048 - Knight Questor

I really like the new Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower boxed game. The models are fantastic and I bought a couple of White Dwarf issues just to get the rules for Age Of Sigmar. I particularly liked the Knight Questor and bought an extra on off Ebay just for my Stormcast army. This may seem a little excessive but I wanted the one in the game to match the box art colour scheme and the one in my army to match the silver and blue theme that I am using.

The story behind this guy is that he is a Knight Questor that has completed his quest and gone on to rejoin his brothers in the Stormhost.

I painted him like the rest of my army and really got stuck in with the weathering on his cloak. I could imagine it dragging through the mud.

To make him stand out a little I put a bit of blood along his sword blade to make him stand out. He is a great model and could be a fun hero to use as the army general in slightly smaller games.

047 - Muddy Stormcasts

The effect I used for the bases on my new Stormcast Eternals is the Mig Jimenez Heavy Earth Mud. This is an enamel based product so have to use cellulose thinners instead of water to thin them down.

I t was really good fun to slather it all over the bases. I used sponge weathering to add the mud and Typhus Corrosion technical paint to the models.

It's great to make my miniatures look beaten up and more real world than a parade ground finish. I'm really enjoying painting these guys and really look forward to doing more of them.

046 - Weathering Stormcasts

So on launch day last year I picked up the starter box for Age of Sigmar. I got it home and even posted about it here. However it just sat of the shelf gathering dust. So when Silver Tower came out and I wanted to get on board with that I made myself a promise. I would paint at least one faction completely from the Sigmar starter box before I started Silver Tower.

I decided to go for the Stormcasts as they are new and look amazing. There was a bit of a backlash against them but for me they hit the nail on the head. 

I went for a simple silver and blue colour scheme which kind of matches the Hallowed Knights Stormhost. They fought in the realm of life against the forces Nurgle so I wanted to give them a very dirty weathered appearance. I kept the armour and colour scheme quite clean and simple so the weathering really stands out.

I banged out my first unit in short order and really enjoyed the whole weathering process. It was quite good fun slathering on enamel mud and Thypus Corrosion on the models.
This seems like a fun project and I will have a small force and potentially add other Stormcasts as the whim takes me. For Sigmar!

045 - Ebay to the rescue!

SO it recently got to the point where gaming wise I hit critical mass. The gaming desk was full and the top of it was piled to the ceiling. I had also looked at the bank balance and saw how much I was spending. Extra things and no money? Ebay to the rescue!
So I was honest with myself. Was I really going to paint that 40k Space Wolves army? Did I even want a Rogue Trader Blood Angels force? Not in a million years says Mr Honesty. So on Ebay they go.
I had a big long thought about my limited edition models still in clam-packs. I have a Navigator and a Space Marine Captain from the new Forge World website. Both great miniatures but I feel I will paint the marine but not the Navigator so on Ebay he goes.
Tabletop Minions do a great video about not hording miniatures here. It's good advice and I definitely opened up some room on the gaming desk!
It also allowed me to buy this beauty!

With the money I made off the sale of my old models I wanted to get a big model like a Knight which is more likely a model which I'd paint. It's huge but I have more of a compulsion to paint this than two armies I'm not that invested in.

044 - Best Book Ever!

I finally got my grubby little paws on the Crusade Imperialis book for the  Horus Hersey. It's absolutely brilliant. I got it mainly for the militia list to add a few extra units to my 30k armies as allies but was blown away by the quality of the whole book. It has three complete army lists in it, the Solar Auxilia Crusade Army List, the Questoris Knights Crusade Army List and the Imperialis Militia and Cults Army List.

The first section is the Solar Auxillia. I really like these guys especially the Ogryns! Sadly until I get a lottery win I have no chance as they are very expensive to buy from Forge World. The models are beautiful and some of the colour schemes I have seen really make them standout from other armies.The second is the  Questoris Knights and while I have not had a massive yearning for an army of super heavy walkers this updated section makes me want to add a Knight to my Word Bearers which you can do with the newly released Age of Darkness Army List book.
My favourite section is the Imperialis Militia & Cults. The list is one of the most versatile and flexible army lists I have seen in all the years I have been involved in the hobby. The wide selection of troops and the way you can customise them with both wargear and provenances of war open up massive opportunities. You can go from swarms of rabble to power armoured elites and pretty much everything in between.
The Militia list would be an excellent choice for a guard player who wanted to port their army over from 40k but equally could be used with other units that Games Workshop sell. For example, got a Beastman army? You can now represent it in 30k? Same with Flesh Eater courts or even a Bloodbound force. Obviously not everything will fit in but use your imagination and you can have a really crazy army with a really strong theme in no time.
After a round up of spare cultists models in my collection and small splurge on Ebay I have quite alot of cultists ready to go. I can do some allies for my Word Bearers and see where I end up. With the large squad sizes in 30k I will be doing a fair bit of speed painting to get them table top ready but the advantage of having 50 models in a unit is that the eye looks at the whole rather than just individual models.
So I have a few more of these guys to paint up!

The red books are excellent value. They may not have any fluff but that's what the big books are for. With these red books you can have almost a complete new game system for just over £30. They are an absolute bargain and I would recommend them to anyone interested in playing 30k!

043 - Objective Markers

For the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge 2016 one of the extra "achievements" is to create some themed objective markers for your army.
Here they are:

I went for some kind of sacrificial stones with either a skull from the Ungors set, a marine helmet or a Vexella. The numbers are in dried blood which fitted in quite nicely!

The helmets were going to be Ultramarines but the paint scheme didn't quite match so ended up being Alpha Legion!
The Hobby Progress Challenge has been great fun this year. Check out the Independent Characters here.  They have a great community and a great podcast.

042 - Attic Treasure!

I was in the attic looking for some important documents and lo and behold I found a Black Orc nestled in between my degree and my bronze swimming certificate. Turns out it was the 2000 Game Day miniature sculpted by the very talented Brian Nelson!

I must have painted him back when I was in university. I was quite happy with the paint job I did back in the day so this guy has gone into the display cabinet. It's brighter base makes it really stand out on the Age of Sigmar shelf.

Its great to see a model that I painted a long time ago. I may even dig out some models from when I was obsessed with the Inquistion and take a few photos. I just have to fight my way through some really old bubble wrap!