July 2020 – Twitchy Bristles

Storm Guardians

I said a year ago to some local friends I play with that I was never, ever going to build Storm Guardians because of how niche they are and how much the upgrades would cost. As fate would have it, though, I ended up with an extra few sprues of Guardians, and since I already have a regular 20-person Guardian blob I decided to do something different – so I tackled part of my shame pile and supported my local FLGS all at the same time.

Pictured are the whole ten-person squad with Flamers, Chainswords, and Aeldari Blades.

I’m happier with how these look than my regular Guardians and after playing with them a little (especially the chainswords!) I think I’m going to bring them along with my regular army a little more often! The resin parts were surprisingly easy to work with, my only complaint is the distribution of parts in the GW Storm Guardian kit – I ended up buying 2 upgrade kits and still didn’t have enough chainswords to equip a default squad.

In the most desperate of circumstances, the strategic needs of the craftworld will call for a group of Guardians to deploy as Storm Guardians – warriors specifically armed to fight in the maelstrom of close combat with shuriken pistols and elegantly balanced chainswords.

Biologus Putrifier and Foul Blightspawn

These are two of my favorite Death Guard models, and since their effects synergize so well together – and since they work together so frequently in the lore – I thought I’d let them share a gallery together. The Biologus Putrifier and Foul Blightspawn were a blast to work on, and I got to do even more with some of the goopy, slime effects I’d been using across my bases.

As blight grenades explode and anguished victims scream, Biologus Putrifier’s study the effects of their concoctions, noting the results. They improve their grenades through these lives tests on the battlefield.

I really like the unconventional mask shapes that they use, and there were lots of neat little details that I could embellish on both of these models. The Biologus’ needle and “wings” are great details, and the Nurgling on the Foul Blightspawn is a delight. I think half of the reason that I went with a Nurgle chaos-based army is that I’m growing to love the endearing little gremlins.

The Foul Blightspawn see their enemies as little more than test subjects on which to experiment with their latest poisonous brews. Biologus Putrifiers carry blight grenades in battle, arming their allies with a massive supply of the deadly weapons.

Plague Marines (Easy-to-Build)

Pictured: The Plague Champion, my personal favorite of the ETB models.

After the handful of Chaos Space Marine bits a friend gave me, I picked up the Death Guard painting kit and split a First Strike starter with the same friend, which gave me enough to put together a five-person squad. The Easy-to-Build kits were a fantastic place to start – they went together without any issues and looked wonderfully horrific.

Pictured: New ETB Plague Marines together with my kitbashed Plague Marines.

These were a lot of fun to put together, and for being “starter” or ETB marines they’re kitted out pretty decently too! The Blight Launchers are useful and the combination of Power Fist and Plasma Gun on the Champion are nothing to scoff at either. Really looking forward to running these and the rest of my Nurgle army once 9th Edition drops.

Abominations against nature, the Death Guard advance within clouds of flies, their weapons spitting death, their miasma spreading unnatural disease. Truly, Nurgle has blessed the Death Guard – their flesh bulging with corruption – and they wish to share these gifts of virulence across the galaxy.

Chaos Rhino (Kitbashed)

Pictured: A Very Useful Daemon Engine of Nurgle.

This one is a kitbash that came to me as soon as I started working on my first few Death Guard. I built my Eldar army to be very refined, serious, lore-heavy, and my best-foot-forward into the hobby, but with Death Guard I wanted to be able to give myself a little more wiggle room and have a little more fun. The result was this crime against nature. And I think this is some of the most fun with miniatures I’ve ever had.

*Thomas had never seen such bullsh*t before.*

Thomas is equipped with a Combi-Plasma and Combi-Bolter, and usually also equipped with a “Strolling Through Ultramar”-style saxophone marine for good measure. The weathered, grimy and textured-looking paint scheme was heavily inspired by Spekd at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLsaW52-xDnFL2WsLhe0bmQ, who I can’t recommend highly enough. He does awesome tutorials, reviews, and has built a great community.

*It was time for Thomas to leave. He had seen everything.*

Death Guard (Chaos Lord and Plague Marine Kitbashes)

Pictured, left to right: a Chaos Lord w/ Balesword and Power Fist, and two Plague Marines.

When I started getting back into 40k and painting I thought I was gonna go all in on an Eldar army and not really work on much else – but a local friend I play with had other ideas, and gifted me some Chaos Space Marine bits to play with. I was immediately hooked. The bits I was gifted turned into my first step into a tremendously fun, almost year-long painting project.

Pictured: A Plague Marine with a Plasma Gun on a Very Useful Engine ™.

A lot of the painting was done with sponge work – which was a new tool for me but I learned a lot by doing it, and ended up with some really interesting results. Drew a lot of painting inspiration from Spekd on Youtube (who is awesome, by the way – you can check out his community, reviews, and painting tutorials at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLsaW52-xDnFL2WsLhe0bmQ)!

The Heretic Astartes, also known as Chaos Space Marines, are fearsome foes. They have a Space Marine’s abilities, along with his gear of war, but since turning to the darker powers many also now bear powerful mutations or gifts from their patron Chaos Gods, making them mightier still.

Eldritch Ruins

“Thrilluminati Confirmed” – Me, to “Upya Butt” on completion.

