2019 Hobby Review and 2020 Goals

Well I haven't been able to update the blog in a few months due to being very busy, but I have been getting plenty of hobbying done. That is not to say I've actually finished much, as I seem to accrue new side projects at an alarming rate, despite my resolution last year to not start any new projects I've done a rather poor job of that. This year however I am determined to have a year of getting things done, especially given the number of regular opponents I have currently.

One thing I don't usually talk about in my Hobby Review (or on this blog in general) is battling as I don't do that much of it. This year however I've managed to get some games in which I've really enjoyed (for both LOTR and 40k). I have instituted a policy of not battling with an army unless its fully painted and I've found that that has really helped with both painting productivity and also with getting games in as that has become the intended goal of getting stuff painted. Its also just such a great feeling to have a game with a fully-painted army on the board, and while my win/loss ratio isn't too great I've still enjoyed my games a lot!

In particular I've been involved in a 40k campaign with a space marine army that became spun off from the Kill Team I did the other year. While these games have highlighted quite a few of the problems I have with the current 40k meta, I have enjoyed the narrative aspect of it and I've felt really motivated to get an army painted due to there being points available for submitted a newly painted army each week.

In other news, I've also managed to indoctrinate one of my new housemates into the hobby via AoS, gotten one of my regular Warhammer opponents into Malifaux, and I even managed to get my girlfriend into painting Harry Potter miniatures with me!


Finished Projects

- LOTR Projects - With the revamping of the Middle-Earth Strategy Game I have decided to do a mass re-painting of my LOTR armies while adding one or two miniatures I've always wanted. My first project of the year to be completed was my Mordor army, shortly followed by my Dark Spirits of Middle Earth which allowed me to field my Mordor army as an Angmar one.

- Malifaux - To finish off my Lady Justice crew I painted up some Domodore dos Cadaveres. I absolutely love the miniatures and look forward to trying them out, as well as getting some games in this year, which I didn't quite manage last year.

Novator Ludovico Invespucci
riding the mutant navigator Pigafetta 

- Navigators - as a brief foray into the world of Inq28 and Blachitsu, I made this Navigator war band which I'm really happy with as an experiment into a way of modelling and painting I haven't really tried much before. I don't know when I'll next have the chance to do a Inq28 war band but its something I'd love to do again.

- Custodes Wave 2 - You know how I said last year that I wouldn't start any new projects? Well I did... With the release of the Vetenari, and the fact I've gotten into battling and have wanted to play larger games, I decided to add to my Adeptus Custodes to take it up to 2000 points of pure gold.

- Imperial Knight - An unexpected addition to my Talons of the Emperor, but when one of my friends was selling his Knight I felt I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and what better colour to paint it than gold? I'll be posting pictures of my knight and my expanded Custodes army on the blog as soon as I manage to upload all my pictures properly.



WIP Projects

- Daughters of Khaine - Near the start of the year I sold off my Flesh-Eater Courts due to a lack of interest in them, and began swapping over some of my old Witch Elves onto round bases. I did a little bit of painting and converting for a Daughters of Khaine army, but my summer was mostly dominated by more Custodes and by the time I had got the time to work on my Witches, a new army had come to AoS which grabbed me instantly...

Dab

- Ossiarch Bonereapers - When these guys were announced I simply had to get them. Nagash himself has been gathering dust on my shelf for years now and this army, full of constructs and tanky skeletons, gives me the perfect excuse to finally field him. I've put my Daughters of Khaine into storage, bought two Feast of Bones boxes (which I've sold the Ogor halves of), and gotten to work raising an army of Ossiarchs to conquer the mortal realms with.

- Iron Brutes Primaris marines - Since September I have been involved in a 40k campaign at my local club. When it came to choosing a faction I was a little at a loss as the campaign began before new Sisters of Battle were released and it started after I had finished painting all my Custodes (the scoring mechanism for the campaign rewarded painting new stuff each week). I decided that as Primaris marines were finally good, easy to paint, and cheap on eBay that I would expand the Kill Team I painted up last year into a full army. By only buying from eBay I've been able to assemble a 2000 point army for only around 100 quid, and I've now painted the majority of it. The campaign doesn't wrap up until February so I haven't painted everything yet, but this is a side project which will complete itself by then.

- Imperial Fists - I acquired a large number of old metal space marines earlier this year which I ultimately plan on turning into an old-school Imperial Fists army for display purposes. I started painting them up but after the new Contrast paints were announced I decided to put them on the back burner until I have the chance to get some yellow contrast paint to do them with as I'm currently unhappy with my own attempts at yellow.


No Progress

- Lost projects - This year I managed to sell off the last of my Imperial Guard and Dark Angels, as well as my Flesh-Eater Courts which I lost all enthusiasm for after looking at how many miniatures I needed to paint to field a decent list and feeling uninspired by their new Endless Spells. I've also sold off a bunch of misc. Imperial and Undead miniatures I no longer have a need for.

- Witch Hunters - With new Sisters of Battle coming out, I had to make the decision whether to simply add them to my old army or start them as a new project. After seeing the scale of the new plastics I decided on the latter, and resolved to shelve my old Witch Hunters for now. I'll get around to finishing repainting them at some point but we'll see.

Goals for 2020

- Finish my Space Marines army for the campaign - My first and most important goal is getting my unexpected space marine army finished. I have about half the miniatures finished, and of the half that is left they are half painted so I expect to be done with them in the first few months of the year. After which I can move on to more exciting 40k projects...

- Sisters of Battle - My main 40k project this year (and probably for the next few years) is going to be my Sisters of Battle. I managed to get the limited edition army box which I've supplemented with a converted priest, and the Celestine and Greyfax miniatures I already owned - and given that amount of stuff I think I'll be still painting them for much of the year.

