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!

Painting Challenge Submission #9 - More Legions Imperialis Marines

Some more "Legions Imperialis" Space Marines - these ones in the lovely green of the Warmaster's own legion, the Sons of Horus.

With this submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I'm back with only a few odds and ends from GW's "Legions Imperialis" game, the reboot of the classic small-scale "Epic" game set in the Horus Heresy setting. There are elements from two different Legions Astartes - the Sons of Horus and the Thousand Sons. 

XVI Legion - The Sons of Horus

High command base for the Sons of Horus.

To the surprise of nobody, I already have a chunk of figures painted for this, the finest of the Legions Astartes. But you can always use more basic infantry. And in the case of the Sons of Horus, my initial efforts really disappointed me...I was pleased with the vehicles, but my method on the original infantry looked sloppy - I didn't care for how the green turned out. And if you don't like the green...well...the Warmaster won't be pleased, will he?

Tactical Marines and their Rhino APCs.

I had assumed I would not be able to replicate the green recipe from my 28mm collection on these smaller troops. But decided to experiment with it...and...well, it's actually not too bad! I like these much more. I painted up a high-command stand, and then a tactical detachment comprised of four bases. They also have Rhino APCs to give them a ride on the battlefield. 

Re-painted dreadnoughts - I like these much better!

Chuffed with the results on the infantry, I pulled the dreadnoughts I had completed before out of the box...knowing now that I could have done the nicer green on them drove me nuts - the OCD hobby monkey in mind started to scream and break things, so I opted to do a re-paint on them. Boom - OCD monkey at peace...for now...

Mobile fire support - Rapier on the right, "Quad Launcher" on the left.

To keep building up the firepower we have a couple of tracked fire-support platforms. Long-time Space Marine fans will probaly recognize the Rapier. The other one is a "quad launcher" - heir to the famous "Thudd Guns" of yore. There are supposed to be four tracked platforms in the unit, but I f*cked up a pair of the chassis from the box, so the XVI Legion will have to settle for a pair of them for now. 

Ready to drop some ordnance on those who would defy the Warmaster!

Finally, the Whirlwind is a classic mobile artillery support system for the Space Marines. The plastic kists for these are just lovely, and they allow for you to make two variants. These are "Scorpius" variants, with ammunition that hits vehicles a little harder at the expense of covering a much smaller target area. I just love the look of these things. Again...the kits have LOTS of tiny pieces, so assemble with care, but, wow, credit where credit is due - these are just a real treat to paint up.

XV Legion Astartes

A bit more fire support for Magnus' sons. 

A much smaller component for the Thousand Sons, but considering this collection is just getting started, they'll take it!

Beakies with shark-fin-style missile launchers - a classic!

Rhino APC with fancy markings for the "devestator" unit. 

Up first we have heavy support marines and their Rhino APC. If you look carefully, fans will recognize the classic "shark-fin" style missile launcher has been replicated in this scale. Now, this is a bit of a b*tch, as they come in two parts! But whatever frustration caused in gluing these tiny Marines together is lost once you are painting them - just wonderful to have "beakie" style Marines with these weapons. 

Mobile rocket artillery for the Thousand Sons.

Even space wizards need mobile firepower...

Finally, since I had assembled all of the Whirlwinds from the box, I thought I would paint two of them up for the Thousand Sons as well. You get eight models in a box, so there is still more to do there - maybe I'll even paint some for the poor loyalists? 

That's all for this one - watch for more soon!

Some 15mm 30k Characters - Pt 1

30k Characters for my 15mm Sons of Horus collection. 

As I get older, I find myself exclaiming words to the effect of "wow, it's already [INSERT MONTH]!" more and more often. This post is no exception...wow, it's already November! And I'm still posting up stuff I painted in the late summer! Oh well, better late than never, I hope. With that all out of the way I present a few more 15mm 30k characters. These little guys are all amazing 3D prints from Byron.

One great thing about the 15mm 30k stuff is that it travels pretty easily, so I tossed a bunch of the figures into a box during the summer and brought them with me to the cabin back in August for some relaxing summer painting by the lake. Here we have a small group of characters for the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus. In this batch we find a Praetor, a Librarian and a veteran sergeant. All are wearing glorious Mark VI "beakie" armour. 

The "Axehole", ready to conquer in the name of the Warmaster.

Obligatory skullz and oversized cloak present ant correct!

These prints are all tremendous fun. Whoever did the digital sculpts was clearly a fan of the setting, and these are excellent reproductions of their 28mm brethren. I particularly love the "Axehole" Praetor...he certainly looks the part of a Sons of Horus commander!

Power armour AND a tabard? Why not? He has SPOOKY POWERS after all...

"Soon I will throw this fireball at you...but I just want to look at it first..."

