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Finding the Fun Again

By

On 29th August 2025

In Blog

As Warhammer: Age of Sigmar turns ten, I’ve been reflecting on how much the game has changed. and, more importantly, how much my relationship with it has changed. Somewhere along the way, the joy I used to feel slipped out of reach. I still love the models, I still love the worlds, but playing? That’s another story. And honestly, I don’t want it to stay that way. I want to find the fun again.

I was there on day one. I tried the new rules, I liked the look of the Stormcast Eternals (even if they did get called “Sigmarines” by everyone on the internet), and I stuck with it. The early days were rough, no points, no balance, just arguments about how to make a fair game. It really was the Wild West, and plenty of people hated it. They hated the death of the Old World, they hated the move to high fantasy, they said it looked like a game for kids.

But I kept going. And when the General’s Handbook finally landed, it clicked. Suddenly the game worked. By Second Edition, I was all in. Endless Spells were amazing fun, the Sacrosanct Chamber gave me my favourite models, and the Nighthaunt were some of the best villains we’d seen in Warhammer. Add in writers like Josh Reynolds, and the Mortal Realms felt alive and fresh. That was peak Age of Sigmar for me.

Then came Third Edition. The new Thunderstrike Stormcast were… fine, but they didn’t excite me like the chunky Liberators and Sequitors had. More than that, the whole tone of the game seemed to shift. Competitive play had always been there, but now it felt like the focus. And by Fourth Edition, things just broke for me. My beloved Sacrosanct models — not even six years old — were squatted. Yes, the Stormcast range was bloated, but wiping away entire playstyles in one go? That stung.

I’ll admit it: I was bitter. Very bitter. I didn’t buy the new starter box, shoved my Stormcast into storage, and picked up Greenskins instead. I joined an escalation league, but even then, the magic wasn’t there. The narrative side of the game had all but vanished, terrain felt like a box-ticking exercise, and every match seemed to orbit around the latest “meta” list. I wasn’t showing up to play anymore, I was showing up to hang out with friends, with the games themselves feeling like chores I had to get through before the actual fun started.

The return of Chaos Dwarves should have set my heart racing, after all, they were my very first army in any system, my first love in the hobby. The models themselves are incredible, beautifully sculpted, and exactly the kind of army that should make me excited to get painting and building. And yet… the thought of playing them in the current version of Age of Sigmar just turns me off. It’s not the models; it’s the game around them. The overly competitive focus, the meta-driven play, the lack of narrative feel, all of it saps the excitement I should feel for something so personal. It reminded me that no matter how much I love an army, if the game around it isn’t fun, the joy doesn’t follow and that’s something I need to fix for myself.

And part of that’s on me. Since my brain injury, I can’t hold rules in my head the way I used to. I was sharp once, but now I forget things, I get muddled, and honestly? I lose a lot. I’m used to that. But when the whole culture around the game feels like it’s built for hyper-competitive play, it leaves me feeling like there’s no space for someone like me who just wants to throw dice and tell a story.

But here’s the thing: I don’t actually want to give up. I still love the models. I still get excited when I see a new sculpt, even if I can’t muster the will to buy it. And deep down, I still want to enjoy the game. I just need to change how I approach it.

So here’s my new plan: stop chasing the meta. Stop pretending I care about tournaments. Stop playing like winning matters. Instead, I’m going to lean into the stuff that actually makes me smile. If that means turning up with a weird, suboptimal list, great! If it catches my opponent off guard, even better. And who knows? Sometimes those “bad” lists surprise people, and suddenly you’ve not only given your opponent a more memorable game, but you might even scrape an unexpected win.

That’s the kind of joy I want back. Games where my Orks run around being loud, messy, and hilarious. Games where my Knights crash into things just because it looks cool on the table. Boards that look like real places with varied terrain, even if it’s not ITC compliant. I’ve got 17 boxes of terrain that the competitive crowd says are useless, but they’re going on my tables anyway. I want battlefields that tell stories, not perfectly symmetrical chessboards where people measure gaps for half an hour before rolling a single dice.

I need to play more Heresy, it’s the game I love most. I’ve seen how stepping back from the competitive grind can change the experience. Take Graham, for example. He was once the most cutthroat, WAAC-focused player I knew locally. But since he started playing Heresy more for fun, he’s mellowed out. He still likes to win, of course, but he’s way more relaxed and chill these days. Watching him enjoy the game without stressing about the meta has reminded me that maybe I can do the same, that the joy of gaming doesn’t have to come from trophies or “perfect” play, but from simply loving the game itself.

And maybe I’ll spread my wings a bit more. Try Trench Crusade. Dip into The Old World if I can decide on an army. Play some historical with Bolt Action and maybe even some Napolionics. Explore games that don’t have the same competitive baggage, where the focus is back on narrative, creativity, and having a laugh.

At the end of the day, I don’t care about trophies or titles. I don’t care if I’m not “keeping up.” What I care about is fun. I want opponents who smile when they see my army, not because they think it’ll be an easy win, but because they know it’s going to be a fun game. That’s the whole point of this hobby.

Because let’s be honest: most of us got into this for joy. For the excitement of a new box of plastic, for the thrill of rolling that clutch dice, for the stories we tell after the game’s over. Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of that. But I’m ready to start looking for it again.

And that’s why I’ve started drafting my own little manifesto for fun gaming: a set of rules to keep myself honest and make sure the hobby stays joyful, for me and for anyone I play with.

My Manifesto for Fun Gaming

  1. Play what I love: If I like the model, the lore, or the look, it belongs in my army, meta can go to hell.
  2. Every list needs a curveball: At least one “weird” choice that isn’t optimal but makes me smile, and might just surprise my opponent.
  3. Paint at my pace: If a model sits on my desk for two months, that’s fine. This isn’t a race, it’s a hobby.
  4. Terrain should tell stories: Symmetry is for chessboards. I want tables that look like real places worth fighting over.
  5. Winning is optional, fun is mandatory: A memorable story beats a victory every single time.
  6. Celebrate the silly moments: A goblin felling a gargant with a lucky stab should be cheered louder than a finely-tuned combo working as intended.
  7. Make the game fun for my opponent: If they walk away smiling, it was a success, win or lose.
  8. Keep exploring: Try new games, new armies, or new scenarios if they spark excitement. Stagnation kills joy.
  9. No guilt, no grind: If I’m not enjoying it, I step back, take a breather, and come back when the spark’s there.
  10. Remember why I started: Dice, stories, friends, and toy soldiers. Everything else is optional.

What I Am Modelling

I started out the week by painting this Knight-Draconis, with the scheme of a Blue-Eyes white Dragon which my sister in law, Jane will get a kick out of

After that I finished up this Griffin from the BattleTech Beginners Box for the Federated Suns

For the Red Brigade I painted a Yeoman

A Trench Cleric

And a Trench Dog

I also cracked on with these Armiger Helverins for my House Taranis force

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Stormdrake Guard x 4
  3. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  4. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  5. Myari’s Purifiers
  6. Tempestus Aquilons x 11
  7. Red Brigade Warband
  8. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour
  9. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers x 6
  10. Dark Angels Firestrike Servo Turrets x 2

What I Am Reading

I finished The Silent King by Guy Haley, that was a lot of fun and wove together a lot of the novels published since 8th Edition, bringing together the Pariah Nexus and Dark Imperium stuff along with a few other bits I have yet to read

Its a shame the Dawn of Fire series has ended, if they had all been as good as that book, it would have been amazing!

I am now listening to Singularity by James Swallow, only about a quarter of the way through but so far, so good!

