WHITE DWARF · FEBRUARY 2021
The Charnel Kingdom, custom undead heroes, Slaaneshi hobby projects and beta Maelstrom of War rules.
COVER TO COVER
In printed page order
Readers submit miniatures and questions, including darkly imaginative conversions inspired by Blanchitsu. The correspondence combines personal hobby experiences with practical painting suggestions, using the photographed models to show how unusual colours and reused components can support an individual collection.
Drew Palies and Pedro explain the pallid flesh and contrasting leather of the Unmade leader. Layered skin colours, controlled recess shading and thin coloured glazes build a flayed, unhealthy appearance while preserving separation between skin, straps and metallic fittings.
Jonathan De Vos explains his first non-metallic gold project, a Stormcast command group recognised at Golden Demon. He studies the placement of reflected light on armour and applies the same tonal method to blue surfaces, building convincing shine through dark-to-light transitions.
Adrien Brissonnet imagines Electro Hunters protecting a wasteland route in a far-future counterpart to Warcry. Stormcast bodies, Blanche-inspired silhouettes and a scavenged environment give the group a coherent identity, while household materials help construct its bleak industrial setting.
Phil Kelly concludes his chronology with Sigmar’s return, the Realmgate Wars and the founding of new cities. The sequence links these victories to the Necroquake and the growing ambitions of Nagash, placing the present Broken Realms conflicts in a longer history of fragile recoveries.
Arkhan’s invasion of Ymetrica brings the Ossiarch Bonereapers into an uneasy partnership with Varshorn’s deluded ghouls. When the bone tithe falters, the skeletal legions turn on their allies, transforming a joint campaign against the Lumineth into a vicious struggle over bodies and survival.
Regional rules make the Vertiginous Peaks a dangerous place of haunted terrain and necromantic power. Three linked battles follow Varshorn’s attempted escape, the Deadwatch’s flight to his aid and the pursuit that culminates in a confrontation between the Ghoul King and Xaramos.
A self-contained adaptation of the Anvil of Apotheosis creates personal undead heroes using destiny points. Players choose a Flesh-eater or Ossiarch archetype, arm it, add a companion or monstrous mount and purchase thematic powers before translating the result into an agreed narrative-game profile.
Tom Moore creates sickly green ghoul skin by washing a pale grey base, then adds increasingly light highlights. Separate recipes cover hair, nails, bone, wounds and old rope, with optional drybrushing offering an efficient way to finish large units without losing their ragged character.
A diluted green Contrast coat over Grey Seer produces a fast equivalent to the classic ghoul recipe. Moore explains how to repair mistakes, combine the two methods across an army and finish the bases, while noting that ghouls can convincingly appear in many other unnatural skin colours.
A second set of four participants begins collecting armies in the Mortal Realms, this time pairing two Order forces against two Chaos forces. The challenge sets staged army targets and encourages each painter to create a personal hero and a story that can grow alongside the models.
Martyn Lyon returns to the appeal of his old High Elves through a new Lumineth collection. Metallic armour glazed with turquoise provides a satisfying repeatable method, while cracked luminous bases establish a Hyshian setting and connect the polished warriors to their home realm.
Miyuki Foulkes begins a Slaves to Darkness army after practising painting methods on Stormcast Eternals. Test models and a samurai-inspired conversion help her decide what she wants to develop, making the challenge an opportunity to learn assembly, painting and eventually kitbashing skills.
Rich Packer imagines a secretive order defending Hallowstone Hold and expresses its background through a purple, green, bone and gold palette. Memories of classic Empire artwork and an old battle report inform conversions that link the mixed Cities of Sigmar collection to his earlier hobby inspirations.
Calum McPherson chooses Syll’Esske’s followers for an army that combines painting experiments with strong narrative inspiration. Several trial schemes lead him towards unusual pale blue daemon skin against desert dunes, while new Slaaneshi artwork suggests future additions and conversion possibilities.
Slaanesh’s realm translates obsession, sensory excess and deceptive beauty into modelling themes. The article suggests mixing elegant aelven parts, daemonic mutations and ornate wargear, then balancing lavish colours with stark dark areas so that a collection conveys both seduction and horror.
