Welcome To The Mortal Realms

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On 13th January 2020

In Blog

As many of you know, I have been eagerly collecting the Warhammer 40,000 Conquest series, which has really helped me grow my Death Guard and the Blood Angels army I share with Megan, as well as help me cheaply add certain units to my Blood Ravens.

Well Hachette have brought us a version for Age of Sigmar, which is Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Mortal Realms and it was released to shops this week.

The first issue is £2.99, and is superb value, it comes with a set of Easy To Build Sequitors, and an Easy to Build Chainrasp Horde, these normally retail at a combined value of £35, so the saving is unreal.

I know I wanted a big horde of Chainrasps and when the trial was on in the summer, I bought 6 copies then, and then planned to get another two when it launched nationally.

Well I got convinced that actually a really cool number to run some amazing games would be 120 of them instead of 80, so I may have been convinced to buy a few more than planned, which means a big painting job awaits me, but I have been slotting in a few hordes into my long term painting plans.

There is also a premium subscription for £2 extra a week and to be frank, the saving on that is utterly unreal, you get four deliveries of models, one for an army from each of the grand alliances, and you end up saving over 50% compared to retail, so obviously I have gone premium!

Conquest has got only a couple of deliveries left so this is replacing that in my budget, and I am looking forward to building a really cool Nighthaunt army and supplementing my Stormcast, but any Stormcast I already have will be going to Lindsay who is starting Astral Templar’s.

What I Am Modelling

I haven’t done very much this week, due to illness but I did get a couple of things done.

I started by finishing Ylthari’s Guardians, which were a lot of fun to paint.

And I then painted up the Vanguard Infiltrators from Shadowspear, which means all I need to do now from that box set are the Librarian and the Captain.

So how does this leave my painting schedule looking like

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers and Hades Breaching Drill
  2. Ultramarines Heavy Support Squad with Volkite Culverins
  3. Millitarium Tempestus Scions and Taurox Prime
  4. Plague Marines and Plague Marine Champion
  5. Death Korps of Krieg Cetaur Lights
  6. Blood Ravens Reivers
  7. Blood Ravens Librarians
  8. Death Korps of Krieg Quartermaster and Retinue
  9. The Three Hunters
  10. Death Guard Heavy Support Squad with Autocannons

I have got the next four things built and primed and only three remain to be built and primed in total.

What I Am Reading

Still making my way through Requiem Infernal which I am enjoying a lot, but not reading as much as I would like to.

I have listened to a couple of audiobooks though, I listened first to Hammerhal from Hammerhal and Other Stories, followed by Sacrosanct from Sacrosanct and Other Stories.

And last night I started on Soul Wars, which so far is very entertaining.

What I Am Playing

Other than a little Mario Kart I haven’t played anything this week 🙁

What I Am Backing

Not backing anything right now, but Isle of Cats turned up, which looks really good and is even Jenny approved!

What I Am Cooking

Absolutely nowt, I have just been way too ill 🙁

What I Am Spending

I did manage to find the Nighthaunt warscroll cards at Travelling Man, which I was really happy about, and I will be making heavy use of these when I get my Nighthaunt up and running.

The Witcher – Wow!

By

On 6th January 2020

In Blog

It’s taken me a little while to watch The Witcher I would have loved to have binged it, but I find it very difficult to sit down and just watch TV for ages like I used to.

It’s utterly amazing, frankly it’s as good as the early seasons of Game of Thrones, absolutely amazing with extremely high production values, and the cast is bloody amazing.

The timeline takes a bit of getting used to, but I love how this first season has focused on the early short stories before getting stuck into the meat and bones of the novels.

You really get to understand more about the characters, what motivates them and where they came from.

I absolutely cannot wait to see the next season and I am pleased to be vindicated in my faith in Henry Cavill as a choice for Geralt.

What I Am Painting

Again this post comes after short gap since my last post, but may I have kept myself busy.

I started 2020 with a squad of Death Korps of Krieg Infantrymen, weirdly enough there were 11 of them, plus I also did their Quartermaster at the same time.

I then managed to quite quickly knock out my second Plagueburst Crawler that I got from Warhammer 40,000 Conquest.

And whilst working on Episode 0 of our fourth year of Edge of Empire I painted up these Primaris Suppressors for my Blood Ravens.

Mollog’s Mob finally got finished off after I managed to get some paints that I needed and I am very happy with these.

