Painting: Space Marine pierniczki

A little something I made for fun in preparation for Xmas!

In case it's not obvious, the one on the left is a green normal Space Marine, and the one on the right is a member of the Death Company.

Painting: Ylthari's Guardians

I started these four just before Xmas and, after not touching them for three months, I finished them just before Easter.

They're lovely models, although they're so detailed that it can be a pain to get paint into some of their nooks and crannies.

Contrast paint worked well on them: it formed the base for the wood of their bodies, and it's all I used for the loincloths and cherry blossoms. I also used it to (kinda-sorta) blend between the wood and tendrils on the body of Ylthari, the spellcaster.

Painting: Master of Ordnance

This is another model that I started years ago, but I only got as far as priming him black and doing the first basecoat layers of the fatigues and the armour, so this is effectively starting from scratch.

He's part of the Regimental Advisors set, the other two of which I painted back in... Jesus, early 2018! So this guy must have been sitting patiently awaiting his turn for five years.

Sorry.

Astropath

The back of the Astropath (probably the better view!)

The Officer of the Fleet

There's something very pleasing about painting these old, hand-sculpted metal miniatures. They're detailed enough without having so much going on that they're a chore to paint. They also have very open poses - being only one or two pieces - and so they're easy to paint without fighting to get the right angle.

Master of Ordnance, with a little bit of colour correction

It's also funny to look at scale creep when compared to the last model I painted. Or maybe Khorne just makes people taller as well as swoler.

Strangely, he looks better in this photo than the others

Painting: Slaughterpriest of Khorne

Pre baby I started work on this guy, but he ended up packed away while I learned how to care for another human bean. A human bean who has no emotional control and leaves a trail of destruction wherever he goes.

So when I decided I wanted to paint again it felt like this model's time had come.

I think I could have done the skin a lot better, as I had a lot of back-and-forth getting it right with contrast paints, layering, washing, and back again, and it still ended up a little chalky. But the reddening where the straps are attached to his skin and the corruption on his left arm worked really well.

This was also my first time using Blood for the Blood God, and it is easy to use!

I'm generally out of practice and so my hands felt more stupid than usual, but it was still fun to paint him up.

Aeronautic Imperialis: Thunderbolt

When the initial version of Aeronautica Imperialis came out in 2007 I had zero interest. It was all resin, a tiny scale, and I've never been that keen on painting vehicles. It's why games like Battlefleet Gothic and Epic always left me cold, and why 40k and Necromunda were so much fun.

Then a re-release with plastic models came out in 2019, and at a larger scale. I ignored it, although a friend bought the starter and showed me his tiny plenz with the clear intention to get me to join in. Nope!

It was only in 2021, having stumbled across an article on a website that usually focused on other stuff, that I realised something: I could paint an Avenger.

Avenger

😍

These are Imperial Navy fighter bombers / strike aircraft, loosely based on WW2-era fighter bombers like the Stuka and more modern aircraft like the A-10 Warthog (whose main gun shares its name with the main gun of this plane and, by extension, the plane itself). They are also, by far, the best-looking Imperial Navy aircraft and I've wanted to paint one for maybe 15 years at this point. But obviously I'm not stupid enough to buy one at 40k scale.

The 40k-scale model

So I bought some Aeronautica Imperialis kits, including the Avenger kit, and... had a baby.

Baby

Even before my son was born I had stopped painting, due to switching my free time to finally getting around to playing Skyrim on the (absolutely correct) assumption that games like that wouldn't be a good idea when you've got someone sleeping in a carrier on your chest. And so, since his birth, I have only played turn-based games (Civ5) or ones that are close enough to that (Stellaris, Crusader Kings 3, SpaceChem, RimWorld). That has also meant no time for painting.

Recently, however, work has been a bit up and down, meaning that I've been able to carve out some time to paint. But I didn't crack open my Avengers and paint them, as I thought I'd start with a plane that was already built, given that I'd received it already assembled in a trade with the aforementioned friend in exchange for a Lightning: a Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolts are the poster child of the Imperial Navy, yet I've always found them a bit boring. They're just a WW2 fighter like the (not-at-all-coincidentally-named-I'm-sure) Thunderbolt, with a hot rod aesthetic at the front.

