A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhammer 40,000 – For years the ugliest models in Games Workshops line up were the metal Chaos Furies. While they were always a good choice for a fast moving flying unit the models were just terrible and ugly. Thankfully they’ve recently rectified that with a nice plastic kit. While I still prefer some third party sculpts of harpies this new models are decent.
Age of Sigmar – The Chaos Daemon range has been in dire need of some new plastic kits for quite some time. Luckily for Khorne and Slaanesh players Games Workshop delivered with some gorgeous new plastic kits.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Our Battle Honors campaign has moved into the fourth week. This week we played the fourth Eternal War mission from Chapter Approved 2018. With the weather improved there were four of us so we played two 1000 point 1v1 games. Xenos vs Imperial and Chaos vs. Imperial. We had the non-imperial players roll off to choose their table and opponent before setting up the game.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – For some of my regular clients I offer a rush service. For a slight premium they can get bumped to the front of my queue. This option is very popular with some of my more tournament minded clients who have crazy list ideas pop into their head and need a few models to add to their existing force.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – There are few models more hideous that the metal Fleshhounds of Khorne. Even the new plastics that have been revealed aren’t my cup of tea. Something about the neck frills just doesn’t do it for me. And event though I think a Daemon Prince or Bloodthirster leading a pack of hounds would be cool and effective on the table the look of the models didn’t fit with my army so I never pursued it.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – It’s been a little while since I did anything with my chaos forces. After having some time to paint up some Flesh Hounds and picking up two Helverins that will be joining my Renegade Knight as a very shooty detachment, I wanted to put them on the table.
Read MoreWarhammer 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.
Read MoreWarhammer 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).
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – For the fifth week of the Agrax Campaign I decided to modify my list a bit. Same models just trying different traits to see what works best. This time around I'm putting Daemon Spark on my Princess to bump up the damage potential from my Flamers. This force might still be to small to take best advantage of the alpha strike. What I've been seeing it while I can hit hard on the first turn I've generally loosing them to return fire, when I am able to put more threats on the table it should help this detachment survive a bit longer. Last week I tried out bulking this out with a battalion, this week I'm trying the same thing but keeping the cultists back as objective grabbers.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – This week I'm going to try out a list I plan on taking to RIW Hobbies Escalation Event. It's an interesting format as you start with 500 points and then add another each round. Essrntially playing a slow grow league in the course of a day. Several other local groups just did escalation leagues so it makes sense to give players a chance to test their mettle in a single day event.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – This week I played another 2v1 game. Which meant I was running two complete 50PL armies, double what I had prepared for. Luckily with power level its super fast to build a list, I grabbed a Chaos Knight 24PL, a terminator sorcerer 6PL, a dark apostle 6PL and 4 units of cultists 3PL each. Quick and easier. whatever they're carrying is what they're armed with and I'm ready to play.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The first session of my clubs escalation league saw me get throughly trounced. I feel like my Raptors never could effectively alpha strike and when I tried they would get wiped off the board in the following turn. If they could have ever took out their points worth that would have been fine, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I was able to get my Slaanesh Daemons on the table this week. As a first run with a new codex against a Cadian and Scion list they didn't do to horrible. I lost pretty horribly but I can see potential.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Many of my clients just need paint on models. Especially baseline troopers that don't spend a ton of time on the table (although that could be said for most things this editon, everything dies so fast...). For that I offer my basic paint service, it's inexpensive and meets the requirements of most events. Three colors, wash and basing.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – One of the most daunting things about starting this hobby is having to put together your models. (Painting is a close second, since before you can do that you need to put them together.) This is especially true for newer players that are interested in the social and tactical aspects of tabletop gaming but come from a background of video or board games where everything is ready to go right out of the box. A large percentage of these newer gamers don't have an interest in the hobby aspect of the game (yet, it will come with time) so paying to have these parts taken care of makes sense for them.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I'm trying to crank through as many of the "when you have time" commissions I have sitting around so I can have a clean plate to start the New Year. Some of my clients already have huge armies and want to add new formations, got stupid good deals on stuff to salvage or just want to start new armies. These clients also tend to not be in a rush to get things back and are just looking for the best price. When I get rush jobs in they move to the front because the client is paying a premium to have their stuff done within a deadline. (Usually for an event).
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Melkor AKA Belakor is done. This project was back burnered for a minute due to a rush request from another client. Luckily this job is not a rush and my client is in no rush to get these models done.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Finally I'm through the bulk of the cultists for this chaos space marine commission I've grinding away at. Now I'm starting to see some of the more interesting models for the force. First on the table is Belakor. This nasty beast has a data sheet that allows you to use him as an HQ choice in a chaos space marine or chaos daemon list. A flying monsterous creature with invisibility can ruin your day if you're not expecting it. So my client obviously wants him as a center piece for his army.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Chaos Daemons codex released and out of curiosity I picked it up. I still can't believe the asking price for these books, sure it's nice they're in full color with a hardback and embossed cover but $50 for a army book is a bit much. Luckily I support my local gaming store and they had it for 25% off the MSRP. $37.50 is a bit more palatable. (Barely, but it's easier to rationalize than $50)
I already own a sizable Slaanesh Daemon force that has been sitting on the shelf since shortly after the last book was released. I hated the random deployment in the last codex and as such I played a grand total of three games with them before putting them back on the shelf. Initially I picked most of these models up to accompany my 3rd edition Emperor's Children marines. Who along with all my other chaos marine stuff has long since moved on to another owner, as it seems GW has no plans on bringing the army anywhere near what it was when I enjoyed playing them. However I held onto the Daemons as I enjoy the look of the Slaanesh models and figure they'll look nice on my shelf if I ever finish painting them.
