Chris Tomlin

It's the Gorkanaut without guns! Got a couple of big painting nights ahead of me on the Grot crew now.

Spent last night's hobbytime rectifying the awful weathering I applied to the Rock Lobbers on Wednesday. This consisting of completing repainting the wheels, legs and fronts of all 4 machines from scratch. Bit of a pain and a waste of precious hobby time. Getting all the Grots done for next weekend is gonna be a big ask, especially with a doubles tournament this weekend. It may be that right at the death I make a last minute call and switch to the Rogue Idol (way worse list) and finish him up next Friday as I know he'll only take a few hours to finish. Nice to be back in the mix and stressing about tournament painting again. I've missed this!!

@GlanceOnASix - Before The General's Handbook and matched play was a thing, I was running a Magma Dragon in my Ironjawz army. Under one of the old community points systems (Clash/SCGT) it was 20/100 of your army, equating to 400pts in new money. That, tbh, was quite the bargain and it was very effective in the club games I used it at. Never got my Mierce Angrislaug painted so haven't used it in a tournament field. I actually love the official FW model as well. Unfortunately due to my preference for Ironjawz > Destruction armies, I haven't really given it a look in of late. Ruleswise though it's clearly pretty powerful and a Destruction monster mash would be great fun for sure!! Lets see some lists!!

Hey, Just to show I am still doing something, I have some incredibly pretentious teaser photos that I put on Twitter for #wipwednesday yesterday. I subsequently ruined the models with a terrible attempt at weather that'll likely take a few hours or so to rectify!! Should have full photos with crew week commencing 19/03/18, providing I get them finished for the event the weekend before that! **EDIT - Urgh, never nice seeing your painting magnified like that haha** Chris

Heard nothing but good things about these events from @Cowboy Boots Matt, @Paul Buckler, @Drakira etc, so thought I'd check one out myself. Looking forward to it.

Cheers man, I'm glad it comes across that way. You've very eloquently stated the kind of look I'm going for

Thanks Steve, glad you like him! Your army was really cool, I remember it well. Yeah they are strange models...I think it's the snowflakes that are a bit off for me. Would probably rather it without them. I did considered covering them in snow but thought it would make no sense for a bird in flight. But then, what are the snowflakes doing? I fully expect the Phoenixes to rise (ha!) in points and suggested as much in some recent feedback to GW. I don't find I build my AoS armies to a fixed 2,000pts as I like to have different list options, so any changes to points values don't really bother me tbh. I especially plan on painting more than 400pts of allies for this this army so I can try out some different things (otherwise the painting is all a bit samey - Phoenixes or Phoenix Guard! ) Thanks man, I am particularly happy with the bases and have some plans in mind for future Phoenixes.

Hey, So as previously mentioned, I had to finish up my month two contribution for the campaign pretty sharpish as I'm off to South Africa for the rest of the month on Thursday!! With that in mind I kept my workload down by giving myself just a single model to paint; an Anointed of Asuryan on Frostheart Phoenix. I've already shown off the base (which I was pretty pleased with) and was able to get the Anointed himself done relatively easily as I knew the scheme for him. And then we come onto Saturday....I had planned to get up early and crack on with the Phoenix, my main concern was not knowing how I was going to paint it, at all. Usually when I sit down to paint I have a clear plan of what I'm trying to achieve and this really wasn't the case here. Anyway, it go worse as I ended up playing Horizon Zero Dawn all morning and didn't actually start until 1pm! I won't bore you with any more details, suffice to say this whole thing was a bit of a nightmare (as @Forestreveries, @Paul Buckler and @Cowboy Boots Matt can attest to from the endless WiP photos I spammed our campaign chat with). Not having a focussed plan was a real problem and I had to second guess myself a number of times throughout, including totally repainting some parts. The result is that the model is actually pretty messy, a fact not helped by my make-up brushes being near the end of their life, creating some shabby drybrushing. Anyway, it was a learning experience and is done now. I learnt a lot which can be applied to future Phoenixes, making their paint jobs much crisper and cleaner. It is crazy the difference it makes not having a plan in mind and instead making it up as you go along! All that said, I am pleased overall in that I think the model definitely looks cool and on the table will probably look pretty good, which really is kinda where I originally pitched the level of the army. I had planned for the Phoenix to sit across the top of the base on a pin, but it looked a bit boring and I'm actually really happy with how I ended up fixing it. Works well I think...just have to hope its stable enough for play and not too fragile, may have to introduce another connection point. But yeah, I'm not down on it now all's said and done (though I was along the way, if I had more time I defo would've stripped and started over). I'm actually pretty enthused for the other Phoenixes and have some cool things in mind for them. I finished this up around 1.30am, so with breaks and what not I suspect it took 11-11 1/2 hours to paint the bird alone...can't work out if it's good or not, I guess most of that is line highlighting the feathers. Anyway, you probably just want to see the pics rather than reading my nonsense. These won't go on Twitter until a little later tonight, but I'll post them here now. Oh, one final thing; ignore the Phoenix's eyes! I painted them in the same colour as the gems on the Phoenix Guard. It looks rubbish and I will repaint them as "normal" eyes when back from holiday. Enjoy, Chris

