The slowest of slow grows

In my previous post I indicated that I was going to be launching into another "slow grow" painting challenge. Well at the time, I didn't really understand just how much emphasis was going to be on the "slow" part of things...

May was the first month of the challenge, and we set off with a group of us declaring our planned involvement and what we were going to be working on:

• Me - Nuln Empire
• Noakes - Bretonnians
• Sean - Daemons
• Tim - Skaven
• Pete - Vampire Counts
• Hamish - Beastmen
• Jono - Wood Elves

The general guide was that we'd work on a rough target of about 250 points a month, with the aim of putting together a usable force over 8 months or so. All pretty simple, not very formal in terms of what order things were worked on. It's just meant to give some shape and motivation for getting some painting done.

Anyway, May is now done, and between us we have... not a whole lot to show for our efforts. Here's an update:

Me (Nuln Empire):

I figured I was starting the month with momentum on my side, having just worked my way through a regiment of Handgunners, and a War Wagon before that. This made me confident that I could tackle a relatively big opening month, and I declared I was going to paint a regiment of 20 Halberdiers and 10 Handgunners as their detachment.

How it started: 10 Halberdiers, 10 Handgunners, and a bonus Engineer. If I got all of that done, I'd be off to a flying start.

Continuing Nuln and another slow grow

I have been continuing work on my new Nuln Empire army. Progress has been steady, and I've completed 10 Handgunners with another 10 well on their way.

Technically these are meant to be Ironsides (a resin upgrade kit for normal Handgunners that came from Forge World), although they're a Magori 3D printed version of them. They still sport the heavier armour, and include kneeling models for the front rank. I printed a pile of these and undercoated them years ago, then they languished in a box, waiting for their time in the sun.

Slow, quiet progress

It's been a long time since I posted a hobby update (over a year, it seems), so here is a bit of a catch-up.

First of all, I spent a fair bit of time painting battlemechs and tanks for games of Alpha Strike with friends. I probably did more than I needed to, but that doesn't mean I'm done (you probably know that about me by now)...

My current Steiner force, painted in dribs and drabs across the last year. I've shown some of the tanks previously, but there's well over a battalion of stuff all told. It's not well balanced in terms of the mechs I got finished. I need to add some more light and medium mechs, maybe some infantry or battle armour...

It hasn't all been mechs and tanks, of course. I played in 2 Warhammer: The Old World on either side of Christmas, and needed to paint things to get my armies ready for both of those events. Firstly for Axemaster, there were various gaps that needed to be plugged...

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 6

This is the final part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 6 - Command & Control
Callum Borthwick - Ogre Kingdoms

• Tyrant on Thundertusk with Deathcheater, Ironfist, Light Armour, Tenderiser, Talisman Of Protection
• Slaughtermaster (Level 4, Battle Magic) with Deathcheater, Grut’s Sickle
• Bruiser with Battle Standard (Bull Standard), Deathcheater, Light Armour
• 20 Gnoblar Fighters
• 6 Ironguts with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour, Full Command, Veteran, The Blazing Banner
• 6 Ogre Bulls with Ironfists, Light Armour, Full Command, Cannibal Totem
• Ironblaster 
• 4 Maneaters with Light Armour, Full Command, Immune to Psychology, Poisoned Attacks
• 4 Mournfang Cavalry with Light Armour, Ironfists, Full Command
• 3 Yhetees with Greyback, Scouts

These Titan Forge Ogres are very nice. That is a Tyrant on a Thundertusk. Naturally it scuttles sideways (he's facing the camera)

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 5

This is the fourth part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 5 - Mountain Pass
Chris Ashton-Jones - Orc and Goblin Tribes

• Goblin Oddnob (Level 4, Waaagh! Magic) on Arachnarok Spider with Talisman of Protection, Lore Familiar
• Goblin Oddnob (Level 3, Waaagh! Magic) on Arachnarok Spider with Spidersilk Lobber
• Goblin Warboss on Gigantic Spider with Light Armour, Backstabbers Blade, Da Thinkin’ Orc’s ‘At, Charmed Shield
• 12 Goblins with Short Bows, Boss, Skirmishers
• 12 Goblins with Short Bows, Boss, Skirmishers
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 5 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician, Boss
• 12 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Full Command, Spider Banner 
• 12 Spider Riders with Cavalry Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Short Bows, Full Command
• Arachnarok Spider with Spidersilk Lobber -345pts

Wow, what a list. All Goblins - all Forest Goblins, even (technically the infantry were not, but clearly they would have been, had that been an option). It made for a very narrow selection of troops with a terribly low Leadership. It looked great, though. I told Chris that I loved his army, but I thought he was very brave...

