l1censetochill

I doubt the River Temple Lumineth will have any actual fish/ocean imagery associated with them - based on what we've seen so far, my top guess would be an anthropomorphic otter or something (since the other avatars are all mammals), or maybe a heron or crane (which would fit in well with the East Asian/Buddhist/Taoist flavorings of the Lumineth).

Apologies, not trying to interrupt everyone's hatejerking, but as someone who hasn't played a game of AOS since pre-COVID, are those numbers on the right the win percentages for the most recent online tournaments? Because for all the tooth gnashing and garment rending people are doing, a meta where the top dogs are winning ~55% of their games and all but 4 armies are above 40% is actually a huge improvement over the times where Slaanesh, FEC or DoK were dominating (if I'm remembering correctly, in each of those cases their winrates were >70%). Again, I haven't been playing on TTS or anything so maybe I'm missing something. But if those numbers on the right are to be believed, the meta actually seems way more diverse and balanced than it was from 2017-2019. A few armies are in need of some love, but the situation isn't nearly as bad as I'd assumed it to be after reading through the last couple pages of this thread.

You... uh... you did notice that among the models revealed in the teaser, they included Blademasters, foot heroes, and a new artillery piece, right? Because I can't help but feel like this is a bit of an overreaction. Anyway, as someone who bought into Lumineth on release, no, I don't feel cheated. The initial model range was small, but I liked it. The new models look even better, and I'm excited to paint them. And as for needing a second book... meh. I'll buy it for convenience, but all that stuff will be online within days of the release anyway. If you want, you can just watch one of the 100 YouTube 'Man Reads Book' videos and copy down the relevant stuff into an Excel document until the app and the Warscroll Builder get updated. I figure it's no better or worse than needing to buy a new GHB every year. After reading through this thread, though (and seeing that the Lumineth players, at least, seem mostly excited for the update), I've gotta wonder - how much of the negative response is being driven by people who actually feel "cheated" by this release, and how much is just people claiming they're upset about GW's release schedule, but are actually just really salty that Lumineth got a second wave of models and their Fyreslayers/Cities/whatever didn't? Because I can't shake the feeling that a lot of the online complaining is motivated by sour grapes, not "ethics in tabletop wargaming" or whatever.

Not a lot of time to paint over the past month, but I have made some progress on my first unit of Sentinels. With the two I've finished today, I'm past the halfway point - still a ways to go considering how slow my painting tends to be, but I'm really enjoying painting these guys (especially after the Dawnriders, whew)! One thing that has stood out in particular is that while some people were critical of the exaggerated features on some of the faces when the Lumineth were first released, they can look very characterful when painted: Up until now I haven't really been all that worried about how long I'm taking on these guys, but now that I've seen all the new units they're previewing I'm really hoping I can grind through the rest of my Wardens and Sentinels before the next wave of releases! The new Lord-Regent and the fox spirit in particular are just awesome looking.

Thanks @Pyrescribe! I do think the purple and white scheme lends itself well to the Lumineth's regal, imperial aesthetic. I posted pics of my Eltharion in the longer Lumineth thread a couple months back, but since this is a new thread: I It was my first time using the airbrush for something other than basecoating, but I'm really happy with how the cloak turned out. I'm thinking about making it a unifying scheme for my army's characters - so I'll do my Cathallar's gown, Stonemage's cloak, and Teclis's cloak (if I ever get around to painting him) in a similar pattern.

Took me ages to finish due to health, family stuff, and my obsessive perfectionism (why do those Dawnriders have to have so many finicky little details? Why!?), but I finally finished the starter box in my Syar-inspired theme, and am quite happy with how they turned out: Such a great project - every sculpt is just so beautiful and fun to work with. Still a long way to go, though... now that I'm (thankfully) done with the Dawnriders, though, I can focus on something a bit simpler: my first unit of Sentinels! Wish me luck!

