That is a chonky box.

I was kinda interested in picking it up for the teams, but didn’t care for the terrain. Which makes up a lot of it.

Great paint work here.

I would guess the Micro Sol dissolved the glue under the decal and the old glue got redeposited off to the side. Old decals will do that.
Micro Set might help in the future, but you need to wash off the old glue before using the Micro Set under the decal.
You soak the decal and then use a paint brush to wipe off the old glue and the use the Micro Set.
It's pain, but it does work.

@Tommy - Yeah, Micro Sol and Set have been used liberally. Maybe I didn't let it dry long enough before hitting it with Varnish. Corrected now, and lesson learnt.

@Nev - Chonky is an understatement. So much good stuff in there, and always a great dopamine hit opening boxes like that!

First things first, I'm going to be opening a Showcase thread. Once I finish my Eldar models, I'll be collating them and dropping them there. Now that I've finished the bases on the Jet Bikes and the platform, I have my first 2 units to drop into that thread. It will be updated as I finish bits, and maybe drags a few more eyes to this blog.












Nothing new here, but it's all finalised and finished off.

I put together the Ynnari box too. The Visarch was assembled when I got it in the trade, but the sword had broken. A quick fix. But the Yncarne was horrible to put together. I broke a piece of it taking it out for this picture. It will be a long time until I get past that building experience and to decide to paint it.

Very cool model, though. It looks impressive, at the expense of being a PITA to build (and I suspect, paint).

Lets talk Kill Team.
After a few tests of freehand patterns, I decided that the Dire Avenger was just going to get some gems to acknowledge his heroism.

Nothing else looked right. This is very subtle, but I just needed to make a decision and shift it from my to-paint pile.

I have put together all of the Tomb World terrain, and primed it all. What an epic. There is so much!


The terrain is super cool. I've got a test piece in progress for the paint scheme - it needs to 1) look good and 2) be quick and replicable. I think it'll tick that criteria. The primary colours are Necron green and stone/yellow on the plastery bit (pretty much the GW scheme). The stone/yellow is a bit of a concern to build up to from a black primer, but it is the secondary colour and there is more dark green... I'll manage, but I think I'll be layering up yellow for a while. There is some cool detail in there too, and I'm thinking about giving some OSL a go on some of the orbs. But we'll see how intensive it is to paint it all first.
I need to investigate a sensible way to transport the set too. The thought of these pieces rattling around in a box doesn't fill me contentment - all this time painting for it to chip in transit is not the way to go. They stand up in a 4 litre Really Useful Storage box perfectly, I think that might be my route to market... To be investigated further.

I also finished a little side project that I don't think I've made reference to here. A dice frame.
I have so many dice - absolutely loads of them. I made a point at ETC to go around collecting dice from other teams too. My plan was to turn them into a framed piece. It has paid off, and I think it looks amazing. I'm really happy with it, and will display it around the house somewhere. It was easy enough to make, a £3 deep frame from a hobby shop and a friend kindly 3d printing the white frame to fill the empty space.


Of the 10 years I've been playing T9A, I have been collecting dice from opponents and events the entire time. All here. Tiny little mementos, each with a memory. It's very sentimental. I'm considering getting a little plaque added reading "The Ninth Age". From my most recent ETC where I scored in 80-something of 200, to my first ETC where we drank an Italian bar dry of Lemoncello, to The Cardiff Open where I placed dead last and took the spoon... I'm pretty sure I can explain very single dice:

It was a bold claim to know every dice. But knowing 67 of 81 dice is pretty good going.
I'm really happy with this frame as a piece of house decoration that is personal to me - it subtle, sentimental, and a great talking point if anyone asked. I am looking to do something similar with all the ETC Team Shirts I've traded over the years. I'll cut logos and emblems out. Naturally the frame will be a lot bigger, and probably won't make it to hanging on the wall downstairs - but it will be proudly displayed above my painting desk in the spare room.

If I can get my first Tomb World piece finished soon, I'll give you a sneaky mid-week update on it.

Beneath the pallid light of a dying star, the tomb world of Somneft slumbers in eternal silence. Its surface is a cracked mosaic of obsidian and ash, veined with glimmering necrodermis conduits that pulse faintly like the heartbeat of a buried god. Towering monoliths, half-submerged in the dust of millennia, loom like sentinels over a landscape devoid of life but steeped in memory.

