Results from the 2018/19 Hobby Season

Well, it is time to bring the 2018/2019 Hobby Season to a close.  I had a great year of hobby and I'm excited to share my accomplishments.  I continued to build on the momentum of past seasons to get into a cadence that produces results without burning me out.  In all I completed 31 infantry models, two dreadnoughts, one Imperial Knight and seven Adeptus Titanicus Titans this season.

And there have been a great number of new releases to break up the monotony as well.  Some were not expected and so I pretty quickly diverged from my original to-do list to work on many unexpected things. As the season unfolded I decided to commit to three primary projects:

• 1000 points of 30K Dark Angels for Horus Heresy (a special challenged with a gaming buddy)
• 40k Blades of Vengeance Primaris successor chapter force 
• A full maniple of Legio Tempestus titans for Adeptus Titanicus

Anything else was a bonus - those projects emerged from the year as my key focus. Unfortunately this put some things on the back burner for now, such as the excellent Blackstone Fortress minis and several kill team projects.

Here's a summary of the models I was able to complete.

Custos Martis of House Taranis

The season started out with the exciting completion of my Questoris Knight Paladin.  This model started out as a planned Freeblade project, than sat unloved of a long time...maybe a year or more? It got a new lease on life when I decided I really needed to get in gear with my House Taranis project. Here the paladin stands leading four previously completed Armiger Warglaives.

House Taranis Knights

Next up, it was time for DreadTober 2018.  I took the opportunity to complete a Forge World Custodes dreadnought I had sitting on the shelves for far too long.  Do you see a trend here? I had a lot of fun completing this model.

Legio Custodes Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought 

Then it was time to get to work on my Legio Tempestus maniple project for Adeptus Titanicus.

Two Reaver Battle titans seems a good way to get started and practice my art before taking on the Warlord.  The main challenge here was learning to paint an effective camouflage pattern, to match the art in the Black Books. While it came out a bit too chunky on these Reavers, the learning helped me power into the Warlord and later titans with much better results. Custom checkered decals were also a new thing...

Legio Tempestus Reaver Battle Titans

Next, it was time to kick off a 30K Dark Angels project as a challenge with a buddy who wanted to make progress on his 30K Thousand Sons. We committed to get 1K painted over the winter and I chose to get right into things with a couple tactical squads. 

First Legion Astartes Tactical Squad (Terrans) in mkIII Armor

I have a weakness for the fluff, so of course the units had to be divided among Terrans and Calibanites. This approach gave an opportunity to show the special permission offered the Calabanite squads personally by the Lion himself: Forest green shoulder pads in recognition of their service on Caliban during the wars to slay the beasts.

 First Legion Astartes Tactical Squad (Calibanites) in mkIV Armor 

Wow, time for Squaduary already??  Nothing to do but soldier on with the 30K challenge by pledging two support squads. No way the Terrans were going to let the new guys handle the ancient (if twitchy) tech. So the first squad are Terrans with plasmaguns.

 First Legion Astartes Tactical Support Squad (Terrans) in mkIII Armor 

But missile launchers were fine, it seems. All of these infantry models are a mix of GW plastic and Forge World upgrade parts. The fancy new breast plates and helmets were reserved for the Calibanite squads under the rationale that they were all issued new armor, while the Terrans were largely wearing their original 1st Legion gear. That and the shoulder pads make it easy to pick out the various squads on the table.

 First Legion Astartes Heavy Support Squad (Calibanites) in mkIV Armor 

With Squaduary 2019 a success, and a great deal of my 1K challenge completed, I returned to the Legio Tempestus project and pledged a Warlord titan for #MonsterMarch3. It was time to take what I learned while painting the Reavers and get serious with this Warlord. This was an amazing project and I enjoyed every bit of it.  I like to think that comes through in the final model. These AT titans are just terrific to work on.

Legio Tempestus Warlord Battle Titan for AT - Ascraeus Magnificat

At the end of March, and a little more than halfway through the season, I was feeling very good about my goals to complete a maniple of AT titans and 1K of 30K marines.

The Legio Tempestus Maniple Grows

The Deredeo Dreadnought came next as I entered the final push to complete the 30K Dark Angels project. This dreadnought is one odd duck.  But it was fun to paint and looks great on the table with the rest of the force. I used an Imperial Guard transfer cut in half as a battle honor for this Dreadnought.  The interred marine is a Terran veteran of the Unification Wars who fought along side the Emperor as a member of His first Legion Astartes. I also had fun with some kill markings on the left ankle armor.

