kaaras

I love this model, and the dragon ogors in general. Such a great kit. Look forward to the finished product!

Wow. Just, wow. So good.

After some more expended hobby energy, here is Balogog, complete on Maw Krusha. Here is the front view. The mask is removable for aesthetic reasons only. And a more side on view sans mask. I think he turned out pretty well. As you can see to the left, that is the next project. 10 Boar boys that need to be completed for an upcoming doubles event I hope to get to. Some Savage Maniaks to go with my quite lonely savage orruks.

Here are a couple of WIP photos for the Maw Krusha: Front view. I have glossed his face to match the rest of his scales. Next up is to do is the mega boss, finish the back spines and tail. Then base it... Once that's done, back to the grind of Ard Boyz...

So. Poor old Balogog has been hiding deep in the caverns whilst Chaos run rampant over my hobby time. However, this is now the year of the Orruk in my hobby sphere, so I treated myself be starting the Maw Krusha. I saw a post from @BunkhouseBuster about his Maw Krusha and the inspiration for a local snake. Being in Oz we have plenty to choose from, but I went with an Inland Taipan (possibly the nastiest snake in the world). I will post hopefully by the end of the week of the Krusha itself, with Balogog to be completed some time after that. Still trying to work out the best list for this. Fimir aren't allies to Ironjawz so i have to use standard destruction (which is ok but Ironjawz is better). List is currently: Maw Krusha Warchanter Weirdnob (additional...) Iron Fist 30 Ard boys (only got 20 but will get there...) 10 Brutes 6 Pigs And thats about 1970 or something like that... Anyway, on with destruction and away from distraction

No pictures of the whole thing but my Slaanesh force is over 5k. 50 Warriors, 40 Marauders, 15 Knights, Daemonettes, Hellstriders, Exalted Greater Daemon and a bunch of other heroes. Chariots, Chosen, Marauder Horsemen and a warshrine... On the fringes of that are the Dragon Ogors, a Hell Cannon (wish that would come back...) a Gargant and the models from the Silver Tower and Hammerhal. Not sure what that would add up to but its a lot...

You are most welcome. That is the reality of a long term campaign. Much is made about tales of conquest and fantastical battles, but the reality is that once the military component ends and one side has achieved the necessary concessions from the other, be it defeat, withdrawal etc. then the mundane tasks of nation building begin. But I digress. I look forward to your next instalment.

Great post. I particularly like the concepts outlined at the end of Presence, Pressure and Projection. As true in the real world, if you can't project, you cannot maintain pressure or presence and thus unlikely to achieve your aims. Sometimes it is the feeling of Pressure and Presence through the means of Projection that can be enough to generate a favourable outcome. Keep up the great work.

I feel I want to chime in on this. In terms of Grand Strategy, the Why component of any faction (real or fictitious) is normally related to National Interests and the leveraging of power in whatever form that takes, to achieve the outcomes of the strategy and protect or further national interest. To shift this into a fantasy role, each factions grand purpose could be discerned readily, e.g. Stormcast to purge Chaos, rebuild the realms etc. These are broad, simple statements with huge ramifications from the top down i.e. Sigmar makes the calls, but his poor old Liberators have to build the latrines in order for this strategy to have a chance at success. This is only further complicated when allies and adversaries have similar and/or conflicting strategies. This is the source of tension of the types seen in the news at the political and diplomatic levels, a battle of ideology and who is the more capable of achieving their strategy and ergo the more "powerful". Seen through this lens, the why component becomes more apparent. The What is then developed in the campaigns and initiatives that will allow a ruler (gods I guess in this case) to exercise their levers of power (in the Age of Sigmar context, we are talking almost purely military, although occasionally it could be argued some diplomacy is in order... (pun intended...)). Further, the machinations of the senior military leaders can be more easily discerned to the tactical level by the use of battle plans in the realms and the small vignettes that play out all over the world for the different factions that, ultimately, are attempting, through military might, to achieve the outcomes laid out in the Grand Strategy at the beginning. Was that helpful? I do enjoy a good high level strategic discussion.

Looks great. I like the pink horrors particularly. The Silver Tower models are fun to paint, I had a good time doing mine up.

@elfhead glad you like it. I just finished reading Bear-Eater, a short story about the Astral Templars but it had a similar premise, where a coven of vampires had effectively taken control of a human city and left a puppet sorcerer type on the throne, controlling his minions through his magic. Might be an avenue to explore. I really like the narrative work you put into your army, and gives me the inspiration to continue building my story behind my warqueen. Thanks.

Your vampire is excellent and Thalion the Daemon Prince outstanding. I was thinking about your new fluff line and thought that perhaps the vampire could be your connection to Eurenil. A smooth talking vampire, gaining an edge on a scheming, upstart captain that has aspirations to carve out a new pleasure kingdom somewhere, in the process crushing the beast that is Thalion (although one would assume Thalion either has some form of glamour spell enabled so no one sees his true form or can shape shift...). The vampire gains access to the pleasure cults and the exotic bloods available, but also gains a foothold into the realm of light, which might be a challenge for vampires but if they are given a safe haven... I also think you could use the new DoK snake people straight into this force, perhaps as Thalions body guard that when on display are normal, gloriously beautiful elves but when in battle become the snake version a la Morathi.

