Saturday Salvo!

Saturday Salvo returns! Here I look at the Warhammer Preview from the 20th of March 2021. So what plastic creations are Games Workshop planning to release so that we may empty our wallets?

How about some old world familiar style miniatures updated for AOS?



Well the Blood Knights are back! The Soulblight are AoS equivilant of the old Vampire Counts army, and look like a very interesting force. I'm not likely to play Age of Sigmar, but invoking those warm nostalgic memories of WHF is a good way to get people more inclined to give it a go should there be some wavering on the fence about picking up AoS. Heres the older miniatures, that still look good to be fair. 

Ah, square bases. I feel like a teenager again. New Skeletons and zombies also incoming with a similar look to those in Cursed City, an upcoming Warhammer Quest game I am interested in, and these absolutely gorgeous Giant Fell Bats. I need some!

HELLO REDEMPTIONISTS!

Not gonna lie, I want a load of them. Bakcing up my Sisters of Battle with zealous fury, for Necromunda, make a missionary out of those bits too for the Sisters. 

That chainsaw with the exterminator flamer! I cannot wait to grab a box of these. I've got some Cawdor and Flagellants from the Fantasy range to kit bash and these will be awesome for that. Also coming is a new starter box game for Necromunda which looks interesting.

Looks like Orks are going even more feral with this tease of the 'Beast Snagga's'. I'm intrigued to see if these are going to be with the codex or a supplement, the latter will be disappointing but its new models at least. Can we get a new Squiggoth model please GeeDubs?

The Adepta Sororitas are also getting new releases as has been seen previously with the new battle suit but a new tank had also been teased. The community wanted the return of the Repressor... and we didn't get it. We got this.



Now I'm grateful for new models... but this disappoints me. Its a Space Marine Predator. It doesn't feel new or needed in the Sisters range. The heavy support slot already has Retributers and Exorcists competing to be included and now this? Hmm I just can't see myself caring about it. Something bigger with room for a small squad of Sisters I'd have preferred, like a mini Stormlord or... A REPRESSOR! But no, we have a Leman Russ/SM Predator love child that for me, doesn't really work. What do you think of it or on any of the new previews?

It'll be interesting to see what else is teased throughout the year, Angron or Fulgrim would be nice, Be'Lakor was a great show and we need more big scary looking models!

At the moment I've been doing a lot of D&D writing, painting some models ready for it but also painting up my Sisters force for a game thats happening soon! Most are at a very basic stage so don't expect too many pictures but I will be doing an update for a WIP it Wednesday blog post... which will be a new feature and a way to get me blogging more often again! Yep, hoping to get 2 regular posts out every week plus anything else that catches my eye. I've got the new Candlekeep Mysteries book for D&D 5e which I'll go into a little and also hopefully talk about some of my homebrew content.

Maybe a little preview of my own?.....



SISTERS! I've got 2 ten strong Battle Sister squads, 1 Penitent engine, 5 Seraphim, Repentia with Mistress, 2x Canoness, Hospitaller and Imagifier (from the Triumph kit)to get done. I've already got 10 Sisters and an Exorcist mostly painted so I'm around about 1000 points strong.

So whats everyone else been upto? What did you think of the previews? Let me know and see you all soon!

Saturday Salvo!

Well, somewhere in the world its saturday.... Todays post has been later than planned, but theres good reason for that. 

First of all, this came in the post!

 Thats right, I got me a Rogue Trader! Had some extra bits too, two brushes and some files, all from the lovely bunch at The Outpost. They're a great site with a 20% discount on GW products and a good range of other games too, always on time with preorders which is fantastic! Current plan is to paint the Nurgle side up to sell with the codex and bits specific for them. The RT element however I'm tempted to keep and convert. An Escher head on the RT's body would surely look rather splendid methinks! I can then either use the rules for Rogue Trader in 40k or as a command squad in my Astra Miliatarum army which is Necromunda gang based... we shall see, as theres Orks on the way! 

