dirkdragonslayer

Hi, you can call me Icarus and I like to aim too high. I got more Ork Boyz than sense and have been putting them off because they can be a hassle to paint. Because this month is going to be slow I think I can handle finally finishing my Ork Boyz and clean up my backlog. I pledge to paint; - 61 Ork Boyz (60 Slugga, 1 Shoota) - 1 Painboy - 2 Loonbosses (because I need an AoS model in this list). It’s a lot, but I have been putting these poor Boyz on hold for a very long time. I have other projects (like my Gloomspite) I want to work on, but I can’t work on them in good faith with these unpainted lads looking back at me.

I mean, we have six battlebox models that haven’t rereleased, and it’s approaching a year from some of the original boxes. Archregent, Bombardier, Loonboss on Giant Cave Squig, Archrevenant, Ogor Tyrant, and Vokmortian. The last two are pretty recent so I will discount them, but it’s been a long wait for the other four.

Both duardin factions, KO and Fyreslayers. My Grots need some good stunty rivals, and both need some work. I wish KO had some high armor infantry, like how Dispossessed have Ironbreakers. Like boarding parties or something who serve as armored KO veterans, or Steam-powered Golems to be deployed out of their cargo holds. Arkanauts are too squishy and horde-like for proper Duardin I feel. Also an Weapon Upgrade Kit to make outfitting Arkanauts cheaper. Fyreslayers need diversity in unit appearance. A lot of their units look similar as “Naked Duardin holding different equipment/weapons”. Some visual diversity, like some monster hunters with large axes and drakescale capes, mini Magmadroth cavalry, maybe a flame cannon or oil flask catapult.

Has to be the Dankhold or Zarbag. The Dankhold is just a beautiful kit, especially with that Duardin statue hammer. I like them because they feel like a walking ecosystem, an embodiment of the GG’s home. Terrain isn’t always representative of a faction, like I can’t imagine Freeguild living in Azyrite ruins (before they were ruins), so it’s cool having these walking micro environments to have the Gitz bring their home with them. Zarbag is a brilliant reimagining of the Madcap shamans, looks like the old art brought to life. As someone who owns a few of the old metal ones, Zarbag feels like what they should be. I love his little Navi lamp, the cauldron of mushrooms he is gathering, the manic look. A quintessential goblin without getting too busy like the Fungoid.

Rockguts and Fellwaters only become BATTLELINE when a Dankhold Troggboss is the general. Other Troggoth heroes, like the Hag or Mollog do not make them batteline. At 1000 points you can fit a Troggboss, two minimum sized squads of Troggoths, and the Hag. The Hag takes up a lot of points and you need the Dankhold to bring Troggoths as battleline, and so if you cut her for a grot shaman or went up in points, like to 1500, you could fit a lot more troggoths. Despite the name, the Dankhold Troggoth discussion is about all Troggoths. Maybe it should have been named Troggherd Discussion... While it's not as active as this discussion thread, all the lists posted there are centered on Troggoths. There are some great lists posted there that you can take some inspiration from, and many use the Hag.

As a Moonclan grot, all of the heroes I currently own are on foot. 2 Loonbosses, 4 Madcap Shamans, 2 Fungoid Shamans, and Zarbag. Don't want a Mangler yet, and I am still waiting for the Loonboss riding Great Cave Squig to release properly. At this rate I will need to convert some sort of Squig chariot to take the place of a mounted Loonboss.

You don't really need Skragrott, especially at low point levels. Dude is 220 points, and that is a lot when you can almost get a Mangler for the same price. He is really good, but you could always just run a pair of Fungoid Shamans instead for 60 points less. His main benefit is the ability to manipulate the Moon and his free CP generation, which only happens if he is the general. Two fungoids can still generate some CP. This is part of why he is so expensive, so if you were going to use a Loonboss riding a Squig or Mangler to get Hoppers as Battleline or another reason, then you would be wasting a good bit of points. Skragrott is good, but not necessary. He isn't like Nagash or Archaon where this one named character is the pivotal unit in an army, he is nice for certain builds, but not too important. I don't use him, I have a Loonboss on foot and two fungoid shamans as my command squad. Still waiting for the Squig rider Loonboss to release.

You go, queen. I have enough projects on my table (Orks, Gloomspite, Thousand Sons, etc) to start Slaves to Darkness, but if I was going to do it, I would also go marauder heavy. All the Darkoath and Warcry models look fantastic, and I like the idea of the tide of marauders supported by the mutated beasts of Chaos. Iron Golems look especially good with that 4+ save, high bravery (for their role), full save rerolls if standing still, and cheaper than marauders for the same wounds. I am not good at this game, but I feel they would be difficult to move off an objective for their price.

