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I have nothing against AoS, it just doesn't float my boat. I've never tried it either, so maybe I'm just prejudging it.

I took my Corsairs out this week for a game of Kill Team. I was gored by the Goremongers kill team (in the hands of a very good player). It was super fun, but man I have forgotten a lot of rules! Getting KT back on my rotation should help with the rules recall.

This week has been primarily building and priming. I bought 9 Ripperdactyls, which will feature in my ETC list. 1 unit of 6, and the remaining 3 to bulk out a unit I already have. I made a start on the unit of 6.




Absolute nightmare to try and rank up. I got half way then decided to make a unit filler too, to ease the pressure of ranking them all up.



And with a lick of paint.
They should be fairly quick to bring up to standard. Wash and re-layer the skin, should be about 60% of the model. I'm toying with some ideas for the wing membranes (a mottled pattern where it meets the wing), but undecided on that as yet. But once that is done, it is just a few details to finish it. I am hoping I can have them ready for the weekend, where I am off to another Ninth Age tournament.

Until then, I hope you all have a good week.

You going to number or otherwise mark the bases so you know who goes where?

One thing I don’t miss from rank and flank games is getting everyone lined up nice on the movement trays. Always such a PITA.


Looking good!

Yes, I echo Nevelon, as that is a wonderful way you have got them all slotted together with the bases all squared.

Cheers,

CB

Glad you enjoyed your visit to WW. I was in Nottingham for a week last summer and managed to take some time off for a visit. Wow, just wow. The place is amazing and some of the battle scenes were immense, really opens your eyes as to what can be done with enough time and effort, and it was nice recognising some from White Dwarf (Emperor and Horus, Cadian parade ground).

Love the colours on the Scorpions they look epic. Can’t believe your 3hr paint scheme on the jet bikes - not jealous in the slightest!! And glad to see you made the right chapter choice on the marine, he looks good.

A Sunday morning coffee and blog update time. There is something soothing about a fresh coffee and dedicated time to thing some hobby things through. I've missed it the past 2 months...

@Nev - Absolutely. I've numbered the bases and put corresponding numbers under the wings of them. They could very quickly become a nightmare to put together.
@CB - Thanks! The unit fillers help where there are problem spots (looking at you, middle back rank. With the rider on, it's impossible).
@Steve - Thanks for the words of encouragement. I've gone some more Scorpions below, but a slightly different approach to painting them as I changed my paint set between batches of Scorpions. WHW is amazing. I'm strongly considering attending a Kill Team event there at some point this year.

I went through a funny place with motivation back in April. I was painting the Lizardmen to get them ready for ETC, but it wasn't what I wanted to paint. Painting for an event instead of painting for enjoyment has different connotations. At the same time, I was quite enjoying playing Kill Team and wanted to paint for that. I ended up getting my head down and painting Lizards to get through them - In hindsight it was neutral on the enjoyment (it wasn't boring, but it also wasn't particularly fun). And with that plateau of enjoyment, updating the blog got side lined. But I'm back with it today, and have been enjoying my hobbying recently. The good news; my ETC army is fully painted, which I will show off a bit below. The better news; I came by a significant haul of Eldar, and have been pushing my small army forward since completing the Fantasy stuff.

First up, the Lizardmen (Saurian Ancients in The Ninth Age). This is 4000 points, for ETC:









The list itself is super fun to play - it's about as aggressive as it can get. The 3 monsters, and 2 big units of birds are Fearless (meaning they can't flee, nowhere to go but forward!), and all 5 of the units hit like trucks of varying sized (The lord on an 'Alpha Carnosaur' hits like an 18wheeler going 100mhp, the birds are next and hit very hard, and the 2 'baby carnosaurs' have quite the sting too). I run forward and fight, and hope I'm standing at the end. The Slan offers some extremely aggressive magic - devastating missiles and powerful buffs if required (1+ armour save on a Carnosaur, anyone?).
I think I'm about a 2:1 win:loss ratio with this list. It's super fun smashing across the board. I'm just waiting on a foam delivery, then I can pack them up to go to Spain and run at Europeans

In other news, my 40k has been plodding along well. I've almost finished the next 5 Scorpions, but the pictures I have are a bit older and missing a bit of detail. I suspect you'll get the finished pictures in the next update.



