Welcome to my first army blog!
I decided to do a blog for the creation of my latest
40k army for a number of reasons, primarily to ensure I didn't do my usual and paint a couple of units, then put the rest of the army in the cupboard, from where it will taunt me with my failure to get the damn thing finished! At least if I feel an obligation to other people who have been kind enough to take a few moments out of their lives to read my incoherent rambling and look at some pics I may be more likely to keep up with it.
That's the theory, anyway...
The other main motivation was, as the title says, to do an army 'by the book' and to share my experiences in doing so. To explain what I mean let me take you back to a time in my mid twenties when I worked for
GW. As with every staffer I would often be found dispensing sage words to 'young 'uns' regarding their latest project. "Always finish building and painting each purchase before you start on the next", I would say, "When you have enough units to play a game, do so before you buy anything else. Test your army and see how things are working to inform your next purchase. Where are you struggling, what do you think you need more of..." and so on.
Needless to say, I
never followed my own advice. I have always picked up a codex, written an army and then used it as a shopping list. This has led to a succession of half finished and often unsuccessful armies. This time, its going to be different. No, really
The first decision (which army to do) was made very easy by the release of the new
DE codex. Craftworld Eldar were my first
40k army and I always loved the aesthetic, but for me Jes Goodwin has outdone himself with the new
DE sculpts and Phil Kelly's new codex is a masterpiece. The fact that everything came out a couple of months before Christmas meant my wishlist suddenly contained 'anything for
DE' and Christmas morning found me dutifully unwrapping a Raider, Ravager and a box of Harlequins. Bless my family, they picked up cool and shiny without reading an
FOC 
My first job, then was to purchase an Archon and a box of Kabalite Warriors and set to work.
With my first squad built I needed a scheme for painting and basing. I decided to go for a fairly bleak basing style. Some cat litter provided the larger rocks with sand for the rest of the base. Painting was simply Vermin Brown, then Bleached Bone, drybrushed over the black undercoat, with the rocks painted codex grey and drybrushed with fortress grey. The foliage is a couple of small patches of Woodland Scenics 'burnt grass - coarse turf' to soften the flatness. Graveyard earth painted on the edge finished the base off.
The paint scheme is built around the armour being a dark blue. To provide the strongest possible contrast I used pale shades and deep orange - colours which will be seen later on the banners and sails currently being designed.
Well, thats all for now. I have the rest of the first squad built, undercoated and based and have built the raider. When these are done I'll be putting the archon together and buying a second box of warriors or a squad of wyches to give me the compulsary elements for the army, at which point I'll be hitting the tables for the first playtests. Needless to say I'll be updating this thread as new units are added to the army and all feedback will be gratefully received.
bad moonz
Kabal of Black heart
