Giveaway Results! ...And an Eeeeeevil post!

I realized that today's post is the 666th post I've made, which of course calls for...

In a similar vein, early next week a few friends are going to go see Iron Maiden, which is always a fun time - granted, we don't rock out at shows like we used to, but I'll still stand in the back and throw up the horns. Heh.
Now, the Million View Giveaway results! I just want to say thank you all once again for all the kind words and encouragement over the years, it is truly humbling. You folks are awesome, and I'm truly glad that my inane scribblings have provided entertainment and inspiration! I went through the list of commenters and fed them into the randomization cogitator to determine who gets the Rogue Trader rule book and the winner is...

Dave Weston!

Drop me an email at moonlight (at) cold-moon.com with your address and I'll pop the book in the mail to ya!

In actual modeling news the cult limo arrived from Wargame Exclusive and I'm rather pleased with the model, looking forward to getting some paint on it. Been pretty busy this week with work and the band so not much hobby time, but this weekend is looking pretty open, hoping to get some good brush time in!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Tactical Squads built

With the trio of tanks more or less painted I thought I'd treat myself to a little build time! I'll be attending the NOVA Open later in the year and I plan on fielding the Thousand Sons so I suppose I ought to get cracking on building the force. Over the last few weeks have been patiently de-sprueing and organizing three boxes worth of Betrayal of Calth marines, and the time spent up front meant the models just flew together!

The mainstay of my Thousand Sons tactical squads is Sergeant Hesyre, sporting as ever his ever-so-slightly Flesh Change-y power fist. For the purposes of the lists for NOVA (rather small point value games) he's only at the head of a very basic 10-man squad this time around, though they will get a Deimos Rhino to ferry 'em around. Depending on how things pan out I may put together enough marines to pad out the squad to 20 and include a vox and vexilla.

Backing up Hesyre is a second 10-man squad led by Sergeant Jafari, also sporting the first signs of mutation as well. I'm trying for an evolution to the theme of the force, with the first iteration being Crusade era, the second take on 'em being set during the Burning of Prospero, while this force is intended to be a Siege of Terra/The Scouring-era force prior to the Rubric on their new homeworld of Sortiarius. The fact that I recently got a chance to read Talon of Horus means that I do have a bit of an itch to include Iskandar Khayon and his bodyguards Mekhari and Djedhor in the army somehow...

Heresy Era Imperial Army - Prospero Spireguard Khalophis Victrix-2 Tanks Painting Continues

Got a little more brush time in this weekend than is usual, and managed to get the trio of tanks up to the "off the assembly line" stage, prior to the addition of waterslide transfers and weathering. Despite the fact that three days ago we got 19" of snow, this afternoon it was almost 60F and I was able to get the initial sealant pass on 'em. Gotta love springtime in the Rockies!

As has been pointed out, technically speaking the "Ragnarok" tank is a post-heresy designation, from the War World of Krieg during the 500-year war from 433-949.M40. That said, it's also a long standing trope that technology in the 41st Millennium is more often rediscovered from ancient archives rather than newly designed, so it's not a great stretch to assume that some STC Construct tank matching the silhouette of the modern Ragnarok existed during the Heresy. Since the Ragnarok is obviously just a 40k-ed up Soviet KV-2 from the 1940's, I figured I'd give them a nod and call these "Khalophis Vixtrix-2" tanks to give 'em a little Thousand Sons-y feel as well.

Heresy Era Imperial Army - Prospero Spireguard KV-2 Ragnarok Tanks painting begins

I'd alluded to the Gothic KV-2 tanks that I'd ordered from MaxMini back in November, and sadly I ended up having all sorts of issues with getting all the track sections needed to build them. Originally intended for use with the Geno Five-Two project, the final pieces arrived well after I'd already finished and sold the army. So, rather than just bin 'em, they'll find use as part of the Prospero Spireguard instead!

Haven't gotten any farther than just getting the basecoat for the red down but I think they'll make a nice addition to the force! I'll be using them as counts-as Leman Russ tanks, they're roughly the same overall footprint size.

  

In other news, a Box o' Joy arrived from Forge World earlier in the week and I got a chance to see their new packaging firsthand. Previously the kits were just ziplock-bagged and thrown in a shipping box which sometimes led to bending, breakage, and occasionally the wrong items being shipped entirely - though FW was always super helpful getting the correct pieces out when there was a problem, it was still a problem. They're starting to individually box up the kits, and the trio of Deimos Rhinos that I'd ordered each came individually packed, with the resin pieces inside further bubblewrap padding, and an 'inspected by' note. Everything in the box was in perfect condition and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed by the updated care they're taking in shipping the product. It's definitely long past due...

