Reavers of the Obsidian Rose (Part 3)

Since last time I have finished these Reaver Bikers. And really, the only thing that I had to do was the painting on the riders themselves. Which I did following the steps taken for the Kabalite Warriors shown on this blog and the skin tone steps as laid out in the Raiders of Commorragh book.

Head'n straight at you! 

Anyone with even a fleeting familiarity with these models will notice that I have yet to mount them onto their flying stands. Like I did for the Venom, I want to magnify these things for easier storage. At this time I am seeking out options, so hang in there, it will happen!

In hindsight...

Da masta Cheef, when I sent him some of these pics, said to me:
 "Looking good! So are you going to add a NSFW* tag when you display pics of them from the thong side?😆"

Funny! But he does have a point, the Dark Eldar are a bit naughty aren't they? Is it weird that he was more concerned about thongs than he was Daemonettes boobs? Of course if he was actually working instead of goofing off there wouldn't be an issue, right? 😉

NSFW?! Dude, we ARE working! 

Speaking of working, I have got more work to do before we wrap up this thread:

Lots of work to do! 

Out of this pile 'o sprue I need to build some special weapon Reavers and at least one Sybarite rider. And, again, magnets. Look for these in furture parts!


*Not Safe For Work. 

The Deadly Assassins (Part 4)

Here we are again with the annual (-ish) feature on the Imperial Assassins. This time around I decided to finish this Culexus Assassin that has been halfway painted for sbout 15 years now. Unlike the two previous Assassins (Vindicare and Eversor) that were painted following steps from the White Dwarf Weekly issue that focused on the Execution Force boxed game release, this guy was painted in grey tones.

Culexus Assassin taught me to point at my target when I throw things. 

When I dug him out and compared him to the other two, I found the contrast to be a bit too intense, so I toned it back with a conservative wash of Nuln Oil.

Does he need a skull on that base? Hmmm...

The straps were painted using Khorne Red, Nuln Oil and Pink Horror. I picked out the cables using contrasting colors and applied Nuln Oil to the recesses on the helmet. After painting the psyche-out grenades I added grass tufts to the base and it was finished.

Vs. The Psychic Warp Mushroom! 

Just the Calidus left and I will have my old school Execution Force done!

Just a quick story about this guy before we sign off: I used to use the Culexus with my Space Wolves back in 3rd Ed. His rules back then would reduce the Leadership of all within 12" of him. And I used that rule with cunning efficiency. It was especially helpful against the Necrons at the time as they would be forced to take a LD test after so many losses to see if they would Phase Out of the battle. Using the Culexus I was able defeat Necrons at least twice due to the differnce he made in LD. Ahhh, It was a glorius time!

Reavers of the Obsidian Rose (Part 2)

Continuing on from the Part-1, I got the second Reaver up to the same basecoat level as the first one.

Basecoated in Khorne Red. 

Then I painted them up to the next level using Blood Red.

 Blood Red. 

 The next two layers were Wildrider Red and final highlight of Sunburst Yellow.

Here they are being compared to the Venom that I painted last month. Note that the curvature of the Reaver Bikes are exceptionally good at catching a glare so photographing these things is a bit tricky.

Venom comparison.

 Using a bit of sponge I dabbed on some areas to give the impression of scratched paint. This was done primarily to the Bladevanes and sharp edges.

Scrapes applied.

 A further highlight of Mitheril Silver was added to the edges of the blades and randonly added to a few spot to look like fresh gashes.

Mithril Silver added to the blades. 

Notice the bike with the overhead gun; I just couldn't allow the illogic of having the blade nearly touching the rider's head to continue. So I trimmed it off and together with another blade glued it to the side of the Splinter Rifle to give a sort of pronged claw-like look. I think it improved the look of that bike also!

So these first two Reaver Bikes are done, I just need to finish the riders next.

Reavers of the Obsidian Rose (Part 1)

Expanding on my Dark Eldar force, it seemed fitting to move onto the Reavers. These are the Reavers from the 1998 line of Dark Eldar, of which I have ten models that need to be assembled. I have never built any of these before, so you are about to witness my first encounters with this kit.

These two mint in box models were won on ebay for less than their original SRP!

For being 20 years old now, I am impressed with how well these seem to hold up! They are multi-part and (mostly) snap-fit. The pic below shows the model assembled with pretty much no glue.