Also made some great progress with Era of Ruin as well, and should finish that in the next day or two, on the last story now!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Myself and Megan played Unlock! Game Adventures and went through the Mysterium pack, and that was fine, a little confusing at times however.

I also played a game of Heresy with Graham, and weirdly I won!

But later on we realised that Graham remembered his Comptroller rule, he would have won by 1 point instead of me winning by 3!

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a paint top up, so glad Gamers-At-Hart are now selling Fanatic paints

I also picked up Liber Astartes, and a third Dracosan for the Solar Auxilia

In terms of video games, I did buy The Expanse: A Telltale Series, Silver Box Classics and Gimmick! Special Edition

Lucky Star

By

On 29th August 2025

In Stories

A new story, its taken me a while to get this one done, but hope you enjoy it, lovingly edited by Megan

The 15 worlds of the Torngat Rift had been colonised by humanity for over 500 years and despite the War of Ashes and 8 of the worlds joining the Accord, life here had continued much as before, with the economies of the Rift’s worlds remaining largely interlinked with thriving trade between them. 

Technically both the Confederation and the Accord had outlawed trade between the colonies, but in practice they both knew any attempt to crack down on it would result in significant rebellion, so the trade, carried out by what were essentially smugglers was allowed to continue much as it had for the past half millennium. 

The CAS Cusco mission was much the same as it had been for the past four years, routine patrols of the outer reaches of the Accord systems, mostly to ensure Confederation spy ships were detected and chased off and also to fly the flag. 

“Captain on the bridge” called out the Officer of the Watch, Lieutenant Abdi, as Captain Étienne Leclerc entered stepped onto the deck  

He took a quick look at his crew standing to attention and nodded, “carry on” he said and addressed Abdi “what have we found then Mr Abdi?”

“Small freighter, bearing two-seven-three, closing on the line, she has been trying to avoid us sir”

Walking over to the sensor operators station, Leclerc looked at the screen and saw the faint blue blip trying to stay out of their sensor range. 

“Transponder?” he asked the sensor operator. 

“It’s the Lucky Star sir”

Leclerc cracked a smile “our old friend Captain Kell” he chuckled “I suppose supplies in the wardroom have been running a little low”

Abdi through his own smile said “I think most of  the crew owe their most recent hangovers to him”

“Pipe the comms” ordered Leclerc as he stepped on the holopad and, a minute or so later, the ghostly image of Captain Kell appeared in front of him. 

Immediately Leclerc noticed he didn’t look like himself, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked very tired, his normally clean shave face had a decent amount of stubble, and he seemed jittery. 

“Capatain Leclerc” said Kell, his tone was not his normal jovial tone, it was strained and more serious, “I am afraid we are running a bit behind so I won’t be able to stay and chat, my turnaround time is going to be very tight as is it”. 

This was very odd, normally he joked about being caught and offered a bottle for the captain and a case for the lads. 

“Getting some pressure from the admirality. You know how it is Kell, but we are going to need to come aboard, heave to, and prepare for inspection” answered Leclerc, he suspected Kell was trying to run something other than his usual alcohol, possibly some narcotics. 

Kells eyes went wide, his voice cracked, and it was thin, strained “Cusco, aye aye, heaving to now”

Stepping off the holopad the signal cut off.  He activated the internal comms – “hands to boarding stations” he announced 

He then contacted the ship’s new Marines officer, Second Lieutenant Arlen Vey, “something is queer here Lieutenant, I want you to take across your section, report as soon as you are aboard”. 

“Aye aye Captain” responded Vey. 

The Type 4 shuttle, commonly called the Jollyboat by the men of the Accord navy, drifted silently across the void between the two ships, Veys 8 men and women sat inside, carbines on safety and their boots braced to the deck.

Corporal Denner, a woman with a scar running right down her left check and filled with so much sarcasm her colleagues swore it cut deeper than any knife, grinned at their new lieutenant. “First boarding sir?” she murmured 

Vey looked up from his pad “first since qualifying” he said, trying to sound as confident as possible. 

Denner smiled, a smile so wide and toothy that Vey was forced to gulp at the sight “don’t worry Lieutenant, it’s just Kell.  Only real danger from him is liver failure”

The Jollyboat clamped into the Lucky Stars airlock with a dull clang and the marines put on their helmets “docking compete” said the computer over those comms

“Visors down, weapons ready, lets be about it” ordered Vey. Denner smiled back at her fellow marines, she thought the officer was taking this action a bit too seriously 

As the airlock cycled with a hiss the smell of the Lucky Star’s staler air hit them quickly, its atmospheric recyclers weren’t maintained anywhere near as well as the navies 

Stepping on to the Lucky Stars deck, there was a slight queasiness as they adjusted to its gravity plates, which like the recyclers were clearly not as well maintained as what they were used to

Kell was waiting in the corridor with them, along with four crewmen. He immediately started talking about a coolant leak but Vey wasn’t really listening. Almost as soon as they stepped on deck his entire section had taken the safeties on their carbines off, he got the notifications though on his HUD, and he was noticing exactly what they had now. 

The crewmen were off and the uniforms weren’t right – one was clearly fitted for a star born, and the sleeves and legs were all rolled up, slight tears, buttons missing, boots that weren’t scuffed like a spacers should be  

He slipped his safety off, something was very wrong, the heartbeats of his section were up, and the air was thick with tension

The crewmen were most certainly aware that all the marines eyes were on them, and not Kell, they were making small deliberate movements 

Then with a clash, the sound of metal hitting the deck filled the air, one of the crewmen had dropped something, his ill fitting uniform had betrayed him and a pistol magazine spun across the deck

“Weapons up” snapped Vey and all 9 of the boarding parties C7 Carbines came to bear, at the same time the “crewmen” all drew their own pistols 

Kells face went white as a sheet, and a wet stain appeared down his leg 

“Drop the guns now” barked Sgt Garcia, the small corridor was now a tinderbox, ready to explode 

Kell twitched and, with panic overcoming him, he bolted towards the marines. The imposter nearest him moved his pistol and shot Kell who fell to the deck mid stride, a hole smoking in his back. 

The marines opened fire, their frangable rounds designed to shred flesh but burst harmlessly on steel lest they damage the vital systems of a space vessel, filled the air. 

Thunderclaps filled the corridor, as the marines and imposters fired on each other, the unarmoured “crewmen” stood little chance, two were felled immediately, another screamed as a shot shattered his shoulders, spinning him round into the path of another marine’s weapon, cutting him down

The fourth crewmen had the benefit of some cover and was placing his shots more carefully, but under the hail of bullets he didn’t last very long

Moments later silence returned to the corridor, broken only by the flatline hum of Denner’s vitals in Vey’s HUD, turning around to where she had been stood, she was lying against the bulkhead, her neck a bloody mess, and her vital fluids covering the deck

After getting her body back on the jollyboat, the marines carried out a search of the Lucky Star – the cargo hold was filled with crates of rifles and explosives stacked up neatly

When they opened the cold storage, they were greeted with the real crew of the Lucky Star, murdered execution style, stripped of their uniforms 

They had only spared Kell, clearly hoping to trade on his reputation as a friendly smuggler to get through Accord patrols 

Vey had been expecting the usual bribes of beer and gin, instead what he found was a war crime

A few hours later, Vey delivered his report in the office of Captain Leclerc, who sat at his desk listening with rapt detail. When he finished, Surgeon-Lieutenant Mariana López delivered the autopsy reports, detailing the exact causes of death of all those involved. 

