Roadmap to summer...1500pts ZM
Lockdown is ending!!
.So it appears we have a road map to summer and the end of COVID restrictions. Clearly this is an ideal scenario type gig - my quiet Jan/Feb (due to COVID escalation rotas) is a testament to plans not quite going as…well…planned.
At the current rate, however, we are on for games in the not too distant future. (Brother Handro: “Wait…does that mean we need to paint something?…”)
Zone Mortalis
Some time ago Der H bought some ZM tiles on Last Chance to Buy, they sat unused for a time and eventually found some paint last year!
So hey…why not use them.
Both of the Butterflies have Legion goals with new forces that haven’t quite taken off, and so we decided that a great way to start would be planning for a set of 1000pt ZM games following the Hit and Run Blood in the Void rules against an escort. Mission one being Void Strike. depending how it goes, and depending on progress we can do mission 2 and 3, and push to 1500 pts.
Der H will be running Iron Warriors
Brother Handro will be pushing the Imperial Fists…
….Roll on Phall!
The first phase…
Der H’s list is a tidy 23 models, with Praevian, 2 Castellax and 20 Breachers, whilst Brother Handro has gone for the squishier Champion, 2 Apothecaries, 10 Tacticals, 10 Breachers and 10 Warders.
Stretch Goal…
1500 adds 10 more Breachers and 10 Iron Havocs for Der H and 5 Vets plus 5 Terminators for Brother Handro…evening out the squishy somewhat!
The idea is that, missing our usual event-driven progress, we can make our own event of it…and drive some progress….
…of course, knowing one’s opponent might mean some subtle changes before list day….
2020 in review, and looking forward
No more shall the shame of missing a pledge be felt, from now on we will all travel in tubes!
….Wait…that’s a different thing!
Everyone (to 2020):
2020 was set up to be a year of events; Company of Legends, Scarring of Alspa, Damochan, Heresy.Scot, Melos….We had plans to each complete a titan legio, a militia list, and add to our 30k frontline lists. We even had the supposed opportunity with lockdowns being forced to stay at home. So what happened…
…COVID (Der H: “If you didn’t know the answer, turn on the TV…”)….COVID happened. Der H is a doctor and so the year has been busy. But even with days off and annual leave, progress wasn’t as amazing as we all thought it would be. Several podcasts, (looking at you Age of Darkness!), have hit the nail on the head in their recent ‘casts: a lot of people feel ashamed of their lack of ‘progress’, especially when the time was seemingly available.
At work there is a lot of talk about fatigue, and what that means. The daily “Do I have a temperature?”, “Have I got my mask?”, “Can I go to that shop?” etc takes a toll. I write this between two 13-hour shifts in a large ICU. Constant FFP3, ceaseless admissions, more deaths and life-changing ICU admissions than usual takes a toll - the Hobby we do in our free time shouldn’t be what shames us. The Age of Darkness Podcast do a Two week hobby challenge - its great, but results in many fellow hobbyists landing in the box of shame. They have recently (here I think) ended the box of shame, and will be taking a new approach without shame, but celebrating progress….and that’s what we’re going to do!
2021: Celebrate achievement, don’t shame failure
So, for 2021, we are going to focus on celebrating what we get done each month. Not focusing on our failures. Thers is a joy of ‘butterflying’ between projects; there’s always so much on the go!
Keep an eye out for our respective January in review posts, as well as the February “whats on our workbench” post in the next few days!
Hobby Goals 2021
So since it seems to be the thing to do, I guess we should have some hobby goals! This blog started as a way to get us painting out backlogs, and what better way than shared shame…(Brother Handro: “Don’t you dare use that gif again….”)…Lets see what we want to achieve…
Brother Handro
1: Titans!
If there’s one thing I’ve fallen in love with in the last few years it’s Adeptus Titanicus. (Owning, not playing, apparently…) I just can’t get enough of that not-quite Epic-scale goodness. Expect more legios than you can shake a rangefinder at!
