Tag: Hobby

May Resolutions Update

On 31st May 2020

How did I do in May for my resolutions, well let’s have a look shall we.

Paint 867 Models – 70.59%

Kinda smashing this one, I have painted 612 models so far this year and I have plans to do 80 Chainrasps in June which will take me a good chunk of the rest of the way.

Terrain and Nighthaunts have really helped me get ahead with this resolution.

This month I have painted up to

Finish Painting The Blood Ravens I Own on 1st January – 58.97%

This month I painted two units of Scouts, these I got from Conquest last summer. I actually bought two extra copies for these, my subscription copy is going to the Blood Angels I share with Megan.

I also painted five Intercessors to reinforce a squad of five I already have painted, plus Sgt Jovan, although he doesn’t actually count towards the resolution as I got in this year.

And finally I managed to paint my three Land Speeders, a Typhoon and two Tornados.

This brings me above the half way point and puts me well ahead of schedule.

Finish The Death Guard – 83.33%

Well I made a giant leap forward with the Death Guard this month by painting the Tallyman, which is the last of the Conquest collection to be done, and two sets of Blightlord Terminators.

All I have left to do now is a pair of Chaos Spawn and Mortarion himself, the Chaos Spawn are now built and primed and I am planning long term for when I will paint Mortarion.

Complete 2000 Points of Stormcast Eternals – 70%

This month I was able to add a Knight-Questor, Lord-Ordinator, two Celestar Balista, three Prosectors and a Knight-Venator to the list, taking me up to 1400 points painted.

Next month I am going to come up with an actual game list to use for this resolution, it’s all fine and dandy having 2000 points painted but if it’s not a useable list does it count?

So it’s likely that this percentage will come down as I figure that list out.

Rebase Blood Ravens 25%

I made a start on this by rebasing the first Tactical Squad, and leaves me with another Tactical Squad, an Assault Squad and a Captain to do still, but it’s a start.

I intend to get this completed in June.

Other Resolutions

Complete 1750 Points of T’au
Complete 1750 Points of Orks
Rebase the Orks
Paint Mortarion for Everchosen

Not much to report here, the plan is to rebase a few Orks next month, and as you will see some T’au units are starting to appear on my painting plan now.

So let’s have a look at the painting plan and what I have planned in the next few weeks.

As I said the first T’au units have appeared on the list as have the first Sons of Horus unit for the Edge of Empire Podcast army.

Stormcast Eternals Retributors x 5, Knight-Heraldor and Knight-Vexillor
Space Wolves Grey Hunters Pack Leaders x 4 and Iron Priest
Blood Ravens Chaplains x 5
Chainrasp Horde x 40
Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought
T’au Ethereal on Hover Drone x 2
Blood Ravens Intercessors x 10
Death Guard Sabre Strike Tanks x 2
Stormcast Eternals Sequitors x 8
Blood Ravens Repulsor x 2

Long term I am aiming to complete the Blood Ravens within the next three months, most of what’s ahead of me for them is Infantry units, 16 units are left to do, of which 7 are characters.

The T’au are starting to feature in my long term planning now, but I do have phase 3 of Niki’s Death Korps of Krieg which I am going to start slotting in from next week.

Mood:- Dusty
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed:- 5
In My Ears:- By the Way – Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Game Last Played:– Codenames Pictures
Book Last Read:– The Founding by Dan Abnett
Movie/TV Show Last Viewed:- Ashes to Ashes
Current State of Projects:- Stormcast Eternals Retributors, Knight-Heraldor and Knight-Vexillor primed

Lockdown Hobby Goals

By michael

On 12th May 2020

In Blog

A few weeks ago Games Workshop put up a series of 10 hobby goals for people to try and hit whilst on lockdown and I have decided to try and give them a go.

The ones in bold I have achieved thus far.

Take a picture of your latest painted model and post it online with #WarhammerCommunity
Complete the scenic bases for your army
Build and paint a Monster
Build and paint a Kill Team
Listen to a whole Warhammer audiobook while painting
Build and paint a Warcry Warband
Take a picture of your hobby area and post it on Twitter with #WarhammerCommunity
Teach someone new to paint a model!
Read a Black Library novel
Build and paint a new piece of terrain

They are mostly pretty good and I think I can get most of these done, the only one I am not sure it is painting a Monster, I do have Mortarion to do for Everchosen, just got to fit him into the schedule.

