Tag: Imperial Fists Page 1 of 3

Christmas 2025!

By

On 3rd January 2026

In Blog

For us this year, Christmas was quiet and pretty simple.

We spent it at Megans sisters place, where I made the Christmas Dinner, after spending the Christmas Eve there watching Muppets Christmas Carol.

I made fresh cranberry sauce, which was basically cranberries cooked in port with sugar, I am not a fan but everyone else is, and they seemed to enjoy it, better than shop bought.

I then cooked the rest of the dinner, starting with honey glazed red cabbage cooked in red wine, normally I would add sultanas, but no one fancied them. I also did sprouts fried up with some chestnuts and bacon, and a bit of nutmeg

And the final product had turkey, beef, roast potatoes, and roasted parnsips, carrots and leek spiced with a bit of chilli and paprika.

I think it was rather nice, but I exhausted myself making it and was pretty much wiped out for the next few days

I got some nice presents, and I cannot complain about any of them

So yeah, Christmas was pretty good, and the rest of the week was fine, other than my being unwell for most of it, which meant I missed new years eve board games.

My Board Game Geek Secret Santa was very kind and got me

And my Video Game Geek Secret Santa got me

What I Am Modelling

I painted up the last (for now) units for my Imperial Fists, a squad of Veteran Breachers, all armed with Volkite Chargers!

Followed by a squad of Hearthkyn Warriors for the Leagues of Votann

Alongside a pair of Kâhls

Then I painted a Wolf Lord in Terminator Armour

And I finally finished up the Janissaries for my Iron Sultanate

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Heretic Legion Warband
  3. Tzzangors x 20
  4. Lord Vigilant on Gryph-Stalker
  5. Grey Knights Strike Squad x 5
  6. Cthonian Beserks x 5
  7. Tech Thralls x 20
  8. Lord Terminos, Reculsians x 3 & Memorians x 2
  9. Hearthkyn Pioneers x 3
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Weapons Team x 8

What I Am Reading

Still slowly reading Dropsite Massacre by John French.

I listened to Cain’s Last Stand by Sandy Mitchell, which was really very very very good!

And I am now listening to Demolisher by Andy Clark.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I had a 5750 points game of Heresy with Graham on thew 28th, and I won!

We both took a 5000 points list plus a Warhound, and I have to say that the new Titan rules are a lot of fun and very thematic!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Really cracking on with Shadow of the Tomb Raider this past couple of weeks

What Achievements I Have Unlocked

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Steam)

Treasures from the Past

Decipher a Monolith		29/12/2025
Survival Instincts

Defeat the Empress Jaguar		30/12/2025
Point of Interest

Learn of 5 interesting locations from civilians		30/12/2025
Asking Price

Buy an item from a merchant		30/12/2025
The Hidden City

Find Paititi		01/01/2026
Untold Riches

Gather 40 gold ore		01/01/2026
Fire of Life

Enter the Temple of Life’s inner chamber		01/01/2026
Resting Places

Uncover 3 main game Crypts’ secrets		01/01/2026
Marksman

Perform 20 headshots with the bow		01/01/2026
Look, Over There!

Kill 3 enemies while they are distracted		01/01/2026
Makeshift Arsenal

Fully upgrade a weapon		01/01/2026
Archeologist

Complete an Artifact Collection		01/01/2026
Stele Hunter

Complete 3 main game Challenge Tombs		01/01/2026
Help thy Neighbor

Complete a Side Mission		01/01/2026
Better Equipped

Get 3 pieces of equipment		01/01/2026
On the Go

Craft special ammunition 50 times		03/01/2026
Destiny’s Trialed

Complete the Forge of Destiny Challenge Tomb		03/01/2026
Heir Born

Complete the Echoes of the Past Side Mission and discover Abby’s ancient origins		03/01/2026

Hell Let Loose (Steam)

Here Comes the Gun

Win a match as the German Forces on Smolensk Day		29/12/2025

What I Am Spending

I bought a few new games in the Steam winter sale

A Trip To Suffolk & A Tournament

By

On 28th November 2025

In Blog

This past weekend we took a trip to Suffolk to visit family, been a while since we got there, and we took the time to deliver Christmas presents and see some of my nibblings

We left early on Friday and stopped off at Warhammer World to have lunch, and I got told off for building some models in Bugman’s Bar!

We arrived in time for tea on Friday, which we then spent with my parents,

Saturday we went down to see my brothers nippers, and instead of taking them out and spending £45 at Wendy’s (which was what happened last time), we took some board games!

We played a lot of Just One, some Exploding Kittens and Taco, Goat, Cheese, Pizza.

and when we got back to my mums, one of my sisters kids was there, and we taught her Taco, Goat, Cheese, Pizza, and on Sunday morning, she and my brothers girl played a lot of that between themselves.

We meant to leave Taco, Goat, Cheese, Pizza for them, but somehow it got packed back in our bag, so a copy will get sent down before Christmas for them

It was only a short trip, but it was enjoyable, and we made our way back home at lunchtime on Sunday, getting home in time for tea!

Plus we saw my sisters dog Nessa

November Tournament

My first game was against the wonder Craig and his Space Wolves

It was a loss but his space wolves hit hard in close combat!

My second game was against Ed and his Aeldari

I live play Ed, an excellent dude and a lot of fun to play with

Alas he was injured and I was exhausted, so we both made the call to drop out of the event after our game, but it was fun and I enjoyed my day

What I Am Modelling

I started off by finishing the Astra Militarium rebasing project by rebasing the flying stand for the Valkyrie

Most of my time was spent building models, getting myself ready for the next few months of painting

I did manage to paint the Macharius tank for my Imperial Fists, although when played in game it will be manned by the Solar Auxilia!

