Destroyer Lord Conversion

Good evening children of Grandfather Nurgle and thank you for joining us once again in our dark corner of the warp. Today I would like to offer up a simple conversion I made for my Destroyer Lord.

This has come about due to all my 6th edition games being 2v2 with a 1000 points each. So far I have been using my Destroyer Lord model I made when I first started playing around three years ago, back then he used to sit back with a Resurrection Orb and Staff of Light babysitting two squads of destroyers.

Recently I have been using him with a squad of Wraiths and he needs a Warscythe, my gaming group is pretty easy going with model representation as they like to try new things out regularly. As I did have a big rant on how this is making me lazy and not wanting to sound like a hypocrite I have been slowly building up the models I use with the correct  war gear to try and sort this out.

To start I picked up a new Destroyer kit and attached an Overlord that came with an Annihilation barge to the spine. This needed a bit of trimming on the cape as rather than extend it over the back I wanted to give it a short ragged appearance to represent how he was once a powerful leader before he became a destroyer aeons ago.

Rather than the standard Warscythe the Overlord came with I swapped it for the one handed version that comes with the Lychguard kit I have been using for Cryptek parts as is a bit more imposing.

Overall this is was a very simple conversion which could have been taken much further though I am happy with the outcome. Hopefully soon he should be looking good leading my Wraiths on the battlefield if my current resurgence of hobby motivation stays with me.



Until next time keep Nurgle close to your heart and you shall never falter.

Necron Night Scythe Update

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us in our twisted paradise once again. Today my offering to our Lord Nurgle is a work in progress update for my Night Scythe. As I was working with metallics I started by priming it black.

Following that I gave a liberal coating of Tin Bitz, at this point I did feel that the partial build would have been much better as certain parts begged me to destroy a brush just to get to them. Sadly this colour has been discontinued by Games Workshop but luckily for my Necrons Vallejo do a version called Tinny Tin in their Game Colour range along with a lot of the now discontinued colours from Games Workshop.

Lastly I painted two of the wing sections in Burnt Cadre Red ( without this colour I would be lost as I sneak it into all my armies ) which is on the top, bottom and sides. The engines, vents and the parts between the wings got treated to Vallejo Brass.

In keeping with the warriors I posted a while back I plan to add a mix of Tin & Boltgun to the Tin sections, a few more coats on the red for a smooth finish before highlighting up, dull the brass sections down and then I can try my hand at some gem effects.

Until next time do not run from those of your number which are infected, for they carry his blessings to you.

O'Shashar

As an extra bonus for you today I recommend you visit TheFrontlineGamer here. He is having a massive give away to bring in fresh blood to his blog. While you are there for the free stuff it is worth a look through his archives as he does put out a lot of good work on a regular basis.

This time he is giving away $100 store credit for Dragon Forge bases and I for one recommend these bases whole heartedly. You can read my review of them here and TheFrontlineGamer has done a couple himself.

Necron Night Scythe Kit Review

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us again in the dank darkness that is the Cupboard of Nurgle. Today I am reviewing the latest addition to the Necron forces that have made available to enslave the mortal races.

From the moment I saw the first pictures I knew that I would be adding one to my collection, as this is the first model that has made me want to avoid logging onto Diablo 3 and slaying demons to steal their treasure ( any saving of innocent lives is merely a side effect of my greed ). With this in mind I took a trip to the local game store in the hope they had one left for me to get my mitts on. I was glad to see that they had ordered in twice as many Necron ones as they had the Ork or Marine variety ( maybe they guessed I would be wanting at least one ).

The first thing I noticed was that the box of the Night Scythe is the same size as a Rhino but the other two are Landraider box size which I understand for the Ork plane as it looks like you get a nice sized model for your money but the Storm Talon just doesn't seem meaty enough to warrant it.