 

Having now painted one, though, I have begun to see their appeal, and I've really enjoyed painting at this scale. It reminds me of painting Airfix model planes as a kid (a Spitfire and a Harrier, naturally), but I'm sooooo much better now and have pushed myself to add various types of weathering to make the plane look more lived-in than my usual clean lines style of painting. I'm looking forward to doing more of them... hopefully before my son is at university.

Star Trek Attack Wing Battle Report: Testing the AI

Having got into Star Trek Attack Wing last year, I excitedly bought the co-op conversion Star Trek Alliance when it came out recently. Before playing the campaign properly, I thought I'd try out the AI to get a handle on how it works.

For those who don't know, the AI ships choose their manoeuvres based on where your nearest ship is and a dice roll, meaning that you can never predict exactly where they'll go. They also break the rules a little, given they're not aware of obstacles like a human is and so can manoeuvre a little around them if they're about to crash.

Preparation

To start with I decided to play the first mission (in terms of deployment and enemy ships) without the normal objectives, which means two enemy ships start on the table, an elite one arrives on round 3, and then a final one on round 6.

This was my build, giving the Excelsior torpedoes as it has a rear arc, and dorsal phasers to the Akira as it has such a limited firing arc.

The battle

Round 1 and we all move straight ahead.

Round 2 and I head left to focus on one enemy, whilst the rightmost AI makes an odd choice by continuing to fly forwards. I was in its front arc so it was limited to straights, but it's not a move I'd make as a human.

Focus firing from my ships does exactly enough damage to take out the enemy before it can fire.

Round 3 and the elite comes on, with a 360º firing arc.

The elite randomly came on from the top left, right where I needed it to be, whilst the normal enemy banked rather than turned and so was still out of the fight.

After a lot of shots, the elite had lost all of its shields and one of its three hull. But my Excelsior had taken shield damage as well.

Round 4 and the elite manages to get in right behind the Excelsior, but that is still in its torpedo arc. The normal enemy finally lines up a shot!

The elite does further damage to the Excelsior's shields, but is destroyed by a volley of torpedoes in return.

The Akira is now out of range to shoot (it's 360º weapon is limited to range 2) but manages to evade the incoming damage.

Round 5 and the enemy again fails to land a hit, but only takes two shield damage.

Round 6 and the final reinforcement arrives, whilst the incumbent enemy makes another odd choice.

One damage is done to the starting enemy, and the Akira takes some shield damage.

Round 7 and the reinforcement is destroyed, again with exactly the amount of damage needed, somehow leaving the cowardly enemy from the start as the only opponent left.

Round 8 and it finally grows a pair and decides to joust with the Excelsior, taking one hull damage apiece.

Round 9, and the Akira barrels in and ends things.

My thoughts

The AI works pretty well, all things considered. I followed the logic to move it to avoid obstacles once or twice, but given I also flew onto them during the game that means it's just as cavalier / stupid as a human!

The issue with it is that it can't plan as a whole, hence why in rounds 2 and 3 the rightmost ship failed to turn right hard enough to pin my ships in from both sides. But as a way to play single player or co-op games it works very well, and it'd be easy to up the difficulty by adding extra ships, increasing their spawn frequency, or even including more elite versions.

I also think it's fair to say that I rolled luckier than average, taking out two ships with exactly the damage needed. Plus the elite that spawned never got to use its ability, as it was too good at keeping my ships in its front arc.

Painting: Myrmourn Banshees and Glaivewraith Stalker

I've finished my Nighthaunt!

These are nice models, especially the Banshees, but they are a pain to paint when all glued together due to some very fiddly angles. However, I got them and their scenic bases done, and so now here is the whole warband of 18 models.

Wide formation

Tighter formation to avoid the corners

I don't know what to paint next...

Painting: Grimghast Reapers and Spirit Host

 This is the first batch (of two) of the bigger models for my Warcry warband.

Painting: Chainrasps

These guys are super-quick to do, but I have been distracted by Total War: Warhammer 2 and Stardew Valley so they took a while to get done.

So in terms of models for this warband I've now done 10 out of 19, although all the others are bigger and more complex than these guys.

Painting: Chainrasp

Just a quick one, but I'm very proud as I painted this guy in one short painting session, which is nothing like me.

My wife was very shocked that I'd finished him whilst she'd been sitting painting next to me!

I'll go easier on the Hexwraith Flame (the green) next time, but otherwise I'm very happy with how he looks given the fast painting time. A lot of the time was waiting for things to dry, so these guys will really shine with batch painting. It's just a shame I only have three painting handles ;¬)