SHOWCASE: Great Unclean One

A greater daemon of Nurgle

This handsome looking fellow is a Greater Daemon of Nurgle, otherwise known as a Great Unclean One. This is the physical embodiment of the Chaos god, Nurgle. This particular rendition is from Games Workshop's Forge World subsidiary. It's a fantastic model to paint and well worth spending the time on (not least because of the hefty price tag that goes with it!). I painted this about four or five years ago, but it's still one of my favourite models in my collection.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad progress update

Today I have a brief update on the Blood Angels tactical squad. Work is progressing on the test piece for this squad. I've never painted Blood Angels before, so I'm using a scheme based on several others I've seen elsewhere. As with any kind of squad, I like to do a test piece before I plough ahead with the rest of the unit. In my last update, I assembled and based the model. This time around I'm priming and basecoating. Read on...

SHOWCASE: Death Guard helbrute

This is actually the Nurgle dreadnought from the Forge World range, but I'm using it for my Death Guard army, so I'm using that as the title. A couple of years ago, Games Workshop decided that the Chaos equivalent of a space marine dreadnought should be called a 'helbrute'. It's an incredibly silly name, but then they've taken that direction more than once in the last few years, so it's not unexpected. Naming mistakes aside though, I really like this model.

WIP: Blood Angels tactical squad

I've always hated Blood Angels. That's probably not the best way to start a project that involves painting a whole bunch of them, but it's true. When I got into the hobby in 1992, they seemed to be the most common space marine chapter. They were everywhere. Ultramarines have since replaced them as the space marine poster boys, but even now there's still something about them. I think it's the colour red. It's overused. All that being said, in recent years, the models have improved a lot. Just a month or two ago Games Workshop released a new tactical squad, which makes the boys in red look better than ever. I finally cracked...

SHOWCASE: More Space Wolves

Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf Runepriest

Today I'm showing off a couple of my Space Wolves. The first, a Runepriest (above) was actually the first model I painted in my current study when I moved into my house in 2012. I bought it some time ago, before Games Workshop made the switch to [the somewhat disappointing] Finecast. This is the old 'white metal' version. In the absence of an actual army commander, this model will serve as a stand in leader for the Space Wolves I intend to paint this year.

WIP: Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Warhammer 40,000: Plaguebearer of Nurgle

I love Nurgle, but I've always hated plaguebearers. For those unfamiliar with the Warhammer / Warhammer 40,000 background, Nurgle is one of the four major gods of Chaos. He's the grandfather of corruption and decay, of diseases and deformity. It sounds revolting, and in fairness it is, but some of it is done so well in both the background narratives and in the miniatures that somehow I've been convinced to like it. Plaguebearers, however, have always been utterly terrible. They were the miniature equivalent of a badly drawn cartoon... until a couple of years ago.

WIP: Space Wolf Grey Hunters

Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf Grey Hunter pack leader

So, I've started my Grey Hunters. The model featured above represents the first finished model for the unit. He's the pack leader for what will (initially) be a squad of five. He's not competition standard by any means, but my goal isn't to produce lots of individual masterpieces. I just want a small army of them to display on the shelf. I think he's a good starting point.

WIP: Death Guard raptor and warp talon

Death Guard raptor

Today I'm looking at two work-in-progress projects for my modest Death Guard force. The two models featured in this article are finished in their own right, but represent 'test pieces' for their own five-man squads. The image above is of a chaos space marine raptor, the fast attack infantry of the legion, equipped with jump packs. While the rest of his squad will be equipped with the traditional close combat armament of swords and pistols, this one carries a melta-gun, capable of burning a hole in anything within range.

WIP: Imperial Knight progress update

Just a brief update today regarding the Imperial Knight. The picture above shows the pieces and sub-assemblies I still have to paint as they stood a few days ago. I've done a little more on them since but they're still not quite finished.

SHOWCASE: Death Guard squad

As Mondays can sometimes be a little chaotic, I thought I'd start the week with some chaos space marines. This post should probably be flagged as 'work in progress' because the squad isn't technically finished. Eventually it will be a squad of seven; that being the favoured number for the Death Guard legion to which they belong. But it's 'game legal' at five models, and I don't see me having time to work on those last two marines any time soon, so I'll go with it for now.

SHOWCASE: Dwarf Runelord

A fun one for a Friday. This is a Dwarf Runelord that was released early last year. I briefly had a small dwarf army years ago when a friend and I used to play Warhammer in the mid-nineties. They were all painted dreadfully and I don't think I still have the vast majority of them. I always loved the character of the models and even though I don't collect them anymore, I couldn't resist getting this one and a couple of others to paint up just for the sake of it.

WIP: Space Wolves Wolf Guard terminators

I'm cheating a little with this post because these two models were finished late last year... but still, the squad as a whole remains a work in progress. These two are the first models I've painted for a Wolf Guard terminator squad for one of this year's major projects: a modest Space Wolf force.

SHOWCASE: Imperial Fists contemptor dreadnought

Horus Heresy: Imperial Fists contemptor dreadnought

This is a contemptor dreadnought from Games Workshop's Forge World offshoot. It's one of the first models completed for the 'Horus Heresy' era Imperial Fists army I'll be working on as one of my major projects this year. If all goes to plan, you can expect to see lots of men in yellow armour in the coming months. Consider this a taster.

SHOWCASE: Undead

Warhammer: Undead wight king

Like many others, I got caught up in the excitement of the End Times series for Warhammer when it launched with the Nagash book last year. Undead were one of my first Warhammer armies, almost twenty years ago, and while I haven't had any of the models for many years, I've always maintained a modest affection for them. With the launch of the End Times, I could resist no longer.

SHOWCASE: Gretchin

Some time last year, Games Workshop released a boxed set called Stormclaw. The set was part of a campaign series and was the first of a new format: a limited availability set containing two armies, a mini Warhammer 40,000 rulebook and a campaign booklet. The two armies were Space Wolves and Orks. Included among the orks were a unit of gretchin. This represents the first half.

WIP: Imperial Knight

Warhammer 40,000: Imperial Knight

As I mentioned in my first post, the first model I'm working on this year is an Imperial Knight from Warhammer 40,000 that I received as a Christmas present. I started it on Boxing Day and have been working on it intermittently ever since. The holiday season gave me a few days I wouldn't normally have to dedicate to painting it, hence the reasonably rapid progress by my standards.

SHOWCASE: Skaven rat ogre

Warhammer: Skaven rat ogre

To get the ball rolling on the blog, I thought I'd showcase a few of the models I've painted previously. As I won't have daily updates to add, I'd like to get some content on the blog early on to make it less sparse. I'm starting with this: a Skaven rat ogre from the Warhammer range.

A fresh start

I've tried a few times to start a hobby blog. It hasn't really stuck. I'm not a regular hobbyist. I gaze with admiration and envy at the likes of Tale of Painters. I try and do something once a week, but it's usually just a few hours here and there, most often on a Sunday afternoon, and I don't finish much. The picture shows the boxes I had to hand at the time but represents about 5% or less of the unpainted models I have that are awaiting attention. I did a tally of finished miniatures for last year (2014) and it came to 42—a sweet number if you're a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fan, but not great if you're looking to game. Luckily I'm not looking to game (at least not yet), which is just as well as those models were for about ten different factions across two different game systems. But that was last year. This is 2015...