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Strength_Hammer

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  1. Strength_Hammer
    Morathi, The Hag Sorceress of Ghrond, Mother of Malekith (Malerion), first of The Hag Queens, Second Wife of Aenarion The Defender and The First Pheonix King, and now The Shadow Queen.  In The World That Was she was a driving force in most events dealing connected to the Elf Races and believed to be second in power only to her Son Malekith (Malerion) within the Dark Elf Society, but this could be argued as she was more adept at manipulating behind the scenes, including manipulating her son.  Let's dive in and find out more about who Morathi was and hopefully get some insight about who Morathi is now in The Mortal Realms.  I aim to hit the highlights and offer my personal views on who she was as a character, but opinions vary and I am sure there will be some history for the character I miss or gloss over.  Morathi is an exciting character and I encourage everyone to look into her story for yourself and hopefully, this article can act as a primer to get you started.
     
        Morathi has always been an integral part of the Warhammer Fantasy universe from The World That Was and now she promises to remain a major player in The Mortal Realms.  Her origin remains a mystery as her first mention and appearance was her rescue by Aenarion after he defeated a roaming Slaaneshi Chaos Warband who had captured her and other elves.  Aenarion was captivated by her beauty and the rescue of Morathi can be viewed as accidental but is more likely fate, but was it the will of Slaanesh or something else creating this fate will remain unknown.   At this time Khaine already had a grip on Aenarion's heart as he had already drawn Widowmaker, The Sword of Khaine.  This made it all too easy for Morathi to push him further down a dark path.  For all her manipulation of Aenarion, I believe she truly loved him just as much as she loved power.  Perhaps if Khaine did not have a hold of Aenarion we would have seen a drastically different history.  Ultimately, the duo would not last as Caledor Dragontamer, an adamant opponent to Morathi, enacted his plan to save The World That Was during the Second Chaos Invasion despite Aenerions belief that nothing could be done to stop Chaos from winning the war.  Perhaps this belief was from the influence of Khaine, but could also have been under the influence of Morathi as well.  Either way, Aenarion left his second wife despite her pleas and seductions to defend his old friend as he created The Great Vortex.   Morathi felt spurned and betrayed.  She might have believed she could keep her and Aenarion safe by working with Slaanesh, but Aenarions righteous side won out in his moral dilemma between saving the world or to stay with Morathi.  Aenarion and Caledor would succeed and Aenarion would perish after returning Widowmaker to its hidden altar. Morathi's focused shifted to ensuring her and Aenarions son Malekith (Malerion) would succeed him as the next Pheonix King and secretly harbor hatred an even deeper hatred toward Caledor as she began her long plan tear apart his great work that took Aenarion from her.   Causing insult to injury Malektih (Malerion) was not selected as the next Pheonix King, but he did not protest as Morathi had done.  Bel Shannar who was chosen would also take Aenarion's Daughter from his first marriage as his wife causing Morathi to lose her title as Queen.  As her son ventured away from their homeland to the colonies she set to work corrupting Ulthuan with her hidden Cults of Pleasure.  It acted as her network and her power base as higher ranking elf nobles joined arguing that it gave her more power than The Pheonix King himself.     Morathi and her schemes would be found out either by luck or by her own design.  Malektih (Malerion) who had grown significantly as a person, diplomat, and leader while being away from her returned to bring her to justice.  She was captured by her son with the threat of death hanging over her head.  Morthai used her supernatural ability to appeal to her son that she was truly repentant and to be spared her inevitable death sentence.  Malektih (Malerion) pleaded on her behalf to The Pheonix Throne and was she was spared, but placed under permanent house arrest in Malekith's (Malerion) care due to his prestige and recognition earned while away.   This only allowed her to be closer to her son and allowed her to begin manipulating him as she had Aenarion.  She convinced him that he was destined to be the true Pheonix King and it was his by birthright.  She recreated her Cults of Pleasure to help her son rise to the throne all the while she would be the real power behind him.     One dreadful and bloody day they enacted their plan killing Bel Shannar and framing him as a member of the Pleasure Cults.  Malekith (Malerion) and he followers would kill off the remaining Nobles against his bid to become Pheonix King at the Shrine of Asuryan before he stepped into the Flame of Asuryan as his father did in order to follow his path.  Malekith (Malerion) despite being the chosen of Asuryan to replace his father would throw himself out of the fire a heartbeat too soon leaving him a charred husk.  Morathi rushed to his side and poured her Shadow Magic into him to keep him, and her last true connection to Aenarion, alive.  She had his Armour of Midnight created with The Anvil of Vaul by one of Vaul's priests she had turned to their cause to keep her son alive.       Morathi's plan to rule the elves was no longer secret and the Schism of the Elves began that ended with The Great Sundering causing Morathi and those faithful to her and her son to flee north taking with them large pieces of their province of Nagarythe with them using her dark magic to create the original Black Arks.  They would settle in the frozen land of Naggaroth and be known as The Dark Elves or Druchii in their own tongue.  It was from here she would continue her plots and manipulation to make her son The Phoenix King and destroy Caledors vortex.   For 5000 years she taught her son and subtly lea Druchii society, subtly, while continuing to affect the course of elven history through her schemes.  Her son's power only remained due to her continued support when he faltered.  It was Morathi who taught Ariel the Dark Arts, bringing it to the Wood Elves, in exchange for her life after her schemes killed Ariels Sister and once wife to Malekith.   Through this, she planted a small enchantment on Ariel's soul to be used when needed proving her superiority in the subtlest of ways.  It was Morathi who gave The Cult of Khaine the first Cauldron of Blood, gifted by Khaine himself supposedly, that she uses to bath in blood to remain eternally beautiful.  A spell she has only ever kept to herself.    
     
