So this is part 2!

I am a huge fan of Anvil Industries and utterly love their Regiments range of 28mm sci-fi compatible infantry. They have expanded the range yet again however my absolute favourites are the Kalarchi 17th Airbourne with Ops Core heads.

Kalarchi 17th Airborne

I was busy assembling the rest of my July order this afternoon. Once my Army Painter sprays arrive I can get started on painting these up.

They were an absolute pleasure to build and to be honest they were all perfect, no mould slippage or any defects I could see and barely no flash. Some of the best resin 28mm models in the industry!

Here are mine which I will probably use for Warhammer 40K/Kill Team or perhaps Ospreys Black Ops. To be honest they would fit in most modern/near future or sci-fi 28mm systems.

So farewell for now! Till next time Hobby Zoners! :]

Welcome Hobby Zoners!

It has been some weeks since my last post. I have some hobby news to relate. 

I am soon to be running a Kill Team League for my friends at my local Hobby Club (First Founding Gaming) and am in the process of writing up a players pack and the league guidelines. 

My Kill Team order from MJR Hobbies & Models arrived earlier this afternoon. So without further to do I will share some unboxing photos for your viewing pleasure!

Primarily I will be going through the Kill Team Core Manual to help write my players pack for the league, then over the next week or two I intend to build the 2 Kill Teams included in the boxset and the terrain as long as I can make space for it somewhere in my apartment!

So stay tuned for my next post, I have been busy building some Anvil Industries infantry to use as Atramis Spec Ops for W40K & Kill Team or perhaps the Osprey Black Ops ruleset.

Hello Hobby Zoners!

This is another update for those of you who follow the Netrunner Game by FFG.
I saw a post tonight which made me think about the current situation regards to Netrunner. 

FFG owns all related themes connected with the Android Universe. The setting and all of the ideas and concepts that make up that as well as the characters therein. 

This means going forwards FFG could release a game not unlike "Netrunner" but perhaps under another guise also removing any reliance on the aspects of the game which were used under license from Wizards of the Coast, namely certain mechanics and operations. 

This would free FFG to develop a game from the ground up which could be similar yet different enough from the old Netrunner to have its own identity.

I do feel this could be a good thing and though I love the old FFG version of Netrunner a whole new game set in this Universe would be something I really would want to see.

This is just a theory but I hope that FFG are working on something using the Android Universe themes.

#alwaysberunning

Check back for my updates soon!

Remembering Gene Simko

Hello my dear Hobby Zoners...


It has taken nearly two weeks to fully process but I am typing this on my laptop tonight, I am remembering a Hobby Hero of mine. Someone who I only knew through Facebook (FB).

I would often check those Hobby related FB Groups for inspiration. There were many talented kit builders on a couple of those Groups. One night I received a FB friend request from a Chap called Gene Simko. It made me grin when I got the notification as I had been following his work on various FB Groups. This incredible man was a kit building genius. He would often build 1/35 military model kits then cut away parts of them and custom build interior detail. His skill was astounding and I could see he had a real love for what he was doing in his work.


For almost 2 years I was able to follow Gene and his journey through Life. He was a Scholar and an ex-military man. (Gene attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, received a BBA in Economics from Temple University, an MBA in Management Science from Temple University, and a PhD in Strategic Management from Baruch College of the City University of New York. Simko held a commission in the United States Army Reserve, Adjutant General's Corps, 1/309 78DIV(TNG). His retirement dreams included returning to his beloved West Point to teach for a semester (and don't you forget: GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!). 


(Gene Simko had been an avid scale military historic modeler since he first wandered at the age of 10 into his neighborhood Marsh Hobby Shop in his hometown of Trenton. He amassed an extensive collection of both built and unbuilt model kits and enjoyed scratch building armored cutaways. His first model kit was the Aurora Panther Tank in 1963. When he wasn't teaching or out to eat at his favorite restaurants, you could find him lurking the aisles at Red Bank's Hobbymasters, chatting with his dear friend Steve. Some of his model builds were featured in Scale Model Builders Book in Black and White. In the book, he described his model-building avocation.)



He was also a family man and loved dearly by his Son and Daughter and his Wife Patricia. 

Seeing Gene's FB posts was always a privilege and a great joy to me. He would often visit eateries and ordered pizza many many times, and sometimes bars where he would often have a photograph taken with his signature drink, a Bloody Mary. Gene really lived Life to the full and all could see his sincerity and kindness. People loved him and he seemed to make fast friends easily.

I often left messages in comments on his posts and interacted with him like that for almost 2 years.
The saddest thing for me is we did not actually sit and talk online ever. Though he passed away suddenly on June 12th 2018, the echoes of his Life linger on and I can still see his sincere smile in my minds eye. 


It was the love of kit building that allowed our paths to cross and for that I am truly grateful. 
I now will no longer see his vibrant and cheerful posts on my Facebook feed.
I now will no longer see his progress on various complex kit projects he was working on. 
His Hobby space is empty of his presence. Such is the way of Life, things end as all things must.


In my own way I want to honour Gene, so I am going to start the build on a military kit I had picked up several years ago. I will take plenty of progress photos as the build goes along. It will be my farewell to a Legend among kit builders.


