The Master’s Brush Cleaner Review

Video Link HERE!

As anyone who paints minis will tell you, our brushes get messed up pretty bad. It takes awhile depending on how well you treat them but eventually they all get relegated to drybrush status. I wanted to spruce up some of my older brushes and keep a few of my favorites around a little longer so I set about trying to find a way to fix em up. The one name repeated over and over was The Master’s Brush Cleaner. Everyone said this stuff worked miracles. Now obviously I was skeptical but I found it on amazon for cheap and decided to give it a try. Here are some before and after pics and my personal opinion on whether or not this stuff really is the “miracle cure” for busted brushes.

Affiliate Link! I get a few pennies, You don’t pay anything extra!

BEFORE PICS

We have 3 brushes here with various states of BUSTED. The left most is fraying, the center is split and the rightmost is stained red (Supposed to be a yellow). So let’s see what a quick wash will do to them!

AFTER PICS

So as you can see the fraying brush didn’t really get fixed at all. Sadly it seems those brushes are just dead for good. The second brush is much more promising. You can see there are still some paint particles left in but a few more washes should solve that. Looks like any splits will be remedied by this cleaner. The third brush is the most impressive in my opinion. You can see that it is entirely back to its basic color.

Verdict

The Master’s Brush Cleaner is not a miracle product by any means. It works well and does what is advertised but it won’t be restoring your old beat up brushes back to new quality. I still think any painted should keep a jar of this stuff handy though. So while not as wonderful as they say this is still a must buy for anyone in the hobby! That’s a solid 4/5 from me!

Great

Warcry Starter Set Warbands Review

Ogor Breacher, Dominar and Drillmaster Instructions. The first leg you put on for the Ogor is a bit tricky. It doesn’t slot in like it seems and kinda just rests against the rest of the model. Dry fit that for sure. The Drillmasters whip is a bit finicky and is very fragile. Be extra careful there/

Armator and Signifier/Prefector. The Armator is literally the easiest model in AoS to build. You can choose either the Signifier (With the standard) or the Prefector. The Signifier is the only model that can use one of the Iron Golems triple abilities and it is a good one providing +1 to the Toughness of all friendly fighters within 6″. The Signifier is definitely the better pick In my opinion.

Your run of the mill Iron Legionaries. One can be assembled with a bola instead of dual-wielding. This gives him the 2nd ranged attack in the Iron Golems Warband. The first being the Drillmaster’s Whip. The other option is to create a dual wielding Iron Legionary. The bola wielder is better in my opinion. The difference are as follows: +5 points for the dual wielder and 3 attacks to the bolas 2. The bola Legionary gets a 3 inch range bola throw with 3 attacks (comparable to the dual wielder’s 3 attacks) while being 5 points cheaper but only having 2 melee attacks. I still think the Bola is the better pick. You do get a bit of variation with these guys in that you can choose what kind of bludgeon you equip them with. This doesn’t effect their stats at all.

Warcry Model Showcase

Here I’m going to showcase my Warcry progress and post any pictures sent by anyone else. Feel free to send me your model photos and I’ll add them to the post!

WIP on the Rocktusk Prowler. You can see the First Fang in the background. Really happy with the brand on the Prowlers leg!

Beastclaw Raiders Short Story

This story will be about a group of Beastclaw Raiders that was just unfrozen after decades of being locked in ice following a miserable defeat in battle. There are few left at this point and they are desperately battling to move fast enough to get out from under the oppressive storm that follows them. Against All Odds they must outrace the Everwinter and find lands ripe with prey to be taken down.

The group consists of Frostlord Icegut riding his Stonehorn Tahr, Huskard Garug riding his Thundertusk Jaul, Icebrow Hunter Hurad along with his 4 frost sabres, a 4 Ogor strong Mournfang pack consisting of the brothers Huagg, Jaig, Ikaeg and Kuerg and finally 3 brightly hued yehtees that still somehow manage to blend into the blizzard surrong Garugs Thundertusk.

