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 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.
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
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
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
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.
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!
This Saturday I went to see the stage adaptation of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, the ticket was a birthday present from Paul.
They had Charlie Simpson from Busted singing the narrators parts, and he was really good.
The guy performing as the Artilleryman was particle good, that was Rou Reynolds from Enter Shikari, a band I have now gotten a few albums for!
We also learned that Lindsay has never listened to the album, and she only knew The Eve of the War, not even Forever Autumn, so we have been introducing her to it, and in the car this morning, we ended just before Thunder Child.
What I Am Modelling
I started off with the Tyranids getting a second Psychopage to add to their forces
I then painted some Tempestus Scions to complete their Combat Patrol, starting with two Tempestors with Power Fists and Bolt Pistols, four Scions with Grenade Launchers and three Command Squad Scions with Hotshot Lasguns
I also painted a squad of Retributors for my Sisters of Battle
Finished painting a squad of Retributors for the Argent Shroud, armed with 2 Multi-Meltas and 2 Heavy Flamers#Warmongers #WarhammerCommunity #PaintSlam25 #Warhammer40k #Warhammer40000 #AdeptaSororitas #Retributors #ArgentShroud #PaintingWarhammer #PaintingWarhammer2025
I am currently working on Swampboss Skumdrekk and a Dankhold Trogboss
So whata next on the painting table?
Blood Angels Landspeeders
Swampboss Skumdrekk
Imperial Fists Command Squad
The Ancestors Wrath Einhyr Champion & Kâhl Yôht Grendok
Kellermorph & Neophyte Hybrids x 10
Ogryn Charinite Squad x 3
Dankhold Trogboss
Phallax Warders x 10
Scarab Occult Terminators x 5 & Infernal Master
Dark Angels Incursors x 5
What I Am Reading
I listened to Catch-1782 by Alison Lawson which was a great little Six and Mel story that took a look at the Grandfather Paradox in an interesting way.
Struggled to figure out how I would run them in 10th, but my addition of some Leman Russ tanks plus a few more Scions has given me a lot more options to try.
My first game was against Eds Aeldari, and his Aspect Warriors tore apart my army bit by bit and in turn 3 basically removed all but the squad inside the Valkyrie
Ed is a really good player, so I didn’t stand much of a chance against him to be honest, but he is a lively guy to play with so it’s not too bad
My second game was against my pal Leon and his T’au, which featured a lot of Kroot, and the first couple of turns were pretty good, I managed to focus fire on a Commander and a squad of Battlesuits and eliminated them.
The second turn saw me destroy a second Commander and Battlesuit Team, but turn 3 saw the tough Kroot Rampagers tore apart tanks, Taurox Primes and left my Scions to be slaughtered
My last game of the day was against Ian’s Emperors Children, who are very much WIP
So a few years ago when the Saudi takeover was first rumoured I said if it happened I would eat my hat!
Well it happened and Graham and Chris who both said they would hold me to it, let me off, and well I am wondering if I should now.
Under the dark ages of Mike Ashley’s reign, I always said that the only expectations I desired from Newcastle United, were that we have a decent cup run, and we challenge for a place in Europe.
That’s it, I never wanted anything more than that, because in these days of billionaires bankrolling teams, the UKs other clubs don’t get a look in.
And realistically I think that’s all any football fan should want, winning the league should never be guaranteed, I want a competitive league, something that we haven’t had for a long time.
Anyway, let’s be honest, the past three seasons, we have had that, last season was a little bit less, but we were hampered by injuries, which happens.
But yeah, in three years , we have consistently challenged for a place in Europe, and had decent cup runs, it’s not been doom and gloom and I am happy with that.
Winning the League Cup might seem like noting to some people, but for us, it was a first domestic honour in nearly 70 years, and for a club the size of Newcastle that’s a big deal. In my lifetime we have ever been the bridesmaid and never the bride.
I am not expecting this to begin constant cup wins, I don’t ever want to be a jaded fan like this of Man City and Liverpool, for whom another trophy is not a big deal.
But I hope that this win is the beginning of Newcastle returning to a point where it’s not a question of if we can win something again, but when we win something again.
So should I eat my hat?
What I Am Modelling
I started out with some more bits for my Iron Sultanate warband for Trench Crusade
I painted up the Yüzbaşı Captain to lead the warband
The Chaos Knights recently got a Combat Patrol and so I printed up a couple of War Dogs to make that, and painted them up to belong to House Herpetrax.
