Blogs
Featured Entries
-
AdMech Patrol #2 - Progress report
By Bouargh
Blog entries pass and sometimes look like very similar to some previous ones. It is one of the issues when dealing with army building on base of multiples buy outs of the same Patrol Box... Yet we might eventually expect some variation if the models are fitted in different fashion, ain´t we? The Onagre DuneCrawler as already been spoiled in the FOrums, but it has been the major progress of the past week so I will "proudly" republish it there. It is also an unhonorable wa- 1 comment
- 230 views
-
Dakota Minor Defence Corps (PDF)
By Mike Zulu
Introduction Like many established Imperium worlds, Dakota Minor has a planetary defence force simply known the Dakota Minor Defence Corps (or DMDC). Most of its number are conscripted from the local population; a small number of citizens willingly join to escape the tedium of farm life that is prevalent on Dakota Minor. The DMDC is organised in a manner similar to Astra Militarum regiments, albeit more limited in their makeup. For the most part, it consists of dozens of infantry battalions- 0 comments
- 351 views
Our community blogs
-
- 70
entries - 27
comments - 6727
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Allied Freeblade - Part 3
Hi Folks,
Asmall update as a third installment of this WIP series of posts.
The upper part of the Styrix is now close to completion. Paultrons have been painted and I only have left their mounting into place, or rather their glueing as they can be fairly easily be mounted "dry".
The wepons, carapace... are alredy assemblied and fixed.
I planned getting this torso unglued to the legs, in order to get transport easier, but it will not happen: the mini is too heavy to set in place without superglue.
I am starting thinking about more details through decals. I have some extensive amount of decals and I will rpobably get enough to personalize at a sufficient level, yet both paultrons and armoured legs of this model have "unusual" dimensions that makes that most decals are too big to fit. And I do not want to go free hand. I do not have the minimun required talent for that.
It might be the moment to try printing my own decals finally. I have all the material for 2 or 3 years, just waiting for an opportunity...
While I am thinking about it, here are some pics:
The big boy´s upper torso in dangerous position...
Detail of the bended power cable - my wife´s hair dryer proved to be a very valuable tool to recover the proper bending angle.
Another close up of the knight´s front view
More to come soon, with lower part maybe?
Cheers.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 70
-
- 3
entries - 1
comment - 661
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Abaddon update and guilliman started
Time to get back to the big chap!
Finishing off the various skulls on his trophy rack and the couple hanging from his waist (not pictured), but mainly finishing off his right pauldron with the massive eye!All that's left to do is:
1. finish off a his various 'metal' skulls such as on the talons and left pauldron
2. finish the helmet and decomposing head to complete the trophy rack
3. Paint his topknot and reattach to head
4. Paint and reattach the ammo feeder to the talon
5. Various details.
6. Do something with drach'nyen as I'm not happy with how it looks just now.
That should be him finished after that!
Next up, is little Roboute Guilliman:
He's started, and I thought I'd try the good old Leadbelcher base, nuln oiled and drybrushed with runefang steel.
Then contrast paints for the 'gold' (Iyanden Yellow) and blue (Akhelian Green). That's as far as I've gotten so far.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 3
-
- 60
entries - 27
comments - 14507
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
The Silent Sisterhood
So the remodel is in progress but going very well but unfortunately due to crazy Arizona weather, fiancé and some of the kids being sick last weekend it is hitting me finally. Tired, sick, and sore not a good combo, I am trying to fight through it all.
While moving stuff around in preparation of the remodel, I was putting box kits on the shelves and putting my unboxed Redemptionist and Sisters of Silence in the rolling cart with other stuff. I being debating what I want as my allies for Horus Heresy Raven Guard. Solar Auxilia didn't seem right, I was thinking Space Wolves but that was more marines I would have to build and buy. Then looking at the sprues of Sisters of Silence and was like why not, Sisters of Silence. I need to sit down and see what I have, what I need. Know I am going to be using Sister Novitiate Weapons to count as Power Fist and Whips. Eventually I will convert/ build beasts for a Pursuer Cadre and nemesis bolters for the Sanctioner Cadre. I do want a big unit Raptora Cadre around my Knight Abyssal and a big Squad of Oblivion Knights both in Kharon Pattern Acquistors. I do plan on running base two Prosecutor Cadres maybe a third one with twin bolt pistols.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 60
-
So a week ago I got asked to make a coaster set, and the only thing it said, was orks. So, I made it as orky as I could.
These are 4" slate coasters, featuring the bad moons, evil sunz, blood axes, kult of speed, goffs, and the standard ork faction symbol.
I'm quite pleased with how these turned out, hopefully some ork players can swing by and give some feedback on how I did.
and if you want a set for yourself, click here : tomcatlasercreations.etsy.com and remember to use discount code BOLTERANDCHAINSWORD for 10% off
Thanks!
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 3
entries - 2
comments - 1995
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Hero-Stand Display Plinths [KICKSTARTER]
Hero-Stand Display Plinths are customisable monuments designed to showcase your prized miniatures in all their glory.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/iMegcVsWuvo[/youtube]
These versatile, 3D printable plinths introduce a modular system that allows you to create captivating displays tailored to your needs.
Whether you're a proud hobbyist, display painter, miniature collector or just want to create impressive dioramas, these plinths provide the perfect stage to bring your characters to life.
Join the pre-launch today at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/saucermenstudios/hero-stand-display-plinths
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 3
-
- 9
entries - 7
comments - 4101
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
.....Ever Onwards
I've been a bit lax in keeping up with updates lately , so this one will be a bit of a catch-up.
Recently finished are my two squads of striking scorpions from the Kill Team: Salvation box set:
I have also made a fair bit of progress on the other half of the box set, the scouts, along with a gladiator lancer, my kit-bashed Phobos Librarian and a 3d printed Eradicator with multi-melta as this was not an option for the easy build squad I have. I have got most of the base colours down as well as the decals on, which have been sealed with some matt varnish. The Maxx Matt varnish from green stuff world is great through an airbrush, making the decals nice and flat.
