Off the Painting Table – Legion of the Damned

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Warhammer 40,000 – One of my regular clients regularly comes across oddities and old models that he likes to add to his army. Many of these gems have been abandoned in favor of the shiny new plastics but for those of us that remember when these kits were new it’s like finding hidden treasure when one crosses your path. ‘Member Berries are strong stuff as anyone who has tried to track down toys from their youth or other items you foolishly thought you had outgrown or had no further use for. As my grandparents used to say it all comes back around…

The latest gem to hit my table is a small unit of Legion of the Damned. These guys made a big splash in the standard marine codex a few years back with some updated metal sculpts. During the insanity that was sixth/seventh edition they even got their own “codex” now relegated to a tiny index entry you rarely see them on the table.

Off the Painting Table – Old Hammer: Salamanders

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Warhammer 40,000 – One of my clients loves finding old models. He works in a Friendly Local Gamestore (FLGS) and always seems to come across good deals for guys getting out of the hobby with ancient models. These models eventually find their way to my table to get painted up to match one of his existing armies.

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This time around we have Marnies Calgar on a throne, several Tech-marines (The Hands of Mars) and several Chaplains. All of these are destined to get the “bright” Salamanders scheme to match up with the rest of his force. This is the same client that I did the Terminators through the ages job so it’s fun seeing this variety of model in one army.

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Off the Painting Table - KillTeam: Gellar-Pox Infected

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Warhammer 40,000 – Nurgle has never been my jam. The models are always really amazing looking but the slow-grindy playstyle and general idea of embracing decay and despair never push-ed any of my buttons. However since the boxed set and narrative campaign included both the Star-Striders and the Infected I felt like I should paint these guys up to match my other chaos forces.

Upon looking at the 40k rules it seems like these creepy crewmen might be a good add to my Night Lords force, but giving up a proper warlord to get access to their 3CP and special Stratagems seems like a steep price to pay.

I don’t like the typically rotting green colors scheme you seem on most Nurgle stuff. It feels very comical and not quite as terrifying as I feel it should be so I opted to go with a swollen, irritated fleshtone with bloody gore. I think the effect works and it helps them fit in with the rest of my Night Lords.

Off the Painting Table – Killteam: Star Striders

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Off the Painting Table – Killteam: Star Striders

Warhammer 40,000 – Rogue Traders have always been an idea that intrigued me. Essentially the Han Solo’s of 40k (of course not scoundrels..) they travel the furthest reaches looking for riches, power and glory. Although, I guess they’re really more like Columbus travel out at the behest of their ruler into the unknown looking for power, riches and glory. Fantasy Flight did an rpg system that focused on Rogue Traders and was a very enjoyable read. Playing it was another story … best saved for another time.

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Something Sickly This Way Comes – Death Guard Characters

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Something Sickly This Way Comes – Death Guard Characters

Warhammer 40,000 – The Death Guard has been very popular with my clients as of late. I doubt that the fact the core models were easy to acquire in the core box for a discount is the only reason I’ve seen an uptick in commission requests for these followers of the Plague God. I think having a resilient force able to hold objectives or tarpit your opponent is probably the more likely reason these guys are finally getting some love from my clients.

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Genestealers, Spores and another Tyrant - Leviathan Rising

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Genestealers, Spores and another Tyrant - Leviathan Rising

Warhammer 40,000 – Hivefleet Leviathan has spawned a few new beasties to aid in their consumption of the galaxy. One of my long-standing commission clients decided to add a large batch of models to his army to fill out his list for an upcoming GT. This batch includes some Spore Mines to annoy opponents, 26 Genestealers to rip apart opponents and a second Flying Hive Tyrant to lay waste to troops at range.

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Blood in Blood Out - Blood Angels vs the Imperium

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Blood in Blood Out - Blood Angels vs the Imperium

Warhammer 40,000 – Weekly game night should be getting back on track with Fall right around the corner. I've been lucky enough to get a game in every week this summer and I've been enjoying tinkering with an Imperial Crusade list. Yes, I can hear your moans it consists of Astra Militarum: Catachans, Blood Angels and House Raven.

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Rotten Treats ... Death Guard with Renegade Knights

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Rotten Treats ... Death Guard with Renegade Knights

Warhammer 40,000 – I love big events. They always turn into "brand-new" armies from my clients. The latest big event inspired list is for one of my Black Legion clients. He decided to add some Renegade Knights and Death Guard to his force. I jumped at the chance to do an alternate scheme Death Guard as the green/white, rotten green color scheme is everywhere right now. As with the Khorne elements I painted for him previously the god-specific helmet color is what sets them apart from the rest of the force. 

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If everyone else jumped off a bridge....

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If everyone else jumped off a bridge....

