Some "Beakies" For XII Legion Astartes

XII Legion Astartes tactical squad in Mark VI armour - chain bayonets solve problems!

Posting things to the blog...once you take a break, it's sure easy to keep taking a break! So I haven't posted in a while - insert the usual reasons of life, work being busy etc. But I have been managing to paint, and finally take a few photos of stuff, and at last I'm getting around to posting some of those photos. Let's get started on the catch-up with this Space Marine tactical squad. They are clad in Mark VI "beakie" power armour and wearing the colours of the XII Legion Astartes, the World Eaters. These are multi-part plastic figures from GW's "Age of Darkness" setting.

A couple of the new grunts.

Some detail of the rear legs and power packs.

I have been a Horus Heresy fan pretty much ever since GW came up with the story. I started collecting the 28mm figures from Forge World back in March of 2014, more than ten years ago! The Horus Heresy was just going to be a small project...? At any rate, the World Eaters were the first Legion that I painted in 28mm, and those few squads became the first of what has since grown into a large collection of Horus Heresy figures from different Legion in different scales...these days the Sons of Horus are the main rebel faction in my collection, but I still have my World Eaters. They have been neglected for years now - the last model they received was in January of 2017. 

It is a golden age of lovely plastic "beakie" Marines, and I figured my XII Legion collection should have the opportunity to get in on the action. In particular, I thought the chain-bayonet accessory would go well with the World Eaters' approach to warfare in the far future - so here we have a basic tactical squad, sporting those chain-bayonet that really stand out as a symbol of the darkly whacky vision of the future GW has created.

Officer sporting the common combo of whacky comb, power sword and plasma pistol - note his slightly odd left leg.

View of the Sergeant's great, and the back of the Vox operator's kit.

Painting white armour is always a bit tricky - especially when you haven't really done it for seven years, but I have to credit GW's "Apothecary White" Contrast paint as being particularly useful for working these fellows. I also opted to use a lighter/brighter shade of blue for an accents on the shoulder plates and power pack. Otherwise, they match the look of my older figures nicely - a little battle worn and dirty, but avoiding the absurd blood-covering-everything Flanderization so common to the general portrayal of the World Eaters in the lore and in the game.

There was also an adventure with the Sergeant...keen-eyed visitors will notice his left leg has a knee plate, which is not a feature of the Mk VI armour. Well, when assembling this model, I sort-of-accidentally cut the leg off during an imprudent removal of components from the plastic sprue...to address this, I cut a spare left leg off an unused set of Mk IV plastic legs...hence the knee plate and leg studs. Far from the smoothest conversion, but like so many conversions, it turned out OK once painted up!

Handy decals to provide a Legion symbol on the shoulder plate and leg greave.

So that is ten more Marines to join the next XII Legion mass infantry assault on the gaming table. Maybe they need an APC to carry them? Will have to see about that...anyway, that is all for now. Thanks for reading!

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge 12 Submissions

 I can apparently only give attention to one blog, so throughout the painting challenge I haven't posted here. Now that the challenge is over I decided to make a super post with all my submissions from the challenge. The main theme are World Eaters Space Marine Legion for Horus Heresy rounded out with a few other odds and ends. It was nice to get a bunch of stuff painted and I'm looking forward to it next winter.

World |Eaters Tactical Squad

W.E. Rampager Squad

Deredeo Dreadnought

Callidus Assassin

Culexus Assassin

Eversor Assassin

Vindicare Assassin

W.E. Terminators

W.E. Contemptor Dreadnought

Imperial Inquisitor

Ambull Alien

Wargames Exclusive Imperial Arsonist

Grey Knight Terminators (Original Metal)

W.E. Assault Squad

Thanks for visiting.

PrairieCon XL Horus Heresy Siege of Terra Game

For PrairieCon this year I ran a Horus Heresy game set at the Siege of Terra. I had previously created two imperial wall sections to represent a breach in the wall. The legions involved were Imperial Fists and Blood Angels trying to hold the breach while Sons of Horus and World Eaters stormed through. The mission was a modified Blitz mission from the 40k 8th Edition rule book. The traitor forces earned 1 victory point for having models within the first line of defense. If they got models within the second line of defense they earned 2 points per unit. The game looked great and we got to showcase some models that we don't normally use in a game. The only downside was the game was set late in the day on Sunday (Father's Day!) and several of us had to get back to Winnipeg , so the game was cut short. Here are some pictures of the game:

The Loyalists set up everything behind fortifications. The World Eaters started on the board and got fist turn

The Sons of Horus moved on the board first turn, but were mostly mounted in transports.

