Paint Schemes: Horus Heresy

Howdy, folks! Bob here with the first installment of my paint scheme articles. I wanted to start off with the first thing that was on my table and that happens to be some 30k goodness. Since I am in the very early stages of my collection so I have decided to lump all of my burgeoning Legions into one article given the fairly uniform nature of the color schemes. So if anyone has any questions or comments feel free to let me know!

Sons of Horus

Undercoat: Chaos Black spray 
Body: I used the recipie for the Sons of Horus green from the Forge World website as far as the mixture. I did not wash this to make it the much darker green that they have gone with for the Heresy era Sons. Here is a link to the paint scheme Forge World Legion Schemes.
Trim: Balthasar Gold
Wash: I did hit the nooks and crannies of the armour with Coelia Greenshade just to give some shadow effect. I really didn't do much to the Gold other than Agrax Earthshade and then cleaning it up with Balthasar Gold again.
Details: Mephiston Red for the eye lens. Gaps in the armour I painted with Leadbelcher and washed with Nuln Oil. Cabling and hoses I left black. Dawnstone for the "studs" on the armour where applicable.

Emperor's Children 

Undercoat: Chaos Black spray 
Body: Base coat with Naggaroth Night. Follow this with one to two layers of Xereus Purple to achieve even coverage.
Trim: Base layer Balthasar Gold. Wash with Agrax Earthshade. Layer of Sycorax Bronze to hit the raised areas, leaving the recessed areas darker.
Shoulder Pads: Base layer of Dawnstone. Layer(s) of Ulthuan Grey to achieve white. This is of course you want the shoulder pads a different color. I'll show how a white and purple one looks with decals on.
Details: I used the now(very) defunct Vile Green for the eye lens. Gaps in the armour are Leadbelcher with Nuln Oil wash. Pipes and cables are left black. Balthasar Gold for "studs" where applicable.    

Iron Warriors

Undercoat: Chaos Black spray 
Body: Leadbelcher
Trim: Balthasar Gold
Wash: Both body and Trim with Nuln Oil. It may be necessary to do two coats. Nuln Oil seems to be thinner than the older equivalent. You are wanting to achieve a dirty and dulled appearance to the armour. 
Details: Mephestion Red for the helmet eye lens. For the characteristic Iron Warriors chevrons, I used the now defunct Iyanden Darksun Foundation for the yellow. When I get the lines all cleaned up, I wash the yellow with Nuln Oil to mute the brightness. I left the hoses and gaps in the plating black. Balthasar Gold for "studs".

Somethings on my table

Terrible Hobbyist John here,

Finally had more than five minutes for painting, so I got some things done this weekend and decided to share.

Name Pending

 So I decided to throw a lot of grey paint around and got the first layer done on my Chimera, take notice of the dozer blade, more on that later. Going with a much simpler overall pattern compared to the Judgement. I might do a 'gradient' pattern to the chimeras to make different than my Russes. Nothing fancy just add a white and darker grey stripe on either side of the stripes already there.

Banner Bearer, First Platoon Command Squad

Added the white to the flag and the model, really want the command squad to pop compared to the rest of the boys.

First Squad First Platoon aka the rest of the boys

So really just have to base these guys and get the squad markings written on them and they are done for my purposes.

Rest of the Boys

Showing off my orange striping, which is purposefully supposed to almost go away from the front and other side view.

Judgement with the dozer, wait didn't you see that before?

Added a few more details to the Judgement, another layer of mud, painted the sponson weapons and light. and yes that is the same dozer blade. How you ask? Magnets you say? Sadly not yet but that's the idea.

Da Blade

So i nicked up the standard dozer blade, drilled some holes in it, 2 of those go all the way through the rest are just divots. I have since scratched up the main surface of the blade, it looks too clean in this pick. I got this look through several washes, a bronze wash for rust, brown for dirt lower, then black at the holes to make it looked like it was burned there.

In the two months I have been MIA this is all I have gotten done. Fall is an incredibly busy time for me, and I have not bought anything hobby related in months. I have a few things I want to get but thats all on hold for now. See you in two months.....

