September review and October goals

Summer and holidays are definitely gone now, hello school year and glorious autumn! 

Just kidding, I hate the changing weather and flu.

Anyway, with the holiday season gone, schedules are somewhat on track. I had some more leg-related issues, but those should be done for the time.

We did not manage to restart the Dungeon of the Mad Mage due to... as I said, I hate the flu. At least we sneaked in some Descent into Avernus, with the bodies of fiends piling high everywhere we go. D&D5.5 is a great extension of the game. Triss is having a blast.

ASOIAF is based, with a small local tournament serving as training with the new patch. I also dipped into Chaos Daemons, and got my ass kicked, although I can see the potential. My excitement for 11th edition is waning, and we just got another massive changeset... we'll see.

At least the hobbying went well. My backlog of Imperial Guard infantry is almost finished, and I also went through some vehicles. Fantasy miniatures help shore up the numbers: several dragons, which I've been eyeing since the start of the year, are done. For the first time this year, I was ahead of schedule, even if by a measly 2... I'm behind again by 7, but a new batch of minis is soon done. This includes low effort Warhammer marines, ASOIAF commissions and some Free Folk for yours truly. All this should eat into the 98 minis scheduled to be painted until the end of the year.

As for the next batch, I will continue in the same vein. I have just two more units of Free Folk to paint up, one being already converted. I have a large amount of Warhammer minis converted and primed, ready for some paint. And of course, fantasy minis, mostly of the Reaper kind, also sit in boxes. I have no plans set in stone. I just want to get this through!

Painting Frozen Shore Bear Riders

Poor Bear Riders... they won't see the table during S7, but I like the models so here they are.

Painting Free Folk Heroes 1... and some attachments

After my essay on Slapchop 2.0 and its vigorous testing and finally codifying... all that's left is to apply it. 

17th Battle of Cluswar: A Song of Ice and Fire tournament

One final event before university season starts and everything gets crowded. Also the new balance patch is out! I decided to try the giants once more, to gauge the amount they've been nerfed by.

Note that we were only 5 players, and we decided to play with the Phantom Scourge again - a simple list piloted by either the organizer or myself, depending on matchups.

Game 2.5: Phantom Unsullied vs Greyjoy

Playing two games of The Winds of Winter really took a lot out of me, but I gave my best to hold up the savage Greyjoys.

Round 2 saw more posturing and no points scored.

Round 3 saw the Greyjoys want to hold objective points; whereas I was fairly certain things were going to get killed, so 2 points on killer units. The Greyjoys of course blocked me off the right hand objectives, but at least they failed their charge. The middle unit accepted the hits from the stakes, but this gave them a points advantage.

I rushed in for the kill on the unit left hanging, but of course Balon brought them back. Then we went to to toe where my units lost the 4-3 fight. 

The game almost ended in a draw, but the cavalry couldn't make the final kill. Victory to the Greyjoys!

Game 2: Free Folk Giants vs Baratheon

The Giants faced the Baratheons during The Winds of Winter. Refuse flank for the Baratheons, with the Giants converging on them across the table. Stakes protected the middle as usual.

Game 1: Free Folk Giants vs Phantom Unsullied

A Game of Thrones facing the smooth brain Unsullied list. Round 1 posturing, as usual.

Kit review, magnetizing, adding LED lights to the Hippogriff and Centaur... also painting

I haven't bought Warhammer in a while... and of course they went ahead and released new Guard vehicles. Well here they are! 

Overheated chaingun muzzle

 

Descent into Avernus: The defense of High Hall

I technically missed a session but there was only some fighting on the road in Elturel on route to High Hall. And that's where we started now: at the entrance to the ruined fort, ambushed by giant crabs and a bearded devil riding one of them.

Descent into Avernus: A stroll through Elturel

The session started with a giant lore dump, first regarding our Candlekeep research, then about harvesting the body parts of devils. 

Painting Casterly Rock Knights and Clegane Butchers

Yet more Lannisters to paint... but this time I asked for them unpainted (technically primed white) to experiment with horses.

