It's that time of the year

For the SABG 50. As usual, voting will be from now (~Memorial Day) until just short of July 4th. You know what to do.

Squeeeeee!

Yesterday I finally finished my first Hordes of the Things army project, a 60-point Skaven army made up of well over 100 miniatures. Painting took just under ten months, proving it's not about having time to paint, it's about having patience. Everything is plastic except the general (back right). Most are GW figures straight out of the box, but the Beast bases (back left corner) combine pieces from the Packmaster & Giant Rats box with loose rats from the Plague Monk sprue, and the wizard base (front center) is the optional Plague Furnace crew from the Screaming Bell set, with the pull ropes altered to look like banners.

Here's my favorite guy:


That's right. He's going to kick your ass with a piece of paper.

Who can stand up to the vermin horde?


Maybe this guy. But he's going to need a lot of friends....

Next TI3 Expansion on the way

Has anyone else pre-ordered this expansion. I took a look at the rules and it looks fantastic. I am very interested in the new political rules and the "Lazax Scenario".

Anyone up for trying to plan out a game before the expansion is released? Perhaps as soon as it comes out?

Checking In

So... an upcoming house move has momentarily curtailed my planned solitaire game quest for 2011. To be honest, I have kind of decided that playing board games solitaire is only slightly more entertaining than doing an income tax return, so perhaps for the best.

In the mean time, I've been wasting life's precious moments on the following:

• DoomRL: The latest version of the rogue-like incarnation of all things Doom. As previously reported, the turn-based nature of this game makes it feel quite similar to the FFG board game, i.e., rolicking good fun. Besides, ASCII splash damage from the BFG is fun to watch.

• Men of War: Take the hard core detail of Squad Leader and port it into a Russian-made RTS, crank up the mission difficulty to max, and you have Men of War. I love an RTS that demonstrates the difference between a 1941 Russian T-34/76 and a KV-1b. The scale is individual soldiers, guns, and vehicles. Give the demo and quick ride on Steam, and let me know if you ever want to try some co-op Comp Stomp.

• GMT's Fighting Formations: Since I've been snuggling the rulebook and playbook for this game in the spoon position each night for the past month, I thought it prudent to at least get it on the table and push the pieces around a bit. Yep, solitaire sucks, but, wow! What a finely crafted system. I can't wait to play a lot more.

• Shopping: Various fun things I've ordered: Ikusa, 1830, the new Twilight Imperium 3 expansion (of course!), Yggdrasil (love the theme), Arkham Horror Miskatonic (the system is starting to drive me insane though), Awful Green Things from Outer Space (pure nostaglia).

• Fighting Games: Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the new Mortal Kombat. Good stuff! My reflexes are not what they used to be... and I never was any good to begin with. Let's play!

Alright... time to go pack some more boxes!