Prot's Everything Crimson (Slaughter) Blog

[Prot]

After months of flirting with this project, I have to confess the forum has really helped give me a boost, and obviously by the title I have decided to blog out my progress, games, strategies and of course... confessions of the voices.

So without further delay, here's the start of my documented experiences with Crimson Slaughter :

I intend to link bat reps from this page as well for my own reference as well as anyone getting into these guys:

Crimson Batreps:

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I have lots of batreps I need to compile shortcuts too.... so in no particular order:

- Crimson Slaughter Batrep vs. Astra Militarum. Maelstrom game where I try 2 of the Helbrute formations in 1850 pts. >LINK<

Crimson Strategy and Misc Discussions Including Formations:

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- Here is some information for you on the Helguard formation. It includes background, a sample list, and my results of a playtest. >LINK<

-I played a batrep using both the Helbrute Dataslate Formations: Helcult formation and Mayhem Pack. Here is my take on the results and what you can expect: >LINK<

Crimson Slaughter Background:

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(Thanks Tenebris!) Crimson Slaughter (in order by timeline):

- Crimson Dawn

- Ascension of Balthasar

- Dark Vengeance

- Crimson Slaughter Codex Supplement

- Warhammer 40k 6th edition Rulebook

- White Dwarf 6

- White Dwarf 393

- White Dwarf 392

- How to Paint: Dark Vengeance

Crimson Slaughter Hobby Stuff by Prot:

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Painted Units:

- See Draznicht Below in this post

- Kranon the Relentless +Completed+ >LINK<

- Malivate the Sorcerer: +Completed+ >LINK<

- Prot's Crimson Slaughter Landraider +Completed+ >LINK<

- A red dog from hell.... the Crimson Slaughter Maulerfiend: +Completed+ >LINK<

WIP Units:

- 2 new Helbrutes, WarpTalons, and Raptors >LINK<

Finally, onto something new.... I've done this fig once or twice already and I felt re-inspired to do one up as Crimson Slaughter (I've done an Iron Warrior, and Black Legion variant). My inspiration came from the stories of the Ravagers (Chosen) and specifically their leader; Draznicht. So here he is.....

I cut my teeth on a few figs that will never see the forum.... Let's just say the voices got the best of them but I now feel the reds are 'right' and I'm going forward with this recipe/scheme. I guess what's most important is I really like it... hopefully you guys do too.

Stay tuned I hope to add a variety of content including WIPS, strategy, game content, and even background conversation.

Thank you for checking this out!

[Forté]

Great start. Shame one of the dress wearers made it in though ;)

[Prot]

Great start. Shame one of the dress wearers made it in though

Haha... Yea, well Draznicht is always after something. I'm not so sure the dress wearer made it in the picture, or Draznicht was attacking him in his own picture. :)

I guess I'll add the Sorcerer Malivate to this thread to keep it together:

Actually thanks to the motivation of Inspirational Friday, I'm going to add the relic story of Malivate here for my own reference or anyone who's really, really bored:

Malivate and the sword of Kith'arous

As a sorcerer of dubious faith in the warp, Malivate needed an edge. His power; raw, unfocused, but ready to boil over at a moment's notice.

Combined with the Balestar of Mannon and the 'gift' of the voices, Malivate knew he needed a true focusing agent or the powers he harnessed would easily overwhelm him one day and the very potential of power he sought to achieve, would simply turn on him, and devour him like so many sorcerers before him.

Malivate contemplated this fate often in his meditation chamber aboard the Crimson Slaughter flag ship. Finally, this day his trance slipped into a state of clarity that overwhelmed him with nausea. Briefly, Malivate felt both of his hearts stop. Was he dying? No... a sensation of floating, leaving the materium, and a deep blue light that seemed to shine with the power of a thousand suns, yet he was transfixed by it and could not look away.

The light grew to a gem, and then a large world, but not of the material world. This world was wracked with pain and suffering, seemingly this blue tinted world was a projection of emotion, not reality. None of this was real.... was it?

Gliding towards the brightest source of the light, Malivate was drawn towards the source of this image, the source of the pain and suffering. A massive daemon the size of which Malivate had never encountered before stood before him. Even hunched over the daemon was easily the height of three stacked landraiders. It appeared to be in extreme agony, trembling at times, involuntarily at times the warp beast's neck would spasm uncontrollably. It appeared to be bound, but no restraints were visible.

