Hobby progress 2014

I really rocked 2014 in terms of painting.  I completed almost an entire army (daemons) and made a lot of progress with Grey Knights, orks, and even did some terrain:

Grey Knights/Inquisition
My henchmen are mostly complete.  I still have crusaders to paint, but I'm not sure how I would even use them, so they aren't a priority.  The GK Purgators and Strikes were completed early on in the year, but I'm reorganizing them.  The Dreadknights were my big project.

• 3 Jokaero
• 8 Rifle Acolytes
• 8 Death Cult Assassins
• Ordo Malleus Inquisitor
• Ordo Xenos Inquisitor
• Vindicaire Assassin
• 2 Servo Skulls
• 2 Dreadknights - full build/conversion/paint
• 10 GK Strike squad (8 swords, 2 Psycannons) - Started in 2013, finally finished
• Purgation Squad
• 2 Nemesis Warding Staves, magnetized
• 1 Nemesis Daemon Hammer, magnetized
• 1 Nemesis Daemon Halberd, magnetized
• GK Dreadnought
• 2 sets Forgeworld Inquisition doors for Stormravens

Orks
Most of the work on the bikers was done in late 2013.  The finishing details took a lot longer than I expected.  I put in extra work on the warboss, which even won me a painting competition.  The lobbas, tankbustas, and grots were new things I bought with the new codex.

• Warboss on Bike
• Painboy on Bike
• Wazdakka
• Nob Biker mob
• 12 Gretchin Crew
• 2 Lobbas
• 8 Tankbustas

Blood Angels
Most of these were done early in the year when I was still playing them for the titan tournament.  Most of these are just arm swap options that are magnetized.  My Drop Pod is pretty sweet, but I need at least 2 more to be able to use them in any list.

• BA Drop Pod (death company)
• BA combi-weapons (4 plasma, 1 melta)
• BA Librarian weapons (staff, sword, axe)
• 14 BA SGT Arms
• 4 meltabombs
• 2 Dozer blades

Terrain
Mostly this was fixing up the terrain for the shop.  The Imperial Bunker was a lot of fun to use, until they took away casting psychic powers inside and skyfire got nerfed.  I may bring this back with my nemesis strike force detachment to utilize the comms relay.

• Imperial Bunker
• Comms Relay
• Shop Terrain - Dreadstone Blight
• Shop Terrain – sand stacks
• Shop Terrain – sand stacks
• Shop Terrain – pipe ruins
• Shop Terrain – grey hills

Daemons
I decided in April to pick up Daemons and really rocked them through the fall.  All of the below is fully painted and based and looks fantastic.  I just have some mounted heralds left to paint before my Slaanesh Daemons are complete then I'll do a full picture post.  I have a small contingent of Tzeentch and Nurgle models that I want to add.  The Tzeentch is mostly just for summoning and the Nurgle is mostly for being summoned.

• Be'Lakor
• 80 Daemonettes
• 20 Seekers
• 4 Slaanesh Heralds
• 2 Soul Grinders
• 1 Fiend of Slaanesh (test model)
• Keeper of Secrets
• 2 Daemon Princes of Slaanesh
• Slaanesh Banner & icon arms (magnetized)

Overall, it was a great year.  MY goal for 2015 is to finish up some factions entirely, like my GK, Inquisition, and Daemons.

Grey Knight Strike Squad Conversions

I've discussed in previous posts how much I loved my Strike Squads.  Unfortunately, they just don't work very well anymore.  I can't find a role for them in my army and don't want them to just sit on the shelf collecting dust.

For 240 points I used to get 10 PAGK with 2 psycannons and psybolt ammo.  That was 16 S5 shots and 4-8 S7 rending shots. Throw in a 110pt inquisitor with terminator armor, psycannon, and psykre upgrade for prescience and now we're really talking about a unit that could bring some serious firepower.  The force weapons were a bonus that I rarely ever used.  Anything that was susceptible would keep far away because it was very strong, though not incredibly durable so it would die often and quickly.  I miss warp quake and the deep strike protection it provided.  The aegis helped with psychic defense.

Here's something I never understood.  All Grey Knights are supposed to be veterans that are the very best, most elite, and purest of the galaxy.  Each Grey Knight has a suit of terminator armor.  They put on power armor for specialized roles - strike squad, interceptor, etc.  I'm not the most well versed in the fluff, so I may have some things wrong.  However, if that's true, then why do they lose an attack when they change to power armor (strikes, interceptor, purgation squad) from TDA?  It makes sense from a game play perspective, so that's something.

