#36: Hobby Butterfly...

I'm going to be honest. My desk has projects from seven different armies. I have a pair of Rat Ogres to add to Clan Itchit, a Devastator Squad from my Crimson fists, an Ork Warboss for an upcoming 40k campaign, a handful of Slannesh Hellstriders for my Warriors army, a Word Bearers Helbrute, a total of eleven Necron Destroyers and a smattering of models from a variety of other projects. 

I'm really struggling to hold focus on a single project at the moment. 

But enough about my attention span and its shortness. 

Let's talk about upcoming stuff! Next week is Stage 2 of our 40k army builder challenge. 500 points, including your big, bad warlord! I'm optimistic that I'll actually hit this deadline! I have minor details left to touch up on the Devastator squad, packing four missile launchers, then just their dedicated Razorback to click over that 500pt mark! 

One big project that I am about to embark on is building a gaming table and painting up a full table's worth of terrain. Terrain is one thing that often gets neglected in this hobby, where so much focus is naturally upon the models and not their environment. 

I've been tossing up what landscape to focus on. Turns out that my armies made this choice very easily. My Grey Knights, Crimson Fists and Necrons are all based in desert schemes. So, a sandy desert world my table shall be!

The plan is to have the board in two rough 'halves'. One end will be a heavily defended, trench-heavy defence line. I will probably use a lot of Wall of Martyr products as well as a few supply dumps, weapon caches and fuel depots. The other half will be scattered with craters, tank traps, razor wire and a few shattered ruins to represent no-mans-land on some far-flung battlefield. Hopefully this table will look like a well thought out scene, rather than just a table with some hodge-podge terrain spaced out here and there.  

I'll probably invest in a desert Fat Mat, purely because they are affordable, practical and they look amazing! A lot of Youtubers and Vloggers use them, and it's easy to see why. 

This leads me to my next piece of news, and by far the most exciting announcement I've had the pleasure of making in the history of the blog. I, and a small team of people, are going to be launching into the big, new world of video content! This ties a lot of recent decisions together, as I'm prioritising a gaming table, painting up armies to a high standard and decent points level. It's going to be a big challenge, but hopefully we can conquer each challenge that comes our way! This is a decision that is for the community! I want to get people involved and play some great games and showcase some great armies! 

Apologies to everyone as well for my pervcieved absence! Facebook being what it is, some articles have not had the coverage they usually receive! But fear not, I'm not going anywhere soon. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#35: Progress in painting...

Over the last week, I have had a lot of spare time for a variety of reasons, and so I've taken that opportunity by the horns and have been cranking out the painting! I've had my fair share of challenges, but battling my ever-wandering attention span, I managed to focus on priority projects. The first was my Crimson Fists army. 

Determined to keep on top of this challenge and not let it defeat me, I vowed to stay ahead of the deadline!

I always like to focus on mandatory elements of the army first, usually taking the form of a HQ (in the form of my captain from last week) and two troops. This gives me a chassis upon which to build my force, and means I can play legal games with painted models! The first of these troops came in the form of a five-man Tactical Squad packing a plasma gun and a combi-plasma on the veteran Sergeant. 

To accompany them, I backed them up with a Razorback, which will eventually be free! I'm pleasantly surprised at how quick this paint scheme is to paint and I take comfort knowing that I can smash out units pretty quickly to a decent tabletop standard. Onward, the sons of Dorn.

The second project I am tackling is my massive Skaven army. Now that Age of Sigmar is my gaming group's staple game for the Fantasy genre, I was torn as to what army to make my primary force. After a lot of indecision, I chose Skaven because while their models are incredible, I always considered them an awfully daunting army to paint, purely based on the model count. 

But thanks to Age of Sigmar's much smaller game sizes, fielding a fully painted verminous army is not an unreasonable ask. 

The Island of Blood models were the perfect place to start. While the models are probably considered "common-place", there is no denying that they are fantastic quality models. Starting with the basics and focusing on narrative, I painted up Warlord Itchit, an ambitious young chieftain who is attempting to establish himself as a political and military force within the Skaven empire. While his clan is still small and far from influential, his acquisition of a Warpfire Thrower, however the means, has given his clan a bit of martial impact within the hordes of his verminous kin. 

I'm really looking forward to tackling this army on a big scale and forging a narrative to progress alongside the model collection. 

What army have you chosen to focus on for Age of Sigmar?

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#34: Heroes of the Grim-Dark...

Photos have begun rolling in, and characters are standing up to represent the forces that will follow them in coming months. 

If you wish to participate in this challenge, it's still not too late! 

But, in a bid to waste no time, here are a few of the entries! 

Tim: Ultramarines

The first character, and champion of the Imperium, is Brother-Librarian Gabriel of the Ultramarines. This new plastic Terminator Librarian is a fantastic lay dynamic model, and the stark contrast between the rich red and royal blue is only accentuated by the flash of green glow effect on his outstretched gauntlet. There is also a great amount of detail taken on the ancient tome atop his armour. Ultramarines have always been the mainstay of the Imperium's military might, and it's a pleasure to see them represented in this challenge!

Kriston: Mordian 213th

This Redcoat command squad is charged with garrisoning an isolated outpost on an Ork-infested savannah world. They are constantly in conflict with roving green skin warbands, but with the help of some long-ranged artillery, they are capable of shattering an assault before it reaches the outer defences of their stronghold. It's wonderful to see an Astra Militarum army comprising of one of the discontinued regiments. 

