Showing posts with label Forge World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forge World. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Spartan APC for 30k Thousand Sons

A Spartan carrier for the XV Legion Astartes.

Well, it's been more than a little bit since my painting flurry of the recent Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge concluded. My brushes have been busy, but other distractions have come up and dented my hobby time, so I have been delinquent in terms of getting stuff finished, and even more delinquent in terms of getting some posts up on the blog even when I have managed to complete something. Let's make a dent in that today...here we have a serious armored reinforcement for the Space Marines of the XV Legion Astartes - this is a Spartan, the big scary troop carrying tank of the Horus Heresy setting. This is a multi-part resin model from GW's Forge World studio.

A giant slab of armour, and tons of guns...just full-on 30k silliness!

Yes, you read that right...even though GW has had a multi-part plastic version of this model available for YEARS now, here I am, in the year 2026, still finishing off painting one of the old resin Forge World version of this kit. Needless to say, this thing has been in the "pending pile" for a LONG time - and sure, I have a nice assortment of excuses: moving several times sure didn't help, and the usual distractions of other periods, settings, scales and figures have all taken their right and proper place...but still, even for me, this is a monument to hobby delay/procrastination... 

A close-up of the beast! I added some extra light rocket launchers on the cupola, because why not?

I was going to "paint it during the Painting Challenge" (the justification for many a project!). I even got started on it January, painting the quad-lascannon sponson weapons (the part of this model I found the hardest to paint, because oddball hobby reasons). But I just couldn't get around to finishing the rest of this beast in time to include in my Painting Challenge production. 

One of the quad lascannon batteries on the sponsons. For whatever reason, I just can't stand painting those things...

In fact, I was more-than-half-tempted to even "leave it for the next Challenge", but that was a bridge too far, so I just buckled down and finally finished it in April. 

Why so slow? Well, I think we all have subjects or specific models that turn into a real drag, for whatever reason, and this was no exception. I have also found that I just have trouble finding the motivation to paint big 28mm-sized vehicles in recent times. Finally, I have to admit that the 3rd edition of the Horus Heresy rules have just not landed well with me. To put it simply, playing HH 3.0 just feels like work. I still love the story, the setting and the figures (or, nearly all of them), but these days I am just not motivated to play the game and this has materially slowed my motivation to paint more 28mm sized 30k figures. 

Lovely decals from the Forge World decal sheet help provide the necessary "crazy ancient Egypt" vibe for the tank.

But for all that, this beast is at last over the line! And I'm sure the Sons of Magnus will be pleased! I've been adding a number of units to my XV Legion collection in recent years, but when it comes to vehicles, well, they've been stiffed! Their motor pool to date consists of a single Rhino APC - useful, sure, but not exactly a sign of armored might! Well, that all changes now...

Ready to roll!

The Spartan is a bonkers AFV, just absolute peak Horus Heresy. It is armed to the teeth. It has the heaviest possible armour ratings you can have on a vehicle in the game. And it carries more than 20 marines on board - enough for a great big tactical squad, or a big terminator squad, AND some flunkies. Even Space Wizards like to ride in style, after all!

Monday, April 27, 2026

Final Painting Challenge Submission for AHPC XVI - Some Space Marines!

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

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge wrap-up concludes at last. I wanted to conclude my run in the XVIth edition of the AHPC 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 two-handed 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.

And that was it for this most recent edition of the Painting Challenge! One never does get as much stuff painted as hoped-for - much less "planned for" - but some useful progress on various projects and areas of interest was achieved, and that is all one should truly hope for in the end. Sundry ongoing painting shall resume - watch this space! And that's all for now - thanks for reading!

Thursday, March 12, 2026

Painting Challenge Submission #6 - Contemptor-Osiron Pattern Dreadnought for 30k-era Thousand Sons

"That museum exhibit has armed itself! Run for your life!" - A Thousand Sons Contemptor-Osiron pattern dreadnought.

