The Kabal of the Crimson Woe, Part 2

I picked up the first batch of new miniatures for the Dark Eldar over the weekend, and sat down to figure out exactly what I wanted to build before I went about attacking the pile of boxes.

I have a common problem with my 40k armies, I tend to go all out and build thousands of points worth of models and then get discouraged when it comes time to paint "that huge pile of miniatures". To help alleviate this and to practice a little self-discipline I'm going to restrict myself to only building a few units, and then only build new units once I've managed to paint all the existing built units first. Of course, since I want to playtest the army I'll need to start off by building the compulsory HQ and two Troops choices, plus a smattering of other units to make a reasonable 1000-1500 point army. The remaining 2000+ points will remain in the boxes until I get that first batch done. That being the case I got out the ol' painting chart and made some decisions on how I'd start off.

A warrior squad, a squad of Wyches, a handful of Incubi and Reavers, and the various HQ models I'd picked up should give me a nice rounded starter army with which to run some test games. I took a little time to paint up a test model to get a feel for the color scheme I'd chosen and was reasonably pleased with the results. Not the best picture in the world, nor was it the best first test model I've ever done, but with a little refinement it should work out pretty well, I think!

 

I need to work on getting thinner lines around the edging, but that's mostly down to picking up some new finer-tipped brushes, and a steady hand. For the main armor plates I started off with a Dark Flesh liner, with a Red Gore and Blood Red highlight on the upper edges. After that I hit all the armor with a Baal Red wash which toned down the highlights and gave the black sections of the armor a slight reddish tint which worked out quite well (though it's a bit blown out with the while background). The flayed skin is Vomit Brown with an Ogryn Flesh wash, then highlighted back up a bit with more Vomit Brown, and the various weapons and details were picked out in Shining Gold and Boltgun Metal, then given a wash to knock down the shine a little. I also finally replaced the aeons-old bottle of MicroSol that I had and picked up a bottle of MicroSet while I was at it and used one of the transfers from the Raider kit on his back banner. I'm going to go back and re-do the stone on the base a little, I'm not 100% pleased with how it turned out. Other than adding a little static grass however, it's pretty much complete.

I think the Dark Eldar are going to be interesting to paint, as the style and methods I'll be using vary quite a bit from how I do my Guard (or the Orks for that matter). It's always good to try new things, and I'm eagerly trying to apply some of the lessons that Ron is providing over at FTW!

A whole mess o' yellow...

Knowing that I'm going to have one too many armies in short order (once I get the DE built), so I've decided that the Orks are going to be going up on the auction block. Of course, before I can do that I have to finish painting them! My plan is to finish up the Bad Moons side of my Orks first, as it's essentially a self-contained 2000 point army. That means it was time to break out the tank brush and the yellow paint!

The vast majority of it ended up on the Battlewagon. A quick drybrush of Boltgun Metal to pick out the edges and the standard yellow-over-orange method and it's pretty much a matter of picking out the details, at this point.

The Bad Moons army is built around the idea of a Big Mek's Dreddmob, and his cronies. I'd finished of the Deff Dredd a while back, so I turned my attention to the trio of Killa Kans, and got the base colors on them as well.

Of course, if you're going to have a Dreddmob, you gotta have a Mega Dredd! I really like this model, both for the model itself as well as how it performs on the table. I have never, EVER, hit anything with the Killkannon, but the way I see it the Orks are more interested in the sound and the fury than they are in the accuracy of the targeting systems, so it all works out in the end... Heh.

The Kabal of the Crimson Woe, Part 1

As promised, some initial build shots of the inevitable Dark Eldar army. I've long been a fan of the Dark Eldar as a concept, but the previous renditions of the models just didn't inspire me. I'd built a handful of the old warriors and a Haemonculous for use with my Rogue Trader campaign, but that was the extent of it. Suffice it to say I've been rather looking forward to the new release based on the pictures that have been floating around the net, and now that I've had a chance to actually put some of them together I have to say they do not disappoint!

A few weeks back I'd placed an order to Dragon Forge for a fair number of their 'Ancient Ruins' bases, as the ruined Eldar theme seemed appropriate. Once those were washed and cleaned up, I started the army build with the box of Reavers, hands down my favorite of the new kits. The bits that make up the bike were pretty fiddly in places and I had to be extra careful trimming them from the sprues but I managed without any major casualties. The handlebars were the worst part, a couple of them came very near to breaking - eek. I used the power weapon from the Warriors kit to help distinguish the arena champion from the others. I've decided that I'm going to use the mirror-helmeted heads on all of the Reavers with the exception of the Champion - I'm rather pleased at how many variant heads and other bits they give you on the DE sprues!

After the Reavers were put together I took a crack at the Warriors kit. I'd sat down ant figured out how I was going to arm the various Warrior and Trueborn squads beforehand, so it was a simple matter to clip and build. They are about as fiddly as Eldar Guardians to put together, but overall they all went together smooth and easy. Again there were a couple bits that were attached to the sprue in what I thought were bad positions as far as being able to cut them free without marring the detail, but nothing too egregious.

