Dark Angels - Dark Vengeance Interrogator Chaplain Seraphicus - TO DONE!

It's funny, when I originally put down on my To Do List that I wanted to complete a Dark Angel Chaplain this the one I had in mind. That's really only because he was the one that I had, then I thought Asmodai was a beast because I was applying the same rules of melee weapons as how the 'nids work, got the model and then found out he can chose either his Blades of Reason or Crozius not both. 

Anyway, from what I can gather Seraphicus isn't all that, you're probably better off with a plain old Interrogator Chaplain and upgrade him to the same weaponry. I have to admit these pics are doing a lot to lift this model, the incense smoke and plasma effect look far more vibrant and effective than in reality.

I applied the same gloss varnish to the power armour as I did with Asmodai but it does have a weird effect on distorting the scale of these miniatures. Because the gloss is thick it distorts the finer detail and essentially reminds you this is a tiny model. It's difficult to explain but it's the vibe I get which is overwhelming the intended shiny enamelled armour intention.

But other than that I'm actually quite happy. I have another lead [pb] Rogue trader Chaplain knocking about that I want to bring up-to-date but I need to put him on a slate base so he stands tall alongside his modern equivalents. I also had a cool DA back pack that has gone missing that would have looked cool on him. Until I find what I'd planned [and I'm not 100% sure what the back pack was] I'll leave him.

I'm quite chuffed with the cloaks markings.

It doesn't stand up to too much close scrutiny but I think I managed to do far more with it than I usually would so I'm happy with that.

His shoulder skull is still cool too.

And i like his pink eye too, I mean his glowing eyeballs, like he's just been maced!

He's kind of cool all round, just such a shame I don't know if I'll have an end use for him. I know there's a datasheet with some Chaplains in that sounds interesting but I'm not sure what the rules are or if they're useful but it might justify this effort.

Anyway, here's the Red Stamp of Approval! I've completed a few things recently and taken some better picture than my usual efforts which puts me back in the luxury of having some content to share. Of course I don't want to blow my load so forgive me if I use the next few posts to share these pics. I took a couple of new shots of Asmodai so the colours are less orange, if slightly darker. I did a little photo shoot of them with the other HQ choices so far. Then I've got my Deathwing done and did a combined shoot with my other Deathwing. There's definitely a difference between the older ones and newer ones but the pics are far more forgiving at least. Things to look forward at least.

1500pt battle report - nids vs nu-new Craftworld Eldar cash grab not wave serpent spam anymore, no! just some other cheese :P

This may actually be the first game PeteB and I have had this year, actually since before Blog Wars 8 last year! Having sold his Space Wolves and started back up on Eldar only to have his raison d'être - Wraithknight/Wave Serpent spam turned upside down by the new Craftworld Codex it was overdue we had a bash. This face off has been postponed a couple of times due to my illness, and Pete's new job but finally lets see what we've got.

I amended my list that I played Otty with, dropped the Children of Cryptus and a Carnifex and reintroduced a Bastion with Escape hatch and Quad Gun and the Broodlord Hunting Pack formation for the reserve shenanigans from buildings + Preferred Enemy

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant W Winged Tyrant Tervigon Plain Tr Broodlord Onslaught Onslaught Psychic Scream The Horror The Horror Psychic Scream Dominion Dominion Dominion Dominion

The low down:

• Maelstrom game but based on the Blog Wars 9 rules - 3 Cards based on their amended maelstrom mission table - Dawn of War
• Warlord Trait - Move through Cover and Stealth in Ruins!
• Night fighting first turn, lost deployment, went second and failed to steal the initiative, yeah, that's right ones all round, where were you when I needed a darn Catalyst?!

I deployed with most of my high value items on the opposite flank to Pete's Wraithknight, Prism and Serpents I put the gaunts over on that flank to Objective Secure the objectives when contesting against his units.

I foolishly positioned the Flyrant for synapse that didn't take into account his units could move to get a bead on him round the corner of the Bastion for shooting! But we'd already chatted too long and we were down to 2 hours for the game!

