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I am probably no longer in the ideal time to be writing blogs, but this format fascinates me. I would most likely be writing this blog just for myself, but I really enjoy the exercise after reading several blogs on this forum. I have always been fascinated by the narrative aspect of the game, and especially by conversions, which are my favorite part. So I am starting a project log for my The Lost & The Damned army, which I began two months ago. The goal will be to present the conversions, the evolution of the lore, and battle reports. The main inspiration will come from the V3 codex “Eye of Terror”, which featured fascinating renegade and mutant miniatures. The central idea is that each model must be unique, even among the swarming mass of infantry planned. The army’s lore is not yet fixed and will likely be developed in future posts. The short-term goal is to build a Boarding Action force filled with cultists and other Beastmen. In the longer term, the army will be played using the Astra Militarum codex, but I fully intend to add some Chaos Space Marines at the origin of the rebellion (chapter to be determined: Word Bearers, Night Lords) as well as several daemons. For painting, I have stuck to a contrast paint scheme with simple highlights, easy to apply given the number of miniatures planned for a horde-style army. Let’s get to the heart of the matter with the first units I have completed so far. A horde of mutants led by “Nox the Pale-Skinned” Built using bits of all kinds scavenged from my pile of shame, notably ghouls, Beastmen, and poxwalkers. I used a mix of contrast paints to achieve this sickly, pallid skin effect. One of the mutants has a plasma gun grafted in place of an arm, and another wields a flamethrower. A group of cultists led by “Athreus the Visionary” I wanted a more religious style using Necromunda kits, Bretonnian knights, or even old Orks (?) I really enjoyed making the occult banner, and the missile launcher bearer made from a Boy from my childhood gives me immense pleasure.

Hi folks, This is this moment of the year (again) when I make a pit stop and have a look on the past 12 months’ production of mine. And this year has been heavy as a pound of lead (which sounds heavier than a pound of fur although it is still a pound…). The split between the Blogs has left some of my “free speech spaces” less active than others, but it has been globally a very productive year. Let’s see: BLOG 2025 entries AM not-Stygies 17 Closet clean-up 15 Not GSC 3 Bad Mood Rising 7 Pointy and Spiky 34 Clearly the Aeldarii/Drukharii mixed Blog has taken the lead. But it is also true that these forces were the shining stars of my Call-to-Arm Pledges for 1015. CtA2025 alone gathered 15 posts in 2 Blogs. AdMech remained a good leading Blog too, although it may not last for long as I am running out of models now. But some Moiraxes knights came in support and added a series of 5 posts within this total. Another Serie, cross blogged this time, dealt with Imperial agent units; it gathered 6 posts. Grand total has reached 74 entries, while my purpose is 52 (1 per week). Yet it has been a year under the sign of the Eldars. ANd the painting production goes that way too (which is not that illogical as this is mainly a series of Blogs focussing on my painting and modelling back log...) 2026 will probably see a shift in numbers of posts and their repartition. Indeed, Asuryanii are now a dying race (model wise) and I do not really plan adding much more to this army atm. I still have a Wytch unit to be painted and I’d like adding Dark Reapers, but I have no plan so far. Not-GSC should see some work being done as I have gathered 30-40 or so Neophyte bodies waiting to become something. And I still have old spore mines and the Acolytes of the old Patrol box waiting to be painted. The Blogs dealing with Misc. stuff are also good candidates for getting inflated with posts related to my old Epic era ooP SM and Squats. These have been waiting 2 decades for being painted and should receive some attention. And AdMech… Haaa AdMech is now a mature force that will receive spot reinforcements only (a Dunerider maybe?). But the recent addition of Armingers made my think about getting started a playable Mechanium Questoris House. And the teased models for HH are also a very attractive way to keep on with Omnissiah forces out of the strictly 40k box: more Castellaxes could complete my ranks and a Vulturax might be a good Fusilave proxy… I guess I am not yet done with AdMech. Paintjob wise it has been a fruitful year too, although it has started under bad omens: after moving and translating everything from one country to another, I have lost my hobby space and I seriously doubted I could get a productivity as high as in past years. Yet it happened that the weather being quite cool and the daylight long, I could paint every evening outdoors or almost over 4 months. Which boosted the productivity in summer and early autumn to extends I could not have imagined. Most of the work was on pointy ears. But some other stuff found its way to the workbench, with a portion of cyber psychotics. Interestingly, this year has been marked by an increased number of kitbashes and conversions (Rangers, Corsairs, Warlocks or Engineseer to name a few). Here is a pot-pourri: 2oo3 Moiraxes done this year. Allies… even if this is an excuse for fielding models I like out of any kind of necessity. An oddball for the Jokaero challenge. This year's scenery has been quite limited, and this is something I should correct in 2026 as I miss hills and green grassland material. I am a little bit fed up with imperial ruins… CtA25 contribution focussed only on Drukharii and Aeldarii. But (even) more have been painted earlier in the year, inc. a full Harlies’ KT for the “Knives in the Shadows” challenge. AdMechies has been on cruise control, adding characters up to the maximum numbers authorized and completing units ranks. I still have a few Pteraxii and Serberys to be done to get the right numbers in uncomplete units (by uncomplete you should understand units that die too soon to be useful as they miss cannon fodder in their ranks). That’s all folks? Nope as this is only the 40k production. I have done, for TOW, a big amount of models too, with 2 full armies at 2500pts and some Dogs of Wars. But this is not for being disclosed over the B&C… See you in 2026 with more stuff to be painted and more stories to be told. And in the mean time, I wish you a happy new year.

Hi Folks, As 2025 comes to its end and after a year spent painting at a slower rhythm my 40k models while alternating with WFB/TOW models, it is time to set list of what remain to be done before getting my backlog dry. The previous years have been quite productive, meaning that many stuff to be painted has been done already and that what remain is less than what used to be done. In fact I may even short list now: - 1 Night Lord Nemesis Claw - 12 Spore mines - 5 GSC Acolyte Hybrids - 10 Dark Eldar Wytches - 3 Serberys riders - 5 Pteraxii - 2 Ironstriders - 40 or some GSC Neophyte hybrids to be kit bashed as a home brew AM regiment - A lot of Epic sized Squats infantry and one Colossus - A lot of epic sized SM with one ooP plastic Warlord Titan - Bucket loads of bits out of which some might be used for custom scenery - 2 kit bashed vehicles, one as a proxy Carnaudon and one as an “artificer” Land Raider, that deserve further plasticard work Should I stop any further purchase, I will be in position to potentially get all of that done by end of 2026. Of course, I might still commit some spot expenses such as long time planned Dark Reaper squad for my Crafworlders or any extra Necromunda models to complete my collection of iddled models to be used as a custom Inquisitor Retinue. A little bit more Scenery is also plausible, with may be MtO Fragdrill or an Aegis Defense Line. But this is on the hypothetical side of the story. Should the year be organized in more details, I would say that the following is likely to happen: 1. I was not planning any participation to the specific 12MoH subchallenge proposed as a campaign around a KT. But as I have one in the back log pile waiting to be done, why not give it a try?... * COMING SOON * The Campaign - The Bolter and Chainsword 2. Kit bashed vehicles could be my Plodding along pledge… 3. … as well as any Epic army paint job btw. I have so many of these... 4. As I do not play GSC, kitbashing the 40+ minis planned for my AM regiment is a good top list project 5. But getting the Drukhari completed can be a fast win too… 6. My AdMech is now in a low demand regime (as I have lots of models already painted and available) and as these new models can be spot/supernumerous jobs, to be done just to have a fresh air inbreath/changing color palette or growing up the numbers a low speed cruise control. So not that critical in terms of priorities. So What? January will tell. I wish you all the best for these seasons’ greetings and for the coming year 2026.

So over the weekend I got in a game of Combat patrol with a new hobbyist. He was looking to get some experience in the game via CP and I was more than happy to help. I managed to gather up 6 CPs, 3 nids, 3 marines and the IK one. I’m debating doing up two more armigars in some freeblade colours to specifically use in CP. We won’t talk about how many knight frames I have in storage still…. Anyway he was using Amonhotekh’s Guard (Necrons), I let him pick his destroyer. To which he selected The Vardesghast Swarm (nids). I had to keep the datasheets up to hopefully not upscale the Pychophage since its CP stats are way different from the normal game. Table was a smallish 3'x4' setup with four objectives (cross formation), plenty of ruins and some central cover. I took Alpha Xenoform for secondary and Psychostic Veil enhancement, he took the Treasure of Aeons for secondary and Protocol of Resonant Focus enhancement. Didn’t know the CP missions so just had it that you scored 5 VP for holding an objective, starting Turn 2, since that is the norm for the base game. I’ll look into seeing if there are any CP missions and gather what I have from the magazine for a little more spice later. For this time we just kept it simple. It was also my opponent’s third ever game so didn’t want to overload him. Positioning wise I had the leapers up near one middle objectives, pychophage and prime set up to got after the other one, barbguants in a ruin next to my home objective and the termaguants were behind the leapers. He had his warriors with overlord on his home objective, the doomstalker in a tall ruin in one corner, scarabs on a flank and the destroyers next to his warriors. I got first turn and ran him turn the phases as I did them just in case. Prime and the psychophage did most of the work. Giants just took frie from the doomstlker for all but one turn when he focused on the pychophage. I held most of the objectives for the game as he was not aggressive enough with the destroyers. They really only got into combat at turn 3 when he took out the big bug with them. Now I’ll explain my teaching method. I do give an after action report telling my opponent what was wrong after the game is done, but during the Movement and target selections I keep my mouth shut. Let them do what they think is right cause I don’t want to be running their army. So that what he did makes some sense. Since he had fought grey knights and eldar prior they shot the destroyers out quickly so he was gun shy with them. He had chances to get his secondary if he had picked the other middle objective instead of the one he did or at least had a better chance had he focused his warriors/destroyers on the other. We did go a full five turns but it was pretty one sided on the score. He did manage to kill the leapers, prime and psyhophage, but was left with just the doomstalker and overlord. We swapped board sides and he picked Mordekai’s Judgement as his opponent since Dark Angels is a force he is thinking of starting up. That game was short as while he got first turn, his only target with the doomstalker, placed over the home objective, was the gravis captain and he tanked the shot like a pro. By the charge phase of my second turn I had wiped the destroyers via bolter and plasma fire and most of the warriors to bolter rounds. Which was scary even to me. The main issue was once again him not moving the destroyers well enough. They moved down the middle at the start, which allowed me to drop one in regular shooting then he moved them into cover but away from an easy charge and I had a really good overwatch roll (five hits with the hellblasters) to drop another. Outside of the good overwatch, those destroyers would have blendered either the hellblasters or intercessors that were grouped there. Not sure if the overlord would have faired against the bladeguard/intercessor combo I had on that flank. I had to abandon my home objective cause the doomstalker would have wiped the unit holding it with a decent shooting phase. There was only one objective safe from it’s gaze so would have been a challenge had his dice just not crapped out. I’ll try and do more detailed reports in the future. Memory gets fuzzier quicker these days and I want them to be accurate. Included for your viewing pleasure are three of the marine CPs that I got models for. I forgot to get pictures of the tyranid/knight ones this time, but will do my best to get some later. Strike Force Octavius (Dark Hunter edition) Eye of Ultramar (Bladeguard - Crimson Jackals, Reivers - Moltifactors) Mordekai’s Judgement (Gravis Caption - Brazen Skulls, Bladeguard - Crimson Jackels, Intercessors/Hellblasters - Ultramarines)

