Redemption's Hobby Blog - Nids, BA, GK, Saim-Hann, AdMech

[RedemptionNL]

Hi guys! I've been playing Warhammer 40k for over a decade now, and have my fair share of armies. I've had small blogs scattered on various forums before, but most haven't been updated in years, are archived and/or are filled with dead images. So I figured I'd just consolidate everything into a single blog, showing some of my older stuff and then continue with stuff I'm working on now or in the future. Apologies if you've seen some of the stuff before. I'm not the fastest nor the best painter, and with my short attention span I generally move between projects often to keep me from getting bored on painting the same stuff constantly.

 

So here's my stuff, I hope you enjoy! I'll update this first post as an index to the posts with content for easy future reference.

 

Tyranids - Hive Fleet Leviathan

This was my first army which I started in 2008, after me and a few friends got into the hobby from playing the Dawn of War video games. I just loved the little gribblies and big monsters. Too inexperienced to realize beige is a pain in the ass to paint, I settled on a Leviathan-esque paint job before Hive Fleet Adaptations were a thing.

Zoanthrope - Done

Carnifex - 1, 2

Gants - Done

Gargoyles - Done

Trygon - Done

Winged Hive Tyrant - Done

Hive Crone - Done

Swarmlord & Tyrant Guard - Done

Tervigon - Done

Exocrine - Done

Haruspex - Done

Tyrannofex - Done

Deathleaper - Done

Maleceptor - Done

Old One Eye - Done

Tyranid Warriors w/ Ranged Bio-Weapons - Done

 

Grey Knights

I always had a weak spot for the Daemonhunters, so I started this army in 2011 when the first plastic GK models came out together with their 5th edition codex. I also started experimenting with an airbrush around this time after failing to paint their power weapons one too many times (I still fail at blending). Haven't done much with them since 7th really after the Inquisition and Grey Knights got split up in separate codexes, and their current edition codex just feels lacking.

Librarian - Done

Brotherhood Ancient - Done

Apothecary - Done

Kaldor Draigo - Done

Terminators/Paladins - Done

Strike Squad - Done

Purifiers - Done

Inquisitor Coteaz - Done

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor - Done

Vindicare Assassin - Done

Dreadnought - Done

Venerable Dreadnought - Done

Nemesis Dreadknight - Done

Land Raider - Done

Stormraven - Done

 

Eldar - Craftworld Saim-Hann

I started collecting Saim-Hann when their 6th edition codex came out in 2013, when the plastic wind riders and wraithguard came out. Jetbikes and wraith constructs are my two favourite aspects about Craftworld Eldar and I liked the vibrant red of Saim-Hann. That they matched the jetbike playstyle didn't hurt either, of course.

Autarch Skyrunner - Done

Farseer Skyrunner - Done

Windriders - Done

Vyper - Done

Dire Avengers - Done

Wave Serpent - Done

Fire Prism - Done

War Walker - Done

Crimson Hunter - Done

Spiritseer - Done

Wraithguard - Done

Wraithlord - Done

Wraithknight - Done

 

Blood Angels - 5th Company 'Daemonbanes'

I wanted to do a Space Marine army for a while, as the Grey Knight model range is (still) very limited, and I kept seeing one new Astartes release after another that I couldn't include in my army. While I originally intended to do a custom chapter, I already had a Space Hulk set and a Deathstorm box for my Tyranids, so I figured I might as well just do Blood Angels as I already liked their background and already had those models anyway. So in 2015 I began working on the Sons of Sanguinius. Since the previous armies were relatively clean looking, I went for a more grimmer, weathered look for these. I picked the 5th company as the main focus, simply because I liked the black blood drop of that company's insignia best to match the darker look I was going for, plus it seems thematic to ally with my Grey Knights considering they're called the Daemonbanes.

Sanguinary Priest - Done

Commander Dante - Done

Sanguinary Guard - Done

Assault Squad - Done

Bike Squad - Done

Librarian - Done

Librarian Dreadnought - Done

Furioso Dreadnought - Done

Deredeo Dreadnought - Done

Death Company Dreadnought - Done

Lemartes - Done

Death Company - Done

Baal Predator - Done

Relic Sicaran Battle Tank - Done

Drop Pod - Done

Sniper Scout Squad - Done

Close Combat Scout Squad - Done

Captain - Done

Suppressor Squad - WIP 1, Done

Thunderhawk Gunship - WIP 1, WIP 2

 

Adeptus Mechanicus & Imperial Knights - Forgeworld Xana II & House Malinax

Always been a fan of the AdMech, and generally I go for the tech-priest character in any of the 40k RPGs I've done over the years. After snagging two cheap knights from a Renagade box and getting some Skitarii from the Kill Team starter set, I finally started with the cogboys in 2018. As I already had two red armies and didn't want a third, and I loved the colour scheme of House Malinax from FW, I decided to go with this colour scheme for the AdMech units as well. I know that lorewise they're hereteks/traitors to the Imperium, but I don't intend to go all chaosy/dark mechanicum on them.

