Brush and Boltgun 2017 Roundup
Adam:
2017 has been an interesting year for hobby. Most of my successes are stacked towards the front half of the year, as a new job in May began stealing most of my weekends due to travelling around the country, slowing down production on my armies. Whilst I often take things away with me to paint, I am frequently too tired (or to drunk, or both) to do much on them. The second half of the year has been pulled back through our Brush and Boltgun hobby challenges and online Skype painting sessions, which have got me back into the habit of doing a bit of hobby on a school-night.
Gaming wise, we have successfully played a Call of Cthulhu campaign. Started another, played quite a bit of 40k and 30k early last year, tried out a number of new game systems and painted a decent (but not massive) amount of figures. However, there are some stand out moments that deserve a bit more of an in depth review:
Gaming Successes:
As mentioned above, Call of Cthulhu is the first roleplaying game that our group has played together. It has been great fun defeating the denizens of the Great Ones in my alter egos of Joseph Geils (Marxist Radio Broadcaster) and Maxine Gritt (heiress of the Gritt Agricultural Corporation). Our game is always a great laugh and though we may not always stay on topic we tend to progress through the adventures at a decent pace. Rob, of Brush and Boltgun fame, is proving a great DM. And I am not just saying that so he is nice to my characters, honest!
Besides this, my main success would just be keeping my hand in with the sheer amount of game systems that we play. This year I believe we have played: 7th Edition Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000 and 30,000, SAGA, Muskets and Tomahawks, Bolt Action (probably the most played this year), Necromunda, Infinity, Blood and Plunder and Dead Man’s Hand [Don’t forget Blood Bowl – Bob]. No wonder I have a hard time remembering rules!
Painting/Hobby Successes:
As I mentioned, this year has been a mixed bag, with most of my achievements coming in the first half of the year. My main achievement was completing my third Allied Napoleonic army for Black Powder- the Prussians. These join my Austrians and Russians to make a monster “Downfall of Napoleon” force for 1813/14. If I do say so myself, if looks rather meaty:
The other army that I completed was my Bolt Action Italians. As some of them are on holiday at my parents at present I can’t give a more up to date picture. The tanks in the picture below aren’t finished, but between June and August this year I completed a full 1250pt Bolt Action army (the models below plus an artillery piece not pictured).
They are mainly veterans, Bersaglieri and Alpine troops, but some conscripts in the mix too. The whole reason they are Bersaglieri is that they are Captain Bertolleri’s regiment from ‘Allo ‘Allo. A good reason for an army, or what a mistake-a to make-a? Only time will tell…
My other major hobby success was my Blood Bowl team, the Middenheim Towers, following our B&B Hobby Challenge. You can read about this here.
Release of the Year:
For me, receiving my Kickstarter for Blood and Plunder, a game of pirate battles, was by far the biggest event of the year.
The minis are cool, the rules system is really smooth and innovative, it even allows ship battles! AND as first time backers, Dave and I even got our names in the rulebook! Thea attention to detail is fantastic, even down to the hessian bags the dice came in. I got very in to this when it arrived in March this year. Unfortunately, as good as the game was, progress wasn’t sustained and the minis are still in a half painted state. A few examples are shown below.
This is definitely a game I will keep on with, though. Once I get painting again my French and British pirates will rule the seas. Yarr!
Looking forward to 2018:
Next year, we have two Kickstarters backed which will arrive: Carnevale (18th Century skirmish, where the old ones have broken through to earth and are terrorising Venice) and the follow up to Blood and Plunder, called No Peace Beyond the Line. This adds in extra factions such as Dutch and Native Carribeans. I can’t wait!
I am also looking forward to getting to grips with the new 40K rules, and maybe even getting my 30K Night Lords army finished. Although, if that happens, pigs may fly in 2018!
Rob:
For me, 2017 has been an interesting year. As well as coming to terms with parental responsibility, Mike and I decided to really go for it with Brush and Boltgun, and I’m so glad that Dave and Adam joined us, and hope to add more to the mix next year.
2017 Releases and Kickstarters:
Well this year saw the launch of Warhammer 40k 8th Edition, and the release of a whole load of Death Guard miniatures which I was astounded by. Having never really liked the 40k Death Guard, I went in wallet blazing with each release, which has given me plenty of miniatures to paint, plenty of content for the Youtube channel, plenty of content for the blog, and for Instagram. In terms of painting them, this is where I’m up to;
Finished/nearly finished:
Not started/have seen a bit of paint:
Although the miniatures aren’t 100% fully posable, you can change them to an extent. I’ve chopped a few wrists and re-angled a few weapons, but generally, you can make them different enough to look awesome. If you can work with Green Stuff, you can make them look unreal, I’m sure. I’m not, so didn’t even consider that as an option. Content for the blog and videos has slowed most progress, working most of the time and spending time with the family limits the time I have to hobby, and as we’ve wanted to keep it coming here, the army is about 30-40% done. Also slowing progress was the release of Necromunda (see my thoughts on it here). I loved the original, and from what I can tell, will love this. As most folk are waiting for new gang releases, it’s given me time to start painting up the scenery in our Hobby Guilt posts and some videos. I did manage to almost finish my Sons of Horus army, and will finish them off in the new year.
Games-wise, we’ve played plenty of Call of Cthulhu, which I’ve totally enjoyed. The game itself is great, but the laughs we have give me great memories. We also started the year with Warhammer 30k, gaming once a month for a few months before life took over and everything became more difficult. We’ve had a few games of 40k, and played a lot of board games, and in the past week, Shadespire – it’s a REALLY good game. Blood Bowl also took off with us, and we’re hoping to get more of that done soon.
I’ve received a few Kickstarters, and I’m looking forward to the arrival of Carnevale (see Adam’s post for a description). We played half a campaign of Shadows of Brimstone, which is also ace, and I’m still waiting for the bulk of that to arrive.
All in all, it’s been a great year for hobby, so I’m hoping that 2018 will be just as productive.
Mike:
Gaming Successes:
I haven’t played as many games this year as I would like. However, I say that most years. Last year I managed a few weekends at the local store playing games, but for one reason or another, that hasn’t worked this year. We have played bits and pieces, including the return to Blood Bowl, which is still a brilliant game. (I’m pretty sure that I won my first game ever as well.) The success of our Call of Cthulhu campaign was a particular highlight; I’ve been desperate to get some role playing going for years, but normally it falls flat on its a… Next, I’m trying to get them to start a Star Trek RPG (With your support we can do this!)
Painting/Hobby Successes:
With Brush and Boltgun, I’m probably more happy with my painting that I have ever been. Perhaps not with the quantity, but with the quality. (Perhaps this has actually slowed me down! Oh no!)
Of particular highlights are our Roboute Guilliman challenge (click here). I feel I did a pretty good job getting him to look as good as the one in White Dwarf:
I’m also very happy with my Ferrus Mannus:
Which culminated in me winning the Armies on Parade in our local store (Games Workshop Liverpool) with my Iron Hands. (Which you can find the guide for here). Also my video on how I painted the board:
Release of the Year:
This is a tough one, but for me the general releases of the year are the Adeptus Custodes range. Every model in it is amazing. I’d have to go with the Telemon Dreadnought as the one that sticks out most of all. However, this year has been a great year for models. The Necromunda models are fantastic, and I remember the originals coming out.
Looking forward to 2018:
I’m looking forward to getting back to painting (including saving up for an airbrush!) and starting on our March to War challenge. (More about that in the future) Dark Angels were my first army, but I’ve always tinkered with them and never had a playable army that was fully painted, as I often repainted things then got distracted by something else. So I’m looking forward to finally putting the army together and painting as much as I can.
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