"It was the year of fire, the year of destruction, the year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth, the year of great sadness, the year of pain, and the year of joy. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The year is 2026; the place: Bolter & Chainsword" Today, I start construction of the 164th.

Ugh the Holidays.....Stress of money, Kids on Christmas break, Family visits, Work, Holidays Party, Cleaning the house, repairs, etc. The past few weeks Life has taken over and the hobby time has been non existent even when it comes to other hobbies not involving gaming as well. Every time I tried to take time to myself, I was unable too or it was delayed, to a point where I could not do it because of other things. Then having to go to work 2 hours earlier and staying later, then while at home staying up later than expected really wore me down. My mental well being has really suffering. I really needed a break from the holidays and life and get some hobby time. HH League is going to be done in March so I should be starting up with my Clubs Crusade league, which will be playing my True Scaled Grey Knights. My motivation to get the True Scaled Grey Knights done is with the MoH 2026. This hobby challenge is nice as it is not stressful and at your own pace with lots of individuals motivating you.

It feels like I’m starting to get the hang of the blog format, so I’ll finish by showing you all the miniatures that have been completed at this stage. I’ll start with “The Red Oath”, a squad of renegade guardsmen that I play as Kasrkin. There are a few conversions to match the official loadout (notably this improvised bomb made from several grenades glued together to represent a Melta Mine), but otherwise the models are based on the official Renegade Guard kit. Their personalities really come through thanks to the red markings, which symbolize their brotherhood and their allegiance to Chaos. Next up is Team Hellfire, a heavy weapons squad equipped with a lascannon. I’m quite proud of the overheating effect on the barrel. The two remaining teams will be completed in the coming months. The final squad is my favorite in the army so far. These are three giant mutants armed with rusted weapons and Rhino doors used as shields. They are played using Bullgryn profiles (and are extremely imposing for 30mm bases). I hesitated for a long time over which base kit to use for the conversion, but eventually settled on The Old World Minotaurs combined with bits from the Chaos Spawn kit (a kit I absolutely love).

So I am sitting at work making my plans for 40k 2026. I guess it is resolutions... Horus Hersey....I'm done building and painting. Done as in burned out. I will finish the league games but I need a break for HH. Grey Knights- 12 MoH 2026 True Scale Project and Gaming Group Crusade Army. Adepta Sororitas/ Ecclesiarchy- I need to paint at least a Squad or 2 this year Exorcists- Always a side project, work on them when I need a break from other armies Inquisition- I need to paint more units to add to my Crusade list. Militarum Tempestus- Maybe I will work on them, Low Priority. Redemptionist - I need to finish working on my Gang so if and when Campaign Starts up I can be ready. So this Year looks to be Grey Knights, Adepta Sororitas and Redemptionist as my major focus.....I feel like that is every year.

I gave this army a lot of focus in 2025, adding units to take it to 2,000 points, and beyond Not counting Heavy Intercessors and a Gravis Captain (which I started painting in 2024), here's everything I painted for the Ashen Sentinels this past year - six squads (Desolation Squads, Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs, and more Intercessors), three characters and a Redemptor Dreadnought: The past year wasn't just a good one for this army hobby wise, the narrative campaign I ran at my local gaming group drew to a close (after a very memorable team battle). At the end of the campaign, the Ashen Sentinels 3rd and 4th Companies are permanently garrisoned in the Rostokhar system, part of the defence against Necron incursions from the fallen Forge World of Rostokhar III. But that's not the only story that the Ashen Sentinels are part of - this year, I'm hoping to run a narrative campaign event, and my Chapter will be part of that. For this event, I'm shifting focus to another part of the Chapter. - the 7th and 8th Companies (you might have noticed the colours of the shoulder trims on the Intercessors and Jump Pack Assault Intercessors above!). I'll share more about the narrative they're going to be part of in due course - but I plan to add a few more units to use at this narrative event. With that in mind, here's what's lined up on my painting desk going in to the New Year: A squad of Inceptors (which I've had since the end of 8th Edition ), a couple of Intercessors (so I can swap them into my existing squads to field two 10-strong units*), and a Librarian. Not pictured is a Brutalis Dread, which I'm still building to be honest (so many components! ). These will be my focus for the next few months - but then I'll be moving to a new project for this army, that I'll hopefully have ready for the campaign event. Here's a cryptic teaser... Any ideas what it could be..?

Good News! It's been tough in my brain trying to find a Space Marine army to play that fit all the criteria that I need: 1. Easy to find Shoulderpads and Emblems for vehicles. Decals or Plastic. 2. Ridiculously easy paint scheme. 3. A Chapter that exists in the official lore, even if it is super obscure. The Internet has heard my cries and granted me the following: The Knights of the Raven! Yep, a Raven Guard successor in shiny metal armor! The paint scheme seems to be. 1. Spray model with Leadbelcher 2. Add black details 3. Add leather details 4. Make them 3rd company with red kneepad 5. Wash with Nuln Oil What do you think?

Started on the characters of the Shrikeborn, the Stained Lord himself and his Headsman. Fairly easy to make them. Carrow is basically just the HH Traitor Overseer Consul with a jumppack, new head, chainglaive for his right arm, lightning claw for the left arm, and some chain wrapped around his left leg. Actually, writing that out makes it seem much more complicated than he is. All of the parts worked without too many issues and he fit together nicely. Only thing you won't see in the following pics is me re-positioning his chainglaive to better fit the wrist connection- its now slightly canted forward and looks better. Next, Kordesh. A very simple model, the HH Traitor Herald Consul, with just a slight modification to make his right hand pointing at the enemy rather than holding a big standard. He isn't done, as I'm waiting for the Nemesis Claw box for two bits- his hooded head and his skin-cloak backpack. I will also be wrapping his right arm with chains with dangling skulls to make the pose more natural (like his arm is slightly constrained by the chains/skulls from fully extending). I might also do some worbla skin trophies on him, though with the cloak I don't know if it will be too much or not. Maybe I'll just try and see. Up next will be the Warp Talons, who like the mkII Raptors will be festooned with chains and skulls and skin to make them less boring than the base mkVI assault marine bodies start off as. Hopefully I can get those done (aside from the skin) in the next week or so, which will leave me just doing all the worbla stuff at one time. Anyway, until next time, thanks for looking!

Part 2 of the Raptors was basically building 5 mkII Assault marines. The models themselves are great- easy to put together, nice solid kit. Only issue was me stupidly snaping one of the two-handed axes near the lower fist, making it look...off. But it'll work out in the end, I've got a plan to make it look not as dumb. Using the chain and GW's skulls worked really well, the chain was perfectly sized and I think looks pretty natural on the models. Next up for these guys is getting my worbla thermoplastic out and making various bits of skin for trophies. That will probably be at the end of my building, as I'd like to do it all at once rather than piecemeal. There is an un-helmeted one here with a disintegration pistol- if I even want to use the Raptors as 2 5-man units he'll be the sergeant in the second squad, while the two-handed weapons will stay representing the regular plasma pistol guys. Anyway, here's the second half of the Raptors and a full squad pic. Full squad

