Brace yourself dear reader, we’ve got Bair and Rockfish in this hobby update.
Happy June everyone!
Bair
Woohoo first again! In what has been my most prolific month of the year, so far, I managed to start-and-finish 77 minis this month between five warbands across two different skirmish games. Starting off with Arcworlde!
I picked up the 1-4 player starter set for Arcworlde which gave me a troll (yet unpainted) and Imperials, Ourks, and more Halflings. Obviously not content with just these I added on more models to each. The most fun here is the Thing Flinger for the halflings, a massive catapult strapped to the back of an ox and crewed by a few halflings to fling…things. It’s just wonderful! I love that the Imperials are a mix of Halflings, Humans, an Ogre and even a monkey; the halflings are an older set that they sell, not really intended to be Imperials but the uniforms fit so well I thought why not! Rules-wise the game doesn’t really specify between human or halfling, you just get a stat block for the type of model like “Imperial Trooper” that you just buy equipment for. It rules.
The Ourks made a lot more sense after learning that their first edition name was “Bayourk” making the switch flip in my head going “oh they’re bayou orks, cool” and these were maybe some of the most fun minis I’ve painted in a while; which is a really high bar at the moment! There’s a lot of really lovely models here but the best ones, to me, are the Boglin with banjo, Boglin riding a Swamp Critter with wooden sword, Boglin holding the catch-of-the-day fish (he’s got the torch too), but above all the Brute using a “pet droggo” as a living flamethrower while smoking a cigar. The amount oc charcater in these sculpts is just so good!
Moving on to something that is (meant to be) a bit darker, I decided to paint up some Trench Crusade, starting with a Pilgrim warband (not done the Anchorite yet, probably next month) and then converting up a Trench Ghost warband. Having learned that Trench Ghosts was a thing that exists I had an immediate visual of Nighthaunt with gas masks and had to make it a reality. Trench Crusade is a Grimdark setting but I really, really, did not want to do a bunch of brown models caked in brown oil. I’ve largely changed over to Pro Acryl paints and wanted to try the Burnt Red, which ended up being the trousers for the Pilgrims. Getting the official sculpts for the Pilgrims I liked the majority but really disliked the randomly naked Stigamtic Nun and saw her as an oppurtunity to try some greenstuffing; adding a gorget, some chainmail, and a large flowy skirt-thing and I think she fits in well enough. I think the colours worked out really well overall, they still look dirty while still having colour to them.
And so lastly the ghosts! All 11 of these were done with just one sprue of Age of Sigmar Nighthaunt Chainrasps and one sprue of Wargames Atlantic WW1 Germans. Was pleased that I was able to get enough gas masks, helmets, weapons, and even a hat for the leader. The converting was easier than expected, too, just chopping heads in half, removing hands, and modifying the Chainrap weapons to be more fitting. These are definitely good-enough. That one in the stockade just covered in grenades I had no idea what to do with until I bothered to read the rules a bit and found out this warband can have a “sarcophagus mine” that explodes when enemies get too close…so grenades it was! I also wrote all about converting and paint them here.
Lastly, and I wasn’t expecting to get these done this month but oops(?), I got back to my bag of Victrix Rus infantry to be used as Pagan Rus in Saga. I reviewed some of this kit last year when it released but hadn’t gotten to any of the unarmoured guys until recently. Went for more muted tones on these overall and really pleased with how they look all together! One whole point of models, right there.
SRM
I’m in the unenviable position of following up that Bairrage with my own hobby progress, but what little I accomplished does at least make a statement.
I built this big honkin cannon before Adepticon, as I was already feeling that Trench Crusade pull and wanted to do something adjacent before getting my own models. I broke it out into subassemblies of the crew, gun shield, gun barrel, and base with the gun carriage, and slowly chipped away at it on and off for a month and a half. The end result is an awful lot of work for 95 points and I have no clue how to store the damn thing in an army case, but man am I happy with the outcome. I dressed up the base a ton because if you’ve got a base the size of a 45 record, you better do something with it. It was also the last model I worked on at my old place and the first I finished at my new one – you see, I can blame May’s glacial hobby progress on packing my entire life up into boxes and schlepping it down the road to a new address.
