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!

40k Genestealer Cult - Demolition Claw Acolytes and Aberrants complete(ish)!

Working on the Rockgrinders gave me a little breather from the Infantry, but figured I'd take advantage of the warm afternoon after work to finish them off and get them sealed!

Rather pleased with how they've turned out, though I think I need to go back in and do all the pipes on the bases in a far brighter yellow and add hazard stripes. As they stand they're a bit too samey with the scabrous yellow on the trousers. What worked well on the Purestrain bases works slightly less so here...

The Aberrants got the same treatment, and need the same follow-on base treatment, but still I'm quite happy with 'em and am looking forward to getting the force painted enough to warrant a game with 'em!

Spent a little time going over the Rockgrinders and re-blacking in all of the bits intended to be metallic or rubber. Doing so is a bit tedious, but does help the models snap into focus! Really digging how they're coming along, and has me giving more and more thought towards using the plastic Mk.III marines from the recently-released Battle for Prospero box set to make some Imperial Fists to accompany the Custodes and Sisters of Silence. After the fun with this yellow I think it's a foregone conclusion that's what's going to happen!

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