I really like the basing I'm doing for these models, I think the contrast with the Green is particularly good. This batch of Scorpions also got started after I changed my paint set over. For years, I have been using a big mis-match of Vallejo Model / Game / Air / Citadel, with about 130+ individual paint pots. Some of my paints were the original bottles I got 12 years ago when I first bought the Vallejo Game Colour set (I'm pretty sure you can go back to the first few pages of this blog and find a picture of that set!). But anyway, I made the decision to buy a new set of paints - I now use Scale75's 'Scale Colour' exclusively (although I still use GW washes). Their set is 61 paints strong, they all fit neatly in my painting travel case, and the finish is 'ultra matt' which I quite like the look of. These Scorpions will look slightly different to the other 5 I have done, but I'm not as worried about uniformity as I used to be - changing styles of painting as an army progresses is part of the charm of a personal army, it shows experimentation, maybe a bit of development, and is what makes the army 'mine'.

On the 40k front, I got exceptionally lucky where the universe did that rare thing where everything aligns for the perfect situation. On a TOW stream that I follow, someone was looking to trade their (full) Eldar army for a WHFB army. My Dark Elf army has sat in a box for 3 years at this point, without play. The Ninth Age is getting smaller and smaller (and I will step away from it after summer), and unfortunately DE are not supported in TOW - My DE army is redundant. I had thought about selling them previously, but never did as the demand for circa £1600 worth of DE is just not there, especially if I was trying to get rid of them in 1 go. I had pretty much resigned myself to keeping them and never using them. Until I offered them up in this trade. The person I traded with fell in love with them. This is what I got in that trade:










The full list:

I couldn't possibly work through all of this in any reasonably quick time frame. But I'm happier knowing that I have a few boxes of Eldar that I can sell relatively easily (compared to DE for a game that doesn't support DE). And knowing that I have 'traded up' is icing on the cake (I calculate the value of the Eldar to be about 20-25% more than the value of the DE). I am very content to have a load of old OOP Eldar, as far as collectibles go they are great pieces (I got a good nostalgia hit with the Metal Fuegan - which was the model I was most proud of painting when I was 13ish).
In my DE army, I had 10 old metal OOP Mengyll Manflayers. I was pretty content to keep them, as OOP collectables. However, the person I traded with desperately wanted them - he has all the regimentals of renown, except the Manflayers (what are the odds?!). Anyway, after some negotiating and acceptance from me to let them go, I got this in return for the unit:

They should come in handy when I look at my Fantasy Warriors of Chaos army.
Oh, and as it happened, a few weeks after we agreed this, I was working in his neck of the woods and we could meet to trade in person without incurring shipping costs or undue travel costs.
It was the perfect situation. From an agreeable trade both ways, to both of us being exceptionally happy with the trade, to the circumstances of it happening, the fact that he needed the Manflayers to round out his collection, to the fact that I was working near him to make the trade... The universe aligned.

I've jumped straight into the Dire Avengers:






They were a bit of a faff to magnetise - so small and spindly. In drilling out the Exarch's torso, it split apart... Then I drilled all the way through an had to put loads of magnets inside to fill out it. All done now, though. However, the only critique I'd give myself is that some of the arms don't necessarily look natural when magnetised on, they just sit at slightly odd angles. I'm not too fussed, and it's way too late now anyway.
Hopefully I can get through these reasonably quickly and move onto some Banshees. Then I'll have the Blades of Khaine Kill Team up and running, and will take them out for some fun!

A really big update from me today (and my coffee is long finished). I hope I can fall back into the rhythm of a weekly update, but naturally that will be smaller progress pictures.
Enjoy your Sunday!

Quite the impressive haul. You going to strip and repaint? Paint over? or just keep the already finished stuff? Rebase? Update your finished stuff to match the new guys?

One of these days I need to thin out some old armies. But it would take the universe aligning. Not just for the emotional acceptance of parting, but the mechanics of the thing. Luckily no crush for space or money is forcing me. But the built-free influx of new shiny models would be nice. I really need to get back to painting my Eldar.