The Librarian has the necessary sinister cloak, because obviously. The little ball of blue flame in his hand is a nice touch too. 

"Not that way. THIS WAY. Move it, morons!"

Trusty helmet clipped to his belt. Why would he need it? He's a veteran!

And the veteran...well, he looks like a grouch! You'd be mad too if you had to have studs drilled into your forehead because reasons. Anyway, he is doing one of the most important thing that figures representing junior officers on a wargaming table must do - he is pointing at something!

I'm not really painting these up with a specific plan in mind, beyond trying to keep an approximate balance between loyalist and rebel forces in my painted collection. These little 15mm guys were a lot of fun to paint up during the summer. Up next I'll show some of the Loyalist characters who came off the painting line. 

Xenos Rampant - A 30k Battle Report

The Galaxy is in flames! The Horus Heresy is played out...using "Xenos Rampant" from Osprey.

It is always great to welcome a friend from the hobby world for a game - and a particular treat when they travel from far away. So it was pretty awesome to welcome hobby enthusiast and unbelievably talented painter "MartinN" (aka Nick) on a recent visit to Canada. It's a long, long way from his home in Bavaria, so to make the trip worthwhile, I wanted to run something a little different for Nick. Lucky for me, he is a very relaxed fellow - and when I suggested giving "Xenos Rampant" a go, he was happy to oblige!

What is "Xenos Rampant"?

"Xenos Rampant" is a set of sci-fi skirmish rules published by Osprey. They were first released in 2022, so this is hardly breaking news here. Those familiar Osprey's wargaming rule ouevre in general will surely note the word "Rampant" in the title and suspect a kinship with the "Lion Rampant" rules - and you would be right to, as they share a common author. You can find many reviews and play-throughs of the rules elsewhere online, but I can confirm that, while the two rule sets share many familiar ideas in terms of core game mechanics, "Xenos Rampant" is a delightful, figure and scale agnostic tribute to sci-fi wargaming in general. I had a specific goal for the games with Nick - could they be made to work for the 30k setting?

Spoiler alert: YES. I loved it. Here are a few photos and notes of our own game. 

The Mission: Scenario Kilo - VIP Extraction

I love the whole "both sides show up and try to kill each other" type-game as much as the next gamer. And we are talking 30k setting-wise, of course, so that style of game pretty much tracks. But the 30k setting is also so much more - at its best, it reaches into some of the sci-fi-of-the-absurd from the Rogue Trader days. I figured the "VIP Extraction" mission might make for a nicely warped background. We just needed the right sort of "VIP" for the setting.

The VIP and his flunkies await assistance...

And so - meet Totally Legitimate Plenipotentiary Ruler Effrey J. Trumpstein.  TLPR Trumpstein and his staff have been out on a tour of the explodium refinery facilities in the desert segments of their world. Suddenly, the shuttle is forced down in an isolated area. The vessel is wrecked, but Trumpstein and his staff have (mostly) made it out from the wreckage...they access a terminal near the explodium pipeline and signal for help...but that signal is intercepted by more than Trumpstein's planetary militia...

"It's not all wall-building! We've got work to do!"

Both loyalist and traitor detachments detect the signal. The chance to take "custody" of TLPR Trumpstein is too much to pass up - and in any case, his custody must be denied to the other side! Detachments from the Loyalist VII Legion Astartes and rebel XVI Legion Astartes descend on the target coordinates with a clear objective - secure Trumpstein, and eliminate any problems that arise.

The Detachments

A 24-point detachment resplendent in the fine colours of the XVI Legion Astartes

When I started reading through the "Xenos Rampant" rulebook, one immediately encouraging clue was that the competing sides are described as "detachments", and not "armies"...it's a little thing, but to me this is always a clear signal that the writers have a sane take on gaming...

Stubborn idiots wearing yellow. 

Anyway, for the test game, I opted to use similar detachments for both sides - after all, we were experimenting here, and I wanted to keep it relatively straightforward. One great feature of the "Xenos Rampant" set is the provision of different rules to customize the troops types so that they might closely reflect your chosen setting as possible. 

In "Xenos Rampant", each unit in the detachment has a number of "Strength Points" ("SPs") - either 5, 10 or (in some cases) 15. Note that "SPs" are not the same as the "points cost" to select the unit - so I try to keep each element straight in the roster below.  

Each side, Loyalist and Rebel, had a 24 point detachment:

Example of how you can just use a bunch of cool figures to represent the flunkies, rather than worry about which model has which power/ability/etc. This is the Commander and his detachment. They are bad-ass. The apothecary is a reminder that the unit has the "combat medic" ability.

