Tag: Stormcast Eternals Page 1 of 2

Finding the Fun Again

By

On 29th August 2025

In Blog

As Warhammer: Age of Sigmar turns ten, I’ve been reflecting on how much the game has changed. and, more importantly, how much my relationship with it has changed. Somewhere along the way, the joy I used to feel slipped out of reach. I still love the models, I still love the worlds, but playing? That’s another story. And honestly, I don’t want it to stay that way. I want to find the fun again.

I was there on day one. I tried the new rules, I liked the look of the Stormcast Eternals (even if they did get called “Sigmarines” by everyone on the internet), and I stuck with it. The early days were rough, no points, no balance, just arguments about how to make a fair game. It really was the Wild West, and plenty of people hated it. They hated the death of the Old World, they hated the move to high fantasy, they said it looked like a game for kids.

But I kept going. And when the General’s Handbook finally landed, it clicked. Suddenly the game worked. By Second Edition, I was all in. Endless Spells were amazing fun, the Sacrosanct Chamber gave me my favourite models, and the Nighthaunt were some of the best villains we’d seen in Warhammer. Add in writers like Josh Reynolds, and the Mortal Realms felt alive and fresh. That was peak Age of Sigmar for me.

Then came Third Edition. The new Thunderstrike Stormcast were… fine, but they didn’t excite me like the chunky Liberators and Sequitors had. More than that, the whole tone of the game seemed to shift. Competitive play had always been there, but now it felt like the focus. And by Fourth Edition, things just broke for me. My beloved Sacrosanct models — not even six years old — were squatted. Yes, the Stormcast range was bloated, but wiping away entire playstyles in one go? That stung.

I’ll admit it: I was bitter. Very bitter. I didn’t buy the new starter box, shoved my Stormcast into storage, and picked up Greenskins instead. I joined an escalation league, but even then, the magic wasn’t there. The narrative side of the game had all but vanished, terrain felt like a box-ticking exercise, and every match seemed to orbit around the latest “meta” list. I wasn’t showing up to play anymore, I was showing up to hang out with friends, with the games themselves feeling like chores I had to get through before the actual fun started.

The return of Chaos Dwarves should have set my heart racing, after all, they were my very first army in any system, my first love in the hobby. The models themselves are incredible, beautifully sculpted, and exactly the kind of army that should make me excited to get painting and building. And yet… the thought of playing them in the current version of Age of Sigmar just turns me off. It’s not the models; it’s the game around them. The overly competitive focus, the meta-driven play, the lack of narrative feel, all of it saps the excitement I should feel for something so personal. It reminded me that no matter how much I love an army, if the game around it isn’t fun, the joy doesn’t follow and that’s something I need to fix for myself.

And part of that’s on me. Since my brain injury, I can’t hold rules in my head the way I used to. I was sharp once, but now I forget things, I get muddled, and honestly? I lose a lot. I’m used to that. But when the whole culture around the game feels like it’s built for hyper-competitive play, it leaves me feeling like there’s no space for someone like me who just wants to throw dice and tell a story.

But here’s the thing: I don’t actually want to give up. I still love the models. I still get excited when I see a new sculpt, even if I can’t muster the will to buy it. And deep down, I still want to enjoy the game. I just need to change how I approach it.

So here’s my new plan: stop chasing the meta. Stop pretending I care about tournaments. Stop playing like winning matters. Instead, I’m going to lean into the stuff that actually makes me smile. If that means turning up with a weird, suboptimal list, great! If it catches my opponent off guard, even better. And who knows? Sometimes those “bad” lists surprise people, and suddenly you’ve not only given your opponent a more memorable game, but you might even scrape an unexpected win.

That’s the kind of joy I want back. Games where my Orks run around being loud, messy, and hilarious. Games where my Knights crash into things just because it looks cool on the table. Boards that look like real places with varied terrain, even if it’s not ITC compliant. I’ve got 17 boxes of terrain that the competitive crowd says are useless, but they’re going on my tables anyway. I want battlefields that tell stories, not perfectly symmetrical chessboards where people measure gaps for half an hour before rolling a single dice.

I need to play more Heresy, it’s the game I love most. I’ve seen how stepping back from the competitive grind can change the experience. Take Graham, for example. He was once the most cutthroat, WAAC-focused player I knew locally. But since he started playing Heresy more for fun, he’s mellowed out. He still likes to win, of course, but he’s way more relaxed and chill these days. Watching him enjoy the game without stressing about the meta has reminded me that maybe I can do the same, that the joy of gaming doesn’t have to come from trophies or “perfect” play, but from simply loving the game itself.

And maybe I’ll spread my wings a bit more. Try Trench Crusade. Dip into The Old World if I can decide on an army. Play some historical with Bolt Action and maybe even some Napolionics. Explore games that don’t have the same competitive baggage, where the focus is back on narrative, creativity, and having a laugh.

