Category: Hobby

  • [Painted] Myari’s Purifiers

    [Painted] Myari’s Purifiers

    So my first finished project for #PaintSlam21 is done! Thanks to Stazzeous over on Twitch, I had a voucher for Element Games and could justify buying the new Warhammer Underworlds: Direchasm box set!

    So, over the last few days I’ve been working on Myari’s Purifiers, the warband based on the Lumineth Realmlords.

    Check ’em out!

    Bahannar, with his hammer, and Myari Lightcaller the leader of the Warband.
    Ailenn, The Minds Edge (my favourite!) and Senaela the archer.

    You’ll probably notice I went for a rather different colour scheme than the standard Lumineth colours. I wanted to go for something bright and bold, since I’m on my oldhammer kick and these sculpts felt like they deserved it.

    So my inspiration for these? The old 90s Dragon Princes of Caledor!

    How amazing are these!?

    So it was that I came up with this scheme for my Lumineth! And I think they came out really quite nicely. Colours, for those who might wish to copy them, are as follows:

    Prime: Grey Seer Spray

    Red Robes: Flesh Tearers Red (Contrast), Nuln Oil Wash, Highlights with Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Wider Red

    Metallics: Stormhost Silver, Nuln Oil Wash, Some areas washed with Contrast Space Wolves Grey, highlights back up with Stormhost Silver.

    Green: Base colour of Vallejo Deep Green, recess shade Space Wolves Grey, highlights Moot Green and Phalanx Yellow.

    Gold: Retributor Armour, Reikland Fleshshade Wash, Highlights with Retributor and Liberator Gold.

    Whites: Corax White base, washed with Space Wolves Grey contrast, highlighted back up to Corax White.

    Bases: Death Guard Green rim and vegetation, Mechanicus Standard Grey rocks, Mornfang Brown branches. Agrax it all, drybrush with Celestra Grey on the rocks. Apply orangey-brown pigment powder to add effect, seal with white spirits or equivalent.

    I hope that’s helpful to anyone who wants to do the same scheme. And watch out for more Wood Elves from myself very soon!

  • [Shoutout] KokoroCon Nottingham

    [Shoutout] KokoroCon Nottingham

    My good friend Ben got in touch to tell me about KokoroCon, a new con in Nottingham which had tickets go on sale today. Booked for 1st – 3rd April 2022, the con is due to feature Dealers, a Gaming area, Panels, Workshops, Performances and, of course, Parties.

    To quote the organisers:
    “KokoroCon is a brand new convention with an experienced team launching April 1st-3rd 2022. Our priority is creating a warm, fun and welcoming environment for convention newbies and veterans alike. Whether your interests lie more in cosplay, anime, videogames, board games, merch buying or listening to guests and panelists talk expertise – there’s plenty for you to enjoy all across the weekend! “

    If that sounds like your bag, and you’re looking for cons to attend after the pandemic has settled somewhat, give it a look!

    (I was not paid or offered anything for doing this post, it’s just a favour and I think some of you guys will get a kick out of it!)

  • My big project for 2021: Warhammer Age of Orion!

    My big project for 2021: Warhammer Age of Orion!

    As mentioned in a blog post a few months back when I painted up my classic Warhammer Quest Wardancer, Wood Elves were the army that first got me into Warhammer back in the mid 90s (1996, if you want to be super specific about things, just before the release of 5th Edition WHFB).

    My first White Dwarf was issue 201, which just happened to coincide with the release of Orion, King in the Woods. Shortly thereafter I bought my first box of plastic Wood Elf archers, and my first ever army project began!

    Orion himself was my first ever “big” metal model. I didn’t know about pinning back then, so needless to say he fell apart quite often…

    Sadly in about 1999, my Wood Elf army had to say goodbye for various reasons, and I shed a quiet tear for Orion and his elfin kin as they made their way to places unknown. And so it was that for about a decade beyond that point that I didn’t really look at Warhammer.

    Around 2010, my hobby itch was getting too annoying to not scratch, so I popped into the local Games Workshop, in Leicester. The manager there was very helpful and she helped me pick out a Wood Elf Spellweaver (the finecast one) and a box of Glade Guard (which confused me, because they were archers and I remembered Glade Guard being the name for the spearmen!).

    The Spellweaver. This was the first Warhammer model I painted after that decade or so of hobby hiatus.

