Creating and painting a large grey ooze

This is a custom monster for Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Initially, I was looking for something to 3d print, but then my wife said: you could totally build something like that from scratch! And so I did.

Painting grey oozes

Lore says the chaos of magic can liquefy stone and turn it into semi-sentient grey oozes. So a darker grey stone basing does just fine.

Painting darkness monsters/black puddings

I needed some Black Puddings for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and these darkness monsters from The Edge: Dawnfall came to the rescue. Especially given the "special" nature of these blobs.

Painting my dark elf rogue, '50 Copper'

For the final couple of missions, here I go with my own miniature for '50 Copper'.

Astra Militarum vs Black Templars, 12.03.2025

I wanted a second go at the Siege Regiment, this time slashing out the Basilisks and bringing in artillery that actually fires on 4+. 1500 points against the Black Templars sounded great. I proposed a simple game with just kill points, but we rolled Purge the Foe anyway, so let's have at it. 

Painting a shadow dragon

Dragons for the dungeons! Literally. For Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Miniature made by Reaper.

Painting nun infantry in the black and white of the Benedictines

 

Astra Militarum vs Adeptus Custodes, 05.03.2025

The codex is finally out, and I tried the Siege Regiment for the first game. I brought a combination of infantry for the stratagems, tanks to take advantage of the stealth bombardment, and basilisks to augment the slowing down of units and take advantage of denying cover. Here are my blobs...

Painting Poor Fellows

Finally, something to experiment on! The Poor Fellows step out of the usual Lannister paint scheme, due to, erm, being poor.

Painting Clegane Brigands

The first ASOIAF commission of the year.

Simplified wasteland base (Contrast)

Same as Simplified wasteland base but the difference is that I ran out of brown terrain paste.

Painting tempestus nuns in the bluish gray of the House of the Virgin Mary

 

February review and March goals

February's done and eagle eyed readers might have noticed the lack of hobby posts on the blog. That's because I did not paint in January, then I was sick, then stuff... so I published all my backlog of odd posts. But now I'm done with some stuff, so back to our regular schedule.

Gaming went alright, with some Warhammer, ASOIAF, D&D... Dungeon of the Mad Mage is back off track, read all about it soon. Golden Vault needs one more session to end the campaign, but scheduling conflicts hit hard. We tried out something else in the meantime. But all good!

Hobby wise, it's full steam ahead. One set of ASOIAF commissions is done, as well all the WIPs from last year. I also painted some D&D minis for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and finished a bucketload of Warhammer related items. Only 30 behind schedule!

As for March, the objective for Q1 2025 is to have as much Imperial Guard done as possible, given that the new codex is out, and I'm having my first game on Wednesday. I still have to receive some nuns, so numbers will fluctuate, but I'm painting up a lot of them as Tempestus of both kinds, and I'm getting lots of new turret options for my tanks. Also... Fortunate Sons added to the playlist.

Golden Vault: Dimensional rescue

Our next mission was to investigate a retired adventurer, the archmage Zorhana Adular. She changed completely after trying on a diamond necklace housing a dimensional rift. And so we enter the level range where somebody taking a shower triggers a 3-season epic storyline.

Anyway, the concerned husband, a man called Eliphas[1] sent us a satyr called Fifel Umberhoof with the plan of us joining a ball held for the winter equinox in the Feywild, in their charming palace called Paliset Hall, gifted to them by the prince of frost. The ball was in a couple of days, so sure, let's begin preparations. As usual, we were provided with a map of the premises.

Painting Yog-Sothoth

The final grand commission of 2024, paying off printing debts for some Warhammer books I never actually used due to them going out of date so fast. Not salty about that at all. Anyway.

The miniature is Reaper Bones from the 5th kickstarter.

I had no vision for this monster, and no idea how to start on it. My client came up with the idea of red tentacles, fading into purple innards, and lighter purple carapace. We synced several times during the paintjob, and this is where it went.

Chaos Space Marines vs Necrons, 18.02.2025

A 1000 points training game against a new player. We skipped secondary missions and played a dumbed down version of Purge the Foe. Also no detachments and no stratagems. I had built my list for Pact Bound Zealots, but not having stratagems was a breath of fresh air into the game. 

I forgot to take a picture of deployment, so here we are bottom of round 1.

We deployed in table quarters, and the necrons went first. They took objectives and put the Wraiths front and center. The Flayed Ones infiltrated right up to my Possessed and charged them. I sallied forth with everything, sending the Rhino to take an objective.

Turqoise cloth (Contrast)

 

Dark green cloth (Contrast)

Coral cloth

 

Burgundy cloth (Contrast)

 

Review: Castle Ravenloft

Taking a break from our Dungeon of the Mad Mage campaign, we decided on a boardgame night, but still in-universe. Castle Ravenloft is a D&D themed-boardgame, with the miniatures actually usable in D&D, and many rules instantly recognizable to any D&D-veteran. 

I picked the wizard, and we started with the intro adventure: escape from Strahd's crypt.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Into the shadows

New year, new beginnings. We started off very slowly, due to all the smalltalk, but the players have done their homework, and quickly resurrected the remaining dead and bought their equipment.

