Elven Heroes: Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel

The first real post of the year starts of in Middle-earth with three more mounted heroes for my Rivendell army. After finishing those, I also did some work basecoating five Knights and Elrond to lead them all. And I finished the three Questoris Knights and the Acastus Porphyrion for my Adeptus Titanicus / Legions Imperialis collection.

Pict 1698: Elrohir, Glorfindel, Elladan

Pict 1699: Elrohir, Glorfindel, Elladan

The first few finished miniatures of the year are these three heroes to lead my Rivendell Knights: Elladan and Elrohir, the sons of Elrond as well as the older sculpt of Glorfindel. It took me quite some time to finish them – somehow I found the brightly coloured horses difficult. I'm still not quite happy with Asfaloth, the white horse Glorfindel is riding. For now, it will have to do. But I might go back once I figured out a better way to do it with the newer sculpt and the two Arwen models on horseback.

Pict 1700: Rivendell Knights (WIP)

Next up will be some warriors for all these heroes to lead. I started with the first half of my Rivendell Knights and finished their basecolours.

Pict 1701: Elrond mounted (WIP)

And of course while I was at the basecoating stage with these five, I also did the same for the Finecast Elrond on horseback. I hope to finish this lot rather soon, so I can get to the other six Knights as well as even more heroes.

Pict 1702: House Procon Vi Questoris Knights

Pict 1703: House Procon Vi Knight Porphyrion

Lastly, I also finished up the four Adeptus Titanicus Knights I had finished at the end of last year. I'm really happy with the three Questoris Knights and the Acastus Porphyrion and I'm looking forward to using them in an upcoming game to stand alongside my Blood Angels and Legio Solaria.

The Butterfly's Hobby Tally 2025

Happy New Year! It took me some time to get this tally of my hobby activities together. But now I invite you to have both a look back and a look ahead with me!

Pict 1606: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Army for A Sector Ablaze

The Hobby Tally 2025

As always, I will start by having a look at what I set out to do at the beginning of the year. I had three goals lined up: 

• Paint 2 pieces of terrain each for the SciFi and the Fantasy collection
• I did finish both the fallen head for my Amon Hen table as well as a Cottage made by ForgeWorld. I did, however, not paint any Sci-Fi related terrain. So halfway there!

• Once again paint more than 100 miniatures.
• Smashed it mate! The final tally stands at 219 finished miniatures. Quite an impressive number and the highest since 2020! One additional stat: I posted 169 pictures to this blog and of course took loads more.

•  And again, buy less new stuff, paint the stuff I have and most importantly play with it!
•  While I did buy quite a bit more stuff, I'll still count this goal as mostly fullfilled. Mainly because I really did paint a lot and because I'm happy with the amount of gaming.

Again, 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, The Tally 2024

Looking back through notable projects of 2025

• Scenery: The two terrain pieces I finished this year: the head from Amon Hen and a simple Cottage. I quite like the both of them, but I yet have to play a game with them. I really should paint up the Amon Hen ruin and make a board to play the narrative scenarios!

Pict 1529: Amon Hen Statue Head

Pict 1560: Warhammer Forge Cottage

•  Legions Imperialis at Warhammer World: One of the highlights of the year has to be going to Warhammer World for the first time and playing in the A Sector Ablaze narrative event. Winning a trophy for my objective markes was the cherry on top!

Pict 1607: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Army for A Sector Ablaze

Pict 1612: Legions Imperialis Forward Operating Bases and Trophy from Warhammer World

• Heresy at home and abroad: During the same trip to Great Britain, I also got to play in the Discordia narrative event in London. I painted quite a few additional Blood Angels both for this event and the tournaments and narrative games at home! I still have yet to try out Heresy 3.0 and my painting progress has stalled after its release. Right now, I'm focused on small scale Heresy to scratch that sci-fi itch however.

Pict 1617: Horus Heresy Blood Angels Army for Discordia

• DreadTober: Speaking of, this year's DreadTober project of two Reaver Titans and a bunch of magnetized weapon option fits right into the Epic Heresy. I feel like I stepped up my game, especially with the additional decals on them. I really should try and get them to a gaming table!

Pict 1664: Legio Solaria Reaver Titans

• Adeptus Titanicus: In addition to the two Reavers, I also did some good work for the Legio Solaria with four Warhounds. And I painted some of their retainers, the Knights of House Procon Vi with four Cerastus Lancer Knights and four Atropos Knights.

