Doghouse's WIPs

[Doghouse]

Yeah I tend to just use micro sol on it's own, they are really good. 

 

Something a little bit different.

 

I was hunting through my bits boxes for parts and came across this old project I started years ago but forgot about. I may well go back to it at some point but for now just wanted to share some pics.

 

The idea was to create a RT force in the style of the more military dioramas of WW2 tanks and infantry. The dreadnoughts I got from an STL file that I heavily converted to add new weapons and detailing but the infantry I sculpted in Blender based on the original RT era models for the Imperial Army.

These were Army Dreadnoughts because back in the day they could be taken by Imperial Army and these original dreads could be piloted like a vehicle rather than having the pilot surgically attached. I converted the original file to turn the top of the dread into a door then flipped it open so the pilot could be seen standing in the cockpit. Unfortunately the door has broken so I will go back at some point and fix it. I also sadly can't find the STL files so when I do fix them up I can't really make any more of them.

Like I say I am not touching them for now but thought some people might be interested to see them. I started to paint the lead dread but never really got much further than this.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rusted Boltgun]

Was there a piece of art in the Compendium that related to this? I sold my copy as I was coming back into the hobby thinking it wasn't relevant any more. Whoops.

Great looking Dreads and a decent size!

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate. 

 

The posing and the way the cockpit hatch opens is something I created but the colour scheme was based on this image from the compendium.

 

I wanted something like a tank commander popping the hatch and at ease. The infantry captain takes some inspiration from the guy in this image as well, 3d modelling isn't something that I massively enjoy so unfortunately I stopped at the pilot, Captain and Guardsman.

 

I did learn enough to start working on my own model range I'll be bringing out next year with any luck though.

 

[Doghouse]

I've been thinking a lot about the 4th edition army as I dig around for bits. As some may know I really am not a fan of corporate 40k for a multitude of reasons. I find myself wanting to return to a far more gothic and archaic vision of the setting.

 

What I always loved about older 40k was the sense that humanity no longer truly understood the empire it inhabited. Technology felt ancient sacred and half remembered. Machines were not simply manufactured objects churned out on demand by an endless industrial machine but relics that had survived across thousands of years. They were maintained through ritual superstition and inherited doctrine rather than true understanding.

 

Modern 40k often feels too clean in that regard. The Imperium appears capable of producing whatever it needs whenever it needs it while the significance of STCs and technological loss has drifted into the background. For me the setting loses something when every problem can simply be solved by rolling another tank off an assembly line.

 

I much prefer the idea that a suit of power armour might genuinely be ten thousand years old. Not untouched of course but repaired and rebuilt so many times over the millennia that almost none of the original remains. More Ship of Theseus than manufactured wargear. Layer upon layer of replacement plating rewired internals substituted mechanisms and devotional repairs carried out by generations of Tech Priests who preserve the machine without ever fully understanding it.

 

In that version of 40k technology feels mythic. A boltgun is not just another weapon issued from a stockpile but something entrusted to a warrior. A warship is not simply constructed but maintained across centuries by entire bloodlines of labourers priests and serfs. The idea of the machine spirit works best to me when it comes from a civilisation terrified of losing the last fragments of knowledge it still possesses.

 

That atmosphere of decay reverence and superstition is the side of 40k I miss most and it is something I want to reflect in these Space Wolves. I will be adding skulls relics charms old campaign markings and artefacts wherever possible so each warrior feels ancient and storied rather than factory produced.

 

I also really like the idea that each warrior exists between two identities. Within Imperial records they may carry a formal designation such as Brother Lucius Aggamon while amongst themselves and in battle they use their Fenrisian names such as Skorri Blackmane or Hakon Icevein. To the wider Imperium they are recorded as assets warriors and gene-lines catalogued within endless archives. Amongst the Rout they are remembered for sagas deeds rivalries and the names earned beside the fire or upon the battlefield. The Imperial title belongs to the bureaucracy of the Imperium while the Fenrisian name is the identity known to their brothers and carried into war. I think this ties in well with the concept of the Space Wolves being known as the Vlka Fenryka on Fenris.

