Chaos Daemons Codex: The nerf storm approaches

I have been a very dedicated Daemon player for about 2 years now, and I can honestly say I was very excited for the launch of the new Daemons codex. Emphasis on WAS. I went into this launch with an open mind. I understand that a new edition means changes to the army. I understand that a new codex doesn't just mean the same thing over again with a few new units and some slight upgrades. However I did not think a new codex meant completely changing how an army operates. With this new codex the Daemons have gone from an elite shock army, to a lol-ranDUMB horde army.

Many people are very happy that Daemons lost the army wide eternal warrior rule. While I can say I'm sad about it I can also understand why it had to go. Another change I'm for the most part okay with is the new daemonic instability rule. It is extremely reminiscent of how fearless worked back in 5th edition so it was not a huge change to me. However I am confused by the bizarre addition of the random element of having the unit having a chance to either fully heal or completely disappear. This adds nothing to strategy. You cannot plan it. You cannot make your next move based on what happens. You will either have your day completely ruined by a new random roll, or inexplicably saved "because reasons."

Also the fact that they now have an army-wide 5+ invulnerable save is pretty disappointing. It is just another item on what has proven to be a long laundry list of nerfs that are only there to change the play style of the army which is disappointing.

Another nerf which robs the army of strategy is the way the Daemonic gifts work. Instead of just investing in the upgrades as you like, spending points on upgrading your units in a normal manner you instead spend points on how many times you get to roll on a table at the beginning of each game. This then decides which upgrades your unit has for that match. Again the army suffers from being unable to plan.

My least favorite new change and a nerf that I still do not understand the point of is the warp storm table. Seven of the eleven possible outcomes are either outright terrible for the daemon player, or possibly terrible for them. Having to randomly roll on the wheel of nerfs (my name for the warp storm table) every shooting phase is completely pointless. I do not understand what it adds to the army by being there.

I also find it hilarious that because GW sold more than enough Flamers models in the last edition they decided it would be okay to nerf them into near uselessness for this codex.

I know there will be people who disagree with me, and I'm sure they will be rather vehement about it, but I am simply stating my opinion. I do not believe that what I have said is fact of any kind. I am just putting my two cents in. Some people will probably be happy that they are now a random extremely luck based army where you never know what is gonna happen next. I however fell in love with them when they were an elite shock army who's greatest weapon was their unparallelled element of surprise. However the only person getting surprised by them now is the poor guy playing them.

I will be taking a bit of a break from 40k for a bit. This is a good opportunity for me to shift my focus to Warhammer Fantasy. I do have a burgeoning Warriors of Chaos army and this is a nice chance to give them all of my focus.

This is a painting blog though so have some pictures of some of my more recently completed commissions. 

Dark Eldar Hecatrix.

Dark Eldar Wych who, for obvious reasons earned the name "Destro."

The Dark Eldar Wyches all together.

 Craftworld Ulthwe Avatar of Khaine.

Black Templars sergeant.

As always thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open!

Warriors of Chaos

Cannot wait to start painting this beast!

Well the new Warriors of Chaos stuff launched. I guess I started the army just in time. I had decided to start picking up Warhammer Fantasy a little bit before Christmas and had gotten a few things together for the army. However with the launch of the new stuff I now find myself with two army books, the battle magic cards and a couple new kits. The main one I'm excited about is this big brute here --->
Throgg the king of trolls. I already had a Lord on Manticore, Lord on Juggernaught, and Exalted Khorne hero on foot, so I thought myself pretty set on lords and heroes for the time. But when i first saw promo images of this guy I just about died. I've only been doing Warhammer/ Warhammer 40k for maybe 3 or 4 years now so I've not been around for many launches of new minis. All of the minis that would currently qualify as my favorites were out long before I got into the hobby. However this is the first time I have been really really excited about the launch of a new mini. The sculpt is amazing, it is in a pretty dynamic pose, (which is something I love), and the pose also shows a serious amount of personality. You get so much about Throgg just from looking at the mini. Even if you don't know his fluff you can still tell just what kind of troll he is. I also generally don't take issue with finecast the way many people do, but I have seen times where the finecast molding process has messed up and you end up with air bubbles, sunk in bits, pockets, and even some loss of detail. However Throgg was basically perfect fresh out of the box. I saw no imperfections on the mold. I will have to do some slight green stuff work where his raised fist and cape attach to the body, but it is very slight and things like that happen even with a lot of high quality minis made of other material. Apparently getting finecast on the initial release is the best way to avoid any of the usual pitfalls of the material. One last note on Throgg, (I know I just want to keep talking about him) I was skeptical of the price at first. I thought, "okay yeah he is a decent size and I know finecast stuff is expensive, but even this seems a bit much." Then I got him and put him together. He. Is. Huge. His raised fist rises past the height of the Manticore for my lord to ride. This troll is massive. Which makes the fact that the mold came out so well even more impressive really.

