeezing in review writing and rules writing mostly.  That means there will probably be few painting related posts and fewer battle reports.  I will try to keep them going, but most of my “hobby” career is done in 15-30 minute bursts here and there.  That is typically not enough time for a full battle report or much painting.  When you do see some painting or a battle report, you can be sure it probably took a few days or weeks to get that far.  However, I want to keep my blog content relevant and up-to-date.  So, here are some things that I have in the hopper for the end of winter and spring time. 

These are in no particular order of priority:

First up: Frostgrave

After my review, many people reached out to me and recommended I try some of the new Forgotten Pacts and Into the Breeding Pits content to my games.  The price was about right so I ordered copies of the books.  I have not had a chance to red them, but I have been rummaging through my fantasy figures to put together some more war bands for some of my regular opponents so we can get a campaign going with thee supplements.  You might see some models for this effort as the year goes on. 

Second: Are you ready for some Blood Bowl?    

Games Workshop finally found a way to get me to spend money with them again.  It has been a few years, but they cracked the code.  I have played Blood Bowl since 3^rd(?) edition but never had my own pitch.  That’s changed and I look forward to playing some games with some of my family members.  I have three teams now, Chaos, Khemri, and Skaven.  The new Death Zone may or may not cover these teams.  I haven’t looked yet.  However, I can always use the old LRB for a few games while I paint up my new Humans and Orcs.  I will have enough teams for my own mini-league!

Third: Write More Reviews!

These are the main rulesets I have on the back-burner waiting for a chance to shine!  By Osprey, I have Rogue Stars, Chosen Men, Pikeman’s Lament, and also Pulp Alley.  All of these are great little titles that I am excited to dig into.  I have all of them sitting in my gaming pile waiting for my attention.

In addition, I have a few older games I want to write some reviews on.  Ambush Alley’s Force-on-Force/Tomorrow’s War and Forgeworld’s old Aeronautica Imperialis.  I want to review those games as they have given me a lot of interest and insight into game design and I want to share these rules out even though they are a bit older now.  In the case of Aeronautica Imperialis it is considered a “dead” rule systems.  Also, an acquaintance on a forum recommended that I try out Shockforce 2.0 and share my thoughts, so that is on my list as well.  Maybe, I will even get to review the Robotech RPG Tactics book I have all those minis for?  I wouldn’t count on that though.     

I am also open to game review suggestions.  Is there a system out there you would like to know more about?  Let me know and I will see what I can do.  I am not into the “big names” for the most part and am interested more in the smaller side of the world. 

Fourth: Finish Some Games!

I have three games in the WIP section of the Blog.  Some of them are closer to being done than others, but all of them have a core of usable rules to work with.  For Turf War I am adding scenarios and need to tweak the rules.  Men of Bronze I am working on the campaign system.  Rampant Stars I need to tweak the rules and finish example Forces.  All are usable for fun, but are not completely finished products yet.  They all need editing and playtesting. 

I am also editing and re-formatting The Games: Blood and Spectacle.  By the end of the year, I want it scrubbed and ready for a Wargames Vault release.  I also have some old Game Reports that I can add to the blog for your review as well.  That will make things exciting. 

Fifth: Battle Reports!

I want to get battle reports together for the games I have reviewed.  For many, I won’t be able to provide the “full experience” with painted models, great terrain, etc.  Instead, be prepared to see some paper templates in use.  However, that is better than nothing and I want to back up some of my thoughts on games with the battles to prove them out.  Then, you can decide how right/wrong I was.

These are the least likely to happen, but a man can dream can’t he?  I have the table all set up for a game of American Civil Pawright now!  I also have some older Aeronautica Imperialis reports to share too.        

That is what is in the pipeline for Spring on the blog.  Let me know in Comments if there is anything specific you would like to see.  If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to Follow and come along on this wild ride!