Catching Up On The Blog

 It's winter here in Manitoba and I haven\t posted since September. Painting has been slow the last couple months, mainly because I struggled to complete a final major project for the Imperial Fists. Before I get to that though I'm proud to announce that I've finished the last units for The Minotaurs. Forgeworld makes models for two special characters for the Minotaurs: Chapter Master Asterion Moloc and Chaplain Ivanus Enkomi. I picked both of them up last year and they are the last models I will do for this chapter. Greg often scoffs at this, but I've grown very tired of painting brass and new projects await!

Ivanus Enkomi

Asterion Moloc

The Army Completed...

...Continued

Last up is the Crown Jewel of the Imperial Fists - The Fellblade. This has been started and stopped about 3 times. The yellow on this thing was very time consuming and I usually walked away from completing it for this reason. With the Minotaurs completed I decided to just get the thing done. I didn't enjoy the process, but once the yellow was complete, the rest of the tank was pretty simple. the color scheme was borrowed from one I saw online and uses my usual black/yellow inversion for vehicles. I did some weathering to the vehicle, but avoided using any weathering powders like I normally do. I usually fuss over the weathering and battle damage on vehicles, but this time I was really desperate to finish it, so I avoided the more time consuming techniques. Down the road if I feel the weathering isn't heavy enough, it's an easy enough thing to fix.

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Minotaurs Vehicles

 I'm almost done the Minotaurs! I only have 2 special characters left and then that's it! I finished the summer off by painting the last vehicles for the chapter. This includes the Land Raider Crusader! You'll notice the side sponson weapons are quite a bit different from the standard Land Raider (or any land raider). As I mentioned before, this army is a repaint, including the Land Raider. The original crusader side sponsons were originally multi-part metal hurricane bolters. Each included about 8 pieces that no longer seemed to fit together. As I struggled with it, I had flash backs to 15+ years ago trying to assemble them. I had forgotten what a pain in the ass they were. I had no interest in trying, so looked online to see if I could buy the new plastic sponsons. That was too expensive to justify, so I turned to my bits collection. I managed to find two rotary cannons from Kromlech that would work as an equivalent to the hurricane bolters. I figured they looked like they were low strength, but had lots of shots, so work well as a proxy. To mount them, I flipped the metal bracket for the bolters around and clipped off one end. With the help of some green stuff I then managed to set the guns on the brackets convincingly enough. It really pays to keep old crap around for years until the right project presents itself.

This was really boring to paint. Combining the worst aspects of miniature and terrain painting!

Rhino rehab #2

Quite the beast!

Kromlech cannon

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Back to the Minotaurs!

 Quite some time ago I was working on my Space Marine repaint project -The Minotaurs. I have a few units left to complete and resolved to complete them all before the end of September. Most of the remaining units are vehicles. but I have on infantry unit remaining. These are Vanguard Assault Marines armed with power weapons and storm shields. The Minotaurs have a strong Sparta theme going and Pop Goes the Monkey have numerous bits available specifically for the "not"-Minotaurs. The spears, shields and heads are all from PGTM. The bits work perfectly and my only complaint is that the resin used by their manufacturer (Shapeways) is quite brittle and I've already had one spear break off. 

I also finished my 3rd HQ unit, the Librarian with jump packs. This model has gone through quite the ordeal. The legs are not his original legs. Those were removed long ago so his torso could be placed on a space marine bike. For the re-paint I decided to give him legs again. the originals were long gone, so I had to find a suitable replacement from my bits box. He's now re-legged and equipped with a jump pack from PGTM.

Next up will be a Rhino and Drop pod.

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Minotaur Tactical Squad #3

 Here's my 3rd and last Minotaur tactical squad. I have more units of Minotaurs left to paint, but this is already a big enough army to game with...eventually. I'm going to switch gears again and finish off the Alpha Legion and the last few units for my Imperial Militia Army. I'll probably circle back to the Minotaurs and maybe some Bonereapers in the fall. I guess it depends how much painting I get done this summer.

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Minotaurs Chapter Vehicles

 For Fathers Day I competed 2 vehicles for my Minotaurs Space Marine Chapter. The majority of the army consists of models I already owned and stripped of their previous paint job. However, these two vehicles are new additions to my collection. The Rhino was bought online used and already assembled (there was just one issue that couldn't be corrected). It was missing a few parts, but luckily I have an ample supply of Rhino bits! The second vehicle is the Vindicator. It sports a demolisher cannon and massive dozer blade. The Minotarus are supposed to be siege experts and well supplied with vehicles, so the Vindicator fits the bill. In the current Space Marine meta, I don't think vehicles rate all that high, but since my army is already disqualified from GW events due to every model being covered in 3D printed bits, I don't think the meta matters much.

 

I really wanted to add that storm bolter in case the Demolisher doesn't do the job!

The left track guard was misaligned due to imprecise fitting of the top hull to the sides. The savings on the used rhino didn't justify ripping the vehicle apart to fix it. I'd have just bought a new rhino in that case.

3D printed bits everywhere!

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Minotaurs Dreadnoughts

 More progress on the Minotaurs despite the Provinces best attempts to abolish public education! This offering is two more space marine dreadnoughts. These aren’t the fancy new primaris redemptor dreadnoughts or the relic Contemptor. Just plain old classic walking coffins. Back in the time of 4th and 5th addition these guys served me well. The twin lascannon and missile launcher combo was particularly effective. Subsequent additions were less generous. 9th edition has juiced up dreadnoughts considerably and should provide some solid support for the tactical squads. Unfortunately, their shiny new paint job probably means they have to get that first game out of the way! Whenever that’ll be.

The multi-melta and plasma cannon are both from Pop goes the Monkey as are the Minotaur icons. All the weapons are magnetized and all the polarities match so the weapon arms can be swapped between dreads!

The one on the left was painted a few months ago

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Minotaurs Tactical Squad #2

 Painting progress has been slow since the Province suspended in class learning for elementary school kids. Despite this challenge, I've managed to complete another tactical squad for my Minotaurs Chapter. This includes a Multi-melta, meltagun and flamer alternative. The sergeant is armed with a plasma pistol and power fist. I also gave him a Mark IV helmet. The boltguns are from the Mark III space marine box. I had dozens of them left over from my Imperial Fists.

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