The first trickle of nerfing came with the advent of 7th.  Warp Quake was gone completely.  The aegis was changed  to rerolling ones for maledictions (yay, from 6/18 to 7/18 chance to deny). Hammerhand now raises  strength by 2 which offset these loses.  GK were  still in a good position for a few months with all the psychic dice they could bring so it .

Then when the new codex hit, so much was lost for strikes.  It still costs the same 240 points to field the unit, but they lose psybolt ammo.  The psycannon was hit with a multitude of nerfs and went up in cost. Salvo sucks for so many reasons.  I'm not even clear on why salvo exists, what is the real world analogue?  Now you lose range when you move, not just shots.  Even worse, you cannot assault after shooting it at all.  I don't see any reason to take psycannons ever for them

This presents an issue with the GK special weapons in general and for purgation squads in particular.  PAGK don't have good options for the special weapons.  Why can't they make special versions that have longer range or maybe a psychic power that extends their range just for purgation squads?  Give PAGK relentless or S&P.  Heavy weapons with a 24" range just isn't enough.  For power armor it's incinerators or GTFO.

In addition to the 20 strikes, I have 2 squads of 5 Purgators. Their previous incarnation was in a strange spot.  You rarely saw them on the table because they didn't fulfill much of a role.  Their range was too short to provide pure fire support and psycannons were horribly over-costed.  Incinerators were a free upgrade however, so throw 4 of those with the justicar into a storm raven for only 100 points was a steal.

My other idea was to put three squads behind a set of Promethium relay pipes for only 340pts that puts out 12 S6 torrent flamers.  Now, the same setup costs 430pts and you give up the chance to take dreadknights. 

They swapped Astral aim for night vision which is completely useless for the incinerator and nearly useless for the other weapons,  How often are they going to be in range anyways.  At least our vehicles got seachlights for free now.  It was annoying to pay the 1pt.

Now that I'm a few months removed from the shock of the codex dropping I can make more rational arguments.  I still haven't played them with the new codex, but my friend Andy has and had succes.  He's in some of these pictures using my models in a tournament last December.  I've got a few list ideas but really need to try them out.

I have 30 PAGK that I need to decide how to use because I refuse to sell them.  I spent so many hours panting them that market value for them is nowhere near the emotional value I have for them.

Let's make some purifiers and interceptors instead.  I'll keep one strike squad but modify them to fit the new codex better:

10 Strikes with justicar and 2 incinerators

•  I have the incinerators already painted so I can swap out two from the purgation squad and put them in here.  The only work is to switch the bases up, but otherwise this is pretty straightforward.
• No new painting required, which is good.

10 Purifiers with justicar, no special weapons, 2 hammers

• I like Purifier squads a lot more now.  With cleansing flame standard, I don't think I need the incinerators and I don't want to lose out on the 2 attacks base.  This unit will need some delivery mechanism, probably a storm raven.  Since they are ML2 I can get off both hammerhand and force.
• This is going to require some work. I'll need to pop the heads off to strip and repaint them.  The psycannons will have to be ripped off as well and replaced with swords. I would prefer to use single handed swords and magnetize so I can swap between sword and hammer.  I don't have spares, so I'll need to find the bits somewhere.  The daemon hammers for PAGK don't come in single-handed variety.  I've been considering using the vanguard vet hammers.
• The new swords and arms will need to be painted as well as the heads. I'll also need to touch up the areas covered by the psycannons as they probably aren't painted.  I'm going to repaint their swords in the lightning theme so they are consistent, plus it looks really good.

10 Interceptors with justicar, 2 incinerators

•  Interceptors have a place now because of the Nemesis Strike Force detachment.  The incinerators were over-costed at 20pts each, but now are a reasonable at 5pts each.
• This is going to take a lot of work, comparatively.  I can use the justicar and 2 incinerators remaining from the purgation squad.  The two former strike squad guys will have to have the psycannons ripped off.  The other 4 purgators with incinerators will have to have those ripped off as well.  The other justicar will need a new head and shoulder pads.  Luckily, I have plenty of stormbolters and 2 handed swords, but I'll need to order a few more swords.  I have the interceptor backpacks already, but everyone will need a new one.
• I'll have to paint all the backpacks.  Two guys will have to have arms painted.  The remaining 5 guys will need to be fully painted.
• Unfortunately, the justicar will not have a magnetized weapon.  He has a two handed sword which I don't think I can rip off without damaging him and/or the shoulder pads.