Obviously I have a few times now shared my latest models with #WarhammerCommunity, I don’t have many scenic bases for my armies, but all the ones I have right now for the Nighthaunt are completed.

I just finished listening to Beastgrave whilst painting (more on that below) and I have built and painted two Warcry Warbands, a Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Chamber one and the Untamed Beasts.

And a few weeks ago I did all of my Age of Sigmar terrain so that fulfilled that criteria.

So that’s five down and five to do, and I will be getting the Kill Team done in the next week I think.

What I Am Painting

I started the week off by painting the pair of Tech-Priest Manipulus’s I got when the Theta-7 Acquisitus box was released back in January last year and they have been sitting in my desk every since.

Been a while since I did any Adeptus Mechanicus but these were fairly fun to paint, although I think some subassemblies would have worked better for them.

These will see service in both my Adeptus Mechanicus army for 40k and my Mechanicum army in 30k.

Whilst various washes were drying on these I started and finished an Easy to Build Redemptor Dreadnought that I got from Warhammer 40,000 Conquest, but I decided to give this model to the Space Wolves.

Been a while since I touched my Space Wolves but I am thinking of going back and doing some work on them to bring them into 8th Edition.

I have already kitbashed together 4 Grey Hunters Pack Leaders, as last edition you could replace these with Wolf Guard Pack Leaders, which I always did, but now you need them in 8th.

I also built from various parts I had, 15 Blood Claws as that’s a unit I don’t really have in my Space Wolves.

I then started work on the Celestar Balista and Lord Ordinator for the Stormcast Eternals, these were one Balista from Soul Wars and an Easy To Build one from Warhammer Mortal Realms.

I finished the first Celestar Balista on the Sunday, the other was finished apart from the base and then concentrated on the Sacristan Engineers and the Lord Ordinator.

I did a big burst of painting until 2am to get them finished. It’s been a long time since I got in the zone like that, and it was actually nice, I had Jack Ryan in in the background and I just painted, and before I knew it, all the models were done and I had binged all of season 2!

Next up on the painting table is some Blightlord Terminators and a Tallyman for the Death Guard.

I have decided to paint both the Deloris Strain and the Blightlord Terminators I made from the old version of the Chaos Terminators and the Forge World upgrade kit at the same time.

So let’s take a look at my painting queue.

Blightlord Terminators x 10 & Tallyman
Chaotic Beasts x 12
Dreadblade Harrows x 2
Blood Ravens Scouts x 10
Millitarium Tempestus Meltagun Squad x 10 & Taurox Prime
Blood Ravens Landspeeders x 3
Stormcast Eternals Prosecutor x 3 and Knight-Venator
Blood Ravens Intercessors x 5 & Sgt Jovan
Stormcast Eternals Retributors x 5 & Knight-Vexillor
Space Wolves Grey Hunters Pack Leaders x 4 & Iron Priest

What I Am Reasing

I started with an audiobook, I listened to Beastgrave which was a very good listen, different to what I was expecting by most enjoyable. The ending was a bit anticlimactic but other than that I loved it.

What I Am Playing

On Sunday we played a couple of games I’d Codenames Pictures. In one I was the spymaster for both players and Lindsay won, and in the second Megan was the spymaster for me and Lindsay and I won.

What I Am Backing

I convinced the girls and we are now backing Lords of Vegas at a level to get us the base game and both expansions.

I have been after this game for some time and it keeps being out of print whenever I am looking, so I am very happy to be backing this.

What Am I Cooking

I have cooked anything at all since my last blog post.

What Am I Spending

Not much spent but I did get my first resupply of paints from Games Workshop since they reopened and it was very much needed.

A can of Grey Seer, pots of Grey Seer, Rakarth Flesh, Kabalite Green, Gryph-Charger Grey and Valhallan Blizzard and two paint brushes, an M Layer and S Layer.

