We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

This week was a weird one where you would expect a lot more production out of me than normal, because I had an entire week off of work. But instead of churning out a model every single day I took my time and worked on one big centerpiece that spanned about three or four days from start to finish. This being #hobbystreak, I’m supposed to be posting pictures of the work-in-progress shots, and I did on social media, but for this round up we’ll just go through the four pieces that I completed from start to finish.

Idoneth Deepkin Hobby Streak Focus

I had no interest in starting an entirely new army when I bought the Akhelian Allopex I showed off last week, but then I was gifted–completely by coincidence–a second Allopex, and then I just kind of dove into the Idoneth Deepkin.

This is weird to me because I don’t like the actually watery elves. The Namarti Reavers and Thralls don’t entice me in the least bit, but the creatures–I love the creatures. Over the last 312 days of #hobbstreak I have truly found that it is the big monsters (and little monsters) that I love the most, and painting infantry comes secondary. (One caveat: painting a box of Bolt Action is 100% my comfort food. A box of British Commandos or 8th Army is just as good as grandma’s casserole or mom’s Thanksgiving mac and cheese.)

Anyway, I painted some Idoneth Deepkin models this week, and I really loved them. There is one day in the middle where I temporarily didn’t have any Idoneth and painted something else, but that was just to fill time.

Hobby Streak Day One: Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers

My first day off from work and I really needed something new to paint after just coming off of the Akhelian Allopex and I just so happened to have one of the silliest (and neatest) models in the range: Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (buy from Amazon | but from Element Games). I love the whole thing with the Idoneth Deepkin about the ethersea so that they’re able to travel on land with their sharks and their eels and their turtles. And, in the case of Lotan, his octopus. I admit to being very new to the lore of Idoneth, but Lotann keeps track of all of the souls that the Idoneth take. See, the Idoneth Deepkin are raiders, but they’re not after plunder and gold and slaves, but after mortal souls. (This always makes me wonder why they’re allowed to be in the Grand Alliance of Order, but there we go.)

The octopus is not an octopus exactly, but an Ochtar familiar, who helps keep the records and floats beside Lotann, whether Lotann is under the sea or in the ethersea. (I swear I’m going to read more Idoneth lore in the coming weeks.)

He was a little fiddly to paint, even in subassemblies, because the tentacles just kind of go wherever they want to. But it turned out pretty well, and I’m especially pleased with the Ochtar familiar.

You can buy Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers on Amazon here, or on Element Games.

Hobby Streak Day 2: Spartans

I think I wrote two full articles for the website on this day and I just wasn’t feeling up to doing an amazing paint job, so I turned to the tried and true Hail Caesar Spartans. I love the look of these guys, especially when you get them all lined up together forming a shield wall. (Granted, in this shot you can’t see their armor, tunics, skin, weapons, very well.) But that’s the glory of Hail Caesar—none of them look particularly special when they’re just single models, but when you line them all up and all their shields (with excellent, if minimalist decals) look cohesive and are just a ball to paint.

Not my best work, but this is hobby streak, and doing your best work isn’t the point—doing something every single day is what’s important, and I made sure that I did something every single day.

You can buy the Hail Caesar Spartans from Amazon, or Element Games,

Hobby Streak Day Three: Volturnos, High King of the Deep

Okay, so this is the model that took me the better part of three days to complete, but I think he came out looking outstanding. One thing that I’ve tried to do with the Idoneth Deepkin in this army is to have really high color saturation—bright oranges and deep purples and vibrant turquoises. This guy took some doing. Like Lotann, Volturnoss was not easily painted in subassemblies because although he may be part sea horse and part unicorn he’s also part squid, and those three tentacles wind around each other But once he came together he really did come together.

My favorite part of him is the color palette—the orange tentacles with the purple scales, and the orange coming back again in the over-the-top headdress that is fit only for Volturnoss, High King of the Deep.

Although you can’t see it in this photo, there is one annoying gap that needed filling. The cape comes in three parts so that it can be suitably wavy, and hiding the seams between the pieces is a little hard without patience and liquid green stuff. And this is a cape that you want to be completely smooth and clothlike. So, that took some time.

Still, this guy is way up there in my favorites of the year. If I hadn’t already posted my Favorite Wargaming Things of 2021, this might very well make the cut.

You can buy Volturnos, High King of the Deep on Amazon here, or on Element Games.

Hobby Streak Day Four: Akhelian Guard

These are yet another absolute joy to paint. I just love painting creatures, and I especially loved bringing out the subtle striped texture in the sides of the eel skin. I chose one of my favorite color triads from Citadel paints: Thousand Sons Blue, Ahriman Blue, and Temple Guard Blue. It’s a really high-saturation color scheme, combined with the Khorne Red and Wild Rider Red fins.

I am generally a hater of these stupid clear plastic stands that the floating models are on, because they always require superglue instead of plastic glue, and superglue will create either white crust or haze on the clear plastic. This one isn’t so bad, but the second and third models in this set (which I’ll be displaying next week) definitely show that problem. (They’re also a pain to basecoat around, even masking them off.

I have a hard time picturing the Idoneth Deepkin as anything but bad guys, but I’m intrigued enough by this set that I bought the The Court of the Blind King from the Black Library on audiobook and have started listening to it while I paint. I find Age of Sigmar books a little hard to get into, but the writers all seem very good–it’s the setting that’s hard for me to humanize.

Anyway, expect more Akhelian Guard next week.

You can buy the Akhelian Guard on Amazon here, or on Element Games.

Next week we can look forward to the big guy: I got a Christmas bonus from work and I bought the big turtle which will probably take the bulk of the week.

What did you paint this week for hobby streak?