Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt1.

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #BuildingWarhammer. Way back when they were just Forgeworld resin, after I got my Cerastus Lancer, I always hoped there would be a Cerastus Knight with a big gatling weapon, but instead they next brought out the Acheron with a silly flamer weapon that was rubbish. Then, when they did bring out the Castigator that silly flamer weapon became an insanely good weapon and my desire shifted. However, I wasn't in a position to add another Cerastus. But then they made them in plastic and with the Acheron now the lesser of the two options I couldn't decided which to go for, until the plot thickened. A dual box with both the Castigator and Acheron in it for what I would discover was less than 2 Questoris?!

Pre-order day came and I was busy painting my fence panels, so it was late in the evening when I finally checked. Most of the usual 3rd party sellers had already sold their allocation and only The Outpost seemed to be taking orders. So I couldn't resist, but half expected it not to come through - but it bloomin' well did, look at it!

Leg day. When I made my original Lancer, pinning those 'knee' joints really helped in setting my pose. Essentially it made the model behave like a marionette. Thankfully the plastic version has that option, so long as you remove the tabs to create the basic stance. Then when you get the position you want some liquid poly in all the joints will lock it all in place.

Weapons are all built but I'm going to attempt to magnetise them the same as my Lancer. This will allow me to swap out weapons and potentially get some alternatives so I could rune these both as Lancers too...

This is the attachment on the weapon. As you can see it has a 'mushroom' [anyone know the technical term for this] that sits inside the shoulder joint. But, the resin Lancer came with cylinder in the shoulder and a socket in the weapon attachment. So, I cut off the mushroom. 

Of course the shoulder mount is now flat and needs to hold a magnet. I got a pen and cut 4 tubes from it. It needed a bit of sanding on the circumference to reduce the thickness a bit but it would suffice. 

Then each 'plug' had a magnet installed and any gaps were filled with super glue and bicarb of soda. Don't forget to CHECK YOUR POLES!

Then I gouged out the receiving socket from the weapon  and made it suitable to fit the socket mount plug.

Once they were glued together, onto the weapon, it was pretty easy to drill out the hole to receive the magnet CHECK YOUR POLES!

And CHECK YOUR POLES AGAIN! You don't want to mess these up and it's always important to ensure the poles are consistent across all Knights, shoulder mounts and weapon mounts - that way you can swap them out across any chassis.

Both torsos are built and pilots too, although at this stage they're not glued into the torso, so it's easier to paint. 

I mean it's still going to be challenging to paint the pilot as I did glue him into the throne but I still haven't worked out how I'm going to have the hatch openable so this could all be redundant anyway.

You may note I added a gemstone on the top of the shoulder mount. I just felt it was missing a rivet. It might not actually be visible when the shoulder pads are on but I know it needed it.

Waist sections and heads. I really wish I had a couple of the Forgeworld ones but they're OOP, and silly prices on ebay. Taro Modelmaker has the coolest one but I really don't want to spend much more on these.

Oh man, if I could have this pose! There are supposed to be a couple of pistons in the arm pits that might prevent it though.

And now we understand the importance of Venom.  I'd looked at the one I had and was looking for urban rubble resin bases. They ranged from £18 to £35 for the best ones and that just felt like silly money. But I had Venom and base is perfect the perfect size for a Knight base and only £4.99. The only problem being Home Bargains had sold out of them...

But I still went to Southport, months after picking up the first one to check. The 'paint your own' models had all been moved and put on a top shelf. I saw Captain America, Spider-man and others but Venom was not visible. Then, on tip-toes I spotted a bigger box at the back and lo and behold the last Venom was there - winning! So, I am going to build a base, similar to my Reaver Titans for the Acheron. Then I am going to decide if the Castigator would look great on the Venom base or I'd rather build another one from scratch. As great value as the Venom base is I don't want to deface it if I don't need to. That said, I want a walking pose [similar to the Warhounds Liam created for me] and a resin base with one point of attachment will be more stable than one made of foam and tile adhesive. But it will also be heavier so there are risks either way. But progress has slowed after all this building. I'm not sure when I get a Big Build medal for this but when I do I'll know it.