All the spiders, all the time!

Man, look at that thing! That's the Oddnob who was leading the army.

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 4

This is the fourth part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 4 - Meeting Engagement
Troy Kent - Orc & Goblin Tribes, Nomadic Waaagh!

• Black Orc Warboss on War Boar with Full plate armour, Trollhide Trousers, Da Choppiest Choppa, 'Eadbuttin' 'At
• Black Orc Bigboss on War Boar with Battle Standard (The Big Red Raggedy Flag), Full plate armour, Trollhide Trousers, Great weapon
• Kiknik Toofsnatcha on Chompa with Da Boss's Trophy Rack, Da Skull Smasha, Cavalry spear, Shield, Light armour
• Orc Weirdnob (Level 4, Waaagh! Magic) on Wyvern with Talisman of Protection, Idol Of Gork, Ruby Ring of Ruin
• Goblin Bigboss on Giant Wolf with Cavalry spear, Light armour, Shield, Wollopa's One Hit Wunda, Potion of Foolhardiness
• Goblin Oddgit (Level 2, Elementalism) on Giant Wolf with Idol of Mork
• 14 Goblin Wolf Riders with Shields, Cavalry spears, Light armour, Close Order, Full Command, Da Spider Banner
• 3 Goblin Wolf Chariots
• Goblin Wolf Chariots
• Goblin Wolf Chariots
• 5 Goblin Wolf Riders with Shortbows
• Black Orc Boar Chariot with Additional hand weapons
• 13 Orc Boar Boys with Cavalry spears, Heavy armour, Shields, Big 'Uns, Vanguard, Boss (Da Thinkin' Orc's 'At), Standard bearer (Da Banner of Butchery)
• Orc Boar Chariot
• Black Orc Boar Chariot with Additional hand weapons

Meeting Engagement meant diagonal deployment zones only 12" apart, and rolling to see which units would start as reserves that only arrived from Turn 2 onward. My Bloodletters and a unit of Furies started off the table. Troy lost his Boar Boy unit and one of his Black Orc Chariots. By the time you include the Wolf Riders with 2 characters who were already voluntarily ambushing, he was very thin on the ground.

I deployed aggressively. I figured it would be worth it, if I got the first turn. Troy's characters were all floating loose up the back, without a unit to deploy in.

Cancon 2025 Aftermath - Part 3

This is the third part of my Cancon report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3 - Flank Attack
Koen Garlick-Trease - Tomb Kings of Khemri (Mortuary Cult)

• High Priest (Level 4, Necromancy) with Hand Weapon
• High Priest (Level 4, Elementalism) with Hand Weapon, Amulet of the Serpent
• Arch Necrotect with Hand Weapon, Light Armour, Whip
• Mortuary Priest (Level 2, Elementalism) with Hand Weapon, Battle Standard Bearer
• 39 Skeleton Archers with Hand Weapons, Warbows, Master of Arrows
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archer with, Hand Weapons, Warbows
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archer with, Hand Weapons, Warbows
• 8 Skeleton Skirmisher with Hand Weapons
• 4 Tomb Swarms
• 6 Ushabti with Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Greatbows
• Tomb Scorpion with Ambushers, The Terrors Below
• Tomb Scorpion
• 5 Venerable Ushabti with Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Ritual Blades
• 5 Venerable Ushabti with Hand Weapons, Heavy Armour, Ritual Blades
• Casket of Souls
• Necrosphinx

Man, that was a lot of magic. 10 spells plus the casket, and the ability to boost the casting values on his spells by harvesting the swarms (I found out how that worked as we went along)... I was a bit worried about how this would go. Mercifully it wasn't as bad as it might have been, given Koen was more interested in using the casket for the Light of Protection than the Light of Death.

Man, that is a bunker. All of the characters were piled into the big Skeleton Archer unit, which of course meant they'd be firing poisoned arrows thanks to the Amulet of the Serpent. The Venerable Ushabti went on either side in slightly jammed formations (I don't think Koen fully realised how awkward it would be to get them out of those shapes without advancing).