Full Cast of Players

The Full Cast of Players

Having finished the Shadowseer (hiding in back), the Cast of Players formation is complete.  This leaves just the Phoenix Bomber for my Aliatoc and the Five Hexes army.  The Harlequins have really allowed me to practice the motley technique and build my confidence and skill sets as a painter.  The painting guide Games workshop produced was outstanding for learning these techniques.  As I finish up the Eldar, i am hoping I will be able to transfer these skills into making superb Horus Heresy forces.

Deathjester

Straightforward painting of the Harlequin Deathjester model.  The actual Deathjester was painted using the Harlequins Painting Guide from Games Workshop.  Following the painting guide has really helped me improve my overall technique.

I painted the model up in over the course of Sunday, probably totaling three or four hours of effort.  I really like how the contrast between the sandstone base and the dark colors of the Deathjester turned out.

This leaves two models remaining to paint for the Eldar army I started about almost 2 years ago.  When I complete the Phoenix and Shadowseer, they will be complete (barring an unanticipated addition).

At least 3 more Eldar blog post to come - one for each of the remaining models and a final completed army post.

Progress shots after the break.

Tyr-Assault Boats and Mines!

DK Aegir with Assault Boats

 Last week, I updated DK Aegir with a few more details to match the rest of the fleet and painted up the 6 Tyr-Assault Boat markers.   In addition, I painted up 5 of 10 mine tokens I have (after the break).  For these bases I used George of Full Spectrum Dominance's water effect technique as a guide.  His are much better than mine.

Close-ups after the break.

Asgard-Class Heavy Battle Carrier

DK Aegir, Asgard-Class Heavy Battle Carrier

Nothing particularly spectacular about painting the Asgard model.  Its size made for a lot of nooks and detail.  Overall the process was similar to painting the other ships.  More pictures through the link.

1,000 Points to Paint

31 World Eaters to Paint

I have fully acquired all the miniatures needed for my 1,000 points of World Eaters for Zone Mortalis.  It is a pair of Tactical Squads, one with Chain-Bayonets (close combat weapons) and one with Chainaxes, a squad of Rampagers, a squad of Butchers, and Kharn.  Actual painting is at least a few weeks away as I finish up the other two projects, Eldar and Kingdom of Denmark.

Magni Assault Airships

Squadron of Magni Assault Ships ready to prowl

After I got into it, painting these four ships up was straight-forward.  It followed the same style as my previous ships.  These ships lack ranged weapons, other than Ack Ack (Anti-Air fire).  This makes it hard for them to have an impact unless they can get on-top of a hostile ship.  I have played a few games with these, but I am still learning how to appropriately field them.  In the first game, they were quickly destroyed by my opponent.  In the second game, they were out of position due to coming in on my flank, far enough away to be rather useless for the fight in the middle of the table.

Banshees Complete

Ten Angry Screaming Armed Elfin Women!

After two weeks of working on the Banshees off-and-on, they are complete!  I had originally hoped to complete before my new Danes showed up, but no luck.  Between the heat and a head-cold, I have just not had energy post-work day.

I do like how they turned out.  After the break, I have a few progress shots.  The very light bone armor was an opportunity to really practice the build up of colors all the way from black to the very light bone white.   The Eldar have really been my breakout collection for the use of washes and I am always impressed with how much more depth it gives the model.  My 40k Ultramarines appear very flat in comparison.

A Unit of Scary Ladies

10 Banshees in work

A simple update.  This weekend I have been working on painting up the unit of 10 Banshees.  Once complete, it will leave 3 models* to paint for the Eldar army and then it is focus on new Danes, followed by World Eaters (which will probably only be 1,000 points total).

Lots of wash techniques and purple power swords.  Straight-forward enough with most of the detail work still to go.
*Deathjester, Shadowseer, & Phoenix bomber

Learning to Off-Load Unused Minis

BFG I am selling!

When a person has been playing miniature games for almost 20 years, you end up collecting lots of models.  Many of these languish in boxes until you finally pull them out to work on them and add them to your finished collection.  Others end up not being used for a number of reasons.

A little over 10-years ago, I was building out my collection for some dying games, chiefly Epic Armageddon (EA) and Battlefleet Gothic (BFG).  This effort led me to buy from numerous sources to complete my growing forces.  It also resulted in me buying more than I ended up needing as projects would complete with no push to expand.

More Danes Coming

KoD Surface Assault Group

I am glad I delayed ordering more Dystopian Wars.  As I mentioned in my last post about Dystopian Wars, I was going to expand my Danes with some Prussian Lend-Lease units.  However, with the announcement of the new box pictured here, I am happily holding off to pick it up instead.

The addition of the Asgard Heavy Battle Carrier with its Tyr Assault Boats and four Magni Assault Airships will be far more interesting than any Lend-Lease units I might have acquired.

More Marines for the XII

A rare, cautious World Eater Sergeant

In early June, alongside The Horus Heresy Tempest V, I ordered 5 Mk 3 & 10 Mark4 Space Marines, Mk4 Power Weapons kit, 10 Chainaxes, a set of Mk3 World Eaters shoulder pads, and some Ultramarines bits (for reasons).  I have a plan to get to 1,000 points of World Eaters, mostly geared towards Zone Mortalis games.   At the core of this list is two Tactical Squads, one with additional Close Combat weapons (chain bayonets) and the other with Chainaxes.

A Sergeant with a Power Fist leads the more standard Squad III, while his brother Sergeant with Lightning Claws leads the chainaxes equiped Squad V.  I have decided to go for a mix of armor marks in each squad.  The World Eaters do not seem like a Legion to focus on standardizing equipment, but instead rewarding those with combat prowess (thanks to my friend Colby for the suggestion).  More pictures follow.

Rebellious Danes

Completed pair of Farnir Class Airships

I have played two games of Dystopian Wars thus far; both against Prussian Empire fleets at 1,000 points.  The first game I won very well, despite not having a good understanding of the rules The second I lost because of my starter list put me in an untenable position.  I have been trying to get a better handle on my fleets rules and the rules in general.  All of this has led to a "next acquisition" plan and the development away from the Lindisfarne Battlegroup to the Jylland Battlegroup.

Dwarfs in Age of Sigmar

I mentioned in my first impressions of the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar rules, that I would take out my Dwarf collection and build some armies from the models I have.  I am going to focus on three ways of building an Age of Sigmar list.  The first I call the "Rule of Cool."  I went through my collection and pulled out some of what I think are the coolest models (and thus models that others will likely purchase).  The second will be fielding a War Scroll organization, maybe two!  The last I will walk through and build a list using the Azyr Composition guide put out there by the Louisville, Kentucky wargaming community.

In discussions with my local group, the opinion has been expressed that the old armies/modelsare likely to be under powered and even with well-intentioned carry-over rules are likely to not perform or be as fun as playing Age of Sigmar with models and forces designed for the game.  Initially, this really only is the Stormcast Eternals or Khrone Bloodbound. I suspect there will be a steady release of forces over the next six months.