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

Khorneguy & Emiko - joint page on Twitter

I told you in my last post that my girlfriend wants to paint models with me (yay!) and take a generally more active part in my hobby. Right now, she's mainly interested in the painting side of things and sharing her work with the world. Naturally, I'm over the moon about this, as I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that it's very rare that a man can share his hobby with his significant other, but the question was 'who would this be done?'

After talking about ideas for turning the Wandering Mind into a joint effort, she said it wouldn't feel right taking up joint leadership of the blog that I started and have run for the last 5 years.

Because of this we've decided to start a Twitter page to cover our painting and modelling partnership. Not that there won't be the occasional post on here covering our joint work, but, like i said, she feels that the Wandering Mind should be for my stuff. It may be the case that in time she'll start her own hobby blog, but for now, she's happy to work from Twitter, as it means less time and effort maintaining it whilst she has university work to get done.

So on that note, allow me to introduce the 'Wandering Duo', run in joint partnership by Khorneguy and Emiko:

The Wandering Duo

So if you have Twitter, pop in and say hi, follow and comment. Just don't forget that the Wandering Mind will be running as usual. I'll be dropping a link into the sidebar, so you can access it easily here too.

Looking forward to seeing you in the Twitter-verse. For now though, happy gaming!

Sorceress Luhna WIP (painted by my girlfriend)

It's been a quiet few weeks hobby-wise for me, as I've had uni work to get through and my 22nd birthday celebrations. My Sons of Horus have just sat on their shelf, despite the next deadline for the Tale of 40k Gamer on Warseer being in the next couple of days. I did intend to work on them this evening, but me and my girlfriend got talking about her painting her own model. After a quick rummage through my models, we soon found one she liked - my Dark Elf Sorceress, using the Neferata model from the VC range.

Now after a quick look, we found that GW doesn't make her any more, so after a little consideration, I decided that my one could do with a repaint anyway, so i stripped it down and re-undercoated it it for her.

This is what she had after a few hours:

As you can see, it's still very WIP and she's not sure yet whether it's going to stay a Dark Elf or make the transition into a Wood Elf, but I'll keep you posted on it and put up updates as they come.

Not just Horus Heresy....

My time hasn't entirely been taken up by my Sons of Horus. I've also been working on a display piece for my girlfriend. Yes, most blokes give flowers, but I'm giving her the gift of models.

I'm working to a fairly standard Dark Elf colour scheme, but obviously I'm spending far more time and effort on this than I would most models. I've been working this two or three weeks so far and I'm still not very far with it, but I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out so far.

What do you guys think?

Even more Pre-Heresy

I really seem to be churning through my Sons of Horus atm, having just painted up nearly a full tactical squad to go with Darrus Kyrbarr (the Sergeant that I showed you a while back)

The pictures aren't the greatest, but forgive me, as I was working against poor light. As you can see, they've mainly just got bolters, but I've left one empty-handed until I can decided which special weapon to field them with when I can't use the FW rules and have to field them with the normal marine codex instead

This is a taste of updates to come, as I need 60 tactical marines for my list. I have a feeling that I'll be sick and tired of bolter marines by the end of it all, but oh well. It must be done.

Messerat Justaerin Squad

Following on from my last post, I also managed to get my Justaerin Terminators done.

I didn't manage to get a group shot of them, so I'll just show them one by one.

First up is Arrus Korthin:

While he's not as high a standard as I'd hoped to achieve, (mainly because I really hate painting black armour), hes still done, complete with weathering powders, which is always good

As I've said before, the pair of dueling swords represent lightning claws, due to his skill with them. I experimented with having them glow purple or blue to make them stand out more, but I decided in the end they look far better just as plain silver.


Next is Barrus Zorrin:

 I've armed him with a Combi-Plasma, Power Fist and Grenade Harness (for when I want to field them as a normal Legion Terminator Squad), but other than that, just a grunt really. Well, as much of a grunt as you can be when you're serving in the elite company of the Warmasters own legion.

And then we have Harvus Morradon:

Another guy with a Combi-Plasma, but this time alongside a Chainfist. I converted the Combi-Weapon from just an ordinary Bolter and the Plasma Pistiol from FW's Mk III weapon set, putting them to good use, as I wasn't going to be fielding them anywhere else. His fist was just taken from the normal GW Terminators and sliced up to fit


So there you have it. This is technically the first Legion squad that I've completed - Justaerin only need three men minimum. I do still need to do their transport though. and I'm still working on the other guys that came in the set - a Multi-Melta guy and Standard Bearer - but the basics are there.

What do you guys think of them?

Severan and Kushur done

 Finally managed to get some Sons of Horus finished to a level I'm proud of.

Here are Severan and Kushur, done to what I feel is the best of my abilities and, even if I say so myself, looking pretty damn good.

I used Vallejo Weather Powders to 'dirty them up' a little, which made a huge difference in my opinion, as up to that point, I couldn't help but feeling there was something not quite right with them.

I also decided to give Severan a gilded skull to carry, seeing as up to then, his free hand was just waving about aimlessly - hardly a mark of an expert swordsman. Also, I read a great snippet of background in Betrayal that talks about the Sons of Horus dipping the skulls of their enemies in gold to preserve them as trophies and i knew I just had to include that in my force somewhere.
 
I know they still havn't got Legion/Squad markings or glyphs, but I've decided to do that at the end of the project, so it's easier to batch paint them and also gives me time to finalise my force and squad composition, without shackling certain models to certain squads.

Finally, here's here's some of their fellow Legion Veterans, almost done.

They're shaping up nicely too, I must say. I'll post more soon.

Hochland Free Company

 Although my Horus Heresy projects have taken most of my time recently, rest assured that I haven't abandoned my other projects:

The Glorious Army of Hevig von Nearostaffen is still growing, albeit slowly. Most recently, I've been working on some Free Company, as I need some plucky lads to run forward and die as slowly as possible while my gun line does its job.

Apart from a few minor touches, I've finish five so far, plus a small unit filler, taken from the Mantic Dwarves range.

Poor lad, he spilled his pint...

He's going to be on the back row, with the guy next in rank with him poking him with a stick in an effort to revive him.