Bad Moon Mega Armor Orks (Part 3)

The Bad Moon rises.

When I wrote Part 2 I was under the delusional spell that the leader of  the pack, represented by the Nazdreg miniature from the end of 40k 2nd edition, was completed. However while completing the painting on the Bad moon Warphead it became apparent that I had somehow skipped the final color step on the yellow areas of the model. Bad Moon Yellow is the highlight color that I use for these chaps -and I totally missed it! (It is literally named after them! Ugh!)

Bad Moon Yellow highlight is complete.

As I did with the Warphead, I used Bloodletter in a few spots to provide a bit more tonal depth to the yellow areas. After a few touch-ups using Sunburst Yellow I finally capped it off with a Bad Moon Yellow highlight.

And the banner pole was finished also. 

I moved on to the other Meganobz, the first step being to paint blue into the black areas. Then I focused on the guns before moving onto the yellow areas where I applied Bad Moon Yellow highlights.

Progessing slowly...

Got a bit more work to do on these gits however, so we shall have to see how far I can manage to get by Part 4...

Bad Moon Warphead (Part 3)

Finished!

As I said in part 2, the painting on the main miniature was almost done. The next step was to work out how I wanted the bells to appear. Using Shining Gold, I painted it up to gold first, but as I suspected, it clashed too much with the Bad Moon Yellow garments.

Shining Gold bells.

So I toned them back to a more copper-like look by applying a red ink wash over the gold. I liked how this turned out.

After this I finished it off by painting the teeth on the Warphead and the double-moons on his staff. One of the final steps was dry brushing Snot Green onto his hair. I really liked how that turned out also.

Finished painting on the main miniature.

The hero base had another layer applied to it. For this layer I used Indian Red, an Apple Barrel craft paint, which is a good rusty-like color to use for this sort of thing. I am debating with myself (something I find myself doing with more alarming frequency as I age...) with exactly how I want to this thing to out. I am strongly considering making it match the snowy ruins I painted for my local gaming store back in January.

Indian Red layer. 

Inspired by the model from January I kind of just went for it and knocked out the base fairly fast. I added the patina by sponging it on, and the orange rust was done with deliberate applications of Orange Ink.

Finisbed base.

The most stressful stage was removing the miniature from it's old base. Being metal it could chip easily if not carefully handled. I wrapped him in a paper towel while I used a pin-vice to drill two holes into his feet.

Pinned feet.

I painted the bottom of the pins with white paint and while they were still wet, placed them on the base where I wanted him to go. This left two dots which I then turned into two holes with the pin-vice. After that, he was fitted on with superglue.

Glued into position.

I am tempted to add a marine head to the top step behind the Warphead, but I am trying to decide if it really needs it or not... I can always add one later I suppose.

Rear view.

And there we have it, a leader for my Bad Moon battalion! A classic, yet rarely seen, miniature from the later days of Warhammer 2nd Edition, updated for the current game. Hopefully he'll perform better than my Goff Weird Boy has so far.

Warhound Titan's eye view.

Now, back to the Meganobz...

Bad Moon Warphead (Part 2)

Continuing on from the first part of this saga, I have made considerable progress on this warp-crazed ork. He is almost done. Here are the steps that got him up to this point:

Primed.

A fairly "no frills" step, but Chaos Black spray is expensive so why not celebrate it? The next pic is  a basecoat on the stairs. I haven't done anymore than this to it so far, so expect more in depth discussion on this piece in Part 3 or 4.

Basecoat on the base.

The ork flesh was basecoated using Caliban Green. The yellow parts were basecoated in Fiery Orange. The "black" area had a layer of an old Citadel dark blue color (the name of which alludes me currently -it is from the old Epic set) applied to it.

Basecoats.

Goblin Green was the next layer on the flesh, which was followed by a wash of green/yellow ink.

Goblin Green!

Sunburst Yellow was painted over the Fiery Orange. But I felt it need a bit more depth... as did the "black" areas. I drybrushed on some Shadow Grey highlights to those areas.

Sunburst Yellow

Applebarrel Kiwi was layered on the flesh. Nuln Oil was washed over the "black" area to tone them back down. I used two washes of Nuln Oil to get the look I was happy with.

Kiwi on the flesh.

The added depth came to me in the form a fairly new color that I have added to my palete; Bloodletter! This was washed over the Sunburst Yellow.

Bloodletter ink wash.

Sunburst Yellow was this carefully applied over the this layer, and I think this worked well improviding the depth in tone that I sought. I may go back to the Meganobs and apply these steps also, but I have yet to scrutinize them in this regard. Sunburst yellow was also applied to the flesh as a final highlight.

Sunburst yellow 2nd application.

Next, I turned my attention to the yellow highlights. I used Bad Moon Yellow for this. I mean, it's only proper, right?

Bad Moon Yellow highlights.

