It's a brand new year and its going to be interesting who in the Goonhammer office will be starting out the new year with a new army project.

Greg

I painted some boats.

A Victory at Sea IJN fleet. Credit: Greg Chiasson

Yes, I still need to finish the deck markings on Zuikaku, and paint her air group. But the rest is good to go, and if I just don't use the carrier I have a completed "army" (fleet).

The models consist of both the IJN half of the Battle for the Pacific box, and the IJN Fleet Starter, which comes out to about 2500 points. The funniest thing to me about this is that you don't get near enough destroyers. Early in the war when they still had ships to throw around, Combined Fleet would routinely roll 10 deep with these things, and the two sets only give you six in total. But, somehow, combining them gives you all four Mogami class heavy cruisers.

Beanith

Good grief, how long has it been since I last submitted to the hobby round-up? I've decided 2026 will be the year I fully dive into Blood Bowl and so this month ended by adding the finishing coat of varnish to my tiny in stature but big of heart Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl team, The Stampeding Herd.

The Stampeding Herd - Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl Team - Credit Beanith

Everyone and their bulldog goes for the default Red Armor and Black beards etc so I decided to go for a much brighter blue and dirty blonde for the dwarves and the hobgoblins also got dragged kicking and screaming to the bath to show off a nice brighter green than usual.

Also my first time playing with flock that I can recall but it seems to have gone well.

Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl

Overall I am happy with the "Looks good from three feet away" 😁

So far I've had just the one game with them in person and a few more online in Blood Bowl 3 on Steam and I'm slowly getting to grips with how they work.

Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl

Looking forward to seeing them on the field soon in my FLGS Blood Bowl League and maybe a few friendlys as well. As for February, the Warhammer Combat Patrol will launch in Australia on Monday 9th so I'm planning on following Contemptor Kevin's footsteps in getting those assembled and paint smooshed on them as they come in. Not sure what I'll do with nine 500 point armies kicking around in my hobby space over the next 90 weeks, I might see if I can gift them to friends to lure them into the hobby.

Chaos Dwarf Blood Bowl

Bair

Starting off the year strong with a whole new game, not just a new army. Anyone that knows me knows that I love a weird little skirmish game which is why I love scrolling through the wargaming rules section of Osprey's site every now and then. That's exactly what I was doing when I saw a new one on pre-order: Hide, Stone, and Bone. A prehistoric rules set for skirmish games that I was immediately curious about, so we reached out and you can expect a review of the game up shortly! I talked about it briefly on the inaugural episode of the Other (Other) Gamescast podcast that will be running monthly for patrons through Patreon and expect to be talking about it a lot more in the February episode. In short: it's fun!

But to be able to get it to the table I needed to paint some models first! We all always get minis painted before playing the game at all, right? That's a normal, shared, experience amongst all wargamers? For skirmish games anyways...

These cavemen/neanderthals are from North Star's range and perfect for what I wanted...however not very historically accurate. The weapons are too large, the stone/flint speartips should be much smaller. I don't really mind or care, they were a joy to paint and were done quickly enough. I chose to do grey and brown pelts to be able to keep the sides separate visually more easily.

North Star Cavemen Clan - Credit Bair

North Star Cavemen Clan - Credit Bair

Hide, Stone, and Bone isn't just about beating up other cavemen warbands it's also about hunting (or being hunted by!) creatures of all sizes. Naturally I focused on some of the bigger ones, first. These are both STL files from Dino and Dog very kindly printed for me by my friend Joe who got a new shiny printer over Christmas and they look great! A classic woolly mammoth to hunt for meat (hopefully, if it goes well) and a giant short faced cave bear. Hard not to like the snazzy haircut on that mammoth.

Dino and Dog Woolly Mammoth - Credit Bair

Dino and Dog Arctodus Simus Short faced bear - Credit Bair

"Contemptor" Kevin Stillman

Bair should paint more bears, in my opinion.

I've had a relatively productive January 2026, particularly compared to my output last year. Of course, I'm still trying to get out from the avalanche of previous year's Pile of Opportunity so it could feel like a wash.

My first finished project from 2026 was a squad of Havocs from Combat Patrol Magazine Issues 35-36. They were a pretty fun paint job and when the new Iron Warriors stuff comes out later this Spring, I will probably expand my mighty Chaos Armies.

Iron Warriors Havocs. Credit: Contemptor Kevin Stillman

After that, it was time to begin preparing my Ultramarines for 11th Edition and the 2026 Grand Narrative. So I decided to start off with my army centerpiece: a Fellblade!