At the end of the day, I don’t care about trophies or titles. I don’t care if I’m not “keeping up.” What I care about is fun. I want opponents who smile when they see my army, not because they think it’ll be an easy win, but because they know it’s going to be a fun game. That’s the whole point of this hobby.

Because let’s be honest: most of us got into this for joy. For the excitement of a new box of plastic, for the thrill of rolling that clutch dice, for the stories we tell after the game’s over. Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of that. But I’m ready to start looking for it again.

And that’s why I’ve started drafting my own little manifesto for fun gaming: a set of rules to keep myself honest and make sure the hobby stays joyful, for me and for anyone I play with.

My Manifesto for Fun Gaming

  1. Play what I love: If I like the model, the lore, or the look, it belongs in my army, meta can go to hell.
  2. Every list needs a curveball: At least one “weird” choice that isn’t optimal but makes me smile, and might just surprise my opponent.
  3. Paint at my pace: If a model sits on my desk for two months, that’s fine. This isn’t a race, it’s a hobby.
  4. Terrain should tell stories: Symmetry is for chessboards. I want tables that look like real places worth fighting over.
  5. Winning is optional, fun is mandatory: A memorable story beats a victory every single time.
  6. Celebrate the silly moments: A goblin felling a gargant with a lucky stab should be cheered louder than a finely-tuned combo working as intended.
  7. Make the game fun for my opponent: If they walk away smiling, it was a success, win or lose.
  8. Keep exploring: Try new games, new armies, or new scenarios if they spark excitement. Stagnation kills joy.
  9. No guilt, no grind: If I’m not enjoying it, I step back, take a breather, and come back when the spark’s there.
  10. Remember why I started: Dice, stories, friends, and toy soldiers. Everything else is optional.

What I Am Modelling

I started out the week by painting this Knight-Draconis, with the scheme of a Blue-Eyes white Dragon which my sister in law, Jane will get a kick out of

After that I finished up this Griffin from the BattleTech Beginners Box for the Federated Suns

For the Red Brigade I painted a Yeoman

A Trench Cleric

And a Trench Dog

I also cracked on with these Armiger Helverins for my House Taranis force

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Land Speeders
  2. Stormdrake Guard x 4
  3. Blood Angels Intercessors x 5
  4. Ultramarines Tactical Squad x 10
  5. Myari’s Purifiers
  6. Tempestus Aquilons x 11
  7. Red Brigade Warband
  8. Ork Warboss in Mega Armour
  9. Death Korps of Krieg Engineers x 6
  10. Dark Angels Firestrike Servo Turrets x 2

What I Am Reading

I finished The Silent King by Guy Haley, that was a lot of fun and wove together a lot of the novels published since 8th Edition, bringing together the Pariah Nexus and Dark Imperium stuff along with a few other bits I have yet to read

Its a shame the Dawn of Fire series has ended, if they had all been as good as that book, it would have been amazing!

I am now listening to Singularity by James Swallow, only about a quarter of the way through but so far, so good!

Also made some great progress with Era of Ruin as well, and should finish that in the next day or two, on the last story now!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

Myself and Megan played Unlock! Game Adventures and went through the Mysterium pack, and that was fine, a little confusing at times however.

I also played a game of Heresy with Graham, and weirdly I won!

But later on we realised that Graham remembered his Comptroller rule, he would have won by 1 point instead of me winning by 3!

What I Am Spending

I bought myself a paint top up, so glad Gamers-At-Hart are now selling Fanatic paints

I also picked up Liber Astartes, and a third Dracosan for the Solar Auxilia

In terms of video games, I did buy The Expanse: A Telltale Series, Silver Box Classics and Gimmick! Special Edition

A Very Basic Driving Sim Rig, Very Basic

By

On 20th January 2025

In Blog

I have been wanting to get a wheel for playing racing games for quite a while, and identified the Logitech G920 as what would be ideal for me a while back, but alas at £200-£230 it’s still relatively expensive despite being a rather entry level device.

So I was keeping an eye out on eBay and Facebook Marketplace, I post a few auctions on eBay, and Facebook Marketplace has an issue with people listing things for a stupidly low price and having no intention of selling it for that, or being a straight up scammer saying they will ship it from a warehouse in the EU if I PayPal them the money as Friends and Family.

But I kept at it, and in mid November I managed to secure a deal on Facebook Marketplace, which involved a back alley knife fight (I jest), the G920 for £90, and the seller even threw in a Playseat Challenge PlayStation Edition which was supposed to cost £200 on its own!

So I was over the moon with that, we met the fella in the car park of the Burger King at Teeside Park at 10pm, and he pulled up in a dodgy looking Transit, I handed over the cash and he gave me the stuff, which we had to stuff into the back seat of our car, whilst fitting me in at the same time!

I got to use it quite a lot initially upstairs, and it was a heck of a learning curve, I am great on controller but this is gonna take a lot of learning!

To add to the experience, Lindsay and Megan got me the Logitech Driving Force Shifter for Christmas, to add the manual gear shift to make it a bit cooler and more realistic.

