Warmaster: Chaos Chariots and High Elf Eagles

Latest efforts!

My second Chaos Chariot unit, finally figured out the way to put the riders without them looking drunk and falling atop one another.

I also finished a second High Elf Giant Eagle unit.  For this one I tried to raise the central figure up by mounting it on the plastic lion head ruin piece you get with the Warhammer 28mm White Lions set.  Didn't quite work but at least it still fits in the little figure boxes I have!

I painted them up to look like Harris Hawks based on a pleasant experience I had with birds of prey at a small centre near where I live:

http://theancienttrack.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/hawk-walk-feathers-fur.html

Modelling: Vallejo Basing

I am often asked how I do the bases for my models at all scales.

When I first started getting into modelling and gaming, I made a lot of mistakes.  My first basing attempts were good old PVA glue and Games Workshop sand, with green stuff used to smooth out bumpy metal bases glued to plastic stands.

This was fine but didn't have much variation, and was quite hard to manage on smaller scale areas, with "bald" parts of the base being a problem, or sand glueing to detailed parts of models, needing careful going over with a knife to shift.

I used this as the basis of my first models for 40k, Infinity and Epic, before stumbling on the Vallejo basing materials.

Vallejo make several different colours / consistencies of this product, but generally speaking you should think of it as ground pumice/rock suspended in a wet resinous material.  It's a bit like what people have made for themselves using polyfilla and railway ballast for years in the modelling world.

It was this article from DakkaDakka that made me really want to give them a go:

Vallejo Pumice Comparison

I took a couple of pictures of what the material looks like wet on the bases of my models.  Above you can see some Infinity 40mm bases.  I glued some plastic sprue to act as ruins/girders as they are such large bases and need "filling" to please the eye.

Then I took Grey Pumice, which is my favourite material due to the thick, sculptable texture, and used a Games Workshop plastic Texture spreader to ladle it out and spread it evenly over the bases.

It's a bit tricky to tell how it's going to dry, so making deliberate peaks and troughs is not very intuitive.  However, it works much better than any sand or grit on PVA in terms of being able to shore it up to chunky based models, making a smooth transition between the plastic base and where the model is glued, making it look more natural.

The stuff is so thick that you can actually drop little plastic, resin or stone basing parts on top of it, give them a little tap so that they are buried in it and leave them to dry.  I use bits of slate to give the surface some variety, and here I've used a couple of Warhammer 40k bits like grenades or ammo clips just to add some interest.

It takes a while to dry, so I usually pop them in the airing cupboard overnight.  If you want to do something really thick, you can wait until it dries then put another layer on top, but once you get the hang of it, you probably won't need to do that on normal bases.

I have used it on my SAGA, EPIC, Infinity, Warmaster, my terrain, and I'm really glad I did!

Warmaster: Chaos Reinforcements!

At last!  A unit I bought two years ago sees the light of day, and the business end of a paintbrush!

Chaos chariots are really a "no-brainer" in a Warmaster Chaos list.  For only 5 points more than Marauder Horsemen they get a plus 1 bonus in attacks per stan; the same as Monster unit types, and a lot cheaper than a magic item that accomplishes the same feat.

At first I thought it was surprising that I didn't see more of them, even before The Great Dying of 2013, when official production by Games Workshop ceased.

Then I tried glueing and painting the bleeding things!

I have never had so much trouble with a warped piece of metal.  The chariot space is barely big enough to include both riders, who have such tiny bases they are near impossible to keep upright.  The chassis is warped and the heights of the horses are off so that it needs a firm hand and lots of superglue to ensure it doesn't look like it's hovering in mid air or veering drunkenly off to one side.

They ideally need to be painted separately then glued together, otherwise your paintbrush will find it impossible to get to the nooks and crannies on the horse army and chariot faceplate.

All that said, they are essential, so I'm glad I've painted one.  Have another one half way through painting, and one in pieces which will be a project for later.

In the meantime, I finished off my third Dragon Ogre unit!  Now, Dragon Ogres are 250 points each, and exist alongside other expensive units like Chaos Knights (200 points) and Chaos Warriors (150 points).  The fact is that I think I won't ever use these as they are in a normal game, so my idea is that the 3 units I've painted will be proxies for Chaos Chariots.

In a 2000 point list, the maximum amount of Chaos Chariots I am allowed is 6 units.  If I have 3 official ones and 3 Dragon Ogre ones, that seems like the most efficient use of the models I have, as Chaos Chariots are pretty rare to find at decent prices, much like Chaos Marauder Horsemen.