I also picked up the new Dragon Ogre models. Considering how ugly the old minis were for them these new ones look even better. The new Dragon Ogres are already beautiful, amazing models but comparing them to the old ones makes them look even more amazing. It is a full plastic kit, which is always preferable to any other material, so customizing would be super simple. I didn't want to mess with the molds to much as this was my first run with the kit and I wanted to experience what it had to offer without mucking with the process, but I couldn't resist completely. I just did a tiny bit of customizing work on the weapons. I wanted to equip them all with great weapons, but I'm not to keen on holding the weapons with two hands usually. For the first Ogre I took one of his one handed maces and trimmed down the sharp edges of it to make it look more like a longer weapon shaft and then attached the head of the great axe to it. This let's him hold his great weapon in one hand and the other hand is outstretched, perhaps reaching to grab and devour a nearby dwarf. Having a hand free and the weapon in one hand really opens up the pose which I like because it just lets you get a better look at the mini as a whole.
The second Ogre's customization was far simpler, so much so that it is hardly considered much customizing really. He came with two different long two handed weapon shafts, one with the business end of the weapon facing forward, a stabbing pose for giving him a halberd, and the other with it facing back, as though he has pulled the great weapon back to bring it down on his opponent in a crushing manner. I simply put the mace head for the great weapon on the halberd shaft instead, deciding it would be fun it he was moving to mash an opponent with the top part of the mace rather than swinging it down in a more conventional manner.
The third ogre I had a bit more fun with. I again used a double handed shaft as the base. Each weapon shaft ends in a half shaft which is where you would normally attach the weapon head of choice, (halberd blade or great weapon head.) I cut the large spike off the bottom of the shaft and then cut the half shaft edge off the top off another leftover shaft and attached it to the bottom. I then used two of the halberd blades to give the Ogre a double-sided swallow blade type weapon. I wanted to put a little bit of myself into each mold and I feel I managed to accomplish that with just some slight weapon mods. They'll truly receive my own personal touch when I get to paint them though I suppose.
As always thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open!

Named Dovak for his helmet, this Ogre seems to have his own way of using a mace.

Named Sergg for his weapon choice, I think this one might have my favorite of the weapon mods.

Named Amon because his axe and armor give me a slightly viking feel, this one, as I mentioned, opens up the mini in a fashion I'm quite happy with.

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas!

The holidays are here, and with them a special kind of feeling. But we aren't the only ones who celebrate. No, the Orkz also have a special day that they celebrate right around this time of year. Sit back and let me tell you, a very special, Orkzmas story.

Gather round boyz and I’ll tell ya a story,
Of a grand Waagh that almost had no glory.
Twas the day of Orkzmas, such a wonderful time,
That even an Ork, learned how to rhyme.
Ya see there was this Boss, I think ya may know him,
He was rippling wit muscle, not a single part slim.
He was launchin his Waagh and ripping up Umies,
Using up Dakka to pulverize all of the punies.
But he was runnin’ out fast, no more Dakka left,
Except maybe a stray bullet, stuck in his chin’s cleft.
Aye but he knew the season well, he knew today was the day,
That today Santa Ork would come fast on his sleigh.
He need only wait, only bide a little time,
And that big rocket sled would zoom up from behind.
Santa Ork would have rockets, shootas, and cannons, The whole lot!
He may even bring stabbas for Snotta the grot.

