Nurgles Rotters

My first project completed back at the beginning of 2021 was this Nurgle's Rotters Blood Bowl team.

I put a lot of effort into this team, following the Darren Lathams tutorial videos. Super happy with how they came out and whilst it was a bit of an effort to paint the 13 models altogether, it was well worth it.

Orc Blood Bowl Team

So it seems I completely forgot to post about finishing this unit! I think I got them done back in August 2017... my goal was to get them completed for a gaming weekend so my guests could play a game of 3rd edition Blood Bowl with fully painted teams. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to play any games so they haven't been used in anger...yet!

I provided a WIP update here where I covered the main base colours. To recap the skin was painted with the usual Waagh Flesh > Warboss Green > Skarsnik Green whilst the red is Mephiston Red > Evil Sunz Scarlet > Wild Rider Red.

The black followed Vallejo Model Black > Eshin Grey > Dawnstone, the white is Celestra Grey > Ulthuan Grey > White Scar and the skulls are Zandri Dust > Ushabti Bone > Screaming Skull.

The base followed how I did the Human Blood Bowl Team. I based the models with sand and then painted a diluted Steel Legion Drab over the sand. After this had dried I drybrushed Eldar Flesh over each base. On top of this, I applied static grass and panted the rim of each base Black.

2017 Hobby Retrospective

My first post in 2017 set out hobby goals for the year (link here). Throughout the 2nd half of 2016 I struggled to dedicated time to hobby so for 2017 I wanted to set some targets! Now, 2017 is almost concluded and 2018 reckons, I wanted to look back and see how I'd fared against my goals.

In term of which models I aimed to complete in 2017; my list consisted of:

• Human Blood Bowl Team,
• Orc Blood Bowl Team,
• Blood Angels Assault Squad.

..and I managed to complete the following:

• Human Blood Bowl Team,
• Orc Blood Bowl Team,
• Sly Marbo,
• Sylvaneth Branchwych,
• Sylvaneth Dryads,
• Sylvaneth Treelord Ancient,
• Sylvaneth Kurnoth Hunters,
• Shadow War: Armageddon scenery set,
• further random pieces of scenery.

I also set myself a target of reading 12 books. I fell short and only managed to read 10... but I listened to 6 audiobooks (thanks to Black Library being on Audible!).

So, in conclusion, I'm happy with my achievements for 2017. I managed to paint up many more models than I had planned. This was mainly down to Nerd Day 2017 and the focus it provided. This event required a board and scenery. which occupied my activities during the middle of the year. After Nerd Day I was infused with the motivation to prepare for gaming in 2018 and managed to bash out the Sylvaneth units mentioned above and Sly Marbo!

Next up I will present the completed Kurnoth Hunters and Orc Blood Bowl team (looks like i forgot to post about the completed unit!). At time of writing this article, I am away visiting family so will cover that unit in a post before closing of 2017 with a 2018 goals article.

Social Painting Events!

My hobby progress has been slow over the last month and whilst I've made progress on a variety of models; Blood Angel Tactical Marines, Slyvaneth Kurnoth Hunters, Tree Revenants and 2 Branchwraiths... I haven't finished any or managed to take any recent WIP photos.

This post, however, is mainly to cover a couple of social painting evenings I've hosted recently in preparation for Nerd Day 2018. The goal is to help a couple of friends who haven't painted models for many years to paint up a selection of their models which can then be used during nerd weekend 2018.

For individuals on the fringe of the hobby I believe the notion of painting models can be quite intimidating... not only do you need to understand the techniques involved, there is also an associated cost (paints, brushes etc.) which can easily become a barrier of entry. Hosting events where I can remove those barriers has been very rewarding and, as you can see below, seems to be nurturing some potential talent!

First I'll cover the hobby area! I set up two stations for my budding hobbyists, complete with citadel paint system chart for easy reference.

The only requirement I placed on my two protégé was to supply their own models. Neither let the side down! Dan, arrived armed with some goodies from his childhood! An old skool, 1994, Citadel Paint Set... which had usable paint!! very cool indeed!

Dans also brought along a complete Warhammer (4th? edition) boxed set. It's from this set that Dan chose which models to paint.

Alongside Dans Fantasy Battle models, Barry rocked up with an extended Skaven 3rd Edition Blood Bowl team!

These in progress pictures were taken following the second evening. As you can see, good progress has been made by both hobbyists!

