I have been asked a few times recently how do I paint my bases.
Well it’s a really simple scheme and I base the vast majority of my armies this way. Why, because I have a Realm of Battle board done in this style and keeping them in the same scheme means they look really good on that board.
Anyway let’s dive in, why you guys want to know this, I really don’t know.
Step 1
First step, get some basing material on there, I use a mixture of Bird Sand and Bird Grit from Wilko. £2.50 basically gets you several years worth of basing material.
I apply it by first coating the base in PVA glue, followed by dipping the base in the basing material, tapping off the excess and letting it dry.
Once dry I then apply a second coat of thinned down PVA glue to help keep it stick to the base.
Step 2
Then I apply a thinned down coat of Mournfang Brown, I tend to water this paint down more than normal, this way it runs into the recesses in the basing material much better.
Step 3
After the Mournfang Brown has dried, I then shade it using some Nuln Oil.
Step 4
Once the wash has dried, I then drybrush the base, using first Mournfang Brown, which has a subtitle effect but tidies the base U.K. a bit.
This is then followed by a light drybrush of Tau Light Ochre.
Once this is done I will paint the rim with Mournfang Brown.
Step 5
And finally I will use some PVA to apply some static grass to the bases.
And that’s it, super simple, but I think it works.
A lot of you will now be getting into your hands the second Premium Pack for Hachettes Mortal Realms, and this time it contains Sylvaneth so just like last time with the Flesh Eaters Courts, let’s look at how you can expand this set into a 1000ts and 2000pts army.
So let’s start by looking at what you get in the pack.
Spite Revenants x 5
Dryca Hamadreth
Branchwych
Plugging that into Battlescribe that gives us a total of 440 points, so a lot less than the Flesh Eaters.
So where would I go first, well looking at the warscolls in the Battletome, I would be tempted to start with The Outcasts Warscroll Battalion, which needs 3 units of Spite Revenants, so you need to go and buy two more boxes of them.
After this I would probably grab a Start Collecting Sylvaneth box and use the Treelord and Dryads from that to add to the army. And also grab the Endless Spells and use the Spiteswarm Hive from that.
Going to 2000 points I would start by adding some Tree Revenants, so that you could form those, your Treelord and Branchwych into a Household Warscroll Battalion.
Then I would grab a second Start Collecting Box and use this to add two more units of Dryads and a second Branchwych so that I could add the Forest Folk Warscroll Battalion and a Treelord Ancient.
And lastly I would drop the Spiteswarm Hive and instead add a unit of Kurnoth Bunters with Kurnoth Greatbows for some ranged firepower’s.
So this is the list I would build for 2000 points.
I am not gonna pretend I am a tactical genius here, this list is probably very sub-optimal, but it’s what I would do personally because I think this is a nice route to 2000 points.
I would also very much look at grabbing an Awakened Wyldwood, because it’s fantastic in game and will really add something to your army.
In terms of painting, I would point you towards the tutorial on YouTube by Duncan Rhodes when he was at Warhammer TV for Ylthari’s Guardians.
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.
Ever since Covid-19 I am really struggling with energy in the afternoons and evenings, and cups of tea aren’t really touching it in a way I would like it to.
I am not gonna lie I do of course enjoy an energy drink, my favourites being Carabao Sugar Free Green Apple, Irn Bru Energy Sugar Free and Coca-Cola Energy Zero.
But I do struggle to get these drinks, Monster seems to be the post popular drink in the Co-Op, but I am not that keen on the Ultra Zero flavour and the other flavours, well they don’t say what they are on the tin and that’s a bit off putting.
But long term even when I can get hold of the ones I like, they aren’t all that cheap and I do wonder if they are any good for me.
But I have seen a number of adverts for Sneak and Razorwire, which have always struck me as being like those protein supplements that dudes who want to get hench use, which hasn’t exactly enamoured me to their product.
But I relented and decided to give Razorwire a try, simply because if I do go for it, it seems to offer the best value. So I ordered two samples, one of Sour Apple flavour the other of Cherry, which I do enjoy.
I didn’t bother with a shaker, no point spending money on that unless I decided to get big tubs, so I ended up making them in some used pop bottles.
And I have to admit they were both rather nice, the flavours were subtle and not too in your face and if I want them to be fizzy well I can always use the Soda Stream.
They did leave me feeling very awake in the afternoons, but not into the night preventing me from sleeping.
All in all I was really impressed by both samples and I think I will be investing in some of the tubs of them when I next get paid.
But if anyone has any alternative suggestions for a brand I can use, then I am all ears.
