Horus Heresy (2) - An Undertaking

 You know what's crazy? I thought for a second I'd be posting these guys for the first time today but it turns out I did already showcase my Word Bearers but it's actually been a little over a year!

https://gamingwithmitten.blogspot.com/2025/06/horus-heresy-1-word-bearers-zone.html

You can check out the previous post here ^ but to summarize, I painted 1k of Word Bearers. Theyve seen exactly one 2nd edition game so far. 

Now for those of you who are keeping score, I said I'd paint another 1k this year in my yearly goal breakdown. Things are about to fly off the handle.

While chatting with a buddy, I've been talked into signing up for some sort of narrative event on the west side of the state, the weekend of Aug. 15. This gives me 26 days (as of writing this) to get the remaining force done for the event. I have signed up for some sort of 3k list and after some deliberation and combing through my collection, I've decided to go for it. I had around 1k done as of last post so to add to the army I will be painting:

10 breachers

5 heavy support squad

1 spartan landraider

1 Saturnine Dread

6 Saturnine Termiunators 

1 Centurion

1 Mortificator

 I did in the meantime finish up my Argel Tal

 So far, I've just been building everything. I think it is actually doable despite how it looks on paper. Almost everything is airbrushed 80 of the base coats so I think all said and done, I stand a good shot. 

Wish me luck

This will unfortunately put the Armageddon project on short hold, but I have another unit almost finished for that. I also have a secret necromunda project that I'll put the final touches on and post about soon, but between now and August, expect more heresy.
 

Warhammer 40k (2) - Primaris Eradicators

 Fresh off the heels of last post, I've actually gone ahead and "finished" my first unit. I put finished in quotes as I will almost definitely go back and add decals at some point but I am out of decal setting solution at the moment. 

For this first unit I'm going to walk through more or less step by step to sort of illustrate what (very roughly) goes into something like this. 

 

 

First, before anything, I sat down and got out the kit I'd be building. These are actually push fit models and for the most part really didn't need any glue. There was one part where I opted to chop the peg off and glue the parts together for a better, more flush, fit but in general, you can build these without glue.

 There's some rather interesting use of engineering here where things like guns connect to knee pads

You can see one completed marine here.

 

The bases that come in this size, come with two holes to insert the peg on the feet into, but only one foot peg. As a result the bases each come with a little "topper" to fill the other hole. This looked odd to me at first as they all sit in sort of the same position but I felt it was fine on the finished paint job.

 The last time I painted Ultramarines was probably when I started the hobby with the battle of Macragge starter box. I gathered a few paints and set to trying to get samples.

 In the end I settled on the middle of the three, AK interactive Dark Blue. I like the coverage of it, and the GW paint but found the dropper bottle a little more alluring for painting a whole army. I suppose in theory I may add a vehicle at some point and the idea of airbrushing GW paint isnt appealing to me.

 I slapped paint all over the model, not worrying about neatness in any capacity. I used an old weathered brush for this that I didn't mind ruining and just went to town. I then gave the model a super quick rough dry brush of AK 3g Ducat Blue, just to catch some edges.

 Next was picking out details in Gold (AK Gold), Silver (AK Gunmetal), Black (AK Tenebrous Grey) and Purity seals with Wine Red and Vampiric Flesh. I did the brass of the shells with AK Copper

 

The next step was an all over wash with marine juice. This is a mix of various washes in various colors and viscosities designed to act as an all over shade to speed up painting.

 

 While this dried, I set to work on the bases. For this, I used vallejo paste. I pulled the pushfit figures oiut of their bases to make this easier. They were painted with my standard recipe of Black Grey (vallejo), and then drybrushed with two lighter greys. 

 

 Once everything dried, i reassembled and wrote this. Total time in on these was a little under an 2 and a half hours. I was mulling it over on the drive to work and I think the total supplies cost for this (not counting all the blue test colors) was in the vicinity of 150. I only note it here for posterity as these paints will be used for a lot more than this project and I've had things like my sprue cutters for the better part of ten years at this point.

