Items will be color coded. Green for completed, Red for in-progress, and Violet for up-and-coming.
Pop open spoilers for details on each project.
Most recent model(s)
Built Junk Force
Workstation
Spoiler:
Obligatory(?) workstation pic. We have an 80 pound dog, 3 cats, my girlfriend and myself in a 750 sq ft apartment, so space is at a premium.
I'm lucky enough to have a couple of the cabinets they use at GW. I keep one in the apartment, and the other is in storage until we eventually move to a place with more room (that we can afford, stupid Toronto). The shelves are a bit of a mess; I will snap a new picture once I reorganize and do some spring cleaning.
Current status: I am working on wrapping up the units from Indomitus. I'm almost done the Skorpekh Destroyers, and after that it's only the Skorpekh Lord, Overlord, and Reanimator left. I'll snap and upload photos hopefully soon. I also pre-ordered Szerakh and 3 Lokhusts, and I'm going to be getting my hands on Wraiths, Ophydian Destroyers, and Hexmarks when they're released too (and probably the Monolith and terrain Pylons for completion when they're pre-ordered) so be prepared for a Necron blitz.
What's in a name? I happened upon the name "Hyksos", a greek term used for the 15th Dynasty of Egyptian rulers colloquially known as the "shepherd kings", and the Egyptological pronunciation "heqa khasut", meaning "rulers of foreign lands". Since you first have to conquer foreign lands before you can rule them, I felt this was very appropriate for the Maynarkh Dynasty and it's conquering ways. I bastardized and merged both the Greek and Egyptian pronunciations and voila!
Thematically, the army is a part of the Maynarkh Dynasty, led by Arch-Cryptek Toholk the Blind and overseen by the Phaerakh herself, Xun'bakar, the Mother of Oblivion. Toholk has been tasked with creating new and more powerful constructs with which the Dynasty can pursue it's mission to exterminate all life, and to oversee this R&D process, Xun'bakar oversees to ensure Toholk's loyalty and witness first-hand the efficacy of his warmachines. (It's funny because reading up on the Hyksos, they were known to have brought many technical innovations to Egypt, so there's another parallel being drawn here as well!)
The army is thus a test-bed for these new constructs, and will feature a lot of heavy conversions and counts-as almost across the board, shifting away from the skimmer/repulsor tech of Games Workshop's original designs, and leaning more on the biped walker motif.
Throwback to my Lamenters from 2010, and built for a super-soft narrative event (the army may slow-grow into something more as time progresses). I'm aiming to get this army done by mid September so expect quick work on this.
This will be where I showcase one-offs and models/projects that aren't for any specific games. Most of these are usually for funsies and how I take breaks during army projects to keep my sanity.
Apparently DDakka appended this post automatically. So what I'm going to do is edit and move the bottom to a new post after someone replies, just so my OCD brain can keep this first post clean.
I started this army years ago at the tail end of 5th Edition, and built it around the idea of these giant bipedal walkers that replaced my Annihilation Barges:
I am essentially re-purposing this army, repainting and modifying what I can, and building up new where required. A couple of my old walkers will be converted into Doomsday Arks, because Doomsday Guns are the tits. Can I say that? I don't know, but I've said it.
You know what else is fantastic in the new book? Destroyers. But GW Destroyers look like pure, unadulterated garbage. You know what doesn't? Miniature walkers.
Boom. This is the love-child of a Wraith and a Tomb Blade. I've got six of these bad boys in painting progress, so more photos of that later. But for now, you get this teaser.
I've got Warriors, and you know what Warriors can't leave home without? Their rowboat. But I've already got lots of walkers in my army, so you know what I'll do instead of a rowboat?
Make a bigger walker.
And here's me laying down some robotic hatred on some Girly-men.
You'll probably note that my army is not orange. It's white. Why is that? Probably because I'm an idiot who isn't able to replicate the original color scheme. I've made it a habit now to record color mixes for every army project I do now, just so future me won't look back and curse the day past me was born.
Project teased. Stay tuned for more.
The above was appended to the first post; I've moved it to keep the original post neater.
Finally done the 6 Destroyers. All the fiddly bits took longer than I hoped they would, plus life got in the way. But there they are.
Thanks for the kind words! The fluff behind this army is that it's supposed to be the Maynarkh Dynasty, led by Arch-Cryptek Toholk the Blind and Xun'Bakar, Mother of Oblivion. Toholk is a master-artificer, responsible for a lot of the existing constructs used by the Necrons, and I want to convert up a large portion of my army to represent all the various constructs and designs that are basically in the "R&D" phase before implementation across the Empire.
Of course, I wasn't a huge fan of the generic color scheme "suggested" by Forgeworld, so I've adapted my own (with a tendency to use the Nihilakh Dynastic Code; the "Reclaim a Lost Empire" stratagem is very appropriate to the Maynarkh's war-like MO).
In progress, the Tomb Sentinel, one of Toholk's designs:
Wow, so glad I came across this log. Really love those destroyer walkers, much better than the GW versions.
Nice to see the Tomb Sentinel too - I’ve been thinking of getting a Sentinel or Stalker for my Mechanicum. On a scale of 1 to “this is going out of the window” how difficult and fiddly was it to put together?
rivers3162 wrote: Wow, so glad I came across this log. Really love those destroyer walkers, much better than the GW versions.
Nice to see the Tomb Sentinel too - I’ve been thinking of getting a Sentinel or Stalker for my Mechanicum. On a scale of 1 to “this is going out of the window” how difficult and fiddly was it to put together?
Thanks! Yea I'm not terribly satisfied with the design aesthetic of a lot of the Necron range at all; this way I get to tick off conversion criteria at events AND have something resembling design consistency across the board!
The Tomb Sentinel I'd rate a 5? It's actually not terribly difficult to put together, as long as you pre-fit everything together so you know how you want it to be posed (blue tac is your friend!), and then pin every torso piece for stability. From there, I did the two legs at the back, two legs in the middle, and two legs at the front (or in this case, the last pair of legs in the front that contact the ground), and then you can plug in the rest. Accelerant and squeeze-to-open tweezers made this step relatively easy (although I think I should've splayed out the legs a little more), and I positioned the legs so that they moved in twos (like a real centipede, look it up!) It's just a tiresome little kit to put together. It ended up taking something like 4 or so hours after I'd cleaned and pinned all the pieces?
Here is the completed Arch-Cryptek Toholk:
I apologize if I'm moving less at a WIP blog-like speed, and more "here are more finished models" speed. The infantry are relatively quick to paint up, so WIP shots would be far and few in between. I promise I'll have more WIPs to post of the vehicles.
Pretty much all by hand (even basecoats). I use the airbrush at about the 2/3'rds mark after I've blocked in the majority of my lights and shadows to just touch up some of the blends, before going back in with a sponge (for the battle damage) and brush (highlights, cabling, etc.)
This is an adaption of a method taught to me by Sergio Calvo; it's much easier on large scale models, harder on the smaller 28mm models.
If you're interested, I'll try to capture the process (at least briefly).
Wow dude, this is a stunner of an army. I'm also pretty sure I've seen your original 'Cron walkers somewhere on the internets, and this new stuff is even more impressive (that destroyer unit ) Will happily be lurking as you crush out proper eevil robots.
Primed Destroyer Lord. This will be my Phaerarkh Xun'bakar. I was inspired by a conversion I saw on Pinterest, but I modified it a bit based on parts I had on hand, plus a more feminine face .
Started blocking in the black highlights on my Ghost Ark.
Love your work. I normally couldn't care less about Necrons because I find them all-around cartoonish, but your walker mechanisms actually look alien and threatening (and are painted amazingly well). Please keep posting your progress.
Thanks for the kind words! I had a lot of fun converting the army and trying to figure out how to create each unit while maintaining a strong coherent design.
rivers3162 wrote: Just when I thought this couldn’t get any better, I saw the Adeptus Titanicus stuff!
Really like the destroyer lord too, it looks like a real deity.
Yea! I got a little carried away with the size of it, but when your Phaerarkh has the title "Mother of Oblivion", you really need something suitable to earn that moniker!
I played a practice game last night against a Mechanicum counts-as Death Guard army. It was a wacky "Defend the Farm" scenario with forced staggered Reserves (that show up on random table edges depending on the roll), hence why units are sort of all over the place (like the Ghost Ark that's nowhere near the warriors).
The army is really starting to come together, and looks great on the field!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Finally put the finishing touches on my infantry: highlights on the black, and the weapon cablings.
Was out of town for the weekend and didn't get as much painting done as I had hoped.
Still, hoping to have this guy done by the weekend. Lots to do, lots of fiddly little parts. The white/bone on the body is blocked out. Starting to basecoat for the white/bone on the torso.
It's a helluva build Love how tall it is, such a happy departure from the weird Phantom Menace-style droid delivery truck. Paint continues to bring that extra layer of cool to your designs - also impressed with your basing, really stands out in the progress shots for this guy.
Boss Salvage wrote: It's a helluva build Love how tall it is, such a happy departure from the weird Phantom Menace-style droid delivery truck. Paint continues to bring that extra layer of cool to your designs - also impressed with your basing, really stands out in the progress shots for this guy.
- Salvage
Hah! I'd never even thought about the droid trucks until you mentioned it (I just pretend those films don't exist!) Now I can't not see that when I look at the original model...
Was feeling under the weather this weekend, so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Here's the progress on the Destroyer Lord: Probably another day or two of work to finish her.
p5freak wrote: Cool Isnt it quite expensive to make those custom models ?
...yes... yes it is.
For certain pieces, it's definitely easier to buy the bits off e-bay rather than the entire kit, but all-told, there is a significant price tag attached to these conversions.
Cheers! The conversions are definitely a lot of fun for me, although I recently tabulated how much it cost for my 2 DDAs and Ghost Ark, and let's just say I'm not exactly itching to make more eat the moment!
I haven't had much time to work on more for my Necrons as of late (at present, I have about 50 Scarabs to paint for basing, and a display board to finish by September 28th). We had our local Sword & Board event this weekend and /shameless plug/ it's essentially a 2-day convention that we are trying to grow.
Sword & Brush is basically a yearly painting contest run here in Toronto that acts as both a showcase of local (and hopefully international eventually) talent that also functions as a Crystal Brush qualifier. Gold/Silver/Bronze/Certificates are awarded for models that are scored against a competition standard, not podium, so a category can have multiple Golds, Silvers, Bronzes, and Certificates.
I am one of the organisers and judges for this event and the tournaments/games that are also run for the weekend, so I figured I'd submit a few entries for fun. Preface, I did not judge my own entries (we had a panel of 6 judges, including myself, that we were able to rotate around so that the judges could submit entries without issue for judging).
I won Bronze for my Tomb Sentinel, which after speaking with the judges (more so they came to speak with me lol), the bland basing cost me the Silver (which is why moar Scarabs are required!!)
Spoiler:
I entered my Yu Jing Imperial Service into Sci-fi/Fantasy unit, which won a Gold and also won the Best Infinity trophy.
I entered my Gaius Julius Caesar bust into Historical, which also won a gold (and came close to winning Best Historical).
Spoiler:
And lastely, I entered my Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the XIII Legion into Sci-fi/Fantasy, which won a Gold and won the Best Wargaming Model trophy as well.
Spoiler:
On a gaming note, I was the ringer for our 40k ITC event on Sunday, and I have to say, Tomb Blades are phenomenal! I need to add some to my army!
Thanks! I should preface that Gold doesn't mean I was the best in the category! I believe Sci-fi/Fantasy had 3 Golds out of about 40 entries.
Sword & Brush is a non-podium event, meaning that entrants are scored against a rubric, and depending on the score are awarded a Gold, Silver, Bronze, Certificate, or Nothing. Multiple Golds can and are usually awarded in each category!
The only unique trophies I won were Best Wargaming and Best Infinity.
The army is finito! I will have to steal my girlfriend's camera and get some good lighting within the next week or two to properly photograph all the units.
I painted up 51 Scarabs (it felt like a lot...but it honestly didn't even come close...i feel like 2x the amount would've been appropriate but I don't have that many lying around) to add to the bigger bases and try and get a bit of a swarm feel around my walkers.
Also started my display board! I have one of the glass GW cabinets and the intention is for the board to function as an extra shelf in the case, hence it's size (17"x22").
I've underlaid metallic sheets which I've textured over so that the magnets on the bases have something to grip on to. I can manage about a 45 degree tilt before the bigger stuff will start sliding off the rock/gravel area, but for moving around from table to table at events, I can be a little more secure in case jostling occurs.
My board is done, and the event is this weekend, so I'll get some good photos of everything together at the weekend (also because I just lack good studio style lighting in my apartment).
Which means for now, my Necron army is completely finito, and it's time to move on to another project.
Starting my first Warlord Titan, which will belong to the Traitor Titan Legion Xestobiax. Currently unnamed.
Predominantely purple and white color scheme; the trim will be a burnished/cold gold color, and the white will have some freehand in probably a medium/yellow ochre color. I am doing winter bases, so the entire palette is going to be very cool in color.
So Astronomi-con was this weekend, and man was it a blast! Catching up with people I haven't seen in years, with a LOT of cool looking armies and fantastic tables. I took photos of each scenario and enough for a turn-by-turn, but unfortunately was very under the weather the entire time so I forgot to take photos of tables, armies, and army lists (because I'm an idiot and I just kept spacing out).
This will be a very photo intensive post, so I've organized each game into spoilers.
The Event
Spoiler:
Astronomi-con is an event run by two guys out in Winnipeg twice each year, once in Winnipeg and once in Toronto. This will be I think their 15th or 16th year running now, so they've built up quite a community of people who regularly attend. The narrative has always driven the tournament, and you see it in the army compositions they've implemented in the past (scoring comp negatives based on what units you had in your army, for example), no Lords of War, and 20 unique tables with unique scenarios, guaranteeing that everyone had a unique experience.
The aim is non-competitive play, in the sense that you're not out to beat the snot out of your opponent. And you see it in the scoring. With the advent of 8th Edition, they rebranded their event as a Narrative event, eliminating Tournament from the title. The scoring is also very reflective of the intention: you can earn a total of 125 points over the course of the weekend (25 for each game), broken down as follows:
5 Battle Points (5 for a win, 3 for a draw, 1 for a loss) 5 Narrative Points (you earn these by achieving specific Narrative objectives based on the scenario, regardless of whether you win or lose) 5 Army Sportsmanship Points (basically, how Narrative and fluffy and friendly is your army) 5 Player Sportsmanship Points (how friendly and gentlemanlike you are) 5 Army Appearance Points (rubric for judging appearance).
The players are then divided into factions based on their army faction and Warlord. In this event, it was as follows:
Adeptus Astartes (all the Space Marines) Imperium (Custodes, Mechanicum, Dark Angels, Grey Knights, and Astra Militarum; for the Narrative, each of these factions are here with their own agenda) Xenos Minima (Aeldari, Druhkari, Tau; any faction that might ally with the Imperium) Xenos Ultima (Necrons, Orks, Tyranids; any faction that would never ally with the Imperium) Chaos (Chaos Astartes, Daemons)
There is only 1 Best Overall award for each faction, determined by your cumulative score at the end of the weekend.
Essentially, Battle Scores only contributed to 20% of your weekend score, with the focus on Narrative, Appearance, and Sportsmanship. This meant that most people were here with fun wacky armies looking for a good time. I say most, because there will always be a couple of try-hards (one Necron player in particular brought a zero-fun army that nobody enjoyed playing against), but overall a good time was had.
Plus, beer-hammer is the best kind of hammer!
The Narrative
Spoiler:
Astronomi-con Toronto 2018 - Narrative Event Introduction:
Eos Agrippina. Once a small subsector in the Ultima Segmentum. Barely a blip on the map of the Imperium.
No longer.
Cut off and ravaged by the Cicatrix Maledictum, Eos Agrippina is now the front line. Coreward, the subsector is cut by the edge of the great rift, dozens of prosperous worlds, swallowed up in the tear across space. Their populations unheard from. Lost in the doom of the warp bled into realspace. But even in death and despair, some of those worlds may hold promise. For there is one system, one major world which sits in the narrowest gap of the Maledictum. A tiny hole in hellspace where, sometimes, ships can get through. Where the Imperium can sometimes reach the Imperium Nihilus.
That system is Quadrime. Quadrime II is the one habitable body insystem. Once an unimportant agriworld, it is now one of the galaxy’s few chances for a future where the laws of physics still hold sway. Whoever holds Quadrime II holds the keys to unlock a route between the Imperium and the Nihilus.
That world is my home, and I, once an unimportant rembrancer and reporter, am tasked to tell the tales of the battles for Quadrime II. I am Adept Herelor and what follows is the tale of some of the battles for the Quadrime system.
