Heresy Era Imperial Fists - The Motor Pool motors on...

Just a quick hit today, it's been a rather busy week so I didn't get as much brush time in as I'd initially planned. That said, the motor pool for the Imperial Fists is moving right along!

Got a bit more work done on the yellow, got some edge highlighting in place on the black and got the metallics and the blues roughed in. They're starting to come into focus now! In other good news, I've managed to get off the waitlists and into two of the events I've been hoping for at Adepticon this year, and will be participating in the 30k Friendly on Friday, and the Gomeiza Conflect, Part 3 on Saturday. Really looking forward to it!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Cataphractii Terminators and the Motor Pool!

After the post yesterday morning I was feeling reinvigorated and cracked on with the Fists! Eight weeks to Adepticon, so I'm feeling quite confident the force will be done by then with some wiggle room to build and paint another unit or character as the points values require - At the moment I'm on the wait list for every event I was hoping to get tickets for, but I'm holding out hope and building a force that can be broken down to satisfy any of the events that I may be able to slip in to!

Much like the Templar Brethren, the Cataphractii terminators were also almost complete. A bit of shading and washes and they're ready for the initial sealant step.

As is usually the case, right after I go about sourcing bits to do a conversion for a unit type that exists in the rules but not in the Forge World shop, they immediately go and release pics of better-looking ones that they'll be coming out with just a month or so past when I'm done with the project. Hah! Nevertheless, I like how the Custodes shields worked for the build, and when I get around to building a sword-and-board unit of Custodes proper, I'll be repeating the white wing inlays on their shields as well - Pretty happy with how they turned out!

That leaves 5 models to go, as things stand at the moment. Three vehicles, and two characters. After finishing off the terminators I grabbed the big tank brush and re-painted all the tanks in chaos black, so that any re-blacking cleanup later will match up, then started laying in the basecoats for the yellows. On the big flat surfaces, even the Scrofulous Brown I use direct on the infantry is a bit too translucent, so all the areas were first given a Leather Brown basecoat. Then the Scrofulous brown went on and I laid in the first pass of Golden Yellow. While I was about it I also grabbed Sigismund and the Tartaros champion and started laying in the base yellows for them as well. It's a bizarre mix for a batch paint session but does ensure I'm not bored! At a certain point the tanks hulls, and the characters and crew will be separated for detailing's sake, but for now it's all the same colors getting spattered on with wild abandon!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Templar Brethren 'off the factory floor'

Quick hit this morning, working on getting my painting mojo back and spent some time over the weekend finishing off the Templar Brethren to the pre-weathering stage.

They were pretty close to complete from last time, so mostly it was shading and basing. The metal areas got a wash, as did the garlands to help tone them down a bit from their earlier neon shade. A little highlight to the power weapons and finishing off the bases and they're tabletop ready! Next up are the trio of vehicles, it was warm enough to prime them a few days back, which means I'm well on the way to the finish line before Adepticon (which looms on the near horizon)!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Rhinos and Land Raider built!

Haven't been feeling the painting mojo over the last few days, so as a bit of a distraction I spent some time gluing my fingers together instead!

To transport the Templar Brethren, I wanted some sort of assault vehicle but didn't want to go all the way up to the Spartan. In general I prefer the Proteus chassis as it feels more Heresy-y to me, but only the Phobos has an assault ramp. So a Mk.IIb it is! I approached it with some trepidation, as the last kit I'd built had tolerances to the nearest half inch. This one in contrast went together like a dream! I believe they've re-cut the molds at some point along the way, as this kit was pretty long in the tooth comparatively speaking.

The two Veteran squads each get a Rhino to roll around in, and as usual the Deimos Rhino kits went together smoothly as well. I plumped for a few of the new pintle-mounted weapon kits, in order to mount each tranport with a heavy bolter. Theme-wise, the army is chock full of heavy bolters in fact!

Of course we're having rather Colorado weather of late, so while it was in the upper 50s mid-week, it's been below freezing all weekend and forecast to continue for the next few days. No primering for the tanks in the near future, more's the pity!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Templar Brethren and Cataphractii Terminators nearly done...

Little bit of brush time over the weekend, and got a few more colors down on the Templars and Terminators!

Laid in the basic silver, gold and whites on the various areas, though they are just the basecoats currently - more shading and highlights to come so they don't look quite so flat. I also roughed in the basecoat for the bases, which immediately helps the models pop a bit (especially when they are predominantly black anyway)!

Probably one or two more sessions to go over the next few evenings, hopefully we'll get another break in the weather soon and I can get them sealed in preparation for weathering!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Templar Brethren and Cataphractii Terminators painting continues...

Quick hit today, while I brace for the imminent snowpocalypse! Supposed to get a foot of snow overnight, and it's already coming down pretty good. On the other hand, it's also forecast to be around 55°F on Sunday. Gotta love Colorado!

Got (most) of the black cleaned up and then started adding in some colors in the meantime! The usual power field blue really pops against the black and yellow, and the green garlands add another layer of visual interest to what was a fairly drab looking set of models, earlier! Next up will be all the silver trimwork around the various armour plates, which should help give them a little more depth.

As I'm expecting to work from home tomorrow (no way am I going to do a 40 mile commute in a foot+ of snow) I'm hoping I can sneak up to the loft and do a little painting over my lunch hour. Rather enjoying how they're coming along so far, and I'm already envisioning what the Land Raider transport for 'em is going to look like in a similar black livery!

Heresy Era Imperial Fists - Templar Brethren and Cataphractii Terminators begin!

Happy New Year, everyone - Hope the changeover finds you all hale and hearty! Yesterday the weather was nice enough to spray seal the recently-painted models and primer the next batch. Pressed on and laid in the basic yellows!

Next up on the block are the five hammer-and-board Cataphractii terminators, and a ten-man squad of Templar Brethren. They will have the reversed scheme from the 'basic' veterans and Tartaros terminators, and will be primarily black with yellow accents. Next up will be going back in with black to clean up the slop, and then move on to all the highlighting of the black armour.

Figured I'd go through to update all the painting charts and see what projects I have on deck this year. The plan is to take the Imperial Fists to the LVO and Adepticon this year, and they're actually further along than I'd expected!

Next up is the project that sounded good at the time but I am beginning to regret my life choices. The Genestealer Cult are an awesome new set of models and they're fun to paint, but it is a metric boatload of models to paint. I started to batch paint all of the 3rd and 4th generation hybrids at once and got all the skin done, but the thought of doing all 40+ of them at the same time for further steps filled me with horror. Going to have to break them up into 20-man groups and crank 'em out. Once that's done it'll be time to move on to the brood brothers/suborned pdf troops!

There's been very little forward motion on my beloved Thousand Sons of late, as I've been in a holding pattern for Inferno (the FW book that will include their rules). I have been gathering bits and kits, and once the new book drops there will likely be a frenzy of activity! All Is Dust!

Nearly a completed force, I ought to really buckle down and finish of the last few models for the Prosperine Assault Infantry, but similar to the Thousand Sons there's rumors that the Spireguard will have some rules in the upcoming book so I'm hesitant to do much more with them for fear of building invalid unit types.

Way down in the priority list are the Dark Eldar and Harlequins, which are at this point a "if I absolutely can't be arsed to paint anything from any of my other projects" project.

Should be a great year of hobby goodness! Hope you all have a safe and happy 2017!