They actually aren't Battleline options. Marauders are Warriors are unconditional battleline, and Chaos Chariots, Chaos Knights, and Marauder Horsemen are conditional battleline options. The new realm-themed marauders aren't battleline for some reason. That being said, I think some of them will slot nicely into the army, and have good synergy with the Darkoath heroes. With Marauders going up to 150 points for 20, a double sized squad of Warcry cultists is cheaper at 140 points. In addition some are just tankier, like Iron Golems with 20 wounds and a 4+ save (and full rerolls when standing still) vs the Marauder's 20 wounds and 5+ or 6+ save. If you already have your battleline sorted with Warriors or Knights, I think a brick of Iron Golems would be great to camp an objective and being impossible to kick off. Stylistically, I think most can look at place in the army if painted with a similar color scheme as the rest of your chaos army, it's just we always see them in their Warcry colors in GW material. I have seen really good looking Iron Golems and Untamed Beasts in traditional Chaos Black and Gold that didn't look out of place.. Splintered Fang could look good alongside Chaos Warriors with the metal parts done in black with gold trimwork, and red cloth/fur detailing. Same for the other warbands. The only exception I feel are the Cypher Lords, who have a very specific and different aesthetic, kind of Tzeentch-y/Slaanesh-y.

Bloodreavers with marauder shields is the best bet I feel. Kairics look too tzeentch-y, unless you are doing a Tzeentch marked army. Bloodreavers are just nicer looking marauders with a passion for skulls. Cut off any khorne pendants, maybe sculpt over some Khorne armor emblems with greenstuff to make neutral-looking armor plates, etc. Spare shields can be found on Ebay, sourced from Skeletons, Marauders, Marauder Horsemen, and Ungors. You could also make your own shields, but that is hard.

Combined with the Darkoath Warqueen giving them +3 to Charge sound good. Almost guaranteed to get that +1 to hit. I like that marauders and the Warcry cultists are more than just meat shields. Makes me want to see an army of cultists and giant monsters. I like the Exalted Hero of Chaos models (stupid sexy Wulfrik) but stat-wise they seem... Unreliable? D6 attacks with 1 damage seems easy to whiff and fail to kill a little goblin Loonboss, and the army has so many duelists already. Maybe with a charge to get the double attack and some good rolls on the D6 attacks he will be good. I just feel like I am missing something. Both the Warqueen and Darkoath Chieftain have a better capacity to deal damage and support marauders. Maybe Wulfrik was secretly a Warqueen all along.

I hope the Warcry warbands become battleline. I don't plan on getting into StD, but if I did, it would be tides of marauders like the Iron Golems supported by large monsters.

I didn’t know that Duardin women wore different kinds of Gas Masks in the KO. I was assuming it was just a Final Fantasy 14 kind of thing, where all the Dwarf masks look like beards regardless of their gender, and you can’t tell until they talk.

How do y’all feel about Squig Gobbas? Their stats don’t seem bad nowadays. Was making something in 40k and thought about using the Ogor Scraplaunchers to convert so Squig Gobbas. Same base, cheaper price, just need to put squigs in the basket, replace the Rhinox head with a squiggly one (Great Wooly Squiggoth,) and some Moonclan Grots on the base/Chariot. Mostly want the Grots from the Scraplauncha for a 40k conversion, but I don’t like wasting bits.

FW is an odd thing. For AoS at least, most of the models sat unloved rules-wise, like Fimir and Plague Troggoths, and so no one buys them. Instead of fixing the rules, they also seem to Squat them at random sometimes. Didn’t the Fimirach Noble release in the past 2 years? A revamp to Chaos Undivided seems like a perfect time to get new rules and push them. Heck, since FW made them a Destruction unit for some reason, give them the Ironjawz or Gloomspite keyword. Let someone use them. In their last incarnation their rules were bad and they couldn’t ally with anyone. I sort of understand Tamurkhan, though he was a great model, because he was an old world character they weren’t using. They could have used him as a generic Maggotkin on Toad Dragon.

For Gloomspite I would say Mollog or the Dankhold Troggoth. Both exemplify the “monsters living in the caves beneath you,” vibe, and are literally the ecosystem the Gloomspite live in stomping off to war. I prefer the Standard Dankhold to the Boss though, don’t like the boss’s hat or the pale skin they show in pictures.

