Cathay on Order, New Hobby Bits, and a Box of Metallic Contrasts
We had one of those very relatable hobby-chat moments recently: a bit of tournament salt, a bit of excitement, and then suddenly a fresh wave of purchases.
It started with Michał sharing a league result that was technically a loss, but also very much the kind of result you can still feel good about.
34/36 translated into 108 vs 1012 points in the league standings, which obviously looks brutal on paper. But honestly, as Dubry put it, at this stage of the hobby career, a loss like that is basically a win anyway. And that really is the mood sometimes — not every good result is measured by the final score.
Cathay is happening
The bigger news from the chat was that Michał signed up for Cathay.
Karol asked what he wanted, and the answer was beautifully simple: basically everything they have. That kind of enthusiasm is extremely easy for us to understand.
The list mentioned in the conversation was:
- 1 Chaos Lord on Daemonic Mount
- 1 Chaos Knights unit with 5 models
- 1 Chaos Warriors unit with 10 models
So yes, the chat jumped between armies and systems in the very natural way hobby chats always do, but the important bit is that Cathay is now officially on the horizon. And of course, once the dreaming starts, it escalates immediately: Dubry was already pointing out that a Sky Lantern and Sentinels would be absolutely amazing.
Honestly? Hard to disagree.
The kind of purchase that starts with “I just needed one base…”
There was also a very classic side-quest purchase.
Michał needed a base, because one oval base had already been used for an Abomination, and now the Verminlord needed one too. Simple enough — except the only option available was a set bundled with a transparent flying stand for ships.
Which is, again, peak hobby experience.
You go out for one practical little thing, and come back with a weird extra component that may or may not become useful later. Michał offered it onward in case someone else could use it, which is also very much how these things work in a gaming group: nothing truly goes to waste, it just waits for the right project.
Metallic Contrasts acquired
And then came the part that probably caught our attention the most from a painting perspective: Michał also picked up a set of 10 metallic Contrast paints.
That immediately sparked some curiosity, especially from the angle of how they might work on Kharadron Overlords. Ender mentioned he was really interested in seeing how those metallic Contrasts look on actual models, because KO already have so much metal built into their aesthetic that there’s real potential there.
The idea of combining:
- metallic basecoat
- metallic Contrast
…sounds like exactly the sort of experiment we want to see tested on miniatures rather than just theorised about in chat.
If the finish looks good, it could be a very fun route for KO: fast, shiny, and hopefully with enough depth to make all that armour and machinery pop.
Small purchases, big momentum
This was one of those conversations that reminds us how often hobby momentum comes from tiny things:
- a result that still feels encouraging,
- a new army commitment,
- a practical basing fix,
- a paint set bought partly out of curiosity.
None of that is a giant reveal on its own, but put together it feels like the start of several fun hobby threads at once.
So now we’re waiting for two things:
- how the Cathay plans develop,
- and what those metallic Contrasts actually look like once they hit a model.
Because as always, buying the hobby stuff is only phase one. The real fun starts when we get plastic, paint, and bad ideas onto the desk.