- Ossiarch Bonereapers - My main AoS project which I expect to come to the fore once my space marines are done. I have around 1000 points of Ossiarchs, plus a few other bits and bobs which I was gifted for Christmas, and I hope to get these painted and some games in soon before buying anything else for the army.

- Lucius crew for Malifaux- In my continued Malifaux adventures I've finally decided to get myself a second crew. I went with Lucius as I wanted to stay within the Guild, but have a more interesting experience than the reasonably simple to play Lady Justice. I also just adore the amount of character packed into each and every sculpt in the core box, and I look forward to leading a war band of lawyers into battle.

- Underworlds - I acquired the Beastgrave core box this past year as well as one or two other war bands which I've had immense fun playing. However it seems about time for me to actually paint up some of the bands I've been playing with which include: Kurnothi, Beastmen, Kharadron, and Flesh-Eaters. One a month would be a nice goal (especially as I've banned myself from buying any more until I've painted some) but we shall see given everything else I'm working on.

- LOTR - I'm slowly working on revamping my LOTR collection since the relaunch of the game and I hope to continue assembling my forces into this new year. I had a lot of fun doing my Mordor stuff last year and hope to work on Isengard this year, with a particular focus on Dunland considering they got some new miniatures recently.


I go into this year with an awful lot of projects and things I want to work on. GW did a great job last year of releasing things I really, really wanted and I can only hope that they slow down this year. However I am optimistic that I can get plenty done. I'm doing pretty well with my work/life balance at the moment and have a fair amount of spare time to get painting and battling done in. I've got a very busy year ahead of me this year so I don't know how my blogging will go, but we shall see. Maybe I'll try instagram this year...

Army Showcase: Mordor

The board is set. The pieces are moving...

With 'Gondor at War' coming out, for my first Middle-Earth project of the year I decided to shift focus from my Isengard army to my Mordor one. Before I even got painting there was been quite a bit of stuff to fix and convert first which took a significant amount of time. When I first got into miniatures it was through LOTR, and I bought all kinds of random stuff which ended up being horribly converted, mangled, or lost in my formative hobby years. So as I get back into Middle-Earth I am faced with a very mixed collection of miniatures, many of which need reassembling or parts substituting to bring back them back to usable on the tabletop.

After many hours of work, more green stuff than planned, and some creative solutions to problems, I managed to cobble together an army of Mordor I am quite proud of which will be my go-to force for battles in the next few months while I have a local opponent. Its not the most technically amazing paint scheme, but its one I feel is faithful to the dark and dingy hordes of Mordor.

Project Orc - Part 2

"...the time of the Orc has come!"

Project Orc is now completed! I now have 20 generic orc warriors painted up to use in either  Mordor/Barad-Dur, Angmar, or Isengard army, with a generic captain and three banner-bearers for those forces. This was a fun little start to my 2019 plans for my LOTR forces and hopefully soon my completed Mordor army shall be appearing on the blog.

Talons of the Emperor Army Showcase II - Adeptus Astra Telepathica

In the second part of my Talons of the Emperor Army Showcase, I will be looking at the non-Custodes elements which help to bring variety to my army as well as being fun little projects each in their own right. While they aren't really field-able as a coherent force themselves, they are meant to serve as allies I can take alongside my Custodes as and when I need certain kinds of support.

Sanviento Dio, the Arch-Mourner

Sanviento Dio was there when the Emperor fell, and was one of the Custodians who stood vigil as he was interred upon the Golden Throne. Since that day he painted his armour black in sign of mourning  and in fact discarded much of it as penance. While the Custodes are not religious, they do revere the spiritual nature in which Sanviento honours the fallen Master of Mankind, and he is legend amongst those who remember a time before their confinement to the Imperial Palace. As Arch-Mourner he occupies a special place in the Mourner Host as figurehead of the sorrow they bear at the loss of the Emperor's dream for humanity.

I really wanted to pay homage to some of the old artwork of shirtless Custodes who still wear black in mourning of the Emperor, and one night while trying to fall asleep I remembered the Nightbringer body I had laying around which I soon put to use in making a black-armoured living-saint proxy for my army. I managed to create this miniature from a bunch of spare Custodes parts, some wings from a Stormcast, and the body of the Nightbringer. I managed to get a spare set of Saint Celestine's Geminae and added some spare Sisters of Silence parts to make him some suitable bodyguards as well, completing the unit.

Black Sentinels and an Arch-Gaoler

Following the Edict of Nikea, the order of Black Sentinels was formed as guards, gaolers, and executioners guarding the City of Sight and installations of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica in the Sol System. I discovered the existence of this organisation from looking through Lexicanum, and while I've found descriptions of them on other websites, it is the Lexicanum entry I have taken my inspiration from. While I have elected to armour them in gold, and I have armed them with a range of weapons not just lasguns, I have given them black robes and helms incorporating snarling beast's faces. These were a lot of fun to convert and between the colours, the plumes, and the furs; they fit right in with my Sisters of Silence and Custodes. Rules-wise I plan on fielding them as Inquisitorial henchmen, with the terminator-armoured 'Arch-Gaoler' being an Inquisitor.

Astropath, Bound Psyker, and Servo-Skull

I can't possibly have the guards of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica without including an actual Astropath. The miniature I bought was in finecast and the staff was slightly mangled so I cut it off and replaced it with a psychic looking skull. He's also joined by a bound-psyker and a servo skull which I painted in the same colours as the rest of the army and can serve as objectives when I need them.

Sisters of Silence and Null-Maiden Grav-Rhino

I have been a real big fan of the Sisters of Silence miniatures since their release and would love to get more in future. In fact these were the first miniatures I bought for this project; initially intending to use them as an anti-psyker detachment for my Witch Hunters. They are borne into battle by a Grav-Rhino, probably the most troublesome of all the conversions for this force. I had an old, partially broken Rhino laying around that required an awful lot of care and conversion to make a suitable transport for my Silent Sisterhood. Though I'm not generally a big fan of vehicles, I thought it would make a fun addition to the force as well as provide me with a little conversion challenge.

