Ok so this post is a bit of a cheat. As I write this I don’t actually know how I paint Ultramarines. But I’ve got a great system for finding out! These Ultramarines form my Kill Team roster. You can read about that here.

What am I trying to achieve?

I’m at a bit of a bind with this. All of the ip art of the Ultramarines has them painted in flat blue. Having spent a lot of time playing 30K I really like the candy red finish that you see on a lot of Thousand Sons armies. I’ve got the idea to translate that to blue for my Ultramarines. What I’m going to do is test a couple of different candy metal tests against a few flat blue finishes and see what I like best. Then I’ll really know how I paint Ultramarines!

To NMM or to TMM?

That is the question. Ultimately how I paint Ultramarines will decide on how I paint the trim (the pauldron edges, the eagle and the weapons). If I go down the candy blue metallic route, I’ll use TMM (mixing TMM and NMM on the same model looks shit). If I go down the flat blue route then I’ll use NMM.

Paint choices

How I paint Ultramarines depends on the top coat for the finish. I’m going to try Tamiya clear blue vs Vallejo Ultramarine blue, super thin in layers over the top of a strong basecoat. I’ve been here before with my Aeldari (here) so I have an idea of how this will work out but I’m a better painter than I was then so we’ll see. Whilst how I paint Ultramarines relies on the top coat for the final effect, it’s really the basecoat that decides the look.

The base coat stage

Ok, I’ve got six Ultramarines built ready to test. Note that how I paint Ultramarines for the final models going into my army will be in small sub assemblies (heads off, backpacks off etc). These test models are all one piece so I can speed this process up. I’m not going to show building and priming Space Marines, it’s boring. but here’s the group shot:

Now here are the six base coat / top coat combinations I’m going to try:

• Vallejo Metal Color base (over glass black undercoat) with Tamiya clear blue
• Vallejo Metal Color base (over gloss black undercoat) with Vallejo Ultramarine
• Purple, blue, bone base with Tamiya clear blue
• Purple, blue and bone base with Vallejo Ultramarine
• Black, grey and yellow base (it’s something I saw recently on Reddit and thought it looked interesting) with Tamiya clear blue
• Black, grey and yellow base with Vallejo Ultramarine

The airbrush technique

This wasn’t very hard really and almost anyone with an airbrush can do it. I did the darkest base coat all over the model, the mid tone from a 45 degree angle above and then picked out the highlights with the airbrush. Here’s how they all look:

The next stage

Ok so the next stage in how I paint Ultramarines is to apply the top coats over each of these. I’ll post about how I get on!

I’ve painted the skin of the Mournfang now. I haven’t written anything about that because I’m not sure I’m very happy with it yet. It’s very blue and quite bright which isn’t exactly what I wanted. I’m going to paint the tusks (painting tusks in 28mm isn’t something I’ve done before), the teeth, the noses and the eyes of the Mournfang and see if I need to adjust the skin tone after that.

Painting tusks in 28mm – reference material

The first thing I did before painting tusks in 28mm was to look at as many pictures as I could of different animals tusks. The Mournfang aren’t mammoths, the shape of their tusks looks more like those of warthogs than anything else. So I did a lot of research of warthog tusks. Actually the best image I found was on a site which sells bones. I won’t link it here because it’s gross. My point is that when you’re painting tusks in 28mm (or anything else for that matter) you should have some idea of what you want it to end up looking like before you start (and that’s where reference material comes in).

Painting tusks in 28mm – what am I trying to achieve?

So breaking down the tusk into colour areas and shapes is actually pretty simple. The tusk is a basic yellow colour. At the bottom (where it joins the skull) it is dark brown and then all over but most densely towards the tip it has some white staining. All of this feels very achievable.

Painting tusks in 28mm – grabbing some paint.