 

So what this may mean is that I lean far less into the wolfy mcwolferson trope and more into an Imperial theme.

[Doghouse]

Bit more done, still building the Astartes but took a break to work on one of the HQ choices, the venerable dreadnought can be used as one of the three HQ choices I will need. 

 

The Iron Oath

 

Unlike most venerable dead, his armour bears almost no recognisable original heraldry. Whatever symbols once marked the machine have vanished beneath ten thousand years of repair, replacement plating and battle damage. Entire sections of the chassis are visibly mismatched. Generations of Iron Priests rebuilt him using whatever sacred components could be recovered or forged anew. The sarcophagus itself is ancient beyond reliable dating and carries machine inscriptions in forms no longer spoken within the Chapter.

 

The red armour panels and black wolf sigil he now bears are believed to be later additions. They were painted onto the dreadnought long after his interment when he became bound by oath to the Great Company of Harald Deathwolf in the current age. Beneath those newer colours fragments of older markings still emerge through chipped ceramite and worn paint. Faded Terran kill glyphs. Obsolete campaign runes. Half-erased honour sigils whose meaning has long since been forgotten.

 

For this reason the Great Company does not truly regard the dreadnought as belonging to them, rather they consider themselves merely the latest warriors entrusted with carrying his memory into battle.

 

The Iron Oath speaks rarely but when he does even the Wolf Priests listen carefully, his voice emerges slowly from ancient vox emitters with the grinding weight of failing engines. Every word sounds laboured as though dragged upward from immense depths of memory and machine corruption. Long silences often separate his sentences during battle and younger warriors have learned not to interrupt those pauses. On more than one occasion the dreadnought has resumed a conversation several hours after the other speaker believed it finished.

 

He refers to Fenris as though recalling a harsher and more primitive age than any living warrior remembers. He speaks of Terran commanders whose names survive nowhere within Imperial archives. On one occasion he described witnessing the first void docks rising above Luna, though whether this was memory, dream or machine corruption remains impossible to determine. No direct record links him to the Horus Heresy, yet rumours persist.

 

Deep within the sealed vaults beneath the Fang fragments of battle telemetry recovered from his sarcophagus are said to reference engagements against “the red-marked sons” and “the carrion banners of the Warmaster,” though the data is corrupted beyond meaningful verification.

 

It is also said that Bjorn the Fell-Handed recognised the old warrior immediately upon first waking beside him centuries ago. Neither dreadnought ever spoke publicly of what passed between them afterward.

 

The Iron Oath himself has never confirmed any of the stories, when questioned directly about his origins he once answered only:

 

"In those days we believed the wars would end eventually... after enough worlds had burned and enough victories had been won we thought there would finally come a time when men no longer needed warriors like us..."

 

No further questions were asked after that.

 

I am waiting on the twin lascannon to arrive for the right arm and just chipping and scratching the hull mostly. I am still sourcing parts but am tempted to go longship on him and add trophies and possessions to the top of the hull. I feel that dreadnoughts should be walking mausoleums for the warrior interred within and it seems fitting of the Rout to do so. He will be a counts as Venerable dreadnought with heavy flamer and twin linked lascannons. I have mounted him on a tradition dreadnought base rather than use the stock Leviathan one.

 

[Doghouse]

Not glued it in place yet but toying with adding gear to a combat shield mag-locked on top of the sarcophagus. So the idea will be that millennia ago his wargear was added to the top so that he still carries it into battle suggesting he was an assault squad member. Any bits I add will have once had some significance but have long since been forgotten.   

 

[Doghouse]

Bit of an update

 

[Doghouse]

More building today jumping back to the Fists. I've not really enjoyed this build, bit of a pain to put together but nearly done. I think I will paint it in the Howling Gyre campaign colours which is black with yellow accents to make it stand out as a command vehicle. I do have a second one but not sure I want to do another just yet but now I have made one I think I could make the second a lot quicker.

