Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Veterans and Contemptor "off the factory floor"

As of this morning I'm officially on vacation for four days. Glorious! That said, I got a jump on the weekend yesterday evening and got the Vets and Contemptor up to the "Off the factory floor" stage where they await the first spray sealant pass in preparation for waterslides and weathering.

It's always amazing to me how much of a difference painting the bases helps the models pop! Pretty happy with how the cooler tones of the bases contrast against the rather 'hot' tones of the yellows and reds. All the black got another highlight pass, and I added in the various spot colors and metallics that really help snap the models into focus. Going to be applying further details to the right shoulder pads, though whether that's to be transfers or freehand remains to be seen - While I'm pretty confident using transfers in general, the complex curve of the marine shoulder pad still gives me trouble!

The Contemptor Mortis got the same treatment, and I'm rather looking forward to adding some chips and scratches to him - they should stand out nicely against the yellow!

It's supposed to be pushing 60°F this afternoon so I'm hoping to get them sealed so I can finish off the next steps! In the interim it's back to building - The final pieces arrived for the hammer-and-shield Cataphractii terminators, and I have those and the bits to make a 10-man Templar Brethren squad soaking this morning. Should be a weekend full of Heresy Goodness!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Veteran Squads and Contemptor get some brush time!

Hope the holidays were safe and fun for everyone, it was a whirlwind of activity for me though sadly not as much of it was actual painting time. Even a painting servitor deserves time off to celebrate the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension, right? Now that it's passed I have managed to rekindle some painting mojo and set to on some Imperial Fists with renewed gusto!

To begin with I figured the painting servitor had had enough time off thank you very much, and it was high time it got plugged back in to the duty station. Turned the settings over to batch paint and started slinging the yellow around! Started off with a basecoat of Vallejo Scrofulous Brown, followed by a heavy drybrush of Golden Yellow, and then a light drybrush of GW Flash Gitz Yellow, concentrating on the uppermost surfaces. Once that was done the whole model was given a Seraphim Sepia wash and left to dry overnight.

The next session was the tedious one - going back in and re-blacking in everything that's intended to be metal or, well, black. I've been tempted to just bypass this step and just paint the metallics over the yellow, but I've found that it tends to end up looking sort of spotty and unfinished. Boring, but necessary!

Next up I could actually start doing some interesting stuff with the models. The black areas were given a bit of a highlight (which will likely get one further highlight, based on how I'm feeling about them at the moment), the icons on the shoulder pads were roughed in and just to paint something besides black and yellow for a bit the red veteran stripes were added to the helmets, and the sergeants got the full red helmet with white stripe look. They're starting to come into focus now!

While I was about it I'd been working on the Contemptor as well, and it's more or less keeping pace with the two veteran squads. Gives me a nice little break in the batch painting process, and helps ensure that it'll match up with the infantry!

I have a couple days off coming up around new years, and am hoping I can get these lads finished over the upcoming long weekend. Hope you all have a safe and happy New Years!

Heresy Era Adeptus Custodes - Custodian Guard Squad (almost) Complete!

Just a quick hit today - it's been ridiculously cold over the last couple days (-12°F last night) so no spray sealing going on. That said, barring that final step the Custodian Guard squad is more or less complete!

Rather enjoyed painting them up, though there's not a whole lot to 'em beyond the gold stage so the last few steps went really quickly. Red on the horsehair plumes and gemstones and blue for the power blades, and a few areas in silver and white. Matched up the bases to the ones for the Imperial Fists and job's a good 'un!

Heresy Era Adeptus Custodes - Custodian Guard squad begins

Wait! Put down the pitchforks and torches, it's not technically another project, honest! Hah!

The main reason I chose the Imperial Fists for the Prospero plastics was primarily to give me the ability to run an allied force of Custodes - How exactly that's going to work remains to be seen within the upcoming Inferno book from Forge World, but there are some preliminary rules available to allow for test games. I started off just building a basic Custodian Guard squad, as I'm assuming they'll be the 'basic' troop type for the force - hard to go wrong with the basics!

I was pleased to see they were given a size boost over the basic marines, they are appropriately imposing! They were fun to assemble - The first five were built right out of the book, and I'm looking forward to trying some mix-and-match parts on the next five to see what sorts of alternate posing may be possible.

On to the painting! First things first the models were given a basecoat of Vallajo's Brassy Brass. This is a nice, rather opaque metallic that covers well and prevents the blotchy look a more translucent lighter gold can get painted over a black basecoat.