The other flank really only had Striking Scorpions to worry about. Pete rolled his missions and got:

1. 1VP to destroy a vehicle or MC. 2 VP if 3 or more destroyed.
2. 1VP to destroy a unit in shooting phase. 2 VP if 3 or more destroyed.
3. 2VP if you control 3 objectives at the end of the turn

Pete was easily going to score mission 3 as he already had 2 objectives and only had to move to score the third.

Having got the angle on the Flyrant he took a wound, with only cover and night-fighting stopping it from being worse. Amusingly the Fire Prism immobilised itself which brought back memories of his old Rhino getting stuck on the weediest hedge you've ever seen. So Pete took the one VP for his mission as consolation and it was my go.

I didn't take any pics in my turn but rolled my missions and got:

1. 2VP to secure objective 5.
2. 1VP if a unit has Linebreaker, 2 VP if 3 or more units do.
3. 2VP if you destroy 3 units in your turn

Mission 1 was out, the Eldar had got Obj5 and I wouldn't be able to get the gaunts there to contest. I could get mission 2, thanks to reading up on the rules of FMC's and discovering they can actually still 'run' when they swoop. So I managed to get Onslaught off on my left Flyrant, 'ran' into his deployment Zone and also got to shoot at the Scorpions for little effect. Meanwhile the Warlord Flyrant targeted the Warp Spiders who disappeared out of sight behind the little watchtower as soon as he cast his baleful gaze in their direction! The Tervigon and Carnifex also surged forward with the Tervigon spawning 12 without doubles.

Pete's 2nd turn and he rolled to secure objective 5, which he could do with ease. I'm not quite sure what happened in his turn, mainly killing gaunts like it was a fashion trend and my Malanthrope helping to keep everything else alive. He also flew his Fire Dragon Wave Serpent across half the board to get close to my Bastion.

The pic below is actually Pete's turn two, but in my turn two only my Rippers arrived from reserve [lazy Stealers!], deep struck and deviated away from objective 5. Luckily the Termagants managed to steal objective 5 from the Warp Spiders and the Rippers would eventually run into scoring range too.

The Flyrant shot the back of the Wave Serpent, which was wrecked allowing my Warlord Flyrant to shoot the disembarked Dire Avengers with some success.

I contested objective 5 but shot at the Warp Spiders who jumped out of the way leaving me alone in the crater.

Pete got the Fire Dragons out and promptly turned my Bastion to sludge.

Warp Spiders managed to do some serious damage to my Termagants who end up outside of synapse range requiring a morale check. I passed on 6 and would subsequently pass all morale and Instinctive Behaviour checks on this unit on a 6 in various forms for the entire game!

At around this point I lost 'The Game' but this is the 'Tervigon Game', wherein I realised I had forgotten to spawn any Termagants in my 2nd turn which usually heralds the Tervigon's impending demise. You may recall the exact same thing happened in my last game with Otty. She'd already taken a couple of wounds from various other quarters, including the last Dire Avenger.

And then the Striking Scorpions happened, sallying forth from the building they occupied. She killed a few in overwatch but was chopped into bits, although I think only just losing those last two wounds - so close. I'm also pretty sure I'd hoped to charge the building with my Carnifex in my previous turn but failed the distance. It's almost as if the dice were against me!

Gaunts burst apart at her passing but the Malanthrope kept them in check. The Scorpions consolidated back behind the defensive walls. In my turn I would need to secure Obj 4 off to my left. The gaunts managed to just get into range with the Malanthrope taking cover to the left of the large Ferron Fire Fir. A brood of Stealers woke up in the ruins on the far right.

The Carnifex chased the Scorpions down. I killed 4 in shooting, leaving just 2 behind the walls. I charged and ended up suffering 2 wounds in overwatch thanks to their stupid little Shurikens. I only got 1 Hammer of Wrath off, squashing 50% of the remaining Eldar.

Only for the Exarch to slice and dice me like sushi with just 2 AP2 wounds removing the Carnifex from play!

