Tag: Blood Angels Page 1 of 2

UK Games Expo 2024

By

On 13th June 2024

In Blog

I spent the other week at the UK Games Expo as a volunteer on IT and it was a knackering but amazing few days.

I really enjoyed it and I will absolutely being doing it again next year if they will have me, but I do have to be more realistic about my physical abilities and perhaps I need a job with more sitting down.

My journey to Birmingham was pretty bad, we got continually stuck in traffic, including being in the middle of a bunch of cars headed to a funeral that were following a marching band.

And finally the bus broke down as we left Manchester, and we had to wait over an hour for a replacement, so all in all it was a typical MegaBus journey!

I didn’t get to play many games, but the one that stood out to me was Samurai, but its long out of print, so I will be buying Pollen instead which is in print, if a little expensive.

There were a few cool things that peaked my interest, the DRPA Case and other stuff from Tabletop Tech, the amazing Colour Forge, TT Combat and their Strike Team Commander, Catalyst had Battletech which had me all nostalgic, and Gamer Grass had some amazing stuff as well.

Next year I need to take more notes to give a fuller report!

What I Am Modelling

On my return I hit the Chaos Space Marine Legionnaires of the True Sons

Alongside a Dark Apostle and friends

Plus an Aspiring Champion

After that a Branchwych

And then I painted a couple of units of Tree-Revenants

Plus I got Captain Karlaen of the Blood Angels finished

I am currently working on some Von Ryan’s Leapers for the Tyranids!

So what’s next?

  1. Imperial Fists Vindicator
  2. Von Ryan’s Leapers x 3
  3. Krondys
  4. Deathwing Terminators x 5, Deathwing Ancient & Bladeguard Lieutenant
  5. Soresplatta Fanatics x 12
  6. Havocs x 5
  7. Paragon Warsuits with Heavy Bolters x 3
  8. Spirit of Durthu
  9. Sisters of Silence x 10
  10. Blade Champion

What I Am Reading

I listened to Arrangements for War by Paul Sutton which was very good, but the ending was really heart breaking!

Now I am listening to Catachan Devil by Justin Woolley, which good, nice insight to the mind of Ork Kommandos

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I got a couple of games of 40K in at the weekend, playing both Dale and Craig in the 40K league, and if I don’t win the wooden spoon I will be peeved!!!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Bit of this and that, mostly God of War, Sonic Origins and I started Death Stranding.

What I Am Backing

I have backed The Colour Forge Signature Series, pretty sure I want the Reliquary Red by Hellstorm Gaming!

What I Am Spending

From UK Games Expo, I bought

Escape from San Canciano for Carnevale

A new cutting mat, clippers, knife, tape measure plus the Fresh Corrosion and Old Rust paints

I was sold a bottle of Sir Coates Steel, as well as the Sir Coates Models from the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy

I got some Army Painter Fanatic paints and my first Speedpaint 2.0

The Colour Forge gave me a mini Dry Brush Palette

And finally from the UK Games Expo, a Apothecary Biologis and a Bladeguard Lt for my Dark Angels!

We also pulled the trigger and paid for a Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra.

I had been set for the Saturn 4, but damn the reviews and even Megan, just were clear on how much better the Ultra was over the standard model.

So now just to wait for the postman to deliver it!

It was Humble Choice, so I bagged the following!

And to add to that I also bought

Not so much mine, but Lindsay did get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bundle from Humble Bundle, which I will be reading plenty of!

Off To UK Games Expo

By

On 29th May 2024

In Blog

Posting this weeks post early because today I am off to the UK Games Expo, an event I love to do.

This year, as my Asmodee contract ended, I am volunteering directly with the Expo itself, my job is being split between IT and the Bring and Buy.

Most of my time will be spent setting up the IT equipment to run the expo and a few hours spent helping in the Bring and Buy.

I am going by Megabus from Middlesbrough to Birmingham via Manchester!

Firstly Lindsay took me to ASDA for lunch, would have preferred Tesco, but they don’t go back to normal hours until Monday, but I grabbed a wrap and energy drink, plus a bottle of coke for the coach, and then we drove to Boro where I hopped on to the bus and here we are.

The Megabus is certainly better than I remember, more legroom and even a plug socket for my Steam Deck, not that it worked, but the thought counts right!

What I Am Modelling

I started out with some Blood Angels, painting first a Terminator Captain

Here is a Drop Pod for the scions of Baal

And as a diversion a Dark Angels Lieutenant

A Captain in Gravis Armour

As well as a Lieutenant with Auto Bolt Rifle and one with a Power Sword

And a Captain in Catapractii Terminator Armour

The I painted two sets of Easy to Build Reviers, which gave us a full squads worth of them

And finally a pair of Primaris Captains as well

I still have Captain Karlaen on the desk, but he is about 50% done

So once back from Expo, what awaits me?

