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?
Ultramarines Infiltrators x 10
Battle Sisters x 10
Lilth Hesperax
Ork Trukks x 2
Putrid Blightkings x 5
Shootas x 20
Minka Lesk x 2
Blood Ravens Sterngaurd Veterans x 5
Imperial Fists Whirlwind Scorpius
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!
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!
Well let’s be honest, there were a lot of issues, huge numbers of them, and let me be frank about the biggest issue, the shop.
The shop is something that GW should be able to and can do well, at the UK Games Expo last year they had a far bigger presence and more stock, what they had in Manchester was small and focused on a few stands.
The queue to pay was 90 minutes long, there was very very little third party licenced stuff, a few McFarlane and JoyToy figures, a small selection of the Cubicle 7 RPGs and a limited number of art prints.
So no board games, clothing, dice bags, posters, phone cases, mugs, notebooks etc
It felt very lacking in terms of that stuff.
There were a few gaming stalls and credit to them, they put on an amazing show, but because they were one of the few things there, the queues were mental.
Never got a chance to try Boltgun, but I am gonna preorder it anyway, the community lass from Tacticus convinced me to give it a go, and it’s actually pretty good.
Warpforge seems a lot of fun and Horus Heresy Legions is as good as ever.
There was one set of painted models on display for 10th edition 40K, in between the queue for the shop and the queue to try 10th edition, so you could barely get to take a gander at them.
There were 5 tables to try 10th on and a lad I know queued for 4 hours to get a turn at trying it, which if I am honest was ridiculous and a bit of stupid decision, at the Fest when 8th launched there were 20 or 30 tables if I remember correctly.
Its sad cause the last event was so good, and this was just a real let down.
But I still had lots of fun, but that’s cause I got to meet up with people I rarely get to see and play with and in that respect it was good, but still it shouldn’t have been so lacking in content.
Will I go again, depends, if I can get a tournament to play in sure, but if not, perhaps I won’t.
My Haul
So I got a bit from Warhammer Fest!
Here is the total lot!
It’s broken down into, the event exclusive Commissar!
Some dice for my Imperial Knights and *ahem* Kharadron Overlords 🙄
A Homunculus and some Mandrakes for my Drukhari
Lelith Hesperax and Drazhar for them
A Combat Patrol for them too
A Deimos Pattern Whirlwind Scorpius for my Imperial Fists
A Rat Ogre for Blood Bowl
And some general swag, which includes some Warhammer Fest objective markers, some badges, patches, a few paints, and a mousemat!
Pegboard
I went and got the Skådis Pegboard from IKEA, well I had them delivered to a local shop, IKEA want 20 notes to deliver to the house, but only £2 to send it to a shop 5 minutes away!!!
First up I had to remove all the controller mounts from the wall, then fill in the holes and paint over them.
This meant the girls insisted that I sort out the cupboard under the stairs, and I will have to take a trip to B&Q to get colour matched paint.
So I started with the cuboard sort, then filled in the holes with the filler and the put the boards up, the bits of filled wall need painting still, but B&Q in Hartlepool is now closed so it’s a trip to Stockton for that!
The pegboard went up pretty easily, I went with the black Skådis, I did consider the Uppspel board with the ROG branding, but that would have been an extra £20 I didn’t fancy spending!
The controllers are now all up, I went with the Skådis hooks to mount them, because it works, mostly.
I did get an Uppspel accessory kit, mostly for the magnetic strip, but the straps are great for holding the NES and SNES controllers, and I plan to get a couple more to hold the PC Engine, CD32, Neo Geo CD and SN30 Pro controllers.
Also, my future Steam Deck may be stored in the board using these straps!
The magnetic strip currently holds a pair of nice braided cables to connect the controllers to the PC directly, one cable is USB C and the other is Micro USB. The WaveBird receiver is also held on it too!
What I Am Modelling
I started out by painting the Imagifier for the Sisters of Battle!
And a Abhorrant Ghoul King for the Flesh-Eater Courts!
Myself, Graham, Rob and Niall had a game of 30K at Element Games, which was a hell of a lot of fun, and my first time visiting Element in person, and its a really fun place.
I have been trying to write this for a couple of weeks now and I haven’t been entirely sure how to get the right tone.
But I wanted to summarise my thoughts on the now competed Warhammer Adventures series, Warped Galaxies and Realm Quest.
I have purchased all of the volumes as ePubs and some for my nephews physically, as well as purchasing them as audio books from Audible.
To be honest I was sceptical, I thought they might be Warhammer adjacent, and perhaps a bit daft.
But to my surprise, they were very much within the universes with little compromise, for example in Attack of the Necrons, we see a character utterly disintegrated by a Necron Gauss weapon.
We see Nurglings tear apart a Forge World and spread disease and pestilence, the despair caused by an army of Nighthaunt, the warpstone crazed behaviour of Skaven.