I used an old Ral Partha Bronze on the bells and staff. These are not done, as I will likely take them up to Shinning Gold before I probably bring them back down with an ink wash.

Bronze on the bells.

And that is where I was forced to stop. Until next time!

Bad Moon Warphead (Part 1)

This project was initiated rather quickly. However I have only just begun it and there has been way too little progress to show you much, so first, a manifesto if you will:

As some of you know, I have been working on my Bad Moon Mega Armor Nobz and that, along with my recent nostalgia kick with the 2nd edition era Goffs, had got me thinking about how to truly complete this army. I know, some of you scoff (Da Masta Cheef likely just sprayed his morning drink across his monitor), but I do aspire to it. This vision of mine is rooted in the 'Ere We Go/2nd Edition Codex Orks approach to how a Waaargh comes together: mobs of Orks, gather from a variety of Clans to rally behind the strongest leader. The variety of clans favor certain combat roles and aspects from each other.

Since 3rd edition came along I really only thought about painting my Orks like Goffs, but this approach felt... incomplete. I loved my 2nd edition orks. I had Snakebites, Goffs, Bad Moons, Blood Axes, Deathskulls and Evil Suns all rallied under one leader and it was cool. But when 3rd edition came about the clans were greatly marginalized. The Design Studio had come to feel that the clanz were getting a bit too silly and wanted to return them to the earlier days of Rogue Trader when they were more maruader-like. Which is fine, but damnit couldn't we have the best of both worlds? In time, the clanz returned and we now do, indeed, have the best of both worlds.

And I am embracing it. My idea is to break my forces up into micro-armies. Battalions are probably the best way to represent this idea. Each specifically favoring a clan theme. As you can see from the two links in the 1st paragraph, the Goffs and Bad Moons are rolling along. I have huge plans for Blood Axes as well. They will dominate this blog at some future point. Deathskulls will mostly be my Lootas with a few Boyz mobz and some support. Evil Suns will be the vehicles and mechanized support. And my Snakebitz will be last simply due to the amount of time and space I will need for the Squigoth and also because there hasn't been a proper Feral Ork list in years!

And each of these will need a leader. Ror Ruk is my Goff Warlord usually. And I have ideas on who the Blood Axe and Deathskull Warlords will be. But I was stuck on the Bad Moon one. And earlier this evening it leapt out of the case at me: the classic Bad Moon Warphead!!! The really crazy one!

The crazed Badmoon Warphead.

And instead of trying to finish those Meganobz (you can see them lurking in the background) I set about starting on this guy. I was right about to greenstuff up his base to match the expanded bases on the Meganobz when I decided that he needed something a bit more....epic. Or rather heroic. Then I remembered the Hero Bases set, the first of which was used on She Who Milks,  the second one is being used on a Chaos character I have yet to post about (I think you guys will like that chap) and now this one, the broken Imperial Stairs.

A stairway to the stars.

I chose to use this one because the box for this basing kit has on it a Space Marine Librarian looking all powerful and bad-ass while standing on these stairs. I figured this Warphead, also being a psyker, will look like a defiant power-mad villain daring the gods to challenge him!

I added a few skulls to the stairs prior to taking it, and the Warphead, out for priming. But I might add more before it's all done. The Dark Angel heads are always a hit after all...

Good health to you. 

Bad Moon Mega Armor Orks (Part 2)

I have been slowly making progress on these original Mega-Armored Ork Nobz since I last posted about them. In order to just get through with this, I chose to break away the leader of these meganobz and just get him done. And with exception to his banner pole, he pretty much is now done.

The (mostly) finished Nazdreg miniature.

The miniature of Nazdreg, of which I discussed at length in the previous Bad Moon post, seemed to have attracted the most attention from me. After getting his paint job up to a certain level I pinned and glued his arms into position.

Nazdreg, right after his arms were pinned.

And over the course of like three weeks my available hobby time was greatly diminished, and I could only manage to dab some paint on here and there.

A dabbing session.

Eventually I dabbed on enough to get this guy mostly finished. In this pic I had finally settled on what color to paint his awesome shoota. I wanted to paint his gun yellow but it would have not looked right with his arm being yellow also so chose a weird sort of  'safety orange' color for parts of the weapon. I think this has turned out well.

You can dance ...if you want too.

This is from that era when the GW Design Studio had an uncontrollable urge to slap a skull on every part of every miniature, and old Nazdreg here was no exception. I painted the one on his knee a traditional bone color and some of the snaller ones were painted in a rusty/bronze. The glyphs on his shoulder also got the bronze simply because I was too indecisive on how to paint them. Traditionally ork glyphs are colored in contrasting colors but usually they are all a different from one another. Often this looks like a mess too me, so I feel that the solution to tone that mess done worked out very well.

"Skulls for da...wait ah sec..."

