The final grand commission of 2024, paying off printing debts for some Warhammer books I never actually used due to them going out of date so fast. Not salty about that at all. Anyway.
The miniature is Reaper Bones from the 5th kickstarter.
I had no vision for this monster, and no idea how to start on it. My client came up with the idea of red tentacles, fading into purple innards, and lighter purple carapace. We synced several times during the paintjob, and this is where it went.
A 1000 points training game against a new player. We skipped secondary missions and played a dumbed down version of Purge the Foe. Also no detachments and no stratagems. I had built my list for Pact Bound Zealots, but not having stratagems was a breath of fresh air into the game.
I forgot to take a picture of deployment, so here we are bottom of round 1.
We deployed in table quarters, and the necrons went first. They took objectives and put the Wraiths front and center. The Flayed Ones infiltrated right up to my Possessed and charged them. I sallied forth with everything, sending the Rhino to take an objective.
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Taking a break from our Dungeon of the Mad Mage campaign, we decided on a boardgame night, but still in-universe. Castle Ravenloft is a D&D themed-boardgame, with the miniatures actually usable in D&D, and many rules instantly recognizable to any D&D-veteran.
I picked the wizard, and we started with the intro adventure: escape from Strahd's crypt.
New year, new beginnings. We started off very slowly, due to all the smalltalk, but the players have done their homework, and quickly resurrected the remaining dead and bought their equipment.
They descended into the dungeon once again, first meeting up with the githyanki and learning about what happened while they were recuperating. The gith pounced on the weakened mind flayer colony, slaughtering everything and selling their loot to a gnomish space faring trader. Disappointed, the adventurers poked at this a bit more, but concluded that their fabled magic gear is well and truly gone. Oh well.
The party descended to the next level, immediately feeling the shadows creeping in, concluding that this place is unnaturally evil. They bypassed a wall of darkness, after trying out what happens if you shoot it with arrows, fire, push an arrow in by hand, etc. In a small chamber, they found some coffins, which they immediately proceeded to open. Obviously, vampires. Level 15 adventurers are no joke, even without magic gear, so one vampire spawn died, and the other two fled.
Let's give the giants time to shine during a game of Dark Wings, Dark Words.
Note that I forgot to take pictures during round 1, as we were just posturing anyway, until the crossbowmen ran forwards and shot down my chariot. RIP. 5 points deficit from turn 1. Cool.
During round 2, the battle lines settled into this:
One last game of fun with indirect fire artillery, before the incoming codex. Up against my guard, the Dark Angels with turn 1 teleporting Terminators.
Time for another miniature painted as a gift, this time with a hefty amount of trolling added to the mix. I asked my guy how he paints his Custodes and how he'd like a new addition painted - without obviously mentioning her female nature. Thus, she'll be a Shadowkeeper on a snow base. And of course she bears a canonical name.
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New year's come and gone, goals achieved, all the good stuff. Now, for January...
Gaming was... OK, with a slow start after the new year. I did one of each 40k, ASOIAF, Golden Vault and Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Then I got hit with the flu and didn't go out of the house for over a week.
Hobby wise, I just couldn't put myself to paint anything. Partly because I discovered Baldur's Gate 3, which I'm playing multiplayer with old friends. It was fun during the holidays because I could go at it for days on end, now it's just some evenings of weekend afternoons. But also because I wasn't feeling it. So I did assembly/conversion work instead. I have around 45 marines, a load of cultists, traitor guard, nuns of all kinds, tanks, as well as other projects, ready to go.
And it would be time to go... due to some acquisitions, I am now at -50. Yeah, you read that right.
Now that I'm kind of over the flu... it's pedal to the metal! I want to finish as many nuns and tanks as possible before the Guard codex hits.
In honor of an old time player/returning guest, we held a one shot, a bit reskinned for the occasion. The adventuring party:
embarked on an expedition to an unexplored island in search of treasure.
