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Centurion Assault Squad - The Last of my First Born

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Following my Bladeguard Veterans being the first project of 2025, I decided to get through the last of my 2022 gifts completed, and with them the last of my first born models. My Centurion Assault Squad have been sitting and waiting for their time for a while. This is mainly out of fear that I wouldn't manage to get them to a quality I wanted for them. It was also because they took a while to prepare, applying magnets so that they can be modified. However, after a Macragge Blue Primer and some other projects catching my eye first, I finally made it round to them. My technique here was much the same as with the Vets. A cover of Macragge (for anything the Primer missed) followed by a wash of Nuln Oil which focused on the armour only (not the weapons). After that dried, I applied a drybrush coat of Macragge Blue followed by a lighter drybrush coat of Calgar Blue. Then, I moved onto the rest of the paints, applying them as follows: Black  - Abaddon Black (B), Eshin Grey(h), Dawnstone (...
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Bladeguard Veterans: reaffirming my armour painting

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In January, for my first project of 2025, I decided to catch up from Christmas 2022 and finally paint my Bladeguard Veterans. In fairness, there was a dual reason for this as not only did allow my unpainted pile to become a little more recent but it also gave me a chance to effectively reaffirm the process I used to paint battle armour (something which seemed a little all over the place in 2024) So, after a Primer of Macragge Blue (along with using the pot to catch anywhere I missed), I proceeded to wash the armour only with Nuln Oil. Once that was dried, I drybrush a final coat of Macragge Blue before drybrushing over it with a coat of Calgar Blue. This left me with a tone of blue which look visually consistent to how I'd gotten Uriel Ventris and my last batch of Assault Intercessors After that, it came down to painting, washing and highlighting the rest of the minis. Those colours were broken down like this: Joints/Carapace/Flag - Abaddon Black (B), Eshin Grey(h), Dawnstone (h) ...
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2025 - A painting plan in three parts

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With 2025 just around the corner, I find myself with enough of a pile of opportunity that it'll probably bleed into 2026. 2024 has seen me work through my armies as I (maybe mistakenly) took part in the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge, but learning new skills and improving my overall painting as I do so. One thing 2024 did teach me was that army building isn't my thing as I've become bored are completing whole units as well as my recent enjoyment in focused painting of the White Dwarf. With that in mind, my plans for 2025 can be easily split into three parts. Part 1: Primed projects -  The first part and what will be taking over the first third of the year are my primed projects. Made up of My Bladeguard Veterans and Centurion Assault Squad for my Ultramarines and my Hospitaller and Retributor Squad for my Sisters of Battle, all of these make up the oldest members of my pile of opportunity. However, while it makes sense to make a start with them, it's al...
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Do I have too much Warhammer?

Something I've been thinking about for the last week or so has been the idea, do I have too much Warhammer? More accurately, the question has been, have I bought the right Warhammer in the past? I suppose, the question is more of a combination of the two. In my house, the storage of my hobby is condensed to two IKEA Kallax boxes, one for paints, lamp, terrain, spare parts, etc and the second for both my Warhammer minis and my copy of Star Trek Away Missions. All of my minis are stored within a two tier 'cupcake transporter' (a box with a handle where the two tiers 'connect'), but after only (about) two and a half years, that 'cupcake transporter' is already nearly full. It's contents break down as 240 points of Necrons, 780 points of  Sisters of Battle and 1,700 points of Ultramarines, as well as a smattering of individual random minis (Fafnir Rann, Grombrindal, etc). This is where both questions come into play. I do have a lot and, equally, I have paint...
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What's Next?

Since my last post (which, admittedly, was far longer ago than I had planned), I've been working hard to clear through my 'Pile of Grey' ('Pile of Shame' and 'Pile of Opportunity' are just terms which don't work for me. It's neither a 'shame' or an 'opportunity', it's just a 'pile' ... If that makes sense?). Uriel Ventris, an Attack Bike, a unit of Celestial Sacresants, even the miniatures from the Star Trek Away MIssions core game and a Death wing Veteran Miniature of the Month have all been painted. That leaves some Assault Intercessors, Blade guard Vets, a Centurion Assault Squad, Retributors, some terrain, Grombrindal and a half dozen random minis still left to finish. Quite the backlog and, because of this, I'm trying to be good and refrain from purchasing anything more that'll simply be added to that list. However, I'm not one to not think ahead and, as such, I've recently found myself pondering on wh...
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12. The Blood Angel

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For the last couple of months, I've been burning through my pile of unpainted miniatures, painting them in much the same manner as my Librarian and Infiltrators were done prior. However, as I've worked my way down this list, either because of the quantity or maybe a lack of improvement in the quality, I've found myself feeling a little burned out on it all. Therefore, in the hopes of turning things around before I loose my enthusiasm to paint (something which I felt like I was getting very close to), I decided to take a break from the abundance of Ultramarines and Sisters of Battle I have left and do something a little bit different. Of course, when I say a little bit different, I do emphasise on the 'little bit' because, amongst all of my unpainted miniatures, I have a single spare Assault Intercessor who doesn't really have a home. So, I decided to put him to good use and so set about priming him with Chaos Black. Now, my initial plan w...
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11. Suppressors: Completing Strike Team Solarien (Sort of)

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So, midway through last month (January 2024) I bought a copy of White Dwarf 496. I'm very haphazard regarding such purchases but, on this occasion, there was something inside which really intrigued me: the rules for the S olarien Task Force. While I haven't done so yet, I am eager to get into the playing side of the hobby. However, when (or more likely 'if') I get to playing for the first time, I want to start small and what smaller than a Combat Patrol. At this point, I already have a full combat patrol for Adepta Sororitas but, with their rules on miracle dice seeming a little complex, I wanted to maybe start simple with some of the Space Marine miniatures I already have. This is what made the Solarien Task Force both intriguing and tempting; because so far I already have a painted Phobos Lieutenant, a squad of Infiltrators and a Librarian (although Legends instead of Phobos. But I can proxy, right?) All that's left is the Suppressors, and I have a trio of those w...
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