Great Fangorn Forest to high Orthanc hill, shall come against him

Six more miniatures finished to show this time around: I painted up Quickbeam the Ent for a tournament coming up in April and then put the finishing touches on a squad of Infinity minatures I had laying around from last year.

Pict 1426: Quickbeam the Ent

Pict 1427: Quickbeam

Pict 1428: Quickbeam

First up is Quickbeam, one of the newer models available for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. I am really happy with the different tones I managed to put on him to change up the somewhat monotonous brown you often see on Ents. The 3d sculpted texture was a bit bland for my taste, but once the green flock was on he really came together.

Pict 1429: Ghulam Infantry, Kaplans, Al'Hawwa

These Infinity miniatures were another project that got left behind last year. After watching the new Dune movie I got the itch to finish them. They were only missing the faces and some highlights and the finishing touches were done over a few weekday evenings. I'm pretty happy with them and there are a few more miniatures in my collection that would fit this Kaplan / Qapu Khalqi theme. But I fear, they will be postponed until I manage to get a game in.

Pict 1430: Treebeard (WIP)

For now, there are some more Middle-earth figures to do for an upcoming tournament in April. One of them is this treebeard here. Since Quickbeam went pretty quickly, I hope to finish Treebeard soon as well. Of course he's carrying Merry and Pippin who will need some more attention, but I'm looking forward to it!

Pict 1431: Neferata on foot (Conversion)

Pict 1432: Neferata on foot (Conversion)

Lastly, whilst I had some green stuff mixed up to fill the gaps on Treebeard, I also finished this conversion of Neferata on foot. Since last I showed her, I filled the gaps between the two kits I used and resculpted parts of the skirt that were damaged during the construction. Hardest was to figure out how to connect the long and flowing sleeves to the back of her dress (the mounted version hides this with her throne). I'm pretty happy with the result and look forward to painting her!

The Butterfly's Tally 2023

Happy New Year! As is tradition, the start of a year calls for reflection on the past and for plans on what to do in the upcoming cycle around the sun. I'm really quite happy with what I have achieved in 2023 and am looking forward to the projects in 2024!

Pict 1404: Sanguinius leading the Blood Angels

The Hobby Tally 2023

So to have a look back, this is what I set out to do at the start of the year and how I did:

• Paint and play at least the first of the two Cursed City expansions (it's only 6 miniatures: 3 giant bats, Radukar the Beast, Lady Annika and Carmilla DuSang)
• I managed to paint all of these, but decided against playing just the one expansion. Ideally I'd like to start a fresh campaign with both expansions painted.
  I did, however, play one session over Halloween, which was great!

Pict 1405: Cursed City Villains of 2023

• Paint 5 Infinity miniatures and play a game with them
• In the end I painted 11 Infinity miniatures and even had a few games scheduled in, but they all did not work out in the end. I will have to be better with getting together with people to play these games!

Pict 1406: Haqqislam, Dahshat and Kaplans of 2023

• Paint 10 MESBG miniatures
• I painted 16 MESBG miniatures - not as many as in prior years, but I'm still happy with them! Again, having a game scheduled makes for great motivation to paint at least some of the miniatures you need.

Pict 1407: Mordor Orcs and Rohan Heroes of 2023

• Paint 3 more tiles of the modular gaming board as well as the rest of the Garden of Morr (that's 6 pieces of wall)
• This is probably the biggest achievement of this year! I'm super glad to have finished a 4x4 gaming board and the Garden of Morr pieces. I still have quite a few more pieces of terrain fitting in with the collection, but I can play games at home, which is amazing.

Pict 1408: Garden of Morr Scenery 2023

• Paint at least 100 miniatures in total
• 100 is always a good and round number to aim for and of course I managed to smash this goal as well with 176 miniatures painted in total!

Looking at these resolutions and my way of achieving them makes me really happy. I did not go for to many specific projects because I know, I will get distracted over the course of the year. What could have gone better is gaming – while certainly also a question of free time, I could have been more agressive in getting together with friends. But in the final days of the year I managed to get to hobby club about an hour away and get in my first Heresy game. I do hope to contiune this trend!

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

Other Big Projects of this Year

Pict 1409: Horus Heresy Blood Angels of 2023

I added quite a bit to my Blood Angels army this year: Aster Crohne, 1 Consul, 10 Mortalis Destroyers, 5 Assault Destroyers as Zephon's retinue, 1 Castra Ferrum Dreadnought, 15 Inductii Despoilers, 10 Scouts, 15 Assault Marines, 1 Rhino, 6 Seekers, 1 Avenger Strike Fighter and of course Sanguinius!
All in all 67 miniatures – quite the collection seeing it tallied up like this!

