James' Tsarakura Dynasty - Canoptek Scarabs

Ah yes, another new hobby project in a year where I told myself I'd focus on clearing out my backlog...

Why can't I ever stick to the plan?

When the new Necron range was released last year, the army went from one I had only a passing interest in to one I knew I had to collect at least some of. I started off by getting myself a Recruit Edition of Warhammer 40k for some of the new Necron Warriors to paint a test model. It's now a project I plan on slowly adding to throughout the year, and with the recent announcement of Hachette's Warhammer Imperium series, I've got lots of cheap models on the way!

In this post, I want to show one of the recent additions I've made to the collection in the form of some loveable little Canoptek Scarab bases. 

James' Hobby Projects: Azyrite Plaza

Here we go again with another of my random hobby projects! 

In between some of the larger hobby jobs I want to complete this year, I've got a few smaller projects going on, mostly just things like clearing out long-standing items in my backlog or models I really want to paint. This post will detail something that's a bit of both. 

In my previous post in this series, I detailed the work I'd been doing to finally finish off the Warcry starter sets terrain. In that post, I also mentioned plans to expand upon the set, and what do you know, I've managed to do just that in the form of the Azyrite Shattered Plaza that I finished recently. 

In this post, I'll quickly go through the bits and how I went about painting them and whether I've now developed the terrain painters itch.

James' Painting Tips: The Tsarakura Dynasty

As I mentioned in a recent post, I've begun painting a small collection of Necrons in the Tsarakura Dynasty colours. It's been a lot of fun painting the test models up; however, I'm well aware that this is a project that I'll be jumping back and forth on. So I wanted to record my paint scheme for posterities sake, so no future James can curse me once he invariably forgets how to paint a Gauss Flayer properly. 

With that in mind, in this post, I'll be detailing every step I took when painting my test models, including every paint and some of the techniques I used. Hopefully, this is of some use to you, the reader, as well. 

As an advance warning, this post is a long one. I've tried to title each of the different sections of the model, so if you're looking for a particular colour, you can hopefully skip down to the required area. So then, read on to get a glimpse into the madness that is my painting!

The Value of a Test Model, and Remembering to Relax

I've often wondered at how hobbyists ever have the time to paint test models. I seem to spend the entirety of my hobby endeavours jumping between one large project to the next, so I've never approached painting one-off miniatures just to test out a scheme or paint something for the fun of it. 

This year, I decided that I'd join in and test out some schemes I've been planning for a while, or just paint some models I've always wanted to. I wanted to jot down some thoughts after having completed my first test minis, so in this post, I'll go through picking my first minis and the benefits of taking the time to try out ideas. 

Hobby Home Improvements: From Citadel Pots to Dropper Bottles; The How and Why

Look at that, horrifying isn't it? Enough to send a chill down your spine.

If you've been painting for any length of time in this hobby, you'll have no doubt run into this issue. Your paint has started building up around the rim and lip of your pot, and it's now a crusty and lump filled mess. 

It's something that has frustrated me for quite some time with the Citadel paint range. The colour selection is wonderful and covers almost every shade and tone you could ask for.

Well, outside of the oranges. The poor, poor oranges... 

Yet they're in such impractically designed pots. I've been thinking about transferring all my paints into dropper bottles to remedy this issue, and finally got around to doing so now I've got a proper hobby desk to work at. 

I figured it would be a nice thing to write up a blog post about, so read on to find out how I went about it and a few tips and tricks I've learned to speed the process up.

James Hobby Projects: Azyrite Township (Warcry Starter Terrain)

Here we go, it's the first blog post of 2021! And what better way to start off than by clearing one of the oldest projects in my backlog, the Azyrite Township from the Warcry starter set. I've been sitting on this terrain for over a year now, and it's been a consistent frustration to not have it painted. It's terrain after all! Not like I have to spend any serious amount of time on it. So, my first goal of 2021 was to crack out the brushes and put the finishing touches onto the set.

James' Hobby Year in Review - The Highs, The Lows and Plans for 2021

Well, that was a year never to forget...

It's not often you can say you've seen the world come to a grinding halt, but 2020 delivered in a truly monstrous way. The combination of a global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns has easily made this year the most challenging of my life. It would be expected to focus on the negatives considering that. However, in some ways, I feel it more valuable to look back on the year and focus on the positives and self-improvements I've made.