Alright, here are the three colours I picked;

• ‘Buff,’ from Vallejo Model Color for the basic yellow tone. My reference material shows that it’s a pale yellow and quite desaturated that makes up the bulk of the tusk. Don’t go picking lemon yellow here (unless that’s what you’re after)
• ‘Charred Brown,’ from Vallejo Game Air for the darker shade. This was a more subtle choice than the yellow. My reference material shows the dark brown as being quite cold (probably because it’s a photo of dead tusks not on a living animal) but I like it anyway. I wanted to use Dryad Bark (which is a brown purple and very cold) but don’t have any so I grabbed this which is pretty close
• ‘Wraithbone,’ from Citadel. Again, from the reference material it’s obvious that the white colouring on tusks is white relative to the yellow. It’s not white like your freshly washed cotton bed sheets. Wraithbone is an off white with some pink and grey to it and looks good against the Buff.

Painting tusks in 28mm – Step One

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Step one is pretty straightforward. It’s two thin coats of the Buff over all of the tusk

Step 2

Step two is a bit more interesting. I think my Charred Brown way down and painted a decent amount of it onto the tusk where it joins the skull. Then I cleaned my brush (by ‘cleaned,’ I mean, ‘sucked,’) so it was wet but had no paint on it and voided the brown paint up the tusks towards the tip as if I was wet blending but really I was just pushing one colour in one direction and letting it fade out. After that I went back over the bottom of the tusks with the Charred Brown to get the base of the tusks really dark and to push the transition. Here’s how it looked:

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Step three

When I look at my reference material, I can see that some of the dark colour at the base of the tusk actually runs all the way along the tusk to the tip. Step three was to add these lines:

Step 4

Step 4 was to dry brush Wraithbone very lightly over the tusk so that it was left on the model but didn’t cover the dark lines:

Step 5

Step five is easy. Take a group photo and breathe a sigh of relief that with the tusks painted, the skin on the Mournfang doesn’t look so weird.

So what’s next?

I’ve done six of these, I have a further six to do. Then I want to paint the rest of the faces (the eyes, noses, teeth) before I move back on to the Ogors themselves and probably have a crack at the cloth on their trousers.

Comments always welcome!

Ok, this is a bit disingenuous. I’ve been an airbrusher for a while. Regular readers will know I lost all of my hobby possessions a couple of years ago. That included my airbrushes and compressor. Now that my circumstances have changed, I’m starting to airbrush all over again. This is a short story of how you can get into starting to airbrush relatively inexpensively.

Starting to airbrush and me

It took me a long time to get an airbrush originally. I painted my entire EC army with a hairy brush:

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but since taking the plunge I can really see the benefits. My airbrushing requirements will still likely be limited to fairly agricultural jobs:

• Pre priming
• Priming (especially zenithal priming)
• Basecoating
• Varnishing

but maybe I’ll try and expand the repertoire a bit for my current projects. But, effectively, even if I never use it for more than this list, it’s a huge time saver and a great tool to have. It does mean, also, that I’m not really in the market for a 0.15mm nozzle super brush – I won’t be doing any freehand with it that’s for sure

Brexit and covid and incompetence

Through no fault of theirs, my favourite online gaming store (Element Games) have been unable to send me the really posh airbrush and compressor set up I’ve ordered. I think it’s a Brexit / Covid thing. My parcel got stuck in customs twice then returned to the UK. So, back in the UK right now I have a lovely Iwata airbrush and compressor waiting for me. But I need to be starting to airbrush right now…and a little bit of luck has come my way. I was passing a newsagents in town recently and my eye was drawn to some kits in the window. Turns out this isn’t a newsagent with some scale model kits as a side hustle. It’s a model shop that sells newspapers – hurrah!

So what’s the score?

My new local model shop sells everything I need for starting to airbrush so I’ve loaded up. There’s a lot of overlap with the stuff I’ve had sent to the UK from Element but that’s ok, I’ll worry about that as a future problem. The thing I’m really here to tell you about first off is the airbrush and compressor I’ve bought:

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At £140, this compressor is less than half the cost of the Iwata model I’ve ordered. I’ve never used a tank compressor before (this one is 3L). I’ve always had an ‘always on,’ compressor. It’s never bothered me before so it’ll be interesting to see the difference. Similarly the airbrush was very reasonably priced (£35 – about 1/3 of the Iwata brush I’ve ordered).

