+ inload: Krootiful models +

+ 'Avast there, my krooties' + 

+ Blimey, don't Kroot lend themselves to bad puns? +

+ It's been rather hectic recently, but I've been working on painting up some more kroot, and thought I'd share them. Pictured here are another four that have been polished up, along with a couple of others I had on my painting table for reference. +

+ GW have been previewing some new figures, so I've been beavering away – and told myself I can't buy any more kroot 'til these are finished! +

+++

+ Coming from the Killteam Farstalker Kinband box, which is intended to create distinct archetypes, the models have lots of individual detail and unique bits, which means I've had to work on them individually or in small groups. It's been time-consuming, occasionally challenging, and quite different from the Epic models I'd been working on most recently; but a change is as good as a rest. +

+++

+ The Kill Team +

+ Dusty Harj-Wald, Pistolier +

+ Please forgive the rather poor pict-captures (evidently the natural fieldcraft skills of the Kroot extend to servoskull-borne pict-capters). Here's the pistolier, 'Dusty Harj-Wald'. +

+ Lurks-Within-Tent +

+ A notoriously work-shy Kroot Warrior, armed with a flintlock and scattergun, Lurks-Within-Tent. +

+ I've used some bright blue-pink tufts to suggest the alien jungle of Paradise XXII – the planet the PCRC campaign is set upon), which are both nice and eye-ctaching, and set off the earthy palette nicely. The risk is that they draw all the attention from the figures, so I've used some flashes of purple, pink and orange on the models themselves; such as the goggles here. +

+ Looking again, it wouldn't hurt for me to push these accents a bit further – a little bit of vivid colour never hurt anyone, right? +

+ Some very simply patterning on the cloak adds some personality and narrative, but the sculpts already have it in spades – just check out the dogtag looped round the handle of the chainsword. A trophy? A gift? Spoils of war? +

+ Krake Well-beloved +

+ Bow-hunters bear Accelerator Bows, which provide an interesting weapon that can be used in a variety of ways, from picking enemies off silently to explosive warheads. +

+ Another example of accent colours; you'll see orange, blue and pink used to sing out against the burnt orange skin. +

+ Krake has an tanned ork-skin cloak, too – mainly because I had some green on my palette. +

+ Eye-eater +

+ And finally for today, the Long-sight (or sniper), Eye-eater. +

+++

+ inload: MMXXIV +

+ Scouting out MMXXIV + 

+ A felicitous Sanguinalia and Annual Re-Cycle to you all, and – once more – my thanks to all the autoscribes, rubricists and postlocutors that read this little corner of the noosphere. +

+ As a blog, +Death of a Rubricist+ doesn't have many traditions, so there's no great round-up of things – it's all too easy to let plans get in the way of enjoyment of the hobby. Instead, I thought I'd simply pop up what I've been working on:

+++

+ The Ashes of Armageddon +

+ The inter-continental scrap between Waa-Ghazghkull and the Steel Legion moves to a new scale, as I've been painting up both Salamanders and Goff orks for Epic. +

+ Very pleased with how the Salamanders have come out, and thanks to a bountiful Christmas, I've got rather a lot more to paint up! I've spoken quite a lot about this in the inloads leading up to the new year, so let's have a look at the forces in the other green corner – the orks: 

+ These figures are by Wakes Emporium [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], and are charming little figures with a great variety of poses and unit types. Highly recommended: I had a grin plastered over my mug the whole time I was painting them. +

+ I used a very simple scheme:

_1  Spray prime with Halford camo brown.

_2  Base as you like – I used the same Armageddon scheme as for my Steel Legion, which is essentially lots of drybrush layers of increasingly light yellow-browns.

_3  Pick out the skin with various green paints – the more the merrier.

_4  Paint the weapons black, then pick out some areas with Iron Warriors (the new Boltgun metal).

_5  Wash with Agrax Earthshade

_6  Pick out details – this was essentially adding a couple of highlights to skin here and there, along with various bits like hair, back banners and so forth.

