On the Workbench [August] - Horus Heresy Dark Angels Legion Command

 

For the Lion!

Greetings and welcome back. Today I'm sharing a bit of a palate cleanser from my Season of Scenery 2024 project. I really like building kits...like, I *really*, *really* do...and so building something always helps me break painter's block...or really any kind of hobby doldrums.

I had been discussing the recent Horus Heresy Legion Command Squad in mkIII Armour with a friend when it hit me.  I needed a bunch of sword and board boys for the First Legion!  I think these would be fun to run in a Zone Mortalis game, or just generally in any Horus Heresy game, spilled out of a suitable assault transport.  I would pass on the standard (for Zone Mortalis), but it's compulsory in the unit so there it is. So I get another fun hobby opportunity into the bargain!

This idea finally gave me a reason to build one of the plastic Praetors from the Age of Darkness boxed set.  I've had these sitting around since the launch, waiting for the right project.  I replaced the volkite charger with a boarding shield from my bits collection...I don't know which upgrade or unit kit it came from originally.  In hindsight, I could have just used the fifth shield form the command squad since the Standard Bearer doesn't get one.  I like the utilitarian look though; this Praetor is a no-nonsense dude who just grabs up what is needed when he hits the field.  No waiting on the serfs to deliver up some ancient artifact form the vaults. 😂

As we all know, the scale creep is real.  When you consider that this Dark Angels Praetor from Forge World (of old) is a pretty recent model, it's astounding how much bigger the plastic Praetor is.  With the bare head, he could just about pass as the Lion here!  Speaking of which, I long ago decided my First Legion models would go to war in the Grim Darkness with helmets on...safety first!  But this bare head just perfectly suited the 'Knights of Caliban' feel I wanted for this Praetor and Command squad. I really love this simple conversion for the First and it's sad that I'll likely always favor it over the very nice Forge World model.

 

The Legion Command Squad is built pretty much stock with the exception of shoulder pads and head swaps/conversions. The resin mkIII shoulder pads are a bit chunky, honestly, but the aesthetic fits with the shield arm for extra damage absorption. Ya gotta love the persistent over-the-top Warhammer vibes! I added Dark Angels 40K helmet wings from the bits box to the mkIII helmet in the kit. pretty easy glue-on conversion.  As you'll see in the title pic above, I ended up snipping the spike off.  I like the spike, but in the end, there's just too much going on up there.

I used a mkIV resin helmet on this Chosen (when did the good guys start using this term?!).  While I used a studded shoulder pad from the kit on the Standard Bearer, I decided to match resin pads for the rest of the squad. I again thank the bits box gods for their bounty.  30 years of Warhammer should count for something, right?

I added a nuncio-vox to this Chosen, since you know, Command Squad. Seemed appropriate.  I did not add the helmet attachment as I figure these advanced First Legion helms have that crap built in...to like the wings or whatever. 😁No need for unsightly bolt-on attachments here.

Now we start to get a little silly, honestly.  And I would never have gone this route, except the Deathwing Companions have these wings...and they are the Dark Angels Legion specific Command Squad option.  So here, I'm making this squad share the aesthetic...and they even would double as additional Companions in a pinch, if the Companions weren't too stuck up to carry boarding shields.  Seriously, what is up with the rarity of boarding shields? Almost no other units can take them...I guess in the Grim Darkness one can always rip off a hatch, door or other suitable object to use as a shield. So why issue them as official war gear, right?

The crazy winged helmets are made by cutting the wings (very carefully) from 40K mkVII helmets (thanks again, o'holy bits box for your bounty!) and then gluing them on to the mkIII helmets from the kit.  This was accomplished by cutting slots into the sides of the helmets with an x-acto knife and then gluing the trimmed down wings into the slots. Once painted up, no one should be the wiser. Oh, and I trimmed off the helmet spikes, once again.  I would have just used the mkVII helmets as-is, but I figured that was just too much foreshadowing for the project. I love the lore and do try to cleave to it as closely as possible. That said, I would never have imagined mkIII helmets with these wings if it hadn't been for the Deathwing Companions.  If the design existed for their (mkIV?) helms, why wouldn't some armorer in the Legion have added them to mkIII?  I image this as a retrofit, following the ascendance of the Lion as Primarch.