Me and many of the guys I play with (or, well, used to play with before this year) at my local shop use Battlefoam Magna Racks for transport - and honestly, with how spindly and easy to break the Lumineth models are, I'd probably have invested in one by now if I hadn't already owned one. As @Pyrescribe showed, there are definitely cheaper alternatives out there - but if you're willing to pay for them, I've never heard anyone complain about the quality you get for the price. I particularly appreciate that you can re-arrange the spacer legs within the case to make extra room for bigger models, so I shouldn't have any issues accommodating Teclis or Avalenor once I add them to my army (I can already comfortably fit the Stardrake and Celestant-Prime, which are also plenty big). I'm not sure if there is a different/equivalent magnet type sold in the UK/EU, but thus far for my Lumineth I've been magnetizing with N42 D2H1 magnets. When glued directly to bottom, they're exactly the right size to fit most bases I've used - 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, and the 60x35 ovals used for the Dawnriders. They're just a tiny bit too tall for 25mm bases, though. As an added bonus, since all my models are already magnetized for transport, I also picked up some of the magnetic movement trays from MiniMagTray. I expect they'll make it a bit easier to keep my Wardens and Sentinels in base-to-base contact to maintain Shining Company while moving them around the board, which could be a bit laborious if I had to move every model individually.

@ChrisNoAnts alongside the other good suggestions already in this thread, have you considered a light tan/off white, similar to the "robes" of the Sentinel in the picture? I feel like that'd be a neutral enough tone to avoid being distracting, while also complimenting the warm color scheme you've already got going on. I'm honestly pondering the same thing as you now that I'm close to working on my own Sentinels, though I've been using a Purple/Tan/White scheme so far myself. The past month has been a bit touch and go with hobbying for me due to family stuff - still slowly making my way through the starter box. I did manage to finish my Light of Eltharion, though, and got to experiment a bit with the airbrush in the process: I really like the look of the night sky/galaxy pattern on the cloak, so I think I might try doing it on my other character models to tie the army together (Cathallar's gown, Stonemage's cloak, Teclis's cloak if I end up painting him). Since I'm almost done with the starter box (two Dawnriders left, which I was putting off by working on Eltharion), I figure my first 1000 points will look something like this on the table: *** Allegiance: Lumineth Realm Lords- Great Nation: IliathaLeadersScinari Cathallar (140)- General- Command Trait: Loremaster - Ethereal Blessing- Artefact: Silver Wand- Lore of Hysh: Speed of HyshThe Light of Eltharion (220)Battleline20 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (240)- Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh10 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (120)- Lore of Hysh: Lambent Light10 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (140)- Lore of Hysh: Ethereal Blessing5 x Vanari Dawnriders (130)- Lore of Hysh: Speed of HyshTotal: 990 / 1000Extra Command Points: 0Allies: 0 / 200Wounds: 62 *** Probably not super strong on its own (and need to actually play some games to determine if Iliatha is the right choice vs. Syar), but it gets everything from the starter box on the table and feels like a solid foundation to build a 2000 point list on top of.

Yup, the painting and assembly of the Dawnriders is nightmarish - so much so that I'm probably stopping at my initial 5, even though I've had a lot of lists in mind that would have included 10. They're that bad. For my part, I've done mine in sub-assemblies - horses alone, then the riders, then the shield as separate components. For the riders, I've tried doing them with one leg attached and one leg detached, or with both legs detached (the way they're designed means you can't attach both legs before putting them on the horses, unless you file down the notches they've positioned where the legs should meet the saddle). Whichever way you do it, it's rough. Attaching the riders in the saddle tends to leave gaps between the legs and pelvis, and depending on how you've positioned the arms you inevitably run into issues aligning the reins with the tassels and the bit with the horse's mouth (possibly snapping off the reins from the rider's hand in the process). Also, you need to be careful how you position the arm holding the banner on the banner bearer - I thought I had mine perfectly positioned, but when final assembly came it turned out I had it tilted slightly, making it impossible to attach the right leg, and forcing me to remove the arm and re-position it. I've still got 2 to go, so the verdict is still out, but I'm honestly coming around to just painting the damn things fully assembled. There'll be more gaps and areas where the paint job is a bit rough, but trying to assemble them after they're fully painted is just maddening. If anyone's got any tips or tricks they've come up with to make the process easier, please let me know. I'm doing my Eltharion right now just to take a breather from fiddling with horses, because I was growing concerned for my own sanity 🤬

