After a pile of heroes, all that’s left in the Start Collecting box is a unit of 10 Vulkite Berzerkers, the Fyreslayers battleline basic troops.

There are a couple of weapon options: twin axes, axe and shield, and pick and shield. I decided to start out with the twin axes. They’re nice dynamic poses, but unfortunately take a bunch of space in the case. I intend to build at least two units of these guys, so I’ll probably go with pick and shield for the other one. Annoyingly (for a mostly small-model count gamer) the Vulkites have a special rule where they get more resilient the larger the unit. So there are probably lots of these dudes in my future.

Unlike the heroes, the infantry just get a few small slate chips on the bases, with Astrogranite Debris filling in the rest.

Rounding out the Start Collecting heroes is the Runesmiter.

Like the Runeson, I decided to skip magnetizing the mount point for putting the Runesmiter on a Magmadroth.

All my Fyreslayer heroes are getting slate platforms to stand on. Regular infantry will get a few chips, so this helps to make the heroes stand out a bit.

Each of the heroes has also gotten their own mohawk pattern. The Runefather was all pale, the Runeson got stripes. The Runesmiter gets a fade. Regular infantry will get simpler styles.

Next up for the Fyreslayers is the Runeson.

This model was actually my test piece for the Fyreslayers. I used the Secret Weapon flesh wash, which has a lot more yellow than the Reaper wash I usually use for flesh. As usual, I was unhappy with the results, and switched back to Reaper for production. Everything else I kept pretty much the same.

I magnetized the weapon, because I’m not sure how I want to equip him. The Magmadroth kit comes with one set of standing legs and one set of rider legs. I decided not to magnetize the legs and just make the Runefather mounted and the Runeson standing. I should end up with enough parts from other kits to vary the rider, and I wanted to minimize the fiddliness.

Even though I mostly play small model count skirmish games, about once a year I get the itch for something larger. It’s been a while since I played Games Workshop games, so when I heard Adan (of Independent Characters fame) was going to run an Age of Sigmar escalation league I jumped in.

I struggled for a while on what army to play. I always start with the look, but close to half of the available factions were tempting. Finally I realized that I kept going between something (sea elves! orcs! rat men!) and Fyreslayers. I had made my decision. Now I just need to pump out the models!

First in line is this Runefather riding a Magmadroth. The Magmadroth is a fairly standard paint job, but I needed to put my twist on it somewhere. I settled on green hair and beards, centering on Secret Weapon Rust Shadow. I balanced it with reddish metallics, and a brighter yellow gold for the ur-gold runes embedded in the skin.

I’m excited to be doing GW again. Their models are always nice, even if their pricing isn’t. I wish there was a bit more variety within the faction (other than heroes, there are only three units available, and one is a dual-kit. I expect I’ll splash in some Kharadron Overlords for variety.