Gloomtide Shipwreck ghostly painting

This is a bit of a work in progress, but regardless, I wanted to share the basic painting technique that I've used on this piece of scenery from the Age of Sigmar.

This piece is actually really detailed and a splendid addition to most gaming boards that feature any amount of water. Even in the grim dark future of 40k, it could readily be used for a backward feudal planet. Or maybe just random remains.

Here, I have gone with a white spray undercoat (Corax White). I added an extra layer of the same once the first was dry to ensure that the white was coming through nicely and good enough to take the next layer. In short, the next layer was a combination of Hexwraith Flame (green, upper parts) and Nighthaunt Gloom (blue, lower parts). This was followed by a dry brush of Nihilakh Oxide to bring the two colours together and create a very ghostly look that will ultimately tie in with the previous terrain pieces that I have prepared for use with this one (i.e. the blue-green shardwrack spines).

What remains now is to attend to some of the details that I do not want remaining in the ghostly colour. Namely the lower part of the ship where it touches the floor. Although, even there, I'm somewhat happy with the result remaining in this scheme to be honest!

Azyrite Ruins

When the Azyrite ruins came out, I knew that I wanted to purchase a set to paint up for my terrain collection as they looked really nice on the internet and I thought that they could readily fit in to a 40k game, as well as Age of Sigmar. 

The construction of the ruins is very, very simple. Here I have glued the parts together so that no two parts look the same. This ensures some variation for the on-looker, and players alike.

For the painting of these ruins, I have deliberately kept it basic. An undercoat of white, followed by a layer of dark brown as the base coat. This is gone over with a wash of brown-black mud colour (my own concoction) and then drybrushing with kislev flesh. This is accented with the green columns for which I have used a white basecoat and then inked with Hexwraith Flame. I find the hexwraith technical paint a very nice product to work with (largely since it does all the work, similar in some ways to the new contrast paints, except it is very livid in colour). This is doused down with a slightly darker ink before a little bit of drybrushing to help out with the details.

The overall effect is one of a very aged set of ruins, and one that looks right at home in both Age of Sigmar, as well as the grim dark future of Warhammer 40,000. 

Horus Heresy Review: Ruinstorm Daemon Chosen

Background. 

Candidly, I see these beings as the rough equivalent of heralds. I have heard some people refer to them as daemon princes too -- it might not be a bad approximation either, but the tell-tale sign it really is a herald is the size of the base. At 32mm, there's little else it can be, so that case is closed in my mind. Their backgrounds in the book are in common with greater daemons -- they are the daemons that have caused the races of the galaxy much suffering .

Strengths. 
Their stat line reads like a praetor level character, or thereabouts at any rate. With an extra pip in both WS and S, and 3 wounds and attacks, the rest are fairly base line at 4's.

Their biggest feature is the special rule "Shepherd of Malign Intent". This allows them to select preferred enemy against a certain category of foe (infantry, monsters, or bikes in general terms).

Finally, do remember that these daemons are characters and therefore can join other squads to keep them relatively safe.

Weaknesses.
As with other daemons, late game this character will suffer greatly due to the Tides of Madness rule. Dropping to T=3 is going to be a severe bump in the road. Hence the recommendation here is to try to seek the relative safety of close combat early on (preferably operating within a squad that they join), and then focus on the objectives (whatever they might be) and keep out of the way as much as possible. That said, they're cheap enough for what the do and what they are fundamentally.

Builds.
Lots to consider here, as usual!

Resplendent Terror Builds:
Chosen, daemonic wings, rift barb, warp-scaled hide (100 points).
An expensive way to shoot S=7 armour bane attacks early in the game, but not a bad ploy for any build really.

Chosen, daemonic wings, miasma of rot, molten blood (90 points).
An alternative build to send in to a blob of enemies (preferably alongside friends) to reduce toughness and paint them with molten blood. Get an early charge in to take advantage!

Crimson Fury Build:
Chosen, brass collar, ephemeral terror, sundering fangs (80 points).
This is my pseudo-bloodletter herald of Khorne. No wings to be fluffy, but replace the ephemeral terror with wings if you like.

Creeping Scourge Build:
Chosen, miasma of rot, warp-scaled hide, lord of sorcery (100 points).
Feel free to replace the lord of sorcery with a ranged attack instead. No wings again here to simulate a herald of Nurgle, but feel free to replace one of the slots with them if desired.

Lurid Onslaught Build:
Chosen, stupefying musk, crushing claws, lord of sorcery (100 points).
A herald of Slaanesh build. I'm not sold on this one as it doesn't gel well. Indeed: overall I find that Slaanesh is tough to emulate in the ruinstorm daemons for some reason.

Maddening Swarms:

Chosen, 3x Lord of Sorcery (125 points).

Feel free to represent this with the Blue Scribes, a Changecaster, or similar. This is very authentic to Tzeentch. Wings, of course, come in handy again here, but three levels of sorcery is hard to give up for that in a Tzeentch build. 

Mirror of Hate:

Chosen, wings, 2x Lord of Sorcery (125 points).

You hate psykers, so you have to be one. Shrug. 

Horus Heresy Review: Ruinstorm Greater Daemon

Background. 

Greater daemons are exactly what we have come to expect, even here in the Ruinstorm. They are extensions of the masters that created them and gave them a spark of their own consciousness. The background given characterises them as well-honed and expert killers who have been bringing misery and suffering to the sentient races for a very long time.

Strengths.
As with all of the ruin storm daemons, the greater daemons are very customisable with the ability to take up to three emanations. Their stat line is impressive, with 5 wounds, and slightly sub-primarch levels in most others.

Their other rules are the standard fare for daemons in 30k: tides of madness, parting the veil, and daemon of the ruinstorm (naturally).