Warhammer 40,000 – So command points are super important in most codex armies in 8th edition 40K. Mixing armies seems to also be pretty important to build the most effective fighting force. I've never been a huge fan of Imperial Guard but I recently read the Rogue Trader Omnibus and found the Guard unit that the main character joined up with to fight the Tau interesting. I really enjoyed how the novels paired Space Marines, Guard, Knights/Titans, Inquisitors, Priests and Rogue traders together in a Crusade force. Seeing how they worked together inspired me to make an Imperial force. Now since soup is dead mixing armies with only 3 detachments is tricky. Particularly if you want to include Agents of the Imperium (it's pretty sad that the cool fluffy Imperium keyword got beat down for competitive play, but whatever) so I won't be able to include everything I want in a single force but perhaps I can make several elements so I can pull from the various factions taking part in my Crusade.

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Giant Tank vs Sadistic Daemons

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Giant Tank vs Sadistic Daemons

Warhammer 40,000 – Game night this week saw my Twilight Ravens taking on a Slaanesh Daemon list. I hadn't run my Typhon Siege tank in quite some time and wanted to put it on the board again to see if my opinion of it has improved in 8th edition. (In seventh and previous editions it was great anti-hordes because of the 7" template 2D6 shots isn't quite the same as the huge numbers you could clip if your opponent wasn't spread out).

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RAMPAGE! - Imperial Knights vs Death Guard and Thousand Sons

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RAMPAGE! - Imperial Knights vs Death Guard and Thousand Sons

Warhammer 40,000 – I recently had the chance to face off in a 2500 point battle with my Imperial Knights vs a combined team of Thousand Sons and Death Guard. It's an odd point level that my opponents regularly played so I tweaked my standard 2,000 point list to include an Archeron. My opponents chose to fight in the city, so my Knights weren't going to be as maneuverable and we opted to use the Open War Deck. 

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Khorne on the Cob?

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Khorne on the Cob?

Warhammer 40,000 – The Beta Rules and Faqs have put a damper on some of the more prevalent strategies for the Chaos Super-Faction. Soup is gone, Alpha-Strike is limited, and the Never-ending Cultist Bowl is a thing of the past. Things change so fast that some of the units my clients give me change in function before I finish painting them. With the FAQs dropping twice a year now it should be easier to anticipate what may or may not change.

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City Showdown - Raven Guard vs. Imperial Fist

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City Showdown - Raven Guard vs. Imperial Fist

Warhammer 40,000 – I really love the look of fighting in a city. Having to get down and check line of site, navigating around cramped quarters, makes for a more interesting game than shooting each other from the edges of the table. Having played Open War last week we opted to play Maelstrom of War this week. My opponent ran close to the same list as he did last week swapping out a Librarian for a Lieutenant to benefit from the re-roll auras. 

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A Knight's Tale - Knights vs. Imperil Fists Battle Report

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A Knight's Tale - Knights vs. Imperil Fists Battle Report

Warhammer 40,000 – The recent release of the Imperial Knight Codex has given the giant robots new life. Thankfully the new book looks to make the army playable. To put them to the test I built a basic Knight army with a Space Marine Battalion to give me access to much needed command points. (Note: This game was played prior to the FAQ having 15CP is going to be bonkers). 

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Furies or Furries ... Proxying a Conversion

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Furies or Furries ... Proxying a Conversion

Warhammer 40,000 – For the Escalation Event I plan on attending later this month I needed to add five Chaos Furies. The metal models are just gross, I never cared for them and used to use Dark Elf Harpies with my old Word Bearers force back in the 3.5/4th edition days. While the models weren't much better they fit the rest of my army. Sadly I sold that force off ages ago and haven't stopped kicking myself since. The problem at hand is I need five Furies to fill out my force for this event because Screamers don't fit when playing points (power level is just fine which is my preference at the moment ... but its not my event and 90% of tournaments will use points so whatever).

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Welcome to the Heavy Infantry - More Raptors

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Welcome to the Heavy Infantry - More Raptors

Warhammer 40,000 – Space Marine Scouts, Devastators and Tactical Marines join the fight. This group will join the other groups of Raptors I've painted in my clients "all-infantry" Space Marine force. I think it's a cool idea and it will make full use of the Chapter Tactics and special rules available to the Raven Guard/Raptors.

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Ravenwing Black Knights - More Plasma Talons

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Ravenwing Black Knights - More Plasma Talons

Warhammer 40,000 – I remember when bitz boxes the world over were filled with left over Space Marine Plasma Guns. It was always a weapon that would kill your own gun at the most inopportune of times, which meant any other special weapon would see more play on the table. Eight Edition made it a choice to supercharge your plasma and risk killing your own guy rather than happening every time they fire their gun. Suddenly plasma guns are all the rage and you see them on everything.

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