All posts filed under: Fantasy

Why the End Times will Save Warhammer Fantasy

Published by Joe B

Disclaimer First a bit of a disclaimer: I haven’t played Warhammer Fantasy Battles in years,Â around the release of 8th, so yeah that long. I also haven’t bought any of the End Times books – $50 really GW? Fortunatly there are plenty of others who have posted updates for the rest of us like Mengle Miniatures’ State of the End Times. Oh and this may be a spoiler: but the current Warhammer Fantasy World is ending – didn’t even need to read the books to see that coming. But why am I excited? I believe that the reasons I haven’t played or bought anything related to the fantasy line in years is exactly why Games Workshop is doing such a drastic, and risky, move. TheÂ Story Before the End Times One of the biggest reasons why I love the 40k universe and had issue getting into the fantasy as much is the story. Rules wise I actually really like fantasy and preferred parts of it over 40k, but why would my Lizardmen, on another continent, be fighting …

Lizardmen OOP Kroq-Gar on Carnosaur

Published by Joe B

In keeping in line with my recent trend of completing models that have been collecting dust on my shelves, I present the Lizardmen Kroq-Gar on his carnosaurÂ Grymloq. This is the recently out of production metal model that has been in my collection for almost 5 years with no love at all. After the new Lizardmen models came out in the fall I felt even more guilty for never finishing this lizard-hero. I had forgot how heavy metal monsters were until I started working on this beast – especially since he is so long it made it rather difficult to hold his base and paint either end. Color-wise I used to color and pattern of the new kit as I liked the contrast and organic feel of the stripes. It allowed me to color out side the lines a bit and not worry about it. It also was fairly straight forward to paint. The fleshy color was simply the Flesh wash over white primer. The red and black were highlighted then washed with black. For …

Sir Lucien Bretonnian Knight of the Realm

Published by Joe B

A few years ago I picked up a Bretonnian Knight of the Realm box as a way to mix up my painting and try different colors, free hand, and styles. I had painted up the first knight up to his final colors but never got around to finishing him. I even tried getting on board with the Knights of Bal Timorea that Santa Cruz Warhammer was putting together, but alas, he has been collecting dust on my desk for almost three years! So after finishing off a few of my Mentor Legion units I finally broke through and finished him off. So I present Sir Lucien of the Realm. The yellow sword for his arms came from the transfer sheet but I painted back over it and the border to remove the “decal look.” I also spent a good deal of time on the base and mud splatter. I wanted that mud tracked earth look as a unit was breaking through the ground and a gallop. So along each edge of the base the grass …

Dark Elf Reaper Bolt Thrower

Published by Joe B

Ahh… the dreaded Reaper Bolt Thrower. Not much to be said about it other than this is another paint job from theÂ beginningÂ of the army but other than the metal areas I think it looks pretty good and looks great for a table-top piece. I had created a larger base for the unit but in never got passed to the primed black stage, perhaps when I finish it I will repost with the unit on the base.

Dark Elf Chariot

Published by Joe B

. Next up in my Dark Elf Army postings is the neat, but ineffective Cold One Chariot. This was also one of the first I painted when getting back into the hobby so forgive the not-so-great painting 🙂 As much as the temptation is to go back and repaint the model, it is good enough to sit on the table and I would rather focus on the units I have yet to paint. In some ways I am glad they didn’t redo the chariot with the new cold ones. As cool as the new dinos look for the knights, I like the look of the bulkier beasts for the chariot. Though it they redid the whole model in plastic I would probably buy another, though this model hasn’t found it into many of my army lists in 7th edition, and may even less in 8th. Any one have success using chariots in 8th edition? On the plus side they can no longer be auto-killed with S7+ hits but being single model units they would have …

Dark Elf Masters

Published by Joe B

May I now introduce you to my Dark Elf army. When I first got back into the hobby a few years back the Dark Elves were the army I started back up with since they had just been re-released. I choose to post the pictures of my Masters/Dreadlords first because it shows the improvement in my painting mostÂ distinctly. The new dreadlord model was one of the last I painted before moving back over to 40k where as the old dreadlord model was one of the first I painted when getting back into the army. After taking the pictures I realized the base was never finished, he is now moved to the painting desk to remedy this. The weapon arm was swapped with the sword from the Cold One Knights set as I didn’t like the pose of the model with the hook weapon, I’m saving that for something else. I would often army this character with the Heart Seeker sword which is why I attempted to paint the sword with the red tone, not the …

Lizardmen Salamanders

Published by Joe B

Lizards, check… lizards prodding larger lizards intoÂ battle, check those same larger lizards can breath fire, CHECK! These are all the reasons to love the salamanders, well that and they are actually pretty darn good game wise too. The breath weapons just got a boost with 8th edition as well now that every thing is hit that touches the flame template, and with the increase in large units this couldÂ potentialityÂ doÂ monstrousÂ damage! I almost always run the unit as a pair to get redundancy in shooting as well as close combat. Inevitably one of the salamanders will decide to get hungry at the wrong moment and eat a skink instead of frying up that nice, juicy enemy unit, but hopefully both won’t decide to do the same and some fire can still be thrown. I often spend the extra 10 points to add two more handlers as well since the pesky salamanders seem to take a liking to skink flesh.Â FortunatelyÂ it only takes 1 skink to keep both beasts in line so even if I lose the other 7 …

Lizardmen Stegadon – old school style!