  1. Captain Karlaen
  2. Tree Revenants x 10 & Branchwych
  3. Chaos Space Marines x 10 & Dark Apostle
  4. Imperial Fists Vindicator
  5. Von Ryan’s Leapers x 3
  6. Krondys
  7. Dark Angles Terminators x 5 & Terminator Ancient
  8. Sporesplatta Fanatics x 10
  9. Chaos Havocs x 5
  10. Paragon Waitsuits with Heavy Bolters x 3

What I am Reading

I finished The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath and it was so much fun, really awesome story that also shows off the horror of the C’Tan!

I also listened to Arrangements for War by Paul Sutton, but I will have to finish it on the bus.

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not a lot really, been busy getting sorted to go to Expo, and finishing these Blood Angels.

But I had a bit of time in God of War and been doing the fleet stuff in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

What I Am Creating

The latest episode of Edge of Empire has dropped!

And the latest Battle Report is out, this time with Dark Angels (as played by Megan vs the Deamons of Khorne!

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a new battery bank, this one will work brilliantly for the Steam Deck and allows me to only use USB-C for all my charging needs now

And I also got myself a few things from Elements games, some paints, brushes and a T’au Commander and a Custodes Blade Champion for the Combat Patrols

With the Ghost of Tsushima win last week, I was able to trade in my PS5 copy to CEX for £26 and pay £9 to get a copy of God of War Ragnarok for PS5

And Lindsay, the minx plus Megan the badger, were able to grab me a copy of Stormbringer 67 with Vanquihers in it!

I also bought Dave The Diver for Steam and was given a key for Crash Time III.

Grifters & Gamergate 2.0

By

On 24th April 2024

In Blog

Gamergate was an utter debacle; it was horrific, disgusting, and merely an excuse to abuse and harass women and minorities in the gaming industry.

It was never about ethics in gaming journalism. If you believe it was, you’re seriously mistaken and need to reconsider, basically take several seats.

At its core, it was a jilted ex-boyfriend’s revenge plot that spiralled out of control.

Following events like Race Fail and the Sad/Rabid Puppies controversies, it was a dreadful time for enthusiasts like me. All my passions, including gaming, sci-fi, and fantasy literature, felt under attack by far-right zealots.

It took me years to regain my enthusiasm for gaming as my love for it waned alongside my interest in literature.

Now, there are opportunists attempting to ignite a new Gamergate to make themselves relevant again or simply to stir up anger for profit. I refuse to let this happen again.

Take Mark Kern, for example, a once-prominent figure now irrelevant since being ousted from his company in 2013 due to his egregious behaviour.

And it’s disheartening to see creators I once admired, like Lady Decade, getting involved, which really stings.

Yet they persist, desperately seeking to spark a new “scandal”. Their efforts with Sweet Baby, who actually advised for widely praised changes in games, have failed.

They’ve targeted Stellar Blade, lauding it as “Game of the Year” material solely for its characters tits and arse and ‘jiggle physics’, blatantly ignoring the story and gameplay, they never mention that at all, so I have no idea if the game is actually any good.

Now, they’re criticising a tabletop RPG adaptation of Tomb Raider because it focuses on uncovering historical truths rather than grave-robbing. Clearly, they’ve never engaged with the Survivor Trilogy, which explores similar themes.

Furthermore, there’s constant griping about the portrayal of women in games, claiming they all should look like porn stars with heavy makeup.

Take Aloy, for example; they call her ugly when in fact, she’s stunning and lives in a post-apocalyptic world devoid of beauty salons. And Mary Jane in Spider-Man is portrayed beautifully in a realistic way.

So, if you see me confronting these chuds, know that I’m not backing down this time. This is my hobby, and these ignoramuses need to understand it’s not just a space for cis-het white men!

What I Am Modelling

Started the week with some Tyranids, specifically the Neurolictor

Then the Neurotyrant and its Neuroloids

As well as rebasing my Lictor on to the new 50mm base size

I then painted some Thermic Plasma Regilatoes for Zone Mortalis

And a Haemotrope Reactor too

After that I worked on some Wulfen for my Space Wolves

After that I turned to the Flesh Eater Courts and painted the Royal Beastflayers

Then a couple of Teleport Homers for the Blood Angels

And a squad of Seraphim for my Sister of Battle

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Aa20RI99h/?igsh=OHk4aDU2YW00czY=

The Boarding Actions Terrain was finished up as well. This stuff is going to be used for my Zone Mortalis table mostly, the idea being it’s going to be the neglected and horrible service corridors of my hive

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5_H27rNeyy/?igsh=MXZjb2g5c3ZpdTFrZw==

I still want to add the marketplace stuff, a gang stronghold and some promethium containers, perhaps another set of shipping containers, but for now, I am quite happy with this!