I thought the base needed something other than rocks and rubble, and It occurred to me that a marine helmet/head would be the nature choice. My recent work on the base for my Waaagh Plane incorporated elements of a destroyed Ultramarines bike, however there still too many Dark Angel players locally to not take advantage of the opportunity to take the piss out of 'em. So I painted up a spare head/helmet for use as a grisly trophy.

Another Dark Angel headed  for glory.

Using a bit of sponge, a liberal application of Blood for the Blood God paint was applied onto the bottom of the marine helm and in the area near where the head rests on the ground. The power claw got some too, perhaps suggesting that the corpse of this Astartes is mangled far worse than the evidence would show...

"Blood for the Blood God! Oy, did I really just say that?!"

Next up is his back pole and some grass on the base and this model will be done. Then the other three gits need their paint. Slowly, but surely, I will get there...

Review: Curse of the Wulfen

Hello again. This is my review of Curse of.the Wulfen by David Annandale. This is a novelization of the Warzone Fenris campaign book of the same name that came out in the last half of Warhammer 40,000's 7th edition.

The synopsis is that members of the Space Wolves long lost 13th Company have started to appear in warzones throughout the galaxy and the Space Wolves are desperate to retrieve them before other, more puritan, factions of the Imperium find out about them. The reason being is that the 13th Company have mutated into Wulfen, and this is a secret geneseed flaw that the Space Wolves are desperate to protect. It doesn't help either that the Wulfen are only appearing in warzones under attack by the daemonic hordes of Chaos, further supporting the suspicion of warp-taint. So Logan Grimnar scatters the Great Companies to retrieve the 13th Company Wulfen where they may be detected, leaving only one Great Company to protect the Fang on Fenris. He strongly feels that this could be an omen foretelling the return of Russ himself, adding further urgency to the need to retrieve the 13th Company.

That sets things up, let us look at how Space Wolves are played like simpletons and set for a spectacular fall. If you are unfamiliar with the outcome of these events, then let me warn you now that there are some spoilers forth-coming.

While the Space Wolves are dealing with retrieving the Wulfen, the Dark Angels and the Grey Knights both get wise to what is going on. However the information the Dark Angels have acquired has been planted and manipulated by the Changling, the daemonic Tzeentchian trickster, and he has done a spectacular job playing to the suspicious and fanatical nature of the Dark Angels. The Grey Knights on the other hand are bit more skeptical and will come to choose to partner with the Space Wolves, although it is a reluctant partnership. The Wulfen's presence seems to be causing regular Space Wolves to change into Wulfen as well! The Wolves have enough foresight to understand the delicate nature of their situation and that the only way they will overcome this situation is with the aid of the Grey Knights. On the Shrine World of Vikurus, Brother Captain Stern of the Grey Knights and Logan Grimnar come to an understanding regarding the Wulfen, and the Grey Knights Brother-Captain gives the Great Wolf a warning that the Thousand Sons may be setting up an attack on Fenris. Alarmed, Grimnar rallies nearby Great Companies and sets course for the Fenris System 

One of these worlds is place called Midgardia which is interesting because most of the cities are in vast underground caverns. Midgardia has been mostly plagued by Nurgle and the population is discovered to have been ritually sacrificed in some very cruel and sinister ways. Splitting his forces Grimnar leads the underground assault while Egil Ironwolf leads the surface campaign.In the underground theatre we do get to see the Murderfang rampaging in it's bestial fury as it joins with his Wulfen buddies in hunting down and slaughtering daemons. It is all good fun until the ceiling collapses. Literally. This traps the majority of the Wolfguard along with Logan Grimnar, Ulrick the Slayer, and a lot of very important Space Wolf leaders, underground. They lose contact with the rest of the Space Wolves.

On Frostheim the Battle of Morkai's Keep began when Harald Deathwolf led a Thunderwolf Cavalry assault on the Alpha Legion and Tzeentchian Daemon allies.The Alpha Legion, lying in wait, activated the Keep's defenses and tore into the many Space Wolves gunships and descending drop pods. As casualties climbed by the second, Daemon Prince Lord Skayle appeared at the forefront of the slaughter, using his warp-tainted powers to massacre all before him as the tide of Chaos Space Marines, Daemons, and Cultists advanced. Thanks to the efforts of Wolf Scout Feingar, the defenses of Morkai's Keep were disabled and the tide turned in an epic show down. It was a grim and harrowing battle, with Harald Deathwolf being one ot the focus characters of the book

Spread thin, and spread over many conflicts the Wolves have left only Krom Dragoneye, F-up of Sanctus Reach, in charge of the Fang back on Fenris. A vision from Bjorn the Fell-handed prompts Krom to break his orders and rescue a group of Grey Knights who are besieged on Valdermani, The vision's portent being that failure to rescue these Grey Knights would spell the end of the Space Wolves Chapter. So off they go, and in a very intense battle, Krom is triumphant and succeeds in his task, and now united with Brother Captain Stern of the Grey Knights they turn their attention to stopping another Daemon Prince, Daemon Prince Tzen'char,  who has enslaved the world's Astropathic Choir for use in a diabolic ritual. Captain Stern slays this daemon prince but it is too late as swarms of daemons surge forth. They manage to stop this too, but were left with thinking that a larger, more strategic maneuver may have been pulled off. 

