Chaos Knights and Terrain

I've changed my approach to painting for the lockdown, as I was concerned that although I was knocking models out of the park left right and centre there was a danger I was going to get to the other side and still have loads of unfinished projects, so to that end I drew up a new priority list.

Chaos Knights - The Brotherhood of the Scorpion

I started a proper Chaos Knight army around my Renegade Knight I built a while ago, when the rules first came out for them, when the new Codex came out. These are now at 1450 points, or 2000 points when joined by the Greater Brass Scorpion, which is most underwhelming compared to the Knights. These are effectively finished, although I will be washing the metalwork on all the models except the Rampager with black ink when I get hold of some more - the rampager was washed when I painted it.

The bases are made using a roller from Green Stuff World, although I'm tight so I used air drying clay, same as the Splintered Fang I painted earlier in the year.

This is the Bloodsoaked Baron, which was my original Renegade Knight. Painted to match my old Chaos Marines in Liche Purple and Runefang Silver he is much brighter than the others, but hopefully a wash of the metal will hide it - if not I might go over the purple with Naggaroth Night. The model was mixed with bits of a plastic Bloodthirster I had built recently, spikes from the Chaos Vehicle Sprue, and some etched brass khorne symbols. 

The Saint Slayer is a standard Knight Rampager built out of the box. I do think that the kit is a lot more dynamic than the Imperial kit, and it is a pity it doesn't come with the weapon sprue so more of them in the same style can be used. I also like the subtle mirroring in that the pose has the other leg forwards and the Thunderstrike Gauntlet is for the right hand rather than the left.

Kingbreaker is again built using the Imperial Knight kit and the Chaos Vehicle Sprue, with the addition of a leftover Maulerfiend Head, some skulls from the skull accessory box and some Space Marine Helmets. It does carry the Chaos-only loadout of twin Avenger Cannons, and it was due to have a missile pod on its back, but I can't find it anymore. If it doesn't turn up, I did consider adding few Havoc Launchers for the same effect but I don't have any of those either.

Finally there is a pair of Wardogs, one with each armanent. These came from my friend Will, who hoards half built models like other people hoard old newspapers. There was originally 3 but only 2 survived the salvage process. These have again had a mix with the chaos vehicle sprue for extra spikes.

Urban Conquest Terrain

This is more of a teaser shot - on my next break in the shift pattern at work I will do a bit more on these as I am still working on some terrain, but I have finally found the time to paint the terrain that came with Urban Conquest, which as we never did the campaign means I have at least got something out of the box. These were mainly painted Steel Legion Drab and coated in Agrax Earthshade with a few bits of colour. I used green sawdust as flock on them, as it adds a bit of green to match my mat whist adding grass which models can stand on.

New Priorities

Apart from the Knights above, I have picked out 3 projects I want to finish in the short term, to draw a line under them and give e something solid to show progress.

Necrons: I'm getting the Necrons up to 2500 points. I'm close, with the Monolith painted recently, so I need to build and paint another Lord (using the Nemessor Zandrekh model), 3 Tomb Blades and possible a Tomb Spider, both of which are still hanging around from the 2018 Necron Megaforce.

Seraphon: I'm finishing the 2000 point Seraphon army. I have converted a Skink Starpriest, which needs sticking to a base and painting, and I need to finish the 3 Endless Spells I am using.

40k Industrial Terrain Together with the terrain above I am busy putting bases on the Zone Mortallis terrain I built at Christmas and adding some extra details. I also have the Sector Mechanicus terrain from the Renegade set to go with it, which is built but not painted.

When the above list is done I'll be happy to go back to painting odd units, or may have picked something else to focus on. I've got Romans still to build, Chaos units that could be repainted to Night Lords, Imperial Guard that need repairs, and I even found 3 Eldar Jetbikers Aeldari Windriders in the loft. The Space Elves call me again...

Night Lords. Bases, Scenery

AN update to show how I'm getting on:

I got the sand out, and based what was ready to be based - the Temple Guard, the Carnosaur, and the Night Lords mentioned but not shown in the last update. I also finished my squad of Night Lords, painted (and then sat on) the Forgeworld Night Lords Praetor with Jump Pack, painted the Noctilith Crown, the Realmshaper Engine and made a good start on the 3rd Renegade Knight.

Carnosaur:

Temple Guard

Night Lords

Jump Pack Lord

Leviathan Dreadnought - just the base, I painted this a while ago.

Noctilith Crown

Realmshaper Engine

I've got 6 days coming up, I'm going to have to regroup and think of a priorities list - I've hot all my immediate targets now and with the situation I need to think about which of my stretch goals becomes a new immediate target and which ones I need to change.

