Category: Blog Page 33 of 50

Excited About Indomitus

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On 15th June 2020

In Blog

Well colour me excited, did you guys see the unveiling of Indomitus this weekend!

I already told Jus at Battle Bunker to set me one aside and have been saving ever since 9th edition was announced.

I am actually gonna try and grab two copies, one from Element Games as well, because both my Blood Ravens and Ultramarines need these models.

I am thinking of splitting one box with Graham as he wants some Necrons and I really want him to get back into 40k, and to be honest, I only want one set of the Necrons myself.

I am really excited as I am sure you can tell, lots of amazing units that my Blood Ravens are desperately missing for their Primaris contingent.

Assault Intercessors look brilliant, although it’s a shame they don’t have Jump Packs, but my favourites are the Eradicators.

That combination of Gravis Armour with Melta weaponry just looks brilliant.

On the Necron side I love basically everything. The warriors look so much better than the current kit and the characters are astounding.

As for the other four kits revealed separately the same day, I gonna say it, I love the Invader ATV, I know that it’s looks a little goofy, but I really like the look of it.

I am not so sure about the Firestrike Servo-Turret, it just doesn’t do it for me, and as a long range support unit, a Lastalon seems like an odd choice of alternative weapon.

The Necron stuff on the other hand is all good, that Lokhurst Heavy Destoyer is beautiful, and the Canoptek Doomstalker is all sorts of weird and scary.

These four kits, well they strike me as perhaps being Easy to Build kits, I have no inside information, but it’s just a theory, after all, with the recent edition changes they have released a couple of decent Easy to Build kits with them.

In 8th Edition, Space Marines got a Redemptor Dreadnought and Aggressors, with Death Guard getting Lord Feltius and the Myphitic Blight Hauler, so I expect something similar for 9th Editon probably along with some basic troops for an equivalent set to First Strike.

Anyway I really can’t wait, everything I hear about 9th Edition just seems a lot more positive, a much needed refinement the core of 8th Edition to fix the issues that people have with the game.

What I Am Modelling

I got the unit of 40 Chainrasps finished first of all, this leaves me with one more unit of 40 left to do.

They are a bit of a chew in because they are delicate models with lots of spindly bits I need to avoid when adding things like the metallics and the basing material.

They are done to a battle ready standard, I am not gonna spend ages on the details of models that make up a horde this big.

I decided it’s time to crack on with the T’au so here are two Ethereals in Hoverdrones, I still need to get down painting white a lot better because right now my whites are terrible!

I then took two of my remaining three units of Blood Ravens left to rebase and did those, a Tactical Squad and a Captain, which leaves me with just a 10 man Assault Squad left to do.

I then moved on to my next squad of Intercessors for the Blood Ravens, just like the last lot this is a mix of Easy to Build, multipart and Dark Imperium models. And due to the situation I find myself in with regards to transfers, I decided to paint the Primaris Ancient at the same time.

Now I picked up something I have been looking forward to painting for ages, a pair of Death Guard Sabre Strike Tanks. I love the look of the Volkite, but decided that based on the fragility if Volkite weaponry in the lore, it would not be favoured by the Death Guard.

And so I decided that I would arm these with the Autocannons, nice and reliable and whilst they won’t trouble a Spartan they will be a pain to terminators and light to medium armoured vehicles. To keep them cheap I kept the Heavy Bolter as the secondary weapons and did not add any Sabre Missiles.

Once they were done I worked on rebasing my Blood Ravens Assault Marines, which means that I have completed my first resolution for the year.

I still have some other models on 25mm bases, but they need a full strip and repaint so not counting them as part of my army yet but I think I will be sorting them out a priority next year.

Then I picked up the Sequitors for the Stormcast Eternals from Soul Wars, it’s a weird sized unit, you need 5 for a minimum sized unit and can take two Stormsmite Greatmaces per 5 models and arm the Prime with one.

In Soul Wars you got 8 Sequitors, two with Stormsmite Greatmaces, a Prime with a Stormsmite Greatmaces a standard Prime and four normal Sequitors.

So I have two sets of the Easy to Build Sequitors which I have previously painted to allow me to field two units of five, both with two Stormsmite Greatmaces and one with a Prime with the Stormsmite Greatmace.

Whilst working on them I also picked up a Razorback Turret for the Blood Ravens to paint on the side, which didn’t take too long to paint at all.

Now I am working on the two Repulsor I have for the Blood Ravens.

So how does my painting queue now look?

  1. Blood Ravens Repulsor x 2
  2. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad x 10
  3. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  4. T’au Pathfinders x 10, Darkstrider & Devilfish
  5. Blood Ravens Aggressors x 3
  6. Death Guard Chaos Spawn x 2
  7. Stormcast Eternals Evocators x 5
  8. Space Wolves Blood Claws x 15
  9. Millitarium Tempestus Tempestor Prime, Command Squad Members x 9 & Valkyrie
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Autocannon Teams x 3

What I am Reading

Still reading The Founding, almost at the end of First and Only, but after that I will be putting it down to read Sons of the Selenar.

I started with a new audio book early on in the week with The Oubliette by J.C Stearns and finished because it was only a short one.