The Fire Dragons [who were out of shot on the right of the Fir trees] shot at the Malanthrope. It had taken two wounds already but it's cover save was strong. However the Wraithknight jumped round the trees to get an unobscured view and blew it to pieces. It also took out some gaunts, possibly all of them.

This was the last turn as time had run out. I was 3 VPs behind. Both my Flyrants were surrounding objective 5 and I had missions to have 3 units in my own Deployment Zone, 2 VPs to kill 3 or more units and 1VP to kill his Warlord [which would also net me another VP for Slay the Warlord]. I got only one brood of Stealers come in from Reserve so I brought them onto my table edge now I needed two more units. I'd surrounded the Warp Spiders, killing most of them but the Autarch was in combat with the Termagants, with only the Rippers and 3 remaining Stealers from the ruins. I had the two flyrants to gain my DZ but would give up on the VPs for destroying 3 units and line breaker.

So I took a gamble. Warlord Flyrant flew for Line breaker. Stealers and Rippers bundled into the Warp Spiders. 2nd Flyrant went for the Fire Dragons - the only thing in range of my DZ and swooping turn. I was doubtful only one Flyrant could kill the Fire Dragons and I was proved right with the Exarch surviving on his own.

My Warlord Tyrant secured linebreaker and Destroyed the Fire Prism, thanks to its inability to jink. That lone Dire Avenger mocking me in the distance.

The melee on objective 5 came to a messy end for the Autarch, with the rending claws of the Stealers cutting him to pieces.

This secured me 2 VPs and two thirds of my objective to kill 3 units, but not quite enough.

Here's the score sheet, it's not quite correct as we think we included First Blood on Pete's side, although we couldn't remember what First Blood is. However, we realised there isn't any First Blood in BW9, it's First Strike - kill a unit in your first turn, which neither of us achieved. So the final score was 8 all and it was a really great game. Before the last turn I didn't even know what the score was, I wasn't even playing to win, just going from one mission to the next. It actually felt like I wasn't playing against Pete, just playing against these random set of conditions that were created each turn. It's actually a nice way to play.

We both had our fair share of misfortune - the Fire Prism being immobilised, the Carnifex getting shot before it could do anything and my useless Broodlord who never showed up. I realised afterwards I should have put him in the Bastion on turn one and have him come out of the Escape Hatch. At least he'd have been able to do something. I've gone a bit down on reserve rolls, without access to a Comms Relay [so I could take the only slightly useful Quad Gun - it actually shot really well considering it was on auto-fire] there's no way to raise those odds. But it was a great game with plenty to think abotu going forwards.

Dark Angels - Dark Vengeance Deathwing

Just a quick update as the alternative is no update. I've actually completed my Interrogator Chaplain Seraphicus but haven't taken any decent pics to showcase. Truth be known I'm a little disappointed with the gloss varnish I've added to his power armour as it's a bit thick in places so it plays merry hell with the sense of scale on the model, but I'll cover that in detail when I take the pics.

Meanwhile, I've got back onto doing the Deathwing and I've managed to go from two models with completed Bonwehite highlights to four. I'm really happy with how they've come along, they're lighter than my original AoBR models but that's down to how I'm highlighting the 'nids. It's slow going though, it takes about 60-90 minutes for me to do just one! Still it's the bulk of the model. I am however less impressed with some other colour choices. The black feathers still don't ring true to me but I'll see what a very fine grey highlight will do to differentiate the feathers. Also some of the reds are getting a bit samey, when I need different shades to represent different materials.