I can’t say I never magnetized eldar infantry. I’ve done a few. Heads for warlocks/farseers, and a few arms for my autarch. So small and fiddly. Doable, but a massive PITA.

All finished up, the remaining 5 Striking Scorpions.






I'm not entirely sure how long they took, but easily over a few months. But now they're done, you can't take them away from me! I'm really looking forward to getting them on the table for some Kill Team. The Blades of Khaine Kill Team can take up to 8 Operatives, in any combination of Scorps / Avengers / Banshees. I can take a mono-Scorp team at this point. That team setup isn't ground breaking, but it will get me playing. I have some Avengers on the go currently, so maybe I'll have a bit more to mix and match soon.

Nev raises a great question about what to do with that big haul. What I traded for it just lived in the garage for a year (and the loft for 2 years before that!). So I am ok with trading into some Eldar that also just sit around in the loft / garage - there hasn't been a decrease in my ability to hobby as a result of the trade. In fact, if anything, having a bunch of NOS stuff is actively giving me something. I am working on the DAs that I got currently. And I think my plan going forward is to slowly look at and address the NOS stuff (Hello: Avatar of Khaine).
My rationale for making the trade came down to resale value. I judged the interest in buying £1600 of Dark Elf models (inc. non-GW models) to be extremely low. DE are not supported in TOW, and most models are relegated to OOP-history. It was an impulse to offer the DE in the trade, based on the premise that selling Eldar would be significantly easier than selling DE. I have already reassessed this, and decided not to sell any of it. For now it stays, and I work my way through the NOS stuff.

I suppose it is also time to revisit my Dakka profile picture. The IF are long gone (I miss that army!). Maybe something more contemporary. Not Lizardmen, that doesn't feel right. Probably Eldar. I have a few HQ models kicking around, I'll have to line them up so we can decide who will be my 'face' on Dakka for the next 5-10 years.

Scorps look great painted up. As an old fart still dearly attached to old metal Eldar, I am really pleasantly surprised overall with the way they've refreshed the range while keeping true to a lot of the original design points.

Unbelievable how all the stars aligned for that trade! Would definitely have bought a lotto ticket on the way home.

Whatever happens from here it sounds like an absolute win - you've got some new kits to work with, and whatever you decide you don't need can be resold for some extra hobby funds.

Looking forward to seeing how it plays out!

Scorps look great.

Picking a profile pic can be fun. I sometimes think I should change mine more often, but never get around to it. I think I’m on my 4th, barring holiday temp pics.

@Tzurk - Thanks! It's slow going at the moment, but I'm hoping to work my way through the NOS stuff first. There is quite a bit of old metal Eldar in the haul. I prefer the newer stuff myself... The new Warp Spiders and Dragons look sweet (and modern).

@Nev - Only 4 profile pics for you?! You're getting your milage out of each one... I've had a few, I think. I think next up will be an Eldar HQ. I have a Farseer base coated, that is a contender. But also a few Exarchs (Scorpions / DA) that could work. Just a bit undecided at the moment.

Here's where I'm at with the DA.



Nothing special. Base layers done, and starting to build in colour. I didn't think about the whites before I blasted the model with blue. I'm not looking forward to building up to white on the blue overspray on the Helmets... I'm working away all week, so will not get any progress on these guys for a while.

I got my foam tray order from Feldherr recently too. It included a new carry case. Once I pick and pluck the foam, my Lizards will have a comfortable transport plan to ETC in Spain. It made me realise that the carry case I currently have is over 10 years old (and still going strong)! I think I will look at getting a smaller bag for Kill Team stuff after ETC. Carrying that big 5x tray bag is overkill for a game that uses 8 models. But that's a purchase for another day.

Some modest weekend progress on the Dire Avengers. Most of the main colours are blocked in. Highlights, touch ups and metallics left. Hoping to finish it up over the week.