Pict 1410: Tyranids of 2023

With the new models coming for the tenth edition of 40k, I also did some work on my Tyranids. While I'm still not that enamoured with 40k, these were quite fun to get back to.

Pict 1411: Badab Enforcers of 2023

I have gotten quite a good start to a Necromunda collection without even intending to do so. I plan to use these as the bad guys in a Inquisitor game but they could also see use as a Badab War Kill Team. I should really get onto painting the Inquisitor, the retinue and some more terrain I have sloted for that project...

Hobby Plans for 2024

Which brings me nicely to the plans for the coming year. I will once again try to not be too specific and be ok with getting distracted. I also want to try and not get to swept up an the hype of new miniatures and get to the projects I already have at home. And I do want to play more games

• Paint 2 pieces of terrain each for the SciFi and the Fantasy collection
  
• 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!
  
• Once again paint more than 100 miniatures
  
• Lastly, make a concerted effort to buy less new stuff, paint the stuff I have and play with it
   

Infinity Mercenaries: Kaplan Tactical Service

November once again provided very little hobby time, so this post will be a quick catch-up. I managed tp finish a small project for Infinity: a company of Kaplan Mercenaries. I also did a little bit more work on the Oldhammer undead miniatures I had started at the start of the month.

Pict 1389: Kaplan Mercenary Company

Pict 1390: Kaplans, Yuan Yuan, Ghulam and the Yu Jing Ambassador HVT

One of my friends is really into the Mercenaries game mode for Infinity and has been trying to get me paint up a team as well. I had an old box of the Kaplan Tactical Service and took the opportunity to paint them in different (but similar) colours to my usual Haqqislam/Dashat Company collection. Besides the Kaplans I also added in a Yuan Yuan, a Ghulam and an HVT to round out a small 100 point list. I'm really happy to have this use for the Ghulams - I already have six with this exact load out in older poses painted.

Pict 1391: Vampires, Necromancer, Werefox and Cats (WIP)

I also worked on the Undeads from last post - they are now basecoated and had a wash. Highlighting them and doing the detail work should not take to long!

A Scottish Werewolf in the Desert

One week late, because the Real life is rearing its ugly head once again leaving me less time to paint than I would like... Nevertheless I managed to paint up five miniatures for Infinity to make a start on one of my new year's resolutions and put some paint on Radukar the Beast.

Pict 1285: McMurrough and Friends

Pict 1286: Yara Hadadd, Yasbir, McMurrough, Daylami and Ghulam Infantry

Seems like I cought the Infinity bug again. I blame Ash Barker's Tactical Awareness podcast! I've been listening for a while and have been thinking about painting something from the Infinity universe. These five will form part of my Hassassin sectorial.

The stand out has to be McMurrough the mercenary Dog-Warrior. What's not to love about a scottish Werewolf with a giant sword!

The Yara Hadaddad miniature is a conversion from an old Tuareg scuplt. I converted her right at the end of  my last stint with Infinity and painting her now seemed like the right thing to do!

The Ghulam with HMG is one of the oldest sculpts in my collection, right out of the first edition of the game. He'll probably play the part of a Ghulam with Grenade Launcher, at least as long as that load out is not available.

This was also the first time for me to make my own grass tufts. Really not that hard and they look great on the bases! Only problem is, that I will now have to go back through my collection and add tufts to the bases...

Having painted these five, I completed the first part of one of my new year's resolutions. Now, I only have to go ahead and play a game with them as well!

Pict 1287: Radukar the Beast and Vyrkos Bloodborn (WIP)

This is the first update on Radukar the Beast I'm painting for #MonsterMarch on my blog. You can see a first picture with the base colours established on Radukar the Beast and his two Vyrkos Bloodborn minions over on Swordmaster's blog. By now the three have had their washes and are waiting for the highlighting and detail work.

Pict 1288: Badab Enforcers (WIP)

Lastly I also started on these five Palanite Enforcers. I bought them second hand at the start of the year, so I don't know if they are built with legal loadouts. But since I want to use them in even smaller, narrative circumstances, I don't care that much. They will be part of my Badab War collection, forming the human compartment of the Tyrant's Legion.
For now, the basecoats are almost done. I plan to use mainly sponge highlighting and a heavy oil wash to give them a grimy look to tie them in to my Howling Griffons.

The Butterfly's Tally 2021

Like every year, I like to use this first post in January to look back at the past year, reminding myself of certain projects, see how I did with my New Year's resolutions and make some new ones for the coming year.

