Darth Alec

I'll be a little controversial here; I hope none of the current Aelf models become a part of the new Aelf factions. We have the Azyr-aelfs (phoenix temple, swifthawk etc), who have interesting concepts that can be expanded. I'd much rather see the new factions be entirely new, unshackled to the old aesthetic. Thought of the day: The aelfs are now the only models from the Silver Tower set without a proper release. That means that they are either based on pre-existing designs, or will be the defining models for a new set.

It's worth mentioning that neither 40k nor AoS are mentioned as getting any new releases in that little blurb. And going all of April without either is absurd, so there's something they're keeping from us... Stealth Duardin.

You gave me a great idea. Use the drakes, but add the vampires from the Coven Throne kit for female Blood Knights. Hmmm.... Anyways, looking forward to the finished unit. The black eyes do a lot of work for the unit. Maybe have some colour variation on the flesh? Like some parts are rotting faster than other parts.

Nurgle-corrupted Realm of Life. Done deal.

Now this might just be me remembering the good old days... But we did literally hear this sort of commentary every time a new army book came out. It's nothing new, and shouldn't be unexpected by either the players of the armies or the people around them. Being annoyed that the stuff you liked changing is only natural. We all grumble a bit when our toys change Adjust, live and learn. The book looks amazing, and exactly what the doctor ordered for everyone who isn't playing Warrior Brotherhood.

Loving those Stormhost-specific bonuses. Great marriage of narrative and rules. Makes me want to buy and paint up a specific force for each one!

IIRC, Forgeworld wasn't informed about the change to AoS until veeeeeeeeery late in the process. Hence the late warscrolls. It also means that the fantasy forge, which they had already scrapped, had to be rebuilt with a completely new aesthetic in mind. One that doesn't mesh with 30k or 40k-gritty-esque models. Combine that with GW's massive increase in quality since the End Times, Forgeworld is likely going to flounder for a while before they find their niche. Honestly, proper upgrade kits for models (Stormcast chambers, anyone?) might actually be the best way for them to approach this. Oh, and Forgeworld-made Tomb Kings

IIRC, the original plastic GUO turned into the Glottkin, so I'm a little sceptical. But it's hardly impossible. They're half way through already.

And to be honest, Guilleman is a bigger thing for GW than Duardin. He's the primarch of the Ultramarines after all, which likely sold better than ALL of fantasy for 5+ years.

This is going to be the most... interesting event of the year. Would love to attend.

Reusing models is a bit of a let down. However, the Silver Tower was an excellent game! So more of the same, but with new quests means more for the backlog.

Poster boys get more toys. Nothing new here. IIRC, the main reason Space Marines isn't just that they sell the most, it's also the favorite faction of a lot of the designers. So they get more toys because a lot of people at GW like making toys for them. Similar with SCE, I expect. With the exception that the rules/background guys more or less know what's in the pipeline, hence the various chambers being known to use, but not their content. Besides, it's not like another wave of SCE stops other stuff from coming. If Tzeench and SCE drop within a month of each other, how much stuff might be on the way for later months?

If they had wanted to get rid of Slaanesh permanently, they'd have done so. Either during the End Times, or during the Age of Myth. No that hard to write it out if necessary. But Slaanesh is staying. There's a lot of stories with Slaanesh characters, keeps getting mentioned in the backgroud and has a lot of models that weren't phased out. It's more likely that GW knew their own release schedule/model production. They saw that Slaanesh wasn't getting anything new for quite a while, so figured they'd make that into a plotline. Maybe not with a conscious plan or anything. Just an idea that "once we get around to doing Slaanesh again, we'll have a cool story hook".

The vikings will return. Bringing a proper TK list this time. Royal Legion of Chariots!