Most of my day was spent working on these...

 

The Nurgle Rotters are probably about 60% done, I've got some minor highlighting on the skin to do, then work on the metal by adding a shade and verdigris then the leather details. Then basing and transfers then hopefully, all set for sale! The Bloater models are especially incredible, I'm so enjoying painting these and would happily paint some more up in different colours 

When did you grow up? If, like me it was in the eighties, you might be a fan of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. Perhaps you loved Thnndercats too? The reboot from a few years ago I very much enjoyed too. Why am I mentioning this? Well, if you take D&D and the new Thundercats, mash em together... you'd get this.

Just being released on Netflix with very little notice, I saw it mentioned and looked into it and watched the entire series today. Surprisingly I really enjoyed it too. Its the perfect type of cartoon that'll ring a little nostalgia in the adults with some good stories, but have a little kid friendly humour too making it perfect family viewing, especially when painting! 

Speaking of D&D, I got this!

While the campaign I'll be running soon is homebrewed, it is set near the Star Mounts of Faerun, set in the Forgotten Realms. The Sword Coast is nearby and the book covers a ot of the areas I'm likely to lead the party so its a great source for ideas. 

I also purchased 200 of these little tiles.

At 30mm square, I'll be mounting different numbers of them onto card and spraying grey to use as dungeon tiles for D&D. Keeping it simple for now, but when we get into it and they get used I can add more details and even look into getting some doors and props to put on there to help with the feel. 

The coming week I'll be finishing the Nurgle Rotters off then working on some Custodes bikes to finish off a commission, then get the Nurgle element of RT painted up. Then I'll see what happens as I want a couple of weeks in Orktober to build and paint some new and old ork releases! I've got a decent sized force already but I'm sure the new buggies will find a way into my collection as well as some other bits that may be released. 

Thats all for Sun.... I mean Saturday Salvo, shall post in the week with some updates!

The Farstriders: x2 Showcase

Greetings to another Death By Die showcase! This time, its two Shadespire warbands... don't worry you're not seeing double, this is two alternate schemes I did on the Farstriders. 

Even though gold is the predominant colour on both, the secondary colours give off two very different vibes.

See how the blue gives a cooler look, as if they may have been fighting near watery or icy areas. The red however is much warmer, and I think this makes them look more aggressive.

Deciding what secondary colour to use for a warband or army can theme your army despite what the main colour is. Even if the main colour on these were silver, the seondary colours would still give the cool or warmer feel to the miniatures. These Shadespire kits are fantastic by the way, easy to build (akin to the easy to build series GW has been successfully putting out recently) and I'd never in a thousand years thought I'd enjoy painting gold.

But here I am, enjoying painting gold! 

Which of the above schemes do you prefer? How has a secondary colour choice changed how your army feels? Do you regret picking certain colours? Leave a comment and pictures!

Saturday Salvo!

Welcome to another edition of Saturday Salvo, the post where I, the larger of the Kevs, talks about whats exciting me on this most Rogue of Saturdays!

Delivery today, these beauties! 

Looking forward to getting these built, unsure which to start first but probably the Reaver Titan. Heres a close up of the Nurgle Rotters sprue... not the summer belly you want, but possibly the summer belly you got!

Heres the sprue in its entirety. The Pestigor look better now I've seen up close, berfore from photos it looked like some hippo hybrid which I wasn't sure about. Those Bloaters are just amazing though! You can be any size and still get into sport.

Heres the Reaver sprues, three of them too! I'm a little daunted by this I'll be honest, but a little excited too. No idea what weapons I'll be arming it with but I'm going for rule of cool. The best looking ones! I may be tempted to get a Warlord at some point too, but I would like to get some for myself. 