Mood:- Tired
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed:- 7
In My Ears:- Can’t Knock the Hustle by Weezer
Game Last Played:- Codenames Pictures
Book Last Read:- Tales from the Crucible by Various
Movie/TV Show Last Watched:- Justice League
Current State of Projects:- Blightlord Terminators and Tallyman primed

New Project Needed

By michael

On 13th September 2016

In Blog

I need a new project to try and get my hobby mojo back.

So which project should I pick up and run with???

Blood Angels – got bits and kits to make a 2000pts army of these with plenty of variety in HQ models, most of everything has a transport and it’s all about hitting hard and fast, have many of the units built up already, and a Death Company Dreadnought already finished. Megan would be helping me with this one and I have a good mix of Death Company, some Sanguinary Guard as well as standard Blood Angels.

Tyranids – for almost two years I have had this Tyranid army sitting on my shelf, I have the Start Collecting box built and primed, the Hive Tyrant is just about finished off, plan is to paint it up as Leviathan. Sitting on the shelf I have a Wrath of the Hive Mind box, a Tyranid Swarm box, two sets of the Tyranids from Deathstorm, Genestealers from Space Hulk and the Genestealer Cult from Overwatch.

Word Bearers – I have enough models and kits to build a 3500pts army, mostly based around a Pride of the Legion/Primarchs Chosen force from a Betrayal at Calth set. Plenty of Dreadnoughts and some Gal Vorback, Ashen Circle and Lorgar in there. For this one I would need to buy three Rhinos and a Dreadnought Drop Pod. I already have painted up a Company Champion and a Contemptor Dreadnought.

So what do you guys think I should do???

Cooking Fat

By michael

On 22nd August 2016

In Blog

Moving on from yesterday post about my being down and depressed, how about something a bit more positive for today!

So here is Cookie and Megan, Cookie was my Nana’s cat, but since she had to move into sheltered accommodation, Cookie now lives with us, he used to live with us about 10 years ago, but my Nana kind of stole him off us.

So we already have 3 cats, Sweep Misty and Jenny, when Cookie came to live we use, we were told he had been done, this was it turned out, a lie. Cookie went on to have kittens with both Sweep and Misty, who are mother and daughter, one of those kittens was Maggie who is also currently living with us. Jenny is Mistys kitten from a few years later, so we have 5 related cats living with is right now.

Cookie and Megan have grown so close that we can’t separate them, at night Cookie sleeps wrapped around Megan’s head and he spends as much time as he can with her. Maggie however doesn’t like other cats too much so we are currently searching, without much luck thus-far for a new home for her, but Cookie won’t be going anywhere due to his bond with Megan.

One little tidbit about Cookie, his real name is Cooking Fat, my idiot uncle was his first owner and called him that, you just swap the first letters around, needless to say he just gets Cookie, or sometine Mr. Fat!

Anyway if anyone fancies a black 10 year old female cat who likes the outside a lot and is a bit of hard work, let me know!

What I am Modelling

At the moment I am modelling mostly Age of Sigmar models from the Storm of Sigmar set, I finished the Blood Warriors up and have moved onto the Liberators whom I am doing as Celestial Vindicators cause I love the colour scheme, not sure if I will stick with it for my final Stormcast colour scheme but this far I like it.

I am also working on some initial Word Bearers and you can see here on my painting table a Legion Champion/ Veteran, kitbashed from the Legion Champion kit, Wors Bearers heads and plastic MKIV Marines. Not pictured is a jump pack Chaplin I am working on.

What I am Reading

Books are still proving a chore for me at the moment and I am still working my way through Angels of Caliban from my Librarium membership in June. So far the book is quite good, I am halfway through it now, but I am finding the change in Zahariels motivation from the previous two Dark Angels books in the serious to be a bit hard to swallow.

I know it’s not serious Sci-Fi and just glorified bolter porn, but I do quite enjoy the Horus Heresy novels, probably because I enjoy the game so much, but it feels like the last vestige of action Sci-Fi novels that hasn’t been polluted by Vox Day and his awful followers.

Audiobook wise I just finished the Outcast Dead and Wolf Hunt. The first one is just a mess of continuity errors and a plot that makes little sense at times, in fact at one point when asked their motivation, one of the main characters replies “Just Because”.