 I'll be placing some bits orders and doing some painting.  I have finished my terminators and Librarian and will have a post on them soon.

Editor note: I started writing this post a long time ago but never posted it.  So I'm already well on my way to finishing this project.

I Hate Thunderwolf Cavalry

Forward

Thunderwolf Cavalry are broken good. They aren't the most broken unit in 40k, but they're in the top 10. Nobz are a middling unit. They bring a strong melee presence, but are far too fragile comparatively. I custom built nobz but regularly have to play againt thunderwolves. They fulfill nearly the same role in each army. It's purely envy because what they have is so much better than what I have. Here's why I hate TWC so much:

Battlefield Role

Both armies are fairly similar. Orks are obviously more numerous while Space Wolves are more skilled and heavily armored. Both units fulfill much the same role as a fast, tough, melee oriented unit that can deliver a lot of damage. Nob Bikers, being upgrades to regular Nobz, are in Elite while Thurderwolves reside in Fast Attack. Thunderwolves compete with Stormwolves in FA, but the latter can be taken as a dedicated transport, so it isn't as much of a problem. Nobz compete with the very useful Tankbustas and Meganobz. Though generally, you wouldn't really run Nob bikerz alongside meganobz anyways since they compete for the same beatstick-melee unit functionality. Slight edge to Thunderwolves due to lesser competition.

Cost

Thunderwolves start at 40 each. Nobz are 18pts and cost 27 to put on a bike for a 45pt total. Both come with a free, identical character upgrade. Thunderwolves are cheaper by 5pts, so that's a win there. Let's see later why Nobz pay an extra 5pts.

Unit size

Nobz can be taken in unit size up to 10, while Thunderwolves max out at 6. Slight Edge to Nobz for being able to take more wounds to absorb fire, which they'll need since they die quicker.

Guns

Nobz have a Str5 AP5 twin-linked assault 3 dakkagun. Being only BS2, the TL really helps. You've got enough speed to get to rear armor in many cases, which might help. Overall, it's a pretty good ork shooting platform. They also get to keep their sluggas for +1 attack if you don't give them any other melee weapon upgrades and you can save a few points on extra wounds. Realistically, this is a melee unit. You can waste points on a combi weapon, but please don't. Thunderwolves get only a bolt pistol, but it is +1 attack. The Nobz get a solid edge here.

Speed

Both units move 12" and aren't slowed by terrain. Both units have to take horrible dangerous terrain tests, which are no fun. Bikes can turbo boost 12" (and gain +1 to cover save). Thunderwolves can run D6, but due to fleet can choose to reroll it. Fleet will also help them get into where they really need to be, which is combat, more effectively. The Orks at least get 'ere we go, which is like fleet but you can only re-roll 1 die. I'm going to declare this a draw. The extra distance on turbo boost helps, but isn't a game changer over fleet.

Stats

Now here's where the Thunderwolves will start to pull away. They have identical WS4. Nobz can buy a Waaagh Banner for 20pts (worth it on larger units only) for +1WS. The Champions of Fenris detachment gives you +1WS for TWC for free, but you do have to take 2 elites. BS2 for Nobz (but TL) vs. BS4 is fairly meaningless on a melee unit. Both have identical T5 and 2 wounds.

TWC have native Str5, while Nobz are Str4 with furious charge. This is huge when considering taking a powerfist/klaw means that Orks are Str9 on the charge and TWC are Str10 always. TWC double out Nobz, Nobz don't double out TWC.

TWC are I4 to Nobz I3. TWC have 4 base attacks +1 for 2 cc while Nobz only have 3. Effectively, TWC hit first and with more attacks. To say nothing for the Ld and save, which we'll cover in a minute. TWC match or beat the Nobz in every category. Str5 alone is enough to push this to a big win for TWC.