      Her constant struggles seemed to make her an evil witch with nothing but a lust for power and revenge.  However, her pursuit was always toward Aenarion and his namesake.  In a battle where the legendary Tyrion battled her forces, she saw him as Aenarion reborn.  To her credit, Tyrion is described as looking almost entirely like Aenarion and even wears his armor and enchanted blade Sunfury.  In the battle, she was defeated, but not after appearing before Tyrion and surprising him with a kiss to her lover reborn.  Perhaps this was a ploy to escape, but I feel it is her defining character.  She still loved and sacrificed all for Aenarion at this time.   The End Times or Rhana Dandra saw lines between the three separate races of elves begin to blur.  The cycle repeated and the elf heroes each became avatars reliving the great drama that played out before with their gods.  Tyrion was revealed as Khaines Avatar and Morathi was revealed to be the living avatar of Hekarti, elven goddess of conjuration and Dark Magic.  Households would split and it was revealed her son was indeed the True Pheonix King.  However, over the course of The End Times, she would see Tyrion draw Widowmaker and she would become his lover and fall back into her manipulative ways dragging him further down the path of darkness all the while feeling Aenarion had returned to her.  Her son was Pheonix King, but that wasn't what she had wanted all along.  She wanted Aenarion back and revenge on Caledor who she felt caused his death and spurning.  In a final climactic battle on The Isle of the Dead, location of The Great Vortex that would end The Final elven civil war.     Caledor was still alive, in a fashion, within The Great Vortex casting his spell for eternity to keep Chaos at bay.  Aenarion had returned to her so all that was left was for her to take her vengeance and destroy the great work.  Fatefully, Caledor was working with Teclis, Tyrion's Twin Brother, to pull out the winds of Magic from the vortex to place them within elven heroes and create the Incarnates in hopes to defeat Archaon and his plans.  Nagash had already done this upon his rebirth with the Wind of Death cementing it within the land where he began to absorb its power.   As the two mages worked to complete their task as the epic battle between Tyrion and Malektih's (Malerion) and their forces raged Morathi appeared to take her vengeance.  Teclis and Caledor strived to complete their work, but some of the Winds of Magic escaped as they broke apart the spell as she attacked Teclis.  They were was able to maintain a grasp on a few and direct The Wind of Life into Alarielle, the Wind of Shadow into Malekith (Malerion), and Teclis held The Wind of Light within his staff.  The vortex crumbles and Slaanesh sensing a banquet of elven souls appeared overhead to feast.  Caledor clung to Morathi has she clawed at his face to escape while Slaanesh consumed them both before vanishing.  Ulthuan would sink, Tyrion would die, for a time, and Morathi would vanish.  Later, the Slaaneshi Daemon Dechala The Denied One appears in front of Malektih (Malerion) throwing Morathi's staff, Heartrender, at his feet claiming she was Slaanesh's now.  She was then immediately slain by Tyrion reborn as The Avatar of Light.     Morathi was gone and The World That Was was destroyed, save its core.  We enter into The Mortal Realms where our first mention oh Morathi is in the very first book released where she is surrounded by Shadow Daemons in a glade located within The Realm of Shadow.  She was flesh and blood but changed and it was her who helped Malerion find physical form once more.  They joined Sigmars Pantheon and established order within the realms.     We now know, due to the recent teaser videos that she helped set up civilization in The Mortal Realms after "slithering" her way out of Slannesh's belly and before the god of pleasure and excess was captured by the aelves.  She leads The Daughters of Khaine despite her knowing Khaine is dead, but is the religion a front or hopes to rebirth the god?  Time will tell.  Morathi stated that she has taken on the form of her tormentor and if we look toward Dechala we know this to be a half snake, half aelf woman.  It is also possible that if he was the avatar of Hekarti she might have multiple arms in this true form, much like the god she represented in The End Times.  She will remain a major player in The Age of Sigmar and as a character with such a rich and deep history, it is a great joy to see them giving her character credit and the care it deserves.     There is a lot about Morathi's past not in this article, but I tried to hit the major points I felt important to her character.  I scoured all the resource material I had available be it Battletome, novel, White Dwarf, or short stories, but if elves are involved then Morathi will have a tie or mention in the story.  She was a defining character for all of Aelven history and will prove to be one going forward.  I hope this article has given you more insight into who she was and what she might be currently.  If there was a favorite part of her history I missed or glossed over please let us know in the comments.   "For too long have I been shunned.  No longer will I be denied!" ~Morathi The Shadow Queen   Until next time, Happy Hobbying.   Chuck Moore  
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  2. Strength_Hammer
    Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  This past week we saw the first Painting Competition for Malign Portents as well as the release of the book, new Heroes, and the new Legions of Nagash Battletome to name a few.  I am looking forward to seeing how Death plays on the table with the new Battletome in some upcoming games and playing some games using Portents in the realm of Shyish.  It should be a fun way to keep games fresh and challenging going forward. 


    My local club, Ligonier Legion, went out in force to our local Warhammer store as we all took part in the Malign Portents Painting competition this past Saturday.  Four out of the five entries were from our club and my club mates managed to sweep the awards easily.  They even kicked me down to fourth place which is motivating me to step up my game even more in the next phase of the event.  I wish to congratulate the winners and their great entries!

    1st place: Sean (BrushforHire) - Ice Slayers
    2nd place: Luis - Daemons of Tzeentch
    3rd Place: Luke - Hammers of Sigmar


    While my club knocked me down a few levels this past weekend I did go home with some fun goodies.  I picked up my Malign Portents Book and received a pin set for each of the new Heroes as well as some nifty warscroll cards with the great artwork on the back which I am planning to frame for display.  They are durable, but the paper is a bit thinner than the standard warscroll cards so instead of potentially damaging them I plan to hand them up around my hobby area.
    Of course, I couldn't pass up picking up my own Darkoath War Queen to go with my Slaanesh themed Slaves to Darkness.  I am planning to keep her tone neutral so she can fit in with my Khorne army as well.  I was also given a fantastic gift from a great friend in the form of forty Daemonettes.  My friend Matt picked them up a while ago when they went made to order, but his hobby heart is now committed to Nurgle.  I plan to paint them up in the third phase of the Malign Portents painting event.