Snapped together for a preview.

Naturally, I glued it anyway. However I stalled shy of assembling the rear bladevines and gun mount. I like the sleekness of this model, but the extra junk hanging off of it betrays the aerodynamic nature of it's design and bulks it up. Also, the blades surrounding the driver seem senselessly dangerous for him. Granted, these are insane and cruel sadomasochists with a surprising lack of self-worth, but I don't think that they are stupid either. But I will return to those thoughts in a moment...

One thing I want to address right away are the stupid looking heads on these things. They have not aged well in the past 20 years, but to be fair, they looked stupid even then. The heads look like a cross between a gimp and a Foot Clan Ninja (TMNT reference). In fact, too much of the '98 Dark Eldar release seems overly inspired by the Shredder and his minions for it to be a coincidence. I mean really, right down to the color schemes! Well, I am not sticking with that idea, and decided to do what I did with my Kabalite Warriors and swap their heads out with spare heads from the current kits.

Head swap! 

It worked out well. You just have to size up the new head against the old head and, with an xacto blade, reform the neck by cutting and shaving off the ball joint at the base of the new one, until you have a conforming neck. So far it has worked out well.

Base coat started.

I started the painting by basecoating the main body of the bike in Khorne Red, leaving most of the black base color exposed. This will follow the steps laid out in Venom Part-2.  The flesh tones will follow the steps laid out in the Raiders of Commorragh book starting with Cadian Flesh as a base. I think this wearing-a-thong-while-riding a-superfast-bike idea is hilarious. Twisted, but hilarious.

Cadian Flesh in areas no Cadian model has flesh exposed.

Back to the weird gun mounts: I just have to customize these bikes in this regard. Looking at the orignal Codex: Dark Eldar from '98 it would appear that the 'eavy Metal team felt the same. In the pic below taken from that book you can see that no two Reaver Bikes are alike, and l like that concept of individuality.
(And bonus points on the adobe Ork buildings!)

Original Reavers from Codex: Dark Eldar '98. *

Justifed, and emboldened, I set about performing my own customizations. I turned the main body sideways on this one, and trimmed down the gun mount to get it to fit on the bottom. I angled the gun slightly downward to imply that it might be straffing ground targets.

Reaver #2.

On this one I ditched the upper Bladevanes and worked the mounting arm directly behind the rider. I like that it sort of recalls, in a slight gestalt way, the original design silhouette of the Talos Pain Engine; specifically the scorpion tail gun mount. Also, it ammuses me that the blade under the gun is so scary close to the pilot's head. I think I might paint on some cuts to his head... dare to be stupid, yes?

Reaver #1. 

These are coming along well so far. Let's see where this goes next in Part 2...



*Image used without permission. (C) Games Workshop LTD. Image used not as a challenge to copyright but for the purposes of revuew and reference.

Equis Tyranus

Equis Tyranus charges thru the Orc lines.

As I sorta prefaced in my previous post, The Bob and I played Warhammer Fantasy Battle 8th Edition this past weekend. This was my first game in about a decade, and it has been a long time for Bob also, so we were treating this game as a bit of a refresher. It was a standard 2k pitched battle.  Despite the rusty rules knowledge, I went in with an open mind and a desire to push these greenskins as hard as I could.

I brought 2k points consisting of:

• A Black Orc Warboss
• Orc Shaman (Lvl 2)
• Night Goblin shaman (Lvl 2) AKA Oddgob
• Big Uns
• Arrer Boyz
• Boyz with twin choppas
• Snottlings
• Trolls (7 of them!)
• 2 stands of spear/shield Night Gobos
• Night Gobos with shortbows
• 3 Fanatics, one hidden in each Night Gobo unit 
• Forest Gobos on Giant Spiders
• And a Boar Chariot

Waaagh Neverness assembled.

Bob tinkered on getting a list he thought would work for reintroducing me to certain situations that occur in WFB, and this is what he brought.

• A mounted Prince
• A lvl 1 Mage
• Silver Helms
• Dragon Princes
• Sword Masters
• Seaguard
• Archers
• White Lions

The elves gather.

I place my Warboss with the Big Uns, the Orc Shaman with the other Boyz unit, and the Gobo Shaman with a Night Gobo Unit. Bob put his Prince with the Silver Helms and left the Mage unattached.