Since I took the time to smack talk the designers' lists above, I figured I may as well post the (initial) list I'm building towards for funsies and to get feedback from the community: ----- Allegiance: Lumineth Realm Lords- Great Nation: IliathaLeadersScinari Cathallar (140)- General- Command Trait: Loremaster - Protection of Hysh- Artefact: Silver Wand- Lore of Hysh: Speed of HyshAlarith Stonemage (130)- Artefact: Simulacra Amulet- Lore of the High Peaks: Voice of the MountainAvalenor, the Stoneheart King (360)The Light of Eltharion (220)Battleline20 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (240)- Lore of Hysh: Protection of Hysh20 x Vanari Auralan Wardens (240)- Lore of Hysh: Ethereal Blessing10 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (140)- Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh10 x Vanari Auralan Sentinels (140)- Lore of Hysh: Ethereal BlessingUnits5 x Vanari Dawnriders (130)- Lore of Hysh: Speed of Hysh5 x Alarith Stoneguard (100)- Diamondpick HammersBattalionsAuralan Legion (120)Endless Spells / Terrain / CPsHyshian Twinstones (30)Total: 1990 / 2000Extra Command Points: 1Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 111 ----- This isn't meant to be a highly competitive list, mind - think of this as the list of a hobbyist who wants to get as many different Lumineth models on the table as possible, while simultaneously being able to give the guys at the FLGS a fun, fair challenge... while minimizing the NPE parts of the faction that I can see causing the most griping. namely no Teclis, no Total Eclipse shenanigans, and only 20 Sentinels. Once I've got these dudes all painted up, version 2 will probably involve dropping Eltharion (much as I love the model, I think I'm gonna need more bodies than I can afford with him in the list) for 5 more Dawnriders and 5 more Stoneguard, and then I think I'll be good. There'll be room in the future for Teclis and more Sentinels should the need arise, but I'm really liking this as a starting point. Still, I'd greatly appreciate any feedback or advice you guys can offer!

I read that earlier today - they all look pretty fun, but really only the Ymetrica list seems like it'd have any viability at all as a "competitive" army (and that's what the article is supposed to be about - I've got tons of "fun" lists in mind, but I feel like if they want to call these lists competitive they should at least be theoretically capable of going 3-2 at a 5 round event). I could definitely see Ymetrica lists looking just like this doing well, except I'm pretty sure the Diamondpick Hammers will be the weapons of choice on the Stoneguard. I'd say pretty much any list with Teclis is going to have to run at least one battalion, because unless you've got 3 or less drops (probably 2, honestly), you're just asking for Teclis to get effortlessly shot off the table on the top of turn 1 by KO, Seraphon, Stormcast, Tzeentch, etc. and ruin your whole gameplan. The Syar list seems to have been transcribed wrong, as he's talking in the article about running Sentinels, so I'm assuming he's meant to be running 2x20 Wardens and 2x10 Sentinels - I think the better choice there would be to swap one unit of Dawnriders and the second Cathallar for the Auralan Legion to lower drops (to 3 max - Teclis, Legion, Dawnriders), you 100% want to add the Umbral Spellportal, Emerald Lifeswarm, and the Twinstones or something to take advantage of Teclis's casting. I could see something like this being one of the major competitive lists for Lumineth, if Teclis ends up being played at all in the long run (though I honestly think it'll just be Teclis and the Legion to make it 2 drops, boring as that sounds). The Zaitrec list... is a joke, basically. Too many drops, you're pretty much giving up all of the Zaitrec bonuses because Teclis is your only hero, you're going to be unable to use command abilities the vast majority of the time... much as I like the idea of running 30 Dawnriders (and someone will do it, mark my words), this feels more like a meme then a "competitive" list (and I'm all for meme lists, but that's not what the article claims to be talking about). Hell, you probably shouldn't even be in Zaitrec if you want to run this list - it'd be better in Iliatha, because at least then you're getting something relevant out of it (increased bravery on all of your non-Teclis units, and the Strike In Unison command ability that can be used from anywhere on the table). I'm pretty sure there's a way to make the Dawnrider Lance decent, if not top-tier competitive, but sadly this ain't it.