Contrasting pastel flesh, glossy black and opulent metallics gives Slaanesh armies a coherent appearance despite their extravagant variety. Steve Wren’s chariots demonstrate directional purple airbrushing over silver, with pale marble ruins supplying an equally luxurious setting for the fast-moving host.
Several collections demonstrate how widely Slaaneshi conversions can range, from Nick Bayton’s Godsworn Hunt to Chris Peach’s mixed-species warband. Noise Marines, a corrupted Tech-Priest, an imposing Chaos Lord and a musical Knight show how familiar kits acquire decadent identities through carefully chosen replacement parts.
Four worked bases evoke Slaaneshi excess through cracked living flesh, piled treasure, psychedelic plants and a nest of tentacles. The instructions combine accessible terrain pieces with textured paints, Contrast colours and selective gloss, producing small narrative environments that reinforce the army’s theme.
The second prong of Typhus’ offensive strikes the Alumax System, exposing frontier settlements and mining worlds to Death Guard and other traitor forces. Local accounts cover the defence of Borthreas, the horrors of Heliotyr and struggles for valuable military remains as Metalica is drawn deeper into the war.
Starving survivors led by Captain Lern assault the supposed heathens who have been killing their patrols. Their hard-won breach reveals another desperate group praying to the same Emperor, exposing how siege, deprivation and certainty can turn fellow victims into enemies without any intervention from their conquerors.
Battlefield rules represent the Alumax campaign’s industrial ruins, supply caches and salt plains. New actions let troops exploit or deny resources, while bonefields, psychic links and Crusade relics turn the distinct geography of each war zone into tactical opportunities and lasting campaign rewards.
Beta matched-play rules revive changing Tactical Objectives through categories that players select to suit their armies. Six missions vary how objectives are generated and denied, supported by deployment maps and stratagems that let commanders manage uncertainty while still responding to unexpected opportunities.
Necrons contest Kloravael’s blackstone deposits with the Bladed Cog and its Tyranid allies using the new Maelstrom rules. The cult side wins 59–50 despite heavy losses, showing that flexible objective scoring and a final move by an Exocrine can matter more than preserving a conventional battle line.
Robin Cruddace explains why a rule belongs in the core book, a datasheet, a stratagem or Crusade rather than simply accumulating every exception on a unit. Frequency, identity and an appropriate cost determine its home, with campaign progression providing room for developments unsuitable for ordinary army selection.
Dave Sanders builds an aggressive Mollog deck around repeated attacks, Primacy and carefully selected upgrades. Pushes bring victims into reach without spending movement activations, while the Ur-Grub package and Hunger interactions help the troggoth become powerful enough to maintain pressure through the game.
A fighter-by-fighter analysis explains how Myari’s warband balances ranged pressure, durable objective holders and aetherquartz expenditure. Deck suggestions support both controlled positioning and direct attacks, with deployment advice helping the fragile but capable Lumineth turn their specialist roles into consistent scoring.
The Dread Pageant’s inspiration condition rewards manipulating wounds rather than immediately killing every target. Sanders explores the distinct roles of Vasillac, Slakeslash, Glissete and Hadzu, combining mobility, pushes, healing and carefully timed damage to score while keeping the warband effective.
Guy Haley, Nick Kyme and Andy Clark discuss the shared planning behind Dawn of Fire and its account of the Indomitus Crusade. Maps, fleet movements and a coordinated chronology support many viewpoints, allowing the novels to explore the human consequences of Guilliman’s campaign alongside its enormous strategic scale.
Brida inherits the Bearded Dragon brewery and tries to preserve its traditions as travel dwindles and the dead grow restless. Old Whitebeard’s recurring visits eventually challenge her inward-looking defence of the family legacy, forcing her to decide what honouring her ancestors should mean beyond maintaining their building.
Staff projects include grot-stolen Sentinels, a converted Repulsor Executioner and further Imperial Fists reinforcements. Hobby bingo provides structure for finishing projects, while practical notes on sub-assemblies, battle damage and small personal conversions show how familiar kits become satisfying individual models.