The Ancestors’ Wrath Einhyr Champion & Kâhl Yôht Grendok
Kellermorph & Neophyte Hybrids x 10
Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
Dankhold Trogboss
Phallax Warders x 10
What I Am Reading
Been a while since I updated this, but I have been slowly making my way through Straight Silver in The Saint by Dan Abnett
I also listened to Verminslayer by David Guymer, which was very cool, I liked the new companion for Gotrex, but I hope we get a short about his falling out with the last one.
And I listened to Hell’s Last by Justin Hill which was really good, but then I did Stan Minka Lesk!
What Tabletop Games I Am Playing
Played another game of Warhammer Age of Sigmar the other week, this time against Alex with the Idoenth Deepkin and we increased the points to 1000
I took this list
Big Waaagh! (990 points) - General's Handbook 2024-25
I managed to grab the only copy of Combat Patrol Issue 26, I felt terrible as there was another fella behind me who wanted a copy, but I was there first and patiently waited for it
I also grabbed myself another box of Tempestus Scions, to build myself the rest of the Combat Patrol, these guys are going to be a Tempestor, three Command Squad guys with Hotshot Lasguns and a Tempestor Prime with a Bolt Pistol
I am also a big Minka Lesk Stan, so of course I had to grab Hells Last to get her command squad, ok as they are, they are only for use in Legends, but I am sure I can do something with them
This means I now have three Minka Lesk models, one as a Sgt, one as a Lieutenant and now a Captain too
I got a few bits and bobs in for other hobby stuff, starting with these NFT tags, they get used to link to Google Docs of whats in my army boxes to allow for easier figuring out of what I have
I did need a new external caddy, so I got a dependable Ugreen one, that I have used before without any issue, which was handy as I had a 1TB drive I could pop in to expand our TV library to 9TB.
As part of the long term move from console to PC, there are certain games I want to still have in my collection, and as the Assassin’s Creed series is my favourite, I intend to add the whole series to Steam over the next year or so.
The first prints washed and cured are markedly better than with the old system, that’s not the say what I had was pants, but this, is so so much better!
I printed some Ogryns for my Solar Auxilia, and yeah, they are a lot smoother and easier to get clean with the new system.
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
Imperial Fists - ++ Allied Detachment +
## Rite of War Rite of War: The Stone Gauntlet (IF)
## HQ [175 Pts]
Fafnir Rann [175 Pts]: Artificer Armour, Boarding Shield, Bolt Pistol, Frag Grenades, Iron Halo, Krak Grenades, Master of the Legion, 2x The Headsman and The Hunter
It was my first time paying an all tank army and it’s a bit of a learning curve and I made a fair few tactical mistakes
Let’s be perfectly honest, the Malcadors and Macharius are such a worse choice compared to the Leman Russ Vanquisher, but I hate the idea of just taking the most efficient unit
The biggest mistake I made was moving forward, what I should have done was stay back and fire from distance, and concentrate on the Contemprors with Multi-Meltas.
I also played a game of Age of Sigmar with Keith at Hartlepool Friday Night games and yeah I was tabled by end of turn 2.
Anyway, turned out with the Artillery counting as infantry (I know right) and the rest of the list being Armoured Fist, I cannot take the Earthshaker Cannons 🙁
So I will now be taking this list, and thank goodness I printed and painted the Macharius last week!
LI - Solar Auxilia - Solar For Camp - [2998Pts]
# ++ Crusade Force Organisation Chart ++ [2698Pts] ## Expanded Army Lists Expanded Army List Profiles: Exemplary Units On, Legacy Units On
## Heavy Support [900Pts] Aethon Heavy Sentinel Squadron [200Pts]: • 3x Aethon Heavy Sentinel [65Pts]: Aethon Missile Battery, Multi-Laser
Malcador Heavy Tank Squadron [350Pts]: • 1x Malcador Heavy Tank [350Pts]: 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 [350Pts]: • 1x Malcador Heavy Tank [350Pts]: 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 [300Pts] Macharius Heavy Tank Squadron [300Pts]: Macharius Vanquisher Cannon • 1x Macharius Heavy Tank [280Pts]: Two Sponson Mounted heavy stubbers, Hull (Front) Mounted twin-linked heavy stubber, Smoke Launchers
So yeah the Artillery is dropped, along with the Melta Lances on the Aethon Heavy Sentinels, which get Multi-Lasers instead, and in goes a Macharius Vanquisher
So left to paint for the event are
Aethon Heavy Sentinel x 3
Malcador Heavy Tank
I started work on the Malcador today and will start on the Aethons next week.
