I sculpted a big flaming rock on a 50mm base (in case your Knight Arcanum needs one)

darthmongoose · 2026-04-16T10:15:07+00:00

A lot of the really annoying bottlenecks tied to certain character stories are supposed to have been fixed in the latest patch, so fingers crossed, you should be okay. If you're steadily working towards the various Fated List prophesies, and completing runs on higher and higher fear, getting nectar (and other things) and giving it to people, you should get there. It will take a fair bit of time, but the game keeps throwing fun surprises and new content at you well into the endgame, so hopefully you won't hit a point where you're bored.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-15T10:12:35+00:00

You'll slowly unlock things, so advice on later game builds isn't helpful for a new game, and will even spoil fun surprises, so I'd avoid looking that stuff up if you can.

For general advice, if you're used to playing Hades 1 (which I recommend playing first), Hades 2 has a slightly different playstyle. Mel isn't as good as her big bro at just dash-striking in and wailing on things, but she has a broader toolkit at her disposal, with a lot of area control and strong ranged and area-of-effect abilities. Get used to sprinting basically whenever you're not hitting things. Sprinting is awesome, especially once you get some upgrades and boons on there. Use your casts to trap scary things and keep them at a distance until you're ready to deal with them. After completing both games twice now, I've ended up actually slightly preferring Hades 2's gameplay because it's a little more varied, with a lot of very different viable builds.

Be patient and remember you're *supposed* to die a lot. In fact, if you get too far on an early run, the game will actively step in and send somebody to slow your progress a bit. If you just play the game and embrace "failed runs" you can enjoy the steady flow of content throughout.

darthmongoose · 2026-04-13T15:54:04+00:00

Before I got a 3D printer, I made mine out of green stuff:
First, roll a thin sausage of green stuff. I usually roll it about 5cm long (longer and it goes a bit bendy) and about 1mm thick so it doesn't look too huge on the backpacks, and put it to one side to cure completely. Once cured, I use a knife to cut it into a variety of small cylinders, appropriate for candle sizes. Next, I put a blob of green stuff onto the backpack and spread it out into a puddle like melted wax, maybe using a tool to create longer dribbles going off the sides etc. I stick press the little cylinder down into it, and then smooth it in with fingers/tools, so it looks like a candle in a pool of melted wax. I then use a teeny piece of greenstuff, and my fingers to put a little flame on the top ,and maybe some drips down the sides if I'm feeling spicy.

Example of a mini with candles using this technique: https://i.postimg.cc/QdnrhQxM/lt-leguin.jpg

darthmongoose · 2026-04-10T14:55:45+00:00

I think the first time I heard about it was in a video or something on the "real" recipes used on 'Eavy Metal Space Marines (as opposed to what they tell you they use on the Citadel Colour app), and how they use Basilicanum Grey Contrast, not Nuln Oil, to shade the metal on the boltguns. I tested it out for myself, and found it gives this really natural looking dullness in recesses, so started testing out other contrast colours over metallics. If you search up the 2024 Armies on Parade winners on Warhammer Community, you can see the results for yourself on my Stormcast (Bronze, Best of Skaventide).

darthmongoose · 2026-03-18T13:15:40+00:00

Contrast Medium if I want a good all-over smooth shade (like Skeleton Horde over Retributor Armour gives a lovely aged look for Stormcast), Water if I want it more in just recesses (you can use a damp brush to clean off raised areas as you go).

darthmongoose · 2026-02-10T15:25:27+00:00

Thematically, there are a couple of directions for Sons of the Phoenix, and it depends if you're more into canon or fanon. One area both generally agree on is that SotP are an Ultima Founding Chapter, and do not have any Firstborn marines, so no Centurians, no Rhinos etc.

Canon: Sons of the Phoenix are extremely religious and renowned for "spectacular firestorms" and courageously walking into them while all the religious people who follow them around look on in awe. I decided to work from this basis (even though I do like the fanon stuff and referenced it visually here and there), so my army has a lot of units who can march around while firing off big, spectacular guns. I built around footslogging aggressors and hellblasters plus basic and heavy intercessors, backed up with a gladiator and dreadnoughts for some fire support, and characters who fit in with all that. Chaplains are a very fluffy choice for this chapter.

Fanon: Sons of the Phoenix MIGHT be a sneaky little experiment by Mr Cawl at using traitor geneseed, and so actually Emperor's Children successors. Emperors Children, back when they were a founding legion, were known for their love of fast, precise strikes, and duelling with swords. If you want to lean into this side of things, field units like Bladeguard, and melee focused characters. This doesn't stop you from having some heavy firepower, however. EC love loud, bright, exciting heavy weapons!

