A Rant, A Challenge and A Restoration

Ok big post today, but I havn't posted for a while, so I've got quite a bit to catch up on.

I'm going to start with a moan.

As you know, I recently bought myself a copy of Horus Heresy: Betrayal. It's a beautiful tome and seemingly well made. It's been sat pride of place on my hobby book shelf, looking suitably magnificent.

Disaster struck the other day though, when I took it down to check a fact whilst I was painting:

You see the problem? One of the corner protectors broke off. For a book costing so much, apparently being made to the highest quality and being less than two weeks old, this shouldn't have happened, especially with the care with which I've been treating it.

Not impressed at all.

On to happier things though, I've decided to challenge myself, having totalled up the price of everything I still need for my Sons of Horus, if I was to buy it all from Forge World.

Trying to save some money, I've bought a Tactical Squad boxed set and I'm going to see how easy it would be to make an entire pre-heresy squad from it. Should be interesting, although it will involve a lot of filing, cutting and adding of studs. If this works, I'll be able to add twice as many marines to my Sons of Horus for the same price as the FW squads. Wish me luck.

And so we come to the restoration...

I found this old flight case for £2 at a car boot sale:

Yes it's pretty battered and appears to be on its last legs, but I'm going to attempt to restore it to a usable condition, as it looks like it'll be perfect for transporting models in, instead of the awful GW cases that've been using, which can't hold vehicles on the few occasions where I want to use them.

As you can see, it came empty, so I can customise it to my exact needs:

I'm somewhat helped by the fact that the final result doesn't have to look particularly good, just be sturdy enough to hold up to a train journey a couple of times a week and hold a 2000 point army within it. With the right application of Gaffer Tape on the exterior and customised foam on the interior, I reckon it should do the job quite nicely

I'll let you know how I get on

More Sons of Horus Veterans

So after the unusual departure, I got back to working on my Sons of Horus. After spending a rather nice evening painting last night, I've made some progress on some more Veterans.

First up are Severan and Askrurr, a pair of twins serving as swordsmen in Korkann Veteran Squad:

Harkan, the squads Nuncio-vox Operator:

 And Kushur (complete with blood splatters) wielding a power axe to terrifying effect.

There's plenty to do on these guys still, mainly detail work and completing their bases. Harkan needs a bolter and a few more washes and the twins need their power swords finishing, so a lot to keep me busy. They're not bad for a few hours work though, even if I do say so myself.

I want to get some weathering powders before I finish them off, to give them a real battle-worn appearance, but I'll concentrate on getting the rest of the squad to the same stage as the Twins are at before I do that i think

Here it is

Ok, time to explain the mysterious thing...

 It's a Dark Mechanicum Battle Engine, partially inspired by Dave Taylors recent work on his own Adeptus Mechanicus.

I based it loosely off the descriptions of the Kaban Engine from the HH Series, but with my own spin on it.

In game, it's designed to be used in a number of roles, mostly as a Rapier Laser Destroyer, but it can also be a Dreadnought at a push, or anything on a 60mm base.

It started as a way to avoid shelling out £30 plus postage of a Rapier from FW, plus a way of including something in my HH force that wasn't in Power Armour, but it then grew into something more. It could conceivable be used in all my 40k forces (barring perhaps my Space Wolves), from my Blood Pact, to my Thousand Sons, CSM, Daemons, or, as I said, my Sons of Horus. It really is just a fun little build more than anything though, starting simply with a Ping Pong Ball and some spare Drop Pod bits and letting it grow from there. I plan to build several of these with the other Ping Pong balls I have (I got 12 for £1), so expect more weird and wacky creations from me in the future.

Veterans WIP and Mysterious Thing

I spent the day working on my first two FW Sons of Horus Veterans, so I thought I'd share what I've done so far.

As this army is going to become my main army (at least until Thousand Sons get HH rules), I'm taking my time and lavishing care and attention on them. I used the same recipe for the green of their armour as I did for my Praetor and Master of Vox, but used less Nuln Oil and Gryphonne Sepia on the metals, for fear of losing the details in all the grime.

I'll post more as they progress, but what do you think so far?

 Also, before you go, take a look at this:

More on this strange device soon, but I'd like to hear your ideas on what it could be/ what it's going to be used as....

Dreadclaw conversion

Finally got the fething thing finished.

It seemed a simple conversion, just flip the fins round, right? Wrong. It took nine hour of tinkering and adjusting, punctuated by several frustrated rants to friends. Whoever designed this kit should be shot. Seriously, it was hell. But at least it's finally done.

The good news is that my Justerian have their transport, explained in my army background as a modified Dreadclaw to facilitate the easier deployment of Tactical Dreadnought Armour. This gives them the ablity to become an intercept and destroy unit in the games where I'm not using Orbital Assault or fielding Horus himself

The bad news is I need five of these for my finished army. Sigh

Barik Zorrin

Here's the first of my Justerian Terminators, Armed with a pair of duelling blades (counts-as Lightning claws).
 
The kit was a joy to put together, easily one of the best that I've had from Forge World. So much so that it's a real shame that my initial plan for my list doesn't include more of these guys.

The idea for using the swords as claws came from the fact that I refuse to buy several of the weapons kits just to get the mix of weapons I want in the unit. Instead I just took them from the Mk3 Weapons set (which is also fantastic, despite the price), giving him something a little unique to mark him out as the Elite of the Elite. With the DA book just out, I'd be very interested in seeing how these guys fare against the new Elite of the Elite: the Deathwing Knights.

Anyway, I'll post of the rest of his unit soon, plus their converted Dreadclaw transport, which I spent most of today building, causing much frustration (more on this later)

Happy gaming guys!