My army
Spoiler:
I've been toiling away for 2 months on my Necrons, and it was definitely worth it. My army grabbed everyone's attention (as intended) and I got called all manner of hilarious names and titles for how intensely ridiculous I am with my projects (but all in good fun!)
There were a handful of units that were basically must-haves (IMO): I knew going in that full unit of Destroyers and 2 Doomsday Arks were always going to be in my list because without them, I had no heavy firepower. I chose a Destroyer Lord built to be an absolute tank as my Warlord because it's hilarious just belligerently pushing her into enemy Warlords to head-hunt (it had always been a Narrative objective in previous events, so I wanted to have a Warlord equipped for it).
The visuals of a Necron army for me isn't complete without at least a block of Warriors, so I took a full unit of 20 backed up by a Cryptek and Ghost Ark for maximum durability. This was going to be the anchor of my army, so I wanted to make sure they weren't going anywhere.
I took 2 units of 5 Immortals to fill out my Troops in a Battalion; I had painted 10 up with Gauss, and was set to do another 10 with Tesla, but decided that I wanted a Tomb Sentinel instead because it's Phased Tunnelling bypasses a lot of the wacky scenario forced Reserves, giving me a distraction carnifex that I could reliably throw into the backfield and distract my opponents with (plus really great for table quarters grabbing!)
I finished off my list with a unit of 3 Scarabs. They're very efficient for their cost, and their speed would allow me to grab distant objectives and just be a general nuisance. They're also great as Deep Strike deterrents, allowing me to protect areas I don't want enemy units to land.
And there it is! The magnetization of the board worked very well, and I never felt nervous moving from table to table. I definitely need to refine how I do this for the future!
Day 1, Game 1 - The Scenario and my Opponent
Spoiler:
My Game 1 opponent was my friend Keir, whom I had met at the Sword & Brush event last month. As the ringer, I actually played him in his fourth game, with basically identically armies, so this was a rematch for both of us! Granted with only 90 Power vs 2000 points, both of our armies had been reduced in size a bit.
His army list (more or less):
Astra Militarum Battalion (Cadian regiment)
Commander (Warlord, Grand Strategist) Psyker (Smite, one other power?) 10 Guardsmen, Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter 10 Guardsmen, Plasmagun, Lascannon 10 Guardsmen, Plasmagun, Lascannon 10 Guardsmen, Plasmagun, Lascannon 10 Guardsmen, Plasmagun, Lascannon Heavy Mortar artillery Heavy Mortar artillery Basilisk artillery emplacement
Ultramarines Detachment Librarian (Smite, Might of the Ancients) Leviathan, Stormcannon ,Grav Flux Bombard Leviathan, Stormcannon ,Grav Flux Bombard Quad-Mortar Quad-Mortar
I'm not 100% how it's all organized, but that's more or less it. It's got a lot of bodies, a lot of artillery fire, and those two Leviathans are a pain in the ass to deal with. Keir's a great guy though, and the game was a lot of fun, so honestly I didn't mind it at all.
Basically capture as many crystals as you can by the end of the game, and you get bonus points for quarters, sitting atop mesas, using a Narrative stratagem, and having your Warlord holding a crystal at the end of the game.
Day 1, Game 1 - The Game
Spoiler:
The crystal objectives placed and our armies deployed. My Tomb Sentinel was entering via Phase Tunneling, and my opponent's Scions would Aerial Drop in. I had finished deploying first and had won the roll for First Turn. My opponent failed to seize.
I move my army to envelop as much of the top quarter as I could. The majority of the crystal objectives are here, so I wanted to bubble-deny his Scions and prevent him from sniping any objectives via Deep Strike. My Warlord advanced into contact with the Crystal and spent 3 CP for the 'A Chip Off the Old Block" stratagem. I had decided right from the start that my focus would be on achieving as many of the Narrative objectives as I could, and winning would be secondary.
I popped the Exterminator Protocols strat and shot my Destroyers and both Doomsday Arks into the front Leviathan, but a combination of amazing invulnerable saves and poor damage rolls left it standing with 4 Wounds remaining. My Ghost Ark put out a few shots and killed 3 Guardsmen.
My opponent advanced a bit up, but mostly castled where he was. I had been too aggressive with with my Ghost Ark, and my opponent removed it with the Leviathans, while his artillery bombarded my infantry, removing a handful of Warriors and Immortals.
I don't have a photo of the inbetween, but essentially, I continued my advance, and in my turn poured all my firepower into his two Leviathans, removing them both from the field. In return, he landed his Scions in front of my lines and poured everything into my Destroyers, removing them from the board. It was a costly trade, but I felt it was worth it; the Leviathans were too big of a threat to my army and I needed to remove them ASAP.
I advance my warriors up, and reposition my Doomsday Arks to get line of sight on his artillery. My Immortals and Warriors remove all his Scions, while my Doomsday Arks remove one of the Heavy Mortars. I have my Tomb Sentinel enter play on the bottom right to threaten the flank, and force his two infantry squads to respond to the threat. They succeed in killing it, but ultimately it is successful in distracting them and buying me a turn to advance with my Warlord.
My opponent's firepower and options are severely limited at this point; his mortars plink wounds off my infantry squads, but Reanimation keeps them alive. He begins his advance into my squads and I veil my Warriors and Cryptek to the bottom flank, removing most of the infantry and securing that quarter (and mesas!) for narrative points.
His Librarian meets me in the middle and engages my Warlord, tying him down.
The board-state at the end of turn 5. He ordered all the remains of his squads to run run run, and double move plus double run (almost all 5's and 6's across the board) pushed him to control 5 crystals to my 4. He rolls a 1 and the game ends, resulting on a loss for the Primary objective (curse you, dice!). I had managed to achieve 4 out of the 5 narrative objectives, however, drawing objective C, since we both had units in 3 table quarters.
A great game; I made a few mistakes in positioning and my opponent definitely punished me for my aggression, and I failed to account for the potential of a game end on turn 5 (he had control of zero crystals at the end of turn 4), but that's on me. He played a great game, and I'm happy with the outcome.
Battle Points: 1 Narrative Points: 4
Day 1, Game 2 - The Scenario and my Opponent
Spoiler:
My Game 2 opponent was Jason, a complete stranger but an absolute gentleman. We both took one look at the scenario and laughed, because it involved killing a Datasmith in combat (he's all tanks) and then holding the relic, which he accepted would never happen! But he had a lot of firepower, and his basic plan was to prevent me (as much as possible) from achieving the primary as well.
His army list:
Tank Commander (Battlecannon, Lascannons, Multi-Melta) Techmarine Psyker (Psychic Maelstrom, Nightshroud?) Leman Russ Punisher (all the Dakka) Leman Russ Punisher (yet more Dakka) Leman Russ Executioner (all the Plasma) Leman Russ Executioner (also all the Plasma) Manticore Manticore Deathstrike 3 Basilisk Emplacements
Basically, kill the robots, fight and kill the Datasmith, and then recover the data off his corpse/guard it before he can flee the field. Narrative points for killing the robots, having the Warlord kill a robot, kill the Datasmith, have a unit within 3" of the Datasmith exit point, and (apparently) have one of the robots kill your own units.
Day 1, Game 2 - The Game
Spoiler:
Our armies deployed (my Sentinel is in reserve); the Datasmith's exit point was randomly generated as the bottom left corner. My opponent won the roll for first turn, and I failed to seize. The Datasmith and his robots take their turn and slowly move to the exit point, firing at us and killing 2 of my 3 scarabs, but doing no damage to the Leman Russes.
My opponent opens fire and removes a Robot, while he bombards my army, killing a bunch of Destroyers and Warriors, who would promptly reanimate. He repositions his tanks aggressively to box me in, Punishers in front, Executioners behind.
In return, I move up and my Destroyers kill 2 of the robots, while my lone Scarab charges a robot with double fists, promptly dying in the assault. Hurray, narrative! My Doomsday Arks put shots into a Manticore and a Punisher, taking them both to half damage but finishing neither off.
My opponent pours a lot of firepower into one of my Doomsday Arks, but a combination of Quantum Shielding and poor damage rolls means it survives with 3 wounds. In return, my Destroyers and Doomsday Arks open up, removing both Punishers and an Executioner for his troubles.
I missed the in-between shot of this, so I apologize. Basically, my opponent fired his Deathstrike, dealing some damage but failing to eliminate any units (my Cryptek came close, taken down to 1 wound). His artillery and commander removed a Doomsday Ark and my Ghost Ark, and killed the last robot, denying my Warlord the chance to claim a narrative point.
I advance up and kill his Tank Commander with my Destroyers, while my Doomsday Ark lands a spectacular 6 shots on his Executioner (all hits and wounds) and inflicts 24 damage, blowing it sky high. My Tomb Sentinel arrives on the left flank and manages a lucky charge, tying up his Manticores for a turn and preventing him from firing them at me. He flees and his Basilisks fire on the Sentinel, removing it. Once again, the Sentinel pulls his weight and proves successful in distracting and drawing fire.
I use my veil to teleport my Cryptek and Warriors to the left flank to box in my opponent, and my Warlord charges into the Datasmith, killing him and claiming the Relic.
At this point it's purely mop-up. My Immortals spend the entire game literally advancing across the field and achieving nothing, while my Destroyers do their name justice and do work, finishing off the Deathstrike hull, the Manticores, and 2 of the 3 Basilisks.
The board-state at the end of the game. I have achieved the Primary objective, and scored 4 out of the 5 Narrative objectives.
His artillery and firepower was brutal, but he failed to achieve any lasting damage on my Destroyers and Warriors, and by the time I got to the Datasmith and killed him, the game was essentially over. My opponent was a gentleman and played through so we could score narrative points; definitely one of my best games of the weekend.
Battle Points: 5 Narrative Points: 4
Day 1, Game 3 - The Scenario and my Opponent
Spoiler:
My Game 3 opponent was Adrian, who was bringing his classic Space Wolves which he has been collecting since 1998! Really great guy (he provided 8 of the 20 tables at this event), but I felt a little bad because his army was just so underpowered. I had played this scenario in play-testing and knew my army did better as the Attacker, so since I had won the roll off for deployment, chose to be the Attacker before I had seen his list. I did my best to be gentle, but my army did what it does. In hindsight and had I seen his list before the roll-off, I would have chosen to be the Defender and let him Attack.
His army list:
Wolf Lord (Warlord) Wolf Lord (Jump Pack, Hammer) Wolf Priest 7 Skyclaws 6 Grey Hunters, Melta, Pack Leader with Fist 6 Grey Hunters, Melta, Pack Leader with Fist 6 Grey Hunters, Melta, Pack Leader with Fist 7 Skyclaws, 2 Plasma Pistols, Pack Leader with Fist and Plasma Pistol 7 Long Fangs, 3 Missiles, 2 Lascannons, Pack Leader in Terminator Armor with Storm Shield and Cyclone Missiles Rhino, 2 Storm Bolters, Hunter Killer Missile Rhino, 2 Storm Bolters, Hunter Killer Missile Rhino, 2 Storm Bolters, Hunter Killer Missile Venerable Dreadnought, Multi-Melta, Fist Venerable Dreadnought, Lascannon, Fist Dreadnought, Lascannon, Autocannon
Wacky attack and defend scenario, where all the non-infantry are in staggered, random reserves, and the Attacker is guaranteed first turn. Narrative points for getting into his Deployment zone, controlling quarters, and having my Warlord headhunt a character in combat.
Day 1, Game 3 - The Game
Spoiler:
My opponent deployed his Long Fangs and two Grey Hunter squads. I deployed all my infantry and kept my Sentinel, as always, in Tunnel reserve. I took advantage of the scenario to sneak up to get my Warriors and Immortals a bit closer (I rolled so many 1's and 2's for movement) in the hopes of playing up the narrative of the scenario, and letting him trigger the alarm to at least get off a free round of shooting before the game began. He managed to knock down 2 Destroyers and a handful of Warriors, but I reanimated most of the damage.
My Destroyers remove one Grey Hunters squad, while my Warriors weaken the other (half-strength). My Ghost Ark and one Doomsday Ark arrives behind me.
I continue my advance, removing the majority of his Long Fangs and the Grey Hunters squad. He has a Dreadnought arrive on his right flank, which opens up and removes a few Destroyers. His reserve rolls were consistently atrocious, denying him much of his firepower for the early phase of the game (which basically gave him zero fighting chance). My Scarabs arrive on the left flank and tie up his Dreadnought.
I continue my advance into his deployment zone, where my Destroyers and Destroyer Lord aggressively push into a Grey Hunters squad and Wolf Lord who have just arrived from reserve. I want that narrative point, and I also wanted my opponent to have fun fighting me in combat. He has a second Venerable arrive on his right flank but Quantum Shielding ensure that his weapons do no damage to my vehicles. He finishes off the Scarabs in combat, freeing up his Mortis Dreadnought.
The brawl goes on forever because my opponent makes 4+ saves like a boss, while my Destroyer Lord's Phase Shifter and trait (Enduring Will) keep him alive fight after fight. The Nanoscarab Casket ensures that whatever damage is done is healed up. My opponent engages my Ghost Ark in combat and kills it with a combination if firepower from his Mortis and fists from his Venerable.
My opponent finally manages to charge in his second Wolf Lord, a Venerable, and his Wolf Priest into combat with my Destroyer Lord, tearing her down. Unfortunately, her Casket activates and her broken body reforms, restoring her to full health (he was not happy about that!). I disengage my Destroyers to kill off a few of the characters in shooting, while my Tomb Sentinel arrives and helps my Doomsday Arks finish off the other Dreadnoughts.
I charge my Warlord in on the side, keeping in his deployment zone for the narrative points (and I really want to kill that character!). I shoot my Destroyers into the last Dreadnought and kill it (gak), but my opponent in the ultimate bit of cheek, uses a command point to reroll the explosion, inflicting enough mortal wounds to kill his Wolf Lord and denying my Warlord the kill (and the narrative point!) The dastard!
I finish off the rest of his Rhinos and claim supremacy over the field, having taken the farm.
A great game, and my opponents army was super classic and crisp. It was a blast from the past, seeing so many old models and cool conversions in his force, and we spent a lot of our time during the game (and after) talking about the hobby, terrain, and just life in general (he's a designer, I'm an artist/illustrator, so we had a lot in common to talk about).
Battle Points: 5 Narrative Points: 4
Day 2, Game 4 - The Scenario and my Opponent
Spoiler:
My 4th Game was against Dave and his Deathwatch army. I have very little experience against them, but I know in essence they're very expensive marines with a lot of fancy gear and tactics.
His army list:
Watch Master Librarian (Smite, Might of the Ancients) 3 Bikers 8 Intercessors, 1 Aggressor, mix of Plasma and Frag Cannon weaponry? 8 Deathwatch Marines, mix of Plasma and Frag Cannon weaponry? 5 Terminators, Cyclone, Assault Cannon 6 Deathwatch Marines, mix of Combat Weapons, Meltagun, Plasma Corvus Blackstar, Lascannons, Missiles, Hurricane Bolters Venerable Dreadnought, Lascannon, Fist
Probably my least favorite scenario; poorly designed, and stacked heavily in favor of the Attacker. My opponent informed me that (I suppose, based on the previous day's battle scores and narrative?) that he was the Defender, and that I would be the Attacker. I felt really bad about this game because my opponent stood zero chance, but he played like a champ, super chipper and a plucky attitude.
Day 2, Game 4, The Game
Spoiler:
He deploys his Intercessors on the left, a kill team plus Captain in the bunker, and the Dreadnought on the right behind the ruins. I deploy everything and put the Sentinel in Tunnel reserves.
I move up and shoot my Destroyers into his Dreadnought, killing it for first blood (one of the narrative objectives). The rest of my army focuses entirely on the bunker, but poor shots and damage rolls from my Doomsday Arks only manage to do 7 wounds to it. My opponent shoots into my Warriors and Destroyers, inflicting some damage but ultimately Reanimation brings them all back. I'm advancing my Scarabs up the right flank to just be a nuisance.
My Doomsday Arks shoot and kill the bunker in my second turn, and my opponent emergency disembarks his units to the right, bringing his bikes in from reserve. Again, his firepower inflicts some damage here and there, but Reanimation basically negates it all. It's going to be the consistent pattern this game; a unit arrives, does a little damage, and then I Reanimate the slain models. It's just me grinding his army down while his units struggle to deal with the mass of Necrons marching up the center.
I bring the Sentinel down in the middle, and remove the Intercessors and most of the marines accompanying the captain by the bunker. I'm selective with my Immortals, being careful to only remove 2 of the 3 Deathwatch bikers. I charge my Scarabs in and play the stratagem to explode 1, inflicting 2 mortal wounds to the remaining biker, killing it and scoring a narrative point.
