Conquest the last argument of Jodain

I’ve seen all the buzz around this idea of slapchop and I thought I might give it a little try.  I’ve done zenithal highlighting with spray cans before, but I thought I would try this slapchop with a slight twist.  I have a flamecaster for my Dweghom army and decided that I would spray it with AP Skeleton Bone and then a fairyly heavy drybrush with AP Matt White.  So far I’ve stuck to using Contrast paints over the top of this with Darkoath Flesh for the skin, Basillicanum Grey for the metal work, Barbarian Leather for the leatherwork.  The flames current have a coat of Bad Moon Yellow, the new contrast which covers well, but not like the original contrasts and Nazdreg Yellow for the Gold/Bronze.  I’m not convinced that I created enough of a transition between the Skeleton Bone and the White for the method to really work.

So I’ve been making progress on the Household Knight from the last update.  I’ve worked on the highlights on the red, moving from AP Dragon Red to P3 Khador Red Highlight.  The other side is AP Royal Cloak, with a wash of AP Soft Tone, which ended up too brown so a thin coat of Royal Cloak to bring it back and highlighting by mixing in AP Voidshield Blue.  The Armour is painted with Vallejo Chainmail and then washed either in Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade or AP Dark Tone.  The metal work on the lance is Valejo Metallic Black.  All the metal was then given a dry brush of Vallejo Steel.  Leather work is P3 Bootstrap Leather with an AP Soft Tone and then highlight with Bootstap Leather and Vallejo Skin Tone.  The decal on the shield is from Green Stuff Worlds Heraldic decal sheets, it’s a little small for the shield but the next size up is too big.

Well I made the mistake of marking this project as complete, which back in June it was.  Para bellum have of course released some new figures for the Dweghom, and thanks to the OTT store I got these in hand for the release date.  However, time meant that they sat in the box unassembled until now that is.  12 Initiates and 12 Wardens assembled.  The Initiates were the more challenging to put together, ensuring the arms fitted the bodes, the Wardens looked to be the most challenging to put into blocks with their axes held well away from their bodies.

For the moment they are assembled and ready for painting, which will happen shortly as we’ve offered this game up for Cavalier 2023, which is on 23rd February 2023.

My eldest son has also decided after the show that he wants to have a hundred kingdoms army, so he has some men-at-arms he is painting and I picked up some second hand figures and have started on a household knight.  So far a white primer and then two-thin coats of AP Dragon Red with a wash AP Red Tone over the top.

The final round, and sorry no photographs.

Outside the buildings the Hellbringer Drake was finished off by the Brute Drones, whilst the Centaur Avatara where held-up by the Hold Warriors.

Inside the building the last Man-at-arms decided to back off and then thought himself lucky when the abomination ignored him to charge and kill two of the Inferno Automata.  Unfortunately, for the last human in the buildings the force grown drones decided enough was enough and put him out of his misery.

The Brute drones outside the buildings were finished off by the fireforged and hold ballistae.

The big fight at the end of the bridge resulted in the Flame Beserkers finally killed the Abominiation and the Dragonslayers dealing with the one unit of force grown drones.

The Avatara left the ruins to charge the Hold Thanes and a duel between the Lineage Highborn and the Hold Reagh started up.  The Vanguard clones managed to kill another two Men-at-arms, leaving five men of the hundred kingdoms on the table.

Whilst the scores left the hundred kingdoms to win with 9 points to the 3 of the dweghom and 2 of the spires it doesn’t tell the whole story.  We agreed that the building side of the river was probably going to belong to the Spires, whilst the area around the ruins was probably going to  belong to the Dweghom and neither was likely to make it across the bridge against the other.

This was a great game and if you popped by the say hello many thanks.

With this last post I am closing this project, all of the Dweghom I own are now painted and until new units come out the Dweghom are going away.  Thanks for reading.