Dread-Sister Eudocia

Before the most recent Chapter approved, in order to round out my 1000 point Custodes list I decided to include an assassin and after rummaging through my bits boxes I managed to create this Sisters of Silence-themed Callidus Assassin. A Culexus Assassin would probably be more fluff-appropriate, but with the bits I had available I was able to better emulate the pose of the stock Callidus assassin. I forgot to take a proper picture of her, but you can see her on the right in the pictures above.

Eisenhorn and Cherubael

I was unsure as to which army my Eisenhorn miniature and converted Cherubael should belong to, but ultimately thought he would be a lovely addition to this force as an enigmatic, uncertain ally. I had an awful lot of fun converting a daemonhost and both miniatures were an absolute joy to paint. To anyone who enjoyed the Eisenhorn books and loves painting, I'd really really recommend getting his miniature!

Finishing off this two-part showcase of my Talons of the Emperor I'd like to just quickly get down some thoughts on what, if anything, I'd like to do with this army in future. I originally envisioned this as an approximately 1500 point force of Custodes and Sisters of Silence that I would finish within a year and use only for battling, however I've had an incredible amount of fun converting this army and adding characterful units like the Black Sentinels and the Arch-Mourner, and part of me would quite like to keep adding bits to it. As my army isn't exactly optimal on the tabletop, I'm considering adding some units to what is already essentially a soup army but converting them to fit the theme. In particular I'm thinking of refraining from selling all of my guardsmen and converting some of them into a Terran-born Guard regiment so I can have a 'loyal 32' CP battery.

Now that Forge World have released beta rules for using their Custodes units in 40k I quite like the idea of adding some units from the Horus Heresy like the Aquilon Terminators and the new Venatari which are absolutely gorgeous miniatures. I can't really afford it right now but those would be some fun additions to bring to the tabletop. Additionally, from a purely painting perspective, I'd quite like to get Constantin Valdor as a technical showcase of my skills at this point in my hobby-life, and also because I have grown to really like the miniature despite initially disliking it. Though I think my time and funds this year will largely be spent on other projects, my Talons of the Emperor are a force I am really proud of and would certainly like to return to in future.

Talons of the Emperor Army Showcase I - Adeptus Custodes

My Talons of the Emperor army that I painted last year has been one of my favourite miniatures projects I've ever embarked upon. It has been loads of fun and exceptionally rewarding in a way I doubt my next few projects will be. Painting-wise; red, gold, and black are my favourite colours and this might be best army I've ever painted, having tried a lot of different techniques including glazes, custom transfers, and blending. Conversion-wise this army was lots of fun and nearly every miniature is converted in some way. Some are quite subtle like adjusting Eisenhorn's foot to make him more upright, though many like my Custodians and my Tempestus Scions are much more involved. In fact I think the only miniatures that haven't been modified in some way are my Silent Sisters and Trajann Valoris. Basing was also an adventure as I really wanted to do something different to the relatively boring bases I usually do. I ended up going for some clear, cold water that my army is striding through which contrasts wonderfully with the warmth of the palette used on the actual miniatures. It's been a great journey and I'm thrilled to finally have the finished project on the blog. This is a long post (the first of two) with plenty of fluff and a little rambling but I hope you enjoy seeing the efforts of my labours this last year!

The Mourner Host

Made up of various sub-sects of the Adeptus Custodes who usually do not leave the palace, but for reasons of academic interest, fate, or atonement have come forth to follow the Lord-Historian on his grand tour around the Imperium at the beginning of the 42nd Millennium. The Mourner Host attracts all manner of the Emperor's most devout servants from Terra; including Sisters of Silence, Acolytes of the City of Sight, and the agents of the Inquisition. This is the first of two articles exploring the Mourner Host, this one showing the members of the Adeptus Custodes under the command of the Lord-Historian and the second will show those other Imperial Agents who answer his call to war.

More after the jump:

Project Orc - Part 1

"The age of men is over..."

After flicking through the 'Armies of the Lord of the Rings' book in preparation for doing some new projects, I realised that by simply buying some Orc Warriors I'd be able to field several more armies than I currently can. Due to the somewhat random collection of miniatures I own, I worked out that if I had just one set of basic orcs I could not only bolster my Isengard and Mordor armies, but I could also actually field armies from Angmar and Barad-Dur as I owned relevant heroes but not any warriors.

So I've decided to get myself a bunch of orcs off of eBay, one of which I've converted into a Captain, and three of which I've converted into banner-bearers. Each banner-bearer will have a unique banner: a white hand for Isengard, a spooky-looking sigil for Angmar, and a crimson eye to use for Mordor* so I can switch which banner the squad has to represent which faction they are part of. The orcs themselves will be painted fairly drab and dark so as to fit in with any evil force I choose to use them with.

This little orc project to kick off my Middle-Earth adventures in 2019 will be a great boon to my Lord of the Rings projects and will dramatically increase my ability to get a range of games on the table. As the first supplement to the game coming out is 'Gondor at War', I think my WIP Isengard army is going to be pushed aside in favour of the forces of Mordor. I have just acquired Gothmog and begun rebuilding the Witch-King to lead this army, and I'm looking forward to painting up this rabble and bringing about the time of the orc!

*Tolkien mentions nothing of Sauron's heraldry in the second age (he seems to have adopted the red eye only after his expulsion from Dol Gulder), so I don't think I'll bother converting a banner for a Barad-Dur force. In the rare instance I'll play a game set during the War of the Last Alliance, I will either not field a banner or probably just use the Mordor one and ignore the anachronism.

