Long time, no see...

Yeah, it’s been over a year.

Life happens and this blog was one of the first things to go on the “not right now” pile.  

However...

That’s not to say I haven’t been active in my hobby.  I have been.  Just not here.  I have still been building, painting slowly, and gaming on a fairly regular basis.  I have been posting more to Twitter(@40kChris) and I recently started Instagramming(@40kChris2) over this last year.  I believe it’s primarily due to the immediacy of those formats.  Work on a project, snap a few pics, write a blurb, send it off.  Done.  Where blogging feels very deliberate, and calculated by comparison.  It’s not a bad format and I have recently been thinking getting back into it primarily for the breadth of an article that can do so much more than a tweet or Instagram entry can.

As such, I think if I’m going to do this then I’ll need a restart.  That just feels like the right thing to do since my goals and outlooks have changed since the beginning of this endeavor.  A new name and a new format that cover all the aspects of the hobby I’ve gotten into since I haven’t been blogging.  

Switching fully to Black Legion from the Word Bearers.  I mean, at least Abaddon is doing something other than fuming in some tower someplace in the Eye.  Also, ADB’s Black Legion novel are nothing short of inspiring.  I like where they are going with it and like that idea of desperate brotherhood.  If you haven’t read Talon of Horus go do that, and then go get Black Legion next.  Wonderful books and rich with imagery.  

Slimming down my collections.  Which is still sort of laughable.  I’m only have Slaanesh Demons now and they total about 3,900 points.  I started counting my built CSMs and had to stop around 7,000 points and that did not include anything from FW Renegades & Heretics. 😭😭.  I did get some units bulked up because that seems to be the way to go with units like Possessed and Berserkers in 8th.  Given that I’d like to focus more on painting and less on building for awhile.

Speaking of painting, I have recently moved all my GW paints to 17ml dropper bottles.  That’s included 5 pots of the really old GW inks that are OOP.  No more dried out pots for me!  I have also started using Vallejo Gamecolor.  So far the combination of the two seems to be a good palette for my forces.  I have most of my schemes worked out and I just need to get priming.  For that I had just acquired a mobile spray booth with its own exhaust fan and tube to vent fumes outside.  This should help getting models primed in less than ideal conditions like high humidity, which is the case right now, or winter.  It’s also lit up with LEDs so you can see what your priming, but this also turns it into a makeshift photo booth.  It’s a wonderful little thing.  

That is just one facet of reorganizing my hobby area.  Since we have moved I have a lot more hobby space now than I had before.  So building a game table is a serious consideration. On casters to move it around and have terrain storage underneath.

Just more things for consideration.  Maybe even a batrep or two if I can swing it.

Thanks for being here over all this time, you probably even forgot this was here, but having the blog is way more fun with all of you.  If anything changes I’ll let you know here since I’ll need to keep this blog alive for a little bit.  Maybe even import this blog to a new name?

Here’s a Hellforged Leviathan I recently finished, enjoy!!  As you can see it’s based off the plastic Redemptor, the full kit not the easy-to-build, and it was a super fun build.  It practically built its self.  There were also a lot of firsts on it... first freehand work, oil washes, A LOT of Technical paints, pencils, etc.  If you have any questions about anything I did just ask, I do love have discussions with you guys.

Playing catch up

So remember that previous post about having a light summer and I was all excited about how much time I could have to work on my hobby...

Remember that?

Good times...

By good times, I mean it didn't happen at all.

Seemingly right after I had posted that, I got an email for a large commission that was pretty much impossible to turn down.  The payout was very, VERY good.  I'll put it to you this way, I could buy 16 Warlord Titans, with weapon arms, for the 5 weeks worth of constant work.  That didn't stop all my hobby progress.  It just reduced it to a glacial crawl on the weekends only.

What ended up happening was reduction of models I was barely using and a restructuring of units kept, if needed.  So a lot of units went away... Berzerkers, Plague Marines, old Rhinos, Predators, my Chosen of Abaddon project, pairing down the Terminators from 15 to 6 and reclaiming magnets, metal Raptors, my old robed Word Bearers, etc.  Bascially just trying to clean house, and get a handle on what I have to paint without having stacks of boxes and/or sprues staring at me.  This also forced me to finish building units that I had started, like my Possessed.  So I start doing this, and then this interesting stirring of the warp occurs... the rumors of the new supplement Traitor's Hate.  That it has formations, vehicle squadrons, etc.

Figures.  

This almost always seems to happen to me when I have a major shift in my hobby plans.  The only reason this does happen is because my hobby time is limited and very slow, apart from building models.  However, I now have a stable core of choices to pick from now and have been mostly using the Black Legion supplement as a blueprint for any units I wanted to add.

