Thousand Sons Librarian WIP

Now I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas, but I have to admit it has it's uses. It's normally the time of year when my hobby fund gets a healthy top-up, courtesy of friends and family who are perpetually stumped as to what to buy me, so end up handing me gift cards or money instead. This year netted me enough to put in a good-sized FW order, so I've decided to give my Thousand Sons some reinforcements.

The plan is to use this second Heresy-era army to field fun stuff which doesn't suit my airborne Sons of Horus, such as the Sicarian battle tank and Mechanicum allies. Before I can add those though, I need to fill the minimum requirements of Troops and HQ. With this in mind I've been working this guy to lead my force:

I'm not sure if he's going to be a Librarian or a Praetor yet, but to be honest the line between the two positions is so blurred in the case of the Thousand Sons, I don't think it really matters. He'll probably fill whichever role I need him to on a game by game basis.

Once I finish up some detail work, add cult markings and finish the sword, he'll be the first fully painted model for my Thousand Sons. It's about time really, seeing as I've been working on and planning them for three years now!

Blood Pact Priest WIP

Now Uni's out the way for the Christmas period, I can actually focus on getting some models painted. This Guy's been sitting undercoated on my hobby desk for nearly 3 years now, so with the release of the new Technical paints from GW, it seemed the perfect opportunity to try out Blood for the Blood God.

I've found that while the blood effect works well for dried blood, it's actually quite rubbish if you want wet blood, say on a weapon or something. It's a only a small flaw though. Other than that, it's a fantastic addition to the range. It's almost inspired me to dig out my old Blood Pact army and give them a spruce up. That's a project that can wait though, at least until I start finishing up my current projects.

I still need to find a right arm for him, but that can wait. I need to consider what I want to arm him with. I'm thinking probably a shotgun, so he can lend a bit of fire to the squad he's attached to, but the idea of dual-wielding chainswords appeals to me, as it seems like the kind of thing the Blood Pact would do and would look awesome.

For now though, I'm calling him done. Basing will come later,as I like to base huge batches of models at once.

Watch this space! 2014 hobby plans

It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd put something up to let you know my current projects. It's more distract myself from the mountain of work I've got to get through for my Uni dissertation than anything, but some of you might be interested.

As you might have noticed, I haven't been posting much up here recently. You can blame that on Uni work more than anything, but I have been working on various projects between my studies. I'll be working on them in earnest come January when I have much more free time, but here's a quick run down.

Sons of Horus

I'm still working on these in between my other projects, but they havn't been my main focus for months now. I still don't have even a basic 2000 point list fully painted yet, but that's going to change very soon. I've got a big Apocalypse game with them down my local club on Sunday, which will no doubt inspire my to finish them up.

The biggest recent addition to the force has been me finishing up my Warmaster Horus conversion, ready to lead my force in the Apocalypse game. It's a bit annoying that the official for him will be out soon, completely overshadowing my efforts, but on a plus note, he'll be my first Primarch purchase!

Thousand Sons

My eternal work in progress. I've been working on them three years now, chopping and changing models and constantly re-doing them, but I still don't even have a single squad finished. My problem is that the Thousand Sons are my favourite Legion. They always have been. This means that if I'm going to make an army of them, they need to match up perfectly with the idea of them which I have in my head. On the converting side of thing, I think I've finally nailed it, but (as ever) my painting lets me down.

I'm going to have another attempt at painting them in January I think. My painting has improved massively over the last year, to the point where I actually think I can do them justice this time round. Even if I only manage to get one squad done to the standard I want, I'll be happy.

Song of Ice and Fire

I'm still working this, having finally managed to drum up enough interest to give me a decent pool of playtesters to work with. The first draft of the Stark list is done, barring a few characters. Lannisters are next, then probably Renly's host. These I'm hoping to be able to work on next year and get a playable set of rules ready by April-May time.

Model-wise, I've got enough to field reasonable sized forces for both Stark and Lannister, including named characters like Robb Stark, Tyrion and Gregor Clegane.

I've got big plans for the ruleset in general, but Uni's really eaten into my time to develop it properly

Hochland Empire

Another seemingly constant WIP. Four years for the initial conception of the project and the Airship which is to be the centerpiece of the whole force is still sitting half finished on my hobby desk. The good news is that I will get it done soon. There's an escalation fantasy campaign running down at my local club, which gives extra points for fully painted and well themed, as well as an extra prize for a fully develop background story. In other words, my favourite kind of campaign!

So the Glorious Army of Hevig von Nearostaffen will finally be finished in all the glory it deserves. To aid me in my inspiration on all thewse projects, I'm going to invest in getting myself a display cabinet for my finished models, so I can sit back and admire my work when each project is finished. I think it'll act as a good incentive for me.

So those are my plans for 2014, hobby-wise. If it's anything like previous years, I won't even achieve half of those, but I find it's good to have an ideal goal to work towards.

What your hobby plans for 2014?

This hobby is expensive? Not really..

I had an interesting conversation in the pub the other day about wargaming. It may seem an odd subject to come up in that situation and to be honest, I don't entirely remember how the topic of conversation came round to it, but when I mentioned that I play tabletop games on a regular basis, someone said to me "why do you waste your money on that 'stuff'' (not their actual words, but edited for language). It's so expensive". I don't know what it was, but the question stayed with me, buzzing away in the back my mind in the way that such questions often do.