Agreed on all points - one thing I didn't touch on, which I'm glad you pointed out, is that none of the Lumineth models are bad or unplayable (Light of Eltharion is probably the worst, but even he's fun enough that I could see myself playing him in plenty of casual games), and they all have different roles to fulfill. So while the range is limited, each unit feels worthwhile in its own right. Speaking from the perspective of someone who has played exclusively Stormcast up until now, my honest opinion is that having a huge model range tends to be overrated by people who don't play an army with a huge model range. Sure, SCE has like 60 different units to choose from, but when you boil it down, 90% of them do the same job and fulfill the same role as another unit in the lineup, only worse. On paper, getting to choose between Retributors, Decimators, or Protectors sounds great - until you realize they're all basically the same slow melee hammer unit, and they're all inferior to Evocators anyway. Same goes for Concussors, Desolators, Fulminators or Tempestors - they all do the same job, with only slight differences in their profiles (well, except for Tempestors, they just suck). Same with their million foot heroes, all but a few of whom are just pretty paperweights. The Lumineth don't have a ton of kits right now, but I think they've actually got a surprising amount of variety in playstyle and sculpts despite that. This doesn't feel like a Fyreslayers or DoK situation, where the only non-terrible lists you can play are running 80 virtually identical models and maybe 1 centerpiece. Most lists I've seen here seem like they've got a good mix, my own included. Sure, there's a temptation to just max out on Wardens and Sentinels in the Auralan Legion, but everyone recognizes that at least one unit of Dawnriders will help with mobility; then, of course, you've gotta consider taking Avalenor, because you're light on heroes and those 5 damage attacks sure are nice; and if you're taking Avalenor, you might as well take a Stonemage for the synergy and second artifact; and then hey, why not fold in some Stoneguard for the full Alarith combo, since they're only 100 points for a min unit?... and, well, I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. And that's not even factoring in whether or not you take Teclis!

The unit variety is certainly limited with Lumineth out of the gate, and if you're banking on GW adding more kits within the next few months to decide on purchasing, I wouldn't bother. Outside of the Underworlds warband, I'd be surprised if we see the Lumineth range expand before 2022 at the earliest (maybe late '21 if they're really pushing them hard as part of the Broken Realms stuff). Competitive/tournament players are a tiny minority of the AOS playerbase, and I don't really think they drive sales in a meaningful way. And outside of the spikey tournament lists, which will 100% focus on spamming as many Sentinels as possible, I do think that even with the limited model range there are several interesting ways to build a Lumineth army: Vanari mixes with infantry/archers/cavalry, Cavalry-heavy with the Dawnrider Lance, magic-heavy Zaitrec with or without Teclis, tanky Alarith builds in Ymetrica with lots of Stoneguard and Spirits, and cosmopolitan mixes of all of the above (which is what I'm aiming for). Even without a ton of units to choose from, there are a lot of different approaches you can take with Lumineth. Regardless, I think Lumineth will still sell relatively well just based on the quality of the sculpts, the general appeal of a classical High Elf-looking army (and the Cow aesthetic too, which seems to have a surprising amount of appeal to some folks in spite of all of the online pearl clutching when they were revealed), and the fact that everyone (in the US at least) is going to be stuck inside all winter looking for new projects anyway. But if what's already been released isn't doing it for you, don't buy in hoping that they'll release new models soon. I'm 99% certain we'll get new models eventually, but given GW's release schedule it won't be for at least a couple years.

