Tag Archives: painting

2024 Year in Review

Wow, has it really been 2 months since I posted last. I have not been idle. Just lazy on the writing front. Sometimes, I think I get anxious about not doing what I am supposed to have done, and then I fall further behind. I will make several posts showcasing my accomplishments over the last two months. A half a dozen games and a fully painted Tyrranid list.

My resolutions for 2024 were;

  1. Complete Horus Heresey Word Bearers Army
  2.  Complete through scenario 15 of the Stalingrad campaign
  3.  Complete a Warhammer Fantasy Army, either high elves or Beastmen
  4.  Inventory my terrain
  5.  Spend less money and focus more on 3d printing
  6.  Paint 6 Skirmish forces, either Warcry, Necromunda, Carnivale, Malifauxe, Kill Team, etc. 6 of them.
  7.  100 Blog Posts

I completed the Word Bearers Army with 3500+ points. I still have quite a bit of work to do. I need two more Terminator squads, another couple of dreadnaughts, and new tanks.

I did not even get close to scenario 15. In fact, I only got to 5. I gave up on this as, quite frankly, I just got bored with it. As a plus, I painted 2k points of Soviets and 1500 points of Germans.

I completed a fantasy army, which consisted of the dwarves rather than the high elves, but it was completed.

My terrain was inventoried, kinda, no, not really, I did look at what I have.

However, I did spend less money; I did not do more 3d printing. This year should be better for 3d printing. I am getting much better at it, and the new printer is fantastic. I need to do a review.

I painted 4 skirmish forces. One Blood Bowl Team, One Marvel Crisis Protocol Group, 10ish Harry Potter Figures, and One Warcry Warband.

100 Blog Posts, 33%, are not good but not bad. Considering there were 4 months with zero posts. It seems a weekly post would be more effective.

Other Things
Complete the Black Seas ships (thank you, Kevin Bush)
Completed armies for the 100 Years war
Completed Mancrusher Gargants

How to improve;

I was actually more successful than I thought I would be. The thought this weekend of completing the review was it would be abysmal. Instead, I was a little encouraged.

Review My Goals
It seems like I tend to get bored quickly with a project. The Stalingrad project, for example, was exciting for a few weeks, then a chore for a few more weeks, then a burden. Hobbying should never be a burden. If I had looked at the list of hobby goals, I would have grabbed a Kill-Team, Warband, or other item and given myself a break.

Understanding Limits
I just don’t get enough hobbying done in a week to get enough content for two posts. I may do one battle every two weeks and complete one or two units every two weeks. People don’t care much about my thoughts, but I could review more products. This year, 50 posts seem more reasonable.

Also, to understand my limits, I must understand my attention span. I have three rulesets I have been working on for various games and a dozen campaign and army ideas; traversing from one to another will be necessary.

Have Fun

This hobby should not be a chore or a burden. If I am not having fun, do something enjoyable.

Until 2025.

My September Volume of Work

September was rough. I refereed 36 soccer matches in 5 states and 12 cities. I was a soccer referee from Thursday to Sunday every week. I have two more weeks of intense officiating.

This week, starting Thursday, I referee two matches two hours away. (4 total drive hours). Then I drive six hours for a single game (10 total hours). I drive four hours for another game (14 total drive hours). I’ll drive two and a half hours for the final match. (16.5 total drive hours) followed by a three-and-a-half-hour drive home. (20 total drive hours)

I will referee from the time I get to each site until the time I leave, a total of sixteen hours. Over the weekend, I will work 36 hours, sleep in hotels, and recover for the next day. I should clear about $2,500 for the weekend making everything ok.

This means I have been unable to play games or hobbies to my usual extent. I did accomplish a ton of things, though.

A. Used Warlord Army Builder to create every list to complete the Stalingrad campaign. Their army builder is switching to 3rd edition, and I want to game in 2nd.

