I’m addition to our Hobby Golf for 2023, we’re also running a Hobby Bingo card this year. Slightly different to the Games Workshop one, as it does not specify any games systems, releasing you from the GW only theme.
And, for those interested. If you join our friendly Discord server and post your finished pictures inside the #hobbybingo channel I will update your Hobby card personally with your pictures.
Hopefully with our WoePoints and also other sites like Pile of Potential we’ll all be battling against the pile of grey in 2023.
Back in the mid 90’s when I was first getting into Warhammer and wargaming in a big way there used to be an article called ‘A Tale of Wargamers’ in the White Dwarf. The premise was simple, each person had a budget of £25 and spent that each month on expanding their army.
I thought it would be great to try and do this again in the current day and age. But also, we’re making it even harder for ourselves! What if we approached this as though we had never bought any models, paints or brushes before?! As in, what should a complete beginner look at purchasing and where from?!
So, if you’re a beginner to Warhammer or in fact any wargaming system (not just Games Workshop), then you may find this series interesting and useful. For those a bit more long in the tooth, you may just find this plain entertaining!
The Rules
As there are a few members of the team taking part in the Tale of Wargamers from all corners of the globe we first had to agree the limits.
UK based members have £25 GBP
US based members have $35 USD
Australian based members have $65 AUD
Rest of Europe have €30
You can use independent retailers, Amazon (I wouldn’t, but you could….) or Games Workshop for your supplies of tools, paints and models. Preferably eBay should be avoided as prices can be difficult to replicate.
Anything that isn’t spent in one month can be carried over to the next. You CANNOT spend more than the budget allows.
Finally, purchasing 3D miniature prints from a vendor on Etsy or similar is fine, however, we are banned from using our own printers for his purpose.
Warhammer Fantasy and Oldhammer Players
If you’ve already got a large collection of miniatures but want to take part, then use the budget as normal and consider each set of 10 models/artillery or similar to cost £25 and a hero/character to cost £15. Then purchase the paints etc as normal. I.e. you have a set of 10 Trollslayers in your pile of shame. Deduct £25 from your budget and paint them up.
I’m not going to lie, we think it’s going to be tough, but it is doable! And don’t worry, none of us will be resorting to using PVA glue to stick our models together!
Want to keep up to date on everyone’s progress? Why not join our Discord, on there you’ll fine the Tale of Wargamers channel where we post our thoughts and musings throughout the month.
This year so far I’ve been concentrating on my Grey Knights (40k) which I only started in January. Having reached about 3500 points and taken them to their first tournament on top of their successful crusade campaign I’ve had time to return to AoS. My first army in Warhammer was and is Stormcast Eternals, this month has seen a return to painting and preparing models for the first time in a while. I also took some time to start my 3rd 40k army and add to my Kill Team collection.
The forces of Sigmar preparing for battle
Tournament Action (40k)
Very early in the in the month I attended a local 2 day 40k tournament with 36 players. I took a Paladin centric Grey Knight list and went 3/5 losing my first and second games. I put most of that down to lack of practice – I’d only ever run my paladins in a crusade game which was TTS I think.
Grey Knight Tournament Army
Strong points were the interceptors and Draigo. Dreadknights continue to disappoint. I love the way that Grey Knights are active in all phases and Interceptors speed. With the tournament done I’ve pretty much completed my army, just one Rhino I’d like to add. And maybe a Land Raider in the future. I would still like to run a list with a Land Raider full of Purifiers for the laughs.
Rise of Sigmar
After the tournament the crusade I’ve been part of since the start of the year took a break. That gave me time to seek out a few games of AoS. At the same time a club not far from me (Borderline Gaming) set up a TTS tournament. It’s not the same as face to face of course but you do still get a few good games and always learn something.
So far I’ve had 3 games and lost all badly, 2 with Sigmarines and 1 with Ironjawz. To cap that of I managed 2 face to face games, losing one and winning the other (yesterday as I write this). I was running Stormcast Eternals in both games. Following the loss I decided to make some major changes, I wanted dragons and Paladins. Problem was that I hadn’t built/painted them.
My Annhilators with Grandhammers were assembled and I had started the gold on them that’s it. I wasn’t even sure where my box of dragons was (I bought them on release and parked them, I want at least another 2 but they have been out of stock for so long.
Painting
So I’d given myself a week to assemble 2 dragons and paint them and 6 Annihilators. Then I realised that where I thought I had 6 Retributors I only had the 3 I’d gotten from Ebay. Almost 2 years ago I bought the Thunderstrike Brotherhood start collecting and promptly built the Lord Relictor (the only way to get the kit) and for some reason lost in the mists of time, 2 Liberators. I tracked it down and built the 3 Retributors. Now I had 6 Annhilators, 3 Retributors and 2 Storm Drakes to paint or build and paint in a week.
Hi tech equipment (rattle cans are go)
Only Retributors left to paint (ignoring the dragons)
I didn’t quite get there as you can see below. All of them made it to the game but I may have broken my rule about painted models.
My almost painted army – the Retributors are in the middle and the naked, wingless Drakes at the back
All of this diverted me from finishing my Ironjawz. I am painting 3 more Gore Gruntas, a Shaman and 2 Warchanters with 5 Brutes to assemble. They’ve been sitting on my table staring at me for 3 weeks with their bad Zenithal prime. They were waiting for the new Citadel paints, then paladin painting and now the dragons. But it’s a new month so there is hope.
The poor poor Ironjawz, prepped and waiting (the Lord Castellant was painted that week)
Warhammer 40k
Finishing my Grey Knights early in the month also coincided with the release of Chaos Space Marines. I’ve been patiently building my collection from the start of the year starting with some 2nd hand models. I bought an ultrasonic cleaner to strip them and have stripped most of the army. A few models were added, like the Dark Apostle (from the Combat Patrol) and a Master of Possession (Start Collecting).
Word Bearers are my next army and I painted my first 3 HQs in July. Word Bearers is close enough to Red Corsairs that I can run them as that as well. I might be thinking about a very fast list as well.
Dark Apostle, Master of Possession and a Sorcerer looking for Space Marines
On top of that I’ve also begun assembling some more Salamanders for my son to paint, Tyranids for my daughter and been dabbling in Kill Team 2.0. More on Kill Team in the future but I have full rosters for Grey Knights, Legionaries, Novitiates (Battle Sisters) and Harlequins.
What’s next?
Having started on my Word Bearers/Red Corsairs I’m also looking for my next Age of Sigmar army, I have finished my Stormcast (mostly) and my Ironjawz. I know from 40k that I want mobility and activity in most phases. I have some Slaves to Darkness and Chaos bits and pieces lying around. Oh and a Nighthaunt army I dare not assemble ahead of a house move. I’m also happy to go in a completely different direction, even elves, do I hear the calling of the sea? I’d would really like to hear other ideas and about what armies work for you.
