The long summer holiday has just finished; the kids are back at school, the warm weather has abated, and we are looking forward to the change of seasons. As is normally the case, over the summer, hobby has taken a back seat, due to the warm weather, holidays abroad, and later bedtimes.

So here is a round-up of what did happen in the last couple of months!

  1. Battlefleet Gothic
  2. Legions Imperialis
  3. Warhammer 40,000
  4. Looking forward

1. Battfleet Gothic

First, I attended the “Damn The Torpedoes!!” Battlefleet Gothic event hosted by Tnavah Cluster Events in Havant. This was a fun, casual event, and I’m proud to have won the “Shipwright” trophy for the best painted fleet for Battlefleet Vastus! Mark will be running more BFG (and LI) events in the coming year and I will be going to them if I can make them. Some photos from the event are below.

The TEC crew (ie Mark) setting up for the tournament.
The admirals, assembled for the briefing.
Game 1 in progress, my Imperial Navy fighting against six Nova-Cannon armed Adeptus Mechanicus cruisers (!!)
The Retribution-class battleship Invictus engages the servants of the Machine God around a space station...
...while its sister ships from Battlefleet Vastus do likewise at the other end of the system.
Some of the fantastic fleets on display during the lunch break.
Some of the fantastic fleets on display during the lunch break.

2. Legions Imperialis

I did get some painting done in the hot weather, finishing two lots of Saturnine dreadnoughts, and some Javelins:

Saturnine dreadnoughts
Saturnine dreadnoughts - Ophion configuration
Saturnine dreadnoughts - Chiron configuration
Legion Javelins

But the LI highlight of the summer was the all-day, 5,000 point al-fresco game we played in my back garden. The Covenant of Ruin supported by Legio Crassus faced off against the Sons of Horus and Legio Mortis on an expanded 8’x4’ table with both urban and desert terrain (including the excellent Retro Space Dwarf Fortress by Doctor Spork).

We played a custom mission where (in the style of second-edition Epic Space Marine/NetEpic) victory points were scored for breaking/destroying enemy formations, as well as capturing objectives. It was a brutal, fun, close game and I hope I will be able to host another big game like this next year!

The battlefield.
Both armies deployed.
The middle of turn 1.
Word Bearers heavy armour approach the ford across the toxic river.
Word Bearers heavy armour approach the ford across the toxic river.
Legion Mastodons clash over control of the city centre. The figure on the statue can be seen below.

3. Warhammer 40,000

Feeling rather unmotivated to paint more BFG ships or LI minis (I have a big pile of Saturnine dreadnoughts and Scimitar jet-bikes that are half-done) and needing a palate-cleanser, I fished a couple of 40K minuatures out of my pile of unfinished minis, and finished them off, just so I wasn’t completely idle over the summer. As usual, my ability to paint faces has not improved (no matter how many YouTube tutorials I watch) in the last 40 years. Oh well!

A Thunder Warrior of Legio Cataegis
Sister Tariana Palos of the Order of Our Martyred Lady

4. Looking forward

Now that summer is almost over, hopefully I will be getting a bit more hobby done! Battlefleet Sotha needs some reinforcements, and there may be some void warfare in the Age of Darkness in my future. Plus those Saturnine dreadnoughts and Scimitar jet-bikes won’t paint themselves…

Stay tuned!