Emperor's Children Fluffy: HQ Part1

This is a new segment where I will go through the available units that can be used in games of 30K using the ForgeWorld rules. I will discuss which units that work for the 3rd Legion and are "Fluffy" enough to fit with the background of this army. First out is HQ.

• Praetor: This HQ perfectly fills the role of Lord Commander which is the highest rank within the Emperor's Children, second only to the Primarch Fulgrim. The stats of the Praetor makes for a versatile fighter and there are tons of different upgrades to turn him into whatever you want from a massive terminator to an agile jump marine or a supersonic jetbiker. Close combat or shooting both work for this guy.
• Centurion: The line Captain has slightly lower stats than the Praetor which is only appropriate but is a cheap HQ which can also be heavlily customized to fit the needs of the army. The Centurion becomes even more interesting when he is upgraded into on of the many Consuls (discussed below).
• Chaplain: Power maul and zealot. Known to have been used by the 3rd Legion, most notably Chaplain Charmosian. Perfect to use together with any type of assault unit. Possibly given a jump pack.
• Master of Signal: Drops a heavy bombardment once per turn and has some cool gadgets. This is one of the consuls which I can't make up my mind if it is fluffy enough for the Emperor's Children. One one hand the 3rd Legion strives for perfection in all kinds of warfare and the tactical usage of bombardments seems legit. On the other hand it seems very unglorious to watch the enemy destroyed at a distance and not befitting of a high ranking soldier. My conclusion is to preferably not bring this entry, however, I like the idea of the lonely Captain which is looked down on by his peers for using this kind of tactic.
• Legion Champion: Master-crafted close combat weapon and WS6. Perfect for the Emperor's Children who are well known to excell in close combat duelling. Use together with assault unit.

Part 2 coming tomorrow!

Building a diorama. Part 2

So last time I got the clay moulded into a staircase and added some texture to it using rocks, sand and cork. Now to continue with the diorama!

 Primed in chaos black.

 Dry-brushed using Dawnstone and Administratum grey.

 Flocked with some hobby grass and Mordheim turf. The tree was painted with Rakarth flesh and washed with Nuln oil whilst the leaves were based in Doombull brown and dry-brushed with Rakarth flesh.

 The 3rd Legion approves! Perfection in all things!

 And to complete the project I added a glass dome. Suddenly the wargaming hobby has turned into home decoration.

Gaming mat ordered!

Just a quick update to say that I have ordered a 4x4 G-mat from gamemat.eu! I chose the Wastelands mat because it looks cool and has the feeling of a warzone depleted of life. I also think it will work with my Lepidosaurian bases. The reason that I chose the smaller mat is because I am currently living in a small appartment and so space is an issue and I think that the mat should still be viable for games of 1000 points or less. When more points are added you need the extra maneuverability to prevent the game from becoming static. In this case I wanted something that was easy to bring and use for small and quicker battles. Really looking forward to seeing it in real life and will get back with a review when I have it.

Building a diorama. Part 1

Today I had another idea for a modelling project: to make a small diorama in order to display some of my Emperor's Children models. I dislike the idea of nicely painted models stowed away in some box when so much time has gone into them. Wargaming miniatures are pieces of art as well. At the moment only some of my models are out for show and they are usually simply lined up in the bookshelf gathering dust. It is time for a change!

 I gathered some material needed for the project: Cork, stones, glue, decorative stone base and some more clay which I previously played with to make some Tyranid terrain (check it out here).

 First I used the clay to roughly model a small cliff with steps cut out of it to produce a winding stair.

 Second I started gluing on the cork and stones to try to get the surfaces of the cliff more uneven. The clay tends to become too smooth. Note that I added some plastic bits such as a spare Stegadon head which should seem carved from the rock as a gargoyle head. There is also a small tree and some leaves. The stones are arranged in a circle which looks silly at the moment but the idea is to cover the empty space with models which should blend into the rest of the theme.

Finally I covered everything with Armageddon dust to get that fine texture. The next step is to prime it black and paint it. At the moment it doesn't look like much but I hope that I can make it resemble my initial vision in the end.

Let the Galaxy Burn!

Another type of unit I plan on adding to my Lepidosaurians: Burna boyz! Or at least I will use the rules for the Burna boyz, not sure what to call this guy yet. Maybe some cheesy name to avoid copyright like Burna man/flame kid? Haha no that sucks! I based this model of a Saurian but exchanged one hand for the Terradon rider claw with wreaking ball and the other to hold the flaming brazier. It makes the model stand out as something different and I can see it spurting fire on its enemies. Perhaps the large ball contains a flamable liquid? Need to have at least 5 in a unit so more will come eventually.

 I painted the flames blue which makes a nice contrast to the color of the Saurians skin. I also used Rhinox hide to create a striped pattern on the Saurians scales.

The Saurus are massing!

