Skarbrand!!

Blood! Slaughter!! Skulls!! Kill! Oh wait... sorry about that. Got a little excited seeing you come into this corner of the warp. My apologies. At any rate, here we are with yet another maiming edition of Chaos Corner. I bet your burning to find out what I've cooked up this time. So let's take a look at Skarbrand.

To me, one of my best paint jobs was the new Bloodthirster. I've posted pics here many times. It took me quite a while to paint. However, it came out like a dream- it was exactly what I wanted, and it looks just like the fluff and art. Even though there was no conversions or anything crazy, I just think its one of my best paint jobs, period.

Now, I knew I wouldn't top that with Skarbrand. My wife bought him for me quite a while ago, but for some reason I just never got to him. There was always some other model (or army, lets be honest) that distracted me from painting him. Oh I put him together quickly enough, but I just never got around to painting him. Maybe I knew I wouldn't top the Bloodthirster. I don't know. I just didn't paint him for a long time.

Fast forward to this past May/June, right after I moved. I knew absolutely that I wanted to paint Magnus first. But as I unpacked I found Skarbrand and I decided---- why the hell not. So I painted Magnus and Skarbrand side by side. By the end I was seeing dark blue and vibrant red all the time LOL.

I used the same paint scheme that I did with the Bloodthirster- building up the reds, highlights, black horns, etc. I could have done something different (perhaps I should have at that- white horns maybe?), but I decided that he would look like any other Bloodthirster. Hence the same paint scheme.

The only major differences is the face (duh) and the wings. The half exposed skull on Skarbrand is really sick looking, and I do like how it came out. Meanwhile, the wings I did in a similar color, but without the added details as the wings are tatters and not full wings.

All in all, he came out just fine. I still think my original Bloodthirster takes the cake. But considering I hadn't painted anything Khorne in a while, and that I was doing Magnus at the same time... I think Skarbrand turned out quite well. It's just funny how I compare him unfavorably with my first Bloodthirster- even though they are painted the same! Interesting human foible I guess...

Interestingly enough, in early July I went to a local tournament with my Khorne force. I took my Bloodthirster but couldn't afford to take Skarbrand as well, so I didn't. But at the tournament I played a guy that brought 3(!) Bloodthirsters AND Kharn too!! Unfortunately for my opponent, his rolls were terrible and I had 3 Maulerfiends backing up my Bloodthirster. All were locked in combat all over the place. Using the combat interrupt Command Point option, my Bloodthirster struck before his could and I killed him. Meanwhile, my Maulerfiends held their own against the other Thirsters. Mine attacked and killed the second while my Maulers took out the thrird. My opponent refused to give up- he still had Kharn and some Bloodletters and Cultists. My Bloodthirster then flew into Kharn, slicing him in twain. My opponent only laughed, saying it was simply more skulls for the skull throne! LOL

At any rate, that's it for me for now.

Until next time...

The State of Chaos 2016 Edition- Rants and Predictions

Hey there Chaos fanatics. I know I have been gone a long time. I had a bit of a "problem" over the summer, and as a result I haven't blogged in a while. I have been painting, though not at the same rate that I have in the past also. It's been a bit rough, but now I'm back.

 Like I am sure we all have, I heard last week about the new Chaos Space Marine supplement, Traitor's Hand, as well as new psychic powers and a new Kharn the Betrayer (awesome model, one that I am looking forward to painting. Big time.). Now, I know some Chaos fanatics are chomping at the bit. I am excited too, though I am much more guarded and cautious about it. In fact, I doubt that the book will really help us Chaos Space Marine players very much. Indeed, the cards seem stacked against us. So, I decided to come out of hiding and offer my 2 cents about CSM and my hopes/fears for the Traitor's Hand book. 

