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Very jealous of that old school WD haul!

Massed square bases hits such a nostalgia bone for me - glad you got to play some games over the holidays.

Good job even surveying the pile of shame...gotta start somewhere!

Here's to slapping a ton of paint down in 2026!

Thanks guys,

I did it! I finally completed my Tomb World set!








Really happy with how the whole set comes together. Also really happy that, for the first time ever, I can actually host games (of any kind) at home. And with a set to take around with me, there is no excuse for not being able to play either. There is a local event in a few weekends that I am attending, they have asked me to bring the terrain to use. I'm odly proud of having it!



I also worked out how to get it into a single box. I use Feldherr storage, but any brand should work. I've got 2 60mm deep pick and pluck trays, which fits all of the components with a little bit of extra space. The trays are 70mm each with a bottom - so 140mm total. The box is 150mm deep, so fits perfectly. I have a 10mm topper to sit on top, but I have also realised that the folded up game board is like 15mm - it fits on top of the 2 trays and the box closes comfortably enough for me to actually call it a day with that. My self contained storage box for a Kill Zone. Super happy!

Now what should I work on?

Your tombworld terrain looks great!

And that looks like a handy storage solution too!

Ditto what @pious said above!

Definitely some white dwarf worthy kill team shots above!

Piousservant wrote:
Your tombworld terrain looks great!

And that looks like a handy storage solution too!

JordySteve wrote:Ditto what @pious said above!

Definitely some white dwarf worthy kill team shots above!

Very flattering, thank you both! I played a game on my own terrain yesterday - it was genuinely great to use it!

What have I been working on recently..? Well, Space Marines. I think they're the palette cleanser of the mini painting world. They're just easy.





The main bulk of the rest of the work is the black edge highlights. I'm going to glue the arms on now, and do the rest while they are fully assembled. I wont be highlighting every panel, only the ones that give the models shape and definition. I'm hoping to finish them on the weekend, and move onto a Chaos Sorcerer for TOW.

Heres some pictures of last nights game:

Nice work on the terrain, and the minis look great fighting it out there! Cool box for it as well. Which is a big problem in general with terrain: moving and storing it.

Marines are coming along nicely.

Thanks Nev. There are actually some creative solutions for storing terrain out there. I've seen some 3d prints that allow you to stack them all up in the most space-efficient way with a recommendation on what box to put them in, for the best most efficient storage solution. One of the clubs around me has a few printed, and they are actually quite innovative. My foray into terrain extends as far as Tomb World - I see no need or reason to get more*.

*at the moment.

I finished my Space Marines. Introducing; The Raven Guard.










I quite enjoyed painting them. The last Space Marine I painted was back in March 2025, for the monthly comp. There is something so familiar about painting Marines. I like the RG scheme. It's very forgiving to paint (compared to IF and WS). But there are also ways to make it interesting and look good (although I think I have had mixed success with that). I like how they look up close, and from across the table the black/white contrast on the brown base is quite distinct.

In the spirit of continual improvement:
I like how the faces have come out. The (first) human faces I've painted in a while.
I want to work on my edge highlighting. I used the wrong shade of grey for some of them, and it looks a bit Tron-like. So I had to go back over it. Additionally, it's a bit sloppy and unpractised in some areas. Definitely a work on point.

I'm open to some extra comments and critiques - what do you think?

Naturally, I have the remaining 5 from the boxset to work on. But not before my Monthly Comp entry is finished:


It's an AOS model, but I clearly want to put it into a TOW army. But the 32mm circular scenic base clearly doesn't fit on the 30mm square - you can see some hangover. It annoyed me for a bit, I'm just not going to look at it.

Very nice looking raven guard! Are you planning on adding any more to the team?

@Steve: Yes. At minimum, I've got the next 5 of that box set. I'm genuinely interested in getting a SM Vehicle - probably a Storm Speeder. It fits with the strike hard and fast theme of RG, and I've not painted a vehicle in a loooong time.