As part of that retrospective, I wanted to take a minute and recount my hobby achievements this year, no matter how small they may be. I know for myself and the other bloggers here, we've all used the hobby to escape from what felt like the ever-encroaching doom that 2020 was bringing. So in this post, you'll find a recollection of each of the projects that I undertook this year, as well as a glance into my plans for 2021. Let's get into it!

Xenos on Crusade: James' Craftworld Eldar - The Finale

And so here we are, at last, the end of 2020. It's been a long and oftentimes sad and melancholic year, but I felt it important to focus on some of the positives that have come out of it all. 

For me, one of those things is my recently completed Craftworld Eldar army. If you've been keeping up with all my posts, you'll know this is an army I've been working on as part of a big group project between all of my fellow writers, the Xenos on Crusade. When we started off, my ultimate goal was simply to have a painted Eldar collection; the project was something to give me the impetus to finally start collecting an army I'd always loved. 

So with this final post, I'll be going over the final set of models I painted in November and December and giving my final thoughts on the army and where I'll be looking to take it in the future. The picture below is a spoiler for everything I've painted, so no more delaying,  let's get into it!

Xenos on Crusade: James' Craftworld Eldar - Part 4

It's been a while, huh.

Hobby burnout hit me rather hard last month, and as a result, I made very little progress on my models. Rather than ship out a half-hearted post detailing my hobby failings, I figured I'd wait and get a few more models completed for the Craftworld. 

As I mentioned, September was a real struggle for me in terms of hobby. I started on the Wraithblades with the best of intentions, but very quickly I found myself losing all impetus and decided the best approach was to take a break, reset, and come back when I felt the desire to paint again. It took about a month, but once the hobby drive was there I cracked back on, and now, two months from my last post, what have I managed to get done in that time frame?

Xenos on Crusade: James' Craftworld Eldar - Part 3

Well, this one's a bit behind schedule, isn't it?

Month 3 of our Xenos Crusade has come and gone, and for me, that meant a sizeable increase to my Craftworlds force (well, relative to how tiny it started). Over the month, I managed to complete another squad of Wraithguard, a Wraithlord to provide some much-needed fire support, and a Farseer to offer some additional psychic support to my Spiritseer.

In addition to the painting, I also managed to get my first games of Warhammer in around 6 months! This was a very welcome thing, as I'd very much been feeling the grip of a hobby burnout as a result of not getting to use my models. A man can only paint for so long before he needs to roll some dice. So then, please read on to have a gander at my recently completed models, as well as some quick write-ups on how my first few games went (small teaser - not very well).

Hobby Home Improvements: Building a Better Hobby Desk

Hi everyone,

Today I thought I'd do something a bit different from the usual painting post and take a deep dive into one of the oft unexplored realms of the hobby - the ubiquitous hobby desk. 

We've all got one; whether it's a tiny corner of the kitchen table or an entire garden office dedicated to nothing but the glory of your miniature collection, no hobby enthusiast can do without this most essential tool. For myself, I've often just settled for whatever space I could find. It's never been ideal, it's rarely ever been spacious, but it's allowed me to clip, file and paint my way to a surprisingly large collection of models.

However, having just recently moved home, I've been presented with a rare opportunity to design my own room; and with it, the chance to build my perfect hobby zone. My previous set up was far, far away from functional. Sharing the space with my PC and digging through an old Citadel Hobby Project Box (these things sound like a great idea up until the first moment you actually use them) to find my paints/tools for the day was not the best start to a hobby session. 

So what then would I change? What exactly constitutes a perfect hobby desk in the madness that is my mind?

Xenos on Crusade: James' Craftworld Eldar - Part 2

Why hello there reader,

Well, last weekend was certainly an eventful one, wasn't it? 

The release of Indomitus and 9th ed Warhammer 40,000 was a big moment for the hobby, and I know both myself and my fellow warlords felt the excitement keenly. However, being the only one out of our group not to buy a copy of Indomitus certainly left me feeling a bit deflated. What can I say, all these new Marines and especially the Necrons had me very tempted to start another new force! 

Fortunately, the Ai'elethra (or the Path for any Mon'Keigh reading) has allowed me to resist temptation and continue on with my Craftworlders. For Month 2 we were tasked with painting up a full 25PL, ready to begin playing our first Crusade games as and when we are free to roll our dice with abandon. Having only managed to paint 11PL last month with my one completed unit of Wraithguard I'd have to get through a chunk of models to make that target. Unfortunately, as I'll go into, life had other plans for my hobby time.

