Heresy Era Dark Angels - Army ready for NOVA!

As of the last post, the heresy era Dark Angels are essentially as done as they are going to get, and everything required for use at NOVA coming up at the end of August is ready to roll! I rather liked how the recent pics with the white background turned out, so figured I'd take the opportunity to reshoot the rest of the force similarly! Already droned on enough about them in previous posts, so we'll let the pictures flow:

HQ

TROOPS

ELITES

FAST ATTACK

HEAVY SUPPORT

A big ol' box of joy arrived from Battlefoam yesterday - took advantage of the 4th of July sale and re-upped my selection of pluckfoam trays. Now to fix the little niggling details that taking/reviewing/posting these pics have shown me (ain't that always the way?) and get 'em packed up for NOVA!

Heresy Era Dark Angels - Termites even more complete than before!

Quick hit today - After muddying up the tracks on the three tanks for the Dark Angels force, I figured I'd better go back and give the Termites the same treatment so everything matches!

As the Termites are supposed to be tunneling up from below, I tried to focus the mud and crud towards the front of the models, and running down along the track sections to the rear. Didn't want to go TOO overboard, but they're definitely dirtier than the tanks!

I was initially suspicious of the texture paints but after giving them some further drybrushing and washes I have to admit I'm really digging the outcome. Definitely will be adding them to my repertoire in the future!

A little spreadsheet porn to round things off. With these being done, everything intended for use at NOVA coming up at the end of August is complete! All that remains is one final Land Raider, which I couldn't fit into any of the lists points-wise. Now the conundrum - Do I press on and finish off the last lone tank and call the force complete, or do I move on to some other project? Gotta admit I'm getting army fatigue painting Dark Angels, it might be time to delve back into the Underhive and paint up the glut of Necromunda miniatures that have been crowding the 'to be painted' shelf...

Heresy Era Dark Angels - Taerrax Termite Tunnelers Complete!

Got a fair bit of hobby time in over the last week and managed to finish off the trio of totally terrifying Taerrax Termite Tunnelers - say that five times fast!

The three of them just baaaaarely fit in to the photo tent - They're larger than you might think from looking at 'em, but not so monstrous that they're going to be hard to transport or play. Tried to get some little splashes of color here and there with some brass on the meltas, some glowy orange-yellow on the Volkites and the usual red weapon housings to help them tie in to the rest of the force.

Had to get a little of the signature blue on 'em somewhere, right? There's some power conduits on the back that got the usual recipe! Added on some waterslide transfers and some sponge weathering, seems as though the sheets I used for the symbols were reasonably old and as such show up a little more than I'd like sheen-wise, even with some generous application of Micro-Sol. While it's more apparent in the pics than it is in person, I think I'm still going to go back in and touch them up with a little paint around the edges of the DA symbols and the numbers. Overall however, they're table ready!

The paint chart keeps on flipping over to green, which is a real nice feeling. Not too much left to go yet, after all the painting I think I can reward myself with some build time, and am considering whether it's the last 10-man Volkite support squad or the two remaining Sicaran variants that will get assembled next. Probably ought to bang out the last of the infantry...

Well ahead of schedule to get the force done for the NOVA Open coming up later in the year, but that deadline is bearing down on me rather fast!

Heresy Era Dark Angels - Taerrax Termites and Praetor built!

After all the painting of late I thought I'd reward myself with a little build time! Earlier in the week a box o' joy arrived from Forge World, containing a trio of Taerrax Termites (say that five times fast) - While I was initially apprehensive of building the new kit it ended up being a breeze!

While I was about it I decided to take a stab at building a Praetor for the force. While I've already painted up a few characters, I haven't been totally happy with them as they're essentially just 40k-era models with a lick of black paint and a head swap. Something a bit more bespoke was in order!

Introducing Vortigern, praetor of the Lost Lions warhost! Made from a whole mess of different bits, he definitely has more of a Heresy vibe to him and better suits the era. Fairly standard loadout with a Paragon blade and combi-plas - Hard to go wrong with the classics. Had to do a little greenstuff work to marry up the Deathwing blade to the Cataphractii plate, and swap the combi-plas over to the left hand and am pretty jazzed with how it turned out!

Wanted to bling him out a bit more than the other terminators he'll be joining, and was pleased to find a spare Custodes cape fit on the model like it belonged there. I managed to snap off some of the sensors and whatnot along the top of his armor, so need to sort out some replacements, but overall I am pretty pleased with him!