My sixth submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge features some more kit for my growing collection of XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons, in GW's Horus Heresy setting. This is a "Contemptor-Osiron pattern" dreadnought, a 28mm multi-part resin kit (with plastic weapons) from Games Workshop's "Age of Darkness" figure range. This was originally a Forge World model, now available from GW at-large.

Autocannons, ready for action!

The dreadnoughts of the 30k setting are functionally heavy combat armour suits used by the Space Marines for various battlefield support purposes. There is a "pilot" in there, so to speak, but there is a catch (because of course there is!). This "pilot" is actually near-dead Space Marine, rescued from battlefield wounds that were somehow not quite terrible enough to kill him but still terrible enough to put him near-death. What happens to these fellows? Why they just get plugged into a dreadnought, and, voila! Your existence of endless warfare in The Emperor's name can continue! Lucky you! 

"I'm FINE. Yes. Really.STOP ASKING."

In the case of the Thousand Sons, there is an extra wrinkle. Sometimes this nearly-dead-but-not-totally-dead XV Legion Space Marine is also a capable psyker. What to do then? Why, plug his bits into one of these special "Osiron" dreadnoughts, of course! That way he can wander around the battlefield shooting things, punching things AND leveraging his mastery of mysterious warp powers! It's the best of all worlds! Unless you are the one trapped in this thing...but hey...I think everyone can relax. I mean, it's not like having psychic abilities and visions while trapped inside an armoured sarcophagus for near-eternity would cause any sort of extra mental stress or trauma. Right? I'm sure it's all fine...and we all know everything turned out great for the Thousand Sons in the end.

Also equipped for...close combat? Harvesting grain? Maybe both?

All of the Space Marine Legion collections in the Horus Heresy have custom bits designed for them, capturing the look that makes them "unique". In the case of the Thousand Sons, that "unique" look is generally an answer to the question "what would happen if the local ancient Egyptian history exhibit somehow came alive and armed itself with futuristic science-fiction weapons"? It is more than a little silly, but I love it and I'm here all day for it! 

The Forge World sculptors went to town on this crazy thing. We get a lot of whacky pseudo-ancient-Egypt accents - which are great - on various parts of the armour (mysterious etching, scarabs galore). We get a pile of extra cables and extra connectors near the "helmet", speaking to the extra bits in the armour helping to manage the psychic capabilities of the "pilot". Finally, to make things extra nuts, there is the end-of-days-sized khopesh-style blade affixed to the end of the power fist. 

Like...how does that even work? Do you impale enemies on the blade, and then...punch them...somehow? Or is that not even for combat, but some kind of agriculture-related side gig the dreadnought handles between missions? 

No matter - the "pilot" will have a near-eternity to figure it out, after all. Hopefully he can still use that Thousand-Sons-mind-relaxation technique he learned in his pre-dreadnought career...

Gotta love the vestments on this crazy thing!

And topping it all off, he has VESTMENTS. Because obviously! What kind of near-dead-psychic combat master goes to battle entombed in a battlesuit WITHOUT a prayer cloth? That would be crazy!

Woohoo! Magnets without a total catastrophe!!

Modelling-wise, I was chuffed that I managed to figure out how to install magnets on the ranged-weapon mount of the right arm! Most normal hobbyists are able to make use of magnets with no problem, but I am, at best, a very "average" model-builder, and tend to be a total f*cking disaster with magnets, no matter how careful I am. This time it worked out! I'll paint up some more ranged weapon options for this fellow at a later point - for now, the paired auto-cannons will do. 

Pseudo-Egyptian glyphs etched into the armour.

I hoped to get a bit of an interesting effect with the markings etched into the legs and shoulder. It was a chance to try and make use of the Contrast Paint/Speed Paints at last! I have always found these to be a hobby product that is a solution-looking-for-a-problem sort of tool. The results were...mostly just OK, but in aggregate I still like how the effect came out.

Now THAT is a can-opener...