 

[Brother Christopher]

On 5/23/2026 at 9:14 AM, Doghouse said:

I've been thinking a lot about the 4th edition army as I dig around for bits. As some may know I really am not a fan of corporate 40k for a multitude of reasons. I find myself wanting to return to a far more gothic and archaic vision of the setting.

 

What I always loved about older 40k was the sense that humanity no longer truly understood the empire it inhabited. Technology felt ancient sacred and half remembered. Machines were not simply manufactured objects churned out on demand by an endless industrial machine but relics that had survived across thousands of years. They were maintained through ritual superstition and inherited doctrine rather than true understanding.

 

Modern 40k often feels too clean in that regard. The Imperium appears capable of producing whatever it needs whenever it needs it while the significance of STCs and technological loss has drifted into the background. For me the setting loses something when every problem can simply be solved by rolling another tank off an assembly line.

 

I much prefer the idea that a suit of power armour might genuinely be ten thousand years old. Not untouched of course but repaired and rebuilt so many times over the millennia that almost none of the original remains. More Ship of Theseus than manufactured wargear. Layer upon layer of replacement plating rewired internals substituted mechanisms and devotional repairs carried out by generations of Tech Priests who preserve the machine without ever fully understanding it.

 

In that version of 40k technology feels mythic. A boltgun is not just another weapon issued from a stockpile but something entrusted to a warrior. A warship is not simply constructed but maintained across centuries by entire bloodlines of labourers priests and serfs. The idea of the machine spirit works best to me when it comes from a civilisation terrified of losing the last fragments of knowledge it still possesses.

 

That atmosphere of decay reverence and superstition is the side of 40k I miss most and it is something I want to reflect in these Space Wolves. I will be adding skulls relics charms old campaign markings and artefacts wherever possible so each warrior feels ancient and storied rather than factory produced.

 

I also really like the idea that each warrior exists between two identities. Within Imperial records they may carry a formal designation such as Brother Lucius Aggamon while amongst themselves and in battle they use their Fenrisian names such as Skorri Blackmane or Hakon Icevein. To the wider Imperium they are recorded as assets warriors and gene-lines catalogued within endless archives. Amongst the Rout they are remembered for sagas deeds rivalries and the names earned beside the fire or upon the battlefield. The Imperial title belongs to the bureaucracy of the Imperium while the Fenrisian name is the identity known to their brothers and carried into war. I think this ties in well with the concept of the Space Wolves being known as the Vlka Fenryka on Fenris.

 

So what this may mean is that I lean far less into the wolfy mcwolferson trope and more into an Imperial theme.

 

Things are a bit too busy in my life now to give a thoughtful reply to this post but I just want to note that I agree with your observations laid out above. I read through your post and was thinking to myself 'yeah, that's one like-minded individual right there.' While my lame reply isn't worth much more than a reaction, I hope that it feels otherwise.

 

And, as always, I'm impressed by the pace of your work. Keep it up!

 

The modifications to the Dreadnought are particularly inspired. You've hit the mark on the battered look.

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate. 

 

I know exactly what you mean. Every reply is part of the ongoing conversation that is the hobby, so it's always appreciated.

I suspect there are more people who feel this way than we sometimes realise. Modern 40K is still presented as grimdark, but for me it often feels cleaner, safer, and more heroic than it once did. What draws me to the setting is the sense of decay, superstition, and a civilisation surviving on knowledge it no longer fully understands. Modern forty kay is more like look at all this new tech we just got but remember we're still mean and unfair, the new animations being a good example of this rammed down our throats about as subtly as a sledge hammer.

 

That said the great thing about the hobby is that we're free to engage with it however we like. Games Workshop provides the framework but the worlds, armies, and stories we build within it are ultimately our own.

 

Thank you for the kind words regarding the Dreadnought, I wanted it to feel ancient and battle-worn rather than simply damaged, as though it has endured centuries of campaigning and countless repairs.

 

Slight side track but I wanted to make stuff.

 

I'm toying with three 4th armies at the mo, the Space Wolves/Inquisition army, a pure marines force using all the vehicles and spare Heresy marines I have and a third being the Eldar (not Aeldari...).