What Am I Modelling
I started the week by painting a T’au Breacher Team and their Devilfish transport.
I broke out the airbrush for these to get the main armour colour on, and that worker really rather well.
I am still figuring out the best way to paint T’au infantry and tried a slightly different approach this time. This time I added the use of an airbrush for the main armour colour and that did work pretty well.
It’s not working firm or me as well as I’d like so it’s back to the drawing board.
I then bumped up the Ultramarines Contemptor Dreadnought up to the top of the list, after taking so long on the T’au I wanted an easy and quick model painted and I can knock out a Contemptor very quickly.
This one is armed with a Plasma Cannon and a Plasma Blaster in its Power Fist.
I then placed on the painting desk the three Death Korps of Krieg Mortar Teams for Niki.
So how does this leave my painting plan looking
Death Korps of Krieg Mortar Teams x 3
Stormcast Eternals Vanguard-Hunters x 10 & Knight-Zephyros
Zone Mortalis Terrain
Blood Ravens Intercessors x 10
Space Wolves Infiltrators x 10 & Ragnar Blackmane
Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
Secret Heresy Project Unit
T’au Strike Team x 10, Cadre Fireblade & Devilfish
Mortarion x 2
Nighthaunt Knight of Shrouds on Ethereal Steed, Spirt Torment & Gaurdian of Souls.
What I Am Reading
I finished listening to War of Secrets by Phil Kelly, which was alright, plenty of action but I was a little confused but the psychic plague thing, it didn’t really get explained in any detail other than it was happening.
I literally just got finished that audiobook tonight and I have to say, I really loved it!
I am also reading Saturnine by Dan Abnett, but it’s taking time but that’s because of motivation issues, loving the book, and at one point I was pricing up a White Scars army!
What I Am Playing
We had a game of Just One on Friday night, we managed to score 8 points with a single pass and 2 wrong answers.
I also did a tech-test for hosting games at this months virtual UK Games Expo, which went quite well.
The extra EP that was a stretch goal as part of the Transformers 1986 project was also delivered this week, I haven’t listened to it yet but plan to do so this week.
What I Am Cooking
I made the chicken for wing night this week, although due to Tesco’s having no wings, we had drumsticks instead.
This week they were marinated in Nando’s sauce, cooked in the oven before being finished on the BBQ.
Megan made the wedges and green beans and the coleslaw was store bought.
On a Saturday I made slow cooker sloppy Joe’s to a recipe from Megan, I am gonna be honest, I wasn’t that keen they seemed rather plain compared to the sloppy Joe’s recipe I normally use.
They were nice, but I think my other recipe is better.
On Monday I made us pizza for breakfast, it was just a cheap pizza from ASDA but I added some cut up cocktail sausages, some smoked streaky bacon, mushrooms and tarragon and then topped it with some extra cheese.
I also decided to add to the Star Trek Adventure collection by buying the Enterprise Player Characters from the Modulus website when they released them this week.
Kinda hoping that they add the Discovery crew at some point, would love to play as Tilly!
I cannot put enough emphasis on this point, but listen to me when I say how vital it is.
My Covid-19 story is I am told quite representative of people who have had issues with it, so I will tell it.
I came down with Covid-19 about a week into lockdown, and I had a cough for about 10 days that then seemed to get better, but then I rapidly went downhill again and could at times barely breathe.
Now I wasn’t so bad that my doctor wanted me in hospital, and I have a CPAP machine which helped me a lot, and that avoid me going into hospital for more than a few hours.
But I had developed a nasty bout of post Covid-19 pneumonia, which took two course of antibiotics to clear, and even then it left my lungs in an awful condition.
Basically when I had an X-Ray and some tests in the hospital later on they discovered that I have lost a third of my lung capacity to Covid-19.
I used to be able to go up and stairs fine as far as breathing was concerned, I had pain issues, but that was something separate. But now if I climb the stairs I need a puff of an inhaler.
I never used to need an inhaler before, but I need one now just to be able to go up an incline, it’s crazy, as soon as I start using my lungs in anything more than a level walk, I struggle for air.
I have always harboured an ambition to once my head issues are figured out, try and get myself a bit fitter and try and do a 5km run. Yeah it’s kinda weak ass as far as athletic ambitions go, but for me that would be an achievement.
Anyway that’s now probably never gonna happen, I mean I can’t walk to the Co-Op which is some 20m from my kitchen without needing to use the inhaler a couple of times.
I have gone from someone with could happily wander to the Co-Op and grab a pizza for lunch, to someone who needs to plan his whole day around that same trip.