    Speaking of my Daughters of Khaine I have begun stretching out my nights in order to ensure I am ready for the quickly approaching Adepticon.  Last night I managed to finish the washes on all 120 of my Witch Aelves and plan to dive into the Eyes next to finish them all up.  I may go mad as I attempt this last step, but I begin this last trial to truly show devotion to The Shadow Queen.  I am pushing very hard to have them done by the end of this weekend so feel free to keep an eye on Twitter to watch my descent into madness or even perhaps join me on a hobby hangout call for some fun.


    May your week be full of Hobby and Gaming and if you have forgotten to pick up a suitable Valentine's Day Card feel free to check out and use any of the ones below (or the one at the very top) as I am sure they will be received well for this holiday if your partner is also a wargamer.  If they are not, give them one anyway!




    Until Friday, Happy Hobbying
    Chuck Moore

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  3. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! The Aelves are truly coming back in force as this coming Saturday the preorders go up for some of the new Daughters of Khaine and I cannot wait to get my hands on the new Battletome and Morathi's new model.  While part of me was hoping the release would be a few more weeks out in order to give me a chance to relax before Adepticon this seems to not be the case.  However, my excitement has only grown as the Adepticon cutoff date for new releases is March 3rd and it appears that Morathi and the new Battletome will be released in order to allow me to bring both to the event.  It means a change to my army list and some late nights of painting, but Morathi will be at Adepticon.


    I took a bit of this past week to frame up some new art to hang in my hobby room and around the house.  I have been gifted old duplicate copies of Elf Army books and these make excellent pieces to hang around the house and these are the latest two editions to my growing collage on one of my walls.  Recently, at the Malign Portents Painting competition my local Warhammer store was giving away warscroll cards of the new Harbingers featuring their excellent artwork on the back.  I knew these would be framed as opposed to being used on the table and they frame up nicely in a simple 4x6 frame.

    I also took time to create my awards for the upcoming Malign Portents Coalescence event I will be running for my local club on March 17th.  I love making these simple awards and they cost less than two dollars each and gives my players a nice reward for their hard-earned victories.  If you wish to create these yourself the Neon Blog has offered up an easy way to do so.



    While the future looks less likely that I will be fielding all 120 of my Witch Aelves at Adepticon with the new book mixing things up I am happy to say I have completed them all this past week.  It was a labor of love and I feel that I am now an expert on painting Aelf Thongs which is a skill I never thought I would need.  I was honestly worried about the final stage of adding the warpaint and painting the eyes, but it was easily the quickest part of the whole process with only a few touch-ups being required after some small mishaps with the brush.

    Now that the Witch Aelves are complete I can focus on other aspects of the army.  My first order of business is to finish my three Cauldrons of Blood.  My first cauldron was more of a touchup of my previously painted model, but with the news that the Statue can now be fielded as its own model, I choose to replace the current one on the model.  My old Statue will be based on his own and I can paint up my three cauldron statues with a similar style to keep the army more unified.  With the first one under my belt, I dived directly into the second one and I hope to have them both done by next week if time is on my side.

    Keep an eye out on the Warhammer Community site this week as they are teasing a lot of great information about the upcoming Daughters of Khaine release as well as showcasing them on Warhammer TV this week!  Let me know what you have been working on in the comments below.

    Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
    Chuck Moore
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  4. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! Today I have a very special guest post for everyone to enjoy.  I invited Paul (@Pjschard) from The Mortal Realms Podcast and Youtube Channel to discuss his upcoming Narrative Age of Sigmar Event at this year's Adepticon.  Paul is a passionate Narrative Event Organizer (NEO) with a love of spiders, goblins, and all things Warhammer.  It has been a treat to assist him with some of the preparations for the event titled "The Gibbering Dome" and I look forward to seeing the idea come to life on the tabletop in less than a month's time.



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    I’ve always been a bit obsessed with the idea of playing Warhammer games set in an indoor setting, I generally tend to blame that on playing Dungeons & Dragons endlessly from age 9 to 12. Until Age of Sigmar, playing a full battle of Warhammer within the confines of a twisting hallway, immense cavern, or massive landmark was simply impossible.  Ranks and flanks movement forced a large broad empty area in the center of every battlefield and did not allow for small chokepoints where only a single figure can pass through.   This was a bit of a frustration for me as I had bought well over a thousand dollars of Dwarven Forge dungeon tiles to play Warhammer with and they had been relegated to a pretty background for pictures.  




    When Age of Sigmar dropped, one of my first thoughts was elation that I could finally play a full game of Warhammer within this setting.  It is easily my favorite way to play AoS.  Following ACON last year I was motivated to extend that experience to other players and Coalescence provided the perfect backdrop.  I definitely doubted my ability to complete the project within the time frame required, so I broke the project into landmarks.  @bishmeister on Twitter was an incredible resource for material use and inspiration.  Originally I was hoping to make all the terrain flat pack but had to concede on that point due to construction issues.  I had to make concessions to my original vision but was ultimately incredibly excited about the product I was able to produce in such a short time.


    Mike Butcher contemplating the final Coalescence Scenario.

    I based the construction loosely on the interior of the Wisconsin State Capitol and decided to name its AoS counterpart the Gibbering Dome with help from the Mortal Realms Crew.  Because I have limited storage space all my tables are modular, allowing for each game to be a unique board including elevation changes.  The height variance has actually provided an interesting side benefit, allowing players to see the battle at eye level from a chair, but also to see the other players as well.  The games played on these tables have been some of the most enjoyable games I have watched and really inspired me to hold more events.  One of my goals going forward is to establish The Gibbering Dome as a setting that anyone will be able to pick and play using a few custom rules and their own terrain.  One of the ways I have started to establish that setting is through writing my own background, but the most important tool is by running more events using the terrain itself.
    I’ll not forget to say thanks to Chuck not only for offering me the post today, but also the immense help he has been with planning the Gibbering Dome Event. I’ll finish the post with a teaser piece of fiction sent out to all the players of the Gibbering Dome Event at Adepticon that encapsulates the journey a hero such as theirs may tell following the event.