The air is thin and metallic, tinged with the ozone scent of ancient energies. Cyclopean structures rise from the gloom—ziggurats of black stone etched with glyphs that whisper of conquest and catastrophe. Beneath them, labyrinthine catacombs stretch for miles, housing legions of dormant Necron warriors in serried ranks, their forms locked in stasis, waiting for the command to awaken.

Occasionally, a flicker of green light dances across the horizon, a sign that the tomb’s systems stir in anticipation. Somneft is not dead—it dreams. And in its dreaming, it remembers empires lost, enemies vanquished, and the cold inevitability of return.

We are all systems go on Tomb World.

My test piece:



I'm quite happy with it! It was reasonably quick to get to this point, although layering sandy yellow over black/dark green is the longer bit. I hope it's replicable. The recipe:
For the green: Black Forest Green drybrush, Irati Green drybrush, Irati Green edge highlight on very select points. The sandy wall is layer Sahara Yellow untill it is a solid colour, wash with Sepia, touch up with Sahara Yellow, then highlight with Tenere Yellow. Gold is Elven Gold and Agrax. From the Scale75 and cidatel ranges.

I just have a LOT more to go now:


I did also get a game in. An 11-10 loss to the Kasrkin.




I'm hoping to keep up some sort of pace on the terrain so I can be playing with painted terrain sooner rather than later.

Looks good! Love the effect.

Do you have plans for active terrain? Glowing runes and conduits and such?

I think I'm going to be keeping the terrain as low maintinence as I can. There is just too much of it to go all out, and as long as the majority of it looks good as a backdrop, I'm happy.



Thats another few pieces done. Remaining, I have; 3 single wall pieces (like above), 8 double wall pieces (twice the size of the bits above), 4 bits of scatter terrain, and 8 pillars. Quite intimidating when I list it out like that.

I went to a 1 day Kill Team event yesterday.




It was marketed as a beginner event. But a few moments in my games were a bit frustrating (gamey). I got 2 losses and a draw. I realise I didn't really know the rules as solidly as perhaps I thought I did. So things were coming up and I'd not even considered it. Or the way I thought things worked were wrong, and it caught me out. There was quite a funny situation in my first game where my opponent asked me if I wanted to do something 3 times, and I said no each time. He then went and spoke to the TO. The TO came over and coached me quite a bit and I ended up ultimately saying yes to what I was trying not to do. I can't imagine what my Oppo said to the TO - probably something like "I'm about to curb stomp a noob that has no idea - can you come and help him out so I don't feel too guilty" I also got a few compliments on the paint job of my team, which is always nice. The TO gave me the TO's choice award, which was nice and unexpected. Probably because he spent a lot of the event coaching me which garnered some pity - and because of a nice Team and my first event... He is due to add some credit to my store account, which I'm hugely grateful for!

I do like KT as a game, and I'm currently having an internal debate about whether I enjoyed the event or not. It's a fun game, realatively easy going and fast paced. But some parts of the rules are frustrating and silly (my oppo could see the top of my DA's helmet crest, subsequently he could then shoot it and killed it - silly). But maybe that is just my inexperience with the game? I'm not in a massive rush to play another event, but I think I'll likely do a few more. It was £15 for a day of gaming, and it was 90 minutes away - all in all quite a low drag committment that I would probably do again.

I've been away with work for a week, and not had much time to drive forward the Tomb World painting. It's coming along slowly.

I did get a £20 voucher from the KT event last week! What should I get?!

Another kill team? New dices for your kill team? Few new paints?

Those Eldar are looking really nice, mate. I like the reds, there's a certain level of mute tones but also it looks kinda weathered (esp. on the jetbike canopies) and I really like that. Nice basing too.

I vote another Killteam with that £20 but good look finding something at that price

Hi everyone!

Wow, 6 weeks since my last update. It's been a while! 3 Weeks away with work, 2 weekends out, a new course taking some of my leisure time... There has been a lot going on, and unfortunately not a lot of it was hobby.

For the majority of the last 6 weeks, I have been chipping away at my Tomb World.


