Nicolas' Daemon Legion of Khorne - Month 3 - Mulligan

 March - Chasing my tail like a dog

Sadly I have to mulligan my month of March... Too much overtime and home improvements... so when I realized I was cooked, I decided to go all in to finish the infamous Chaos Hounds of Slaanesh unit that got me out on OWAC 6.  It feels nice to finaly get a sence of closure on this project! The original idea was to have hounds that would both match my Slaanesh and Tzeentch army, I belive I'm spot on!

I only had to touch up highlights and do the basing. But the effort needed to get variety out of the 3 Dark Eldar Warp Hounds was pretty intense back than and I'm really glad I went trought it.

Special love to my "demogorgon" from Stranger Things made out of a tyranid spore mine.

And just for the record, the original material I worked from...

Paul's Dark(ish) Elves - Rank and File Month 3 - Patriots and Traitors -337 pts

Morganspyr spat on the ground as his mount's hoof touched the shore of the bleak coast of Naggarythe for the first time. Was this really the price of their devotion to the cause? Disparaged honour forcing them to act in retaliation and then slink away to this miserable rain swept outpost of their mad kinfolk? 

He waved the rest of his men, cavalry and spear, onward to take up position on a rocky hill top above the shoreline. If their noble and enthusiastic bloodletting for Caledor had been valued in the war, afterwards it was seen as an inconvenient stain on it's reputation. Something not to be celebrated but hushed up. Erased. Deliberately forgotten... 

No wonder Blood Dragon, as leader of their house, had been compelled to take action in leading his men against a delegation from the newly proclaimed 'Phoenix King', bearing his very banner indeed. The slaughter had been bright and bloody, the prideful fools having no idea enemies were among them. Their banner fallen. Burning in mage fire. Taken by Blood Dragon as a totem of his devotion and their new loyalties... 

Morganspyr's expression soured as his memory of that last fight on Ulthuan faded and he looked around at the grey rocks and cracked bones that scattered the coastline and let his melancholy take him once more. What was the point of being worshippers of Khaine if everyone around here had already been killed?

I'm calling this unit The Tarnished Helms to signify the beginning of their transition from Silver Helms (albeit murder hobo-ing Khaine worshipping Silver Helms) to Dark Riders. I enjoyed using a vey restricted colour palette for the unit, although I accept that with such a dark feel overall I'm maybe not making the best of the details on the sculpts.... but that is in some ways deliberate to hide the fact they are a bit of a rough and ready repair job with replacement press-moulded tails, mismatched heads, uniforms, weapons... even one of the horses heads is different. I decided to embrace this mixed bag by making them a down on their luck unit of refugee war criminals who have been accused of crimes they definitely DID commit.

Dark Riders come with sword and light armour and can be equipped with spears, so if we downgrade the lances that fits pretty well with the models. They can also have repeating crossbows, but that doesn't fit with the models or the unit background, so I didn't add them despite still having plenty of milliput X-bows available. They don't have the option of shields in the army book but I really felt like the models needed them (especially as one of the most serious rescue jobs has a badly mangled hand, now hidden by his shield) and I really wanted to use the classic HE emblem shields on my two traitor units to show their heritage, and the sword through the heart symbol seemed to fit these Khaine worshipping cut throats. 

Dark Riders do get the Skirmish ability though, so I will happily forgo actually using the shields (and the point cost) to keep them in line with the DE army book, and also as a way to show how they have changed battle tactics as renegades, and how they will integrate into the wider Dark Elf forces. 

I added a reference to the grey rocks and bone strewn ground in the intro to link in to the basing elements I'm starting to introduce - lots of skulls and broken bones. The swamp grass is partly inspired by an earlier reference to how dank the high walled port town of Daggerpoint is, covered in moss. Also partly inspired by my Gardenhammer backdrop.

I named the champion Morganspyr because it sounds suitably pretentious for someone who wears a feathered helm so offensive it is basically his whole personality. I could never quite bring myself to use the figure in my High Elves (that high helm is too high maintenance even for the High Maintenance Elves themselves - try saying that three times fast) but it turned out that's because he was waiting for his starring role as a complete douche bag sidekick for the main BBE.

 

The Keepers of the Burnt Banner are a solid unit of not-so-High Elf spearmen, pledged to the Blood Dragon and the cult of Khaine, they have their own bloody reputation as the unit who turned on the royal emissaries when the Blood Dragon refused the summons and captured the phoenix king's banner amid the slaughter. 

I've given them Caledor themed shields to emphasise their heritage, but made them all dark and edgy with a grey to red fade. On reflection I regret making the gems on the helms green and not red, but I like the overall look of both units as being a dark inflection of the red and green colour scheme of my Caledor themed High Elves from the previous two OWACs.