I cannot say how happy it made me to see that this kit only came on two large sprues rather than the three the Ghost Ark came on. As I looked over it I knew this was more like the kits I want, by this I mean while I like variety and the odd extra piece is nice I hate it when you can get exactly the same end result in 5 pieces but it is done in 50 ( separate necks on Necron models I am looking at you ).

This model was a breeze to build and more surprisingly I actually enjoyed it rather than the uphill struggle that was the Ghost Ark. I was so engrossed in my work that rather than keep it in separate parts to paint ( which I would recommend as you can see below the pilot is well caged in ) I just kept going and before I knew what was happening I was at the stage were I needed to magnetise the guns.

Now I could show you how I did it but the method I used was the excellent work done by Nick over at IDICBeer 40k who has done this and others which I recommend having a look at if you are looking at magnetising Necron Vehicles. The only change I would recommend is to make the cut on the tabs of the Tesla Destructors down to the height of both magnets to give a better fit as the plastic in the groove is quite thin which makes it hard to sink the magnets.

I understand that people seem split on its usefulness in games and I admit I haven't tried one yet as they do seem a touch fragile with them being denied the +2 Av shields. Though with all the rumours of sixth edition coming it may become a true flyer and its popularity change and see everyone rolling out six of these reasonably priced models out in games.

My only complaint is with the large flying stand and it is that it needs a little encouraging to be put in or taken out. However as I don't have any other models on the large flying stand I couldn't say if this is by design or not.

Overall I love this model and I am currently waiting for my primer to dry as I type this post up. Now this isn't usually the case for me so I want to strike while the iron is hot before my motivation to paint lulls. Hopefully I should have a progress report on this shortly and have another model completed towards my goal for the year before too long.

Until next time spread the blessings of our Lord Nurgle to everyone you encounter in these times of strife.

O'Shashar

A Necron Ghost Ark Model Review

Good evening minions of the pestilent one and thank you for joining me once again in the dark recesses of his domain. I apologise that we have not made many offerings of late, this is down to playing 40k & Warhammer Quest as well as working on my Thunder Wolf Cavalry model for the 9th.

As part of building my Necron force I have recently confronted the Ghost Ark model and it is a beast. This is a review on my experience of building the Ghost Ark kit and not a review of its use in game.

When I unboxed the kit it came on three large sprues that were crammed with parts and each part was numbered which concerned me a little as while I like large amount of parts I personally feel the Necrons seem to have gone the path of "forced dynamic poses" where if you only have 5 models then it is ok as they all have a different pose. Though when you get a few kits together you have the same 5 poses repeated unless you spend time converting them to be different as part A must go with part B and never mixed with C.

Now as I got into it my fears were confirmed as while there were some repeat parts things such as the Warriors in the racks had different harness numbers which didn't look any different at a casual glance though at least their necks were attached unlike the pilot. This may seem a small thing but why have a 3mm cubed piece of plastic not attached to body?

I was impressed with the amount of parts and the clear instructions it came with which have improved significantly from the warrior instructions on the side of the battle force. However these improved instructions have the warning signs that this is a model first and a game piece second as there are multiple stop points which suggest you paint what you have assembled so far.

They are sensible places to stop such as painting the warriors before placing on the ship though one is part way through building the helm. So you need to make a decision as to if you want to make sure this is painted up while you have ease of access or if you want to use the £30+ transport. This way lead to a new era of buying one model and painting it before using it and I sincerely hope it does but I for one kept I have mine in two sections to paint while still being usable in the mean time.

Please do not get me wrong this is not a bad thing as on models such as Rhinos if it said "stop to paint the inside before glueing the roof on" there would be less glued shut in anger are not being able to paint the console how they wanted.

Overall this is a very good model kit and unfortunately I feel that means you do need to treat it as you would any other model rather than a game piece and paint it before you use it otherwise you'll have difficulty getting to the fiddly parts and there are a lot of them. Also it comes on the old style flying bases which break too easily and it is not a small model being closer to a Land Raider than a Rhino foot print wise due to length and the outward facing flayers.