Once you have the glue and bits out, it's hard to stop building sometimes.  In this case, I took the opportunity to build a Legion Librarian Consul and a legion Champion Consul that I had sitting about since their release.  I kept the Librarian stock, due to their allegiance to the Librarius and the need for specialized equipment.  A head swap would have looked odd and the the Legion shoulder pad is hidden under the cloak anyway. I added a mkVI Dark Angels head to the Champion Consul.  I felt he was pretty suitable otherwise, as-is.

And that ended my build session for the Horus Heresy Dark Angels. Eight new HQ models for the force.  I'm looking forward to putting more paint on the First Legion in the 2024/25 hobby season.  I had put two HQ and two other units on the TO DO list for 2023/24, but it looks like I'm only going to get this build done. Legions Imperials really took the spotlight this season with so many fun tiny tanks to paint!

As the 2023/24 season winds down, I'll post up my Season of Scenery 2024 completions and then close out the season with a re-cap post of what I was able to accomplish for the year. I'm maybe 50/50 on what I set out to do, but 100% on overall hobby value and completions (as measure by my typical progress!).

Until then,

 Cheers and Happy gaming!

 

On the Workbench [February] - Deathwing!

 

Greetings and welcome to another edition of the Workbench.  This month, I've been working on models from the new Deathwing Assault box and updating some older models with some of the new upgrade bits from that box...oh, and a new Terminator Chaplain.  All-in-all this is my Deathwing terminator core - and...other stuff.

So one cool thing about the Deathwing Assault box is early access to bits for the new Terminator scale models that first appeared in the Leviathan launch box. Above is the push-fit captain in terminator armor form that box.

And here it is updated with a new head.  When my terminators go into battle they wear their damn helmets. ;) I know it's a small thing - but he has a nice cape and will read more like a member of Deathwing this way.

Next up, I upgraded the Leviathan box terminator squad. Above is the original push-fit models form the box. Below, it the upgraded squad.

Now with a plasma cannon, chainfist, pointy hand, some various relics, and an upgraded sergeant.  The sergeant received a new sword arm, belt relic, and tilting shield.  Again, small things that hopefully sell the Deathwing motif better in the end. The plasma dude also got a head upgrade to have a fun targeting eye. The pointing arm made the one striding terminator more interesting and the chainfist just makes the squad more useful. Overall, I hope that when painted up these fellas blend in with the new Deathwing terminators - the main difference just being a lack of embossed chapter icons on the right shoulders.

The new Chaplain in terminator armor got some small upgrades too, with an eye to adding more Dark Angels flair.  The chapter icon back banner is an obvious add, along with a Deathwing tilting shield and relic bit on the belt. The BIG upgrade was swapping the extra Deathwing knight shield for the original to make a new Deathwing relic shield.  Some slight modification to the shield, arm and skeleton relic allowed the whole thing to be assembled more or less like the original. I neglected to take a pic of the shield but you can see here that it IS a Deathwing Knight shield and not the original relic shield.

The Deathwing terminators were loads of fun to build.  I built them to be a full squad of ten with a "second in command" that could serve as a "counts as" sergeant if I field them as two squads of five.

 The first demi-squad is pretty straight forward with Sergeant, Missile launcher, and two chain fists.

The second demi-squad fields a sergeant w/chainfist to serve as the counts-as Sergent. he had the upgraded head and a Deathwing tilting shield w/sword as a Lieutenant might, indicating his elevated rank within the squad.  I felt this was better than giving him a sword, but then saying the sword was something else in a game where he was in the ten man squad. Easier to say the stand out model w/the chain fist is holding a "power weapon".  This will become very important during all the games I'm not playing... 😂

I like the new Deathwing Knights a lot.  Very fun and flavorful; easy to build. I never liked the old models and feel they were diminutive even from when they were first launched. These fellas look the part, and stand even with their other terminator armored brethren.

And last, but certainly not least, we come to Belial, Grand Master of the Deathwing. He got a decent upgrade having crossed the Rubicon Primaris and can stand tall amongst his brethren. Scale creep is real, but it IS a much better miniature than anything that has come before. I'm lookign forward to getting some paint on him.

