From GregB - Finishing AHPC XVI With The XVIth (20 points)

Siege Breaker Consul and assault marines from the Sons of Horus. Resin figures from GW/Forge World.

The time flies by, and like so many Challengers I'm just under the wire with this one. I wanted to conclude my run in the XVIth edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge with something fitting, and I figured some Space Marines from the XVIth Legion Astartes would do the trick. Here we have a Siege Breaker Consul and three assault marines in the fine colours of The Warmaster's own, the Sons of Horus.

Siege Breaker Consul

"So...anyone have anything that needs breaking?"

What does a "Siege Breaker Consul" do? Sounds like a bit of a made-up job...one has the impression he conducts sieges...but job title implies he "breaks" sieges so maybe his job is instead to bust up sieges attempted by opponents...who knows? But he clearly is out to break things. I mean, look at that hammer. Like they say, when you walk around with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Woe betide the foes of The Warmaster when this chap shows up. 

In addition to the giant hammer, he obviously has a really amazing wireless plan, with unlimited 5G data, great roaming options and no hidden fees...

Love that 5G intergalactic roaming in the year 30k...

I like the little portable data terminal attached to his power armour, with a little projected 3d map, presumably of some target he is about to annihilate via an orbital strike or some other manner of Age of Darkness doom. 

Bright yellow "safety grenades" on the rear of the power pack. This chap has all sorts of grenades.

This is a resin figure from GW's "Age of Darkness" range. I'm not the biggest fan of GW's resin, but thankfully things were not too bendy. Besides, he is wearing the Mark VI "beakie" power armour and, well, I'm a sucker any models wearing that kit! 

Assault Marines

Ready to jump into the action...

These are old, old resin figures - the marines are wearing Mark IV armour. They are resin models from Forge World, circa 2012. I have re-painted them to ensure their green armour matches that of the other Sons of Horus in my collection, part of my ongoing long-term program to placate the OCD hobby monkey in brain. 

Will re-painted figures suffer the same fate as newly-painted figures?

The officer has a comb on his helmet (hilarious) and an extra-large chainsword, for those jobs that need serious chopping. The other marines are kitted out in the more traditional bolt-pistol-and-chainsword combo common to the Astartes assault troops. With these three finished, I have completed the necessary repainting to put my old squad of 15 of these fellows back into the battle line - with a tone of green armour that will match that of their colleagues and thereby sooth the rampaging OCD hobby monkey in my head.

Love the double-handed chainsword. A silly weapon made even sillier. Brilliant.

So for points, we have a total of four 28mm foot figures in this submission- that should be good for 20 points. And that's that for me with AHPC XVI!

Big Thank You

I want to thank Curt and Sarah for hosting another edition of the Painting Challenge, and to thank all of the Challengers for sharing their work and their comments. I also want to thank everyone on the Thursday crew for their patience and their tremendous brushwork. Take care everyone...see you all again in December!

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A wonderful parting shot from you, dude, and made even better as they are from your favourite Legion of the Horus Heresy. The 'vintage' (is 2012 old enough for vintage - I think so) assault marines look excellent and suitably ferocious with their chainswords and heretical thoughts. But the star of the show is obviously the impressive 'Siege Breaker Consul'. Like you Greg, I'm somewhat mystified by his title, but like many thinks in the GrimDark Future I think its best not to ask silly questions. With his iPlate Pro and 'Task Hammer' he's obviously an important guy with important things to... blow up. Best to leave him to it. Fabulous figure though! I love the tablet detail that you've done and all his attendant kit is wonderfully painted. Fantastic stuff, my friend and four more fine additions to your heresy, er, liberator force. 

Finally, thank you for being our Thursday minion and for providing such great comments to so many of the entries this year. It really makes a difference. 

Same time next year? I think so!

- Curt 

From GregB: Saturnine Terminator Squad (45 points)

It's Saturnine time!

We have reached the final week of another Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Time to cram a few more submissions over the line in a desperate rush for points! Probably the best place to start are some things I had told myself that I would "definitely finish some time during the Painting Challenge", but have been procrastinating about for one reason or another. It is in this spirit that I present to you this Saturnine Terminator squad. These are "28mm" multi-part plastic figures from GW's "Age of Darkness" setting (a.k.a. the Horus Heresy) painted in the fine colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. Because space wizards want to wreck sh*t too. 

