Painting a Red Slaad

WizKids preprimed Red Slaad painted as illustrated for 5E.

Painting an aboleth

I'm kinda late for our Aboleth encounter but here goes. WizKids miniature painted as illustrated in the 5e rulebooks.

Light yellowy wood (Contrast)

For smaller objects only.

Astra Militarum vs Necrons, 10.04.2024

I finished some more guard units - probably the last ones for a while, given that the Chaos Marine codex is over the horizon. I decided to have one last go with them, lining up once more against the necrons in this Sites of Power scenario. Notice the two Cyclops demolition vehicles...

Painting Tully Sworn Shields

My first foray into commission ASOIAF miniatures, although not the first finished task (curse you Still Water).

Hedonites of Slaanesh vs Kharadron Overlords

Still in the grip of  Age of Sigmar after the weekend event, I was eager to try out a new list based on what I learned. Basically nothing can take a hit, so I slashed Syl'Esske and 10 Daemonettes in favor of 2 cavalry squads to act as fast screens.

We rolled up Limited Resources, and I was made to go first. Time to spread across the board!

Painting Knights of Casterly Rock

Painting the first cavalry and also the first Lannister unit for the ASOIAF commissions.

Lannister bases for ASOIAF

 This is the basing we devised for House Lannister miniatures.

A Song of Ice and Fire: Lannisters vs Free Folk, 27.02.2024

We gave this game another round. I still used my same old army, deciding to experiment better usage of Jaime Lannister's halberdier unit. The Free Folk had new additions, spear wives and bear riders. We tried rolling for a scenario, but still rolled a 1.

I still don't have a good way to record the NCU board. At least I took more pictures of the battlefield this time. 

On second thought, maybe not. My first picture is the state of the board end of turn 1. The Free Folk took first turn so that their reserves would arrive turn 2. That meant I could zip forward with my cavalry (strategically left to move last) in expectance of a good charge.

The unit of crossbowmen on the left just took an objective and sat there for the rest of the game. Really makes a strong case for a cheap throwaway unit to do this from now on.

Dark pink

 

Painting a Rogal Dorn tank

I've put it off for some time, but with all the LEDs and magnets done, and 3rd party bits in place, it was time to paint the Rogal Dorn.

Magnetizing a Rogal Dorn tank

I did this along with the LEDs.

Adding LEDs to a Rogal Dorn tank

After long deliberation on where to place the LEDs, I decided on the front plate. The turret will be busy enough as-is, without a searchlight.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Hostile takeover

The adventurers rested well at the goblin camp, but refused the foul smelling liquor the goblins were drinking freely. Soon enough, they were on their way. A goblin scout party sneaked them by a supposedly dangerous scrap heap, some fiery dwarves hammering away at their forge, and to the back entrance of the scrap castle where the gnome lived. Hurried by a patrol of mecha scorpions, the party floundered at a locked door. Except Solid. He broke it down with a crit athletics check, only to have the booby trap explode in their faces. The adventurers hurried in, coming face to face with a prepared gnome wizard and her shield guardian.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: So... what is welding?

We started the session with the adventurers capturing the fleeing matriarch of House Freth. She negotiated well, and the adventurers let her go in exchange for treasure. She had quite the attitude[1] as well. Then, they returned to House Auvryndar to announce the clearing of the level. Vlonwelv believed them, and gave them more gold. After a long rest, the party descended to the level below.

Obviously, they forgot about the gigantic robot worm circulating in the tunnels, so they got run over again. Then they entered a large cavern, where they saw sparks flying - several large constructs were welding[2] a large thing together from scrap iron.

March review and April goals

At the end of March, everything is... going great, surprisingly.

D&D took a bit of a hit. Dungeon of the Mad Mage keeps getting canceled due to issues. The party finished the mech level and I can't wait to hit them with the next thing. I missed my first session of the Golden Vault, but the team did alright. We finished that level without ever drawing a weapon.

As for Warhammer... it's a renaissance. I did some games of 40k, and went to the opening event of an AoS escalation league. Got mauled but did better than expected. Had a game before and after. I'm now in the mood of painting daemons and Sigmar-stuff again.

Hobby wise, it's been amazing. I painted 123 miniatures so far, or 167 with multipliers. That's 199 remaining to do until the end of year. Almost halfway there! 

