Fallschirmjäger 7.5cm Pak40 Anti-Tank Platoon

     I've started collecting 15mm WW2 minis. So far I have some Germans and some Americans. WW2 Americans are a little boring to look at with all the green, green endless green, so I decided to start out by painting up my Germans. I'll have to get to the Americans another time. Here is my Fallschirmjäger 7.5cm Pak40 Anti-Tank Platoon. My first attempt at 15mm and my first attempt at splinter pattern camouflage. The guns themselves were painted with a brush using stippling. I was going to airbrush but decided against it last minute. I'll use the airbrush for the vehicles instead.

     Another thing to note about this group is that they were all glued to the base first then painted. I did this on purpose just to see if I could paint them after basing. I have some infantry guys tacked to screw heads on a board as well. Testing out what it would be like to paint them first then base them. I'll make note of the "paint first" models when I finish them. But until that happens know that I had no real issue with basing first.

     I still need to paint up some 3-ton trucks and a field car for the command. When I finish them I'll try to take a photo of the whole group together. I may need to build that light-box I've been putting off before that happens though. Anyway here is my command squad below.

    

Earthborn Dire Troll

     My Earthborn Dire Troll is finally finished. I thought about doing Madrak next when I finished up the Impalers but decided to go with this guy instead. I wanted to see how my color scheme would turn out on a Dire Troll with very little clothing. So far I'm felling a bit mixed about how it turned out. It's not as "popping" as I would have liked but at the same time I tend to go for a dingy darker more realistic painting style. I wanted this guy to look like he was made from stone but had to make the stone he is standing on look different. I washed on some weathering powders to make the rocks filthy and added a fair amount of moss and leaves. I knew that the base would provide most of the color for this mini and I'm fine with that but I just get the felling of unfinished when I look at it. I also rushed the photo and forgot to add tall grass. May have to go back and put some on tomorrow.

Trollblood Impaler #2

     Well here is my second Impaler for my Trollblood army. This is the standard model with no alterations or conversions. I've used the same palate as I have for my other trolls. The dirt on the base however has a touch of Forge World weathering powders to add a more realistic dirt look. I decided to add the powder after varnish. Last time I varnished over weathering powder it turned muddy and looked pretty bad. Anyway my favorite part has to be the roasted chickens hanging from his belt. I had to shave them off of the one I converted but I'm certainly happy I kept them on this one.
     Here is another shot of the chickens... mmm chickens....

Trollblood Impaler Conversion

     Here is my Trollblood Impaler Conversion. I've used the same palate and techniques that were used on the Axer. The most exciting thing about this model in comparison was painting up the belly. I was trying to make the belly almost white in the very center of it. The picture does little justice to the model but when I hold it in my hand I am pleased with the way it turned out. Which brings me to the next project for me. I need to build a lightbox. I just can't seem to take good pictures, I've always got horrible glare from the varnish. Anyway, when I finish building it I may update a few photos, or just re-post them up.
     I am about half way through my next Impaler as I type this. Not sure what to work on after I finish, maybe a heavy beast or some solos. Not too sure if I want to tackle units just yet. At some point I will have to try and do up some plaid. Until then enjoy...

Trollblood Axer

     My first Trollblood is finally done! I admit however that I did wait for the Journeyman league to begin to start painting. I was going to paint the whole Warpack but settled on just the Axer to start. I think this guy came out pretty good. I tried to use some more blending instead of drybrushing for most of the model. In fact the only drybrushed parts are the metal and some of the leather parts.
     The skin was basecoated with Citadel Dawnstone, washed with Citadel Badab Black and Highlighted back "up" with Dawnstone. From here I would have normally drybrushed with a lighter shade of grey and called it good. Instead I layered with some Citadel Administratum Grey leaving a rough line of Dawnstone for definition. In the past I've considered this a more advanced technique but after trying it I realized it's pretty easy.
     The metal bits were done with a basecoat of Citadel Leadbelcher, washed with Badab Black, then Citadel Devlan Mud and finally Citadel Gryphonne Sepia. From here the raised parts were lightly drybrushed with Citadel Mithril Silver. The copper parts were washed the same but started out with a basecoat of P3 Molten Bronze.
     While putting the basecoat on this model I thought the overall look was a bit to dark and drab. To solve that problem I decided to make the hair an orange-red and put an Autumn theme on the bases. To achieve the hair I started out with Citadel Eshin Grey, followed by some Citadel Scab Red, using very thinned paint and going heavier toward the tip. When that was still too dark I blended further with some P3 Khador Red Base and P3 Khador Red Highlight (which is actually and orange color). I added in some Badab Black wash while blending when I thought it appropriate.
     Another thing I tried to do to brighten the model up a bit was add horn to the top and bottom of the Axer's Axe. Some people have painted this part in metalic, some like a claw and a few like horn. This was my first attempt at painting horn and it was the most difficult part of the model. I still think it looks poor. But after a couple of frustrating do-overs, I had to call it good. Otherwise the paint would just get way too thick. Anyway I used P3 'Jack Bone to start, washed with Gryphonne Sepia and highlighted back up with the 'Jack Bone. From there I painted semi thick lines with Citadel Calthan Brown, then thin lines with Citadel Scorched Brown. I tried to add a bit of thinned Citadel Skull White to the tip then had to re-do the dark lines. Frustrating but eventually I'll practice more and since it's such a pain, hopefully get it down.
     The base was pretty standard, a mix of browns for dirt and greys for rock. Some Citadel Scorched Grass and Secret Weapon Autumn Leaves. The last bit of tall grass was from Woodland Scenics. Anyway that's my Axer, and how I plan on doing my Trollblood army.