THE RETURN OF THE GREEN KNIGHT The strike cruiser Verdant Oath did not sound a welcoming chime. The Thunderhawk settled into its cradle amid drifting vapor and cooling metal. From its hold emerged a lone figure clad in black ceramite. Brother Martin bore the sigil of the Deathwatch upon his pauldron. The Inquisitorial mark still clung to his armor, dull and intrusive, like a scar that refused to fade. No honor guard awaited him. Marshal Calder stood at the foot of the embarkation ramp, hands clasped behind his back. To one side waited Brother-Artificer Verdug, his servo-arm locked in repose. A pace behind them stood Codicier Lucan, hood drawn low, presence folded inward like a sheathed blade. Calder inclined his head. ‘Your vigil is ended.’ Brother Martin knelt. ‘It ended early, My Lord,’ Martin said. Not defensively. Precisely. ‘As intended,’ Calder replied The black of his armor was not revered aboard the Verdant Oath. It was residue. A foreign layer to be removed. They led him into the Armorum Sanctum. Cog-etched arches rose overhead. Incense hung heavy in the air, sharp with solvents and sanctified oils. The rites of return began. The black paint was burned away. Chemical agents hissed as Deathwatch livery dissolved down to bare adamantium. Serfs worked in silence. No hymns were sung. No litanies spoken. Only the steady rhythm of cleansing. As the green was reapplied, Codicier Lucan circled Martin slowly. His eyes never lingered on the armor. They searched deeper. ‘You refused three direct taskings,’ Lucan said, eyes unfocused. ‘Not requests. Orders.’ ‘I did,’ Martin replied. ‘Specify,’ Calder said. ‘The Deathwatch required maintenance of xenos-derived weapon systems,’ Martin said. ‘Calibration. Sanctification. Instruction.’ Verdug’s optics brightened faintly. ‘I refused,’ Martin continued. ‘Each time, I cited Martian doctrine and Imperial law. Each time, I offered sanctioned alternatives.’ ‘And?’ Calder asked. ‘They recorded my refusals,’ Martin said. ‘They judged me obstructive. Ideologically inflexible. A liability to operational cohesion.’ Calder’s mouth twitched, almost a smile. 'They I was released to my parent chapter under writ,’ Martin finished. Calder inclined his head once. ‘Exactly as hoped.’ Lucan stopped pacing. ‘There has been interference,’ Lucan said at last. Calder did not turn. ‘Explain.’ ‘The Ordo Xenos attempted a surgical purge,’ Lucan replied. ‘Memory excision. Observation anchors. They were thorough.’ Verdug’s optics flared softly. ‘And successful?’ Lucan paused. ‘Incomplete.’ At a gesture from Verdug, servitors drew back a shrouded reliquary. Runes flared as seals disengaged, one by one. Beneath lay an ancient device of brass and blackened steel, its surface etched with sigils older than the Chapter. ‘Sanctioned by Holy Terra,’ Verdug intoned. ‘Recovered during the Third Scouring of Helican Reach.’ Lucan’s voice lowered. ‘Rumors claim the Ordos Hereticus uses such devices to unmask witches. To reconstruct lies stripped from the mind.’ Calder turned at last. ‘Then use it.’ Brother Martin was seated before the device. Cables interfaced with his cranial ports. The machine stirred, not with noise, but with intent. Lucan reached into the warp. The device responded. Fragments surfaced—gaps where memory had been cut away, cauterized with cold precision. The machine probed those absences, not restoring what was taken, but mapping what should have been there. Runes ignited across the chamber walls. Star charts unfolded, incomplete at first—then sharpening. Worlds returned from omission – bled back into focus. Vaults hidden by silence. Listening posts. Quarantine reliquaries hidden beneath layers of denial. Lucan exhaled slowly. ‘Nineteen,’ he said. ‘Recovered from absence,’ Verdug confirmed. ‘The rest are too degraded.’ Calder stepped forward, studying the burning points of light. ‘Nineteen worlds touched by xenos treachery,’ he said, ‘Nineteen worlds, hidden not by ignorance, but by intent.’ ‘Some confirmed,’ Martin said, his voice steady despite the lingering ache behind his eyes. ‘Some merely watched.’ Lucan’s gaze hardened. ‘Watched is enough.’ ‘Then no longer,’ Calder said. He turned to Verdug. ‘Inform the Blade.’ The words carried weight. The War Council would convene. Routes would be charted. Oaths renewed. Weapons sanctified. Calder faced Martin once more. ‘Your vigil ended early because it needed to,’ he said. ‘You were sent back because you exposed their weakness. They lack faith in humanity.' Martin bowed his head. ‘You return to us without stain,’ the Marshal said. ‘Go and rejoin your brothers.' Outside the Armorum Sanctum, klaxons began to sound—not alarms, but summons. The Verdant Oath altered course. A Crusade had been declared. It was a good day for the Green Templars. And the alien would not endure it.

THis must be some kind of record. Not only did I finish something else, I finished it in 3 sessions! Introducing my Apothecary Biologis, who has seen some action with my Heavy Intercessors, but will most likely front my Aggressors going forward. Thanks for looking.

They are the Green Templar: hunters of forbidden relics, executioners of knowledge, and the hammer that keeps the Dark Age of Technology buried forever. Successors of the Salamanders, they strike where the Imperium dares not tread, leaving nothing alive that could betray what they hunt. FINAL COGITATOR ENTRY OF CAPTAIN SÉBASTIEN YORKE: They came aboard without ceremony. No warning chime. No challenge from the augur decks. One moment the Gloria Invictus drifted on idle in Imperial voidspace, her holds full and her ledgers clean. The next, the boarding alarms screamed like dying things. Green armor. Not Salamanders green—colder, somehow. Bone-white pauldrons marked with a templar cross. Two chapters merged into one impossible purpose. I could only guess who these Green Templar really were. I invoked my Warrant. “I am a Rogue Trader—Sébastien Yorke—of the Imperium,” I said, forcing steel into my voice. “By the authority of the High Lords of Terra—” They did not answer. They advanced, deck by deck, methodical, unhurried. Not butchers. Not raiders. Auditors. Sealing bulkheads, marking crates, tagging cogitator cores with red sigils that pulsed once and went dark. My armsmen fired. Some died screaming in fire that clung to flesh and armor alike. Others vanished under bolter fire so precise it felt personal. No warnings. No demands. Only collection. They found the vaults. I followed them, flanked by my Seneschal and what remained of my honor guard, shouting words like talismans: Warrant. Sanction. Cold Trade. I told them the artifacts were catalogued, secured, studied under Mechanicus charter. I told them I had saved worlds with the technologies they now sealed away. A warrior turned toward me. His helm lenses burned like coals. “You have saved nothing,” he said. That was the only sentence any of them spoke. They brought the seized relics to the docking bay—xenos engines wrapped in null-shrouds, crystalline cogitators older than the Imperium, weapons that hummed with sleeping suns. My life’s work. My legacy. And then Vulkan He’stan arrived. I recognized him at once. You don’t trade the stars for three centuries without learning the faces of legends. The Forgefather walked among my cargo in silence, the Primarch's Spear mag-locked at his side, his gauntlet brushing dust from devices that had cost me entire systems to acquire. Hope flared in my chest. Fool that I was. “Lord,” I said. “You see—this is sanctioned. This is lawful. This knowledge—” He stopped before a device I had never dared activate. He studied it for a long moment. Then he shook his head. Just once. No condemnation. No command. He turned and left my ship. I understood. The Green Templar waited until his vessel cleared the hangar before they began the purge. They did not destroy the artifacts first. They destroyed the records. My ledgers burned. My cogitator banks were slagged. Servitors dismantled into wet meat and scrap. I was seized, restrained, pulse-bound—not by mercy, but by necessity. The Apothecary moved among the wounded, scanning every survivor, preparing his tools. He would ensure no trace of forbidden knowledge survived. When he finally approached, I would've sworn I saw the disgust through his helmet as he recognized what was buried within me—the source of my long life. For the briefest of moments he studied it—buried, ancient, alien. The narthecium unfolded. Pressure. Heat. A wet shock. Gone. Four hundred years collapsed in seconds. The Apothecary crushed it in his gauntlet. Strength drained. Vision dimmed. The last thing I saw: green armor moving past me, methodical, unconcerned, as the charges finished counting down on the remaining vaults. I had thought the technology kept me alive. I was wrong. It only postponed the moment I became unacceptable. ☆☆☆ PERSONAL LOG: SEREN KORRAN, SALAMANDERS STORMRAVEN PILOT — DAY 47, ALPHA RIM PATROL I did not look at the ship as it burned. Hands steady on the Stormraven controls, the engine hum drowned out the void-detonations behind us. Auspex returns flared and died as Sébastien Yorke’s vessel came apart, compartment by compartment, exactly as planned. The Forgefather stood behind me, silent. I knew—everyone in the forge-clans knew—that he despised the Green Templar. Not for zeal, but for certainty. They were a tool he would never claim, only point toward the rim and loose like a blade. Because they were the best. No one hunted forbidden tech more thoroughly. No one left questions. I had seen the cargo. Xenos engines bound in prayer-chains. Devices whose light bent the air. Knowledge that could have fed worlds, healed atmospheres, ended wars I had already fought. Vulkan He’stan inspected only what he must. Human craft. Provenance traced. Lineage confirmed. Anything born of alien thought he did not touch. Anything that might have helped all mankind—destroyed. That was the limit of his mercy. The Promethean Creed teaches fire tempers. That what survives is stronger. I had repeated those words a thousand times on Nocturne. But there was no tempering here. Only selection. Only annihilation. As we cleared the blast radius, the ship’s death registered on my displays. A brief flare. Wreckage scattered. Then nothing. No life signs. No records. I said nothing. That is my shame. The Forgefather remained silent behind me, a presence like cooled steel. He had done what he could. The rest, he left to monsters. ☆☆☆ AFTER-ACTION RECORD: GT-RIM-4471 Subject: Void-vessel Gloria Invictus — Cold Trade contamination confirmed. Disposition: All artifacts, records, and biological carriers purged. Vessel expunged. No recoverable legacy remains. ☆☆☆ Somewhere in the void, as my life faded and the Green Templar disappeared into the dark, I thought I heard a whisper of my name—but no one would ever speak it again.

Did you buy a load of Leviathan Termagants and are missing out on the strangleweb frame that came out later? Or are you unwilling to drop a load more cash to get some one per unit weapons? I have your solution (as long as you can scrounge a few spare devourers)! With a sharp knife, a bunch of plastic glue and a little dry fitting, you too can have a funnel-web shooter for your numberless hordes! STEP 1 Get yourself a termagant and make 2 cuts like this - one basically along the line of the bottom of the fist to chop off the ammo magazine, and the other in between the chitin muzzle protector and the ridge. STEP 2 Take a sacrificial devourer and make the following cuts. If you cut the 'heel' off the hand grip first, it makes other cuts easier. Use a sharp knife for this. They key bits you need to keep intact are the middle of the gun and the widest part of the barrel - the others can be scrapped to get these out intact. You're looking to cut the barrel in half at a point just wider than the mid-section of the gun as we'll be flipping this around. If in doubt, make the cut towards the narrower part and trim as necessary - you can always cut more off, but you can never cut more on! Step 3 Using a load of plastic cement to weld the parts together, attach the devourer mid-section to the fleshborer mid section as so, and weld the devourer tubes to the grip and magazine of the fleshborer to make it more gribbly. wait until this has set, then flip the barrel section around so it's wide part out, dry fit, shaving more off if required, then slam that glue on there and weld it to the devourer midsection. When you're done it should look like this, and hey presto, you have some wide flamer like stranglewebs that look more like imperial webbers that horse phalluses. STEP 4 (BONUS GRIBBLE) You can see my efforts below - I chose two gaunts that had fleshborers raised and seemed to be in more stable firing positions to it would be easy to pick them out in-game. If you look closely, I added a simple green stuff...barrel hole...to the conversion to reinforce the effect rather than a flat plate which can be painted on - I'll get some close up photos of this soon.