"Let's blast something! Or smash it! I'm good either way!"

"Saturnine" kit is the "new big thing" for the 3.0 edition of GW's Age of Darkness rules. There is surely some lore for this armour variant and...well, I would share but for the fact that I haven't bothered to give it even a cursory scan, as it amounts to a farcically clumsy ret-con into the Horus Heresy story and I sort of don't care about the story. Suffice to say these are really, really big suits of powered armour, with impressive battlefield capabilities, big guns etc. etc. 

Note the blaster mounted on the power fist - so he can either punch someone OR shoot them even more!

These specific models are equipped with...I think that is some manner of "disintegrator" weapon on the one arm, while the oversized fist also sports a shorter-ranged blaster or flame-weapon of some kind. I would get the names, but that would involve encountering the Age of Darkness 3.0 rulebooks and...I can't be bothered. Rest assured the kit is all suitably super-duper-kill-things oriented.

I did not pose the legs very well on this one...looks like he is trying to step quietly or something, which is pretty silly, but whatever, he'll still fight on the table!

These models have a lot of components, and the instructions are not exactly clear in terms of the best ways to assemble them. To the credit of the designers, they want to offers hobbyists different options in terms of posing the feet and hands/weapons...but this goodwill is undone by the sheer "chonk factor" of these brutes. They crowd their bases, so there is not all that much to do with the legs, and the huge oversized, turtle-style upper shoulder sections crowd out any effort to meaningfully pose the arms. 

Close up on the ranged weapon. Cool looking gun - I'm sure it is super safe to use and poses no risks at all to its own side...

I recall GW came out very quickly with a "hey, here are a few tips from the studio" type article for assembling these models not very long after they hit the shelves. Naturally enough the studio guys offered an approach quite different from the one in the instructions....sigh...

Sub-assemblies - the "collars".

More sub-assemblies - the helmets. Took the opportunity to stick transfers on them too, before sticking them in the model.

A mid-point WIP photo. 

In terms of assembly and painting, these models are best thought of as small dreadnoughts, and there are so many overlapping sections that I recommend painting them in sub-assemblies. The "turtle shell" tops do not assemble easily, and you should probably put them on last AFTER you have painted the rest of the model, because they are so dominant that they make significant parts of the figure unreachable with a paintbrush - and yet they do not cover the ENTIRE top area, and so will leave any unreachable sections visible if they are not painted...that is the sort of combo that makes the OCD hobby monkey in my brain MENTAL.  

Close up on one of the helmets.

The head is a real challenge too - once more, a sort of "collar" goes over the head, but small parts of the internal area around the helmet will be visible even though the fit it very tight...so once more, sub-assemblies were called for. 

Maybe this is why these things sat around my painting table for so long. I had primed all of the bits prior to the start of AHPC XVI, convinced I would get them finished as part of my Challenge plan. But as my enthusiasm for Age of Darkness 3.0 really faded, I found other fun stuff to paint, telling myself that I would "do those Saturnine guys at the end." Well, here we are, so better get them done, right??? 

"Let's hit the town fellas!"

Good to have them over the line. If I ever do get them into a game, I'm sure they will cause a fair bit of havoc - even given the doom all newly-painted models seem to face, the rules for these Saturnine guys are pretty silly so they'll have a fun old time. I think you can even give them a psychic power? Which seems...bonkers...but then, to be sure, I would need to crack open the rule book and...I'll just figure it out some other time. 

For points, I am hoping to count Axehole 2.0 as a precedent, and mark them at 15 points each given their large size, which would bring this to 45 points. 

________________________________________________

Fabulous work on these oversized walking scarabs, er, Dreadnoughts, er, Terminators, Greg! You did a terrific job on picking out the models' details while maintaining the restraint to give them a cohesive look (i.e If you know the 30K lore, you know these are from the Thousand Sons). I cringe at your description of various sub assemblies and build strategies, as that seems like, well, too much work! Nonetheless, your efforts paid off handsomely, and they look ready to curb-stomp all library late-returners and Space Wolves (after they've diddled with their minds and shot them, of course).