Until next time drink deep from the cauldron of Nurgle and accept his blessings into your life.

O'Shashar

Necron Work In Progress Round Up

Good evening followers of the pestilent one and thank you for joining me once again. As I mentioned in my last post I am considering getting a ticket for Blog Wars 3 as I had a good day with my T'au last year but want to take my Necrons.

As such I have ignored posting a bit to make a start on getting the models built up. So far I have assembled a Ghost Ark, Annihilation Barge, the Crypteks from my last post and a lord. I also have made a start on some Immortals and cleaning up some wraiths I managed to trade off of Mighty Simo. The list I have tried and made a few tweaks with though I still think it will need work due to me only have 3 or 4 games of 40k with the new codex.

I imagine from my limited experience with the army and lack of 40k in general of late that I will probably do quite poorly at Blogwars but someone has take home that tasty wooden spoon trophy.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but this week has been pretty hectic for me and spent my free time building has left me a bit drained. The Ghost Ark is a nice model which I will be reviewing as a model to build over the next week as well as trying to get more of my army built up and based so I can work on the painting.

However it isn't all Necrons all the time for me as after painting our Nurgle Lords together it got Mighty Simo and myself talking about seeing if we could make this a regular thing so we can try our hands at different models from armies we don't play and it seems like it could be a lot of fun ( at least until I have to paint then I might have second thoughts ).

As his Nurgle Lord garnished the most votes he was granted the honour of picking our first model and then we will take it in turns to pick. After a lot of head scratching he has chosen to paint the Space Wolf Thunder Wolf Cavalry which just so happens to come in a handy box of three models.

This tied in well with our FLGS having a 20% discount on so I picked up a box of these terrible beasts, chose my favourite and the war gear I wanted and have passed the rest on to my fellow bloggers. We haven't set a time frame for these yet but should have more information posted in the near future.

Until next time keep pestilence close to your heart and it will be your lone companion in the darkness.

O'Shashar

WIP Necron Warriors & Crypteks

Good morning travellers of the warp It is good to see you have once again joined me in the darkest recesses of Nurgle's cupboard. I apologise if you have seen this post going to a dead link I accidentally published this early and with the new blogger interface it hadn't been removed from the blog rolls when I checked this morning after rolling it back last night, so here it is ahead of schedule.

 Today I have for you an update on my Necrons I purchased when the codex was released but have struggled with an update to my paint scheme. After much trial and error on one poor warrior who now knows most of my paint collection intimately .

So first up here are my work in progress warriors. I kept my original dark metal colour which is a base of tin bitz then touches of gun bolt metal finished with devlan mud wash. On to this I used burnt cadre red from vallejo for the shoulders and the gun barrel. The beam on the weapon was done with thinned layers of blood red, blazing orange, sunburst yellow and a dab of white. While they are far from perfect I feel they are going in the right direction.

I have also been building a few of my models to try and move away from model rep as much as I can as it does annoy me that I know I have the model unassembled when I'm using different models even if I am delayed with the painting.

First up is the official model. While it is finecast it isn't massively misshapen though it did come with a large amount of flash and has a rather sizeable hole on his leg which I plan to try out some liquid green stuff on.

This handsome fellow is the first of my two I kit bashed from a Lychguard box I have. Essentially the only changes I made opposed to a Lychguard is a I assembled him with a Deathmark head and the rod of the covenant instead of a war scythe. I think once it is painted up it will be different enough to be obvious what it is without being over the top and rivalling a Lord.

Last up is the same basic idea as above but with the alternative body for the jump infantry and the tabard instead of the tail they have. Personally I don't like this as much with the orbs on his back and the cage over him but gives me a nice variety of Crypteks to remember who has what.

I am having a game later this evening which if it goes well for me my next models to make it to my assembly table will be a pair of Ghost Arks.

Until next time may the infectious pox of Nurgle blight your every waking moment so you may feel his presence fortify your spirit as your body becomes a shrine filled with his gift of life.

