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I am so looking forward to completing one of my pledges - the Night Rovfugl, Barcza, and his team of Kasrkin. I will get this done this weekend. It is, quite honestly, one of the most adventurous models I have taken on. You ain't seen no Valkyrie yet, guys. And, in keeping with my mixing of languages and giving my vehicles some character, 'rovfugl' is akin to 'bird of prey' in Danish. The Night Rovfugl flew blacked-out, its matte hull cutting low across the desert. No lights nor insignia. Just the shimmer of heat bleeding from shielded exhausts, briefly visible, then gone. Inside, the troop compartment was dim and red-lit, casting the squad in blood and shadow. Ten troopers sat in silence, visors down, weapons held loosely across their laps. Straps swayed faintly with the motion of the hull. Barcza sat near the rear ramp, his helmet resting between his boots. He scanned each figure once, methodically, then tapped his throat mic. “Roll call.” The replies came clipped, one after another. “Lis.” “Raven.” “Slate.” “Gauge.” …others followed, each punctuated by a nod, a pat on the side of their weapon. They were ready. Weapons were checked again. Magazines seated. Grenades counted. Las-sights flicked on, then off. Barcza slid his helmet on and locked it tightly. His visor polarised with a faint click. No one spoke. A red light above the side doors pulsed twice. The cabin shifted subtly as the Rovfugl dropped in to hover. The sound wasn’t a roar, more a pressure. A low, rhythmic throb, felt more than heard. Fast and tight as it neared the drop point. Each pulse landed in the chest like a second heartbeat. The red light turned amber. Then green. The doors slid open. Barcza stood first. One hand up, a closed fist: hold. Two fingers pointed forward: on me. A flat palm, sweeping left: form wedge. The squad moved. Ten black shapes dropped into the dark. No comms. No noise but the soft grind of boots on dry grit. The Night Rovfugl lifted behind them. There was no flare nor aftershock. Just a lingering pressure in the air, then nothing. Barcza gave a short circular signal: check arcs. Two peeled left. Two right. The rest swept forward, low and methodical. He tapped his mic once, low gain. “Follow me.” And they moved into the dust, into the dark.

10th Ed. Blues Well, I can wait and paint nothing. Or, I can cast a wide net, hoping something, anything, I paint is actually usable in the new rules. Well, the old malcador infernus will keep coming out to play until she's relegated to legends... but for the most part I think I want fundamentals ready for June 2023: Commander, Infantry, heavy weapons, special weapons, vox, leman russes, etc. I mean the other option is to sit and paint nothing, wait for a meta to emerge and race to catch it. This option is almost never satisfying (it borders gambling or smoking in harmful dopamine rewards). In fact I'd LOVE to get another 5 death riders... but with rough riders out now I have to imagine my beautiful boys are headed to legends soon. Ursula Krieg (Creed). It'd been several months since I sat down with blending and glazing. I was extremely rusty and impatient. I Attempted the sword in grey scale with red ink over the top. Not a huge fan of how the paint scheme is coming out. I should have planned it more. But, I need to get more units mobilized for 10th. She's a practice model. I got the head off of an Etsy shop selling Reptilian Overlords Miniatures. I think these will be the heads for my rough riders - that or Brodie helmets from Anvil Industries. I sculpted the breather hose with the green stuff roller, and took an extra backpack from my Tiny Legends Miniatures Kasrkin/Grenadiers. Quick and simple. Rogal Dorn I bought this at the pre-order, assembled it, and it collects dust now. I got wild with focus only on Adepticon. I need to get back to getting units serviceable. After years of reading the Rinaldi books, and AK Interactive's FAQ, I decided to try some texture for the hull. So, tamiya putty and cement. I also tried flame cut marks and weld lines. I suppose lore-wise these all ought to be standard design STC templates (welding and casting imperfections aren't in the lore). But, if I wanted to be bound by historical constraints I'd play a historical game. 40k is open by design. Interestingly I saw a golden demon entry at Adepticon, where these same 1/35 scale techniques were applied to a Dorn! It looked great. I would have loved to have