Unleashing the Beast

I've spent a good amount of time this weekend working on additions to my Age of Sigmar army, almost all in the form of Tzaangors, the twisted bird-goat-men that comprise Tzeentch's rendition of the standard-issue beastmen. 

I started by assembling and painting a Tzaangor Shaman, one of the leaders of this abominable species, mounted atop a half-daemon, half-machine Disc of Tzeentch.  This was to fully test-drive the color scheme I was thinking about using to model a tribe of Tzaangors native to the Realm of Fire.  I think it came out very nicely, especially with the bases done up using the "Dark Runes" Green Stuff rolling pin.  I'll be doing as many bases as I can in this style going forward.

With that out of the way, I assembled a box of ten Tzaangors, deciding to equip them with paired blades instead of sword-and-shield, forgoing a little bit of defense in favor of a boost to attack rolls.  There's also a few equipped with "Great Blades" for some extra chopping power against heavily-armored foes.  I also assembled three "Tzaangor Enlightened," more advanced and favored members of the species, who have some delightfully nasty abilities, especially if a Wizard is nearby. 

Finally, something really fun.  Eventually I'm going to want to field a "Fatemaster" in my army, but refuse to work in resin, the only material the character is available in.  So I kitbashed my own, using Warhammer 40K's "Ahriman" Chaos Sorcerer, the glaive-wielding right arm and head of a Chaos Knight, and a shield arm off the Tzaangor sprue.  A little Green Stuff to cover an attachment point where a jetpack is supposed to go and he should be good to prime. 

Return to the Age of Sigmar

I played in a really enjoyable game of Age of Sigmar 2nd edition this weekend, a three-way battle between by Tzeentch army, a Stormcast army and a Nighthaunt army of ghosts.  I've had bad experiences with Age of Sigmar in the past, but Alex, the manager of the local Warhammer store, managed to pull me back in by assuring me that the in-store campaign that was starting up was going to be very focused on playing scenarios, rather than just mindless brawls, and that people bringing web-sourced tournament-style lists would be discouraged. 

I liked the changes I saw in 2nd edition, and I like that the Disciples of Tzeentch have been nerfed a bit - because DoT was so overpowered when it first came out that even my army, put together by a guy who had no idea what he was doing list-wise, was being automatically viewed as overpowered. 

I enjoyed myself enough that I decided I wanted to keep playing, so long as I can keep playing more relaxed games; I wargame for leisure, not for tournament play.  And feeling dissatisfied with both the composition and the paint jobs on the forces I have at my disposal right now, I decided I'd start rebuilding my army, one unit at a time, to create a more cohesive and thematically-interesting army. 

I picked up a box of Tzaangors, the Tzeentch-themed Beastmen, as well as a Tzaangor Shaman, because I loved the sculpts and wanted to use them as a solid core of my army.  Looking through the Disciples of Tzeentch book, a bright pink Tzaangor among the various blues caught my eye:

That got me looking at the Pyrofane Cult battalion, and thinking about the theme of fire.  A lot of Tzeentchian magic manifests in the form of varicolored flame, and one of the Mortal Realms in which Age of Sigmar games can take place is the Realm of Fire, equivalent to D&D's Elemental Plane of Fire.  A splinter-sect of the Pyrofane Cult from the Realm of Fire would be cool, and that's what I decided I'm going to pursue. 

Now I just need to resupply on plastic cement!