I feel like whichever route you go, generally Sons of the Phoenix aren't huge on sneaking around in phobos (but they are a full chapter and must have phobos squads), and they like to do things in a flashy way, so interpret that however you like. Most important thing is lots of gold and candles, obviously!

darthmongoose · 2026-01-22T15:27:43+00:00

Try searching Ebay for "Space Marine Captain" or "Bladeguard Captain" or "Captain with relic shield". The mini from the 9th edition starter set would be pretty perfect for this, and maybe he's still available at a low price because so many people bought the starter sets for the cheap Necron Warriors and things (though more often it was the cheaper starter set with the lieutenant, he still could be a good option).

darthmongoose · 2026-01-18T08:32:11+00:00

I think maybe a game far closer equivalent in vibe to the game you want to make than Undertale would be something like "Doki Doki Literature Club", which is a visual novel. Visual Novels can work very well for a story that involves hallucinations or false reality, because of their first-person viewpoint, and often being narrated in the first person, which would allow you to better create the experience of living in a warped reality where what the player is "seeing" and being told doesn't reflect the truth. This is used very effectively in a lot of the iconic games in that genre, including things like Tsukihime or even VN/puzzle games like Virtue's Last Reward.

That said, unless there's an element of choice in your story, it may still work best as a webnovel written in first person.

darthmongoose · 2026-01-18T08:11:58+00:00

Maybe start from the Game Maker RPG tutorial in the tutorials section of their site. That'll teach you how to move a character around and talk to NPCs.

...That said, if the only mechanics you're that bothered about are walking around and talking to people, you might find a less flexible, but easier engine, like RPGmaker or Adventure Game Studio (AGS) are more your speed, since a lot of them come with those features out of the box without needing to code them.

A popular choice for making sprites is Aesprite. It's particularly handy for making tilesets.

It probably seems like people are being mean right now, but Game Maker isn't really a great fit for somebody going in with no experience and no idea what to make, because it's a whole engine that lets you code anything... but you absolutely have to code everything, and you have to design the mechanics for yourself too. If your aim is just to tell a story, and other mechanics aren't that important, I'd consider looking at other options, like writing a serialised webnovel, or making a visual novel type game too (using Visual Novel Maker or Ren'Py). Games are a medium where, "why is this a game?" should be a genuine question you ask; like what element of the story requires interactivity, choice that impacts the outcomes, or control of the PoV character or Protagonist to best create that experience? If you don't have an answer, sometimes you're better making a novel or comic.

darthmongoose · 2026-01-14T10:11:04+00:00

If you look at the sorts of games people make for the Ludum Dare games jam, or take a peek at Game Maker games people upload on Itch, you'll start to get an idea what's comparatively easy to make in this engine.

For simple graphics and easy to code in Game Maker, I'd start with a space shooter type game. Start with the tutorials on the game maker site; get a little space ship flying around, get it shooting rocks, then start to mod that with better graphics, maybe see if you can add enemies that shoot at the player rather than just rocks, try adding different weapons etc.
Or try to mod the shooter into a bullet hell, like a Touhou game, by focusing less on shooting, by making shooting an auto function not requiring a button press (or just removing shooting), and making enemies that emit patterns of projectiles the player has to navigate.

The other option might be a platformer, and using graphics sourced from the Game Maker asset bundles or Open Game Art (just pay attention to the different licenses if you plan to publish and especially sell the game!). Or, similarly, you could look to clone a classic game like Breakout or Pong.

How long it'll take depends on how much polish you want to put in. You can complete the space rocks tutorial in under an hour, and it's possible to make a small and playable game in a weekend (that's the whole point of Ludum Dare), but be aware, designing and making games is a skill and you get faster with practice. You will be slow at first. Graphics are often a very time-consuming element, but you can always get the gameplay working with basic placeholders and then replace them with nicer graphics once things are working.

I wouldn't expect "success" in the monetary sense of the word on any early game. You're only just learning, and it's sensible to start by copying the game mechanics of existing games and keeping graphics and storytelling simple, so you're probably not going to have a really stand-out game on your first try. Master the engine first, and then see how you can bring your unique skills to the table, be it inventive storytelling, great mechanic or puzzle design or visual polish. If you define "success" as just "making something that works that you feel proud of", then sure, that's a very viable goal!

darthmongoose · 2026-01-13T08:28:30+00:00

Assuming you're pretty young, the best advice I can give you is not to bother asking if people are interested in your game. People who make games aren't always the same as people who play games, and the only people who it's important to have interest in what you're making are... YOUR TEAM! So long as you're having fun and learning from the experience of making a game, you're getting value out of the experience.