And I managed to finish off a unit of 10 Ardboyz for my Orruk Warclans too!

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Heretic Legion Warband
  3. Tzzangors x 20
  4. Guardian Defenders x 11
  5. Lord Vigilant on Gryph-Stalker
  6. Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit
  7. Imperial Fists Veteran Breachers with Volkite Chargers x 10
  8. Hearthkyn Warriors x 10 & Khâl x 2
  9. Windriders x 6
  10. Grey Knights Strike Squad x 5

What I Am Reading

I read the rest of the Call of Chaos collection, finishing up with Godless by David Guymer, which to be perfectly honest, was a bit pants. After that it was The Sacrifice by Graeme Lyon which was very good with a really cool twist! And finally Lord of the Cosmic Gate by Gav Thorpe, which was ok, not great, but not terrible either.

I also listened to Nagash: The Undying King by Josh Reynolds, which was fairly cool, very enjoyable and one of the better examples of early Age of Sigmar fiction.

I am now reading Dropsite Massacre by John French, so lets see how that goes

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played Liam in our Combat Patrol League, and yeah I lost again, my mistake was thinking I should charge some Black Templars!!!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Very little, but I have spent some time dialing in the Logitech G920 I have and did a bit of playing around with Forza Motorsport

I did manage to get a session of streaming some Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – Jack the Ripper

What Achievements I Have Unlocked

Forza Motorsport

Technique

Score a 9 or better on any Track Segment		23/11/202515G
Built Not Bought

Completed 1 Series in Career Mode		23/11/202510G
It’s not the car…

Finished in top three of a series with a stock car in Builders Cup		23/11/202530G

Hell Let Loose

Excellent Choice, Sir

Drop 5000 Supplies		27/11/2025

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

The new terror of Whitechapel

Unlock 50% of the skills		28/11/202525G

What I Am Backing

My first crowdfunding project for a while is the project for Danger Mouse: The Official Console Game (although I have backed for a Steam Code)

What I Am Spending

During my time at Warhammer World, I purchased a Master of Executions for the World Eaters Combat Patrol, as well as a pot of Screaming Skull and some flying bases for Legions Imperialis.

I also picked up Peak on Steam as well as it was on sale and Chris says noting but good things about it.

Also picked up Far Cry 4 Gold as it was very cheap on Steam

And I added some DLC for driving

Whoop A 9070XT

By

On 20th August 2025

In Blog

My RTX 3070 has bee. Great apart form one issue, VRAM, 8GB didn’t cut it and in too many games it proved to be an issue

I had planned on upgrading when the 60 series came out but struggles in games like Darktide and Cyberpunk 2077 convinced to upgrade early.

And for the first time in a very long time, I went for a Radeon card, specifically the 9070XT, the Acer Predator Bifrost 9070XT OC!!!

The card is beautiful and looks amazing in my PC and performs like a dream, especially in games where the devs have added FSR 3 and above.

My performances in Cyberpunk 2077 has gone up a hell of a lot, yeah some is via frame gen, but honestly, the AMD implementation of that feel fine.

I am sadly like far too many PC gamers and will upgrade my rig regardless if it needing it sometimes!

And in all honesty if the RTX 3070 wasn’t struggling with its VRAM in certain games I probably would have kept it as its performance is good, it’s just been hamstrung slightly which is annoying.

Also AV1 encoding is fantastic, and has been really good for my YouTube videos.

But that card is still going to live on in the house as Megan has had their rig upgraded from the GTX 1660Ti to the RTX 3070, which will give her some great gaming performance in the games they play, like Disney Dreamlight Valley and The Sims 4.

Meanwhile her GTX 1660Ti and the Ryzen 5 3600 that used to live in that rig, which I upgraded to a 5600X when I changed my CPU to a 5700X3D, well we have an idea for that!

What I am Modelling

I started off by painting this Command Squad for my Ultramarines in MKIII Armour, 5 guys all armed with Power Swords and Combat Shields

I already have a MKIII Banner Bearer from the old kit, so he will be hoping these where needed

I also painted up these two Heralds in MKVI Armour

After that I decided to get the Imperial Fists I have finished so that they can go into storage for a bit, and started out with an Overseer

Then a squad of Breachers

After that I turned my attention to The Red Brigade of New Antioch and painted a few figures for them starting with a Lieutenant

Then Lieutenant MacDonald

Followed by a Stormtrooper

And a Yeoman

Then I finished off this Draconis Combine Vindicator for BattleTech

So what does that leave me with to paint next

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Knight Draconis & Stormdrake Guard x 4
  3. Armiger Helverin x 2
  4. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  5. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  6. Myari’s Purifiers
  7. Tempestus Aquilions x 11
  8. Red Brigade Warband
  9. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour
  10. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers x 6

What I Am Reading

I listened to the next couple of books in the Doctor Who monthly range staring with Live 34 by James Parson which was pretty good, this was followed by Scaredy Cat by Will Shindler which was actually pretty dire.

I then started to listen to The Silent asking by Guy Haley, which is quite good, seems to be weaving together a few more recent threads from the novels of 8th and 9th editions.