Weaknesses.
They come with a basic 4+ save and a close combat weapon. That's all. Other than that, they're not really "weak" per se. But they are worth the points when built nicely.

Builds.
One build for each dominion follows.

Resplendent Terror Build:
Daemonic Wings, Crushing Claws, Miasma of Rot (210 points).
A simple build meant to get in to combat fast and start killing things.

Crimson Fury Build:
Daemonic Wings, Brass Collar, Sundering Fangs (210 points).
I tried to build something like a Bloodthirtser. Enough said.

Creeping Scourge Build:
Miasma of Rot, Corrosive Vomit, Lord of Sorcery (205 points). 
Following a theme, I tried to build a Great Unclean One (with one level of psychic mastery just because). I like it and would play it.

Lurid Onslaught Build:
Stupefying musk, Crushing Claws, Quicksilver Speed (195 points). 
My attempt to build a Keeper of Secrets. I'm not wholly sold on it, but it feels like it adheres to the new plastic model.

Maddening Swarms:
Daemonic Wings, Lord of Sorcery x 2 (235 points).
A Lord of Change style build here. Obviously with wings and as many levels of psychic ability as we can get. Which sadly is not 3 unless I drop the wings. But I'm keeping the wings because of the model.

Mirror of Hate:
Daemonic Wings, Lord of Sorcery, Warp-scaled Hide (225 points). 
Although there is some older pictures (e.g., Realm of Chaos, and others) of Malal daemons, the field is wide open here, so I went with something that is similar to the Daemon Lord, earlier.

Horus Heresy Review: Cor'bax Utterblight Unbound, Daemon Lord of the Ruinstorm

Background. 

The final named chaos daemon lord is Cor'bax Utterblight. Fateweaver, and all the other named daemons in 40k don't get so much as a mention in this army, which is a pity, but I get the focus on the Ruinstorm and the daemons who played a much more prominent part in it. After all, there is a plethora of them. Utterblight is noted as a daemon prince in the background, and was summoned directly by the Word Bearers. However, there's precious little more than this, as one suspects that few survived the indulgences that this daemon unleashed.

Strengths.

As well as a very powerful stat line (Primarch levels, except for the BS), Utterblight is a Psyker (level 2). 

Thanks to his big mouth, he gains instant death on a to-hit roll of 5 or 6. This is nice, and would not be much to mention except for the lack of eternal warrior in 30k (which Utterblight also has). He also causes d3 hammer of wrath attacks on the charge, and will "explode" upon his death to take some pyrrhic revenge. 

The emanations of horror that he has is nothing too special, but does help once he gets in combat. 

Weaknesses.

The fixed warlord trait, Pestilent Cloud, is not much to write home about. There's a lot better Nurgle powers than this. 

The limitation of choosing the psychic powers from the biomancy discipline is a bit of a restriction. That said, in the hands of Utterblight, it helps him achieve his goals ultimately. 

As with other Nurgle daemons, he is fundamentally slow. He needs to make the best of any combat that he manages to get in and use his psychic powers to maximum effect,

Overall.

With a price tag like a Primarch, Utterblight at first sight seems very attractive. However, he has the same problem that most Nurgle daemons have: he is slow, and lacks significant ranged threat. In close combat: sure, he will be amazing. But overall, any White Scars player will simply run rings around him and diffuse his threat readily. Indeed, I would expect most space marine players to not feel too threatened by him unless they deliberately get in to close combat with him. Its a situation that an enemy can, in many cases, avoid. And therein is the fundamental limitation. He is a close combat specialist without being quick on his feet and lacks ranged threat. Angron does it better if I'm honest. Overall, I'm not really sold. Get a different HQ unless you're aiming for a truly fluffy Nurgle army. 

Horus Heresy Review: Samus Unbound, Daemon Lord of the Ruinstorm

Background. 

"Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw on your bones. Look out! Samus is here." [Horus Rising, Dan Abnett].

When Samus was introduced in the first book of the Horus Heresy, I thought the daemon came across as independent: a terror orientated one rather than simply a murderer. This explains why he slots in to the resplendent terror dominion in the game. Samus operates by possessing people and then turning on their allies. Simple, but effective. His fuller history -- to extensive to write about here -- is found in the Horus Heresy novels and is not limited to simply the action described in the first book of the series by Dan Abnett. 

Strengths. 

I really like the Born of Murder special rule that Samus has. It is highly characterful for this miniature and the background. In essence, if a character model is killed, Samus can use it as a nearby warp rift on the subsequent turn. 

The whispers of madness rule is what sets Samus apart though. He directly inhibits the reserves of the enemy, makes blessings harder to cast and causes enhanced fear as anything without stubborn or fearless halves their leadership score to charge Samus, or whilst in combat with him. This is crazy powerful. 

In addition to this, he has a very strong (Primarch like) stat line, combined with eternal warrior and a suite of emanations of horror to help in close combat. 

Weaknesses.

As may be expected, he can only be used in the resplendent terror dominion, and must be the warlord. His warlord trait is curiously Khornate: the path of blood which means he will almost always make his charge thanks to the mechanics. Although not strictly a weakness, it does mean playing Samus in a certain manner, and hence is restrictive, rather than weak.

Other than that, Samus costs like a Primarch. This is no surprise, but worth noting.

Overall.

Samus is a very powerful miniature to play on the battlefield, with or without the born of murder rule. It can really mess up enemy armies that are reliant on deep strike (descent of angels, or terminators) and is very strong in close combat. Aiding this is the speed of movement and charge distance modifier thanks to the warlord trait which will usually be something like 11 inches according to my calculations. A very worthwhile choice for anyone wanting to play independent daemons really.