My opponent brings his Terminators, Corvus, and remaining kill team, moving to engage the Doomsday Arks in my back line in an attempt to at least do something to my army. Not sure if that's what the right choice was, but honestly if I was in his shoes, I wouldn't quite know what to engage either.
He manages to inflict some damage and charges in, but my Quantum Shields negate the majority of the damage, leaving my Doomsday Arks relatively healthy.
I disengage my Doomsday Arks and pour firepower into his units in my backline, while my Warlord engages his Watch Master in combat. I start advancing my army to get into his deployment zone for the primary objective.
His terminators use the beacon to teleport back to his lines and remove an Immortals squad, while his Corvus turns around and takes down my Sentinel in a blaze of firepower. He was happy he did at least something to my army, and to be fair, I was too. This game was a methodical stomping, and I would've hated to end the game with my army intact.
My Warlord finishes off his Captain in combat, and I consolidate my position, eliminating his remaining models and securing the field. I secure all narrative objectives as well for full points.
Battle Points: 5 Narrative Points: 5
Day 2, Game 5 - The Scenario and my Opponent
Spoiler:
I ended up facing my friend Brad, who brought his Raptors Dread list. We had played many scenarios in play-testing and knew both our armies inside out. This game took no time at all; we were done in the first 30 minutes and left plenty of time to drink and socialize.
His army list:
Lias Issadon Jump Pack Smash Captain Jump Pack Librarian (Smite, Might of the Ancients) Techmarine with Conversion Beamer Leviathan, 2 Storm Cannons, Missiles Mortis Contemptor, 2 Lascannons, Missile Mortis Contemptor, 2 Kheres Assault Cannons, Missiles Chaplain Dreadnought 5 Marines, Plasma, Flakk Missile 5 Marines, Plasma, Heavy Bolter 5 Intercessors
This scenario was stupid simple; push into the enemy deployment zone, prevent your opponent from doing the same.
Day 2, Game 5 - The Game
Spoiler:
My opponent deploys his Dreadnoughts in a block in the middle, while I deploy on the flank. I win the roll for first turn and pour everything into his Leviathan, but low damage rolls and a lot of good saves left it with 2 wounds.
He returns fire and removes my Destroyers and 5 Immortals. Just like in every practice game we've had.
Rapid-firing Warriors finish off his Leviathan, while my Ark and Destroyer Lord remove his Intercessors. My Doomsday arks remove his Lascannon Mortis and severely weaken his Kheres Mortis. My remaining Immortals charge it to lock it in combat and prevent it from shooting. I bring in my Tomb Sentinel to plink some wounds off his Chaplain Dreadnought, but fail to charge it. His Chaplain turns around and evaporates my Sentinel with his Lascannons.
His Librarian and Smash Captain land behind me and manage to Smite and charge my Cryptek, killing him, but I play Resurrection Protocols to bring him back to life. I veil the Cryptek and Warriors 9" away and rapid-fire his Captain to death, while my Doomsday Arks kill off his Chaplain Dreadnought. My Destroyer Lord charges Lias Issadon and kills him in combat.
My opponent calls the game, as i only need to kill his Librarian and 2 Honor Guard for essentially full narrative points and I have 2 more turns to do so.
Battle Points: 5 Narrative Points: 5
Event Recap
Spoiler:
The Imperium were pushed back by the traitors and xenos, having done the poorest out of all the factions.
I won Best in Faction for Xenos Ultima and scored a neat plaque which I totally forgot to photograph.
The organisers just posted this little floof piece:
Overall, of each of the factions, the one which scored the highest (on average) was the Xenos Ultima group, led by the Necrons. As such, here is Adept Herelor's final message from Quadrime...
They had always told us to fear the Xenos.
They did not tell us often enough. Or say it strongly enough.
How this happened I do not know. Were the humans and traitors exhausted from making war upon one another? Were the forces of the Emperor simply not strong enough? There is no peace with these creatures. No negotiation. They destroy the world rather than hold it. The skies are black with pollution and war and monsters stalk the forests. No one, not man, not woman, not child is safe.
There is nothing but slaughter and our best hope is to die quickly. Emperor save us all.
Once again, beautiful army. Also seeing them on a table really helps sell them as xenos as I’m sure some opponents said what is that unit and what does it do? Which is how all dumb loyalists should be about any xenos species as they are told little about their enemies.
I kept meaning to congratulate you on the finished army, it's deliciously unique and pushes the 'Crons into cooler eevil robot territory than GW has dared to. And a big thanks for the tournament report, that was an unexpected treat!
Theophony wrote:Once again, beautiful army. Also seeing them on a table really helps sell them as xenos as I’m sure some opponents said what is that unit and what does it do? Which is how all dumb loyalists should be about any xenos species as they are told little about their enemies.
Oh yea, I played a couple of people on the weekend that had no idea what Necrons did, so it was a bit of a double whammy! I had one guy who was absolutely terrified of the Ghost Ark because it was the biggest thing on the board, but I was like...naw bro...it's these Doomsday Arks and Destroyers you gotta watch out for!
Boss Salvage wrote:I kept meaning to congratulate you on the finished army, it's deliciously unique and pushes the 'Crons into cooler eevil robot territory than GW has dared to. And a big thanks for the tournament report, that was an unexpected treat!
- Salvage
Thank you! Yea it definitely drew a lot of attention and people were amazed that it was done entirely with stock GW parts. There were a lot of "what the heck is that?" moments for sure!
Setting aside my Necrons and 40k for the time being while I start work on my next army. I want to get my Nighthaunt at least built so I can start practicing games while I slowly paint them up for Adepticon (I'll be bouncing around different projects for the next few months)
Bit of a bigger update; I've been a bit busy with school mid-terms/presentations, so not a lot of time to update. But a lot of time spent hobbying!
Been playing a lot of Adeptus Titanicus, so I've been busy getting my models done for that:
First completed Warlord (I have one more to finish):
Squadron of two Warhound Titans (I am building towards the Axiom maniple):
And my completed Questoris Support Banner:
All my Titans (Warlords, Reavers, and Warhounds) have magnetized arms and carapace weapons, so if/when GW/FW releases weapon upgrade packs, they can be swapped out as needed.
Theophony wrote: That purple is just beautiful , you do the god-machine proud.
Thanks Theophony! There was a bit of an experimentation period on the Warlord, but it worked out great and the models themselves are just a blast to paint!
Ketara wrote: Your Crons are beautiful. Is there any chance of a tutorial for the various walkers?
Honestly, I can give you a list of kits you'd need for each one, but the cost of it (and the fact that I won't need any more for a while) means I'm not going to be doing a step-by-step anytime soon, unless you want to buy the parts for me
Doomsday Ark - Annihilation Barge (crescent, engines, various weapons and bits)
- Triarch Stalker (limbs for legs, various weapons and bits, leg attachment used for the head)
- Doomsday Ark (main spine modified for hips, weapon as base for cannon)
- Tomb Blades (engines, heat shield, various bits for feet, tesla weapon bits for legs)
- Drop Pod Harnesses (feet)
Ghost Ark - Triarch Stalker (limbs for legs, various weapons and bits, leg attachment used for the head)
- Ghost Ark (main spine modified for hips, 2x crescent, embarked necrons for spinal assembly)
- Dune Crawler (legs modified for spinal assembly)
- Tomb Blades (engines, heat shield, various bits for feet, tesla weapon bits for legs)
- Wraiths (torsos and limbs for drones, shields and limbs for hands and fingers)
- Drop Pod Harnesses (feet)
Destroyers - Wraiths (torsos, limbs)
- Tomb Blades (weapons, crescent, tesla weapon bits for legs)
A box of 3 Wraiths and 3 Tomb Blades will build 3 Destroyers
Boss Salvage wrote: Sweet piece of inspiration, color me excited to see your first complete ghosties. Also sweet fakk, that's a lot of spooks O_O
On the Orks, I'm a fan of the rivet cannon buggie myself, kind of tempted to mess around with it too ...
Same, just going to be a slow burn project for me! I've got a lot of little things in the immediacy (finishing Titanicus, Speed Freaks buggy, a few entries for Crystal Brush, and Adepticon AoS Singles army) that will probably distract me from focusing entirely on bedsheets.
Finally finished the other Warlord. They've announced weapon kits and new Cerastus Knights coming soon, so I'll probably add a bunch of those whenever they're released, but this project is basically done since most games will be in the 1500 to 2000 range.
Working on a fun little bust as a break from army projects, and before I start the journey of Adepticon prep:
Daenarys of the House Targaryen, the Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons.
Speaking of Adepticon, they've released the games schedule and, barring some unforeseen circumstances, I have figured out what I will be attending:
Thursday - 40k Gallant GT Friday - AoS Doubles Sat-Sun - 40k Team Tournament
I am bringing my Necrons to both 40k events, but I'll need to paint up a few new units, namely 6 Tomb Blades and 10 Tesla Immortals. I'll probably tweak my display board to be prettier as well. I will also be doing a small Daughters of Khaine army for doubles, but all snakes (Medusa and 20 Melusai, all converted to be Mermaids, and a Cauldron of Blood, converted to be a Kraken/sea monster). My partner will be doing an infantry-based Daughters list, led by Morathi. The plan is his faction will be piratic theme, riding a ship (think Pirates of the Caribbean), while my mermaids swarm around. Should be fun!
whalemusic360 wrote: Oof, that's a backed weekend. The TT has been more than enough for me anymore, and didn't even do that last year.
Yea man, we're going all this way, gotta maximize our value!
Plus, I can't wander Adepticon for more than a few hours without going out of my mind. I'm not one for demo tables, the vendors I can usually browse quickly, and there's nothing to do in Schaumburg except eat and drink....which we do liberally while gaming!...
That's fair. I mostly go to hang out with people I don't get to see otherwise and game with them. I've played more games of 8th at Adepticon then I have anywhere else.
whalemusic360 wrote: That's fair. I mostly go to hang out with people I don't get to see otherwise and game with them. I've played more games of 8th at Adepticon then I have anywhere else.
Yea unfortunately busy lives means Adepticon is the only real chance our group gets to play any tournaments/events (since most of us help run the Sword & Brush event locally), so we tend to fill it up with max gaming. The rest of the year is just us working on fun hobby projects and the occasional pick up games (and practice for Adepticon).
WIP of the Daenarys bust. Had to repaint the skin some 5 times to get the tones to where I'm happy with them. The sculpt feels like it makes her face narrower than it actually is, so I may have to revisit the cheekbones to make her look less gaunt.
I was really interested to see how the textured cloth would come out, and seems like you nailed it. She does seem a little more blonde then silver haired right now though.
whalemusic360 wrote: I was really interested to see how the textured cloth would come out, and seems like you nailed it. She does seem a little more blonde then silver haired right now though.
You're definitely right. I'm still trying to nail down the colors and some of the forms so there's definitely a few re-works in there.
Daenarys of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regnant of the seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons.
Had a lot of fun with this one, although I probably ended up repainting her skin 5 times and the hair at least 2 or 3 times.
Also, Adepticon update, I will be doing Nighthaunt, not Daughters of Khaine, so that changes my project plans a touch. Here's the final list of stuff I need to get done:
Knight of Shrouds on Steed Guardian of Souls on Nightmare Lantern 30 Grimghast Reapers 10 Grimghast Reapers 12 Myrmourn Banshees
whalemusic360 wrote: Danny looks good. Are you entering it into crystal brush, or was it just for fun?
Better get to it!
For fun! I don't know what my Crystal Brush entry (or entries) will end up being; it all depends on how long finishing my army projects take and what spare time I have left for. Because half of Crystal Brush's votes are by popularity, and because I have neither Patreon or a deep online presence to blast for votes, I'm pretty much not going to win anything. So pretty much anything I enter will be purely for funsies and not-give-a-gak-if-I-win.
And started my 6 Tesla Tomb Blades. These are converted in a similar vein to my Destroyers, but without feet. I just added a bunch of anti-gravitic spines to make them look like they float along.
AND I finally got these sweet new brushes in from the Artis Opus kickstarter! Really excited to try these out!
The immortals look great, have you thought about how you plan to dress up the basses any more? I know that was the critic you got from one tournament. Maybe some small foliage showing life returning to the planet, like the life waking back up in the necrons.
Tomb blades look like a vast improvement over the basic model, though all your models are vast improvements over the basic ones.
Theophony wrote: The immortals look great, have you thought about how you plan to dress up the basses any more? I know that was the critic you got from one tournament. Maybe some small foliage showing life returning to the planet, like the life waking back up in the necrons.
Tomb blades look like a vast improvement over the basic model, though all your models are vast improvements over the basic ones.
I actually did revisit some of my bigger bases before the event and added like...75 scarabs spread across:
I dunno about foliage; I want it to be a dead ash-world, much like mars. So the red sands suits my needs. I might go back and revisit with some darker color tones to vary it up. And I suppose more Scarabs... I just need to get my hands on more (I tried the FW ones, I don't like em; I much prefer GW's version OR I make my own similar to what I did for my Destroyer Lord).
Progress on my Tomb Blades. All the shading has been blocked in on the white parts, and the black parts have all been basecoated. Tonight I'll be doing the highlighting on that so I can hopefully airbrush-filter it all over the weekend.
I'll also be throwing some paint on this guy for our D&D Secret Santa next weekend:
AND (I know, I have a problem) I picked up a box of tiny Cerastus Knights last night and got them built. They look so COOL! Don't know when I'll get to painting them yet tho..hopefully sometime next week.
Your army looks awesome, very cohesive, and I like the additional scarabs you added to the base. Truly looks like an army of infinite numbers that just won’t stop!
My gift-receiver/friend plays a human Monk, and as a person, he's always a little mad in the head. I figured this would be a perfect reflection of his character and him as the PC.
Cool little guys , what size are they compared to a Necromunda fig? I just wonder if the energy shield off the Van Saar would look about right on these.
I'm actually not 100% sure. They're on 50mm bases, and the Titanicus Imperial Knights reach up to about their chest (and the Imperial Knights are about the size of a Terminator).
Theophony wrote: Thanks for the scale shot . They are much larger than I thought they were so the shields wouldn’t work out .
Oh yea, they're beefy. And apparently amazeballs. My friend and I played a 2000 point match last night and the pair of them solo-killed both of his Warlords from 100 to 0 HP just dead (they did die in the process, but damn do they hit like a ton of bricks)
A collective shot of my completed Legio plus Questoris/Cerastus Banner support. At some point I'll probably add another pair of Warhounds (so I can run 2x Axiom Maniples) and more Cerastus Knights, but otherwise, this is all I really want for the forseeable future.
Theophony wrote:Beautiful purple and white contrast. So lush . Very jealous of that army.
Bongfu wrote:I love seeing another Iron Vigil legio player here! They look amazing, dude!
Theophony wrote:That legion is beautiful, such a lovely lush purple color.
ingtaer wrote:Very nice, love that purple as well.
Thank you so much! It was a lot of fun to paint, although looking back, I think it ends up being a LOT of purple and not quite as heraldric as some of the other legions could be (one of the LGS shop owners is doing Legio Astorum, and it blue and yellow looks phenomenal!)
Decent painting session today; blocking in the colors, shadows and highlights on the robes of some Grimghast Reapers. Only 30 more to go, and then on to detailwork.
Been a couple busy weeks; started the school term and already I'm drowning in projects. I've been trying to plug away on my Nighthaunt a little bit every night.
I've got the blue and orange-cream robes done in 32 of them, and the blue done on the other 8, so I'm close! Very close!
I'm also signed up for an AoS Team Tournament (ETC style) in June, so I picked up the big-OG, Nagash himself to add to my list (along with 10 Dire Wolves and building 40 Chainrasps).
And I've been playing an armored-company Necron list for a little bit, and I'm really like it! So much so I'm tweaking one of the lists I'm bringing for the 40k Gallant GT at Adepticon, and adding a Triarch Stalker.
I like spiders, so much so that I was going to paint up a bunch for fun. This is even cooler though as giant alien robot spiders is even scarier than regular spiders.
Been a few since my last update. Been super-slammed with school the past few weeks because I front-loaded my term. Also meant I had 3 case-study deliverables each week. Thankfully that's all behind me now, and I can get back to the grind!
I'm so close to finishing these guys, I can feel it! Probably another week or so's worth of work on my 40 Reapers:
I've rejigged my list for doubles, and will be bringing the Legion of Sacrament, instead of Nighthaunt. So after these I've got 10 dogs, 2 Necros, and a VLord and I'm gucci. If I have time after all is done, I want to try and get 20 Chainrasps done to bring instead of 10 Reapers, but I doubt I'll have time for that.
