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Yo ho, the year is once again drawing to a close and it's time to wonder how it went down.

I certainly got a load of good games in and the new camera rolling properly, so y'all got to enjoy a bunch of nice tables and action shots. I got something painted almost every month, in large part due to the monthly BFG community painting comps. Cheers guys!



Finished models, 2025

BFG

Imperial Navy
- 1 battleship
- 3 cruisers
- 2 light cruisers
- 5 escorts

Marines
- 1 battle barge

Chaos
- 3 cruisers

Eldar
- 1 cruiser
- 2 light cruisers
- 11 escorts
+ 3 escorts with unfinished bases

Tyranids (mostly un-scrollified bases)
- 2 hive ships
- 2 cruisers
- 24 escorts
- a bit of terrain

Epic

Imperial Guard
- 15 tanks
- 6 superheavies
- 4 aircraft

40k
- 1 retro screamer-killer

Other stuff
- 1 wedding topper
- 9 Fellowship of the Ring
- 9 Nazguls

~105 or so in total, with some of them missing a few bits before getting over their camera-shyness to be presentable here. Next year, definitely!

Good going. Loving those tanks. Going back to look for screamer killer!

Very inspirational work!
Absolutely Epic man!

Great collection of minis for the year. Your battle pics are always stunning too

Cheers Paddy, Moth and gobs!

Here's to the new year, turns out I won Turbidious' BFG community Master of the Forge award for technical execution and good vibes over the last year with my Eldar fleet. Yay

This year I think I'll try to expand on the Nids and Templars, if I ever manage to put an order in at the BFGalaxy store...

Tyranid attack! Carrying on with my renovation project of slapping more paint on top of age-old models, the cruiser Revontulten repijä (Tearer of Auroras) has finally gotten a few more highlights and its name scroll.

Got some 60 little bawkses greebled enough to roll onto the painting station. Chimeras, Manticores, Hydras, Wyverns (Griffons) and the like to expand my Guard into the realm of some non-4+ RA steel for a change

Hive fleet Mesmeria creeps forth! That's all the ships I built 15 years ago glowed up, any further reinforcements for these gribblies are going to be new stuff

Those are fantastic. Love the bases with the painted stars and the scrolls for the names!

Firstly, the photos of the old school 40K Armageddon game were utterly glorious. All those lovely old models and such nice painting too.
Congratulations on your BFG award, well deserved! The upgraded Nids continue to look great and I support revamping old models! I just need to paint th e newer ones before I can go back over the old...

Greebling Epic APCs... You nutter But the painted tanks are looking sweet.

muette wrote:Those are fantastic. Love the bases with the painted stars and the scrolls for the names!

Thanks! All models deserve something nice, be that conversion work or fancy basing

Ragsta wrote:
Firstly, the photos of the old school 40K Armageddon game were utterly glorious. All those lovely old models and such nice painting too.
Congratulations on your BFG award, well deserved! The upgraded Nids continue to look great and I support revamping old models! I just need to paint th e newer ones before I can go back over the old...

Greebling Epic APCs... You nutter But the painted tanks are looking sweet.

It was a great game to spectate, yeah. The lads at the club have done good work with their retrohammer shenanigans.
Cheers for the rest, I'll be trying to keep up the BFG side this year as well. April's theme is carriers, so I might start on the Black Templars fleet I've got basecoated at the moment.

Speaking of painted APCs and greeblies, some lighter armour for the Guard!

Good grief Sherrypie. The output! The quality! The inspiration!

Awesome as always and a joy to see. Late to the party, but congrats on the wedding.

Always amazing that you get so much detail on such tiny minis, these chimera chassis are amazing

Gordy2000 wrote:Good grief Sherrypie. The output! The quality! The inspiration!

Awesome as always and a joy to see. Late to the party, but congrats on the wedding.

gobert wrote:Always amazing that you get so much detail on such tiny minis, these chimera chassis are amazing

Cheers fellas, if there's a physical model there's some space for details on it

Speaking of models, some AA rolled forth from the tiny tank factory this afternoon. Brrrrt!

