So after much deliberation I’ve settled on Beastmen as my army for Warhammer 8th edition. I like the fact they are one of the least popular forces being collected but I also think I can make them into a great looking army.
My starting point is the theme of the army, which will be Tzeentch. Yes, I know Beastmen’s rules aren’t tied to any one God of Chaos anymore but that’s not important. I’ve always favoured Tzeentch above the other Gods and I’m a real big fan of what was done for Tzeentch in Warhammer Online, a move away from the traditional bright primary colours and presented in the subtler form of the Raven God. As such the Chaos forces from the game will be a big influence on the aesthetics for my conversions and painting.
The first major conversion will be a Doombull who will serve as the “army champion”. The inspiration for this character will be this image from White Dwarf 135.
With a little help from the guys on Warseer I came up with this equipment for him.
Heavy Armour
Enchanted Shield
Sword of Swift Slaying
Gnarled Hide
Shadow Hide
Arabyan Carpet
The Carpet will allow him to fly and will be represented by his large feathered wings. The rest of his gear gives him a 1+ save and allows him to hit first with re-rolls most of the time. The Shadow Hide gift will also influence the final look of the miniature (converted from the latest Doombull mini). I’ll come up with a suitable backstory about this winged shadowy lone minotaur who has been chosen by the Raven God to act as my general’s personal champion.
The rest of the army will be based around big blocks of infantry with subtle references to the Raven God. I also think I’ll be making a Jabberslythe based on this Chaos Spawn from the Warhammer Online game.
It’ll use the Jabbersylthe rules but in terms of background I’ll call him a super spawn 
NOTE: I’d also like to build a very small Tzeentchian warriors of chaos allied force also based on the Chaos forces from Warhammer Online. They’ll be more heavily converted than most of the beastmen but they’ll be a lot less of them.
Inspiration and Ideas
beastmen, Doombull, Jabberslythe, Minotaur, Raven God, Tzeentch, Wings
A few days ago I stumbled upon the Bolter & Chainsword’s Dornian Heresy pdf. Wow!
I highly recommend any Heresy fans go download it right now. It is a presentation of an alternate timeline where things at the time of the Heresy worked out differently and how history has played out over the ten thousand years since. Presented as part 1 of 2 it is in the format of White Dwarf’s old Index Astartes articles (back in 2000ish, when I myself was fortunate enough to work on White Dwarf). The whole thing is brilliantly written and supported with great artwork and I find myself wishing I had time to devout to converting Nurgle infected vampiric Blood Angels, or Tzeentchian shape shifting Raven Guard. I personally can’t wait to be able to read part 2.
If you haven’t seen it yet check it out here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com
Inspiration and Ideas
Bolter & Chainswword, Dornian Heresy
Continuing along the lines of the Top 10 (ok 12) armies I’d like to build, I came up with this very simple army list for a Black Dragons pure Dragon Claw strike force.
Sure it’s only 31 models for a 2000 point army, but it’ll look ace :p
- Commander Dante
- 5 Sanguinary Guard squads (5 models each) with death masks and 3 infernus pistols
- 5 Sanguinary Priests with hand flamers, jump packs, lightning claws
So we have 5 squads of 5 Sanguinary Guard led by a Sanguinary Priest each with Dante added into one squad. The entire army is Fearless, has Furious Charge and Feel No Pain, has 2+ saves, has Jump Packs, re-rolls hits with power weapons (or have lightning claws), are scoring units, and fully half the army carry infernus pistols. Add to that the chance to reduce enemies WS to 1 with the Death Masks and Dante’s abilities. Being a small force should allow for concentration of force and Deep Striking is probably a decent option considering the Descent of Angels special rule and Dante’s Tactical Precision.
Considering the small size of this force I think I’ll be putting together this army afterall. My Blood Angels would never use a formation like this so it’ll be a nice way of trying out such an extreme list and will allow me to build the army in a more reasonable time (painted black after all )
Regarding the conversions, they will all be actual scale on 30mm bases, with long elongated forearm claws. I think having them all helmeted would be a nice touch, all with a sort of crest (sort of their own Death Mask). I guess some dragon skin pelts and cloaks would be fitting too.
Any thoughts on tactics for effective use of such a force?
Inspiration and Ideas, Miscellaneous
Army List, Black Dragons, Blood Angels Codex, Dragon Claws
So I was looking through my Ork bitz box today (about £300 worth of unassembled Orks) and figured I really ought to finish building an army of them. This will have to wait a while till I’ve cleared the back log of orders of course. So far in my Ork converting experience I’ve converted 2 Warbosses, the second because the first wasn’t big enough… sound familiar. This was before the AoBR Warboss was released and I now find myself wanting to convert a third Warboss who will tower over everybody.
My Orks so far have all been from the Snakebite Clan, but I think with all the cool plastic and FW vehicles for Orks now I may switch to a Nob heavy Evil Sunz Trukker force instead. At the moment these are just ideas, but I thought it interesting that I now want bigger Orks as well as Space Marines.
For those who are curious, here’s some photos of the first two Warbosses, a Madboss (Madboy Nob) and Madboy No.1.
Inspiration and Ideas, Miscellaneous
Orks, Snakebite, Warboss
