Chaos Dwarves caught in the mists

Having had half term recently, I managed to fit in a game of Warhammer - 8th edition is still alive with me and my group of friends. It was fantastic to give the Fimir another run out, especially as I was able to try out a few units that haven't seen the battlefield yet. Having looked at my Fimir and the army book again, I realised that my Moor Hounds don't count towards the core points allowance. Therefore, the maximum point limit that I could play was 2800 points. This seemed like quite a good value to settle upon, so my friend and I set about planning our army lists for a face-off between my Fimir and his Chaos Dwarves.

Fimir Army List

• Magella Wisestone - Meargh
• Level 4 caster, Blood drum of Bryzz, Hellmother's Crown, Lore of Shadow (Steed of Shadows, The Enfeebling Foe, The Withering, Pit of Shades, Okkam's Mindrazor), Deployed with Fimm Warriors
• Drust - Fimm Mistmor
• Heavy armour, Vile Branch Crusher, Runic Bellyshield, The Other Trickster's Shard, Luckstone, Deployed with Fiana Fimm
• Rictumal - Dirach
• Level 2 caster, Orb of the All-Seeing Eye, Lore of the Fimir (Swirling Mists, Quagmire), Deployed with Shearl
• Marroar - Fimm Finmor
• Heavy armour, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, The Banner of the Mists, Deployed with Fimm Warriors
• 29 Fimm Warriors
• Fimm Fian, Musician, Standard Bearer, Fimul's Hatred, Additional hand weapons
• 24 Shearl
• Shearl Finn, Musician, Standard Bearer, Spears, Shields
• 10 Moor Hounds
• Fenhowler
• 6 Fiana Fimm
• Fimm Fiarach, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of All-Seeing, Great weapons
• Daemonomaniac
• Eye Tyrant

Chaos Dwarf Army List

• Sorcerer Prophet
• Level 4 caster, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Channelling Staff, Lore of Hashuut (Breath of Hatred, Curse of Hashuut, Ashstorm, Hell Hammer), Deployed with Infernal Guard
• Taur'ruk
• Black Hammer, Blackshard, Shield, Talisman of Protection, Deployed with Bull Centaurs
• Infernal Castellan
• Battle Standard Bearer, Armour of Destiny, Shield, Sword of Might, Seed of Rebirth, Deployed with Infernal Guard
• 37 Infernal Guard
• Full command, Razor Standard
• 40 Hobgoblin Cutthroats
• Full command
• 6 K'daai Fireborn
• Manburner
• 3 Bull Centaurs
• Full Command, Additional hand weapons, War Banner
• K'daai Destroyer
• Iron Daemon
• Hellbound
• Deathshrieker Rocket

Magella called Rictumal and Drust to her tent. A horde of Chaos Dwarves, whipping their slaves in front of them as they crossed the lands, were verging on the Fimir territory. As their slaves fell to the ground, disregarded and crushed beneath the boots of the army, the vile bearded souls raided local villages, claiming new prisoners. Magella was furious; the clan took slaves from those villages, but always did so with due care and stealth that no serious repercussions would arise. Yet the behaviour of these stunted beardlings would drive the villagers away, with any stragglers being imprisoned or killed outright, and one of the Fimir clan's main means of survival would vanish. These Chaos Dwarves must not be allowed to continue with such reckless abandon. Drust and Rictumal must lead a selection of the clan and tackle this annoyance. Just as she gave the command, one of her Daemon familiars appeared in the flames of the fire in-front of her. She had sent it to scout out the cursed beardlings and report back. Upon hearing the scale of the forces, Magella quickly decided that the might of her magic would be required. The Daemon spoke of the Dwarves approaching a ravine just on the edges of the mist. Magella smiled a cruel and wicked grin - enclosed in that ravine without anywhere to run, the chilling mists would surround the stunted foe whilst masking the approach of the clan. The Dread Blade in the Mist would strike again, and Magella would summon some additional power from the Daemonic realm.

The forces arrayed opposite each other in the pass ready for the oncoming conflict. Despite the narrowness of the ravine, Magella commanded the Fimir to deploy tightly, refusing a flank to distance themselves from some of the Chaos Dwarf forces - notably the K'daai Destroyer and Bull Centaurs - allowing them to focus on some of the other specific parts straight away.

The Moor Hound unit vanguarded up to hopefully block the oncoming Iron Daemon.

