For King and Country

   One of the things I wanted to get finished and on the table in 2018* was Sharp Practice 2, with my French force at a point where it is big enough to get a game in, I needed to get my British force to the same level. These two units of British Light Line and have on my painting tray for longer than I think any model has before** and lack of motivation meant that it looked like they would be sat in painting purgatory for a lot longer. However, with my current lack of a job I decided that this is the exact sort of project I should now be getting on with.

*Well 2017 but lets not split hairs

**I might have had to brush dust off them

   I have definitely mentioned before how much I hate painting Napoleonics and I suspect I made the same mistake I made with the first French unit I painted, i.e. painting 16 men at the same time just makes the situation worse, so the next lot will be painted in batches of 8 again to help mitigate this.

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The Mighty Muffin Tops - Halfling Blood Bowl Team

   One of the rules I follow when building armies is that once you have filled up whatever you are going to transport that army in, the project is finished*. I personally carry nearly all my models in KR Multicase boxes, which are all lined up on a bookcase, making packing an army for a game a quick and simple process. So when I got into Blood Bowl at the end of 2016 and I bought a case for my team, I made sure the case would hold 3 teams worth of models - including a few support staff for each team. I already had an Amazon team from the first time I tried Blood Bowl and had picked the human team for this time round, so that left 1 space.

*Unless you buy a second box . . .

   The last team proved to be a tough decision but basically came down to either Lizardmen or Halflings in the end and the idea of having a Halfling team just made me laugh, so when GW had the Halflings on made to order for a week last year I jumped on the chance.

   The maximum number of players a team can have is 16, as I wasn't sure what I would want to do with this team I bought the maximum number of halflings and added two treemen to go over that number, but it means I can play whatever I want with the team. The 'Captain' in the front middle rank is the Warhammer World exclusive star player Crumbleberry but I am going to use him as a regular halfling.
   The colours were picked for two reasons; 1 they were different to both my other teams. 2 they match the North Melbourne Football Club that I have become an honourary supporter of, taking one of their caps round the world with me. Also, as the club are known as the 'Shinboners', it felt appropriate. . .
   Again, this was one of those projects that I was so close to being finished on, but one of those where I just couldn't motivate myself to paint the last 5 models. As they are now done, this is the second project I can say I have completed this year.

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Gangs of Rome - Making Progress

   With my Hungarian project now finished and my Sons of Horus nearly finished (although I suspect this is one of those projects that will never really be finished) I am looking at what other projects I can get finished quickly or what games I really want to get on the table that I just haven't managed so far, but I am trying not to lose sight of my Gangs of Rome project.
   I only have another 30 models to paint for this project, which doesn't sound like much but as it is another list of models without a uniform I don't want to rush it and end up with models I don't like once it is finished, so I want to take my time and paint a model every time I get inspired, rather than force a finished project. However, saying that I still want to see this project moving, and this is what I have achieved recently.
 
   First up is another base of mob, I kept to my rule of trying to paint as many of these as I could before I started on my gang members, knowing full well that once my gangers are painted the mob would fall by the wayside. These batch is a green batch, following my group painting rules and I plan to include at least a single gang fighter in each mob painting batch to help the project move along a bit more.

   Next up are my first two fighters, I have kept the colour schemes really simple on these two just to make sure I have some models finished and help with motivation. These two are (left to right); Faustinus and Metella - pre-named as per their cards. Faustinus has a white streak in his hair from an old head wound and Metella is a branded thief.

   While I was going through my gang members trying to get some inspiration on who to build/paint next and what I wanted them to look like, I had a proper look at one of the Dominus figures and felt that it would be a great quick model to paint, so he jumped the queue pretty spectacularly. Again, a simple colour scheme as I felt it looked right on him.

   Last up is a weirder one, some scenic bits from Foundry Miniatures. I tried to make them look like veined white marble (although I suspect I was a bit harsher on the veining) but I am pleased with them and think they will look good on a scenic board.

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Hungarians - remember this one?