Last week I posted about the Chaos Chosen and Imperial Knights, well both went up and sold in short order, which has been a lovely boost to my confidence. A mate of mine also asked if I could sell a miniature of his and some other batches in the future so I've neatened up his Captain Lysander and listed on ebay. Hopefully I can raise him some money!

This isn't how I'd do the yellow but with it already being applied I wasn't going to go over it, so used white as a highlight and glazed over. Its not too bad but I'd have preferred Averland Sunset first and built up from there. I am happy with the scribbles though! 

So with the Chaos team and Knights selling I was able to preorder myself this. 

Yep, Rogue Trader expansion for Killteam and 40k Some of the models are just amazing and the rest are pretty damn cool too. I'll be painting both factions to sell seperately but may sell together if someone enquires so we shall see. The board I'll keep as my local club are looking to get into Killteam so can be used there as an alternative. 

Otherwise I'll be attempted to sleep, build a Reaver and Nurgle Rotters team, get them painted in the next week so I can start on Rogue Trader and some Custodes bikes too. Plus maybe attempted to get some orks painted at last!

Chaos Chosen Showcase

Welcome to a showcase on Death By Die, this time of a Chaos Chosen team for Blood Bowl that I've recently finished!

As you can see, it includes 8 beastmen, 4 chaos warriors, 3 balls, turn marker token and coin, as well as the fantastic Minotaur from Forge World. I'm selling these on ebay and a quick search should bring them up if you're interested.

I've never painted an awful lot of fur and its still something I need to work on, but I think I'm getting there and am happy with how its come out on the Minotaur and Beastmen. 

Look how big this bruiser is, I've got another one sitting about so unsure as to what to do with him.... I am coming up to a significant number of page view soon so perhaps I could use him in a giveaway? 

As you can see, the Chaos Warriors have all had flames painted on their shoulder pads like the Beastmen. It was fiddly but its another thing I think has come out pretty well.

Blood for the Blood God! I love this paint so much, and had to find use for it somewhere and it suits being on the coin beautifully. 

The Beastmen have some fantastic poses, the GW sculpts for all the Blood Bowl teams have been amazing so far and I'm looking forward to cracking open the Nurgle Rotters team when I get them Saturday. 

So what do you think? I've still got a long way to go before I'm a fantastic painter but with more and more practice I'm getting there and I can see little improvements on a weekly basis. What are you guys working on and how do you improve your skills as a painter? 

For any info contact me on Facebook on my Death By Die  page or hook me up on Instagram

Saturday Salvo!

So what did I say? Satuday Salvo is back! This is just a little catch up post about what I'm upto, and anything that takes my interest in the world of tabletop. Before I carry on... behold... RESIN PORN!

This impressive individual, is Anacharis Scoria of the Dark Mechanicus soon to be available from Forge World. This guy is absolutely stunning, hes like a daddy defiler from which the defiler grew in numbers and size. Genuinely love this miniature and wondering about conversions! 

Tooth and Claw is released today, the new 40k boxed set that pits the Genestealer Cult vs Space Wolves in Primaris form. Some nice miniatures on both sides, and I may pick up the character pieces to knock up one day. In a painting kinda way obviously. 

Myself, I've been hurriedly painting away at the Chaos Chosen team for Blood Bowl and Questoris Knights for Adeptus Titanicus.

Chaos Chosen are almost done, transfers have been placed on and just finetuning some of the details before they get a coat of matt varnish, get shot (with a camera!) and then go up for sale. I've really enjoyed painting them, although I'm still learning to paint and get a contrast between areas of skin and fur. 

I've numbered the Chaos Warriors 1-4, Beastmen 5-12 and then the Minotaur (yes, theres a frenzy stoked minotaur being painted up too) number 16. I've got the Elven Union team still on sprues I may get built in the next week and started too, tempted with a brighter more outlandish colour scheme for those but shall see!

Another kit I've really enjoyed building and painting are the Questoris Knights. 