Better call the exterminator, I think I have Termites - Part 3

As I was organizing the Closet of Doom, my eye fell upon the stack of old-style Chimeras that I'd purchased in preparation for the hose-job GW would be handing down in the form of the new release. The recent batch of rumors about the incoming Chimera and Basilisk kits seems for confirm my fears - Non-standard turret rings, over-simplified track sections, and no upgrade sprue? No thank you. Don't get me wrong, the new kit goes together like a dream in comparison to the old one - the new Hellhound was a joy to put together. However I really feel that the conversion options available with the new kit are significantly reduced when compared to all the fiddly bits the old kit gave us.

I've been kicking around the idea of building a Termite carrier, though what purpose it would serve eluded me. Never one to let practicality stand in the way however, I'm going to press onwards, and at the very least I'll end up with an interesting piece of terrain!

I dug out some old catalog pictures to reacquaint myself with the old model (as sadly all my old Epic models have been sold ages ago). The original model should be reasonably easy to recreate using a couple Chimera kits and some plasticard - I'm thinking that I'll use two sets of sides to make a somewhat elongated track section, and just use plasticard for the superstructure.

I've had some initial discussions with the fellow that runs Ramshackle games to see if I can get just the drill section in order to create my own completely-out-of-the-ground Termite, though I'll admit for $15 I'm just as happy ordering another complete Boring Machine and sawing the drill free. While I'm confident I can make the crew section a reasonable facsimile of the 'emerging' model, I think the drill head itself needs to match exactly for continuity's sake.

It appears that the North American Weather Control Satellite will continue to be set on 'Hoth" for the forseeable future, so I may as well spend the time indoors doing some modeling!

Better call the exterminator, I think I have Termites - Part 2

I managed to find some time to finish off the Termites over the weekend (though it's too cold outside to seal them at the moment). They painted up rather quickly, and I decided that rather than make them all exactly the same I'd try to give them each their own bit of individuality.

It appears I still need to back and erase the pencil lines that I used as guides around the rim of the drill (they show up in the pictures much more than they do in person for some reason).

I painted one up in the ubiquitous hazard striping, another with the cog-wheel motif common to many Adeptus Mechanicus vehicles, and then butchered some latin to make a proto-gothic script around the third. It says "Ex Carceri Viscus, Omnissiah Vindico Nos", which loosely translates to "From the prison of flesh, Omnissiah deliver us". I am really pleased with how they turned out, and I would heartily recommend Ramshackle Games for their affordable and professional casts!

TOEMP #10 - Scoundrels and Wyrds... Part 2

More than halfway done with the tenth challenge for the Tale of Even More Painters at this point. I had a quiet evening yesterday to finish off Dunno's Deadeyes, a 5-man group of Ratling Snipers seconded to the Mordian 7th Regiment:

Fairly straightforward paint scheme, though they were rather fun to paint as they each have a lot of personality. I went with grey fatigues as they are an Elites choice (the veterans all wear grey fatigues and red armor), but since the Ratlings don't really wear armor, they ended up being a bit monochromatic. That works for me however, as the bright red armor would sort of stands at odds with the Ratlings sneaky nature.

Some folks asked for a scale shot of the Termites that I picked up from Ramshackle games, so I pulled out the Drop Pod and snapped a quick picture. It was nice enough outside over the weekend to get a mess of stuff primered, and I'm actually quite looking forward to painting the Termites, they should come together pretty quickly.

Four more models remain for this stage of the TOEMP challenge, three Psykers and the Commissar which I hope to finish off over the weekend. Once that's done, all the HQ and Elites for the Mordian 7th will be complete!

Better call the exterminator, I think I have Termites - Part 1

Another package arrived in the mail today, from one of my favorite alternate sci-fi companies; Ramshackle Games. I've ordered a selection of models from them in the past and thus far every transaction has been a smooth and pleasant experience - not to mention being awesome sculpts and surprisingly clean casts. This package was full of transports for my growing Adeptus Mechanicus army:

A trio of "Boring Machines" that I'll be using for Termite Subterranean Transports, in game they function the same way as drop pods. I really like these models, with the addition of a little 40k detailing I think they'll work really well! They're about the same size as the old Armorcast Termites, and I personally think they have better detail. All in all I'm very pleased and I'm looking forward to painting them.

...If we get a break in the weather that is. More snow forecast for tomorrow. Sheesh.