Pict 1535: Blood Angels Tacticals advancing with Cerastus Lancer Support 

Pict 1546: Legio Solaria Warhound Titan on the Prowl

Pict 1563: Legio Solaria Warhounds

Pict 1655: House Procon Vi Cerastus Knight Atrapos

• Ents: Lastly, for Middle-earth I painted two more Ents – one Birch and the third character, Beechbone. I played them in one tournament and had great fun beating up a whole load of orcs while doing so!

Pict 1579: Ent

Pict 1631: Beechbone

Hobby Plans for 2026

Looking ahead, I don't have a specific project in mind. But I want to try and focus on playing and reducing my backlog again. So the three simple goals are:

• Once again paint more than 100 miniatures.
• Paint the stuff I have and buy fewer new miniatures.
• And most importantly have fun and play with my miniatures.

 

A Swarm of Jetbikes and another Legolas

During the last few weeks of the year, I want to try and finish a few more projects that I started during the year but never quite finished. First up are the Legions Imperialis Scimitar Jetbikes from last week and another Legolas.

Pict 1688: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Scimitar Jetbikes

Pict 1689: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Scimitar Jetbikes

As planned, these Jetbikes were quickly done over two more evenings. The pigment on the base always ties the paintjob together and I'm quite happy with them. They look like a swarm, ready to descend on any enemies!

Pict 1690: A Piece of the Battle of Five Armies

Pict 1691: Legolas

Pict 1692: Legolas

I started this Legolas with the MESBG tournament in November in mind. While I ultimately decided on The Black Gate, I also toyed with a Battle of the Five Armies list consisting mainly of Iron Hills Dwarves supported by Beorn and Legolas. With the pivot to Morannon Orcs and Troll Chieftains, Legolas was left by the wayside. Finishing the highlights did, once again, take not to long and I'm very happy to clear the miniature from my backlog!

Pict 1693: Procon Vi Questoris and Porphyrion Knights (WIP)

These Knights do not quite fit in with the rest, because they are a new project. However, the colour scheme does lend itself to a quick paintjob. For now, I put down the base colours. Next will be the deacals and then it is on to the oilwash.

DreadTober 2025 begins!

It's October and of course that means it is officially DreadTober! I've been getting in the Adeptus Titanicus mood with my Atrapos Knighs and have made a good start on the two Reaver Titans I will paint over the course of the month.

Pict 1651: Legio Solaria Reaver Titans (WIP)

So, this is how far I have gotten with the two Reaver Titans for my Legio Solaria. After the basic metals of the skeleton, I started with the green armour panels since the stippling is the messiest part. The other armour colours went on pretty fast. I also did the other magnetised weapon options and I'm happy with that progress for now. Details should not take to long. The trim, however, now that's a different story.

Pict 1652: House Procon Vi Atrapos Knights (WIP)

The Atrapos Knights are alomst done. I plan to finish them over the coming week. The one furthest on the left is only missing the pigment wash on the base, while the others still need some more highlights on the metals and more detail work done to them. Still, I'm pretty happy with them! The colour scheme is a very fast one and I'm looking forward to adding more and different Knight classes to my banner.

Pict 1653: Blood Angels Spartan (WIP)

The Spartan had the usual oil wash, but I was not quite able to finish it in time for the planned Apocalypse game. Nevertheless, the Decals on the sides are quite striking and I was happy to try it out. A Levithan with double Storm Cannon took care of it, but I managed to decant my big blog of Despoilers with added Chaplain and Moritat to do some harm at least! Still, the Spartan might have to wait until November to get the finishing touches, because I want to focus on my DreadTober projects.

Pict 1654: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Mastodons (WIP)

This fate might be shared by these two Mastodons for my Legions Imperialis Blood Angels. I was super happy to see these miniatures announced and I had to get one box as soon as they were available. They seem to be a good ride to get Leviathans up the board and charging. Of course I had to convert one of them with the open assault hatch (simliar to my Thunderhawk) and glued a Terminator in there ready to charge out. I'm really looking forward to finishing these and getting to use them in a game! Maybe

Catching up on Legions Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus

This is part two of my post chatching up on what I got done over the last two months. This time looking at a bunch of completed Legions Imperialis Blood Angels. I also started the work on two Reaver Tians for my Legio Solaria, four Atrapos Knights for House Procon Vi and a set of Sabres for the Blood Angels.

