Hobby Update: 3k Abyssals

The Abyssals are coming along nicely. They are mostly repaints of old GW Daemons, since I'm trying not to spend money on new plastic.

Flamebearers
I picked up a box of GW's Pink Horrors way back, along with 20 spare bodies from an old bits store.

The bar from improving the unit is very low.

Back in the day I did one unit up normally, like they were fresh from the Warp, and then broke out the green stuff for a second unit of 10 (leaving the third unit of 10 in limbo). The second unit got green-stuffed beaky-heads, but the work was pretty terrible. Lacking Horror limbs, I also swapped in a bunch of Chaos Marauder arms, since they almost fit. My idea was to make them looked more "crazed" with very prominent eyes, and give them weapons, like they have been in the Old World long enough to scrounge up some things. I don't think it worked that well, and they were not a particularly great looking unit.

For the Kings of War repaints here, I did find another bits store and splurged on some spare heads. They look pretty uniform now, but I still needed to use a lot of Marauder arms. Overall, these turned out pretty good. The models are all running/leaning and are hard to space and base, and not really breating much by way of flames... but it worked out.

Not bad conversions. Though yeah, the more I think about it, it's really odd that none of these models are really showcasing a ranged attack. That's one thing I really liked about Mantic's line.

With 4+ to hit at range, and Piercing 1, but no Reload penalty, they seem like they could be pretty versatile. They have a decent threat range, and Regen may let recoup damage if the enemy fails to focus them down early on. I'd be interested to see these used by a good general.

Chroneas
The fluff says it's a black-skinned manipulator of time, and those that venture too close find their flesh warped with age (reflecting the breath attack). While a neat concept, I'm trying to work with what I have, and what I have is an Exalted Flamer from the Tzeentch Chariot kit.

He was blue with pink flames, but I decided to repaint the fella pink with blue flames to go with the rest of the army.

Not a great representation of the fluff, but it does a great job letting you know it has a breath attack!

This is a quirky unit on paper. It cannot be Disordered. It has no normal attacks, but it does have Fury, letting it counter-charge while Wavered. But it's only offense is a Breath Attack. Goofy.

Harbinger
Also from the Chariot Kit is this new Harbinger. They are the "cheap" inspiring option for the Abyssals. They have the ranged Firebolt attack... but only one attack. So, despite the epic-looking fireball being conjured, this guy isn't too great on the offense.

Not really a fan of the magic feet, but I couldn't think of a way to fix that easily..

Varangur Skaalds are similar. I think one would take the Harbinger for the Inspiring and anything else he does in the game is a bonus. If you want a ranged hero... the Abyssals already have the potent Efreet, and the Champions and Temptresses can take all sorts of spells.

Imps
I love that Mantic's kits come with little imp extras. However, I've only purchased Lower Abyssals so far, so I only have a few variations of their Imp models. The same 2-3 models repeated over and over just won't do aesthetically.

Imps! Ready to take a beating.

But, the Abyssals needs chaff at the moment. Gargoyles are future must-haves, but what I have right now are Reaper Mini kobolds for Imps. The devious little lizards should fit right in! The units look a little underpopulated, but my goal is to sprinkle a few of the Mantic Imps in over time to fill them out. So far, so good!

I still have Lower Abyssals to hobby on, but they lack good shields, so I'll likely be moving on from the Abyssals to other things for the time being. Not sure what will hit the table next, but more hobby updates are coming soon!