The thing that struck me was the person who said this to me spent a good 30 to 40 pounds on alcohol that night, with nothing to show for it afterwardsexcept possibly a hangover in the morning and some hazy memories. He did this without even thinking twice about it.

That same 30 to 40 pounds, if invested in hobby stuff could have bought me a box of models or two from an online stockist, which I'd then have spent hours building and painting, then I would have had further hours of enjoyment by going to my local gaming club with them and playing with those models. I'd use those models for years on end, through hundreds on evenings worth of gaming sessions. I'd get creative inventing background for them, inventing names and watching their legend grow (or diminish) on the gaming tables. I'd have the opportunity to socialise while playing with them, meeting some great people. All for the price of one night out down the pub. Plus it has the added bonus of you waking up the next day without hangovers and possible regrets.

Most hobbies are expensive, but in the grand scheme of things, ours is actually quite a cheap hobby, even with GW's constant price rises. I have a friend who does Astrophotography as a hobby and recently shelled out two grand on the latest camera equipment. That's not even including what she spent on the camera itself. She'll probably spend even more in a year or two when better equipment comes out, but I'll still have the same armies I have now, unless I take the plunge and start a new project. Even then I'm only paying a fraction of what she pays for her hobby.

Another, more common example would be video gaming. I have many friends who are fanatical gamers, often getting the latest games on the day of release. Even discounting the cost of the console, you're looking at about 40 to 50 pounds for the latest games, with two or three being released every month. That's £120 a month, just to keep up to date. Again, I may buy a new unit every now and then, but I'm still spending on average a fraction of what console games pay, even when most of my purchases are from Forge World.

Yet despite all this, many people still look down their noses at wargaming as an expensive waste of money. It's strange how the world works really. It's the reason why I've written this article, to share it with my friends who say wargaming is a waste of money and open their eyes to how it actually fits into the strata of hobbies as a whole.

What do you guys think? Am I right? Or have your experiences of this been different?

Space Wolves commission WIP

 I've been working on a few commissions recently, my favourite of which has been a slow burn one I've been working on for a friend over at The First Expedition forums. If you're into Pre-Heresy stuff, check it out. It's a really great community.

Anyway, I digress. My client wanted a pair of Space Wolves characters converted up using the FW kits, including some sculpted bear pelts across their back. I thought I'd show you the stage I'm at with them atm.

Here's the terminator character finished, save for finding a head for him.

The fur took about 3 days to get right and it's still not fully finished. Luckily the client likes what I've done with it, as I really did feel up to having to do it again.

The power armour guy is taking longer, mainly due to the fact that I have to sculpt the fur around his backpack, but I'll post him up soon. I also need to find myself the bear pelt from the Space Wolves Terminator kit to add a bear head to the terminator dude, but that's proving difficult, as most bits websites charge a small fortune for them. If anyone's got the bit going spare and are willing to part with it, let me know and I'll do you a good deal.

Lannister Men at Arms WIP

It's been a while since I've posted, but that doesn't mean I havn't been doing stuff, I've just been too busy to post it up. I'll be doing quite a few posts over the next few days to show you what I've got done.

First up I've been working on building up my Song of Ice and Fire stuff, starting with a mad Ebay-based shopping spree and the purchase of a box of Perry Miniatures War of the Roses figures. I decided to build up the Perry models first:

I was really impressed with these, especially considering it's my first major buy model-wise that hasn't been from GW. They went together easily and had some nice details on them. They also fit right in with the Song of Ice and Fire universe, even without any conversion. I suppose it's kind of fitting really, as apparently the War of the Roses was a huge inspiration for George RR Martin when he was writing the series.


These particular guys are going to become Lannister Men at Arms when they're painted up, to accompany the Tyrion and Gregor Clegane models I have in the works (coming soon)

New Look Mind

I've been giving the blog a bit of a spruce up, playing with different layouts and colour scheme, just genrally Improving it, as the site's been looking really bland for ages. If it cause any problems with viewing, my apologies in advance.

Let me know what you think of the changes. Is it better? Or did you prefer the old scheme?

Jaime Lannister WIP

I've started painting up my version of Jaime Lannister. He's only about half finished, but I thought I'd post him up anyway.

He's been a really fun model to work on. I think I've captured his character quite well, drawing on both his description in the book and his depiction in the TV series. The trick was balancing the two depictions, especially in regard of his armour. In the books it's described as being bright gold, which I thought would look too tacky, whereas in the series, his armour's in Lannister crimson (clearly the producers took the same opinion as me on the matter). I liked both versions, so I settled on a compromise by giving him golden plate and red cloth to offset the brightness. Even so, I think I might brighten the gold a shade or two before I finish him up.
I'll post more when he's done.

Jaime Lannister

Continuing with my Song of Ice and Fire project, I've made a Jaime Lannister model.

It was a really simple conversion to do. All I did was put the head from GW's Amon Hen Aragorn onto Isildur's body.

I think it works really well, capturing the look and feel of the character really nicely. I'm really looking forward to painting him up, along with his brother Tyrion when the parts arrive for him. Both Jaime and Tyrion are going to have the same head, to mark them as brothers. If my planned conversion pans out then it'll be interesting to see how two models using the same bit can have two totally different looks and character to them.

