Our wonderful and friendly discord has a channel designed to take your questions! Sometimes GW’s FAQs are slow to be updated, and rules are either unclear or simply not phrased well for non-English speakers. To that end, we have an excellent team of lawyers on hand to interpret the rules and answer questions you might have.
Below are the questions that were asked over the last 7 days from our discord server and the answers provided by our legal department*:
Q: Can Krethusa revive Morathi? A: Yes, but not the Shadow Queen. Morathi would essentially take damage like a normal unit, but it’s a way of getting a good caster back in the late game.
Q: Can you get multiple instances of +1 to Hit? A: You can, but you cannot benefit from more than one. You could have 5 different sources of +1 to Hit, but you’re still only going to benefit from a single instance. Multiple sources of +1 are only good for countering you opponent’s -1 to Hit, should that exist. (e.g. if you had +2 to Hit and your opponent gave you -1, you would have +1 to hit. If you had +2 to hit but no penalties, you would have +1 to Hit.)
Q: If a unit has Strike-First, what happens if an opponent’s ability gives them Strike-Last? A: The two abilities will cancel out. This is shown in the Core Rules, section 19.0.
Q: If a Beast of Nurgle is killed and then replaced, can Horticulous replace that Beast when it dies? A: No. Replacement units cannot be replaced.
Q: How does the weapon ability [SHOOT IN COMBAT] work? A: The unit can still use that ranged weapon to make attacks in the shooting phase if it is in combat with a unit (which normally would not be allowed). The attacking unit can only target the unit it is in combat with.
*Please note that the “legal department” is a joke. None of these people are lawyers, cannot provide real legal advice, and are not representing themselves as lawyers. This shouldn’t have to be said, but US law is dumb so there’s the disclaimer. Don’t come after us.
Our wonderful and friendly discord has a channel designed to take your questions! Sometimes GW’s FAQs are slow to be updated, and rules are either unclear or simply not phrased well for non-English speakers. To that end, we have an excellent team of lawyers on hand to interpret the rules and answer questions you might have.
Below are the questions that were asked over the last 7 days from our discord server and the answers provided by our legal department*:
Q: Can Ponitfex Zenestra use her Word of the God-King ability to banish a manifestations the turn it is summoned? A: Yes.
Q: Is Gift of Apoplexy triggered when a unit uses passive abilities?
A: This is another case of GW’s language being a bit inconsistent. In order to determine what would trigger Gift of Apoplexy’s mortal damage you need to understand two things: Is an ability being used? Who is using the ability?
To answer the first question, we need to understand what is meant when the prayer says an ability is used. For the purposes of this prayer, an ability is used when it goes through the Declare-Reaction-Effect steps. Passive abilities don’t do that, so will not trigger Gift of Apoplexy.
The second question is answered by reviewing the ability that is being used. Let’s take the “There is No Escape” ability provided by the Death Stalkers Nighthaunt battle formation. The ability allows the player to choose a friendly Nighthaunt unit to be the target. In cases such as this, the player is using the ability targeting a model, not a model using the ability targeting itself. In this case, Gift of Apoplexy would not be triggered.
For more detail on using abilities, read section 5.2 of the Age of Sigmar Core Rules.
Q: If a Varghulf Courtier kills an entire unit, can it use Victory Feast at the end of the turn?
A: It can use the ability, but it won’t benefit from all of the effects. The healing will always trigger, since it has no conditions other than killing an enemy model. The second half can only trigger if the Varghulf is still in combat, however. The Retreat ability requires that the unit using the ability is in combat. If the Varghulf did a good enough job of killing enemy models then it will have nothing to retreat from and will not be able to move.
*Please note that the “legal department” is a joke. None of these people are lawyers, cannot provide real legal advice, and are not representing themselves as lawyers. This shouldn’t have to be said, but US law is dumb so there’s the disclaimer. Don’t come after us.
Our wonderful and friendly discord has a channel designed to take your questions! Sometimes GW’s FAQs are slow to be updated, and rules are either unclear or simply not phrased well for non-English speakers. To that end, we have an excellent team of lawyers on hand to interpret the rules and answer questions you might have.
Below are the questions that were asked over the last 7 days from our discord server and the answers provided by our legal department*:
Q: Is “at the start of the battle” explicitly defined? A: There is no hard rule anywhere in the core rules or season rules that states when the “start of the battle” is. The generally accepted practice is that the start of the battle happens after deployment, but before the first start of turn phase.
This is why, as an example, a unit that moves outside of its deployment zone in the deployment phase doesn’t count as a Scout unit for the purposes of Scouting Force. Also, if you null deploy, your opponent automatically scores all of the Intercept and Recover targets, although this is such a niche case that it should be clarified with your TO.
GW very proudly talked about how they had split all of the abilities in the game into actions so they could have a standard language. This is a case where they abandoned that standard language in favor of allowing their players to argue about something. See also some vagaries on when a unit is using an ability vs. when the player is using an ability, but that is generally clearer cut.
