On Friday night we had a midnight release for Warhammer 40,000 Armageddon!
I have played more of 10th edition than I ever did 9th or even 8th, maybe not as much as 7th.
That said, 10th has been my least favourite edition of the game, simply because it feels like the Editon in which I have struggled most to get a win, and there were way too many gotcha moments.
11th looks to be on the one hand more of the same, but at the same time, things like unit coherency meaning a unit must be in 9” of each other is very useful as it stops the Poxwalker conga line, which is just so frustrating.
I still feel like the rules overly cater to the competitive scene and casual narrative players get very little, but let’s see how it develops.
I do hope when the new Space Marine codex drops they lose Oath of Moment cause that’s just way too powerful when combined with some of the detachments.
But let’s see how it does.
Paint-A-Thon
My annual Paint-A-Thon returns after a one year hiatus, and I am going to paint the Space Marines Combat Patrol from Armageddon over tow 12 hour sittings on the weekend of 26th and 27th July, I am hoping to raise £150 for the Willow Foundation, in memory of one of my closest friends, Lee Dunford.
Someone has challenged me to change it up and make it a 24 hour Play-A-Thon and have me play as many games of whatever system or even several in 24 hours, but that’s something I would need to sit down figure out and find a suitable venue, but it’s a possibility at some point.
I did want to paint an infantry squad for the French but I ran out of a couple of main colours I am using for them so that’s gonna wait until I can restock them next week
After that I painted up a Sd. kfz 222 in late war dunkelgelb
I finished listening to Fist of the Imperium by Andy Clark and I have to say it seemed super familiar, not sure if I have previously read it or it’s just very samey, it was fine, not the best, but not the worst.
After that I listened to The Gathering by Jospeh Lidster, and it’s really a very awkward book, not at all that great, the plot was stretched out and the sound mix was just dreadful, kinda sad cause Tegan was great in it and the story was a disservice to her.
After that I listened to The Romanov Project by Niel Bushnell, and it was ok, not the best written but ok, there were a few weaknesses and it was kinda middling
What Tabletop Games I Am Playing
We had a day of Horus Heresy at Durham Raiders, and due to illness and just life my advertising of it was terrible so we only had a few people, but it was nonetheless quite fun.
I bought a new monitor, this year I was gonna upgrade my PC platform from AM4 to AM5 and get a 7800X3D, but fucking Sam Altman the prick and the other AI bastards put paid to that.
Literally the only upgrade I could really do was to my monitor, and I got this one on an Amazon Warehouse deal for £310 which is so much better than I could have hoped for.
Originally I was looking at a decent Alienware one, but the cost of this on the deal plus a new monitor arm came in quite a bit cheaper!
Also got Megan a new monitor arm too as she inherited my old main monitor and now is enjoying my old CPU, GPU and Monitor now!
Humble Choice also happened and I got this out of it
I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the way I stopped getting excited about new codexes for Warhammer 40,000 and started getting excited about the Napoleonic Wars.
These days I’m just as likely to be reading something like French Tanks of World War II by Steven J. Zaloga as I am flicking through Warhammer content, and when I look at new projects, I’m browsing Napoleonics as well as the latest Games Workshop release.
Which led to a slightly uncomfortable realisation:
“wait… am I a grognard?”
The word “grognard” actually goes back to the Napoleonic Wars, where it was used to describe Napoleon’s veteran troops, the grizzled soldiers who had seen enough to justify a bit of grumbling and bitterness.
In modern wargaming, it’s become shorthand for the kind of player who cares about historical accuracy, rules, and whether your unit really should have that equipment. A player who is less about the sci-fi settings of Warhammer 40,000, or the low fantasy of Warhammer: The Old World, and more about systems, structure, and coherence. The kind of person who can open a drawer and have multiple tiny-scale Napoleonics ready to go, with different forces representing different eras of a war.
In other words… the sort of person I may be slowly turning into.
I’ve always been a WYSIWYG player for myself, and yes, I’ll admit it—I sometimes silently judge those who aren’t. Not in a serious way, more in a “hmm… interesting choice” kind of way. Definitely not gatekeeping. Probably.
For example, my Heresy Death Guard don’t really do fragile or complicated weaponry. Very little plasma, no volkite at all. They’re bolters, flamers, meltas, and lascannons. They footslog rather than bounce around with jump packs, and when it comes to vehicles, it’s tracks and wheels only—nothing overly exotic or suspiciously floaty like grav tech.