Pict 1581: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Kratos Battletanks

I plan to go to the Legions Imperialis event at Warhammer World in June. Again, a great opportunity to get some more of my collection painted. The event calls for a few different lists. Among them one themed as a defender and one themed as an attacker. My collection suits the latter a bit better, so I'll have to see what I can do about that.

First up, I wanted to finish my Kratos tanks. I experimented a bit with them. Instead of giving them an oilwash, I did that stage with simple Nuln Oil. It worked out all right (the Nuln Oil dried faster, that's for sure), but I like the effect of the oil paint better. Still, I'm happy to have them done and look forward to paint some more tanks for an armoured company.

Pict 1582: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Leviathan and Deredeo Dreadnoughts

I also painted even more Dreadnoughts – this time another set of Levithans and Deredeos. All told I have 36 Dreadnoughts painted for the game. I think that might be enough for now! I have played a list with all of them in and I was quite impressed especially by the Deredeos!

Pict 1583: Legio Solaria Reaver Titan (WIP)

Pict 1584: Legio Solaria Reaver Titan (WIP)

Whilst building the Blood Angels from last post, I also did some work on the next few models for Adeptus Titanicus and Legions Imperialis. This time around its two Reaver Titans with a whole bunch of magnetized weapons. One of them is more static and will be the long ranged killer, while the more dynamic running pose (inspired by a beautiful Reaver from this post by the 40kaddict) will probably have the shorter ranged guns. But the engine could even be outfitted with two close combat weapons! During building I had Suber's warning about lining up the legs and feet in mind, which did help avoid desaster, especially with the running Reaver!

Pict 1585: House Procon Vi Cerastus Knight Atrapos (WIP)

Pict 1586: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Sabres (WIP)

I also put together the new plastic Atrapos Knights for the House Procon Vi as well as a set of Sabre tanks for my Blood Angels. Both very fun and again incredibly detailed. However, putting the Sabre missles on the tanks individually really was an exercise in patiente. And I primed up the AT templates, ground assets and additional gubbins, so getting to play more should be even easier in the future.

Legio Solaria Lupercal Maniple

These past two weeks I finished three Warhound Titans for my Legio Solaria as well as two more Cerastus Knights. They will definitly see play in Adeptus Titanicus and maybe Legions Imperialis. I also painted up a further bunch of Contemptor Dreadnoughts for Legions Imperialis and worked on some Kratos Battletanks.

Pict 1563: Legio Solaria Warhounds

The three Warhounds were finished up over the course of a few evenings after the oilwash had dried and was sealed in with a layer of varnish. I really enjoy the constrast between the green and the red panels! It really makes them stand out. As the title suggests, I could even run these three as a maniple! But of course, I'm looking forward to adding in some more titans...

Pict 1564: Additional Warlord Titan Weapons

Whilst painting the Warhounds, I also painted up a few more weapons for my Warlord Titan. Since I got the Titan second hand, it was missing the Apocalypse Missile Launchers – a flaw I remedied and simultaneously got myself a nice and big Volkite weapon for the arm slot. Magnets really make these big models quite fun!

Pict 1565: House Procon Vi Cerastus Lancers

I finished the two additional Cerastus Lancers even before the Warhounds. House Procon Vi really paints up quickly! I incorporated some more blue and white panels to break up the black armour on these ones. I'm really happy with the way they came out and I'm looking forward to getting some Questoris and Acastus frames to paint up!

Pict 1566: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Contemptro Dreadnoughts

To add even more to my Legions Imperialis collection, I painted even more Contemptor Dreadnoughts. As with the Knights, I varied the colours of the panels by adding in some black and gold ones. I do now have a whopping ten of each load out. Now, if only there was a formation to run them as a proper Fury of the Ancients, I'd be really happy!

Pict 1567: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Kratos (WIP)

Next up then for Legions Imperialis will be the start of an Armoured Company formation with a bunch of Kratos battletanks. I might try and put the base colours on even more tanks and do the oil wash all at the same time. We'll see what distracts me next...

Pict 1568: Commander, Best Painted Prize (WIP)

Lastly, a quick update on my 28mm Blood Angels: Lats weeks' tournament saw my Blood Angels list beaten twice and victorious once. They did, however, score me the best painted price in the form of this fun 3D print. I'm still debating whether I should paint this Marine as a Blood Angel or as a Raven Guard – both would look ace, I think!

An Old Cottage on Old Stuff Day

Finally Old Stuff Day falls on a Sunday and thus on my usual blogging day. This means, in addition to show of a bit of what I did during the last week, I also get to put a spotlight on some old posts of mine as well as those of other bloggers!

