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Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Slaaneshchild wild debauchery month, keep the eyes wide open !! (rank and file)

So here we go, I have been whining and complaining each month, but this time I've found the time to finish my goals.

All hail the hooooooorde....


For once, I am quite happy with the result. 

I started with dark elves shadows (pathfinders), they are miniatures from the Hedonites of Slaanesh actual range. I liked those miniatures a lot and they fit perfectly as count as dark elves shadows. They have bows instead of repeated crossbow but in terms of rules, repeated crossbows are just bows that shoots 2 times. It doesn't have a strength of 4 like crossbow, so it is perfect.

It is I think the very last time I use modern miniatures. They are a PAIN IN THE ASS to build and glue. Maybe I am getting too old but really I don't like how the miniatures are separated on the sprue, there only one way to assemble them and in fact, if you want to make a conversion, you have to assemble it first and then to them it. It is not like modular plastic miniatures. Well, as least it is done.



I am sure you will also notice "Aenur", which I painted as a dark elf assassin

I had also started last month a conversion for a witch elf heroine on cold one... I also had the time to finish it. So here she comes...

Now I needed something really "Oldhammer". So I decided to work on a second unit of Chaos Knights. I already had a unit of Slaanesh Legionnaires on steeds of Slaanesh, so I wanted something more classical... but with completely random miniatures. True grotesque chaos knights.

Slaanesh is also well-known so seducing champions from other chaos gods so I had the idea to use this old khorne champion... He gonna have a better purpose now... 

 Here come the Unhallowed Knights !!







And to conclude, is a chaos army complete without chaos troll ?

I don't think so...

I had two stone trolls that have been converted by a friend and one troll from the KS of Diego "Pantheon of Chaos"... made them more "Slaaneshi" and here they are, the Debased, the Chaos trolls of Slaanesh !



I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Now time to relax a bit and to take the sun in the South of France... will come back next month with a leader month. I am planing to do 2 daemon princes maybe some Fiends of Slaanesh and a lord on palanquin.

And before that, speaking of latex and pervertion, just a bit of trve finnish black latex metal !! Please hail Gaurithoth !!

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Adrian's May Wild Card Month - the attack of the killer tomatoes (973 points)

Wild Card Month



T+038: The Blood Omen surface auspex start following the column and scouting the road ahead.


-Blood Omen to Strike Force Alpha, we have spotted your markings. You're about to reach a detour. 
We... we're detecting changes in the vegetation. The endless cornfields seems to end after all. Also there are Legiones Astartes comm signals. Not able to decipher them for now.


T+039: the detour ends abruptly in a compound. Finally the traitor base is spotted.

-Blood Spear here, sir. I am no farming expertise, but ferrocrete fortifications may seem a bit off in a farm. [Gun sounds]
Incoming fire!

-Lt. Commander Lazarus: Strike Force Alpha, ready for the assault in designated sector B1. Blood Spear, you have permission to return fire!
 

T+040: The tactical squads finally opens the line at sector B1 with the aid of additional rhino transports. The armoured column is capable of trespassing the killing fields.


T+040: However, something strange start to occur at sectors B1 to B3 of the outer defences of the compound.

-Lt. Bahamut: We're in. Something is moving from the fields. Imperial space marines to me! Expect an ambush from the first defence line!
-Sgt. Piero: Sir, they're not Astartes according to the auspex.
-Pvt. Morris: Tomatoes! Emperor praise, effing tomatoes!

-Lt. Comm. Bahamut: Sending reinforcements, resist in the breach.
 

T+041: The assault squads support the spearhead breaching in sectors B1-B2.

-Lexicanun Trent: These damn creations must be the last variant. They were just dormant. Someone must be awakening them!

-Chaplain Giteau: We're breaching the inner line at sector A! Need support right now.
 

KLAATU. BARADA. NIKTO!
HAHAHA You have no power here now! I've corrupted the Dark Cross of Berziers! I command the legions of chaos!

-Chaplaik Giteau: WHO THE HECK ARE YOU!? Did I even know you?! What are you talking about? I BET THAT NAME WASN'T EVEN MENTIONED IN THE STORY SO FAR! You made up that nonsense, it sound like the bullshit that brother Trent watch!
-Pvt. Morris: Padre! We cannot hold the breach! We should return to the outer line!


 
May already done and I'm happy with the armoured company so far. I mixed a bit of RT and 2nd edition colours and details with the original Space Marine markings.

I am very proud of the small texts because I made them in the first try and superfast. No more discovering that the phrase is deviated and needs to be repainted.



Yep, I was listening to Judas Priest while painting.

The classic bunkers and trenches were also fun to paint but I may add little change after the OWAC.
I had no time to experiment with weathering and markings in the fortifications and I will probably add a little bit later.

Finally, the extras!

Oh boy, the RT and stargrave encounters will be a little bit weird with the khorne sheeps and now the killer tomatoes.




Classic squigs as the sauce of this update.

