Catching Up

The Wild West Exodus Harbor board made it to Gencon, and you can see it this weekend if you're at the show. Check out Warcradle Studios in Hall F, booth #3027.

 

With that project out of the way, I have a little more time to focus on some other projects. My focus is on Age of Sigmar at the moment, but I still have this techmarine that I'd like to finish up.

 

I built a servo arm for him, but I want to cast it before I glue it on, so it will still be a while before I can get around to painting the model.

 

I can also get back to my Warscryer Citadel. I've been working on the wall sections for the bottom of the ruined tower, but it's like trying to reverse-engineer a jigsaw puzzle by drawing the images on separate pieces that haven't yet been cut into their puzzle piece shapes. I'm probably over complicating it (like I always do).

 

I was able to get some hair, so I can finish off the Banshee conversions. Just in time for the new Nighthaunt army, too!

 

I picked up the "Magic Goes Bananas" box, and I've built my first Endless Spell (technically my second, if you count the Balewind Vortex). I play a lot of games against Deciples of Tzeentch, so the ability to toss out a spell that can (potentially) dispel everything the enemy attempts to cast and then explode in his face seemed like the obvious choice to start with.

The Malevolent Maelstrom was one of the most visually uninteresting spells in the box, so I spiced it up by adding some extra spirit heads and the skulls from one of the Lord Executioners. My intention was to was to create more of a swirling vortex, sucking souls toward its center so the model didn't look like a lumpy ball with a couple of faces on it. The spirits thematically match my undead army as well.

 

 

Once I knock out those projects I can begin work on my Nighthaunt army. I've been contemplating how I would base the army– Would I match the square bases of my Undead Legions, or use rounds and treat it as a separate force?

I settled on rounds since they come with them, and a lot of the models have integrated rounds anyway. Allying the Nighthaunt units into a Legions of Nagash force isn't very appealing, since they don't benefit from any of the allegiance abilities, not even the basic Deathless Minions roll to ignore wounds. The units in the Soul Wars set can be PART of the Legions army, but I don't think they offer much more than what's already available. I'll likely build a few characters, like the Lord Executioner, to match my Legion, with square bases and all, but the majority of the Nighthaunt will remain a separate force.

 

One issue I have with the army is the beautifully modeled Easy-to-Build scenic bases, which don't match the other units, which will have regular-shmegular flat bases. If I want a uniform basing scheme throughout the army, I need to either model ALL the bases to match the scenic bases, or reduce the detail on the scenic bases. Right now, I'm leaning toward keeping the large elements like tombstones, and statuary, and sanding over the cobblestones. I'm also not a fan of sculpted vegetation on models, so those thorns and flowers have got to go.

Some have been wondering whether or not GW would release a Nighthaunt base pack to match the ones in the Easy-to-Build kits, but I don't think that's likely. All of the Nighthaunt models have very specific attachment points and modeled bits that need to either be glued to a flat surface, or that have a tab for a slotted base. That would be a lot of work to get the models to attach to scenic bases. GW probably would have released them by now, as well.

One little nitpick is the difference between the starter set Glaivewraith Stalkers and the ones in the Easy-to-Build kit– The poles of the fence are noticeably thinner in the ETB kit, and much more fragile. (Do they really expect that tiny arrow to stay attached?) I think GW has just about reached the limit of how thin and brittle they can make models before it becomes completely impractical. There are legitimate reasons for thicker and larger accessories on models; in addition to "readability" on the tabletop, they need to stand up to repeated handling, and being put in miniature cases. I foresee a lot of extra tombstones and bits to reinforce some of the attachment points as I dig into this army...

 

 'Til next time!