What did Santa bring you?

Merry Xmas everyone!  I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  Only 3 more days left and we'll be into 2011 which hopefully will be bringing me more motivation to paint some figs.

I hope everyone also got some great loot from Santa this year.  I personally am very happy with what I scored.  I'm a very difficult person to shop for, so it's always great when people can get me stuff that I don't already have.  So this post I want to dedicate to my latest painting project which is finished and what I got for Christmas.

So of the late I haven't been much on playing the classics, ie: 40k, Fantasy, Warmachine, or FoW.  I've quite gotten into a game called Uncharted Seas.  It's a fantasy naval battle not unlike Man O' War.  I've pick up two starter fleets, Dwarves and Orks.  I just finished my Dwarf fleet.  Here are some of my pics.  I'll be posting the Orks next.  Just getting to start them after the new year.

 So this is a snap of the finished fleet.  It's a battleship, 3 destroyer and 6 cruiser.

A closer look at the battleship

A destroyer

and lastly a cruiser

So now it's time to show off what I got for Xmas.  Let me say again how I love the stuff I got this year.  It's almost all stuff that I'm gonna use on a daily basis.  So the first thing I'm gonna show off is this Arkham Horror expansion that I got.  This game is a favorite among the gaming group.  We just love to play this game but when you put all the board and card expansions together, this thing becomes MASSIVE and quite overwhelming :).

Next, my friends Melissa and Adam got me the Seafarers expansion for Settlers of Catan.  We've been playing thing game quite a bit lately and getting the expansions is only gonna insure that this game stays in rotation. 

One of my most favorite gifts this year.  My lady got me this awesome coffee press.  I used it this morning too and I must say that it does make a better tasting cup of coffee when you make it this way than with a drip.  This thing will get a ton of usage.

So this is a bottle of beer that came with a gift card to Binny's that was my secret Santa gift at work.  Oh how Santa knows me well.  Haven't opened it yet, but I'll be drinking this thing during New Years Eve.

This here is a stocking stuff that my girlfriend got me.  Not sure what it's supposed to represent but what the hell, I'll read it and maybe I'll glean some hidden gem from the mind of Charles Shultz.

This by far is one of the coolest things I was able to procure of the winter holiday.  I got this from a White Elephant gift exchange at a Christmas party.  It's a set of shot glasses with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on it.  Love it!

Another expansion for the Settlers of Catan that my woman got me.  Can wait to try this one out.

I got a set of dice for the Arkham Horror game.  I'm glad the lady got this for me as I was eyeing this set of dice for our games of Arkham Horror.  Another gift that will see much usage.

The final two gift my girlfriend got me are also awesome.  The first is a Shadowrun sourcebook called Feral cities.  Covering many of the overrun cities of the Awakened World.  I've been waiting for this book to come out so I can add some of these cities to my campaign.  The last gift is a book reading lamp which, according to my girlfriend, I needed desperately as to not keep her up while I read and she tries to sleep.

Well that's it for now.  I hope everyone had a great Xmas and that you like my dwarf fleet.  Look forward to an exciting new year of friends, family, the Bears in the Superbowl and some great gaming!

Xmas Time!

Well Xmas draws near and I'm drawn to thinking about what I asked for on my wishlist which coincedentally is all boardgames. I'm not sure when I drifted away from RPG's and table top wargaming. I mean, I've always enjoyed a good boardgame on the occasion but of the late I've really been putting in the overtime with games like Settlers of Catan, Last Day on Earth, the revamped Talisman, Arkham Horror, Cash and Guns, Robo Rally, etc, etc, etc.

It makes me think that maybe it's the group I've been playing games with every once in awhile. Seems like it's board games with a smattering of Shawdowrun, Eberron, and Vampire. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining about the quality of my geek time. I'm just making an observation.

Or is it something else. I was chatting with my buddy Stu the other night about how we kinda fell away from table top wargaming and he's in the industry for God's sake. For me I think it's because I just don't have a solid group of players anymore. Though I will say that I have definitely moved away from 40K and such. I'm liking the square bases more lately. Uncharted Seas has captured most of my attention. I do likes me a good sea battle from time to time.

So I guess back to my original statement...wishlist...I'm looking over my list again and it's mostly expansions for Settlers, Empire Builder which is a railroad game that uses crayons and a map. Another Arkham Horror expansion and the latest version of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. It the old days this list would've been miniatures galore. What's on everyone else's list? Maybe I need new ideas?

On another side note, anyone try that Kinect yet? I'm still up in the air with this contraption. I hear good things. In reality I've read good things. Let me know what you guys think. If I don't post again soon, I want to wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.