Cleanliness is next to...

 

Sunday is a travel day for me, so I just had Saturday to put some time into hobbying. And it turned out that what that really turned into was a big ol' tidy. It seems the reason I've not been hobbying is that I'd let the hobby room get into a bit of a state so it wasn't easy to pick up and do a little.

Some of my club mentioned spending 45 minutes each morning doing a little painting, and that's something I might try after I spend the Easter weekend setting up so that's possible. Pictured, by the way, is my new Infinity mat that I picked up from Deep Cut Studios, via Wayland Games. It took a little while to get in, but I got it and a nice carry bag for it that made me do a little happy dance around the room when I put it all away.

I did get a little hobby done, in that I washed a few resin bits and pieces I had lying around. The idea had been to get some of them undercoated once they'd dried, but it was really windy where we live, so that ended up not happening just yet.

Here we have a bit of Rubble City from Fenris Games, and a critter and some scenery from Mammoth Miniatures. The Fenris Games piece I bought to use to put models on for miniature photography, while the Mammoth Games models were bought at a little show as a nice easy project.

Then, the smaller pieces. On the right, a Krakon Games miniature from the same show as the Mammoth Miniatures pieces. On the right, three Guinea Pig Witches from Bad Squiddo Games. As a note, Pathfinder 2nd edition has rules for both a Witch class and an ancestry called Awakened Animal, so they could be a legitimate player character with no homebrewing at all. It's very tempting...

Wildspire Miniatures

 

A few years ago, I backed a couple of Gamefound campaigns by a company called "Blacklist Games". I backed for three sets of miniatures - a horror set, and two sets of fantasy miniatures. Unfortunately, a series of delays occurred, costs increased over the pandemic, and Blacklist ended up out of money and unable to fulfil a large number of crowdfunding projects they'd organised. 

I was relatively sanguine about the incident - crowd-funding is always a risk, and many people are too used to treating it as a pre-order instead. Blacklist had cut their margins to the bone to produce huge numbers of cheap, board game quality miniatures for role-players, and when things changed, they weren't able to continue. A number of other backers definitely feel that Blacklist crossed the line from poor judgement to being mis-leading. I would not back another Blacklist project, and leave it at that.

However, in some good news, a US company called Wildspire Miniatures purchased the rights to the miniatures, and offered original backers an opportunity to buy the miniatures at cost. And so, several years later, I now have two of the three sets of minis I originally ordered (the horror set has been left to a later fulfilment).

This is what I got - for how much is kind of difficult to say. Do I count the money lost to Blacklist? The money I paid Wildspire? In any event, it's more miniatures than I needed. There are a mix of "hero" characters and monsters, with the smaller monsters having duplicates, usually four of each. I really don't like monopose models in RPGs where I can avoid it, so there were plenty to clear out.

So, I separated out three sets of "useful monster minis" and found an assortment of friends who wanted a set. This still leaves me with plenty of useful figures to paint for RPGs, but now my friends also have a slightly more achievable volume of cheap miniatures.

I also chose to get rid of some of the monsters. Some went to my friends, others got lumped into an eBay sale a while back. I got rid of Cthulu because there's rarely a need for him in a campaign, and he's too established in the pop culture to be of any use in horror games. I didn't love the poses on the troll, ogre or dire bear, so off they went.

The demon lord also went, as did the acid elemental. The female giant was actually a difficult call - in some ways, I do quite like the sculpt, but her being on a "huge" base rather than a "large" base really reduced her utility as the bigger giants in Pathfinder don't share her general vibe, and come it at much later levels meaning I'd use her less often. There were also a few little details that I just didn't love about the sculpt, so when looking at a whole table of minis, she ended up in the "sell" pile.

So, everything remaining is now put away in boxes for later. The time taken to sort these all out is why I am avoiding big "bargain" purchases now. I have stuff on my "to do" list right away that I want to be getting on with, and these have literally gotten in the way of that getting finished. That said, if I haven't started these by the end of the year, I may seriously consider passing the rest on as well. If I am interested in running in person RPGs in the future, I need to commit my time to actually painting some of models I plan on using in them. If I'm just sitting on things, dreaming of the future and not doing anything, I can keep dreaming about it without a pile of boxes in my house.

Plans for 2026

 

And so, 2026 dawns with a dread inevitability. It is an unusual one for me, as it's dawning in a new city for the first time in a couple of decades. The move to Nottingham has hit my hobbying this year, as it takes time to put your life in boxes and and then take it all out again.