Next the models were given a heavy drybrush of Glorious Gold, then given an all-over wash of Reikland Fleshshade (still wet in this pic) then left to thoroughly dry overnight..

Taking the day off (Star Wars day, baby!) so this morning I was able to put in a quick session and gave the now-dried models a couple light drybrush passes with Shining Gold to bring the luster back up a bit. Next up will be a few silver highlights on the uppermost surfaces to really push the shine! Planning on getting some more work done on them today - Queuing up the Original Trilogy to run in the background, and looking forward to seeing Rogue One in the theater later on!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Veteran Squad and Contemptor built!

As a bit of a reward to myself for all the painting of late I thought I'd build the next unit or two for the Imperial Fists. I'm kicking myself for getting so over-excited building all the new Genestealer Cult models that I ended up with a huge pile of unpainted miniatures which tends to be disheartening. So for the Fists I'm sticking to a "build 10 or so models, then paint them before the next group" mentality. We'll see how long that lasts. Hah!

The next ten infantry for the Fists are the first of two veteran squads. To take advantage of their legion rules the squad gets a pair of heavy bolters, the Vexilla gives them a little staying power and the Nuncio Vox will allow them to act as spotters for artillery and teleport beacons for their deep-striking terminators. While the vets are technically able to all take combi-weapons and all sorts of other gear to make a 'jack of all trades' unit, I've found it's really easy to end up with a thoroughly over-costed squad which can quite easily be wiped from the table in a single turn. Better to keep them cheap and focused on a single job (which is primarily infantry-killing).

 

For a little more dakka, the ever-popular Contemptor Mortis with a pair of Kheres assault cannons is hard to pass up. Doubling as a reasonably effective anti-aircraft and anti-infantry unit, I have found this loadout routinely performs admirably on the table top and almost always earns its points.

Lastly, I scraped together a few leftover bits I had and put together the proof of concept thunder-hammer-and-storm-shield terminator in Cataphractii armour, using some rather neat 3d-printed shoulder pads, the storm shields from the Custodes set, and some thunder hammers from Spellcrow. The perspective is a little forced on this pic, the hammer isn't really THAT big... Heh.

So far so good! Now, if only it wasn't forecast to reach a high temperature of 1°F on Saturday I could get them primered. Apparently these models will be sitting on the "prime me" shelf for the foreseeable future!

40k Genestealer Cult - Leman Russ Exterminator painted!

Got a fair bit of painting time in today and finished off the Leman Russ Exterminator! Carried the colors through from the Acolytes with the blue, white and yellow, and it turned out pretty well I think...

 

Added in some stripes on the dozer blade to match those on the Rockgrinders, and laid in some further vehicle identifier stripes on the front of the side armour. Went with the bright blue-white halogen lamps to match the Rockgrinders as well (again, my usual yellow headlamps would get lost in all the other yellow bits).

 

The turret weapons are magnetized so it can also be run as a Vanquisher should some more anti-tank firepower be needed. Tried out the dirty white recipe used on the Acolyte's armor on the tank crew's fatigues to help tie them together. After that it got some sponge weathering on various edges to dirty it up and it's good to go!

May bounce back over to the Imperial Fists next and reward myself for all this painting with some build time!

40k Genestealer Cult - Leman Russ Exterminator painting begins!

We've been having some sub-zero temperatures over the last few days so no sealant possibility for the recent terminators. So, bouncing back over to the Cult for a bit! Rather than doing yet another batch of infantry (oof) I figured it was time to have a little fun and make a start on one of the tanks for the force...

 

The intent is to have the brood brothers to be a PDF force, using older variants of the military vehicles. As a callback to the color of the carapaces on the Purestrains, I'm going with blue tanks (the guardsmen will have fatigues in the white similar to the armour of the hybrids and blue armour) which may be a bit of an unusual choice when seen on its own but hopefully it'll look cool laid out with the army as a whole. We'll see!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Tartaros Terminators almost done!

Another quick hit this evening, after work I had a quiet evening in and was able to put a couple more hours in on the terminators. Rather enjoying how they're coming along!

Pretty much textbook color theory here, with the blue and red contrasting well against the yellow armour plate. A little more cleanup and highlighting here and there, and they'll be ready for the first sealant stage prior to waterslides and weathering (though the incipient snowfall means it may be a week or more before that's possible).

Tried out a couple cooler, neutral colors on the bases which I'm reasonably happy with. Toying with the idea of adding the occasional bit of litter and leaves here and there to jazz them up a little and give them a sense of scale. So far, so good!

