Way back in the mists of time, I was lucky enough to be part of The Tale of Four Wordlords, where Phil Kelly, Gav Thorpe, Guy Haley and myself raised AoS armies together, month by month. The articles were up on Warhammer Community, and being part of a Tale of Four Gamers/Warlords project like those featured in White Dwarf has always been a personal ambition of mine.
We were even fortunate enough to get some freaking killer personal banner art done by one of GW’s best and brightest: Sarah Kaiser. I was way beyond delighted when I first saw myself done up as a Namarti Thrall in my army colours, complete with beanie.
But I wasn’t in great shape mentally speaking for a lot of 2018 and 2019, which peaked in mid-2019 – and one of the balls I dropped during that descent was the Tale of… project. The other guys finished their commitments on time and I felt like lukewarm garbage for letting them down, since their final updates couldn’t be posted until I’d finished mine, too.
Eventually it dragged on to the point where WarCom no longer had the time or space to publish the finished article, especially with the insane amount of content they’ve got lined up going into this spring and summer. But my Idoneth Deepkin, some half-built, some half-painted, were an uncomfortable reminder of the ruined project, all that wasted potential, and I started thinking of them as a millstone around my neck. I’d had to abandon work commitments, social commitments, and hobby commitments by the truckload in 2018 and 2019, and I sure as Christ didn’t want to paint my once-beloved sea aelves any more, but at the same time here was something I could finish, after all. In the midst of a long streak of fuck-ups, here was something I could bring over the finish line. Late – very late – but still… done, y’know?
I chipped away at them in Feb and March, finally reaching a point where they’re finished enough for me to put them in the display cabinet. They no longer feel like a shining beacon of fuck-uppery.
I don’t have a full Battleline choice since I only finished 4 out of the 10 Namarti Reavers. That said, I got my general done (the Isharann Tidecaster), as well as the Akhelian Allopex and the Akhelian Leviadon, plus an Endless Spell (the Prismatic Palisade) and the Idoneth’s racial scenery piece: a Gloomtide Shipwreck.
On one hand, I’m aware this is still hardly a full army (it’s only about 600 finished points, f’rex) and as projects go it’ll seem pretty small to a lot of my fellow Warhammerers. On the other hand though – and this is the hand we’ll be using to count things – this is the biggest painted army I’ve ever had in my life, and it’s done enough for me not to consider my biggest painted army still being the 4 Blood Claws I drybrushed when I was 23, or the single painted Phoenix Guard in my 4,000pts. of High Elves when I was 18.
Any way you slice it, this is progress.
Here are the pics, taken by Ross with his usual visual sorcery.
Khraleth, the Huntress in the Vines. (Or “Baby Shark,” as my 4 y/o daughter calls her.) I wanted Khraleth to look pale and marked by age, so I tried to give her that splotchy skin that some really old sharks get.
I realise my Palisade is in no way Prismatic, but shut up.
Tales From The Aaronorium 
Hey man, they may not be a huge army, but they’re done and done damn well. You finished them, and that’s worthy of celebrating.
Not only that, but it takes a lot of courage to come out with that post. It’s inspiring.
Keep on doing what you’re doing. You’re doing awesome.
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Merci beaucoup. Not sure my vague allusions are super-brave or anything but I did hover on the POST button for a ridiculously long time.
Now, onwards to some skaven!
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600 points of absolute quality! As a man who spends most of his free time covered in baby food and sudocrem I salute you for managing to dad and get anything done to such a good standard.
I still need to brush up on my AoS lore but i think the correct Idoneth sign off here is ‘may Captain Birdseye and/or Azshara guide your hand during your murmaider spree’. I need to read more…
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I’m like 36% sure that’s not canon. I’ll recheck my battletome…
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Amazing work. Especially the Baby Shark. The smoothness of that skin…so smooth….
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Thank you kindly! She came out really well, I was dead happy with her.
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They look awesome mate. If it didn’t sound too gushy I would say gorgeous.
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Gushy or not, I appreciate you taking the time to say so. Thanks!
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These really turned out great Aaron, and it’s a credit to you – I know compared to some folks’ armies it might seem like a small accomplishment, but seeing even a handful of minis together in a coherent scheme always has such an impact, and the Allopex and Leviadon are pretty huge by the standards of a lot of minis
I’m trying to get back on the hobby horse too – there’s a Titanicus Warlord sitting above my desk with nary but its skellington painted, and collections like this always really help top up my hobby motivation, so hopefully this’ll boost my motivation
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What Legio are you thinking of going with, IHF?
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They’re a homebrew Legio I’ve been designing for a while – my main method of avoiding hobby butterfly syndrome is only collecting armies that are thematically linked, so they’re based on a Forge World with close ties to my 30k Iron Hands Clan – suffice to say I’m looking forward to the Legio builder that’s upcoming in the Defence of Ryza book.
I did a bit of a breakdown of their background on Twitter here, and there’s a semi-neglected B&C thread below if you’re curious:
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/353883-legio-exhortor-the-proclamators/
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They are fantastic. Love ‘baby shark’.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Lovely work!
I know what you mean about unfinished projects becoming a weight about the neck.
You not only finished them but painted them damned well!
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Thank you! Now I just need to convince myself to stay away and not dive back in (no pun intended) to them.
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Wow; they may be few in number but they’re beautifully done. And splendidly photographed, to boot.
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Ross has a way with the camera, it’s so true. He elevates whatever he’s pointing a lens at.
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While your speed may need some improvement, those are some KILLER paintjobs! The shell on that turtle-dinosaur-dragon thing has to be my favourite part. Excellent stuff!
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Thank you so much, dude. Your kind words always mean a lot.
At this stage, I’m finding myself weirdly tempted to go back to the sea-aelves and build the other Leviadon I’ve got in the box, but I realise that’s basically madness.
What an army core it would make, though…
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