Some time ago, I looked at doing an army of Grot Sky Pirates. It was a nice idea. It seemed fun. The plan was to base the army on Kharadron overlords and I was really looking forward to the idea of doing the vehicles, but I found it hard to care all that much about the troops. I didn’t want to make my own Grot version of Thunderers and Arkanaut Company.
Looking again at the idea, there are some other options open to me aside from my initial suggestion of the Kharadron Overlords. Namely, there’s the Stormcast Eternals. They have an all-flying army. They have their dragons.
So, if I were to go down this road, what would the theme be? My original idea was something piratey. That’s fine and doable when dealing with the Kharadron because of the size of the bases involved. You could properly festoon the airships with pirates. These are big ships. The bases on the Stormcast dragons, the Stormdrake Guard, are much smaller. As such, I need to scale things down just a little bit.
Well, I do have an idea. Racing. Crazed grots racing in their rickety flying machines. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t taking lots of inspiration from World of Warcraft on this one – particularly the Goblin-heavy zones of Azshara and Tanaris. Here’s some artwork that I gathered as inspiration:
Okay, so I’m looking at haphazard, grot-‘designed’ flying machines that pack in a ton of explosives. I can work with this. What about a list to work from?
I get the impression that the best all-dragon lists are all about cramming as many drakes into the list as possible. Ive immediately failed in this regard by adding in one of thr big, named Dragons. As such, what I’ve looked at is likely not particularly optimal, but it does 2 things. It keeps things interesting by adding variety, and it keeps the cost down by reducing the number of models I need to build. Here’s what I’ve gone for:
Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals
– Stormhost: Tempest Lords (Stormkeep)
– Grand Strategy: Draconith Defiance
– Triumphs: Inspired
Knight-Draconis (300)
– General
Krondys, Son of Dracothion (600)
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
– Drakerider’s Warblade
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
– Drakerider’s Warblade
2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*
– Drakerider’s Lance
Horrorghast (40)
*Bounty Hunters
Total: 1960 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 83
Drops: 5
Now, it should be pointed out that Krondys, one of the two big, named dragons from the Stormcast Eternals book, is pretty interchangeable with the other named dragon, Karazai. They are identical in point cost, so I can just try both out and see what I prefer. If I were using Karazai I would likely swap out the general’s Mirrorshield for an arcane tome to let me attempt to cast an endless spell. Karazai has no magic and there are so many spare points in this list that it’d be a crime not to use at least some of them for a spell.
So, this list leaves me with 8 models to complete, not counting the spell. The core of the army comes in the form of the 6 Stormdrake Guard. These are all on comparatively small 105mm oval bases. The Knight Draconis is on the same base. Krondys/Karazai is on a much more substantial 160mm base. This is the pie plate. I get to build something a wee bit more ambitious here. Let’s see what I can come up with.
At the time of writing, I reckon I will likely need the following kits:
- Kharadron Overlords Grundstock Gunhauler x2
- Orks Megatrakk Scrapjet x1
- Necron Night Scythe/Doom Scythe x1
- Sector Mechanicus: Sacristan Forgeshrine x2 (or ebay for specific parts)
- Sector Mechanicus Alchomite Stack x1 (or ebay for specific parts)
- Ork Dakkajet x1
Stormdrake Guard
These are the bulk of the army and will be approached in a few different ways. 2 of the Stormdrake Guard will be made of the engines (endrins) from the Gunhaulers with grots either surfing in it or just holding on for dear life. Probably one of each, actually.
The loose endrins will be elaborated with some monster heads to make them a bit more unique. Maybe some chains or the like? I’ll also find other bits and bobs that I can add in. If it looks a bit patched together, we’ll… that fits the theme, I suppose.
The next two will use the bodies of the Gunhaulers, but in different ways. One will be propelled by an engine from the Dakkajet kit. This might take some slicing up of the kits, but then what else would a self-respecting Grot engineer do?
The remaining Gunhauler body will make use of orky bits, including the propellers from the old Death Koptas that came in the 5th edition 40K starter set. This will give me a couple of quite different racers, even if they are based on the same body.
The remaining two Stormdrake Guard are going to be based on some 40K terrain. Specifically, it’s going to be based on the Sacristan Forgeshrine:
Note the cylindrical shape. This will give a nice, junker-esque feel. I’m not above cribbing ideas, of course, and I’m largely intending to follow this example from Stonemonk:
For such a relatively simple conversion, these are really effective. Obviously, I’d go for some grots instead of the dorfs. Everyone should go with some grots instead of dorfs, let’s just be completely honest on that one, eh pals? Aye.
The Knight Draconis is the general of the army. He needs to look just that little bit more important. At the Raceway, that means he needs to look faster. It’s not about size here, and it’s not about firepower; it’s all about speed. In that regard, I have a plan.
When it comes to sleek, aerodynamic speed, there’s nothing better than the Megatrakk Scrapjet. Of course, being a ground-based vehicle, it needs a wee bit of work. The engine is already fine, but we need some wing-like protrusions, most likely sourced from the Dakkajet. We also need a smaller pilot, but I’ve got plenty of grots to draw from. My only concern is that it might be a tad on the large side. If it is, I have other things I can turn it into, and then I can come up with something gyrocopter-based instead.
Krondys/Karazai
The Big lads! Krondys and Karazai are the big named dragons that will form the centrepiece of this army. I’ve already mentioned the possibility of using the Scrapjet as one of then if that model is just too large for the Knight Draconis. That would be a second dragon, though. I have a plan for my main one.
The symbol of the grots is the Bad Moon. I’ve seen several people put gather fantastic greenskins flying machines using the Necron Doom Scythe as a base:
The crescent shape of the Doom Scythe just lends itself to this Role. Not only is this my big dragon, but it also has the appearance of a Bad Moon Loonshrine, all the better to maintain my grot-centric theme.
Beyond the Doom Scythe, I’ll just need a b8nch of Orky tech bits and some random junk. I actually think I’m going to need a second Dakkajet, looking back at all the plans on here. We’ll see. There’s no rush.
The Forecast
When I first started planning this project, I intended to jump right in. I actually have a shopping basket sitting with the kits that I will need. What changed my mind a little was the series of ‘Taking Stock’ posts (part 1, part 2, and part 3) that I’ve just completed. I think I need to move things on a little with some of the in-progress armies. I think I’m going to start with the Legion of the First Prince. There are a few reasons for this, which I will likely cover in an article on prioritising projects in the next week or two.
That said, I did pick up a couple of books when I was south at the weekend. These included the Stormcast Eternals book, both with an eye to this army, and the Gloomcast.
For the time being, this is a fun plan, and once I’d like to do. I like the idea of doing more converted armies for AoS to join my Soulblight, Maggotkin, Flesh-Eaters and Slaves to Darkness. The Raceway would be a great addition to this lineup. It might be an idea to finish one of my projects before starting another.
No Rerolls 
Can’t wait to see this come to fruition!
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Think this will be a while, likes. 40K Daemons will likely need to come first for club league.
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