Sky Serpent's Road to WCW 2025, Part 1

Hi all, welcome to Sky Serpent’s Road to the World Championships of Warhammer! In this series of articles I am going to take you through my approach and process in getting ready for an event with the tournament in question the prestigious World Championships of Warhammer!

I’ve been playing Warhammer 40,000 for almost three decades and Dark Eldar were my first army and became the force that I focussed on. I love all elements of the hobby, from the gaming to the painting and kitbashing through to the lore and blogging, there is so much you can get from the hobby. Drukhari are perfect for this with their various subfactions meaning there is a wide variety of hobby projects and playstyles available. I set up The Dark City forum for the denizens who used to frequent it, the Realspace Raiders podcast which is still going strong and you can find my blog on Facebook and Instagram while I am a regular contributor to Goonhammer articles.

Army List and Approach

I’ve spent the last month feverishly writing army lists and building ideas for some time now, and there are so many difficult decisions with the kaleidoscope of Detachments available in the new Codex: Drukhari. I think they’re all phenomenal but I need to consider the playstyle that suits me best as well as my collection.

My Drukhari collection is large; I could likely field any army list possible, but not everything is painted to the standard that I would like it to be so I need to ensure that my army list is competitive but also painted to a level that I can be proud of at the World Championships; it’s worth noting that some of my favourite units that I have painted such as the Court of the Archon and Beastmaster won’t be making a trip outside of Commorragh any time soon.

Credit: Sky Serpent

With limited time to practice and good, recent success I decided that I would use the Reaper’s Wager Detachment. Although I will have to learn all of the various changes to my datasheets, I still have a lot of reps with the Grotmas Detachment and it also gives me an opportunity to showcase my Harlequin Troupe.

In one of my best gaming achievements, I recently made the Top Cut at LGT 2025; but even with the same Detachment, I don’t hold similar aspirations, as the calibre will be much higher while I still get to grips with the new Codex. I rarely have an aim of going X-X at an event; I just aim to do my best and enjoy the games and sometimes Vect smiles upon you!

Serpent's Wager - Click to Expand

Archon, Huskblade, Soul-Trap, Archraider

Drazhar

Lady Malys

Lelith Hesperax

Kabalite Warriors

Wyches

Raider

Venom

Venom

10 Hellions

5 Hellions

5 Incubi

5 Incubi

Mandrakes

Mandrakes

Reavers

Scourges (Dark Lances)

Scourges (Haywire Blasters)

Shadowseer, Webway Walker

12 Troupe

Glow-Ups & Hobby Projects

So now I know my army list I need to consider what I should spend my time working on. Let’s take a look at my various ideas and necessities.

Archon - Duke Sliscus; he will need rebasing from a 25mm to a 32mm.

Credit: Sky Serpent

Drazhar - Do I paint my new kitbash or touch up my old version?

Credit: Sky Serpent

Lady Malys and Lelith Hesperax - Both of these models are at the standard I would like them to be, but I’ll always aim to improve them too.

Kabalite Warriors - I’ll be choosing my favourite ten Warriors.

Wyches - This is perhaps my weakest painted unit and one that I want to improve by using some older kitbashes…

Credit: Sky Serpent

Raider and Venoms - I’d like to change up some of the gunners on these and touch up some of the details; both Venoms were painted in 2015!

Hellions - This datasheet was perhaps the most improved in the Codex and I love the models and the units that I have built up my own lore for. The False Nobility are a gang who take trophies from various members of Aeldari factions and I’ve added five new models. Only problem is I need to paint them!

Credit: Sky Serpent

Incubi - I need to finish the Cult of Arhra and touch up some of my older Incubi.

Mandrakes - These shadowy denizens are done done done!

Reavers - Do I work on the Corsair-inspired kitbashes that I recently made or use some of my older models?

Scourges - My Dark Lance Scourges need their guns finishing but they’re not far off.

Harlequins - Their diamond blurs need finishing and I always planned to add motley and freehand.

Credit: Sky Serpent

These are all ideas and questions that I need to ask myself but I’d love to know what you think too!

Displaying & Theme

Display Boards are becoming a regular staple of the UK tournament scene and as I understand it are a stalwart part in America but as I am flying to the event it is something that I won’t be able to take, let alone have the time to make.

My army has had the indignity of displaying on snow boards, scratched pinewood tables and much worse so I want to frame my army in my own way so I am looking at either using a mat or perhaps one of the Kill Team boards.

I am also looking at theming for my army and as my bases are always intended to be that for a death world, I am going to look to bring some of my existing terrain to dress the army.

Credit: Sky Serpent

I’d love to know your thoughts on what you would do to make your army stand out more without using a display board!

Time Management, Planning & Priorities

If you follow my blog you’ll know that I always endeavour to improve my army through various glow ups; although my plans are always well intentioned, I often dream big, and right now I’ve left myself a week to execute these ideas so I need to plan my time the best I can!

Time Management is so important and something that everyone has to deal with in their day to day life whether they realise it or not and I’m no different. I like to plan with lists, a bit like we did above but I’ll also look at using Gantt charts to plan my projects and I’ll be allocating days to certain units but if I’m painting orange, I’ll paint it on everything at once.

Family and work come before the hobby but there are other distractions to be wary of… Amazon lost my Ghost of Yōtei which I took as a good omen, Mount Fay makes me want to hurl my controller at the wall while playing Silksong and I had to delete Balatro. Again. I’ve had to stop playing video games so as to focus all my spare and leisure time onto the hobby and getting ready for WCW.

Logistics

The final part, which I will be addressing in the next update, is how I fly with my army. I’ve been to No Retreat in Gibraltar several times with my army and I pack it tightly in my carry on using foam to keep it in place. I use WarMag now with magnetic sheets and I want to use these system while I am at the event so I will likely still pack this out with foam.

When the army is packed I will be sure to take you some photos of how I did it. Logistically speaking, I need to make sure I pack everything I need and make sure no Drukhari are left at home!

I’ll be back again soon just before I fly with a new update!

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