And these Dark Angels Aggressors were finished as well!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6C9y6qI-dA

So what’s next?

  1. Sisters Repentia x 4
  2. Hobgrot Slittaz x 10
  3. Drycha Hamadreth
  4. Sneaky Snufflers x 12
  5. Lasrifle Section c 20
  6. Arco-Flaggents
  7. Dark Angels Intercessors x 10
  8. Space Wolves Infiltrators x 10 and Battle Leader in Phobos Armour
  9. Paychophage
  10. Mega Boss on a Maw-Krusha

What I Am Reading To

I listened to Mort by Terry Pratchett my first of the new Discworld audiobooks, a real classic story and a hell of an update with a stellar cast!

I weirdly find it far easier to listen to the Discworld books than read them, dunno what it is, but the structure just seems to work better in audio, for myself that is!

Then I moved onto The Natural History of Fear by Jim Mortimer which was fairly interesting, but depressing, but a really cool twist at the end!

I have now started on Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward and am almost through it!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played Alex and his Tyranids in the 40K League on Thursday

https://www.instagram.com/p/C58zbCNNUk8/?igsh=MTN1Zm4yanMxZ2R1Mw==

The game went ok until it started and then my army was dismembered, I did ok on objectives, but it was a solid loss

Then on Friday I played Edward and his Aeldari, also for the league

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5_KInENPnH/?igsh=MWFkNnN3N285cGd6cw==

And that was a game in which we both thought I would be tabled by turn 3, but I managed to keep it going and survived the whole game, still a major loss!

Think I am gonna win the leagues wooden spoon!!!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not much this week, Megan is anxiously waiting on something so I have leant them my Steam Deck to help distract them, they are mostly using it to play Disney Dreamlight Valley, on my Xbox profile I might add!

But I did play some Boltgun

What I Am Creating

We published a new episode of Edge of Empire, this one was a Solar Auxilia special!

What I Am Spending

Not really anything this week, I grabbed a HDD caddy to add a further 2TB for the PLEX server

From a mystery bundle on Fanatical, I got Internet Cafe Simulator 2 and GRIP, and also purchased Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition.

I also bought the Train Sim 4: Top Up Your Timetable bundle from Humble Bundle, which scored me

  • West Somerset Railway Route Add-On
  • Southern BR Class 313 EMU Add-On
  • Hamilton – Oakville Add-On
  • Hagen – Finnentrop Route Add-On
  • Duisburg – Bochum Route Add-On
  • Aschaffenberg – Gemunden Route Add-On
  • Marseille – Avignon Route Add-On
  • Boston – Providence Route Add-On
  • Brighton – Eastbourne & Seaford Route Add-On
  • Mainz – Koblenz Route Add-On
  • DB BR 101 Loco Add-On
  • Cheyenne – Laramie Route Add-On
  • DB BR 363 Loco Add-On
  • Ambergate – Chinley & Buxton Route Add-On

And my Saints Row IV key from a previous Humble Bundle finally landed in my account!

A Bit Bummed About The Stormcast

By

On 15th April 2024

In Blog

I love my Stormcast Eternals army, I mean its really fun to play with and I actually love the theme of the army, especially as I play Celestial Vindicators and their colour scheme is amazing.

My favourite chamber, is Sacrosanct and well, GW have announced that 80% of my army is being squatted, which is a real bummer.

Ok the old school Liberators look like they will be fine with the new rules, but so much of my army, seemingly isn’t going to have a Thunderstrike replacement, so yeah pretty bummed out.

It just is quite dishartneing that an army I put my heart and soul into, has lasted barly 6 years before being yeeted.

Its got me feeling really down about AoS 4.0, like I am probably gonna skip the launch box, cause honestly, I am not sure if I buy it, how long those models will be useable for.

I mean I get it, I have argued for a long time that the Stormcast range is bloated, but yeah, that was a pretty extreme solution.

So yeah, I just don’t know if I still have the passion for the game anymore, I just don’t know.

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by painting the Homunculus for my Drukhari army

After which I moved onto a batch of Blood Angels, starting with a Rhino for the Death Company

Then a few Chaplins, starting with one in Terminator Armour

Then a Primaris Chaplain

Followed by one in MKIV Armour

And finally one with a Jump Pack

After that I painted a squad of Death Company, although I left one in the storage box so I will need to get him and paint him to complete the squad

I also painted Saint Celestine and her Geminae Superia

And finally I painted the Expeditionary Navigator for my Solar Auxilia

So what’s up next

  1. Wulfen x 5
  2. Seraphim x 5
  3. Royal Beastflayers
  4. Sisters Repentia x 4
  5. Dark Angels Aggressors x 3
  6. Hobgrot Slittaz x 10
  7. Dryca Hamadreth
  8. Neurotyrant
  9. Sneaky Snuffles x 12
  10. Arco-Flaggents x 4

What I Am Reading

I listened to Grim Investigations and finished it this month!