Morale/Ld

TWC have ATSKNF and Ld9. On the rare occasions they fail (1/6 chance) they recover automatically and can charge the next turn. Nobz are an abysmal Ld7, so they fail often (42%). Orks have Mob Rule to mitigate. If you aren't in combat or lost combat, you're likely not above 10, so you'll need to take a bosspole to reroll on the table and hope to only hurt yourself (average .58 wounds), then you'll get to stay in combat. Otherwise, you're fleeing, don't auto rally, and can charge if you miraculously do rally.

Nobz can be swept. You don't know the heartbreak of seeing a large melee oriented unit get swept until it happens. It makes you question even playing. Orks are susceptible to fear, tank shocks, pinning, etc. Ld7 sucks. The whole morale mechanic isn't fun, especially when half the armies you face don't even pay attention to it (or it's worst affects). Big win for the wolves here.

Save

Nobz get a 4+ with the bike. They can jink for a 4+ cover as well, which can be boosted to 3+ if turbo boosting. This can help them get into assault with more units alive. That 4+ armor does nothing against any power weapon. You could waste points to get a 6+ FNP, but don't bother. Nobz have no way to get an invuln in CC. You don't realize the number of AP4 weapons until you play as an army with armor 4.

Thunderwolves get the marine 3+ as standard, but cannot jink for a cover save. The most important point here is that they can take a storm shield for 15pts. Only 15pts is sick. Any or all of them can take it. Very disheartening. They're just as susceptible to small arms fire with it as without, but really they're going to live much longer against the special/heavy weapons you would normally take to kill units like this. This is a massive win for the TWC.

Melee Equipment

Nobz get only 2 choices. A powerklaw (fist) and a big choppa. The big choppa is a nice choice, giving you some Str7 on the charge (AP5), but sacrificing an attack for 5pts. At least you're going at init, so you'll get some wounds through before the unwieldy stuff gets to you, but not before normal power weapons take you down. Without it, you've only got +1 attack and +1 Str over a 6pt slugga choppa boy, so what's the point. Powerklaws boost you to Str 8, 9 on the charge with AP2 at Init1. A lot of the nob power comes from these klaws. You want at least 1 klaw for every 3 models.

Thunderwolves can get the same powerfist, but at S10 for the same cost. They can also take power weapons, frost weapons, and klaws. They have a much wider range of equipment to chose from (including the storm shield mentioned before). Not even close here.

Special rules

Both get hammer or wrath, though TWC have +1S on the Nobz. Nobz have furious charge, which is worse in all ways than +1S. Most of the other rules have been covered previously, so Nobz get jack shit else.

All Space Wolves get counter attack, so it's almost like they have +1 attack base. It can't fail now either, which is really nice. Oh yeah, and Thunderwolves get rending. Let me rephrase that, because it may not sink in yet, Thunderwolves get motherfucking rending. So base, a TWC gets 6 attacks on the charge at S5, plus rending. For cheaper. It's unexplainable. TWC for the very very obvious win here.

ICs

Space Wolves offer a beatstick Wolf Lord and two named characters (Harald & Canis). Each can take ablative fenrisian wolves. All have sick rules. They also offer Iron Priests in the Elite spots, which can also take wolves for ablative wounds (still counting as an IC). The Lord and Priests can get a 2+ (Orks can never get a 2+ (or even a 3+) on a bike).

Orks get Warbosses, who's Waagh can't help them. He's a more powerful version of a Nob biker essentially. He has +1T, so desn't get double out w/S10. He suffers from the same low armor save weakness and comes it at only 3 wounds. He is S5 at least, so swings his klaw at S10. Orks can also get Bik Meks on bikes, but they don't really offer anything. Painboys are a big help at 75pts for FNP and a few poison attacks. All of these are in the HQ spot, so you're going to limit yourself supporting them.

Let's award Victory points based on each of these areas

Nobz		TWC
	Cost	⚫
	Competition	⚫
⚫	Unit size
	Stats	⚫⚫
	Assaults	⚫⚫
	Morale/Ld	⚫⚫⚫
⚫⚫	Guns
	Speed
	Save	⚫⚫⚫
	Special rules	⚫⚫
	Equipment	⚫⚫⚫
	ICs	⚫⚫
3	Total	19

Crushing victory for the TWC. So what did we for the extra 5 points we pay for Nobz, a substantially worse unit that will lose to the TWC in every battle. If Nob bikers were in the Space Wolf codex, you would never take the nobz. If the situation were reversed and TWC were available in the Ork codex, you would also never take the Nobz. I think that's a pretty damning condemnation of the Nobz.