It’s a shame as it could have offered some interesting insights into the life for ordinary citizens of the Imperium and the political ongoings in the Imperial House and with the Astra Telepathica, but instead we got this mess, but it does have a Samurai Witch Hunter which is kinda cool. Too many characters without any real development time for them, a final fight that just leaves you feeling empty because characters are there and then suddenly not there, and a real anti-climax.

Wolf Hunt is a lot better and sets up a later novel a little bit as well, which is cool and I will eventually pick up that plot strand in time. It really should have been part of the Outcast Dead as it resolves the huge continuity error and ties up all the loose ends, but I suppose a short story to tie it all up is better than noting.

What I am Playing

I meant to have a game of Forbidden Island with Megan today, but my head has been hurting something rotten and it’s really hot, so I ended up having a three hour nap instead. Was a bit disappointed in that to be honest as its been a while since I have played a game.

I am also playing some Pokemon Go, I just reached Level 20 yesterday. It’s a hard game to play when you are stuck in the sticks, my village has just one Pokestop and it’s a bit of a walk away for me, so I frequently run out of Pokeballs to catch all those Weedles and Rattatas

What I am Backing

At the moment on Kickstarter I am backing Cognition #1 Mirror, Mirror. It’s a comic written by the amazingly talented Ken Reynolds, an old school friend of mine and illustrated by Sam Bentley. I backed the Issue #0 and quite enjoyed these steampunk stories of a steam powered robot with a human soul and a demoniacally possessed mouse from Victorian England.

Go ahead and give it a look, plenty of the pledge levels allow you to get issue #0 as well and the artwork is sublime.

What I am Spending

Not much this month, I have been a bit short on money having overspent in Cardiff when the good folks at Firestorm Games had a price too good to ignore for a deal with both Deathwatch Overkill, Death Masque and the Deathwatch Data Cards!

First Steps in Airbrushing

By michael

On 14th August 2016

In Blog

Well I got my airbrush stuff delivered this week, so today I gave it a go.

I had planned to go to a long gaming day at Heaton Game Society, but sadly Megan was not doing so good today after a bit of a nasty shock yesterday, so I stayed home to help her with her day.

And of course I used the time to wisely try out the airbrush. It’s not as easy as it looks on YouTube, I just stuck to the basic airbrush that came with the compressor, before I break out the expensive Iwata Neo I bought.

I base coated five Ultramarine Breachers, three Celestial Vindicator Liberators and Ragnar Blackmane and Njal Stormcaller in Power Armour. I discovered why airbrush painters prefer dropper bottles, some have been ordered, and that Russ Grey in the Citadel Air range is a completely different colour to Russ Grey in the layer range!

Tomorrow I plan to try out the primer and will be priming a Word Bearers Contemptor Dreadnouth and an Airdid European Fountain.

Back From A Long Break

By michael

On 4th August 2016

In Blog

Well its been a long time since I last posted, well time just got away from me and before I know it, here we are.

While I have been silent, I have been building a new version of my Ultramarines to take away to Takaan-Reva: Drowned in Flames, an event being run by the excellent The Imperial Truth podcast.

The list I am building is inspired by the event only Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator Armour from Warhammer Fest whom is armed with a Combi-Volkite and thunderhammer. As soon as I saw him, I figured he would make an excellent Siege Breaker Consul, which is what I intend him to be.

The idea of my list is a siege gunline, designed to create a killing box directly in front of it behind an Aegis Defence Line, with a squad of three Legion Medusas killing high strength units and heavy armour combined with a Volkite Caliver Tactical Support Squad and Legion Rapier Quad Heavy Bolters to deal with infantry and light armour. I have also thrown my Fellblade in there, because I love the model and its awesome to use it. Anyway here is my list.

Yeah I dropped the Siege Breaker upgrade for the Terminator Centurion, but I did so to fit in Shatter Shells for the Legion Rapier Quad Launcher Support Battery, but still I think it fits the theme I am going for. I playtested it against Aidan’s Sons of Horus where it destroyed him by turn 3, but against Christian’s Dark Mechaniucm and Arran’s Salamanders, it was simply OK but losing, so I think I have hit the right level, good enough to not be bottom of the pack, but not overpowered as to be up there with the Mechanicum.

