Dreadtober 2017 - Osiron Dreadnought Complete!

Made the push over the last couple days to finish off the Osiron dreadnought, as having the deadline for Dreadtober bearing down on me got me motivated!

The dread was well past the halfway mark as of the last update, so it was mostly the addition of little details and cleanup here and there. Laying in the colors on the base really helped bring the model into focus!

The addition of the blue and green works well from a color theory standpoint, but boy am I weary of painting Thousand Sons - They're still my favorite legion, but let's just say I'm not ready to do a fifth iteration of the army quiiiiiite yet. Back to the Sons of Horus, and soon a foray back to the namesake of the blog as well!

Dreadtober 2017 - Osiron Dreadnought painting continues to continue...

A couple weeks in to October and I haven't gotten as much done on the Osiron as I probably should - Deadline is bearing down on us! That said, there was a little forward progress and I got the force blade greened up and ready for detailing. Don't forget to check out http://dreadtober.blogspot.com/ for more dread-y goodness!

Laid in a couple more colors as well, but nothing worth documenting. I will say that painting this guy has been challenging, I really have army fatigue with the Thousand Sons, and the Sons of Horus have been way more exciting to paint. A whole mess of pics of the boys in green coming soon!

Dreadtober 2017 - Osiron Dreadnought painting continues...

Another quick hit today, while the Sons of Horus continue apace I switched gears briefly and added the gold and expanded on the white trim undercoat on the Osiron when those colors came up in the hopper.

There are dozens of other awesome dreadnoughts getting worked on this month - definitely worth checking them out! Here's the link to the challenge tracker blog: https://dreadtober.blogspot.co.uk/p/dreadtober-2017.html

Behind the scenes the Sons of Horus are nearing completion, pics to follow soon!

Dreadtober 2017 - Back to the old scheme

Just a quick hit today - As the current Thousand Sons force hasn't been sold yet I figured I ought to go ahead and match the Osiron dread to the old paint scheme so I can sell them all on as matching lots. Dragged out the gold and clear red and got down to it!

Nothing super fancy quite yet, got the basic red on, and started by picking out all the areas intended to be white with a medium grey color. Against the reds of the armor even this color ends up looking almost white, and means that I can work up with a few lighter greys to give it depth and highlight. Once that's done I'll move on to the gold, which on this model will be a significant amount of real estate!

Dreadtober 2017 - The dreadnoughtening!

It's that time of year again! Dreadtober 2017 is shaping up to be a big one - Hobbyist extraordinaire and all around fine fellow Todd Sherman has taken up the gauntlet to help run this years festivities, may the Emperor take mercy upon him!

Naturally I didn't think my cunning plan all the way through and just days before the event was to begin I finished up the Sons of Horus dreadnought I'd been working on. Can't claim that as a success, so I cast my eye across the shelves and it settled on one of the leftover models from the recent Thousand Sons force that had never gotten beyond the build stage.

The beautiful Osiron dread never quite fit into the force as by the time I'd settled on the Orbital Assault list, the Dreadnought Drop Pod had gone out of production on the FW site and there's been little to no word of its return. Looks like we have our dread to work on for Dreadtober!

Todd has set up a blog to help track all the awesomeness at https://dreadtober.blogspot.co.uk/ - go check it out, and by all means if you have a dread you've been wanting to finish (or dread finishing) join in the fun!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Terminators and Storm Eagle complete, and a family photo!

Had a surprising amount of hobby time over the weekend and got quite a bit of work done! Polished off the Terminators, the Storm Eagle, and pulled everything that has been completed so far out for a family portrait. Woo!

I find I have a hard time photographing the shiny red, depending on the light it looks way lighter and darker, shinier and matte in the photos. It's odd! The Cataphractii will likely be hitting the table at NOVA, it's hard to go wrong with a whole mess of chainfists!

That said, I think I do actually prefer the look of the Tartaros terminators, the greater amount of blue on 'em really helps them pop. The five combi-plasmas will mean their opponents will pop too! ...As will at least one of the Tartaros from a plasma gun meltdown.