Yeah, you really fill every millimetre! Love the trench tails on the Russ’

 gobert wrote:
Yeah, you really fill every millimetre! Love the trench tails on the Russ’

Cheers gobert, I believe there are certain graffiti artists that share the same need to fill empty spaces

Meanwhile, gaming!

5k of NetEA Minervans versus Tyranids, E:A GT scenario. A brutal affair, with the Guard eventually taking the field through weight of kills after no-one could attain a clean victory on the main objectives.

Wait… are you Banksy…

Sweet looking army and battle pics

Awesome as usual Sherrypie!

gobert wrote:Wait… are you Banksy…

Sweet looking army and battle pics

I'm not saying I'm not, so who knows

muette wrote:Awesome as usual Sherrypie!

Cheers muette!

This time, a proper battle report for a change!

-------------

Epic: Armageddon, 4k NetEA lists, Imperial Fists vs. Minervan tank legion.
'Ill met by moonlight' expansion, 'Blitzkrieg!' scenario.

-------------

SETUP AND OBJECTIVES:

The scenario details an escalating clash between two forces pushing randomly rolled reserves towards the mid-third of the table, where the players have placed six objectives (the small grey emplacements). The battle is won solely through the control of these objectives. Selen II's planetary defence forces are defending against an Imperial Fists assault. As the attacker, the Fists will start rolling for all of their forces immediately on the first round. The defenders start with 1/4 of their forces already on the field, but will have to wait until round two before getting any reinforcement rolls. The supreme Guard commander with their super-heavy company is overseeing a commandeering hill position deep in the lines while one Russ company lies hidden somewhere closer to the front.




--------------

ROUND 1:

The attackers begin their initial wave, moving Whirlwinds and Devastators up the board to probe which hidden counter houses the defenders. Thus spotted and determined to protect their own side's maneuvers from the marine artillery, the Demolisher company throws their camo aside and pushes forwards to pummel most of the Whirldwinds dead, driving the last vehicle back in distress.



Thus exposed and obscured from the SHT co's protective Overwatch, the approaching marines take the chance to gang up on the Demolishers with massed Predators and Land Speeders, driving them back in turn with heavy casualties.



ROUND 2:

With reinforcements now available to the defenders as well, the road leading to the supply depot starts getting well and truly churned as mechanised infantry, more Russes and a long column of other vehicles behind them start making their way towards the fight. As attacking aircraft harry the broken Demolishers that withdrew back, Storm Troopers rush forth to secure the flank from the approaching Tactical formations.



With the impetus still on their side, the Imperial Fists mass before pushing forwards.



Unable to properly reach the SHT co that is starting to get their main guns sighted on the approaching yellow tide, the prowling Predator squadrons rake the Infantry Platoon's Chimeras leaving several burning by the roadside.



With more Speeders and Vindicators rushing to the lines, the Fists are making good time to their objectives as the Infantry break and dash backwards into the hillside woods.



With the escalating tank battles at the front keeping the Marine AA fires suppressed, the defenders send their air assets to deal with the remnants of the Fists' artillery capabilities in the deep lines, securing their own safety of movement.



ROUND 3:

In the middle, the Marines make the fateful decision to contest the guardsmen in their own game. With massed shell and plasma bolt, the rugged Russes and superheavies soon start taking a fearsome toll on the lighter Marine tanks while shrugging off lascannon shots one after another.



With Predators, Vindicators and occasional Russes blowing up all over the middle, the Fellblade and another SHT co join the fray and let rip with their big guns as the most mauled Russ company withdraws to the safety of the hills while more keep pouring in.



Recently arrived Marine Scouts have taken to the forward bushes on the left flank while their Tactical brethren on the right hunker down in Overwatch. Deciding to avoid the prepared fires, the Storm Troopers swoop on the other flank entirely to pile on the Scouts instead, failing to drive them out of their bushes.



ROUND 4:

In the middle, the Guard countercharge starts thrusting into the Marine territory. Through the storm of fire the Marines charge to confront them, catching the battle tanks in a dangerous crossfire with their Speeders and threatening to throw them back with a Devastator assault. Alas, the tenacious fellows in green are not so easily swayed and utterly eradicate the Devastators as they pour out into the open firefight. Despite the wipeout victory, the Russes have taken enough losses to necessitate a withdrawal nonetheless to avoid being lost in the confusion themselves.