They descended into the dungeon once again, first meeting up with the githyanki and learning about what happened while they were recuperating. The gith pounced on the weakened mind flayer colony, slaughtering everything and selling their loot to a gnomish space faring trader. Disappointed, the adventurers poked at this a bit more, but concluded that their fabled magic gear is well and truly gone. Oh well.

The party descended to the next level, immediately feeling the shadows creeping in, concluding that this place is unnaturally evil. They bypassed a wall of darkness, after trying out what happens if you shoot it with arrows, fire, push an arrow in by hand, etc. In a small chamber, they found some coffins, which they immediately proceeded to open. Obviously, vampires. Level 15 adventurers are no joke, even without magic gear, so one vampire spawn died, and the other two fled.

Free Folk vs Starks, 05.02.2025

Let's give the giants time to shine during a game of Dark Wings, Dark Words.

Note that I forgot to take pictures during round 1, as we were just posturing anyway, until the crossbowmen ran forwards and shot down my chariot. RIP. 5 points deficit from turn 1. Cool.

During round 2, the battle lines settled into this: 

Painting a yellowy horse

  

Astra Militarum vs Dark Angels, 04.02.2025

One last game of fun with indirect fire artillery, before the incoming codex. Up against my guard, the Dark Angels with turn 1 teleporting Terminators. 

Painting a female Custodes

Time for another miniature painted as a gift, this time with a hefty amount of trolling added to the mix. I asked my guy how he paints his Custodes and how he'd like a new addition painted - without obviously mentioning her female nature. Thus, she'll be a Shadowkeeper on a snow base. And of course she bears a canonical name.

January review and February goals

New year's come and gone, goals achieved, all the good stuff. Now, for January...

Gaming was... OK, with a slow start after the new year. I did one of each 40k, ASOIAF, Golden Vault and Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Then I got hit with the flu and didn't go out of the house for over a week.

Hobby wise, I just couldn't put myself to paint anything. Partly because I discovered Baldur's Gate 3, which I'm playing multiplayer with old friends. It was fun during the holidays because I could go at it for days on end, now it's just some evenings of weekend afternoons. But also because I wasn't feeling it. So I did assembly/conversion work instead. I have around 45 marines, a load of cultists, traitor guard, nuns of all kinds, tanks, as well as other projects, ready to go.

And it would be time to go... due to some acquisitions, I am now at -50. Yeah, you read that right.

Now that I'm kind of over the flu... it's pedal to the metal! I want to finish as many nuns and tanks as possible before the Guard codex hits.

Wreck of the Minnow: a D&D 5E one-shot

In honor of an old time player/returning guest, we held a one shot, a bit reskinned for the occasion. The adventuring party:

• Éowyn, human fighter
• Felgrin, fairy wizard
• Tom Solo, human rogue
• Lou Fes, human ranger
• Vagda Lock, shadar-kai hexblade warlock
• Umber Taker, human cleric

embarked on an expedition to an unexplored island in search of treasure.

Painting Warrior's Sons

The final ASOIAF commission for 2024. Faith based Lannisters! With two additional attachments from the attachments box.

Painting Pyromancers

More Lannisters - this time, the Pyromancers. A box of these dudes would provide more than enough mage-type miniatures for any D&D player. 

Free Folk vs Starks, 22.01.2025

Back at it with this year's first game. I tried my Thormund list which lost at the last tournament, against newly painted Crannogmen. Way too excited to take proper pictures, here's me rushing up the right flank and using my opponent's favorite refuse flank strategy against him, round 1.

Painting a giant swordsman

Rounding off the giant commission, we got this guy wielding a huge sword. He's a Reaper Fire Giant, so he's got lots in common with the blacksmith. However, I was commissioned to make him more viking-like.

Painting a giant blacksmith

Time to pay off some commission debts while having fun with this Reaper giant. We established a human skintone, black armor, and lava around the base.

Golden Vault: Dimensional train ride

Our goals ever escalate! We need to talk to some guy who knows the true names of 3 leaders of the Lower Planes. He is being transported on an interplanar train ride to be judged in Mechanus, the plane of lawfullness. And a modron called Glitch is helping us with info.

Converting and painting Word Bearers Chosen

I bought the Chaos half of Dark Vengeance some time ago - only the Chosen are left to do something with. I updated their gear for 10th edition, then painted them as Word Bearers.

Creating and painting nun mortar teams (black habit)

Just a cool little addition to my nun force. Painted like the rest of the heavy weapons teams. Mortars 3d printed.

Astra Militarum vs Adeptus Custodes, 08.01.2025

New Year, new army, right? Not quite, but I do have some new support tanks for my Guard. They aren't even finished, but I just couldn't shake the itch to try them out. I used them all here: Hydra, Deathstrike, Basilisk, 2x Manticores.

Painting nun tank crews in the white and black of the Dominicans

Standardizing my Imperial Guard nun tank crew paint scheme. 