 First Legion Astartes Deredeo Dreadnought (Terran)

The final project for my 1K of 30K Dark Angels project was a cheap HQ choice.  This model can serve as a Consul and will be a Legion Champion for larger games where I can spare the points.

 First Legion Astartes Champion (Terran) in mkIII Armor 

With the Dark Angels challenge complete, I moved on to the remaining Warhound titans for my Legio Tempestus project.  Lots more camouflage practice and loads more custom checkered decals. I'm very pleased with how this little group of four turned out.

Legio Tempestus Warhound Battle Titan for AT - Turbo Canis

Legio Tempestus Warhound Battle Titan for AT - Facta Belli

Legio Tempestus Warhound Battle Titan for AT - Dente Ferrum

Legio Tempestus Warhound Battle Titan for AT - Lux Curet

With the four Warhounds finished, the plans for a maniple were complete. These four Warhounds were my most ambitious project for the year and took basically the entire summer to complete, though I was away for a two week holiday in there. These models are great fun and I'm, psyched to have a load of miniatures for the greatest game I will likely never play. ;)  A second Warlord was built this season and stands ready for paint as well.  Not to mention a load of tiny Knights.  So plenty to do in 2019/2020 with this project.

The Completed Maniple for Legio Tempestus 

In addition to the painting work, I built A LOT of models as well. I have another 1K of 30k Dark Angels ready to paint.  The new models represent a Zone Mortalis force and introduce a new Dreadnought and terminators along with a breacher squad.

Two Cerastus and two Acastus knights for Adeptus Titanicus are build and waiting for paint along with three Questoris knights.  I even built my Forge World Cerastus Knight-Castigator for the House Taranis 40K project.  That model might just be what I paint up for #MonsterMarch4.

Many Kill teams got build as well, my favorite being a Chaos Fallen team. Not playign much Kill team right now, so they got put to the back of the queue.  I built all of the Black Fortress heroes, but still need to assemble the bad guys. I'm looking forward to playing that game.  I keep collecting all fo the expansions for the day I DO finally play it.

And last up, I built all of my Primaris models as Blades of Vengeance.  Some of the Characters are on the painting table now so expect to see a lot more of them this painting season.  DreadTober may well see one of the knew war suits painted too...

And with that the season comes to a close, a least in terms of finished projects.  After a final summer weekend camping trip, I will be back with a Vengeance (see what I did there?) to kick off the 2019/2020 Hobby Season.  Hope to see you there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Blades of Vengeance Primaris Librarian

Starting to dig into the Primaris characters project with earnest.  Today I'm sharing the Librarian. I've rally liked this model ever since it was released.  Great detail, decent "psyker-y" pose.  Lots of authority, to my eye.  And fun to paint!

The blue armor is Vallejo Game Color Imperial Blue (72.020) shaded with thinned Nuln Oil.  The cloak was airbrushed with P3 Menoth White Base and shaded with GW Agrax Earthshade. I use P3 Sanguine Base for the purity seals, shaded with GW Reikland Fleshshade and highlighted with P3 Sanguine Base Highlight.

For the gold bits, I'm using Vallejo Brass shaded with GW Reikland Fleshshade. I'm still debating if I went a bit overboard with my choices for gold on this model.  I'm planing a gold hilt for the sword and I really hope that doesn't just set things over the top with that color.

The hoses and armor joints are painted with Vallejo Dark Rubber (70.306) and shaded with Nuln Oil.  I'm planning to paint the sword in a manner similar to my Custodes models.  I'm a tad concerned about the blue blade with blue armor though.  Considering the same effect with purple for a change of pace and something different (a force blade as opposed to plain marine power sword).

Other than some goofing with the cloak, I haven't applied any highlights at this point.  Just setting up the base colors and shading to this point.  It's a busy model with a lot going on. I wen't with the standard red eye lenses to further tamp down on the blues.  I like it.  I guess he could look more powerful with some blue OSL from the eyes and around the outstretched hand.

