Update - Stormfiends - Painting

I had planned on not doing any updates and just presented a final painted blog post, but lack of time, has impeded how much painting I have been able to do. And so I have decided to do an update blog, so i can show that I have been doing some painting when I can and so I can talk about what has been slowing my progress, also what I have planned for the future.

So lets go through some progressive pictures.

Raided the bits box, for some Skaven appropriate bits to add the the bases of the fiends, a rat , a shield, some broken pipe, banner top, to name a few.

All of the weapons magnetized and ready for paint.

Brown bases, and the flesh begins.

All the flesh base coat layer.

Then life got busy, well not really busy but a few TV series came out that I wanted to watch, between Dare Devil, Vickings season 4, Supernatural and game of thrones, I went from 3 or 4 nights painting a week to 1. And progress slowed.

So after I had taken a long break from painting. I got back into it and finished the flesh tones.
I decided to add some block colours, I needed to see some colour to get past a mental block. Whilst I worked out what colours I would paint the armour.

I decided that I wanted to keep them armour in theme with the rest of my army, so I painted it to match the stormvermin's armour, which is bronze, and to break it up a little I would mix in shiny brass, and bright coppers. At least that's the plan so far they look like this.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post I was planning on doing this start to finish but I needed to vent, the lack of hobby time has been getting me down, I have had much desire to get the painting done but I am struggling to find the free time. 

I hope that now we have finished watching  some of the TV shows I might have an extra evening free, but we will see. 

Battle report to come. Next week is my birthday, and I have asked a few of my friends to come round with 1500 points each. Looking forward to my monthly battle.

3000 points Warriors of chaos and Skaven vs 3000 Orcs and Goblins.

Skull Throne - Peter V Brett

Finally the wait is over for the eagerly awaited Skull throne. (Well I was looking forward to it at least.)

So let's start by saying I love the main charcaters from these book. And once again we get to jump behind the eyes of our favourites......for a couple of chapters....

Ok let me explain, steadily over the last few books in this series, we have gained more and more point of view characters, and I do love everyone that is added.

But I feel that every time we get a new character to follow the amount of over arcing story is reduced, so much time was spent looking at the autumn of 333, from different points of view that world plot was barely progressed.

What we did see was exciting and the hook in the finally chapter has me begging for the next book.

Mr Brett is a great writer, to make so many characters with individual personalities, and such detailed backstory and interaction between those characters, the man must either be a genius or keep extensive notes.

I particularly enjoyed the devolping relationship between Asome and Asasi, the details of Asasi early life and how she feels about her fake marriage to the push'ting.

One unexpected thing I loved is how the dialect of the books affects me, I find myself wanting to use the swear words, they are ripping awesome, but night i'll be corespawned if any but a few of my friends will know what I am on about.

Although I didn't review them I have also read Mr Brett's short story's, (The Messengers Legacy, and The Grand Bazaar) and I am glad I did, in this novel several references are made to the events of the novella, and one of them details the early life of one of the new characters, having read them I felt like I was part of an inside joke. A "I was there" moment as the characters talk about events of the novella.

A great set of books I would highly recommend them to anyone, and I thank Mark for recommending them to me.

Stormfiends VS Bloodthrister - Skaven vs Demons - 2500pts

The scouts had been right, he could feel the pull of the warpstone meteorite, it must be large. As his personal entourage approached, the walls of reality seemed to twist, until ahead near the crash sight the veil was piereced and out poured a demonic host. His horde was large and he had time to array them for battle, time enough to bully his lackey's.

When Drew and I was arranging this game, we got talking about what other games he has lined up, he mentioned he was using his demons in a 40k game, and I asked him if he would bring them to our fantasy game as I have never fought against that army before, he agreed.

Skaven Army

Grey seer on screaming  bell, with fencer blades, earthing rod, Dragon bane gem and Skalm

Fell blade Warlord with shield.

Chieftain BSB 4++

3 units of 50 slaves with Mus.

50 Stormvermin, full command.

2 units of 9 gutter runners, poison and slings.

1 Warp Lightning Cannon

2 units of 3 Storm Fiends
 2 rattling cannons and 1 wind laucher
 1 ginder fist, 1 doomflayer gauntlets and 1 with shock gauntlets.

2 rat darts

Verminious horde.

Demon army

Kur'gath Plaguefather
Bloodthirster
Herald of Nurgle, locus of Contagion, on palanquin.
Masque of Slanesh
35 Bloodletters, standard and musican
20 Plague bearers, standard and musician.
3 Bloodcrushers, champion.
5 flesh hounds.