Today I have to put some Lahmian Medium on some shoulder pads to take the shine of the gloss varnish away, pop some transfers on the Legion Rapier Quad Launcher Support Battery crews, and drill and pin a Bolt pistol to the Sgt in the Fellblade.

Word Bearers

With my Ultramarine nearing completion, I have decided to start a small force of Word Bearers up, based around either the Primarch’s Chosen or Pride of the Legion Rites of War. It all kinda started when I swapped a bunch of Millitarium Tempestus Scions with Aidan for an unbuilt Spartan, so I decided, why not, I had a spare Betrayal at Calth lying around!

So I have got the following kits and bits with which to build my Word Bearers:

Betrayal at Calth
Mark IV Space Marines
Legion MKIV Heavy Support Squad
Legion Missile Launcher Set
Telerace Pattern Volkite Culverins Set
Contemptor Pattern Volkite Culverin x 2
Contemptor Pattern Kheres Assault Cannon x 2
Lorgar Primarch of the Word Bearers
Word Bearers Legion Gal Vorbak
Word Bearers Legion Ashen Circle
Word Bearers Legion Contemptor Dreadnought x 2
Word Bearers Legion Transfer Sheet
Word Bearers MKIV Upgrade Set – Torsos x 4
Word Bearers MKIV Upgrade Pack – Heads x 2
Word Bearers Land Raider Doors
Word Bearers Rhino Doors x 3
Leviathan Cyclonic Melta Lance
Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought
Leviathan Siege Drill
Contemptor Cyclone Missile Launcher
Legion Plasma Gun Set

I still need to grab three Mars Pattern Rhinos and a Dreadnought Drop Pod, but I am pretty happy with what I have got and see it going towards a very assault based elite army towards the future. Anyway I am going to see about getting these done in the last quarter of the year, after I have tackled my road trip Tyranids first.

Painting Upgrade

For painting the Word Bearers, I am going to try something a bit different, I am going to airbrush them!

I have the airbrush, an Iwata Neo on order and in the meantime the accessories have all arrived bar the Airbrush Thinner as you can see in the below Instagram post. I am looking forward to getting this all set up and giving it a go, in fact if we arrive in Cardiff on time tomorrow, there are some airbrush tutorials going on, so hopefully I can pick up some hints and tips so I can do more than prime and base coat.

Looking quite forward to this because I have seen some of the amazing smooth coats that can be achieved with an Airbrush and frankly that is something I need help with when it comes to my Tyranids.

Other Projects

I have had the Age of Sigmar starter set since it went on sale, but other than test painting the free Stormcast Eternal that came with the launch White Dwarf, I have yet to actually do anything with it, but the Storm of Sigmar set has really got me very interested in getting these done.

I kinda went a bit out that day and have added these to my Starter Set and a Grand Alliance Order book that I picked up at Warhammer Fest, when they were offering £5 off any of them.

So I have started painting up the three Khorne Blood Warriors that come with the set, which is the first time I am using some new brushes, my Army Painter ones have come to the end of their life and with my FLGS no longer stocking them I needed a new regular brush, so I have decided to give the new Citadel range a try. I have to say so far, I am quite impressed, although mostly I am have only used the Small Layer Brush and the Small Drybrush so far as I found an unopened and unused Standard brush in my drawer.

I already have my Tyranids which are moving very very very slowly, I have kinda stopped them to finish my Ultramarines army for this weekend, but my first Hive Tyrant is mostly finished, I think I have just the base, and tongue left to do on it.

I have all the stuff from the Start Collecting Tyranids box built, and have played one game with them against Phil’s Tau, and the Hive Tyrant, basically wiped out his whole army on its own, its a fairly brutal unit.

Anyway, I think that is me done for now, I plan to be a lot better at posting, I am annoyed at what I have missed sharing, especially my trip to the UK Games Expo.

Army Painter Wargaming Set Unboxing

By michael

On 10th March 2016

In Reviews, Videos