Cryx soul counter

I made this Soul counter for my local PG as a gift for all his hard work when the PG program ended. I didn't post about it as I didn't want to spoil his surprise and ended up completely forgetting to show it here!

I used Games workshop spirit hosts as the souls

I pinned them to the counter and removed the daggers they are holding, it didn't really fit with the theme of it.

I had a few stormblade bits in my bits box from an earlier conversion so I added a shoulder pad and arm armour next to the skeleton along with a stormblade sword stuck into the ground 

I painted the stormblade armour bits to match my army and made it look like he was melted, so it would be a nod to the amount of my guys his cryx have melted with acid over all the games!

I painted the numbers on the tracking wheel ghostly green to match his army.

I didn't glue on any grass or anything like that as I knew it was likely he would paint over the dirt with the colour he uses for his bases.

So what do you guys think of this soul counter? I'm hoping he doesn't get the numbers up too high when playing against me! 

Cygnar Basics: Squire

Everyone's favourite little robot! This article is meant with a newer player in mind but veteran players still might find some use in it or learn something new. 

It has three rules all of which require the Squire to be within five inches of your Warcaster
(Quick note that it can only ever be attached to your main warcaster, Journeyman warcasters can not have this little guy as a buddy. I guess rank has its privileges!)

At 5 points the Squire is more expensive than most warcaster attachments (most cost 4 points) but it is the only one that is a Cygnar model and therefore friendly faction.
If you are playing in one of the theme forces available to Cygnar the Squire is often available to choose as a free option, and is often picked as one due to its higher cost.

Reserve accumulator

Three times in a game during your maintenance phase you can give your Warcaster an extra focus.
I normally do this turns 2,3&4 unless the Warcaster I'm playing has a lot of upkeeps they need to cast turn one, or if I am going second and playing a ranged heavy army like Sloan and want to use a lot of focus to boost shots turn one.

Arcane repeater

Extends your Warcasters control range by 2"
This is really helpful for casters with control range effects, feats and spells such as Haley1&2.
Remember that your control range will only be increased while the squire is within 5" of your warcaster, so if the other player has effects that can move your squire, or they destroy it the effect will stop working.

Arcane realignment

Gives a reroll for a failed magic attack roll. This is great for saving focus by not having to boost to hit if you don't need a high roll to hit or makes it possible to hit those high defence models with a boosted roll. If you boost the attack roll the reroll will also be boosted!

This is the ability that can dictate your order of activations as its easy to forget about it and have your Warcaster advance up and out of range of the Squire.
Planning out your turn can help with this.

For example if Stryker2 would like to cast Rebuke on a unit to prevent them from charging and will need a 6/7 to hit but he has to move up to be in range to cast the spell. You would need to move the Squire up first so that they are within 5" of each other when he casts the spell to allow the reroll to hit.

General tips

At speed 6 the squire is very mobile, none of its abilities require it to preform an action so it can effectivly run 12" every turn if needed.

I have watched a lot of games both at clubs, events and youtube batreps in which the Squire gets picked off early in the game. Often this is because the Squire is way too far up the board next to the Warcaster.
The best place for the Squire early in the game is exactly 5" behind its Warcaster Nemo2 here has his squire following safely along behind him.

Later in the game it has some great uses such as being used to help block line of sight or block a position near your Warcaster that an enemy model could move to to make melee attacks on them.
This is great for a turn you might have to move up your Warcaster into a risky position.

Also the Squire can be used to score flags in scenarios that have them or it can contest a scenario element easily with a 12" run.

The Squire can also be repaired so if you happen to have mechanics in your list and they don't have anything better to do!

I hope that you found this article helpful if you did and would like to see more posts like this let me know. If there is a particular subject you would like me to write about please feel free to suggest it below

Magnetised Seaking

I recently was commissioned to magnetise a Trollblood Seaking Gargantuan to make it easier for the client to transport. I knew it was a tall model but it wasn't until I got the model in my hands that I truly grasped how big!    

Being an organic model it is harder to magnetise in general, the curved pieces don't lend themselves to the process as well and a warjack for example. It took a lot of dry fitting and planning to decided where to put the magnets.