VENOM

A while back I was wandering through Home Bargains and they had these amazing Marvel 'paint your own' resin figurines and I was extremely impressed by the Venom model they had. I realise now I haven't included anything for scale, but I think the base is about 17cm wide and the model perhaps 20cm tall.

Anyway, this was just £4.99 and it even included paints and a brush! 😲 Now my youngest [he's 18 😂] loves Venom and I thought it would be fun to paint it for him. I started with all good intentions, got the primer on and did the base really quick and then couldn't decide on if I was going to paint the black as I would normally do, or try something a little bit more 'comic book'.

That indecision killed my momentum dead, which is a shame. It's been sat on the shelf ever since.

But it deserved to be acknowledged for reasons that will become clear. When I'll finally overcome this creative impasse is anyone's guess...

I know the Season of Blood is over but officially this deserves a Bloody Great Big Bloody BASE Stamp of Bloody Approval 

To Do List 2024/25

Season of Wood

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

My list this year has been streamlined. I've only included things I want to do with an either/or and if I buy something. It's much smaller than usual, but some items are quite significant. If I manage to do well I may revisit the list mid-season.

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]
• Continue to play games, they bring me so much joy and fun...
  
• Find a way to be happy about not always doing battle reports

But for my painting goals let's start with Tyranids. I didn't get many of these done in 2023/24 I even found the prospect of painting them of little interest, but they need to be done:

1. Norn Emissary [#DreadTober]
2. Genestealer Cult Sentinels [#DreadTober]
3. Leviathan - Neurotyrant and 2x Neuroloids:
4. Leviathan - 5x Barbgaunts
5. Leviathan - Winged Tyranid Prime
6. Leviathan - 3x Von Ryan's Leapers
7. Leviathan - 20x Termagants

Imperial Knights

1. Cerastus Knight Acheron
2. Cerastus Knight Castigator

If I get silly I might buy a Warlord Titan for Adeptus Titanicus, so that will be on both my build and paint lists

1. Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan

Despite settling on their paint scheme all my Leviathan and Indomitus Dark Angels will not turn out to be my #ArmiesOnParade2024 entry. In fact they're going on hold, with only Sammael a priority and those two tanks... well it'll be one or the other :

1. Dark Angel - The Lion
2. Dark Angel - Sammael on Jetbike
3. Dark Angel - Old skool Crayola Whirlwind, or
4. Dark Angel - Proteus Land Raider

And the Death Guard, they're even less of a priority but if I find the time I may do:

1. Gellerpox Infected

ArmiesOnParade2024 - decide on what I'm going to do...

Turnip28 is on hold [sorry]

The Big Build notionally 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. But it's been streamlined:

• Dark Angel - Crayola Whirlwind, or
• Dark Angel - Proteus Land Raider
• Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan [if I get one]

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 2024/25 list, much simpler but how will I know when I'm satisfied? All the best for your own efforts this season.

Hobby Season 2023/24 Review

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity The 2023/24 Hobby Season (the Season of Blood) draws to a close, and how did I do? So lets start with my first task:

Develop a more healthy hobby/life balance - go to bed at a decent hour[ish]   

I need to work on this I've recently been getting later and later to bed though. My average sleep time continues to increase but I need to get better on having the will power to actually go to bed..

Continue to play games, they bring me so much joy and fun...

Fun has been on the agenda, whether it been MESBG - I actually went to a tournament!

Recently we've played Star Wars Legion, Speed Freeks and even a couple of games of 40k! Games have come thick and fast, so much so I haven't been able to keep up recording them. That's a shame as it's always nice to have a record to look back on and feel the joy in reminiscing. But I think I also need to not feel guilty if I don't report on it. I need to find a balance, maybe that's something to work on...