Some commissions are bound to come up. I'll probably paint a box of ASOIAF miniatures per month in return for 3d prints, and some Reaper minis soon, as usual.

I'll be experimenting with an airbrush this month, just let the weather warm up a bit. First goal is to be able to prime Reaper Bones without a hassle. Then, maybe we'll take it to the next level.

Finally, with the Chaos Marines codex announced, I'll probably put the Guard on the backburner - well, as soon as I finish painting everything that I assembled and converted. Then it's on to Slaanesh for Sigmar and Word Bearers for 40k.

Painting a second Plagueburst Crawler

Time to paint the second crawler. By the time I finished the LED work, I was kind of already over this miniature, so I decided to follow my previous Contrast-and-drybrush-based color scheme.

Assembling a magnetized Plagueburst Crawler with LEDs

I somehow got a hold of a second Plagueburst Crawler. I already magnetized one - I did the same steps here, not detailed again. However, I did decide to do LEDs this time. Just because.

Hedonites of Slaanesh vs Slaves to Darkness

Third game: Nexus Collapse. 

Hedonites of Slaanesh vs Ogor Mawtribes

 Second game: Fountains of Frost.

Hedonites of Slaanesh vs Flesh Eater Courts

First game: Geomantic Pulse. I bunched up in a corner, with a gathering of horrible monsters on the opposite side.

Age of Sigmar Escalation League: 1000 points event

We kicked off an Escalation League with a small event: 1000 points, 8 players. Given that it's an escalation league, I thought it best to start with a new army. Well, it's not technically new, I've been working away at it for some time, but my first game with them (and my first game of Sigmar since 2022) was literally last week. I lost the pictures so no battle report of that.

I threw together a random list of the most expensive things I own painted, so as to not have to learn everything at once. Obviously, I got my butt kicked. But I think I understand some mechanics now.

We played 3 games, here are the battle reports:

• vs Flesh Eater Courts
• vs Ogor Mawtribes
• vs Slaves to Darkness

They are all short and sweet, as somebody was tabled turn 3 latest, and then we just math'd out the games for points purposes. It's why I didn't detail battle tactics. If you want the short version, I tried for killy ones during the first two turns, and then positioning ones later.

I feel back in the game now though, and might just be motivated enough to paint up more stuff. Especially some screening units, because nothing can take a hit.

Updated photo setup

Added a ring light and tripod for long exposure photos. The photo quality itself is unchanged, but the shadows are much softer - almost invisible. It will be some time till you get to see them - look out for the nun infantry and D&D constructs!

Painting Skinchangers

I painted their animals - now for the Skinchangers themselves.

Painting Wildling heroes

Yes this includes Osha. Yes I am aware of her allegiance to House Stark. She is still a wildling, if not a part of the Free Folk. Notice her distinct base. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Painting Skinchanger animals

Commission painting 2 sets of the beasties from ASOIAF.

Astra Militarum vs Necrons, 13.03.2024

Time to test out some new toys in this 2000 points Take and Hold scenario. I tried to fix my army by adding what it lacked: scions for mobility, indirect fire for support, Ursula Creed for extra AP.

The left flank and center was still held by old favorites.

Astra Militarum vs Necrons, 08.03.2024

This was supposed to be a 1000 points demo/training game for a player new to 10th edition, but it turned out to be very close and intense. 

Given the setup, I took an experimental all infantry list and devised a very simple scenario with 5 objectives each granting 1 VP each as per regular rules, plus Slay the Warlord/First Blood/Linebreaker for 2 VPs each.

Painting D&D animals

A group of D&D boardgame animals painted in various schemes.

Painting an owlbear

I painted up this WizKids (I think) owlbear along with the kodiak bears.

Painting brown (Kodiak) bears

At some point, if we ever get to play again, Legorlas will be able to summon bears. Must be ready for that occasion. The minis are a mix of D&D boardgame bears (one already painted with a basecoat and wash) and one WizKids miniature (I think).

Golden Vault: Haunted mansion part 2

We replaced a couple of players and/or characters on the fly, and we continued into the dungeon/mansion. Or rather, the dungeon/mansion attacked us by having the ghost return and possess Aris, who then came to stab me. We slapped him silly, but then the ghost possessed Teek, who was a tougher nut to crack. We knocked her out too, and then finally defeated the ghost before it could possess anybody again.