- Space Marine Commander and command squad (i.e. Elite infantry/detachment commander - enhanced with "high powered blades" and "combat medic") - 9 points, 5 SPs

- 2 x 10-man tactical squads with bolt guns (i.e. Heavy infantry, with "increased squad size") - 4 points each, 10 SPs each

- 1 x 10-man assault squad with chain swords and pistols (i.e. Heavy infantry, with "increased squad size", "assault doctrine", "close quarters doctrine", "mobile" and "skimmer" rules to account for the jump packs and close assault weapon load out) - 7 points, 10 SPs

As you will see if you squint at the photos, each SP= 1 model in each unit. And while the assorted special rules let you capture some flavor among the different squads, they are abstract enough that you do not sweat the load out of a specific figure too much. This is the sort of thing that I observe to be slightly triggering to a lot (although by no means all) GW players, but I find personally awesome and liberating.

The Table

The table was 4'x4', featuring some old temple ruins from some long-gone, pre-Imperial compliance civilization. Explodium pipelines ran over and through these ruins, as well as a roughly paved service road. Finally, the remnants of the VIP's downed shuttle craft dotted the site. 

The Imperial Fists hunker down, as is their wont...

The VIP placed right in the middle - near the terminal his flunkies were using to signal for assistance. The detachments competing to put him into custody deployed 9" in from opposing table edges. I took command of the Sons of Horus while Nick took charge of the Imperial Fists. Battle was. joined!

Another photo of the VII Legion setup...

The Engagement

Both Nick and I sought to advance to the VIP, take him "into custody", and spirit him off our respective table sides. The forces were evenly matched, and fittingly enough, the opposing assault squads repeatedly assaulted one another on one flank. My jump troopers were ultimately able to wear out Nick's guys, driving them back. My jump troops were now free to pounce on one of Nick's tactical squads, and while we were not able to rout them, we tied them up and opened a clear path for my Commander to reach TLPR Trumpstein and his entourage...

It's brother vs. brother in a chain sword brawl! Oh yeah!!

On the other flank heavy gun battles wore down one of my tactical units - lucky for me, they bent-but-did-not-break. All together, they tactical and assault marines were able to jam up the Imperial Fists long enough for my Detachment commander to spirit Trumpstein away to a, er, secure location. Yes...that's it...a secure location...safety first with The Warmaster, of course!

"Sir, you'll need to come with us."

In all the action took about five turns, tops. On reflection, I wish I had more terrain available, particularly some buildings, to break up line of sight a bit more - that might have compelled more maneuvering. I would also expand the size of the playing table, as a 6' x 4' would still provide plenty of fun while challenging players with a bit more maneuvering. 

My assault squad can be seen here fleeing tactically repositioning after a less-than-successful attack on the Imperial Fist tactical squad at the right side of the photo - but at least we delayed them.

Conclusion

For my part, I loved "Xenos Rampant"! You roll buckets and buckets of dice while exchanging fire and hurling your units into violent assaults. The units for the most part wore down very slowly, but this made sense given the nature of the stats of the troops involved - to me this "felt" right, very much "marine vs. marine". It's got enough detail to provide for flavor and character, but abstract enough that you are not fussing about which precise version of plasma pistol or power sword or whatever is equipped on the model. 

XVI Legion Praetor, accompanied by flunkies, sets out to accomplish the mission. His iterator is already putting out the good word! 

It is also SO easy - and fun! - to assemble detachments. In the future I can see how it would be fun to, say, include a lightly-equipped militia rabble alongside the Marines, or to include a unit of Marines from an allied Legion featuring some different traits. The newer version of 30k is certainly more flexible in terms of force construction, but there are still a bunch of rules to watch and hoops to jump through. "Xenos Rampant" keeps it WAY more simple.  

Should you ditch 30k to play "Xenos Rampant" instead? I'm not here to make that case per se - the 30k game is a specific sort of wargame experience, and I have enjoyed many, many games of 30k myself over the years. 

But I would still very, very much suggest picking up "Xenos Rampant" and giving it a try! Think of it as a fun, easy sort of palate cleanser. If you have a 30k force, odds are you already have more than enough painted models to try it out, so it is not hard. The "GW Hobby" can be engaging, but it's good to try different stuff, and this is a fun and easy way to enjoy the setting you love without burning the calories needed for the full GW rules experience. The hobby is not a zero sum game, after all and Osprey have some wonderful skirmish rules out there. Give them a shot!

Anyway, it was SO awesome to host Nick - thanks for visiting us in Canada. 

And that's it for this post - stay tuned for more painting (soon, I hope!). 

More 30k in 15mm - SoH Reinforcements

Sons of Horus tactical marines wearing Mark IV armour - 3D prints in 15mm. 

More 30k-themed models have been crossing the painting desk through the summer, but I've dipped back into the 15mm project once more. Here we have a nice pile of reinforcements for the Sons of Horus - a big 20-man tactical squad and a 10-man assault squad. All are clad in Mark IV power armour. These are all 3D prints from Byron, with assorted decals sourced from various GW sets. 