All the things that make Warhammer, well Warhammer are right here, including the grimdark.
In fact the only area I would really criticise as being out of step with the franchises, so that in the AoS books, they refer to Sigmar as simply a King, rather than as the God-King, but I suppose this was done to appease American parents, who will ban books at the drop of a hat.
The characters are all interesting, the 40K ones are ok, although I found Zelia a little too naive for the universe, but her companions are much closer to their archetypes.
The AoS characters are also good, but it does feel like there are perhaps a few too many and some of them get lost and ignored quite a lot.
The audio books are excellently narrated, David Tennent fits the books so well and does a great Grot voice.
Billie Piper is also a great narrator for the AoS books and her Skaven voice is wonderful, her replacement Helen McAlpine is also good, but doesn’t seem as approachable I guess is the right word as Billie Piper.
In conclusion I really would recommend this book for your kids, and you know what, if you want to paint and have something on in the background, these are perfect and easy to follow along with.
I hope more will come in time.
What I Am Modelling
I spent the bulk of the week working on the Chaos Space Marines that came with Imperium Premium Pack 1.
So that’s a squad of 10 Chaos Space Marines, 2 Greater Possessed and a Sorcerer to lead them.
I finished the Chaos Space Marine Squad first.
Followed by the Sorcerer.
And finally the Greater Possessed.
I then started work on the Noctolith Crown which is also going to be used in the Battle Report that these guys will see service in.
I also painted the Flayed Ones for my Necrons
After that I painted up a Technomancer for the Necrons.
I then finished up the Munitorium Armoured Container from Imperium.
I am now working on a Charnel Throne for my Flesh-Eater Courts.
So what’s on the plan for next week then?
T’au Parhfinders x 10
Khorne Blood Warriors x 10
Snottlings Blood Bowl Team
Mortis Engine
Orruk Brutes x 6
Ork Kommandos Team x 12
Corpse Grinder Cult x 15
Ultramarines Intercessor Squad x 5
Blood Bowl Referees x 2
T’au Crisis Suit Team x 3
What I Am Reading
I failed to pickup any books this week.
What Tabletop Games Am I Playing
I played Horus Heresy tonight against Anthony, we just payed a very causal kill everything Mission and I won 6-5.
What Video Games Am I Playing
I finished playing Assassins Creed last night and the final video will go online tonight, in the meantime here is the penultimate video!
I have also brought my painted tally up to 1105 models painted for the year.
Paint 2000 Points of Flesh-Eater Courts for Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Complete
The Abhorrent Ghoul King on a Royal Terrorgheist was my first painted model of the month and that completed this resolution.
Bring My Mechanicum to 3000 Points for Horus Heresy, Including The Warhound Titan – 75% Complete
This month I managed to find the Macrotek Enginseer, they were among a bunch of 40K Adeptus Mechanicus stuff.
Anyway they got built and painted leaving me with only the Warhound Titan to build, and given the trip for my brothers wedding and other issues, I cannot see myself being able to finish this 🙁
Paint Blackstone Fortress And It’s Expansions – Complete
This month I got this resolution complete by painting the Ambul and Borewyrm Infections and the Archivist.
Completed Resolutions
Paint the Scourge for Dropfleet Commander
Paint 1000 Points of Early War Germans for Bolt Action
Paint 2000 Points of Necrons for Warhammer 40,000
Paint 2000 Points of Flesh-Eater Courts for Warhammer Age of Sigmar
Paint Blackstone Fortress And It’s Expansions
So as we are now a week into the month, what’s left on my painting queue?
Grand Army of the Republic BARC Speeder
Necron Warriors x 10 & Lord Hasmoteph the Resplendent
Ork Bikes x 3
Dacian Anvil & Vindictor
Constantine Valdor
Confederacy of Independent Systems B1 Battledroids x 18
Skitarii Vanguard x 10
Blades of Khorne Flesh Hounds x 10 & Karanack
Confederacy of Independent Systems Droiddekkas x 4
The last week has been dominated still by sleep issues so not much to say, but I have an appointment with a doctor on Monday about it.
What I Am Modelling
I started off by painting the Abhorrent Ghoul King on Royal Terrorgheist for my Flesh-Eater Courts.
This now completes that army to 2000 points and completes my resolution for 2021 for Age of Sigmar.
I then built models to ensure my next 20 projects were ready to go and I got that lot finished on Saturday night.
Annoyingly I had to 3D print a couple of bits for this, first off I managed to lose the back of a head for a B1 Bartledroid for Star Wars Legion, so I basically printed off a droids head to harvest the back of it.
And when building an Imperial Knight, I got a miscast part, luckily it was a part that’s very commonly available as an STL because it allows you to magnetise a weapon, so i printed that and now my Warden has a choice of either the chainsword or the fist!