Paint Schemes and Methodology

Hey folks, Bob here with a article that I intend to be the first of a series. Given the scatter shot nature of my hobby activities I have decided to start posting my paint schemes and methods on the blog in an effort to remember all of them. Thanks to Da Masta Cheef for the idea of recording all of my schemes online. Here are some of my ideas for the general structure of the articles: 

Paint schemes for various units and how I paint them

Picture examples

In Progress shots

Some step by step shots

I envision doing one to two articles for each army highlighting the paint schemes for each unit with a example of each. I think this will be a slightly lengthier process for my fantasy armies as they tend to have more variation within armies in terms of color schemes.  I may alternate between Fantasy/40k post wise, I may not, who knows. Anyways I welcome any and all constructive comments on my paint schemes and methods and discussion on what people are doing in their own armies. I hope you all enjoy!

I leave you with a shot of the hobby portion of my desk. 

What is on My Table

Greetings folks!

Bob here with a self explanatory article today. Just a quick look at what I have been painting lately. As always my hobby ADD means I flit from project to project as the mood strikes me. As always most of these are WIP unless otherwise noted. Photos have descriptions and comments and suggestions are welcome.

My new paint scheme for the Sons of Horus. I am really pleased with the color I got with this mix

Three Sons in the new paint scheme

Mk.II Iron Warrior. The transverse crest is a conversion.

Legion Praetor for the Iron Warriors. I will probably be converting up a Warsmith at some point.

Iron Warriors Legion Breacher

Side view

Emperor's Children Palatine Blade.

Another Palatine Blade.

Vampire Counts Black Knight

The Return of Nagash and The End Times

Hey folks!

Bob here with some ruminations about the possible future of Warhammer Fantasy. Now unless you have not been paying attention, you couldn't help but notice some major changes coming for the world of Warhammer Fantasy. Nagash, the original non daemonic bad guy is back and pissed off and going on a rampage. What does all this mean? Well for one it means a unilateral decision by GW to advance the story of Fantasy in a very meaningful way. Why do I say unilateral? I say it because in the past something like this can, and has been, done with public input. I am of course referring to the now defunct Storm of Chaos and Eye of Terror campaigns, but more on this at a later date. Secondly, this appears to be the beginning of a multi-part "End Times" campaign event that will unfold in subsequent expansions. So without further preamble, it is time to five in to the books.

                                              WARNING!!!! SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

The man himself

Set 1 of the End Times

First off what is exactly come in the Nagash set? You get a rather excellent background book that covers a roughly three year period advancing the timeline into Imperial year 2525. Check out the preamble on the back of the book. It is fairly self explanatory.

The back of the book

The book begins by giving each faction a brief description and what has been going on leading up to the events to be portrayed in the rest of the book. This includes factions that have not yet received a hardcover army book. I won't go into too much detail as to the events portrayed in these intros, or the rest of the book for that matter. I would say any fan of the world of Warhammer Fantasy owes it to themselves to read the lore book. There I said it. Go read the damn book. It is worth your time. I will some things up thusly:

Empire: Big ass Chaos army gathering in the north and Sylvania acting up in the south

Dwarfs: Pressure being relieved on some holds due to actions of Orcs, Goblins, and Skaven. Half of the holds want to shut their gates and let events play out, but the High King has other ideas.

High Elves: Ulthuan under siege by increasingly larger daemonic forces. Phoenix king MIA in his tower. Tyrion becomes defacto head of defense, but not everyone is pleased with this.

Wood Elves: Ariel and the forest are dying. It dawns on the Wood Elves that they can't just hole up and let the world burn.

Bretonia: Civil war rocks the nation as the King's bastard son rises up to claim the throne. Fully half the population is killed or flees the chaos.

Skaven: Attacks above ground increase in boldness and severity. Much of the Border Princes, Tielia, and Estelia are destroyed and conquered.

Lizardmen: The plan of the Old Ones has failed. The Exodus is to be prepared.