Outside the buildings a fierce battle was lined up with the Centaur Avatara charging into a unit of Hold Warriors, who took the damage and managed to cause a couple of wounds.  The hellbringer drake fired ineffectually at the marksman drones, whilst the Hold Warriors and Hold Ballistae continued to re-position themselves.  The Brute Drones and force grown dones advanced towards the drake.

In the buildings the results of multiple attackers left three poor fellows on the Men-at-arms standing as first the Abomination and then the Inferno Automata charged there unit.  The mercenary crossbowman finally stumbled and were finished off by the force grown drones.

At the bridge the brute drones marched into the combined fire of the Hold Ballistae and the Fireforged killing two of them.  The flame beserkers inflicted enough damage to leave the Abomination with one wound, whilst the dragonslayers left one force grown drone standing when they charged.  The Spire’s abilities meant that this unit rebuilt and the arrival of the second unit left the Dragonslayer looking rather embarassed.

The ruins fell to the Spires with a charge from the Avatara, whilst the Hold Thanes finished off the household knights.  This left the Men-at-arms in combat with the Vanguard clones.

With the Spires finally on the score board at the end of this round the score board looked like this:

• Hundred Kingdoms: 9
• Dweghom: 2
• Spires: 1

The reinforcement phase saw the arrival of the final abomination and the Men-at-arms at last.  All of the units for the battle were now on the table and the end game was fast approaching.

At the buildings the household knights never made it back to safety being shot at by the Dweghom resulted in the unit destroyed.  Inside the buildings it was looking even more dangerous.  The Inferno Automata killed all but one of the Men-at-arms (leaving one wound would become a feature of the game for the Dweghom).  The Mercenary Crossbowman continued to fight the Force Grown Drones over the wall, whilst another unit of drones entered the building area to face down the untouched Men-at-arms unit.  Just outside the buildings the Spires advanced towards a very thing Dweghom line of Hold Warriors with the Hellbringer drake, whilst other Dweghom units adjusted their position.

At the river crossing the Flame Beserkers climbed safely onto the bridge, before being charged by an Abomination (to no effect).  Both the Fireforged and the Dragonslayers advanced in support, with the later looking at two units of force grown drones.  The second unit of household knights, lost their Noble Lord in a duel with the Hold Reagh, but held out to hold up the hold thanes.  Behind them one unit of Mercenary crossbowmen were defeated by the Avatara.

With someone other than the hundred kingdoms scoring this round the score went to:

• Hundred Kingdoms: 9
• Dweghom: 1
• Spires: 0

The reinforcements flowed forward still with the rest of the Dweghom army arriving and the only heavy unit coming on at the first opportunity.  The last unit of Men-at-arms failed to turn up again for the hundred kingdoms, whilst the first of the Abominations arrived for the spires along with some more Brute Drones and a unit of Centaur Avatara and a unit of Vanguard clones.

The fight for the buildings continued with the Hold Ballistae launching another barrage into the Men-at-arms, followed up with the Hellbringer Drake and a charge from the Inferno Automata.  On the other side of the building the mercenary crossbowmen, where received a similar treatment from the Marksman Clones and only the power of the Chapter Mage was keeping them in the battle.

The Household Knights on the bridge turned tail and headed back for the buildings, coming under far as they rode for safety and another one falling cover in bolts.

On the other side of the river the Flame Beserkers closed on the bridge, whilst a heavy unit of Dragonslayers arrived to counter the threat of the Abomination.  The unit of Household Knights rode in front of the Hold Thanes and received a charge into their flank.

At the end of the round the scores stood at

• Hundred Kingdoms: 7
• Dweghom: 0
• Spires: 0

The reinforcement phase of round 2 saw all but one of the medium units of the Dweghom, another unit of Household Knights and several more units of Spires.

At the building end of the board the arrival of the Hellbringer Drake was a welcome sight for the Dweghom and along with a unit of Hold Warriors the advance on the buildings continued.  The spires reinforced two units of force grown drones with some brute drones and some Marksman clones.  The buildings was starting to look a dangerous place to be.