 

 

 You can see a sneak peek of whats next here obviously but for the next armageddon post, it will be more showcase and less tutorial. 

Fantasy Gaming (8) - Warhammer Underworlds Wurmspat (and nurgle recipes)

 

 I specifically wanted to document some of the recipes for this as I have plans for a maggotkin army soon, should any of that stuff come back in stock. The recipe is mostly from The Painting Coach on youtube but i diverted in spots.

 Armor: Paint AK gunmetal, wash dark tone, wash strong tone, Stipple Gunmetal then brighter metal. mix miltarum green contrast with ap speed paint medium 1:2 and glaze into dark spots and recesses. Glaze plaguebearer flesh contrast on to highlights while militarum is still damp. glaze plague bearer over rest of metal

Rust: AK 3g Dark Rus, then med rust stippled over rusty spots 

Skin: Valejo Game color (old) pale flesh ( i didnt have kislev flesh) wash with ap flesh wash. rehighlight with pale flesh, wash sores etc with druchii violet for bruising. blood as needed

Tentacles: skin then wash 2 coats druchii violet

Sores: flesh, then spot on white, then imperial fist yelow contrast

Misc Wood is vallejo old wood. Bones etc vampiric flesh with strong tone. Misc cloth in AK3G russian nato green or two thin coats sword hilt burgundy. all washed strong tone. helmet was white with wildly thinned out plagubearer flesh. AK3G copper

Works in Progress (3) - A small workbench update

 I recently, between projects painted the first of a flesh eater courts spearhead. 

 I also managed to finally get the second half of the BLKOUT starter done

 I figured out how to print mechs for arsenal

 I powered through and built some breachers for my Word Bearers

Next on the workbench I have an addition to the Fantasy terrain. I have my first Mordheim Band completed (and depending on posting schedule possible a game in there somewhere)

I also have a brand new warband for Shadow War Armageddon, at least one more Underworlds band and possible some other surprises. 

Here's my current plan for trying to stay focused (place bets now)

I'm only working on three things at a time. If I finish a project, I can start a new one. If I work on a project it goes to the top of the list. If I ever have 3 finished projects between an in progress one and the top of the list, I shelve that project. So far so good. 
 

Works in Progress (2) - End of the Season Labors

 I decided to extend that "clean of the workbench" project a bit to the start of the AHPC. Here's a couple of things I've painted since then.

Hydra Miniatures Atomic tank. There's more coming on this but here's most of the robots

I also managed to finally finish one of the two forces for BLKOUT

Art the clown is nearly done, hes actually farther along than in this photo, the base is started i just need to do some washes and paint the "concrete" hes sitting on.I will probably finish this during the challenge even if it's not going to count for points.

AHPC starts tomorrow and I've done 0 prep. I'm going to try and paint in no particular order; The Dungeon, Some adventurers, BloodBowl Season 3 starter, The Chaos Dwarf Box, a proxy force for Shadow War Armageddon, Some Napoleonic British, More Atomic Tank, Breachers for my Word Bearers. Wish me Luck

Retro Sci-Fi (1) - Hydra Miniatures Retro Raygun Dr. Zahn

 That's right! Another project log. This is mostly because I want paint colors documented. I took a half hour or so to "Marine Juice" the first figure for a collection. Back when I worked at the Hobby Shop, we carried Hydra Miniatures. I picked up the odd figure here and there to just sort of have without any sort of real plan. Hydra's getting ready to release Atomic Tank, which looks to be a sort of Retro Raygun at Epic scale (10mm I believe in this case). I have some early test models to paint up from that range but wanted to sort of start chipping away at the 28mm stuff. 

First up is Dr. Zahn. Colors are Caledor Sky, Tenebrous Grey, White Grey, Gunmetal, Blood Red, marine juice. Super quick Paint Job as usual. I have some other figures from the range I'll probably get painted up soon. I've got a little more SAGA stuff to get off the bench next but for now, this was a nice break. 