The Raider went together surprisingly smoothly, on this kit I was expecting trouble but I have to doff my cap to the designers. My intention is to have a half dozen raiders in the army, in various levels of decoration and extravagance to show the increasing importance and wealth of the transported models. The Warrior's Raiders are more or less bereft of decoration other than a few spikes and spines. The Wych's Raider will have chains and skulls, the Trueborn's Raider will be much more baroque with spiky bits and chains and skulls, and the Incubi and Archon's Raiders will be dripping with decorations. I've left the central sail section, the gunner and pilot loose for painting purposes, at the moment they're just slotted in place for the picture. Once I get a couple more boxes of Warrior and Wyches I'll start assembling the hangers-on as well. There's a fair bit of customization available in the kit, but I really want each of them to be unique.

Finally I started working on the Court of the Crimson King in the form of the 5 Ur-Ghuls that will be part of the retinue. Pretty straightforward - Ghoul models, a bit of greenstuff over the eyes and forehead, poke a series of holes for scent-pits, and they're pretty much good to go.

Now that I've got this first batch put together I'm really itching to get my hands on the other kits!

Time flies whether you're having fun or not...

Hello again, after an extended absence! I can't believe that it's been several months since my last update - I would like to say "during the time away I haven't been idle", but as far as 40k-related hobby work goes that would be a fabrication. Other than a couple models I've put together and painted for the Rogue Trader campaign I've been running, I've not managed to do much on the hobby front. Real Life(tm) has been rearing its ugly head, with long hours at work during the day and the band eating up a lot more of my hobby time.

However, those dirty underhanded folks over at GW have managed to reinvigorate the Dark Eldar line in a rather impressive fashion, with gorgeous models and a rather interesting new codex. As such I got that old familiar itch to make a new army - because obviously the three other half-done armies in the Closet of Doom aren't enough. You'd think I'd learn my lesson! I've sold off a few models to help fund the new project, and my FLGS owner allowed me to purchase the codex and a few boxes of models early as I placed a substantial order from him. After reading through the codex a few times, I decided that I'd go with a predominantly "Warriors and Wyches" army, and leave the Haemonculus Cult aspect aside for the time being.

The intention is to be able to use these models as antagonists in my Rogue Trader game as well, so I decided I'd paint them up as "The Cabal of the Crimson Woe", the Dark Eldar pirates that ply the void in the Koronus Expanse. Coupled with the fact that I was listening to some old prog rock at the time, the Archon and his retinue ended up being called "The Court of the Crimson King". Har! I decided that I'd pick up a pair of Archon models so I could arm them differently - The Crimson King will be carrying a Blast Pistol and Agonizer, coupled with the Lhamaean in the retinue means in HtH he'll be dealing out 6-7 power weapon attacks that wound on a 2+, using his WS of 7. Terrifying! The retinue will all have to be custom made as there aren't currently models for the various options. The Lhamaean will be represented by a (what else?) Lhamaean vampire from the fantasy range, with a little GS work to Dark Eldar her up a bit. Some pointy-er ears, and a splinter pistol should do the trick.

The Ur-Ghuls will be made from Ghouls (also not much of a shock), with a little GS work to cover their eyes and add a number of new nostrils. The Medusae will be made from a spare DE warrior, one of the visor-ed helmets from the Reaver sprues, and a couple of the brain-looking bio-morphs from the Tyranid upgrade sprue. Finally, the Sslyth warriors will be based on the Greater Daemon of Slaanesh model from the Warmaster line - I'll be replacing the arms and adding some armor to the torso, but the head and snake body seem just about perfect as-is!

The second Archon, Duke Harkanet will be armed with the standard Soultrap and Huskblade provided in the blister, and will be accompanied by the 9-strong Incubi unit. Other than that, it's going to be a fairly straightforward mass of Raider-embarked Kabalite Trueborn, Kabalite Warriors and Wyches, several 6-man units of Reavers, a big block of Hellions, and a pair of Ravagers. I was surprised at how expensive points wise the army is - the above list clocks in at over 3500 points, given a fairly generous set of wargear choices. I'll likely trim that down a bit once I get a couple games under my belt and figure out what works for me.

I've assembled the few models I was able to pre-purchase over the weekend, and have done a test paint scheme on the Sybarite for the Warrior squad - more pictures to follow!

...And I'm talking about in the next day or so, as opposed to next month. Hah!

Myrmidon Assault Engine Mk. II, Part 1

One of the most intriguing units listed in the Tempus Fugitives Cult Mechanicus army list is the Myrmidon Assault Engine. The description lists it as an insectomorphic walker that carries multiple heavy weapons as well as a number of pneumatic claws for close combat. In my mind, it seems like Myrmidon is the construct that the Dark Mechanicus pervert into a Defiler, and as such I thought I'd try my hand at building one.

My first attempt was based on an old Robogear model, but it just wasn't hefty enough in my opinion. As such I trawled the internet for some inspiration and picked up a Defiler model to see what I could come up with.

I spent a bit of time over the weekend cutting and sawing and gluing and generally making a huge mess and came up with what I think is a passable first step. I liked the general look of my first attempt and I decided that I wanted to mimic the basic layout (under-slung Autocannons, one close combat arm and one heavy weapon).