Soul Drinkers Assault Marine

I've been working on my Soul Drinkers some more, although I havn't made the greatest of progress.

Still, I got one Assault Marine nearly done, hailing from Tellos' blood-soaked following. To those who havn't read the books, he's basically an Assault Marine who's fallen to Khorne, but hasn't realised it it yet.

I still need to finish up the blood on this guy, but so far I've been focusing on finding the right balance between him being blood-soaked, yet being able to distinguish Soul Drinker heraldry underneath.

There'll be another nine like him when he's finished, acting as Blood Claws in an allied Space Wolves detachment led by a Wolf Lord representing Tellos himself. I'm thinking of doing the Tellos conversion next, before finishing off his following, but I'm not sure yet.

More soon!

Soul Drinkers Tactical Squad WIP

While I'm waiting for bits and pieces to arrive for my Song of Ice and Fire project, I turned my attention to my Soul Drinkers, stripping the paint off the few remaining models from my previous attempt at them and repainting them.

There's still bits to do, including the mutated head on the guy in the front centre, the basing and freehanding chalice symbols on to their shoulder pads, but I'm pleased with them so far.

What do you guys think?

Stark troops

 Something rare and exciting happened:  I actually got some models fully painted!

Specifically, I finished the first three Stark troops for the Song of Ice and Fire game I'm working on. They don't quite match up to the look of the Stark troops in the TV series, but I was basing their colour scheme more on what I imagined when I first read the books.

I think they look pretty good (even if I say so myself), although I do think I need to re-base the guy in the second photo, as the snow base didn't turn out as well as I thought and do a small retouch, as I only realised after finishing him that there's a mold line on his spear arm, but those are really minor things that are easily fixed.

I'm still amazed Ive actually got something finished. I think it's down to the fresh enthusiasm I'm feeling now I'm working on something other than GW stuff (I know it's technically GW, as I'm using their models as a base, but it's still a switch in universes). GW's been feeling a bit stale for me recently and it's shown in my painting. Let's hope the break will allow me to approach my other projects with a new sense of gusto!

A Game of Ice and Fire

After some discussion with some people down at Peterborough Gaming Club a few weeks ago, I had the idea to build some models for a skirmish game based within the world of George RR Martins Song of Ice and Fire series.

Having given it some thought and scoured the internet for suitable models and rulesets, I've decided to use a modified version  of GW's Return of the King ruleset, as it's a very nice, yet vastly underused skirmish system.

I've decided to convert the bulk of the troops from the LOTR model range as well, although certain characters and troop types will come from other ranges. With the right conversions, I reckon the Rohirrim and Gondor ranges would make brilliant base models for converting Stark and Lannister troops respectively.

With this in mind, I bought myself a box of Rohan Warriors make some test models. After a little sculpting work, I've come up with this for Stark soldiers:

They're very basic conversions, but I think they're quite effective.. I've sculpted some fur around their shoulders and turned their shields around to hide the horse motifs. Obviously they'll be painted into the grey and white of House Stark, which will help sell the conversion further still.

What do you think of them? Is there anything I should add or change about them?

Thoughts on the new codex

With pre-orders going up last night, then the chaos of trying to access the site today, my mind's been firmly focused on the new Space Marine codex today and how I'm going to make use of it. I thought I'd post up my thoughts.

Ok so far, I've got three forces planned, all of which I've been had in the works on and off for years now:

1. Soul Drinkers

These guys are going to be my main SM force and my go-to army if I want a game using the codex. In keeping with the background laid out in the novels, I'm not including any vehicles in there save for maybe a counts-as Stormraven to represent the shuttles they use to get around in.

It'll be a very fast moving, rapid strike force, albeit using Imperial Fists rules (it's only fitting, considering their origins), probably led by a Tigerius counts-as to represent Sarpedon.That's subject to change though when I read the full rules for him. If the rules don't match up to what I want, I may end up using him as a Chapter Master or allying in some BA allies in order to gain access to Fear of the Darkness to properly represent Sarpedons psychic power: 'The Hell'

Model-wise I'm stripping, rebuilding and repainting my old force to match my current painting skills (my old scheme looks awful by my current standards). On my painting list atm are:

Sarpedon's Force Axe
Chaplain (Iktinos) - probably the new Chaplain with conversion work done
Terminator Captain
Lightning Claw Captain (Luko)
2 x Librarians
10 x Marines to represent Iktinos' "Flock" (to be used as Assault Marines on foot)
20 x Tactical Marines
10 x Assault Marines, including a Tellos conversion
10 x Vanguard Veterans
9 x Scouts
8 x Sternguard

I'm aiming to get these guys done by early next year at the latest.

2. Thousand Sons


Due to the fact that the Sons of Magnus don't have their own rules from FW yet, I thinking of using these guys as a Sternguard-heavy force (to represent their powers), backed up by another Tigerius count-as and maybe some counts-as Centurions to represent Mechanicum support. This is of course, in games where I can't use FW rules. Most of the time, they'll be fielded using the FW Legion list

Having been building them very slowly for over 2 years now, I've got bits and pieces done for this force, but nothing fieldable yet. On my painting list for these guys are:

Ahriman conversion, made from the new Librarian model
2 other Librarians
18 x Scarab Occult Veterans
15 x Spireguard Support (scouts)
6 x Terminators
1 x Land Speeder (FW Javelin - still to buy)
1 x Contemptor (still to buy)

The fact that GW is releasing a Mephiston Red spray will considerably speed up progress on these guys. Even so, I'm putting a longer time scale on these guys. I'm hoping to get them done by summer next year

3. Ragtag RenegadesThe idea for this army came partially from 'Dead Sky, Black Sun' by Graham McNeil and also from the fact that from time to time I like just painting up random marines that don't match my main armies, just to keep things fresh.

