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Shadow War: Armageddon

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11 May 2017 14:51 #248168 by Space Ghost
Replied by Space Ghost on topic Shadow War: Armageddon
How are you guys painting the sector mechanicus stuff? I haven't started yet (I'm still paining up the Gorechosen dudes) but hope to next month sometime

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11 May 2017 14:54 #248169 by charlest
Replied by charlest on topic Shadow War: Armageddon
I drybrushed my walkways a dark silver (like Boltgun metal) and then picked out little pieces to highlight with different colors (such as the skulls being white, canisters on the wall red, some bronze gears). That was just the base set though, I may change it up with other stuff I've ordered. Kind of wondering how good it will look mixed with different color patterns though.

I did yellow for the stacks and stuff and hit them with a grimy wash.

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11 May 2017 15:42 #248173 by stormseeker75
Well, I sold my Legend of Drizzt game so I bought the SWA rulebook. I need to ease my wife into this. I think she'll like it. Our first foray into any sort of miniatures was Epic Duels and she loved that. She loves the GW models I have around the house so this *should* be doable.

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11 May 2017 16:22 - 11 May 2017 16:22 #248175 by Michael Barnes
Yeah, the terrain pieces are SUPER easy to paint, and you can be as sloppy as you want and it still looks right. Spray prime black, then do an uneven, patchy Leadbelcher drybrush on the whole thing. Use a big, flat brush and just slap it on. If you want extra grime, slap some Agrax Earthshade on it too but you may be satisfied with just the Leadbelcher. If you want to stop there, you can it and it will look at least decent. But you can then pick out some of the things like what Charlie said- cables, hatches, buttons, screens, wires, skulls, plaques, etc.- with something like Balthasar Gold or Skullcrusher Brass. Then, hit the big "casing" sorts of pieces with a dull industrial color like Thunderhawk Blue or Averland Sunset. Do a fairly heavy drybrush technique, but do not go for total coverage of these areas. You want it to look worn, and you want that layering from black to metal to shade to painted-on color to show. Finally, lightly drybrush the color areas with something like Screaming Skull. It sounds like it doesn't make sense since that is a cream color, but if you focus on just dusting the edges with it, it really brings the color up a lot but without making it necessarily brighter.

It is very, very messy to paint like this, but it is simple, quick and effective.
Last edit: 11 May 2017 16:22 by Michael Barnes.

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11 May 2017 16:46 #248178 by stormseeker75
BTW, who is this Doc you guys keep buying your warez from?

Also, which kill teams are the cheapest to assemble? I really like Tyranids and Necrons from a visual approach but it looks like Necrons might be a bit expensive.

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11 May 2017 17:07 #248180 by Vlad
Replied by Vlad on topic Shadow War: Armageddon
I have a GW medium scenery brush, and it is just awesome for everything scenery, in particular dry-brushing.
Also, all primed black.
I did the stacks and machinery in yellow, generously agraxed and then just drybrushed more yellow. Tyrant Skull as the last drybrush is awesome, the details pop up and gives more weathered look.
The catwalks and shields are thunderhawk blue + tyrant skull drybrush. Took me about 5 minutes. I am going to add some metallic details. The shields need more work, too.
The columns are leadbelcher. I did a lot of mucking around with bronze and gold for details, too, then nuln oiled it and drybrushed necron.
Planning to add some corrosion effects and rust, because - I never thought I'd say it. - it looks too neat for my taste.

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11 May 2017 17:28 - 11 May 2017 17:34 #248182 by Michael Barnes
Doc's Discount Games. He's really good for getting NEW stuff...sometimes very slow with getting older stuff. Chaos Orc and MiniStomp are also good sources.

Cheapest KTs. Going by MSRP and not wild discounts for open boxes or whatever...

There are basically two different types of KTs going on. One is the "one box" type, the other is the type where you might have to buy more than one box or more than one type of model to make a KT.

One box types will give you limited, but complete KTs with leaders, a couple of heavy weapon options, some melee weapons, etc.. These would be Astra Militarium (IG), Skiitari Rangers, Tau Pathfinders, Genestealer Cults, Ork Boyz, Dark Eldar. All of these you can buy one box. IG is probably the cheapest of all, with Tau close by. The Tau box also gives you a couple of drones in addition to the ten units so it may be the best overall value. But you will have to make decisions as to how to outfit them, and you might want to make a couple of leader options.

Tyranids and Grey Knights are technically one boxers. Tyranids, you can run a 1k KT with the three in the box with a couple of options as to how to build them to get there. A second box gives you, of course, twice as many options and also the opportunity to build a Tyranid Prime, which is one of their special operatives. The Grey Knight box of 5 is enough as well, because those bastards are expensive to field with expensive gear. But there again, you may want to have multiple choices for loadout. One of the nice things about the GK box too is that you can build plenty of guys and also their special operatives with that kit.