And now I have started on Terry Pratchett’s Mort!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Had a game of Horus Heresy with Russel on Friday night, we played Strike and Fade, and I lost 7-3, could have gotten a draw but alas my Terminators just failed to get to the objective in the last turn!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Got back to some Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

What I Am Backing

Our copy of the Firefly The Board Game 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition arrived last Friday and its amazingly huge and I love it!

Cannot wait to play it!

What I Am Spending

It was Humble Choice, so I grabbed that and got

I also bought myself Ghost of Tsushima for PS5, I have been hunting for it, at a reasonable price for a while, and it was on sale at the local Argos, so I leapt on it!

Next on my want list for PS5 is God of War Ragnarok

I also grabbed a couple of extra bottles for our Sodastream, cause ours always need washing and I figure a couple extra will be helpful

I also picked up the mat for my Zone Mortalis board, it’s a 4×4 Undehive Mat from Deep Cut Studios that I ordered from Entoyment

And I also bought these Grundstock Thunderers for my Kharadron Overlord force!

I picked up some Assault Intercessors from a trade on Facebook, no bases, but I have plenty spare

And a second Solar Auxilia Battlegroup was aquired

A Couple of Home Improvements

By

On 30th November 2023

In Blog

Not much this week, but I have made a couple of changes to the house to make it more comfortable and easier to use.

The first, was to add a SKÅDIS pegboard, just like in the studio to the wall, to hold knives, and a few other bits and bobs using some bits that I had previously used on my studio board.

And Megan and Lindsay want more “display” space, so had me get the Soundbar mounted under the telly to free up the space on the TV unit for it.

What I Am Modelling

I started out with the Chaos Familiars from Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower

After which I painted a Vargulf Courtier for the Flesh Eater Courts

Then a Baal Predator for mine and Megans Blood Angels

Then made a start to the Gloomspite Gitz with a Loonboss

And Zarbag’s Gitz

So whats on the plan for next week?

  1. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
  2. Battle Sisters x 10
  3. Lilth Hesperax
  4. Ork Trukks x 2
  5. Putrid Blightkings x 5
  6. Shootas x 20
  7. Minka Lesk x 2
  8. Blood Ravens Sterngaurd Veterans x 5
  9. Imperial Fists Whirlwind Scorpius
  10. Hobgrot Slittaz x 10

What I Am Reading

I finished listening to The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath, which was a pretty good listen, and I hope they finish the story of the Gathering Storm and give us a novel of the Fracture of Biel-Tan and the Rise of the Primarch because they are so far poorly explored.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I haven’t, but I did receive my BoardGameGeek Secret Santa, which is Root!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I played through The Tyranny of King Washington, the DLC for Assassin’s Creed III

And I started on Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD too!

What I Am Creating

I got the latest episode of Edge of Empire puiblished!

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a couple cheap games in the Black Friday sales, I got Prey, Yakuza 5 & Yakuza 6, Catherine Classic, Doom 2, Doom 3, Two Point Hospital and A Memoir Blue.

Due to the insulation work, we had to swap out a bookcase we had when we moved for a narrower one, so we went to IKEA and picked up a narrow Billy to store some of our board games.

I also got a couple of issues of Stormbringer part 40 for the Treelords!

And I got the second issue as well!

A Big Bunch of Stuff

By

On 27th October 2023

In Blog

This is a big update, life has been a bit all over the place and its taken this long to sort out putting out a new blog post, sorry

My dad turned 60 earlier this month so we buggered off to Suffolk for a birthday meal, we were in the county for less than 24 hours which felt too brief as I was unable to get any quality time.

Would have liked to have spent more time with the nibblings, but it was nice nonetheless.

It was a Sunday dinner at the pub and I had lamb, cause I love lamb and so rarely get to have it.

I turned 41 as well, which was fine, but my birthday plans failed and it’s left me somewhat deflated.

I am on the verge of giving up any attempt at celebrating it from now.

I did get a pair of AirPod Pros for my birthday, mostly cause I needed the ANC

This weekend I went to Stirling for a Horus Heresy event runs by some friends of ours, an event with lots of Conpany of Legends DNA, which is really cool cause we never get to play in our own event!

That’s not me saying they ripped us off, we love that they have taken our concept and turned it into their own thing, it’s absolutely brilliant, although we did provide them with Chris’s scoring/pairing spreadsheet.

I am gonna put up a vide with my list next week.

It’s been a really fun event, my first game was against Matts Whit Scars, a beautiful army that I was able to really push and give it a hard time.