It was good but really needed more character development, and the corruption of the protagonist felt far too sudden and rushed.

But it entertained me a lot whilst I was painting, and the creature was pretty obvious in its nature from the moment of its introduction.

I have now started on listening to Knights of Macragge by Nick Kyme, which so far is alright.

What Am I Playing

On Sunday we played a game of Ticket to Ride: London, I love the Ticket to Ride games but Megan really struggles with them which makes me sad, but she seemed to enjoy playing this one tonight.

What Am I Backing

Still backing Chai: High Tea, I think we are all happy to be a part of this particular campaign.

Castle Panic Deluxe was gonna get backed, but they have cancelled that project to come back later with one that includes all of the expansions being given the deluxe treatment.

What Am I Cooking

The Friday night wings were Japanesse Wings this week and I made the marinade and put the wings in it.

Really simple marinade of soy sauce, sake, garlic and ginger but tasted utterly divine.

On Sunday as a team we made a Sunday dinner, using the Halogen Oven that Paul gave us to cook both the chicken and the roast potatoes, and it was really really nice.

What Am I Spending

I bought myself a cheap airbrush, went for a very cheap one because I don’t want to do what I did last time I tried airbrushing and buy a really fancy one that I then ruin because I don’t have a clue what I am doing.

This one was £23 and was from eBay.

My first package of stuff I bought the other weekend for Aeronautica Imperialis arrived, this was the two new sets of dice and the Taros Area of Engagement plus a couple of paints I needed.

And my Blood Ravens transfers finally arrived from China, I will be giving a shot at making some transfers of my own eventually, but for now I bought these.

It’s a Lazy Response

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On 9th June 2020

In Blog

This week I have seen lots of people and companies being accused of virtue signalling, and this is something I really hate. So what is virtue signalling, well the dictionary defines it as:-

the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.

Oxford Dictionary

So why do I dislike it when people accuse others of doing it, well because it’s used as a weapon to try and silence people who speak out against bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia etc.

It’s an attempt to attach a badge of shame to anyone who dares to speak up and say, hey this isn’t ok.

Yeah there are certainly going to be people out there that would meet the negative definition of virtue signalling that people accuse others of doing, I am looking at most politicians here. But the vast majority of people, when they speak out against something, it’s not because they want to look right on, it’s because they genuinely believe in what they are saying.

Why would we want to stigmatise compassion and tolerance, and frankly it’s lazy, instead of defending a position, which usually is not a good position to defend, people think that they can dismiss people by saying all they are doing is virtue signalling.

People should be altruistic, they should stand up to injustices and have concern for others, they should be filled with moral outrage at some of the horrors that go on in the world.

And yet more people are keeping it to themselves because they fear being labelled as a virtue signaller.

Personally I don’t care if you think I am a virtue signaller, I don’t think it’s wrong to hold and express beliefs about the problems faced by others.

And if brands want to stand up and start saying that they are outraged by the situation right now, then I back them.

Sometimes all the action that some of us can do is to be outraged and express our outrage, others can do more, but every little thing we do can and could help even if it’s as simple as helping getting something trending on Twitter.

In short, if you are upset or outraged by something, or you see a situation that is unjust, then speak up and ignore the idiots who are too lazy to think of anything to say other than accuse you of virtue signalling.

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by finishing off the Retributors and Knight-Vexillor I had started last week.

This completes the original Age of Sigmar starter set I got five years ago at long last!

And then I moved on to painting four Grey Hunters Pack Leaders for my Space Wolves, along with an Iron Priest and a Repulsor.

I finished the Wolf Guard Pack Leaders first. Reason I have made these models is because in 8th Edition, Space Wolves packs must have a Pack Leader, unlike in 7th where you could take a Wolf Guard instead.

I then painted the Iron Priest, I had wanted to finish the Repulsor too, but I was running short of Leadbelcher.

Then I put the Blood Ravens Chaplains on the table, five of them in fact. I finished three of them on Friday, the MKIV, Terminator and Primaris ones, I had kinda concentrated on these three because of the robes/capes, not sure what it’s just the way my mind worked

I got a delivery of paints so was then able to concentrate on the Repulsor and get that finished, which I did so on Saturday, lovely model and I have two of them for the Blood Ravens coming up to paint.

The next day I painted a Chaplain on foot and one with a Jump Pack, I had painted the Jump Pack one many years ago when I first got back into the hobby, but when I stripped it, I found I had put on the paint so thick it just wouldn’t come off without damaging the resin. So I bought a new one a couple of years ago and only just got round to painting it.

I then moved onto my next 40 strong Chainrasp Horde, the second of three I have to paint, these are being painted in a scheme found in the White Dwarf of December 2019.

Whilst various washes and technical paints are drying on them, I picked up a few other bits to do on the side, specifically a Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought and Centurion with Early Crusade Honours.

And I also painted a Quake Cannon for a Warlord Titan for Adeptus Titanicus as well, this is the second one I got and I made this up for the left hand side of a Warlord Titan.

The Chainrasps just need thier based finishing, but I had to get to bed so they will be finished tomorrow.

So how does this leave my painting plan for the near future?

