Battle record - Warhammer 40k - 01/01/226

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been playing Warhammer 40k! Shock horror. Anyway, 13 years agon my eldest son was still invested in the hobby. For 2 years he'd been buying figures, helping build and paint, playing a game and even went to Warhammer World for a Tournament! Of course that enthusiasm waned somewhat as my own grew. And for all this time he has shown little interest. However, he moved to Sheffield last year to take up a teaching job and the school has enrichment clubs for all students after school. He was supporting a cookery class initially but having jokingly mentioned the Warhammer Alliance programme he genuinely started to consider it. So much so he went into the Warhammer store, Element Games and there are a few more gaming shops there too. He got himself some Thousand Son's, paints, brushes and other hobby supplies. Even if he doesn't do the club he's actually having fun. So, he asked me for a quick game to get a handle on the rules. Annoyingly I'd left my 10th edition rulebook in the shed, but I made do with a 9th edition one. I wanted to use the Tyranids, as I have the Codex and it would be easy for him to read the rules. Death Guard for me, using the combat patrol stats. The plan was: 

• 3 Ranged Warriors
• 10 Termagants
• 1 Ripper Squad
• 5 Plague Marines
• 10 Poxwalkers

But I couldn't find the Poxwalkers, so chose another squad of 5 Plague Marines. I had no idea... It turns out Toughness 6 and Lethal Hits made it completely unbalanced in my favour.

I'd wiped half the Termagants out before he'd even got a go. It was only when he started to use the terrain for cover saves that he could weather the storm. The Rippers did not survive either.

Then the Tyranid Warriors managed to make some damage on the left side, but I could see that things were not going to end well. I hadn't spent any CPs, I didn't need to. So to help change the narrative I thought it might be fun for the Tyranids to bring on reinforcements.

With just the Warrior left a Psychophage appeared. Just 2 Marines remained in this squad, but the other squad had finished the Termagants and would be coming to reinforce what was left.

The Warrior has Fall Back, Shoot and Assault, which came in handy. The Psychophage was going to instakill any Marine it wounded. Plus it has Devastating Wounds.

But as Play On Tabletop like to say "dice tell stories". Although my 'old Yeller' dice had had some insane rolls - four 6's on ten dice, this triple 1's was jaw-dropping. It was one of those moments where we laughed and when I said "dice tell stories" he liked it so much he'll consider using it when he sets up the school club.

It didn't change things much. The Plague Marines had met their match, and although they'd been too tough for the weaker bioforms now they could not crack the Psyhophage's touch chitin armour. It had a couple of scratches but ultimately it squished the Death Guard.

This was SO much fun. I hope my enthusiasm was contained. He seemed to enjoy it and was inspired enough to get a Thousand Son's Codex with his Christmas money. I got to share some of my ideas about how a gaming/hobby club can go beyond the Alliance support. But apparently it's a structured programme that will give him plenty to teach them when he sets up the club and will cover multiple terms. I hope it does expand to include role-playing and terrain building.

I can't convey how happy and proud this made me. He's an amazing person who I love spending time with, watching TV shows usually. But this is a much more shared experience. As he lives elsewhere and he has his own interests; the fact I got to spend a few hours helping him build some figures, giving him tips and then playing a game with him was an absolute joy.

Hobby Spends 2025

Afternoon #Warhammer Community Following on from previous year's spending record I've kept another log for 2025 [and will do so for 2026]. The final figure was just under £427. Less than half of what I spent in 2024. But my net spend was £357 which is around £30 a month. Here's the breakdown:

I'm pleased with that and although I did buy a fair few new figures, the vast majority I have not yet painted, I don't think I bought too many. Every figure purchase is considered on the basis of why I'm getting it now. I have so much to paint it's hard to justify buying something else that may jump the queue. I know I've said it before but I will aim to reduce my figure purchases next year. Although it's worth pointing out I included the Tyranid terrain as 'figures' when we all know purchasing terrain is a 'hobby tax right-off'. Just as you get bonus hobby points the fact I'm buying terrain so everyone benefits means that £22 doesn't count! 😎

