attemptinghobbies

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #69-71: A Whale of a Time and Slow Progress

My wife and I went to the Georgia Aquarium to see the Whale Sharks for the first time. I took many photos, but I'll just leave you guys with this short video of this magnificant creature. My wife has wanted to go since she was young, but we were never really in a rush to go, we knew we would eventually. However, after the announcement semi-recently that one of the three Whale Sharks had passed she would not allow us to not spend another month without going. It was a very last minute trip with how I like to plan things. I wish we could have planned it out a little better, but it is what it is and she got the experience nonetheless. She walked away very happy and satisfied that we had gone. It was super cool and they really did have a lot going on. I would have captured more, but I kinda just wanted to be present during the experience.

As for hobby related stuff I did manage to get 20 Poxwalkers close to finished between the big aquarium trip and the following week after. However, last week I took off from any hobby activities. Smashing out 20 Poxwalkers was very mentally draining and I know I have around 18 Plague Marines I need to finish as well. I would like to pace myself a little bit so I don't feel too overwhelmed. I do have to get paint on those 10 remaining Poxwalkers though. I would like to actually just be done with them.

Here's another shot of them more complete alongside the 20 Krieg I painted as Proxy Cultists. I'm still very sad that we'll be losing Cultists as a datasheet for Death Guard with the new Codex. I'll simply proxy them as Poxwalkers if I ever intend to run more than 30 since that would bump me up to 50, but I don't intend to run the Poxwalker detachment. It just doesn't really appeal to me. I'll likely keep using the Index Detachment after the Codex comes out. I actually got a $15 off voucher from GW that I ended up using on my Codex to save a couple bucks. So that should be in the mail soonish.

Outside of my own army I was able to squeeze in a commission for a Chronomancer for a local players Necron army. I didn't have a lot to work with when it came to how they wanted their Chronomancer painted so I had to get a little creative. Their army had a silver and green scheme for the most part so I tried incorporating as much silver and green as I could as well as colors that complimented those colors. I think I did a decent job with the commission and the player was happy so that's all that matters to me.

I'll be sure to take another army shot once my full army is painted. I am also getting my hands on a Gellerpox Infected kill team. I'll need to pop the big boys off their bases though, I'll be using them as Chaos Spawn in the future, if I eventually decide to run Chaos Spawn in any of my lists. They seem pretty good in Death Guard right now and this Kill Team gets me four big boys, so four Chaos Spawn in total. I doubt I'll need more than that personally. The other models I'll find uses for. The Poxwalker style boys I'll just proxy as actual Poxealkers as well. There's only about three or four of them, but that's alright.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #68: SPEARHEAD! And Zombies?

So, despite the models not being complete we finally got everything we needed for Spearhead. So my wife and I played our first game together. It was a lot of fun! I enjoyed the short format and the fact that you don't really use command points, instead each card has a command ability on it. As a gateway into the game proper this is a fantastic way to introduce it to new players. We played a little in 3rd Edition so we already had a good grasp on the game, but we both agree that Spearhead was a ton of fun.

However, my wife did win in the end. I didn't really stand a chance with the plays that I made. To be fair though, she was rolling insanely well, while I on the other hand was not. Out of 25 attacks that my Blightkings threw at her three Kroxigor only three wounds actually made it through when all was said and done. She then immediately killed two Blightkings on the crackback. I'm gonna have to rethink my strategy when dealing with her stuff. Especially her Carnosaur, that thing is a menace.

Aside from that I have 30 Poxwalkers I would like to knock out this week if possible. I'm gonna be fairly busy throughout this week so let's see how much I can actually get done. I don't think it'll be easy in the end though.

I may also finish that Custodian Guard Kill Team I painted for my wife a long while ago. I never actually fully finished them when I painted them originally. I think it would be worth the effort doing that.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week# 67: Fantasy Burn Out 🫠

I really tried to push forward and make an effort to finish my two spearheads this week, but I just couldn't. I've been feeling it for awhile, but I'm genuinely burnt out on painting these Spearheads right now. Maybe it's just these two Spearheads or maybe it's AoS stuff in general, but after the Scrivener I'm just not feeling it right now. Can't say what it is specifically, but I'm pivoting to try and help myself out for the future.

I did however get my hands on a Horticulous Slimux NOS for relatively cheap from a local community member. Building a kit again felt nice, until I cut my thumb with my scalpal, but that's okay. Nothing a little disinfectant and a bandage won't cure. Thankfully it was a small cut, so no stitches necessary. Despite the injury I had fun putting the kit together. Nearly lost that tiny little bone in his mouth though. Really should have just been a part of his head sculpt in my opinion, but I don't know anything about how any of this gets made so perhaps it was necessary to have tiny bone as it's own thing. I'll have to clean off the rest of the sprue gate after the plastic glue cures.