I also read To Speak As One, also by Guy Haley, which was a nice little story covering some of Cawls entourage

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

On Tuesday I played a game of 1500pts against Graham with my Solar Auxilia, using this list against his Mechanicum

Crusade Primary Detachment

High Command

Legatine Command Squad
 Bayonets x 4
 Blast Charger x 4
 Needle Pistol
 Power Fist
 Cohorts Vexiliia
 Augury Scanner
 Command Vox

Command

Armoured Command Section
 Dozer Blade
 Flare Shield
 Searchlight
 Lascannon
 Multi-Laser
 Prime Advantage:- Logistical Benefit

Transport

Aurox

War Engine

Aetheon Heavy Sentinel Squadron x 3
 Incinerator

Infantry Tercio

Troopa

Lasrifle Section x 20
 Bayonets x 20
 Vexilla
 Vox Interlock

Lasrifle Section x 20
 Bayonets x 20
 Vexilla
 Vox Interlock

Heavy Transport

Dracosan 
 Dozer Blade
 Searchlight 

Dracosan 
 Dozer Blade
 Searchlight

Armour Tercio

Armour

Leman Russ Vanquisher
 Dozer Blade

Leman Russ Vanquisher
 Dozer Blade

We are still learning the new Editon but we are now getting to grips with it a bit better

But Grahams Tech-Thralls were a tad more resilient and less likely to panic than my Lasriflemen

Then on Friday at Gamers@Hart, me and Russell played 1500 points, I took the this list

# ++ Crusade Primary Detachment ++ [723 Point(s)]

## High Command [135 Point(s)]

Praetor [135 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol (default), Paragon Blade, High Command Detachment Choice (One Apex Detachment)

## Command [215 Point(s)]

Centurion [100 Point(s)]: Melta bombs, Bolt pistol (default), Power fist, Frag grenades, Krak grenades

Master of Signals [115 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Frag grenades, Krak grenades, Command vox relay

## Retinue [210 Point(s)]

Praetorian Command Squad [210 Point(s)]:
• 1x Chosen Champion [12 Point(s)]: Power sword, Combat shield
• 1x Chosen [52 Point(s)]: Legion standard, Power sword, Combat shield
• 3x Chosen [32 Point(s)]: Power sword, Combat shield

## Troops [163 Point(s)]

Tactical Squad [163 Point(s)]: Frag grenades, Krak grenades
• 1x Sergeant [15 Point(s)]: Lightning claw, Volkite serpenta
• 1x Legionary [22 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Augury scanner, Chain bayonet
• 1x Legionary [22 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Nuncio-vox, Chain bayonet
• 1x Legionary [22 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Vexilla, Chain bayonet
• 6x Legionary [12 Point(s)]: Bolt pistol, Bolter, Chain bayonet
  Prime Unit (Logistical Benefit (LB - Retinue))

# ++ Auxiliary - Armoured Fist ++ [530 Point(s), 1 Auxilary Detachment(s)]

## Heavy Transport [530 Point(s)]
Land Raider Carrier [265 Point(s)]: Twin heavy bolter, Two Sponson Mounted Twin lascannon

Land Raider Carrier [265 Point(s)]: Twin heavy bolter, Two Sponson Mounted Twin lascannon

# ++ Auxiliary - Tactical Support ++ [90 Point(s), 1 Auxilary Detachment(s)]

## Support [90 Point(s)]

Tactical Support Squad [90 Point(s)]: Rotor cannon, Bolt pistol, Frag grenades, Krak grenades
• 1x Sergeant
• 4x Legionary [8 Point(s)]

# ++ Auxiliary - Heavy Support ++ [155 Point(s), 1 Auxilary Detachment(s)]

## War-engine [155 Point(s)]

Contemptor Dreadnought [155 Point(s)]: Gravis bolt cannon, Gravis chain fist and combi-bolter (Gravis chainfist, Combi-bolter)

It was a great game, but I lost, and that was down to secondaries, Russell got ahead early on, but I was able to catch up, what cost me the game was not having a balanced list to be honest, not enough Line and no Vanguard

What I Am Creating

The next videos in the Heresy series went up, those being Ultramarines and Death Guard, two legions I have been collecting for a long time as well as the Thousand Sons

I also published the next episode of Edge of Empire

What I Am Spending

I bought a few games, a couple of Humble Bundles starting with this months Humble Choice that got me

And the WB Play the Legends Bundle that netted me

The rest of the games went into a second Steam account I am maintaining for whichever nibbling starts wanting to play PC games first!

And the Table Top Tag Team Bundle which got me

I also got seperatly

  • Mood:- Feeling a bit more positive
  • Caffeinated Beverages Consumed:- 1
  • In My Ears:- The Flood – Take That
  • Tabletop Game Last Played:- The Horus Heresy
  • Video Game Last Played:- Diablo IV
  • Book Last Read:- Era of Ruin – Various Authors
  • Audiobook Last In My Ears:- The Silent King – Guy Haley
  • Movie Last Viewed:- Star Trek: Section 31
  • TV Show Last Viewed:- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • Podcast Last In My Ears:- The WAN Show
  • Current State of Projects:- Knight Draconis about 75% done

The New Server

By

On 9th May 2025

In Blog

I have finally gotten around to sorting out a new server for the house.

Gone for a Fujitsu TX1310-M1 with a Xenon E3-1226V3 with 32GB Ram and even comes with a 512gb SSD and a pair of 3TB HDDs.

Got it for £130 which I don’t think is a terrible price, but when they went to ship it to me, they found they had lost the side panel and they contacted me to offer a discount of £26, which is accepted, I can always pop a Perspex cover on it.

It came on the Thursday and was delivered by DHL, coming at lunchtime.

So the planning started as soon as I hit buy on as to how best implement this and get it up and running and that started with the decision to run Proxmox on bare metal.

So that was installed and I created a ZFS pool with the two 3TB drives.