  1. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  2. T’au Ethereal on a Hover Drone x 2
  3. Blood Ravens Intercessors x 10
  4. Death Guard Sabre Strike Tanks
  5. Stormcast Eternals Sequitors
  6. Blood Ravens Repulsor x 2
  7. Death Korps of Krieg Ogryns
  8. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  9. T’au Pathfinders x 10, Darkstrider & Devilfish
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad x 10

What I Am Reading

Reading The Founding still and enjoying it

I finished Cadian Honour, which was very enjoyable, although the narrator kept calling the Leman Russ tank a Lemon Russ which was a bit weird. Loved the continued use of the Geordie accent for Cadians.

I have also listened to the Blackstone Fortress audiobook which is most enjoyable, and the only thing is disliked is that we didn’t get much more than a cameo from UR-025.

What I Am Playing

Sadly the girls haven’t wanted to play anything this week.

What I Am Backing

We have gone in on Chai: High Tea to get the $79 level which gets use the deluxe version of Chai and the High Tea Expansion.

What I Am Cooking

On Friday nights during lockdown we have been having wing night and we have been trying various different ways to cook chicken wings.

So this Friday I made the infant, which were slow cooked General Tso’s Chicken Wings. Lindsay and Megan made the sides which were Chinese Fried Green Beans and Soy Sauce Noodles.

They were absolutely beautiful and the meat just melted in your mouth!

And on Saturday I made some Tangy BBQ Pit Beans, this is a variation of the recipe I tried a few weeks ago, we replaced the beans and sausages with smoked sausage and one time of baked beans with black eyed beans, the bacon was grilled and then broken up and we added an extra pepper.

What I Am Spending

To keep supporting Battle Bunker I spent some money with them and bought myself a Valkyrie for my Millitarium Tempestus, been after one of these for a while, and never had the money.

So when the chance arose to get one, I took it.

I also picked up some paint from Games Workshop along with some Aeronautica Imperialis tokens to stock up for the month, for some reason they split the order into four shipments, three of which were dispatched on Tuesday, the other apparently on Friday and arrived the same day, the other three arrived on Saturday.

I also made rather a large order on Saturday with Element Games when Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire was released. I ordered that set, plus a few brushes, couple of paints, the Taros Area of Engagment, both the T’au and Imperial Navy Dice plus I got Prophecy of the Wolf as well for Ragnar and Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.

Hopefully this will arrive next weekend, if not early next week.

Seeking Diverse Board Games

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On 1st June 2020

In Blog

There was a discussion in a Facebook group I am part of this Sunday, asking what are people’s favourite games designed by minority designers.

Sadly it was shut down and deleted before I could comment, apparently there were some undesirable comments in it.

But the thread asking why it was deleted which was quickly shut down showed what kind of comments I should have imagined.

When it comes to the board games industry, I think it would be fair to say that it does have a representation issue. My first U.K. Games Expo was 90% bearded white dudes, last year was very different to be fair, a lot more women, a lot more families a lot more LGBTQ folk, but white men (usually with a belly and beard like myself) still made up the majority of the attendees.

And the number of BAME attendees is still very low, which is shame, and I think that part of that is when there is a discussion about BAME game designers, you get comments about why does someone’s race matter, that it’s just playing identity politics and only working to divide people.

I am gonna be frank here, representation matters, if we see BAME game designers front and centre, then more BAME people will want to play board games.

I have sadly had a few occasions where when demonstrating games, I have been told by BAME people that board games are not something that people like them play, and I think that a big part of that is, because the board game hobby is seen very much as a very white dominated hobby.

Of course there will be those that continue to say that it should not matter what race someone is when they design a game, but I don’t think that’s a good way to think about it.

Let’s look at the most famous BAME board game designer, Eric Lang. He is a mixed race fella and had designed some amazing games, and come up with some brilliant and innovative game mechanisms.

Naturally, he will have a different background to many other game designers, coming from two different cultural backgrounds. And this difference in experiences will no doubt have contributed to the mix of talents skills and talents possessed by Lang, that has allowed him to innovate and design games in different ways to the average designer.

And I highlight him because he is an exception, he is a great designer, at the top of the industry who just happens to be mixed race, but the fact that he is sadly the only BAME designer of any notoriety is why his ethnicity stands out. In an ideal world, his ethnicity wouldn’t be something so noticeable because there would be a lot more BAME designers.

So when we have a board game industry that’s more diverse, we get more great games, we get more innovation, more challenging games.

We have seen that as more women are designing games, we are getting a bit of that, but most of the women designing games are coming from the same socio-economic background as their male counterpoints.

This isn’t me saying I want to see less games designed but white men, but what I want are more game designers, a bigger pool of talent, and for people to come into the industry who can offer innovation from which all designers can learn.

A case in point is music, over the past century, the biggest driver in development of popular music has been the influence of the music of other cultures. Ok yes in a lot of cases white people still dominate that industry whist using making music highly influenced by other cultures. But without the influences of other cultures, we wouldn’t have had jazz, rock and roll, rap etc.

So if we encourage game designers from other backgrounds, and I am not just taking about different ethnicities, but also religion, class, nationalities, education, disabilities etc.

The bigger the pool of talent, the better games we get, the more diverse an industry we have, the more players we have, the more opponents we have , the more games sold and the bigger the industry.