The Imperial Fists scored some early kills, but the arrival of the Fellblade was an ominous sign.

This was the first game for the Cerberus. I knew its fate was sealed, but Conscript Curt valiantly commanded it to destruction!

The Cerberus has an unstable reactor rule which has a chance of exploding catastrophically! It of course exploded catastrophically during the game and killed several loyalist models.

The Sons of Horus hit the first line.

The Fellblade goes to work.

By the time the game was called, it was basically a draw. The Traitor Legions had several units in the first line, while he Loyalists had killed several Traitor units and earned victory points for each. However, the Traitors had a clear path to the second line on the right flank and would likely get into the Blood Angels lines. The Fellblade was also going to be a problem that the Loyalists didn't have a solution for. I guess that outcome is basically how the siege went down. Horus had the material to win, but he ran out of time!

Painting Challenge Theme Entry - "Armour"

Urban re-development vehicle from the XII Legion

A feature of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is a series of theme entries.  Every two weeks or so the Challengers are encouraged to make a submission tied to a given theme, and you can score some extra bonus points (and even some hobby schwag from the sponsors).  The themes can be interpreted quite liberally (the "spider precedent" lives on in the minds of many Challenge veterans :) but that is very helpful when you are looking to make a theme entry line up with a project you are trying to focus on.

Some WIP photos...so...much...white

The nearly-finished stage...

My focus so far in the Painting Challenge has been 30k, and the first theme, "Armour" did not require any generous interpretations on my part to stick with this focus.  The 30k setting is full of tanks, so I painted up a tank.

My starting-to-sprawl 30k collection features troops from four different legions at this point, but since I started into this several years ago, the Sons of Horus have somehow been the only ones to get any vehicles :) So even though I have about 50 World Eaters, they have to make every effort on the table so far without any armoured assistance. I doubt the chaps in the XVI Legion really care about that, but I felt it was time to give the World Eaters some armoured assistance...

Love the bonkers shovel blade on the front of the tank

What better vehicle for the hard fighting bunch in the XII Legion than a Vindicator? Heavily armoured, armed and equipped to support fighting amid fortifications and built-up areas with a brutally massive and short-ranged cannon? Angron is more about axes-to-the-face than tanks, but I expect this tank would find favour with him. 

Decals from Forge World's sheet were very useful

The tank commander is popped out for a look-see...probably enjoys seeing the effects of the direct hits from that cannon fist-hand...

While Forge World does a very nice "30k version" of this tank, I opted for the standard plastic "40k version" as I quite like the look of the model - particularly the huge shovel on the front, which adds a combat engineering aspect to the vehicle. Besides, while the 30k vehicles are very, very nice, there is no prohibition on models for the 30k setting.  This vehicle was relatively straightforward to put together - I only had to shave a few of the stupid skulls off where I could, and it was ready. Toss on the decals, a lot of weathering to reflect hard use in some challenging combat conditions, and this thing is good to go!

Horus for hope!

Be sure to check out the Painting Challenge site, as new submissions appear all the time, from some incredible painters around the world, but several from Winnipeg.  Byron has some awesome stuff in particular (apparently he LOVES horses), so be sure to check it out! And be sure to visit the theme entry page, and vote your favourites!

Second Challenge Submission - World Eater Terminators and Heavy Support Marines

Feel the love...more lads from the 12th Legion

My second submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is more 30k Marines from the 12th Legion, the cute, cuddly and progressive chaps known as the "World Eaters". Whether your world is run by a deeply flawed totalitarian or exists as a fluffy, enlightened sunny-ways democracy, the World Eaters will appear in orbit and render the whole thing down to particles without pausing too long to consider "why". In this, they were ideal tools for the Emperor's so-called "Great Crusade", and even more useful to the Warmaster Horus when he launched his rebellion.

Terminator squad from the World Eaters

Wrecking everything in sight is a lot of work, even in the far future. The troops assembled here should make an important contribution to those efforts thanks to their heavy armour and/or absurdly large guns.

The unit Sergeant has a fancy sword, and the thing up top is supposed to be a grenade launcher, but perhaps is some kind of future go-pro system so Angron can have a record of any carnage these chaps are involved with

I need to find a way to make these power swords look fancier, but he'll do

The first part of this submission contains a five-man unit of Terminators, Space Marines wearing even heavier armour than their regular foot-slogging buddies.  Teleporting to the battlefield to face down and BBQ opponents which give even regular Space Marines a moment of pause, the Terminator Marines with their big guns, power fists and bulky armour enjoy choice assignments in their Legion duties.

I quite like the double-drum ammo clips on the so-called "combi bolters"  and the chap pointing looks like he means business...

