Stormcast Eternals Neave Blacktalon

Amazon Product Name (APN): Stormcast Eternals Neave Blacktalon Warhammer Age of Sigmar

Review by: Kelly

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Neave Blacktalon the Knight-Zephyros is an amazing Hero character for your Stormcast Eternal armies in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar by Games Workshop.

Neave Blacktalon plays as a single model, and her abilities make her perfectly suited for hunting key enemy heroes. She’s a capable filler hero if you have enough points left over in a list. Her sculpt is looks nice with her dual axes, choice of two head sculpts, and bearskin cape.

I enjoyed putting this model together and painting it in the cannon Hammers of Sigmar paint scheme, which are the colors I have most of my Stormcast Eternals collection painted in.

Neave Blacktalon does one extra damage per attack if targeting an enemy hero with Lightning-fast Strikes. She also gets one extra attack with her Whirlwind Axes if she charges with the Nemesis ability. She can even run and shoot in the same turn with Tireless Hunters.

By far her best ability, Windrider, allows Neave Blacktalon to follow in the wake of any other Stormcast Eternal unit that uses Ride the Winds Aetheric, such as Vanguard-Palladors and the Lord-Aquilar. This gives her sudden bursts of speed across the battlefield.

When in combat, Neave Blacktalon gets two shooting attacks at a nine inch range with her Boltstorm Pistol. She hits and wounds on a three plus with one damage each.

She then gets a whopping seven attacks, hitting and wounding on a three plus with minus one rend and one damage each with her Whirlwind Axes.

If she is charging a hero, Neave Blacktalon gets EIGHT attacks doing TWO damage each. With the dice on my side, Neave has obliterated chaos wizards, a skaven warlord and even the mighty Slambo in a single round of combat. I even used her Windrider ability once in a game to follow my Lord-Aquilar all the way up the board, behind enemy lines, where the dynamic duo proceeded to annihilate every enemy supporting hero and a Skullcannon before the enemy general killed her.

Neave Blacktalon is a fantastic model with a beautiful sculpt and does well hunting enemy heroes on the battlefield. Neave deserves a place in your Stormcast Eternals armies collection for your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar by Games Workshop. You can find her on Amazon right here.

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April 25, 2019 0

Stormcast Eternals Evocators

Amazon Product Name (APN): Citadel Stormcast Eternals Evocators Warhammer Age of Sigmar

Manufacturer: Games Workshop

Review by: Dad

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

With Games Workshop’s release of the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars starter set came a new chamber for the Stormcast Eternals, the Sacrosanct Chamber. This sect of the Stormcast Eternals focuses on magical weaponry, enhancements and beefy spellcasting.

Evocators are equipped with Tempest Blades and Stormstaves and get a whopping four attacks. They hit & wound on a three plus, with minus one rending and one damage each.

The leader of the unit, the Evocator-Prime gets an additional attack with his Tempest Blade and Stormstave. If it’s not obvious from the attack profile of their weapons, this is nuts. Even a small unit of three Evocator models is throwing thirteen dice when attacking, with a 66% (3+) chance of successful hits and then wounds on the dice.

On top of that amazing melee attack profile, Evocators have an ability called Celestial Lightning Arc that allows them to reroll saves of a one against shooting attacks. Not only that, after resolving their crazy number of attacks per game model in the combat phase, the Celestial Lightning Arc ability allows you to pick one enemy unit within three inches of the Evocators and roll two dice for each model in that unit. On a roll of a four plus on those dice, the unit suffers mortal wounds.

Celestial Lightning Ark can decimate big blobs of one-wound infantry, giving you two dice to roll for each model, and a 50% (4+) chance of success. This almost guarantees that you can finish off or at least cripple almost any group of infantry after one round of combat. You can equip them with Grandstaves instead, sacrificing one attack and rending, in exchange for doing two damage per hit. Evocators are very hardy with three wounds each, and a standard four plus save.

If that’s not enough to get you excited about Evocators, the unit also counts as a Wizard as long as it has at least two models left. Evocators are restricted to only casting one spell a turn, and unbinding one enemy spell a turn, with the only spell they can cast being Empower.

And what a spell Empower is. Empower literally does what it says, and if successful, empower’s another Sacrosanct or Redeemer Chamber unit with a reroll for all of their failed wound rolls. This spell makes pairing a unit of Evocators with a unit of Sequitors a no brainer.

