Thunder Wolves are go!!

These last couple of days have been a little mediocre on the painting front, with only a couple of warriors having their shields painted and their bases finished.  On the upside however, I've been doing some work on the Warshrine, finishing the prep work so that re-basing and filling can begin.  In the pictures that I posted last week, I did not include the back banner that was jutting out of the spine of the giant.  Since then I've magnetised the banner so that it can be removed and attached as the need arises.  Once more progress has been made, I'll be sure to upload some pics.  

Today I received a package from the good people of Paulson Games: http://www.paulsongames.com/page/page/5879537.htm I'd ordered one of their resin wolves that have been marketed as one of the many conversion kits for Thunder Wolf Cav, in hopes that I may be able to use them as mounts for my Chaos Knights.  While mounting the armoured warriors will require some green stuff work, mounting my Chaos Sorcerer, however will not be as great a challenge.  The pics below give you some idea of just how good this mini looks.  I'm hoping that I can make this unit work, because it would be a crime to ruin such impressive sculpting.

 

I'm working on ideas to make the wolves a little more armoured, so I'm keen to hear your thoughts.  

Catch you all later 

Trev

A New Realisation, and a loss sorely felt

This week has been a week of contemplation and realisation for me, relating specifically to the realms of hobbying and gaming in general.  For the last few weeks I have been working tirelessly to marshal my Chaos Warriors for the long march to Ides in Brisbane and as a result, it has also been a significant source of stress as I attempted to fit an unrealistic amount of work into such a short space of time.  Because of this, I have come to realise that I have once again started travelling down an all too familiar path towards exhaustion and hobby burn-out, one that I swore that I would not travel down again.  A hobby is only a hobby so long as you are having fun.  Once that changes, it is no longer a hobby, but a chore, and nobody enjoys doing their chores.  I know that rushing my army as I have been will result in a finished product that I am not happy with and will prompt reconstruction and I would much rather get it right the first time, rather than do twice the work for the same result.  What this means, dear reader, is that I shall no longer be attending the Ides of March tournament this year.  Instead I’ll dedicate sufficient time and effort in the planning, construction and painting of my Warriors of Chaos, complete with conversions and unit designs that reflect the fluff that I have devised. 

Now with the sad news out of the way, let’s get onto hobby progress.  With the Ides of March Tournament no longer a deadline for me, I can spend more time in the planning of the infantry units that I’ll be fielding in my greater army.  To emphasise the ‘slaver’ aspect of my army, my infantry units will be made up of an outer core of warriors that are escorting a core of captives, utilising both Flagellant and Militia models to provide the ragged image that would accompany captives from the Empire being forced from their homes and brutally marched north to fates unknown.  To further enhance the theme, each of the units will be created using multiples of the relevant God’s sacred number.  For example, my unit of Tzeentch Warriors will be no less than 36 strong (4x9) assembled in six ranks of six warriors, with the centre 8 bases being inhabited by ‘captives’.  Conversely, the unit of 24 Khorne Warriors (3x8) will consist of four ranks of six, with the centre four bases being captives.  The diagrams below will hopefully provide clarity to those having difficulty deciphering my fevered ravings.  

W	W	Unit Filler		Unit Filler
W	W	Captives
Wolf	W	Captives		W	Wolf
	W	St.B	Ch	M

Khorne Warrior Unit Configuration

W	W	W	W	W	W
W	W	Captives		Unit Filler
W	W	Captives
W	W	Captives		W	W
Wolf	W	Captives		W	Wolf
	W	St.B	Ch	M

Tzeentch Warrior Unit Configuration

With these diagrams, I shall now take my leave in order to continue building my army to ever expanding heights.  Once I have secured the Flagellant boxed set, I shall immediate begin work on assembling the required unit fillers, so that I can hopefully provide you with WIP photos come the end of the weekend.

Catch you then

Trev

Enter Thruug the Geriatric!

Right, so with 26 days left until Ides and I’ve almost completed assembling all the infantry my list requires.  In the last three weeks, I’ve sculpted no less than 25 butts for Chaos warriors and have been madly assembling and positioning warriors in new and funky ways that allow them all to rank up and play nicely together.  This process has however, prompted me to begin thinking about adding ‘easter eggs’ inside units throughout the army - miniature unit-fillers if you will. 