Thanks man I'm also looking forward to seeing the first Phoenix...always find it daunting painting a model without any real plan upfront! Finishing the base has also given me some added impetus to get it done. Unfortunately the first games will now take place on Sunday instead of tonight (blame @Forestreveries). Hopefully can get the Anointed finished quickly and then sneaky a cheeky hour on Horizon Zero Dawn!

Hi again, Following some of the earlier comments around lists, I have been playing around with Warscroll Builder a lot over the past week. I think the "proper" list I most like in general at the moment is; Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Archmage (120) Loremaster (100) 30 x Phoenix Guard (420) 10 x Phoenix Guard (160) 10 x Phoenix Guard (160) 3 x Aetherwings (60) Total: 1980 / 2000 It does feel a bit light on bodies if I'm honest and after some games I may find I need more Guard. The denominations of those units is interesting due to needing 3 units and the points break for 30. Despite not particularly wanting to paint 70, I do think 30/30/10 seems good, but initially I'll start here. The Aetherwings are clearly not a great choice, but tbh even though this is billed as my "proper" list, they are mostly an aesthetical pick here (to be painted like the Frosthearts). In terms of the campaign, as previously noted it is likely that the other players (@Paul Buckler, @Forestreveries & @Cowboy Boots Matt) will have softer lists, so 4 buffed Frosthearts is unlikely to be appropriate. Also Aetherwing-eyed readers may have noticed that the foot Anointed isn't in the above list, so campaign wise I am thinking; Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Anointed Of Asuryan On Frostheart Phoenix (240) Anointed (80) Anointed (80) Archmage (120) 30 x Phoenix Guard (420) 10 x Phoenix Guard (160) 10 x Phoenix Guard (160) 3 x Aetherwings (60) 3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (180) Total: 1980 / 2000 But really I guess I will just play it by ear and see how the army fares in the initial games played. I should note that I have just put down Frostheart Phoenixes as a default. They are by far my fav in terms of rules, lore and model, however there is the potential for me to also add a Flamespyre to my campaign army to mix things up a bit. I own 5 Phoenixes, 3 assembled as Frosthearts, 1 as a Flamspyre and 1 on sprue so do have some options available. Not really much of an update, just a bit of a brain dump!

Morning all, I have another small update for you today. As previously mentioned, I am on holiday from 15/02 onwards, so I need to complete my second months contribution ahead of that time. Thankfully I've only got one model to paint this month; an Anointed of Asuryan on Frostheart Phoenix. The downside is that I have no real plan for the bird itself at present. I've undercoated it with The Fang and will likely either give it a blue wash first, or just start building up some drybrush layers...anyway, I will tackle that on Saturday. Ahead of this I planned to complete the Anointed and the base. Last night I started with some basecoats and washes on the Anointed and will hopefully be able to finish him tonight. I was also able to finish off the base. Seems a bit backwards to do this first and hardly the most exciting of updates, but I do think it came out pretty cool. In the pics I took below, the snow is still a bit wet so looks a little strange in places. I am particularly happy with the icicles, which I made out of flying stands (melting them and shaping with a knife). All being well I'll have pics of the complete model early next week! Enjoy, Chris

I think these guys look great from a rules PoV. They have a super powerful inspire that is somewhat easy to engineer on a couple of your fighters. I do want to reserve judgement until I've seen all the cards included, both to see what the Fyreslayers themselves get and also what the neutral cards are. Sorry, rushed post, finishing work and just finished reading the Warhammer Community article.

