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?