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This is true for Seraphon as well. The Start Collecting that contains the Carnosaue is only $10 more than a Carnosaue and also contains 10 saurus warriors and 8 knights. There’s almost no reason to get the Carnosaue by itself... Also see DoK - there’s no reason to buy a Cauldron of Blood by itself, when, for less than $20 you get extra 5 Melusai.

Haha I see what you mean, but I had always assumed this was a byproduct of digital painting against a deadline rather than a conscious decision. I think there's also a limitation with the subject matter here - at scale they are trying to emphasize the overall sense of the army (jagged shapes, rags, grime) rather than the characters as individual subjects. I think it makes for boring pictures but 🤷 I agree that compared to the field of fantasy art out there, GW house style doesn't emphasize lighting or volumes as much. I feel it is more nuanced when they paint to their high heavy metal standard on models, where they will place shadows and volumes more, but it is much less compared to some of the professional freelance painters. I suspect it is intentional, to show off the technical achievement of the sculpt as much as possible. You can make any squishy mantic/WizKids minis look nice with good lighting and volumes, but when you edge highlight everything in uniform lighting - that's where the GW sculpting stands out.

I was stoked when they previewed Teclis' art. Then they previewed the model and I was like "ugh..." I'm curious about this comment. I don't consume that much GW produced media, but some of the examples that come to mind, like the Daughters of Khaine battletome cover, don't evoke their painting style in my mind. When I think of their house style I think of edge highlights everywhere and reduced shadows/very little dramatic lighting. I don't think I've seen that in their 2d pictures.

In the US - I use Simple Green. Incidentally, it is great for stripping crud from baking pans and racks too!

Are such army composition shake-ups par for the course? Do you think they will increase army size again in a future edition for instance?

I am beyond hyped for this. YEAH BUDDY!!! LIGHT WEIGHT BABY!!!!!!! LETS GO!!!!!!!!! So many awesome darkoath sculpts (the queen, the warband, doggo, the chief) and so much coolness in the warcry warbands as well (spire tyrants are so hot.)

Is it just me or is the army way smaller than n 2.0? Mind, I haven’t played any real games on either version, but I seem to recall that body count was on the order of 50 - 90 for this army, but now it looks to be 30 - 50, with a chunk of it being in heroes. I don’t personally mind since I’ve not got that many models, and this new model count seems much more accessible, but I’m curious if that means @Chumphammer you just have 60 witch elves and 20 melusai sitting in the cabinet now. Is that... frustrating? I feel like I’d be annoyed if the army’s playing profile changed that much after spending a year painting it.

This is awesome!

Anyone seen good alternative models for doomfire warlocks? I like the visual diversity and want to paint some, but really dislike how big the hands are on their current GW sculpts.

Started the other blade maiden; face and crown done over 2x 30 minute sessions. Thought for the evening - I don’t have a use for pallid wych flesh color anymore. Flayed one flesh has a smoother consistency, and then I can just mix titanium white to make it lighter. Pallid wych is just a chunky goopy mess, doesn’t go through an airbrush, and isn’t nice to mix on a regular brush either. I hear alot about ice yellow as a good hilghlight that doesn’t desaturate much. I am curious to see what it looks like now...

Completed shot and an early WIP of the blade maiden: Some thoughts after spending maybe 5 hours on this model: I think nmm looks better with environmental colors glazed in. My photo taking ability and lighting is s****t here, but I think adding red and green to the metals makes it look much richer. I think my approach to gold nmm is going to go back to mixing reddish brown into the shadows again. Purple has been great but I think it’s not enough by itself, looks a bit flat compared to adding additional colors. The same goes for green - adding that makes a noticeable difference. Re-using the same colors throughout the model makes the whole more harmonious. I think this is what some people mean when the say “pull it all together with a wash.” The reason that works is because the wash changes the hue of the entire model to be more uniform. I think, for a less heavy handed approach, instead of using a wash, just glaze the same environmental colors and re-use colors.

I wish we had generic warscrolls so I could mount elves on these dragons 🥲

In the last month I painted 2 Melusai and my 20th witch elf model! That brings me up to 2 x 10 battle line and 3 Melusai total, in addition to the Cauldron and 5 khinerai. I estimate I can play a 1k game by next adepticon, or even 1.5k depending on where things go. This last week I made some good progress on another elf, this time from the blade coven. Lovely model, and if they ever get sold as their own sprue I'm tempted to pick up an extra set to convert as unit champions.

1 Blade Coven sister for Daughters of Khaine 1 Morgwaeth, striding forth in her grim, terrible beauty. The light dazzling as it falls from her crowned brow, the scent of animal ferocity, bridled, waiting for a singular moment, a singular kill, a glorious tribute to Khaine.

Darkoath! But maybe sculpt away some of the dinky hairstyles. Honestly the warcray warbands are all beautiful and many could form the basis of some sweet conversions.

I think, for the folks saying “fix middle management” I would like to share, from my (admittedly limited perspective in middle management in creative work) that middle management culture is very much a product of senior leadership. You don’t just do stupid if you have competent senior leadership. Competent senior leadership replaces mediocre middle management quickly. Mediocre middle management - or really, much of the directives taken by middle management - stem from senior leadership, assuming senior leadership is worth it’s salt. From my perspective, it is paradoxical to presume that a company has competent senior management with problems in middle management.

If we end up in Ulgu, maybe we will get a khinerai warband! Omg that would mean we could get a khinerai hero! My excitement level just went through the roof

While I think that is likely to happen, this DoK fan does not welcome it. Not because I don't like the idea of dragons and dark elves, but because it reduces.the likelihood that the Greek monster mythology of the DoK is expanded further. While we remain our own faction, we can hope for new models and aesthetics. If we get souped, chances are that updates to the soup will be less DoK flavored. See for instance - said warclans - kruleboyz Kool and all, but they aren't ironjawz.

I like the idea of facing, but I don’t like the idea of static poses. KoW has a cool system where you have blocks of units that are actually multiple models on one base, and I think that allows for alot of beauty and creativity in modelling. It means you can have dynamic poses AND cool terrain built together! That said, I am nevertheless tempted to start acquiring and painting wood elves on squares starting now. At my painting speed, I may just have a small set done in time for release! Does anyone know if the Asrai are featured in TOW?

On track with wrapping up my pledge for the month! This is Melusai number 2 for the month, and model number 3 overall for July. Mostly done with the snake skin, working on the curtains next! 

Love ur tzeentch my dude. Very nice contrast!

Smoothness is pretty important for skin though methinks. This would make for an excellent tutorial, since I don't think dark skin tone to a high tabletop standard is covered often (if at all.) Strong airbrush-foo to do specular highlights would be incredibly useful. Get on it Maogrim! Update - this is a really nice theory tutorial from the excellent NJM:

Make it happen captain! One challenge I see is making the features visible at a distance. With light skin, you can make shadows stand out easily at a distance. With dark skin, it will be difficult. Maybe make the bright points go up to a light skin color? Thanks for the compliment! I personally didn't follow any sect's scheme and just pick colors I like. Gives me freedom to pick a sexy when I get to play one day... 😄

I don't believe this is explicitly discussed in the battletome. Dark skin would be fun to paint! But also, it's ambiguous enough that you probably don't need to do khelt nar to do dark skin! I think it will look really nice with gold or silver nmm, and with painted lights on the skin, which could be highly reflective as well. Personally I wouldn't pair it with red fabric, I would go blue especially if u do a reddish dark skin.

Finished the Sister, and the cauldron attendents. Now just a Melusai for this month left!