Bit quiet on the hobby front this month, a combination of last month's gargantuan output and being back at work I guess, but hey ho...
So, what have I been up to?
Well, I've done my painting for #talesofinstahammer (and actually based it too) but I'll save that for the monthly round up next week.
I've also changed things around a bit, and added a "Friends with Benefits" tab over on the right after being accepted onto the Goblin Gaming Affiliate Scheme, so, by using the link to visit their webstore, I get a little kickback and it doesn't cost you anything extra. Seems like a win, so, go check them out (using the link) and see what they have to offer.
I also added a new page for Project: Shieldwall, to keep all my Viking related shenanigans together for posterity. I may add another for trades and such.
I've made a start on the 12 Archers and 8 Spearmen I need to finish for our club's Lion Rampant campaign for when things get back to normal. After that, I'll just have to paint up 12 Crossbowmen and the roster will be complete/
I've put together a couple of sprues of Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish in order to write a review post. It has however, rained all weekend, so they still need primed.
And that is pretty much it for the moment, I blame work (and Assassins Creed Syndicate) for me having a more relaxed month so far.
Stay safe out there, cheers,
John
The erratic charting of my dalliances with mainly Dark Age & Fantasy miniatures in 6-30mm.
Sunday, 24 May 2020
Thursday, 30 April 2020
Month in Review - April 2020
Well, another month been and gone, my first full calendar month in lockdown, and it's been a productive one. Over the course of the last 30 days I have managed to knock 2 entire projects off of my #hobbyresolution2020 list, and paint 169 miniatures in total.
First up was my #talesofinstahammer Stonecast Eternals. The brief was "Reinforcement" so I started with bulking out my lines with another 10 man Sequitor unit and 6 more Castigators, both of which were on my planned 2k list. For extras, I added in the Lord-Relictor, Knight-Heraldor and the Warhammer World Exclusive Errant-Questor. I managed to get the full lot painted by about the 2nd, but then left them unbased until yesterday...
After the Stormcast were done, I painted up the full Saga Age of Vikings army I had planned using my Footsore Vikings. It is actually 7pts as I added an extra unit of Hearthguard to give me 4 units for the Rampant games. These guys were done over the course of about 10 days, and I also have a video of them up on YouTube.
After the Vikings, I tackled the 15mm Dark Age Arthurian Spearmen from Sam over at 15mm Skirmish Supplies, but, I can't show them off right now, as they were samples to be shown at shows, and Westwind has shut down for the moment and can't respond to any enquiries. Some of the kickstarter ones may have made it out into the wild, so a bit of googling might turn up some unpainted images.
Following on from them, I grabbed a few Grymkin models that I already had primed and blasted them out over a day. Exact composition was 2 Grave Ghouls, 2 Piggyback Officers, a Glimmer Imp and Trapperkin, and finally, a unit of Murder Crows. The best part of this batch is it means I now have at least 1 of every single Grymkin option fully painted.
Finally, I tackled the Night Goblin army I had planned as a Horde force for SAGA Age of Magic. This was my testing out Contrast paints on a full army project, after I had settled on the colour scheme after doing the Underworlds warband last month. It is mostly infantry from the old Battle for Skull Pass box, along with some of the new plastic Squig models. Love them, but they are a far cry from the one piece models I originally had in the early 90s.
I do plan to add more to these guys at some point, another unit of Bowmen at least to allow me to run 2 units in Dragon Rampant, plus I still have some Hoppers to do. I'd also like to add a big centrepiece model like Mangler Squigs or a giant Troll.
So yeah, 169 miniatures painted. I should be happy with it, but it has hardly dented the backlog, like, I'd probably have to be doubling those numbers to make a serious dent in it...
That's all for now I guess, stay safe people, see you in the next one.
Cheers,
John
![]() |
| Feel free to count them. |
![]() |
| Age of Magic and Age of Sigmar |
![]() |
| Age of Vikings and Grymkin |
First up was my #talesofinstahammer Stonecast Eternals. The brief was "Reinforcement" so I started with bulking out my lines with another 10 man Sequitor unit and 6 more Castigators, both of which were on my planned 2k list. For extras, I added in the Lord-Relictor, Knight-Heraldor and the Warhammer World Exclusive Errant-Questor. I managed to get the full lot painted by about the 2nd, but then left them unbased until yesterday...
![]() |
| Sequitors |
![]() |
| Castigators |
![]() |
| Sword, Flag, Trumpet. One of these things is not like the others... |
After the Stormcast were done, I painted up the full Saga Age of Vikings army I had planned using my Footsore Vikings. It is actually 7pts as I added an extra unit of Hearthguard to give me 4 units for the Rampant games. These guys were done over the course of about 10 days, and I also have a video of them up on YouTube.