Icegut wasn’t actually Frostlord before the battle but after being ambushed and watching his Alfrostun cut down he started taking charge right as the Everwinter locked them into ice. Determined to get back to raiding and pillaging and bringing his Alfrostun into a new era of prosperity he will stop at nothing to escape the Everwinters grasp.

Saying Garug is taciturn would be the biggest understatement in the mortal realms. Only speaking when literal life or death is on the line the Huskard prides himself on having one of the strongest blizzards personally following his Thundertusk. Some of the old Alfrostun blamed him for how dogged the Everwinter chased them but he knew it was only because they did not feel as comfortable in the blizzard as they should. Now having been consecrated through frost he is willing to follow Icegut wherever he leads, bringing the Everwinter to the unenlightened races of the Mortal Realms.

Hurad trudged through the thigh deep drifts back towards the battlefield. He knew he was gambling with another deep freeze but he had to make sure. Having skirted the edge of the Everwinter he knew he had at most hours before it engulfed him anew. Catching flashes of darker areas he realized he was back inside the battles sad conclusion. Hurrying his pace he picked his way back to the scene of his Frostlords fall. Clambering up on the still frozen Stonehorn he started looking for the old Lord’s body. Finally he found it and saw the mortal wound that had felled him. No Orruk or Ghoul had taken down Razeg. No, it had been the bite of a Frostdagger. One only Icegut was known to carry.

The Mournfang brothers were thought to be the poorest excuse for a pack as long as the Alfrostuns remembered history. The fact that they remained while the other packs had fallen was a testament to the pure fury they could bring to bear. They alone fought hard enough to remain standing throughout the defeat and even after decades engulfed in ice their rage burned hotter than it had any right to. Not caring who they followed The Mournfang Brothers were excited to finally destroy and kill again.

Seraphon Pass

The freezing wind howled past Icegut’s head. The Everwinter was still much too close and the Alfrostun couldn’t take a moment to rest, much less set up camp for the night. Tearing another mouthful off the fresh leg he had secured during the fateful battle that had awoken him, he gave the order to continue marching. His second in command, Garug, wordlessly pointed forward and Icegut could see the only way through the mountains was a thin pass that was already being choked by the Everwinter snows.

“Chief. Lizards.” Snapping his head up at the sound of his normally mute subordinate’s voice, Chief Icegut quickly saw why the Huskard had broken his years long silence. It was a testament to the worry Garug felt that he talked at all and Icegut had to agree. Halfway through the pass was arrayed a large contingent of Seraphon. From tiny skinks to larger saurus knights the entire pass was choked with scaled flesh. At first Icegut was happy to do battle but then remembered his decades long imprisonment in the frost of the Everwinter. Gesturing to his Mournfang Pack the Frostlord rallied his troops and gave the order for the charge. The horns bellow out across the icy mountain pass. There was no way Icegut would be trapped in frost again. Not so soon after finally escaping the Everwinters bite. If the lizards wouldn’t budge then he would lead his Alfrostun through them. It had been too long since he had a real meal anyway.

Stripping Miniatures Guide

Hey all, I recently decided to strip my Ironjawz Ardboyz and Flesh Eater Crypt Horrors because the primer I tried to use (don’t use paint and primer combo) went on wayyyyy too thick. At first I just tried to paint them up but after a few tries I couldn’t stand looking at the washed out details. Not to mention the primer caused bubbles to formed between some key features. Not cool man! Anyway I looked around on the web and found a bunch of different answers. So I took a shopping trip and dunked my minis into solution after solution to try and get them back to basics. Here are some of my experiences (not many pictures since I didn’t have the blog when I first started this.) NOTE: These are all plastic sculpts so anyone with metal or resin need to look elsewhere. Sorry folks!

Acetone

DO NOT USE THIS. IT WILL MELT YOUR MINIS.

Okay, so my buddy suggested I try acetone to strip down my minis and remove the super glue from some of the joints (I switched over to plastic cement). The good news? It worked! It worked so well that part of my Terrorgheists wing melted into an unrecognizable lump of plastic. Luckily it was the connecting bit so I just shaved a bunch off and green stuffed it on like a champ. (It looks like crap). Anyway moral of the story always use a test model and don’t ever use acetone on your plastic minis. It is good for cleaning paint off of any surface that won’t get destroyed by it. I used to use a glass table for my priming then I made a work bench. Cleaning the table took seconds with some acetone. Get it through my Affiliate Program HERE.

