Next up in the line of Lannister troops, a squad of Honor Guard. They were hastily primed and half painted to show some color for a tournament, and it shows. They were heavily overprimed, with some details obscured and large bubbles in the recesses. I tried my best to give them a nice paintjob.
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This month's batch of heroes to paint include the box of Neutral Heroes 3, plus a couple more, including two versions of Bronn. We agreed on brown rim for the neutral stuff, and woodland base for the westerosi people. As my client mainly plays Lannisters, and just cannot have crossbowmen without Bronn, I suggested to paint one neutral variant (with purple cloth) and one Lannister-aligned variant (red cloth, Lannister base). That's just fine, I can batch paint with Kevan Lannister. I half-painted his mini last time but he was taken away for a tournament. Time to finish everything.
We ended the last session on a real low note, with everybody dead or unconscious. We began this session with an extra player. I asked her if she had any ideas to solve the situation while not being there. At her negative answer, she was lumped in with the rest of the party.
Who were all sitting around the Yawning Portal tavern, eating and drinking.
Wait, what?
Picking up where we left off, the adventurers started their combat encounter against a gargantuan Neothelid. I was really stoked into doing stuff to them. But the first spell, cast by Antrius, was Otto's Irresistible Dance. And so the worm took an Ice Storm, a suped up Fireball, and a suped up Harm to the face before doing anything. Then it dodged through moonbeams, blights and more fireballs, with the bard successfully saving against a Feeblemind[1]. By the time Solid reached melee range, the worm was already in a bad spot. At least it got to swallow Antrius. And then Szivem. And then it died.
Awakening after their long rest, the adventurers promptly forgot about last session's telepathic conversations, and continued exploring the caverns. They met a colony of flumphs, who reluctantly asked them to slay the evil mind flayers.
The adventurers agreed, then promptly forgot again, and broke down the door leading to the githyanki rooms.
I decided to paint up a giant gorilla as my D&D party adopted the polymorph trick - and apes are more intelligent than a T-rex. I discovered that I have two - so batch paint them both. And also a weregorilla, while we're here.
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I really thought that I had nailed this Here we stand scenario with my army composition. I had more units, including my outflanking Raiders, and more NCUs.
In this game of Fire and Blood, I encountered a much more dangerous Martell list than last time. The Sand Skirmishers unit got to shoot several times and killed my Savages during the first turn, with no chance of retaliation. I went into this with a deficit, but determined to make them pay.
I bought this second hand back for the Ulpia campaign and it functioned well in a narrative setting - given that it was assembled with two different kinds of sponsoons! After the Vindicator, which was relatively easy to do, I wanted to crack this tough nut, converting the tank to modern 40k.
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This time, we were hired by the dwarf Samphith Goldenbeard to steal a tiara belonging to his ancestor, a dwarven queen. Nevermind that he was right in the process of stealing it when his partner, the elf Nixylanna Vidorant, decided to abscond with the treasure, leaving the dwarf to be caught. Those damn white surface elves! What can you expect from them. We met the dwarf in a tavern but he gave us literally zero useful intel besides the location of Nixylanna's warehouse where the tiara is kept. Rumors also turned up nothing. Thus, we decided to scout out the place. After finding out that 6 guards are exchanged every 6 hours or so, we decided to get town guard uniforms, and knock on the front door, asking for the protection money we were owed. The guards did not want to entreat with us, so I shot the man in the doorway in the face, and we rushed in. We took the guy at gunpoint, and he lead us all through the facility, beginning to end.
But not before Grog the barbarian decided to open a safe with his crowbar, releasing a hold person spell trap.
November went by quickly.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage is still going on, with the party currently in big doodoo. Can't wait to see how they screw up this time. Golden Vault missions are also under way, where we try to stealth/talk our way through stuff but just go and murder everybody when it doesn't work. We're all having fun, so no big deal.
With all the RPGs going full steam, wargaming suffered a bit, but not by much. Warhammer and ASOIAF are still breathing, and we'll have a local tournament and a narrative game planned for December.
Finally, painting sees me finish all my commission work for the year during December. I took on one last ASOIAF commission, with one box already done and the second in progress. I'm looking on clearing my hobby debt acquired in exchange for various deals and transactions. Some big monsters incoming!
Lastly, if I do manage to finish all of the above, I have two directions to look at.
First, I'll be around 575 miniatures painted for the year (with multipliers). I could work that up to 600.
Second, my display cabinet should be ready in a week or so. I can start assembling/converting/magnetizing/LEDig miniatures, so that I can start the new year swinging.
Third, which is not hobby related, is me catching up with video games and/or shows. I discovered some pretty good Warhammer animations, and I'll go through them in time.