In all, I pretty pleased with this effort from a single evening session (usually about three hours for me). It's a pretty popping blue - definitely bright for my usual style, but I'm going forward with it. He's not an Ultramarine, after all.  I think as a senior officer in the force and a psyker besides, he'll stand out nicely among all the dark green power armor.

Expect more to come, plus lots of Lieutenants...

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Blades of Vengeance Primaris Characters

For my next project, I decided to put some time in on my Primaris marines chapter Blades of Vengeance.  The Blades of Vengeance are a Dark Angels successor chapter.  Since the Dark Angels like to keep their Primaris marines at arms length, I think it makes sense to run an all-primaris Unforgiven successor chapter, rather than paint them up as assimilated Dark Angels brothers.  So far, I have only painted one Primaris unit in Dark Angels livery, a 10-man Hellblasters squad.  I'm contemplating a paint job update on that squad to move them to the Blades, but we'll see...

The characters above are a useful mix of Lieutenants, a chapter Ancient, Master, and Librarian. Completion of this project nets me a variety of characters to run in any basic game.  I have several more characters to add, but this is enough to get me started.

The Dark Angels codex illustrates Primaris Lieutenants without the codex markings on their helmet.  And we don't have such artwork specifically for the Blades of Vengeance. Thinking about it, I wanted to be able to quickly identify the Lieutenants on the table (as well as within my own collection) so I'm going with codex rank markings on the helmets.  A single red stripe for Sergeants, Bone and red for Lieutenants (as shown above), and a single bone stripe for Masters and other master-level characters if appropriate. Using bone instead of white will be my nod to the common chapter colors of the unforgiven.

Here's what I have assembled so far for the Blades of Vengeance. I have been slowly collecting all the various units and individual models has they become available.  Most recently, I assembled and primed the Vanguard models...

I have a Repulsor and Redemptor Dreadnought waiting on the hobby shelves as well.  And I'll be looking at the new Repulsor variant and a hovering rhino model (or two).  This is a slow burn project to go along with my 30K Dark Angels, AT models, etc..  I will make regular progress, but I don't have a specific goal or deadline in mind at this point.  I'm in this primarily for the hobby, and I enjoy a variety of fun projects to move between to keep each hobby week fresh and prevent burnout.

I'll close with a custom decal sheet I made for this army using graphics form the 'net.

I hope to use these custom transfers for shoulder pads and vehicle markings to avoid having to freehand every model.

Stay tuned for more Blades of Vengeance in coming posts.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Adeptus Titanicus Legio Tempestus Warlord Titan - Part 1

Gladius Noctis walks!  While taking a brief break from painting after completing four Warhounds, I decided to assemble the second Warlord I had waiting in the wings for my Legio Tempestus force.  I picked up this warlord particularly for the new weapons before I realized the new weapons were going to be available separately.   Iin hindsight, it's still cool to have the extra Warlord in any case for sharing the game with friends who don't have models of their own.  With 2 Warlords, 2 Reavers, and 4 Warhounds (plus a variety of knights), I can easily sponsor games with no additional models needed.  Sure it'll look odd to have models from the same Legio fighting each other, but its the Horus Heresy era, right?  And Tempestus is already known to play on both sides so there it is.

And...I love the Warlord kit!  I could have ten of these bad boys no problem.  It's a fun kit to assemble and pose, easy to magnetize and has lots of options.  As I did with Ascraeus Magnificat, all weapons are magnetized for easy swapping to facilitate game play (where rules can dictate what works for a game better than the rule of cool).  I can pose the models as I want for the display case, while outfitting them to be competitive as necessary for games (that I'm not playing anyway - ed).

Of course, it all starts with the base. I thought it might be fun for this lumbering giant to be coming down off higher ground as it surges forward to destroy the enemies of mankind. This counters the pose of Ascraeus Magnificat who appears stepping up onto higher ground or crossing some uneven ground.

It was easy to fill in the gaps with my standard basing material.  Prior to priming the model, I'll lay down a thin layer of Vallejo Black Lava over the surfaces of the cork material to give a more land-like look and to hide the cork texture.

Hopefully the two mighty titans will complement each other nicely once Gladius Noctis is complete.

On to the fun stuff - interchangeable arms! The Plasma Annihilators will pair nicely with Volcano Cannon. The carapace-mounted laser blasters add to the options, though I'd expect to use Apocalypse Missile Launchers in most games. Everything is magnetized with matching polarity so all weapons can be swapped between both titans.

