Figure Painting Total - November 2023

Even thought I had missed out on the Dust Starter, I was able to get an Operation Cerberus for a not-outrageous price.  This is the last of the classic expansion boxed that I needed.  

I had two weeks off but, instead of painting, I spent the time recovering from Covid.  Being fully boosted, it was more of an annoyance than a life-threatening event.

Bought

Dust Tactics – Operation Cerberus – 2

 

 

Painted

 

 

 

Nov total – 2 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 158, figures painted 26

Figure Painting Total - October 2023

  

I was hoping to get some figures painted while on holidays, but I got sick and did not get anything done.

I was finally able to get some mechs for the SSU faction of Dust Tactics.  I had a chance at the original starter for Dust Tactics at a good price but was too slow.

 

Bought

DCU – Cyborg Superman & Mongul – 2

Dust 1947 – Axis Grenadier X – 1

Dust 1947 – SSU Natalya/Nadya/Natasha – 2

 

 

Painted

 

 

 

Oct total – 5 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 156, figures painted 26

 

Collecting Intellivision - road to 55

 

Collection for older game systems is a bit of an odd hobby.  Unlike the 677 games for the NES, the Intellivision only had 125 Games release for it before 2000.  There have been some new releases by the homebrew community since then, starting with 4-TRIS – a Tetris clone which came out in 2001.  This can make collecting the entire set a bit tricky.

Because of the history, collecting the entire set is a matter of deciding what you consider a complete set.  Mattel Electronics released 55 games for the system, plus another 6 for the ECS (Entertainment Computer System) keyboard expansion.  There were another 41 games released by 1983 other companies like Activision (7), Atarisoft (3), Coleco (8), Imagic (14), Interphase Technology (2), Parker Brothers (6), and Sega (1). 

Dextell Ltd released 2 games in 1986.  And INTV released another 21 games between 1985 and 1989.  They also released some older games by other companies in INTV packaging.

This gives you a bit of a choice to what you want for a ‘complete’ collection.  You can collect the original 19 games – as noted by the number on top of the boxes.  You can collect the entire 55 Mattel Electronics games.  You can collect some, or all, of the games by other companies.  You can skip the ECS games or even the INTV games, which allows a smaller collection.  Or you can go for the entire 125 – or even 124 since the Super Spiker! Game is really hard to collect. 

 

Personally, I’m interested in getting the remaining 9 I need for the original 19.  I would also get Boxing to complete the games from 1981.  Depending on what lots I get which have other games, I would probably get the 6 I need to complete the 1982 set as well.

At that point I would have 10 remaining from the 1983 set.  Three of these are on the Flashback system, but I still might try to get them to complete the official 55.  If I am able to complete that, I might try to get the Atarisoft, Coleco, and Parker Brothers games.

I might get a few of the Imagic ones, as well as the rest of the Activision games, again depending on what I had gotten in lots to that point.  I have Pitfall! Already, and would only be interested in Happy Trails from Activision, and Microsurgeon and Beauty & The Beast from Imagic. 

I would only chase down the one Sega game, Congo Bongo, if I could get it for a reasonable price.  Being a solitary game from that company, it is easy to skip.  The same is true for the two games from Dextell.  Being that they were from 1986, it is easy to cut the collection off at 1983.     

For the non-Mattel games, you also have to decide on if you want to collect just the cartridges, or if you are trying to get the games with the boxes, rules, and overlays.  Unlike for Atari or Coleco, where the boxes were not as important and the games were simpler, because of needing a place to keep the instructions and overlays, most people who had Intellivision games kept the original boxes.  However, some games did not come with overlays originally.