Golden Bat Summer 2012 results and why I didn't post for a month

     So trying to focus back into hobby mode right now, just finished up my quick review of Dark Vengeance and started checking out a few forums that I frequent. I remembered the Golden Bat Summer 2012 over on Carpe Noctem has come to a close and the winners have been announced. My Death Korps of Krieg Demolisher took first place in the 40k master painting catagory! There were only a few contestants for the 40k section though, but hey a win is still pretty nice. Here is a pic to recap if you haven't seen it here a hundred times already.

     So I've been quite busy with real life stuff lately and thought I would share a bit of it here. I am quite proud of what I have accomplished so please bear with me or just skip on to the next post. Some of you know I am in the restaurant business, which consumes most of my time. The little free time I get I spend either studying my schoolwork or focusing on my hobby. Lately I've been building a bar in my restaurant. It's been an amazing experience! I was a little nervous at first since I've never built something so big or permanent before. And quite honestly without experience you just never know what surprises wait for you once you get started. Here are some photos.

      Here is my framework being lined up. My counter tops are also being cut to size, planed and sanded. This was an all night project, just Belle and myself. We assembled the frames the morning prior while closed and had everything ready to go. Once we closed at 11pm we started.

      The holes took about 6 hours to be drilled into the concrete, here I am pounding the anchors into the holes. We also planned about an inch off of one of the counter tops. Unfortunately we didn't have time for a lot of WIP photos. Sleep deprivation didn't help us remember the camera either.

     Here is a photo taken last night. The first beer to be poured at the bar, Lost Abbey Deliverance. My personal favorite beer and the beer that got us into craft beer to begin with. It seemed fitting that we should drink one to start the bar off right.

     I just took this photo about two hours ago. Here we are in the morning light. Nice reflection from the liquid glass coat over the counter tops. Those are solid by the way, each weighing a few hundred pounds. The whole bar comes to 21 feet and has ten seats. It's still going to need a foot rest, I am thinking of running a pipe out of the ground on each end and across the middle for it.
     Well there it is, tonight will be the first time it's open to our customers. I know they've been anxiously awaiting it so it should be a good night.

Dark Vengeance part 1

     Hello all, it's been a while since my last post, but I'm still here. Just busy with life, leaving very little time for the hobby. A couple of weeks ago my pre-ordered Dark Vengeance Limited box set arrived at my local GW store. I finally found the time to pick it up last Saturday. From all the reviews I've seen I knew the models would be pretty nice and after opening it up I think nice is a bit of an understatement. The models are fantastic! So here is my quick unboxing review on the set and after I assemble, clean and primer I'll hopefully find time to update again. Then perhaps I'll paint them, even though I haven't touched my Trollbloods yet. :(

 Here is the box cover

 The box contents together.

 The reason most people are interested in this box; super thin rulebook.

 All of the basics for a game of 40k, rulers, dice (with scatter die) and blast templates. Also pictured are the bases for the miniatures.

 The miniature sprues! I won't go into detail since there are many reviews out there already. You get four sprues for the regular Dark Vengeance and one extra little sprue for the limited edition.

 The limited edition model. Very worth it in my opinion. This model like all of the models in this box is cast at a very high quality of detail.

 The paperwork! You get a fancy small rulebook, a quick start guide, an assembly guide, a couple reference sheets and a special rules card for the limited edition model.
 
