DreadTober 2019 Week 4 - To Done!

Got all the little final detailing done on the Contemptor Achillus over the weekend, just in time to hit the finish line for DreadTober! Without further ado, some pics!

  

All in all a rather fun dreadnought to paint up, and has me rather excited to get back to the rest of the Custodes in the force as a change of pace from all the Necromunda going on behind the scenes. Reminds me, I gotta get all the pics from last session sorted out and posted...

Looking forward to seeing all the other awesome entries for this year's DreadTober? Head on over and check 'em out at https://dreadtober.blogspot.com/ - The final post for this year goes up on the 31st!

DreadTober 2019 Week 3 - Nearing the finish line!

DreadTober stomps ever onward, with big metal feet! Tons of great progress from the various participants to be seen at the main DreadTober blog - Go check 'em out!

While I've been beavering away on more Necromunda behind the scenes, I have gotten quite a bit of work done on the Contemptor Achillus, and it's almost complete (and essentially table ready now)!

Did some more targeted shading and highlights on the gold, cleaned up the greaves and shoulders, and laid in the iron/steel. Starting to look good now!

There's still some more work to be done here and there - Taking photos of your models always shows things that the naked eye misses. That said, it should be done in plenty of time for the end of the month!

DreadTober Week 1 - Legio Custodes Contemptor-Achillus Built!

It is now October 1st, which means it's time for...

DreadTober! As usual it's time to dive in and build out some big stompy death machines - If you're interested in participating, click the banner above to be taken to the DreadTober blog and sign up for the fun!

I am slowly working towards a Legio Custodes force for a Burning of Prospero game being organized for Adepticon 2020 (so I have some time), so I figured now was a good time to get cracking on the Contemptor-Achillus that is part of the force!

  

Like all of Forge World's contemptors, the model has a metric ton of articulation points, and was a joy to build! Rather happy with how the arms holding the glaive turned out, though there was more than a little swearing while attempting to line everything up in a realistic manner. Rather looking forward to getting some paint on it over the next few weeks!

Heresy Era World Eaters - Dreadnoughts complete!

Huzzah! The last of the models for the Adepticon army are complete and ready to rampage across the battlefields! ...Or more likely be blown to smithereens in turn one, as is often the case with newly-painted models.

Ended up doing two of the dreads in white with blue trim, and one in the reversed scheme of the Warhounds, the earlier name of the legion prior to them reuniting with their primarch. Added in a little warhound symbol on his right breastplate as a nod to the earlier allegiance.

The right arms are magnetized to allow swaps between dual powerfists and the lascannon arrays. Really pleased with how they've turned out and can't wait to get 'em on the tables in just a few short weeks. Looking forward to Adepticon!

Heresy Era World Eaters - Simply Dread-full

With just a few short weeks remaining until Adepticon, I was getting rather antsy about the fact that the trio of dreadnoughts I'd ordered back in January had yet to arrive. They'd been stuck in customs hell for nearly two weeks but were finally deemed not to be a threat to national security and the box arrived looking as though it had spent some time on a 40k battlefield!

With some trepidation I opened the box and was relieved to find everything present and accounted for, with no obvious breakages. Bubble wrap to the rescue!

While I'd ordered up a fair few dreads (some for a few hobby buddies, some for prize support at Adepticon and some for myself) I only pulled and washed the trio immediately needed for the project. The updated kit is tremendous, several new tweaks to the main body and a set of heavy weapons matching the old school look were all much appreciated!

Once they were washed and dried, I got cracking getting 'em built - Went through and magnetized the right arms on all of them to allow for the full gamut of weapon options including a lascannon, missile launcher and conversion beamer! Can't wait to get some paint on 'em, though it's gonna be a challenge getting them primed as it's been well below freezing for the last several weeks here. Oof!

In other news I got cracking on a display board for the force, taking advantage of the sale Secret Weapon Miniatures has been running on their tablescape tiles. While I love the look, I am not convinced that the board is structurally sound enough to use as a carry board between tables, and am looking to mount the board on some MDF for added stability. We'll see how it goes!

Heresy Era Word Bearers - Army Complete!

Another army complete, and likely to be sold off without ever actually hitting the tabletop? Seems that way! The Word Bearers army that I'd initially planned for Adepticon proved to be thematically incompatible with the events that I'm participating in (hence the recent World Eaters). Nevertheless, in the background I have been chipping away at 'em and with the delivery and subsequent painting of some last remaining bases, the army is complete! Figure I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Argel Tal

Kor Phaeron and Erebus

Zardu Layak and his Blade Slaves

Legion Chaplain

Gal Vorbak

Cataphractii Terminators

Apothecarion Detachment

Cortus Contemptor Talon

Assault Squad

Tactical Squad

Ashen Circle

Sicaran Venator

The all important painting chart!