The first container I set up was for Casa OS, which would be hosting most of the media stuff, starting with the basics of PLEX and AudioBookShelf.

Once that was setup, I started setting stuff up, but I soon realised that I had a fatal issue, my hard drives with the media on were formatted in NTFS which docker doesn’t play nice with 😭

So I had to transfer data to drives that were being formatted in EXT4 or the ZFS pool, starting with the movies library, and then the slow process of the TV shows which would take some time annoyingly.

In the meantime I set up a second VM running Foundry VTT that me and Chris are going to play around with to see if it will prove a decent replacement for Roll20.

The data transfer took a good long while, there was a lot to transfer.

But alas, in my attempts to be clever I managed to delete the audiobooks and movies meaning I have to restore them from the offsite backups, and that could take at least a month to do that and sort out the metadata properly

But now it’s in place in what’s its permanent home, it takes up a lot less space and is significantly more powerful that what it replaced, I am quite happy with it and in the next few weeks we are going to set up Mealie

What I Am Painting

I spent the weekend at my sister in law’s and painted up the terrain that came in the £75 pack from Combat Patrol

I got the Stockades finished first

Then the Vox Antenna

And then the Landing Pad

Followed by the Auspex Shrine

Then finally a pair of Hab-Bunkers

After that I painted a squad of Ogryn Charonites for the Solar Auxilia

Followe by a squad of Phallax Warders for my Imperial Fists

And finally a trio of Rapiers for the Solar Auxilia

So what’s coming up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Scarab Occult Terminators & Infernal Master
  3. Dark Angels Incursors x 5
  4. Blood Angels Impulsor
  5. Imperial Knight Magara
  6. Carnivale Gondola
  7. Stormdrake Guard x 4 & Knight Draconis
  8. Imperial Fists Breacher Squad x 10
  9. Armiger Helverin x 2
  10. Deathshroud x 3

What I Am Reading

I listened to Leontus: Lord Solar by Rob Young whilst painting the terrain and that was really good

Right now I am listenting to Terror Firma by Joseph Lidster and Fulgrim: The Perfect Son by Jude Reid.

I also read We Were Brothers by Richard Fox which was pretty decent

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I played a game of Heresy with Graham at Durham Raiders, where I tried out Artillery with the Solar Auxilia, it did not go well, my positioning was terrible and his summoned Daemons ripped me apart

But it was fun and that’s what counts

I then played Dave at Hartlepool Gamers, where I lost, badly, but I could have won in turn 2 when all his reserves failed to arrive, but I am lot a dick so didn’t do that

When his reserves did arrive, the Gal Vorbak tore my ranks apart panel by panel

And again at Durham Raiders, I played a simple doubles game with Andrew where we took on Paul’s Iron Warriors and thanks to Andrew’s nasty plasma guns we won!

And finally I played 40K with Chris and took my Imperial Knights, we didn’t do too badly but it was still a loss

But I really felt like I held my own!

And when CJ came over one Saturday we played DnD with Megan DMing

What I Am Spending

I bought a controller holder for my peg board from eBay

IKEA discontinued these, annoyingly and I needed one more to hold my Duchess

I also grabbed some Deathshroud to complete the Death Guard Combat Patrol

And some Tempestus Aquilons for my Astra Militarum

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag went on sale on Steam, so I picked that up, and it also included Freedom Cry, and I managed to grab Assassins Creed Unity as well.

And I finally bought Grand Theft Auto V!

I also picked up in various bundles and sales

Not Exactly Impressed

By

On 14th April 2025

In Blog

So the Switch 2 Direct happened, and I am gonna be frank, not entirely impressed.

First off, whilst it was expected that it was going to use older technology, it’s quite a bit older than I would like, but I mean it’s still PS4/Xbox One level.

I mean it’s decent tech, but it’s gonna have to rely on DLSS a lot to hit that 4k, but then again, it might actually be capable of running Breath of the Wild without dropping to like 15fps in busy scenes.

Then there is the battery life, it’s worse than the original Switch, which isn’t exactly the best in the first place.

I get why they haven’t gone with an OLED screen given the already increased price, more on that in a bit, but it’s still a disappointment to not have there there.

As well as the lack of Hall Effect sticks, because the stick drift issues with the original JoyCons are huge and I am massively disappointed that they haven’t been bothered to give us JoyCons which would have avoided these issues.

And then that takes us to the cost.

The actual cost of the console, I get it, the bill of materials isn’t going to be cheap, TSMC have been raising wafer prices like crazy since 2020.

But the tutorial being paid, the paid upgrades for OG Switch games being quite high and the cost of new games is just crazy.

Nintendo have always charged as much as they can for games and it’s very irritating that Switch launch titles are now just as expensive as they were when they first came out.

Look if you work it out, pound for pound gaming, even on the Switch is going to be not that bad value if you play for a couple hours a week and have the console for say six years.

But man it’s rough, I get it, devs need to be paid, and being a poor person, I usually wait for a game to go on sale a few years later, I rarely buy the latest games because I just cannot afford it.

But I feel like this time, the lack of first party titles, which has always been Nintendos strength, most of the third party titles being older titles that run better on my other gaming devices, it’s just not doing it for me.

Oh and out of principle, I will never subscribe to Nintendo Online, I am sorry but putting the backup of saves behind a paywall if frankly ridiculous, especially on handheld device which is more likely to be lost, broken or even stolen, I mean it has an Micro SD card slot, why can I not backup my own saves.

Look maybe in a couple of years, when decent first party titles start filtering through, I will feel different, but right now I can’t see myself getting one.