Next up, I liked the idea of doing a custom Tau Stealth Kill Team, so I purchased the STLs for the Ghost Shrimp models from Pipermakes which have a cool cloaking effect on some of the parts. I used translucent resin to try and give the cloaking effect a partially see trough appearance. I did a couple of tests on spare parts, with the idea being to use liquid mask to mask off these areas of the model and then just use a blue contrast paint into the bare resin with white edge highlight to achieve the effect I want on these areas. I'm quite happy with the test results, hopefully this will look good on the finished models. I also added a couple of spare plastic bits to one of the model to differentiate the leader from the rest of the squad.
Alongside these I also have the contents of the Kroot hunting pack box set and a Terminator captain, assembled and primed, ready for painting joining the rest of my painting backlog .
That's all for now, hopefully have another update shortly.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 9
-
- 23
entries - 1
comment - 7414
views
Recent Entries
[Ref. Captain Malphas of the 3rd Company, Angels Apocryphal, Patron of Klan Dunmael, Lords of Blackholme]
By the third moon of the Boethean Strand, and the dark temples therein, you will burn this day.
~To Crulliorre Vehnuym, Arch-Heirophant of the Unmade, during The Rivening- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 23
-
- 27
entries - 6
comments - 42270
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Militia Baneblade
I am slowly working my way through a baneblade for the militia:
There are plenty of gaps to be filled on this but nothing a little greenstuff won't handle. The downside of this being an older kit is that the parts don't fit as snugly as they would on newer kit.
- 27
-
- 15
entries - 5
comments - 1237
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Lord Solar in a Weekend: Bringing the Hobby Back
Lord Solar: Yes, I know. It's been done. We've all seen 100's of conversions of Lord Solar. Leave me alone. I felt the hobby inspiration. I had to go with it.Construction - building off of my previous display boards.Base: went to mdf round 80mm base. This is no time for the slanted standard GW base.Shape: two half circles of cork, with styrene wrapped around the half-circle shape. The MDF base allowed me to glue the styrene to the flat edge. No water effects this time... but we could have. on top of the cork I added apoxy sculpt to shape a bit of a hill for a good pose. In hindsight i ought to have spent more time on the pose to get a great angle overall.Wood: Styrene strips. Razor saw, x-acto knife & 220 grit sandpaper for wood grain texture. UMM-USA punch for nails. My favorite tool. The best tool. Come at me. I'll die on this hill.Sandbags: could have tried harder. Apoxy sculpt 2-part mixed for 5 minutes, rolled into log, then the roll is sliced into small sections with x-acto knife. Press each section with finger to form sandbag - use cloth to make texture. I should experiment more with getting a more exact shape. Still, apoxy sculpt is a cost-effective method.Corrugated metal: heavy tin foil costs a tenth of the foil/hobby pewter sheet via greenstuff world or wherever. I did spend some more time on this adding a lower wooden section to the walls but I was too impatient. I should have went with a much larger wood plank along the bottom. It looks too close to the floor boards.Razor Wire: I rushed it a bit without a clear plan - just wanting to get it done this weekend. I don't use the twisted wire. I see now there are 3d printers making interesting small scale barbed wire for basing. Here I'm adding rows of it. I use Royal models 1/35 barbed wire brass etch. Like real barbed wire it is a problem to work with.
Conversion: The replacement head is Reptilian Overlords (i think) off of an etsy printer. I use the green stuff roller to make the mouth/breather tubing. On the back is a backpack from Tiny legends 3d printed range.
Medic: old Krieg model with new kill team medic bits.
Stretcher & casualty: Tiny legends.
Painting: Got some color on it. Aging wood is always fun. Simply wiping off excess paint reveals the white styrene underneath creating a decent distressed effect. I had to play around a bit.Details: I really really wanted to add a nurgle rat from Cursed City, but ran out of space. A 1/35 panzer shell and a crate will have to do for detail bits. I'm ok with the light and wire, but it seems like it could have been more.Mud: With dry dirt I have little trouble adding various browns. In fact I figured out how to add oil stains and all sorts of color variation on the last display board. But... Wet mud is somehow very hard for me. Basically I'm just slopping on Vallejo Russian Mud. It works I guess...
Painting: I got the paint blocked in. This is the part where not rushing the early stages and getting it right matters. I'm too impatient though - Forward! I find that painting white or cream is easy on the airbrush, but awful on a simple paint brush.Grass: i tried some grass tufts. The uniformity of height was a real turn off. I've still got some scale 75 natural fibers. Using that makes a much more realistic dead plant, at the mere cost of my sanity in trying to get the super glue to fix them correctly.
Can't wait for some 'try-hard' to argue with me about modelling to advantage at a tournament. Time to get 2 more DORNS painted. Then we ride.
- 15
-
Latest Entry
Zahhak - Tyranid Splinter Fleet (927M41)
Introduction
Splinter fleet Zahhak was part of a much larger Tyranid hive fleet that entered the galaxy from below the galactic plane, which would be designated Leviathan in 997M41. Zahhak first entered the Matteus Subsector in 927M41 and struck the various worlds within, focusing on the worlds within the Matteus Epsilon system. However, the relatively remote location and the resilience of the native flora prevented the Splinter Fleet from breaking out into the neighbouring subsectors and the greater Segmentum. Combined with a timely Imperial response to the Tyranid incursion, Splinter Fleet Zahhak was crushed after several months, reduced it to nothing more than a seasonal pest for the two Imperial worlds.
A Tyranid swarm charges the Imperial defences on Barbed Gate.
Splinter Fleet Zahhak’s appearance, galactic movements and strategic behaviour was very similar to Leviathan, which was the reasoning for being later designated as the same Hive Fleet in 999M41. What distinguished Zahhak from the bulk of Leviathan was inception into the galaxy seventy years ahead of the rest of Leviathan. Additionally, many bioforms were identified in Zahhak that had not been recorded in the First Tyrannic War, and most have not been seen since. It is theorised by members of the Ordo Xenos and other Imperial biologists that this splinter fleet was more experimental than its bulk, and was assessing potential attack vectors before committing itself to a wide-scale invasion through the galactic plane.
Unique bioforms that have been sighted among Zahhak’s forces; some of which have yet to be sighted in other Hive Fleets.
Sometime after the galactic invasion of Hive Fleet Leviathan in 997M41, Splinter Fleet Zahhak would be re-designated as Hive Fleet Leviathan Splinter “34-Omicron”, and remembered by the Imperium as a lesser conflict with the Tyranid species. Some of the bioforms unique to Zahhak would reemerge in Leviathan and other hive fleets, albeit with variations and improvements.
