Showcase Me!: Flesh-eater Courts

Stars, hide your fires!

Let not light see my black

and deep desires.

- Macbeth

    Hello friends! Today I'm here to share with you a full army in showcase: Flesh-eater Courts! They are the first project I fully did with an airbrush, and I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out. I was inspired by one of my favourite miniatures painting studios of all time, Thirdeyenuke, and I tried to reproduce, in my limited experience, their sharp style adding something from my own. The painting scheme plays on a vivid dark/light contrast, acting as a metaphor of their tormented souls too. 

    I have to say that I started painting them in a more orthodox way when, completely out of the blue, I changed my mind and decided to put my airbrush skill to the test, making everything that way.

   I can't conceal that I did the whole thing in a very short time because of the desire to deploy it on the field as soon as possible, and that I paid less attention than usual (especially when I reached 80 ghouls done) in the painting process but the result, in its entirety, was very satisfying.
    Have a look at my Flesh-eater Courts ghouls tutorial to have an idea of how they were made.
    Now... straight on to the whole showcased army!

King Loceruve on Ambarwalme

How I did it: Flesh-eater Courts Ghouls

Feel the pain from jackals' wrath

Dance in flames for the final quest

Hear the Ghost of Violence

Fear the God of Detriment

-the Stormrider

   The very first Battletome I bought at the beginning of my journey through the Mortal Realms was the Flesh-eater Courts one. I was pleasantly impressed by the layout and I would definitely want to  know more; on top of that, the price is very affordable. I have never been such a fan of undead in Warhammer, indeed I have never had a Death army, but in that case it was different... I simply discovered in the Battletome (one of the best AoS issues so far in my honest opinion, and I have/have read quite everything) that FEC were a bunch of mad cannibals who believed they were noble warriors or knights of all sorts. That was an epiphany... my mind began to gallop wildly the path of background and I promised to me that one day I would have painted a whole army of these deluded fools.

   Two years later that moment arrived, eventually, and I took the chance to improve my skill, painting around three thousands points of them mostly (90% or so) with an airbrush. 

   Let's see how!

How I did it: Shadespire Orks (Ironskull's Boyz)

"Orcses is nevah defeated in battle.

If we win we win, if we die we die so it don't count.

If we runs for it don't die neither, 

'cos we can come back for annuver go, see!"

- Ancient ork adage

    Hi my friends, ciao! As you have just read Orks nevah lose, only push forward (when they mustn't run away for pushing harder next time). This is not something I'm very fond of, as I play races like Dark Eldar, Stormcast, Harlequins, Marines  - and generally, whatever the system, I like to play using tricks, strategies, well-honed lists and so on.... quite stressing, isn't it? Sometimes, anyway, I have my relaxed time, my dice-throwing in (almost) brainless joy, and everytime that coincides with the sheer use of greenskins. Perhaps casting furious curses with goblins, charging in the fray with my Ironjawz, trying to overtake a scrimmage using my troll as a quarterback or... pushing forward in Underworlds just to see a great brawl unfold before my eyes! 

   Ok today is that relaxed time as in the forthcoming tutorial, we'll speak briefly of the bunch of rascals and raiders that indeed the Ironskull's Boys are!

More Input: Shadespire Tournament Deck (Steelheart's Champions)

   Hi, fellow players, and good evening!

   Today I would like to share with you my Steelheart's Champions Deck for the upcoming Clash in Florence. I changed a lot of cards compared to my first attempt and, what's most important, now I have all the warbands around and I can build a very complete deck for the competitive play. I decided to stick to my beloved Stormcasts until this "season" is finished; the reasons are many, but firstly I love Steelheart's models and in second instance I didn't have the time to learn any other warband at a tournament level.

   My next one will be Ironskull's Boys... I've already painted models, I'm planning to write a tutorial for them and, in future, a post about their deck building.

    Now... straight to the deck!

How I did it: Shadespire Stormcasts' Bases

"For more than a thousand years 

the shadow-cloaked riuns of Shadespire lay dormant,

a malevolent scar in the centre of the vast Desert of Bones."

   Hi there, and good morning!