 

No idea what chapter to do just yet, maybe Praetors of Orpheus might be interesting. I am mixing up Mk 6/2/3 parts left over from other projects but the odd thing about the Astartes kits is that the bare head scaling is all over the place, some are massive but I managed to find this one from the mk6 assault marines which is perfectly scaled to actually fit in the helmets. I am going with the classic powerfist and stormbolter for the Captain and have two of the current Predators coming the post and already have a Castaferrum dreadnought and a Crusader Landraider to throw in.

 

My personal take on modern Astartes probably is not entirely in line with their increasingly heroic portrayal. When I look at the process that creates a Space Marine I do not really see a conventional human being elevated into a champion. I see someone systematically stripped of much of what makes them human and rebuilt into a living weapon. Modern interpretations of Astarte are far too human to me which is what got them into trouble in the first place. I really do like that idea that modern marines are potentially made using the Heresy era Inductii process which makes them shadows of their former glory and hubris. 

 

They are recruited as children and subjected to years of genetic alteration, psycho-conditioning, hypno-indoctrination and relentless observation. Every aspect of their lives is directed towards war. Even in times of peace their days are dominated by prayer, weapons drills, combat exercises, tactical indoctrination and ritual maintenance. There is very little space left for individuality in the way most people would understand it. This warrior monk aspect seems to have been sidelined in favour of herohammer.

 

To me Astartes should feel unsettling but not evil. They are beings engineered to think, react and exist in a way that is fundamentally different from ordinary humanity. The average Imperial citizen may revere them as angels but I suspect standing in the same room as one would feel less like meeting a hero and more like meeting a predator that has chosen, for the moment, not to pull your head from your shoulders without breaking a sweat.

 

That is one of the reasons I tend to prefer older interpretations of the setting. Space Marines felt less like superheroes and more like transhuman warrior-monks. They were revered not because they were relatable but because they were distant, frightening and almost incomprehensible. They were humanity's defenders but no longer entirely human themselves.

 

In some ways I sort of see them like the Predators at the end of Predator 2 with their armour being similar but adorned with various trophies and slight alterations to the design.
 

 

 

 

For the Eldar I think I will go for a hyper clean appearance to make them more alien. I only intend to use Guardians where  possible and am thinking orange and white for the colours.

 

[Doghouse]

Actually it was the Patriarchs of Ulixis I was thinking of, I may do those.

[Rusted Boltgun]

I certainly agree on the 'heroic' aspect of modern 40K, epitomised by a certain character and the most recent Astartes armour designs. Perhaps an attempt to widen the appeal of 40K to a modern (videogamimg) audience? 

Your photos ably demonstrate the hulking menace of the older designs.

Got me thinking about my own Astartes, I won't clutter up your thread with my musings .

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate, if any of my idea get the old synapses firing and coming up with your own ideas that is great! 

 

Just another odd update.

 

As it's 4th edition I want to dive in hard on optional homebrew rules. Back in the day the rulebooks used to have a segment that said you don't have to play the rules exactly as written and were seen as a starting point rather than a carved into stone fact. So with that in mind I wanted to find a way to add Robots to Astartes armies, back in the days of Rogue Trader this was an option and I think the Castallax are fantastically gothic looking monsters and ideal for a more Grim Dark 4th Edition.

 

So I mad the following data card entries to reflect rules that I have homebrewed into existence for the rule of cool. It's quite a difficult unit to include as it is competing against the Dreadnought in terms of Elite slots and the likes of Predators in terms of Heavy slots. A maniple of them in an elite slot would be a bit too op in my opinion so I created two entries. The first is an option for a Techmarine to replace his Servitor retinue with a single robot and the second being a Heavy Support slot.

 

The Elite version relies heavily on the Techmarine having to stay within close proximity of 12" or need to roll on a behavior table to see what actions it takes.