A Tyranid Mawloc (above) and a Hive Crone (below), of Splinter Fleet Zahhak. Both bear similar markings to Hive Fleet Leviathan.
The Invasion of the Matteus Epsilon System
Hive Fleet Zahhak made planetfall on the two Imperial civilised worlds of Black Jewel and Barbed Gate in the Matteus Epsilon system, in 927M41. The alarm was raised by Inquisitor Malethann of the Ordo Xenos, thanks to the efforts of Kill Team Rapier on the outer reaches of the system. They confirmed the presence of a Tyranid hive fleet en route to Barbed Gate from below the star system plane.
The sudden incursion of Tyranids so far from the Eastern Fringe (the locale of what would be known as the First Tyrannic War) prompted a drastic response from Battlefleet Agripinaa and the local Astra Militarum regiments. A Black Templars crusade fleet that had been using Matteus Epsilon as a refueling and rearming station also heeded the call and declared the beginning of the "Barbed Gate Crusade". Finally, Kill Team Rapier and members of the Ordo Xenos were involved for the more complex assignments, namely assassinations and recovery of key Tyranid alphas and synapse creatures.
A Black Templars strike force engages Zahhak in a spearhead assault, in the wildlands of Barbed Gate.The Tyranid splinter fleet quickly found itself in a ruthless conflict with not only the human defenders, but also the hardy and protruding flora of Barbed Gate and Black Jewel, for which even the ravenous xenos were under-prepared to consume. These difficulties saw Zahhak easily divided and cut off from the bulk of their hive species, making them easy prey for the Imperial forces. The effective culling of the various synapse creatures and leaders, thanks to the efforts of Kill Team Rapier, also saw the efficacy of the splinter fleet's strategies and tactics significantly weaken over time. Eventually, after several months, the splinter fleet had found itself disconnected from the Hive Mind; the Tyranids bioforms of Zahhak reverted to their base instincts, and took refuge in the barbed foliage native to Barbed Gate and Black Jewel. They ceased to be a true threat to the Imperium, reduced to nothing more than a season pest to the human controlled worlds.
But with the ever increasing number of Tyranid hive fleets entering the galaxy in the decades to come, it is likely a question of when, not if, the remnants of Splinter Fleet Zahhak will rejoin the Hive Mind...
The Tyranid Prime known as the the “Caustic Menace”, is ambushed by Kill Team Rapier within the protruding flora native to Barbed Gate. -
- 8
entries - 7
comments - 1500
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Tackling my T’au - Stormsurge Part 6
Basically a photo gallery of the finished model.
The armour panels had a final edge highlight of Skarsnik Green, while the gold areas were highlighted first with liberator gold and then mithril silver (very old Citadel pot). Red areas are highlighted with Evil Sunz Scarlet and then Fire Dragon Bright.In case anyone is interested, the smoke coming from the Leman Russ is an old trick of mine, harking back to my teens when my mum used to make teddy bears. The smoke is actually teddy bear stuffing! I still have a bunch of this stuff in my hobby box and it traditionally gets used during games to mark where a tank has been wrecked but not exploded.
The stuffing works well as smoke because it is a bit more coarse than cotton wool so it holds its shape better. I fixed it in place with PVA glue and brushed a bit of Abbadon Black onto it with a large brush to create some of the oily smoke effect.
Hope you like it!
Lots more images in the album: - 8
-
Latest Entry
Ky'Vash Recon Cadre - Stealth Battlesuit Team
KY'VASH RECON CADRE
STEALTH BATTLESUIT TEAM
Stealth Battlesuit Team 01 - Shas'ui in XV25 Stealth Battlesuits with Burst Cannons, led by Shas'vre in XV25 Stealth Battlesuit with Fusion Blaster.
Considered the natural progression for those Fire Caste warriors who serve as Pathfinders, elevation to the rank of Shas'ui allows - and, in fact, demands - training as a Stealth Battlesuit pilot. The XV25, only recently having made it to Ky'Vash alongside other more 'modern' battlesuit designs, is a point of minor consternation to those within the Recon Cadre. Traditionalists within the Ky'Vash Fire Caste consider the bulky, and situationally less flexible nature of the XV25 as compared to the previously favoured XV15 an inferior asset, though such opinions have begun to fade as the suit has proven itself compatible with the broader strategy of the Recon Cadre.
While the XV25 has a highly effective stealth system, thus the designation, it retains the camouflage coating of all members of the Recon Cadre as a backup in the event of system failure.
-
They're just adorable chunky, aren't they? I quite like the old XV15's, but ultimately could not manage a printed/recast version of them that would work for me. Oh well. XV25 are fun, too, and they're VERY quick to paint! Possibly a bit too quick, that drybrushing is a bit dire. In my defence, I've basically run out of my grey, and went for completion rather than slow, steady progression so I wasn't left with anything un-brushed before I get a chance to go buy another pot.
Probably back to space marines next, before I get back to the Tau for, depending on many things, either some fire warriors, fireblade, or Ghostkeel.
-
- 4
entries - 8
comments - 7418
views
Recent Entries
Soooooo........Solar Auxilia..........
Mistakes were made.
"No I don't need any Solar Auxilia. You never painted the 20 resin ones you had and sold 2 years ago."
"They are lovely though. And all being plastic makes it much more affordable(ish)."
"I don't need another army. There's barely a 30K scene left near me these days. Multiple armies for it are overkill."
"Allied detachments are a thing......Cthonian Headhunters are a thing......"
And so 2 Solar Auxilia battle groups arrived in quick succession and grew my pile of shame by a volume I could hope to match with my output. The shame is real. But my word are they very lovely models and turns a force that was previously a financial pipe dream into something vaguely attainable. Hopefully the first models should be painted in April, but let's see.
Anyway, what did I paint this month? Well March's output was a good jump up from February's and covered 3 factions from 2 systems.
First up I finished the last 2 models that will form my 1000 credit Necromunda Orlock gang. An Arc Hammer Arms Master and a Wrecker with a chainsword seemed like a fun way to round out the team. I've really enjoyed painting this Orlock gang up and I can definitely credit them for my improved painting output this year. Holding off on building more until I get some games in and work out how I want to expand the gang, but I may have picked up a box of Ambots in anticipation......
