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Stepping in last minute to run a 5e D&D game at the shop this evening.
So a little bit of light prep work.

Did a bit more work on Ka'Banda. Not a fan of the gimpy-looking tiptoe Bloodthirster so planning to use him as a proxy.

Decided to go with Ultramarines on the base instead of the traditional BA, adds a bit of contrast. Also didn't realise his upper jawline is a separate part which was almost certainly lost by that point, had to do some emergency dental work using GS and sharpened sprue so he wouldn't appear so gummy.

Our new 40k campaign kicks off this Wed. So today I'm putting the final tweaks on the list I'll be using. And also building a unit of WE Jakkals I'll be needing for the 1st battle.

Finished my converted old metal Dark Reaper Exarch.



Cheers,

CB

Dorf.

Painting mekboys. You can never have enough.

Working on some chipboard loaded pallets for scatter terrain.


Cheers,

CB

Been slowly but surely working on writing up the Angaran Chronicles Skirmish Game Bat Rep, been battling chronic fatigue for days now so everything's been 10x harder. And having to look after my dad after he had to go through radiation therapy. So, yeah. Just began writing the 4th turn finally.

Today I'm building:
Exalted 8bound x3
WE Beserkers x10

Played two more games of Undaunted: Normandy. So 40% of the campaign completed

Finally, mostly, written up my Bat Rep and now onto the fun part...editing it, yaaay.

Also, just looking at a photo of my mini of Raleas Effernetti and I still can't believe how much she looks like Dua Lipa.



A complete fluke, but a good fluke nonetheless lol

Began writing up the Thread here on Dakka Dakka for my first Angaran Chronicles: The Skirmish Game, here's the link! I hope you guys give it a look and enjoy!

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/809375.page#11506110

Here's the Intro story.

Anargrin materialises from the shadows and, keeping low, looks into the lighted cavern the enemy had taken as their base of operations. It’s an ancient dwarven city broken by time as much as the battle that’d surely waged through it, but still quite intact even after millennia of breakdown, a testament to dwarven architecture. High above, the Dwarven lights had long ago died, but the new tenants had replaced them with their own. Anargrin could hear the chugging of diesel generators echoing through the close-knit streets. It wasn’t hard for Anargrin to locate where the enemy was due to the highest concentration of light. Not surprising as they didn’t know Anargrin and his team had caught wind of their plan, so subtlety wasn’t a high priority for them; this didn’t prevent them from hiring the aid of a gang to protect them.

Their plan, their damned plan. Anargrin couldn’t believe it; they were trying to summon a Jaroai. Bring one of those terrifying creatures into this world. And even if it wasn’t true, they still had to look into it. Anargrin had encountered one of those horrid things three years ago and fought one three years ago. It and its disgusting peons the Shalazquai, only briefly, but if he’d fought it, he’d have died alongside the six Hunters and the vampires he’d fought alongside. Only Anargrin, Emilia and Raleas had survived.

The thought of Raleas made Anargrin start; she’d lost her mind just by looking at the Jaroai before fainting away into sweet darkness as she laughed with insane glee. She hadn’t joined them then. She was a prisoner Anargrin had captured, a strong-willed soldier who was not mentally prepared for such a sight. Raleas knew their mission and insisted she was ready to face that horror again. But Anargrin couldn't help but doubt it, and he hoped, he almost prayed, they would be able to stop the ritual before its completion.

But he doubts it.

Swallowing, Anargrin pushes away such thoughts and slips into the shadows again. He had an enemy base to scout.



Raleas sighs as she sits on a rock and looks at her prized sniper rifle, fighting the urge to dissemble and reassemble it again. She shakes, and no matter how hard she fights to control it, she just can’t. Then her foot starts tapping on the floor.

‘Quit it, Raleas,’ says Jelcine; she sits with her back against the cave wall, even barely lit by the electric light, but her red dress and hat stand out. ‘You’re such a pain in the arse. You shouldn’t have come on this mission.’

Usually, Raleas would tell the Hunter to shut up but finds her throat almost clamped shut; she just looks at Wilom and Emilia. Both of them are uncharacteristically silent, their eyes fixed on the ground. Emilia wears her beautiful white dress and purple beret, both of that will soon be torn to shreds when she inevitably transforms into her werewolf form. Her golden hair is plaited and gorgeous; if Raleas cared about such things, she might be jealous.

Wilom, in his brown trench coat, seemed to shake even more than Raleas, his close-cropped red hair was usually impeccably combed and lacquered was messy, and from what little Raleas could see of his eyes, they were wide and dilated. Despite the Hunter-apprentice never encountering a Jaroai before, Raleas supposed that with all the propaganda about the Jaroai, the Hunters had told him he was bound to be terrified.