Starting to airbrush with the new kit

Straight out of the box the compressor needed some work. Every joint in the line from the tank to the brush leaked, but liberal application of PTFE (I think it’s called Teflon tape in the US) and that’s no longer a problem. I will say now that using the tank compressor over an ‘always on,’ model made no difference in terms of performance from what I could tell. I’ve never noticed any pulsing from the ‘always on,’ so that was never an issue. I like the fact that the tank means the compressor is quieter but I did find myself getting startled when the motor restarted as the pressure dropped. Overall, I neither prefer or have an issue with the compressor and for £140 that makes it great value in my eyes.

The airbrush was the real star for me though. AK is a big brand so I didn’t expect it to be garbage at all but I did expect to feel a difference between this and the more expensive brushes I’ve owned in the past. Actually, no. Now I will say that I don’t get clogged brushes or dry tip because I use super thin paint (and you should too, here are some recipes). So I can’t tell you whether this brush is more or less prone to those problems.

What I can tell you is that the cup is plenty big enough, there’s tension in the trigger so you get lots of feel from it and it seems to be very well made. It’s dual action and gravity fed – the two big things that are important to start with (it’s beyond the scope of this little piece to tell you what that means, either look it up or trust me; you want a brush that’s dual action and gravity fed).

Priming

I’ve primed the Ogor mounts so far and I’m very pleased with the results:

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I’ve also gone a lot further than this with a military model kit (apologies, I know this isn’t what this blog is for):

There are a few airbrushed steps with this model so far:

• It was pre primed
• Then it was zenithal primed
• So that it could be basecoated in the green
• The camouflage (brown and black) was freehanded over the green
• It was gloss varnished so that the decals could be applied.

There are a couple more airbrush steps (I’ll gloss varnish again before I weather it then I’ll matte varnish on top of that to take the shine off before I do the last details with a brush.

So, if you want to know how to do a basic colour laydown with an airbrush (especially priming) then have a look at this. If you want to know if you can get into starting to airbrush with this, relatively modest, set up – it’s a big yes from me!

Comments and queries always welcome.

I’ve already written a piece on prepping a miniature for your best result (you can find it here). That was with specific reference to single miniatures but describes why priming is more complex than laying down a single colour. Effectively, I’m describing zenithal priming; creating a monochrome value sketch to help the next stages of paint pop. Well today I went ahead and primed all of the mounts in my Ogor Mawtribes army. The big difference is that for the army I’m priming with an airbrush. It’s a bit different to priming single miniatures with a brush and I’ll also do something that I don’t really like doing (no, not that you creep); I’ll give you some specific recipes for paint and additives. This relies on you also using Vallejo for all of this (as I do). Don’t blame me if these ratios are all wrong for other brands.

So where am I starting from?

My OM army is built and pre-primed (a stage I invented because mould lines only seem to show up when you put paint on a miniature so I added a paint step just to show up mould lines). You can see them here actually. They’re basically ready for priming with an airbrush.

What do I use for priming with an airbrush?

I’ve basically got a fairly short list of items for priming with an airbrush and I don’t deviate:

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1. An airbrush and compressor (duh). You can get pretty close to this with rattle cans, I’m not a snob about it – whatever works for you.
2. Vallejo airbrush thinner
3. Airbrush cleaner from Vallejo
4. Flow improver (from guess who…)
5. Primers Black (not the gloss one), Grey and White (all Vallejo)

I got most of this stuff from Element Games but there is a bit of a crunch on Vallejo paints at the moment, they are quite hard to get hold of so you might have to be patient.

Before it all kicks off…

This is not a tutorial on how to clean your airbrush or how to use an airbrush. I do, however, have a couple of bits and bobs handy whenever I airbrush (not just priming with an airbrush).

• Dropper bottles into which I decant thinner and cleaner. I find the little bottles easier to control the flow
• kitchen roll
• little disposable paper cups
• a crappy paintbrush

Priming with an airbrush – under pressure?