I recently finished reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear (I would recommend the book, it's very easy to read). It's got me thinking about my habits, (all my habits but) especially my hobby related habits. The author talks about 'motion' and 'action' habits - motion being the planning/organising/thinking about an activity that moves it in the right direction and action being conducting the actual activity. Both feel productive, but only one produces results. On reflection, I do a lot of 'motion' with hobby stuff. It feels productive, and there is an element of enjoyment that comes with it. But when I look at 5 Dire Avengers that aren't finished but are 3 weeks old I think I have the motion:action ratio wrong. I'm going to make a conscious effort to paint every day this week - regardless of how short the session might be. A little more action might get my models across the table quicker (and ultimately a Blades of Khaine team into a Kill Zone for some games).

Nice work on the DA.

I’ve always been a proponent of “sit down every day, put down a layer”. I don’t alway do it, but it’s my goal. And my planning/thinking/retrospective/woolgathering to actually hobby work ratio is a hot garbage. But some of that I can blame on my back limiting how long I can sit and paint. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.

Dire Avengers, finished.








Naturally, all weapon options are done for maximum flexibility with the Exarch.

I didn't quite manage the 'sit down and paint' every day this week. But 5 days of 7 is pretty good going! I am aiming to maintain that momentum for as long as I can.

This week is a good one for hobby. I fly to Spain on Wednesday for the ETC, and will spend Thursday to Sunday gaming. The organisation for Team Wales has been unfortunate. Our Captain had to drop out, and then someone else had to drop yesterday (4 days notice!). We're all set, but it was far from ideal. No update from me next weekend, but I should have plenty of pictures from ETC on my next update!

DA look great! Like the more ground to earth look.

Good luck in Spain. Take pics, post reports!

The European Team Championship has come and gone, again. The premier event in The Ninth Age calendar. And once again, I play representing Team Wales. This time, the event is in Talavera de la Raina, Spain.

An amazing part of Spain (proper bull fighting country), we were firmly rural and away from touristy areas. Which meant that the locals spoke almost no English - which was manageable thanks to our Spanish Team mate that emigrated to Wales over a decade ago. We stayed in a small town about 15 mins from the city of Talavera, which took rural to a whole 'nother level (but at least the AirBnB had a pool!). For such a small town, the 3 restaurants we ate at were incredible. The food was so fresh, delicious, and that BBQ they fired up for us was next level. Our team ethos of hanging out with friends (opposed to getting mortal drunk, or playing to win) was firmly bolstered by the food situation.



A total of 24 Teams attended. And as usual, it was great.
6 games, over 3 days, plus a pre-standing practice round against Team Ireland the day before.

Over the event, I took a modest 66 points out of a maximum 120. With each games scored 0-20 (10 being a draw, 11+ being a win and 9- being a loss), it means I averaged 11 points across all games. In reality, I had 3 small losses (6-7 points), 2 small wins (12-13 points) and 1 big win (20!). It meant that I finished in overall 80th place, of 192 players. I'm quite happy with that, considering that I took 42 points last year - a clear improvement! And of the 16 Army Books taken, there was a massive shock upset that my Army took the top performing army spot! It had always been considered the worst performing army book. Just goes to show what player skill can do!



This was my army. 2 custom foam cases from Feldherr, and taking them carry on resulted in 0 breakages. Which in and of itself it a massive win!
It's playstyle is very much run forward and cause carnage. With the birds and monsters having the 'frenzy' rule meaning they always have to overrun or pursue broken enemy units, the army is inherently predictable making it 'less good'. While it's 'less good', it is a hell of a lot of fun to play! It caused some conversation among players about taking this sort of list to ETC.

If I had to reduce the gaming to my single favourite moment, I would pick round 2 against USA's Dwarf player. I charged 12 'angry birds' into his big unit of Hammerers. The birds have a rule called Fury - any roll of 6 to hit generates an additional hit. 10 of the birds could attack, for a total of 30 attacks. With their innate rerolls to hit and Fury, I finished with 42 hits! I utterly mulched the Hammerers, and it was ridiculous!

There were plenty of shenanigans off the table too. Between the players on Team Wales and Team England, we have a solid group of people. Some of which I have known for close to 10 years. It genuinely is amazing to hang out with friends doing something we all mutually enjoy.