Well 2026 is upon us and I have not touched really worked on an Adepta Sororitas or Ecclesiarchy Model in Months. I have just not had the motivation to paint or build them. I really have been struggling to build or paint Adepta Sororitas over the past few years in consistent fashion, unlock my Grey Knights or HH Raven Guard. With the release of rules for the Celestian Insidiants via WarComm updated Adepta Sororitas Faction Pack, I have some motivation. But I also said the same thing about the Sanctifiers, I have not touched in a while So With the 12 Months of Hobby I am going to Vow a Sister Squad at some point. Not sure what squad or what unit I really want to paint I have so many to chose from since I only have 3 Characters and a squad done.....

Hi Folks, Xmas period is now over and I have managed time between sweet potatoes and turkey in order to complete the assembly of the Moiraxes. Torso glueing and arms fitting has been a 10 sec job or almost. The main output expected was answering the key question: “Will my scheme balance the big grey block effect?”. I guess the answer is a “Yes”. Or at least, I am satisfied enough by the results. The bonish quadrant does the job (but I had little doubt about this as I had the same result on the Styrix). The red touches counterbalance the predominance of the Eshin grey too and gives the equilibrium needed without falling into something otT. Heads were made mainly red too for the armored masks, while the Mechanicum Skull gives the dark touch needed. Other heads are kept as spares for eventual future Armigers or to be traded in a bits fair. The two Moiraxes with Claw are very similar, with only difference brought by head swaps. The Laslock Moirax is, on the other hand, a kind of lone ranger with its specific and distinctive colour scheme, with red legs panels and a full red face plate. Weapons are also with red panels while pauldrons were kept as per its big daddy’s scheme, bone abd grey. I am quite satisfied with the result. These additions bring me something like 450pts to be added to my pool of units to be selected for while building my AdMech forces. It also opens the door to a Knight Force, although atm limited to the Questor Forge Pact detachment. And that’s it for 2025! See you next year.

So a couple of days ago I had a hobby butterfly moment and decided to go with it. I was looking over the Necromunda book Tribes of the Wastelands and saw the Sha'dar Hunters models from the Ash Wastes Nomads. I have always liked the Nomads, but didn't really think that I would be playing an Ash Wastes Necro game anytime soon so had no large desire to get them. Something about the Sha'dar Hunters clicked for me though and I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole- looking up the rules for the CSM Cultist squad, Traitor Guardsmen squad, and playing around with the gang creator for the Nomads gave me some ideas. It turned into this- For 40k. A squad of Cultists and a squad of Traitor Guard, made out of the following: 1 Ash Wastes Nomad Warparty box 2 Sha'dar Hunter boxes 1 Nomad Weapon/Upgrade pack That would in turn give me enough models and bits for: 1 Cultist mob of 10 cultists armed with brutal assault weapons and pistols (using the Sha'dar Hunters, but putting them on 25mm bases) 1 Traitor Guardsman squad w/a grenade launcher (charge caster), plasmagun (heavy blaster), and flamer (web gun/venom caster) (using the War Party/weapons upgrade boxes) This also makes for a pretty decent base for a Nomad gang in Necro, though without any of the bug riders that help out in Ash Wastes games. So I guess I could use them in the regular campaign, which might be fun if not exactly playing to their strengths. Next I had to figure out what legion the mortals were going to be following, the Shrikeborn of the Night Lords or the Ebon Word of the Word Bearers? First thought was of course they would follow the Ebon Word, after all everyone knows that the WB use cultists and mortals all the time. Or maybe I could do a squad of each- cultists following the Word Bearers and the more disciplined Guard following the Night Lords, differentiating them via different colored clothing? That might be fun for 40k, but I don't know if two separate paint schemes would be alright for them if I wanted to use them in Necro. Hmm. Looking at the models again, they are fairly creepy. Lots of ragged robes, rebreather equipment, and faces hidden behind intimidating masks. So my final decision was to have these mortals be followers of the Night Lords, cloaked in darkened rags and wearing skull-white masks with built-in vision equipment. These will be the remnants of the Shrikeborn's Nostraman mortal armsmen and crew who have spent generations among the grim Astartes' lightless ships. As the holidays arrived, I got some gift cards and immediately put my plan into action, a box of each of the War Party, Hunters, and Weapons upgrades will be shipped to me shortly. I also got the Nemesis Claw that I needed for my Chosen/Headsman's finishing bits. So I will be full of hobbying over the next few weeks, which is good. Next up will probably be a short lor blurb for the mortals and/or the Nemesis Claw building. Either way, thanks for looking!

So, got most of the stuff I had on order, so time to start building! My favorite part of the hobby, aside from playing. I decided to start with the Night Raptors component of my Raptors squad, as I figured that a five man, mostly stock group would be an easy intro. I was wrong. The Horus Heresy Night Raptors are pretty clearly old FW design- mostly in the fact that the leg/torso/pauldrons are all one piece and the shoulder/arm connections are all different (both in where the connection is- one is at the wrist, most are mid-upper arm and in that each mating pair has a different locking connector). Useful I guess, given the fact that there were never instructions for this set so it is mostly intuitive on how to put together, but annoying for me. I was originally intending to use both of the two-handed Nostraman chainglaives on these guys, giving me more options for putting a one-handed chainglaive on someone else if I felt like it, but the weird arm connections put me off. I have a pretty bad relationship with two-handed weapons already and didn't want to screw around with trying to match up, cut correctly, and glue together the chainglaive arms to the Raptor shoulders. So I just decided to use the one-handed chainglaives instead (aside from one put aside for Lord Carrow). It worked alright, as there were several non-skin trophy arms that I could easily chop off the hands and convert properly. Overall, the kit is....decent. I think it was annoying to me because I'm used to modern GW/FW kits in which it is super easy to convert due to having standard flat shoulder connections or at least connections that aren't this random. I'm glad I got them, they are good looking models (and really glad I could snag more Night Raptor heads!), but I'm also glad that I don't have more than the five to do. Sarran Narvok, Raptor Huntmaster Remaining Night Raptor element of the Virex Clade And next up, the MkII element of the Raptors. Tomorrow, hopefully. And the nice 1mm chain I found from Michael's that should work perfectly for conversions. I am super happy about this, as it took quite a bit of searching and holding up a bunch of jewelry chains in the store to compare to a model I had brought to find them. I have no doubt I looked like a weirdo, as it was a spur of the moment thing and I had just woken up so was in random gym clothes and bed head. Anyway, more tomorrow.

closer look at the skin random Nob made it into the first batch the goal of the Horde is variety. So far it’s 8 sets of the old boyz set, 1 of the new monopose ones, and 1 set built on a pack of legs off of Etsy.

Iron‑Master Kharvund earned the name Stone‑Oath not for stubbornness, but for the unbreakable resolve etched into his very core. One of the last surviving forge‑minds of the Shattered Star Kindred, he personally recovered and reforged the first Ironkin who would become Trokk’s earliest followers. Kharvund carries within him a fragment of the Kindred’s lost Crucible‑data, a memory‑shard he guards with a reverence bordering on the sacred. In battle, he moves with the deliberate certainty of a master craftsman, directing the Gardhird’s engines of war with quiet authority. Every weapon he tunes, every armor‑plate he seals, is treated as an oath renewed; a promise that no Kin under his care will fall as helplessly as those of the Shattered Star once did. Among the Solbond Gardhird, his word is as solid as bedrock, and his presence is a reminder that vengeance is not only fought with blades and beams, but with the patient, relentless labor of Ironkin hands.

Major and second in command in regiment Karl Mannerkheim, master of siege and defense. Beloved strategy - static defence. He spent most of his time learning new tactics and strategy from Tactical Imperialis.

Well, 2025 is now in the rear-view mirror, and as expected my hobby time has been rather limited with a newborn and moving house. I’ve finally managed to get the hobby desk set up temporarily for the time being and am eager to get cracking with some painting, but the big question is: on what? As is pretty much standard for me, the Ultramarines project I started last year has fizzled out. I just can’t seem to find the motivation to carry on with it. Something that has become more and more apparent to me over the last year is that I really don’t like the direction Warhammer has gone, whether that’s 40K or Horus Heresy. Between the move away from the original Space Marine aesthetic and the increasingly competitive focus of the game, it’s really not something I’m enjoying. One positive of the move was that I had to sort out all my hobby stuff. As editions move on, you tend to forget about all the books and bits you pick up that get cast aside as the edition churn continues. It’s probably pure nostalgia, but some of my best memories were of playing 5th edition, so I dug out the rulebook to have a read. This led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, where I came across the ProHammer ruleset. It looks interesting, as it apparently allows you to use any codex from 3rd to 7th edition against each other, which sounds awesome. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but I’m hoping to get a couple of test games in to see how it plays. This rabbit hole then led me further to the 35K project, a fan project exploring the events of the Nova Terra Interregnum. After reading through their website and joining their Discord, it really made me want to do something set in this era of 40K. I started looking at creating my own Marine chapter, but then, as usual, my thoughts led me back to the Iron Snakes. Outside of the books set in M41, there isn’t a great deal of lore for them, other than the fact they are a Second Founding chapter of the Ultramarines. That got the creative juices flowing, and using the 4th Edition Space Marine codex (as recommended by the 35K project), I’ve drawn up a list and am currently working on a test model for the scheme. As I have a ton of Horus Heresy models left over, this feels like the perfect chance to use them, as well as an opportunity to create some lore for the Iron Snakes. So, to add to this project, I dug out a couple of old classics to read this weekend. Hopefully next post I’ll have some actually painted models to show off. Until next time.