The "more than one box" groups are Craftworld Eldar, Chaos Space Marines, Necrons. The Eldar, you have to have Dire Avengers AND a Guardian box. You can just run Dire Avengers, but you really wan the Guardian bodies as well as their heavy weapon platform. In campaign play, you might even want a second box of Dire Avengers because the Guardians graduate into Avengers after three missions. CSMs, you are looking at the core CSM models and also a box of cultists for extra bodies. Necrons are really quite limited, but the outlay there is for at least one box of Immortals/Deathmarks and maybe some loose Warriors. The Warriors are kind of crap and are really just bulk fighters. The Immortals have two weapon options and that same kit builds the Deathmarks, which are the Necron specialists (which are different than special operatives- more on that in a minute here). I went with two boxes of Immortals- made four with Gauss Blasters, four with Tesla Carbines, and two Deathmarks since that is the limit.

SM Scouts, when you don't have the SWA box, are a two boxer. You will want the sniper scouts and also the shottie guys. They come in five packs, and you want to run 5-7 of them in my experience.

TL:DR, IG and Tau are the cheapest- they are a combination of older kits and contain fully playable KTs with some options. Skiitari and Genestealer Cults are one-boxers, but are newer and more expensive. Ork Boyz are really probably the absolute cheapest because you can buy the SWA sprues on eBay for about $20.

Now, let's talk about two other issues. Special Operatives and WYSIWYG.

Special Operatives are the elites- you do not buy them as part of your 1000 points - in a campaign, you have to spend a Promethium Cache (i.e. a victory point) to recruit one for a mission. In one-off play, you can do whatever you want with them- everybody take one, everyone take three. Whatever. They are 100% optional, and you should not feel like you have to have them (but you will WANT them- I have at least one for every faction).

Now, only the Tyranids and GKs have in-box special operative options. Everyone else's are either sold in blisters or in boxes that have more than you need. You will likely not ever run three IG Ogryns or five Skitarii Rust Stalkers. But that's how they are officially sold. This kind of sucks. So you go on ebay and look for single figures (Black Dagger Games is where I get mine). The per-figure cost is higher, but you aren't looking at buying a $50 box to get one model. Instead, you pay $12-$15 for exactly what you need. Some of these do have equipment options (for example, you can do an Eldar Wraithblade with the swords or axe and shield) so you make the decision there at time of purchase what you want to do with it.

Special operatives are REALLY fun and they give you a chance to mix up your faction...for example, Skitarii are super shooty, but you can put a Rust Stalker in there to give them a nasty melee unit. There are also some SOs scattered in various places...for example, if you have Deathwatch Overkill, you have the Genestealer Cults SOs right there. If you have Space Hulk, you could co-opt a Terminator to be a SM Scout SO.

Now, WYSIWYG. This is potentially a non-issue if you are just playing at home. You can say the Plasma Gun is a Rocket Launcher or that the dude holding the chainsword and bolt pistol actually has a shotgun and power sword. Playing in public, it is really a courtesy to the other player that your models have the stuff they are holding. Which is a tremendous PITA if you don't have multiple models. But most folks, as long as you make it clear and consistent, are OK with "counts as" rules. I like to make things as close as possible and then think about what is easy to play "counts as" with- for example, a meltagun might double as a flamer if I really need to have two in a squad. My Tyranids in particular are built with this in mind.

Bottom line on all of this, since you mentioned Tyranids and Necrons. You can go into Tyranids for $35-$40 if you shop smart. I got two boxes shipped for $78. Necrons, you could do one box of Immortals ($30-ish, maybe build two Tesla Carbines, two Gauss Blasters, two Deathmarks) and look for a deal on a box of Warriors ($18-$22). I actually bought a loose assortment of Warriors for $14- it's not a full box (like, 10 pieces) but you don't need a full 40k unit.

Bottom bottom line- buy what looks like the most fun to you. Having played with/against all of them, everything is pretty balanced. Some factions have more choices in terms of weapons/gear than others, some upgrade at a different rate/in a different way if you campaign with them, but all have advantages/disadvantages of course. My favorites would probably be IG and Tyranids. Grey Knights are really growing on me though, they have some bad ass equipment and psionics.