I haven’t had a lot of chance to play with it, but I got it setup with the Playseat after Christmas and did some driving round in Forza Horizon 5, which was so much fun!

And before publication I got it all set up in Euro Truck Simulator 2 as part of my plans to regularly stream some of that.

Started the training for the game, and will be getting ready to start streaming a week Wednesday

What I Am Modelling

I started by painting the first Malcador for my Solar Auxilia

And finally Karazai the Scarred for my Stormcast Eternals

After that I painted some Heavy Intercessors that I had 3D printed

Plus a Lieutenant for them as well, armed with a Plasma Pistol and Power Sword

Alongside a Librarian in Terminator Armour from Combat Patrol

And another Librarian in Terminator Armour, but this one was joining the Ultramarines

After that I finished my Paragon Warsuits for the Sister of Battle, with these Heavy Flamer armed ones

I am now currently working on a 20 man Lasrifle Section for my Solar Auxilia

So what’s up next?

  1. Blood Angels Landspeeders
  2. Lasrifle Section x 20 & Medicae x 3
  3. Dark Angels Impulsor
  4. Ardboyz x 10
  5. Skragrot the Loonking & Rabble-Rowza
  6. Allarus Custodians x 3
  7. Rockgut Troggoths x 3
  8. Atheon Heavy Sentinels x 3
  9. Retributors x 5
  10. Ultramarines Terminators x 5

What I Am Reading

I finished Fabius Bile: Primogenitor by Josh Reynolds, an interesting listen, and I will be tackling the next two in short order!

I then listened to some Doctor Who audios, starting with Caerdroia by Lloyd Rose, and The Next Life by Alan Barnes, which finished off the whole universe without time arc, which I am very glad of, because that wasn’t all that enjoyable.

And finally The Juggernauts by Scott Alan Woodward, which was a lot of fun, 6 and Mel are very good together!

I am also currently slowly making my way through Eidolon: The Auric Hammer by Marc Collins.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

On Tuesday night I played a game of Ticket to Ride Paris with Megan and Lindsay

And I won with 33 points, just 1 point ahead of Megan!

I was supposed to play a game with Paul of Warhammer 40K, I debting my Deatg Korps of Krieg with this list from the Astra Militarium index

Krieg (2000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Cadian Command Squad (65 Points)
  • 1x Cadian Commander
     • Warlord
     ◦ 1x Laspistol
     ◦ 1x Power weapon
  • 1x Cadian Veteran Guardsman
     ◦ 1x Laspistol
     ◦ 1x Plasma gun
  • 1x Cadian Veteran Guardsman with Master Vox
     ◦ 1x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 1x Lasgun
     ◦ 1x Master Vox
  • 1x Cadian Veteran Guardsman with Medi-pack
     ◦ 1x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 1x Lasgun
     ◦ 1x Medi-pack
  • 1x Cadian Veteran Guardsman with Regimental Standard
     ◦ 1x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 1x Lasgun
     ◦ 1x Regimental Standard

Commissar (30 Points)
  • 1x Bolt pistol
  • 1x Chainsword

Tank Commander (225 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Lascannon
  • 1x Leman Russ battle cannon

Tech-Priest Enginseer (45 Points)
  • 1x Archeotech pistol
  • 1x Enginseer axe
  • 1x Servo-arm

BATTLELINE

Death Korps of Krieg (65 Points)
  • 1x Death Korps Watchmaster
     ◦ 1x Chainsword
     ◦ 1x Laspistol
  • 9x Death Korps Trooper
     ◦ 9x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 1x Grenade launcher
     ◦ 8x Lasgun
     ◦ 1x Vox-caster

Death Korps of Krieg (65 Points)
  • 1x Death Korps Watchmaster
     ◦ 1x Chainsword
     ◦ 1x Laspistol
  • 9x Death Korps Trooper
     ◦ 9x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 1x Grenade launcher
     ◦ 8x Lasgun
     ◦ 1x Vox-caster

Death Korps of Krieg (65 Points)
  • 1x Death Korps Watchmaster
     ◦ 1x Chainsword
     ◦ 1x Laspistol
  • 9x Death Korps Trooper
     ◦ 9x Close combat weapon
     ◦ 9x Lasgun
     ◦ 1x Vox-caster

OTHER DATASHEETS

Carnodon (160 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 2x Volkite caliver
  • 1x Volkite culverin

Carnodon (160 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 2x Volkite caliver
  • 1x Volkite culverin

Carnodon (160 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 2x Volkite caliver
  • 1x Volkite culverin

Cyclops Demolition Vehicle (25 Points)

Leman Russ Vanquisher (145 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Heavy bolter
  • 1x Vanquisher battle cannon

Leman Russ Vanquisher (145 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Heavy bolter
  • 1x Vanquisher battle cannon

Leman Russ Vanquisher (145 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 1x Heavy bolter
  • 1x Vanquisher battle cannon

Malcador (250 Points)
  • 1x Armoured tracks
  • 2x Lascannon
  • 1x Lascannon
  • 1x Malcador battle cannon

Medusa Carriage Battery (125 Points)
  • 1x Battery close combat weapons
  • 1x Medusa siege cannon

Medusa Carriage Battery (125 Points)
  • 1x Battery close combat weapons
  • 1x Medusa siege cannon

Not quite WYSIWYG because the Malcador has a Demolisher Cannon instead of a Lascannon, but otherwise it’s good.