Command squad is ready. Nice models and I'm almost happy how they looks. I build them without banner cause cadians banner aren't fit my guys. All infantry almost done. Well, 1/3 of LINE infantry is done. This year good bunch of HWS and artillery join the party. Also more command squads and kasrkins. I don't know, and to be honest I won't know why I build army this way. At the end of year I gonna have full company + some support. I wanna 3 line company. Do GW return apocalypse or not I wanna have large enought force. I'm almost happy with my pipelines for my colorscheme and now can just paint my guys without experiments.

"By Faith and Fire" My Long serving Redemptionist Gang. Honored Priest Israfil (Priest) Ophaniel (Cherub Servitor) Deacon Sarathiel (Deacon) Asmodel (Cherub Servitor) Deacon Phanuel (Deacon) Brethren Camael (Redemptionist Brethren Specialist) Brethren Uziel (Redemptionist Brethren) Brethren Samael (Redemptionist Brethren) Zealot Zadkiel (Zealot) Zealot Dumah (Zealot) Father Olaf (Hive Preacher) TBD (Rogue Doc) Need to build: Klovis the Redeemer & Deacon Mala Rattus Tatterskin Stig Shamblers The Headsman The Prophet of the Redemption House Ko'iron Ministorum Delegation Goliath Truck Plus more Cawdor, Redemptionist models, Sheen Birds, and Rat bombs.

Well it is that time again and as I really want to get my stalled True Scale Grey Knights going for my Gaming Group upcoming Metal Head Armory Crusade in Late March, I have vowed to work on the following models and finish them by the End of January. Crusade List: Brother-Captain (Warlord) Brotherhood Librarian 3x 5 man Terminator Squads 2x 5 man Strike Squads 5 man Interceptor Squad 5 man Purgation Squad Nemesis Dreadknight January Vow: 2x 5 man True Scaled Grey Knight Brotherhood Terminator Squads 1 Grey Knight Brother Captain Plodding along Vow: True Scaled Venerable Dreadnought (Redemptor Conversion) Planned February Vow: Brotherhood Librarian 2x 5 man Strike Squads 5 man Purgation Squad Planned March Vow: 5 man Terminator Squad 5 man Interceptor Squad Nemesis Dreadknight

So I finally got all of the models together that would need to have worbla skin-trophies modeled on them and got the time to spend messing around with the stuff. Not going to lie, was not as easy as I wanted it to be. The main problem was that I was using a pair of metal tweezers to try to hold/place the worbla onto the models, but the tip of the tweezers would get hot and basically cut the worbla in half instead of holding it. I worked it out eventually, but it was annoying. I think the trophies turned out ok- they look like melted corn chips right now but that is just the color as the texture of the final product is just like any other plastic. Hopefully my paint job will look ok, but that won't be for a while. On the model front, I have the Contekar termies being shipped to me now, as well as the Ash Wastes Nomads boxes that will comprise my Cultist/Traitor Guard and next month I should have the final bits of the full 2k force shipped to me thought they will be part of the Ebon Word (which I may post here just because its the same army, but anyway...). As far as rules go, just today the CSM Raptors got a dataslate upgrade (probably because of the new Killteam) where they can have some additional heavy melee weapons (powerfist-equivalent), so now the chainglaives/heavy chainaxes will represent those, while four of the regular guys will have their bolt pistols technically be plasma pistols. Doesn't change anything as far as the modeling goes, but in-game the Night Lords Raptors will be quite a bit more scary against other marine-equivalent squads. Anyway, thanks for looking and next up will probably be some deluded mortal followers of the Shrikeborn.

OK, OK, I pledge to get the Night Rovfugl and get some decent pics this weekend. I've been sitting on it for long enough. I apologise, family commitments over the holdays and the joy of being in hospital for a few days (yay?) somewhat threw me off track. Below is a passage about the Night Rovfugl, the Night Bird of Prey. She's a predator. She will only attack if she is sure of a kill. Under other circumstances, she will flee. If cornered, she is like a cat, she'll put on a show all the while she is looking for a way to get the hell out of there. But she does bite, though not often. Lascannons and missiles are not to be messed with. ===== Krzysztof had just settled the Rovfugl into her loiter when the tone changed. Not an alarm, but more a caution tone. Just a subtle shift in the background noise of the displays - the kind you only notice if you’re already listening. Behind him, his navigator stiffened. “Hold,” she said quietly. Krzysztof didn’t move his hands. “Talk to me, Anja.” Anja leaned forward, eyes narrowing at her scope. “I’ve got a coherent return resolving where there shouldn’t be one. Clean line. No sweep.” She paused. Then, softer: “We’re painted.” The words landed without drama. Krzysztof brought the auxiliary display up with a flick of his thumb. A thin red trace crawled across the overlay, steady and deliberate, tracking the Rovfugl’s belly as if it had never lost her. Below them, far beyond visual range, Brutus had woken. Anja’s fingers danced over the panel. “Source is ground-based. Heavy emitter. Not Imperial standard air-defence. This is… older.” “Brutus,” Krzysztof said. “Yes,” Anja replied. No hesitation. The sensor feed updated again. A mass shift. A long, slow arc resolving into a firing solution. Not rushed. Not uncertain. A turret coming around with all the patience in the world. Brutus wasn’t built to hunt aircraft. But he didn’t need to be. One good solution was enough. Krzysztof exhaled through his nose. “Nope.” He didn’t punch the throttle. Didn’t flare. Didn’t brake hard. He bled altitude instead, easing the Rovfugl sideways and down, sliding her into the terrain mask. Heat held tight. Angle shallow. Everything disciplined. Anja watched the red line cling for a heartbeat longer, then begin to drift. “Tracking’s degrading,” she said. “He’s searching.” “Let him,” Krzysztof replied. He armed nothing. Not yet. The Rovfugl slipped lower, engines hissing under restraint, a predator refusing to show its throat. On the ground, Barcza felt it. Not a sound nor a signal. Just the absence of something that had been there moments ago. He slowed, then glanced back over his shoulder, eyes lifting instinctively toward the dark sky. The Rovfugl was gone. Just… no longer there. Barcza raised a fist, the squad freezing around him. He tapped his mic once, low gain. “Krzysztof,” he said. “Status.” Up above, Krzysztof didn’t answer immediately. He waited until Anja nodded. “Paint’s off,” she said. “For now. Adjusting orbit,” Krzysztof replied at last. His voice was calm and even. “Stay sharp. You’re not alone out there.” Barcza didn’t ask who else was. He gave a short nod to no one, turned back to the dark, and signalled the squad forward. Above them, unseen, the red line faded into nothing. Brutus watched the space where the Rovfugl had been. Then, slowly, his turret eased back to neutral. The night settled again, uneasy, alert, and very much awake.

Just a minor update: I decided to buy one of those Space Marine Heroes blind box at Target. Ended up with a Infernus Marine. Looks pretty cool. Put together a Forgefather's Seekers 1k List. What do you think?

Hi all, Firstly, my apologies for not updating much of late. Both the travelling for the holiday season and being a little unwell has rather knocked the stuffing out of me. Secondly, a little feedback on my style and where I can improve would be most gratefully received. I've shown my writing to both yourselves and to some friends I have here. One of the comments was that it is a "little stiff." I can see how this comes about as I tend not convey inner monologues nor say things directly; rather I prefer the "show, don't tell" way of doing things. I like to think I trust my reader to work it out for themselves, but perhaps I am wrong. I will admit, I am reluctant to loosen the emotional reins, and perhaps this is something I should be looking to do in a few instances. Thoughts most welcome. I get back to work tomorrow so, I hope this will give me sufficient energy to crack on with my models.

So figure I place this here since this project will be covering multiple factions. The idea is to do as many Combat Patrols as possible using what I have or am getting via the Hatchettes’ lovely magazine collections or any of the other bundle boxes I get over the course of this. Will also include battle reports for these or links to the reports if the CP is part of a large force I’m tracking in the main section of the B&C. Namely the guard and Admech ones. To help keep track of all these the CPs will be divided into one of four categories listed below: Complete - As the title states, these are the completed Combat Patrols, including having all the models in the same scheme. Usable - Patrols cobbled together using existing units, basically marine ones that don’t have a uniform scheme In Training - Like the Usables, but with the added tweak that the wargear is also wrong, but it is the correct unit. Requisitioned - I have the kits, but they are not table ready for one reason or a few. So currently I have the following: Complete Imperial Knights - Armigar Trailblazers Space Marines - Strike Force Octavius x2 (White Scars and Dark Hunters) Space Marines - Strike Team Solarius (Sons of the Phoenix) Tyranids - Insidious Infiltrators Tyranids - The Vardesghast Swarm Usable Deathwatch - Vigil Force Alphion Space Marines - Eye of Ultramar In Training Astra Militarium - Karsk’s Gunners Dark Angels - The Vengeful Brethren Dark Angels - Mordekai’s Judgement Tau - Protectors of Aus’Shar Tyranids - Tyranid Assault Brood Requisitioned Adeptus Sororitas - Sanctuary Guardians Adeptus Mechanicus - Maniple Verask-Alpha Astra Militarium - Death Korps Combat Platoon Astra Militarium - Drayden’s Lance Blood Angels - Strike Force Marcellos Chaos Space Marines - Dark Zealots Eldar - Kygharil’s Protectors Eldar - The Fatebreakers Space Marines - Medusan Redoubt Space Marines - Rampart Force Torreus Tau - Sudden Dawn Cadre I'll link the patrol to posts that have the completed CP once I get pictures. I have a few games this weekend so will do my best to get picts.