Malivate found himself with feet planted on the blue hued daemon ground staring up at the giant winged beast, "Why am I here?" He asked.

"Because I invite you. You exist, only because I allow you, and I will give your life meaning from this moment forward." The Daemon responded with a psychic link to Malivate.

Before Malivate could respond, a sudden flash of intense imagery flooded through his mind. Along with the imagery came a flood of emotion. Hardly able to control the raw emotion of the living memories, Malivate doubled over, trying to catch his breath. Both of his hearts beated like he had never felt before.

The daemon's name.... was Kith'arous, or at least its most recent name... ancient, wise, and incredibly powerful. Malivate struggled to process all the imagery that smashed through his mind. Then the agony, and the pain came. He wondered how something so powerful could be bound here, on this warp fueled planet.

Finally the imagery slowed to show a mighty battle. Kith'arous was hunted for a very long time by a large contingent of Grey Knights. Now the source of pain became greater, more focused. Debilitating pains had spread across Malivate's back. He could barely stay conscious. The Daemon's back; something was there, something that prevented the daemon from leaving this plain.

"You are here because I deem it so. And you will benefit from that which has confined me to this wretched place." The daemon projected to Malivate's mind. "Now remove it, and seek the focus, and power that you desire."

Malivate stood, fatigued at the waves of emotion, and imagery he struggled to process. Wearily he climbed up a blue crystal rock formation and slowly came to face the back of the daemon. There in the center of its spine was a black sword planted deep into the mass of Kith'arous. Malivate hesitated, was this a trick? Was any of this real?

"REMOVE IT!" Came a startling psychic voice. "Our connection will be complete with this act. We both live in this moment, or die together in the next. These are strings that even I cannot see, but I do know we are connected from this moment forward."

Malivate leaned over, and with both hands he slowly withdrew the black sword. Servo motors in his armour struggled to assist his superhuman physique and finally the weapon came free. The gaping wound in the daemon's back emitted blue lightning, pure warp energy, a part of the beast itself fired through the wound and into the sword.

Glowing, and staggering in pain, Malivate fell to the ground with his new weapon. "How are we connected?" He stammered. "How does any of this matter, and how did you find me?"

Kith'arous, free of his binding curse turned to smile upon Malivate. His toothless, almost bird-like grin hung several feet over the sorcerer. "When your chapter joined the warp, or the 'curse' as your master would call it, that is when I saw my chance. There was a brief moment, a nano-second of your time, when your chapter was very open to receiving the voices of the warp. That is when I used all the power I could summon and I bonded with you at that moment. From then on I have slowly cultivated our bond, until finally I could project you towards me."

With a glowing blue eye, the daemon gestured towards the sword Malivate held. "That is our bond. An essence of me now resides in you, and it connects us and that weapon for eternity. There is no breaking this bond and by freeing me you now ensure that your power will be focused, and grow in time. But for now my time, your time, in this place must conlcude. Maybe you will already feel this too? You see the Grey Knights will know of my freedom, and this presents a danger for you as well Malivate."

Malivate finally broke his gaze from the black sword, as blue lightning continued to lick the length of its blade. "What do you mean by that?"

"That sword contains my essence. It not only focuses your ability it is my life essence. The Grey Knights will be likely to hunt and track you as they do me. Heed this warning Malivate, and use the gift of the sight I have given you to misdirect, and confuse them." The Damon was slowly floating away.

Just as Malivate was going to respond, an intense flash of light blinded him. His eyes opened to a loud boom, the sound of two titans colliding. He was thrown across his meditation room, back aboard the Crimson Slaughter flagship. His body slumped forward and hit the ground with a thud. A moment later he heard a clang of rock and metal hitting the floor as well.

Malivate sat up slowly, trying to absorb the experience. His hands wrapped around the ornate golden handle of his new weapon, "The sword of Kith'arous." He mouthed quietly and grinned.

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[Forté]

Keep this up and I'll be forced to add your thread to the "Inspiration" post in the resources thread. Talk about a cracking start.

 

Mind telling how you painted the DA sword?

