XVIth legion - Let the galaxy burn!

[Arion]

Brothers,

 

Here are some WIP pictures of my Sons of Horus. I initially bought a BaC and BoP box set which provided the guts of my two armies, Emperor's Children (see sig) and this Sons of Horus army. I am expanding on them slowly.

 

This army is much more rushed than my ECs, as I am trying my best to get it table top ready for when my friends come over from abroad for a few games. Quality is not as high as a result. What you currently see has been done in roughly 2 weeks and a half, none of it is finished, just... playable.

 

First of all, a group shot.

10 Marine MkIII squad

10 Marine MkIV squad

1 Sicaran Venator

1 Rhino

 

 

For the painting I draw inspiration from the internet, to be honest. I'm not very adventurous when it comes to paint schemes. I'm trying to recreate a fluffy army that is not completely retarded to play with. Also, given the move to 8th in the future, no use to sweat to much on the list building. I'd rather give a claw or a sword to a sergeant here and there rather than go all power-fist for competitive play, for the sake of variety.

 

MkIII marine Sergeant. First time painting the face using only washes. Quite happy with the result!

 

Venator. Not much to say. No sponsons yet and some cabling hasn't been glued yet. Planning on painting an eye of horus on the flanks and eventually high-lighting the edges when I have more time.

 

Deimos Rhino. Awfully difficult kit to assemble... had to use greenstuff extensively. I'm using the BaC Word Bearer glyph transfers. My Cthonian is pretty rusty so I can't really make the difference with Word Bearer old-Cadia script anyways

 

Contemptor dread.

 

Some explanations on the color scheme: I am trying to incorporate some black pieces of armor to show the slow transition of the green armor of the 16th legion to the full black colors of the Black Legion. The "color contamination" symbolizing the process of turning traitor and Chaos aligned. It also shows that as the XVIth rushed to Terra, battle damage replacements were done hastily and were left black, as they probably had little time to paint their armor.

 

I currently have 10 reavers waiting for MkII jumppacks, 5 terminators from BaC and am waiting to receive a reaver command squad, a Spartan and the Arch Traitor himself, Horus.

 

Will keep you guys updated!

[Kizzdougs]

Nice work! I like the green that you've achieved :tu:

[Arion]

Late summer update. Painting has been slow with all the summer vacation and activities, but winter is coming and it will be time to huddle up warm at home and paint minis during the long dreary winter nights...

 

First five reavers are done! RIght pauldron is green to tie the up with the rest of the army. Left pauldron is red, as a sign of veterancy and belonging to an elite unit. Gave them some nice MkII style jump packs. The crude looking turbines blend better with their brutal look than the high-tech streamlined MkIV jump packs imho.

 

The sergeant has a power fist. I stuck a brass Eye of Horus on it.

 

My first 5 Cataphractii are also done! They are magnetized. So when I get more parts and actually bother to paint them, I will be able to change loadouts. For now, it's two pairs of lightning claws, two chainfists, one power fist, two combibolters, and one heavy flamer.

 

A group picture.

 

More to come: 5 more reavers with jump packs, got to come around to painting all my tacticals (5 done, 15 more to go) and 5 MkV tactical support squad with plasma. Very excited about the heresy pattern armor with the mantilla helmets. They look just amazingly grim-dark!

[Leoric]

Great work!

What colour do you use for their green armor?

[Arion]

Great work!

What colour do you use for their green armor?

Thanks Leoric. I use Sybarite Green Air applied in several base layers with an airbrush. Then I wash it all with a heavy coat of Coelia Greenshade ink. It has a bluish tint to it, and it is quite dark so it changes the original Sybarite Green color significantly. I did my best to get as close as possible to FW Sons of Horus green, unsuccessfully, but oh well.

[Leoric]

 

Thanks Leoric. I use Sybarite Green Air applied in several base layers with an airbrush. Then I wash it all with a heavy coat of Coelia Greenshade ink. It has a bluish tint to it, and it is quite dark so it changes the original Sybarite Green color significantly. I did my best to get as close as possible to FW Sons of Horus green, unsuccessfully, but oh well.