talked with the painter. Also brass handles and antenna are 100x better. I'll die on that hill. Grenadiers (counts as "Kasrkin") Oh man, those Tiny Legend Miniatures sculpts are just spot on. 3d printing seams are very minimal. Bad idea? Chasing the meta? Yeah. But, the sculpts just rock. The volley gun poses are beyond awesome (clearly designed after the M60 machine gun). The price... well that part is rough. Anyway, presently they can take 4 specials, 1 sniper, a vox, and a melta mine. What are the odds in 10th they can take 1 special weapon and that's all, all stop. It's the old GW hat trick, "buy 3-4 boxes and max out the crazy rules!" And, next edition the unit gathers dust. Where are my manticores again? Luckily I didn't buy 9 sentinels, or 18. Notably Tiny Legends Miniatures also now makes rough rider conversions to krieg. They look great, but I don't know I can justify it. Anyway, back on topic, the kasrkin here all need a lot of work. So, bit by bit they are coming along. I was thinking of getting in one last 9th ed. tourney. At Adepticon my teammate took Lord solar and kasrkin. He didn't even use barbicant's key. It was vicious. I mean incredible damage output, to the point I felt bad about it while watching it. Still against Custodes I miss my vanquishers - gotta get through those invulns. I'll be interested to see if 10th Ed. reworks invulns and saves generally. Thanks! Happy Hunting.

This is a project that I've wanted to do for a while and what better time to launch it then at the eve of ETL III? However, before any more blabber, I'd like to show the picture that really got this started for me: (Art by Karl Kopinski; source - Codex: Imperial Guard, 3rd Edition, 2nd version) As well know, the Cadians are some of the best fighting troops available to the Departmento Munitorum. They hail from Cadia, the fortress-world that guards the only known passage into (and out of) the Eye of Terror, and have fought wars all over the galaxy against almost any foe imaginable. Cadian Shock Trooper regiments are requested by Imperial generals and warlords from across the galaxy because the Cadians are loyal to the Emperor alone and they will hold the line in the face of the enemy. Among them however, are the Kasrkin, elite of the elite. Now, I could try and write some shabby description about how awesome the Kasrkin are, but I think that quoting the famed Dan Abnett from his Eisenhorn series is a much better idea on this occasion. So yeah, that's the Kasrkin for you. Now, with the fact that they are "though-arse bastards" established, we can move onto the modeling side of things. Right now, until I/we receive word from GW, the Kasrkin models that they produced are unavailable. Now, on one side, this is a real damn shame since the models were real beauties. For those of you who haven't seem them or who need a refresher, see the picture below. On the other hand, not having these models readily available is a boon for people like me who would like to have an army of Kasrkin models but can't (I don't like eBay and trading only goes so far). Also, since they're completely metal, they're mono-pose models, which makes them a bit boring after a while. So, what am I going to do? I'm going to use GW/FW Imperial Guard pieces (I'm thinking of using the basic rebreather heads from Forge World), Green Stuff and plastic card to make my own Kasrkin models (though sticking as much as possible to the original sculpts) to then have a whole army of elite Kasrkin squads (with attached vehicles, of course). My secondary goal is to also have a hefty amount of background fluff to go with this army/regiment to make it that slight bit more unique, which I will build up over time. So, my current to-do list is as follows: Pick up at least one box of Cadians to get started with (basic armour additions to the model, establishing which details to add, etc.); Order the Infantry Rebreather upgrade kit from Forge World to see what additions can be made to the helmets (extra auspex nodes, sights, etc.); Establish the colour scheme for the army (classic Cadian green armour with red-and-beige patterns and beige fatigues or another scheme, like a desert camo scheme or a ice waste environment scheme?); Get a decent army list written up and torn apart by the locals here; ??? Profit?? I'll be visiting my local indie store within the next few days to pick up supplies, which means that I should be able to get a decent start very soon Until then, the Emperor protects!