It’s 2026 and we’re back On the Hobby Desk! We took a little break but now we’re back, along with a brand new Zatu website. It’s very impressive and super smooth. Much easier to buy lots of miniatures on…that’s a good thing…except for our wallets.
Cursed City miniatures (Warhammer Quest)
Over Christmas I treated myself to the Warhammer Quest games Cursed City and Darkwater. I started work on the older game, Cursed City, and I have completed a fair number of miniatures. They are excellent, although some are a little fragile and a few needed some repair work to properly fix to the bases.
I started off with a white primer via my airbrush and then started work on some of the individual components. It does tend to take longer, but I find it easier to paint some parts prior to assembly to better bring out the detail. I bought some of the Citadel Technical paints and used Nihilakh Oxide on a couple of miniatures including the necromancer hero and cleric.
The skeleton I applied more highlights using lighter shades on edges and patches of cloak. The metal was mostly Vallejo’s Chainmail silver or silver, and I used a few inkwashs from the Citadel range including Reikland Fleshshade. I particularly liked some of the scenic models with stone or wood and I imagine I’ll use some of these for RPG encounters at times. I tend to paint the bases a grey colour or add flock grass as I find the whole appearance is enhanced this way. This is a growing trend for me, to buy miniatures to enhance my RPG experience although I’ve played through four of the Cursed City scenarios as a solo game and found it quite enjoyable.
Neil Parker
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That is a really nice collection of miniatures. It’s easy for miniatures in games like Warhammer Quest to go unpainted, but we think it really adds to the experience if you take the time to paint them up. Keep up the good work!
6th Airborne Division – 75mm pack Howitzer (Flames of War)
For some years I’ve had a 1/100th scale model I’ve built of the Pegasus Bridge languishing in my garage. This Bridge over the Caen Canal in Normandy, was a crucial strategic target captured by British airborne troops in a daring glider assault just after midnight on D-Day, June 6, 1944, to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beaches.
When I saw that Battlefront were offering a Flames of War army deal for the 6th Airborne Division I thought now is the time to put it into active service.
I was really pleased on opening the box to find that, for once, all the different sections came in their own flip top plastic box, safely packed in foam and, importantly, all the men, equipment and bases for that type together. I’ve had enough of buying a huge box of sprues and trying to work out what goes with which.
It also means rather than be daunted by the task of building and painting a whole army I could just tackle a section at a time.
So I chose the Airborne Light Troop of 4 x 75mm pack howitzers and 4 x 5 men. You only require 3 or 4 man teams per gun but the extra figures mean you can provide a variety of poses.
I build armies to fight tabletop games rather than be exhibition pieces so if you are looking for exquisite detailing you can look away now! Particularly as these figures are only 15mm tall (and kneeling) and I need magnifying glasses to see a lot of the detail. In point of fact some of the mouldings weren’t that great on close inspection. So I was aiming for an ensemble effect.
So, washed in soapy water and spray undercoated on the sprues, I painted with a mixture of Speed Paint paints and my latest acquisitions Speed Paint Marker pens.
Glued on to the bases as they would fit using a blanking plug as supplied to cover
the 5th hole. Finished with green scatter and bits of foliage from my railway modelling days.
I tried a number of different techniques with this set, some more successful than others, before I go on to do the rest of the division.
One tip I was most happy about was putting a dab of PVA glue on the helmets and dipping them into the green scatter to give the effect of camouflage foliage.
Pete Bartlam
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Don’t sell yourself short on the detail Pete, it comes in all shapes and sizes and we think the ensemble effect is a detail unto itself. These aren’t just models on a base with a gun, they are a scene, and that's amazing.
Terrain Hexes (Battle of Hoth)
This month I've been making upgraded terrain hexes for my copy of Battle of Hoth from Days of Wonder. I own the promo shield generator and ion cannon, but it irrationally annoyed me that the hills were...flat. So, time for a minimal cost experiment!
For the Ridges (hills), I used aeronautica bases I had lying about, with a layer of knifing putty - car filler, also much beloved of the FDM printing scene - a couple of quid from halfords! I also picked up some VJ snow, it's ULTRA white to go alongside the slightly greyer GW Valhallan Blizzard, over a bone-white primer, which gives me some nice variation. The Ridges are about 4mm high, your basic elevated terrain.
The Seracs are deadly crystal fields. They block LoS and are impassable terrain. These are made from bits of sprue! Paint is just Nihilakh Oxide, slightly thinned, then dry brushed with VJ arctic white
A couple of Rebel buildings. More leftover aeronautica bits and other gubbins, simply washed sepia over prime (well, guns are black). These slow movement, provide cover and block LoS; they're on 2mm thick hexes just to elevate them slightly. And, painted 6 crevasse tiles, which are impassable to all bar snowspeeders but don't block LoS. Wiggly lines in VJ Night Blue, then VJ Model Air Light blue around the edges thereof, with a little overlap to give a sense of depth.
The rock tiles slow movement and block LoS, but don't give other cover; under each snow stack is a sprue nubbin, just to give the pile of VJ snow something to grip onto and hold.
And, the modular trench system, made from sprue strips, and then more sprue off cuts with knifing putty over the top to give structure to the side.
A great wee hobby project to elevate the game! Cue the imperial march...
Sam de Smith
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It’s not irrational at all. Hills should be…well…hilly. You did great work on these and it’s going to make all your games of Battle of Hoth extra fun. It’s one on our wishlist.
Sekhmets Coven (Warhammer 40k)
For a while now I’ve been collecting Leagues of Votann, but as much as I like my dwarves in any setting, they have been feeling a bit…dull. Plus with every rules update they seem to get more and more hordey. I wanted to play something elite and exciting…and I love my magic…and then Games Workshop played their ace. They release the Sekhmets Coven battleforce box for Thousand Sons. I snapped it up and haven’t looked back since. I thoroughly enjoyed building it up and it gives plenty of spare parts for future conversions too.
Then came the painting. Now, let it be known, I do not have a steady hand, and if you paint Thousand Sons in the traditional fashion it is a LOT of trim. So I ignored that method. Instead I leant into the whole All is Dust thing (Short version, most Thousand Sons marines are soul dust bound to suits of armour, not actual living beings). I sprayed everything white, highlighted key points with Naggaroth Night and Bathaar Gold, before putting a healthy dose of Reikland Fleshshade on everything else. Throw on some Astrogranite Debris and Drakenhof Nightshade on the base, and job done. Looks cool too.
My idea is that the more senior the model the more colour it has on it. So the sorcerers are more vivid and I added Doomfire Magenta. Then we have the Mutalith Vortex Beast (MVB). Oh boy he’s impressive, and huge. But I didn’t want to go too complex. For this I covered it in Basilicanum Grey over the white spray (except the Vortex), which gave a nice general effect. I painted the mouth tendrils Naggaroth Night withStriking Scorpion Green for the drips. For the toes and claws I gave it a couple of layers of Magos Purple, just to make them a bit different. And last but definitely not least, the Vortex. It had to be bold and crazy, so I decided to do 4 super bright contrast colours, one in each quarter ish. This turned out well but was a little too bright, so I gave it a wash with Drakenhof Nightshade and it blended everything together beautifully, along with dulling it down slightly.
Really happy with my progress so far and should have some more for you soon!
Ross Coulbeck
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Sometimes we all need a change Ross, we’re glad you found something that sparked your interest. All the models look really good but that Vortex Beast…that really is something else. It’s almost hypnotic….anyway, we can’t wait to see more.
