So we think the reason I am feeling crummy, is a change in medication for my diabetes.
To be honest though, I am gonna try and tough it out, this new medication has some real positives, it’s reduced a personal issue which was causing a lot of pain, and it’s got me feeling like I have a healthy relationship with food for the first time in a long time.
The disadvantages are that my tummy has been a bit topsy turvey, and I am having eggy burps.
I have asked the doctor if we can reduce the dose slightly, so I shall see what they say.
What Am I Modeling
I started by finishing off the Necron Canoptek Wraiths, which actually completes the resolution to paint 2000 points of Necrons this year!
The first unit is armed with Transdimensional Beamers.
I then painted up three Crypt Flayers, a Crypt Infernal and a Crypt Haunter Courtier, which leaves me with just a Aberrant Ghoul King on a Royal Terrorgheist to paint for this army.
Magos Macrotek Enginseer & Sevo-Automata x 4 (if I can find it!)
Thousand Sons Terminators x 5 & Ahriman
Blackstone Fortress Rogue Psykers x 3 & Negavolt Cultists x 6
Stormcast Eternals Judicators x 10
Ork Nobz x 6, Painboy & Warboss
Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad x 10
Legio Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank x 2
Blackstone Fortress Spindle Drones x 6 & Guardian Drones x 2
Phase 1 Clone Troopers x 22
Ork Shokjump Dragster
What I Am Reading
Not a sausage actually.
But I did finish listening to the Godblight audiobook, and really enjoyed it, some interesting plot points that the Black Library can build upon.
What Video Games Am I Playing
I played through Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, a game I got for my 8th birthday, leant to my friend Simon and never saw again.
But I played it though emulation on Retroarch, and you can see that video below.
I also completed Halo 3, and I kinda wish that 343 Industries would remaster this game as it looks so much worse than the anniversary version of Halo 2.
And I have just tonight started on Halo 3 ODST, which is a beautiful game.
I then began work on a Fire Raptor for the Heresy Death Guard, I have had this model for so long, originally it was intended for the Space Wolves, but plans changed.
Really happy with how it’s turned out, it I have actually painted way more than needed so plenty of stuff to help expand it to 3×3 and perhaps even 4×4.
Next up, I think I want a Charadon box to add some big furnaces to block line of sight, and add a bit more variety and probably some more Munitorium Armoured Containers.
I also have somewhere a Repressor unbuilt that I will be building and painting up in Enforcers colours to be parked up to show that the brutal security forces of the Hive have been deployed into the area.
What I Am Modelling
I started off by finishing the Galvanic Servohaulers for my Zone Mortalis board.
I then painted the Praetors, Anhiliators, Knight-Vexillor, Knight Arcanium and Lord Imperitant from Dominion for my Celestial Vindicators alongside a Vindictor from the Getting Started magazine.
Nowt this week, but a few things are on the production queue.
What I Am Backing
I did get an email about Car Wars giving me a chance to update my shipping address so that can’t be long in coming!
Also we are backing Rawr! Velociraptor! by The Doubleclicks, not for the plushy, sadly shipping to the UK makes that impractical, but we have gone in for the digital version of their Greatest Hits album.
I want a full suite of all of the retro consoles, sadly due to money and space, that’s not an option.
And thus I have turned to emulation, mostly using Retroarch.
Controllers
One thing I need to have are good controllers, if I cannot have the original machine I can at least have a controller that’s as close as possible.
Currently I have the following.
Mega Drive x 2
Mega Drive 6 Button
NES x 2
SNES x 2
Saturn
N64
PlayStation Original x 2
GameCube (original & Wavebird)
Madcatz Arcade Joystick
Xbox One
The N64 is the most recent addition to that list and if I am honest, the next one I want is either a DualShock 4 or even a Dualsense for PlayStation emulation.
The plan is to do some play through videos of some classics from when I was a kid, the first one I want to do is Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, I loved that game, leant it to my friend Simon and never saw it again.
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 is unused for the most part, so what I have done with that is installed PS3Hen along with a big collection of Mega Drive, Game Gear and Master System Games.
Sadly it won’t run Mega CD or 32X games, which is a shame, but I will live with that, to be honest, I have set it up mostly so the nibblings can play Sonic the Hedgehog, Willem and Brandon really love those games!
I mean every time they come round the first question is, can we play the Hedgehog game.
What I Am Painting
Not much given the needed work for Company of Legends.
But here is a pair of Pallas Grav-Attack for my Legio Custodes.
I know some people are determined to not get Warhammer +, but I have, and I will walk you through the reasons.
And I have honestly seen a lot of rants about it, mostly seeming to focus ok the animation side, but I do have to say that Warhammer + is a service that is more than just Warhammer TV, it’s also the included mini, the Warhammer Vault access, the apps, etc. to base your impression on just one aspect is just a bit daft.
First off, I would never usually suggest getting a service/product based on its possible future potential as I find this is usually a waste of money as nothing is ever guaranteed. Products should have a decent feature set before launching rather than promises of future features.
However Warhammer + makes sense financially for me, let me walk you through it. I play both Age of Sigmar and 40K, and I use the apps, which currently cost me £2.98, which is going to rise to £3.98 with the new AoS app.