Haven't I been busy?

The UK is in lockdown. People stay off the streets, stand 2 meters apart outside shops, and everyone is working through their backlog of unpainted models.

Everyone is doing that, aren't they?

In actual fact it turns out I'm a key worker in an essential industry, and as I am using electricity myself that is fair enough. I've changed shift pattern to 12 hour days so I still do have a lot of time at home. I have still powered on through painting though.

First off, I built these:

That's 10 Saurus Guard and a Realmshaper Engine, which I still haven't figured how to deploy. I'm going for a Coalesced army, so I've built it covered in vines. It's very clever how it is double sided. The Saurus Guard models were an absolute arse to build and I won't be building any more. To be fair, mine are WHFB holdeovers and they might have been recut since then. I expect the design worked quite well on 25mm slottabases, but not on 32mm round.

I still painted them though.

The purple is Nagaroth Night, washed with leviathan purple and Xerxes Purple.
The bone is Steel Legion Drab with Screaming Skull. This is low-tech and I don't do bone like this often now, but I did when I did the rest of the army and I wanted them to match.
I haven't done the Realmshaper Engine yet, still to do.

NEXT.

A few months ago I was kindly given a biscuit tin full of necron models, most of which were beyond immediate saving (although see how long lockdown goes on) and a Monolith, which looked like this:

It now looks like this for my Mephrit army.

It still needs a base. as it wobbles a lot on a skimmer flying base (and if it supposed to have one that part is missing meaning I had to drill a hole for it) I'm thinking a big circle base and something sturdy tucked away to hold it up. When the shops are open.

I painted this using the same colour combo as the lychguard, except the flat surfaces did not cope well with being inked and it looked awful, so the dark grey is a flat cover of an old Vallejo colour Had lying around from an old Guard army - German Grey. Same effect, and I might try and get a fresher pot of this for flat surfaces and vehicles in future. This takes my Necrons to 2275 points, which means by the time I've painted another Lord I have in a blister I will be one unit away from 2500. Good times.

NEXT.

I have done 10 of the 15 Night Lords, with the exception of some details. I'm going to start the remaining 5 Wednesday, and do the Forgeworld Jump Pack Preator (Lord) at the same time.

Then I will try and do some proper photoshoots of the Night Lords and the Necrons as seen as they are missing from here.

We also have a Bitsbox Inquisitor Challenge on the go, which you might have seen on the Youtube channel but I will do a written article about.

It's all go.

More Tyrants Online?

You might be reading this and thinking 'This is all well and good, but what are these Teesside Tyrants and do they use any more engaging, modern media than a written word blog?

Well, dear theoretical reader, I have a treat for you!

There is also not one but 2 Instragram accounts, one ran by me which I out pictures on of stuff I have done and that other people in our Whatsapp group have painted:

www.instragram.com/teessidetyrants

and one that Paddy has just started, which I mainly repost on mine anyway.

www.instragram.com/ttpad9

Additionally, Paddy runs an interesting Youtube channel, which started as a Battle Report channel but evolved into him rambling about his painting. Pad's painting is awesome and his rambling unscripted, so definately recommended. Hopefully when gaming is back on we can see more battle reports again.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6SAyauFERVOPIltmDkIEmQ/feed
Catchy link, youtube.

Monthly Update

YES it has been a month since I last did a blog update.
However, in the time I have not been writing blog updates I have been painting, and I have made a good bit of progress.

Romans

I have finished 1000 points of Romans. Yay!

To be completely honest they aren't completely finished as they need grass adding to the bases.

The bases are smothered in a mixture of wall filler and brown poster paint, which makes a smooth paste and dries like concrete. My first batch used sand in the mix as well, but it was too thick and although I managed to get the models off the bases themselves are write offs.

Before putting the mixture on the bases I painted the base and the plinth under the model's feet with a pale brown so that I wasn't trying to colour using the paste, just smooth out the gaps. Worked well, and probably the best solution under the circumstances but will not replace my standard methos of gluing on sand and painting that where that is practical.

I'm moving on from the Romans now to do a couple of other projects. I will return to them when Graham starts an army, or in the autumn if he doesn't.

Carnosaur

One of my goals was to complete a Seraphon army to 2000 points for AoS. The Army Book for them came out a few weeks ago, and in preparation I had bought the Seraphon Get Started kit. I have now built and painted this, which ticks off something that had been on my wish list for at least 5 years.

I went for a natural dark green dinosaur, but brightened it up by doing the scales in bright red. The Scar-Veteran is purple to match my old army.