Example battle

435pts Nob unit, 7 models
90pts Nob w/Bike, Banner, Klaw
75pts Nob w/Bike, Klaw, bosspole
70pts Nob w/Bike, Klaw
50pts Nob w/BC
50pts Nob w/BC
50pts Nob w/BC
50pts Nob w/BC

370pts TWC unit, 6 models 80pts TWC w/SS & fist
80pts TWC w/SS & fist
75pts TWC w/SS & wolf claw
55pts TWC w/SS
40pts TWC
40pts TWC

Let's compare what happens when the orks get the charge on the TWC:
Orks shoot the TWC, killing 1. TWC cause 1 wound in overwatch. TWC strike first 12 attacks plus 5 wolf claw attacks results in 4 wounds and 2 dead nobz. Nobz strike back with only 8 attacks causing 1 wound. Then the unwieldy weapons strike. Assuming the TWC put the wounds from the nobz on the SS, to maximize survivability, the Nobz only cause 2 wounds, killing 1 TWC. The wolves with fists cause 4 wounds, but at S10, actually cause 8 wounds. Left standing is 1 Nob against 4 TWC (1 w/1 wound). The Nobz lost combat by 8 and need double 1s to stay in combat., otherwise, they are likely to get swept or fall off the board.

Summary

TWC live a lot longer, get into combat more, hit first and harder, then survive the counter attack better all at a cheaper cost. It's not that Nobz are bad, they're pretty decent. The lack of any invuln really sucks hard, especially since the TWC can so easily and cheaply get the 3++. The codexes came back to back less than 2 months apart, so GW has no excuse on how poorly thought out the comparison between these two units comes out.

TWC should be limited to either no SS or SS only on the character. They also need a 5-10 point boost. Nobz need an invuln and native Str5. Nobz should be Led8 and some revamps to the whole morale phase (which orks in general need).

It's easy to point to actual dollars for a reason. There is no Nob Biker box. There is a warbiker box with a nob upgrade for $41.50. If you kit bash like I did, you can use these for Nobz. TWC are $55 a box for 3 with no real way to kitbash from other units. Gotta move that product.

Grey Knight HQ

Once the new codex dropped, I had no Grey Knight HQs since I previously only ever ran Inquisitors.  Granted, my Ordo Malleus Inquisitors in Terminators armor are almost entirely built from the grey knight terminator kits and therefore not official inquisitors.

They are both armed with thunder hammer (since it came with the armor) and psycannon (because they were awesome).   Usually, they would be upgraded to psykers and take servo skulls as well.  Servo skulls are especially appealing now with battle brothers sharing the awesomeness.  Expect them to go away with the next codex though.

The first one I built was a hand me down terminator model.  It already had a psycannon and hammer.  Unfortunately, the previous painter was a little heavy handed and the model needed a lot of repair.

The should pads were removed in favor of inquisition specific ones.  The head is a Dark Angel veteran.  The thunder hammer arm ended up being scrapped entirely and instead I used an arm from the normal assault terminator kit, but the hammer end itself is from the power armor kit.

I think some of the flaws really show up in the blown up picture around the psycannon.  I feel like I did a pretty good job cleaning it up.  The painting could have been better, some of the bits weren't ideal, and the pose was way too static.  I wasn't entirely satisfied, so I decided to build a second one.

This one was built using all custom ordered bits.  Everything but the head comes from the terminator kit, but they are all the inquisition specific ones as best I could.  I wanted a much more dramatic pose.  Additionally, I wanted a book bit that could count as a Liber Heresius.  The head is  from the thunderwolf cavalry kit.  Unfortunately, the bottom is flat, rather than rounded, but I made do with some greenstuff..  The eyes are terrible, I know.

The gun is much cleaner as is the paint job in general.  I'm very happy with this model.  The hammer is from the terminator kit and everything except the torso is different from the prior model.

The bases are from hi-tec, which makes great products.  Of course, they can be just expensive or more expensive than similar GW products.  They seem to be the premier place to get alternate HQs in terminator armor.  The painting was really simple, just a mix of dark blues and a highlight of the raised edges in light blue.  It looks really good and makes them stand out as ICs.  Too bad there are only 2 varieties of this base.