Cheers man! Yeh I have written out a few builds previously, some more honed with a view to competitive play. This is where you might dip into the Eldritch Council for a Mage or Loremaster etc to buff those Phoenixes! However the lists for this particular campaign look like they are going to be of a softer nature; @Paul Buckler - Spiderfang Grots @Forestreveries - Wraithfleet @Cowboy Boots Matt - Acolyte heavy Tzeentch So with that in mind I will probably grow my list as appropriate, gauging the power level as we go. I would expect around 60-70 Phoenix guard (30/30/10 is a solid core due to the discount on 30, but does leave an awkward amount of points in most builds) and 3-4 Phoenixes. As mentioned I will definitely be adding allies, even if not for the campaign. To be honest I've been sat on these models for almost a year and it was definitely the allies system in the GHB2017 that reinvigorated me to complete the project. I have some Vanguard Raptors and Aetherwings (baby phoenixes!) that I am keen to add in the same colours scheme. The points breakdown for the campaign is as follows. Having a little log to keep it added up might be a plan as well (as I currently don't have a plan for when I'll be painting each unit). You can carry over points from month to month. Month One (Dec-Jan)- Anointed, 2x 10 Phoenix Guard (400/400) Month Two (Feb) - Anointed of Asuryan on Frostheart Phoenix (640/700) Month Three (March) - 2x 10 Phoenix Guard (960/1000) Month Four (April) - Anointed of Asuryan on Frostheart Phoenix, 10 Phoenix Guard* (1300/1300) Month Five (May) - (/1600) Month Six (June) - (/2000) *10 Phoenix Guard added to an existing unit of 20 only cost 100pts (420 for 30) That was actually quite fun to do and pretty helpful. I best crack on with the Phoenix for month two as I'm out the currently from the 15th for the rest of the month. Pretty much just have Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon/evening to get him done. Cheers for reading!!

Thanks bro, have your 100th like! Congrats

Haha, Phoenix has risen, I like that! Cheers mate, glad you like them. I agree with you that they are weirdly quite busy models as there is loads of potential to just splash a whole bunch of colours over them. I was quite a challenge to restrict myself, especially when it came to the banners. I'm not entirely convinced by these but I think I imported the colour scheme into them well enough. Truth be told I am not a fan of the embossed banners and would've rather a flat surface for some simple freehand. Probably would've fit the scheme better. The snow is woodland scenics. My preferred product is the crushed glass you can get, however it's not the nicest material to work with, so I'm trying to move away from it. This stuff is pretty good, but it may have just been easier to use the new GW Valhallan Blizzard, which by all accounts is pretty great. Thank you for the kind words man

Thanks man, how did you get on with your conversions? Apologies for the late reply as I could've checked for you to see if the Plagueclaw fits on the slightly smaller oval. I look forward to seeing your conversions. Again, sorry for the late reply mate. Yeah it's totally down to personal reasons, I will no doubt play a few events over the course of the year and indeed hope to start getting more casual games in (haven't played with the Ironjawz in ages ). Weirdly I'm not really going to get into this year as a whole until March (sounds strange)! What with my surgery at the start of the year and an upcoming holiday for the last 2 1/2 weeks of February, I haven't been present much at work or down the gaming club thus far. So looking forward to getting back to normal and contributing/interacting properly again across the board. I'm definitely not down on AoS whatsoever, I still love the game and the product GW are releasing. Whilst I haven't been playing, posting or podcasting of late I have been keeping abreast of all the new releases and believe I still have a good read on the current state of the game. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned with where Ironjawz sit post Maggotkin of Nurgle. They clearly do the things we do, but better and more efficiently haha! They will be an interesting new puzzle for us to solve I'm sure. One thing I am particularly looking forward to in the new future, after several false starts (my fault), is finally getting to play @Sangfroid in an Ironjawz-off on 17/03/18, so look out for some coverage of that. Prior to that I will hopefully clear the tablerust (equivalent of ringrust?) with a few practice games. First of all taking on @Lhw, one of this years Masters players, this coming Sunday. So the reports will start coming again, but realistically as I say it's going to be March before we start seeing regular contributions from myself again. It will be at that time I start painting more things for my Ironjawz as well. On a side note, I have hidden the stickied topic I started with all the questions and info for new players. I will resurrect that project when I have the time to dedicate to it. So yeah, hidden and on hold as opposed to deleted and forgotten. That statement applies to both that thread and myself in general I guess haha! Chris