I got an Army of the Dead Banner Bearer from my in-laws at Christmas, and because my paint scheme for them is so very simple, I decided to paint them alongside Mollog’s Mob and some other stuff, and I am quite happy with how he turned out.

And on Sunday morning I finished up the last Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad for Niki, which brings phase one of the Death Korps of Krieg project to and end.

And now I am ready to start the next phase which will start with a squad of Engineers and a Hades Breaching Drill, but I need to build them.

I then picked up the Rhinos for the Death Guard and got them painted up fairly quickly, the scheme is super simple so they took very little time to paint.

Now I am working on Ylthari’s Guardians, and next will be picking up the Infiltrators from Shadowspear which will be joining the Blood Ravens.

So how does this leave my painting plan well right now it looks like this.

  1. Ylthari’s Guardians
  2. Blood Ravens Infiltrators
  3. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers and Hades Breaching Drill
  4. Ultramarines Heavy Support Squad with Volkite Culverins
  5. Millitarium Tempestus Scions and Taurox Prime
  6. Plague Marines and Plague Marine Champion
  7. Death Korps of Krieg Centaur Lights
  8. Blood Ravens Reivers
  9. Blood Ravens Librarians
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Quartermaster and Retinue

What I Am Reading

I have been reading a couple of chapters of Requiem Infernal where I can, but I haven’t read as much as I would have liked.

I have been listening to audio dramas I paint, I managed to finish the Hunt for Nagash series, so that’s Sands of Blood, The Lords of Helstone and Bridge of Seven Sorrows.

I enjoyed this series but there was rather a lot of repetition of certain turns of words and phrasing between the stories that was a bit annoying, but the stories were great.

I then listened to The Knights of Vengeance series so that was The Beasts of Cartha, Fist of Mork, Fist of Gork, Great Red and Only The Faithful.

I found this series to be a bit better than Hunt for Nagash, they were a little bit more varied, and the alliance between the Ironjawz and Hallowed Knights was pretty cool.

What I Am Playing

Tabletop wise, I played a single game of Holiday Fluxx, before it gets packed away until next Christmas, and unusually, I won!

Video game wise I have mostly been playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch, which is a lot of fun!

I am working my way through the 50cc Cups and plan on moving up to the next level soon.

What I Am Backing

Still just Car Wars Sixth Edition which is in its last 48 hours now and so far what has been unlocked is incredible, my pledge currently includes:

  • Core Game with 12 Minis
  • Miniatures Set 1 with 5 Minis
  • Miniatures Set 3 with 5 Minis
  • Playmat 1
  • Playmat 3
  • Dice Bag
  • Uncle Al’s Upgrade Pack
  • Armoury Pack
  • Road Tiles
  • Dropped Weapons Pack
  • Crew Pack
  • Linked Weapons Pack

That’s an absolute ton of stuff for my Black Friday $139 pledge!

And if we get to $650,000 then a future Kickstarter to add motorbikes will be run, no sign of Boat Wars however 🙁

What I Am Cooking

This morning I helped to make a breakfast pizza which was nice, but the sausages were a bit too well done for my taste.

And this evening I helped Megan and Lindsay make a roast dinner, I was responsible for potatoes, and they didn’t turn out ok badly at all.

What I Am Spending

I bought a bunch of 32mm bases for rebasing some models, my resolutions have me rebasing my Orks and my Blood Ravens Tactical Squads.

I’d like to do the Space Wolves as well at some point but my lack of motivation to do anything with that army is holding me back.

New Year, New Goals

By

On 1st January 2020

In Blog

So this year I set out doing the #Painthammer2019 hobby log with the aim of painting a mode for every day of the year.

I ended up painting 866 models in 2019, and you can see my completed log here so I have decided that I want to beat that next year and paint at least 867 models in 2020.

Plus I have a few other goals I wish to hit as well.

  • Paint 867 models in total
  • Finish the Blood Ravens that I own on 1st January 2020
  • Finish the Death Guard
  • Paint Mortarion for Everchosen
  • Complete 1750pts worth of T’au
  • Complete 1750pts worth of Orks
  • Complete 2000pts of Stormcast Eternals
  • Rebase Blood Ravens Tacticals
  • Rebase Orks
  • Enter Armies on Parade

So this requires a wider range of painting focus than I normally do, because I want to complete a few projects that have been sitting around for ages.

I know normally people want to do the whole improve yourself resolutions but I tend to find I fail them, so focusing on hobby goals instead.