I will follow the 'Axehold Precedent' and award 45 points for the herd. 

Well done in getting these over the finish line, dude!

- Curt

From MikeF - Tyrant’s Legion Hellhound Tank (20 Points)

I promised one more vehicle for the Tyrant's Legion and I'm happy to be able to deliver. I was thinking of doing a rhino for the Retaliators I painted last week, but a recent Ebay purchase arrived in record time and I decided to paint it up. I managed to grab a hellhound tank from Ebay for a relatively decent price. The current hellhound tank is readily available from GW, but I wanted the model they produced in the mid 90's with the metal fuel tanks! I managed to find one being sold in Vancouver for what seemed like a decent price  It was already assembled and painted, but I could tell it wasn't assembled particularly well. That didn't matter as I planned to strip and repaint it anyway. 

After a soak in some isopropyl alcohol, the model came apart and I was able to strip the paint and fix up the shoddy assembly work. The one problem I noticed was that the turret was a real mess. The turret consists of a metal lower half that connects to the plastic upper portion of the chimera turret. The metal piece had several rectangular open spaces on each side that is normally covered by metal extra armor pieces which run along the bottom half of the turret. These pieces were missing and had been replaced with plastic tank tracks that were poorly fitted to the turret. In addition, whoever was wielding the hobby knife must have been a lumber jack because there were large cuts and gouges all around the plastic turret component. This was why I got it for a decent price I guess. I managed to use some plastic armor tiles from a Gaslands conversion sprue I had in my bits box and cut them to shape to fit around the turret. It turned out ok I think.  It has the look that the armor was applied in the field by a crew that wasn't quite confident in the standard armor of their rolling barbeque! Only the best for the Tyrant's Legion!

28mm vehicle for 20 points.

I'm not sure I'll be able to finish anything else before the end of the challenge, but in case I don't, I'd like to thank Curt and the minions for their hard work during the challenge. I'd also like to give a general congrats to all the challengers for all the great stuff they've completed. Well done everyone!

You know how much I love these restoration/reclamation projects Mike, and you've done an outstanding job with this one. Yes, isopropyl alcohol is a miracle liquid and I cannot believe how long it took me to discover that... plastic or metal, everything that gets stripped at Conscript Towers starts out in IPA. If necessary I use some Castrol Super Clean after, but it's often not even necessary. The Hellhound is suitably old-school (METAL!) and it looks great! The little hazard decal on the back is the finishing touch!

Twenty for you!

Dallas

From GregB: Leopold's Leopard Company (122 points)

"Leopold's Leopard Company" is ready to meet an opponent's charge...

I am super pleased to present another Regiment of Renown from GW's old "Dogs of War" collection - here is Leopold's Leopard Company, and they are ready to stand in your battle line - so long as the deposit is paid up front and on time. These battle-hardened pikemen are long-OOP metal castings from Games Workshop and the glorious before-times.

One of the front-rankers, pike set, ready for the clash.

A back ranker.

Leopold and his men started out as guards of the Temple of Lucan and Luccina in the Tilean city of Luccini. It was fancy, well-paid duty. The unit is resplendent in fine armour adorned with the symbols of the temple - in particular the visage of the leopard who had guarded the divine twins! They are further adorned with the pelts of leopards. As military units go, the Leopard Company dressed the part!

These chaps are ready for a fight too!

How did the Leopard Company end up as mercenaries? Well, let's just say "local Luccini politics" intervened. In the midst of some civil strife there may, or may not, have been a siege of the temple in which it may, or may not, have become necessary for Leopold and his men to, er, "borrow" the gold offerings stored within which in turn may, or may not, have brought down some kind of divine curse which can only be held at bay by traveling the Old World, fighting as mercenaries and sending a portion of the gold they earned back to the temple to, um, "repay" their "debt."

Leopold and the command group. He is carrying healthy-sized "sword" (more of a cleaver), and I love the pistol tucked into the belt.

Naturally the command group has the nicest collection of pelts!

It is a real thrill to get this unit over the line for a couple of reasons. First, this is a Dogs of War unit which I had not previously painted back when I owned my original collection. I had wanted to take a crack at them, but a) already had assembled a decent-size force and b) was kind of intimidated by all of the leopard-style pelts. Nearly every figure in the unit is wearing a pelt. The studio models in the army book looked amazing (of course), but painting those spotted pelts looked really tricky and beyond my brush skills at the time.