Sounds like a totally reasonable plan - I'll have a go at accomplishing 150%.
Not that I need two more Obliterators... but let's get them off the bucket list.
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I have created a Fallen Chaos Lord some time ago. Unfortunately, the new codex made his weapon loadout illegal. It took some time, but I decided to bite the bullet and rip off his arms.
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High quality photos taken by GM Photography.
I painted these Terminators several years back along with their magnetized arms. The original dream was to have all the available weapon options magnetized, but I grew weary of them and never got around to do it. Now with Chaos Marines on the rise again, I decided to WYSIWYG everything.
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Something brand new, as my regular Lannister opponent is on the hunt for badges. I hadn't seen Starks on the table in a long while. I was also experimenting with a freshly painted Rattleshirt and a panic inducing list. We got Here We Stand, and resolved to just kill each other. Here's the game link.
Note that the Starks allegedly eschewed the refuse flank tactic, but if you look at the table, their forces are focused on their left flank, with the right consisting of fast moving cavalry. Ha!
Round 1 already started off pretty wild. With our armies deployed almost on the line, I had the Umbers start and immediately outflank my Raiders. I did not remember the Stark shift tactics card, so the Raiders got immediately charged. The Savages failed a 4+ to charge in. Thankfully, the Raiders survived two rounds of attacks.
As the armies closed in and postured, I had my Bonelord's Chosen march up to act as bait. The Stark Outriders obliged, going into their flanks. This proved crucial in pinning them down. Unfortunately, the Spearwives were too far to charge.
At least round 2 was prepared to be a bloodbath.
Contrast commission time! Following up the trolls, now we have a bunch of ogres (and related type creatures). All of them Reaper made.
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Contrast commission time! A bunch of rather simple trolls to be painted, 5/6 made by Reaper. Note my new policy: I will now base any commission mini, even if it's a low budget commission.
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With the success of placing The Great Walrus in a unit of Thenn Warriors, I decided to try it again. I came pretty close to success. See the lists here.
First battle round: all gas, no breaks forwards.
I bought these guys back when eBay was flooded with them for 2 euro each. I originally envisioned different color schemes for them so I can tell who has what spell. This doesn't matter anymore, but I thought the differing colors would still look cool.
The color schemes are based on old WarhammerTV videos, and the various details may have been inspired by other videos. However, I decided to update wherever possible and lean unto Contrast paints as much as possible. See the Paint mix chart for how I approximate Citadel colors using my Vallejo paints.
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High quality photos taken by GM Photography.
Back to our regularly scheduled matched play games against the Custodes. This time I'm playing my refined Fellhammer Siegehost list, against an all-infantry Shieldhost in 2000 points of Linchpin.
Like many of my Chaos Marines, I bought this tank second hand off eBay. I paint stripped it, then shoved it into a box. With all the conversions done lately, I felt it was his time, as well.
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Disclaimer. This was the first time I was actually responsible of setting up the game and table for a 10th edition matched play game, and, uh, there were a few hiccups. I think my app was out-of-date and we actually played Leviathan missions; not that big of a deal, as we only played out round 3, due to the shop closing. I was also curious how we'd fare on a terrain setup that was one of the official layouts, so I just placed some ruins. We got Dawn of War deployment, and a lot of firing lanes. Let's say the Guard was at a slight advantage. At least I've learned a lot 😂😅
October was mighty fine.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage is back on track; in fact, we already cleared one level. The Golden Vault campaign is also running again; also, one mission done and complete.
I got in some Warhammer 40k, including a narrative mission; and I played some ASOIAF, including a local tournament. All good fun.
Lannister and Reaper Bones commissions are done; I took on some more for November, including Free Folk and random animals. All nice and relaxing to paint. Besides those, I started painting the Dark Vengeance Chaos Chosen, which I already hate due to all the details. Unsure what else I'll start, if I finish my WIPs anyway.
As for the counter, I have reached my first stretch goal by painting more than 365 miniatures without multipliers. In fact I am currently at 393, or 509 with multipliers. My second stretch goal would be to reach 600. I won't break my back working up to this, so we'll see.
For my final game, I once again expected someone new to play against - instead, I got my regular opponent. After the hard loss against the Targaryens, I would not put the mammoths on the table, instead resorting to anti infantry tactics once more.
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My second game, also against an unknown opponent, and a faction heralded to be nigh unbeatable. I got out my monster list, and let's see what's going on about that dragon.
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For the first game, I was paired against an unknown opponent and an unknown faction. I saw only infantry so I picked my anti-infantry (kind of) list. Here are the lists and score.
We started off slowly, advancing towards the objectives.
