Miniatures Monthly 002: Bird Henchmen, Hench Birdmen

Chris and Tom’s spinoff miniatures podcast returns! We discuss a gigantic amount of Age of Sigmar news, a little 40K, a little X-Wing, and our experience of hobby games over the last month or so. Painting tips return, as does the ongoing rivalry between Tom’s gilded relic hunters and Chris’ dastardly cabbage-wielding bird enthusiasts. Plus! [...]

Chris and Tom’s spinoff miniatures podcast returns! We discuss a gigantic amount of Age of Sigmar news, a little 40K, a little X-Wing, and our experience of hobby games over the last month or so. Painting tips return, as does the ongoing rivalry between Tom’s gilded relic hunters and Chris’ dastardly cabbage-wielding bird enthusiasts.

Plus! Loads of your questions, from playing with unpainted miniatures to our forays beyond the boundaries of Games Workshop. We’re still figuring out the format of Miniatures Monthly, and your feedback is very welcome: you can find our contact details at the bottom of this post. Below, check out pictures of the miniatures and battles that feature in this month’s episode.

Chris’ female Knight-Questor.

Tom’s Celestant-Prime.

Liberace’s avenging Christmas tree prepares for war.

Here’s Tom’s Stormcast army with its new centrepiece.

Don’t talk to Chris or his Thousand Sons ever again.

A few more of Chris’ Thousand Sons.

This month’s Age of Sigmar battle starts off with us each adopting the ‘lets stand in a big line’ formation.

Chris’ daemon-heavy right flank makes good headway through Tom’s Liberators. One Prosecutor turns into tentacles, another flees.

Look who it is! Tom’s Fulminators and Retributors arrive from space on the second turn, presenting a lethal threat to Chris’ army. Meanwhile, this chair explodes and lots of Tzaangor run away.

Tom’s trio of heroes lay waste to Chris’ acolytes.

Tom’s trio of heroes lay waste to Chris’ acolytes.

On the daemon flank, however, everything is going swimmingly. Only Tom’s Judicators remain – if Chris can get three units off the board, he wins.

Chris’ Thaumaturge slays the Lord-Veritant and the Tzaangor get stuck in, trying to tie up Stormcast reinforcements.

Tom’s Lord-Celestant attempts a “you shall not pass!” moment, but his Dracoth promptly vomits on the floor. He does manage to kill the Herald, but is subsequently turned into tentacles.

Tom’s Fulminators and surviving heroes annihilate Chris’ left flank as the Retributors ever-so-slowly move into position.

A lone Judicator-Prime holds his ground against Chris’ entire daemon host, and manages to kill all of the remaining Flamers with a little help from the Knight-Venator’s eagle. Without three units on the right flank, Chris’ victory has become a lot more chancy.

The Fulminators move into charge range as the Retributors wipe out the Pink Horrors on Chris’ left flank. Chris no longer has enough units in position to get off the board, so the Stormcast edge out a narrow victory. (Again.)

You can find Chris on Twitter at @CThursten and Instagram as Exitwarp. You can also find his hobby blog here. Tom’s on Twitter at @PCGLudo. He had an Instagram, but then somebody hacked it, so now he doesn’t. Watch this space.

Our intro and outro music is the work of Mike Debenham, who materialised in a burst of golden light wielding the catchy soft-rock intro we didn’t know we needed, but did. Here’s his website!

If you’d like to get in touch, you can contact us at [email protected]. Send us questions, feedback, ideas!

This project is made possible by the Crate and Crowbar Patreon. Thank you to all of our supporters: you’re giving us the opportunity to make bigger, cooler plans for The Crate & Crowbar. This has been a busy month for everybody, but the wheels of progress are starting to turn.

You can listen to this episode on YouTube, if you prefer, and find all other episodes in the series via this playlist.

Thanks for listening, everybody! Miniatures Monthly will return on Tuesday 25th of April.