B. Completed a game of DBMM (battle report to follow)

C. Painted the Following Models (70 total)

Soviet airborne (Happy with)

Base German green brown vallejo primer
Zen idf Israeli desert sand vallejo primer
Wash earth shade
Hats contrast skeleton horde
Guns contrast black. Drybrush silver
Base
Vallejo russian mud
Terrain static grass landscape series
Yellow flowers

Soviet Guard Squad (Not happy with)

Base german panzer grey primer
Zen nato green primer
Sponge on vallejo model air dark brown
Wash camoshade
Vallejo diorama European thick mud
Terrain static grass green
Autumn leaves

Soviet Infantry Base (medium happy with how they turned out)
Base German red brown primer
Zen russian green primer
Wash camo shade
Dry brush model air gunship green
Vallejo diorama European thick mud
Terrain static grass green 
Yellow flowers

German Infantry Squad (very happy)
Base black primer
Zen grey primer
Base vallejo German field grey
Drybrush light grey
Vallejo thick mud russian mud
Tan static grass
Army painter swamp tufts

I also camo airbrushed a German Tank. It was my first attempt at doing something like this and I wasn’t super happy with it. My color ended more red than brown as intended. (also why I didn’t bother with the pilot or paiting the tracks or any detail work)

Another Remodeling Delay

I was ready to start. The flooring was complete. My wife and I started putting items away and preparing the game room. Then she grabbed a tape measure. She put on her thinking face. Then she put on her I’m sorry face.

Short story. I have a lot more work to do, long story below.

My hobby room has been a sore spot for her. Items I own consistently drift into the game room and every other room in the house. She looked at my hobby room. Where I keep most models, I do my painting, the magic collection is in there. Then she looked at the game room. A much larger room, but it does not have a door. “What if we put the books from the game room into your hobby room, made it a reading room and all your shit can go into the game room?”

I have a lot of shit. 42 lf of floor to ceiling shelves, plus a few piles and stacks of boxes and the like. We have worked about 14 hours on emptying my hobby room, and we are still incomplete. Four more hours to go. Then we have to organize and put about 10,000 volumes of books into the new reading room. Then, I have to restructure the hobby/game room. Build a new painting station. Put everything back on shelves in the game room. Finish the front den area where most board games are kept, requiring all new Billy Shelves from Ikea. Add a new entertainment center. Then, finally, I have to finish the guest bedroom. Building the new bed frame, etc. All before the first of March. Two weekends away, one of which we will be out of town for. Bleh.

I am very pleased to have the new space. It will work better for everything. It is just a lot of work. The campaign is delayed. I won’t have much time to hobby and paint, but it will begin. It will be awesome. Plan on updates.

Terrain Progress Bridge Over the River Don

My terrain has always been an Achilles’ heel. I can get an army on the tabletop, no problem. The idea of taking 2 hours to airbrush and detail a building is daunting.

My first campaign battle is mostly taken care of for terrain. In fact, I have literally 2 pieces of terrain to make. The field is 6×4 with a river running 2′ from one of the short edges. On the small side of the river, there is a village with about 10 buildings. On the long side, there are some hills. A large bridge over the river.

I will use my Kallistra Hexes as the base of the 6×4 table. The simple grass flock. Easily my most used piece of terrain, and I highly recommend it. I will also use their hill pieces on the long side of the field. Kallistra makes several styles, and I will review my collection to decide what is best.

For the village, I will use several of my buildings. I have a few fully painted MDF, some Dwarven Forge, and I will probably paint a 3D-printed church. I also have some 3D-printed hedges and walls that will take no time at all to paint and some neoprene roads.

My crafting is going to be the river and bridge. Both items come from tabletopworld and are absolutely stunning. I have already painted, drybrushed and detailed the bridge. There is a small house attached to the bridge that I need to paint as well. I want to add some green algae effects to the bottom.

The river pieces themselves are slightly raised. They should fit really well into the Kallistra hexes. I want to paint the bottom. Add some river rocks, then fill them with a blue resin. This river will be used in 5 of the 22 campaign battles, and I want it to stand out. I have never worked with resin before. I purchased several large C-Clamps to hold wood against the edges. Wish me luck.

Horus Heresy Lists and Progress

As the house remodel saga continues. Hobby progress has stalled because my Hobby Room is in the remodel area. I have the entrance sealed off with plastic so as little concrete dust as possible can enter. I am much larger than dust particles.

We are getting new fancy floors in our basement. Unfortunately, our house is 120 years old, and the basement is not level. There is a lot of grinding, jackhammering, and laying new concrete to get the new flooring. Lots of dust. Progress is slow. Maybe by the end of the week, I might have access again.

To expedite hobby progress, and because I wanted to. I did purchase a new airbrush for my workplace. It is a budget airbrush but should work nicely for priming and zenithal highlighting. I may even try it on the 3d printed soviet trucks.