Turn One
The Fimir forces moved up to face the Chaos Dwarf line. The Daemonomaniac positioning itself just behind the arcane tower to screen it from the K'daai Destroyer and the Bull Centaurs, whilst eyeing up the encroaching K'daai Fireborn. The winds of magic blew across the narrow pass, but neither Magella nor Rictumal managed to sufficiently wrench them under their control, with The Withering and Swirling Mists both failing to be cast. The Eye Tyrant opened one of its dread eyes and unleashed a fire ray at the Hobgoblins, scorching six of them, but only one fell to the ground as a smoking carcass.

The K'daai Destroyer, Bull Centaurs, and K'daai Fireborn all moved up around the arcane tower, but the rest of the Chaos Dwarf army stood their guard. The Sorcerer Prophet cast Ashstorm on the Daemonomaniac, but Magella unknitted the magic of the spell before it could take hold, unfortunately leaving the Sorcerer unopposed to cast Breath of Hatred on the K'daai Fireborn. The Deathshrieker Rocket crew peered towards the Fimir battleline from their post at the top of the watchtower, but could not see through the mist as it billowed so thickly from The Banner of the Mists. However, they did manage to spy the lumbering form of the Daemonomaniac and land a direct hit, yet the Fimir-bound Daemon shrugged of the blow without breaking stride.

Turn Two
The Daemonomaniac glared at the K'daai Fireborn, bellowing in fury, and launching into a charge. The Moor Hounds also aimed a charge at the flank of the same unit to distract them, but failed to close the distance. The rest of the Fimir force continued their advance. Rictumal reached out into the winds of magic to cast Swirling Mists over all the close Fimir units, but the magic buckled wildly and was wrenched beyond his control, miscasting and suffering a calamitous detonation. Seven Shearl lay dead at his feet as wounds opened up across his face, yet the mists surrounding the Fimir army still thickened at his command. Magella sought to support the Daemonomaniac by casting The Enfeebling Foe on the K'daai Fireborn, but the Sorcerer Prophet dismissively cast the spell aside. The Eye Tyrant, now hovering closer to the Hobgoblins, opened a different eye, subjecting them to a death gaze, but the Hobgoblins resisted the effects with a show of impressive resilience. The Daemonomaniac lashed out at the Fireborn, killing one and injuring another. The Fireborn pummeled the Daemonomaniac, taking the Fimir-bound Daemon down to half of its health. The Daemonomaniac took the initial edge in the combat however, with the injured Fireborn no longer able to sustain itself on this plane of existence and blinked out of existence.

With the Fimir bracing themselves for a solid charge, they were surprised to see the Chaos Dwarves being cautious. The K'daai Destroyer continued around the far side of the arcane tower, turning towards the rear of the Fimir army whilst the Bull Centaurs reformed to face the combat between the Daemonomanic and Fireborn. The Iron Daemon set its sights against the unit of Fimm Warriors, but failed to generate enough power to reach them. The Sorcerer Prophet tried to wrench the winds of magic under his control to recast Breath of Hatred on the Fireborn, yet he suffered a painful magical feedback and the remaining winds of magic vanished from his grasp, earthing through him and turning his skin to stone. The Deathshrieker crew stood around glaring into the mists, but could not get a firm fix on the location of anything. The Daemonomaniac and K'daai Fireborn traded wounds, with another of the infernal fire daemons getting injured and then banished back to the Daemon realms.

Turn Three
Magella sounded the Blood Drum of Bryzz and the Fimm Warriors around her rose to a frenzy, charging the front of the Iron Daemon, while the Moor Hounds bounded into its flank with their teeth gnashing. Meanwhile the Shearl reformed to face the oncoming threat of the K'daai Destroyer, hoping to bar its way into the rear of the Fimm Warrior unit. Magella called on the winds of magic to cast Okkam's Mindrazor on the Fimm Warriors to aid them in piercing the tough engine shell of the Iron Daemon. Yet she was overwhelmed by the flood of raw power, experiencing magical feedback and reopening ancient wounds. Rictumal felt the force course over the battlefield, root him out, and numb his mind as he fell prone to the dirt beneath him. The Eye Tyrant hovered closer still to the Hobgoblins and opened its third eye, vaporising eight of the unfortunates, yet they stood firm in the face of such a dreadful experience. The K'daai Fireborn continued their struggle against the Daemonomaniac, yet could not force a gap in its defense, whilst it then destroyed two of the Fireborn before the remainder dispersed back to the daemonic planes. Meanwhile, Marroar carved into the Iron Daemon, the Hounds clawed at the crew, and the Fimm Warriors slashed and pummeled in their frenzy, nearly destroying the engine between them. In turn the Iron Daemon crushed four of the Fimm Warriors beneath its baleful wheels.