+++

+ The figures scale well with the new Legions Imperialis models, standing ~8mm tall. Note that the integrated round base adds another 1mm or so, making them as tall as the new marines when on flat bases (like the new Epic ones, or the tupenny bits I'm using). +

+ If that bothers you, then look for bases with recesses. Personally, I don't think this is noticeable at table-height, so unless you've intending them for display them besides other figures, it's not really a problem. +

+ Having said that, the little roundels are a personal bugbear of mine. They're hard to hide, awkward to paint around, and generally make painting more of a chore. With the increasing relevance of 3D sculpting and printing in the hobby, I hope that there's a trend to offer models both with and without the little roundels as options. I'd much prefer to paint them separately from the bases then attach them. +

Scale comparison with Legions Imperialis tanks and Marines. Note the right-hand ork base is a Nob/Warboss.

+++

+ Heroes and Villains of Armageddon +

Work-in-progress

+ There's a challenge event running for The Ashes of Armageddon, which you can read about here [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. In short, it's an invitation to paint up a leader or important personality for the Orks or Imperials by the end of January. +

+ I'm using the opportunity to create a General for the 7th Steel Legion Army Group, a fairly simple head swap that combines parts from the old Cadian Senior Officer model with bits from a Steel Legion lieutenant. +

+ I'm quite pleased with how he's looking, and while he's not going to win any prizes, he'll fit right in with my army. More importantly, he'll be popping his head over the trenches of Instagram to remind/spread the word about the event. + 

+++

+ In other news +

+ '2023 is the year the kroot get painted', I said – and a mighty half-dozen or so emerged... Not quite the battleline! However, with the promise of a PCRC campaign gearing up, I've pulled my finger out and started painting these charismatic figures once more. +

+ My first model of the year, therefore, is a Kroot – you can see him nearly finished alongside the WIP General. +

+ Eats-the-Fingers-First is currently picking his way through the jungles of Paradise XXII, and with a geekend meetup scheduled around the start of February, I'm aiming to have at least a Kill Team completed, and hopefully a little more. +

+++

+ Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten +

+ ...and with a suitable rest and recharge, The War of the False Primarch will conclude this year. If you've not heard of this project, or fancy a refresher, there'll be a summary article up on the blog [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] soon enough – and in the meantime I encourage you to explore the existing shadowy lore. Just watch out for the Inquisition! +

+  My aim is to add the final mysterious polish by September, in time for the (yikes) eleventh anniversary of the +Death of a Rubricist+ blog. Once again, thank you one and all for continuing to read. +

+++

+ inload: Kindred calling +

+ The Kindred of the Bloody Moon make haste to Paradise XXII +

+ WIP Baggage Knarloc and kroot gunslinger +

+ Ahead of their deployment to Paradise XXII, the kroot Kindred of the Bloody Moon receive some reinforcements – and a little warpaint. +

+ Pictured above are the results of a second box of the new Kill Team Kroot together with some older metal Kroothounds, along with a few 3D printed extras designed by FelixtheCrazy and printed by generous Lucifer216, and some accessories from the original Kroot Carnivore kit. +

+ The kroot background has a lot of appeal for me – on the one hand, they're savage flesh-eating aliens, but on the other, they've got a great tribalistic and explorative angle. They're self-reliant and self-improving, with a culture based around very different values from any of the major factions in 40k. Perhaps most appealingly, they're not an overblown galaxy-ending influence on the broader stage – merely an exemplar of the many, many hundreds of minor xenos that riddle the 40k galaxy. It's a refreshingly understated and surprisingly thoughtful area of the background, ripe for development. +

+ Kill Team: Into the Dark expanded a little on the Kroot background, and provided us with some insight into their motives and way of war – and it's little snippets like this that really set my mind alight. Of course, the beautiful models and cool aesthetic really help, and I don't think I'd be anywhere near as interested if Brian Nelson hadn't made such a great job of sculpting the first batch of the basketball-playing parrot-Predator creatures. +

+ Painting +

+ The Knarloc – a 3D-print from the ever-awesome Warmtamale – is painting up nicely. Thus far I've been concentrating on developing texture on the skin, and having a whale of a time. While most of the non-Carnivore Krootforms in the Kindred vary in colour, I thought orange would work nicely for this Knarloc, so he's clearly a relation of some sort. +

+ The face has been worked up a little more than the rest, but there's still plenty to go. You'll spy some chalky highlights here, which I'll be softening down with glazes – possibly oils, once I can research how they're likely to interact with printed resin. +