The game went rather well for me, I did lose in the end, but it largely came down to a mixture of great tactics by Matt, poor decision making on my part and of course rolling double 1s on Plasma Pistol Chainfire on my Moritat resulting in him dying in his first turn out of the Rhino!

The second game on Saturday was against Chris’s Custodes, and yeah at 3.5k points, Custodes really get to shine as they can take a lot of the nicer toys that 3k kind of stops them taking

I got hammered in this game, my list just struggled to handle the sheer amount of 2+ Armour

Wonderful guy as well and a beautifully painted army, makes me want to get my Custodes out the box!

On Sunday I faced Mark and his Ultramarines, in a very challenging game, for a good part of the game, I was dominant on one flank, distracting him with stuff on the other, but once he had taken care of those units, he quickly wiped out my whole army!

And my final game was against Michael and his Space Wolves, a great army with a Thunderhawk, my first time facing one of those bad boys!

I did okay, but eventually folded and was tabled, a mix of poor choices on my part and great tactics on Michaels.

A great weekend and the lads put on an amazing event, really good, absolutely loved my time there.

Insullationgate

Not my name, but it seems apt, on my return Stirling, we were having some insulation work done by the landlord, the contractors said, it was all external, but when they arrived, we were told its actually all internal!

So we had a chaotic week, with every room in the house being torn apart, and it ended my #HobbyStreak 🙁

It is what it is, but we are only just getting the place back together, and it still needs painting.

In other news, I am back into therapy and mental health treatment, I need it, and the waiting period was awful.

Initially my medication has been adjusted as they build an idea on how to help sort me out.

What I Am Modelling

I started off painting some Blood Angels but got bored partway though so got painted up my Questoris Knight Styrix for House Taranis

Then I finished the Phobos Lieutenant for the Blood Angels

Followed by the Suppressors

And the a squad of Infiltrators

After that a Ballistus Dreadnought for the Blood Ravens

As a result of the insulation, I found a DOOM box of abandoned Warhammer projects and decided to finish as many of them as I could, starting with a resin Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun, who mostly just needed a few bits and bobs finishing

Then it was a Praetor for the Death Guard armed with a Thunder Hammer!

Then I finished up some Marines that Chris gave me ages ago to supplement my Word Bearers who needed a couple of Marines per Squad to allow me to take them as Tactical Squads instead of Veteran Squads and allow me to build some non Pride of the Legion lists

And then some Tyranid Warriors that I originally got with Deathstorm, a very very long time ago!

And finally I painted a squad of Assault Terminators for my Ultramarines from the DOOM box

So what’s up next?

  1. Ork Boyz x 10 & Nob
  2. Marshcrawlla Sluggoth
  3. Sororitas Dialogus
  4. Imperial Fists Rotor Cannon Squad x 10
  5. Death Guard Spartan
  6. Termagants with Devourers x 20
  7. Grots x 10 & Runtherd
  8. Chaos Familiars
  9. Loonboss & Zarbags Gitz
  10. Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10

What I Am Reading

I finished The Prisoner of Tartarus bu Richard Lee Byers, so expect a review of that soonish!

I also read The Devouring Void by Danie Ware, which was ok, the twist was kind of sudden which didn’t work for me, but otherwise was good.

Audiobook wise, I listened to Blood of the Emperor, and The Sandman by Simon A Forward, and I am currently listening to The Church and the Crown by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I got a game of Sone Mortalis in with Paul at Durham Raiders

I did ok, my list is suboptimal, Paul’s is much better and he played really well, very smart choice made by him.

But it was a close run thing!

And we also had a game of Alhambra, on my birthday which I did not win, of course Megan did.

But it was close!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have started on Assassin’s Creed III Remastered and been doing so on stream.

I also played and completed Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines, emulated using Retroarch, and I uploaded the playthrough to YouTube

Other than that, I finished Bayonetta.

And I am now playing through Spider-Man Remastered.

What I Am Creating

I did finally get round to making that Ork Skin video!

What I Am Spending

I bought this Neo Geo CD controller made by 8BitDo a month ago and it’s only just arrived, the best thing about, MICROSWITCHES!

So yeah 8BitDo got right what SNK couldn’t

I also had a couple of bits printed up for my controller board, some black hooks to hang cables and a shelf, to hold a few little bits.

I also finally bought a new monitor for the studio, I just really needed some more screen real-estate for editing Edge of Empire podcasts, cause the setup I had was a bit weird in composition.

Its a Cooler Master GA271 and is really good for the £130 I paid for it, and I mean, really good, far better than it has any right to be, with some HDR and FreeSync too.

Prepping for Rabbits

By

On 24th January 2023

In Blog

Megan spoke to me and Lindsay the other week about how she has been feeling since we moved, anyway long and short we are adopting a pair of rabbits!

Currently known as Harvey and Hudson, they are being renamed Perrigrin Took and Angron Eater of Cables!