I do also want to make a quick note on air pressures. Compared to other painters and other things I read on the internet, I use very low air pressure (and a 3mm needle for everything). All of the steps below were shot at around 8psi. I read a lot of stuff about people priming at 30+ psi. I just find that insane. Along with very low pressure, I also use very, very thin paint. The two go hand in hand for me.

If I used higher pressure with my paint mixes, I’d get spidering and pooling and the whole thing would go to shit. The key here is the thin paint. Get your paint thin (as per the ratios below if you’re using Vallejo) and the low pressure will follow. Thin paint is always good. It goes on smoother, it drys better, it looks better and it makes cleaning your airbrush easier. It’s an airbrush, not a fire hose – there’s no way it should be shooting at >10psi.

Priming with an airbrush – step one

Right, here it is. Step one to priming with an airbrush is a consistent, even coat (actually two coats) of black primer, all over the model. If you are using Vallejo primer AND Vallejo thinner AND Vallejo flow improver then my personal recipe for this stage is 8 parts thinner, 8 parts paint, 1 part flow improver. After two coats (it’s imperative you leave the first coat to dry before applying the second) you end up with this:

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Priming with an airbrush – step two

Grab your dry, black primed miniatures and strap in. The next step is a grey coat, at approximately 45 degrees to the miniature from above. What you’ll get is a black miniature if you look at it from the bottom, a grey miniature if you look at it from the top and a mixture of the two when you look horizontally. Kind of like this:

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The ratios are the same for this step as step one: 8 parts thinner, 8 parts paint, 1 part flow improver. Crucially, you only need one coat of the grey or you’ll cover too much of the black.

Priming with an airbrush step three

This shouldn’t be too much of a shock but there is a small change in the ratios for the next step so pay attention! Once the grey coat is dry, take your white paint in a ratio of 8 parts thinner, 10 parts paint, 1 part flow improver (the white is less pigment dense than the other two colours so needs slightly more paint to thinner). The white then gets shot directly from above the miniature to catch the top of the model and the highest highlights. What you’ll be left with is this:

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That’s it for priming with an airbrush

There are two more steps that you can find in my prepping tutorial. These guys will all get a dilute wash of some kind of brown (probably brown ink given how much coverage I need; it’ll cost a fortune in Agrax Earthshade!). Following that they’ll all get a light white dry brush on the highest areas to establish the most acute highlights again before the next stage.

Comments and queries always welcome!

Ok so I’ve managed to use some of the Christmas down time to crack on with my Ogor Mawtribes army. I have…

• Built and gap filled the additional models I need (you can read about using Liquid Green Stuff here)
• Pre-primed all the models

The result is in the image at the top. It’s exciting to see all the models in a group shot!

Pre-Priming?

I’ve always had an issue with mould lines and gaps. I never spot them until after models are primed (or worse, after they’re progressed). Well I’ve kind of taken that rule and invented a ‘pre priming,’ step. I use a rattle can to give a coat to the miniatures, then inspect them for imperfections I’ve missed so far. I do think that not seeing mould lines until a miniature is painted is a real thing, not just a meme. Maybe it’s because during building, the grey plastic gets stressed and discoloured. Also, I guess we can just go a bit blind to staring at the same model in the same colour during building for hours. A rattle can layer smooths everything out and gives a kind of clean slate to look for mould lines.

So what’s the next step?

Ultimately, the next step is painting the Ogor Mawtribes and I’m really excited. But there are a few things to think about before I really get into that:

• I don’t have all the bases I need for this army. I’m going to buy the bases I need and temporarily tack the models down to paint them. Then, hopefully, try and push the boat out a bit with the bases themselves
• I want to buy an airbrush. I had all of my personal possessions stolen from me about 18 months ago, including my airbrush and paints. I’m (almost) ready to bite the bullet and buy a new airbrush now. It will be a big help for this project. Also for the other outstanding projects I’ve got (anyone remember my Adeptus Titanicus??). That will be a moderately large mission (airbrush, paints etc)
• With the benefit of time, I’ve looked back at my plans for this army. I still like it (I’m not going to throw any of it away). I just want to take it a bit further. So the existing thinking I’ve put into my Ogors aesthetic will stand. I’m going to push a them on top of that. I’m not committing it to ink just yet, I’ll wait until I have all the tools I want to paint with first but I am motivated for it!