On the other side o’ the galaxy Santa Ork was makin’ plans,
To bring Dakka and weapons to all a da clans.
He packed what they’d need to wreak havoc and pain,
He packed up the Dakka, labeled with every boyz name.
He was ready and set, his squigs tied to the sleigh,
It was time to set off and be on his way.
He cried out to the squigs, hollering each one’s name,
For the most part they listened, though not a one was tame.
“On Gnasher, On Basher,”
“On Gobbler and Schmu!”
“On Snagger, On Dragger,”
“On Bagga, and Mangroo!”
And like THAT they were off, out into space,
They had to be quick, It was all a big race.
To deliver the Dakka, to every boy in each Waagh,
He couldn’t slow down or get stuck in the fog.
The great rocket sleigh headed off fast to each world,
To each and every boy, Dakka and packages were hurled.
But suddenly, what’s this? Incoming fire?
Some humies were set up, now things looked dire.
They fired great cannons, and powerful guns at the sleigh,
As Santa Ork gets hit, him and the squigs, tumble away!
He crashed to the surface, Santa Ork was down!
And a mean ol’ humie walked over with a frown.
He was the meanest humie Ork-kind had ever known,
And he was gonna ruin Orkzmas, even if he had to do it alone.
It was Dead-eye Yarrick, the big mean umie.
Compared to the others he wasn’t actually that puny.
Then grumpy ol’ Yarrick, who was a Commissar,
Took all of the Dakka that was near and far.
Santa Boss yelled, “GIVE ME BAKKA DAT DAKKA!” But Yarrick said, “No.”
Leaving Santa Boss with nowhere to go.
Without any Dakka to bring the boyz and the Nobz,
All he could deliver were red boots and some gobs.
He had to make a plan, he had to think quick,
He may have to bash in Yarrick’s skull with just a regular ol’ stick.
Santa Boss ran up behind Yarrick, he charged with all his might,
He roared at Yarrick, “It won’t be a fair fight!”
“You gonna fight the boyz when they got no Dakka or bombs?”
“You’z the biggest sissies I’ve known since I met all yer moms!”
“The boyz can’t fight back, it’ll be a bleedin’ slaughter!”
“But I’ll get back that dakka, I’ll be the Waagh’s marter!”
And for a moment, Yarrick almost looked ashamed,
If it were a dishonorable fight, on him it would be blamed.
He turned around and looked Santa Boss square in the eyes,
He dropped all the dakka and said, “Here is your prize.”
“Deliver your bombs, axes, makes sure each has a gun,”
“If they have no weapons, killing them won’t be as much fun.”
Santa boss gathered up all the loot into a great huge pile,
He grabbed all the Dakka with a big toothy smile.
He said to Yarrick, “You done did the right thing,”
“Now we can have ourselves some proper fighting.”
He flew to the Waagh just as fast as he could,
Making sure they was armed up right good.
He shook hands with the Boss, you know the one I mean,
And he left him some words as he was parting.
“On this Orkzmas day twas learned that humies and Orkz as a lot,”
“Could get along for just one day a year why not.”
Boss Lorgis sighed with those words in his wits,
Then yelled to his boyz, “Naaaaaaww! Kill em’ all ya gitz!!!”

“MERRY ORKZMAS YA NOBS!!!”

A sack full of goodies for the boyz, nobz, and grotz.

Plenty of Dakka and choppas for the boyz.

As the holidays approach...

A Space Wolf Terminator I did as part of a giveaway.

As the holidays approach I find myself a bit busier than I previously was. Currently I have a nice little pack of Space Wolves (23 models, 2 of which are vehicles), 10 Kabalite Warriors for dark Eldar, and 17 Craftworld Eldar including an Avatar of Khaine on the table. It is nice though, being loaded down with work. It lets me know I'm doing something right. If I was a bad painter or charging to much, or just not being a good worker I wouldn't have any work to do.

Only problem I can think of is that I have very little time for my own personal projects. I have a Storm Talon on the table I want to do for a Fire Lords Space Marine Chapter but between my regular job and painting customer's items, I have had zero time for other things. There are actually 10 Sternguard Veterans, 10 sniper scouts, and a custom made Chapter Master to go with the Storm Talon, but again, time is a commodity I am rather low on right now.

One thing I have learned while working on my current commissions is that I really enjoy working on Dark Eldar. The miniatures are beautiful and the default color scheme of Black armor with the green edge highlight and red hair is excellent. I also just really enjoy painting them, seeing them come to life in all their sadistic glory. With one Kabalite Warrior finished I am moving on to the rest of his squad. I also finished a test Wych for the client and I should be receiving the Wyches once the Kabalite warriors are done.

I'll try to check in right before, if not on Christmas. As always, thanks for reading! Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open!