And Raleas knew that all of that propaganda was true.

She shuddered and glared at Jelcine; surely she could be more sympathetic? Surely-

Raleas’ train of thought is interrupted by Anargrin emerging from the darkness like he was being birthed by it. Raleas doesn’t flinch or raise her rifle; she just stands, she is used to his tendency for such an appearing act. His large, hazel almond-shaped eyes stared at her, and they watered with what seemed sympathy or, knowing him, empathy. His long brown hair is pulled into a ponytail allowing Raleas to admire his sharp, sculpted features easily. He seems even more pale than usual, even in the warm glow of the electric light. Like he saw a ghost or a-

‘Is it true?’ said Wilom asking the question they all needed to know. ‘Are they actually summoning a Jaroai?’

Anargrin doesn’t take his eyes off Raleas, but he answers. ‘Yes, I’m afraid so, Wilom.’

Raleas can’t help reel as a gasp escapes, but Raleas couldn’t know from whom. Maybe it was herself?

‘H-how?’ said Wilom. ‘How is that possible?’

Anargrin finally takes his gaze from Raleas, and it falls to the ground; he shrugs. ‘Who knows? With all the knowledge we’ve gathered over the centuries, there are still things we don’t know. Or will never know.’

‘How do you know it’s true, then?’ said Jelcine.

‘Because I saw the tentacles emerging from some sort of portal,’ sighs Anargrin. ‘We’ve seen those tentacles before.’

‘By Jaroai,’ gasps Emilia, unaware of the irony of using such a curse in this situation. ‘What are we going to do now?’

‘We stop it,’ says Jelcine.

‘B-but what if we can’t?’ says Wilom. ‘Y-you killed one, didn’t you, Anargrin? Five years ago? How did you kill it exactly?’

‘I didn’t kill it,’ says Anargrin. ‘There was no way I could. It died only after I manipulated the artillery barrage on its location, a barrage that lasted two hours. We were just lucky it was in a war zone.’

Raleas would've liked to tell him it wasn’t lucky because that war zone was in her country. The nation of Zathar, but she couldn't even think straight as her head was spinning too much.

Wilom hisses through clenched teeth and runs his hand through his hair. ‘So, if we fail-’

‘We won’t fail, Wilom,’ says Jelcine. ‘Now, we are wasting time! We have to attack now! What are the forces lined up against us, Anargrin.’

Anargrin nods. ‘For once, I agree with you, Jelcine. We’ve got ten Jaroaite Extremists with sub-machine guns, a Priest, and ten locally hired thugs, five with pistols and combat knives. Five with submachine guns.’

Anargrin looks at Wilom. ‘Will you be okay, Wilom?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ says the Hunter-apprentice with a rapid nod. ‘I can do this.’

Anargrin studies him for a few seconds before nodding back. ‘Alright, you three get moving. I will talk to Raleas.’

Wilom, Emilia and Jelcine all turn their attention to Raleas, much to Raleas’ annoyance.

‘Go, guys,’ says Anargrin, and the trio hesitantly moves. ‘Wait at the cavern entrance, and we’ll catch up soon.’

Anargrin approaches Raleas, locks his eyes with hers and places a palm on her shoulder.

‘Raleas, you must realise you will be looking at that thing through your rifle’s scope, and this time you won’t be able to faint away. Are you sure-’

Raleas grimaces as anger eclipses her anxiety, and she snatches up her rifle. ‘I am sure!’ she says. ‘I will be fine, and don’t you dare ask me that question ever again!’

Anargrin seems to become lost in her gaze as Raleas becomes lost in his; a few seconds pass, but it feels like hours before a small smile crosses his face. ‘I see you are, and I won’t. Let’s go, then.’

He turns to walk away, but Raleas calls out his name, making him halt and look back at her.

‘I never thanked you for saving me from the Jaroai back then,’ says Raleas. ‘You had no reason to save me and-’

‘Raleas, I had plenty of reasons to save you besides it being the right thing to do. You have proven that ten-fold since we started working together. And you have no need to thank me, now come on! Time is wasting away.’

picked up the Osiligath box, plus a Minas Tirith battlehost box and some extra knights...

managed to assembled and prime all of the "good" side except the characters and have assembled the ruins, which are beautiful but take some assembly, lovely modular kits and when they are (finally) released outside the box will likely get some more

aim is to get the primed models painted tomorrow (the beauty of a model that is basically all armour with one cloth colour showing)

Started working on another two pieces of scatter terrain.