    Over the next few years I collected a small force of the “modern” Wood Elves, including the new Glade Riders and Wardancers as well as Treekin and the Finecast version of the 2000s Treeman. When the range updated I added Sisters of the Thorn, Wild Riders and Wildwood Rangers to my collection along with Araloth. And then came Age of Sigmar. A bunch of these models got transferred onto round bases to create a Wanderers force for the new game. But although I did go on to make a Sylvaneth army too, the look of the army never really worked for me. I missed the way my old 90s army looked.

    Arrayed for battle in the early days of Age of Sigmar, before they got rebased onto Rounds.

    Well, over the next five years I’d had again that itching feeling. The need to go back and grab those models from my youth that I remembered so fondly. So I went onto eBay and picked up the classic Wood Elves army book I remembered from my youth and it was still there, that magic. I stared longingly at the beautiful metal miniatures in the ‘Eavy Metal pages. And then, towards the end of this very year 2020, I made the decision. I was going to rebuild my old army, bigger and better than ever before!

    Some of my now-sold Sylvaneth. I did have fun with these but it wasn’t quite hitting the spot.

    So we come to today. As at the time of writing I have painted up a few miniatures, and decided roughly how I want to proceed. My goals with this project are thus:

    • To paint the models in a colour scheme close to those of the official paint jobs back in the 90s.
    • To base the models on green, square bases as they would have been at the time.
    • To obtain at least one unit of each type in the army list. Where possible to also have each of the named characters.
    • To have a lovely painted army by the end of 2021.

    I know this won’t be the easiest project – classic Warhammer can be hard to come by if you don’t have deep pockets. But thankfully I’ve had a fantastic start thanks to the wonderful help and contributions by my friends on social media. In particular I would love to shout out my appreciate to James who very kindly sent me a heavy parcel containing Orion, Ariel, no less than 3 Treemen (including Durthu) and a whole bunch of archers and glade guard. I am absolutely thrilled to have these models to start my collection off with. And I’m sure I’ll be shouting out more of the community soon!

    So, that’s where we’re at. And since you read this far, it’s only fair I show you the models I’ve painted so far for this army!

    And that’swhere we’re at! I’m currently putting the final touches on a unit of Wardancers, so I’ll be hopefully posting an update soon with those chaps. Until then please stay tuned and keep up with my posts on Twitter and Instagram!

    And if you happen to have any 90s Wood Elves that are just sort of “in the way” and they could do with a loving home, please give me a shout!

  • 2020: Painthammer Memories

    2020: Painthammer Memories

    It is perhaps most charitable to say that 2020, as a year, was “interesting”. With much of the world spending extended periods in lockdown, and with so many lives lost to the pandemic, things were rough for a lot of us. Even if we were not directly affected by the virus itself, we all felt its impact be that working from home, not being able to visit our loved ones or even pop down to the local hobby store for a regular Sunday tournament!

    Well, with the year wrapping up with a look forward to 2021 and whatever that year brings, it’s also time to wrap up #Painthammer2020. As the year ends, please do post your hobby log and any models you’re particularly proud of on social media with the hashtag so we can all see!

    I put out the call over at the PaintSlam! Discord server for folks to share a model or unit from their Painthammer 2020 adventure, and where possible a little note about them too. So this article is now going to be a showcase of models as posted in the submission channel. I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing the breadth of hobby that got done during 2020!

    So without further ado, let’s take a dive into the submissions!


    [Discord Usernames have been used to credit the artists in this article, please DM me if you want your name changing to something else or if you want your twitter/instagram handle added!]

