On the Workbench [July] - Horus Heresy Dark Angels

 

Hello and welcome back! Today I'm sharing some recent hobby builds..and other stuff. With the Saturnine box dropping soon, I decided it was time to build the remaining MkVI marines I had from the prior launch box. I had three MkVI infantry sprues (15 marines) remaining, so I built ten as a Seeker squad.  MkVI armor was known to have improved systems that could be exploited by forward deployed Seeker squads. The squad is mostly deployed with bolters to take advantage of the special ammunition provided to Seeker squads.  I added meltabombs and a couple magna-combi weapons with melta guns to give the squad punch against hard targets and a plasma gun for the Sergeant, because, Dark Angels.

The remaining five marines were issued autocannons because I love the dakka and still have weapoins left over from the earlier released boxes heavy weapons. I have a feeling this isn't an optimal weapon for the game, but at this point I have built missile launcher, lascannon, multi-melta, and Volkite culverin squads.  So I have a few options for heavy support - for a game I have only played maybe once or twice when the first edition rules were the only way to play.

I then decided to keep on building (I do *love* building marines) and pulled out a box of Legion Recon marines that I've been sitting on to go with the Legion Vigilator.  These models will give me a small Firewing contingent for the collection.

THEN, I picked up the plastic Sicaran as a Father's Day gift to myself. This was part of an expedition to a local GW store which I don't typically frequent. However, on this day I decided on a pilgrimage and wanted to pick up something interesting to support the store. 

The last model I had from the last HH box set was the Praetor with Power Ax.  He sports a MkVI helm which coincidentally goes well with the MkVI Command Squad box I also had laying about. I had planned to use the parts for scratch building, but decided to assemble a command squad for this Praetor instead. I can always mix the four non-banner bearing Chosen with the MkIII command squad if I want a larger command squad for a (mostly mythical) game. Regardless, and before the Saturnine box has even released, the mere hype of new rules and models has inspired me to build 26 marines and a tank.  And not to stop there, I also decided it was time to prime everything that I had sitting around in bare plastic.

This is only half of what I primed.  I forgot to take a picture of the first lot which also filled the nine "priming sticks" shown above. There are 96ish models in the this second lot, so assume about the same in the first.  That's a lot of priming.  Thankfully, I have an airbrush booth that vents outside so I can prime away during the hot humid summer months here with wild abandon. These are primarily Dark Angels models, but the keen eyed will spot a few Custodes models in there as well.

I burned through two rattle cans of Rust-oleum 2x Ultra Cover Flat Black primer, finishing off with a dreadnought I didn't photograph and this Sicaran Punisher I picked up off eBay some time ago. I didn't take a pic of the fully primed tank, but I took this one to remind me of the prior paint job. Many apologies to the previous owner.  

As I have been building models it became clear I was going to need more display case space. This led me in June to pick up a new IKEA Milsbo display case.

I added strips of self-adhesive LEDs to light it up and stuck my painted collection of House Taranis Knight suits in there to start.  I followed suggestions from Spikey Bits for the lighting. With a cross of lights at the top and strips down the front corners and door centers, the case illuminates models well.  Here's a close up of those knights.

Other than the reflections, the lights at the front are not visible, and so do not blind the viewer.  I'll be moving models into this case to make room for more Dark Angels in the other two Detolph cases I have been using, which are now squashed side-by-side at the other corner of my basement hobby space.

40K on the left, 30K on the right

So that's that. 26 models built, ~200 models primed and a new display case. No other painting, but still a lot of production and I still have a final set to prime which will add 30 or so more models I think. Oh, and that doesn't count a few tanks that need priming as well. Lots of future painting projects are waiting in the wings. I keep adding shelves to the Detolph cases, but I'm near the limit there.  Tall models like the Knights have moved to the new cabinet so I'll likely finish adding shelves to these cases for more infantry and vehicles that fit.

What's on your workbench??

Cheers and Happy Gaming! 

On the Workbench [February] - Death Korps of Krieg!

