The Ambull

I have wanted to paint my Ambull miniature for many years now. I was first really fired up about doing it back in late 2010 when the 5th Ed Dark Eldar Codex was released. I thought that the Ambull would make a great Clawed Fiend for use with a Beastmaster. I was stuck on a paint scheme until I saw Gholascale's Ambull. It seemed perfect to me, though I wouldn't go with blue for it's mandibles. Anyway, I kept that idea in the 'mental file' until such time that I could get around to it. With our local group still playing Kill Team, I figured it was a good time to finally bring this seed of an idea to fruition.

Beastmaster and Beast.

After scouring the web for painting ideas I settled on sticking with something close to what Gholascale did and the orignal ad from White Dwarf.

The orginal White Dwarf ad.

Note the word "slave" going up the left side of the image below the Chapter Approved stamp. Is this justification for using this as a Dark Eldar Beast?

Primed with base started.

I chose Apple Barrel Color Indian Red for the basecoat.

Indian Red.

I then used an old, barely functioning, Citadel paint called Dark Flesh. It made the perect step up from Indian Red.

Dark Flesh layer.

Next, I drybrushed on Folk Art Buckskin Brown.

Buckskin Brown.

After a thinned Brown Ink glaze, I drybrushed on Calthan Brown.

Calthan Brown

The weird external guts was painted using Pink Hirror on top of Indian Red followed by a Baal Red ink wash before topping it off again with Pink Horror.

Weird gut bitz colored.

It was now done enough to assemble and take to war!

The original Clawed Fiend.

And it performed well in it's first outing.
It moved fast, in contrast to it's lumbering appearance. You can read about it here.

Cleaning up the trenches.

A week after that game and I am looking to touch it up. I chose a yellow color for the eyes by Folk Art called Lemonade as it is a very bright light yellow and contrasts perfectly against the dark recesses. I brighted up the gutty bitz as well using Rose Blush mixed with White. And finally, for much needed contrast, Blood for the Blood God was splatterd on to the claws and mandibles.

Finised in all it's gorey glory.

And after the addition of some grass tufts, it was now finished. I enjoyed working on this old  Ambull miniature, as I have wanted to paint it since that first White Dwarf article from way back in '88.  And it was fun having it chase around some of Da Masta Cheef's Orks in that last game. I look forward to fielding it again.

...and in this corner:

"Oy, take me to ya leada!"

Welcome to another tale of woe and carnage from the 40k warzone. This time we played another 4-way Kill Team game set upon the same table as our previous Kill Team game but with the scenery rearranged. However I opted this time to bring my Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors for some poison elf fun.

Dark Eldar class photo.

I had less models than I typically deploy as I opted to try my newly assembled kit-bashed Beastmaster and her beast, a classic Ambull, both of which I painted/assembled earlier that day. (An impressive achievement for me actually).

Da Ork gatha.

In the corner to my rightside the Orks of Da Masta Cheef deployed. They were led by a cunning  brute that he sometimes uses as a Painboy, but today was just a nob, called Da-13th-Dokta.

Marines. 

To my left were Space Marines played by Chyanne and Jim. They used the Dark Angels list this time, but Jim used Blood Angel models to stand-in for Assault Marines and to help them keep their minis appart.

Craftworld Eldar

And in this corner, diagonally opposed from me was Bob's Craftworld Eldar. Swooping Hawks and Dire Avengers prepared to bring pain.

In this game we are fighting for three objectives  in the middle of the field, and it is dark the whole game. The darkness rule is a great benefit for me right off the bat as Dark Eldar have Nightvision and ignore the effects of it. After all the set up dice and been rolled, and initiatives stolen, etc. it would be Bob going first, then Space Marines, Orks and finally Dark Eldar.

The Eldar advance.

Bob's forced pranced forward, striking at the Orks and the Space Marines. Both the Orks and Marines struck back. Jim launched his Assault Marines right at the Eldar while Cheyanne took a more defensive posture. I think they were concerned that I was going to send the Ambull their way. They were right as I did indeed move them to the Macrocannon that seperated our teams.

Beastmaster and Ambull take the Macrocannon.