I've only managed a few Hobby sessions this week, and a gaming evening. But it was enough to finish my first Warrior of Chaos - which coincidentally is my monthly painting comp entry:







Quite a quick job for him. But I liked how he has turned out. Muted generic colours, with no clear allegance to a dark god - very flexible for gameplay (If I ever get to the point where I can play TOW).
I'm really happy with how his skirt came out. The Brown Grey and Rainy Grey from Scale75 came out fantastically.
I'm also really happy with his helmet - Decaying metal followed by a touch of Viking Gold highlights.
But I think I skimped on a highlight or two of his staff - the blue/green looks a little flat.

I changed my paint collection about 6-7 months ago. I had close to 200 paints, across a variety of ranges - Multiple different types of Vallejo, Scale75, citadel... I far passed point of having just enough paint. I found that I had a core 50ish paints that I would use continually and take with me when I travelled for work (reasonably frequently). The rest would just remain in a box somewhere. I did my research, downsized and consolidated into the Scale75 range. 63 paints, plus metallics and some key Citadel washes. At the time, all research pointed to the 'Decaying Metal' metallic paint being unreal and a must have for anyone. But it's been out of stock in all the UK gaming stores I've been looking at. But finally, the UK has received it's shipment and I managed to snag a bottle of it. I like how it looks on the helmet, and I suspect it'll be a base coat for a lot of metallic colours going forward - it covers really well and has some depth. But I can finally say; my paint collection is complete.*

*Well, there are some coloured metallics that I could get. But they are a very niche, and would be for a specific project.

I did also get a game in this week. Rematch against last week's Nemisis Claw player.


2 games in Jan so far - The New Year's aims of 2 games a month has been met for this month.

Hot off the back on a complete model, I've looking around to decide what to work on next. The remaining 5 intercessors are an obvious choice. And doing a few sessions on the Avatar would be sensible to keep him moving. But maybe some other Eldar? I have an Autarch, Windriders and Rangers that are inscope that could be relatively low drag to work through.
I'm resisting the urge to buy the aforementioned SM Vehicle. I got £30 in GW vouchers from Christmas, and GW gave me a £10 voucher to use this month (in honour of 1 year since my first GW purchase, apparently). I am really considering it, but want to chip another thing out of my pile of potential first. I'd take recommendations on how to use the £40 at GW - I'm thinking of adding to my Raven Guard.

What do you think?

You play KT, and have intercessors. You can play them as is, just a sarge and 5 guys, one of whom has the AGL. Or you can swap one warrior out for a gunner. Either a heavy intercessor w/ a HB, or an eliminator with a sniper rifle. As a RG player, the cloaked snipers are very on-brand for the army, and would fit into a list if you wanted to get them to a 40k level list. Mix it up from the Eldar for a change if you start to burn out on just the one faction. You can also splash in assault intercessors, but I think they bring less to the table then the special gunners.

Your Chaos Warrior looks great, especially the cloth. I feel like the sword needs another pass, though. Against the more aggressive highlights on the skirt and cloak, it reads to me as unpainted plastic.

Evening, the chaos warrior looks really good, I like the colours on his robes, love the finish you have achieved on the wrap round his staff.

£40, won’t get you too far, unfortunately. You could look at the combat patrol marine boxes and see if one takes your fancy to supplement your raven guard, alternatively, just get the land speeder and revel in how little you spent to actually get it!

Here's what has landed on my painting table:


Chipping away at the last 3 windriders I have. They are coming together pretty quickly. Partly because they are quick to paint, but also because I'm making a point of spending at least 20 mins painting a day. Consistency is king.
No painting for me this evening, though. I have a Kill Team game lined up ahead of a 1 day event on Saturday. You'll see plenty of Kill Team pictures on the weekend!

The jury is still out on how to spend the vouchers. I have a week to decide.

I hope everyone's weekend is shaping up well.