There's still plenty of settling in to the new place still to be done, so I'm expecting hobbying to continue to be slow for at least the first part of the year. I'll also be dipping into Flesh and Blood, LARPing, and selling excess possessions on eBay, all of which can be quite time consuming.

So, I'm planning on being quite restrained with my 2026 hobby goals. I want to check in around about the end of March to see how things are going. The main thing I want to get sorted is this Halfling Blood Bowl team project. I want to get some games in at Warhammer World now I'm in Nottingham, and this seems like a nice small and achievable project to make that happen.

Once I've gotten the paints out, I also want to really hit my Combined Army and Shasvastii pretty hard. I'm thinking of trying getting a batch of ten models together and putting some time into just getting some regularly used pieces done. For example, for Vanilla Combined, the Charontid, the Anathematic, Bit and KISS, two Daturazi and four Hungries will mean that a huge number of common list builds will become all or mostly painted.

This might prove to be too big an ask in terms of the size of the batch, but I want to give it a go before deciding if I go for smaller batches first or not. Ideally I want to have painted some of my Nomads by the end of the year, but right now I have a set scheme for my Combined Army and have a whole bunch assembled, undercoated and ready to go, so getting a bunch finished will be good for my soul.

Broadly, I'm trying to get in a game of Infinity a month. I do want to try and build a community in Nottingham, and there are a few folk who are interested. I'm booked in for a game later this month, and I'll try and keep that up.

My side hobby project is that I very much want to work through this year is getting a bunch of bits done from smaller hobby companies, especially for RPGs. Eventually I want to run an in person campaign with miniatures and so on, so building up a good variety of basics will really help build a good foundation for that.

All in all, this year isn't so much about setting goals "for the year", it's about getting started again, seeing how I'm going, and adjusting to match. Everything is far more of a new start than normal. I am much happier in Nottingham, but it is a different pace of life to London, and its an excellent opportunity for a bit of a reset. Making sure I don't fall back into old over-commitment habits is really important.

The first Halfling

 

With the Dungeons and Lasers dungeon tiles put away, the next thing on the hobby desk is a Halfling Blood Bowl Team. With the new edition out and plenty of folk playing GW games in Nottingham, it seems like a nice little project. I don't have the new rulebook yet, nor any Treemen, but I want to get these assembled before getting anything else.

I've gotten my first Halfling assembled. I also cleaned the mould lines on the coins, turn markers and balls that come with the team. There's a couple more Halflings I've started on too. It's been a while since I assembled any GW miniatures. The last one I tried to do was one of the Inquisitor characters, and they were incredibly fiddly and awkward. This halfling was a joy - three parts, relatively limited mould lines, and brimming with character once done.

The trick now is going to be setting up a regular schedule to put some time into assembling models. The aim for the next year is to try and be steady with progress. I have a lot of ambitious ideas, and I need to put time into the hobby to try and achieve them.

Nottingham Gaming Fayre Bits and Pieces

 

I picked up a few bits and pieces at the Gaming Fayre last weekend. Nothing major, as I have plenty to be getting on with. First up is "In the Land of the Sundering Flood", an RPG by Mammoth Miniatures inspired by the writings of William Morris. I knew of Morris as a designer and didn't realise he was also an author, so I'm looking forward to have a read through this and maybe researching his bibliography too.

I got an excellent "please don't make me take this home" deal from Mammoth on these bits of eldritch ruins and this "dragon" - who is wingless and thus obviously a wyrm. 

I also got a free turtle person and gnome from Krakon games. They are both delightful.

I'm hoping to get all these bits prepped and assembled over the Christmas break so they don't end up just vanishing into the stash. But first, I have more Dungeons and Lasers to clip out!

Daydreams

I'm deep in the house move mines right now, so there's no time for painting. I've managed to pop to P9 Card Game shop for a few games of Flesh and Blood, as they've just moved their branch to near me. I've been day dreaming a little bit about what hobby I'll get to once the move is done and we're unpacked.

I've not moved house often, so there's an opportunity to do a bit of taking stock and clearing out stuff I'm not using. I had a little bit of a clear out before I started packing with some obvious stuff I wasn't using

Once I am moved and unpacked, I'm thinking I'll probably get a few more Combined Army figures painted first. I've got their paint scheme down just fine so they'll be a good "comfort food" project. Nottingham doesn't have an Infinity scene just now, but there's some folk up there who sound interested in trying it out.

