That Old Black Magic

[Sception]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LypRPRy3tuE

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Warband04_zps88ee5870.jpg

Hamal Vhilgraf, lord of the Crimson Eyes, smashes through a defended Cadian Position.

 

~~~  It's That Time Again  ~~~

 

That time when the Black Magic of ETL draws me back to the painting table.  That time when I, Malisteen, step forward to thwart my hated nemesis, Forté.  For the past two years running, I have bested his ETL contributions to the forces of Chaos, and in both of those years Chaos proved triumphant against the forces of accursed loyalists overall.  Coincidence?  I think not!

 

Nor do I think this year will be any different, for my clever ploy of disappearing form this forum for several months, only to return with a dour affectation of hopeless resignation and defeat has lulled my ever-gullible enemy into a pathetic, slothful state, thinking himself without challenger, utterly unprepared for the horrors I shall unleash upon him, that I shall unleash upon this entire decrepit galexy!

 

For, you see, Abaddon the Exhalted, Chosen Avatar of Chaos Transcendent, has in his infinite and unknowable wisdom, unveiled a new battlefield primer for the warlords of the Black Legion, detailing previously unheard of tactical formations and combat doctrines to employ in the Long War against the accursed lackeys of the False Emperor.  And though the, er, masterful trategic vision behind these doctrines is perhaps beyond the ken of unworthy lesser minds, the Crimson Eyes will not be left out!

 

 

With that aim in mind, I shall use this ETL not simply to once again heap shame upon my hated rival Forté, but also to bring as many of these new formations possible into the service of the dread masters of the Black Shrine.  The first batch Includes the Shrine Knight Leonis, Prentis Dalcigrad of the Warp Lions (a Chaos Lord with Vets, Mark of Khorn, Juggernaut, Sigil of Corruption, Axe of Blinding Fury, Skull of Ker'ngar, gift of mutation, and meltabombs), and his retinue of Black Shrine Inner Circle Knights (5 Chaos Marine Bikers with Mark of Khorne, Icon of Wrath, 2 meltaguns, and a champion with a power fist).

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/etl25_zpsf41ynxtc.jpg:

 

Lord Dalcigrad

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord09_zpsyrvxfsd1.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord10_zpsguohuhtg.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord11_zps7f1o3dum.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord12_zpsc1thkvnd.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord13_zpsle4zwhfw.jpg

 

 

Some detail pics:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord14_zpsz3viuv1r.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord15_zpstw9r21v8.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord16_zpsoru9ibug.jpg

 

 

 

And some in progress pics:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord05_zpsfruj6olt.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord03_zps74fgqtdl.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/juggerlord08_zpsydjbx5n8.jpg

 

 

 

Inner Circle Knights:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes01_zpsvg7g9qkn.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes02_zps2lssitzg.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes03_zpspq7fntia.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes04_zpso0irxglr.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes05_zpsermoqlgc.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes06_zpsqct0fkwe.jpg

 

 

Combi Bolter:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes07_zpszkr3xn3y.jpg

 

 

Meltagun:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/bikes08_zpsaocf7lwv.jpg

 

 

 

 

They've got a bit of fancying up yet to do on their bases, but once that's done they'll be ready to paint.  As a mounted Khornate Chaos Lord and a (counts-as) unit of Khornate Chaos Marine Bikes, Lord Dalcigrad and the Inner Circle knights will help me fill requirements of both the Black Legion Warband and the Hounds of Abaddon formations, and together they'll add up to an ambitious 410 point offering for my first pledge of this years ETL.

 

It seems, my dear Forté, that you won't be able to take it easy this year after all!  Not if you don't want to be humiliated for a third year running!

 

 

 

For those interested in reliving the glories of my previous victories over Forté, please see my old hobby threads:

Black Like My Soul

Back To Black

[Soldier of Dorn]

Looking good so far, Mal. Reminds me that I need to get around sometime in the next week or so to prepping for the ETL.