2018 Hobby Review and 2019 Goals

This seemed oddly relevant to these kinds of posts

Looking back at my hobby review of 2017 and goals for 2018, I think I haven't done too badly this past year! Though its true that I got side tracked and started/finished some projects I didn't mean to, I have gotten more painting done overall than I did in 2017 which I'm counting as a win. I've also posted more on the blog: 24 posts this past year as opposed to only 7 in 2017. In general, I've tried to rest and relax more this 2018, particularly as my health has been exceptionally poor. Painting and writing on this blog has proven to be a great source of relaxation and I hope that I can keep up a good pace of hobby and blogging this new year.

You may also notice that in the past I've posted my 'hobby review' in February as I routinely forget to do it in January, this year however I cheated and wrote this post as the year went along before editing it after Christmas. Coming back to this sporadically as the year went on helped to remind me what my goals were and what projects I was supposed to be working on, and I found it oddly motivating; resulting in me trying to get as many things done or worked on as possible. I can't say I've achieved everything I wanted to this past year, but I must say I'm happier with what I've done in the hobby more than in recent previous years.


Completed Projects

- The Guild's Judgement - My first project of the year to be completed was my first adventure into the world of Malifaux. I had such a blast painting Lady Justice and her crew, and I've enjoyed the games I've had using this system thus far. I hope that I can get some more crews together (I've certainly started making plans!) and games in future.

- Talons of the Emperor- So my plans for this year were kinda derailed a little by the new Custodes miniatures, and despite saying I'd only buy a box each time I finished another project I just went out and bought a load when I had the money. I can however say that this project won't be dragging on and, barring a few touches to bases I still keep considering, this project is done. It has been incredibly fun and very rewarding, and I think in future I would like to tend more towards smaller, more elite forces like this which can be finished relatively quickly and look really good. I do like the idea of continuing to add things to this force, but that may not happen for quite a while. I haven't had an opportunity to photograph them yet, but I'll be putting pictures on the blog at the next opportunity.

- Servath Reznik, Wrath of Ages - As I've decided to fully quit Warmachine (and focus on Malifaux as my non-GW game), I decided to pick up one or two Menoth miniatures I liked to finish off my collection. I've always been a fan of this version of Reznik; it forms a lovely centrepiece to my collection, and it was a nice break to paint teal and silver instead of red and gold!

The Iron-Mongers

- Primaris Kill Team - Not an intended project for this year, but the first issue of Warhammer Conquest was just insane value for money considering you got 3 paints and a brush for only two pounds. The Primaris marines which were in there as well were purely incidental really and seeing as  I had them, I thought I might as well make a little kill team out of them. This was a fun side-project and fortunately didn't take up too much time.

- Storage - One of my side-projects this year has been to create some more elegant storage solutions for my miniatures as they had started to take up quite a bit of room! I have invested in some proper carry cases for my Dark Elf, and Warriors of Chaos/Chaos Dwarf armies, and I've started considering how to store my Dark Eldar and End Times Elves. I'm rather happy that I've been able to store my miniatures in a more efficient manner, and I will no doubt continue to find ways to properly store my completed projects this new year as/when the need arises.


WIP

- Age of Sigmar - This past year, spurred on by Malign Portents and the release of Second Edition, I have started doing some stuff for Age of Sigmar which I've been adding to the blog in a narrative project called: 'At the Court of the Silver King'. This continues to be a WIP project but its certainly more progress than last year where I did virtually no AoS stuff at all! You can find all my ongoing Age of Sigmar stuff on the page of that name.

Lots of LOTR WIP...

- WIP Middle-Earth - Because I can't help but make more work for myself; I started doing some converting, painting, and general faffing about with my LOTR miniatures. Partially inspired by GW reinvigorating this part of the hobby with the 'Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game' rebranding, and partially by a bit of a renewal of Tolkien in my own life this past year as my girlfriend has gotten into his works. Unfortunately most of my Middle-Earth stuff remains very WIP and I have quite a few projects currently in the pipeline. The only thing I have really finished is my 1985 Mouth of Sauron, but I am currently close to completing my Isengard army.

- Witch Hunters - I did a little work on my Witch Hunters last year after starting to repaint them all in 2017. I plan on picking them back up again when the new plastic Battle Sisters are released hopefully later this year. I've certainly got a lot of ideas for what I want to do with them, including what I think should be a really interesting and unique basing scheme as I think I'll have to do a lot of re-basing to 32mm bases.

- 40k warbands - At the end of 2017 I gathered together various spare miniatures I owned that weren't being used for anything and decided to paint them up as several small war bands to use in skirmish games set in 40k; whether that might be Kill Team, Shadow War: Armageddon, Inquisimunda, or whatever. Progress is slow and I'm increasingly considering selling some of them off.

Slowly getting my undead done!

- Lich Army - My experimental Lich army continues to provide me with weird and wonderful conversion/painting opportunities. Though not yet completed, I have enjoyed my work on this side-project immensely. I'm hoping to spend some time on this project over the summer and I'd like to get it done by the end of the year if I have the opportunity.

- Tomb Kings - I've had this army on the back burner for years, though I am slowly getting them done, ultimately for display purposes. I'm sure if I didn't keep finding other projects to do I would have finished repainting this stuff a long while ago.

- Navigators - Last up is a very small project I've just started, which I don't intend on taking up much time at all and should be the very first thing I finish this year. At my Uni's wargaming society there should hopefully be an Inq28 narrative campaign taking off soon, and I've decided to build a group of Navigators to take part. I don't plan on spending much money on getting this project together, and as it will only be about 5 miniatures it won't take long to get finished and on the tabletop.