First off, a big thank you to the Ko-Fi user “Upya Butt” (who definitely, totally isn’t the same friend who’s done my Avatar art for this site) who pitched in $21 for me to resupply and take on one more fun weekend project before moving on to my Death Guard pictures and stuff on my bench. I got to paint some happy little trees, and I’m very pleased with how they turned out.

Pictured: The elusive Space Dandelion in its natural habitat.

I’ve been having a lot of fun lately with autumnal colours, and also I’m very much a fan of dandelions, so I tried to work both of those in a little in terms of the tree colours. The timing is also perfect – with 9th Edition close at hand and me and some friends planning a narrative Death World campaign (using the new Crusade format) so these are going to be real useful.

In the darkness of space, those who escaped destruction upon the craftworlds cling to what remains of the fallen Aeldari empire. They consider themselves the true children of Asuryan, preserving the art and architecture of their people and passing their ancient history from generation to generation via song, dance, and the recital of myths and parables.

Jain Zar

I picked up Jain Zar recently from my FLGS, Noble Miniatures (who are awesome, by the way, check them out!), intending for it to be the new star model of my Howling Banshees and this kit did not disappoint. The model has fantastic size and presence to it, and despite minor frustrations initially trying to put it together painting it was a smooth, fun experience.

Even compared to my Oldhammer Wraithlord, Jain Zar has quite a bit of height!

I’m excited to see her on the tabletop once 9th Edition rolls out. I’m thrilled with how the paint job turned out, and even if it’s a small detail I feel like Nihilakh Oxide really pulled through for me again on the mask, giving her an even more “ghostly” feel. I might have to spend more money if new Eldar sculpts in the future keep turning out so good!

Jain Zar’s astonishing swiftness and mercurial temperament are echoed by her Howling Banshee daughters, and it was she who first perfected the Scream that Steals – the psychosonic barrage that emanates from her mask can not only stun foes but liquefy their brains in the process. That death-dealing war cry has been heard across the galaxy, and it has proven that even the immortal servants of the Dark Gods are not above fear.

Spiritseer Caen’thala

A Spiritseer as a Warlord? Heresy! In all seriousness, I didn’t want to make Eldrad Ulthran my Warlord because he can’t take relics or other nifty warlord abilities in 8th, so I decided that I was going to give the job to a Spiritseer! Caen’thala is the new 8th Edition sculpt kitbashed together with some Age of Sigmar bits to give her a little more character and personality.

Pictured are all my recent Ulthwe characters together in one place. In matching outfits!

Caen’thala is equipped with Kurnous’ Bow instead of a Shuriken pistol, and also has the Seer of the Shifting Vector ability to make her a little more Perils-proof. Her preferred psychic powers are Protect/Jinx or Enhance/Drain, and to paraphrase/quote The Emperor TTS series, she longs for genestealer ass.

Spiritseers are those upon the Witch Path who are called to commune with the dead – a chilling concept, even amongst the Asuryani. Though Spiritseers help to ensure the survival of the entire Aeldari race, their actions are perceived by those around them as akin to necromancy; yet another depth the craftworlds must sink to in their struggle to stave off a lingering demise.

Howling Banshees

Tallithea swallowed hard, caught between her desire to see the ceremony under way and her fear of doing so. The scream of the banshee was gaining strength inside her, rising in volume, demanding to be let free. She feared that if she did not don her war mask soon it would erupt anyway, with who could say what disastrous consequences?

Howling Banshees are my absolute all-time favorite Eldar unit. They were some of the first 40k models I ever owned and I’ve kept them as a mainstay of my army ever since. I’ve painted tons of oldhammer ones, and recently decided I was going to repaint a batch of my metal ones to see how much better I could do this time around.

They don’t take Overwatch, they can Advance and Charge with a bonus, and they get to fight first when Jain Zar is around. What’s not to love?

The results are everything I hoped for, and with their shiny new resin scenic bases they fit in brilliantly with the newly-released Jain Zar model. As much as I love my Oldhammer banshees, which I’ll probably post up here too sometime, I think this is going to be my Banshee A-Team for a good long time comin’.

Howling Banshees are swift and athletic Aspect Warriors who are famously deadly in melee. They embody the sudden wrath of Khaine, attacking with such swift certainty that the foe has no time to properly defend itself. Using a special war mask to enhance their battle cries, they rob the wits of the enemy moments before the kill.

Objective Markers

Jain Zar turned slowly, seeing row after row of cadaverous faces leering down at her from the stands – a crowd of the deceased, some little more than dead skin on skeletons, others with split skulls, gashed faces, slit throats, pierced breastbones and savaged ribcages. Her opponents. Her victims.

Since Howling Banshees were a big chunk of my Eldar work over the last while, I decided I wanted to have some nifty new objective markers done up for them – and this also gave me something to do with some old, 1-2 ed. Banshees that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get around to!

Pictured are markers one, two, and three, distinguished by the number of minis on them. I’m so clever sometimes.

I also used a miniature I got free a while back because they looked ancient and elven and fit the rest of the aesthetic here enough – and because thematically it fits with my army, since my Spiritseer wields Kurnous’ Bow instead of a regular shuriken pistol. These were super easy and quick to do, because Nihilakh Oxide is magical stuff.