Not content to let my only painting and building to be walls and IKEA furniture, I busted out this little heavy bolter turret I’d bought from Develain on Instagram several years ago. I was partially inspired by the upcoming Dawn of War remaster, but more than anything else, I found my priorities shift while packing and unpacking my backlog. Finding the umpteenth box of Stormcast Emulsifiers just made me tired, making my heart sink just a little more with each half-remembered reminder of enthusiastic purchases gone by. This little guy though, this sparked hella joy. I’d even primed the thing back in 2022, so I was able to get cracking and knock it out in two breezy sittings. It was a delightful little reminder of how simple painting can be when you’re not trying to push yourself to the limit on every sub-100 point unit of jamokes.
Liam_Jordan
It’s been a fairly busy month for myself. My local group have been joking about doing a Mordheim campaign for the last 15 years and every 5 or so years we really think about it then don’t actually do anything. However, this time was different, someone picked up a FDM Printer for Scenery and we set out to actually do it.
After a few different attempts at picking a warband I went for some Night Goblins and the Highland Miniatures range seemed the perfect starting point. I’ve painted up everything I plan on using in the campaign with a couple of spare models. I can only use one of the big guys but I’ll make that decision where the time comes. For now I present to you the “Shroom Snufflers” led by Skabnob Damphoffa.
We ventured into the City for the first time at the weekend and while the Goblins didn’t win any games they managed to find more Snotlings and Squigs to add to their cause from the farm back home and not lose anyone important, so now we embark on the journey to managing to hire that Troll!
There is an Undead Warband hiding behind here somewhere, I promise.
Meltabombed
I moved house this past month and a half, so not as much got done as I’d have liked. HOWEVER I still got things done! Behold, my stuff!
First up, we have my WIP for a possible NOVA Open 2025 Capital Palette Masters entry, 15th Anniversary Survivor Lucy! I intend her to be with her three original survivor friends as a group of 4 models to be an entry into the Squad/Unit category, but we’ll see what happens now that we know more about the new edition of Horus Heresy (much excite!) I am not seeing myself having time to finish all 4 models, but we’ll see I guess…
Next up, I have, you guessed it, more Kingdom Death! This time, it’s a WIP of the Fighter from the Echoes of Death 1 set. I have a small painting setup at my office and will sometimes work on a model I leave there during my lunch break on slower days. The limited palette (only a few primaries using Liquitex Gouaches, white, black, and some skin tones) is a fun challenge and I’m really pleased with the last couple models I painted that way. She is almost done, maybe about 85% haha then she’ll go home to get based, and that’ll be Echoes of Death 1 done!
Last, we have some Traitor Solar Aux infantry and Leman Russes I painted as allies for my Horus Heresy Word Bearers that I then took out to play with at the Richmond Open 2025. These are definitely not my best work and are just tabletop quality, but considering I cranked out the infantry and both tanks in 3 evenings of work, I’d say that isn’t bad. They looked good on the table anyway, shooting Loyalist dogs! The infantry held up a leviathan for 4 rounds of combat in one of my games thanks to the Ld10 Stubborn Legate Marshal (with a ridiculously thick ass for some reason?) and the Vanquishers one-shot a Contemptor in my second game. Not too shabby for a first outing; no Shiny Model Syndrome for these guys!
Extra pic of the army all packed up and ready to go to the event to crush some Loyalist scum!
“Contemptor” Kevin Stillman
For a variety of reasons, May has been a quieter hobby month for me – primarily because the weather here in Virginia has been absolutely spectacular and my dog has insisted she play and relax outside. That’s all well and good for her, but it does mean I spent May more focused on building Legos than miniatures. But I was still able to get a fair amount finished:
The first part of the month involved working on my Combat Patrol Tyranids. I was able to finish the last issue from April with it’s Bargaunts, and got through five Termagants (and their Ripper Swarm) from the first two May issues.