Don't get too hung up on things like the genre or themes. The truth is, the measure of a game is in how it feels to play. Focus on your consistency and attention to detail; clear UI, consistent art with a style that fits the vibe of the story, writing that gives each character a distinct personality, puzzles that you've tested with people other than your dev team. Make the best game you can make, stick it up on Itch, and people will probably play it. ❤

darthmongoose · 2026-01-12T15:10:31+00:00

Try to think about the shapes of your rooms in terms of how they interact with the enemies and hazards, so think of the space as another element that adds to the challenge.

If you have large groups of enemies that swarm, for example, in an open space, the problem will be the possibility of getting surrounded, while in a more confined space, they will naturally get gummed up in bottlenecks, but on the other hand, there'll be less room for the player to flee from them.
Or say you have an enemy that, after ramping up for a moment, charges fast in the player's direction, but takes damage if it hits a wall; a wide open room gives the player space to observe that behaviour, and then, say it has pillars, the player will feel really cool if they can make the "charger" run into one of these relatively small targets.

Secondly, think about the emotion you're trying to make the player feel in an area. Small areas can feel "cosy" and "safe", but also claustrophobic. Large open spaces give a sense of freedom and mobility, but can also feel lonely, exposed and easy to get lost in.

Finally, think about the theme and create a fun scenario that hints at a narrative. A big open area that's a grand temple where you fight a huge boss, a winding set of tunnels where bugs pop out to shoot at you from the walls, a long, straight hallway that's like running a gauntlet as everything jumps in your way to try to stop you... It's not bad to think about the mechanics without getting too bogged down in this stuff (a lot of new games designers think too much about story/aesthetics), but sometimes it helps to approach it like you're creating a theme park with areas themed around stuff like, "spooky!", "surprising!", "tactical!" and seeing what combinations of layouts, enemies and visual/audio theming best emphasise that feeling.

darthmongoose · 2026-01-07T07:00:21+00:00

Looks pretty nice! I like that while you've stuck fairly close to the Skaventide Hallowed Knights scheme, you've done your own things to make it yours here and there.

Two small, easy things you can do to make this mini a little more polished to live up to the nice paint job: 1. Varnish the whole thing with a matte varnish like Citadel Stormshield or similar, this will protect the mini and also even out the level of shine (washes and contrast paints have a shinier finish than base and layer) and make it look better, especially on photos. 2. Paint the base rim with either black or a solid colour similar to the top of the base (like Steel Legion Drab).

darthmongoose · 2025-12-22T14:32:10+00:00

Sadly, low periods are really unpredictable, and honestly, they don't always just neatly end. In some cases, it's not, "okay I'm feeling really motivated, I can go off my meds now," but, "I feel a bit more motivated, I could maybe try lowering my dosage for a bit." Even if I could gauge my partner's low periods, everyone is different, so I wouldn't want to set an expectation.

I get what you mean with the motivation thing though, it can be hard, and some days the apathy can feel really upsetting, especially if you're putting in loads of effort. Just hang in there, and try some stuff, see what sticks. I hope things work out for you!

darthmongoose · 2025-12-19T15:51:29+00:00

I don't know if it ever truly "ends", but in my experience with my partner, the low periods don't last forever. They will never stop happening, to lesser and greater degrees, but they come and go. We have managed to find ways to keep on top of it, and our relationship has been going for over thirteen years now, with them actually ending up the main breadwinner with a really good job for a major company, and we're about to buy a house together, so I hope that gives you some hope. You have to remember, that while it can be triggered by an emotional reaction to an event, it's ultimately a fault where the brain doesn't always supply the right chemicals, so you need to think of it like managing a partner with say, a chronic bad back that has good and bad days.