 

Edited Sunday at 12:18 PM by Doghouse

[Doghouse]

Then for the Heavy option I have the following:

 

 

I think an approach like this is much more fun than slavishly adhering to constantly changing rules and editions and allows me to make use of the models I have in my collection. This is much more a rule of cool than I want to include super hard units in my army and adds tons of character. I'm pretty sure I have gotten the points about right and not made them overpowered.

 

 

[Doghouse]

A quick update, not had much time today but working on scratching up the Astartes I have made. I did want to do some painting on the Landraiders but didn't have time.

I did get the battlefield trophies and was disappointed by the contents. Lots of the pieces have flat empty sides for laying on the bases which was frustrating, especially the servo skulls.

 

My aim is two tactical squads and the Captain as HQ to make a legal force, albeit a very small one. I'm trying to make the scratches look like deflected shuriken shots as the two armies will be set against each other in conflict. I'm waiting on a new pin vice so I can drill the barrels and add spikes fixing the skulls to the packs.

 

I did find that the Mk II power packs look really good on Mk 6 armour and that the MK II arms also give the arms a bit more bulk. I prefer Phobos pattern bolters because of the second edition feel of them and it also means i can paint the housing a different colour.

 

 

Also sorted out the rules for the Castellax Techmarine upgrade. I was going to built the two I had but looked at the kits and was like nah I'm good brah.

 

 

 

[Doghouse]

Then the rules for the Maniple.

 

 

Like I say this is a just for fun unit and I'd need an opponent's permission to use but I will still make the robots to go with the Astartes because it's just too cool to not include. At the end of the day always remember, they're our models to do what we want with them.

[Doghouse]

By late afternoon nobody in the station required confirmation that the battle was being lost. Lieutenant Rass continued requesting reinforcements because duty demanded it of him yet even the most optimistic amongst the defenders had long since stopped believing help would arrive in time. The reports coming back from headquarters grew shorter with each passing hour and the assurances they contained became increasingly vague whilst the reality unfolding beyond the shattered walls of the transit station grew harder to ignore. Districts that had been considered secure that morning had vanished from the tactical displays before midday and every position abandoned during the retreat had merely led to another where the same process repeated itself. What had begun as a defence had gradually become a withdrawal and what had begun as a withdrawal was rapidly becoming a rout.

 

The station occupied a junction of roads leading towards the spaceport and for that reason alone retained some strategic value although Halen suspected the enemy cared very little about such considerations. The Eldar seemed to move according to principles entirely their own. Reports throughout the day placed them in locations that should have been impossible to reach. Units sent to reinforce one sector discovered the enemy operating several kilometres behind them whilst strongpoints that had spent hours preparing for attack found themselves bypassed altogether. Whenever the defenders believed they understood what the xenos intended reality proved otherwise.

 

What Halen remembered most clearly were the glimpses, a white helm appearing briefly above a collapsed wall before disappearing once more into the smoke. Elegant figures clad in orange armour darting between ruins with a speed that rendered human reactions almost meaningless and the faint hiss of alien weapons followed moments later by screams and collapsing barricades as storms of monomolecular discs carved through armour, flesh and ferrocrete with equal ease. The Eldar rarely exposed themselves for more than a few seconds at a time yet those few seconds were often sufficient to destroy positions that had taken hours to establish.

 

Behind them drifted the foul xenos grav tanks and even years later Halen struggled to describe them properly. Conventional vehicles possessed weight. They announced themselves through noise, vibration and the destruction of whatever stood in their path whereas the sleek xenos machines seemed to glide through the battlefield as though unconcerned by terrain or obstacles, appearing briefly between ruined buildings before vanishing once more into smoke and shadow. Whenever one revealed itself another section of the defence line disappeared beneath a burst of devastating fire.

 

By the time Lieutenant Rass died nobody was particularly surprised, the officer had spent most of the day moving from position to position attempting to hold together a defence that was visibly unravelling around him and when he finally rose above cover to issue another order he was struck before he managed to finish speaking. Sergeant Kel assumed command almost immediately not because he desired the responsibility but because there was nobody else available to take it and the line contracted yet again as defenders abandoned exposed positions and fell back deeper into the station whilst ammunition was redistributed amongst those still capable of fighting.

