I'm a Survivor - Kingdom Death Armor Kits

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Kingdom Death – With these kits I believe I’ve finally finished up my clients core set of Kingdom Death: Monster. The armor kits are one of the most difficult things to build, not because the kit is hard to follow but more so because until you’ve played the campaign you don’t know how to best arm them or what you might make during the course of the game. So to take best advantage of the versatility of the kits you’d build a new model after each session. WHICH IS INSANE!

The more reasonable thing to do is build the complete kits and arm them to look cool. Then they can represent the model without having to BE the exact model. This is especially true when having the models painted by a commission artist and preparing to have everything done before starting the game.

The first kit in this batch is the Rawhide kit. Your settlement should be able to start crafting these items fairly early in the game. I stuck with a simple khaki and bone color scheme for these to reflect the White Lion which is the monster that will provide most of the raw materials to make the stuff the survivors are decked out in.

After you’ve built some structures tanning leather helps move your rawhide into a more durable good.

If you can take out the screaming antelope making this set will help your settlement succeed and thrive.

Eventually you’ll face the Phoenix and if you are able to get the right parts making a nifty birdman suit keeps you going in the right direction.

After fighting the big bad watcher you can craft a sweet set of armor.

Big Timers - Primaris Death Watch

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Warhammer 40,000 – With this year’s Death Watch codex the Men in Black of 40K got a big boost to their available units. Intercessors will give them a bit more range and a few more wounds to help stand up to the various Xenos threats that plague the Imperium of Man.

To make the marines stand out as coming from a multitude of far reaching chapters I painted some of the shoulder pads in off-colors and applied a decal. Much like the old-pallet swaps in video games subtle changes make something into something brand new.

Off the Painting Table – Legion of the Damned

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

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.

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.

Off the Painting Table - KillTeam: Gellar-Pox Infected

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.