No Progress (List of Shame)

Remarkably I've managed to get a little bit of everything existing worked upon this year, except for those projects which have disappeared indefinitely:

- Lost Projects - This year there have been some armies I have chosen to get rid of because I have no interest in adding to, playing with, or repainting. My Imperial Guard and my Dark Angels have either been sold or are in the process of being sold, with the intention that funds from them will be put towards pursuing new projects like the impending Sisters of Battle release.


Goals for 2019

- Sisters of Battle - GW have promised the long-awaited plastic Battle Sisters this year. I'd like to try and get as much WIP stuff finished as I possibly can by the time that they are released so that they can become my main and sole focus going into 2020. Of course this relies heavily on GW actually releasing them this year and I think that if they do it will be close to the end of the calendar year.

- Continue working on Age of Sigmar projects - Though I predicted last year that it would be the Daughters of Khaine who derailed my hobby plans,  I didn't actually end up buying any of the new miniatures; being distracted by the Adeptus Custodes instead. I did however set aside a few things when boxing up my Dark Elves which I plan to use as the beginnings of a Daughters of Khaine army. First however, I have the 'Court of the Silver King' project to finish which I am enjoying a lot even though progress is slow. The reveal of the Abhorrant Archregent also promises my FEC getting a bit of a boost this year which would be welcome.

- More Middle-Earth - I've really enjoyed getting back into the game this past year and I plan to continue painting and expanding my various Middle-Earth armies this year. I'm not setting myself a set schedule for what forces I'd like to get finished by the end of the year, but I'd like to make plenty of good progress and get a few games in where I can.

These miniatures just look so fun to paint!

- More Malifaux - With a new edition of the game launching and my interest in it continually growing, I intend on continuing to invest in new miniatures for Malifaux and to try getting some more games in with my brother.

- More games in general - I don't play as often as I'd like to, and last year circumstance stopped me from getting the games in I wanted. With the promise of a Inq28 campaign at my Uni's tabletop society, I may at least get some games in of that, but I'd also really like to take my Custodes out for a battle or two, and enjoy some Malifaux or Middle-Earth if I have the opportunity.

-Don't start new projects!!! - Last year I started a Talons of the Emperor army I didn't plan on doing, made a Primaris Kill Team, bought Reznik for Warmachine, promised to make a Navigator war band and decided to repaint all my LOTR stuff. My ultimate goal is to only have one hobby project on the go at a time (hahahahahahah....), so not starting new projects is going to be one of my main concerns in 2019 as I start clearing my backlog and continue to find more elegant storage solutions for the projects I have completed.

My first battle sister, hopefully the plastic sculpts will have improved as much as my painting has! 

I guess this year I will be returning to my hobby roots in many ways. My first foray into miniature wargaming was via Lord of the Rings which armies I am currently repainting, my first proper fantasy army was Dark Elves and this year I'd like to work on some Daughters of Khaine, and my first 40k army was Witch Hunters and I eagerly anticipate plastic Battle Sisters when they arrive. I do have other things to be working on, but these three projects in particular will be lovely little nostalgia trips.

We shall see how that all goes when I come to write the next one of these at the start of 2020, but overall I'd say I'm really happy with all the hobbying I did in 2018 and I'm quite optimistic for how much I'll get done this year!

Servath Reznik, the Wrath of Ages

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've kinda decided to just quit Warmachine now unless Privateer Press really shake things up. I repainted my army last year after getting a few more things for it, but I found the process of doing so quite draining and not the most enjoyable of hobbying experiences for a number of reasons. In 2016 I tried to renew my interest in the game and had a few battles with my brother, but the Mk3 rules and a new focus on themes didn't really invigorate me. I've just ceased to have any interest in Warmachine at all, and after having having some really great experiences with GW recently as well as getting into Malifaux; I've decided that I'm no longer going to buy new miniatures for Warmachine or try and get games in.

This is the first time I've really fallen out of love with a game and its a strange feeling. I think its been a slow process and probably happened a long time before I realised it. I have however decided that I'd like to end on a high note by purchasing and painting two miniatures I've always wanted to get for the faction: the Harbinger of Menoth, and Servath Reznik, the Wrath of Ages. I had more of a preference for the latter so managed to get one cheap on eBay a few months ago.

Just the act of assembling Reznik reminded me of nearly all the problems I have with the miniatures themselves. The use of metal, the ungodly combination of metal and resin parts, the weird mould lines, lots of clean-up, the pieces that don't fit together properly, details that aren't as sharp as one might expect... the list goes on and on. After some tribulation I managed to finally get him assembled into sub-assemblies for painting. Still though, I live in fear of him shattering into his constituent pieces should I drop him (indeed bits constantly kept dropping off during painting without the need to drop him, and despite all the superglue I used), a fear I'll no doubt share with the all-metal Harbinger.

I've elected to paint him like the rest of my army, and he forms a nice centrepiece for that force. Similar to the other war casters I have painted him in slightly more highlighted colours than the rest of the army but to contrast his lighter blues I've added extra grunge and bloodiness to represent his malevolent character. Though this post is quite negative I would like to make it clear that I do quite like the miniature, even if it was a paint to put together. I think its very cool aesthetically and thematically, and I am a sucker for having an army general mounted on a suitably impressive monster or war-engine.

Just as a quick note, I did buy this second-hand on eBay as I think that PP pricing on some of its miniatures is ridiculous. Though I believe the Harbinger to be more sensibly priced than Reznik (who costs as much as Nagash here in the UK and is nowhere near the same size or possessing the same quality in my opinion), I will be getting her second hand as well. If indeed I decide to get her at all as despite me liking the miniature I'm not sure if I want to deal with a large all-metal miniature. We shall see...

Autumn Workbench 2018 - Experimental Undead, Malifaux Mumblings, and Hobby Review

Last year in late autumn I wrote a bit of a rambling post about current things I was working on as well as reflecting upon my progress over the year in relation to the goals I posted back in February. I've got a few odds and ends I'm working on at the moment, and I've started thinking about next year already, so I thought I'd write another rambling post as autumn comes upon us once again. 

