9 September 2024: Weekly Update

9 September 2024

World of Warships - Update 13.9

Reading the Devblog regarding Update 13.9 and its many announcement. I noticed in one the very rare premium US carrier the Enterprise (unobtainable from anywhere in the game or Armoury) will now be made available as part of the reward for the upcoming Battle of Leyte Gulf anniversary event. I already have this rare ship from one of the Santa crates two years back. Played her only a few times and got reported by my own teammates for having the gall to play it while they died. Lol. But now she will be made available to everyone who will no doubt eagerly have a crack going for her through the missions required. Not so unobtainium now I reckon!

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Wargaming - Last Major Hobby Project

Planning on taking a long hiatus after this last major hobby project primarily to sort out my developing and ongoing health issues as well as explore other 'creative' outlets while I still can.

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World of Warships - Festive tokens and Supercontainers

No free ships from the many Supercontainers obtained. Ninety-nine ships left to go still. Used my hoard (credits and Free XP) to the next two French destroyer line - L'Aventurier and Orage. Hope to get the Cassard in the next day or two (forgot that the mods had to be purchased as well). Also decided to "go for it" and obtained the Supership Maine.

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English Civil War

Royalist army finally arrived from the UK. Large package. Haven't opened it yet but I expect I will be busy sorting out the listing later on this week. 

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10 September 2024

World of Warships - Ninth Anniversary month

Still grinding the remainder of the Tier VI ships. Most likely tomorrow will earn me the Tier X Unique commander Lisboa. 

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Space Marines 2

Yeah, bought into the hype after watching gameplay by some lady YT streamers: they were having fun and that appealed to me for some reason. Installing took a while so went to bed and awoke later on in the day. Will properly start playing over the weekend.

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11 September 2024

World of Warships - End of Festive tokens run

Sorta...managed to utilise the six extra tokens rewards today. No more bonus Festive tokens from port ships. Not sure what happens now, whether or not you still receive festive token rewards for the ships play or what? Will see either tomorrow or Friday. Got the Cassard though to complete the second French destroyer line. Avoiding the other Anniversary events like the Pan-American Early Access battleship line as well as the Spanish battleship line, also Early Access apart from the Iripanga which was the reward for the Event Pass event. 

Logged in again tonight to verify if the Festive token event only applies to ships still unused in your port. It is so. If you purchase a new ship, depending on its Tier, you will earn whatever Festives apply (or Steel if you decide on a Supership instead). What this means is there are now only two ways you can obtain Festive tokens: (1) either pay for or earn a new ship, (2) or wait for the Daily Rewards to drop 125 tokens (the price of a Supercontainer) of which there are limited numbers (five available I believe). Which makes chasing after them now a wasted exercise. So basically the hype WG promoted is useless insofar as once ALL your port ships have yielded Festive tokens, no more is to be had apart from the two methods described above. Interesting.

With that understanding therefore it's back to the usual skipper grind until the next Update kicks in a few weeks. Had a quick squizz and what's on offer is a total waste so looking forward to just stockpiling the credits and XP until November when it will be the annual Black Friday event (one hopes). Then it's on to Christmas and the much anticipated Snowflake event. 

This new Collection has been changed. Before it used to be a one-for one-exchange with duplicates, ie for every duplicate exchanged you got a new collection tile/object. No longer so; you have to have a number of duplicates before they can be exchange for a new collection tile/object. Another sneaky introduction by WG. 

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12 September 2024

World of Warships

Ran into one of the old clan members in my short morning session. Greeting by tag went unanswered. Probably forgot me anyway. No mind. Noticed that a few times in the past since leaving the clan whenever I see a former clan member. Wasn't really there long enough to make a mark I suppose so no biggie.

Yeah, the Festive tokens deal is officially over; this morning's session confirmed it. Gone from the Armoury tab but still present in port. So (a) grinding for no reward) and (b) any future Festive tokens earned will go towards Supercontainers. Bound to get a free ship soon one wishes...perhaps...hoping...lol.

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Thursday is Hobby or Wargaming Day

Taking a major break from tabletop gaming and the hobby side of it while I sort out my ongoing health issues. My final last hurrah for the time being therefore will be building my English Civil War armies up to tabletop standard.

But first I have to finish off my New Model army which is in varying states of completion. Currently, on the 'workbench' are three more Horse units awaiting filing prior to undercoating. Then it's on to the still unassembled artillery which are painted. All the New Model foot units are painted and largely assembled and are at the final detailing and basing stage. For the most part. 

Unit above is Henry Ireton's Horse. I made a start but I still need to finish off the filing completely before applying the undercoat/primer.

Whalley's (bottom) and Vermuyden's (top) Horse. All three horse units are wearing lobster pot helmets but are classified as Horse by me for gaming purposes. All are in need of filing and trimming the excess before undercoating can begin.

New Model

I like to recap...a lot. So, here is my full New Model Army list circa 1643. It is a modified list taken from the Battle of Naseby OOB. Basically it's just the first line with some changes.  

Overall commander will be Sir Thomas Fairfax. I have several other commanders who can step in but they represented earlier time periods and are non-New Model. I'm including them all the same primarily as figureheads as they can represent anyone I nominate. The Earls of Manchester and Essex are Old Glory minis that came with a personality set purchased from the USA which included Oliver Cromwell as well as Royalists.

