Monday 29 December 2008

Week one, Day one.

So to begin on my Year of Frugal Gaming, I thought it best to have a look at exactly what I have planned for the next twelve months....

Projects I need to get finished:

Post Office (Pictured above). I started this for a Terragenesis competition over a year ago and its been gathering dust on top of a bookcase since. Understandably, this is pretty much at the top of my hitlist! It only needs a bit of finishing off and a lick of paint to be ready to go. I’ve even got some chickens to go on it. Yes, chickens.

Wound Wire Trees (Pictured below). I’m making these to go with my Mordheim terrain, they’re simple and cheap to make and I’m planning to show how to create them in a future post.

Diorama. This is an ongoing piece of work that I was planning to have done for Christmas. As is usual during the holidays, I got a little behind, so it’s the first thing I need to get done in my Year of Frugal Gaming. I’ll post some photos when it’s all finished.



Planned projects:

Salute. I normally attend the UK Games Expo, but this year I’m planning to go to Salute instead, this isn’t because I don’t enjoy the Expo (it’s great, I’d highly recommend it), but because I only want to spend the cash on one weekend away and I also fancy a weekend in London. They also have a painting competition, so I thought I’d enter a diorama and see how I fared. Though the show is on at the end of March, so time is pretty short...

Warlock House. As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased a Hirst Arts mould before christmas. There are plans available on the Hirst Arts website for making a ‘Warlock House’. It looks really good and straightforward to make, and will go well with my Mordheim terrain. Of course, with it being a moulding kit, I can make all sorts of buildings (e.g. the archway pictured above), all for the cost of the plaster.



Gaming more:

Numerous boardgames(!). I have a reasonable collection of boardgames (some pictured above) and a group of friends that I regularly game with. I'm going to try and entice them in and make our meetings a little more regular. I was thinking of running some sort of league or competition and awarding a prize to the 'Gamer of the Year'! Ideas for low-cost trophies gratefully accepted!

Necromunda. As well as the rules for Necromunda, I also have a fully painted gang and a fair amount of terrain. What I still have to do is get some games arranged. There are already developments on this, more information to follow in a future post.

Legends of the high seas. I have the rules, I have the figures, I have Mordheim terrain which I could use, but I still haven't played it yet. It looks like a really good system for some light fun games.

Plymouth Association of Wargamers. I live in Plymouth in the UK, which is lucky enough to have a Gaming Club which meets once a week. I haven't been yet, but their website makes a great impression and they look like a friendly enough bunch. I'll report on this in a future post 'My Afternoon Spent in a Hut Full of Weirdos'.

Other Work:

Well, running this blog, writing some articles and of course saving money and gaming more!

Happy new year to you all, hope you enjoy the next twelve months. Let me know what you’ve got planned for the coming year.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck
As promised I stole your ideas and decided enough was enough :-)

I've started the spacemen today but looking at your house I wish I had that talent.

Have a good frugal year
Andrew

Anonymous said...

Inspirational! I've already moved to a "self financing" model of game buying. IN order to buy something new I must sell old games/figures I don't play with as much. This has led to a downsizing of my collection to a few core focuses (ok -- still quite a few!) and a more prudent spending habit. But I shall try to emulate your "frugal gaming" pledge and look forward to finally finishing the projects I have still in box.

Happy New Year!!

Anonymous said...

The best way to go for a low cost trophy is to *make* one! The basic Hirst mold for the Warlock House (do you only have the *ONE* mold?) should allow you to make a pretty spiffy looking trophy. And with just a bit of finishing, you could probably have it double as special gaming terrain!

Ruaridh said...

For the trophy, you could paint a figure you already have and set it in a corner terrain piece that uses your Warlock's House mould, or another suitable diorama. Base the whole lot on plinth of some description and add a label. The plinth could be made from timber you already have. Then all you need to add is an inscription.

Dave said...

I like the trophy ideas. I think I'll go for a diorama style trophy; a ruined tower with an old Games Workshop man-at-arms on the top.

Brendan Mayhugh said...

Good luck on your frugal gaming! I'm very curious how this goes!

Anonymous said...

I made my own trophy for a Blood Bowl league that I ran, and the easiest thing to do is to get any thing that will remind people of your gaming event and have a local trophy shop attach it to a base. For my league, I bought a small anvil on eBay and had it mounted for under $20 total, and it was much more impressive than a generic trophy.