Goodbye 2013...

2013 is just about over and what a year it has been. GW has surprised us all by churning out codices, army books, supplements, and new models with a frequency uncharacteristic of their business model. Where will all of this takes us in 2014 is unknown but you can be sure it will be one hell of a ride. Since everyone and their brother is posting articles on what this means for the future of war gaming and tournaments I am not going to bother adding my opinions in this article. Instead I just plan on riding this out and focus on what I have planned in the upcoming year. So grab a beer and join me as we take a look at what has transpired over the past year and what the authors of the Mandulian Chapel have planned for 2014.

 2013 - A milestone year for the Mandulian Monks

February - Hyv3mynd, Calypso2ts, and Crispy invite me (grubnards) to become a blog author for the Mandulian Chapel and I post my first article on 2/26/13 about the importance of terrain and the impact it has on our games.

March - After much talk and consideration, the authors of the Mandulian Chapel decide to create our own gaming club, The Grand Strategery. Crimthann is invited to become a guest blogger for the Mandulian Chapel.

June - Our second annual Parkhammer is a wild success. This was our second year running the weekend long event in Watkins Glen State Park where members of the western NY gaming community, various clubs, family, and friends can come to hang out while eating some great food, play games, or hike the gorge. Our first year brought in around a dozen people and this year we more than tripled that number. We held our first painting competition and Mike Nogle, from club Beef n' Wing, swept aside all contestants in the wizard staff competition. June also saw the introduction of Jay Woodcock, aka "Da Cock" as a guest blog author for the Mandulian Chapel. Jay is widely known in the gaming community as one of the Tournament Organizers for the Da Boyz GT and an all around great guy.

July - September - I am busy enjoying the new Eldar and Tau codices and I devote much of my summer building my tyranid terrain.

November -  The Da Boyz GT rolls around and I play my Word Bearers list. I take third place for the best table award. Hyv3mynd is in the running for the top spot through Round 5 and finishes 13th overall.  Calypso2ts finishes 8th overall.  Sinstermind is invited to join the Grand Strategery gaming group and becomes our newest member. Sinistermind lives in Buffalo but just about makes it to all of the local events in Rochester. Welcome aboard!

December - The Millennium Invitational is held at Millennium Games and Hobby in Rochester NY. Calypso2ts takes 1st place, followed by Crispy in 3rd and Grubnards takes 5th (and best painted army.) Not a bad way to round out the year

Whew... This was definitely a year of growth for our group. Let's see how some of the monks plan to top that in 2014.

Grubnards 2014 Resolutions

For the upcoming year I have a couple of major projects that I have slated to work on and my hope is that I do not get too distracted with all of the new, shiny toys that GW will be releasing.

Warhammer 40k
Here is some of the things I am planning on doing for 40k:
Imperial Guard - I have always wanted to run traitor guard allies with my Word Bearers and with the rumors of a new book for the guard has me excited to finally test this out. Hopefully I can field lots of tanks as I've never been a fan of predators or vindicators in my chaos list.
Chaos Daemons - I'd like to add more daemons to my army so that I have the option of running them as a primary detachment in some games. With the introduction of the Be’Lakor dataslate I plan to include him in many of my lists for 2014.

Forgeword - Yup, this year I want to purchase my first forgeworld models. Top on my list right now are the Blood Slaughterers and Blood Impaler daemon engines. I think that they would go perfectly with the Word Bearers theme and AV13 and the potential to cast grimoire on them sounds like fun. I would also like to eventually get the Logar, Kor Phaeron, and Erebus models to lead my Word Bearers but they are a lower priority as I see them being used less in normal games.

Warhammer Fantasy
This year I want to branch out more with Fantasy. I currently own an Orcs n' Goblins army and a Warriors of Chaos army but with the rumors of the new army books coming out I am thinking about starting a new army for 2014. Here are the armies I am considering (in order of interest):

Dwarfs:
Pros
New book rumored for early 2014
I have always loved the lore of dwarfs from my early days of reading Tolkien and their stubbornness and fondness of alcohol from GW’s lore.
Great looking models.
Unique options for painting
Cons
From what I have read and seen they have a limited style of play (gunline)
Slow army

Ogre Kingdoms:
Pros
Great looking models
Interesting background and spells
Multiple army builds/styles
Small model count means quick army to buy/build
Unique painting ideas (plenty of bare skin to paint tattoos/clan markings)

Cons
None that I can think of

Tomb Kings
Pros:
Awesome fluff and history (Nagash trilogy is a great read)
Love the theme of ancient Egyptians
Most of the new range look great
Some conversion potentials
Lots of magic
Multiple play styles
One of my favorite army books to read

Cons
Some of the older models look goofy compared to the newer ones
A lot of models to buy/assemble
Harder learning curve (from what I’ve read)

What do you readers think? Any dwarf, Ogre Kingdoms, or Tomb Kings players out there who have any advice to sway me one way or another or should I just focus on my existing armies?

