Tuesday 23 October 2018

Shadespire revisited


I decided to re-paint my 'pink' Sepulchral Guard.  I wanted to make them more purple.  So this time I added a blue wash to their cloaks.  That was 10 minutes well spent.  Holy shit, I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this 'basic colour theory' thing!  It only took me 8 years!

Before
I played a few tutorial games of Nightvault with Alistair down at Freebooters and dammit, I enjoyed them despite myself.  I usually sigh wearily when Games Workshop introduce more byzantine and esoteric rules to their games  (yeah, yeah you're a super numerate tactical genius and its all easy but I just want to throw dice and smash things).  However, the magic system is very intuitive and dovetails nicely with the current attack and action game mechanic.  We forgot to play with the red-hex death things so I can't comment on that.  I love the scatter template though, even though it was a bit underwhelming in a purely destructive capacity.

After
Alistair had bought the game, the Gitz and the snazzy Underworlds travel case because he's a complete fanboy.  I got to play the wizard Sigmarines and had heard bad things about them but they were ideal for a starter force.  A fully upgraded Averon Stormsire can sit back and blast shit off the table with lightning bolts.  He's a righteous dude!  You can get glory from casting spells and you become inspired by casting spells.  You can still cast spells even when you are unable to move or attack.  The only trouble was that stuff like Gambits are pretty low probability and only randomly turn up in your deck.  So I don't think I managed to cast any card spells at all during one game.  Which can make Ammis and Rastus a bit boring, but hey, they still hit things very hard with their swords and you can always tweak your deck.  I think they performed decently against the Gitz.  Alistair didn't have time to build himself a proper deck (I was just using the default), Sourtongue's ball and chain attack probably works better against hordes and they are very squishy.  On the other hand, they were much more thematic and their rules seemed more fun.

Then, of course, there are the Sigmarine models.  Good grief it must get terribly hot under all that apparel.  Would you like to wear robes over your robes over your full plate armour?  The wands are a bit fairy like. Rastus has definitely been eating too many pies and looks pregnant.


I'd want to do some hideous conversions with the Stormsire's Cursebreakers.  I was thinking that since my Sigmarines are all Celtic, I could swap out the wands for beer mugs and try to model them all drunk.  I wonder if Ammis would look good with a Witch Elf head?  I've got a few spares.  I could call her "Eilís" (my mother's name).  Maybe give them all red hair and insult Irish people everywhere.

A unique take on the Sigmarines.  It would be an interesting project.  Ahh crap, I think the game has its barbed little hooks in me now.  I'm going to have to buy it, aren't I?  God damn it.

13 comments:

  1. Damn, that's a nice purple now. And yes, your a$$ does look big in it...

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    1. Rastus is a big unit isn't he? Having played the warband I kind of like them now though. Cheers Siph

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  2. Great stuff with the Undead horde. It's amazing how much a simple wash can change the look of a model.

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    1. Yeah, I definitely think the cloaks look purple now. Which is a relief! Thanks Mike

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  3. Looks good! Colour theory can sometimes help but I usually dont think about painting in that way either.
    I'll be looking forward to your Sigmarine Conversions! Seems like a fun project!

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    1. Agreed. I generally just copy other people's colour schemes. I don't have any beer mugs to convert my force with. I'll have to hunt around and see if I can find anything. Surely there are dwarf models knocking around holding beer?

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    2. I know the old Dwarf Warriors kit had beer mugs in it as extras you could add. Not sure if the current one does or not.

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    3. Do you want me to look in my Dwarf bits for tankards?

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    4. I've got some Dwarven Hammerers, or is it Longbeards? Not sure, I'll have to check the box. Rob, if you've got any tankards spare then I will attempt the surgery on the models and name one in your honour!

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  4. Easily the best skeletons I've seen in a long, long time!

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    1. yeah I love the Sepulchral Guard. GW knocked it out of the park with this kit.

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  5. That purple is looking really nice now!

    And yeah, we found the new Rules blended in pretty seamlessly. They did a great job of paralleling the existing Attack sequence, just using dice with different symbols. My own experiences regarding the Cursebreakers were underwhelming, but I think that was more to do with the deck that L had built for them than anything else. The basic stats and abilities on their cards seem solid.

    I definitely agree with you on the layers of robes. But then again, I've got enough natural insulation that I rarely go for more than a hoody even when there's snow on the ground!

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    1. Thanks Westrider, I reckon other warbands will outshine the Cursebreakers just by being more thematic and interesting. They are a bit dull in comparison.

      And if Rastus even just had a different pose it could work. Sigmarines are meant to look solid and chunky but he's just so... bottom heavy? His legs look too big for his body. I'm probably being over-critical but this is GW and I know they can do better.

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