2014 in Review

Its that time of year when I look back and reflect on some of the major wargaming related events of the past 365(ish) days, and thank those who have had a positive influence on my wargaming experience for 2014 . So without further delay lets get to it.

One of the big things to happen this year for me was the release of the new Wood Elf book, finally after all those years of a 6th edition book we got a brand new 8th edition book and did it live up to the wait? Well no not really. If you were following the rumours about the book as much as I was then you couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the new book especially since some of the rumours that came out right before the book went up for pre-order had skirmishers in core with the Strenght-4-at-short-range-bow being given to all and hatred Beastmen being an army wide rule. Despite all that the book isn’t bad just disappointing especially in the areas where the book got nerfed, forest sprits where never broken and didn’t need the -1 strength, dryads were fine as skirmishers and removing that rule hasn’t really done anything for them at all. On the positive side the new book did modernise the Wood Elves with ASF and access to all 8 rule book lores as well as High and Dark. Overall the book is good but I wish it were better.

On the topic of GW codices and army books there were a lot published this year with 8 40k codices and 2 Fantasy army books being published this year alone as well as a new 40k edition and the Shield of Baal Wh40k campaign, and while they score points for quantity the loose points for quality with most of the codices from Orks onwards being dull and uninspired; the last 3 40k codices didn’t have any new units in them and all the new kits that came out were unnecessary redos of old kits, some of which (the Dark Eldar Archon leaps to mind) didn’t need the redo.

I, of course, haven’t been the only one to notice or talk about this with many GW hobbyists taking note of what has been going on and voicing their complaints. One such example would be the Jaded Gamercast and if you have been following this blog over the last few months then you will be familiar with them. I started listening to the Jaded Gamercast back in February after finding their podcast on a list of 40k podcasts on Bell of Lost Souls with the first episode i listened to being the review of the Imperial Knights codex, since then I have listened to each new podcast as it come out each week. They too have noticed the downwards trend in quality of GW codexes and how dull each new one has been when compared to the last version of the book.

Entertainment isn’t all I have gotten from the Jaded Gamercast. Early this month I quit GW in the sense that I decided to stop buying GW stuff, sell all but one of my GW armies (the Wood Elves got to stay) and decided to stop giving them time on my blog (this post is the obvious exception, I can’t do a 2014 Dice Odyssey Review and not mention GW) and the Jaded Gamercast is the main reason for this, the post "Content Shift” explains the situation. At the end for the day I can say that not only has the Jaded Gamercast provided me with excellent podcast entertainment but they also got me off GW, and for both those points I thank them.

One of the reasons why I clung onto GW for so long was that i didn’t have a game system to that I liked enough to replace Warhammer Fantasy, but then I discovered Firestorm Armada, Planetfall and Spartan games. After quitting GW I have been focused on Firestorm and Planetfall, immersing myself in the lore and rules, designing lists and planning tactics. The game systems are, mechanically speaking, very well done with easy to understand rules that don’t bog you down. The models are very nice and easy to assemble as well as being affordablily priced and the Core and faction rules are all free to download from Spartan’s website. All in all it has been the perfect company/game systems for me to get into and I have been enjoying myself greatly.

There are a few people I would like to thank before closing this post, these people have constant source of positive hobby for me over 2014:

The Jaded Gamercast: As previously mentioned these guys have not only provided me with hours of excellent audio entertainment but also provided the reason for me to finally abandon GW . On top of that they were also the people who I learned about Firestorm and Spartan Games from. Thank you guys for the excellent podcast, it is appreciated and keep up the good work in 2015.

The Imperial Patrol: Jayden started his own blog this year and he has done a very good job with it. Well designed and set up as well as providing great posts about a variety of issues, Jayden’s blog is defiantly worth a look at. On top of that he has been a gracious and encouraging opponent regardless of what game we were playing at the time.

Fields of Blood: On top of proving good content through his blog Pete also has run the majority of the WHFB tournaments that i attended this year, all of which I have enjoyed thoroughly. Despite my now fading desire to play WHFB I still can say that I really enjoyed each Fields of Blood run event that I went to this year, as each was run to a very high standard.

HMS Distraction: Nick has been a constant source of WHFB games of the course of the year as well as providing some interesting discussions about WHFB. He has been an excellent opponent throughout the year and it has always been a joy to game with him. Although he is moving out of the area I looking forward to playing him again sometime in the near future.

Kapiti Wargames Club: The Kapiti Wargames club has been my local club for the last 2 years. Through it I have been able to participate in one of my favourite hobbies on a weekly basis. It has a very nice and welcoming member base and I encourage anyone in the area to come on a Thursday night (starting from 22nd of Jan next year as their last night was Thursday last week) take a look around and perhaps get a few games in. 

Mighty Ape: Mighty Ape has become NZ’s biggest online hobby retailer after Slave to Painting shut down. They are on this list mainly due to the excellent customers service they provide and the fact that they usually cut 10% off the retail price of most of their hobby products. If you are looking to buy online in NZ then give Mighty Ape a look.

So there we have it, my end of year post. I hope everyone has a enjoy bane relaxing break. In terms of what will be coming up next year for me and this blog except the Welcome to Firestorm series to continue as well as narrative battle reports. I have a few ideas for some different posts but I won’t talk more about those until I can nail down the idea and how I will do it. Finally thank you to everyone who has read or commented on my blog, hopefully It entertained you in some way. Until next time.  
Rex