And I built up these Scarabs since I need another unit of 3 for the 40k Gallant:
FINALLY hitting some actual progress (I say actual even though I've been making incremental steps over the past two months, I've only just started completing models, so it feels like nothing's been happening since January).
40 Reapers are finally done! I want to find some tufts that will work on their bases to add little spots of color, but the paintwork on these are finally done.
You like dags? I also knocked out my 10 Dire Wolves pretty easily in a week.
And speaking on the timeliness of Wizards, I've started work on these Necromancers, color coded so I can differentiate them on the tabletop.
Theophony wrote:I love your color choices. Usually only see bright colors on the ghostly parts of the.....ghosts , not on the clothing. Well done.
Cheers! Yea I was going for a deliberately bright and colorful (albiet still pastel) scheme that was different from basically every Nighthaunt army I'd seen before. I originally had a much more involved/different vision for the army, but ended up not executing it because of time crunch, which is a shame, but c'est la vie. It was super ambitious for an army and I don't think I'd have pulled it off in any realistic timeframe.
Boss Salvage wrote:Swarm of reapers is getting there, way to keep at that monster batch
EDIT: Did you ever mention how you make your Necron bases? Is that ... cork? Like really thin or maybe crumbled up? Maybe a sandy paste?
I glue 1/4 cork to the bases with super glue, and once it's dry, I take clippers to it to crumble it and make it look like rock structures. Then I hit it with patches of Golden Crackle Paste, and let dry overnight. Once that dries, I hit up the base (leaving some of the cracked areas and cork uncovered) with Golden Coarse Pumice Gel.
DV8 wrote: I glue 1/4 cork to the bases with super glue, and once it's dry, I take clippers to it to crumble it and make it look like rock structures.
Then I hit it with patches of Golden Crackle Paste, and let dry overnight.
Once that dries, I hit up the base (leaving some of the cracked areas and cork uncovered) with Golden Coarse Pumice Gel.
Damn! No wonder they look so much better than just cork basing. Thanks for the breakdown, I'll see about including some of that process in the Kings of War army I'm working on.
It's a converted Veteran Hemlocke model from Guild Ball, with wings from a Vampire Bat Familiar. The base + snake is also from Guild Ball; it's the holiday special Coin.
whalemusic360 wrote:That's a lot of spooky ghosts. Interested to see the Shadespire stuff done up.
Yea once I finish up my Stalker, I'm gonna do a quick dive into Mollog and friends, before I continue up with the spoopy bedsheets (I need to get the Chainrasps, some endless spells, and Nagash done for a team tournament at the beginning of June).
Boss Salvage wrote:Whoa, you're headed into Combined? Including the (gorgeous) Avatar redux??
DUDE
Yea B! I'm excited! The model looks gorgeous and I love TAGs, so this felt like it'd be the most competitive way to do it without getting my junk punched every game.
You had me at spiders . The big momma spider is wonderful, I never noticed the Inquisition on the top of the big legs before , no one expects the Necron Inquisition
Theophony wrote: You had me at spiders . The big momma spider is wonderful, I never noticed the Inquisition on the top of the big legs before , no one expects the Necron Inquisition
Ugh now I can't unsee that...Thanks Theo. Thanks a lot. :/
Finished painting some scenery for Shadespire. Now I just have a Troll to paint, and some display boards to build for Adepticon!
Taking a quick break to paint up the Lady of Anguish for Adepticon. Creature Caster just announced their own private painting contest, and I want that cash prize!
whalemusic360 wrote:Some quality wonderland-esq colors there, as they should be.
For sure! I've been working with a soft pastel palette for ... almost a decade now, so I'm trying to challenge myself to work with more saturated colors for my next few projects just to mix things up!
IGtR= wrote:Beautiful work as ever. Everything you paint is simply gorgeous!
BAH creature Caster showing their faces again ......I mean good luck and win their money , they don’t deserve it any way . The colors are looking great so far on her, I know your facing some strong competition with their models from other painters, so good luck.
More progress on the Lady of Anguish. I love and hate this sculpt; there's a lack of sharpness to it, and areas of poorly sculpted "detail" (literally just scored lines in the elbows, neck, neck guard front and back, where the wings connect) that makes it just a nightmare to paint at times.
Need to finish painting the gauntlets, weapons, shoulder guards, and base, and touch up some highlights here and there (mostly around the head/neck area). Then play around with color tints to really add some 'pop' to it.
Spent a while last night doing some HRGiger-esque linework on the bone components. I also realize looking at the photos now that I mis-painted on the left wing-tip, so I need to go back and correct that.
Home stretch! Just some detail work on the base left, going to spend some time adding filters with the airbrush, and then final highlights t pop everything, and I'm calling this done.
I love/hate how you can really see the flaws in this close up, especially some over-paints in the wings. :/
The Giger-style was sort of decided half-way through the process, so I'm not 100% happy with parts of her like the boobs and head. I think for the other 3 Creature Caster models (and Nagash, since y'know..he's THE perfect subject to Giger), I'm going to plan ahead with that style in mind and create better patterns.
Giger-veins are a great touch, beautiful work on the chick. I've enjoyed seeing her jump forward with each post ... tho I'm still waiting for booty shots
I'm almost done the Lady of Anguish. She's been mounted on the plinth, but after some feedback from my painting group, I'm going to be tweaking some of the lighting, particularly in the wings, for a little more contrast. And I think I want to go in and add some WS Foliage and stuff to the base for some extra texture.
I also took a break over the weekend to finish Mollog and his posse! I actually had to repaint Mollog several times since his skin went through like 6 different color iterations that I wasn't satisfied with.
Slowly learning how to take good photos with my phone; I need to spend some time after Adepticon to properly photograph all my Necrons, Nighthaunt, and Titanicus.
I'm going to be taking a break from hobbying for the next week or so as I head to Adepticon in 2 days! I'll try and post pics and updates as I'm there, but that'll mostly go up to Instagram since I will not have my laptop with me!
If you're down there, find me and say hi! I'll be playing in the 40k Gallant on Thursday, AoS doubles on Friday, and 40k Team Tournament on Saturday and Sunday.
So I didn't end up taking many photos for my battles. I was mostly just trying to enjoy myself and not get caught up in the "gaming" of it (let's just say drinking started mighty early every day of Adepticon! It's always 5 pm somewhere amiright?)
Overall thoughts and impressions Overall I had a great time; we left Toronto quite early (7 am) on Wednesday and it was a smooth drive to Schaumburg (the border crossing took under 2 minutes). Having Tablewar cases made it super easy to pack and stack all the luggage, and I can't recommend those cases enough! The Adepticon staff were super organised as always and we picked up our badges Wednesday evening after taking a quick peek around the hall and grabbing dinner at Bahama Breeze.
I don't know how I feel about the 24/7 bits bazaar. Having the traffic there meant congestion, and being situated right by the 40k hall meant that the area was stupid high traffic, especially in the mornings. And it's 40k gamers so...a lot of funk. How is it that the convention hall smells of farts, poops, and BO by 8:30 am? Ridiculous.
The Age of Sigmar tables were moved into the banquet hall opposite the 40k/main hall this year. The lighting was garbage and this severely impacted paint judging (and thus people's overall scores). I'm unimpressed and disappointed by this. Thankfully, it smelt better than the 40k hall.
They moved Infinity and a lot of the smaller games like Batman/DC into the main hall opposite the vendor booths (where AoS used to be). I don't like that they displaced AoS this way, but I love it since I'll be taking on a lot of smaller games in the coming year.
Speaking of, my goal for next year is no 40k/AoS. The events are just too early and run too long to be enjoyable, and booking an event every day for the weekend is exhausting and zero fun. I want to dip my toes into Infinity, Batman, Arena Rex, and maybe squeeze myself into a Titanicus event if they have more space for Adepticon 2020.
40k Gallant
This was the army I brought, and we were allied two sidebar lists to swap based on scenario/opponent.
Basically one to kill elites, one to kill hordes. They released the scenarios a month or so before the event, and they used wacky Battlezones (Nightfight, Conflagration, and Pollution) in each of the missions. The event was supposed to be casual, for fun, where you don't bring a diddle stick to just beat down your opponent.
Never again. Some of the armies I saw were designed entirely to abuse the scenarios and create a no-fun situation for the opponents. Nightfight (-1, -2, -3 to hit at 12", 24", 36") and Pollution (ranges of Heavy, Assault, and Rapid Fire weapons cut in half, anything T6 or under in the open is -1 Toughness) created some very unique situations and I saw an army that was 18 Necron Wraiths (could you be more of a dick?), an army of nothing but Destroyers, one guy brought a Seraptek Heavy Construct. My first game opponent brought an ITC Genestealer Cults army to the event and wiped me turn 2. Didn't help that he was really condescending and tried to tell me how to play my game.
I did not enjoy myself in this event and I will not be playing anything run by these organizers again.
I will say though, my second game opponent (pure Space Wolves Primaris) was a fantastic guy and made up for a garbage first game and a mediocre third game (I played against the Seraptek). I finished the event with a 1-3 Battle Score and won Best Appearance (to a lot of "of courses" and "surprise surprise"...I couldn't tell if they were being sarcastic/jesting, or being genuinely salty; I know I overheard a few people talking about how they were a shoe-in for Best Appearance or were expecting to win it with their armies, so I'm not 100%).
Age of Sigmar Doubles
Legion of Sacrament, Realm of Hysh Vampire Lord (General, Amaranthine Orb)
Necromancer (Overwhelming Dread, Aetherquartz Brooch)
Necromancer (Fading Vigor)
2x 5 Dire Wolves
30 Grimghast Reapers
10 Grimghast Reapers
Soulshare Shackles
Sylvaneth Alarielle the Everqueen
2x 5 Tree Revenants
3 Kurnoth Hunters (Scythes)
Pendulum
I brought Legions of Nagash (Sacrament), and my friend brought his Sylvaneth (he also played them in Singles and won Best Appearance). I couldn't take a decent photo in this room for the life of me, and the above is heavily tweaked in Photoshop. I hated it.
Played some great games against some great opponents, and our prevailing battlecry was "we need this double turn".
Game 1 was against Team STD, playing Nurgle and Slaanesh. They pushed too aggressively into us and we were able to demolish most of their armies with 30 buffed up Reapers and a solid double turn.
Game 2 was against a Slaanesh and Beastman combo, that put down close to 200 models on the table. This was the most back and forth game we played, and we only survived because no one double turned, and we managed to resist their initial charge into us (they failed to kill Alarielle and only killed 7 out of 30 Reapers, which I promptly raised back with Deathless Invocations). Once we started chewing through their big blocks of Daemonettes and Bestigors, the game sorted itself out.
Game 3 was versus a Seraphon and Stormcast army, and this was the most non-interactive game possible. They castled in the corner with a Slann on the Balewind Vortex and rained Comets and spells down on us (Necro and Vampire Lord taken out Turn 2 by the hit, burst, and a double turn). Skinks kept running away, and 20 Sequitors teleported down on us and just demolished our line. Our opponents were great guys and played the game very well (apart from one minor rules dispute that we just conceded because we were getting smashed anyways and didn't care), and had we remembered that Skinks could flee from combat (we would have adjusted our combat activations accordingly), and managed a clutch double-turn, MAYBE we could have scored on the objectives. Alas, no double turns again and they managed to stack full points on objectives 2 consecutive turns to our piddly nothings.
We finished the event with a 2-1 Battle Score, and poor lighting meant we got ruined on paint score (15 out of 20, if you can believe it, while our friends who brought armies that weren't even highlighted, and on plain realm of battle board, scored 18).
40k Team Tournament
Team Captain - Ultramarines (Command) Guilliman
Smash-Captain
Tigurius
2x 5 Sniper Scouts (1 Missile, 1 Heavy Bolter)
5 Vet Bikers
Eldar (Spearhead) Wraithseer
2x 5 Wraithguard (Cannons)
5 Dire Avengers
2x Wave Serpents (Shuriken Cannons)
Wraithlord
We didn't put a whole lot of effort into theme; the four of us just brought armies we had (didn't play any test games either) and just came to have some fun. And apparently they updated the Detachments days before the event and had changed the Core battalion to provide 5 CPs instead of 3. We would've brought drastically different lists had we known that.
Game 1 was against a mixed Imperial team (Guard with a Shadowsword, Sisters, Space Wolves, and another Marine force). Great guys, but we managed to smash through them pretty quickly.
Game 2 was against a full Genestealer Cult/Brood Brothers list. I was paired up against Pete Foley (the book and box manager of Games Workshop) and Tony Kopach, and they smashed us. Thoroughly. But the game was enjoyable, and actually the least stressful because I trust Kopach not to cheat, and we didn't durdle. Each round is 3 hours and we were done with 2 hours to spare (oh yea...it was that bad). It was probably also our most enjoyable game of the weekend because wall learned so much from our opponents (at the other table, one of our opponents was one of the organizers of NOVA).
Game 3 was against some of the saltiest players I've ever seen. Right from the go, it was "we don't stand a chance" and "way to bring armies that'll just smash us" (quad Custodes) and "we're just going to get blown away by their firepower". They proceeded to almost never fail a save and we got rinsed. The moment they realized they were winning, it was all happy giggles, forceful dice rolling, and just overall obnoxiousness. I dunno; maybe I was just not in the right headspace, but from the moment I sat down at the table and started exchanging lists to the moment we finished, I did not enjoy any moment of this game.
Game 4 was against an awesome Eldar/Dark Eldar mix, and the guys were so super chill, it made for an enjoyable back and forth game. The scenario was designed so that the Defenders deployed in a 12" x 48" area in the middle of the board, and the Attackers deployed in a 12" x 48" zone on the far left and far fight, creating a 12" no man's land on either side of the Defenders. The Attackers were also guaranteed first turn unless the Defenders seized. Our pair for this round (Eldar + Firebase Necrons, me) were the Defenders and managed a win only because we seized the initiative. Had they gone first, they would've been in combat turn 1 and probably rinsed us.
We spoke with the organizers afterwards because this scenario was stupid, and apparently they ran the stats; only about 16% of the games ended with the Defenders winning the scenario (20 games out of 128).
Game 5 was against a wacky Grey Knights + (2x) Blood Angels + Dark Angels mix. This was the only pairing where one of our pairs won while the other lost (usually we either won both or lost both). We were 2x Necrons on our side and the game was determined by turn 1. We alpha struck and removed a large portion of their army, and the rest of the game was just clean up. Our pair on the other side forgot that Grey Knights all bring Smite, and pushed forward too aggressively. The Eldar ended up getting Smited and assaulted off the board, while the Ultramarines were left with only Guilliman standing in the enemy deployment zone for Linebreaker.
We finished the event with a 2-2-1 score (I'm assuming a full win and full loss pair counts as a draw result overall).
Warhammer TV After our second game in the 40k Team Tournament, I was speaking with Pete Foley and he absolutely adored my conversions, and he strongly urged me to get in touch with the Warhammer TV crew in the AoS hall to have them snap some photos of my army.
It just so happened they had a roaming Warhammer TV crew that swung by immediately (that's some television timing right there!) and I was interviewed and my army featured! I spoke for a few minutes with Eddy and I will be getting in touch with them via e-mail to sort out getting a full Feature Article on the Warhammer Community website.
One of the highlights of the weekend and I'm super stoked about it!
Creature Caster - Resin Beast
I did it! Podium finish, placing 3rd. There were a lot of phenomenal entries, so when I stepped away on Sunday after the first game to pick up my model, I was so excited to discover that I had placed in the Top 3, and I was basically on cloud 9 for the rest of the day. The prize ends up paying for my trip and some hobby loot to spoil myself with afterwards, and I'm super-stoked to start working on my entry for next year.
I was speaking with the organisers afterwards and they said that the judging was super close, but they felt that the lack of a scenic base hurt my entry. Thoughts to keep in mind for next time!
This was your first Adepticon, right? You aren't a real Adepticon Vet until you just bail on something you signed up and paid for. If you still want to dip your toes in 40k, try a one day event, or something like full size AT.
Glad you seem to have over all enjoyed the event. Congrats on both the Top 3 for CC and the WHCommunity time.
whalemusic360 wrote: This was your first Adepticon, right? You aren't a real Adepticon Vet until you just bail on something you signed up and paid for. If you still want to dip your toes in 40k, try a one day event, or something like full size AT.
Glad you seem to have over all enjoyed the event. Congrats on both the Top 3 for CC and the WHCommunity time.
Thanks!
This is actually my third Adepticon (I went last year, and then my last one prior to that was probably around the 2010-2011 period?) I don't make a habit of bailing on events. I've paid for it and brought stuff for it, so I'm playing in it lol. Gotta maximize my value! I also don't play much anymore throughout the year (except the odd pick-up game every month or two, particularly for 40k or AoS), so Adepticon is really the only time I get to play those 2 games.