The state of Chaos Space Marines, as most of you know, has been rather poor for some time. CSM have been quite neglected for what feels like millennia. It is widely known that the forces of CSM are no longer feared. In fact, they have become something of a joke, which I know we Chaos players take very personally. We spend so long converting and painting and molding our models, and it sucks that "Joe Blow" Space Marines can kick our asses seven ways from Sunday. How the mighty have fallen indeed. At any rate, I thought I would blog about my thoughts and frustrations just as the new book approaches. With that, let us examine the state of the problems CSM players face right now, in no particular order:

(Note: This rant does not address Khorne Daemonkin (which is a solid book), only the regular CSM book)

1) Units are over-costed for what they do (except Plague Marines perhaps). They therefore have a smaller footprint and lower model count (unless you're doing cultist spam- in which case the book should be called "Chaos Cultists" and not CSM). You can bet that if you run a CSM force that you WILL be outnumbered (no matter who your opponent is), but without a significant advantage or mechanic to overcome that numerical inferiority. GW needs to either lower the points costs or give CSM MORE special abilities to compensate. 

2) CSM is lacking in some of the "advancements" in weaponry, like Grav. I say "advancements" because while Grav weapons are relatively new game play wise, Grav and other weapons have been around since the Great Crusade. Why on earth don't CSM have these ancient weapons? Perhaps they might be rarer, and they certainly won't have the Grav Centurions, but you mean CSM can't steal some Grav guns/cannons in their attacks and raids to supplement the ones left over from the Heresy era? Come on.

3) CSM lack drop pods- which puts them at a severe disadvantage against Space Marines. Again, this makes no sense fluff wise or game wise. How do CSM NOT have drop pods? These were a staple of the Great Crusade (Istvaan drop site massacre anyone?)- how do CSM not have them in the 41st millennium? And if you are doing more recent heretic CSMs (like Crimson Slaughter, the Purge)- surely they would have them too, as drop pods ARE what SMs do in the 40K era... I really don't get this one.With all the new shenanigans with "free" drop pods and the like, well, it puts CSM behind the 8-ball. I don't necessarily want "free" drop pods, but let use use them. Oh, and NOT the FW one that costs a bazillion dollars- let us "Chaos" out regular drop pods.

4) Lack of Formations is a major sticking point for me. SMs get formations that are each better and more outlandish than the last. Seriously, between the SM codex and the recent Angels of Death supplement the SMs have SO many great formations to choose from, each with nifty bonuses. What does Chaos get? Hmmm... Up till now, not much. Yes, I hope the Traitor's Hate book fixes this, but if you have seen the few other CSM formations that have been done till now they are but shadows compared to other factions formations. What besides the Sorcerer Cabal has been good for CSM? (And Chaos Daemons fare little better- I have to have 90 Blue Horrors to field a Tzeentch formation. 90! Are you fucking kidding me?). CSM needs solid Formations to catch up with everyone else.

5) Chaos gets NOTHING for free (besides Chaos Focus for psychic powers). Nada. Zilch. I have played SM players tacking the decurion and I can't stand it anymore. Free Rhinos, Drop Pods, and Razorbacks have really fucked things up. Free?! My friend Brian simply takes free Razorbacks (pays for the Las) and Drop Pods- he wrecks havoc every single time against almost every opponent because he gets in for face quickly with the drop pods, fires a ton of las shots, and because the transports are free it means he has points to spend on other things. For a 2,000 point game he figured that he used about 400 points in transports. He had a 400 point advantage. How is that fun or fair? (And the Chaos Boon table is too random and too situational to count as a free bonus as opposed to free transports)

6) There are many specialist units that aren't actually "special" at all. Warp Talons are supposed to be fast, hard hitting close combat units, but they don't pack any more of a punch than other units, and they are so damn expensive so what's the point? Maulerfiends are close combat wrecking machines, but their weapon skill is lousy, and their base attacks are too few. Mutilators suck big time too. Chosen are good but far inferior to Sternguard or Command squads. I could go on , but seriously, the specialized units are anything but special.

7) Again, compared to their SM counterparts, CSM get shafted on army-wide tactics. Ultramarines get to chose from 3 doctrines (and can re-use them if they take the decurion). Iron Hands get FNP, Fists get Bolter Drill, etc. Sure, Plague Marines get FNP, but at a premium cost. Iron Hands get it for free. I don't want what they have, but give me some equivalent, for free.