 

 

I think you did a wonderfull job!

I myself have a small SoH contingent. I wanted a full fledged army of them, but the events of my last year weren't too kind to them. Now I'm looking for some inspiration to get back to work on them

[Vairocanum]

Great looking army! The reavers are looking awesome, really like the contemptor too!

[Arion]

Thank you all for the kind comments!

 

I just completed my 10 man Mk-III squad.

 

Eye of Horus on the Vexilla, mirroring the Contemptor. I also added some Chtonic runes on the banner (used the Word Bearer transfer sheet from the BaC box set). 

 

Focus on the Sergeant. Botched the Eye on the chestplate. Oh well, will redo it sometime.

[Supe robot gangster #1]

Oh man that green looks awesome! Such a simple method as well! Looking great!

[hushrong]

Your Sons of Horus look great!

[Arion]

A couple of shots of my upcoming MkIV squad.

 

A few odd armour plates are in black (elbow pads, knee pads). As I said previously: hastily replaced armour plates with no time to paint them and also, a sign of their creeping corruption by Chaos.

 

I'm very happy with how his face turned out. Stubble, lips, shading, etc.

 

Added an Eye of Horus on his power fist. Tried to do a burning eye effect in the shoulder pads.

 

[Arion]

Completed my 10 man reaver squad and my 10 man MkIVs!

 

 

Just a random head from the BAC box-set. Green-stuffed him an undercut hairstyle too. It's all the rage since famous Bloodbowl player Davidus Bekkamus from the Albion United, started the trend!

 

The mohawk head looks really strange on sprue (proportions look too thin), but once painted up it looks amazing!

 

Them MkII jump packs... plenty gritty!

 

[Gorgoff]

Great work so far.

[Arion]

Thank you for the kind words! Update: painted up a tactical support squad in MkV. By far my favorite armor mark, grim-dark dialed up to 11! They performed well on their first game. They got into rapid-fire range of Eidolon and his retinue of 5 Palatine Blades and blasted them away in a stream of super-heated plasma in one shooting phase (SoH "death dealers" rule works wonders with these guys).

 

[Arion]

Legionary brothers,

 

I started to assemble a Veteran Squad that could be used as a Command Squad in a Pinch. Sergeant has a power fist and plasma pistol, two veterans will have magnetized arms to swap between plasma guns/meltaguns/flamers and a two or three Veterans will have power swords. When I need to play them as a Command Squad, I will simply take the Sergeant and the power sword guys.

 

From a modeling perspective, I gave them a few skulls hanging from their belts, which will be painted gold. Common Chtonian practice was to dip in gold the skulls of particularly valorous enemies defeated. Left pauldron will get the standard Eye of Horus brass symbol. And on the right pauldron, I will free-hand some Chtonian glyphs.

 

 

The brass is a pain to glue on but it sure looks good!

 

Simple Veteran with power sword.

 

I tried to give this one a more dynamic arm pose. Had to drill holes in the torso and arms and glue a thin metal rod (clipped paperclip) to hold the arms and torso together. Then filled in the gap under with green stuff and did my best to sculpt it as the standard ribbed joints of Space Marine bodygloves.

 

This duder has a trophy skull on the side. I wanted to add more stuff, like slung bolters and pistol holsters and more pouches, but there simply isn't room enough on the model. It gets crowded fast and because of the scale, it looks out of proportion if they are carrying too much gear. Its a shame.

 

Please give your ideas and suggestions on how to make these Veterans more unique, gritty and in the spirit of the Sons of Horus.

 

Death to the False Emperor!

[Fire Golem]

I do have a soft spot for the ol’ Sons of Horus. Your green looks awesome. I don’t think you need to do much more with the Vets - like you say, at this scale they quickly get cluttered.

[Operative]

Love the marines, mixing and matching helmets is always a surefire way to make a marine stand out.