![]() |
| Vikings! - Footsore Miniatures |
![]() |
| Shieldwall! |
![]() |
| Portrait of the artist battling against the lead mountain. |
After the Vikings, I tackled the 15mm Dark Age Arthurian Spearmen from Sam over at 15mm Skirmish Supplies, but, I can't show them off right now, as they were samples to be shown at shows, and Westwind has shut down for the moment and can't respond to any enquiries. Some of the kickstarter ones may have made it out into the wild, so a bit of googling might turn up some unpainted images.
Following on from them, I grabbed a few Grymkin models that I already had primed and blasted them out over a day. Exact composition was 2 Grave Ghouls, 2 Piggyback Officers, a Glimmer Imp and Trapperkin, and finally, a unit of Murder Crows. The best part of this batch is it means I now have at least 1 of every single Grymkin option fully painted.
![]() |
| Grymkin - Hordes - Privateer Press |
Finally, I tackled the Night Goblin army I had planned as a Horde force for SAGA Age of Magic. This was my testing out Contrast paints on a full army project, after I had settled on the colour scheme after doing the Underworlds warband last month. It is mostly infantry from the old Battle for Skull Pass box, along with some of the new plastic Squig models. Love them, but they are a far cry from the one piece models I originally had in the early 90s.
I do plan to add more to these guys at some point, another unit of Bowmen at least to allow me to run 2 units in Dragon Rampant, plus I still have some Hoppers to do. I'd also like to add a big centrepiece model like Mangler Squigs or a giant Troll.
![]() |
| Squigs! |
![]() |
| Lowly Goblin rabble. |
![]() |
| More lowly Goblin rabble. |
![]() |
| Warlord and Shaman. |
So yeah, 169 miniatures painted. I should be happy with it, but it has hardly dented the backlog, like, I'd probably have to be doubling those numbers to make a serious dent in it...
That's all for now I guess, stay safe people, see you in the next one.
Cheers,
John
Labels:
#hobbyresolution2020,
#talesofinstahammer,
age of magic,
age of sigmar,
age of vikings,
dragon rampant,
grymkin,
month in review,
painting,
saga,
stormcast eternals,
warhammer,
warmahordes,
YouTube
Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Studio gaarew does YouTube.
Hey guys,
I guess this counts as an extra post for the month. Well, we are only two weeks in but I have been powering through painting, seriously, over 100 minis currently sitting varnished waiting to be based on my workstation right now, but I also started up a YouTube channel to put out more interactive content. Or be a cool kid or whatever.
Go check it out here and feel free to subscribe, and leave comments there too.
OK, back to the brushes,
Cheers,
John
I guess this counts as an extra post for the month. Well, we are only two weeks in but I have been powering through painting, seriously, over 100 minis currently sitting varnished waiting to be based on my workstation right now, but I also started up a YouTube channel to put out more interactive content. Or be a cool kid or whatever.
Go check it out here and feel free to subscribe, and leave comments there too.
OK, back to the brushes,
Cheers,
John
Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Month in Review - March 2020
Well, it's been a month alright. Not entirely sure if it has gone insanely fast or insanely slow though. I am officially off work until further notice, so, currently on 16 days worked and 6 off...
So, what's been happening?
Well, since starting the new job I found myself with a lot more energy, despite working more days than I did before, and was managing to get a couple of hours of hobbying done each afternoon.
![]() |
| It's getting full in here... |
I managed to get the Stonecast I posted about on Sunday based up for my #talesofinstahammer2020 army done, so that was 5 Sequitors, and a Knight-Venator, along with 3 Prosecutors and the Farstriders to tie in with the fast moving theme.
![]() |
| Sequitors (Stormcast Eternals, Age of Sigmar, Games Workshop) |
![]() |
| Knight-Venator (Stormcast Eternals, Age of Sigmar, Games Workshop) |
![]() |
| Prosecutors (Stormcast Eternals, Age of Sigmar, Games Workshop) |
![]() |
| The Farstriders (Stormcast Eternals, Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
Not content with just knocking out the Farstriders, double dipping with one of my #hobbyresolutions I turned my attention to more Warhammer Underworlds warbands and ended up painting not one, not two, but six more in a flurry of brushes. Hey, I needed something to occupy me from basing Stonecast and I'm at 98% total completion on Red Dead 2...