Skulls for the skull throne!

Blood for the blood God!

      I was very impressed with the new Bloodthirter model, and the great paint job Drew had done to it, so I snapped a few quick pictures to show it off, for him.

Magic

Demons - Curse of the leper

Skaven - Warp Lightning, Howling warpgale, Death frenzy, Scorch

Depolyment

Field of battle.

Demons left to right - Fleshhounds, Bloodthrister, Bloodcrusher, Bloodletters, Plaguebearers, Kur'gath, Masque of Slannesh.

Skaven left to right - Ratdart, Slaves, Slaves, Stormvermin and Bell, Slaves, StormFiends, Ratdart, Warp Lightning Cannon.

"Fool-idiot, there will be no malfunctions this time, or your head will be forfeit." Grey Seer Kye Snarled at him, Engineer Drew knew when to keep his snout down. "No-no, most benevolent of seer's all will be well with the cannon." The last malfunction had looked supicous, though nothing had been proven, and no link lead back to the canny engineer, the grey seer was a suspicious one.

Demon Turn 1

The Demons rush forward, to get at the rats as soon as possible. Masque of Slannesh runs for the skaven cannon. Bloodthrister flies over the impassable rocks to get on the skaven flank.

Demons attack.

Demons reign of chaos, is the Storm of fire it hits the Plague bearers, gutter runners, left slave unit, both rat darts and the Storm Fiends.

Storm of fire, sweeps the battlefield.

After 4 of their number drop, one unit of gutter runners get spooked and flee the field.

1 claw of gutter runners flee.

"Most wise engineer, I have got-taken the bolt's you asked for" The first year warplock held the offending bolt's in an out stretched paw. "as you asked no-one saw-heard me." A wide toothy grin spread across his master's snout, no longer low, deft claws drew and fired a pistol before understanding could register on the apprentice's face.

Skaven Turn 1

Slaves are pushed forward. Bells holds back a little, let the slaves die for a while first. Fiends turn and take aim on the Masque of Slannesh. Rat darts move to intercept the flesh hounds in the left flank, and the Masque on the right.

Horde advances.

Bell rings and the unholy noise pushes the bell forward another 5 inches (right where it had tried to hold it back from). The seer, realising his unit will be charged, works the stormvermin into a death frenzy, and calls forth a warp gale to hold back the large angry demon on his left.

Bell lurches forward

*CLANG* The unholy clamour of his bell was off note Grey seer Kye noticed on the first ring. As his bodyguard lurched forward, the grey seer was already scrambling across the scaffolding to see why it had rang off note. 

He need not have worried about the Bloodthirster, the cannon crew had similar concerns and put a blast through him, and a flesh hound behind him.

Bloodthirster dies.

Gutter runners skirted up behind Kur'gath and unleash their strongest poison apon him. Doing 5 wounds.

Poison is potent

Storm Fiends with their rattling cannons unleash death on the Masque of Slannesh, banishing him/her back to the warp.

Hot warp lead, shreds the Masque.

Demons Turn 2

Charge! Bloodletters assualt the Bell. Crushers charge the slaves. Flesh hounds attack the rat dart.

Khrone demands Skulls!

Kur'gath casts Curse of the leper on the bloodlettets to their obvious disgust. He also shoots at the gutter runners, kills 3, the rest panic away from him. Flesh hounds eat the giant rats.

Fleshhounds dine on giant rat.

Bloodcrushers kill many slaves, but there are still many more. Death frenzied stormvermin kill 5 Letters, and lose 7 of their own. Grey seer takes a wound.

Main Melee

Skaven Turn 2

Storm Fiends tunnel up behind the Demon lines, they see Kur'gath is wounded and go in for the kill, Mr Fellblade, can also see a Charge path at Kur'hath if he goes alone. But once out in the open losses his nerve, a and stumbles to a standstill.

Mr Fellblade, caught out in the open.

Now at the top of the scaffold Grey seer Kye could see the problem, the bolts where gone, the axle out of line another ring would snap it completely, the rat orge ringer was already pulling it back, no time to warn the others,the grey seer did the only thing he could do, save his own hide....

BOOM! The Bell rolls triple six and explodes with Apocalyptic Doom!!!

Mushroom cloud!

The skaven casualties are massive!

Two thirds of my infantry dead in one explosion.

Windlaucher, scatter of target and hits Mr Fellblade.

Treacherous fiends.

But the Rattling cannons are effective and decimate the Plaguebearers

Shredded bearers

In combat, the Stormfiends do one wound to Kur'gath, he attempts to kill the fiend with the doomflayer gauntlets does 3 wounds, stormfiends lose combat but hold their ground.