So why am I telling you this, well simple, I was shielding, I was told to shield, to not leave the house. But Lindsay and Megan brought Covid-19 into the house because they had to go shopping for us.
And despite my shielding I thus caught it from them, and it hit me hard. There are lots of other people up and down the U.K., including a good number of people I care for and love.
If you wear a mask, and socially distance, and wash your hands, you can prevent this horrid disease spreading to vulnerable people.
This disease would kill my nana, I don’t think she would stand a chance against it, her lungs are already buggered thanks to her pack a day cigarette habit, and this would ravage her.
I am lucky in that the building where she lives is taking things seriously, but if you lot don’t take the rules seriously, there is the risk that her carers could become infected and then pass it on to her.
So I am begging you all, don’t act all macho, stop banging on about masks being muzzles, end of the day, what’s the issue, you have to wear a piece of cloth over your mouth for a little bit whilst you do your shopping, that’s literally the worst case.
Best case, you actively save lives.
What I Am Modelling
I hit the Millitarium Tempestus Command section first this week, they have been on the painting table a couple of weeks so its about time they got finished.
I got them all finished and decided to promote the Blood Ravens Redemptor Dreadnought up the list so that I could say I have achieved something for them this month.
I have built this so you can easily swap out the Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon for the Macro Plasma Incinerator with relative ease.
I then moved on to the T’au Empire Breacher Team and Devilfish, for which I picked up my airbrush for the first time tonight and put on a layer of XV-88 to start them off., and before I went to bed I added a coat of Tau Light Ochre.
So lets look at where this leaves my painting queue.
I did spot that Jus at Battle Bunker had a copy of No Respite for Blackstone Fortress in stock, and its out of print now, so I decided to pick it up along with a set of Open War Mission Cards, and Jus sent them to me in the post.
My good friend Pete also sent me over a few things for the Zone Mortalis board, a couple more Haemotrope Reactors and half a set of Galvanic Servohaulers, which was really nice of him and I need to send him the postage costs for that.
I also bought a couple more issues of Conquest to bulk out the Zone Mortalis, first was a couple of copies of issue 13 to give myself a complete set of three Munitorium Armoured Containers, and a copy of Issue 71 to give me the second half set of Galvanic Servohaulers to complete that I got from Pete. So those should be with me in a fortnight
And I also bought the audiobook War of Secrets on Audible with a credit.
Well it’s the end of the month so let’s see how I am doing on my resolutions.
Paint 867 Models – Completed
Well lockdown and Chainrasps helped me smash the target for the year in July, so I guess we see how many I can get painted this year in total!
Right now I have painted 875 models!
Finish Painting the Blood Ravens I Own on 1st January – 87.5% Complete
At the end of the month it was looking like I wasn’t going to get any of this done in July, so I promoted the Redemptor Dreadnought to the top of the queue and finished that so I made a bit of progress on this.
Still making my way through Ghostmaker, but the issues with pain have made it very hard to concentrate on reading.
What I Am Playing
Me and Lindsay pulled out Pandemic Hot Zone North America on Friday night, we had two games of it because our first one ended in the first go because we pulled an epidemic straight away and ended up with too many outbreaks.
The second game was a lot easier and we managed to find the cure to all three diseases in good time.
Fantastic game and can’t wait to try it with Megan when she gets back.
What I Am Backing
I am not actually backing anything right now!
What I Am Cooking
My confidence in the kitchen is still very shot!
I did cook an omelette for breakfast on Sunday fir me and Lindsay, filled with cheese and mushrooms.
Not so much spending but I did swap a set of my Black Library Celebration Custodes Dice for a set of the original Custodes dice, which means I have a set of each now.
And again, not spending, but GMT Games ran a Tough Economy Special whereby they gave away some free games to people who have lost jobs and work due to Covid-19.
Because all of my work with Asmodee for the year has been cancelled leaving me with no other work, they said I was eligible and thus they sent me a copy of Twlight Struggle, which makes me quite happy.
I bought one copy for myself and another to split with Graham, plus I picked up a copy of Chapter Approved 2020, a pot of Tesseract Glow, pot of Death Korps Drab, can of Death Guard Green Spray and a Combat Gauge.
So from this I have one set of the Necrons to add to my pile from Forgebane and Kill Team, plus two sets of the Space Marines, one set going to my Blood Ravens the other going to the Ultramarines.
And inspired by Phil, I bought a pot of Sigismund Yellow Clear, because I am going to actually do something with my Warhound Titan!
The good news is that I smashed my target of £200 and raised a whopping £402 for the Willow Foundation, and if you want, you can donate here still!
