The Imperium's Finest; An Astra Militarum project, by Medge

Hi All, Medge here with yet another new project!

We can all agree - 2020 has been a pretty bonkers year for hobby. Instead of sitting at home and just sulking about not getting games in (which, in fairness, I've been doing a lot... just not on the blog 😄) I've been using my hobby time to catch up with some Backlog projects.

Regular readers will know about my Blood Angels and Tau projects, two major successes of the year, but today on wanted to show off one of my smaller projects.

It's no secret that I'm more of a collector than I am painter or gamer. It's also no secret that I want to amass a HUGE collection. In a past, more heretical, life it was my ambition to assemble a Chaos horde that would shame Abaddon!
After breaking free of the corrupting touch of Chaos I turned back to the Imperium of Man, and under the Emperors benevolent gaze I've been steadily mustering a Imperial force. Between my Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus I'm sitting on 10-11k points of painted models right now; a planet-concurring force by anyone's standards!

Last year I picked myself up a small second hand Astra Militarum force to add to the existing Imperial horde - a little collecting/ painting project I planned to use in Kill Team, maybe building up into something bigger. With Lockdown offering a little more free time (and disincentivising painting pieces to game with) I've had the freedom to pick up this little side project.

Rather than presenting the force piecemeal in the blog I've completed the full force (24PL, ~500points), which is presented below.
I also thought It'd be a bit different to present this force with some of the narrative I've written for them; a short story regarding their creation and remit with the 41st Millennium. Unfortunately the short story blossomed into something far bigger than I first thought! So instead of presenting it below, I'll capture it in a series of smaller posts running into 2021 - you can read the first one here!

With that said and done, allow me to introduce the 1st Bloodoathed Tempestus Scions 

Bash the Backlog; Lockdown Edition - by Medge

Welcome back to Bash the Backlog, a mini-series in which I try to correct that most egregious of hobby sins; the huge pile of unpainted plastic!

It's been over six months since my last #BashtheBacklog entry (see Sigmar's Storm for that one!), with most of my backlog work coming as part of Blood of the Angel and For the Greater Good series. I have, however, worked on a few other projects in between these major series; palette-cleanser models between projects or odds-and-ends that either needed tying off, or were supposed to trigger a bigger project that never took off.

As one of my final posts of the year I wanted to capture these one-off projects in a single post so they don't become forgotten, and can act as a little inspiration for what I hope will be a brighter 2021!

So let's jump into it!

For the Greater Good; Part 3. A Xenos Crusade Update by Medge

T'au Va fellow hobbyists! And Welcome Back to "For the Greater Good" - a hobby blog following my journey as I collect and learn the Tau Empire in the new Crusade format for Warhammer 40,000 9th Edition.

It's been a looong time since I last posted anything - part 2 of this series was way back at the beginning of August!

It's been a busy and chaotic few months, with both real life and hobby related issues draining me of a lot of my motivation. I've stumbled through snatching time here and there to paint, trying to keep any hobby going. Fortunately things have turned a bit of a corner - I hit a big milestone with the Tau and am starting to get a little more of my mojo back.

There's been a bit too much going on to wrap it all up into a single blog post, so I'll tackle August-September below and follow up with September-October next time!

For the Greater Good; Part 2. A Xenos Crusade Update by Medge

T'au'va Reader! 

Welcome back to "For the Greater Good", a Xenos on crusade project update. With 9th Edition now upon us I'm more excited than ever for Warhammer 40k and, despite all the new reinforcements my Blood Angels received, I've still been chipping away with the Tau Empire.

This month our Goal was to bring our Crusade forces up to 25 PL (based on the 8th Edition Power Levels). This meant a quiet month for me, with 20 PL already complete after my Commander and Battlesuits from month one. With the extra time I had available I started thinking about my Crusade narrative, and began fleshing out out the backstory for my Commander, O'Ashi, and his Strike Force.

Blood of the Angel, Part 3: A Touch of Character, by Medge

Welcome back to Blood of the Angel - a #BashtheBacklog project chronicling my progress towards having a competitive Blood Angels army, and a slightly tidier hobby space!

In my last few posts I set myself the goal of completing models towards a simple "on-meta" competitive army.

Since my last post we've had a huge amount of new information from Games Workshop about 9th Edition; scenery rules, CP and army build changes, overwatch & tri-pointing/wrapping changes and FAQ's, not to mention the full "leaked" points updates for 9th Editon!