 

Books Read - May to August 2023

 

May

Psychic Awakening 1 – Phoenix Rising by Games Workshop of Nottingham

The Cool Side of My Pillow: a book of essays by Bruce Campbell

War Dogs by Guy Lawson

Empire by Orson Scott Card

 

June

Warhammer 40,000: Codex Death Guard (8 Ed) by Games Workshop of Nottingham

Warhammer 40,000: Codex Adeptus Mechanicus (8 Ed) by Games Workshop of Nottingham

Warhammer 40,000: Codex Craftworlds (8 Ed) by Games Workshop of Nottingham

Blood Bowl Death Zone Season Two by Games Workshop Limited

The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming by Teri Litorco

 

July

Trader Vic’s Tiki Party! By Steve Siegelman

Cocktails for a Crowd by Kara Newman

Let’s Get Tropical by Georgi Radev

The Friars Club bible of jokes, pokes, roasts, and toasts edited by Barry Dougherty

The Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook by Keith Keller

Warhammer 40,000: Codex Dark Angels (8 Ed) by Games Workshop of Nottingham

 

Aug

Supercade by Van Burnham

The Town by Chuck Hogan

The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis

Intellivision Memories - part 2

1982 was another big year, with 17 new games coming out, of which we got at least 12 of them.  The Intellivision II also came out, which shipped with Lock ‘n Chase up here in Canada, and Burger Time in States.  The Intellivoice, which had been advertised for the last few years came out, and we got one as well.

I am not sure if we got Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.  I remember playing a fair amount, but do not seem to have the box for it.  We did not get Frog Bog, Shark! Shark!, Sub Hunt, or Royal Dealer.  These are all available on the Flashback.  I did play a fair amount of Shark! Shark! Back in the day, and would have played a lot of the Royal Dealer, which allowed you to play Crazy Eights, Gin, and Gin Rummy against a computer.

Lock ‘n Chase was based off of the arcade game, which was based off of Pac Man, and we played it a fair amount.  Night Stalker was a maze game, and we played it a lot as well.  Sharp Shot was aimed at a younger crowd and had 4 simple games on it – Football passing, Space Gunner, Submarine, and Maze Shoot.  I played this one quite a bit with the younger siblings.  While we did not get the arcade version of Tron for the Intellivision, we did get the two Tron games that they did release – Deadly Discs, and Maze-a-Tron.  Of the two, I played Maze-a-Tron more.  Space Hawk did not get played a lot.  I played a lot of Reversi, and was able to beat it regularly.  USCF Chess should have been played a lot more than we did but, if you played at the higher levels, the computer took too long to calculate its move.  I did like Utopia, and would have played much more if I could find an opponent to play against more often.  We did get all three games available for the Intellivoice, but can not find the box for Bomb Squad.  I played Bomb Squad the most of the three, followed by B-17 Bomber, and the least of Space Spartans.

 

Of the 12 games that came out in 1983, we only got two of them.  Which is unfortunate as most of the games from this year do not appear on the Flashback.

We did not get Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin, Bump ‘n’ Jump, Buzz Bombers, Kool-Aid Man, Loco-Motion, Mission X, Motocross, Pinball, or the Intellivoice game Tron: Solar Sailor.  Of these, I would have played the AD&D, and the Loco-Motion the most, and Bump ‘n’ Jump was a game I played in the arcade a bit.

We did get Vectron, which I did not play a lot, and Burger Time, which I played a lot in the arcade and quite a bit at home.

 

We did not get a lot of games by other manufacturers.  I have only 4 cartridges in the box.  Pitfall from Activison was played a lot.  We also have three from Coleco – Carnival, Donkey Kong, and Lady Bug.  Of those three, we only played the Carnival a bit, while we played more of the Donkey Kong.  I played the most of Ladybug, which I had first been introduced to on my friend’s Colecovision.

Of all of the rest of the games that came out by other companies, the only ones that I should have gotten was Donkey Kong Jr from Coleco, and Pac-Man from Atarisoft.  We didn’t get the Pac Man as we had played their version on the Atari 2600 and it was so terrible that we did not get their version for the Intellivision which actually looked pretty close to the arcade.

 

Intellivision memories - part 1

 When we got an Intellivision in 1980, there were only 8 games out for it.  In addition to the Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack that came with the system, we bought an extra 3 games to ensure we had a variety to play.  We never did pick up the remaining 4 games, but I might grab them if I get a chance, just to complete the original collection.

We did not get NBA Basketball, ABPA Backgammon, Checkers, or The Electric Company Math Fun.  I probably would have played the Backgammon the most of these.  Versions of all of these are available on the Flashback, including the Super Pro version of Basketball which allows you to play against the computer.

