Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt14. TO DONE! 🔴

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. And they are TO DONE! After almost exactly 2 year's since my first post on them they are finally built and painted.

A bit of a jump from the last post. All the weathering and battle damage was added, plus any glow FX and lenses.

The only issue being that the AP Hydra Turquoise paint had a tendency to 'split' when watered down - leaving a strange white halo in places. 

Or, it would leave just an odd dark green, almost contrast style stain that didn't look like blessed verdigris🗽at all. So I had to keep an eye on it and try and fix it when it went awry.

I also added Nihilakh Oxide in some areas to add some depth. Odd considering I was trying to avoid the white pits that randomly were showing up. But we got there in the end. 

Although I added a lot of battle damage, much more than the Lancer I think I was able to keep the damage consistent. I know the Lancer has some beautiful scratches on, but some are far too chunky [on the knees and carapace].

But I think I got the right amount and scale - obviously the Reaper Chainfist will be VERY battered, due to its nature. But everything else just feels enough.

And so I begrudgingly get the first  Great Big Amber Stamp of Approval . No, I'm not overly happy about it. The  Season of Amber  starts straight out of the gate with 20 hobby points when >5% was done in the new season. I actually think I finished both knights on the 28th! But there's no right answer here and honestly who cares?

Original

Obviously a big jump here too, but moreso because of the Castigator Tempest Blade. 

I decided to try and create some lightning across the blade through a mix of bent wire, florist wire and heat extruded plastic. Plus a bit of painted lightning on the blade. It was a bit of a mess in places, when I was making it, but my first attempt and the finished result passed m

I'd got some advice from Liam about which colour to go for and used AI to help visualise it.

And I actually think it worked out pretty close. It can't have the full glow effect and it might not have enough lighter blue in places. But to fix it I'm worried I'll make it worse and I'd rather move on to other projects.

I can try again next time.

I also added my 3 Genestealer to the base which were completed exactly a year ago as part of the Season of Wood! I know they're going to end up being a nightmare getting in the way or snapped off but it's a display piece more than anything else.

Really pleased these are both done now. Although this one is rather heavy, thanks to the resin base.

Earlier I even put them next to my Lancer, a Questoris and an Armiger to see a sense of scale. Working on them alone completely distorts you perspective and when you see them next to the Questoris the look huge. Just goes to show what I sacrificed with the 'braced' pose for the Lancer. Glad I finally got showcase the extra height on these two.

And so we have the second  Great Big Amber Stamp of Approval , another model, and another 20 points for the season.

AI

Battle Record - Middle Earth - Army of the Dead Vs Sharku and Wargs #MESBG 03/09/26

Afternoon #Warhammer Community we've been playing MESBG again. We have a midweek MESBG event at Warhammer World again and both Ben and I had thought to take Scott's Army of the Dead, with Aragorn. But I had limited experience of it so this was a practice to try and understand how it plays against Otty's list of Sharku, a load of Warg riders and a Shamen with Wargs.

I've used the ghosts before, I know they're really fast, tough, cause terror and pretty much kill anything on a 4+. Throw in Aragorn and his free Might per turn and I'm just not used to having all those tools at my disposal.

So by the second turn I chose not to have priority, convinced Terror would stunt Otty's cavalry charge, except it didn't. Liam started to give me advice at this stage but I think I'd already caused the damage with about 4 ghosts dead for good!

I started to win a few duels, but all my wound rolls were just 1 or 2. I just couldn't seem to kill anything and it all seemed a little depressing. Or at least 'not fun'.

Because I knew the dice were disproportionately impacting the game and aside from my inexperience with them it felt like if I did know what I was doing they just wouldn't be fun for who I was up against.

With the mission to capture objectives and my army down to just a few ghosts left I sadly came to the conclusion I'd have had more fun with my Goblins. I doubt I'd have won, but I'd have enjoyed myself a lot more.

It was a shame as I wanted to take them for Scott, but I know he would have told me first and foremost have fun.

But I will not take the Scribe this time for more Goblins and see what that does to my state of play.

Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt13. Decals...

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. It's time to DECAL!

I both love and loathe adding decals. Although I am a fan of freehand work, such as my attempts are, decals add so much extra detail.

I love how much character they add and it can be so cool when you make these decisions based on the random collection of transfers you've been hoarding for years. It's like finally finding a purpose for that piece of wood that's been in the garage for a decade [or two].

Creating character out of nothing but a disparate collection is awesome. But, it takes so long to do. The decals are so fiddly and can often roll up on themselves.

Decaling took me 3 nights! That's longer than highlighting the red took! But I did get to add some of my Mighty Brush Gothic Script transfers too.

I did not have enough of these large white cog decals. They were supposed to be on back of the shoulder panels.

So, I had to come up with an alternative and did a cog pattern, similar to my 'recent' Armiger. Actually a really cool outcome, although very fiddly cutting up some of the cogs to fit.

I had asked Liam if he had some spare, but I must have already tapped him for them. He did however have a couple of Dominus decal sheets that came with yellow cogs!

So I did the same sort of thing on the tempest blade armour. And with some space at the top of the shoulder armour I had room to put some of my home made Dark Angel's decal to use. Handy, because it does say 'By cry of Raven we are drawn'. 😎

And the Acheron too. I got to use the biggest full Raven heraldry badge on the tilting shield.

Even though that's from the Questoris kit, I felt it should have one. And some random kill badges it hasn't earned yet. Whereas, I left the Castigator's shield blank at the top to add purity seals when it makes a kill.

I really wanted to add some red hazard decals on the promethium tanks.

