Servath Reznik, the Wrath of Ages

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've kinda decided to just quit Warmachine now unless Privateer Press really shake things up. I repainted my army last year after getting a few more things for it, but I found the process of doing so quite draining and not the most enjoyable of hobbying experiences for a number of reasons. In 2016 I tried to renew my interest in the game and had a few battles with my brother, but the Mk3 rules and a new focus on themes didn't really invigorate me. I've just ceased to have any interest in Warmachine at all, and after having having some really great experiences with GW recently as well as getting into Malifaux; I've decided that I'm no longer going to buy new miniatures for Warmachine or try and get games in.

This is the first time I've really fallen out of love with a game and its a strange feeling. I think its been a slow process and probably happened a long time before I realised it. I have however decided that I'd like to end on a high note by purchasing and painting two miniatures I've always wanted to get for the faction: the Harbinger of Menoth, and Servath Reznik, the Wrath of Ages. I had more of a preference for the latter so managed to get one cheap on eBay a few months ago.

Just the act of assembling Reznik reminded me of nearly all the problems I have with the miniatures themselves. The use of metal, the ungodly combination of metal and resin parts, the weird mould lines, lots of clean-up, the pieces that don't fit together properly, details that aren't as sharp as one might expect... the list goes on and on. After some tribulation I managed to finally get him assembled into sub-assemblies for painting. Still though, I live in fear of him shattering into his constituent pieces should I drop him (indeed bits constantly kept dropping off during painting without the need to drop him, and despite all the superglue I used), a fear I'll no doubt share with the all-metal Harbinger.

I've elected to paint him like the rest of my army, and he forms a nice centrepiece for that force. Similar to the other war casters I have painted him in slightly more highlighted colours than the rest of the army but to contrast his lighter blues I've added extra grunge and bloodiness to represent his malevolent character. Though this post is quite negative I would like to make it clear that I do quite like the miniature, even if it was a paint to put together. I think its very cool aesthetically and thematically, and I am a sucker for having an army general mounted on a suitably impressive monster or war-engine.

Just as a quick note, I did buy this second-hand on eBay as I think that PP pricing on some of its miniatures is ridiculous. Though I believe the Harbinger to be more sensibly priced than Reznik (who costs as much as Nagash here in the UK and is nowhere near the same size or possessing the same quality in my opinion), I will be getting her second hand as well. If indeed I decide to get her at all as despite me liking the miniature I'm not sure if I want to deal with a large all-metal miniature. We shall see...

Autumn Workbench 2018 - Experimental Undead, Malifaux Mumblings, and Hobby Review

Last year in late autumn I wrote a bit of a rambling post about current things I was working on as well as reflecting upon my progress over the year in relation to the goals I posted back in February. I've got a few odds and ends I'm working on at the moment, and I've started thinking about next year already, so I thought I'd write another rambling post as autumn comes upon us once again. 

Firstly, something oft referenced but rarely posted about on this blog is what I've been referring to as my 'Lich Warband', or as it now appears to be a 'Lich Army'. I've collected a few different undead armies in my time and I've been left with lots of spare parts. I decided to make a little army out of what spare parts I could, taking the time to experiment with narratives, weird conversions, and unusual paint jobs. Though my time working on this force has been quite sporadic, its been an awful lot of fun and I look forward to properly putting it on the blog when its finished. For now though here's a little look at what I've completed thus far:

Menoth Completed!

After a few weeks of working on my Menites on and off I have finally managed to finish my Warmachine army to a standard I am happy with.

The force was painted in a non-traditional colour scheme (I'm fed up of painting red!) and I decided to really grunge-up my men and their machines to better reflect the steampunk nature of the setting. I always found the studio paint jobs for this game far too clean and while I may have overdone it on the rust and gore I am happy with the final results, especially as it contrasts so nicely with the glowing Menofixes.