Q: Can I declare the retreat ability and then not move? A: The generally accepted RAW would be that no, you do not need to move after declaring the Retreat action. This will likely be clarified in an FAQ or Errata by GW, because it makes a huge difference in the Attuned to Ghyran strike tactic. Declaring a retreat with two units while not moving them out of combat would allow you to score that tactic while still allowing the units that Retreated to fight and/or contest any objectives they might have been sitting on.
The wording of Retreat states that a unit can move after it suffers the mortal damage. If you had to move it would say that the unit must move. This will likely cause some arguments with your opponents, since the last sentence implies that the unit cannot end that move out of combat, but if you aren’t required to move then that last bit can be ignored.
Again, this is a case where you should ask your TO before doing it. Some TOs will use RAW, and some will use RAI, where the intent would seem to be that the retreating unit must end the action not in combat. You don’t want to grind your game to a halt because of some odd wording of a rule.
And that’s all we had for the week! We hope you found this helpful. If you have questions of your own, feel free to join our discord and ask away!
*Please note that the “legal department” is a joke. None of these people are lawyers, cannot provide real legal advice, and are not representing themselves as lawyers. This shouldn’t have to be said, but US law is dumb so there’s the disclaimer. Don’t come after us.
Our wonderful and friendly discord has a channel designed to take your questions! Sometimes GW’s FAQs are slow to be updated, and rules are either unclear or simply not phrased well for non-English speakers. To that end, we have an excellent team of lawyers on hand to interpret the rules and answer questions you might have.
Below are the questions that were asked over the last 7 days from our discord server and the answers provided by our legal department*:
Q: Can you use Whirling Destruction after having charged with the unit of Moonclan Stabbas? A: You can charge with the Stabbas then use this charge ability. Abilties in any phase are declared in any order you want, and are not all declared simultaneously.
Q: How do chanting rolls work? A: Roll a die, and on a 2+ you can either bank the points or chant the chosen prayer. If you roll an unmodified 1 you lose D3 chanting points and cannot chant the chosen prayer.
Q: If I have a reinforced unit of clan rats, how many do I bring back each round for Seething Swarm? A: Reinforcing a unit does not allow the unit to use the same ability twice in a phase. You would only be able to use Seething Swarm once per turn, so you would only be able to return D3 slain models.
Q: If my troll is positioned on a piece of terrain that has a section jutting out, is it within 3” based on the lowest point of the terrain, or based on the widest portion of the terrain? A: I’ll be honest, this one got a touch complicated.
You need to measure a straight line from the farthest point of the model’s base to the nearest point on the terrain piece:
Note that the reason for this is that not everything is measured with horizontal lines. The only measurements that are “horizontal only” are combat range and contesting objectives/terrain. All other measurements have to account for the difference in height.
Q: Can SoG Iridan be used in the Ruination Brotherhood Army of Renown? A: Yes. From the Battlescroll Summary:
So SoG Iridan could be included in the Army of Renown, but any Regiments of Renown use the specific warscroll included in the Regiment’s rules and cannot be replaced with a SoG warscroll.
*Please note that the “legal department” is a joke. None of these people are lawyers, cannot provide real legal advice, and are not representing themselves as lawyers. This shouldn’t have to be said, but US law is dumb so there’s the disclaimer. Don’t come after us.
So you want to drown your opponents in a furious and e-fish-ent assault of eels, sharks, teeth, and water? To scare your opponents with the sheer scale of your military might and tactics? Well, flounder no more, Patrick has the low down on the Idoneth faction.
Who are the Idoneth Deepkin?
The Idoneth Deepkin is a mysterious and tragic faction created by the aelven god Teclis to repopulate the elven race lost during the World-That-Was. However, they were flawed creations, leading many to suffer from soul starvation. To survive, they raid coastal settlements to harvest souls. Living in hidden underwater enclaves, their society is secretive and avoids contact with other races. Their aesthetic blends traditional elven features with marine elements, and their armies include various units like Sharks, Eels, and Giant Turtles. Their tragic history, enigmatic nature, and blend of elven and oceanic themes define their identity.
Playstyle
Float like an Allopex, Sting like a Fangmora.
The Idoneth Deepkin vied for the title of “fastest army in town” throughout the second edition and third edition. In the new index, they may well hold the record. The slowest unit you can bring moves at 6”, the fastest are swimming at 14”. During turn 2, you can run and shoot and/or charge (a marked improvement from the tides of the past). You have easy access to teleportation, deep strikes, and pulling units into reserves.
But the cost of all of these new features? Slightly less damage output compared to the last edition and maintaining the frailty that they have always struggled against. Both of these can be alleviated, however, through careful use of teleportation and buff bubbles around your units.
Historically, Idoneth has found success as an “oops all eels” army (2nd edition) or an “oops all sharks” army (3rd edition). There are arguments now to say that Idoneth works especially well as a mixed-arms force. There are lots of solid rules interactions between units. Look at how a unit of Ishlaen Guard reduces attacks while cutting some damage into whatever you’ve charged. Follow that up with an Allopex to get additional hits against the injured unit while being protected by the eels.
There is plenty to love in this index, and I think Idoneth players should be overjoyed with the delicious morsels we have been given.
