With the changes to the Blood Bowl Orc team roster in the 2025 rules, I needed to paint up a fourth line orc for when my team expands to 12 players, so here he is!

It's been 6.5 years since I finished the rest of the team 😬 

With the addition of this Human Blitzer, I've now completed the Human part of my OWA team.

Here is everything I've completed so far:

In terms of the number of players, I'm now exactly halfway through the full team.

Here's a quick update as I've added another Halfling, another Lineman, a Thrower, and a Catcher to my OWA roster.

 

Blood Bowl OWA: Test models

This is just a quick update to log my progress, as I've painted my first two models for my Old World Alliance team for Blood Bowl.

They don't yet have their numbers and they haven't been based, as I plan to do that en masse once the team is finished. 

Human Lineman

Halfling

Next up should be a batch of three more humans and a second halfling.

Blood Bowl painting: Akhorne

The Warhammer World is not a nice place. It's full of terrifying creatures like greenskins, beastmen, the undead, daemons, and elves. But even in such a horrific setting, there is one being whose reputation puts it on a level above all others. A creature from before the age of men, dwarfs, and elves, when the world was young and untamed.

To paint such a being required an awful lot of paint:

There were four more used on top of this, including the blood...

But even with all of those colours, it came together rather quickly for me, and a primordial terror was ready for the gridiron.

P.S. This is the first Blood Bowl model I've painted since October 2019 :¬o

Painting: Salamander Intercessor

I've moved house in the last year and been plagued with other distractions, so didn't paint for most of that time. But I've managed to paint up one model to test a Salamander scheme.

This is also the first of the Primaris-scale Marines I've painted. I previously enjoyed painting some Stormcast Eternals models, and these also benefit from that larger scale.

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.

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 ;¬)

Adventures in Contrast: Warcry Chaotic Beasts

I painted my first Warhammer model in 1998. Since then, I have painted over 300 models, covering:

• Over a dozen Blood Angels (when I was starting)
  
• A full 4th Edition T'au Empire army
• A full 4th Edition Space Marine army of my own Chapter
• A handful of random Space Marines from different Chapters over the years
  
• Four Deathwatch Marines
  
• An Ork warband for Combat Patrol
• Three Dark Eldar
• An Orlock gang
• Three Ratskins
  
• Two Saurus Warriors
  
• Random Imperial Guardsmen in different colour schemes
• Two Regimental Advisors
  
• A squad of Tempestus Scions with a Commisar
• Some random Tyranids
  
• A squad of Genestealer Cult Neophytes
• A Goblin Blood Bowl team
• An Orc Blood Bowl team
• One Craftworld Eldar
• Círdan the Shipwright
  
• A Moonclan Grot warband for Warcry
• A Stormcast Eternal warband for Warcry
• Four trees
  

Notice anything? I have never painted a single Chaos model, even though they exist in every. single. one. of GW's settings. I guess I have always been more of a xenos player, but this is crazy. The closest I've ever come is my Space Marine chapter, who use the odd bit of Chaos Marine wargear as they're short of supplies.

So Warcry has given me the chance to finally paint some very naughty boys, and here they are:

Natural

Flash

Yes, my photo-taking set-up is still rubbish.

In order of painting, we have:

• Nurgle Fury, who was done entirely using classic paint
• Khorne Fury, who was mostly Contrast other than the wing membranes
• Dark brown Fury to test out Wyldwood Contrast as skin
  
• Tzeentch Raptoryx, using classic paints
• Slaanesh Raptoryx, which is classic other than on the feathers and the bone / claws
• Fleshy Raptoryx, who is almost entirely Contrast and was a real experiencing in shading up rather than the classic approach
  

They were a lot of fun to do, and I loved the chance to paint similar models in very different schemes.

Warcry Battle Report 4: Sacrosanct Chamber vs. Jack's Pack

After losing not once but twice, my proud Sacrosanct Chamber warband had somehow made it to their first convergence. Let's see how they did.

The scenario

Let's look at the scenario and cards...

A very open battlefield

This is rather open, which means we'll both be able to make full use of shooting (with Jack, eek!). Note that the mission rules mean the objective has to be on the little platforms in the top left or bottom right.

Gleam for the Gleam God! Shine for the shine throne!

Rather than a twist like last time that is functionally pointless, this one is actually pointless.

Even before playing this I'd heard bad things about The Ritual. It is heavily RNG-dependent, as if you roll completely average over 4 battle rounds you will get a score of 14, which means all it takes is -2 from your opponent to lose you the game. Oof!