   While in Budapest last September, I got a hit of the inspiration bug and found myself planning out a Hungarian WW2 army which I decided would be ready for the new year and finely honed by the time of the Cam'bridge Too Far Bolt Action tournament came around in early March. As my first unit wasn't painted until December, it was always going to be a long shot whether it was going to get done in time.
   Then last week a post went up on Facebook reminding that lists needed to be in by Saturday the 24th February and the realisation of how soon it was all becoming hit me hard. Thankfully, I had actually done more painting than I had posted about (not sure how a big chunk of the army missed my blog) which gave me a good chance but I would still like to have a game under my belt with this army before I handed the list over to the tournament organisers.

   The finished army (minus the medic on the right who I painted because I had him), as you can see, I am relying on the army being able to annoy an enemy into defeat rather than having any single hard unit.

   The units painted up at some point over the Christmas period (unsure when) that missed the blog first time round. Three more squads, officer + mate and medic, it was this big chunk of models having been finished early that had given me the chance of getting this army done in time to get a game in.

   The last of the infantry that needed finishing, a mortar team + spotter, MMG team and AT rifle team. The only reason they hadn't been done at the same time as the rest was I hate building mortars (beyond fiddly) and I needed a doner AT Rifle (plastic Soviet set) to convert my own one up (using a LMG gunner as a base).

   The compulsory vehicles, because who doesn't want tanks in a WW2 army? In this case it is a 40M Turan Hungarian tank, Hungarian Truck and a German Panzer 38T, sent to reinforce the Hungarians. I spent ages online trying to work out the best camo for the Hungarians and settled on something that looks right for the summer of 43, which also matches the units I have picked for my list. I purposely painted the Panzer in a different scheme (eastern front, 43 as well) and used a different green, just to make sure there is no mistaking that it is from a different army. Neither of the tanks are that hard but I have found reliably pinning the opponents tanks every turn is better than aiming for the one shot kill as when it fails it leaves you with a really bad game and that is what these two are designed to do.

I'm going to start a finished project tally for this year, so this is number 1.
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Sons of Horus - Armour

   My hobby plan at this point was to put my remaining Sons of Horus aside for a week or so and aim to get further with my Gangs of Rome project, so my first fighters were built and sprayed, another couple of bases of mob also underwent the same process and then a realisation hit me, just how close I was to boxing off everything I currently own for my SoH, so they duely jumped the queue.
   Over the weekend I joined a 30k Essex group on facebook and organised, not only, my first game/s but also a ticket to a tournament in June. My thinking behind this is that I have now got 3-5 games planned out for this army, even if the guy I am building it to play against doesn't get around to doing his force.

   The army list I initially wrote has been modified and changed so much in the last month, or so, that it is nearly unrecognisable but it is still the list I am aiming for, with everything else just being options and extra for bigger games. This post is the last few models I needed to finish that list.

   My first squad of Sons of Horus Terminators with a HQ choice attached. As mentioned before Horus made sure that the Sons of Horus were never lacking when it came to equipment, both in terms of quality and quantity, and terminator armour was high on that list being one of the first legions to get access to the armour and having some of the highest numbers of the armour by the point of the heresy, so I knew I needed at least one squad*.
   I kept my armour purposely plain compared to the colours most people choose, my army is supposed to be the 84th company, so far down the order of battle that I doubt they had a huge amount of boast of as they would be unlikely to be involved in the same compliance fleet as the Wastermaster himself. When I eventually add Horus to my army it will be with at least a couple of squads of Justaerin terminator bodyguards (the elite of the elite) so I want the difference to be so obvious that it cannot be missed.

*Although I will probably

get more 

   The vindicator was the result of another realisation when I noticed just how light on Anti Tank was list was becoming. I want to add some big tanks in the future but in the mean time I decided I needed the bread and butter of legion infantry support tanks and it had to either be one of these or a predator and the vindicator was just too pretty not to have.

   The Sicaran tank is another of those units that just scream 30K and is, in my opinion, one of the best looking tanks in the warhammer universe. My initial plan was to get the Venator variant but upon speaking to the guy who I am planning to use this army against the most we realised our unit selection was actually pretty similar, so I swapped out a Venator for the basic version and left the Vindicator (above) to do the same job.