Tactical Squad

Officer on the left, with customary scary pistol an scary sword; Vox-equipped trooper on the right.

No matter what scale you partake, when it comes to the Horus Heresy, these huge 20-man tactical squads are all kinds of fun. 

Closer view of a couple of the tactical troopers.

The 3D prints of the Mark IV armour really turned out nicely. The only real hiccup with these guys is the size of the integral chunk of resin at their feet...I find removing them to be fraught (as the resin can snap in funny ways) and I lack the hobby infrastructure to safely sand/grind them down, so I resorted to doing the best I could to shave them down with a hobby knife...not the smartest decision, and this was abandoned after a couple of the figures! 

Horus for hope!

Anyway, they look fine, and will be even better after I re-supply on grass tufts and can go on a little binge adding them to these figures. 

Assault Squad

Assault squad ready to jump into the action!

It's good to get the classic jump-pack craziness of the Horus Heresy going in my 15mm collection. I had actually started painting these guys...I dunno, a while ago, such that I was sure I had already put photos of them on the blog? But I couldn't find them...anyway, in the event I've doubled up, my apologies in advance...

Fancy weapons for the officer, as per usual.

Working class bolt pistols and chain swords for the rest of the lads!

I do love the look of the Mark IV armour on the jump pack-equipped assault marines, and I also like the style of the jump packs themselves, based around a single large jet - a layout that seems somewhat more sensible than the huge twin-jet set up of the classic armour packs - but for all that the Mark IV jet pack itself it still large enough to be very dangerous, and therefore "fit" properly with the setting. 

Lots of fun to work with these little castings!

So that's another 30 troops for cause of the Warmaster! I guess I'll need to do something to balance things out for the Loyalist side...stay tuned for more on that at some point later this summer...

Summer Painting Update Pt 1 - 15mm 30k Bits

Reinforcements for my 15mm Sons of Horus. 3d printed 15mm sized resin figures.

Well...hey, I'm still here! I'm still puttering about the hobby painting desk! I just find that once one "takes a break" from posting to the Blog then...it is very easy to keep "taking that break". A body at rest staying at rest...you know how that goes...but I have been painting since the end of Curt's Analogues Hobbies Painting Challenge, and it's past time to share some of the work. Up first, another couple of bits for my 15mm 30k project. 

These are 15mm-sized 3d prints provided by Byron M. There are two different units to share here, both from the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus. We have some sinister Justaerin Terminators and then a devastator squad equipped with autocannons. Watch out, loyalists!

Justaerin Terminators

"We're heavily armed, heavily armoured, and...really grouchy!" It's the Justaerin, the elite of the XVI Legion Astartes!

The Justaerin are one of the "elite" formations found among Horus' own Legion. They are noted for their dark armour, preference for spikey-type adornments and a generally dour attitude that seems to find joy only in hitting other people. Now, I recognized it can be confusing, given that this describes like 80% of the Space Marines at the time of the Horus Heresy, but I credit the GW armour designers as the Justaerin armour manages to look quite grouchy, and so they still manage to stand apart in what might fairly be considered as a crowded field. 

Power axes for everyone!

These chaps carry combi-bolters and big, scary power axes. For a firepower boost, one fellow is equipped with a multi-meta, but note that he ALSO has a giant axe to smash people. Because 30k, right? For the power axes I went with a bit of an extreme color contrast, to help the blades stand out. It looks a bit silly up close, but from "gaming distance" it comes across nicely.

Another pair of "regular"" Justaerin fellows.

View showing some of the engineering bits on the back of the armour. You can see the fellow on the left lost his axe handle...had an unfortunate encounter with the floor...

The chunky 3d-sculpts have lots of fun little details, capturing the assorted engineering bits on that back of the suit, the recessed helmets and the flashy top-knots. One fellow lost the handle on his axe when the miniature fell to the ground and it snapped away, but I just covered the damage with paint, and figured he would go forward as an extra-grouchy fellow. 

Heavy Support - Autocannons

Mad minute, anyone?

I painted a few autocannon gunners for the loyalist side of my collection, and so naturally the Sons of Horus needed some as well! These guys are wearing the Mark VI "beakie" power armour, and there is now a whole lot else to say...I love how they look! 

Lots of ammo to keep those weapons going!

Lovely details on these 15mm figures...the 3d prints give a great result that paints up rather quickly!

Five autocannons will come in handy when the time comes to mow down some of the new loyalist figures I painted back in April during the Painting Challenge. 

That's all for this post - but stay tuned for more, on this project and several others! I hope to get at least one more painting up shared later this week. Thanks for reading, and have a great summer.