More Orcs, more Blood Angels

Another two weeks that have been quite productive! I finished some Orcs and three Spectres for my Minas Morgul army as well as some more reinforcements for my Legions Imperialis Blood Angels in the form of Tarantulas and the first Legio Solaria Warhound. I also started to work on some more Blood Angels for the Horus Heresy.

Pict 1540: Spectres and Orcs on the Outskirts of Mordor

Pict 1541: Mordor Orcs, Dummer, Captain

Pict 1542: Mordor Orcs, Dummer, Captain

First up I finished two of the lovley metal Orcs with bows as well as a Captain and a Drummer. The latter might no longer be able to double up with a hero's heroric march, but should still allow my Mordor Orcs to cross the battlefield a bit faster. In the one game I used him, I did make the mistake to also count his drumming to affect the Uruk-hai part of my Cirith Ungol army when it only affects Mordor Orcs. Still, he should come in usefull! Next up will have to be the Taskmaster to fill out my toolkit and of course there are still some more poses from the metal sculpts that I have not yet painted.

Pict 1543: Dead Marsh Spectres

Pict 1544: Dead Marsh Spectres

Formerly known as Dead Marsh Spectres, the Spectres are now availiable to a few more lists. I'm really happy to have these painted, since now I will be able to play my normal Orcs as part of Minas Morgul or Angmar army. I might also expand into a full Shadows of Angmar list by painting some more heroes.

Pict 1545: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Tarantulas and Plant the Standart Objective Marker

These little critters were done quite fast after the last post. I'm looking forward to playing them more - they seem to be a cheap way to hold and defend an objective marker in your own deployment zone at least for a while.

I also worked up the courage to do a free hand of an angel on the little banner for my Plant the Standart marker. While it might not be the the best that could be done, I'm happy with the result. Especially considering the size of the surface I had to work with.

Pict 1546: Legio Solaria Warhound Titan on the Prowl

Pict 1547: Legio Solaria Warhound

Pict 1548: Legio Solaria Warhound

Pict 1549: Legio Solaria Warhound

The first Legio Solaria Warhound is done! After the last post there was not to much more to be done, but glazing on a highlight on the red and white panels always helps to elevate the paintjob. I have already prepared the next few Warhounds by de-chaosifying two Legio Mortis engines that I got second hand.

Pict 1550: Blood Angels Lascannon Heavy Support Squad (WIP)

Pict 1551: Blood Angels Drop Pod and Dreadnought Drop Pod (WIP)

Lastly, I also started working on some more 28mm Blood Angels. Once again, there is a tournament approaching at the start of March and I would like to finish a few more things for the 3k list I want to use then. Since it will be an event that leans more towards the competitive side rather than the narrative, I am painting a unit of the dreaded Heavy Support Marines with Lascannons. I also plan to use a Drop Pod to bring my Veterans and a Leviathan into battle as part of a Day of Revelations deepstrike assault. There is still about one month to finish them up and I already feel quite good about them. The basecolours, decals and the oilwash are done. Some highlights on the details will be done quickly. Glazing and weathering the red armour panels is always what takes me the longest.

Big into small scale

These past week has been quite prolific! Again, mainly due to finishing up projects from the end of last year, but also some new stuff. I managed to complete a set of Legions Imperialis Tactical Marines as well as the Cerastus Knight Lancers I had started the week before.

Pict 1535: Blood Angels Tacticals advancing with Cerastus Lancer Support

Pict 1537: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Tactical Marines

So this is the second set of eight Tacticals I painted for my Legions Imperialis Blood Angels. This should allow me to fill up the Core slots for quite a few formations even at bigger points levels. I converted this batch by removing not only the undercuts but also the chain bayonet attachments. I plan to use them as part of a Garrison Force, while the others with the bayonets will have to be a bit more up close in an Aerial Assault or Drop Pod Assault formation.

Pict 1538: House Procon Vi Cerastus Lancers

I also finished up the two Cerastus Lancers from last post. They painted up really fast! House Procon Vi seems to have been a rather serendipitous choice.

Pict 1538: Legio Solaria Warhound (WIP)

After finishing the Lancers, I also got started on this Warhound to add to my Legio Solaria. Again, a really fun colour scheme to paint. But oh so much trim! Though not as bad as the Warlord of course. Nevertheless, I do love the silhouette of the Warhound and look forward to paint more of them.

Pict 1539: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Tarantuals and Plant the Standart Marker (WIP)

The next little project for the LI Blood Angels will be these Tarantulas and a single banner bearer on a 32mm base. The latter will be my special marker for when I roll up the Plant the Standard secondary objective. I want to try and put a free hand on the banner, but we will see how that turns out. Worst case, I'll have to paint over my attempt and just use a decal as with the Command Squads I painted.