Alas Lindsay was very ill so I had to cancel 🙁

But rescheduled for this coming Friday.

What Video Games I Am Playing

I completed LEGO Batman: The Videogame on the Steam Deck, which was ok, but I think I the lack of achievements didn’t serve my ADHD or need for constant validation any good!

Played some more Assassin’s Creed: Unity on stream.

And started on Resident Evil (2002)

I also spent a bit of time in the Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II Pixel Remasters, just clearing up the last of the achievements, getting them to 100%

What I Am Spending

I ordered 3KG of Resin for the printer, although it’s been a bit too cold to print at the minute

And because of the cold, Lindsay leant me the money to buy the mini heater for the printer, which has been amazing and is allowing me to print again!

I am now printing off some Earthshaker Carriage Batteries for my Solar Auxilia.

We also upgraded our DakBoard to a touchscreen, which is a lot easier to use than the old one.

I had to reinstall the DakBoard operating system on the Raspberry Pis MicroSD card, which was annoying, but other than that, its worked like a charm!

Still need to cable manage it however!

In the last days of the Steam sale, I picked up

And it was also Humble Choice so I got the following

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.

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

Battling Fatigue

By

On 18th February 2024

In Blog

The chest is feeling better, I am coughing less and I am able to climb stairs without needing my inhaler halfway up.

But the fatigue is another thing, I think I have spent more of the last couple of weeks in bed asleep, than awake, and its pretty annoying.

It having a marked effect on my memory as I am forgetting so much, and I have become a real burden on Megan and especially Lindsay as she has family stuff going on right now.

Hopefully I can push though it, and I will try as much as I can, that’s all I can do right.

What I Am Modelling

I started the week with a Nexus Syphon for my Age of Sigmar terrain box

And then a couple of bases of Ripper Swarms for the Tyranids

Then two units of Stabbas for the Gloomspite Gitz

And a Knight-Judicator for my Celestial Vindicators

After that it was 20 Termagants for the Tyranids

Then I painted a trio of Ork Warbikers!

I am currently working on Khagra’s Ravagers for Underworlds

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So what’s next?

  1. Khagra’s Ravagers
  2. Dark Angels Intercessors x 5
  3. Imperial Fists Heavy Bolter Heavy Support Squad x 10
  4. Spite Revenants x 10
  5. Penitent Engine
  6. Vigilors x 10
  7. Nexus Syphon
  8. Chief Librarian Tigurius & Ultramarines Primaris Librarian
  9. Homunculus
  10. Bloodletters of Khorne x 10

What I Am Reading

I finished The Talon of Horus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, which was really, really good!

I then listened to Flip-Flop by Jonathan Morris, which was quite unique, but a lot of fun. And then I moved on to Omega by Nev Fountain, which was ok, not amazing, but not terrible.

I am now listening to Creed: Ashes of Cadia by Jude Reid which is quite good so far, and absolutely makes me want to collect a Cadian army!

And I am still reading The End and the Death: Volume III by Dan Abnett, which is a very compelling book, but a big read, especially when I have fatigue issues!

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

A couple of games of the 40k league, but the third one I was due to play today, I utterly forgot about cause of the aforementioned issues, utterly unfair on my opponent and I feel like such a dickhead for it.

What Video Games I Am Playing

a bit more of Yakuza 0, its a weird game, but I am loving the story.

I also returned to the Halo Infinite campaign, the last time I had fired it up until last Thursday was the day Mary passed away, so I guess that explains why I didn’t pick it up again, especially as we moved house shortly afterwards.

What I Am Creating

I published the next battle report of Combat Patrol, this episode features the Drukhari taking on the Vangaurd Space Marines of the Ultramarines Chapter!

What I Am Backing

Nowt new, but I realised I forgot to pay for shipping on the Firefly: The Game – 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition project, so we got that done, and I cannot imagine we will get it until later on in the year and not in the main wave!

What I Am Spending

A few video games were bought

I picked up a copy of Stormbringer with a Loonboss on a Giant Cave Squig.

I also bought some Deathwing Terminators for the Dark Angels army that I am NOT building!!!

And a sponsor sorted me out with a set of the Boarding Actions terrain.

Media Server Transition

By

On 26th August 2023

In Blog

The Raspberry Pi I have been running my server on for the last 2 years has basically become insufficient to handle what I am asking it to do, getting a few failures and slowdowns.

So Paul has lent me Mary’s old HP All-In-One PC so we can transition the server to an X64 system until my plan to build a dedicated server that can also do transcoding can be realised.

The transfer went well, well 69 audiobooks somehow got lost, but I had local backups, so restoration of them was easy enough.