It was exhausting and at the same time amazing, I will be doing it again one day, but probably splitting it up into two shifts.
If you are insane, you can watch the videos here on Twitch at the Edge of Empire channel.
What I Am Painting
I started off by painting some Bullgryns for Niki’s Death Korps of Krieg army. These are 3D printed on his resin printer and are absolutely beautiful, a real pleasure to work with.
I am happy with it and the scheme is easily replicated and should be reasonable to get one in the 24 hours for all 25 models. Well I was wrong about that.
I also painted my test Penitent Engine, because this is the model I am most nervous about, but this was no where near as bad as I thought I was gonna be, I bought this specially to paint as a test.
After the 24 hour painting challenge I returned to my painting queue and I concentrated on and finished the Valkyrie for my Millitarium Tempestus.
For the first time in a while I have not got anything funding, nor do I think anything is on the horizon.
What I Am Cooking
This week me and Lindsay made some pulled pork. In case you haven’t guessed already from past posts, Kansas City pulled pork is my signature dish.
We cooked a pork shoulder for 6 hours in Newcastle Brown Ale with onions, garlic and black pepper, before pulling it and then cooking it for another two hours in my Kansas City BBQ sauce.
Current State of Projects:- Millitarium Tempestus Command Squad and Tempestor Prime first colours on and washed. Sisters Repentia about 50% done, Seraphim about 60% done.
In just a few days I will be painting for 24 hours in support of the Willow Foundation.
I have set a target of £200 and am already at £160, everyone who donates will be entered into a raffle to win some stuff, a list of which you can see here, and you can donate via Just Giving.
I am going to be posting a lot more about this in the week so look out for updates.
The models are all now built and I think I have the technology sorted out, so let’s crack on!
What I am Modelling
I started the week by painting up the Autocannon Teams for Niki’s Death Korps of Krieg.
Next on the list were my Blood Claws for the Space Wolves, 15 of them! And I also painted a Space Wolves Captain from Rogue Trader first made in 1991.
The Blood Claws were made from my bitz box and most use leftovers from my original building of the Space Wolves several years ago.
I do currently have a single Blood Claws Squad, of five Astartes, but decided I wanted a nice big squad of 15 so I can eventually put them in a Stormwolf Assault Boat and have that lot jumping out with a Wolf Priest!
The Captain was finished first ion Saturday evening, and I am rather happy with him, he will serve as a Wolf Guard Battle Leader probably.
I am trying to acquire a few of these old school captains from back then to add to the armies I do have, I have some bids on the Blood Angels and Ultramarines Captains on eBay.
The Blood Claws took a while but they eventually were finished today.
I think next year I will be going through the Space Wolves to get them rebased and the transfers and pack markings sorted out properly.
I have no put on my painting handles, the Tempestor Prime, Command Squad and Valkyrie for my Millitarium Tempestus, and the Ogryns for Niki’s Death Korps of Krieg.
I am also going to paint the Valkyrie and a Vendetta for Aeronautica Imperialis.
So what does this leave my painting queue looking like, well let’s take a look:-
Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Hunters x 10 & Knight-Zephyros
Ultramarines Contemptor Dreadnought
Zone Mortalis Terrain
What I Am Reading
I started on Ghostmaker by Dan Abnett, the second Gaunts Ghost novel and that’s pretty good going so far.Millitarium Tempestus Tempestor Prime, Command Squad and Valkyries
I have been very alert this week so haven’t read as much as I would have liked to.
I finished Devastation of Baal and decided to listen to Dante, and now realise I should have done it the other way around, both books are pretty good to paint to.
What I Am Playing
I haven’t played anything this week 🙁
What I Am Backing
Alhambra Roll and Write funded and our pledge has been collected. Obviously as it’s a Queen Games Projects I am expecting it to be hugely delayed, but arrive eventually.
Project Infinite Hole is still going strong and should finish at the end of this week for some more amazing Paranoia content.
I did cook some hot dogs for lunch on Monday, I made them with caramelised onions and melted gruyere. I have some ideas on how to make them better and once Megan is back I will be trying that out.
This past week and a bit has seen the much hated Arch Warhammer explode in rage as Games Workshop launch legal action to get him to drop the Warhammer from his name.
My mate Darryl summed up the series of events quite expertly here, but needless to say, I think this is a good thing.
That some people’s first exposure to the hobby would be via him is genuinely horrifying, because in all honestly, he is a far right, racist, homophobic, bigoted arsehole.
He represents the worst of our hobby and I am glad he is being pushed further and further out of the hobby, although sadly the usual suspects like The Outer Circle are backing him.