For sure my plan next year though is to take it easier. Infinity, Batman, maybe a Titanicus narrative event, and then take a day off.
Grats on Best Appearance and third in the CC comp! Still gotta go check out the entrants somehow ...
Sorry to hear that salt and WAAC levels ruined a lot of your minigaming. I feel like point out that you were playing 40k and AOS I'm personally more sad that the lighting ruined your fantasy phototaking
Boss Salvage wrote: Grats on Best Appearance and third in the CC comp! Still gotta go check out the entrants somehow ...
Sorry to hear that salt and WAAC levels ruined a lot of your minigaming. I feel like point out that you were playing 40k and AOS I'm personally more sad that the lighting ruined your fantasy phototaking
Yea thankfully I had more fun playing AoS than 40k; the community for it is just consistently more positive, IMO, even if they're smashing your face in (or getting their faces smashed). I always have fun playing AoS. 40k...it's like flipping a coin.
Overall the weekend was still a success; I got to spend time with my friends, met a lot of cool people, got a lot of kudos for my robits, and I'm looking forward to next year!
I do believe that Creature Caster will be posting photos on their Facebook page within the next few days.
Great job on the third place finish with the creature caster model .
Sorry about the piss poor lighting and how that ruins a great paint score. Seriously the others weren’t even highlighted?
I haven’t played 40k in years, and besides Bloodbow and paintsl I haven’t bought GW in 2-3 years. Smaller systems seem to be the route to go currently. I think it’s because of all the bloat in the GW range that shoved me away, that and pricing. I have no problem buying a $15 metal figure (including shipping) for Bushido, but buying a $30 “Character” figure from GW puts me off.
It's funny because the army that I'm referring to that got 18/20 belonged to two friends of ours from our group and that's how we found out what their score was. Apparently one of them had to really play up the conversions (sculpted hair on all the Stormcast) to the judge before they were even really aware of what they were looking at. And they were under no illusions that their armies weren't nearly as well painted as ours.
I did a hobby last night! Cut into the base of my Avatar to create a recessed area for water effects.
I also gap-filled and based Nagash, so that I can prime him tonight and start painting him asap! I have a team tournament in the beginning of June and I need to get him, 40 Chainrasps, 2 Endless Spells, and a display board done for.
Also, what are people's thoughs re: spoilering vs non-spoilering images?
Sweet baby cats, the Avatar is a real chunk of metal now. I mean so was the old one, but this lad is ultra-tanky.
Excited to see Nagash in your ghosties' scheme, realizing I typically see Nagash only in Nagash colors, not really matching the army he's joined. Which seems like a pretty Nagash thing to do
Re: spoilers, I don't care really, browser resizes for me and I don't look at Dakka on a phone, so no idea experience there.
I picked up some Helleniki at Adepticon and assembled them over the weekend. Gorgeous models; I'm really looking forward to painting them, especially the Telesto!
And I've started work in Nagash. The NMM is blocked in on his armor (I realize I NMM'd his rib cage because it looked like more armor, so that will be corrected when I start painting his skin), and I'm about halfway done the ghosts. Started to block in his robe colors too just to start seeing how everything is working together.
Not sure how I have missed this blog, great painting and on an army sized scale which is a rarity.
Nagash is already looking great, I do not really understand how to go about NMM but yours is looking excellent so far.
As for spoilering images in blogs I do not really see the point, the main reason people visit the blogs is to see other people's painting so see no real point in hiding the work. If people are complaining about the size and/or amount of images you are not forcing them to visit the page.
ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Not sure how I have missed this blog, great painting and on an army sized scale which is a rarity.
Nagash is already looking great, I do not really understand how to go about NMM but yours is looking excellent so far.
As for spoilering images in blogs I do not really see the point, the main reason people visit the blogs is to see other people's painting so see no real point in hiding the work. If people are complaining about the size and/or amount of images you are not forcing them to visit the page.
Keep it up.
Thanks! NMM isn't difficult, the technical aspect of it is just getting contrast; extreme brights next to extreme darks (speed of transition depending on how reflective the material is) and there's tons of reference out there to give you a sense (i.e. highly reflective chrome vs a matte brushed metal).
The really tricky part is the "theoretical" element of it: understanding how light behaves, how it's going to reflect and refract, and placing the highlights and shadows and reflections accordingly. I can't say I've got it perfect, but I've got a decent understanding and I sometimes fake it to make it look good
Tyranid Horde wrote:Congrats on the podium!
I said it on another thread but Nagash looks insane already and I wouldn't have even noticed you painted his ribcage if you hadn't mentioned it.
Also in regards to your Arena Rex models, what are they like to clean up and assemble? I'm looking to pick up the Ludus Magnus starter set
They're not bad; they remind me a lot of Forgeworld resin, although some of the mold lines are bad. The Telesto had a lot of uneven surfaces like the mold had somehow shifted or wasn't filled properly. Archidamos had a mold line running down his chest and across his ribs too, so that was a pain to clean. Some of their shields, as well, have shifts running across the surface. I fixed what I could, but they're not perfect.
They're really bad for mold lines in hair as well (at least in the Helleniki) because of the way almost all the hair elements are separate pieces.
You can use hot water to reshape and bend pieces into proper position (my Argos had a severe lean, and I had to correct his legs to get him to stand properly), but it takes several goes to get the shape to stick. I had to reheat and recool Argos probably a half dozen times before he remained upright.
The models themselves are super easy to assemble though, short of mold line issues. Not too many gaps either; some Vallejo sculpting putty fills them in nicely, and I like the pedestal bases they come with (definitely going to gloss-black the trims).
I'm also solidly disappointed that the sculpts are clearly based off the artwork, but dialed way back. You have these amazing concept sketches and designs that have so much motion and character, and then the sculpts seem over-refined and lack a lot of that visceral motion and feeling.
I'd give their models a solid 6 out of 10. Not the worst I've ever worked with, but I'm certainly not itching to assemble more.
They're not bad; they remind me a lot of Forgeworld resin, although some of the mold lines are bad. The Telesto had a lot of uneven surfaces like the mold had somehow shifted or wasn't filled properly. Archidamos had a mold line running down his chest and across his ribs too, so that was a pain to clean. Some of their shields, as well, have shifts running across the surface. I fixed what I could, but they're not perfect.
They're really bad for mold lines in hair as well (at least in the Helleniki) because of the way almost all the hair elements are separate pieces.
You can use hot water to reshape and bend pieces into proper position (my Argos had a severe lean, and I had to correct his legs to get him to stand properly), but it takes several goes to get the shape to stick. I had to reheat and recool Argos probably a half dozen times before he remained upright.
The models themselves are super easy to assemble though, short of mold line issues. Not too many gaps either; some Vallejo sculpting putty fills them in nicely, and I like the pedestal bases they come with (definitely going to gloss-black the trims).
I'm also solidly disappointed that the sculpts are clearly based off the artwork, but dialed way back. You have these amazing concept sketches and designs that have so much motion and character, and then the sculpts seem over-refined and lack a lot of that visceral motion and feeling.
I'd give their models a solid 6 out of 10. Not the worst I've ever worked with, but I'm certainly not itching to assemble more.
I'd say my experience with Arena Rex has been better than this overall (I've got about 30 of the minis in various stages of completion on my painting desk), but this sounds about right for the worst of them - some of my models have been a dream to assemble (Hagal, Acerbus, Euryale, Lupa, etc.) while others have required quite a bit of work to get ready... Mold lines in general seem to be in challenging places and slipped molds created some brutal fixes for me on a couple.
I'm also thrilled to see someone else tackling them - I've been plugging away sloooowly on my own AR models (the older I get the less time I have for myself but DAMN I love the game and models) and I'm really excited to see what you are going to do with them! (Particularly Telesto...)
Gomez wrote:I'd say my experience with Arena Rex has been better than this overall (I've got about 30 of the minis in various stages of completion on my painting desk), but this sounds about right for the worst of them - some of my models have been a dream to assemble (Hagal, Acerbus, Euryale, Lupa, etc.) while others have required quite a bit of work to get ready... Mold lines in general seem to be in challenging places and slipped molds created some brutal fixes for me on a couple.
I'm also thrilled to see someone else tackling them - I've been plugging away sloooowly on my own AR models (the older I get the less time I have for myself but DAMN I love the game and models) and I'm really excited to see what you are going to do with them! (Particularly Telesto...)
Thanks! I took a look and subscribed to yours as well; you've got some great stuff there and definitely inspiring me to get mine done too!
Honestly I'd give Forgeworld kits more or less the same score too, and it's about par for course what I'd expect from a high quality resin kit, because I do understand the limitations of their casting methods. I'm also rating it on a scale that puts GW plastic kits on there (9/10), so that definitely skews the score.
I think what definitely makes these models less than great for me is that they deviate so far from the artwork, and you get a sense of the concept art in the model, but it's never quite as dynamic.
Theophony wrote:Another Arena Rex blog. I’ve only been able to stay away just barely with the amazing work Gomez does. This spells almost certain doom for me
I think what definitely makes these models less than great for me is that they deviate so far from the artwork, and you get a sense of the concept art in the model, but it's never quite as dynamic.
This is my number one gripe as well. I know the RRG guys have said they're striving for as realistic a look as possible, but there needs to be a little more pizzazz in the sculpts for them to read as "dynamic" on the table. The discrepancy between art and model for Hagal and Atrox in particular is absolutely ing criminal.
He's getting so close! I finally have all the parts on him (I did a couple more hours work after this photo was taken), and I just need to polish up the bone (mostly on the staff and books), the Spirit Hosts, and finish the base.
Also, shameless plug. My friend and I have started our Patreon (link in my sig). We are hoping to start getting content up soon and regularly, so stay tuned and I'd love your support! Also, if there's any specific tutorials you might want to see, let me know and I'll discuss it with my partner!
I know for sure we are going to look into doing a series of free video tutorials covering all the basic techniques (like feathering, glazing, wetblending, etc.), airbrush usage (including cleaning), miniature photography (including camera/phone settings and photo editing in Photoshop), lighting (specifically working with forms and volumes and how that applies to miniatures) and color theory.
I'm also starting with a breakdown of my most recent miniatures, and I'm going to be doing my first series of step-by-steps with my Arena Rex models, plus because it's been asked for years, a how-to assembly guide on my Necron walkers within the next month or two.
Saw this model in the painting challenge thread and praised it there, and felt the need to come down here and do the same. Excellent work - I love the effect you've got on the armour panels. I'll be following your blog for sure.
Stunning texture throughout the piece, literally awesome work. I kept wanting to make Mr. Sinister jokes throughout the process, thanks to that banded metal armor, but brown cloak instead of red threw off my '90s X-Men kick (for the better )
Boss Salvage wrote: Stunning texture throughout the piece, literally awesome work. I kept wanting to make Mr. Sinister jokes throughout the process, thanks to that banded metal armor, but brown cloak instead of red threw off my '90s X-Men kick (for the better )
Ugh now I have the X-Men cartoon riff running through my head! Nananananaaaaa-nana....nananananaaaaaaaa-nana!... :/
I've had a busy few weeks since my last post. I finished my 40 Chainrasps and a Guardian of Souls with Mortality Glass, so my army is done. I'll try and snap some photos this week.
Almost done my two endless spells, for which I do have photos:
Prismatic!
Time to play with portals!
And I've got a couple of weeks to work a commission/my entry for the Monthly "TO THE DEATH" painting contest, as well as on a joint display board for our team (since it is a team tournament, we are going for wow factor where our four boards join into one big one for an epic battle scene). Our team is 2xKoS Hedonites, Morathi's Daughters of Khaine, 4xBallista Stormcast, and Nagash's Grand Host. Maximum power!
So my AoS army is completed! I'll try to take some good pictures of it at the hobby shop this Thursday when I play more test games.
I plan to start our boards this weekend, so I'll be posting lots of updates of that as I go. I'm hoping to get a significant portion of the builds done over the long weekend.
In the meantime, I spent last night (after getting caught up on Game of Thrones) cleaning my workstation of clutter and playing around with video recording. Hopefully I'll be able to start recording quality videos for my Patreon! Excited!
Real tour de force man, seriously impressive army and easily my favorite Night Haunt + friends scheme (that dude doing amazing frozen Undead is hot on your heels ) Is that like 2500 points? I was trying to point it all up but kept finding more heroes lurking in all that brown + green.
And another round of exalts for the prismatic spell when put against all that Autumn
Real tour de force man, seriously impressive army and easily my favorite Night Haunt + friends scheme (that dude doing amazing frozen Undead is hot on your heels ) Is that like 2500 points? I was trying to point it all up but kept finding more heroes lurking in all that brown + green.
And another round of exalts for the prismatic spell when put against all that Autumn
You got a link to this frozen Undead? I haven't seen it.
It's technically 2140, and I have a second Necromancer, 10 more Reapers, and Shackles that would bump that to 2430.
Nagash (800)
VLord (140)
GoS (140)
Necromancer (110)
40 Rasps (280)
30 Reapers (360) (I've converted the Lord Executioner to be my champion since I converted my Champions to have regular scythes...damn that Soul Wars box only having 4!)
2x5 Dogs (120)
Pallisade (20)
Spell Portal (60)
The list I run is 1900 though (basically the above, minus the VLord)
Okay yea I've seen his models before. It's a really cool (hah!) scheme for sure, and neatly executed, even though I'm not a huge fan of the high contrast edging (especially on soft surfaces).
found your p&m blog after seeing the finished models. Great journey here! One critique to offer though, Nagash's abdominal flesh is not nearly as nuanced in terms of chiaroscuro and saturations as the armor and cloth, is this complete? (also stitches same color as flesh)
Overall though pretty insane production rate and great variety. I haven't seen your stuff in a few years but you are doing very well sir, good to see!
MajorTom11 wrote: found your p&m blog after seeing the finished models. Great journey here! One critique to offer though, Nagash's abdominal flesh is not nearly as nuanced in terms of chiaroscuro and saturations as the armor and cloth, is this complete? (also stitches same color as flesh)
Overall though pretty insane production rate and great variety. I haven't seen your stuff in a few years but you are doing very well sir, good to see!
Cheers! There is more depth and color to the skin. Probably a better photo, also showing the color separation from the flesh and the stitching. The store lighting is probably having an impact and shifting some of the colors in the army shot.
Spent some time over the long weekend working on the four display boards for our team. The idea is a Weathertop-style temple at the center of the four, with lush overgrowth surrounding. Doing the foam texturing and PVA-ing took much longer than I expected and I didn't get as far as I'd hoped on the boards. I'm hoping to finish the ground texture tonight so that I can begin painting it within the next week or so.
The pillars are designed to be removable for easy transport/storage, so I need to inset some magnets into the foams and the pedestals.
Also started work on my entry/commission for this month's Dakka painting contest. I'm video recording the entire process too for Patreon; the videography isn't perfect and I'm experimenting with angles etc so this is a good piece to start with.
Almost there! I've done the foliage/texturing for my part (with the autumn-style chili flakes). I need to brush off any excess flock tonight, trim the boards black, and throw on a couple layers of Purity Seal to finish them off. My team-mates will finish adding the texture to their own boards to match the army.
Finished the Winston Churchill Bust from 9th Gate.
A nice little piece to relax on after the hectic army painting of the past few months. I'm looking forward to painting nothing but busts and one-offs for the next few months.
Between a bit of hobby burnout and my school workload, I haven't painted as much as I'd have liked to this month. Made quite bit of progress over the last week though, and a solid 10 hour marathon today to get to this point. Probably another couple of days and I'll be able to wrap this piece up.
I have a doubles tournament mid-August (Capital City Blood Bath; C2B2) where I will be playing doubles AoS. My plan is to update my AoS collection with some Legion of Grief (Dreadblade Harrow, 15 Revenants, 12 Myrmourn Banshees, 2 Chaingasts) and eventually extend that to a full 2k, since the new GHB royally fethed up Nagash (like seriously, GW).
I will also be playing in a super-soft narrative 40k tournament at the end of September (Astronomi-con again, wut!), and I am planning to do an all dreadnought Blood Angels list for it (parts are already in the mail; hoping to start them mid-late August between semesters). The list is fairly straightforward, 9 models for 1700 pts. Battle points (re: winning) will again only account for some 20% of my overall score, so I don't care much about competitiveness and I realize there are many sub-par choices.
