069 - Not giving 110%

Like most people in this hobby I have a massive back log of models to paint and I have decided I need to get through them. With this in mind for my Nurgle 40k force I am going cut as many corners as I can realistically get away with. I am not going to worry not about what the individual models look like but how they look in a unit.
So here are my Pox Walkers from the Dark Imperium boxed set.

I used mainly washes over a white undercoat and a few base colours. It was quick and fun to do an while individually they don't look all that great, as a shambling horde of mutated walking corpses they look fine.
These guys were an easy to paint unit which is what you want from a horde. I can't wait for a change of pace and I want to knock out some other units now!

068 - Grandfather Nurgle's Salutations

When I got my copy of Dark Imperium I loved the look of the Plague Marines in mk3 armour so I delved into my large collection of mk3 sprues I have accumulated I got to work.
Mixing in in elements of the chaos marine kit and the chaos warriors gave them a more medieval look on a few of the models. I gave them all chaos marine backpacks as I don't particularly like the mk3 backpacks from the Burning of Prospero They fitted quite well and suited because after all they are Chaos Marines!

For some heavy support I also added in a couple of Contemptor Dreadnoughts. One of which is slightly converted.

I went for really muddy bases which fit in with the Death Guard asthetic.

I plan to add a few more Nurgle units to my army. Instead of just pure Death Guard I may go for a broader Nurgle force. I think I will paint up the Nurgle half of the Dark Imperium box and with a couple of extra units I should have a around a 100 power level force which seems like a nice size. I am a bit of a hobby magpie so I may start a different force or maybe even a different god in the dark pantheon may call me. Who knows!

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067 - Hiatus Begone!

I was sadly robbed of all of my hobby momentum for the past couple of months. I haven't wanted to paint or model a great ammount. With 8th edition on the horizion and the ambiguity a whether Horus Heresy was going to follow or not didn't help my motivation at all. I had heard rumours of how the armies would work and few previews of the force orginasation charts but nothing concrete.
All this meant I got very little done!
I don't paint miniatures to game with but I love the fact I can collect an actual army that functions on the tabletop albeit not an optimised one. So all the half rumours flying around didn't help so the motivation dried up.
When 8th edition came out I was back on track. I like the new minis and feel like I have an actual chance to learn the rules for this edition. The army selection is brilliant as I can choose what I want from a faction keyword and add it to my force. These keywords along with the new force organisation charts means I have a massive amount of freedom. For example I can stick some Kastellan robots and a single squad of Imperial Guard into my Astartes army and it is still a battle forged army. There is not the taboo that unbound had in 7th edition and the index books make it much asier to pick and choose units.

So I have a few projects on the go which i will share (lucky you).

1. The Death Guard.
Back in the early 90s I had a Chaos army which was devoted to Nurgle and have always had a soft spot for it. Seeing the Dark Imperium box I thought I would take the plunge and get a new army. Luckily I have alot of Daemons and Chaos Marines I could use. I also have got loads of mkiii armour which I have picked up from Ebay so this will be the basis of the line troops. The back packs don't do it for me but I have got quite alot of Chaos back packs which fit Nicely on the models.
I love the painting style of my Death Guard. It's not Blanchitsu but it is my approximation of it. I am having real fun with a range of washes over plain base coats. It's a slightly dingy style that fits in with the Grimdark of 40k.

2. The Imperial Fists
I wanted to collect another 30k force but I wanted it to be one of the defenders of Terra during the siege. I wasn't quite sure which army to get then the inspiration hit me. I love Dreadnoughts and I loved the tenacity of the Imperial Fists so I would build a "Fury of the Ancients" list. I went for one of the alternative colour schemes for the Imperial Fists and I really like just painting up one slight;y larger unit at a time.