Looking at your list, I feel like you might want to consider dropping the Sanctum and take another 5 Stoneguard with the points you save (and run them as either units of 10 and 5 or 3x5, to give you enough units to spread out on battleplans with a lot of objectives). One of the downsides of running 2 Spirits is that you'll inevitably lack bodies, so I think a few more Stoneguard might help. If you wanted to go a step further, you might consider taking out Eltharion and putting in an additional 5 Stoneguard (so you can go 2x10, keep one unit by each Spirit and get maximum benefits from the Command Ability) and the Alarith Temple battalion (so you can have each of the Stoneguard units re-rolling saves). I figure with two Spirits already, you aren't going to be lacking for sturdy melee heroes. Pretty close - there's actually another box of Sentinels in there as well, so in total it's the Cathallar, 2 boxes of Wardens, and 2 boxes of Sentinels. I figure that'll be plenty to keep me busy for at least a few months, after which I can re-assess... though admittedly, I'll probably be back in there Sunday to order at least one of each of the Alarith units, since I really can't wait to paint those guys (especially the Stonemage).

Making progress through the Dawnriders over the past couple weeks, but it's been very slow going - I concur with everyone who has pointed out how laborious they are to assemble and paint. While a lot of my original lists included two units of them, I definitely won't be subjecting myself to painting another 5 (at least not any time soon). Still, I'm happy with the results so far: Not perfect, but for the difficulty level I'm satisfied. I'm probably going to switch over to working on Eltharion now, just to have some fun and cleanse my palate before trying to finish the last 2. Also, my LGS got their Lumineth delivered today! Just got back from picking up my pre-order: So I've got a whole lot of painting ahead still... but I figure hey, once I survive the Dawnriders, the rest of the army should be a cakewalk!

In line with what @Dukeus suggested, I had the the thought that a blue-green would be a good complementary color for your orange-red scheme. Your main colors are already really bright and striking, though, so I'd suggest whatever you choose should be pretty desaturated or else it may clash with what you've already got going on. Alternatively, a brown or tan color could be a good neutral tone to play off of. I'd consider trying both to see which you prefer.

If you've got experience with 40k, I wouldn't necessarily be put off too much by the learning curve for any AOS army - the game is pretty straightforward, honestly, and I think both IDK and Lumineth are totally viable even as a beginner. I think it needs to be said that while lots of the threads and lists here talk a lot about what's competitive/optimal, if you're going to your local store to play a game almost everyone will just have random janky lists with a mix of models they like (at least, that's been my experience). So AOS as a whole is nowhere near as competitive as 40k, and picking an army that speaks to you aesthetically/thematically should really be the priority, at least in my opinion. Like, IDK is a great example - everyone knows the turtle sucks, but most IDK players in my area run one anyway because the model is just that cool. With that said, I think the easiest army to pick up right now for a beginner would be Bonereapers - cool new model line, strong rules even after the recent nerf, hard to move off objectives, immune to battleshock, able to compete in every phase, relatively elite (hence fewer models to paint to get on the table), and all the bone makes for a quick paintjob. Fyreslayers are very similar to Bonereapers, but less aesthetically interesting (to me, anyway). Slaves to Darkness are also solid and seem pretty straightforward, though my experience with them is limited. Interested to hear if anyone else has an opinion on what the best starter armies are right now.