What I Am Modelling

I started off the week with Swampboss Skumdrekk for the Kruleboyz

And that actually finishes off all my Kruleboyz for now

Then a Dankhold Trogboss for the Gloomspite Gitz

Which also completes all my current models for the Gitz

Followed an Imperial Fists Command Squad, this one is seven man, cause I 3D printed up some extra bodies to take advantage of the bits on the Command Squad sprue

Plus another Herald made with a 3D printed body and spare part from the Command Squad sprue

And I also painted up The Ancestors’ Wrath Einhyr Champion for the Leagues of Votann

As well as Kâhl Yôht Grendok

And a unit of Aeldari Guardians

And for Lindsay’s birthday I made some Otter Earrings

So what’s next in the queue

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Kellermorph & Neophyte Hybrids x 10
  3. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  4. Phallax Warders x 10
  5. Thousand Sons Terminators & Infernal Master
  6. Dark Angels Incursors x 5
  7. Ogryn Charonite Squad x 3
  8. Blood Angels Impulsor
  9. Imperial Knight Magaaera
  10. Carnivale Gondola

What I Am Reading

I finished Straight Silver by Dan Abnett in The Saint, and yeah that was a good one, it felt like it was going quite slow, and woah, it sped up and didn’t stop.

I listened to Assassinorum: Kingmaker by Robert Rath, which not only was the best Officio Assassinorum novel thus far, it’s also the best Imperial Knights novel so far.

I also listened to Three’s A Crowd by Colin Brake which was rather fun and as someone with a bit of agoraphobia, I really understood how the characters felt.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Had a game with Graham at Durham Raiders on Tuesday, in which we both tested out our Heresy Camp lists.

My Solar Auxilia did ok, but BS3 combined with my dice rolling was pretty frustrating when in turn 3 I just couldn’t hit anything for toffee.

As expected for me it was defeat, but I think I learned some lessons and long term now know the army needs more scoring units

And perhaps leave the Macharius and Malcadors behind and take more Leman Russ Vanquishers instead!

On Thursday I played another escalation league game of Age of Sigmar this time against Adam, and his Seraphon

That game went the typical way and I lost badly, but I did have a lor of fun removing my Orruks from the table!

On Sunday I played a game of Flamecraft with Lindsay & Megan

What Video Games I Am Playing

I started out with Horizon Forbidden West on PS5, which I am playing on Stream

What I Am Spending

We bought ourselves Avatar: The Last Airbender – Aang’s Destiny to replace Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle.

We enjoyed the mechanics of Hogwarts Battle, but sadly the IP is tainted beyond redemption by the bigot that created it.

Avatar is far nicer and far more wholesome.

And it only cost me 70p and its worth it for the LOLs, but I got The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which I am sure may be hilarious to play given its many many issues!

Finally Made It To Suffolk

By

On 25th December 2024

In Blog

On our fourth attempt, myself and Lindsay actually made it to Suffolk to visit my family.

We went at the beginning of the month, stopping at Nottingham so that Lindsay could do a days work in her office, she hasn’t gotten down there since the Pandemic.

So I was dumped in Warhammer World for the day, where I spent it working on the Solar Auxilia Army Focus article for the Edge of Empire website.

Luckily Lindsay’s office has free BEV charging points so she took advantage and charged the car to 100% getting us 250km of range, which is decent for the time of year.

We were about an hour later than planned due to a number of accidents that took us off the motorway, but made it with 14 miles left in the tank. Had some lasagna then off to bed.

After spending the morning with my mum and dad, we nipped out to charge the car, and have a bite to eat in McDonalds, before picking up three of the nibblings.

We then took them to Wendy’s in Colchester for lunch and played some mini golf in Hollywood Bowl.

After which we returned them home, and went to my parents where we enjoyed some fajitas!

And on Sunday we headed him, it was a super short trip, but we really needed to see my mum and I am really glad I did

What I Am Modelling

It’s been a tough few weeks due to the cold, and personal stuff, so not gotten a lot done

I started out with the Dwarf Fleet for Kings of War Armada

Then I painted up a squad of Phalax Warders for the Imperial Fists, this squad being fully 3D printed

I also painted up a table for Megan to decorate the Christmas cake with

And a character for my Word Bearers who can act as a Librarian, Diabolist or Esoterist

Next up I painted another Christmas Decoration, a Skyrim one!

Then my first Trench Crusade models, a pair of Communicants!

Then it was back to Christmas decorations with a The Luggage ornament for my sister-in-laws Christmas tree.

Then I expanded my UCM fleet for Dropfleet Commander with these Lysander Stealth Lighters

Followed by some Malcadors for my Legions Imperialis Solar Auxilia, the previous ones were to be frank, shit, so these were printed to replace those, its a much better set of STLs

And for the larger Solar Auxilia, some Cyclops Demolition Vehicles that I printed off, I really liked this STL, and think they will be super cool, if massively ineffective on the table!

After losing Smokey, I wanted to paint this STL I got from a Kickstarter last year in tribute to him, so I did, and we ended up with CyberSmokey, which is being put on the Christmas Tree.

I also painted a third Carnodon Tank for my Solar Auxilia to give me a full squadron for them!

After that I turned my attention to to a Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast got it finished up.

So what’s next in my Painting list

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Karazai
  3. Paragon Warsuits with Heavy Flamers
  4. The Dread Pageant
  5. Calth High Guard Lasrifle Section x 10 & Command Section x 4
  6. Dark Angels Impulsor
  7. Ardboyz x 10
  8. Skragrot the Loonking & Rabble-Rowza
  9. Allarus Custodians x 3
  10. Rockguy Troggoth x 3

What Video Games I Am Playing

Been playing more Assassin’s Creed Unity

What I Am Creating

We published the latest episode of Edge of Empire, the last for the year.