Even when options were available in earlier editions, I tended to keep things grounded. In 2.0, they all carried chainswords when that was an option, because lore-wise it just made sense: standard kit, used sensibly, no unnecessary faffing about.
That said, I don’t expect anyone else to play like that. That’s important to me. I don’t gatekeep—I just quietly assume my way is correct and move on with my life. (Joking. Mostly.)
It’s the same with painting. Because I have the time, I insist on fully painted armies for myself. I won’t put unpainted models on the table. But I’m not about to enforce that on anyone else. People have jobs, families, studies, and significantly more important things to do than debating whether that shade of grey technically counts as “battle ready”.
What’s slightly concerning is that the same instinct that makes me design sci-fi armies like miniature historical organisations is now pulling me further towards actual historical wargaming.
Bolt Action in particular has started enabling this behaviour. Instead of building lists that are remotely efficient, I’ve found myself constructing early-war Germans as if I’m curating a museum exhibit, very specifically 1940 to 1942, carefully avoiding “just taking the good stuff” and instead focusing on what feels appropriate for the period. Which is a very normal and well-adjusted way to approach a wargame, obviously.
And I am already planning the next army: a French force to counter it, built around artillery, inexperienced conscripts, tough but flawed tanks, and hastily reactivated WWI Renault FTs.
Even outside the tabletop, it’s spilling over. I played Assassin’s Creed: Unity, told myself I was just enjoying the setting, and then suddenly I’m reading about the French Revolution and Napoleon like I’ve got a dissertation due.
So now the hobby doesn’t feel like separate systems anymore. It feels like different ways of scratching the same itch: structure, narrative, and making toy soldiers behave like they belong in a coherent universe rather than a random pile of statistics.
And I think that’s the shift. Not away from sci-fi or fantasy—but towards becoming the sort of person who says things like “coherent force structure” without irony.
As for Napoleonics, I’ve acquired some STLs and I’m just trying to figure out a system to use. Black Powder is tempting, but my friend Ken highly recommends Sharp Practice. Either way, I’m going to be that basic bitch, which, let’s be fair, I am, and play the Grande Armée.
But I am not leaving behind the Games Workshop stuff. The Horus Heresy remains my favourite setting, and the 3.0 ruleset is my favourite yet (although the missions are not great and are really holding the game back).
I like narrative-focused games, which, with the current way Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 are played, is increasingly difficult. Standard terrain layouts make it hard to run asymmetrical, story-driven games rather than simply racking up points.
These games are very meta-driven, and that’s just not me. I want thematic armies, scenario-driven play, and less obsession with having the perfect list.
But these games do allow for a lot of freedom, exaggeration, and creativity, while historicals give me constraint, realism, and interpretation. I’ve realised I don’t have to choose one philosophy of gaming—the hobby, for me, has always been a spectrum, and I’m just expanding it. It doesn’t need to be binary.
I think this is how I’m going to approach things from now on. I want a choice of armies I can use for different systems, and that means focusing on one or two “main” armies per system and putting the rest into long-term storage.
So I need to go through what I have at home, compare it to what’s in storage, and decide what becomes my core collections, then store the rest. That doesn’t mean I won’t add to them, I probably will, because I love having variety to paint.
I’m going to keep Combat Patrols available because that’s such a fun format, but I’ll have one, perhaps two armies (so Megan and I can play together) for each system:
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer Age of Sigmar
The Horus Heresy
Bolt Action/Achtung Panzer
Some form of Napolionics
Probably something for Sage
Legions Imperialis
Trench Crusade/WWI
Something fantasy, probably The Old World
This will give me some much-needed space and allow me to develop historicals in a way that represents different eras and theatres. For my Germans, I want a collection that covers early war, Afrika Korps, and eventually Normandy/D-Day, giving me a range of matchups. Meanwhile, my sci-fi and fantasy collections can remain more fluid and constantly evolving.
Terrain-wise, I’ve already sorted my fantasy setup, and I think that will work for Age of Sigmar, The Old World, and D&D. My home 40K terrain is probably going to shift in a new direction, I’m thinking a trench-focused set with two building styles: one sci-fi and one more real world. That way it can cover both world wars and Trench Crusade. One larger box of 3D-printed trenches, and two smaller sets of buildings.
