3 more Stormcast on the Stormcast pile! These are the Castigators from Storm Strike.
I adore these models. Turns out they actually come in units of 3 after all, so this is a minimum-size unit. If I get a couple more I can run a unit of 9. I’m sure I’ll get at least 6 of them on the table at some point, just to see if they can do any work.
This was my first proper project using Vallejo Metal Colors paints. I was trying to match the look of my usual Retributor Armour recipe. The end result is a little less yellow, but plenty shiny and rich, and it took less than half the time to do. Going forward I think I’ll be doing as much as possible using Metal Colors - they really are amazing.
Also in the box you get a lovely little bird-dog companion!
I want more gryph-hounds to go with her!
In the background you can see my new Army Painter wet palette. I’ve been using a homebrew tupperware-and-baking-paper solution since I started in the hobby 2 years or so ago and after Christmas I felt like spending some money and making the leap to a “proper” wet palette. I feel like a bit of a mark every time I notice the Army Painter logo on the case, but otherwise I am very pleased with my purchase - the special paper and foam perform much better than anything I could have homebrewed.
Finally, I have painted the Knight-Incantor from Soul Wars. I’m not super pleased with her face but I did my best. Apart from that I think she looks great.
With that, I’ve finished all the Stormcast from Soul Wars and Storm Strike. Looking forward to running a mostly-Sacrosanct army sometime soon.
I still have that one remaining Sequitor to paint who I got for free in the Warhammer shop on the Royal Mile, but I think I’ll chip away at him as I proceed with other projects. I am done with painting Stormcast Eternals for the moment.
Many keyboards are worn down by the annual flurry of conversation about New Year’s Resolutions - whether they work, how to do them properly, and so on. It’s tiresome. I’ve always seen the beginning of a year as a good opportunity for a kind of reset, some time for reflection on and reappraisal of priorities. Following that, a sense of optimism and excitement about what is to come.
Over my winter Holiday, which was especially long, I made the vague decision to stay in Edinburgh, or at least stay with Rockstar Games, for the next few years. I’ve been here 3.5 years and the whole time I’ve viewed my presence as kinda temporary. 2019 was especially indecisive should-I-stay-or-should-I-go at some points, so it’s nice to now have a sense of certainty about what I want to do with the future.
Here’s some resolution-type things. They start off as vague ideals, then I force myself to refine them into clear specifications for achievable goals.
Write more. Write a bit every day. Therefore, write 100 words a day. (These are my 100 words for today!) I manage to achieve this on days when I write blog posts, which the 100-word-target has motivated me to do more of, but otherwise I keep missing it. So I might downgrade it to a 50-word target, because the original intent was to motivate me to literally just open up a document and add a little bit more to it every day.
Hobby every day. Just do the smallest measurable amount every day. I’ve already written about my lofty hobby goals for 2020.
Learn Scottish Gaelic. Do Duolingo every day. I rather like Duolingo, but I’d be kidding myself if I thought it was enough to pick up enough Gaelic to speak it fluently. I will look into more hardcore learning methods.
Finish the Warcry Card Creator. To this end, plunk 5 minutes of work into it every day.
Keep up my very basic exercise regime. To get started, I do 20 squats every day. On lazy days I can just leave it there, but on energetic days once I get started I will work through the whole suite. It’s definitely paying off, getting easier to do and improving my body shape, so it might be time to find some more exercises to add to the routine.
Play videogames more. Last year I barely played videogames at all because I just hobbied a whole bunch. Play a videogame for 15 minutes per day. (I suck at this one. Why is it so hard?)
Read more books. Read 5 pages every day.
Go swimming. Once. This is a matter of overcoming a fear of being publicly mostly-naked that has prevented me from enjoying swimming, one of my favourite forms of exercise, for like 10 years. I want to punt that fear right into the bin where it belongs.
Hitting all these targets in a day isn’t easy, even though they’re all quite small. I suspect I need to build a daily routine that gets me through them all.
What are your ‘New Year’s Incredibly Specific Targets’?
Finally got these done. This squad of 5 is from Soul Wars.
I adore these models. Excellent crossbow grenade launcher things. The Prime’s pose is cool but I’m not sure why she is wearing such generous high heels.
Like a lot of Stormcast units, they have somewhat questionable rules. You’d expect grenade launchers to have a bit more punch to them, but without increasing the unit size and buffing them up a bit (there’s a few ways) their output looks marginal. That said, they are only 80 points, which I think makes them the cheapest Stormcast. I don’t know. Also I haven’t put them on the table yet. Maybe they’re useful in their own special way.
Up next: 3 more Castigators, the ones from Soul Strike. I’d like to be able to field a unit of 10, but I’ll need to find a way to get another 3 non-Primes from somewhere to do that.
Secret Bonus Content!
I am lucky to be part of a truly excellent online hobby community. For the 2nd year in a row an outstanding member of said community arranged a Secret Santa gift exchange in which people make special conversions and all kinds of cute stuff to send to their Santa-ee. I received some adorable Ghyran-themed objective markers along with a short story about them. I love them!
(I added a bit of green flock to them today. Perhaps it’s a bit sacrilegious to modify a gift someone made for you.)
As for which delightful community member made these for me, I do not know. The game is afoot!
In 2019 I hobbied more than I ever had before. In 2020 I want to keep up the pace, so I can:
Clear the Backlog
Ever since getting into the hobby I’ve fallen into the trap every hobbyist seems to fall into: I acquire more stuff than I am able to paint in the immediate term. I like to think that I’ve been better at avoiding the worst of it than some others, as most of the stuff I’ve added to the pile has been given to me for free (or very cheaply), like when Nat’s parents foisted all of her and her brother’s old minis on me.