3.Blackshields
I love idea of the Blackshields in the Horus Heresy. Also they are space pirates.
I have alot of different parts of Space Marines from a great many projects and a Word Bearers army they I am never really going to use so I decided to make a new army out of it! Episode 14 of the Overlords podcasts was a great help to me as it is about creating a Heresy army relatively cheaply and from disparate bits which was perfect for my force. You can find it here.

I have done a few different conversions and cant wait to really get stuck in with these guys!

I have an eye on doing some models set in the period of the Unification Wars. I like the idea of techo-barbarians tearing around pre-unification Terra. But this will be a slow burner and I may well just do a small warband.
I am excited about the 8th edition of Warhammer 40,000 or as Games Workshop call it the New Warhammer 40,000. I have never played my copy of 7th edition because in all honesty it was too complicated. I much preferred the Horus Heresy for collecting so 40k has taken a backfoot really.
Now the new edition is out I have decided to get the boxed set and create an army out of the Death Guard models inside.
So the hiatus is over and I am definitely back on the hobby horse!

066 - Making Space Wolves Great Again

With my wolves renovation project in full swing I have several different group of Space Wolves.
First up is a slightly smaller than I'd hoped group of models which are 30k compatible.  They have the correct weapons and armour so I don't have to do  any work to them. This is my favorite group!
The second group consists of models which need a bit of a spruce up to fit in. There are a lot of bolters that need changing but I have used old rogue trader bolters to be able to fit in nicely. I have also used quite a few plastic mkiv legs to swap in for any mkvii legs that are floating about.
It's just been a case of taking four or five models at a time, repainting, repairing them and then getting another four or five and repeating the process. There were more that needed work than I initially thought but they are mostly weapon swaps and the like, rather than massive jobs.
The final group are models which sadly don't fit in at all. These were any metal models bar the  Dreadnoughts. This means my destroyers, Apothecary and Runepriest are being consigned to the reserves bench. I really liked the Runepriest as it was the old Nijai Stormcaller model. The apothacary was a conversion that I was really proud of but if it doesn't fit then it doesn't fit! Another small part of this group are my mkvi Seekers. I loved the Seekers and they were all in mkvi armour. However they were a little too wolf themed for my liking. The long wolf pelts were very 40k and they had Goodwyn pattern bolters which unfortunately aren't era appropriate.However the silver lining is that I can use the parts from this group to swap out parts that I need which will speed up the renovations to the second group.

The mkiii were an absolute joy to put together but I didn't like the backpacks. However I always seem to get a seam on the exhausts. The good thing with this project's theme is that I can use different backpacks from different marks of armour to get a mkv cobbled together look,
The army is now about 2500pts which is  a decent size for 30k gaming. When I have finished these few last models I can relax and move onto the next project.

065 - For The Wolftime...... Again?

This year was going to be the start of my second generation of Iron Warriors. However I couldn't get on with the colour scheme so I scrapped the project. I have done a more detailed post about it here.
So this left a gap in my hobby commitments and a box full of plastic waiting to be built. So I filled this metaphorical gap with the Vlka Fenryka. I originally kit bashed 40k plastic Space Wolves and resin MK4 marines to create my first 30k army. This was well before the Calth set came out so was hunting around for every last bit of Heresy era armour I could get my hands on.
The result is an eclectic mix of weapons and armour parts which was exactly the look I wanted for my Space Wolves. However the long awaited Inferno book has recently been released along with the Burning of Prospero boxed game.

I was inspired by the Inferno review on the Sons of Heresy podcast. A couple of years ago when he was on the Overlords podcast Jason Mullins infectious enthusiasm really cemented my choice of starting legion and now his excitement over the new book got me wanting to go back to the wolves. I have also been inspired by Big Jim on twitter. His kitbashed army and use of slightly older minis really gels with my own approach to the collection.