Despite being burnt out on Fantasy models I actually had a very calming and relaxing experience painting Typhus. Usually, I can only sit down for about three hours before I'm done with painting, but I finished Typhus start to finish in six hours on Sunday. I didn't really feel burnt out of fatigued in any way, I just painted. Even based and varnished. So now I can mark him off of my ever growing painted Death Guard character list. Just a few more of those and I'll have painted all of the Death Guard heroes, still missing a few though. I don't believe I've shared all of the heroes I've painted so far, but I plan on repainting a few so that may be something I share another day when I finally get back into painting my 40k army for real again. Not sure when that'll be though, hopefully soonish.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #65-66: A Jam Packed Two Weeks!

These last two weeks have been filled with a lot of interesting steps in my hobby journey. I've made a lot of progress on my Maggotkin of Nurgle Spearhead. I've been focusing a lot more on my Spearhead lately than my wife's Seraphon Spearhead. I've just been enjoying painting for myself more lately. Especially since this army has been so freeing with allowing me to try out so many different things.

I was even able to try out a new way to paint skin on these Plaguebearers and my Spoilpox Scrivener. I'd been playing around with the idea for awhile, but after trying it I think this will be my go to way of painting Nurgle Daemon skin, guts, and eyes. They're just so incredibly vibrant and stunning to look at that I can't help but be a little impressed with myself. I'll be trying the scheme on progressively larger models until I eventually get to the big boy himself, the Glottkin.

On the side I trimmed 21 Thousand Sons models as a trade for some 3D Prints of desert style base toppers for Tomb Kings. This was very time consuming and took me three separate days to finish, but I wanted those base toppers since I wanted to get the Tomb Kings starter box. This was sort of my justification for getting one.

Other than the Tomb Kings Starter Box I was able to get my hands on the Champions of Slaanesh Army Box set for my wife. She's a big fan of the Emperor's Children and Fulgrim. So I will be getting a Fulgrim model at some point and likely painting it to my highest possible standard currently. That'll be fun when we get there, but that won't be happening for some time.

I, like many others, was a little disappointed in the Adepticon reveals for 40k. Specifically for Chaos. I know a lot of people were complaining that it's the year of chaos and all that stuff. However, I'm just mainly disappointed that we're only getting one model per faction. I'm a Death Guard player so I'm fine, but World Eaters has so few options and an Eightbound Leader really wasn't what World Eaters was looking for nor needed. I don't even want to think about how shafted Grey Knights players must feel after the reveal that the baby walker was the only thing updated and they really didn't do a whole lot to update it truly, especially the way Grey Knights players wanted. A lot of disappointment in the 40k side of things.

However, Warhammer The Old World players are eating absolutely lovely after the reveals. I'm really glad that Old World is getting the recognition it deserves with how dedicated the playerbase seems to be. I hope more fun and new stuff comes to Old World in the future.

While I'm not necessarily 100% interested in playing Trench Crusade the game currently, I really enjoy the models. I know I can 3D Print the models via the guy I did the Base Topper trade with, I'm genuinely curious how the physical minis for the game will be made. So I'm willing to put a few extra dollars down and waiting a bit to get the physical minis. I might get into the game itself once I have the models, but for now I'm just interested in painting them. I am a bit excited to see how the game evolves over time as it continues to get more and more popular like it has been. We have a small, but strong community for it in my area.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #64: A Monunental Varnish?

So I've tried a lot of varnishes over the years as I've participated in a lot of different artistic endeavors. So when I saw that Monument Hobbies released a rattle can varnish I was curious. I kind of don't love using my airbrush just to varnish my models, but I do it out of necessity. However, if the this new varnish is as good if not better I'm definitely using it more in the future.

On the left is an unvarnished Terminator and on the right is a Terminator that has been varnished.

The difference is subtle, but the Terminator on the right in my opinion looks significantly better. It feels more unified and you can see a lot more of the texture built up there sponging and drybrushing on the model.

What's your opinion? I'm of the opinion that the varnish is more than worth it.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #48-63: The Long Quiet

So, after November 18th I got super into the Pokemon TCG competitively and really wasn't painting miniatures. I saw how little attention my previous post got so I didn't think you guys would want updates on that specifically. During that period I went to Canada and played in the American Regional Championship in Toronto. Unfortunately, I receieved pretty horrendous matchup after awful matchup, even getting paired with Tord Reklev, a runnerup at the World Championships, in round three. It was a close match, but I ultimately lost due to my own mistakes.