This is probably my last update for a while as without the bases or paints I can’t progress. I’m going to use this time to develop the new, more ambitious aesthetic and have a think about basing.

Comments always welcome

I’m building an Ogor Mawtribes army right now (the latest update is here). In fact I’ve been collecting it and building it on and off for around 18 months now. I really like the Ogor kits from GW, but they do leave quite a lot of gaps between parts. Here’s how I’m fixing them using Liquid Green Stuff which is made by GW and sold here.

But using Liquid Green Stuff has a bad reputation right?

I’ve seen this quite a bit actually. Lots of moaning that liquid green stuff doesn’t fill gaps, the coverage is weak etc. Well, there is a method when you’re using Liquid Green Stuff and it includes a hobby tool that lots of hobbyists I know don’t have; patience. If you’ve got the patience to do it properly then using Liquid Green Stuff is a great way to fill some pretty serious gaps in your kits. There are steps to this process. If you’re expecting using Liquid Green Stuff to be a case of ‘slapping it on, job’s done,’ then you’re in for a shock.

When should you be using liquid green stuff?

I’ve been using Liquid Green Stuff to fill the gaps in my Ogors since I started collecting them so it’s not like I now have a whole army to do. However, the three Mournfangs I’ve filled today (Ogors and mounts) took me about 2 hours. So, I guess it’s probably a 20 hour job for the whole army. If you have a horde army, it’s likely not worth it. Smaller models don’t show gaps so readily and a horde would probably be time prohibitive (unless you’re looking for a painting award). So, I guess, large models (army centrepieces) or any display model makes a good candidate for using Liquid Green Stuff to fill any gaps but not your regular infantry.

What tools do you need when you’re using Liquid Green Stuff?

Righto, before we get started, go an grab:

• A bottle of Liquid Green Stuff
• A small, cheap brush that can hold a point. You won’t be able to paint with this brush after you’ve been using Liquid Green Stuff with it but it can’t be such a bad brush that you don’t haver control over the tip
• Some modelling grade sandpaper (I’m using 600 grade dry sandpaper from AK
• A pot of water
• Some tissue paper

Step one – mind the gap

Here’s an example of a hole in the leg of an Ogor (caused by clumsy snipping from the sprue).

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I also don’t like the very deep, obviously kit part gaps between the muscles. They are a part of the GW Ogor range aesthetic and you can’t get rid of it completely but in some instances it doesn’t look great:

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These are two examples of the sort of gaps you can fix using Liquid Green Stuff.

Step Two – apply a layer of Liquid Green Stuff

Dampen your brush, load it with Liquid Green Stuff and apply it to the gap. Two things to consider here:

1. How much is enough? As long as you’re not covering all the detail, you can put on as much as you like. However, the way Liquid Green Stuff works is that it shrinks as it dries. Then you sand the excess off. So, ultimately, the more you apply, the more you’ll waste. I find it easier to apply a small amount several times. Small amounts also dry quicker (‘quicker,’ doesn’t mean ‘quick,’ as you’ll see shortly).
2. Brush direction is important here. Take the gap between the muscles on the photo above. You could run the green stuff along the gap itself using the tip of the brush. I don’t do that, I’ve found the using Liquid Green Stuff is easier if you drag the brush across the gap so that Liquid Green Stuff is deposited on both sides of the gap as well as in the gap itself. This makes sanding easier and also means that the Liquid Green Stuff becomes a part of the texture of the model more completely and doesn’t look like gap filler. Sounds weird but trust me. Here’s Old Mate again:

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Step Three – Have a bit of patience.

