Death Guard drones in all shapes and sizes

Hey there Chaos fanatics! Old Man Chaos has been busy at work in the laboratory churning out some goodies for the Death Guard. It has been drone city for me the past couple of weeks. So let us delay no longer... lets have a look...

First up is a second Bloat Drone that my wife got me for Christmas. I really like the model, and the multi-part kit is really cool- I like all the faceplate options and the weapons options.

Even though I think the Plaguespitter is the better weapon in-game (2 Plaguespitters for 2D6 auto-hits is better than one Blight-Launcher which is 6 hits but needs 4 to hit), I liked the look of the Blight Launcher- it looks heavy and being dragged around by the drone.

The armor plates are similar to the last Drone I did- Death Guard green with a wash of Earthshade all over it. It gives it that dull, dirty look which I really like (appropriate for Nurgle naturally). The weapons and spikes I did with my usual rusty metal look- Leadbealcher, with Ryza Rust orange with eathshade over it. This gives it a dull but rusty look.

The skin I did a little differently- I did Rakarth Flesh with several washes of violet to give it an unhealthy pallor. I then highlighted with Pallid Wych Flesh to give it some definition. I then used red washes around the boils/sores to complete the effect.

I do have to say that the Blight Drones usually do very well in my games. However, the random 2D6 sometimes goes bad on me (snake eyes!? Again!?). More often than not though, the Drones have been quite effective- fast, survivable and yet too much of a threat to ignore- driving my opponents mad in the process. And on more than once I had it deliberately explode, hurting the surrounding enemy forces- so even when it dies its a bastard. For me, these are a mandatory take, even if they are a bit pricey points wise.

Going from models that have become a mainstay to models I haven't used yet- the Myphitic Blight-Hauler (what a silly, yet trade-marked, name). These models are from the "easy to build" line. The model is nice enough, though it is very static and only goes together one way. Rules wise they sound pretty darn good, though to be at maximum effectiveness you need three of the Haulers.

I was only able to find two of the Haulers at first (visiting many stores near and far to boot). So I painted the two up (and I just got my hands on a third so I haven't painted it yet). I will try them soon, painted or not as I am really curious as what they can do.

Painting the models did go fairly quickly, as they are pretty straightforward to paint up. Again, the plates were Death Guard green with Balthazar Gold for the trim. The metal parts painted rusty as I described above.

The skin I did two different ways. One of them was Zandri Dust with a yellow wash over it (again a sickly yellow look). The other I did with Rakarth Flesh with flesh washes over it. They look like variations of my Bloat Drones.

Finally, as I am a crazy chaos converter, I felt the need to convert 1 of the Haulers. I used spawn bits around the mouth to give it a different look from its brother Hauler. It was just a little conversion but it helps differentiate the two Haulers.

So that's it for now. I'm working on a couple of other big ticket items so be sure to check back sometime next week for more.

Until next time...

I fell off the face of the warp

Hey there Chaos fanatics! Old Man Chaos is back, with a vengeance as it were. I know I haven't posted for quite a while, but I have been very, very busy. Mrs. Chaos and I bought a new house. As I'm sure you realize, this is a big undertaking- banks, lawyers, etc... but it also meant that we had to move, get settled, do work on the house, paint, rearrange furniture for the 20th time... well you get the picture. Because of all that, I have been unable to post in quite some time. That doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up on my 40K though. I have been doing my models, reading 8th edition rules, etc. I will show the things I've painted up... when I can find my lamps that I use to illuminate the models, that is...

Besides, I have something a bit bigger than that to share with you now, my fellow denizens of the warp. When my wife and I were shopping for a house, she said that I should have a dedicated space for my hobby. Not just a painting desk, but a virtual man-cave sized gaming and hobby area. Now that is an understanding wife, no? At my old family home, I had a gaming table in the basement, but the basement was crowded with a family's lifetime of stuff and clutter. It wasn't that big either. And it had an old boiler that my friend Pete said was the gateway to hell itself (it threw out lots and lots of heat- making it impossible to play down there in the summers). At any rate, my wife wanted me to live the 40K addicts dream with a dedicated space.

With incredible luck, we found such a house that had the perfect space. Yes, it is a basement. But with a little work the basement could be finished, and it would practically double our living space. Great neighborhood, great house, good price... and an area for 40K.

Fast forward a few months. With most of the work done I began planning out my man cave / battle bunker. Half would be dedicated to a good TV and videogame setup. The other half would be 40K central. I moved my painting desk down to the cave and it was perfect (I just have to tidy up a little bit).