Khârn

Abaddon

Cypher

Warpsmith, I'll need 2 more I think...

3 Demon Princes, MoN with wings, MoT with Wings, MoS/MoK

Fully magnetized Lord in PA with almost all the options, working on a backpack swap next

5 Sorcerers, 2 with swords, 2 with staves, one in terminator armor with an axe

3 Dark Apostles, MoT and Brand, Unmarked, and Erebus... so he is probably next on the paint table, I mean, Erebus is a bad ass model

Unit of 7, Chosen for CC, 5 magnetized for weapon swaps, this includes a magnetized icon and special weapon

Unit of 6 metal, plasma Chosen

Unit of 6 plasma Chosen, need to magnetize for meltas and flamers 

Unit of 3 Terminators X 2, combi-meltas and chain fists, magnetized 

Unit of 5 Possessed X 2

2 units of 5 CSM which have to be built for the formations, I'm toying with the idea of giving them Lascannons maybe ACs

Unit of 5 Raptors with meltas, Champ with a fist X 2, I'll probably take the fist off and just use melta bombs but I love the look of the fists...

10 Spawn

Unit of 5 Havocs with ACs X 2

Land Raider

Dreadclaw 

5 Helbrutes, 2 magnetized 

3 Contemptors, 2 magnitized and 1 in progress 

6 Oblits

3 Contemptors, 2 magnitized and 1 in progress
2 Renegade Knights, one conversion finished and the other still on sprue

1 Decimator, still PIP

So that's a lot to paint up, but at least it's all mostly built.  This also gets me to a point to be able to run a few formations at once.  Obviously from a power stand point, the Black Legion Cabal is fantastic.  My biggest fear for Traitor's Hate was it would make the Cabal an almost auto-include, and the new powers pretty much sealed that deal.  Despite they are reskinned powers from Angels of Death, those powers are still great for Chaos to get a hold of.  A lot of the other formations I'm interested in running as well.  For example... The Favored of Chaos, The Lost and the Damned, Raptor Talon, and Spawn are all formations I can run, or almost run with a few VERY select purchases.

I actually like this stuff, and I'm pretty excited by it.

No, not this type of boons farms... this is just bottled pain and suffering.

The biggest thing I'm actually excited about is the Black Crusade detachment because of the possibility to boons farm without having to be in a Challenge.  Get a Lord, give him Gift, get a Dark Apostle(DA) in there somehow; probably from the Lost and the Damned formation maybe another CSM CAD, profit.  The ability to roll on the boon table twice at the beginning of every turn, keep one OR both boons, and get rerolls from the DA can make a Lord go Super Saiyan pretty fast.  Put that Lord in a, considered by many to be sub-optimal, close combat Chosen squad with an Icon and see what happens.  So far a Lord with MoS, Black Mace and a Sigil, in a unit of MoS Chosen with 5 power mauls and an Icon of Excess for the FNP, add an DA or maybe a few Scorcerers with staves and put them in a Dreadclaw is a build I keep coming back to.  I'll need to check the rules but I'm pretty sure you could take the FNP roll, since it's not considered a save, to get out of the Dreadclaw eating a squad mate, but again... I'm not sure, especially with the draft FAQ out.  But back on track, a Lord with Gift and two turns of rolling on the Boon table... assuming he doesn't have some very unfortunate event beforehand, can give you the following results...

Gift roll - Reroll failed Armor saves

Turn 1 - Attacks have Instant Death

              Demon Prince, DA reroll - Unworthy Offering

Turn 2 - Models in base-to-base contact take a S4, AP5 hit at Int step 1

              Armor save is increased by 1

That's a pretty powerful Lord in a short amount of time.  Now the size of the current Boon table is something you want to roll on for more options.  I only say this because in my latest games I've been using the Eye of the Gods table from the Path to Glory warband supplement.  Primarily for better boons and god specific marks.  On that table, since it's so small, multiple rolls can be a little lack luster.  Primarily since I still skip a boon I've already got, so you can lock out the list in pretty short order.  For example getting boons on the Eye of the Gods table was as follows...

Gift roll - Change the Attack characteristic to D6
Turn 1 - Gain Fear
              Gain Demon, DA reroll - Reroll failed Armor saves

Turn 2 - Reroll failed Charges, including any unit the character is a part of
              At Initiative Step 10, enemy units locked in combat with this Champion; or his unit; must

              take an Initiative Test.  If failed, that units WS is reduced to 1 for the duration of the phase.

That was an uncommon example of really good rolls on such a short list of boons.  However rerolling charges and having D6 Attacks on top of the demon weapon's D6, at Int 6 isn't anything to sneeze at.  Yes, this particular model does become a fire magnet.  However you can do this again to any model with the Champion of Chaos rule.  So having another bruiser is a definite possibility.  That model won't be as strong as quickly, but it could give you an edge before a Challenge.