Storm Fiends assault the Demon leader.

Bloodletters slaughter most of the remaining stormvermin, but the rats flee the combat, out running the Bloodletters.

Flee!

With the poison wind clearing around him, the first thing Mr Fellblade see is the stormvermin running, he panics himself and runs. As do the unengaged slaves.

And me, Flee!

Bloodcrushers break the slaves, but lose one of their own in the ensuing panic.

A cornered rat bites back.

Demons Turn 3

Bloodletter chase away the Stormvermin, then redirect and also chase away the slaves.

Stop running away we want combat.

Bloodcrusher chases away the other fleeing slave unit.

Cowards! Stand and fight me.

Reign of chaos calls another unit of plaguebearers to the field.

Storm Fiends finally kill the plaguefather. They reform the face the Heralds back.

Skaven Turn 3

Combat Fiends charge the Herald of Nurgle in the rear. Cannon shoots at the last bloodcrusher, but fails to do enough wounds to kill it.

That the best you can do?

Rattling cannons rip into the Bloodletters, while the Herald of Nurgle slaps one of the Combat fiends.

Fiends assault.

Combat fiends lose combat, and are chased down.

Papa Nurgle will be pleased.

Mr Fellblade is killed by his own fell blade.

Dam you fellblade, he almost escaped.

Shooty fiends flee after seeing their combat friends fiends broken from combat.

Fleeing fiends.

Demon Turn 4

BloodLetters charge the fleeing fiends and push them to the very table corner. This panics the giant rats set up to stall the Plaguebearers.

why won't anyone fight us?

Clearing the way for the nurgle Plague bearers to charge the cannon.

We bring Nurgles rot to your cannon.

And kill warp lighting cannons crew, and smash the war machine.

Glorious Rot!

Skaven Turn 4

With nothing but the fiends left on the table, and them about to flee of I am ready to shake hands when............ The Fiends rally!!! Going down fighting!

Here is where we make our stand!

Demon Turn 5 

The summoned plaguebearers, flush from their victory against the cannon, turn and charge the fiends, stand and shoot takes most and the rest of the nurgle filth is bludgeoned and stomped in combat.
All the khrone demons are out of charge range, so they speed as quickly as possible to encircle the Stormfiends!

Dakka Dakka!

Skaven Turn 5 

Shuffle and shoot. 7 bloodletters die in a hail of warp lead.

Eat warp bullets Demons.

Demon Turn 6

Khrone charge! Bloodletters are out of range. Stand and shoot kills 2 and a half flesh hounds. Bloodcrusher charges but can't close the gap.

No bad puppy!

Fiends deal out 2 wounds, win combat but the last hound hold.

I said sit!

Skaven Turn 6 

Stuck in combat, the fiends are unable to shoot. So they kill the last hound in combat.

Naughty puppy.

Demon victory!

What a game, the bell exploding turn 2 was unexpected, but made for a fun game fighting a rear guard action. 

As the remnants of the skaven horde filtered back into the underdark, Engineer Drew was there to take charge, slaves where re chained, stormvermins loyalties where brought, and the Grey Seers name was spoken like a curse. So far the coup had been successful, now gathered before Engineer Drew, the clanrats and stormvermin listened as the engineer told them how only he could lead them from such a disaster. Unseen a grey clad figure entered the cavern. Fur singed of on side of his face, a single word escapes his snout in a hiss "Traitor!" Black lightning Arc's across the cavern......

Half the world - Joe Abercrombie - book review

Half a World - Joe Abercrombie

Set several years after the events of the first book (Half a King) this novel follows the life of 2 new characters as their life's become entangled with the characters of the previous book.

A great way to write the book as it gives a new point of view, opposed the re-hashing the thoughts of characters we have already met and seen the world through their eyes, but still it gives the reader an outside view of the characters that they enjoyed from the first book.

Set in a feudal world of small broken kingdoms, you see hints at the post apocalypse world returned to barbarianism with most ancient knowledge lost. I have been enjoying several books like this recently, Mark Lawernce's - Prince of thorns and Peter Bretts - Warded man. Fans of those will enjoy this book.

Joe is a masterful writer, full of gritty, larger than life character's that still feel like real people inspite of their big personalities.

If there is a 3rd book planned sign be up for the pre order now.

Stormfiends - Magnetizing - A guide

I have taken the time whilst building my stormfiends to take some photes of each step I took whilst adding the magnets, what follows us a guide on how I Magnetized my Fiends.

It was suppose to be a quick an easy to follow guide on how to magnetize the stormfiend weapon options. But it turned into so much more.

