Alongside the two warbands, one gets a ton of terrain. These are the buildings included. The smaller scatter terrain is used for Catacomb scenarios while the larger buildings are designed for above ground scenarios.
Of course, this is also very useful Age of Sigmar terrain.
Space Marine Captain with Power sword and Lieutenant with volkite pistol.
Chaplain with Crozius and Judiciar with executioner blade and temperomortis engine.
Bladeguard Ancient with Astartes Banner.
Way, way, back in the dawn of time I had a Blood Angels Army based around one of the original metal Dreds and a load of the first starter set 40K. They were orange in those days, as I recall.
Finally getting around to opening my new Indomitus set, I was going to just add them to my Ultrasmurf Army. But then I had a radical idea: why not paint an army operating beyond The Great Tear in Space? Blood Angels are the obvious choice, especially as Dante is now Head Honcho of half the galaxy.
I went for a dark look for the captain, especially on the shield. These are dark days, after all. Anyway, I hate the white shields.
I will probably paint the line troops a little more brightly.
More clickable photos below.
The amount of scenery in the Catacombs set is stunning and I am slowly working through it. As well as 'boardgame' type scenery for the Catacomb boards, one gets a wodge of above ground Sigma ruins stuff.
Sigma scenery has been a bit yuk in the past requiring copious amount of filler but this went together fine and looks terrific with loads of detail.
More, much more, to come.
Scions are a Chaos cult from the Realm of Fire. They hunt magnavores and salamanders, eating their flaming hearts in ceremonies more 'orrible than a Church of England jumble sale. They worship the fire and channel flames through their living tissue. They yearn to join the forces of the Everchosen to take part in the Great Final Flaming Apocolypse that will consume the Realms. They also collect for the Aqshy Orphans Benevolent Fund.
The models are much more chunky that the Shadowstalker Set also found in the Catacombs box so they are easier to put together and will, I surmise, be more robust for gaming.
I have been painting and basing some miniature battleship-era navies, recently. My interest ranges from the later pre-Dreadnought battleships to the super Dreadnoughts of WWI.
On the left are Royal Navy WW1 1:3000 models from Davao. This is a powerful formation of 5 Queen Elizabeth Class and 5 Royal Sovereign Class ‘modern’ battleships, escorted by 3 C Class cruisers and 3 Destroyer flotillas.
To the right are 1:2400 pre-Dreadnought minis from Tumbling Dice. The light coloured decks are Russian and the dark brown decks, Japanese.
This is my story, this is my song,
We’ve been in commission too bleedin’ long
Roll on the Nelson, the Rodney, Renown.
This two funnel bastard is getting me down.
£120 or 46% discount
Warcry is possibly my favourite game to have emerged from the GW stable in recent years and it goes from strength to strength with the release of the new Catacomb 'complete game in a box'.
Shadowstalkers are the first non-chaos unique warband for Warcry, given that Morathi's Khainite goon squads are on the side of Order - theoretically, at least.
Khainite Shadowstalkers are Morathi's Double Ohs. They wear the mircath cloak that gifts power over shadows but binds the wearer to the Queen's psychotic will.
Assembling the eight models was a bit of a pain because the bits were arranged like 3D puzzles and the parts involve very narrow brittle plastic weapons and connections. No matter how I tried, I ended up breaking pieces as I tried to fit the fiendishly designed components together while getting everything covered in glue.
And no, dry fitting first doesn't always help. You get two odd shaped bits to dry-fit after a titanic struggle involving odd twisting motions like masonic handshakes. Then you get them apart, add glue, repeat and they now wont go together...gibber.
I chose a fairly vanilla weapon load-out, following the box art: there are plenty of options on the sprues.
The finished models, though, are amazing...with the one proviso that I worry how they will stand up to travel and repeated handling.
Lord of Afflictions & Pusgoyle Blightlord
As every phule kno, air support is vital to any army's success and the Maggotkin are no exception. Indeed, Nurgle forces are so slow that air cavalry is a highly useful asset. An eight inch move does not exactly make these fast movers but given that most Maggotkin move at five or even 4 inches....
I bought these model a couple of years ago but they were only finished as part of my lockdown clearup.
The right wing are Greeks from the city states around the Black Sea, the centre Anatolians from the hills (Pontics, Armenians, Kappadocians etc) and Galatians (professional Gaulic mercenaries) and the left wing Iranian cavalry.
I must confess, I have bought in a lot of the cavalry - I hate painting 15mm.
A few more units of Anatolians to go and I will have a playable army.
I have read a few of the Warhammer Crime stories recently and have some thoughts.
The first thing one notices is that all the stories are very similar in style and type of plot, irrespective of which author is credited. The central heroes are also basically the same character, although they may not have the same name......
And that character is Philip Marlowe
“down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.
Expect to see The Cadian Falcon when they move on to Hammet.
Commissar Ciaphus Cain, Hero is a character invented by Alex Stewart, writing as Sandy Mitchell for Black Library. He is accompanied by his aide, Gunner First Class Jurgen.
I made this model some years ago and it has languished in a box in the garage. However I have been using the lockdown to have a clear out and came across it. After a quick spruce to blow the dust off, it will soon be off to Alex as a momento of his wonderful stories.
I took as my inspiration the front cover of The Traitor's Hand, one of Alex's novels, that shows Cain riding in his personal Salamander armoured recce vehicle. However, I did not feel bound to follow the artwork slavishly as I can't see Cain advertising his presence with a banner.
The Salamander is based on a Rhino chassis so I kitbashed a Basilisk. Removing the cannon left me with an appropriate open-topped hull to which I added an heavy bolter.
I wanted the car to look lived in so added bedding and a potable water holder - water is often a limited resource on Imperial worlds
Note the ID plaque bearing Cain's name on the flank.
The Salamander offers an easy escape route over the back if Cain needs to leg it, sharpish. He has added an additional drum of promethium as a reserve. Running out of fuel in a hostile environment is one of those things that makes his hands itch.
The scout car is a bit dirty and knocked-about with the odd spot of rust on the exterior but you can be sure the weapons and mechanics are in full working order. Cain isn't to bothered about spit and polish but you never know when you may need to make a run for it.
As a recce scout, the Salamander is well equipped with augurs - very useful for detecting and avoiding dangerous enemies.
The Salamander also has the advanced comms array of a command vehicle, as befits the Regimental Commissar. These are useful for screaming for assistance when in difficulties.
Note Jurgen's 'uniform' - and I use the word cautiously. Cain's aide is equipped with a variety of ill-fitting battle dress from different campaigns, sporting a variety of camos.