   Finally, after years of painting, an Airbrush made landfall on my shores. Ok, this is not entirely exact: two Airbrushes have landed on my desk... the first one, a beautiful single action Badger, survived just long enough to make around forty models and then it was sacrificed on the Altar of Learning. I've nearly destroyed it in the process of really understanding how an Airbrush works; but no problem, a lot of spare parts are coming (although they are taking too long to arrive), so I hope I'll be able to save it from the edge of oblivion. 

   The second one is an awful, but double action, Fengda, paid around 20 euros (!!!), that made my whole Flesh Eaters Courts army thanks to the sacrifice of his predecessor. And, double action is awesome. Now I'm planning to buy an Iwata and use these three pens to improve my airbrushing skills.

    Another example of models made with my double action Fengda is my Shadespire Stormcast lot, in particular their bases. Stormcasts armour and weapons have been made in the classic Guardians of the Ages way, but bases reflect the gloom of the Mirrored City.

More Input: Starting Shadespire (Stormcast Deck)!

   Hi guys and gals, what are you doing in your hobby time these months?
  I have finally decided to start Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire. Of course all of my fellows have already begun the game back in October when it was initially pulled out but I, at that time, was keen on 40k listing and training for an upcoming tournament. After that, you know, that AoS campaign, that Blood Bowl League and (boring) real life took all my time. 

   Anyway it was just my love for both BB and AoS that finally pushed me to dedicate some time to the new game. Well... I have bought two times (first time split) the core set and now I already have orcs and Sepulchral Guard is coming. I think the game is solid, fast-paced and miniatures are beautiful; not even mentioning its wonderful display, lay-out and suggestive setting.

Background Backdoor: Epoch Hounds

- "Only the faithful", Tegrus murmured, and swooped into the path of the beam, hammers crossed. The energies tore at him as they splashed across his armour, causing the god-forged sigmarite to bubble and melt. The light from his wings grew brighter and brighter as he plunged through the beam. His hammer blackened and began to crumble in his hands, but he did not stop, or veer away. It was too late for that now. It was too late for anything except taking his foe down into death with him.

"Only the faithful."

Tegrus, moments before his last death,

 "War in the Hidden Vale" - Realmgate Wars

   I paint models only after deciding who they are, where they come from, which battles they have won and how, and which ones they've lost and why. Sometimes I create traditions, history, words with particular meanings and more... I know that many of us do the same, making wonderful backgrounds for our battles and campaigns on the tabletop. Well, this is our corner!

   This time we'll see the story around one of the most secretive and heroic stormcast chambers of the Guardians of the Ages, Vanguard's Epoch Hounds. In particular we'll get to know about them following the wanderings of their undomitable leader, Lord Aquilor Aefirin, seeing how his sad story is tied to that of his brothers Aefar.

     

Lord Aquilor Aefirin, Bane of the Immortals, riding Flere, his Gryph-charger

How I did it: Blood Bowl Troll

   - I don't do High Fives.

Branch

   A goblin team needs a Troll. Fact. Goblins are weak, and break easily, so a big boy on the line of scrimmage helps a lot, making almost possible to finish a game without 9-8 KOs or so. Not winning a game, for sure, but maybe holding enough to score a TD (that is, believe me, one of the most satisfying things a man can experience, since goblins are not for competitive play) (currently I scored just one in my whole career with them, and I'm feeling so accomplished!).

   Not for competitive play, absolutely; but for fun. A lot of fun; and a Troll makes its own part in the process... you can try to score a one-turn TD throwing the goblin holding the ball, directly over other team's players, straight to their end zone. Of course, you have to be lucky, the Troll can always simply eat the goblin, spitting out the ball... ah, it's so hard to hang fire when you've got a tasty greenling so close to the mouth, who could say otherwise?

   As you know, if you have read something around from this blog, I am a real fan of greenskins so, when GW made the Blood Bowl Troll model I fell in love; and this time I've decided to use lighter tones for the skins, something I felt would be better fitting on a river-drooling beast with a dead instead of the brain (it's not related, isn't it?).

   Let's see how!