The demons of chaos, love the old plague bearers. May increase the unit in the future for a chaos warband? Who knows.


And the space marines finally confronted the traitor marines.

Sadly, I am completely sure that not gonna collect the RT traitors because they're off my possibilities. But wanted to paint a kill team and my other (modern) HH force using bits of the oldhammer schemes. Specially with the decadent Emperor Children.




The Word Bearer sorceror/librarian is completely converted except the backpack. Because I lost it. Rest with some of my Harboth's half painted shields.


I may have not said anything and pass it like the unfinished backpacks of McVey's 2nd ed. marines.

Last month incoming. The two demi squads of heavy firepower contribute to the final assault on the compound.

Meanwhile,

Adrián’s out.

Monday, May 29, 2023

Shadespyre's May Post - Leader Month - (Something about White Dragons?) Dark Elves (2758 points)

OWAC VI - Leader Month - Laird of the White Wyrm

May

Resting on my laurels a bit this month. Most of the effort has gone into stuff for Wild Card month and getting my photography mojo back. Thanks to everyone who suggested I try a grey background as I seem to be getting better results again - well, you can judge for yourselves because here come the pictures!

Kicking off with the four different Wizard sculpts. There's plenty of choice for spellcasters in this range!


Here's a fifth Wizard option, but the only one available on a Cold One. He's joined by a second incarnation of the mounted musician / leader model - I've used the rearing Cold One models for characters and unit leaders, so this will distinguish him from the otherwise identical mini who acts as musician for the Helldrakes. He gives me the option to have a rampaging solo mounted character - unlike Wizards, the range doesn't cater so well for martial heroes in my opinion.


Which is why I've included this guy! NON-DARK ELF MODEL ALERT! But don't worry, he is still a pre-slotta Citadel miniature so my rules remain unbroken! 

He is actually Skarlos, the half-elven leader of the CP2 Bryan Ansell's Heroic Adventurers boxed set. I felt like a suitable paint job could sell him as a Dark Elf; I hope you agree?


The reason he got invited in is because I needed someone suitably badass to lead this little lot - 25 elite Blackguards, along with a musician and standard bearer borrowed from the Mengil Manhide regiment. To keep the Blackguards that little bit blacker, I used a smaller version of the White Dragon symbol on their shields.

The Blackguard didn't make it into the 3rd edition Warhammer Armies, but in 2nd edition they were +1 Elites armed with additional bows, and so they will stay. Maybe they should have gone into the Wild Card section, but I feel like Leader month is comfortable for them. Does anyone still care about that now it's May? 

Right then - onwards and upwards. Leaders with wings next!


If you've been around the hobby a while, you'll recognise this picture and have probably been expecting it to appear. This is Tony Ackland's War Eagle (with Dark Elf rider), TA5 from the Arcane Monstrosities range. In 1984 this was a pretty impressive size, and is one of the classics of the time I think. Though it should be noted that the Dark Elf rider was a horrible, dumpy and lumpen thing which you'd be as likely to think was a Dwarf as a Dark Elf! So I got an Eagle without the rider and made my own:


I've included a bunch of photos because I'm very happy with how this came out. To add a saddle to the mount, I made a mould from the Cold Ones so that I could make a copy of theirs and adapt it to suit. I added the harness to try and sell this better rather than just perch it on the Eagle's back. 

The rider himself is another version of the mounted musician figure. To make him fit, I cut away the armoured skirt behind his legs so that I could fold him into a kneeling pose (like the mounted crossbow ladies) and then resculpted mail over the gaps. I wanted to replace his measly sword with something more impressive, like the halberd / lance / pike thingy in the picture. Wandering through my bits collection unearthed the top end of this halberd which I then constructed for him - by incredible coincience, this part is the top of the weapon which the original rider model wields! No idea how I came to have it, but it makes me happy to have included it here.

The colour scheme is vaguely inspired by *tropical* Harpy Eagles, but at least the name makes sense for Dark Elves. I look at lots of arctic birds of prey but they tend to be a more speckly white which I thought would be hard to pull off effectively.

I'd be very pleased to have this model as the general of my army, but there's something else missing isn't there? Yup, a Dragon! Dragons are my first love and the chance to include an ancient classic here could not be missed But which one?

Well, it's Dark Elves, so that suggests a Black Dragon, and it happens that just in time for Christmas 1982 Citadel introduced this:


This beautiful beast is the FF61-2 Black Dragon (61-2 because it replaced an earlier Giant Wyvern model). Just look at those sleek lines and that highly sittable-on pose. Perfect. Less perfect is their incredible scarcity on eBay. Although as far as I know they remained in production alongside the only-slightly-later DRG / C11 Dragons, the other five of the set are easier to find and cheaper to buy. Eventually I found one with a damaged tail and no head (heads on this range are seperate and interchangeable anyway) at a bargain price, and the Black Dragon was ON.

However.

