Hobby Goals - April 2025

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Painting

Once again, I set myself the goal of painting one Warhammer Underworlds warband during April. With only two warbands left in my collection, I chose to paint the Jaws of Itzl, leaving Borgit’s Beastgrabbaz for last.

As usual, I like to keep my warbands from the same faction visually consistent, so I wanted the Jaws to match the Starblood Stalkers I painted a few years ago. To achieve this, I followed my How I Paint Seraphon guide. The aim was to create natural-looking dinosaurs with obsidian and gold weapons and armour. I painted the venomites to resemble real-world poisonous and venomous creatures, like Poison Dart Frogs, Coral Snakes, and Gila Monsters, using bright, vibrant colours.

My Jaws

With the Jaws complete, I’d reached my goal for the month — but it was only April 10th! So, I got to work on the Beastgrabbaz. I started with Uglug, the Troggoth, aiming to paint him as a small Dankhold Troggoth. I wanted him to have purple flesh, so I experimented a bit and eventually developed a recipe I was really happy with. Uglug took me three days to paint and turned out to be a very enjoyable little project — one I put more effort into than usual.

Uglug

Next, I moved on to the rest of the Beastgrabbaz, starting with basecoats on all the grots. I initially began with four grots but soon realised I was focusing mainly on Borgit and Snagz. I continued in that vein, completing most of the painting on those two. Over the Easter weekend, I decided to finish Borgit before Snagz, just before heading back to work.

Borgit

Snagz

In total, I painted seven miniatures this month — two more than I had planned. That brings my total for the year to fifteen miniatures. I only have two Warhammer Underworlds models left to paint before the release of the new Knives of the Crone, Daughters of Khaine warband.


Gaming

On April 5th, I attended the Agents of Sigmar Clash tournament in Redhill, England. I brought Daggok’s Stab-Ladz and had a fantastic day. (My report on the tournament can be found [here].)

1st Practice Game

At my first club night after the tournament, I decided to try a new warband. Sticking with the Kruleboyz, I tested out Da' Kunnin' Krew. Since two of the fighters have only 2 Health, I paired them with the Edge of the Knife Rivals deck. The goal was simple: learn how the deck and the warband function together.

From the start, it became clear that to score Objectives, I’d need to move my fighters — especially the minions — into enemy territory. This posed a challenge, because I also needed them adjacent to enemies to inspire Torka and Mannok. I chose to lean into the inspire mechanic, aiming to get it primarily on Torka, Mannok, and Krookgrin, and then pick up Objectives as they came.

I was up against a relatively new player using Khagra’s Ravagers, paired with Emberstone Sentinel and Countdown to Cataclysm. I decided to play to my warband's strengths and counter their plan by denying access to Treasure Tokens. This worked well — I limited the Ravagers to 9 Glory while I scored 15. However, I found the 2- and 3-Glory End Phase cards difficult to complete, so I mostly focused on Surges and single-Glory End Phase cards. I did not enjoy using Edge of the Knife with this warband.


2nd Practice Game

In the next game, I played Grandfather’s Gardeners (also paired with Emberstone Sentinel and Countdown to Cataclysm) against Harry (AKA Slippy), who ran the Looncourt with Pillage and Plunder and Countdown to Cataclysm. It was a change for me, as I don't usually play Take and Hold.

It turned into a very strategic game, with both of us trying to hold Treasure Tokens. Harry played more aggressively and managed to take out three of my fighters: Slunge, Dripterus, and Strewg.

I found Take and Hold quite limiting. It restricts your ability to counterplay and reduces access to Bounty Glory from taking out enemy fighters. I also do not like the way it telegraphs your intentions to your opponent. Still, it was a tight and informative match, ending 16–15 in my favour.


Blogging

On the blogging front, I’ve been updating several older painting guides. I’ve also started revisiting my warband and deck reviews, rethinking their structure and style — starting with Blazing Assault,  Emberstone Sentinel, Countdown to Cataclysm and Pillage and Plunder deck reviews.

April turned out to be a productive month, and I’m really enjoying my gaming lately. I hope to squeeze in even more games over the coming weeks — and I really need to start focusing on one warband for Embergard.

One final point: this month, the blog passed over 6,000 views! Thank you so much for popping by and reading. I’d love to engage more with you all, so please do drop a comment below and let me know if there are any topics or projects you’d like me to cover in future posts.

Checkout my Hobby Goals for more articles

What have you been up to this month?


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