Firstly, something oft referenced but rarely posted about on this blog is what I've been referring to as my 'Lich Warband', or as it now appears to be a 'Lich Army'. I've collected a few different undead armies in my time and I've been left with lots of spare parts. I decided to make a little army out of what spare parts I could, taking the time to experiment with narratives, weird conversions, and unusual paint jobs. Though my time working on this force has been quite sporadic, its been an awful lot of fun and I look forward to properly putting it on the blog when its finished. For now though here's a little look at what I've completed thus far:

Easterlings Redux

Flat colours

Seeing as in I obviously don't have enough projects on the go already, I decided that I would take some time this year re-vamping my old LOTR collection. Looking at my collection I realised just how flat the colours were and how dire in need they were of a highlight or two. I reasoned this to be a good excuse to do some work on them, in particular my Easterlings who I think are the worst offenders and the easiest fixed. I thought to myself that this would be an easy, quick project. That I would be able to do some dry brushing and some shading and then leave them alone.

I was wrong.

Once again I have stumbled myself into another big-ish project I hadn't planned on doing. As well as improving paint schemes; I've had some ideas for conversion, basing, and incorporating disparate miniatures into a single force. This is proving to be a fair bit of work thus far, but rather enjoyable and should I get it done in a timely fashion (i.e. this year) I think I might do something similar with my Isengard forces. Below I've collected some pictures of my progress thus far:

Custodes Project 2018

So, The Euphemism (I must get him back into blogging) and I will be living in the same city for a few years now. As one of my goals for this year is to get more games in, I suggested to him the prospect of us attempting some doubles tournaments to which he readily agreed! Many years ago we did a local store WHFB doubles tournament (my Tomb Kings and his Skaven against mostly Chaos opponents if I remember correctly) and we lost hideously but had a good time doing it. This time round we are going to try 40k, a game I haven't played in about three years and basically need to relearn! For a new edition and a new attempt at doubles glory, I have decided to start a new army: the Adeptus Custodes who will be fighting alongside The Euphemism's own growing Custodes force.

As I mentioned in my hobby goals for the year, I plan on getting myself a box of Custodes every time I finish a project. My first few boxes will be geared towards a 1000 points doubles list, then afterwards I hope to build up to a 1500 point force of pure Custodes supplemented by roughly 500 points of complementary misc. Imperium stuff: e.g. Sisters of Silence, Eisenhorn, etc. I don't intend this to be ultra-competitive (after all, double Custodes isn't exactly a tournament-winning formula) but I hope to have a decent variety of things that I can have fun with. My list will be roughly as follows:

- Shield-Captain  x1 (weapon yet to be determined)

- Guards x3 with Guardian Spears

- Guards x3 with Sword and Shield

- Allarus x3 with Axes

- Vertus Praetors x3 with Hurricane Bolters

I'm hoping to make this army out of four boxes of stuff plus some various bits bought off of eBay as I'd like to convert every miniature in this army, even if it is only by a little. From a modelling perspective I'd really like to flesh out some of the more niche roles the Custodes perform for the Emperor. After all, besides being peerless warriors the Custodes are described as being diplomats, philosophers, artisans, assassins, etc. and I'd like to try and represent that on the tabletop with some little characterful conversions.

I have not read this book but I have been inspired by the cover art

Painting-wise I plan on largely following the default Custodes colour scheme but using more black than red as I feel that even though they are venturing out into the galaxy again, the Custodes should still wear the black robes of mourning as a signifier of the changes they have undergone since the internment of the Emperor upon the Golden Throne. Indeed, I hope to make each of these 13 miniatures appear as a grim avatar of death, the will of the half-dead Master of Mankind made manifest. I'll largely be following the Warhammer TV painting tutorial for Custodes that Duncan did, as well as tutorials he did for fur cloaks and pale flesh.

My hobby habits in a nutshell

This should be a fun little adventure and I hope to document it here on the blog as I assemble my forces and begin getting to grips with the new edition of 40k. Though I have many other outstanding projects, I just can't resist the shiny new miniatures and have allowed myself this one excess this year. As Custodes are a very elite force this should hopefully be a rather small at self-contained project at least, and when it is over with I hope to begin saving up for plastic Sisters of Battle that (Emperor willing) shall arrive next year...

Finished Malifaux Project!

For my first Malifaux crew I chose Lady Justice and her Death Marshals, mostly because they are simply the coolest, most eye-grabbing set in the game in my opinion. Nothing better embodies the horror, the magic, and the western feel of the setting than a blind ninja lady leading ghost-rider cowboys who are literally dancing on coffins. They were an absolute blast to paint (if a little fiddly at times) but I like to think I managed the gritty, desperate, and violent image I have of the city of Malifaux itself, and particularly the grim world of the Death Marshals.

I think this is all I'm going to do with my Lady Justice crew for now, as I have a few different options to try out here and I'd like my next Malifaux purchase to be a different crew and master. I will definitely return to Lady J though and perhaps add even more units like Death Marshal Recruiters which synergise with my existing collection. More thoughts and pictures below:

WIP Eisenhorn and Cherubael

Though I was unsuccessful at getting hold of Eisenhorn on the day he was released, I did manage to get hold of one on eBay for less than GW's price which was nice! It really is a lovely miniature, and while I was thinking of finding a bald head for him (I had already found a walking cane) in order to convert this into an older rendition of the character, I liked the base sculpt so much I elected not to.