91% Isopropyl Alchohol

This works amazing for getting paint off the models. After a ten minute soak I took a medium bristle toothbrush to the models and the paint came right off. Some of them I could just swish them around in the alcohol and watch the paint fly off. The only issue is that it had absolutely zero impact on the primer which if you recall was my real issue. I tried soaking them for 3 days afterwards but it still didn’t budge the caked on primer. It also was completely and totally safe for the minis so if your only desire is to get paint off this is the way to go for sure. So now I was a little disheartened. I couldn’t get the primer off and this was supposed to be the best stuff for it! What was a man to do? Well you see the problem was I spent way too much money so far! Get it through my Affiliate Program HERE.

LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner

$1-3 at any Dollar Store and some pharmacies

Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma’am! This stuff was $1 freaking dollar at the (you guessed it) Dollar Store. I let them soak overnight and the primer starting flaking off immediately. With a little brushing from that toothbrush I used for the Alcohol the primer was definitely getting removed. The plastic is totally fine but one problem is that it is killing the super glue I used to attach the minis to their bases. So if you need super glue removed this works well too! Get it through my Affiliate Program HERE.

Which Product to Use?

LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner! This will remove everything after a decent soak. But if you don’t want to prime the models again use…
91% Isopropyl Alchohol! Good for just removing the paint if you wanna change up the color scheme of an army.

Remember: NEVER USE ACETONE FOR PLASTIC MINIS!

Warcry Starter Set Terrain Build

So the first thing you build is this awesome looking bell tower. It comes with a set of steps you shouldn’t glue on and 2 separate platforms. It was a relatively easy build that took me on stream about 45 minutes. Without streaming and discussing it should take around half an hour. Painting it has been pretty easy as well with the only tough parts being the skeletons in the niches next to the bell. Overall a fun piece of terrain!

Statue Head and Barricades Build Video HERE

Probably the easiest build of the Starter Set (ignoring the barricade cus i mean cmon they are like 2 or 3 pieces…) The head and platform was so simple you barely need the instructions. The toughest part is making sure you don’t knock things out of place on the platform but if you just give it a second to dry you should be fine. The statues face does require a very small amount of force to get slotted correctly but its barely noticeable. Overall another fun and unique piece of terrain that I can’t wait to paint!

This is barely even worth a sentence about to be honest. Most of these were just clipping them out with the rest just having you stick on some dead guys. One piece gets made into a 90 degree corner but other than that its single walls all across. I do like the look of the pieces though and they should be a fun albeit slightly frustrating piece to paint.

Ruins Build Stream HERE!

The ruins seem complicated at first but honestly they are intuitive as all hell. Follow this link and you’ll find a written guide to which pieces are used where. Following my video and that guide will ensure you have the correct pieces to utilize all your terrain cards.

Chaotic Beasts Build Guide

This is going to be the first of many Warhammer Build Guides. I plan to do these for everything I get my hands on and each written guide will have an accompanying video. This guide will be focused on the Chaotic Beasts that come with the Warcry Starter set which I assume will eventually go up for individual sale at some point. The Chaotic Beasts come on 6 half size sprues with 2 having pieces entirely dedicated to the Furies, 2 dedicated to the Raptoryxs and the last 2 having a mix of both. The Raptoryxs are built in 2 stages with 3 different models while the Furies are built in 3 stages with 3 different models as well. This ends up giving you 6 of each model to use in your Warcry and AoS proper games. There are a few Affiliate Links at the bottom where you can pick up the Warcry Starter Set these Beasts come from as well as the tools I use to put them together. These links help fund my YouTube Channel and Blog.

