Man, I have had a difficult time with Cryx. They are subtle but vicious. I just haven’t found my groove yet. So, I have decided that I should probably take a new approach at it. Coming from Khador and the Pirate subgroup of Mercs, I am used to a very melee approach in the game. This doesn’t necessarily work with most Cryx stuff as I have seen it. Both of the Skarres can be mean in Melee with auto knockdown using her Great Rack and the auto hitting and boosting/cutting for 4 damage dice on each of the following attacks. I think original Skarre might do this better because of sacrificial lamb, but both can employ this tactic to win. Still, all around there are squishy, easily destroyed models on my side of the board. SO, I am going to try a very hard hitting approach at the Nightmare Empire. Terminus…He fits my need for a melee approach and can support more focus efficient jacks like Seethers and Deathjack.

First a little history.

Terminus was purchased 8 months ago at MetaGames Unlimited in Springfield, MO. They sponsor Warmachine Weekend each October. Should you find yourself looking for something to do in the fall, Warmachine Weekend offers up some of the best gaming to be had. Aside from that weekend, they offer a great selection of used models for all manner of games. I stopped by when I passed through town on my way to northern Arkansas and picked up the Lich Lord at a great price. Currently, he is being stripped of the white primer that covered him and the mess of epoxy that covered up all of his details. More on him later.

Deathjack is an impressive and initially intimidating model to look at right out of the package. He has roughly 36 pieces and for a casual gamer, I suspect he is a nightmare to assemble (Not to be confused with Nightmare who was quite easy to assemble).

Giving credit where it is due, I took several ideas from YoungWolf7‘s inspiring work for several thing here. While he ended out selling his Deathjack before completing it, he was well on his way to lighting it from within in a monstrous green glow. Initially, I was going to light my Deathjack up. I wanted his chest, smokestacks, and ribs to all glow with the blue glow that is a signature of my Cryx. Alas, my inexperience and lack of gumption to gain the necessary knowledge conspired to defeat the idea.

Regardless, I pressed forward last week with his assembly and conversion. As with YoungWolf7‘s example, I found the bear claws of the Deathjack disappointing to say the least. Following his example, I replaced the fingers with the end of the Bloat Thrall’s legs to give him a much more nasty look than he could have had with his stock hands. His hands could now give Freddy Kruger nightmares of his own.

Next, I wanted Deathjack to stand more upright but still have plenty of action to the model. I ended out posing him like he was charging from water onto the land.  I positioned his arms back and turned his claws similar to the pose of the Dire Troll Mauler. To help with this, I trimmed the post going into the his head to help him look straight ahead instead of down.

Here is a pic of Deathjack with his new claws and pose:

Deathjack Pose and Claws

Part 2 is coming soon.

Tags: army, assembly, Cryx, Epic Skarre, Fight Club, greenstuff, IABN, MKII, pirates, warcasters, Warmachine, Warmachine Weekend

How could I have misjudged the difficulty of this model’s assembly, I will never really know. It has lived up the to Pain in the Ass title I gave it in the last entry. In the days that have past, I have attached the head and one arm. Day three, whenever that happens, will focus on attaching his tail and the other arm. While I don’t see any issues attaching the arm and the bit of green stuff that will be needed for the join to look good, the tail offers a whole bowl of issues that, quite frankly, suck. I have to align the tail, greenstuff in place, and be able to texture it without the structure falling apart or shifting to either side.

Assuming this goes off with little hitch, I can look forward to painting the nasty little bugger. This part has been the drive for me. I am quite sure I will enjoy the painting of the Gator Nation. My full unit of Gatormen arrived in the mail today. So, I decided to do my research on how to get them painted up and make them look right. Not just Snapjaw or Wrong Eye, but the entire Gator group as well as some Bog Trogs and even a unit of Swamp Gobbers that I think would fit in well. I don’t know if they will see much use with my Legion, but it is not completely out of the question that I would be willing to follow AK on a “-ish” style list for Circle, Skorne, or even *gasp* Troll bloods. Try not to mock me too much, faithful readers, as they are the last of my considerations.

But I digress. In an effort to make them look like they belong in a swamp, I have done a bit of research on the skin colors of aligators and crocodiles. I have seen a slight variation in the top of the beasts, but a much greater variety of colors on the underbelly. Ranging from a slightly lighter green with a just a hint of yellow to an very ochre color that seems to strike me as the best option. Check out these images I found as inspiration:

I think that is all for now. I will add more another night.

Tags: assembly, Gatormen, greenstuff, Hordes, IABN, Minions, swamp, Warmachine

I picked up Snapjaw and Wrong Eye as my prize for winning a Warmachine/Hordes (a different, upcoming blog entry). As a Khador player, I was very familiar with the “Khador Gap”, but I was a bit unprepared for the amount of greenstuff work that Snapjaw needs.

It will take me two days to get him assembled and add a bit more personality to the model. Last night, I took a bit of greenstuff and attached his legs to the body. It is a bit odd as the tail and the legs fit on the body around a hollow spot to lower the metal needed for the model and lower the overall cost.  I had to let the legs dry overnight so that they are firmly in place before I can fit the tail on. Overall, the gaps are nothing compared to the Khador Gap but there was some finer modeling needed. With the Khador Gap it was a matter of filling the area and making smooth. With Snapjaw, there is attention needed to the scales and underbelly. This includes scarring, marring, and stretching.

I also greenstuffed the top and bottom parts of the head together. When it was dryfitted, it forced his lower jaw very cock-eyed. To fix it, I had to place the parts together. Again, it was necessary to model a semblance of scales and softer tissue around the hinge of the jaw. The chain around his neck no longer lines up properly after that, so I will ad some jewelry chain when I attach the head to the body. If I am lucky, I will have an extra skull laying about so that I can add a bit of bling to the model before it is all done.

Tags: assembly, Gatormen, greenstuff, Hordes, IABN, Minions, swamp, Warmachine