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!  

Slaughterpriest (Part 2)

"Bloody skulls for the bloody guy!!!"

Sounds like I have a decent war cry for this giant Cult Leader, even though I have yet to come up with a name for him. I have, between projects, managed to slap some color onto him however. First I primed the model in Chaos Black spray and then I worked on the foundation coloring for the base.

Primed and color on the base.

Following the steps I pulled from a White Dwarf (and first used by me on my Bolt Action British Infantry) for painting Caucasian flesh, I based coated the fleshy bitz in Bugman's Glow.

Bugman's Glow basecoat on skin.

And followed it up with a coat of Cadian Fleshtone.

 Cadian Fleshtone coat.

This was followed by a sloppy wash of Reikland Fleshtone ink. Also, you might notice in these pics that I was painting up the skulls on this miniature during these stages as well.

Reikland Fleshtone wash.

Next, I wanted to get some of the other areas painted before putting the final colors of flesh on the model. Mostly because I wanted to avoid getting any other color on it. First, I used scab red as a basecoat for the armor. I am going to the paint the armor bits so that they are uniform (in color, not quite style) with the Khorne Berserkers  that I have been working on. I am resisting the temptation to leave him like this...I think that scab red works really well on this guy!

I then painted Balthasar Gold on the areas that will be golden/bronze.

That's it for now, I should have this chap finished soon.

Original Ork Dreadnought (Part 5)

My Dreadtober project is now finished, and with a few days in October to spare! Hooray!

Finished and ready to Waaargh!

The following is from the battle report in the post called The Rise of Mad Dok Grotsnik Part-2.

Now, this Deff Dread was the original, circa 1988, Ork Dreadnought. It is piloted by a gretchin. The original idea was that in a cruel experiment a Pain Boy and Mek Boy would partner up and stuff a grot into one of these things, and the crazed power-tripping grot would wreck everything in it's path. The next Ork Dreadnought models came out in 2nd edition and featured an Ork Pilot, and was also bigger to accommodate the large passenger. The 3rd edition dred would only get bigger, and with the current plastic model the size difference is quite laughable! In fact, the grot concept is back in the form of Killer Kans, and we all know, they rock, and they are bigger than this original model. But I don't care, as it still does what it does, and I have it on the proper sized base. I decided that when I paint these (I have two of them and they are both armed the same) I will do them in Bad Moon colors. Maybe the extra wealth of that clan can afford the 'miniaturization' of technology?

That was written a few years ago, and as you can see I had the intention for a long time to make these dreads into Bad Moon Dreads. And, now, finally, I have completed the first one!

Finished! Frontview.

As stated at the end of Part 4, I was inspired by the abandoned construction machinery across the road from my home. Especially inbthe way it was weathering. I applied some rust spots to this dread using a mix of Apple Barrel Indian Red and Folk Art Asphaltum. I watered them slightly to get the color thinned so that it pool on the model's surface. This achieved a very natural looking effect to me and I am pleased with how it look.

Left side view.

I was careful not to be overly liberal with the application of this rust color so as not to overwhelm the model. I wanted to keep it subtle.

Rearview.

I then used Mitheral Silver, an ancient Citadel color, to apply stratches and scrapes in the paint. I put them in areas that I thought would most likely make contact with something.

Rightside view.

Lastly I flocked the base, took the whole model outside and sprayed it with a finish. It was a beautiful day out so I chose to take advtage of it and take some natural lighting pics.

And with that, Dreadtober is a wrap! It was a lot of fun and I am glad I participated even though the Dreadtober site never added this blog to it's blog roll or myself to it's participant list.* A minor, though disappointing, quibble. Maybe next year?

But do I really want to wait until next year for this Dread's companion to be done? Hmmm...

*Looking at the email I sent, it appears I had a typo in the email address. Oops! I didn't get a failed message alert so I bet whomever got that email was confused as heck! LOL!