ACCOMPANYING VIDEO HERE

Build Info

Raptoryxs: Pieces per model: 7, Models per kit: 6, Base Size: 60mm (Oval), Variable Parts? Yes but all will be used. Difficulty: Easy
Furies: Pieces per model: 5-6, Models per kit: 6, Base Size: 32mm (Circle), Variable Parts? No. Difficulty: Easy

Raptoryxs

The Raptoryxs are bird-like corrupted wildlife that are highly aggressive and pack oriented. They tend to follow warbands across the Eight Points devouring the scraps of flesh left behind. This does not mean they are simply scavengers. They have been known to attack and kill enemies much larger than themselves. While not capable of true flight they are surprisingly graceful given their stocky physique. They use their feathered wingarms to glide and maneuver around the battlefield faster than expected. Posessing a beastial cunning they are adept at out flanking and surronding prey and unlucky warbands. When a Raptoryx dies it’s death cries will echo for miles, calling more and more of the ferocious scaled hybrids to the fight.

Building

Building the Raptoryxs is rather simple. You start with the body then add the legs, the wings and then the head in that order. The head is 2 separate pieces comprised of the frill and the actual face/beak. The heads and frills can be mixed and matched into whatever configuration you desire but all of the supplied pieces will be used. Overall building them was easy and take about 30 minutes for all 6.

Furies

The Furies are minor daemons that exist purely out of a desire to kill and maim unwary prey. They fly around the Eight Points in large swarms that will descend on any unprepared warband. They are filled with a general spite and viciousness that makes them a much more dangerous foe than first expected. These daemons can be won over to your Warbands cause given sufficient bribery but woe betide anyone who drops their guard around a Chaos Fury.

Building

Building the Furies is an easy task that is slightly more complicated (but not complex) compared to the Raptoryxs. The furies have larger wings and carry weapons while also being a generally smaller sculpt. This makes for a few points that are flimsy but not enough to really cause a headache. The furies go together a little differently than the Raptoryxs thanks to their more dynamic poses but generally you’ll start by attaching 2 limbs to the main body then doing the remainder. The Furies points of contact on the base are rather small so it might take a minute to get them secured onto the base. Again it isn’t a big headache in any way. Overall building them is quick and easy and should only take about 30 minutes for all 6 models.

Overall Summary

These models are very dynamic and I feel they have a certain level of character shown just through their poses. The Raptoryxs feel like ornery predators willing to fight anything and everything while the Furies have a level of cunning and deception that comes out in their poses. They were easy to build and didn’t take long. Painting will be interesting since they are smaller models and have some tight areas. I’m happy with the models though and can’t wait to bring them to the table!
Overall Time and Difficulty: ~ 1 hour to put all 6 models together and all 3 variants for both models were easy to build.

My Tools

Clippers, Xacto Knife, Super Glue and Plastic Cement

Affiliate Links

My Content

I am gonna link every single thing that I am using to create content. This includes YouTube, This Blog, Mixer and my Patreon.

Youtube: Oakshand – YouTube
My Youtube channel will have accompanying videos, reviews and guest appearances of my friends and patrons. Most of my videos will have a blog post to support it and vice versa.

This Blog: orderthroughdestruction.home.blog
Just gonna leave a link here in case you want an easy way to send it to people. I know it’s kinda dumb to link this blog on the blog but I like having everything in one place.

Mixer: Oakshand4112’s Channel
I will be streaming on here whenever I play games I plan to review. Feel free to stop by and let me know what you think of the game and maybe I’ll add what you have to say to the review blog and video!

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OrderThroughDestruction
This is the only way (other than a few affiliate links here and there in my articles) for me to make money off my content.

Warcry Review

This review will focus on Warcry as a game system and the starter set.
If you would rather watch it click HERE.

The Game

Warcry is a fast-paced skirmish style game reminiscient of Kill Team and Underworlds. I say this second hand because all I have played is regular old AoS. I do very much enjoy Warcry as a game and I think anyone who likes AoS will as well.

Warcry pits 2 warbands of 6-15 units against each other. The victory conditions are random depending on the battleplan or victory card drawn. These conditions are generally very cut and dry. Kill the enemies Dagger Contingent or control the objective/treasure at the end of the third round or keep your dagger alive until the end of the 4th round. They have a few interesting ones like one I played where the objective was to send your units to one edge of the board and then take them off the board. This means they entered your opponents “Territory” and each model is worth a point. Some of the plans tend to favor more mobile or more numerous model counts but I really only saw that issue with the non-Warcry warbands. Overall the game is fast, fun and deadly.

