How to train your Fire Drake

I was hoping to include a few Clan Lords on Fire Drakes in the Salamanders army, since the primary theme appears to be fire!

I already have one ridden carnosaur figure painted on a lava style base, so why not give him a buddy?

I believe this is the Ork Wyvern from the Azhag set.  Since it really looked like a fire breathing dragon to me, I was hoping that I might be able to add the plastic carnosaur rider to it.

I had to do a lot of green stuff work anyway during the assembly process, so I tried to build up the area that would hold the throne.  I made a simple chain mail texture to fill it out.

There were some additional head pieces in the set, so I chipped away and modified one to fit the rather flat, squarish head.

Lo and behold, that rider and throne fit on here better than the original figure!  I have some additional straps and other decorative pieces to apply, so I will try to get some images once those are placed and it's been primed.

This is going to be very fun to paint!!  I will probably have glowing wings on this one, just as I did with the original years ago.

Charge!!

Now for a peek at some of the Galadhrim cavalry.  They served me quite well, despite being very few in number.

Once I paired them up with Gwaihir, their effectiveness went through the roof.

Gwaihir would fly over the top of a line of orcs in order to remove any spear or pike bonuses that might be used against the cavalry charging from the front.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/322023565787?

Mad Dog!!

More doggies!  I am really digging the black fur with the armor tones!

While I enjoyed painting the red ones, this has been a nice break from that.

The wolves you are seeing here are all metal, and the details have been nice and solid.

Stay tuned for more!

Swarms and Scavengers

With the first tournament just a few hours away for the reborn Empire of Dust, we see some last minute adjustments.  That is in the form of Swarms, which have an all important trait of Vanguard. 

Not only have I witnessed the importance of such a trait in a number of battle reports, but I have felt the sting of massed amounts of vanguard units standing on the center line of the table before I have even had a turn!

I had already added two such units... a Scorpion husk and a Swarm regiment.  Some carrion bases were left over from a bygone age, so they were repurposed with some Reaper BONES figures.

This one is mostly painted.  I think it had been 2-3 years since I had last painted these kinds of bases for the original army.

The Eye of the Chaos God still watches over the lands of the Ahmuntites.  Just as with all the other movement trays, the glyphs warn that "All those who enter the Tomb Cities of Pseusennes shall suffer a fate worse than death".

The original broken columns were carved from baked sculpey, and then cast so that I would not have to spend many more hours doing the same thing over and over!

These swarms will take the place of the Screaming Skull catapult on the old army board, which will finally be used again!!  Very excited about that.

The old Carrion Birds didn't sit on a tray in the original configuration, but I will leave them that way now.

This is one of my favorite scenes on the army board.  I will take some new images later in the week and fashion a new post for you.

We shall see if this third vanguard unit offers any help.  It was exchanged (and a Bone Giant as well) for a pricey Guardian warrior unit which did nothing but get in the way until it died.  This will give me one additional drop, and a monster that can actually charge into the terrain and do some damage.

The nerve value and defense are higher, so I am also hoping the combination of these two new units makes it possible for me to stay in the same area code as the nastier tourney armies that will be at Draxtar this Sunday for the Adepticon Primer.

Wish me luck!  Gonna need it.

Notching an arrow

More Galadhrim elves for you!

I didn't have many archers in the army, usually only three or four at most.  The army was centered around the magic users, utilizing the wind blast spell.  Knock down the enemy and use the fast eagles and cavalry to pounce on them while they are down!

This worked quite well time and again.  Having the eagles to fly over the mass of bodies and hit them from the other side didn't always cause lots of damage, but it would tie those guys up when they did get up again, leaving those in the front to continue with the beat down.

Howling at the Moon

It's been a while since I have posted a Privateer Press figure, so I thought I would get back into that range by showing you a little different color scheme on the Oboros doggies.

Previously, all the dogs have been painted in various shades of deep red.  I had a lot of fun doing the dark grey/black color scheme!!

That neutral color really set off the red and gold armor quite nicely!

I painted three of the wolves in this color set, so stay tuned!

A fire in the Jungle

Something new emerges from the Jungle... fierce and brimming with fire.  That is the Salamanders from Kings of War by Mantic!

The Salamanders join the Trident Realms as the two new lines of miniatures added to the range.  Here are some views of the sprues, which come with a number of options.

You can create a hand weapon with shield, or a two handed Salamander for additional crushing strength.  There are also some extras on the sprue, such as little flames and a flaming banner.

There are enough heads and arms to create lots of variation.

This package contains the leg/torso base, as well as more weapon options.  Most of these are the two handed variety.

Here's one more look at the bodies and the arms.

Now for a look at the first painted Salamander!!  He's on a 25mm base.

I went with more of a traditional color scheme on this first figure, but many others are planned!

I am rendering the shoulder pads as a tortoise shell, so they will be a slightly different color from the rest of the scales.

The views from above show the base and the paper foliage.  When I start doing the multibased units, I will try to have them advancing across a jungle landscape which has been partially burned.  I will also paint some of the weapons glowing orange as well.

I'm really looking forward to creating a Salamander army based around these figures!  I already have a number of the beasties from my old army.  More are on the way, so stay tuned!