Chaos, Daemons, Bestmen: The End Times are upon the world. The forces of Chaos are united behind the Everchosen in numbers never before seen. Beastmen multiply at an alarming rate and plague the forests of the Old World and beyond.

Orcs and Goblins: The power of the WAAAAGH has never been stronger. The greenskins feel the call to congregate en mass and do so.

Ogres: A mass migration into the Old World is caused by volcanic activity.

Dark Elves: The latest invasion of Ulthuan is postponed thanks to massive raids by Daemons and the men of the north.

Tomb Kings: Settra learns of the imminent return of Nagash and orders every Tomb King to be woken and their legions made ready for war.

Vampire Counts: Manfred von Carstein has grown in power and will play a crucial role in the war to come.


So while the meat and bones of the book deals with the inevitable resurrection of Nagash and the tide of evil that follows, it isn't the only thing to be presented. The first wave of the Chaos horde attacks the Empire in the north with predictably devastating results. The rumors about a lot of character deaths is indeed true. The "good" guys take it in the teeth as usual, but the bad guys don't have it all their own way. If you want to read about the forces of order actually kicking something evil's ass for a change, you should keep on hoping. By the end of the book Nagash is all hopped up on death magic and sitting pretty with a giant army at his command. Events seem to be leading up to Nagash facing off against the Chaos horde with the poor Empire trapped in the middle. If things play out at the rate they are going, what is left of the Warhammer World may be unrecognizable by the time this whole thing is over. As always I intend to reserve judgement on if this whole "reboot", for lack of a better word, is a good thing or a bad thing overall. As John and I have discussed on here before, there are some major issues with the current rule set, but it is far from the unplayable mess some internet potentates would have you think it is. One thing that I do hope comes out of this is a renewed interest in the Warhammer world.

In addition to the background and rule book (which really isn't much of a rule book, more like a scenario book with some new units thrown in and a new army list and magic lore) I received a snazzy little notebook and a shameless "buy more shit" pamphlet.

My very own book of Nagash

The shameless plug to buy more miniatures

The new army list included in the rules in the Undead Legions list. It is basically the Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings in one list with the new Undead characters thrown in (rules for Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings not included). The lore of Undeath. the Fantasy equivalent of 40k's Daemonology, is a mostly unit summoning lore available to everyone. Unlike the Vampire of Tomb King version of summoning units, Undeath summons X points worth of models, with X points increasing as more power is poured into the spell. These summoned units come from the Undead Legions list and have access to all of the appropriate upgrades available within the point limit of the spell. 

So overall would I recommend getting this new expansion/ addition/ whatever the hell this is? I would give a resounding yes. If you like Warhammer Fantasy you owe it to yourself pick this up if only for the lore portion. The cynical side of me says get it so you have it when they roll  back the timeline again in a few years if the radical lore changes fall flat on their collective ass.

Not the Usual Bloodbath Part 2

Today we have the long overdue conclusion to the Empire (and Dwarfs) v.s. Lizards smack down. Enjoy!


Turn 4

John's turn 4

Desperate to get into combat I declare a couple charges. Temple Guard charge cannon, guess who win's that combat? Saurus Spearmen charge Handunners and take a few casualties from shooting. Saurus block 1 moves up to support Skinks giving it to an increasing number of Empire troops. (Greatswords, crazies and a few Handgunners) Krokigors charge knights in the flank, guess how that combat ends up) I shift around my mages, and pretty sure Old Blood continues to flee. Skinks on right flank shoot up his Pistoliers, they flee, take a block of Handgunners with them that were threatening temple guards. Magic, one of my Skinks blows himself up and causes some wounds amongst my own. Call in another meteor near the other one. Called in near the Saurus with spears, seeing as how that side was pretty much effed and there was a lot of targets. A mage, the Huricanum, his big block of whatever, the hammerers, another spear unit, the Handgunners, I was willing to risk my presumed already dead Saurus with spears. Combat temple guard munch cannon and overrun to get away a bit but still end up with flank exposed. Saurus with spears cause the Handgunners to run after taking a few causalities, they end up behind the big block and the Hammerers. Skinks do some damage but still end up running. pursuing crazies end up near Saurus 1. Krokigors munch a good number of knights, lose one in return, knights break and run off table.