Oh, and there is the Librarian in terminator armor from the Leviathan box set. I didn't make any modifications there.  We'll let the paintwork sell the Dark Angel/Deathwing membership. Taken in all, that's a lot of terminator bodies to fill out the Deathwing in my collection. Thanks to the new book, I have Sternguard Veterans and more Bladeguard to bulk out the first company as well. I'm going to need to paint the six Ravenwing outriders I have as well or risk the Ravenwing getting petulant over all these new bodies in the first company.

And that's more painting projects in the queue for years to come, no doubt.  I really like the updated models and look forward to working on them soon.  For now, I HAVE to finish this Primaris Repulsor and then thing about MonsterMarch, when I was expecting to try out a Leviathan Tyranid beast, probably the Screamer-Killer. It'll be nice to paint an actual monster for MonsterMarch, for once. 😅

I hope your projects are going well.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbeanch [October] - Leviathan Marines!

 

Welcome to another On the Workbench post.  For this month, I needed to have the Ballistus Dreadnought  assembled and ready DreadTober 2023. This dread goes together very easily and was fun to work on.  Coming from the 2nd ed. era of WH40K, I definitely love the modern Primaris take on the classic metal fire support dreadnought. Come back throughout DreadTober to see how this model progresses TO DONE.

The Leviathan box Apothecary Biologis got assembled and based.  This will be a fun character to paint, for certain.

The Leviathan Captain in Terminator Armor will be a fine Master for the Dark Angels.  These push-fit models make painting as sub-assemblies pretty easy.  I am gluing things, but it's nice to leave bits off to making painting in the tight areas easier.

The Leviathan Librarian in Terminator armor is another case-in-point for the sub-assemblies.

Yay, another Lieutenant!! :)

I never bothered with Sternguard Veterans for the Dark Angels, but their primaris-sized cousins are pretty cool, so why not?? I think these days I've just gone with the flow, trying not to over think things.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the Leviathan box Terminators.  Finally some decent sized Deathwing terminators for my growing Primaris force...are these Primaris marines in Terminator armor or not? I think GW has been careful not to go there, but I have to read more in the book(s). They don't call them Primaris Terminators...so maybe the first born just got bigger pants? 😂 Honestly it doesn't matter a bit - It is just cool to get some decent sized terminators.  Maybe a new resized Deathwing Knights kit will come out way over time...

So that's what's been on the workbench recently. No Infernus marines yet, but they'll get built soon enough, if for no other reason than to fill out the basic Leviathan box list. Once assembled, these models don't give away much if anything from their easy-to-build heritage.  Sure, they are mono-pose which stands out when you try to field them en mass.  But on their own, they look excellent.

It's DreadTober for the remainder of the month, so check back frequently to join in the fun!

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Dark Angels Primaris Librarian - TO DONE

 

Bonus project!  So I was looking over my case while putting the recently completed Chaplain in his new home, and I noticed that I had basically completed this Librarian.  He was originally painted as part of my new Blades of Vengeance successor chapter force.  Some may recall that I had originally planned that ll my Primaris models would be Blades of Vengeance.  But that decision came before GW decided that Primaris were going to be OK after all for Dark Angels (I recognize that this is still up for debate among some members of the chapter...).

Now that I have decided to paint some of my Primaris as Dark Angels, this was the librarian model that got chosen for the chapter.  The Phobos Librarian will now belong to the Blades of Vengeance. Looking at this model, all I had to do was repaint the shoulder pads and add a Dark Angels chapter badge.  So that was done and her I have a bonus addition to my new Primaris Dark Angels force for very little additional effort.

Here we have the newly painted Dark Angels shoulder pad with new Chapter transfer applied.

It sure was fun painting in the Dark Angels green on this Librarian shoulder pad.  I didn't want to have to repaint the gold, or the scroll.  In the end, it came out pretty well.

Standing proud in all his purple glowing force-ness. I'm still getting used to that, but I like that there is something different here than with the standard power weapons I've been painting. The glowing eyes and hand are just a bonus to help carry the point. So one last complete for the Dark Angels before I move into my Squaduary 2021 project.

 Stay safe out there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Blades of Vengeance Primaris Librarian - Part 3

I've reached a stopping point on the Librarian.  I'm not calling him done yet.  He needs transfers and some additional fine tuning.  But He's ready for battle none-the-less. I could not help but keep fussing with the purple warp summoning effects, almost to my detriment.  Here's a better look at the real model without the filter used in the title shot.