The Storm Eagle is a contentious piece for me. While it's a great centerpiece for the army, it's an absolute nightmare to build and has consistently under-performed on the table for me (mostly down to poor reserve rolls meaning a good 600 points isn't on the table until late in the game). Coupled with the fact that it takes up a huge amount of room in the travel bag, it ended up getting cut from the NOVA list, which is a bit of a shame. The points and space will be better used elsewhere in the majority of the games I have scheduled out there though...

With those three units done I figured it was high time to pull out everything that's been painted so far and get a group shot. It's about 5000 points as shown here, though a good chunk of that is down to the sorcerous overkill in the HQ slots. Only three more units to go before it's all complete!

Speaking of, it was really encouraging to see the painting chart flip over to almost entirely green at this point. The end is in sight!

This has been a rather fun project, but I'll admit to feeling some army painter's fatigue at this point. I'm struggling to decide whether to make the last push and knock out the last few models, or take a little breather and do something else for a bit. I can rest on my laurels a touch as all of the models intended to go out to NOVA are done, as are quite a few extras to allow for some last minute mix-and-match army build testing. Feels good!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Sekhmet Terminators painting continues!

Just a quick hit this morning - Been fiercely hot of late, so it's mostly by early morning paint sessions that I've been able to do much work up in the hobby loft. That said, I have pressed onward with the Sekhmet!

Both squads are being done in parallel, and the recent work has been laying in the bone and leather colors, and while I was about it I laid down the basecoat for the bases. It's always interesting to me how doing so always helps bring the models to life and 'pop' a bit more.

Of course it's not one of my projects without the use of some good ol' blue power cables/weapons/etc.! The Tartaros models definitely have a lot more blue on 'em than the Cataphractii, which I rather like. In comparison their Cataphractii brethren are starting to look a little bit drab - will have to see what I can do to address that situation.

Got some free time this coming weekend, so hopefully I can get them polished off and move on to the last two units remaining for the force. A family photo is probably in order soon too!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Sekhmet Terminators begin!

A quick hit this afternoon, managed to sneak in a decent amount of hobby time over the weekend! Not too many Thousand Sons units await the attentions of the painting servitor at this point, next up on deck are the two 5-man Sekhmet Terminator units.

I decided I'd do one set in Tartaros armor armed with combi-plasma guns and power fists, using a combination of the heresy Tartaros kit, the new 40k thousand sons plastics, and some shoulder pads from Pop Goes The Monkey on shapeways.

The second unit wears Cataphractii suits and are armed with combi-bolters with Asphyx shells and chainfists (my favorite melee weapon for terminators). Again a mix of bits and kits, with the leftover thousand sons combi-bolters from the tartaros set, resin torsos and loincloths from Wargames Exclusive, the heresy Cataphractii legs and arms and further shoulder pads from PGtM.

Doing all ten concurrently, and thus far it's just the white and gold trim on 'em, but that comprises the most tedious portion by far. Still quite a ways to go, but pretty happy with how they're coming along so far!

Heresy Era Mechanicum - Zhao Arkkad Cybernetica force complete!

With NOVA bearing down on me, I had to take stock of what remains to be done - As I'd been working on the Castellax recently (who are pulling double duty in both the Thousand Sons and Mechanicum forces) I figured I ought to pull out the rest of the Zhao Arkkad force and get all the waterslides, glossy faceplates and so forth complete. Once that was done it turns out the whole Cybernetica contingent is ready to go!

1500 points doesn't go very far in a Cybernetica force! This army will form half of the team game force, and will take the field alongside 1500 points of Thousand Sons. Should be good times! They're currently hanging out on a very cool gaming tray made by the inestimable Zab over at Almost Perftec.

I wanted to do something a little different for the Archmagos Dominus, and dug up an old "Telepathica Emancipator" model from the Tempus Fugitives days. I kind of like the "canopic jar" look, I'm envisioning the Magos as being a mummified husk inside (or perhaps it's just sacs of organs)...

Quite happy with how the Castellax Achea turned out - the transfer sheets from Forge World included a couple rather cool banners, and I really dug this one in particular. Added a little touch of the wyrdlight green to help tie them in to the rest of the Thousand Sons force, as they are controlled via a psychic link.