The Turns and Rounds

Each round is divided into a number of turns for either player. Unlike AoS you only commit to one model per turn. Once you activate a fighter you have to take 2 actions with them. There are 4 different actions to choose from and you can combine 2 like actions in one turn. The 4 actions are Move, Attack, Disengage and Wait.
Moving is relatively straight forward and just has you move your model however many inches forward the card says. There is no such thing as running or charging in this game but honestly it isn’t needed. The complexity comes when you consider all the different ways you CAN move. These include normal walking where the base of the mini doesn’t leave the ground. Jumping where you move a certain number of inches horizontally (I.E. over a gap), Climbing where you move a number of inches vertically (I.E. up a wall) and finally flying where you can move any number of inches vertically and however many designated horizontally. Flying also allows you to (mostly) ignore falling.
Attacking is again straight forward. You make a number of attack listed on your card as long as you are within range and then compare your Strength value (which can vary per weapon) to your Opponents Toughness value. This determines whether 3s, 4s and 5s hit, 4s and 5s hit or only 5s hit. 6s are crits which always hit and do loads of damage (typically double but sometimes as much as 4x). This is an important thing to keep in mind because bringing the correct units to bear in a fight will make your life much easier.
Disengaging is similar to retreating in AoS proper. You can move the model up to 3″ in any legal direction as long as you end up at least 1″ from all enemy models. This does include models that you may not be currently engaged with. This is good to remember if you need to lock down an enemy unit or need to protect your own. Always keep an escape handy! Also the terrain is juuuuust under 3″ so if viable you can climb up a piece to get away.
After each model (including the chaotic beasts if they are in play) performs 2 actions the round is over and any points are calculated. Plenty of battleplans include contingents coming in during the 2nd round so don’t forget about those!

The Starter Set

The Warcry Starter Set is a big frigging box. As one of my favorite YouTubers mentioned it is way heavier than it has any right to be.
It comes with:
A Game Board (Two-Sided)
The Core Rules
2 Warbands of 8 and 9 models each (along with the cards needed to play them)
6 of each Chaotic Beasts (Raptoryxs and Furies and their respective cards)
7 Sprues of Terrain
Dice
Combat Markers and Tokens
A 12 Inch Ruler (See through and Made for Warcry)
Battleplan Cards
and Plastic Baggies to hold it all in

Is it worth it?

Yes. If you have someone to split it with it is easily a must buy. Otherwise you should try to get it off Amazon for almost $40 cheaper (as of time of writing this. I have an Affiliate link on my Home page). Even at full price I would say it is worth it. The 2 warbands can be used as Slaves to Darkness and the terrain, as always, is usable anywhere you would like. In my opinion GW knocked it out of the park with this box and if you have the chance play a demo and grab it up.

Worth!

Warhammer AoS App Review

For my first review I’ll be going through the pros and cons of the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar mobile app.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
Free
Available on both Android and Iphone
Has a warscroll builder built in (requires a subscription though)
Has a My Army tab that lets you easily keep track of which units you have and what they do
Relatively easy to use
Cons:
Warscroll Builder (Azyr) requires a $.99 monthly subscription.
The library of books doesn’t take into consideration any physical copies you own
Can have bugs that give you incorrect information
May take a little longer than it should to update unit and army information.

Pros

Free: The app is entirely free to use. You get info and warscrolls for every unit in the game including Forge World models. You can see the points through a relatively convuluted series of actions but it is still free. A few (mostly outdated) books are also included for free. Overall you can use the app for it’s intended purpose entirely free of charge. This is a huge pro.

Available on both Android and Iphone: No one gets screwed over here. This means everyone can see the same information at all times. Personally I like to put my opponents units into my army just so I can quickly and easily double check rules without having to take his or her phone. Pretty simple and straightforward pro that is also big.

