Jesus Christ, last month was one from hell. Sleep pattern gone to heck, generally feeling worn out and tired most of the time and all this in spite of having a week off at the start of it.
On the plus side, I got stabbed in the arm by some Pfizer so I’m hopefully on the way to actually playing games with people (as well as other hobbies outside). So swings and roundabouts.
Project 365
So you may notice that the graphs for this month has changed. As I mentioned in last month’s project Database, I’m now tracking terrain purchases and painting. This required some back end tweaks in the sheet I use to make the graphs and such, which meant I had to rebuild the graphs. On the plus side, terrain now counts when I’m working out my numbers.
Speaking of, lets see how I did last month.
Painted: 32
Description | Maker | Number |
Chaos Godsworn Hunt | GW | 6 |
Darkoath Warqueen | GW | 1 |
Darkoath Chieftain | GW | 1 |
Kosgari Nightguard (Cursed City) | GW | 2 |
Deadwalker Zombies (Cursed City) | GW | 10 |
Ulfenwatch (Cursed City) | GW | 10 |
Watch Captain Halgrim (Cursed City) | GW | 1 |
Imperial Dwarf | Last Sword | 1 |
Purchased: 31
Description | Maker | Number |
Escher Gangers | GW | 10 |
Escher Death Maiden | GW | 2 |
Escher Wyld Runners | GW | 4 |
Escher Phelynx | GW | 4 |
Escher Champion | GW | 1 |
Ammo-Jack | GW | 1 |
Dome Runner | GW | 1 |
Ylthari’s Guardians | GW | 4 |
Stormsire’s Cursebreakers | GW | 3 |
Imperial Dwarf | Last Sword | 1 |
We’ll get into the purchases below, but I’m really happy I managed to hit my goal of 31 models painted this month. Overall, I’m doing okay I think, keeping up with the target without the purchases going too far out of control.
Battered Brush 2021
Something that comes from having a whole bunch of wargaming friends in a different city means that I get dragged into some strange arrangements. In this point? Battered Brush 2021.
As the image above shows – 100 models, in 100 days. This is something similar to project 365 but just a little bit more focused in terms of days and model makers. I’ve been using this to get to work on all the GW figures I’ve been picking up, especially with the Cursed City box. I’m planning to keep working through GW stuff with one of two other items sneaked in (such as the Imperial Dwarf I painted this month).
At time of writing I am 29 days in with 30 models painted.
Project Database
Adding terrain to the database is still an ongoing process. I have a lot of more than I expected.
Another new element to the database I’ve added is a list of games. Partially so I can keep track of how often I actually use my models, but also a fun way of logging my hobby time. This required some database shenanigans (turns out storing lists of values in a database entry is a big no-no, in comparison to my more programmatic approach). Instead, there is a few more tricks to make the various tables link together. This is probably the final aspect of tracking the three parts of the hobby – Miniatures, Terrain and Games.
Project Fantasy
First up for Fantasy – Conversion work! When Cursed City had just been released (and I was unsure if I would get my copy) I picked up some bits from it (Namely the Human Captain and trio of Bloodborn Vampires). When I actually got my copy of Cursed City, that left me with some duplicates to assemble.
I still haven’t decided on that I’m doing with the Vampires, but after the arrival of the pair of Witch Hunters, I got inspiration. I decided to assemble the elder Van Denst as a dual pistol gunslinger which left me a pair of gloved hands with torch and sword. Combined with how the female captain goes together, the gloved hands would fit perfect with the style of the model. Combined with a head from the Stormcast head (complete with warrior braid) and some chopping/greenstuff work, I’ve managed to assemble a human captain I’m pretty excited about in a very commanding pose. The next step is to get her painted up, which I think I’ll do around the same time as the Van Densts and the Witch Hunter from Cursed City.
In terms of completed projects, we start first with the Chaos Barbarians. Made out of the Darkoath champions, Godsworn Hunt and the Ogroid Myrmidon I finished off last month, I’m mostly pretty damn happy with hwo they turned out. It’s a very different project for me – lots of exposed skin and naturalistic materials (leather and fur) rather than more processed materials.