Yes, I know that 'technically' it isn't based either but get over it. I've got 10 Temple Guard being painted now and I'll base them all together.

Blast from the past

This isn't something I've painted recently at all, but I did get my old Empire out of the loft and found this mad count in there:

oh Marius Lietdorf, why did you let the world explode?

Status

Back in the first update of this series I set out my work order. Lets check this off now!

Splintered Fang DONE!

20 Triarii DONE!

5 Lychguard DONE!

20 Principes DONE!

Carnosaur DONE!

10 Roman Cavalry + General DONE!

Chaos Knight? NOT DONE, BUT HAD A QUESTION MARK ANYWAY!

This means its time for new objectives. Here we go.

1. 10 Temple Guard
2. Necron Monolith
3. 15 Night Lord Chaos Marines

That should see me through the next few weeks. I have ordered an undead army for Kings of War which we are giving a try, but it hasn't arrived and I assume the supply chain for that has closed to stop spreading the Coronovirus (which my job hasn't) so we will see as and when that arrives.

More updates before the end of April!

Triarii complete. Lychguard Complete

I missed both times for updating since my last update, as it is more than a week and I have painted 2 units. I am however ahead of schedule, so that is good. It does help that I've had the week off work while my wife is off for half term, although we haven't been in the house much.

I've also had the brainwave I can write here what colours I use to paint things, and then when I come back to a project I won't be confused.

Anyway, Triarii

I've bought some ingredients for making some Stirland Mud style basing for them, which I think is going to be the easiest way to sort that out. I'll do a description of that when I've done it.

My romand are painted like this:
Black Undercoat
Leadbelcher and Nuln Oil on the chainmail and weapons
Khorne Red, Agrax Earthshade, Wazdakka Red on the red parts
Bugman's Glow, Agrax Earthshade, Cadian Fleshtone on the skin
Retributor Armour, Agrax Earthshade on the brass.

I also got 5 Necron Lychguard done this week.

These are in the same edge-highlighted grey and bright orange as the rest of my Methrit army, which I quite like and goes well on these models, but the edge-highlightingis a pain on things like wraiths.

These are painted thusly:

Bodies: Mechanicus Standard Grey, Nuln Oil (Heavy), Dawnstone, Administratum Grey
Glowy bits: Khorne Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet, Troll Slayer Orange, Fire Dragon Bright
Bases: Baneblade Brown (Or Vallejo US Army Drab), Screaming Skull.

Next up is another unit of Roman infantry, which are sprayed and in the garage now so will probably get on with them tonight. I'm in 2 minds what to do after them though. The list I drew up had the carnosaur on it, but I'm tempted to forge on with the Romans and get the cavalry done so I have 1000 points painted.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Martin

Splintered Fang complete

It looks as though the blog may be inspiring me to keep on with it, as this week I have already managed to tick off my first target: I have painted the Splintered Fang warband.

They aren't as neat as they could have been, and the paint scheme is basically a less complicated version of the one on the box, but I am pleased with them. I'm rather keen on the way the flesh turned out (Bugman's Glow - Agrax Earthshade - Cadian Fleshtone - Kislev Flesh) and I think I will use this as my standard flesh from now on as I've got lazy since I haven't painted many humans in the last few years. I'm also pleased with the bases, made using the Flagstone roller from Green Stuff World, although I used cheap air drying clay from Hobbycraft.

I also managed to get a couple of games in with these at the club on Thursday, bagging a pair of victories against Pad using the Iron Golems and Untamed Beasts in one game each, although the first scenario favoured me and I did roll a lot of sixes.

The next item on the to-do list was Triarii, and thanks to Storm Clara I have managed to get a good start on these which means I should be on track for finishing the 19 of these this week. Which is good, because Dave is miles ahead with his Carthaginians

Painting this week: Splintered Fang Complete. 😀

Gaming this week: Middlesbrough Gaming Club on Thursday - WH40k 1000 Point Narrative game against Paddy, my Khorne Deamons v. his Ultramarines (win), 2 games of Warcry against Paddy (Wins). Graham and Dave played KoW Historical.

More Updates soon !

2020 Targets

I'm well aware that nobody is likely to be reading this, much less coming back for any updates, but i'm told by my wife that a journal is a good way to keep to targets and also I have a tonne of models lying around. So, I am going to use this long-forgotten blog to list what I plan to get done this year to help me stick to it, and also strengthen the branding of Teesside Tyrants before Paddy thinks his YouTube channel gives him exclusive rights.