Tools
Magnets - I use disc magnets the measure 3mm diameter and 2mm thick. These are what I had already but smaller magnets would work just as well.
Glue - superglue and polycement.
Pin Drill - small hand held drill used in modelling. You could use a dremel to do it quickly, but for a little extra time, you have less risk of slipping and ruining your expensive models.
Neddle files - I have several, to remove plastic burrs.
Green stuff/mulliputt

Note - magnet polarity, very important to remember, that magnets will only be attracted to each other if the polarity is opposite. So be sure that you are consistent when gluing the magnets into the plastic. I keep double checking to be safe.

Stormfiend A

Before gluing the vambrace onto the arm I recommend cutting the slot out for the magnet. It can be done after the arm is attached but it is a lot harder to do (personal experience).

Vambraces

Notch cut it of plastic.

Magnets glued into place.

Shock gauntlets
 The shock gauntlet has a small rectangle of plastic, that I drilled into to place my magnet in. Do this before gluing the gauntlet together it will be easier. Once the magnet is glued into the rectangle assemble the weapon as shown in the instructions.

small plastic part

Holes drilled

Magnets glued in place.

gauntlets built.

Doomflayer
Doomflayer fist, before putting the ball together drill a hole in one half of the wrecking ball. The plastic is thin, I went straight through it but with the hole bored out, and the magnet glued in place, a little green stuff behind the magnet with hold it firmly in place once set. Then you can glue the 2 halfs of the ball together.

Doomflayer, wrecking balls

Holes drilled, burrs filed

Magnets glued, backed with green stuff.

Stormfiend B
Before glueing the body and arms together use a sharp knife and a file to remove the notch from the arms. The drill a hole in the center of the arms the depth and width of your magnets. File away burrs, glue in the hole and push the magnet in to be flush with the arm.

Right arm, left arm with back attached.

Notch is cut and filed away, holes drilled.

Magnets glued in flush.

The pipes are the other change on this Fiend. Normally they should attach to the weapon, as we want to change the weapons this is going to have to change.
File down the connection points on the fuel tank, clip and file to pipe so it will sit flat when attached and glue it so it rests against the arm.

Grove cut out of this connector on fuel tank.

This side is filed flat

Fuel pipe, glued in place

And the other

Clipped and filed flat

I think it looked good.

Windlauncher/Warpfire thrower.
Both are straightforward, cut and filed back edge flat. Drill holes, sit magnets flush in holes. Where the fuel pipe should a fix, cut and file it neat.

Wind launcher, have insert glued in pre drilling.

Notch on the warpfire has been cut and filed away. Windlauncher for comparison.

Finished with the rest of construction done.

Stormfiend C
There are 3 of each weapon on this fiend to magnetize. One on the chest and one on each hand.

The arms are straightforward, there is a raises piece to the plastic that is best to cut and file away. Drill holes in the ends of the arms, as close to the centre as possible, to the depth of you magnets thickness. File away any burrs, then drop in a little glue and push in your magnet so it is flush with the lowest point of plastic.

Arms of stormfiend C

Cut a filed flat, then drilled

Magnets glued in flush.

The chest is much the same, but the plastic is much thinner so unless your magnets are very thin (mine are not) the depth of your drilling will break through.  So once the hole is clean, have a small amount of green stuff/putty/playdough ready. Apply glue to the plastic, place the green stuff over the back of the hole, push in the magnet, and smooth the putty flat over the back. This will act as a backing piece when it dry'a so less chance of it getting pushed out later.

Stormfiend C body

Hole drilled, burrs removed

Magnet glued

Green stuff over the back.

Rattling cannons
The rattling cannons need to be assembled first, and left for a time to make sure the glue is set. Then take a small amount of green stuff to fill the hole at the base of the weapon, allow to cure/dry, then cut file flat.

Glued together holes filled.

Grinder fist
The fists should be filed flat on the back.

Grinder fists

 After that the 3 rattling guns and the 3 grinder fists are all done in the same way.
Use the pin drill to drill holes into the weapons up to the depth of your magnets (deeper is better than to shallow), file away burrs, drop of glue in the hole, push the magnet in the hole so it sits fluch to the lowest point of plastic. Once glue is dried file away any excess.

Rattlings drilled.

With magnets glue in place.

Grinder fists, drilled.

and magnets glued in place.

I didn't attach the small weapon hose for this fiend.

Here is how I can use the magnets to play with the weapon configuration, notice each of the 6 fiends has a rattling cannon in a hand.

18D6 shots anyone?

All of the weapons options!