The detail on these guys are really good, even at the much smaller scale they pack a lot of bits in that make it look impressively close to its 40k scaled brethren. I'll ve very tempted to get some more of these and maybe even a Warlord to try building and paint up, but first these need some more work, transfers applied and to sell! 

Now excuse me for just a few moments, I need to swoon over this image. 

Isn't she just a beaut? Orktober is introducing not just a new Codex for the Orks but also a boxed game called Speed Freeks, which includes among another buggy, some bikes, and possibly some unknown other miniatures, the hopes and dreams of many more kits. There are so many things of the Orks that deserve an upgrade.... Deffkoptas, HQ choices, I'd absolutely love GW to release a box that literally just contains bitz. Armour panels, guns, rokkits, grot crew, wheels, just a box full of random orky wotnotz that can be glued onto existing kits (not just ork kits either) to make many kustom vehicles. Rules wise looted wagons need to come back, an invulnerable save option for a warboss would be lovely too! 

I've seen the rumour about the clan rules which seem cool, but I'll not wonder too much about that currently as its unsure if they are true or simply someone wishlisting. I can deffo see something like that though so who knows. Theres also been a lot of talk about a 'Prime-Ork'. Ghazgkull ascending to some sort of god hood? Who knows, it'd be nice to have something a bit mental like that, not just in terms of miniature or rules, but in the narrative. With a possible Armageddon encounter that could rebirth Angron its possible something awakens in the Ork world to help them combat the reappearence of Primarchs. Plus a huge Ork stomping around always looks good! 

Whats everyone else been working on? I've got a busy week coming up getting some D&D miniatures and a first session to get ready, as well as get the next batch of miniatures started. Hopefully this is just the first in a new batch of Saturday Salvo, where I'll have at least a once a week post to get written up. I should however be posting a couple of updates midweek too regarding news and my thoughts or updates on current projects. I'm also hoping I can rope in a couple of other contributers too!

Magore's Fiends Showcase

Its been a little while since I've posted, although thats probably the most common introduction I produce on the blog. But, bear with me for it is a good thing. Almost two months ago I decided to paint, challenging myself to get better. You've seen my stuff before, it was alright, but I think I've improved. So much so that I've grabbed up all the Shadespire I could and got to painting it.

So here to begin with, I present the recently released Magore's Fiends.

While I'm still not steeped in the lore of Age of Sigmar theres no doubting the models for AoS and Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire are absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed painting these as I love painting red, still working on blending and building up layers but its looking quite effective. 

Being a Khorne Daemon army player (well sorta, not played with them much as they're under reconstruction) but this is the first Flesh Hound I've painted and I need to do more. Riptooth is a good boy!

So there we have Magore's Fiends. I've also got the Farstriders coming in a post soon along with the other warbands I've painted, of which there are another 3. Like I said, I've really enjoyed painting them! I have also started to take on commissions so if you have anything you'd like painted to a good standard for use on the table please get in touch on my Facebook page where I can answer all of your questions or you can just keep track of blog updates. Thanks for looking, more soon! 

No seriously this time.

Honest....

Hive Probatious: Defend Against Pestilence

'All was darkness. Memories and dreams flew through Adelias mind as if a tempest was inside her mind. Her hard childhood learning to defend herself in the depths of Hive Probatious, improvising weapons until she joined the Eschers and was giving her first gun. Her father, who was an officer had started to lose his mind, and her mother had dragged them both away from the eyes of those who may question what he had fought and seen. The Inquisition will cleanse anyone who sees Chaos, and her father had seen much. He would often wake up shaking, murmouring of disgusting creatures that slowly stalked the battlefield, clouds of flies buzzing around their humanesque forms as smaller creatures would gather in great numbers playfully laughing and attacking the guardsmen. Sometimes he could not speak at all of what he had seen. Her thoughts began imagining large Astartes in armour that rotted, the smell of disease and filth strong and their relentless advance, firing boltguns and plasma wherever they pleased. With a jolt, Adelia shot up.'