This is just my perspective, and I know that as a white dude, I enjoy a huge amount of privilege, but I don’t want to be a dude who sits back and says, I don’t see race I just see the games.

People like me have to say something when we see comments like that, we need to point out that representation is important, we need to say, actually, we want to see games from BAME designers specifically. And most important of all, listen to players, content creators and designers from a BAME background have to say on the matter.

If you want to follow up on this can I suggest checking out games by BAME designers, google and look for them, sadly I could only find Eric Lang and Omari Akil with my Google Fu, and in fairness of all the game designers I have met, the only one who was BAME was Eric Lang.

Also check out content creators who are BAME, simply because most reviewers out there are straight white dudes, and yeah their reviews are good, but getting reviews from people with different backgrounds can give you a perspective that you yourself may not have considered, which may open up new gaming possibilities, or make you reconsider a game. I’d recommend Be Bold Games and Geeky Gaymer Guy on YouTube.

I admit I probably made an incoherent mess of this whole post, but this something I feel strongly about, and I will end with a bit of wisdom from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Consider the flowers of a garden. Though differing in kind, color, form and shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm and addeth unto their beauty. How unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruit, the branches and the trees of that garden were all of the same shape and color! Diversity of hues, form and shape enricheth and adorneth the garden, and heighteneth the effect thereof.

Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by starting the Prosecutors from the Age of Sigmar starter set and a Knight-Venator for my Stormcast Eternals, these were a lot quicker to paint than I thought they would be.

This means the only remaining models from the original Age of a Sigmar box set I have left to paint are the Retributors.

I then started work on some Blood Ravens Intercessors and Sgt Jovan.

The Intercessors are a mix of multipart models, a Dark Imperium model and one from the easy to build set. These five models will add to the squad I painted up when Dark Imperium first came out and give me a full squad of ten Intercessors.

I am painting Sgt Jovan at the same time because it’s makes sense to paint him with these six instead of later on with a squad of ten.

I then started work on three Blood Ravens Land Speeders, which I got finished on Sunday afternoon. I have built and painted here a Typhoon and two Tornadoes.

I then started work on 5 Retributors, a Knight-Heraldor and a Knight-Vexillor for my Stormcast Eternals.

The Knight-Heraldor was finished today, I dunno why but I decided to focus on just him.

I also made sure all of my next ten projects are built, primed and paced into my “in-tray“.

So how does my painting plan look for now.

  1. Stormcast Eternals Retributors x 5 & Knight-Vexillor.
  2. Space Wolves Grey Hunters Packs Leaders x 4, Iron Priest & Repulsor
  3. Blood Ravens Chaplains x 5
  4. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  5. Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought
  6. T’au Ethereal on Hover Drone x 2
  7. Blood Ravens Intercessors x 10
  8. Death Guard Sabre Strike Tank x 2
  9. Stormcast Eternals Sequitors x 8
  10. Blood Ravens Repulsor x 2

What I Am Reading

I finished Valdor: Birth of the Imperium, I enjoyed it, but I found it very short and I think I would have like there to be more to it.

I have now started on The Founding by Dan Abnett the first Gaunts Ghosts omnibus, I have been getting hassle from Graham and Chris for having never read any Gaunts Ghosts books so I am correcting that oversight.

In terms of audio books I listened to Honourbound by Racheal Harrison, because I really loved the story and it was just as enjoyable in audio format.

I also finished listening to Cadia Stands by Justin D Hill, which was really good and I was quite pleased to hear that Cadians are in fact, space Geordies.

And I just started listening to Cadian Honour by Justin D Hill which continues the Cadians are Geordies theme.

What I Am Playing

Sadly not a sausage, really sad about that.

What I Am Backing

Still backing Railroad Ink Challenge, but I am considering dropping my pledge at this point just due to financial issues.

We are seriously looking at backing Chai: High Tea, the game looks really nice.

What I Am Cooking

For Sunday morning breakfast I made a slow cooker hash brown and smoked sausage casserole, it tasted a lot better than it looked.

Next time I am thinking of reducing the smoked sausage a bit, adding some unsmoked bacon lardons and a finely diced green pepper.

What I Am Spending

My first premium pack for Mortal Realms arrived, a slight issue with a sprue but nowt that I can’t imagine will take long to deal with.

The pack is of Flesh Eaters Courts and contains an Abhorrant Archregent, 20 Crypt Ghouls, and 3 Crypt Flayers, plus Athonian Camoshade and an extra magazine

The only issue is that Lindsay and Megan are not pleased that I am giving serious thought into turning these guys into an army that I would play with!

We also as a household decided to buy Pandemic: Hot Zone North America, we love Pandemic and the idea of a smaller, quicker version of the game is very appealing, just like Ticket to Ride London.

I also purchased a couple of sheets of transfers with the Blood Ravens chapter symbol, but they aren’t due to arrive until July as they are coming from China.

And finally I bought myself a 12 pack of Carabao Sugar Free Green Apple, annoyingly I have been living on energy drinks lately, they have really been helping me get through the day.

But this on is my current favourite, and thankfully is sugar free.