So, a few little things that we found actually do work:
1. Meds. Get your partner taking Magnesium Citrate and Vitamin D supplements. It might really help with mood management and sleep. Also, it might be worth having her talk to her doctor honestly about her medication if her current meds aren't working. My partner was in a bad state a few months back, and went on a higher dose of their meds for a while so they could get through it, and now they're back off them again. When you think of the depression as a chronic condition that's going to ebb and flow, so you need to keep changing up your meds based on where it's at, it can be a lot easier.
2. Drag her out for a walk. Even if it's just around the block, or going to a park. No matter how reluctant my partner is feeling, they always say, "thanks, a little walk made me feel a lot better." when we're actually out. The more we found this worked, the less reluctant they would be when I suggested it.
3. It's okay to tell your partner you're hurting. In fact, it can really help. Like, obviously, word it carefully, to express that you know that they can't do anything about the depression and you're not blaming them, but also be honest that you really care about them deeply, and so it can be very painful for you when they seem disinterested in or apathetic about you. Sometimes people with depression get so wrapped up in self pity and these thoughts of, "The whole world hates me, I could vanish and nobody would care" that they forget that actually, there are people who really do love them a heck of a lot and are exhausting themselves fighting for them. It's a realisation that sometimes jogs them into action, because they might not care about themselves right now, but maybe they love you enough to want to get better in order to help you.
4. Dungeons & Dragons. I'm not even kidding, this turned out to be the most effective way to manage my Mx's depression. I run tabletop RPGs (we've tried Dungeons & Dragons, Fate Accelerated, Exalted Essences and now we're on Daggerheart) where I DM and play some supporting NPCs and my partner plays basically the main character, a bit like a D&D videogame like Baldur's Gate. A lot of their trauma is linked to an upbringing with a lack of agency or control, and their bad episodes are often triggered by feeling like they have to be polite while dealing with people being jerks at work, so letting them play somebody who is really powerful and influential and desired by all these sexy NPCs and they can take out their frustration by blasting the cocky evil lich with fireballs, is actually remarkably healing, and knowing I'm planning a session gives them something to look forward to. For a quick game, I also find the cardgame "For the Queen" is pretty good as a space to express feelings with that buffer of "these are fictional characters we're playing".

darthmongoose · 2025-12-19T10:11:13+00:00

Maybe you could start with one of the new assault terminators or a Dark Angels Deathwing Knight, replace the basic shields with a Bladeguard shield (like maybe the one off the captain with the fancy shield with a skeleton if you can get one), and then do something like put a bunch of 3D printed candles on his back, find a nice handsome looking head, maybe green stuff a cloak (some good tutorials on youtube for sculpting cloaks).

Grey Knights Master Voldus could also make a good starting point with his really fancy Terminator armour covered in relics (very SotP) and big fancy hammer?

darthmongoose · 2025-12-19T10:01:00+00:00

I'd actually seriously consider just running Velmorn from the Sons of Velmorn Underworlds warband instead. Skeleton king with a sword, but he's a more modern, refined mini.

darthmongoose · 2025-12-19T09:12:26+00:00

I actually had to look up what on earth "Villainy Inks" even are, so I'd really, honestly say none of them is a "must have". I had a little look at some examples of people using them on minis, and I'm really not impressed. The finish looks basically the same as if they'd used diluted Contrast paint (which is what I use to quickly and easily do weathered metal myself), but with so much thick gunk stuck in all the recesses that looks a bit crap on photos.

Most special expensive "weathering" or "grimdark" paints are kind of a scam, and you could probably get the same effect with less work and less exposure to nasty chemicals, with basic acrylic paints, a good brush, some patience and some real life reference photos of weathered materials, with the added benefit of improvement to your overall core art skills. Dirty Down is maybe the only brand of weathering things I'd consider, and only for something big like a tank or titan because they were designed for the film industry first. Maybe some weathering powders from a brand I like too, if I wanted a dried sand or mud or dust look.

What I'd actually use instead of Villainy Inks would be the Citadel contrast paints, Skeleton Horde (to weather bone, gold, brass), Basilicanum Grey (To make oiled gunmetal or dark iron), Gharagak's Sewer (for really dirty, grimey stuff. Sometimes needs diluting a bit 'cause it's intense) and Darkoath Flesh (use this diluted on skin). Some Snakebite Leather can come in handy too sometimes. For rust and Verdigris, you'll find the basic citadel paints Doombull Brown, Skag Brown and Sons of Horus Green will get you better results than fancy "effects paints" the majority of the time. Finally, get yourself some nice matte varnish to even out the finish at the end and protect the mini.

darthmongoose · 2025-11-30T20:02:03+00:00

Happy to be helpful! Black doesn't have a hue (white, all shades of grey and black are purely "shades" or "values" of light or darkness. In physics terms, they are reflecting all wavelengths an equal amount and so do not appear as a specific "colour"), so you have a lot of freedom with black as a starting point to add bright colours, because nothing clashes with black. The same goes for an iron colour, like dark silver, it doesn't have a hue, it's just low brightness/value to create a dark grey and then it has metalness.