     Well that concludes my 'unboxing.' I believe most of the models are snap fit, so assembly should be a piece of cake. Just sifting through the sprues I can also tell that there are very few mold lines and so far no mis-cast parts that I can see. This is quite a high quality set, I am impressed.

Skarre Queen of the Broken Coast

     My epic Skarre, now Queen of the Broken Coast. This model was a blast to paint. A few changes from her prime version though; she lost her cloak, no longer has a trim on her coat and she is holding a pistol instead of a dagger. The rest of the model is pretty much the same, including fantastic quality on the face.
     I've had this model finished for a while now but when I photoed it the first time all of my pictures came out with a horrible greyed-out look. And they were quite dark despite using a makeshift lightbox. This time I took a roll-up magnet and set it on the coffee table next to a glass door. I propped one side up and photoed her using it as a backdrop. Overall the pictures came out fine but still a bit too dark. Recently I decided to check out Picasa 3 for organizing and viewing my pictures and saw that it has a built in editing kit. I was able to crop there (like anywhere else, nothing special) and then I used an "I'm feeling lucky" button to edit the light and color. Not sure exactly what it did but the picture looks a lot better after that so I stuck with it. I'll go ahead and post the 'before' photo with crop so you can see the original.

     So here you can see the original is not terribly different but the editing made it look better. Removed that dull grey haze. I don't think it makes my paint job look better than it is but maybe I'm being defensive? I'm not really sure how people feel about 'fixing' photos of minis. Let me know what your opinion is.

March of the Trollbloods

     Lately I've been having a lot of fun playing my Trollblood army down at my local game store. With an up and coming Journeyman League I decided to get them all based and primed up. I don't think I'll be able to wait for the league to start though, I want to paint them sooner. So far they are all ready for paint except for my Whelps. But that's not all, there are a few things of interest in the mix...

     The Trollblood Warpack comes with two identical Impalers. That is rather disappointing from a hobby perspective (not so great from a gaming perspective either). So to fix the problem I cut the left arm off of one of the Impalers and repositioned it with a little green stuff. I then cut the spear top and bottom to swap them. Finally I cut and carved the chickens off of his belt to try and add a little more variety. I think it came out quite alright.

     Rok gets thirsty! He sure loves his beer so I've decided to give him a keg. With the new plastic Dire Troll kit you get enough parts to make either a Bomber, Blitzer or Mauler, which means lots of extra bits. Extra bits like powder kegs that can easily become beer kegs.

     The Kilt Lifter. What a great model. This model is fantastic despite not being a playable model. I didn't pick it up for the game though, when I saw it on the Privateer Press store I knew I had to have it.

     Mulg for my birthday! I was so happy to get Mulg as a gift for my birthday that I've used him in every list since. I am certainly impressed with his performance and the model itself is quite amazing. I plan on covering most of the roots of the tree-stump with static grass.

     A full unit of Kriel Warriors. It may not seem like much but it took me quite a long time and many game stores to complete this unit. I finished it off by buying my last two Caber Throwers at Lock & Load 2012.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the preview. Perhaps soon I can start painting some of theses guys up. I have decided to go with a mix of greys for skin tone as I am not a fan of typical Trollblood blue. The bases are going to be spring/summer themed, full of life. I considered going with an autumn theme but decided against it as it may draw away from the model too much. We shall see.

Spotlight: Pirate Queen Skarre

     My first spotlight! At a glance Skarre looks impressive, lots of attacks with interesting special effects on each of her weapons, awesome feat, good spell list and stats, and to top it off she even gets a special action. Skarre offers a nice mix of support and do it yourself aggression. Most of her spells, abilities and feat require her to mix in with her army and that puts her pretty close to the enemy. Although as Cryx she is always able to take arc nodes a plenty to gain some distance with her spells, she may not need to hide too much given her defensive qualities.

     Skarre has high defense, tied for the highest in faction, and her armor is respectable given her ability to increase it quite easily. Being a Satyxis she is quite fast matching raiders in speed but loosing a tiny bit of threat by not having a reach weapon. Skarre is a melee fighter, boasting higher than average mat and an awesome spell that increases her chances of hitting, adding that she has knockdown on her horns she may well be the best "hitter" in the Cryx faction. While hitting the enemy poses no problem to Skarre, getting past their armor might be a little rough. Skarre doesn't hit very hard without the help of her feat and life trader, so she may have to lose a bit of her own life to start doing serious damage! Skarre has less than average focus for a Cryx Warcaster but higher than average command.