Xenos on Crusade: James' Craftworld Eldar - Part 1

Hey there everyone,

Welcome to the first in a series of monthly posts where I'll go about detailing my progress on the latest in our groups series of hobby escapades - a Xenos centred Tale of Five Gamers

That's right! We're back with another Tale and this time it's all about the wonderful Other of the 41st millennium; those pesky, pesky Xenos.

Inspired by the impending release of 9th edition 40k and all the wonderful new rules it will bring we've each committed to collecting a new army of Xenos warriors. In my case, this means restarting an old love the Craftworld Eldar. 

We outlined the forces each of us will be bringing to the table in this post, but to summarise we'll be bringing armies from the Craftworlds, Drukhari, Necrons, Tyranids and Tau. Quite a collection if I do say so. Our goal is to each have 50PL ready by the end of August. For June however, the goal was to simply paint at least one unit of our fledgeling collection. 

So how did I do?

Xenos on Crusade: Introductions and Kick Off

What a great time for hobby, eh? 

Games Workshop's announcement of 9th Edition 40k has come as a very welcome burst of excitement in these difficult times, and reignited the passion and interest in 40k for all our Warlords. 

There's so much great stuff coming out on Warhammer Community right now for the new Edition it really is shaping up to be the best edition of Warhammer 40k to date!

One of the new ways of playing that has really piqued our interest is the Crusade system. For those not following the community page, Crusade is a new narrative way of playing that will see your force evolve over consecutive battles. Not only does your force increase in strength from game to game (via points/power rewards that allow you to bring more to the table), your individual units are able to earn honours (bonus rules/stats) and battle scars (negative rules/stats) for the acts they commit on the tabletop. 

This RPG-style evolution of a force doesn't only sound like a great way of playing normally... but the perfect set-up for another Tale of Five Gamers! 

The May Update - James' Hobby Progress

And just like that May's over and done with. I've been finding the days have been flying by staying at home. Once again however it has meant lots and lots of time for hobby. In my last post I detailed what I'd managed to paint in April, working through a few backlog goals I'd set myself at the beginning of lock down to try and keep myself productive. Now that May is in the bag I wanted to do the same again. So what have I finished?

The April Update - James' Hobby Progress

Turns out being shut away at home has allowed me to be remarkably productive with my hobby time. In my last article I set myself a series of goals, little bits of my backlog that I wanted to have cleared out by the end of May. As April is at a close I wanted to get an article up detailing the things I managed to get done in the last month.

Hobby Updates and Setting Some Goals

Why hello dear readers!

It's been a while since I've made an article for the blog. With a sudden influx of spare time (and a lot of backlog to get through) I figured what better way to spend it than to give an update on what I've been up to recently and to set myself some goals whilst the worlds gone topsy turvy.

Path to Glory 2020: The Noctis Elite - The Encroaching Darkness

So then Month 2 is done and I'll be honest it's been a slow one. The general melancholy that suffuses the air this time of year, combined with a bit of waning interest in Age of Sigmar within the group has meant that all of us didn't get too much done this month. I've forged on with the Bonereapers however and do have something to add, though not quite as much as I'd like. So what's been added to the legion?

Why more Mortek Guard of course!

The next 10 Mortek Guard

Path to Glory 2020: The Noctis Elite - A Shadow Cometh

January was a bit of a blur this year, in fact it went by so quickly I completely forgot to put up a post on my progress for the Tale!!

So how did January go? Did I get my models painted in time?

Path to Glory 2020: The Noctis Elite - Forming the Legion

Well 2020 is here and that can only mean one thing for our little blog - a new Tale of Four Wargamers! However this year there's a little twist, we've added another member to our intrepid group of gamers with Tom joining in on all the hobby blog based fun.

We've done an intro post detailing our plans for this latest Tale - a Path to Glory in the Nine Realms of Age of Sigmar. Each of us has dedicated ourselves to a faction of choice. In my case that meant once again returning to the cold embrace of Death and the Grand Necromancer Nagash. For this Tale I'll be taking command of a force of the mighty Ossiarch Bonereapers, a remorseless and unrelenting force of bone constructs created to transform the Realms into a new Necrotopia. Ever since the range was first teased I've been eagerly anticipating building up a legion of the Bonereapers. 

So then what exactly have I got planned for the Ossiarch?