At first I was quite worried as it turned out the system was struggling to run AudioBookShelf as well, but it just took a bit of time for the new installs to verify the files and rebuild some of the metadata.

The machine only has 8GB of memory, 2GB which has been pinched by the integrated GPU, but alas it only has a single SODIMM slot, so when I upgrade the RAM it will have to be a replacement of the existing SODIMM.

So far it’s running pretty well, I am away in Brighton right now and watching a movie that’s streaming from my studio!

What I Am Modelling

I started the week by finishing Illuminor Szeras for my Necrons, which completes the army for now.

Might do a whole army over view at some point!

After that came a trio of Gondola Poles for Carnevale.

Then a Ogor Mawtribes Tyrant that I got with Stormbringer.

And a Stormstrike Charriot for my Celestial Vindicators.

Followed by the Tzaangors for Warhammer Quest, getting close to finishing Silver Tower!

After that it was a Ultramarines Ballistus Dreadnought!

Then a Terminator Captain for my Blood Ravens.

Alongside a Terminator Squad

And finally a Phobos Lieutenant for the Ultramarines, armed with a Combi-Weapon

So whats up next week?

  1. Elathain’s Soulraid
  2. Ultramarines Sternguard Veterans x 5, Victrix Honour Guard x 4 & Champion
  3. Strike Team x 10
  4. Termagants with Spine Fists x 20
  5. Mandrakes x 5
  6. Imperial Fists Heavy Support Squad with Lascannons x 10
  7. Gardus Steel Soul
  8. Blood Angels Infiltrators x 10
  9. Blood Ravens Balistus Dreadnought
  10. Ork Boyz x 10

What I Am Reading

I listened to Shadow of the Eighth by Justin D. Hill, always love a bit of Mika Lesk!

I also listened to …ish by Philip Pascoe which was ok, but not amazing.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

I got a game of Horus Heresy at Hartlepool Gamers last week, but I returned to my losing ways!

And my rats lost another Blood Bowl game too!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Played a bit more Assassins Creed Revelations which have been uploaded to YouTube on BigGeordieGeek Plays.

Played a bit of Boltgun too!

And I started playing Driver: Parallel Lines on the Steam Deck

What I Am Creating

Did another TikTok, this time on basing!

@biggeordiegeek Basic Grassy Base How I do my super basic Games Workshop style grassy base! #Warmongers #WarhammerCommunity #WarHamFam #WarhammerBases #Base #Basing #WarhammerBasing ♬ original sound biggeordiegeek

What I am Spending

Not much, my order of Minka Lesk x 2 and a Sisters of Battle Rhino finally arrived!

I did buy a Humble Bundle, the Spaced Out Bundle, that got me

I also bought a couple of other mini bundles

Flying the ‘Verse

By

On 20th May 2023

In Blog

The other weekend we had our friend Iain, a fellow games demonstrator, down from Scotland to play Firefly: The Game, which is one of our favourite board games!

So we took the whole day had snacks planned out and we laid out our Whole Damn ‘Verse Mat, and set up all the contact and supply decks and just played a very basic game, in which the aim was to raise $12,000!

We love this game so much, we actually have pretty much everything made for it that’s not a cosmetic upgrade, so we were playing with the Card Pack, Pirates & Bounty Hunters, Breakin’ Atmo, Blue Sun and Kalidasa. The only expansion we didn’t use was Crime & Punishment cause we wanted an easy bit of misbehavin’.

For ships, Iain took the Artful Dodger, Lindsay captained Jetwash, Megan sailed on the Emeralda and I was lugging around the S.S. Walden from Pirates & Bounty Hunters.

So there were some interesting differences in our tactics, I went for slow and steady with lots of space for cargo and passengers, Iain went for speed and more crew space, Lindsay wanted a fast ship with some tricks and Megan opted for a ship that could carry people who didn’t want any Alliance entanglements.

We had a great time and played for a good number of hours, but in the end, of course Megan won, me and Iain were quite close with just $200 between us, and Lindsay ended up with no meney!

One more turn and I would have won 🙁

It was a great day and I really want to get the game out again for some solo play sometime.

What I Am Modelling

I started out by painting my Dwarf Fleet for Kings of War Armada.

Followed by The Guild for Carnivale

And then I moved onto the Ultramarines Repulsor.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsFJQC4NtWV/?igshid=MTIyMzRjYmRlZg==

Then it was a pair of Invader ATVs for my Blood Ravens.

And then the Annihilation Barge for the Necrons.

Along with the Overlord!

After that I painted up Xandire’s Truthseekers from Stormbringer.

Alongside a Stormstrike Chariot.

I am now working on the remaining scenery for the Imperium table

So what’s up next

  1. Kairic Acolytes x 18
  2. Hedkrakka’s Mob
  3. Skaven Deathrunners x 2
  4. Catacomb Command Barge
  5. Swampcalla Shaman x 3 & Pot Grot x 2
  6. Ultramarines Outriders x 3
  7. The Rashaar
  8. Gutrippas x 10
  9. Kabalite Warriors x 10 & Archon
  10. Beast-Skewer Killbow

What I Am Reading

I finished up In the Coils of the Labyrinth by David Annadale and expect a review shortly.

