Legions of the Netherforge - Warstrider with Voltamaton

For now, this is the final addition to my Netherforge army, at least on new type units.

This is a new hero type unit, the Warstrider with Voltamaton, which is quite simply a Warstrider with a Voltamaton riding atop it, sort of a monster hero option for the Netherforge. I did some obvious modifications to the Warstrider by giving it some noticeable electric gadgets to facilitate the Voltamaton that's buffing it.

For now, I have no plans to print anything additional for this army, as I will be concentrating on getting a few more playtests in and finishing up the battletome, which is coming along really well.

Legions of the Netherforge - 3D printed AoS army Part 2

I finished painting my Netherforge army. I got a pretty simple and easy painting method. Some of them were painted as per my previous post. I do like that there is little variety in painting, which makes sense for an army literally made on automated assembly lines.

Furnacelord Simulacrums

Bombardiers

Siegematon Director and Diggermines

Siegematon Tunneler

Netherforge Gunners

Warstrider

Siege Maul

Vaulthammer

Tunnel Caber

Great Horn

Brawlstriders

Also, I was able to get a game in with these guys against my brother's Destruction. It was a good thing because I have adjusted a lot of the rules I had written for these guys, as well as come up with some tenuous points values for matched play. I will try to get a couple more games in against a few more guys before I finalize the Battletome.

Legions of the Netherforge - 3D printed AoS army

The Netherforge burns eternally somewhere deep in Chamon. Machines making machines, all according to the designs of their long dead designer, progenitor, and creator. A duardin known only as the Furnacelord.

The Legions of the Netherforge is a homebrew Chaos army I am building for Age of Sigmar. I had found this collection of designs on Thingiverse by a very talented 3D modeler, Arian "Dutchmogul" Croft at Illgottengames. The entire range of models he designed captured my imagination. It was all low detail, designed for 3D printing, and I think actually looks very cool. I knew I had to make an army out of these guys.

So I downloaded the models, edited them a little in Tinkercad (mostly to prepare some alternate poses and weapon options, make their feet a little bigger, and removing their bases so I could do my own). I thought about what I could run this army as, but no ideas really satisfied me. So I am making their rules from the ground up. This way I can design some cool rules that I feel reflect the feel and style of the army. This also involves making a story for them (teased above) and changing the names of the models to fit the story.

The first 2 models are the Furnacelord Simulacrum, the leaders of the Netherforge armies. Built personally by the Furnacelord and gifted with more intelligent cogminds. They used some of the same parts as other models, but sized up about 20% to stand out in the army. The last model is a Bombardier, a minor hero that improves the range capabilities of the army.

These are the Siegematon units, those responsible for mapping and making the major tunnel systems the Legions use to get around the mortal realms. The 4 small ones are Diggermines, explosive little tunnelers. The next is the Siegematon Director, a commander of sorts for the Siegematon units, and last is the Siegematon Tunneler, a hero unit that brings other units on to the battlefield through tunneling, and is formidable in combat as well.

Here is where you see the paintjob I plan for the army. I wanted to go for the steampunk brass look which I think works well. these are the Warriors, just the most basic battleline troop unit for the army. There are 2 weapon variants: Axes and shields (left) and hammers and shields (right).

More elite troops, the Guardians (left) are tasked with protecting the leaders of the army and guarding the hidden entrance to the Netherforge, and the Berzerkers (right) are just a melee focused unit that can either dual wield axes, hammers, or digging claws (as shown).

The Gunners are a small unit with a mid-range and hard hitting firepower, using what we would know now as a radioactive material for their guns for an extra effect. They rest the heavy guns on shields with wheels for added protection and stability.

The first unit is the Tunnel Caber, a slow moving deathroller, and on the right is the Great Horn. A piece of terrain that has a beneficial effect for the army when used.

Now on to the war machines for the army. The first is the Vaulthammer, a heavy cannon that shoots a devastating radioactive cannonball. Then is the Siege Maul. I wanted to experiment with making rules for a melee focused war machine. We will see how it turns out. I love the look of the model though.

These are the Construct units. The story for them is after the passing of the Furnacelord, the Netherforge continued to innovate and create new additions to the legion. The Construct units are signs of that. The big one is the Warstrider, a big lumbering behemoth that has some unique rules for dealing with units inside fortifications. The smaller ones are the Brawlstriders, just a melee focused unit with a risk/reward system in combat.

Finally for an original unit of my own design (using some existing parts as base, of course). This is the Voltamaton. I noticed the army had a lack of pizzaz in the form of magic or supernatural. So I thought of a hero that utilized an electric generator in different ways, so I designed the parts to make a sort of priest rather than a wizard.

I'm looking forward to finish painting these guys and get some games in. I will show of the rules for them I have designed and some more lore in a later post, as well as the battletome when I get it finished.