 

Greetings and welcome back.  So I said to myself when the DKoK box released that I have all the resin Krieg I need and even some plastic thanks to Kill Team.  But then there was a little crack in my armor, in the form of one teensy squad of five engineers and their updated "cyclops" mobile demolition platform. Well the set only lets you build one of two options for every model (except the "cyclops") and a full squad can be ten soldiers, so yeah, a second batch of 5 were required. OK, I'm good.  It's just 12 more models.

They look real slick! I then realized I'd need the new rules and heck, this fella on eBay is offering the paper material from the box AND Lord Marshall Dreir in the bargain for a reasonable price - and of course I want the luachbox DKooK art on my codex! So yep, picked that up.

But this is the famed Death Korps of Krieg, right?  So the big guns really never do tire...so toss in an artillery piece - I mean what's the point of the rest without THAT? Yeah, you can see where this is going...

At this point you sorta HAVE to have the Death Riders too (and why didn't I just buy the damn launch box in the first place...I'm saving nothing by picking this stuff up piece meal on eBay...).  The models are pretty fantastic in plastic; never mind that I already have 9 or 10 in resin...nope, gotta have 'em. I couldn't sleep at night if I didn't pick them up.

What, only five?  Cheapskate...

Oh, and then what's that? A new DKoK themed command squad?  Seriously?! Well Lord Marshal Dreir isn't going to push this lot about by himself, now is he?! SO, yeah, put that in the cart...

OK, we're good. It's a lot, but it's Krieg and that's good stuff. Wait, no, no we're not good.  There's the new heavy weapons set and at this point we can't have all of this and leave just that one box on the shelf.  I mean I have 13 or 14 DKoK heavy weapon teams in resin, so I don't NEED three more (and a dude...?).  But at this point we all know this hobby isn't really about needs...

Wait...where's the spotter dude?

And that's how I ended up with 29ish new DKoK models in plastic, all assembled this month. I have no regrets; they really are well designed and great fun to stare at.  They might even be good in a game. But whether they are or not, this blog was inspired by the DKoK and I figured it's about time some more Krieg got painted.

The keen eyed veteran may recognize all the resin bases from the Secret Weapon Miniatures that was. I have a silly large collection of resin Krieg, and I bought many trench work bases early on to be sure I could mount the whole collection on them. So I dug out what was left to use while building these new models.  The heavy weapon bases are larger than the new bases, but the rule of cool, right? Besides, all the other teams are mounted on these bases and these new models fit like they were made for them.

As for the rest, there's a lot of scenic bits on the new models, so I'm leaving those on the plastic bases. I can add gravel and what have you to blend the plastic in to fit the rest of the look here.  And while I'm on that subject, I thought I'd share my process for building out the artillery gun base... 

I went ahead and glued down the plastic base components that came with the kit in a fairly obvious but pleasing configuration. Then I figured I'd vary the ground cover a bit.  Where the troopers stand and move about, the ground should get a bit trampled and packed down. Probably water collects there too when it rains. So I decided to use poster tac to mask off those areas when I applied my typical mix of basing gravel.

 

Then I pulled up the poster tac after the glue had dried.  Some of the putty is stuck in the glue around the edges, but this is taken care of during later stages. I chose GW Agrellan Earth texture paint to be my packed down, and now parched earth. But first, I needed some gloss coat to insure the Agrellan Earth cracked well.

 

Once that dried I went over all those areas with the Agrellan Earth. You lay this stuff on good and thick to get a good result.

 

Then I headed off to bed, so the magic could happen.  Watched earth never cracks, so they say...

And voila'! Some parched earth. I guess it's not as trampled looking as I might have liked...and I'm killing myself inside for not thinking to use a trooper boot to stamp a ton of foot prints into the earth prior to the crackling...but it's not bad at all for a homemade scenic base.  Should fit in with the resin stuff just fine once painted. You can see the fully assembled model in the title pic above.

With that, February draws to a close. I'll prime this batch and then see what I get paint on next.  With MonsterMarch looming large, I might have to go back to The Lion (cheating?  he is a beast...in combat...). Or perhaps tackle my first Tyranid since 3rd edition. I did promise a new faction before becoming obsessed with tiny troops and tanks. I dunno...but I think the Krieg probably wait for April.

Check back next week to see where the Changer of Ways points my brush. Until then...

Cheers and Happy Gaming!