Explodes on Six Gaming

Here it is folks, our first entries into 2019’s Paint & Purge army building challenge! Let’s not waste any time and jump right into who our competitors are and the faction they’ve settled on!

Challenger: Preston “P-FUNK” Corrigan

Army: DEATH GUARD

Warlord: TYPHUS

I chose Death Guard for my new army for a few reasons. The army was readily available as I had bought multiple Dark Imperium starter kits because I wanted to make a large poxwalker force. The models were insanely awesome and really ominous. I knew I had to create an army around these super detailed scary models. I love the Death Guard and how they fought in the Horus Heresy novels. Nothing would stop them. Literally nothing. It didn’t matter how long it took to claim a hill, it didn’t matter how many warriors would die in the attempt to take that hill, or lengths they would have to go through to take the hill. You could throw everything you had at the Death Guard, and they would just keep coming. They reminded me a lot of some horror movie main antagonist, just slowly walking after you. On top of all of that, I am a total sucker for tortured, misguided characters. Mortarion being one of them. I chose Typhus for my Warlord because I wanted to start out my Death Guard army as a poxwalker force, and he just adds so much that fight. Beyond that, his model is more detailed than any other model I have painted so far, and I really wanted to push myself for this painting challenge. I employed techniques I have never tried before at this level like edge highlighting armor panels. I chose the paint scheme of the Weeping Legion because I love how much it pops. I think the traditional color scheme of the Death Guard you see on the box art seems to wash some of the detail together. You really have to look hard to pick out the cool little stuff. Hopefully that is not the case here!

Challenger: “Nasty” Nick Lucas

Army: NECRONS

Warlord: OVERLORD “Se’tuun Kah”

I chose Necrons because eight years ago I saw them on a miniwargaming battle report. The models I remember from that game were the Doom Scythes/Night Scythes and the Wraiths. I thought they were the coolest looking models and I told myself I was going to get them one day. Fast forward to today and I have kept that promise. The Necron bug hit me at a time when I was repainting my Skitarii, the paint scheme I chose for them was excrutiatingly detailed and took many hours just to complete a ten man squad. So I wanted something easier, an army I could paint quickly that still would look good. Necrons were an obvious choice. Compared to most armies they aren’t TOO detailed but they still look fantastic on the battlefield, Doom Scythes being one of my favorite models in all of 40k on the tabletop. I’ve always had an eye on the Necrons because of their lore, the Ancient Egyptian motif, the mystique behind the Silent King, their really tragic backstory because of their own choices, and their amazing tech. It all struck a chord with me.

Challenger: Nathaniel Monge

Army: DEATH WATCH

Warlord: WATCH MASTER PERATOS formally of the ULTRAMARINES

I decided to paint up an army for Deathwatch because I have always admired an elite force taken from many chapters to become one ultimate xenos hunting machine. The kit bashing options and making veterans and even dreads show off their former heraldry as well as the unified deathwatch scheme is a fun challenge. On my warlord I really wanted the edge highlighting for the black armor to stand out, so I have been watching a lot or tutorials and finding ways to really make the edges look sharp for black armor, which was a lot more difficult than it seemed.

Challenger: Nate Horton

Army: CRIMSON FISTS

Warlord: TIRUS “IRONSIDE” GARADON, CAPTAIN of the BLOODIED FISTS COMPANY

The army I chose was the Crimson Fists, I see the sons of Dorn as the ultimate defenders of humanity.  They are a classic 40k chapter made new again with all of the amazing Primaris models that have been released.  My Crimson Fists force is from the 1st company of all Primaris Veterans. While they are all veterans in their own right they are further led by Veterans of the Deathwatch. Having done their time in the long vigil they bring even more combat knowledge on how to defeat the foes of the imperium. My warlord Tirus is a veteran of the Long Vigil, having cut his teeth under the guidance of battle hardened Sergeants of the Imperial Fists and the Raven guard. He is a close combat peer without equal! In his company, Tirus earned his monicker after his armor was nearly crumpled by  Ork war-boss Umi-Smashskull Dragga. With his last ounce of energy Tirus ripped Smashkulls Arm off and beat him to death with it. This act of defiance has earned him a place in one of the Crimson Fists greatest Deeds.