Skitarii Vanguard - WIP 1

Skitarii Rangers - WIP 1

Sicarian Infiltrators - WIP 1

Armiger Warglaive - WIP 1

Knight Warden - WIP 1

 

Scenery, Terrain & Gaming Room

I'm lucky enough to have a spare bedroom (and a wife that lets me use it) as a dedicated hobby room, and have my own gaming table. I love building scenery, even though it takes me ages to complete any projects because of the amount of work required for the bigger projects.

Gaming Table - Done

Realm of Battle - Done

Fortress of Redemption - Done

Skyshield Landing Pad - Done

Woods - Done

Blastscape - Done

Aquila - Done

Imperial Sector Buildings - WIP 1

FW Industrial Sector - WIP 1, WIP 2

 

 

3D Printing

Always wanted to get into 3D printing, but wanted to wait for a printer that could print high quality prints without having thick layer lines, had a large enough volume to tackle larger projects but was still affordable enough. This turned out to be the Phrozen Transform.

3D Printer - 1

Edited January 8 by RedemptionNL

[RedemptionNL]

First up, my Blood Angels:

 

My Blood Angels Sanguinary Priest. Originally made this to have the Valour's Edge relic, but these day it'll just have to serve as a regular power sword.

 

 

My Commander Dante kit bash. I didn't like the original model as it is so weedy compared to modern sculpts. The backpack is magnetised so I can still use it as the Sanguinor (should I ever paint up the rest of him).

 

 

And the Sanguinary Guard that normally go with him. Although currently it's a bit of a waste due to the overlap of re-roll to hit rules.

 

 

And all the winged guys together. This used to be such a killer squad in 7th, although it still does work with the current rules.

 

 

A meltacide squad:

 

 

The pose of the Sergeant was inspired by the famous frescoes of Michelangelo at the Sistine Chapel, of God reaching down to give Adam the finger. Except now it's a Blood Angel spreading the word of combi-melta. Sadly it's not a legal loadout anymore in 8th, but he sometimes still does work as a Company Veteran Sergeant.

Edited October 26, 2023 by RedemptionNL
Fix images

[RedemptionNL]

A Bike Squad with 2 grav-gunners, a multi-melta attack bike and a sergeant with combi-grav and meltabombs:

 

 

A Librarian, kitbashed from the Blood Ravens one from Deathwatch.

 

 

A Librarian Dreadnought I finished last week:

 

 

A Furioso Dreadnought with heavy flamer and frag cannon. This was a nice unit to deep strike with a drop pod and flame the hell out of something, but alas the 8" flamer range doesn't work when you need to deep strike at least 9" away and drop pods are seriously expensive now. I hope this guy gets some better use again in the future.

 

 

A Relic Deredeo Dreadnought. Tad on the expensive side but it makes the inner Mechwarrior lover of me smile, and the autocannons still do good work!

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by RedemptionNL
Fixed images

[RedemptionNL]

Death Company Dreadnought: Cassor the Damned. This used to be a troops choice! Actually the fist Blood Angels model I painted up. This was before the snow was added to the base, as I hadn't decided on the snow theme until later, but I can't be bother to take new pictures.

 

 

Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost. One of my favourite characters, he just oozes grimdark!

 

 

And a squad of Death Company to go with him:

 

Baal Predator. Another favourite model that sadly doesn't see enough battle as it is mostly waiting for some decent rules again. Currently it's just an overcosted Razorback really.

 

 

Relic Sicaran Battle Tank. I just love this tank to bits.

 

 

Drop Pod. Still have 2 new in box, waiting for these things to become useful again. But at least it looks nice in the display cabinet.

 

 

Some sniper scouts. Yes, I know, I know, the camouflage doesn't really match the base. Just imagine they're in an urban environment where it recently snowed.

 

 

And some close combat scouts, before they had the snow added:

 

[RedemptionNL]

Here's some of my Tyranids, these are some of the earliest models I've painted, so straight from the pot action. Heck I didn't even know what drybrushing was when I did the earlier ones.