Oh crap, I didn't mention anything about Harlequins...well, they are grossly OP and people groan when they have to play against them. I think you need two boxes for them.
Last edit: 11 May 2017 17:34 by Michael Barnes.
The following user(s) said Thank You: stormseeker75, Brewmiester, Colorcrayons, Vlad

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11 May 2017 17:36 #248183 by Michael Barnes

Vlad wrote: Planning to add some corrosion effects and rust, because - I never thought I'd say it. - it looks too neat for my taste.


Typhus Corrosiion. It is kind of like wash but a little thicker and it has grains in it. Then drybrush with Ryza Rush, very lightly, if you want a reddish rust. You can also paint the Typhus Corrosion around bolts and stuff and it looks cool.

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11 May 2017 18:30 #248186 by hotseatgames
Replied by hotseatgames on topic Shadow War: Armageddon
Here's a shot of some of my terrain. Mostly what Charlie recommended.

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11 May 2017 20:40 - 11 May 2017 20:40 #248189 by Michael Barnes
Here's an example of easy to paint terrain, I did these Promethium Relay Pipes today in about half an hour. I need to clean up the gold where I dry brushed off the Aquilas but they are pretty much done.

www.flickr.com/photos/54116966@N03/shares/qJ2249

Black prime to Leadbelcher drybrush- you can see where I left it sloppy to make it look grungy. I actually forgot to wash, but it wound up looking fine anyway so I didn't bother. I did the Aquilas and some of the detail with Brass Scorpion and some of the side pipes with Balthasar gold to give the pipes a little more dynamism. I had Moot Green out on the desk from doing the Necrons so I figured why not and decided to make some the pipes glass or acrylic or whatever where you can see the Promethium runoff sludge or whatever in them. So I put that on areas that looked right for that but it looked dull so I drybrushed with Yriel Yellow and then glazed it with Waywatcher Green, finished off with 'Ardcoat to give a glassy shine. The broken pipes are the Typhus Corrosion/Ryza Rust combo but I went in and drybrushed a little Moot Green in them to make it look like a residue or staining.

This is a great kit for the price- I did the elbow pieces too but didn't photograph them. I need to do the control pane piece it comes with tonight.
Last edit: 11 May 2017 20:40 by Michael Barnes.

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11 May 2017 22:57 #248197 by Vlad
Replied by Vlad on topic Shadow War: Armageddon

Michael Barnes wrote:

Vlad wrote: Planning to add some corrosion effects and rust, because - I never thought I'd say it. - it looks too neat for my taste.


Typhus Corrosiion. It is kind of like wash but a little thicker and it has grains in it. Then drybrush with Ryza Rush, very lightly, if you want a reddish rust. You can also paint the Typhus Corrosion around bolts and stuff and it looks cool.


Exactly that. BUT, now that I look at it, the columns and the biggest part of the boiler (= machinery resembling a boiler) are in the shadow of the columns, so they'll be pretty dark already and any additional corrosion effects will be barely noticeable. I might add some ryza here and there, and I'm definitely going full on the haulers.

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11 May 2017 23:00 #248198 by Vlad
Replied by Vlad on topic Shadow War: Armageddon

hotseatgames wrote: Here's a shot of some of my terrain. Mostly what Charlie recommended.


Hotseat, it looks cool. I really recommend you doing the whole thing together or in bigger chunks. It will save you a lot of time and I think will ultimately look better.
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12 May 2017 08:46 #248205 by charlest
Replied by charlest on topic Shadow War: Armageddon

hotseatgames wrote: Here's a shot of some of my terrain. Mostly what Charlie recommended.


Yeah, I like the full on metallic look for some reason. It's a step or two simpler than painting the casing a different color as Barnes did and still looks pretty good. I think you need other terrain with color though to give depth to the table as a whole (such as your pipe piece which is not metal). I really like those red pipes you picked out too underneath the metal.
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12 May 2017 09:38 #248211 by stormseeker75
Barnes, THANK YOU. That's ridiculously detailed. You could flesh that out to a full article: "So you want to play Shadow War: Armageddon?"

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12 May 2017 15:25 #248229 by Michael Barnes
Hey, I just want you to play this awesome game, OK. So funny to me that the best game of 2017 is a 1996 design. If you played Necromunda before or 40k 2nd edition, it is almost exactly the same. It is kind of a "hey, this never really needed to be updated" thing.

On the terrain detail...Mark and Charlie have the right idea. Just pick out things, but not ALL the things. You will lose your mind if you try to, for example, do all the skulls in the half black/half white Mechanicus thing. or if you try to pick out all of the wires. It is also a great idea to pick out some details with a different color so that everything doesn't look like all one color. If you look closely at this stuff, you'll see things like levers and switches. Put a little Mephiston Red on those. Screens, put a green or red glaze on them. Little things like that really add to the overall look.

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