Weapons:

     Takkaryx: Skarre's primary weapon. P + S 13 magical blade with life trader. Every time Skarre hits with this sword she can suffer one damage point and gain an additional die on the damage roll against the model hit. This is one of the ways Skarre can mitigate her low strength. The key in this ability is that it adds a die to the damage roll rather than boosting the damage roll. This means you can use life trader and boost your damage roll giving Skarre four dice, making her a pseudo weapon master. The only downside is no reach.

     Bloodwyrm: Skarre's offhand. P + S 9 magical dagger with life drinker. When Skarre destroys a living enemy model with this dagger she heals herself for d3 damage. Now at first it looks great since Skarre will be causing herself some harm with her sword and her feat. This is not really the case! Rarely is Skarre sent off to kill a few infantry models, that makes this dagger very situational at best. Again not having reach hurts the potential of this weapon. If your opponent is cautious about you trying to heal up they may just spread out enough that you can only get one model engaged at a time. Now you might find yourself chasing a model or two for a tiny bit of healing and possibly exposing yourself to other threats. On the other hand, if you do find yourself surviving an assassination attempt by a couple living models it might be nice to clear them out and heal up a little in the process.

     Great Rack: Skarre's rack of course! P + S 10 horns with knockdown. A great opener on targets with high defense. Knocked down opponents are hit automatically in melee, witch just makes the job so much easier for the rest of her attacks. It helps the rest of her army hit those high defense targets too, assuming they don't die to Skarre in the process.

Feat:

     Blood Magic: One of the best feats in Cryx and certainly the game. Skarre can suffer up to five damage to gain +1 strength and armor for each point. This bonus applies to all friendly faction models in her control area, while they are in it (an aura not a pulse). This effect lasts for one round making it equally defensive and offensive. It would be hard to truly list all the uses and combinations this feat allows but I will try to list some. First the most obvious benefit +5 strength. Lots of damage potential on feat turn. Skarre's whole army can hit like dump trucks if you set up your lanes properly. The bonus is even better on armor piercing models as they generally start with low pow. Cankerworm damaging a Khador jack on dice +6 anyone? Yes please. Another benefit of the strength boost is power attacks. Higher chance to pull off throws, even one handed. And power attack damage based off of strength becomes not only utility but dangerously damaging (slamming etc.). 
     On the defensive side of Blood Magic your troops will be much harder to throw. They will have +5 armor making some almost invincible and others much more resilient. Blast damage will not phase you unless it has a continuous effect on it. Your troops can use the feat defensively to cover as much ground as fast as possible when fighting a ranged army and weather a round of shooting. The higher armor may allow for some of your engaged troops to disengage without fear of free strikes auto killing them. When all else fails, if you had a terrible assassination run, you can be assured that your opponent will have to dedicate much more resources to counter attack your army.

Spells:

     Backlash: Mid range offensive upkeep spell that targets enemy warjacks belonging to a battlegroup. Every time the jack is damaged it's controller suffers one damage point. Not a bad spell if you want to start picking away at an enemy Warcaster. Obviously it does nothing against Hordes. I find that this spell is best used with an arc node early in the game. It can make your opponent change their plan after the first turn. Almost like psychological warfare, they may not want to commit a jack as fully as they had planned, lessening their attack and overall strategy. It may also cause them to use up resources to remove the spell. Being our only upkeep however is not going to prevent them from doing something better with those resources. For good times combo this spell with Satyxis Raiders and double backlash enemy Warcasters.

     Blood Rain: Mid range offensive AOE that hits for a reasonable amount and causes continuous corrosion damage. This spell is great for clearing out high defense and high armor infantry models with one wound each. The reason being is that no matter how high your armor is corrosion will still do one point of damage (assuming it doesn't go out). As far as high defense goes; it's an AOE, it will scatter and their are ways to make sure it scatters on target. Another spell that can be use to great effect early by forcing your opponent to spread out more than they wanted to or forcing your opponent to give up shield wall. Another sneakier use is to run one of your own models into a position where the spell will have greatest effect then nail them in the back. Best done with Scrap Thralls since they are easy to hit, dirt cheap and they also explode when they die for a double whammy!

