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.