I could always use my inquisitors as Brother captains or grand masters.  The load out is fairly reasonable, but they're not particularly good for their points, especially when compared to the librarian. Unfortunately, librarians cannot take psycannons, so I was left with suboptimal choices.  I really felt gutted with the GK updates.  could run a Brotherhood Captain some dreadnoughts, strike squads, purgation squads, and dreadknights.  Other than the knights, this is probably the least efficient way to run a GK list.

I decided to build my own librarian from spare parts.  Since I didn't use the Terminator baby carrier parts, I had those arms, shoulder pads, and torsos.  I also have plenty of falchions and since it is a free upgrade, might as well.  The legs were spare from a Blood Angel Space Hulk terminator.  The BA iconography on this one was minimal so I just trimmed some off and patched over with some purity seals and presto-chango a GK librarian.

The main issue is that the DK Terminator isn't quite a full terminator torso so I had to do some less than optimal patching over of the gaps.  I ended up using a lot of spare bitz (taking a cue from my finecast librarian) around the waist to cover it up. It will look fine once painted.

GK Librarians, unlike other chapters, don't need to be blue.  I still want to incorporate blue somewhere.  It will be an interesting paint job, but probably not one I'll get to for a while.  Not bad for free.

Status of Orks and My Hobby Focus

I started this blog with a focus on Orks when their new codex released.  The rapid fire pace of releases that followed included supplements, a campaign, multiple codexes, dataslates, and a plethora of formations.  It's been hard to keep up.  I also play against a space wolf player that loves to take thunderwolves and Dreadnoughts.  Both of which, I really have no answer for with my current Ork lists.

I haven't really gotten into the supplements and formations for Orks.  Mostly because I find them rather boring.  I could maybe see myself doing something with the Bossboyz.  Otherwise it is mostly a way to spam out expensive ($$$) units I don't have (Bullyboyz with Meganobz or Badrukk's Flashgits), units that aren't good (Da Vulcha Squad-stormboyz), or armies that are dull to play (green tide).

My Grey Knight army was gutted and I have yet to play a game with them.  I built a terminator librarian using spare parts so I have a post coming up about it.  I will eventually get a minimum terminator squad to run a nemesis strike detachment.  I feel like I can make something work with legion of the damned, Tempestus Scions, and a bunker with a vindicare assassin.  Everything deep strikes in.

My inquisition force has sat idle along with my GK.  I can at least still run my razorbacks with psybolt.  Coteaz needs to give objective secured.  I feel like GW really owes us an update for 7th.  I completed my ninja (death cult assassins) but have never played them.  I still like my jokaero and stormbolter acolytes.  I'm sure I'll find ways to use them again eventually.

Blood Angels should have a new codex coming soon.  I've started looking at lists using them again recently.  I would love to see fast engines be an option for BA rather than a requirement.  Unless it lets you get out after moving 12" it isn't very useful on Rhinos.  MSU BA in razorbacks can make a comeback, but whenever I make a list, I feel like I'm missing 1-2 units because of the point  cost difference from the space marine codex.  I've got a relic whirlwind scorpius that I really like to fill several holes in my lists (barrage, AP3).  Mostly BA are missing high rate of fire guns.  We've never lacked in quality, but anytime I was called upon to kill a lot of enemies (cultists, mass drop pod marines (inc Grey Hunter spam), or IG) I would run out of time.  Jump packs are massively overpriced on priests, death company, honor guard, ICs, vets, et al.  Red Thirst is practically useless, especially compared to chapter tactics.  If BA can get drop pods in fast attack, I'm prepared to run purifiers and re-ignite my BA-GK alliance.

I have a rather large IG force that I've never run.  This includes 50-70 troops, a valkyrie, a command squad that I never built, several HW squads that are completely unbuilt, 2 manticores, 2 hydras, a griffon, and 7 chimeras.  At least the Valkyrie and chimeras can be used with my inquisition force.  I've never used them as IG or AM.  Mostly because they're unpainted and I don't really like using a whole unpainted army.  They need a lot of work but don't really some like a whole lot of fun to play. I woudln't mind running an armored company, but don't have the models to do it.  Troops seem really boring to paint for them, so I just haven't touched them and they sit in a box untouched.

All of my old armies, including ones that have gotten updates are mostly underwhelming.  Eldar, Tau, Knights, and Space Marines are so much better than my above armies that I have a hard time pulling them out.  I feel like I really made some poor decisions with army selection.