Nothing really new with the Thallax, they were pretty much done already and just needed their faceplates given a going-over with the brush-on gloss varnish.

Similarly the Vorax just got the shiny eye treatment, and the addition of a small Thousand Sons nova in white. Helps to tie them in with the rest of the force, all of whom have the white nova on one shoulder or another. Still my favorite of the new robot re-imaginings from FW, I adore these models (fiddly though they are to assemble)!

The big guy got a similar large transfer on his shoulder as a callback to the imagery on the Castellax banner, and the shiny faceplate treatment. They're all ready to be packed up for transit to the event!

While I was about it I updated the Thousand Sons painting chart. Very close to the finish line now! Trying very hard to stay focused on this project so I don't have to worry about models for NOVA, but have been entertaining thoughts of which project to pick up next - Both the Genestealer Cult and Dark Eldar/Harlequins appeal as a way to dip my toes into 8th edition (which I still haven't had a chance to play), but on the other hand I do really want to start that Sons of Horus army... Decisions, decisions!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Castellax Achea painting begins!

Happy 4th of July to our stateside readers, and I suppose a happy Tuesday to everyone else! Just a quick hit between BBQ and relaxation on the day off - I managed to squeeze in a fair bit of work on the unit of Castellax Achea this morning:

Basic gold, red and blues laid in so far, but heck, that's more than halfway to the finish line, right? Pretty happy with how they're turning out so far, hope to have them done by the end of the week!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Javelin Attack Speeders and Hyskos Sky Chariots complete!

Managed to get quite a bit of work done over the long weekend and polished off another couple units for the Thousand Sons - Gotten acclimated to the summer morning painting schedule and have managed to get a good hour or so in before work, and had a couple good sessions over the weekend as well. Feels good to be back in the zone!

The Javelins were very nearly complete as of last post, just the additional golds, bone and the ubiquitous blue! Once that was done, they got a hit of spray sealant, then the waterslide transfers go on. With the help of some Micro-Set and Micro-Sol, of course!

I had some cool cartouche transfers from Fallout Hobbies that work well on the smaller of the two black panels. Gives 'em a bit of flair, I think.

While I was about it, I also polished of the Hyskos Sky Chariots, which will act as a counts-as Jetbike squadron. Pretty bare-bones, just the heavy bolters...

...And a mess of melta bombs! I am definitely worried about anti-tank with the force, as the Javelins are quite fragile, so I'm trying to spread around the melta love across a few units as well as a backup plan!

Next up, the Castellax-Achea for the Mechanicum side of the force!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Javelin Attack Speeder Squadron Ka-Tet begins!

Another trio of models were set in front of the painting servitor, ignoring its plaintive blurt of binaric. It's Javelin Attack Speeders this go-around, one of my favorite models in the Heresy range, with an upgrade to armour, and several impressive weapon options over their more pedestrian Land Speeder cousins. As an orbital assault force, the Khamasiin is somewhat lacking in ranged anti-tank weaponry so squadron Ka-Tet is armed with twin-linked lascannons and multi-meltas. That's the ticket!

I'd left the crew separate to facilitate painting, so started off by laying in the basic colors on them, and worked up the shading on the speeders a bit.

Once the crew were ready to go, the black and bone panels were laid in on the speeders and then the gold trim - Coming together nicely!

Far too hot today to paint after work (nearly 100F), so other than a furtive burst of installing the crew and starting the steel on the first model I was driven from the loft, but not before snapping a couple quick pictures.

So far so good!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Drop Pods complete!

Or more accurately, I'm done with them! When all is said and done I am really rather happy with them, but not keen to do more drop pods anytime soon. The upcoming Sons of Horus will emphatically not be a drop force!

Once the bone and gold were laid in they definitely started to feel a bit more Thousand Sons-y. Some hieroglyphs and the nova legion symbol helps drive it home!

Of course, nearly all that legion goodness will be obscured when they're actually in play. On the other hand, a couple more spot colors do give them a bit more visual interest.

Leaving the two sections separate for painting really paid off in the final stages. Getting the hazard stripes and control pylons done would have been a nightmare otherwise!