And lets not forget the Mori Quake Cannon and the Macro Gatling Blaster!  I also picked up an extra Volcano Cannon weapon sprue so I have an additional pair of volcano cannon and Apocalypse Missile launchers to round things out.  Lots of weapons to outfit the two Warlords with.  Here are a few shots of Gladius Noctis fully assembled.

Looking grim with Plasma Annihilator and Power Claw.

Going all John Woo with paired Plasma Annihilators.

Trying out one of Ascraeus Magnificat's volcano cannon. This pic was taken before I had assembled the extra weapons from the new frame, but illustrates the interchangeability of the weapons between titans.  The weapons will be painted in a manner to compliment both titans as well so it won't matter which weapons go with which titan in the end.  The core heraldry making each titan unique will be applied to the main torso and legs.

However, Gladius Noctis will have to head to the back of the line for painting.  I plan to work on a few units for my Blade of Vengeance Primaris chapter next.  Then it's likely I'll paint up the new Forgeworld 30K Dark Angels Contemptor for DreadTober. But this mighty titan won't have to wait too long.  I'm eager to complete all of the titans for Legio Tempestus.  I'm also thinking about adding a third Reaver too (with interchangeable power claw/chainfist), but we'll see. I seriously can't get enough of these tiny titans!

That's it for today.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

HowTo: Magnetizing the Reaver Carapace Warp Missile Rack for Adeptus Titanicus

Forge World recently released the Carapace mounted Warp Missile Rack for Adeptus Titanicus Reaver Battle Titans.  My pre-order arrived recently and I though it a great opportunity for a new How To article on playing with magnets.  The Warp Missile is a single use weapon during a game of Adeptus Titanicus.  How cool then to be able to remove the missile when it has fired and set it aside until the end of the game.

This was a pretty simple project but there are some things to consider, particularly if you also magnetize the carapace weapon mount to the body of the Reaver titan. If so, the first step is to add a magnet to the base of the missile rack with the polarity matching the one in the body of the Reaver titan. This is a good add if you plan to swap out weapons from game to game.

The magnet I used (2mm, I think) is a bit thicker that the socket (1mm), but everything sits well on the Reaver's back in the end, so I left well enough alone here.  I could have CAREFULLY drilled out the socket to sink the magnet deeper, or sought a thinner magnet. Drilling out a small part like this with a large drill bit is dicey, so proceed with extreme caution if you go that route.

Next up, I hollowed out the socket in the weapon mount where the missile attaches a bit as my smallest magnets didn't quite fit.  It was a very minor fix though, just a little (careful) scraping with the X-acto knife.  No digits were harmed in the process.  Now, if you get the polarity wrong at this point, your little magnet will quite literally jump out of the hole.  So you need this little magnet to be inline with the polarity of the two under it (base of weapon, and the Reaver's back).  You do not want any opposites in this stack. I chose to sink the magnet in, but it could have been flush too. It all depends on how you want the bits to fit in the end.

 
While the 5-minute two-part epoxy set up on the other two magnets, I went about clipping off the post on the missile and drilling a hole for a 3rd magnet. This is the same size as the little magnet in the launcher's rack.  Once the hole was done, the magnet was epoxied in place, once again paying close attention to the magnet polarities. Seriously, this is the thing you will get wrong again and again no matter how many projects you magnetize.

Here I am stacking two magnets to form a new post which seats in the recessed socket of the launcher rack.  In the end, I may just glue the middle magnet into the launcher instead of leaving it like this as a post.  I was fixated on how the original part came.  But clearly this is going to look awkward when it gets pulled off during a game and soars across the table with a man-made whooshing sound! We'll see...

With the epoxy set, you can see everything magnetized together.  Below is a look at the launcher sitting on the back of the Reaver Titan without its missile.

And now with the missile clicked into place.

Very simple, very cool.  I've left off the armor plates for painting.  There is a lot of detail that will not get painted if everything is assembled first.  In the title picture, I've used some poster tac to stick the plates on for the photo.

Taken in all, this is a short, simple, and satisfying little project.  I'll likely forget the missile is even magnetized until I knock it off at some point. Certainly not a necessary customization, but will make any future games with this weapon fun and interesting.  I love the fluff for this weapon.  What's not to like about a missile that blinks in and out of the warp to evade void shields?! Simply terrifying for any Princepts.