So yeah, I’m not leaving behind fantasy and sci-fi, just expanding the hobby and making things at home a bit more organised.
I still love the grimdark of Warhammer 40,000, and I always will. But I’ve also found myself increasingly drawn to the structure, detail, and reality of the Napoleonic Wars and the World Wars.
So maybe the question was never “am I becoming a grognard?”
Maybe it’s simply that I’ve realised the hobby was always big enough for both.
What I Am Modelling
I painted up a Panzer I for my Germans, thinking of doing another one cause it seems like it’s gonna be good at supporting the infantry in Bolt Action
After that I painted up an Sd.Kfz 265 which I need for my Bolt Action escalation list, turns out that my idea of taking a Panzer I as a command tank doesn’t work as it can only be taken in this form as the Panzerbefehlswagen
The game was a loss for my, by a lot, but my army scored a lot more kills than normal, the Demolisher cannons proved their worth and my Malcadors were the MVP of the game
The major problem was that the intelligence of my Solar Auxilia is just not good enough to compete in a Relic mission with the Mechanicum, but the mission was great and I throughly reccomend them
On Thursday we started the Bolt Action escalation campaign and I am starting with this list
Rifle Platoon
Oberleutnant - Regular SMG
Heer Infantry Squad x 7, Regular, LMG, NCO with SMG
Heer Infantry Squad x 7, Regular, LMG, NCO with SMG
Sniper Team - Regular
Light Mortar Team - Regular
Armoured Patoon
Panzerbefehlswagen - Sd. Kfz 265
Panzer 38 (t)
I was playing Ken’s Soviet Workers Milita and it was a really nice army he had painted up
It was a pretty good game, but the game turned when Ken’s Ampulomet took out a squad of Heer, and my other squad attempted to run up the flank, but were wiped out by a combination of a machine gun team and a mortar shot!
I played a second game of Heresy against Russell, I took the list Inplayed against Graham with, just added a Stormhammer as we played 3500 points
The game was just the basic kill the other team scenario, and it was really a lot of fun, but my dice rolling was attribute and I went 2 1/2 rounds without rolling a 7 and thus didn’t hit anyone and I really think that hampered my results
It ended up being a loss of 31-17, which was fine, it was first game and I have learnt a lot, I just took a starter list suggested by one of the fan sites
Learnt an awful lot, and really had a good time!
What Video Games I Am Playing
I played Verdun for the first time, that was kinda cool
More of the From Meuse to Volga, 1940-1942 was delivered, including the vehicles, the pioneers and a bunch of stretch goals, including the PAK 36, which I have printed two of
I fancied watching They Were Not Divided, but couldn’t find it anywhere on a streaming service, so bought it on DVD cheap from eBay to add to the PLEX server
When I was at school we saw an advert from the early 60s which had a family sitting down to eat breakfast, and the dad tried to have some cereal, but the milk was off, then he tried to have toast but the butter was rotten, and his daughter just says “dad, don’t you think we should get a fridge!”
And that stuck because the fridge is such a ubiquitous thing that everyone owns and I have always wondered what other things might fit the same narrative, and so far computers and mobile phones have fitted that
I think it’s going to need a model similar to the Bambu A1 Mini to hit the £99 mark for it to happen, but I really can see that coming soon.
The A1 Mini currently sells for £149.99 and I have seen it regularly on sale for £129.99, and it’s a really decent little printer that does what you want really well, and can be upgraded with the AMS Lite for 4 different filament colours/materials.
But why do I think they are going to become so common, well it comes down to the fact I think they are just so helpful, especially the FDM stuff.
So yeah with the above Instagram post, Megan wanted a Skadis door for their Kalax unit, but Ikea stopped making that, so I printed off a couple of bits in PETG to allow a normal Skadis board to be hung on the side of it
Or where we replaced pegs on the Socktopus instead of buying a new one
I completed one of the aims of this year, and sorted out my Stormcast Eternals army into what can be used in 4th editon and it turned out to be a lot more than I though!
