Weekly hobby update #4

This week was a bit quiet when it came to hobby time. I got some new models (Aethon Shann and a box of the new Chaos Marauders) and played a game of HeroQuest. The Marauders are (obviously) for my Chaos army for The Old World. Aethon Shann is part of a different project. I have a small collection of Space Marines — mostly Phobos — that I want to play as Raven Guard or one of its successor chapters, and this is exactly where he fits in. It is a very specific and small hobby project, but I’ll write about it in one of my future blog posts.

But HeroQuest holds a special place in my heart. I never had the opportunity to play it when I was a kid, so I bought the new Hasbro remake a few years ago. It has become my go-to game. I love it, and it is basically a system that lets me create all kinds of adventures and tweak them however I want. On top of that, you get that great old-school experience.

I’ve bought most of the expansions as well, and my son absolutely loves the game. So our regular gaming crew is actually me, my best friend and my son, and we have a blast every time! We put LED candles around the board, play instrumental music (usually dungeon synth) during the game, and have plenty of snacks: two generations of gamers enjoying a game that is almost 40 years old.

This week, we played the first quest from the Jungles of Delthrak expansion. I’ll dedicate one of my future posts entirely to HeroQuest, not only because I love it, but also because I think it is one of those games that the whole family can enjoy.

  

Weekly hobby update #3

This week, I decided it was finally time to finish my first unit of Aggradon Lancers (I have two).

My Seraphon collection (an army, actually) revolves around Lord Kroak, a Slann Starmaster, and lots of Saurus models: Warriors, Kroxigor, Aggradons, and an Oldblood on Carnosaur. I just love Saurus. I have some Skinks running around as well, but I really love the new Saurus models and wanted to build an army focused on them.

I don't care too much about how powerful they are, I simply find the idea of big, bloodthirsty Lizardmen backed by ancient magic very exciting.

Since I have almost finished painting my Seraphon Spearhead, I decided to add one unit of Aggradon Lancers and one more unit of Kroxigor to it, giving me a nice 1,000-point list to play against my friends (they don't have large collections and prefer smaller games in general).

I started painting the Aggradons a while ago, but stopped simply because I focused on something else. However, this week I decided it was time to pick them up again. I am very satisfied with the progress so far and expect to have them fully finished within a week or two.

Weekly hobby update #2

Time for a new weekly hobby update! This week was actually great — I managed to do a little bit of everything:

• Assembled my unit of Scarab Occult Terminators and started building the Rubric Marines.
• Finished painting my Treelord Ancient.
• Played my first game of AoS Spearhead! I took my Bitterbark Copse (Sylvaneth) against my friend's Cities of Sigmar, and we had a blast. We both really enjoyed it — so much that he has now ordered a bunch of minis and started building his own Cities of Sigmar army. 😄

I’m really, really happy with how the Treelord Ancient turned out. He’s probably one of my favourite models I’ve painted so far.

I also decided to take a different approach to photographing my miniatures, and I think the results are way better than what I’ve done in the past.

All in all, a very satisfying hobby week!

Weekly hobby update

I haven't posted anything here for a while. I'd like to change that — but rather than trying to write big hobby articles regularly, I want to start with something much smaller.

So, here's the first post in a new series: weekly hobby updates.

The idea is simple: each week, I'll post a picture or a short article about whatever hobby-related thing I managed to do. It might be Warhammer, but it could just as easily be a board game, card game, RPG, or something else.

I really believe in small actions accumulating over time. I've seen it work for myself, not only with hobbies but with other things as well. And when you have a family, a demanding job and a dozen other things competing for your attention, I think there's something valuable in simply doing something each week rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity to devote an entire weekend to a hobby. Sometimes you assemble a few minis, sometimes a few units and sometimes you paint something. And you just keep doing it. And hour here, 30 minutes there... in a few months, you might be surprised with what could be achieved. 

This week, I finally decided to start assembling models for my Thousand Sons army.

I love Tzeentch daemons, and I've had a few Thousand Sons units sitting around for quite some time. The funny thing is that none of them had actually been assembled yet.

Well, that's finally changing. I've decided it's time to build the army, starting with the unit of Scarab Occult Terminators. I will probably use this army mostly for Incursion, Combat Patrol and smaller WH40K games in general. I have absolutely no desire to get involved in 2,000-point affairs. 

It might not be much, but that's kind of the point. One small hobby project started (among several others already in progress :D). Let's see where it goes.

Looking back at old paintjobs: Sylvaneth

Sylvaneth are my primary army — and the main reason why I started playing Age of Sigmar back in its 1st edition. They are also the closest thing to the Wood Elves I loved in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I have a few other armies that I enjoy collecting and painting, but there will always be a special place in my heart for the forest spirits.

However, Sylvaneth were also the first AoS army that I fully painted. Most of that work happened between 2016 and 2019, and my painting skills have progressed significantly since then. As time went on, I started noticing that the paintjobs on some of my favourite models no longer matched the standard of my more recent work. That left me wondering how I should approach the problem.

I did not want to fully repaint the miniatures. That would feel excessive and, in a way, those older Sylvaneth models are a snapshot of my painting skills at that point in time and a clear reminder of how much I have improved over the years. At the same time, I also did not want to leave them completely untouched.

Eventually, I realized there was a middle ground. Instead of repainting the models from scratch, I could strategically touch up certain details and areas to make them stand out more while still preserving the character of the original paintjob. 

The first of the models I worked on was the Treelord I wrote about some time ago. Next were the unit of Kurnoth hunters with scythes. I love those models - Kurnoth Hunters are my favorite Sylvaneth models as wells as some of my favourite Age of Sigmar miniatures. The original paintjob was a bit "flat" when it came to the details: everything was precise and clean, but there were no highlights or emphasis on specific parts of the model. Also, the bases were pretty simple and did not help in makind the model stand out. Below you can see the pictures of the models before the refresh: 

I wanted to perserve the original identity of the model (which I liked a lot), while improving "readability" and atmosphere. I think the bark has much better texture now, the green foliage/branches are not so overpowering, the weapon gradient is much better and the base actually frames a miniature (instead of being just some mud with grass).

Looking at the models side by side, the changes are not too dramatic, but they make a surprisingly large difference overall (at least to me). The original version was already clean and precise, so I did not want to repaint it from scratch. Instead, I focused on improving contrast, adding selective highlights, and making certain details stand out more clearly. I also reworked the base to give the miniature a bit more atmosphere and visual framing.

The end result still feels like the same model I painted years ago, just viewed through the lens of the experience I gained since then. And that was exactly what I was aiming for (and seeing the result, it's clear that the repaint would be such a mistake)!