D&D 5.5: Descent into Avernus

We quickly wrapped up the ghost story by getting a reward: two Candles of Tomorrow. Then we were off to continue our serious adventure involving devils and stuff. Oh, and we also got an infernal puzzle box from the DM. This marvelous 3d printed contraption kept attention off the main happenings for a long while, and we somehow opened it to find M&Ms inside.

Painting Unsullied Swordmasters and Targaryan heroes

The next batch of Targaryen commissions.

Painting Targaryen heroes

More Targaryen commissions, for variety. No Unsullied-type characters, those will be done along with another block of infantry.

Astra Militarum vs Tyranids, 31.08.2026

Back for revenge with the nuns, this time I changed up everything. Well, almost everything. We were too excited to start and I didn't take pictures with the deployment, so take a look at the map after round 1. I went all in with Scions, and with the Armored Infantry detachment I can redeploy 2 more squads into reserves. That means I only got Gaunt, Sly Marbo, Kroyle, a Callidus, a squad of Cadians and a random Cyclops Demolition Vehicle because of points. Everything else is Militarum Tempestus in deep strike. I also took Take and Hold disposition and fixed secondaries to destroy the Tyranid monsters.

Painting donkey cavalry as rough riders/death riders

I painted some more of these donkey riders to reach some respectable numbers in case I ever need more Guard cavalry.

Group picture with all the donkey cavalry

Painting Kriegers

With the final installment of Kriegers painted, time to consolidate the color scheme and all.

Group photo of every Krieger in blue-grey

August review and September goals

August is done, and life should be back to the same old... somewhat.

The gaming side took a pause with everybody on holiday, though I still managed to sneak in a couple of games of Warhammer. Also D&D5.5 is now trucking on.

On the Warhammer side, I am now officially ditching the guard after 6/6 lost games. I actually wanted to quit earlier, but that would mean motivation to paint the rest of my stuff would vanish. I kept it up as long as I could. In September, I'll go back to my original army: Chaos Daemons.

On the D&D side, motivation is soaring. I love playing Triss, my sorceress. The big reveal was finally done: we are playing Descent into Avernus. Although we might go back to Call of Cthulhu at some point, this is perfect for now.

Note that in September, the Dungeon of the Mad Mage should get back on track, and I should play a couple of games of ASOIAF as well. Just bring out the damn patch already! 

But all of this might not go anywhere if my leg keeps acting up...

Finally, on the hobby side, August saw a monumental effort to get back on track. Even though we were on holiday as well, with my bad leg, we didn't go anywhere far, so I could sneak in some painting here and there. I am now only behind schedule by 67, with 188 minis to go by the end of the year. This... is a tall order. So how to fix this? Well first of all, I do have some things in progress. The final, final batch of Guard infantry in the shape of Krieg command squads is on the table, as well as a bunch of 3d printed vehicles. Getting all of it done should provide a big boost. Then it's on to whatever next... probably some fantasy minis, to escape the Warhammer fatigue.

Astra Militarum vs Tyranids, 25.08.2026

Giving my mixed list another go: tanks and scions vs Tyranid monsters. I thought I'd have an easy time, with all tanks having lethal hits against the monsters, and the scions rerolling to wound...  well, not so much.

Tyranids got first turn and took position for early Take and Hold points.

Tan flesh

 

Painting Varamyr and friends

Although it's currently the season of giants... Varamyr still serves. 

Painting Cadian command squads in the brown and black of the Carmelites

Rounding out my 3x20 squads of black-and-white Cadian shock nuns, these command squads include extra models in case of exchanging the currently useful weapon types.

D&D 5.5: Candlekeep ghost story

We concluded our journey preparations by visiting Satiir Thione-Hhune, the matriarch we had previously rescued from the Vanthampurs. I presented myself as concerned about her health and all, hoping for a monetary reward, but she promised a favor instead. Good enough.

Once outside Baldur's Gate, Rheia went about her charity work among the Elturel refugees. We also met another Hellrider called Bran, who told us about their order's history and his desire to rebuild it. He was also heading to Candlekeep, so we let him tag along.

Speaking of...

Painting Death Korps of Krieg in bluish grey

 

Painting silver metallic with gold trim

 Originally trialed on Lannisters.