Attentive readers will have noted that the shield emblem carried by the entire army is a Dragon. A White Dragon. And yet, it was only when I picked up the model to paint it - it, the classic Black Dragon which I had carefully tracked down and repaired and made a rider for and then undercoated black - that I realised that I definitely had to paint the damned thing WHITE!!

Nuts.

Anyway - I re-primed it in white, started painting it, dropped it (snapping a wing and a very elaborate sword blade I had specially made), repaired it again and so eventually we got this:


You'll notice I remade the end of the tail in a different style, and selected a different head, adding a bigger tongue because I felt there was something missing. I've previously painted white dragons from a pale blue base, but in this case I wanted to avoid bringing in a new colour so I used the Dark Elf Highlight skin tone as my starting point and worked up to white from there. I'm quite happy with the shadowing I got while still having a dragon which reads as white rather than grey, I hope. I abandoned an ambitious idea of adding more colour with purple glazes because I feared I'd lose the white balance and wasn't sure how I'd put it right if it went wrong! Something to try out on a less important model.

For the rider, the same saddle method as for the Eagle rider, and a voluminous resculpting of his cloak. Then he took a dive and got his fancy sword replaced with a plain plastic one, and a slightly flat repair to his helmet crest. Everyone will be focussed on his mount anyway.

I think that's enough excitement for one month? We need to save some fun things for June, when we'll have some wild things for my Wild Card month.


Army List Additions:

I'm not going to fully spec out all the characters with magic items and things, but I may as well assign some levels to start getting a feel for what a full army list might look like:

Scores for May:         2758  points   33 models

2 x Wizard (level 10)                                                                                                            236 points

1 x Wizard (level 20)                                                                                                            303 points

1 x Wizard (level 25)                                                                                                             418 points

1 x Wizard (level 15, Cold One)                                                                                          225 points 

1 x Hero (level 20, Heavy Armour, Shield, Cold One)                                                 194 points  

1 x Hero (level 15, Light Armour, Great Weapon)                                                        132 points

24 x Black Guards (+1 Elites, Bow, Light Armour, Shield, Standard, Musician)   364 points

1 x Hero (level 20, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance, Giant Eagle (Griffon))               374 points

1 x Hero (level 25, Heavy Armour, Great Weapon, Winged Dragon level 1)            512 points

Running Total:          5771  points  188  models

Coming Next:

Wild Card month!

Tom's Sisters of Battle: Month Six - Wildcard (196 points)


A biker screams forth under the rousing sounds of Sister Leeta's guitar...



Straight into THE LAST MONTH - trumpets sound, warhorns blare - no messin'!

A second biker has joined the fray 👇 
I'm super pleased that I managed to paint at least one more bike (for a grand total of....two), and even more pleased that it matches the first one 🙃  











Chris' Chaos Dwarfs - Month 5 - Boar Centaurs and More Artillery - 494 points

I've suffered the usual enthusiasm dip near the end of the project but at the time of writing (23rd May) I'm well into the final unit.  I also have the possible addition of a chaos dwarf juggernaut if I get the time.  This months units are two ass cannons (I have a love/hate relationship with these minis and debated adding them to the army - they are silly).  The boar centaurs are great and were not available as a unit at the time that 3rd Ed came out.


The army so far is looking great, only one more unit to add, happy painting folks.

Frank's: The Great Work - A Daemonic Legion of Slaanesh, Slaves to Darkness Style, "Rank & File", May 2023

 

I had originally intended May to be my 'Wildcard' month, but I took a lot longer painting my first pack of mounted Daemonettes throughout April; so I still had the second unit of them to go. I do not in any way begrudge the slower speed I took working on these models. Each mounted Daemonette is a treasure. Those I converted are examples of Oldhammer ethos applied to modern techniques, while the unreleased non-converted models are, at least in my eyes, priceless treasures of Citadel Miniatures history. The second daemonette cavalry pack was created just like I had done with the first (see April's entry for details). These involved resin cast 'seats' to convert the riders, and serious hobby knife surgery on several standard Daemonette infantry models. Then the other half dozen mounts requiring careful posing to avoid them all being identical. In order to mix up the pose of the steeds a bit I reposed a few in this month's pack. It is amazing how much you can vary them considering they are only a torso and two leg pieces. In addition, some of my mounts I had acquired were in less than pristine condition and some tongues had to be replaced with plastic stand-ins. I painted these ladies just as flamboyantly as their sisters in April, with plenty of pastels and a few bright primary colors for contrast. I particularly like the red steed with the psychopomp-pink Daemonette rider. It appears to be rearing and she looks about to be thrown off in excitement. 

The second unit of mounted Daemonettes added another 720 points to the Legion as a whole. This brings my running tab to a total of 6344 points painted, and an 'adjusted for size' model count of 81 models painted. As you can see in the shot below the Legion is starting to look like a real army, but fear not dear reader, there are still a few more surprises left for my Wildcard effort in June.