The brave household knights finally made it to the bridge, but had lost one knight thanks to the bolts being fired by the Hold Ballistae in that area.

One the other side of the river, the Dweghom continued to funnel big units with the arrival of a unit of Fireforged and the Warlord and his band of Hold Thanes, who headed for the ruins.  The spire deployed some more force grown drones and a unit of Avatara

At the end of round 2 the hundred kingdoms held three objectives and so the score was:

• Hundred Kingdoms: 5
• Dweghom: 0
• Spires: 0

The 3200 points of Dweghom and 3200 points of Spire began the game off the board, along with the rest of the hundred kingdoms.

The first round of reinforcements resulted in all of the light units for the Dewghom arriving on the table and a good chunk of the Spires.  Another unit of Mercenary Crossbowmen arrived for the hundred kingdoms.

The first unit of Hold Ballistae came on next to the buildings and opened fire on the unit of Men-at-arms, killing one of them within minutes of us starting the game.  This unit was supported by the Inferno Automata.  The second unit of Hold Ballistae arrived closer to the river.  On the far side of the river the big block of Flame Beserkers arrived and headed towards the bridge.

The brave household knight who were sitting in the built-up area dashed towards the bridge to try and secure the third objective.

On the spires side units of Force grown drones arrived and moved forwards.

I’m going to try and write up the battle that we ran at the show as best as I can over a few posts with pictures that I took through out the game.  Unfortunately I forgot to take some pictures of the end of the game.

The game table was set up at 6’x10′ with a frozen river sitting in the middle of the table.  The river was a great piece of work with the floating ice made by cutting up CD cases and painting the bottom white.  To one side of the river sat a small collection of buildings, to the other side a ruined church (Debris of War).  The other building were all hand built most with lost of fieldstone blocks cast from plaster.  The hundred kingdoms forces of 1600 points deployed a unit of mercenary crossbowman, 2 units of Man-at-arms and a unit of household knights in the buildings and a unit of mercenary crossbowman in the ruins.

Having got the last 8 Hold Thanes mostly painting I decided to spend time yesterday getting the 24 shields out for the unit.  As such I up the shields on a board and sprayed both sides with GW Grey Seer.  The back of the shield was painted Basilicanum Grey and then I pinned and glued the shields onto the arm of the miniatures.  Once that was done I touched up the Grey Seer where I’d drilled all the way through the shield (they are rather thin in places).  The front of the shields got a coat of Basilicanum Grey and then Nazdrag Yellow to pick out some parts.  Finally the shields got a dry brush of Vallejo Silver.

Progress has been ongoing, but not rapid.  I managed to finish another 10 Hold Thanes, which brings me a lot closer to the end (although with only 2 weeks left I need to get a move on).  This evening I’ve been put snow on the bases of the whole bunch of miniatures that I’ve completed over this month along with the stands.

The snow is a mix of PVA and Army Painter Snow flock, which gives it a more fluffed up effect.  The picture was taken shortly after application so it isn’t yet dry.  The static grass tufts are from War World Scenics.

Made a little progress this week on the Dweghom and got the rest of the Fireforged and 1 Inferno Automata ready for snow and black rimming.  Also managed to crack on with the last Inferno Automata and the first 6 Hold Thanes.

With the Hold Thanes I wanted to try and lift them up and show that they are eltie soldiers who take a bit more care of kit.  As such I decided to paint the weapons in Vallejo Chainmail, then gave it a wash of AP Soft Tone, which left it looking like it was slightly rusty – not what I was going for.  To try and rescue this I hit the weapons with a dry brush of Vallejo Silver and whilst I was at it I tried in on the armour, the result I think adds to the work of the Contrast Basillicanum Grey.  At some point I might have to go back and repeat this last step on the rest of the army, but not yet.  There are only 3 weeks left until the show and I have  half the Dragonslayers to assemble left alone the painting of the rest of the Hold Thanes and all the Dragonslayers.