One of Genes quotes really stuck with me, so here it is.


"Building a model for me is a return to my carefree, halcyon days of my boyhood. It is an errant wish that sometime, somewhere on a summer night as I build, that I may not have to grow old. And I smile, even for a moment, as I finish the kit and relive the sheer joy of holding history in my hands. Of course I will grow old, but I will have a lot of fun as I journey along." Gene Simko.

Eugene Stephen "Gene" Simko


In closing I will say this. Live like you only have a day left. Hug the people you love and make it clear you care. Dont be afraid to reach out to someone. You never know how long they will be around.

It is the things you dont do that you regret the most. 

Till next time Hobby Zoners... Farewell!

Hello Hobby Zoners! 

I have some news for the Netrunner Players who read my Blog. 
Sadly FFG announced on the 8th of June that their flagship LCG format card game Netrunner would no longer be supported after October 2018 due to the licensing terms with Wizards of the Coast (WotC) not being renewed. 

jacking out

state of LCG

This leaves all of us players in a position where the game we love and have played since 2012 will no longer have any new releases by the original Netrunner Design Team at FFG. Also this means official Tournament support ceases too. 

It is quite heartbreaking to hear this news as all of us felt the game would be around for a long time. The news was sudden and not expected at all. Whatever the circumstances of the failure to renew the license are, well they probably will not be known. 

The game holds a special place in my heart, the Android Universe with its Cyber Punk Noir themes gave it a unique look and feel. The asymmetric play style and very original mechanics and the rich diversity in playable Factions from both the Corp. side and the Runner meant you could build a deck and play how you wanted.

Netrunner proved to be very skill intensive and had deep strategy making it a very satisfying game to play. As well as this there was just such a huge choice in how you could build a deck for your chosen Faction ID. 

NetrunnerDB proved a frequent port of call for me to look at new builds and get ideas for my own deck builds. The resource has been invaluable to Netrunner players for over half a decade. 

netrunnerDB

We had just had a release of the revised Core Set version 2.0 and Cycles 1 and 2 were rotated out to make way for new updated cards to take their place. This did happen with the last Cycle to be released. Now also a Deluxe expansion is out soon  to round out our Netrunner collections. 

This will be the last release for the game. Retailers are already listing much of the previous Netrunner Data Packs and Deluxe Expansion as out of stock as people panic buy to complete their collections. Additionally I have seen quite a few Netrunner collections pop up on Ebay.

In closing all I can say is though this is terrible news, Netrunner has had a large and varied amount of releases since inception back in 2012. So to end the games Life after having so much released makes it easier to live with as a player. The game, if you looked at all that is available is pretty much complete. 

There have been 8 Cycles released with the latest Kitara Cycle being the final one. Also there is one more Deluxe Expansion (Reign and Reverie) which is out very soon, this rounds out the game. 

Personally though frustrated and saddened by the news I also will say this. I will not quit the game or sell off my collection. I intend to keep playing and carry on enjoying this amazing card game with my friends for the foreseeable future.

With this sort of thing it is best to be pragmatic. Not everything lasts. Not everything stands the test of Time. The game ends on a high note. The Community is alive and well. 

I hope to see some of you in the future to play Netrunner in the London area. 

Netrunner is dead... Long Live Netrunner...

*click* x 3, credit, credit, credit, *click* run...


till next time Hobby Zoners!

Hello Hobby Zoners!

A short update from me, this week I picked up some Netrunner tokens from the wonderful people at Cog 'O' Two. They make excellent laser cut acrylic accessories for various games.

I had been meaning to pick these up for AGES but always got side tracked and never got round to it, at least till now!

They are truly lovely and the detail is very crisp. I also love the designs and the various colours. These will definitely make my Netrunner games more enjoyable!

Cog 'O' Two

Till next time!

Mayhem Part 3

Hello Hobby Zoners!

So here we have the last part of my write up of the Mayhem 40K Tournament.

My Game 4 was against Lewis. He was running Death Guard with Mortarion himself.

This was another tough game. I faced a line of Cultists which made deepstriking my Deathwing impossible, some Plague Crawlers, Death Guard Marines, Mortarion, and a Blight Drone.
I placed my Land Raider and Deredeo centrally to cover the angles, my Company Veterans and my Chaplain to cover the right flank. I held my Deathwing in reserve.

Lewis advanced Mortarion and his Blight Drone. they closed on my LR and the Deredeo.
The Plague Crawlers bombarded my position from afar. He also slowly advanced his line of Cultists. The Plague Crawlers were a real pain as they were able to hit my positions with impunity. I already experienced this in my first game against Dave's Death Guard Force.

I did what shooting I could with the LR and my Deredeo. Chipping away at Mortarion and the Blight Drone. Over the course of several turns I lost the LR. The Blight Drone engaged my Vets with its corrosive flamers but I managed to destroy it with concentrated fire from the Vets and my Deredeo. 

Mortarion was extremely tough and his special abilities were tricky to deal with. But after teleporting my Deathing in and concentrated fire from them and my Deredeo I managed to Kill Mortarion. I think it was pretty close in VP but Lewis won the game in the end. 