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Sons of Horus Odds and Sods - Nearing the end

   It's been a slightly more productive week on the hobby front, with actual painting time put aside and time found for a few games. I have purposefully left any finished models from the Gangs of Rome project out of this post as I felt both projects now have enough traction to deserve their own label threads, so don't worry, it hasn't fallen by the wayside, quite the opposite in fact.
    This is another of those posts where it is going to look like I have been incredibly busy, but again, I only actually had to finish about 5 men (and the Landspeeder) to complete the squads I am posting about.

   The Javelin Landspeeder was one of those purchases where it wasn't in my initial list, nor do I really know what I am going to do with it, but I was looking through my future shopping list and what I already had and I was completely lacking in Fast Attack choices. While I have a few units that will be fulfilling Fast Attack slot jobs on the battlefield, I wanted at least something in my options that actually lived in the slot, plus the Landspeeder fulfilled a tank hunting role that I am also slightly light on.

   These squads, unlike the Landspeeder, were part of the plan from early on. The first squad is a Despoiler squad, a brain child of the Warmaster himself*. Despoilers would be mounted in rhinos or landraiders, held in reserve and unleashed when the foe was breaking, much in the way cavalry could be used in ancient warfare. I have designated these as the 4th Tactical squad, as it was normal practice to reassign tactical marines to form these squads.

* So I had to have a squad really.

   The last squad is my first Tactical Support squad, special weapon toting tactical marines who fulfill specific battlefield roles. Again, this was a unit that was nearly entirely built before I even started this incarnation of this project, with only minor changes to the fabric of the squad (customary top knot and shoulder pads etc), I am particularly pleased with the guy on the front right of the squad with his bionic leg and mismatched armour.

   Now I have my 6 main power armoured squads finished, varnished and in their case, I feel like a bit light on the Sons of Horus details - mostly top knots as each squad seems to have a single token one as if to prove a point, This is something I will fix with future units.

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Sons of Horus Tactical Squad 3 + Friends

   This post is going to make it look like I have done an extraordinary amount of painting in the last week or so, but actually it is all a lie, I have managed about 11 models since the 20th*, but because I am painting up a few members of different squads at anyone time it might only take the one man to allow me to post a finished squad - exactly what has happened here.

*The normal work, trip and

one hell of a cold.

   First up is another base of mob for Gangs of Rome - this time using a mostly red theme. As with my Dark Ages projects, the mob will be mixed up so the single colour bases will be lost into the whole mix, painting a single dominate colour makes the whole project much quicker and simpler while not ruining the end effect. This base isn't just made up of 'official figures' but includes some from Wargames Foundry's range just to mix up the poses a bit.
   I have some scenery half finished and my first couple of fighters built, so I should start being able to blog about the more interesting bits soon, but I wanted to get as much of the mob done before I did too much else as they are likely to fall by the wayside otherwise.

   Next is my Sons of Horus captain. My style is rarely to have leaders that are mega over the top in the way GW loves to do - so the massive helmet, cloak and huge stylised shoulder pads were a no go for me. The body is a limited edition Alpha Legion captain while the rest of the bits are from my 30k bits box. I gave him a shaved head and top-knot to really emphasis the Sons of Horus thing, extended the axe to make it him stand out from the ranks and gave him a subtle chaos star on his leg to start to show that these are not the loyal troops they once were.

   Next is my 3rd Tactical marines squad, this one with extra close combat weapons (an option they can have - not obvious from this photo but they are on their backpacks). I used far more MKIII armour in this squad than in the other two as the thought was that these are the objective holders and reserves, holding what has been claimed while the 1st and 2rnd squads push forward to capture, so they will have less frequent casualties.

    Last, but definitely not least, is the first Landraider for this army. In 30k Landraiders are a big deal, being much closer to the standard transport of the legion than the rhino is in 40k, and the Sons of Horus, who always got the best equipment, took this to a whole new level. My funds, however, don't quite stretch to matching the Son's equipment lists but I knew I needed at least one in my force, but I will say for those who are looking at picking this part resin kit up, it is a beast to put together.
   In the future, I would like to add a 1st company detachment to this force; Horus himself, a couple of squads of Justcarian and a couple of their own Landraiders, so expect to see more of these then!