Orphans of Prospero - 55th Company Thousand Sons

[khorneguy]

"All is Dust. I think Ahriman once said those words. I’m not entirely sure to be honest. I never had much time for the man, despite his rank. Nonetheless, those words come back to me now more than ever.

Prospero is gone, its great libraries burned, our Primarch and Legion missing. Russ’ wolves are at our heels and the galaxy is in rebellion. Why? Why is this happening? I do not doubt that the Crimson King knew, but he is lost to us now. The Imperium we worked so long and hard to forge is tearing itself apart around us and we are considered traitors and renegades. Our only hope is to join Horus' cause.

I pray history records that we have made the right choice."

Alto Damokai, Preator-Librarian of the Thousand Sons, 55th Company, 6th Fellowship. - Extract from writings recovered from the wreckage of the ‘Kathopthek’ light cruiser in the Sol System after the Siege of Terra.
 

 

I feel that the time has finally come for me to complete the Thousand Sons army which I've been planning and playing around with for about 5 years now, ever since I first read 'A Thousand Sons'.

Most of the reason it's taken so long to get to this stage has not been a lack of inspiration or motivation, but simply the feeling that my painting skills couldn't do justice to the image of them I had in my head. This feeling wasn't helped by the fact that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a recipe for the red which felt right to me. Everything I attempted made them look too much like Blood Angels for my liking

Now though, armed with the advice of an acquaintance of mine who does commission painting, I finally feel ready to embark on this project properly. My previous log has been deleted and my previous attempts have been stripped down, ready to begin anew.

(sorry for the bad pic, I'm trying to get hold of a daylight bulb and to get my decent camera working)

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/Thousand%20Sons.jpg

I started small and simple, with a basic Tactical Squad. The final squad is going to be fifteen strong, plus an attached Apothecary. Still very WIP, with lots left to do on these guys, but I'm liking how they're turning out so far.

What do you think?
 

[okonomiyakimarine]

interesting to see how every Thousand Sons army goes a little bit in a different direction! nice start - i will definitely follow the progress here! as someone who also just started painting Thousand Sons I am obviously curious about your colors and selection of added on bling details. may I ask where exactly do these helmet and crests come from?

 

from the image here i get a very 90s feeling and i think Thousand Sons in such bright and non-metallic colors is kinda funky, but very cool nonetheless. maybe you could add some more contrast to them with carefully applied dark washes in the recesses and some lighter and even brighter line highlights.

 

now that i write about this i am unsure if the image does your tactical squad justice. could it be that your lighting is very yellow? or is this the photograph? i can not really differentiate if you use yellow or gold on the shoulder pads, while it seems to be all gold on the details.

[khorneguy]

Yeah, the images really didn't do them justice. I didn't have a daylight bulb to work under at the time. I bought one today though, so here's an updated pic

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/IMG_4293.jpg

It's amazing what a difference it's made.

As for the colour scheme, I'm really not much of a fan of the metallic red colour scheme a lot of people have copied from the FW models. It loks great, but it's just not how I pictured the Thousand Sons at all. This way is closer to how they've been portrayed for years now.

The recipe I use for the red is:

1. White undercoat

2. Mephiston Red

3. Then a 50/50 Mephiston Red/Evil Sunz Scarlet mix

4. Followed by Carroburg Crimson in the recesses and Nuln Oil in the deepest crevesses once that's dry.

Pretty simple, if a little time consuming. I'm debating adding a Wild Rider Red highlight, but I'd like to avoid it if I can. My hands shake too much to highlight well!

As for the helmets. The main part is Chaos Warrior helms with the horns cut off. The crests are from the HE Archer kit, which is sadly now out of production. I've been stocking up on them so I can complete this project

The Vexilla is a bit from some kit of WFB Wizard kit. I forget which. Either the HE or Empire one, if memory serves correctly. The Sergeants torso is straight from the 40k Thousand Sons upgrade pack.

Hope that helps

[khorneguy]

Had a few weeks off from painting anything. I've just been too busy to sit downand get stuff done. Originally my plan was to finish up the Tactical Squad before moving onto anything else, but I couldn't resist getting started on the first of the three Contemptors I'm planning to have:

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/13600096_10154358100074036_8701423999230058131_n.jpg


He's still a long way from done, but I've at least gotten to the stage where he only needs final layering and detail work. Only took me a couple of hours. I'm quite liking how he's turning out so far.

I'll post more soon!

[khorneguy]

It's been a long time since I posted anything. Starting a new job where I'm working five nights a week has pretty much killed my hobby time recently. What little time I've been able to get has been spent playing rather than painting.

With the Burning of Prospero box though, plus plastic Magnus on the way along with plastic Rubrics, the time seems right to return to my hobby desk!

The very first thing I did with the new box (after basking in the awesomeness of the contents of course) was start cutting up the Ahriman model to build my Preator.

You'll have to excuse the bad photos for now. I need to get my  lighting setup sorted again.

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/use%20%2010-11-16%201.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/use%2010-11-16%202.jpg

He's still very much WIP atm, but I'm really liking how he's shaping up. I need to find an open hand and an Archeotech Pistol for him, as well as clean up his Paragon Blade/Staff. I have to say, the characters in this set are definitely much easier to convert than they were in B@C. Ahriman was a dream to convert!


The other thing I've been working on is this guy:

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/use%2010-11-16%204.jpg

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq107/khorneguy/use%2010-11-16%203.jpg

I'm not entirely sure what he's going to be yet. Maybe a Vigilator, possibly an Apothecary, or even just a basic Veteran. I really just started building him as an way to make use of Ahriman's hand. Whatever he ends up as, he's going to have a Kopesh when he's done.

I'll post more soon!
 

[khorneguy]

Long time no post again. I've got a really bad habit of starting project logs, then not updating them.

With Thousand Sons finally getting their own 30k rules, I figured I should really get on and actually get my army painted before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon and start Thousand Sons armies, especially considering Magnus seems to be the new go-to model for cheesy Primarch shenanigans.

I kicked things off this time round by getting some paint onto my Breacher conversions which I started when BoP came out:

 

There's still loads to do on these guys before I'm even close to considering them finished.The main thing is adding transfers and a freehand Raptora symbol put onto their shields. The Raptora Cult Arcana gives them a rather tasty 5+ Invunerable Save at range and 4+ in combat, making them incredibly tough. I was initially leaning towards basing my army around the Corvidae, but Raptora seems to suit my style and vision for the force better.

I've got another 11 of these guys to finish, once my bits order for more Sigmarine shields arrives, plus an Apothecary and Preator to add in. After that I'm probably going to go back and finish my DE Corsairs before cracking on with the rest of my XVth Legion forces.

 

Lots to do, but with work being so quiet this time of year, I've got plenty of time to actually get things finished. I'll post more soon.

[Xenith]

Those warrior helmets really suit the TS, looking forward to more!

[khorneguy]

There comes a point in every project where you have to stop being a perfectionist and actually complete some models. That's the point I've reached on my Contemptor. I've been working on this guy for about a year now, tweaking and repainting him and now I've finally reached the point where I think he's about as done as he's going to be. I might go back and add some more transfers later, but for now, this will do.

 

This brings me total of painted models for my Thousand Sons up to six. Doesn't sound like much, but this number should rise a bit more quickly now my attention isn't being sapped by obsessing over the details on one Dreadnought.