Another thing with The Black Crusade detachment is getting Hatred:Armies of the Imperium.  It also allows any unit that can take Veterans of the Long War (VotLW) to do so for free.  This a great little flavor rule for running a Black Legion based Crusade, which is what I want to do.  While it's not necessarily great on any unit that can take Veterans of the Long War, which is just Hatred:Space Marines, and most people take it for the LD bump anyway... it does make Cultists, Spawn, Helbrutes, Defilers, and Maulerfiends pack a little more punch in that first round of CC.  I think that with Traitor's Hate, there will be more combos over time, this always seems to happen with any Chaos release.  A vocal percentage of CSM players will not like it, and that's ok, but I think to completely write off certain parts is just being petty anymore.

With everything that Chaos has available to it currently... a CSM codex, Demon codex, Khorne Daemonkin codex, Black Legion supplement, Crimson Slaughter supplement, IA:13 not only for the CSM units but for the R&H lists as well, Siege of Vraks, Apocalypse, Traitor's Hate supplement, new psychic powers, and tactical objectives... there really shouldn't be any problem thinking of something that could work together.  Do all the rules make sense, and interact well?  No.  Again, I think once a new CSM codex drops with some tweaks... point drops, some new rules maybe; like Stubborn, actual Cult lords, some new Demon weapons, etc... a lot more players will be happy.  I don't see GW going to Legion rules ever again.  They are pretty much making Chaos what is written for 40k.  Lots of Cultists with their cruel masters and their Demon engines.  I think they are almost there, they just need to inject some life into CSM to make them more like how they read... something to give a Space Marine pause, like some of the mechanics happening in Traitor's Hate. I'm patient, and I'm willing to see where the Black Crusade takes CSM.

It's exciting, and a little nerve wracking for my favorite faction, but more exciting than anything else.

Chaos Sorc finished up... finally.

A few of you may remember this picture from awhile back.  It was from a post about using magnets and different heads as a way of showing Marks of Chaos on your models.  Well, I finally was able to get this Sorcerer and all the heads painted this past weekend.  So what we have is a Black Legion Chaos  Sorcerer, the only Finecast model I wanted to get... ever, with a back pack and helmet from Forgeworld's Sons of Horus upgrade pack.  All the other heads come from the Chaos Chariot kit.  But enough with that technical mumbo jumbo, here's the mini...

So here's a similar shot as above but painted...

Chaos Undivided...

Mark of Nurgle...

Mark of Slaanesh...

and Mark of Tzeentch...

So one model with 4 very visual ways to represent the Marks it might have on the battlefield.  Which is great for me because I kinda need WYSIWYG for my army so I remember what the thing does!  For being a Fincast model, which I dislike for it's fragility over anything else, it was very characterful and had a good amount of detail without being over the top.  All the bare heads used the recipes for my Demons so they would tie into each other visually.  Except for there Tzeentch head, with that one the recipe came about from this model so I now have a nice, subtle, blue to work with for later.    One of the details I did get into was the demon faced shoulder pad...

That one thing was a lot of fun to do and I will be using this same type of structure for any leering demon face on Chaos armor that isn't in the trim.  Like on all the Dark Vengeance Chosen.  This model was also upgraded to a 32 mm base using Eccentric Miniatures Size A Adaptor Ring.  It just needed a very  minimal amount of GS for the gaps but otherwise worked great.  They are cast in polystyrene from 3D printed masters.  You can see the printing detail once you get them, but after 3 thinned coats of paint on the rim you barely tell at all since the paint smoothed out the surface pretty well.  The only thing I *might* go back into would be the rips/vents in the cabling with the same coloration I used on the demon tongue.  Maybe.  

What do you think, did it turn out ok?

Real quick Dreadclaw update... come fly with me...

Yesterday ended up being a really good day for hobby time as I was able to pretty much finish the Dreadclaw minus some bling.

As you can see there's a lot more plasticard from last time.  Basically it was really simple to trim a piece down to fit where the pods retro-thrusters would normally go.  I just traced the outline of the bottom on to the plastic, and then cut it a little big at first after measuring how much to trim off.  Then trim and check, trim and check, yadda, yadda.  The door for the bottom is from the old-old Rhino kits before the current version.  I also sawed out some replacement fins for the top out of some really thick plasticard, and the template I made earlier worked like a charm.  Add some tubes, stick some claws and tentacles in a few of those tubes for the Demonic Possession rule, some teeth-like protrusions... and presto.  One, mostly, finished Dreadclaw!

But then there was the whole thing about getting it onto a flying stand...

