Valkia's Universe of Darkness (Chaos, Inquisition, Necrons, Kill Team and Tyranids)

[Rusted Boltgun]

That McFarlane 'stealer looks great already - really coming alive!

So many great kits you have. - would love to see your take in the Nemesis Claw.

It is also in my 'to do' list but I have a lot to get through first.

[Vairocanum]

The sentinel model looks really cool and love grittiness of the hybrids! Definitely looking forward to seeing that MacFarlane Genestealer painted up! 

[Valkia the Bloody]

Today I spend an evening assembling the Raveners and also building some tunnel / objective markers using some leftover bases, cut down sprue material and leftover Ravener bits. 

I especially like the Ravener just emerging from the tunnel.

(Not sure if these marker bases are legal or not, though. They were bases I had in my bits box, of various sizes). 

 

Today I also saw that the "Typhon" booklet that came with the original release of the Raveners was only 5 Euros on Ebay, so I snatched that one, too. 

I actually have quite enjoyed reading through the Kill Team booklets I have accumulated so far, there is some lore, nice artwork and interesting scenarios, plus of course the printed rules for the teams. 

[kabaakaba]

You should have a markers sheet from the box. 

[Valkia the Bloody]

3 hours ago, kabaakaba said:

You should have a markers sheet from the box. 

Yes, I have that. 

But there were leftover bits and I felt creative.

Back in the day when I was in the university Warhammer club and went to tournaments, one of the requirements was, that everybody made some markers that fit to their armies. 

Old habits die hard. 

[kabaakaba]

nah, i mean you can use cardboard markers as a reference for yours considering size

[Valkia the Bloody]

3 hours ago, kabaakaba said:

nah, i mean you can use cardboard markers as a reference for yours considering size

Typical "Doh" moment. Now I feel stupid.

 

[space wolf]

Those nids are looking good!

[Valkia the Bloody]

Finished painting the McFarlane Genestealer (for now; maybe I will give it further touch-ups further down the line).

The Genestealer has now joined my converted McFarlane Night Lord Intercessor on my nerdy shelf. 

 

I went with human looking blue eyes, since I have seen other painted examples on Reddit and human looking eyes just look the most disturbing. 

Other colors are exactly the same as for the smaller members of my Tyranid army. 

 

 

 

[W.A.Rorie]

Those eyes......nice work

[Firedrake Cordova]

Well that's ... quite unpleasant (in a good way)

[Valkia the Bloody]

I had been on Ebay again, and managed to bag an already assembled Neurolictor for nearly half price.

Today, the model arrived.

May I just express my disappointment when I held him in my hands?

This model is tiny! 

I had expected him to be smaller that the Deathleaper, but this?

Now I am happy I had not paid full price for him.

The Neurolictor is about the same height as the new raveners (however, he is much more slender and packs less weight) and tiny compared to the Deathleaper. 

I remember seeing posts on Reddit expressing the disappointing size of the Norn Emissary-so compared to the size creep in space marines, it seems Tyranids have been hit by a shrink ray....

Ah well. 

He still will be a fun model to paint. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

It's kinda difficult to be sneaky when you're huge /bad lore reasoning  

 

It's a bit disappointing when things aren't as you expect, but on the plus side, they're not going to eat into your storage space as much as they might have.  

[Valkia the Bloody]

7 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

It's kinda difficult to be sneaky when you're huge /bad lore reasoning  

 

It's a bit disappointing when things aren't as you expect, but on the plus side, they're not going to eat into your storage space as much as they might have.  

Yes, I already had the same thought. Shelf space is at a premium in my small flat. 

[Valkia the Bloody]

I did another thing....

today on Reddit, someone posted an amazing Night Lords Saturnine Praetor.

I admit, before, I did not like the design of the Saturnine Terminators (yes, I know, ancient venerable design, still, not a fan), but this looked great.

So I decided to copy that model- and scored a 20 Euro Saturnine Praetor on Ebay. 

Nice side project for maybe the holidays and maybe it brings back my painting mojo for painting all these Night Lords currently collecting dust on my shelf. 

I looked up the size and these Saturnine models are massive and the size of the old box-naughts....

[Valkia the Bloody]

Quiet weekend, so I got some quality hobby time in.

Current audiobook: Ashes of Prospero by Gav Thorpe. 

Gav Thorpe as an author is a bit hit and miss for me. Angels of Darkness is a great book and one of the only 1st Legion books I actually liked. I did not really like the way the Raven Guard Heresy novels turned out and I do not care for Eldar. So I went into this not expecting much. However, Ashes of Prospero is actually quite a good book, which uses all the involved characters well and even makes the Thousand Sons sorcerer likeable. I have a soft spot for the Space Wolves and even once upon a time thought about starting an army.... and any book featuring Bjorn is also good news. I even like the role of Lukas in this. Very entertaining to listen to.

 

I made some progress painting my Tyranid December vow (1x Swarmlord and 5x Raveners)

Still a bit to do, but I am confident I will be able to finish them in the coming 2 weeks.

 

Also, my Saturnine Praetor from Ebay arrived faster than  expected and so I tried my luck in assembling a Night Lord Praetor.

Preface:

This model was pretty much a test model for that Imperial Knight that has been sitting in the box for more than 5 years now. 

I was unsure what to do with the model- loyalist or traitor?

Painting him as Canis Rex out of the box or transforming him into a slave to Chaos?

I think I made up my mind and will paint him up as a Knight serving my Night Lords warband, standing tall in midnight clad. 

I already set aside some ruins for the base, as well as a sneaking vanguard loyalist space marine, a couple of mischievous grots as comic relief as well as several Age of Sigmar bat swarms. Yes- the knight will feature one shoulder guard covered in skulls as well as several bat swarms surrounding it. 

However, I was unsure if I liked this- is this too over-the-top and heavy handed?

Well, I think it will definitely be fun to put together and to paint- much more fun than just painting Canis Rex out of the box. 

So as a test, the Saturnine Praetor is now also featuring bat swarms. And plenty of flayed skin. 

This also made me open up that Kill Team box and taking out one of the Nemesis Claw heads.

Now the Praetor definitely reads as "Night Lord" and yes, he is a bit over-the-top.

I played around with the pose a bit- luckily, these massive shoulder guards cover up unclean joints very well.

Now he is ready to shoot any loyalist from behind as soon as their backs are turned.

This turned out better than I thought it would. I am happy I gave it a go, even when I first did not like the design of these Saturnine terminators. 

Ave Dominus Nox! 

 

 

This is a large model- here a comparison with my Swarmlord: