Tzaangor Management

The price increases won't effect me personally, but I think this is down to the way that I purchase models and engage with the hobby. I tend to pick an army, buy most of what I need, build and paint it. I do of course buy other things along the way, but I can tell you exactly what is in my pile of gray and also that it fits inside the Soul Wars box... because it's all (mostly) inside the old Soul Wars box... It takes me about a year to paint an army, along with distractions like Warcry Warbands, etc., so the cost is effectively spread across a twelve month period. When I compare this to my other hobbies, past and present, it is approximately the same cost. I recently gave up playing football due to advancing age and injuries. Age of Sigmar costs no more than that did and seems fairly reasonable to me in terms of the enjoyment it brings. When I got into the hobby I spent a long time researching and getting a sense of how things worked. As a result of this and the quality of the new sculpts, I have bought very few old kits. It has been clear to me, from the beginning, the direction that Age of Sigmar was going in and that it was intentionally away from the Tolkein-esque themes of the Old World. I am surprised that this seems to have been missed by so many, but I mainly put this down to nostalgia and differing tastes. Regardless, as a result, I have very few fears about units being discontinued and for those few that are, I know I have learnt some lessons from them. I am very conscious of what I enjoy about the hobby and how much I value it. I have framed my expectations based on this, as well as real world inevitabilities like price increases, and so this round of price increases, the first I remember in four years, will have no effect on my purchasing.

I don't paint areas I can't see easily. Generally I zenithal prime and then glaze my models, picking out relatively few details with a fine brush. The pre-shaded areas tend to blend into the deepest shadow colour with this technique, so hopefully any unpainted areas aren't hugely noticeable... I don't really notice them at least.

Finished the first part of my pledge, which is a massive cheat as they were nearly done for May, but I'll take it! Gorgeous models and just love this range the more and more with every model. Back to building and priming for a bit now to get the next bits ready.

Didn't quite finish last month, so this month I'll finish what I started in May: 10 x Namarti Reavers 1 x Soul Scryer Stretch 5 x Namarti Thralls

Back on track with the Idoneth and finally finished this beast. Think I might need to add a little more colour to the riders for the next one, but a great model that's definitely not going to fall of it's flying stand when I try and take it somewhere...

After an airbrush disaster I've had to leave my Idoneth half done, while I wait for a replacement to arrive. In the meantime I did a speed paint on some Skaven that I already had primed. Fantastic models and another tempter if / when GW bring out a new Skaven line.

I don't think the new painting system will stop people from trying to improve. The same people that stop at a base coat and a wash at the moment, will stop at a contrast base coat and a contrast layer if this system proves to be what GW are advertising it as and vice versa. At first blush I can't see myself using these paints, as I have moved away from using washes in general, as I don't like the 'pooling in the recesses' technique, which these build on. I'll be interested to see what cleverer folks than I can come up with though and it looks a good first step.

I'm excited about this too, as my painting had slowed down recently (stupid new job) and 1K armies are seeming much more likely for me to be able to produce. I'm wondering if it will be something to do with unit categorization. At the moment armies that can take cheap battleline and then a bunch of elites are in a good position, so I wonder if they'll make the army selection rules more restrictive.

I'm almost scared to ask, but I can't help it: why do you hate lions?

I'm not a fan of either of these factions returning, mostly because I am in no way nostalgic about them. The models don't do it for me, they're leagues behind the current plastics and I don't care that Settra doesn't kneel. I don't say that to invalidate anyone's point of view, but as a player new to the game (starting in the first year or so of AOS and not including the 90's where Settra wasn't in the game) and with new players clearly a target for GW's expansion, I think it's a point worth making. That said, if either of these two factions was remade with the current technology and design aesthetic, then they'd be amazing I'm sure. I can't say they'd be an 'insta-buy', because I'm all about the aesthetics, but I got into Stormcast for the Aquilor and the Palladors, so a human-ish faction riding fantastic beasts would probably work. That said, are the Stormcast cavalry units already occupying that space?

I think the one in the video was designed by Doug from 2+ Tough, as I'm sure they mention it a couple of times in earlier videos and Doug himself talks about it on his channel. As I understand it he produced / sourced the image and sent it to a company to make, then sold them on his webstore, which, I'm afraid, he closed about a month ago...

Missed out slightly last month due to starting a new job, so going to go small. 1. Allopex Stretch 1. 5 Namarti Reavers

Thanks very much! I start with a base of Hashut Copper (GW), give it a heavy wash of 50:50 Agrax and Nuln (like absolutely drench it), then highlight Polished Gold (vallejo), Polished Gold and Silver (Vallejo) 50:50 and then pick out the most prominent points with pure silver.

Have had a really busy month so far, so not as much time for painting as I was hoping for. I have finished the second part of my pledge with the Soulrender, but will need a huge slice of luck to get my Allopex finished... particularly as he fell off the cork he was pinned to three times today, so need to rethink how I'm going to hold him I think...

Epic and Beautiful as ever sir!