After my performance I took a break to focus on my current career path which has taken quite some time to get to the point I am at currently. So I have not had much time to paint anything. It's been a tough 15 weeks I'm not gonna lie.

However, I did come back to play at a double case tournament for Prismatic Evolutions at my local card shop. I went undefeated and split the winnings with my opponent leaving us both with five Elite Trainer Boxes.

These ETBs were for my wife, so while I could have turned around and sold them on the market for scalped prices I let her decide what to do. She wanted to open them, so we did. People were not kidding, the pull rates in this set are horrendous. We did not pull a single thing of note.

It was actually excruciating opening 45 packs and not getting even one Special Illuatration Rare.

I did finish the commission I was doing for a friend, but I only have a couple pictures showing off the cultists and a short video showing off the berzerkers. I wish a got a picture of everything together.

After finishing that commission I took on another commission for a Lord on Pegasus for a local player's Kingdom of Bretonnia Old World army.

His scheme was incredibly simple so I got it done fairly quickly. I may eventually take on the other 80 Models he wants painted for his full fighting force. We'll have to see on that one.

In the intermission between commissions though I've been working on my wife's Seraphon Spearhead because I want to encourage her to play the game more often. Especially after getting the store anniversary Spearhead/Combat Patrol mat so we can play at home.

I still need to paint her Kroxigors, but I also need to paint my own Spearhead. I've also been having a lot of fun trying out different things on my own guys. My AoS army has kind of just become my hobby curiosity army. I've tried a lot of different techniques to get different results on my own models.

Painting has been a lot more enjoyable for me lately which is nice. I think it's just been the freedom of being able to paint whatever I want with my AoS army as opposed to painting a unified force with my 40k army. I haven't painted a single Death Guard unit since my last post involving them. I do plan on eventually finishing my 40k units, but the people around me have been focused on AoS so that's where I've put a lot of my focus. That way we can all participate in the hobby together.

Anyway, that's pretty much everything I have been up to since November of last year. Sorry to have been absent for so long. It's been an insanely busy year so far and I don't see it slowing down whatsoever.

Be safe out there everyone.

[attemptinghobbies]

Available For Painting Commissions!

If you're someone who lacks the time, energy, or you just don't have the motivation to paint your army, perhaps I can give you a hand!

I enjoy doing a more gritty and grounded style that still captures the more whimsical nature of Warhammer miniatures. If you've come across my blog I guess you like that too! You did build your FYP brick by brick after all. Feel free to reach out to me on here or my other social medias if you're interested in getting something painted.

Bluesky: @attemptinghobbies.bsky.social

Instagram: @attemptinghobbies

Commission pricing will be variable since painting something like Magnus isn't quite the same as painting something like a Chronomancer. This goes doubly so if I'm the one in charge of building the kit, which I'm more than happy to do.

(Make sure to like and reblog any posts you enjoy, not just mine. It helps get more eyes on the stuff we create in the community.)

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #47: Pokemon? I guess so.

I know, I know, this isn't Warhammer related. I understand, but like I said in my previous post I'm taking some time off of Warhammer for a bit. This is hobby related so we'll just say it's fine and fits the blogs theme. Anyway, for those of you who are interested in the Pokemon TCG this is the current deck I'm running.

I was running a Gardevoir EX deck prior to this and I tested different decks on PTCGL. I only started playing the Pokemon TCG about two months ago. Gardevoir EX wasn't really doing it for me and all the decks I tested on PTCGL didn't mesh with me either. After seeing the tins in my local target I decided to get some and test out Raging Bolt EX for the first time. The deck instantly fit my playstyle completely. It was exactly what I was looking for in a deck. After playing MTG and YGO for so many years I know what decks I like, I felt dumb for not playing it sooner. I was honestly just trying to not play something super meta like usual, but that wasn't the right play. I've made it into Top 8 at locals every tournament thus far since switching over. Since my locals run late we tend to just split prizing among everyone for non-League/Cup tournaments so we can go home. However, I think it would be difficult to argue that I'm not currently one of the better players seeing as I never drop more than one game in BO1s during Swiss Rounds. I'm currently undefeated in BO3.

It's been a lot of fun meeting new people and making new friends. My wife has even joined in on the fun and we've really been enjoying the game together. We even play Pokemon TCG Pocket together ever since it dropped.