These all rock. We’ve seen marked improvement from the last edition in our tides, and an innate reserves mechanic provides awesome tactical flexibility. We lost Forgotten Nightmares, but we’ve gained enough utility to accept that loss.
Idoneth’s battle traits are split in half. The first half is a combination of Ethersea Voyagers and Raiders from the Deep. The second is Tides of Death.
Ethersea Voyagers allows you to set up one regiment during deployment and place them in reserves. Raiders from the Deep allows you to take a unit in reserves and set them up in your Movement phase wholly within 9” of the edge of the battlefield and more than 9” from all enemy units. The second restriction can be mitigated with the inclusion of a Soulsrcyer, which will be discussed below, and using the Soul-raid ambush formation will allow you to continue moving units in and out of reserves throughout the game.
This is an amazing ability and provides some early tactical flexibility that can not be underestimated. If nothing else, it forces your opponent to consider where their own units are placed and how an Idoneth unit popping up at a board edge might cause problems for something like back-line support heroes. Note that there is no restriction on what round a unit has to arrive from reserves, so you can reserve a critical hammer unit until round 3 to benefit from High Tide.
As with any army, however, you need to be careful about committing to massive deep-strike. A clever opponent will know how to screen your units from coming in on the board edge and if you are facing an opponent that also can bring mass deepstrike you are looking at the possibility of being struck by the Kroot conga-line that we’ve all seen. Also, remember that you have to commit a full regiment to this tactic, and you don’t want your opponent to block you out of deployment just because they can effectively screen the edge of the board.
It’s probably best to consider this ability in two forms: 1) you are up against a slow army or an elite army that will have a hard time screening you out, in which case you can be aggressive with your reserves and hit their backline. Or 2) you can use this ability against mobile or ranged armies to keep some key units safe for the first turn or two. You can’t kill what’s not on the board.
Speaking of High Tide, Idoneth’s Tides of Death have seen some minor tweaks since the last edition. They still provide buffs during a round and require you to control the flow of battle as much as possible. The five tides are shown in the image below:
Take a clip of the Tides of Death Table and place it here
Things to note for Idoneth players coming from 3rd edition: Low Tide now has a clear restriction that the bonus goes away if you charge, so use round 1 and five to score some movement tactics and focus on shooting. Flood Tide now allows you to shoot AND charge after running, which is a massive buff for units like Allopexi and Leviadons that are carrying pretty strong shooting and melee attack profiles.
High Tide is exactly the same as the last edition and will be the source of complaints from all of your opponents. Army-wide strike first is going to be incredibly powerful and may allow you to remove your opponent’s hammer units through careful combat placement before they have the chance to hit back. Ebb Tide has seen the same improvement as Flood Tide, allowing both shooting and charging after falling back.you can use this in concert with abilities like Soul-raid Ambushers (discussed below) to continue your movement flexibility and potentially score late-game battle tactics and primary objectives, depending on objective placement.
Formations
Just like everyone else, Idoneth have four formations to choose from during army construction. Two of these are very good, one is decent, and one will almost never see play.
The first is Namarti Corps. This allows your Namarti units to re-roll run and charge rolls so long as they are wholly within 12” of an Akhelian unit. The bubble size is very forgiving, and if you are bringing Namarti in from reserves with an Akhleian King or Thrallmaster, you are increasing the odds of that 9” charge from ~25% to ~50%.
Akhleian Beastmasters was previewed in the faction focus article and provides your Akhelian companion weapons with +1 to hit. This is a decent buff if you are bringing a lot of sharks and eels, and there are enough sources of -1 to hit in the game that this will keep your friends biting hard against your opponents.
Isharann Council is a flop. Your Isharann units (only the Soulrender and Tidecaster will benefit) get +1 to their warscroll abilities so long as they are within the combat range of another Isharann unit. If the combat range restriction was lifted, this would see some good play, especially because these units will see regular use from their respective abilities. The main trouble is that the Tidecaster generally wants to hang back and cast spells while the Soulrender wants to be in the thick of it with your Namarti. I expect that some bold players will run lists with this formation, but it likely won’t see as much competitive success.
The final formation of Soul-raid Ambushers provides you army with the ability to return one infantry or cavalry unit per turn (only your turn) to reserves. This is tremendously strong and ramps up the mobility of your army well beyond what we already have access to. The ability to use Steed of Tides to launch a unit of Reavers halfway up the board, have them launch a volley at an enemy unit, then dip back into reserves to stay alive another round is an ability that shouldn’t be underestimated. If nothing else, you will make your Sylvaneth friends jealous at your newfangled Strike-and-Fade.
Spells
Before we get into the specifics of spells, let’s look at a fun new command for the 4th edition called “Magical Intervention”:
Why am I bringing this up? Because Steed of Tides is a spell that exists.
Steed of Tides allows you to pick an Idoneth unit wholly within 12” of the caster and teleport them anywhere on the battlefield more than 9” from all enemy units. This is important because of three elements: 1) There is no restriction saying that you can’t use this on a unit that is currently in combat, 2) there is no restriction on what units you can use this on, and 3) this spell has the Unlimited keyword..