May Resolutions Update

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On 31st May 2020

In Blog

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

Paint 867 Models – 70.59%

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

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

This month I have painted up to

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

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

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

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

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

Finish The Death Guard – 83.33%

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

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

Complete 2000 Points of Stormcast Eternals – 70%

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

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

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

Rebase Blood Ravens 25%

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

I intend to get this completed in June.

Other Resolutions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Starting Flesh-Eaters Courts with Mortal Realms

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On 29th May 2020

In Blog

For those of you subscribing to Mortal Realms, if you went Premium, then you will hopefully by now have the first Premium set which focuses on the Flesh-Eater Courts.

So I decided to look at how you would turn this into a 1000pt army and a 2000pt army for as little as possible.

So let’s look at what the box gives you first off, and what you get if you build it as the guide suggests.

  • Abhorrant Archregent
  • Crypt Ghouls x 20
  • Crypt Flayers x 3

So let’s look at they when plugged into Azyr, and if you split the Crypt Ghouls into two units of 10 that gives you 610 points.

So where would I go from here, well personally I would grab a Start Collecting Flesh-Eater Courts, this gives you an additional 10 Crypt Ghouls, 3 more Crypt Flayers and a Terrorgheist plus I’d also grab the Endless Spells.

Now you can’t pop all this in the list to get to 1000pts, you would go way over, but that’s fine because we are gonna use most of the box to get to 2000pts.

So with this in mind my new list would be:-

  • Abhorrant Archregent
  • Abhorrant Ghoulking
  • Crypt Ghouls x 10
  • Crypt Ghouls x 10
  • Crypt Ghouls x 10
  • Crypt Flayers x 3
  • Chalice of Ushoran
  • Corpsemare Stampede

And that gets you to 990pts.

Ok so let’s get cracking on with 2000pts.

Straightaway I am gonna throw in the Terrorgheist, and then build some Crypt Horrors to use up the rest of the Start Collecting set.

That gets you to 1420 and I think the best way to go to 2000, is to buy another Start Collecting set!

So from that we add in an Abhorrant Ghoul King on a Terrorgheist, and we make from the Crypt Flayers, plus the bits we have saved from the other kits, a Crypt Haunter Courtier and a Crypt Infernal Courtier plus another one of your choice to use all three models.

So the list I have now looks like this:-

  • Abhorrant Archregent
  • Abhorrant Ghoul King
  • Abhorrant Ghoul King on a Royal Terrorgheist
  • Crypt Infernal Courtier (Or Crypt Haunter Courtier)
  • Crypt Ghouls x 10
  • Crypt Ghouls x 10
  • Crypt Ghouls x 10
  • Royal Terrorgheist
  • Crypt Horrors x 3
  • Crypt Flayers x 3
  • Corpsemare Stampede
  • Chalice of Ushoran

That gives you a list of 1960pts for adding two Start Collecting boxes and the Endless Spells.

And it leaves you with 10 Crypt Ghouls left over, personally I’d be tempted to make a Crypt Ghasy Courtier and then hit eBay up for the parts to make another Crypt Ghast so you can have another full unit of 10 for when you want to change your list up.

I am not going to pretend this list will won you games, because frankly I don’t know if it will, I haven’t played Flesh-Eater Courts before and I won’t pretend this is a big tactica article.

But this will get you an army for Battlehost level games for as little outlay as possible.

If you were to buy the kits from Element Games, it would cost you £110.50, which isn’t too bad.

I’d also be tempted to grab the Charnel Throne as well, it’s not too much of an outlay and does look really cool.

When it comes to painting them, Peachy at Warhammer TV did a great video for painting The Grymwatch, the Warhammer Underworlds Warband for the Flesh-Eaters Courts and if you are gonna do Hollowmourne this is the way I would paint them.

In fact I probably will paint them this way.

So let me know what you think of my ideas, and if you are gonna give them a try out, let me know how it goes!

Just a quick note, if you do follow the links to Element Games and buy something from them, a little bit of a commission is made for Edge of Empire which helps keep the podcast running.

9th Edition Inbound

By

On 27th May 2020

In Blog

So it cannot escaped the attention of those of you who care, but Games a Workshop have announced the 9th Edition of Awarhammer 40,000.

I can’t say much about because I know very little, but I do like what I hear about it.

The main thing I like is the rebalancing of Command Points because right now the prevalence of the loyal 32 and armies with multiple detachments is not good.

When I play it’s with one army and one set of rules, I hate seeing armies in which one detachment is from the Raven Guard another from White Scars and a third from Ultramarines in a situation where it seems that those with the most command points is gonna be the winner.

I am not opposed to allies but the soup situation was getting silly. I hope to see a system in which choosing one army is rewarded and you are penalised for trying to take soup or different sets of rules from one Codex.

Unless of course fluff actually permits it, like a detachment of Tempestus Scions with Cadians for example.

I do like 8th but it does have faults and I am glad the guys at GW are looking to address those.

And I have been this month thinking of making Necrons a project for next year and lo and behold, new Necron models are coming!

I am still planning on picking up Start Collecting Necrons so long as it’s still in stock when I get paid, to add to the two sets of Forgebane I have and the extra Immortals and Lychguard I have. Even think I have an Overlord in there as well.