Another ranker.

25 years later wariness of painting the pelts was still holding me back, but I was determined to try...there was a lot of trial and error on the first couple of test figures, but I managed to work out an approach that seemed OK, and in particular looked pretty good when the troops were massed together. Even if the spot pattern is not exactly that of a leopard, I can always push the fantasy-escape-button. "Oh, you see, those are the pelts of the, er, 'Tilean Mountain Leopard', and the spots look...just like that..."

From this aspect you can see some of the assorted small details that add character. Like the chap at the rear with a portion of rope, the different types of packs etc. 

Each time I have completed one of these units, I have commented on how wonderful these old sculpts are. This time will be no exception - let it be said, again, that these old sculpts are just wonderful! So much character, brilliant metal sculpts from the Perry brothers. While there is, of course, broad similarity to the figures, there are a number of small little variants among the sculpts that add just enough difference, and a little touch of character, to let each figure be slightly unique while preserving the overall uniform look to the unit. It has been such a treat to paint these figures, with their crisp, proper metal lines and details. 

I love these big pike blocks!

So that is now three large, chonky pike blocks completed to serve as a solid backbone for my "Dogs of War" army, but this project is still not yet complete. The army will require some artillery support and a bit of cavalry to round things out. Time in this edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is running short, so those elements are likely to have to wait until the next one, but who knows what might be possible before things conclude? 

"Ready lads!"

Points-wise we have 24 figures, 28mm in size, which should be good for 120 points. That's all for now, but I hope to be back with more as the mad-dash to the AHPC finish line looms. 

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Sylvain: Another convincing demonstration of your talent both with the pigment and with the verb. As you said, despite their individuality and their personal details, the figurines, as a whole, contribute to the overall sumptuousness of their company. Your projects always come with a story that I always enjoy reading. I will add 2 points for the large flag. It has been an honor to be your minion; "à la prochaine". 

 

 

From MikeF - Astral Claws Retaliator Squads - 10 x 28mm Miniatures (50 points)

 

The Tyrant's Legion wasn't only composed of normal humans. Space Marines from the Astral claws chapter were assigned to every detachment to ensure loyalty and take advantage of the "ablative" armour offered by the Legion Auxilia. It was also a way for the Tyrant of Badab to hide his ever expanding marines complement which was numbering well beyond the 1000 marine limit as dictated by the codex astartes. Some of these units would be formed into Retaliator Squads, which were primarily concerned for enforcing discipline within the Auxilia. They are close combat oriented and equipped with chainswords and combat shields. I painted up 2 units of 5. 

I hope to complete at least one more vehicle for the Tyrant's Legion, but we'll see how it goes.

The combat shields are from Kromlech

10 x 28mm miniatures for 50 points.

Thanks for visiting!

An Astral Claws Retaliator Squad sounds like something best avoiding, and looks that way too.  Those are some bruisers, and very nicely painted too.  I really like the blue with gold should guards.  50 point for you sire, and looking forward to their AFV.

From GregB: Raven Guard Assault Optae (5 Points)

"Assault Optae" - Raven Guard Space Marine officer - multi-part plastic kit from GW with slight conversions.

I have only a small submission this week - a single figure - but it is one I have been looking forward to posting as it is connected to Curt and Sarah's pending visit! As Curt mentioned in his post last week, he and Sarah will be stopping for a short visit here in Toronto on their way back to Regina, and we will be looking to squeeze in as much gaming as possible amid good food and wine. As part of the hospitality, I have painted this figure up as a gift to Curt, so he can join the ranks of his new Horus Heresy "Kill Team" Project. 

It's just one figure. But even a single figure can still throw up a larger word count...so...buckle up...

The Basics

This is Space Marine Centurion in Mark II power armour, a slight conversion of a multi-part plastic kit from GW's latest "Age of Darkness" starter box. The figure is meant to be wearing a massive, billowing cloak (as one does) while sporting an insane vexilla on the top of a slightly fancy version of the power pack commonly seen on Space Marine power armour. I have done away with the cloak and some of those other bibs and bobs to give him the jump pack of an assault marine instead. This was done for a few reasons.