Matthew: Dark Eldar

Varik the Flayer is the malicious leader of a marauding Kabal, intent upon ascension in power within Commorrah, and afraid of no action to further that agenda! Varik's rise to power has been rapid and bloody, leaving no small body count of murdered rivals upon the way. 

Jarrod: Denizens of the Warp

Taking this challenge by the horns, Jarrod has tackled painting the biggest model he could get his hands on! This towering Bloodthirster stands head and shoulders over almost everything else on the battlefield, and his vibrant colours challenges you to avert your eyes from his fiery form! I am incredibly impressed at the insane level of attention lavished on such a big model in such a short space of time! Bravo, good sir!

Jamie: Squats

By far the quirkiest army to join the challenge so far, Jamie has tackled the notorious Squat armies of old in a series of hilarious conversions that will inevitably make their way onto this blog in the near future. Using the Space marine Codex as the chassis upon which to build the army, this classic White Dwarf model from space will stand in as a Space Marine Captain with a thunder hammer. The backstory behind this army is fascinating as well, based on a military force dedicated to bounty hunting and salvage missions, as well as some activities of more questionable honour. 

Gabriel: Crimson Fists

Lastly, my entry. Brother-Captain Santiago. It only seemed fitting to give him a Power Fist, and I've used a lot of components from the Sternguard kit to give him a regal visage. I also decided to mount him on one of the new oval bases, which on its own, makes him like much more threatening! 

Again, this journey has not closed its doors to participants, so if you'd like to join in, it's not too late!

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#33: Sons of Dorn...

So, for those of you who are unaware, the deadline for the painting challenge Warlord stage has been extended to this coming Sunday as a few participants are tackling monstrous creatures as their Warlords! This gives everyone (including myself) a bit of breathing room to put the final details on our glorious heroes!

As we approach the first stage of the challenge, foresight is a valuable thing and I have been investing a fair bit of time into list building and future-proofing my army! With the release of the newest Marine codex, the obvious framework for my 1000pt list is of course the Demi-company formation.

In this formation, I must take a Captain (sadly not Pedro Kantor, as he is a Chapter Master), three tactical squads, an assault or bike squad, and a devastator or devastator centurion squad. There is also the option to include a command squad and a dreadnaught, neither of which I could comfortably fit in a thousand points and still meet the requirements effectively, so they would have to wait. 

I tackled the tactical squads first. I am typically not a huge fan of minimum sized squads, but given the restrictions, I was more inclined toward this course of action. I purchased three five man tactical squads, arming two with a plasma gun and combi-plasma, while the third wielded a melta gun and combi-melta to deal with any armour I might come across. As mentioned in my previous post, I was excited to use Sternguard models as my sergeants, as not only are they incredibly detailed models, but the kit comes with more than enough combi weapons for an entire company!

For my mandatory heavy support squad, I reluctantly steered away from Centurions purely because of cost. Points are tight and I had to cut costs wherever I could! I opted instead for a five-man Devastator squad with four missile launchers. With the added bonus of Tank Hunters from the Fists' chapter tactics, this squad gives me some long range armour-busting abilities. The missile launcher is also pretty flexible, able to drop drags on big mobs of infantry. 

In the essence of future proofing my army, I invested in four Razorbacks for the previously mentioned squads. When I go to two Demi companies, these will all be free, so I figured I'd drop the points on them now! I purchased two with the stock Heavy Bolters for some added anti-infantry firepower, while the other two, I upgraded with the classic Lascannon/Twin-linked Plasma Gun combo. 

My next choice was my fast attack slot. I genuinely considered Assault Marines, but I am a huge fan of Bike Squads. I chose a squad of six bikers, and geared them up with two melta guns and a power fist (which seems a fitting choice). 

This left me with my Captain. It was an easy choice for me to mount him on a Bike, making my Bike Squad a perfect bodyguard. This was the most logical place for him. I stacked on some extra protection with a suit of Artificier Armour, and close combat punch with a Power Fist. This build makes my Captain one tough nut to crack! A 2+ armour save, a 4++ invulnerable from his Iron Halo, and an extra point of toughness (making him more resistant to being Instant Deathed) makes him seriously hard to kill! 

That rounds out my list. The Fist bonuses to my boltguns add a bit of firepower but the real bonus comes from my Formation! Objective Secured on every unit means I can be much more competitive in objective games. The Tactical Doctrine is also a great tool, and I will probably drop it on the turn that I plan on firing the most Plasma shots, reducing the risk of overheating! 

Lastly, thanks to a well-timed White Dwarf article, Crimson Fists now get their own Warlord traits! They are as follows...

1: Feel No Pain

2: Counter-attack and Stubborn

3: Hatred and Preffered Enemy (Orks)

4: If your Warlord doesn't shoot or run in the shooting phase, a friendly model within 12" may use his ballistic skill 

5: Eternal freakin' Warrior

6: Warlord and all friendly Crimson Fists within 12" are Fearless

All in all, this is a very solid table to roll on! #3 is a little situational, but the other five are all fantastic, and fit the Crimson Fists perfectly! I wholeheartedly plan on rolling on this table for every single one of my games!

What army are you tackling for the challenge? If you are keen to have your Warlords shown in next week's blog, be sure to send a great photo my way! I look forward to seeing all these projects come into their own!

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Gabriel