Blog The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog UPDATE:12/2

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Very nice xtapl! The turquoise details work very well, I'd try and work them into the little details a bit more. They really contrast the skink skin colour and bring it out well.

For more ranked skink units might I suggest that the stegadon kit has great bits that can be used for standards and all sorts of decorations and conversions. For more glyphs, just look in the armybook. Glyphs can probably be found on all sorts of pages, pictures and maps etc. Or just look at wappellious

P.S. I look forward to finishing our game off! My Lord wants to claim a few stegadon skulls for his mantelpiece

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

All right! The Rise of Xaxlachaq is back on!

I was a little discouraged by the release of 8th edition, but after playing and tinkering and restructuring and whatnot, I believe Xaxlachaq can continue to rise! Disregard the earlier army list; I am moving in a slightly different direction.

But here's how the unit I was working on when I went on haitus played out:

Jewelry was basecoated with GW Tin Bitz and highlighted with GW Chainmail. The top highlight was GW Mithril. Gold stuff got done in Tin Bitz, with a GW Shining Gold highlight. Then I washed with a little of my "magic metal wash," which I use from a big pot that I mixed. It contains Tamiya Smoke, Tamiya Clear, GW Brown Ink (the old, good stuff) and GW Badab Black (mostly to take the shine off), plus some Future Floor Wax and a little water (all mixed directly into the pot). I just shake it up before use and roll. (I put a marble into the pot as an agitator. Works wonders for keeping the mix smooth.)




I also caught the "Kroxigors" up to the rest of the army, which was surprisingly easy. I will say the process, however, reminded me exactly how much I freakin' HATE metal models. There are few things as annoying as getting your paint job almost exactly how you want it, accidentally dropping the model less than a foot onto the table top, and finding you've chipped the paint. Stupid.

Then, I worked on the bases.

First, I sketched out the mosaic design. I used one old Skink glyph that I found. (By the way, if anyone has links to pictures of other Lizardmen glyphs, please PM me. I have a couple, but I'm going to run out by the end of this army if I can't find more...) I laid down a piece of packing tape, then stuck all the bases to it in perfect rank order (so they wouldn't slide around on me). Once they were all secured, I got out my metal drafting ruler and a pencil and sketched out the outline.

The gray parts of the tile mosaic are straight black and white, as before. I kept adding white until I got to the final highlight on the teeth part, which was almost pure white. Then, I went back to the dark gray and did the same thing, except adding Laguna Blue instead of white.

Once the paint was all dry, I glued down some of my "special sand" (it's a mix I made of Woodland Scenics talus and playground sand, so it's both very fine and has some bigger rock pieces in it) and then painted it black. I drybrushed the sand up from Calthan Brown to a mix of Calthan and Vallejo Golden Brown. Then I picked out the larger rock pieces in gray and highlighted them with a little gray + white.

I then glued down Gale Force 9 static grass (the "green" variety, which is ace), and also stuck on a few fronds from an aquarium plant I got for a buck at my local Target. I don't think I want to go overboard with the aquarium plants because I think it can detract from otherwise nice paint jobs, but a little here and there probably won't hurt.

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

I got everything ranked up and glued down, and I officially have a single unit of skinks!









Here are a couple of shots of the "Kroxigor" piece of the unit:





Of course, this unit is now obsolete; I will be adding many, many more fellows to bulk its ranks out. But before I do that, I'm working on a unit of blowpipers. Then I may tackle a Terradon or two, and then it's back to bulking up this first unit so it's at a playable size...gonna require rethinking the bases a little, but I think I can manage.

Updates soon!

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

realy nice painted, you own me with painting ;P

in the list you made you could still put some chamelion skinks ;P

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

...OMG

Umm... Can I have your Autograph?

Once again. Or maybe this one is more suitable. No definitely this one.

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Thanks, fellas.

The new painting list, in case anyone is wondering, is:

Slann BSB
Skink Priest on foot
Terradon Hero
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
24/3 Kroxiskinks with Full Command
24/3 Kroxiskinks with Full Command
30/3 Kroxiskinks with Full Command
6 Chameleons with Stalker
8 Terradons
4 Salamanders with 16 handlers

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Very awesome looking unit! Great work, I look forward to seeing more.

