Skip navigation

Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

MtC 5: Vermora Guermayra

Vermora’s unhealthy obsession with fire has been nothing if not fanned by the rest of the cult. Really though, is their reasoning that bad? She’s already fairly expert on the subject, so who better to haul around a huge tank of Promethium to lay waste to Khaslillie and Rheatrivix’s enemies?

When she’s not cleansing the world with fire, Vermora likes long walks in the underhive, worship Slaanesh, play cards and get drunk, however her favorite pastime is training her pet Chaos Spawn Cuddles. At this time a picture of Cuddles is not available, but we are given to understand it’s about knee high, and shaped mostly like a large cat, except with soft purple cilia instead of fur, and two pairs of tentacles on it’s shoulders that can meld together into rudimentary wings. It’s face is like that of a bull, but more flattened.

Cuddles is generally consider a sign of Slaanesh’s favor towards Vermora even though it’s not particularly good in combat the rest of the cult tends to consider it kind of like a mascot, and since Vermora is the only one who Cuddles is friendly with she is generally afforded higher status in the cult than she would other wise be granted.

MtC 4: The Kyphus triplets

The Kyphus Triplets are inseparable. They dress alike, fight alike, and talk alike. No one knows for sure if they are identical twins or not, as even during the most debauched orgies they refuse to take off their masks. Ostensibly Arxus is the oldest of the three by a few minutes and Kurron is the youngest. While they don’t claim to be telepathically linked, they frequently do that annoying twin thing where one of them (usually Kurron) starts a sentence and another (usually Arxus) finishes it. Still, the middle born Rurlan usually does the bulk of the talking even if the other two start and end the thoughts.

Recently they’ve been hoping to do a better job of garnering Slaanesh’s favor and so are eager to volunteer for any raiding party or warband which might afford them the chance to earn glory.

Keeper of Secrets Round up

Well, the Avatar of Shaah is assembled. Here you can see her with 3 others of my Keepers, the two Creature Caster ones on the left, and the Mierce Miniatures one which I’ve just started painting on the right. As well as the beginnings of her base made of plasticard and a yogurt lid. I’ve uploaded a small gallery of better pictures of the Avatar, as well as her completed base. For many of my more daemonic miniatures I’ve gone for a Giant’s Causeway effect on the base, and I went a little overboard on this one, adding a dozen tentacles as well. Turns out I only had 11 of them though so one I had to construct out of greenstuff. Overall I’m pleased with the base and very excited to start painting this model, as well as the other three.

MtC 3: Arals Thatira

Arals Thatira

While many in the cult have become enraptured with Seanan‘s silver supplements, Arals instead opted for the healing Power of the Atom. It’s more likely that it is the beneficence of Slaanesh that has kept him alive than a misreading of some Dark Age lore books. Arals isn’t concerned with other’s doubt, and not being the brightest he sees no issues with worshiping both Slaanesh and the Atom. It is a little unfortunate that the hideous orange tan, and slight glow makes him a bit of a target, but it is a testament to some ruinous power that despite this he still has not been struck down.

Arals claims is knife was licked clean by a Keeper of Secrets in the aftermath of a raid, but everyone who was at that battle was otherwise occupied in the post battle orgy to corroborate his story.

Keeper of Secrets #6

So last week’s keeper (from Creature Caster) is assembled:

And my Keeper problem might be worse than I thought. I complete forgot I’d backed Toughest Girls in the Galaxy 2. Well it came today, in addition to a ton of other beautiful miniatures is The Avatar of Shaah. Over 40 pieces of finely detailed resin. I spent about two hours working on it and only got a little over halfway through trimming the flash off (admittedly I was watching Game of Thrones so was a little distracted) but still, this is definitely one of the more complex kits I’ve assembled. Aside from on the legs the mold lines are nearly invisible… And the most obvious offenders are on the back of the legs, so I might paint them like stockings with a seam at the back…  Once I get them painted I’ll have to start giving them names as well. Eldritch emissaries of Slaanesh are people too right?

In addition to the Avatar of Shaah I also picked up some harpies to possibly use as

Slaaneshii Furies. That said I’m also thinking about converting them to be more Raptors or Warp Talons… I think they’d be pretty good Warp Talon stand-ins. That said there is also any hope that Emperor’s Children and Slaanesh Daemons will be getting some love soon. GW is just releasing a Start Collecting Slaaneshii Daemon’s box for Age of Sigmar and there’ve been rumours of a revised Fulgrim for quite a while now. And basically all three other ruinous powers have received love; it’s certainly Slaanesh’s turn if anyone’s.