+ ...and there's more on the horizon, as Warmtamale also printed me these rather charming Knarloc riders and variant kroothounds, pictured alongside some of my recent Steel Legion for The Ashes of Armageddon. As an aside, I think it's great how the 'digestive-evolution' concept of the Kroot not only allows but encourages variations on the models you use. Just like Tyranids and Orks, this is an army that lends itself to using older and third party models. +

+ You'll also spot a holy Kroothawk in the centre – perhaps destined as an objective marker! +

+++

+ Gaming +

+ Out of interest, I worked up a quick 10th edition list using the models at my disposal – it comes to 810pts. +

Faction: Tau Empire

Detachment rules: Kauyon

Units: 

• Kroot Shaper – 40pts
• Precision of the patient hunter – 20pts
• Kroot Shaper – 40pts
• Kroot Farstalkers – 70pts
• 1 Killbroker, 9 kroot, 2 kroothounds
• Kroot Farstalkers – 70pts
• 1 Killbroker, 9 kroot, 2 kroothounds
• Kroot Carnivores (10) – 55pts
• Kroothounds (4) – 30pts
• Kroothounds (4) – 30pts
• Kroothounds (4) – 30pts
• Krootox Riders (2) – 70pts
• Great Knarloc – 100pts
• Knarloc Riders – 110pts
• Ambull – 85ps
• The Archivist – 70pts

+ Background-wise, the Kindred aren't associated with the Tau, so it's more themed around mercenaries rather than auxiliaries. You'll spot a couple of units that come from the 'Legends' rules – the Ambull and Zoat – because this seems the perfect project to include all the weird and wonderful models that I've collected over the years. +

+++

+ Models + 

+ I had a lot of fun building these models. Pictured here's some sort of personality bearing a polearm/religious banner or similar. When playing around with bits, sometimes it's nice to not have too many fixed ideas! +

+ Pictured alongside another recent purchase, the Catachan with grenade launcher that had a limited release. While she's a relatively slight figure, even in the context of the 2nd/3rd-edition period, it's clear how tall and intimidating a kroot would be to a human. +

+ Having a couple of kits and variant bits allows you to build fun little variations like these sharpshooters. +

+++

+ inload: Kroot and Eldar +

+ Kroot and Eldar +

+ Top priority, he says; first things I'll paint, he says. Finished before Christmas, he says. Needless to say, it's a sore point amongst the Kroot of the Bloody Moon that it's taken me 'til the back end of January to get on with painting them. Still, they have arrived on the painting desk... and we're off! +

+ Early days here, but I'm starting by blocking in the skin. These have all received a couple of coats of various orangey-browny-yellow mixes, followed by washes of sepias or muted reds. These will be cleaned up a bit during highlighting, and I'll add the spots, then give them a second wash to tie things together and enrich the recesses. +

+ Pictured are a warrior with scattergun (a short-ranged shotgun-like weapon) a Shaper Kill-broker, and a Tracker. Given I have all the warriors I need for a Kill Team, I should probably have focussed on the specialists in order to have a team ready for the next geekend gaming event with the PCRC, but if I don't tackle the less-appealing models, then I risk never getting round to them – or worse, leaving them all 'til last and having a slog. +

+ There's nothing much worth noting except that I'll be painting the Pech'ra (the krooty bird perched on her gun) with a different skintone to the kindred. Using the same fleshtone within a unit or army gives a slightly sinister feeling, as though everyone's a clone – that's why I try to paint bare flesh on my models uniquely: even if it's just a tiny tinge of a different paint, or a different final glaze, it gives a subtle natural feeling. This is particularly important for the Kroot, where the Kindred are related, while the other krootforms are not necessarily. +

+++

+ Alaitoc +

+ ...and in keeping with the 'small steps, but steady pace' approach my hobby seems to have been taking this year, I added the banner poles for my Eldar Guardian squads. +

+ Apropos of nothing, I read in an old White Dwarf I was browsing that Guardian squad leaders tend to be ex-Aspect Warriors – i.e. those that have previous wartime experience, but are no longer on the Path of the Warrior. Just an interesting little adjunct. I might try to tie that in somehow – perhaps with an aspect rune somewhere or other on the leaders or their banners. +

+ The banner poles are created in exactly the same way as the originals in WD138: a small hole was drilled with a pin vice, and a dress pin glued in. Neat, simple idea for sturdy results, and it even has a built in banner top! +