I should be on track for the 2nd week of February to complete the full 3000 pt Word Bearers Army. My Ravenguard has been arriving; pictures will be taken later this week.

Here are the Army Lists for the Two Starter Forces

Word Bearers3000RavenGuard3000
Praetor/W Command Squad235Centurion Master of Signals95
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon w/Drop Pod325Praetor Cataphractii W Command240
Destroyer Assault Squad2052 Contemptor Dreadnought390
Veteran Squad w/Rhino150Mor Deythan Squad150
Veteran Squad 1 Missile Launcher135Mor Deythan SquadW Storm Eagle360
Despoiler Squad100Terminator Cataphratii Squad325
Recon Squad w/Storm Eagle344Assault Squad145
Tactical SquadW/ Rhino145Tactical Squad100
Tactical Squad/W Rhino145Tactical Squad W Rhino135
Outrider Squadron91Tactical Squad W Rhino135
Proteus Land Speeders2102x Land Raider Carriers505
Sky Hunter Squadron105Basilisk Squadron200
Land Raider Squadron250Sicaran Squadron220
Basilisk Squadron200
Predator Squadron360

There is very little method to my madness for these lists. I think I have enough transport capacity for the Ravenguard for every unit to be mechanized. I hope the fast attacks on the word bearers can work as screens to prevent the Ravenguard from crossing over the bridge. Some hard-hitting tanks, some dreadnoughts. Coming from someone who has never played, this seems like a fun list to play.

The Raven Guard will be 100% complete once they arrive. I have started priming the Word Bearers Tactical Squad in a silver primer and painting the main areas in Flesh Tearers Red. I didn’t like the look on my one test model. One thing I am trying to push myself with is brighter colors. Way too many of my models are muted color-wise, and I would rather they pop on the table. I am going to try a 100% airbrushed marine with a gradient to see how it looks. Then pick out a few silver details. I am not sold yet.

My 100% airbrushed marine makes me much happier. Base/primer coat of Vallejo German brown. Followed with Vallejo Game Air Blood Red and finished with Safety Orange from Army Painter Airbrush paint series. Used Grim Black from speed paints on the blacks. Silver from Vallejo game air on the silvers, and some Army Painter Red Tone for a little more detail. I underpainted it with a shot of Vallejo Royal Purple.

You can see the side-by-side comparison; the gradient model came out much bolder. I will base both models on the next just to see how they look complete. I literally have 250 Horus Heresy Marines lying around. If one or two become sacrifices, I will live.

It is very interesting to me how a base can absolutely change a model. Some dry brushing is a must on the one on the left, a little bit of silver on the blacks with some yellow on the armor. Also, skip the silver toes and maybe go with something else. Silver markings on the pauldron, maybe.

I used the same colors on the marines as I did on the vehicles. I followed this guy’s YouTube guide on how to paint the vehicles. For my first couple of attempts, I am decently pleased. The next step is adding some transfers and a little weathering.

Time Grows Closer

I have a few things left to finalize the opening battle of the Stalingrad campaign.

Paint German Halftracks, Flamethrower Team, Medic, Spotter
Paint Soviet Bannerman, 5 Trucks, BA 20 Armoured Car, Dog Mines Team

Base all of the above-painted models.

For the Word Bearers

Almost everything needs to be painted. I have most of the models primed which would be good enough to start the campaign I think. Although I have some time Saturday and might be able to bust out quite a few models.

I need to acquire or kitbash 10 Man Despoiler Squad, and 10 Man Destroyer Assault Squad, Legion Chosen models.

I have ordered Destroyer Squads from GW but they have 0 Destroyer Assault Squads. I will add a few jump packs and call it good. For the Despoilers, a box of MKIV marines and the despoiler upgrade should work fine.

Legion Chosen are a little more challenging. I have acquired a couple of Legion Chosen single models, including a bannerman. I still need Legion Chosen marines, so I might just paint regular marines with gold trim instead of silver.

One big thing lacking is the river. I am anxious about painting the river and then filling the pieces with epoxy. It was a very expensive model.

Finally, as far as the future of the campaign. While it is necessary to plan ahead. I also think it would be interesting to look behind. Units can grow. I want to name especially stubborn or heroic units, and maybe, at times, it would be worth losing and withdrawing than going all out and losing your valuable upgraded units. I’ll work on it.