I then painted up a bust that I printed last month of a Death Korps of Krieg Infantryman.
I am currently working on a Shokkjump Dragsta for the Orks, the buggy is finished, just working on the crew now.
Macrotek Enginseer & Servo Automata x 4
Ork Shokkjump Dragsta
Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear & Celestant Prime
Obi Wan Kenobi
Necron Skorpekh Destroyers x 6, Canoptek Plasmacytes x 2 & Warriors x 3
Blackstone Fortress the Archivist
Adeptus Custodes Wardens x 5
Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Bolter Team x 3
Blackstone Fortress Ambull & Borewyrm Infestations x 2
Ork Flash Gitz x 5
What I Am Reading
Not a sausage, sleep problems are making it a real issue.
What Video Games Am I Playing
A little bit of Forza Horizon 4 started the week to get me in the mood for 5!
I also decided it’s time to use my Oculus Quest seriously, and I got it up and running with my PC properly, playing some Project Cars and Star Wars Squadrons.
I also played Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive for a play through video which uploaded yesterday.
Of course with Forza Horizon 5 landing on Friday, I played an awful lot of that!
What I Tabletop Games Am I Playing
Me and Megan had a game of The Sock Game on Monday, she wasn’t well and it kinda cheered her up before lunch.
Despite her being ill, of course she still won!
Also played a game of Nature Fluxx which I surprisingly won!
What Am I Creating
I got the latest battle report uploaded in Friday night, but annoyingly there were some sound issues.
The next episode of Edge of Empire is almost finished and should be out tomorrow.
And I put up my play though of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Mega Drive up on YouTube.
What I Am Backing
Not a thing right now, nowt has taken my interest.
What I Am Cooking
I made some pulled pork on Sunday which was quite nice, must make that again soon.
What I Am Spending
Not much, but did buy some new glasses which I pick up tomorrow.
So we think the reason I am feeling crummy, is a change in medication for my diabetes.
To be honest though, I am gonna try and tough it out, this new medication has some real positives, it’s reduced a personal issue which was causing a lot of pain, and it’s got me feeling like I have a healthy relationship with food for the first time in a long time.
The disadvantages are that my tummy has been a bit topsy turvey, and I am having eggy burps.
I have asked the doctor if we can reduce the dose slightly, so I shall see what they say.
What Am I Modeling
I started by finishing off the Necron Canoptek Wraiths, which actually completes the resolution to paint 2000 points of Necrons this year!
The first unit is armed with Transdimensional Beamers.
The second lot have no ranged weapon upgrade at all.
I then painted up three Crypt Flayers, a Crypt Infernal and a Crypt Haunter Courtier, which leaves me with just a Aberrant Ghoul King on a Royal Terrorgheist to paint for this army.
After that I painted a Lord of Virulance for the Death Guard, alongside the Plague Marines and Poxwalkers for Blackstone Fortress.
And I also managed to paint the Skitarii Marshall, who will also serve as a Secutarii Axiarch.
I have these past few days working on some Thousand Sons Terminators & Ahriman, trying out some new techniques.
I have gotten one finished and I am really happy with him.
Hopefully the rest will be finished tomorrow.
I also finally think I have this 3D printing things sorted!
So what’s coming up next week?
Magos Macrotek Enginseer & Sevo-Automata x 4 (if I can find it!)
Thousand Sons Terminators x 5 & Ahriman
Blackstone Fortress Rogue Psykers x 3 & Negavolt Cultists x 6
Stormcast Eternals Judicators x 10
Ork Nobz x 6, Painboy & Warboss
Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad x 10
Legio Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank x 2
Blackstone Fortress Spindle Drones x 6 & Guardian Drones x 2
Phase 1 Clone Troopers x 22
Ork Shokjump Dragster
What I Am Reading
Not a sausage actually.
But I did finish listening to the Godblight audiobook, and really enjoyed it, some interesting plot points that the Black Library can build upon.
What Video Games Am I Playing
I played through Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, a game I got for my 8th birthday, leant to my friend Simon and never saw again.
But I played it though emulation on Retroarch, and you can see that video below.
I also completed Halo 3, and I kinda wish that 343 Industries would remaster this game as it looks so much worse than the anniversary version of Halo 2.
And I have just tonight started on Halo 3 ODST, which is a beautiful game.
I also started up a Minecraft realm for my nephews, so they can have their own private area to play after a few nasty incidents in the game.
What Tabletop Games Am I Playing
Tonight I got in a three way game of 40K to start my crusade off.
I am not gonna give any spoilers away as I have made a battle report for it that will be published on Friday.
What I Am Creating
As mentioned above I played through Alex Kidd in Shonobi World and made a video if that, which you can see in that section.
