Searching for ... inspiration?

I was all inspired the other night to get some focus back on my Space Wolves after a <whatever you call a conversation via Twitter... a twittle? Twaddle?> with Jeff Kent of Kiwihammer fame.

The diversity in wargamers and building armies is interesting. Jeff - at least to me - brings quite a metagame/tournament focussed approach to list building. An example of this is making all his weapons magnetised so that he can swap loadouts (where I would commit to a build I like and then maybe build a new figure later if I wanted to try something new). I, on the other hand, believe I have a more backgroundy/fluffy-esque approach to my Space Wolves... an army of individual heroes, which got me into the Space Wolves back in v2 in the first place. Not that this is not a competitive approach, it's just not as engineered as some of the net list builds you might see (as I think I am a competitive player... just not willing to always make the leap to the meta).

I do enjoy having debates or discussions about these things as it's good to challenge thinking and also consider different configurations.

So trying to come up with a list has been a bit of a struggle for me. I like to have a good view in my minds eye about what I want my squads to look like before I commit to it, So I have been feverishly surfing the net, trying to look at combos and formations and so forth trying to find a combination that I can relate to. But with no luck.

Until today when I had a bit of a revelation. What I really need to do is focus on the models I want to build and paint. And then once I have done all those, build a list from that. For example, if I want to have a Wolf Lord:

• with Terminator armour, then I'll use the Companies of the Great Wolf supplement and give him Morkai's Claws and Fellclaw's Teeth
• with a Thunderwolf mount then I'll build him with a Storm Shield and maybe give him the option to magnetise the weapon so he can have a thunder hammer or krakenbone sword
• on foot I'll build him to have... goodness I don't know yet :)

So here's a Lone Wolf I built the other night after my discussion with Jeff.

Now I am trying to figure out what to build next!

In other news, I have 18+ Adepta Sororitas Dominions staring at me from the bottom drawer at my painting desk. I think, rather than get dismayed by bringing them out a squad at a time and batch painting them I'll try painting one at a time and see how that goes.

In other other news, I've been all interested in the rage/quitfest/love/hate with the new Age of Sigmar release. I can totally get the emotional loss of WHFB 8th ed. - it was the only edition of WHFB that I really really got into, and I am looking at my reasonably substantial Lizardmen... sorry.. Seraphon army and wondering if they will ever get another go.

But I am also excited about some of the positive views - John Tailby over at Fields of Blood postulated that it was similar to the change from 2nd Ed to 3rd Ed 40k, and I tend to agree in general. One of the advantages for me is that I will take my son down to the local GW and we can both have an introductory game and who knows - he may really get into it.

In even more other other news, I had a game of Blood Bowl a couple of Fridays ago - my first since ValleyCon 2009(!! WTF??!?!!?) - against my old nemesis Warrick Craill and his Orcs. I had an Ogre, 4 Blitzers, 2 Throwers, 3 Linemen, and a Catcher. Warrick had a Troll, 4 Black Orcs, 4 Blitzers, and 2 Throwers.

I have been playing Blood Bowl since 3rd Ed was released back in 1994 (and against Warrick since then too) and have had three separate human teams (my favourite) during this time.

Jeez I love Blood Bowl. Such a neat game. In the end I pushed out to a 3-1 win but it was so tense. Great game for a few beers.