The other ones from this year we did get were Major League Baseball, NFL Football, and Armor Battle.  We did play Football a bit, but you needed the playbooks to really make it work.  The Armor Battle was played a bit more, and we really played the Baseball a fair amount.  At least until I got really good at it, and very high scoring runaway games became the norm.  I also played a lot of the Poker & Blackjack, since you were able to play that solo.

 

Eleven games came out in 1980.  We ended up getting five of them.  We did not get the NASL Soccer, NHL Hockey, or PGA Golf but all of these are now on the Flashback with the Super Pro versions which allow single player against the computer.   Not wanting to promote gambling, we also did not get the Horse Racing, or the Las Vegas Roulette, both of which are on the Flashback.  The Electric Company Word Fun was considered too young, so we also passed on that, and it also appears on the Flashback.

We did get a few of the Sports games.  We did get Auto Racing which we played a lot.  We got the Tennis, and US Ski Team Skiing, both of which we played a little.  The Skiing did not make it to the Flashback.  We did get Sea Battle which we also played a bit, but preferred Armor Battle to it.  We also got the first game under the Space category, Space Battle.  This one I played a lot of until the following year when the new games came out, but even then, it remained in rotation.

 

Of the seven games that came out in 1981, we got all of them except for the Boxing, which also appears on the Flashback.

We played the PBA Bowling a surprising amount.  We played Snafu a lot, being very similar to the Tron light cycles.  Triple Action had three simple mini games in it and got a lot of play as it had an airplane combat, a tank combat, and a racing game.  Astrosmash got played the most of the Space games, and I got very good at it, able to roll through all the backgrounds.  Space Armada was a Space Invaders clone, and we played it a fair amount.  Star Strike was based off the Star Wars trench run but wasn’t great.

Figure Painting Total - July 2023

I was finally able to get some zombies and gorilla for Dust Tactics.  Which was the whole reason I wanted to get into the game in the first place.

My package from BlackSite studios finally showed up.  It had been delivered to the wrong address and when whoever got it opened it, they realized it wasn’t for them and they dropped it off on our doorstep.

I didn’t get anything painted yet, but did pick up the new model in the month from Games Workshop, or Warhammer as they now like to be called.

 

Bought

Unmatched – Brains and Brawn – 3

Unmatched – Teen Spirit – 4

40K – Primarus Marine – Infernus – 1  (model of the month – July)

DLB – Taste of Vitae – 1

DLB – The Gourd Reaper 3 – 4

Dust Tactics – Axis – Gorillas – 3

Dust Tactics – Axis – Zombie – 5

 

Painted

 

 

 

July total – 21 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 151, figures painted 26

Figure Painting Total - June 2023

 In June I was able to get the special edition Leviathan box for the tenth edition of Warhammer 40,000.  I started with Space Hulk and Rogue Trader and, while the last few sets have been placeholders, this return to bugs versus Marines may be the push needed to actually play this edition. 

 

Bought

Unmatched: For King and Country – 3

40K Leviathan – 72

 

Painted

 

June total 2023 – figures bought 75, figures painted 0

Running total 2023 – figures bought 130, figures painted 26

 

The original big three - there is another

 In talking about the big three, I should mention that there was actually a fourth - The Magnavox Odyssey2.  It first came out in 1978, making it part of the original three with the Atari 2600 in 1977, and the Intellivision in 1979.  It was the lowest selling of the three and, even though it lasted until 1984, by the time the Colecovision came out in 1982, it was already largely forgotten. 

It had 8-directional joysticks more akin to early computer joysticks, and came with a built in keyboard.  The cartridges also had a handle to make them easier to remove.  One of my friends had one of these so I was able to play a few of the games. 

But with the choice of this, the Atari 2600, or the Intellivision, the choice was clear for me.

The original big three - video game systems

 When they cleaned out their basement, my parents passed along the Intellivision and cartridges.  I looked through them to see what I had.  I might be missing a few, but I seem to have 28 original Intellivision cartridges and 4 extra ones by other companies.  Only two of the boxes (Space Armada and Triple Action) were in really rough shape.  The rest of them seemed okay.  I was only missing two of the overlays (1 for Major League Baseball, and 1 for Triple Action).  

