Community All-gates : 12-31-18

Hey Everyone!  Welcome to the "Community All-gates", the weekly feature on The Realm Gate Blog where every Monday I plan to highlight something or someone from around the Age of Sigmar and Miniature Painting Community.  It might be an Event, a YouTube Channel, Blog, Army List, Model, Hobby Project, or anything else that catches my eye.  Today I want to talk about my painting tally from 2018.  It has been a whirlwind year with tons of models crossing my painting desk, most of them Witch Aelves!  In total, I have painted 392 individual models this year.  I wasn't aiming for any specific number to paint this year, but I am happy that painting 300-400 models seem to be my yearly average over the past three years.  If you don't currently track your total models painted I really recommend you begin in 2019.  A simple tally mark in your hobby journal is all you need!

Succeeding at your 2019 Warhammer (and all) Resolutions

That magical time of year has arrived where people resolve to better themselves and make sweeping changes in the following year.  The sad truth is most New Year's Resolutions fail, but it doesn't have to be the case.  The reason most resolutions fail is usually twofold.  After the excitement and initial motivation passes people often give up on their goals and more often than not people set goals that are too grand and are more dreams than goals.  This is not to say big hobby resolutions is not possible, but you need to be smart about the goals you set and how you attack them in the coming year.  As with any piece of advice you need to look at if it works for you and be sure to share any of your advice in the comments below so we can all accomplish our 2019 resolutions!

The Hobby Table : 12-26-18

Happy Hobby Holidays one and all!  We are in the middle of the Holiday season and it has been great seeing everyone's hobby and gaming going on via Twitter and Instagram.  The recent announcement of the Glomspite Gitz has gotten a large number of people enthused and the excitement is infectious!  While I am not planning on diving into the new army I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone paint them up and get them on the table.  I plan, for now, to continue expanding my Daughters of Khaine collection and enjoying this army.  As you will see below my collection is growing quite quickly!

Community All-gates : 12-24-18

Hey Everyone!  Welcome to the "Community All-gates", the weekly feature on The Realm Gate Blog where every Monday I plan to highlight something or someone from around the Age of Sigmar and Miniature Painting Community.  It might be an Event, a YouTube Channel, Blog, Army List, Model, Hobby Project, or anything else that catches my eye.  Today I wish to point you all toward a Sigmar inspired Christmas Story I wrote last year for a bit of fun (reposted below as well).  I may not be the best writer when it comes to prose, but I hope it gives you a bit of Holiday Joy today as we all eagerly await the new Battletome reveal tomorrow!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from me to all of you!

Opinions, FAQ's, and the Art of Growing the Age of Sigmar Community

There has been a lot of banter online lately about the game we all know and love, Age of Sigmar.  It is great to see the community being active and passionate about whatever aspect of the game they feel the most connection towards.  Some people really care about the competitive balance of the game, while others focus on keeping a strong narrative presence in the rules.  Others, like myself, find their joy and focus on having a large and positive community and the recent talks seem to split people and it can seem concerning, but we are all coming from the same perspective of growing our game.  In this madness that can be online debates and discussions, it is important to not just be a passive player and accept one person's thoughts as your own.  Listening to everyone and forming your own opinion is key to reaching the goal we are all after.  A strong and healthy community set around the game of Age of Sigmar.

The Hobby Table : 12-19-18

Happy Hobby Wednesday everyone!  The Holidays are here and I have failed spectacularly at taking time to relax and catch up on some small projects.  Instead of wrapping up the few hobby projects on my desk I managed to add a great deal more, but it isn't as bad as it seems.  While my hobby table is full and there is a small backlog I have no real commitments outside of painting a few models for Waaaghpaca next month so there is no stress to complete anything immediately.   I am also learning to not feel as if I to have built models on my painting desk and instead allow myself to build models as I feel knowing they may sit unpainted for a bit until I have the need to urge to paint them.  It is a small adjustment, but one that will allow me to focus more on my blog, YouTube channel, and soon to be released podcast as opposed to prioritizing my time painting for painting sake.

Community All-gates : 12-17-18

Hey Everyone!  Welcome to the "Community All-gates", the weekly feature on The Realm Gate Blog where every Monday I plan to highlight something or someone from around the Age of Sigmar and Miniature Painting Community.  It might be an Event, a YouTube Channel, Blog, Army List, Model, Hobby Project, or anything else that catches my eye.  Today I want to point you toward the announced Realms at War Uprising event next October via a tweet from Jimbo!

