Hobby Update August 2025

 

Bit of an update from me for August 2025. Lots to show off and a bit of blabber from me. 

Painting Tutorial: Tabletop Workshop Stable 28mm

This is the latest video I have uploaded to YouTube, at the request of a subscriber, showing how I paint my medieval buildings. I hope that viewers might find it helpful.

Review: Warlord Games Polish Infantry Squad in Greatcoats

Here are my thoughts on my latest purchase from Warlord Games. TLDR version: underwhelming. 

A Rather Productive Weekend

As Sunday draws to a close on a freezing weekend where we have had a light dusting of snow, I think back to Saturday morning and am struck by how much I got done. I started my day with a trip to town to pick up various supplies, and having done that, set about doing some modelling amongst my various other chores.

I made some bases for both my Deathwatch Kill Team and my Horus Heresy Ultramarines using various materials, and made some painting pegs and a crude stand for them. I made a video about it:

I then set about getting some painting done. I decided the other day that I would quite like to try playing Dreadball. So I began painting another Ork blocker, to go with the one I had painted ages ago. I finished him this evening. In truth, I can't stand these miniatures, they are poorly detailed for the most part, but I paid the money for them, so I might as well paint and use them. 

Latest addition is the chap on the left.

Of course, as soon as I uploaded the photo I realised that I had forgotten to paint his claws, but a quick coat of Ushabti Bone will fix that. Other than that, I got some undercoating done with the airbrush this afternoon. A platoon of 15mm Americans for World War II, half of my Deathwatch Kill Team, and five Ultramarines, as well as the bases I made, are all now undercoated. I even managed to get a start on the Ultramarines and a Deathwatch brother.

The plan is to do the Deathwatch one at a time, as a well as grind through a Dreadball Ork a day, depending on how much hobby time I get. The orange is a pain since neither tones of it cover particularly well, but I'll just have to push on through to get it done. The Ultramarines are pretty well defined in terms of painting line troops now, so I batch paint those. It has been great to get a win, even if just for a weekend, but I felt as though I got a fair bit done. 

Video Update... Hobby Update V: It's Been A While

I filmed a short update this morning. 

Review: Tabletop Workshop 28mm Medieval Chapel

Another kit review. A couple more to go from Tabletop Workshop. I hope this helps prospective buyers of said terrain make an informed decision. 

Update: Back in Britain & YouTube upload: Perry French Infantry

So, I have now been back in the United Kingdom for almost two weeks, and what a couple of weeks it has been. Order number one has been finding work, which I have set about with gusto. A few interviews have already been had, and more are scheduled for the next week. The hope is to find a job with long term prospects that I am likely to enjoy, so not too much to ask for. In the meantime, I have been doing some temporary work in retail logistics, my old haunt. However, besides the impediment of money and obviously the uncertainty of my future I have set up the old wargaming space again, ready to pick up where I left off.

A lot has happened since January when I made the move to Australia, and now that I am back and reunited with my legions of little toy soldiers I can actually act upon some of those changes. Foremost is the release of the new Dwarf army book for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Those dwarfs that have been featured on the blog will now finally have the ability to take the field once I get my paws on the new book, and with a new book comes a reason to actually try and get more dwarfs done.

Since I got back I also dug out a box of Perry French Line Infantry and have made a YouTube video running through the box contents and sharing my thoughts on the quality and uses of the box. You can watch the video below.

Finally, my HPC 2014 has not been forgotten, I am almost done with my Chaplain Seraphicus figure. My hope is to get him done by the end of the bank holiday weekend, and started on my Deathwing Terminators, which will be my June commitment and round out my 1000 point Zone Mortalis force. The little patter of rain drops on my window reminds me that there is nought else to do today but paint, O miseri me!

Chain of Command Sale Now On!

TooFatLardies are currently holding a sale on all things Chain of Command. So now is the time to pick up some excellent rules, and the campaign supplement At the Sharp End, at a great price. I bought mine this morning, along with I Ain't Been Shot Mum and the sci-fi rules, Quadrant 13. I am very interested in using these various rules to play with my 15mm World War II stuff, as well as my 40k things. I must admit, I watch some really excellently produced battle reports on YouTube, especially by StrikingScorpion82, but I am convinced that these rules aren't nearly granular enough for me. 

Warhammer 40,000's "I go, you go" mechanism places a premium on gaining the first turn and pounding your opponent with you heavy guns. Winning is therefore a combination of luck and winning the initiative, as the enemy might not have much left after a heavy turn of bombardment. In reality, all action should be near simultaneous, and elements of the enemy force should be firing back or reacting to effective enemy fire by taking cover. If one couples this with the arms race that is Apocalypse, the game becomes horribly one dimensional. In a large Apocalypse game that SS82 recently filmed, a squadron of four Leman Russ battle tanks was destroyed by a single shot. This highlights two things, firstly, weapons can be horrendously powerful, and secondly, the table needs to be larger to allow armoured formations to spread and manoeuvre more effectively, but at 28mm scale the table would need to be far bigger. My advice, just play Epic.

I have said this many times before, but I am a huge fan of the 40k universe. I think it is the most popular Sci-Fi wargames setting for a reason, and as such I am loathe to leave it behind. However, nothing says I have to play using Games Workshop's rules, so I am going to see if I can't utilise the Quadrant 13 rules, and perhaps build my own bastardised ruleset. What I really would like is a more interesting activation sequence, probably card driven, to break the tyranny of the 40k turn sequence. The emphasis that Lardies rules place on "big men" also adds a sort of Rogue Trader-esque role-play element to the game which should make for an interesting narrative campaign. 