Legion numeral on the shoulder plate - and a nice view of the insane jump pack. 

The first reason is the most important: I wanted him to fit in! Curt's initial "Shattered Legions" Raven Guard force for "Kill Team" looks to be built mostly around Raven Guard assault marines - the crazy(er) ones who wear "jump packs" and to get to grips with their enemies at close range. So if this fellow is going to participate in Curt's squad, he should be wearing the appropriate gear. In their recent wave of releases GW has issued a new set of plastic kit assault marines in Mk II armour (they are awesome - just haven't got around to panting any of em' yet), and the whacky jump pack from those kits fits perfectly on this fellow's armour. 

I added a custom shoulder plate with the embossed Raven Guard legion symbol to complete effect. I also tried my best to match the dark colours and dark look Curt achieved on his guys. Critically, I was able to find a washer-type base, so hopefully he'll fit in without too much trouble. 

Another view of the crazy jump pack - and we can see the "power maul" is large enough to be wielded with both hands, should the occasion call for it.

The MkII armour has lots to recommend it to fans of the Horus Heresy setting. Lots of segments and plates, a less-efficient-yet-more menacing overall appearance. This centurion model retains all of those elements, but adds heaps the "bling" associated with Space Marine Legion officers. The effect is tremendous in my opinion. You can't see his face, but he still "looks" annoyed. It's a great miniature, and really neat that GW has taken the time issue plastic kits for the Mk II marines.

And yet...up above, I say, "the first reason". That implies more than one reason I did not build this kit as GW intended...read on...

Adventures In Modern Plastic Modeling

I mentioned above that this figure, as originally designed, is wearing a big cape (as one does), vexilla etc. He even has a friendly servo-skull (probably an old friend that he wanted to, er, "keep around").  The "intended" finished figure is indeed a fine-looking 30k specimen, sporting all of the very best, whacky 30k Space Marine silliness that Horus Heresy fans enjoy. I did manage to complete a version of this original figure. Here is how he turned out, painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astartes, the Space Wolves.

Space Wolf Centurion wearing Mk II armour, accompanied by his buddy, a floating skull because 30k. Painted last summer/fall. 

He turned out OK. But it was a hell of an adventure to get here - and required a replacement of the left shoulder plate (of course, I am the sort of dork who would have plenty of those handy, but still). You see, the original figure, as conceived by GW, looks beautiful in theory but is almost impossible to assemble as-is in practice. There is no way in which one can assemble the cape, the power pack and the shoulder plates in a fashion even remotely/distantly resembling the method laid out instructions. 

There is no physical way to get this...

...when trying to follow this....

Trying to follow those instructions lead to desperate repair attempts. The cloak needs to, at once, go under AND over the vents of the power pack. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE once the power pack itself is already fastened to the back of the model. Even proceeding cautiously ended in desperate repair attempts as it became clear I had made a major mistake by following the published instructions..such repair attempts don't always go well, as we see here... 

For f*ck sakes!! This is what happens when you need to make repairs...

This is why you often see alternate versions of this figure posted online, as I have done here - because the cape, power pack and shoulder plates defy assembly in any reasonable fashion, or even an unreasonable one for that matter. This is what happens when the people who design things with computers are not the ones who have to build and paint them, IMO. Oh well. 

The Final Bit - A Back Story

OK. Enough about the modeling - let's get back to this specific miniature! I know Curt loves the story aspect of gaming, and so this fellow would need a back story too. While I have not named him, I have that story ready...

He see him as an "Assault Optae", a veteran of The Emperor's Great Crusade, hailing from Terra! He has served in the XIX Legion for centuries of fighting! This sort of provenance would be ideal in a warrior, one would think, but...well, in the Horus Heresy story, this would breed division within the Legions. 

The "Great Crusade" lasted centuries. The Space Marines Legions all started with Terran "recruits", but as the Crusade expanded across the galaxy, the sources of recruits expanded too, and ultimately shifted to whichever homeworld their Primarchs were discovered on. As Primarchs took over their legions, they tended to distrust those officers who had been serving with the Legion prior to their arrival - they looked to the fellow Marines raised on the new homeworld, and looked slightly askance at those of Terran lineage. 

