Modeling: Beast 09 WIP (1)

Beast 09!!!  This guy came in about 10ish parts.  I've been using him on a couple of lists lately.  I've also had him just sitting on a shelf and thought what the hell... let's put the punk together.

On to the basics as usual.  There was an average amount of flashing and mould lines.  I'm not usually too worried about such things on a model this big.  As usual my trusty Dremel with Diamond Point and Brass Brush took care of it.  What I AM usually worried about with models this big is "miscasting", meaning that parts of the model don't actually jive well with the parts they are supposed to.  Well, in this case there was none to be found!

The image above is just an example of some of the flash and mould lines encountered but easily tackled in this kit.  At the end of the day this model took me just shy of an hour to put together with pretty much no problems.

Dabbed him lightly on the base with some super glue as I'm certain I'll be doing some work to his base. For now though no more proxying!  More to come...

Preliminary Review - Hordes Domination (Legion) Naga Nightlurker

I didn't find an actual image of this guy that was suitable.  So this guy is just an average(ish) light beast, nothing too crazy about it's stats really.  What I find interesting is that it prowls.  This is actually very nice because it has a healthy amount of boxes and semi blast proof ARM (which is usually what you look for when something has stealth/prowl or at least I do) so it's going to be pretty hard taking it down with range abilities.

Is far as offensive abilities it does pack a decent ranged weapon, what I would call medium range which is magical (helps against Menoth) and crits poison.  Combining it's prowl with eyeless sight it means that it can probably take an aiming bonus often if you find it a  nice place to park and take out even stealthed solos that cross whatever lane you have it covering.

It's melee attacks sport Crit Shadow Bind which I find interestingly synergetic with Refuge.  Send the little bugger out, boost to hit if you gotta and you back out at the end of it all leaving a dude sitting there at -3 Def and virtually immobile.

The animus on this guy is kind of a sweet.  Wraithbane is probably the most likely reason he'll make it into people's lists, well and the fact that he's setup to be a survivable Wraithbane engine as well as a Def debuffer in a pinch.

So, a nice lane coverfire beastie that can survive quite a bit of blast damage.  A wraithbane engine for your more important warbeasts to ignore those precious buffs.  Let's not forget the Shadowbind missle that can shoot out of it's cover to gift someone with -3 DEF and as I mentioned above, he could do this to help your range flavored elements with Refuge by going out there, doing it's best to impart that shadowbind crit and Refuging back (into cover ideally) to allow your ranged troops to hit better.  Of course, slipstream, and leash could also help with this but I'm just saying!  There is one thing that should not be overlooked however, this guy competes in points with a Raek which pretty much has stealth already and a bit more of a trick up it's sleeve with it's placement ability... just something to think about as well.

Preliminary Review - Hordes: Domination (Legion) eVayl

Now I know I'm way late to the game as far as covering this book.  Not only were there a lot of leaks for this book but some of the more reputable blogs / youtube channels already got a legit copy and have covered a bit.  But in the spirit of this blog which is to serve me as a journal, I wanna cover my first impressions.  So read on!  Hopefully this initial ideas could serve you too as a source of inspiration for good/bad ideas. 

The release of this long awaited book (at least by me) is tomorrow, November 16th 2011.  I will be covering my very "newbie" thoughts on the additions to the Legion of Everblight Army.  Not that I won't be studying the other factions so that I know my enemy but alas, Legion is my army.

Epic Vayl

Stats:  So, stats wise she's pretty much the same with the exception of her RAT and ARM which are one higher.  The RAT being 1 higher will probably make me feel better about taking chances and not boosting on some of her spells or Oraculi (since now it is not Guided) but honestly 1 more I will probably be boosting most of the time to make sure.  One more point of ARM still doesn't make me feel good about having her be a worthy Spiny Growth target but I do believe she will escape the dents and scratches she was taking before from blasts a little better.  DEF is still the stat I'm looking to boost with Tenacity in most cases.

Weapons:  Her Oraculus has turned into Oraculi.  One thing right off the bat is that it's RNG is 2 higher.  That's nice!  I say that because I may be adding Mr. Wishnailer (I know that's not how it's spelled lol) and ideally adding 2 more inches on top of that.  ROF.... hmmm... Ok so It's nice right?  I just simply wish it had been initials (maybe I'm reaching here).  It will be great to setup multiple vectors on her spells though!  Also, the weapon has lost it's Guided ability so no more auto hitting.

Abilities:  Well ... I'm not too happy with these really.  She traded Dark Sentinel, Snow-Wreathed, and Talion for Quick Draw and Serenity?  These abilities are meh to me compared to her previous encarnation.  She will probably not be needing Snow-Wreathed as much since without Incite she's pretty much a full support Warlock now rather than having to get up there to support Incite or sling shot someone with Leash for a kill.  Serenity I see simply as a free Tenacity per turn.  Compared to her old stuff not really too hot.