Progress on the bikes. Just weapons an the decals to do now. I'm hoping to finish it off this evening.

I hit up the Kill Team event yesterday. I went 2 wins and a loss, finishing 7 of 17.






I'm really enjoying Kill Team at the moment. I'm finally comfortable enough with the base rules to start thinking about how to factor in playing for objectives. The additional layer of tactics is really fun to puzzle out.
I played Nemisis Claw, Plague Marines, and Brood Brothers, going loss, win, win respectively.
What I didn't know when we started was the there was a £25 voucher for the highest scoring member of our Gaming club. I was joint best, and it came down to the second tie-breaker. We were joint on Tourney points, joint on victory points - it was 'strength of schedule' that broke the tie (meaning the placings of our opponents were measured, my opponents placed higher than his, so in theory I played 'better' people). All good fun though! And walking away with a voucher was very nice and unexpected. To go with the £40 GW vouchers I have... I'm going to have some new toys soon!

Morning all,

The first month of the year, complete. We're slowly crawling out of the worst of winter, and the days are finally getting brighter. 2026 has had a strong start for hobbying. I think this month has been the most productive for a long while. I've sat at my painting table for at least 20 mins more often than I haven't. Chipped away at some bits in the PoS. Sold some minis I'm never going to paint. Attended a 1 day event, and confirmed attendance at a 2 dayer later this month. And played weekly at my local club.

Pressing on from my previous posts, here are the Windriders finished. With a groupshot at the end of the ones I have already finished.






They are from the old combat patrol box - I wonder if those rules are still extant? I'd be curious to play a small game or two of 40k.

They round out my efforts for January. Here's what I finsihed this month.


It might not look like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but I am very happy with it. Clearing the relatively new things (Marines) while also keeping on top of the PoS (Windriders).

I spent a bit of time deciding on what I want to work on over the next month, and decided to maintain the momentum on the PoS. I fished out my Dragon Ogres from the loft, finished putting them together and now they are ready to go. 'Finish it Febraury' is the Monthly Comp theme, which fits perfectly for minis that I bought back in 2024 when TOW released.



Naturally, I magnetised the arms for maximum flexibility. I think I'm going to give my airbrush a good run out, and try the scales and skin with the Airbrush. It should get that blend perfect, while also being a reasonably quick way to get 80% of the model based. We'll press ahead with them and see where we get to.

I'm going to have a substantial supply drop this month, too. And I've pretty much committed to it all being Space Marines. The £10 voucher GW gave me for purchasing stuff online doesn't stack with the £30 GW vouchers I was gifted at Christmas - £10 online only, and £30 in store only. Not entirely convenient, but I wont look a gift horse in the mouth, 'free money' is free money. So I spent my £10 online voucher on the cheapest Marine unit that fit with what I was doing: Kayvaan Shrike (Aetheon was out of stock, and I left it until the day before the voucher expired). March's painting comp is always Space Marine so Kayvaan will be my entry to that. I had it delivered to store, to force me into the store to pick it up and spend my £30 voucher. I'm eyeballing a Storm Speeder - I want to paint a vehicle, and for it to be thematically appropriate to the RG. There is a small chance that I end up with something else if it isn't in stock. My £25 voucher from Kill Team also got cashed in at the FLGS. I have a box of Reivers coming my way too - such cool models! Combined with the remaining 5 Intercessors, I'll have quite the backlog of Marines.

I hope to have an update on the Dragon Ogres soon!

Nice job on the jetbikes, they look very good. I can agree that January has been a great month for hobbling, it’s about the only time I like the miserable weather!

Good choices with the vouchers, it’s sounds like you have a plethora of plastic coming your direction to keep you busy!,

@Steve: Thanks! So much plastic coming! I'll not know what to do with it all!

I managed to get the base colours in on the Dragon Ogres






They look great even with just the base colours on. I'm going to enjoy painting them up.