40k Genestealer Cult - Doting Throng Acolytes painted!

Down with the plague today (a blessing from Grandfather Nurgle no doubt), but managed to get the Acolytes for the Doting Throng completed and sealed, taking advantage of the brief break in the cold weather. Twenty-three more models down, meaning I've now (albeit barely) passed the halfway point with the army. Oof!

I'd built enough models to allow them to be run as two units but for the purposes of the 2500 point force they'll be run as one 20-strong unit of claws, teeth and hand flamers!

As should come as no surprise to anyone, I did pick up a few of the new Thousand Sons plastics (primarily to cannibalize for use with the Heresy models) and couldn't help but assemble Magnus the Red. Once I had him put together I think a better moniker would be Magnus the Huge! He goes on the shelf for now however, next up is some more work on the Imperial Fists terminator squad as a little break from the unending tide of Genestealer cultists...

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Tartaros Terminators begin!

Quick hit today - Nearing the finish line on the next batch of Acolytes, but I couldn't help but take a quick detour and lay in the initial yellows on the squad of Tartaros Terminators for the Imperial Fists over the last couple sessions!

While the Imperial Fists are one of a bare handful to get access to proper assault cannons in the Heresy, from an aesthetic standpoint I went plasma for this unit (the blue coils should set off nicely against the yellow) with a pair of plasma blasters and a scattering of combi-plasma guns. Overall I still prefer the look of the Cataphractii plate but these models were quite fun to build!

40k Genestealer Cult - The cult takes the field, and some more Acolytes painting...

Hope our American readers had a lovely Thanksgiving (and the rest of you had an agreeable Thursday)! The days leading up to the holiday were full of non-hobby duties, but I did manage to actually get a game in (GASP) over the following long weekend! No real battle report to relate and just a pair of pics as I got so into the game that I forgot to take any others. Guess that's the sign of an enjoyable game!

 

Threw down against a friend's Crimson Fists, and to my shame my army wasn't fully painted yet. We played with my favorite house rule "Suffer Not The Unpainted To Live" (painted models gain preferred enemy against unpainted models) which is always amusing. Mechanically, painted models SHOULD fight better! That said, the painted models I did have performed admirably, with the First Curse being an absolute buzzsaw of a unit. I actually felt a little dirty with how quickly they chewed through everything they touched. We were playing a Tactical Objectives type game, and the ability for the cult to redeploy willy-nilly meant they pounced on a number of objectives and when the dust settled had won the day. The shadow in the void draws ever closer...

Over the weekend I did feel re-invigorated to get some more cultists painted and banged out the basic colors for the next batch of Acolytes and the Cult Iconward, which make up a third of The Doting Throng. In addition are a spare Acolyte Leader and Cult Icon which will allow me to run them as a pair of 10-man squads instead of the mondo 20-man squad.

In other news, a couple boxes of Forge World goodness have arrived which has lit an additional fire under me to finish off the Genestealer Cult army. I've more or less decided that the models in the Burning of Prospero box don't particularly match the aesthetic of my current Thousand Sons army, and since I do want to build and paint the Custodes and Sisters of Silence (which obviously wouldn't ally with the boys in crimson) some sort of loyalist force was needed. Messing with the dirty yellow on the cult meant that it's time to reprise the Imperial Fists! Holding off on the Custodes/Sisters side until Inferno drops, but thought a tidy little 2000 point force would be reasonable. Going with the Pride of the Legion rite of war, and thought a little 1st Company veterans force would be a fun use for the new plastics (and a tiny model count after this horde nonsense)!

...Yes I absolutely needed to start another project, why do you ask? Heh.

Heresy Era Space Wolves - Geigor Fellhand Complete!

Managed to sneak in a couple hours over the weekend and finished off Wolfy McWolferson Geigor Fellhand!

   

Pretty happy with the storm grey armour and the brassy trim, and the blue and red accent colors pop nicely. It's definitely a challenging model to photograph, the pose tends to look a little flat but in-hand I really think it's got a great sense of weight and motion to it.

 

Overall I rather enjoyed painting him up, and it was a nice break between batches of Genestealer Cultists! That said, the next batch of Acolyte Hybrids are sitting on the desk in front of the painting servitor's duty station. Prepare for purple!

Heresy Era Space Wolves - Geigor Fellhand painting continues...

Been dealing with some surprise home renovations over the last couple days but I had managed a bit more work on Geigor here and there, and finally got a couple quick pictures snapped!

