Dark Horizons

So before opening my second Abyssal Dwarf Army box, a friend made an exciting and difficult proposition. He proposed a trade - my second Abyssal Dwarf Starter Army box for an Undead Army Starter box. I hadn't opened the second box yet, as I'm still working through my first Abyssal Dwarf Starter box and the War Conclave.

This was a difficult decision for me. I love the look of Mantic's Undead miniatures - when I was looking into starting a Kings of War army, Undead was the army that jumped out at me. But I have also committed to making an Abyssal Dwarf army, and started this blog dedicated to it's fulfilment.

Then it hit me - why not make an Abyssal Dwarf AND Undead army! It would be legal Kings of War army (I previously outlined army list restrictions) and I would have the opportunity to paint models from the my two favorite Mantic armies, and have them march under the same banner.
I can't believe that I didn't think to make an Abyssal Dwarf AND Undead  from the beginning! I guess it was because I only discovered you can combine armies with similar alignments together AFTER deciding on Abyssal Dwarfs. By the time I had learnt this rule, I was already set on a completely Abyssal Dwarf army.

After confirming the trade with my buddy, my imagination went into overdrive and within the hour I had a solid concept for my army, as well as deciding on a colour scheme for my troops.
So I've added some items to my TO DO list - revamping this blog with new colours and designs, updating my lore and fan-fiction, and redoing my army list!

I'm really excited about getting some Undead ready for war, and it's really only with a game like Kings of War I would be able to make an army like this!

Sync out.

Orc Slaves Painted!

This was the other unit I had lying around - a Games Workshop Gnoblar Fighters box. This was a pretty nifty little box I picked up second-hand. The set comes with 10 different bodies and 10 different heads on each sprue, and two sprues in the box to make your 20 Gnoblars (I think there are a few spare heads too). Quick assembly and quick to paint - perfect for a small horde of cheap infantry.

They have a vicious, enslaved kind of look about them - which I thought would fit in really well as unit of Orc Slaves for an Abyssal Dwarf army. I wanted to do something a little different, so I painted them pink, mainly because it's hard to find an excuse to paint things pink. But I think the pink works really well contrasting with their dark grey tunics and rags.

Again, the basing isn't done as I haven't decided on a theme yet, and I had to use some spare 20mm slotted bases - so it looks a little messy.

Sync out.

Plastic Dwarf Comparison

Here is a picture posted courtesy of TotalWarGamer - a comparison between plastic dwarves/dwarfs from three different companies.

From left to right:
     1) Avatars of War - Dwarf Berserker
     2) Mantic Games - Dwarf Ironclad
     3) Games Workshop - Dwarf Warrior

Mantic Dwarfs stand a little taller than Games Workshop Dwarves, and are proportioned differently. They look a little more top-heavy, as opposed to the chubby looking Games Workshop variety.
The Avatars of War Dwarf is somewhere in between the Mantic Dwarf and the Games Workshop Dwarf in terms of height and proportion - and much thicker in the arms.

The Abyssal Dwarf models use the plastic Mantic Dwarf model model shown above, and then have metal Abyssal Dwarf pieces attached to evil them up - helmet toppers and shield emblems for example.

Sync out.