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Veteran Squad Khalmekt built

Not much hobby time this past weekend but I did manage to squeeze in an hour or so to put together the veteran squad for the army I'm taking to the Nova Open. The intention is to field them as a squad of 8 at the event thereby being able to be joined by a character and still ride in a transport (as well as being a squad size of Tzeentch's sacred number, heh), but for general usefulness outside of the event I'm building out the full squad of 10.

Going with the tank-hunters theme with a combi-melta on the sergeant and a meltagun for the specialist. I always had a soft spot for the RT-era style missile launcher, and so the unit gets one of those as well to round things out. The unit all get the fancy torsos, loincloths and helmets to help them stand out from the basic tac marines, and one of these days they'll actually have bases to stand on!

Next up in the build queue are a couple units of the aforementioned tac marines, and a couple rhinos for them to roll around in...

Heresy Era Thousand Sons - Using the Deathwatch minis for parts

As a vague segue from the recent work on the Genestealer cultists from the Deathwatch release, today's post features the first pass at building some Heresy characters out of the marine models! Included in the set is a Blood Ravens Librarian, which of course is the natural model to use for the Thousand Sons but to begin with I figured I'd start with the Ultramarine Chaplain model as a basis for some sort of character or another!

 

No real plan in mind with the build, other than just Thousand Sons-ing it up a bit with an arm, head and weapon swap. While the crozius is cool, I just don't see the Thousand Sons having Chaplains, so a Khopesh-style two-handed axe it is! Swapped out the bolt pistol arm with a plasma pistol from the Betrayal at Calth set as well.

 

Figure he'd make a decent Praetor with a paragon blade, or failing that it's hard to go wrong with yet another Sorcerer! Dug up the last remaining base to put him on, one of these days the bases I'd ordered back at the end of December will actually arrive and I can get started on the infantry in earnest!

In other news a package arrived a few days back containing something that I probably didn't really need, but my predilection for picking up unusual and limited edition 40k stuff meant it was inevitable. I contacted a hobby buddy over in the UK who was kind enough to pick up a box of the HQ Command Tanks for me when he stopped by Warhammer World. Woo-hoo!

 

Essentially the box is just a basic Land Raider and Rhino, plus one sprue of add-on parts. Some cool double-sided doors allow for a bit of style choice, but for the most part are pretty bling-y. Again, no real plan for the models and for now they're just being squirreled away into the Closet of Doom for a rainy day when inspiration strikes. With all the aquilas and so forth they may be useful for the upcoming Adeptus Custodes rumored to be coming out with the Thousand Sons/Space Wolf heresy book scheduled for later this year...

40k Genestealer Cult - Cult complete!

Made the final push over the last couple evenings and got the cult past the finish line - The patriarch be praised! They're heading off to their new owner in the morning, so I snapped some final pics before they go. Mostly minor detailing, eyeball and bases, so not much additional commentary from the last post, but pretty pics ahoy!

Patriarch and Purestrains

Magus, Primus and Familiars

Aberrants

1st and 2nd Generation Hybrids

3rd Generation Hybrids

4th Generation Hybrids

As several readers pointed out, Wargames Exclusive recently released a sweet cult limousine and I immediately ordered one up for use with the cult v2 (I'm trading these painted cultists to a gamer buddy for a brand new Deathwatch box). They sell the middle stretch limo section as a separate add-on, so the urge to make one ridiculously long limo akin to Jeremy Clarkson's "Giant Panda" from Top Gear is strong... Hah!

One Millllllion views!

Holy Throne!

Yesterday afternoon the blog hit a milestone that never occurred in my most fevered imagining - One million views! I am absolutely humbled by that thought and I wanted to take a moment to express just how much I have appreciated all the kind words, helpful suggestions, and hilarious commentary over the years. It has been a pleasure getting to know some of you in person, and I look forward to meeting even more of you in the future!

As a way of saying thank you to all of you awesome folks out there in the blogosphere, I'm giving away my last softcover copy of the 1st edition Rogue Trader rulebook. A little bit of 40k history to commemorate such a momentous event in the blog's life seems appropriate! Be a follower of the blog and leave a comment on this post and at the end of March I'll fire up the random numeric cogitation polyhedrons and send the book to the winner!

Once again, thank you all so much for your support over the years, and I'll strive to keep doing what I do for years to come! Cheers, everyone!

40k Genestealer Cult - Pressing onwards!

Snuck in a little painting time over the weekend and got a little more work done on the cult - I'm finding that the models have a TON of detail compared to the waves of power armor I've been dealing with in the Heresy, which is a lot of fun but certainly means the batch painting starts to get challenging.

Got the metals in place, basic boltgun metallics on the weapons and gold on various bits of bling. To give the models a third spot color to complete the triad the various power cables got a yellow/green which sets off nicely against the purple and orange. Certainly a vibrant palette and a pleasant change from the more muted stuff I've been working on recently!

