Unleash the Plasmazord!

 Are these daemon engines good now?

Or maybe it's the new Chaos Space Marines codex, and everything is good now.

At the recent DZTV Open Day, I had an off-camera game with Winters SEO's Necron (beat me with the last throw of the dice, thank you for asking), and in preparation for that, decided to give my Creations of Bile a bit more heft.

Step forward the Forgefiend! Part of my Eldrich Omens swag from earlier this year, I reckoned my close-combat Creations could use some supporting firepower (and with the new tricks available to them, they're a pretty solid option).

Time was of the essence, so I painted this with a huge amount of subassemblies. Not just for magnetising (although I did that too), but to speed along the basecoating stage. So the main body and guns were sprayed Leadbelcher, and all the armoured pieces sprayed with Retributor Armour.

As they were so small, I left a number of the armoured plated on the sprue when I sprayed them (snipping away all but one of the connectors). This made it easier to wash and drybrush them on the sprue, and while it did mean I'd have to touch up the connecting bit of plastic once they were set free, I made sure this was in an inconspicuous place.

The other thing to be aware of is the Retributor Armour spray is not the same colour as the Retributor Armour pot (yes, really). So I added a splash of Army Painter Soft Tone to level it out (and it's a close enough match for my sloppy chaos boys).

Overall, it made for a reasonable quick paint job for a model this size, although it was a bit dispiriting to reach the two-third stage of painting and still have your model look nowhere near finished.

• Gold: Black primer, Retributor Armour base, Agrax Earthshade wash, Golden Griffin drybrush
• Metallics: Black primer, Leadbelcher base, Iron Warriors drybrush
• Armour: Wraithbone base, Seraphim Sepia wash, Bleached Bone drybrush
• Flesh: Bugman's Flesh, Reikland Fleshshade, Kislev Flesh layers, Druchii Violet glaze
• Ectoplasma: Ulthuan Grey base, Hexwraith Flame wash, Yriel Yellow drybrush
• Red claws: Khorne Red base, Nuln Oil wash

Still, a nice addition to my daemonic astartes, and a choice of weapon options (I can't imagine straying from the ectoplasma-face - who would?)

While waiting for the washes to dry, I cracked on with some more heretic astartes (they're good now!). Beginning with a melta gun (thank you GW for my Miniature of the Month), which can advance with the rest of my assault force, but hide a nice anti-armour surprise for those who were expecting nothing more penetrative than bolt pistols.

On the subject of bolt pistols -  a couple of chainsword and pistol heretics to round out the numbers. Certainly capable of doing some harm once the Wanton acts get going (and Fabius Bile has had his way with them).

Their pig-heads come, as before, from Puppetswar, which is now such a characteristic of this warband ('The Excluded Souls') that I may have to order more.

NB The warband has its own name because I see 'Creations of Bile' as a type, rather than a name (Fabius has many fingers in many pies). Indeed, the new codex doesn't even require Fabius Bile to be the warlord (or even present) in the army for it to be a Creations of Bile one.

While this does open the possibility for competitive-abuse (I hear it's already won a tournament), the narrative side of me likes the idea of small missions being led, not by the doc himself, but by members of his consortium - plans for conversions of extra apothecaries are underway.

A final addition to the footsloggers (or should that be 'trotters'?) is the new heavy chainaxe. Lovely weapon - essentially a power fist in the hands of a legionary. I didn't have the official kit (not willing to part with my pennies for the upgraded set), but the arms from a Plague Marine and a chainaxe head does the job marvellously.

• Armour: Black primer, Wraithbone primer, Seraphim Sepia wash, Bleached Bone drybrush
• Gold: Retributor Armour base, Agrax Earthshade wash, Golden Griffin drybrush
• Flesh: Bugman's Flesh, Reikland Fleshshade, Kislev Flesh layers
• Red claws: Khorne Red base, Nuln Oil wash

Great fun to return to my Hobbypocalypse 1 army and paint some more - I'll definitely be returning.