In another box was a silver Atari 2600, and a Colecovision with one of the controllers opened up and the wires cut.  They said that they got these much later when they helped someone move.  I never had these as a youth.

Of the three systems, the Atari came out first, in 1977.  It had a joystick and you could also get paddles.  My cousins had one, but I was never impressed with the quality of the games.  It was a lot of people’s first game system so it usually ranks high but it was the lowest of the three to me.  People usually give it higher marks as it had the most games, but both the Colecovision and even the Intellivision had emulators that would allow you to play Atari games on their systems.  The Atari was finally discontinued in 1992.

The Intellivision came out in 1979.  The graphics were miles ahead of the Atari.  It also had some solid sports games for the day.  Their controllers has a keypad as well as a disc instead of a joystick.  People either loved or hated the disc; I loved it.  This is the system that I pushed hard to get, and played deep into the 80s, even after we had upgraded to the Nintendo Entertainment System.  It was discontinued in 1984 but it continued under different labels until 1990 as INTV.

The Colecovision did not come out until 1982.  Of the three, it had the best graphics, with any games looking identical to their arcade versions.  It also had, what I consider the worst controllers.  They had a keypad like the Intellivision but the controller was a bit thicker and did not fit the hand as comfortably.  It did have a stubby joystick with a flat top.  It did have a lot of expansions available, with a normal joystick and buttons, a steering wheel and pedal, a roller controller (track ball), and a super awkward super controller with a nice joystick.  One of my friends had a Colecovision so I was able to try it. It was discontinued in 1985

Sealed N64 Zelda

 When Tribute.ca launched, way back in 1996, we were some of the first people to frequent it.  I know as we won a lot of the contests that they had. The prizes were usually for movie passes but they also had some merchandise.

In 1999 I won a copy of the Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the N64.  Since that was not a system that we had at that time, we didn’t open it.  We didn’t know any friends with a N64 or we would have probably given it to them as a gift.  It used to hang around on my bedside dresser for a while until we moved a few years later.  Since then it has been boxed away.

In going through our storage locker recently, we came across it again.  Since it was still sealed, I was wondering if I could trade it in for maybe a copy of the Wii Sports Resort.  But I was not in a rush to deal with it. 

One of the people at work mentioned that it might have some real value.  So we looked into and discovered that some highly graded sealed copies went for some really crazy amounts – like over $200,000.  But they were usually selling in the $1400 - $4000 range.  Finally getting around to checking with PnP games (a local used video game store) and they offered $450.  If they had offered $1000, we probably would have taken it.

Instead we looked online for where to sell it and contacted Heritage Auctions to see if they were interested in 

selling it.  They were.  I sent them a few pictures and they gave an estimate of $2000 to $6000 but this would greatly depend on the condition.  They would take 15% for auction costs and would take the grading costs (they figured about $100) out of the total price for which it sold.

I shipped it to them (insured of course).  So if nothing comes of it I am out the shipping costs of $120 as well as the $450 I could have gotten from PnP.  They had some issues with the box, thinking it might be resealed, so they returned it without getting it graded.

So I will wait a bit before I send it WATA directly to get graded.  Then we will see.

 

Figure Painting Total - May 2023

We had company come over in May so we had to clean the basement.  It was time.  It had been accumulating clutter over the last few years as I have been painting figures.  They are now boxed up much better than they were.  

My figures from the Black Site Studio sale arrived.  We also picked up a Deltof glass cabinet from Ikea.  This allows me to put out some of the painted figures on display.

I didn't find any time to paint in May.  The May Model-in-a-Month was an Arbiter.  This would have been a cool model to work on but I didn't the time to fish it so I didn't pick up one.

Bought

BSS – FBI Agents – 2        

DLB – Sideshow Slaughter – 5

DLB – The Gourd Reaper II – 1

DLB – The Whistler – 1

 

 

Painted

  

 

May total – 9 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 55, figures painted 26

 

 

Cleaning up the storage locker

 We have a lot of stuff. 

We have put some of it into storage to make room but, it’s been packed in waves.  With the pandemic, we haven’t really be keeping up with sorting and sending more to storage.  We’ve also gotten to the age where we are less precious about what to keep.