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Apparently, there's new blood in town! We threw together a quick tournament. I got to know new people, played against new factions, and generally had fun while coming in third. A Saturday well spent!
The Golden Vault campaign is back in action, with just 3 brave agents taking on the next task. We were hired by an anonymous benefactor to recover a Canaith Mandolin stolen from the grave of a famous bard. Apparently his restless spirit refuses to leave our plane of existence until the instrument is recovered, and terrorizes the residents of his hometown Frogleap. Time to send in the clowns! 50 Copper, the dwarven fighter Thaldor and the new barbarian Grog geared up for the investigation.
I had a number of Berzerkers bought second hand off eBay. They sat a bit in the closet even after being paint stripped. So here's them being prepared for the table.
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High quality photos taken by GM Photography.
The adventurers continued exploring the cavern, walking right towards the caster suspended in a stalactite. They got hit by a fireball at maximum range, and two immediately fell unconscious. Turns out, that last fight had been really tough. Szivem ate another fireball when she poked her head out next round, but she let loose two of her own, destroying the stalactite.
Further exploring[1] by going back and forth through doors, the party arrived at a workshop, where a githyanki was sculpting a new crystal golem. He backed into a defensive stance, but did not immediately attacked, and thus Groin, who had opened the door, deduced that they might be able to talk to him. He was right.
I proposed the following narrative game: the Fallen and the Dark Angels are on the hunt for an ancient relic of Caliban. 6 objectives. Only one of them is a true relic (roll d6 in your command phase; on a 1-5 remove the objective; on a 6 remove all other objectives; last objective on the table is the true relic). No MSUs for boring things like objective things and actions. Let's get down to the killing!
Ave Dominus Nox! I converted and painted up these boys along with the other squad so refer to that for... almost everything, honestly.
Ave Dominus Nox! We have come for you! With the new Chaos Marine detachments, we are no longer playing specific legions, so I thought to create and paint some more Night Lords. Specifically, the flying infantry. I used up the Chaos Marines from the Shadowspear box (yes, I had them on sprue since) as well as a couple of bodies from the new Legionaries box. Add weapons from the bits box and various jump packs. One guy gets to be a jump pack chaos lord with magnetized arms.
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After a couple months of hiatus, the adventurers reconvene to continue the descent into the dungeon. We picked up where we left off, with the adventurers picking up the broken pieces of the crystal golem, only to be attacked by green skinned warriors (not orcs) from the adjacent room.
Back to playing ASOIAF after the summer hiatus. Also after a rules update. I tried a new concept of a list: a wall of bodies protecting spear thrower giants in the back. So I took defensive attachments, see the lists here. The Lannisters were back with a super elite list and Roose Bolton in command.
September is gone, aaand... not bad, surprisingly.
We reconvened to play Call of Cthulhu, but it looks like this will take a longer hiatus, due to scheduling conflicts for the GM. Sad. Let's see what else we start instead.
At least my other group restarted the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Let's see if we can get regular sessions in!
Finally, I played some 40k and ASOIAF. Both should continue regularly.
On to hobbying.
I finished a lot of stuff, including Chaos Marine tanks and infantry, a Lannister commission and several smaller projects. I took on more commissions (ASOIAF and Reaper Bones) for October, everything should be fine. Airbrushing took a pause with all the September rains, but I'll need to prime my Bones as soon as we have some good weather.
Currently at 442 painted miniatures (with modifiers) for this year. Grinding on, but no rush.
Another hard couple of days for the investigators.
We started by getting Archie out of St. Bartholomew's hospital. We really played into it by bringing a gift basket of fried chicken, watermelon and kool-aid.[1] The GM played into it by having a nurse accept some of it as well.
With half a day spent, we followed through our appointment with Jonah Kensington, Elias Jackson's editor. His Prospero Publishing House was to be found in a building full of such places. Kensington was a typical, middle aged, thick glasses kind of guy living in an informal library. He had lots of info to share on Elias and his investigation.
Another Rhino for my Rubrics to ride in. This time, I started with a clean base, as I wanted to rather decorate the hull with Egyptian hieroglyphs.
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Back in action with Burden of Trust from the Pariah Nexus mission deck. I painted up some new tanks, Khorne Berzerkers and Obliterators, so I wiggled them all into the list, somehow. Given the amount of armor, I decided to cosplay Iron Warriors with the Fellhammer Siegehost. Across the table, the Custodes with Sisters of Silence support.
The picture was taken after the Custodes took first turn, just before the shooting phase.
My first work in a string of Chaos touch ups and conversions: a Khorne-themed Chaos Rhino.