Hitting the ground running

The first two weeks of the year are always good for my numbers, since I got to finish projects that were already mostly done. I started out with Gríma and the Amon Hen statue head for Middle-earth and then did the final highlights on some more Legions Imperialis Blood Angels. After that I also started some more stuff in these universes with more Orcs, an Ent and two small scale Cerastus Lancers.

Pict 1527: Gríma Wormtongue at Amon Hen?

Pict 1528: Gríma Wormtongue

The first model of this year was this Gríma Wormtongue. Again, the new edition is a great opportunity to find these smaller projects and update my armies. The old sculpt gave me a bit of trouble. Especially the strands of hair in the face made painting the eyes quite difficult. Its nice to finally have this model painted! I even got to play a game with it and I am very impressed with him. It was against the the Army of the Dead including Legolas and Aragorn. Gríma really did a lot to keep these two heroes in check while my Uruk-hai Berserkers cut down the ghosts.

Pict 1529: Amon Hen Statue Head

Pict 1530: Amon Hen Statue Head

After painting the Solstice28 idols at the end of last year, I was in the mood to paint more terrain in the same colours. Combining this with the Middle-earth hype, I finally got to the fallen statue head from Amon Hen. A very cool scene in the movies and a treat to have gotten this simple little piece of terrain made by ForgeWorld. The statue once again painted up fast over a few evenings – really satisfying!

Pict 1531: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Commanders and Veterans

I am taking part in an escalation campaign of Legions Imperialis in the first few months of this year. An opportunity to get some more stuff painted! During the first stage of the campaign I want to power through the main part of my infantry. The first of them are these four here: two command squads and two bases of Tactical Marines. The latter I build with some special weapons and painted them as Veterans accordingly with golden helmets.

Pict 1532: Procon Vi Cerastus Knights (WIP)

I also had a start on the Knight Household that will accompany my Legio Solaria as well as my Blood Angels. After reading up, I decided on House Procon Vi (having fitting decals on the Solaria transfer sheet certainly helps). The colour scheme is quite simple - mainly steel for the frame and trims, black panels and some blue spot colours - and the base colours went on very quickly. I can see myself painting a lot of these...

Pict 1534: Ent, Orcs and Dead Marsh Spectres (WIP)

I also started to add to my Fangorn collection with this plastic Ent as well as a few more Orcs and Dead Marsh Spectres. The latter will add to my Mordor collection to make it playable as a Minas Morgul list. I love that the Spectres are finally back in Mordor and the list seems quite strong on paper. I'll have to see, once they are done.

The Butterfly's Tally 2024

The Butterfly's Tally 2024

Happy New Year! One more rotation around the sun is completed. And that means it is time to look back at what has been achieved in the previous year. And of course it also means a look ahead and making plans for the year that has just started. Once again, I'm very happy with the hobby I have done in 2024 –

Pict 1523: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels and Legio Solaria Support

The Hobby Tally 2024

Just like last year, I'm going to start by looking back at my resolutions from the start of the year to structure my revision of this year's hobby:

• Paint 2 pieces of terrain each for the SciFi and the Fantasy collection
• I just about managed to sneak this goal in during the closing days of the year by painting the Solstice28 icons, which I will count towards my fantasy terrain. The scifi terrain is covered by the Zone Mortalis tile I put the finishing touches on only shortly before that. Since it is so big, I will allow myself to count it as two for the sake of achieving my goal!
  

Pict 1514: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1519: Solstice28 Icons

• Finish up the Cursed City collection. This is 10 Grave Guard, 5 Direwolves, 3 Vargheists and a Necromancer – 19 miniatures in total, the should be doable!
• I started to work on this goal early on in the year and completed the Necromancer alongside some older Vampire miniatures. The other miniatures, however, are still primed a ghostly white...

Pict 1415: C18 Vampira, Necromancer and Neferata

•  Once again paint more than 100 miniatures
• While I was distracted from the Cursed City miniatures, I did once again paint over 100 miniatures. Again, I only reached this goal in December, but I do like it that way – that means it is an achievable but still demanding challenge. The group photo of my Legions Imperialis Blood Angels is representative of one focus, others I will look at further down this post.