Most everything has been highlighted and cleaned up at this point. I completed the helmet with some of the gear painted and an additional glow effect on the gem/focus thingie on the crest.

The base was completed with a simple set of Vallejo browns and GW shades, for variation. I use a medium-dark brown for a base that is then shaded with GW Agrax Earthshade straight from the pot. Additional green shade (GW Athonian Camoshade and Biel-Tan Green) was then painted in pools as the Agrax dried. I feel this gives a mossy, earthy look to the ground where life struggles to return to even war blasted earth. I have all these grass tufts...maybe I should use some at some point...

The Caliban green trim on the shoulder pads was touched up and highlighted with GW Warpstone Glow. The golds were highlighted with Vallejo Old Gold (70.878) followed by light highlights of Vallejo Model Air Silver (71.063).

I repainted the glyphs on the sword GW White Scar and then shaded them with a handful of very thinned down GW Druchii Violet. All of the cabling I'm leaving as Vallejo Dark Rubber shaded with GW Nuln Oil. As I come back to finish the model I may do something more interesting here.  The model is pretty busy as it is though.  I don't favor all the brightly colored cabling that the Heavy Metal painters use in the GW art.

So there is one Blades of Vengeance Librarian mostly ready for battle.  I'm trying out Fallout Hobbies for custom decals for this project.  I've been printing my own sheets, but not loving the results.  If the custom stuff comes through, I'll post up about it in the future. For now, I'll hold off on adding the iconography of the chapter to these Primaris marines.

Next up will be a bunch of Lieutenants, which I got started on before getting pulled into trying my hand at the blue armored Librarian.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

WIP: Blades of Vengeance Primaris Librarian - Part 2

More progress on the Primaris Librarian I've been poking away at for my Blades of Vengeance project.  From my prior post, the blue armor was...well..too blue.  The clear choice was to use some GW Drakenhof Nightshade, but I chose to experiment with the GW contrast paints instead and picked up a pot of GW Ultramarines Blue along with Contrast Medium for thinning things down.

Before contrast paint

The original shading was done with thinned down GW Nuln Oil...which...worked...but perhaps I messed things up by painting back over some surfaces to clean up staining and add highlights.  But it is super blue. I liked the pop, but it wasn't what I was really looking for.  So I thinned some Ultramarines Blue contrast paint and repainted all of the blue armor with it.

The contrast paint definitely toned things down a bit. I found the paint hard to work with in terms of spot painting just the armor on this model.  It goes on thick, even thinned, and I likely should have thinned it even more.

The staining is most noticeable on the back pack, I think. I might have gloss coated everything first. I know this new paint is meant to go over light colors, so maybe painting it over the existing blue armor wasn't the best call. But it did do the job in terms of toning down the bright blue, making it more palatable for me.

I went back in with the original blue to highlight sharp edges, but tried very hard to avoid repainting any of the smooth surfaces so I wouldn't end up back with the bright blue look I was running from.  The next thing was to look at the sword.  I had been considering a purple power sword effect for the Librarian's force sword instead of the standard blue effect I use.

As I thought about this, I realized that the purple was going to be my warp effect, and therefor the Librarian's eyes and outstretched had were going to need some purple OSL/glowing effect to make this clear and sell the warp psyker look.

So I chose to emulate the GW approach for Custodes power swords, only with purples instead of blues.  I can't say I nailed it, but I got to a point that matched my mind's eye view of what this should look like.  I used a mix of white and light purple with thin shades of GW Druchii Violet to transition the eyes and left gauntlet to a warp charged state.

While working on the purples, I decided the robes needed some layers, so I painted the under robe white fr some contrast against the other darker colors of the model. I also began highlighting the bone areas and the blue to get a sense of the overall look of the final model.

Overall, this model is going in the right direction.  I look forward to completing it before jumping back in the dark green and bone of the rest of the chapter. The Librarian is definitely going to pop out among the rest of his brothers on the table. I'm very happy with the purple. This is the very first time that I've used purple as a psker effect and I think it's going to stick.

Check back later for more on the Blades of Vengeance.  There will be Lieutenants!  And a Captain.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!