The Zodiac War minatures

Last summer, I discovered a company called Yedharo models. They make fantasy miniatures, but what got me interested was the miniature series called "The Zodiac War", where every miniature was inspired by a different Zodiac sign. Since my son is a Leo, I decided to buy the Leo model, so I could paint it in a truly special way. Here's how this badass lion looks like:

As you can see, it's pretty big compared to some larger Age of Sigmar models. I really like the pose, the anatomy and the general concept (I am also a huge fan of Ajani Goldmane from Magic: the Gathering, so this should not come as a surprise). Unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the first paintjob - I was too impatient and I was rushing too much. I realized that the final outcome will be far from what I wanted and I decided to strip the paint and start over. The model sat on my shelf for months, because I really hate stripping paint. Finally, I found some time last month and started stripping paint; so far, I have removed almost 80 - 85% and now I'm excited because I will be able to start over and give this model a paintjob it deserves. 

Fury of the Deep

This morning, the long-awaited package from my local hobby shop finally arrived. If you read the title of this post - you already know what was inside this package: "Fury of the Deep", the latest 2-army box for Age of Sigmar. However, there were also two other items: datacards for Adeptus Custodes and the White Dwarf 472.

I ordered "Fury of the Deep" together with my good friend Dejan, who, after years of playing Warmachine, finally decided to try Age of Sigmar. He loved the look of the Fyreslayers (but he also loves melee-based armies) and I already have small Idoneth Deepkin army I wanted to expand (with more Thralls and Reavers!) - so ordering this box was just what we needed. 

There are a few more things I ordered in January and I'm waiting for them to arrive. Last year, I decided to drastically reduce spending on miniatures and focus more on painting and playing (when I manage to find time to play). It was a great decision - not only that I am spending way less money on miniatures, but I also avoided buying things on an impulse (and I did that a lot in the past). Now, if I think that it would be cool to have something - I usually just sit on this idea for a while and eventually it turns out that I don't really need that. This happens most of the time - the amount of models that I am really interested in is actually fairly small; everything else are just things that are "nice to have". In the same time, it helped a lot that during the past few years I really focused on smaller number of armies that I really wanted to play and paint. Now I have decent collection for each of them and deciding what to buy next actually becomes a lot easier. I really do not expect that I will order any more minis for the rest of the year. The only exception to this could be some new Sylvaneth models - but I don't think that anything like that will happen.  

Painting Lord of Change - WIP update

For the past few months, I have been slowly working on my Lord of Change. The progress was very slow: I struggled to find free time, because my job became particularly demanding in the second half of the year (and this severely affected my work-life balance as well). And when I had some free time, I usually had to choose between painting and some other activities (because sometimes you were just too tired for painting, or wanted to spend that time on something else). Anyway, now I am very close to finishing the model and I want to share some pictures: 

 

As you an see, there is still some work left to do - but it mostly comes down to details (dagger and scabbard, claws, gems, etc.). I was a bit worried about some colour combinations, but I am very satisfied with the final result. This guy will be one of the centerpiece models for my Disciples of Tzeentch army, so spending a bit more time working on those models is definitely worth it. I think I'll probably play Guild of Summoners just to see him hit the table more ofetn :D As soon as the model is completely finished, I'll post another update with better pictures. 

Painting Adeptus Custodes - Vexillus Praetor

As I mentioned already in some of my posts, Adeptus Custodes are one of my 40K armies - actually, they are my primary 40K army (besides Custodes, I play Necrons and Chaos Marines as well). However, due to my focus on Age of Sigmar at the moment, I haven't played a lot of games with my Custodes army (only a single one). I am slowly painting this army, usually when I want to take a break from painting AoS stuff (and the gold scheme is easy to paint). This year, I've managed to paint a unit of Allarus Custodinas and Vexillus Praetor shown on the pictures below: 

 

As you can see, there's only the base left - I need to add some static grass and some bushes/tufts. If you like the colour scheme, here are the quick painting instructions:

• The miniature was primed with GW Retributor Armour spray
• Armour and Vexilla were washed with GW Agrax Earthshade, then drybrushed with GW Retributor Armour
• Armour and Vexilla were highlighted with Vallejo Polished Gold and Vallejo Silver (for edge highlights)
  
• Plumes were painted with GW Evil Sunz Scarlet, washed with GW Carroburg Crimson and highlighted with GW Trollslayer Orange
• Cloth on the Vexilla was painted with Vallejo Off-White, then washed with GW Contrast Apothecary White. Few highlights with Vallejo Off-White were added. 
• Gems were painted with GW Moot Green, then Washed with GW Hexwraith Lichen and highlighted again with a bit of GW Moot Green and just a bit of GW Yriel Yellow
  
• Metallic parts of the armour were painted with Vallejo Chainmail Silver, washed with GW Nuln Oil and highlighted with Vallejo Silver
• Leather was painted with GW Contrast Gore-Grunta Fur and then highlighted with Vallejo Leather Brown

NOTE: Unless noted otherwise, all Vallejo colours are from Vallejo Model Colour range.

