I know I am only small fry, but i myself have to make a stand.
Lots of little stands will make something much bigger, and will hopefully make an impact bigger than any of us.
One thing I have done is to uninstall any program or app I have that’s from a Russian or Belarusian company, the big ones being Audacity and World of Warships.
I know it’s not a lot, but all I can hope is that small actions lead to big change.
What I Am Modelling
Not much, been very distracted.
I have built Fafnir Rann, Darkstrider, the Canoptek Doomstalker and some Blood Warriors.
Paintingwise I just painted a pair of Haemotrope Reactors for the Company of Legends terrain.
I have also decided to subscribe to Humble Choice this month, simply because they had Borderlands 3 in it with the seasons passes at a very nice bargain.
This post is a bit late cause I had a little health scare, which was actually quite scary. Found a lump downstairs, thankfully it turned out to “just” be an abscess.
Anyway lads, remember to have a fumble downstairs every month!
This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Durham Raiders Age of Sigmar weekender, something I look forward to all year!
I took Flesh-Eater Courts to represent the forces of Death and this is my army list.
+ Leader +
Abhorrant Archregent: Arcane Bolt, Battle Regiment - 1 Commander, General, Gory Talons and Fangs
Abhorrant Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist: 2. Razor-clawed, Death Shriek, Fanged Maw, Gory Talons and Fangs, Skeletal Claws, Unholy Vitality
Crypt Haunter Courtier: Massive Bone Club, Rancid Talons, Vanguard - 1 Sub Commander
These were organised into a Battle Regiment with the Archregent, Ghoul King and Crypt Ghouls with two Vanguard Regiments, one with the Crypt Haunter Courtier and the Crypt Horrors, and the other with the Crypt Infernal Courtier and the Crypt Flayers.
The event also asked us to take an ally, who would be gone once they were killed, so I took the Grymwatch.
My first game was against Conner and his Kruleboyz, and he tabled me completely, to be fair it was a really fun game and I love playing the Conner boys.
In the evening we had a pub quiz, a Warhammer themed one and my team, called “Michael is Not Cool“ (Thanks Aiden) won, thanks to a combined knowledge of the Old World lore, particularly when it came to the Winds of Magic.
The next day my first game was against an old foe, Mark, who is the dad of my first games opponent. But rather than his Sylvaneth, brought Ogar Mawtribes.
His army ripped mine apart pretty convincingly, with the shooting just removing models very easily!
The weekend away wonderful and winning a game means that this is my best showing yet at the weekender!!!
Next year, I might go Stormcast! I have previously avoided them as they have been extremely popular, but at this event there was only a single Stirmcast player!
So thank you, Durham Raiders for a wonderful weekend!
What I Am Modelling
I painted some Alchomite Stacks that my sister in law got me, these are getting added to my Zone Mortalis board.
And today I finished a Repressor for my Zone Mortalis board, its not really got use in the Sisters anymore, so its going to be a piece of scenery, an abandoned vehicle from an Enforcer Patrol.
I streamed the former last Thursday night and you can see the video here.
https://youtu.be/cPBjf9ayfsc
I did run the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark as well given that’s it’s been added to the game and I am really pleased with it.
Putting all the setting at balls to the walls max, with everything in Ultra or Psycho, including the ray tracing, I got a respectable 66.97 FPS with DLSS Quality mode enabled.
I published the Issue 14 Imperium battle report on Wednesday!
And whilst I was at the weekender, on Saturday the Issue 15 report went live!
What I Am Spending
I got a few bits and bobs from Element Games, specifically a Razorback to make a Repressor out of, the T’au Codex and Datacards, and a few paints I needed for my T’au.
I ran out of black primer and couldn’t get into town so I decided to try the Hycote primer a fair few people swear by, as well as ordering some Green Stuff.
I have been playing The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening on my Switch, it a lot different than the last time I played the game on the original Game Boy.
I have been trying to write this for a couple of weeks now and I haven’t been entirely sure how to get the right tone.