O'Shashar

Updating My Necron Colour Scheme

If I were you, I would keep my eye on the little ones

Good evening children of the Plague Father and thank you for joining me again on this cold and dreary evening. I would like to take a look at my ( lack of ) progress with my Necron Force and hopefully help me make a few decisions as to which direction I am going to go in with them.

When it was formally announced that Necrons were being given a new codex I knew I had to add to my collection, they were my first army after all and it would be rude not to. So I placed an order which gave me a little of everything to try out. While this does mean I don't have an army internet approved "auto include" units, I do have a lot of nice new models to have a play around with and can hopefully find what suits my play style.

I actually like the Cryptek who thinks he is KISS

So far I have only assembled an Annihilation Barge as afterwards it got me thinking about my colour scheme. As you can see in my previous post my models have a basic scheme and the basing needs redoing. I have decided to add blue to the army as it goes well with the brown of metal but am torn between a metallic blue and a flat blue. Both of which I like though I find myself switching back and forth between the two.

I apologise that the photos below are pretty bad, this is because I had lost the natural light by the time I finished trying out colours on my robotic minions but hopefully it will help you get an idea of what I am going for.

Dark blue and my Dragon Forge base tester

Metallic blue

Then there is the question of vehicles and what colour to do them as my monoliths are painted the same way as my infantry but I am unsure on the smaller vehicles. I have seen some very nice ones using a dark green base and glow effects which I could change to suit my idea of a blue scheme. This is causing me to delay my army as both ways appeal to me and I could extend the metallic blue on to the vehicles as they have a lot more detail than the oppressive monolith does.

For the bases I have decided to use the Dragon Forge bases I picked up for my Black Templars as between painting my Tomb Kings, Necrons and any smaller model that steals my interest they have been carefully packed away waiting their next wave of reinforcements to further bulk out an army I barely use ( what can I say T'au & Necrons just steal away all my 40k focus ).

Luckily I already know how I am going to do the bases as I painted one Sunday afternoon ( without my usual changes to the colour scheme every few minutes ) along with testing a few colours out on my Necrons. Looking at the pictures above I am happy that the new bases really do look a lot better.

So I put it to you ladies and gentlemen of the internet, metallic or non-metallic blue?

Until next time keeping spreading the blessings of Papa Nurgle and you will always have a place in his garden.

O'Shashar

An ancient evil stirs (Necron Showcase)

Welcome back our faithful followers to Nurgle. Now I thought I would continue where O'Shashar left off and dust off my small Necron army with the pleasing news they are due to be updates tomorrow (let's face it, we all know its happening) and its about time aswell! I started my Necron army shortly after getting back into Wahammer about 2 years back. I thought they would be an easy army to paint and build up and the plan was to use them when I got bored of my Spiky Marines.

Needless to say in 5th edition Necrons have been nerfed pretty badly, so I am hoping the update with bring them back in the competition. However, I don't want Games Workshop to carry on their trend of making each new army overpowered like the Shiny Super Marines as I don't want to dust off my Necrons only to find that everyone has decided to be them as they are the best thing out there. Rant over. Anyway, back onto my cold, merciless killers from the stars. Below are a few snaps of my army (about 850points) in all its glory!

I decided not to go for the standard paint scheme of black dry brushed with a bit of silver and a few details as I thought it was too sloppy. I looked through the codex and decided to bring a bit of colour to the scheme. There where a lot of nice examples of alternative ways to paint Necrons. I really liked the ceramic effects on some of the schemes as well as the old and rusted. In the end I ended up doing a mix of two or three of the schemes in the book. There a few more photos of my models below for a closer look.

I started by basecoating the entire model in Tin Bitz and then dry brushed a layer of Boltgun metal over the top. Followed by a lighter dry brush of Chainmail. I then did two washes on the model. On the metal areas, I gave a light was of Gryphonne Sypia to give the metal a rusted look. To achieve the metallic purple I gave the model a wash of Leviathan Purple. The gold trim was done by starting with a base coat of Dwarf Bronze with a Layer of Shining Gold, followed by a highlight of Shining Gold.