    Petral the Thornborn, first son of the first son, a prince who will never be crowned, forester of the Nevergreen Mountains, and freeman of Ghyran stalked silently across the slopes.  Every footstep was a determined thing, intentional and planned.  He was careful if for no other reason than the respect of his prey.  Golden eyes ranged the mountainside, seeking a sign, and as he knelt to inspect another glimmering azure pool his long auburn braids rippled in the wind. The blossom-jaguar must be near for its blood was still shining.  Sinew bow carefully trained on the path marked by blue twinkles amid shifted talus, he rounded yet another ridge.   
     Petral recognized the location and braced himself: it was an impassable gorge which drove back into the mountainside.  He knew his prey was now trapped.  The defile was deep in shadow despite the full noon sun blazing in the green sky above.  He could see the jewels of light dotting the darkness before him, but it was fading.  The blossom-jaguar must be close to death.  
    Warily pacing back and forth, he stepped into the darkness only when his eyes could pierce it.   After a few minutes of tracking, the path receded into the cliff wall, but the blossom-jaguar was nowhere in sight.  Ahead, waterfalls tumbled down sheer cliffs and coated the rocks in a fine mist.  Luminescent moss carpets floated level with the path, slowly rising and falling in the buffeting wind.  Scanning beyond the path, he could see no trace of his prey.  The blossom-jaguar must have fallen.  Petral made to leave, foot twisting upon the talus, but he stopped and peered once more into the depths.  Upon the closest carpet was a spill of twinkling liquid within the vegetation.  It looked like blood.
     If the giant cat could walk across the floating carpets, then so must he. A tentative foot stepped forward, and the moss did not give.  Step by step, he walked deeper into the gorge.  In these untouched depths, Ghyran found a way to grow and thrive.  Arches of plate-like fungus soon showed upon the falls and softly glowing toadstools dotted the air, roots glistening with moisture.  Ultraviolet rainbows shimmered within the mists, dazzling his eyes.  Still, he followed the fading drops of light until their light had gone and the spots of blood stood out as wounds of death in the thriving, pearlescent landscape.  
    The waterfalls grew more numerous until they filled the cliffs before him, yet the blood led ever forward.  Shivering despite himself, Petral shouldered his way through the largest one, stepping through into a vaulted grotto behind the falls.   A still life lay on the floor to the right, soaked, tired and strained.  Dark glistening blood told the tracker that the blossom-jaguar was near death.  He cautiously moved closer, then carefully removed his axe from its side.  The hunted quivered one last time, and liquid emptiness pooled across the shimmering life of the grotto as motes of purest light ascended into the air from the lifeless mass.  Mouthing an ancient blessing, Petral stroked its ears, the texture of the lily petals smooth against his hand. He traced the spots of orchids upon its flank before moving down to the tough sinewy fiber of its tail.  His fingers reached to the legs and removed the needle-sharp thorns from its paws before rolling the thorns back and forth in his palm.  These would be a nice addition to the thorn-claw necklace about his throat. The prince stood a moment, reflecting that this was the second sacred life he had needed to kill.  
    Scrabbling harvester beetles erupted from the rock, intent upon the dead mass.  Petral took a step back and watched the cycle of Ghyran come to completion.  Soon the glowing moss beneath his feet began to undulate with verdant sapphire ripples, drawing him deeper into the mountain.  He had heard tales of such signs and knew better than to ignore them.  Grasping his fur tightly, he moved deeper within the mountain.  The damp air became warm as the walls of the grotto drew closer.  Eyes closed, he squeezed through a narrow opening thick with floating toadstools.  
    When he finally burst through the last of the fungi, he was stunned.  Elm trees of ancient age had been woven into a living archway, roofed with summer leaves and broad enough for five men abreast.  The ground itself was rich with loam and smooth stone, intricately carved into what looked to be whorl leaf shapes, similar to those which decorated his face. Bow slung across his back and axe hanging from his belt, he ran his fingers along the ancient trees.  Alarielle’s song echoed in his ears as he stepped out from under the last sheltering bough.  
    Before him lay a vale far too large to have been contained within the mountain itself.  Clear Ghyran sunlight shone upon immense cataracts cascading from a height unseen around an oasis of ancient oaks encompassing colossal sky islands.   More thundering waterfalls sprayed out buffeting clouds of vapor, which nurtured floating carpets of innumerable flowers, bell blossoms chiming in delicate tones.  A rainbow of birds flew above like brilliant jewels, as sedge-deer and other life approached him, unused to the presence of any man.  Every surface was covered with pure water and abundant life. Every surface that is, but one.  
    The patterns continued down the path and ended at a courtyard; Petral felt compelled to follow. Stepping onto the polished stone space, he felt a jolt as the presence of Ghyran left him.  Colossal stone steps the color of aged bone stretched upwards before him, flanked by massive, banded walls.  Scrambling from ledge to ledge he finally came upon a wedge-shaped landing, outlined by carved pillars and shaded by an immense cupola.  Where two angled walls met, there was a solitary entrance.  The prince could hear the sounds of the vale, but he could no longer feel the song of Alarielle.  He strung his bow, then gripped his axe tightly and walked forward into the doorway.  The sound ceased abruptly, and Petral’s eyes swept left and right.  The entrance appeared to be connected to somewhere -- in fact, to many somewheres.  Silhouettes framed by uniquely colored light stood outlined in each other entrance ringing the space.  A susurrus of movement rose to fill the air, and the door behind him slammed shut.  All was darkness.    
    A sibilant voice whispered in his ear.  “Welcome.”  Petral’s axe whipped through the air but found no target.
    A raspy feminine voice boomed from in front of him  “Welcome to the Gibbering Dome.”
     The sun, set and rose, set and rose once more before Petral stumbled forth from the entrance.  Bleeding and holding his thigh for support he stopped to peer at the vale.  From the landing, his view of what he had climbed had changed.  The stones of the courtyard were now obviously stretching into the vale, and where the two made contact, there was a line of fine grey ash.  The path he had followed was not carved of leaves but of rib bones, and the ground was weeping emerald blood were they were half buried.  Scrambling down the steps, he sprinted over the courtyard back to the embrace of Ghyran.
    Collapsing upon the loam, he rested for a time before he rose and inspected himself.  First, he removed his fur from his back, the verdant amethyst color had left, replaced by a lifeless brown, and the prince discarded it in the courtyard.  Checking his axe and bow, he was satisfied they had not been tainted.  Hands traced his throat, but the thorn-claw necklace was gone.  Foot twisting upon the loam, he turned to stare at that place.  As he watched, the building faded out of sight to be replaced by lifeless dried dirt and bare rock.  The path on which he stood buckled and cast the rib bones from itself as harvester beetles burst from the vale and set to work repairing the scars.  