Now, those "Terrans" were still loyal - and desperate to prove it - but these were among the issues that led to divisions building slowly within the Legions over the decades, ones the Horus and his dark allies would ultimately exploit. The "Terran core" of each legion was gradually sidelined.

Handy Raven Guard symbol embossed on the shoulder plate.

Different Legions handled this generational distrust in different ways - in some, these Terran veteran officers were merely sidelined, while in others they were sent toward certain death in battle, or they were sent off on pointless missions to the other side of the galaxy. Some were just quietly fragged and re-processed. 

Corax, Primarch of the Raven Guard, took the "I'll just let attrition handle some and sideline the others" approach. I see this fellow as a survivor of this. When word of Horus' betrayal broke, and the Raven Guard were mustered to attack the Traitor Legions on Istvaan V, this fellow was among the few thousand left behind as part of the garrison to keep an eye on the Raven Guard homeworld. Nothing personal, of course, no official reason - someone has to keep watch, after all - but he would know why, everyone would know why. 

Crazy gun? Check. Crazy "power maul"? Check. Let's get some revenge...

Betrayed at Istvaan V, the shattered survivors of the Raven Guard would have been rescued by guys like this officer. He is at the forefront now...he'll still never be fully trusted by Corax, but there really are not many officers left...not many Raven Guard left! So he is at the forefront of the vengeful battle to bleeed and harry the forces of The Warmaster as they march across the galaxy toward Terra and destiny. 

He is gutted that he was not there to face the dire fate of the Raven Guard on Istvaan V. Even though he helped rescue the survivors, it is a guilt that drives him. Maybe he will never prove himself to his Primarch - not fully - but he will work to ease his "survivor guilt" by opening the skulls of as many traitor Marines as he can manage...the fan-made version of "Kill Team" is perfect for games/scenarios with these sort of dynamics at play. I hope Curt enjoys him!

That's too many words. But it's still just one 28mm figure for five points. If you made it to here, thanks for reading! Hope to be back next week with more. 

 

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Sylvain: I Greg, is your middle name "Black Library"? Now I can't look at this miniature without feeling his inner guilt... Excellent job on that "one" figure. Extraordinaire!

 

From MikeF - Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors- 28mm x 2 - 10 Points

My Tuesday post is a small one this week. I'm working on a few vehicles and it was a bit tight getting them done in time.

During previous challenges I've added models to my mostly done, never really done Cadian Imperial Guard. I'm past the point of adding any big units, but I still have a few odds and ends to add. One of these is Regimental advisors! These are a neat little buff you can add to your command squad to help you on reserve rolls or to drop a big ordnance template on the enemy. They include the Astropath, Master of the Fleet and Master of Ordnance. The Cadians already have an Astropath, but the other two have been absent for far too long. I've always turned away from purchasing the actual models from GW due to the cost. Fortunately, I've been able to source a few alternatives. Over the years I've accumulated a large number of bits and I was able to throw together a Master of Ordnance. He has a large back pack communication device, an auspex and he's holding a document containing coordinates...or maybe his lunch order. Everything is GW, except the head which is from Pig Iron Productions.

Master of Ordnance 

The red star features throughout the army. I think of it as more of a regimental badge and not an indication that they are space commies!

For the Master of the Fleet, I purchased a model from 3rd party manufacturer, Chaostemple Miniatures. He comes with two head options, mask or no mask. My entire army has gas masks, so I went mask. It's a resin and metal model and is nice quality. Unfortunately, Chaostemple will cease trading at the end of February, so get him soon if you want one. I did a first with this model and gave him grey hair! I was inspired after looking at myself in the mirror!

Officer of the Fleet

That's 2 x 28mm models for 10 points!

Thanks for visiting!

Love these Mike!  I always like to see some kit bashing, and here you'v cobbled together a whole figure from the bits box.  I hope he got hi extra pickle and the correct type of mustard on his Smoked meat sandwich.  And you've nailed the great hair on the Fleet advisor.  Is this true to life, dare I ask?  I dunno much about 40K, but on reading the term 

"Imperial Guard Regimental Advisors" I was thinking of a SciFi equivalent of the French Revolutionary Representatives of the Peoples, but these guys look and sound like they might actually be useful.