The face mask was done to mimic bone and I did in the same way many people would do ice. The idea behind this was that the face mask would strike fear in the Necrons enemies and I thought doing the same method as bone wouldn't look right. I wanted it to look more artificial and so I went with a cold ice white. I started off with a base coat of Fenris Grey I then gradually added Space Wolf Grey in dry brush layers and then finished off with a highlight of pure Skull White.

Anyway that's it for me this week our companions of chaos. I am currently finishing some more models for my army in our tale of three gamers and I hope to have some pictures up soon of those. In the mean time continue to spread Nurgles blessings.

A Tomb World Awakens

Good evening children of the Plague Father by now I am sure you have all seen the stir about the Necrons being put on preorder at the end of this month and I for one could not be happier about this ( providing they don't get crippled in 6th that is ).

Now instead of recycling the pictures you can see everywhere at the minute I decided instead to start awakening the sleeping warriors of the C'tan I have collected ( yes that's right I have another old xeno race up my sleeve ).

I bought the Necrons after having my first game of 40k with a few friends and loved the idea of an unstoppable wave of robots killing indiscriminately with their gauss weapons stripping their victims to nothingness atom by atom and feeding the survivors to their cruel Gods. So after one whole game I went out and bought two battle forces, two Monoliths, a couple of lords and a Tomb Spyder.

Over the course of a long weekend I built and painted my Necrons ready for the next game and the look of shock on their faces when I put my painted army on the table to face off against the sea of grey miniatures is what set in my mind that I wanted to always use painted models ( I am the first to admit while I still strive for this I have fallen short more often than not ).

These are not the best painted models as these were the first models I ever painted. I remember the Necrons being quite forgiving to a new painter and letting me feel I was getting a force I could be happy with without selling my soul to the Devil for painting talent. These days they are desperate to be rebased with the crystals never fitting on any board I have ever used.

First up are five of my fifty six basic warriors. I like the basic troops and hopefully they will be given a decent buff so I can make the most of these happy little bringers of death but with new Immortals and Flayed ones supposedly having a way to become troops I am not too sure how many I will need.

Scarabs have always proven to be a good unit to tie up small squads and with their 2+ cover save when turbo boosting they are difficult to remove without templates. The proposed buffs they are rumoured to be getting may mean I have to expand their ranks though currently they are only in the warrior boxes so unless sneak in more boxes like Ripper Swarms or get their own there could be a problem I'll have to address at the time.

 

The Tomb Spyder was my first attempt at magnetising a model and turned out better than I expected. Through trial and error taught me a lot about using magnets and the importance of using the right sized magnet for the job not just the ones you have to hand.

My Wraith Lord which I ran as a Destroyer Lord with War Scythe along side two squads of three Wraiths was my first conversion using a standard Wraith and Destroyer Lord kits. It was less finesse and more force as I used a combination of clippers and bone saw to "lovingly" join the two kits and Lord Styx was born ( originally Lord Sticky as he stuck to my fingers more than himself while building it ).

Now being a true Yorkshire man and not liking to waste any thing I salvaged the head off the Wraith body and used the rest of the Destroyer Lord kit to make a Destroyer Lord with Resurrection Orb & Staff of Light. He is pictured with two of my Destroyers as he did like to sit with them in the back field to let them keep on getting back up.

And lastly the group shot which if you click will give you a larger picture if you desire a closer look.

Now I expect most of these models won't get that much use in the new codex as all the new models don't have the green plastic rods, which I have to admit I am going to miss. The plastic wasn't great with bubbles and very obvious join lines on the large crystals but it gave a nice contract to the metallic scheme.

Until next time may you enjoy the blessings of life Papa Nurgle grants you before the cold unfeeling wrath of the Necrons cleanse this universe of all organic life.

O'Shashar