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So here is my first 24hrs progress for the Knives in the Shadows Event,

Having been barely keeping up with the hobby for several years, Indomitus reignited my passion for 40k last year, so I decided to try to actually build a force. This time it will be Primaris space marines, but still my beloved 3rd Company of the Ultramarines. The plan is to build the complete company, including officers and attached specialists and a dreadnought, plus a ten-man Deathwatch kill team, and such a project needs a fresh thread, so here I am. In terms of bulding the company, I will be dividing it into combat squads, to avoid becoming overwhelmed or bored, and alternate those with Deathwatchers and officers, so that it will go Combat Squad > Deathwatch > Combat Squad > Officer > Combat Squad > Deathwatch... and so on. This should offer a decent balance between progress and sameness of models. I started an Intercessor veteran sergeant (the 30th anniversary model) as a one-off before I decided to make a full army, so I decided to finish him before doing the rest of the combat squad. If you visit the Ultramarines subforum, you may have seen him, but here he is again with one of the Necrons the 3rd is fighting: The Necron is really just a color scheme test model, not the start of an army, any time soon at least. The rest of Combat Squad Ardias is in progress, with their bodies only needing cleanup: The bolt rifle arms are coming along too, I just need to highlight the black and tidy up everything before gluing them on. Then it's just the other arms, backpacks and heads and then finishing touches. Of course, an Intercessor squad isn't the end of it. I have plenty of plans for all the squads and in particular the command cadre. I don't feel like typing out all the minute details of my plan that I've spent the last nine months overthinking, so for now I will just finish off with something black for now:

A place for me to post my work in progress custom imperial fists and successors army. And for my entrance for the knives in the Shadows competition. Fluff included For the Might of Dorn.

Hi Folks, Today's contribution will be a different one: the narrative due to come along the painted minis for the "Knives in the Shadows" challenge. An exercice I am not very familiar with. Let's see how it sorts out: ____________________________________________ The master of the Esdainchii was carefully watching at the stage. The troop was jumping and flipping around, dancing a Masque very few had seen played, even among the near immortal Asuryanii. As far as time and age might have any meaning. The plot looked so archaic and old that it depicted a storyline older than the Fall. Older than the war in Heaven. Older than his of race or its gods. A secret story. It set a cosmogonic theme, revealing the preexistence of the Black Library to anything else and giving a small and very limited insight on the true nature of its darkest guardians. Everything else around and inside the Library of Chaos came later. Even Cegorach. It might make uneasy even the most hardened Solitaire. But not the Shadowseer of the Esdainchii. He already knew that some darker places and secrets may exist beyond the darkest known ones. He knew, because he felt, saw, and lived it in his flesh and in his soul once having been touched by the guardians. A nearly meta-empirical experience. Not even the most powerful Farseers of Ulthwee could imagine the depth of his true secret without being consumed. The Dance was not really telling any story. No one could pretend understanding the meaning of the ballet, its cabalistic nature. While pretending depicting a Masque about the genesis of the Black Library and its discovery by the Old Ones, it was in fact a ritual. A forgotten, and somehow forbidden one, which purpose is to trap new Dancers for the Troupe. The potential recruits should connect with the secret, without being aware of this connection. This is the Shadowseer’s task for today: trapping recruits. For more than ten millennia now he was filling his Troupe’s ranks with souls that were not even aware that their lifes and decisions did not belong to them anymore. He embraced this quest on purpose of maintaining alive the secret and, someday, finding his successor. Millennias ago he had to overcome his own disgust at the idea of being at the manoeuvre in the process of confiscation of freewill of his blood brothers in order to reshape them as members of his Troupe. He went though the very same process. He knew it meant crossing an ocean of infinite darkness, until eventually being touched and reborn as a Shadowseer. The psychoharpist sat on the edge of the stage was reacting to the Dance. He could see it in his glaze. Soon this soul will stand up and join the Dance. The Aeldar did not control his fate anymore. Should he survive the Dance he will become one among the Harlequins of the Esdainchii. And the Troupe will then leave the Craftworld while its new member will walk his first steps on a one-way trip to his true fate. The Esdanchii are a mysterious Troupe even under Harlequins standards. They appear very punctually, less than once per millennia or even lesser. They play a Dance that always see members from the assistance joining the stage and eventually dying on it. They then disappear until a next performance but most of the time no one ever hear about them again. They seem to live a secret life deep in the Webway, beyond the mortal dimension. Since the event called by the Mon’Keig “the opening of the great rift”, the Troupe started however being seen in the real world more frequently. Though it looks it holds its own agenda and it is not that clear if they fight with, along or coincidentally at the same place as the Aeldarii hosts or the Drukharii raiding parties they might join. This agenda of them looke like being more focused on a specific aspect of the battlefield than any thing else. Physically and litterally. It looks like they are harvesting some stuff, not even being really interested in killing the enemies of the Asuryanii. Yet most of the time, their apparition is more likely to be reported by non-Elder races, telling about the Troupe coming to their place and performing its ballet even under the direst battle circumstances. Some among the observers of this Troupe’s actions reported some strange behaviors, witnessing that apparent objective of the Troupe was just to collect a single piece of gravel or a fistful of sand from the battlefield. Once this task completed, they just vanish as ghosts, their objectives, whatever it used to be, fulfilled. What for and why? The Master of the Esdainchii do not even know himself how the nature of the offering is defined: why harvesting such a specific grain of dust matters more than another one? Yet he is fully aware that this duty his Troupe completes is the only tithe that satisfy the primal guardians of the Library of Chaos and keep them contained in the deepest and darkest keeps of the Black Library. This is the mission they received from Cegorach himself: acting as intermediaries between the current reality and the reality of old, that predated anything, so that the latter does not overflow the dimensions the children of Asur settled in. The Esdainchii guard the dam and keep its vanes closed. A curse among the curses. ___________________________________________________________ And... that's it. See you folks.