 

Looking back Halen remembered being struck by the growing sense of inevitability. The station was not about to fall in some dramatic final assault and there would be no glorious last stand or decisive moment. Instead the defenders were being slowly stripped of options, each retreat leaving them with fewer places to go and fewer men available to hold them until eventually there would be nothing left to surrender except their lives.

 

At first the change manifested only as a subtle shift in the rhythm of the battle. Fire that had been directed towards the station suddenly moved elsewhere. Eldar units altered their positions, one of the grav tanks emerged from concealment and rotated smoothly towards a point further down the avenue. Halen became aware that the vox operator had stopped transmitting only because the sudden silence felt strange after hours of repeated requests for assistance and when he glanced across the concourse he found the man staring fixedly through a gap in the ruined wall. Others were doing the same. Even some of the enemy appeared distracted.

 

What emerged from the haze resolved itself gradually, first as shapes moving through drifting smoke and then as six immense figures clad in crimson armour whose scale seemed strangely difficult to reconcile with the battlefield around them. They advanced in a loose formation down the centre of the avenue, neither hurried nor cautious, moving with a certainty that made the surrounding chaos appear almost insignificant. Shells detonated nearby whilst shuriken fire crossed the street and smoke rolled around them in thick clouds, yet nothing altered their pace.

 

Halen had spent his entire life hearing stories about His Angels. Priests spoke of them from pulpits whilst veterans recounted sightings separated by decades. Their likeness appeared upon monuments, banners and devotional texts throughout the world. Yet all those stories shared a common flaw in that they described what the Angels did rather than what they were and standing there amidst the ruins of the station Halen realised those were very different things.

 

Guardian squads that had spent the afternoon dismantling the defence with near contemptuous ease abruptly redirected their attention. Signals flashed between distant positions as grav tanks shifted targets and the entire character of the battle seemed to change within moments as though every xenos commander present had simultaneously recognised the arrival of a threat more significant than the humans they had been hunting.

 

Shuriken fire swept across the avenue in dense storms. Hundreds of razor edged projectiles hammered into the lead Angel, surrounding him in clouds of sparks and shattered ceramite that would have reduced any ordinary soldier to fragments, yet when the barrage subsided the giant remained exactly where he had been before and continued his advance with the same measured pace and the same complete absence of hesitation. Bolters answered a moment later, their thunderous reports rolling across the battlefield as Eldar positions vanished beneath explosive shells.

 

Then Halen noticed that one of the Angels carried a weapon unlike the others. Whilst his brethren advanced with bolters and close-combat weapons, this warrior bore an immense lascannon across one shoulder, the weapon appearing absurdly large even in the hands of a giant. He carried it with the same casual ease another man might carry a rifle, supporting the barrel with one hand as he walked through the storm of incoming fire.

 

The Angel slowed slightly, not enough to break formation but enough to bring the weapon into line with one of the grav tanks drifting between the ruins.

 

There was no shouted warning and no elaborate preparation, the warrior simply steadied his weapon on his shoulder and fired.

 

For an instant a spear of white light crossed the battlefield.

 

The beam struck the Wave Serpent head on.

 

The effect was so clean that Halen almost missed it. The grav tank continued forward exactly as before, gliding above the roadway with no visible sign of damage. Then a section of its hull detached and spiralled away like shattered bone rather than Terra metal. A second followed, fire erupted from beneath the vehicle and spread rapidly along its length blackening it's hull as whatever kept the machine suspended above the ground failed catastrophically.

 

The Wave Serpent dipped sharply.

 

A moment later it slammed into the side of a ruined building and vanished behind a blossom of fire and collapsing masonry.

 

The Angel never watched the impact.

 

By the time the wreckage struck the ground he had already shifted the lascannon towards another target and resumed his advance alongside the rest of the squad, as though the destruction of a vehicle that had terrorised the defenders for hours required no more attention than stepping over a piece of rubble.

 

For the first time that day Halen felt something resembling hope.