Note: I don’t think this is a bad situation to be in. If I’m ever stumped for what to paint next, chances are I can find something in my collection that will scratch the right itch. It’s really nice to have a large pool of possible ‘next projects’, even if it does feel rather overwhelming! And there’s nothing wrong with getting stuff you want; there are absolutely worse consumerist vices than miniatures!
I want to finish the year as close as possible to the ideal state where the next thing I buy will be the next thing I paint and nothing is hanging over me.
Avoid Adding to the Backlog
I’ll never accomplish the above if I keep acquiring more stuff to paint. I’m generally quite good at turning my nose up at the latest expensive battle box Games Workshop are putting out. It’s the too-good-to-refuse offers from friends that catch me out. For example: Almost immediately after announcing I was in “acquisition lockdown” and wouldn’t be getting any more minis until I’d painted what I had, I went to a meetup where one of my friends said he was trying to get rid of the Gloomspite Gitz he thought he was never going to get around to. A horde of goblins. More Spider Riders. 2 Arachnarok Spiders. All looking sad in his never-to-be-finished pile. All for £30. I was slain.
But I have a promise I make to every single one of the previously-unloved little soldiers I took into my possession that day: You will be painted. You will get the care and attention you deserve.
So apart from Warhammer Underworlds warbands I will try very hard not to acquire any more stuff this year.
Have a Good-looking Gaming Table
Mostly for playing Age of Sigmar on, although there’s plenty other games that I’d like to be able to play at home on a big beautiful battlefield.
I’m halfway there already. I have some boards I can put over our dining table to make it 4’ by 6’. A 6’ by 4’ gaming mat from Gamemat.eu is coming my way in the post. I have a fair amount of painted terrain:
MDF (wooden) buildings from TTCombat like these ruined sci-fi-gothic structures, this watchtower, plus some other bits and pieces that might be from other manufacturers. I spent some time over the holiday making these look much nicer.
It’s quite a good collection, but what I want to add to this is some grassy hills, trees, little wooded copses, that sort of thing. So at some point I’ll be trying to craft some of that stuff myself. Just like with mini painting, there’s never been an easier time to learn how to build your own terrain, thanks to all the fantastic video tutorials produced by the likes of Terrain Tutor, Luke and Sorastro.
Play More
Of course, there’s no reason to do all this painting and terrain-building if the end result is never gonna be used. So this year I want to play even more Warcry, Age of Sigmar, Underworlds, Frostgrave, etc. I just really like it, you know?
Throwing Down the Gauntlet
I keep track of all my hobby projects on Trello. It’s a complete mess, but it keeps it all out of my head and I can use the Trello Plus plugin to track how much time I spend on projects, which is important for estimating how much I can get done.
Off the top of my head, the main things to get done in order to clear the bulk of my backlog are:
Finish all my Stormcast Eternals. Once I’m done with Soul Wars I have some Liberators to build. Some bits and bobs I got for free from an acquaintance who was having a clearout. Some of that might need stripping. Ew.
Gloomspite Gitz. This is the big one, I think. I need to figure out how to paint nearly a hundred Stabbas and Shootas quickly. A terrifying thought. But I did it before with a smaller number back in February, and I came out of that twilight feeling like a hobby god, so it’ll be worth it. My goblins shall block out the sun.
Paint the Dwarf half of the old Battle for Skull Pass boxset. I’m not really sure what I’ll do with these minis, though. Only a few of them have a home in Age of Sigmar anymore. Perhaps they could be the beginning of a Kings of War army or a Oathmark force? (In which case, should I base them on squares?)
Kings of War Vanguard. The Basilean and Northern Alliance boxes. These were very annoying to assemble. Hopefully they will be easier to paint.
Everything else is kinda small bits-and-pieces. Underworlds warbands. North Star minis for Frostgrave. Old Middle-Earth things. Old Warhammer stuff.
I’ll be recording my progress on here if time will allow it. I hope you’ll wish me luck, and I wish you all the best for your own hobby journey this year. Godspeed!
Tried a slightly simpler recipe for the green this time. Previously I would:
Basecoat Waagh Flesh
Recess shade with Drakenhof Nightshade
Tidy up any tidemarks with more Waagh Flesh
Highlight Warboss Green
Highlight Skarsnik Green
Highlight Skarsnik Green / Ulthuan Grey
Highlight Ulthuan Grey
Now, going forwards, I skip the shading step and instead of basecoating with Waagh Flesh I use the darker, more blueish Caliban Green (an old paint that I need to find a modern equivalent of). This way’s a bit quicker and looks almost the same, if not better.
I’m still not satisfied with how I paint the beige tabard-things. They don’t quite have enough contrast.
Once again, the most time-consuming part was putting down basecoats, particularly gold. Retributor Armour is a decent enough gold, I suppose, but no gold paint has great coverage. Some other Stormcast models (like Liberators) are mostly armour so I can be more efficient by using Retributor Gold spray, but Sequitors (and Sacrosanct in general) are 50% robes. Something some painters do to help it cover is put a layer of brown underneath. Maybe I’ll give that a go, even if, intuitively, it just adds another time-consuming step.
I have one more Sequitor to go, but he’s just a duplicate of the guy with the greatmace. If I paint him up I can field a unit of 10!
