Welcome back to the second week of our 10th Birthday Party for The Art of Caesura!
Last week we kicked things off with our beloved infographic - looking back at the past ten years of the blog. Today we shift over to the main focus of this blog: miniatures!
As I do every year around this time, we're going to start by looking at my favourite miniatures that I painted over the past year, and then we'll cast our gaze back at my favourite minis of all time! I'll also pause for some reminiscences, and we'll also look at a few minis that are special to me (and you) for reasons other than the quality of their paint jobs.
Fave Five from 2025
5) Gallowdark
I wouldn't list this as my "favourite" in the conventional sense of the word. Painting all these pieces was a slog that took me over a year on and off, but man do they look good now that they're all done!
4) Zombie Hulk
While you can't tell in the studio photos, I undershaded his skin with a deep violet which really brings some chaotic energy to the model.
4) Black Panther
This paint job was very much an exercise in restraint. I could have kept pushing the highlights more and more and ended up very much in the grey spectrum - and it's tempting to keep highlighting when the muscles are so well defined on these super heroes. But I feel I kept things nicely balanced, and I think the model looks better for it.
3) Iron Man
Very much the opposite of Black Panther above, Zombie Ironman has many different surface textures, and glowing aspects. It was fun to render them in all their glory.
2) Heavy Intercessors
Stepping away from Marvel Zombicide now, in come the Heavy Intercessors. I just love these models. They look so chonkie and formidable! If I recall correctly, they were also the first Black Templars that I had painted after a bit of a break, so they were a lot of fun to dig back into.
Which leaves number one on this list of my 5 fave models from the past year...
1) Grimmy and Friends
And to no body's surprise, it's The High Reclusiarch of the Black Templars himself - Chaplain Grimaldus and his Servitor Retinue. I spent ages on these guys, but each model has such a different character to it that it was fun to do so. I'm really happy with the marble effect that I achieved (I will be utilising that technique again on another project in the not-too-distant future) and I like how Grimmy's scratch-built base elevates him nicely.
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People's Choice 2025:
As always, dear readers, you have (perhaps unwittingly) chosen your favourite too! What? You didn't even realise? Well, I'll give you a moment to collect your thoughts and visualise your favourite model from the past year...Ready? Here we go...
Young Iceling
Pretty much every year I am surprised to see which model had garnered the most traffic to the blog and this year was no exception. I would never have believed that this guy would be so popular! I'll have to get painting more of these little Pokemon...I mean Mystlings.
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Well that's it, thanks for coming to the second segment of the blog's 10th Birthday celebrations!
Wait, you want more? Well, most years that would be the end of this segment of the celebrations, but because this is a very special decade-aversary I have looked at every single post of my blog and selected a (MUCH) longer list in honour of the occasion!
It has been a mammoth (and warmly nostalgic) undertaking pouring back over all 527 posts to find my favourite minis, and I felt like the more I looked, the more I just wanted to include EVERYTHING! So this list is entirely subjective, feels incomplete, and is subject to change!
Twenty-Five Top Modz All time:
Familiars (Silver Tower)
It always seems that the Warhammer sculptors are let off the leash a little bit when it comes to the Warhammer Quest games. Case in point. I had fun painting one as a koi fish (and learning how to spell "koi" in the process) and painting the other as a rainbow trout. Re-reading that post had me (in a fit of nostalgia-inception) re-recalling catching such fish with my dad when I was young.
Brimstone Horrors
I remember being very proud of the flame effects that I had achieved with these little guys. I remember someone even commented on them favourably on some forum or Myspace page or something. I felt very famous.
Knight Questor
Back in the days when I would often use Prisma to add artistic filters to my pieces, I actually think this guy looks awesome. I swapped his head for a Black Templars one that I shaved the techno-gizmos from and I think it vastly improved him, if I do say so myself.
Abomination (Malifaux)
These guys are about as creepy as they come. I would say that they are in the running for the most disturbing models that I have painted on (or off) the blog. They really lean into the body-horror of Leviticus's gang in Malifaux. And holy moly are they small!
Maw Krusha
I'll tell you about something that's NOT small: Gordrakk on Maw Krusha. I remember the skin for the Maw Krusha coming together surprisingly quickly for how awesome I felt it was looking, and then I hit the horns. There are a million horns and scutes on the damn Maw Krusha, I know because I painted every single one.
Goblin Shaman
We live in the post-Skink-winning-Golden-Demon-and-Slayer-Sword world which means that even tiny models can be cool and worthy of accolades. Don't worry I'm not yet delusional enough to put this in the same ballpark as Golden Demon, but I remember feeling really proud of the brush control, texture separation, and work with light and shadow while retaining saturation that I achieved with this guy. Especially considering he's about the size of a two-euro coin.