I also wanted to make the whacky khopesh look a little more dramatic, so I added decals along the blade, and tried to have a little fun with them. Once more, Contrast Paints were applied in the hopes of achieving something of an "effect. Again the result is...OK...I should try and catch a tutorial on how to do cool blade effects sometime...but for now this will do, as the overall model is just so whacky.

Size comparison with "The Axehole", painted earlier. Things will get dramatic when these two hit the town!

This was painted a few weeks ago now, but has yet to see service on the table. As a newly-painted model, I'm confident this fellow will have no problems at all when he makes his battlefield debut! Right?   

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Some New Plastic MkII Marines From The VII Legion Astartes

"Careful with those rifles now!" Imperial Fist veterans sporting "disintegrator" weapons. 

Earlier this summer GW dropped a new edition of its Horus Heresy rules - the "Saturnine" edition. When GW rolls out a new edition for any of its mainline games, new figures are, of course, a big part of the marketing appeal to players. Horus Heresy 3.0 was no exception in this regard, with many fans of the setting zooming in on the new Saturnine Terminator armour (and the associated hilarious retcon). For my part, I was much more intrigued by the new multipart "regular" Space Marines sporting Mk II power armour. You get 40 of these guys in the new boxed set, so I thought I would start off with a 10-man squad as part of this summer's painting. This is a veteran tactical squad in the colours of the VII Legion Astartes, the Imperial Fists. 

Helmet with comb? Check. Big sword? Check. Scrolls and grenades? Well OF COURSE. 

The Horus Heresy setting is, of course, far in the (terrible) future. But at the same time, it's also "old", in that it occurs some 10,000 years prior to the 40k setting. One of the "oldest" bits of that "old" setting is the Mk II power armour, worn by the Legiones Astartes as they set off on The Emperor's so-called "Great Crusade" to sort out the Galaxy. All of us who enjoy the setting have our favorites when it comes to the different Space Marine armour variants, but those who opted for Mk II models tended to be going for a particular "old school" look for their force, and for years and years they have had to use Forge World resin (or that of, er, "competing suppliers") to do it. 

Vexillary on the left, regular veteran on the right. 

No longer. The Mk II is now available in multipart plastic glory, and I have to say, they sculptors really nailed it. There are few features I might quibble over...for example, the "belt buckle" style joint on the front now has a stupid skull in the place of the previous Imperial Eagle...but overall, these figures are excellent. The proportions are lovely (much better than the original resin ones, which sported oddly thin waists). The assembly is relatively straightforward, and becomes very familiar once you spot the assembly patterns used in the previous plastic Mk VI and Mk III sets. I also love the look of the bolt gun variant that comes with these guys...it is nice and chonky, with a cool sickle-style magazine and nice scope. 

Vox operator with the usual skull-enhanced communications system. 

You will note, however, that none of said bolt guns are to be found here. These fellows are instead equipped with various "disintegrator" weapons. Now, the Horus Heresy is already crowded with a blizzard of weapon selections, but the designers opted to retcon yet another set of weapons into that packed lineup. These "disintegrator" weapons are meant to be near-lost relics from the Dark Ages, very powerful but also dangerous to use, and thus only pulled out of their secure lockers in times of serious emergency - such as a betrayal by The Warmaster and half of the Space Marine Legions...

A view of the heavily segmented Mk II armour. 

The new rules reflect the power of these weapons (because of course), but they are also subject to a variant of the tiresome "gets hot" rule which makes them even more dangerous to those firing these weapons. It is, IMO, yet another case of the rules getting out of whack with the lore. These rare, dangerous weapons are such that they are only trusted to veterans...yet firing these weapons more than a few times is one sure way to ensure you never become a "veteran" in the first place! Makes sense in a 30k-kind of way, I guess :) 

Disintegrator "Blaster" on the left, "Heavy Disintegrator" on the right. All very, very safe to use, no doubt...

Since these weapons were dangerous and stupid to use, I thought they fit in perfectly with Rogal Dorn's lot! There are four types of "disintegrator" weapon in the group - the Sergeant has the "pistol", and most of the lads have the "rifles". There is also a "blaster" variant - I think that is the one with the twin barrels, while one chap is hulking along with a "heavy disintegrator". As one does. 