I was utterly convinced it needed them, but I was just running out of patience at this stage and I hadn't gloss varnished them - so it's a risk getting a decal halo

The Questoris should cog strip managed to fit on the Acheron shoulder.

And more of my Dark Angel transfer was cut up. But the film behaves more like cling film than acetate. So this was a miracle to achieve this and took so many goes and re-floating in water to lay out the film before trying again.

I considered a black cog on the chevron shin but went just with the makers mark.

And 'hid' the forgeworld origin in his chestplate chevron.

As I was short another white cog I used one of the winged cog Dominus honour decals that Liam provided. I thought this would be cool. While the right shoulder was provided for, but I added the red eye and scuzzied up the white so it didn't look like a decal.

The knee pad got the heraldry treatment I've used on the Armigers and Adeptus Titanicus. A Legio Gryphonicus badge, Titan Legion symbol, chevron with a Greek symbol for some unknown arcane reason, plus the Dark Angels chapter badge - to show it's affiliations. Throw in the litanies on the back of the banner so any foot troops can be suitably inspired following in its wake.

And this, is the discarded transfer paper!

Hobby Season To Do List 2026/27

 Season of Amber 

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #warhammercommunity having covered my achievements over the past hobby season, it's now that I look forward to the new one.

Last season I streamlined my TO DO LIST and this is even thinner on the ground. The thing is all the 40k miniatures just seem redundant given how little we play. And with my knights just done they will be my priority if we actually do, so why would I need anything else? I've also found myself in positions when I've been ambushed by my gaming crew to paint something. Often those unexpected items [in my painting area] have filled me with a huge sense of satisfaction. But when I have my own stuff to do I've been pushing back. So, I need space to fit those items in rather than say "no". But the items I have kept on the list are being painted for the joy of the hobby, hobby points and to reduce the pile of shame. So they are valid reasons enough, even if they never get played with.

Hobby health and wellbeing

As previous years I am going to begin with these two items, which are enshrined as the most important things TO DO every season…

• Develop a more healthy hobby/life balance - go to bed at a decent hour[ish]
• 1:30am is the latest, but try for 1:00am
• 8 hours of sleep a month to be the majority, not minority over the season
• Continue to play games, they bring me so much joy and fun...
  
• Continue with battle records - to help document that joy and fun without feeling obligated or guilty about not sharing every detail

Adeptus Titanicus

2 and 3 will be my #DreadTober pledge, but I might have to throw some other things in the mix.

1. Adeptus Titanicus MDF terrain, I think there's a total of 8 buildings and ruins to finish detailing and paint. These are my priority for the beginning of the season as I need the space they take up on the shelf.
2. Project W
3. Project AP

MESBG 

• Boromir on horse

Terrain

• TT Combat MDF terrain build and film
• MESBG terrain

Imperial Knights

I like painting these, they're fun and different. It would be nice to finish all these off. I'd quite like a Typhus and an Icon Bearer to join the mix too.

1. Imperial Navigator
2. 'Sir Hekhtur'
3. 2x Knight Pilots
4. Adeptus Mechanicus Rangers

Death Guard

I like painting these, they're fun and different. It would be nice to finish all these off. I'd quite like a Typhus and an Icon Bearer to join the mix too.

1. Gellerpox Infected
2. Poxwalkers
3. Myphitic Blight Hauler

Dark Angels

I've still done nothing on my Indomitus Dark Angels and they will probably remain on hold, with only the Lion and Sammael as priority and those two tanks... well it'll be one or the other:

1. Dark Angel - The Lion [it's the only thing part painted, wouldn't take too long to finish off so may well finally get done this season]
2. Dark Angel - Sammael on Jetbike [rumour has it a new plastic one is coming, this could be a waste of time. No wonder I have little enthusiasm for painting it].
3. Dark Angel - Old skool Crayola Whirlwind, or
4. Dark Angel - Proteus Land Raider
5. Ballistus Dreadnought?

Tyranids

I don't really have much to paint. It might be nice to rebase another 20 gaunts but realistically it probably won't happen

1. Deathleaper [I got the new one]
2. Rebase 20x Termagants

ArmiesOnParade

• 2026 - Who knows? There's no plans been revealed. I had an idea of what I was going to do. Adeptus Titanicus for the no board category and Goblin Town for the board category. But with Liverpool saying they've been told nothing and hosting a Combat Patrol Parade, which I haven't been able to join in with it seems as if AoP is stuffed this year. So sad after such an improvement in 2025.

Turnip28

Maybe finish that squad of chaff, it might not take as much effort as I think...

The Big Build 

Continues, this season. The principle is sound and pays dividends with those items that tend to be off-list that get built through to painting and completion. Yet again I did not get to build the two Dark Angel tanks last season. They've been delayed for so long apparently enough is not enough. Getting them built will at least mean they're ready to be painted. But as they are proper Legends now what is the point? I've so much new Mechanicum stuff maybe that's where my focus should be, rather than continuously kicking this can down the road. 

• Boromir on horse
• Dark Angel - Crayola Whirlwind, or
• Dark Angel - Proteus Land Raider
• Dark Angel - Sammael on Jetbike

I've had a number of items that I classed as pipe dreams, both painting and building and instead of keeping them here for the records I'll refer back to a previous season should I need them next season. 

So that's my 2026/27 list, much simpler but how will I know when I'm satisfied? Well I have my hobby points to do that now. The goal is 100 points, which [looking back] I've never missed. But even so, whatever I do is enough. The TO DO LIST is not a stick to beat myself with, it's just there to help direct my efforts. All the best for your own efforts this season.