    Martin painted this brilliant Mortarion, daemon primarch of Nurgle. Keen eyed readers will notice the wings are taken from an Age of Sigmar Tauralon kit!
    From BigGeordieGeek we have this stunning Blood Ravens gunship! I think it’s a Storm Talon? I’m not good with Space Marine vehicles, they all merge into one a bit for me haha.
    From my friend Bangus we have these brilliant new Necron warriors. I really love the basing on these, the tiled ground really sets them in place.
    Another post from Papa Negan, a metal Army of the Dead painted in ghostly colours.
    Guilty brings us this Ork! This is their first painted model, so huge congrats on taking that first step into the hobby!
    From Azakael: “Literally the only model I finished in 2020.” – I always say Painthammer/PaintSlam isn’t really about how much you paint, it’s just that you did.
    Russintexas submitted this glorious horde of greenskins! “During the month of Orktober, I printed & painted ~1650 points of Orks from GearGutz’ MekShop. I learned a lot about FDM printing, painting to a schedule, and so much more.”
    The esteemed Hobbyistgirl submitted Leman Russ himself! The NMM effects on the armour are breathtaking.
    BigGeordieGeek returns again, this time with the Wurmspat from Warhammer Underworlds. I’m a big Nurgle fan so I appreciate these a lot – I can’t wait to paint them myself too!
    *tap tap* Oh, BigGeordieGeek tapped me on the shoulder once again to show us his lovely Mortarion! The heavily weathered and corroded metal looks fab.
    Painthammer and PaintSlam have always been open to all sorts of miniature painting, not just Games Workshop products! Guilty returns, this time they have painted this wonderful hanging Christmas ornament! “I’m really proud of the work I did on the detailing, and how the scroll and skin came out, especially as I only just started painting this year!”
    RedDragon submitted this wonderful Dark Angels Master, which was painted as a birthday gift for a friend!
  • For the Lion!

    For the Lion!

    Oh my, it has been a little while since I posted a blog post here on the website. I apologise for my somewhat… lax approach to this website here.

    Anyway, I figured now was a good time to show you some of what I’ve been working on, so here’s some fun stuff I’ve recently painted up for my Warhammer 40,000 Dark Angels army.

    Primaris Lt, 10 Assault Intercessors and 3 Outriders, from Indomitus

    I was fortunate enough to win a box of Indomitus thanks to the lovely giveaway by OrcPainterNerd on Facebook. I’ve not gotten *that* much of it painted yet due to focussing on commission work. But here you can see my first 3 Outriders, a Primaris Lieutenant and 2 squads of 5 Assault Intercessors. I’ve been using mostly the modern Citadel colours, but the armour is based with an ancient pot of Dark Angels Green!

    Primaris Captain

    I also painted this Primaris Captain for my Deathwing, also from the Indomitus set. I did a simple headswap with one of the female bio-roiders heads from Statuesque Miniatures, and switched the tilting plate for one from the Dark Angels upgrade sprue.

    Then, after a bit of a break I went and painted this, the Dark Angels Legion Praetor from Forge World. I painted it up into 40k colours so he could be used as a Master or something. His left arm is magnetised so he can use either the boltgun or the storm shield. I really enjoyed painting this chap – I don’t get to paint much Forge World.

    Finally (so far) is Master Lazarus, who I got in the recent Imperium Supply Drop “Loot Crate” from GW Direct. I had a great time painting this chappy up too, I wasn’t likely to buy him individually at his asking price because it seemed a bit high for a simple model. But as part of a bigger batch of products it was a nice thing to see!

    So, what’s next? Well, got a bunch more Indomitus to get painted up. I’m looking forward to tackling the Chaplain and the Judiciar. And I’ve got plans to make a Primaris version of Asmodai, as soon as my Puppets War and Kromlech bits arrive!

    Thanks for reading! What have you been working on? Let me know in the comments!

  • My Favourite Wood Elf Miniature Ever!

    My Favourite Wood Elf Miniature Ever!

    So back in Ye Olde Nineties, when I was a mere lass with crippling gender dysphoria and less confidence than a small zebra who has to give a speech in front of ten hungry lions, I fell in love with this Wardancer for Warhammer Quest. I was already totally in love with the Wood Elves of the era. Orion, the Waywatchers, Scouts etc. All lovely miniatures. But it was the Wardancers I liked most, and this character model in particular jumped out to me. It sparked joy.

    So it was that over 20 years later I decided to jump onto eBay and pick it up again (sadly unboxed and without any of the other goodies, but such is life). And I knew I wanted to paint it again, in that ’90s style complete with bright green base and wild primary colours.

    And here he is, after a bunch of nostalgic painting! I like to think I got fairly close to the original vision for the model. I tried to get the yin-yang symbols looking good and I wanted to keep the colours vibrant.

    It was such a blast painting this model again after something like 24 years since I first owned it. I think the level of detail and the pose is just perfect and it’s aged really well. The hair is one of those features you just can’t forget, it’s so iconic and I’d love to see these kind of wacky hairstyles return to the worlds of Warhammer.

    Do you guys have any favourite Warhammer Quest miniatures? Anything you’d love to see me paint? And don’t forget I do commission painting so please get in touch if you have anything you’d like a splash of life on!