My Khorne Army - painting update #5

When I started collecting Age of Sigmar back in 2017, my main armies were Sylvaneth and Khorne. Sylvaneth are still one of my favourite armies, but, due to several reasons, I sold my Khorne army at some point. One of the main reasons for selling those miniatures was that I messed up the paintjob for the daemonic units. Mortal units were beautifully painted for me by Warbrush studio, but I wanted to paint the Daemons. However, I simply was not able to make the models look the way I wanted. I simply looked at Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers and felt frustrated. On one hand, I committed several painting mistakes while trying to paint those models: not doing enough research on the paint scheme, spending too much time on infantry and not using test models. There were also a few painting accidents, like varnish frosting on freshly painted Bloodcrushers (which resulted in having to repaint some of some of the work), or having to strip down the primer from unit of Bloodletters because of the loss of details and granulation. All of these things combined with my inability to meet my own expectations killed the most of my enthusiasm. I started painting other things and didn't want to even look at these models because they always reminded me of my failure. The only exception to this was Skarbrand. My painting skills were definitely not at the current level back then, but I was proud of how I painted Skarbrand and I still think that it was a pretty good paintjob.

I sold the army to a friend of mine and few years went by. In the meantime, I learned a lot and made a lot of progress with my painting. Somewhere during 2022 I decided to collect Khorne again - but only daemons this time, no mortals (they are fine, but they were simply not what I imagined or wanted to play). I love the aesthetic of those models and the fact that I can use them in AoS, WH40K and WHFB is great. I also enjoy the lore and the playstyle. So I decided to make things right this time. 

Right from the beginning, I aimed at a relatively small army - about 1500 points for AoS (since I usually play smaller games) but with the ability to expand to full 2000 points. The fact that I could use those models in other systems was pure bonus - I wanted to primarily build Blades of Khorne army. I also picked which exact models I wanted and managed to buy most of them below regular prices. However, then I learned that the friend I sold my original Khorne army to wants to reduce the number of his AoS armies and was looking for someone to buy his Blades of Khorne. We talked a bit about it and he let me buy my Skarbrand off him for a fair price. That was the model I really enjoyed painting and I was looking forward to getting him back. 

So, once I got Skarbrand, I decided to freshen up his paintjob a bit and modify his base. Here is how the model looked like originally:

This picture was taken 5 years ago, on the same day when I have finished painting the model. I think the paintjob is still good, but I wanted to make some details "pop" more, make the base more busy and do some minor corrections on the armour. Here is the model after most of the refresh is done: 

I am really happy that this model is now part of my army again - the model is absolutely fantastic and is exactly what I think of when I think of Khorne Daemons. The only details that I want to address in the future are the spikes at the end of the wings - they don't look good and need to be defined some more. 

Oh - I forgot to mention the most important thing: my Khorne army is finished! I have met my hobby goal for 2023 and I am very happy because of it. Before the end of the month, I will make a post about it and show the army in all its glory (and also make a recap of my painting in 2023). Stay tuned!

My Khorne Army - painting update #4

Recently, a friend of mine was selling his Blades of Khorne stuff, so I bough a few things from him: Herald (Bloodmaster), Judgements of Khorne, Skull Altar and the latest Battletome. Fun fact: this is the same friend that I bought my Khorne stuff couple years ago, so I basically bought back some of it :D 

Anyway, last Saturday I had a few hours to spare, so I decided to paint the Herald. I already have one Herald (made from slightly converted rider of the Blood Throne), but the new model is really nice and with all prayers that are available to Khorne priests in the new book, it definitely pays off to have two of them. I have managed to paint this guy in about two and a half hours and you can see the result on the pictures below. 

Besides Bloodmaster, I have also finished painting my Flesh Hounds. I made these pictures while the unit still wasn't fully complete, so the fifth Hound is not shown. 

And with that - there's only one unit left to paint - 10 more Bloodletters and I my main hobby goal for this year (to have a fully painted Khorne Daemons army for Age of Sigmar/WH40K) will be achieved! It won't be full 2000 point army - but since I'm mostly playing 1000 and 1500 point games, that's OK. With the current point values for Blades of Khorne, one more unit of Flesh Hounds and Bloodletters will get me to 2000 points, so I will probably add them in the near future. I'm not worried about building WH40K army at all, because I have more than enough Tzeentch daemons to add. 