[Arion]

Battle brothers,

 

My progress on my Sons of Horus has only advanced at a crawling pace. I did however get some stuff done. First of all, painted up the banner and the first guy for my Veteran Squad (armed with a fist and plasma pistol).

 

 

Also FINALLY painted up Abaddon. Love the fluff surrounding this character, especially since listening to ADBs Talon of the Warmaster audiobook. I tried to paint a glowing OSL effect from the red lighting of his armour cowl but didn't do so well :( He is a beautiful model and I am impatient to field him in a game. When I will get around to finishing Horus, then I will post a father and son pic :)

 

 

Finishing off with a group shot of the army. Gaming wise, the jump Reavers hit very hard (I have 2 fists in there plus an extra one on the Chieftain) and are able to reliably threaten both infantry and light-medium vehicles. The Sicaran Venator is a bit hit or miss in its anti-vehicle duties. Two S10AP1 shots are definitely not enough in 30k, with all the invulnerable saves thrown around, but I like it for the fluff and character it adds to the army. My best performing squad would have to be the 5 man Tactical Support with plasma guns. They've been consistently returning their points and more in every game. Thinking about painting 5 more to complete the squad but I fear they will then be a really big point sink and become a priority target.

 

 

In the near future, plan on adding Justaerins, Horus and a second Rhino.

[Arion]

Glorious day brothers!

 

Horus is among us! Finally mustered up the courage to paint the Warmaster. I tried myself at an OSL effect for his face. I think it turned out ok. Very happy to have gotten his eyes properly. He is tabletop ready but when I will have time I will work a bit more on the fur pelt and on the base.

 

 

Leading his sons to battle! What an amazing sculpt.

 

Spent a lot of time (and paint!) blending the cape. Quite happily surprised with the outcome. It looks a bit messy while doing it but when finished, it blends quite ok. Only used Khorne Red and Chaos Black.

 

Another shot of his face and the OSL effect.

 

Then, second big thing: finally got Loken table top ready! Here they are on their diorama base which I very lazily painted. I was too excited about getting everything finished. I'll get back to it eventually.

 

His gene-brother not far away.

 

Another shot of Loken. Definitely one of my very favorite sculpts. So very dynamic, great detail on the miniature (loving the eyes of Horus and his fancy Paragon chainsword and all the gold trims!), great facial expression. I will get to doing some highlights on him, but first, I want to get him out on the table for some narrative games!

 

Blended the cape, using only Khorne Red. Applied a decal but its not perfect, even with medium. I will buy microsol to try and even out the edges.

 

With these characters done, I'm missing only Maloghurst (I think). I also have a squad of CC veterans to paint up and a Predator Deimos Executioner but I think my SoH army is more or less complete (currently exceeding 3000 points, fully painted and based!). Will still add some models here and there based on what I think is cool or useful gaming-wise. These green guys are taking up a lot of real estate on my shelf now!

[Arion]

Fellow legionaries,

 

Finally got around to assembling and painting a Deimos Predator Executioner. Was actually a lot of fun, and I added some decals on both the Predator and the Sicaran in order to tie them in. Still unsure as to what decals I could put on the Rhino and Spartan to give it the feel of a coherent whole.

 

I'm liking the Deimos Predator chassis, really a joy to paint. The OSL effect looks okay from afar but not so great up close: my airbrush is pretty cheap, so the effect looks a bit grainy instead of being a clean, well blended diffuse color.

 

Still have the headlamps to paint... God Emperor, I hate doing those.

 

Hoping that this Predator will put his plasma cannon to good use and melt lots of Power Armor and Terminators in his first game out, although I have the feeling he will suffer instant-death on Turn 1 due to "New Scary Model Syndrome" and get focused down... We shall see. I'm thinking about getting a second one, maybe with autocannon and lascannons, just for flavour.

 

By the way, my local meta is very plasma dominated: on support squads, on vehicles, everywhere. It makes a lot of sense of course in a 3+ game system. I just find it a shame because I love autocannons, flamers and all the other good stuff. Any of you have decent recommendations on how to incorporate other weapon types in their army without gimping themselves?