+ inload: The Farstalker Kinband kit review +

+ Nuggets of Kroot +

+ Kit review: The Farstalker Kinband +

+ It won't have escaped your notice that the Death of a Rubricist inloads have been quite kroot-focussed recently; and I'm pleased to say that the Kill Team: Into the Gallowdark box arrived late last week. It is enormous – absolutely packed to the gunnels with terrain and two new kits: the Kroot Farstalker Kinband and Imperial Navy Breachers. There are lots of in-depth reviews of the box as a whole, so I thought I'd dial in the mens-iris and subject you to just my thoughts on the new kroot kit. +

+ First impressions are always coloured by the previews we've seen, and in the case, I'm happy to say that the sprues themselves really live up to expectations. GW's own sprue shots are much clearer than mine, so if you want to see the raw components on the three large sprues, go check 'em out there [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. +

+++

+ Snap fire: key points +

+ For those inloaders on a time-budget, or who have stumbled over this noospheric node for the first time, I'll get to the key takeaways for this kit, and answer the questions I had:

• The new models are well-scaled to the older Carnivore kit, and broadly speaking, can be kitbashed with little to no conversion work
• There is a great deal of variety in the poses. To my taste, GW have struck a good balance between dynamism and flexibility, allowing for characterful poses when built as stock, but allowing for relatively easy conversion work.
• As with most of the new Kill Team kits, this kit can be built to replace the existing Kroot Carnivore kit. and used in 40k There are sufficient regular rifles and components to build it perfectly legally for its entry in the Tau Codex. I'd grab one of the older kits if you fancy it, just in case its delisted.
• ...and likewise with most other Kill Team kits, there are a huge amount of spare components left over. Combine this with some spare Kroot bodies and torsos, and you can really revitalise the older kit. 

+ Polished off older kroot, ready to welcome their new kindred +

+++

+ Into the meat of the review +

+ In exploring a new kit like this, where I was keen to try out different options, I started by doing sub-assemblies of the bodies. Below you'll see a selection of bodies from the new kit alongside a handful of bodies from the older Carnivore kit (handily in a lighter grey plastic, so you can see the difference). I mentioned above that the new kit has lots of options – and you can see the in action with the body on the left, in the middle. It's an old body with one of the options – a bionic leg from the Cold-blood – attached. This required a little bit of cutting, but as the figures are so gracile and skinny, it was very easy. It's a good demonstration of how compatible the kits are. +

+ Relating to this interchangeability, the connection points are very similar to the older Carnivore kit: the old heads are completely interchangeable; and some of the arms marry the old bodies perfectly, though some require a bit of work. Given the ponchos the models are wearing, I had been anticipating this, but I was delighted to find that a number of the poncho-wearing bodies had been cleverly designed to leave a recess at the shoulder – and so in a number of cases, you can slide in the old kit arms without modification. +

+ This isn't, however, universally true: some arms are designed to fit specific bodies, so do test-fit before you get gluey. Likewise, if you want to use the spares from the new kit to add some variety to the older kit, be aware that you might need to rebuild the shoulder in a few cases. You can do this with a spot of greenstuff, or by attaching an old arm, allowing the glue to set, then cutting it away to leave a flat edge to which to attach a similarly modified new arm. +

+ The sole picture of the new Shaper Kill-broker that I took. Largely built stock, I decided to go for the Kroot rifle. He has options for a pulse rifle, held up triumphantly in the now-traditional style for Shapers (don't these guys ever shoot the things?), and a pulse carbine, held as for the rifle above. +

+ Below you can see the specific choices that I made for my figures, along with some build notes; but to provide a quick summary, I'd thoroughly recommend this kit – absolutely stellar, so three mechadendrites up from me!