 

This old Zoanthrope is still from metal. I had to use actual rocks in the base just to keep his top heavy noggin from headbutting the table every five seconds.

 

 

This Carnifex was made back in 4th edition, when you could still equip two heavy weapons. He originally had a rock base like the Zoanthrope, but later I rebased him on the resin base as he kept falling off his rock.

 

 

And of course, no Tyranid army is complete without a horde of gribblies. Really need to paint up more but these get tedious to paint very quickly. Once those Contrast paints come out I'm sure to see if I can replicate a paint job close enough to make painting these a bit quicker.

 

 

And a flock of Gargoyles to go with them.

 

 

A Trygon, one of my favourite models. I still get PTSD from painting all those scales though...

 

 

A Winged Hive Tyrant with devourers.

 

 

And a Hive Crone, another big winged gribbly.

 

 

The Swarmlord with two old Tyrant Guard models, back when they still came on 40mm bases.

 

 

A Tervigon to give birth to some Termagants. Too bad it costs reinforcements points this edition, which kind of neutered them.

 

 

An Exocrine. Still need to give this guy a proper base some day.

 

 

Also magnetised the guy to be able to become a Haruspex.

 

[RedemptionNL]

Up next, my second army, the Grey Knights.

 

A Grey Knights Librarian, kitbashed from the GK terminator kit.

 

 

Brotherhood Ancient

 

 

Apothecary. Around this time I started playing around with an airbrush because I kept failing to do the force weapons (I still suck at blending). The rest is still good old fashion, too thick, straight from the pot brushwork though.

 

 

Kaldor Draigo

 

 

Grey Knight Terminators/Paladins, back when psycannons and a mixed layout for wound allocation shenanigans were still all the rage.

 

 

A full Strike Squad, with an extra Justicar with a different weapon. The backpacks are magnetised so they can act as an Interceptor squad as well.

 

 

Purifiers

 

 

Inquisitor Torquemada Coteaz, back when he was still part of the same codex. Now all he does is collect dust sadly.

 

 

Old metal Ordos Malleus Inquisitor. Another onlooker from the shelf.

 

 

An old metal Vindicare Assassin. The number of times this guy has fallen of a high building and exploded into its component parts, oh man... Now that he's decent again and usable with any Imperial army I might just have to get a plastic one some day.

 

 

A 'Rifleman' Dreadnought kitbashed from the Aegis Defence Line quad-gun and an old FW dread. I was getting the hang of airbrushing the silver here slowly, with adding a tint of blue.

 

 

A Venerable Dreadnought. This guy has a choice of weapon options, like a second rifleman loadout. These things used to shred vehicles with psy-bolt ammunition.

 

 

A Nemesis Dreadknight. Was slowly getting the hang of airbrushing the silver here, even if the regular brushwork can still definitely use improvement. I'm still very pleased how the greatsword came out though!

 

 

This Land Raider is probably my all time favourite model. I put a lot of work into the little conversions, like the laurels on the lascannon barrels or the GK gunner. The airbrushed heraldry and shading also came out pretty nice I think. But I also managed to install working headlights! And an interior that lights up when you open the assault ramp. I jury-rigged a magnetic reed switch to the door mechanism on the inside. The battery compartment is hidden behind the exhaust stack on the back. The original WIP thread with more pictures is still available here.

 

 

Also finally, a Stormraven. Very happy on how the airbrushed shading and heraldry came out on this one.

 

[RedemptionNL]

One of my prized possessions is a table my carpenter uncle made as a christmas present in 2011, custom made to fit a 6x4' board:

 

 

I still need to paint it up nicely with some laquer some day, but that will have to wait until the gaming room has progressed further. It was made to fit the Realm of Battle tiles nice and flush, so they don't slide around and you don't have to use those annoying connector clips. Switching the layout of the table is easy work this way.

 

 

For the Realm of Battle board itself, I went with a bit of an earthy desolate plains look, with a warm deep brown earth in contrast with cold grey rock. I picked this scheme because it goes well with the colours of most armies and doesn't draw too much attention to itself. Basecoated the earth with burnt umber, then drybrushed my way through medium grey up to beige in various mixtures and patches to create a natural look.

 

 

Made the hills 'pop' a bit more by airbrushing a dark maroon red around the edges.

 

 

And of course, the ubiquitous skulls present on the board:

 

 

Also painted up some of the scenery, like this Fortress of Redemption and Skyshield Landing Pad:

 

 

The Valkyrie is a one-off model I once got as a present, but I don't intent to start an Imperial Guard army anytime soon.