The idea behind the army is that renegade and outcast marines from various different chapters have banded together for mutual protection and survival. They aren't chaos yet, but they're renegades who straddle the edge of 'good', surviving in the harshest areas of the galaxy. They still fight the emperors wars, just not as part of their parent chapters any more, stealing and raiding to survive.

It basically allows me to paint single or small groups of models whatever chapters I like and still have the chance to use them in-game. I used to play this force years ago, but the marines got siphoned off for other projects. It was the first army I played with the 5th Edition codex, so I felt it was only right and good that I resurrect it for the 6th Edition book. I'll probably use them as either allies from other codices for my Soul Drinkers, or as a stand alone army using whichever traits I feel like trying out at the time.

Owing to the way I'm building this force, I don't have a set painting list for these guys, aside from a few bits and pieces I already have tucked away in the depths of my hobby cupboard. The following are definitely going to be in there:

5 x Black Templar Sword Brethren (I picked up a box on ebay just in case they went OOP with the merger)
1 x Imperial Fist Sergeant
13 x Tactical Marines of various chapters (to be decided on later)
1 x Dreadnought of indeterminate origin (at the moment)
1 x either Blood Angels or Blood Raven Librarian

With a bit of luck, this should put a crimp in my 'new army itch' as well, saving me money and sanity. I'll only be painting up models I already own, save for a few particularly nice bits and pieces I might pick up through trades or on Ebay (the Iron Hands Sergeant in metal for a start)

So as you can see, I've got big plans for this codex, but it's mainly making use of what I already have and setting myself goals to get it all painted.

I'll still be working on my Sons of Horus and Hochland force alongside these (plus another side-project which I'll reveal soon), but I won't be making any major purchases model-wise for a while,. Obviously I need to keep up with current rules, so the new SM codex and the FW 'Massacre' book are on my 'to buy' list, but those are separate and justified really.

Hopefully I'll get on well with this new plan. We'll see though...

Streamlining my hobby?

Ok, I've accepted that I'm not going to get the list of stuff which I posted a while back done in time for Games Day. Real life's just getting in the way too much.

On the other hand, i've decided to set myself a simpler goal: Streamline my hobby.

I think it's safe to say that I've got too many projects on the go. So many in fact that I'm never likely to finish them all. Therefore It's time to have a serious think and work out what ones are most important to me. The ones that aren't so important are either going to be sold or given to gaming friends who would appreciate them more.

Once my project collection is back down to a reasonable level, I can then complete the remaining ones and start thinking ahead to new ones. Sounds simple, right? We'll see, I suppose. I need to do something though and soon, otherwise my model/project collection going to reach a kind of critical mass and implode on itself.

Anyone got any thoughts or suggestions?

Soul Drinkers WIP

I mentioned last week about how I'm resurrecting my Soul Drinkers for use with the new Space Marine codex. Well after a few days of feeling rather downhearted over the rumours of overpowered Ultramarines chapter tactics that outclassed the Imperial Fist ones in every way (Soul Drinkers are IF Successors, so I'll be using those), the rumour mill calmed down a little and started talking about more balanced rules, reigniting my enthusiasm for the new book.

So I started painting up some models.. First of all,  I was working on a Vanguard Veteran:

It's a pretty standard model atm, but I'm focussing on painting each one in stages. This guy's going to have a mutated left arm and a jump pack, but those come later.

The other model I've been working on is the start of a Terminator captain:

It doesn't look like much, but it's quite an important model to me. The Soul Drinkers only possess one suit of Terminator armour, which is worn into battle by their Master of Recruits. This gives me the opportunity to go to town and make a really unique looking Terminator character. As the eagle-eyed amongst you may have notice, I've put a FW Cataphractii torso onto normal Terminator legs.

Now I'm not going to do much more than paint the body of this guy until the book's out. Then I can see how closely chapter tactics are related to certain characters and what load-out a character using the Imperial Fists rules would benefit most from. This guy may become anything from a captain with a Storm Bolter and Relic Blade to a counts-as Lysander.



Also, with rumours of being able to ally with other chapters within the same codex flying around, I'm thinking of digging out some Sword Brethen models which I have stashed away and painting them up, along with some Imperial Fists, making a 'Sons of Dorn' alliance on the tabletop. Should be an awesome sight to see. I reckon. More on that soon though. For now, I'm off to paint some more stuff...

Huzzah! Airship progress!

 After a lot of work, I've finally managed to make some progress on the airship.

I know it's not the clearest of pictures (Ill try and get some better ones tomorrow), but as you can see, the prow of the ship is finished and the sides are pretty much done as well.

This means that the hull is nearly complete now, allowing me to to get to work on the detailing and the gas balloon.

I have to say, even getting to this stage is making me very happy indeed. This thing's been sitting half finished on my shelf for nearly two years now and seeing the progress I'm now making is a good feeling.