    Crushing a rib with his foot Petral started the long limp home.  He must return to the Gibbering Dome he knew, but this time with an army at his back.  

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    Thank you, Paul, for taking the time to share some lore and details about The Gibbering Dome!  While the event is currently full you can always jump on the waitlist or swing by Thursday to see some great Narrative gaming in action.  I plan to invite Paul back after Adepticon to do a follow-up post about the event so look forward to that in the future.

    Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

    Chuck Moore



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  5. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! As you might have noticed the Daughters of Khaine has taken over the blog.  I want to give a nod to Dan over at AoS Shorts for the inspiration.  Dan's logo and site are a thing of beauty and I love how he quickly adapts to keep pace with Games Workshops frantic release schedule.  The design is here for a while so I hope you enjoy it!  There is still plenty of more Daughters of Khaine goodness coming with the releases as well as some fun articles coming out soon and not to mention that we are now fully in Adepticon Crunch time.



    A lot of the updated warscrolls for Daughters of Khaine have been released on the Age of Sigmar App and I took time over the week to adapt to these new changes.  I dug into my bits bin and painted up ten crossbows to add to my Doomfire Warlocks as well as an extra thirty bladed bucklers to add to a unit of Witch Aelves.  The Warlocks were a very quick update, but the Witch Aelves took a bit longer than I expected.  Since I am using the older Metal Witch Aelf models I had to cut the arms and hands off the plastic bucklers from the plastic kit and file them down before painting.  I am a bit worried about the shields breaking off the models, but I will have to worry about that when and if it happens.  There is far too much left to do as I prepare for Adepticon.

    Thankfully it has been much more than updating models I thought were finished a few weeks ago as I also converted one of my three Cauldrons of Blood back to a Shrine for one of my Bloodwrack Medusa.  It was a simple change and it I managed to begin blocking out some of the colors to keep the paint flowing.  While waiting for the Battletome to release this weekend I am unsure on exactly how my army list will change for Adepticon, but I know it is changing as I have already set the weekend aside to build, prime, and begin practicing with Morathi in my list.  She will be at Adepticon despite the short window of time to get her completed.  


    Once I have my list set I will paint up the remaining models needed and finish the basing which will hopefully give me a few weeks to complete my display board.  I have the idea to create a Blood Aqueduct board with some classic Dark Elf Spires in the back of the board.  Admittedly the spires are a bit overzealous so they might be the one change I make depending on time.  The overall goal is to capture the Khaine meets Greek theme that feels ingrained in the army.

    This weekend will properly begin the flurry of activity.  If you are working overtime to get ready for Adepticon let me know in the comments below as we all push through the crunch time before the event.



    Happy Hobbying!
    Chuck Moore
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  6. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! Fourteen days is all that stands between us and Adepticon 2018.  The Adepticon Crunch is in full effect across Twitter and I find myself in the midst of it all as I push to paint up Morathi, build my Display Board, and possibly add in some of the new Daughters of Khaine units coming out this weekend.  Thankfully I did get a bit of practice over this weekend and got to hang out with some good friends.  Neil and Dave from the Rend 4 Club over in Ohio came out to play and Neil brought the Rend 4 trophy for me to snag a few pictures as I was last season winner for the Hobby Hero portion of the clubs events.  It was great to hang out with them and play some games and I look forward to more time with them in a few weeks at Adepticon.


    Speaking of wins I managed to also snag second overall at a league being held at one of my local shops, SCG Hobby, as well.  The league ran for six weeks and included points for playing games, winning games, as well as painting.  Thanks to my Witch Aelf painting marathon my painting score boosted me up to snag a bit of store credit which I plan to use on more Daughters of Khaine.


    With the Daughters of Khaine release this past weekend and games to be had on Saturday, I spend my Friday night building Morathi and her two forms.The kits were great to build and some while some bits are typical Aelven Fiddly the overall design is fantastic and it took around an hour and a half to build them both.  I was surprised how stable the models were when complete due to their molded bases.  I have very little concern about them falling over and the weight of the models feel great in the hand.

    I also had a package arrive from my friend Brian to help me with my display board.  He graciously 3D printed a few pillars for my board on his own machine.  They were wonderfully big and will help frame the army on the board and it has made me really excited to begin the board this week alongside the painting of Morathi.


    As I said above Neil and Dave from The Rend 4 Club came out to get some Adepticon prep with my local club, Ligonier Legion Wargaming. Neil and I have never managed to play so he promptly took the opportunity to grudge me and my newly built Morathi.  Blades of Khorne and Daughters of Khaine caused the blood to flow and despite my early lead Neil managed to pull the victory back to his side.  It was great to play Neil and he let me take my time to wrap my head around the new rules for the first time and while I lost I can take solace in the fact that Morathai faced off against Skarbrand and won.
    After a day of gaming, hobbying, and chatting we ended with a much-needed dinner and round of drinks.  It was clear to see the excitement was very high for Adepticon and the fun to be had at the event.  If you are interested there is a good chance Neil and I will be hitting the gym while we are there so if you are interested reach out and let me know!

    While hanging out and gaming is a lot of fun there is still hobby to do in order to prepare before Adepticon.  Over the past few days, I managed to finish my third and final Cauldron as well as sort out exactly how I want to base my army.  It should only take a day or so to base my list for Adepticon and I plan to do that sometime this week.  I also started getting some color blocked out on Morathi and I do not feel she will take all that long to complete.  I have seen a lot of nicely done models of her being painted very quickly so with a bit of work and time a great result can be had fairly quickly.