I've used two (Marauder? I should check...) sculpts for the Champion and Musician that had a slightly more rugged look than some of the other high elf command, and certainly the later versions. Both have animal skins, the champion is definitely a spearman, but his pose, fancy armour and cloak remind me a little of the Phoenix Guard (or in my Host of Caledor the Dragon Guard - maybe he was part of the unit they deposed?), while the musician bears a bow and quiver on his side which I also thought spoke to the fact that these fallen-from-on-High Elves might not all have started in the same unit or region but have come together as renegades. 

The banner is my freehand take on the Banner of  the Phoenix King from the High Elf Army book. I use the foil from tomato paste tubes for big banners that I want to shape or distress, and it worked well in this instance. I wanted to give a sense of the banner having been badly burned before being captured as a trophy (emphasising it's phoenix like credentials) so after finishing what might be my best ever banner.... I slapped a load of congealed AP Soft Tone and (not congealed) Vallejo Smoke effect all over it.... I think it worked quite well, even if a little part of me died.

The banner top has a story to tell. It belongs to the White Lions of Chrace from my High Elf host, but was lost in the congealed murk at the bottom of the paint stripper jar. At the time the needs of the OWAC spurred me to craft an alternative banner for that unit which I was quite happy with. When it reappeared from the gloop at the end of last year along with a big load of Dark Elves it inspired the idea behind this unit's backstory and the banner they carry. 

Monthly Total:

The Tarnished Helms - 5 Dark Riders (w/ light armour, swords, spears) inc Champion - 157 pts

The Keepers of the Burnt Banner - 10 Spearmen (w/ spear, light armour and shield) inc full command -180 pts 

Total pts - 337 pts

Tom's Bony Bit

Month three was another skeleton unit, this time archers. It felt good to finish multiple coats of browns and reds, metals, and the banner of this fiddly unit. I started off with the usual chestnut brown into a dry brush of coffee. Then I worked with a red triad to get a fade effect before applying skeleton horde and red tone to bring this unit together.

I included a Beastman skull to infer the different types of armies I have defeated. I loved using the new Retributor Gold we bought at our new FLGS during half term last month. I like the beautiful effect it had on the helmets and banner top.    

Finally, I used light grey to pick out details on the banner and the High Elf bows and quivers carried by the unit command, to keep to my overall army colour palette.

Monthly Total:

10 Skeleton Archers inc. Standard and Musician - 120 pts

Total points: 120 pts

To sign off here are four different banners from my different skeleton units, to show how they all tie into the overall army scheme. Next month is my last rank and file then I'm onto some fun things! Good luck for next month, many thanks for reading, Tombo!

Jaakko and Rugluk - Rank & File month #3

Act 3

Rugluk Backstabba stood on the edge of a valley, surveying a mob of orcs, goblins, and whatever else had been dragged along in the valley below. Gronk was dead and the warboss’s name was already half-forgotten. The tribe had come round quick once Rugluk bashed enough heads together. A few warlords needed “convincin’ ”, but after a couple of suspicious “accidents”, no one argued much.

Now, they marched "to da stunties’ fort" while Rugluk looked at the troops he had gathered.

The ground shook as a snotling pump wagon rattled ahead, the little runts cackling as they crashed through anything too slow to dodge. Rugluk watched as it flattened a goblin who didn’t jump quick enough.

“Least dey'r keen,” he muttered.

To their left, a mob of orcs marched, their armour clanking. They were big and as cheerful as a hungry wolf. They only followed Rugluk because he was bigger - and because the last boss who questioned him had been found missing a head.

In front of the main force, a pack of Wolf Riders scouted ahead, their mounts snarling. One of them tried to show off his riding skills - right before his wolf sent him head first into the mud. The rest cackled as he limped after them.

Rugluk smirked. It was a proper mob alright.

Still, something nagged at him. The wyrm’s words slithered in the back of his mind. It promised he’d be da biggest, da best… but did it say fer how long?

Rugluk shook his head. “Ain’t no git strong enuff ta take me down” he said to himself. But he wasn't sure if he was convinced.

 

 

Welcome back! Another month has passed and another group of painted models joins the ranks of Rugluk's mob. I wanted to avoid painting another large unit and decided to paint some war machines. That's enough enough talking - let's move on to the miniatures!

I managed to finish two Lead Belcher Goblin Organ Guns and two Snotling Pump Wagons. I misestimated my energy levels and the time taken to paint a Pump Wagon and failed to finish a third one. I try to paint the rest of it next month.