 

The sight of the armoured giants advancing through the smoke struck the defenders almost physically. Men who moments earlier had been preparing themselves for death rose from cover to watch. The vox operator muttered a prayer, somebody laughed, Halen realised his hands were shaking and only then understood how tightly he had been gripping his rifle.

 

His Angels had come.

 

Every story he had ever heard seemed suddenly vindicated. The giants now moved exactly as they should have moved. Shellfire burst around them as shuriken storms swept across the avenue. Nothing altered their advance, against the despair that had settled over the station throughout the day their arrival felt almost miraculous.

 

The destruction of the grav tank appeared to trigger something amongst the Eldar. A Guardian squad emerged from the ruins of a collapsed administratum building and moved to intercept the advancing Angels as they spread into a firing line with a speed and discipline that would have impressed any human officer.

 

What followed lasted only moments.

 

Shuriken fire swept into the advancing squad and for the briefest instant Halen thought he was witnessing the beginning of a genuine engagement. The Eldar moved with extraordinary grace, firing on the move whilst slipping between pieces of cover and constantly adjusting their positions. Against ordinary soldiers the attack would have been devastating, the Angels continued forward.

 

One raised his bolter and fired a short burst. Two Guardians disappeared in sprays of blood and shattered armour. Another Angel answered a heartbeat later and a third Eldar fell before he had completed his movement between cover. The precision was almost unsettling. There was no wasted fire, no hesitation. Every shot appeared to arrive exactly where it was intended.

 

The surviving Guardians reacted immediately. Halen watched them spread apart and seek fresh angles of attack with a speed no human formation could have matched. For a moment it seemed possible they might escape, the captain reached them first.

 

He neither charged nor shouted he simply continued advancing until one of the Eldar occupied the same piece of ground he intended to cross.

 

The power fist struck once and the Guardian ceased to exist.

 

Another attempted to evade him and was seized before he could clear the captain's reach. The giant hurled him through the remains of a wall without ever breaking stride.

 

By then the rest of the squad had already finished the engagement, bolter fire tore through the remaining Eldar with ruthless efficiency. One disappeared beneath a mass reactive detonation as another fell whilst attempting to withdraw. The last survivor managed only a few steps before a burst struck her squarely in the chest and hurled her from sight.

 

The entire encounter had lasted less time than it took Halen to properly understand what he was watching.

The cheering had stopped and Halen became aware that nobody around him was speaking.

 

What unsettled him was not the violence itself but the complete absence of emotion behind it. There was no anger, no excitement or triumph. The Angels did not destroy the Guardians because they hated them, they destroyed them because they were there.

 

By the time the last Eldar fell the squad was already moving forward again. None of the Angels looked back, none paused to confirm the kill. They simply stepped over the dead and continued their advance through the smoke as though the destruction of an entire enemy squad required no more thought than crossing a road.

 

For the first time that day Halen found himself wondering whether the stories had fundamentally misunderstood His Angels. The priests spoke of courage and sacrifice while veterans spoke of glory. Watching the six crimson armoured giants advance through the ruins Halen could think only of efficiency. Every movement served a purpose, every action achieved a result. The destruction of the Guardian squad carried no more emotion than the clearing of rubble from a road.

 

There could be no doubt that the Angels were saving them, yet watching the six giants stride directly into a battle that would have annihilated ordinary men and watching the Eldar react to their arrival with the first genuine urgency he had witnessed all day forced him to recognise how small his own place in the conflict truly was. The enemy feared the Angels but they barely seemed to acknowledge the enemy and everyone else existed somewhere beneath their notice.

 

When the fighting finally began to recede and the surviving Eldar withdrew from the district they did not pause to receive thanks or acknowledge the soldiers whose lives they had just preserved. They simply continued down the avenue towards fresh fighting and disappeared gradually into smoke and darkness whilst the battered defenders watched them go.