This week I have made a few changes to the site, I started just wanting to tidy it up a little, add an Instagram widget and put up a link to Edge of Empires affiliate link with Element Games, I doubt anyone from the blog would use it, but you never know, it all goes to helping run the show.

Anyway it ended up being a full redesign with a change of theme and lots of behind the scenes stuff. I changed the SEO plugin to one that works better with social media and removed some stuff that wasn’t working too well.

I also added a security certificate, so not this site will use https instead of the not secure http. Not that it matters as I don’t have registered users in the site, nor do I sell anything but I don’t want people looking at the Not Secure bit and wondering if I am up to no good with data.

One thing I am using to motivate me is a new Goodreads sidebar, that way people who aren’t on Goodreads can pester me about my reading progress.

Goodreads is a site I need to use more to get the best out of it and hopefully this will motivate me to do so.

It’s been three years since the site had a major update so hopefully this will keep it looking good for a bit longer.

What I Am Painting

I started the week by painting the Raptoryx from Warcry which was the final thing to do from that box set.

I did them in a scheme influenced by Louise Sugden and I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

I then turned my attention to two squads of Blood Ravens Scouts. I got both squads from Conquest so I got two squads and saved £1.52 compared to buying them from Games Workshop.

The sculpts are very old and a bit static but they still paint up nicely. I built one squad with Bolters and one squad with Shotguns, both have a Heavy Bolter.

I had a unit of Scouts from an old Space Marines Battleforce when I first got back into the hobby, but I attempted some conversions on them and frankly they were unsalvageable, so I ended up getting rid of them.

These mean that I could fulfil the troop requirements of a Battalion detachment with just scouts for 40k, when combined with the Sniper Scouts I repainted a few years ago. I am not sure I would ever do that, but perhaps in a Vanguard themed list perhaps.

Next I moved onto my next Millitarium Tempestus squad and their Taurox Prime. These are some of my favourite models and they are always a treat to paint. I love the colour scheme of the 55th Kappic Eagles.

Whilst working on them I decided to let myself get distracted and build and paint the first Sigmarite Mausoleum for Age of Sigmar seeing as I got the first copy of Issue 25 of Mortal Realms.

So I finished that in Sunday after editing the podcast.

I finally got the Scions finished just before the 9th Edition Q&A.

I also built my Stormhawk Interceptor for the Blood Ravens and built some Swiftclaws for the Space Wolves.

I have literally just started on the Stormcast Eternals Prosecutors tonight.

So how does this leave my painting queue right now, well as you can see below, we have the first T’au units appearing on the plan, which starts on one of my resolutions for 2020.

  1. Blood Ravens Land Speeders x 3
  2. Stormcast Eternals Prosecutors and Knight-Venator
  3. Blood Ravens Intercessors x 5 & Sgt Jovan
  4. Stormcast Eternals Retributors, Knight-Heraldor and Knight- Vexilior
  5. Space Wolves Grey Hunters Pack Leaders and Iron Priest
  6. Blood Ravens Chaplains x 5
  7. Chainrasp Horde x 40
  8. Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought
  9. T’au Ethereal on Hover Drone x 2
  10. Blood Ravens Intercessors x 10

What Am I Reading

I started on Valdor: Birth of the Imperium, not got a lot read but enjoying it so far.

What Am I Playing

Despite wanting to play games I haven’t played any.

What Am I Backing

I am backing Railway Ink Challenge for now, not sure if I will back it all the way but it does look really good and I do fancy having a roll and write game in my collection.

We are also looking quite favourable at Chai: High Tea which looks very pretty.

What I Am Cooking

I made some Be-Ro flapjacks which are some of my favourite baked goods.

They use cornflakes and are familiar and loved by most north eastern folk. First time I was severed a flapjack outside my home I was upset because it had no flapjacks and noting like what I had a home!

What I Am Spending

Not spent anything this week but my copies of Mortal Realms 15 from Forbidden Planet and Conquest 48 from Hachette finally arrived together on Friday.

Waiting for #Cans

By

On 18th May 2020

In Blog

Well earlier in the year I cast doubt on the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United, but now it’s looking like it’s actually going to happen and Mike Ashley will be leaving our club after an awful period under his ownership.

But the takeover is proving to be controversial, with lots of people saying that we fans should object to the takeover for various reasons, from the human rights record of a Saudi Arabia, to their alleged involvement in piracy of Premiership games.

I am not an idiot, I am well aware that Saudi Arabia is hugely problematic, it treats women, LGBTQ+ folk, Shia Muslims and Baha’is dreadfully.

And yes it’s not exactly been the most surgical of combatants in Yemen, and it’s actions have killed many innocent people, but the scary thing in that conflict is that they are the good guys. The opposition in that war are particularly nasty Iranian backed rebels. But yeah, their record of collateral damage is absolutely appalling, and they should be held to account for that.

And the Crown Princes involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is something that can’t be overlooked, his fiancée has even written a letter begging fans to object to the takeover.

But let’s be honest, we fans don’t get a say in the matter, we have seen the club drained dry over the past 14 years, relegated twice, our home used as an advertising board, our stadium renamed, players discriminated against, the training ground and stadium neglected to the point where they need lots of investment to fix problems that should never have been allowed to develop, and ticket prices going up well above what other clubs pay.