     Dark Guidance: The spell of spells! While in Skarre's control area, friently faction models gain an additional die on their melee attack rolls. This spell is what makes Skarre amazing in my opinion. It has many obvious benefits and a few that are less obvious. First it makes hitting really easy for most of her army, mat 5 and 6 are no longer bad. It adds an extra dice which can then be further boosted if need be by models that can boost. Dealing with super high defense is no longer a problem. An extra die increases the chance for Satyxis Raiders getting critical knockdowns. Increasing the chance of a chain attack from a Seether since all it needs to do is hit it's target twice. And of course ensuring critical maneuvers like applying the Blood Hag's dispel, a Stalker's grievous wounds and a Warwitch Siren's shadow bind. Gerlack Slaughterborn is unstoppable with his killing spree as long as their are enough enemies for him to munch through.
     Some of the less obvious benefits: More flexibility in building character restricted lists, no longer needing Tartarus' curse so that Banes can hit stuff. Not dependent on the Withershadow Combine to dispel stuff or help Gerlack with re-rolling a miss. Skarre can have a large infantry army, with dirt cheap models such as Mechanithralls, who hit really hard and now have a reliable chance of hitting their target.

     Hellfire: A long range hard hitting attack spell. This spell causes the model/unit hit by it to take a command check or flee. A great spell for sniping your opponent's important models given the higher than average range and pow. The added effect of making enemies flee is very situational at best and should not be used with the hopes that someone is going to run away.

     Ritual Sacrifice: Skarre's other very important spell. This spell removes a friendly warrior model from play and grants Skarre an additional d6 focus on the following turn. According to an Infernal ruling on the Privateer Press forum the d6 focus is rolled as the spell is cast. This ruling makes this spell one of the first things you should do in your turn so you can plan accordingly. Now one might think the price is too high, costing a third of Skarre's focus for the randomness of a d6 later. This is where the Skarlock Thrall comes in to cast it for free. Additionally if you use the Skarlock you can see how much focus Skarre will have on the next turn before activating Skarre. Not a huge advantage though since most of the time you will be activating Skarre early in your turn.
     A free d6 of focus per turn is nothing to scoff at considering it can potentially double Skarre's focus however, it does have a price. The best models to sacrifice in my opinion are Scrap Thralls. They are a third of a point each which is great and sacrificing them removes them from play so you don't have to worry about blowing yourself up (deathburst). Another great candidate would be the Stitch Thralls that come with your Necrosurgeon. If you don't have a need for them to collect Mechanithrall tokens they become perfect sacrifice targets. Mechanithralls themselves are also good targets as they are a half point each. And finally I have found my Blood Witches to be sacrifice targets more often as well.
     A few notes; if ritual sacrifice rolls a 6 and Skarre uses her feat on the same turn she gets the 6 focus, she can camp her armor to 32! She can safely cast a dark guidance and even boost a couple attacks if needed and still be fine. This is what makes the Infernal ruling so good, is that you can plan for a nasty turn if you roll high and can position well. You could also use the foreknowledge to set up some jacks for good charges with plenty of focus on each. Or put an arc node in a good spot for a hellfire assassination run casting it up to four times, or three with boosts. And finally this focus is not allocated or replenished it is gained, so effects and feats that prevent allocation are bypassed.

Special Action:

     Sacrificial Strike: Skarre's only special action is a great one. Skarre targets a model in her LOS and in her command range, then she removes a friendly faction trooper model within one inch of her from play. The model she targeted will suffer a magical damage roll with POW equal to the base armor of the removed model. A couple of things to note. This is a magical damage roll, so it's great for taking out incorporeal enemies. This is not an attack, meaning no cover/concealment, no roll to hit and it bypasses effects that make models immune to attacks (epic Skarre's feat etc.). It's great when you use high arm troopers like Bane Thralls and Knights, just make sure the trade is worth it since you are sacrificing your own model to do this. Although sacrificing a cheap model like a Mechanithrall to kill a key solo or UA is a great option.

List Building:

     Skarre loves infantry for many reasons. She makes them hit more often (dark guidance). She makes them hit harder (blood magic). She can make them survive the onslaught of a shooting army long enough to charge (blood magic). She needs bodies to screen her and her vulnerable support models. She loves to sacrifice her own soldiers. She is not just an infantry caster though as it is possible to have a high enough focus to support a jack or two (ritual sacrifice). Blood magic and dark guidance also work just as well for jacks as they do for infantry, lowering the need for jacks to boost thus making them more efficient. Skarre can make use of an arc node or two as well with three offensive spells. So in all I think a mixed list is a solid bet for Skarre, but more appropriately one that leans toward the infantry heavy side of things.

