Arming for Aftermath - Sons of Malice

[mabrothrax]

It's true, I am a Doomed One, a dedicated follower of Malal.

As such I started working on a Sons of Malice force some time ago, but as always you get a little bit into a project and another idea that must be acted on comes along... and so the SoM haven't gotten to far.

Actually I'm quite glad they're in the formative stage because it means I can now begin to think hard about what I want in the army.

Now, taking into account the minute amounts of Malal & Sons of Malice fluff I have a number of guidlines for my force(s)

• No Marks, not even Undivided
  
• Groups of 11 wherever possible
  
• No Daemons (Princes & possessed not inc.)
  

Given that: a) followers of Malal are powerful and few and far between, and: b) the Sons of Malice maybe in a depleted state after the EOT, Inquisitorial purge etc. there should be few actual marines in the army.

This can be done by keeping each model's points cost high through the use of multiple Veteran Skills (thanks to no Mark).
Infilrtrate is priority for 11 man units (cos they wont fit in a Rhino), and Furious Charge fits the fluff IMHO.

Anyway models-wise I have (in various stages of paintedness);

• A Daemon Prince converted to look like Malal, wielding a Dreadaxe,
  
  
• An 11 man squad of bolter armed CSM inc 2 plasma guns and an AC with Pfist,
  
• An 11 man squad of Power armoured Chosen with various ccw's
  
• 5 Possessed
  
• A Dreadnought with plasma cannon
  
• A converted Abbadon with twin LC's (to represent Kathal)
  
• bits of Terminators all over my desk (about 6 I think)
  

Now this includes only one troops choice, and the Chosen unit costs about 350 points!

All good and well but what comes next?

The obvious answer is another troops choice (an 11 man CSM unit), which will probably be assembled from a single box of khornate nutjobs.

I'm already sick of the standard CSM box, why 8 models and not enough bits to equip all of them with bolters or pistols and swords? Grr.

So after th e 2nd unit then what? I've decided I don't want Oblits or a Defiler (too common) and I'm unsure about bikes or raptors.

A tank hunting unit of Havocs with Autocannons is on the list though.

With all this indecision another choice presents itself: do a Lost and the Damned army.

Think of it - overpriced uber CSM units backed up by cheap traitor/mutant screens. The Forgeworld militia are gorgeous... but pricey, then again they (or 'mutants') built primarily from the WFB chaos maruader kit could work a Tribesmen from Scelus, or the remains of the Guard force that went to occupy it during the EOT campaign

I'd quite like a unit of hounds too.

I'm going to write up a couple of army lists and post 'em here later.

Photos up sometime tomorrow.

Ok so I'm going to set two deadlines:
1. Choose Army (pure CSM or LatD) by tomorrow (6/3)
2. Purchase one unit of Troops by Wednesday (7/3).

Glory or insanity awaits!

[Cerus]

think that LatD might e a good idea considering the low number of marines at a high points cost, if they get shot to pieces without being able to do much its going to hurt which is why i try to avoid high pt cost squads when able to and hardly ever take chosen except in small numbers. So some low cost mutants or guard might be good option to soak up some casualties, and if the LatD fit in with the army's fluff then its all good imo.

Not seen the forgeworld militia yet myself, will have to go and have a look.

[mabrothrax]

I've banged up a quick 1000(ish) points LatD list, I'm deffinately leaning towards the Horde rather than pure CSM.

Sons of Malice :: Lost and the Damned

HQ (Compulsory)
Sons of Malice Arch Heretic
Bolt pistol
Dark Blade
Frag grenades
Melta bombs
Spiky bits
Infltrate
Furious Charge

93

Elites (Allied)
11 Chosen Sons of Malice with bolt pistol and ccw
3 have plasma pistols
All have Frag grenades
All have Infiltrate
All have Furious Charge
Upgrade one to Aspiring champion with Power Fist
Upgrade another to Aspiring champion with Power Fist

344


Troops (Compulsory)
15 Traitors with lasguns and frag grenades
Lascannon Team

110

Troops (Compulsory)
15 Traitors with lasguns and frag grenades
Lascannon Team

110

Troops (Allied)
11 Sons of Malice Chaos Space Marines with bolters and ccw
2 have plasma guns
All have frag grenades
All have Infiltrate
Upgrade one to Aspiring champion with Power Fist

246


Heavy Support
Traitor Basilisk

100

1003

I've not got the IG codex to hand (under a pile o' stuff I think) so I'm guessing on the pts of the Basilisk. Will probably add Improved coms too, for games with Escalation.

Besides that EVERYTHING CAN INFILTRATE! ;D

Mmm. Buttery goodness.

The only thing on the list I don't have at present are the traitors which'll need 3 lots of the FW militia and a bundle of plastic gubbins. It'll cost around £60 for less that 250 points

But they'll look damn good.

[Archon No'ki]

Looks promising and I can't wait to see pictures. ;D If money does become an issue with the Traitors then various IG and WHFB Chaos Marauder bits make good traitors and probably are a darn site cheaper.

One quick thing though, please do not post the points of individual pieces of equipment. GW view that as a breach of their copy right and would send their savage law ferrets after us all. You can of course include the total points cost of a unit, but not the cost of each individual bit.

[mabrothrax]

Law Ferret-repelling subroutine 342 initiated...