Bob's Turn 4
A couple charges against some of the remaining blocks of Saurus. Crazies and Greatswords charge Saurus Block 1, spears charge Temple Guard in the flank. another unit moves towards the Skinks on that flank too, rest of his middle turns towards the Saurus with spears, who are now firmly in his deployment zone facing the wrong way. Hammerers charge remaining Salamanders. Shooting not much left, Dwarfs put another wound on the Krokigors. Magic, maybe nothing happens, again magic sucked all game pretty much. My second comet shows up, and hits a good number of his guys, Hammerers, chariot thing, mage and big block and does decent damage to all, chariot and mage dead. Combat. Saurus kill a few crazies but lose combat and break and are run down, pursuing crazies end up close to Skinks who ran earlier. Spears or whatever do a little damage to Temple Guard, but lose combat, Temple Guard turn to face for munching next turn. Hammerers kill of the Salamanders.

I (John) was able to make things look a little better, but still pretty dire, no troops in my middle, but flanks are looking favorable. Fricking second comet shows up but first is still lurking.

Turn 5

John's Turn 5

So, not a whole lot of movement, rally fleeing Skinks and maybe shuffle a mage out of the way (I don't think I have too many at this point) Krokigors and Old Blood move up towards Dwarf Handgunners but are too far away to charge. Saurus with spears turn to face big blocks coming up behind from the middle. Shooting, Skinks continue to kill a good number of infantry (something is happening to my Skinks on the right flank but not sure what). magic, nothing, failed dice, failed winds or everybody dead or running. Only combat (I think) temple guard and hero munch whatever snack was in front of them, they stick around but looking bad for Bob there.

Bob's Turn 5
Big blocks charge Saurus with spears, who are heavily outnumbered. Greatswords move towards Krokigors on flank(?) Crazies charge Skinks who kill all but 2 of the charging men. Shooting, Dwarfs kill another Krokigor maybe? Magic, my second comet shows up, right on top of big combat in the middle. Everybody ends up losing like 8 guys. (Hammerers, Bob's big blob and my Saurus) Combat, Skinks kill off crazies, Saurus with spears have just enough left to stick around for last turn, and Temple Guard crush spearmen who run and are caught. Pursuit brings Temple Guard into middle combat, but that had already been fought so they just count as charging my turn.

In typical Lizards vs Bob fashion things start turning against Bob once combat gets going heavy. At this point its only a few blocks left trying to do as much damage as they can before the game ends.

Turn 6

John's Turn 6
I charge the Dwarf gunners with Krokigors, and maybe move the Skink units a little. Shooting I kill a few more somethings, again not really sure, maybe pics would help me remember. Magic, ha, nothing. Combat goes about as expected. Krokigors kill Dwarfs or chase them off the battle field or something bad for Bob. Temple Guard munch a good number of Bob's Big Blob (trademark pending), while last of Saurus spears is taken out? I think Bob's Big Blob runs and is caught and again Temple Guard pursue into hammerers, but combat waits.

Bob's Turn 6
Greatswords kill the last Skink priest, not sure if he stood and took it or rolled terribly on run. Shooting, nothing, Magic nothing. Combat. Hammerers do some damage and take a good bit in return, Bob finds out that Dwarfs without shields are squishy (see my earlier blog entry) But combat tied, and game ends.

Victory: John, enough to call it victory but it wasn't the usual bloodbath where my lizards march all over Bob's victims.