Cheers,

CB

Been assembling a squad of Custodes and while painting them is pretty fun, assembling them isn't quite as fun lol

not quite managed to finish the Osiligarth boxed set, the terrain took way longer than expected, however the Gondor side, plus battlehost and extra knights are just about table ready, characters excepted.., ok old sculpts but still quite nice

Finished building my Eldar Weapon Platform (one plastic, two 3D printed) and a Vyper. Still not all glued because I need to paint them in sub-assembly, so will have to wait to prime them all before start painting.

Hobby related.. stuck up six 4'x16" storage shelves in the cellar, sized to take the 4l & 9l Really Useful Boxes, up to five along on each shelf and 5 of the 4l boxes high or a pair of 9l and a 4l...

with a bit of luck this will mean I will be able to see the floor again and shift about 30 odd boxes from various locations to one set of shelves.

space for three more 2' lengths if needed (they will be)

mesahates drilling holes 4" off the floor in the cellar

Still working on another two pieces of scatter terrain.

Cheers,

CB

Finished assembling my Custodes and began painting my mini of one the antagonists of my novel The Angaran Chronicles: The Underside, berrk Balacat. He's a real psychopathic bad guy and ultra double douche so I thought about how I could paint him to convey how much of douche he is so what's more douchy than one of those black t-shirts with a white bow tie and white where the buttons are? Well, I tried it with his real bow tie and it actually doesn't look too bad, dammit lol.

Almost finished, Berrk. I was thinking of making his blond hair blond, but I'm keeping it Averland Sunset. I'm happy with how evil and douchey he looks, lol. I glued my recently assembled Custodes to 40mm bases, as GW says so; even though my Wardens fit well on 32mm bases, I guess I have to rebase them. It's my fault for neglecting to keep the bases with the minis when I assemble them. I also began assembling my Proxy Wars version of Baharroth and Swooping Hawks. Really, really nice minis. With them and the Proxy Wars version of Fire Dragons, I'll have all of the Aspect Temples except for the Forge World one.

Couldn't do too much today but I did manage to assemble six of my Proxy Wars Swooping Hawks, though (it was the same with my Artel W Warp Spider minis). It's great as there are six minis in each pack so five Aspect Warriors+Exarch so if you want to have either two squads of five or one squad of ten including an Exarch in each it's easier than if you get five total including an Exarch. So eg, if you want to run a ten-woman squad of GW Howling Banshees you have to make one of the ten an Exarch and the nine remaining as normal Aspect Warriors or you magnetise one of the Banshees to change her into an Exarch for two five-women squads each with an Exarch. Jeez, sorry that was a roundabout way of saying that. I wish GW sold boxes of six minis for Aspect warrior squads. It might even make the 105 NZD Banshee box a little more worth the exorbitant price lol

Finished the scatter terrain.

Now working on improving the paint job on my Eternal Cathedral.

Cheers,

CB

I primed and zenithal highlighted my 2nd Squad of Custodes. I'm painting them...gasp! Silver! With Blue decorations. I also dry-brushed them and finished mostly a test mini, and he doesn't look too bad—a much easier paint scheme than my black and green Custodes. I finished assembling my Swooping Hawks, also. But most importantly, I talked to a lady who runs a local community building, and it seems I'm going to start a Miniature game club in my home town! Wish me luck!

I'm planning to finish painting my third Sentinel for Marvel United and get moving on this big three headed Tyrannosaurus Rex that a friend gave me for Christmas.

Also, I just got an undead shark from Privateer Press that I probably need to work on

Practically finished my Custodes and just began basing them. Also primed and zenithal highlighted my Swooping Hawk proxies; they're amazing minis, but they can't stick together well; the arms and wings seem to fall off at the lightest touch. Would pin them, but their arms are so tiny. I think I've finally managed to get them properly together, though. Here's hoping.

This evening I made 20 easy-to-read pin counters foe Bolt Action.

Even dry brushing the tiny #s on the official BA pin markers white, they were still too small for me to read.

So I mounted those pin markers on 20mm Litko life counters.
Problem solved.

I began painting a test mini of my first six-man Swooping Hawk squad (splitting them into two different temples for skirmish play), and the mini has been a joy to paint so far. I was tempted to write a whinging review on Etsy about how much trouble I had assembling them, but I decided to wait until I painted them and am glad I did now, as it'll be a much more balanced review!

Mostly finished another two Swooping Hawk proxies, and again, they are damned nice minis to paint. Keep falling off their bases and stuff, though. Happy with how they looking so far!

Got a base coat on some Bolt Action squads this afternoon.