I'm pretty happy with how the Pump Wagons turned out. I could have jammed more snotlings into the big one but I think they are good enough as they are. Also, I'm a bit limited with non-duplicate snotlings that fit them.

 

 

I mentioned the plan of painting war machines every month and I try to stick to it from now on. These Lead Belchers were an obvious choice after a busy February as they have such a small crew. 

 

In the original backstory the face is flayed from a Troll but I went with a skintone more compliant with a Giant. I had forgotten about it but the other gun was incomplete. I dont mind it though, as the chances of these guys killing and skinning two Giants are slim.

 

I wanted to have some variation in the skintones (and painting routine) and decided to paint Snotlings with a colder green. I have previously used this with some Blood Bowl Snotlings and enjoyed painting the scheme.

 

This month in points:

 

 

 

 

I am not sure if the crew in the Snotling Pump Wagons should have been taken into account in the model count but I decided not to. (But I did make a mental note that there are 12 of them for a later tally.) I also separated the siege themed models from the regular models and present them in the siege section from now on. If I stay true to my plans there will be many more siege models to come.

SIEGE

I wanted to include something siege themed to this month and decided to pick a low hanging fruit. These ladders I painted are from the Mighty Fortress and hold the promise of a mighty Wild Card month for season 9 (I have other plans for this season).

Ladders might seem simple but the rules for using them are three pages long. In short, you need a group of 2-6 models to carry them to the wall, and they are erected once your models hit the wall. Then you may climb up (and fight) on the next turn. The long ones reach from the ground to the parapet of the ramparts, and the short ones can reach between levels in a tower or from the courtyard to the rampart.

 

 

 

I end this section with a fitting quote from the Warhammer Siege:

"It is a brave commander who decides to storm a castle. Many troops will be killed as they push lumbering machines towards the walls, and many more will be cast from the battlements or slaughtered as they try to hold crumbling ramparts against determined defenders.

Of course, some troops are simply ideal for this sort of tough, demanding and generally fatal work - Goblins, for example! After all, why waste time having your Goblins build complicated and probably ineffectual machines when they can be doing what they do best - dying in droves!"

That's it, I think I'll rush to paint some Goblins!

 

Pokrzyw's Sisters of Battle - Month 3 - Rank & File 3 - Heavy support OWAC VIII (280pts)

 "With its twin heavy flamers, a single Immolator can wreak untold destruction upon the battlefields of the 41st millenium, cutting a flaming swathe of carnage through the enemies of Adepta Sororitas"

Plans for March:

I started month painting transports for already prepared two squads of sisters. I couldn't buy it, but my friend gave me a birthday gift - two printed rhinos/immolators. It triggered me to start month from vehicles not touching planned infantry.

Realization:

Although militia received basing and zenithal basecoat, I haven't touch them with brush. Shame, but tomorrow I would start painting.

Vehicles were glued and primed. Painting goes quite fast - drybrush, base colours and a drop of wash.

Final Galery:

Rhinos could be nice shield for expanding Sisters of Battle

Immolators are more powerful.

Unfortunately I have not gunners..

View from above

Points:

Two immolators (2* 140),  summary 280 pts

Optionally can be used as a rhinos (2*50).

Plans for April:

Militia!!  I feel that these guys will bring me a lot of fun.

Chris P's Rank and File Month 2 - The Land Raider

 Chaos Land Raider - 220pts

 

Just as I hoped, the Horus Heresy Land Raider harks back to the 80s/90s original, whilst being pleasingly chunky and detailed. I added spikes, gun muzzles and symbols from the Chaos vehicle sprue, which fitted pretty much perfectly, as did the giant skulls from a Fantasy Battle terrain set. I used a little texture paint to muddy up the tracks, and I like the contrast with the bright details. It's a little different from the datasheet (I could only conveniently fit one heavy bolter), but I'm very happy with the result.

Nathan’s leader month

A leader month has helped me avoid the pile of bones - or at a minimum delay it. I am happy I managed to finish off my bloodthirster which I’m quite happy about as it is a figure I’ve wanted to paint ever since I got the original real of chaos book for Christmas back in 1989. Add to that a couple of leaders and standards bearers and we have a leader group. Here they are:

Not a nice doggy

                                                        

Army commander on juggernaut

Banner bearers

And another pic of the banners

Two warriors on foot with a Khorne renegade added in for good measure

I haven’t worked out the point value for these as the point values for champions in the Slaves to Darkness book depends on the number of rewards you give them. It is well over a thousand as a bloodthirster on its own is worth 1150 points.

Next up, chaos dwarves…