Fury:  This stat is still the same.  Not sure why it did not go up by 1 (would that really have been grossly overpowered? I guess I'm not sure).  I guess with Serenity it's effectively 1 higher and with Mr. Wishnailer is 2 higher?

Spells:  I happen to think that eVayl's spells are quite nice...  basically her entire spell list has been revamped.  While I do miss incite I must say the only spells I really really miss are Hoarfrost, Chiller, and Rampager.  Those seemed to me very Vayl(ish) regardless of epic or not.  Her new spells are Admonition, Icy Grip, Obliteration, Occultation, Purification, and Refuge.  Icy Grip, and Obliteration and nice offensive abilities for sure.  Purification is nice and can be timed nicely with her feat (more on that below).  Admonition and Refuge are very Cat and Mouse like so they are nice, allowing for repositioning or simply to get away from undesired charges etc...  I'm thinking there is a lot of synergy here with a spell like Refuge or Admonition, allowing charge lanes to multiple Carniveans/Scytheans where there normally wouldn't be room for it.... Will have to think more on that for sure!

Feat:  Vayl's new feat allows her to cast all of her spells without paying the cost.  I think it's very nice to be honest.  This in combination with Purification could play out very well.

Summary:  One thing I think is pretty clear for me.  She will definitely be sporting Warbeast Heavy lists.  However, I do not want to discount her ability to have a nice infantry list as well specially being able to spell sling as good as she can (legionares come to mind).  What are your thoughts?  Have I missed something obvious?  More to come....

Painting: Annyssa Ryvaal WIP (4)

Finally part 4 of this girl.  Like I said on my last post here this model has definitely taken me longer than most models.  She is quite intricate.  Honestly, I'm not just trying to do the model justice but I'm trying to figure out my brushes, paints, and techniques I'll use for the humanoids of my legion army.

I worked on her a bit this weekend.  Since last I posted about her I added a bit of lighter shade on the leather armor covering the elk, her armor, the feathers holding the leather strap cloak and her bow.  You'll notice that I have not really "based" her yet.  I'm waiting to be done with all the details at the bottom or near the bottom of the figure before doing that.  I'll probably be adding some snow and such as well.

I did "retouch" the metallic parts of the armor, or at least the parts I've decided to make metallic, with a mixture of brazen brass and silver, trying to emulate that yellowish platinum look they have on the Forces Book.  There are a few tid bits that I have not finished yet like metal armor pieces on her knees as well as the hooves and fur and armor on the elk, I'm hoping to have those figured out and finished soon so I'll have a better path forward for my other "humanoids".

Also, I did some "retouching" on her face which is honestly the part that is driving me crazy the most.  Been trying to do a white glow on her eyes.  I am not 100% on what I have on her face right now but it'll do for table top.  I really want to get her ready to play so I can feel free to "move on".  I will very likely come back to her once done to table top but for now... still a bit to go to get even to table top.  More to come..

Modeling: Kayazy Underboss WIP (1)

As promised... The boss!  Now, I'm sure if you've read any of my posts I mostly report on the reason for putting the guy together as well as the simplicity of the bit of flashes and mould lines and how easy it was to remove.  Well, this is a different story...

This model had the most amount of flash and mould lines that I've ever encountered from Privateer Press.  Thank god it was just 1 piece cause I'd imagine I would have seen miscasting to the point of insanity.  Not sure if you can make this out but if you zoom in or click on the image above the bottom part of the model near the shoulder... that "edge" you can see there running all the way down to his bottom torso is flashing.  It actually goes all the way around his back by his hair and his other side.

The picture above shows even more of the type of flashing I encountered on most of the model.  Hopefully that gives you an idea.  

This model actually took me about 1 hour to just clean up.  My trusty Diamond Point (I ended up needing both the oval and concave), as well as my Brass Brush helped quite a lot but I did have to use a bit of files and xacto knife action.  Also, I kind of just jammed him in the base rather than glue him so I can keep some alternatives open for basing if I want to later.  More to come...

Modeling: Kayazy Assassins WIP (1)

Kayazy Assassins.  I actually have two boxes of these guys so I can field either 2 x minimum unit or 1 max unit.  If I ever need two max I'll pick up the expansion blisters.  So... the basics...  There was basically no flash.  There was a bit of moulding on the legs and some of the capes but once again my trusty dremel with Diamond Point and Brass Brush was sufficient.

Thus far I've only been using one mine or one full unit so I went ahead and grabbed some from the second box and put together 10 of them.

Next?  The underboss!  More to come...

Modeling: eSorscha WIP (1)

More models to put together!!!!  Ok, here is eSorscha.  I've made a couple of lists using her but been having to proxy her so this puts a shameful end to that (shameful since it's still not painted).  Lets' go over the basics...