With the conclusion of the opening multi-player apex battle concluded, the campaign has moved into a round of individual games. Schedules aligned to have my Luna Wolves face off against the Raven Guard in a 2500 point battle for my last HH game of 2025. This battle was fought earlier in the month before schedules completely got sidetracked by end of year craziness. It's taken me a bit to be objective about the mission experience enough to write anything up. Mission: Take and Hold Deployment: Hammer and Anvil Army Deployment Order of Battle Luna Wolves: Centurion, Legion Champion (cataphractii), 2 Tactical Squads (both with logistical benefit - heavy transport), 2 Rhinos, Land Raider Carrier, Spartan, Contemptor, Sicaran, Sicaran Arcus, Justaerin, Cataphractii squad Raven Guard: Praetor, Vigilator, Centurion, Assault Squad (with master sergeant), 2 Tactical Squads, 2 Rhinos, Heavy Support Squad (volkites), Contemptor, Javelin Squadron (lascannons), Land Speeder Squadron (multi-meltas), Mor Deythan Squad, Veteran Assault Squad, Dark Furies Game Summary It has been a looong time since I have majorly messed up during deployment such that the game was basically lost before turn 1 (back in 5th edition WHFB days). Alas, this battle would end that streak. I won roll to pick board edge and did not pay close enough attention to where the objective markers where placed. One can be seen behind the left Raven Guard Rhino. The other is on the edge of L shaped building in the upper right just outside the deployment zone. In hindsight I should have measured the distance rather than eyeball it, OR I should have picked the other edge to deploy. (I also claim that this oversight was really karma coming back to bite me for not having gotten further along in painting!!) As it was, the Raven Guard player had first move and was able to slingshot the tactical squad in the right Rhino within 2.75" of the objective marker. A quarter inch miscalculation on my part that let him claim both objectives on turn 1. Backing them up were the assault squad, dark furies, and land speeders. The Javelins and Mor Deythan tag teamed my Contemptor and managed to destroy it for first blood. My turn saw advancement. The RG would react move the tactical squad away from the objective - allowing an easy transfer of control but denying me opportunity to get the desperately needed vanguard points. I decided to disembark the large cataphractii unit in the spartan rather than push up the board. I'm not sure I would do that again in replaying the battle but at the time it didn't look like they would be able to reach the other objective before it depleted so I wanted to get them into action sooner rather than have them stuck inactive for most of the game. Shooting took off infantry and hull points on both sides. I ended up charging the Justaerin into the rhino to get first blood points. But...the damage was already done as the reduced value of the objective that traded hands and the RG controlling both at one point meant I ended the turn down 6 points. Midway through bottom of Turn 1 Turn 2 was more involved and I forgot to keep taking pictures. One of these days I will get better at remembering to do this.... The contested objective traded hands again and fully depleted by end of the turn. The Arcus and Land Speeders destroyed each other...a brutal reminder that even one close range melta can still be lethal. The Dark Furies wiped out one of my tactical squads and would later react away from my Justaerin, leaving them with only being able to shoot as a consolation. The RG Contemptor was destroyed in close combat. The Javelins and volkite support squad took heavy casualties. The point gap widened in the Raven Guard's favor. I called the battle early in turn 3 as there was no way to close the gap in points. While it might have been entertaining to see how much damage the Justaerin and cataphractii could do, realistically neither they or my tanks were going to be able to table the rest of the RG forces (which would have been a pyrrhic 'victory' for me). A well-deserved win for the Raven Guard and a minus point on momentum for the traitor besiegers. Momentum won't be recalculated until more battles have been fought so for the moment the traitor forces are still at a 'maintaining' level (I.e., no benefits or negatives for the traitor forces). I highly suspect I would have lost even if I had been able to keep the Raven Guard from claiming both objectives on the first turn. The assault squads were too maneuverable for me to easily catch and could reposition to stall any of my units if I was gaining an advantage. My ability to press the second objective before it depleted under RG control was also highly questionable given the distance to cross and the number of RG units that could intercept. Post Mortem Thoughts This will likely be my least favorite mission and deployment combination of HH 3.0. Ignoring my mess up during pre-game deployment...the decaying value of the objectives is a frustrating mechanic. Even IF vanguard were easier to get...there is a severe handicap for losing control of an objective. The decaying value of the objectives makes a turnover of control almost guaranteed to give one player a significant point gain over the other. And once the objectives are depleted I don't see much hope of vanguard or other bonus points making difference unless both objectives are being flip flopped. Now, it may be that leaning into deep strike or outflanking will mitigate this and I won't truly have a feel for the mission until I've played it more. But the first impression is going to take time to fade. It would have been nice to end 2025 with a win. However, the game was still enjoyable and the banter during it was fun. And that's what really matters. Now back to the workshop to get to painting and assembling.

The Chosen are a simple group to put together, just a Nemesis Claw box with a couple of changes to loadouts from the suggested version. I'm going to be running them as two identical Chosen squads with the following loadout- champion w/plasma pistol, powerfist, and icon, chosen w/twin accursed weapon and plasma pistol, 2x Chosen with combi-weapon, accursed weapon, and bolt pistol, Chosen w/bolter, accursed weapon, and bolt pistol. Since I love the chainglaives that all good Night Lords carry, this made figuring out the leaders of each squad easy- they get a chainglaive to represent a powerfist, with Nivar Xikas getting the Nemesis squad's chainblade that was easily converted to a chainglaive by adding to the hilt. Twin accursed weapons were also easy, as there is a member of the Nemesis claw with lightning claws already, and a rather nasty looking knife-wielder that I simply gave a plasma pistol to. The rest of the crew(s) were modeled as either bolt pistol and chainsword to represent the combi-weapon Chosen, or given a bolter to be the least special guy in each squad and probably be removed first. Chosen squad 1 Chosen squad 2 Nivar Xikas As a bonus, the Nemesis Claw box had the bits needed to give Headsman Kordesh his...head, and backpack. I had already modeled the chain and skulls on his right arm so he is now ready for some worbla skin trophies to add to it, which should happen this week if my modeling timeline works out properly.

For along the stars they travel, in ships of night and blood Screaming rage and silent death Mortal in flesh, in purpose bound to the more-than-mortal Clad in dusk, armed in fear They are the Howlbrood and the Still Order Twin brotherhoods of the damned Know their mark and beware For if they are near, so are their Masters - Poem found at Unil VI, Bondri Subsector Raidings Howlbrood “Terror is the only truth.” The Howlbrood are the semi-feral spiritual remnants of Nostraman hive-gangs, execution cults, and ship-scavengers who survived the fall of the VIII Legion. Generations spent in the lightless decks of Shrikeborn vessels have twisted them into pale, wiry killers who worship the Astartes as living avatars of fear. They are not soldiers, they are predators unleashed. Deep in the bowls of Shrikeborn vessels like the Umbral Vos are small nations of ship-dwellers. Conditioned by generations of their elders, most of these mortals perform below-deck duties by rote and tradition; keeping the ships' life support systems running, tending to the fungus-beds and nocturnal hydroponics, and minor repair work not needing the adepts of the tech-caste. Each clan of workers raises up their own guardians and defenders to fight against the other clans and protect their "sacred" territory. These warriors fight in the darkened underbelly with scavenged clubs and knives of scrap metal; dedicating their kills to the demi-gods of the Shrikeborn in hopes that the Astartes will bless them by transforming one of their number into a transhuman. Occasionally the Still Order will descend to the belowdecks and conduct a harvest on orders from their masters. Shock mauls and webbers bring down the clan warriors and then comes the great sorting. Those young enough to be possible new recruits for the Astartes are passed along to the Shrikeborn's Terrormasters and Torture-Medics, to be tested and winnowed down even further to see if they will become more than human. The rest are divided into two groups; those that are fully sane and able to obey orders and the dregs. The sane are sent to the Still Order, to be indoctrinated into the disciplined mortal fighters. The dregs are sent to the Howlbrood, to become cannon fodder, fear worshippers, and death chasers. Ranting demagogues gather handfuls of fighters with their harsh blows and charismatic ramblings; the rants comprised of sermons of the glories of fear and terror, the holy crusade of the Shrikeborn to tear down the Imperium, the rewards of rending the foe's skin from their flesh. Days and days of sermons give way to battle, armored in dark robes and donning light-masks to protect their night-born eyes from the glow of hostile suns. Given the bare minimum of weaponry, pistols and swords, scavenged knives and claws made from ship-metal, the Howlbrood descend on the enemy like a horde of raving berserkers. The Howlbrood are the visceral shriek of terror before a disemboweling slash, the scream of the lost as the fangs close down, the bared blade of death unleashed. The Still Order “Order in darkness. Silence in fear.” The Still Order are the disciplined mortal arm of the Shrikeborn, descendants of Nostraman enforcers, shipboard militia, and Legion serfs who preserved a rigid martial culture long after Nostramo’s destruction. They are the closest thing the Shrikeborn have to the loyalist Astartes chapter serfs or shipboard armsmen. The Shrikeborn are the masters of their vessels, but have placed mortals in positions of power and prestige. Officers and ratings man the ships' bridges, techpriests monitor engines and conduct repairs, and the Still Order are the steel fist of the Shrikeborn's mortal followers. Recruited from every level of the ships' companies, or raised from captured youths, the Still Order are trained to repel boards, put down underdeck rebellion, and follow the Shrikeborn in battle if needed. From the past comes their training and codes of conduct- Silence, Obediance, Death. As VIII Legion serfs they were trained to support their masters in battle, learning techniques of silent movement, marksmanship, and close combat. The Still Order use their fellow mortals the Howlbrood as stalking dogs and a disguise; if they all look the same cloaked in flayed skin and masks, then the enemy will think that they all are raging fanatics. This could not be further from the truth. Dark robes cover flak vests as good as Imperial Guard standard issue, skullmasks house light enhancing and dampening visual arrays, las and hard-round rifles snipe targets with devastating precision. Squads blend into the shadows and move randomly, swirling silently around and through Howlbrood maniacs to unleash pinpoint volleys of fire before fading away into the darkness. The Still Order bring death in silence; they are the quiet fear of assassination and the looming dread of an inevitable execution.