But I wanted to summarise my thoughts on the now competed Warhammer Adventures series, Warped Galaxies and Realm Quest.
I have purchased all of the volumes as ePubs and some for my nephews physically, as well as purchasing them as audio books from Audible.
To be honest I was sceptical, I thought they might be Warhammer adjacent, and perhaps a bit daft.
But to my surprise, they were very much within the universes with little compromise, for example in Attack of the Necrons, we see a character utterly disintegrated by a Necron Gauss weapon.
We see Nurglings tear apart a Forge World and spread disease and pestilence, the despair caused by an army of Nighthaunt, the warpstone crazed behaviour of Skaven.
All the things that make Warhammer, well Warhammer are right here, including the grimdark.
In fact the only area I would really criticise as being out of step with the franchises, so that in the AoS books, they refer to Sigmar as simply a King, rather than as the God-King, but I suppose this was done to appease American parents, who will ban books at the drop of a hat.
The characters are all interesting, the 40K ones are ok, although I found Zelia a little too naive for the universe, but her companions are much closer to their archetypes.
The AoS characters are also good, but it does feel like there are perhaps a few too many and some of them get lost and ignored quite a lot.
The audio books are excellently narrated, David Tennent fits the books so well and does a great Grot voice.
Billie Piper is also a great narrator for the AoS books and her Skaven voice is wonderful, her replacement Helen McAlpine is also good, but doesn’t seem as approachable I guess is the right word as Billie Piper.
In conclusion I really would recommend this book for your kids, and you know what, if you want to paint and have something on in the background, these are perfect and easy to follow along with.
I hope more will come in time.
What I Am Modelling
I spent the bulk of the week working on the Chaos Space Marines that came with Imperium Premium Pack 1.
So that’s a squad of 10 Chaos Space Marines, 2 Greater Possessed and a Sorcerer to lead them.
So the first month has been slow, but we have made a start!
So far I have painted 118 models!
Paint my Sisters of Battle to 2000 Points – 0%
So far I have got painted the following
Cannoness
Battle Sister Squad x 10
Arco-Flagellants x 3
Repentia Superior
Sisters Repentia x 4
Seraphim Squad x 5
Penitent Engine x 2
Which gives me a total of 495 points right now.
So I am looking to put together another 1500 points roughly.
In the pile of potential, I have currently got:-
Battle Sisters x 10
Taddeus the Purifier
Rettibutors x 5
Palatine
Dialogus
Imagifier
Celestine the Living Saint
Gemaine Superia x 2
So that’s a good start on expanding them.
Imperium will be at some ping be giving me another 10 Battle Sisters, 5 Seraphim, a Canoness, 3 Argo-Flagellants, a Repentia Superior, 4 Sister Repentia, and a Penitent Engine.
So mostly what I already have, whether that comes all this year, we have to see.
Paint Both Silver Tower and Shadows over Hammerhall – 0%
I intend to start in this in March.
Paint 2000 points worth of Orruk Warclans for Age of Sigmar – 7%
I have painted up the armies general, a Megaboss, who will head up the Ironjawz element of the army.
My beloved nana, a woman who has been so influential in my life passed away after a long illness last week.
Its left me in a bit of a state even though it was long expected.
She was always there for her grandchildren and anything we could have done for her was never enough.
She lead an interesting life, from her time as an evacuee, an army career, beating the crap out of terrorists (I wish I was joking about that one), time as a social worker and bringing up five children on her own after my grandfather abandoned her.
She was a tough geordie battleaxe and whilst not a perfect woman, she was always there for me when I needed her.
Her funeral is next month and I am just trying to get through until then, but the grief over losing her is kinda hard to deal with.
Nana, I will miss you, and I will make sure to make my tea the way you taught me!
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by painting the Vertus Praetors and a Captain on a Dawneagle Jetbike for my Custodes.
I got the Flesh Hounds and thier big bow Karanak out of the way next. Had Karanak and half the Flesh Hounds since they were released, and got the second half of the Flesh Hounds with Mortal Realms.
