Second Knight

The final piece to be painted in the Feora1 50 point army was the second Knight Exemplar Seneschal (KES).  I’ve tried to make a trio of lists for competition purposes, each fielding some different units and ‘jacks to keep me going painting-wise; but still be competitive – hence the Idrians and KES.  I've fielded this trio: Feora1, Feora2 and Kreoss1 at 35 points in a Masters event at York a month ago, I've scaled it up to 50 and intend to field it again in another month at Bridgeford Bloodshed 1.

These KES solo’s are pretty decent in melee and when they get angry hit pretty hard and accurately – they’ve been useful in blocking charge lanes, contesting scenario elements and generally being a pain in the ass for my opponents!  Further tactics can be read in the first article I wrote on KES here.

The latest KES has a hero pose, I deliberately mounted him on a sloping rocky base and to further differentiate him from his buddy I chopped his left arm off and reposed it in a similar way to how the Errant Officer holds his sword, very simple to do – I just used a razor saw at the correct angle and inserted a pin to ensure the joint held.

I decided to paint the new KES in a similar way to his brother, but I used a greater amount of purple armour and much less white, though I maintained the same gold trim, sanguine clothing and brown/red banners for continuity.  There isn’t much more to say regards the paint job as again it follows the same scheme I have discussed throughout this blog.  Following the finished KES photos are a few more Idrian photos – hopefully these will look better than the ones in the previous article!

Knight Exemplar Seneschal - rear

Knight Exemplar Seneschal - front

 

Knight Exemplar Seneschal - side

Knight Exemplar Seneschal - side

Knight Exemplar Seneschals

Knight Exemplar Seneschal - front

 More Idrians (better lighting):

Moving forwards

It has been a while since my last blog entry, though people who know me know that I’ve been having a really tough time health-wise lately and to be honest still aren’t right, though on a positive note I’ve been feeling somewhat better of late and well enough to paint so I’ve photographed a few of my latest bits and pieces:

Feora, Priestess of the Flame

This warcaster is one that I have been trying out lately, loosing most of the games I have played using her, though of late I’ve won a couple, so she got painted up!  Gaming-wise she isn’t renown for being in the Protectorate’s top tier of warcasters, however I think she has a good spell list and a potentially devastating feat as well as being survivable.  Like her more popular epic counterpart she has a defensive stat of 15 and armour 17.  With the recent release of SR2013 the scenarios reward ‘casters who stick their necks out and Dominate flags, objectives and zones, basically scoring double control points; clearly the down side to sticking a ‘caster in harms-way is assassination in the following turn – hence survivable warcaster choices.  I’ll endeavour to write up a tactica on Feora1 once I’ve got to grips with using her and formulated a list that synergises with her and SR2013.

Regards painting Feora1, techniques were identical to previous articles, though I did spend quite some time getting the gold right, this being the first stage as I tend to with painting Protectorate models.  I also focused on getting a smooth Menoth White blend on the cloak/armour and spent some time ink lining to lift the colours where necessary:

  

Knights Exemplar Seneschal

This model has seldom seen play for SR2011 and SR2012, however I think with the recent meta-shift to Colossals and Gargantuans as well as the scenario focus of SR2013 this piece will find a niche.  As a basic description he is a fairly fast infantry solo who hits hard and with buffs and a bit of good luck could possibly trash a heavy, but I don’t include him for that as a main reason, but rather his Restoration rule.  Basically if the Knights Exemplar Seneschal (KES) is killed he just remains disabled and doesn’t get boxed or destroyed, so he can’t be removed from play easily.  The KES then heals damage for each living faction model destroyed in his CMD.  The key is that the KES remains in play during your opponents turn and isn’t removed until the Protectorate players following Maintenance Phase, this therefore prevents an opponent from scoring.  The KES can also be used to ‘jam up’ a large based model, such as a heavy or Colossal forcing the opposing player to trample instead of charging – this burns initial attack(s), negates the extra damage dice for a charge attack and costs a focus or fury for the power attack leaving only ‘bought attacks’.  Of course if you’re Dave and playing Sorscha2 it doesn’t matter as Konquest will smash whatever it likes, especially Avatar’s that are gazing at it and Nick forgot to Enliven (again)!!!

The KES was painted at the same time as feora1, simply to speed up painting time and save on my ever depleting paint supplies!  The model is really nice as it has a dramatic pose and the long flowing banners and clothing allow for some nice blending:

 

Reclaimer

This model is a ‘jack support piece who again saw little table-time in SR2011 and SR2012, but might see more in 2013.  Basically he gathers souls of fallen faction models and can convert that to focus and hand it out to a ‘jack as a *action.  Effectively gathering free focus allowing the Wracaster to camp more; something quintessential when Dominating and under risk of assassination.  Wracks and the Heirophant can also aid in this, but perhaps when list building too much support can be a downfall.

The Reclaimer differs slightly from other Protectorate models in that his clothing is black, probably because he collects souls and isn’t part of the Protectorate clergy, or maybe it is just a fashion thing!  Still it was interesting to paint this model and for the black robes I chose to mix increasing amounts of Menoth White Base to Tharmar Black, making a grey highlight.  I chose this colour as it would balance with the remainder of the Protectorate army which has extensive amounts of Menoth White Base/Highlight as a foundation colour:

Next up a 2013 Masters tournament to be held at York and a 75 point event to be held in Sheffield, some thoughts on list building as well as any relevant painting, thanks for reading :-)