So in complete deviation from my to-do list (I promise - mostly to myself I will get back on it again soon!) I have painted Dragutin, the leader of the Black Hands of Caliban. I was far to pleased with myself after finishing his conversion that I had to start slapping some paint on him. His armour is a very grey black, I'm hoping this (along with stature) will really make him pop on the battle field as he leads the Black Hands. I have several sections of fluff noted out for Dragutin and other aspects of the Black Hands of Caliban so hope to share them with you soon.
The basecoat layers before a wash in nuln oil.
And here he is with his magnetised column on! Just so I can take it off and admire his paint work :P
Librarian Conclave
I have in the past always avoided psychic powers, I just wanted to get really up on game mechanics when I got back into the hobby so I avoided the psychic area of the rules to cut out some work and get back into the swing of things. Since then this has stuck, especially with collecting the Black Templars as my first army after I'd really got back into the hobby (With Dark Eldar being my first first army), so no psykers at all there!
After painting up the Tamriel the Librarian the other day just because it was a cool model, I looked in to including him, in my army and then came across the Dark Angels Librarian conclave. I know the space marine codex has a slightly better version but that's a discussion for another day!
For those who don't know this formation is Ezekiel and 2-4 additional Librarians. At the beginning of the psychic phase a librarian can be nominated, this librarian can use the powers of any other librarian within 12 inches of him. Those librarians cannot cast any powers in that psychic phase. The powers cast by the nominated librarian will manifest on 3+ instead of 4+ for each warp charge. And in this formation the primaris power from the Dark Angels interromancy is doubled to 24 inches if taken.
Interromancy's primaris power is Mind Worm, this is a focussed witchfire power that is Strength 6, AP2, Ignores cover, Assault 1 and Sap Will. Sap will means that if any model takes an unsaved wound from Mind Worm, its weapon skill, ballistic skill, initiative and leadership are reduced by 3 for the rest of the game. Wraithknight with ballistic skill 1 and striking after my marines? Don't mind if I do! Dreadknight can get in there as well!
So with this jumping around my brain I began searching through my large bag of mystery model from job lot bits buys and lo and behold I had a librarian with a broken staff but otherwise complete, and another librarian just missing a backpack and left arm. So here are two additional ones to add to Tamriel. I have ordered a Scibor lion knight to make into an Ezekiel (not a huge fan of the static pose of the GW one) and I will be purchasing one of their biker knights to convert into another librarian.
F*&^ing magnets! (how do they work - if you get this reference you're as bad a human being as I am)
This guy still needs a left shoulder pad but I'll paint and glue it on separately.
The idea is that the jump pack and the biker librarians can move fast and share offensive powers with Mind Worm being the doozy. The biker will have the shroud of heroes for a 2+ jink and a 4++ from his conversion field. The jump pack marine will have a squad of 10 assault marines as bodyguard plus a conversion shield. This will make them nice and durable. Ezekiel and the other 2 librarians can sit with the gun line squads and share defensive powers to provide things like invulnerable saves, shrouding and even the dirty invisibility.
If you hadn't already guessed, these guys will be with my Demi-company formation that is taking form both in a physical sense and in a tactical sense. I'm rounding out my thinking of how I want to play them, it will have a weakness of no flyers, but I'm used to that and think it should do OK. I will have a post up at some point detailing my intended use of them along with how I will ally some Ravenwing into my Death Company lists.
Taking Pictures
So I don't hide that I'm not a terrible good photographer. Or rather I don't put in enough effort to my photos as I should, I think we can all take pretty decent photos if we try. I'm not putting in as much effort as I should but I am trying bit by bit to make them decent for your consumption! So taking advice from Greg (you all know who I mean!) I've got the based version of Tamriel below with a different lighting set up. Thoughts on the basing scheme I've chosen plus the quality of the photos themselves would be appreciated :). (obviously the photos above are taken with the same set up, but I wanted to show this guy off again).
I have decided to ask my family to bunch together and get me a foldio 2 for my birthday present as I don't feel I can justify the spend at the moment but I really would like to give you guys better pictures with which to help my painting improve! So watch this space.
Thats all for today, see you soon for some more of my incoherent rambles and poor quality photos!
Peace out,
Rob
Peace out,
Rob
Looking good Rob. Just a quick note, Sap Will reduces the characteristics by 3 for the rest of the game, not just the rest of the turn. Really nice if you can get it off against an enemy character.
ReplyDeleteOops, good spot Corrm!! I did know that but I'm a bloody awful proof reader! Its damn handy having you pull me up on these :) I really like the interromancy powers as a whole as you will see in my review. Ta again!
DeleteNo problem. I really like the Interromancy powers too, but have not had a lot of luck in using them with my librarian. He either usually fails to hit with the powers or kills himself trying to manifest them. I'm guessing that the conclave will have a better time of it than my lone librarian.
DeleteHoly crap Rob...so much freaking awesomeness! I love the spear on the company master. Really nice pose and job with him. I like it better without the column though, so glad you magnetized it :). Maybe try having a lower stone, or crumbled bit so it doesn't distract from the model so much. (column)
ReplyDeleteThanks Greg!! I am really pleased with how his armour came out and I'm happy with the orange style that going to permeate the dark army and give it a bit of oomph!
DeleteAlso thanks for the comments on the verdigris and pictures advice, its certainly paid dividends on the verdigris,,, the pictures are a work in progress:P
That's exactly why I magnetised it really... My reluctance to swap it out is just because I only have a hand saw for cutting the dowel and they are some tough customers! Need to buy a mini dremel at some point, that can also go on the birthday wish list!
Cordless mini dremel is a godsend. It's one of my best purchases. After I got one, I started pinning everything...just because it was sooo easy!
DeleteBut seriously rob, that company master is flipping awesome. Should be crazy proud.
Cheers Greg, means a lot coming from you!
DeleteYeah cordless dremel is definitely on the wishlist, especially now I'm magnetising a lot of stuff, stupid hand drilling...
Looking very nice, dude. The cloth is definitely looking better like this, looks like some sort of regular cloth rather than some shiny disco fabric.
ReplyDeleteThe Librarius Conclave is really nice. Makes Psychic Powers far more reliable. Needing to do an Unsaved Wound against T8, I kind of doubt you're going to get much result against WraithKnights with Mind Worm, but being able to Harness Warp Charge on 3+ instead of 4+ is huge.
I have to say, tho, this is kind of why I don't really like fixed To-Do lists. It's all too easy to end up being really productive, but still feel bad because you weren't productive on the specific things that you wanted to be. I kind of like going back at the end and adding on all the stuff I actually did accomplish, and then crossing it off. Makes me feel far less of a slacker ;)
Thanks man, just need to crack on with more tac marines now!
DeleteI won't be banking on the Mind Worm with the wraithknight really but it would be bloody hilarious :P I'm more likely to use Aversion which causes snap shots by that target or even trephination which makes a model roll 2D6+2 and subtract leadership taking that many wounds with only invulns, I go over these more in y review but thats not been posted up yet. I'm really excited to get these guys painted up and let you know how they work on the table top!
Yeah I am kind of regretting a to-do list now, but hopefully I can be productive on other things then guilt will drive me to do the list as well and get twice as much done!
Thanks as always dude