Confrontation-Alchemist of Dirz (Grunts and Beasts)

The Alchemist of Dirz are my favorite army that Rackham put out. There is something about the way the minis look that I just love. They are the army I have played the most, the one I enjoy the most, and of course the one I have the most miniatures for. Of course since it is the one I have the most for it is gonna take two parts to do them all justice. Having said that lets start with the troopers and beasts and then later I will look at the characters, mages, and monks. I also want to apologize there are a couple of pictures that did not come out that well and I will fix them later if I get a chance.

Clone of Dirz

Clone of Dirz

 The Clone of Dirz models were the first blisters of models that I got with multiple weapon options for Confrontation. Up to this point all the blisters that were released were made to be built one way. These models were also some of the newer model for this faction and represented a slight change in style for the army.
 

Dirz Crossbowman

Dirz Crossbowman

The story with the Driz Crossbowman models lies not with the models themselves but with what they have accomplished in my many games with them. They tend to be the superhero of the army at the most unusual of times. While they always do okay in normal situations, it is when the games turn the most sour that they tend to be responsible for heroic measures. The death shot from across the table or the well place knife in hth to make the kill that made absolutely no difference in the game. That is what I get outta these models. In particular the one kneeling is the most shifty.
 

Dirz Halbardiers

Dirz Halbardiers

The Dirz Halbardiers represent the initial Dirz basic trooper. Most of the original factions have them. They look good but they have an obvious difference from the rest of the line. If you look at them versus some of the rest of the line you can see a progression as the company matured and they really started to explore what they could do with miniatures.

Dirz Hybrid

Dirz Hybrid

 Dirz Hybrids were release initially in Hybrid board game. They are some of my favorite sculpts in the range.

Dawn Warriors

Dawn Warriors

 Here are some of my more favorite models in the army. I guess we may hear that a few times with this faction. Seeing how they are my preferred faction based on models more than anything else.

Dasyatis Clone

Dasyatis Clone

 The Dasyatis Clone was the centerpiece of my army for quite a long time. This model is the largest of the painted models I have for this army. Its hard to tell from the picture but this model is big. The base he is on is a 50mm base so two times a normal base, and he is at least 2x taller than most of the models in this army.

Dasyatis Clone

Dasyatis Clone

 In addition to being the center piece visually it did a lot of the heavy lifting for a long time. That changed a bit when the game switched from version 2.0 to 3.0. Less because he became less effective, but more because the new rules changed the way I played the army and he was a casualty of that change. 

Centarus Clone

Centaurus Clone

 The Centaurus Clone is one of those models that I initially did not use in my army. It was initially just a model that I felt like painting and then in one of our Confrontation flirts I started using it. 

Dirz Tiger

Dirz tiger

This is one of those I talked about earlier with the less than stellar photo. I learned a valuable lesson when I was painting the Dirz Tiger. Be sure to clean all the mold lines before painting. Unfortunately for me, it was the crown portion on the back of the head and it was painted almost last. At that point in the mini I did not want to damage the work I had already done and I was not willing to go back and fix it.

Ira Tenebrae

Ira Tenebrae

The Ira Tenebrae are not really part of the Dirz faction but I use them A LOT when I play the army. They are models that are summoned during the game, and many armies can use them. I included them because I use them with my Dirz.

Well this is the first Dirz post and in the next post I will show you the Characters, Mages, Monks and a couple other specials.