I then listened to The Settling by Simon Guerrier, which was pretty good, nice to see something that actually portrays Cromwell as the villain he actually was
And my final game was against Leon, a good friend and his T’au Empire army, I did much better in this game, but my dice let me down, a lot, but I felt it was more even
This past Sunday we held our first Heresy event for the year, we only had 10 people but that was enough to have some fun
The missions were completely rewritten by Graham, apparently my planned ones were pretty bad, but I will keep trying to get something that works, but you can download the ones Graham wrote here
Anyway game one was rather fun, we have some nice pairings and Graham was grudged, although I think James regretted it when Graham shot down his Storm Eagle
For me the moment of the day was when Graham’s Kytan Daemon Engine took on Damian’s Knight-Castigator in combat, and the Kytan beat the knight severely
I played a game of Combat Patrol against Megan, they played Drukhari against my Scions and well I started out ok, but they absolutely hammered me in the end
I have joined a group but to get From Meuse to Volga, 1940-42, a campaign for some early World War II German STLs.
What I Am Spending
We bought a new TV stand, the old one that came with the TV was fine, but these days you really need to have soundbar cause with the thinness of a modern TV, the speakers are total shite
But the current stand with the Soundbar in in front of the TV, results in the IR sensor being blocked and out TV uses that for being turned on, which means we had to do some gymnastics if we sat down and had not turned on the TV, to get the remote in a potion to hit the IR sensor
This one was £26, it’s simple and it’s fine, does the job fantastically!
I also picked up Sniper Elite 3 with its season pass for £2.65
This week, I have been doing my best to stay positive and trying to focus on the things that have been positive for me, instead of focusing on the bad in the wider world
So this well, I have been super happy with hot chocolate, sounds silly, but since my doctor was a bit serious with me about my diabetes I have worked to really cut down my sugar and whilst I am imperfect at it, I am doing better, and part of that is replacing my chocolate hit with hot chocolate, which is better than the sugar bomb of say a penguin
And cause we have some sugar free syrups, I like to add a shot of chocolate (bear with me) and a shot of vanilla, which is a really nice Yule Log flavour.
And in my studio I have a Dolce Gusto machine, which I use to make some Galaxy Light which is super nice and lower in sugar.
What I Am Modelling
I started out the week by painting a Luchs I had 3D printed for my future Late War German force to play Bolt Action with
Finished the Prosecutors for my Celestial Vindicators Stormcast EternalsI much prefer the older models however#WarhammerCommunity #WarhammerAoS #StormcastEternals #CelestialVindicators
And I have made a bit of progress with Dropsite Massacre by John French, but I am finding it hard to concentrate with the headaches I am getting of late (related to the brain injury, perfectly normal for me, worse in the cold)
What Tabletop Games I am Playing
I played a 3k game against Graham with this list I am taking to Warhammer World in February
These are ones I feel are going to be easily accomplished by trying to engage more with the community both through the podcast and my local gaming groups.
I have the past couple of months been posting every week in Friday Night Wargames of Hartlepool Gamers to ask what hobby people have been up to, and I think it’s helping with engagement in the group
So what are they gonna be!
Paint More Models
I mean pretty much self explanatory, here is the list of my models painted from last year, so let’s do a bit more and work on that pile of potential
Play More Games
Simple as that just play a bit more, try and play at least once every other week either at Durham Raiders or Hartlepool Gamers, and I really want to play some Bolt Action, and I am gonna bully Graham to play with me too, and some Trench Crusade would be good too
Focus on a Select Few Armies
I do like variety, it’s after all the spice of life, but there are a few armies I want to laser focus on and really develop, so let’s look at those
Astra Militarium
For 40K I really want to get these up and running as a full army with a decent variety of units available to me, I have a good selection of Death Korps of Krieg to work on first, and after that I want to go into the Cadians
The Combat Patrol subscription will be getting me an old Cadian Combat Patrol, and I will be grabbing some extra copies of it to bulk out the force
I also specifically want to add the following to the force
Chimera x 5
Taurox
Hellhound x 2
Scout Sentinel
Castellan x 2
Ministorum Priest
And that kinda ties in with this
Solar Auxilia
My Solar Auxilia list really worked ok in 2.0, but in 3.0 it’s got a lot of issues, and the main one is boots on the ground.