If you do a lot of modeling and don't have one of these, I really recommend that you get one.  This one was a little bit more expensive.  It's variable speed which came in handy, but the thing to remember is as long as you can change out bits you'll be fine.  This made cutting the hole for the flying stand go so much easier and faster.  By faster I mean about 40 minutes or so.  Doing it before hand, you know... before finishing the model, probably would've been better.  If I make another, now I know.

I ended up using the flying stand from my Heldrake to pencil out where I wanted to start cutting/drilling/modifying.  I had a 1/8" wide, ball cutting bit chucked into the Dremel and used short stokes to work the entire "cross".  One thing I should mention. I did use both halves of the door for the finished model, as I wanted something sturdy and more rigid.  This actually helps with the flying stand since you have more material to actually rest the pod on the stand with.  I had gone through the first layer of the door, taking my time, and checking the top of the stand to the hole often to see where it was and where it wasn't lining up.  Put the pod on the stand, and it was way too tippy as the area the stand rested in was just too shallow.  Only about 1/4" in depth.  So it was a simple matter of going through the inner part of the door, just like before.  Once both halves of the door were cut in, I switched bits to a 1/8" cylinder cutting bit.  This allowed me to really shave off just a little bit of plastic at a time on both halves of the door at the same time.  Again going slow, and not pushing really hard either.

There you have it, now my Dreadclaw can go into flying mode...

Or hover mode!

Now if I could just get a flying stand ordered, most places... including GW... seem to be out at the moment!

Marks of Chaos, continued

So the last post was a way to really just have a visual representation of the Mark of Chaos you put on a unit.  This can work, until your Champ is taken out.  Where the magnetic head swap really comes in to light is for individual character models... such as a Sorcerer.

So this is the new-ish Chaos Sorcerer in Finecast with a selection of heads from the Fantasy Chaos Chariot sprue to represent the Marks of Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh.  The process is the same as last time for placing the magnets.  What differs here is drilling down into the chest to make a space for the necks on the heads.  

Start with a small hole and take your time finding the center of that neck in the chest; I've drawn light pencil lines to cross in middle to start the pilot hole.  Since you're putting in the neck "cup" of a standard Marine torso, take your time and go slow and use gradually bigger drill bits to remove the material.  I used a new Exacto blade to get the starter hole as precise as I could, then an 1/8" drill bit, and a 5/32" after that.  The final drill bit size I used was 3/16" (~5mm), and then only barely.  Finecast is a dream to work with, but so soft it's real easy to over work.

While I was at it, I also decided to magnetize one more head, a Sons of Horus head from Forgeworld, to represent no mark.  So with a character, this technique can help you remember what you put on the guy as well as only having to build one model.  So now I have a versatile model that can play several different ways.  All I need to do now is possibly make another one and entertain the same idea with a Chaos Lord as well.  

As the cost of the hobby keeps going up, it's a way for me to diversify my army without having to invest too heavily (or at all) in acquiring new models.

(Mostly) Super easy Marks of Chaos

So I have this thing anymore where I need to have 90% of my model WYSIWYG just so I can remember what the unit has.  For some units this is easy, Noise Marines for example, for other units like CSM with a mark and no icon it's a little more tough.  Now there are a few ways to mark a unit visually, paint is the most obvious and the easiest...

Can I do that?

Nope, not me apparently.

However I did think of way to mark a unit as having a specific Mark of Chaos... magnetize the head of the champion.  Since I like collecting fantasy Chaos kits for conversions I end up having a quite a few spare heads laying around.  Well, now they have a purpose.

So what we have here is a Sons of Horus squad leader body from Forgeworld, with four different heads to show the mark for the unit.  The Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Slaanesh heads are from the fantasy Forsaken kit, while the Khorne head is from the Skullcrushers kit.  All this takes is 5 to 6 1/16" rare earth magnets, a 1/16" inch drill bit, superglue, and a permanent marker like a Sharpie.  Then you just follow along like so...

1.) Drill a small hole into the gorget area of the torso first and install your first magnet, you'll probably want something non-magnetic, like brass or plastic rod, to help push the magnet into the hole.  You want it to be flush with the cup of the neck socket/gorget, not buried under it.  These are tiny magnets and you want them to be close to each other to hold the head in place.

2.) Next find the polarity of a new magnet with magnet in the gorget... they'll stick, not push each other apart.  Now mark the surface of the side that connects with the gorget magnet with the permanent marker.  While that dries you can drill out the hole in the neck of the head.  Take your time here, it's probably also a good idea to dry fit the head to get en idea of where you want the magnet in the neck as this will determine the angle/pitch of the head and just like before you want it flush with the plastic, not buried in the neck.  I would also strongly recommend starting a pilot hole in the neck so the drill bit doesn't wander.