Hopefully I'll actually get it finished this time

BFG Thunderhawks and Dreadclaws

Next on my list of BFG progress are easily the most fiddly models I've ever built:

Forge World Thunderhawks and Dreadclaws, mounted onto 20mm fantasy bases to represent squadrons of boarding craft. These things were incredibly infuriating to mount onto small sticks to attach to the bases. I found myself cursing at them many a time, but I finally got them done.

The picture above shows them after I applied the first wash when I came to paint them. Eventually they're going to be the same shade of green as the rest of my Sons of Horus and be fully detailed. For now however, they'll do as they are. I can always come back to them later

Thunderwolf Lord WIP

No hre's something that hasn't been seen on here for a while: my Space Wolves!

Continuing with my new philosophy of 'No project left abandoned', I've been working on the Thunderwolf Lord who's been staring accusingly at me from my 'in progress' project shelf for the last year.

I finally did a bit of work on him, mainly on the gold trim and flesh tones on the wolf . His Frost Axe seems to have gone missing somehow, so I'll need to replace that at some point, but that's no biggie. I'm just happy to see progress being made.

Hochland Handgunners

I know I said I'd post more BFG, but I thought I'd post up the small amount of progress I've made on my Empire. Don't worry, the BFG stuff is still coming, but it's good to break things up a little sometimes

I know it's only two Handgunners, but progress is progress. I've got a fantasy game scheduled for next week, so I'm wanting to complete at least one unit before then.

These guys are pretty much done, apart from the barrel of their guns and a touch up on their bases. They're not the best painted models in the world, but they're pretty good by my standards and I'm very happy with them.

I hope I actually manage to get the whole unit done, as I have other project ideas bubbling away in my mind atm.

BFG Cruisers

 Continuing with my BFG progress, I have WIP's on my Styx and Devastation class Cruisers to show you.

My Styx has been named the Bloody Mummer and is quite an extensive conversion from a standard cruiser, with the addition of Imperial launch bays and armour plating, turning it into a wallowing tub of a carrier, as befits the massive troop movement capabilities needed for a Legion-scale deployment.

Of all my converted ships, this is the one I'm most happy with. Most people don't even realise that it's a conversion until it's pointed out to them, which I see as the highest compliment that anyone can give a converted model.

It still needs a lot of work done to it though, not least of which is a liberal going over with Badab Black (or whatever it is these days). It's served me well in battle already though. The last game I played with it saw it unleashing wave upon wave of Dreadclaws, allowing its CSM crew to cripple both a Mars and Gothic class in as many turns, gutting the former with internal fires and collapsing the shields on the latter so my squadron of Slaughter's to finish it off.

The Mtophep's Light (name still open to change) is a Devastation class, although I've built it so that it can be used as a Styx class in larger games. As you can see, it's in Thousand Sons colours. The fluff I'm writing for it is that it's a battered survivor of Prospero, having fled before the Space Wolves before the trap could fully shut around the system.

I originally built it so I could have a ship from each of the 30k Legions in 40k which I play represented in my fleet, but as I started building it, it kind of grew and grew. It's turned into quite a fun project as I kept on adding to it to create an eclectic and grand looking vessel such as the XVth Legion is likely to field.

Of all my ships that I've been painting, the Mtophep's Light has the furthest to go before I can call it done, but it's not high on my priority list atm, as I don't use it in my 'mainstay' fleet and is only brought out for larger games. The plan was to paint a load of escort vessels for it, but GW withdrawing their Specialist Games range has kind of scuppered that until I can find some good deals on Ebay (could be a while, as BFG stuff is going for stupid prices atm)

BFG progress

In between bouts of pondering the ethics of quitting a game, I've actually managed to get some painting done this week! I know, wonders will never cease..

Anyway, I've made some progress on my BFG fleet.

In the interests of allowing me to talk about each ship in turn, without making this an insanely long post, I will cover the progress I've made over several posts.

With that in mind, I shall begin: Allow me to present the 'Lady Amelia', an Acheron class cruiser, serving the Emperors Children legion during the Great Crusade:

This has had quite an interesting life, starting life as Rogue Trader cruiser and being built originally to serve as a Dauntless. Then I switched to Chaos as the basis for my Legion fleet and I found that the Dauntless had no direct counterpart in my new fleet, so I gouged out some the gun batteries and replaced them with lances to make a Slaughter class. After a few games though, I decided to add a few more Slaughters to my fleet, so I converted up the Aebethan and Eye of Terra, leaving the Lady Amelia looking a bit weedy by comparison.

After seeing the size difference, I decided to strip the ship down again, this time removing some more of the weapon batteries and adding a ton of lances to turn it into the Acheron class which it remains as to this day. I know that technically as a heavy cruiser, the Acheron should be bulkier than the the Slaughters, but I rationalise ity as the result of a combination of reinforced internal structure, high quality reactors to power the lances and a highly-trained Emperors Children crew to allow it to punch well above its nominal weight.

There's still a way to go on it, namely some detailing work, plus i want to cover up the remains of the batteries left over from the refitting process. then I need to try and somehow freehand the Emperors Children symbol onto it somehow.

It's getting there though. I'll show the rest soon.

Empire airship crewman WIP

I've was working on my airship and it occurred to me that it needs some crew. With that in mind, I dug out the Empire Engineer that I bought a while ago and started painting him up.

