January
I started the year off right with a Kingdom Death: Monster campaign. I built a batch of new survivors and watched in disbelief as they met their demise in the most horrific ways imaginable. I do love KD:M.
January was also Polar Vortex. I took an early war Partisan force to this one-day, three-game tournament and won Best Sports!
February
As is tradition, the majority of February was spent in crunch time for Adepticon. Ben and I had to finish our Kriegsmarine / Grenadiers army for Bolt Action Doubles, but we did find time for a few other games as well. We continued the Massive Darkness campaign (as of Dec. 21 we are still not done!) with Tom and played Weta Workshop’s amazingly produced but disappointing GKR: Heavy Hitters.
March
Adepticon is always the highlight of my hobby year and 2018 was no exception! I TO’d for the first time – Bolt Action Combat Patrol, Ben and I won Best Theme in Bolt Action Doubles, Dexter took Best Axis General at Combat Patrol, I took a hobby class with the legend that is Duncan Rhodes and just had the best of times with the whole crew.
April
With all the historicals I was painting I needed a break. So, during April I painted up a set of the Wandering Monsters from CMON’s Massive Darkness and had an absolute blast painting all the colors that are not German field grey. I also had a chance to play in a Warhammer Underwolrds event at Adam’s shop. Man, what at fantastic game. I need to get the new set – those Moon Clan are too fun.
May
It was a 12-hour drive to Warlord Games Con. Was it worth it? Not at all. Did we have fun? Damn right we did. Besides a disappointing Bolt Action tournament, we went and saw Deadpool 2. Actually, that alone was worth the drive.
Preparation for Operation Sting was were the majority of my hobby time went in May. My goodness I’m I glad I started early. That army look much, much longer than I thought it would.
June
The Chicago Dice Travel Team was in full swing! We rolled up to the Bugeater GT and DieCon for two great tournaments. That was 11 games of Bolt Action over the course of two weekends. Bugeater has become a club favorite and we can’t wait for the next one!
Operation Sting prep continued…
July
I started a new KD:M campaign that is still on-going! We’ve played more Lantern Years than any campaign I’ve been involved with before and it’s just the most insane game you can imagine. July was also the arrival of one of my new favorite games – A Song of Ice and Fire: The Miniatures Game from CMON and Darksword. Ranks and flanks are back baby!
Oh, and of course, serious hobby time for Operation Sting.
August
With a family vacation, a couple beer festivals and a few cabin trips I didn’t accomplish much hobby in August. But there was no shortage of games! Played a bunch of classics with my brothers and sister – Codenames, Lords of Waterdeep, Carcassone, Catan. It was a needed break from painting.
September
Back to it! Operation Sting was just over two months away serious work needed to be done. I was starting to feel the pressure with my army, I was creating a winter German army and the goal was to have a mix of winter uniforms, camouflage and greatcoats but I just couldn’t nail the camo scheme. I did find time for another session of Kingdom Death.
October
Another double event month! Ben, Dexter and I played in the Michigan GT and will be back for more next year! Then it was another clash with Dexter, Paul and myself at Dragonfall. While that was happening Dexter finished his incredible conversion work on his Sturmtiger for Operation Sting and I attend the MMSI Chicago Show – wow! I hope to enter next year.
November
Operation Sting is here! It really came down to the wire and without Paul helping Ben and I out with some final basing we might not have made it! It’s with great sadness that Operation Sting 2018 is the last one. Luckily, it ended on a high note. Between the four of us we had a great showing and and 20 solid games of Bolt Action (Part 1 – Part 2).
Post Sting I had planned on diving into Age of Sigmar with a Beasts of Chaos army but Adepticon 2019 is already fast approaching and I’ve lost my hobby thunder for AoS. I know I’ll circle back, just not sure when.
December
Started the month off with a delightful Friendsgiving! One of the highlights of the year for sure. Ben and I have dialed in on our theme for Adpeticon 2019 – U.S. Army at Kasserine Pass, it’s going to be nuts! Ben is already off the races with the tanks, I’m working on the infantry. I did get a game of ASOIF in and have another planned. I need to play a lot more to get ready for the tournament at Adepticon. Usually around the end of year hobby progress slows but games played goes through the roof – so far, this will be no exception!
2018 was a damn good year. What a great time to be in the hobby. So many games to play, models to paint and tournaments to attend.
2019 and beyond
I want to set down a few hobby goals for 2019. I’ve never been good at sticking to these lists as so many new projects come up throughout the year. But here is what I’m looking at right now:
- TO for Adepticon Bolt Action Combat Patrol – Bigger and badder than last year
- Enter at least two models into Crystal Brush – Current plan is for The Crusader and The Raider from Nocturna
- Finish U.S. Army for Adepticon Bolt Action Doubles
- Build and paint 6 point Late Roman SAGA warband and compete in a tournament
- Build and paint an Italian armored platoon for Bugeater GT 2019
- Run and play in a Battle of France Bolt Action campaign in summer 2019
- Paint Frostgrave warband
- Finish Beasts of Chaos army (2,000 points) for Age of Sigmar
- Build and paint six late-war French units for Black Powder
- Build and Paint a 40 point Free Folk army for ASOIF
- Attend Michigan GT, Bugeater GT, Dragonfall, a Battlefield North event and I’m sure something else will popup
- Keep the blog going and write more reviews, more event coverage and more tutorials
Ummmm, well, looks like I better get started!
Chicago Dice 