Hi Folks, So, the challenging step is now how to break the monochrome aspect of the Moiraxes.… Weapons can bring some interesting changes to a model thanks to colored cables, coils and somehow armor panels. The GW color scheme for the Moiraxes shown on the sites, all bone with red panels on the Laslocker, are a good example. I have decided to do the same for the latter, while the Gyges Claw bearers will get pauldrons with a touch or red. As my stripes attempt was a fail on the hull, I have decided to give up that way and go plain red on one panel instead. Work done on th pauldrons can be seen here: I have now allthe parts painted and I do need to step to the assembly and final glueing + decals. Nice little project so far.

Hi Folks, After painting, assembly and basing of the legs, paint job has continued with the cockpits. It has required some thinking steps before putting the first touch of color. Well not really as black undercoat and metal dry brush did not need that kind of auto reflexive step… Once metal has been done, the decision making was done by elimination: 1. Getting the back of the hull as per the one I have done for the Styrix: bronze back. 2. Keep the Eshin grey as a main color 3. Add some variations For the variation I have started trying red stipes on one half of the hull. Even If I made serious progresses in my precision cutting and pasting of tapping It has not been convincing, mainly because of the angle break of the upper hull which gave a odd outlook for the stripes. A second attempt with bicolor hull with one half red and a second one grey was not more convincing. So I have ended with plain grey and only a pair of hoods red. Variations will be brought by pauldrons instead. Now that I have 3 pairs of legs and cockpits painted, and despite the color break brought by the basing, the pre-assembled stuff looks very monolithic. I will need something the break this aspect with Pauldrons. Models are DEFINITIVELY in need of some relief. See you later when I will have made some progress on “how to bring depth and eye-catching impact on big grey blocks”.

Ah, the Warp Talons. They don't quite fit the non-daemonic aspect that I'm going for with the Shrikeborn, but some judicious use of shame/warning/pragmaticism make it alright (i.e.- I really wanted lightning claw jumpy boys for the Night Lords and am ok with them being slightly daemonic if need be). Anyway. These guys I had a plan from the very beginning. I like the MkVI Assault Marine sculpts as they convey movement without having all the weird one-legged jumpy poses that assault squads normally have and they are, from what I could see, fairly easy to kitbash with other stuff if need be. Plus the mkVI lightning claws are pretty vicious looking and I like the Night Lords specific mkVI helms (they look like a good version of a not-quite mutated "Raptor" head). So I grabbed ten of them, some extra sets of mkVI claws, a set of claws from a 3d printer that looked nice and creepy, and went to work. Overall, the build went well. The mkVI bodies are sturdy and fit together nicely, the 3d printed claws are just on the edge of being too big but still look decent, and the chains/skulls were placed easily. Overall, one of the nicest builds I've done in a while. I'm still waiting for a little bit to do the worbla skin trophies, but as of right now these boys are done. Talons - far left guy I'm calling Yorrick for now :D More Talons Flaymaster Amathys in all his creepy glory Up next, well, it's more of a waiting game. I need to see what I get for Xmas and then figure out what to buy. I know I need to get both the Contekar termies for the Shrikeborn and a set of 5 Cataphractii for the Ebon Word and I also need about 10 HH bodies + some lascannons to make some Havocs/Legionaries from the spare bits of the assault squad. After that I'll be looking at some Saturnine termies to make Ebon Word Obliterators and I should be good (if I get the Nemesis claw for Xmas). Then with all of that purchased/built, I'll begin to paint. I've already got the Ebon Word paintjob down (don't know if I should start a blog for them...?) but I'll need to figure out the exact scheme for the Shrikeborn. I already have the paints required, but I'll be looking at what exactly works best/how I want to go on. Anyway, probably not a lot of updating here until after Xmas, but thanks for looking and see you soon!

Last bullgryn is done, I don't make a story for him, so just the bonehead. I have a great plan for him but failed due to lacklustre of my painting skills. So I make some bloody mess around. And tried new approach for power weapon with blood. It should looks like field burns blood from maul. Technically squad is done. But I wanna more ogryns and bullgryns. It's like infantry, you just can't have enough. So I'll add more, and each gonna be somehow unique folk.

Ok, I've decided on a Color scheme for the army, and reduced the weirdness of their lore thanks to some help from @Kabaakaba They are Salamanders Green with a Black right kneepad. This way Vulcan can slide right in. (He'll have one shoulderpad be the Templar Cross and have a Templar backpack) But the question I have is, which looks better: A white background with a Black Templar Cross.... or.. A Black Background with a White Templar Cross: Both of them will decide on which decals to buy an what the accent color will be on my vehicles. Thank you for your assistance!

Finished all battleline units. There is last blob of twenty and army shoot without vechicles and ogryns who's wip right now. I wish I finish last two bullgryns and castellan tomorrow. There is very few touches for them. And technically basecoated sentinels who need to be repainted in new( or upgraded colour scheme). That's looks good on the shelf and after I got all remained infantry, which is twice current body count I've got a company.

Sons of Horus 4th Company Captain Vorus Ikari Armor - Green Trim - Red Right Shoulder Inlay - White Left Shoulder Inlay - White Legion Armorials - Black, One Lunar Wolves armorial on the left shoulder Pad Sergeant Crest - Red and Black

This is Broggy. Once he joined the ranks he was real troublemaker. Commissar Gaffes though find the key to his soul. Instead of punish unruly Ogryn he said him: "When your armour and uniform and clear and shiny The God-Emperor smiles on his Throne" After this no more problem from him, except may be overuse of polishing paste.

Well... A slight pivot as the 3d printed Harakoni Warhawks helmets are a little too big in the head and tiny in the neck. Looks like I might be using Kasrkin and Aquilon heads after all... But the test fits are going well.

As 2026 rapidly approaches, and we can see over that horizon an imminent collision between the hype-fest of the final story arc of 10th edition 40K and the launch of 11th edition 40K in the summer, five painters and players take up their marks in this online arena of... The 2026 Bolter and Chainsword Bunker Bingo CHALLENGE!!! Amid the shifting sands of this dusty arena, these player will compete for online glory on this corner of the internet! The rules are simple - complete The White Dwarf Bunkee Bingo Card and show your proofs on this club here, to collect more points than your fellows in each monthly round up/winner and for a total score at the end of the year! Get ahead by picking up exlcusive bonus points for things the funniest content of the month or the excellence award. Check out the guide here for more details, a d if you are reading this and fancy a go - it is never too late to join! Starting this month I am looking to spruce up a Black Templar's Crusade to hit the table top in 11th edition next year! You can check out my first entry on the club here! @ggergnayr has confirmed he will be working on some war dogs that he got for Grotmas from Da Red Gobbo, before moving on to a DeLaque specialisr box he wants to complete for a Necromunda campaign he is currently partaking in. We wish him the most destructive luck for his gangers in the underhive! Additionally, Ggergnayr aims to try his hand at Combat Patrol this year - good luck! @Lathe Biosas is celebrating receiving his December 2025 copy of The White Dwarf whilst it is still December 2025 - just! Upon an inspiring review of his Bingo Card found in the issue he has decided to convert his own Harakoni Warhawks from Tempestus Aquilons and Kasrkin boxes. It's making me think some bonus points should exist for conversions... I'll take that under review... Then as if that isn't enough already, he then wants to start a Space Marine collection later in the year. He hasn't decided which chapter yet... so maybe some of the exciting new lore coming out now might inspire him? Stay tuned to find out! @Grotsmasha has set off already with painting a Death Guard marine from the 2025 Kill Team Starter set, and is aiming his tactical approach to this challenge by focussing on Games Workshop's boxed games like Space Marine Adventures, Combat Arena, Kill Team and Blackstone Fortress to get the most out of his Painting and Gaming points throughout the year. I wonder if his Death Guard will come full circle and the end of his year will be Desth Guard like the start? Who knows?! @Valkyrion is going big, committing to a whole Minataurs collection to see him into 11th edition. Rumours swirl that he is awaiting an order of exclusive shoulder pads to mint them! In the mean time, he is preparing a Rhino for his new marines to thrust into the heart of battle. Woah! Phew! That's a lot of hobbying! Players - share your Bingo projects with the world with your own threads on the Pledges, Progress and Updates tab! Remember, there you can score your bonus points! Let's go!

Hi Folks, Following pre-building of the legs and carapace, instead of keeping going on with weapons, I have shifted to paint jobs. Starting with the legs. The idea was getting some progress while not being fully decided about how the carapace and cockpit will be done. My Korvax inspired scheme is rather easy to apply plain Eshin grey with recesses in Administratum grey and highlight with Mechanium Standard grey. But is there some room on the armor panels for some secondary color? On big chassis sure there is but on Moiraxes, space left available is limited. Though less limited on Moiraxes than on other types of Armigers. For these lads, I have decided to apply a limited amount of secondary color, aiming at 2 distinct patterns: a bonish one for the Gyges claw bearers and a red one for the Laslocker. A single leg as been set bicolor (the left one) in each case. After starting only with the lower panel I finally ended doing also the upper panel. Rest is easy: robots support largely the dry brushing as a main technique and as a result it goes fast painting these lads. The basing was also in line with my usual approach: Tan earth and Kislev Flesh brush applied on limited texture plus some tufts. Yet, the future Laslock Moirax received a deeper work with some ruins added, using old 3rd Ed. Plastic ruin floor, rocks and some left over bitz from Administratum buildings. I let you consider the job so far. Next step will be cockpits: now that I have ignited the paint job, I can’t stop in the middle of the way. See you.