That said, I'd lucked out. The deployment is absolutely perfect for this mission. It meant I deployed around the objective, whilst my wife had to deploy pretty much as far away as possible and come towards my slow-moving beatsticks. I was quietly confident.

The objective is on the platform underneath Chanda, my female Castigator

The game

Round 1 began with me winning priority and paying for a Quad. I opened fire with Chanda who was stood on the objective, firing at Fee the Snotling in the hope of removing a body and a potential source of Wait actions. I wasn't rolling well, and only managed 6 damage.

Jack opened fire on my other Castigator who was in cover, using Rampage for three goes, but luckily didn't take him out (I think it was 8 damage in the end). In response that Castigator shot at and killed Terry the Termagant, and then put two wounds onto Bjork da Orc (using Rampage).

Over the next few activations my wife's models moved forward, whilst my three melee warriors made a line in front of the objective.

Maggie the Termagant proved herself, firing at my Castigator in cover and getting a crit and a miss. She has a Destiny Level, so re-rolled the miss and got another crit!

Dead-eye Maggie

The last action of the round was Ratatouille spotting a gap in my line that, upon checking, was EXACTLY the width of his base. So he scampered on through and got within 3" of the objective.

As a fan of sneaking, I applaud Ratatouille

That meant there was a -1 applied to the ritual die roll, and so the 5 became a 4.

I rolled a 5 for the ritual on round 1

Round 2 is when the lines fully connected, and I failed to do much damage. My Sequitor Rampaged  into Bjork da Orc and Szczepan, but failed to kill Szczepan even with three swings.

Not quite a wiff, but definitely not a success

Jack, on the other hand, absolutely nailed his shooting. Using the Triple to double his shots he rolled exactly the 20 in one attack action that he needed to kill my Castigator who was stood on the objective, before she'd had a chance to shoot.

Szczepan swung once and danced away, and my leader wiped out Ratatouille, leaving the board looking like this at the end of the round:

She's lost 2, I've lost 1

Rolling a 2 with no enemies near the objective, I now had 6 of the 13 points needed to win.

Only a 2 this time

Round 3 was a bloodbath. After my warriors had been a bit pillow-fisted in the previous two rounds, they now remembered that they're meant to be elite warriors. Yes I lost my other Castigator, but I took out four models with my three non-leader models (the female Evocator counting for two due to a Rampage).

Not much left by the end of round 3

The highlight, though, was Dollop the Snotling deciding his best play was to pin two of my models in place by running in between them.

Dollop the Brave

I forgot to take a photo of the roll this round, so here's an artist's impression of what it would have looked like:

I rolled a 3, so I'm at 9/13

The final round involved some more killing. My Evocator killed Dollop and then moved to pin Willard in place, who was then finished off by my Sequitor.

Jack failed to do anything so Fee, not wanting to be shown up by his brother Dollop, took a chance and ran in to try and hinder the ritual.

Fee the Also-Brave

With only two wounds left, my leader easily put an end to that!

How the board looked at the end of round 4

So with everyone dead on her team other than Jack, it was time to roll to see if I completed the ritual. I needed a 4+ and rolled a...

I scored 11 out of the 13 needed to win

My wife very graciously offered to count it as a win, because:

1. It was completely random and didn't reflect how the game played
2. Pity
3. She found out we'd have to play the same mission again next time, and again and again and again until I eventually won

I think it was #3 that clinched it.

Aftermath

For me:

• I gained 7 Glory
• My Sequitor gained a Destiny Level
• The female Castigator rolled a 66 for her injury, so gained a Destiny Level!
• I then gave her a Jar of Chamonic Glowflies, so she could count abilities as one level higher for a game
• Most importantly, my leader chose the only not-shit Greater Artefact from this quest:

He can literally throw the book at you

My wife was less lucky when it came to injuries:

• She gained 4 Glory
• Jadwiga got a temporary fractured arm
• Willard Strawbelly got another gut wound, but this time it was permanent :¬(
• Maggie lost her Destiny Level
• Ratatouille also got a temporary fractured arm
• Fee was rewarded for his bravery by dying, but was immediately rehired
• Dollop is now permanently blind in one eye, alongside his permanently fractured arm x-D

Thoughts

My Stormcast finally won a game (sort of)!

We agreed that we'd both had a fun game, but that was in spite of the mission. Asymmetric missions that create uphill battles are one thing, but a mission where both players can sit around and pick their noses for four rounds and the result is entirely dependent on 4D6 is something else.

Looking ahead my final convergence is playing this same mission but as the attacker. I am really looking forward to that :¬/