“As for Corporal Denner” Mariana paused, clearly upset – Denner had been a very popular member of the crew – “she sustained a single gunshot wound to the left side of the neck. The round severed the carotid artery and jugular vein, causing immediate catastrophic haemorrhage. Death was rapid and the injury was not survivable under operational conditions.”

The ships XO Lieutenant Commander Tamm commented “based on our reconstruction of the incident, it was a well placed shot, clearly a well trained and capable marksman”

“They were clearly Confederation operatives” said Vey, they all were thinking it, he was sure they had been from the very beginning 

Leclerc leaned back in his chair, and steppled his fingers together and let out a long breath. “The official report will state “Terrorist cell destroyed during contraband inspection” there will be no mention of the Confederation” said Leclerc

Vey’s jaw tightened, “Sir they…”

The Captain put his hand up to silence Vey “When you leave this room, there will be no more talk of the ancien régime and any involvement they may have had here, is that understood?”

Those in attendance gave their acknowledgement. 

Vey nodded but he was visibly shaking with anger.

“Thank you for your attendance, the meeting is adjourned, and I will get the report sent off shortly. Dismissed”. The attendees all began to make their way to the door to leave but as Vey went to turn, he heard “Lieutenant, stay a minute”

When the room was empty, Captain Leclerc opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle of brandy and two metal glasses   

“Sit down Vey” leclerc said as he opened the brandy bottle and poured a healthy portion into each glass. 

Vey pulled out the chair and sat down as the glass slid across the desk to him. 

“I got this from Kell about a year ago”. He took a drink and Vey took a swig of his, he wasn’t really a brandy man but this was pretty nice. 

“Son, we all know it was the Confederation who were behind it, but we can’t acknowledge”

Vey finished off his drink and placed the glass down “Sir I don’t understand why, we need to find out if they are doing this elsewhere”

“Of course they are, and we are doing exactly the same to them” Leclerc responded as he poured them both another drink “and it’s been happening for 300 years”

He paused before continuing “look the Foriegn Office would have to make a protest, the border patrols would increase and before you know it, we are back at war again”

“And god only knows we don’t have the ability to fight another war right now, we have barely recovered from the last one”

Vey looked into his drink “sir, Denner was a good marine, her death shouldn’t be attributed to smugglers and terrorists”

“No it shouldn’t, she died fighting a war that’s been going on longer than any of us have been alive” reflected Leclerc

Vey sat in silence for a long moment, staring at the amber liquid in his glass, the warmth from the brandy doing little to soothe the chill running through him. He could feel the truth pressing against the walls of the official story, suffocating, inescapable.

“I suppose,” he finally said, his voice low, “we all have a role to play in keeping the peace, stopping this Cold War from turning hot.”

Leclerc nodded, eyes distant. “Sometimes the hardest part isn’t fighting, it’s knowing who and when to fight, and who to let believe they’re safe.”

Vey drained the rest of his drink, set the glass down, and exhaled slowly. He stood, squared his shoulders, and met the Captain’s gaze.

“I understand, sir. For now.”

Leclerc gave a small, grim smile. “For now,” he echoed.

Vey turned and walked to the door, the sound of his boots echoing in the quiet office. Behind him, Leclerc sat back, alone with the brandy, thinking of all the battles, those seen and those unseen, that stretched far beyond the walls of the room.

The war would continue, hidden from the world, and yet all the same, it had already taken its toll.

Whoop A 9070XT

By

On 20th August 2025

In Blog

My RTX 3070 has bee. Great apart form one issue, VRAM, 8GB didn’t cut it and in too many games it proved to be an issue

I had planned on upgrading when the 60 series came out but struggles in games like Darktide and Cyberpunk 2077 convinced to upgrade early.

And for the first time in a very long time, I went for a Radeon card, specifically the 9070XT, the Acer Predator Bifrost 9070XT OC!!!

The card is beautiful and looks amazing in my PC and performs like a dream, especially in games where the devs have added FSR 3 and above.

My performances in Cyberpunk 2077 has gone up a hell of a lot, yeah some is via frame gen, but honestly, the AMD implementation of that feel fine.

I am sadly like far too many PC gamers and will upgrade my rig regardless if it needing it sometimes!

And in all honesty if the RTX 3070 wasn’t struggling with its VRAM in certain games I probably would have kept it as its performance is good, it’s just been hamstrung slightly which is annoying.

Also AV1 encoding is fantastic, and has been really good for my YouTube videos.

But that card is still going to live on in the house as Megan has had their rig upgraded from the GTX 1660Ti to the RTX 3070, which will give her some great gaming performance in the games they play, like Disney Dreamlight Valley and The Sims 4.

Meanwhile her GTX 1660Ti and the Ryzen 5 3600 that used to live in that rig, which I upgraded to a 5600X when I changed my CPU to a 5700X3D, well we have an idea for that!

What I am Modelling

I started off by painting this Command Squad for my Ultramarines in MKIII Armour, 5 guys all armed with Power Swords and Combat Shields

I already have a MKIII Banner Bearer from the old kit, so he will be hoping these where needed

I also painted up these two Heralds in MKVI Armour

After that I decided to get the Imperial Fists I have finished so that they can go into storage for a bit, and started out with an Overseer

Then a squad of Breachers

After that I turned my attention to The Red Brigade of New Antioch and painted a few figures for them starting with a Lieutenant

Then Lieutenant MacDonald

Followed by a Stormtrooper

And a Yeoman

Then I finished off this Draconis Combine Vindicator for BattleTech

So what does that leave me with to paint next

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Knight Draconis & Stormdrake Guard x 4
  3. Armiger Helverin x 2
  4. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  5. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  6. Myari’s Purifiers
  7. Tempestus Aquilions x 11
  8. Red Brigade Warband
  9. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers x 6

What I Am Reading

I listened to the next couple of books in the Doctor Who monthly range staring with Live 34 by James Parson which was pretty good, this was followed by Scaredy Cat by Will Shindler which was actually pretty dire.

I then started to listen to The Silent asking by Guy Haley, which is quite good, seems to be weaving together a few more recent threads from the novels of 8th and 9th editions.

I also read To Speak As One, also by Guy Haley, which was a nice little story covering some of Cawls entourage

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

On Tuesday I played a game of 1500pts against Graham with my Solar Auxilia, using this list against his Mechanicum

Crusade Primary Detachment

High Command

Legatine Command Squad
 Bayonets x 4
 Blast Charger x 4
 Needle Pistol
 Power Fist
 Cohorts Vexiliia
 Augury Scanner
 Command Vox

Command

Armoured Command Section
 Dozer Blade
 Flare Shield
 Searchlight
 Lascannon
 Multi-Laser
 Prime Advantage:- Logistical Benefit

Transport

Aurox

War Engine

Aetheon Heavy Sentinel Squadron x 3
 Incinerator

Infantry Tercio

Troopa

Lasrifle Section x 20
 Bayonets x 20
 Vexilla
 Vox Interlock

Lasrifle Section x 20
 Bayonets x 20
 Vexilla
 Vox Interlock

Heavy Transport

Dracosan 
 Dozer Blade
 Searchlight 

Dracosan 
 Dozer Blade
 Searchlight

Armour Tercio

Armour

Leman Russ Vanquisher
 Dozer Blade

Leman Russ Vanquisher
 Dozer Blade

We are still learning the new Editon but we are now getting to grips with it a bit better

But Grahams Tech-Thralls were a tad more resilient and less likely to panic than my Lasriflemen

