Clan Festerscar Rising

Hey all!  Happy to be here again, assaulting your eye holes with miniatures and words.

Things are going well with the Rise of Empires campaign - just got my second blog post up over there detailing the birth of the Vermin Crusade against the Realm of Beasts, with the initial waves being led by the rival in power to Malkk - Plague Priest Zulrot and his army of frenzied Plague monks.  There are also developments for the history of the fall of the city of Alpines and the rise in power of the Fire Mage Opstrum Painad (who knows how that will combine with the awesome power of Plaguemaster Malkk), and of course we have the introduction of new characters into the mix:

• Omer Bollen - High General of the Alpine Guard.
• Coruk the Illuminated, master of the Cult of Illumination within the army of Zulrot.
• The introduction of the one eyed doombull, who is perhaps a representative from the followers of the mighty Chlorothrax to the far East of the Realm of Ghur.

Time will tell what these characters have to add to the story of the Plaguemaster and his schemes... if they are truly his own machinations.

LINK to the new post.

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So what is next for the painting block, now that I have managed to swing through 40 plague monks, plague priest Zulrot, and the plagueclaw catapult?  Well, if rumors are true, I may be grabbing another box of fun rats within the next few days.  Rumors from Natfka say there is a "Start Collecting: Clan Pestilent" for £50 ($85) as well as something called the "Virulent Horde" for £105 ($150) coming out within the next couple of weeks. If these look like really good deals, they may or may not happen.  I am in love with the idea that I can build an entirely pestilent force for my rats in Age of Sigmar, its one of the greatest selling points to an excellent game.  

Other than that, the next phase of the painting for the Rise of Empires campaign will focus around the "Boiler Vermin" of Clan Festerscar, who are working to stoke the giant cauldrons for Plaguemaster Malkk's grand World Plague.  Led by an Arch-Warlock (name TBD) and his attendants, the forces of putrescent Skyre minions will be working to ensure that Malkk's schemes are not foiled by technical difficulties, or by enemies of the Crusade.  So that means Skyre Acolytes, Arch-Warlocks, Warlock Engineers, Weapon Teams, and of course the awesome power of the Warp Lightning Cannon will be added to the forces of Malkk.

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On other fronts, I am challenging myself to complete an entire Guildball team within a week in order to be able to play against a friend this coming weekend.  My Alchemists are getting a lovely coat of blue and brown, with cream as the tertiary color and red accents.  Still need to come up with a name for these bad boys, but so far they are a blast to paint.

They also help to satisfy one of the spaces on the year long Miniature Painting Bingo Challenge that I am trying to complete in order to further expand my skills as a painter. Here is what the challenge looks like:

I have already completed "Paint a new version of a mini you painted years ago" by painting up my Skaven Plague Monks to a higher standard than the way they were painted during my high school years.  The Guildball team will fulfill the "Paint a mini from a range that you have never painted before" which puts me at 8.4% Complete with the challenge at 2 months into the year.  I imagine that my putrescent Skyre Acolytes will fulfill the role of "Paint a Mini in a color that you don't like painting and make it work" by painting with various shades of black, mixed with the customary pale green that makes up my Festerscar Clan.  

All in all, I really am enjoying getting the hobby juices flowing.  It's been entirely too long since I put a brush to a model, and I have missed it greatly.  The narrative campaign is really getting my creative juices flowing and giving me an outlet for hobby, as the local scene here in eastern Alabama is a joke frankly.  When it gets to about May I will be able to get many more games in, which I cannot wait for, as that will give me a solid 2-3 months where I can get lots of battle reports up on the Rise of Empires blog, as well as have even more motivation to get paint on plastic or metal.

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Please comment if there is anything that you would like to see in the coming weeks and months!  Otherwise, it's full steam ahead with Clan Festerscar in the Age of Beasts, the Asset Liquidators of the Alchemists Guild, and so much more!  Here's hoping that I can stay on top of things and get everything done that needs to get done before the end of the year.  Happy Gaming!

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