The test Kabalite Warrior I did.

 

Completions and Continuations

The archers assembled.

Well I finished the archers for the Bretonnian force about two weeks ago. I am basically finished with the men-at-arms who will be joining them as well. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of them in a more efficient manner than I did these ones.The black and white color scheme came out quite well despite all my gripes.

The leader of the archer unit.

Business has actually been on the rise lately. I currently have some Terminators on the table I am doing for a give away. I also have some Space Wolves on the way from a client which I will have to begin work on directly. It's a relatively small force, 10 Grey Hunters, 10 Fenrisian Wolves, 3 Thunderwolf Calvary riders, 1 Forgeworld Space Wolves Dreadnaught, 1 Landspeeder, Canis Wolfborn, and Logan Grimnar. Though the number of models is smaller than the current batch of Bretonnians, there are 2 heroes involved as well as 2 vehicles. The Dreadnaught will need special attention paid to it seeing as how it is from Forgeworld. It's not a request from the client but I want to make sure the Dreadnaught comes out particularly good. Forgeworld makes some amazing stuff, but my favorite things from Forgeworld are their Dreads. Because of that I believe that all Forgeworld Dreads should be painted with the highest degree of quality.

One of the archers.

I am also in talks with a client about a possible ~$400 job. I am honestly not sure how well I will be able to handle a job of that scale. The lot consists of approximately 115 High Elf foot soldiers of varying ranks, a Lion Chariot, 3 heroes and a dragon. As excited as I am for the opportunity to take on such a project and earn that kind of money, I am intimidated by the sheer size of it. However, if I want to make this a career, this is the kind of thing I signed up for. I will just have to take it  step at a time and push through, one mini at a time. My readers, whoever you are, I hope you will be rooting for me as I take on these upcoming projects. I will try my best to post pictures of my progress on the projects as I go.

As always thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

The Standard Bearer with torch.

WIP

The squad leader, musician, and a normal member.

I've been working on a Bretonnian commission for a client for a bit now and figured I would post an update about how things are coming along. Though the white and black color scheme is not my favorite, nor one I find very exciting, I found some ways to spice it up with spot color choices such as brown for the under clothes and silver on what metal bits the minis do have.

The unit assembled, still a little work left

I was having trouble at one juncture about how to add some good definition to the white cloth areas. I hate using the GW black wash on white as white is the kind of color that absorbs whatever wash you put on it, thus the black wash turns it grey. I was thinking of just mixing up my own bleached bone wash when I came across a parchment wash from Secret Weapon. I haven't applied it yet but I'm really hoping the parchment wash coupled with some white highlights will give me the look I'm going for.
The client has also asked me to do some light freehand work on the units as well. He wants black crosses added to all of the shield motifs found across the soldiers. On some of the smaller shields found on hips and chests this won't be much of an issue, but I will have to employ a gundam marker and straight edge to make sure I keep the necessary clean crisp lines on the shields of the spearmen and on the standard bearer flags like the one seen below.
Thanks for reading. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.

The unit's standard bearer

Inspiration

You know how last post I was plugging myself? Well today I would like to take some time to plug someone else. I was searching around on other blogs and I came across http://bluetablepainting.blogspot.com/ These guys have inspired me. I always thought that trying to paint miniatures professionally was a pipe-dream, something I would never actually be able to achieve and was silly to actually pursue. But these guys have really done it. I highly recommend popping over and visiting their blog, or their website, http://bluetablepainting.com/ itself if you have the chance. The quality of their work is astronomical and they are living the dream I thought was impossible. I am reinvigorated with purpose and drive to up the quality of my own work so that I way operate on the same level as these amazing painters.

A Soul Grinder for my Chaos Daemons army.

I was recently inspired by the man I consider my mentor to take on a huge project. I don't want to go into any exact details yet considering I do not yet have the money to buy the kits necessary to construct what I'm considering, but he was showing me a Chaos Marines Heldrake he had begun work on and, to put things nice and vague, sometimes all you need for inspiration is to view things from a different angle. However I cannot yet afford both a Heldrake and Forgefiend which I will need to complete my new idea so I won't be able to post any in progress shots until maybe a week from now.
However if you are intrigued by the idea please feel free to keep an eye on the site as I might be posting more information and concept sketches related to the idea soon.
Thanks for reading everybody. Keep your paintbrushes clean and your imaginations open.