The models arm which isn't holding the anchor had a fairly big gap that really looks like it needs gap filling with green stuff. I contacted the client and he was happy for me to not magnetise this arm, especially as the arm fits much closer to the models body so shouldn't make it harder to transport.

To attach the anchor arm I used a combination of 10mm magnets and also a long pin. The pin is to help stop the arm from rotating downwards under the weight of the anchor and arm.

Matching up the position of the magnet in the arm as well as the pin hole was tricky but taking time to line it up right was worth the extra effort.

I sunk a magnet into the hole the anchor chain goes into, I was going to add pins as well, but as it turns out the 3mm magnets were strong enough to hold the anchor in place nicely.

To make it even easier to transport I also magnetised the trailing anchor chain on the other side of the fist using two 2mm magnets. Maybe a bit unnecessary to some, but should make it a lot easier to fit in a case. 

I hope this post is helpful for you if you decide to magnetise your Seaking! If it was helpful please let me know, its great to get feedback from you guys so I can know how or what to improve.

If you would like me to magnetise something for you, or pin or convert something feel free to get in touch at 

thomasgbell84@googlemail.com

(I'm based in the UK)

Blythe & Bull Painted

Blythe & Bull the bounty hunter duo are painted!

Bull is a little small for a trollkin (likely because he was an earlier model) he does have a pretty big sword but it isn't his main game plan with that gun he carries.

Blythe is the brains behind the pair and is another great female sculpt. I can't wait to give these guys a go on the table. They just got a point cheaper too which is a nice bonus!

Herne & Jonne Painted

I finished up this pair of Mercenaries for a top secret list figured I could share them first.

Jonne is a beast! He really is massive and so is his gun! I notice now while writing this that I forgot to paint the pressure dial on the side of the gun... my bad.

Herne is an odd little character, I really wasn't too sure what colour to paint his hat... he might look too much like a mini fireman now, oh well guess he can put out fires with the concussive force of explosions???

What do you think of this pair? Do you use them often?

Pirate Pup Painted

Pirate Pup painted! I won a Khador war dog from Rikers Iron's livestream giveaway. Since I don't play Khador I decided to make him a pirate! Rikers Irons stream is heavily pirate influenced and I happened to be painting my pirates so this is how he ended up! He will be used in the Iron kingdoms RPG, I'm sure the players will be pleased when he turns up in game!

I put him on the base that comes with Skarre2, a friend had given it to me a while ago and it had been in my bits box waiting for a conversion. I like the way it look with him jumping over it.

If you look closely to his chest armour piece you can see a round armour bit. Originally he had a large Khador symbol, so I filed it off and replaced it with the round detail.

So he has his own hat. I like to imagine he stole some random pirates hat, and the guy didn't have the heart/courage to get it back!

What do you guys think of my pirate pup?

If you ever want to hang out with like minded people while painting I can thoroughly recommend Rikers iron's livestreams on twitch you can find him here

Pirate Character Solos Painted

All the character pirate solos painted! These guys were so much fun to paint, they were a real treat to paint after all those pirate grunts!

First mate Hawk was a bit of a pain to pick colours for, but I'm pleased with how she turned out. I will go back one day once I learn how to paint eyes... or care enough to paint eyes...

For Doc Killingsworth I added a nice little detail anyone who has worked in kitchens might appreciate... 

Dirty Meg is a cool looking mechanik. Its nice to paint female models that aren't overly sexualised. 

Dougal MacNaile... I'm sure he could be speed 6 if he found his shoes!

Bloody Bradigan is an interesting model, I can't see him being that good on the table, but he was nice to paint. I might go back at some point and try some free hand to give him some tattoos, but at the minute thats a little beyond my skill.

Lord Rockbottom, fun dwarf model. Loads of fiddly detail but I'm glad I stuck it out with him because I love the way he turned out.

Bosun Grogspar, I went with quite a simple look for him to be honest, I would like to give him a stripy vest but didn't want to risk ruining it so made him look like a trollkin version of Rab c Nesbitt (look it up if you don't know who he is lol)

What do you guys think of my pirate character solos?

I really enjoyed painting this lot, I look forward to getting the on the table at some point. They will definitely see a lot of use in the Iron Kingdoms RPG at the very least.