So with March approaching I want to share my WIP killteam for the Knives in the Shadows 2025 painting challenge. I haven't played since 2004 so I'm in this hobby only for collecting and painting. I asked permission to @Lysimachus to create something more of a scenic diorama rather than a ready to play kt squad. I like to have a theme, a schedule and to inspire and be inspired by other people works. With his ok, I started to think what I wanted to do. First I was thinking about the marine Raptors chapter since they fit so well with the city fight theme of the challenge. But then, searching through the chapters I (re)discover Wolfspear, a rare primaris founding from the Space Wolves. I really liked the idea of space wolves more silent, with more hunting tactics if you want and the colour scheme was for me intriguing. With some difficulties and some luck I found the 2 years old white dwarf when they spoke about them and the transfer sheet of the chapter that was with it. I will speak about specifics in the next posts but basically it's an ambush by a Wolfspear killteam to a Necron detachment. The scene is in the center of a ruined Imperial city. I will leave the story for last, for now as usually I do, I prefer to concentrate to painting while I'm thinking about the story. edit: grammatical errors

Hi Folks, After a while disconnecting from the hobby due to material contingencies including a home relocation (New Year / New Job challenge), I resumed this quarter hobbying with a small KT for the challenge hosted there: https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/384972-knives-in-the-shadows-sign-up-thread/?do=getNewComment I selected the team on the basis of simple criterias: - being usable in 40k as a standardized unit - completing holes in my Aeldarii forces - bringing tactical options I do not have. The Harlies were the way to go, as they can climb onto the converted Venom I built 25 years ago or so and bring interresting dirty tricks with the Jester and the Shadowseer. And it is a set of mini that is relatively low on budget. So here I went. The assembly was not that great. Troupe member benefit of a poorly designed assembly leaflet. Arm selection and positionning is especially ill indicated and getting a proper pose is a little bit more demanding than for other kits. But the Jester is probably the model that is the less user friendly of the mob. His calf is the part which positionning is among the worse designed I have seen for a while. Anyway, it ended being assemblied more or less properly. Painting was a little bit more challenging and I rapidely gave up painting checkers and diamonds. Yet the decision to go to a more simple scheme resulted being eye catching enough. The results are here bellow: The Lead Player requires some small corrections on the transition between clear and dark colours. Yet the biggest deception of mine is that I still have not found in which crate I put my snow flock. Basing will require being completed latter on. Next step is to set a small narrative and my contribution for this challenge will be completed. See you soon.

This is the thread for my Luna Wolf Kill team. I plan on having A Centurion (Aspiring Chamption) Signifier (Icon bearer) Codicier (Balefire Acoylte Gunner Heavy Gunner Line Brother (ShriveTalon) I am awaiting the bits but I'll get started on their individual lore now. My characters are set in the early stages of the Great Crusade. ADB didnt want to write about the same characters in 30k and 40k as someone who was important in 40k might not be important during the heresy or vice versa. Most characters we read about are the notable ones, these guys are not notable 10k years on. Most didnt survive the heresy. Some didnt even survive to the heresy. Others the Imperium has no record of. Fluff is very much a work in progress with blanks currently TBD. It'll flesh out more as the models are built. I'll include WIP models in the thread. The fluff section will have pictures of the final models/ most up to date WIP Very open to comments, queries, criticisms and suggestions!