So this past week and a bit has been taken up with the task of rabbit proofing, rabbits are utter hoodlums and will chew any fucking thing.

So all the cables are being sheathed in protective coverings, the board game units are getting doors for the bottom shelves and a couple of extension cables are going into boxes.

Tomorrow Megans mum is coming round and the cage will be built!

I like bunnies, but they are pains in the bum, just so bloody naughty!

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by painting the Lord Castellan for Shadows Over Hammerhal and his trusty Gryph-Hound.

Followed by the Darkoath Warchief, I love the whole Darkoath aesthetic and I tell you, if they ever made a whole army of Darkoath, I would be on it like a tramp on chips!

After this it was the Excelsior Warpriest and his mini Gryph-Hound.

After that came a trio of Aelves, a Loremaster, Sorceress and a Black Ark Fleetmaster.

After this came the last two Silver Tower heroes, the Mistweaver Siah and the Tenebrael Shard.

And I got the Grey Seer painted up!

All I am left with now for Warhammer Quest in terms of Heroes is a Skink Priest, but I need a few paints for that, so it’s gonna wait a week or too.

I then quickly painted up a trio of Havana Destroyers for the UCM fleet.

And finally I got finished a Blood Angels Repulsor!

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. WHQ Skink Priest
  2. Templar Brethren x 10 & Land Raider Proteus
  3. Hobgrot Slittaz x 20
  4. Leagues of Votann Kâhl and Einhyr Champion
  5. The Crimson Court
  6. Ultramarines Lieutenants x 8
  7. Battle Sisters Squad x 10
  8. Ogroid Thaumaturge
  9. Killaboss x 2 & Stab Grot
  10. Drukhari Wyches x 10 & Succubus

What I Am Reading

Finished up The Veiled Masters by Tim Pratt, expect a review in the next couple of days.

I also read and finished Garro: Knight of Grey by Jim Swallow which was really good, if a bit bittersweet, a review will come this week!

And now I am onto The Flower Path by Josh Reynolds, a book I have been looking forward to for a while!

In terms of audiobooks, I listened to Sanguinius: The Great Angel by Chris Wraight.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Played a game of Horus Heresy against Graham on Tuesday, it was a close game and I must admit my Dreadnought killing his Sicaran Punishers was beautiful!

A lot of it came down to my army having a lot of units which just gave up kill points and Graham managing to grab First Blood.

What Video Games Am I Playing

A little bit of The Witcher 3 and that’s it.

What I Am Winning

Another piece of shovelware, I know they are crap but the dopamine hit from winning is cool, anyway now I have The Jumping Muffin for PlayStation.

I also won a copy of Assetto Corsa Competizione for the PS5, which was nice, and certainly not shovelware!

And on Friday I won a copy of Eternal Threads on Steam!

Won my first book since the return to comping, My (Extra) Ordinary Life by Rebecca Ryan.

Not my cup of tea, but right up Megan’s street!

One of Those Weeks

By

On 29th November 2022

In Blog

Well it’s been one of those weeks!

Not only have I spent most of it unwell with a nasty tummy bug, but the flat has turned up a few issues.

We were in the process of having a water damaged cabinet replaced, when it was discovered that due to some missing airbricks, there were some geet big holes in the wall letting in moisture!

So we are having to have the plaster removed, get airbricks put and, so a damp treatment and then replaster.

Anyway, due to a shortage of available tradesman, it’s gonna be after Christmas before it can actually get done so that’s annoying, as it was the cabinet with the kitchen sink in it!

Ah well, life does love to throw some curveballs at you!

What I Modelling

I started by finishing off a pair of Necron Tomb Blades.

After that I painted up the Nickar Class Hunter-Killers for my Scourge, which meant I got the airbrush out for the first time since we moved.

And then moved onto a Space Wolves Praetor, not sure I will ever do them in 30K, but I had to model so, why not paint it.

After that I painted up some Blood Angels Assault Intercessors.

And a mob of Ork Nobz

I am now currently working on an Imperial Fists Tactical Squad.

So what’s up next?

  1. Imperial Fists Tactical Squad x 10 & Officers x 6
  2. Kataphron Breachers x 5
  3. Oruck Gutrippas x 12
  4. T’au Crisis Suit Team x 3
  5. Imperial Fiats Contemptor Dreadnought
  6. Ultramarines Intercessors x 10
  7. Silver Tower Heroes
  8. Blood Angels Repulsor
  9. Templar Brethren x 10
  10. Hobgrot Slittaz x 20

What I Am Reading

Finished up listening to Kasrkin which has been an enjoyable listen.

And a little progress has been made on Zachareth, but not as much as I would have liked.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Sadly none at all.

What Video Games I Am Playing

Sadly not a thing, which I am quite upset about, the ill meant I really struggled to sit down to play anything.

