Hobby Update: A few rebased Abyssal Heroes

I was lucky enough to work from home recently due to heavy snows, and was able to follow that up with a few unexpected evenings of hobbying, touching up a number of units. Most of the Abyssals were touched up with the bright yellow to have the bases pop just a little more, and I was able to rebase a few of the heroic units as well.

First up is Ba-su-su the Vile! I hobbied him up way back in 2021. The metal mini has a nub that slots into the usual Mantic Base, so I took the existing minis and glued the whole thing to a larger base, then used some Milliput and paste to build up a transition, and then a clippers and a knife to distress the existing lava effect so I could have some tiered lava pools. I was hoping the lave tiers might be a little more subtle, but overall, I like it, and the large base definitely suites him. As a metal mini, and with a perched pose, the smaller square base was just too precarious.

He is a Warlord in the new edition, and I figured he could be fun to have around as a relatively cheap, but very durable guy. Competing for this slot is also an Archfiend, and Seductresses and the like. I had painted up the legendary Seductress Mau’ti-ba’su for Pathfinding, but can't use her in typical Ambush games, so we'll wait to convert the older Seductresses until later. Likewise, I have a trio of Abyssal  infantry Champions, now self-styled Warlords, that we'll wait on as well.

Efreet! Which is apparently a legit plural form. Who'dathunk.

The other units right now are touched-up Efreet champions. As in previous editions, they do not Inspire, but Fireball looks to be a Blast spell now, which looks like it could be fun to explore in a shooting-heavy list, and Inspiring or no, as Champions they should be able to issue Command Orders, which could be impactful. Champion slots are also likely going to be contested, so I think I’d rather take an Inspiring source over them most of the time, but we’ll see. The Talisman of Inspiration is still a thing, though more expensive now.

I love the Specialist options for the army (Horsemen, Berserkers, and Tortured Souls), but they are all competing with each other there, both in the slot and with with their roles. How to pay the core tax and build effective battalions for the Abyssals is still throwing me for loops though.

• I had grown to respect hordes of Lower Abyssals and even regiments Ghouls before the revamp, but hitting on 5's is just so painful since they were combined. Folks took a few regiments to unlock previously, and one could take a few dinky regiments to help pay the tax, but they just don't feel like an effective unit. A horde is ok, but seems so expensive for a unit that just takes up space. I'm not used to working with tar pit units, but this could be the way to run them.
• Succubi are neat, but Def3 and no Regen seems so flimsy. Without the Lurker their role in 4th seems weird, and will require some testing to figure out. 
• Hellhounds as core are really intriguing, but I only have the one regiment, and would need to make some more purchases. Two regiments seems like it could be a lot of fun, as that is a lot of speed, but even still, they are only hitting on 4's and only have TC1, and Phalanx and Hindered Charges are not going to be any fun. 
• Flamebearers got a nice price discount, but the changes to shooting and the removal of Steady Aim means they are probably much more static on the battlefield, as you really do want to be hitting on 4's if you can. Two units felt good at the end of 3rd since they needed space, but getting stuck with Round 1 and no possible shots is still a very big possibility, and I just don't know if they can pay the tax well. 

The Abyssals are neat, and are a mostly-Mantic army for me, but the core tax is a big stumbling block right now. I had a bit over 10,000 points of Abyssals wrapping of 3rd edition, with about 1500 of it invalidated now. Nearly all of that was in various Abyssal Guard units, and 600 of that in Bloodletter versions of the unit I wanted to phase out anyways. Its a shame - the unit was a wonderful backbone for any list. Building a list for this new army still confuses me, but I suppose that just means there will be plenty to test and explore now!