Pict 1113: Qulathis the Exile

Pict 1114: Qulathis the Exile

Pict 1115: Qulathis the Exile

But first, here is the last miniature I painted in 2021: Qulathis the Exile. Quite a nice model, I was very excited for since the Wood Elves were my first Warhammer Fantasy army. Sadly, in the game she is a bit of a slouch, but that's what community patches are made for!

Hobby Tally 2021

Once again, here are links to the tallies of the past: The Tally 2017, The Tally 2018, The Tally 2019, The Tally 2020

And here is what I wanted to do this year:

• Paint a 4' x 4 ' gaming board
• Paint at least four pieces of terrain to go with the board
• And as always: Paint more models than buying new ones.

As for my numbers, a qick glance at the sidebar will show you that I did go a bit overboard with expanding my collection... While I have some ideas where I could downsize a little bit, I am also quite happy with the miniatures I have and I'm very exited about painting and playing with them.

I am also very happy with the quality of my painting. I really feel like I stepped up my painting across the board compared to earlier years. The only outliers might be some of the Infinity miniatures. I do like how they turned out and they are certainly good enough for the table, but I could do better with them if I spend more time with them.

Quite a few of my painted miniatures (comparatively) are terrain pieces. It was quite fun to see my collection grow especially with the Garden of Morr. I also got really into taking scenic pictures of the miniatures I painted, which also motivated my a great deal to paint more terrain in order to mix up the backgrounds!

The gaming board did not quite get done... I managed to prime the tiles I have and one 2' x 2' section did get painted – one of my most read posts of the year!

Other projects of 2021

At the beginning of the year, I painted small bands of Halflings and Wild Elves for ArcWorlde as well as a few unaligned beasts. I love the miniature's style and there are more of them prepped and ready to recieve some paint.

Thanks to my gaming group becoming more active, I also got back into Infinity. Not only did I paint more miniatures of my Haqqislam collection, I also started to play and paint models for the Dahshat Company.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Warhammer Quest Cursed City. Even with Qulathis finished (see above) I am still missing the two bruiser heroes, Brutogg the ogre and Dagnai the dwarf. As soon as these two are done, I plan to do an additional post showing the contents of the box. The set got me into the modern aesthetic of GW miniatures and I even branched out into some more undead.

Hobby resolutions for 2022

I really want to make a dent into my unpainted pile and bring up the ratio of my painted miniatures. So, once again, I want to paint more models that I buy. Painting-wise, the following list should get me to paint a divers bunch of miniatures. And 60 miniatures all together would also be a good start for my numbers.

• 20 Warhammer Fantasy / Age of Sigmar miniatures
• 10 Infinity miniatures
• 10 MESBG miniatures
• 10 miniatures by independent creators (for example ArcWorlde, Relicblade, etc.)
  
• 10 pieces of terrain

An Infinity Tournament, Gothmog and a Knight in Shining Armour

I used my hobby time these past two weeks mostly to paint more miniatures for an Infinity tournament. But I also did some more work to finish up projects instead of starting new ones.

Pict 1093: Dahshat Company on the Move

Pict 1094: Libertos, Hulan, Valerya Gromoz, Miranda Ashcroft, Dozer

I wanted to play these six miniatures in a tournament, so they were the first in line to get done. I had started them early enough but only finished them the evening before the event. Nevertheless I am pretty happy with the way they came out - the Liberto fish bois and other mercenaries fit right in.

Pict 1095: Brawlers

Pict 1096: Brawlers

After the tournament I still had these two unfinished Brawlers from a few weeks back. Since I was on a roll and the colours scheme fresh in my head, they were done in one evening. I look forward to using them in some Dahshat lists because I was relying on a Zuyong link team not only for the tournament itself but also in the test matches leading up to it.

Pict 1097: A Box Full of Projects

After finishing the Infinity models I took a hard look at my project box and decided that I should finish the miniatures I started this year instead of starting with new ones. The picture shows some of the things I want to get done by the end of the year: some Warhammer High Elves, ArcWorlde beasts and Wild Elves, Middle-earth Dwarves and Warg Riders, the Cursed City heroes and of course the remainder of the Garden of Morr.

Pict 1098: Gothmog, Lieutenant of Saruron

Pict 1099: Gothmog, Lieutenant of Saruron

A first step towards finishing models involved adding two more (which I did before resolving to not do that anymore...). To complete Gothmog riding his Warg, I also added in the two miniatures I have of him on foot. I followed my recipe from a while back – great to have these things written down! – and I find that it works very well. Now, if I did not have such high moral objections to Morannon Orcs, I might paint an army of them. For now, I'm happy to paint normal Orc warriors however.

Pict 1100: Emelda Braskov

Pict 1101: Emelda Braskov

Another project that desparately needs finishing is the Cursed City box. As you can see above, I'm only missing some of the heroes. They lay by the wayside because I find it difficult to decide on theit colours (How far do I stray from the box art?!) and because I finished playing through the campaign with the unpainted models.