What I Am Creating

Nowt I actually did myself, but I did go on Bez’s daily show.

What I Am Backing

I am in on the Steve Jackson Games Campaign for some Car Wars STLs.

What I Am Winning

I am not entirely sure who this was from, it just came with a plain white piece of paper saying “congratulations on your win”, but I won a black Playstation 5 DualSense controller, which is brilliant.

So this is gonna get used for PC games that work best with DualSense, and the white one I was using will go to Megan.

What I Am Buying

Keeping an eye of eBay I came across a very cheap copy of Guardian of the Galaxy for PS5, so I bought that!

I also got a few more holders for my controllers, and now the PC Engine, CD32, Xbox 360 and 8 Bit Do SN30 are all up on the wall now.

I bought Witcher 3 GOTY Edition, cause the next gen updates for PC look incredible!

I already own it on Xbox, but this looks well worth it!

Speaking of the Xbox I grabbed a dust cover attachment for the Series X to allow me to hang the controllers off it.

Brain Damage and Games Exercise 

By

On 2nd November 2016

In Blog

2 1/2 years ago I suffered some brain damage, and since then my games have taken on much more meaning. They are one of the few things I can still do with friends. Im a fan of the bigger chunky games that take time to play and I’m just getting into playing solo games. All these mean I have to concentrate and act as a kind of exercise for my damaged brain.Games provide me with a chance to socialise, & provide health benefits. The theraputic value of this also helps with my depression. 

Getting run over has really changed my life, and my whole aim of things now is to try and get me back into a position where I can work again. But having the issues I have currently, it’s not looking likely to happen anytime soon, which is shame, because for all I complained about work, I did enjoy feeling useful and doing something that contributed to society. 

So yeah, games help me, but for various reason, I am not getting to play many games lately, and I can tell because my mental abilities are slipping and I find my ability to concentrate less. So I am not getting the brain exercise I need, and thus I am going to have to make a bigger effort to get to things like Newcastle Gamers so that I can give my brain the workout it desperately needs.

I am, money depended, going to be entering the Kill Team tournament at the Warhammer 40,000 Open Day on Saturday, but it’s very money dependent!

What I am Modelling

This past week and a bit I have decided to clear up some of the models on my painting table that have been started and not finished. I started by finishing off the Blood Angels Tactical Squad to form a basic Kill Team, they are now done and dusted.

I then moved onto the Blood Angels Terminator Librarian, and he was actually a lot nicer to paint than I had expected him to be. And I finally based a Word Bearers Contemptor Dreadnought 

I am currently working on a Scout Squad that’s for Lost Patrol, a Word Bearers Jump Pack Chaplain and a Word Bearers Veteran. 

What I am Reading

I read White Dwarf, but other than that I haven’t been pick my Kobo for over a week now, which is simply down to how drained and tired I have been feeling.

I have been listening to audio books when I paint still, I recently finished the Damnation of Pythos, a book which in my first reading of it, was ok, not amazing but ok. But after listening to it as an audiobook, my opinion of it worsened, and I now have to agree, it just feels out of place in the series.

What I am Playing

I played in a long afternoon playing Horus Heresy on Sunday, however opposite me on the table was Christian and his Mechanicum, so I spent most of the afternoon removing models without doing any damage to him at all, really need to figure out a better way of dealing with the Mechanicum. 

I have a plan involving combining a Reconnaissance Squad with Sniper Rifles and a Heavy Support Squad with a Lascannons. I have bought some Lascannons when a friend did a Forgeworld order a while ago, but he keep forgetting to give them for me. But I have a promise from him to give me them at the Open Day on Saturday.

What I am Backing

I had backed Pretending to Grownup, a card game from Jason Anarchy of Drinking Quest fame, it’s an excellent looking game with some really cool looking art from Megan McKay.

And in a nice surprise, Quatermaster General 1914 arrived with me on the 31st, meeting it’s October delivery date, only had a brief look at it, but everything seems quite cool and I look forward to playing it.

What I am Spending

It’s coming up to Christmas, so too much, I have bought a few gifts for Lindsay and Megan as most of my nephews and nieces presents will be coming from the John Lewis account we put money into every month and the £200 of High Street Vouchers we have saved towards. I also have my nephews Max’s birthday coming up and I have paid for his birthday present.

That’s not to say I haven’t spent money, I did but myself the Burning of Prospero and then traded with a dude on Facebook for an extra two squads of MKIII Space Marines to add to my Word Bearers.

In a spate of depression I also placed a Forgeworld order and am now the proud owner of a Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnought, which has reduced my money for the rest of the month.

An Obsession on my Birthday

By

On 5th October 2016

In Blog

Today is my 34th birthday, which isn’t cool, I can clearly remember my parents turning this age and I don’t want to be an age I can remember my parents being!
But that aside I am hoping it’s going to be a nice day, Lindsay, Megan and I will be this evening going to visit my nana before heading to either Coop Chicken House or Nando’s, where we will be joined by Paul.