We took some time and spent a day in the storage locker moving a bunch of it out, and sorting it back in.  My dad had picked up some nice metal racks for cleaning up his garage and gave one to us.  We spent another day moving more boxes out to make room for it, and then moving them back in.

This has allowed us to go through some of the things we stored and take a second look at them.  A lot of the kid’s toys and books got packed away over the years, and they were able to go through them and decide what they actually wanted to keep.  We moved four or five bins of toys, and two bins of kid’s books in which they had no interest.  Most went to Value Village, and some went to a local place for Ukrainian refugees.

I started getting rid of some games that I had thrifted when I thought we would have room but didn’t live up to expectations.  I’m trying to at least play the games before moving them along. 

We got rid of three bins of VHS tapes.  I kept back two bins – with mostly Disney and some Anime.  Plus two movies that I have not been able to get on DVD yet – The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, and the theatrical release of Highlander 2.

I also found a sealed copy of Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time for the N64.  When Tribute.ca first launched, they weren’t very busy and we won a lot of the contests that they had.  This was one of the prizes but we never had a N64 so it just got put away.  Apparently it is worth quite a bit now.

 

Books read January to April 2023

 Jan

The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Gamma Wolves by Ash Barker

The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Castles in the Sky by Eric Farrington

 

Feb

House Divided by Bruce Campbell

Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

 

Mar

All Quiet on the Martian Front by Alessio Cavatore, Rick Priestly, Ernest Baker, Jeff Hall

How to Photograph Scale Models by Shepard Paine and Lane Stewart

Cinema Alchemist: Designing Star Wars & Alien by Roger Christian

 

Apr

Imperium Nihilus: Vigilus Defiant by Games Workshop of Nottingham

Imperium Nihilus: Vigilus Ablaze by Games Workshop of Nottingham

My top 10 video games

my top 10 video games

1 - Monkey Island – 1 + 2 - for Apple/PC - finished 1 + 2

2 - Diablo +Diablo 2 - for PC (also played the demo) - Finished 1 – and 2

3 - Hellgate London - PC - not finished

4 - Heroes of Might & Magic 2 + 1 – lesser 3 - for PC - finished campaign

5 - Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony - for Apple - finished

6 - Ultima 4 – also 3 - for Apple - finished 4 +3?

7 - Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - for Apple - finished

8 - D&D Pool of Radiance – not Baldur’s Gate - for Apple - finished

9 - Dragon Warrior - for Nintendo - finished – new one ongoing

10 - The Lurking Horror – and Infocom games – Zork, Planetfall, Hitchhikers Guide - for Apple - almost finished

Honable Mentions

Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness - for Game Cube - finished

Wasteland - for Apple - almost finished

Thimbleweed Park - PC - ongoing

Death Spank - PC - finished 1 – 2 ongoing

Autoduel (Car Wars) - for Apple - finished

Load Runner - for Apple

Theme Hospital - for PC

Real Steel - for Xbox 360

Astrosmash and Intellivision games plus Pitfall - for Intellivision

Die by the Sword - for PC

Loom and Maniac Mansion - for Apple - finished Loom

Gabriel Knight - for PC - not finished

Dino Eggs - for Apple

Castle Wolfenstein - not 3D - for Apple

Sim City/ World - for Apple

Castleville - until they kept adding buildings but not more spaces - but not Farmville - for PC

Not on my list

Doom/Duke Nukem

Link/Zelda

Final Fantasy

Bard’s Tale

Super Mario et al

Warcraft

What are your choices?

Figure Painting Total - March 2023

 I finally received the missing arms and bases from the Justice League set.

I was finally able to get some momentum going and completed some figures. 

The weather even opened up one day and allowed me to spray clear coat outside to finish them.

Bought

DCU – Justice League – 3 (three figures replacement arms)

 

Painted

Unmatched – Redemption Row – 1          (Ghost Rider)

DA – Plains Tribe Posse – 9

DA – Cross Roads Cult – 4 (? hired guns, ? Desperados)

DLB: Final Girls – 1

MU – Avengers starter – 1 (Captain America)

MU – Brotherhood of Evil Mutants starter – 1     (Pyro)

MU – Dark Avengers starter – 1    (Iron Patriot)

 

 

Mar total – 3 figures bought, 18 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 45, figures painted 18

New editions

 There are a few editions of games that I play (or collect) that have come out with a new edition.  Some of the most revised have been Car Wars, Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Blood Bowl, and Space Hulk.