Battle Report: Slaves of Darkness vs Stormcast Eternals (1000 pts)

Last weekend, I have played my first game of Age of Sigmar 3rd edition. I decided to play Slaves of Darkness and my friend Ivan brought his Stormcast Eternals (because he was excited to try the rules from their new battletome). We played a 1000-point matched-play game, using Veins of Ghur scenario from GHB 2021. However, I forgot to bring my Marauder Horsemen models, so our host Aleksa  borrowed his Kavalos Deathriders models to serve as "proxies" for Marauders (just keep that in mind when you look at the pictures below). Here are the lists we played: 

SLAVES TO DARKNESS (Ravagers):

- Chaos Lord on Karkadark (General, Enternal Vendetta, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Chaos Sorcerer Lord (Bolstered by Hate, Blasphemous Curiass and Binding Damnation as a lore spell, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Chaos Warriors (10, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Chaos Knights (5, Mark of Tzeentch)
- Varanguard (fellspears, Mark of Tzeentch)
Grand strategy: Hold the Line 

 STORMCAST ETERNALS (Anvils of Heldenhammer):

- Lord-Arcanum (General, Master of Magic, Arcane Tome, Chain Lightning)
- Lord-Relictor (Translocate)
- Lord-Castellant
- Judicators (10, Skybolt bows)
- Liberators (5)
- Liberators (5)
- Prosecutors (3, javelins)
Grand strategy: Hold the Line

The first round is very quick - most of my troops either move forward of run (scoring a Ferocious Advance battle tactic in the same time).  I summon a unit of Marauder Horsemen near the objective as  well. SCE move a bit forward and activate some of their defensive abilities. 

End of round 1

Chaos wall of steel, getting ready to charge

 

I win the priority for the second round. Since I am in an ideal position, my Lord on Karkadark, Varanguard and Knights declare charges. Varanguard and the Lord destroy one unit of Liberators and later in the same turn Varanguard use their ability to attack again, killing Prosecutors as well (this allows me to complete my chosen battle tactic - Broken Ranks). Knights are not so lucky: they manage to almost completely destroy the second unit of Liberators, but suffer a lot of damage in melee and are wiped out by Judicators (Ivan also uses his Thunderbolt volley as his holy command, which allows him to shoot twice in the same turn).

End of round 2

I win the priority for the third round. I use Ravagers ability "Glory for the taking" to make Sorcerer Lord my general for the turn and summon another unit of Chaos Marauder Horsemen. I manage to complete my chosen battle tactic (Aggressive Expansion) and score a lot of VPs, but I do not manage to kill anything in combat, apart from a single Liberator. However, Ivan manages to destroy both Lord on Karkadark and the Varanguard, leaving me without any heavy-hitters.

End of round 3

Ivan wins the priority for the fourth round. He destroys both units of Marauders, using his heroes and Judicators. His Lord-Arcanum turns into a Monster (using Metamorphosis) and moves to contest one of my objectives. He is then charged by a unit of Chaos Warriors with a lot of defensive abilities (Oracular Visions and Mystic Shield). He does not deal any damage to Warriors, but they also fail to deal any significant damage in return (despite absolutely fantastic hit and wound rolls). My Sorcerer Lord also joins the fight. I manage to score another battle tactic - Conquer (by taking over the objective that the Lord-Arcanum was controlling).

End of round 4

I win the priority for the fifth battle round. I choose Bring it Down as my battle tactic, trying to kill "monstrous" Lord-Arcanum. Cahos Sorcerer Lord hits Lord-Arcanum with Arcane Bolt and deals some mortal wounds, but I still fail to complete the battle tactic. However, I score VPs for controlling two objectives. We stop playing at this point, because we realize that even if Ivan manages to score maximum number of VPs, I will still be in the lead. 

SLAVES TO DARKNESS VICTORY! 

Some observations from the game:   

• I expected my units to be more durable, but then I left Chaos Sorcerer Lord far behind, so he was not able to use Mystic Shield and Oracular Visions on any of my heavy-hitters. Combined with Total Defense command ability and ability to reroll 1s on armour saves due to Mark of Tzeentch, this should help my units stay longer on the battlefield (and I have rolled a lot of 2s, unfortunately). 
• Varanguard are really good on the charge, and they easily return their points. I know that they are probably best in Archaon lists (or Knights of the Empty throne), but I think they definitely have their place in other setups as well. 
• My opponent forgot to use some very important abilities (Deathly Aura and Cycle of the Storm) that could have changed the outcome of several fights. 
• I like the new ways of scoring and new command abilities a lot. However, this abilities do make a game a bit slower (but I expect that the speed of play will increase as we play more games). However, I definitely still think that there are aspects of the game that could be improved further (as I already described here). 
• For one of my next games, I will probably choose to run the same list as Knights of the Empty Throne, because in that case I can have another Hero (Varanguard unit) which would allow me to take another enhancement (by using the corresponding batallion, as some kind people from TGA forum pointed out).