Credit: Kevin Stillman

Credit: Kevin Stillman

I will once again stand atop my Goonhammer soapbox to extol the virtues of the new plastic Fellblade: It's a kit that goes together smoothly and cleanly, and has plenty of flat spaces to add decorations or designs or upgrade bits. Plus the big, solid construction encourages the Fellblade owner to run it around the table going "BOOM BOOM!". Furthermore, one of the intermediate steps in painting the marble finished produced a gorgeous teal effect. While it wasn't going to work for my Ultramarines, it would work for my next model:

Credit: Kevin Stillman

Again painted as part of my Combat Patrol reviews, I made this into a mighty Thousand Sons Helbrute. It's a wonderful kit, but it's woefully small by the standards of modern 40K. It could also honestly use a more interesting pose.

Lastly, as the greater Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area entered a deep freeze caused by a combination of nasty snow and sleet, I was able to finish my last model for January: Captain Titus, of the Warden of Ultramar.

Credit: Kevin Stillman

As the new face of the Ultramarines and the Warhammer 40K franchise, getting him done was a priority. Plus, for 2026 I'm specifically interested in refreshing my long-neglected 2nd Company Ultramarines and putting them in the more vibrant blues I use nowadays, versus the darker and more muted version of the past. So what's coming next are going to be friends for Titus to hang out with: Terminators, Intercessors, and a Dreadnought.

Before press time, I was able to finish the first of Titus' new friends: Intercessor Squad II!

Credit: Kevin Stillman

Jackie Daytona

2026 was off to a running start, I managed to finish up my second army for The Old World, more elite and less squishy than Dark Elves. No dragon this time, but a heavy Nurgle theme.

Credit: Jackie Daytona

Credit: Jackie Daytona

Credit: Jackie Daytona

Credit: Jackie Daytona

I still need to base some marauders, warhounds, and about a dozen more warriors, a couple of chariots and that's done. I plan to add a giant as well at some point to round it all out but I'm pretty happy with the army as is. It's fun to play and also fun to play against according to my opponents, so wins all around.

On the historicals front I have been itching a long time to play some muskets and tomahawks, so for that I'll need some French of course.

Credit: jackie Daytona

Credit: Jackie Daytona

A compagnie Franches de la Marine and Canadian militia or coureurs de bois make a solid start for this game. The Northstar figures have a lot of charm and character as well. Next up are Native Americans and some English.

I did completely finish a burgundian warband for Saga, age of Chivalry, which are tried and true Perry minis. I may squeeze in some more mounted hearthguard, but we'll see how they work out on foot first.

Credit: Jackie Daytona

Credit: Jackie Daytona

At the end of the day, not a bad start for the year.

SRM

Looking back, I realize I spent the entirety of January just painting various shades of blue. What can I say, it's a good color.

Captain Titus and the Wardens of Ultramar. Credit: SRM

My first models this year were Captain Titus and his crew of Imperial weirdos. I was fortunate enough to be part of the team reviewing them, and had a generally great time painting the set. I only got them finished about 4 hours before the article went live, as it turns out batch painting 7 characters and a big honkin' banner, plus non-metallic metal detailing on all their cloaks, takes a long time.

While I wanted to bring my Ultramarines to the Palm Springs Open, I opted instead for Black Templars, running the Bastion Task Force Detachment. Writing that review and making the video" frameborder="0"> for it got me excited despite it being such a down the middle, meat and potatoes detachment, and I did strictly okay with it at the event. I wrote up a hearty event report if you want to read a bit about that.

Lyran Commonwealth Wolfhound, Vedette, Crusader, and Hunchback. Credit: SRM

With my review material out of the way, I really was in the mood for some easy wins. Much as I love those hyper-detailed and characterful new Marine models, it feels good to contrast that with something far easier. I gathered a few of the Battletech minis I had lying around - mostly from blind boxes, drafts, and last year's Adepticon - and knocked em out in no time. holding that little Vedette tank awoke something deep within me, and I very much feel the desire to paint more tiny tanks.

Lyran Commonwealth Nightsky, Atlas II, Howler/Baboon, and Hermes II. Credit: SRM

I kept that momentum going with a few more mechs from my odds and ends boxes, steadily incorporating more red and more decals into the scheme. My earlier forays into Battletech were a smidge simpler, but adding in decals and flashy racing stripes just makes them a bit more visually interesting and adds a load of personality. It's simple, but wondering what kind of guy paints a big skull and crossbones on his mech adds a smidge of narrative to what otherwise looks like a walking submarine. The numbers don't mean anything in particular; just imagine that's the 86th Atlas II the Lyran Commonwealth has. It's all just vibes; I keep my heraldry/numerals more strict with my Ultramarines. Speaking of...