+++

+ From left to right: a cut-skin; cold-blood; warrior and kroothound. I had a lot of fun doing bits swaps and some minor conversion work to get a unique set of models. The cut-skin, for example, uses the spare blade left over from the Broker – added with a diagonal cut across the wrist/forearm. +

+ The cold-blood is probably the most in-depth conversion, using a set of legs and torso from the old Kroot carnivore kit. Likewise, the warrior is a combination of spares from the new kit with a body and legs from the old. While some parts require a little conversion work – typically building up or resculpting a shoulder – a lot of them work with no conversion necessary. +

+ Some of the figures are less well-suited to conversion – or the poses they’re in are already ideal to my eye . The pistolier is one such figure. Really has that alien cowboy swagger down. Also here is the second kroothound, another warrior – perhaps my favourite pose in the box – and the bow-hunter. +

+ Of course, if you convert one model from a set like this, you’re forced to convert another if you want to retain the specialist. In this case, the bow-hunter’s body was used elsewhere, so I used the left-over cold-blood body (with the supplied natural leg, rather than the bionic) for the bow-hunter. This nicely shows that there are options for interchanging bits and bobs here and there, even where a flat shoulder joint is not immediately obvious. +

+ The kroot warrior with scattergun (far left) uses the default body for the aforementioned bow-hunter. I think each specialist (or certainly the vast majority) can be assembled as a standard kroot warrior – and sometimes going the road less travelled is simply a case of building the model you like the look of best, rather than what has an in-game special rule. Here also is another warrior using the old kit as a basis – and given the number of cool spare parts, I’d thoroughly recommend mixing the old and new together – an alternative pose or head swap will go a long way to rejuvenating the (still wonderful) old kit. +

+ Third from the left here is a heavy gunner with what I’m assuming is the Londaxi tribalest, based purely on the three vanes and ‘tri’ element of the name. The new heavy guns look fun and add a nice sci-fi element to the kit. It’s worth noting, for lorehounds, that the ‘Into the dark’ booklet has lots of cool hints about other minor xenos. It also gives some more info on the kroot’s own culture. +

+ Finally here, the sharpshooter is furthest right. He’s another figure that I liked so much I left him (her?) unaltered and built stock. +

+ The last picture shows the other heavy gunner – made with the braced legs from another specialist, and a left arm donated by a regular kroot from the old kit (this required a little cut at the elbow for the correct angle). The next one along is another warrior, this one reloading his rifle. It’s the subtle poses like this that I think really add character and value to the kit as an expansion of the older kit. Here also is a demonstration of how the shoulder joints could be hidden by a shoulder pad from the old kit, if you’re not confident with building up or converting. +

+ Third from left is the Tracker. This is the only figure in the kit, I believe, that builds two of the specialists (the other is the Stalker), so you either need to decide or to convert. As I’d used some of the Stalker bits elsewhere, my kinband doesn’t have one (yet). The Tracker model is lovely as it stands, so the only change here was the use of my favourite head from the old kit. It’s this specialist that gives me my only (very) minor complaint about the kit, and that’s the lack of a Pech’ra in flight. +

+ Last here is a final kroot warrior with scattergun, rounding off a very, very fun building session. This kit is absolutely fabulous – I haven’t been as impressed with a kit since the release of the Adeptus Titanicus Warlord Titan, which I regard as the best kit GW have ever made. +

+++

+ inload: Painting Kroot +

+ Painting Kroot +

+ Alas, the new Kill Team box has not yet arrived with me, so I couldn't get stuck into the new Kroot. On the plus side, of course, this left my evening free to carry on with those already on the desk. Perhaps a blessing in disguise! +

+++

+ Observations on the Kroot models +

+ All of these figures are work-in-progress, but it's been a very long time since I've both struggled and enjoyed painting so much. As I mentioned in an earlier inload, I've always loved Brian Nelson's beautiful sculpts of the Kroot, but have found painting them difficult – though happily, not unpleasant. It's a multi-layered challenge – lots of organic shapes; lots of decisions to make on colours; and a surprising amount of little details. Being an older sprue, some of the details are slightly soft, so you have to be more aware of exactly where you're applying the paint. +

+ Having said that, they also lend themselves beautifully to Citadel's washes – and I've used multiple layers of Seraphim Sepia on the skin. I've avoided using washes on the fabrics deliberately. Washes soften and blend edges – after all, that's what they're meant to do – and this creates a distinctive look. Because there's so much softness and an organic quality to the overall model, I want to make sure there's a variety of textures. Thus the skin and quills get washes, while traditional brush shading and highlighting is used on the fabrics. +