Horus and Stalingrad

During my one-week vacation, to watch my beloved Wyoming Cowboys take on the Toledo Rockets in the Arizona Bowl. I was able to accomplish quite a bit and I am excited to introduce the next campaign I will be running.

Now this campaign is going to take a ton of work to accomplish. Hopefully, there will be 44 or 45 battles over the next two years, with 6 different armies and tables upon tables of terrain and 3d prints.

I am going to fight the Bolt Action Stalingrad Scenarios. All 22 using the RAW. By the same token. I will run a campaign using Horus Heresy, the same 22 scenarios following Horus Heresey Rules. With two new painted armies I will get to show off in addition to painting needed units.

The first scenario should be fought the first of February. We are going to have our basement floors redone, meaning my gaming room will be out of commission until then. That gives me one month to prepare about 40 Soveit and 60 German Models. As well as paint a Horus Heresey Word Bearers Army.

Expect to see many pictures as well as pictures of the terrain and the tables.

I am very interested in running the same scenarios with two different game systems, and I am curious how a historical scenario will play with a rules-heavy Horus Heresy. This is my first time playing Horus Heresy, and I know there will be some bumps on the road. It will also be interesting to see how different systems fit on the table together.

One really interesting component will be the same scenario on the exact same table. I am going to alternate playing Bolt Action first and Horus Heresy first so one system doesn’t get the advantage of seeing the table 2nd every time.

For factions, the Soviets and the RavenGuard will be the same, while the Germans and the Word Bearers will be the same. I absolutely detest the army-building system for Horus Heresy that are available. So I am going to create my own on excel using drop down lists. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it will be superior to what is on the internet today. I will build the bolt action lists using the warlord’s system.

Hopefully, I can do a few model reviews, some painting tutorials, and some scenery building. But for now, you all know what is coming over the next year.

It’s Been More Than A Minute

Wow, every time I considered posting, I just, for whatever reason, found something better to do. I have no excuse other than my own fear and laziness.

So, 10 months. I painted full Star Wars legion forces for CIS and GAR 1200 pts each. 3d printed a ton of geonosian terrain. Painted 30 or so Marvel crisis protocol models. Painted 50 odd figures for DND including terrain. Purchased a couple new airbrushes. Played in multiple leagues once as Genestealers and once as Ad Mech. Fully painting both those armies.

The biggest item is reorganizing my models. I have literally an army for every faction in 40k, Age of Sigmar, The Old World/9th Age, Star Wars Legion, 10,000 15mm napoleonics, 40 odd DBMM Armies, 4 Pike and Shotte Armies, Germans, Brits, Italians, Soviets, USA, Japan in Bolt Action, Germans, Brits, Italians, Soviets, USA in Flames of War, 50+ ships in French, British, Spain and 30+ ships for USA and Russia in Black Seas, and 20 odd pirate galley and such. 6 or 7 lord of the rings armies. All Harry Potter Miniature Adventure Game Models, all Marvel Crisis Protocol Models, 1000’s of DND figures, 3 -4 units of every army in A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game, ummm, most Necromunda factions, most blood bowl teams, most kill teams, most warcry bands. Every Star Wars X-Wing Ship and Armada ship (multiple copies). A couple victory at sea fleets. A Large collection of American Civil War Models, several battlefleet gothic fleets. Some Blood Red Skies, and Aeronautics Imperalis. Recently bought all Star Wars Shatterpoint Models. Also bought all Battletech models. I also have limited numbers of Malifauxe, Carnivale, Conquest, Oathmark, Dead Mans Hand. Whew. Also horus heresey forces. And billion suns 4 fleets.

So that has been happening for two months. We switch from large plastic under the bed style storage bins. To several (10) sheet pan racks 20 sheets high. It has been a chore.

Aiden has been building models after his 2 month break. He has maybe 3 months left of models to catch up on. White Metal Games has finished Orruks, 5 blood bowl teams, Iron Hands, Gargants, and is beginning work on Death Korps. Eric has started on my forge world collection of resin models. The lumineth realm lords are currently 40% complete. Kevin is painting my black seas collection. I have declared war on my mountains of shame and the progress is showing.

I officiated the High School 4A Boys Championship for Wyoming as the Center Referee as well as numerous regional finals. I also centered the Region IX Womens championship match in the college season and did a handful of D1 and D2 playoff matches. Businesses are going well. Upcoming plan on seeing a ton more posts. I have a really interesting idea involving the battle of stalingrad, bolt action and horus heresey.