Saurus infantry WIP

Lots of shady stuff going on here (hahah) coming along nicely. Click here for painting scheme.

Tyranid terrain

Today I had some fun playing with hobby clay to make some Tyranid terrain. Nothing fancy really but it was both easy and cheap so worth a try I would say. The clay was bought at a store for art supplies and there were lots of colors so I went for one white and one black for about 5.5 $ (4.9 Euros) and from that I was able to do 3 capillary towers + a small digestion pool. Take a look:

The material was quite easy to work with and I am sure that the edges of the towers could be made sharper if one took the time. The clay hardened in the oven (about 30 min) and was ok to paint at, not perfect but enough for the paint to stick. I might take the time to make some more of these as I think they will blend in well with my Tyranid army. Perhaps making a Tyranid version of an aegis defence wall? Or is that even allowed? We will see!

Old sins. Part 2: Minotaurs

This segment presents my previous hobby armies, before I started with 30K. Last week I showed my first army: Tyranids. After a while it becomes boring painting the same thing over and over and I had just been introduced to the Horus heresy novels so I decided to start a space marine army (40K). I chose the Minotaurs chapter featured in the Badab wars because of a cool background story and nice models from ForgeWorld.

Rhino.

Land raider crusader.

Three half-done tactical squads. I thought it would be cool to use the horned helmets of the Chaos space marines since they make the models more bull-like. I also considered the chapter on the verge of turning traitors (they are described as having some shady features).

Devestators.

Assault terminators with some special shields.

Captain.

Asterion Moloc Chapter master.

Ivanus Enkomi Reclusiarch.

The paint scheme for this army was kept very simple and I am happy to say that I have advanced since then. This was before I even dared to use shades/washes oh how naive! There is yet one more army to present for next week so stay tuned!

Lucius the Swordsman

Yo! Lucius is on his way! I based him of the Palatine Blades Perfector but swapped the head for a bare Blood angels head. Since the helmet looked so cool I wanted to keep it and used a bolter arm to hold it. The helmet rests in a way which looks realistic and I only had to cut of the thumb and reposition it to make this conversion work.

Since I used an external arm for the helmet I couldn't use the two-handed sword intended for the Perfector. Instead I traded for a one-handed blade which I think suits Lucius better. He is described as wielding an ancient terran-forged blade in Fulgrim but is later gifted with the blade of the Laer by his Primarch. The charnabal sabre looks deadly enough for him I would say.

Together with the other Blades getting ready to kick some loyalist, or was it traitor, ass!

Emperor's Children Characters

My love for the Emperor's Children is based on the Horus heresy novel Fulgrim and to some extent Angel exterminatus and others. Besides having a playable force and trying out the rules for 30K my main goal has been to recreate the notable characters of the Legion. Here I present a list of what I have completed and plan to do:

Done:

• Saul Tarvitz: Captain 10th. One of the most well known. Lead the loyalist resistance on Istvaan 3. Fights with custom broadsword. 
• Eidolon: Lord Commander. Arrogant and in lead of the traitors. Fights with thunder hammer and sonic enhancements.
• Vespasian: Lord Commander. The good and loyal of the Lord Commanders. Fights with a blade. 
• Solomon Demeter: Captain 2nd. A bold warrior who despite being quite arrogant in his own way remained loyal and payed the price. Custom bolter and chainsword.
• Fabius: Chief apothecary. Attempted to better the genetic code and appearance of the astartes by incorporating xenos organs and connecting the brains pain sensors with those of the pleasure centre. Uses his medical kits etc.

To create/add:

• Fulgrim the Primarch. ForgeWorld model is a must.
• Julius Kaesoron: Captain 1st. I will probably use the sergeant of the Cataphractii terminators. In the books he is described as fighting with various weapons such as sword, lightning claws, glaive and power fist. I might go for the sword.
• Marius Variosean: Captain 3rd. First of the noise marines, I will use the orchestrator of the Kakophoni. Would be nice to create a pre-heresy version as well.
• Lucius: Captain 13th. I have started on Lucius and am going to use the Palatine Blades Prefector as his base model.
• Ancient Rylanor: Dreadnought. ForgeWorld has even got a bundle for him but I just finished another Dreadnought and wont add another for some time. 

Non-astates to add:

• Bequa Kynska: The famous composer which became mad after hearing the music of the laer. I want to add her as a decorative piece to the army. Not sure about the rest of the remembrancers.
• Fabius' Children: Secret project...

So what do you think? Have I forgotten anyone? Is it a good list? Mad? Stupid? Let me know.

Palatine Blades WIP

Yo! Just bringing you an update on my progress with the Emperor's Children. I've assembled 4 of the Blades and plan on using the 5th as Lucius the Swordsman. These models are the most exquisitely detailed I have yet seen and I am looking forward to painting them (a bit scared to). And now to wait for good priming weather. On a side note I've been working whilst listening to Fulgrim as an audio book. It works very well and I got lots of reminders of how some of the characters are described. Got me aching to create some more of the 3rd Legion specific characters starting with Lucius.

Basing the Contemptor

I thought I might make a short post on how I created the poor Raven Guard marine on the base of my contemptor. As for the colors of the rocks etc. I recommend this post: Basing Tutorial

ForgeWorld is more generous with torsos, helmets and arms than with legs and so I had some spare with which to make this poor fellow. The arms I believe are from the MKIV assault squad and I removed the chainsword to leave only a clenched fist. As for the guts and organs pouring out of the downed crow I made them by rolling up green stuff in various shapes.

I painted the Raven in a 70:30 mix of Abaddon black and Dawnstone with highlights in Dawnstone and metal in Leadbelcher. The guts were painted with Cadian fleshtone mixed with various amounts of Abaddon black or Mephiston red mixed with Skull white.