 He's nowhere near done atm, but tbh I'm just impressed that I'm actually staying focused one one project for more than a few days. This guy is eventually going to stood on the stern of the Airship, bellowing orders at the gunners below

Soul Drinkers rising

Ok with rumours and images of the new SM 'Dex coming thick and fast, I feel that it's high time I revived an old army of mine - my Soul Drinkers.

I commissioned Ron from From The Warp to make Sarpedon for me three years ago and for six months, every game I played was using them. Then I moved house and got interested in Space Wolves and they were shelved indefinitely, their models bled off to fuel other armies until only Saredon and a few marines remained.

Now though, I feel it's time to revive them and bring them back to their former glory, especially with the new 'Dex about to come out.

So here he is, fresh from a comfy life on my display shelf, Sarpedon of the Soul Drinkers chapter:

He needs dusting off and a new weapon added to his left hand, as the Soulspear blade snapped off last time I moved flat, never to be seen again. That's ok though, as Sarpedon wielded a stolen force axe in later books, so as soon as I find a suitable donor, he'll have one.

Now to dig out some marines to go with him...

Conversion Beamer conversion

(No pun intended in the title)

I'm looking at testing all the Centurion/Consul options in the HH Legion list. After the dismal performance of my Primus Medicae (didn't do that much beyond what an Apothecary could do for half the points), I'm moving swiftly on to a Forge Lord.

Essentially it's a Master of the Forge, only better (until the new SM book next month, at least). He has the ability to take upgrades from both the Centurion and Techmarine entries, making him quite versatile.

Looking through what I could take, I was spoiled for choice. After toying with the idea of a Graviton gun, I settled on arming him with a Conversion Beamer. The idea really appealed to me. It gives a rather tasty large template weapon to help with anti-horde, (something that Legion lists can struggle with in certain styles of builds), add in the fact it has serious marine killing potential at extreme range, plus it looks really cool to boot

To field a Conversion Beamer though, I first had to build one. Now, I didn't fancy buying the FW Techmarine that carries one, so I set about making my own:

Not bad for ten minutes work, even if I say so myself. It's just a shame that Centurions can't have master-crafted weapons - re-rolling the scatter on it would be brutal!

What do you guys think?

Free Company and Handgunners WIP

 Continuing with my Hochland force, I've been working on the Free Company unit that I started months ago:

As you can see, there's still bits and pieces to do on them, but they're nearly done. I still need to build a standard for them, but that can come later.

I've also started work on my first unit of Handgunners:

Note the protective vests that I've sculpted on their torsos: I figured that as soldiers under the command of a eccentric/mad engineer, the men finding themselves closest to the war machines on the battlefield would take extra precautions, in case of any 'tinkering' going explosively wrong. The helmets and plumes represent their membership of the North Wall Watch regiment.

More soon!

No project left abandoned....

I should make that my new motto.

I really need to sort out my backlog of projects, having unearthed my old unfinished Empire army as I was unpacking boxes the other day whilst moving into my new place. Therefore, my Hochland Engineer force is being added to the list that I posted last week.

Inspired by my find, I've been working on the airship centrepiece some more, expanding the wings and building up the hull. It's slowly coming together.

Anyway, here's the stage that it's at right now:

Now all I need to do is finish it and get some troops to support it.

Summer Projects

Now Uni's out the way for the summer, I can turn my attention back to my modelling/painting projects. I'm aiming to finish up the vast majority of my projects by the time Games Day rolls around, ready for the new goodies that are bound to come with the 'Massacre' book.

Here's a list of what I have atm:

• Sons of Horus - get my main 2000 point force painted up
• Emperors Children Allies - a small 1000 point force, led by Fabius and Lucius
• Thousand Sons Prospero Survivors - another 1000 point force to ally with my Sons of Horus
• A 2000 point BFG Sons of Horus fleet - these were meant to be two week project back in April, but I never quite got round to it
• My first unit of Harlequin 'Mimes' (counts-as Rangers), to finally kick off my Harlequin force
• A unit of Kabalite Warriors that have been sitting on my desk for absolutely ages, begging for a cool paint job
• My first unit of Imperial Army troopers
• A Kroot Shaper, plus a pair of Kroot Hounds, which I intend to be a Golden Deamon entry 
• A squad of six Deamonettes, again for Golden Deamon (40k Squad entry )
• Finally finishing up a half-finished group of LOTR Dunedain that I've never quite gotten round to

As you can see, it's quite an extensive list, but most of those are already partially done and just need finishing off. By the end of the summer, I should hopefully have quite a nice collection of painted models, most of which have been unfinished for years.

Ork Warboss Commission

I havn't posted for a while. I've been seriously busy with Uni work. Entering my final year means the work's been seriously piling up.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you today my latest commission: An Ork Warboss.

I've had great fun working on him and the customer seems really pleases. He only received it today and he's already talking about commissioning more stuff off me. Plus, part of the payment was a bunch of bits for my Pre-Heresy stuff, so expect to see an explosion of activity in the coming few week,

Mechanicum Battle Construct done

It's been a while, but I finally painted up that Mechanicum construct I showed you a few months ago.