Then on Friday at Gamers@Hart, me and Russell played 1500 points, I took the this list

# ++ Crusade Primary Detachment ++ [723 Point(s)]

## High Command [135 Point(s)]

Praetor [135 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol (default), Paragon Blade, High Command Detachment Choice (One Apex Detachment)

## Command [215 Point(s)]

Centurion [100 Point(s)]: Melta bombs, Bolt pistol (default), Power fist, Frag grenades, Krak grenades

Master of Signals [115 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Frag grenades, Krak grenades, Command vox relay

## Retinue [210 Point(s)]

Praetorian Command Squad [210 Point(s)]:
• 1x Chosen Champion [12 Point(s)]: Power sword, Combat shield
• 1x Chosen [52 Point(s)]: Legion standard, Power sword, Combat shield
• 3x Chosen [32 Point(s)]: Power sword, Combat shield

## Troops [163 Point(s)]

Tactical Squad [163 Point(s)]: Frag grenades, Krak grenades
• 1x Sergeant [15 Point(s)]: Lightning claw, Volkite serpenta
• 1x Legionary [22 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Augury scanner, Chain bayonet
• 1x Legionary [22 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Nuncio-vox, Chain bayonet
• 1x Legionary [22 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Vexilla, Chain bayonet
• 6x Legionary [12 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Chain bayonet
  Prime Unit (Logistical Benefit (LB - Retinue))

# ++ Auxiliary - Armoured Fist ++ [530 Point(s), 1 Auxilary Detachment(s)]

## Heavy Transport [530 Point(s)]
Land Raider Carrier [265 Point(s)]: Twin heavy bolter, Two Sponson Mounted Twin lascannon

Land Raider Carrier [265 Point(s)]: Twin heavy bolter, Two Sponson Mounted Twin lascannon

# ++ Auxiliary - Tactical Support ++ [90 Point(s), 1 Auxilary Detachment(s)]

## Support [90 Point(s)]

Tactical Support Squad [90 Point(s)]: Rotor cannon, Bolt pistol, Frag grenades, Krak grenades
• 1x Sergeant
• 4x Legionary [8 Point(s)]

# ++ Auxiliary - Heavy Support ++ [155 Point(s), 1 Auxilary Detachment(s)]

## War-engine [155 Point(s)]

Contemptor Dreadnought [155 Point(s)]: Gravis bolt cannon, Gravis chain fist and combi-bolter (Gravis chainfist, Combi-bolter)

It was a great game, but I lost, and that was down to secondaries, Russell got ahead early on, but I was able to catch up, what cost me the game was not having a balanced list to be honest, not enough Line and no Vanguard

What I Am Creating

The next videos in the Heresy series went up, those being Ultramarines and Death Guard, two legions I have been collecting for a long time as well as the Thousand Sons

I also published the next episode of Edge of Empire

What I Am Spending

I bought a few games, a couple of Humble Bundles starting with this months Humble Choice that got me

And the WB Play the Legends Bundle that netted me

The rest of the games went into a second Steam account I am maintaining for whichever nibbling starts wanting to play PC games first!

And the Table Top Tag Team Bundle which got me

I also got seperatly

  • Mood:- Feeling a bit more positive
  • Caffeinated Beverages Consumed:- 1
  • In My Ears:- The Flood – Take That
  • Tabletop Game Last Played:- The Horus Heresy
  • Video Game Last Played:- Diablo IV
  • Book Last Read:- Era of Ruin – Various Authors
  • Audiobook Last In My Ears:- The Silent King – Guy Haley
  • Movie Last Viewed:- Star Trek: Section 31
  • TV Show Last Viewed:- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • Podcast Last In My Ears:- The WAN Show
  • Current State of Projects:- Knight Draconis about 75% done

A New 3D Printing Journey

By

On 2nd August 2025

In Blog

For a few months now we have had a list of things we want to do to improve our home infrastructure

So that’s been things like the new car, replacing the vacuum cleaner and a new home server

High on that list has been a filament 3D printer to do the things my resin one cannot, and this week, we finally got it!

We went for the ever popular and ever reliable Bambu Labs A1! Paul has the A1 Mini and raves about it, so we figured to go for the same as him.

But he has an AMS, we currently do not (long term it’s on the list)

It’s living in my studio, because the cats don’t go up there, nor will visiting children

Assembly was fine, the video helped a lot and it probably took about an hour to get from unboxing to having Benchy starting to print

We borrowed some already dried blue filament from Paul, the first thing printed, other than a benchy and a poop bin, was some replacement pegs for our Socktopus, using an STL that Lindsay found on the Bambu Handy app

We have printed a fair few things, Megan has been especially happy with the initiative tokens for DnD and this over the screen dice tower!

We also got round to printing the storage solution we have been wanting to sort out for Takenoko

We have built up a bit of a supply of different coloured filaments to use for some toys for the nibblings

It’s a really great printer, and we are really happy with it and looking forward to way it can do!

What I Am Modelling

I started off with a second Heavy Mechanised Infantry for the Trench Crusade Red Brigade

I painted the Dark Disciples from the Dark Apostle that I had painted up for the Word Bearers

After that it was some scenery for my oldie world set

Then an Overseer for my Word Bearers

Followed by an Overseer for the Ultramarines

Then a Centurion for the Ultramarines

So what’s next on the list?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Stormdrake Guard x 4 & Knight Draconis
  3. Imperial Fists Breachers x 10
  4. Armiger Helverin x 2
  5. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  6. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  7. Myari’s Purifiers
  8. Tempestus Aquilions x 11
  9. Red Brigade Warband
  10. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played Graham in a last hurrah for 2.0 Heresy, of course I lost as he dismantled my Fists, but it was a really fine game

Last Sunday, we hosted CJ and played a game of Unspeakable Words and Fluxx, I won Unspeakable Words and Lindsay won Fluxx

On Tuesday I had a first game of 3.0 with Graham, we got to only 3.0, and I can tell you this, it’s a hell of a lot of fun!!!

What I Am Reading

I finished CL Werner’s Lady of Sorrows as an audio book, fairly good read, one of the twists seemed really obvious, the other, not so much.

Good story and makes me want more Nighthaunt books!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not much this past fortnight, but I have played a little Cyberpunk 2077

Myself, Chris and Graham have started a playthrough of Diablo IV, which is pretty fun.

What I Am Creating

I published the paining videos for the Night Lords, Blood Angels, Iron Hands and World Eaters this past fortnight

And a further Edge of Empire episode!

