September Kickstarter Project Recommendations

A lot has been going on here lately, so I haven't had much hobby time. My school semester is in full swing and I took my first painting commission last week. So I have been hobbying, just not for myself. But, I do want to take a bit of time to spread the word about two Kickstarter projects I'm backing.

The first you might be familiar with, as I've spoken about them at length, is another Stonehaven project. This time they're doing Half-Orcs along with some other assorted interesting critters.

They have a green up of the paladin already (leftmost in the photo here), with a nice spinning gif so you can see all around him. A new miniature is also being added to the campaign each day.

I can's speak highly enough about the models and the great customer experience. I've backed all of their projects thus far, and I really love the character that their models have. I've painted several, including a troll, gnome, and some dwarves. They are also top-notch in keeping you up to date and informed of the project's progress.

The second project is one you may not of heard of. It's called Carnevale and it's a miniatures skirmish game made by Vesper-on Games, from Spain. The setting is an alternate-timeline of late 18th century Venice. I've been in love with the minis for the game since I figure stumbled upon them about two years ago.

They're adding several new factions and incorporating new and updated rules in a new rulebook. There are also some very nice terrain pieces that are available through the Kickstarter as well, and new minis for existing factions.

They have already unlocked some very nice stretch goals, including a hardback rulebook, a mini rulebook, and base inserts. I'm going to pick up two starter sets so hubs and I can play it. I already have the Black Specter model, I bought him just to paint for fun. It'll be nice to have some friends for him.

I'm really looking forward to receiving both projects, even though I certainly have enough minis to keep me busy at the moment.

Well, That Was a Mistake

 After lamenting that I didn't find any interesting, new figures at the NOVA Open (for no other reason than I wanted something to paint), I thought about just how many unpainted models I already have. At first I thought, well, there's the Malifaux box I picked up at NOVA, then my unfinished Deep Wars and Hell Dorado models. That's only 2 dozen models between them, really nothing. Then I remembered the Lizardmen army I've started.

Then, the Dwarf army I never truly finished.

And then all the Stonehaven Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, and other assorted critters from their Kickstarters.

And then... this happened.

 For reasons I still can't explain, I thought it would be a good idea to pull out all my unpainted minis to get an idea of just what all I have going on. Stupid, stupid idea. I feel awful that it's gotten this bad. Where did they all come from?

 It turns out, I have (without counting every individual figure) about 500 figures hanging around waiting to be painted. Many are assembled and primed, and many of those are even base coated. But most are still in their boxes or blisters. For shame.

 I realized after I took the photo, that I left out my remaining Dwarves and Stormclaw. But highlights in there include a Mumak,  1/2 a Lizardmen army, a drop pod, Calas Typhon, and a pile of Reaper Bones giants.

 It also doesn't count any of the minis I am waiting for, which includes the current Stonehaven Miniatures Kickstarter for Half-Orcs, the Raging Heroes Toughest Girls of the Galaxy, and my Reaper Bones. That puts my number at about 150 higher.

This collection has been accumulated over only 3 years. Shameful. When I started with my Daemon army, that was all I had for over a year, almost 2. I started strong, at least.

Guess I should get off the internet and get painting!

NOVA Open 2014 Recap

 The NOVA Open has closed on another year. My absolute favorite part was that I enjoyed some really great games. I played all 8 games of the GT and probably three of them were top ten of the best games I've ever played.

Harald Deathwolf there killed a lot of Screamers.

  I went 1-2 the first day, 0-3 the second, and 2-0 on the third. I played 4 games against Space Marines, which I think ended up being a bit of an advantage. Or, at least, I think I learned enough from the first 3 Space Marine games that I was able to win the last one.

 I learned two important things from these games. First- my Imperial Knight is amazing and I don't know why I waited so long to run him. The second is that Centurions are stone cold killers. They were so rough to deal with, and they did some mighty blows to my Knight.

  The missions were very different this year. At the beginning of each game, you got to choose between two primary missions and three secondary missions. For the most part, the difference between the missions was the first was scoring at the end of the game, and the second was scoring cumulatively throughout the game.

 With my drop pods and the giant base of my Imperial Knight, the cumulatively scoring missions made the most sense. I dropped the pods on/near the objectives and just played it out from there. It obviously could have gone better than 3-5 (I was really hoping to do better than last year) but I had a really nice time.

 I did quite a bit less this time around, just the GT. There weren't any seminars that really appealed to me during my free time, so I just played. Although, I did enter my converted Rune Priest into the painting competition. The competition, especially in the single figures, was fierce. There were some truly stunning pieces that were entered.

 Unfortunately, other than the big step up in the painting competition from last year, the rest of the con side was still rather lacking. There were less vendors and a lot less variety of items available. I was looking for some interesting individual pieces to paint, and there really was mostly Games Workshop minis (and a ton of Flames of War stuff).

 I actually ended up coming home with spending money leftover, which I didn't even think would ever happen. I did leave with a Malifaux starter and a handful of cool metal Space Wolves. But I didn't find anything particularly inspirational to paint, which I was really looking forward to.

 I had a great time, but NOVA still really is more focused on the tournament than anything else. And after going to Adepticon, I know that's not what I'm looking for in an event right now. I really want to try new games and get exposed to things I haven't seen before.


 So, I probably won't be playing in the GT next year. Instead, I'm going to GenCon. After all the hype about it this year, and seeing all the events that went on, I am very excited about it. They're only a few weeks apart, so I can't do both. I actually reserved a hotel already and everything. But NOVA is so close that I'll probably show up and do some seminars anyway.