[Cerus]

oooooh i really like those militia models, might have to redo my LatD army but 1 project at a time, still working on my Death Gaurd then got my Luna Wolves to finish.

Seems like quite a good army list, can traitor guard infiltrate for free? dunno where my LatD codex is, and not read over it for a while

[mabrothrax]

Oh yes indeed they can, so long as they're not led by an Asp. C.

[mabrothrax]

I wrote up a few different 1000 points (pure CSM) SoM lists ealier. They averaged out at around 50, models.

I'm too in love with all the Horde randomness and various Forgeworld goodies, a Lost and the Damned army it is!

Huzzah!

[mabrothrax]

This digital camera is no good for any sort of close-up

This is the best of a bad bunch (no pun intended) - some of my SoM Chosen.



I'm going to experiment taking snapshots via my webcam.

Previous deadline met: chose army - LatD!
New task (no deadline): drink a lot of tea whilst swearing at a camera in order to make it work, failing that bang big nails into it and paint it red, works for the Orks

[mabrothrax]

I'm still having camera problems





Anyway, this is the breakdown of how I paint my Sons of Malice:

• Spray black
  
• Paint quarters white (not worried about being tidy at this stage)
  
• Paint rims, weaponry & other metallic areas Boltgun Metal
  
• Liberally coat with black ink
  
• Repaint white quarters with thin coats, leaving black lines, until a solid colour is achieved
  
• Tidy up black areas
  

That's the absolute basics- other details are rotting/greenish flesh, dark red- brown for fur & hair, bone, and the odd bit of gold detail.

All skulls (real and decorative) are bisected black & white/silver/bone.

The bases are currently black/brown, although I'm experimenting with snow...

Of the first 11 man unit all but two are at a nice gaming standard, and the same goes for the Chosen (except that one is totally unpainted).

Once all 22 models are at what I consider gaming standard I'll make the bases look more attractive with snow, grass, and other stuff.

I'm going to persevere with the army blog, and re edit it with quality photos at the first opportunity

[Archon No'ki]

Painting white over black? Your a braver man than I, and must have the patience of a saint. How many layers roughly do you reckon it takes?

A bit of advice camera wise to help take better photos. First thing is get as much light as possible. A good strong light directly over head and if you can some other lights coming in from the sides. Secondly don't use any flash, it normally just ends up bouncing back off the mini or washing the picture out completely. Finally fiddle with your camera's setting and make sure it is set to Maco, if you've got it right a symbol should appear that looks like a flower. With this turned on the camera can focus much closer. Hope this helps a bit.

[mabrothrax]

Thanks for the camera tips, I'll have a bash tomorrow.

I find that three coats of white thinned to a milk-like consistancy usually does the trick.
I've noticed over the years that the quality of Citadel paints can vary alot. Some colours (white especially) tend to 'roll' leaving you with a mottled look.

It's time consuming and tedious, which is why to date I've only finished two dozen or so models in this colour scheme.

As a side note, I tried out the new 'foundation paints' at my local GW today. Not one for cunning marketing ploys I was a little dubious at first.

I then painted a very handsome looking Empire hand gunner in Averland colours (Yellow quarters) over a black u/c; it took no time at all & looked very tidy, I was amazed and reserved my set there and then.

But I digress.

In between dismembering a chicken in a comic fashion and currying the little bugger I've finished the power armour of one of the outstanding troopers.

Only three more to go 'til the Chosen and Marine squads are both finished!

[mabrothrax]

It appears the camera I've been using (my sister's, it's a Goodmans) can't cope with anything closer than 4ft away, even on the highest rez etc.

Guess I should buy one of my own. Recommendations anyone?

Right, back to the task at hand:

I've ordered two sets of forgeworld renegade militia and just bought a box of catachan guard and a box of wfb marauders.

That gives me 20 traitors and 16 'mutants'.

The 'purchase troops' deadline has been met!

Having excitedly assembled 4 barbarians/mutants I realised I really should write down the army fluff buzzing around my head. I'm thinking, rather than posting here and confusing this army building blog, I'll start another thread 'Chronicles of Aftermath - Sons of Malice'. As well as my army fluff I could post campaign progress reports, and maybe even a battle report

Hmm.

Put another layer of white on one of the SoM bolter marines. *yawn*

I'm going to fix some deadlines

• Finish outstanding SoM marines and Chosen (4 figs) by Sunday 11th
  
• Assemble & u/c all Barbarians/mutants (12 figs) by Sunday 11th
  
• kock up some test bases using snow, grass etc. by Sunday 11th.
  

That sould keep me going.

[Arwarman]

Always wanted to do a Nurgle Based Traitor Guard army. This should be good, I should do some Deadlines really, need money first though.. -.-.

Hope to see some pictures of those BarbarianMutes! *fistshake*

[mabrothrax]

Haven't done much recently as I've been awaiting the arrival of some new internal organs after destroying my original ones utterly with booze, glorius booze ealier this week.

Trying to gain Malal's favour by drinking 11 pints of Guinness (it's black & white) didn't work.

I have managed to glue together the 16 barbarians/mutants.

I'm going back to basics, going to take actual photos & scan them. I love my SLR, don't know why I didn't think of it ealier.

*froths at the mouth due to large alka-seltzer intake*