Best wishes for your own projects.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbench [August] - Acastus Knight Prophyrions for AT and Vanguard Marines

On the workbench today, I'm assembling a box of Acastus Knight Prophyrion models. You get two in the box and they are pretty straight forward to assemble. They come with a choice of launchers (or you can leave the carapace closed) and a choice of twin auto-cannon or twin lascannon. I went with twin lascannon, we're hunting titans after all, and the launcher with the large missiles. I couldn't figure out which missiles were intended for which option on the command terminal. Hopefully I won't regret the modeling choice.

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the assembly, but here's a pick of one knight finished and the second built up to the waist.  This model can easily be magnetized, but really, why? I have been just gluing the knights together stock.  They are inexpensive enough (relatively) to warrant buying another kit if I really want other options.  And they are small enough to store without needing to separate at the waist.

So there I have two new knights for House Taranis in support of my Legio Tempestus maniples. These two join two Cerastus Knight lancers and three Questoris knights built and six more Questoris knights still in the box.  I will get to painting the House Taranis knights soon.  I have already begun the three Questoris Knights and they look pretty spiffy.

Also on the workbench, I started assembling some of the Vanguard Primaris Space Marines I found on eBay from the Shadowspear box.  These marines will be part of my growing Blades of Vengeance chapter, an all Primaris successor chapter to the Dark Angels.

I started with the characters, a captain, librarian and lieutenant.

While these are mono-pose models, the detail is fantastic.  They will be very fun to paint up.  Next up I built the squad of Eliminators.  Space Marine snipers?  Sign me up.

Keeping it simple for now.  I look forward to the new release with the anti-armor las-fusil weapons.  I will need a squad of those too. :)  These three will hunt key buffing characters. Last up, I built one of the Suppressors.

Ridiculous?  Absolutely.  Cool flying monster human with a giant auto-cannon?  Hell yeah! I'll take three.  And I have two more to build when next I sit down to the workbench.  For now, this is what I've found time to build in August. I'm torn on what gets painted next...probably will split time between Blades of Vengeance and Knights for AT.  Then I'll swap back to do another unit for the First Legion in 30K.  Plenty to keep me busy.

What's on your hobby table?

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Adeptus Titanicus Legio Tempestus Warhound Titans - TO DONE

Legio Tempestus walks! It's a great feeling to share seven completed titans for Adeptus Titanicus.  I started out building an Axiom Maniple and ended with that plus a couple Warhound Titans with another Warlord waiting on the shelves and a third Reaver planned.

The four Warhound Titans have been a real labor of love.  They came out well, even if it has taken me most of the summer to get to this point.  Since the last WIP post, the bases were completed and some simple highlights painted around the sharper steel edges.  here's how the bases evolved.

GW Tuskgor Fur was painted on first as a base coat.  Once this dried, Secret Weapon Orange wash was used to shade the base coat and lend it the glowing martian red look. This can be seen drying below. I used a little GW Gryphonne Sepia around the feet to darken those areas.

Once the shade was fully dry, I applied Vallejo Ocre (I think?) weathering powder with Vallejo fixer. Once this dried the Model masters Lusterless Flat coat was sprayed liberally over all to seal the models.  Now for the first time ever, I got some whiting on the base when the flat coat dried.  Perhaps I didn't wait for the fixer to dry fully, dunno. But I corrected this by applying a final layer of pigment over the flat coat.

I didn't go crazy with the highlights.  And edge here, and edge there just to spruce things up a bit.  I'm pretty happy with the results.  If it comes to past the we finally see a transfer sheet for Legio Tempestus (it has been previewed on the Warhammer Community site, remember) I'll come back to all of these titans to apply decals and update any final details and highlights.  For now, this project needs to wrap up so I can move on to other things.

I'll close with shots of all four titans in the light box.  I hope this journey through the four Warhounds WIP has been interesting and inspirational. I'm giving myself a big old stamp of DONE for this project.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Turbo Canis

Turbo Canis

Turbo Canis

Turbo Canis

Facta Belli

Facta Belli

Facts Belli

Facta Belli

Dente Ferrum

Dente Ferrum

Dente Ferrum

Dente Ferrum

Lux Curet

Lux Curet

Lux Curet

Lux Curet