8) Chaos characters must challenge is a great concept in theory. Its fluffy and fun. But again, when enemy characters are usually better equipped or have better special rules, far too often my champion dies. What is the point? This one is a minor problem, but still blows.

9) Chaos have rules that HURT the Chaos player. Like becoming a spawn. Getting hit by your own Daemon weapon. Daemonforge. Helbrute rage. Once again, I get the fluffy idea- they have traded their souls for power, and that entails risk. I get that and love it. But the "bumps" they get are not great- For example, Daemonforge allows re-rolls, but at the end if you roll a 1 you get wounded. Oh, and it only can be used once. Now, if it was every turn I say the risk is acceptable in exchange for what it can do- you could dole out a ton of damage but also risk dying. But once a game? Not that helpful considering the risk. How come Ultramarines allow everyone to re-roll ones for a turn without harm?

10) Chaos needs an improvement in their HQ choices. Compared to more recent HQ entries for SMs, the Chaos HQ choices are lackluster, at best. Sure, Typhus is a beast, and Kharn can be brutal, but besides them, what other HQ really works? Biker Lord truthfully, and that's about it. We need them to get beefed up a bit- better special rules or weapons options. Also, the Dark Apostle and the Warpsmith should be 1-3 per choice rather than 1. Being only 1 limits you greatly.

So, those are my 10 problems with Chaos as of September 2016. Now, I feel that Traitor's Hate is only going to be a band aid at best, as it cannot possibly be able to address too many of the big problems, as the book is only a supplement. Nothing short of a complete overhaul and new Codex can even begin to surmount the problems that this past edition has given us. A campaign supplement is not focused on that at all, actually.

So what will Traitor's Hand give us? We will get a couple of formations that, my gut tells me, won't be that helpful or special compared to SMs. There won't be any new units. No legion rules. No drop pods. We will have a decurion (which Cult CSMs will not be able to utilize), but I doubt we will get the luxurious SM treatment. My sad prediction is that Traitor's Hand will be cool for fluff, but poor (once again) for actual gaming. Have you seen some of the formation bundles that GW has on their website? It looks like things we have seen before (Malestrom of Gore), and things that are useless (yet another half-baked attempt to see Possessed with their Favoured of Chaos bundle).

There are some positives though. First, rules for a Chaos Knight. This is a nice plus, though I do not think Knights are be all and end all. I do like the idea of having that option though. The other thing is that Predators and Vindicators will be in formations of 3. This is really good, and is what SMs have in that respect.

I want to have hope that Traitor's Hand will make me want to play regular CSM again, but I have my doubts... Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and will have to eat my words. I wouldn't mind eating crow if that means CSM are feared once more. I don't want a "win" button- I just want to see CSM stand toe to toe against all comers again. As of right now, we cannot do that.

Until next time...

A New Year, and a New Gaming Table

Hey there Chaos fanatics! It's a New Year in the crazy Warp- indeed, every day here is like a big New Year's Eve Party- if your idea of partying involves the complete disregard for physics, daemonic incursions, and the like. LOL

Anyways, I have a special article here for your approval.My friend Joe and I have recently put the "finishing" touches on his "new" gaming table, and we just played our inaugural game on it. I know that I have written about this table before (Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3  if you are interested in an "in-depth" look).

In brief, I once had a huge gaming table. However, after getting married and "life event" stuff, I was no longer able to keep the large battlezone. So I gave it to my friend Joe. Now, for him as well, "life events" intervened, and for a while he did nothing with the table. But, in recent months, Joe's life has settled a bit and he has once again gotten the 40K bug. Since last summer, we have worked to create a new gaming table, made from the ashes of my old one.

Basically, Joe wanted something different from the cityfight table that I made. So, we just flipped the table over. Once again, Pete planned the design and cut the foam, while I would work to paint the table. Joe would help with both, but he's mostly a "supervisor" LOL.