 

Welcome all to a 2000 points battle report between the insidious Death Guard lead by none other than Typhus versus the gallant (yet slightly scummy) Hive Guard! First time using points and it worked out pretty well, managed to fit in a little more than I did in 100 power.  Deployment was a standard set up along the lengths of the board, I rolled and got first turn but Lewis seized the intiative! Darn it!

'Her vision was blurred, but she recognised her surroundings quickly. The dark ceiling and the low green lights of the command centre was now a familiar sight, a welcome one at that too. As her eyes started to focus she saw the crew of her Leman Russ battle tank to the side, all sat around a table sullenly drinking whatever was in their cups. "Awake I see. Bout fucking time" a gruff voice said. Her fellow Escher looked over to see her awake, as she looked to the side seeing Birim, his huge grey haired mohawk looking black from the battle but a smile on his face. "Wha... What happened?" Adelia asked. "One of those Death Guard bastards smashed your tank up, but its being fixed. Your girls are all fine apart from some scratches and smoke inhalation, but you got thrown out from an explosion on the main turret. Should be fine though. Massive bruise on your arse made all the lads laugh" he said joyfully. Then she felt the ache through her entire body, her arms were covered in scrapes and her backside throbbed, Birim wasn't lying. Ophelia, the driver of the Leman Russ, walked over and put her hand on Birims shoulder. "you alright sis?" she asked. Adelia let out a sigh, "I think so, medicae administered anything?" "Yeah" Birim replied. "Drink this and get up" he said handing her over his hip flask. Adelia had drank from his flask before and the liquid inside burned her throat. For once, it didn't feel unpleasent.'

Lewis commanded his forces forward quickly taking the two bastions with deep striking terminators right on the top. It took quite a while to get them out of there! My plasma executioner tank took a lot of damage early on and wasn't very effective but with how much damage it took it did its job! Autocannons vs Death Guard are pretty good though and even though it wasn't ordered it did well! Deffo keeping him around.  Those terminators though took out 2 squads of infantry, the damage to the tank and almost killed a sentinel. They got some bad ass weaponry!

"So some of us are alive, did we acheive the mission? Whats the casualties?" she wanted to know. Birim walked over to a desk where some people were discussing a hologram. He picked up a dataslate and walked back over, the red glow from the slate lighting his face up. "Pushed em back, made the fuckers pay. A lot of em are left lying face down in the dirt, though their stinking corpses probably like that. Ghronx went down, but hes not dead. Well not yet anyway. He still owes me 30 credits. We lost a few vehicles and about 40 men. Lot of repairs needed all being worked on. Some stupid bitch let a Marine slap her tank... oh yeah thats you." Birim snorted heartily under his breath. "We got em retreating and whatever they were after we don't think they got. Beat em to some of the supplies so we should be good until reinforcements." Adelia swung her legs over the side of the bed, taking a moment to stretch. "Who did we lose?" Birim looked up at her solemnly. "Most of my boys are gone, some are wounded pretty bad but that won't stop em from getting stuck back in if needed. A lot of your lasses are wounded too, not sure how many dead. Them Goliaths seem ok but the Defence Force squads lost a lot too. Reinforcements are hopefully coming in soon." Adelias experience of gang warfare was that you might lose a couple of comrades during a skirmish, but war brought loss to a whole new level."
 

Objective wise it was a close battle, I managed to get a few early on but Lewis kept close too. I'd edge forward by a couple then he'd catch up, and coming towards the end of the game he had just pushed ahead by a point.  I love how the objectives keep you guessing what you need to do. The best example, was me having to advance all my forces out of my deployment zone, which I manmaged to do and then on Lewis' turn he had to move 4 of his units back to defend his deployment zone. Narratively after his slow grinding advance I rushed forward and took him by surpise forcing him back. We loved that moment! My Vendetta took out the Plague Drone which was the scariest unit for me as it could surge forward with flamers and tie up valuable units. It had to go! 6 Lascannons worked haha.