Pretty happy with how the army turned out, and am a little bummed that it won't get any table time at Adepticon. Such is life, however! They'll be going on the auction block soon enough to help fund the next project - What that may be remains to be seen, but there's a non-zero chance that it's going to be a return to the Benevolent Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor, if the recent upcoming release reveals are anything to go by...

Heresy Era Word Bearers - Contemptors and Chaplains and Venators, oh my!

With the recent release of the Adepticon events registration, I was finally able to zero in on what I would need to get completed for the Word Bearers. I've got a Zone Mortalis game at 500 points and a big 3k game vs. Xenos, which should be interesting! In both cases I've decided I was going to continue the "Assault on Armatura" theme for my force and run a very infantry-heavy army. That said, there needs to be some anti-armor punch and you can't go wrong with a talon of Contemptors to do the punching.

While poking around on the Oldhammer site, I ran across some embiggened RT-era Dreadnoughts, which tripped my nostalgia trigger hard and I absolutely had to get a few. I'll be running them as a Contemptor Cortus talon armed with twin dreadnought close combat weapons each with a twin-linked bolter. Cheap and cheerful Str 10 mayhem!

I'm really jazzed by how they turned out, however after getting them painted I realized I never ordered any 60mm bases to match the rest of the force, so they're on hold until the package shows up from Secret Weapon...

While I was about it, I also got the Sicaran Venator more or less complete as well! I always loved this model, it's just such a mean-looking tank! It's rather fearsome on the tabletop as well, though in my experience the lascannons are superfluous as the main gun is an Ordnance weapon which generally precludes the ability to fire the sponsons. As the tank will take a lot of fire, having the extra weapons to soak up the inevitable 'weapon destroyed' results isn't a bad thing though!

While going over the lists, I realized I needed a 'vanilla' chaplain to fulfill the Word Bearers FOC requirements (in addition to the warlord, the force must include either a chaplain or champion), but rather than just use the Betrayal at Calth model as-is I figured I'd chop him up and make something a bit more unique! Kept the torso, cape and backpack, but gave him some alternate legs which changed the stance dramatically. Swapped the crozius over to the left hand, and pillaged the Thousand Sons sorcerer bits to come up with a warp flask and creepy hand. Your basic skull helmet is essential for any self-respecting chaplain, and he's ready to get painted up!

Speaking of, it's been a while since I updated the painting chart and am quite pleased to see how close to the finish line the force is. Well on track to get everything completed for Adepticon, and with it being almost entirely infantry it should hopefully be easy to transport!

Heresy Era Sons of Horus - Armies on Parade family photo!

I recently finished off the last of the models I had assembled and figured a family photo of what's been painted up so far was in order. Packed everything up and popped over to the local GW to put them in the Armies on Parade lineup and snapped a few pics!

There's actually quite a few of 'em once I got 'em all laid out! Fairly infantry heavy so far, but I find it's good to crank out a mess of infantry and leave the big toys for later. Still plan on adding more to the force, and there's quite a bit still awaiting assembly, but we're looking at about 3500 points complete already!

Couple off-angle shots as well - Pretty happy with how the greens turned out across the force, and I'm rather enjoying the various spot colors here and there, the hot oranges pop nicely against the cooler tones of the armor.

Updated the painting chart and really pleased with how it's coming along! Still a few things on the ol' wish list to order up from Forge World once the new rulebook drops, and a couple models still awaiting assembly in the Closet of Doom. However, I'm thinking I might switch gears for a bit and work on a different project for a little while to recharge the batteries after all this green!

Heresy Era Sons of Horus - Contemptor and Predators Waterslides and Weathering!

Really been enjoying working on these models and am nearing the finish line! I took advantage of a brief break in the weather yesterday afternoon to get the initial sealant pass on the models and once it had dried set to with the waterslide transfers and weathering! The initial pics of this stage against the green cutting mat I work on looked poor so I broke out a little parchment paper and made a poor man's photobooth (needs work, I know).

The contemptor got a transfer on the kneepad and top carapace, and a few chips and scratches here and there - I generally go with the "Less is More" philosophy, and try to apply the weathering to locations that would theoretically be getting bumped and bashed.

The Plasmacutioners got much the same treatment, with a couple eye motifs, and the "XVI" legion numerics, followed by some sponged-on weathering using Vallejo Beastly Brown, followed by a sponging of Gunmetal, then some highlights in Shining Silver on the hard edges. I tried to pick out the 'underside' of some of the weathering here and there with the Vallejo Tank Crew Highlight to give them a little extra depth.

Second verse, same as the first! Once the chipping was on, I thought I'd add some mud/dust along the bottom of the tank to represent the churned-up earth. Went with the same colors I'm using on the bases, and tried to do a streaky pattern to represent the grime spattering backwards along the hull as the tank rumbles forward. I think it needs a bit of sponge work to break it up a little and add a bit more texture, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along! Probably one more quick session and then just a holding pattern for a break in the rain to do the second sealant pass - after that, the water effects and grass tufts for the dreadnough base and they'll be complete!