To twist a old saying, "The best laid plans seldom survive first contact with a new Edition" 

Nevertheless, my Blood Angels enthusiasm has never been higher. I was one of the lucky few to secure a copy of Indomitus (thank you to my FLGS for that one!). The Space Marine content in the new box looks great for a Blood Angel player, with Assault Intercessors and Outriders looking to dominate from the start of 9th Edition.

Before I jump into the newer models, however, I wanted to focus on getting through even more of my Blood Angel Backlog.

This last month I've been pretty busy catching up with the Characters from my backlog.

Let's see how I've done...

The Corpsewrack Mausoleum; a Warcry Project by Medge

Lockdown measures are slowly easing across the country, and the world is beginning to reopen. Despite the steps begin taken to return to normal (or whatever the new 'normal' will be) I suspect it'll be some time before Games Workshop stores are able to host games, and gaming clubs across the country reopen their doors. 

With house-to-house interactions now allowed and social bubbles opening up to allow visitors it's looking like gaming from home may become viable within a few weeks. In preparation for that occasion I've spent some time painting up the Corpsewrack Mausoleum, one of the Warcry Environment boxes (and yes... it's from my backlog!)

Let's dive in and check it out.

Blood of the Angel, Part 2; A Bash the Backlog Project, by Medge

Welcome back to my Blood of the Angel series - a #BashtheBacklog project chronicling my progress towards having a competitive Blood Angels army, and a slightly tidier hobby space!

In part one I talked more about what what drew me to the Blood Angels, my goals/ aspirations for the project, what I'd been working on and what I still had outstanding.

Since then I've been jumping between projects, trying to alternate between Blood Angels and non-Space Marine projects to keep things fresh.

How have I been getting on? Well let's get into it!

Gangs of the Underhive; The Black Roses by Medge

About 18 months ago I launched a short series for Necromunda, based on a campaign I was playing with my Chaos Cult; the Sacred Flame.

The series was only 2 parts, because I got stomped in the game and lost my appetite for Necromunda.

When our local club's second campaign started I got back involved with a new gang, this time from House Escher. Despite having a horrific campaign and getting dumped out pretty hard... again... I rediscovered my love for the game, particularly for the lethal ladies of House Escher.

With so many different projects over the last 12 months my Escher models slipped deeper into the Backlog pile, but the current CoVID crisis has finally given me the time to get some paint on to the ladies. 

So may I present - the Black Roses!

Sigmar's Storm; a #BashtheBacklog project by Medge

Welcome to Sigmar's Storm; A #BashtheBacklog #StayHome Age of Sigmar project.

Given the title I'm sure you can all guess the content...

That's right - Sigmarines! I mean Stormcast Eternals... sorry... too much 40k content of late!

As the flagship faction of Age of Sigmar you'd be hard pressed to have missed the Stormcast Eternals. They've seen four waves of releases over the last few years (Warrior Chamber, Extremis Chamber, Vanguard Chamber and the newer Sacroscant Chamber), have a huge and diverse range, feature some stunning big kits alongside extensive Easy-To-Build and multipart ranges, and have been the go to starter faction in both first and second Edition AoS.

With the CoVID-19 lockdown in full force and GW closed we've all been turning to those neglected projects, and I thought it high time I revisited my first AoS army.

Blood of the Angel: Part 1. A #BashtheBacklog project by Medge

Well... 2020's been a hell of a year so far hasn't it!

I've been pretty quiet on the blogging front over the last few month; a combination of too many projects, burnout, wedding planning and new job all took the wind from my sails in quarter 1 this year... then Coronavirus hit and everything went to pot!

My brush hasn't been idle in that time, just my keyboard, and I've been working diligently on a few projects, top among which are my Blood Angels!

So welcome to my Blood of the Angel series - a #BashtheBacklog project showing off my mission to finally get a competitive Blood Angels projects running, and clear out a chunk of backlog in the process. 

Path to Glory 2020: Brass Rampagers IV

Month... erm... 4?