How i did it: Stormcast Eternals Lord Aquilor

- Pain may be my flesh

Death may be my fate

but Victory is my Name

- Tylos Stormbound's Honour Scrolls during the Crucible of Blood's war

Reamlgate Wars - Stormcast

   

   After their second Battletome's release, Stormcast have become a very solid army. almost unbeatable for the majority of AoS factions. I managed to bring havoc on any challenger in my local gaming club: Nurgle, Dwarves, Khorne, Ironjawz, Slaves to Darkness, Death, Skavens, Seraphon, Beastclaw Raiders, Flesh Eaters ecc... Only against Tzeentch I lost a bunch of matches. Exploiting their new command trait Staunch Defender, which adds 1 to any save rolls to any unit within 6" from your general (if not charging) and combining it with Lord Castellant skill on a 15-20 men unit of Liberators will make your 300/400 points Battlelines unkillable; with shields their saves shall be at 2+ with rerolling 1's.

    So be it, but many players begun to grumble about that, and with reasons; so unless I'm playing against Tzeentch or an equal I started to use Vanguard Chamber in the majority of my matches, avoiding Staunch Defender (that's quite un-thematic for an army that rely on speed and ambushes) and using Aefirin, my Lord Aquilor, as general.

   That helps you to change quite a lot your playing style, too; the classic Warrior Chamber set-up was becoming boring, really powerful but boring. This is one of the things I love more in Stormcast: they are unyielding warriors but they have a very yielding way to wage war, able to adapt to each situation on the tabletop very easily.

    Ok... but this is not a tactical corner, although I always love to chat about that, so straight on to the painting tutorial for him, Lord Aquilor, a striking model and a real beast on the battlefield!

Showcase Me!: Stormcast Eternals Vanguard Palladors

- From the Darknest night shall rise the Raven, shall take flight in the shadows, shall reveal the nature of its kind.

Prepare yourself for its coming, for the faithful shall be elevated to take flight with the Raven, the rest be forgotten to walk upon the ground, clipped wings and shame.

- Prophecy of the Raven God, World of Warcraft

   Ok... they are not Anzu's copies but you have to admit they're quite similar. To be honest, the very first time I got to see their pictures I suffered a throwback to the days I was playing WoW. So I took some inspiration from those times and made my Palladors blue-ish, which perfectly fits to my Stormcast main scheme and, in the result, are very similar to my first attempt on the first Gryph-hound I painted.

   I am not sure about their Temple's name and history but I have already a full storyline for their chamber, Auxiliary Vanguard "Epoch Hounds". You can always check this page if you are interested in some background hints about my whole stotmhost, Guardians of the Ages, and here for a dedicated Vanguard Chamber's background.

   Let's waste no more time and get straight to the paintjob!

Bastet's Corner - Baptism (Performance)

Mission Entry: None
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 01, Hour??

It's not easy at all. Having to both keep up with my target's swift and erratic pace, and to stay as inconspicuous as possible is proving to be quite taxing, even for a scout as good as me.

Showcase me!: Stormcast Eternals Vanguard-Raptors (Longstrike CB)

   -Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

   Good morning Mortal Realms!

  There were hard times here in the Chamber (at least for me)... in the last 3 weeks, because of this mortal coil, I decided to change gaming club and store, moving to a new and very crowded one in Florence and I spent a LOT of time and energy meeting new players, playing games with them, exchanging painting thoughts and stuff, just to be, as soon as possible, part of the new community I discovered.

   This, alongside my job and family, kept me away from my painting table... but not for long. Recently Sigmar reforged me as one of his Knight-Painters, even I hadn't noticed it, in a manner of speaking, and tasked me to paint a new chamber. 

   So welcome aboard on one of the last Stormcast painting journey. Guardians of the Ages have a new Auxiliary Chamber, Vanguard Epoch Hounds, here the first little post, showcases Vanguard Raptors, more to come!

How I did it: Khorne Khorgorath

-You're gonna need a bigger boat. -

Brody

The Khorgorath is a strange model.
It has some of the most intriguing bits I've ever seen for a "starting kit" and, at the same time, some of the silliest.

Bastet's Corner - Baptism (Pursuit)

Mission Entry: None
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 01, Hour??

Well, curses.

The amount of curses my brain is making up out of nothing is impressive. The further I dash across this woods, trying not to lose sight of that creature while doing my best to avoid contact with... well, basically anything else, the more I tend to believe I'm trying to cope with a weasel, rather than a rat. Or, whatever that thing might be. Its agility is well beyond impressive, even for someone like me. Granted, the suit isn't exactly helping right now, but even if I was just wearing a normal one, I would still have quite a hard time in keeping pace.