After that, with the imminent release of the new Space Wolves box, I decided to paint up an Iron Priest to keep all my new Space Wolves armor up-and-running.
For the last issue of May’s Combat Patrol, I got a Terminator Librarian. I’ll have more to say in my review of the issue, but from the moment the model was announced I knew that I would eventually be painting it in Space Wolves colors.
Of note, for this guy I used the new Goblin Hobbies Nail Art plates to do the shoulder chapter symbol. Goblin Hobbies debuted this product at Adepticon: They have a series of metal plates with various designs that one brushes nail polish over. Using a silicone card, the excess nail polish is wiped away. One then takes a transparent applicator, picks up the desired design, and then puts it onto their model. This technique is commonly used, obviously, for fingernail art. But now there’s a company that’s marketing towards Warhammer 40K players. I was able to pick up the Space Wolves-themed plate at Adepticon and use it for both my Terminator Librarian and my previously pictured Infernus Marines. The technique *does* require some practice, but it is a less annoying technique than actual transfers.
Thundercloud
A month where I’ve started but not finished a lot of things.
After my usual grumbling about needing to paint a million more models to have a fully painted Legions Imperialis army I actually got some more LI models painted.
I also received a big shrine statue from the last Kill Team box from Corrode (many thanks to him) and actually got it painted up. I do have the rest of the terrain from this season of Kill Team to get done (and I’d better get a move on before the season ends).
So only five models painted, but it’s still a little bit of progress each month.
May
So I’ve been buried under work, back issues, and moving related stuff but I did find some time to work on some models in the last while!
Most recently was this Deathstike, it’s something I got gifted a while back and only just got around to. It was a lot of fun to paint like most guard vehicles, even if I doubt it’ll see much play.
I’ve been poking away at my Iron Warriors a bit for fun, it’s still a long time till I’ll have a working army but still neat little friends.
Next up is a small pile of Battletech models, starting with this touch up of a prepainted model…
…then a few more models for my main merc scheme! I’ve got a frankly ridiculus number of them at this point, but I am making decent progress on my backlog of mechs and tanks. Admittedly there’s probably another years worth at this rate, but we’ll see!
Jake 🐙 Bennington
In a surprising twist of fate, I have something to contribute this month! I’ve recently fallen hard for Burrows & Badgers, so I decided to start making some terrain for it. This was all stuff I’ve printed on my Bambu A1 mini printer and painted it up over Memorial Day weekend. There was some trial and error, but by the time I got to the last items in this showcase, I feel like I had really gotten the hang of the process and I’m super pleased with how well they turned out considering how easy it was to do them.
Everything shown here is from Printable Scenery.
First up is a little whimsical house and some accompanying wooden fences. This was a big experiment with some new materials and techniques. It’s also my least favorite of all the ones I did this month, but I’m happy enough with it to keep it as it is. The fences will probably get redone because I have more to go and I’ve settled on a slightly different look, but they’ll do for now.
Next is probably my favorite – a tall tower with a removable upper roof. I’m particularly pleased with how I managed to get the tower stones and the natural rocks to look different enough while still being similar, and the stone turned out quite nice considering how brain dead simple it was. I also did some stone walls in the same style.
Finally, I wanted to have some bits of terrain that would provide verticality in the game and honestly, the buildings don’t have a lot of room to stand on them. I found these hills and thought the mix of ramps and sheer faces would allow critters with the Climb skill to shine while offering a cinematic hilltop to duel on.
There are more to come next month including two more little houses, some gardens, and a cute little well. I’m excited!
Andrew_N
Ive been tearing through my Solar Auxilia backlog the last few months. Feel like I have finally gotten back into the hobby groove after adjusting to the realities of fatherhood with two kids. This month, I wrapped up a rifle section, three medicaes for my Auxilia infantry, two Aurox transports, two Aethon Sentinels, and a Dracosan that has been patiently waiting for a paintjob since 2017.