The left hand side is finished, just awaiting a varnish. The right hand side is yet to go. It is so much terrain, and it's been bumming me out a little. I'm about half way, which is a good milestone, but I've made the decision to park it for a few more weeks and do something else. A little break would do me good, I think.

I've spruced up 2 Warlocks. I think I've shown them in pictures a way back - I didn't get refreshed pictures. I will wait until they are varnished and flocked for their glamour shots. Not a huge committment to paint, but an easy option for a few evenings. I also have a Farseer on the go (no pictures again, sorry!). The 'Seer should be done in a week or so, at this rate. Although it isn't anything fancy.

This weekend has pulled me back into the swing of things. My subscription of White Dwarf landed. Its the 50 years of GW issue. I read the long article on a morning this weekend, over a pot of coffee. I really enjoyed the read, and would thoroughly recommend picking it up (especially if you don't regularly get a WD). I've been hobbying since I was about 11 (20 years ago!). I'm not particularly attached to the the nostalgia of the 90s WH stuff, but some of the minis from the 2000s got me. I was an Eldar and Space Marine collector back then (and Dwarves and Lizardmen...). While all of this was great on its own, something else happened on the weekend: my Made to Order Eldar kits that I impulse purchased back in the summer arrived! I remember having the Warlocks and a teen, and Fuegan was my best painted model for a long while - Fuegan became my online handle for a lot of things as a result. Anyway, all of this promted me to go back to my Eldar trade and unbox things a bit more. A LOT of the stuff I got was pinned to cork handles for airbrushing - it was a bit of a pain to store and taking up more room than it should. So I went through as much as I could to remove and base properly. So much old metal goodness. And while there is something satisfying about handling metal models, I'm glad its not a regular occurrance - glueing Swooping Hawk wings has broken me!




There is a huge amount of stuff there. No realistic likelihood of me painting it any time soon. But I'm ok with that. I'll play the long game with it, and dip into them every now and then!

I'm trying to get hobby back into my usual rotation in a week. It should be doable from here on out. But I'm starting to look ahead to the Christmas period. I'm lucky enough to get 4 weeks off work over Christmas - I'm having an internal debate about what 'project' to take on. I want to set a goal before hand, and spend my holidays chipping away at it. A new (small) army is a potential. Taking a chunk out of the pile of shame is also equally valid. I'm also toying with the idea of a small display (it would be my first - All of the old Phoenix Lords and the old Avatar on a little display board..?). Plenty to think on, but maybe I can get a little head-start if I decide sooner rather than later.

Good progress over terrain, it's large set and like gallowdark it's consume huge amount of time.

That’s a heavy weight Eldar army! I like the sound of the display board of the Phoenix Lords joined by the Avatar as a Christmas project. Should give a good bit of variety as well as being really cool!
Your tomb world terrain is looking good, and you’ve made way more progress than I have.

That’s a chunk of heavy metal. Love the old eldar, and glad they they have kept things similar with the new plastics. Good luck with picking and working on a holiday project.

kabaakaba wrote:Good progress over terrain, it's large set and like gallowdark it's consume huge amount of time.

Oh, I know... But at least gallowdark was a quick one - make it silver, then make it look grimey. Easy. This is necron coloured walls, with plasterboard over it. So many layers of yellow!

gobert wrote:That’s a heavy weight Eldar army! I like the sound of the display board of the Phoenix Lords joined by the Avatar as a Christmas project. Should give a good bit of variety as well as being really cool!
Your tomb world terrain is looking good, and you’ve made way more progress than I have.

The display board has been in my mind for a while. I think I have an idea...
If you google Court of the Young King, you get pictures of the Avatar surrounded by the Phoenix Lords. Now imagine that with the classic Avatar and PLs, but the back drop is a Webway Gate. Some scenic floor / surrounding... The idea has potential. I then went one step further and thought maybe I surround the PLs with 5 of their aspect warriors. The board gets a bit bigger. Then, I had a crazy crazy idea. Mirror the board on the webway gate, and on the opposite side do exactly the same with the current Avatar and PLs. So, you can look at the court of the young king from one way, see the classic models with the webway in the background - then walk to the other side and the contemporary models in the same layout with the same webway gate behind them. Call it a 'step through time'. Might need a diagram to explain.
I'll let that idea fester and see what happens.