Hobby advice: Before you paint

Before painting a model, there are a few things you can do to increase the durability of your paint job and ensure your masterpiece isn’t ruined by banging around in a box with other minis or being dropped on the floor or mishandled by an opponent with greasy hands (and some things to do afterwards). However by far the most important aspect is priming your model. You’ll have folks tell you it’s not important, or to just brush on your base coat. If you’re going to always handle your models with utmost care and only keep them on the shelf that’s fine. If on the other hand, you plan to actually play your game of choice then your models are going to see use and abuse. They’ll tip over, get dropped, get stuff dropped on them, get handled, and bump into things. A good start can ensure your terrific or terrible paint job will last for years!

The first step is to wash your models… now with most GW plastic you can pretty safely skip this step. However it doesn’t hurt (aside from taking a bit of time to dry) and many other models, especially resin (including Forge World resin) this step is essential. Most of the time warm soapy water and a very light scrubbing with an old toothbrush is sufficient. Rinse and let dry, and you’re good to go.

The second step is to prime your models. If you’re painting a display model, then aside from basing coating it, this step isn’t that important… I’m going to assume you don’t want your models to chip, and you want your base coat to be able to go on in just one or two thin coats. There are a wide variety of paint on primers, and those all you really have to do is stick to the “multiple thin coats” adage and you’ll be fine. Another option is using an airbrush, which can work better than rattle cans, but for most of Spray primer is both economical and efficient, so I’m going to go into detail on how to get the best result when spray priming.

  • Never spray (primer OR varnish) if the humidity is over 55%. You might be able to get away with it as high as 65% but do a single test model (or a piece of sprue) and make sure… 50% or less and you should be safe. If it’s raining or snowing, don’t even bother. If you have access to a climate controlled area (garage w/ AC for example) you have a lot more leeway since Air Conditioning will draw a lot of the moisture out of the air. If you’re not positive, test on some sprue to make sure.
  • If the temperature outside (or where ever you are spraying) is warmer than inside, soak your spray can in warm water for about 5-10 minutes beforehand. Also if you haven’t used the can in a while, shake, soak, shake can make a big difference. I generally soak then spray every time.
  • Shake that can! Shake it good. For about 1-2 minutes. I’m serious, you think you’ve shaken the can enough, you haven’t. Shake it up and down. Swirl the can so the agitator rolls around the bottom. Hold the can upside and do the same thing. Any shaking that you do before the agitator starts rattling doesn’t count. If you are going to soak the can in warm water, shake before AND after the soak.
  • Start and stop spraying NOT aimed at your models. The initial and final bit of spray can clump up. I also usually do a test spray into the air to make sure it’s coming out smooth. If the spray seems clumpy or stringy or weird go check the weather, or if it’s a new can check your return policy.
  • Spray from about 8-16″ away. You might have to get a bit closer if it’s windy, but better to be too far away and have to do two coats.
  • Speaking of which go for light coats…. Always better to do 2-3 coats then one way too thick coat that you can’t undo without stripping.

MtC 2: Gurand Hetrix

Gurand Hetrix

Gurand Hetrix joined K&RAFB many years ago. Like many others he’s adopted Seanan’s colloidal silver supplemental diet leading to a rather weird skin color. Fairly early in his career he earned a mark of favor from Slaanesh which has left his skin far to sensitive to wear a shirt or armor so now he trusts in Slaanesh to protect him.

A couple of months ago he lost for the third time at Karoake night and is now been forcibly prohibited from singing, but this hasn’t dissuaded him from his devotion.

Keeper of Secrets #5

Keeper of Secrets needs a bath (most resin models do!) Click to Embiggen.

I might have a problem. No, GW has a problem. If they would release some new Slaanesh Daemons or Emperor’s Children models I’d give them my money. However they haven’t, and probably won’t for the near term future, so in my desire to expand my Slaaneshii army I end up turning to third party models. This, my 5th Keeper of Secrets, just arrived today. I was exceedingly pleased with the Creature Caster Spider Demon (the first of the 3 KoS I kickstarted, and the last to arrive) so when my friend Rick told me they’d made a new Demon I couldn’t resist picking up the Lady of Corruption. She’s a bit smaller so might be better as a Daemon Princess, though I don’t know how well Khaslillie would deal with competition.

If you are interested in alternate Keeper of Secrets models, I also highly recommend the Pleasure Demon from Mierce Miniatures. I also have two Lords of Lust from Titan-Forge. They are really much too small to be a good Keeper of Secrets, and they might be a bit big for a Herald. That said, the Banshees of Lust make excellent alternate Daemonettes, especially if you don’t like the aesthetic of the new models and can’t get your hands on any of the Diaz one.