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)


Best Skink unit ever !!!

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Their is a old (games Workshop) LIZARDMEN Collectors guide that contains lots of lizardmen glyphs, and imperation for conversions.

Or you could draw you imperation from Aztec glyphs?????

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Your color scheme is absolutely amzaing and your army fluff is very interesting and creative! An excellent job thus far and no doubt in my mind that you will continue on this path . You have greatly inspired me as I am in the process of thinking of a paint scheme/theme. Keep up the good work!

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Thanks, all.

I have finished a unit of blowpipers, so expect pics soon. I usually like to take my pics outside because of the light situation, but it's raining like Armageddon this morning, so pics might have to wait.

I've thrown a unit of Terradons up on the paint rigs, so that's next.

In the meantime, anyone have any suggestions for alternate Salamanders? I am absolutely not paying what GW's high-on-crack sales unit wants me to pay for theirs - particularly since they're kind of crappy to begin with...

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

All right. As promised: updates.

So here is the unit of blowpipers I finished this week:



Slightly different angle:



And the backs (and bases more clearly):



I did the bases like that so that, because of skirmishing and whatnot, basically any of these guys can go in any position and not jack up the base pattern when ranked.

Up next:



TERRA FURY!

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Looking good as always Xtapl. I can't wait to see how you will do the Terradons! Keep us informed ;-)

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

Wow very nice, good work!

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

So. What has been happening in Xaxlachaq?

TONS.

First, there was the moment of frustration, where I realized that everything I had been doing was pretty much nothing I wanted to do.

Then, there was the moment where I decided some massive readjustment was in order.

So what happened?

Well, first thing that happened is that I realized through playtesting that blowpipes are straight up made out of suck. Seriously. Blowpipes on Chameleons are awesome. Blowpipes on skirmishing skinks are AWFUL. So I ripped the arms off of this unit:



And they became this unit:



Because javs and shields are worth the extra 10 points. For reals. As a matter of fact, I liked them so much, I did the other unit of them the same way:




Then, I made some Terradons. I don't really like the newer Terras, so I scored some of the 6th edition ones (which I think are actually 5th edition ones). A little green stuff and a jewelry saw later, I had converted the riders to 8th edition and boosted the detail work on the Terras themselves. Pretty happy with how they turned out:





Then, I set my sights on the first big project of the army...

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog (Image Intensive)

So you will remember this unit:



I was pretty happy with them, but 8th edition really screwed them. So I had some decisions to make. I decided this unit would form the core of my army, but it needed some help.

So, with a heavy heart, I broke the kroxigors off their base, snapped the riders off, and got to work. Sawing, greenstuffing, gluing. But the Kroxies ended up happy, because they are now the champion and standard bearer of one of my major core units.

And then I turned my eye to the Kroxigors again. I really loved the idea of the Cold One Kroxies, but I'd need six of them, and that was too many (i.e. it would cost me nine million dollars to outfit my whole army that way). I went tooling around the internet, and found the perfect solution: YAY TAMIYA!

That settled my problem. So now, I present my first core unit: 24 skinks, 3 Kroxigors, full command.



Here are some more shots, so you can see what's going on:







As of now, the army consists of:

24 Skinks/3 Kroxigors, full command
10 Skink Skirmishers w/ javelins and shields
10 Skink Skirmishers w/ javelins and shields
4 Terradons

I am torn what to start next. I think I might do either the Chameleons or the Salamanders, then tackle the first of my three characters.

Stay tuned!

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog UPDATE: 12/23

WOW
Simply an Amazing unit in an amazing army.

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog UPDATE: 12/23

Awesome looking stuff!! I love the colors and how well you put them together! Keep the blog on coming

Edit: and btw, your bases on those Terradons look AWESOME

 

Re: The Rise of Xaxlachaq - A Blog UPDATE: 12/23

they look so cool for it looks more of a horde army wich is cool as i dont like rank and file skinks you need a swarm of them leave the rank for the saurus