The Magmahold

It's time to look back at how I did against my hobby goals for the last month. Since I'm writing this on new Year's Eve, I'm also going to do a quick reflection on the year as a whole, and my hobby resolutions for 2021. Last month's goals 1. Paint three more Kurnoth Hunters for my ghost dwarf/Sylvaneth army: done! I got my ghost dwarf force up to 1000 points, which was a nice milestone to have reached. 2. Paint ten more Mortek Guard: done. I also painted 3 Kavalos Deathriders, as a bonus. 3. C onvert and paint Jakob Bugmansson XI, the GW Christmas model this year: done!  4. M ake a start on painting the Direchasm starter set, once it comes out: done! I've managed to get both Direchasm warbands painted already, and I'm really happy with how they came out. I got the new Bloodbowl starter set for Christmas, so in January I want to focus on painting up that set. So far I've only painted one model, the elf referee. Overall in 2020, I painted 293 models which ...

I've written before on the blog about my ghost dwarf army, this post is going to cover my lore for them.  The short version is: they are the ghosts of dwarves and Sylvaneth who died fighting each other in the Age of Myth, and now their ghosts have risen up to defend the forest their bodies lie in against the encroaching forces of Nurgle. Read on for the longer version! I'm hoping to develop their story further by playing games with them once it becomes safe to play games again in the UK. Ghost dwarf lore Long ago, the duardin of the Zhalgrad Hold waged war against the Sylvaneth of Rhweandryn Thicket. The hold was set into a crag on the outskirts of the Wildroot forest, and the duardin mines ran deep under the wood, cutting through roots and scarring the ground. Many were the trees felled to fuel the duardin fires, and the smoke of their industry was smelt throughout the forest. But in the heart of the forest stood the Rhweandryn Thicket, and there the duardin dared not go. Th...

 Let's see how I did against last month's goals, and plan what I'm going to work on this month. Last month's goals 1. Finish my Kharadron Overlords army: done! I did a whole blog post on it and everything. I'm really pleased with this project, and hoping to get a lot of games in with them once it is safe to meet up with people again. 2. Work on my display board: complete! I blogged about this last week . It was nice to try something a bit different, and I'm happy with how it came out. Because I've left it slightly more than a month between these posts, I had some time to spare so I also painted ten Mortek Guard as a test project for a possible Ossiarch Bonereaper army. I haven't fully made up my mind yet whether I want an army of them, but I'm definitely leaning that way.  And I also finished off ten Irondrakes who were left over from last month, and painted this dwarf thief from Bad Squiddo Games. This month is going to be about a few small project...

 I made my first ever display board for Armies on Parade this year. I really enjoyed making it and am very pleased with how it came out, so thought I'd write a short guide to how it did it. I found when I was researching that there were a lot of videos on making display boards and terrain, but not that many blogs, and personally I prefer written guides for this sort of thing. Here's a picture of the finished board. I'm pleased with it because: it meets my initial vision for it, which was my Tempest Eye army marching through a canyon; and I think it looks like the models belong in that world, the board fits with their bases very well. If I was doing it over again, the three things I'd try to do better are: take better photos - I really struggled with this; put the tree at the front - this is the bit of the board with the most detail (there are a lot of birds in and around the tree), but it gets a bit lost in the middle and was hard to bring out in photos; improve the loo...

 I finished my Kharadron army yesterday, so this week's blog is going to be a picture heavy army showcase for them. Here's the whole force. I have around 3000 points I think, which gives me quite a few list options to play with. It's a weird time to have finished this army: I'm not able to play games at the moment due to local covid-19 restrictions, and it seems pretty likely that Kharadron will see some points increases if there is a winter FAQ this year, so the army could be in quite a different place by the time I'm able to get it on the table. But I'm looking forward to when I'll eventually be able to get some games in with them, regardless. I started off painting just a few units to go alongside my Tempest's Eye force, and then decided to expand it when the Aether Wars box came out in early 2020.  Here are all the foot troops. The arkanaut company were probably my favourite models in the army to paint, they're a lovely kit, and I think my colour...

Something a bit different this week: I thought I'd write a short guide to playing Warhammer Underworlds over webcam. Underworlds is probably my favourite gaming system, and prior to the pandemic I organised a weekly meet-up in a friendly local game store. During the pandemic we've switched to a weekly meet-up over webcam, which has worked pretty well, it's never going to be quite the same as playing face to face, but I've really enjoyed being able to get some games in. This guide is focused on casual gaming, if you're interested in what more you'd need to do for full on competitive play over webcam, I'd suggest checking out Can You Roll a Crit's tournament rules for his UK Masters tournament. What do you need to play Warhammer Underworlds over webcam? Everything you'd normally need to play Underworlds - your own models, dice, tokens, boards, and cards. Some spare models to proxy the opponent's warband. It's easier if you have the actual model...

  Let's review how I did against the goals I set myself last month, and look at what I'm hoping to get done this month. Last month's goals 1. Paint a second frigate and repair my first one: complete ! I love painting Kharadron boats, so this was a fun project. 2. Paint 10 irondrakes for my ghost dwarf force: complete ! I even made a start on a second box, but ran out of steam on them partway through so they're sitting on top of my shame pile at the moment. 3. Plan my armies on parade board, and get together the materials I need to make it: partly complete . I have a rough plan (which I'll go into in a future post), but haven't picked up any of the stuff I need for it yet. I need to spend some time watching terrain tutorial videos to figure out how best to go about it. Not a bad hobby month though, all in all. This month the main thing I want to do is to finish off my Kharadron Overlords army. I have all the models I need, and they're all built, so I just nee...