[Slave to Darkness]

But we only won 2 ETLs since I joined.

Glory to Lorgar and the Word Bearers. THE original Chaos badboys. Not the pretenders in black. :lol:

 

Your horsys do look cute though. Sweet lemonade yeah sweet lemonade.

[Sception]

You mean Lorgar the Lazy, who sleeps at his pulpit?  His lot may have been the first Heretics, but the Black Legion, Abaddon's Legion, born in the Eye of Terror, are the first and indeed the only Chaos Marines.

[Midnightmare]

Looking forward to seeing these Mal, especially your Juggerlord, Warmaster knows I have a soft spot for them. I like how you solved your cloak issue :tu:

 

Glory to the Legion!

[Sception]

Thanks!  The cloak/backpack thing was a bit of a cheat, actualy, as I cut the backpack in half to fit it there.  If you peek under the cloak, you can tell there's no backpack actually sticking through.  You kind of have to be specifically looking for it to notice, though, so I think it's fine.

[Slave to Darkness]

Nothing wrong with sleeping. Id be doing that now if we didnt have an ETL to win. :lol:

[Thedarkprincesnun]

#Shadedetectorthroughtheroof

[Kaldoth]

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c206/Kaldoth/tumblr_inline_nkpwx9Sj281sn6scg.jpg

 

Looking forward to following your progress :lol: Though, I'm definitely going to root for Forte, only because you called him out and everybody loves an underdog :P

[Sception]

ETL appraches soon!  Only about two and a half weeks remain for preparatory work.  I'm pretty happy with the above Lord and 'Bikes' as an initial bid, but with up to five pledges possible (though honestly for me three pledges - one for each month - is more likely) there's still plenty of room to add to that pile.  As mentioned, I'm aiming to use this years ETL to flesh out some of those new Black Legion formations.  The Lord and Bikes will help me fill out both the Black Legion Warband and the Hounds of Khorne formations.  Of the two, I still need an elite (terminators or possessed) and a heavy (helbrute or havocs) for the former, and a squad of berzerkers for the latter.

 

I'm not sure yet on the elite.  I've got some terminators mostly painted already, but they're neither painted enough to really call them table ready nor are they unpainted enough to pledge for ETL, so I'll probably end up fishing through boxes for my old possessed instead.  If I can find all 10, I can even use them for the daemon prince formation as well, but I've yet to be sure that I could find any.

 

 

For the heavy, I've already got a unit of Havocs waiting to go!  I started painting them a while ago, but thankfully didn't get very far, so they're still ok for ETL:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/havocs01_zpsb0sj9mxz.jpg

 

 

On the Hounds end, all I really need is a squad of Berzerkers.  I have, unassembled, enough of the plastic zerkers to make a squad of 8, but, well, the models are awful, and I'd really rather not disgrace my army with them!  Fortunately, there are some gorgeous new alternatives: the Age of Sigmar Blood Warriors, which I just happen to have two sets worth of sprues of from spare AoS starter boxes I've picked up.  Unfortunately the conversion isn't quite as straight forward as you'd think, as those big spikey shields over all of their left arms kid of get in the way of giving them bolt pistols, and their shoulder pads practically touch on their backs, and stick out a bit, making a proper chaos marine pack something of a pain to fit, but, with a little bit of fidgeting around I managed to put together a proof-of-concept model that I'm happy with:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/btest01_zpszdqndewy.jpg

 

more pics:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/btest02_zpseikvjqhb.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/btest03_zpsdowkmnj7.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/btest04_zpsyl83zoxl.jpg

 

 

 

I cut down the spikey buckler to leave a sort of skull-design gauntlet.  Works well enough, but it's kind of thick.  But it makes a good fit for the extra chunky bolt pistols from the berzerker kit, so, hey, whatever.  I used a chosen backpack, because I just don't like the regular ones, at least not on infantry, plus the DV pads are just a better fit for the detailing on the AoS models.