Things went awry in February... Just a little bit. I ended up caught up in the excitement of our club Necromunda campaign, so spent most of my painting time focussing on my gangers, hired guns and a "small" amount of terrain. Then in March as came around things took a few surprising turns as the world went into lockdown. I'm now in my eighth week of working from home. This has certainly meant I have had a lot more time for painting, but I've pretty much avoided painting my Blades of Khorne during that time. Instead I have worked through a number of the Forge World dramatis personae for Necromunda, assembled "more" Zone Mortalis terrain, and worked on clearing various backlogs of scatter terrain, a few Warcry scenery bits, and a few random models I had lying around as distractions.

Well as the group approaches the centenary of blogs I thought I should catch up and do some more work on my Brass Rampagers. April saw me make some big achievements in progress - mainly determined by availability of various sprays, layers and washes that became as rare as hen's teeth during lockdown! So here we go... I've also included a few bits here that are not yet part of the Path to Glory campaign, but will likely see use in larger battles in the future (or just sit on a display shelf as lockdown perpetuates...).

Blood Warriors

A key goal for me in the Path to Glory paint-a-thon has been to up the number and quality of my battleline units. I enjoyed batch painting this unit of Blood Warriors, working from a bronze base, through several layers of gold dry-brushing, a Nuln Oil wash over the entire model before beginning to pick out details. The recessed armour plates are washed with Carroburg Crimson, giving them a nice bloody gold look that reflects the red painted armour more commonly used on Khorne models. While pretty close to being 'battle-ready' there are a few bits I will spend more time doing, picking out leather straps, detailing a few spikes and painting the numerous skulls to get them closer to 'parade ready'. I've also get to then have fun with Blood for the Blood God technical!

A 2019 Retrospective - Medge's 2019 progress, and plans for 2020

2019 is drawing to a close, and so it seems fitting to go through a period of hobby reflection, re-evaluation, and planning for the future.

2019 was an exceptional hobby year for me.

Just a couple of metrics; 

30 blog posts (including this one)
2400 total blog hits for #Medge-tagged items; not bad for a bit of a personal pet project! 

5 Army Projects (Death, Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Knights)

4 Game systems (Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40k, Necromunda and Warhammer: Underworlds)

128 models cleared from the back-log

and a heck of a load more added!!

So let's take a look at those in some detail.

Bash the Back-log #6; Medge's October - December

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking steps to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

In my last update I covered the end of August through to mid October, and a number of Grey Knights and a few extra Blood Angels moved from back-log to completed projects.

2019 is nearly over, and this will likely be the last #BashtheBacklog post of the year... so what have I been working on in the final few weeks of the year?

Bash the Back-log #5; Medge's August - October

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking steps to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

Last update covered the end of June and July, in which time I had a nice little Blood Angels binge.
It's been nearly three months since my last instalment ... so how have I done?

Bash the Back-log #4; Medge's June - July

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking steps to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

Last update covered the end of April, May and most of June.

It's been five weeks since my last installment... so how have I done?

Bash the Back-log #3; Medge's April - June

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking steps to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

Last update covered the end of Feb, March and the start of April. It's been 2 and a half months... so where am I now?

Bash the Back-log #2; Medge's Feb-April 2019

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking steps to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

Last update covered January through till mid February. This update we'll cover the end of Feb, March and April. 

In Bash the Back-log #1 I confessed to having expanded my hobby backlog by some margin (Birthday and Christmas had some very expected consequences!), and whilst I've made some headway in painting those mini's... and the few more I bought in March and April... for this series I'll only be focusing on the unpainted mini's I owned before the start of 2019.

So how am I doing?

Bash the Back-log #1; Medge's Jan-Feb 2019

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking a step to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

In my first post I showed off some of my extensive (some would argue: excessive/ humiliating) backlog... and I'm ashamed to say that so far this year I've not so much bashed it and swollen it... adding a few extra boxes projects to the already sizable piles.

With Christmas, my Birthday (in early Feb) and a scheduled trip to Warhammer World to see off the end of our last Tale of Four Gamers for Fantasy I've had ample opportunity to add to my hobby projects, and unfortunately I lacked the willpower to resist!

Despite taking a step backward in my pledge, I have also take a few steps forward (promise!) making some progress on older projects and completing a few models from one of my piles of shame!

Bash the Back-log! with Medge - An Introduction

Backlogs.

We all have them; it's part of being a wargamer! 

Legend has it that so long as a Wargamer has unpainted models they can never die (and by legend I mean the guy I knew at University that got me back into the hobby... and it's a legend I chose to believe!)