'Memories of the battle started flooding back. Part of the mission had been to reclaim two old Bastions, but the enemy had managed to somehow teleport straight on top and the firepower from them took a toll on the defenders lines. Eventually they were cleared and one of the Astropaths had made it into one, the information claimed potentially being valuable. She remembered a smoking Vendetta gunship screaming around, its Lascannons blazing bright lights across the sky before it was struck and tumbled to the ground. The Death Guards flanks seemed to have been pushed back, but the middle had been the problem. Adelia suddenly remembered the masked Astarte that had strode forward over the bodies of friends and foes alike and struck at her tank with force she never knew one person could wield. After that, she could remember nothing. "Ghronx is in the medicae if you wanna go see him, along with the more badly wounded" Birim mentioned. As she set her feet on the floor, pain stung up her legs and her back. Her first couple of steps were uneasy, but the pain wasn't an alien feeling. "Best go see how the horny bastard is then" Adelia said as she walked away.'

These Death Guard Plaguebursters are brutal. Lewis has informed me hes getting more to add to the two he already has and I am worried! We had a little Callidus vs Typhus action (eventually, we kept forgetting we had them in reserves!) and I was gutted the Assassin didn't do more damage. Damn Chaos Psyker of filth!

My commander fell to a Plaguecaster, who then went into my command tank and finished it off. That was brutal! He then fell to lasgun and plasma gun fire from some infantry and the Goliath Veterans. Typhus had moved forward to try and contest an objective but I was able to slow him down enough before he could add his considerable weight to the fight. 

'She saw Aldreyus to one side, who was talking to the Astropath she had seen with the Goliaths before. A Ratskin shamen was also present, although he seemed distantly in thought elsewhere. She nodded at the Primaris Psyker who noticed her. "Ah Adelia, you're up and ok. It is a blessing to the Emperor that you are well". "Yeah I'm pretty happy about it. Although death means a good sleep" she replied. "Oh dear, thats not good... Oh I see! A joke! Ha I like that one!" he proclaimed as Adelia rolled her eyes walking past the old man. A few corridors along she came to the medicae. Some of it had been shut off, some illness had been caught by a couple of guardsmen although it seemed to be contained. She walked into the area and could see Ghronx's body lying on a bed, a couple of machines seemed to be hooked up to him. A man in civilian clothing bar an apron walked over to her, giving her a courteous nod. "Adelia I believe?" Adelia nodded, "Yeah, hows he doing?" "Not great, I'm afraid. He was found unconscious but barely breathing, we're hoping we can stablize him." the man said. "And you are?" Adelia asked. "Claus, I'm the medic here. Well sort of, not offcially but I've had some training. Not military grade training but just down in the Hive." he explained. "Good to have you here Claus. Hows my girls doing?" Claus checked his dataslate and scrolled through the hologram. " out of the 17 casualties, 4 were dead on the battlefield, and we lost another 3 since. The others should be alright to some level however." Adelia felt relieved that more were not lost, and patted the balding Claus on the back. "Appreciated Claus. Let me know if Ghronx wakes up." "Will do maam" replied the medic as he walked off to attend some of the wounded. Adelia had never been called that before, and it took her off guard. She thought back to her father and how he was an officer, and it seemed she would follow in his footsteps. 'Lets just hope I don't go crazy and see the shit he saw' she thought to herself.'

So tose Death Guards are brutal. Armour saves then extra saves on top of those on a 5+, they are hard to put down! I'm glad they're not cheap to bring too because facing a horde of them would make me cry. Well cry because of the challenge brought by the emperor of course... Ahem. 

A great game, I hope you enjoy the story I wrote too. Fancied doing it from a different perspective and theres probably a lot of mistakes but its all good. 

Whats next for the defenders of Probatious Hive? One thing is certain, there is always war!