Next up, it was time to tackle something bigger. My Norn Emissary has sat in blu-tacked together, primed sub-assemblies for months. It was finally time to give it the lick of paint it deserved. It's a gorgeous sculpt although not as big as the pre-launch pictures seemed to imply. The big brain gave me a bit of decision paralysis for a bit while I worked out the best colour to paint it. I nearly went orange, but I feel I've painted a lot of things in that spectrum of late and so plumped for some Tesseract Glow. A paint that does not like to be left unused for a long time. Multiple metal mixing balls and liberal use of a massage gun was needed to turn it back into something approaching usable, but I'm happy with the outcome. It also sets the direction for the Zoanthropes and Maleceptor that are slowly moving to the top of my painting list.
The Norn is a big model, but it still only counts as 1 model on The Spreadsheet. I therefore decided that a) volume was needed next, and b) she needed some buddies. Enter 10 termagants to form an honour guard. In true horde painting fashion, these little fellas have a step or 2 skipped from the big monsters' scheme - they are, after all, there to simply soak up bullets. However I'm happy with how they look on mass. This makes 30 termagants that I've painted now. How people get through 100s of them I'll never know. There's a limit to my horde painting abilities.
I'm (much) less happy with the outcome of the next models I painted. 5 jazz hands Electro Priests for my growing Ad Mech army. I got these to a point where I was about 80% happy with them. I felt they looked decent, but were just missing a splash of something. So I decided to add the blue glow that I'd been using on all my arc guns to the nodes (?) on their hands and head. My skill did not match the vision sadly and now I'm not too keen on them at all. To my eyes, it's too much blue now and the nice effect I'd got on the skin has been ruined and overwhelmed. They'll stay as they are for now, but I had plans to expand the unit to 10 at some point. Will need to decide if I get over it and paint the rest to match, or try and do a rescue job on these - and risk messing them up further. A problem for future Doobles, but a problem nonetheless.
Happily though I feel I can end on a high. After the frustration of the Electro Priests I turned to some Infiltrators. These I am much happier with. They took my quick and dirty scheme really well and I really like the models. Apart from that common Ad Mech issue of easily broken protruding gubbins. These cheered me up no end to round out the month and mean I'm still keen to keep painting Ad Mech.
So where does that leave us?
In a less than ideal position if I'm frank. The flow of new models in doesn't seem to be slowing. Which is obviously entirely down to my own weakness. This is something that I need to address in the next months as I'm consistently making my life harder than I should be. I've also stalled on clearing out unused projects which I aim to restart in April and May. The Elder are next to Fall (lol) and then comes a decision on my Sisters of Battle. I've not been able to settle on a paint scheme which excites me which is starting to make me think that it's the army itself that doesn't excite me. Internal wrangling will commence soon.
The hard numbers:
Models IN: 60 (ouch)
Models OUT: 23
FEB TOTAL: +37
YTD TOAL: +7
Yeah that's.....not good. Stupid sexy Solar Auxilia.
- 4
-
- 7
entries - 3
comments - 2882
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Snakes of Ithaka's return to the Phratry
The Iron Snakes
The Iron SnakesFear not the snake for his guile, nor his silence.
Fear him for his speed at striking,
The clenching strength of his coils,
The armour of his scales,
And the sharpness of his bite.
Fear the snake, oh enemies of man,
For his coils encircle us
And his bright eyes, unblinking,
Watch over us forever.
From The Lays of Proud Ithaka.
Time to start anew. It has been almost a year since I posted anything here., my small Ultramarines project that I started a previous thread for fizzled due to real life issues and hobby burn out, so I decided to take some time away and got stuck into a solo Gloomhaven campaign instead.
Over Christmas while I was off work I sat down and re-read brothers of the snake quickly followed by the 2 Urdesh novels and found the itch to dig my Iron Snakes back out.
Usually with hobby projects I rush into them with lots of enthusiasm but without too much thought into how to put my idea's into reality and this leads to a scattergun approach which usually leads to me to spending plenty of characters converted and painted but nothing much else, so this time I have sat down and made a plan of sorts. With the Urdesh novels fresh in my mind I plan to make the squads/characters from that novel first:
- Damocles Squad - using the sternguard kit as a base
- Kalliopi Squad - using the jump pack assault intercessors as a base
- Erasmos Squad - using the assault intercessor kit as a base
- Platonos Squad - using the intercessor kit as a base
- Captain Priad - using dark angels master lazarus as a base.
- Pyrakmon - techmarine kit
- Hamiskora - librarian kit
I have sat down and painted a couple of test models which I am happy with these use slightly different colours to my previous models the biggest being the golds and have also pick up some awesome new decals from Aquila Relics to use for this project .
Below is the test model that I painted up using the old company champion mini that I have laying around.
I have had a rummage through the pile of shame and collected a few bits together and have started kit bashing a 5 man squad that I'll get painted up before I set to work on the above models.
Thanks for looking, until next time.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 7
-
Latest Entry
A bit of reveal
I don't how else to say this but I guess I just wanted to come out. I hope this dosen't affect your perception of me. I am trans. (don't want to be lying to people with pronouns)
-
- 22
entries - 15
comments - 9077
views
Recent Entries
A quick visual battle report of a recent game where Legio Tempestus faed down th Evil Mordaxis.
Legio Tempestus
Corsair Maniple
Reaver - volcano, laser blaster, missile
Reaver - melta, gatling, volkite
Reaver - fist, chainfist, laser
Warlord - volvano, quake, missiles
Legio Mordaxis
Venator Maniple
Reaver - volcano, melta, lasers
Warhound - plasma, lasers
Warhound - plasma, lasers
Reaver - laser fist, missiles
Nemesis warbringer BVolcano, volcano, melta
We rolled diagonal deployment, and random missions I got hold the line (points for how far from my board edge they are, secondaries for killing) and they took kill (double scale in points for kills).
My as of yet unnamed Warlords second ever game. He's never died yet, so maybe unkillable? Or untargetable? "Neglecta Rege" is high gothic for 'Ignored King'? Either way, he sat on one side of the table and took pot shots at stuff all game.