Don't roll a "1" lads...

"If anyone survives, I shall smack them with my sword!"

I was very slow to paint these fellows because...well, it was a slow summer for actually get stuff painted, and I wasn't in a huge hurry, as I sort of already have quite a few Space Marines, and while these Mk I kits are lovely, in general, the Mk II is not my favorite flavor of power armour. These were lovely to paint up - the only really challenging part was getting the decals to sit properly on the shoulder pauldrons. This a minor thing, but it vexes me constantly that GW always makes the Legion symbol decals a touch too large, such that you need a fair bit of decal softener to get these things to sit down on the curved surface of the shoulder. 

Saturday, April 19, 2025

AHPC Submission #18 - Thousand Sons Legion Master of Signals

Master of Signals from the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. 

My 18th submission to AHPC XV was pretty underwhelming in terms of numbers - just a solitary 28mm figure - but we go with what we've got! This is a Legion Master of Signals, painted in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, known as the Thousand Sons. This is a multi-part 28mm resin figure, available at one time from GW's Forge World studio.  

Handy bolt pistol, and communications bits...

Everyone hates dropped calls. Purging the galaxy in the name of The Emperor is already hard work, and the task doesn't get any easier when you can't communicate with your battle brothers. Enter the Legion Master of Signals, a specialist command figure who will help your Space Marines get the widest and fastest available 5G+ wireless data speeds even as they empty their bolt guns and flamers into to midst of whatever pack of fools took the fatally foolish decision to stand against the Sons of Magnus. 

There is a lot happening on this power pack! I accidentally cut off one of the cables during my prep work...but it is still fine overall. 

This is an old figure - circa 2014, somewhere around there. I loved it when it first came out. Not only do all of the assorted whacky antennae and communications bits look great, but this figure was, in fact, a quiet little tribute to GW's early Warhammer 40k period, the time of "Rogue Trader" - see "Communications Officer Orinoco".  I love this figure so much that I painted one for my Sons of Horus (obvs) and another for the Imperial Fists. Since I wanted to try and add to my XV Legion during AHPC XV, I thought it would be fun to paint another one for the Thousand Sons.

"Ahriman - can you hear me now?"

The Thousand Sons are known for their mastery of obscure lore and dangerous powers - standard communications doesn't really come to mind when you think of their story. After all, who needs wi-fi when you can just use telepathy to communicate with your buddies. That said, use of warp powers can have, um, lets call it "occasional side effects", so ensuring you have a full suite of standard communications is still really important, even if you are an armoured space wizard.

"Hey, cool! Horus 'liked' my last online post! Also we have jammed the enemy's comms!"

In playing the current edition of the 30k game, I have also found the Master of Signal is ridiculously useful to have around. The game offers all sorts of terrifying means to deploy - drop pod assaults, underground termite assaults, mass teleport assaults etc. The Master of Signals increases the chances that the other player's assault will get a bit jammed up in addition to other benefits. Useful to have around. 

The run of AHPC submissions is nearly at an end - just a couple more to go. Thanks for reading!

Sunday, April 13, 2025

AHPC Submission #15 - Sicaran Battle Tank for Sons of Horus

Space Marine "Sicaran" tank for the Horus Heresy - 28mm multi-part resin model from Forge World. 

AHPC submission #15 saw another return to painting 30k stuff - here w have a Sicaran tank from GW's Horus Heresy range. These days one can acquire this model in beautiful, multi-part plastic, but this is NOT that kit. It is, rather, an old veteran of Forge World's resin 30k range. It is painted in the colours of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Warmaster's own Sons of Horus.

Lovely lines AND lots of guns - perfect for Space Marines looking for that "sporting ride" in war time...