Here are the archers Dan has base coated. I've been very impressed by the state of all the models and can't wait to see further progress in the new year.

Nerd Day 2017

So, in September 2017 my other half is out of town for the weekend and I have arranged to have 3 friends over for a weekend of war gaming. On the agenda is:

• Warhammer Age of Sigmar
• Warhammer 40k (8th ed!!!)
• Shadow War: Armageddon
• Blood Bowl
• X-Wing

Needless to say, this is quite an ask for the time available. My aim is to run quick battles of Age of Sigmar and 40K and focus on SWA, Blood Bowl and X-Wing.

I am extremely excited about hosting such a day and in preparation I will spending the next few months preparing a suitably awesome gaming area (40k battle mat already on order!) and completing as many miniatures as possible.

What this means for readers of this blog is that posts will come thick and fast over the coming months! Lets do this!

Orc Blood Bowl Team: Work In Progress

Since my most recent post, I have been working on both an Orc Blood Bowl team and 5 Stormcast Eternals from the Storm of Sigmar set.

Both are progressing nicely, however, moving on to a whole Blood Bowl team soon after completing a Blood Bowl team wasn't a great idea! Batch painting 12 mini's at a time isn't a huge amount of fun... that's why I'm splitting my time between 2 different 'units'.

So far, for this set of models, I have base coated the skin with Waaagh! Flesh (what else?), blocked in the red of their kit with Mephiston Red and base coated the base with Mournfang Brown.

I want to get all the base coats completed as quickly as possible as the thin coat of the Waaagh! Flesh, applied via airbrush, is beginning to chip off. Once the base colours have been applied I will set the decals before applying gloss varnish in preparation for shading the models with gloss shades. After that I'll matte the models down, tidy up the shading and apply the highlights.

My aim is to get this unit complete before September... so loads of time 😀

Human Blood Bowl Team

It's been a while since I posted a 'completed' unit.. and I have to admit that it's good to get a unit/model 'done'.

This human Blood Bowl team is from the 3rd Edition box (1994). The models had already been painted when I picked up the boxed set thusly some of the finer details had been lost by the time they arrived in my care... I also found the models quite difficult to paint due to the lack of details on such retro models. It's fair to say that production techniques have advanced significantly over the 20+ years since these models were cast. Whilst I'm reasonably happy with how they come out; I found it a slog to work on 12 models at once. Anyway, it's great to finish a unit; one which was part of the 2017 hobby goals and leads me nicely on to the Orc team from the boxed set.

I've painted the models in the 'traditional' Reikland Reavers colour scheme from the 3rd edition era (Blue/Yellow/Silver). I re-based the models onto 32mm bases to bring them inline with the Blood Bowl Referees I recently picked up from Forge World and to make this unit fit a bit more with any of the newer Blood Bowl stuff. The transfers went on quite well, however, as they are 23 years old, there is a slight yellow discoloration in the film. I painted over as much of this as I could manage... but some of it is still slightly visible.

I also experimented with using static grass, applied over a textured layer for the base...and to add a little more interest to the bases, a light smattering of Blood for the Blood God has been applied.

Human Blood Bowl Team - Work In Progress

Quick post detailing a WIP on the Human Blood Bowl Team I'm working on. At this point the base colours have been completed. Next up is applying the decals, shading, highlighting and any further detail work.

2017

Happy New Year dear readers!

It's been a few months since I've been able to turn my attention to any hobbying. Mainly, this is due to a quite significant change in my career: I am now working away from home Monday - Thursday and thus I've had a lot of change to digest recently. Bearing that in mind, and considering the half finished models/units currently eyeballing me from my display cabinet I want to make a few hobby commitments for 2017. These won't be spectacular in any way, however creating achievable targets is important to ensure that I maintain a portion of my recreational time dedicated to the hobby.

So, lets get on with the list!

Blood Bowl Human Team

I took this unit with me for my initial month away from home with the goal of painting this team during my free time in the evenings. Unfortunately the light in my hotel room was terrible and I simply couldn't see the detail on the models!

This unit will be my primary focus for 2017.

Blood Bowl Orc Team

What use is one completed Blood Bowl if you don't have another for it to play against? Currently this team has been airbrushed green... and thats it!

This unit will be my secondary focus for 2017.