3.) Dab a little bit of superglue into the neck, take your marked magnet off the stack and then insert it into the hole... marker side out.  This why you marked it in the first place, so if you drop or fumble the magnet a bit... you will always know which side has the correct polarity.  Use a paper towel to shove the magnet as far into the hole as possible while twisting it to make sure the superglue doesn't stick to the paper towel and bingo... you just magnetized a head.

Repeat steps 1-3 for additional heads... or use slightly bigger magnets for other things like arms, or vehicle swap outs.

I like magnetizing certain units.  Units like Chosen, can be a pain to magnetize because they have so many options.  Same with Havocs.  Special weapons in most CSM unit?  Fine, it's only 2 models.  Same goes for Raptors, and Bikes to a certain extent.  Being able to configure a unit in several different ways really appeals to me, and it uses some of my bits in my bits box up at the same time.

*If anyone wants I can do some more photos of the process and edit this post for better visuals.*

Knight Madness

I'm a university adjunct professor, and as such my posting is erratic... but damn... you'd have to be dead to not know about the impending gaming Viagra called Imperial Knights.

The best Knight ever.

Ok, sooooooo... Imperial Knights seem to have won over the Internet, and not in a small way either.  This seems to be a kit that GW has nailed for it's collecting AND gaming bases.  A huge kit, loads of detail, what looks like not over the top rules... now lets just see about the Freeblade option.  That's what has me curious.  Can I take the Obsidian Knight, haha GW I see what you did there, and use it for my Black Legion?  Now that, that right there would make me be a happy little warmonger.  There is a catch though...

I don't really like the model personally.  Like a lot of projects I get into, this will be a conversion and it will be extensive.

I love this thing.

So onto the madness.  So yeah, I don't really care for the GW Knight.  Sue me.  What I do like, is Dreamforge's Leviathan.  The 28mm scale version of the Leviathan is 8.5 inches (~22 cm) tall, that puts it at just over a 1/2 inch (~1.25 cm) taller than the official GW Knight.  Usually, the Leviathan goes for $120 US, only $20 less than the GW kit.  HOWEVER, Dreamforge is running a sale until the 28th of February... that $120 Leviathan is now $75... $75... OMG it's ONLY $75 RIGHT NOW!

I'll let that sink in a bit.  

So for $75, plus shipping, you get a Knight sized model that has swappable weapon arms.  Add in a "battle cannon" and you just made a Knight Paladin for $100.  I normally don't do this kind of product placement but that is just to good to pass up.  I'll probably do a review and size comparison when it gets here.

Boom Boom... ya dig?

Now, like all the other conversion projects I have going on, this will eat up bits... this is good, as I have way too many bits just sitting around.  In the picture of the Leviathan there are two small barrels just under the shoulder plates in the front, some barrel extensions and there we have the heavy stubbers.  I have plenty of Chaos icons and banners from both 40k and Fantasy to banner it out proper.  Add some plasticard trim, GS the joints on the trim, and add some points to it... the armor plating is done.  How far to take the head is a good question. Keep it semi meched out or start the famous Chaos organics?  Probably looking at FW Chaos Titans will be helpful to see what they kept and what they mutated from the inferior loyalist version.

Now another  question is how far do I modify the sword?  Do I go extensive and make a chain blade?  Or go REALLY extensive and make it a more organic blade?  That's my problem with models like this, they are so awesome for being just detailed enough to stand on their own but really shine if you put some thought into them.


Hopefully this bad boy will be in my hands around spring break! (fingers crossed)

Dark Mechanicus inspired Warpsmith

The previous article dealt with what I had been working on for a while, these next few articles will detail some of projects more in concept and execution.


So, it is an established fact that I love converting.  This is a pretty safe statement.  I think I actually like it more than the painting because it's more of a challenge to me.  If it doesn't look right to begin with, no amount of paint is going to fix it.  Like any other canvas... it needs to be put together well, primed, and then finally painted upon.  Which got me thinking about some of the other choices in the Chaos 'Dex, and how I would go about incorporating them into my own force.

This all started with the Warpsmith.  It has spread to other types of models as well.  I remember the War Smiths for Iron Warriors and the Dark Apostles for Word Bearers and their rules to their respective factions.  Fast forward to today.  Now I get the design ideal that Chaos is moving toward, or has moved toward, mixed units/cults per warband.  I just don't agree with them(GW) too much in regards to some of the characters... like the Warpsmith and Dark Apostle.  These, I feel, should have been left for an appropriate Supplement/Dataslate and not shoe horned into the main book.  But here they are!  So how do I make them fit into my force?  Why convert them of course!