Golden Vault: Haunted mansion part 1

After a stern warning that the next session will involve plenty of combat, we got the briefing regarding a stolen astronomy tome or whatever. The sage Talistrom, former owner of the tome, was robbed by a former associate and academic, the noble Marcos Delphi. We visited the esteemed sage, who had already hired a band of adventurers to retrieve the tome, but they all died. Nice. For extra bonus points, we had to retrieve Marcos alive and save him from whatever malefic influence took over him.

Painting Shaggydog

The last of the Stark dire wolves to be painted, the black Shaggydog was perfect for this painting tip (and indeed gave me the idea to extract it).

Painting Stark heroes

Three character miniatures for ASOIAF.

Painting Grey Wind and Summer

The first two completed miniatures of 2024 were these two commission dire wolves from ASOIAF.

Stark bases for ASOIAF

This is the basing we devised for House Stark miniatures.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Drow castle siege

The reconstructed battle scene from the end of last session looked like this. Although Solid was missing, I ruled that the drow mage still obeyed his command spell and floated down from the battlements, only to be ripped apart by the zombies. Group initiative coming up!

February review and March goals

With February over, I am mostly on track with almost everything.

D&D is going great. We'll advance to the next level of Dungeon of the Mad Mage soon(ish?). However, much more exciting, the Golden Vault campaign is in full swing with weekly sessions. I enjoy immensely the roleplaying aspect of it. 50Copper was a great character choice. I'm milking every moment of it.

As expected, this came in detriment of wargaming. I still got in a game of 40k (wasn't that great, but learned a lot and re-ignited my passion) and one of ASOIAF.

Hobby-wise, February started strong. I finished all my outstanding commissions and my Rogal Dorn tank. I've barely painted anything since, and I'm still way ahead of schedule - amazing! That doesn't mean I was just sitting around, though. I assembled some counts-as scions and field ordnance, and converted some Sentinels to my nunnery. More conversions coming up soon!

First goal is to finish painting the stuff I converted up. These should provide a much needed boost to my guard army. Then, I'll do one more ASOIAF commission. Expect new printed minis soon for even more nun-diversity!

Painting a brass dragon-winged sorceress

It will take some time, but we'll eventually get to character level 14. Then, our dragon sorceress will grow wings. Time to paint this Reaper miniature.

Painting a witchy necromancer

Another sorceress, another dress experiment. This time on the Bones variant of this mini from Reaper Kickstarter 5. 

Paint a stereotypical witch

A bit late for Halloween, but here's the witchiest witch I can think of. All she's missing is a broom.

Painting a female elf bard

I got inspired to paint a Barbie-styled blonde in pink clothes. Don't ask why, I didn't even see the movie. The mini is from Reaper Miniatures.

Golden Vault: Casino heist part 2

We reunited with Thaldohr after he was released from the brig, did some preparations in advance, talked through our plans (rather inefficiently but excitement was running high), then made our move.

First, I put on my prepared disguise as an employee while hiding out in our bag of holding, then scouted the employee only areas. I discovered one accountancy office with a magic book writing down the winnings; one office belonging to Quentin, where I palmed a glass key, a minotaur-headed bone rod, and some gold; and one employee lounge, where I made a fantasy themed joke, mingled with the employees, and learned about the minotaur skeleton in the vault.

I also bumped into another employee, but successfully bamboozled him into believing I was a new guy.

The circus was playing at this time, so I also checked out the animal prep area, palming a suspiciously magical looking potion.

We regrouped, and while I explained my progress and Aris studied the bone rod, Quentin was seen rushing to the tournament scene. We decided that he must have discovered the theft, and it was time to move before circumstances change too much.

I moved in, still in disguise, and splashed paint on the mirror observing the approach. Everybody rushed in behind me. I went into the security room to distract the guards, but they were too tough to be put to magical sleep. 

Golden Vault: Casino heist part 1

Long story short, this tiefling lady called Verity Kai had a gambling partner called Quentin Togglepocket[1] who stole all the money they supposedly earned working together[2]. Quentin disappeared, then came back big to open his very own casino near Waterdeep, even hosting a 3 dragon ante tournament. Verity wants her money back. She also wants to ruins Quentin by stealing the golden statue which is the grand prize of the tournament. Sounds like the type of noble quest our party was made for!