 

Some of the newer small games that I have picked up have done well enough for a second edition.  Sometimes this happens even before I get a chance to get the original to the table.  A few of the Osprey Wargame series have had this happen like Lion Rampant, Gaslands, In Her Majesty’s Name (confirm name).  Of these three I have only picked up the new edition of Gaslands so far. 

 

I even picked up Frostgrave on sale before the second edition came out.  I have picked up most of the older expansions but have not gotten the new edition yet.

 

 

There are three more new editions that are coming out this year.  One for a game I have not played.  One for a game that I have played.  One for a game that I used to play.

 

I have not yet played Street Wars NYC but am in the midst of painting some gangs for it.  I will probably pick up the newer edition, and look forward to a few clarifications on the rules.  There are also two more gangs that I need to pick up, so far.  I will probably not back the kickstarter if there is one but will pick it up afterwards.

 

I have played Don’t Look Back solo already.  The rules could certainly use some tightening up, but the game seems quick, and plays well for the theme.  I have picked up a bunch of the expansions but had been putting off getting the extra rules when I heard that they were going to release a newer edition.  They are running a preorder right now of their site, and I have already ordered the Tier 1 level – with the new book and new Core Heroes, and Killer boxes.  I did not get the Tier 2 level with the extra expansions and terrain, as I will get the expansions later and this will already be pushing the duty limits.

 

Warhammer 40K will be pumping out a new 10th edition.  I haven’t played since probably the 3^rd or 4th edition but have been picking up the new editions as placeholder sets.  I have not gotten much of 8^th edition codices, or any of the 9^th edition though.  Since it seems like this edition will probably be Tyranids vs Primaris Marines, I will probably get this as well.  It sounds like they might release the rules for the armies online, at least to start, so this would be a good time to get back into it.

 

Figure Painting Total - February 2023

 When Black Site Studios had their sale on Friday Jan 13, I was able to get a few more expansions for Don’t Look Back, as well as a few more figures.  I was also able to find a Marvel Universe Loki for a reasonable price.  The only Marvel Universe figure I am missing now is the Venom figure, as well as the alternate sculpt of Black Widow.  I have a good alternate Heroclix Venom figure to use so I am not worried if I can’t complete the set. 

If I can find some cheap, I would also pick up another Black Panther, Hawkeye, and Vision.  The Black Panther I would paint as the old White Tiger.  The Hawkeye I would paint up as the Dark Avenger’s Bullseye, but I already have a few Heroclix figures of Hawkeye I can use for that as well.  Having a second Vision would allow me to paint them as both the comic version as well as the movie version.  With just one, I am not sure which way to paint it yet.

I was able to get some work done on a bunch of figures in February.  I have four that are done but still need to be clear coated.  The weather was still a bit too cold to be spraying outside.  I was able to get the Black Site Studios figures primed when we had some nice days at the beginning of the month.  This should allow me to refresh what’s on my painting table with new figures.

 

 

Bought

BM – Gotham City Sirens – 5       

BSS – Horror Pack A – 6

DCU – Eradicator – 1

DCU – Saint Walker – 1     

DLB – Darkhearts – 4

DLB – Terror on the Sea – 6

DLB – The Gourd Reaper – 4

DLB – Multipart Killer – 1

MU – Loki – 1

 

Painted

 

 

Feb total – 29 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 41, figures painted 0

Figure Painting Total – January 2023

I picked up some more figures from Black Site Studios on their pre-Christmas sale.  I'm still hadn't found much time to get anything finished in January but was able to get these assembled.  We even had some above zero days in early February so I was able to get these primed.

Bought

BSS – Alien Mercenaries – 4

BSS – Paranormal Investigators – 2

BSS – The Grimchesters – 2

BSS – Zaibatsu Bounty Hunters – 3

DLB – The Seer – 1

 

 

Painted

 

 

Jan total – 12 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2023 – figures bought 12, figures painted 0

On the painting table

 When painting miniatures, some people like to focus on a figure or two.  Some people like to batch paint a squad at a time.  I’m somewhere between the two.  I’m not painting a lot of army games right now so I usually try to paint figures that will use the similar colors. 