Light Jacks:

     Skarre tends to play pretty close to the enemy which reduces the need for an arc node. Her offensive spells are not at all necessary either. I tend to use only one arc node with Skarre and often no arc node at all. I would suggest melee variants if you do take arc nodes since they synergize so well with dark guidance and her blood magic. If you have the extra point and truly don't need it elsewhere, upgrading a Deathripper to a Ripjaw is definitely worth considering. I don't find myself with an extra point very often though. Cankerworm is another light jack that plays well with Skarre being melee focused and able to cause some serious hurt to heavy jacks. Stalkers are worth considering as well for their grievous wounds and other abilities. And Helldivers popping up to slam with +5 str from blood magic can be pretty helpful in clearing lanes to your knockdown targets.

Heavy Jacks:

     Skarre doesn't really lean any particular direction in the heavy jack department. Jacks that can be self sufficient are always welcome; Harrower threshing with three dice on his melee attacks is nice or a Seether ensuring he hits with both claws to pull off a grab and smash. The simple Slayer is a viable option with Skarre too since his biggest weaknesses can be overcome with dark guidance and blood magic. Skarre doesn't help the ranged game at all though, so ranged jacks like the Leviathan gain nothing in her army. The only real exception i can see is the Reaper. He gains little from Skarre since he shoots a harpoon and has sustained attack on his helldriver, but it's more of what he can do for her than the other way around. He can move models closer to her army and clear lanes for other models. Given that Skarre has no way to increase threat ranges this can really help out.
     Thanks to BeardyDan over on the Privateer Press forums we have another heavy jack to discuss; the Desecrator. The Desecrator is our newest jack and it's melee weapon has a very nice critical effect on it: Critical Shred. When you roll a critical hit with this weapon you can make another attack against the model you just hit. Pretty handy when you are rolling three dice to hit. Under blood magic this thing fully loaded with focus has a decent chance or putting serious hurt on Colossals too. It plays very well with Banes having accumulator with them, so if you are planning on running them you may want to consider a Desecrator.

Units:

     This is where Skarre shines. Mechanithralls hit really hard... when they hit. Mat 5 sucks but when you have three dice to attack it's like having mat 8. Combine that with dirt cheap. Add three Brutes for massive  P + S 24 combo strikes on feat turn. Add in the need for a Necrosurgeon to collect corpse tokens, heal Skarre and provide ritual sacrifice targets. Now you have a nice package deal for a bargain 10 points.
     Satyxis Raiders and Blood Witches also shine with Skarre. Extra dice on attacks mean more chances to get critical knockdowns with lacerators. It also means less need to CMA or gang. Added reliability on the Blood Hag's dispel strike. Power swell with blood magic on the charge can make Satyxis Raiders real powerhouses for a turn. They will be really hard for the enemy to remove on their following turn as well, being high defense with force barrier to boot. Lacerators have feedback built in and it stacks with backlash for two damage to the enemy Warcaster when damaging their jacks. Best of all Satyxis are very fluffy.
     Bane Thralls and Knights go well with pretty much any Cryx caster. The beauty of using them with Skarre is that she removes the need for Tartarus' mat buff. Being weapon masters already adding Skarre's feat makes them crazy good at killing anything in front of them for a turn. And being able to use the Thralls as mobile debuffs (dark shroud) can come in handy.
     Bloodgorgers can work really well with Skarre if you are already considering Gerlack. They have a build in movement buff which is nice and Skarre cuts out the need for gang. Since they are on medium bases it can be hard to get gang to work effectively. They have two attacks each meaning if you put a pair of them on a target you most likely will lose some of your attacks. But medium bases also mean they can screen Skarre and her key support models pretty well.
     Any melee based infantry can work well with Skarre given her buffs to hitting and damaging enemies. I do believe that the ones listed above are the best choices though. And any Cryx army can benefit from a unit of Bile Thralls.
     Creid over on the Privateer Press forums has pointed out that Soulhunters and Darragh Wrathe make an excellent combo with Skarre. They have the ability to become incorporeal when starting their activation in Darragh Wrathe's command range. Being cavalry they can ignore smaller bases when declaring charges witch allows them to get where you want them quite easily. The downsides are that they have large bases making it difficult to squeeze them in on your target, maybe too difficult to get more than one or two. They are very expensive in points. They also don't hit overly hard witch is where blood magic comes in. Add dark guidance to make sure that one or two Soulhunters hit their mark and now you have some serious assassination threat. 