What is dead may never die, baby. The Tomb Kings may be discontinued, but they live on in our hearts. I actually started with Tomb Kings 15 years ago. Threw out a lot of old models when I quit. Then I came back. After I started the Death army, I had a clear theme in mind for them. But I couldn't stay away from the sandy skelletons. So I built a few, then a lot. Now I have a lot, and am building more. But that's for another time, now to get into the stuff I painted in 2016. Starting with the guys who give the Tomb Kings some of their unique flavour, it's the skeleton archers. Every single model is converted from VC skeleton models and TK bows and quivers. I also strung each bow. The original skeletons just look terrible. Couldn't have that in my new force. So I got these guys. Loads of work, but it paid off. They also perform really well in-game for me! 30 guys give 60 shots, and an average of 10 wounds. Not amazing, but at 20 (effectively 26.5) inches, it's the sort of reach I otherwise lack. Let's keep things Deathrattle, shall we? It's the chariots! Again, replaced the original skeleton riders. This time I also replaced the horses. The original horses aren't utterly terrible, but they are bad. And the Black Knight horses are just so good. So they had to go. Not seen on this side is teh quive for the bow, which hangs off the other side of the chariot. What you can see is the basing though. It's actually a road, 2 chariots wide! They flow into each other, with a split in the middle base. Not snowed them down yet though, but it counts as complete for my purposes. Building 9 more of these babies in 2017. Birds! Now Carrion aren't an amazing unit, but they have their tricks. I also like their half-rotted appearance. These were speedpainted for SCGT last year, but I like the result. Two full units of objective grabbers and assorted uses. They're pure metal though, so I'm always afraid of chipping them. You can't have a Tomb King army without at least one of these. Undead artillery! Shame they're also the worst models in history to assemble. An absolute nightmare. I bought one of them used and sprayed just with some colour spray. But because it was assembled, I was too afraid to break it up and strip it. I'm going to regret that some day... And so it's on to the Reanimants. I love the Tomb Scorpion model, but I tired out painting it. It's in the same marble scheme as all my reanimants, but it's just so rich in texture that it was a huge amount of work. The entire underside is also painted this way. So a lot of line highlighting. The result is nice though. I also posed the guy as crawling over a fallen pillar. Not very easy to see in this picture, but it's a cool effect. Ah, the Ushabti. Are there any more quintessential Tomb Kings models than these guys? Amazing stuff. Loved painting them. They look great on the table as well. No converting or anything needed here. These guys just look great. But I have 4 If anyone has 2 extra they're willing to part with, hit me up! Would love to flesh these guys out to 6. Next up is the Bone Giant! Another childhood favorite of mine. Fun fact, this is my very first "large" model. 15 years of service! And now he's the same size as Morghasts. If not scale creep, it's something. The original model is cool, but a little stiff. So I tried to pose him with the base to make him look more dynamic. Like he's smashing through a wall to get to you. Bits from the Garden of Morr set keeps on giving. Biggest of the bunch is the Warsphinx! It's got the same marble scheme as all the others. Doing that tail took forever. When I initially put it together, I wasn a little sceptical. Now that it's done I appreciate it a lot more. I drybrushed the gold on the Warsphinx itself though... Couldn't face line highlighting all that gold. A minor point of shame. But It still looks nice. Crew are mixed original and VC skeleton/black knight bits. I wanted them to fit a little more in with the rest of my army, so I went a little bit away from the Old Dynasty aesthetic on the crew. FIrst up of the heroes is the crafty Necrotect. Not my greatest conversion. Honestly, he was a rush job to get finished for SCGT. The original model had either gone out of print then or I was being unfair to it. I rather like the original now, but it's even harder to get than it was. So I'm stuck with this guy. It's not too bad though. The high elf pants gives him a unique look, and he's got both the whip and dagger, so he's WYSIWYG. Now we're talking. This is, IIRC, the limited edition model. The only difference is the smaller banner. Much nicer than the frankly ludicrous ones that most models use. I don't think this is my best job or anything, but I like it. The face turned out nice, the pose is cool, and the model in general is good without being overstated. Just one of those models that make me nod my head in approval when I think about it. Now here's a model I am pleased with! Love the skin tones on this guy. He's not got the exact same skin as the vampires, so it was a huge experiment. The rest of him isn't all that remarkable, but I like him. I have an ancient model of him around as well, painted some 13 years ago. I showed them off against one another on twitter a while back. It was quite the difference. Most esoteric Tomb King model? I think so. I initially got this guy mostly to fill out the collection. But I like him. Had no idea how to paint the scarabs, so it ended up with some sort of green. When I did some research afterwards, I saw that they can be a lot more shiny and stuff. Still no idea how to paint them, so green it is! Proud of the little OSL on his head though. Very simple, but it just adds a lot to his face. Done with the princes, now it's on to the kings. The king on foot is a favorite model of mine. Classic pose, detailed without being ostantacious, and clear to read on the table. I really like his cape and shield as well, but I wasn't forward thinking enough to take pictures of that... Oh well! And now for the final king of 2016. This guy was a lot of fun! Banners are from the Tomb Guard and some elf. Had to pick this King model. He just looks so goooood pointing forward, at the foe! And he's got the right glaive. Not used this guy yet. But he'll be my King for SCGT. Really looking forward to that! Not snowed his base yet though. Just really like this guy. Going to be great to see him charge down the field! Last up is Queen Khalida. She's not technically a King, remember This was my first attempt at the marble effect. Not sure I did very well. Thankfully the model is so nice. So, so nice. Love it. I'm quite pleased at the staff transitioning into the snake. Tried to copy some other real life snakes for the ones on her body, but they were mostly more complex than I could manage. Now I just need a second unit of archers so I can use her to lead my forces! That's the last of my Tomb Kings! So how much did I end up painting? That's... A lot of points. And a lot of different models. 7 different heroes! Laying it all out like that really shows that I had some time on my hands, huh? Doesn't matter, now I got a sweet TK army. Finally. After 15 years. It's been a journey, and it's not over yet. That's it for the round up. Next time I'll be talking about the plans for 2017!

