Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Spireguard Stormhammer painting begins!

With the sweet new transfers from Fallout Hobbies arriving, it galvanized me to work on a model to put 'em on! The centerpiece for the Spireguard army is going to be the Stormhammer I'd picked up at Gencon, and I managed to get the reds laid in over the last few days.

So far, so good! Next up will be all the silver metallics, after which I can start in on the detail panels in bone-white, and gold rivets.

...So many gold rivets. Hoo boy.

Fallout Hobbies transfers arrive!

...Well technically they arrived a week or so ago, but I just picked up all the on-hold mail from the post office yesterday. Heh. I'd pitched in on Ronnie Gamble's fantastic Kickstarter campaign to get Fallout Hobbies off the ground as a custom waterslide transfer and airbrush template company. I'm happy to say it succeeded and the rewards exceeded my expectations in every way!

 

I received a set of the Radioactive and Biohazard sets for use on some future project/terrain, a set of really cool-looking scrollwork, and some interesting scorch marks that I'm eager to try adding to a vehicle or building.

 

Turns out they're a little challenging to photograph, as most of what I'd ordered were white and the backing paper is a rather light grey. Bunch of Egyptian and occult themed transfers for the inevitable next Thousand Sons army (and a bit for the associated Spireguard).

Overall I was blown away by the quality of the prints and the attention to detail. His full time web store is up and running here, I highly recommend checking 'em out - he's got the capability to accept your custom printing requests as well as providing an ever-expanding catalog of pre-designed sheets, I know I'll be going back for more sheets soon!

Mi Dispiace! Not dead, just on vacation...

Apologies for the radio silence there, but I was taking the first honest-to-Emperor serious vacation I've had in four years! Ended up spending the last couple weeks in Italy doing some sightseeing and attending my friend's wedding - good times were had, as well as good food, good wine, and good friends! No hobby work has been done in that whole time what with my paints and models being on the other side of the planet, but a post's not a post without some pictures!

Based most of the trip out of the town of Salerno, where we stayed in a fantastic bed and breakfast place that blew away any hotel we could have found. The view off the patio was worth the trip all by itself!

Spent a couple days in Rome, and took about 400 pictures, but I'll just hit the highest of the highlights. Can't miss the Colosseum of course!

Spent about four hours in the Vatican (Interesting fact, approximately 2.3 Popes per square kilometer), and this art installation really caught my attention. It has a vaguely dark mechanicum vibe to it...

While the Vatican was fantastic, it was Saint Peter's Basilica that truly astounded me - it was absolutely jaw-dropping inside.

Later we popped down to the Amalfi coast where the wedding was to be held, and spent some time in the city admiring more of the phenomenal countryside.

The wedding itself was held in an old coastal fort, which sits above an exemplary restaurant and beach. You couldn't ask for a more picturesque location!

The wedding ceremony finished just as the sun was setting, and the view was spectacular. I'd honestly started to get pissed off at how relentlessly beautiful it was. Hah! Unfortunately it's now back to the grind at work, but I can start getting some hobby stuff done again too - lots of fun stuff on the horizon!

Inq28 - Tau Mercenaries (all sorts of heresy!)

I'll admit right up front that I've never been a particular fan of the Tau - mostly that came down to the model range however, I quite like the fluff. I rather enjoy the Surprisingly Sinister Space Pope and his Ethereals, the whole caste system is interesting, and the fact that they embrace all the species they come across rather than just automatically exterminating them makes for a breath of fresh air in the grim darkness. (Heresy!) Ran across these alternate models on ebay a while back and thought they'd be fun to paint up, and subsequently thought "Hey, these'd be perfect mercenaries for a radical Ordo Xenos warband". I wasn't super happy with the initial skin tones so spent a little time touching them up and got some new pics taken:

"Big Shas O'Mal'y" along with an air caste tech and fire caste sniper joined forces with Inquisitor Travinski during an investigative mission into the incursion of Hive Fleet Kraken. The Tau were rescued from almost certain death at the claws of a Genestealer cult (side note, also thinking about doing up some villain warbands), and subsequently pledged their service to the Inquisitor, further cementing her status as a radical in the eyes of her peers. (Double heresy!)

A bit more cheesecake with these models, especially the sniper - Let's just say I had to take a few pics before I got one that's SFW. (Triple heresy!) Was fun to paint up some xenos filth though - had fun with the skintones and tried a number of different washes to try to approximate the 'typical' ochre Tau armor color. I have another few female Tau mercs coming to add to the group - they may end up spinning off into their own warband when all is said and done!