On my return, I immediately bought the remaining parts of the Blades of Khaine team. These will be my focus, with the aim to get back to KT in September. But for now, another holiday (with the Fiancée, this time). The next update will be after I'm back.

That event sounds an absolute blast, handy to have a Spanish speaker! Nice work on the Dire Avengers and Scorpions.

Sounds like a great time! Grats on the performance. Looking forwad to the banshees, got any special plans for them?

ETC looked fairly epic, congrats on the performance, and the year on year improvement!

The scorpions and avengers look smart.
Seems like you got a great haul on the swop, with some old classics in there as well - my only hesitation would be the swooping hawks as I found them very easy to break.

Looks amazing, I love your lengthy post this last time. I too need to thin out an old army or two (Horus Heresy Thousand Sons Here). I've already managed to let go of two other 40k space marine armies so I supposed a 3rd one shouldn't be a big deal. Looks like that eldar haul is pretty impressive and you've done alot of work to bring the others up to snuff. Keep cracking on!

Olthannon wrote:That event sounds an absolute blast, handy to have a Spanish speaker! Nice work on the Dire Avengers and Scorpions.

Thanks mate! Stay tuned for the Banshees!

Nevelon wrote:Sounds like a great time! Grats on the performance. Looking forwad to the banshees, got any special plans for them?

Thanks! Nothing special planned for the Banshees. Quick and easy to get them on the table for my self imposed deadline of September to be playing Blades of Khaine (painted).

JordySteve wrote:ETC looked fairly epic, congrats on the performance, and the year on year improvement!

The scorpions and avengers look smart.
Seems like you got a great haul on the swop, with some old classics in there as well - my only hesitation would be the swooping hawks as I found them very easy to break.

I'm really happy with the improvement and overall result! I've got some kudos on the Ninth Age forum for doing so well with my list - mildly amusing, and we all like flattery after all.
Yeah, those Hawks look so fragile. No rush to touch them.

blockade23 wrote:Looks amazing, I love your lengthy post this last time. I too need to thin out an old army or two (Horus Heresy Thousand Sons Here). I've already managed to let go of two other 40k space marine armies so I supposed a 3rd one shouldn't be a big deal. Looks like that eldar haul is pretty impressive and you've done alot of work to bring the others up to snuff. Keep cracking on!

Yeah, it's quite hard to let go of something you've literally invested time and effort into. Especially if it's a big project! HH is all the rage where I am, and quite popular from what I understand. I don't think you'll have a hard time finding a home for them.

Holiday to Greece complete. I've never been much of a beach holiday fan, even if my partner swears by it. Time always feels wasted when you're sitting around on the beach - there is so much out there to go and see! But never the less, the food was great and there are far worse places to be. I managed to read the third and 3/4s of the fourth book in the Dune series. I would thoroughly recommend - the best Sci-Fi I have ever read. The most recent film adaption of it was ok, but the books... Phoar! So much there to enjoy. The first one does very well as a stand alone novel, if you're not a big reader. I persevered with the series and have no regrets.

I did get some progress through on the HBs around the holiday:

The build experience was a bit of a pain, to be honest.
The exarch was the first in the instructions to build. I decided to skip it, and do it last as I wasn't in the mood for drilling magnets. I followed the rest of the instructions consecutively in the booklet. And when it came to circling back to the Exarch, I found that I had unknowingly used the main body on a regular dude. Quite annoying if I'm honest. My exarch model is just the last lady to be built, with the weapon options magnetised (and as a result, some of the weapon option arms don't look quite right on the body - the dynamic posing is off).
I also cut a foot off the first model I build. The tactical rock that they stand on what the first piece I needed to cut off the sprue. I found it, picked it up, and snipped. What I thought was a bit of the sprue holding the rock in place was actually the foot (obvious if I was holding the sprue the other way around!). And as the foot connected to the leg at the ankle, it was such a painful place to miss-snip. I've had to pin it, and if you look closely it looks awful.

And while I had my snippers out, I went into a bit of a build frenzy. I got into almost all of the NOS stuff I got in the trade.




No plans to touch them soon*. Just building them up to move them into some foam storage, instead of the boxes taking up space under the bed.