Along with the fact that using Liquid Green Stuff properly takes several layers, the requirement for patience also takes into account that Liquid Green Stuff has a drying time. I give a layer about 10 minutes to dry (another reason. to keep the amount you use small, thicker layers will take longer to dry). Curing takes longer still and after this process, I’d strongly suggest giving the models a couple of days to cure before you put any paint on them. But, as I said, about ten minutes is long enough for my layers to dry. You can tell when it’s dry enough to move on because it loses its wet ‘sheen,’ and looks matte. Like this:

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Step four – sand off the excess

Using a small amount of sandpaper (I tear of an amount about the size of a 50 pence piece) sand the excess filler off of the model. Here’s what that will look like:

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What do you notice? The gap is still there. It’s smaller but it’s still there. So you have to repeat the process again. And maybe again. And maybe again after that. I used between two and four layers on the gaps on these guys. It’s always more than one. I think if you get to double figures then you’re doing it wrong but, to reiterate, this is about patience.

The finished article

Here’s the same gap after another couple of layers:

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A few closing points

After using Liquid Green Stuff, the difference in colours looks really harsh and the whole thing still looks pretty crappy, it’s just that there aren’t any holes in it any more. I would just counsel that doing this properly is part of a relatively high end of miniature preparation and that there are still a few steps to go before even thinking about final colour layers here. Miniatures always go through a phase where they look worse before they look finished. In fact that’s usually the case with every stage in a high end finish and this stage is no exception. But, if you’ve got gaps to fill in your miniatures, using Liquid Green Stuff is a great way to fill them, if you’ve got the patience!

Comments always welcome!

Regular readers of this blog (looooool) will know that I built a 1,000 point Beastclaw Raiders list for a doubles event that I ended up not attending. How I wrote that list is here. Well now, after a long break, I’m looking to complete the Ogor project so this has morphed into an exercise in 2,000 point Ogor Mawtribe list building!

Ogor Mawtribe list building – the approach this time

Ok, so my approach to list building per se hasn’t changed all that much from the post linked above. In essence:

1. Don’t try and fight the Codex. I’m sure there’s a semi competitive gun line army in the Ogor Mawtribe book somewhere but, let’s face it, that’s something other armies do heaps better. If you read the codex, it’s clear that Ogor Mawtribes are best when they’re fighting and, even more so when they are charging. Lots of buffs for movement and rewards for successful charges.
2. Be active in all phases. I stand by this and there may be some tinkering to do to the list because magic is a big problem for me right now but I’ll work through that as I write this
3. Be really good in one phase. See point one.
4. Don’t play the meta, play what beats the meta. Again, great advice assuming you know what the meta is (which I don’t!)

Where am I starting from?

As I try and lift my Ogor Mawtribes list to 2,000 points there are some practical things that encroach on the process of Ogor Mawtribe list building:

1. I already have several models. My 1,000 point list in the old BCR book was i) a Frostlord on Thundertusk ii) a single unit of Stonehorn Beastriders iii) two units of two Mournfang. These are staying in the list.
2. Because of how the Start Collecting! boxes are filled I have an ‘extra,’ four mournfang on the sprue. These are also going in. Actually, when I look at the Ogor Mawtribes book I can see that how command models for Mournfang units work has changed. The four I have built are 2 bellowers and 2 banner bearers. In the BCR book you could run a unit of two and both of them be command models. Not any more. In Ogor Mawtribe list building it’s a case of one model in four can be a command model. So, effectively, I need to model two champions and two regular dudes out of the four I have on sprue and I’ll have two Mournfang units of four models including full command.
3. Now that I’ve gone to the lengths of defining my aesthetic (you can see that here) for a Beastclaw Raider themed force, even if this means the list isn’t as strong as it could be, I’m not going to add common Ogors into the list – I’m sticking with the monster theme.
4. If I total all of that up it comes to 1,250 points. So I have 750 points to spare.

What to do with 750 points when Ogor Mawtribes list building?