A more upright pose so his chest detail isn't obscured on the tabletop 

The miniature went together fairly well though there was quite a lot of flash to cut and scrape away. I think I managed to get all the mould lines but I wouldn't be surprised to find some during painting. There were two small bubbles on the resin (one on his collar and one on his book) but these were easily filled. The only thing I really dislike about the miniature is how far forward he is leaning. I decided to try straightening him up a bit which proved quite easy to do by simply repositioning his left foot. I didn't even need to cut his foot off, I just cut away some of the resin around his ankle, wiggled his foot a bit and added green stuff to fill the gaps I had made.

For Cherubael I have taken some flagellant and ghoul bits (along with a few pieces whose origins I'm actually uncertain of!) to create this unholy abomination as I don't like the old daemonhost models. I've still got some mould lines to clean up and some green-stuffing to do, but I'm rather happy with how this is shaping up so far. I did look up the 54mm miniature of Cherubael that was done for the old Inquisitor game for reference, but quickly realised that I would be unable to create an approximation to that with the pieces I had available. Instead I decided to just make what I thought looked like a cool daemonhost and await an official 28mm Cherubael should one ever be made.

Alongside the Malus Darkblade series, the Eisenhorn trilogy was one of my first proper forays into Warhammer fiction so his exploits have a special place in my hobby-heart. I'm therefore really looking forward to getting some paint on Eisenhorn and fielding him alongside some of my other Imperial armies. I also can't wait to getting round to picking up the new book 'The Magos' at some point, though I hope that Dan Abnett hurries up and writes the rest of the Bequin Trilogy soon!!

Thoughts from my desk - Titania, MiniCrate, and other Miscellany

I've had a lot of random thoughts about the hobby recently, and as I finish my first miniature of the year (its taken a while I know!), I thought I'd take some time to ramble and lay out some of the ideas and opinions I've had floating around in my head.

I was lucky enough to manage to pick up the alternate sculpt for Titania last Black Friday and I've had a lot of fun painting up the undead faerie queen. I tried as best I could to achieve a middle ground between her standard colour scheme and her appearance on the classic Red Joker artwork, and I think I've succeeded. Though I don't know if I'll ever build a crew for her, I can see her easily being the first of several Malifaux miniatures that I pick up solely for the pleasure of painting.



I have only recently been made aware of Privateer Press's 'MiniCrate', which is a miniatures version of the loot crate business model. For those of you who aren't aware of it and fancy a look heres a link: MiniCrate. I've got a lot of thoughts on this because on a basic level it really appeals to me as a collector and a painter, which I think is really the target audience for this. After all, the miniatures that are part of this product are simply alternate sculpts and seemingly chosen at random from across the various factions, so not much use to gamers. I quite like the idea of getting a new miniature every month to just paint up and have on display, especially as most of these alternative sculpts are quite cool-looking. The 'mystery' aspect is what I think is the greatest turn-off for most people, as there's a good chance of not getting a miniature for any of your factions or even one you actually like. Miniatures can be quite expensive and it would be disappointing to end up buying something you don't even like the look of. Indeed, the whole thing seems quite expensive for just a single miniature every month, especially for anyone like me who does not live in the United States. While a novel and interesting idea, the whole thing doesn't quite work for me. Privateer Press aren't particularly my favourite miniatures manufacturer as far as aesthetic goes and I'm not deeply into the lore of the game, but I did think this product worthy of a mention as I can see it, or something similar to it, being successful in the future and possibly attracting me.

Now onto a few bits of misc. thoughts I've had about my miniatures recently...

Horribly flat colours in desperate need of a highlight, ideally two

I'm thinking of doing something with my Lord of the Rings miniatures this year. They are painted in quite a basic fashion and would benefit simply from a few highlights, a bit of dry brushing, and maybe some better basing. I also ended up with a part-complete second-hand Mumakil about two years ago I really ought to do something with. Of course I have other, more pressing painting matters to attend to first, but I can easily see my Easterlings or Uruk-Hai getting a little attention in future.

Last year I was able to get hold of some second-hand Sisters of Silence which I've not really done anything with yet, but I have added a converted Astropath, an imprisoned psyker (to use as an objective marker), and some Tempestus Scions to represent the Black Sentinels of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. I think I am going to use these as an allied detachment for my Custodes and paint them in the same way. Hopefully in future we will see some manner of combined 40k Talons of the Emperor codex and I can have my Custodes and Silent Sisters fight side by side properly.

Such an incredible miniature, just the right balance of detail and simple elegance 

Though I still have lots of Death stuff to paint, I have been greedily eyeing the new Daughters of Khaine miniatures. I am very tempted to pull my Dark Elves out of storage and start putting some of my Witch Elves on round bases in preparation for getting Morathi and some of her new mutant aelves. The main thing stopping me is the financial burden of my upcoming Custodes project (as well as all my other unfinished projects!), though later on in the year I can see myself splurging on some Daughters of Khaine. First however I have a tonne of ghouls and skeletons to paint, and won't consider getting anything else for Age of Sigmar until they are done.

Coming up on the blog soon should be my Malifaux miniatures which I am close to finishing; after which should hopefully be a little bit of Eisenhorn, some progress on my Lich war band, and possibly a bit of Age of Sigmar if I can get the colours on this next war band right. Life has continued to be hectic recently but I am managing to get some bits of hobbling in when I can.

2017 Hobby Review and 2018 Goals

I already know the new Custodes will ruin my plans to
finish everything else this year...

Back in February last year I wrote a post on my Hobby Goals for 2017 and decided to do the same again this year (probably ought to try and remember to do it in January next year). I have managed to do a fair bit of hobby stuff these past 12 months, admittedly not as much as I would have liked, but I thought I ought to do a bit of a year in review again and set some goals for this next year. Unfortunately I have been quite ill this past month and will be on medication for the next few so I may not end up being as productive as I would like but hopefully things will pick up soon!


Finished Projects

- Menoth - I actually got this army finished! It was a bit of a slog halfway through but I'm happy with the gritty, alternative look for the Protectorate I have achieved. Unfortunately I don't really plan of having any games of Warmachine in the near future and I have no intention of adding to this force any time soon so I think I'll be putting it on display.