Unit Name: The 4th Mootshire Elite Abhuman Line. Planet of Origin: Mootshire, 11th planet in the Aver Expanse. Commanding officer: Lt. Col Reginald Trik Regimental appellations: “The Bluebonnets”, “Reginald’s Irregulars”. Notable disciplinary records of 4th MEAL. Fixer: Trik, Reginald - Lt. Colonel M41.2346 – Regimental officers mess hall storage facilities on Tanit Rex are robbed ahead of highly anticipated planetary millennial Sanguinala celebrations during an Orkish invasion. Regimental Commisariat and Planetary Probators are unable to determine culprits. M41.2347 Col. Trik is charged with attempted bribery of a planetary official using cases of Amasec commemorating the millennial Sanguinala. Subsequent investigations yield no physical evidence and Col. Trik denies charges. Col. Trik reprimanded for Rapscallionary and unit is ordered to front-line duty as punishment. Administratum clerks never receive orders rotating 4th MEAL, resulting in prolonged rear echelon duties. Raider: Longbelt, Talbit - Specialist M41.2343 – Specialist Longbelt is arrested following a string of larcenies near 4th MEAL billeting areas while deployed in defense of Imperial Shrineworld Kalamath 2. Specialist Longbelt is arrested after numerous eye witnesses identify Longbelt in suspect lineup. 4th MEAL Billeting area is searched, and while none of the stolen items are recovered, numerous artifacts reportedly stolen from planetary ecclesiarchy shrines are found. Commissariat charges Trooper Longbelt with petty pilfering to avoid involving ecclesiarchy in investigation, planetary Relics are ordered “returned” in lieu of death sentence. Bomber: Gonbelly, Jasper “lefty” – Specialist M41.2349 – While deployed to Hive City Elicoth Primus to combat Mutant Cultist Activities Specialist Gonbelly is arrested following a series of devastating explosions within PDF barracks. Initially charged with treason and fratricide Trooper Gonbelly was spared the firing squad after investigations into the explosions revealed the vast majority of PDF troopers killed in the explosions were mutants. Cultist capabilities in the hive city dropped precipitously and the hive city was retaken in short order. Specialist Gonbelly refused to cooperate with any investigation and was released from custody following flogging for disrespecting senior officers. Battlemutt: Petunia, N/A No disciplinary records exist for regimental mascot dubbed “Petunia”. Big Shot: Longchalk, Curlin – Gunner M41.2352 4th MEAL was deployed to Coberus Decius (an Agriworld in the Aver Expanse) Specialist Longchalk was arrested after being apprehended during an attempted “rustling” of a small Grox herd onto an imperial troop lander. Longchalk was sentenced to 5 lashes per stolen grox, While awaiting the punishment to be carried out the Imperial holding facilities suffered a massive explosion and Specialist Longchalk was listed as KIA. No body was recovered from the blast, and according to Administratum records Specialist Longchalk has been deployed to all subsequent 4th MEAL conflict zones. Hardbit: Manglepie, Aldebrand “Aldo” – Private M41.2340 – Then Sergeant Manglepie is arrested at an NCO lounge on Ogydox IV following a massive brawl. Witnesses swear the fight is instigated by Sgt. Manglepie. Manglepie is demoted to corporal. M41.2341 – Corporal Manglepie is arrested following a violent exchange between 4th Meal troopers and local PDF officers. Witnesses interviewed by commissariat attest Corporal Manglepie was provoked (PDF officers reportedly made numerous claims that the “mutants” of the Abhuman unit be executed. Corporal Manglepie’s violent reaction left 3 senior PDF officers hobbled with severed Achillies tendons and shattered kneecaps. Corporal Manglepie is demoted to specialist and restricted to barracks duty. M41.2341 – 3 PDF officers are found murdered in the infirmary wing at PDF headquarters. Planetary Probators and Commisariate investigations identify murder victims as same officers assaulted by Manglepie. Manglepie provides material Alibi of himself on pict-feed sitting in PDF officers lounge during the time of the murders. With no other leads the investigation is eventually dropped. Specialist manglepie is demoted to private for breaking into PDF officers lounge and breaking restriction to barracks activity. Sneak: Brandysnap, Taffy – Sergeant M41.2347 –During the defense of Tanit Rex from Waghhh Goldtoof Sergeant Brandysnap is reported MIA after forward observation post is overrun and communication is lost. Sgt. Brandysnap returns to imperial positions as Waghhh Goldtoof begins its retreat following the death of Warboss Goldtoof. Sgt. Brandysnap claims responsibility for Goldtoof’s assassination, offering collection of Gold-plated ork teeth as proof. Sgt. Brandysnap is found guilty of possession of xeno-tech and dereliction of duty, however sentencing is unable to be completed as Sgt. Brandysnap is unable to be located by authorities prior to 4th MEAL being withdrawn from the planet. Sniper: Shortbottom, Maywit – Private M41.2351 – During a surprise inspection of forward positions on Charrius III Private Shortbottom is found to be intoxicated to the point of incoherence on ecumenical herbs by regimental officers and immediately sentenced to death. During the inspection the forward observation post came under attack by heretical forces. Private Shortbottom displayed exceptional bravery and martial prowess with over a dozen confirmed kills. Shortbottom’s inebriation is deemed “in line with unit standards” and his punishment is reduced to 2 weeks latrine cleansing for consuming intoxicants while on duty. Spotter: Bayleaf, Ogy - Specialist Specialist Bayleaf guilty of no fewer than 27 counts of Grand Larceny across 9 Imperial Planets. These thefts were discovered during Inquisitor Varicia von Orm’s investigation of Xeno’s activity in the region. No charges or accusations have yet to be leveled at Specialist Bayleaf per Inquisitor von Orm’s wishes. Individual has been marked for continued observation. Stashmaster: Furrows, Hildemund “Hill” – Sergeant Sgt. Furrows has been caught pilfering from mess halls and logistics depots. No charges have been official filed against the Sergeant, as he enjoys administrative protections from Col. Trik. Each reported instance of pilfering or theft has been ameliorated by “found” logistical orders approving the acquisition of the items in question. Vox Thief: Muggins, Clovis – Specialist M41.2349 – While serving in defense of Hive City Elicoth Primus, SPC Muggins is found to have broken sacred vox rituals and breached the vox networks of planetary PDF, Adeptus Arbities, and the planetary Governor. This discovery was made after SPC. Muggins began to broadcast the location of high-priority enemy target locations across the city on Arbities only channels. Subsequent trial resulted in a sentence of death, lowered to 3 months hard labor in light of services rendered to the defense of the hive city. Supplemental Information Regarding Auxillary Ogryn forthcoming. *Had a mixup with a double post last blogpost and "unpublished" the blog because I couldn't figure out how to delete it. Rather than have an unpublished blog in my queue I used this one...not realizing it would date it before my last post. Still learning how to navigate this blog occasionally. **Removed formatting issues