Feel free! It worked out pretty well. Much simpler than my Neferata conversion. You'll have to sacrifice a pair of Morghast wings though Thanks! I didn't know that. Was out of the hobby for a bit. Either way though, he's a great model.

I painted a few Death models... Quite a few actually. I started painting Death in 2015, after AoS dropped. I had originally started in the hobby with Tomb Kings, and now was the perfect time to refind that love. But since TK were on the way out, I went with pure Death. That didn't last... But for today, here's all the regular, non TK stuff I've painted! First up today are the troops! 40 skeleton warriors... Ugh. This was a grind! I wanted skeleton hordes since I started the army, but I got distracted by all the shiny stuff. So for the RAW:16 event, I decided to finish a proper unit. I'm not a huge tournament player, but I do like units to have some punch. Hence the 40. In one game at RAW, they threw out more than 140 attacks against a single Arachnarok! It was glorious. And perhaps not fitting for a 1k game... Oops. I could have used TK skeletons for these guys, but those skeletons are so ugly. Very dated and weren't great on release. But the TK shields are cool. So a simple swap made them look great. I had painted up the first 10 Grave Guard in 2015, including the command. But I wanted more! Each has been converted and reposed to do something slightly more interesting. The original GG models were a bit static for my taste, but these guys with mixed weapons are a lot of fun. I experimented with the cloth, and was pleasantly surprised when it worked out. Continueing the Deathrattle theme, Black Knights! Like the Grave Guard, the Black Knights are a custom job. They've been mixed with Dragon Prince models. This is the dragon prince half of the unit, whilst the Black Knight half was finished in 2015. A lot of people take them for Blood Knights, but no. That's usually a cheap conversion, if it's a conversion. But these guys are definitely Black Knights, as I've got the proper models for Blood Knights painted. Really pleased with this unit, though I won't be adding any more in a while... This is definitely a Wight King, right? Definitely not a vampire repurposed as a Wight King with Infernal banner... This is what you get for buying models before you check the rules, kids. All in all though, I'm happy. He works. This was one of those models I needed to have. But I was never a fan of the flayed skin banner, so I switched it out for the Orruk boss banner. The symbol is the Pyramid and Moon common on a lot of the banners in the army. To make it stand out, I gave it Morghast wings. I'm no good at freehand, but this guy was a success. The red on his pole indicates that he's actually a vampire. You won't see red on anything that isn't Soulblight! And the last Deathrattle is Krell! Or rather, a Wight King with Black Axe. But it's Krell. The 2007 Vampire Counts update brought in some of the best character models in the business. Krell, the Von Carsteins... I needed all of them! Really pleased with how he turned out. Though I haven't actually gotten him into combat yet. Spirit hosts! 3 more, bringing me to 6. They've gotten a few conversions. Nothing special, though I have written a spirit host guide somewhere. What else have I for Nighthaunt? Mourngul! Why would a narrative guy like me get one? Funny story really. At SCGT, some guy stepped on my Skeleton Archers. You may know him, 'cause it's Joe from the Bravery One podcast. As the great guy he is, he decided to buy me a Mourngul. Thanks Joe! Now I have all the filth... As for painting, I always thought the spirity versions lacked something. They weren't as scary as maybe they should be. So I figured a flayed-flesh version would be very, very creepy. I think it worked... The first Nighthaunt hero is the Cairn Wraith. I'm not really a fan of the model. But I had it. So I decided to make teh best of it, and try to do something cool. The result was this floating guy. Now I sort of like him. He's just pinned to the side of the building, but it's something a little different. The last Nighhaunt hero is my Banshee. I've tried for a sort of narrative base. There's a story here, but I leave what it is up to you. Note the rusted blade that, unlike all other blades in the army, doesn't have shiny spots from use. Not really fond of the Banshee model, but it's a huge improvement over the older ones. Now we're getting to the heroes. This is my necromancer. He's really just an Empire Wizard with a different colour scheme. The door really brings out the spookyness though. I like him, but this is a terrible picture. Next up is Soulblight, and my first award-winning model! So proud. This is Lahmanet, my Aspirant for the RAW: 2016 event. She won the people's award for Aspirants, which was pretty amazing to me. There were so many good entries. She's got an empire general's horse, Coven throne body and elven sword. Also note the red, it's the first red since the "wight king" to bear red! And here she is again, now in Legendary form! Note the bigger hair, bigger sword, and bigger mount. This model was a lot of fun, but doesn't have any good picture angles. In-game, it's an Abyssal Terror. They're supposed to be weaker than Dread Abyssals, so I left off the armour and gave it wings. This Lahmanet also won a trophy! She won the best Legendary hero at RAW:16. I actually got both prizes there. That was pretty shocking. Thanks to everyone who voted for me! For some reason this picture is sideways... It's not in the original. Sorry about that. This is my Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon. Everyone keeps talking about how good this guy is, but he usually fluffs his attacks. But his ranged threat is huge. He was a treat to paint though. Gigantic! My first properly large model. Highlighting the wings was an absolute terror though. Then there's these guys... The Morghast Archai. They never dissapoint. Amazing to build, awesome to paint. Love everything about them. Though highlighting the wings was a pain. First time trying out the blending technique on the weapons, so that worked. Just very pleased overall. Last out the door, first in my heart, is Nagash. He's huge. Such a brilliant model. When it came out, it really sealed the deal about starting Death. I can't not own this model and an army with it. Spent months on this guy. So many new techniques and tricks. I may do a bigger post about him if there's interest. Somehow this picture also ended up sideway, which I don't understand. So you just crane your necks or something... So how'd we turn ou.... 3500 points? Whoa. That's a lot. And 2000 of them are characters. Mighty pleased with that, though I don't need any more characters for a while. That's it for today's Death extravaganza! Tune in later for the Tomb King update.