 

Works in Progress (1) - October 2025

 In a manic late night paint session I had a thought. See, I have a tendency to start projects and not finish them. This is actually one of 3 of these types of post I've written tonight. (The others are scheduled out so as not to bog you all down.) I was thinking though, as one does as they dip their brush into their tea cup for the umpteenth time in the midnight hours. My desk is, and frankly always has been, a disaster. While coming to the sort of realization today that I don't game the way I used to, I was think I still enjoy collecting and painting. As a result, over the years I've gotten into these cheap plastic tubs to store work in progress "stuff." So besides the desk that looks like this

I've also got my "work in progress" shelf, that looks like this 

Each of those tubs, most of each of those drawers, and each of those cardboard boxes house some sort of "project I've started and not finished. Dating back frequently years at a time. 

At the risk of setting a 2026 goal, here in 2025 I have a bit of an idea. 

I want to take October (and most likely November) to try and just tidy up the workbench part of the desk itself. Whether that's remove, finish, or organize, I'd like to try and clean up the bench in one way or another. October (though there is very little of it left, 11 days at time of writing this) is nearly over but let's start somewhere. I would like to try and participate in the AHPC this year if there's room and I think this would be a nice way to get rolling into that. 

Then, Starting in December, I'm going to attempt to take one tub a month and do the same. Either Finish what's in it, box it up for long term storage, or get rid of it entirely.  I'll be using the Works in Progress project log to document it for fun.

As part of my, any progress is good progress mantra, here's some forward progress on Art, my second Cabinet Piece for the year.

 To be honest, he really just needs his eyes and base finished along with some selective washes to be good as done. This scale has a major benefit of being easier to paint in some regards. 

Napoleonics (7) - Spanish Silver Bayonet Unit and Clue Markers

 Next on the workbench is a unit of Spanish for Silver Bayonet. These are the metal figures from Northstar. They painted super quick. I think the only "new" color I've introduced to the Napoleonic palette is Hull Red from AK 3G. This is a nice red brown, more brown than red. A good addition to my suite of colors. 

I ran out of Army painter white and switched to vallejo white spray for the primer (and subsequently all the white details) and the result is a lot grayer but I think it worked great for the spanish to make them look a bit more "rag tag" 

These painted super super quick, probably quicker than the French. I managed to also get some Clue markers painted. These were just 3d prints from Thingiverse. 

The only other "official" models I have to paint at the moment are the 2 packs of Bandits but I may pick up some more stuff. We actually have a bit of a short battle report and some initial thoughts coming soon too. 

Fantasy Gaming (4) - A City Fit for a King

 I've been threatening to play Mordheim for years now. One of the big barriers to entry however, for anyone familiar with the game/genre is the high amount of terrain needed. I've been printing scenery for it off and on for the last couple years and last weekend decided it was time to break it all out and get it painted for an upcoming mini Frostgrave campaign.

These were all painted with a friend on Saturday and I spent a few hours Sunday and Monday finishing them up. They could stand for a bit of a clean up especially on the wood color but en masse I don't think its really that noticeable. Quality, Quantity, Etc... 

The buildings are currently a mix of two manufacturers. The overwhelming majority are from the Shadowfey ruins set from Printable Scenery. The small corner ruins, small 2 floor corner ruins and the single building in the center with the iron bars on top are all from the Hexengarde range from Tiered World. 

There's still a few details to finish, but it's all very minor stuff. I think I'm going to do the clock face in brass instead of silver but I was rushing to finish before a work trip. I think there's one tiny roof section for one of the larger buildings I need to print. In short though this is all but done and ready to play. I was hoping to take some more set up table glamour shots but that will have to wait until I get a game out. 

For now most of the project fits neatly in this tub. I have a second tub for the wizards tower as well as eventual scatter, bridges, and other bits. 

I think we spent all told around 10 hours painting, but its all done and for that I'm quite happy. 