And because it’s my birthday I wanted to share one of my obsessions with you, Carcassonne!

Carcassonne is my all time favourite board game, now I know it’s simple and unsophisticated, but I love it. It’s got very quick gameplay, it’s easy to learn and has a good amount of player interaction, it doesn’t give you too much analysis paralysis, but at the same time does require thought and strategy.

The base game has just over 70 tiles, which you place on the table to create a landscape of the ancient French walled city of Carcassonne and its surrounding countryside, which you then deploy Meeples onto which help score you points. I am not going to go into detail about the rules, why would I need to when you can see the excellent episode of Tabletop in which it featured below!

Now what makes it my obsession, well I own all of the expansions for the base game, that’s right every single tile official tile made for the game over 40 different expansions, though I don’t own the individual release of River II owning it inside Count, King and Robber, nor the Spielbox release of The Cults which I already own through again in Count, King and Robber and Cult, Siege and Creativity.

I even went so far as to pay extortionate sums of money to buy the Die Kornkeise and La Proxada, expansions which are very hard to get hold off, and in the case of La Proxada only 72 of them were ever made.

My Big Box of Carcassonne is rather full as you can see from the picture, Lindsay got me my first copy as Big Box 4 back in 2012, but since then I have replaced it with Big Box 5 in order to get the Wheel of Fortune expansion and the full set of Meeples for Pink and Purple as 7th and 8th player sets. I have a German version of Big Box 5 because unbelievable it cost £32 to buy it and ship it to the UK, whereas buying it here would have cost me £65, so naturally I went with the cheaper option, especially as the game is language independent.

Lindsay and Megan know of and tolerate my obsession with this game, and even allow me to have a few of the variants, those being the Winter Edition, My First Carcassonne (for when I have child guests of course), Hunters and Gathers and Star Wars. But their tolerance only goes so far, in 2014 Hans im Glück, the original publisher, decided to retire the original artwork and relaunch the game with a r refreshed look for a new edition. Now I own the base game in the new edition, but Lindsay and Megan have forbidden me from buying it’s expansions in the new artwork as well. I get where they are coming from, I don’t need the same expansion twice just because it has new artwork, but the obsessive in me is really torn by it, I feel like I “need” the expansions on the new art work, and that probably why it’s sensible I have Lindsay and Megan to look after me.

With the imminent release of Temples in Japan at Spiel next week, it will be the first new expansion in the new artwork, and that’s going to be the real test, am I willing to mix the new and the old together!!!

What I am Modelling

A slow week on this front, I bought a Furioso Dreadnought so I could begin to build an Angels Blade detachment for Blood Angels based around a Blood Angels Demi-Company, so I built that with a Frag Cannon and Power-Fist with built in Heavy Flamer and a Magna-Grapple.

What I am Reading

I just finished up the short stories in Ahriman: Exodus which lead into Ahriman: Sorcerer, and I must say, I am less impressed with those than I was with Ahriman: Exile, but I think it was the protagonist I had issues with. He seemed far too whiney for a sorcerer of the Thousand Sons, too much about how he hated Ahriman when in fact it was he who made many of the choices which put him in the positions he was in.

But the one story amongst them that did stand out was The First Prince which is also available as an audio book, and that’s mostly because it was the first appearance of Be’lakor in 40k literature and he is a very interesting character with motives all of his own, unrelated to those of the Chaos Gods.

What I am Playing

Noting really, most of my play has been restricted to iPad, and that has all bee Ticket to Ride using the India map which is fast becoming my favourite map in the game.

What I am Backing

Another one with only a little bit of time left on it, but it’s Quartermaster General 1914 by Ian Brody and published by PSG, a game set during World War I using the dynamic and quite innovate card mechanic found in the original Quartermaster General. I had a chance to play this at the UK Games Expo in June and it’s quite good, all the Strech Goals have been busted through and it’s already in production, shipping to backers this month! You can back it from £35 and if you are lucky enough to be going to Essen next week you can pick up your copy then for £40 (the extra fiver is because it’s being air freighted from China).

Anyway gontake a look it’s got 2 days left on it!

What I am Spending 

A little too much again!

I bought the Spiel 2015 card for Carcassonne, to keep my collection up to speed, it’s taken me almost a full year to get hold of this tile.

I also bought two dreadnoughts, a Furioso one which I have already built and a standard one which I have yet to build, both are destined for my Blood Angels Demi Company formations for the Angels Blade detachment.

Oh and I got the How to Paint Genestealer Cults book and the Datacards for Genestealer Cults, the Datacards as it turns out are another one of my little obsessions but that’s for another day.!

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