My Khorne Army - painting update #3

As you probably know from my previous posts, I am working on a Khorne Daemons army that I can play both in Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar (as Blades of Khorne daemon-only army). The most recent addition is a unit of 3 Bloodcrushers. 

I've had a lot of fun working on these models. The black armour on Juggernauts was inspired by a similar paintjob that can be seen on the unit entry in old Khorne Daemonkin codex (for 7th edition of Warhammer 40K). I think that it makes a great contrast, so both rider and the mount can be easily distinguished. 

I am also working on a unit of Flesh Hounds and they are almost done - I can replicate the army colour scheme easily, so I am able to paint models fairly quickly. Over the course of the year I've painted a lot of models - and I am happy to say that the army is close to being completely painted! 

My Khorne Army - painting update #2

Yesterday I have finished painting one more Khorne model - this time, it's Skull Cannon. I had a lot of fun painting this model, especially the "organic" parts and the red armour. Here's a few pictures:

I have also done a lot of work on my unit of Bloodcrushers - they are already around 50% completed. Once they are finished, there's only one unit of Bloodletters and 2 units of Flesh Hounds left - and my army is fully painted! I ordered one more box of Bloodletters, because I want to be able to field 30 of them at some point (maybe even more in the future!) but I won't push myself to paint them as well until the end of the year. Main reason for that is the fact that I would like to take a break after painting my Khorne stuff (or in between painting some Khorne stuff) and either paint something else, or finally put my Blades of Khorne army on the table (or field them as Khorne Daemons in 10th edition of Warhammer 40K). 

Speaking of WH40K, I am really looking forward my first game of 10th edition - not because I like the rules that much (truth is: I don't) but because I have two great friends who are both enthusiastic about the game and are building some cool armies. I have completed my Chaos Space marine force I'm planning to use and I also painted first of my Chaos Knights! This was quite an accomplishment and I'll soon take some good pictures for the blog. 

Oh, and I also started a Seraphon army, but more about that in some other post :D  

My Khorne army - painting update

One of the armies I have is Khorne daemons army. I always thought that Khorne daemons were the best-looking out of all Chaos daemons; their range is fairly small, but models are very nice and the general aesthetic really appeals to me. In the same time, these miniatures can be used for both Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40K, which is great. So, over the last year I slowly built the army and started painting models in January. I'm happy to say that the work is progressing nicely - since the beginning of the year, I have managed to paint quite a few models and my plan is to have a fully painted Khorne daemons army by the end of the year. Below you can find the photos of the miniatures I have painted so far. 

The Bloodthirster is probably the most spectacular out of those that I painted. As you can see, I tried to make the base more interesting; I planned that since the very beginning, but ultimately I had to do it because my son dropped the model so the flame/fire part broke. So besides pinning and reattaching the broken part, I also used one of the broken pillars as a support - I placed a pin that connects the pillar and the model's leg, so now it is much more stable. 

Next one is Skulltaker - it is a very nice model, way better than the old metal one. 

And there's also a unit of Bloodletters - I have two units of 10 models and I might add a third one at some point in the future. I haven't painted a 10-man unit for quite a while - I'm mostly painting monsters, heroes and heavy infantry. I knew that painting multiple small models might become boring pretty quick, so I painted the unit in two batches of 5 models. I also painted the same thing on all models at once, meaning that I painted flesh on all models first, than did faces and horns, then swords, etc. 

I also painted Herald of Khorne (which I made out of the model that sits on top of the Blood Throne), but I haven't made a picture of him. Right now, I have to paint the following units/models in order to complete the army: 

• 10 Bloodletters
• 10 Flesh hounds
• 3 Bloodcrushers
• Skull Cannon

I'm pretty confident that I should be able to paint all that by the end of the year, especially since the painting scheme is clearly defined and for most of these models it all comes down to simple reproduction (Bloodletters and Flesh hounds). As always, I will post more pictures as soon as I finish something :) 

More painted Stormcast

Recently, I have painted some more Stormcast Eternals models. I really enjoy painting Stormcast, because they can be painted fairly quickly and the models look very good even with a simple paint scheme. Even if you go for the basic battle-ready look (most of which usually involves just painting the armour and applying wash all over it) you should be able to get pretty good results. But if you spend just a bit more time, add a few highlights and work out some finer details, you will get some really beautiful models.  Over the past 8 months, I was able to paint over 1500 points of Stormcast Eternals (which is pretty fast - for me). I wrote recently about how much I've accomplished by doing the work in small batches and this is especially true with Stormcast models, because once you are able to reproduce your paint scheme, you should be able to paint the whole army in no time. Also, the models are bulky and unit sizes are small, which also helps. 