I am now fully dedicating myself to Necropolis by Dan Abnett.

I am listened to Blood of Asaheim by Chris Wraight, which was ok, but you can tell it was some of Chris’s early work.

I have now started on The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks as an audiobook.

What Tabletop Games I Am Playing

When we had Iain over, as well as playing Firefly: The Game, we also played Firefly: Misbehavin’

We also played Firefly Fluxx, a few games of Just One and a game of Say Anything too!

And guess what, I didn’t win a single game all weekend!

I got to play a game of Warhammer 40K last night against some Eldar, and or course I lost!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Managed to finish the main game for Control: Ultimate Edition, which you can see on YouTube now!

I will be playing the rest of the side missions and the DLC in ad hoc streams over the next few weeks.

What I Am Creating

The latest Edge of Empire episode was published, and you can listen to it as an audio as usual, but now as a YouTube video as well!

And I made a vertical video thing on TikTok!

@biggeordiegeek Simple Light Leather Painting! #Warmongers #WarhammerCommunity #WarHamFam #PaintSlam23 #Painting #PaintingWarhammer #PaintingGamesWorkshop #PaintingLeather #MiniturePainting ♬ original sound – biggeordiegeek

The Assassin’s Creed II videos have now moved to BigGeordieGeek Plays now, so have been removed from my main YouTube channel.

And whilst I was at it, I uploaded the original game as well, so there is no more Assassin’s Creed left on the main YouTube channel!

What I Am Backing

My TTCombat Paints & Washes pledge arrived, which was a pair of paints to try out and a new painting mat.

What I Am Buying

I bought the Capcom Hero Collection at the £8 level and got myself:-

I also bought the Retro Rampage Bundle from Fanatical, which got me:-

I also grabbed the Bioware Mega Collection from the EA Steam sale, which got me:-

And I grabbed myself some objective tokens for my Drukhari!

London Calling

By

On 7th April 2023

In Blog

This will be a short one, I am in London spending the weekend showing people how to play Shatterpoint and Legion.

We woke on Monday to find the leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition outside, which was weird!

But my sleep has been all over the shop so I expect this weekend to be difficult.

Some Studio Remodel Plans

Ok the controller holders look pants, mostly cause I put them up so badly, so they are gonna come down next month and I am replacing them with some pegboards from IKEA so the controllers can be mounted and look great.

At the moment the controllers I want displayed are:-

  • PC Engine
  • Stadia
  • CD32
  • GameCube
  • Xbox 360 (Gonna replace this with a Xenon when that comes out in the summer)
  • Switch Pro
  • SNES
  • NES
  • Wavebird
  • Xbox Duke
  • Saturn
  • Tribute 64
  • Neo Geo CD
  • Dualshock 3
  • PlayStation Controller
  • Mega Drive
  • Mega Drive 6 Button
  • Steam Controller
  • Xbox Core
  • DualSense

Plus I think I have found a cheap NVIDIA Shield Controller, and I hope to have this in my hands by late next week, meaning all I want beyond that is a Luna controller. Actually I am not sure on that, it looks cool, but it doesn’t seem to have even the same interestingness as the Stadia controller.

I’d also like to display one of my SN30 as well if I can, that’s currently away in a drawer, its place having been taken by the Steam Controller.

I am thinking of getting two black Skâdis boards and mounting them one on top of the other above my desk, which should get me enough space to store the controllers, and hopefully eventually my Switch JoyCons and Wiimotes.

Plus I am gonna get a nice braided pair of USB A-C and USB A-Micro B cables to hang up there for use with the controllers when I want to use normally wireless controllers (I prefer to use controllers in wired mode for the lowest latency possible)

I am going to mount a RGB strip around the border of the whole thing to make it really gamery!

That said, its more expensive, but there are the Uppspel boards which whilst £10 more expensive, do look quite a bit cooler with that ROG branding. Either way the Uppsepel accessory kits will be getting used for some stuff as they are compatible with the Skâdis boards, and the magnetic strip would absolutely have some uses.

Thinking the straps might be a good way to store/display the Steam Deck when I get it.

Also I am hoping my Govee prize will come soon which could add some more coolness.

And finally, I am considering a clock, I know I have one on the PC, but I think I want a physical one, oh and a couple more fake plants.

What I Am Modelling

I started out by painting the second Firestrike Servo Turret for the Space Wolves.

After this I painted a pair of Lokhust Heavy Destroyers for my Necrons.

A bit of scenery followed with a set of Thermic Plasma Conduits that I got from Imperium to add to the house scenery box.

Then a Praetor Prime for the Strormcast Eternals.

Followed by a Knight-Arcanium for that army.

And finally some Reavers for my Drukhari.

So what will be up to paint once I am, back from London!