My warlord spent the game on first fire orders as he had a decent field of view and the range to do so, and had 3 turns shooting into that impossible warhound trying to drop shields, who wound then emergency repair and somehow bring them back up as I chipped away damage. In turn 4, he finally killed the little blighter, and in turn 5 he shot back at the shield stripped venator reaver, nuking it.
Deployment - you can see my 3 reavers at the bottom, protected somewhat by the central buildings, and my warlord off image to the left.
My melee reaver shimmied sideways around the central buiildings to line up a charge on he nemesis titan and the other reaver. The silver reaver activated first and charged mine, getting within 2" to attack with the chainfist, doing some serious damage. To avenge this slight, i redirected my charge from the nemesis to the new reaver, and made contact, rolling poorly with the chainfist.
My opponent had the initiative and attacked first with the silver reaver, chainfisting my boy to death, who blew up dropping my opponent's voids.
The lone ordaxis reaver at the back then shot my meltacannon reaver, killing it. Passing my tempestus command check, I went down fighting and shot everything into the silver reaver...with it's shields dropped, the meltacannon bore a hole through the reactor and it went boom, the explosion damaging the legs on the mordaxis reaver that fired the initial shot.
In the end, I managed to take down everything but the nemesis, finally silencing the warhounds that plagued me, losing 2 reavers in return. My opponent gained 30pts for killing 2 reavers. I gained 20pts for hold the line as the nemesis was so far back, and killed 2 reavers and 2 hounds for 14pts, 34 in total. A narrow victory to tempestus - if my opponent had just moved the nemesis 6" forwards in his final turn, I'd have scored 5 less and he'd have won!
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 22
-
- 21
entries - 4
comments - 2253
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Painting the Rest of Leviathan...
Well, it's been a while since I blogged last...too long in fact. I was only supposed to have a short break while I finished my Bladeguard and Assault Intercessors (and Bladeguard Ancient, and Captain...). They didn't end up being done till late November time as other things piled up.
Here's how they turned out:
This led to me finally starting the Marine half of the Leviathan box (I think I said before I wanted it done before New Year...That didn't happen).
I started with my favourite Marine sculpts, the Terminators. While I may of saved the best till last with the tyranids, I wasn't following that trend with these. So seven models hit the table (Captain, Librarian, Terminator Squad):
and at some point I added the old Terminator Marneus Calgar finecast (I didn't know this when I bought it) model to this.
They got a coat of blue, and silver aaannnddd that was it for a month or so.
Flash forward to January (same time I revived my thread in the wip area) when I picked up the paintbrush again.
I tried something new for these which I had only done in trial cases before, and that was building up to white (and going further for the chest aquillas, up to gold). I worked through dark grey to light grey to white. With the helmets, I worked in as layers, leaving grey showing as shadows. It was a time consuming process but I liked the results.
The capes on the captain and Calgar I'm particularly proud of, more so than my primaris calgar.
I was grateful that the captain's base gave me an opportunity to do another tyranid...even if it was a dead one.
I also attempted my first free handing here, and clearly I need more practice.
The rest of the models turned out quite well, I also held back a little on the blue highlights, not sure if it was effective or not.
It was about this time I realised that Calgar's little shield wing was glued on by the previous owner the wrong way.
I didn't push myself on the Librarian as I should of but the GW standard paint scheme didn't appeal to me.
The Terminator Squad though, I'm quite happy with these guys, in fact I'm itching to get the multipart set now, just to have their various weapon options.
So, there was 25 models for the space marines in Leviathan, and I've done 7 models here. By my quick and dirty calculations, I've almost done a third.
This brings us to the next batch for this mini project:
Orto Cassius aside, it's another 7 models (one being the big boi of the Ballistus Dreadnought). Completing these will take me over the half way point. Let's see if I can get them done in under three months this time! People who follow my other thread will have an idea of where I am with these guys...
Till next time,
Keep hobbying!
ZeroWolf
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 21
-
- 2
entries - 1
comment - 333
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Warhammer 40k Kill Team QRC summaries
What's the problem?
Have you ever thought that relying too much on rule books and summaries makes it slow and cumbersome when playing Warhammer 40k Kill Team?
Above all when you're starting with a new Kill Team, it's hard to keep track of the different operatives' stats, all their ploys, equipment... And if you're sharing the same book with other people in the same game it makes all the experience really slow. You spend more time turning pages around than actually enjoying the game.
While there's some great aids around for printing data cards, if you have a very diverse squad you will end up with a lot of them, and if you change your weapon choices depending on the game you play, you'll need plenty of those. Furthermore, those are amazing for operatives, but they don't include any specific Kill Team ability or the Glossary with all the different weapon rules you will be using, needing to have specific documents laying around.
What's our solution?
The solution we came in is to create a summarized QRC that will fit in between 4 - 6 pages, so it can be printed or browsed directly as a PDF in a tablet or phone.
They show the Faction Archetypes, all the available options for each operative, as well as their main Stats and any special rule (Flying, Psychic...). They also include the Faction TacOps, as well as the special abilities, psychic powers and both Strategic and Tactical Ploys.
At the end of the documents you can find a whole Glossary with ALL the abilities and Special Rules that appear in the whole summary, so you can rely on those as your go-to reference during your games for that specific Faction.
How do I use them?
They're filed in PDF format and you can either print them and staple them (or any other choice) or browse them directly from your digital devices.
Where can I find them?
You can find the available ones in my page for free (or the prize you'd like to contribute with!)
If you'd like QRCs for some team, drop us a line and we'll work on it!
- 2
-
- 14
entries - 6
comments - 2211
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Testing, testing... (again)!
Even though I've still not finished the Marines I wanted to have done by the end of last year
I'm queuing up the next unit* I'll be painting - these Scouts:
*technically 2 units, one to go with my Boarding Patrol, the other for 'regular' 40k - but I'll also field them as a Kill Team
I've been thinking about how I want to paint them - specifically, their fatigues. I've had a few ideas to try - black, dark grey, khaki or military green, but I wanted to test which would go better with the grey armour of the Ashen Sentinels.
