Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Something old, something new!

Busy week out in Real Life(tm), but I did get a package in the mail containing a blast from the past!

Back in the Tempus Fugitives era when I first got into the Heresy, my first iteration of the Thousand Sons force included my favorite of the superheavy tanks - The Falchion Eye of Magnus. Custom built by the inestimable Tom McBride (of Blood and Skulls) and somewhat hamfistedly painted by me, it was one of my biggest source of sellers remorse that I'd let it go. Turns out the guy that it was sold to was planning on selling off his force, so I jumped at the chance to buy it back! It's a little the worse for wear (it was built and sold back in 2012) so I had to do a bit of repair work, and plan on updating the paint scheme a little to match up with the current forces. ...Which means among other things I've got about 8,000 rivets to paint. Oof!

On the other side of the coin ,over the last several evenings I have squeezed in a few abbreviated painting sessions and finally this evening got the gold trim laid in on all of the veterans. This was a long, tedious process but now that it's done the rest of the scheme should zoom right along!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Spireguard Shadowsword

My copy of Conquest arrived a little while ago and I've finally had a chance to sit down and give it a proper read. The Solar Auxilia list is very interesting - while not the 'generic Imperial Army' list I'd hoped it would be, it's nonetheless a very solid and thematic army. With some squinting the Spireguard will function well under its auspices for now! That said, I've been itching to jump back into the army and thought I'd treat myself to some build time since I'd finished the Ursarax recently. Something... Big.

The Shadowsword has always been my favorite superheavy, so it was a no-brainer that the army would get one eventually. The model itself is one of the numerous un-finished projects that Dave left behind and bequeathed to me - he'd planned on doing an Iron Warriors army, and this was to be the basis for Tormentor, Perturabo's personal transport/superweapon. Sadly he never got a chance to build it, but I wanted to ensure it was put to good use in some fashion!

The power turbines, treads, and engine exhausts are all from the inestimable talents of Tom McBride of Blood and Skulls Industries, and also make for a nice nod to the previous Thousand Sons Shadowsword/proto-Falchion that Tom had built for me several years back.

Was poking around on his ebay page and ran across these alternate side sponsons that he'd made when I wasn't looking. Instantly ordered and am awaiting their arrival, seems like they'll be perfect for Heresy-ing up the model a little further! I just need to come up with some good targeters to go on the top in lieu of the Lascannons and we'll be ready to go!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - 2000 Points complete!

Victory! The 2000 point army that's going with me to England has finally been completed! My good friend Dave made a carrying tray for me that fits perfectly into the travel case, and the army just baaaaarely fits on it.

I did spend some time going back through the infantry and painting all the shoulder pads with the appropriate symbols. That was tedious in the extreme, but the end result definitely makes the models look better.

30 some-odd little itty bitty nova bursts and arrows on the tactical marine squads. Oof.

 

The Jetbikes received the same treatment, though they got the crossed arrows of the Assault squads as opposed to the Tactical arrow.

 

I also added a bit to Ahriman, a nova symbol on his left shoulder pad and the cape, and the old-school "M" symbol the Thousand Sons used to use prior to their reunion with their Primarch.

While I was about it I pulled out the rest of the Thousand Sons that aren't making the trip. I was quite pleased to not that there's not really all that much more to paint!

I updated the painting chart accordingly, not too shabby! I'll admit I was a bit surprised to see the army total creeping north of 4500 points. Wasn't this supposed to be a little boutique army project? Heh.

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Falchion superheavy "Eye of Magnus" complete!

Greetings all! Had a bit of time over the last couple evenings to finish off the detailing on the Falchion-class superheavy "Eye of Magnus" and shot some pics of it over my lunch break while I had some good light.

Went in and did the final highlights on the bone-colored hatches, finished up all the lenses and glowy bits and added in the "XV" markings that I'm adding to all the vehicles to tie them together.

 

Also cleaned up the various places where I spattered paint here and there, though I realize that I'll still need to go back and clean up the lines on the roman numerals. They're a bit wavy yet. Now if the weather would warm up a bit, I can get it sealed!

While I was about it I pulled out all the miniatures that I'll be taking with me to England for the Tempus Fugitives Age of the Emperor event in early March. All the heavy lifting is done at this point, just need to finish up the detail work on the Whirlwind, and paint up about 20 more infantry. I have a free weekend coming up in a couple days, so all things being equal I'm hoping to have them all done in plenty of time!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Falchion painting nearly complete...

Got a little more detail work done on the Falchion last night and was able to snap a couple pics in the daylight over lunch:

 

Adding in a bunch of gold trim, and finished up the glowy-green bits on the power cables and runes along the side skirts. I considered doing up all the (hundreds of) rivets in gold as well, but in the end I thought it may end up looking too busy.