 

And I also painted up some scatter terrain, like this Woods, Blastscape and Imperial Aquila:

 

[RedemptionNL]

I assembled some buildings from an Imperial Sector box and a Shrine of the Aquila a while back:






But I never got around to painting them... One mayor reason in that is that I bought this Industrial Sector from Forge World, and the buildings with a larger footprint don't fit. Guess I'll just need to get more buildings.



You might notice an oddity about it: there's a crashed Thunderhawk! They accidentally shipped me that plate instead of one of the cityscape ones that is supposed to come with the Industrial Sector.



And the Generatorum was pretty warped too. I tried getting it back into place with boiling water and blowdryers, but due to how thick these plates are that's pretty much impossible to fix. Thankfully, Forge World has an excellent customer service. Not only are they sending the missing cityscape plate and a replacement for the Generatorum, I get to keep the crashed thunderhawk and the warped Generatorum! As if my to-paint pile wasn't big enough already.

[Leviathus]

That's a great collection of models you have there, well painted too!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works, all. I envy your customization, posing, painting, detailing, and weathering skills.

[RedemptionNL]

Thanks guys!

 

While waiting for the FW plates, I put my Eldar in the photobooth today. Some of the Eldar transfers 'frosted' a bit, I'm guessing because some are pretty old sheets, which looks even worse in the photos than with the naked eye because of all the lighting of the light box. I might have to try some matt varnish or something one day. I'm just very cautious about varnish because some bad frosting experience the first time I used it, and I don't want to make the problem worse. Of course, if anyone has any suggestions, they're always welcome!

 

This is the leader of the gang, an Autarch Skyrunner with the Novalance of Saim-Hann. The face is a bit wobbly because of some very small air bubbles in the finecast I didn't notice until after I started painting, but I guess he'll be sidelines once GW comes around with a plastic replacement for him one day.

 

 

His trusty companion is a Farseer Skyrunner with a singing spear.

 

 

And of course, no Saim-Hann would be complete without some Windriders. Definitely need to paint more of these up,

 

 

And a Vyper for some mobile heavy firepower.

 

 

To help fill troop choices, I have some Dire Avengers. Need to paint up some Guardians and Rangers too.

 

 

A Wave Serpent to ferry the Infantry around.

 

 

A Fire Prism for some long ranged fire power, with another of the more badly frosted transfers.

 

 

A War Walker. I was a little overzealous with the OSL on the suncannon. But in 8th I generally take Vypers more with Saim-Hann anyway.

 

 

A Crimson Hunter for air superiority.

 

 

Besides jetbikes, my other favourite aspect about Craftworld Eldar are the Wraith units. To led these undead elves, there is the Spiritseer.

 

 

He generally hangs out with these Wraithguard, even though his Spirit Mark is generally lost on them because they auto-hit, but they can ride together in a Wave Serpent at least.

 

 

The Wraithlord is generally not far behind. He's quite cost effective in 8th so I like him as a counter-attack unit. Not entirely happy how the pose came out, from some angles he looks more depressed than menacing. But I managed to get two Wraithlords at a shop that was going to stop selling Warhammer stuff very cheaply, so I have another lined up to assemble and paint.

 

 

And of course, the big guy himself, a Wraithknight. Who sadly is still way overcosted even after the point cost reductions of the last CA. Hopefully they'll fix him soon so he can see battle again in 8th.

 

 

[RedemptionNL]

The most recent army I've been working on are this Adeptus Mechanicus army with Imperial Knight support. I got a Knight Renegade box some while back for some cheap knights to add as support to my Blood Angels and/or Grey Knights, but when I got the Kill Team starter box which gave me the Skitarii I decided to start with an AdMech kill team for them and slowly expand them into a full 40k army, using the Knights to quickly get to a playable army. While I like the black and red of the official paint schemes, with already having Blood Angels and Saim-Hann I didn't want to start yet another red and black army. I always loved the House Malinax knights from Forge World, so when I saw that their transfer sheets were going out of production, I quickly ordered a few sheets and got to painting. The AdMech are in the colours of the forge world Malinax is allied to: Xana II. Now I know that these are Horus Heresy armies that went traitor/heretek, but I'll just play them as loyalist 40k armies. At least, for the time being, who knows what the future might bring.

 

So without further ado, here's some Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers. They're not full squads yet as I painted these up for Kill Team. With the Contrast paints coming up, I'm definitely going to check in the future if the grey and black Contrast paints will help speed up painting the robe and paints, and perhaps even make it look nicer.

