DreadTober 2026 - Week 1

 

 

Greetings, and welcome to DreadTober 2026! Regular readers will know we here at 262Krieg are regular participants in the DreadTober blogger challenge. This year I have taken on the new plastic Contemptor-Galatus dreadnought for the Legio Custodes.

Before priming, I used Vallejo Black Lava to coat the tops of the cork pieces to obscure the "corky" texture. Here a close up of the base from both sides.

 

I added some mark II armor bits for fun. They will be painted in a traitor legion's colors, of course.  Probably Thousand Sons to commemorate the Emperor's sanction on their home world following Primarch Magnus's indiscretions. I hollowed out the helmet as if knocked off or cast aside. I contemplated using green stuff to mold a bit of neck protruding out, but fell short of the experiment.

The base got a base coat of brown using the paint recipe in the tabs above. There will be much washing and dry brushing to come, then the detail work on the armor bits.

Over a black primer coat, I used an airbrush to lay down a base coat of gold.

As shown in the title pic, I then brushed on a base of black over the helmet and shield, and red on the shoulders. This completed week one and the blocking in of the main colors for the piece. Next I'll clean up the details over the black and red, then paint in the dread's iron skeleton. Once that last color is blocked in, I'll paint in the details on the armor and lay down the primary shades over armor and skeleton. That will likely finish week two. Week three should be highlighting and cleanup followed by completing the base and attaching the model to it in week four.

Wish me luck! Drop by from time to time to see the progress as the project unfolds. Then checkout the DreadTober web site to see all the other projects past and present.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

 

2026/27 Hobby Season Kickoff and To Do List

 

Welcome to the 2026/27 Season of Amber! Special thanks go out to 40Kaddict for keeping the stamps stamping. I look forward to it each season and I will make more use of these stamps this season to make up for last. 😂 I'm keeping it pretty chill after my self-proclaimed gap season.  But there is still work to get done.

Without further ado, here's this season's menu of projects to choose from:

The Horus Heresy

• Complete two Custodes characters
  
• Complete a Custodes unit
• Complete a Dark Angels unit
• Complete the Dark Angels Spartan (1st priority)

Warhammer 40K

• Complete Lion El'Jonson (2nd priority)
• Complete a Dark Angels unit
• Complete a Dark Angels vehicle

Adeptus Titanicus

• Complete Legio Tempestus Warmaster Iconoclast Titan
• Complete more weapon options
  

Legions Imperialis

• Complete a unit of troops
• Complete a unit of dreadnoughts 

DreadTober

• Horus Heresy Dark Angels Saturnine Dreadnought
• Legio Custodes Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought

Any progress here would be great. DreadTober will NOT be missed; the Spartan MUST get completed as well as the Lion in his 40K semblance. So that's 3 projects for sure this season, out of the gate. I really should balance the scales with my Titanicus forces by completing the Warmaster Iconoclast...monster March this season? So many fun projects! 

Check back from time to time to keep me honest and see how things roll. If you are hobbying, best wishes for your projects. If you are not; WHY NOT?!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Results from the 2025/26 Hobby Season

And we've come to the end of the 2025/26 hobby season. I took a bit of a gap year during this season for the first time since I started blogging here on April 8, 2013. I fine length of sharing with many fond memories.

I guess the gap year started when I completely spaced on posting a to-do list for this season...then after a couple projects I took a bit of a painting break. It wasn't a decision; not a well thought out thing...it just sort of happened.

During the season the blog still surpassed the million page views mark, whatever that really means. Still cool to see.  It's been a journey.

So, this season I completed two (?!) projects:

• 1 Dark Angels Brutalis Dreadnought (DreadTober!)
• 1 Death Korps of Krieg Artillery Piece

I also built a lot of stuff which has been shared as well - so not nothing this season!  I have a Horus Heresy Custodes force to paint, lots of new 30K and 40K marines to paint; and Legions Imperialis models as well. So the project space is rich! Oh, and I have a Horus Heresy Dark Angels Spartan beyond table-top ready that REALLY needs to just get DONE too.  Probably will put paid to that next before DreadTober sets in.