Warcasters (counts-as Severious1, Feora1, Kreoss1)

Solos (Hierophant, Covenant, Vassal)

Visgoth Juviah Rhoven and Honour Guard

The glowing Menofixes were painted by washing Nihilakh Oxide over a grey base coat. Then painting everywhere except the recesses with Ulthuan Grey and then painting the centre of each part of the Menofix with Ceramite White. While not the most convincing glowing effect (for this I would recommend an airbrush or practicing OSL techniques which I'm not great at) it does the job quickly and efficiently.

Temple Guard

Choir of Menoth

Zealots

The bases were simply coated in a layer of sand (additional layers of sand added in the odd place to break it up a bit were done by simply putting a drop of glue on an area of base and dipping it in the sand again), then I glued some Mordheim Turf to the base and splattered on a bit of blood. I you have read either my Frostgrave Base Tutorial, or my Basing in the Realm of Death Tutorial, you will know I am a big fan of using Mordheim Turf as a simply way of breaking up the monotony of a base. While you can use other grasses and turfs I feel that for inhospitable landscapes like tundras, deserts, or the realm of death this stuff is simply perfect and looks great with some blood splattered on it.

Light Warjacks

Heavy Warjacks

While I'm happy with this force I think it will be a while before I return to Warmachine miniatures. It was a nice distraction from GW miniatures but I think there are other styles of sculpting that I'd like to try painting before I return to the Iron Kingdoms.

Hobby Goals 2017

Well 2016 wasn't a particularly productive year in the hobby for me (being an all-round bad year for many), though in the last few months of it some painting and modelling did get done in the form of some Warmachine miniatures and my Flesh-eaters, respectively. With the start of 2017 (after an incredibly busy January) I have decided to take stock of my current hobby situation and actually write down what I am doing, rather than just having a nebulous idea of what projects I am working on in my head. This is largely for posterity and I look forward to seeing how successful I have been at achieving these things by the end of the year!

Earl Grymtyde of Gravenport
Currently a permanent feature of my desk telling me to get on and do some painting

Current

These are my current main projects which I am working on and should hopefully feature most prominently on the blog if this year goes as planned. These are listed roughly in the order of priority I have given them though is subject to change:

- Flesh-eater Courts - This is my current lead project with loads still to do. The fact that practically everything is WIP right now is why they haven't appeared on the blog yet beyond my Mournghoul. I am hoping to visit them in the next few weeks and get some troops done to put on the blog.

- Witch-Hunters - My old force of Sisters of Battle and Inquisitorial stuff has undergone a few dozen different iterations over the years and with the release of Saint Celestine and rumours of plastic Battle Sisters on the horizon I have decided to re-paint and re-vamp this army. More on this coming soon.

Test scheme for my Battle Sisters

- Lich Warband - My brother and I are working on a skirmish project for which I am building a small force centred around a character who has appeared in several projects of mine. Originally being my first Dungeons and Dragons character: the Sun Elf necromancer Avrilar Amalith, self-proclaimed Lord of Corbalan and Dark-Lich, is finally getting a small army to boss around. This project is very WIP at the moment but is slowly going places.

- Menoth - I am continuing to work on my Menites whom I unfortunately didn't manage to finish before Christmas. In fact I have elected to take a small break from them and focus instead on the three projects listed above as I wont have the opportunity to battle with them until Easter anyway.

Ongoing

I also have a few ongoing projects which I am working on intermittently. These are admittedly projects I have started and not finished due to fatigue or getting sidetracked, mostly being army re-painting and other stuff that keeps getting put on the back burner. These aren't listed in any particular order.

- Tomb Kings - I am in the middle of re-painting this army for display purposes, other things however keep getting in the way of me moving beyond base colours. Painting the whole army in stages as well is exhausting. Painting all the gold on 100+ miniatures takes a long time and is quite an insane thing to undertake now that I think about it. 

- Imperial Guard - I am also in the middle of re-painting this army to sit alongside my Sisters of Battle. They are on hiatus for now while I work on my Witch-Hunters. I am currently entertaining notions of breaking this army up a bit and returning it to its roots as allies to my main Witch-Hunting force. Possibly converting some superfluous miniatures into a Necromunda war band if I ever get around to it. 