Pict 1524: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels and Legio Solaria of 2024

• Lastly, make a concerted effort to buy less new stuff, paint the stuff I have and play with it
• Looking at the numbers over on the left, I am pretty content. It looks like I did indeed buy fewer miniatures – the smallest number since I started tracking in fact! Gaming took a bit of a backseat, but I still managed to play quite a few systems: The Horus Heresy, Legions Imperialis, Middle-earth SBG and Alkemy
   

If you want so look back at my painting progress of previous years, here are the links to the tallies of the past: The Tally 2017, The Tally 2018, The Tally 2019, The Tally 2020, The Tally 2021, The Tally 2022, The Tally 2023

Other notable projects of 2024

Pict 1525: Fangorn Army

Picking up after the list of gamesystems I played this year: Among them was (only) one Middle-earth tournament. I did quite enjoy this one, however, and I painted Treebeard and Quickbeam (now renamed to Birchseed) to complete a Fangorn army. I still have one more Ent to paint and now with the new rules, this looks like one easy pick-up to build out my roster. This new edition will probably mean more Middle-earth miniatures to come this year!

Pict 1526: Heresy Blood Angels and Raven Guard of 2024

All of these "big scale" Heresy miniatures were painted in concert with gaming events as well. Adding to my Blood Angels to have variety during a tournament and one narrative game day. The latter also inspired me to go ahead an paint the small allied detachement of Raven Guard. These still have to see the table, but I hope to remedy that soon!

Pict 1451: Rados Cults Starter Set

One of the smaller systems I have is Alkemy. With the Rados Cults I started a small warband and have even begun to build them out a bit more. Playing a real skirmish system is really something different to what I usually play and something I'd like to do some more in this coming year.

Hobby Plans for 2025

Speaking of plans for this upcoming year, I will also close this retrospective of 2024 out with plans for 2025. Overall I'm very happy with my goals from last year and will carry them over. I will, however finally give into my hobby butterfly persona and will refrain from giving myself any resolutions containing any particular miniature ranges and will simply go, where the games I actually play / my whims take me. So this is what I want to do:

• Paint 2 pieces of terrain each for the SciFi and the Fantasy collection
  
• Once again paint more than 100 miniatures
  
• And again, buy less new stuff, paint the stuff I have and most importantly play with it!

Solstice28 Idols

One last post for 2024 – finishing up some more Middle-earth miniatures, that had been unfinished for some time. Also getting to the Solstice28 Icons to do some more terrain!

Pict 1518: Orcs and Wargs

Pict 1519: Solstice28 Icons

Pict 1520: Solstice28 Icons

Since it is that time of the year, I got out the Solstice28 icons sculpted by @4ydra and quickly painted them. They are done in the same way that I had painted for example the Garden of Morr and should fit in nicely on my Realm of Battle board.

Pict 1521: Sharku, Wild Warg Chieftain, Orc Shaman on Warg

These four Wargs / Orcs had also been started this spring and had lain about since then. After finishing the Orcs, I showed of in the last post, I also finished this Wild Warg Chieftain, Orc Shaman on Warg as well as Sharku over a few evenings. The new edition is generally looking quite good and I look forward to adding a dew more pieces here and there to my armies to get them up to speed in the new year!

Pict 1522: Gríma Wormtongue (WIP)

The first of these small additions will be Gríma Wormtongue to slot into my Isengard army. Odd that it should take me this long to paint him up since he performs quite a nice role. But to be honest, I didn't even remember I had this metal sculpt stashed away in one of my boxes...

Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

These past two weeks, I completed the paintjob on the Legio Solaria Warlord. Afterwards, I also finished up a few more projects that had been lying around, some of them for quite some time.

Pict 1503: Legio Solaria Warlord supporting Blood Angels

Pict 1504: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1505: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1506: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1507: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1508: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1509: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1510: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

That's my first finished Titan – ready to be used in games of Legions Imperialis. Such a great looking model! The little Marines on the base help to sell the scale even more. As you can see from the pictures, the arms are magnetised; the shoulder mounted guns are as well. I can see myself getting some of the more exotic arms made by ForgeWorld. I am also looking at adding in at least some Warhounds and Knights of House Procon Vi to get the collection ready for Adeptus Titanicus as well.

Pict 1511: Mordor Orcs and Warg Riders

Pict 1512: Mordor Orcs

Pict 1513: Warg Riders

With the new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle game, I also finally finished the remaining four Warg Riders that have been in my box of current projects for over three years now. It feels great to have them finished now. I even got to play a game with them yesterday as part of the new Army of the White Hand. I also took this chance to finish some more Orc Warriors that I had laying around half-finished for a few months. These conversions of Orcs with both spears and shields might not see that much play, however, since the load out has been removed by the new edition.

Pict 1514: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1515: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1516: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1517: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Lastly, I also put the finishing touches on this Zone Mortalis tile, I had started sometime during the summer. I'm quite happy with the result! After the oilwash, I only picked out a few more details and then added the grey weathering powder that I use for my 30k/40k minatures.

With these ones finished, I have managed to hit my goal of painting 100 miniatures this year – just in time for the look back I will do at the start of January!