The armies deploy.

Orcs Turn 1.

Amazingly, none of my units gave in to animosity. Most of my units moved forward, some faster than others, in an effort to engage the fearsome High Elves before them. The chariot whipped the boars in a full throttle boost towards the High Lines.

"Waaaargh! Fasta!!!"

The only action on my turn that resulted in a fatality was one of the Gobo Shaman's spells (Vindictive Glare) snuffed out an Archer.

High Elves Turn 1

Bob returned that insult and the Archers shot a volley into the Gobo Shaman's unit slaying 6 of the gits.

His Seaguard fired a volley into the Boar Chariot that was rampaging towards them putting a wound on it.

All in all, it was a fairly soft opening of the game...

End of Turn 1 state of the battle.

Orcs Turn 2

More maneuvers performed with the stupid Trolls actually moving where I wanted them to go. The Spider Riders failed their charge on the Silver Helms but the Snottlings that I sent in to support them actually make it in!

Snotings engage the Silver Helms.

Guess who won that enounter? (I hope you didn't say "the Snottlings"...)

Snottlings run away from the Silver Helms.

The Chariot impacts into the Swordmasters wiping out a whole rank from the impact hits. However the speedy elves are quick to bring down their blades, destroying the chariot swiftly and abruptly.

Chariot impacts the Swordmasters! 

High Elves Turn 2

Showing her magic muscles, the High Elf Mage cast Soul Quench at the Trolls with Irresistible Force! Killing a Troll. She detonated as a result but since no one was in base-to-base with her no one died (much to the relief of Bob).

The Silver Helms led by the Prince charged the Spider Riders. The Prince challenged the Spider Riders Champ and slew him. The other Spider Riders were defeated but they ran far enough away to avoid being ran down.

If spiders were really this big,..

 I bet they would be deadlier than they are in this game.

The Dragon Princes moved in on the Night Goblins only to find the first of the Fanatics.  After that frenzied interlude 2 of the Dragon Princes were dead!

"But I'm your biggest fan!"

The three remaining Dragon Princes easily routed the Night Gobos but they elected not to pursue them.

"They clean with soap?! Run away! Run away!"

Orcs Turn 3

Failing their animosity test, the Night Goblin Archers charged the Seaguard. ("Idiots!" I declared in disappointed awe). The other two Fantaics were released, one went toward the Archers while the other, emerging from the charging Night Gobo Archers, towards the White Lions. The one that crashed through the White Lions destroyed a whole rank as it took out 6 of them! The one Night Gobo Archer unit that attempted to charge the Seaguard lost 7 grots to shooting, paniced, and routed!

The Big Uns, led by the Black Orc Warboss, charged the Dragin Princes. The the Princes were defeated by the raging Orcs. The Warboss challenged the Champion and bashed him to death but not without taking two wounds himself!

The Warboss wins the duel! 

High Elves Turn 3

Set up for a perfect side flank charge, the Silver Helms charged the Trolls. The Sword Masters charge the Orc Boyz with twin weapons, and the Lions charge the unit of Gobos who have yet to run away.

Charge of the Elves! 

Magic phase results in another successful Soul Quench killing 4 Arrer Boyz causing them to panic and flee. The White Lions paste the Gobos with ease and over run into the Gobo Shaman killing him also.

In the middle of the table, the Swordmasters and the Orcs have a tied combat!

Big bash in the middle of the table! 

The Silver Helms and Prince engage the Trolls flank. They fail to wound the Trolls thanks to their Regeneration. The Trolls are fairly ineffective in turn. The Silver Helms horses however inflict two wounds killing an already wounded Troll which forces a Break Test. A Break Test against Initiative of 4. Which after modifers would require that I roll 2 ones on 2d6. Of course I botch that and these Trolls bolt it out of there. What do I roll on 2d6 for their flee distance? A two. A frick'n two when I absolutely needed that a moment before! The Silver Helms easily ran the Trolls down.

I was utterly beside myself and my morale was genuinely crushed.

Silver Helms trample over the Trolls and sight their next target.

Orcs Turn 4

It was tough to continue after that, I wanted to fold. Over half of my living army was in route and the High Elves seemed unstoppable. But I pressed on. The Goblins on the table edge failed to rally and bolted off the table. The Arrer Boyz and Spider Riders did rally, which was a refreshing turn.