Dark Angels Chapter Upgrade Frame

I made another quick Youtube video the other day, a run down of the contents of the Dark Angel Upgrade Frame available from Games Workshop directly. Good buy in my opinion.

Almost done on my March HPC commitment, so keep an eye out.

Space Marine Command Squad Video

I managed to knock out my first Youtube video since moving to Australia yesterday. I filmed it using my iPhone and did the editing and uploading from my phone, as I haven't got a space to film using my Nikon at the moment and I didn't have my laptop, H had purloined it . I hope the video is comprehensible.

I have a few more videos to upload soon. Carry on citizens.

Iron Hands Upgrade Pack

My thoughts on the Iron Hands upgrade pack from Games Workshop. Hope this is helpful.

Dark Vengeance Video

Uploaded this ages ago, thought I might just add it here for visibility. Always appreciate comments.

Mk V "Heresy" Armour Video

I decided to do a post on the Mk V Armour I got from Forgeworld this week, and realised that a video was simply more effective, so I tried my hand at making a video. You can see the results below, I hope readers find it helpful.

Time to start cleaning these chaps up so that I can make a start on my next five marines.

+ The Emperor Protects +

Basing 15mm World War II Russians

I've started basing up the Strelkovy Company to fight the Finns in the Jatkosota, or Continuation War. These figures have been painted for some time and have been awaiting completion, and frankly World War II isn't a priority for me. In any event, I did a test model using Polyfilla to build the base up to the metal feet of the miniature followed by Games Workshop's Stirland Mud texture paint and a drybrushing of Steel Legion Drab, and then some flock and stuff for a Autumnal look. Not really happy with the result, which to my mind was flat and just not rich enough. Here is a rather poor photo:

I then did another element using sand, and a base coat of Rhinox Hide followed by a Steel Legion Drab drybrush, and more Autumnal flock. The result is far more to my liking, it looks richer and creates a better blend with the figures on the base:

Once I have built my fabled light box, which might happen on Thursday if I am not in London, then I will post a step-by-step tutorial on how I do my bases with some better photos. In the meantime, please have a look at the photos below and let me know what you think.

The flocking materials I used are Games Workshops ancient green flock, and Hornby Skale Scenics foliage fibre clusters, late Autumn medium and a bag of fluffy yellow flock, also from Hornby. I was inspired by Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic on Youtube when it came to the bases, especially picking out the largely gravel bits in grey to break up the base. I also realised that I really made this harder than it needs to be by painting the figures unbased, and in the future I might just paint the figures in situ like he does. Have a look, I think it is a worth a watch.

 More to come of course.

Carry on.

Bumper Book Haul and Recommended Listening/Viewing

I received the Field of Glory rulebooks in the post yesterday and immediately checked the basing conventions for all three the systems, Ancients, Renaissance and Napoleonics, and I think they are the way forward, at least as far as basing goes. I haven't had enough time to really give the rules a proper read through, but I will hopefully get around to sharing my thoughts on each set of rules as and when I get a chance to play with them. I might even run some solo games and record my findings.

Suffice to say, they are very pretty, hopefully the content matches the form. Other reviews have been favourable, as far as I can tell, so I am expecting them to deliver. I have read through the first few sections of the Ancients book and have found them a nice change from the Barkerese of the DBx systems; and aren't they so much prettier? I find that rulebooks can be deeply inspiring, something which Messers Shuck and Hyde discussed on the View from the Veranda podcast, episode three I believe. I love flicking through the beautiful pages, imagining the various things I could do myself, then of course I come crashing down to earth when I realise that I have mountains to paint as is.

Which brings me onto the "recommended listening/viewing" part of the title. I have been listening to "back issues" of the Meeples and Miniatures podcast and View from the Veranda, and have found the stuff Mr. Shuck produces to be really useful, informative and above all a great companion for us wargamers who live sans club. The easy going conversational nature of the podcasts makes them a great soundtrack to paint to, especially when painting Soviet infantry. I must admit that I am somewhat inspired by Mr. Shuck's podcasting efforts, so much so that I am tempted to do some youtube videos for reviews, though I fear my efforts will pale in comparison to the Meeples and Miniatures video reviews. Despite catering to a very niche market, Mr. Shuck clearly puts a lot of effort into his podcasts and videos, and produces quality stuff. Sadly this is the exception rather than the rule in the wargaming hobby, which tends to be very amateurish. Naturally companies like Games Workshop and Battlefront have the budgets to make high end stuff, but it is great to see a "Rogue Trader" like Mr. Shuck produce stuff to rival it. Mr. Shuck might not have the "Hollywood" element, but he makes up for a less flashy look with more quality and useful content time and time again.

I have been looking on youtube for some reviews of gaming systems and sadly I only found some "unboxing" style videos, which while useful, often don't answer the questions that someone like Mr. Shuck addresses. Have a look at the Meeples and Miniatures youtube channel which has some good review videos. Also, I found the toofatlardies videos demonstrating Sharpe Practice to be really informative and well produced. Now, even though I said these were good videos, don't expect flashy stuff, these videos are useful and fit for purpose. My point is that they aren't just some guy ranting into a webcam wearing a cheetos-powder covered t-shirt, that is what I mean by amateurish.