Solos:

     The Skarlock Thrall is pretty much a necessity for ritual sacrifice. When not sacrificing models he can also dish out two different attack spells and a backlash. Speaking of ritual sacrifice the next solo to recommend is the Scrap Thrall. You get three for each point spent. Dirt Cheap. They can do all kinds of tricky positioning things and make wonderful sacrifice targets.
     Warwitch Sirens are handy in any Cryx army. For Skarre they fulfill the same function as they would for anyone with one difference; shadow bind is a lot more reliable.
     Bane Lord Tartarus, another model good in most Cryx armies. Not as needed with casters who can help their armies hit stuff but still an awesome piece to have. He does add a movement buff to Banes that Skarre can't. And under the effects of dark guidance and blood magic he can thresher like no other.
     General Gerlack Slaughterborn's killing spree just got a whole lot better with three dice to hit. It is a real  bummer when you roll that snake eyes during a killing spree. Or perhaps you roll a 3 or 4 when you needed just a tiny bit more. Anyway, Gerlack is a monster in melee and if you combine that with a caster who buffs melee troops he will shine even brighter. He offers up some nice abilities to Bloodgorgers too if you have them.
     Now for the Satyxis Raider Captain. She is a high speed weapon master with a lacerator. If that is not enough she can make Satyxis Raiders faster and gives out no knockdown to Satyxis models. Important note: Skarre is a Satyxis Warcaster. No knockdown for my high defense Warcaster? Yes indeed.

Mercenaries:

     I find that Gorman is very useful to Skarre. He can screen her with his smoke bombs as his primary function. When battle closes in he can blind models to effectively take them out for a turn or help lower the armor of enemy jacks. Very useful, the only downside is that Gorman might have a hard time keeping pace with Skarre since he is slower than her.
     Saxon Orrik is also very useful to Skarre as he can give a unit pathfinder. Skarre doesn't have the luxury of handing out ghost walk like many other Cryxian casters and this guy fills that gap.

Conclusion (TLDR):

     Skarre is a beast. She can hit like a ton of bricks with the proper support and spells/feat. Her army can hit reliably and very hard on feat turn. She can assassinate in melee or if you get a lucky ritual sacrifice roll, spells as well. She can run jacks comfortably with the added focus from ritual sacrifice. She save you lots of points, taking many dirt cheap units and turning them into powerhouses. She may not be as "tricksey" as other Cryx Warcasters but she is definitely able to run with the best of them. If you just read the entire post I applaud you. And thank you for taking the time to read it.

Pirate Queen Skarre

     Well here is my Pirate Queen Skarre. Skarre is one of the latest Cryx casters for me to try out and I must say she is becoming a favorite. With the ability to have massive amounts of focus she can run jacks well, camp really well, cast her army wide buff or just get the job done herself by buying attacks and "double boosting" damage with her sword. On feat turn with a good ritual sacrifice she can manage extreme armor values, add to that high defense and speed and she can get where she needs to go without worry. I think I may even try to write up a spotlight on her with tactics and some ideas for my next post.
     As for the photo... I seem to under-highlight all of my models. I seem to loose a bit of my highlighting in the varnishing phase as well. Not sure if it's the varnish itself (Krylon matte) or if it's all varnishes that give that effect. I think I will have to force myself to just pick up a model and over highlight the hell out of it just to see how it turns out. The photo seems to be greyed out due to the fail light-box as well. I was waiting for a while to take another picture but the weather here and my work schedule just don't cooperate. So for now we settle with an under-highlighted greyed out Pirate Queen Skarre :( . In other news there is a painting class coming up with Meg Maples over at Card Kingdom. I am very interested in this style of class, you get handed a model and she walks you through a bunch of techniques until the model is done. You are supposed to learn quite a bit, and it's just so tempting. But the hard to justify expense of $100 per person is just to high. There is no way I can bring myself to shell out that much for a painting lesson, think of how many more miniatures I could have for that money! Anyway, maybe they will lower the price in the future or perhaps when I get rich I'll finally check it out. Now about that tactics article...
edit: that went rather quickly here is the tactics article: http://resinpewterpaint.blogspot.com/2012/07/spotlight-pirate-queen-skarre.html

Iron Lich Asphyxious

     Iron Lich Asphyxious complete. I've been working on having five painted casters for the Thornwood Leauge that I joined last month. I was thinking I'll go with both Skarres, pDenny, Witch Coven and Scaverous. About half way through Scaverous I decided to change it up and work on this guy instead. I still want to finish Scaverous but now I can take my time on him since this is the last of the five needed for the league anyway. Which reminds me I haven't posted my Skarres up here yet.
     So the Iron Lich... Everyone tells me he is the best way to learn Cryx. His stats seem pretty basic for Cryx and his spells and feat are pretty standard looking stuff. I've never used him though and only just recently picked up the model. I've read a few strategies on how to best use him too and that always gets me excited to try a model out. So I guess I'll have to smash a few enemies then check back in.