The Fanatics rampage through the enemy lines again, killing 3 Archers and 6 Seaguard!

The Big Un's charged the White Lions. My Warboss issued a challenge to their unit champion which he accepted. The Warboss slaughtered the White Lion champ with ease however the faster White Lions massacred the Big Uns leaving only one survivor and the Warboss.

Big Uns cherge the White Lions.

The big tussel in the center continues as Sword Masters and Orcs whittle each other down. The Sword Masters actually lose combat but do not Break thanks to the proximity of their army's battle standard ("cor...we need one of doze!" Says the befuddled Orc Shaman..)

They just won't run!

High Elves Turn 4

Having lost way too many elves to the Fanatics, the Archers and the Seaguard shoot the fanatics to death ending their threat once and for all. 

The White Lions finish off the Warboss and the last Big Un.

The tussle in the center continues as the Orcs crush the surviving Swormasters but still take more losses due to the arrival of the Silver Helms crashing into their flank. Again, it was those hits from the steads that were the deciding element The Orcs don't break (by some miracle) but there is simply no way they were going to survive another round. 

The Silver Helms triumphant!

We called the game at this point, despite having rallied some units, I doubted that they could effectively do any more than harass the High Elves. Clearly the Orc battle line was shattered and we were now in the mopping up stages.

Battlefield overview. 

With that epiphany, the High Elves take the day!

All-in-all, we had a good time. My lack of recall on certain rule elements and tactics regarding the Night Goblins and the Trolls (especially the Trolls!) Cost more greenskin lives that could have been otherwise prevented. I say that, but...my dice.

The Fanatics impressed me more than I thought they would and clearly I need more. But only if I stick with the Goblins. It's really Orcs that I need more of as they aren't only a bit tougher and more effective in combat but their Leadership is better. Bob was suggesting that I acquire some Black Orcs, but making additional purchases for this game is something I am hesitant to do at this stage but I shall ponder upon the notion further...

The High Elves were awesome against this army. I was especially impressed with the Silver Helms who were just so tough to kill. And his damned horses...in our post game discussion we named the one that routed the Trolls: Equis Tyranis.

We'll see what happens when we try it again...

Night Gobos

The only fully painted Night Goblin.

Here is something that may seem a bit out of left-field to regular readers of this blog: I am working on a Fantasy army! And specifically, an army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle! Ah, I hear your collective gasps, stammers and befuddled responses of "But you're a 40k player!" And yes, I am, but some of you may recall that a few years ago I was working on a Fantasy Orc army and that seemed to climax with the completion of da-leada-of-da-waaargh. I did not progress any further due to the announcement at the time of Age of Sigmar. I paused to see what would come of that, and with it's subsequent release, I found it wanting and highly discouraging. As a result I put away all my WFB armies and focused on my 40k stuff instead.

Enter The Bob. The Bob had almost the same reaction to 40K 8th ed as I have had with AoS, and has turned his attention back to Warhammer Fantasy and has been sending me pics of his work in progress. Mostly on his High Elves and Dark Elves. They look great!

A Dark Elf pic Bob sent me. 

Needless to say, I was enticed. I started brushing off my WFB 8th ed books and even tracked a few down that didn't have in case we did get serious.

Gray Goblins.

I exhumed my army and began to access what I had. There was quite a bit, and pretty much all the orcs were at least base coated whereas the Gobos were still bare plastic!

Basing material applied and ready for priming.

I wanted to put our game on this blog, but didn't want to see that much bare plastic in the photos, so I did what I could to get them (at the very least) basecoated before we play.

You have a long way to go mates.

You might have noticed from these pics that I only have the one painted Night Goblin:

 Back in 2015 I did a showcase on the fully painted Night Goblin that you see in these pics. I really like him and I recall how quick it was paint him up. I would like to get all these WFB greenskins done, just to have at least one finished Fantasy army, even if we rarely play ever play it.

Basecoated and battle-ready! 

What has to be a record for me, I have managed to assemble and basecoat 60 Night Goblins in approximately a week!

Volley time!

So how will I do when we meet?  Will The Bob steamroller me? Will my Gobos fold like paper when faced with a worthy foe? Stay tuned my friends...