The Orks and Dark Eldar ran through the trenches towards each other while trading shots. I was astounded by Cheef's uncanny ability to make his 'ard Boyz armor saves, and would continue to be awed by them throughout the game.

Advancing thru the trenches.

Turn 2 and the battle between the Eldar and the marines raged on. With some shot from my distant Splinter Cannon peppering their members of their kill teams. But these teams were really tearing into each other.

Note the Dire Avenger in the crater.

When dice say "die!".

A turn highlight was Jim's flamer immolating a Dire Avenger in the crater. This allowed us the excuse to use one of Jim's new fireball markers to add some... um... flare to the moment!

On my turn I had the Beastmaster and Ambull redirect towards the middle objective as the Orks proved surprisingly resilient in the previous turn and the Eldar and Marines were killing each other just fine without my help. Meanwhile the the Dark Eldar Warriors moved in to target the orks.

Closing in on their prey...

The shooting phase cleared some of the orks from the trenchline while the Beastmaster slaughtered the ork that was on the objective with his whippy-agonizer while the Ambull crawed through his target. It was a good round for the Dark Eldar, but the Orks were not out of the fight yet.

...the Orks are cleared from the trenchline.

Turn 3.
The Craftworlders strike back hard, all but eliminating Jim's marines.

Jim's last guy was a duel-pistol wielding chap that was being stymied by the Swooping Hawk with a wrist shield who kept making every save the Marines forced him to take. It was amusing how much firepower that guy deflected!

An Ork came in from Reserves and got right up on my line. His failed attack justified my ignoring of him on my turn. The Beastmaster was shot off her skyboard and was out of her inaugural game. Meanwhile the axe weilding Nob charged at one of the Dark Eldar goons, chopping him to death.

"Oy, 'o wants to taste me axe?"

The Dark Eldar strike back, ripping into the Orks with their splinter weapons. The Nob fell, as did a few more Orks leaving only one 'ard Boy to hold the objectives in this section of trenchline.

Poisoning the Orks.

Turn 4, and the Astartes and Xenos continue their clash. The Craftworlders, now broken by the Orks that have attacked them from the trenchline, only have a few models left. The leader, the Dire Avenger Exarch, is pretty tough to kill. He takes the objective, taunting the Marines to come and get him.

Craftworlders take the objective.

And they do, killing the Exarch and effectively tabling the Craftworld Eldar once the final Xenos falls.

Astartes clease the Objective from xenos filth.

The Orks, having broken the Craftworlders, and are now themselves broken, but those that stick around are here to rumble. They break from the trenchline with a mighty "Waaaargh!" and start dashing, and shooting, towards the marines.

"Time ta go ov'ah da top boyz!"

The Dark Eldar think they got it made, but the last Ork left in the trenchline snuffs out the their Team Leader before he himself is turned into a poison porcupine! (Or maybe the Ambull ate him too? I forget...). The Kabalite Warriors move in to take the Objective.

Dark Eldar claim an Objective.

Turn 5
The Space Marines move in to secure the objective, bracing themselves for the rush of oncoming Orks being led by Schultz!

Space Marines hold an Objective! 

The Orks, the few of them left, push on towards the Space Marine line, setting themselves up to be able to challege the Objective next turn.

The Dark Eldar, pretty much holding their side of the table, secure both Objectives while sending the Ambull towards the final Objective being held by a gutsy Space Marine.

Objectives secured!

And at the bottom of Turn 5 the die was rolled and the game ended. This is how the Victory Points tallied up:

Space Marines: First Blood, Kill Leader (Craftworld Eldar), Objective (x1)
= 3 VPs.

Craftworld Eldar: Break Enemy (Space Marines) = 1 VP.

Orks: Break Enemy (Craftworld Eldar), Kill Leader (Dark Eldar & Space Marines)
= 3 VPs

Dark Eldar: Break Enemy (Orks), Kill Leader (Orks), Objective (x2)
= 4 VPs.

So through guile, cunning, and fairly average dice rolls, Dark Eldar pull off a win!