Published by Joe B

Some more old-school lizard goodness! Ranking as the hardest to-hold-together model, the OOP Stegadon displays the main of the issues with metal models: size = cost, higher cost = less margin, less margin = unhappy stock holders. Once I get around to buying the new plastic kit I’ll have to take a picture of them side-by-side but I am willing to guess that the old stegadon is at least half the size of the new one. Then you have the howdah, not only is it so small it is hard to fit even 5 skinks in there, but it connects to the stegadon at a very small point, causing it to break off time, and time again… which is part of the reason I hardly ever play with the model. Tactic wise I have had mixed results with the Stegadon in 7th edition and not sure how well it will work at all in 8th with the changes to many of the rules. The basic stegadon (which is the only one I’ve used) is simply …

Saurus Warriors – The Lizardmen Pillars

Published by Joe B

The Saurus Warriors are the backbone of the Lizardmen army. They are tough and they are mean. With toughness of 4 and a 4+ save they can take pretty good beating and even once they do it is hard to fail a leadership test of 8 using the cold blooded rule. With two attacks atÂ strengthÂ 4 they are also a great unit on the offence as well. I usually run two units of 20 with full command which acts as the focal point of my army. They attract the attention of the larger enemy units while my Skinks run around and pick off monsters and the like while the cold oneÂ calvary take a flank. Currently both of my units are armed with only hand weapons but for 20 more points I could add 4 more attacks from the unit, something I’ll have to consider for the next unit build. One of the things that I found really helpful for my units is toÂ magnetizeÂ the base which keeps the banner bearer from falling over and troops from flying …

Skink Heroes

Published by Joe B

Skink heroes seem to be often looked in favor or the mightier Suarus Scar-Vets or used only as Slann sight-glasses. Used correct Skink Chiefs can be perfect wizard hunters,Â war-machineÂ destroyersÂ orÂ Â a great boost for hunting Skinks. With their movement of 6 they can get where they are needed quickly and with 3 attacks at I6 and S4 they will often strike the first blows against their intended target. Add in the Bane head to double wounds on a specific character and the Burning Blade to punch through armor and even the little skink can take much larger foes down. In 7th edition, Skink Priests were often used as anÂ extensionÂ of the Slann’s eyes and perhaps dropping a thunderbolt here and there. The can only pick from Lore of the Heavens which had some great spells but also some not-so-great spells. With the revamp of spells and magic system, the Skink priest has theÂ potentialÂ of laying some smack down with chain lightning or the comet or really messing with theÂ enemiesÂ plans by making a unit re-roll all their 6’s. Those of …

Lizardmen Scar-Veteran

Published by Joe B

Next up in my Lizardmen showcase is the Scar-Veteran. While not the most powerful hero in the game, he is a solid character at only 85 points base.With S/T of 5 most troops won’t wound him on less than a 5 while he’ll wound on 2’s. My standard upgrades include the Sword of the Hornet, Enchanted shield and light armor. This gives him a 2+ save and always strikes first. Tactics are pretty straight forward: place him in a unit of Saurus and charge the toughest unit the enemy has. Between his 4 attacks and the 13 S4 attacks of the unit, entire ranks of enemy areÂ knocked down and eaten. The scenic base was more of aÂ necessityÂ as this model is very front heavy and would often fall forward when I moved the unit or placed on any sort of downward slope. I built up the rock mound with flash from the metal kits to create a bit more weight to the base then covered it with green stuff and contoured it to create a jutting …

Slann Mage-Priest

Published by Joe B

To introduce my Lizardmen army I could think of no better model that the Slann in charge! My starting steps in to the Warhammer hobby was the 5th edition Fantasy box with Bretonia and Lizardmen (an odd combination to be sure!). While I no longer have the Bretonian army, the old lizards are still part of my favorite fantasy army. I mean who wouldn’t want to take an army that has angry toads as the lord andÂ dinosaursÂ as their pawns? Before 5th edition 40k sucked me away from fantasy, the Lizardman army was my rock solid force. Saurus are dependable, between their cold-blooded leadership tests, toughness 4, and 4+ armor saves they could take a beating and return it in kind. And the skinks! I have an entire army of them and man can they do some damage. With the changes to skirmishers they may have a tougher time, but that is yet to be seen. Any way, I’ve lost myself on a tangent… the Slann Mage Priest! I do agree that the latest army book …