Jon Grant Miniatures

Painting September is always an incredibly busy month for real-life commitments, so hobby time was limited. Even so, I managed to make some progress on a few projects. I continued adding new tiles to my modular board. First up was a nine-hex stream to clearly mark neutral territory. In several games I’d found it tricky for opponents to determine where neutral ground began, and I wanted the board to be as fun and easy to use as possible for everyone. Next, I created 14 new starting hexes in preparation for the upcoming Spitewood expansion. I marked them with clusters of purple heather . My idea was that the colour would stand out clearly, while still looking natural as part of a heathland scene (inspired by the moorlands of northern England where I grew up). Finally, I built a set of four Waystone tokens , again for the Spitewood board. These were my first attempt, and while I’m happy with them, I may experiment with different designs in the future. On the painting desk, my mai...

Gorlock Blackpowder [1] stomped into the shadowed mouth of the Embergard mines, the ground trembling under each hungry, purposeful stride. Lantern light flickered across soot-black stone and half-collapsed scaffolds, but the Ogor Maneater only grinned, baring a row of cracked and eager tusks. “Right then, Kagey, Pegz [2],” he rumbled, glancing down at his gnoblar crew as they scrambled to keep up. “The way I sees it, this place is packed with three o’ me favourite things. Treasure. Glory. And whatever’s daft enough to end up as me supper.” Kagey [3] muttered something about cursed tunnels. Pegz pointed nervously toward a shuddering sound deeper in the dark. Blackpowder snorted. “Quit yer squealin’. Stick close and keep yer eyes peeled. If anything shiny or tasty comes runnin’ at us, we bags it. Simple.” With that, he cocked his Grunderbuss and hefted his sword. Mange [4] slunk at his heel and Shreek [5] fluttered overhead, both eager for the hunt. Together, they marched into the de...

  Painting At the start of the month, I eagerly anticipated the arrival of Kamandora's Blades . Even though the warband wasn’t exactly well received by the community when first revealed, I had a plan! I decided to paint the controversial faces as if they were covered with warpaint . In my vision, these devoted followers of Khorne daubed their skin with ash and charcoal to form a skull-like visage, honoring the Blood God. I quickly painted the warband and shared them online and was delighted to receive plenty of praise in return, which is always nice. (My full painting guide can be found below in the Blogging section.) My Kamandora's Blades With the Blades complete, I was once again fully up to date with my Warhammer Underworlds painting backlog. That freed me to pursue a project I’d been mulling over for some time: building a 3D Warhammer Underworlds board . My Underworlds Board, complete with blocked hexes I’ve already written a dedicated article on this board, so I won’t rep...

One of my favourite units in the Stormcast Eternals range are the Gryph-Hounds . They are perfect for filling out those last few spare points in an army or acting as a loyal bodyguard (or pet) for a hero. In Warcry , they really shine, adding a burst of speed to an otherwise slow-moving warband. From a hobby perspective, Gryph-Hounds are a joy to paint, offering a variety of textures and colours that make a refreshing change from the more uniform look of the standard Stormcast fighters. And of course, my little mascot Beakie is a loyal Gryph-Hound, always keeping a watchful eye on my Stormcast. Start by undercoating the miniature with  Chaos Black  spray  Lion Brown Body The body was given a solid basecoat of  XV-88 . Once this was dry, the whole area was shaded with a 50:50 mix of  XV-88  and  Mournfang Brown , thinned with water and worked roughly into the recesses and across the underside. After the shade dried, the raised areas were tidied back u...

Recently, I have been painting a fair number of terrain pieces. During a recent quest into the loft, I came across a sprue from the Sigmarite Mausoleum. On it was a pillar bearing a statue, and while I painted the pillar in my usual grey stone, I wanted the statue itself to stand out in a rich, dark green marble. This is how I painted my quick and easy dark green marble, which can be used for bases, shields and terrain. Paints required: Abaddon Black Incubi Darkness Kalabite Green Sybarite Green Pallid Wych Flesh Contrast Medium Akhelian Green Method I began with a solid basecoat of Abaddon Black. Over this I heavily drybrushed Incubi Darkness using a small makeup brush to bring out the texture. I then took a small piece of sponge and dabbed on patches of Kabalite Green to break up the surface and start creating the mottled marble effect. The next stage took the most time. I heavily thinned down Sybarite Green with water and, using an old synthetic brush, I stippled thin lines across t...

Beakie started out as a simple branding idea, but quickly grew into something more. Now he’s my partner on the blog, adventuring through the Underworlds and beyond. Along the way he stumbles into all the classic moments, jokes, and memes we know from tabletop gaming. These designs are my way of sharing Beakie’s journey—and hopefully bringing some of that fun to your table too. If you enjoy my content and want to support the blog, check out my Beakie merchandise over on Spring! Click  HERE   to visit the store. You will find T-shirts, mugs and stickers. I Cast Fireball - T Shirts, Stickers and Mugs here I'm attacking the Darkness - T Shirts, Stickers and Mugs here I ain't afraid of no Ghost - T Shirts, Stickers and Mugs here Don’t worry—if I make any sales, you won’t see any adverts again on my site!

  UPDATED October 2025 The Tau Empire were the third faction released for Aeronautica Imperialis, and I have always been a fan of this Xenos race. In Warhammer 40,000, they are a force that prefers to keep their army at range, with good manoeuvrability but slightly slower overall. How do the Air Caste compare to their Fire Caste brethren? Within this article are examples of aircraft with weapon loadouts. Each loadout includes the average damage the aircraft can cause in a single round of firing at each range. Additionally, I have put together a painting guide for how I painted my Tau aircraft .  Faction review links: Imperial Navy Orks Tau Empire Aeldari Adeptus Astarte (Space Marines) Necron My recorded games can be viewed on YouTube or try the video below. Faction Overview The main strength of the Tau Empire Air Cadre lies in its exceptional manoeuvrability, combined with solid durability and impressive versatility. Each aircraft type can be armed in a variety of w...