Kaiju Country: Haemonculus

Showing posts with label Haemonculus. Show all posts

Monday, 10 September 2018

What's in the box II - Drukhari Surprise...

The box thing again?!

Welcome to another edition of What's in the box!

Previously on Kaiju Country I posted some images of a whimsical boxed project which I completed in a couple of evenings. Today's offering took considerably more effort and is back in the land of Warhammer 40,000 - specifically back on the subject of those naughty Drukhari flesh-smiths in The Hex Haemonculus Coven!

It can be said that I have a penchant for 'themed' armies and paraphernalia; rather than pursuing a competitive meta munching list, I prefer to build my projects around what excites me in the hobby and go from there.

I have always loved the Haemonculus Covens and what they represent. Twisted and sinister, these depraved flesh sculptors spend their unnaturally lengthened lives in search of the perfect form which they work towards with a horrendous amount of unnecessary surgery on less than willing patients!

To assist me in gathering my own experimental slaves, I put together a case. Presented as a Haemonculus' personal collection of instruments, it's a theatrical, but I think it really represents my own hobby obsessions as much as those of an imaginary evil-doer!

The outside of the case - made to look as though it has been bound with the finest selection of skins...

The rear of the box - all of the strapping and strings were made with red thong to represent sinewy twine.

The binding 'human skin' is featured on the front and side facings, with black reptilian skin covering the larger three.

The box had to look like an exquisitely constructed case, incorporating grisly trophies such as flesh, bone and skins weaved into a functional object.

In this image, you can see that the fastening acts as a carry handle when passed through the hoop to the rear.

Once the fastening bone hook has been passed through the loop, it is drawn up to the lid as the box opens, acting as a stop to hold the case open.

Upon opening the case, you are presented with the decorative facial skin of a worthy adversary.

Sculpted in polymer clay then moulded and cast into latex, this stretched facial skin was then painted and attached to a felt backing board which lies across the first layer of the box. And yes, the eyes and mouth are stitched shut with thread. I'm nothing if not thorough...

So despite the rather grisly premise, you will have guessed that this is actually a transport case for all of my themed Drukhari gaming paraphernalia! The second layer is black EVA foam which my Codex sits on top of (preventing it from damaging the other contents by falling in!)

The next layer is simply the dice shaking tray located in the top left of the box

Under the tray sits the bulk of my gaming items seated within another layer of thick black EVA foam

The bottom layer of EVA foam with cut-outs for all of the items. The foam has been heat treated and coated for durability. Beneath that is red felt for a lovely plush finish - see, a torture chest can be snuggly!

As you can see from the dice shaker, Tape measure, dice bag and dice box, the theme for the contents was carried forward from the outer aesthetic. All of the items were either coated and painted or fashioned from skin coloured faux leather and embellished with paint.

First up is the hand made dice bag which contains some nice black and pink dice which I picked up online.

I was very pleased with the veiny patterning which I used to add some light detailing to all of the items, tying them together. By the time I'd finished the whole set, I was pretty damn good at adding veiny patterns to just about anything! :)

The dice shaker was a pig to sew as it is double layered with a crimson coloured leatherette for the inside. I also made it more difficult for myself by deciding that I wanted the crimson thread on the outside! Once the sewing was complete, I embellished the item with the symbol of the Hex Coven and the aforementioned vein patterning.

Coardboard dice box repainted to match the other items, containing some limited edition Games Workshop skull dice that I've had for years. They're some of my favourite ever dice; it's such a shame they hate me and always roll 1's!

The tape measure was made by coating a regular cheap measuring tape with paper maché and painting it to resemble dried, cracked skin. The hold button was painted in a bone colour and heavily varnished. It still works perfectly and is only slightly diminished by the fact that I couldn't think of a way to coat or paint the metal tape without ruining this functional equipment and making it completely useless!

A shaped cardboard box - lined with felt and painted to match the other items. This was a perfect fit for my Drukhari cards

The dice rolling tray was also a straightforward felt lined cardstock item. I always take a dice tray to play games as I hate it when stray dice take out miniatures...