Since I got the 3D printer in August, most of my prints have been infantry, with a few Rhino sized tanks
But this project is the biggest print so far, and required 3 full to the brim plates done!
It’s a proxy for the Macharius Heavy Tank called the Lupercal, and it’s a beautiful model.
The first plate which had on the turret, sponsons and part of the tracks, took just shy of 9 hours to print
The second which had on the sides and engine block was a chew on to print. The first attempt failed at 77% done, which was fine for the engine block, but the sides were partly completed. The printer appeared to have crashed, which was annoying.
The second attempt was just the sides, plus the Heavy Stubber Sponsons which I had forgotten was the only configuration the Solar Auxilia version could take, and that didn’t print at all.
Once it was all printed cleaned and cured, it was then time to put it together, as you can tell I decided to print the parts for all three weapons that can be swapped in and out,
Those being the standard Battlecannons, Vanquisher Cannons and a Rotary Bolt Cannon (used to be a Vulcan Mega Bolter and that was much cooler)
This has a base of Mechanicus Standard Grey (AP Deep Grey), then the camo pattern using Thunderhawk Blue and Abbadon Black, with a recess wash of Agrax Earthshade then a Dawnstone dry brush
When it was finished I coated the tracks in Stirland Mud and added some static grass for texture after which I drybrushed it with Gothor Brown and then Screaming Skull.
I am pretty happy with how this turned out and it’s adding a decent big tank to the Solar Auxilia even though it’s pretty pointless for its cost, and a Leman Russ Vanquisher is far more points efficient.
So what have I learned from this project, well if I want to tackle anything bigger, I will need a wash and cure station, a Stormhammer is something I want to do, but would have issues with the processing of it due to size
And to be honest, it’s given me a lot more confidence to run longer prints, which is something I have tried to avoid in the past cause I didn’t like being unable to monitor them.
But here is the thing when it comes to my 3D printing and Warhammer, I don’t want to be the guy who 3D prints everything. For the Solar Auxilia, so much stuff is still in very expensive resin, or just not in production, even in resin, that I found myself needing to 3D print a good ton of models.
I want to support my FLGSs, but at the same time, I enjoy the hobby of 3D printing, especially tanks, for my Krieg I want to print some Chimeras and Hellhounds for example.
I guess I am just trying to find that middle ground, where I am trying to 3D print some stuff but also making sure to buy actual plastic models for others.
It’s an interesting balancing act.
Website Update
I have added a new page to this website, its a list of the armies I own and a link to a Google Doc for each of them, listing what I have painted and ready to play with.
Its only partial, I am expanding it slowly as I catalogue what I have and get NFC tags attached to the boxes, which allows me to pull up the lists easily if I want to know what in the boxes.
What I Am Modelling
I started out with the Terminators for the Ultramarines Combat Patrol
It was a much closer match, but I struggled to score in the primary mission because the Necrons are quite slow, I think I really need some transports for them
And finally I went up against the Chaos Space Marines of Ian, and for the first couple of turns it was reasonably equal, and I thought I might stand a chance at a close loss
But losing a couple of my heavy hitters really turned the tide, as the much faster Chaos Space Marines utterly trounced me
So what have I learnt, well the biggest is that my Necrons need transport, so I think I need to invest in some Ghost Arks at some point soon, because I am finding they struggle to get Warriors on to objectives
But regardless of the outcome, I had fun and well, the wooden spoon is what I live for!
On Tuesday I played a game of Age of Sigmar for the start of a local escalation league, with the first games at 750pts
My first game was against Michaels Nighthaunt and oh it went badly, the buffs and rebuffs from his characters just really stopped my Ironjawz from getting enough attacks to hit home and as a result they crumpled pretty easily
Ah it is what it is, but it was none the less a fun game!
What Video Games I Am Playing
Still plodding away at Assassin’s Creed: Unity, starting off by concentrating on collectables and clearing stuff area by area
What I Am Spending
I got some Tempestus Scions to add some of the models I need to get myself to have the new Scions based Kill Team, I need some Tempestors and Scions with Grenade Launchers
Video game wise, I picked up Red Dead Redemption 2 on sale at its lowest ever price on Steam, and Rogue Trader too, based mostly on the recommendation of Graham
I also painted up a couple of artillery carriage batteries for the Solar Auxilia that I printed, with both Earthshaker and Medusa Cannons available to it with a simple swap
The issue 5 Combat Patrol battle report was published
And the issue 6 one is already done too, which goes live on the 31st!