+ The weapons will likewise get some harder edge highlighting to give a different look and help the various parts to read. The weapons and techy bits are likely the last piece of the puzzle, and that's what I'll tackle next to finish them off. I'm looking forward to tackling some woodgrain (and feel free to remind me of this statement in the next inload, when I come back cursing!) +

+++

+ Colour choices +

+ In terms of colour scheme, I've gone for a variety of warm oranges. Kroot, to me, suit a 'primitivist' underlying scheme, so that their really high-tech synthetic bits pop out from an overall earthy palette. Unsurprisingly, I've gone for a Predator-inspired scheme, and brought in some stippling (lots of little overlapping dots) on the top of the head, back and shoulders to create some visual interest. This also serves to frame the face. With the quills emerging from the back of the heads, it's easy for the top, rather than front, of the head to catch the eye – not great if you want to the face to be the focal point. +

+ Further complicating this is the fact that Kroot (obviously) don't have human features like lips, noses or stubble, so there's less that's immediately 'readable' to catch the viewer's eye and add interest. To help combat this, you could paint the 'beak' as distinctly different, but – while I like the avian aura – I didn't want them to read too obviously as 'birdmen'. Instead, I pushed the highlighting on the edges of the mouths so that they read as sharp and dangerous, and also to increase the contrast and detail to draw the eye. Further to that, I've gone for a super-contrasty white on black for the eyes – the gimlet gaze of alert predators. +

+++

+ Krootforms +

+ The (now-old) Kroothounds really capture the bestial, debased feel of the concept, and are fun little metal sculpts. I found my way for the Kroot on them, and tackled them first. I tried out a couple of different fabric colours – including a grey-blue (Prussian Blue) before settling on Death Guard Green and Iyanden Darksun as the underlayers. These were then built up with Mummy Brown from Army Painter. I really rate this paint – it's a lovely versatile warm white that just flows beautifully. +

+ Still to do on these (and the Kroot Carnivores above) are details like the bombs (quill grenades?) and similar. I'm also tempted to add some decoration to some of the fabrics. The background, so I understand, suggests that Kroot aren't particularly creative or artistic themselves, but I'd still like to have some form of culture represented. I'll probably mine various classic patterns – zig-zags, dags, spots and stripes. +

+ The other krootform in this batch is the hunting Knarloc. I'm very pleased with how this is coming along. On a whim, I decided to paint the previously-red Knarloc with a blue-green (Incubi Darkness) pattern. This was restricted to the top parts of the body, and I think it really helps to make the model pop, without being so saturated that it doesn't fit in. I painted the pattern in a couple of very thin glazes – that is, a layer of paint so thinned-down that some of the underlying colour comes through. I had already stippled the red skin underneath, and this read through the glazes. Nevertheless, skin will always look more realistic with more thin layers, so I also mottled the surface with further stippling. +

+ The eyes are the most obvious thing that need finishing, but I also have the saddle and tack (is a saddle part of the tack?) to do. +

+ Application elsewhere +

+ The Kroot tracker will likely be used as a – uh – Kroot Tracker in Kill Team; so I'll need to work out a Pech'ra model to replace the token +

+ And just off to the left of the previous photograph, you'll see two figures. One was a survivor of my old Kroot army – you'll note I had started converting him into a Tracker (armed with a sniper rifle) by trimming away the blades on his rifle. I clearly never got any further than that. In all likelihood, he'll remain as-is and be treated as a regular warrior, but I will rebase him onto a 32mm base to match the others – oh, and drill out the barrel. +

+ Finally here, on the left, you'll see another misfit. This is the Kroot tracker 'Dahyek Grek' from Blackstone Fortress; which I painted up a couple of years ago – or so I thought. After hunting him down, I realised two things. Firstly, I hadn't quite finished him – the skin and cloak are done, but the rifle and details are outstanding. Secondly – and largely unintentionally – I'd painted him in with largely the same scheme. Clearly Kroot are orange in my head. +

+ It's worth noting that this is one of the great strengths of colour schemes of armies with lots of skin or cloth. These organic materials weather and vary naturally, so some variety is not just okay, it's positively beneficial to a realistic result. Rather than sticking to strict recipes, as you might with (say) a Space Marine's heraldic Chapter scheme, you can simply remember 'orange' and play around with that. Different hues, techniques and approaches will all work. +