Slowly but surely my Lepidosaurians are taking form. This force which I plan to use as Orks in 30K as a potential Xenos-species with which to fight. That is one of the fun things with 30K that there were loads of more Xenos in the galaxy (before they were eliminated by the Imperial forces). I have already finished 1-2 unit(s) of Skinks and 1 Skink Shaman and now my 10 Saurians are on their way as well as a Stegadon, 3 ripperdactyls and another Shaman. I have also considered adding the following:

• Cold one riders: Works as ork bikers, looks cool but I might use the Cold ones from the Dark elves kit instead since they don't look like Goofy.
• Artillery units: From the Stegadon kit I got ballistas and other large weapons which I plan on using as Gretchin with Artillery.
• Dragonborn: Might add wings (from the gargoyle kit) to some Saurians to get Stormboyz. Not sure how to fit the wings but I bet the conversion would look cool.
• Chosen: Using some temple guard as Nobz would add the needed commanders to my Saurians.
• XXX: Check tomorrow for yet another unit...

So what do you think? I like the color and it is very easy to apply to large units in little time, check out the painting guide. See ya!

Scales and Horns

Just wanted to show how the Stegadon looks with all horns painted. I am almost done with the body, only some of the decorations left to paint. Stay tuned for the Howdah!

Stegadon painting guide Part 2.

Yo! Today we move from the skin to the horns (at least some of the horns) for another painting guide stolen from the web. I used inverted highlighting which looks something like this:

 Starting from the base and moving towards the tip of the horns: Ushabti bone.

 Balor brown.

 Mournfang brown.

 Rhinox hide.

Abaddon black. And there we have it. I am considering adding a wash of Nuln oil to merge the colors a bit and make them less vivid but we will see. Have to do all the small horns along the model as well. I will also post on how to paint the Howdah when I get to it. See ya!

Stegadon painting guide Part 1.

Yo! Had quite some progress on the Stedagon and today I bring you the first part of the painting guide (the skin). I must point out that I did not come up with this scheme myself but found it online. With that said, here we go!

 Started with an undercoat of Chaos black followed by Rakarth flesh on the skin.

 Waaagh! flesh on the scales.

 Dry-brush the entire model with 50/50 mix of Rakarth flesh and Ushabti bone.

 Wash entire model with Seraphim sepia.

 Wash the entire model with Nuln oil (slightly watered down).

 Dry-brush entire model with Ushabti bone.

And finally dry-brush the entire model with 50/50 mix of Ushabti bone and Skull white. The result is both nice-looking but also quite quick to do. I think that the scale color could easily be exchanged for other dull colours such as Mephiston red or Kantor blue. Next up is painting the horns!

Palatine Blades slowly but surely

Geeze, these guys sure are taking their time to complete. Haven't really had the time to sit down and focus on them lately but there is mainly some washes and highlighting left (not to mention the three others that I have to do after that).

Stegadon WIP

Here is a first look at the assembled, primed and somewhat painted Stegadon. Really fun model and the scales gives a good amount of detail into it. So far I have only painted the skin with Rakarth flesh but I will create a painting guide once I am finished. See ya!

Stegadon sighted!

Yay! It's package day kids! This time a mighty Stegadon has stomped its way into my hobby and I am looking forward to painting this beast. I've already assembled it much like the one on the box with the wheel of doom or whatever. Found an interesting painting scheme online which I am aching to try out. As I still haven't learned how to play Warhammer fantasy and since the Lizardmen seem to have gone missing from that game anyway I will use this for my Lepidosaurians=40K Lizardmen. Going with the Ork rules I think I will play the Stegadon as the Squiggoth (rules in this book) which is a monstrous creature with a transport capacity of 10. The actual model looks a bit small to carry 10 Saurians but this isn't any more weird than the Rhino transporting 10 Marines (like GW works with scale, hah!). More Stegadon pics tomorrow!

Old sins. Part 3: Astra Militarum

Today in the third part of the segment Old sins, where I present my previous armies (before 30K), I bring you the Carolinian Guard. This is an Imperial guard/Astra militarum army painted in the glorious colors of my home country (guess which). I liked the idea of an army fighting in the traditional style of the 19th century, with loads of troops marching into enemy fire. This is just what the Astra militarum is all about, they have the manpower to send wave after wave into the slaughter.

Approximately three ten man squads. The middle one has upgrades from ForgeWorld and is usually played as veterans.

Command squad.

I wanted heavy weapon teams rather than tanks because they more resemble the cannons used in the 19th century.

I love the idea of using cavalry in 40K charging enemy xenos and tanks. These rough riders were converted using the horses from the Wood elves Glade Riders. They are very fragile in combat but when they charge they can kill even mighty space marines.

The leader of my army is the charismatic Carolus Rex. He is modelled as a Lord Commissar but I sometimes play him as a Platoon Commander. He is so vain that he needs to have his royal painter to accompany him into battle and capture his great deeds on the canvas.

This army was painted to the music of this album: Youtube video.