Ogroid Thaumaturge
What an absolutely awesome model. A take on a wizardy minotaur - and an awesome take at that! It was low hanging fruit to paint his skin nice deep blue tones to create some real contrast with the glowing, fiery runes on his body.
Conan Bookcase
There are a few models on this list that are not really special models in terms of their sculpts or my rendering of them, nor particularly nostalgic, but for whatever reason, I just really like. And it's my list, dammit! This is one of those models. I just really like it.
Primaris Intercessor
Unlike the bookcase above, this one actually IS a really special model. It was my first time ever painting a Primaris Space Marine. And (aside from my previous Emperor's Champion) it was the first Black Templar (and first Warhammer 40k model) that I had painted since my initial army in 3rd Edition, perhaps two decades before!
Little did I know that a few short years later, I would be painting almost nothing but Warhammer 40k!
The Gate Keeper
This is a very weird model at baseline (from the very wonderful World of Smog) and I happily made it much more so. The official art has this serpentine figure in muted olives greens, browns and greys, but (and I don't know what possessed me) I decided to paint him yellow. With blue fire. And red racing-stripes. AND IT WORKS!
Excelsior Warpriest
I was really proud of the skin tone that I achieved on this guy. I think I brought some nice warmth and depth into his dark skin. Looking at these Silver Tower models now, really makes me want to paint some fantasy models. I have been painting so much Sci-fi over the past year and a half or so, that it will be really nice to paint fabric and skin again. Hello Malediction, I'm coming for you.
Darkoath Chieftain
As you shall see with Blackstone Fortress anon, it was far too difficult to pick out my favourite model from Silver Tower, so I included a whole bunch! This Darkoath Chieftain was a sign of things to come, it would be many years before this initial Conan-esque barbarian was iterated on to be released as a whole separate Darkoath army in recent years.
You can't see it in this picture, but the Tzaangor head that he is holding in his left hand, I painted to have bright orange blood dripping from it.
Necromunda Terrain
This is a tongue-in-cheek entry to this list. While I am happy with the serviceable paintjob that I did on the Necromunda Underhive terrain (only to be one-upped by the Gallowdark terrain many years later (and much further up in this post), I was agog to see that it was voted People's Choice (i.e. the most popular model of the year) in the year in which it appeared on this blog. Have you no taste people!?
Winston
Like the bookcase that we met previously, this good boy just had to make the list.
Arkanaut Company
I really loved building and painting these guys. Their helmets and pauldrons gave them a pleasing insectile feel and I was really happy with how my Barak Mhornar colour scheme worked out. Their bases are a real chore though.
Outside of the paint job, these models really vividly bring me back to a specific time of my life. For six months, I was living in a very strange BnB - very Wes Anderson. My wife and I would drive many, many (many) hours each week to see each other. It was a lonely time, and I would distract myself with my Kharadron Overlords and watching the original cartoon of Aeon Flux. A strange time indeed!
Brokk Grungsson
Speaking of my wife, this guy was a gift from her! As the leader of my whole army, I really wanted to make him special - and I think I achieved that! The only thing I would change now is his Aether cables - by the time Thundrik's Profiteers came around, I had devised a new way to do them which I think looks much better.
Sir Daniel Home Bust
I always like going back to The World of Smog. All of the models are just so jam-packed with character. And this character is the character that I always play in the game. Character, character, character.
Monkey with a Gun
Why is this Monkey with a Gun from Hellboy on the list? See "Bookcase" and "Winston" above.
Yar Umbra
This is another model where I deviated pretty heavily from the official version. I used a Delaque head (inverting the colours on it - dark skin instead of their usually pallid fleshtone, and white instead of black re-breather) to replace the silly scarecrow head that comes with the model. I am also a big fan of the colours. I even managed to sneak a Black Templars-style pauldron on to his left shoulder - again a sign of things to come.
The Unkindness
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I am so damn proud of my Necromunda Gang. I really created names and characters for each one. Painting them different colours while still tying them together with the hair and other details. I really must paint the Goliath half of that box-set sometime.
Thorns of the Briar Queen
Some models, such as these, made this list just because I felt I did a nice clean paintjob: good brush control, good textural variation. No big breakthroughs in colour scheme or conversions. Just good, honest painting.
Thundrik's Profiteers
As I mentioned above, these were great fun to paint. There are so many details on Kharadron Overlords, but I had a lot of time on my hands in those days. I had adapted my colour scheme somewhat for these guys from my Arkanaughts and Brokk who preceded them. I punched up vibrancy in the blue a little and changed the way I did the aether effects. I think they're looking the business!
Gandalf
I remember finding it incredibly difficult to really nail down the colours of Gandalf the Grey's hat and robes. Many stills from the films just didn't give a good view of them - they were obscured in the shot, or were being heavily influenced by environmental light. I remember, under close scrutiny, being surprised that Gandalf's hat was blue and robes more grey. I tried to replicate that on this model, and while the hat is, perhaps, a bit too blue, I think it looks okay.