Geekmas was good, we opened the Switch and we bought Carcassonne, Catan, Pandemic, Final Fantasy IX and UNO for it.

Megan bought me a Folded Space insert for 7 Wonders, a Mechanicum t-shirt, and a paint pot holder so I was happy with those.

What I Am Painting

It’s only been a few days since my last blog post so I haven’t gotten much done, I did complete the Foetid Bloat-Drones, and Mollog’s Mob is coming along fine but I won’t get them finished for a little while as I need Carroberg Crimson and I am out of that.

So I have moved a couple of things around on my painting schedule to keep things fresh, so here it is right now.

  1. Mollog’s Mob
  2. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad and Quatermaster
  3. Plagueburst Crawler
  4. Blood Ravens Supressors
  5. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  6. Ylthari’s Guardians
  7. Death Guard Rhinos
  8. Blood Ravens Infiltrators
  9. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers and Hades Breaching Drill
  10. Ultramarines Volkite Culverin Heavy Support Squad

Obviously I have lots of things to add and move around, so that’s gonna be something that filters through in the next few weeks.

What I Am Reading

Sad to say I haven’t read anything this week 🙁

I did however listen to Prisoner of the Black Sun, now that I am out of main Realmgate Wars stories, which was enjoyable and have now just started Sands of Blood.

What I Am Playing

I age played a bit these past few days, we played two games of Maki Stack which Megan gotten Lindsay for Christmas.

We then introduced Paul to Just One followed by a game of Carcassonne on the Switch.

We also played a first game of Island of a Thousand Cats which I won, and it was very fun, although Megan was very unsure about the whole game.

And finally yesterday morning we played Stuffed Fables, and personally I didn’t have a good time playing it, but I think that was largely due to the amount of downtime because Lindsay and Megan spent a lot of time reading and rereading rules.

I also went to the Durham Raiders Long Gaming Day and played two games of Zone Mortalis, one with my Custodes that I painted up for the Adeptus Terra challenge, and they were really really really good in that game.

The second game was with my Death Guard, in which is used my Grave Wardens for the first time, and they were really quite good, the toxin grenades are very powerful.

And finally we played an Age of Darkness game of 3000pts a side.

What I Am Backing

Still just Car Wars Sixth Edition, but that is really knocking down stretch goals right now!

What I Am Cooking

Not a thing in the past few days.

What I Am Spending

I bought myself The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition on XBox for £10.39 which was brilliant, I had been considering getting it for Switch, but on that it was £49.99 so yeah, no question really as to what platform to get it on.

A Nice Christmas Was Had

By

On 29th December 2019

In Blog

Well this post is basically about Christmas, and it was nice, not the best one ever, but a really good one.

And like all Christmas’s, it’s real downer was no Megan, and it second downer was I got ill on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Christmas Eve was popping to Greggs for stotties, then hitting Sainsbury’s for Dream Topping for the triffle and finally a visit to see a nephew for his birthday.

On the day itself, me and Lindsay went and saw some of our nephews first thing to give them their presents and that was hectic, I mean it was crazy, the middle childa face was just pure sticky with sweets!

Then we headed back to ours to make Christmas dinner, which this year was turkey, gammon cooked with whiskey and orange, roast potatoes, roast spiced winter veg (parsnips, leeks, carrots, onion) and for those that liked it, red cabbage with sultanas cooked in red wine, and Brussel sprouts fried with roast chestnuts and a touch of nutmeg.

We were joined for dinner by Paul and Mary who made for lively company, and then we opened presents.

I was lucky enough to get Horrified from my BGT&CUK Secret Santa, Sloppity Bilepiper and Shazam from Lindsay, a Slytherin travel mug and water bottle from Mary and a sack of stuff from Paul, oh and the obligatory Lynx Africa set.

I’d previously gotten The Grizzled and Sushi Go Party from my Board Game Geek Secret Santa.

I then had a two hour nap to try and feel better, which worked enough to allow me to play a game of Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary, which I was one train laid away from winning!

The Lindsay went to her grandads whilst I continued to recover and this was my Boxing Day as well, I was simply too ill to do anything but lie down at home.

Anyway the next few days I was much better, not that much happened, Lindsay went back to work on Friday and Megan came home Saturday.

Sunday I have the long gaming day at Durham Raiders and then we open our presents with Megan in Monday.