  1. Ultramarines Assault Intercessors x 10
  2. Man-Skewer Bolt-Boyz x 6
  3. Necron Triarch Stalkers x 3 & Triarch Praetorians x 5
  4. Kairic Acolytes x 18
  5. Drukhari Helions x 10
  6. Imagifier
  7. The Guild x 8
  8. Ultramarines Repulsor
  9. Hedkrakka’s Madmob
  10. Skaven Deathrunners x 2

What I Am Reading

I finished Echoes of Eternity as an audiobook, and yeah, what a story, really blows my mind away!

I listened to The Eye of the Scorpion by Iain McLaughlin, which was fairly good, would have been great if it had been made into a TV serial, but alas. Anyway that brought me 2 years into the Monthly Adventures series!

I then listened to Colditz by Steve Lyons, which as well as being an interesting story of growth for Ace, is also the Doctor Who debut of David Tennant, in a villainous role, which in my opinion is just as insidious as his portrayal of The Purple Man!

Then I moved on to Primeval by Lance Parkin, a bit of a sequel/prequel to the first Nyssa story, The Keeper of Traken. Very good story and I loved how it expanded on that story and established a deeper understanding of the culture and history of Traken.

After that it was The One Doctor by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, which was an awful lot of fun, Christoper Biggins really made that a fun listen!

After that it was Invaders from Mars by Mark Gattiss, which was very good, especially with Simon Pegg camping it up as the gangster!

I finally finished processing my Big Finish Doctor Who audio stuff on to the audio book server, and oh wow that was a slog that has taken over six months to get sorted!

Mind you its a complete collection dating back 25 years, so yeah its a lot of stuff to sort out, would be easier if the software could scrape data from Big Finish, but sadly it can’t so I have to enter the data in manually!

What Video Games I Am Playing

Played a bit more of The Witcher 3, have transitioned to using the Steam Controller, just to really give it a go.

But alas the game still has major crashing issues, and I get maybe an hour and then it crashes to the desktop 🙁

I tried to play Control on stream on Tuesday night only for OBS to keep crashing so I gave up, edited what videos I had together, and then uploaded them.

I have now transferred the gameplay videos for Horizon Zero Dawn over to the Big Geordie Geek Plays channel, so you can find them there, if you want mind-numbingly bad game play videos!

What I Am Spending

I bought Vampire Survivors, it looked alright for a few quid and well, it did win the BAFTA, the bundle I got also came with its expansion, Legacy of the Moonspell.

I also bought a few bits of DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2, the Wheel Tuning Pack, Heavy Cargo Pack, Special Transports, Vive la France!, Beyond the Baltic Sea and the High Power Cargo Pack.

For a £1.46 I bought a LucasArts Adventure Pack, which came with The Dig, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, all classics from my childhood!

And cause it was super cheap, and I really fancy playing it again after having last done so on the Sega Saturn, I bought Resident Evil HD which came with Resident Evil 0 HD.

My Humble Choice also came out this week for April, and that got me:-

Happy New Year

By

On 8th January 2023

In Blog

Ok well 2023 is here and I am really hoping it it’s not gonna be the massive bag of dicks that 2020, 2021 and 2022 were, I really want this to be a better year.

I have planned out some resolutions and ideas I want to carry out, which you can see here.

For New Years Eve I spent a couple of hours at Paul’s, but the damn cold/flu has still kicked my arse and I am struggling with spending time out of the house for far too long.

So I returned home and played some The Witcher 3.

New Years Day we went to Megan’s parents and had a roast dinner, but the ill left me barely conscious for most of it.

A Less Ideal Bit

Sadly our street saw a murder this week, and a fella was purposefully run over, we ended up stuck in the house for two days unable to leave as the whole street was a crime scene.

It’s left us all a bit shaken, I mean it’s the last thing you expect, but it is what it is.

What I Am Modelling

I started off by painting the Lord Veritant for the Stormcast Eternals, need to sort out a list for the AoS Weekender for them.

After which I painted the Contemptor Dreadnought, for my Imperial Fists.

I then painted up a pair of apothecaries for the Imperial Fists too!

I then painted up Sigismund to lead my Imperial Fists in the great battles of the Horus Heresy.

And finally I finished up the Land Raider Spartan for the Imperial Fists!

I am currently preparing to work on a squad of Ultramarines Intercessors for my 2023 Resolution army.

So what’s coming up next week?

  1. Ultramarines Intercessors x 8
  2. Silver Tower Heroes
  3. Blood Angels Repulsor
  4. Templar Brethren x 10
  5. Hobgrot Slittaz x 20
  6. Kâhl & Einhyr Champion
  7. The Crimson Court
  8. Ultramarines Lieutenants x 8
  9. Battle Sisters Squad x 10
  10. UCM Vancouvers x 3

What I Am Reading

I published a review for The Siege of X-41 by Tristan Palmgren which you can read here.

And a review of Stars and Stripes by Sean Grisby and Stewart Hotson which you can read here.