I'm pressing ahead with the Dragon Ogres, and can comfortably say I have finished the Dragon bit. I'm working up the body to the Ogre now.





These are such great models. There is something about them I can't put my finger on. I started intending to just get them to an easy TT standard, but as it's developing I'm investing more time and energy into them. I really like the finish on the scales, and how the claws came out after taking the time to blend them properly.

Having a flick through everything I've missed. Some awesome updates, love the red you have for your Saim-Hainn.

The tomb world scenery is excellent, really like the colour scheme you used for it. And congrats on the KT victories!

Lovely work on the bikers, such cool minis and nice crisp paint jobs. They’re amazing scales on the dragon ogres are looking amazing too, very realistic. Was the darker recess an all over wash or did you pick out the individual recesses?

Olthannon - Thanks! There has been quite some variety as you flick backwards. I think it will all into line with Space Marines in the next few months - I've stacked up loads of them to work on.

Gobert - Thanks! The Dragon Ogres got a base layer airbrushed - a darker green first, then a lighter green on the raised areas. It got an all over wash of Nuln Oil, then dry brushed. To answer your question; the recesses got both washed and left alone after the airbrush.


No meaningful update this week, I'm afraid. I had a work trip away in the week, and have spent some time with family - my Newphew arrived 4 weeks prematurely, surprising everyone and throwing them all into disarray Helping where we can has taken priority over painting.

I have done the Dragon Ogre's waist/belt. I'm slowly working my way up the models. I'm going to get the vambraces done, then crack on with the skin. I'm quite looking forward to getting to the skin!

Alongside the Dragon Ogres, or maybe afterwards, I'll start putting together my stockpile of Marines. I have 5 remaining Intercessors, 10 Reivers, Shrike and a Brutalis Dreadnough (the store didn't have a Storm Speeder, so I went with the Dreadnought instead!). I'm hoping to have them build and ready by the end of the month, to start painting in March. Oh, and lets talk about the Dreadnought build - I flicked through the booklet, they've gotten vastly more complicated than the last time I made one. I can already feel that I'm not going to enjoy the building process.

Grats on Uncle-dom.

I’ve not built a brutalis, but am in the middle of building a redemptor. Customization is a two edged sword. If you clip off some pre-set stops, you can have almost a full range of motion from the joints. So you can make him move in whatever way you want. But that also means there are a zillion little parts, and you don’t want to do the final glued assembly until you know how you want everything to be.

More complicated and fiddly, but also so much more potential.

Well, the leave alone wash worked well on the dragon ogres, good tonal variety and definition. Congrats on the new arrival to the family, enjoy the tiny cuddles!

I really like those dragon ogres. Those could make a good base for a Zoat conversion too.

Well, 2 months have flown by since my last real update. Thanks all for your comments and checking in!

It's largely been a hobby-free few months. Between my stag do, being away with work, a week mountaineering, preparing for a wedding, and 2 2-day tournaments (ok, some hobby), I've not pushed much paint around. This time last week, I finished work for a month. I get married on Saturday, and go on Honeymoon this time next week - that's me until May. Then when I come back, I go away for a weekend to see The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with the soundtrack played live by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. While it has been a busy few months, I've managed to paint my way through a few smaller bits and bobs. Mostly in the last week, while the wedding admin is largely complete I'm enjoying the calm before the craziness of the weekend. I hope you enjoy what I've been working on:

First things first, lets wrap up my WIPs. The Dragon Ogres, complete.





And in comparison to my Dragon Ogres from 2014:

I enjoyed painting them. I'm really happy with the finished result. They will go off to join my Chaos Sorcerer. One day, I'll circle around to trying TOW and these boys will come out to play. They were a really nice change of pace to my bigger projects (Lizardmen, Marines and Eldar).