Don’t like where your leviadon is sitting? Throw him to the far end of the table. Don’t want that unit of Namarti to get slapped in the combat phase? Remove them from combat during yours or your opponent’s hero phase. See a convenient objective marker all the way over there? You see what I’m getting at here.
Our other spells are not quite as world-shattering but are still useful. Arcane Corrasion reduces the rend of a target’s melee weapons, keeping your squishy aelves alive that little bit longer. Pressure of the Deep is your standard issue horde-clearer, with the usual restriction that you’re dealing with single mortal wounds on 5+’s. This isn’t terrible. it’s just worth keeping in mind that even using this against a reinforced unit of clanrats, you will still only deal an average of 13 mortal wounds. There is nothing to sniff at. There just might be better uses of your limited spells.
Enhancements
All of our artefacts and heroic traits are good, but we should expect to see two float to the top in most competitive lists.
Armor of the Cythai is incredible and universally useful. This blocks an opponent from using any weapons abilities on your heroes (with the exception of the “companion” rule). Removing your opponents anti-hero, anti-infantry, anti-monster, or crit () abilities will make a huge difference in keeping your hero alive. Couple that with the heroic trait Ancient Pride, which prevents unmodified hit rolls of 1-3 from ever hitting your hero, and you have a King or Eidolon that is very difficult to put down.
Our other artefacts are much more situational. Delicious Morsels will do a lot to keep your cavalry units alive, but you obviously won’t be taking it if you don’t bring a lot of cavalry. It also has the restriction that it only works on a unit within the combat range of the carrier, so your King can’t lob a snack any great distance and let your eels spread out. Dritchleech is functional but even more situational. The -1 to casting rolls is good against some armies, and the 18” bubble is substantial, but against armies that aren’t bringing any wizards, you are stuck with an artefact that provides nothing. If you’re in a local meta where everyone is bringing Wizards, you will get a lot of mileage out of the one, but at larger events we’ll need to see what magic meta shakes out.
Units
I want to start with something sad before we get on to the rest of the units. The leviadon is sick and needs lots of bed rest. Lay him on your shelf on a comfortable blanket and admire him from a distance while he recovers.
Frankly, I’m not happy with the turtle. At 500 points, I think it becomes a liability. For something to be worth 25% of your army, it needs to be game-changing, and in its current form, that isn’t what we’re looking at. The limitation for units to be wholly within 6” to receive the ward buff is too limiting to be useful on the units that need it, and the rampage is underwhelming. It’s still going to be an incredible tank with 16 wounds, 3+ save, and 5+ ward, but it needs something to make it more capable.
Eidolons are great. Both serve their purpose, are excellent vehicles for the above heroic traits and artefacts, and both occupy a niche that you will instantly find a use for. The Eidolon of the Sea is the best spellcaster you can bring, and his large base size means that he has a generous bubble for Steed of Tides, and is tanky enough to survive in the thick of combat. The Storm is a melee monster outperforming the King on paper and a great rampage that hits your opponents with Strike-last for the turn.
The Akhelian King has seen better days, but Volturnos is now sitting at a point where he will regularly see tables. The King is meant to be taken for damage output, but when hit with the math-hammer, he does comparable damage to the Eidolon of the Sea. Volturnos, on the other hand, has high quality damage output with a once-per-battle ability to increase the attack characteristics on 3 other units. He is also providing a free +1 to hit aura for Akhelian units wholly within 12”, which is a generous range that will be easy to fit your eels and sharks within.
All of the foot heroes lost their wards coming into the new edition. All of them will die to a stiff breeze, and none of them will put out any form of respectable damage. None of that matters, though, because you aren’t taking foot heroes in Idoneth armies to deal damage. All of our foot heroes provide solid buffs, and I feel like we’ll see regular use for all of them.
The Soulscryer is universally good, reducing the deep strike restriction to 7”, meaning that you will get your charges off much more frequently. The Tidecaster is now your only source of Isharann Rituals, and they only work on a 3+, but getting +1 to run and charge on the turn you need it will be clutch. If you’re taking thralls, the Thrallmaster’s ability to give them Crit (2 hits) drastically boosts their damage output and allows them to threaten heavy targets.
Speaking of Thralls, on paper, they look like they’ve dropped in power from the last edition. Wounding on 4+s makes them less viable than in 3rd, and without proper support, they won’t see much use. They are a perfect buff-sponge, however, and with the backing of a Thrallmaster and Eidolon, you could easily see a unit of Thralls dropping a monster or massive infantry unit in a single combat. Just don’t throw them at cavalry unless you completely lack other targets. They get bonuses against infantry and monsters but will struggle to deal with cavalry in any real capacity.
We have no bad cavalry options, and all three of our units serve their purpose in the niche they are meant to fill. Ishlaen Guard reduce the number of attacks of enemy untis in combat with them and get a 5+ ward after charging. Morsarr do mortal wounds on the charge (every charge, not just once per battle) and are infantry-hunting terrors. Allopexes (Allopexi?) are great units to hunt with a unit of Ishlaen Guard to act as a one-two punch. Let the Ishlaen scratch a wound or two into a unit and reduce its attacks, then have the allopex bite down with its bonus attacks.