The K'daai Destroyer ignored the unit of Shearl and charged straight into the rear of the Fimm Warriors as the Bull Centaurs charged into the injured Daemonomaniac. Reaching into the winds of magic, the Sorcerer Prophet aimed an Ashstorm at the Daemonomaniac, but Magella ripped the magic asunder before it could take hold. He then failed to cast Curse of Hashutt on Drust as the winds of magic vanished from his grasp, with him failing to get around to dispelling Okkam's Mindrazor. The K'daai Destroyer slaughtered four of the Fimm Warriors who dealt several injuries back to the Daemon in return. Marroar delivered another slicing blow to the Iron Daemon, but the Moor Hounds were unable to pierce the tough metal shell of the engine, and the frenzied attacks of the Fimm Warriors also bounced off its armour. However, Marroar then destroyed the accursed engine with a mighty sweep of his tail. Confronted with the charge of the Bull Centaurs, the Daemonomaniac badly injures one of the foe. The Taur'ruk swung wildly against the Daemonomaniac, but failed to cause any damage; instead the Bull Centaurs pounded the Fimir-bound Daemon, finally killing the beast, as they then trampled its corpse beneath their hooves as they piled into the flank of the Fimm Warriors.

*This photo was taken before the death of the Daemonomaniac and the resulting overrun of the Bull Centaurs into the Fimm Warriors - largely because we almost forgot to fight that combat!

Turn Four
The Shearl charged into the flank of the K'daai Destroyer that was so close in front of them that even with only one eye and a consequential lack of depth perception they couldn't fail to judge the distance. The Moor Hounds and Fiana Fimm continued to moved around the flank of the battlefield, closing upon the Hobgoblins and Infernal Guard at the rear. Magella drew deeply upon the winds of magic as they blew strongly across the battlefield, casting The Withering and The Enfeebling Foe on the K'daai Destroyer to reduce the fearsome monster's strength and toughness in order to aid the Fimm Warriors and Shearl in their battle. Attempting to aid them further, Magella tried to also cast Okkam's Mindrazor, but the Sorcerer Prophet dispelled the magical force before it could take hold. The Eye Tyrant continued to hover close to the Hobgoblins and unleashed a beam from its third eye, vaporising seven of the greenskins. The Taur'ruk leading the Bull Centaurs bellowed a challenge which the Fimm Fian of the Fimm Warrior unit bravely, but ultimately fatally, accepted in order to allow Marroar to confront the K'daai Destroyer. The Destroyer killed three Fimm Warriors and a solitary Shearl, while the Fimm injured it again in return, before the Shearl delivered the final killing blow. The Bull Centaurs pummeled three Fimm to the floor, tipping the combat against them and breaking their frenzy, but the Fimm Warriors stubbornly held to face their opposition.

The Chaos Dwarf and Hobgoblin units reformed to face the threat of the Fiana Fimm advancing around their flank. The Sorcerer Prophet cast Curse of Hashuut on Drust, but the mighty Fimm Mistmor shrugged it off without any concern. The Sorcerer then failed to cast Ashstorm as the fickle winds of magic fled from his grasp. The crew of the Deathshrieker Rocket spied the Eye Tyrant, but overshot, scattered onto the side of the ravine and exploded harmlessly. With the Taur'ruk still bellowing loudly, Marroar stepped up boldly, but his armour was not up to the challenge and his bloodied and beaten body fell beneath the hooves of the Bull Centaurs, alongside three other Fimm Warriors. However, the slicing blows of the Fimm did cut down a Bull Centaur in revenge.