In the spirit understanding why people do what they do, I have been asked to commit my thoughts to paper as to why… I’ve chosen Chaos Space Marines as my next army (World Eaters/Black Legion). Having probably over 10,000 points in Space Marines, it is time for me to diversify my purging portfolio. I at first when 8^th edition came out, had no interest in the CSMs, due to the fact that they only had a few “one trick pony” strategies in order to make a go at being competitive. Since the impending release of Shadowspear However… Things are due to change. Black Legion in my estimation is the closest similarly to loyalist space marine armies that utilize Ultramarine rule sets. I am currently leaning more towards World Eaters at this point due to my hope that either World Eaters will be blessed with their own codex, and or ANGRON will return to enact his sex-nuts, retard strong shenanigans. World Eaters just have that unadulterated, unapologetic, unrestrained urge to just hit everyone… and everything…. Including themselves sometimes all in the name of the Master of Disaster himself… Khorne. Being able to amplify something like khorne bezerkers into nigh the most destructive force for close combat, is something truly honorific to behold. Additionally, having access to allies like bloodletters is SUPER value added. Having the ability to have over 20+ bloodletters deepstrike, tie up important units, and potentially consolidate into more important units afterward, ONLY TO BEGIN THE SAVAGERY FOR A SECOND TIME THAT ROUND, in addition to Khorne Bezerkers fighting up to a 2^nd and possibly 3^rd time… there are few more awesome, salt inducing activities that can be engaged in within WH 40K. From a fluff based perspective, I do appreciate a Primarch who had ZERO interest in his father’s crusade, the space marines entrusted to him, or any of his fellow Primarchs (Yes I am referring to ANGRON). He’s a guy that doesn’t need to think, he acts and uses his brute strength and savagery to see him through the day. He was already pretty unstoppable in normal pissed off ANGRON mode, but then that shit sipping backstabber of a brother Logar, tricks him into going murder mode 9000 by ascending his ass into Daemon Prince ANGRON. There are many times in the current lore, where if DAEMON ANGRON shows up on a battlefield, imperial forces are more than willing (and have done so in the past), to abandon the battle that they find themselves facing off against the red angel. The first war for Armageddon found the Grey Knights having to almost sacrifice an entire brotherhood just to SLOW ANGRON DOWN, let alone send him back to the warp. ANGRON probably is tied with the Bloodthirster SKARBRAND in magnitude of savagery and people merc’d in the last 10,000 years. The World Eater’s have such an incredible backstory, as well as the whole not caring at all about strategy and tactics thing. The Army is also replete with some awesome named characters, such as kharn the betrayer, ANGRON (hopefully soon), and skarbrand. If you have a hankering for absolute savagery, world eaters will work for you, as I’m sure they may for me.

Challenger: Bill Deveau

Army: GENESTEALER CULT

Warlord: PATRIARCH, VI’YAITE the INSATIABLE

I decided to go with genestealer cults because I love the idea of being able to combine them with not only Tyranids but Imperial Guard as well. GW has been giving this army a lot of attention too and once I saw the new models I was hooked! I decided that I wanted to challenge myself by giving my cultists a cool and customized theme. With their Goliath Trucks, Atalan Jackals, Achilles Ridgerunners, and the ramshackle appearance of the neophytes, I realized that the perfect look for these guys would be from Mad Max: Fury Road (my favorite movie). Specifically, I didn’t have to look hard before setting my sights on Immortan Joe’s War Boyz. After rewatching the movie for some ideas, I saw how the warboyz venerated the almighty V-8 engine before riding off to battle in the wastes. It seemed like the Patriarch, being the living god that it is, was the perfect model to emulate that worship from his zealous followers. So I gave him a similar sounding name and painted his teeth, claws, spikes, and even his tongue in chrome. Then I covered that chrome color in as much gore as I could. I tried highlighting the bones in his fingers to give him a slightly more skeletal look to better fit the pale skinned motif that his followers will adopt. I called him the insatiable because he’s always hungering for more fuel to deliver his message to the masses (in this case, I guess fuel would be the blood of his unbelieving enemies). This is the first army I’ve attempted to use layering techniques and edge highlighting for. I’m really hoping this army will take my skills to the next level!

Challenger: Ian Gunther

Army: ADEPTUS MECHANICUS

WARLORD: TECHPRIEST DOMINUS

This is a tech priest dominus kitbashed with some necron wraiths to create a serpent like admech warlord. My army is primarily in support of the Imperial Knights and the dominus along with the battalion of rangers and vanguard are perfect in that role. That combined with the point reduction in chapter approved means the dominus is a valuable addition to my army.

So there you have it folks! Our first foray into Paint & Purge! Results for who wins the WARLORD challenge will be announced next week! Stay tuned!