Ended up taking a crack at making a little stencil to help with the hazard stripes, which worked fairly well, though even with the lower section loose it was still challenging to get the stencil in place. Blu-tack to the rescue!

At this point I'm closing in on the last of the models earmarked for NOVA later on this year - All that remains are a trio of Javelin Land Speeders and the Storm Eagle. Then more test games, discover my army list is rubbish, and then some frantic painting to get some unplanned new stuff finished!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Drop Pods continue...

Pressing onward with the drop pods, and they're coming along nicely so far! I had laid in some initial color patterns on the Storm Eagle earlier, and tried to fill in similar areas on the pods.

Just blocking in the various areas, starting with a graveyard earth as a basecoat for the areas that will end up bone colored. I'm a little worried about the wash step that I use when it comes to the big flat areas like the fins, so extra care will  need to be taken. On the up side, a multitude of sins can be fixed with judicious weathering, which the pods will be getting.

The black on the bottoms of the doors will get some gold or white hieroglyphics, while the white nova legion symbol will adorn one or more of the red doors (depending on how many I can scrape together in the appropriate size). Once the bone and black are done, they'll get some detailing picked out in gold, after which attention will be given to the interiors. So far so good!

I will say that painting them has been more fun than building them was, but that's not saying too much.

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Drop Pods painting begins...

I couldn't quite bring myself to apply an exclamation point to this post's title, as drop pods are just not all that exciting. Nevertheless, they form an integral part of the Orbital Assault rite of war that the Khamasiin is based on, so gotta get cracking on 'em!

Having built them in sub assemblies really helped on the painting front so far - definitely makes getting to all the nooks and crannies a piece of cake. Just the red and basic gunmetal laid in so far, but that gets us almost halfway to the finish line already!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Assault Squads actually complete!

Success! I ended up braving the heat in the hobby loft after work yesterday and got the two assault squads finished, flocked and sealed.

Assault squad Mekhata

Assault squad Besenmut

Basically all that remained was some highlights on the bone weapon casings and the usual blue power cables and jump pack thrust nozzles so it went rather quickly. The addition of some grass tufts gives the bases a little extra zest and they're good to go!

The painting chart is encouraging at this point - nearing the tipping point where there's more done than not. Not bad at all! Next up, a trio of Drop Pods - not glamorous, but integral to the Khamasiin's deployment strategy!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Assault Squad nearly complete!

A quick hit this morning, nearing the finish line with the two assault squads! Been getting back into the swing of early morning painting and got a few more colors laid in over the past week. Did the bases this morning and fired off a quick picture (though it's a little grainy due to the wholly artificial lighting that early in the day).

Getting the bases laid in really helps the models pop, and other than a few details and final highlights they're just about ready for the flock-and-sealant stage. It'll be good to get a couple more Troops choices done, meaning I can work on some vehicles or elites choices next which is always fun!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Assault squads painting continues...

Holy smokes is summer ever upon us here - Been sweltering hot of late which has made post-work painting a daunting procedure. Time to switch over to the summertime schedule and start getting up an hour earlier so I can paint in the cool of the morning!

That said, over the last few days I did manage to lay in all the gold trim and the ghostly green wings on the two assault squads. Halfway to the finish line now - next up is all the silver and bone!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Assault squads painting begins!

The weather has turned rather warm here, meaning it's getting unpleasantly hot up in the hobby loft but I have managed to sneak in a session or two in the mornings while it's still reasonable up there. Figured it was time to knock out a few more troops choices, so the assault squads came out of the foam and onto the painting desk!

Not a whole lot of excitement so far, just blacked in all the joints and laid in the first two greys and whites on the trim. So far so good though!

As a bit of a teaser, I quite enjoyed the green color the Sons of Horus NOVA Charity Army recipe suggested, and after painting up the helmet of one, it was a foregone conclusion that I'd try it out on a full model. Fairly straightforward, it's Vallejo USMC Tank Crew as the mid-tone, with a 50/50 mix with black for the undercoat and the USMC Tank Crew Highlight as the, well, highlight. I rather think there's going to be more of this in the future once I get on the other side of all these Thousand Sons!