Sunday, 21 January 2018

New Year New Army - the 1st 1000 points painted!


In every project there are milestones - and this years #newyearnewarmy project (Word Bearer Chaos Marines) has reached a pretty good one quickly!

Starting on New Year's Day, I've now painted 1000 points of the army, which has been great fun.

There is:

Lorgar (Daemon Prince):

Squad of 5 Chaos Marines:

Squad of 10 Chaos Marines:


20 Cultists:

6 Raptors:

A Forgefiend:

Along with a few partially painted units, I took on my friend Josh's Dark Angels yesterday for their first ever fight..

The Mission was 'Secure and Control' - each player places an objective marker in their deployment zone (which in this case was the 'Search and Destroy' version - table quarters). Suspecting Josh would be taking fast Ravenwing units on the whole, I knew I had to deal with those as quickly as I could... 

Which worked for a few rounds as I tied up his Ravenwing bikers with the Forge Fiend, and wth the assistance of some deep striking Oblitorators (yet to be shown here) I took out most of his Land Speeders... 

Problem was, even with a few bikes left, he was still able to reach my objective by turn 6 whilst I languished trying to take out his units that had dug in!

So unfortunately it was a 4-2 loss to me (my points came from First Blood and Linebreaker, Josh's from Linebreaker and Capture the Objective).

Still, I learned a few things, got a taste for the army and I'm looking forward to our next tussle!


Tuesday, 9 January 2018



First squad of the army done! 

They're relatively easy to paint:

Armour:
Black undercoat
Khorne Red basecoat
Carroburg Crimson wash
Squig Orange edge highlight

Trim:
Leadbelcher Base
Nuln Oil wash
Ironbreaker edge highlight

Horns:
Rakarth Flesh base
Agrax Earthshade wash
Ushabti Bone highlight

Lenses:
Sybarite Green

I then added script using Ulthuan Grey.

The bases are:

Mechanicum Grey base
Agrax Earthshade wash
Screaming Skull drybrush

All nice and easy, if not the quickest way to paint them!




Sunday, 7 January 2018

Building the Word Bearers - Week 1

'It's called treachery, Roboute. It works very well'

The months of planning were beginning to show signs of progress.  Men and materials moved from surface to ship, the Dark Gods having calmed the storms that lashed the world for millennia.  

Lorgar turned to look out over the preparations, seeing for himself that even after thousands of years of depredation, of worship to the true Gods, his sons were still the masters of the martial skills ingrained into their very being, serried ranks of men clad in crimson, bone and steel, Apostles interspersed between their lines, checking on devotional scripts carved into the armour,  awaiting their boarding slots.  None of the bickering, petty machinations of self styled Warlords here, just the most devoted followers of their Father.

Week one has seen me planning the first 1000 points to be painted. This is always a little nerve racking, as I can't take all the toys I want, but have to make sure I cover all tactical bases!

With the Word Bearers, it's pretty easy to pick in some cases - lots of infantry, little in the way of heavy armour was always the Way of Lorgar... but with the inclusion of Daemon Engines, this can be rectified...

So I've chosen, based around the Battalion Force Organisation Chart (to make sure I get the Command Points - they're so useful):

HQ:

Daemon Prince (Lorgar Himself)

Dark Apostle (which I'm going to use the Forgeworld Zardu Layak model for)

Troops:

20 Chaos Cultists (Champion, Heavy Flamer, Heavy Stubber, 17 Cultists)

10 Chaos Marines (Aspiring Champion with Power Fist, Flamer, 8 Marines)

5 Chaos Marines (Aspiring Champion with Power Fist, Flamer, 3 Marines)

Heavy Support:

Forgefiend (Ectoplasma Cannons)

Fast Attack:

6 Raptors (Champion with Lightning Claws, 2 Meltas, 3 with Bolt Pistol & Chainsword)

The first to be painted was of course, Aurelian himself - Lorgar, Daemon Prince of the Word Bearers Legion...

The Forgeworld Model is stunning - it oozes arrogance in the stance, the superior outlook of the devoted man intent on purifying the galaxy in the name of his father, the God Emperor.  To change this into the Daemon Prince he becomes was pretty easy - a head swap with a Khorne Champion, the inclusion of a Possessed arm and a change to the back pack to give it the more flared vents of the Chaos Marine....

In terms of painting I used the Word Bearers Red as the base for the armour, with gold trim.


Up next is the first squad of Marines!


Wednesday, 3 January 2018

A Brother's Hatred Runs Deep.... A New army for 2018!

Lorgar shifted in his seat, a throne fashioned from the bleached bones of his slain enemies (and some 'friends') creaked under the weight of the Chaos infused Primarch.

"So, Roboute has awoken from his long slumber... and not a moment too soon it appears" he mused, the knuckles of his right fist turning even whiter as he gripped the arm of the throne.

'Whilst I suspect that the guiding hand of our Lord Tzeentch may well be behind his miraculous recovery, it would be wrong of me not to welcome my brother back properly... After all, Mortarion has failed to deal with him, so as usual it is left to me to deal with our Fathers Favourite!'

Spitting out the the last few words, Lorgar rose from his carrion throne, with a grand sweep of his mutated arm, almost decapitating one of the many robed servants who attended to his every whim.  Calling for his most trusted Captains, Lorgar made ready to leave the safety of the Eye and venture forth into the world of Man to finally settle the matter of sibling rivalry set in motion some 10,000 years before....


Each year I try and choose an army that will be the main focus of my painting and modelling activities. Some years I'm successful (Last year's Eldar project that's now 4k plus a Phantom Titan and 2 Super Heavies) others not so (erm, last year's Space Wolves project that lasted... one model).

This year, I'm returning to one of my favourites - The Word Bearers!  I already have a large Horus Heresy themed WB army, so it seemed only right that I also added to this with a full on Chaos Marine force for the new(ish) 8th Edition 40k.

The rules of creating a project for me are pretty simple:

1) Do I have enthusiasm for the project?

2) Can I do the painting and modelling justice?

3) Can I tell a story with the army?

Well, in terms of the WB, I can answer all three with a resounding YES!  You'll notice that I don't ask myself 'Can I win with this army?' - this doesn't matter to me - if the army tells a story, and is faithful to the background then I'm happier than if it's a random mix of units designed to simply win games (which holds no motivation to me as a painter).

In order to approach the army in the right way, and not just buy random stuff until I can't move for kits (erm... I've never done this. Honest. Ok, maybe once or twice...) I've made some notes on what I want it to be:

1) It needs a Daemon Prince to represent Lorgar himself as there's no 40k model or stats for him...
3) Ideally, it needs to be possessed & Chosen heavy, to represent the fanatical zeal of the Word Bearers
4) Cultists! Lots of Cultists!
5) Not many Heavy Support units as the Word Bearers were all about having overwhelming numbers (at the height of the Crusade, it was said the Word Bearers were one of the most numerous Legions...)

With that in mind, I headed off to Warhammer World and bought from Forgeworld:

1) Lorgar
2) Zardu Layak (to use as a Dark Apostle)
3) A squad of Gal Vorbak
4) A box of Chaos Marines (which will be interspersed with parts from the Mks III and IV kits).

I started on Lorgar last night - just a couple of subtle changes to the 'core' model, as in the background, Lorgar doesn't undergo the huge changes wrought on Angron, Fulgrim or Mortarion...


And here he is - Lorgar, Prince of the XVII Legion, the Word Bearers!


The ultimate aim is to have 1500 points ready for the end of March, at which time I have been challenged to a grudge match by a certain Ultramarines Player... He will rue the day he uttered such a challenge!


My first ever fan fiction!

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