Stab-lights strobed in the dark. A score of men moved quietly, lasguns held ready and sweeping the darkened street, flicking their gunlights on and off in a trained manner, giving an enemy no steady light to target. Imperial Guard, Mordians even, veterans of that world's ever-night. They were comfortable in the gloom but wary. Their parade-ground uniforms blended into the night as they advanced towards the local power depot. The enemy had come to Javan and the Mordian 990th Iron Guard would not fail in their duty to throw them back. The dark bothered not the Mordians but their charges, the soldiers and civilians of this world. They were already dead, marked and judged. The power depot was massive, a square block of brutal wall past which hunched the rounded turbines of the Omnissiah's force. Normally there would be a deep hum and sharp crackle from the many cables running from the depot out into the city. Now there was only a chill silence as the Mordians converged on the entrance. The gate gaped open, a darker hole in a dark wall. The first Iron Guard reached the depot's doorway. She moved confidently but slipped slightly as her boots hit the cold stone of the interior. A look down, a quick flash of the stab-light. Frozen movement as eyes took in the disturbance below. Blood. Lots of blood. A hissed report sent back to the squad's sergeant who in turn voxed the information to higher command. The order was given: Move in, Destroy enemy, Restore power. The point-woman slipped further into the entryway, a section of four following and splitting up. The full squad moved forward, leap-frogging section by section through the vast entrance of the depot. Cover was scant, a few strange uprisings of unknown archaeotech that the Mechanicus must find useful. Unfortunately, as the Guardsmen sheltered behind them, they found the lumpen consoles strewn with bits of flesh and flayed skin. Never a full body though, only scraps and pieces. As the squad approached the end of the entrance fane, the point held up a hand. Sound was coming from the hallway that lead further into the depot. A faint...sibilant hissing/singing? The squad moved deeper into the building, passing work hab sections and small side chapels of the Machine Cult. Every step made the strange song a little louder, a little more clear. The words were unknown, the melody a steady despondency. At last the squad reached the main genetorium. Something was placed in front of the large control panel. Something dark and massive. Their stab-lights barely illuminated it, the light seemingly sucked into the thing's surface. It was covered in skin and chains, blood and bone. The song was coming from it, grating in the ears and vibrating the bones of the soldiers. They surrounded it, moving closer. The terminator's eyes snapped one, blazing red with Preysight. Four other pairs burned around the squad, surrounding them as they surrounded the first. The great chainblades rose. The snapped orders, pinpoint marksmenship from lasguns, bayonets slashing. It mattered not. The blades rose and fell, the song continued. Silence fell. Darkness continued. The song drifted through the depot. Waiting for the next soldiers to hear it. The Dirgebound Contekar Terminator Cadre of the Shrikeborn “We do not speak. We remember.” The Dirgebound are the Contekar Terminators of the Shrikeborn, ancient warriors clad in baroque Tartaros plate. Their armor is etched with mourning runes and Nostraman death-script, covered in the skulls and skins of their foes. They are the silent heart of the warband, deployed only when final judgment is required; when a foe must not only be defeated but buried beneath the weight of memory and fear. Each member of the Dirgebound has taken a vow of silence in battle, speaking only through action and the howling of their great-chainblades. Their name comes from the dirges they play through corrupted vox-casters as they advance; low, droning laments that echo the funeral chants of Nostramo, designed to unnerve and disorient their enemies. Led by Dissident Varnaz Thule, a veteran of the Great Crusade who has not removed his helm in over three centuries, the Dirgebound are often deployed alongside Stained Lord Carrow himself. They serve as his personal honor guard, and as the executioners of his will, meting out punishment to traitors, oathbreakers, and those who defy the Shrikeborn’s grim code. Their presence on the battlefield is a symbol of finality, for when the Dirgebound walk, the war is already lost.

The storm owned the city. Rain fell sideways, thick with ash, turning lumen-globes into sickly halos that barely touched the ground. MASON split the squad without words. Hand signals. Eye contact. Black-Net stayed quiet except where silence would kill them. They moved through the slums like a rumor of violence. Doors opened before hands reached for locks. Shapes folded before mouths could open. No one screamed long enough to matter. Bodies hit ferrocrete, then were ignored. Identification came later—if it came at all. The Administratum building waited at the end of a dead avenue, upper floors collapsed from Ork shelling months old. The war had passed through and moved on. The ruin remained. Reinforced doors bore fresh welds over old Imperial seals, hurried and crude. KILN was already kneeling. The charge erased the entrance in a clean white bloom. They were inside before the echo finished dying. Hallways vanished under practiced violence. VESPER marked targets that never saw him. SABLE’s pistols coughed twice at a time—bored, surgical. HEMLOCK burned through a barricade and stepped through the cooling metal without breaking stride. Only after the structure was theirs did they look down and count the dead. The wrongness crept in near the central chamber. Auspex returns lagged. Sound flattened, as if the room swallowed echoes whole. Outside, the storm pressed against the walls and slid aside, rain refusing to cross an unseen boundary. At the center stood the Tech-Priest. Black robes. Hood drawn low. Flesh and augmetics carved with binaric script etched directly into skin and steel. His vox-grille screamed machine-cant, but his movements didn’t match—gestures trailing the chant by a fraction of a second, as though reality itself was hesitating. He wasn’t praying. He was calling. MASON inhaled. PRAXIS fired. Plasma tore through the room, sun-hot and absolute. Flesh vaporized. Augmetics sloughed away in molten ribbons. The Tech-Priest collapsed mid-gesture, the chant severed on a single unfinished note that scraped the air raw. Silence slammed down too hard. Consoles around them flickered. A low whine rose from machinery that should have been dormant for decades. The air tightened, pressure without weight. “Search,” MASON ordered. They found it behind a dead field generator, wrapped in layers of shielding that hadn’t been powered since before the Ork attack. A shard of black stone. Two feet long. Matte. Featureless. Light bent away from it like it knew better. The auspex refused to register its existence. No heat. No reflection. No warp echo. MASON knew what it was the moment he saw it. “Package secured,” he said. “Exfil. Now.” The explosion came from nowhere and everywhere at once. The building convulsed inward. MASON felt weightless, then crushed, then nothing at all. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ MASON woke choking on dust and ozone. His helm scrolled error runes. His body lagged behind command by a heartbeat too long. Pain arrived late and distant, filed away for later accounting. The chamber was gone. The roof had peeled back, leaving a jagged crater open to the storm. Wind screamed through broken ferrocrete, but at the center of the ruin stood a circle the weather refused to touch. Something small rested there. Metallic. Plain. Silent. ARGONAUT's torso rotated, locked, and froze—machine-spirit trapped in a logic spiral, classification subroutines eating themselves alive. Rain struck the air around the object and slid aside. No sound crossed its boundary. ECHO’s voice came over the vox, thin and shaken. “I remember this.” MASON forced himself upright and followed ECHO’s stare. The device wasn’t glowing. It wasn’t humming. It simply existed... an absence pressed into the world. Understanding settled in his gut like cold iron. Teleport homer. Active. “I’ve seen them before,” Echo said, barely audible. “Silver. Halberds. Everyone burns and no one knows why.” The air grew tighter. Cleaner. As if something vast was aligning far above them—not forcing its way through the Warp, but overriding it entirely. MASON looked down at the black rock locked in his gauntlet. He felt exposed. Hunted. “Vultures,” he said, voice steady by force of will alone, “scatter. Delay actions. We run.” High above the city, reality prepared to give way.

Hi Folks, After a long time wondering if I might add a knight to my AdMech as a Freebalde in order to boost my armoured support, I succumbed to the charm of a Styrix knight some times ago. But the latter, even if it is a nice center piece, tends in some case to be under scoring and with a rather low Return on Investment. I might play it in the wrong way. Or it is a too obvious bullet catcher. Or a single Freeblade is not an optimum set up. Or everything at the same time. The diagnosis I set led me to seek for a different way of freeblading the armored support, moving toward a cadre of 3 Armigers. But which ones? Helverin and Warglaives are OK and the fact that the kits are now merged in a single box allows getting AdMech styled pauldrons even for Helverins. Yet I have decided moving toward Moiraxes instead. The lighting lock weapon type and the skull heads were to be accounted into my decision. I have indeed decided to get these for the look they have. Rule of Kool again. The 3 kits I bought were split into one Moirax with 2 LasLocks and a pair of Volkite with Claw chassis. Their advantages are that these are not Legendary units, but FW, which may account to their eligibility in some games easier than not updated Legends. And that they are Battleline too. So, in case of extending my gathering of Knights in the coming months, it might be a circumstantial benefit – for what it worths and for what it stays. Yet, as the base case for Freeblades is 1 big knight or up to 3 Armiger chassis, this addition opens the option for getting these 3 lads distributed at various places in the battleline with a potential survivability superior to a single knight. Firepower will be distributed and if I loose one or two in a turn, the third one will still have the possibility to do something. It is like getting the eggs out of the single basket. A kind of balanced approach that might be interesting to get in some cases (such as bright/dark lances heavy armies or when facing other knights for example). Initial steps after getting the models were cleaning and priming before starting sub-assemblies. Legs were quite OK to build, even if the instruction leaflet has at least one error for the pelvic area of the battle robots. But it was easily corrected. The upper body and pilot block was more or less smooth to assemble. Yet the usual suspects that are deformations for the resin parts due to demolding conditions were observed. How to solve this? One could have been treated by mean of gap filling, but this is really an option for small defects and bubbles or damages IMHO. In that case, the solution is hot bending just as for the more major deformation. A small bath in hot water (60°C approx.), plus a smooth bending in position, et voilà! A perfect result. When working with resin, hot pot is your friend! Rest of the job was rather straight forward, and the main sub-assemblies were done promptly. Next step will be weapons, and then I will be able to shift to paint job. Scheme will have to be decided first, even if I will try to stay aligned with my Styrix big brother and its color pallet inspired by House Korvax. See you for next steps probably after Seasons’ greetings.

BELLIGERENTS of BADAB HOWLING GRIFFONS One wound of many. So, I'm not painting a lot of Space Marines these days, between my Tau Crusade Army and fun I've been having over in BFG. That didn't seem right. Now, I can't commit to a major project, but I can certainly muck around with single models, right? So begins BELLIGERENTS of BADAAAAAAAAAAB!! The crowd goes wild. Wanted to start out with something fiddly, so I've knocked out a Howling Griffon. Not just any Howling Griffon, however, this is a highly specific little conversion... You should see the other guy. Now, I'm not going to promise to do every model like this, being directly based on one of the original pictures, but some certainly will be. It's fun! I don't have a full army in someone else's scheme in me, I'm not built that way, but I can do a model in an existing style. Also, great excuse to try out some more freehanding! Now, I need to decide who's next...