Ok, got a bit of progress to show for my Knives vow, a AoD KT of one of my DIY Chapters, the Marines Adamant. Terminator Sgt (Captain) Intercessor Sgt Intercessor Assault Intercessor Gunner Grenadier Heavy (Bolter) Intercessor The Chapter are Iron Hands Successors but recruit from a Feral World, hence the choice of bits. The Captain's rules for additional survivability are counts-as for the TDA Sgt, which felt right for IH. One more mini to arrive and build, as I want to be able to swap out different Operatives, but progress is good and I should be undercoated and ready to start painting by March 1st!

Been steady picking away at my Ratlings team for the last week, and been making slow but steady progress. I swear, ratlings are basically guardsmen on hard-mode. "Oh you want to paint bare faces? What if they were even smaller and always squinting?". I do really love this kit, but if you don't like painting faces its certainly one to avoid. Or don't. They're small enough most people wont see them anyway - live your life. I have two young children (4 and 6), a spouse that has recently started a new business requiring a lot of their time, an engaging full time job and a lovely home that requires constant maintenance and repair. Hobby time does not come freely in my house at the moment. I long for the days of my youth where I could paint for hours on end, however the reality of my current situation is that I often have to make the best of what I have. And what I most frequently have is 30-45 minutes after the kids go to bed and I finish up chores, before I go to sleep myself. I'm fortunate enough to have a dedicated hobby space that allows me to leave my projects out, ready to be picked up and put down as the opportunity arises, and children that occasionally enjoy painting along side me (on two old AoBR Dreads constantly re-primed for their efforts. Even in death they still serve) I mention this because my biggest hobby "win" this last week was something my kids helped me with, testing my new static-grass applicator. As the dust from the holidays settled I found myself with a few gift-cards and after doing a bit of research I purchased the Woodland Scenics "Static King" tool, along with the power cord. TL:DR on that is that it might not be the best on the market, with the power cord its among the top performers for an affordable price, and was easily available on amazon (no local store carries the tool unfortunately). I'd been wanting to try out the applicator since it had arrived and this weekend provided a great opportunity. My kids helped apply watered down elmers onto two cast-off pieces, shake the applicator, and apply some of their mother's hair-spray to the grass in between applications. The results were really great! The longest grass didn't apply entirely how I would have liked, but I believe that was operator error on my part rather than the applicator not being able to properly apply longer grasses. The more I apply the more skills/tricks I hope I'll accumulate, but honestly if this was as good as it could get I think I'd still be pretty satisfied. I can definitely see problems with crushing/compressing the fibers with repeated uses/play, meaning this will likely see more use in building display boards and dioramas than it will with high-use minis, but for this project its already a lock, and I'm VERY excited to finish up painting these minis so I can get to work on their bases.