 

Fairly pleased with how the main targeter array turned out, lots of wet blending which isn't my forte but all in all it turned out to be a fairly smooth gradient. Now it's just a matter of picking out all the little remaining details here and there and hope for a warm day to get it sealed!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Falchion painting in progress, part 1

The Falchion arrived earlier in the week, and I've been quite eager to get painting! Last night I got the main red of the hull completed and as the last step in the red involves a heavy Baal Red wash, left it overnight to dry.

 

I made a minor modification to the design and added a pair of magnets in the main barrel so it is removable for transport and storage. It will also help prevent breakage in the event that the barrel is knocked around during a game.

This morning I was able to start blocking in some of the other base colors. Boltgun Metal for the tracks and various detail bits, the medium grey on the legion symbols, and the first of the green for the various glowing pipes and runes.

So far so good! Still a lot of work to do of course, I'm hoping to get some more time to work on it this afternoon, if all goes according to plan!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Falchion build complete!

Hope everyone had a great New Years Eve! Leading off 2012 are some pics of the Falchion-class Superheavy Eye Of Magnus - I got notification from Tom McBride that he finished the build and will be sending it my way to paint this week. I'm super excited!

 

First up are some overall shots - He went with rounded side sponsons and turrets to give it a slightly different look from the more angular current-era chassis, and utilized several of the upgrade pieces he's made over the years to give it a heavier feel.

 

In place of the usual fuel drums on the rear, he made some new dynamo engines which really tie together with the Volcano cannon. The rear exhausts were swapped out with upgrade pieces he does, and the tracks were replaced with a set that more closely matches the old-school design found on the Mk. I Land Raider I have for the army.

 

I'm really pleased with the little details he added as well - replacing the Aquilas (not in common use during the Heresy other than by the Emperor's Children and the Adeptus Custodes) with some Egyptian styled eyes and scarabs much more suited to the Thousand Sons.

 

He was also kind enough to add some relief versions of the Thousand Sons old nova/starburst symbol, and what appears to be hundreds of rivets and little extra detail touches which really tie it all together. The result is an absolutely gorgeous piece of work - far and away better than anything I could have built on my own! I can't wait to get my hands on it and start the painting process...

Many of the resin upgrade pieces that went into the construction of the Falchion are currently available in his eBay store (such as the Dynamo and exhausts), if you're looking to add some customization to your own Baneblades/Shadowswords I heartily recommend giving them a look!

Heresy-Era Thousand Sons - Further progress on The Eye Of Magnus

Got a few more pictures of the Falchion class superheavy from Tom McBride aka Machinator - it's really starting to come together!

 

Tom's work is exceeding my expectations in every way, and I have to say that while I enjoy doing scratch buit conversions, his skills with greenstuff, resin and plasticard put my talents to shame. I've quite enjoyed seeing it come together and I've been going over the pictures to learn some of his techniques.

I think my Sabre Tank Hunter is going to be experiencing cannon envy!

Tom has been adding some really nice touches to the tank such as the runic script along the side skirts. One side reads "The Eye Of Magnus" while the other reads "The Thousand Sons". It's little details like this that really give the vehicle personality. I'm really excited to see the finished build and get my hands on it to paint it up!

Tom does a whole series of resin-cast upgrades for the Baneblade kits that are simply spectacular. I heartily recommend taking a look through his eBay shop here for inspiration if you're interested in building your own custom super heavy tanks! He also takes commission work and I have to say he's been an absolute pleasure to do business with. Thanks Tom!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Sabre Complete, and Falchion started!

Greetings and salutations everyone - hope that the holidays have been treating you well! I'd like to start of today with a link to my friend's Blood Angel blog Ex Fide Vivo - after a long hiatus he's finally began painting again, and is jumping back in with a vengeance. Definitely worth a look if you're a fan of the Sons of Sanguinius!

I've had a few days off from work which has been spent painting. Lots of Datk Eldar and Thousand Sons in the queue of late, today's post is all about the big guns for the Thousand Sons. I'd picked up a resin upgrade kit for a Sabre Tank Hunter a while back and finally managed to get it finished up:

 

It's been too cold out to seal anything of late, so I may still go back in and add a few more details here and there as time allows. Moving on however, I thought I'd share the initial pictures of its big brother, the Falchion-class superheavy tank "The Eye of Magnus" that I've commissioned from the amazing Tom McBride aka Machinator (who is the designer behind most of the Rhino variants that I'm using for the army)...

 

The Falchion is the Heresy Era marine equivalent of the Shadowsword - obviously these are pictures in the very early stages of construction, but I have to say I'm giddy as a schoolboy to see it come together!

 

I'm really excited to see how it turns out, and very eager to get my hands on it once it's done to get it painted. I'll be sharing more pics as it progresses - More shots of the various Superheavy variants that Machinator has created over the years may be found at the Apocalypse 40k forums here. Definitely worth checking out!