Both Idoneth and Lumineth would definitely be a challenge for a new player - as @Athrawes pointed out, IDK require some real tactical play to make the best of their abilities, and Lumineth are new so it's hard to quantify their strength, but they do have a lot of moving parts. I would actually say that tactically, though, I might disagree with the assessment that Idoneth would necessarily be easier to learn; IDK's alpha strikes are incredibly powerful, but the army as a whole is extremely fragile and one poorly deployed unit can basically guarantee a loss before the game even starts. Lumineth, for all of their intricacies, at least have durable blocks of Wardens that can withstand a charge, so mistakes shouldn't be quite as punishing. On the hobby side, they're both gorgeous model ranges that are going to be challenging even for experienced painters, so in that aspect I'd say it's a wash. I feel compelled to point out, though, that Idoneth can be used as allies in Lumineth armies (but not vice versa, sadly). So if you start with Lumineth but want to dip your toe into painting/playing with some IDK models, you've got that option. I honestly think there might be an argument for allying in an ambushing Soulscryer + Morsarr Guard unit into a Lumineth list in some situations, even though it increases your drops.

Thanks @ThalmorRepresentative, the feedback is much appreciated! My first step when starting on any of my Lumineth is to do an all-over basecoat of Army Painter Mummy Robes (white), thinned down and put through my airbrush in 3 thin coats. Once I've got all of my other colors down, I go back in at the end of the process and cover up any mistakes in the white areas with as many thin coats of Mummy Robes as it takes - usually quite a few. If I'm remembering correctly the Citadel equivalent of Mummy Robes is Pallid Wych Flesh, but for my purposes the Army Painter stuff works better since it comes in a dropper bottle for airbrushing and it's quite a bit cheaper. I also happened to have a few bottles lying around from an old project, so it was quick to start with. I'm sure there are other, probably easier ways to achieve a good looking white, but this has worked pretty well for me so far. I'd actually be interested in hearing how other people are approaching it. Corax White seems to be the GW recommendation per the tome, but I've had issues with both Corax and White Scar turning chunky in the pots. @Tiberius501 really nicely done - that Dawnrider looks almost indistinguishable from the ones in the battletome. You sure you aren't an undercover GW studio painter? I've also been spending far too much time on each model, considering I'm going to need at least 40 Wardens, 30 Sentinels, a unit of Dawnriders, and multiple hero models to actually play a game... but hey, we're all stuck inside for the foreseeable future anyway, so I figure if I'm ever going to go all out on painting an army I'm proud of, now's the time!

Well, I'm certainly excited to see what the new Underworlds models look like, even if I'll be so wrapped up in painting an army that they probably won't make their way to my table any time soon. And in line with what others are thinking, based on the lore in the Lumineth tome, I'm going to guess that Slaanesh breaking free of its prison will be an end result of the Broken Realms narrative and the impetus for the Tyrionic aelves to get released (probably in late 21 or 22 at the earliest). On a completely unrelated note, I also found time this weekend to finish my first Dawnrider model: I've never painted horses before, nor have I ever painted in sub-assemblies, so there was definitely some trial and error involved. Getting the pieces to fit just right post-painting was very difficult, and I hate that they made the decision to require you to glue the sides of the bridle into the horse's mouth (I snapped the rope off twice trying to get all the tiny fragile parts aligned!). But all things considered, I'm still happy with the result. I'm sure next time will be smoother, at any rate!

@Aelfric Really good looking color scheme there - I love the parted design on the shields with inverted colors. When I paint my next unit of Wardens I may yoink that idea from you to help tell them apart! @LuminethMage Sometimes the designers/studio painters go with a color scheme for a reason, and I think your picture is a good example of that - they look really bright and clean, and you executed everything really well. Awesome work! Since everyone else is sharing what they've done so far, I thought I'd throw in my own contribution as well. They're not quite Syar, but the scheme was definitely based on them. Took a couple of weeks to work through all 10 of them because I'm trying some new stuff, particularly some basic wet blending on the robes... so yeah, not looking forward to doing another 20-30 of them, but really happy with the results, and I felt like the models deserved the extra effort. Next up are the Dawnriders!

