Hello and Welcome back to Hammer the Backlog, the mini painting, productivity and accountability blog. I’ll leave you to guess if this week’s title is related to the minis I’m currently painting, or just something that my mother said to me because I was discussing bodily functions at the dinner table. Again.
SCORECARD
All green this week, the colour of snot and radioactive puss. Lovely. Green is going to be the theme of this quarter, I imagine. With “only” two models painted, let’s justify that 5 points.
I’m counting each of the Plague Marines as two points. With a poxwalker (or a 90s skink!) as 1 point, it would be ridiculous to count the highly detailed, huge plague marines as 1 point each. What is more! I painted the unit champion as being worth 3 points, since he is even more detailed and impressive than the rank and file boys.
So a solid five pointer this week.
NEW TARGETS
So with quarter one’s retro distraction both and big success and out of the way, its back to the annual targets to take a look at what’s next.
The choices were simple:
Dark Imperium painted, photographed and online
One tray of Fantasy High Elves painted, photographed and online
Either High Elves (hi, elves!) or get started on the big, looming project of the year. And since Jim has both started a collection of modern models, and has gone for an Imperial faction, there was really no other choice but
Dark Imperium Death Guard painted, photographed and online.
That means:
| Week | Date | Models |
| 1 | 17/09 | 2 Plague Marines |
| 2 | 24/09 | 2 Plague Marines |
| 3 | 1/10 | 3 Plague Marines |
| 4 | 08/10 | 5 Pox Walkers |
| 5 | 15/10 | 5 Paul Walkers (too soon?) |
| 6 | 22/10 | Blight Drone |
| 7 | 29/10 | 5 Pox Walkers |
| 8 | 05/11 | Lord of Contagion |
| 9 | 12/11 | Plaguecaster and Blightbringer |
| 10 | 19/11 | 3 Plague Marines |
| 11 | 26/11 | Plagueburst Crawler |
| 12 | 03/12 | Plagueburst Crawler |
| 13 | 10/12 | 5 Pox Walkers |
Now, two things. First of all, that is all subject to change. Well, no it’s not. That’s the plan. But the order might change a little around holidays, time and motivation.
Secondly, the eagle eyed amoung you will have noticed that there are a handful of models in there (three extra plague marines and a plagueburst crawler) that aren’t from the Dark Imperium set. These have the lovely triple function of filling out the quarter nicely, bringing the collection up to nearly 1,000 points, and getting even more of the collection painted.
However, if we are being strict, they are not part of the quarterly target. So the second quarterly target is in fact
3 Plague Marines and Plagueburst Crawler painted, photographed and online.
Let’s do the now customary SMART check
Remembering that all of our targets must be SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timebound
Let’s take a look at the targets!
Specific – Deathguard side of Dark Imperium and 4 extra Deathguard models
Measurable – photographed and online
Achievable – 60 Hammer the Backlog Points (History shows I can do 65 in a quarter!)
Relevant – It’s a blog about painting models!
Timebound – by the 10th of December 2026
THIS WEEK’S MODELS
This week’s models are, technically, the champion of the Plague Marines and one of the 3 extra models, coming as he does from the easy build Death Guard (is it Death Guard or Deathguard? I should probably figure that out before I spend 13 weeks annoying people) threesome. I have actually painted this model several times already, including once from Blackstone Fortress.
The Blackstone Fortress one is painted to a slightly higher standard, if not quite as good looking because the colour values are too close together. Sorry, the balues.
Both of these were painted over the existing paint jobs. Heresy, I know, but deathguard are probably the only models where you can get away with that, since details clogged up with rust and dirt make perfect sense, so why not take advantage of that while painting these up to an army standard?
I really am trying to be a little bit more thoughtful and painterly in my choices with these models, rather than just copy the official art. In fact, I’m trying not to look at the box paint jobs as much as I can.
Per example, on the fly, I painted him only with colours I had on my palette at the time. No blue blacks or white wings for him.
I’m not entirely sure how I will be able to maintain this over the upcoming 13 weeks, but it is fun to do an army with a kind of “vision” from the start.
Perhaps the biggest problem with the “vision” is that my photo set ups REALLY don’t work with them. That’s why I’m working on a new base plate and backdrop for photographs that should be set up by next week.
NEW QUARTER, NEW WALLET
Starting a whole new quarter with an intentional palette has been expensive! My poor P&L sheet has taken an absolute hammering!
HAMMER THE FRONTLOG
Jim is back on track with his five Sisters of Silence. The absolute Mad Lad has even done some freehand imperial eagle tattoos on their foreheads. Calm down Jim, leave some of the kudos for the rest of us.
We’re also working on a nice new photography base for Jim. But that will mean he will need to come to La Laboritiore for photos, which he will hate.
Well, that’s it for the start of another quarter, see you next week for some more absolute horrible fellas.
Best of eggs.
Hammer the Backlog 
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