Couple close-up shots - still more work to do on all of them for sure, and I find taking some pics helps me spot all the things I still have to finish. For example, it appears I have yet to do the eyeballs on quite a few models. Doh!

Quite like the 1st and 2nd generation hybrids, just beautiful sculpts and there are definite nods to the older metal models (the less said about the old plastic Space Hulk hybrids, the better)!

I really dug that they included a pair of familars, a blast from the past for sure! Liking the mining lasers and sneaky claws on the 3rd generation hybrids as well - these models have a ton of personality!

The 4th generation hybrids are the most human-like, but still have a slight alien cast to their faces, arguably my favorite models of the set. More eyes to do and minor details here and there across the force, then it's just basing and they'll be good to go!

A couple people have asked for a pic of the cult alongside the combat cars I'd picked up a while back  - Not as big and imposing as I would hope for use as cult limousines, but not completely out of line either.

Really been enjoying working on these models, we're in the home stretch now!

40k Genestealer Cult - Initial colors blocked in...

During the week I rarely have much painting time these days (curse you, long commute!) but I've been so excited about the cultists that I have snuck in a half hour here and there over the last few days and blocked in a few more colors on the models. Still more highlighting and shading to go of course, but the models are really starting to come into focus (unlike my photography skills, it seems)!

Veered away at the last minute from my old color scheme, and decided to go with an orange 'asteroid miner' look, which I think suits the semi-spacesuit look the later generation models have. From a color theory standpoint, the orange is a natural complement to the violet/purple/blue tones of the skin and chitin as well. Bonus!

The group has already been spoken for, and I've been asked to match their new owner's basing scheme which is a dusty concrete. Did the purestrain's bases up and it looks pretty sharp, might have to do more in that base color scheme in the future. Once these models are complete I'll be trading them for a new box of Deathwatch, which will provide some further conversion fodder for the Thousand Sons, as well as a second chance to do more cultists (utilizing some of the things I learned building/painting this set).

40k Genestealer Cult - Chitin and Skin!

Quick hit this morning - while I wasn't able to get the whole cult painted up in a day (I must be slowing down in my old age), I did get all the skin tones laid in on the various models over the weekend:

I tried to keep the general color scheme throughout the generations, with the Patriarch and Purestrains in the old-school blue chitin and purple skin, and each successive generation having a lighter and more 'human' skin tone (though keeping the same blue chitin where exposed). So far, so good!

40k Genestealer Cult - The Benevolent Cult of the Four Armed Emperor rises!

For all that I haven't played a game of 40k in years (the Heresy train has no brakes), I will say that GW got their hooks back into me with the Deathwatch game. I've always had a soft spot for the Genestealer Cult, and I have had a couple of the old models lurking in my cabinet for eons, occassionally getting a repaint and an addition or two over the years.

So that said...

...This was inevitable. I have to say that the cult models absolutely exceeded my every expectation, they are gorgeous sculpts and the way that certain models could subtly change poses (purestrains and abberants) was rather clever. All of the heads for the hybrids are separate, allowing for reposing and swapping to a greater or lesser extent which means that it's possible to ensure there aren't any mirror image models in the force.

Things that I learned in the build that may help others:
1) The magus' knife goes behind the staff, not in front of it like mine ended up - doh!
2) The heads are all separate, I ended up doing one of each pair of models' heads in the 'correct' position, then clipped the post off and changed the positioning on the other - in retrospect I wish I'd taken it a step further and done full head swaps between differing bodies (inter-generational, of course) to make them even more distinct.
3) Note that there are two aberrant bodies and two aberrant weapons, and they are interchangeable to make 4 distinct models. I very nearly made the mistake of pairing both 'body 1' with both 'weapon 1', but caught the error before the glue set on the second model. Phew!


I'm likely going to render down the Deathwatch marines for bits for the Heresy so expect to see some of those being re-purposed in the future. For now, it's time to break out the paints and set to work on the new and improved Benevolent Cult of the Four Armed Emperor!

Heresy Era Thousand Sons Armoured Proteus Land Raiders (mostly) complete!

Took advantage of the surprisingly warm weather over the weekend to get the initial sealant pass on the Proteuseses in preparation for the addition of the water-slide transfers and weathering. A little work after work last night and the weather was nice enough to get the second round of sealant on as well!

 

As part of the Fallout Hobbies kickstarter I'd picked up a few custom sheets with Thousand Sons icons and hieroglyphic cartouches to help differentiate the look of the army somewhat from the last iteration. Used the sponge method to add a little weathering here and there, running on the 'less is more' method to start with to see how it goes - it's always easier to add a little more than it is to cover up too much!

 

The Thousand Sons symbol transfers were a godsend, as I'm just rubbish at painting 'em! Rather looking forward to adding them to the vehicles I'd held onto from the previous run. I'm musing adding some mud effect to the treads and undercarriage and perhaps a bit more aggressive scraped paint. So far so good though!