So, what type of table did Joe want? Why, an ice world table, of course! Joe has visions of a Hoth-like situation- cold, desolate, frozen. Of course, he is currently building Dark Angels as opposed to Space Wolves (which is what I'd do if I had a damn snow table), but that's not important. Once the table was painted (blue with heavy stippling of white texture paint on top), we then set out to make the frozen lake / river that takes up a chunk of the table. We decided to use lots of water effects. It worked great, though the stuff isn't as resilient as resin (such as what Pete used on his lava table). The ice LOOKS great, though we may have to revisit it later with resin or something else.

In the meantime, I also made several terrain pieces for the board, complete with ice and snow. I used both 40K and Fantasy pieces. I painted up the prometheum pipes I had laying around. I also finished the Fortress  of Redemption (that Pete and Joe had given me for the holidays a few years ago)- I decided to give it some ice and snow and give it to Joe, since he's now playing Dark Angels. I'll still get to use it, so that's the important thing. Finally, I bought some Christmas trees for decorating holiday villages- on sale! So I bought 2 bags of them. We could make a small forest on the table if we wanted to (and we just might).

So, after working on it off and on for so long, the table was finally ready to be played on. I must say that Joe has the perfect "man cave" set up. The gaming table is in his garage. Now, the garage is finished, but it could only fit one car and not much else. However, it is LARGE enough to make an entire man cave out of it. Whilst he is still working on it, he has already put a small couch in there, and a space heater. With a bit more time, effort, and purchases of essentials, Joe will have the perfect gaming space. Heck- it is big enough to put a smaller table in there as well. We could have a small game going at the same time as the big one. Perhaps 2 elite squads are in the facility under the frozen lake, desperately battling to control the super weapon within. Or, if GW finally gets its act together, we could do a Battlefleet Gothic game alongside- the fight on the planet and in the stars above... the possibilities are endless.

So, about a week and a half ago, we fought our first game on the table. I decided that I HAD to use Khorne Daemonkin against his Dark Angels. Loyalist versus Chaos, as nature intended. Plus, I thought the red would look striking against the white and blue frozen board (it certainly did).

The mission was Secure the Relic, which was placed dead center on the table. Joe was clearly out for blood from our last game in which I played Mechanicus (see HERE). My Mechanicum forces brutalized Joe, and now he wanted to make me pay for it, There would be no mercy, no quarter in this game. It was also the idea that he wanted to win on HIS table for the first time out that made the game extra spicy.

However, I wasn't going to go quietly into that good night. I built up a rather effective Khorne list (I actually used a variation of it at one of the tournaments). I allied it with CSM Codex, to get Kharn and a Heldrake (cultists being the mandatory Troop).  Once again, Joe did not know much about the Daemonkin, as he has not faced anything quite like this before (the book has far different synergy than a traditional CSM / CD alliance). I, on the other hand, have had some experience against the new DA book (sadly, I was beaten handily but the Tournament Organizer who used  DA). However, I learned from that, and planned to use that knowledge against Joe.

First, I was determined to rush EVERYTHING forward. Nobody waits, everyone goes. Now, this meant casualties. My Daemon Prince got zapped immediately by Joe's Dreadnoughts. His terminators made short work of my bikers. My cultists were used as cannon fodder, naturally.

My aces in the hole were my Maulerfiends and Flesh Hounds. These two are very very effective. I decided to run the 3 Maulerfiends together, rather than spread them out across the battlefield. This meant that if they collided with ANYTHING in CC, that enemy would die, no question. The Flesh Hounds, with their 2 wounds each and S5 on the charge are great at killing Space Marines, or at the very least tying them up for several turns. Any +3 armor saves would be toasted by my third ace- my Heldrake. He would make quick work of Joe's regular Marines.

The game was certainly a back and forth. As more of my stuff died, I summoned Bloodletters and a new Daemon Prince to replace the one he killed. The Drake/Mauler/Hound combo was taking its toll on Joe. It didn't help matters that some of his Deep Striking terminators scattered off the board- and were LOST! Good times, good times.