What I Am Modelling

I started off with the Blood Ravens Primaris Lieutenants of which I had six to paint, one from Dark Imperium, one from Wake The Dead, one from Shadowspear, the 500th Store one, the Reiver one and Lieutenant Amulius.

Then I painted up the Contemptor-Galatius for my Legio Custodes which completes my 1000 point force for Zone Mortalis.

Then I painted an Officio Prefectus Commissar and Severina Raine for my Millitarium Tempestus.

And finally whilst doing those I also worked on three commissars for Niki’s Death Korps of Krieg army.

I now have Mollog’s Mob and a couple of Foetid Bloat-Drones on my desk, after those are finished, my painting plan looks like this.

  1. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad and Quartermaster
  2. Ylthari’s Guardians
  3. Plagueburst Crawler
  4. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  5. Blood a Ravens Supressors
  6. Death Guard Rhinos
  7. Blood Ravens Infiltrators
  8. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers and Hades Breaching Drill
  9. Ultramarines Vollite Culverin Heavy Support Squad
  10. Millitarium Tempestus Scions and Taurox Prime

What I Am Reading

Haven’t read much these past few days, bar White Dwarf.

I have listened to a few audios however, I bought and listened to Morningstar, which was good, but I wasn’t quite sure what the story was about apart from Magnus admitting to wrong doing, it was good just not sure what the intent was.

I listened to Wardens of the Everqueen, and I will be honest, it wasn’t great, it felt like they didn’t let the author read the previous stories in this arc, and there were lots of inconsistencies, such as dead characters being alive again, and it felt like this could have been done in a novella instead of a novel.

Plus it dropped too many things and then didn’t explore them, like the Seraphon, I mean they apparently did something, we just don’t know what.

What I Am Playing

I had the aforementioned game of Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary and a few hours on Fallout 4, but not a lot really.

What I Am Backing

Still just Car Wars Sixth Edition which continues to knock down stretch goals, currently it’s doing ok, we are getting an extra play mat now and lots more cards.

What I Am Cooking

Well I actually helped a lot with Christmas dinner, I mean I prepared most of it, but Lindsay helped a lot.

It was a big job and very scary and I think I am done with cooking for a little bit now because that was terrifying.

I also helped Lindsay cook dirty rice when Megan got home for tea.

What I Am Spending

Pretty much nowt, as a household, we added £25 to our Nintendo e-store account, so that when we open the Switch in Monday we have money to download some games we want.

I did manage to get to Games Workshop on Christmas Eve so I was able to grab the couple of paints I needed for the Death Korps of Krieg.

Musical Advent – 24th December

By

On 24th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

Today we go back to the They Might Be Giants album Here Comes Science and to my academic love, chemistry.

When I was at university I was studied for an MChem degree in Chemistry because its a subject I love, the way the material universe works and how everything fits together, and as the song says, how the elements are almost like a paint set, with them standing on their own or combining to make all the colours of the rainbow.

My specialism were food chemistry and nuclear chemistry, which were really fascinating subjects, I was lucky to have a visit from Lord Krebs whilst I was there, at the time he was the chair of the Food Standards Agency, and once everyone had stopped Stanning over his dad, his lecture mostly focused on potatoes, and how if they were brought to market today, they would be banned, because when they go off, they become extremely toxic, poisonous in face.

So any song which does chemistry will always grab my attention, and I really love this song, its so easy to sing along to!

Looking Forward To Christmas

By

On 24th December 2019

In Blog

I am really looking forward to Christmas, but then I always do, I am even wearing a Christmas jumper, albeit a Warhammer themed one!

Over the next few days, we are seeing Lindsay’s family, specifically Jane and her boys and George, we are having Mary and Paul over for Christmas dinner, Megan comes home so we get our Nintendo Switch and I go to the Durham Raiders long gaming day.

I did see Star Wars on Thursday morning, a 6am showing, with nachos and popcorn for breakfast, I enjoyed it, a lot, and I have thoughts on it, but to avoid spoilers I will talk about them next month, but I will say if you can, watch The Mandalorian Episode 7 first.

All in all it should be a good holiday season.

Happy Christmas everyone.

What I Am Modelling

I had a slower painting week than I would have liked, but I did get some stuff done.

I started with a Custodian Guard squad for the Adeptus Terra Zone Mortalis Challange.

And then I finished off the Godsworn Hunt, models which I really loved painting, if GW ever do more Darkoath Models, I think I will have to get them!

And then I painted the Plague Marines and Icon Bearers for my Death Guard that I got from Warhammer 40,000 Conquest.