I also published the Battle report for the second game of the Imperium magazine.
What I Am Backing
Still just Rawr! Velociraptor! which at the point of writing this has 2 hours left.
I know some people are determined to not get Warhammer +, but I have, and I will walk you through the reasons.
And I have honestly seen a lot of rants about it, mostly seeming to focus ok the animation side, but I do have to say that Warhammer + is a service that is more than just Warhammer TV, it’s also the included mini, the Warhammer Vault access, the apps, etc. to base your impression on just one aspect is just a bit daft.
First off, I would never usually suggest getting a service/product based on its possible future potential as I find this is usually a waste of money as nothing is ever guaranteed. Products should have a decent feature set before launching rather than promises of future features.
However Warhammer + makes sense financially for me, let me walk you through it. I play both Age of Sigmar and 40K, and I use the apps, which currently cost me £2.98, which is going to rise to £3.98 with the new AoS app.
So annually I will be paying £47.76 to Games Workshop for these two services, so Warhammer + would only cost me £2.23 if I get the annual plan.
Now the £10 voucher for signing up before 1st September means actually it’s going to be -£7.77, and when add in the model you get with the subscription, models that I want both of, you save even more.
These models I have set at a price of £20, although the Megaboss from the normal range is £25. So that means it’s actually now at -£27.77.
So it works for me, of course for other people the maths will vary and for them it may not be worth it, but it is for me.
What’s It Actually Like???
Well in all honesty, it’s a little thin on the ground right now, but what’s on there is good.
Angels of Death is very cool, although the mouths are a bit odd, but I can live with that.
I am yet to watch any of Hammer and Bolter apart from Old Bale Eye, which I really enjoyed.
The Battle Reports are well, extremely high end and professional and really raise the bar for those. Makes my stuff look pants by comparison.
The painting Masterclass is superb and I am digging out some Thousand Sons Terminators to try out some wet blending.
The Vault, that’s the one aspect I am less keen on, simply because you can’t download stuff, and the site is clunky when using a phone, if they bring us an app for that it will be better.
In general I am happy with the service, if they keep up with the new content every Wednesday I will be very happy.
I would like to see the YouTube painting videos included in the service at some point, just so everything is together in one place that’s a bit easier to navigate.
The service is as I said, thin on the ground, but I think within a few months it will be a lot better.
I have subscribed for a year because I want it to be a success, I want it to work, and I am breaking my own rule because if this does work, it will be an amazing resource for the community.
The reveal of the first weeks new releases, is a bit underwhelming, I would have hoped for a couple of the Citadel Masterclasses and at least two animations.
The Vault additions are actually pretty nice, with some White Dwarfs for this year being added.
But it’s still early days.
What I Am Modelling
I started off the week with some Triarch Praetorians.
These have been painted as being from the Szarekhan Dynasty because they serve the Triarch and thus why would their armour be in the colours of another dynasty?
I also painted all the Traitor Guardsmen for Blackstone Fortress alongside the Commissar and Ogryn from Traitor Command.
The Traitor Command models were finished first.
Followed by the Traitor Guardmens.
I then painted a unit of 20 Crypt Ghoul’s for my Flesh-Eater Courts alongside a Crypt-Ghast Courtier.
After that I painted a squad of Secutarii Hoplites and their Termite transport
So what’s coming up next week?
Zone Mortalis Terrain
Legio Custodes Pallas Grav-Attack
Stormcast Eternals Praetors x 3, Knight-Vexellor & Vindictor
Legio Custodes Agamatus Jetbikes x 3
Stormcast Eternals Anhiliators x 3, Lord Imperatant & Gryph Hound
Blitzkrieg HQ & MG34 MMG Team
Death Guard Fire Raptor
Necron Canoptek Wraiths x 6
Mechanicum Magos Macrotek Engineseer & Servoautomata x 4
Flesh-Eater Courts Crypt Flayers x 3
What I Am Reading
Ummm I actually haven’t read all week 🙁
What Video Games Am I Playing
Not played a lot, but just a few bits and pieces here and there.
I did manage to get the Saturn emulator running properly. Retroarch ended up being a bust, there wasn’t a single core that could run the games correctly and the way it handles six button controllers is kinda annoying.
So I ended up going with Mednafen which works like a dream, just need to add a graphical front end.
Speaking of six button controllers, I finally managed to get my hands on a reasonably priced 6 button USB Mega Drive controller, and playing Street Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive Mini is no longer an awful nightmare!
I did pull all of my controllers out on Saturday and I think I might have a problem!
But I am having real struggle controlling N64 emulated games, so I have ordered a USB Retro-Bit controller which should arrive Tuesday I think.
What Tabletop Games I Am Playing
On Tuesday I had an open war game of 40K at Durham Raiders.
I lost but it was very close, and a battle report is currently in production.