Crescent is Stormcast. It's on most Liberator belts.

Now that's an intrgueing picture. Another witch hunter Stormcast? Or human? That's definitely a pistol version of the Judicator bolt crossbows. A bolt-pistol, if you will. And a belt. But what's the blue part? The blue is downright tzeenchian. A cape or a creature of some sort? And the white.. It's not close to any chamber I can remember. Dang it GW.

It's 2017. That means I'm doing my now-yearly model round up. It's a simple thing, really. Take a picture of every model that I painted in 2016, host it, and write a little blurb about them. I have done a ton this year, much more than I expected! So strap in. This is going to be a three parter, and not one to miss! First up is Order! At the tail end of the year, I started up my Duardin force again. Didn't get to do much, but I'm very proud of what got painted! First up is the Doomseeker! A favorite of mine from Silver Tower, I wanted to get this guy painted. He's also my test model for the (eventual) Fyreslayer detachment of my Order army. Did some custom reposing on him, which I think worked out. The OSL on the axe didn't work out so well though. Didn't thin the final layer of red down enough. Oh well, learning experience. Longbeards! Lovely models, and I'm super pleased about my paintjob. Honestly, I wasn't sure about it until about 90% of the way through. But on completion, is was the right way. Bronzed armour for these guys, Ironbreakers will have silver armour, and the Hammerers will have gold. Gives them all a continuity. The bronze is the Sister of Silence recipe from Warhammer TV, beard is some online guide, everything else is custom. Thorek Ironbrow and the Anvile of Doom. Very pleased with this guy. He was delivered without a rune-arm, so this one is from the Runelord kit. I think it works better, much more dramatic and eye catching with the flame. Shields are new as well. Though I prefer the newer duardin models, this guy is just a classic. Shame his guards are so wonky. I also learned to appreciate the newer sculpts in a different way: detail density. Thorek is packed with detail. None of it visible on the table. Newer models are often both less dense and much better at showing off what detail they have. Base is the same colours as the rest of the Order army, but with glowing runes. Last of the Duardin is High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer. Now this is a dwarf. Love this model. Did not love highlighting gold though. There's 4 different types of gold! Very pleased with him overall, even though the finecast leaves a bit to be desired. A suitable centerpiece for my force, which I will enjoy taking into battle in the coming years. Last of the Order models is the Knight-Questor. I did actually paint up a few more Stormcast, but they were filling out other units. This guy is a simple conversion to make him much more hoplitesque. A friendly soul on twitter gave me the bits, which I'm grateful for. The scheme is based on the Hammers of Sigmar, but different. I originally painted my SCE for a store exhibition, but didn't want to go all out. So this darker gold and blue got made instead. Loving the gold I got here, and not very complex. That's it for my Order stuff this year. So what's the total? 700? Not bad, but not really an army. Let's see if we can't fix that next year. I plan to do a lot more bearded beauties! Especially if GW drops the new Duardin force on us. For 2016 though, painting 2 models I've always wanted to do felt really good. And now I have them done for any narrative End Times stuff I might want to do. Stay tuned for the next update. Death will dawn over the Mortal Realms...

Did they even have the internet back then?

GW's profits are up, and 2017 is starting with a bang. Looks like the ship's turned around. After 15 years, we may finally be hearing the end of the constant "GW is going under any day now" talk.

Probably chaos. Don't all fyreslayer axes have braziers in the center? Would rule them out.

Certainly possible! I'm not sure GW wants to quite go there yet though. And if they did, I'd imagine the Skaven or Archaon getting the first honours, not random tzeench dude nr 48. But hey, predicting GW plotlines is about as reliable as a horoscope! At the very least, it's not some ruined place of power.