Nevelon wrote:That’s a chunk of heavy metal. Love the old eldar, and glad they they have kept things similar with the new plastics. Good luck with picking and working on a holiday project.

I've got a few holiday project ideas too...


I think this will be a big update. I've had plenty going on.

First and foremost, some finished models! (yay!).












They've been a long time in various states of completness (the Warlocks). I pushed the Farseer out in reasonably quick time. I think it might be my updated Dakka picture... (RIP IF Dreadnought, you have served well).

And then there is this:


Wow. What a model, and loads of fun to paint. The lava is awesome. I think I need to drop a tiny bit of white in the bigger yellow areas (thigh, belly button), then it is done. I was quite aware of not being able to do it justice. But I've just parked the expectation and I'm getting on with it, and really enjoying it. I think I paint the fire next!

Last week's WD mag was a great read (50 years of GW). It made reference to an Eldar army in Issue 175(or something). I wen't down a bit of a rabit hole trying to find it, and accidentally ended up with a stack of WDs from 96/97, but not the issue that was referenced...


I'm really not sad about it. They are great. This double page doodle is awesome. I look forward to leafing through them in time.

A few weeks ago, I won a £20 voucher at a Kill Team event. This week, my 'prize' arrived.

They were on backorder for a while, so took a bit of time. Just waiting on the OW bases. They are really cool, modern minis. I think I have a rough idea on their paint scheme, something akin to the Sardaukar from Dune. I think my small Warriors collection will be a christmas project. I have these, a Lord, and 3 Dragon Ogres. Very achievable to get them out over the holidays.

Nice work on the seers. And that lava skin on the Avatar is amazing! great job.

The mirrored aspect/PL/Avatar sounds like it could be a fun project. Having all the squads bumps it from a fun diorama to a much bigger project. Even if you only do them on one side. You could add the “reaching out” farseers on either side, almost touching.

Careful. First you get rid of the loyal IF dread, and now slipping into Chaos? Not a good sign. Did the seers not foresee this? Is it part of some foul xenos plan?

The finished Seers look great, and the Avatar is off to an awesome start. However, the expanded diorama idea with both generations of Phoenix Lords mirrored is downright inspired. I would love to see that happen.

Nevelon wrote:Nice work on the seers. And that lava skin on the Avatar is amazing! great job.

The mirrored aspect/PL/Avatar sounds like it could be a fun project. Having all the squads bumps it from a fun diorama to a much bigger project. Even if you only do them on one side. You could add the “reaching out” farseers on either side, almost touching.

Careful. First you get rid of the loyal IF dread, and now slipping into Chaos? Not a good sign. Did the seers not foresee this? Is it part of some foul xenos plan?

youwashock wrote:The finished Seers look great, and the Avatar is off to an awesome start. However, the expanded diorama idea with both generations of Phoenix Lords mirrored is downright inspired. I would love to see that happen.

The Phoenix Lord idea is growing on me, but a little intimidating. I need to put this grand idea aside and just get paint down.


It's been a slower few weeks in the hobby world. I'm hoping to correct that now. I finished work for the holidays on Friday, and have spent all of my leave days to get a solid 4 weeks off work. I'm just putting together a 'to do' list of things I want to finish over the holidays. The Tomb World set is there (I'm just over half way - it's a slog!). The Avatar is there. I think I want to turn my Warriors of Chaos around too. I also know that I want to do a bit of an audit of the pile of shame and my collection. It's also, more or less, a year since I rebooted this thread. I've had some thoughts on how far I've come, and where I want to take it going forward. I also wonder if it's worth having a quick look at my start of year goals, and see if there are any that I can wrap up in the next week or two.

Next time I have my lighting stuff set up, I will get a nice picture of the Avatar. I've made some progress on him, and I'm excited to show you! I've also made some more progress on the Tomb World terrain, but that stuff literally looks the same and there is so much of it - I'll save you seeing endless updates of my walls!



I did put these together, and really enjoyed it. The models are cool AF. I read somewhere that there was a rumor to have new Chaos Warriors for TOW. They might be in my future...

I did get a few games in too!
Kill Team first:


The Ninth Age:


I'm hoping for another update mid-week.