[Midnightmare]

Nice work Prot, I like your shade of red.

Most impressive (both the painting and fluff)

[incinerator950]

How'd you do that Red and gold? Beasts of Annihilation are identical.

[Prot]

Keep this up and I'll be forced to add your thread to the "Inspiration" post in the resources thread. Talk about a cracking start.

Mind telling how you painted the DA sword?

I don't know what to say about the sword. To be frank it was just two colours, and the blue wash. I made a zig zag pattern of white to dark blue with very watered down paint. To blue the contrasts, I went across the full blade with a watered down blue wash (Citadel) I think it was 'Asurman blue'.

Then just a couple of hours of going from white to blue, and back again until it blended nicely.... the sword edges are opposite of each other to add to the illusion of reflection, but it was actually a lot of fun to paint although extremely time consuming as I kind of made it up as I went along.

Nice work Prot, I like your shade of red.

Most impressive (both the painting and fluff)

Thanks for reading the fluff!

How'd you do that Red and gold? Beasts of Annihilation are identical.

I'm sorry I don't know what beasts of annihilation are but I do intend on doing a full disclosure of my red and gold technique as I ruined quite a few models to figure it out. lol

I want to do it properly though in pictures so I promise to get cracking on that shortly. The red is more difficult for sure, and I want to show it in steps. I'm glad you like it!

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What's Next?

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I finally got some more of my models in the mail this week....

Now I know these are not hardcore choices in an army but I've burned out on playing competitive. I need a mix and the hobby side of this game is just as important as the tabletop end of it.

I also know a LOT of you know the power that is the epic coolness of the Raptor/Warp Talon box, the 'new' Helbrute, and Tatersoul (?) the Aspiring Champion! But as with most things, I am late to the game, however, I admit these are incredibly cool sculpts/pieces.

Like a kid in a candy store I wasn't sure which item to do first.... What you see above is a potential of 3-4 squads of items I NEVER used more than... 1-2 times in 6th/7th edition. Simply because in the fast category, or even Elite, these guys never made the cut.

So the winner is.... Warp Talons. Why on earth would I choose Warp Talons?

- The models look amazing.

- I firmly believe if we ever get an 7th edition codex, these will be the cat's meow. (admit it, you know GW does this to units no one uses!)

- I'm playing Crimson Slaughter! If these models don't scream, 'I hear the voices!' I don't know what does.

Also worth noting, when I got my first box of Raptors/Warp Talons I was so blown away by the sculpts, I ordered two more boxes! So my true end goal here is to have 1 squad of 5-7 Warp Talons, and one squad of 6-8 Raptors. (Raptors perhaps with swappable special weapons if I figure out how to magnetize them... I see ALL special weapons being usefull)

So being that I play Maelstrom exclusively lately, at 1850 points, does anyone have suggestions for Warp Talon squad size? Or best marks? Leave them unmarked? Join them with something? Start them on the table? In reserves with Deep Strike? I'd appreciate some thoughts on this.

Wish me luck. I will try to get a kick start on these, but time will be tight this week.

[Forté]

Lovely haul you have there. And cheers for the "how too" on the sword :tu:

 

As for Raptor weapons. I used 2mm x 1mm magnets in the right hand and where the gun grip goes. Worked fine. Just test fit the arms before gluing to make sure the fit isn't too tight.

[incinerator950]

Beasts of Annihilation are from the 4th codex as a new warband, which was added to the roster of chaos chapters in 6th with a even higher specialization of possessed than before.

 

As I recall as I'm not in a mood to hunt down the codex, the Chapter is also possessed by demons and are a Crimson with gold trim.

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

I'm looking forward to see how the Crimson Slaughter force turn out.  You'll really enjoy building those three kits - Helbrute, Champion & Raptors.

 

 

[Prot]

I'm halfway through the Warp Talons. I actually have a few Possessed models (6 I think) that I wanted to use as the core of the army. I think they'll make an appearance in most lists, and I'll offset their costs with cultists. 

 

I even picked up something else to lead them which is going to be a really fun model, but no one uses it. Any guesses? lol

 

The raptor/warp talon kits take quite a while to clean up but they just look incredible. This whole kit has some stuff that would be great for 'alternative' possessed models which fit Crimson Slaughter beautifully.