Historical Romans

Situation

We are getting into historical wargaming at the shallow end with the KoW Historical Ruleset, which is a bit shallow in depth but is at least fast and easy to keep track of. I'm working through Punic War Romans, Dave is rocketing through Cartheginians and Graham is deciding between Dacians and Persians. So far I have built over 1000 points of Victrix models and painted a Horde of 40 Principes and a Troop of 8 Leves as Skirmishers.

Immediate Goal

I need to get 1000 points painted. This means painting 2 Characters, 20 Principes, 20 Triarii and 10 Cavalry. This is my headline project now but between units I will be working on other things.

Stretch Goal

The army will go to 2000 points. This will mean painting another 20 Principes and Triarii to take those units to Hordes, and also 2 Hordes of Hastati. I haven't worked out a full list yet, but I'll probably try and do some missile units or Cavalry.

Warhammer 40,000

Situation

Last year, without a single blog entry, I painted 2000 points of Necrons after buying many more in the form of several halves of Forgebane, a Get Started Set and 2018's Christmas Megaforce. Ian from Middlesbrough Gaming Club also gave me a Monolith. The 2019 points update pushed me slightly below 2000 points so I have 5 Lychguard built but not painted and 25 points spare.

I also have a half painted Chaos Knight army built around a Renegade Knight I built when they first became a thing. Still to paint is a Knight with 2 Avenger Bolt Cannons and a pair of War Dogs.

Immediate Goal

I need to paint the Lychguard I have built so I have a fully panted 2000 point army of Necrons.

Stretch Goal

I own enough models to take the Necrons to 3000 points. This will involve painting the Monolith and building and painting the units still in the box on the sprue such as Tomb Blades and another 5 Lychguard. As I like the 3000 point level for longer games this would be nice to have, and will also give me options at 2000 points.

The Chaos Knights will be painted - from experience this would take about a week for the big night and another week for the War Dogs. They also need basing, for which I am trying out a roller from Green Stuff World which is drying as I speak, although I have used cheap air drying clay rather than Green Stuff, so it is a bit of an experiment. 

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

Situation

I've yet to be won over by AoS, however we are playing it at the club so I have built a functioning Khorne army around my 40k Deamon army and added some Chaos Warriors, Chaos Knights and a Warshrine which I had had an urge to paint for a while. I've also picked up the Cities of Sigmar and Slaves to Darkness books, but haven't committed to either. Early in 2019 I transferred my 8th ed WFB Lizardmen to round bases, and had already decided to use them in a game against Graham's Skydwarves when the new Seraphon book was announced. Since then I picked up the Get Started set with the Carnosaur in on the assumption it will be replaced with another set.

Immediate Goal

Build and paint the Carnosaur from the Get Started set so it can munch any nearby Ironclad Skyvessels.

Stretch Goal

Once the new Seraphon book comes out, transform the army into an effective force. Additionally, use the newly painted Mortal Khorne units to make a Slaves to Darkness Army, both to a minimum of 2000 points.

Other GW Games

Situation

I liked Necromunda a lot, but it never really took off with my group. Regardless, I have a Delaque gang which I bought when they came out and built at Christmas. I also have the two gangs from the Dark Uprising box and the Escher and Goliath from the original starter set.

Warcry has taken off, probably because Pad is very keen and has bought the set, all the warbands and some terrain. He also plays it at home with his 9-year-old daughter. I bought a Splintered Fang Warband for my own in the hope that this will last past Easter.

Immediate Goal

I've already started the Splintered Fang, and intend to get them knocked out pretty quickly. I also need to buy a Warcry rulebook so I can keep an eye on the shenanigans the others are pulling.

Stretch Goal

I'm going to paint the Delaques, more for the principle of the thing than because I expect them to get used. The Corpse Grinder Cult models I want to use as Chaos Cultists for my Night Lords, but they are down the list.

Terrain

I've also got a fair bit of unpainted terrain, but I rarely play at home and the terrain at our gaming venues isn't atrocious so I find it hard to prioritize this. I did binge over Christmas and built and painted dthe Dark Uprising terrain and a load of other stuff I got at a local show, so I have a full set of industrial terrain which looks good. I'm not setting any goals on this because it will need a special focus.

Plan

Overall, the idea is to paint one unit of Romans followed by one GW unit.

This is what I see as the next few items:

1. Splintered Fang
2. 20 Triarii
3. 5 Lychguard
4. 20 Principes
5. Carnosaur
6. 10 Roman Cavalry + General
7. Chaos Knight?

And the hope is that keeping a log of this will keep me on focus as I will need to keep updates.

Hopefully...

(This is presented with no context)