What I Am Spending

At Warhammer World, I bought myself a Rabble-Rowza for the Gloomspite Gitz

To convert some mini planes to Legions Imperialis, I bought two packs of Flying Bases from Warhammer World

A big purchase was buying Grahams old telly, a 65” LG Nanocell TV and boy is it amazing, best TV I have ever owned and it makes all sorts of media just look so bloody good!

We also got an LED strip to run round the back of it to use as bias lights

I also bought Lieutenant Titus for my Ultramarines, which came with a £10 voucher, which I will be putting towards a Malcador for my Solar Auxilia

Speaking of the Solar Auxilia, I ordered a Leman Russ Strike Tank, which will be built as a Command Tank with a Battlecannon, I also got a pit of Fanatic Matt White, which I desperately needed, and to make it up tit he free postage, I got a MKIII Command Squad for the Imperial Fists

Also for the Solar Auxilia I got an Aethon Heavy Sentinel to make up a full squad of three of them, plus a drybrush

And I topped up my resin supply with another 4kg of Sunlu ABS like in Dark Grey

I got a few little bits in the Steam sale

My Adventures with Changing Paints

By

On 28th October 2024

In Blog

Since I moved to Hartlepool, my options to buy paints have changed a lot.

In Chester-le-Street I was able to get to a ton of shops that carried the entire Citadel paint range, so it made sense to just continue using that range because if I ran out, I could nip into town, hit Boyes, the North East Model Centre or Warhammer to grab whatever colour I needed.

But in Hartlepool, well these are not really an option, I love my FLGS, Games-At-Hart, but they haven’t got the space to stock the full Citadel paint range, and the Middlesbrough store also doesn’t store the full range either.

So regardless of anything, I have to order some paints in, so I figured, why not try some other ranges, and since I renovated the studio and changed the paint storage, I have less room for Citadel pots.

The two main ranges I have been trying are The Army Painter Fanatic and Two Thin Coats.

It’s been a few months and I think my feelings have solidified on the new paints, and I have a real preference for The Army Painter Fanatic range.

It’s highly pigmented, smooth and just flows so nicely off the palette, it’s simply some of the best paints I have ever used. The older War Paints range, was to be frank some of the worst paints on the market, watery, poorly pigmented and just not enjoyable to paint with.

The Fanatic range is a total 360, the have done from making the paints I dislike using the most, to the paints that I prefer over all others.

I also tried a Speedpaint, and I am not entirely as happy with these, the 2.0 range has resolved the serious reactivation issues, but the way it flows is just not my favourite, and I actually prefer my washes and Speedpaints/Contrasts in a pot, I find them easier to manage that way.

I want to try the metallic Speedpaints, so I plan to order one at some point in the next couple of months to try it out.

Two Thin Coats are nice, I have mostly used them for metallics, but these whilst actually they are significantly more expensive for smaller pots.

But the range has a bunch of colours that simply aren’t covered by The Army Painter, so I can see Spartan Bronze being a permanent part of my supplies.

The one area where I have found The Army Painter lacking is their reds, I will be honest, they are lacking significant colours that other ranges have, and they lack vibrancy, so I am probably sticking with Citadel for these for now.

The Effects Paints I have tried have been fantastic, the two blood paints are just top tier, Dry Blood has particles in it, to replicate the effect of congealed blood, and the two rust paints are great together, but I have found that when combining with Ryza Rust and Typhus Corrosion, you can cover all kinds of rusty effects.

I have also got a couple of samples of TT Combat paints, but the colours I have, Supernova Chrome and Tech Ceramic, I haven’t had much opportunity to try out.

So yeah, a lot of the paints I use frequently are moving over to Fanatic, with some Two Thin Coats, but Citadel is strill going to be a large part of the collection as there are colour they do, that I simply prefer, especially the Shades and Contrasts.

Music Library

I am have started the process of getting mine, Lindsay’s and Megan’s music collection moved over to the media server in a more organised and ordered way, starting with some of the better albums we have, kind of the top 150 is being transferred right now.

I am taking the opportunity to get the files properly ordered and named properly and where needed, sorting out better quality files, because the digital collection we have, is very very old dating back to 1998 in some cases, and never really changed since the days it was ripped.

Its going to take a while to transfer it over, and I think I might need to replace the music drive, which is currently 1TB, so keeping an eye out for a decently priced larger one.

The most recent ten albums transfers were:-

  • Artic Monkeys – AM
  • Rihanna – Anti
  • The Cure – Disintegration
  • D’Angelo – Voodoo
  • 2Pac – All Eyez On Me
  • Erykah Badu – Baduizm
  • The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico
  • Sade – Love Deluxe
  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced
  • The Strokes – Is This It

Currently I am transferring over the Oasis discography because it was all in one random folder and easy to fix due to all being ripped at once.

What I Am Modelling

Started off with a Dankhold Troggoth for the Gloomspite Gitz, a nice lovely big model that acted as a nice pallet cleanser after all those Ultramarines

Then it was the Intercessors from the Space Wolves Combat Patrol

Followed by a Despoiler Squad of the Imperial Fists for the Horus Heresy, these were 3D printed a few months ago

And a Librarian to join them as well, again this was 3D printed

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Domicile Shell x 2
  3. Karazai
  4. Paragon Warsuits x 3
  5. Von Ryan’s Leapers x 9 & Winged Tyranid Prime
  6. Ultramarines Assault Squad x 10
  7. Charadon
  8. The Dread Pageant
  9. Phallax Warder Squad x 10
  10. Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast

What I Am Reading

This week I have been rather unwell with a nasty tummy bug that has really triggered my IBS and I have struggled to read, so not picked up the Kindle.