Someone at my local gaming group generously donated some Cadians to me so I could test these colour-scheme ideas; here's what I've done:
Starting right to left (to be different, or maybe awkward
) - while I think the green and khaki/tan do go alright with the Grey armour, I actually think they'd be better suited to Guard miniatures than the Space Marine Scouts. The other two are Black Legion contrast over white primer (left), and Basilicanum Grey contrast over the same grey that I paint the armour (followed with Nuln Oil wash) (second on left). I think the Black Legion doesn't leave enough lighter edges of the fatigues, whereas the Basilicanum Grey & Nuln oil do that much better; so that's the scheme I'll use - the armour is a lighter shade of grey so it contrasts well with the fatigues. Also, the darker fatigues is apt for sneaky, infiltrating Scouts, I feel 
So that's what I'll go for, when I am actually able to start painting the Scouts. But first, I need to finish those other Marines..!
- 14
-
- 4
entries - 31
comments - 787
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Do you remove mould lines?
I've been building my Orks from my new pile of shame and it's going a lot slower than I thought it would. It takes me probably 30 minutes per model just to scrape off all the mould lines!
When you think I've got nearly a hundred models to build (2 x 20 model units of Boyz was a bad place to start) it's going to take me a millennium before I'm ready to get them primed, painted and onto the tabletop.
As frustrating as it is, I think it's a lot better than the alternative. Mould lines left on models really stick out - at least to me - and look... unfinished, even when they're painted. Some of them are really subtle or in places you'd never see unless a model was an inch in front of your face but some of them stick out like a giant neon sign. You know those people that like to watch people popping spots? I'd watch an ASMR video of someone scraping mould lines of Warhammer models.
In fact I'd consider paying for someone to do it all for me so all I had to do was assemble my models like little Lego pieces then move on with my life. I'm glad I didn't bother in picking up a mould line remover tool, there's no way that chunky tip could get into half the nooks and crannies those pecky mould lines show up. Hobby knife all the way, baby!
I'd love to know if you spend the time to remove mould lines on your models or if you're a psychopath and leave them on! Drop a comment below :)
- 4
-
- 2
entries - 3
comments - 17075
views
Recent Entries
Welcome back, I honestly didn't think it would take more than 6 months to get back to this, but here we are, and we'll cover my 2022 Commissions, and a little bit of spill over into the early months of 2023.
So, where was I?
Right, Belakor, dragged out for 3 months. Did I learn my lesson and take a break?
No. No I did not.
In fact, I immediatly kicked off the year with two simultaneous commissions, a long slow burn one from my regular client with the Sororitas and Drukhari, and one from a new client for some Custodes.
The Custodes commission included 8 Allarus Custodians, and Trajann Valoris (I still have my own I've yet to paint...). I was matching an existing colour scheme (the client provided a painted model as reference), and these guys turned out to be quite the contradiction for me. I liked the colour scheme and was digging it, and I really, REALLY enjoyed painting Trajann Valoris, but man, did I find the Custodians themselves quite the drag. All that tiny filigree on the shins and weapons meant so much back and forth between the gold and black, but in the end, I think the effort was worth it.
Spoiler
The very same week I set off on the third round of Commission work, expanding the forces of the the Sisters and Drukhari. As it turns out, my client is actually a family group, who are all buying the armies together, and they are adding two new armies to their collection, Necrons AND Slaanesh Daemons, and this commission will add enough models to bring these two new armies up to points to match the Drukhari and Sororitas.
It turns out I'm a glutton for punishment, and you see, I tend to make my job harder for myself. Excluding the rank and file models, personally, I *HATE* seeing the *same* model multiple times throughout an army. So I spend my time time converting the clients models, for no additional cost, because it makes me happy. This is most prevelant in the Battle Squad banner bearers, every single one of them is unique. Initially, the client was very cautious / nervous about letting me do my thing wih their models, and very hesitent with conversions, thankfully now I have erned their trust and have carte blanche to assemble models however I fancy.
The newest Adepta Sororitas expansion included Inquisitor Coteaz, Morvenn Vahl, 3 Pragon Warsuits (with magnetised weapons), 20 Battle Sisters, and a Castigator Battle Tank (also with magnetised weapons).
Spoiler
The Drukhari expansion was a much lower model count, but made up for it with big firepower. It included 1 Succubus and 10 Mandrakes, but the punch came in the form of 2 Forge World Reapers, and a Void Raven Bomber (with magnetised weapons). This Succubus is why the client became more open to conversions. You see this model started out as a Daughter of Khaine model, in fact it was one of the freebie's GW was giving out when the started the free monthly models.
Spoiler
At the start of Q4 of 2021, my health issues once again reared their ungly heads and I was forced to turn down the first of the Slaanesh commissions for the family group. It would of been for 4 Keepers of Secrets and 30 Daemonettes. I really wanted to do them, but just could not function. SO, when it came time for the first expansion, they tasked me with matching the paintworks of another commission painter. Unfortunately, despite a number of attempts at contact, I wasn't able to get a paint list or basic walkthrough of the scheme, and the pictures the client sent through didn't really provide a clear enough idea of how to procede.
When looking at the pictures below, you'll be able to see that the colours of the claws go through a few iterations and repaints until the client settled on the scheme in the top picture. The commission started with Syll'Esske and 10 Daemonettes, but with a late Q3 expansion, they added The Contorted Epitome, 20 Daemonettes, and 6 Fiends.
The late addition of the 20 Daemonettes came with a timer, they were needed BEFORE Xmas, which was complicated by a GW FAQ. Daemonette squad sizes changed, and of the 20 painted, based and varnished Daemonettes, 9 of them now had to become Champions, Musicians, and Icon Bearers.
Thankfully the clients understood that this was a significant request, whilst still needing to maintain the deadline, and offered a more than acceptable "inconvienience fee". Thankfully the Contorted Epitome and Fiends weren't included in the timer, and I finshed those in early January.
Spoiler
The Necrons were the largest of the commissions in 2022, and consisted of The Void Dragon, The Nightbringer, The Deceiver, Imotekh the Stormlord, a Royal Warden, a Plasmancer, 5 Lych Guard, 10 Immortals, 20 Warriors and 6 Scarab Swarms all in the Sautekh Dynasty.
Spoiler
BUT, those models aren't Sautekh, are they?
Nope, no they're not.