All in all, I think Idoneth players should feel very good about the index we’ve been given. We have some strong movement abilities, decent damage output, and the “wow” factor that a well-painted army will bring to the table (seriously, I cannot understate how much I love the Idoneth model range). The army will require even more finesse than it did in previous editions, but in the hands of an experienced player, they will absolutely shine.
Sample List
Akhelian King
1×3 Ishlaen Guard
1×3 Ishlaen Guard
Eidolon of the Storm – Warlord with Ancient Pride and Armor of the Cythai
Each Datacard has three distinct sections; Charge Chance, Resilience and Average Damage Output.
Charge Chance
This graph shows the move and charge distances each unit can achieve and shows the chance of them achieving this distance as a percentage.
Resilience
This table shows how much damage would be required on average to destroy the unit. This is split into the various rend types most commonly found in Age of Sigmar. For example, the unit shown in the image above would need 18 damage from -2 rend weapons for the enemy to have a chance at destroying it.
This can be cross-referenced with another units average damage output to see what kind of damage they’ll do to it.
Average Damage Output
This simply shows how much damage on average the unit is expected to inflict after saves against the various save types. If there are multiple load-out choices, then these are shown separately, as is any missile damage.
Each Datacard has three distinct sections; Charge Chance, Resilience and Average Damage Output.
Charge Chance
This graph shows the move and charge distances each unit can achieve and shows the chance of them achieving this distance as a percentage.
Resilience
This table shows how much damage would be required on average to destroy the unit. This is split into the various rend types most commonly found in Age of Sigmar. For example, the unit shown in the image above would need 18 damage from -2 rend weapons for the enemy to have a chance at destroying it.
This can be cross-referenced with another units average damage output to see what kind of damage they’ll do to it.
Average Damage Output
This simply shows how much damage on average the unit is expected to inflict after saves against the various save types. If there are multiple load-out choices, then these are shown separately, as is any missile damage.
Sometimes things go wrong. Your car doesn’t start in the morning. Your boss yells at you about your TPS reports. Your roommate eats the last Oreo even though your name was on the package and he knew you were saving it (I have not forgiven this transgression).
And sometimes your printer’s FEP pops a hole and spills resin on the screen.
I recently had to deal with several small hills of resin on my printer’s screen due to a pinhole in my FEP. Hopefully my first experience leaves you more prepared than I was.
What is a FEP?
A FEP (Flourinated Ethylene Propylene) is a plastic film that sits at the bottom of your resin vat. This film acts a barrier between your liquid resin and the curing source (your screen). FEP film is used in 3d printing because it has good chemical resistant properties, and generally won’t adhere to your print.
How did this happen?
That’s a great question! Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer.
If you have a print fail you need to empty out your vat, pouring the resin back into the bottle through a sieve to make sure that you are catching any larger hardened pieces that may be present. If your printer has a self-clean function (where it exposes the FEP to a solid block of UV light) you should do this to cure the bottom layer of resin. This traps any floaters against the FEP and allows you to be sure that when you pour out the resin and peel the clean layer away you are left with a pristine tank.
But, as I said above, sometimes things go wrong. In my case, I didn’t have a print failure that I can blame. Everything was going well until it wasn’t. If you are working with poorly supported models you could potentially have pieces of resin break off from the model and start to float around the tank. If one of these floaters gets in the wrong place it will be pushed down into your FEP. This could potentially puncture your FEP, or worse, break your screen.
Protecting the Screen
The best maintenance is preventative. If you address a problem before the machine breaks you are ultimately saving yourself some pain and money.
In the case of your screen, the easiest way to protect it is to get a screen protector (who saw that coming?). These only cost a few dollars and make cleaning up resin spills much easier. Simply peel the screen protector off and dispose of it.
Not exactly what you want to see on your screen.
They also provide a buffer for your screen to keep the screen from cracking. Most modern printers arrive from the factory with a screen protector installed, but you should still verify that one is there if you are in doubt.
The one point to note: if you do not currently have a screen protector, and you are installing one on your printer, you may want to recalibrate. The screen protector will not make a huge difference, but it is an extra layer of material that your UV light must pass through.
If you don’t have a screen protector you might be in a tight spot if you have a resin spill. There are a couple methods of cleaning cured resin off your screen, and I’ll link them below. Full disclosure: I have not tried either of these methods, so I cannot personally speak to their use.
Replacing the FEP
Your FEP should be considered a consumable part of your printer. Resin, gloves, and paper towels need to be replaced more often, but if your FEP becomes cloudy or gets punctured then the only fix is to replace it.
I have an after-market resin vat from Sovol that has been wonderful to use. I also found out that it has significantly fewer screws holding the FEP in place and still doesn’t leak. There are still a lot of screws used in the process of holding everything in place, and making sure you are balancing your frame while replacing it is important to avoid slack in the FEP.