For example – In the fluff that I’ve developed for my army, the Khorne Warriors have a particular distaste for Undead due to a previous battle with Vampire Counts where a Vampiress just wouldn’t stay down.  While I’ve made sure to attach silver stakes to the bottom of all my Warriors weapons to draw attention to that thematic twist, having a number of my warriors using their weapons to smash to pieces skeletal minions would go that extra step in cementing the theme.  That being said, in my fluff, I’ve also based the army in the northern reaches of the Empire, burning, killing and pillaging their way back to their homeland in Norsca.  Perhaps a more suitable theme would be to have the warriors travelling back with slaves and treasure.  I shall think more on it and make a decision in the near future.  I’d also appreciate your thoughts on the subject and would welcome any ideas you may have. 

Well, onto the pictures.  I’ve completed assembling the first unit of 12 Warriors with two hand weapons, complete with wolves and unit filler.  The second unit of 12 is well on its way to being completed, with only a few models left to build.  As both units of 12 will be combined into a large unit of 24 in bigger games, I’ve decided not to model a second musician and standard bearer even though they are in my army list.  Instead I’ll be using models from my previous army to fill those roles, which both saves time and modelling materials (I’m running very low on Chaos Warrior bodies and resin bases at the moment).  The Chaos battalion box gives you a unit of 12 and currently this army is using 10, but I think I’ll need the other 2 for my Warshrine.  Below I’ve included WIP pictures of both units of Khorne Warriors and a group shot of all my warriors together. 

Also, I’ve included a shot of my new Warshrine model that I was fortunate enough to get from a mate of mine.  It’s an amazing model, one that I will enjoy painting immensely.  As a bonus, it can also double as a giant in need be J.  

Well, that's all for tonight, as always, feel free to provide and C&C.  I've organised a practice game against some VC's this Sunday so we'll be able to see how well the shrine goes :-).

Catch you all next week

Trev

Chaos Warriors Assemble!

Hey there everyone, we're another week closer to the Ides of March Tournament and I have to say that the army preparation for this event is going relatively well.  While not much painting has been completed this week, I've been busily assembling the second half of the Tzeentch warrior unit and one of my units of Khorne Warriors with two hand weapons.  Sunday and Monday consisted of plenty of green-stuff work as I began rebuilding the top of the legs, creating the seat of their pants and adding a much wider belt to fit said pants.  I've included a couple of WIP pics below showing the various stages of construction.

On top of that, to provide a slight distraction I decided to build a model for the new DnD character that I am running with my local RP group.  In keeping with my 'I like to beat things with my really big weapon' theme, I've attempted to design a Ronin-type model armed with a big-as blade.  Nothing says 'fear me' like a giant blade being swung at high speeds towards the face of your enemy.  Have a look and see what you think.  C&C is always welcome.

Hope you guys enjoy.

Catch you later

Trev

The march to Ides has begun

This week has been a flurry of panicked activity as I hastily assemble an army to take to Ides of March in Brisbane on the 12^th and 13^th of March (as the name may suggest).  With the army size set at 2400 points, a lofty bar has been set for my newly budding Chaos army, particularly given the hastily approaching deadline.  But, as they say, nothing provides you with focus like a deadline J.  To further provide a focus for my efforts, I’ve decided to theme my army around an uneasy alliance between a Khorne Lord and his Tzeentch minions.  With the current state of 8^th Edition and the meta-game surrounding the Australian tourney scene, my Nurgle army will have to wait until my current force is completed.  Or at least until this tournament is over and I can dedicate enough time to such a significant modelling project ;).  But that’s after the tournament.  What’s important right now is the progress I’ve made on my Warrior unit with shields.  Currently I’m completing the second rank of warriors, which combined with some of the warriors from my old version of the army, will create a completely painted unit of 20.  The use of warriors from my previous army is purely to reduce the number of models I need to have painted in such a short period of time as the less models I need to paint, the more likely I’m going to be able to attend the tournament with a fully painted force to gain maximum painting scores.  For the army that I want to take to Ides, I’ll need to finish the following:

Chaos Lord on Juggernaut

1 Sorcerer

2 Units of 12 Chaos Warriors with additional Hand Weapons

20 Marauders with Flails

5 Chaos Hounds

Chaos Chariot

4 Ogres with additional Hand Weapons

While a seemingly large number of troops to paint, I think with a few short-cuts (and some imaginative unit fillers), I’ll be able to get these models painted in time.  But for now, here are a couple of shots of the work I’ve completed thus far this week: 

Got the second rank of Warriors assembled and partially painted

WIP Warriors rear

Salamander Chaplain

Chaplain rear