The last two years haven't been slow. School and work got in the way of a good time and I had to find that time again. The great thing is that I had some extra gold pieces from working and that allowed me to keep up the purchasing habit, if not the gaming part of it. I made a number of store owners pretty happy during that time.Even better, the time I did have to play these games saw my son hobby and use two armies and my wife to even get into a game or two. And we planned ahead- we're currently waiting on a Kickstarter to arrive and have another one for next year. That's even more gaming in the future! And with the eternally reluctant family, no less? The last two years may have been desolate, but it looks like the next two will be rather rich...
The last time I blogged, I regaled everyone with my love of Games Workshop's current direction and my full support of their revival of specialist-style games. That was small fish compared to what's happened since then. The release of the bubble-world Age of Sigmar, followed by the release of Age of the Emperor, er, Dark Imperium were earth-shaking already. Now we see the release of Shadespire followed by Necromunda, which are apparently torrents of awesome themselves. And in between we saw the release of some ridiculously cool terrain and objective pieces, which all have drained my wallet. Luckily, I haven't missed it all and I have even more regaling to do. But I might get to all that in some other posts.
I also had to throw some change at Warlord Games for their Test of Honour game- a fantastic skirmish game for a quasi-historical period and setting that we all love but see very little of in general circulation (I've seen many more Space Marines than Samurai on the tabletops, and that might be sad). Even my wife loves this game so much that we've ordered some terrain for it. And remember, my wife is the smart one!
We got some Dungeons & Dragons played as well. Unfortunately, scheduling became a severe issue and that didn't last long. D&D will always be my first love, but I seem to have lost some of my storyteller's wit and I'm pining for the days where I can play myself. I am currently wrapping in some family (my brother used to play, so he's my first victim) and trying to build up a group again because Wizards made it too easy for us. They released the Tomb of Annihilation book, which means that I don't have to think for a while or, and this is my personal hope, someone else in the group wants to DM and I can play! I love the new edition despite the fact that the company is starting that overwhelming release schedule of books again and I can't wait to learn from Xanathar in the upcoming release.
Speaking of D&D and the plans there beyond building a group and playing again, the wife bought a set of dry-erase tiles and then okayed a Kickstarter for a bunch of fantasy and dungeon terrain. With my collection of miniatures, those things point to some awesome dungeoneering opportunities, giving me even more reason to want to play again!!! I can just imagine those beautiful layouts taking up the dining room table and surrounded by eager players holding gobs of dice and pushing their adventurers around the 3D representation of the scariest dungeon they've ever seen... And, thanks to my wife and her infinite attempts to appease her grown-up child-husband, those days are coming.
We got some X-Wing in, played a bunch of Pokemon (I haven't changed my beat-stick deck yet as it almost never loses, but I still come in second in each of the tournies we've done... HOW!?!?), remembered some Star Realms and Munchkin, and added some laser beams and goats in the form of Exploding Kittens. It hasn't been a very fun two years, but there has been fun found whenever I can corral the people. After all, I can't spend all my time doing homework when I'm not working, right?
I've been very excited and never disappointed at all that GW is doing and I'm even happier to have a role in bringing another great game company to life through hefty Kickstarters. But I'll go into detail on all that stuff later (I hope). Right now, I'm more interested in what you guys have been doing while I was busy. What games are you excited about, have been playing, or are really curious about? Have I missed anything that you've enjoyed? Let me know in the comments below!