Spoiler:
VANGUARD DETACHMENT
Librarian Dreadnought - Warlord (Artisan of War)
- Relic (The Veritas Vitae)
- Sanguinary Discipline (Quickening, Wings of Sanguinius)
- Force Halberd, Furioso Fist, Storm Bolter
Death Company Dreadnought - Furioso Fists (Pair), Storm Bolter, Heavy Flamer, Magna-Grapple
Redemptor Dreadnought - Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Redemptor Fist, 2 Storm Bolters, Icarus Rocket Pod
DV8 wrote: I am planning to do an all dreadnought Blood Angels list for it (parts are already in the mail; hoping to start them mid-late August between semesters).
I feel like I'm tempted to do an all dread BA army every 6 months or so You'll do a far better job than me - and with much bigger, cooler dreads than the ol' stomp boxes I'd default to. Excited to see your next round of projects come together, including that sweet as orc bust.
So I ended up not finishing the Orc pirate (couldn't even find time to prime it). School kicked my butt in July (2 group presentations, 2 case studies, and a final exam) and left me with zero hobby time.
At any rate, I'm getting back into it with my next army for Astronomi-con (end of September). For those who may remember it, this will be a throwback to my Lamenters army from 8 years ago (hard to believe it's been that long).
Some of my progress over the weekend:
I also went back over 4 of the Dreadies (Deredeo, both Box-nauts, and the Redemptor; not counting the Death Company) and repainted everything not yellow black, in preparation for the next airbrush step (grey tones).
I've also made quite a bit of progress on some additions to my Legion of Grief:
Basecoats to Reikenor, Kurdoss, and 15 Revenants in various stages between 50% to 75%.
Finished my Dreadblade, Knight of Shrouds on Steed, 15 Revenants, 12 Banshees, 2 Chainghasts, as well as adding Cogs and Purple Sun to my Endless Spell collection.
I will be adding another 6 Chainghasts to my army and in addition to finishing the above, painting a Black Coach.
God those Chaingusts look real, looks like they are literally are alive in that first picture, absolutely amazing unbelievably realistic work. Mind blowing.
Cheers! Yea, checks will be fun! The hardest part will be painting all the damned circles + hearts!
All the non-yellow parts have been blacked. Gonna do an airbrush pass for the grey, and then work back in with a brush to refine and start freehanding.
A little more progress. I've done a quick airbrush pass on the black areas, and started playing around loose and quick with the brush to refine the yellow tones.
Gomez wrote: Love the way the yellow is being built. You can see exactly how you are layering in the depth that will really stand out later.
I really dig your progress shots in general - thanks for sharing.
Cheers! Yea it's a really nice soft tone that I'm really enjoying working with!
Progress: Spent some time Friday evening and all day Saturday doing the freehand. Sunday I started doing metallics on a few; nothing fancy, just quick dirty tabletop stuff.
Right click and view full image for a higher res. I deliberately didn't resize this image because of the detail.
Delicious mellow yellow and dark grey, with it looks like more warm gold coming down the pipe. Add red checks for even more tonal goodness, great stuff.
Also really dig the variety of dreads and armaments, should be really fun to play. Plus pretty buffed up in the new marine books.
Delicious mellow yellow and dark grey, with it looks like more warm gold coming down the pipe. Add red checks for even more tonal goodness, great stuff.
Also really dig the variety of dreads and armaments, should be really fun to play. Plus pretty buffed up in the new marine books.
For sure! I'm really happy with how the yellow turned out. I'm probably going to add a bit more freehand, particularly to the Death Company Dread, since he's looking a little plain. Red checks might not be a bad idea for him.
Because I'm still using the Blood Angels book, the only thing I'm getting from the new Marine book is Shock Assault, which honestly is fine. It's for a narrative event so I'm not looking to maximize effectiveness as I am looking to maximize shenanigans!
Theophony wrote:Great work DV8.
Will they ever get assistance from little people? Or is this just going to be a dread only army permanently?
Also will the new tactical suit make the cut, or are they full sarcophagus only?
Honestly no clue. The army is being done for a narrative event at the end of September, and then it'll sit in my cabinet for a while. I honestly don't play a lot of 40k anymore, so I don't see myself really expanding the army with little bois (if they ain't basically dead, I don't want em lol). I think my plan is to keep bringing this army to narrative events in the future and just adding battle honors and banners around events I've previously attended with said army.
The new Tactical suit won't make the cut for this event (it's 1700 pts, and my list is already firm because I don't really want to tweak it), but I'll probably pick one up to paint for fun and add it to the roster.
Almost there! I feel like the details just don't stop, but I'm hoping to get pretty much everything except for some edge highlighting done by the weekend.
This month I slacked of and ONLY got 9 dreadnoughts done to a competitive standard
I jest of course, these are amazing and a proud addition to anyone’s collection. The fact you get this done so fast and to such a great skill level is impressive o say the very least.
One morning I will wake you up early with a knock on your door just to have you teach me to airbrush.
Theophony wrote: This month I slacked of and ONLY got 9 dreadnoughts done to a competitive standard
I jest of course, these are amazing and a proud addition to anyone’s collection. The fact you get this done so fast and to such a great skill level is impressive o say the very least.
One morning I will wake you up early with a knock on your door just to have you teach me to airbrush.
Finally managed to finish my first Dreadnought. Doing some of the fiddly details took longer than I expected them to so I only managed to 100% the Deredeo (or as far as I want to get them for tabletop) for the monthly challenge. The rest will be finished to the same standard by end of day tomorrow!
Deredeo Coriomachus, Veteran of the 9th Company, formerly of the 1st Heavy Support Squad:
Going to be a long and image heavy post, so buckle up!
The army will be for a narrative tournament at the end of September: Astronomi-con. I will endeavor to do play-by-play reports with photos, much like last year, but with more photos!
I have decided not to use the new Space Marine book, and I'm aware that some of my choices are less than optimal, but that's okay. Narrative!
Army shot, Fury of the Ancients
Librarian Dreadnought Argastes (Warlord), Librarius, Chief Librarian Spoilered for bandwidth.
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Librarian Dreadnought Laertes, Librarius, Epistolary Spoilered for bandwidth.
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Death Company Dreadnought Malthus, 2nd Company, 3rd Squad Spoilered for bandwidth.
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Redemptor Dreadnought Zuriel, 2nd Company, 6th Squad Spoilered for bandwidth.
Contemptor Mortis Raguel, 5th Company, 10th Squad Spoilered for bandwidth.
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Contemptor Mortis Sarathiel, 8th Company, 7th Squad Spoilered for bandwidth.
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Relic Leviathan Petrarch 1st Company, 2nd Squad Spoilered for bandwidth.
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Relic Leviathan Faustus, 1st Company, 8th Squad Spoilered for bandwidth.
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My next few projects will involve wrapping up my 2000 pt Legion of Grief army and finishing some odds and ends for my Necrons. I might slip in my Batman (Bane) crew and then follow all that up with my Infinity Combined and a few Titanicus models to clear off the armies still stuck on my plate. The goal is hopefully to enter 2020 with no armies in progress.
Yeaaaaaa man, that's all really delicious. Dreads are great, warm yellow + grey + gold dreads with freehand everywhere are even better. Massive purple plasma coils are really satisfying as well.
Between you and this one Imperial Fist dude, I'm weirdly considering doing a double leviathan, double contemptor, handful of primaris marine army (White Scars probably). I think it'll pass but giant marine mecha + functional rules is pretty attractive. I dunno if it's $$$ attractive ...
BUT awesome work here, thanks for sharing the process, totally looking forward to your reports.
DV8 wrote: My next few projects will involve wrapping up my 2000 pt Legion of Grief army and finishing some odds and ends for my Necrons. I might slip in my Batman (Bane) crew and then follow all that up with my Infinity Combined and a few Titanicus models to clear off the armies still stuck on my plate. The goal is hopefully to enter 2020 with no armies in progress.
Yea! One mercenary with dual axes had a huge miscast, so I need to convert him a touch, probably give him a pole with concrete block thing on the end. Or maybe a stop sign.
Did some airbrushing last night on my next batch of minis: 6 Chainghasts, and the newest additions to my Legio Xestobiax and House Aethergn.
I've also made a (somewhat) aggressive roadmap for the last 4 months of the year. The goal is to get my Legion of Grief, Adeptus Titanicus, Batman, and Necron forces done by year end. I say aggressive because depending on how busy school gets, it may throw this plan slightly into wack. I'm also getting Lasik at the start of October so that will probably take me out of commission for a few weeks, hence why October is a little light.
September
Kurdoss Valentian
6 Chainghasts
2 Warhounds
2 Cerastus Knights
October
Reikenor the Grimhailer
15 Revenants
November
Batman Crew
Black Coach
December
Cryptek
Overlord
Tomb Sentinel
Tomb Spyder
3 Doomsday Arks
I'm hoping I recover quickly from the Lasik operation so that I can get more done in October, but no guarantees.
I also got a slightly better (And more up-to-date with freehand) photo of my YuJing from a recent painting competition.
Been a bit of a productive few weeks since I last posted. Started a new school term this week, and Borderlands 3 came out on Friday, so we'll see if I can continue this level of productivity!
First up, 2 Warhounds and 2 Cerastus Knights will complete my Adeptus Titanicus force.
6 Chainghasts and Kurdoss Valentian to add for my Nighthaunt. Reikenor and 15 Revenants are 50%, and a Black Coach is built, and then this army will also be done!
And because we are starting a small 40k league at our FLGS, I spent a few days adding 3 more walkers to my Necrons. My existing big-gun bois are clearly armed with Gauss Cannons for secondary weapons, so they are now officially my Tesseract Arks. These three will now be my Doomsday Arks. Transdimensional Projectors from the Seraptek for their big guns, and wrist-mounted Gauss Flayers identical in design to my Ghost Ark (not added yet) will be the Gauss Flayer Arrays.
1/3 Doomsday Ark spine for the hips. Gauss Flayers will be bashed onto wrists for Gauss Flayer Arrays.
Triarch Stalker full kit. Combo claws for legs and parts of the arms (be prepared to cut a lot), main body? is the "head", with cockpit armor plates for the top, particle shredder for the bottom torso.
Annihilation Barge spine for the crest, and part of the central fusilage to join to the particle shredder. Engines for the butt boosters (you can't see em in this photo, but take a look at my other walkers)
Tomb Blades for the feet (heat shields, guidance vanes, engines), legs (particle casters) and forearm (tesla carbine)
Wraiths for the hands (claws, armor plates)
Drop pod harnesses on the feet
Transdimenstional Projectors from the Seraptek for the guns.
Odds and ends for bits and details, pretty much exclusively from the Necron kits (mostly the above).
Boss Salvage wrote:Yessssssssss - sweet star gods, I do love your Necron stuff. Seraptek guns are particularly legit on them.
Sheet ghosts look great, very cool to see Kurdoss Valentian complete in your scheme. Nice rich gold as counterpoint to all the blended cloth.
Good luck with Lasik! And escaping Borderlands 3!
Thanks! I'd been struggling for a long time on how to build a second gun variant until FW released the Seraptek a while back. That was really the missing piece of the puzzle, and I finally found the time to put it all together, so I'm really happy!
Yea I'm a little nervous but mostly excited! It'll be nice to wake up and just be able to see, no contacts or glasses required!
Just a quick update. I had my girlfriend lasercut an insert for my Tablewar tray to use as a simple display board (joke army, I wanted minimal effort). Thank goodness for architecture students and their access to fancy toys and materials!
Unfortunately the wood we used for the board was so porous that the warping was insane when I applied the texture paste. Took a week of constant wetting and drying under weights to get the thing relatively flat (it still bows a bit, but not as noticeably) and dry. Finally airbrushed and dusted it last night, so final pics of the army.
The weathering powder really helps tie everything in and tones down the harshness of the bases from previous photos.
I want to say it was balsa wood? It wasn't terribly thick. It's two sheets stacked, probably 3 or 4 mm per sheet.
I think the issue was I glued both sheets together first (super glue), and then applied the ground texture to the top. So the top sheet warped and pulled the bottom along with it. But I could only apply moisture on the bottom of the second sheet to try and counter balance, so it was harder to correct. I think in hindsight I'll apply the texture first, correct the warping on the top sheet, and THEN glue the sheets together. Lesson learned!
Yea I mean joke army as in the list is jokes. I don't expect the army to do particularly well, but then battle score is only 25 points out of 150 for the entire event (mostly presentation and sportsmanship) so whatevs!
Love the crew, Dumbhammer as it may be in this meta, still tempted to join the dreadtasm party and go full stompy mechas too. I also really love how narrow that display board is, I'm so used to be dumb squares, in KOW but especially 40k. Nice to see a more compact, svelte display / tournament board.
IGtR= wrote: Your work rate is so impressive. Have just caught up on a whole set, and I must say the crystal spell is fantastic
Cheers! Yea I'm usually a pretty quick painter who works in bursts, usually with weeks or months of productivity and then down-time when I either don't do anything, or just do random one-offs to reset mental before jumping back into armies.
Finished my last 15 Revenants last night. That wraps up all the infantry for my Nighthaunt, and leaves only Reikenor and the Black Coach before the army is complete. From there, an Olynder would wrap up the collection, but as I never game with her, I'm probably going to save her for a fun one-off project with the hopes that one day she'll be good.
Took a nice break last night, reorganized my model case and then spent some time hanging out with friends (would you believe our group has six birthdays this month. SIX!)
I've got a few things that don't normally reside in the case because of frequency of usage (my current Legion of Grief list and my Dreadnoughts are packed in Tablewar cases, and my Necron walker WIPS are still on my desk).
Horde of spoops looks great, also cool to see the halfway step before this. Grats on really thundering through the 'Haunt, looking forward to the mega couch.
I post a lot on the "1HourANight" Facebook Group, so that's probably where you saw them? I'm also fairly active on the "40k Converters - Kit bash Carnage" and "Nighthaunt Age of Sigmar" groups, as well as lurking in a Necron group and the 'Eavier Metal group as well, so if you browse those groups you might see my work on occasion.
Astronomi-con was a lot of fun this weekend. The army performed almost exactly like I expected, and better in some situations. My overall record was 3:1:1. Win against Dark Angels, Vostroyan Guard, and Raven Guard, tied against a Nurgle Dreadnought army (one of #TeamDreadnought), and got hilariously smashed by a mechanized Ork army (he said they were blue, which gave every squad a reroll to hit, wound, and damage every phase? I don't know what that means, but he definitely went in dry).
I'm going to spoiler each game so that if people don't care to see lousy photos of my games, it won't kill my website bandwidth (which I guess I had made the mistake last month of not optimizing my Dreadnought photos; my monthly bandwidth spiked so hard I almost exceeded my limit! We'll see how it goes this month).
These won't be as detailed as last year; I didn't really bother getting copies of my opponent's lists because I expected to go 0:5..maybe 1:4. I'll recall highlights and hijinks and the broad strokes. I'll add the scenarios for each game too so you can get a sense of each narrative mission, and then I have a post-mortem on my opinion on the state of narrative within the event.
My list - Lamenters Space Marines I ran two detachments (Spearhead and Vanguard)
Dreadnought Librarian, Wings, Quickening, Veritas Vitae, Artisan of War (D4 Halberd), Storm Bolter Dreadnought Librarian, Shield, Rage, Storm Bolter Death Company Dread, Paired Fists, Heavy Flamer, Storm Bolter, Magna Grapple Redemptor Dreadnought, Onslaught Cannons, 2 Storm Bolters, Icarus Rocket Pod Deredeo Dreadnought, Plasma Carronade, 2 Heavy Bolters, Aiolos Missile Launcher Contemptor Mortis, 2 Lascannons Contemptor Mortis, 2 Twin Heavy Bolters Leviathan, Storm Cannon, Chainfist with Meltagun, 2 Heavy Flamers Leviathan, Storm Cannon, Chainfist with Meltagun, 2 Heavy Flamers
So, hilarious army to play. I forgot that my Redemptor had 2 Storm Bolters for the first game, and apparently I forgot that they had Meltaguns in their fists THE ENTIRE EVENT. So that was fun. For fluff, I gave the Warlord the Veritas Vitae relic, but truthfully I should have given it to the support Librarian. I suicided my Warlord almost every game (succeeded almost every time too, he only survived the first game), so it would've been nicer to be able to attempt to regen some CP beyond the 2nd or 3rd turn.
Also, Plasma Deredeos are hella fun. I think more-so than fist Leviathans, and also much more effective. I'm definitely adding a second to bump my army up to 2000 points. I will more than likely keep the Leviathans because they draw fire, I can use them to bully, and they're flexible and mobile enough to give me some options.
The Twin Heavy Bolter Contemptor Mortis was fun, but completely ineffective. It didn't help that I faced a lot of Space Marines and vehicles all weekend, so his S5 AP-1 guns had no real targets.
The Redemptor was, as expected, a complete hunk of junk. He had his one game of glory where he was the MVP, and then just sat around being useless every other game. If I can take Invictor warsuits, I'm swapping this guy out. A real shame because I love the model.