Blood Angels Assault Squad

Following my final post in 2016 I did spend time of my Blood Angels units. I followed the painting scheme/process documented in that post for both the Assault Squad, Tactical Squad and 2 Independent Characters. All these units received their undercoat, armour base coat and wash. I will take the Assault Squad forward from this point and move the models forward until completion.

I will focus on this unit once the Blood Bowl teams have been completed.

Reading 12 books

Slightly tenuous this one but it is hobby related so bear with me!

Last year I started reading the Horus Heresy novels and loved them! I managed to read through the first 4 between the summer and end of my Honeymoon in October. A goal I have set myself in 2017 is to read 1 book per month... and to be honest the vast majority, if not all, will be from Black Library! I am currently 100 pages into 'Fulgrim' so will aim to complete that by the end of Jan and then I will turn my attention to the Warhammer Legends Collection which I started picking up before Christmas. These are Hardback and so may not be ideal for inclusion in my suitcase for travelling in the week so I may revert to concentrating on the HH novels over the next few months.

So that's it really. Lets see how it goes!

New Project?

If you cast an eye (or two?) over my recent blog posts it's no secret that my hobbying hasn't had much focus! I've chopped and changed between Blood Bowl, Blood Angels, a Land Speeder Storm and a box full of scenery. To add to this, over the past few weeks I have also found myself being tempted by Age of Sigmar.

I think its fair to state that AoS had a slow start but has nicely found its feet recently. Whilst on a day out to watch some cricket recently I visited Excelsior Comics and picked up a couple of classic White Dwarfs and the Generals Handbook. I'll post about the White Dwarfs at some point in the future.

Anyway, back to my point: So alongside AoS finding its feet and the purchase of the Generals handbook, I absolutely adore the recently released Sylvaneth! They are about as far removed from Power Armoured dudes as you could want... and I find that VERY appealing. Check 'em out:

Of course, this temptation brings with it a bucket load of hobbying guilt. I have a couple of Blood Bowl teams to paint (and some star players), a small Blood Angels force and enough scenery to keep me occupied until England next win the World Cup. I dont 'need' a new army... but why do I want it so badly? I'm not really one for giving in to the impulse buy for the new shiny so there must be more to it?!?

Well, I think the root of the matter is that AoS is a more accessible game... and I'm missing the fun of getting my models onto a board and rolling some dice. Whilst I love 40k, considering where I am in my life at the moment, AoS could be the a very sensible avenue for me to explore and allow more gaming opportunities (and when I say 'more', I mean 'any!').

I am currently working on a Human Blood Bowl team so, at the very least, I want to use this interest in the Sylvanth to help push me to complete this team and then maybe some further outstanding units. If this all pans out, my next post will cover a completed Blood Bowl team!

Work In Progress: Blood Bowl Ocs and Humans

Today I want to cover some models in (another) 'work in progress' post. 

These two sets of models are the Ocs and Human teams from 3rd Edition Blood Bowl. I owned this back in the day (it was initially released in 1994) but somewhere along the way I sold the game on eBay. In 2014 I managed to find a well priced auction (on Ebay) so took advantage of the deal and picked up the game 

Since that point it has remained on my shelf; not getting the love it deserves! With ForgeWorld working on a new edition (due Christmas 2016 I believe), my motivation was rekindled so I dusted off the game and started to paint the models! 

The Human team had received a fairly basic paint job from the previous owner but the paint wasnt thick so I didnt bother to strip the models down. The Orc team was still fresh plastic. The first step, as is usually the case, has been to undercoated and base coat the two teams. Next, I'll start working on a team at a time (I'll probably tackle the Human team first) and will post an update when I have completed team(s) to show.

Dusting off 3rd Edition Blood Bowl

So after dusting off my Human and Orc Blood Bowl teams I was motivated to play a game so invited @bignerdbowski over for a match. 

Although I own the original Blood Bowl video game (which I didn't really like and as a result I didn't managed to complete a match!), it has been over 22 years since I last played a Blood Bowl match from start to finish. Needless to say, it was epic fun playing a game and I'm annoyed that I waited so long to reconnect with the game.

In the single match that we had time for, I played as Humans whilst my opponent played as Ocs. 'Back in the day' my team was Ocs so it was a new experience playing as squishy 'umans. Without going in to too much details of how the game played out... it finished 1-1. My opponent had an opportunity to score with a long bomb in the last turn but fumbled the throw.

Off the back of this match I have been trawling eBay and have picked up some Orc and Human star players. I'll get to work on these when the models arrive and I'll post updates at that point.