I’ll go into more detail on them in a post, but the feature I think really worked was making sure each model had the clan colour (Red) and the Leader colour (Purple) so that they looked like a family clan that has joined with my other Chaos warriors.
However, my favourite project to finish this month was the skeletons from Cursed City.
I think I really like painting skeletons.
Blog post coming soon.
Not quite finished in time for this wrap up but I have also been working on the zombies from Cursed City. These guys were a complete 180 from the skeletons, with lots of a details to pick out and lots of colours to work through. I couldn’t batch paint them anywhere nearly as quickly as I usually manage but by the end managed to work out some techniques that I might be able to use going forward.
Big fantasy news for this month (even though it counts for July) was getting the Age of Sigmar Dominion box. Now, I’m not keeping it all – I’ve split it into three with two fellow hobbyists and will just be keeping my hands on the new Stormcast figures. I’m honestly surprised how excited I have been for the new Stormcast models. I will raise my hand and include myself among those people who found the original Liberators kind of… dumb. But, with the addition of the robes and armour design, they have become a much more dynamic and overall better looking version of the fantasy knight archetype. I also adore how GW has used the Stormcast to push a great diversity of characters and people. There are some fantastic heads in the new releases, perfect for letting you show a real mix of glorious warriors, rather than just more angry shouting bald men.
Yet somehow, despite not getting in Age of Sigmar (all these figures are going into Open Combat duels), you’re also going to see more Stormcast! After I’ve done cursed city, I’ll be working through my collection of armoured warriors and maybe even adding some of the upcoming releases such as the Vigilors and Vanquishers that were announced during the launch stream.
Project Necromunda
Funny thing about Dominion – it’s also kicked off another project.
During the run up to it’s release, my local wargames shop Leodis had several deals to sell off stock to make room for the new releases. One of these was the Hive War box for Necromunda. A few moments after I shared this news, one of my former uni-housemates appeared with a cunning temptation to split the box.
A few purchases later, and I’m building an Escher gang. Much like with the enforcers I made last year, I decided to go all in, getting as many options as possible so I can mix and match from the start. I’m still working on the theme for them, but I think a focus will be to make it colourful – I find myself often just focusing the effects of washes and dark colours, so making a group more vibrant.
Project 3D Printing
Remember this? Yeah, it’s been a little quiet. I still need to write up my blog detailing my initial thoughts on 3D printing – I’ve been pushing it back again and again until I was really in the mood to write it. Hopefully, that should be done soon with the bonus of six months of printing and playing around.
My first 3D printed Kickstarter has delivered – Dogs of War offered a good set of Imperial Mercenaries, perfect for any number of fantasy skirmish shenanigans. By which I mean Mordhiem style things. Overall, I’m really happy with the quality of these models, they definitely show off what the printer can do. On the other hand, less happy with how much fucking around there was to get them fully printed – there were about four batches of prints with a few minor issues on several models each time.
With the grumbling over however, I can now focus on other things. Like painting them.
And speaking of painting, here is the first 3d Printed model I have actually painted. This Imperial Dwarf is from Last Sword, a Spanish miniatures company currently working on units that strongly evoke Warhammer Fantasy’s Lizardmen, Chaos, Empire and High Elves (with elven vampires and other more unique units on the way). I’ve got a lot of thoughts on these patreons, which I’ll get into at some point but I think this one is definitely one that works for me personally.
This guy sits among the Welcome pack, a great model to get into their style. As someone needs some adventurers for upcoming campaign missions, this guy seemed pretty perfect. Printing was easy (unlike other Last Sword STLs which have some risky supports), painting even easier. I added some Frostgrave rope (rather than his shield) and a treasure chest from another Last Sword figure (an elven bard that mis-printed) but I’m happy with the final effect.
As well as joining the Patreon, I also went deep into their back catalogue and picked up most of their STLs. Among them were a really cool set of Golems. I had to do some repair work in Windows 3D Builder to get a good print, as well as adding supports. But the look of this guy gave me some really good ideas. I actually used the arm from a different golem, as well as a base I had prepared for another 3D printed model. This is definitely a model that I looked at and got really excited about, so keep your eyes open for when I actually finish this guy.
That’s it for this month’s update, I’ll see you in a month!