As the Emperor Wills

Well, I (like everyone else) knew this day would come. Earlier this week, GW released the list of minis/units which were being shunted off to Legends and it wasn't as bad as I feared ... It was worse. So, as was pretty much predicted, all of the first born were cut. For me, this meant the loss of the Tactical Squad and the Centurion Assault/Destroyer Squad. However, in a bit of a surprise (well, to no one but me apparently), the Suppressor Squad was cut (along with a load of other Primaris unit). Now, all three of these units is particularly gutting to me as I actually liked them all, with my Tactical Squad being the first unit I had picked up nearly four and a half years ago. However, the bitterest pill to swallow was the loss of Uriel Ventris to legends. Farewell, my Captain!! Having read (well, listened to) all of Graham McNeill's Ventris stories (ok, the first six), Uriel Ventris is amongst my favourite characters within the 40k universe (the others being Caiphu...

For the last month and a half (or there abouts) I've been working on painting the Warhammer Underworlds warband, Xandire's Truthseekers along with Valius, Keeper Aqshian of Hammerhal from the Saviours of Cinderfall unit (because they all have the same colour scheme). Having started with Taros (Xandire's avian friend) and getting him completed quickly, I then moved on with the rest of the team (and Valius), getting them based, shaded and almost entirely highlighted. So, as of nearly a fortnight ago, everything had been done on these miniatures with the exception of their cloaks (and, truthfully, anything else that is blue). I've always worked hard on cloaks (not that I don't with anything else), attempting to give them that realistic look when I've painted one. However, of late, I've worried that I've maybe regressed (even on the inner cloak of these very minis). Therefore, I wanted to try to level up as I finished up this project. So, selecti...

So, after nearly four and a half years (five months if we are going to be accurate), I'm thinking about getting out of the hobby. Let me explain. I absolutely love painting miniatures. It's good for me and for my mental health. However, I've recently been thinking about 'what's next' for all that I paint. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a Wargamer due to my more introverted nature and with the attempts I've made to convince my kids to play with me crashing and burning, all that ends up is I've now got is a two 40k armies, a dozen Underworlds warbands and four Star Trek away teams which never get used (not to mention the smattering of random minis I've picked up either) and are taking up space in a house consisting of enough kids toys to resurrect Toys R' Us as well as my equally bloated comic book collection (but that's a story for another time and place). As such, I'm thinking of getting out, although not that that means I...

This past Thursday, I celebrated four years since I had returned to the hobby When I look and think back over everything I've built and painted in those four years, and especially when I compare my first mini with the mini I most recently painted, I do feel that I've achieved quite a lot, especially given the normal life things that I've had to work my hobbying around. That said, I do feel that maybe I've become a little complacent over time, allowing myself to fall into a sort of creative rut where I've felt my painting skills were 'good enough' Therefore, I've decided to say out loud the things I'd like to achieve during Year Five in the hopes of giving myself enough of incentive to break the ceiling I've given myself. So, the skills I'd like to learn/Improve in next 12 months are: Painting Faces - Something that I always struggle on. I feel I've gotten better during Year four, but further improvement wouldn't hurt. Laye...

This past week, I did something I didn't think I'd do (at least until I was forced to abandon the hobby due to real life); I sold some of my minis! Well, not really. I mean, it was only my Necrons. The majority of my Necron collection I'd acquire early in my return to the hobby when I had bought the 9th edition starter set, while the last of them (my Deathmarks) were picked up a few months later from an issue of the imperium magazine. The thing was, beyond painting, I didn't really use them, finding myself prefering my Space Marines and Sisters of Battle. Also with the exception of my Deathmarks, I never really felt my painting skills were all that good on them (which makes sense, given they were an early paint job). I'm truth, it wasn't until recently that I'd even considered selling them, as I wasn't quite sure how to do that. However, I recently learned of this website called Miniswap, where people could seemingly b...

Earlier today, I finished painting the Crimson Court, my fourth Warhammer Underworlds warband and, as I looked at the finished article, I wondered if I'd ever use them. During early 2025, I purchased the new edition of Warhammer Underworlds' Embergard box set as well as the Revenant of the Realm warbands box set. The reason for the latter was to own the Crimson Court warband (which I consider a gorgeous set of minis), while the former was to have a Warhammer game to play with my kids (because I found it generally difficult to play generally). And, initially, it did seem to do the job because my eldest showed some interest in playing at least a toned down version (no cards or warscrolls). Unfortunately, he did have a bad habit of altering the rules further (which bothered me) but at least he continued to show an interest. In fact, so optimistic did this make me that, over the recent Christmas period, I acquired the Spitewood expansion and the Seekers in Shadow box se...