I also want to get my Imperial Guard project back underway. There's two plasma gunners that need paint stripping, and three comm links that need painting to match my existing models. With Warhammer World in Nottingham, there's not going to be a shortage of people interested in GW games around.

Finally, I do want to have a solid blitz through the assorted RPG figures I've got. I've got tons assembled and ready to paint, and with money a bit tight around the move, it'll be a nice cheap way of passing the time while still being productive.

I don't want to plan more than this, as I suspect while I'm unpacking I'll find half a dozen things I'll get enthused about. There's no point in trying to predict this as I'll likely change my mind three times over the next couple of months...

Comm-link Guard, More Sorting, and Finding More Work

 

I've finished assembling the comm-link troops I need for my Imperial Guard update. I'm not painting these immediately as I've got Too Much On right now, but they'll be an easy quick paint job in a free moment.

While searching my boxes for plasma gunners I found that I actually had one more than I thought I had. After I'd bought a metal Cadian plasma gunner from eBay as an inferior substitute, obviously. At least it was before I'd painted things.

As a first pass of getting these ready for undercoat, I dropped them into a sonic cleaner bath with hot water and washing up liquid. This didn't get much paint off, but did clear off the basing sand and broke down the basing glue enough to get them separated easily. Next step will be an acetone bath, but I need to find a good container for that so awful fumes and stuff don't make my tiny flat sad.

On the subject of making me sad, I found three more baskets of part finished projects that need sorting. Oh bother. I haven't even fully gone through this basket. There's a couple of Inquisitors in Terminator armour that need a little more assembly and can then go in a box, much like the Comm-link Guard I just finished.

There's a bunch of Deathwatch repairs in another tray. This should be one of the easier jobs on the "to do" list.

There's also a tray of "stuff that's difficult to fit in things" that need putting away. I should do that. I have put away two trays of minis already, but that heart warming feeling of tidying up isn't particularly photogenic for blogging purposes.

I got a little more base coating done on the Conquest Druid. It's not a finished thing, but it's progress.

In the coming week I have my Infinity campaign game and the finale of our 40K campaign as well. That might mean I don't get a huge amount of hobby done, but we'll see how it goes.

An elegant handbrake turn

 

There's nothing new on the paint table this week. For once, this is mostly deliberate-ish. We've started planning our upcoming house move. Looking at the time we have left before I need to pack up the hobby station, it's not long. There's a whole pile of part assembled things I could really do with finishing up before I pack them.

I'm keeping the Templar for Frostgrave out in case I get a moment, but I'd rather complete the Druids and the assembly as a priority. But no paint was applied this week, as packing up the eBay sales took up a whole chunk of my free time.

The long delayed "Leshy Window Box" for Pathfinder Battles finally made it to the UK, which I'm very pleased to have picked up. I'll hopefully get some proper pictures and maybe a review done in the next week or two.

My mini Guard project has been going well. I've picked up two plasma gunners from eBay, and need to dig one existing plasma gunner I have out from the cases and get it paint stripped. There's one last comm link trooper to go. Then it's just a case of some basing paste and some undercoating. Properly painting them can wait to the new place.

This tray of "ready to paint" miniatures just needs to go back into cases. These are still good models if I want to do a casual paint alongside a project, but that can be a new house problem.

The Bretonnian Men at Arms need to get done. Right now their sprues are sitting loose without a box and I really don't fancy sorting that out at the other end of a house move. This is probably the biggest job that needs doing in terms of straight up time, though it's mostly pretty simple.

The Exrah from the Combined Army Reinforcement Box, however, are the exact opposite of simple. These are absolute bastards to put together, and I've been putting them off. But I got them all out of their packaging so it's essential they are together and in a KR case before the move.

Various repairs and half painted models are on this tray. There's a couple of "to be painted" models also sculling about on this tray too, so I need to grab those and put them away. Going through this tray will probably have a bunch of "quick wins" where a little work will get a miniature to the point where I can put it away...

Considerably more cursed is this box of Infinity bits - whether repairs or miniatures that need assembly. These are more "transportable" than the Exrah, so are a lower priority, but ideally I'd like to get them done before we pack.

With all this catalogued, it's pretty clear why I need to park things in the interest of getting things transportable. Wish me luck...

Astra Militarum 10th Edition Plans

 

With the new Astra Militarum Codex released for 10th edition, I needed to take stock of my Guard army and work out what I'm doing. While I had a short period of considering selling them off entirely, I've enjoyed playing them in the club campaign, so decided to get them up to spec for the new edition.