 

 

Some Sicarian Infiltrators, also not a full squad yet because of their use for Kill Team. I used the heads of the Ruststalkers, because I'm not a huge fan of the radar dish heads the Infiltrators normally come with.

 

 

Then there's the knights of House Malinax. I used this Armiger Warglaive to see to get the colours right.

 

 

And this Knight Warden. It's based on the Knight Magaera from Forge World, but I didn't really like the lightning cannon in looks or rules, so I went with an Avenger Gattling Cannon instead. The Hekaton siege claw just counts as a thunderstrike gauntlet.

 

 

The knights don't have bases yet, as I want them to have matching bases with the plastic Sector Mechanicus bases, but sadly GW doesn't make them in all sizes. But, I ordered a Phrozen Transform LCD 3d printer through it's Kickstarter, so when that finally arrives I intend to print some bases that match the look of the Sector Mechanicus ones.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your works honor the Omnissiah.

[Naryn]

Lovely painting on all those armies, especially the mechanicus guys! The Tyranid colors are lovely and the GK Land Raider is suitably bombastic and really looks like a venerated relic. Great work!

[RedemptionNL]

Thanks guys!

 

I just finished this Blood Angels Captain with the 'Slamguinius' load-out: thunder hammer, storm shield and the Angel's Wing relic jump pack.

 

 

He's based on the BA DC Chaplain, so he has some Death Company insignias. I didn't want to go full Death Company for the captain, but left a few of the icons as a respect to the 5th Company falling to the Black Rage on a large scale during the DIamor campaign.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Blood Angels CAPT.

[RedemptionNL]

Thanks!

 

Working on a Suppressor Squad next. A friend gave me the Primaris side of the Shadowspear box - save the Librarian. The Suppressors do have nice rules, and with their jump packs they fit the Blood Angels pretty well. I like the Infiltrators too, even if they're still a bit pricey point-wise currently.

 

 

Not a huge fan of the models, especially the wonky poses and the flight stands. Tried to alleviate it a bit by using some bits of scenery instead of those flimsy flight stands. Not totally happy with it, but it's the best I can do without totally cutting up and reposing the models - which I am no expert in - and risk making it even worse.

Edited June 11, 2019 by RedemptionNL

[RedemptionNL]

I got the replacement FW plates for the gaming table:

 

 

This is going to be a long project.

 

Some things of notes for people interested in buying the FW Realm of Battle plates:

 

 

The resin plates - as apposed to the plastic Realm of Battle plates - shrink. This is more noticeable on the older cityscape plates than the generatorum and manifactorum plates. This can cause a small issue when trying to line the plates up, as the difference in size becomes more obvioius the more plates you put next to each other. As you can see in the above picture, there's like a 1 cm gap here when too plates are against each other, where the plastic Realm of Battle plates would fit perfectly.

 

 

And of course, resin also warps. A generous application of weight and heat manages to alleviate the problem, but sadly doesn't fix it completely due to how tough and rigid these plates are. Expect a little wobbliness.

 

 

The Shattered Plaza tile also needed some reinforcement to prevent the large flat area from bulging upwards, which causes any building on top to wobble. I did this by fixing a thick trespa plate to the bottom with caulk.

 

 

But it's time for scrubbing!

[RedemptionNL]

Finished the Suppressor Squad:

 

 

 

I didn't really feel these models with their weird poses, so probably not my best work. The sergeant's pose at least works a little because he looks to be jumping off the broken column, but the other two are just dancing an aerial jig. I made the barrel blue as an accent colour to their fire support combat role, which Blood Angels signify with blue helmets.

[ranulf the revenant]

This thread deserves more comments, the painting is great. The Slam Captain is my favourite so far.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your Suppressors are well done.

[Captain Antargo]

Loving the custom Sanguinor!

[RedemptionNL]

Well, I was working on adding Belisarius Cawl to my AdMech, but that project will be on pause for a while, as for my 10 year anniversary at work my colleagues got me this Thunderhawk Gunship!

 

 

 

So many pieces... This beautiful model will reinforce my Blood Angels, as I play with them more often than my Grey Knights. It's defintely going to take a lot of work - and multiple incidents of glueing my fingers together - to get this hunk of resin in one piece.

[Grotsmasha]

Have fun :tu:

 

 

 

and dry fit.....everything.....

[INKS]

Just wow, all of it looks fantastic! well done.