Turn Five
Magella cast her eyes to the skies as the mists vanished into the distance and the sun's powerful rays burnt down into the ravine; the Fimir generally carried on, but the Eye Tyrant drifted in a stupor. Having seen off the terrifying K'daai Destroyer, the Shearl charged into the flank of the Bull Centaurs to support the Fimm Warriors. Meanwhile the Moor Hounds charged headlong into the Hobgoblins. The Fiana Fimm unit summoned up the power from the Banner of All-Seeing, charged directly to their left flank and engaged the Infernal Guard. Magella continued to wield the winds of magic expertly, casting The Enfeebling Foe on the Infernal Guard to minimise their chances of wounding the Fiana Fimm. Her casting of Okkam's Mindrazor was torn asunder by the Sorcerer Prophet, but he couldn't stop the Meargh from then casting The Withering on the remaining Bull Centaurs. The Taur'ruk and Bull Centaur slaughtered three Fimm warriors between them, while the warriors replied with the support of the Shearl and injured the Bull Centaur. Enough was enough and the flank charge put too much pressure on the Taur'ruk and Bull Centaur, causing them to flee. Yet neither the Shearl nor the Fimm Warriors could catch them. Meanwhile, the Moor Hounds tore apart five Hobgoblins on their charge, suffering only one casualty in return. At the rear of the Chaos Dwarf battleline, Drust roared a challenge which the Infernal Guard champion accepted. The champion failed to wound the tough skin of the Fimm Mistmor and was instead promptly beaten to a pulp. The Fiana Fimm alongside Drust suffered one wound and snuffed out the miserable lives of seven Infernal Guard with many others executing some excellent last minute parries to turn aside the brutal blows. The Infernal Guard stubbornly stood their ground despite the torrent of great weapon attacks smashing into them.

The fleeing Bull Centaur and Taur'ruk rallied and turned to face the pursuing Shearl. The Sorcerer Prophet cast Ashstorm and Breath of Hatred, but Magella dispelled both as she subtly manipulated the winds of magic. The Deathshrieker Rocket launched a missile at the depleted Fimm Warrior unit, seeking to remove an important foe, but scattered wide. A last-minute readjustment by the crew led to Magella being caught in the fringes of the explosion, but she simply shrugged the debris away from her without breaking concentration. The Moor Hounds ripped apart two Hobgoblins, who replied by killing one of their ferocious attackers. Owing to the numbers of the Hobgoblins, the attack of the Hounds began to falter and two of the daemon dogs returned to their own plane of existence. Drust once again bellowed out for someone worthy of him, and the Sorceror Prophet stepped forward with a sinister plan in mind. Unfortunately the Sorcerer was betrayed by fate and his attacks clattered harmlessly against Drust's Runic Bellyshield. Drust channelled his outrage at the sneaky behaviour he was confronted with and attacked with such determination and raw aggression that the Sorcerer Prophet was killed more than twice over. The Infernal Guard failed to pierce the defences of the Fiana Fimm who killed four of the beardlings outright before stomping another into the ground; yet once more the Dwarves stood defiant.

Turn Six
The Eye Tyrant once again succumbed to the harshness of the sunlight and drifted forward aimlessly, while the ranks of the Shearl charged into the newly rallied Bull Centaur and Taur'ruk. Knowing that the battle was drawing to an end, Magella reached into the winds of magic, seeking to land a decisive blow. Whilst her casting of The Enfeebling Foe was dispelled, she succeeded in boosting the Shearl with the mighty Okkam's Mindrazor. The Taur'ruk sliced apart three Shearl and the Bull Centaur killed another one, but the Shearl struck back with their magical boost, killing the last Bull Centaur, and injuring the Taur'ruk who consequently fled from the lowly Fimir caste once again. Unfortunately the Taur'ruk was too swift to be caught. The Moor Hounds continued their attacks against the Hobgoblins, preventing them from supporting the Infernal Guard or attacking the diminished Fimm Warriors and Magella. The Hounds killed two Hobgoblins, but the greenskins finally organised a show of defiance and slashed five of the demon dogs apart, leading to the remaining one succumbing to its instability and being banished back to its own dimension. After his two successful challenges, Drust once again shouted out, calling for a worthy fighter to take him on, but the Infernal Castellan cowered at the back. Despite this show of cowardice, the Infernal Guard managed to kill the injured Fiana Fimm. The might of Drust, combined with the other Fiana Fimm, slaughtered thirteen beardlings in a flurry of great weapons and clubbed tails. Yet the Infernal Guard somehow still remained defiant.