It was a crazy fun game, and it would have fun to have another rounds as the Ambull could have reached it and probably would have dined on some enriched Astartes meat, but it was just not to be. But, the Orks also might have made it there too.  And assuming that no one bottles out, it would have been a battle royale for that final Objective!

Imperial meat: denied.

Dark Eldar Beastmaster.

I had a burst of inspiration while prepping for a Kill Team game that I played yesterday (report coming soon) and decided to add something different to my Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors Kill Team. I chose to assemble the long neglected kit-bashed Beastmaster I started on almost 7 years ago and U also painted up a beast for it to master. But first, here is the Beastmaster:

The assembled Beastmaster.

 I painted this model model in an unassembled state. I did this because of the complicated way that the rider connects to the board and so I could get to all the areas that I wanted to reach while painting.

The unassembled state.

 Assembling it was a bit tricky but I am pleased with the results in spite of that.

There are still a few minor details I might touch up, but the model is essentially done.

In the game she performed well, but she didn't have very strong defenses. They say the Dark Eldar army are akin to a glass hammer, and I agree.

Soon I shall post work-in-progress shots of her "beast", but before then I will have the battle report out and you can get a taste of both of them in action.

The Path to Gorkamorka (part 2)

After creating a Gorkamorka gang (on paper), led by my dashing ork nob of course, it came time to start painting my Mek and Runtherd.. Of those two, the Runtherd has prompted the most attention. For such a small model (then and now but especially by current ork standards) he is incredibly detailed!

Rogue Trader era Runtheard. 

On the backside of the model, bundled up on his belt, are the severed heads of snottlings and grots; no doubt they were naughty in some way. Curiously, since this model was released, I don't think there has been a Runtherd model that has had such a macabre detail on it. At least not this particular detail anyway.

The heads if the naughty.

+++++++++++++++++

Everything above that line was written almost two years ago. The local Gorkamorka fad folded faster than it started and I never got back to working on these minis. However, while tidying my blog this morning I accidentally posted it! I immediately put it back to 'draft' status, however Blogger is a bit unforgiving in this respect so whenever I do post this it will show up in my feed on the original post date. Well, that is just a pain to deal with, so I decided to work little bit more on the Runtherd and Mekboy. They still aren't done, but maybe this goof-up will get them there faster now.

Original Runtherd and Mekboy. W.i.P.

Here they are in there current state. I worked on the Mek Boy's flesh earlier today. I think I spent more time searching Google for painted examples of both of these models, but examples are few and far.

 And here is the Runtherd again next to a current Loota. He maybe a little guy but I bet he can scrap like a mofo with that whip!

The Loota is a W.I.P. as well. 

Since these models have my attention again, they have been moved up in the painting queue. Hopefully you'll see them again soon.

Neverness plays 40k 8th edition

I finally got in a game of Warhammer 40,000 8th edition. I fielded my Khorne-themed Chaos force against Kushial's Lions of Harlech Space Marines. We decided to write the report together and you can read about it here on Lions of Harlech.

Enjoy.

Review: Blood and Fire

The ebook cover. 

Blood and Fire by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
This a short story that follows up directly to the story Helsreach in Black Library's Space Marine Battles range. It was originally only available as an ebook but was recently combined with Helsreach into a two story omnibus called Armageddon.

The story is written in first person, as told by Chaplain Grimaldus of the Black Templars. It directly follows the events of Helsreach and wraps up some of the leftovers from that story. Helsreach jumped back and forth from a third person viewpoint to a first person view point from Grimaldus's perspective. Sticking with the first person viewpoint better serves the story in my opinion and helps pull, and anchor, the reader into the story.

The story is about Grimaldus finding out about the Celestial Lions Chapter's very high fatality rate in both the space and ground battles during the Third War of Armageddon. He receives a message from a fellow Chaplain of the Celestial Lions who sends him a detailed report that spells out the fate of the Celestial Lions chapter. It implicates that the Inquisition is likely orchestrating events to set the Lions up for failure in their campain against the orks. Essentially he learns what we players learned from the old 3rd War of Armageddon Website about the Lions. And he decides to do something about it.