Instead I've focused on my Slaanesh Daemon army, which has been a blast to paint.  So far, I've put up pictures of my completed Soul Grinder and Seekers.  I have Be'Lakor finished, but unbased so I haven't done a full post on him, but do have pictures throughout.  So far 60 of my 80 daemonettes are painted but only have one squad based (post coming soon).  I have some really great alternate Fiends that I want to do a post on, plus 2 daemon princes, a Keeper, more seekers, heralds, and another soul grinder.  Lots of Slaanesh death coming.

I will eventually branch out to some limited Tzeentch elements and have a squad of pink horrors finished and ready to paint. Slaanesh is fun, but I'm rather limited in my ability to open tanks.  I may end up taking some small squads of screamers as well.  Flamers look like fun to paint. I might as well get one of each herald, you never know when a psyker will get turned.  It doesn't hurt to have one of each squad just in case they get created or summoned.  We'll see.

As I learn the army I'll be posting more battle reports and tactics articles.  I have an article nearly finished about warlord traits.  I've done a lot of research into bases.  I spent hours looking for alternative models.  Should be a lot of fun.

I'd also really like to start building terrain.  The shop needs and it seems like something I could really get into.  One of my favorite things to do is scavenge for alternate bits, models, discounts, etc.  So the creative aspects of building terrain really pull at me.  It was one of the big aspects that pulled me into the hobby, but I just haven't explored yet.

Seekers of Slaanesh completed squad

My entry in the Rarity games first painting contest was a squad of 5 Seekers of Slaanesh.  Even though the number of entrants was less than we were hoping for, I was still proud to take first place.  I'm very happy with them and spent considerable time coming up with the painting scheme for the riders (previously used on 60 daemonettes) and the mounts themselves.

Seekers were one of the main draws for a Slaanesh army.  With a 12" move, a run move of 6+D6", and fleet they can get across the board in a hurry.  They have 3 attacks base with rending, I5, and WS5.  They will destroy almost anything they get into contact with.

As is the case with almost everything Slaanesh, they are fragile.  They are no more survivable than a daemonette with 1W, T3, and a 5++.  All high volume firepower will take them out, including even lasguns.  You can count on losing a few to overwatch no matter who you assault.  This can be a problem with them since you're losing nearly 3" from the front due to the length of the base.  Another weakness is dangerous terrain tests from difficult terrain.  This can quickly add up if you have to go into terrain, then run or assault.  They don't have grenades either.  They rely on their fast init to kill units before they can swing, so dropping to I1 sucks.  Hopefully, they can move fast enough to stay out of terrain.

To keep them alive, I've been heavily relying on the grimoire to get a 3++. Unfortunately, when it fails they are dead meat with only a 6++ unless Be'Lakor is around to give them invisibility.

I chose to give them the Rapturous standard and instrument to make them look cooler.  I used the daemonette version rather than the seeker version mostly because they were already finished.  They are magnetized.  I find it rare that I want to take these options.  The standard is decent even though they are one use only dropping my opponent by D3 WS during assault.  Usually, this is enough to force them to hit on 5s or at least prevent them from hitting on 2s. For 30 points though, I have other areas to spend the points.

I plan on making this one into a herald on mount.I want to use the amrored Seeker bodies from the exalted chariot kit for her.  The left arm is from the herald kit.  The head is one of my favorites.  There seems to be 3 different sizes of heads in the kits, so I've elected to split them out to herald/heartseeker/rider levels and make my own.  Not that I have a choice, there isn't a herald seeker model. 

The herald with 6 attacks on the charge at WS and init 7 is going to mess some stuff up.  It's worth upgrading her to a greater etherblade for 20pts.  She's then Str5 AP2 (plus master crafted).  The real decision is which loci to give her. 

The locus of beguilement is fantastic.  You re-roll all your hits plus when you challenge you get to choose who accepts.  It's easily the best exalted locus.  However, so far I've been taking the locus of grace, which gives move through cover.  It really adds up in time saved to not have to take dangerous terrain checks.  For seekers, you have a 1/9 chance of dying every time you move through terrain.  This seems over harsh for such a graceful unit.  I hate losing units to terrain, so I'd rather take the hit on assault power than risk losing units and restricting my movement.