In the duel between one angry yellow boi and a pile of pissed off tankers with volcano cannons, the only prize the astartes can be awarded this day is one for turret tossing as the Fellblade is wrecked by a screaming beam of white-hot death.



The general battle of attrition rages with the Storm Troopers being driven off, Scouts getting flattened by superheavies and Guard artillery pounding the Fists command post in the hill-top tower with extraordinary accuracy. With the losses incurred, the tide has unquestionably turned against the astartes.

ROUND 5:

The Imperial Reaver titan finally decides to join the fight, stomping forwards to blow some fresh holes in the leading SHT co, reducing two of the three behemoths to slag. On the right flank, tank companies both small and superheavy roll forwards to clear marine Speeders and other stragglers from the objectives.



ROUND 6:

With almost all Marines spent or about to get run under remorseless steel tracks, the Imperial Fists captain charges down the hillside to challenge their equally "alone" counterpart. The clash between the supreme commanders is brief and ignominous, as the marines are heedlessly cut down in a hail of rapid fire and left to decorate the radar station with their bright blood spattered over the vivid green pastures.



While the right flank's remaining Tacticals were being pulverised by heavy tanks, hammering the final nail to the coffin of the invasion's failure, even the Reaver titan was ultimately unsuccessful in clearing the objective at its feet. By the combined powers of the infantry, artillery, Shadowswords, remnants of the Demolisher company, supreme commander's Baneblade and finally a determined fly-by strike of the regrouped Storm Troopers, the god-machine is *just* brought down in flames before the curtains fall.



------------

RESULT:

A decisive Guard victory!

With all six objectives controlled by boot and tread, the Marine invasion force was utterly shattered. Of all attacking forces, the only survivors that remained were two fleeing Tactical stands, one broken Speeder and a singular airplane.

The first half of the battle looked like it could go well for the Marines, but the mid-game brawl at the open crossroads cost them their battle tanks for relatively light gains. As the damaged and smoking but still moving superheavies ate their fire, the three-fold wave of Russes kept coming while the Guard overtook aerial and artillery superiority, getting in gear and utterly dominating the late game through sheer weight of heavy armour.

If the Reaver titan had arrived earlier or the leading SHT had lost engines a bit earlier it could have been a much harder fight. While the marines got trounced pretty hard here, we both enjoyed the scenario very much. Escalating engagements are some of my favourite wargame setups in general and produce nicely divergent games every time.

Black Templars' strike cruiser Stormbreaker sallies forth into the stars.

Sherrypie's quick and dirty baroque: so you like chiaroscuro?

I like baroque aesthetics. Heavy shadows, stark lighting, deep reds and autumnal browns. Restricted Zorn palette and Blanchitsu, old masters and all that jazz. I am also profoundly prone to making due with what I've got within an arms's reach, whether that's a suboptimal shade of yellow or painting with a pine needle because I was outside at the time and it worked well enough (true story): don't get hung up on paint choices. These have been painted mostly with Vallejo Game Colors, but that's an insignificant detail. There's an AP tone and an AK ink in there as well. Any paint line you like will do, the general ideas won't change.

Similarly, these BFGalaxy escort full of spindly little details were about the worst models to demonstrate this rough and "painterly" process with, but that's life. I'll think about it next time

1) Prime black. We're going to want those heavy shadows everywhere.



2) Build up the base by overbrushing successively lighter blends of grey + bone. The slightly blueish German Grey is here partly by accident from testing stuff out, but builds up to a darker finish than my usual Imperial ships under all the washes. For my otherwise pretty similar but warmer navy scheme, I'd replace the grey with a dark brown.



3) Block in the rest of the main colours. Bone for guns, yellow for engines and various bits. At this point I usually go over the model, trying to find some nice places for spot colours like heraldic fields, stripes and such to go.



4) Washes and details. My go-to liquid talent is Vallejo's Model Air series Burnt Umber, a slightly reddish deep brown that's runny enough to be used as a brush-applied wash straight from the palette. Agrax and similar washes do about the same. Similarly, my black-ish wash at the moment is Army Painter's Dark Tone, after one too many times that my Nuln Oil dried white. Works nicely for generous applications. With the washes done, it's time to start detailing things again. First with more bone, using fine edge highlights and finishing with sharp lines and dots of pure white. I do usually make another pass with more washes and edge highlights here, to soften the transitions a bit. The reds get a bit of orange blended in. The various little lights are white dots covered with fluo paints.