To be very honest I really love the idea of the Warpsmith.  Who doesn't love BS 5 on ANY gun, or the Eye of Night from the Black Legion supplement, no one that's who!  I just hate the model, and not because of it's design but because of its material.  I'd rather jam a hot poker someplace than try and work with that stuff again.  I don't like the springy nature of Finecast, the mix has sometimes been to brittle so finer pieces has snapped as well... just from cleaning before assembly.  I've had enough negative experiences to outweigh the good ones.  So there were some things that had to be in place before starting my Warpsmith...

1. Needs to be plastic.  Just because it's such a nice material to work with, it's durable, temperature resistant, did I mention it's nice to work with?  ;-)

2. How about NOT a marine?  I have seen some very cool Warpsmith conversions using several different types of Chaos Marines, but then this little memory came bubbling to the surface.  The Dark Mechanicus.  Now if you think there are a lot of Warpsmith conversion, which there are, try Googling "dark mechanicus conversions".  There is some wicked stuff out there, and people using all sorts of bits from all sorts of kits.  The community, as always, has been very inspirational.

3. Since it wasn't going to be a marine, it was sorta scary.  It was a big jump for me to go from the bulky, 2-3 ton killing machines to something more foreign.  Not only in design, but in construction as well.

So there was a lot of sitting there, picking up bits and holding them in place, with some "oh no way.." or "yes, that's it!"  It took 3-4 hours to build.  As always, lately, it was from the bits box with some plastic tubing and guitar string for hoses.  But as I get older, I did just turn 41, I need to have the standard gear on the model.  It is WYSIWYG but for me that's a necessity so I can remember what the damn thing does!  So you can see the meltagun nozzle, the flamer tip, the power axe, the tentacles for the mechatendrils as well.  The only thing not directly modeled is the bolt pistol.  Now, it does stand a little on the tall side as it's *almost* as tall as a stock Demon Prince.  It is also on a 40mm base, since there was no way is was going to sit on a 25mm base.  So it's a bigger target, with 2+... ok, I'll deal because of the rule of cool.  Which, seems to be driving force behind most of my conversions or armies for that matter.

Anyway, that is my Warpsmith.  This will continue with the Dark Apostle, Cypher, Be'lakor, the rest of the CSM super friends ... Typhus, Ahriman, Lucius, Fabius, Huron, and Kharn will all get the same type of treatment eventually.

The Dark Apostle will be an interesting challenge as well, I want to try and make it like the Discords from the Word Bearer Ominbus from Anthony Reynolds.  When I say "make it like", I mean inspired by to a certain extent.  A floating speaker grille with tentacles is the base.  The tricky part is in the crozius and bolt pistol, how to put them into the overall design of the model and make it look like that's how it's supposed to be.

Anyway, that will be up soon, and I'll also post the failure for the first try.

So... Eldar

This past weekend I played Black Legion against my buddies Iyanden Eldar.  I had 9 Cultists alive at the end of turn 5.  It was sort of an eye opening experience as it was the first real 6th edition codex I was playing against.  My opponent's first love is Space Wolves.  I can understand that, that was my first real attempt at collecting an army... well actualy that was 13th Co., but I digress.  Points was set at about 1860, if you're a couple over or under it doesn't really matter to us.  For myself, it was a lot of firsts for me in this game...

First time using a named character - Abaddon

First time using a Land Raider

First time running Chosen, and more than one unit

First time using a bare bones Cultist squad

First time not running my AC Havocs

First time using a supplement

and... it was the second time for me running Obliterators.

My buddy was using a 10 strong unit of WG with Axes/Shields, 5 WG with D-guns, 2 WLs, a WK (also the Warlord), 10 Rangers with sniper rifles, 2 x 3 Jet Bikes with a Shuriken Cannon, 1 Crimson Hunter Exarch, and three Spirit Seers.

I got blasted and torn asunder.  It was great and humbling at the same time and I found out first hand Eldar are little nuts.

Now my friend was making fun of me a little as he said " Thats the smallest list I've seen you make...".  Well he was right about that.  Abby, Lvl 3 Sorc with Last Memory, 6 Chosen with 5 Plasma Pistols; a Power Sword and a Meltagun... in a Land Raider.  6 Chosen with 4 Plasma Guns in a Rhino, Heldrake with Bale, and 3 Oblits with MoN.  Ally in a Slaanesh Lord with Spinshiver Blade and jump pack, 10 Cultists, and 5 MoS Raptors.  So there was some decent CC and they had a good ride to get them there, some quality shots with all the plasma, a backfield unit to cower in fear, a dragon, some lumbering guns, and a fast slicing unit.

It was too slow, and lacked bodies.  Which, I knew was going to happen because a Black Legion army is going to be expensive.  But it was fun to try out.  