Speaking of Aeldari;


He is from the Combat Patrol box circa 2022/23(?). Finally got around to working through him. I was reading someone's blog that they paint in cycles: Basic infantry, character, elite infantry, monstrous infantry, monster/vehicle. I liked that idea, so I followed it. Finishing off the Dragon Ogres led me to a larger model - it was this or the Avatar (everything else required building and priming). I'm not quite ready to circle back to the Avatar, so I snatched this up. I have mixed emotions about the painting on this guy, it's very basic. I think that was intentional when I started out. I would like to paint better than this, but I also don't have the time to commit to that these days. I think I'm just getting over intentionally doing a quick and easy job to call it complete. The model might also be a factor, it's very sparse. I should probably put some grass down next time I have my basing stuff out. But nevertheless, a painted model for the table is a win.

My 2 2-day events were both for The Ninth Age.




I run 2 units of these guys. Old and derpy models, but they do the job. I was quite happy to power through this unit over the Easter holiday weekend. And this morning, I started the second unit of them. They are great in game, and I see myself playing them at ETC this year. I need to get a head start on finishing a painted army for it.
Contrary to previous absolute statements in this blog, I am going to The Ninth Age's ETC this year. I'm repping Team Wales again. I enjoy the game, and love the people. I'm not quite ready to step away from the ETC.

Another thing I am looking forward to this summer is the new 40k.

I think I make a dabbling return to 40k with the new edition. Here is my force as it stands. The Dreadnought was a right pain in the butt to build. The Reviers are such cool models. I'm looking forward to getting some more paint down on these, but that won't be for a while. I see myself getting an influx of Marines at release. I want to keep it Raven Guard appropriate - the Vanguard Vets will fit well, as will the rumoured land speeder (I think it's rumoured..?). But marines are marines and I suspect their ranks will grow over time.


So that's me, all caught up. Can I sneak another update before I fly to France? Potentially. If not; have a good one all - I'll check back in soon!

Congrats on the upcoming wedding!

Nice work getting stuff painted.

Somtimes builds cross that line between “look at the the options and possibilities” and “just go together darn it!” I know the dread I recently built was dancing that line.

I had fun building and painting my reivers. Hopefully 11th will be kind to them. They’ve gotten the short end of the rules stick forever.

Have fun. Hobby when you can. Enjoy life. Sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate, go get it!

Thanks Nev!

Jetting off on Honeymoon on Wednesday, but I have some hobby updates from over the weekend.


These two were a gift at my wedding, from the Priest marrying us, given as part of the service. I got a Tidecaller, because I was swept away with love. My wife got a Skaven, because when I asked her to marry me she said "Yes-yes!".
The priest that married us is a huge gamer. Him, his wife and 3 children all paint and play. We actually go to the same gaming club, and I took his son to a tournament a few weeks ago He has also known my wife's family for about 10 years, and even married my wife's brother and sister-in-law 6-7 years ago. It was a really great and personal connection for the two of us. Warhammer was a subtle part of the service - he talked about love being "glue", and weaved Warhammer references in. It was really great. The hobby got a lot of mention, and some fun poked at during the speeches (as you would imagine, everyone light heartedly teased!). But the gaming friends that came to the wedding that I've known for years and years were awesome, took all the fun poking in their stride, and absolutely owned the dance floor. It was genuinely great.

My mother also took my wedding as an opportunity to unburden their loft of some of my things. Laughing off the awful timing, I've gained some old books. I'll enjoy flicking through the WD with the new (at the time) release of Dragon Ogres, especially given my recent finishing of them.


And I bought Horus Rising in a Hardware store today. I went in for something totally non-hobby, spotted a Citadel paint rack and went to look closer. Turns out they have a huge hobby section full of Warhammer stuff. I scooped it as my honeymoon reading material. I read a lot of the HH books as a teenager. I'm not entirely sure when, I guess-timate it being when I was around 13/14/15 years old. I remember having the books, but don't really remember reading them (or comprehending exactly what I was reading). I think I got through a good number of them. Since that was a good 16+ years ago, I'm happy to give it another crack!