Several months in to the work, (I'd been switching and changing between the factions to prevent burnout), the client dropped a bomb. They're dropping Imotekh and replacing him with The Silet King, an Overlord, 2 more Plasmancers, and 5 additional Lych Guard AND changing the entire Necron commission to the Szarekhan Dynasty....the day before I was ready to show off the completed models.
This ended up taking the rest of the year and them some to complete the repaints and additional models. Again, I was fairly compensated for the repaint AND Imotekh was mine to keep.
Spoiler
The final piece of this year long, four faction commission was a sizable chunk of terrain. 8 Ruined Sector Mechanicus Ruins, 4 Ruined Walls, 4 barricades, 4 pipe sections, 1 Ferratonic Furnace, 2 Plasma Generators, 3 Munitorum Crates, 2 tank traps, 2 trap doors, 5 3D printed crators.
Sometime about October, I completed another Hero Forge commission for 3 D&D heroes, this was my first referral client, who had seen the first Hero Forge model I'd painted way back in 2020.
and Finally, the last commission I worked on in 2022 was a triplicate of Kill Teams for fellow B&C member, INKS. There were teams for the Scythes of the Emperor, Blood Angels, Iron Warriors, and a pair of characters, Trajann Valoris (again, and no, I still haven't painted my own...), and a Sanguinary Priest (magnetised pack and weapons).
So, I've tallied up all the models I completed (I'm counting the crew/pilots etc as seperate models, as they were all painted seperately prior to assembly), and I completed 189 models in 2022. This is about ~50 or so more models than my first year.
What lessons did I learn throughout the year?
The commission WILL take longer that I think it will, because life happens, work happens, family happens. Burnout is a thing. Sometimes I just *DON'T WANNA DO IT" happens, and I'll go outside, sit down to paint, pick up the model and thhen just not.
One of the things I introduced to facilitate keeping on track was "Marvel Mondays" I began painting my Marvel United figures and posting them on Insta every Monday, I implemented Sunday as "my" day. I never work Sundays (too expensive to schedule), and on Sundays I only do personal hobby and not commission work. This little bit of structure has helped, but it was really only mid 2023 that I worked this one out.
So next time, and hopefully in less than 6 months, we'll look at 2023's commissions, and any lessons I learned along the way.
- 2
-
- 2
entries - 5
comments - 884
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Inspiration for the Order
Inspiration for the Order
+
+
+
+
The Order of the Broken Arrow (hereafter known as the Broken Arrow) is the core concept and organizing principle behind my M41 Dark Angels collection. It is entirely a homebrew concept, though I should emphasize that it is founded upon established Dark Angels lore to date as I understand it. It is very likely that as the return of The Lion and expansion of the Dark Angels Primaris marines are explored in greater detail by the Black Library and future codexes, much of what I write and do here won’t line up. The upcoming Lazarus: Enmity’s Edge will also be pertinent to my project, as the core of the Broken Arrow resides in the 5th Company and relies on Lazarus’s status as the “Keeper of the Unseen Ritual” as a major plot point. Still, one can only work with the materials to hand, to date. Besides, a little bit of mismatching, obfuscation, and fuzziness works for a Dark Angels project!
The inspiration for the Broken Arrow springs primarily from The Horus Heresy Book Nine: Crusade and Lion el’Jonson: Lord of the First, both set in M30. At the risk of oversimplifying the incredible lore of Crusade, the Dark Angels of M30 made use of “orders” that existed outside of established Legion organization. These orders were formed of individuals who possessed the knowledge and lore necessary to combat a particular threat. Members of an order carried out their assigned duties in whatever combat or command role they occupied within the Legion until they were needed, at which point the order gathered together to address the situation. Allegiance to an order was not openly declared, but members generally wore identifiers proclaiming their membership to those initiated in the order’s mysteries and arcana. These identifiers could be symbols, trinkets, or even the application of colors in a specific pattern on an armor plate or piece of clothing. The end result of the order system was an invisible infrastructure dispersed throughout the Legion equipped to deal with threats or enemies with targeted expertise, affording the First unparalleled tactically flexibility.
David Guymer’s Lord of the First explores what this order system looked like in practice. I won’t spoil anything here, but it is a good read for those looking to understand how the Dark Angels legion works. Though I should note that despite it being part of the Primarch series, The Lion ends up getting very little screen time.
Before moving on to M41, another important source of inspiration to explore is the artwork presented in Crusade. The sheer variety of colors and panoply, each accompanied with its own secret and deeper meaning, captured my imagination. The Star Burners, a specialist squad of Hellbasters serving in the 5th Company, owed their unique markings to pictures in Crusade.
So all of this is fine and good, but at the end of the day, all of these inspirations are specific to the Dark Angels Legion, which itself was a product of a discrete time, place, and context. Simply importing everything directly into an M41 setting unaltered, in my personal opinion, undoes and ignores the lore of ten thousand plus years. The Dark Angels were profoundly changed after the breaking of Caliban, the trauma of losing their genefather (temporarily, I should say), and the suffocating, omnipresent weight of guilt and shame that accompanied the spread of the Fallen and codification of The Hunt. It is only natural following these revelations that the Unforgiven adapt to a new reality, one far divorced from that in M30. After all, the Dark Angels only got to spend roughly 168 years with The Lion from his discovery in 846.M30 to the sundering of Caliban in 15.M31. The Legion itself had only been operating as a fighting force for roughly 314 years (Palace Coup in 700.M30 to 15.M31). In short, what I am trying to get at is that the Dark Angels spent a comparatively short amount of time as the Angels of Death and First Legion and that though these ancient years are the foundation of the modern Unforgiven, it is not believable that their exact heraldry, organization, and customs would survive intact to M41.
The question then became, how do I incorporate these elements into a modern Dark Angel army? The Lion had not yet returned when I started this collection, so I could not rely on the whole “the Primarch returned and changed everything, so that is that.” It was the 9th Edition Codex Supplement: Dark Angels that answered my question. It noted that 5th Company Master Lazarus was also the Keeper of the Unseen Ritual. This made him responsible for collating the ancient knowledge of Caliban’s ancient orders, and noted that those who possessed such knowledge of the orders were generally Inner Circle [1]. Suddenly it made sense how I could bring the M30 elements I enjoyed into my collection.
