Khorne warriors finished

The Khorne warriors are finally finished, though they took a bit longer than I anticipated. I am just glad to have them finished, I might at a future date decorate the banner with a few more heads. I also need to dust the movement tray with a bit of snow.

The cloaks were the biggest problem, I couldn't decide if they should be red, black or brown. In the end I thought a polar bear (off white) fur helped to lift the model a little, a dark brown against dark red might have been too dark. The fur also helps tie in with the snow theme. There's a little snow and blood at the bottom of the cloaks, as the warriors have waded through the blood of their enemies, but it's hard to see on this picture. I will get some close-ups taken in the next few days.

Exalted Hero

Here's my chaos army general, an exalted hero on daemon steed. The head is from the Lord on Juggernaut set, while the plastic bits are from the knights set - the shield will obviously be attached to the arm when it's painted. These minor changes help to improve the already impressive Archaon model. I will probably paint him up after the Khorne warriors, which are progressing well. The spawn I had planned to paint in this phase of three has been pushed back to the next phase.

My rough plan for painting is:-

• 12 warriors of Khorne (underway)
• Hero on deamonic mount
• 5 marauder horsemen

• 5 chaos knights
• Spawn
• 4 Nurgle ogres or 4 dragon ogres

That last trio breaks my rule of infantry-special-fast per phase, but it fits my current army. Suprisingly, I don't seem too far away from having a 2000 point fully painted army! I do have ideas for more characters, more units, but for the time being I will be happy to have these as a starting point.

Not only is the painting go well, but the gaming seems to be pretty decent too. From my first frustrations with the army I now seem to handle the problems of speed better and am having some surprising victories - my dwarfs never seem to beat lizardmen or vampire counts, my last two vanquished foe. The lack of chaos warriors in the army does concern me a little, it doesn't seem quite right to have just one unit of chaos warriors and one unit of knights, but I'm enjoying the games so can live with that little problem.

Before the red paint

Just a quick update post to show the little bit of work I did today. The unit was completed a few months ago, just the banner top remained to do. I was in two minds about whether I should tie the unit to Khorne or leave it unmarked. In the end I realised I could use a small magnet to hold the the banner in place, thus allowing me to use a different configuration if I feel the urge to change in the future. The removable top also makes it a bit easier to transport.

Chaos warband marches on

The chaos warband at the start of the month of August. Not bad considering I started painting it only a few weeks ago (and I have just had a week's holiday which included no hobby time at all). It's around 250 points, but that will be easily doubled when I add the next unit, chaos warriors are very expensive points wise.

My plan is to paint the army in groups of three, each group comprising an infantry unit, a special or rare model and a fast unit of some description. So, phase 1 is complete with the Slaanesh marauders (infantry), the Nurgle spawn (special) and the hounds (fast). Phase 2 will comprise a unit of chaos warriors, another spawn and some marauder horsemen. I also have a couple of sorcerors that I have already painted to add to the army, I just need to re-base them. I might also make a pair of familiars to go with them.

Still feeling good about the army and keen to get it painted, which is unusual for me. I just hope the enthusiasm remains before the next distraction comes along.

Nurgle spawn finished

The repaint of the Nurgle spawn went reasonably well. It's still a little bit darker than I really wanted, a couple of glazes too many, but I am sticking with this version.

Fully expecting it to be destroyed before it could slither halfway across the board, last night's debut game was almost a success for the Thing. It managed to survive a charge from a unit of Empire knights, then sent them fleeing (with help from some nearby ogres). It then chased and destroyed the knights and was just settling down to a well-deserved nibble on a knight leg, when a last-ditch (turn 6) volley of lead from a unit of handgunners finished it off. Pretty good for a newly painted model, maybe the fresh paint curse is being lifted from my models.

Not that I expect the next painted unit to do well. Up next are some chaos hounds, which tend to follow the exact same destiny in every game. Advance, screening troops. Get shot. Lose some (or all) models. Panic. Re-roll panic test. Fail again. Flee, never to rally. I can't remember the last time my hounds tasted blood. For this reason, I will not be spending too long on painting the pathetic little beasts.

Messed Up

Bah, I spent a couple of hours today painting the Nurgle spawn, but messed it up. So it will have to be re-primed and re-painted. I think the problem was I only had a vague idea of colours before I started, then kept tinkering until it looked like a vomited rainbow.

Not to worry, sometimes these things happen. I have executed my tried and tested plan B - look through some Clint Langley artwork for inspiration. The man is a genius. And I did find the perfect picture to inspire me.

I have also been thinking about Space Wolves recently. Space Marines are the biggest thing in the Games Workshop universe, by a long chalk, but I have always struggled to see the appeal. Lots of little robots in Early Learning Centre colours, doesn't really do it for me. So I have had this vague idea to design my own chapter for a while. But the whispers about the Space Wolves I am liking the sound of, maybe I will go that way instead. It will give me a project to keep me busy in winter.