One of many machine screws
Once the screws are pulled out, you can dispose of the old FEP, and lay the new one in place. You’ll need to have a hobby knife or sharp tweezers on hand before replacing the screws. Machine screws don’t have sharp points, so you will need to puncture the screw-holes in the FEP before you can get the threads of the screw to make contact with the threads of the hole. The FEP will have some excess material around the edges, but that’s a good sign, since it means that you have less risk of a bad seal. You simply need to take a hobby knife and carefully cut around the edge of the vat to remove the excess.
Stagger your screws to keep even pressure
Once that new FEP is in place it should be drum-head tight. The video below shows some light taps so I could test the tension.
Volume up for tippy-taps
Final Thoughts
Preventative maintenance and a solid plan for accidents are the best steps to achieve worry-free printing. When those accidents happen: don’t panic! It’s all part of the fun of the hobby. The more you work with your printer the more intimate you will become with it, and the more you will be able to get out of your little box-shaped friend.
I am not paid by Anycubic, EmanG, Function_Follies_From_Formless_Failures, or RedMakers. All file design credit goes to the creators.
When the Age of Darkness box was released a lot of people in my area were buying into the Horus Heresy. I was all in, the game looked fun and was a more engaging historical game for me when compared to real-history games like Team Yankee or Pike & Shotte. The major issue with Horus Heresy was that the majority of models were, and still are, Forgeworld exclusive. Even the models that have been transitioned to plastic have either mostly been tanks or have massive supply issues. I like the aesthetics of the Forgeworld units, but Peter doesn’t pay me enough to cover those prices.
Enter the Anycubic Photon Mono 4k.
3d printer go brrrrrr
Against Games Workshop’s wishes, I found a way to build my army without having to sell one of my kidneys. This quickly turned into its own hobby. I have spent the past year with the printer running nearly 24/7.
Why Printing?
Other than the cost savings?
Let’s focus more on the ratio of work to payoff that printing can bring. I consider myself a hobbyist first and a player second. I find painting relaxing, and I spend almost every morning making some progress on my models. Printing allows me a nearly infinite supply of new models on demand, assuming I still have resin on the shelf.
Printing isn’t fast, by any means, but it allows for regular models for testing paint schemes or adding more unique sculpts to my army. The Skarbrand proxy I recently printed took nearly three days to finish, but the final result is, in my opinion, so much better than the original GW model.
Model by EmanG. Painting by @poots_paints
This model brings me to my second point: printing gives creators the opportunity to interpret models in their own way. There are plenty of one-to-one printables out there for GW’s models. GW puts a lot of effort into removing these, and I can’t blame them, it’s a direct theft of their IP. But interpretation of these models through a different lens by creators gives life to the units that you wouldn’t normally see.
Take this big dreadnought, for instance. This fits with the aesthetic of the Adeptus Custodes but is not a carbon copy of the Telemon. Or these guard models that are great proxies for the Solar Auxilia without being complete reworks of the Forgeworld models.
Model by Function_Follies_From_Formless_FailuresCredit: RedMakers
Considerations
There are a handful of things you should consider before getting into 3d printing. Your printing experience will be affected by your expectations and the amount of work you want to put in.
Printing is very much a hobby by itself. Don’t expect to come in and have zero work on the front end. A poorly calibrated printer will cause no end of frustration from failed prints. There are safety hazards present from handling resin. The cleaning process involves a lot of consumables. You need to be ready to support your models. You need to be prepared to clean your printer when your FEP inevitably gets a puncture.
Safety
Safety is paramount when dealing with resin. There are articles upon articles describing why you shouldn’t handle resin bare-handed, why you shouldn’t breathe in the fumes, and why you shouldn’t just pour your spent cleaning fluid down the drain. There are ways to safely deal with all of this, some more eco-friendly than others, but it all comes down to how much you’re willing to invest in safety equipment.
Boxes of Nitrile gloves are the best way to protect your skin from the resin. Keeping a pair of gloves on while you are handling the uncured resin is mandatory to keep from being exposed to toxic chemicals. Even once a part has been cleaning and dried, you still should not handle it bare-handed until it is fully cured.
Fumes are a bit easier to deal with. We’ve all been wearing masks for the past few years, but the mask you wear makes a difference. Most printers are shipped with a small paper surgical mask in the box. This mask does nothing for printer fumes, and you should probably save it for the next time you get the flu. Personally, I have a re-useable P100 respirator that I use. It does a great job of cutting back on the smell, but the level of protection is probably overkill. A standard N95 is sufficient, but you should try to find a reusable one. It’s also worth noting that facial hair can disrupt the seal of your respirator, so be sure that you are forming a tight seal before handling resin. I have to tuck in the points of my mustache in order to get a proper seal.
You, too, can breathe like Darth Vader!
Finally, and this is important for your water supply, your neighbors water supply, and your local wetlands: DON’T POUR YOUR USED CLEANING FLUID DOWN THE DRAIN. It’s toxic to you, and it’s worse for local wildlife. If you do that you’re a bad person, and you should feel bad.