    How are your Adepticon preparations coming along?  Are you in crunch mode or did you manage to plan ahead well enough that you can relax a bit before the big event?  Let me know in the comments below.
    Until Friday, Happy Hobbying.
    Chuck Moore

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  7. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  We are officially less than ten days away from Adepticon 2018.  Some people have finished their projects and others, like me, are still wrapping it all up.  Thankfully I am just about done and if all goes well I should have a relaxing few days with my Wife prior to all the Adepticon fun to be had in the coming week.  Hopefully, you are just about done or already enjoying a job well done and resting for the event yourself.



    I pushed hard to get my display board for my Daughters of Khaine moving along and after an evening's worth of work I was able to get the entire thing built and the next day it was primed and dried.  It wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be and a big part of that is thanks to Brian O. for 3D printing me some nice Pillars for the board.  A bit of painting and detailing in the next few days should see it ready to go and then I can figure out how to display my army to its fullest effect.  I am unsure of the best way to show off both versions of Morathi on the board.  Should they be together or separated?  Let me know what you think in the comments as I could use some advice on this subject.


    With a tight deadline looming and a few bits of my army to finish, I decided that cleaning would be a good use of my time for some reason.  I had been meaning to do this for quite some time, but with having to wait for bases and boards to dry I opted to put my 40k into storage and rearrange my displayed forces.  It was a nice break as cleaning really helps clear my mind and it is great to have my much more recently painted armies displayed.  Currently, I am surrounded by Aelves in my basement hobby space as I am rebasing them all to rounds.  I am about halfway complete with the task and after Adepticon I will be diving back into the project as I ride the post-convention Hobby high.

    The biggest relief I had this past weekend was taking the time to finish my Morathi models.  I loved these models and I took my time and tried to paint above my usual level to do the sculpt the justice it deserved.  I owe a big thanks to my friend Sean M. for helping me with advice and tips as I worked on the models.  I am very pleased with how they came out and if I get the chance I might go back and add a bit of eyeshadow to the models before the event to really finish the models off.
    Before I work on the final touch-ups, however, I wanted to make sure I had my models based and ready to go well in advance.  I took every model I currently have painted and began the process of getting them ready.  It is not a challenging part of the army, but it is tedious, but the hardest bit is over with the first layer of crackle paint.  Next up is a quick wash, adding some static grass, and repainting the rims to call it complete.

    I have full confidence I can get this all wrapped up by this weekend so expect a lot of fun pictures on Twitter throughout the week.  Friday I will be going into much more detail as I wrap up this year "Road to Adepticon" article series so be sure to check back then.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
    Chuck Moore

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  8. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Adepticon is almost here and I am happy to say I have accomplished my tasks in preparation for the big event!  The release of the new Daughters of Khaine really put me into a state of Hobby frenzy I was not expecting as I got my head around the new Battletome, worked up a new list, and painted Morathi to take to the table.  I am very excited to field the new book and see how they do at a higher level.  More importantly, I cannot wait to see the friends I made last year and through online interaction and have a great time enjoying the game we all love so much.



    After a lot of debating in my own mind as well as looking around online while building my list, I decided to take a slightly changed variant of the list I wrote for a recent Tactica Article on the Warhammer Community Site.  While I won't be putting up the whole list you can be sure it will have lots of Witch Aelves as well as Morathi to lead it all.  With the number of attacks my Witch Aelves put out in combat she is a big force multiplier for every list I have written.  While a lot of people are building Melusai lists using the Temple Nest Battalion I am taking the road of lots and lots of Witch Aelves.

    While all the effort toward this army has been toward getting ready for Adepticon I still have the newer units to build and paint to add to the army.  You can be sure to see them hitting my hobby table shortly after Adepticon and I cannot wait to have all the options available to really begin playing this army to its fullest and varying play styles.  Although I suspect the upcoming Idoneth Deepkin could cause a bit of a distraction if I don't get all of my Daughters done before their release, but even if I do resist I will be looking to add them to my collection.


    While I am a bit saddened that my original list of one hundred and twenty Witch Aelves is no longer viable, if I wish to include Morathi I need to slim the total number down a bit.  I knew Morathi was going to Adepticon the moment I saw and knew it was released before the cut-off date.  I managed to pick her and I set to work right away.  Her two forms took much longer to paint than originally expected, but the whole process was a joy and she is my favorite model I have put a brush to date.  I really put in my best effort and constantly sought advice from my friend Sean (BrushforHire) to make sure the final product was what I had envisioned.


    After she was complete I set to work on my Display Board and while it is not exactly what I had envisioned I am happy enough with the result.  I feel like I could add a lot more to the board, but I know it will look a lot fuller once the army is on it and taking up the negative space.  I might go back to it in the future and try to remake in a better fashion with brickwork, resin blood flows, but for its purpose at Adepticon, I am going to leave it where it is.

    With some time left before Adepticon I really need to get more practice games in with my army so the plan is to play as many games as possible between now and next Thursday.  Thankfully I have some great opponents around here who are ready and willing to play.  I am thankful that I had plenty of games before the Battletome, but I wish to ensure I get all the new rules in my head so I don't miss any steps at the tables come next week.


    There is a lot more I wish to add to this army and I plan to do so after Adepticon, but with a lack of time I am calling my Adepticon preparations complete.  Adepticon promises to be a great time with a  big Games Workshop reveal Wednesday night, which I'll sadly miss as I drive in on Thursday and plenty of Age of Sigmar and time with friends.   I look forward to seeing you all there next week if you are attending and be sure to say hi if you see me!  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!

    Chuck Moore

    Previous Articles in this Series:
    Road to Adepticon 2018 : Part 1
    Road to Adepticon 2018 : Part 2


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  9. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  Adepticon officially kicks off today and everyone is eagerly anticipating the famous Games Workshop Reveal Show happening later tonight.  I am bummed to be missing it once again, but sadly there are only so many vacation days in the work year, but I will be taking a look at all the great reveals early in the morning before I begin my drive out to Chicago with my friend Sean.  Before all that fun I need to catch up on all the hobby I have had happening over the past week.