Showcase me!: Extremis Chamber Dracothian Guard (Desolators)

  - "Fight, Stormcasts!," Grymn snarled. "Only the faithful shall be victorius. Only the faithful shall see the spires of Sigmaron again. Fight, Fight! Fight!"

-Lord Castellant Lorrus Grymn, inciting Hallowed Knights

The Realmgate Wars - Ghal Maraz

   Hey folks!

   Just want to share with you my freshly painted Dracothian Guard Desolators, they are Guardians of the Ages' finest, as they serve among ranks of Time Templars, the stormhost only operative Extremis Chamber.

   Led in battle by Lord Celestant Aefandrun, they are a force both brutal and divine, the true retribution of the Heavens.

How i did it: Lord Celestant on Dracoth

   - You are my avengers! You are all, each one, warriors who cursed chaos with your last breath! Who called upon me for strenght, not salvation. Strenght! And I answered.

Sigmar addressing Celestial Vindicators

The Realmgate Wars - Storm of Blades

   My personal journey through Stormcast Eternals' dimension go on, reading books, playing tournaments, writing background stories and, of course, painting them. Painting the Guardians of The Ages, my custom stormhost. 

   These are very good times for them; these very days their second Battletome will come out, and many new models are about to join the fray, and the battle for the Mortal Realms, such as the Vanguard Hunters. I'm already planning a new Chamber, but first I wanted to finish the Extremis one, so I bought my first two Dracothian Guards and painted them in few days: tomorrow I'll have the second box of them and, waiting to find enough inspiration for the Stardrake, I'll surely hurl them on the tabletop in my never-ending campaign against a friend of mine who plays the Bloodbound.

   So I decided to share with you a brief tutorial about Guardians' dracoths. Soon we'll move forward to the new range so the time is right.

How I did it: Khorne Bloodstoker

"Chalkface", the butcher

-Ears and noses will be the trophies of the day. But no hand shall touch him.-

Bill Cutting

When I saw the Bloodstoker for the first time I was puzzled. How was this chubby fellow supposed to fit between the ranks of an army where even the so-called-priests look like Dwayne Johnson's cousins? 

Showcase me!: Stormcast Eternals Errant-Questor

 -As he fought Theodrus spoke the names of his kith and kin, every man, woman and child amongst them. He let it steel him, his desire to avenge them keener than any sword [...] 

"Avenge them!" he cried, tears of grief and hate filling his eyes, unseen behind his impassive mask. "Avenge them!" 

  No amount of retribution would ever be enough, but on he slew.

The Realmgate Wars - War Storm

   Hi everybody, friends! I just finished painting my brand-new Errant-Questor and i really want to share him with you. This model has inspired me a lot, not for being a Warhammer World exclusive, nor because he's called "Errant" (who does not love a knight errant, come on), not for having a MASSIVE runeblade in his own hands or for the awesome rules... Actually it's just for the fact that he's got a face!

   A. Face. Not an helmet.

  

  Ok, let's go to the paintjob. I named him Rugard (of) Outerland, the Minstrel-knight, and he is going to be the most epic of all Guardians of the Ages (for now)!

hush, he's got head, just go on

Bastet's Corner - Baptism (Prelude)

Mission Entry: None
Log Entry N°: #01/001

Day 01, Hour 2235

Do you believe in Fate?

Do you think that prophecies, premonitions, and everything that goes with them, is it all to be considered of any value?

Do you think that things happen because they simply have to happen, that everything is predetermined, in spite of personal effort?

How I did it: Khorne Blood Warriors

They just want you to try and stop them...

-Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!-
Ugluk

I know, I know... but lend me your hear: I have a proposition.

I will skip the part when I start complaining and crying about my curiously time consuming last months (trust me, there's material for a couple of movies) and I'll just get straight to these little fellas.

Deal?

Good.

Believe it or not, the amount of time effectively spent "per miniature" on these Blood Warriors has been quite limited, compared with the endless Bloodreavers.
From a certain point of view, the structure and the overall combination of parts and materials on the miniature is less chaotic, but at the end, it's all because of the sculpt, far more precise and detailed even if we're talking about the starter kit version. Clearly a couple more of detachable heads and arms would have been much easier to paint, but I'll have more time on the other guys waiting in the box.