Ultramarines Terminator Captain. Credit: SRM

I had grabbed the Crux Terminatus box from my FLGS last year, and while I reviewed the Assault Terminators for the site, I hadn't touched the other kits in there. Then, the notion of Rapid Ingressing 10 of those suckers for free got in my head, and I got to building a new Terminator Captain. He's just the stock kit, plus a tilting plate from the Ultramarines sprue and a back banner from the old 4th edition Captain, anchored on his little targeter for a bit more stability. As I experienced painting Calgar in December, batch painting 10 Terminators is a headache, but a single character is a joy. I agonized over the checkerboard on his shin and the chevron on his personal heraldry, layering a few decals to get that black skull in the Ultima. I also realize I didn't have to labor so hard to get a sharp chevron since I was popping a decal over the corner of it, but so it goes. I probably go too far with it, but if you ever want to really make your character look special, echoing personal heraldry on multiple parts of the model is a fun way to do so. You can't quite see, but he's got his heraldry on the power fist too. Naturally, the banner also has some non-metallic metal on the gold thread, and it's probably my best take on the technique so far.

With the January blues (literal) still here and the January blues (pigment) out of the way, I'm on to some other stuff. The new season of Fallout - likely over by the time you read this - has me inspired to break into that particular backlog, so stay tuned in February for some rust, dust, and maybe a color other than blue.

Thundercloud

2025 was a mixed year, with lots of things finished at the start and the middle of the year and lots of things started but not finished at the end of the year.

In January I've finished The Path to Cirith Ungol for the miniature review, but not a lot else. I've started a bunch of other stuff, and I've got an event at Warhammer World coming up in less than two weeks that I might finish a few more Lord of the Rings miniatures for. I've also got two big secret projects where I'll paint stuff and then declare it after the articles are published.

I did enjoy painting Shelob a lot more than the little Gollum and Frodo, and it's good to have a large centrepiece model done, even if it is very niche and unlikely to actually make it to the tabletop much. My wife thinks it's horrible as well.

The Path of Cirith Ungol - Group Shot - credit Thundercloud

Michael O "mugginns"

This month has seen my prep for AdeptiCon going into full gear. I'm also running some games at our local small con this weekend so I had to finish some pieces for that.

The livestock are almost all 3d printed (bar the highland cows, which are Gripping Beast) and minis I've had around forever to paint. It's nice to knock them off the queue, and they'll look good on a big board.

The livestock pen is from Sarissa and while it was annoying to build I think it came out great. Fences are really easy to paint and a little ground cover makes the thing look excellent. I kept the middle circle donut hole thing in the piece, as otherwise the mat would show through - I'd advise you don't punch out the middle circle either.

I painted two 6pt (standard size) warbands this month for SAGA Age of Vikings. I had purchased a ton of shieldmaiden minis for my daughter, so I painted them up so she could play with us. For a long time I've gamed with both my kids, but the dedicated wargames I've almost exclusively played with my son - he's older, and he gets it better. I'm going to play more SAGA with her to see if she gets into it.

The Scots warband is going to pair with my Norse-Gaels as a team faction. Norse-Gaels are entirely offensive, while Scots are one of the most defensive factions, so it seems like an interesting way to play together.

I made some standing stones for terrain using stones from our local soccer field parking lot. The complex got purchased by a solar power company and we got kicked out, which is pretty devastating. I'm the commish of the organization and have put in a ton of time there, so I felt it was a good way to keep a piece of our history there.

These livestock are going to be part of our SAGA scenario at FlintCon. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

The pen the livestock are held in, from Sarissa. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

I painted up a Scots warband from Gripping Beast for our SAGA scenario at FlintCon. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

I finished my daughter's 6 pt Viking Shielmaiden warband almost entirely composed of Bad Squiddo miniatures. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

The standing stones. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

Our display board that I'm working on for AdeptiCon. The plan is to have a small river in the middle for the boat. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

We also cast some rocks using a model railroad rubber mold - while I was doing so, my daughter wanted to cast some sharks and flowers. Credit: Michael O "mugginns"

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Tags: goonhammer hobby round-up | hobby round up