    With my army and display board painted and ready for Adepticon, I was able to finish my final prep for the Malign Portents Coalescence Global event that took place this past Saturday.  The last bit I really had to finish was the one item I kept putting off, but with the help of my lovely wife, I was able to finish all the Pylons as part of the event pack for my tables.  They were built to be temporary, but if you printed these out on cardstock and in color they could prove to be some great entry level terrain so be sure to check it out.


    I also celebrated a birthday this past week and I was gifted with some Daughters of Khaine (also money to spend on Daughters of Khaine) by way of models and dice.  I plan to eventually get a second set of Melusai and Khinerai so I can build both options for some post-Adepticon Hobby.  I was also gifted some of the excellent Daughters of Khaine themed dice and I love the design and look of them and I took them to try them out at Coalescence over the weekend.

    I must say the dice roll exceptionally well and much to the dismay of one of my opponents they managed to roll a six for every single priority roll.  The downside to the dice with my Witch Aelf army is I was unable to roll all my attacks from a single unit at once due to the large size.  I tried throughout the day and while I managed to finish my games easily under two hours the flow of rolling was odd and I want to make sure to be as clean and quick on my rolls as possible so I will be using my old Dark Elf Dice for the bulk of my rolls.  Thankfully, my friends, Andrea and Dan gave me some great ideas on Twitter to use the bigger dice for Heros, priority rolls, spells, and prayers and I plan to do just that!

    Even though I am all set for Adepticon I just cannot put my paintbrush down and my excitement for Daughters of Khaine is not going away anytime soon.  I took time over the weekend to paint up my third Avatar of Khaine.  It was a quick model t paint and washes really work well to bring out the details.  The unit is a combat beast and I look forward to running two of these in a list one day in the future.

    If you are at Adepticon or driving out int eh next day or so I hope you have safe travels and be sure to come say hello if you see me wandering around the halls.  I cannot wait for the event and be sure to follow me on Twitter to see all the coverage from my perspective as the days go on.  Until Friday, Happy Hobbying!
    Chuck Moore
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  10. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  While I am busy at Adepticon I wanted to briefly cover the recent Malign Portents Coalescence Global Event that took place this past weekend.  I was able to run the event for my local club, Ligonier Legion, once again and we had a great turnout for a fun day of gaming!  If you haven't seen the global results Death won the event overall.  If you are thinking about running narrative gaming in any way or wish to try your hand at running the upcoming June Coalescence event be sure to keep an eye on the We are The Neon Blog.



    One of my favorite parts of the Coalescence events is how I can take the global narrative and add my own local lore for my event.  At the first event, I had Tyrion and Teclis as the driving forces behind my local lore and with the recent release of Daughters of Khaine, I couldn't resist adding Morathi into my local story.  In order to loosely tie it to the first local Coalescence, I had Teclis as part of the story.  He formed an alliance with Morathi in order to find out what was going on in Shyish.  


    The awards prepped, and tables full of terrain we began the event.  I was blown away to have so many players for the event considering Adepticon was right around the corner, but I was happy to see a gaming hall full of Age of Sigmar.  The day went by smoothly with two-hour rounds and breaks in between.  All in all the pack was solid and clearly laid out and everyone at my club showed up with a great attitude to play and craft their narrative as the day progressed.  I was excited to see an odd number turn up which allowed me to play all three games and get some more practice with my Daughters of Khaine and enjoy some narrative games before a major GT.

    I really enjoy running a narrative event as it is more laid back as the point of the day is about the story and not just about who wins or looses.  With players across all skill levels of painting and gaming, it is also a great time to talk about our passion and help each other improve with strategy, painting tips, and perhaps get one another excited for our next army.  We had some great hobby on display and while some players are much newer to painting everyone was happy to put in a model to be judged for best painted.  Seeing the club share their enthusiasm for the hobby despite their level is great o behold.

    After a well fought three rounds my local club saw Death win out overall in a surprise defeat.  My local area is often Order and Chaos heavy, but the Death players showed up to play and seized the win.  Awards passed out and our event logged for the global narrative we all headed over for the standard post-game beer and chats.  It was a fantastic day and I am more excited ever to dive into the June event and make it even better and try to max out our venue.

    I want to give thanks to the NEON team and Games Workshop for the effort they put into creating this pack and event.  It was a top-level event that my local club will always be running as long as the packs keep on coming.  Knowing that we are connecting to the large global community really drives us to make it bigger and better.

    The global event wrapped up all that I had left was to tidy up my little narrative which you can read above.  I cannot wait for the June event and I plan to bring much more detailed coverage on it as the month draws closer.  Until next week, Happy Hobbying!
    Chuck Moore
    View the full article
  11. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone! The Aelf fever has fully gripped me after Adepticon and I pushed to finally get appreciable progress on my Great Aelven Rebasing Project.  It didn't take long to get pretty much everything on to a round or oval base and while the project has spanned a few months the bulk of the work has only been a few hours at most.  The last push was one of the longest as it was moving the cavalry to their new bases.  I am far from finished as being glued to the new bases was only phase one.  There is plenty of Aleves to come in my future and getting this project wrapped up has been high on my priority.


    In regards to rebasing my Calvary and a few of my Griffins I simply sheared away some of the current bases and glued what was left to the new oval bases.  It was simpler than trying to cut the models at the hooves and legs as I can only imagine the difficulty that could cause.  While this was a simple solution it does require I take a bit of cork and build up around the old square bases to make them look a bit more natural before I add any flock, sand, or crackle paint.  While I am calling this phase complete I am still waiting for one more order of oval bases to arrive for my mounted heroes I neglected to include in my original order.  They are due in early next week and I can get them changed over quickly.

    My intent for this project now is to finish the basing as I intend to use the models as opposed to a mass flocking party which could allow me to knock these out in a weekend.  My reasoning is due to not knowing what Games Workshop has planned for future Aelf releases.  These past few months they have proven that they can revamp an older and smaller Aelf faction or create an entirely brand new Aelf faction.  I am excited by the prospect for both and as such, I feel finishing the bases as needed is the best course of action.