This salamander is now dead because of you. Credit: National Geographic
Instead, find a solution for curing the resin particles in the fluid before disposal. The best method I’ve found is to pour your cleaning fluid into a bucket or large jar, allow it to settle, then set it in direct sunlight to let the sediment cure. This process will probably evaporate a lot of your liquid, but I find that I only have to replace this fluid every few months. There are ways you can find online to save your alcohol for reuse, but I haven’t tried any of these, myself.
Calibration
Once you have your safety equipment assembled and ready, you need to calibrate your printer. Your calibration is going to be unique to your setup. The ambient temperature of your room, your printer screen, and the material you’re working with can all have an impact on your print quality. I recommend a quick-read calibration print that will help identify where your problems might lie. The Amerilabs Town is a good example that shows off the possible specs, but I found that the Cones of Calibration make for a very quick study of how well your supports will stick to your model. TableFlip Foundry has made an excellent video explaining how to use and interpret the cones.
Cleaning
Cleaning your prints is straightforward, assuming you have the right equipment. I clean using a two-stage method. First, I wash the bulk of the resin in a pickle bucket. You can buy these from Amazon for around $10. It makes a great way to get an initial alcohol bath with some good agitation. For the second stage I use the Anycubic Wash and Cure station. It provides agitation similar to a washing machine, forming a small vortex in a large tank. Using it as a second stage keeps the alcohol cleaner, and won’t let sediment jam my agitator blade.
Speaking of alcohol, you’ll need some on hand. My pickle bucket has about 1.5l of fluid, and my Wash and Cure stores about 2.5l. I use 99% IPA, but you can get away with 90+%. I used water-washable resin for a long time to save cost, but I’ve found that washing that resin in alcohol leaves a nicer surface finish than washing in water. The alcohol also evaporates off the surface of the resin much quicker, which is a nice bonus.
Supports
Not all models are pre-supported. Most of the time if you’re pulling models that creators list for free on sites like cults3d or thingiverse you’re going to find that you need to support them yourself. Even if you are paying for files, there is no guarantee that they are pre-supported. Even if the files are pre-supported, there is no guarantee that the creator test printed with their supports and the prints will fail (I strong feelings on this).
Learning to add supports to your prints, and how to identify when supports have been done poorly, is vital in the printing process. There are lots of videos on how to create supports for models, but I highly recommend watching these two to get a basic idea.
For the creators out there: there are plenty of people that will add supports and test prints for your models for a cost. If you are going to sell your files, you really should have pre-supports, Lychee or Chitubox files, and test prints before you sell. No one wants to pay $10 for files, only for it to fail. That $10 file can become a $100 screen.
I have been supporting my own files for more than a year, and I would be happy to discuss supporting yours. You can contact me on Instagram @poots_paints.
Maintenance
I’ve found my printer to be mostly maintenance-free. Once it’s set up an calibrated it runs without issue. There are a few modifications I have made over time, notably a magnetic build plate and all-metal resin vat, but these are purely optional. I recommend regular cleaning. Even if your printer looks perfect, sometimes a small resin spill from an over-full tank can cause stickiness if it isn’t cleaned properly.
I’ll cover replacing punctured FEP and heavy-duty screen cleaning in a future article.
Final Thoughts
Don’t let the above few sections scare you. This is an extremely rewarding hobby. I’ve found a huge amount of satisfaction in taking a model from liquid resin to game table. With some investment of time and money, you can find a near-infinite number of new models to bring to your painting booth.
This is the Top Three AoS lists for Borderlands 2k Bash that took place at Borderlands Comics and Games in Greenville, SC on November 19th. There were a total of 12 players competing in this three-round event.
Before I jump into the Top Three AoS Lists, I wanted to remind everyone of our friendly Discord server where you can join in the conversation with the Woehammer crew and suggest articles or series for the website.
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Also if there’s a one day or two day tournament you’d like us to cover drop us a comment on this post and we’ll have a look at it for you.
The Top Three AoS Lists
Army Faction: Ogor Mawtribes – Army Subfaction: Underguts – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Frostlord on Stonehorn (445)* – Mount Trait: Rockmane Elder Butcher (135)* – General – Command Trait: Master of Magic – Cleaver – Spells: Molten Entrails Slaughtermaster (135)* – Artefacts of Power: Gruesome Trophy Rack – Spells: Blubbergrub Stench
Patrick: When the Ogor Mawtribes Battletome was released it was a fair assumption that some unit spamming/abuse would come out of the new book. Tobias made this assumption as well and decided to test the waters by dropping as many Ironblasters as he could on the table. “Ironblasters are awesome,” Tobias told me. “I’m not playing Ogors because I want to play greenish stunted gitz… So none of that in my list.” He is also taking advantage of the -1 to wound from Rockmane Elder, providing some extra beef on the Stonehorn.
His Ironblasters played well into all of his matchups, although with some minor difficulty into Idoneth Deepkin due to shooting restrictions that the army carries with it. His Ironblasters killed Bloab Rotspawn in the first round of his second match. Two units firing the long range shot were able to remove him from across the table, and went on to table his Nurgle opponent by the bottom of round 2. “They will be a meta pick. If I had a big event I’d run them, but they weren’t great fun.” It may be too early to say if the warscroll needs some adjustments, but I think at the very least we will see a points increase in the future.
