This is the grim dark future liberals want

The first models of the year: the Death Guard Blight-Hauler and Grey Knights Grand Master Voldus. Fantastic models to build, especially the Easy Build Blight-Hauler that took me all of twenty minutes (though the face panel is a little difficult to get all its securing pins to play ball).

I'm looking forward to painting these two. Voldus is going to be challenging for me: lots of bright metallic colours and fiddly gold detailing to pick out. The Blight-Hauler, by contrast, is a relatively simple I'll mostly finish with drybrushing. Plus, I've painted a few Death Guard models already so I have the techniques pretty much down.

They'll also be a good start for what I'm now calling the “50/500 Challenge”, my goal to finish 50 power level or 500 points of models for each of my armies by the end of the year: single high value models that I'm really invested in getting done.

Now to get them undercoated and slap some base colours on them.

Admittedly this post existed mainly to justify the joke title. 

Hobby Diary #1

The last few weeks I've been getting back into gaming. The whole End Times and Age Of Sigmar mess sapped my enthusiasm but now I'm having fun again with my Lizardmen taking on all comers. Last night I was packing up my Lizards for a game later today and the army, to be frank, is a mess of bare and half-painted plastic and I came to a realisation:

I don't need to paint this, I want to. I'm having fun and I want to present my opponents with a nice visual as one of us stomps the other into the ground.

I want my lumbering behemoth of a Bastiladon to look cool. It has only once lived beyond Turn Two because everyone is afraid of it but I think the model looks fantastic but half-painted it just looks average. I want Matt to not just fear my Saurus Cavalry (and he really does) but to appreciate them. I really want to make my Skink Priest's Cloak Of Feathers as insanely technicolour as possible.

So, yes, pushing on this now.

On the 40k side of the street I'm resurrecting my Blood Angels army, the Blades Of Sanguinius. I've bought a plastic Librarian and a Blood Angels Tactical Squad. The Librarian went together like a dream but the new bolter assembly on the Tactical Marines is hell on toast.

They had this cracked! Dark Angels Veterans and Death Company have the bolter already attached to one arm, it worked fantastically. It was the solution we had all been waiting for.