Note that the order of applying colors is deliberately broken up, instead of finishing one type of detail after another. I observed that by applying the basecoats quickly, I tend to slop over, but this ordering enables covering up any mistakes without constantly fixing them. Same with the highlights.

Painting Spearwives and Free Folk characters

With the frequency I tend to put these girls on the table, it was time to paint them. I got the remainder of the Free Folk Heroes 1 box as well.

Review: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Alright, prepare for a gushing review. It took me about a month to play through this game, partially because I went ahead and did - literally - everything. I enjoyed it through and through.

Review: Assassin's Creed Unity

I know, I'm only about 10 years late. But I played all the previous games, and I just finished this one. 

Review: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

Unlike my other reviews, this is for a fairly modern game. Buckle up, this will be long-winded.

Review: XCOM: Chimera Squad

After the gushing review I gave XCOM 2, you will not be surprised that I had high expectations of this game. It was... not what I expected.

In short, the game is easier, cartoony, and has a completely different theme. Instead of the ever present alien menace, we now instead have aliens who had integrated into Earth society, and human extremists threatening the planet. Your force will include humans and aliens, with their special abilities that you experienced during previous games. None of them are customisable. 

The mechanics are also greatly simplified, but you still have inventory management, skills etc. 

Now, I could have raged at the corruption of the XCOM ideal and quit. Instead, I chose to play. I still liked it. Embrace the goofy dialogue and humor.

And in the end, I triumphed.

Review: XCOM 2 and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

This was my game of choice for 2022. Based on the number of XCOM-like games I played since, it's also one of my favorite formats.

Review: Fallout 4

I played this game so much, it was The Game for 2023. I took a lot of screenshots and shared stories with my friends. Too bad I didn't keep any.

Review: South Park: The Stick of Truth vs South Park: The Fractured but Whole

I played The Stick of Truth a couple of years ago, and it's a game I'll remember for a long time. Besides the South Park-y graphics, it has everything that a modern RPG needs: classes, skills, spells, party building, inventory management. The gameplay is relatively simple, but so many novel elements are added over the course of the game that it kept me plugged until the end. I even went for collectibles and such. South Park humor is a thing of its own, and if you don't like it, you won't like the game. If you do, and you like RPGs or just video games in general, this is the thing for you.

We still make references to it during our D&D sessions and we still play the OST when we need combat music. 

So this was my background as I set down to try out The Fractured but Whole. It was completely underwhelming. A few new mechanics, but mostly the same. Novel elements that I couldn't figure out. The theme wasn't enough to keep me hooked. I quit after a couple of hours.

... not saying it's a bad game. If you don't play The Stick of Truth before, it might have the same novelty element. It no longer did for me.

Review: Total War: Three Kingdoms

Everybody said play Total War: Warhammer. So obviously I played Total War: Something else. It's great, but strange. Let's dig in.

Review: Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus

Another XCOM-like. Yeah, I really like these. Some points similar to the Necromunda game.

Review: Necromunda: Underhive Wars

This game is such a beautiful mess and I loved it - although I may be a bit biased due to external factors.

Review: Cultist Simulator

The same article of mobile game reviews that recommended This War of Mine also recommended this. I didn't like it. It's a jumbled mess that I did not manage to figure out. Unlike This War of Mine which also had no tutorial, but felt very rewarding when figuring something out, Cultist Simulator seems to lack direction and is so random that whatever your learn during one attempt seems useless at the next. I never understood the purpose of the game either. Having zero graphics did not help at all. Zero stars.

Review: This War of Mine

My usual approach to mobile games is: when a period comes up where I don't have access to my regular hobby stuff, e.g. holidays or whatnot, install a bunch of games, play each until I hit the pay-to-win wall, delete, repeat. There are very few that make the cut - as in, they're not cash cows, but actual enjoyable games. This is one of them.

It will also depress you.

Review: Dragon Age: Inquisition

While everybody was already starting on Baldur's Gate 3, I was still in the middle of this old thing. Is it great? Not on the level of Dragon Age: Origins. Is it worth it? I loved the first two, I loved the world of Thedas, so I think yes. 

Painting a Fire Elemental

Made by Reaper Miniatures.

Painting commission animals

After the trolls and ogres, I decided on a final commission this year, and got these cutesy animals. I decided on experimenting. Some of them are Reaper minis, links included.

Painting The Edge: Dawnfall sinister miniatures using slapchop method

I joined the appropriate kickstarter for The Edge: Dawnfall as it had demon miniatures, and it seemed like a great idea for Warhammer. Then it was delayed, and I got my stuff somewhere else. Also the big guys  are not quite big enough for greater daemons. The smaller guys are included in weird numbers. Anyway, I shelved the idea (and the miniatures) for a long time. Then I stumbled upon them recently, and I thought, since I did not do slapchop in quite a while, let's put two and two together.

Note that the game seems dead, there is no wiki, no other info on what is what. Sadly, that's the fate of most (if not all) complex board games, no matter how much the producer promises a living game. Anyway, I'm just saying that I don't know what the darkness models are properly called.