Pict 1560: Warhammer Forge Cottage

Pict 1561: Warhammer Forge Cottage

First up, however, is the one miniature I finished since my last post: To do something completly different to my Blood Angels, I painted up this Cottage made by ForgeWorld for Warhammer Fantasy. I painted it using my usual recipe to go with my other Fantasy terrain. I really like the simplicity of the sculpt. It does not even have any skulls mandatory for later Warhammer sets, so it will fit nicely on a table used for games of Middle-earth SBG.

Pict 1562:  Legio Solaria Warhounds, House Procon Vi Cerastus Lancers (WIP)

And to show of what else I have been doing: The Legio Solaria Warhounds and the Cerastus Knights have had the base colours finished as well as the decals and the oil wash. Once the latter has fully dried, the Titans and Knights should be done quite quickly.

Man, it was great fun to think about blogs and specific blog posts that I liked during the last few years. I also scrolled through some of my favourite blogs, which was a very enjoyable evening. Please do have a look at some of these posts and maybe give these blogs a follow if you don't already!

 Old School Gaming - Forest Dragon

Marc's blogposts are always a delight, but I really loved the Wood Elf Highborn riding on the classic Forest Dragon he painted a few years back. The colours are super smooth and vibrant and the base uses a lot of different textures including some seeds that look a bit like dragon eggs.

Chucking Monkeys - Carnifex in Drop Pod

While I'm not painting any Tyranids right now and I don't really plan to, I think about this conversion every once in a while. Actually putting a Carnifex into the Tyranid Drop Pod is such a cool idea. It really makes you see how the miniature works within the world.

Confessions of a 40k addict - Devilgants

40kaddict really is a prolific blogger and his Tyranids are iconic. Once you see them, you will always recognise them! The linked post shows a group of Termagants armed with Devourers – my favourite load out when I started playing them, even if it doubled their points costs.

Kaiju Country - Imperator Titan Build

Goddenzilla's Imperator Titan build is an amazing read and I highly recommend the whole series. This particular post shows his process of detailing the immense engine and in particular the build of the head.

Rob Hawkins - Skaven Orrery

Another great project log that follows an amazing build. Rob's skill in utilising the Citadel plastic parts, combining them and adding in his own parts is such an inspiration!

262nd Death Korps of Krieg - Reaver Titans

After getting into Adeptus Titanicus recently, I went back through DAM's posts of Titans to look for inspiration on posing mine. They were some of the first posts on the blog that I read and I still love DAM's use of colours and his basing!

Death of a Rubricist - History of the Leman Russ

Speaking of small scale miniatures, I love this look back through the history of the Leman Russ. Before reading, I had no idea how many different miniatures were released for it. Its a fun design exercise to compare the details through the various iterations.

Würfelwiese - Acastus Knight Porphyrion

I really like Würfelwiese's painting style, the colours are always so strong and the contrast with with shadows really makes them pop. The Knight in the linked post is also impressivly weathered and the addition of a Techpriest on the base really sells the size of the engine.

Omnissiah's Skunkworks - Replicating Reavers

Carl only recently migrated his website to blogger and I'm very happy that the beautiful Titans (especially the Legio Solaria) still have a place on the internet. One of his current projects is to rebuild a classic Titanicus army from White Dwarf with modern plastic kits.

Nicky Grillet - The Wandering Ruins

Nicky also recently revived the blogging on her website. I love the mood she packs into her miniatures and her terrain. Looking through her pictures is always an inspiration!

And to advertise some of my own goods as well, here are three posts that I am particularly proud of:

Building an Uruk-hai army like it's 2001

I'm still very proud of my full metal Uruk-hai Scout army and have recently taken it out to play some games with it. To have a bit more versatility when list building, I have contemplated converting some more Scouts without any equipment, but for now the blogpost from five years ago is still a good representation of this collection!

Cursed City completed

This one really is one of my greates accompishements! I love the look of all the completed miniatures and I really would like to play another campaign. I'm still missing some more miniatures for the expansions but with all the stuuf I have on my desk right now, I don't see myself painting them in the next little while. Still, getting to look at these pictures brings me joy!

Converted Mordor Troll Chieftain

Lastly, this big guy in probably my best conversion to date. It really pushed my ability to use green stuff and I'm still very happy with it. It's a bit sad, that I can't really use him in a legal list right now. But I could see myself getting some Morannon Orcs to revive my Black Gate army.