 

Years later much of the campaign would fade from memory, names vanishing, dates blurring and entire battles dissolving into fragments, yet the image of those six figures advancing through the ruins never left him. It was only then that Halen finally understood why people spoke of the Astartes with such reverence. It was not because they were noble nor because they were comforting but because they inspired the same feeling as a storm at sea or a mountain rising above the horizon. Something vast, powerful and utterly beyond ordinary human understanding. The knowledge that such beings stood between mankind and its enemies was reassuring although only because the alternative was so much worse.

Edited Sunday at 08:38 PM by Doghouse

[Doghouse]

Back to making stuff!

 

So this is a neat little method I created for making purity seals look a bit more realistic but can also be used for oaths of moment for Heresy armies.

 

What you need is some chocolate coins, the foil is a lot better than using something like tin foil for this as it is slightly thicker and easier to bend into a shape that will hold.

 

Take something rounded like the handles from some scissors and press down on the coin, then push away from yourself and lift, place back where you started and push away again. Avoid rubbing back and forth, always pushing away as you press down.

 

 

 

This smooths out the raised details of the coin foil and give you a nice flat featureless surface as you can see here on the left and you can then cut into thin strips and add to your minis. I'll be adding a small wax seal of GS to the top of mine but you can really just leave it as is.

 

 

You can then bend it a little with some tweezers to fit the model a little better like I have here with the Captain. I guess you could probably seal it with some vanish which may make the paint stick to it better but i normal just paint over and varnish after. I just used a spot of superglue on one end of the strip to attach to the armour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[derLumpi]

That is a hell of a hobby advice! Thanks mate!

Looks really great.

[Doghouse]

Thanks mate 

 

Always glad to share my ideas when I can.

 

It works quite well and can used for stuff like posters on terrain. I used to use it for Mordheim back in the day for notice boards and things. It is quite flexible and scales really well compared to the regular plastic seals. I've added a wax seal to the chest and smaller metal studs to some of the other bits.

 

 

[batu]

Well, thanks for that great tip! 

[Pulse]

On 5/22/2026 at 9:43 PM, Doghouse said:

Yeah I tend to just use micro sol on it's own, they are really good. 

 

Something a little bit different.

 

I was hunting through my bits boxes for parts and came across this old project I started years ago but forgot about. I may well go back to it at some point but for now just wanted to share some pics.

 

The idea was to create a RT force in the style of the more military dioramas of WW2 tanks and infantry. The dreadnoughts I got from an STL file that I heavily converted to add new weapons and detailing but the infantry I sculpted in Blender based on the original RT era models for the Imperial Army.

These were Army Dreadnoughts because back in the day they could be taken by Imperial Army and these original dreads could be piloted like a vehicle rather than having the pilot surgically attached. I converted the original file to turn the top of the dread into a door then flipped it open so the pilot could be seen standing in the cockpit. Unfortunately the door has broken so I will go back at some point and fix it. I also sadly can't find the STL files so when I do fix them up I can't really make any more of them.

Like I say I am not touching them for now but thought some people might be interested to see them. I started to paint the lead dread but never really got much further than this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brother these are incredible! The first time in years i log back on this forum and you are still making amazing models. Always inspiring! 

Edited Wednesday at 10:39 PM by Pulse

[Terminatorinhell]

I'm a huge fan of the dreadnought with opening cockpit 

[Doghouse]

Batu: Thanks mate 

 

Pulse: Thanks mate 

 

Terminatorinhell: Thanks mate  I will get back to them at some point, I just glued the door back on but I do have an infantry platoon worth of models to go with them.

 

Been a bit too tired to paint so carried on with the Astartes while I source more parts for the Space Wolves. I'm adding back banners and a bolt pistol and chainsword for the sergeants and will make the second squad leader in each unit a veteran. It's a shame that they haven't released other armour marks for the Heresy but for now I can mix and match. My plan is two tactical squads and a command squad but apothecary parts are proving a pain to source. My two predators should be arriving tomorrow. I may go back and add a banner to the captain but not sure at the moment.

 

Tactical Unit Marcellus

 

Going for flamer and lascannon but still building, once I have the basics in place I will carry on adding damage and trophies, etc.