Meet the Cult

This blog rises from the dead! Welcome to the first real new post, a weekly section where you’ll be able to get a glimpse into the personal lives and histories of the cultists in my Emperor’s Children army. Each Friday a new cultist will be featured.

Seanan Mac Phaidin

Rheatrivix and Khaslillie have created a fearsome host of Daemons and Chaos Space Marines. Their concerts, parties, raids and crusades are Legendary and have drawn many in, seduced by the allure of Slaanesh and a desire for pleasure and power. Perhaps least amongst the aspirants are the cultists. Yet each of them has a story to tell, and so over the next months these pitiful yet devout conscripts’ tales will be told.

We’ll start with Seanan Mac Phaidin, 1st Champion of Slaanesh. Seanan has been taking powdered silver as health supplement for decades, and in fact many others in the cult have taken up the practice, despite (or in some cases because of) the skin discoloration that results. Seanan claims it’s also lead to increased sensation, and resistance to las-fire.

Seanan joined Khaslillie and Rheatrivix’s Awesome Fucking Band soon after Khaslillie first brought Rheatrivix out of the Eye of Terror. His skill at recruiting new members into the cult largely stems from his enthusiasm, but is dampened slightly by his hideous mouth. His lower face was disfigured during a run in with some xenos that nearly wiped out his squad. Recently he’s acquired a demon mask, which he now wears constantly to hide his disfigurement.

 

Stripping for fun and profit

Okay, so it was for fun and experience, but that doesn’t sound as good.

Today* I stripped… a bunch of deamonettes… All of the pictures in this are clickable for larger versions. Some are cropped pretty close already though.

IMG_20130513_202915_746IMG_20130513_202855_434My friend Will gave me a bunch of abused and neglected minis he had no intent of ever using. Poorly (and incompletely) painted, sloppily assembled, bases long gone. So if I’m going to repaint these (hey, it could happen some day. I’ll certainly catch up on Dr. Who and Buffy before I run out of mini’s to paint, but that’s another conversation) I’m going to need to strip them. I have a crap ton of other bequeathed minis in terrible shape which could be useful if stripped and reassembled (we’ll come back to this) so I figured starting with the ones I’m most likely to paint next would be good.

 

 

If you’re going to use this guide, here’s what you will need:
Patience – Lots of it!
Pine-Sol – Might as well go economy size, the extra you can use to clean your house.
Glass Jar or Plastic tub – Make sure it has a tight fitting lid unless you really like the smell of pinesol.
Stiff toothbrush – You want hard bristles here.
Dish Soap – You’ve probably already got this.
Gloves – Not a requirement with Pine-Sol, I didn’t use them but my finger skin is now all dry and crackly … it doesn’t hurt, but it’s a little unpleasent.

IMG_20130513_203508_772IMG_20130513_203522_742

So there are lots of guides out there, touting all kinds of different chemicals, most of which are more hazardous than Pine-Sol. I like low hazard and biodegradable for pretty much anything I’m going to be dipping my hands in, plus I happened to have a bottle of Pine-Sol under the sink already. So I tossed the minis in a plastic tub, poured Pine-Sol in until they were submerged just, and the let it sit for two days. Depending on how caked on the minis are, you might want to give it longer. Certainly you’re going to want to wait at least 24 hours**. I didn’t think to take a real before picture, but the mini in the pictures above is straight from the tub. A little of the paint has flaked right off, but most is still loosely attached and you can see not much care was put into painting her.

So I set up a bowl of warm water in the sink, and about 1 minute of scrubbing w/ the toothbrush, occasionally dipping it in the soapy water and/or rinsing under running hot water, yielded this version of the mini. You’ll notice there is still a little bit of paint here and there. Mostly in the nooks and crannies. I may toss these minis into a fresh batch of Pine-Sol for another couple of days to see if I can get them spotlessly clean.

Now, on the mini to the left, youIMG_20130513_210104_867 may notice has a huge green and white splotch on her leg, back and butt. I’m fairly certain that is superglue. I wasn’t really able to remove that even w/ a hobby knife. This is where some of the other more toxic chemicals might do a better job. That said, the Pine-Sol did detach all of the arms, and I was mostly able to pick off the superglue with my fingernails, only occasionally having to resort to my hobby knife.

And at the bottom of this post you can see the complete minis drying on a thoroughly soaked paper towel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_20130513_210024_230

IMG_20130513_210028_790

*Actually, I did this earlier this week, but my webhost was suffering a DDOS attack and took WordPress down for a few hours. Conveniently the hours when I was going to post this.

**One of my other friends Duncan, who is possibly the best painter I know, has apparently also used Pine-Sol to great effect. He claims that only 3-4 hours are really needed to get most of the paint off.