2: Clones!
If there’s another thing I’ve got into, it’s Star Wars Legion! Although I love all the factions, I’m a big fan of the Republic so expect to see me wade through my clones painting white and various unit markings…we may even learn how to play it properly!…(Der H ‘Easy now, tiger…’)
3: zone mortalis!
By which I obviously mean His Imperial Majesty’s Most Glorious Fists…(Der H mutters something about iron cages under his breath..) Der H has been chugging away at his magnificent ZM board and the classic match-up of Iron Warriors versus Imperial Fists will be a suitably fitting clash for this deadly stage….
4: World Eaters!
Do you hear the voices too?! (Der H ‘sanity is for the weak!’) I’ve long harboured a dark ambition to do at least some justice to this famously annoying-to-paint legion. The core of the force is built, now I just need to muster the courage…
5: Orkses!
Hey remember when I bought a whole Ork army around the beginning of 8th Ed? Yeah….Der H wants to do Gorkamorka, and I do love a good mechanised infantry theme…alright I’ll do it!
Der H
1: …I mean, titans i guess….
Brother Handro has been suggesting (Der H “Strongly….”) that I should paint my titans for some time…they are all currently gun metal with shading and have panels in various stages of completeness. We bought in HARD at the start, and each have a grand master edition jsut waiting to be played…Legion Fureans is, as such, my number 1 completion for this year!
2: Death korps of krieg
Ok, this one is serious….its been here looking at me forever it seems! I’ve expanded it with some tanks, two bombards, a minotaur, and 10 OOP renegade ogryn. I have lists on battlescribe, I have fluff and a theme….but none painted….this shall not pass!
3: Oak and iron
Yet another Kickstarter I hit HARD in the last few years. Duplicate of everything they make has been sat unpainted for a long time. It did get a coat of white (Brother Handro “wow….easy there…dont want to peak at a Golden Daemon too soon”) in 2020, but nothing since. Citadel contrast paints seem to be the way to go, and they’ve been bought and ready for some time too. Thy need to get finished! I have started this already, so its jsut a matter of motivation, dedication and strict attention to…oh look, SWL…
4: Zone Mortalis
Yea we both need this…I bought the board on LCtB last year whilst waiting for my FRCA Ceremony! (Der H “My wallet hasnt recovered”) It is mostly painted except for details and stencils. a few good sessions and we’ll be done…..now….where did that ZM door STL file go…
5: Play some games
Ok, ok this one is a pipe dream….but COVID-19 has had a wide range of effects. My professional life has certainly changed! like all of us I miss gaming; I miss events (I think…) and I miss playing games with my buddy! 2021 WILL change this and we’ll be sick of learning when to brace for impact (and what game that even is…) again before too long…
We have awoken!
Good lord it has been a long time again! It’s nearly the end of May, and we’ve not posted anything since November! Since then there has been much painting (Brother Handro: Ha!), two events, and a great deal of buying!
The time has come to try harder to deliver some more frequent content to motivate our progress through our respective (Der H: ever expanding…) legions of grey.
Der H is now post-exam, with NO MORE EXAMS in the foreseeable future (Brother Handro: I’ve heard that before) and now that real life is a little more settled, has promptly bought more models than sin.
Brother Handro has, again, flitted between several options, but has fleshed out the Sons of Horus to an extent never seen in our little hobby bubble (Der H: Don’t forget your rapidly expanding Instagram account Brother! Brother Handro: Linky linky)
We’ve been quite happy dishing out tempting pictures on Instagram, but haven’t really frequented our own blog…today that changes!
The plan…
Over the coming weeks we’re going to be more diligent at posting our exploits, starting with a veritable plethora of posts due this weekend when we attend…
We’re heading down this Friday for a fun-filled weekend of Heresy gaming, and the old allegiance of the Sons of Horus and the Emperors Children will be put to the test (Brother Handro: Not really a ‘fair’ test though is it….). We’re planning on discussing our list over the weekend, and already have a sneak peek of some of the competition through our operatives (Der H: Ok…its Facebook), but more on this in our Throne of Skulls - prelude post later this week.
