Orlygg's Oldhammer New Year's Resolutions

Hello one and all! 

Its a bit of a case of better late than never for this post, but blame Skyrim! I downloaded the Ultimate Edition on Steam as a 'little present' for myself after Christmas and have spent the last couple of weeks immersed in the game. 

I have bee a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series since I first played Morrowind years ago. Its funny, but every time I load up the game and delve into that world of orcs, trolls and dungeons and feel it was massive missed opportunity for Warhammer. Skyrim is one of the most successful games of all time and has no doubt earned a packet too! 

Imagine what a decent RPG game set in the Warhammer World would have been like, especially one inspired by The Enemy Within or even Realm of Chaos? In fact, the creation system for champion development made for Slaves to Darkness would be a great basis for a game, similar in many ways to what was attempted in Fable... But sadly, it was just a lot list of disappointing near misses and poorly made MMORPGs after Dark Omen. 40k fared a little better with the Dawn of War series, but hey, there it is. 

Getting back on topic, this is my now traditional resolution post that I put out on this blog (as do a great many other people) and it really is quite something to be able to say that. This is the third such post I have done for Realm of Chaos 80s because we have been going that long, actually. 

Three years old in a couple of weeks!

Impressive, when I consider this blog's rather humble beginnings when only a handful of guys worldwide were remotely interested in playing Warhammer Third edition. Now there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, across a multitude of blogs, forums and social media groups. 

I hope to have contributed to that growth in my own little way.

Talking of growth, and milestones, this blog will very shortly break the 1,000,000 page view counter! Wow that really is A LOT of people visiting and enjoying the articles I put together and I feel very humbled by the huge number of visitors this blogs seems to get. In fact, November last year saw this blog at its most popular yet, with over 60,000 visits in that month alone!

When we break that seven digit milestone I will share with you something that I have been sitting on for a while in means of celebration... but you will have to wait a see!

Don't worry, you will like it! 

Back to topic once more, New Year's resolution. Twelve months ago I wrote this article in response to the original set of resolutions I put together in 2012. Well, as is now traditional, let us have a stroll through the successes and near misses of the last year and think about setting some new ones! 

2014-2015

1. Collect, paint and actually complete two entire armies

Achieved! 

Above and beyond what I had ever expected If I am being honet. In the photograph above you can see my two Chaos armies in all their glory. The forces of Ulther Deathfist and Slakesin the Fondler. I have new units to add to these forces in the spring, including the terrible, Purplehelm the Exposer! 

Over three years of work went into the horde you see before you and that included collecting nearly every model on the table. I think one or two of them were in my collection when I started retrogaming, the rest were sourced from eBay with a couple of trades thrown in. 

To top it all, these armies were voted 'Best of Show' at Oldhammer 2014 by Bryan Ansell himself, who very generously gave me first pick of some unreleased Golden Age wizards. Now that was a difficult choice to make! 

2. Develop, test and host a set of scenarios inspired by things like Orc's Drift and Lichemaster

Not yet achieved!

I would say much about this, but things are very much afoot in this department, both by me and a few others in the community. Watch this space!

3. Inspire the Oldhammer Community to create warbands once again for the Oldhammer Weekend

Achieved, without actually doing anything.

There were warband games going on at both Oldhammer events this year, in Nottingham and the US. with many of the players using my guide to organising these types of game. 

4. Continue to collect limited edition figures which may or may not help support Resolution 2

Achieved- stuff for McDeath, Death on the Reik and more besides...

As with previous years I added to the leadpile. Though, I rarely pick things up now as I have SOOOO much classic unpainted Citadel lead that I have decided to paint more than I buy now. Still, I am always on the look out for reasonable priced collectibles (not unreleased stuff mind) and my recent post on the 'true' price of many of these miniatures helped communicate my philosophy on this. 

5. Complete the Warhammer Bestiary painting project by the end of the year.

Not achieved.

I was off the mark with this one, by some way. Its going to take quite a few more years to get this project completed I can tell you. However, I DID complete the first leg of the challenge as all of the entries for 'intelligent races' have been finished. Perhaps I should do a group shot of all the models before I move on to the giant section?

6. Buy a copy of Space Marine, Adeptus Titanicus or Advanced Heroquest

Achieved.

 I managed to get a copy of the game, in really rather good condition, about six months ago now. And you know what? I think I must have opened it once! ONCE! After all those years searching. Just like my boxed copies of Bloodbowl and Dark Future! 

I must be mad! 

So what of next year? Hmmm?

1. Complete my wargames table and scenery project inspired by the Duke's work from the WFB3e rulebook. I need to build a couple more model buildings, model trees, fences and so on. Best suited to warmer months really.

2. Prepare and fight a massive (for me anyway) battle on the table I mentioned above using ALL of my Realm of Chaos painted miniatures.

3. Complete the 'Giants' section of the Warhammer Bestiary project. 

4. Paint up the contents of one of my Big Box Games and use them to play. 

5. Complete work on those Oldhammer Scenario games I mentioned earlier.

That'll do....

For now!

Orlygg