The whites of the Raven are made from 70:30 mix of Skull white and Screaming skull. Here I have also washed the guts with Reikland fleshshade.

Finishing with washing the Raven in Nuln oil and adding a free-hand emblem on the shoulder. The guts were finished with lots of Blood for the bloodgod which I also flicked/applied onto the Raven Guard. The result is gory indeed!

Old sins. Part 1: Tyranids

This is a new segment where I will post some pics on my previous works, pre-heresy if you wish meaning before I started with the Emperor's Children. First out is my first army in 40K: the tyranids of hive fleet Leviathan. This is a force close to my heart which is by far the largest in terms of points and models. Every now and then I keep adding new miniatures to this army and there are still many awesome monsters released from GW which I want to own.

My Hive Tyrant leads the Swarm!

 Venomthrope.

 Lictor.

 Trygon.

 Genestealers with Broodlord.

 Home-made spore pod (before it was removed from the codex and later returned as a tyrannocye).

 Zoanthropes are my favorite models from the Tyranid faction. I love that they seem defenceless and float on their huge brains. The lack of eyes is also unnerving...

The rest of the Swarm. Lots of gaunts, warriors, gargoyles and some spore mines made from greenstuff. I have lots of yet unpainted models lying around which have to be finished some day... That's it for now! I will continue this segment for the coming weeks and I have at least two more armies to show you!

Emperor's Children Contemptor Dreadnought Complete!

Phew that was a lot of hard work! First vehicle that I have finished for the 3rd Legion. The model was amazing to work with and I used the pictures on ForgeWorlds website for inspiration and help with both assembly and painting (FW). The color scheme follow that of my other EC (post here) only in a larger scale and techniques such as sponging really helped to weather the model down, making it more realistic.

 I opted for the claw and heavy conversion beamer and they look heavy and cool. The Blood for the bloodgod made it look even more dangerous and I might go back and add some to my other models. Don't want to make then too dirty though, they're not World Eaters after all.

Can't wait to field this guy as he will add some well needed heavy support. I also want to see who would win if he faced the Contemptor of the Raven (his nemesis). Stay tuned for some details on how I made the grizzly base!

Contemptor status update

The cult of the mechanicum is busy applying incense and sacred oils to the contemptor so soon our wounded brother shall walk again. I will give a more extensive post soon when I am finishing!

EC Contempor WIP

Yo! Just bringing you an update on my work in progress on the Contemptor. Started assembling him and it was really scary. All the joints gives the model unlimited posing options but it also increases the risk of posing it in a way which looks wrong, like it isn't physically possible to stand in that way. I started building one leg from the bottom up (all the time pausing to test the pose with the other leg using adhesive putty). The second leg had to be started from the top but at the same time fitting with the foot to the ground. In the end I glued all three joints of the second leg at the same time and it worked! The pose of the second leg was forced to fit the pose of the first in this way.

To get back at the Raven I also modeled a poor Raven Guard marine cut in half on the base. I used a lot of greenstuff to create a gory effect of guts pouring out of him. Will definitely have to get some Blood for the bloodgod for the painting. Now to priming!

Raven Guard Contemptor (Nemesis)

So today I am going to bring you some beautiful pictures of the Contemptor Dreadnought which my friend and hobby-mentor "the Raven" painted. Based on the ForgeWorld "standard" (if you can call it that but it is at least not chapter specific) Contemptor (FW) wielding an assault cannon and a claw it is a real beast! Take a look at the awesome paint-job:

 But look at the base of the hulking brute, what is that poor thing which is crushed under his metal feet? An Emperor's Children bike?! Now this has sparked my temper because of several reasons:

1. It belongs to the 3rd Legion and is obviously destroyed, not nice at all mr Dreadnought.
2. It is a bike and I would never bring bikes with my miniatures (sorry all Ravenwing players out there) I think it looks silly. Now jetbikes however is another story...
3. Even if I brought a bike it wouldn't be broken and dirty, for Throne sake it is the Children we are talking about. We wash and wax our vehicles (and bodies) daily.

Ok he has done an amazing job with this guy, I can't deny it. What I can do is to avenge my poor bike and get back at him with my own Dreadnought! The base of which is at the moment quite gory and might have some plucked feathers on it. Pics are coming :)

ForgeWorld delivery!

Yo! So today I finally got the miniatures that I ordered with my golden ticket (aka the free shipping voucher). Mmmm I love that smell of fresh resin in the morning (might be poisonous though). So this is what I got:

 Emperor's Children contemptor dreadnought! A beast and finally a vehicle for the 3rd Legion. There has been too many Lizards lately. I went for the claw and conversion beamer but they also included the option for a fist and extra feet for different posing possibilities. Love the details.

 That's not all I got for my Legion! Also a squad of Palatine blades. I was really awestruck by the amount of detail on these guys. Almost to the point of feeling to tired to even think about how I will paint them :) Anyway they are gonna look great and will hopefully be a dangerous addition.

First things first! A nice bath and tomorrow I will start on the big guy. The blades will have to wait until later. I think it could be fun to complete one part at the time to have something else to look forward to. See ya!

Painting night with some friends

So I invited some of my non-warhammer friends over for a painting night to try out the hobby. At first they seemed a bit reluctant and I was a bit sceptical to how fun they would have but suddenly everyone was painting away like crazy, extreme focus in their eyes. Since they didn't know about any Chapters or Legions they could think more outside the box and paint whatever they wanted. Here is the result:

 The right one is a member of the "Feline Fury Chapter".

 I painted this one called the dark apostle. Far from done :)

 The "infected mushroom".

 This guy became really cool but I wonder if he could ever be replicated.

Last but not least the homosexual marine, bringing the fire! Load of fun and who knows they might become new hobbyists (the seeds of heresy have been sown).