Yeah, the apps and websites can be wrong time to time, the people who make them are still human. I know for Gloomspite there is a an error on Warscroll Builder where any Loonboss makes Squig Hoppers a Battleline choice, not just the Loonbosses with Squigs like it’s supposed to.

I like Faction terrain, most are nice and thematic. Because they don’t cost points, their benefits can be minor without people never taking them. I like the ones with minor effects, but not game changing ones, like the Loonshrine. I am glad to see some like the Herdstone make the field after being in the lore since forever. Also adds a nice centerpiece for displays. My biggest complaint about 40k terrain is that it costs points, and it’s usually not worth their effect. That Ork Mekshop is beautiful, but it will never see the board because it’s effect stinks.

For the other army though, the Loonboss on Great Cave Squig is pretty integral if you want to run mostly Squigs. I mean, there are other options (like the old ugly resin one, or the cool but expensive forgeworld one), but if you don't want to deal with resin you are SOL. There are recasts from China or Morocco on Ebay, but I wouldn't risk those. My bet is that he will return in the Christmas bundle to drive sales, because a Squig army needs him.

Same, I wanted some Dispossessed and Ironweld, because classic dorfs are awesome, but I lost the motivation after seeing they lack terrain/spells. I was fine with the great cull, I expected a lot of the old Dwarf models to disappear because they didn't fit the modern aesthetic, and I have never been fond of elves. The remaining dwarfs are good enough for me. It's enough to make a pretty good army, the models look great, and with some kitbashing you can make a convincing Duardin Steam Tank and Helblasters with Duardin crew to fill any holes in the roster. But, what scares me is that the CoS have no new models in the book. No terrain, no spells, no hero, not even a re-release for the Excelsior Warpriest or any of the other Warhammer Quest heroes that mixed old armies with the modern art style. Other than the time put into writing the book itself, there is no investment in the army that shows us "don't worry, we will keep supporting them in future versions of the game." I don't want to invest the time and money to make a Dispossessed army just to see them disappear years down the line when AoS 3.0 happens. So I will stick to my Grots until I see something that shows Cities of Sigmar are staying around long term.

You can also convert them. I have two, one the official model, one kitbashed from a Plague Priest. For the Plague Priest one, I cut off the rat head and replaced it with a Fanatic one. Filed off any skaven parts like the tail and fur. The warpstone staff head was replaced by the fungus covered cow skull from the Dankhold Kit. The spines on the back we’re given mushroom caps. Left hand had the censor removed and replaced with a human head. Little Squig from BfSP box given a little mushroom hat.

the stacking buffs on the rocket sounds really good for greywater in theory. 36" range, 3 attacks 5+ to hit, 3+ to wound, -2 rend D3 damage. +1 to hit for all the missiles targeting the same enemy, so 4+ to hit +1 to hit from the Lord Ordinator, so 3+ to hit +1 to hit for one rocket battery from Rune of Unfaltering Aim, Bringing to to a 2+ to hit Reroll 1s near a Cogsmith Bonus 3" Range from Greywater Fire twice on first turn with Greywater Artillery Company. It's putting a lot of eggs in one basket, but it sounds deadly. Also the Helstorm/Helblaster have a 4+ save just like un-shielded duardin, so it wouldn't be out of place to convert some duardin crew. I was thinking some bloodbowl Dwarfs carrying ammunition and tools. Use greenstuff to turn the football two are carrying into a bag, powder horn, box, or bottle.

I like it because it makes old models that may be ridiculously overpriced secondhand (such as Throgg and Gorbad Ironclaw) more reasonable. I just wish we were given a bit more time to order, I missed Gorbad because I already spent my hobby budget a week before.

I am not sure if they have done a Made-to-order plastic release yet, but the old Fanatics kit. It had some great bits in it for converting, like the snotlings, mushrooms, potions, and a squig. I only ever got one of those boxes, but it provided my 40k Warboss an attack squig, as well as a wealth of objectives for my AoS Grots. Also that 8th edition goblin shaman I never got a hold of before being discontinued.

While I don't really watch them for that exact same reason, I will say in defense of MWG their channel is very spread out in what games they cover. 40k, AoS, WHFB, Warcry, Necromunda, Mordheim, Gorkamorka, Frostgrave, Gaslands, Warmachine, Wasteland Warfare, etc, etc. They play a ton of different game systems and switch between them fairly regularly, instead of being familiar in a few. That's why they get rules wrong a lot more often than other channels. I wouldn't be able to remember the full rules to a dozen different games.