June Update

Wow – it's been over two months since my last blog post, and what a crazy time it's been. Aside from mundane things like decorating and major earthworks that have eating into down time, the hobby is very much alive and kicking.

To begin with, though it seems a lifetime away, I had a cracking visit to Salute. I haven't been for a couple of years so was really looking forward to it – normally the kiss of death. However, I didn't hold back this time around and came home with a boatload of loot, chatted to quite a few people about their projects and products, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

After my game of Kill Team with Bull, back at the beginning of March, I was buzzing for my Crimson Fist marines and (more so) my new gaming board and terrain. I has quite literally become an addiction, and I have been building lots of Sector Mechanicus bits and pieces to create the ultimate skirmish environment.

Once done I had some time to ponder and ripped half of it apart and rebuilt it _ with magnets galore –  in a more modular and funky way. This felt a bit mad at the time, but has proved to be a genius move as the set of terrain I have is looking awesome.

Very happy bunny indeed. Most of it has a base coat, whilst some has been lavished with shade and even highlights. More on this another time.

My son even got in on the action, taking the time to construct a battlescape one afternoon, using lots of my 40k models. It was a good opportunity to dust a few old bits off and assess the model collection. I think I need more.

I managed to get a fantastic 2-day gaming session in with Bull at the end of May. Instead of picking up the Kill Team again, of which he wasn't really a fan, we took another look at Shadespire. I think it's fair to say that this definitely ticked a box for Bull, to the point I did think he might go out and make a rather large purchase of everything related (but he held his nerve!).

I had a bit of a lull after this marathon gaming event, but my son persisted with the big 40k displays. It got my enthusiasm back up again, and I've been spending my evenings building lots of Space Marine models I'd bought and had sitting in a box.

This last weekend was something of a highlight as I took him to his first ever wargame show – Broadside 2019 in Sittingbourne. Despite not being a fan of all the walking, and the fact he was a little short to see what was going on most of the time, he loved it. His biggest highlight was a demo game by Friday Night Firefight Club of Dinosaur hunting, using a modified version of the Congo rules. Of course, having been reminded of that amazing game we had at Awdry Towers, I had to buy the Congo rulebook!

Crimson Fists Kill Team – Part 2

So as we head into the end of March, I thought I would sneak in an update on the Crimson Fists' progress.

I had raced ahead with my Comms marine, even getting so far as to test some red and black out the blue overspill. This did however leave the rest of the team lagging far behind. I got the bulk of them up to a basic blue coat, but it took a while for the Veteran Sergeant (with all his greenstuff additions) to catch up.

Last night I put in a shift to make sure they were all finished with the blue, with final highlights (I may got back with a touch of white at the end) and ready to see red! With the grinding bit over I'm looking forward to getting stuck into some details to bring their characters to life. Alas, with Easter fast approaching, my wife has decided that now is the time to tackle the redecorating of the living room – the second largest room in the house, and the one we've been putting off since we moved in five years ago.

With that in mind I expect progress to be slow, but I hit my self-induced deadline of the end of the month for the armour to be complete. OMG, I may actually painting some models here people – I may actually be able to tick something off the Hobby Bingo list (soon)!

Kill Team – Crimson Fists Primaris Sergeant

The image above is the one you've already seen of Primaris Veteran Sergeant Vorn. He is the last of my 7-man Crimson Fists Kill Team to see any kind of undercoat, the reason being that I wanted to adorn his armour with a few unique elements so that he stands out on the tabletop.

Now I've not done any greenstuff sculpting for a very long time, so my skills are quite rusty, but I had my list of additions and gave it a go.

First on the list was a loin cloth. I wanted to add a bit of movement to the model and another colour, as they are turning out to be very blue! I supplemented this with some purity seals – on the belt and the shoulder pad.

I managed to find a rather nifty skull with roman numerals etched into it from the Primaris Apothecary model, so I added that to the shoulder pad first. I then also sculpted a (crude) skull to the opposite knee pad. I like the idea that this is some kind of icon for the team – Skull and VI – so may have to use it on the other models in various forms.

He is now on the painting table and should have caught up with the rest of the team's completed blue armour in the next couple of days!