The Dirty Half-Dozen

 Aka. the first half of my first Veteran Squad

I spent yesterday building these guys, using parts from both my Forge World order and my bitz box. They're nothing too special, with the odd skull hanging on their belts and head swaps

I'm still looking for some bolters to give them, as I didn't order any from FW (a stupid oversight on my part). On the other hand, it gives me an opportunity to customise their weapons to make them stand out as veterans .

I should be finishing the squad some time tonight.

First Forge World models

 Having dived head first into my box of Forge World Goodness, I have my first marine ready to go. Allow me to introduce Sergeant Jannus Vannor of the Sons of Horus.

 He's going to be leading one of my Veteran Tactical Squads. It was a fairly simple build, pretty much straight from the box, with the addition of a head from the Mk3 Command and a Mk3 Lightning claw from the FW power weapon set. I personally think he looks awesome, but what do you guys think?


I've also been working on the bases for my Justerian Terminators:

More on these later

Legion Vexilla & Destroyer

 Some more Sons of Horus progress to show you today, as the 'Fated 15th' starts to really take shape. I've not started work on the Forge World kits yet, but instead I'm working on completing my existing units

First up is a Legion Vexilla Bearer for one of my Tactical Squads. A vitally important model, as (just in case you're unaware of the HH rules) it gives me re-rolls to leadership. This might not seem so important in a Space Marine force, but what you've got to remember is that HH era marines don't get ATSKNF, so a single failed leadership test could ruin a game for me. This guy is going to stop it happening.

I chose the Veteran Sergeant from the old metal command squad box as the basis for this guy, as he has a nice, commanding pose, despite his diminutive stature. The addition of the CSM backpack and back banner from the tactical box make up for his lack of height though. A simple conversion, but an effective one, I think.

This guy on the other hand, is much more involved. A few weeks back (at my request), Ron over at From the Warp posted a tutorial on making a Pre-Heresy Jump Pack using the exhaust vents from a drop pod, some plastic tubing and a CSM backpack.

I'll let my own results speak for themselves on this test model for my Destroyer squad, but I think it works brilliantly:

 The Rad Missile Launcher was made using a Hunter-killer Missile and some plasticard. I don't think I'd be able to duplicate the conversion for the launcher again, but luckily I don't have to, as I only need one of them in my final force.

 

What do you guys think?

Forge World Goodness!

My order finally arrived!

After weeks and weeks of waiting, it finally got through, swelling the ranks of my Sons of Horus immensely, as well as giving me the Betrayal book, which is well worth the wait. It's a beautiful tome, which i plan to be spending tonight absorbing thoroughly before starting on the models in the morning.

Taking stock of everything I have (including WIP's and ready to build), I now have the following for my Pre-Heresy forces

20 Thousand Sons
3 Thousand Son Librarians
40 Sons of Horus Bolter marines
5-6 SoH characters of various descriptions
5 Justerian Terminators/ normal Cataphractii, depending on how I want to field them
2 Dreadclaws (to be made from Drop pods)
7 Destroyer Marines
1 Vindicator
1 Aegis Defence Lines
1 Rhino, about to be turned into a Predator
2 Apothecaries
3 Scratchbuilt Jetbikes
Parts for another 20 Marines on the way from Bitz Websites
Horus himself

So as you can see, there's plenty to keep me going. It's going to be a very busy, but fun few months for me.

For now though, I'm off to read Betrayal. See you soon!

Prospero Spireguard WIP

 Ok, so I'm focusing on my Thousand Sons for the time being (must resist another rant about Forge World...grrr), so I've been working on my Troops choices - specifically two units of Prospero Spireguard (to be fielded as Scout squads), ready to provide long range support for my Scarab Occult units (Sternguard).

They were built using a combination of Cadian and High Elf bits, with Bolters taken from various sources. The Missile Launcher is a Hunter-Killer Missile.

 Here's a group shot:

There's still a lot of work to be done on these, but you can get an idea of what the finished unit will be like.

 I quite like them, although they're turning out a lot darker than I want them to be. I might strip them down again later and experiment some more, but for now i'll wait and see how they look alongside my Scarab Occult units.

Heresy Progress

 There's still no sign of my Forge World order, despite an email from them saying it's finally been dispatched. I'm not allowing that hold me back though, as I have a huge pile of parts I've both accumulated from Bitz websites and scavenged from previous projects.

 First of all I've been working on Darrus Kyrbarr, the Sergeant of one of my Sons of Horus Tactical squads.

The idea behind this squad is that as a post-Istvann force, they're beginning their descent in chaos - hence the use of Chaos Space Marine parts, mixed with the 'classic' Pre-Heresy elements, like the greaved legs and cabled torso.
It's not clear from this picture, but also I've modified his Bolter so that the magazine is further forward than the 'modern' version of the gun. Here's a picture that shows it better (even if it doesn't show off the rest of the model so well)

All in all, I think he makes for quite a brutal, predatory-looking model, which suits the back story I'm writing for him. I'll post it up as the rest of the squad progresses and I get him fully finished, as the power fist still needs serious work before I start adding freehand Cthonian runes and glyphs to him

I've also been working on my Thousand Sons, but progress is as slow as ever (the keen-eyed amongst you might notice I've been working on this same guy for over a year).

Apart from his eyes, I'm finally happy enough with this guy to call him done. He's going to be performing double-duty as a member of a Legion Seeker Squad, or as a Sternguard Veteran when I'm not allowed to use the HH army list (Boo! Hiss!).

So there you go. I'll post more up soon, as I've got a few weeks off uni to really focus on hobby stuff. For now though, Happy Gaming!