Napoleonics (5) - French Silver Bayonet Unit

Returning for a bit to the Napoleonic Era. I printed up a batch of figures for Silver Bayonet. These are from Kool Kiwi. I think they're pretty nice. The sculpting is pretty good and they were super fun to paint. 

I used more or less the regular French palette I've been using. 

The sculpts are all unique and the price was right. In particular I like this vivandiere. I did a tiny bit of "freehand" on the details which worked nicely with the marine juice.

I have Spanish on the workbench next.

Cabinet Painting (1) - The Mandalorian (and the process of "hate-finishing" a piece)

 Over my time collecting in this hobby, one love I've really had has been Garage Kits. I've collected some models kits, some figure kits by companies like Andrea Miniatures or AK Interactive. Lots of little one off 28mm figures that I've bought solely to paint as what I've referred to as "cabinet pieces." Nothing with gaming intent just stuff to paint and look neat in a display cabinet. 

This is one such piece.

I was in a manic mood yesterday and ended up spending quite a bit of time cleaning and organizing my hobby dungeon. I've run out of shelf space to store unfinished kits and such and now have some piles of boxes accumulating "near" the shelves. I bought some more storage tubs but had to make a decision to move another shelf to a large storage tote. After a lot of deliberation I decided it was time to box up all the plastic Bandai kits as well as a shelf or so of figure kits. I'm not sure why but it felt a little heartbreaking and a bit like a failure on my part. I think a lot of hardcore hobbyists may be able to relate. We buy these kits with good intention to paint them. As they accumulate dust and sit unopened it feels a bit like a wasted opportunity. So as I took each kit, wrote down what it was, and sent it to the bin I kept thinking "Oh! I can't bin this, I need to paint it." Then the rational part of me goes "then just take it out of the bin when you want to paint it you idiot." Still it's had me in a weird mood. 

Now on to the awkward genesis of this piece itself. 

This was a bust purchased probably some time around the first season of the Mandalorian from Blackheart Models at Wonderfest. Like all of my purchases I fully intended to paint it. I had just come hot off the heels of my Hannibal bust (from the hit TV show, Hannibal) and was itching to dive into another kit. I broke out this wonderful sculpt. I think it was maybe 3 parts? I said, this will be cake, have it done in a couple of days. 

Here is a photo from August of 2022

There he is in the background. Another from September of that year

Looming. Watching. Judging. One last one to sell the point, this ones from February of '23

So he sat, almost finished for almost 3 full years. So what happened? Well I'm not thrilled with it. First of all I set the expectation way to high. I really pride myself in part on the quickness I can get through stuff when motivated. My Award-winning Dr. Doom bust was painted the week of the show it medaled at. All this to say when I set a lofty goal and then stall out it kills steam. The first issue was that I struggled hard with the metal on a surface that big. I used AK Gunmetal as I always do and even after a dozen coats it still seemed streaky to me. The second problem was Grogu's skin. I started with the color I used for the kruleboyz and it just didn't want to cover over black. So nothing was quite working how I thought it would. I had been using the base as a handle of sorts so I didn't want to paint it yet so it just didn't feel like any progress was being made after a night of painting so I let it sit. 

Last night I had Scott over for some board games and made a joke about how it isn't finished yet in the context of all that organizing and realized I should probably just finish the thing. Applying a similar "quantity has a quality of it's own" rational to the bigger stuff is sort of a waste to me because the whole point is to look "pretty" but at some point something needs to give. 

The base was a struggle but I chose to trust that process and after going to bed and looking again this morning I'm happy with it. Over a black base I used a blister pack sponge to mottle on Vallejo Tan Earth, Beige brown, and then Iraqi sand. I thinned out some Vallejo grey blue to do the rune looking bits. 

I'm calling it done for now to move on to something else and clear off the desk. The next cabinet piece is partially primed and will see some paint this week maybe. Eagle eyed readers can probably see it in some of the other photos I've posted.