X1565-ZY, as I've dubbed it was actually very simple to paint. I started with a Boltgun Metal base, then mixed Nuln Oil and Seraphim Sepia washes to create the dirty metal look, then lightly applied Vallejo Weathering Powders to finish it off. The wepon was a mixed of Enchanted blue blended with Regal Blue.

Although I like it, I can't help but think it needs a little more. Maybe I should add a splash of red or green to tie it with the Mechanicum or the Sons of Horus respectively. What do you guys think?

Pre Heresy Fabius WIP

Here's something I've started knocking together. I know he's not a Son of Horus, but I want to test out a Primus Medicae in my next game and I figured that if I'm going to field a Chief Apothecary, I might as well use Fabius

I did some minor conversions to him, namely filing down his overly-chaotic shoulder pads. His right one needs replacing at some point, as the filing has left it lopsided, but he'll do for now. I'll probably end up converting some allied Emperors Children to accompany him at some point.

Vulture-Talon nearly done

The Vulture's nearly done now, bar some shading and weathering. It should be taking to the field for the first time on Wednesday evening, which means it needs a half decent base.



Here's what I've knocked together:

The painting on it isn't perfect, but it looks good enough to me for now. It can always be touched up when I got to finish the bases on the rest of the army. I need to file way the sand that's stuck to the side too. The whole thing isn't bad for a two day project though

Vultures and Spaceships

 I finally painted something!

I spent the evening making a start on the Storm Talon/Vulture I showed you yesterday and my Sons of Horus fleet too, due to the fact that both use pretty much the same palette.

None of of them are anywhere near done, but it's good to finally see some colours being applied to some models

Legion Flyers

I seem to be getting a lot built at the moment, but very little painted. Still, it's all progress at the end of the day, even if it is still very much WIP.

My latest builds have been a pair of flyers. The first being a Storm Eagle, converted from the Storm Raven kit and some plasticard:

I've always wanted a Storm Eagle or two to support the Fated 15th, but at £90 a go from Forge World and having a limited hobby fund, I found it hard to justify spending out for it, as gorgeous as the model is (especially as I want two).

So I bought myself a Storm Raven for £45 from my FLGS, looking to see what I could I do to make it more Storm Eagle-like. As it turns out, it's surprisingly simple and with a few hours work, it looks close enough to quell any size/WYSIWYG issues and look pretty good to boot. Plus, if I'm willing to put in the conversion work on a second kit at that price, I can get two Storm Eagles for the price of one. That can waitr though

My second flyer purchase was a Storm Talon:

I know the Legions can't technically have these, but I'm going to count it as Vulture with Punisher Cannons - it's certainly got enough dakka for it!

Assault Cannons were still very much experimental at the outbreak of the heresy, but I'm sure the Mechanicum wouldn't have objected to allowing the Warmasters own legion to field test the new weaponry. I figure having that many guns on one vehicle should more than justify the 20 strength five shots it can dish out, plus the small chassis can account for the Vector Dancer special rule

BFG Legion Capital Ship

I got a little distracted from my Sons of Horus with building myself a small Battlefleet Gothic fleet to go with them. It's still pre-heresy though, so I don't feel so bad.

Allow me to present the 'Wolf of Cthonia', Gloriana Class Battleship (to be used as either Emperor or Retribution), Flagship of the Sons of Horus, 15th Company

The Gloriana Class isn't represented in game, but it's mentioned in 'Betrayer' to be the class that most Legion Flagships come under. As I said, it can be used in game as an Emperor or Retribution Class, as I couldn't decide which one to field. Now I don't have to, as it's got enough battery's and launch bays for both.

I think it looks quite magnificent. A vessel worthy of the XVIth Legion! I'm rather looking forward to getting it painted too.

Sons of Horus group pic

Following on from yesterdays post, i thought I'd post up a snapshot of all the Herery-era models that I've got so far. Here they are, minus my Justerian and their Dreadclaw, which are packed away ready for moving house in a few weeks time:

As you can see, they're in varying states of completion, with very few actually 'done', apart from one Veteran squad (in the centre at the back). Before I do anything else, I want to finish these guys off, as well as lock down their squad designations so I can paint the markings on them. This will probably come once I'm in my new place mid April, but I'm hoping to get at least some done before that.

That's all really for today, but I'll post more up soon

Sons of Horus army lists

Progress on my Sons of Horus have been very slow, due to uni commitments, but what I have been doing is refining my army lists that I'm working towards.

So far I have two that I like:

2000pt Sons of Horus Tactical Speartip

Captain Markus Morkaddon – Praetor with Paragon Blade, Iron Halo, Bolter

Tactical Squad Ankyr – 20 x Astartes, Vexilla, extra ccw, Sergeant Darrus Kyrbarr has Power Fist 

Tactical Squad Morrantyr -  20 x Astartes, Vexilla, Sergeant Pussus Pyrann has Power Fist

Forrakyn Despoiler Squad – 7 x Seekers, Combi-Plasmas, Sergeant Jarrus Morr has Power Fist

Rapier Weapon Battery – Laser Destroyer Array

Apothecary Detachment -  Elikk Gyrrus and Gahrus Marddon, both with Augury Scanners

Psy-Adept Varrus Kobolon – Lv1 Divination Librarian with Force Maul and Artificer Armour

Morradon Heavy Support Squad – 7 x Astartes with Missile Launchers, Sergeant Arik Morradon has Augury Scanner