With the skirmish games I am painting right now, I find it helps to paint a squad at a time so I can get a cohesive look across the models. 

 

Right now, and for the last three months, my painting table has contained:

 

Ten figures from my Dracula’s America Crossroads Cult posse.  These ones have more of a generic cowboy look.

 

Nine figures from Dracula’s America for my Plains Indian posse.  I have to finish the weapons, and feathers.

 

A Blood Bowl Treeman.  I’m hung up on the shades of brown as well as the gold cup/trophy inside him.

 

The nine man Braves (Warriors) gang from Street Wars NYC.  I have to finish the shoes, vests, and weapons.  I’m not looking forward to painting the tags on the back of the vests.  I’ll probably end up using the decals provided.

 

The last Final Girl from Don’t Look Back.  I’m struggling on deciding what to paint on her skateboard deck and what color to paint her hair and hat.  I also have the Supporting Characters, and Curse on Oak Hill sitting there.  I started painting the priest but not the demon ballerina.

 

The Ghost Rider from Unmatched Redemption Row.  The flames are giving me trouble right now.  I also have to paint the metallics – chains and spikes.

 

From Marvel Universe I have Thor, Captain America, Iron Patriot, and Pyro.

 

 

Just off my table, I have the Blood Bowl Ork team waiting to be painted next.

 

 

My top 10 games of 2022

 

 

I have put together my top 10 games for 2022.  Note that these are games that I have played for the first time in 2022, not necessarily games that were released in 2022.  With all the games that I already have, I got another 13 games plus expansions last year.  Some were gifts, some were purchased at the thrift stores, and some were new.

Again I failed to play ten new games.  I did get two solo plays in this year.  I brought a couple of solo games to the table a few times (Firefly Adventures, and Big Trouble in Little China) but was unable to find the motivation to figure out how to play them.  This was also the year with the fewest new game purchases but also the first year I did not manage to play any of the new games purchased.

 

The new games were: All’s Quiet on the Martian Front, Castles in the Sky, Disney Villainous: Bigger and Badder, Dust Warfare, Gamma Wolves, Marvel Villainous – Mischief & Malice, Pulp!, Star Wars Villainous: Power of the Dark Side, Street Wars NYC, The Men Who Would be Kings, Unmatched – Battle of Legends Volume 2, Unmatched – Hell’s Kitchen, Unmatched – Redemption Row.

 

The ones I picked up not new were:

Dust Tactics Revised Core

 

None of these hit the table this year.  Some games from previous years were finally played.

 

 

7 – Codenames: Pictures – we’re still not a huge fan of the Codenames system – where you have to give clues to your team about which card to pick, and more importantly, not pick.  My wife preferred the pictures to the words in Codenames, while I prefer the words.

6 – Button Men: Beat People Up – we used to love Button Men back in the day.  It is a simple battle game using dice.  The new game has the characters printed onto cards instead of buttons.  It didn’t play as well as I remember but that could be due to the other player who was new to the system.

5 – Gold Town – I was finally able to print out the components for this game and played through it solo.  It is more about miners going to town to cash in their gold and get supplies than gunfights.  The rules are pretty detailed to go through but it plays pretty well after the first few rounds.  It doesn’t seem to overstay its time and will be worth giving it another try with more people.

4 – Marvel Splendor – it plays similar to the regular Splendor game with a few modifications.  The Marvel theme does make this more likely for us to pick up.  I am sure that there is more to this game that we have not figured out yet but we do look forward to playing it more to try to figure it out.

3 – Disney Haunted Mansion: Call of the Spirits – a simple, quick card game where you try to collect sets of ghosts without collecting too many haunt cards.  The player who collects the most haunt cards loses their largest set. 

2 – Don’t Look Back – a horror movie skirmish game.  The rules are a bit jumbled, but I was able to play this solo.  It seems like it should be a pretty fun fit for our group.

1 – Transformers Armada: Battle for Cybertron – This is based off of the Star Wars Duels system, and more importantly the new Unmatched system.  It is a simplified skirmish game using cards.  It went over well with our group so we should be able to play some of those as well.