I also painted up a unit of Necron Warriors on Stream on Monday, got them all painted fine and they will be joining my ever growing legion of the ancient scythe of the Sautekh Dynasty.
I also made a concept video for a new show I am planing on running.
The feedback on it is encouraging so a pilot is going out this coming Sunday.
What Am I Spending
I did grab a couple of cables to allow me to plug my headset into my PC.
It’s quite far away from my seat, so I needed a long extension.
Lindsay has been quietly seething when I am in the room and watching YouTube when she is working, so I am under orders to now use headphones during the day.
I grabbed a few bits from Element Games including a Noctilith Crown.
Well we did not do much for the celebration, we had Paul and Mary over, played some games and watched Jools Holland.
Resolutions wise, I published an article the other day, but beyond modelling I will be streaming twice weekly and will maintain that as best I can.
And I also plan to play 60 board games this year and read 35 books!
If you are daft enough to want to watch me, I will be streaming the following times.
Monday 8pm to 12 Midnight (GMT) – Painting
Thursday 8pm to 12 Midnight (GMT) – Video Games, starting with Assassins Creed
Another live streamed thing is in the works and may start this week!
What I Am Modelling
Most of the week was taken up building models, and I have gotten myself quite far ahead of where I wanted to be.
I have built my Corpse Grinder Christ’s, Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, Breachers and a Crisis Suit Team for the T’au, everything from Kill Team Octarius, the Imperial Navy stuff from Wings of Vengeance, my remaining AdMech as well as a few other bits and bobs.
I did start painting on New Years Day an Ork Weirdboy to see in 2022.
I bought myself Beat Saber for the Quest 2, to give me some more fitness games to try out in VR.
I also grabbed Driver: Parallel Lines, I actually did some play testing in this game, but never got round to buying it as I was too busy with San Andreas at the time, and it was £1.68, so why not!
Well this year I did an amazing 1184 miniatures and I loved painting most of them.
But it’s time to plan for the new year, so what have I got in mind to paint for 2022.
Paint My Primaris Ultramarines Army for Warhammer 40,000
This is a project that’s been in the works for a while, most of it’s built.
But I want to paint an all Primaris Ultramarines 4th Company army.
In the box right now is the Marines from Dark Imperium, Indomitus & Shadowspear along with a few other kits mostly obtained via Conquest/Imperium
It’s a long list but I want to get it done.
Paint A 2000 Orruk Warclans Army for Warhammer Age of Sigmar
The basis of this army will be the Kruleboyz from Dominion, as well as the Ironjawz premium kit from Mortal Realms.
Gonna do a Big Waaagh Army, with a core of Kruleboyz and then an elite smattering of Ironjawz.
Paint Two Gangs For Carnivale
Really simple, gonna get painted a gang for The Guild and one for the Rashaar mostly based on the two starter set gangs but with a few little additions if I can get them.
Paint All The Models For Silver Tower & Shadows Over Hammerhall
Again simple, but these two games have been sitting on the pile of potential for far far too long.
Paint The Warhound Titan
This is left over from last year but I am determined to get it done!!!
So what’s on the immediate list going into January?
Blades of Khorne Flesh Hounds & Karanak
Confederacy of Independent Systems Droiddekkas x 4
Ork Weirdboy
Age of Sigmar Endless Spells
Death Guard Caestus Assault Ram
Adeptus Custodes Vertus Praetors x 3 & Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike
I however did not so much have one, I am going through a really stressful period and have developed a number of abscesses including one on my ear canal.
I have been in hospital for them and am now on bed rest, pain killers and antibiotics.
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by painting the B1 Battledroids for the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
I also grabbed a couple bits of DLC, specifically Mollog’s Mob for Warhammer Underworlds Online and the Craftworld Aeldari pack for Gladius.
I also bought some movies, I bought the Matrix Trilogy in UHD using a gift card Microsoft randomly gave me, and I also bought The Phantom Menace on 4K Blu Ray.