*Although, that Avatar was an absolute joy to put together. What a cool model! He has been on my mind a few times, and might see a lick of paint before the end of the year...

I noticed the made to order Eldar models too. I think I'm going to pick them up. I quite like the idea of having the old school phoenix lords (I already have a few).

I'm hoping to complete the HBs by the end of the month - look out for them next weekend!

Until then, have a good (Bank Holiday) weekend (for you UK folk)!

You really need to be careful and pay attention building kits these days, especially Eldar. They way things match up and fit is a lot more set then it used to be.

I had to re attach the foot on a DA. So easy to clip the wrong thing.

One of these days I need that avatar. It does look like an amazing kit.

GL getting the paint down!

You're gonna love painting the Avatar of Khaine. I went with the helmetless head on mine and kept it separate for easier painting.

Thanks guys.

Just a quick picture this weekend.


I'm quite happy with the bone colour. It was very easy to achieve, and very quick. Which in turn makes it replicable. The red hair is quite a stark contrast right now. I like it, but I imagine with the other details blocked in it would be a little less stark.

I have a Kill Team game arranged for Tuesday, against the Kommandos. I'll have to do a bit of homework, it's been a while since I played.

I also very impulsively bought the made to order Eldar. I'm about to be the proud owner of all the Phoenix Lords (I already have some), the old Avatar, and the Seer Council. I'm not sure what I want to do with them. I have plenty of time to decide though, GW's estimated delivery is 183days. I can only assume they are hand chiselling them out of square blocks of metal.

The hair should be a contrast to the armor. Looking good!

It will be interesting to see how many people grab the MTO Eldar. The sculpts are ageless and excellent. Still fit into the modern aesthetic. Which may be an issue. The new plastic versions are just so cool looking! The only thing you can’t just plunk down on the battlefield is the avatar, and that’s due to scale creep.

The 2 times I bought a MTO mini it showed up in a few weeks. I think they give that crazy time as a CYA. If they get too many orders, they might needs to find multiple slots in the prediction queue, which is already packed.

What's this? A mid-week update..?




I got my KT game in. Managed to run through those Sneaky Ork Kommandos, for a convincing win.

I really enjoyed being back at the KT table. Really fun game, with a simple-but-complex team (Blades of Khaine). Simple, as there are only 3 archetypes to remember. Complex, as each archetype has so much going on! I only played with the DA and HB but had 29 cards (faction/game/equipment/etc) on the go! I'll get more fluid with them as I play more - the Corsair team is firmly retired to the foam storage.

Kill Team: Tomb World is imminently releasing. I'm hugely on the fence about buying it. Do I need anything? No. Do I want it? kinda. Probably not enough of a reason to buy it. I'll have to keep an eye on the self control - I feel this could be my next impulse buy.

Nice. I’m looking into starting KT, trying to figure out what I’d need. Do you need the card packs? Or can you just download everything?

@Nev: Get yourself the Kill Team (official) app, its free. It has the 'lite' rules and all the team's rules on it. That should get you started - you can borrow your opponents Approved Ops cards and tokens for a few games to see if you want to buy into it.
I have the cards for my Team, tokens, and the Approved Ops cards. I get through my games with just those - but I do have some books for reference.

So, I finished my Howling Banshees.






All in all, a bit of a pain. The foot that I snipped in two off the sprue wasn't good. The mix up with the bodies for the Exarch. One of the Banshees also kept breaking off at the ankle joint that I had to pin yesterday... Great models, but not the best experience to complete. Never the less, all done and able to bring swift death to a Kill Zone near you.

I was anticipating doing another 5. Teams of 8 Banshees are pretty good. But there is a new Kill Team expansion imminently, and we go back to boarding action style fighting. Part of Banshees excellent was ignoring terrain and dancing over it all. Less utility when you're in the close confines of a Tomb World. I think sleuthy Scorpions will be better in that environment, but we'll see as time goes on.

I also thought to take a picture of all my painted Aeldari.