I did however finish Hand of Abaddon by Nick Kyme, which thankfully actually moved on the plot a bit more than recent books in the series have done, and the Kharadron were really cool in their Black Library debut.

I then listened to The Last by Gary Hopkins, and to be honest, it was a bit of a mess and I am not sure what the plan was here, it was dark, bleak and depressing, but it didn’t hold my attention.

There was a good concept in it, but that was basically ignored in favour of a more metaphysical storyline.

What Video Games I Am Playing

On Monday, myself, Chris and Graham played some Hell Let Loose which Chris streamed.

And I went back to some Space Marine 2 operations

What I Am Creating

I published a Combat Patrol Battle Report, this time between the Adeptus Custodes and the Chaos Space Marines

What I Am Spending

Got the last Leman Russ I need for my allied Solar Auxilia to take to Heresy Camp next year!

Got a couple of games too

Meet Smokey & Goodbye Jenny

By

On 16th September 2024

In Blog

We got another cat, meet DJ Smokey Suchong, aka Smokey, aka Smokey boy, aka Smokerson aka Smokestack!

Yeah he already has a lot of nicknames!

He came from Yarm Cat Rescue and since he arrived he has been a very shy timid and quiet boy, slowly adjusting to us

Most hiding behind the sofa, coming out at night, we are spying on him with the camera we have for Megan to monitor the bunnies when we are away

I did try to give him some tuna one Sunday as a treat, but alas, he savaged my finder and he must have thought he was being picked up, which he is not yet comfortable with, and gave me a nasty bite on my finger, which got very badly infected, resulting in two hospital visits, two courses of antibiotics and lots of pain. He is lucky he is cute!

But shortly after Smokeys arrival, Jennifur, our beloved old lady fell ill and after a short illness she sadly passed away at the age of 17.

It took us by surprise as until very recently she had been in perfect health with zero issues, and we are all very much devastated by this.

Jenny was a special girl and we are all going to deeply miss her.

3D Printing

The 3D Printer developed a fault just before WorldCon, the touchscreen died and could not be fixed via software.

But credit to Elegoo, they were super awesome and when provided with video and photos of the error shipped a replacement screen right away, and with the video they provided, was a quick 10 minute fix.

I now have it running fine, and figured out where to find the timelapse videos from, which is cool, kinda tempted to print something really big just to see the video!

Yeah I can see myself getting addicted to this particular hobby!

What I Am Modelling

So my 3D printer is now up and running and Turing into a little bit of a minis factory!

So I started off with this Overseer for my Imperial Fists, a new Consul without a model yet, and now he is gonna be part of the options I have for the Fists.

I then went on to paint up 20 Genestealers for my Tyranids, along with a Broodlord.

These were the classic models, but I popped them onto 32mm bases, and had to grab a couple extra sprues to have the minimum sizes for the latest codex

And then I painted up my two models of Roboute Gulliman, one that I got with the Triumvirate of the Primarch and the other with Imperium

After that I got some Squig Hoppers done, two units of 5, but thanks to unit size changes, I need another box of these

And this was followed up by a unit of Barbgaunts!

And then I finished up a Mega-Boss on Maw Krusha

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders x 2
  2. Dark Angles Captain, Lt & Aggressors x 3
  3. Paragon Warsuits with Multi-Melta x 3
  4. Domicile Shell x 2 & Guardian Idol
  5. Space Wolves Reivers x 5
  6. Rockgut Troggoths x 3
  7. Dark Angels Invader ATV x 2
  8. Ardboyz x 10, Ironskullz Boyz & Warchanter
  9. Treelord Ancient
  10. Leman Russ Vanquishers x 2

What I Am Reading

I finally finished reading The Heart of Iuchiban by Evan Dicken, which was good, but I am not sure why it took me so long to read, a review will follow in time!

Siege of Vraks by Steve Lyons was good, I wanted a bit, I dunno, more from such an iconic war when put to prose, but it was fine.

I read Edge of Catastrophe by Jane Killick and who could imagine a book about failed potato crops could be so thrilling!

I have now started on The Saint by Dan Abnett, which I have been looking forward to a lot, and I am listening to Reaper Man by Sir Terry Pratchett.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I finished Assassin’s Creed Rogue on Twitch

And I started and finished a playthrough of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine in time for next weeks release of the sequel!

And myself, Graham & Chris started playing some Space Marine 2 together!

What I Am Creating

The next episode of Edge of Empire was published

Doing some battle report videos for the Combat Patrol Magazine and published the Issue 01 video

What I am Spending

Got a few bits for some 3D printing!

First off some new resin to play with, following everyone’s recommendations I grabbed this bottle of Sunlu ABS-Like Resin, cause literally everyone was telling me this is the best sort to use!

Of course I then grabbed a 3kg bottle when I ran through the 1kgs worth!

I also grabbed some IPA to clean this with.

And a couple of pickling jars to put that in and do the job!

I also got the final issue of Stormbringer for the Dragons, this time just the bases, not so sexy, but oh so useful!

And I also got the last two issues to build Swampboss Skumdrekk, with the one from my subscription to be used to build a Snatchaboss on Sludgeraker Beast!