So I've held off on committing to a second army for a while now - and having seen these models, I'm glad I did, because something about these is really doing it for me. The aesthetic is definitely more in line with classic WHFB than most other recent armies (which is obviously intentional, both in- and out-of-universe), but I'm personally okay with that; if I want units with a true AOS vibe, I've got my Stormcast. I even like the Teclis model, though I can understand those who aren't as enthused. Here's hoping the rest of the kits are as high quality as the ones we've seen here! One thing that does make me a bit nervous is the color scheme - I love the clean white look they've achieved on the armor and cloaks, and I definitely want to replicate it... but I've also found shading and highlighting whites to be extremely challenging to this point in my hobby career. But hey, I was gonna have to learn eventually, I suppose.

The remarks about the internal balance of OBR (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with the Warscrolls or units themselves. The issue is just that Petrifex Elite is so ridiculously powerful compared to every other Legion in their book that there's no reason to ever consider choosing anything else... unless you're intentionally choosing to nerf yourself in a friendly game so your opponent can have fun too. I mean, seriously. The lists for CanCon and LVO (two of the biggest AOS tournaments of the year) are out now. In both tournaments, OBR are the #1 most played army, and it isn't close (18 OBR at CanCon, 19 at LVO vs. 13 for the next-highest faction). And of those OBR lists? Every. Single. One. Is Petrifex Elite. If that isn't a sign of a poorly balanced book, I don't know what is.

Yeah, it really feels like the divide here is strong between people who gauge "Best" as "whatever wins the most games" and "Best" as "whatever book feels the most fun and varied in the builds it can offer" (I fall into the latter camp, personally). For me, the best book I've seen in all of AOS so far is Cities of Sigmar. Internally there may be a few units and Cities that are over- or underpowered relative to the others, but the sheer variety the book offers between the different City allegiances and sub-factions is just incredible. Cities armies can, quite literally, do it all - magic heavy, shooting heavy, speedy alpha strike, giant hordes of infantry, mixes of all of the above, you name it. They may not all be equally powerful, but that's not only the book's fault; it's also, at least in part, due to an inherently imbalanced metagame that rewards certain strategies over others. And the book is still new, so I feel like we probably haven't fully seen what it's capable of, either - the first Hallowheart list to win a GT was built around Soulscream Bridge and Handgunner spam so now that's what everyone is trying/talking about, but I guarantee there are other viable Cities (and Hallowheart) builds out there that haven't been discovered yet. It's the same with Gloomspite - tons of options, some inevitably better than others, but all with distinctive personalities and playstyles that are at least somewhat viable. It's a book that really gives you room to experiment and play with different builds. That's what makes a great book, in my opinion. As far as the bad, I agree with the others who are saying that Slaanesh, Daughters, and OBR are among the worst battletomes so far, and I'd add FEC onto that pile as well. Slaanesh was just a mess of poorly written rules that were clearly never tested in an actual game. Meanwhile Hagg Nar, Petrifex Elite and Gristlegore overshadow every other option in their entire book by such a ridiculous margin that there was really no reason to write any other allegiances. GW really needs to get someone on staff other than the writers to edit these things for internal and external balance before they go to press, because some of this stuff never should have seen the light of day in its current form.

So I'm nearly finished with my Celestant-Prime - took me a while, with a few hiccups along the way, but overall I'm pretty happy with how he's turning out. I've still got one small piece, a bit of extra basing, and varnishing to take care of, but as far as tabletop standard goes, he's ready to rock. For the more experienced painters out there, I did have an issue pop up while painting this particular model. As someone who has primarily relied on washes to do most of my shading on smaller models, I found that the cloak and loincloth pieces on the Celestant-Prime are just too large and smooth for a typical wash (see below to get an idea of the texture). My usual edge highlighting was also basically useless on something with large, smooth contours. I wound up just drybrushing increasingly bright tones to try and build up some contrast, but I'm sure there are better ways of approaching this. I'll probably check out some videos in the next couple days to get a feel for how the experts handle stuff like this, but I was wondering how others here go about highlighting those kinds of surfaces. Is this something more experienced painters would wet blend? Would an airbrush be a better way to build up contrast? Any input would be much appreciated. Either way, happy to say that my contract for this month is (90%) fulfilled!