- Amontekh the Arboralist - This random late-year mini-project for my Rogue Trader character was a fun distraction from work. Unfortunately I have had to temporarily drop out of my Rogue Trader games until my health improves, but hopefully Amontekh will reactive his reanimation protocols soon!

- Scourge Privateers - I started this small war band for Age of Sigmar during the summer, inspired by Nick Horth's fantastic book: City of Secrets. Just before Christmas I managed to get them finished, which at least stopped a new random project carrying over into the new year! Pictures of the finished miniatures will appear on the blog when I get round to photographing them.


Work in progress

Base colours all on

- Dark Angels - Over the summer I begun an army-wide repaint, as well as minor conversion works on my Dark Angels. I forgot to take pictures over the summer but managed to get one or two over Christmas just to prove I have been working on them! I've decided to go for a metallic green look using some of the technical paints which is still rather WIP but is proving lots of fun to experiment with.

- Witch-Hunters - I also begun an army-wide repaint of this force, as well as the addition of new miniatures. Problems with desk space in my new apartment and St. Celestine's wings (I cant get them quite right) has hampered progress and motivation.

Percival, Pin-up Dark Paladin, and Twilight Knight Detective
all in various WIP stages 

- Misc. Kingdom Death - There has been some small progress with my backlog of Kingdom Death miniatures. I have completed some more pin-ups but I still haven't gotten around to photographing any of my stuff and putting it on the blog.

- Tomb Kings - Some progress but not a lot. My brother swears I'm never going to finish repainting them...

- Shadow War - I started a Astra Militarum Shadow War gang which I'm hoping to perhaps use for Necromunda and other 40k skirmish games as well. This is mostly in the planning/assembling stage and I don't have any photos yet.

A travel-weary Knight-Questor in the Realm of Death

- Misc. Age of Sigmar Stuff - I have managed to paint a few random miniatures for Age of Sigmar. Not as many as I would like but some have been done. When I've made more substantial progress I'll post pictures.

- Malifaux - I have started to play Malifaux which has been great fun. I got the Guild's Judgement crew box which I've started work on and I also got a few random miniatures for Christmas I cant wait to get some paint on as well.

- Lich Warband - steadily progressing but never seemingly enough to warrant an update. Though I started strong on this project (and didn't put any of it on the blog, typical!) it has slowed to being something I work on while I wait for other things to dry, hopefully I can get more work done on it soon.


No Progress (List of Shame!)

The Duc' d'Castlefells, one of the few minis I've actually finished for my FEC

- Flesh-Eater Courts - Unfortunately, despite my big plans for my Age of Sigmar army I have not managed to get any progress done on my ghouls. Part of this is due to the amount of 40k hype that has been going on this past year (which prompted the Witch-Hunters and Dark Angel repaints) and that I currently don't have space in my new apartment to get this large project out to work on. I am hoping that the 'Malign Portents' event will give me the motivation to get on with this project, even if i don't participate in the campaign itself.

- Imperial Guard - I actually forgot this was an ongoing project! I'll no doubt turn to it when my Witch-Hunters are done.


Goals for 2018

- Get some 40k armies finished!! - firstly I need to get some 40k stuff finished as my Witch Hunters, Dark Angels, and Imperial Guard are all stuck in a kind of limbo as I am working on them. I probably ought to have just chosen one to work on but hopefully I'll start getting through them this year!

- Work on my Flesh-Eater Courts - With Malign Portents approaching I think I'll finally get round to doing some meaningful work on my undead armies. I have been quite enjoying the build-up and mystery surrounding the next phase of the Age of Sigmar, and I think the campaign they are running looks increasingly interesting, though due to my health and backlog of other projects I don't think I'll have the chance to play and paint along.

My small, but slowly growing collection

- More Malifaux - I have quite enjoyed working on my first crew and having played a brief game over Christmas I think I could really get into this! I think I would like to not only get some more Malifaux miniatures but get some more games in as well. The use of a deck of cards instead of dice is really interesting and quite fun even if luck is very rarely on my side! In fact I'm already making plans to increase my Lady Justice crew and am contemplating which master I might buy for my next crew so I have a bit of variety.

Looking forward to when Morathi's new miniature comes out! 

- Daughters of Khaine - Dark Elves were my first Warhammer love and I don't think I can possibly resist such awesome new miniatures. I don't know when the new Daughters of Khaine will be coming out, so I think I'm going to have to try and get my Flesh-Eaters painted before they are released! I can already feel my wallet cringing and if anything is going to derail my plans for hobbying this year it will be the army of the Shadow Queen. I do already have a bit of a head start as I can rebase and repaint some of the miniatures from my old Dark Elf army (some Witch Elves, Warlocks, a Medusa, and a Cauldron of Blood), so I can just add some of the new stuff when its released and hopefully have a decent force.


Summary

As usual I have started or just worked on far more projects than actually finishing. I do naively believe that one day I will just have one or two projects going on at a time! In order to motivate myself I have decided that every time I finish a project, I will treat myself to a box of Custodes. I love the miniatures, in fact it was the preview of Captain-General Trajann Valoris that made me decide I wanted to do a small force of them as I thought his model was just brilliant. Hopefully such motivation will allow me to hurry up and get some things finished!

I just love these two miniatures, I cant wait to get my hands on them! 

While my health is not the best right now, and university stuff is pressing, I do hope I will be able to make the time for a bit of hobbying every now and again. In fact this past week I have managed to get some more paint on my Malifaux miniatures though they are still a ways from being finished. The year ahead look interesting and I hope that I can get plenty of painting done, get a few games in, and make some new purchases. I'll do my best to keep the blog updated and when I do this again next year I plan on having gotten more done!