Part of that balance has cropped up as the hobby season came to an end. My eldest will begin teacher training in September, and so has a proper 'school holiday'. That means I'm occasionally watching things with him in the evening which has impacted my hobby efforts. So, I've been less motivated to come out to the shed. I had some last minute goals to try to achieve but they might not have made it. But what did I do?

First on my list of TO DONES, I did this Nurgle Blood Bowl player and two Tree Sprites.

The High Rule Dude was part of my #Dreadtober pledge. I started early, as usual it was such a big beast. As I write this now I can't believe how quickly I forgot about it. How I was somewhat downbeat about my efforts but this is epic in a grand way, not a tiny way.

I also painted these Two Screamer Killers for Dreadtober and that's not a small endeavour either. OK, all three figures were done over a two month period so I could have chosen one thing and done it start to finish but where's the fun in that?

I entered #ArmiesOnParade2023 with my Blood Bowl megabowl pitch and teams. It was so great to see them all on the board for the first time.

And then we come to the Deathwing Knights 5 of the 16 terminators I decided to batch paint. This was a massive task as I put so much detail into all these models.

The Close combat terminators too, with their banners, shields and power weapons.

Command unit models and heavy weapons were also a challenge and just as I finish all my terminators I ended up with another 6 from the Leviathan box!

#SwordsAsWalkingSticks - Deathwing Strikemaster was the last of the 16 and this was so much effort I think I was 'content' with my hobby season progress at this stage. Anything else felt like it might be stretch goals.

I had this MDF terrain base knocking around for ages, which was finally good to get finished.

Then I went completely off list and bought and painted these Imperial Knight Armigers. Again feelings of intense satisfaction and amazed how quickly I got through these.

I finally painted Ironsoul's Condemors - Angels of the Covenant test scheme. This is a TO DO LIST item and I genuinely will paint my Indomitus/Leviathan Primaris marines in this scheme... of course when I do that is another thing, but I was happy at least with these results.

As satisfied as I was at the Deathwing stage I desperately wanted  to paint my Adeptus Titanicus Titans. Getting these done would truly satisfy my season goals, even if they were not on them.

Adeptus Titanicus Reaver Titan 2. But that is the whims of the season and off-list items are always acceptable, especially when I found painting the original Titans so hard.

Adeptus Titanicus Warhounds. It was great to get these all done, without feeling overwhelmed, enjoy the process and feel like I could paint another titan without the doubts I had at the beginning of these, thanks to that first experience.

I did sacrifice painting Adeptus Titanicus Cerastus Knight Lancers alongside the Titans, but it did not take me long to jump back onto them and get them done. All my Titans are done now, so what was next?

So there we go 36 models painted, compare to the 91 last season. But, I'm just going to reiterate that last season I allowed myself to be less productive for 23/24. Although that number may not be high, it does not account for how hard they were to achieve. And, let's not forget I also painted 18 additional weapon options, which is where I could arguably say there were another 18 models, but this is where I get confused - do I count the actual loaded weapon options as part of the model [as I have done] or do I start inflating my numbers by adding in those as well? I think we all know the answer to that one. Bottom line, the lesson I need to learn from this is:

Whatever I achieve each season is enough!

The 2023/24 Season of Blood is over, the 2024/25 Season of Wood starts now, what will I achieve next?

The Big Build is my 'self-help' initiative to build miniatures. Building isn't always my favourite thing but without a construction phase I can't have a painting phase. So I recognise the special effort this challenge is to me, so I can progress through to the painting stage. First on my build was The Lion. Lots of magnets for the heads and some slow progress but he's technically 'built'.

I built my first Turnip28 unit of Fodder. Progress stopped shortly after but it was fun.

Built these two Armigers in dynamic poses, fun but challenging.

Loved how they turned out though.

And then followed it up with more posed giant freaking robots - Adeptus Titanicus Reaver 1

Reaver 2

Warhound 1

Warhound 2

Cerastus Knight Lancers.

Norn Emissary/Assimilator