Ironically, it was my bikers and cultists that actually won me the game. They played a crucial role, delaying the advance of Joe's terminators toward the Relic. Due to the delay, my newly minted Daemon Prince grabbed the Relic first, and began slowly walking away with it. The terminators just finished up when my Maulerfiends were swinging round, fresh from killing a squad of terminators and Devastators. They were now flanking, and took out those pesky relic-seeking terminators as well. Plus, my Heldrake was also flying in support, torching a squad of Space Marines (that had been tied down by my hounds).

 The game ended with my DP in possession of the Relic, with Rhinos and Khorne Bezerkers led by Khorne in protective support. Ultimately, the score was 5 to 2. I got 3 for the Relic, 1 for Slay, 1 for Linebraker (Maulerfiends were in his zone by that point). He got 1 for Slay and 1 for First Blood (both for shooting my first DP to death).

The game was a ton of fun, and the beautiful table certainly helped to make it an evocative setting to our battle. Joe vowed revenge once more, and I have no doubt that he shall have it, sooner or later. Nevertheless, the Scions of Gorechild have gotten a hold on an important Dark Angel relic. Who knows what that Daemon Prince will do to desecrate it?

(Please note- I took few pics of Joe's models because they are either grey plastic or just coated black. Once he works on them I'll be sure to put them on my blog). 

Have a Happy New Year. Until Next Time...

Catch Up and Super Mario Maker!

Hey there everyone! I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. Work and other things have kept me from blogging for over a month. Each time I wanted to give an update, I got waylaid by something else.

But, I have been doing hobby work. I finished doing that commissioned work from the Deathstorm box for my friend's friend's store. If you recall, I did a bunch of Tyranids earlier in the year. Well, the guy's store is about to open and he wanted to display them in the store. So I did 5 terminators, 1 dreadnought, and 5 Death Company. I've never done Blood Angels before, and it was an educational experience, no doubt. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take pictures of them. Perhaps when they are on display I'll be able to get a couple of pics.

 I also took my friend Brian to play a tournament at my local store. This was his first tournament, so it was exciting for him. He took Ultramarines and an Imperial Knight ally. For my part, I took my Khorne Daemonkin horde. My first game saw me battling Nick, my last opponent in the previous tournament. Our last game was close fought, and even though I lost, Nick was a great opponent and I had a blast. This game was no different, though I swore revenge. It was again an even and close fought game (this time he had his Grey Knights). He beat me again, though by only one Victory Point. My second game was against James' Terminator heavy Dark Angels with some regular SMs and Devastators in support. Much to my chagrin, I found that DAs shooting overwatch at FULL ballistic skill is waaaayy too much for my close combat army. I didn't make it easy, but he wiped the floor with me. My third opponent was Grey Knights (again). But my last two losses made me aggressive- he had never played against Daemonkin before, and I wanted blood. I won the match, though he put up a stronger fight at the end of the game.

Overall, out of 12 players, I came in 6th. Right in the meaty part of the curve. But- Brian the "novice" placed 4th! Wow! He really is a good player- I have taught him well. We are both eagerly looking forward to the next tournament.

Meanwhile, I've been helping my friend Joe with his table (which used to be my table before I moved). He has decided to do a "Hoth"-like ice world table, complete with a frozen river bisecting the board. After Pete carved the foam pieces, Joe and I used texture paint to cover the blue undercoat. The effect is striking- it really looks like ice and snow. This week, we used water effects to fill up the frozen lake area. So far, we have used 4 bottles! However, it is looking quite good. Joe is particularly thrilled with its reflective quality. The board isn't done yet- but it will look great when its done. Can't wait to game on it.

At any rate, besides all that, I have found a "new" obsession. As long time readers know, I have loved video games ever since I was a kid. Though I play games less now than I used to, I am still a fan (at one time I could have been considered hardcore; but now I'm more casual, though I can't wait for Fallout 4). Though I had an Atari 2600, it was Super Mario Brothers and Nintendo that really ignited my passion for video games. The first SMB is such a classic, and in my eyes it is what games are all about. I love all types, but Mario is the grail, as far as I'm concerned.

