And so begins the march of the Empire Slave-train

This week’s painting schedule was broken up a little with the purchase of a box of Empire Flagellants, which will be used to create the captured Empire citizenry that is being force-marched north to the Chaos Wastes.  The Flagellant models themselves lend themselves well to this role, due to their already wild and abused look and the frames contain a plethora of chains that can be used to give the impression of manacles.  The box also comes with enough bits to have no less than 2 of your captives thrown into stocks to make them more compliant, which is just pure gold in my opinion.  Looking at the various heads that come with the box, there are a number that lend themselves well to various Chaos Powers.  For example, there is a head that looks as if the unfortunate victim has been enclosed in an Iron Mask, while another is gagged using a rough piece of rope (both perfect for Slaanesh).  This weekend saw me assembling 6 of the little fellows for use in my Tzeentch warrior unit, quickly boosting the size of the unit to 26.  I just need to add another warrior to act as my Warden and the unit has reached my desired minimum unit size of 27 (9x3).   A unit this size will be capable of grinding with the best of them, ensuring that they can take significant punishment, while still possessing sufficient strength to give it back.

Tzeentch Chaos Warriors Front

Chaos Warriors from the right

Chaos Warriors from the left

As well as assembling my unit filler, I was able to finish painting and basing my second rank of 5 Warriors of Tzeentch.  I’ve taken the opportunity with this unit to give all the raised areas of Bronze a wash of Gryphonne Sepia to give the metal more warmth; an effect I’m quite happy with.  

2nd Rank of Chaos Warriors front

2nd Rank of Chaos Warriors back

Finally, I also got the chance to finish painting a set of barricades and craters that I purchased from Amera Plastics (http://www.amera.co.uk/product.php?range=z).  These miniatures are brilliant in their level of detail as well as their ease of painting.  For the most part, all the dirt was completed using a base coat of Scorched Brown, with layers of Bubonic Brown and Bleached Bone dry brushed on top before washing the entire piece with Devlan Mud.  Once dried, I painted the borders with a coat of Chardon Granite, which is a fairly neutral colour that allows the pieces to be used on a range of fields.  

Well that’s all for this entry, I’ll catch you all later. 

Trev

Fandexes, Bronze 2.0 and Guest Spots

This last week I’ve been thinking heavily about Unofficial Army Books that are brought out by the fans of Warhammer and what it means for the game as a whole.  The Warhammer Forum (http://battlereporter.freeforums.org/warhammer-army-books-fan-made-unofficial-f88.html) has a number of these ‘Fandexes’ in PDF format and the three that caught my attention initially were Army Books for the armies of Albion (Celtic barbarians), one for the armies of Nippon (Samurai for the win) and the lands of the Norse (Vikings ho!).  It should be noted early that these books are not your half-arsed I’m-gonna-make-my-army-invincible army books. No siree, these books are well researched, well laid out, and for the most part relatively balanced in comparison to their GW counterparts (Deamons, Dark Elves and Skaven not withstanding).  This is particularly true for the Nippon Army book that combines army specific special rules and appropriately costed unit choices with thematic but not unbalanced magical items.  While I have not yet had a chance to playtest any of the Fandexes, the modelling opportunities for the adventurous gamer are almost endless.   I hope in the future to be able to report back to you on the performance of some of these books.

But my week has not been totally consumed by reading (although there has been a great deal of that); I’ve also finally completed another rank of Tzeentch infantry for my Chaos Warriors.  With this rank I’ve experimented with some of the washes used to shade the bronze armour with varying levels of success.  For example, I used a combination of Delvan Mud and Badab Black to shade the Chaos symbol on this shield.  While the black provided a significant level of shading, I feel it’s too stark for the bronze armour, leaching too much colour from the shield as a whole.

Another test was through the use of the Griphonne Sepia wash to brighten the bronze armour on the parts not covered by the shield.  This test was relatively more successful, with the sepia tones brightening the armour, making it look less... dirty (for lack of a better word).  This technique has been repeated on the armour of my BSB.  Note on the BSB’s armour, that it has been highlighted first using Shining Gold in an attempt to provide another level of highlighting to further distinguish him from the rest of the men.  Something I believe has been quite successful on the whole. 

Finally, as a means of providing a bit of variety for the readers, I’m looking to enlist a number of guest writers to periodically provide articles for the blog.  If you’re interested, please feel free to contact me here by leaving a comment.

Catch you all later

Trev