Corvo
Here's another model that I don't really have any special connection to (aside from the fact that I had played the (very awesome) video game Dishonoured (where this character is from) prior to painting it. I remember first seeing this model on the Artel W website and immediately falling in love with it!
Preyton
I love this model and I'm really happy with my paint job for it. I was trying to give the impression of this creepy horror prowling through a swampy forest by full-moonlight. While I did mostly achieve that, I was never fully happy with the base. I wanted it to have a lot more swampy elements, but could never quite put my finger on how to accomplish this. In fact I even asked the expert this question, it was the only model that I ever submitted to Vince Venturella's old show where he would provide personalised feedback. He suggested that I look at a swamp and try to replicate it. Thanks Vince, not your usual high standard of hobby technomancy.
To this day I have never glued the Preyton to it's base, always thinking I might one day go back and fix it.
Hyg
Cool model, painted cooly.
All of Reichbusters
I know that this is a huge cheat, but this post is already getting totally unwieldly, and I really do love almost all of Reichbusters (it's having grown up with Wolfenstein that did it).
These models also mark an important milestone in my painting, they were my first forays into reductive painting in the Grimdark style; my first experiences with enamel washes and mineral spirits.
Emp. Champ(s).
The one on the left is the second one that I painted (gifted to me by my wife) and the one on the right is his modern incarnation.
I really love the Emperor's Champion even over High Marshal Helbrecht (the boss of the Black Templars, who didn't even make this list because, frankly, I didn't enjoy painting him). But the Emp. Champ: I love his lore, his model(s) and he's pretty fun in the game too.
Most of Blackstone Fortress
As with Reichbusters, it was too hard to pick just one or two models from Blackstone Fortress; I thoroughly enjoyed painting so many of them.
Marshall Grymm
Marshal Grymm is a hugely significant model: he is the first Black Templar that I painted for my modern army. The Primaris Intercessor (now way above on this list) was long before I thought I would be getting back into 40k, but this guy was painted very intentionally, over the course of about a month, with the view to adapting some of the learnings from painting this guy into what would become the technique that I still us to paint all my Black Templars to this day.
It all started with this guy.
First Sword Bro
Where Marshal Grymm was me testing the waters for my modern Black Templars scheme, this very first Sword Brother that I painted (whose hair and beard I sculpted) was me jumping right it.
Brood Mother
This was the first "mini" that I painted for Oathsworn. I remember struggling to get the colour of the fur tone just right, but I delighted in using UHU glue (for the toxic saliva) as well as Dirty Down's moss effect (for the base) each for the first time.
Unforgiving Chaplain
Like Corvo (a bit of a ways above on this list), I just loved this model when I first saw it from Artel W. That led to me wanting to spend a bit more time with it, I layered my highlights a little more carefully and made sure that they really drew the attention up to his skull mask. It was also fun getting to introduce some warm coppers to my Black Templars, it's a colour that I love to paint.
Termie Chappy
The reason that this guy made the list is because I think it was one of my more extensive and more successful conversions. I turned a Librarian (whom Black Templars abhor) into a Chaplain (whom they adore). I especially like the use of the inside of a shoulder pad for the area around his head. And the candle-head itself just feels very 40k.
Fae
I had forgotten about these guys until I was compiling this list. They were one of the more successful times when I predominantly used an airbrush for a paintjob. They were also an early success with oil washes.
It's fun to come back to these models, with the benefit of hindsight, to see where I started to dabble with techniques that were new to me at the time, but which I now incorporate into my regular painting.
Satyr
This guy is one of the few minis that I actually have sitting near my desk. He has such as awesome presence! Having played his mission in the game, I was inspired to paint him in otherworldly (reality collapsing) colours, rather than the more naturalistic greys and browns that I might have gone for. I remember spraying the light peachy colour on to his purple thighs and at first going "eek", but then thinking "aw yeah!"
He looks like he and the Ogroid Thaumaturge would be good buds!
Hive Fleet Klendathu
I had to include my test model for Hive Fleet Klendathu. I think it worked out really well, and I hope that at the 20th anniversary of the blog I'll be able to look back and say "that was the first model that I painted for my now massive Tyranid army". For now he is just a solitary idea for an army.
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Thank you, dear reader, for your time and attention. I hope you are finding some models that inspire you. I wonder if your mind is being jogged to think back to miniatures that you painted which remind you of a specific time of your life.
Now, if you can believe it, we're still not done! In fact, we're just getting to the good bit! I have (somehow) managed to narrow down the creme de la creme of my miniature painting over the past ten years. I have my final top 5 of this gargantuan post:
My Top Five Minis of ALL TIME
5) Land Raider Crusader
A few years ago, I spent at least a month and a half painstakingly disassembling, cleaning and repainting this model from my early adolescence. It was a labour of love, but will always hold a special place for me for just that reason.