With that in mind, it was a no-brainer for me to get Super Mario Maker for the Wii U. Making my own levels? Playing the levels of others from around the world? What's not to like?

The "game" is revolutionary. Using the Wii U pad, building levels is very intuitive and a breeze to use. Indeed, this is THE game for the Wii U- taking FULL advantage of the touch screen. Building a SMB level without it would be so much harder. But with the pad- wow. Its so simple. You could create a Mario level very quickly and efficiently, thanks to the pad and a solid interface.

Of course, creating GOOD Mario levels is easier said than done. As we are not game developers, it is easy to lose one's way, making things too tough, adding too many enemies, too many blind jumps, etc. Even I have fallen into this trap once and again. Making the balance that is the hallmark of the Mario series is where the true challenge lies. I have been working hard at this- even though I can "do it"- I have to say that I have an even greater appreciation for what Miyamoto and company accomplished 3 decades ago because of Super Mario Maker.

It is also a lot of fun playing the levels of people from around the world. Sure, there are plenty of cheap/instant deaths, levels where you don't have to move, etc. However, I have played a bunch that could well have been real levels in the old games. What I love is that this game allows you to play new SMB levels- new for as long as people create them. That's just amazing- and unthinkable to an old NES player. An unending supply of new SMB levels. Wow.

The only downside is that it is tough to find creators and levels that are on your skill level. Further, Nintendo has chosen to show off those with the highest ratings (each course can be starred as "excellent" by a player). Sadly, this means only the highest games are easily accessed. Otherwise you can play the 100 Mario challenge, which randomly loads up levels you can play. Its great, though I think Nintendo could work on this aspect more.

That not withstanding, Super Mario Maker is nothing short of phenomenal. Truly, it allows me to fulfill a childhood fantasy of creating my own Nintendo games. It is that darn good, But I'm not satisfied. Come on Nintendo- give me Zelda Maker. Metroid Maker. Mario Kart Maker. It CAN be done Nintendo- you just proved it!!

So, at any rate, I'm going to leave some of the course IDs for a few of my levels, if you happen to have Super Mario Maker. I hope you enjoy them:

2DD8-0000-005F-40BE  ("Building Castles in the Sky")
9BF7-0000-003E-C171   ("March of the Bob-ombs")
51E9-0000-0037-F01B    ("A Mushroom Too Far")
6CC2-0000-0034-5E83    ("The Shell Game")
13CD-0000-004B-D599   ("Return of da Goomba")
93A7-0000-0078-7C16     ("Koopenstein Castle")
CB9A-0000-0082-0DD0   ("Bullet Bills at 20 Paces")
C9BA-0000-004B-D027   ("Liz's Ghost House" - which I made for my wife, lol)

Oh, if you want, you could put your course ID's in my comment section, and I'll be glad to play them. 

Until Next Time...

A Hodgepodge of Adeptus Mechanics

Hey there everybody! Welcome back to yet another scintillating edition of Chaos Corner. Old Man Chaos is back with a bit more from the world of Warhammer 40K. First, I had a 2K point match at my local store this week. I played my Knorne Daemonkin, and my opponent was a general Space Marine army. The game was a good one, as we played with the Tactical Objectives (Spoils of War Mission). I ended up winning 10 to 6. It was a close game for a bit, but as it went on the brutal combination of 3 Maulerfiends, 20 Flesh Hounds, and 8 Chaos Bikes really put my opponent in a pickle. My bikes did get killed, but did a great job harassing. The hounds just couldn't be killed fast enough, and the Maulerfiends ran straight across the table and wrecked havoc on his rear lines. I also took allied CSM- Kharn, 1o cultists and a Heldrake. They all did very little- I started Kharn on the far edge in a Rhino- but I just coudln't get him into the battle fast enough. The Cultists were ignored, which helped me when I got the card for that objective they were sitting on. The Heldrake I equipped with the Autocannon, fearing flyers. But my opponent went man heavy- if I had taken the Baleflamer I could have toasted his whole army. Despite the win, I had 2 rather sad moments. I had tokens to call in a Bloodthirster- and I rolled 12!!! Yikes! And my Daemon Prince took 2 turns to kill a Rhino due to lame rolling. Even though the forces of Khorne won, I suspect he'd like to have a serious talk with this under-performing warband- Lol. Oh, and while I was at my local I saw they're doing a 40K Tournament in September- I know where I'll be going! 