![]() |
| It is also getting limited on space in here... |
The first couple of additional warbands I tackled were the Chosen Axes (Dwarf Fyreslayers) and Zarbag's Gitz (Night Goblins). The main reason for choosing them were I was going to use the Gitz as a test scheme for the Night Goblin army I am planning to paint up for SAGA/Dragon Rampant, and the Chosen Axes were one of the smaller warbands to offset the 9 assorted Goblins and Squigs. Painting was mostly Contrast paint, with Army Painter metals, and in the case of the Chosen Axes, an all over wash of Strong Tone. Between skin and beard/hair, most of the work on the Axes was done with 2 colours. I really like how the Chosen Axes turned out, and, being quick and relatively painless to do, I think I might use the same technique for painting up board game pieces.
![]() |
| The Chosen Axes (Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
![]() |
| Zarbag's Gitz (Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
I finished both of these up last Monday, and, whilst finding out what was happening with work, figured I'd start another couple of warbands. I settled on Grashrak's Ravagers (Beastmen) and Skaeth's Wild Hunt (Wood Elves) as they were both primed bone and were the two from the latest box. I managed to get the flesh and hair on them before sleeping, and with no work on Tuesday, finished them off over the day (less than 24hrs after starting them).
![]() |
| Grashrak's Ravagers (Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
![]() |
| Skaeth's Wild Hunt (Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
Not one to rest on my laurels (or... not having the motivation to start basing my Stonecast) I moved on to Ylthari's Guardians (Tree Spirits) because, again, small warband, and knocked them out pretty quickly too. I went with a different style and colour on each of them, as, I didn't like the green I used on the first one and didn't want to repeat it.
Finally, I grabbed the Thorns of the Briar Queen (Ghosts) as I'd made a start on them before trying out some transparent paints, and it would get them off the sidelines and into the cabinet. Again, pretty quick job, couple of coats of blue, did the metal, hit it with Typhus Corrossion and Rhyza Rust Technical paints, quick highlight, job done.
![]() |
| Ylthari's Guardians (Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
![]() |
| Thorns of the Briar Queen (Warhammer Underworlds, Games Workshop) |
Rather than starting a new project today, I contented myself with getting a Strong Tone wash on the remaining Stonecast that I'll be working on over the next 3 months, then giving my workstation a good clean and changing my paint water and cleaning my tile off.
Now, onto the non-painting side of things. Hmmmmm, bit of a scunner there. All games and shows cancelled or postponed until further notice... Had planned on going down to Chillcon in Sheffield but it was called off at the last minute, and all the games I had arranged are going to have to be rescheduled for when we are allowed out to play again. At least I've kept up to date on the blog posts. If this continues I might have to consider transferring more paint over when I run out of minis to paint...
| Task | Completed | |
| Fully Paint Grymkin (HORDES) | 0% | |
| Tales of Instahammer (Stonecast Eternals) | 8 | 67% |
| Paint 6pts Saga Age of Vikings army | 0% | |
| Paint 6pts Saga Age of Crusades army | 0% | |
| Paint 8pts Saga Age of Magic army – Vikings | 0% | |
| Paint 8pts Saga Age of Magic army – Goblins | 0% | |
| Paint Shadespire Warbands | 9 | 45% |
| Paint 2000pt Warmaster army | 0% | |
| Paint Osprey Wargames forces | 0% | |
| Play 52 Games | 7 | 13% |
| Play 10 new opponents | 4 | 40% |
| Play 10 Boardgames | 0% | |
| Run a gaming event/session. | 0% | |
| Maintain blog with monthly posts | 3 | 25% |
| Write 1 extra blog post per month (BatRep, tutorial, review etc) | 3 | 25% |
| Transfer flip top paints to dropper bottles | 0% | |
| Go to 4 shows or conventions | 1 | 25% |
| 4.90% |
Next up, I'm planning on tackling another big unit of Sequitors and Castigators for the Hold the Line task for Tales of Instahammer, and a couple more Underworlds warbands. I was going to do the Cursebreakers, but I'll leave them until May for the Magic challenge. I might have also ordered a few things online just incase... so they might make an appearance.
Stay safe people, keep your hands clean and your brushes dirty.
Cheers,
John
Sunday, 29 March 2020
Tales of InstaHammer - the halfway point.
So, 3 months into the year pretty much (who knows how long the year will actually last however) and I've reached the halfway point of the #talesofinstahammer challenge.