Had an absolute blast with all of them, which is good, because I have another four tanks for this army on my painting desk now…
Lenoon
Another month, another armiger. No great revelation of a personal or political nature in this one, just a great deal of fun in finally making good on a suggestion from the goonhammer discord to use the tervigon egg sac for something. It’s got the now traditional lichen and some chicken bone I found on the pavement. I’m sure it unintentionally reveals something about my mental state, which could be characterised by the words “immense stress”.
I made this at least partially in tribute to the great goonhammer master of Chaos Knights, Norman:
But of course couldn’t resist adding a ton of gross details and raised its height to a solid cerastus level. Lots of fun had by all.
Josh Boyes
This month was a fantastic month for me – not in quantity, but in quality. I’ve made genuine progress as an artist in a way I can not only feel, but see. Something clicked with these Goremongers and I went all out – on every part that’s finished, I’m satisfied, and with the parts that are still in progress like the weapons I’m liking the ideas I’m trying out.
I had the story in my head that they were escapees from some inquisitorial prison, and I just feel like I executed on that. I wish more of them had tank-tops but that’s mainly because I found myself having a lot of fun highlighting those up.
And the goretanks were so much fun to do up as well. It’s my first time trying out painting liquid and I followed Rob’s article on Vials to do it, and I’m incredibly happy with the outcome for my first time trying it.
My Black Templars have been years in the making now and are coming together. I finished up my Sternguard squad, and I’ve coverted up some intercessor with some chains and some spare bitz I’ve got from my crusader sprues. I’m using a mix of sponges, acrylics, and water-based oils and for the time and effort I’m putting in I feel like I’m getting great results. I think I’ll have enough for a proper army soon.
This has been a good month and overall a great year so far too. I look forward to finally having an actual army ready. I expect my progress to slow down as I’ve just started a new job, and this month is packed with things for me to do. (Games Expo here we go!) My promise from last time still holds up – paint more skin, and paint it well.
NotThatHenryC
This month has been spent trying to finish off some Kill Teams, partly because I’ve ended up with an embarrassing number of them on sprue and partly to clear the decks ahead of the coming wave of Heresy. I’m pleased to say I’ve got two teams over the finish line.
The first is the Ratling team from Brutal and Cunning. I’ve had these a few months but a combination of other projects and the sheer level of detail on these tiny models turned it into a very delayed project. I’m pretty happy with the end result though.
For some reason I’d bought a set of Ogryns/Bullgryns years ago, so I thought I’d be easily able to get my team together. Ultimately it saved me money (by having cunningly spent it in the past when it doesn’t count) but not time. I made a second Bullgryn from a Warhammer Ogre that I can’t account for owning at all, but whose grumpy face makes me very happy. Those two are magnetised to let me arm them as appropriate in games of Kill Team, before inevitably regretting my choice by the end of TP1.
I do have a couple more Ogres, so I could potentially add another Ogryn or Bullgryn if I feel like I really need three of each.
I’ve also finished my Mandrakes this month. The majority of the painting of these was actually done quite a while ago. It was pretty quick and fun, especially compared to the Ratlings, but I hadn’t been able to find a way to base them that I liked. I had a load of skulls though, so I decided to make them look like they were in a strange nightmare realm. I think they end up looking pretty sinister.
Saffgor
This month has been some varnishing for what I’ve already painted, and quite a bit of effort spent on getting a whopping 50 Electro-Priests painted up, with only 5 to go and the rest of the Corpuscarii needing minor touch-ups!
All of this is in preparation for the eventual release of the Servitor Battleclade alongside Kill Team: Typhon, where I’m hoping we get some more Cult Mechanicus support. I much prefer the esoteric weird religious side of Admech to the rank & file of the Skitarii, and exemplifying it with some converted OOP Tarantulos Brood was just what the doctor ordered! I intend to make my Servitors out of Rotmire Creed, for reference, just as soon as we know what a legal loadout looks like for them.
