Taking Stock: My Age of Sigmar Armies (Sept/Oct 2022) Part 2: In Progress

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In my previous post, I went ahead and gave a big ol’ preamble. This time, I’ll keep it simple. I’m taking a look at where I am with my various Age of Sigmar armies. I’m doing this through a series of three posts:

  1. Painted Armies (2000+ points completed)
  2. Work in Progress (partially painted, or at least built)
  3. Planning/Backburner (purchases made, but not actively working on them)

Let’s get on into part 2. What’s on the slate?

Flesh-Eater Courts

Current Painted Points: 445

In an effort to work through some of the pile of shame, I decided in April to re-purpose my old Bretonnian miniatures into a new army. I began with a centrepiece model, in the form of my counts-as Abhorrent Ghould King on Royal Terrorgheist. Within a couple of days of building him, I was slapping some paint around, and within a week, he was done. I am considering going back and repainting his skin, as I think I’ve found a better approach. I will try it on one of the other minis first and see how that goes.

I then finished up the conversion for the rest of the heroes and a big group of 40 men-at-arms to count as Crypt Ghouls. That’s pretty much where the army is at the moment.

Going forward, before I really dive into the painting, I need to get to the main units of the army. The bulk of the army is definitely the ghouls, but it’s the knights that will really define the force. My Crypt Horrors and Crypt Flayers will be made up of Bretonnian Knights and pegasus knights, respectively. I’m keen to get these guys built and converted up, as I think this army will be really fun once it’s done.

This army isn’t really a priority, and I’m quite happy just picking away at it, a wee bit at a time.

Soulblight Gravelords

Current Painted Points: 365

I first began tentatively thinking about doing some sort of undead-themed army back in February, putting forward a couple of different ideas for what this could look like. Later that month, I settled on the idea of a Cities of Sigmar-themed army, and I began some more detailed planning for what could look like, before picking up some kits the following month. The plan has changed a little since then, and I’ve actually dialled it back a little from what I had intended, largely to keep it practical and manageable.

I also picked up some texture rollers from GreenStuffWorld to make the bases, and tested them out on some Frostgrave miniatures before moving on to preparing batches of base toppers for this army.

The conversions were a lot of fun to put together and, despite the Grave Guard being a bit fiddly, it didn’t take too long to finish the army build. I’d initially intended to paint them over the summer, but things got a bit busier than I had expected. I did manage to finish up Neferata, though. She’s definitely the centrepiece of the army.

I’ve primed the army as well, now, and I’ve started working on some of the minis. I’ve got enough minis to do an alright-ish list and I don’t have a whole lot more that I really need to build. I definitely need a Vampire Lord on foot. I could use the store anniversary mini for this, or I could convert something up from some old Empire Civilian miniatures from Warhammer Fantasy. I’ve also got a couple of boxes of Gryph Hounds that I’d like to do as Dire Wolves. I’d initially intended to do some Black Knights, but these got shelved. Having the Black Knight minis to base some conversions on, I’d like to get to them sometime, but I’m in no rush. Finally, there are also the heroes and other bits and bobs from Cursed City that I really do feel I should add. Cursed city was one of the major inspirations for this army, after all.

Slaves to Darkness

Current Painted Points: 265 (plus Be’Lakor)

One of the early models that I put together when considering my Maggotkin of Nurgle army was a Daemon Prince. I know they’re actually part of the Slaves to Darkness, but I reckoned I could happily ally him in. When I actually started writing lists though… eh. Not so much.

He did spark my imagination, though. What about some Nurgle-themed Slaves to Darkness? Yeah, they’d be cool, and I actually already had some good miniatures to use for Warriors. I set about some planning.

I actually had loads of cool ideas for this army. There were great opportunities for troops, characters, monsters… yeah, this had potential! It wasn’t too long before I started kitbashing some of the larger models and building up the Warriors and Knights.

As things stand, I’ve only really finished the Prince. The models are mostly built. I have a few Knights to finish building, along with the Warshrine. I have some greenstuff work to do on the bigger conversions, such as the Soul Grinder and Manticore-mounted Sorcerer Lord. I’ve started some painting on the Karkadrak Lord (converted into an aardvark-like beastie) and a Chaos Lord on foot.

This army is definitely on the backburner, but the new book might give me a bit more motivation to finish it off. I’m certainly going to finish the two Chaos Lords in the near future and then keep picking away at little bits.

Legion of the First Prince

Current Painted Points: 1,160 (plus 20 Brimstone Horrors and not counting Nurgle Daemons)

Be’Lakor is probably the best model that GW has put out. I adore him. I already loved him as a character, but now he has the miniature that he really deserves. He was also a joy to paint. I’m a wee bit anxious about this army and where it might be going in the near future, what with a new Slaves to Darkness book coming, and the reveal of mortal agents of Be’Lakor. I welcome the new models, just so long as the core identity of this army, as a gathering of Daemons from across the range, is maintained.

I’ve got my existing Nurgle Daemons painted up already, including a Great Unclean One to wield that Fourfold Blade. I also have a ton of old Daemons from an army I was working on towards the end of Warhammer Fantasy. Of these, I have finished up some Pink Horrors, and some Brimstone Horrors. I still have the Blue Horrors to finish. I’ve also got a selection of other Daemons. The ones I am intend on finishing off are the Contorted Epitome, a Bloodthirster, some Flesh Hounds and my converted Blue Scribes that I built to replace the resin model that fell onto a stone floor and shattered.

I think I might try to focus on this army next, It probably needs the least work to get to a good, usable state. It’s mostly characters that I need to finish, along with the Flesh Hounds and my Blue Horrors. Kairos is also pretty close to being done. Yeah, I think this one might be finishable in a decent timeframe.

Next time

Well, that’s what’s on the slate for now. Next time, let’s talk about the armies that I have been planning. Generally, these are armies where I have some of the bits, but haven’t really committed to building or painting them yet.