Painting a commission travelling witch

Included in the final batch of commission characters for 2023, this is a Reaper Bones miniature from the 5th Kickstarter. The sculpt is absolutely beautiful and the scale is just right. Yes the text is copy pasted from the druidess. Still true.

Painting a commission goggled sorceress

Included in the final batch of commission characters for 2023, this is a Reaper Bones miniature from the 5th Kickstarter. The sculpt is absolutely beautiful and the scale is just right. Yes the text is copy pasted from the druidess. Still true.

Painting a commission druidess

Included in the final batch of commission characters for 2023, this is a Reaper Bones miniature from the 5th Kickstarter. The sculpt is absolutely beautiful and the scale is just right.

Painting a commission elven sorceress

I already painted this girl for myself. For the commission version, we decided on a reverse color scheme, in case we ever get to do something funny with the miniatures. So I reverted the red/blue cloaks, painted the robe warm white instead of cold, reverted the silver/gold bits, and painted all the light leathers dark. Then made her skin pale instead of "regular", and black hair instead of blond. Turned out pretty nice.

Astra Militarum vs Necrons, 07.02.2024

My first 2000 points Leviathan game. Kinda late but I've been having fun with narrative play so shut up.

Anyway, it was a deep dive in competitive style play. We played a standard mission (E from the Leviathan Tournament Mission Pool format) resulting in Take and Hold on an angled deployment. The table was absolutely overloaded with ruins. Ruins everywhere. Nothing but ruins. At least I had first turn, although I'm not sure if that was good or not.

Astra Militarum, turn 1

I pulled Area Denial and another one that I threw away. I moved forwards, getting some shooting angles.

I deployed my freshly painted Rogal Dorn alongside the Executioner as far forwards as possible without giving direct line of sight. First turn, they rumbled up into view.

The Catachan detachment (including Sly Marbo) had previously scouted up, taking the objective, standing still for shooting the Licheguard and completing Area Denial.

Painting a primeval shaman

This resin miniature was a $3 eBay find, I have no idea where it comes from.

Painting an old human druid/sorcerer

This guy from Hasslefree Miniatures. He looks druidic but I did not want another brown scale or brown/green miniature, so I decided on some faded cloth besides all the fur and leather.

Painting a Halloween golem

I was delighted to be invited to this Paint your first mini (Halloween edition) event as a... supervisor, I guess. We each painted different types of Halloween miniatures 3d printed by Novac Dawn. Pretty fly!

Now I already painted something like this as a commission, but this one is different. I'd normally do Contrast basecoats, but as a first experience painting, I usually recommend regular paints. So I painted him the same way myself.

Also, some paints were provided by the game shop, but not all, so we used mine as well.

Last but not least: low budget effects!

Painting an aquatic monster girl

I think I bought this miniature from the same place the genie came from - I just don't know where. 

Anyway, I painted them up in parallel. Next to the genie's regal blue, I wanted this one to be more turqoise.

Painting a blue genie

I felt like experimenting again. I tried a blue gradient some time ago - time to rethink it using Contrast paints. I have to say it came out very well.

Painting a female dark elf with spider

I painted this miniature from Hasslefree along with the commission priestess.

Painting a commission dark elf priestess

We have already encountered this mini long ago during our MAGUS adventures.

Golden Vault: Eldritch horror heist, part 2

We resumed our heist with a much diminished crew, but with a new addition: Hasbullah 'Mini Khebab' McSparkface, the rock gnome artificer. We got down from the attic, but not before noticing some unidentifiable metallic sounds from below. Oh well... Teek listened at the door, I opened it, and we stepped out into... a well lit museum, with now windows but wall sconces and continuous flame spells. I sneaked forwards, almost triggering an enchanted statue - I managed to dive behind a couch just in time. Guards, guards everywhere. But I did reach the cleaning supplies' room.

Painting Elrond

Time to experiment with a greenish tint on a miniature.

Painting LOTR orc leaders

Grishnakh, Lurtz and Gothmog had been sneakily hiding in a box until now. In the movies they are mostly black armed and armored. Now if you look for screenshots, some items of clothing, fur and hair have tints of dirty brown. In art, the reddish orc skin is quite red/copper. However, if you just look at the movies, they seem almost completely... just black. So here's an exercise in black.

Painting Gandalf as a blue wizard

I had a second Gandalf, so I painted him blue instead of grey, in memory of the lost Istari.