HeroQuest Silver Tower - Custom Hero Cards

Just a few little hero cards I made for Silver Tower. While we have the app for handling other hero quest characters outside of the ones that come in the box, I like to avoid electronics at the table where possible. So some have been transcribing the hero cards from the app onto real cards. A few nice guys on the internet have been making that happen, and even going as far as to help with templates so you can make your own.

I love my Duardin heroes, so when I take the journey into the Silver Tower, I plan on bringing them along. The following are my custom hero cards. While they have been renamed and reflavored, the core rules and mechanics are all the same and still there. They will play exactly the same as their originals.

 

This is the Lord of the throng. In Silver Tower he uses the Warden King hero card, but with his abilities reflavored to his signature steamsuit. Also I just realized that I hadn't really showcased these miniatures yet. Unfortunately they aren't painted though.

Lord of the Forhammer Clan, and son of Behrun Forthammer. He leads his throng with the same ingenuity and determination of his steam powered armour. Due to his lifetime work as an engineer, his throng is blessed with much in the way of engineering wonders. The Dispossessed see these as tools for getting back against whom they hold long grudges, namely chaos. Their quest is to reclaim their ancient holds. In AoS I use him as a Dwarf Lord on Shieldbearers. The core mini is from Black Scorpion miniatures, with one arm reposed to hold a hammer from an old metal GW Dwarf Engineer.

Master Cogsmith of the Forthammer Clan, and first son of Lord Dunhill. He is turning out to be an engineer prodigy like his father. Having taken over and even completing many of his family's projects. Even the steamsuit was originally seen as a hopeless cause until Drake got to finishing it. Now Drake manages all the throng's war machines and heads up the Irondrake regiments. The original miniature is a mix of the Cogsmith model and some bits from the Irondrakes.

Runelordess of the Forthammer Clan, and daughter of Lord Dunhill. Stubborn, headstrong, and definitely her father's daughter. Bree is constantly rebelling against her father's wishes, especially the mandate to stay out of the battlefield. Having done so for so long she studied and became proficient with rune magic. Now she refuses to stay hidden any longer and fights with the throng, much to her father's chagrin. The model is from Reaper, which has some excellent female dwarf models, with the shield from my bits collection.

XV86 Response Suit (How I did it - Part 2)

This is the second and final part of the XV86 Response Suit conversion.

First we take the torso you made in part 1.

We are going to mount on the thruster assemblies you cut off in the previous part, but in a different way. This creates a more dynamic thruster array that looks like the vents are actually point down. Be sure to attach the small bit to complete the bottom vent on the thrusters. Make sure they attach to the intakes as pictured.

I apologize if these parts seem to be assembled in a slightly random order. This is just how I built them. Now built the pelvis from the broadside kit as normal. The broadside legs and pelvis are pretty good for basic suit conversions like this, if you don't want to make your own salvaged from the crisis torso like I did with the XV9s.

Now we will be using the broadside legs.

Our goal is to thin it down because we won't be using the thigh guards on the legs. Those are reserved for another part. Shave off the little nubs that the thigh guards attach to.

Now remove the calf servos as pictured and cut them down to this. Broadside legs look pretty huge on a basic Crisis torso, so doing these steps will bring them more in line with the size the Crisis suit is. With a little shaving off, the ankles on these legs fit in the basic Crisis feet. The XV88 feet look a little big. They work for the XV9 because technically that suit is supposed to be a bigger size class. But for the XV8 their original feet work fine.

Back to our torso we built earlier, we are going to modify it more. Here we are going to cut off the part of thruster assemblies that stick above the level of the intakes.

Now prepare some aerials from some other kits. These come from the Broadside kits, but even some of the extras from the Riptide would work fine. Just try to keep a uniform design among the same team of suits. These are to be the many little wings and rudders that help steer the fast and complex flight system of the XV86.

I may have skipped a few photos here, and I appologize. But here I cut out some plasticard and covered up the unsightly trenches above the thruster assemblies. Then as you can see, the thigh-guards from the Broadside legs make great coverings for the thruster assemblies. When opened as pictured, it simulates drag like the suit is braking. Opened the other way looks like they are housing another thruster for an extra boost.

I stuck in the servos from the broadside legs so they look like they are the mechanics controlling the covers.

After that the complex parts of the suit are pretty much finished. The rest is up to you. I of course wanted to go for more flightey poses to simulate these things thrusting around allover the battlefield.

Original Crisis suit arms remain the same and the head is up to you. I like these heads from the Broadside kits. They look a little sleeker than the standard Crisis head. I also underslung the guns from the arms rather than mounting them on the side. Everything you can do to make them sleeker looking.

Also the aerials on the sides of the thruster assemblies and above the engine intake in the center can really help sell the 'flying robot' aesthetic I was going for.

Another part I did not cover are the small thrusters on the legs. They follow the same process in my XV9's leg thrusters, and are also made of Space Marine backpack vents.

Closer looks again to the thruster assemblies. On the Full Thrust and Half Thrust modes, there are extra jets hidden beneath the covers. These are cannibalized from Interceptor Drone thrusters. I found them to be the perfect size for this area.