I think the Pokemon TCG community has been easily one of the best card game communities I've had the pleasure of being a part of. MTG used to be good, and we all know what the YGO community is like. It's honestly a breath of fresh air.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #46: A Week of Silence

Hello everyone!

Progress on the World Eaters Combat Patrol commission I'm doing is steady and good. However, I'm not going to be able to post much in the way of update photos or anything like that this week.

Last week was an incredibly difficult week for both my family and I. Don't worry though, everyone is safe, I promise. I just need to take some time off of this little Warhammer journey to focus on my family. I will try to post something next week, but I can't promise it will be anything special.

Consider this a hopefully short hiatus. I'll be back. While there are not many of you I appreciate everyone last one of you who have been enjoying this journey so far. I hope we can continue this journey together very soon.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #45: The Battle Rages On!

Just some update photos of the commission I'm doing for a friend. It's coming along a little nicely. I wish things were going a little faster, but this is what I get for deciding to do so many miniatures. However, I think I am improving as a painter while doing these. Hopefully everyone enjoys the end results once it finally comes.

Also, for those of you who saw that I didn't properly put this post together before it uploaded, no you didn't.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #44: Lord Invocatus has come to RAGE!

Another piece for the World Eaters army that I'm doing for a friend. This was another larger model I got done in significantly less time than I thought it would take. It only took me two days I believe. One of those days was dedicated to finishing the base. There was a bit more texture with the black armor on the Juggernaut, but my Nuln Oil darkened everything too much. So that was a little disappointing, but I think it came out really well.

This had some small practice with skin thanks to this Khornate warrior not enjoying sleeves for some reason. I also did some wet blending on his horns which I think worked out incredibly well. Bones are still kind of hard to do for me. I don't know if I want them to have a bleached look or a yellow ting since that's more what bones look like normally when I see them depicted in most art. I'm sure I'll figure that out at some point.

I have to say though, this was a really cool model to paint. It wasn't the easiest thing to paint and the trim was getting on my nerves at one point, however it was worth it in the end. I'm glad I was able to get it done so fast.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #43: Fourty Three Weeks In

43 Weeks into this project and I'm not gonna lie, I feel a little burnt out. I've had a lot of fun doing this, but I don't know how people do this hobby as a job. I could not see myself doing like 24 Hour challenges, Weekend Challenges, or Painting Full Army Challenges. The amount of dedication, concentration, free time, and caffeine must on an other worldly level. I can barely paint a Plague Marine once a week on a bad week. Unfortunately though my motivation has stemmed from me playing the game and I just haven't really had a huge desire to play the game recently because of other things going on in my life. Maybe I'll have a fire lit under me again at some point in the future, but right now I'm just not feeling it. I'll keep chipping away at my Plague Marines, but I don't know what the future will hold for me when it comes to this game.

So this week I think we're going to just go through each "generation" of my Plague Marine/Death Guard Army paint scheme.

On the far left is my very first model painted, period. I don't know what I'll call him, but for now he's just my first model. I didn't know what I was doing or how my paints worked. I'd never done something like this before. I wasn't happy with it, but I didn't let that discourage me from continuing my journey, as you can see.

Second to the left is my second model painted ever, and what I thought I was going to do with all of my army after I finished him. He's still one of my favorite models and just like my first I will not painting over him any time in the future. They're permanent fixtures of my army.

Second from the right is my first Grimdark Style Plague Marines. I fell hard in love with this particular paint scheme. Something about it hits all the notes that I wanted for my army that I wasn't getting with my previous paint scheme. I'm really glad that I gave another style a chance.

Furthest to the right is my most recently painted Plague Marine. A more refined version of the "Grimdark Style" now that I've done it quite a number of times at this point. It's a little smoother, not as imperfect as before which takes a little away from the initial point of the style, but I think it's nicer to look at. You get the same feeling from the first iteration, but you can tell the level in which my painting skill is at is higher with my most recent attempt.

I enjoy painting my stinky boys and my apprehension has nothing to do with the army itself. I like the way Death Guard plays, I enjoy playing them every single time. I'm just struggling to find the motivation to continue. I won't be selling this army, they represent a lot of the struggles I've been through this last year and I remember how and when I painted each and every one of them. Down to the parts I hated the most about painting them.

The journey isn't over yet, but after this year I may take a break. Hopefully you guys stick around to see what happens next.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #42: A Gift From MY WIFE!

My wonderful beautiful wife did an awesome thing and got me a Daemon Prince for my Death Guard army. I've been saying for awhile now how I'd like to get a Daemon Prince purely to paint and not necessarily as a game piece. To my surprise she got one at our local Warhammer store and the manager never told me! Praise Tzeentch because they were scheming.