What I Am Spending

Ok, these next two I didn’t spend money on but rather was gifted, starting out with a Sicaran Venator that someone gave to Gamers-At-Hart to distribute to the community, and this one ended ok with me

And Graham was kind enough to give me this Stugg III, for my Bolt Action Germans

I did treat myself to a MKIII Command Squad for Heresy, which will join the Ultramarines

Will be making the guys inside as all Power Sword and Combat Shield guys as I have a MKIII banner guy to join them already, but will probably print off a couple of MKVI bodies to make two more Heralds/Banner Bearers

Of course I was saving up for Saturnine, and I picked it up from Gamers@Hart last Saturday

I only bought the Liber Auxilia hoping the other two books would be coming out as ePubs, but no dice on that thus far

I have bought a couple of games

July Tournament

By

On 19th July 2025

In Uncategorised

I went to the Games@Hart July 40K Tournament, I took my Astra Militarium list which you can see below

Tempestus army (1990 Points)

Astra Militarum
Bridgehead Strike
Strike Force (2,000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Commissar (30 Points)
  • 1x Plasma pistol
  • 1x Power weapon

Leman Russ Commander (235 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Lascannon
  • 1x Leman Russ battle cannon

Militarum Tempestus Command Squad (85 Points)
  • 4x Tempestus Scion
     ◦ 4x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot lasgun
     ◦ 2x Hot-shot laspistol
     ◦ 1x Master Vox
     ◦ 1x Medi-pack
     ◦ 1x Plasma gun
     ◦ 1x Regimental Standard
  • 1x Tempestor Prime
     • Warlord
     ◦ 1x Bolt pistol
     ◦ 1x Tempestus dagger

BATTLELINE

Tempestus Scions (140 Points)
  • 1x Tempestor
     ◦ 1x Chainsword
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot laspistol
  • 9x Tempestus Scion
     ◦ 9x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 2x Grenade launcher
     ◦ 4x Hot-shot lasgun
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot laspistol
     ◦ 2x Plasma gun
     ◦ 1x Vox-caster

Tempestus Scions (140 Points)
  • 1x Tempestor
     ◦ 1x Chainsword
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot laspistol
  • 9x Tempestus Scion
     ◦ 9x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 4x Hot-shot lasgun
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot laspistol
     ◦ 2x Meltagun
     ◦ 2x Plasma gun
     ◦ 1x Vox-caster

Tempestus Scions (140 Points)
  • 1x Tempestor
     ◦ 1x Chainsword
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot laspistol
  • 9x Tempestus Scion
     ◦ 9x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 4x Hot-shot lasgun
     ◦ 1x Hot-shot laspistol
     ◦ 2x Meltagun
     ◦ 2x Plasma gun
     ◦ 1x Vox-caster

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Taurox Prime (90 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Storm bolter
  • 1x Taurox missile launcher
  • 1x Twin Taurox hot-shot volley gun

Taurox Prime (90 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Storm bolter
  • 1x Taurox gatling cannon
  • 1x Twin Taurox hot-shot volley gun

Taurox Prime (90 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Storm bolter
  • 1x Taurox gatling cannon
  • 1x Twin Taurox hot-shot volley gun

OTHER DATASHEETS

Leman Russ Demolisher (190 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Demolisher battle cannon
  • 1x Lascannon

Leman Russ Vanquisher (145 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Heavy bolter
  • 1x Vanquisher battle cannon

Leman Russ Vanquisher (145 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Heavy bolter
  • 1x Vanquisher battle cannon

Valkyrie (190 Points)
  • 1x Armoured hull
  • 2x Heavy bolter
  • 1x Lascannon
  • 2x Multiple rocket pod

ALLIED UNITS

Armiger Warglaive (140 Points)
  • 1x Meltagun
  • 1x Reaper chain-cleaver
  • 1x Thermal spear

Armiger Warglaive (140 Points)
  • 1x Meltagun
  • 1x Reaper chain-cleaver
  • 1x Thermal spear

My first game was against Adam and his Tyranids, which got off to a great start when he destroyed one of my Vanquishers in one shot on turn 1, and it was downhill from there with all my models being destroyed by turn 5

My second game was against Edward and his Thousand Sons who demolished my army very quickly, meaning the game only lasted until turn 4

And in game 3 I played Shaun and his Dark Angels

And yeah in my second Primarch encounter, I learned what an absolute beast The Lion is, he systematically demolished all my tanks 😭

I really enjoy the games, but it can be quite competitive, and I know I am there to lose all three, but I really want to up my game a bit and perhaps maybe even get a draw sometimes!

I considered Knights, but in my last few games with them, they have been really quite powerful unless my opponent has the tools to deal with them!

I think for August, I am gonna try and get the Aquilons painted up, and perhaps drop the Valkyrie, and go with an extra Vanquisher

What I Am Modelling

I started off by finishing up a Swarmlord and a Hive Tyrant I have had sat in my desk for a couple of weeks.

Then I started on the Red Brigade for Trench Crusade

And painted up a pair of Mechanised Heavy Infantry

So what’s next?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Stormdrake Guard x 4 & Knight Draconis
  3. Imperial Fists Breachers x 10
  4. Armiger Helverin x 2
  5. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  6. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  7. Myari’s Purifiers
  8. Tempestus Aquilions x 11
  9. Red Brigade Warband
  10. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour

What I Am Reading

I started on Era of Ruin, and the heat is making my normal reading time very hard, but I am about a 3rd of the way through it now.

Also started listening to Lady of Sorrows by CL Werner, and so far that’s pretty good, I do love the Nighthaunt and it’s a pleasure to have a story with them featured!

What Tabletop Games Am I Playing

I played Leon in a game of 40K last night and my Knights kind did a number on his Emperor’s Children

Fulgrim got shot off the board turn 1 by a Castellan, and after that it was all downhill, my Gallant was deleting a unit a turn and by the end of turn 3 all he had was a couple of Chaos Spawn, a Rhino and a Lord

The issue for Leon was a lack of anti-armour, I really should stop using Knight’s, they are so much fun, but they really are a handful of your army is tooled up to take them on.

What Video Games I Am Playing

A bit more Hell Let Loose and also started on Phantom Liberty in Cyberpunk 2077

What I Am Creating

My painting series of Herey Legions has continued with Iron Warriors, White Scars, Space Wolves and Imperial Fists

I also published two tutorials for tanks, a camo scheme and making muddy tracks!

Plus a 40K Combat Patrol Battle Report

And an Edge of Empire Episode

What I Am Spending

As I am pretty broke, so just a cople of games in the Steam Sale

As a household we did invest in a new handheld vacuum cleaner, a Gtech Multi Platinum.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMA8BQDtZwc

The household infrastructure fund is meant to be saving towards a filament 3D printer, but alas the vacuum cleaner was more important, if less fun, unless you are Lindsay that is!

A Bit of a Break & Heresy Camp

By

On 4th July 2025

In Blog

I haven’t been posting for a while, alas a lot of it comes down to going through my usual summer slump and a bit of depression I have been battling, but I am trying to turn myself around.

Giving myself some projects to do, and things to try and keep me occupied, I really think I am missing Company of Legends, it gave me something to focus on, something to look forward to and these last couple of years without it, well I have been doing a bit badly.

But let’s crack on and update you on my last few months, so let’s get into it!

Heresy Camp

This other weekend, I attended Heresy Camp, run by some amazing friends of mine, and how did a not “Company of Legends” weekender go?

On Friday I met up with James at Gamers-at-Hart and we played a warm up game with our armies, my Solar Auxilia and his Sisters of Silence

To remind you, this is the list I have taken.