I also booked two mid-week MESBG tournaments, one of which will be in 2026. So, paying for these events are acceptable outgoings to me. As is paint - £95.74, which is about 30% of my hobby spends. I can never begrudge the outlay of paint as it is needed to get the figures painted! The Tyranid and Imperial Knight Codex [and data cards] might have been a waste of money. They got used, so maybe not but even so they will most likely have limited use and possibly be outdated when 11th edition hits. To be fair they were outdated before they were published, such is the relentless change to stats, points and rules. 😢 One thing to consider for 2026 is that 11th Edition 40k is coming out. The inevitable launch box, which is rumoured to be Space Marines versus Orks. I'm not sure I will need that, perhaps the rule book, maybe pick up a few fancy models when the boxes are inevitably stripped down and sold in parts, who knows? Other than that it's been a great year and I look forward to 2026

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 30/12/25

Afternoon and we're back at Otty's shed playing Star Wars Legion, Rebels V's Droids for an all day 'twixmas' gaming session. I know from the date it was a Tuesday, but this liminal period between Christmas and New Year it could well have been any day.

Once again we fight, but Ben discovered we'd been setting the game up wrong, thinking it was more like a 40k set-up. In fact Legion means most units start off the board, with only those with the Scout or Prepared Positions special rule starting on the board.

With limited movement and fixed game lengths this felt like a downgrade, but in fact it means the first turn starts with just a few units on the board, so it focuses on what you can and can't do with the few models in play.

It also means that going deep into no-man's-land with rolling Droidekas is one way of getting them prioritised by Fluttercraft.

I think we ended up with a faction rules imbalance similar to when we played Adeptus Titanicus and I had Legio Gryphonicus bonuses and Liam did not. The rebels were from a specified Wookie faction, which gave us bonuses. Liam and Otty's Droids had no such buffs, which ultimately shifted the balance in our favour.

Otty's hospitality lunch was worth celebrating - nom, nom, nom!

My dice rolling was back on fire again, which meant the Droids began to have a really bad day.

But the game felt a bit more different thanks to the correct setup rules. I'm sure we played that way originally, we just somehow forgot.

We were finished by about 3:30pm which meant we could call it an early day. This was the last game we played in the shed of 2025. Of which I've been party to 37 this year! I know Ben and Liam have missed a few, but have been other times, in addition to the Thursday night sessions. I've not always been available either. But that's such a good record and it's been such a pleasure to spend time with these guys.

Genuinely the highlight of my week and I look forward to it and can't wait for 2026's round of gaming goodness!

HAPPY X-MAS

Good morning #WarHamFam and #warhammercommunity  and a merry X-Mas from Professor Egon Seuss and the rest of the Magos on Ferron Proxima. Additional felicitations from the guys and gals at the Vulcan Institute of Techno-Archaeology. May all your X-mas wishes be plastic [or resin]. 

In case you're not X-mas orientated please accept the following good wishes:

Battle record - Star Wars Legion - 21/12/25

Afternoon and we're back at Otty's shed to finish off playing Star Wars Legion, Rebels V's Imperial and we're finishing off the last game. Usually we meet on a Thursday night, but we all had commitments so we switched to Sunday instead.

Lets just say that resetting the game and changing partners helped Liam immensely while poor Otty was not as lucky. Not that I was a jinx, I had both awesome and shocking dice rolls. But I was decidedly less concerned about the outcome while the constant reduction in Rebel units while only managing to kill 12 Stormtroopers was a source of misery for our genial host.

What made it worse, was that Ben and Liam kept on asking use to choose their unit counters the circular stack on the bunker] and in one particular situation there was a one in eight chance of choosing Moff Gideon in combat with Chewie and inevitably I chose Moff Gideon

That was the absolute highlight of the evening for me, I was in hysterics.

We had a late surge to score some points, I think we scored 7, but Ben and Liam racked up 17 by the end of the game.

It's a tough one, but we had been saying up until this point the game was stacked in the Rebels favour. At least we finally got to buck that trend.

We may get a game in between Christmas and New Year but it's been a special full year of fun for the hobby shed. 

Where's my head @?

Afternoon #WarhammerCommunity with quite a few big projects complete ordinarily I'd be doing a 'what's on my palette?' But that's been weeks and although I have done a few bits of painting on some random odd figures I haven't done very much. That's been for a few reasons. The weather has been atrocious and the thought of going to the shed in those conditions has filled me with dread. Throw in that the wet weather has swollen the wood, which has caused some weird ingress of water at the door. This has happened in the past, but never like this as you can see the water has not just permeated the wood, but spread into the plasterboard too. I'd had concerns before this, with the door sticking shut, but I thought I'd fixed them. I've since shaved back some of the inner door structure and put some more aluminium tape down on the sill to prevent water soaking into the wood. So far it's much dryer, but I can't tell if it's been fixed enough.