Having finally seen off the Moor Hounds, the Hobgoblins charged into the depleted unit of Fimm Warriors that also housed Magella. The Taur'ruk realised that it could not be seen to be showing such failure, so rallied to confront his foes. The Deathshrieker Rocket carefully aimed at the Shearl, but alarmingly scattered towards the Taur'ruk, but fortunately landed in no mans land. Magella looked at the pitiful Hobgoblins charging towards her and used her sacrificial knife to put one out of its misery, while they feebly waved their weapons in an ineffectual display. The few remaining Fimm Warriors killed another one and used their tails to club another two to the ground. The cowardly Hobgoblins fled and were run down, the Fimm Warriors' pursuit crashing them into the rear of the Infernal Guard. The Infernal Guard continued their fight against the might of the Fiana Fimm, once again failing to injure any of the monstrous infantry in front of them, with Drust and the Fiana Fimm crushing another seven Dwarves to their doom, yet they stubbornly refused to flee.

End of Game:

The Fimir secured a decisive victory scoring 1892 victory points whilst the Chaos Dwarves scored only 824 points.

Magella and Drust watched the few remaining Chaos Dwarves as they pitifully tried to defend themselves in their retreat - the Fiana Fimm had been issued the instruction 'no survivors' and were relishing the sound of Dwarven bones crunching beneath their heavy stone maces. The Chaos Dwarf army had been shattered and they would no longer be ransacking the local villages; the delicate balance would be restored and the Fimir clan, despite their own losses, would be free to carry on as before. Drust picked up the broken bodies of Marroar and Rictumal as Magella started to call out to the daemons to locate and return their souls.

It's alive... alive!

I've been really looking forward to writing this blog post - the daemonomaniac has finally been painted. Since reading the description of this monster in the army book, I've been intrigued how best to display a giant sized fimir. I mean, what's not to love about the idea of a daemon being bound within a fimir and virtually ripping him apart from the inside out, distorting his form and making him a veritable killing machine in the process?

The picture is so characterful that I was really keen to capture this in my model. I have previously blogged about the making of the model, so I won't go into that again. Instead I'll show you an animation of the finished model from different angles.

I'm really happy with how he's turned out. I think he looks suitably vicious, about to deliver a huge, fatal blow with his axe, before then sweeping his savage, hooked claw through whatever stands in his way. All the bits of binding around his legs, arms, etc were a bit of a pain to paint - I'm not especially good with really fine detail, but I took considerable care on this and managed to get them neatly done. The amount of skulls on this model is frankly ridiculous, but conveys a brilliant character and macabre threat. Again each skull has ties on it which was quite fiddly to do.

Now all that is left to do is to see what havoc it can cause in the battlefield. I know of a chaos dwarf slave army that are getting too cocky and trying to poach slaves from fimir lands. I have a feeling they might find themselves being surrounded by a chilling mist and taught a lesson very soon!

Behold the clan battle standard

My usual snail's pace of hobbying has continued I'm afraid. In the last post I said I was going to spend some time on my dwarves - I did a little bit and finished off my gyrocopters and gyrobomber, but then stagnated again. Over the festive period I really lost my hobby mojo and didn't have any inclination to be doing anything. Annoyingly, since going back to work and having loads of marking from mock exams and coursework, I've rediscovered a drive to paint and model - right when I have very little time for it! However, I've used that as a bit of motivation to get through my dull marking - reach a milestone and then spend a bit of time painting. As such I have painted my Fimir battle standard bearer.

I really like this model as there's so many different bits involved in the standard itself - from Ogres, Skaven, Empire, Lizardmen, and Ravenwing. The axe is from a Warriors of Chaos kit, but with one blade cut off, the full axe was just too big. I wanted him to stand out a bit as a hero, so added a bit of shoulder armour, using plates from the Lizardman Saurus kit. I've used a couple of these pieces on the tails of normal warriors, but I think they help to bulk up the warrior.

In terms of painting it, I'm quite happy with how the brass looks with the Nihilakh Oxide on it. I used this paint on my Fir Bolg to make them look old and corroded, but I used it over more gold based colours, so this was the first time using on a dull brass. Whilst I wanted it to look quite heavily corroded, so I pit it over the entire brass bits, I especially tried to think about bits where water would collect and the corrosion would build up more. This is pretty easy to achieve by simply painting it on, and then wiping the excess away with a bit of kitchen roll. It leaves it suitably built up in the crevices.