 

I think when the Warp Talons are done, I'll pick up a second Possessed box, and try using some of these bitz combined with them, and maybe even sprinkle in some Chosen if I can... lots of cool possibilities there.

 

Anyway, Warp Talons. I figure with 3 kits, I'm going with 7 Warp Talons (in progress) and 8 Raptors. I'll try what Forte was suggesting by magnetizing the special weapons. But I want to keep the Warp Talons on pace for completion. I think they're going to be quite slow to paint. Amazing detail. 

 

In use my list in progress has them with MoN, or no mark at all. (Such an expensive unit.) I'd still love feedback on how you (if anyone does) use them. 

[40kChrista]

I even picked up something else to lead them which is going to be a really fun model, but no one uses it. Any guesses? lol

 

 

 

Either a Dark Apostle or Warpsmith.

[Forté]

I'm going for Dark Apostle.

[Prot]

Okay, as I said I was going to force myself to finish this model I thought it deserved to be posted here..... without further delay, here is Kranon the Relentless:

Kranon the Relentless and the crew, including a hippie Cultist trying to get in on the family photo.

[Dark Disciple]

Krannon is looking insanely good, very very well done.

Really gutted that there won't be an army of your Crimson Slaughter to drool over but Krannon definitely ends on a high!

Can't wait to see what you do next.

[Brother Ambroz]

Man when kranon sees that guy photobombing his family photo....well just wouldn't wanna be him! He looks very nice though, can really tell you spent a lot of time on him with all those highlights. Nice work!

[Prot]

Thanks very much for the encouragement guys. I really appreciate it.

 

Okay, that's enough of the fun stuff. So I'm on to phase 2 of the Crimson Slaughter and it involves something that is really bothering me about the army.

 

In a nutshell I have a lot of recycled Chaos. Recently it struck me how much of it that I've tried a 're-paint' on to save money, and assembly time (I love painting, hate assembly with a passion.)

 

Most of these units are vehicles. Some are 'okay' but some have had processes done to them I can't fix. Including a rust technique  that has made my overpaint of a Rhino look horrible.

 

So sadly I will be throwing out those pieces and in all honesty I won't be replacing them with 'high end' Forgeworld pieces. Most of these units have forgeworld armour/doors/tracks/etc.

 

But that's fine. So I have been spending the last several days trying to figure out what's salvageable. Two Rhino's have hit the garbage. The good news is I think I can save one rhino, and a Landraider. (Perhaps a second Rhino, but not likely.)

 

I have put some time into filing and sanding, trying to restore them. (I used to use green stuff but never cared for it on plastics). I am trying to 'hide' some of the imperfections I simply can't fix anymore with design elements or masking them with painting.

 

You guys can be the judge if it is going to be successful or not.... I plan on finishing the Landraider first. It won't be fancy. The plan is just get models on the table!!! Later (much later) I hope to do some 'command' variants of these restore vehicles which will be a little fancier.

 

Thanks for checking out the blog. I'll keep plugging away at these vehicles, even though the 'fun' stuff is the new stuff, I have to get this part out of the way, and hopefully "soon" I can show you guys what I managed to fix.

[incinerator950]

Are they damaged?

[Prot]

Some were, yes. I'll tell you one thing, I'll never intentionally put spikey bitz on a vehicle. I've had too many damaged. I'm really carefull with my stuff, but an arm glance had my Army Transport bag hit a cement floor one time. The spikey bitz all snapped off at the base, leaving the base intact with the vehilce but all the studs where ripped off. That's one of the fixes I'm trying to work past.

[Brother Ambroz]

Mate you're not actually throwing all the pieces out are you? I'm sure you could at least get a little bit off ebay instead of throwing them out!

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

First up - It good to see your sticking with the Crimson Slaughter, I think you done great work on the Lord.  It also worth checking out Midnight runner army log for all the conversion he done using the Chosen models.

 

As for the tanks - As Tanith Ghost said, there no need to throw them out.  It like one people around here binned there Tomb King army a good few year ago because they where not using them any more (2007?), it was madness & it could have went to a good home instead.
I was given a busted up Rhino a while back, while it was beyond gaming use.  I still use it for help for my plasticard armour plate & to test out things like the first time I was using Forge World weather powder.  Just how much help is been.
 