So annually I will be paying £47.76 to Games Workshop for these two services, so Warhammer + would only cost me £2.23 if I get the annual plan.
Now the £10 voucher for signing up before 1st September means actually it’s going to be -£7.77, and when add in the model you get with the subscription, models that I want both of, you save even more.
These models I have set at a price of £20, although the Megaboss from the normal range is £25. So that means it’s actually now at -£27.77.
So it works for me, of course for other people the maths will vary and for them it may not be worth it, but it is for me.
What’s It Actually Like???
Well in all honesty, it’s a little thin on the ground right now, but what’s on there is good.
Angels of Death is very cool, although the mouths are a bit odd, but I can live with that.
I am yet to watch any of Hammer and Bolter apart from Old Bale Eye, which I really enjoyed.
The Battle Reports are well, extremely high end and professional and really raise the bar for those. Makes my stuff look pants by comparison.
The painting Masterclass is superb and I am digging out some Thousand Sons Terminators to try out some wet blending.
The Vault, that’s the one aspect I am less keen on, simply because you can’t download stuff, and the site is clunky when using a phone, if they bring us an app for that it will be better.
In general I am happy with the service, if they keep up with the new content every Wednesday I will be very happy.
I would like to see the YouTube painting videos included in the service at some point, just so everything is together in one place that’s a bit easier to navigate.
The service is as I said, thin on the ground, but I think within a few months it will be a lot better.
I have subscribed for a year because I want it to be a success, I want it to work, and I am breaking my own rule because if this does work, it will be an amazing resource for the community.
The reveal of the first weeks new releases, is a bit underwhelming, I would have hoped for a couple of the Citadel Masterclasses and at least two animations.
The Vault additions are actually pretty nice, with some White Dwarfs for this year being added.
But it’s still early days.
What I Am Modelling
I started off the week with some Triarch Praetorians.
These have been painted as being from the Szarekhan Dynasty because they serve the Triarch and thus why would their armour be in the colours of another dynasty?
Stormcast Eternals Praetors x 3, Knight-Vexellor & Vindictor
Legio Custodes Agamatus Jetbikes x 3
Stormcast Eternals Anhiliators x 3, Lord Imperatant & Gryph Hound
Blitzkrieg HQ & MG34 MMG Team
Death Guard Fire Raptor
Necron Canoptek Wraiths x 6
Mechanicum Magos Macrotek Engineseer & Servoautomata x 4
Flesh-Eater Courts Crypt Flayers x 3
What I Am Reading
Ummm I actually haven’t read all week 🙁
What Video Games Am I Playing
Not played a lot, but just a few bits and pieces here and there.
I did manage to get the Saturn emulator running properly. Retroarch ended up being a bust, there wasn’t a single core that could run the games correctly and the way it handles six button controllers is kinda annoying.
So I ended up going with Mednafen which works like a dream, just need to add a graphical front end.
Speaking of six button controllers, I finally managed to get my hands on a reasonably priced 6 button USB Mega Drive controller, and playing Street Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive Mini is no longer an awful nightmare!
I am a big fan of Imperial Knights, but I need to add a few more to my force, got a Warden in the box, but want another Crusader, some Helverins and then perhaps some Cerastus Knights.
And I am currently backing Avatar Legends at the Otter-Penguin level, considered going up to Polar Bear Dog, but the girls aren’t joining in, so I can’t justify the extra $25
This week has been a week in which I have just really been cracking on with stuff.
I have had more self-isolation, some babysitting and a couple of days with a little bug.
But not really much else.
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by painting four characters for my Stormcast Eternals. 3. Sylas Beastbane, Leena Stormspire, Astreia Solbright & Berek the Indomitable.
I have been asked a couple of times how I paint my Death Korps of Krieg and considering a certain release coming out this Saturday, I figured I would share it.
And if you want to help me and the podcast out, use this link to purchase from Element Games and links to any products will be affiliate links.
I developed the scheme to be different from the army that I painted for Niki, which were very traditionally Krieg with blue French style uniforms.
These are my 510th Siege Regiment, and their uniform is a dark green greatcoat, grey trousers, dark green helmets and tan leather.
Their weapons also have wooden casings as I feel like they would want to ensure their equipment is manufactured as easily and as cheaply as possible.
Anyway let’s crack on, with a squad of Firing Infantry.
We start by priming all the models with black, in this instance I used Wilkos Satin Black.
All the paints I am using are all Citadel, apart from two Vallejo colours.
Step One
The first step is just getting on the base coats which are as follows.
It’s a super simple scheme, not a lot to it and it looks nice on the table, dirty and subdued, just like the Death Korps of Krieg.
I like to combo it up with a muddy and wet basing scheme, which is more or less the same scheme as Duncan Rhodes has demonstrated on his website and I think it looks really nice.
If I were to start over, the helmets would be black as the German Dark Camo Green is influenced by the Heer helmets, which is something I was trying to avoid.
I know I am not the worlds best painter, I paint for fun and to a tabletop standard, but I am really proud of these and I enjoy painting them.