 

The shoulder pads were an issue.  In the end I just straight-up cheated, cutting away the back of the pads until the backpack more or less fit where I wanted, and just lazily filling the gap with glue and zip kicker.  Effectively, the shoulder pads just clip into the backpack where they come together, but it's not super noticeable, so I don't care.  It may be more of an issue on the blood warriors with raised weapons, but even if it is, with two starter sets worth of models, I'm confident I can get a usable unit.

 

How big a unit is still a bit of a question.  I have exactly five spare chosen backpacks.  Well, that's not true, I have a few more than that, but the other ones have bolters hung from them, so by strict WYSIWYG, I shouldn't be using them on berzerkers, so yeah, five.  That's enough for a minimum unit, so I'm technically ok regardless, but I'd really like to get these guys up to a squad of 8 or 9 - a bigger squad, but still able to fit in a rhino or dreadclaw with space left over for a character if I want.  To do that, I'd need to buy another pack of chosen, but while starter box chosen aren't expensive by any measure, I'm currently on the job hunt, so any expenditure at all may be a bit much*.

 

So maybe I'll dredge up the funds to do 8, or maybe I'll just do the minimum of 5, or maybe I'll get over myself and just use the bolter packs (there is some precedent after all, there are ye olden days berzerker models with bolters after all), but REGARDLESS, I'll be able to get a legal squad of berzerkers together for ETL.

 

The only REAL question is how I'll army the champ.  I'm partial to 'khornate chain axe plus power axe' for dual-axe-silliness myself, but there's something to be said for fisticlaws in this case.  I mean, yeah, that's a lot of points on a T4, 3+ save dude, but given the formation bonus, bulking up on melee kit is really rather tempting.

 

Actually, I don't know why I didn't arm the bike champ with fisticlaws.  Maybe I'll go back and fix that.

 

Plus, while more expensive models is rather bad in game, it would be some some extra weight towards ETL....

 

 

 

* If you'd like to help your old pal Mal beat Forté for the third year running, and happen to be in the market for chaos marine, vamp count, or tomb king models, feel free to hit me up with a PM, and maybe we could work something out.

[Sception]

Alright, the Berzerkers are together:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers01_zpspgun9nki.jpg

 

more pics:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers02_zps5v1iylbc.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers03_zpshkredaxw.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers04_zps4etcitkz.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers05_zpsgknlbnis.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers06_zpswj94q55x.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers07_zpsnx0efuxt.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers08_zpsqftgfxdg.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/berzerkers09_zps6w7x29eu.jpg

 

 

 

Obviously not as much effort into these conversions as my chosen.  I did end up compromising my WYSIWYG standards with those bolter backpacks, and I didn't magnetize anything, and there's a fair bit of chorus line effect going on.  I also threw in a couple plasma pistols, just because.

 

All in all, I still think they turned out pretty well.  They're bulky and baroque and look right hurty.  Definitely a step up from the regular plastic berzerker models.  If GW ever makes berzerkers good, maybe I'll pick up a box of the multipart blood warriors so I can split up the three duplicate guys above between the two units.

[Khornestar]

They're awesome, Mal. My main gripe with them (has nothing to do with your work) is the leather boots. Just can't accept that for a power armored unit. The rest of the ridiculous setting, no problem. But leather boots? No way! :D

[Sception]

A fair criticism, but if I may offer two rebuttals:

 

1. The official berzerker models have leather gloves

 

2. have you looked at the official CSM leg/angle/foot bits recently?  Anything is an improvement, imo.  Barefoot would be an improvement.

 

:p

[Khornestar]

Haha, well I don't bother with those gorilla-fisted brutes, either! FW kit or conversions FTW.

 

YES, dear gods our power armor is outdated. I prefer the berzerker running legs, as at least their lines are solid or the surface is smooth. The CSM legs are in a very sad state. It's less about looks (they look amazing) than the asinine dissonance I experience with pulling leather boots over power armor. Such important problems to ponder, eh? :)