Simple blue tinted power sword

 

Painting grells

I did these in a day just in time for an appearance in Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

Painting Free Folk Skinchangers (with a 3d printed variant)

For that future Free Folk zoo build with deep striking bears! One set of white, black and brown minis each. 

Painting donkeys

 

Simple marble

 

Dungeon of the Mad Mage: ...and your head explodes

Still riding the high of defeating the Angel, the adventurers rested among their duergar allies, then descended into the next level of the dungeon. At least it looked nice, much like a noble manor up in Waterdeep. But it obviously contained horrors - the party was immediately beset by several grells. Being fully rested, high level spells and divine smites flew all around, from fireballs to fire storms.

Painting Free Folk Heroes 3 proxies

I have already converted and painted a Lady Dalla, see here. I decided to get 3d printed proxies for the rest of the minis in the Heroes 3 box.

Converting and painting Commissar Yarrick

Yarrick's return cinematic was hot stuff, and I immediately set to create a proxy/conversion. I had several ork bodies 3d printed to have a pile of them for the base, but the model turned out to be set on 32mm. Sigh. I dismembered just one body, and decided to have Ol' Bale Tits standing on it triumphantly.

Astra Militarum vs Orks, 06.08.2026

After the first three games of infantry squads dying in droves, I cooked up a list of tanks backed up deep striking Scions. Test subject: Orks! I got first turn, and I sent all 3 of my battle tanks into reserves, wanting to ambush the orks on all sides. Seeing the field clear, the boys scouted up 6".

Painting Inquisitor Kroyle

Loosely follow this excellent video by the Warhipster, at least for the mount.

Lannisters vs Free Folk, 27.07.2026

I basically wanted to see the other end of the stick, and prove that Lannisters can stand up to giants with some tailoring. Surprisingly, I faced a 6/2 list which is not at all how my opponent usually operates. I on the other hand was playing Lannisters as Free Folk: 5/3 with lots of cheap units, and both Robert Strong and Jaime (Kingsguard) for auto-wounds. Game more: A Feast for Crows.

We both placed stakes around the left side objective, but I won the roll-off and placed my opponent's cheeky stakes on his side.

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.

Game 4: Free Folk vs Lannisters

Finally, an army I actually know: the Lannisters. Also a funky game mode: A Dance with Dragons. With the pairings prepared the evening before, I spent some time agonizing over lists. I deduced that the Lannisters wouldn't take their double Turncoat no mobility infantry list into this already reduced movement scenario, so I brought forth the double Spear Thrower Giant list. I was right, with two cavalry units on the other side of the field.

Game 3: Free Folk vs Baratheon

 Game 3, A Clash of Kings, against double Thorn Watch Baratheons. Yay.

Game 2: Free Folk vs Stark

Against the Starks, I played Honed and Ready. Again like last time, but against a different player. Unlike the Baratheons, this list wasn't tailored against Giants.

Game 1: Free Folk vs Baratheon

Game 1 against the Baratheons: Fire and Blood. Ironically same as last time, although against a different player. Just one unit of Thorn Watch, which I did not mark because I have heard of them.

Painting Bullettes

Painting two adult Bullettes and one baby from the Reaper DDRPG Kickstarter.

Fixing up large elementals

I got these second hand: the water elemental made by Reaper, the other two from the Dungeons & Dragons: Temple of Elemental Evil Board Game. 

Astra Militarum vs Imperial Knights, 06.07.2026

One last try of the same Grizzled Company list. The Knights played Purge the Foe. Simple list: 5 big knights and a navigator.

Astra Militarum vs Adeptus Custodes, 02.07.2026

For variety, my second game of 11th edition was... also Priority Assets vs Disruption, but this time against Custodes. I brought the same list, with infantry on the right flank ready to take the middle, and heavy hitters on the left.

Painting a charnel grub

Another creepy crawly from the Reaper DDRPG Kickstarter.

Painting giant centipedes

The first item I've worked on from the Reaper DDRPG Kickstarter minis. Yes, I thought of the meme.

Free Folk vs Lannisters, 24.06.2026

In preparation for the Romanian Nationals, here's a training game of Honed and Ready. It's the season of giants! On the other side: Lannister double lance cavalry.

Painting 3d printed Free Folk activation markers

8 pieces, the highest number of combat activations I ever reached.