As soon as I got my hands on this model I had to put it together and then as soon as it was put together I had to prime it. Then next thing you know I'm done painting it. I did some testing on the effect on the sword, but I didn't truly put paint onto it until the following day. Then after putting paint on it I finished in a single day. I just didn't base it because I was tired. I don't ever think that I would finish a Daemon Prince in a single day. This was a huge confidence boost. I don't know if I'm ready to paint other things right this second, but I needed this refresher. I needed to paint something I genuinely wanted to slap paint on. I hope everyone likes how he turned out. Also, this is the first time ever painting any kind of skin and I think I learned a lot from the experience. I'll have to paint more skin so I can learn more.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #41: The Master of Execution

So I've been giving this guy some of my attention while I try to recover from the paint fatigue I got from painting Mortarion. I don't know why I've been feeling like this lately. I want to try to at least finish painting things until the end of the year, that will be my goal since I may not have as much time on my hands like previously to do so. I don't know what my next project will be, but I'm gonna do my best.

This felt better to paint than I thought it would. I tried my best to really get the grime look and I think the blood on the axe turned of phenomenal. I put in a little easter egg with the helmet on his back. It's the helmet of a Space Wolf from the Dornian Heresy, the fan made AU Khorne legion if all the factions swapped places with where they stood during the heresy itself. I just thought it'd be a fun little nod and kind of a jab saying that the World Eaters are the true Khornate Legion. I know most people won't notice, but it's a little touch by me.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #40: My Little Hauler

So, I'm not gonna lie. Mortarion drained my desire to paint anything heavily. I've stared at my Plague Marines for the entire week and the idea of painting another Plague Marine feels almost nauseating. Which is weirdly on brand for Death Guard.

So I went to my local Warhammer store and bought something I've wanted to paint for a long time. A Myphitic Blight-Hauler. Something about its face I just find very cute and the design has a lot of smooth panels which lets me test what my painting scheme looks like on larger more "flat" surfaces. I think it looks pretty good. I attempted making an eye for the first time which was a little harder than I thought it would be, but I think it turned out nice. Let me know what you think.

I really don't know what I'm going to paint next because Mortarion has drained literally any motivation I've had to paint anything. I didn't expect that to happen, but I did spend a lot of time working on him.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #39: The Wall Has Been Climbed!

After sitting on a shelf half painted for 18 weeks I decided enough was enough. I've practiced enough on smaller miniatures. The idea of staring at Mortarion one more day without his head on was too much for me to bare. So in the background while working on other things like my friend's World Eaters and some other smaller parts of my Death Guard army I've been painting Morty. Slowly, but surely, as Nurgle intended.

This is the final result, he may not be the best Mortarion on the internet, but he's my Mortarion. He's the center piece I will happily push across the battlefield and that's the most important part, that I'm happy with him. The amount of stress I was going through while painting him was immense. Every step of the way felt like the "Ugly Phase" people talk about when it comes to their miniature painting. Only until he was glued onto his base, the Nurglings were put in place, and the terrain and tufts were put on did Morty finally feel finished. I had to keep reminding myself to trust the process when painting Mortarion and stop doubting my painting ability. I think what I've done here is far beyond "Tabletop Standard." I'm not saying I'll win any Golden Daemons, but this genuinely feels like a level up moment for me. I've pushed passed a barrier that has been holding me back for too long. I feel like a better painter overall. I don't think I can continue saying I'm a "Beginner Painter" after today. Let's go with Intermediate for now, until I find something else to push my painting abilities to their limits.

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #38: He's Very Stinky, Very Gross, Very Cultured

I know I'm supposed to be working on the World Eaters project, but come on, I just got my hands on these models the other week. You really think I wasn't immediately going to paint up the Plaguecaster? He's the coolest model out of the set.

I just had to get color on him.

I'm still going with the grim dark style that I have for my plague marines and I think it looks really good on this model. I tried to see if I could do some kind of green energy smoke thing for his, presumably, spell. However, I don't really think it turned out all that great. I could have probably done something different to make it pop a little more, but I'm not gonna mess with it more right now. It looks halfway decent and that's good enough for me.

Other than that I was not a fan of painting these flies. For some reason I was like absolutely at the end of my rope painting this guy when I got to the flies. So I did them kinda sloppily. I may come back and fix them in the future, but right now I'm just not interested. With how many maggots I had to paint I'm good.

Outside of those two things though I think the mode looks really good. I love everything about this models sculpt. I'm still really happy I was able to get my hands on these models for my army.