Games Workshop - Warhammer Age of Sigmar - Start Collecting! Anvilgard

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The Craftworlds box is extremely weird. It’s an incredible saving over buying the kits individually – if you want any two of them, you might as well buy this instead and get the others essentially free – but as a place to do what it says on the tin and start collecting Craftworld Eldar it’s woeful, since there’s no actual Troops in here. There’s only two elves, even, and one of them is piloting a War Walker. Still, most of the units are at least passable to good, and it’s quite a hefty chunk of points, too. Today, we’re looking at a few examples of how you can add to these units to help turn your set into a thematic Battalion Detachment ready to join your wider collection or engage in larger battles as an army in its own right. First up, it’s the mighty Angels of Death… Start Collecting! Vanguard Space Marines His bones – that is, his face and hands, for example – were painted the same way as the bones on Razarak, whilst the patterns on his clothes and armour, which were based once more with Zandri Dust, were heavily washed with Seraphim Sepia instead of Agrax Earthshade and highlighted with Ushabti Bone and Tyrant Skull once again. The lighter, warmer colour left by the Seraphim Sepia wash meant the patterns on Arkhan’s armour look clean and deliberate; Agrax Earthshade or Nuln Oil would be too harsh and dark.

Or, you could do what I did, and move into Ossiarch Bonereapers. Inspired by how much I enjoyed painting Arkhan and his mount so much, I nabbed myself a pair of Morghasts, a trio of Necropolis Stalkers, a unit of Kavalos Deathriders, and a small army of Mortek Guard. Perhaps, if you’re feeling confident, or just want an utterly unstoppable unit for your army, you can get Bone Daddy himself. Nagash, the Big Bad Bone Daddy of Death. Contents: 1 Terminator Captain (HQ), 10 Tactical Marines (Troops), 1 Venerable Dreadnought (Elites) My experience building the Skeleton Horde box is undoubtedly coloured by the high expectations set by the Start Collecting! Stormcast Eternals Thunderstrike Brotherhood box (which, in a previous article, I argued might possibly be one of the best things to buy as a new hobbyist). I envisaged a single, glossy booklet with clearly numbered and labelled diagrams, walking me step-by step from the most basic unit up to the most advanced. Arkhan and Razarak took me (that is, a reasonably competent, middle-of-the-road painter with not a huge amount of experience) around five days to get him looking like this. Contents: 1 Primaris Battle Leader (HQ), 10 Intercessors (Troops), 3 Aggressors (Elites), 1 Space Wolves Primaris upgrade sprueI encountered my first issue with the reins Arkhan holds in his right hand whilst they were still on the sprue. As I was holding the sprue up to the light to figure out where best to cut the part from the plastic to ensure no damage would be done to this extremely fragile part, half of the left-hand part of the rein, in spite of not been touched by myself or anyone else since the box had been opened, simply fell off . For their bones, my little fellows were based with Zandri Dust, washed with Seraphim Sepia (though part of me wishes I’d gone with Agrax Earthshade for a really filthy, fresh-from-the-grave look) and highlighted with Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull. That was it. Ten points for diversity. Savings-wise this is decent, but the contents are rubbish. You don’t ever really want Tactical Marines and Baal Predators don’t offer much either. This really suffers from including the Predator – it would be a much better box if it had say, Death Company instead. Feels like a relic of 3rd/4th edition.

Skeletons are smashing, and can be a great way of emphasising the importance of highlighting and washing for new painters: with all their lumps and bumps, basically everything on a skeleton is an edge of some kind – ribs, femurs, cheekbones, you name it. Skeletons are, as a result, super susceptible to a good wash with Seraphim Sepia or Agrax Earthshade, and once done all their bits that need highlighting stand out all the more. There’s an immediate difference, and so it’s a great way for a new painter to practice getting their eye in for that sort of thing. Darker shade-paints means dirtier skellingtons. So you’ve got your Start Collecting! set and a copy of Codex: Space Marines with which to field them, but where next? Well, they’re all Vanguard Space Marines so why not continue that theme with your new additions? It was a real shame, because I had a fantastic time painting Arkhan. To have the experience soured at the very last hurdle was sorely disappointing. Allies and enemies alike know the forces of the T'au all over the galaxy. Their advanced technology and tactics allow them to bring people into their cause with little resistance. Now you can command this brutal army in your games of Warhammer 40,000! This starter set includes everything you need to start a T'au Empire army in 40k. Set contains an Ethereal on Hover Drone, three XV8 Crisis Battlesuits and a ten-man Fire Warriors squadron with 2 Drones and a DS8 Support Turret. For your second and third Troops choices, grab a set of Incursors and field them as two five-man squads, offering you another pair of infiltrating units, each equipped with a haywire mine for awesome area denial .

Summary

One thing to note: the guide suggests you paint two small parts separately: the spirit-skulls on the front of the creature Arkhan is riding’s chest and the rear of its ribcage. I would recommend assembling the entire torso and tail – bar arms and legs – and painting to completion before continuing. From there, I would assemble the head, arms, and as many of the spirits as you can and paint them all up before attaching them to any part of the model. Start Collecting: Skeleton Horde Review – Painting Painting: Skeleton Warriors If skeletons are your thing, the Deathrattle Sepulchral Guard might be a good place for you to head next. A relatively inexpensive push-fit set, whilst these guys don’t have the personalisation options of the Skeleton Warriors, they’re nonetheless a nice handful of varied and interesting miniatures that would look great at the head of your skeleton army. A little more dynamic than their Skeleton Warrior cousins, the Sepulchral Guard would make a nice addition to any skeleton army. This Tau set also fits in perfectly with any pre-existing army. The Ethereal works great as a commander and the Fire Warriors and Drones will always be useful. In a pinch, you could even use the XV8 Crisis Battlesuits as an unofficial commander! Once again, I’m not as sold on the subsequent colour as I am with an Agrax Earthshade wash. There’s a certain yellow-ness to the bones I’d rather see darkened with brown. Agrax Earthshade is definitely the way forwards for me. Weathered.

I thought Arkhan and his beast would be really difficult to paint. In an earlier draft of this review, I even wrote a couple of preliminary paragraphs about how tough he was going to be.Because Razarak the Dread Abyssal is so large, you can get away with big, bold moves like heavy drybrushing and slap-it-on shading, and even his details – such as his claws, teeth, and eyes – aren’t so minutely small as to be impossible for the novice painter. If anything, the beast might be a good place for a beginner to get some practice in with their techniques on a relatively forgiving model.