And finally I painted the Imperial Objectives that originally came with Urban Conquest, but I got with Warhammer 40,000 Conquest.

I got this months Conquest delivery early, so I built the Haemotrope Reactor and the Plague Marine Champion. 

My painting queue currently looks like this, the Death Korps stuff has had to move back a little, I need a pot of Rakkarth Flesh and I am not getting anywhere near a Games Workshop until at least Boxing Day.Blood Ravens

  1. Blood Ravens Primaris Lieutenants
  2. Foetid Bloat-Drones
  3. Death Korps of Krieg Commissars, Quatermaster, Officio Prefectus Commissar and Severina Raine
  4. Mollog’s Mob
  5. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  6. Legio Custodes Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought
  7. Ylthari’s Guardians
  8. Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad
  9. Plagueburst Crawler
  10. Blood Reavens Supressors

What I Am Reading

I am really bad and haven’t read at all this week, but I did listen to Broken Saints which was really good, I love this character and the acting in this was phenomenal.

What I Am Playing

I had a few hours playing Fallout 4, but nowt beyond that sadly.

What I Am Backing

My Munchkin Pathfinder 3 stuff arrived from the US, hopefully Steve Jackson Games will start offering rewards outside the US, I know I could have waited and gotten these at retail, but I really wanted the to be made and hit the stretch goals.

Other than that, still backing Car Wars Sixth Edition which is plodding along nicely

What I Am Cooking

I actually cooked, well it was kinda basic, I did some sausages in the oven, then added them to some microwave egg fried rice and some mushrooms, not gourmet but was filling.

I am currently roasting the meat for Christmas, but this is pre-prepared ready to roast stuff so not very taxing.

What I am Spending

I topped up my paints, although I still need a couple more and I treat myself to a new paint brush.

I also bought a £15 card for the Nintendo online store, which I will be using to get Catan when we set up our Switch.

Musical Advent – 23rd December

By

On 23rd December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

Its time for some metal, in this case we are going with DragonForce a speed metal band from London who specialise in fantasy and video game influenced music.

This song is probably their best known song and was featured on Guitar Hero III, and is a really difficult song to so in that game, its really really hard.

Interestingly during the recording Herman Li snapped one of his guitar strings during the recording of the dual-guitar solo, and they kept this version and used it on the album.

Through the Fire and Flames is an epic 7 minutes and 22 second song, although the official video cuts that down to 5 minutes, but I highly recondite listening to the full song because its fantastic, and its an amazing D&D anthem.

Musical Advent – 22nd December

By

On 22nd December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

Almost there and now we have the grandfather of nerdcore, MC Frontalot and many consider him to be the first nerdcore artist, but he acknowledges that others came before him and that they are his peers.

He has been performing nerdcore since 2000 and has seen the scene grow into the niche of a niche of a niche that it is today.

In 2002 Penny Arcade names him their rapper laureate which lead him to record the Penny Arcade Theme.

This song, is a collaboration between MC Frontalot, MC Hawking and Jessie Dangerously and is from his debut studio album Nerdcore Rising.

This song is about how awesome nerdcore is and what a threat it poses to gangsta rap!

Musical Advent – 21st December

By

On 21st December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

This band are reputed to have coined the phrases nerdcore and nerd rock, and I love them.

Named for the insult thrown at Han Solo by Princess Leia, Nerf Herder have been rocking since the mid-90s and are highly linked with Buffy The Vampire Slayer, having written the theme tune and were the last band to appear on the show at The Bronze.

This song is from their album American Cheese and is just perfect for Trekkies, with lots of imagery from Star Trek with some specifically taken from Arena.

It’s a great song and you really will love it, it’s also been amazingly covered by Meri Amber acoustically.

Musical Advent – 20th December

By

On 20th December 2019

In Blog, Nerdy Music Advent

Garfunkel and Oates are a comedy folk duo consisting of Riki Lindhome who you might know from The Muppets and Kate Micucci who you will know from Steven Universe, Scrubs and DuckTales.

They had their own show back in 2014 which ran for 8 episodes and they are known for putting out some brilliant and occasionally risque songs.

The song of theirs that I have chosen is Such a Loser and its a brilliant song, which highlights my personal philosophy in life, you are better off for trying that not.

Its from the album Secretions which is absolutely brilliant and hilarious, they also did a special on Netflix a few years ago, called Trying to be Special so go check that out.

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