TOEMP #7 - All Hail The Omnissiah! Part 3 (finally complete!)

Better late than never, as they say - With the extended Thanksgiving holiday I had time to finish off the models I had on deck for the 7th Tale of Even More Painter's challenge. I just wasn't happy with the initial paint scheme I'd chosen for the Archmagos Veneratus, and ended up re-primering it and starting anew.

Overall it turned out more or less like what I had envisioned - This model is by far the most heavily-converted thing I've made, and I was worried that it was going to end up just looking like a pile of random bits based on what it looked like before I primered it. I did notice while painting it however that somewhere along the assembly stage I managed to get one of the banner poles facing the wrong way - I ended up just trying to make do as best I could in the painting stage, as trying to remove the banner pole and reposition it would undoubtedly result in the complete destruction of the model... Doh.

Part of the previous challenge was to finish up a piece of terrain as well (lord knows I have enough unpainted terrain lurking in the Closet of Doom), so I dragged out the Shrine of the Aquila, assembled it and gave it a dash of paint.

I went with a concrete grey scheme but it ended up looking pretty bland, so to spice it up a bit I ran off a couple banners on the ol' color printer, distressed them a bit and made a set of mounting brackets. The splash of red and white definitely makes the piece pop a bit more than it did before. Only a half dozen more buildings to go... Ugh.

Last but not least my FLGS let me know they got in a Fortress of Redemption, and as I don't have nearly enough terrain (hah!) I figured what the heck. It's really quite huge once it's all assembled, so I built it to come apart into two sections for storage. The two sections fit together quite snugly on the tabletop, so I don't foresee much of an issue during gameplay. I'm still pondering how I want to paint it however... With big wide brushes regardless of color, I suppose!

TOEMP #8 - A (Strength 10) Blast from the Past... And some other random nonsense.

Well, after a couple rather non-productive weeks and a failed challenge, deadline-wise on #7, I wanted to get back in form. The challenge this go-round is fairly open as far as unit types to paint, so I decided that I'd crank out one of the final Heavy Support choices for the Mordian 7th - It had been too long since I'd painted any guard, after all!

Although no longer available in the current Guard codex, the Rapier Laser Destroyer is a quad-barreled lascannon mounted on a tracked unit. In the original RT-ere rule set it was rather deadly, and the fine folks over at the Tempus Fugitives website have created a set of rules for it that my local opponents don't seem to mind playing against. I decided on a more red-dominated scheme on this, to represent it being provided to the army and maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus forces that are part of the 7th.

Speaking of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I ended up re-primering the Archmagos Veneratus after a disappointing initial paint scheme, and I have gotten the base reds back on to the model. I'm hoping to get it finished off over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, if all goes according to plan. Of course, as is my modus operandi, over the last week or so I did hare off on another small side project as well...

Now before anyone goes into shock about the non-GW models, rest assured that they will be put to use in the 40k universe. These models are the next batch of adversaries for my upcoming Rogue Trader campaign, which I'm planning on kicking off over the new year. These six will represent the group's main villains - Haderach Fel and his group of cronies. I did finish up one model so far, as the fluffy bustled dress and sniper rifle combo was just too much fun to resist! The models are from Fantasy Flight Games Anima Tactics range, with a few 40k-stule weapon swaps here and there. Scale-wise they're all a touch taller than the standard 40k model, but not egregiously so. Well, the one guy in the back on the 40mm base is about 7.5' tall apparently, but I'm going to work that into the story, so it'll work out just fine.

This model will represent Lady Irina Demephon, a mad noblewoman with a penchant for dashing ship's captains. ...Dashing ship's captains brains out with high-calibre rounds, to be more specific!

Lastly is the first of several Battlefleet Gothic miniatures in the works - One can't play Rogue Trader without a selection of spacecraft, after all! This will be the player's initial vessel, the Eclipse Du Normandie - a Dauntless-class light cruiser.

I'm looking forward to running the game of Rogue Trader, as I think there's going to be a lot of good crossover opportunity for modeling and painting between that game and 40k. For example, the Eldar Corsairs that I'd built will be pulling double duty - As a Troops choice for the Eldar army, and as members of the Stygian Reavers, a group of Eldar pirates that will be a thorn in the side of the players in the RPG!

TOEMP #7 - All Hail The Omnissiah! Part 2

I managed to finish off the Tech Magos Cabal over the weekend, but haven't made much forward progress on the Archmagos Veneratus - I'm not entirely sure I like where the paint scheme is going on it and may start over. However, I'm fairly pleased with how these five turned out:

On the other hand, after painting up three sets of these over the years, I just now figured out that what I took to be an odd little aspergils in the right hand of the Magos Prime is actually supposed to be connected to the little port on the back of his cherub. Of course, I didn't come to this realization until after I'd finished painting them. Argh.

I've had the Magos Biologis and the two servitors that are part of the set painted for several years, so it's nice to finally have the whole set painted up and ready to use!

It looks to be a relatively quiet weekend coming up, so I'm hoping I can get some brush time and finish off the Archmagos Veneratus. After that I really need to get back to painting the guard...

TOEMP #7 - All Hail The Ommnissiah! Part 1

Well we're coming up on the deadline for the 7th TOEMP challenge, and unfortunately it looks like I'm going to fall short on this one by a day or two. The last couple weeks have been chock full of long hours at work, houseguests, band shenanigans and other distractions and I haven't had a lot of time to put brush to model. However, I wanted to post what I have gotten done thus far! After building and painting the Knight Paladin I was all enthused about the burgeoning Adeptus Mechanicus army that's been lurking on my shelves for years. Using the codex from the Tempus Fugitives website I figured the old Skullz-era models would work well for a Tech Magos Cabal, and I started work on the faces, armor and robes:

I still need to do the metallics, power cables and the yellow/black hazard stripes on them, but they're approaching completion. These have always been hands down my favorite tech priest models, and over the years I've gone through three sets of them. Once I get these five done I'll take a picture of the whole set (several of which have been painted for years).

Next up is the other HQ choice - the Archmagos Veneratus. As described in the codex: "One of the original Tech Priests who codified the Mysteries and Warnings of the Cult Mechanicus over ten millenia ago. As age and technological enhancement stripped them of their humanity, so they became more detached from the day-to-day affairs of the Mechanicus and spent longer periods of time in solitude musing on the destiny of humanity. Occasionally, an Archmagos Veneratus will arrive without warning to take command of a Skitarii Legio. They are answerable to no one, not even the Fabricator General. Their word is Lore and their reasons for involving themselves are unfathomable, much like the exotic battlesuits they pilot into battle."

The model was based on the work of a friend of mine who sent me a box full of Ad-Mech goodies. I ended up rendering it down for parts, but kept to the spirit of the original build - a half-machine torso attached to a massive four-legged walker and armed with a mix of archeotech weaponry. In this case, a Conversion Beamer and a Multi-Melta.

I took advantage of a warm day to primer it and started thinking about how I wanted to paint it - though I only got the basest touch of paint on it before I had to do something else.

Definitely a fun model to build, the Ad-Mech are second only to the Orks in conversion potential, which is one of the main things that draws my interest in the army. Many a bits box delve goes into making the models, that's for sure!

It appears that I have a relatively free weekend coming up, so I hope to be able to finish these off in the next few days. A little short of the deadline, but when push comes to shove, Real Life(tm) must take precedence over the hobby (much as I'd wish otherwise at times)...