4) Mad Dog Mono
I know that this one always comes out of left field. I just really really like it and feel that I executed him really well.
It also always brings me back; it was the last model that I painted before my first child was born, so it somehow reminds me of that exciting liminal step into fatherhood.
4) Gaunt Summoner
The big bad of Silver Tower was another one of those times that I diverged from the official paint scheme, and I think I was on to something. The super smooth blends on his face are nicely framed by the bone-coloured...ears? Horns? Things on the sides of his head. These lighter colours draw the eye up from the darker purples and blues of his robes. The smooth face also nicely contrasts the heavily textured feathers on his lower body and I used gloss varnish on his segmented armour panels to up the "insectile" factor.
I will have to dig him out of my display case here and take better photos of him sometime. The set-up that I was using at that time is a little over contrasted and perhaps lacking a touch of red colour correction, so it would be nice to be able to present him on the blog how I see him in real life.
3) The Great Unclean One
What a wonderful monstrosity!
Again, unfortunately the photo doesn't quite do him credit. Holding him in my hand now he has a lot more tonal variation - bruised magentas, putrid purples, necrotic blues, than are visible in the photo. I remember having mad fun painting this guy, using one of my biggest brushes and just going wild blotching inks together and wet-blending them on the model. He provided the inspiration for my first Trench Crusade army which will be making its long overdue appearance on the blog in the not-so-distant future.
3) The Balrog
I had seen pictures of people painting lava like this - with the fiery aspects glowing out from a dark surface, but I remember not being able to find any videos or proper tutorials about it. So it was with great trepidation that I set out myself...and just made it up. I remember it felt so unnatural to be painting the deepest crevices the lightest colours (usually it's the opposite) but man, what an impact. The photography is especially kind to him with the blazing fires leaping from the dark background. I have this guy sitting right at the top of my display case alongside The Great Unclean One and...
2) The Hungering Darkness
The model itself (one of the few that I own from Forge World) is one of my favourites of all time. I couldn't be more thrilled with how the paint job turned out! There are so many different greys and browns in his skin, and I think the textural variation of having the exposed ribs and flayed flesh be glossy, really keeps the eye moving around an model that - at first glance - might appear drab. While the actual model is called the Mourngul, I planned to use it as The Hungering Darkness in my Malifaux gang and I think the dark, yet nuanced colour-scheme really leans into that.
1) Lord of Blights
Could this be? It it he? Is this really my favourite model on the entire blog? I mean, that's kind of hard to say, but he just might be!
This model is tremendously significant for me, it was the one we painted at Marco Frisoni's two-day painting workshop and I continued to paint it once I got home. My eyes were opened to new techniques, and new considerations while miniature painting. After painting this guy, I turned almost immediately away from the style of painting that I had been using for something like 20 years up to that point. Away from the "Games Workshop" style of painting - with basecoat, shade, highlight - and into a new style where volumatic highlighting gives more control, depth and interest than edge highlighting every surface. I haven't really used an all-over wash since.
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Before we go, I just want to share 2 and a half other minis with you. The first is the overall People's Choice award for the one (miniature-based) post from the past 10 years which has earned the most views and - as always - it took me by surprise...
PEOPLE'S CHOICE (OF ALL TIME) AWARD:
As always, I am just as surprised as you that these guys (who also featured on my long list above) are the most popular miniature-related post on my entire blog in 10 years worth of blogging. By a fair margin! If you would like to bump these numbers up further, you can find that post here.
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THE FIRST MINIATURE I EVER PAINTED
Genestealer
I won't spend too much time on this guy because I have devoted an entire post to him in the past, but it would be remiss of me not to mention my first Warhammer mini on this post.
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THE FIRST MINIATURE I EVER POSTED ON THE ART OF CAESURA
Colonel Steel
And here we are, at the end of this very long stroll down memory lane, and lo, we've ended up right where we began - with the very first miniature that I ever posted on The Art of Caesura! I have to say, after all these years, he holds up pretty well! My photography style is even exactly the same!
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Okay, so maybe it was a little more than 25 of my all-time favourite models from the blog. As a little Easter Egg, you might note that almost none of my "Top 5" lists in each birthday post over the years actually hold themselves to only five minis - I made a numerical error one year and I just stuck with it forever more!
For today's special post, I was originally going to try to hold myself to some kind of shortlist, but then I thought..."no, let's not" so I just went hog wild. It was fun looking back at a bunch of the minis that I've painted over the past 10 years.
And, my dear reader, many of my favourite models are yet to come! One will be revealed in 2 weeks and the others later this year...
Thanks again for joining me for this continuation of our 10th Birthday Celebrations, I'll see you next week for more on The Art of Caesura!
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