Setting myself the rule of "use what you already have wherever possible", I've come up with the following starting list:

Astra Militarum - Combined Arms

Strike Force (2000 Points)

CHARACTERS

Cadian Command Squad (80 Points)

     ◦ Enhancements: Reactive Command

Commissar (40 Points)

  • Enhancements: Death Mask of Ollanius

Gaunt’s Ghosts (110 Points)

Ministorum Priest (35 Points)

Primaris Psyker (60 Points)

Sly Marbo (55 Points)

BATTLELINE

Cadian Shock Troops (65 Points)

Cadian Shock Troops (65 Points)

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Chimera (85 Points)

OTHER DATASHEETS

2 x Armoured Sentinels (130 Points)

Armoured Sentinels (65 Points)

Basilisk (140 Points)

Cadian Heavy Weapons Squad (65 Points)

Cadian Heavy Weapons Squad (65 Points)

Hellhound (125 Points)

Hellhound (125 Points)

Hydra (95 Points)

Leman Russ Executioner (170 Points)

Manticore (165 Points)

5 x Ratlings (60 Points)

5 x Ratlings (60 Points)

10 x Tempestus Scions (140 Points)

There's a handful of things that need fixing here. The two "Cadian" (Tallarn) squads and command squad still have heavy weapons, so they're gaining three plasma guns and three comm-links. With a mix of bits from eBay and existing stash, I've started putting the latter together. The plasma guns will be a later update...

Beyond that, I had Sly Marbo and Gaunt's Ghosts in my stash needing assembly, so I've dug those out. One of the Hellhounds and five of the Ratlings are also currently without paint, so they're going in the queue.

Quite a lot of my older tanks don't have sponsons and so on, so by and large I'm taking that as an opportunity to sell them, and buying new tanks to paint up to my new skills / standard. I'm not buying anything new for the Guard outside of fixing the squad load outs until the test list is painted. I'm pretty sure it's lacking in armour and anti-tank, and a Rogal Dorn tank is pretty high on the purchase list once this lot is done, but I reckon given the move and other projects, this is plenty to be getting on with...

Hedge Witches, Goblins, and a Plinth

 

This week, I finished up the Hedge Witches from Conquest Games. They were a good couple of miniatures to get my vibe back for painting. They're good options for Frostgrave, too.

I've also been plugging on with the Aenor Miniatures goblins. I got started on them ages ago with a sepia wash over off white, and they've been sitting for absolutely ages. I was very pleased with how a little drybrush really brought out the details on the cloak.

Three of the five are now finished and waiting for photography. I'm going to finish the last two before I count them all as "done". I'm also pondering the Steel Legion Drab base rim - maybe I should change it to black?

My big purchase that arrived this week was this 5" x 5" plinth from Fenris Games. I've picked it up for miniature photography so I've got an alternative way of raising miniatures up to the hills I'm currently using. It'll need washing and cleaning up before I get started on painting it, but I'm going to finish a few bits and pieces first.

End of month check in, and Marching forward

 

February has been really busy. I went to Tinbot III in Norwich, I've been busy having a clear out on eBay, I played a bunch of games at the club again, and my work was really rather busy as well. That did mean I didn't get quite as much painted as I'd have liked, but it was still a good month for hobby all told.

I got Dukash painted early in the month for the tournament, and he did well in one of the games I played him in..

The Tiefling Warlock also let me experiment with a possible Morat red skintone, but while I liked this one for the Tiefling it's not what I'm looking for for my Morats, so I'll try something else on another model until I work out what I'm looking for.

I had a bit of a painting stall for a couple of weeks after that. A mix of being exhausted after work, spending more time playing games, and prioritising getting stuff listed on eBay to sell over painting meant I didn't get anything else finished. This is fine. It's about priorities, and things being out of the flat before we move is more important than a few extra miniatures getting painted.

That said, the goal for March is to finish my half finished jobs - both these part painted models, but also finishing those half assembled Exrah that I abandoned out of frustration a while back. Which I definitely need to space out given . . . you know, that giving up in frustration issue I mentioned.

I also got in my first ever game of Frostgrave, which I'll write up on the blog later. It's a fun, swingy game that I really enjoyed. I think it's too random to try and make it competitive, which helps keep the pressure off.

I also picked up the John Blanche paint sets from Army Painter at the end of the month which I'm planning on using in some projects in the future. I'm pondering doing my Imperial Agents in a limited palette scheme using these paints but I'll need to do some test models to decide if that's the right call or not.