Recently I’ve become a bit more concerned about flyers. Lovell’s been breaking out Night Scythes pretty regularly, I’m sure I’ll see some at a tournament later this month, and no doubt flocks of evil doing flying things will appear at January’s Apocalypse game. So, time to start doing something about it:
Man the wall!
I think the Aegis Defense Line actually highlights the modeling strength of GW. For every beautiful piece-of-art model they produce, there’s a model like the ADL that’s not flashy, not fancy, but gets the job done. Good bulk shapes so it looks good no matter what, and enough texture so anybody can paint it up to look great with some very basic drybrushing. Further, it’s got lots of little details that you can really spend time on if you wish. There are some incredible ADL paint jobs out there around the net, which is really cool for such a basic model. That accessibility to a spectrum of abilities and the quality of even this basic, simple utility model, is I think in some what really separates GW from other companies, more so than the headliner models.
Technical details on the rear of a panel.
In any event, that’s why I bought the model instead of making one as long planned. I could put together a decent barricade system pretty easily, but there’s a lot of detail on this model that would take a lot of time to scratchbuild. Little technical doodads, tons of bolts, etc. Hell, if you don’t lay the paint on too thick, you’ll realize the bolts here are actually bolts. They’re not just little half spheres, there’s actually a straight bolt and then a distinguishable hex nut around it. Ditto on the gun. Maybe I have enough pieces to kitbash one, but it’d be tough to have it look as good, and scratchbuilding would be really hard. So here we are.
Painting
Honestly, for now I’m going with the Aegis Defense Line primarily because I knew I could get it together and painted in short order. I spent just a bit longer than I expected, but still basically a 1.5 evening project. I spray primed white, painted everything Skavenblight Dinge, and dry brushed Codex Grey. The aquilas were done in Bleached Bone highlighted with Skull White. Window edgings and other little tech bits were picked out in Ironbreaker (the new Boltgun Metal). That was drybrushed lightly all over with Skavenblight Dinge, and then again heavily toward the bases. Metal pieces and the craters got washed with Nuln Oil. It was actually kind of funny picking up new paints for this since many of mine were done: It’s been so long since I really bought paints that all the GW/Citadel names seem to have changed not once but twice!
Weapons to bear, on my mark!
One note is that I intentionally kept the scheme fairly drab here, so that it doesn’t take away focus from the army around it, as well as so it can function well as just a basic piece of terrain. It’s also specifically not badged or painted in Kingbreakers’ colors so that it will fit in with other armies.
Tactics
Despite assembling and painting quickly being my primary motivation for fielding this rigth now, I do think it’s competitive with my other options. Not taking up a Force Organization slot is a big plus. It’s about the same points as a Stormtalon, Hunter, or Stalker, and unlike the latter two has both Interceptor and Skyfire so it’s useful against ground targets as well. The ADL gun is in some ways more survivable to boot, since it’s effectively at least a 5 wound model depending on the size of the squad manning it. On that point, I almost always have a Tactical Combat Squad hanging out in my backfield on an objective, so they may as well man same heavier weaponry. Alternatively, if I’m real worried about flyers, I could put a Devastator squad with a few Flakk Missile Launchers on the gun, with the Devastator Sergeant using his Signum to have another guy man the gun at BS5.
You feeling lucky, punk?!