Really great work. This is a very fine slaanesh themed army.

Love this idea. It would be great if there was more of this. Matched play is fun and all, but thematic, narrative campaigns are just special, something you will remember for a long time afterwards. Best of luck and I will follow this one with interest.

YES!!!. Great reference...

Thanks @Shearl. It was something that came to me way back at the start, that whilst orruks are more than capable of finding a fight, having a sinister entity in the background controlling them just seemed like a nice touch. I imagine that their "flight" through the realmgates out of Ulgu and into Hysh was somewhat more directed than just misfortune, that the Meargh has some sinister and twisted plot to unleash on the realm of light and this is her way of starting it. The Fimir act as the mouth pieces, nudging and goading, aiding where necessary, and the orruks are just the muscle to get the job done. Expendable. Or something like that...

With the upcoming Malign Portents Coalescence event in March here in Oz, I am giving Balogog a rest and going to invigorate my Slaves to Darkness. This is a fairly sizable Slaanesh themed force, and now that the Warqueen has made it to my painting table I am going to build up the force. I have a fair bit, but at this stage the army will look like: Darkoath Warqueen 30 Warriors 10 Knights Warshrine Sorcerer and then I am not sure. I have 40 Marauders, 10 Marauder horsemen, chariots, dragon ogors, another 10 warriors and other stuff that I won't bore you with. As its a narrative event I am not interested in cheese, so am leaning towards all the Marauders, (although painting 40 of them... yuck) or dragon ogors because they are already painted. Anyway, some pics to follow.

The Fimir are a secretive lot, Balogog mused as he approached. Never really demand anything, or even ask, but always seem to get their own damned way... ah well, they are good in a scrap and nothing particularly horrible has happened. Right kunnin they are too. That mist trick is just so very Morkish (or Gorkish, making the sign of the orruk god) that they must be good luck. Still, makes ya skin crawl if you looks at em too long... Finally, the shadowy dwellers come out of undercoat and into glorious colour as part of the warhost. Took me a lot longer than anticipated but hobby time has been scarce. So here they are: Ok so not a great photo and if I get some time in the next few days I will do some glamour shots of the boys. Overall I am happy with them. I think the leather is particularly good, and they look dark and earthy which is what I was hoping to achieve. Next up are the Gore Gruntaz methinks. Left for this army: 3 x Jumbo pigs 10 x not quite as jumbo but still pretty large pigs (2 of these are the old warboss on boar models as the big boss in 5 man units) 20 x Arrer boyz 10 x Boyz 1 x chariot 1 x Maw Krusha. Damn, thats a lot more than I thought...

I suffer this as well, generally with models that are very samey all over (my worst experience were Ard Boyz...). I ended up shelving them and working on some models that inspired me back to a suitable level to start the grind again. Rinse and Repeat. Easiest way to get through regiments of stuff. Most fun unit to paint were the Forsaken. So much character and variety.

First one down. Bad photo...

Good shout. Escapism is a very good reason as well. And as to the quieter of hobbies, being in a metal band, well...

When I started out, it was during a pretty dark time in my life. It gave me a chance to involve myself in something, meet people and learn new skills. It helped that some of my best friends had been doing it most of their lives and were able to ease me in gently and were very supportive. In the early days I wanted to be in everything, so I played tournaments, regular weekly game meets and all sorts of other challenges. I painted as therapy and a drive to improve as rapidly as possible and getting back into the community and meeting people like me added to that. As the years have gone on, I find it waxes and wanes with the amount of games I have. Playing regularly is my motivation to paint, especially for events but even with friends it helps to push it on. I also find the skill development and trying new techniques is very interesting as well. I always enjoyed building models (I started with scale models of planes and cars when I was young) so that aspect is deeply satisfying, seeing something come from a few bits of plastic. There is no one answer to this question. At various times my reasons change, but in general its for a sense of community and belonging and the opportunity to create something great that keeps me going.

Balogog paced restlessly, lamenting his losses and the sheer carnage reaped upon his forces. It would take months of spawnings and even more scrounging of this accursedly bright world to find more boyz to join his cause, assuming he could convince them without having to kill too many... The first tournament outing for the combined forces of orruk awesomeness was, well, shambolic at best, disastrous if you are more on the pessimistic side of life. The boyz were torn to pieces via FEC, Khorne Blood Tithe and Nagash and some mates in short order for the most part. Look great, are fun, can't hurt much or survive the amount of rend -1 damage 2 stuff that these lists seems to have in abundance. Still, every game is a learning experience and I will get better. On to some painting: I finally completed all 20 of my savage orruk boyz, so with boss man and the doc, that part of the force is done. I say that as I see 10 boarboyz that tread a line between savage and normal (can orruks be normal? better say greenskinz) as I equipped them with whatever bits I had available... oh and another 10 would give me 30, make them some allied archers... anyway, here is a family photo, not great but you get the idea: On top of that, as a reward (how can more work equal a reward? hmm...) I am going to start these little fellas. They fared well enough at the tournament and I think that a large block of these would give most opponents pause... if they weren't resin I think you would see a lot more of them... Well, thats enough for today. Hopefully these won't take me as long as some of the other things I do...