As far as mould lines there was some just slightly on her shoulderpads and weapon handle.  Oh, before I forget!  These weapons seem to always come bent some how.  Straighten it out slowly to avoid breakage.  This model took me about 5 minutes, no joke, it was easy, and there is also no worries about being too fancy about basing since she comes with her own icy terrain!  More to come...

Mould lines were scarce which is always good.  A bit of flashing was found here and there, and of course the cleanup needed for separating her weapon from the sprue.

As far as mould lines there was some just slightly on her shoulderpads and weapon handle.  Oh, before I forget!  These weapons seem to always come bent some how.  Straighten it out slowly to avoid breakage.  

This model took me about 5 minutes, no joke, it was easy, and there is also no worries about being too fancy about basing since she comes with her own icy terrain!  More to come...

Modeling: eEiryss WIP (1)

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution!  How much we all love when she joins our armies... and how much we hate her when she joins the opposition.  Love her or hate her... I think most people would agree this is an outstanding model.

This model came in a blister, 4 parts, 3 of which were still attached to a metal sprue.  So, the basics...  Flashing was pretty much non-existent.  Moulding was present but very mild and easily dealt with.  This model actually looks more complicated to put together than it really was.  It literally took me about 15 minutes total from unpacking to "together".

This mini does have one small issue.  I say small because honestly, I'll be able to fix it easily.  The "building corner" or whatever it's supposed to be doesn't quite close in correctly.  I don't have a picture that captures it but I'm sure whoever owns this model knows what I'm talking about.  Basically the edges of those two pieces don't quite close in.  At the end, it looks like it's easy to fill it in with some green stuff / miliput / or maybe even gap filler.

This is one of those models that I really wasn't liking proxying it.  Besides missing the card and having to have my Mercenaries book constantly open to remember the small details of her statistics there is always the dreaded "who is that again?" question that inevitably comes up during proxy games.  She's now ready for some paint and no longer needs to be proxied.  More to come...

Modeling: Manhunters WIP (1)

Here is another post as part of my ongoing effort to stop proxies but of course also to just get all the models I've ordered put together!  Here are my manhunters!  I decided to go with the variant simply because hey, I like chick models better most of the time, but especially the manhunters.

These guys come 1 per blister in 3 pieces.  The 2 axes had a bit of molding on the blades and the edges that were attached to the sprue.  The manhunter had some mold lines on her pants and hat.  All of it easy work with the dremel / files.

The picture below shows the only pieces of flash I found on both the models I purchased.  If you look carefully it's just a piece coming out of her right arm stump.  Easily removed with hobby pliers and smoothed out with the dremel.

Glueing them was pretty standard easy work.  No real pinning required unless you plan on transporting them in a very abusive way.  The arms although small were not attached to very tiny areas it was in fact I believe their biceps so with that said I think they are on there to stay.

The next step will probably be some gap filling on the base either with tape or plastic card (as suggested to me by one of you!  Thanks!).  After that some flocking and some painting!  Another model off of my list of proxies ready to play.  More to come...

Modeling: Devastator WIP (1) & Quick Annyssa Update

I'm going to be giving my Annyssa Ryvaall model here a bit of a break for now.  I have to figure out if I want to remove her from the mount or not so I can really give her a go.  I'll keep you guys updated on which way I go one way or the other.  However,  I've gotten a bunch of orders in and honestly while I do agree that one should not unpack / put together models until the lot are painted I  have been proxing some of these for a little too long.

So, without further delay!  The Devastator!!!!  So this guy was actually part of the auction I went to this summer.  There was no flashing.  I imagine that's due to it having been put together before and someone removing it.  However, there was a bit of molding which came off easily with my Dremel's Diamond Tips and Brass Brush (Click here for more info).

I've seen a handful of pictures now on the internet that have him in sort of a "shell" format.  That is to say his shield arms are glued in such a way that he looks like he's covering his body on both sides while holding his arms very very close to his body, almost like a turtle.  I have nothing against that except that it looks like it would be even harder to paint his body had I glued him like that.  I imagine people that did that probably painted him first and then glued the arms.

There's actually a couple of things to note on the picture above.  The top part of the shoulder was cleaned with a Diamond Tip and Brass Brush and as hopefully you are able to see it's shiny and porous enough to be good to go for priming.  However, for some reason even with my brass brush I am unable to remove the yellow grime on the top shell.  That's even after a nice warm water and soap bath.  I washed it and brushed it the best I could but I'm thinking the previous owner simply left the mold release agent on the miniature a little too long without washing.  I hope it doesn't cause too many problems with the primer!

This model was not difficult to put together except for the part where I basically waited for each segment to be dry before pressing on.  This guy is HEAVY!  So pin if you can (I'll probably do an article on that sometime in the future).  For now though, I can stop proxying this guy and bring the real thing to the table, alas, without paint for now.  More to come...