I was surprised by the Toughness values of some of those Eldar constructs, and the Strength of the weapons.  I don't buy all the codices anymore because I don't have the money to, so I had a few surprises to deal with.  Truth is, I was just outclassed.  Now, I can be like every other CSM whiner and jump ship to the new hotness of the Space Marine 'dex.  To be honest I would use the maligned Black Templar rules... JUST to get at their challenge mechanics.  Gods, that seems like such a simple solution to Chaos' Champion rule... some tools to make your unit Champions stand a chance?  Yes please!  But this isn't going down that particular rabbit hole. (The entire state of Chaos Hate is starting to get out of control, it's pretty telling when they have a stickied thread over on B&C for just that, so the rest of the Chaos Ascendant forum isn't getting clogged with hate posts.) No, Chaos is for me thanks... I've loved the fluff and rules since I've read them so long ago.  No, this is about going back to some basics for the rematch for this coming Saturday, the 9/21/2013. Sorry to report that the rematch didn't happen, I got a cold from school or my child brought it home.  I know that doesn't sound bad, but my buddy has an auto-immune disease AND his girlfriends mother is visiting until the end of the month.  How about we not play Papa Nurgle, or one of his chosen?

So what does that mean exactly?  More shots!  I had some high quality shots, but lacked the volume of fire to systematically destroy (or at the very least cripple) a unit per Shooting Phase effectively.  When the Chaos 'dex first hit I was using 5 AC Havocs with a pair of AC/ML Helbrutes that would shuffle around the Havocs to extend the range here and there from a central fire base.  14 strength 7 shots with 2 more at strength 8 and all at BS 4.  Now put that behind an aegis and there's my fire base... shooty, durable, and setting up some lane denial.

I still think that the Abby/Sorc/Chosen in LR is good, but it needs tweaked.  By that I mean the Chosen need MoK and the Icon of Wrath.  Weight of attacks, for the Chosen that's 2,+1 for kit, + 2 for the charge off the MoK, at STR 5... make it a 7 strong unit and that's 35 attacks just from the Chosen, to force more armor saves.  More saves = higher chance of failure.  Then add a Demon Weapon, hell... add 2, swap out the Sorc with a Khorne Lord with AoBF or Kharn, and you have yourself a very choppy unit with 3 characters to challenge as you wish.  With re-rolling the Charge out of a Land Raider, it will be a fire magnet unit, but what to support it with?  Now top that off with a 10 man Cultist unit and there's the primary detachment.  It's an expensive detachment as well as all that is 1150 points, or just 1025 if I don't make this a Black Legion primary.

Now what else to take?  Either a BL or Demons secondary could do it to at least try and get some synergy with some units.  I have also seen some great ideas out in the blogosphere using Orks as mutants and it sort of rekindles that Lost and the Damned vibe from the Eye of Terror 'dex.  Lots of real cheap bodies cloggin' yuz gunz, and all tying up your untis and what not.  Decisions, decsions... damn ally matrix.  Anyway.  Really, it's just a matter of what do I want to take...  20 Horrors with a Lvl 3 Herald, loci, and Portal Glyph?  3 Exalted Seeker Chariots for a single Heavy slot?  A Nurgle Soulgrinder?  A flying DP with Eternal Warrior and Spineshiver Blade?  A unit of Nurgle Oblits?  The blessing, and curse, of allies... makes it hard to choose!

I think if I was going for speed it would be a Slaanesh Herald on a Seeker with Loci of Grace and Portal Glyph, maybe Grimoire.  10 Seekers to accompany the Herald, 10 Plaguebearers (maybe Horrors for the shooting), and a Seeker Cavalcade made out of Exalted Seeker Chariots.  The chariots alone are scary at 4 HP each with rending HoW attacks, never mind the Move through Cover cavalry with +6 inches on the run move.

A flying DP with Eternal Warrior... ah, the good 'ol days.  Maybe MoK and a Spineshiver Blade to trick him out.  A fast moving monster, shoot that or the LR...  hmmmmm.  Maybe a unit of Bikes, or Spawn, or a Heldrake, any of those would do really.  Maybe even run a DP with a Spawn shield?  Lvl 3 Sorc with jumpack (or bike), spell familiar, Last Memeory and the Hand of Darkness?  Either another unit of AC Havocs... more than likely... or a unit of Nurgle marked Oblits.  Oh, and either ally list can take a Decimator as it is an elites choice for either CSM or Demons.  *Fun Fact -  Since Abby is an IC and is considered to have all 4 marks, you can buy the Decimator any mark you want.*  A MoK, Rampaging death machine?... ummm, yeah.  Or MoN to give it It Will Not Die, to make it REALLY annoying.

As you can see I have a lot ideas of how to finish this list off.  The problem is trying to fit what I think would work together in a 2000 point list.  That will be the next game size (I think) and will allow me to crank some things around and get a feel for it.  I have the core pretty much thought out, now what about the details?