And I got the first issue of Combat Patrol

Plus a single copy of the second one

In terms of other video games, I bought the Capcom Summer 2024 Humble Bundle which netted me

Humble Choice for September got me

I also bought

Painting At Last

By

On 22nd June 2024

In Blog

Since Insulationgate last October, at least one wall in every room of the house has needed a coat of paint.

And yeah it’s a bit depressing, due to disagreements between the insulation contractors, the landlord and the government, we decided to cut them all out and decorate ourselves.

It’s not that we couldn’t have just waited for them to sort it out, it’s more, we want to avoid massive disruption, so we are doing this ourselves at our own pace.

Megans room is the first to be done, we had to start with a mist coat, which was very runny.

That was done on the Monday, two coats overall.

The on Tuesday, we did three coats of Brilliant White, yeah it’s full, but it’s what the rest of the rooms are painted. When you rent it’s often easier to keep what the landlord had, so we don’t need to redecorate too much when we eventually move out.

It took three coats, but we got there in the end.

The next room getting done is mine and Lindsay’s bedroom and we may at the same time do the ceiling in my studio.

The studio is going to get a bit of a refurb at the same time, we are adding the 3D printer there, so taking the time to change a few things up, especially now that Lindsay works up there and I will never be using the gaming table again as a result.

So yeah that’s about it, gonna do Lindsay’s room next week, and that will be fun!

What I Am Modelling

I started off with the Von Ryan’s Leapers for the Tyranid’s Combat Patrol

All that’s needed for this one now is to finish off the Barbgaunts

Then I painted a Vindicator for the Inperial Fists

After that I started on Krondys, Son of Dracothion

I also painted up this Guardian Idol

And I have a box full of Stormcast stuff that’s never been touched, so I am thinking of painting them up as Hallowed Knights, I already have Gardus Steel Soul painted up.

So I used the Gamer Grass base I got from the UK Game Expo to paint up this test model, which I am rather happy with

I then painted a Hellbrute for the Chaos Soace Marines Combat Patrol

Followed by two units of Sporesplatta Fanatics for the Gloomspite Gitz

So what’s up next for me then?

  1. Deathwing Terminators x 5, Terminator Ancient, Bladeguard Lieutenant & Apothecary Biologis
  2. Chaos Havocs x 5
  3. Paragon Warsuits with Heavy Bolters x 3
  4. Spirit of Durthu
  5. Sisters of Silence x 10
  6. Blade Champion
  7. T’au Commander
  8. Escape From San Canciano Gangs x 8
  9. Dark Angels Assault Intercessors x 10
  10. Genestealers x 20 & Broodlord

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Played my last two league games, first against Neal and his Genestealer Cults

And then I played Leon and his T’au!

Lost both games, and right now I am wondering if I lost the games, or if I won the Wooden Spoon!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Not much this week, but I did get a single session of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag streamed!

What I Am Winning

Won a copy of Football Manager 2024 from a Twitter competition on Twitter, which is nice, especially with Euro 2024 going on!

What I Am Backing

The Colour Forge Signature Series was fully funded, so hopefully soon I will get a nice can of spray paint and some stickers and cards!

What I Am Spending

I went ahead and bought my first Legions Imperialis models that aren’t Titans or Aircraft and grabbed myself a pair of Solar Auxilia Baneblades

Decided to LI that I am gonna go heavy on the Auxilia with only small amounts of Marines in support

I got myself a bargain and bought Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection for Steam.

Moved From Docker, But Its Better In The Long Run!

By

On 9th March 2024

In Blog

About a month ago, I realized that the geniuses behind Audio Book Shelf had released a native Windows version of the application. Until then, I had been running it in a Docker install. However, this method was slow and could only allocate 2GB of RAM, greatly impacting performance.

So, I decided to switch from Docker to the Windows version. Unfortunately, this transition resulted in the loss of all metadata due to differences in how Linux and Windows file structures operate.

Consequently, I find myself having to re-add all the metadata. While this isn’t an issue for much of the content, as Audio Book Shelf can scrape data from Audible, it’s a manual task for Big Finish, which constitutes the majority of my collection. Thus, it’s quite time-consuming.

Currently, I’ve managed to complete the metadata for all titles up to those beginning with ‘O’. Although it’s taking time, the effort will certainly be worth it.

Furthermore, I’ve adjusted settings so that metadata is now stored with the files rather than in a central database. This change aims to prevent similar issues in the future, particularly if I decide to switch my server back to Linux from Windows.

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting a Loonboss on a Giant Cave Squig for my Gloomspite Gitz

Followed by a Heavy Support Squad for my Imperial Fists, armed with Heavy Bolters.

Then I painted some Spite Revenants for my Sylvaneth.

As well as a Branchwych for them too

I then finished up a Penitent Engine for the Sisters of Battle

Before painting another Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig

I am now working on some Vigilors for the Stormcast Eternals

So whats up next?

  1. Vigilors x 10
  2. Nexus Syphon
  3. Chief Librarian Tigurius & Primaris Librarians x 2
  4. Homonculus
  5. Bloodletters x 10
  6. Saint Celestine
  7. Death Company x 10, Chaplain & Rhino
  8. Stabbas x 40
  9. Wulfen x 5
  10. Ultramarines Hellbalsters x 5

What I Am Reading

Not much, but I did listen to Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French which was very interesting.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

On Wedensday I played a Hartlepool League game with Leon, and his T’au kicked my arse!

I had another game of 40K for the Hartlepool League with Dale on Saturday, and despite his very good list, I didn’t lose as badly as expoected!

What Video Games I Am Playing

I have returned to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a few bits of DLC

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