+ inload: Trailblazers +

+ For Yarrick!/Waa-Ghazghkull! +

+ Your next Challenge Event: #foryarrick #waaghazghkull + 

+ What is The Ashes of Armageddon project? +

+ If you're not aware of The Ashes of Armageddon, it's a standalone blog themed around The Battle for Armageddon – and specifically, the Second War, where Ghazghkull led his first invasion against the defending Steel Legion. You can catch up and find a list of articles in this handy Overview article. +

+ As usual with these standalone projects, I run occasional 'Challenge Events', each of which is an open invitation to build and paint cool models around a particular theme. These are then showcased on the blog, and used to illustrate (and inspire) the ongoing story. +

+ The first one for this project was themed around the backlines of the war, and you can see the results in this article: [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. The second one is starting... waitforit... now! +

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+ The basics +

• Build and paint a character for the Second War for Armageddon
• Post it to Instagram with the tag(s) #ForYarrick and/or #WaaGhazghkull
• Do it before January 31st 2024

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+ Sounds fun – what's the theme this time? +

Buzuruuk da Eadbiter, by @argaastes

+ This time you're invited to create a model for one of the heroes or villains of the conflict (which is which, of course, will rather depend on your point of view!) – or in other words the characters at the heart of the conflict. +

+ Where the previous event looked at the everyman, this one challenges you to create your take on famous warriors and personalities of the Second War for Armageddon. These can be:

• Your own Armageddon-themed characters 
• The Warboss or important member of a particular ork warband
• Commanding officer of a Steel Legion regiment
• A Hive Governor, Mechanicus Techpriest, Squat Landtrain commander or Legio Metalica Princeps
• Perhaps you've read about a figure in one of the articles that's caught your imagination?
• Characters mentioned in the lore that do not have models
• General Kurov, General Marlen, and the like 
• The infamous Herman Von Strab
• One of Ghazkghkull's Counsill of Clan-bosses
• Salamanders Chapter Master Tu'Shan
• Your interpretation of a character with a model
• Ghazghkull Thraka himself
• Commissar Yarrick
• Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Commander Dante, Mad Dok Grotsnik

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+ What do I need to do? +

Steel Legion General, by Sam Shand/@the_steel_legion

+ Once you have picked a character, you need to build and paint him, her or it up. There is no arbitrary standard of quality – beyond you feeling you've done your best work. +

+ The key is that the model is themed to some point in the 2nd War for Armageddon. There's a timeline here for you to browse. How you interpret this is entirely up to you. +

+ Nor does the model have to be converted – though I'd suggest that this is a great way to help put your personal spin on a character, or show a slightly different interpretation than GW's studio version. As a couple of prompts:

• A Ghazghkull that nods more towards his original 2nd edition model than the current version.
• Your take on a pre-Black Rage Captain Tycho
• Mad Doc Grotsnik in his 'sergery'.
• Sebastian Yarrick in his personal study.
• A recreation or interpretation of one of GW's awesome artworks.

+ Other than the theme, it's up to you – you can do a single model or an entire diorama – whatever you fancy. +

+ Once you've got your model complete, you can enter by:

• Posting to Instagram and using the hashtag #ForYarrick and/or #WaaGhazghkull
• Posting to the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group
• Joining the Discord discussion group and posting it there – here's the link [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+].

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+ How long have I got? +

+ The challenge runs from December 8th (that is, tomorrow) to January 31st 2024. +

+ Feel free to post WIPs as you go – and please do share to let as many people as possible get involved. +

+ Don't worry about treading on someone else's toes – in fact, I'd encourage multiple different interpretations of the same character. +

+ As a perfect example of the sort of thing I'm after, here's Gonzalo Gonzalez's awesome take on Commissar Yarrick – combining the claw from the original with the more dynamic Brian Nelson version:

Gonzalo Gonzalez's (@forge_of_gonfrask) awesome Yarrick conversion 

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+ And another thing +

+ I was very pleased to be interviewed by @the_iron_within about The Ashes of Armageddon project for the German-language podcast Beim Imperator Nichts Neues [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], so if you speak German you can here my pontifications over there. +

 

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