Lazarus, through diligent study, had unlocked some of the ancient mysteries, lores, heraldry, order, divisions, and customs of the First Legion. Armed with this knowledge, he used his own 5th Company as a way to apply what he learned. However, his understanding of the ancient past is incomplete. Data stacks may indicate that applying bone color to certain pieces of armor was an honor, but not elaborate on what exactly that honor signified. The Inner Circle also made sure to scrutinize and drip feed Lazarus only that information which they wanted him to know, though of course some things slipped through the cracks. In the end, I had a premise that allowed me to continue collecting and fielding what we understand as modern Dark Angels while also incorporating elements of the past, distorted as it were by an incomplete understanding and deliberate redaction.
With the framework in place, the next steps were to develop the lore for an order within the 5th Company, and develop unique iconography and heraldry for other special units. This of course will be the subject of another rambling blog post.
Thanks again for reading, and of course let me know what you think below!
- Company Master Holden
+
+
+
+
[1] Located on page eight of the supplement. As someone who purchased the Dark Vengeance box set when it was brand new, I was disappointed to see that Balthazar had been killed off in such a flippant manner. That said, the Psychic Awakening series and recent Codexes have made Lazarus a more interesting character than he was before. I am hoping Emnity's Edge will continue the character development.
- 2
-
- 4
entries - 0
comments - 757
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Sagittarum complete
Now I've figured out the paint scheme, the process is nice and easy to get through and get good results.
Squad Celestus and their Gryph-Mastiff:
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 4
-
- 14
entries - 5
comments - 6252
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Armiger Talon Intermission
Lil big knights!
368698878_10161052381015797_2401397191367279107_n
As a bit of an intermission, our group is doing a throwback to our classic apocalypse games with a 30k, 30k game and after a weekend with a horde adjacent Anathema army i really wanted to run something Elite, and aint nothing more elite than Knights with Custodes allies! Both forces having barely seen table time all together, essentially being allies and addons to myriad other forces over the years (Especially the Red King!). It was also a great excuse to pick up a couple of War dogs and marginally de-Chaos them as my faction of House Gevauden is technically a traitor force but the sides needed me to play loyalist, just ignore some of the heraldry ;)
400303054_10161244507290797_8257101360268758453_n
I also tried a few new techniques on these, fully switching basing scheme and trying a semi metallic metals scheme on the skeleton and trim from Eons of Battle (Check him out on Youtube!)
400006884_10161244507150797_3023115354319267329_n
This is the Talon leader, marked by the Eye of Horus and lack of chains, but still only allowed a Crescent moon rather than full house colours. Oh and a battered Eagle head :D
399880337_10161244507090797_7942327079519253352_n
The Leader also has a Claw instead of a chain cleaver because i presumably used it somewhere else, i was working with two Wardogs and a Helevrin but had spares from previous projects that provided the melta guns and one melta lance.
400415867_10161244506935797_5570782737444248837_n
On to the next doggo, the basing went a bit wrong on these when you look, i mixed some foamboard in under the basing foil and no amount of filler or glue would make it sit right! Its fine at eye level though. I hope :P
399797527_10161244506625797_8193884184582457400_n
Armiger pilots not of noble lineage are chained into their thrones, they arent trusted not to eject too early, this way the hull has to take a few good hits to make that possible...
399790842_10161244506255797_4945938056430139404_n
The aged metal effect from Eons of battle really works for knight skeletons, i hate spraying them silver and working down, this comes up from zenithal black/grey with only a sprinkle of silver/gold drybrush, i thing i did too much honestly but im quite happy with how irregular it is :D
400221941_10161244506185797_6771008524261359581_n
Their arms are technically poseable a little, if a bit stiff, but saves me a job trying to glue them mid painting!
400575055_10161244506110797_4002206168623378400_n
There is logic to all the seemingly random pauldron art, i had a depository of all my AT scale knights designs unfortunately lost in a Harddrive dying (always backup kids!) Some nice battle damage on this angle too!
400209212_10161244505905797_1777089904988940389_n
So three more Armigers for House Gevauden, hopefully the new model curse is merciful...
Im sure ive spotted a few errors of course looking at the shots, always more work lol Thanks for bearing with me! - 14
-
- 6
entries - 3
comments - 1036
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Leviathan Librarian into...
So, I know I said my next blog post would be looking at my plans for my Canis Rex counts-as…
…but, I was looking at the sprue for the Terminator Librarian and trying to think how I was going to modify it to make it my own (I just don't like leaving stuff without any kind of conversion!) Anyway, sudden inspiration struck! This model:
…is an old favourite of mine. It's a bit dated in terms of scale and proportions, but the character of it is just so cool. So, I figured what if I converted the Leviathan mini into a Terminator Inquisitor? Ruleswise, it's still a TDA Marine Librarian, but in terms of fluff and build it gives me a bit more freedom.
A few hours of bitz rummaging and greenstuffing later and voila:
Obviously, it's not intended to be a straight up copy of the original. Rather, it's just meant to reference some of the original's lovely features; the bionic leg, the null rod, etc. The head is taken from Sir Hektur (which I won't use on my Knight pilot) as it looked about right to me with the tash/goatee? I'm especially happy with the chest icon - I managed to drill out the skull, and the centre of one of the Grey Knight backpack toppers was trimmed down and slotted right into the gap!
Painting wise, I'm not sure about scheme yet… but maybe the light blue chosen by whoever painted the version of the original mini above might make for a nice contrast with my Celebrants?
Anyway, thanks for reading! C+C always welcome. Next time I'll look at the Knight, I promise!
- 6
-
Blog Statistics
-
Total Blogs77
-
Total Entries537
-
-
Recent Blog Entries
-
-
Recent Blog Comments
-
That's not a bad idea. I'd done the blue to match it to the arc weapons and taser goads in the army as "electric" stuff. But I don't need to be that fixed. Might try that on the next lot. -
Transfers. The one on the sides are from the Primaris Upgrade sheet and the others from the FW Horus Hersey Decal sheet.
-
By terminator ultra · Posted
are thiose transfer or did you freehand them? -
By Harrowmaster · Posted
Thank you. I think I will just magnetise between the hellhammer cannon and the baneblade cannon tbh, I don't think I have the patience to magnetise all the configurations -
-