By the end of book the Dark Angels, having been conned so easily by the Changling into thinking that the mighty Space Wolves are falling to Chaos, leads, with The Rock at it's head, a massive fleet (including ships from fourteen Chapters of Space Marines. Knight Houses, a Titan Group and three Imperial Guard armies!) set to lay waste to Fenris and it's worlds... The book ends like the campaign book did, wondering how the Space Wolves and their worlds are going to get out of this one...

The bombardment of Fenris begins. From the Curse of the Wulfen campaign book. 

• Did I like it? I did, although there was little surprises considering I had already read the campaign book. 
• Was it hard to put down? Despite there being no surprises, I thought Annandale did a good job keeping the story moving without getting lost in the warporn minutiae like the Campaign books like to do. He kept the story moving while focusing on the intrigue. While yes, there is action, it is less of a grind to read through it than say a campaign book or a Thorpe Dark Angels novel. I thought he handled the trap of Midgardia particularly well. 
• Could I care about the characters? The author genuinely tries to make the Murderfang cool, but it comes off more like...almost adorable. I have a hard time imagining that the Space Wolf commanders aren't laughing at this thing every time they see it, but then, they take Logan Grimnar's santa sled seriously, so what do I know? 
• Did the writer truly grasp how the 'world' of the 41st millennium works in the sense that it doesn't betray or retcon previously established (as I know it) lore? Or is this the work of a hack chasing a paycheck? While this is clearly one of those works commissioned tn support of a Campaign release, it was handled well and read better than I expected it would. The tone seemed to take itself a bit more seriously than Space Wolves Legends of Dark Millenium, and yet fits very well with it. 
• Was I being talked down too? I didn't get a vibe like that at all from this book. Having said that I would not use this book as introduction to the Space Wolves, as it is assumed that you have some knowledge about them prior to engaging this material (i.e. knowing the difference between a Long Fang and a Blood Claw). 
• How predictable is this story? Well, it is based off the campaign of the same name, so if you are familiar with that material in any way than this book will be very predicable. 
• Do I recommend this book? If you are familiar with the Battlezone: Fenris campaign then I would say you might be able to pass on this one. If you want to know about how that campaign unfolded without tracking down a very expensive book, than this would be a good thing to grab. I found this retelling to be quick, smooth, and  somewhat insightful, particularly in the thought processes of some other key figures in the story. Especially Krom and Harald. 

You can find this story collected in the Legacy of the Wulfen Omnibus or as a download from the Black Library.



All images are Copyright Gamesworkshop Ltd. and used here for review purposes and not as a challenge to copyright. 

Arena Rex Gladiator ready for GenCon (TSG feature)

Dr. TSG and Brian are heading to GenCon, but before they left the Dr. jammed on a Gladiator miniature to take with him for participation in Arena Rex. He and our pal Brian discovered Arena Rex while attending GenCon a few years ago and it has since become part of their con going schedule every time they have gone back.

Ready to kill! 

Ripped!

Prepare to be bashed! 

This was the first model completed in his new studio. Check out all those paint options! I dream of having a proper studio like this again...someday...

Now that is a nice rack!

"Trying to get some Arena Rex minis done by GenCon. Might get two finished. Man, I really could use some magnifying loupes..."

Begining preparation.

He wasn't able to get it totally finished yet, but since this was his first painting night in the new studio, and I also figure since GenCon is this weekend, that there would be no better time to share this than now.

Brian got his guy painted too and here he is:

This guy, Mago, looks like a survivor for sure! 

When I asked Brian for permission to share that pic with all of you here on the Chronicle, he not only agreed but graciously flooded me with pics of more of his Arena Rex miniatures. And here they are:

Khepros.

Ur-Kek.

Thoth.

Tiet-Khebi (female)

Sereqet (Eygptian for Damn Big Scorpian!!!)

Zahra

"Zahra can use Sereqet as a mount (so there are technically two Zahra figs).' -Brian

"The beauty shots (pro paint) are at
https://arenarex.com/collections/morituri. -And if you're interested to see how the game works, the rules are free to download: https://arenarex.com/pages/game " - Brian.

The guys are sure to send me updates over the weekend and hopefully they will include game pics that I can share here. If you are attending the con you should stop by the Arena Rex table and check this game out. Everyone tells me it is awesome.

The scene outside Brian's house, according to The Dr.