Don't Look Back (1) - Unboxing

 Originally backed in April through Black Site Studios Backroom system, I just received my Don't Look Back second edition tier 2 bundle. I believe this one was originally supposed to deliver around Halloween but as these things go it's a little delayed. Unfortunately I'm neck deep in Legions Imperalis so I went ahead, opened and took inventory and already put all of this back into the box and onto the shelf of shame. For now though here is a quick look at whats coming down the road. 

First of all we have the new second edition book. You can see its quite a bit thicker than the original. It comes in a neat little slipcase and it's super pretty. There is quite a bit of eye candy and the production quality is lovely as always with BSS. 

Included in the starter bundle type deal is the Killer and Hero expansions. Like all of the Don't look back stuff, these are supplied in VHS cases. The theming is super cool but to be honest, kinda wasteful. I love the art work and aesthetic but the boxes arent deep enough to store the figures and all of these cases just take up space. 

You can see the high quality of the figures and components. I'm looking forward to getting into these ASAP. 

Included in the bundle I purchased are these five expansions. Each containing a few figures and a card or two with a few more rules.

The bundle included some stretch goal type stuff that included alt sculpts of the heros as well as a few odds and ends including some 3d weapon tokens.

There's a fun little map and a mdf measuring cleaver.

Finally the mdf terrain that comes with the set

All in all, I'm super excited to get stuck into this stuff but it will be a while before I can get really dug in. There was also a preorder bonus figure and not to mention all the stuff I picked up for 1st ed.

The End of the Year Looms Large and I've Accomplished Very Little - (This is the part where I claim to try better next time)

 Hello

What a year we've had.

Lets dive right into the list so you can follow along at home with the excuses and then well talk about what happened and whats coming next

End the year with a sub 200 Golf Score
Begin the Lord of the Rings Ringbearer Campaign
Play Spectre Ops
Print and Paint two sets of Team Fortress 2 Figures
Play To The Strongest with painted 10mm figures
Finally Try Age of Hannibal
Play a game of A Song of Ice and Fire with a painted Baratheon Force
Finish 2k points of Old Dominion for Conquest and play a game
Completely Paint 2 complete factions for Crisis Protocol
Finally Try Moonstone
Finally Try Mad Maximilian
Play at least one game of Necromunda
Try Necropolis28
Try Mordheim
Play a Game of War of the Ring
Play a game of Horus Heresy
Finish at least one Cabinet piece (resin probably)
Play both Sludge and Turnip
Try the new edition of Kill Team
Play Never Mind the Billhooks
Attend one tourney or play event
Finish my Death ray Designs City Board

Try Verrotwood
Finish my 3d printed Boarding Action board
Try One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish
Play a game of Brawl Arcane 28
Sculpt Print and Paint something of my own
Try Conquest First Blood
Play Deadzone 

(The Post Adepticon BSS inspired update)
Play Dont Look Back
Play Lunar
Play Demonship
Play Firefight
Play Violent Dark

 

 So I learned a ton about myself etc. Honestly I sorta knew I wouldn't get it all done but I'm a little disappointed in myself as usual.

The first big elephant in the room is shame golf. I bought too much again. As of writing this I'm sitting on 1029 points. Now I know that sounds like too much. Its all Legions Imperalis stuff and the associated penalty for buying it at launch. There's a snowballs chance in hell that you see some of this before the end of the year but as usual let's not hold our breath

War of the Ring, Lord of the Rings, Age of Hannibal, To the Strongest, Song of Ice and Fire, Verrotwood, Necropolis, Brawl Arcane, Conquest (small and large) and Never Mind the Billhooks and Mad Maximillian were all never started. I mean I have a boat load of 10mm ancients in desperate need of basing (and I ordered the correct bases) and I have a load of LOTR stuff but I just never got it to the table. The other games were either never started at all (necropolis) or simply never touched (ASOIAF)

Don't Look Back was originally slated for an October release and I'm still waiting on a tracking number for my batch of stuff. Mantic Firefight is still very high on my list but I have yet to start painting. Spectre is a bit of a bug because as excited as I was for the new edition, the price of shipping kept me away.

All this said I'd love to tell you I have a better plan for this year but honestly I think the move is to just reassess and pick less goals. If' I somehow manage to complete these I'll add more but I set the bar way too high for more reasons I'll sum up at the end. So here we go;

 

Paint Legions Imperalis Army
Print and Paint Legions Imperalis City Table
Play at least 3 games of Legions Imperalis with fully painted armies and terrain
Print and play Full Spectrum Dominance
Paint 2 Complete Factions For Crisis Protocol and play at least 3 games
Paint 2 Complete Forces for Shatterpoint and play at least 3 games
Play Don't Look Back
Finish Boarding Action Table
Play Country Road Z
Play Spectre (or another modern style game)
Try Dead by Lead
Try Hobgoblin
Finish at least 2 Cabinet Pieces
Play Test of Honor at least 3 games
Play Firefight with Veermyn Army
End the year with a sub 200 score

As time allows, finish goals not listed from previous year

I had an interesting year. I accepted a new position in our Training Department at work and have been transitioning to a very different role. I spent most of the year with my prusa down and out of commission. I spent a large chunk of the time very ineffectively printing boarding action stuff on a resin printer and to be frank wasted a lot of print and hobby time trying to make that project work. I tried to pick a few projects last year based off a potential interest and ended up shooting myself in the foot a bit. This time around I tried to pick a good mix or projects that I either have stuff in progress or already finished for that will allow me to mix it up a bit. The idea being to try and get in about a game a month.

The other elephant in the room is Origins. I attended Origins this year with my wife and got wildly more into board games. I began using a tracking app and played approximately 150 board games between origins and the end of the year. We have a group regularly playing Root (which is sort of like the best of both worlds with its wide faction choice) as well as not one but two legacy games being played regularly with friends of ours.

I want to hit the ground running next year, though the new job includes a lot more travel. I need to start by cleaning up the desk and boxing things up and clearing space. Between now and the end of the year, I'd like to be able to play a starter box game of Legions Imperalis. We have a 2 v 2 game currently scheduled for Jan. 21. I also have a Bambu printer on the way which should be put immediately to work on the Imperalis table before being put to work on the boarding action table. 

Figure wise obviously we have tiny wardollies doing fights in the 30th millenium but I want to crack into Don't Look Back as soon as it arrives. Try to strike while the irons hot. I have a list of Veerymyn to paint for firefight and have been chipping away on the AMG games stuff. We probably won't go to Adepticon this year in favor of origins which should cut down a bit on the spending and accumulating of figures. 

I will say, despite the numbers being abysmal. I do actually feel like I turned down quite a few figure impulse buys. Theres were several times during the year where I was at the FLGS or had a cart full of stuff online where I said "Its just gonna end up in shrink and on next years list" and I put it back. Legions is the exception as I have been waiting for this one to drop. 

Sorry for the absolute wall of text but this blog is for me and I wanted to get it on paper in some attempt to get back at it. Expect more but not necessarily good photos from me next year but for right now, none. 

If you hear from me before January it will be with a last minute drive for finished LIMP stuff and if you don't have a wonderful holiday and a happy new year and we'll see you in 2024.