Em aka McWhat
Several contributors here commented on having a very productive hobby month. I wish I could say the same, but was juggling my usual high workload at end of a semester and being sick for more than half of May. Fun times. I did manage to finish a few things. Being obsessed with Rogue One and the Andor series helped. Speaking of:
Two of the Andor boxes released early via Adepticon swag bags. I was able to purchase the Deploy the Garrison box from a local and got started on it ASAP. Apparently there was some sort of production error, and the models in this box are about 25% larger than they should be. I ran the math, and Krennic’s model would be as tall as Chewbacca IRL. Hilarious, and led to dumb memes, but also creative painting from other GH authors. I kept things more straightforward. I continue to work on my flesh tones following what I learned at Adepticon. Orson looks a bit unhinged/sleepless here but turns out that’s not inappropriate for a creeper technofascist! The shoretroopers involved diving into 501st cosplay reference materials to get the markings right, definitely scratching that historical itch for research and exactitude in painting. I love deathtroopers on the screen, but they’re tough to make interesting as painted models. A little bit of lens and scope glow was all I came up with for some variety. That being said, definitely don’t hate how this box came together.
I switched it up and did a real quick Ebony Maw for Marvel: Crisis Protocol. I wish I’d cleaned up highlights on him. But given it’s unlikely he’ll ever hit the table I just couldn’t make myself go too crazy with this model. I love that yellow, though. P3 Moldy Ochre is an absolute GOAT paint.
Rounding out the month, I started on the other Rogue One box currently available.
I unfortunately didn’t manage to finish Cassian for May, but did finish the Rebel Pathfinders and K-2SO, the best droid. The Pathfinders took longer than I would have expected, but I am starting to see some improvements in my new flesh tone techniques. K-2 rules and I was worried about messing him up, but pretty happy with how he came out. Mercifully, he has a little color on him compared to Deathtroopers. I originally planned to add a large amount of weathering and damage to him. But I liked how he came out and didn’t want to risk screwing it up.
And that’s it for my slow May. Going forward I have a bunch of Rebel models for Shatterpoint, to go with released and upcoming Rogue One models. Definitely looking forward to having more time and health to do so!
Soggy
My hobby output pales in comparison to everyone else this update, on account of having family over for the month. That said I did squeak in two minor models once everyone else had gone to sleep.
Following this I’ve been flirting with the idea of starting yet another marine army, especially with the advent of the Saturnine boxset for Horus Heresy 3.0. The heft of Saturnine and MK2 armour sings to me in the green of the eightteenth.
I noticed someone selling the venerable Betrayal at Calth Praetor, which seemed like a perfect test model to try out the scheme. I wasn’t really a fan of this model in the past, but after holding it for some time, it really grew on me. There’s many different takes on Salamanders, depending on how vibrant you go. I was initially aiming for something with a bit more pop, however am happy enough with the result in the end.
Now the wait for the new box. I’m trying strongly to avoid putting too much on my table until it t drops. We’ll see how strong my resolve is next month.
Roxin
After something of a hobby slump, I’ve recovered thanks to a handful of Battletech ‘mechs. Something about the chonky nature of the sculpts (and, lets be honest, the shonky quality of PVC) has turned off the perfectionist part of my brain. Once I’d found a scheme I was happy with it’s been off to the races.
It’s a rapid scheme, priming white and then basecoating Apothecary White before masking off some areas and painting stripes (usually Mephiston Red). Guns are generally painted black with some contrast paints used for energy weapons etc, then painting canopies and doing edge highlights with Pro Acryl Titanium White (my beloved). I’ve used a streaking grime brush from Ammo by Mig and been reasonably impressed, it’s acrylic but has a slightly longer working time to really work it into some crevices. Finally, bases are Jokaero Orange, a layer of varnish and then Agrellan Earth – the varnish is essential, because otherwise it’ll peel off your under layer as it dries. Fairly quick and painless!
Toby Wrong (@badusernametag)
Busy month was May! Mainly stuff for Goonhammer and AoS. Spooky ass stuff!!
Started off holding hands with Nagash. Promptly ruined some Soulblight Graveyards Spells and spooky houses for GH review.
Then I got some old Ogor heroes and droogs up for a tart up. Ended the month multi basing some Skelebobs for the new Deathrattle Spearhead.