A great question. Well, I’ve mentioned the Start Collecting! box earlier here. It’s absolutely brilliant value. It’s £55 full RRP but I got mine for less at Element. In the box is a Stonehorn / Thundertusk kit that you can build any of the units that use these mounts from and four Mournfang. The saving against buying these separately is significant (£22.50 saving which is nearly 30% at full RRP) and if you’re going full Beast Claw Raider then you’ll need everyone of these models in your army, every single time.

Is there a way I can add another SC! box to my army and get close to 2,000 points?

Of course there is! One of the places I’m weakest in this list (in that it doesn’t exist) is Magic. I could get a Huskard on Thundertusk in this list. That plus four more Mournfang takes me to 1,870 points. That means I could take another two Mournfang and get to 1990 points. However, there are two things that hold me back from that:

1. I’ll have had a gutful (good Ogor pun there) of painting Mournfang by the end of this
2. Taking a Huskvard on Stonehorn gives me access to a battalion called Eurlbad which makes combat massively more impactful for all units in the battalion (which would be everything except the general). Taking a battalion also gets me down to two drops (which apparently is a thing in AoS) as the whole battalion drops as one unit

So I’m going to go this way and suck up the lack of magic using items (or some other way, we’ll come to that).

Ogor Mawtribe list building – the meat

General: Frostlord on Thundertusk
Hero: Huskard on Stonehorn
Battleline: 3 x 4 Mourfang with full command
Battleline: 1 x Stonehorn Beastriders

Adding in the Eurlbad battalion brings that all up to 1990 points (great year by the way).

Ogor Mawtribe list building – the sauce

Righto, with the models, battalions and points all fixed what gaps do I have and how can I fix them as i work through the abilities, items and attributes in the book?

Frostlord Command traits. Ok, I hadn’t read this properly. I can make my general a Priest (which is good because there’s a mortal wound snipe they can do) but priests can’t dispel (which is something I would like to add). So, ultimately, I’m going to use the trait that means I can use command abilities without spending a point.

Relics. I can get some magic resistance here. The artefact, “Skullshards of Dragaar,” gives me an auto dispel once a battle. It’s probably not as good as some of the other relics but it does fill some of the magic gap so feels sensible (like eating broccoli I guess)

Mount traits. Golly there are some goodies in here! Because I’m using Boulderheads, all my mounts (two Stonehorn and a Thundertusk) get traits instead of just one. I’m going for:
-Metalcruncher on the Huskard
-Belligerent Charger on the Beastriders and
-Rimefrost Hide on the Frostlord

The Mawtribes. Ok, there are two obvious ones here. Thunderheads would make my Mournfang better but Boulderheads would make my monsters better. Given that I’m spending 200 points more on monsters than Mournfangs that feels like a better bet. There’s some wastage here as part of the tribe ability makes priests better but that will have to pass

Alright! So what do I end up with?

Thanks for asking! What I end up with is an army which has some really great points:

1. Low drop (2)
2. FAST in the movement phase! I get extra movement on monsters from Boulderhead, my native general’s command ability rerolls charges, and Mournfangs add 1 to charge rolls
3. They have some shooting. Blood vultures and Frost Wreathed Ice will plink off a few mortal wounds. Harpoon Launchers and Man Traps are good (although there’s not many of them here) and the Mournfang units each have an Ironlock Pistol on the champ.
4. The combat is off the chain. Trampling Charge, Metal Cruncher, Belligerent Cha…actually I’m bored already and that’s only the first page. There are so many different ways of doing mortal wounds or improving damage output either on the charge or in combat (but especially on the charge). There are also some nifty ways or abilities that make me more survivable. I have to make the most of this phase.

And what about the downsides?

There’s an obvious one and it’s the magic phase. I can auto dispel one thing per game. The hero phase isn’t a disaster in and of itself but the lack of magic is an obvious hole in the list.

So what’s next?

Well, I’ve actually put an order in for a SC! box so when that arrives (should be in the next ten days or so) I’ll have all the models I need for the army and just need to start building before I move onto the phase (painting) which will lead me down another rabbit hole (buying a new airbrush)