+ This counts doubly for Kroot, whose nature means that they vary from Kindred to Kindred. It will, perhaps, require some more thought to make a cohesive army, but it also means that you've got unparalleled scope for playing with colour. I'm certainly planning to have Kindreds (squads or Kill Teams) with different schemes – and perhaps to play around with some colours or effect sthat I rarely use elsewhere. Sci-fi birdmen strike me as a great place to play with highly-saturated colour. +

+++

+inload: Rekrootment drive +

+ Kroot – Kindred of the Bloody Moon +

+ WIP Knarloc Rider +

+ Kroot. Kroot. Krooooooot! These charismatic aliens have entranced me since they were previewed, years ago. I even went as far as writing a rather ham-fisted attempt at a Codex that I sent in to the GW studio, and received a very kind hand-written reply from Andy Chambers. Like their Tau sinister overlords absolutely equal trusted partners, I've started – and failed – a few attempts at a Kroot army; as I've never quite been able to capture what I wanted to from them. As a result, while I've painted about two dozen Kroot over the years, they've been all over the place. To my regret, I long ago sold the Greater Knarlocs and majority of the Knarloc Riders I owned – but such is life. +

+ Here, then, is my latest attempt at the Kindred of the Bloody Moon. This army has been so long in the making that I have no records of when it started. A quick noospheric search suggests that I'd painted a test model back in 2008(!), so it's been a long time coming. +

+ Fourteen years later, we might finally see a proper squad – or in this case, a Kill Team or two. Fellow PCRCer Omricon and I are going halves on the new Gallowdark Kill Team boxed set, and I'm snapping up the Kroot (and Naval team, though that's an inload for another day). I'll be using these to allow me to get some playable models on the table. +

+ The sprue pictures on the GW website make it look like there are lots of spare heads and bits – perfect for snazzing up some of the older Kroot Warrior models. I'm no sure yet how many this will allow me a to make, but I think I should end up with a decent little core force for 40k, too. +

+++

+ Painting kroot +

+ When painting skin, I like to get as much variety in as possible. Here, while the squad is all orangey-brown, individuals are brighter, duller, more muted and so forth. I've used a variety of different paints and approaches. Note that I've also primed them with Halfords' khaki spray – part of their camouflage range. That's to give a nice light earthy tone that's not too stark. It all adds up to give a natural feel – and speeds things up, too! +

+++

+ Dilemmas +

+ Not everything I'd planned has a use in Kill Team – not least these two Krootoxen, which have (as far as I can see) been unceremoniously dropped from the 'get-you-by' list in the Compendium. Neat little models, these are both cheap ebay rescues; one resin, one metal. The metal one was a pain; the original had been a fairly poor cast (though from what I remember, the Krootox models were infamously a bit crap to put together), and the rider had snapped off his fragile ankles. +

+ I ended up taking him completely to bit, removing the superglue, drilling and pinning the leg (and gun) to make it a bit more sturdy, then using greenstuff to rebuild the lost shin and fill gaps. While it's not quite up to the quality of the original sculpt, I think my repair work will be fairly unobtrusive during games. +

+ I felt the models looked a bit cramped on a 40mm base (not to mention that there's been quite a bit of 'scale inflation' since the release of these supposedly hulking models) so am going to rebase them. The two options are a small oval cavalry base [vizref=above], which I think better fits the shape of the model and looks a bit sleeker; and a 50mm base [vizref=below] that gives the beast a bit more presence and burliness. Not quite sure which I'll go for yet. The PCRC have chimed in with some good notes, but I'd be interested which you think looks better, too. +

+ And finally... +

+ A knarloc! Not one of my long-lost originals (shame, as I spent a lot of time converting and reshaping one to be my Master Shaper), but a FW original bought from a friend of mine many years ago. +

+ He's sat half-painted for a long time, and this seems a great chance to finish him off – I'm basically gathering together odds and sods of lost kroot from the past fifteen years; very fitting... +

+ I chose a particularly yellow-tinged orange for the kroot rider to help him stand out, and a deep, dark red-brown for the knarloc itself. Since knarlocs, krootoxen, kroothounds and similar krootforms aren't part of the kindred itself, I'm not restricted in any way on their colouring, so I'll probably have fun with some patterns. +

+ Well, that's it for the moment. If you don't see more kroot here soon, give me a poke, or we might be waiting another decade and a half! +

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