For those that don't know, the challenge is to basically follow a (very loosely enforced) army building challenge over the course of six months. It is open to both fantasy and sci-fi forces (AoS/Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000) but I'm sure you could paint stuff up for another game and nobody would really complain. It isn't limited to official figures either and contains a mix of people who are painting to game with their army and those who don't play at all.
I'd figured to do the Stonecast Eternals for this, and had picked up most of a 2000 point Age of Sigmar force cheaply on ebay focussed on the units from the Soul Wars box.
The army I planned out was -
![]() |
| January and February |
![]() |
| Extras |
For those that don't know, the challenge is to basically follow a (very loosely enforced) army building challenge over the course of six months. It is open to both fantasy and sci-fi forces (AoS/Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000) but I'm sure you could paint stuff up for another game and nobody would really complain. It isn't limited to official figures either and contains a mix of people who are painting to game with their army and those who don't play at all.
![]() |
| The Guidelines |
The army I planned out was -
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
Mortal Realm: Ghyran
Astreia Solbright (220)
- General
Lord-Ordinator (140)
Knight-Venator (120)
10 x Sequitors (260)
- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
- 5x Stormsmite Greatmaces
10 x Sequitors (260)
- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
- 4x Stormsmite Greatmaces
5 x Sequitors (130)
- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
- 1x Stormsmite Greatmaces
6 x Castigators (160)
6 x Castigators (160)
5 x Evocators (220)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Total: 2000 / 2000
Wounds: 127
Mortal Realm: Ghyran
Astreia Solbright (220)
- General
Lord-Ordinator (140)
Knight-Venator (120)
10 x Sequitors (260)
- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
- 5x Stormsmite Greatmaces
10 x Sequitors (260)
- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
- 4x Stormsmite Greatmaces
5 x Sequitors (130)
- Stormsmite Mauls and Soulshields
- 1x Stormsmite Greatmaces
6 x Castigators (160)
6 x Castigators (160)
5 x Evocators (220)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Celestar Ballista (110)
Total: 2000 / 2000
Wounds: 127
I knew that the list didn't exactly cover all the planned months work, so I also had some spares from the original Age of Sigmar box to hand, along with a couple of extra heroes, so I made a few notes on my list for when I planned to tackle things. January was supposed to be all 25 Sequitors, along with a hero, February was the Lord-Ordinator and Ballistae, March the Knight-Venator, April the Castigators, May the Evocators and finally Astreia in June to lead the army. Plans change however, and I haven't followed that exactly, but I've still made pretty good progress, I've also sneaked in a few Warhammer Underworlds warbands as part of the secret challenges.
![]() |
| #tohi2020 Stonecast Eternals |
At time of writing (with a couple of days of March left) I have completed 26/54 models (890/2000pts) for the list, I have also finished another 12 not on the list for another 800 points, and have 12 (split between what is on the list and what isn't) currently sat on my workstation waiting to have all the tufts glued on, which should take me over 1000pts painted for both.
I'm hoping to get this month's stuff based up tomorrow, seeing as I'm off work right now (changed jobs at the right time it seems) and I'm working on some other stuff that I'll show off in my Month in Review post.
As far as the Stonecast are concerned, the plan now is to finish off the remaining Sequitor and Castigator units in April, and carry on as intended for May and June. I'll see what extra stuff I can add in from the extras too.
The Mortal Realms stuff hasn't shown up yet, but along with the figures in the picture above, I still have another 5 Liberators, Vandus and a not even minimum sized unit of Retributers to do.
So, yeah, halfway done, definitely on track to finish it this year, and then I can focus a lot more on the other #hobbyresolutions for the remaining 6 months.
See you all in a couple of days,
Cheers,
J
![]() |
| March - Hurry Up! |
![]() | ||
| March Extras - also fast stuff. |
I'm hoping to get this month's stuff based up tomorrow, seeing as I'm off work right now (changed jobs at the right time it seems) and I'm working on some other stuff that I'll show off in my Month in Review post.
![]() |
| 3 months to go. |
As far as the Stonecast are concerned, the plan now is to finish off the remaining Sequitor and Castigator units in April, and carry on as intended for May and June. I'll see what extra stuff I can add in from the extras too.
![]() |
| I need a Hero. |
The Mortal Realms stuff hasn't shown up yet, but along with the figures in the picture above, I still have another 5 Liberators, Vandus and a not even minimum sized unit of Retributers to do.
So, yeah, halfway done, definitely on track to finish it this year, and then I can focus a lot more on the other #hobbyresolutions for the remaining 6 months.
See you all in a couple of days,
Cheers,
J
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)



