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5 years passed since our adventures in Peru. We all kept in contact with each other and Jackson Elias, but lived our own separate lives. Lucy attended university, and carried on with her search for her father, accompanied by faithful Amos during her expeditions. Archibald returned to a life of crime. Karl was replaced by Prof. Sanchez, who felt the need to escape the university in Lima. We all received a telegram, asking us to reconvene our investigative group.
We met up at the Chelsea hotel and the designated day and hour, and walked up to Jackson's room 410. With no-one answering the knock on the door, Archie first tried to pick the lock, then kicked the door in. 3 masked men with machetes were standing around, having executed Jackson. They jumped out the window, down the fire escape. Archie went after them, followed by Amos. By the time I tried to step out, the entire structure collapsed. We rushed down to help Archie, pinned in place by a piece of iron ladder. Amos barely registered the killers' escape car, license plate NYL7.
By the time we got Archie out, the cops arrived as well.
Insert a month or so gaming hiatus during the summer holidays. However, we took it up quite smoothly next time.
Another short video game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Unlike the previous two, this one is a map-based TBS so it might have some replay value, but I felt no urge to go through it again. Much like the previous two, I enjoyed it.
I'm not going to copy paste my Eisenhorn: Xenos review, although many points apply here as well. The game in itself is cumbersome to play. But the visuals and the atmosphere... oh boy. Right inside that space hulk. Brooding gothic architecture everywhere. Bad lighting, which in the 40th something millennium is still a problem. There I was, clad in Terminator armor, and I was afraid.
I just finished this game and had the sudden urge to write about it. Alright, let's start with the cons. Go ahead and look the game up on any review site, and you'll find mostly negatives. And I have to mostly agree with them. Aged graphics compared to when it came out. Combat is unexciting and rough. Stealth is your solution to avoiding combat but the mechanics are ridiculous: your companions do not help at all, but at least they can stand in plain sight and the enemies do not react to them.
But...
BUT!
This is the most grimdark rendition of Warhammer 40,000 outside the battlefield (looking at you Dawn of War 1) I have ever seen. And it is glorious.
I got a bunch of bits some time ago, including some Blood Knight lances. This idea has been floating around my brain ever since.
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Another heist where I missed the first part. So a gang of thieves called "The Fast Hands" stole a magical painting of Michael Jackson from some noble woman.
After a 4 months hiatus, we decided to play through the rest of The One Ring 2E starter set.
Learning from the previous session, I proposed to leave Bilbo out of it. He's way above and beyond the rest of the characters. We went into "Most Excellent Fireworks" with:
August was... different.
Besides a week of being sick and bedridden, unable to do anything, I did get some gaming in. 40k going strong. Nothing else, as evidenced by the posting of older articles soon, as I'm running out of material to post.
With the final squad completed, I have reached and exceeded my target of 365 painted miniatures for the year. With that, my motivation to paint plummeted. I started mass priming miniatures, in preparation for the winter months. Then I even ran out of place to store the primed minis. I ordered a huge display cabinet, but it will take a least two months for it to arrive.
I played Horizon Zero Dawn (excellent game by the way), until my video card burnt out and once again I had to look for something to do.
Inspired by the 40k games I've been playing recently, I started further expanding my Word Bearers. Two Rhinos have already been completed, with more tanks and infantry in the works. Along with whatever random stuff I happen to chance upon and fancy painting. Including testing out some Death Guard color schemes, and experimenting with slapchop.
In September, I expect my regular gaming groups to reconvene for DnD/CoC/whatever. 40k should continue, unless I decide to wade into AoS 4E/The Old World instead.
Hobby wise, I should finish up some Chaos Marines that I converted, assembled and primed. ASOIAF commissions should resume. And whatever else I happen to fancy, again.
I'm curious to see how many miniatures I'll paint until the end of the year...
I painted 5 of these guys a while back, and they dutifully functioned as Chaos Space Marines for a while. I always joked that they throw their shields pretty well... equivalent to bolt pistol shots. I now decided to finish another 5, and WYSIWYG them for 40k.
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I painted up two Rhinos, and I immediately got an idea for a new type of list. Previously, infantry blobs were unwieldy due to a large footprint. Now, I could include 3. So I dropped the Land Raider, and switched to Renegade Raiders for the transport-related stratagems. We played mission G: The Ritual.
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I got this guy in 2021 as payment for painting The Triumph of Saint Katherine, partially assembled and primed.
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We played mission Q (Supply Drop/Rapid Escalation/Sweeping Engagement) from the Pariah Nexus Tournament Mission Pool. It was my first time facing Thousand Sons, and the introduction lasted about half an hour. They are a very technical army, and require a lot of thought playing with or against.
Along with the Raiders, I got a bunch of characters to paint as well.
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