My old Tau army was given to my friend son, who use them a lot in there games.  Army I had 2002, but they've use it more than I have & having fun with the army.

 

Just might be best posting photos of the models & member of here, Bolter & Chainsword can give out some really good help on how to re-sort those tanks?

 

Are you going to take part in Call of Chaos VII?

[incinerator950]

After the majority of my warband was lost, I had to use donations and a lot of used parts and models to get started again.

 

Which reminds me, I need the last couple bits for my drake and a Landraider.

[Prot]

- Nah, I won't throw them out... just frustration talking. The Landraider is working okay... Trust me I've given probably a thousand bucks worth of 40K away in the past 3 years. I just gave away all my marine stuff last year, and probably 2000 points in new guard.

 

- I had a bad week. My last game I played Necrons for a change of pace, my bag fell off of a table and hit a concrete floor smashing a bunch of wraiths, tomb spyders.... scarabs... incredible. So combine that with the Chaos broken stuff and I wasn't feeling the love of working on any army. But the positive is aside from one rhino, which I may post here when get a chance, I think I can make the rest work. Possibly not though, I mean some of the structure damage is ugly... we'll see.

 

- I did enter Krannon in the call for Chaos. I accidentally deleted the post when I was editing it.... I don't know why I hit the confirm button... just not paying attention. It's no big deal.

 

Entering the call of chaos is tricky for me because I can say "I'd like to declare I'm doing these rhinos" but they're over painted already, so not truly a blank slate. Then there's the case I may not even get them fixed enough that I want to keep them, so it's really hard for me to enter a unit in the event with unknown results.

 

Case and point, I -should- have entered my Landraider, but I wasn't sure if I could save it. By the time I figured out that I think it will work, I have 3 shades of red on it, and 2 levels of highlights.... so again, I can't really enter it.

 

I guess I could do the Warp Talons pictured above in the thread, but I promised myself I'd work through my broken stuff first. We'll see!

 

- I'll definitely check out those chosen conversions. I have to come up with some interesting 'possessed' for troops and the 5 model box set is already in progress... darn I could have added them to the Call for Chaos too!

 

As you can see I got quite a few things going at once, that's partially why I wanted to concentrate on the vehilcles. (I actually hate painting vehicles.)

 

Thanks for the ideas guys.

[Prot]

Here we go.

Regarding the call of Chaos, I have decided to tackle this speed bump mega grind in my Crimson Slaughter army. I have started with three oath pieces.

1. A repaint of this Black Legion Maulerfiend (plus I have to figure out how to magnetize the different attachments for close combat)

2. something actually fun to paint: Squad of possessed. (I have to put a few more together):

3. Back to the grind. A busted up Landraider.

I cannot find my pre-pics of it. But it was painted 2 times. originally as an older IW landraider the guns, and spikey bitz snapped off of the top. I am in the process of trying to fix it. Remove broken parts, and smooth out the areas on top where it was rough from the greenstuff holding the spikey bitz on.

I don't want to do a WIP pic because if this doesn't work out, I'm going to dunk it or give to a friend. I'm about 5-10 hours into it but only about 1-2 hours painting (the rest was repairing.).

I REALLY want to get this unit done, and out of the way to move on to fun stuff.

If I can get past these first 3 vows, I hope to complete some 'fresh' models... something fun. The last fun unit was Krannon whom I really enjoyed. Wish me luck.

[Prot]

Well here we go.... a finished unit that I seriously despised doing.

This is the damaged landraider I tried to repair. Grenstuff holds the Combibolter mount together. Spikey bit pieces had to be cut off (they were broken) and I tried to smooth them out as good as I could. A few metal sanding sessions later, I then went at it with the paints.

I spent probably... 4 hours repairing, and then by the time I got to paint it, I was quite frankly sick of the model. About 4 hours into painting it I just wanted to be done, but there was some notable damage above the top right armour facing. So I took about 10 minutes to freehand the Crimson Slaughter icon over top of it making it less noticeable.

I did want to do more to the landraider, but I felt really finished with the unit and wanted to move on. So here it is:

Thanks for looking!