Mike Ashley will do what’s best for him, and him alone, he cares not for the opinion of the fans, he doesn’t give us a say nor does he even communicate with us.

And so 97% of fans are behind the takeover, despite some very loud complaints by the MP who represents the stadium and some fans who turn out to work for NGOs who campaign against Saudi Arabia.

I can’t comment on the rights and wrongs of the takeover, because I don’t get a say, but I would hope that if the Saudi PIF do takeover the club, we might see positive changes in Saudi itself, in which women get to take part in football a lot more, in the same way that women’s participation in football took off in the UAE after the Man City takeover.

But there is a part of me, that it’s still convinced it will never happen, I am prepared for Mike Ashley to spit out his dummy and continue his destructive ownership of the club.

But if and when the takeover is announced, I will crack open the #cans and enjoy a drink in celebration of being rid of Ashley. I will be cautious about the future, I am gonna try and be optimistic, and hope that we Geordies can convince the Saudis to be better people.

I guess it’s a sad place to be in when ownership by a not very nice non-democratic regime is the preferred option.

What I Am Modelling

At the start of the week, I was quite pleased to be featured on the Warhammer Mortal Realms Facebook page with some of my Myrmourn Banshees, they didn’t tell me in advance but I am happy enough to have been featured.

I started the weeks painting by putting the Tallyman and Blightlord Terminators into the painting handles and figured I would also do my Ultramarines Javelin Attack Speeders at the same time.

The Javelins got finished first, I wanted them done to fulfil my hobby goals for Edge of Empire this month.

I was lucky enough with these to get in a trade from Heresy Trading last year, a set of Predator Lascannon Sponson, which are identical to the ones used for these, so I bought two of the ones with Cyclone Missile Launchers and magnetised them, giving me both options.

I finished off the old Forge World Terminators on the Saturday night whilst watching Life on Mars with Megan. I got the newer ones and the Tallyman a good chunk of the way there but at the end of season 1 we decided to go to bed, I thought about going downstairs to paint some more but figured that I should get to bed at a reasonable time.

The newer Blightlord were finished on Sunday morning, much bigger and bulkier models than the older ones and with a lot more character than the older ones with elements of Heresy era armour.

The Tallyman was also finished on Sunday, which is the last of my Conquest subscription models.

I then started on a combination of the Chaos Furies and the Dreadblade Harrows, and got the Dreadblade Harrows finished quite quickly.

The Furies followed soon after, not my best work but I like them.

I also started work in rebasing some Blood Ravens with a Tactical Squad, cutting off the old bases was a bit nerve racking but well worth it as they look so much better now.

So let’s take a look at my painting plan right now.

The Chainrasp Horde is now back on the list thanks to the Grey Seer I got delivered.

  1. Raptoryx x 6
  2. Blood Ravens Scouts x 10
  3. Millitarium Tempestus Meltagun Squad and Taurox Prime
  4. Blood Ravens Landspeeders x 3
  5. Stormcast Eternals Prosecutors x 3 and Knight-Venator
  6. Blood Ravens Intercessors x 5 & Sgt Jovan
  7. Stormcast Eternals Retributors x 5, Knight-Heraldor and Knight-Vexillor
  8. Space Wolves Grey Hunters Pack Leaders x 4 & Iron Priest
  9. Blood Ravens Chaplains x 4
  10. Chainrasp Horde x 40

What I Am Reading

After my review of Tales from the Crucible, Aconyte reached out to me and sent me a copy of Wrath of N’Kai by Josh Reynolds so I could give it a read and review it.

It was extremely enjoyable and I have written a review that you can read here.

What I Am Playing

Haven’t played anything this week, I had hoped to convince Megan to play a game with me today, but she was very tired.

What I Am Backing

Nothing this week, but I do have my eye on Railway Ink Challenge which looks really good.

What Am I Cooking

Noting this week, been a tough week physically, at one point I was in hospital with the Covid legacy.

What Am I Spending

Not a lot really, I did buy a copy of Mortal Realms Issue 15 to add to the issue 11 I already have to combine with those in my subscription to give me a full Sigmarite Mausoleum.

Annoyingly I am still waiting for these and Conquest 48, but the postal service is rammed right now so I guess that’s understandable.

Lockdown Hobby Goals

By

On 12th May 2020

In Blog

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

The ones in bold I have achieved thus far.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What I Am Painting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What I Am Reasing

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

What I Am Playing

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

What I Am Backing

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

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

What Am I Cooking

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

What Am I Spending

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

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

Ugh This Virus

By

On 9th May 2020

In Blog

This virus blows, I have gone backwards in recovery a bit, I am more tired, yet have trouble sleeping, and I am really struggling to get up and down stairs.

The doctors put me back on antibiotics and have given me an inhaler, but it’s still left me severely limited in what I am able to do.

I am still figuring out how to properly use the inhaler but it’s surprisingly difficult.

What I Am Modelling

I started the week off by building and priming my next ten projects, this way everything is ready at hand to paint.

Unfortunately the Grey Seer ran out part way though priming the Chainrasps, so they have been put aside to do once I get resupplied and their place in the painting queue has been taken by the Dreadblade Harrows.