Warhammer and wargaming is for everybody, but if you get enjoyment out of excluding others, then frankly I don’t want you in my hobby community. I will not tolerate those who are intolerant.
I want a diverse fan base, because more diverse players means more players who can utterly humiliate me when we throw dice, more amazing paint jobs for me to drool over.
So if the simply idea of a more diverse player base triggers you, then bugger off and go whinge about it on Parler and let the rest of us for whom simply being a decent human being is our baseline, happily coexist.
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by abandoning the T’au and picked up the new hotness, some Zone Mortalis Floor Tiles!
Got them at 11:15am on Wednesday and finished them just after 4:30pm!!!
I then turned my attention to the Thermic Plasma Regulators I got at the same time, for which I am using a different spray, Wilkos Gunmetal spray, which in colour seems to be about halfway between Leadbelcher and Iron Warriors.
I decided to do these in a slightly cleaner style to show that they are actually working parts, which are sort of maintained.
I then went back to the T’au Pathfinders and got those finished up, the Devilfish was finished Friday and the Pathfinders, Drones and Darkstrider on Saturday.
On Sunday I tied up my desk and set to work on the remaining Warlord Battle Titan Weapons, these were a Macro Gatling Blaster, Paired Gatling Blasters and Paired Turbo Laser Destructors.
This means I now have a complete armoury for the Warlord Titan.
I then put on my desk some Death Korps of Krieg Autocannon teams for Niki. And I also put on the painting handles my Stormcast Eternals Evocators to work on them when the washes need to dry on the Krieg.
But I didn’t do any work on them on Monday because I was doing some prep work for the live stream and tidying up my desk.
What I did do was run a live stream in which I built a few of the Sisters models and tested the streaming setup, which you can see below.
So what does my painting queue look like now?
Death Korps of Krieg Autocannon Teams x 3
Death Guard Chaos Spawn x 2
Stormcast Eternals Evocators x 5
Space Wolves Blood Claws x 15 & Space Wolves Captain
Millitarium Tempestus Tempestor Prime, Command Squad and Valkyries
I don’t know why I left it so long to read Gaunt’s Ghosts as I am quite enjoying them.
I am almost finished listening to Devastation of Baal by Guy Haley and should hopefully be finished with it tomorrow, it’s quite good so far.
What I Am Playing
Noting has been played this week, me and a Lindsay were gonna play Pandemic Hot Zone North America on Sunday but she watched Frozen 2 and fell asleep instead.
What I Am Backing
Fiasco arrived, which is nice, looking forward to trying this out when Megan returns.
And I have backed my 100th project in the form of Alhambra Roll and Write! I know it’s Queen Games so it will be subject to terrible communication, and huge delays, but I love Alhambra.
What I Am Cooking
Not much but I did make an omelette for breakfast on Sunday for myself and Lindsay, filled with cheese and mushrooms!
As mentioned in the painting section I bought the Zone Mortalis Floor Tiles along with some Thermic Plasma Regulators and some Typhus Corrosion from The Outpost.
I also bought a couple of cans of Grey Seer Spray from Battle Bunker which I need for my Nighthaunt, my Zone Mortalis Walls and my Age of Sigmar scenery, plus two pots of Mournfang Brown, a pot of Iron Warriors and some Iron Hands Steel Air.
I also mopped into Battle Bunker on Sunday when me and Lindsay took a drive to get out the house, I meant only to pick up a dry brush, but ended up buying a pot of Tau Light Ochre Air, XV88 Air and a mug in addition to the drybrush.
So in two weeks I will be painting for 24 hours solid to raise money for The Willow Foundation.
You can donate here, and what I am going to do is run a little raffle for this with some stuff I have lying around unused, so lets see what you can potentially win!
To enter, just donate via Just Giving, and every pound you donate gets you one entry.
I will be doing regular draws throughout the stream, depending on how the fundraising goes I may set goals, but the Adeptus Titanicus Titan Battlegroup will be the grand prize and will be drawn only if we reach my fundraising goal and it will be the very last thing done on stream at 10:00 on the 19th July.
This painting challenge will see me attempt to paint up the Adepta Sororitas Sisters of Battle Army Box Set, which is 25 models.
I will be livestreaming via Edge of Empire on the podcasts Twitch and YouTube feeds, plus my own personal Facebook page too.
Next week I will be experimenting with the live stream set up as I build the models.
This will be a challenge and tomorrow I will be putting up a rough schedule to try and see if I can convince some of you to join me on the stream to keep me company!