On the two papery bits (one on the front and one on the back) I wanted to be able to echo the curly patterns that are on my unit standards, as well as take the opportunity to get a bit more blue (the clan colour) onto the model. So the long twisting one simply echoes those patterns. The one pinned to the board felt more like a warning notice, so I included scribbled writing, but still had a pattern to tie it into the running motif.

I have also bought some more of the Forgeworld Fimir Warriors. I already have a set and converted a standard bearer and champion, though they were reasonably simple projects, I now needed to convert one to become a musician. I had an idea of what I wanted - a set of drums hanging around the waist of the warrior as a large model needs a suitably large musical instrument. I rummaged through my stash of bits and found the drums from one of the dwarf kits that looked suitably like a kettle drum. Three of these together would make an excellent drum set. Owing to the pose of legs of the Fimir warriors it was quite hard to get them to sit right, but found one of the three models that they would work on. I had to change the pose of the arms so that they were at a better angle for a drummer so the green stuff had to be broken out again. I still need to do a bit more work with the green stuff as there are a few holes in the back of the drums that need filling in; I didn't do it before as I wasn't sure how much would be visible. I'm looking forward to fielding a unit of 6 of these guys - hopefully they'll smash things!

Reaving in the Marshlands

I've not had much opportunity for painting/modelling recently as I was in another play. However, with that finished I have found a few moments to spare. Whilst I've been focusing a bit more on my Black Templars and trying to get a couple of those major characters painted, I didn't want to neglect WFB completely, so I've painted my Marsh Reavers. I've been looking forward to painting these models for quite a while now - I just love the Bog Beasts they are riding, crawling out of the swamp, and I'm so happy with how I managed to get the Lizardmen Cold One Rider bodies to fit around, with the kilts billowing in the wind. I must admit that they were a real pain to paint fully assembled (I paint everything fully assembled largely because I'm too excited and want to build/play with things straight away; if I didn't I'd have really small armies to pick from to play with). They are modeled with a musician and two normal Reavers, so at some point I might have to see if I can get my hands on three more lizards to make a champion, standard bearer, and one more Reaver to round out the unit fully.

I started making some river sections for terrain, but that plan has been on hold for a little bit as I'm rethinking some of what I'm doing. I will get back to it though as I think it'd really nice to have a river running through the marsh. Also, none of the friends that I play with have any river section, so we've never played over one - it's always good to have some variety in the terrain available.

Having nearly finished the Black Templar characters (The Domus Crusade page will be updated soon), I'm going to spend a bit of time on my Dwarves - they have been quite majorly neglected this year. I have a few half-painted models to finish, then lots of regiments that I haven't started; I think the Hammerers and Irondrakes will be next on the painting table. However, I would also love to get painting the Daemonmaniac for my Fimir - I am just so looking forward to having such a large sized Fimir striding through the marsh. So keep your eyes peeled!

The eyes...the eyes!

Whilst I am working on the Marsh Reavers at the moment, as well as various 40k models, and trying to make some watery/marshy terrain (which will be in my next post), I have got around to completing the Eye Tyrant. I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

I was slightly apprehensive when I first started - a grey undercoat, washed with Carroburg Crimson, and drybrushed with Lothern Blue - it looked far to much like a novelty from a West Ham United souvenir shop. But a few dry brushes of different shades of purple eased the effect really nicely.

I wanted to get blue into the design so that it matches with my other Fimir models - blue kilts, shields, banners, etc. So I made sure the eyes started off with a coat of Kantor Blue, then a brush of Lothern Blue, a brush of Bleached Bone, and finally a pupil drawn on using a micro pen. I think the colours of the eyes give a piercing effect, rather creepy really - after all, it is a daemon summoned from a realm that it really is best not to think about!

Lords within the marshes

Over the Summer I had aspirations to get a reasonable chunk of my Fimir army painted up, but I spent a large part of the holidays in Canada, touring along the East Coast. It's a lovely country and my wife and I had a fantastic time there. Now it's September and that means back-to-school and consequently less hobby time, especially as I'm also in rehearsals for another play. I have, however, managed to do a little bit of work over the last couple of weeks . I have finished the two lord choices in my Fimir army - a Meargh and a Fimm Mistmor - Magella Wisestone and Drust. Really quite happy with how they have turned out.