ParkHammer 2014
This year we plan on running our Third Annual Parkhammer event. We still need to hammer out the details but we are looking to making this event bigger and better than last year. More to come as we work out the details.

Terrain
This year I have two major terrain projects that I want to focus on. The first is my Necron terrain that I started in the fall. I put the project on hold in October due to time constraints with the Da Boyz GT but after the new year I want to get back into that project. The second big terrain project I want to work on is a Realms of Chaos table. I've always enjoyed the artwork and descriptions of the Realm of Nurgle so I thought it could be a challenge to my abilities and provide something unique and fun terrain.

I also want to work on some terrain pieces for Fantasy as well such as stone walls, ruins, and arcane fulcrums for the Storms of magic.

Calypso2ts 2014 Resolutions

For this year I have a trio of resolutions, that primarily revolve around making myself a more well rounded hobbyist.  These resolutions include:

1 - I will not field an unpainted model in a game of 40k this year

I had to bring partially painted or unbased models a few times last year and I always regretted forcing an opponent to face a gray plastic army - or a partially grey plastic army.  With some stability in the Daemons codex - and my array of painted models expanding - fielding the kind of force I want with nicely painted and based models should not be a problem.

2 - I will not purchase any more models until what I have is painted - excepting terrain.

My painting list includes 40x Daemonettes, 3x Seeker Chariots, 1x Soul Grinder, 2x Skull Cannon, 6x Screamers, 10x Furies, 3x Plague Drones, 1x Khorne Herald, 1x Tzeentch Herald, 1x Mauler/Forgefiend, 40x Cultists, 6x Chosen, 2x Chaos Lord, 2x Helbrute, 10x Chaos Bikers. I also have some finishing touches I want to put on a few models - the best way to finish better at Da Boyz for me next year is to improve my painting score.

3 - I will bring a fluffy, themed list to at least one Millennium Games tournament this year.

Escalation and Stronghold Assault have brought a whole new rule set with D Weapons while the infamous 2++ rerollable save has been the bane of tournament play - or at least fun tournament play.  At least one tournament this year I will bring  a list based solely on fluff, and to be more specific it will be a Slaanesh army themed after a Masque.  I also resolve to continue my goal to bring an army that is both fun to play with and against (as much as possible).

Finally I am also planning to take a dip into the Fantasy side of the game.  I has planned to do so since I first acquired my Daemons - and so my final resolution is to…

4 - Learn the rules for Warhammer Fantasy and play at least 4 games this year

I do not think I can compete at a tournament level in fantasy at this point - but as a fun change of pace I think Fantasy will be a lot of fun.  I want a game to help inject a bit more casual play into my wargaming.  This year I played around 30 total games of 40k - I believe 24 of them were at tournaments.  A few more recreational games would be a fun change up.

DaCock’s 2014 Resolutions

1. Play more. I want to play a game every other week. This is easier said than done.

2. Attend more tournaments.

3. Get my Tyranids ready for the new book. I want to able to field one of everything in the book.

4. Make the DaBoyz GT better. The bar was set high this year, but it can get better. The dates for 2014 have been confirmed and are scheduled for November 14, 15, and 16. More details will follow in the upcoming months.

5. Go to the ATC (American Team Championship) this year. This is one of the best events out there. I’d love to get one or more teams together.

Crimthanns 2014  Resolutions

1: Be more active with the blog!  When the Mandulian Monks accepted me as a fellow writer I didn’t think submitting a weekly article would be very difficult…boy was I wrong.  It’s not that it’s difficult or that I don’t enjoy writing; I actually enjoy writing!   What I have found was finding the time in what has become a busier life than I expected since I graduated college.  No more!  I am going to sincerely put forth the effort to write at least bi-weekly.  Whether my posts are army list related, fluff, hobby, or tactics, I am going to write.

2:  Complete my 2^nd army!  My first and only fully painted army is my beloved Crimson Fists Space Marines, but I really want to get my Farsight Enclave army up in 2014.  I already have a great start on this army, but I really just need to buckle down and get it done.

3:  Try my very best to make it to more tournaments.  I really didn’t make too many local or regional tournaments in 2013 and I want to change that.  Within a 4 or 5 hour drive there are tons of 40k tournaments and I want to get out there to support as many as I can.