Final Thoughts

John: I don't know if it all went as planned but again I found a way to win, and my full lizard army (3000+) remains undefeated. Game plan was to get saurus into combat and did this pretty well except for the big blob which became a bullet sponge the first couple turns. And with those guys and the number of other heavies somebody was bound to do some damage. MVP: Temple Guard, they are a hittier version of the normal Saurus and adding a hero in there was mean. Biggest surprise: Krokigors actually killed something. Biggest let down: Saurus blocks accounted for very little damage done. Skinks as always tend to get ignored but can dish out a good bit of short ranged death while the enemy focuses on scary Saurus Warriors. Magic sucked, with three mages a piece there should have been more than what happened. With such a big battle I need to get better and positioning my troops for movement later on, there for a couple turns I had units bogged down by the numbers in front of them, need to use my combat heavy general better. Maybe should have flipped him and temple guard at start, would have been more interesting, his knights vs the Temple Guard while the general got some softer targets to munch on.

Bob: Bitch and moan, dice this, dice that. fucking cheaty face lizards (pretty much -Bob). So what are the take away thoughts from this? Well to start I clearly need more State Troops to make blocks out of. More Greatswords and Flagellants would be welcome and I definitely need to finally pick up a Steam Tank. Skinks can dish out a stupid number of poisoned attacks. Overall I was fairly pleased with the way this went down. As the title suggests, it wasn't the usual Empire massacre that these little slug fests turn into.

Thanks for reading, folks!

Support Squad, 132nd Myrmidons

a few good men

So not much going on with me, work is a bitch its all i can do is get myself home and drink a beer. Not much time for painting or doing much and money has been tighter. But i bought some more guardsmen, you can never have enough cannon fodder.

Grenade Launcher

So the main idea behind this squad was support. adds another option for my small but budding army. So i equipped as many heavy weapons as i had. 2 grenade launchers, 2 plasma guns, 2 snipers and a sergeant with plasma pistol and power fist.

I see a lot of 1s in these model's future

So got them greyed up a bit. Not much to look at but they aren't expected to do much. One of the other ideas was just to have another option beyond the flamers my other inf squads are rocking at the moment. A bit of a mix and max unit.

lots of doubles in this unit

I had thought about saving the camo cloaks for my HQ choice but i thought gathering the pieces would take too much time, and figured i would be buying some more anyway so it shouldn't put me too far behind. I don't have plans for more expansion at the moment, i have to wait for my money situation to level out. But I definitely need some more tanks, thinking about buying some scions to bastardize a bit.

Not the Usual Bloodbath

 

Greeting folks! Today John and I bring you part 1 of a 2 part Battle Report featuring 3500 points of Lizards vs Empire with a small Dwarf contingent. I finally was able to make my way down to Atlanta for a weekend and John and I went over to the local GW (City Walk) on Friday afternoon to throw some dice in a long overdue game of Fantasy. so without further ramblings, enjoy Turns 1-3!


Battlefield

Standard Realm of Battle (or whatever 2x2 system) hill on my left and valley on my right, open middle ground. A few forests and some walls and scenery for pretty pics. Didn't have much to do with the game.


John Deployment

My left to right
4 Terradons, Carnosaur mounted Old Blood (general), 20 Saurus Warriors1, 27ish Skinks with javelins, 40 Saurus Warriors2, 2 Salamanders & handlers, 27ish Skinks with blowpipes and on far right 20 Saurus Temple Guard, behind the Skinks with javelins were 6 Krokigors (spoiler alert they actually did something, and behind the other group of Skinks were 20 Saurus Warriors3 w/ spears. There were 3 largely ineffective Skink priests scattered about between units. And two Saurus Scar Veterans, one with the big block of 40 and one with the Temple Guard.

A look down the line from Bob's side

Turn 1

My turn one, I believe I went first and just moved everybody generally forward. Magic numbers were low, at least I though so at the time, but got comet cast but Bob dispells, then try for Chain Lightning and Bob either dispells or I don't make the roll. Yay magic phase. Nothing within shooting range, and nobody charged. end of my turn.

Bob's turn one, some movement on John's right flank, outriders and one unit with Warrior Priest move towards Temple Guard. Magic he Purple Suns my big unit, 12 hit, 10 die, no panic 41 models hahahaha. Shooting continues to wither down big unit fast, I think all of his arty aimed at the big unit, mortar whiffed. If he was rolling to hit shooting it was again his usual, "oh I will never roll like that again" (I have to keep saying that otherwise I really won't roll like that again -Bob). No combat

No clear favorite here, but would have to go with Bob with shooting and magic kills (damn right -Bob).