Infantry (or Foot) are as follows: 5 Regiments of Foot (Pike and Muskets) and one unit of Forlorn Hope. These come under the command of Sir Philip Skippon. All the artillery will be concentrated here and consist of two batteries

Cavalry (or Horse) include the various types split into two wings - left and right and commanded by Henry Ireton and Oliver Cromwell respectively: 8(???) regiments of Horse (of varying strengths) and 1 unit of Dragoons (mounted as well as foot displayed).

Initial Observations: New Model are largely experienced soldiers and greater in numbers than their opponents. They should win most of their upcoming/planned scenario games is what I'm speculating as their senior commanders were all good and very experienced.  

Royalist

King Charles will be the nominal and titular head of this force although Prince Rupert will exercise field command in-game.

Like the Roundheads, the army composition will be split into three wings - Left and Right will be horse and Centre will be foot. A small reserve exists under King Charles direct command and consist of what I deem to be elites.

Left Wing - Langdale will command just two Horse units on this wing - the 'Northern' Horse and Cary's Horse. I may add a few muskets later on, either commanded muskets and/or dragoons.

Centre Wing - Under the control of Lord Astley. Four Foote units divided into two equal tertias (brigades) under Lucas and B. Astely. 

Right Wing - Under Prince Maurice who will command three units of Horse. Both Princes will have attached to their individual headquarters their own Lifeguards. These can be detached to form a fourth Horse unit if desired. 

Reserve - King Charles. Comprising 2 Foote regiments and the King's Lifeguards (horse) component. 

Artillery - I am "balancing" out the artillery between both sides numbers-wise with both sides having the same number of batteries and gun types. I suspect artillery will feature less prominently on the tabletop battleground but still prove an irritant to whomever is on the receiving end of their focus-fire. With the Royalist, the artillery will be distributed in the Centre and Reserve while the guns of the New Model will reside with their Centre Wing. 

Initial Observations: This Royalist force are mostly experienced veterans but are weak in strength across the board. They will have to deploy other tactics other than engaging their opponents full-on in set battles. The upcoming campaign should prove interesting therefore...so it's hoped. Rupert is brilliant but inconsistent while Charles is more a problem than anything. The next level down commanders are all experienced. 

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13 September 2024

World of Warships

New event began today - Exploration to the North Pole. Checked it out later and discovered it's an annual thing with WG. Rewards are mission-specific tokens that can be cashed in on 1 December. The major rewards are 1 Tier X ship, 1 Tier X Festive camo, and 6 Santa Gift crates. There are other rewards on offer as well I believe but no details have been provided as far as I can discern. 

Firstly, this event is FREE. No expenditure whatsoever. That's a plus for sure.

Secondly, it's a decent alternative to whatever Event Pass will be running between now and Christmas. And it's not unusual for me to 'fast track' progress by spending pingas to access the second level (first level is always free). Each month brings a new Update: currently we are in 13.8. Next month (Halloween) will be 13.9, November (Black Friday) will be 13.10, and December (Santa/New Year) will be 13.11. So that's 3 new Battle Pass events between now and the New Year. With EthNP there are four missions in total spaced a month apart. Completed the first mission objectives so that 2,500 tokens out of a possible 10,000 earned.

Focus today was the continued pursuit for Festive tokens to spend on the remaining Supercontainers (around 30-odd) still for exchange. Daily Rewards still have five lots 125 Festive tokens available. And you can always try your luck with the daily loots crates. 

Finished off the Collection and received the reward, the Pan-American Unique commander Lisboa. Ran him on the Atlantico for the rest of the session to get him active. 

Hoping to get my next steel ship, Mecklenburg, eventually earning the bonus steel reward from the Dockyard event while it lasts. 

Currently finishing off the penultimate mission and earn the two Dockyard tokens that will convert to 250 steel apiece. Last mission will yield 750 steel which will start the next steel ship grind which will go towards the Austin.

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14 September 2024

PC Gaming - New Games

Mentioned it previously about buying into the hype and getting Warhammer 40K Space Marines 2. And now I have also added Black Myth: Wukong after watching another YT streamer gaming it. Going to be some fun over the next few weeks alongside the ECW armies build. Have both games installed on my other Steam account. 

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World of Warships

Short interrupted session today. Received last-minute notification from one of my grandsons this morning that it's his first game of gridiron today. So, naturally enough, I am going to watch and support. Should be interesting to see if he does as well in gridiron as he does in rugby league. Love the game of gridiron but not into the over-hype or excessive BS that comes with it however. 

Go Team K! Go Raptors! Lol. 

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Online PC Gaming

After a chilly spring day spent watching my grandson's team win their game I decided to 'chill out' playing Stardew Valley on my other Steam account. Then crashed.

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15 September 2024

World of Warships

Co-Op is dead. It'll be even more dead with the return of Mode Shuffle in Update 13.9. Already Operations mode has been spiced up with Tier Xs and Superships accessing the mode now which pleases many. Sticking with Co-Op however because it's solo and just a relaxing mode for me. Noticing a lot of premium ships in the lower tiers though lately, some rare. Well, not so rare now. Grinding the Dockyard missions to obtain steel (going for Mecklenburg). 4 steel shy of my goal. Missed it by this much, as Agent 86 might declare to anyone listening. Lol. Have to wait until the last Dockyard mission is made available in a few days time. 

Avoiding the Aquatic event (chance of getting the Victoria odds were incorrectly stated as 0.2% when it's actually 1.2%) as well as the early Pan-American battleship release. Sinkhole for whales with money to spend. Not interested in the Los Andes or the Libertad; happy to wait until they're released around 13.10 (November) or 13.11 (Christmas time). Got the Ipiranga as reward for completing the Event Pass.

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