The Myrmidon is allowed one of three options for a heavy weapon system - The ever-popular Graviton Cannon, a Conversion Beamer, or a Shockwave Cannon. Ultimately I decided on the Shockwave Cannon, as I have examples of the other two weapons on other models in my Ad Mech Army.

While the Defiler has a Daemon bound into it and is totally sealed, the Myrmidon is described as having a servitor (or Skitarii) crew, and as such I wanted to show a crew member poking his head out of a hatch.

It turns out the cupola ring from the Chaos tank upgrade sprue fits perfectly on the top of the Defiler (there's even gaps in the ring that match up exactly with one of the two cupolas), though I had to do some cutting and scraping to make non-chaos hatches fit on the other openings. Overall I tried to de-chaos-ify the Myrmidon, though there's still a lot of work to do on it (filling in gaps, maybe shaving down all the pointy bits on the trim which is going to be a major pain).

It ended up being a bit bigger than my fist attempt which I think is more appropriate. It certainly looks more menacing, and I'm sure that (like the Defiler) it will draw an inordinate amount of fire. On the other hand, any shots taken at the Myrmidon are shots that aren't going into other, more fragile, units! Still a lot of work to do, but it's definitely taking shape!

State of the Army - a difficult reassessment...

I've been agonizing over what I was going to do with the Mordian 7th, as far as bases and (recently) paint schemes go. The army has been collected and painted over the course of 5 years or so, and when I'd first picked up the brushes I decided on a grey and red scheme and urban-themed bases as that scheme would tie in with my Ad-Mech army and I could use the infantry as Tech Guard as well. Technically speaking however, that's not the right color scheme, and has been one of several things that have nagged at me about the core infantry of the army for years.

According to an old 40K Compendium entry about the Mordian 7th, "One of the popular motifs is to line the official black flak jacket with crimson (taken from the red linings the gang wore inside their leathers on the Hive World). This is said to show that 'in the darkness, blood will flow' - it is also taken to mean that even in the most difficult of situations one should take heart and act with valor."

The Hellhound was painted up in a black and red scheme, and honestly I like the way it looks much more than the grey and red I've been doing. At that point I had to decide if I was going to continue on with the army as it was, or whether I wanted to scrap the bulk of the infantry and start anew. I've opted for the latter.

The army is going from this:

To this:

Why am I doing this? First and foremost, I enjoy building and painting models more than actually having finished models. Sure it's fun to play a game with a painted army, but at that point it also takes up a lot of permanent storage space. Starting anew means that I can implement all the little ideas that have come up over the years but were too late to do, as well as freeing up some much-needed space in the Closet of Doom. I opted to trim the army down significantly as well, opting to cede the King Russ tanks and much of the remaining heavy support to the Ad-Mech army, as the Mordian 7th is intended to be a predominantly infantry-centric army. The only vehicles assigned to the army at the time of the Pacification of Flotis III were a pair of Sentinels and two Rhinos attended to by a small detachment of Tech Priests.As the Guard aren't allowed Rhinos I'll be doing a couple more of the alternate-style Chimeras instead, and as the assault troops aren't allowed Jump Packs, they'll instead be equipped with Grav Chutes and carried into battle by an Imperial Navy detachment of Vultures and Vendettas. I'm quite looking forward to approaching the army in a bit more of a "historically accurate" sense, and actually has me quite enthused to get started!

Now a bit of blatant self publicity:

I decided I'll sell off the core of the infantry company as well as several other models to help fund the re-build - We'll see how that goes I suppose. Unfortunately ny base policy is not to ship overseas due to several bad experiences, but if you are interested in the models and live outside the US or Canada feel free to contact me through the eBay message system. I'm tentatively open to the idea of overseas bidders provided they have a solid bid history.

Cheers!

Da big, bad, biker boyz!

A bit more progress on Da Orks over the last week - I decided that I'd take some time and finish up the Nob Bikers. I'd purchased the Ork Warboss on a Bike from Forgeworld as the model is just beautiful. On the other hand though, while I do like the look of the FW Nob Bikers, I find them to be prohibitively expensive, so I built mine out of the bits that come from the GW plastic warbikers.

The warboss is a seriously imposing model, and I really liked that they included a terrain base to go along with it. The model was missing a bracket for one of the mudguards, but rather than write them for a replacement for such a little bit I just made one out of plasticard and called it good. Once it was primered you can't even tell the difference.

I did make two specialist Nobs that aren't available via the regular plastic kits. First up, the requisite Painboy. I used a few bits from the Trukk sprues and build an 'Urty Syringe out of some plasticard, a slugga and some guitar string. I also included a Grot Assistant on a little fighting platform - he carries the anasthetic (in the form of a big club)!

Lastly, my favorite of the models, the Waaagh Banna. I wanted to build him in such a way that he really looks like a raving loon, so instead of sitting in the saddle, he's standing on it, steering with his foot and shouting. It worked out pretty well - he looks like a lunatic!

With that, I'm deciding what project to work on next, I think it may be time to swing back over into the Ad-Mech and work on the Scions of Mars for a while...