Congratulations to Tobias on his win, and we hope to see more lists from him in the future (the upcoming Cherokee GT, perhaps?).
Army Faction: Soulblight Gravelords – Army Type: Kastelai Dynasty – Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak – Triumphs: Bloodthirsty
LEADER Manfred Von Carstein (380) – Spells: Fading Vigour Vengorian Lord (280) – General – Command Traits: Swift and Deadly – Artefact: Fragment of the Keep – Spells: Invigorating Aura, Amethystine Pinions Belladamma Volga (200) – Spells: Vile Transference
BATTLELINE 10 x Blood Knights (390)* – Kastellan – Standard Bearer 10 x Blood Knights (390)* – Kastellan – Standard Bearer 5 x Blood Knights (195)* – Kastellan – Standard Bearer 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer – Champion’s Mace or Halberd 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (80)** – Skeleton Champion – Standard Bearer – Champion’s Mace or Halberd
Patrick: “After narrowing down to Soulblight, I went back and forth between a horde of Zombies and Skeletons and a mixed armes list like we have ssen across the meta. However, I thought ‘I own 25 Blood Knights,’ why not run all of them.” And run them, he did, to great effect. The list sees Manfred and a Vengorian Lord bringing buffs and spellcasting to round out his list, as well as some Expert Conqueror Skeletons for objective maintenance. Manfred’s base size came in especially handy due to his unique command ability, providing +1 to hit and wound wholly within 12”. His base size and careful positioning meant that Stuart could have at least 2 units of 10 knights with 2+/2+, -1 rend, and 2-3 damage lances.
Belladomma works to provide a quality fighter to deal with chaff units. Her ability to turn salin models into Dire Wolves worked in Stuart’s favor to keep the board saturated with threats, and can be used to bait an opponent’s dispel attempt to make room for casting from Mannfred and the Vengorian Lord.
Army Type: Maggotkin of Nurgle – Army Subfaction: Drowned Men – Grand Strategy: Blessed Desecration – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Bloab Rotspawned (320) – Spells: Gift of Disease Orghotts Daemonspew (320) Lord of Afflications (230) – General – Command Traits: Overpowering Stench – Incubatch – Dolorous Tocsin – Artefacts of Power: The Splithorn Helm
BATTLELINE 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 2 x Pusgoyle Blightlords (250)* – Dolorous Tocsin 10 x Plaguebearers (150)** 10 x Plaguebearers (150)**
Patrick: Jake’s Nurgle list was tooled to the event. “With Prize of Gallet on the list it was going to be incredibly hard to score if I went first.” This meant that he had to break away from his original list (which included no Galletian Veterans) and build in two units of Plaguebearers. They are cheaper than Blightkings, and in this instance would perform the same duty. That left three units of flies, one to deep strike with the Lord of Affliction and one to Drowned Men across the table and lock his opponent down.
Jake feels that some better deployment of Bloab could have kept him alive longer. Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws would have done a lot of work into Tobias’s chaff units, and he may have been able to get a better performance in the third round. “Mawtribes are gross now,” he told me, but he is happy with the list and his performance. “The list did what I expected it too. Flies and Jaws eat the grunts and you aim the Maggoth lords at their heroes.”
He made some final notes in our conversation as well. “Nurgle is fine, the thing that bothers me the most is the lists that are winning are the same archetype. I’d love to see a non-Drowned Men win rate. The issue is everything in that book just pushed it towards that load out. Better units, better artefacts into the best subfaction.” His next event will see the use of a Great Unclean One in more close-range battleplans, one of which will include a “no deep strike” rule.
Army Type: Seraphon – Army Type: Coalesced – Army Subfaction: Thunder Lizard – Grand Strategy: Show of Dominance – Triumphs: Inspired
LEADER Skink Starpriest (130)** – General – Command Traits: Master of Magic – Artefacts of Power: Fusil of Conflagration – Spells: Levitate
Patrick: This list is the perfect example of why I love one-day events. The fact that large prizes generally aren’t on the line means that people will be more willing to accommodate casual crowds and test off-meta lists. Jon’s list fits this perfectly.
“The idea…was to make a bad list” Jon told me during a discussion. The Greenville AoS community tends to be newer or more casual players than he normally plays. He didn’t want to create a list that would completely shut other players out. Jon told me “I like the idea of giant lizards stomping around, and this was the only time I would ever actually run them at an event.” Dread Saurians will certainly feel robust in a Thunder Lizard list, but overall they won’t accomplish very much. They’re an ideal unit for new players to feel good dumping wounds into without getting punched back too hard, but players also need to be sure to watch the Skinks, since it would be easy to focus on the big intimidating models while Jon’s battleline consistently scores VP. It’s a lesson in threat assessment and target priority for new players.
While Jon didn’t win the event, he certainly accomplished his goals. Hopefully we see more people approach play with this attitude in event in the future.
Note: Jon did not compete in the final round due to matchups. He was scheduled to face someone he plays multiple times a week, and he decided to give them a chance to play a different opponent (not to mention it is a pain to move three Dread Saurians around).