I read Age of the Undead by C. L. Werner and that’s was alright, a review will come next week.

I have since started on The Veiled Masters by Tom Pratt and i have read one chapter thus

I did listen to the audio book of Hostile Takeover by David Liss and it was okay, it was fine just not up to the standards of the Aconyte novels.

What Video Games I Am Playing

New Years Eve I started my new play through of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition with the next-gen update.

So far I have logged 4.9 hours.

What I Am Winning

I won a copy of the model railway game, Blocks Tracks Trains, which looks fairly cool.

I won a copy of The Jumping Cookie on PlayStation, so that was cool!

I also won a copy of Wobbledogs on Steam, which is cool.

I also won a copy of The Whisperer, which looks like a cool game.

A copy of Theatre of War was also won!

And for Xbox I won a copy of Silenced: The House.

What I Am Spending

I bought a little tool kit for electronics, specifically for the Nintendo Switch Triwing bit.

Megans stocking had a new shell for a Joycon, in her favourite colour, purple!

So this means in the house we will have a Joycon in the favourite colours of myself (green), Lindsay (pink), Paul (blue) and now Megan!

I also picked up some Command Strips to help me mount a few things on the wall, specifically an extension lead for Megan’s dressing table so she can easily use her hair straightens and hair dryer.

Plus it means at long last we can mount her Hue Light Strip, all 3 meters of it.

On Friday, from a yet to be announced sponsor, a new webcam, the Elgato Facecam, which really has elevated my setup above and beyond what the Logitech C920 did!

Really happy with this bit of kit, it required a bit of work on my set up, but damn it looks good now in OBS

Paramount Sucks

By

On 17th November 2021

In Blog

So today we got the news that Paramount has decided to pull Star Trek Discovery from Netflix and force the UK to wait until early 2022 to get season 4.

Well that just sucks balls and I am gonna be clear, I am not gonna wait, I will pirate it, why, because USians can’t help but spoil stuff.

Was the same with series 1 of The Mandalorian, so yeah, so will pirate it, and I will make it clear that this policy makes me extremely unlikely to subscribe to Paramount+ at all and I will pirate subsequent shows.

The golden era of streaming has ended as the market fragments as every company wants a piece of the pie.

But well, I need to dust off my pirate hat once again.

Home Assistant

Today I took the old Core 2 Duo that was originally going to be used as a NAS until we discovered that the PC can’t run FreeNAS and I installed Home Assistant on it, running on a virtual machine in Debian.

It’s gonna be a lot of work to configure, but I look forward to the challenge.

Windows Reinstall

I have had to reinstall Windows 11 on my main PC, I wanted to move away from the Dev Channel as I now need stability, but that necessitated a full reinstall, not a huge deal but it’s done now.

Got the PC more or less back to what I want it to be.

What Am I Modelling

I started the week off by painting a Shokkjump Dragsta for my Orks.

I had found my Macrotek Enginseer amongst a load of 40K Adeptus Mechanicus stuff, so I got them built and painted next.

After which I turned my attention to Sigmar finest, Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear & the Celestant Prime.

I got them more or less finished at the same time, but they are such important models I felt they deserved their own posts on Instagram.

I ended up painting them in the traditional Hammers of Sigmar colours, because I really want them to stand out on the tabletop and also stand apart from my Celestial Vindicators, because that’s how important their roles in the army is.

I then started work on Obi-Wan Kenobi for my Grand Army of the Republic force for Star Wars Legions.

So what’s in my painting queue for next week?

  1. Obi-Wan Kenobi
  2. Necron Skorpekh Destroyers x 6, Warriors x 3 and Canoptek Plasmacyte x 2
  3. Blackstone Fortress The Archivist
  4. Adeptus Custodes Wardens x 5
  5. Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Bolter Team x 3
  6. Blackstone Fortress Ambull & Borewyrm Infestations x 2
  7. Ork Flash Gitz x 5
  8. Grand Army of the Republic BARC Speeder
  9. Necron Warriors x 10 & Lord Hasmoteph the Resplendent
  10. Imperial Knight Warden

What Am I Reading

Not a thing, but I did listen to the audiobook of Dominion which was quite good, really good plot and lots of cool action.

What Video Games Am I Playing

But of a mix, mostly Forza Horizon 4 and Forza Horizon 5.

I did finish Halo 4 and have now started on Halo 5 Guardians.

Also Halo Infinite launched so I have a bit of a play in that.

What Tabletop Games Am I Playing

Not a thing 🙁

What Am I Creating

I put up the latest battle report for Imperium and that’s about it.

What Am I Backing

Not a sausage, but I have now confirmed the pledge manager for Avatar: Legends and the shipping and add on costs for Orlog were taken.

For Orlog I ended up adding on the glow in the dark dice, the Valhalla dice set and the linen mat.

What Am I Cooking

Sadly not a thing, I need to change that.

What Am I Spending

Not a lot as very much broke.

I did purchase the Festival DLC for Tropico 6 from the Humble Store, and Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force on GOG

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