Hobby Bingo Update and Tomb Kings Progress

It's time to check in with how my Wargame Hobby Bingo card is doing in the first quarter.  I'll also give you a look at some of my ongoing Tomb Kings projects (and have a rant about Age of Sigmar).

 

New Year Hobby Resolutions

Happy New Year, Everyone! In this post, I'm taking stock of what's in the hobby queue and setting some goals for 2026.

 

Race to the Finish

My painting queue has been stacking up with projects, and now it's a race to see how many I can complete before the end of the year!

 

What's in the Project Queue? (2023)

I've been combing through my old posts, looking for projects that I never got around to –incomplete project queues, tutorials I had promised, requests from readers– and I've compiled a master list of every unfinished project that I mentioned on this blog. My goal for the end of the year is to get through as many of them as possible.

 

 

What's in the Project Queue? (October, 2021)

The past few weeks have been pretty unproductive as far as miniature painting. I've managed to prime most of my ongoing projects, but haven't really put paint on a model. I've spent a lot of time remaking some of the older, aging molds for my Skull Forge Scenics products, and keeping up with orders.

I decided to take stock of what's in my painting queue and prioritize the projects that I'd like to finish before the end of the year:

Fell Bats– I've already got a little work done on the bases, and I'm not doing anything fancy with the bats themselves, so hopefully they will paint up pretty quickly.

 

What's in the Project Queue? (September, 2020)

I've been working on painting the statue garden, and was hoping to have it finished this week. I'm still waiting for some Silflor foliage that I ordered, however, so I decided to post about some of the other projects I've got on my table, and throw a question to the audience to see what you'd like to see more of.

 

What's in the Project Queue? (March 2020)

I've been neglecting my blog for the past couple weeks as I finished up a scenery commission, but I have some time to take stock and figure out what to work on next...

 

Looking Back on 2019

As 2019 draws to a close, I'd like to thank all my followers and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Since it's the end of the quarter, it's also time to check in on my Wargame Hobby Bingo... I DID IT!

 

 

Nighthaunt Project Queue, January 2019

One of my resolutions for 2019 is to finally start a stand-alone Nighthaunt army that will function separately from my Legion of the Infernal Skull undead army. Here's a look at what I've got in the queue, and what my plan looks like...

 

What's in the Project Queue, November 2018

Here's a look at the projects I've got on my painting table:

 

 

Catching Up

The Wild West Exodus Harbor board made it to Gencon, and you can see it this weekend if you're at the show. Check out Warcradle Studios in Hall F, booth #3027.

 

With that project out of the way, I have a little more time to focus on some other projects. My focus is on Age of Sigmar at the moment, but I still have this techmarine that I'd like to finish up.

 

I built a servo arm for him, but I want to cast it before I glue it on, so it will still be a while before I can get around to painting the model.

 

I can also get back to my Warscryer Citadel. I've been working on the wall sections for the bottom of the ruined tower, but it's like trying to reverse-engineer a jigsaw puzzle by drawing the images on separate pieces that haven't yet been cut into their puzzle piece shapes. I'm probably over complicating it (like I always do).

 

I was able to get some hair, so I can finish off the Banshee conversions. Just in time for the new Nighthaunt army, too!

 

I picked up the "Magic Goes Bananas" box, and I've built my first Endless Spell (technically my second, if you count the Balewind Vortex). I play a lot of games against Deciples of Tzeentch, so the ability to toss out a spell that can (potentially) dispel everything the enemy attempts to cast and then explode in his face seemed like the obvious choice to start with.

The Malevolent Maelstrom was one of the most visually uninteresting spells in the box, so I spiced it up by adding some extra spirit heads and the skulls from one of the Lord Executioners. My intention was to was to create more of a swirling vortex, sucking souls toward its center so the model didn't look like a lumpy ball with a couple of faces on it. The spirits thematically match my undead army as well.

 

 

Once I knock out those projects I can begin work on my Nighthaunt army. I've been contemplating how I would base the army– Would I match the square bases of my Undead Legions, or use rounds and treat it as a separate force?

I settled on rounds since they come with them, and a lot of the models have integrated rounds anyway. Allying the Nighthaunt units into a Legions of Nagash force isn't very appealing, since they don't benefit from any of the allegiance abilities, not even the basic Deathless Minions roll to ignore wounds. The units in the Soul Wars set can be PART of the Legions army, but I don't think they offer much more than what's already available. I'll likely build a few characters, like the Lord Executioner, to match my Legion, with square bases and all, but the majority of the Nighthaunt will remain a separate force.