As a Celestial Lions fan I am thrilled to say that we learn quite a bit more regarding the Celestial Lions in this story. And I am trying my best here not to make this review a total spoiler fest. So I will spare the details and stick with the basic story.

We learn that the Celestial Lions are also, like the Black Templars, a successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists. Grimaldus feels an obligation to assist so he and his companion, Cyneric, a new Chaplain aspirant, return to Armageddon to seek out the Lions. They find them, or what is left of them and learn this:

"Nine hundred and eighty-three warriors. They had brought nine hundred and eighty-three warriors to this world, and only ninety-six remained."

These survivors were being led by their highest ranking officer to survive, Sergeant Ekene. Having given up any hope, these warriors have decided to make a final push back into the Mannheim Gap where so many of their battle brothers have perished already. They do this for both honor and vengeance and they know it is likely suicide. Although Grimaldus would rather pull them out and return them to their chapter world so that they may begin to replenish and rebuild their Chapter back into a fighting force.

I will stop here with what is essentially a set-up. As I said, it is a shorter story and it is hard to say too much about it without opening a can of spoilers.

• Did I like it? Oh, I loved it. Sticking with the first person perspective for the entire story was s major plus for me. I love it because we got to see the aftermath of the 3rd War of Armageddon after the "fire season" starts and we got to revisit characters from the previous story. As a Celestial Lions fan, it was nice to get more details about their chapter and customs. 
• Was it hard to put down? Very. I tore through it relatively fast compared to Helsreach. The only part that I thought went too long was the storytelling session Grimaldus has with Ekene and the Lions. But otherwise, it was quite good.
• Could I care about the characters? Indeed I could, but for some characters this proves to be a regrettable decision. I have said before, if you mourn for a character than that character was well written and developed. 
• 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? This was handled well. Heck, there is so little Celestial Lions lore that all Aaron could do was build upon it. And he built upon it well. I felt that the Lions were given a new life, and I would love to see him revisit them as the Chapter tries to rebuild. Or better yet, revisit them in the post Dark Imperium paradigm.
• Was I being talked down too? Well, you are reading the personal account of a Reclusiarch...
• How predictable is this story? It is a very straight forward story, but it did not end how I predicted it would end. The body count was considerly higher than I would have anticipated also. For a short story, it adds considerable weight to the legend of Grimaldus. 
• Do I recommend this book? Very much so. Even more so if you have an interest in the Celestial Lions or of the 3rd War of Armageddon. However, in order for the story to have maximum impact you really do need to read Helsreach first. And you should because it is awesome.

Armageddon Omnibus. 

Feeling Khorney (Part 8)

Smile for Khorne.

Since this whole Khorne/Chaos kick of mine started way back in the early part of 2014, I have been toying off and on with this miniature.

You can see the state he was in at the end of the Feeling khorney-part-5. That's pretty much the state he's been in until I recently started to daub a bit more paint onto him. The pic below shows where I applied the 1st layer of flesh coat (Dwarf Flesh, to be specific) and added another layer of lighter brown to the base.

Before I got much further, I felt it only made sense to put on the a Secret-Weapon 32mm Conversion Ring to extend and expand out his base at this step rather than put it off until later.

Secret Weapon base extender added.

 I then completed the basing on the extensions to make it meld with the existing base texture.

I added a few more rocks also. Afterwards I applied a coat of Applebarrel Territorial Beige. This not only acts as a basecoat but also helps the basing material bond better to the base.

Moving on and now the miniature is all but done. There was bit of time jump there, sure, but the steps I took to get him there have been detailed in the other parts of this thread. At this stage all I need to do is get a shoulder pad to add to his right arm and glue on his back pack and he will be done.

Almost done...

 The method described above for extending the base was used to finally finished off the 14 man Berserker unit that started this whole thread. I talked about them more in Part-7. The only thing left to do on them is to apply decals.

Also mostly done.

Also joining my Khorne family are these two very old (1992)* Worldeater models. I am going to use these guys as Aspiring Champions. I recently based them up and added the grit using the exact same methods described for the icon bearer above.

Never too old to spill blood.

* Very old...ugh, that's the year I graduated High School!