When it came time to get a table... I was fucked. I am absolutely NO good with building actual things (plastic models? Yes. A 4x8 table? Hell no.). My previous table was designed and built by Pete (my brother and I certainly helped, but Pete was the boss. And Joe only played with Skorpinok in my basement as we toiled). Pete has since moved far away, and while I see him once in a while there's no way he could build me another table. How could I do it now?

As it turned out, I'd get a ton of help. A bunch of my friends/family put our heads together and came up with a solution. Russ, who has never ever played 40K before is very good at figuring out things. As we described the table I wanted he said that it could certainly be done. And it would be a housewarming present to boot!

 So, a few Saturdays ago, Brian, Russ, Steve, and I went to get all the lumber and screws and such. We took it all back to my basement and began construction. It took several hours, but by the end we had created an incredible table! And despite all our efforts, there were no snags or snafus- heck, no one got hurt either (power tools and us don't mix exactly).

 We started with the legs, framing them out. Russ wanted me to have storage space underneath so that I could store some terrain, dice, models, etc. Now, it could never fit all my terrain crap, but it would certainly be helpful to have that space.

Once the legs and shelf space was set in, we then put the table top on. Now, originally it was just going to be one huge sheet of wood. However, it couldn't fit in any of our vehicles. So I said to have the store cut it down the middle for transport. Russ said he could make it work. With metal braces placed on the undersides, he as able to join them together just fine. Then, the table went on top of the legs and with some screwing, hammering, etc, the table was done.

 But we were not finished. One of the things that always bugged everyone who has ever played warhammer is when dice roll onto the floor. To solve that problem, we put wood molding around the perimeter of the table, as a border. Now, dice won't roll off the table edge.

The other issue we dealt with was WHERE to roll the dice. Now whenever Pete built a table, it was always 4 x 8. Now, usually games are no more than 4x6. I figured that I would only do 4x6. But Brian had a wild idea- build it 4x8 (just in case we wanted an Apoc game or something). Using similar molding as what we placed on the perimeter, we would cut two pieces so they would fit width-wise across the table. If I placed my game mat in the exact middle of the table, I would have a foot on each side. The molding border would be put in, giving us a rolling lane, an area to put Tactical cards or dead models or what have you. This was also accomplished with great ease.

With construction done, I decided to paint the table top black (my multimedia unit and my modelling desk are black so I figured why not match it all). I may or may not paint the table legs at a later date, but I really just wanted to get the top done.

Ah! Now it was finished I put on one of my mats that I got from FAT Mats. And then some terrain. And at that point I knew that I had exactly what I wanted- a gaming table in a place with plenty of space! And the table is just perfect.

So, about a week later, Brian and I decided to break in the new table with two games. His Ultramarines against my Khorne forces- as nature intended. Now I have played a few 8th edition games, as had Brian. I like 8th edition, though I think it still has problems. Brian with his gun line wins against me every time, because I have to go in close to get him. Though close combat is brutal, you still have to GET there, which turned out to be very difficult for me.

In the first game, we had table quarters playing big guns never tire. Brian stole the initiative and shot me to hell. I lost half my army during his turn 1 shooting phase. There was literally nothing I could do. Nothing. And I made decent save rolls too. It was just too much firepower.

 In his turn 2 he wiped out most of what remained. Brian is the type of player who always goes for the throat. Not unfair or cheating- just he plays tough and he plays to win. He said that close combat armies will always lose to that sustained shooting. He feels that alpha strike determines the winner way too much.

The second game was the arrowheads deployment and we played the cleanse and control maelstrom mission. This game Brian also won, but It was back and forth until turn 3. Heck, some of my guys even managed to kill things in combat!

 Kharn killed some stuff (including 4 of my Warp Talons- I forgot he can re-roll to hits. I rolled 4 1s and forgot the re-roll. Ugh). Again, Brian shot me to hell, but I was able to score some points with the cards and hurt him a little bit. The fact that Marines can get re-roll to hits and re-roll of 1s to wound makes their shooting pretty much unstoppable. But I got some skulls so Khorne was happy.

 Two losses in a row was not the ideal way to break in my new table, but that's OK. The table was great- the mat and terrain were just fine, and the rolling lane made it really nice so our dice weren't hitting models, getting cocked every 5 seconds, etc. 

So with that I will close this blog post. I am grateful that I have gotten the chance to have what I have always wanted- a dedicated Warhammer space. Thanks to Brian, Steve, and Russ for making it happen. And my wife, who doesn't mind being married to a nerd.

Until next time...