At first blush it seems the new Daemon Codex is a huge improvement over the last book, contrary to what the rest of the internet tells you. It seems that a full Slaanesh force is a viable option, and I plan on building out a few list options using the models I already own. I still am trying not to sink any more money into 40K models until I finish eveything I have in the que, so I'm not looking into any of the new models yet.
A while back I picked up an Ultraforge Pleasure Demon, I just liked the model and didn't really have any plans for it (plus it was on a clearance sale at the time), so it sat on my shelf partially assembled. Reading through the new book I really think I should use a Blood Thirster in my list, problem is I hate how the Khorne models look and in general the asthetic of the daemon book bothers me. When you run a mixed force the models don't match up and look like a rainbow vomited on the table. (Chaotic sure, but ugly as hell) So my solution is to use the Ultraforge Demon as a Blood Luster of Slaanesh, it solves my problem of fitting the look and feel of the rest of the force while allowing me to use the rules for a model that I think is fairly strong.
I'm going to try out a all Slaanesh list a few times to see how that works out and if I like playing them I'll finish up the army. (adding yet another 40K army to my que) And if I really want to add some of the other units I'll probably just scratch build some stuff (maybe I'll be able to use those Soul Drinker bitz after all ... Sarpedon might make a decent Herald on a Chariot, an a unit of mutated marines might pass as flamers or horrors).
My initial thoughts are: 1x Bloodthirster, 1x Keeper of Secrets, 4x Units of 12 Daemonettes (2 with banners), 1x unit of 6 Steeds, 1x Slaanesh Daemon Prince with Wings, 2x SoulGrinder w/ Phlegm. This comes in just under 1500 points and puts 59 models on the table. I have a feeling splurging on the random gifts might be useful however for my first run through I don't want to spend points on upgrades.
Warhammer 40k – So I've been pretty consumed by Malifaux as of late.
So it's time to take a short break. Prior to August 2009 I was really excited about the 5th Edition Rules for 40K. I've had my Space Marine list pretty close to completion for a while now and eventually will get around to finishing up the tanks and characters I have left. I'm really proud of my Twilight Ravens, chapter. Each marine has there name applied to a scroll on the base (which are all scientific names of birds) and each unit has specific markings and campaign badges. I've kept them very generic so I can use whatever codex suits my needs at the time. For the most part I like to use the White Scars rules or the Raven Guard rules.
When I first designed my chapter they were based around the Index Astrates: Raven Guard article. I had acquired a toolbox full of random marines as partial payment for a commission, and wanted to build a force with them. At the time the Chaos marine codex was running rampant at every event I attended as well as in my local play group, so the bonuses against Chaos were a big deal. I also had a Witch Hunters list that paired well with the Marine ruleset I was using.
Then 4th edition came out and 40K died for my play group and any stores that were running events. So my loyal marines were shelved unfinished. After jumping headfirst into Warmachine and subsequently being turned off by the direction the game was headed. I returned to 40K excited about the possibilities available. Unfortunately I had sold off my Wordbearers, Sisters of Battle, and a good chunk of my Black Legion ... leaving me with just my Emperor's Children and the piecemeal Twilight Ravens. The current Chaos Marine book left me with a bad taste in my mouth, my heavily daemon based biker army wasn't viable any more and all the custom work I did to create an all Slaanesh force didn't seem like a viable option. So my marines got the spotlight and became my list of choice.
As I was cleaning up and organizing my game room I realized that I had enough Slaanesh Daemons to field a force on their own. So I dumped them all into a Simple Green soak and stripped them down to bare metal. And then began repainting them, until August 2009. Then Malifuax came out and it became my game of choice, 40K got shelved again. And my daemons sat partially assembled and painted.
Needing a break to do something different I recently brought my daemons back out to work on them. I began with the Ultraforge Pleasure Daemon. This model was a pleasure to assemble after the nightmare that was the Khorne Daemon Prince I recently put together. The pieces were simple to assemble and there were no huge chunks that needed to be removed. The only problems I found were a large gap in the arm assembly, and the slight "miscast" along the arms that required a bit of sanding and green stuff filler. The model isn't as detailed as the Forgeworld pieces, but it's still very impressive and fits the theme of my force. Once it is finished it will fill the roll of my Bloodthirster of Slaanesh.