5-6) For engine flares, my usual workflow starts from white, putting yellow on the halfway mark, adding more orange, red and eventually umber as we get farther away from the heat source. I use fluorescent paints here to help a bit with the brightness. Ultimately, this is usually a desperate wrassle of trial and error full of Bob Ross quotes and happy little accidents, where I'm just splodging more bright stuff on one end and darker stuff on the other until it looks acceptable. One can always neaten things up later, but sometimes the sculpt is fighting you and it's just better to let good enough be.




7) For my bases, it's the same but just messier. Take a bad brush that's already hardened to abuse and stipple on some red, orange and yellow. These can be wet, it dries into nice nebulae shapes and is a fun way to use the last drops remaining on your wet palette. Put white stars on with a sharper brush. Now, alternating layers of fluorescent orange and red with pure white stars, build up the clouds until satisfactory.



8) For the scrolls, you could start from a brown base, but here I've gone the lazy route of just starting from bone. Some white towards the edges, a watered down brush of burnt umber in the folds and that's the basics down. With a fine brush, I then carefully neaten the outline of the scroll with black, highlight the sharp edges with white and jot down the actual lettering. When writing on models, I start from the middle letter of each word and try to fit the names somewhat neatly onto the scroll. If it doesn't work, no biggie, just cover it up and try again.



And that's it. Matt varnish on top and they're ready for deployment.



Hope this helps someone or at least amused you today

They say that when you watch a craftsman work, it leaves the impression that there is really no effort at all: they have perfect economy of motion and nothing feels hurried or rushed, because the skill is such that there is no unconfident movement.

I get that feeling from this tutorial: not a single wasted motion and everything leading up to the finale; each stage distinctly recognizable and not complete until the last.

I knew that these ships of the fleet were painstakingly painted and detailed but ye gods the intricacy of the steps! Absolutely marvelous to watch.

I do not currently play or collect Battle Fleet Gothica, but am saving these photos off for when I do. And I may get the nerve to use your base painting technique on another project, but maybe not- there is a great deal of skill behind the simple-appearing steps.

Extremely impressive work. Rock on. Exalted.

 Meer_Cat wrote:

They say that when you watch a craftsman work, it leaves the impression that there is really no effort at all: they have perfect economy of motion and nothing feels hurried or rushed, because the skill is such that there is no unconfident movement.

I get that feeling from this tutorial: not a single wasted motion and everything leading up to the finale; each stage distinctly recognizable and not complete until the last.

I knew that these ships of the fleet were painstakingly painted and detailed but ye gods the intricacy of the steps! Absolutely marvelous to watch.

I do not currently play or collect Battle Fleet Gothica, but am saving these photos off for when I do. And I may get the nerve to use your base painting technique on another project, but maybe not- there is a great deal of skill behind the simple-appearing steps.

Extremely impressive work. Rock on. Exalted.

Thank you for the praise

That's the interesting part with many artistic endeavours: the steps themselves are simple, such as blocking an area of colour here or adding a highlight there. Anyone can do them with a bit of practice. But repeatedly choosing which one to do on your own initiative, with which tool, with how much pressure, from which angle, next to what other colours and such is a skillset that requires some cultivation over time and creates distinct art styles. All together, most of the hours we put into our crafts isn't about specific techniques as much as it is about acquiring the silent knowledge of where to go with your art when the time comes to put in the next brushstroke.

As Italo Calvino wrote:
Among Zhuang Zhou's many virtues was his talent for drawing. The king asked him to draw a crab. Zhuang Zhou said he would need five years and a villa with twelve servants. After five years he had not yet begun the drawing. "I need another five years," he said. The king agreed. When the tenth year was up, Zhuang Zhou took his brush and in an instant, with a single flourish, drew a crab, the most perfect crab anyone had ever seen.

Very cool mate. Very atmospheric and immersive battle report. Also nice to get an insight into your creative process.