Game 1 - Opponent: Dark Angels Space Marines
The scenario was pretty straightforward. 6 Relics worth 1 VP, potentially 2 VP, with narrative focused around pre-emptive revealing and holding more. My opponent had a pretty fun list; some Eliminators and scouts, a few support characters, Azrael, 6 Hellblasters, 3 squads of 5 Intercessors, a Repulsor and the Executioner.
If you imagine the table as a 2x3 grid of 2'x2' squares, we placed a Relic in each one. I placed mine further up because I knew I would be pushing aggressively into him anyways.
Spoiler:
Because of the way the scenario was set up, we each only deployed 2 units to start, with rolling reserves from turn 1. I deployed my Redemptor on the left flank and hid the Lascannon Contemptor on the right once I'd seen him deploy his Executioner. His second unit was the Repulsor. I won the first turn and advanced up with the Redemptor to hide behind the building. My Leviathans both arrived on the left flank, my Death Company dread in the center, and my Heavy Bolter Contemptor on the right.
I plinked a couple wounds off the Repulsor with Lascannons and failed to dent the Executioner with Storm Cannons.
My opponent brings in some Hellblasters, Intercessors, and an Apothecary, and with shooting takes off 6 wounds from the front Leviathan. The Repulsor removes the Death Company Dread, while the Redemptor gets taken to 6 wounds by the Executioner. His Lieutenant arrives on my right flank and he hides it behind a building out of LoS.
Spoiler:
My Deredeo arrives and I place it to cover the left corridor, drawing a bead to the Executioner. My Librarians continue to durdle each other somewhere off the field. My Leviathans remove the Hellblasters and all but 1 Intercessor, while the Deredeo shares some Wisdom of the Ancients, removing 15 wounds from the Executioner. Both Contemptors open fire on the Repulsor, bringing him down to 3 wounds.
My Redemptor charges the Executioner, losing 3 wounds in the process but finishing off the tank.
In response, my opponent brings in an Intercessors squad on my back left flank, and deep strike/grav chutes his Reivers 9" away from my Deredeo. Azrael arrives and advances up to support the Repulsor, while some scouts and Eliminators pop up in the central tower. The Repulsor pours its fire into the Deredeo, but failing to make a dent, while all the infantry shoot into the Deredeo, only inflicting 4 wounds. The Reivers attempt a charge but fail. The Intercessors manage a box-car charge and get to the Deredeo, but fail to mark. I return, I spartan kick one, causing a wound. haHAH take THAT, Caliban scum!
Spoiler:
My Librarians finally arrive in the center, and they move towards the central objective. My Contemptors advance to chase the Repulsor, while my Deredeo retreats from combat to allow a Leviathan to light the Intercessors up. The other Leviathan continues advancing on my opponent's backfield, while my Redemptor continues to swiggity-swoogity after the Repulsor.
One Leviathan removes the Intecessors in my backfield, while the other opens up on the Eliminators, removing 2 of them. My Warlord casts wings to swoop over the wall, preparing for 1.1" charge on the poor Reivers. The HB Contemptor opens up on the Scouts, killing 2, while the Las Contemptor finishes off the Repulsor. Warlord charges and, to no one's surprise, pulps 5 unfortunate Reivers.
My opponent moves up with his characters to achieve some narrative points on the objectives, since he realistically can't stop my army at this point. Azrael charges the Redemptor but we bounce off. Azrael because he couldn't wound me, and the Redemptor because he's just a piece of garbage.
Spoiler:
Victory, and I managed to score A, B and E narrative objectives. There were no Supply Crates worth 2 VPs, and I failed to control the last Supply Crate.
Game 1 - Opponent: Orks
Another easy scenario with a twist. King of the Hill with Power Levels, and a Storm Front that reduces visibility (-1 to hit for shooting into/through/out of), impacts movement (half move, can't advance), and flyers (if you have Fly, on a 1 or 2, you are reduced to zero wounds as you crash and burn).
I honestly don't remember his army. A couple battle wagons filled with nobs and boys, a bunch of buggies/trukks, some grots, an artillery piece, and a Mek who was without doubt his MVP.
We both deployed in a line and pushed into each other. Honestly all I know about Orks is that they're fast, so I forgo'd fancy maneuvers, bunched up, and ran straight at him to inflict a massive sucker punch. Alas, his plan to bunch up and run straight at me proved the cleverer...
Spoiler:
I went first, moved up, and put some wounds on the lead Battlewagon. I shot at some Grots for the Narrative, but failed to completely kill all 10 (only got 9) in the Shooting Phase. The last one ran to Battleshock, denying me the point. I'd never get the chance to try again.
In response, he pushed forward. His Mek shoots and removes the Leviathan on my right. His rockets all pour into the second Leviathan, taking him down to 6 wounds. The lead trukk charges in, taking my Death Company dread down to 4 wound, but I do manage to kill him in return. He explodes, because of course he does, inflicting 3 Mortal Wounds to both the DC Dread, the Leviathan, and taking off 2 wounds from my Warlord.
Spoiler:
I move my Leviathan and Warlord up, because what else can I do at this point. DC Dread advances up to be a nuisance. The Las Contemptor and Deredeo focus on the left Battlewagon, with the intent of cracking it open to let my Dreadnoughts try and punch the Nobs down in combat. They bring the Ork monstrosity down to 4 wounds but fail to kill it. My Leviathan opens up but fails to make a dent with his Storm Cannon (I don't know if remember the Meltagun would've helped, but who knows at this point). My Leviathan charges in, killing it. It explodes and deals 3 Mortal Wounds to my Leviathan and 3 Mortal Wounds to my Warlord. My Leviathan then explodes, dealing another 2 wounds to my Warlord to finish him off. Super duper. Thanks Obama.
Thankfully all these explosions plinked some wounds to the second Battlewagon, because my Redemptor charges into it and kills it in a fit of rage. Michael Bay would be proud.
Spoiler:
His boys advance up, pistolling the Redemptor with the Big Mek to finish it off. Trukks continue their advance and take my Deredeo to half wounds.
Spoiler:
My Contemptor Mortis and Librarian pour fire into the Orks, while the Deredeo splits his Plasma against the Nobs, with everything else on the Boys. Lascannons remove a trukk. At this point, I'm playing for the hill. The storm has basically blanketed the table and with his movement impaired, if I can kill the Nobs and survive with at least one Dreadnought, I'll win through Power Levels.
My opponent continues his slow advance while his Big Mek and Trukk remove the HB Contemptor.
Spoiler:
My Lascannon Contemptor kills another Trukk full of boys to prevent them from ever reaching the hill, while my Deredeo advances to toe the edge. The Librarian pours shots into the Grots, but fails to kill them all, and charges in to finish off the Nobs.
My opponent's Big Mek kills the Lascannon Contemptor, while his left Trukks and Grots shoot into the Librarian, killing it.
Spoiler:
My Deredeo shoots to try and kill the trukk to his right, but fails to inflict any damage, and dies to the rest of the Ork shooting.
Spoiler:
My only loss of the event, and I only achieved Narrative Objective D. The game spiraled downhill quickly, with a lot of unlucky rolls for me and a lot of lucky ones for him (rerolling Damage from 1 to not a 1 was huge for him, and he could do it for everything without CP spend). That Big Mek was devastating too, although he blew through his 15 CP within the first two turns. Still, a close game near the end, and had I been a little luckier with saves (or him a little unluckier with damage), the game could've swung my way.
Game 3 - Opponent: Vostroyan Astra Militarum
Capture the cultists by killing them in combat. If you die while holding them, they squee off towards the nearest table edge. Rolling Reserves with Infantry allowed to start on the board.
He had a lot of infantry squads, a Basilisk, 2 Leman Russes, 2 Sentinels, a Hellhound, and 2 Manticores. Unfortunately my Reserve rolls for this game were very poor, while he managed to roll almost everything onto the board almost immediately.
I chose to not deploy my one allowed unit on the board so that the Cultists would spend their first turn running directly towards my board edge (away from the nearest enemy unit) to make it a little easier for me.
Spoiler:
My Warlord and the HB Contemptor arrived in the center, while the Deredeo arrived a little further back. The Redemptor, Las Contemptor, and DC Dread arrived on the right flank. I positioned to charge Cultists to get some extra movement up, capturing two of them. My Redemptor shot off a squad of Guardsmen and the Lascannons failed to dent the Hellhound.
My opponent brings on a Leman Russ and his Manticores. He advances up his infantry to capture two Cultists. His shooting kills the Redemptor and the HB Contemptor.
Spoiler:
A Leviathan arrives in the center and moves up, charging a Cultist to gain movement forward. My Deredeo moves up and shoots some infantry and the Hellhound off the board. My Librarian captures the Sorceror and Wings himself forward into cover, Probably a mistake, but he was far too out of position to Wings away from the Manticores anyways, so when in doubt, charge forward.
The DC Dread moves to recapture the a Cultist, while my Lascannon Dread does nothing to the Russes, and charges to capture the Cultist that my Redemptor dropped when he died.
My opponent brings on his second Leman Russ and continues his advance. His shooting removes my Warlord, and thankfully the Sorceror runs towards my lines into the waiting arms of my remamining Dreadnoughts. His Leman Russes target my Leviathan, taking him down to half wounds but failing to kill it. He brings his Basilisk on the right flank (not shown), but it's shooting is ineffectual.
Spoiler:
My last Leviathan and Librarian arrive, capturing the Cult Leader and Sorceror on the left flank for the narrative objectives. My Leviathan and Deredeo advance up the center to cut off his forces and finish off his infantry. At this point I know i just have to kill as much as I can to prevent him from killing my backfield objectives, so I focus on the Leman Russes and Basilisk. The Deredeo's Plasma wounds a Russ, with the Lascannons finishing it off.
The DC Dread charges and kills the Basilisk, positioning to threaten the last Leman Russ.
Spoiler:
My opponent's Leman Russ kills the Leviathan, while his Chimera and Sentinels finish off the DC DRead. His Manticores delete the Contemptor, whose cultist runs off the board.
By this point we are on the last turn (for time), and I know he can't get to any Cultists at this point. So I position my Leviathan and Deredeo forward (and also to claim quarters) while walking my Librarian backwards so that he has to kill both first. My Deredeo kills the Leman Russ and a Sentinel, while my Leviathan continues to focus down infantry squads.
My opponent puts some shots down, but doesn't manage to kill any Dreads, and the game finally ends (this was also the only game that went to time after 4 turns. I finished every other game in well under an hour and a half tops.
Spoiler:
Victory, and I score Narrative Objectives A, B and D.
All in all, not a bad first day. Three great opponents and some very fun games. I didn't just sweep every game like last year with my Necrons, so I was already having a great time, plus a 9-model army is incredibly easy to play. It's a liberating experience.
That was the end of the first day. They kept the hall open for open-gaming after hours, but one of my friends (and also a member of #TeamDreadnought #NoTroops #TroopsAreForLosers) just passed his citizenship exam so we all went out for dinner and drinks instead. Hung out in the hotel, shot the gak, had some real talk moments, and then went to bed at a reasonable 11:30 pm.
Adults!
Game 4 - Opponent: Death Guard Dreadnoughts
2 Daemon Princes, 2 Hellforged Leviathans, 3 Contemptors with Pi-tards, and a Plasma Deredeo. Basically meet in the middle and may the best smash win!
The scenario was very Tatooine like, with 5 moisture vaporators as objectives and a central building as the 6th. We very quickly (I'd dare say immediately) ignored them and charged forward to meet in the middle. Shooting over 24" was at -1 to hit per the scenario. I finished deploying first and got first turn.
Spoiler:
I walked up and plinked his Deredeo to half wounds with some Lascannons and Heavy Bolters. My DC Dread walked up behind cover to position for a charge. His return fire took off a wound (I passed SO MANY FNP rolls), while his Pi-tards took my Redemptor down to 7 wounds.
Spoiler:
My DC Dread moved to engage the Contemptors, while my Warlord took all the buffs and Wings'd up to engage both Princes. My shooting kills the Contemptor protecting the Leviathans, while I knock off some wounds on one of the top Contemptors. The rest of my fire plinks the Deredeo down to 1 wound.
My DC Dread charges into the Contemptors, while my Librarian combo charges the Princes. With 9 Attacks I absolutely nuke one of the Princes. My opponent interrupts and kills the DC Dread with his Contemptor, before his second Prince attacks and kills my Warlord. Burning my last CP, I command my Warlord to Serve Even Unto Death, fighting again and with 9 attacks just obliterates the second Prince. My Warlord explodes and kills the Deredeo. #Worth
Ignore the Prince in that last photo. My friend had "forgotten" I had killed him and had made a move before remember he was dead.
Spoiler:
I guess I forgot to photograph the rest of the game, because it was TOO EXCITING. But basically his Contemptors removed my Redemptor and last Librarian, before being finished off by my Leviathans and Deredeo.
Our Leviathans ended up in cripple fights, being reduced to a handful of wounds each and hoping not to fail 4+ saves. I prevailed and tabled my opponent, with only the Deredeo (on 1 wound left because of overheats), a Leviathan on 3 wounds, and the Las Contemptor who had cowered in the back corner all game.
Unfortunately, because there are no Acceptable Losses in this scenario, the game instantly ended when I tabled my opponent. As I was brilliantly holding zero objectives, we both tied on the primary win condition, and both only scored the one Narrative Objective if our opponent holds no objectives!
Lunch Break - Dreadnought Smash!
All four members of Team Dreadnought had finished their games an hour and a half ahead of schedule, so we took an early lunch and had a delightful brunch buffet with pancakes, french toast, sausage, eggs, bacon, and a sweet fruit platter.
We then commandeered a free table and proceeded to smash each others...junk...off, in a 45 minute 2v2 3400 pt Dreadnought Rumble!
We randomly rolled pairs, and I partnered with the Death Guard, while the Red Corsairs partnered up.
I'm not going to play by play this, but suffice to say, everything exploded. We ended up winning with a handful of Contemptors, a Leviathan, and a Deredeo alive.
Spoiler:
Game 5 - Opponent: Raven Guard Space Marines
(Un)Fortunately, this last game was so much fun, I literally forgot to photograph anything. So you get the scenario, the table, and his army.
The scenario was simple enough; get into each others deployment zones with 9+ more PL than they have defending it.
Spoiler:
We basically spent the game trading. I killed some Intercessors and Eliminators, he'd Xiphon kill my Warlord. I killed his Xiphon, his Repulsor would kill a Contemptor. I killed his Repulsor, he'd kill my Librarian.
Fortunately at this point he had nothing left to actually kill Dreadnoughts so the trading stopped and I ended up mashing through the rest of his infantry.
I ended the game with the win and scored Narrative Objectives B, C, and E.
All in all a really fun event, although the release of the new Marine book really skewed the meta. 40 players, and only 3 Orks, 1 Tau, and 3 Guard players. The rest were Space Marines of some variety (4 Dreadnought armies and 2 Custodes).
We were also discussing some of the scenarios afterwards and we're coming to the realization that unfortunately the gamestate of 40k means narrative kind of goes out the window. These scenarios have more or less stayed the same since 3rd or 4th edition, with some adaption for the new rules. Armies were much less alpha-strike killy back then, and so Narrative objectives really played a big deal.
Now, you can just focus on killing your opponent and only have to half-think about the objectives because you invariably can achieve a fair number of them even just by tabling them.
Still, a fun time, and we've already begun brainstorming our team theme for next year. #Xenos possibly #AlternateDreadnoughts? I'm going to push for a Wraithhost, but if it's just Xenos, I might just bring back my Necrons.
So the Lasik operation on Thursday went off without a hitch. Basically out of commission for the Thursday (literally nothing to do except sleep and put a series of eyedrops in every hour), but Friday my vision had already improved.
Spent Friday just finishing Reikenor in bursts, since I don't want to push my eyes for the next few days yet, and I've been working on my Black Coach off and on today as well.
Happy to hear surgery went well, I've not always heard that about eye stuff ... But of course you went right back to painting awesome things Great looking spoopy cav hero (are those wings freehand??), very cool to see the coach come together, I don't think I've seen much of the new model at all.
Also! Forgot to comment on the batreps - thanks for writing these up! Love the dreadbash in particular
Briancj wrote:Congrats! You and Taylor Swift now have something in common!
I'm just gonna go ahead and shake that off. ;P
Boss Salvage wrote:Happy to hear surgery went well, I've not always heard that about eye stuff ... But of course you went right back to painting awesome things Great looking spoopy cav hero (are those wings freehand??), very cool to see the coach come together, I don't think I've seen much of the new model at all.