I had a relaxed hobby year with lots of modeling and some time to explore other hobbies. And now it's on to the next season where I expect to do some thing more than two completions. Stop by when you can and share the journey.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbench [May/June] - Horus Heresy

 

While poking away, and mostly stalling on completing the Dark Angel's Spartan assault tank, I've been building a few things.

In May I assembled of a squad of the new plastic MkII Breachers.  A typically good kit as we've come to expect from the plastic heresy line.

In June, I picked up the Horus Heresy Legio Custodes Battle Group box and 3.0 codex. These purchases inspired me to break out some older rein models I had in inventory. Here we have Constantin Valdor in all his Forge World resin glory.

Next up I assembled and based a box of Aquilon terminators. I left the armored tops unglued for ease of painting later. Some poster tack is currently securing the parts against loss.

Then I turned to the one model in the battle force box that I was least interested in: the Calidus Annihilator Grav-tank. But during assembly, it really grew on me. It was fun to assemble and is a great looking model. I would never had gone for the resin Forge World version. At some point I'll do something interesting with the base to match the rest of the force.

Next I assembled the Contemptor-Galatus dreadnought.  This will compete with the Saturnine dreadnought for Dreadtober this year, no doubt.  I have always liked the look of this dread and I'm psyched to include it next to my existing resin Contemptor-Achillus.

 

Last up for the month was the Shield Captain from the box. Quite a fancy dude, he is. A joy to build and will be great fun to paint. I'll get on with assembling the remaining 12 models for the two Sodalities in the box.  I definitely got sucked in by the Horus Heresy specific sculpts.  I have been considering my 40K Custodes as double duty, but the differences between the 40k/30k lines and available models have made it worth collecting both for me. 

Super fun, detailed models that will provide a lot of painting enjoyment.  I expect to get started on a few of these once I complete the damn Spartan. :)  I really don't know what's got into me, but I have definitely been struggling to find motivation to sling paint this year.

That's it for now.

Cheers and Happy Gaming! 

Horus Heresy Dark Angels Spartan - WIP

 Greetings and welcome back. I've been slowly tinkering away on this Spartan Assault Tank for my Dark Angels Age of Darkness collection. This started as a plastic Spartan from the 2.0 release box. It had been assembled and was languishing in the queue.  I really want one of the new super heavy tanks, and decided that wasn't going to happen until I painted up the big tanks I already have for Horus Heresy.

As a recap, I built this tank with the Forge World land raider add-ons for Horus Heresy Dark Angels and included Forge World MkIII shoulder pads as well. Due to the resin on the prow, I didn't bother to go in for sorting out how to get the assault ramp to open and simply glued the doors shut. I had not intended to go in for a detailed interior in any case.

 

The base colors were pretty straight forward. I thought about and that opted out of any checker patterns.

I tried out some browns and oranges to make the track section different from other metals on the tank. I wanted a sort of older weathered look. During the final stages I plan to add some dry brushed dark silver as highlights.

Here is the beast with tracks attached.  Just what I was hoping for; something that stands out as different from just another bit of silver on the tank.

Currently, the guns are not glued on, just attached via their slotted connectors. They are not tight which leaves them a bit floppy even after some paint. I figure it's still best to leave them removable for future storage; or the possibility of alternate weapons one day.

And here she is with decals applied and additional details done. I'm still working on the project a bit at a time.  My painting output has slowed WAY down this year as I spend more of my free time on other pursuits. But I'm as committed to the hobby as ever.

I just primed a plastic Breacher squad for the Dark Angels.  And I even got a game of Adeptus Titanicus in during April.

So while the blogging has been slow, I'm still active and enjoying the hobby. I hope to have the Spartan complete and up for show-and-tell soon.

 

Cheers and Happy Gaming!