I still have a lot of detaill work to do, the odd skull, studs, helmet lenses and some more highlights on the Crux Terminatus to represent the Ferron stone it's mined from. I'm sure these will add quite a few more hours to the process but I'm getting there. With only one model to highlight I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I've also realised something in that i started to add litanies to the AoBR Tactical squad but did not do any of that on the AoBR Terminators. That's not a problem, I can add them on at any time. I also want to include some of the native American elements as illustrated in the Space Hulk Deathwing supplement. Lame Bear's chevrons look particularly effective. I want a mix of both histories - feudal and native as Ferron Proxima is based firmly in this era of the Dark Angel histories and yet those prospective applicants to the Dark Angels will have been drawn from the Natives then trained in the Feudal ways of Caliban

I'm not so sure I'll include Totemic names but I'll be doing litanies at the least, I just want some opinions on choice of colour -

1. Black
2. Dark/rusty brown
3. Red
4. Caliban green

There's no right answer on this as I'll no doubt do units with different colours. Red I think is the obvious choice but opinions are most welcome.

Dark Angels - Asmodai - To Done!

Evidence that I have indeed been active, despite illness and lack of updates. In actuality this model doesn't look like it's had a lot done to it, I'm not sure the pictures capture some of the blending on the cloak and the problem with it being mainly black makes it look like its just undercoated but I assure you significant effort has gone into getting this completed.

However, because of the difficulty in capturing the progress let alone the completed miniature in all it's glory WiP pictures are difficult to record so the blog suffers. Sadly I'm not sure how to get around this at the moment so for the moment I'll be blogging as and when I have something of value to share. I suppose I could always throw in some 'nids to keep things ticking over.

Anyway, I was desperate for Asmodai to be completely black. I can't imagine the most infamous Chaplain to be anything other than ultra hardline legacy Dark Angel, Chaplains wear black anyway but this guy has got the first founding legions colours on show.

I was actually quite pleased with the incense smoke. It's just drybrushing really but from a distance is really effective. I think I started with my Turquoise highlight then added a Devlan Mud equivalent wash, mixed with some dark blue then Turquoise drybrush, then another highlight 50:50 mixed with white and a final white highlight.

The effect came out quite well and I did Seraphicus's smoke at the same time so there's consistency. I didn't add any litanies to this guys clothing, I wasn't so sure he would get things stitched on the cloak and this guy does not need to inscribe his armour with his beliefs because he's a living embodiment of them already! I've actually added a little tuft of yellow flock in the back of the base since this picture.

The bone effects came out really well, but then I've had the practice. It was just something to break up the blackness. As was the green Purity Seals and the Verdigris.

You should also be able to pick out that I gloss varnished the power armour. It's not a 100% what I was after as I think gloss varnish distorts the scale of the model but I was of the opinion this guy has a mirror gloss finish and it would also set the Power Armour apart from the cloth material. I probably should have considered a similar approach to the cloth as I did with Seraphicus's fabric but the cross-hatching/stippling didn't quite present itself as an option as I was painting, I don't know why.

The Power Armour was also highlighted differently, whereas the cloth was highlighted with Turquoise and softer blends then Power Armour used Bahama Blue acrylics and the highlights were sharper, up to white to help enhance the reflective nature that would be then glossed.

It's a small touch but it needed something to differentiate from the matt cloth. It may not be perfect but it's better because of it.

The only other concession colour wise was a green bolt-pistol holster, just to break up the blackness, the standard orange grenades.

There is a small amount of green on his left shoulder pad but I didn't even bother highlighting that in the end it was hardly visible amongst the patinated bronze.

As you can see that thin strip of green just above the two Purity Seals is so small it just didn't warrant highlighting.

I Tried a little bit of lighting on the eyes, it certainly looks like he's staring into your soul. I added a little dab of gloss varnish so it'll catch highlights naturally, that's if light can reach under his cowl!

I contemplated some Tamiya Clear Red X-27 to further enhance the lenses but didn't think it was necessary. I actually think these just look like demonic eyes as opposed to helmet lenses which suits me fine, almost like when the Scarecrow dons his mask in Batman, sure it's a mask but when you've got the fear from him it becomes the stuff of nightmares.

So whatever reservations I have of this model as a whole there are some elements that I'm really pleased with and it's a Dark Angel to boot!

And, here's the Red Stamp of Approval! This model is technically on my To Do List, although it only states 'Dark Angel Chaplain'. Of course I still have Seraphicus to do but he's almost complete too.