I decided I could re-purpose my Space Wolves as most of the models have the correct armour and equipment. It's a case of adding a few models here and there and possible bits. For example exchanging mk7 legs for mk4 legs. I had two Calth sets and a Prospero set so this mean a lot of bits to pick from.
I decided I would retire my metal models and add some more plastic troops. I am going to keep my big tanks and the dreadnoughts. The dreadnoughts might not quite fit being metal and have a few storm bolters here and there but I really like the models so I think I will keep them.
So here I am pulling apart models and trying to match arms with legs so I have to do as little painting as possible. This is a picture of my hobby desk at the moment.

I have now started this small (I hope) project. This won't be a full army. Just a refresh and a couple of new units here and there. After this I can turn my attention to a different Legion but I feel I can have fun with my space vikings for the time being.

064 - New Necromunda?

What's this new game that has been announced? A new Necromunda? Heck no!

Games Workshop's new skirmish game Shadow War: Armageddon has been announced on the Warhammer Community site here.
From the press release it seems to be set in Hive Acheron during the third war for Armageddon. Games Workshop says it is based on the old Necromunda ruleset however it looks very much like Kill Team to me. There seems to be alot of factions and squads you can use as "gangs". 

One of the potential factions is Imperial Guard. Luckily I have a few Cadians that I got off Ebay in a start collecting box.

A few are on sprue and some are assembled but I think I can have a go at a decent squad with bags of personality. 

Games Workshop wants a slice of the skirmish level pie but this new game looks quite cool and I can see myself having a go with it. Even if that means just building a couple of squads and maybe an INQ28 style warband. Either way this could be a small side project that will hopefully break up painting marines all the time!

063 - Giving Up At The First Hurdle

A few weeks ago I was really excited about the prospect of a new army with the start of my next generation of  Iron Warriors. I had been buying models for almost six months in preparation for this project. I wanted to come out of the gates strong so I started with I had this guy and got him all painted up nice.

It was all going right. I had a Primarch painted. I had a paint scheme on a test model I was happy with. I had a clear idea of the army composition to aim for.
Then it went wrong.
I started painting my first unit of terminators and I just wasn't feeling it. I fell out of love with the paint scheme. It was quite dull. I played around with it but it didn't do it for me. Also the Legion colour scheme being bare metal didn't give me any opportunities for weathering which I am quite partial to now so it all looked a bit flat. I am not a good enough painter to make a simple paint scheme look exciting. I was stumped.
I also felt the army composition was a bit off. I couldn't have it as vehicle heavy as I would like and it would be a lot of work to represent the extra armour on the vehicles you can get in the Hammer Of Olympia rite of war. I also feel unless Terminators are in a Land Raider or Spartan or deep striking through teleports they are not really viable. This meant that I had to run Perturabo or not have an effective army.
So with a heavy heart I decided to be honest with myself and had to pull the plug. It might seem a bit extreme but I don't want to be halfway through an army be really demotivated and then not want to finish it. I will just end up with a half completed army. This is a problem I have had before and i know that I will drag out the last half the models I want to finish if I finish them at all.  I don't feel I have wasted any time or effort as I have the models that I bought for the army which are not legion specific so can go into my next project and I have a shiny Primarch model which makes a great display piece. I will have a look at various ideas I have kicking around and see what I can do next. I haven't finished with the Legiones Astartes just yet, but I do need a new direction.

063 - Iron warriors Mk2

This hobby of ours has many different facets. Some folk are in it to play the games where some like the modelling and painting sides and some believe it or not even like both. I always loved building models however I found painting them more of a chore than anything so I never really got a whole army painted before.
Getting back into the Warhammer hobby has been brilliant and as a fully grown human I can concentrate and push through slightly boring tasks to achieve a good end result. So now I have three fully painted decent sized armies on my shelf and well a quite alot of other smaller forces and individual models.
My first army when I got back into the hobby was the Iron Warriors. The main itch that I wanted to scratch when starting the project was getting an army painted. I used Army Painter products and kind of rushed it out. The painting standard was quite poor but you could charitably call it tabletop standard.
I then did the 30k Space Wolves which were better painted and I feel that I improved again with my Word Bearers.
So now the idea is to go back and redo my Iron Warriors and do a decent paint job on them. I had alot of Heresy marks of armour from the Calth and Prospero boxes so It will be a 30k force. Heresy is really scratching my hobby itch at the moment. I have bought Perturabo and want to have an army worthy of their Primarch. I did a post about him here. The old army was okay but now I want to do much better. I saw a really well painted Iron Warriors army in my local Games Workshop which was a bit of an inspiration for me.
My first test model was a Master of Signals. He is based on Ennox Sorrlock but I gave him an Iron Warriors feel.