It was only after I took the picture that I realised that I had a lot of almost finished Aeldari. The bikes need basing (although I can get away with black for now), the first 5 Scorpions I did were before I decided to go with a different basing scheme, so I need to fix that, and the guardians still have the HW platform in progress.
Not to mention the stuff I didn't include like that random Warlock I shared a while ago that didn't quite look finished (and is on the wrong basing style). Or my Corsairs that I'd sooner forget about (I started painting them at the start of 2022, and can't bring myself to finish).

I'm not sure what I'll put on my desk as my next project. I will probably circle back to some of those almost finished bits. The Avatar is still on my mind, too...

Closing off the Banshees (and finishing painting everything for Kill Team) has freed up my desk to paint at leisure. I've decided to address the fact that I have a lot of 'almost finished' Aeldari, starting with the bits in the picture above.



I've brought the first 5 Scorpions in line with the rest of the Army by updating the basing. I also realised that they didn't have their aspect rune on their heads, so I put the transfers on too.

I did the Jetbikes bases, adding grit and starting the painting process (actually quite an easy job). They currently need some tufts to finish them off. But while I was basing them and had the airbrush out, I moved these across my table too.




There he is! The Avatar! One step closer to being finished - he is there ready to be painted. I think he's in my close future, but I'm not quite ready for him yet.

I think I ruined my Guardian Weapon platform.



I can't work out what has happened here. I suspect the interaction between the matt varnish and the micro-sol has something to answer for. I'm going to have to paint over it to fix it before I can call this one done.


I got my Weekly Kill Team game in on Wednesday this week. I was playing Deathwatch on Tomb World (the new stuff!). The Deathwatch are classic space marines - they get all the rules. It seemed like an overwhelming game at the start. My first aggressive activation in Turn 1 (DA shooting his Marksman) ended with MY DA on 1w remaining and him unscathed. Yeah, I know, silly counteract rules. Anyway, it was quite a cagey game for most of it, with me trying to cause chip damage while losing Operatives. Anyway, the last few plays of the game were epic. His Demolisher (TH guy) and Breacher (really tough, 18w guy) were camping a doorway, killing my elves as I, one at a time, tried to overwhelm them and take the doorway. Step up; Striking Scorpion Exarch with a Scorpion Claw and Chainsword. He makes the double charge. I fight his TH guy, taking some damage in return, but he was sufficiently weakened for me to kill it before I got killed. Win. I then fight again, hoping to chip some wounds off his toughest model. Spike! My dice went off! I one shot the Breacher! Death to the Imperium! The Exarch's ability to prevent the enemy from parrying unless they roll a 6 is crazy strong, something I have a new respect for. But doing 18w outright, and a double kill at that, is new levels of awesomeness. The doorway was mine. Until the Watch Sergeant steps up, carrying the objective. He levels his Plasma Pistol, and evaporates my Exarch. But through the pink mist steps a Dire Avenger, in the last activation of the game. Spraying the Sergeant with shuriken, injuring him. The DA then rolls a Krak Grenade at his feet - boom! The Sergeant is no more, and the Tomb is secured.

This incredibly enjoyable series of actions, and specifically the DA's actions, won me the game 7-5. It scored me 1 more kill point than my opponent, and denied him winning the objective forcing it to a tie.



Now my question: What is a suitable battle honour for my DA?
For Space Marines it would be easy - purity seal here, skull transfer there. I'm finding it a bit harder to decide for Aeldar. Maybe a while ring around the barrel of his gun? A rune painted on his helmet? A funky red pattern on his helmet? What do you think?

I have committed to buying the Tomb World release, reserving the last box in my club. It's a huge box, with loads of content. I'm happy enough to get it, but I will not make the same mistake as I did with Hivestorm - I will paint this set, I promise. My pile of shame is significant at the moment. And to prevent it getting any bigger, I have a self imposed rule; I will not buy any new miniatures until the below list has been painted:

Some quick wins in there, and some meatier projects too. Knowing my work schedule, I wouldn't be surprised if this brings me until November/December time. I'll keep myself focussed in the pre-Christmas run. But that's making me wonder, what's my Christmas project..?

Some really fantastic updates here Zambro! The bone colour on your Banshees is great.

Tough call on your Dire Avenger, maybe some sparkly bits and new gems on the armour? A feather hanging from the gun? Or a space marine helmet on the base to show off his triumph?