That is sooo Last Year (Part 2)

Continuing from Part 1:

In September is was time for the third SAGA Storm event.  (Previous 2015 and 2014 coverage HERE and HERE.)  Same location and arrangements as last time, but this time we were split into four teams with the final outcome/placement determined in two mega battles at the end of the day.  We actually used the adjacent indoor pavilion this time for the food and mega battles which provided much better lighting for those late games.  Great people, minis, and terrain (and location) make events like SAGA Storm tons of fun!

3rd time's the charm!

Mmmmm...  good stuff!

The seeding is set.  Team Axe plays Sword, and Spear plays Shield.

Time for some all-weather indoor SAGA action!

Although too late for the event, this year's SAGA Storm dice arrived soon afterwards.  So did the custom wolf dice I ordered based on my warlord's banner.  Both sets turned out great!

Also late in September I got to play my very first game of the Age of Sigmar version of Warhammer.  I'll never be a big fan after they completely wiped out the Old World background that I loved for 20+ years, nor did I ask for a skirmish game to replace my mass army Warhammer battles.  However, it's a pretty cool game, and Games Workshop did what they had to do as a company so good on them.

We played some kind of border battle between Eric's Stirland Witch Hunter Empire and my Vampire Count legions of Sylvania.  The only thing that limited my enjoyment was that I was still learning the rules.  Would of loved to play again, but unfortunately that hasn't happened.  So I'm pretty much back to square one with the rules. Ha!

Dad's burial took us back to our home town of Long Prairie, a place I hadn't been back to for over 20 years.  The experience was pretty surreal. Some things had changed drastically, while other things in this rural community had not. I definitely felt like I was stepping back in time.  This makes my 2016 highlights because of the large Veterans Memorial Park that had been erected in 2002 on a prominent corner of Main Street.  I might share a few more pictures later, but for now this gives you pretty good idea.

November brought a rare return to Middle Earth with a little smash-fest between the dwarves and Eric's goblins.  I don't actually remember a lot about this battle other than it had something to do with the goblins stealing and having to hold some dwarven ale.  Other than that, I fielded the King's Champion for the first time, and of course had a lot of fun.

2016 wasn't the best for number of reasons, but I'm trying to look forward to a better 2017.  I've been working on my BA Italians again and just took part in fun little (750 point) BA campaign day.  More on those later when I get the chance.  Hopefully Der Feldmarschall will be popping up on your blog roll a bit more regularly.  Thanks again for dropping by!
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That is sooo Last Year (Part 1)

Sometimes before you can go forward, you got to go back.

I've been able to hobby on a more regular basis lately, so the next step is to get the old blog going again.  I've always enjoyed my time blogging and making the rounds in the gaming blogosphere, but my time allocated to the computer/Internet is more limited than it used to be.  Along with that I'm a real creature of habit when it comes to the Internet.  Some habits are hard to brake, and some once broken, are hard to start up again.

So this is my obligatory "get caught up" post as I try (again) to get Der Feldmarschall chugging back down the tracks.  I have been a bit more active on Facebook and Twitter, so click on those links if you want to check out/follow me there.  I'm not a big fan of FB, but the local SAGA and Bolt Action groups use it.  Although it has been nice to see so many familiar blogger faces on there.  So pretending that everyone cares what I've been up to, here we go!

I'll try to do this chronologically, so 2016 starts with Bolt Action.  I'll get more into my BA stuff in a later post, but locally BA really got going in the summer of 2015.  A "Twin Cities Bolt Action" FB group was made (up to 131 members now), Warlord Games had a few sales, miniatures were bought, mistakes were made, and 2016 had me starting a desert Italian force for the Operation Torch themed campaign event, Gathering in the Desert being held in Glendale, Arizona. (Feb 20-21)

"Ach du lieber!" Rolled a FUBAR in my first game.

It was perfect timing since I was already heading to AZ to visit my parents who have spent January through March out there for several years.  Very fun campaign event with about 8 players on each Axis and Allied side lead by team captains.  Although there were some separate awards, you basically were trying to win as a side.  Tables each had their own scenarios/missions as well as other objectives worth additional campaign points.  Captains made the table assignments and also allocated "strategic" assets such as Air Strike or Attack at Dawn, etc.

Yes, British artillery really was THAT effective!

Little game of SAGA later in the week with GitD organizers Tim K. and Mike W.

I try to leave negative or personal stuff off the blog, but we (my family) were hit with the worst news in April when my Mom and Dad returned home to Minnesota.  Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and was given very little time to live if left untreated.  Needless to say priorities shifted for the rest of the year.  As some of you may know from FB, Dad finally lost the battle in late October, so I'm very thankful for the time spent in AZ as well as some very good memories made during the summer and early fall.

Gen. Custer, apparently no worse for wear.

Along with taking in a number of Old West sites while in Arizona, we also visited the local Fort Snelling for the 4th of July.  I'll cover more on our visit(s) in later post, but this first time we got Dad to go along.  Other than touring the fort there's a number of activities during the day including a 1812 mock battle told as it was back in the day.

Gaming for the rest of the year was pretty sparse, but looking back there are actually few worth sharing.  With my Viking warband is already all painted up, I did get in a little SAGA action.  The first was a fun little 6 turn campaign during the summer using the newly released Age of the Wolf supplement.  There were a few hiccups, but it was fun to game again and a chance to play a number of new opponents.  Except for one lopsided game, I really enjoyed the rest of my battles even when my Warlord wasn't doing too well.  :-)

SAGA Sunday!

 Various Age of the Wolf campaign games.

 Another event that I'll cover more later but touch on briefly, was an August visit to the local Brickmania Toyworks Saturday open house.  The huge exhibition actually featured two local LEGO clubs, Brickmania being the "historical" one.

I have a few more things from 2016 to share, but this post is getting a little long.  So I'll be back soon with "Part 2."  Thanks for stopping by!!
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