The Sequitor’s Aetheric Channeling ability, if used to empower their weapons, lets them reroll all failed hit rolls. Being able to reroll all failed hit and wound rolls when attacking maximizes the Sequitor’s damage output in close combat. So, it’s always a good idea to backup a unit of Sequitor’s with at least a minimum unit of three Evocators.

Evocators are another somewhat overpowered unit that are new to the Stormcast Eternals, but their awesomeness is reliant on being able to cast a successful spell. This is something that’s more difficult in the 2nd Edition of Age of Sigmar, with the increase in spell unbinding range. They are wonderfully sculpted and very cool models available in either the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars starter set in a unit of three or in their own box in a unit of five.

I absolutely love this unit of Warhammer miniatures, and if you take the time to learn how to use them with your army, I know you’ll enjoy putting them down on the gaming table, too.

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March 25, 2019 0

Easy to Build Stormcast Eternals Celestar Ballista

Amazon Product Name (APN): Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Easy to Build Stormcast Eternals Celestar Ballista

Manufacturer: Games Workshop

Review by: Dad

Our Rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Celestar Ballista adds a versatile artillery piece to armies of Stormcast Eternals. The Celestar Ballista was released in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars box and in a separate easy to build kit.

The separate kit has its own unique sculpts for the Sacristan Engineers that crew the machine, and a different front armored plate of the ballista. This makes for some decent variety when picking up multiples of the Celestar Ballista for your shooty lists.

The Celestar Ballista models have two modes of fire with the Versatile Weapon ability. You decide which to use before firing in the shooting phase. Single shot has a range of a whopping thirty-six inches, with one attack hitting and wounding on a three plus, with minus two rending and one damage. This miniature model is perfect for sniping some wounds on an enemy hero unit out of reach of your battle line units.

The rapid fire mode is where I feel the Celestar Ballista really shines. Getting four attacks and hitting on a five plus, instead of the three plus Single Shot gets you. No matter which firing mode you choose, any time an attack hits, it explodes into d6 hits on the target because of the units ability, Chained Lightning.

In single shot mode you have a small chance to do six hits, and in Rapid Fire mode that increases to a potential twenty four wounds being dealt!

Obviously, the stars and dice rolls have to align perfectly for that to happen, especially with the harder to hit rolls, but you can still hope to average a few wounds every time you pull the trigger in rapid fire mode if the dice are with you. (If you feel like the dice you’re rolling are “unlucky”, check out the bag of 40 dice from Wiz Dice below. Papa likes to have a few sets on hand just in case.)

The Sacristan Engineers crewing the Celestar Ballista have to stay within one inch of it when moving, and defend it in close combat with their Sigmarite Blades. If you have the Celestar Ballista in a piece of terrain cover, it gets plus two to its save of a four plus because of their Bastions of Death ability.

Celestar Ballistas are a must buy for any Stormcast Eternals or Order faction player in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Costing only one hundred points when building a list, it’s easy to fit one or two into your miniature game army, and they are definitely worth the points cost. The Celestar Ballista pairs up well with the Lord-Ordinator as he adds one to all hit rolls made by any Order War Machines like the Celestar Ballista within nine inches of him.

Papa and I are loving Warhammer Age of Sigmar and if you’re interested in giving it a try, check it out on Amazon here.

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March 25, 2019 0

Castigators with Gryph Hound Warhammer

Amazon Product Name (APN): Citadel Easy-To-Build Castigators with Gryph Hound Warhammer

Manufacturer: Games Workshop

Review by: Dad

Our Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Castigators are a new ranged infantry unit for the Stormcast Eternals in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Added with the release of the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars box in a unit of five, Castigators are the heavy hitting ranged trooper of the Stormcast Eternal Sacrosanct chamber. Castigators are also available in the Tempest of Souls and Storm Strike bundles along with a seperate easy to build box that builds three Castigators including both male and female models and a single gryph-hound with a new sculpt unique to this box.

Castigators are armed with Thunderhead Greatbows with an eighteen inch range, one attack each hitting and wounding on a three plus with minus one rending and one damage each. Very similar to the Judicators Skybolt Bows, with their bows getting a twenty-four inch range instead. The leader of the unit is a Castigator-Prime and that model gets plus one to hit with its greatbow. That’s about where the similarities with judicators end though.