Built In Warscroll Builder (Azyr): Azyr is a paid subscription Warscroll Builder that costs you .99 cents a month. It allows you to choose a few different options while putting together an army and build a list of units. It automates a few things like which units you can take depending on your allegiance, who your allies are and what the composition of your army is allowed to be. This is especially good for Meeting Engagements since the rules can be a little confusing. While it is a paid subscription it does give (in my opinion) plenty of bang for your buck. I find it lots of fun to screw around creating new lists whenever I’m bored . As you can see I have plenty of lists already! Even though it is paid I think this is a big pro for ease of use and quality of life.

My Battle Tab: The main function of the app is to find the units you are bringing and place them into the My Army tab. This is done very easily with 2 button presses and then they can all be accessed from 1 tab instead of having to search through every unit in the game. There is also a button on the Azyr section that lets you add an entire army to your My Army tab. I find this to be extremely intuitive and easy to use as it should be. Again this is the main function of the app so I’m not rating it based on that but on how simple it is but also how much information is given to you as well. So this is a win for the app for sure.

Ease of Use: As I touched upon in the previous points this app is extremely easy to use and intuitive. The main page in the Warscrolls Tab which is alphebetized. You can either scroll through all the units and battalions of each army or use the search function. I will say the search function can be a little picky but overall it works well. There is even an option to hide the battalions which is helpful for smaller games that might not be able to include them. In addition you can select specific Grand Allegiances or specific Armies to look at. The Library tab is simple and just keeps a digital copy of any books you download for free or (the majority) you pay for. Again very easy to use. Azyr is wonderful with only a few hiccups but as of ease of use it is simple through and through. The My Army tab is just pictures of your units which all it takes is a single tap to bring up their war scroll. Finally the last tab is the Core Rules which is a simple PDF document that is similar to the printed version of the basic core rules.

Cons

Azyr Costs Money: While I am listing this as con I definitely think it is worth the money. If you do not you have another (free) option which is the Warscroll Builder on Games Workshops main site. It functions slightly differently and in my way is not as easy to use or intuitive. You also have less control over it when you bring it to a game since you have to print out your army list but it is a simple and free way to get a condensed list of units in your army and whether or not it is legal.

Cannot Add Physical Copies to Digital Library: This is the most frustrating thing about this app. I personally love owning physical books. Being able to flip through them whenever I want is just a thing I really enjoy. What is annoying is that there is no way to say “Hey! GW! I already own this book let me use the things inside it on your app!” So anything like battleplans, artifacts, command traits, spells, etc. that are in a book that isn’t free on the app you can’t easily reference using the app. Honestly this isn’t a deal breaker by any means and really only affects you if you love collecting the physical books. If you are fine with digital and especially if you are just starting out and haven’t bought much or anything yet this won’t even impact you.

Bugs / Misinformation: I have run into a few of these myself but all it takes is talking to people at the game store or posting online to find an answer. My personal run in was while I was creating a Meeting Engagement list for my Beastclaw Raiders. I was trying to bring in a group of 4 Mournfangs in my Main Body Battleline but the app tells me this is illegal. When I reread the rules it clearly states that any battleline unit brought in with the Main Body can have up to double it’s minimum unit size. I posted on reddit asking if I was wrong or if the app was and long story short the app is incorrect. This is probably the biggest con but the bugs are so few and far between it isn’t going to kill the app or it’s usefulness.

Weird Update Timing: I personally haven’t run into this but I have heard of things being updated either too slow or even too fast. That seems like it isn’t a big deal but if the actual books haven’t been released yet your opponent might not be too happy with you using brand new rules. Overall I don’t think this is a huge deal but it is worth mentioning.

Comes with a Free Digital PDF of the Core Rules which are in their own Separate Tab

Good or Bad?

In my humble opinion I think the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar App is entirely good. I would give it 4 stars out of 5 (I don’t do partial stars). The occasional bug or misinformation is so minor and easily remedied that you it won’t really affect your use while the library issue is annoying but honestly I haven’t been too inconvenienced by it. Overall I would say definitely download and use this app if you play Age of Sigmar and I would even go so far as to say buy an Azyr subscription as well. With that I will conclude my first Review and wish everyone reading a great day and many future conquests in the Mortal Realms!

GOOD!