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).
  

Warhammer 6th Edition rulebook and a return to Oldhammer

During the past few months, my work was a lot more demanding, which meant that I had a lot less time for hobby activities (or I was simply too tired). What little spare time I had, I used mostly for reading some books and slowly painting my Lord of Change (and I'll cover that in another blog post). 

However, during this period a new edition of Age of Sigmar was also launched. I did not expect a new edition of the rules at least for a year (or even more), so I was a little surprised when it was announced. So, I read the core rules as well as the army updates and I realized that I have a lot of mixed feelings about the new edition.

Now, I enjoyed playing Age of Sigmar since 1st edition (as well as my friends). However, I think that there were certain parts of the game (like line of sight and targeting rules, for example) that left a lot of room for improvement. But, when I read the rules for the 3rd edition I realized that the game went in a strange direction: more complexity was added to the game but in the areas that were either completely new, or that were working fine; there were several aspects of the game that could be improved that were left intact. I always had the feeling that Age of Sigmar could benefit from more complex core rules - especially when it came to terrain and line of sight (there were some other things as well, but I feel like these two are the most important ones). Instead, the core rules maintained low level of complexity over the years, while model and army rules became more complex. Now, with the latest edition, core rules did become a lot more complex (which I think is good) - but the same problem areas still remained. I'm not saying that heroic actions, monster rampages, new command abilities or new ways of scoring victory points are bad changes - not at all! I think they are all very interesting changes and I can't wait to play my first game of the new edition. All I'm trying to say is that it was not the kind of complexity that I wanted to see the most - and that is is probably the biggest "flaw" of the newest edition (at least in my opinion). For example, I think that 9th edition of Warhammer 40K did a pretty good job with rules changes and I expected to see some of those changes transported to Age of Sigmar.

In the same time, during the last few months I started to think about playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles again. I'm excited about The Old World, but I also feel a bit nostalgic about the old WHFB editions, especially the 6th edition. I played old WHFB for a short time: I started playing Warmachine early during the MK1 and that was my primary game for many years. Later, I switched to playing Age of Sigmar, but I was always looking back at WHFB. Part of the reason was that I played WHFRP and I loved the setting, but I also missed certain elements of the game. Not only that - I missed the spirit of the game. Age of Sigmar is wondrously diversified and the minis are great, but the setting still lacks identity as strong as the one that the Old World or Warhammer 40K have (or even Warmachine/Hordes, for that matter). All these feelings, combined with the fact that due to pandemic and lack of free time I didn't play a lot of games, together with what I wrote above regarding the new edition of AoS, resulted in a decision to finally bite the bullet and start "Oldhammer" (or would it be "Middlehammer"?) project. One of my friends liked the idea as well - even better! This way, I could still enjoy Age of Sigmar, but in the same time I could "scratch that itch" when it comes to playing a different type of game.

And so, a few days ago a package arrived on my doorstep - the rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition. I managed to find a copy in a perfect condition in one of the Facebook groups for selling and trading Warhammer stuff (and the price was great as well). Here are some pictures: 

Right now, I am working on a short narrative campaign, that involves Hordes of Chaos and the Empire. I will play Tzeentch Chaos army - however, I will be mostly using new models and I won't rebase them. I know that this can lead to some issues, but my friend is fine with this, because nobody wants to have his minis ripped from the existing bases and glued to the old, square ones - especially if they are painted. 

So, in the following weeks/months I will cover the whole campaign and my Tzeentch force in the series of posts.

Custom hero for the narrative campaign

One of the options that Age of Sigmar 2.0 rules provided, and that I think was really good, was The Anvil of Apotheosis. I really liked the idea of building heroes for narrative games, and since I started collecting Disciples of Tzeentch this year, I decided to build my first custom hero - the loyal servant of the changer of Ways.  

I knew what I wanted - a warrior-mage, armed with a warhammer, riding a steed of Chaos (or some kind of daemonic mount). Since I really like Varanguard models, I used one of them as a base for the conversion. As you can see on the pictures below, the conversion is pretty basic and requires just a small amount of work - all you need to do is to swap the Varanguard head with Tzaangor (or Tzaangor Enlightened) one, and that's it. You might have to do a bit of work in order to make the Tzaangor head fit properly on the rider's torso, but that should be fairly easy.  

 

 

And here's a warscroll I created for this guy - the hero is 200 points (DP), with mount and all additional abilities/upgrades:

 

The good thing is that I can always use this model as a regular Chaos hero on Daemonic Mount and it also fits nicely with my Tzeentch WHFB army (I know, it's not on square base, but rebasing is something that I just don't want to do at this point).