 

One issue I have with the army is the beautifully modeled Easy-to-Build scenic bases, which don't match the other units, which will have regular-shmegular flat bases. If I want a uniform basing scheme throughout the army, I need to either model ALL the bases to match the scenic bases, or reduce the detail on the scenic bases. Right now, I'm leaning toward keeping the large elements like tombstones, and statuary, and sanding over the cobblestones. I'm also not a fan of sculpted vegetation on models, so those thorns and flowers have got to go.

Some have been wondering whether or not GW would release a Nighthaunt base pack to match the ones in the Easy-to-Build kits, but I don't think that's likely. All of the Nighthaunt models have very specific attachment points and modeled bits that need to either be glued to a flat surface, or that have a tab for a slotted base. That would be a lot of work to get the models to attach to scenic bases. GW probably would have released them by now, as well.

One little nitpick is the difference between the starter set Glaivewraith Stalkers and the ones in the Easy-to-Build kit– The poles of the fence are noticeably thinner in the ETB kit, and much more fragile. (Do they really expect that tiny arrow to stay attached?) I think GW has just about reached the limit of how thin and brittle they can make models before it becomes completely impractical. There are legitimate reasons for thicker and larger accessories on models; in addition to "readability" on the tabletop, they need to stand up to repeated handling, and being put in miniature cases. I foresee a lot of extra tombstones and bits to reinforce some of the attachment points as I dig into this army...

 

 'Til next time!

What's in the Project Queue, April 2018

This week's post is a mixed bag of projects that I'm working on, including the recently finished squad of Space Marine scout snipers:

 

 

2017, A Look Back in Miniatures

Last year I had discovered Martin Lymer's painting bingo card and tried my hand at filling it in. I wasn't able to score a bingo this year, but I did get a fair amount of work done.

 

Here's how 2017 went down for me...

The Legion of the Infernal Skull: 2016 State of the Union

This undead legion will always be my first love. I took an army photo back in 2012 when I first began this blog. The Legion of the Infernal Skull has grown quite a bit since then, so I decided that it was time for a new "family reunion" photo: 

 

 

460-something models takes an awfully long time to set up.

 

 

If you haven't read the original post about my army and the story behind it, I'd highly recommend checking it out. There's a lot of insight into how I began my foray into collecting miniatures and the influences that led to my design choices. (Read that here.) The backstories for my characters and the army itself have also been written about in previous posts. I'm working on another post that will serve as a recounting and updating of where everything stands in my current lore. (Stay tuned.)

The army has grown so much that I've organized it into 3 main aspects, divided along the unit types and color schemes. (Note: This doesn't follow the Age of Sigmar undead sub-factions, following instead my own story themes and aesthetics.)

 

Martial Aspect

The martial units are comprised of the more formally regimental army units led by the Blood Dragon vampires Seth and Dimitri von Koss. All of the wight kings, grave guard, black knights, and the Red Guard skeletons fall under this aspect. The black coach and blood knights (once they are added) are also included in this category. Nagash and his morghasts will also be part of my martial aspect.

 

My upcoming projects for this section are the mounted wight king battle standard bearer and more skeleton archers converted from the classic metal armored skeletons. I recently played a game of Age of Sigmar and tried out the morghasts for the first time. They performed excellently, so they're at the top of my queue. I'd like to get them painted as soon as possible and, frankly, I've dragged them out long enough! Blood knights are also on the to-do list, but I need to pick up a couple more of the zombie dragon vampires to use as the riders and come up with a solution for their horses before I delve into that unit. At the very least, I could build them one at a time and use them individually as mounted vampire heroes.

 

 

Feral Aspect

This section is made up of Marduk the Ghoul King's ever growing retinue of beasts and bats. If it's got fur or wings, it's in here– Dire wolves, all levels of bat, from lowly swarms to Wolkhar the terrorgheist, and the ghouls of course.

 

 

The ghouls are the first priority to bulk out this section. I've collected a pile of about 80 metal ghouls to bolster the ranks. I want to come up with a different color scheme from the 25 I already have. They look a little too pink and healthy, so I might go with a greyer, greener flesh tone which will bring them in line with the aesthetic of the rest of the feral models. I plan to convert them with fur pelts, and bits of meat and flensing knives from the Kroot warrior kit. I haven't built a single one of the monstrous infantry crypt horrors or vargheists; I'll add them one of these years. I also have a "stock" varghulf that I plan to eventually convert and repaint to match his big brother.

 

Spectral Aspect

The necromancers and the wraith Korak the Grim lead this portion of the army and it's made up of all the ethereal units (of which quite a few have been added over the ages), along with the zombies and skeleton units beholden to the different necromancers. The Crimson Reaper skeletons are Korak and Nieman Kimmel's, the skeleton spearmen are led by the necromancer Samus Garz, and Toht Nhemisis is master of all the zombies and corpse carts.