Rend 4 Winter 2018 Event Impressions

Over this past weekend, The Rend 4 Wargaming Club held their first 2-day Age of Sigmar gaming event in Ravenna Ohio.  The club has been growing over the past few years and have typically put on multiple 1-day events ever six months to coincide with their "seasons".  This year they decided to raise the bar and I can honestly say they put on such a great event that you would be hard pressed to find any issues.  The tables were well themed, the pairing was quick and well managed, and there was plenty of space to play!  I am very excited to see Neil L. and his club grow so quickly and for the event to be such a success.  I was in attendance at the event this past weekend and today I plan to run through all games and my overall impressions of the event. (Spoilers: It was a blast!)

The Hobby Table : 12-12-18

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I just came off my final Age of Sigmar event for 2018 hosted by the Rend 4 club, but there isn't much time to rest as Waaaghpaca 2019 is coming up quick.  I have begun playing with some lists for the event and even though I have the final unit of Witch Aelves all ready for painting they are going to have to wait as I will be taking a list without a single one of them due to a requirement of using movement trays on nits 20+ strong.  I don't feel Age of Sigmar needs movement trays and they can lead to poor tactical decisions in my mind its combat and not movement that can slow a game down.  With that in mind, I decided to work around the requirement with my list.  I don't fault anyone who uses movement trays and I am not upset in anyway an event is requiring them, but they are not for me and how I play the game.  The upside to this is I have really enjoyed exploring list ideas not using my typical go-to unit, but don't worry The Witch Aelf Horde isn't being shelved for long. 

Community All-gates : 12-10-18

Hey Everyone!  Welcome to the "Community All-gates", the weekly feature on The Realm Gate Blog where every Monday I plan to highlight something or someone from around the Age of Sigmar and Miniature Painting Community.  It might be an Event, a YouTube Channel, Blog, Army List, Model, Hobby Project, or anything else that catches my eye.  Today I want to encourage you all to head over to The Independent Characters website to check out how they are helping wargamers in California who have been affected by the Wildfires that recently happened.  They are organizing as many people as they can to help our fellow Wargamers have a bit of joy this Holiday by helping them replace armies lost.

 

Explain and Share Your Hobby

I am a blessed individual in the fact that my wife loves and supports my hobbies be it Fitness or Warhammer.  However, more often than not I see comments online or directly from friends about hoping their significant other doesn't find their recent purchase or having to earn brownie points so they can attend an upcoming event.  While I am not advocating one should simply do as they please as a relationship is a two-way street, but I feel more often than not we haven't truly explained to our partners the love and passion we have for our hobby.  This seems to lead to an unhealthy idea that it is better to hide purchases or attempt to trick our partners into letting us go off to have a weekend with our friends rolling dice.  Playing Warhammer is the same as any other pursuit be it sports, cooking, fitness, etc. and no one seems to hide those from one another so why should Warhammer be the same?  As with any advice you need to really examine if it is right for you.  This is my personal experience and my situation was right for the advice I layout, but as with anything, it might not be the best for everyone.

The Hobby Table : 12-5-18

Hey Everyone!  It feels like yesterday for my last Hobby Table post as the week flew by me quickly.  A big part of why it flew by so quickly was my final preparations for this weekend's two-day event being hosted by the Rend 4 club over in Ohio.  Last night I set my army out on its display board to see how it will all layout and I was quite pleased with how full it was with 150 Witch Aelves covering almost every inch of it!  It should be some crazy games with the army and I will be sure to do a full write up of the event and my games next week.

Community All-gates : 12-3-18

Hey Everyone!  Welcome to the "Community All-gates", the weekly feature on The Realm Gate Blog where every Monday I plan to highlight something or someone from around the Age of Sigmar and Miniature Painting Community.  It might be an Event, a YouTube Channel, Blog, Army List, Model, Hobby Project, or anything else that catches my eye.  Today I wanted to encourage you to go pick up the latest Black Library releases about the luckiest, or perhaps the unluckiest, Slayer there ever was. Gotrek Gurnisson makes his way into the Mortal Realms in all his stubborn glory.