- Kingdom Death - I have a backlog of various KD models I have picked up over the past two years. I use these miniatures to experiment with different painting styles so I usually only work on them when I feel like breaking up batch painting. Something that hasn't happened a lot this past year as I haven't really been painting at all!

3 WIP minis I am working on at the moment

- Misc. Age of Sigmar stuff - I have some random Elves and some Sisters of Sigmar I would like to do something with, even if they just end up as small war bands that sit alongside my main Death Alliance stuff. Will just have to wait and see what happens with them.

Possible

These are ideas that I have had, but possess no current plans to pursue. I have written them down in rough order of how likely I am to actually do them though it is unlikely any of them will get done while I still have ongoing projects.

- Tzeentch - I have been thinking of re-basing my chaos army onto round bases and picking up some the new Arcanites. The new Lord of Change in particular is making it really hard not to want to, especially the Kairos Fateweaver configuration. My main problem is that my current AoS army is still in the works with several miniatures I still need to buy bases for.

I need this in my life!

- Adeptus Mechanicus - Always loved the miniatures and I will be getting Belisarius Cawl in the box with Saint Celestine so he may end up with some friends at some point depending on if I decide to re-visit Tzeentch or not.

- Space Marines - I have a small force of Dark Angels Space Marines I am not particularly happy with who might receive some attention. Have been thinking about repainting them as Blood Angels and adding some of the miniatures from that range I really like. Depends on how my other Imperial projects go. 

- Blood bowl - for a long while now I have contemplated putting together a team, most likely of Dark Elves. While this would be a relatively low-cost project I always seem to have other things going on.

- Infinity - I have been considering this for quite some time. I was going to pick up an ALEPH starter box a few years ago but got distracted by Warmachine instead. If my other projects are a success I might start nearer the end of this year.

- Sisters of Silence - I absolutely love the miniatures and I am not sure whether to just add a squad to my Witch Hunters or if I should actually start a small 30k force of them. I suppose it depends on if Forge World announce any plans to expand on them in a meaningful way like they are doing with Custodes.

If Forge World could make these that would be fantastic

- Busts/large scale figures - I have often fancied trying out painting resin busts or larger scale miniatures. Alas, the smaller stuff always seems to win my wallet.

- Historical - As a student of history and a miniature war gamer I probably ought to have done something that combines the two by now, even if it is just a handful of English Civil War regiments.

So those are my current thoughts on what I am doing and thinking of doing in the hobby this year. As ever projects I want to do or have abandoned in favour of shiny new stuff outweighs what I am actually working on at the moment. While this is the final year of my undergraduate degree I am on top of my work (in some places well ahead) and I hope this should free up some time to paint the ever-increasing stack of unpainted miniatures I own. 

Every hobbyist I have met has a habit of stacking up a lot of projects, unpainted miniatures, and unfulfilled ideas. I hope to burn through as many of mine as possible in 2017 which is already shaping up to be an interesting year in the world of miniature wargaming. 

This year I am hoping to try out some new things, improve my painting skills, and have a lot of fun with some unusual modelling projects. I plan on putting much of this on the blog to help motivate me and I hope those of you who are following enjoy what I put out. 

- Doombringer

Returning to Warmachine

Over the summer my brother, on a whim, busted out his Warmachine stuff and coaxed me into having some games with him. While I fared miserably against the might of Cygnar, it did prompt me into doing something with my Menites. I started playing Warmachine in 2013 but between Dark Elves and the End Times my fledgeling collection has received very little attention for quite a few years now.

After a few games in August I decided to re-paint my Warmachine stuff and add a few things to my collection as a side project to my Flesh-Eater Court. I have already spent some time experimenting with colour schemes and after failing to work out a gold and bone scheme I have settled on a dark look of silver, black and deep turquoise.

I have based the look on this plog I found on Privateer Press's Forums: DonQuijotes Menoth
While I won't be copying the scheme exactly I will admit that I am borrowing very heavily from it as inspiration. For a long time I have not really liked darker Menoth schemes but this one won me over and I have elected to batch paint my entire collection in this darker style.