Castigators have an ability called Burst of Celestial Energy that allows hits with the Thunderhead Greatbows of a six to inflict D3 hits instead of one if the target is a Daemon or Nighthaunt unit. This ability makes them a must include when fighting either of those forces Judicators.

Castigators also have Aetheric Channeling, similar to Sequitors, that allows the unit to either reroll hit rolls of a one or increase their rending from minus one to minus two. They’re a great ranged option for your Stormcast Eternals army with great model diversity in beautiful and detailed sculpts.

Male and Female models are in the units, and some have their helmets removed which gives some great visual variation when they’re set out on the table.

The only real issue is their availability. Games Workshop really needs to release a ten model box of Castigators to make it easier to build up their units as there are only five in the starter set and three in the easy to build box. People who want to build shooting armies of Stormcast Eternals will find it difficult to build up more than a small unit without having a bunch of duplicate models. If all you want are the Castigators, buying a bundle box or a starter set just isn’t cost effective.

I hope Games Workshop will release a full unit kit for Castigators like the have for all the other ground troops for the Stormcast Eternals. Either way, check out Castigators yourself for your games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

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March 8, 2019 0

Top 5 Games Workshop Warhammer Age of Sigmar Releases of 2018

Best of Games Workshop Article by Dad

2018 was a fantastic year for Warhammer Age of Sigmar by Games Workshop. Games Workshop brought us many new models and several army release through 2018. Let’s explore the releases our family thought were the best of 2018. Our top five either changed the game, brought a much needed update to an older model and finally brought the Beast of Chaos and Gloomspite Gitz into the Age of Sigmar properly.

1. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars Starter Set

First on our top five is the Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars box. This new starter set for Age of Sigmar brought us the Second Edition of the ruleset to the Mortal Realms. The Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars starter set is one of the latest in a line of high value for the purchase price boxes of models Games Workshop has been releasing lately. Including a full size, color hardcover book of the new rules and exciting backstory for the Soul Wars in the Age of Sigmar. The Soul Wars starter set also includes fifty-two high detail and easy to build models, the most models Games Workshop has packed into a basic starter set since the full army boxes back in the 90’s. The Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Wars starter set is fantastic place to start your journey in the Mortal Realms if you want either a Stormcast Eternals or Nighthaunt army. These forces can easily be built out into full armies by adding a start collecting and just a couple other boxes of models.

2. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Sorcery

An amazing new addition to add more flavor and wanton destruction to your age of sigmar battles, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Sorcery brought a new threat to our Warhammer Age of Sigmar Battles, endless spells. Endless Spells add a new threat to the battlefield, each with their own unique rules and flavor. Endless Spells can be cast by any of your wizard characters and can be taken over by the opposing force’s wizards creating some interesting and tactical gameplay options for your Warhammer Age of Sigmar games. Endless Spells are a must buy when building a new Age of Sigmar Army to keep your options open for having fun in smaller games and as a great points filler in larger games expanding your play options. The Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Sorcery box contains thirteen miniatures representing a great starting mix of endless spells. Endless spells for all of the currently updated factions are also available with new sets coming out with every new army update. Current releases by Games Workshop include Endless spells for Stormcast Eternals, Nighthaunt, Beasts of Chaos, and Gloomspite Gitz at the time of the writing of this article.

3. Games Workshop Warhammer Age of Sigmar Nighthaunt Black Coach

The model for the Black Coach hasn’t been updated since the 1990s and badly needed an overhauled new model. Games Workshop’s updates to the Nighthaunt army this year provided the perfect opportunity to release a new one and boy did the game designers deliver on this one. The design of the Black Coach fits in perfectly with the rest of the new Nighthaunt models and is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, growing stronger every turn it stays in play. I greatly enjoyed building and painting this model and have included it in my Nighthaunt list rotation with the special Deathriders Battalion warscroll in the Nighthaunt battletome to go with two units of ten Hexwraiths and the Dreadblade Harrows. The Black Coach is a behemoth class unit for your Nighthaunt army and is definitely a must buy to round out your larger point cost lists.