Lock and Load, Steamroller 2012 and Golden Guardsmen

 Well it's been a while since my last post. I'm still here, just haven't finished anything in the paint department. I've started quite a few painting projects that either never get finished or get finished much later. I seem to loose interest in finishing a model about half way through. Not sure why but I'll look over at my pile of stuff and think "damn that would look awesome finished" and move on... But hey, I've been a painfully slow painter since the beginning. I'm ok with it. On my table right now: Nightmare, Machine Wraith, Scaverous, pSkarre, eSkarre, Cankerworm, Gorman, Pistol Wraith and a Harrower. All are about half way right now. I just need to start finishing them.

Lock and Load

So what have I been up to? Well I went to my first ever CON, Lock and Load. I had registered for the masters and hardcore tournaments but when the time came I found myself not looking forward to the added stress. I decided to just take it easy and enjoy my first major miniature event. It helps that Friday morning was crazy busy at work too, which caused me to miss the masters preliminaries.
I was able to play a handful of games over the course of the weekend. All the people I played with were very nice and respectful which helped me ease into the whole thing. I checked out the PP store which was fully stocked with goodness. I was able to get some caber throwers for my trolls finally, and the sons of bragg too. I snuck into a sculpting seminar that was pretty neat. All in all it was a fun experience. I would go again. Maybe next time I'll take part in the tournaments though.

 This big blue 'Jack was stationed right outside the main gaming hall.

 Deploying my army on one of the scenic tables.

 A hard fought battle for the bridge.

The MOUNTAIN KING! And Sons of Bragg.

Steamroller 2012
 
So it turns out that the following weekend after Lock and Load my local game store was holding a steam roller 2012 tourney. Being amped up from the con I decided to attend for better or worse. I spent quite a while trying to come up with strong lists to bring but in the end I just took whatever was painted. The only model that didn't have a finished coat of paint was Nightmare who will be done someday soon. I was only able to assemble one list as a result of only using painted models too. But I wasn't going to win it, I was going to look good. Anyway, my first round was a bye (I was the odd man out, but it was considered a win). Second round I went up against an epic Caine Cygnar list. I was using pDeneghra and most of the painted models in my Cryx archive here. It was a hard fought battle swinging the favor back and forth until my opponent ran out of time on the deathclock. I won by time however, if the game had gone on it could have gone either way. Very fun game that was though. So, on to round three. With two 'technical' wins under my belt I now faced the reigning champion in these parts with his Bethayne Legion of Everblight list. It was ugly for me, my soldiers were getting killed like it was going out of style. At one point my opponent edged Belphegore up to the killbox limit, later in the game he popped Bethayne out the back of the Belphegore but opted not to move her. Whilst allocating my focus it dawned on me that she was out of the killbox. So somehow I managed to win and move on to the final round. I felt a little silly at this point especially considering how much my ass was being handed to me. But hey whatever. Final round was against a Kaelyssa Retribution of Scyrah list. It was a hard fought battle that my opponent was dominating. In the end I just barely managed to squeeze Nightmare through a hole and walk up to his caster and kill her. On the final roll of my attacks I needed an 8 to hit and needed to do only a few more damage. One dramatic pause later and pDeneghra was washing Kaelyssa bits off of Nightmare's claws.
Yeah, so after all of that, I won the tournament. Pretty silly.

Golden Guardsmen Forge World Fail
 
On the 40k side of things I have been pretty unproductive. I was going to enter into the Golden Guardsmen painting competition hosted by the Imperial Guard message board. The theme was big guns. I had just the thing in mind. A while back I ordered a Medusa siege tank and a Death Korps of Krieg artillery crew from Forge World. I had all the time in the world to paint it up to match my Leman Russes. It just arrived two weeks ago, right about the time when the competition finished. Damn them, that's the longest I've ever had to wait for a Forge World order. On the up side, the next Golden Guardsmen will be command models. I have my command squad assembled and waiting for a touch of green stuff. Maybe I'll paint them up and enter.

Leman Russ Executioner

My Leman Russ Executioner is finally complete. Not much different from the Demolisher, I was able to paint these both at the same time. This one just had a few more details and extra bits to paint. I may try to clean the plasma coils up a bit still but not really sure what to do with them. The only other thing I have planned for these Leman Russes is to sink a magnet down in the hatch and paint up some gunners and tank commanders. I have one of each from the Death Korps of Krieg line but I would like to have two gunners as I think it would look better. Well that's it for now.