I then started on Nikis Death Korps of Krieg special weapons Grenadiers and a Knight Questor for my Stormcast Eternals.

The Grenadiers represent the last of what I can do right now, until lockdown is lifted and I can see Niki to get a couple of parts I need for the last ten Grenadiers.

There are three Plasma Guns, three Meltaguns, three Vox Operators and a Watchmaster in this batch.

The Knight-Questor was finished at the same time, did him between bits of the Grenadiers, absolutely love the model, really cool to paint.

Then I placed onto the painting handles the last of the Khorne models from the original Age of Sigmar Starter Set from 2015, the Blood Warriors and Khorgus Khul the Mighty Lord of Khorne.

Mostly followed the standard painting guide for these, but made a few subtle changes here and there to better suit my personal vision for the Bloodbound.

And at the same time I also painted up Canoness Veridyan too.

I then put the Untamed Beasts from Warcry onto the painting table, a Warband I have been looking forward to painting for some time.

These had a lot of cool textures to work with, stuff I don’t normally get to paint and they were a real joy to get done.

So how does my painting queue look now?

  1. Tech-Priest Manipulus x 2
  2. Stormcast Eternals Celestar Ballista x 2 & Lord Ordinator
  3. Blightlord Terminators x 5 & Tallyman
  4. Chaotic Beasts x 12
  5. Dreadblade Harrows x 2
  6. Blood Ravens Scouts x 10
  7. Millitarium Tempestus Meltagun Squad x 10 & Taurox Prime
  8. Blood Ravens Landspeeders x 3
  9. Stormcast Eternals Prosectors and Knight-Venator
  10. Space Wolves Redemptor Dreadnought

What I Am Reading

I finished Tales From The Crucible and a review will come soon.

Haven’t started a new book yet.

What I Am Playing

My concentration hasn’t been there to play anything on tabletop but I have played a few games of Carcassonne and Warhammer Underworlds on the PC.

What I Am Backing

Nothing but gonna have another crack at convincing the girls we should back Lords of Vegas.

The Forgotten Chapters transfer sheet ran into a hitch, some of the original designs have been rejected as being too close to GW IP so they are being redesigned, but that’s cool, just means a slight delay.

What I Am Cooking

We had a pulled pork feast on Sunday, I couldn’t manage to make the pulled pork myself, but I did, with extensive help make some tangy BBQ Pit Beans.

Want to make a few changes before I put up the recipe however, but they were delicious.

I also mixed up a new batch of Cajun spice mix.

What I Am Spending

Now that GW is open I bought a few paints which got dispatched yesterday, so hopefully they will be with me on Tuesday.

I also bought a copy of Warhammer 40,000 Conquest Issue 48 from Hachette, I had a spare of this sitting around already, so when I have this, three of the bikes will be being used to make a squad of Swiftclaws for my Space Wolves and the spare is likely to one day become a Space Marine Captain for my Blood Ravens on a bike or perhaps as a Wolf Guard Pack Leader.

We also got the Asmodee Digital Play With Friends Humble Bundle which got us a number of awesome board games for Steam and gave some money to charity.

We do have a couple of games that we already own spare however, so if anyone wants Carcassonne, Small World 2 or Splendour, drop us a message.

April Resolutions Update

By

On 1st May 2020

In Blog

It’s the end of the month so let’s see how I did on my resolutions.

Paint 867 Models – 57.90%

I have painted 502 models so far this year, obviously this means I am well ahead of schedule which I am happy with.

A good chunk of this game in the month in the form of terrain. Being ill with Covid-19 has really hampered my hobby efforts this month.

Finish Painting The Blood Ravens I Own on 1st January – 43.58%

Only thing done this month was three Bikes and an Attack Bike, must do better next month.

This next month I hope to paint two units of Scouts, three Landspeeders and a unit of Intercessors.

Finish The Death Guard – 58.33%

No progress but I am ahead of schedule so I am cool with that. Next up at the Blightlord Terminators and a Tallyman.

Complete 2000 Points of Stormcast Eternals – 36.50%

I did a lot for this target this month, so far I have painted 730 points, although I may have to adjust this resolution so it’s a viable list I paint.

This month I painted, six Gryph-Hounds, 5 Vanguard-Hunters, 3 Vanguard Raptors, 6 Aetherwings, a Knight Questor and a Knight Incantor.

Other Resolutions

  • Complete 1750 Points of T’au
  • Complete 1750 Points of Orks
  • Rebase Blood Ravens
  • Rebase Orks

None of these have had any progress made, but the T’au are now appearing in my long term painting plan.

Just need to get the Orks in there too.

Rebasing can go ahead I just need to bring the Blood a Ravens downstairs to start it.

So let’s take a quick look at my painting plan right now.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Grenadiers Special Weapons Men and Vox Operators x 10
  2. Blood Warriors x 5 & Korgus Khul
  3. Canoness Veridyan
  4. Untamed Beasts x 9
  5. Tech Priest Manipulus x 2
  6. Stormcast Eternals Celestar Balista x 2 & Lord Ordinator
  7. Blightlord Terminators x 5 & Tallyman
  8. Chaotic Beasts x 12
  9. Dreadblade Harrows x 2
  10. Blood Ravens Scouts x 10

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