4. Battletome: Beasts of Chaos Warhammer Age of Sigmar

The Beasts of Chaos Battletome for Warhammer Age of Sigmar finally brought the beastmen in all their chaos worshipping glory into the Age of Sigmar. This army hasn’t been updated in several years and badly needed a new battletome for the Age of Sigmar. Along with the Beasts of Chaos Battletome, Games Workshop released a set of Endless Spells and a new piece of terrain The Herdstone to add more flavor to the army. A lot of rules were updated to the Beasts of Chaos warscrolls, bringing updates and balance changes to the army rules. This battletome is a must buy for any Beasts of Chaos player in games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

5. Battletome: Gloomspite Gitz Warhammer Age of Sigmar (HB)

The Battletome for the Gloomspite Gitz was a very rewarding surprise announced near the end of of 2018 with a release in very early 2019. We felt the timing was close enough to the end of 2018 that we could still include it here. The Gloomspite Gitz Battletome joins the Moonclan grots, Spiderfang grots, troggoths and gargants together under the bad moon of the Gloomspite Gitz and led by Skragrott the Loonking. Grot armies had been severely neglected in the Age of Sigmar and really needed an update. Games Workshop’s announcement included new grot models, a terrain piece and grot themed Endless Spells for buiding a fully themed Gloomspite Gitz army for games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar.

2018 was an amazing year for Warhammer Age of Sigmar releases and 2019 is already proving to be amazing, with more Gloomspite Gitz models releasing early in the first quarter, and updates already teased to both Flesheater Courts and Skaven armies. It should be a amazing year on the gaming table in the Age of Sigmar.

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March 7, 2019 0

Is my modeling glue making me sick?

A Modeling Help Article by Dad

I started building and painting twenty-eight millimeter scale miniatures several years ago. The first miniature I ever painted was a pewter Eladrin Warlock character, for a Dungeons and Dragons fourth edition campaign I was starting with some friends. It was a fun project that taught me the basics of modeling and painting. I was hooked from that first project and I’ve managed to fully paint and base several hundred minis since. Now I maintain a large modeling, painting and gaming space to enjoy my hobby in. However, I’ve got an issue, I’m allergic to super glue.

Why does glue smell?

We all know that cyanoacrylate adhesives, more commonly known as super glues, are really stinky. The reason for the smell, is most super glues offgas a vaporized version of cyanoacrylate monomer. This monomer can irritate your mucous membranes in the respiratory tract. For most people, using these adhesives in a well ventilated room is enough to prevent side effects. However, about 5% of the population is allergic enough that this irritation turns into what feels like a head cold or flu for several days.

The Cyanoacrylate Wikipedia page explains this issue pretty well. You can read what they have to say here.

Am I allergic to Super Glue?

I found out I was allergic to most glues through trial and error. Once I started really getting into miniature modeling, I was using super glue a lot more than I had previously. Eventually, I made the connection that every time I spent a day building models, I was sick for a week with a head cold or flu. It took being sick for almost a month solid until I figured out that my super glue was the issue. After a ton of searching online, I started finding testimonials from other miniature modelers out there that had the same super glue allergy.

How do I stick stuff together if I’m allergic to Super Glue?

I realized I had two choices, either rebuild my workspace with tons of crazy ventilation under a chemical hood, or find a superglue that was odorless.

Pretty much everyone I found that posted about flue allergies recommended using the Super-Gold+ CA odorless super glues. They are expensive compared to standard glues, but they don’t offgas that mucous membrane irritating monomer. The glues come in a range of thicknesses from very thin to thick gap filling. This allows you to continue gluing miniatures and models, no matter your application. I mostly use the medium thickness for gluing models to bases, building metal and resin models, adding basing plants/rocks, and final model assembly after painting those hard to reach spots. It really is the best middle ground for general assembly of different materials like cork, plastic, pewter, resin, dirt, rocks, etc.

Since I started using odorless super glues, I no longer have those crazy side effects from my allergy. This has been huge for me personally, as miniature modeling and painting has become a regular form of meditation and therapy for dealing with my other chronic health issues. I wouldn’t have been able to come this far with my painting and modeling skills without an odorless option for superglues.

So, if you are starting out in the miniature modeling and painting hobby and you begin having unexplained head cold and flu like symptoms, it might just be the super glue you are using. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying an amazing family hobby. The wealth of miniatures that need some assembly and paintwork are still accessible to you with a solid odorless superglue like the Super-Gold+ Odorless. To check this great glue out for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

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