Below are the pictures of models I have painted recently. 

Dealing with pile of shame

 NOTE: this post has been originally published as form topic on TGA community. 

I wanted to discuss this topic because I think it's something that a lot of hobbyists are struggling with and in the same time I wanted to share my experience as well. I play miniature games for almost 15 years (and some other games as well) - and during that time, I've painted a decent number of miniatures, but I have almost never managed to fully paint a single army. I always got carried away with the "next project", or painted models from different armies in the same time or I bought models much faster than I could paint them. I also was not consistent when it comes to approach to painting. When I started collecting Age of Sigmar in 2016, I changed my approach to painting and collecting - so I finally managed to fully paint my Sylvaneth army (and I am very proud of that). However, as the time passed by, somewhere along the way I ended up - again - with several armies (for both AoS and WH40K) and a lot of models that waited to be built (at least for me it was a lot). However, this time situation was different because my career progressed and my job became more demanding and I also became a father - so when I had some free time, I prioritized something else, not painting. However, all these unpainted and unassembled models really bothered me - because I really like this hobby and I wanted to carry on with it for years to come, but in the same time, all these unfinished models felt like some kind of "mental burden". Sure, over the years I played a lot of games with unpainted models (and that's fine), but I really hated the fact that I was unable to finish what I started. It was also during this period that I realized that I probably have a lot more stuff than I really need.

And so, during the last year, I decided to do something about it, because it was really affecting my enjoyment in this hobby.

First, I reduced the number of models/armies that I have by selling or giving away some of them. Since I usually play once or twice a month (if I'm lucky) now, there was simply no sense in keeping some of my models. Instead, I focused on armies that I really enjoyed playing and that look cool (and that are also fun to paint). It was not an easy decision to choose armies and models to part with, but in the end I feel much better because of that (and it feels great to have less stuff around).

When it comes to assembling models. during 2022 I have managed to accomplish quite a lot working in small batches. I have assembled over 180 models - from small ones like Tzaangors, to large ones like Chaos Knights, Be'Lakor and Kairos Fateweaver. At this point, I have no models left to build - for the first time in a few years. My "pile of shame/potential" (however you want to call it) ceased to exist. I can use these models in my games now. Sometimes, I spent only 15-20 minutes per day assembling the miniatures (for example, a couple of Tzaangors or Bloodletters), and sometimes I had more. But, I was consistent doing this and after a few months, there was no more models to build!

I am also very satisfied with my progress when it comes to painting. I have managed to paint full 1000-point Stormcast Eternals army (with some extra models on top of it, totaling over 1500 points of painted Stormcast models). Besides that, I have managed to paint Be'lakor, Lord of Change, C'tan Shard of the Void Dragon and Illuminor Szeras as well. All of this has been accomplished by doing the work in small batches - 30 minutes here, an hour there. I painted usually early in the morning (before work), during my lunch breaks or in the evening, when my child is asleep. During the week, I was able to get 3 - 5 of these small painting sessions (sometimes more, sometimes less). Occasionally, I was able to paint for a few hours, but that was more exception than a rule. And, same as with building models, things just kept going and I was happy because I was able to see the progress. Also, painting miniatures this way forced me to look for different painting techniques (because I wanted to be as effective as possible in a short time interval), so my painting skills also improved!

Also, I have greatly reduced the amount of money that I spend on miniatures, by simply delaying the purchases. A lot of purchases that I made in previous years were impulsive; the usual motivation was either hype (after an interesting game or after seeing a preview) or stress. Turns out that after a couple of weeks, buying some model or unit did not seem that much interesting. After six months of delaying any new purchases, my wish list was reduced from 10 items to two - and those were the only ones I bought (because after six months, I still felt like those models would be a great addition to my armies). Also, I chose not to expand most of my armies until I actually play some games with the stuff I already have.

So, why did I write this? Because I remember reading about people struggling to keep up with their hobby on various websites and forums. Ultimately, this may lead to people just being unhappy about the hobby in general, or deciding to sell/trade/give away everything and do something else. I did not want to do any of these. I know that a lot of hobbyists have families, jobs and other interests - and that is also why I think it was important to share my experience. A lot can be accomplished by being consistent and doing work in small batches. I know this might not work for everyone, but it may help someone who feels the same.