I also managed to finish more Ad Mech stuff. I must confess I haven't gone about this methodically. I have a hodgepodge of models from both books (why is it two books again? Makes no damn sense). I couldn't field any type of real force yet (unless I did unbound and with an Imperial Knight). But, I have been going after models that I like (I'm not a fan of the Electro-Priest models, for example, and I don't know if I'll ever get a box).

For example, I love the Ironstriders- both the Dragoons and the Ballistarii. So I picked one up. I was really torn as to which version to build. I opted for the close combat oriented Dragoon with the Taser Lance. I had this vision of them standing near my Imperial Knight, ready to charge to protect him (or kill any leftovers that his cannons didn't finish off). The idea of them charging in like old knights on horseback intrigued me. Now, I know that only one doesn't look like a huge charge, but I'm sure I'll pick up some more in the next couple of months.

Again, I did him to look like my Imperial Knight. Just briefly, I painted the plates Stegadon Scale Green, with half the plates done in Thunderhawk Blue, followed by highlights of Russ Grey. The trim was done with Balthazar Gold, with Brozne over it. The machine parts I did in Leadblecher, with Nuln Oil wash, followed by highlights in lighter metals, followed by Earthshade in key spots, to look oily/dirty.

The second model I'm showing is the Dunecrawler. This model is amazing, though some of the tiny bits broke on me (one ladder rung, one thin antenna, and the first cannon I was building). It was a comedy of errors- I don't normally make that many mistakes, but I managed to figure it all out. I gave him the Neutron Blaster I believe (tried to build the other one, and the dish section snapped).

Despite the few breaks, the model went together quite quickly. I really like the look of it- part enclosed sentinel, part spider. Again, I painted it the same as described above. There are a lot of wires on this one- I did them in various colors, Khorne Red, Caldor Blue, Yellow/Black.

I know they can be in squads of three, so undoubtedly I may have to get one or two more. I could field them individually or in one unit that way, so I could be tactically flexible. I'll certainly build one to be anti-air, just in case, as Ad Mech have no other anti-flyer capability (and no flyers for that matter).

The final model for today is the Tech-Priest Dominus. I absolutely love the model. It is an absolutely perfect rendering of a higher up Tech Priest, with so many wires, mechatndrils, and servo skull. The model is just brimming with detail. It gave me the opportunity to have several different looking energy weapons (one I did with red as base up to orange highlight, while the other was a buildup of greens- which I decided to use for their eyes too).

The robes I kept slightly darker- I did all the same steps as before, though I used Nuln oil for the recesses and only did some touching up. Thus, the robe looks darker and deeper than the Datasmith's cloak.

 Of special note is the ridges of his metal back. I did the edge and his axe with the new gold paints-  Retributor Armor, followed by highlights of Liberator Gold. I must say the new golds are amazing, with Retributor being a very rich color that goes on very easily. I think that both golds will be useful for future projects too. At any rate, the Tech-Priest came out fantastically, and he looks just fine with the rest of my Ad Mech forces.

I have so far enjoyed working on my Ad Mech forces. They have been a lot of fun to put together and paint (despite my mistakes on the Dunecrawler). I still have to get a few more elements from both books if I am to field any kind of force at all, let alone a battle effective one. Plus, I want to make sure its playable with and without an Imperial Knight. I want to use him more (the whole reason I got Ad Mech to begin with), but I'm sure there will be some games where we don't want super-heavies, so I have to make sure they are viable on their own (I could always ally them with my Ultramarines or my brother's Imperial Guard if he lets me).

I am looking forward to future Ad Mech models. I think I may get a few troop options from both books- this will enable me to field them even if I don't have everything else.

Until next time...