Added just before completion is a small softwood box which I layered with black and red glazes before varnishing to make it look both blood stained and old. Inside the box are 7 small dice holders which can be used as wound markers on larger models. A selection of skulls from various kits were used to decorate them and also give me something to use when trying to pick them up!

The final offering is a collection of small jars which I collected as I saw them, saving them for my various items which are (from left to right) smaller mottled red dice, older Games Workshop plastic skull shaped wound markers and finally a selection of plastic & glass 'blood crystals' which I use for various functions during games such as command points etc.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed looking through my more whimsical recent posts; rest assured, I'll be returning to full on mini action soon! :)

Goddenzilla

Tuesday, 1 May 2018

The Return to Commorragh...

Seeds of Evil

Greetings and salutations!

Today I want to talk about my Dark Eldar Haemonculus Coven. I built a small number of them some time ago for a one off event that I ran called the Blood Games which was a sort of gladiatorial games set in Commorragh.

With the release of the new Dark Eldar / Drukhari Codex, I thought I'd have a little ramble about my thoughts on the Codex and share some images of how I'm reviving the force.

My observations on the Codex are limited mainly to the Coven units and shouldn't really be taken as having any battlefield value as quite frankly, my tactical genius extends only as far as making a themed army that looks great as it's wiped off the table!

My approach to battle and regard for my men's safety was recently likened to Wellington...

"An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them..."

WARNING!!
If you don't like your own fingers then Drukhari are for you. Be safe in the knowledge that should you ever require a lethal weapon to defend your home, look no further than a Dark Eldar Raider...

The Drukhari Codex

Although I understand why the Indexes were produced, I still found that they sucked the life out of the armies, leaving them as dry and lifeless husks. Much like the effect of a hot summer on the British.

Well, I was extremely pleased to see that GW have restored not only the former glory of the Drukhari, but also breathed some new life into them as well. Where the Indexes reduced the races to very bland variations of the same core troops, the Codexes have restored what was lost, with the individual qualities of the Dark Eldar coming back to the fore.

The Drukhari are once again a fragile but deadly force with a very distinct style of play. Much like a scalpel, they need to be used with precision and planning to get the best results. Which is why when I play them, they tend to get bludgeoned to death by thunder hammers on turn 2 after being poorly positioned!

Having said that, they are an absolute joy to play with in 8th edition. The new strategems provide really useful benefits which you can use in lots of different situations rather than requiring a contrived and overly complicated A-team style plan in order to use them...

Tau dementia is common - help your commander by placing him in familiar surroundings at just the right moment...

My favourite aspect of the new Codex is the fact that Incubi, Scourges and Mandrakes are now free agents, effectively allowing you to drop them into detachments without causing all of your other units to lose army traits and have some sort of existential / self-determination crisis mid-battle.

This free agent mechanic has led me to cast a slightly wider net when planning my Haemonculus Coven expansion. As Covens traditionally don't do well against armoured targets (because it's hard to poison a land raider), I decided that I needed some mobile heavy weapons in order to dish out some anti-tank nastiness. And to that end, I have created this bad boy...

Wrack Scourge with blaster and hideous humpy bone wings!

Eventually, he'll be part of a whole unit with two blasters and two haywire blasters. Tanks shall be nommed....

So what the hell have I been up to?!

As well as adding some more outlandish conversions, I've also been revisiting the original units and either touching up worn paint jobs or just expanding the units. I have more planned for the force but it's mainly WIP at the moment. My chosen Coven is The Hex...

Hex Then...

Utterly Grotesque

Hex Now...

Wrack Knight

And finally, I'd like to show you one of my more diabolical creations. As usual, I started work on this some time ago and it's not finished yet although the new Codex has given me the foot up the arse I needed to get him painted!

In-game he's an Eldar Wraith Knight armed with a giant Husk blade (Wraith Knight Glaive), a Shadow Field (Scatter Shield) and Disintegrator Cannons instead of Eldar Starcannons as they cost the same and vary only slightly in their profile.

I played a game with him on Saturday and even though he doesn't benefit from any of the Codex rules, he's still an absolute beast!!