    With my old fantasy Aelves sorted I can go back to my new and shiny Aelves.  I plan to build my recently acquired Khinerai and Melusai kits soon and get them painted up.  While I lean heavily on wanting to make these kits their more shooty versions I plan to make one of each variant per kit so I can officially have one of each unit in the army and I can grow from there.  Since I run the Witch Aelf horde I don't have a pressing need to go all in on one version of these kits or another just yet.  Before I can dive into these kits I need to finish painting up my last unit of Sisters of Slaughter.  Thankfully, they only require a few more hours to finish up giving me a solid unit of twenty or more likely two units of ten.


    While I still have a bit more to go on the Daughters of Khaine, I did manage to finish up my last Bloodwrack Medusa giving me two on foot (tail?) and one riding the cauldron.  While I took a prayer heavy list to Adepticon I am looking forward to running a magic heavy list in the future to mix things up a bit and see which style I prefer for any future events I will be attending.  I am still loving this army and don't see myself stopping any time soon.  While I will pick up Idoneth as they are released I am planning a very big push toward a better quality paint job on them so don't expect me to push out an army of them as quickly as I often do, but you can expect to see slow progress over the coming months regarding that force.


    Outside of painting armies and moving older ones to rounds I have a few small painting projects planned for the near future that I am excited to begin.  While I feel very much as home painting vast quantities of models in a single sitting I have never taken to producing a true piece of art in the form of a bust, diorama, or even just a highly painted model.  These future one off projects will hopefully begin to correct this and help me grow more as a hobbyist.  Be sure to come back Friday as I run through both the Team Doubles and Grand Tournament from Adepticon this year discussing how the games went and what my Daughters faced and how the games both wins and losses has only reaffirmed how great the Witch Aelf horde can be in battle.  Until then, Happy Hobbying.
    Chuck Moore
    Visit my Blogs main Page!
  12. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  I have some great news as the Age of Sigmar Team Doubles Event at this year's NOVA Open has officially doubled due to the quick sell out.  We are going from 20 teams to 40 with the potential to add a few more if we sell out once again.  The Grand Tournament still has plenty of room left, but tickets are beginning to move once again so be sure to jump on it soon.  This year promises to be bigger then the last and my biggest Hobby focus is creating fun and competitive Event packs that I hope to get out in the coming months.



    While my hobby desk hasn't seen much paint or model building lately it has seen hobby of a different sort.  The last few oval cavalry bases I needed showed up in the mail allowing me to finish rebasing my remaining Aelven Heros.  As I mentioned before I plan to finish the texture, flock, etc... on these bases as I use the models for games in the coming year.  The quick release schedule for Games Workshop means that any of these, now smaller, Aelf factions could see an update by way of Battletome in the future.  Unless I decide to commit to a universal basing scheme, which at the moment is unlikely, I won't be rushing to flock all of these models at the moment.  That said I can safely say phase one of "The Great Aelven Rebasing Project" complete.

    While I recently chose to take all my 40k models and put them in storage below my hobby desk I just couldn't bring myself to do the same for all of my Aelves.  While this is a temporary solution as I am planning a major renovation of my basement and Hobby space in the next few months I picked up a simple storage shelf for the interim. Have no worry as it is secured to the other two tables so the risk of falling over is very low, but dust might be an issue until I install proper quality storage sections.  The shelf was very inexpensive and I might purchase a second this week so my 40k can also be out for easy access as opposed to stored, forgotten, in a storage bin.


    The little bit of paint I did accomplish this past week was getting the black and gold done on my last unit of Sisters of Slaughter.  They still have a lot to go, but with a nice long hobby chat the time moved very quickly and I plan to have these finished up in the next day or so in order to give my full attention to my Melusai and Khinerai in the coming weeks.  

    While the below might just look like an empty hobby desk, which is it, there is one small addition to the far right.  At the recent Adepticon, my friend Sean (BrushForHire) snagged me a great deal on a Badger Air Compressor.  Now that my Aelf rebasing is at a natural stopping point and is stored the idea of having my airbrushing table back, and complete is very exciting and I cannot wait to get back to learning this tool.  While I still have a few more kits for my Daughters of Khaine to work through I have committed the remainder of this year to improve my hobby skills.  I have become adept at painting vast hordes of models to a nice tabletop quality, but I am still very much a novice in creating true artistic quality and rarely put in more than a handful of hours on a single model.  The recent exception was Morathi and her model was the catalyst to pursue this goal.

    I plan to work on some one-off projects in the way of minis and some busts before "diving" in on the Idoneth Deepkin to really put my skills to the test.  I am very excited that the Aelves are back in force and with having painted up a Daughters of Khaine Horde army rather quickly I want to step out of my comfort zone with the Idoneth and paint them to the highest quality I can.  My goal for the Idoneth is to have it painted to a high enough quality that it earns a painting nomination at a large event such as Adepticon or LVO.  Resisting the urge to buy it all and paint it up right away will be tough, but I have set my goal and I plan to put my effort toward achieving it.


    The last bit of Hobby I have been working on, as I mentioned above, is the Event Packs for this year's NOVA Open Grand Tournament and Team Doubles.  While I cannot show you any pictures here I can say that the pack is nearing completion and I have some amazing people who will be helping me tighten it up before it is released to the wild.  Hopefully, your hobby progress has been fruitful whether is have been painting, building, or less flashy, but just as important, Hobby like I have had this past week.  Be sure to check back this Friday as Paul returns to give us a recap of his Age of Sigmar Narrative event from the recent Adepticon.  Until then, Happy Hobbying.
    Chuck Moore
    Visit my Blogs main Page!
  13. Strength_Hammer
    Hey Everyone!  I wanted to give a heads up that the Realm Gate has moved here on TGA.  The bad news is you will no longer see my blogs posted here in this public blog, but the good news is The Realm Gate now has its own section within the forum!
    Find the forum section here!
    As always you can see my posts on their regular schedule posted on my blog page by clicking this link.
    Happy Hobbying!
     
    Chuck Moore
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