I would like to qualify that I have not suddenly become a master of tiny freehand overnight. The text on her scroll was done using an exceptionally fine pen.

I appreciate these are not the best photos and the minis are incredibly WIP but I though that if I post them now I will find the motivation to try and finish them before Christmas. Check back in a few weeks time and we shall see if we can get some better picture of some finished minis on here.

Menoth - Support Units

To finish off my 15 point Menoth list I have added two support units to empower my warjacks.

The choir of Menoth is an auto-take unit in almost every menoth list. Their hymns grant a variety of benefits to 'jacks in my battlegroup that allow them to take on more powerful warjacks than themselves and win. The Vassal is a great support solo that gives me a lot more flexibility with what my warlocks can do within a given turn. I haven't had a chance to use him yet in a battle but I would like to get another heavy warjack to try fielding him with.

The Choir of Menoth

A Vassal of Menoth

Menoth - Light Warjacks 1

These two light warjacks are more specialised than my heavy warjack: the Revenger with a mystical arc node and the Repenter with it's flamethrower. In the games I have played so far these two have done little more than flank either side of my Crusader and provide distractions. The Revenger with it's arc node gives Kreoss more flexibility with his spells so I will probably continue to use it in future. The Repenter however has been of little use so far, I may simply be using it wrong but I would sooner replace it with a different warjack with a heavier weapon. 

Revenger

Repenter

Menoth - Heavy Warjacks 1

The Crusader is a fairly simple warjack; it runs up the field and hits stuff with it's Inferno Mace, supported by Kreoss a Crusader can happily romp it's way around a battlefield smashing most things it comes across. In one game I even had it kill the enemy warcaster after two rounds of combat and some magical support. The crusader has an open fist in addition to it's main weapon which offers some flexibility in combat

Crusader

Menoth - High Exemplar Kreoss

My first war caster straight out of the battlebox. High Exemplar Kreoss is a decent all-rounder with a mix of defensive and offensive spells at his disposal with a powerful feat that can easily change the course of a game used correctly. Despite carrying the mighty Spellbreaker I have found him to be a bit squishy and more suited to being a mid-field caster supporting his warjacks rather than fighting with them. 

High Exemplar Kreoss

Warmachine - Now for something completely different...

For a while I have been thinking of trying something different. After looking at various miniature wargames I decided on two I fancied having a go at: Warmachine and Pike & Shotte. My brother (and my most regular opponent) showed little interest in re-enacting the wars of the 17th century, so I opted first to have a stab at some full metal fantasy.

Warmachine is made by Privateer Press; consequently making it the first non-GW miniature game I have played. Unlike both Warhammer Fantasy and 40k, Warmachine does not require you to buy massive armies (unless you really want to) and functions mainly as a skirmish game where huge steam-powered robots controlled by powerful Warcasters attempt to beat each other to hell and back. Of the various factions available to me I chose the Protectorate of Menoth because of their zero-telerance policy towards heretics, pyromania and fancy robes.

The road to salvation is paved with the skulls of heretics!

With my brother also starting I had an opponent, ready to crush him beneath my righteous heel I managed to get both the Battle Box starter set and the Menoth hardback faction book off of ebay cheaply and set about my plans. Over the past two months I have been avidly reading everything I can about the Protectorate and slowly painting my first set of models which I will post as soon as I get the chance to photograph them.

The other day I had my first battle against Cygnar which ended with me smashing Coleman Stryker's smug face into a bloody pulp. It was most enjoyable and when I know the rules better I will post some of the battles I have against my brother. It was fun to try out a vastly different rule set to what I am accustomed to and I look forward to playing some more games in future.

With my Blackwing now mostly painted and not likely to expand any time soon, I have decided that this shall be my main project until my beloved Dark Elves or Sisters of Battle get a new book. I hope to be posting all kinds of Warmachine goodness over the next couple of months as I get to grips with the game and adding even more variety to the blog.

Glory to Menoth!