So this was my last game and another enjoyable one. I played 4 really nice players who made the games alot of fun and though the lists each one brought were formidable I still enjoyed the day immensely.

Till next time Hobby Zoners! Takecare.

Mayhem Tournament Part 2

So onto my Game 3, I played James who was running an Imperial Knights list, one close combat Knight which was his Warlord and two with Thermal Cannons.
As they could not hold Relics I had a big advantage as long as I could survive till turn 6.

My Land Raider and Deredeo focussed on one of the Knights on the right side, slowly chipping away at its wounds. Once the Knights closed on my position by turn 2, one of them close assaulted the Deredeo.

That did not end well and it was reduced to molten slag. The Land Raider survived a little longer inflicting some more wounds on that particular Knight.

(I figured the best way to deal with them was focus ALL my fire-power on a single Knight until it was destroyed and move on to the next one.)

My Deathwing had teleported down onto the central bunker roof where there was another Relic. They also focussed their fire-power on the Warlord Knight and after a full turn of shooting they destroyed it! However that Knight near the Chaplain moved towards them and killed them all in 2 turns of shooting.

So the Interrogator Chaplain and the Company Veterans on the left flank took some fire from one of the other Knights. By turn 4 only the Chaplain was left. There was a Relic quite close but the Knight nearby posed a real challenge.

This allowed the Chaplain to sneak in and grab the Relic. So by Turn 6 the Knight fired all its weapons at the Chaplain. Amazingly my Chaplain made ALL his saves and we then rolled to see if there would be a turn 7. However the game ended on turn 6 and I was of course holding a Relic which just won me the game.

The Chaplain was the sole survivor and honestly I was sure he would fail some of his armour saves. So Game 3 was a win for me!


My opponent James's 3 Knight list. Quite formidable!

Hello Hobby Zoners!

Greetings from the Intrawebs, apologies for the lack of recent updates but I have something for you all. 

Yesterday my local hobby club (First Founding Gaming) held their Annual Mayhem Warhammer 40K Tournament. We actually run two such events a year. Mayhem and Octoberfest, held during May and October. 

The events are hugely popular and bring together a diverse group of 40K Players. The format of late has been a single day/four game event and this was the first time running things in 8th Edition (at 1250 points). 

When tickets for our event were available they sold out very quickly and I missed out on picking them up. So it looked like I would attend to help out and maybe take some photos instead.

But at the 11th Hour David G. PM'd me on Whatsapp and asked me if I still wanted to play as someone had dropped out. I gladly said yes and prepared a very simple little 1250 points list for the day.** I thought about taking a DA Flyer then decided to take my favourite choice the Deredeo Relic Dreadnought and build my list around that.

So Game 1, I was matched up against an old friend Dave R. (both Him and his son Alex were both playing on the day). Dave was taking a Nurgle Daemon list with two Daemon Princes, three Nurgle Plague Crawlers and Cultists with some Nurglings.

The Plague Crawlers are indirect fire artillery really so they can shoot anywhere on the board within range without needing Line of Sight. This was most vexing as he rained down a huge amount of fire on my Deredeo and Land Raider (LR).

His Daemon Princes were using their Psychic Powers quite effectively throughout the whole game reducing wounds on my LR and my Deredeo.

I lost Company Veterans to weight of fire. My LR also took alot of damage but I managed to return fire over the course of several turns and removed from play two of his Plague Crawlers and a Daemon Prince before it was finally destroyed.

Dave did however play the Mission and scored most of the objectives and won the game. But for the Dark Angels it was a moral victory. The removal of a Daemon Prince and two Plague Crawlers was no mean feat but I failed to score the objectives dotted around the board. I lost but had a great time in so doing.

Game 2, I matched up against Matt with his Custodes list. It was solely comprised of ten Custodes Dawneagle Jetbikes (Vertus Praetors) with Shield Captains. They move so fast! and they have Hurricane Bolters and they are very efficient in close combat. 

(Custodes are like the elite of all the Imperial Space Marines, even above Grey Knights. They are the Emperors bodyguard and are based on Terra. They have access to rare technology not used by any other Space Marines.)

Anyways the battle was fought table end to end so we had a 24 inch deployment area. I placed my forces close to various objectives with the hope I would be able to reduce the enemies numbers as they advanced before they could get into close combat range. 

Well I really underestimated how fast they cover distance. By turn two they were almost in my deployment zone and with concentrated shooting I barely managed to kill two of them.

Once Matt close assaulted my Deredeo and Land Raider it was pretty much all over. I lost my Company Veterans to close combat and only the Deathwing remained on the table to then get killed by turn five I think. Again no survivors!

Matt was a great guy to play and honestly I did not mind having my force wiped out to the last man. He even apologised for bringing such a brutal list. Another loss for me and another fun game!

So I will post the Game 3 & 4 write up next. Stay tuned!

** My DA List
1 x Laindraider, 1 x Deredeo (Autocannon/Heavy Flamers/Missiles), 1 x Interrorgator Chaplain, 9 x DA Company Veterans, 5 x Deathwing (Plasma Cannon/Cyclone Missiles)