Space Marines have soooooo many tanks they can use to crush their enemies. There is a kind of spectrum in their designs, ranging from compact and brutal-looking, up toward medium-sized and brutal-looking, and on from their toward really-really-large and brutal-looking. Sure, some the speeders and jet bikes are sleek-looking things, but when it comes to tanks and troop carriers, the Space Marines want everything to look like it is coming to crush you - because, well, that is what is going to happen.

Auto cannons that are widely feared on Age of Darkness gaming tables.

But the Sicaran design stands somewhat apart...like the designers' brief said something along the lines of "killer Space Marine tank, but, you know, with a 'BMW' vibe...make it more of a sports-car-tank." And so, out with the troop compartment! Let's lower that silhouette a touch! And maybe not quite SO much slab-style armour? Guns, well, OBVIOUSLY, but, you know, a cool turret with rapid-firing auto cannons!

The Space Marines are not very "hip", but to the extent any hipsters survive the genetic conditioning process necessary to create Space Marines in the year 30,000 I'm sure they will all want to crew the Sicaran tank squadrons. These tanks race around the battlefield, they look cool doing it, and the weapons they bring to bear are effective against a wide assortment of targets, from protestors to xenos troublemakers to deluded "loyalist" Space Marines. While the standard turret mounting the auto cannons as seen here is the general favorite, there are all sorts of whacky alternate turret weapon mounts available too for hipster crews that wish to slay in a more unique, if still stylish, fashion.

Horus for hope!

As noted above this an old resin model from Forge World, and this is a re-paint, part of an ongoing campaign to bring a consistent look to the green armour for all of the Sons of Horus troops and vehicles in my collection. Such conformity stills my inner hobby OCD brain monkey...for a time, at least, until I must turn to the next batch of troops and vehicles who require a similar update.

Thanks for reading - stay tuned for more!

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

AHPC Submission #13 - Thousand Sons Automata and Apothecary

"No need to worry - they're with me..."

For submission #13 I was back to GW's "Horus Heresy" setting. There are three Castellax-Achea Automata and an Apothecary, all wearing the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. These are all multi-part resin models from GW/Forge World. 

Castellax-Achea Automata

Achean-Force claws, Mauler-pattern Bolt Cannon...ready for all kinds of automated fun!

GW's Space Marines are so conditioned for battle in the name of The Emperor that they come across as if they are nearly soulless killing machines. Note that descriptor - "nearly". The individual Space Marines is still a human, in a sense. But don't worry. When all-the-way-soulless-killing is called for, the Space Marines send in the Automata.

Designed and built by the various Mechanicum Forge Worlds, Automata come in all manner of shapes and sizes. Automata attached to the various Space Marine Legions are employed by their commanders either to augment otherwise limited numbers of troops or for use in combat situations considered too extreme even for the fabled Space Marines themselves. 

View of the guts on the reverse side of the armoured plates...and a glowing little crystal to help with warp-energy control...I'm sure that won't cause any problems...

The Thousand Sons applied their own little twist to the whole Automata phenomenon. Their Primarch, Magnus the Red, pitched some Mechanicum types on Automata systems that made use of psychic energy. Usually the Mechanicum Forge Lord types reject any idea which they didn't devise themselves as heretical, but in this case Magnus found a particular - and apparently isolated - Forge World that heard him out and said "hey, sounds great, we'll work that up for up for you." Behold the Castellax-Achea pattern Automata.

"WHO WANTS A HUG?"

These are essentially killer robots, with the advantage that they can be guided by their controllers using psychic means rather than more standard communications protocols. What could possible go wrong? With Automata like these around, the Thousand Sons can spend a bit of extra time reading forbidden books while the robots handle some of the tedious fighting for them.

Apothecary

Apothecary in Mk VI power armour - with handy chain sword. Of course.

Not a whole lot to say about this fellow. The Apothecaries are Legion specialists charged with ensuring the physical health of their battle brothers. In practice, this seems to work out to about 20% healing/80% recovering critical bits from seriously wounded brethren for use in creating future replacement Space Marines. 

All the tools of the trade mounted on his left arm, with lamps and sensors on the power unit on the back.

