Never one to shy away from a challenge, or to do just enough - I went and painted up 8 warbands since I found out that I would need 7 more for Gencon. The last of these is Abyssal Dwarfs.
For some reason, this was the one I was least looking forward to (though I wasn't excited about any of the warbands that haven't been fully released yet). However until this past year my tournament army was Abyssal Dwarfs - I have a LOT of them.
To make it go faster, I did again try to use inks and GW contrast paints.
To me, at least, the warband starts with the command model. Like most of the other unreleased (by that I mean that they do not yet have cards or full warbands) warbands, there is only a single choice.
I find it interesting that they picked the Slave Driver - in Kings of War this is basically and army standard bearer - and here it becomes one of the best models.
I had one of the metal slave driver models already, so he is the commander.
I've done my Abyssal Dwarfs with bronze armor, so I did these as well. However, on a whim, instead of doing my standard black wash on it, I decided to try putting some of the GW contrast Snakebite Leather on it. I was very pleasantly surprised - it really gave a depth to the metal armor and I am very pleased with it. I may have to play around a little bit with the contrast paints on metals a bit more at some point.
I wanted a spellcaster - of course that means and Iron Caster. I didn't want to rebase any of the ones I have already painted, and while I could have used an unpainted Arhak Soulbinder model I have (I think this is the 5th one I've gotten - I'm one of the few people that actually like that model :-) ) I wanted to be a little more 'standard' (though it might work if I wanted to buy and Iron Caster a common mount). I didn't have an unpainted Iron Caster model though.
However, when 2nd edition came out, I had to rebase my Dragon Fire Team, and couldn't fit all three models onto the cavalry base they had moved it to (the model comes with a 40mm base - and it has three figures on it), so I removed the one holding a staff (and he holds the handle on the back of the baby dragon). With the staff - well he works as an Iron Caster for me.
For a large model, the sole choice is a Lesser Obsidian Golem - I only have about 8 of these that I haven't painted, so no big deal finding one.
Now I need warriors. I've been hearing that cavalry is really good (if not overpowered) in the game, so of course I take an Abyssal Halfbreed. I have 10 or 15 of these in my big box of unassembled AD models.
What would and Abyssal Dwarf warband be without Decimators? They have a 9" breath attack - however they also have reload, so shooting is a long action. As such, it may be difficult for them to actually ever get a shot (basically line it up at the end of one round and then shoot before the targets can move in the next).
I then had just enough points to add in three slave orcs for grunts. These have 2 wounds (so don't die as quickly as most grunts) and always pass their nerve checks if within 6" of a slave driver, so not too shabby. Plus since they are orcs they have crushing strength.
And that very quickly filled out the warband.
In the upcoming Ice & Iron supplement, there is a campaign that has the Abyssal Dwarfs attacking the Northern Alliance - so I'm hoping that this means they will be getting a full Vanguard release soon. It would be great if that then included some new models.
Because it is all fun and games . . .
For some reason, this was the one I was least looking forward to (though I wasn't excited about any of the warbands that haven't been fully released yet). However until this past year my tournament army was Abyssal Dwarfs - I have a LOT of them.
To make it go faster, I did again try to use inks and GW contrast paints.
To me, at least, the warband starts with the command model. Like most of the other unreleased (by that I mean that they do not yet have cards or full warbands) warbands, there is only a single choice.
I find it interesting that they picked the Slave Driver - in Kings of War this is basically and army standard bearer - and here it becomes one of the best models.
I had one of the metal slave driver models already, so he is the commander.
I've done my Abyssal Dwarfs with bronze armor, so I did these as well. However, on a whim, instead of doing my standard black wash on it, I decided to try putting some of the GW contrast Snakebite Leather on it. I was very pleasantly surprised - it really gave a depth to the metal armor and I am very pleased with it. I may have to play around a little bit with the contrast paints on metals a bit more at some point.
I wanted a spellcaster - of course that means and Iron Caster. I didn't want to rebase any of the ones I have already painted, and while I could have used an unpainted Arhak Soulbinder model I have (I think this is the 5th one I've gotten - I'm one of the few people that actually like that model :-) ) I wanted to be a little more 'standard' (though it might work if I wanted to buy and Iron Caster a common mount). I didn't have an unpainted Iron Caster model though.
However, when 2nd edition came out, I had to rebase my Dragon Fire Team, and couldn't fit all three models onto the cavalry base they had moved it to (the model comes with a 40mm base - and it has three figures on it), so I removed the one holding a staff (and he holds the handle on the back of the baby dragon). With the staff - well he works as an Iron Caster for me.
For a large model, the sole choice is a Lesser Obsidian Golem - I only have about 8 of these that I haven't painted, so no big deal finding one.
Now I need warriors. I've been hearing that cavalry is really good (if not overpowered) in the game, so of course I take an Abyssal Halfbreed. I have 10 or 15 of these in my big box of unassembled AD models.
What would and Abyssal Dwarf warband be without Decimators? They have a 9" breath attack - however they also have reload, so shooting is a long action. As such, it may be difficult for them to actually ever get a shot (basically line it up at the end of one round and then shoot before the targets can move in the next).
I then had just enough points to add in three slave orcs for grunts. These have 2 wounds (so don't die as quickly as most grunts) and always pass their nerve checks if within 6" of a slave driver, so not too shabby. Plus since they are orcs they have crushing strength.
And that very quickly filled out the warband.
In the upcoming Ice & Iron supplement, there is a campaign that has the Abyssal Dwarfs attacking the Northern Alliance - so I'm hoping that this means they will be getting a full Vanguard release soon. It would be great if that then included some new models.
Because it is all fun and games . . .
The use of contrast of metallic's looks like it should give some great effects, I'm looking to do this on my Deadzone Marauders. There is a helpful comparison chart on the Chelmsford Warhammer FB page - https://bit.ly/2Zj5Kbw
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