July review and August goals

July was better on the gaming side, but let's dive in.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage is still trucking on, with the players currently dying on the level before the last. D&D5.5 also got on track, with our characters now level 4 and a good chunk of the adventure behind us. Both should see a pause during August due to holidays, but that's just how she goes.

We had our national ASOIAF tournament, where I scored 3rd place... same as last year, literally. Cool experience, will join again. Warhammer 40,000 11th edition scarred me for now, with the amount of killing my army suffered over 3 games. I'm working on some Guard vehicles that might help me out in the future. Unsure how these games will fare over August, we'll see.

On the miniature painting front I actually regressed, behind schedule by 112 due to getting some 3d printed guard vehicles and snapping up some Free Folk models. This should see a boost as I'm just finishing a large batch of Guard minis, and then on to some easier commissions. 

So that's literally the plan for August. Chip away at the Guard infantry, most of which I got in February and they're still only primed. Do Guard vehicles, freshly off the 3d printer. Do commissions, then pause with them for a while. Sneak in some easy fantasy miniatures if possible.

And don't die in the summer heat.

Converting and painting 3d printed Escher proxies as Kasrkin and Cadian officers

The second batch of 3d printed Escher-Kasrkin also include officers: Cadian Castellans for the squads, as well as an Ursula Creed proxy. Besides the random colors, I got to experiment with transparent fabric.

D&D 5.5: Keeping up with the Vanthampurs

After another round of shopping and things, we decided on a long rest back at the Flaming Fist headquarters, before assaulting the scion of a noble house. Our captain was easy to convince that the investigation was on track. Rheia left us to talk to her own people, but Mortlock accompanied us to the Low Tavern, a ship converted into a, well, tavern, the usual haunt of Amrik Vanthampur.

Converting and painting Frozen Shore Hunters

A tournament prize from back in 2025. I didn't really want to paint these guys, but I had an idea for an experiment and I dove in.

An essay on slapchop

With that highbrow title, let me lay out the subject. I tried slapchop and I like it for what it is, but I am also acutely aware of its deficiencies. In short:

Pros: 

• quick 
• reasonably good looking (with practice)

Cons:

• looks bad for warm colors
• looks bad for skintones
• if you want to paint some details white... prepare for a hundred layers on black

With these in mind, I applied slapchop where feasible, but painted the skin by hand, avoided very warm colors, and painted the eventual ice bases by hand white. See my Free Folk Raiders.

This was satisfactory for a while, but I do need some experimenting in my hobby from time to time. So I decided to tackle the cons of slapchop with a warm undercoat... see several experiments. Conclusion: slightly better for warm colors, worse for cold colors, and still too rough for skintones. Not worth the effort. Slapchop remained firmly the domain of rank-and-file troops, with the above caveats.

The ideas took some time to marinate, but after a long while, I was ready to experiment again with... slapchop 2.0? Warm chop? White drybrush on colored undercoats? I'm still working on the name. But here's where I got.

Romanian Nationals 2026: A Song Of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game tournament, 11-12.07.2026

It's that time of the year again! We were actually fewer than last time with many pulling out due to summer holidays; however we also had new cast members, and at least as much fun!

With everybody complaining about "the Season of Giants", people felt compelled to tailor against me. Big sad. The Thorn Watch sure taught me a lesson. I should play against Baratheon more, to get a feel for their style.

Game 1: Free Folk vs Baratheon

Game 2: Free Folk vs Stark

Game 3: Free Folk vs Baratheon

After a well deserved night's sleep, we resumed our tournament the next morning refreshed and reenergized.

Game 4: Free Folk vs Lannisters

Game 5: Free Folk vs Martell

I kind of bounced back after the first day's beating, and actually managed to climb to third place. That's my bronze trophy in the picture - same as last year!

Congrats to the new national champion! We'll try to dethrone you as well, next year.

Game 5: Free Folk vs Martell

For the final scenario of the tournament, I came up against Martells in Here We Stand. Not ideal for the light desert troopers, but what can you do. I had no idea regarding the finer points of the army, so I set up on the line and decided to ball.