Following that we will be reviewing the much anticipated Battle report app MyMiniReport when it is released this week. This is much anticipated so head over to their Kickstarter for details of the (now closed) campaign, or head to their forum for general chatter.
Going forwards…
Following that we have a huge backlog of blog posts to churn through, from a review of the December 2018 Scouring of Melos event hosted by the Road to Terra Podcast, to a look forwards to their next event in July. We will discuss Der H’s exploits in Durham at the Company of Legends, and will be going through and showing all the lovely plastic/resin crack we’ve been buying…
In the mean time check our our official Instagram here…
…and Brother Handro’s instagram here…
Der H & Brother Handro
Thought for the day: “Heresy grows from idleness”
Another year, Another ETL...
Behold - in the nick of time - my finished ETL 2018 vow to complete 6 Scimitar Jetbikes as a Sky Hunter Squadron, with a sky Hunter Sgt with Phoenix power spear of total value 270 points! Its a shame I couldn't do a second pledge, have a lovely purple Dreadclaw that is gathering dust!
For those that dont know, over on Bolter and Chainsword there is an annual event called the ETL ("E Tenebrae Lux" - Or for us peasants, "From darkness, light"). It is popular, and as such is now in its 6th year.
Pledges are made to a particular faction on the boards, and their points cumulative to that faction's grand total, 270 points is a poor show in all honesty, but real life does get in the way.
These are my first jetbikes. I have one more being built as a legion champion for Maru Skara shenanigans....but that can wait...
I even put details on the control panel - a rare treat for me!
In the works are a Dreadclaw, 2 10 man tactical squads, 5 more phoenix terminators, a librarian (for the IIIrd you say?!) and some more HQs.....oh, and a Spartan!
[Brother Handro: "That's basically 2 years' work right there...."]
Der H
Summer 2018 - Pledges, the ETL, and life in general!
Well that was a long month! For once, I've made no progress because I've been on call or away for every weekend for the last 5!
April's pledge for me was a complete non-starter. With Land Rover woes [Brother Handro: "Joys of classic motoring right?"] and work it just didn't happen. May has also been empty so far, mainly due to weekends out of the country, or certainly out of the basement!
Life overall is getting better, but still very changeable!
To top this off, I have a post grad exam coming up which is costly - in both time and money (£1000 worth to be precise!).
Brother Handro and I have been talking - rarely, but it happens! - and have a plan: for the summer we will have no Hobby Butterfly Pledges. Instead, given a love of a certain forum, we will engage in the ever popular...
=][= E Tenebrae Lux VI =][=
...without further ado!
Der H
I Der H rise to the challenge of E TENEBRAE LUX with my IIIrd Legion and vow to complete 6 Scimitar Jetbikes as a Sky Hunter Squadron, with a sky Hunter Sgt with Phoenix power spear on or before August 1st, 2018. Success will redeem my honour whilst failure will doom me to wear the Badge of the Oathbreaker and bring shame upon my Legion.
My pledge can be found here and my progress can be found on my Bolter and Chainsword plod here.
Brother Handro
May the forces or the warp, the Warmaster, the Emperor, or mighty Slaanesh guide our way!
Brother Handro & Der H
April 2018 - Schroedinger's Pledge
In which we ponder whether a pledge is complete or not...
Brother Handro
I had high hopes for this one. A single model in a month...I could lavish care and attention on it...and yet in the end I kind of lost my way with it, and the result is functional, nothing more. Still, one more finished model for the collection! (*Tries not to think about the hundred models he's added since then*)
Der H
Yea, that didn't happen! I pledged to complete my Dreadclaw drop pod, and it is in EXACTLY the same condition as when I started....and it is also now the end of May...
Now...where is that woman with that bell...ah here she is...
Der H & Brother Handro