‘Drukkar’ Predator Tank – Executioner Cannon

‘Mysserfar’ Predator Tank – Magna-Melta Cannon

Terminator Squad Messerat -  5 x Cataphractii, 2 x Combi-Plasmas, 1 Pair of Lightning Claws, Grenade Harness, 1 x Chainfist, 1x Powerfist, 1 Plasma Blaster

Aphaldon ‘The Executioner’ – Moritat with twin Plasma Pistols, Artificer Armour, Jump Pack and Refractor Field

2500pt Sons of Horus ‘Destructor’ Speartip

Captain Markus Morkaddon – Praetor with Paragon Blade, Iron Halo, Bolter, Pride of the Legion

Psy-Adept Varrus Kobolon – Lv1 Divination Librarian with Force Maul and Artificer Armour

Aphaldon ‘The Executioner’ – Moritat with twin Plasma Pistols, Artificer Armour

Vorrban Veteran Tactical Squad – 8 x Veterans, 1 x Plasma Gun,  2 x Power Axes, 1 x Power Sword, Legion Vexilla, Nuncio-Vox, Sergeant Jannus Vannor has a Single Lightning Claw and a Bolter. The unit has the Sniper USR

In a Dreadclaw Transport

Korkann Veteran Tactical Squad – 9 x Veterans, 1 with Meltagun, 2 with Power Swords, 1 x Power Axe, Legion Vexilla, Nuncio-Vox, Sergeant Korin Zarhaddon has Thunder Hammer. The Unit has the Sniper USR

In a Dreadclaw Transport

Byrkarr Veteran Tactical Squad  –  10 x Veterans, Legion Vexilla, Nuncio-Vox, 2 x Plasma Guns. Unit has the Sniper USR .

In a Dreadclaw Transport

 

Apothecary Detachment -  Elikk Gyrrus, Gahrus Marddon and Marius Septon, all with Augury Scanners

Forrakyn Despoiler Squad – 7 x Seekers, Combi-Plasmas, Sergeant Jarrus Morr has Power Fist

In a Dreadclaw Transport

Contemptor Dreadnought Garrost – Armed with Multi-Melta, Power Fist with built in Graviton Gun and a carapace-mounted Havoc Launcher

In a Dreadclaw Transport

Horus Himself will be added to make this 3000 points


There's a few other odds and ends I'm working on, but for now I'm using these list as a guide on what to build and paint, otherwise I'll get caught up in the hype of new releases and buy a load of stuff which I'll never use.

As you can see, I'll have a mighty force done by the time it's done. Bear in mind though that these are only my Sons of Horus. I plan to have at least a small Pre-Heresy force of each of the traitor legions eventually, even if it's only a character and a squad to use as allies (probably as each gets their own special rules) to work along the Warmasters legion. The other major PH force that I'm going to have are my Thousand Sons, but I'm still working on my army list for those, So I won't post those yet.

I feel dirty even Theory-hammering this

I've found an evil, evil combination whilst testing some combinations for Horus Heresy lists, so cheesy that it even puts 5th edition Grey Knights in the shade. Yes, various forums have been talking about it for a while, yet I underestimated just how cheesy this combo can be. Until now.

Before I go on, I'd just like to point that this not worked out using mathematics (which i suck at), but rather through a test-firing conducted simply by chucking dice around.

So here we go:

One of the HQ choices available to Legion layers is the Moritat. He comes with a special rule that lets him fire another shot with his pistols for every successful hit he inflicts. With him being Ballistic Skill 5, coupled with the ability to take two Plasma Pistols, this gets nasty.

Here's what I rolled, using Assault Terminators with TH/SS (the first notoriously tough unit that i could think of) as a test target.

19 Hits (hitting on twos)
15 Wounds (wounding on twos)
6 Dead Assault Terminators (using their 3+ Inv. Save)

That's from one guy with a pair of pistols!

Now, if you take a Divination Librarian alongside him, it becomes truely insane. Cast Prescience on the Moritat and the real filthy cheese begins.

Lets run my numbers again:

147 Hits (2+ with re-rolls)
67 Wounds (2+ to wound)
37 Dead Assault Terminators (Using 3+ Inv. Save)

As you can see, that's pretty insane. It's more Terminators than you get in most Deathwing Armies!

Also, bear in mind this is just 210 Points (minimum, for the two characters combined) of the army, leaving a lot of points to spend on other cheese.

 Yes, they tried to balance it out in a few ways by not allowing him to join any unit apart from the overpriced Destroyer Squads and stating that the Moritat can't shoot or assault the in that turn or the turn after it uses the Chain Fire rule. To be honest though, if you give him a Jump Pack and make careful use of cover you can hide him quite effectively so it's hardly a drawback.
As for the restrictions on joining units, I'd gladly pay the points premium (roughly Vanguard Veteran prices without the same level of hitting power), as the sheer power of the Moritat makes up for it, whilst also allowing him to backed by ablative wounds. Destroyers can be also armed with Rad Grenades and Missile Launchers with the 'Rad' effect, lowering their targets toughness to leave them easier picking for the rest of your force.


And people wonder why Forgeworld lists/ units aren't allowed in tournaments!

Note: I'd just like to point out that I'd never field the Moritat/ Divination combo unless i knew my opponent was a real WAAC bastard who needed taking down a peg or two, but it's always interesting to think about nonetheless