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.

#DreadTober Death Guard Foetid Bloat Drone - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity DreadTober is a long ways back now but it looks like I forgot to share the white background pics of my Bloat Drone and three Space Crusade Chaos Space Marines.

In some respects it's nice to get a second bit of the cherry on this one. It came together so quickly and the Attack Bikes overshadowed its completion somewhat.

It's funny, I have no reason to have this army but I could envisage having a few of these Bloat Drones and Blight Haulers too.

My son still has a Blight Hauler at primed stage and should he ever want to paint it I'd probably get one too so we could paint them at the same time.

The plan was to do that with all these guys but Armies On Parade meant I couldn't wait around on that schedule.

As mentioned these were just a bonus. Sat around for years they had no real purpose and I wanted to see if my Death Guard scheme would still work on something not overtly Nurgle but basic Chaos.

I think it did, although their stature could have been enhanced by some tactical rocks perhaps.

Although that would have been a bit difficult while still trying to have the tar-swamp bases.

I did enjoy putting the Nurgle Blood Bowl team decals on those shoulder pads.

Just about visible under the muck and grime I really love that touch. I've got another Plague Marine from the Space Marine Heroes set to paint up and he has a space on a shoulder pad for a decal, where usually a horn is erupting on these models.

Lastly, this was a test to see what the Poxwalkers looked like bursting from their plague containers before AoP.

I had such a blast with these I've still got the Gellerpox Infected to do at some point when I feel that infected open wound start to itch again. What I'll ultimately do with them I've no idea but they've been a great project this #NewYearNewArmy

#DeathGuard #KillTeam Poxwalkers - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer Death Guard Poxwalkers. Here's the white background shots, they all seem a bit dark, which is where Camera360 had a decent enhance feature to lighten everything, but then they'd all look like paintings rather than photographs if I'd persevered with that app.

Anyway, you at least get to see the back views on these too.

It's really weird as I write about these because it was a while back now and I have no recollection how long they took or how laborious it felt. 

It's great that they're just done, but I do wonder if I was ever so inclined to have more Poxwalkers would I feel that this amount of effort was worth it or not?

Sure, I have the Gellerpox Infected to do at some point but they are much more diverse models, with only a few similar to these.

I imagine I'll start them at the same time, work on bits concurrently and then focus. 

Ultimately I just love what I painted here. These will definitely be models I return to down the line and will be surprised at the results I achieved.

And the best thing is I know they are far from perfect. They are insanely busy to look at but that feeling of overwhelming satisfaction, despite their flaws is a gift beyond measure.

I've always wanted to paint my armies and I've always wanted to paint to the best of my ability. Sometimes compromises have to be made, but in sacrificing quality how will I ever progress as a painter, and in sacrificing finishing models how will I feel satisfied. To be able to balance the two - quality and delivery and yet still feel like I've improved as a painter, or even just comfortable with whatever flaws there are is the high point of my hobby exploits.

#DeathGuard #KillTeam Poxwalkers - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer Death Guard Poxwalkers. Technically my #NewYearNewArmy for #ArmiesOnParade, which seems so long ago now. These came together so well right at the end. Although they're far too vibrant to be truly 'grimdark' I really like how they came out.

They're mid-way between the much grimier Plague Marines and my Genestealer Cult which may not be exactly what I intended but shaking my 'signature' vibrancy was always going to be a challenge.

The skin is something I'm quite pleased with. I managed to balance similarity with subtle differences. It's actually the clothing that I think lens more into my traditional style. To be fair that's because I actually wanted them to as then I could repurpose my cultists as both Genestealer and Chaos, nto that I'll ever play with them but they were added to my Armies On Parade display to bump up the numbers.

However, that long cloak/coat was very much in the grimdark style and I love how grimy it ended up.

Here we go with the entirety of the Poxwalkers, all mixed up so you can see how the 4 different variations of the skintone just add enough variety to make things interesting.

Grey base colours with red and green shading and bone base colours with red and green. All with purple to add raw and bruised effects.

I just absolutely love them as a group. Despite this being a fusion of two styles I'm familiar with they feel very different.

Although I would not describe this as a levelling up moment, as I do my Ylthari's Guardians its definitely something new and it surprises me to see what I achieved.

I think the surprise is enhanced because they really came together as they were finished.

Not to mention the gore FX, with Tamiya Clear Red X-27 and deciding the eyes would be gloss black.

You see it some many times in films but not always in miniatures, perhaps because it's hard to notice but I felt it was the right choice.

I just love the end result.

White pics to follow and there will be front and back views so you get to see them clearly.

Here's a GREAT Big RUSTY Stamp of Approval for the lot.

#DeathGuard #KillTeam Plague Marines - White Pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer. Here are the white background pics. I'll leave the commentary just so you can enjoy the images. Any questions just pop them in the comments.

Here are the shots from Camera360. So you can see why the detail has been abstracted. They're cool in a way, but not what I'm after for my showcase pics. Just a shame I can't recreate the white background in these shots in my shots above. I could easily do it in Photoshop but I don't need another step, Google Photos really needs to copy that isolate feature Apple has rolled out to the iPhone.