Hobby Update: Molochs & Imps

Most of my Abyssals army is pretty weak on defense; I figured a monstrous horde would be a good anvil. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like the look of Mantic’s Molochs. After a few months of intermittent browsing, I settled on these guys from the Hordes/Warmachine line.

I’ve used models from this manufacturer before, with my Undead Wight hordes. There, I made the mistake of incorporating the bases from the kit, leading to an oddly, lumpy looking base, that I probably should fix at some point. For these, I learned, and I cut off the slots by the feet first. This allowed me to glue the painted model right to the finished unit base. I think this looks much better.

Painted red, they don't look too bad!

My Abyssals are meant to be a more “balanced” force for my Evil Triumvirate, leveraging the ranged abilities of the army (particularly the Flamebearer units and Efreet heroes) to complement the speedy melee of the Herd and the slower tankiness of the Varangur. I have yet to actually field or play against any Abyssals in a game, so I can’t really speak with any authority on the unit itself, but the intention is the have the Molochs around as an anchor for the Abyssal lines.

Defense 4+ isn’t great, but with Clash of Kings 2018, they looked to have received Regen 5+, which should help them survive grinds. With CS2 and Brutal, they can do some damage, even if their melee is only 4+ as well. Ultimately, the unit itself is pretty average, but I’m hoping that when with a combined arms approach alongside other units in the Abyssals army, the result is greater than the sum of its parts, or whatever the phrase is.

TastyBagel's Abyssals ...now with twice the Kobold chaff! ...and more evidence that I need to ditch my phone's camera.

Additionally for the Abyssals, I’ve hobbied up two more Imp units; a Regiment and a Horde, bringing me up to two of each. I felt the army could use a little more chaff, and while Gargoyles would be a fantastic choice… I had the Kobold models already. Sunk costs prevail again with my hobbying efforts.

As before, the models are Reaper Mini Kobolds (mostly from these two boxes) which I still think are great buys. The Vallejo Paste can be tricky to apply if you glue them too close to one another, but if you are careful, these can turn out pretty good! These are ready for the table now, but down the line I want to add in additional Mantic Imps to boost the unit and make it look more like a rabble or swarm. The bonus Imp bits in their Abyssal kits are a nice touch, and I would like to incorporate them at some point.

For future units… I still have a half-painted horde box of Lower Abyssals that I purchased at least a year or so ago. We’ll see when these get finished off. I would like to add in another horde of Molochs (a horde unlocking each Archfiend does seem appropriate…) and some Gargoyles would be nice too. But the latter would be new purchases... which I’m still largely trying to avoid for now (and have largely been going good at!) We’ll see what the future holds for the Abyssals, but at over 3000 points now... they should be set for a while.