This is a daemonette head, but looks really good on the seekers.  So far each of them have a distinct head.  I don't think I can keep this up for 2 full squads of 20 though.  I really like the horns and pose of the arms.

Unfortunately, the  lower leg still has some mould lines that only show up with the flash. I didn't notice it while painting.  This is a big problem with miniature photography.  Things look so much better in person than when photographing them and they appear 3-5 times larger.

The spine heads took a lot of adjustment but I'm pretty happy with them.  The drybrushing on the underside just looks fantastic.  I'm really happy with these.

The color correction I do on them makes the seekers appear a little more fluorescent then I'd like, but at least the purples show up well.

The bases are from tabletop art and ended up looking even better than I expected.  They really make the models pop with the monochromatic bases contrasting the

The toes of some of the seekers line up perfectly with the bases.  Unfortunately, there are only 3 so I had to order 7 sets.

I used the smallest magnets I could find and they still are too big.  Several of the daemonette arms have the magnet sticking out.  For the seekers I had to actually drill into the body partially.

The instruments hold well, but the standards are a bit too heavy and jostle more than I'd like.  Nothing I can do about it at this point.

This seeker was my test model.  The color palette is the same as the daemonettes although, I don't use the temple guard blue anywhere.  This helped speed up the process.  I did struggle on some of the webbing and spines, but nailed it pretty much exactly as I wanted on the first try.

The standard doesn't have any special process for it. Just a basecoast, wash, and highlight.  I should probably go in for a 2nd layer of highlighting.  I still have a long way to go in blending.

I think I might redo the tongues.  They were the last thing I painted.  I used retardant to try to blend the colors but there were still somewhat sharp divides, so I use the bloodletter glaze then slapped on a layer of 'ardcoat, which makes them too shiny.  The white tip is a bit much too, maybe just the bright orange would be fine.

I still need to pin these to the bases.  The legs are so flimsy and touch the bases with such a small area that I feel they won't hold up to repeated usage.

My painting process for them has improved already and I was able to knock out a second set of five.

 

10 down, 10 to go.

Painting Competition Entry

My FLGS is holding a painting competition in conjunction with a tournament today.  Unfortunately, I can't attend the tournament because today is my anniversary and we have plans.  I was still able to enter the painting competition.

The rules were that you had to buy a model/unit from the store.  The minimum was $25, which eliminated most of the smaller characters.  The judging will be done by the tournament attendees today.  I bought all of my seekers from the store, but only submitted one box, because that's all I was able to complete.  I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out.

I ended up using the instrument and standard from the Daemonettes box, rather than the one from the seekers box for two reasons.  First, the magnet I used for the instrument stood out a little for the seeker so it wouldn't lie flush with the model.  Second, the seeker standard is mostly bare and would need some freehand work, which is not a skill I posses.  I also plan on using the center head for a herald at some point, but she'll count as a heartseeker for now.  Some of the heads and arms are mixes from the seeker and daemonette box.  I did this primarily to avoid repeating the same arm poses and the same heads.  I aim to have unique heads in each squad of 20, which is easy enough to do.  I think there are around 25-30 distinct Slaanesh heads between the heralds, seekers, daemonettes, and chariots, not to mention easy, minor conversion work that can be done (swap a top-knot to a different head, etc).

The process I went through is pretty involved.  The riders are painted separately from the mounts.  The process I used is the same as the daemonettes, with only minor differences.  I did take more care with highlights than I would normally in a troop choice (that wasn't going to be submitted for a painting competition).  I started with a single mount and worked through a process.  Luckily it took me less tries than the daemonettes, since I have my color palette down.

The bases are from Tabletop-art and I was worried that they wouldn't arrive on time.  I ended up making some bases using the agrellan earth.  I had bad luck with it when I tried earlier, but really globbed it on this time.  I think I could maybe get 12 seeker bases using a bottle.  The effect was nice, but I wanted to use the bases I envisioned so thankfully my order arrived Wednesday night and I was able to get them primed and painted that evening.  They really are stunning and make the unit stand out.  the duller colors of the base make the vivid red and purples stand out.

Overall, I'm very proud of them.  For a unit with no conversions, I feel like I did solid work.  I do recall reading that painting competitions are often won by the best conversion, rather than strictly painting.  The scheme is unique and different from the 'eavy  metal team's vision.

I'll follow up with the results and a full write up of how I painted them with much better pictures.