Anyway, here is the finished Emelda Braskov. She was a perfect example of the difficulties I just described. I wanted to go for very bright colours to make her a beacon in the darkness of Ulfenkarn, but I dreaded painting more white. So to get out of this impasse, I went with colours closer to the box art and now I'm pretty happy with her!

Authorized Bounty Hunting

Three more models finished for my Dahshat Mercenaries and six more on the go! I'm really picking up steam with this new sectorial by playing games and planning ahead for a team tournament.

Pict 1078: Authorized Bounty Hunting

Pict 1079: Authorized Bounty Hunters and Zuyong Invincible

Pict 1080: Authorized Bounty Hunters and Zuyong Invincible

These Bounty Hunter miniatures are really great and full of character. I was however cursing myself for wanting to make them stand out from the rest of my army by giving them white armour. I sill find it a cool look, but I doubt I will want to paint any more of them.

The Zuyong pretty much just adheres to my usual colour scheme. I really like him as a part of my staple link team and he has been in all of my lists so far. I'm happy to have him painted!

Pict 1081: Herbie is looking out for you!

Speaking of games: I did play a few round but only remembered to snap pictures of one. Nevertheless, putting the painted models on a cool game board really elevates them. Herbie is a real champ and great fun to play!

Pict 1082: Dahshat Company (WIP)

I also put down the basic colours on some more Dahshat mercenaries. Here are two Liberto fish boys, a skull-faced Húláng, a skull-masked Dozer as well as Miranda Ashcroft (with the sword) and Valerya Gromoz.

More Dahshat and Dwarves

A quick update once again since I was mostly in 'build mode' rather than 'paint mode'. But I did get some basecolours onto more Dahshat mercenaries and some Middle-earth dwarves.

Pict 1076: Dahshat Mercenaries (WIP)

These two Authorized Bounty Hunters, two Brawlers and Zuyong Invincible are ready for the clean up stage and their highlights. I managed to get one game in with them and of course they did not perform how I wanted them to. I blame the unfinished paintjob (not at all my lacking tactical prowess).

Pict 1077: Iron Hills Dwarves (WIP)

After redoing the bases of my Erebor dwarves, I had the itch to paint the rest of my Middle-earth dwarves. Some, like the last remaining Iron Hills dwarves have waited for paint for some time but there are a few new additions with Dáin, King under the Mountain and Thorin III Stonehelm. As you can see, these miniatures were just started and I'm still figuring out the colours, especially on the very detailed hair and beards.

Dahshat Company, a Disaster and a very old Vampire

These past weeks I mainly painted some more Infinity miniatures for my Dahshat mercenaries. Seems I'm back on the Corvus Belli train! I also painted an Oldhammer Vampire matching my Cursed City undead.

Pict 1066: Dahshat Heavies

Pict 1067: Jannisary, Djanbazans and Zuyong Invincible

Pict 1068: Jannisary, Djanbazans and Zuyong Invincible

For the first time in forever, I was over at a friend's for a painting session. Since we both play Haqqislam, I started to work on these four infantry models and finished them over the last few evenings.

Pict 1069 - The Rui Shi Disaster

Pict 1070: Rui Shi

Pict 1071: Rui Shi

When I went to varnish these Infinity miniatures last week, disaster stuck when the Rui Shi took a dive down two flights of stairs and shattered into several pieces. After collecting most of the pieces I was quite disheartened especially since I already hated putting it together the first time. Well, now the remote is back together with only little battle damage and only one piece has gone missing.

Pict 1072: "Your wife has such a beautiful neck..." - Graf Orlok

Pict 1073: C18 Vampire Attacking

This lovely miniature is a Vampire from Citadel's 'C18 Night Horrors' Series, released in December 1986. Of course I watched the silent film Nosferatu in preparation and then painted him up rather quickly. I really enjoy his expressive face!

Pict 1074: Erebor Dwarves

I also updated the bases of my Erebor Dwarves to match them to my Iron Hills army. This way I can ally them thogether for a Battle of Azanulbizar theme. Whilst cleaning up the paintjob around the feet, I also took the opportunity to repaint the named heroes' faces. Lastly I also decided to paint up a separate base for my Iron Hills Chariot Captain to stand on, for any time I would ever need three Captains.

Pict 1075: Garden of Morr (WIP)

And here is an update on the rest of my Garden of Morr set. I managed to remove most of the sculpted roses from the all the walls and fences. The stonework has a basecolour and is ready for drybrushing. The detailwork will probably take longer than I expect, but I hope the work will pay of.