The other day I came across the phrase “play with gray” on Reddit, a reference to playing miniatures games without, or before, painting the minis. It immediately resonated with me. The state of the miniature union I’ve pretty much stopped painting minis. The last minis I recall finishing were a couple of Blood Angels Infiltrators […]
I didn’t paint much in 2023. I took stock in the new year and realized that after three years of painting minis for 40k, Kill Team, and BattleTech, I’d played just ten games using those minis (three 40k, six KT, one BT). Now, a big part of figuring out that I secretly enjoyed painting minis
Sailing out of the painting doldrums with Blood Bowl Read More »
Here’s a little old/new paint job comparison. It’s not night and day, but I can see the benefit of experience! From left to right, the Infiltrators are July 2023, May 2020, July 2023; Chaplains are July 2020, July 2023. The biggest changes are attempting proper edge highlighting, pin washes rather than all-over washes on armor,
Hobby philosophy: old and new paint jobs Read More »
I committed to learning to pin wash when I started painting BattleTech minis again, and since my first outing I’ve added it to my toolkit. That also means it’s time for an updated Blood Angels color guide, since pin washing is a big part of my Space Marine painting process now. The pin wash on
New baseline Blood Angels color guide Read More »
“I’ll get to play with these” has been a powerful motivator since I got rolling in 2020, and I’ve always speculated that “I played and I like/didn’t like X, I need to paint some Y for my next game” would be similarly powerful. Kill Team has produced that cycle for me, except instead of X
The paint-play-paint motivation cycle (and a Chaplain color guide) Read More »
Most of my wargaming has been done with folks I already knew, or if it was with folks I didn’t know it was in the context of a convention (where that’s kind of the norm). Until today, I’d somehow never actually met up to play a game with a stranger before. My local shop, Mox
Kill Team game four: Blood Angels vs. Veteran Guardsmen Read More »
Reagan and I got together on July 7th for our second match, Tyranids (him) vs. Blood Angels (me) playing the Secure Archaeotech mission. I’m not sure I have the stamina to post a battle report for every game I play, but as long as I do and it’s fun I’m going to keep doing it.
Kill Team battle report: Blood Angels vs. Tyranids Read More »
I’ve gone from painting and not playing to, at least for now, doing a fun amount of both. It’s great! On July 2nd, Shay and I kicked the tires on 10th Edition with an old-school combat patrol game: half-size map, 500 points a side (rather than the new bespoke Combat Patrol mode in 10th). Here’s
Mini 40k battle report: first game of 10th Edition Read More »
I like maxims and I like self-reflection. This post combines the two: a little look at some of the maxims that have served me well over the past three years of painting, and some reflection on them — especially in light of actually getting to play. Any progress is progress Since I got properly into
Miniature painting maxims that have helped me for the past three years Read More »
Hot on the heels of my first match — the first-ever Kill Team game for Lark and me — on June 23rd my friend Reagan came over for a game. He didn’t have a strong preference for a team, so suggested he play the Marines. We built our teams from my available options, and I
Second Kill Team match: Seize Ground, Orks vs. Marines Read More »