Chris

Things are coming along

So, things have been actually coming along.  I'm finally getting some paint on some minis, building some more, trying a new paint scheme... life is good.  A long time ago, or at least it feels like a long tome ago, I mentioned switching my paint scheme over to Black Legion.  That is the new scheme I've been trying out and I've been really pleased with the results so far and it looks like it's here to stay.  Which is kind of auspicious timing since the Black Legion supplement seems to be right around the corner... well, if anyone could find any information of it beyond the rumors of the up coming Space Marine codex.  (Almost forgot, there seems to some buffs coming in the new supplement, like the Mark of Chaos Undivided supposedy giving +1 to WS AND the ability to take any icon, which for a unit of CC Chosen could be awesome... ).  Lets take a look at the latest handiwork!

Here's the Decimator conversion, now with paint!  This has been the model for me to figure out new recipes for gold, silver, and black.  Gold and silver have been tweaked for new shades that are available, but still remain laborious (If there is any interest I can provide the recipes I use in the comments below).  With black, I wanted to get away from the standard grey highlighting you'd normally see for something that would complement the tones on the model.  The blue highlight seems to do the trick well... it's complementary with the gold and silver while not fighting with the red accents.  Again, overall for my first black armored anything I'm pretty pleased with it and look forward to refining the process down even more to really get some FINISHED models on the table!  Yes, I am guilty of using the grey brigade to play... sorry.

Next up, Abaddon.  Not your standard model of the Despoiler I know, but once I saw the GW Fantasy Chaos Lord... I HAD to have that model. I got 2 actually, the other one is waiting for  its turn under the knife.  This was a way for me try some more converting and a new pale flesh recipe for the skin tone.  Which is just as involved as the gold and silver and I can provide the recipe if anyone would like it, I write most of the recipes down because it can be a long time between paint sessions for me.  

One thing that occurred to me is I might have to get another 40k Chaos Lord and remake Abby so he's got some more bling.  The reason for that is I got inspired by page 10 of the old 3.5 Chaos Codex.  The holy tome of all things Chaos, the tome all other Chaos codices are held too and found wanting.  On this page you have the short fiction of Abaddon's Chosen, with an accompanying illustration on page 11.  Now, it is an interesting thing that two of the Chosen in the Dark Vengeance (DV) set are almost directly ripped from this illustration.

Here's what I have so far.  It's not much as the conversions are relatively simple for 3 of them, but you can see where I'm going with it.

Terrible picture I know, but I do have close ups.

The DV Chaos Lord is perfect for Skyrak Slaughterborn.  Now the trick, and it's going to be a big one, is going to be converting this guy with a little less kit to bring him back inline with being a Chosen and not a Lord.  It's a little difficult to cut away the inside of his cavity, trim the right skull down, and trim the stars down, but he's well on his way to being there.  He's going to need a a good amount of rebuilding on the legs, and that will stretching my GS skills a lot but I want to see him done so it's going to happen.

The rest of Abaddon's Chosen don't require as much conversion work.  Skyrak's buddy, Urkrathos is a simple head and two weapon swap.  His sword will be from a Plaguebearer champion to represent the "dripping, and yellowed sword".  Add a small amount of GS and he'll be done.

Devram Korda, is another simple conversion. Two weapon swaps, and change out the backpack and done.  The biggest problem with him has been trying to find a sword large enough enough but not too big.  It's been one or the other, I don't want to make a scratch built sword, but I might have to.

Last but not least is the sorcerer, Ygethmor the Deceiver.  I originally thought that the Chosen with the power maul would be a good choice... it wasn't.  I didn't think the conversion through enough, and in my excitement flubbed the conversion.  Looking at the models again, the lighting claw Chosen started to look like a better choice.  Again, swap out the weapons, add two small eyes above his current set and his body is done.  A thin plasticard cape with green stuff feathers on it for the feathered cloak and he's complete.  Now I'm still out on using the Finecast Sorcerer  backpack (which wasn't the best cast... go figure) or a more traditional metal sorcerer backpack which would have to be pinned.

This unit, once completed, will be crazy expensive.  Abby, a sorcerer, and 7 Chosen in a Land Raider with a Dirge Caster... rocking as many plasma pistols and power weapons as possible with a force weapon, the demon weapon Drach'nyen, and the Talon of Horus.  It's going to be a third of my army in a 2000 point game.  It WILL be a fire magnet and people should be scared of it, since Abby gives Preferred Enemy to friendly units within 12 inches.  Is it a "competitive" unit?  Hell no.  Will it be fun to make and play?  Oh yeah.

Chris

*Edit - Lesson learned for blogging on an iPad... text good, pictures bad.*