LI - Solar Auxilia - Solar For Camp - [3000 Pts]

## HQ [437 Pts]

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Command Tank [270 Pts]: Leman Russ Command Tank (Armoured Fist Pattern Cohorts (Check Limitations manually), Battle Cannon, Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Warlord, Lascannon, Multi-Laser, Cognis-Signum, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield)

Tactical Command Tercio [167 Pts]:
• 1x Tactical Command Section [167 Pts]: Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Meltabombs, Refractor Field, Augury Scanner, Command Vox, Cohorts Vexilla
  • 1x Auxilia Captain [2 Pts]: Void Armour, Auxilia Captain, Pistol and Combat weapon (Sub-menu) (Close Combat Weapon, Needle Pistol)
  • 4x Auxilia Companion [12 Pts]: Void Armour, Lasrifle
    Aurox Transport (Smoke Launchers)

## Elites [45 Pts]

Medicae Section [45 Pts]:
• 3x Auxilia Medicae [15 Pts]: Auto-medicus, Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Void Armour, Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol

## Troops [1118 Pts]

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
• 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
  • 1x Leman Russ Battle Tank [140 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Heavy Bolter, Dozer Blade
    Turret Mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon and Co-axial Mounted Autocannon (Co-axial Mounted Autocannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
• 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
  • 1x Leman Russ Battle Tank [140 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Heavy Bolter, Dozer Blade
    Turret Mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon and Co-axial Mounted Autocannon (Co-axial Mounted Autocannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Armoured Fist - Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
• 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron [160 Pts]:
  • 1x Leman Russ Battle Tank [140 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Heavy Bolter, Dozer Blade
    Turret Mounted Vanquisher Battle Cannon and Co-axial Mounted Autocannon (Co-axial Mounted Autocannon, Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Infantry Tercio [319 Pts]:
• 1x Rifle Sections [319 Pts]: Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Void Armour, Auxilia Vexilla, Vox Interlock
  • 1x Auxilia Sergeant: Lasrifle
  • 19x Auxilia w/ Lasrifle and Bayonet [6 Pts]: Bayonet, Lasrifle
    Dracosan Armoured Transport (Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Gravis Lascannon, Dozer Blade)

Infantry Tercio [319 Pts]:
• 1x Rifle Sections [319 Pts]: Frag Grenades, Krak Grenades, Void Armour, Auxilia Vexilla, Vox Interlock
  • 1x Auxilia Sergeant: Lasrifle
  • 19x Auxilia w/ Lasrifle and Bayonet [6 Pts]: Bayonet, Lasrifle
    Dracosan Armoured Transport (Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Gravis Lascannon, Dozer Blade)

## Fast Attack [200 Pts]

Carnodon Strike Squadron [200 Pts]:
• 3x Solar Auxilia Carnodon [65 Pts]: Smoke Launchers
  Two Sponson Mounted Volkite Caliver (Two Sponson Mounted Volkite Caliver), Turret Mounted Volkite Culverin (Volkite Culverin)

## Heavy Support [900 Pts]

Aethon Heavy Sentinel Squadron [200 Pts]:
• 3x Aethon Heavy Sentinel [65 Pts]: Aethon Missile Battery, Multi-Laser

Malcador Heavy Tank Squadron [350 Pts]:
• 1x Malcador Heavy Tank [350 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Vanquisher Battle Cannon, Demolisher Cannon, Hull (Left) & Hull (Right) Mounted Lascannon, Pintle Mounted Multi-Laser, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield

Malcador Heavy Tank Squadron [350 Pts]:
• 1x Malcador Heavy Tank [350 Pts]: Searchlights, Smoke Launchers, Vanquisher Battle Cannon, Demolisher Cannon, Hull (Left) & Hull (Right) Mounted Lascannon, Pintle Mounted Multi-Laser, Dozer Blade, Flare Shield

## Lords of War [300 Pts]

Macharius Heavy Tank Squadron [300 Pts]: Macharius Vanquisher Cannon
• 1x Macharius Heavy Tank [280 Pts]: Two Sponson Mounted heavy stubbers, Hull (Front) Mounted twin-linked heavy stubber, Smoke Launchers

The game was fine, I was punished for not being more aggressive with taking objectives and thus lost the game, but damn the Sisters move very fast!

After the game myself and James made our way to Moorhouse Adventure Centre where we hung out for a bit, I was going to play Zone Mortalis, but decided to come home that night cause I wanted us to pick up Graham the next morning, but there were some great games being played

On Saturday after returning with Graham, I played on Table 5 against Nick Hall and his Emperors Children including a Deamon Prince Fulgrim

The missions and environment rules were fairly punishing with vehicles and dreadnoughts moving within 3” of terrain having to fire on the nearest United friend or foe, which saw me destroy one of own Carnadons and Nick wipe out a Recon Squad of his

Deamon Fulgrim is a beast and basically ate two squads of Lasmen and my Command squad, in the end I lost by a lot!

Game 2 was on table 3 vs Johns Death Guard, which was a mostly infantry list, but damn Death Guard are tough

Combination of Mortaion, who kept healing the wounds I put on him, and a trio of Dreadnoughts just ripped apart my tanks and I was tabled again

Game 3 was against Chris’s World Eaters on Table 4 and I wasn’t tabled, which was a bonus, but his fast troops, and awesome advanced reaction made short work of my tanks.

After the game I had my tea, a lovely Chinese takeaway of chips and fried rice in curry sauce and salt and pepper chicken, after which we had a Heresy Quiz, which I did respectably in.

The next day I played Matthew and his traitor White Scars, which was tough game, the rules were a bit complicated and I was forced to keep my men out of their transports to carry the objective.

But Matthew had a pair of Whirlwind Scorpius, which just deleted all of my infantry as they tried to take the objective to the target area.

The last game, I was grudged by Mark Frost, and he is a very good player with his Daemons of the Ruinstorm, and he doesn’t use lube!

So yeah that was a horrible loss, but a very very fun game and I loved it.

Overall the traitors won the weekend, which was a shame for my side, but it was a really great weekend

I was given a little something for Edge of Empire having pioneered these events, I got some dice, Death Guard Heads and a Harlequin Shadowseer!

The award winners were all very deserving, especially Keith’s Space Wolves which won best hobby.

The guys did an amazing job, and I am looking forward to returning should they run it again!

My Own Event

I ran my own little Heresy event at Durham Raiders, and I think it went well.

We had two games of 3500pts, with some very simple missions, the whole idea of the day was for it to be chilled out and easy going.

It was a nice way to say goodbye to 2.0 and I think I would love to run some similar events for 3.0.

What I Am Modelling

I did prior to the even paint up some tokens for me and Graham to use at the event, to show us what the various status of our stuff was

There are simply primed in black, dry brushed with Leadbelcher and then washed with Nazdreg Yellow

The first models I painted afterwards were some Deathshroud for the Death Guard to complete the new Combat Patrol.

I then painted some Thousand Sons Scarab Occult Terminators for their Combat Patrol.

Alongside an Infernal Master.

Then I painted up a test piece for a new terrain project, this one is going to be for a no man’s land board for Trench Crusade, but is also going to be generic enough that it won’t look out of place in Bolt Action or Warhammer Fantasy Battle

Kind of an old worldie European looking set

I then painted up a Helbrute for the World Eaters, armed with a fist and and hammer

And then some Dark Angels Incursors

Then I painted up this Dark Apostle, who will be seeing use as a Chaplin or perhaps even a Praetor in my Word Bearers

And another Helbrute for the World Eaters followed, this time armed with a fist and Power Scourge

I then added a Knight Magaera to the forces of House Taranis

This year I want to finally play some Legions Imperialis, so I painted up the bases to make my Aeronautica models usable, went for a sandstone type scheme

And then to make my way to a fully painted Blood Angels Combat Patrol, I finished up this Impulsor for them

After that I painted a Praetor for my Ultramarines

I then painted a Gondola for Carnivale, a game I really want to play at some point soon!

And after that I finished up this Leman Russ Demolisher for the Solar Auxilia and Astra Militarium

So what’s next on the agenda?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Stormdrake Guard x 4 and Knight Draconis
  3. Imperial Fists Breachers x 10
  4. Armiger Helverin x 2
  5. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  6. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  7. Myari’s Purifiers
  8. Tempestus Aquilons x 10
  9. The Red Brigade
  10. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Myself, Lindsay and Graham played some Firefly at Durham Raiders, Grahams first time playing and he won!