I published a shortform video, the first of many I hope Edge of Empire will publish, this one was mostly to learn techniques, and I must emphasise that I love Graham, he is amazing and whilst he plays powerful lists, he is far far from a WAAC player
I have been wanting to get a wheel for playing racing games for quite a while, and identified the Logitech G920 as what would be ideal for me a while back, but alas at £200-£230 it’s still relatively expensive despite being a rather entry level device.
So I was keeping an eye out on eBay and Facebook Marketplace, I post a few auctions on eBay, and Facebook Marketplace has an issue with people listing things for a stupidly low price and having no intention of selling it for that, or being a straight up scammer saying they will ship it from a warehouse in the EU if I PayPal them the money as Friends and Family.
But I kept at it, and in mid November I managed to secure a deal on Facebook Marketplace, which involved a back alley knife fight (I jest), the G920 for £90, and the seller even threw in a Playseat Challenge PlayStation Edition which was supposed to cost £200 on its own!
So I was over the moon with that, we met the fella in the car park of the Burger King at Teeside Park at 10pm, and he pulled up in a dodgy looking Transit, I handed over the cash and he gave me the stuff, which we had to stuff into the back seat of our car, whilst fitting me in at the same time!
I got to use it quite a lot initially upstairs, and it was a heck of a learning curve, I am great on controller but this is gonna take a lot of learning!
To add to the experience, Lindsay and Megan got me the Logitech Driving Force Shifter for Christmas, to add the manual gear shift to make it a bit cooler and more realistic.
I haven’t had a lot of chance to play with it, but I got it setup with the Playseat after Christmas and did some driving round in Forza Horizon 5, which was so much fun!
I then listened to some Doctor Who audios, starting with Caerdroia by Lloyd Rose, and The Next Life by Alan Barnes, which finished off the whole universe without time arc, which I am very glad of, because that wasn’t all that enjoyable.
Not quite WYSIWYG because the Malcador has a Demolisher Cannon instead of a Lascannon, but otherwise it’s good.
Alas Lindsay was very ill so I had to cancel 🙁
But rescheduled for this coming Friday.
What Video Games I Am Playing
I completed LEGO Batman: The Videogame on the Steam Deck, which was ok, but I think I the lack of achievements didn’t serve my ADHD or need for constant validation any good!
I also spent a bit of time in the Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II Pixel Remasters, just clearing up the last of the achievements, getting them to 100%
On our fourth attempt, myself and Lindsay actually made it to Suffolk to visit my family.
We went at the beginning of the month, stopping at Nottingham so that Lindsay could do a days work in her office, she hasn’t gotten down there since the Pandemic.
So I was dumped in Warhammer World for the day, where I spent it working on the Solar Auxilia Army Focus article for the Edge of Empire website.
Luckily Lindsay’s office has free BEV charging points so she took advantage and charged the car to 100% getting us 250km of range, which is decent for the time of year.
We were about an hour later than planned due to a number of accidents that took us off the motorway, but made it with 14 miles left in the tank. Had some lasagna then off to bed.
After spending the morning with my mum and dad, we nipped out to charge the car, and have a bite to eat in McDonalds, before picking up three of the nibblings.
Followed by some Malcadors for my Legions Imperialis Solar Auxilia, the previous ones were to be frank, shit, so these were printed to replace those, its a much better set of STLs
And for the larger Solar Auxilia, some Cyclops Demolition Vehicles that I printed off, I really liked this STL, and think they will be super cool, if massively ineffective on the table!
After losing Smokey, I wanted to paint this STL I got from a Kickstarter last year in tribute to him, so I did, and we ended up with CyberSmokey, which is being put on the Christmas Tree.
A big purchase was buying Grahams old telly, a 65” LG Nanocell TV and boy is it amazing, best TV I have ever owned and it makes all sorts of media just look so bloody good!
Speaking of the Solar Auxilia, I ordered a Leman Russ Strike Tank, which will be built as a Command Tank with a Battlecannon, I also got a pit of Fanatic Matt White, which I desperately needed, and to make it up tit he free postage, I got a MKIII Command Squad for the Imperial Fists