Scrubbing, Soaking, and Speed-Assembling an Angels of Death Kill Team
We always love that particular kind of hobby panic: a game next week, a tournament on Saturday, and a team that still exists somewhere between second-hand rescue project and half-built reinforcements. This time, end3r threw himself into getting an Angels of Death squad ready, and the whole process had exactly the right mix of determination, improvisation, and mild suffering.
It started with the original AoD models getting their second serious scrub. After another round of soaking and cleaning, they finally began to show the blue plastic underneath, which is always one of those deeply satisfying hobby moments — proof that the battle against old paint is actually being won.
At the same time, quick promo purchases joined the roster: a Grenadier and two Assault marines, bought and assembled in a hurry to help fill out the team.
At that stage, the missing pieces were still the Gunner and Intercessor. The backup plan was already in place, though: if the right plastic didn’t turn up in time, they would simply deploy as painted stand-ins from the Salamanders infantry box. Honestly, that is exactly the kind of practical hobby solution we respect.
And of course, because the hobby gods enjoy drama, there were already two games booked for the following week and a tournament on Saturday. No pressure.
A few days later, the first batch of AoD operatives had reached what we would absolutely describe as the most useful hobby standard in the world: good enough. After several days of soaking, scrubbing, and generally taking the models apart as much as possible, the cleanup had clearly paid off.
The second batch had already started soaking too, with hopes for primer and maybe even some green before the first match. That part of the plan feels very familiar to us: first aim for “assembled,” then “clean,” then “primed,” and suddenly we’re dreaming about a fully coherent paint scheme.
There was also a nice little bit of practical hobby wisdom in the middle of all this. When Michał asked whether the scrubbing had been especially intense, end3r’s answer was basically: not really — the real trick was repeated soaking and brushing every 24 hours, plus breaking the models down into smaller parts wherever possible. Trying to do it all in one go after several days would have been much harder.
That’s the kind of lesson we always appreciate: sometimes brute force is less effective than just being annoyingly persistent.
There was one more aesthetic decision to solve too. If no suitable bits turned up, the captain was going to need a helmeted head swap, because he was the only one showing a bare face apart from the sniper — and the sniper’s options were basically “face” or “face in a hood.” The goal was clear: everyone in helmets. We completely understand the urge to keep a squad visually consistent, especially in a force like Salamanders where a unified look really helps sell the team.
By the end of the week-long soak-and-scrub campaign, the verdict was simple: this was as clean as they were going to get.
And just as importantly, the support crew was finally together as well.
Well — nearly complete. Backpacks were still due for pickup on Wednesday, and the captain’s helmeted head was expected on Tuesday. So not quite 100%, but close enough that we can already feel the finish line.
Also, we have to agree with the final verdict from the workbench: this was a lot of messing around for something that really could have just been sold complete in the box from the start. But then again, that is also a very Warhammer sentence.
Bonus points go to the Warriors from Armageddon appearing before the official release — a nice little extra bit of hobby timing in the middle of the rush.
This whole project is one of those very relatable hobby stories: rescuing old models, scrambling for missing specialists, hunting bits for the one head option that doesn’t fit the plan, and trying to get everything tabletop-ready just in time. We’re rooting hard for this squad to make it to the table looking properly Salamander-green.
And honestly, even before paint, there’s already something deeply satisfying about seeing a team claw its way back from old paint, partial components, and deadline panic into something playable.