My Knights had a game against the Necrons

I basically wiped out his army, but alas he won on points

My Solar Auxilia had a run out against Graham and Andrew, anothe loss for me!

I played Dale and his Disciples of Tzeentch in AoS, and he throughly demolished my army!

I played Craig’s Space Wolves with my Knights again

And weirdly, I actually won a game!

I also finished off the AoS League with a game against Andrews Skaven

Of course I lost!

And finally, myself and Graham had an intro game of Bolt Action in which I played the Germans (because I already have a German army) and Graham the British, I think he won, but really we were just figuring the game out

Neil who took us though it was champion

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster, still got a couple of achievements to pick up however

I also started playing Cyberpunk 2077, at long last.

I originally bought it on GOG a few days after release, despite my system at the time only having a 1660 Ti, which wouldn’t have run it well, but I got it for under a tenner due to the very poor reviews of the state it was in at launch.

But my experience with GOG Galaxy and its cloud saves ended up having me buy it on Steam in a sale earlier this year, alongside Phantom Liberty.

I even bought Phantom Liberty on GOG, but losing all my saves in Control when GOG Galaxy crashed, has put me off GOG for anything I really want to invest time in.

So the reason I am only now just playing it now is cause with these kinds of games, I tend to wait until all the expansion are out, and then have a massive big playthough then, and well it took a bit for Phantom Liberty to come out and I was busy with other stuff.

I have still been playing some Hell Let Loose most Mondays at least and often a game on Wednesday nights as well, and the other week we had this score which was incredible!

What I Am Creating

I have started a new YouTube painting series Just About Tabletop Standard, in which I am going to paint a Marine from each of the 18 Legions from Horus Heresy.

We started out with an episode on the Dark Angels, followed by an episode on the Emperor’s Children

What I Am Spending

The grown up purchase the past few months was a new vacuum cleaner, we ended up getting a GTech AirRam Mk2 K9, and Lindsay is very happy with it, she always gets excited for new vacuum cleaners!

Our new car was also delivered, we got a Renault Mégane E-Tech which is a really nice car, quite a bit more range than our last and a few extra niceties as well, like a pair of USB-C sockets in the back and dual zone air-con

I bought some dice for my Blood Angels & Tyranids

And my Warhammer + model of Inquisitor Ostromandeus arrived

And I picked up a cheap desk mat from Temu to replace the one that Cassius has shredded up

Plus a poster for the studio

I also picked up a business card holder, specifically for use with the Firefly Board Game.

I managed to get all of the issues of Combat Oatrol I wanted, issues 37, 38, 39 and 40, to get me a Helbrute, some Chaos Terminators and some Wraithguard

To add to my pile of Combat Pattols I need to paint, I bought the Black Templars box

Which means other than Deathwatch I have all of the 9th Edition ones that can be in 10th

I upgraded the server with a couple of SSDs, one to host my websites, including this blog, and one to back up the VM images and the websites

Whilst at UK Games Expo, I did pick up the Battletech Beginner Box, I really want to play some of this game again, played it as a teenager, and want to relive my youth!

I bought Zodgrod Wortsnagga off my friend James, and I am really looking forward to getting this hairy git in the table

I also stocked up on resin

And finally a Leman Russ Assault Tank to add to the Solar Auxilia/Astra Militarium

We had three lots of Humble Choice , so I got out of that

And I also bought the Xbox Games Studio Bundle to net me

I also bought over the past couple of months

Does This Work

By

On 26th June 2025

In Uncategorised

I moved my web host and need to see if it’s working

A new blog post will come soon, it’s been a challenging couple of months for me

The New Server

By

On 9th May 2025

In Blog

I have finally gotten around to sorting out a new server for the house.

Gone for a Fujitsu TX1310-M1 with a Xenon E3-1226V3 with 32GB Ram and even comes with a 512gb SSD and a pair of 3TB HDDs.

Got it for £130 which I don’t think is a terrible price, but when they went to ship it to me, they found they had lost the side panel and they contacted me to offer a discount of £26, which is accepted, I can always pop a Perspex cover on it.

It came on the Thursday and was delivered by DHL, coming at lunchtime.

So the planning started as soon as I hit buy on as to how best implement this and get it up and running and that started with the decision to run Proxmox on bare metal.

So that was installed and I created a ZFS pool with the two 3TB drives.

The first container I set up was for Casa OS, which would be hosting most of the media stuff, starting with the basics of PLEX and AudioBookShelf.

Once that was setup, I started setting stuff up, but I soon realised that I had a fatal issue, my hard drives with the media on were formatted in NTFS which docker doesn’t play nice with 😭

So I had to transfer data to drives that were being formatted in EXT4 or the ZFS pool, starting with the movies library, and then the slow process of the TV shows which would take some time annoyingly.

In the meantime I set up a second VM running Foundry VTT that me and Chris are going to play around with to see if it will prove a decent replacement for Roll20.

The data transfer took a good long while, there was a lot to transfer.

But alas, in my attempts to be clever I managed to delete the audiobooks and movies meaning I have to restore them from the offsite backups, and that could take at least a month to do that and sort out the metadata properly

But now it’s in place in what’s its permanent home, it takes up a lot less space and is significantly more powerful that what it replaced, I am quite happy with it and in the next few weeks we are going to set up Mealie

What I Am Painting

I spent the weekend at my sister in law’s and painted up the terrain that came in the £75 pack from Combat Patrol

I got the Stockades finished first

Then the Vox Antenna

And then the Landing Pad

Followed by the Auspex Shrine

Then finally a pair of Hab-Bunkers

After that I painted a squad of Ogryn Charonites for the Solar Auxilia

Followe by a squad of Phallax Warders for my Imperial Fists

And finally a trio of Rapiers for the Solar Auxilia

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Scarab Occult Terminators & Infernal Master
  3. Dark Angels Incursors x 5
  4. Blood Angels Impulsor
  5. Imperial Knight Magara
  6. Carnivale Gondola
  7. Stormdrake Guard x 4 & Knight Draconis
  8. Imperial Fists Breacher Squad x 10
  9. Armiger Helverin x 2
  10. Deathshroud x 3

What I Am Reading

I listened to Leontus: Lord Solar by Rob Young whilst painting the terrain and that was really good

Right now I am listenting to Terror Firma by Joseph Lidster and Fulgrim: The Perfect Son by Jude Reid.

I also read We Were Brothers by Richard Fox which was pretty decent

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played a game of Heresy with Graham at Durham Raiders, where I tried out Artillery with the Solar Auxilia, it did not go well, my positioning was terrible and his summoned Daemons ripped me apart

But it was fun and that’s what counts

I then played Dave at Hartlepool Gamers, where I lost, badly, but I could have won in turn 2 when all his reserves failed to arrive, but I am lot a dick so didn’t do that

When his reserves did arrive, the Gal Vorbak tore my ranks apart panel by panel

And again at Durham Raiders, I played a simple doubles game with Andrew where we took on Paul’s Iron Warriors and thanks to Andrew’s nasty plasma guns we won!

And finally I played 40K with Chris and took my Imperial Knights, we didn’t do too badly but it was still a loss

But I really felt like I held my own!

And when CJ came over one Saturday we played DnD with Megan DMing

What I Am Spending

I bought a controller holder for my peg board from eBay

IKEA discontinued these, annoyingly and I needed one more to hold my Duchess

I also grabbed some Deathshroud to complete the Death Guard Combat Patrol

And some Tempestus Aquilons for my Astra Militarum

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag went on sale on Steam, so I picked that up, and it also included Freedom Cry, and I managed to grab Assassins Creed Unity as well.