Magella is mainly a Malifaux model, but with her face cut off and a Lizardman one attached in its place. I really like the pose of the base model, holding a doll with a knife poised to cut like she's using voodoo against someone. The serpents on her base are also from a Lizardmen kit; this helps tie all of my Fimir magic users together as they all have some form of animal familiar.

Drust is based on a Forgeworld Fimir model. I have sculpted a helmet for him with the face of some form of animal/daemon figure. I think this helps to separate him from the basic Forgeworld models. The weapon is also rather key - I run him wielding the Vile Branch Crusher magic weapon, multiplying each hit into d3 hits. As such he needed a rather imposing weapon that needed to look like a tree and root ball. I started off with a piece of twig and then used two paperclips bent around each other into some form of root shape. I used green stuff to form the shape around this armature, sculpting some texture on them to hopefully give a good effect. I then painted this brown first of all, before drybrushing progressively lighter to begin to give it a grey, dead and bleached look.

I have started to paint my three Marsh Reavers and the Eye Tyrant, but I think progress will be quite slow.

Age of Fimir and Summoned Daemons

With Games Workshop having dropped Warhammer Fantasy Battle and introduced Age of Sigmar, I have had a bit of a thought about the continuation of my Fimir project. I've played a quick trial game of AoS and, whilst I think it might be quite fun for quick small-scale, it is not going to replace 8th edition of WFB for me. However, my friends and I might play some AoS games if we have a spare hour or want to try something a bit different. Therefore, I still want the Fimir to have a part to play in the AoS, so I've sat down and drafted some warscrolls:

Take a look and tell me what you think.  

I must acknowledge Mathias Eliasson from warhammerarmiesproject.blogspot.co.uk as the rules I've written are based from his Fimir Army Book that I use for WFB. I haven't had a chance to play test these Fimir AoS rules yet, so if you play with them, please do let me know how it goes.

In other news, I haven't really made much Fimir progress recently. With GW releasing a new Space Marine Codex, I've been paying my Templars a bit more attention. However, the time has come to return to the marshes and reinforce the clan. Whilst there is plenty left to do with the models I already have, both painting and modelling, I am always a sucker for a new project. Consequently I started to think about a few monster elements for my force. In the Fimir Army Book (and now in my Fimir AoS warscrolls) there is a daemon that the Meargh sometimes summons which can add some much needed ranged support - the Eye Tyrant.

On top of the Eye Tyrant’s hovering, one-eyed body is a ring of eye-stalks ending in smaller eyes which can unleash different gaze attacks at enemies. A gaping maw set with many sharp teeth splits its body. In other words, it is the Beholder from Dungeons and Dragons. Being a D&D geek as well, I thought it would be quite cool to include one of these as a daemon summoned by the Meargh of my clan. I found a nice model on ebay manufactured by Reaper Miniatures. I haven't started painting it yet, but thought I'd share what I think is a really well sculpted model.

The other model/unit that I've been getting quite inspired about is the Daemonomaniac. A Daemonomaniac is the product of a powerful daemon being successfully bound within the body of a Fimir of the warrior caste. It has a huge cleaver blade grafted onto one arm, a great axe of Fimul in the other, and its giant tail lashing about crushing whole files of troops.

I love the idea of having a giant-sized Fimir included in the army, I think it just sums at a level of craziness with the Fimir and their daemon summoning. The problem was - how do you construct a Fimir that is the size of a giant? I have scoured the internet for different miniature manufacturers for a suitable base model, yet I kept basically coming back to either the GW giant or the GW Beastmen Cygor/Ghorgon.

These are some fantastically characterful models, but none of them are quite right. All three would need an impressive tail, some work on hands and feet, some head sculpting, etc. I was puzzled about how to progress for quite a while, but eventually made a decision - I'd use the Cygor/Ghorgon kit as the base, not gluing on hair where possible, carving off the rest of the sculpted hair, splitting the hooves to have three toes, using the cygor head without attaching the horns (I originally wanted to use the GW Carnosaur head, but couldn't get one from ebay or a bits site), carve off a finger on each hand to leave three and a thumb, construct some form of giant axe, and use the GW Kharibyss tail. I decided that my Daemonomaniac would have three arms to further individualise the silhouette - afterall, a daemon being bound within is likely to cause some horrendous mutations. It has taken quite a while to piece it all together and carve away the hair, green stuffing over the scraped areas, but all in all I'm rather happy with how the model is progressing.