Also! Forgot to comment on the batreps - thanks for writing these up! Love the dreadbash in particular
Yea I was actually very surprised at the recovery time. The day of the operation (Thursday) I was basically out of commission, but by Friday I was able to drive and could start managing short bursts of an hour or two here and there painting. I was pretty much back to 100% by the weekend (although my farsighted vision will still continue to improve over the next few weeks).
Theophony wrote:Glad the LASIK went well , my wife had it done years ago and had so much pain that it put me off of doing it.
Hero on horse looks great and nice start to the coach as well.
I don't know how they were years ago, but it was painless. From slicing the flap to lasers to closing the flap, it's barely 10-15 seconds per eye; most of the prep time is the surgeon talking to you, the numbing eye drops, and then final check. And a lot of waiting pre and post op.
The first pass on the wood is basically done. I'll decide if I need another few highlight steps once i get the colors worked up on the other areas. And some of the gaps on the ghosts will need to be filled; they didn't look that bad in assembly but once I got some paint on them, they're very glaring, and this is one of the few models in my army I actually care about since it will act as a centerpiece.
Organized my cabinet a bit and snapped a shot of my collection. The only thing missing from this is Lady Olynder, which I will paint after I work on my Necrons for a bit. I'm a little burnt out on painting Nighthaunt for a while.
Grand looking army that I've gushed about throughout, awesome to see it 98% complete and all in one place. That couch is immense, and an upside of that massive base is just how autumnal it looks with so many fallen leaves and a particularly spooky, Halloween-y feel. Great season to finish it up in
Grand looking army that I've gushed about throughout, awesome to see it 98% complete and all in one place. That couch is immense, and an upside of that massive base is just how autumnal it looks with so many fallen leaves and a particularly spooky, Halloween-y feel. Great season to finish it up in
Indeed, I was thinking the same thing. The painting is obviously superb, but the basing just sets it all off and makes it that much better.
Is the autumn basing material from GreenStuffWorld?
Cheers! Yea definitely a great season to wrap up the project. I'm going to be glad to be able to close the book on this army for a long while and have a fully painted force to game with.
Which is perfect timing because GW has started teasing the Ossiarch Bonereapers releases, and if the book is any good, I'm totally onboard with some bony spoops (they'll be done in an entirely different scheme from my Nighthaunt).
The leaves are just chili pepper flakes you buy from the grocery store. Spices make great basing materials!
DV8 wrote: Which is perfect timing because GW has started teasing the Ossiarch Bonereapers releases, and if the book is any good, I'm totally onboard with some bony spoops (they'll be done in an entirely different scheme from my Nighthaunt).
I ... am extra curious what you do with the Bonereapers. I'm not much of a fan of anything that isn't a character, and of those the more recent ones have been getting iffy *looks at the dude riding the rhino-horse, who is 180 degrees terrible from the great not-Celestant* It does seem like a natural progression for you though, with Necrons and Spoops already
The leaves are just chili pepper flakes you buy from the grocery store. Spices make great basing materials!
DV8 wrote: The leaves are just chili pepper flakes you buy from the grocery store. Spices make great basing materials!
Wow, looking again I see it, but before I'd never had thought it! Out of curiosity do you varnish it to seal it? I guess I am just curious about longevity.
Boss Salvage wrote:I ... am extra curious what you do with the Bonereapers. I'm not much of a fan of anything that isn't a character, and of those the more recent ones have been getting iffy *looks at the dude riding the rhino-horse, who is 180 degrees terrible from the great not-Celestant* It does seem like a natural progression for you though, with Necrons and Spoops already
The leaves are just chili pepper flakes you buy from the grocery store. Spices make great basing materials!
Whoa!
We'll see. I'm on the fence; the Bonereapers look like a cool army (mostly, I think the Trebuchet looks ridiculous and I'll have to convert it) and I like the unified aesthetic of the rest of the army , but it'll all depend on how powerful the army ends up being, and how it plays. I also don't want the army to play similar to my Nighthaunt (run at the enemy and trade, or just roll 3+/3+/-1/D1 attacks all day), which also truthfully makes me apprehensive about starting Orruks as well (which are a very powerful army, but also from what I can tell, quite boring to play).
If I do end up starting the army, I'd probably want to convert/model the army to be like the samurai attendant on Kratakos's base. I think a feudal japan samurai motif for the army would look hella sick, and I would hope the army plays less smash, more objective/board control. Maybe with less infantry and more cavalry.
H wrote:Wow, looking again I see it, but before I'd never had thought it! Out of curiosity do you varnish it to seal it? I guess I am just curious about longevity.
I just seal it with GW Purity Seal. Honestly never had an issue with longevity. I've used spices like Oregano and Thyme before and they've held up for years without issue. I don't foresee any issues with this army either.
Yorkright wrote: Stunning work DV8, your idea to use chili pepper flakes is very creative!
Now that my Spoopies are done, it's time to move onto the next project-to-do: space dead!
These guys are moving along in a bit of an assembly line grind. The ambitious goal is to finish my Necrons by the end of November (3 Doomsday Arks, Triarch Stalker, Tomb Sentinel, Cryptek, Overlord). I'm fairly confident that, assuming no major interruptions, I'll be able to accomplish this goal.
The main colors are blended up (a little rough in some spots but that's deliberate, it helps contribute to some of the weathered look). Time to start weathering and edge highlighting.
Woosh it's weird seeing the above photos on different devices; I think they ended up being under-exposed. Derp.
Had a pretty productive weekend. Finished my 3 Doomsday Arks, and I found some time to squeeze in quick paintjobs of Orikan and Trazyn (who will be generic Cryptek 2 and Overlord 1). I'm just going to say it: finecast sucks. You know it, I know it. It's a shame because the models are conceptually very cool, but the lack of crisp detail and edges (and insane miscasts) on these made me miss painting plastic almost immediately (and why I just rushed through them, because I just hated painting these guys).
Going to take a bit of a quick break and cleanse my hobby palette with Bane, which I'm doing for the monthly paint challenge. I've got some mold lines to remove and gaps to fill, but that should be relatively quick work and then I can start putting paint on this guy. Excited for something a little different (not sci-fi/fantasy)
Boss Salvage wrote: Still a baller of a design, even more so en masse. Big bots are looking superb, exciting to see you back on the 'Crons after a break.
Yea, it's nice to be able to jump back on this army and finish off all the odds and ends. I feel like I'm still on track for my year-end goal: Titanicus and Nighthaunt are 100% completed. I've got 2 more models (Stalker and Sentinel) to complete for my Necrons, plus the Bane Crew (which is just 6 models, so should be pretty easy).
If I have extra time in December, I'll paint up a bunch of rando scarabs to add to my bases and maybe 3 more swarms so I can do 3x3 or 1x9. Knowing me, I'll probably find time.
I also did the thing where I bought (almost) all the Bonereapers. Still haven't finalized a list I'm 100% happy with, but I'm probably going to start building them in January and start getting games under my belt. I'm torn between an infantry list centered around Katakros and Immortis, or an all-cavalry list. I think the cavalry list will probably be more effective, I just worry it'll end up being the same kind of forward aggression that I'm used to playing with Nighthaunt, which I kind of wanted to avoid, but might just be my thing. Max aggression!
Hot damn, that's a great Bane sculpt! Which I feel like I said before ... but screw it, still an awesome sculpt
'Grats on the 'Cron progress, commiserations on the finecast grossness. I've actually painted Oberyn twice in finecast for some reason (he appears in a Nurgle fantasy army as well as Necrons, is why ) as well as a finecast Cryptek, and wow, did all three experiences suck. I can't imagine they'll be rereleasing all the Necron special characters in plastic maybe ever, but the biggies like Zahndrekh, Imotekh, even Trazyn would be cool ...
Yea Knight Models makes some amazing sculpts. But honestly, I was less than impressed with the casting quality of the set. A lot of miscasts parts and shifted plates (some of the parts have shifted halves that make their weapons basically unusable), and when cleaning some parts, entire chunks of the model would flake off (you can see the palm of Bane's left hand; that's actually a chunk missing of the palm that I now need to fill in.
DV8 wrote: Yea Knight Models makes some amazing sculpts. But honestly, I was less than impressed with the casting quality of the set. A lot of miscasts parts and shifted plates (some of the parts have shifted halves that make their weapons basically unusable), and when cleaning some parts, entire chunks of the model would flake off (you can see the palm of Bane's left hand; that's actually a chunk missing of the palm that I now need to fill in.
Eww. I've heard nightmare tales of snapped ankles and wrists as well, which blessedly Bane here shouldn't suffer from!
I was all excited about this piece until I actually started painting it. The resin (or whatever) they use is so porous and absolute garbage that it made this model no fun to paint (especially noticeable in the face, under the arm pits, under his butt, and his torso sides.
But it's done, and now I'm not looking forward to the rest of his crew. :/
Back to my Necrons. I'm hoping to have my Triarch Stalker and Sentinel done by week's end.
Damn dude! Big lad looks the absolute business, and I'm still a fan of that sculpt, even if the material is junk (one of the reasons I've stayed away from Knight's stuff)
Yea, it's a game I want to get into more, because it's so mechanically simple and just low-stakes, so having a fun little skirmish game to pass the time is always great to bust out every once in a while (for the longest time, it was Guild Ball, but that community died fast here, and I hate games like Warcry, Kill Team, and Shadespire. yech).
I almost picked up the Harry Potter game, given my wife and like all my friends are HP maniacs, when it went suuuuper cheap online. But I dunno, so many metal minis, so many faces to paint, so unclear what's going on with the game (still looks to be supported, but rapid new editions or something?) Part of me is still intrigued tho. Another part of me is sad I didn't pick up the Suicide Squad starter box, which also went dumb cheap on MM ...
Boss Salvage wrote:I almost picked up the Harry Potter game, given my wife and like all my friends are HP maniacs, when it went suuuuper cheap online. But I dunno, so many metal minis, so many faces to paint, so unclear what's going on with the game (still looks to be supported, but rapid new editions or something?) Part of me is still intrigued tho. Another part of me is sad I didn't pick up the Suicide Squad starter box, which also went dumb cheap on MM ...
Honestly I'm not a huge fan of Knight Models. Their business model and the way they treat retailers is abyssmal, and they barely support an existing game before the continuously change and update rules. It's not even like the game itself has a chance to settle; they'll release a few boxes for DCU and suddenly "NEW EDITION", but they don't send product to retailers to push anything; it's always exclusive to Kickstarter or their online store.
I love the HP minis (I want the Potter-Granger-Weasley trio, but I'm not going to buy the entire core game for those 3, so nix to that).
aku-chan wrote:Bane looks great despite your resin woes.
Yea, like....from the tabletop it's not even that noticeable. It's only really when I'm painting him and under super-close inspection that all the flaws are noticeable. I'm going to blitz through the rest of his crew over December and move on with my life. Hopefully if/when I add to the force, the models will have better quality.
I spent Saturday finishing up my Necrons (my last Stalker and Sentinel). Which also means, minus the Seraptek (which I will get to at some point in 2020), that my Necrons are finito!
And then I spent my Sunday prepping some models for this month (the Bane Crew) and one of my main army projects for 2020 (Infinity Combined).
I also did a thing. My other army project for 2020.
OB half of Feast of Bones, Start Collecting (for Arkhan), Katakros, Liege Kavalos, Boneshaper, Bonereaper, 4x Kavalos Deathriders, Mortek Guard, Necropolis Stalkers, a Harvester, and 2x Crawlers.
Boss Salvage wrote:Caught the Necron update on IG, love your stalker conversions so much Also I'm over here flailing about the impending Avatar
Yah, I'm excited to paint it! I have first pass at a list (with a lot of help), so that'll be where I'm focusing my efforts. I'm probably going to start with a few of my Drones and simpler models to really nail down my color scheme first, but once I do, I think the entire force will paint up relatively quickly, so I'm looking forward to painting the Avatar as well! Already have my color scheme nailed and everything!
Midget Gems wrote:So much win in this blog DV8, you are a painting legend in my eyes.
Keep up the amazing work
Thanks Midget Gems!
My Bane Crew is done. I struggled with a lot of details (especially on the armor) on this because I'm not used to painting these models and they weren't as crisp as the GW models I'm used to, but once I got into the groove and finished the first guy (axes) the rest painted up pretty quickly (nailed down the colors and detail style pretty easily). I'm looking forward to when I have to add more guys to this crew!
Finishing this crew has wrapped up my projects for the year, and way ahead of schedule. I'm undecided what my plans for the rest of the month are. I'm experiencing some soreness in my wrists so I might take a break from painting miniatures for a bit and maybe build a display board for my Bane crew and/or start building my Bonereapers. We'll see.
youwashock wrote:Really, really well done. Aside from the big man (and the teddy), I think I like Snake-Eyes the most.
Yea I really ended up enjoying him a lot because he was such a simple piece. The sword was a lot of fun to do the NMM on and it was nice balancing out the brown straps and patches with his black skin suit.
It's tough to pick a favorite for me. I really like the Dreadnought; his armor was a lot of fun to paint and I just love how imposing he is standing a head above everyone else except Bane.
Been a quiet couple of weeks. I've not picked up a brush at all, in keeping with my intent to not paint any models for the rest of the year, but I have been busy with a lot of building, in between all the family get-togethers and holiday festivities.
I've started putting together the display board for my Bane crew, although I'm waiting on a couple of Green Stuff Rollers to do the ground texturing. I also have one more building to put on the right side (you can see the triangle footprint for it).
I've also built my 2000 points of Ossiarch Bonereapers. The army will have a feudal Japan theme, so samurai helmets and sashimonos all around. There's some minor gap filling I need to do on a few models, and then I can start painting.
I also need to build/convert the Nexus into an undead Pagoda.
I know that only Arkhan, and not Neferata, can be taken in OBR, but I love the model so much (and infinitely better than Arkhan and his swiss cheese cape). I've swapped Nef's dagger hand for Arkhan's reins, and I've also swapped her staff for Mannfred's scythe-staff, just to show that she's not truly Neferata, but some kind of Witch that accompanies and enacts her Dai-myo's bidding (isn't there always?).
For easier painting, almost everything has been sub-assemblied in some form or another (and blue-tac'd on for the time being):
Vokmortian's coffin (counts-as Boneshaper) is separate. Mortek Guard shields are separate. Liege Kavalos and Kavalos Deathrider upper bodies are separate. Neferata rider is separate. All the Mortek Crawler crew and the artillery ammunition are separate as well. The Necropolis Stalkers are the only thing that are fully assembled.
Got to see the OBR at Miniaturemarket being played today, much neater with not GW paint scheme.
Yea seeing the models in person, I think there's a lot you can do with them. I'm looking forward to something not quite as "bright" as GW's "everything is polished bone".
Boss Salvage wrote:Exciting bone dude army ahead, dig that you're pushing hard at the samurai quasi-theme GW diddled around with. Also Neferata is bae
I can understand GW's design aesthetic for the army; the OBR are supposed to be a hodgepodge of innumerable cultures, so you have a mix of Samurai, almost Greek hoplite style shields, Persian scimitars, there's a subtle hint to Roman plate armor, etc. Basically taking the best parts of the best warriors from all over the globe. It's actually one of the most cohesively designed armies GW's done in a long time (certain designs like the Crawler not-with-standing), and even if they didn't lean hard into the Samurai theme, you see the same kind of stylized elements repeated throughout.
I think it also makes the army really easy to lean into a particular theme by just changing up a few elements. You could easily reinforce a Roman theme by replacing all the shields with Scutums swords with Gladii, and spears with Pila, for example (and I had considered these too). Admittedly banners would take more work, and the Galia (helmets) might take some work...
So yea, I'm really glad that just the simple addition of back banners and using the Samurai heads for all the figures really sells the theme.
Yea I'm looking forward! I'm going to try and develop a quick, gritty way to do the bone that doesn't involve individually blending each one, otherwise I think I'll go crazy! I'll make sure a lot of effort is spent on the armor and banners to make up for it!
You may want to try and resize some of your pics, they are so huge they crash my phone every time I open the thread. On my IPad right now, and it’s still struggling on the page sizing.
Yea, I want it to be a nice quick fun project that may eventually grow larger as an alternative to my Necrons (doubtful, I don't love 40k that much, but I do love doubles, and I do love beerhammer!)
Apologies about the images; it seems I derped and forgot to resize them when I saved/uploaded!
Love how tall it is, such a happy departure from the weird Phantom Menace-style droid delivery truck. Paint continues to bring that extra layer of cool to your designs - also impressed with your basing, really stands out in the progress shots for this guy.
.
, not on the clothing. Well done.
on the top of the big legs before 
......I mean good luck and win their money 
. The colors are looking great so far on her, I know your facing some strong competition with their models from other painters, so good luck.
ing criminal.