And I finally bought Grand Theft Auto V!

I also picked up in various bundles and sales

Changing Broadband

By

On 19th April 2025

In Blog

It’s now been 3 years since we moved to Hartlepool and since then we have had Virgin Media, which has been extremely reliable and much better than what we used to have in Pelton.

But with our current deal coming to an end, we were being offered a price of £78, which is much higher than the £36 we have been paying for the same deal, which got up 1Gbps.

We thought we had sorted out a new deal with them, but Virgin never bothered sending us any confirmation of the deal, so we handed in our notice, and decided to move to Grain, an altnet, who had installed their infrastructure on our street last year.

We are paying £34, which is getting us 900mbps both up and down, which is perfect for the server, which is running PLEX and AudioBookShelf.

The router is wall mounted, and it’s quite interesting, does WiFi 6

And we have a Wi-Fi booster as well which we hope will solve kitchen connectivity issues

And we also have a static IP address which is very handy and will hopefully let me sort out a proper web address for my AudioBookShelf server

So far, really happy with the service and it’s been amazing being able to upload videos to YouTube so quickly!

What I Am Modelling

I started off by doing some weathering to my 3D printed artillery carriages using some Contrast paints, and I am rather happy with how that turned out.

Afterwards I turned my attention to a pair of Wraithlords

Followed by Neophyte Hybrids

And a Kellermorph for the Genestealer Cults

Then a trio of Charonite Ogryns

So what’s up next for me?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Phallax Warders x 10
  3. Scarab Occult Terminators x 5 & Infernal Master
  4. Dark Angels Incursors
  5. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  6. Blood Angels Impulsor
  7. Imperial Knight Magaera
  8. Carnivale Gondola
  9. Stormdrake Guard x 4 & Knight Draconis
  10. Imperial Fists Breachers x 10

What I Am Reading

I listened to Unregenerate! by David A McIntee which was an interesting concept, but not executed the best.

I then listened to For the Emperor by Sandy Mitchell, been a long time since I read the book, and it was good to go back to the Cain stories.

After that I listened to Council of Nicaea by Caroline Symcox, which was a really good listen.

I read Perfection and Pride by Jude Reid which was a very cool little Emperors Children story, which some nice Dark Eldar side characters

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played Joshua in the AoS League with his Ossiarch Bonereapers, and whilst I lost, I did alright

I did a lot of damage to his army, but failure to secure some objectives and Battle Tactics early on, cost me the game!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have started playing the Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster, I am a couple of hours in and it’s quite different to the previous two with managing my magic being quite difficult so far

What I Am Creating

I published the latest episode of Edge of Empire

What I Am Spending

I bought Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones and Prince of Persia on Steam

Not Exactly Impressed

By

On 14th April 2025

In Blog

So the Switch 2 Direct happened, and I am gonna be frank, not entirely impressed.

First off, whilst it was expected that it was going to use older technology, it’s quite a bit older than I would like, but I mean it’s still PS4/Xbox One level.

I mean it’s decent tech, but it’s gonna have to rely on DLSS a lot to hit that 4k, but then again, it might actually be capable of running Breath of the Wild without dropping to like 15fps in busy scenes.

Then there is the battery life, it’s worse than the original Switch, which isn’t exactly the best in the first place.

I get why they haven’t gone with an OLED screen given the already increased price, more on that in a bit, but it’s still a disappointment to not have there there.

As well as the lack of Hall Effect sticks, because the stick drift issues with the original JoyCons are huge and I am massively disappointed that they haven’t been bothered to give us JoyCons which would have avoided these issues.

And then that takes us to the cost.

The actual cost of the console, I get it, the bill of materials isn’t going to be cheap, TSMC have been raising wafer prices like crazy since 2020.

But the tutorial being paid, the paid upgrades for OG Switch games being quite high and the cost of new games is just crazy.

Nintendo have always charged as much as they can for games and it’s very irritating that Switch launch titles are now just as expensive as they were when they first came out.

Look if you work it out, pound for pound gaming, even on the Switch is going to be not that bad value if you play for a couple hours a week and have the console for say six years.

But man it’s rough, I get it, devs need to be paid, and being a poor person, I usually wait for a game to go on sale a few years later, I rarely buy the latest games because I just cannot afford it.

But I feel like this time, the lack of first party titles, which has always been Nintendos strength, most of the third party titles being older titles that run better on my other gaming devices, it’s just not doing it for me.

Oh and out of principle, I will never subscribe to Nintendo Online, I am sorry but putting the backup of saves behind a paywall if frankly ridiculous, especially on handheld device which is more likely to be lost, broken or even stolen, I mean it has an Micro SD card slot, why can I not backup my own saves.

Look maybe in a couple of years, when decent first party titles start filtering through, I will feel different, but right now I can’t see myself getting one.

What I Am Modelling

I started off the week with Swampboss Skumdrekk for the Kruleboyz

And that actually finishes off all my Kruleboyz for now

Then a Dankhold Trogboss for the Gloomspite Gitz

Which also completes all my current models for the Gitz

Followed an Imperial Fists Command Squad, this one is seven man, cause I 3D printed up some extra bodies to take advantage of the bits on the Command Squad sprue

Plus another Herald made with a 3D printed body and spare part from the Command Squad sprue

And I also painted up The Ancestors’ Wrath Einhyr Champion for the Leagues of Votann

As well as Kâhl Yôht Grendok

And a unit of Aeldari Guardians

And for Lindsay’s birthday I made some Otter Earrings

So what’s next in the queue

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Kellermorph & Neophyte Hybrids x 10
  3. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  4. Phallax Warders x 10
  5. Thousand Sons Terminators & Infernal Master
  6. Dark Angels Incursors x 5
  7. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  8. Blood Angels Impulsor
  9. Imperial Knight Magaaera
  10. Carnivale Gondola

What I Am Reading

I finished Straight Silver by Dan Abnett in The Saint, and yeah that was a good one, it felt like it was going quite slow, and woah, it sped up and didn’t stop.

I listened to Assassinorum: Kingmaker by Robert Rath, which not only was the best Officio Assassinorum novel thus far, it’s also the best Imperial Knights novel so far.

I also listened to Three’s A Crowd by Colin Brake which was rather fun and as someone with a bit of agoraphobia, I really understood how the characters felt.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Had a game with Graham at Durham Raiders on Tuesday, in which we both tested out our Heresy Camp lists.

My Solar Auxilia did ok, but BS3 combined with my dice rolling was pretty frustrating when in turn 3 I just couldn’t hit anything for toffee.

As expected for me it was defeat, but I think I learned some lessons and long term now know the army needs more scoring units

And perhaps leave the Macharius and Malcadors behind and take more Leman Russ Vanquishers instead!

On Thursday I played another escalation league game of Age of Sigmar this time against Adam, and his Seraphon

That game went the typical way and I lost badly, but I did have a lor of fun removing my Orruks from the table!

On Sunday I played a game of Flamecraft with Lindsay & Megan

What Video Games I Am Playing

I started out with Horizon Forbidden West on PS5, which I am playing on Stream

What I Am Spending

We bought ourselves Avatar: The Last Airbender – Aang’s Destiny to replace Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle.

We enjoyed the mechanics of Hogwarts Battle, but sadly the IP is tainted beyond redemption by the bigot that created it.

Avatar is far nicer and far more wholesome.

And it only cost me 70p and its worth it for the LOLs, but I got The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which I am sure may be hilarious to play given its many many issues!

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