A quick update today to post some pictures of some figrues I finished off last weekend.

Well I cracked on last week and completed the 24 Flame Beserkers ready, along with their stands.  I’m pleased with the flames on the heads having tried a few different bases of yellow including GW Contrast Yellow, GW Cassandoran Yellow and Scale 75 Instant Colours Yellow.  Drybrushing P3 Khador Red Highlight (which is orange), then Army Painter Pure Red, then a very light drybrush of Vallejo Black.

Whilst April looks like it has been quiet I have been beavering away in the background.  A week of holiday where I managed to assemble 12 Dragon Slayers and 8 Fireforged has been surrounded by painting up the rest of the Hellbringer Drake and Flame Beserkers (more on those in the next post).  The Drake and crew are now finished.

The crew is mostly contrast work, Darkoath Flesh, Basilicanum Grey and Nazdreg Yellow.  The hair of the crew is a base of Full Healing from the Scale 75 Instant Colour range (a couple of layers) a wash of GW Yellow, then dry brushing of P3 Khador Red Highlight, AP Pure Red and then Vallejo Black.  I think this came out well.

Added a Lloyd shot of this as well, I think I ended up putting the crew on the wrong sides, but it looks good to me.

Managed to get another game in last night, this time of 2000 points, against Paul.  I managed to remember to take photos until turn 6, see the gallery below.

My Army consisted of:

Hold Raegh (Beastmaster, Turn the Tide, Mnemancer’s Eye, Comabt 2, Tactical)

• Hold Thanes (Standard Bearer, 6 bases)

Tempered Sorcer (Focused, Memory of Breath, Arcane 1, Tactical 1)

• Eruption
• Hold Ballistae (Standard Bearer, 3 bases)
• Hold Warriors (Standard Bearer, 3 bases)
• Hellbringer Drake
• Inferno Automata (3 bases)

Ardent Kerawegh (Flaming Weapon, Arcane 1, Combat 1, Tactical 1)

• Resolve
• Hold Warriors (Standard Bearer, 3 bases)
• Flame Beserkers (Standard Bearer, 6 bases)

This drake really does eat up paint.  First off the drake itself got a wash of 1:1 AP Strong Tone: AP Red Tone, followed by a dry bursh of leather brown and then Monster Brown.  The spiky bits were painted AP Army Green and then washes with GW Athonian Camo Shade.  The metal plates on the head were based with Vallejo Gunmetal, and the ends of the spikes on the head were based coated AP Black Metal.  All the metal, including the saddle was given a wash of AP Dark Tone.  I have started on the photograph painting white on the flames, but that needs a second coat.  I have also put a layer of Vallejo Eath texture Dark Earth on the base and stand.

Next up is to highlight the green and the metal and to add some Copper.

This Helbringer Drake is a beast of a miniature and probably the biggest thing outside of a tank that I’ve ever painted.  I decided to make life a little easier to use Army Painter Coloured Primer and keep the saddle separate from the main body of the Drake.  So the main body got a covering of Leather Brown, whilst the saddle and guns go a covering of Plate Mail Metal.

I haven’t primed the crew yet.

The deadline is rapidly approaching so I need to get a move on, but changes to the rules mean I might need to buy some more figures – not sure I’ve got time to paint more.

So last night was our weekly Zoom Hobby Hangout, so I decided to spend most of the evening assembling the Hellbringer Drake.  This one beast of a monster and with the exception of tanks the biggest figures I have assembled.  I’ve seend some people moaning about the number of pieces but I felt that the foot should have been two pieces and not one.

The joins on the Drake itself are generally well hidden, but the gates for the plastic to flow into the parts aren’t so well thought out, with many of them being in the middle of open spaces.  In two hours I managed to assemble the drake and started on the crew.