Turn 2

My turn two. Desperate to shut the Hellblaster up I through my sacrificial Terradons at it, wipe out the unit overrun into his crazies (Flagellants). Skinks, Salamanders and Old Blood push ahead of Saurus wall. Magic again ineffective, maybe get off a comet, not sure if it was this turn or next but the bastard sat there for a while. Not enough dice for another spell, seriously Bob and I were rolling 3s,4s, and5s for winds. I think Bob once rolled a 10, and despite 3 wizards on both sides not much channeling either. Shooting, I think my Skinks were in range at this point and they opened up, and killed quite a bit. Javelins shoot up Handgunners attached to Greatswords, maybe kill 6 of 10. Blowpipes kill a shit ton of something on the other side, maybe the outriders. Despite needing 5s to hit, I was rolling more 6s (with poison it auto wounds) so continues one of my weird dice phenomenons. Terradons kill a few crazies, but end up getting wiped.

Aftermath of Temple Guard mulching Swordsmen

Bob's turn two. Charges my Carnosaur & Old Blood with big block of knights (fucker had to die -Bob), charges my Temple Guard on the right with Swordsmen and Warrior Priest. Magic continues to be ineffective, I don't think anything happened. Shooting continues to wither my big block but this was with only Handgunners, Mortar continued to miss, or maybe misfires this turn or the next. Combat, knights munch my Carnosaur, Old Blood only kills 1 in return. Combat locked somehow (bullshit, that's how -Bob). Spears or Halberds kill one Temple Guard, lose a bunch in return, combat locked.

At this point battle looks solidly in Bob's favor and is about to get worse for John.

Turn 3

My turn three, I move everybody up ready for turn 4 charges, move Krokigors towards knights on my left. Saurus block 1 moves to support Skinks in front of Greatswords, Skinks on right flank shuffle over to make room for Saurus with spears. Big block of Saurus makes the only charge. Magic, another round of ineffective magic, comet doesn't arrive. Shooting, Skinks continue to shoot the crap out of their targets, javelins kill a few more Greatswords, blowpipes shoot up Spearmen. Salamanders spit fire at Hammerers, cause a few causalities, they pass panic. Combat, Old Blood stays locked in combat unable to kill or be wounded. Big block of Saurus kill a few of Bob's big block and a Hammerer or two, but lose combat, flee and are run down by Hammerers. Temple Guard break the warrior priest lead swordsmen, run them down, end up right in front of cannon.

After the breaking of the Old Blood

Bob's turn three. Crazies, Greatswords and attached Handgunners charge Skinks with javelin, who shoot and kill several on charge reaction. His big block of whatever and hammerers begin to move forward and wrap around towards John's right flank. Magical Chariot (Hurricanum) thing moves up too. Another block of inf heads towards free ranging Temple Guard.Magic Bob calls down a lightning strike and kills something but is largely unproductive. Shooting, his big block of Hangunners on John's right open up into Saurus spearmen, kill a few, Dwarf Thunderers put some wounds on Krokigors, cannon grape shots temple guard, maybe kills one after the dumb rules are applied (seriously, fuck those rules -Bob). Combat. Old Blood breaks, but outruns knightly pursuit, who end up squarely in front of Krokigors. Skinks with javelins actually win combat when charge reaction is considered, combat locked.

If Grape Shot was worth a damn, the Temple Guard would be in a very bad position.

Things are looking real bad for John, he has no remaining troops in the middle, Old Blood is on the run, Magic is sucking completely, only thing going right are the Temple Guard. Bob also looks to be in solid shape on either flank, with his middle turning towards John's right where the Temple Guard are. On the left most of Bob's units are largely intact, but tied up for the moment.

Yeah, somebody is gonna die.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and some closing comments!!