 

 

This aspect of the Legion is the most disparate, seemingly made up of the random odds and ends with no real unifying theme other than the ethereal glow. I think I might update these skeletons (and maybe the zombies) to have a blue-green glow in their eyes to match the other ethereal elements. The first thing I need to do is assemble my hexwraiths and repaint the banshees. I also have a few "regular" wraiths to bulk up the units, but there's no rush since I can't field wraith units in Age of Sigmar. I'm holding out hope for a Nighthaunt Battletome that might offer some different unit options for the wraiths. (Maybe a build for the hexwraiths that uses the horse barding, the same way they mixed up the assembly in the crypt horror/ vargheist kit to create crypt flayers and the courtier heroes?) We'll see....

 

'Til next time!

New Corpse Cart and the Undead Queue Leftovers

If any of you remember my Shelf of Shame post from 2014, you'll know how long this thing has been kicking around. Part of the delay in finishing it was work and other, tastier projects that kept popping up. Then I went on a big Skaven push while my buddies and I were involved in our Warhammer campaign. Mainly I just didn't want to basecoat, wash, blend, re-wash, and highlight all of that rotting flesh on the corpse pile.

 

 

I don't even remember when I actually started this model. I think I assembled it when I was still in Seattle. The cart sat in that stage for at least four years, but it's finally finished. The model was converted from the "stock" cart with the wooden cage frame. This one has been adorned with Chaos spikes and the cage was replaced with a spiky fender around the wheels. The cart is also festooned with carrion birds. The largest of which are from the old Nurgle Chaos Lord's sign post. This is why I couldn't find more crows for my cornfield and there's only one lonely bird on the scarecrow; the rest are all on this rolling buffet table!

 

The front of the cart has also been modified with the body from the Corpsemaster's spear. The corpse has been impaled on a spike and is being pecked at by a crow.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have two of these bad boys to roll into battle. The flaming skulls (representing the Balefire upgrade) are pegged in place. I'll eventually make a pair of bells so I can replace the Balefire with the Unholy Lodestone upgrade. I had left the Corpsemasters off of them because I was intending to keep the rider separate to distinguish whether or not the cart was being used as a mount for a Necromancer, but I'll likely paint them up at some point and pin them onto the corpse piles. Each cart should still have its own driver, even if it's not a Necromancer, per se. (In Age of Sigmar there's no longer the option to put a Necromancer on a Corpse Cart.)

 

I wonder if GW is ever going to get around to making a new zombie kit, one with proportions that more closely match the zombies on the cart. They are officially the oldest plastic kit in the Vampire Counts range, going on 17 years now. (Ha, look at me, talking about Warhammer like it's still a thing!)

With the completion of this cart, there are only four unfinished projects from my undead Shelf of Shame:

The Hellsteed– This model just needs a paint job and a rider. But unfortunately, Hellsteeds aren't an available option in the Age of Sigmar Vampire Count warscrolls. Even under the substitute warscrolls, it doesn't acknowledge the Vampire on Hellsteed, probably because they never made a Hellsteed model. I suppose it could pass as a vampire with wings and a hellsteed, but I'm pretty sure that's an "either / or" situation. I'll figure it out once GW releases an Age of Sigmar FAQ. (I was almost able to finish typing that sentence with a straight face!) I'm still building my Vampire Counts force with 8th Edition Warhammer sensibilities, so maybe I'll get around to finishing this, but the enthusiasm is gone, so probably not.

 

 

Vampire Battle Standard Bearer– As I mentioned in the Shelf of Shame post, I need more loose bats to put on his cloak. But, like the Hellsteed, there's no option for a vampire to carry an army standard in Age of Sigmar. I'd be fine using this model to represent a wight king with an Infernal Standard, but I already have a wight with an Infernal Standard. The whole point of making the vampire was that there used to be different rules for the two different character types. So, I don't know where this guy is headed. He's not past the point of no return, so I could replace the banner arm with something else. I'm already considering replacing the sword with a smaller, more vampire-y version and shortening that arm because it sticks out much too far. Either way, this model is too nice to not use for something.

 

Mounted Battle Flag– This guy, on the other hand is definitely getting finished. He just needs paint and the banner.

 

The Winged Ghouls– Ugh, these things. I'm not sure I have the motivation (or the time) to work on a major sculpting conversion theme across an entire unit of 40 infantry. Back in the parts bin!

 

First in the pipe, though, are the new Spirit Hosts. Once I nail down the ethereal effect, I'll be able to move on to the Mortis Engine, and then some of those Morghasts that I hear all the kids are crazy about.

 

'Til next time!