In the summer I'll look to strip the inside of the door down. As the water was pooling at the bottom of the inner frame I want to see if it was coming through the insulation or between the inside of the door frame and inner insulation frame. It should be straightforward but who knows what horrors are behind the teak inner panel. If the glasswool is compromised I'll replace it with some insulated foam. I've always seen the inner zig-zag supports on the outside of the door - acting as a thermal bridge. So I'll cover those with aluminium tape to try to reduce that conductivity. 

It's just such an attack on something that has served me so well. Throw in the new protective coating on the roof and the flooring I did in 2022 in my attempt to extend the life of the shed. As mentioned on it's 10th birthday, they estimate these sheds have a 15 year lifespan. I really need to make this last longer. If I can get it to 20 years I'll be overjoyed. Cripes I'll be 60 then! At the very worst it might one day need stripping out, reinsulating and boarding. But that will be a challenge with the new floor and the electrics now in place. But the structure is sound except for those tiny areas.

So I'll definitely be sanding it and repainting it in the summer to protect it. But all of that worry was another reason not to paint. I know I'll regret it down the line. I look at my Cerastus Knights, which still need to be finished building and priming, let alone painting. I've had them since September 2024 and the more I think about them the more I want them done. Then I think of the myriad other projects and wish they were complete also. Throw in the traditional post-Christmas malaise, and it could be mid to late January before my hobby mojo resurfaces! Although, maybe this is just a pre-Christmas malaise and I come back excited after the festivities. Who knows?

For now, I'll just do the little bits of hobby that keeps me ticking over and then when my enthusiasm returns those projects might be just progressed enough to be quick wins when I'm motivated enough.

#DreadTober Adeptus Titanicus - Warlord Titan 2 - WHITE BACKGROUND PICS ⚪

Afternoon #Warhammer Community it's the very last of #DreadTober2025 and my stretch goal Warlord showcase pictures on white background.

I think the side panels of yellow worked really well and that white cog on the blue weapon armour plate looks much cooler than the grey one I've already done. 

I wanted the access hatch to be yellow, but forgot to highlight the black edges. I'm not sure anyone will notice [or care] but I think that spot of yellow really helps break up the back. Although, I'm not convinced the silver skeleton was the best choice.

I can live with it but like I said in my previous post, enough is enough. I'm better off sticking to brassy bronze. I know it, I have the paints and I just think it looks better.

Even the bright gold is something I'm not 100% happy with. Mainly because it should be easy to do but I've somehow made it more difficult and not convinced it's as good as some of the easy tutorials I've seen online.

The sneaky Reaver kneepad on the left, versus the kneepad that has had its bottom trim cut off, maybe to help pose the model originally.

Plasma weaponry.

You can better see the additional blue glow effects I did on the coils at the back of the cannons.

And the opposite side too.

Trying to get a decent shot of the trophy Warhound head, painted in the style of Liam's Titans - he started it putting damaged grey and yellow heads and weapons on his bases.

The gatling options.

And perhaps a decent look at the Void Shield Generator glow effects. 

I did like trying different white heraldry patterns on the blue weapon armour.

Gryphonicus is predominantly grey and yellow, but blue was an original accent colour of the War Griffons.

I may have gone slightly overboard here, but I needed to add some extra blue to help reinforce it's part of the scheme, with my Reaver that has blue. And the added white patterns help reduce the overall density of blue on the model.

But I think I prefer the first one overall, although I really like the weapons on the second one.

Looking forward to getting to play with them at some point too.

Now, before I close this project for good I made one additional change after all the pictures. I added weathering powder to its feet.

No fixative, just brushed it on. A mix of both Rust Orange and Rust Red, to help match the Ferron Proxima colours.

It just felt too unnatural, the 'blue steel' next to the Red Planet BASE! 🔴 

And arguably it may have made the transition between feet and base almost seamless, I don't think that's a bad thing.

It really depends if you want the feet to stand separate from the base. I looked at adding it to my first Warlord but I thought it was less of an issue.

I definitely think it works much better from this view. Perhaps it creates a more realistic scale that this is a miniature of a giant machine.

And ultimately, if I wasn't happy, a wet paint brush could remove it in an instant!

Anyway, job done. Lets have a break and then we can see what's next...