November 2023 review

Welcome to december - the last few weeks of 2023. But start with some proper good news. CRISIS is back!

The once largest wargaming convention on the european mainland returns in an adapted variant. The pauses of Covid and the barriers due to Brexit took a toll on the show and thus forced the organisators to look for alternatives. In 2022 they went for LARDwerp, with a similar format in 2023. But in the next year the Tinsoldiers of Antwerp will colaborate with the HQ Gaming Club to organise a new show on November 2nd, as usual the first weekend in November. And we're already excited to be there.

I stumbled across the announcement of this book via Tuomas Pirinen, and it was on pre-order on Ral Partha for 40 GBP. With shipping, customs and fees that was not that appealing, but they distributed the book via Amazon (not a ref-link) as well and I was able to pick it up for 49 EURs. It arrived on time, on friday. Have to say, it is a smaller than I expected and while it covers a lot of Illustrations by John Blanche, the paperback isn't the right frame for this. At least not for that price point. It is an interesting book, surely surving the wave currently, but in my opinion more something around the area of 25-30 EURs. Especially as I picked up Voodoo Forest by John Blanche for 29 EUR.

I was able to finish Deliverance Lost as an Audiobook. Interesting story, good writing by Gav Thorpe and once again a proper job by Tom Jacobs for the narration in German. Beyond that, you have to start 'em young and to prepare for later Dungeon Crawling, we played some board games like Labyrinth Junior.

November was obviously pretty heavy on Legions Imperialis. And it was quite the roller coaster. I have this box since August and was really hyped about the release. Then it was postponed and I couldn't talk for about 3 months about it, while brewing on my ideas. The release of the articles on here created a lot of feedback and we noticeably gained some new readers. (Hello there, and welcome to the show). And while among that was a lot of positive feedback and people understanding what we do here, and why we do it, but unfortunately I have to say some people out there are lacking some rather basic social skills.

• The whole scale discussion. Quarter scale has been set since 2018, with the release of Adeptus Titanicus and was reaffirmed with Aeronautica. Miniatures in Legions Imperialis are 25% of their current (!) 30k counter part. Fact. Full stop. It doesn't matter if it is 8mm to the eyes, 10mm to the head and keep going arguing if this is 8mm, 10mm or 1:287. Especially if you start with stuff like, these models are 10 ft in real life. Yeah, that's imaginary data, in a fictional universe, written somewhere down the line just to provide lore, not a scientific book. The models are the size they are, to be able to fit in the sprue or on the table. And in Legions they are 25% of what ever they are in full scale. Everything else is completely irrelevant.
• I provide this for free. No paywall, no begging for kofi, no patreon. You may ask for additional pictures or information, and according to my ressources of time and stock, I'll likely add these in the next article. So asking nicely and maybe scroll down or read the other articles or post, where the info was already provided helps a lot. I don't want to use watermarks on the pictures, so if you use them (which you shouldn't without asking), at least give me credit.
• "I need the measurements ... for scientific reason". Yes, we know, you want to print your own miniatures, because 3d printers goes brrrt, GW is evil, whatever. If you do basic research (like reading the first item on this list) you can find it out, instead of being the 347th person asking the same question. We're not going to discuss the ethical topic of 3d printing. Just make sure to spend money, where you use the gaming facilities (and if you're playing at your buddies, bring some drinks and/or pay for the food).
• I am truly amazed by the capacties of some people, detecting some RAW/RAI loop hole from angled pictures of a browse through youtube video of the rule book, while being completely incompetent to processing information that was written multiple times in a review.

Beyond that, my plans to join in the January event of the next Battle for Uulda have been crossed. Not only takes this the opportunity from me for a gaming weekend, but usually the deadline of such an event is a huge improvement for motivation to get things painted. This means, I'll try to arrange something different, that creates a similar kind of pressure to things done.

While the release was yesterday, a lot of box pictures (these add so much value to everybodies feed) have been posted and I am working on the next content. We will paint up armies, we will build and prepare terrain, along with objective markers. And some unusual items among them. I have some wild life prepared, for example this sand worm (which perfectly fits my desert table as a random encounter) or the swarm of tyranid spores, which could be either used like a moving forest (like an elephant herd, moving randomly on the table).

I came across this Minotaur Tank in Iron Warriors colours by Mark Filsy Philipps, and it looked so stunning, that I wanted to recreate that as an mission objective. There is this siege gun and we want to it gone. Or the Arvus Lighter crashed / landed, and you have to get there before your opponent. And of course, trying to recreate the amazing crashed thunderhawk from the Forge World Realm of Battleboard (here painted in the fitting Imperial Fists colours by Studio Jolly Roger).

I am still assembling the remaining sprues, as I have two core boxes. Quite a lot of Solar Auxilia, which will be the Cthonian Headhunters, along with first paint on some printed additions to my Imperial Fists.

A bit as a surprise, because I still thought, there would be the option that all the fuzz by Mantic would just be for a supplement for the dice game, but The Walking Dead - All out War returns. We played the game early in 2016 at the preview event, along with covering the All Out War Starter Set and Terrain Booster as reviews on here.

And looking further forward on the next weeks until our holiday break, what's on the schedule?

• More Legions Imperialis. Fluffy theme content on army building along with terrain.
• Christmas Miniatures!
• Bolt Action backlog, two vehicles, an infantry box and the Case Blue supplement
• Marvel Crisis Protocol, but this might be moved to January (or maybe with the next What-If season around christmas, it depends on my free time)
• some random retro stuff from Warhammer