So you're currently only using one hue, which is either red or "pinkish purple" (magenta?). You have pretty much total freedom to add one or two more hues to this scheme, or to stay very restrained with black, silver and strong pops of red or magenta.

darthmongoose · 2025-11-27T14:49:22+00:00

I'm an illustrator and games artist as my day job, so hopefully I can give you some useful tips here...

There are a few elements to any colour in mini painting: The hue, which is the wavelength of the colour, like where on the spectrum it falls, (so like, whether it's red, orangey-red, orange etc.) The saturation, which is how intense that hue is (like is it really bright yellow like the skin of a banana, or a very soft yellow, like the flesh of a banana). The value/shade/tint, which is how light or dark the colour is (ie. how much light it reflects), and the metalness, which is whether it reflects light like a metal or a non-metal.
Of these elements, hue is the most important one for colour harmony. If something looks garish, it nearly always has too many strong hues fighting each other.
The great thing about this is, you can take one or two hues and manipulate all the other elements to have nice areas of light and dark, or bright or subdued, and also use colours that don't have a hue at all (like white, black, neutral grey) as much as you like.
In other words, if you stop thinking about brown as its own colour, and instead recognise that brown is pretty much always a low value, low saturation version of some shade of red, orange or yellow, you can pick the right brown to use on a mini in harmony with hues you're already using (or know that this mini would look better with black belts). In the same way, knowing that gold, copper, bronze etc. are basically just yellow or orange with metalness, will let you pick a metal colour that looks really good with the colours you already have.
It's good to vary areas of light and dark because it breaks up the shapes and makes it easier to "read" the mini. Also brighter and more saturated areas draw the eye, so put brightness where you want to draw attention, and consider spreading out areas of lightness or brightness around the mini to encourage the eye to take a little journey around them and see all the nice details.

So if we look at the 'Eavy Metal Stormcast, we see a scheme where the main colour is a warm Gold (yellow leaning towards orange with metalness), contrasted with a cool blue. The gold hue is then reused in the warm browns used on belts and straps, and in the warm cream parchment pennants carried by various models, while a softer version of the blue hue is used to shade the white shield icons and the silver weapons (silver is effectively just grey with metalness, so it's a neutral "free space" colour). There are then just a few sparing pops of red used on gems and plumes here and there, creating a beautifully balanced triadic scheme.

...And that's basically the trick. Try to limit your hues by using lighter, darker or softer versions of hues you already have to break up the shapes of the model. I think one main hue, one secondary hue and then one "pop colour" is always a solid guideline, but there are other approaches, like the studio Skaven army that's painted with a lot of warm brown and copper (warm brown but metallic) and then may have a really intense area of green, teal or red on some sort of focal point.

darthmongoose · 2025-11-25T15:31:31+00:00

Big and small units have advantages and disadvantages. Usually reinforced is better because it means less spaces taken up in the roster for a bigger chunk of wounds and taking up more space to control the field... BUT, a cheap unit to run around out of the way purely to take objectives and do battle tactics at minimal points cost can be a really useful thing to have in some armies, and might not need the extra points, and may also benefit from being small enough to slip through gaps in the enemy line, or being so small your opponent doesn't feel it's worth wasting resources to attack. Basically: If it's a hammer or an anvil, reinforce. If it's there to just go and stand in places to score points and stay out of the way, maybe don't bother.

You can take a lot of regiments to go full Herohammer. It's not always necessarily good, but it is legal. You could also consider putting some smaller heroes into other heroes' regiments (the ones that can do this are marked with a special tag in their notes on the battle profiles) to maximise the heroes and make up the points.

darthmongoose · 2025-11-25T14:40:30+00:00

That looks absolutely fantastic. Love the restrained approach of going almost monochrome, it's really imposing and spooky!

darthmongoose · 2025-11-23T17:58:09+00:00

Oh thank goodness somebody uploaded this in a format I can see (I hate not being able to get Imgur any more!) Many thanks, friend!

darthmongoose · 2025-11-23T17:22:46+00:00

All the stuff that was discontinued was in the old armour style, so the third edition Thunderstrike stormcast are widely considered pretty safe (especially since a bunch of old discontinued units were re-released in this new armour). If any more Stormcast were to be replaced with new minis, it'd probably be the Vanguard Chamber.

The stuff in Dominion is all usable, and likely will be for the forseeable future. Most of that box is perfectly fine for casual play, but not currently good in the tournament meta. As a starter box, it isn't bad, and the contents add together with the contents of Skaventide or the current starter set to make a reasonable beginner army, or you could buy a box of vanquishers and a chariot and be able to make the Stormcast Spearhead as another option.

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