  

Going with a somewhat subdued color scheme, with a more coppery-toned accents on the armor. Similarly I kept the reds pretty dark, but couldn't help but go with my usual blue on the lightning claw. I'm going to take the blue gems up to a more icy white, they're a bit too samey alongside the power cables/claws. Still quite a ways to go but moving right along, though!

Heresy Era Space Wolves - Geigor Fellhand painting begins!

Another quick hit today - Not a whole lot of contiguous brush time since the last update, but I did manage to sneak in an hour here and there and made a little progress on Geigor Fellhand from the new Prospero box. After knocking out 40-some odd 'Stealers, and with another 100+ staring at me from the painting shelf I did feel it was time for a quick break to recharge the hobby mojo before tackling the next batch of gribblies.

Laid in the basic greys and then started in on the marathon of detailing, leading off with the various wolf pelts (which I realize are more or less completely obscured in this pic), his face and of course his ridiculous hair. Actually rather pleased with how he's coming along so far, this may be one of the best faces I've managed, but as an avowed Thousand Sons guy I have to chuckle at the irony that it's on a Space Wolf!

40k Genestealer Cult - Rockgrinders complete!

Alternately, "Thank the Emperor, he'll finally stop banging on about the Rockgrinders!" Broke out the sponges and the washes and got the weathering in on the trucks, meaning the second formation of the force is now complete. Victory!

Sponged on Vallejo Charred Brown on various corners here and there, followed by a lighter sponging of Oily Steel. Once that dried the extreme sharp edges got a line highlight of silver and they're good to go! The headlamps got another pass in white to make them a bit brighter and halogen-esque, and the weapons got a bit of copper/gold detailing here and there so the gunmetal wasn't so stark.

The junk in the trunk is actually horribly be-clawed monstrosities ready to hurl dynamite into the ranks of their foes! All in all I really enjoyed painting these up, and I look forward to careening them around the tabletop soon!

Once I got them safely ensconced in their battlefoam trays for storage I figured I'd update the ol' painting chart! A fair few models done so far, but there's still a tidal wave of infantry to work through. Before I start in on The Doting Throng, I am going to take a brief jump back over to the Heresy side and finish up Ahriman and Fellhand though!

40k Genestealer Cult - Goliath Rockgrinder crew painted!

Now that the Rockgrinders are completed up to the pre-weathering stage, I wanted to knock out the crewmen. The Rockgrinders were a touch bi-chromatic but that was on purpose so the gunners would pop a bit...

I was concerned that as they'll be sharing the yellow color on their fatigues that they'd end up getting lost in the general yellowness of the vehicles, so didn't include much in the way of white on the trucks themselves. Keeping the crew separate for painting proved to be a good idea, there's all sorts of challenging angles that I wouldn't have been able to get to with a brush had they been assembled in situ (I'm usually guilty of getting overexcited and building the models completely in one go without thinking of the consequences in later painting stages).

Moment of truth time came with their installation on the trucks. Well pleased with how they turned out! All that remains to do is pick out a few more details on them here and there that have become apparent, then a touch of the ol' sponge weathering over the next few evenings!

While I was about it I snapped a quick pic of my painting 'cheat sheet' for the force. I tend to put one of these together for any big project that is going to span a few months. It allows me to go back and re-create the scheme on models later on in the project and be sure they'll match up. Also allows me the ability to delve back into earlier projects and recall particular color results that I liked and re-use them - The yellow recipe is the one that I'd used on the Imperial Fists a while back and rather enjoyed. Plans are afoot to revisit that project again over the next few months...

40k Genestealer Cult - Goliath Rockgrinders nearly complete, and some Heresy!

Got some brush time in today and have the Rockgrinders more or less up to the "Fresh off the factory floor" stage, where I'll generally give the models an initial sealant pass in preparation for waterslide transfers and weathering.

After all the re-blacking was complete most of it was immediately given the oily metal treatment. It definitely helped give the vehicles a sense of depth as well. I couldn't do my usual yellow headlamps scheme what with the vehicles themselves being yellow, so went for an ice blue lenses look instead. Not 100% sold on it, but it works from a strict color theory perspective...

I did up the tarpaulins on the rear in a blue to match the chitin of the 'stealers, rather happy with how it turned out, and it is a sufficiently different color from the lamps and power cables. Next up is finding some good industrial-style transfers and give 'em some sponge weathering and they'll be good to go!

In other news, I naturally got my hands on a couple of the Prospero box sets, and started laying in the first few colors on Ahriman and Geigor Fellhand. Gotta keep one foot in the Heresy after all!