I love the "beakie" Space Marines, and when GW released a new Horus Heresy Apothecary figure wearing the Mark VI "beakie" power armour I naturally over-supplied on the models. Since I was doing some Thousand Sons Automata, I thought I might as well get this fellow painted while I was at it. 

Safety fluids galore!

The Apothecaries are great fun to employ in 30k games, almost invariably driving your opponent bonkers by sparing Space Marines who otherwise would have been obliterated. You can deploy a little pack of them to roam among your detachments and I have found them to be fun and useful in all sorts of ways. This is a second Apothecary for my Thousand Sons - so now the medical experts can do consults.  

The armour details did not leave a lot of room for Legion symbols, but I managed to get to pseudo-heiroglyph symbols on the leg greave.

It was a treat to add these sinister machines - and not-that-much-more-comforting Apothecary to my Thousand Sons collection. They await their battle on the table...we all know how that goes...but stay tuned for more in the interim. Thanks for reading!

Friday, January 31, 2025

Painting Challenge Submission #3 - Thousand Sons Librarian and Rhino APC

Thousand Sons Librarian Consul and Deimos-Pattern Rhino APC - models from GW.

For my third submission to AHPC XV I stuck to GW's "Horus Heresy" setting as I continue to try and clear off some projects which have been sitting in the "pending pile" for weeks - or even months - leading up to the start of the Painting Challenge. For this third submission we have a Rhino APC and a Librarian Consul, both painted in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. The vehicle is a multi-part plastic kit, and the foot figure is a multi-part resin kit - both are from GW.

It's not a fancy ride by the standards of the Space Marine Legions, but it is still the first vehicle for the Thousand Sons in my collection!

Some esoteric markings on the door...probably safety instructions, and nothing to do with using spooky powers or anything like that...

The Rhino is the classic APC of GW's Space Marine forces, and this plastic "Deimos pattern" of the vehicle is very much a loving homage to the original plastic Rhino model kits of GW's much earlier days. I had built this model back in the summer, determined to paint it promptly but...of course I did not, and it sat there on the shelf for months. 

View showing the iconography of the Thousand Sons on the vehicle. I was pretty sparing with the markings (I find the Thousand Sons tanks in the GW/Forge World books to be a touch too whacky/busy for my liking and prefer to keep it simple).

My collection of Horus-Heresy-era Thousand Sons has, up to this point, comprised solely of infantry models. This is mostly because it grew out of the infantry-focused box game "The Burning of Prospero" (which I highly recommend) so I would add infantry and characters, but never got around to painting any vehicles for them. No doubt my Sons of Prospero will be pleased to have the opportunity to at last catch a ride on the table!

Love the post of this sculpt...he is about to unleash some warp fun on you!

The character figure is a "Librarian Consul" from the updated "Age of Darkness" range. This figure was intended to be generic in that he has no specific markings for any of the particular factions in the setting so you could paint him up for any Legion. In the 30k setting, "Librarians" are not mere civil servants checking books in and out - they are powerful adepts skilled in manipulating the dangerous energies of the warp. This fellow has the trappings associated with Space Marine Librarians...fancy armour, fancy cloak, a helmet with some slight extra fluff, and esoteric bits like old keys, a spooky old hard-cover leather-bound book, and, naturally, a couple skulls...because they...help...or something.

Big, pimped-out cloak? Check! But I really love the spell book chained on to the power pack unit (which has some further embellishments of its own as well - like I said, awesome sculpt). 

I love the figure - he has a "beakie" helmet, awesome! - and had already painted one of these fellows for my Loyalist Imperial Fists. Given that the Thousand Sons are noted for their preponderance of psychic-power practitioners (what could go wrong with that?), I thought I would paint this second figure to join them (and take his place with the other, legion-specific psyker model for the XV Legion). 

"I foresee...getting a ride for once! About damn time!"

That's it for this submission - stay tuned for more, and be sure to check out the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge blog for all the latest, including the tremendous efforts of other Fawcett Avenue Conscripts!