Good riddance, 2014.

I will not be reviewing this past year other than to say I bought lots, painted nothing and gamed less. I read lots and wrote some.

As the year is pinioned through June and July for me with my and Tracey's hospitalizations, this is a twelvemonth I am happy to see in my rearview mirror.

I will not make predictions nor set gaming goals for the coming year. I will strive to be in the moment, not pre-live them through either high hopes or needless worry.

Happy New Year, all of you. Good luck, good health, much love. Let's be careful out there.

Back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the table soon.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard to The Miniatures Man, about whom I wrote back on Dec. 7.

So make Joakim Ström welcome, everyone. I greatly appreciate his time and attention, just as I enjoy reading his most excellent blog. Hope you enjoy your time here, sir.

Why I don't mind mixing scales

Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue unboxing (pic heavy)

I was surprised today by the delivery of the box for Season 3 of Zombicide, called Rue Morgue.

The rulebook includes 14 new scenarios.

Cool Mini or Not had announced last week that delivery of the game had exceeded their warehouse capacity, so American backers of the game who confirmed by the deadline would receive their copies ahead of the expected fulfillment date in February. The remaining new expansion, Angry Neighbors, and the stretch goals and specialty figures remain on target for February delivery.

Rue Morgue is designed as a standalone game, but it can also be combined with the earlier sets for the game: Zombicide, Prison Outbreak and Toxic City Mall. Set months after the initial outbreak, Rue Morgue has players running teams of survivors who are more hardened, more ruthless than their predecessors.

The 12 new survivors for Rue Morgue gat more skilled the more zombies they kill.

And, as we know, when supplies get scarce, it's the other survivors who pose the greatest danger.

Opponents in this release include the new skinner zombies, who continue to fight as Crawlers once they've been cut in half.

Content includes:

12 Survivors: Louise, Maddie, Travis, Parker, Terry, Dan, Jane, Cathy, Joe, Laurie, James and Bear.

40 Skinner Walkers
8 Skinner Fatties
16 Skinner Runners
15 Crawlers
1 A-bomb Abomination
9 double-sided game tiles
12 Survivor ID cards
8 dice
12 experience trackers
11 tent cards
155 mini cards
9 Team Action cards
92 tokens

Let's take a look at the zombies.

And the tiles.

You'll notice there's one tile image missing. My eyes went swimmy trying to figure out which one I missed. So one will have to be a surprise for you!

Tent cards, front and back:

Dice and experience trackers:

I really like that the pips are bullets.

Character ID cards:

Mini cards for zombie actions and Team Action cards:

Dual-sided tokens:

This edition has the same consistently excellent artwork and sculpts we've come to expect from Guillotine. It's really the materials here that are the star. I swear you could build a strong house out of these tiles! And the plastic used for these minis is among my favorites. Certainly easier to deal with than Mantic's restic.

Hope you enjoyed the look at the contents of this early release. Back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the table soon.

Banner day in the Sheets household

My Black Friday order from Wyrd arrived on Thursday, and the goodies are VERY good!

In addition, I received the few items I ordered from that amazing sale Fantasy Flight was running a week or so ago. I bought some things I've wanted for a long time, and I got them for ridiculously low prices.

Forgive the terrible photos. These aren't even crappy iPhone pics. These are crappy tablet pics. Won't make that mistake again.

Let's take a look:

My Malifaux haul:

Alternate Perdita

The Carver

Nightmare Tara crew in smoky translucent plastic.

Fist edition metal model of Seamus, Avatar of Dread. (Because all Victorian-era gamers need a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Mr. Hyde.)

The free Katanaka sniper for my order level. The pic of the sprue was too bad to use, even with the bar set this low.

The free Bayou Gremlin for my order level.

From Fantasy Flight:

Sweetheart from Descent

Axis Hero Pack for Dust Tactics

Operation Seeloewe for Dust Tactics. This was my big score. I really wanted Markus, the Blutkreuz ape character, but I couldn't see paying $40US for the set just to get one figure. But during FF's sale, it was just $9! And it comes with four pieces of scatter terrain (two tank traps, two ammo crates) and six terrain tiles.

I am a very happy camper. I promise better photos once I start slapping on the paint. I'm so eager to get the Carver done that I can hardly wait for my days off.

Back to the boards, everyone, and I'll see you across the table soon.

Hendybadger hosts a giveaway

Over at Tales of a Tabletop Skirmisher, our friend Hendybadger is having a great holiday giveaway. Choose either the Arkham City Batman or the Dark Knight Trilogy Batman from Knight Models for their excellent Batman Miniature Game.

Entry is easy: Comment on the post there on his blog and share news of the giveaway around. That's it!

Thanks, Hendybadger, for a great holiday surprise for the gaming community.