If you carried a big flame-thrower like this fellow, and your job is wrecking sh!t, why you would be on top of the world, so I did this fellow up to look like he's giving a fist bump - "fire FTW!"

While the deeply flawed rules mechanics of GW's 40k rules system make these figures real losers on the table, from the collecting and fun point of view, these are great models and entertaining troops to the deploy into games.  The models are plastics figures from GW's "Betrayal at Calth" box set/game, the model set that keeps on giving...

Heavy support squad with Plasma Cannons

The other part of this submission is a five-man unit of heavy support Space Marines.  The 30k setting has a vast buffet of devastating weapons to choose from, and the Space Marine Legions are well-fed in this respect.  These particular weapons are plasma cannons, heavy energy weapons useful for obliterating any opponents that might appear. And where the Terminators are not nearly as useful on the tabletop as their back story might imply, these chaps exceed the hype, wiping out entire groups of absurd loyalists with relative ease.  Your so-called "Emperor" can't save you now...

The 30k setting is about overkill - why shoot just one big science fiction gun at something, when you could shoot five of them at something?

These models are Mark IV armoured Space Marine models from Forge World, purchased years ago.  In the spirit of the Challenge, I thought it would be good to get to a long lost projects of years past such as this bunch, at least in the early stages...

Forge World decal sheet came in handy with these models

So in all this has ten 28mm infantry models, good for another 50 points towards my overall total and my 30k side duel. Stay tuned for more 30k as the Challenge progresses...

First Challenge Submission - 30k World Eaters

Troops of the 12th Legion, ready for action in GW's Horus Heresy

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is back again! It's great to be back in the madness.  This submission was my first on to the Challenge, submitted just before Christmas.

Unit officer, equipped with power claws/back scratchers

When it comes to painting I don't do well with plans and I'm not much for focus, but I am hoping to come out on top of my 30k side duel, so that is where I am starting this year.  This is a unit of Space Marines and a Dreadnought from GW's Horus Heresy setting, known colloquially by nerds like me as "Warhammer 30k". 

 

These fellows are carrying small flame-throwers...tasty...

These troops are from the 12th Legion, known charmingly as the "World Eaters".  While the Sons of Horus have a sort of pride-of-place in my 30k collection so far, the World Eaters are there too, some of the first 30k models I painted.  I have had these models gathering dust for over a year, sitting with primer on them, waiting for brush attention.  Curt's Painting Challenge is always a good spur to tackle projects like that, so I did these guys first.  They are the first new World Eaters added to the roster since September of 2014...that doesn't seem long ago to me, but man, time flies.

 

Regular assault grunts

While the comically homicidal nature of the World Eaters does not represent the finest efforts of GW's writers, I'm not that mature and I still enjoy the Legion.  I can see the Sons of Horus hanging back while letting these guys go in first to absorb some damage before they swoop in to finish things off (and take credit for any overall success).

 

Some weathering and chips painted on to make them look a bit worn

The World Eaters are fun to paint and you can make them look a little rough and ready without spattering blood effects etc. on the models.  That is the effect I tried with this group.  White is tricky sometimes, and I had a few problems on some of the models, but they got some heavy weathering which helps the problems go away :) The Forge World decal sheet was extra handy for helping add little bits of character and customization to the models.

The infantry models are assault marines, sporting jet packs and equipped with heavy, short-range pistols and flamethrowers as well as the chainsword, the ubiquitous face-wrecking device of the grim and dark future.  

 

Rotary cannons are always the best in any sci-fi situation

The assault marine models are resin castings from Forge World - you can tell, as some of the jump packs have some appalling mold lines.  Forge World has great sculptors, but their casting quality is often indifferent at best...

 

Power unit at the back...not carbon neutral

The larger model is a Dreadnought, a heavy armoured support unit for the Space Marines.  The Dreadnoughts can be configured with a wide assortment of different weapons for different purposes.  It is armed with a Kheres assault cannon (rule: rotary cannons are always awesome) and a power fist to punch large obstructions rather directly in the face.  This is a plastic model from GW's "Betrayal at Calth" game - a bit of a disappointment in terms of how wooden it looks, not GW's best work, but certainly easier to assemble than the resin ones from Forge World.

 

Large power fist ready for large punching work

There are ten 28mm infantry models in this submission, but one of these models is a test model, painted prior to the Challenge, so the squad should be worth 45 points.  I can't remember what a Dreadnought counted for, so I'm thinking it's like an artillery piece - 10 points?  So that will be 55 points.  A small step toward my goal of 1000, and more importantly, a small step toward revenge against JamieM!