So I have as you will se below grabbed a Combat Force, and I can see me getting at least another two of them to really bulk out the force with Senitnels, Leman Russ tanks (which tie into the Astra Militarium) and Lasrifle Sections
I currently have a Stormhammer in the painting table that Graham gave me for my birthday
Leman Russ Tanks
This is for both of the above, because I share these tanks between both forces, but I want to add another Demolisher, two Executioners and a couple of Battle Cannon tanks
I am also going to add some Basilisks too, which will be Solar Auxilia ones, cause they look cooler
Germans
I am really wanting to play Bolt Action this year, I already have a decent sized early war force, which I am planning on expanding with the following bits
Opal Blitz
Panzer I
Panzer II
Panzer III
KruppProtze
Stug III
Sd.Kfz 251/1 Ausf C x 2
And u want to develop a later war army as well, for which I have already printed off a Luchs
Stormcast Eternals
I kinda want to sort out my Stormcast Eternals into a useable army, most of it is painted, up I just need to separate out the Legends stuff from the current stuff and make it into an army I can field without having to have too many proxies
Paint a Baneblade
It kinda ties in to the above for both the Solar Auxilia and Astra Militarium, it’s kinda this one model that has for years been a sort of white whale and I really want to paint one, I am kinda thinking of grabbing one for a store birthday or similar to get some freebies too
This won’t be a Shadowsword or a Hellhammer, just a plain basic Baneblade (although I will if I can do some magnetisation to allow it to change up what it is)
Video Game Goals
I want to complete the following 10 games, you can follow along with this GeekList here!
So I decided to replace it with an air cooler, for which there really is only one choice, the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120, for which I specifically bought the Digital version which has a screen displaying temperatures on it, simply because that was same day delivery.
I have started streaming on the regular again, and I want to keep it up
I have been playing Assassin’s Creed Syndicate which is so far a lot of fun, the two characters are fairly different to each other
Took me a little while to get the setup back and working, but I think we are getting there with it
Had a bit of an issue where despite me telling it to record the streams at 1440p it was insisting on doing them at 720p, but that’s all sorted now thankfully, and they are being recorded in AV1 too thanks to the fantastic encoder in the 9070XT
I am gonna try and keep at it, I don’t want to be a famous streamer or make money from this, it just helps me do something that feels sort of productive!
I really should get a schedule together at some point, but I will discuss that with Lindsay and Megan at some point
Right now I am still dragging my life back together after a terrible summer, so lets get back into a decent situation first eh.
What I Am Modelling
I painted up this Ultramarines Praetor in Saturnine Armour
I am really trying to find some joy in Agr of Sigmar again, I will try and get my Stormcast out of storage and see what’s usable and what’s not, I probably do have a decent amount of Thunderstrike stuff that can be used, and some of my older Liberators can be proxied
So what’s coming up next for my painting table?
Blood Angels Land Speeders
Ultramarines Tactical Squad
Myari’s Purifiers
Tempestus Aqulions x 12
Red Brigade Warband
Death Korps of Krieg Engineers x 5
Dark Angels Fire Strike Servo Turrets x 2
Veletaris x 2
Grey Knights Librarian & Brotherhood Terminator Squad x 5
Dracosan
What I Am Reading
Since last I posted, I have read Final Deployment by R.S Wilt, which was an amazing book with the Tempestus Scions, my favourite 40k army!
We played some DnD with CJ this past Saturday, I knew what was coming up cause Megan, our DM had me print the minis for the baddies, I wanted to tell Lindsay and CJ not to waste their Holy Water on the mummified cats and save it for later, but alas I didn’t
I am enjoying RPGs with this group and for a Christmas treat am tempted to ask them if I can run a one shot of something like Cyberpunk Red, WFRP or Soulbound perhaps
What Video Games I Am Playing
Playing a bit of Hell Let Loose still, me, Chris and Graham have a great time playing that as a tank crew, but only playing the good guys is certainly a disadvantage cause the Tiger is a bugger to kill!
Also getting my way through Cyberpunk and have so far completed all the gigs and scanner hustles and trying to deal with the side stories before I go and tackle the main missions
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
Play what I love: If I like the model, the lore, or the look, it belongs in my army, meta can go to hell.
Every list needs a curveball: At least one “weird” choice that isn’t optimal but makes me smile, and might just surprise my opponent.
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.
Terrain should tell stories: Symmetry is for chessboards. I want tables that look like real places worth fighting over.
Winning is optional, fun is mandatory: A memorable story beats a victory every single time.
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.
Make the game fun for my opponent: If they walk away smiling, it was a success, win or lose.
Keep exploring: Try new games, new armies, or new scenarios if they spark excitement. Stagnation kills joy.
No guilt, no grind: If I’m not enjoying it, I step back, take a breather, and come back when the spark’s there.
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
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!
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!
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.
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!
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%
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
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