There will be definitely be some Dreadnoughts as well because I love Contemptors. I have bought up a load of Terminators and intend to have this as a real elite force. I built my first half of a squad. They were really easy to put together and I can't wait to get some paint on them

So I am going to add models in as I take a like to them as I feel this is the best way to motivate myself to paint my models. I am so excited about this army as I feel I can get a really nice force. There is alot to do but I can take my time and get some really good results.

062 - Primarch... More Like PrimACHE!

So I just finished Perturabo. First up I am not a very good painter. I have a basic grasp of basic techniques but any kind of fine detail is a bit of a fluke if I get it right.
However I really struggled with the assembly of Perturabo. The resin took ages to clean and I couldn't get him to stick together very well. I think we have been spoilt by plastic models being so easy to assemble.
He is a big complicated model which would be hard to paint as a whole so I did him in sub assemblies. I popped him together and hoped he stuck, which thankfully he did.
So here he is:

When I finished him I felt someone else could do better but I am pretty much at the limit of my painting ability. I don't think I will be doing another Primarch any time soon and I think I will stick to plastic as well because the resin was a nightmare for me. More experienced, and to be honest better modellers have no problems but unfortunately that wasn't the case for me.
I feel I have a good centre piece model but for the time being I will be taking a break from resin. It was hard work and definitely not for beginners. However looking at the model on my display shelf he looks great and certainly that makes it worthwhile.

061 - Year In Review

2016 has been a pretty good year for my painting hobby. I have painted over 100 models, completed an army and feel that my painting has really improved.
At the start if the year I made some New Year Resolutions which you can read here. Completing two out of three resolutions wasn't bad. However I failed one miserably.
The first one was document what I have achieved.

So I created a ghetto Kaban board which was quite simple but let me know how I was progressing with projects. I stuck to a maximum of five active projects at one time which helped me commit to completing projects.
With regards to the second resolution I failed the stick to a budget quite quickly. I need to definitely reign in my spending with this hobby as I have full armies that aren't painted. I am going to have a more realistic budget this year and spread it out monthly rather than have a pool for the whole year.
The third resolution was quite a success. I joined the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge which I completed with my Word Bearers army. You can see a post about the army here.

I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge but unfortunately there wont be a IC's HPC next year. There are plenty of other challenges on Facebook groups and the like so I just have to have a hunt around to find them.
So what are the plans for 2017?
I am going to concentrate on my two new armies. The first being my Iron Warriors 30k army which will mainly consist of Terminators and Perturabo. Here is a picture of my test Master of Signals to try out the colour scheme.

  

I am going to go for a battered industrial feel for the weapons. I have quite a few models to paint but this scheme is quite quick and simple which really suits me.

The second army is my Minotaurs army. It will be more of a High Lords of Terra task force with a core of marines and some fruitier stuff like the Custodes and Inquisitors.

These guys are also quite simple but I can add alot of variety of fluffy units just by using the Codex: Agents Of The Imperium.
Resolution wise I will probably stick to the ones I made last year but be a bit more realistic about the money I spend on this hobby. It is a really expensive hobby but I will definatly try to reign it in.
I am really looking forward to the this year and I can't wait to get some Iron Warriors painted!

060 - My Favorite Minature

After getting all excited about Codex: Imperial Agents I dug out a load of my old Inquisition miniatures. Among them was my favourite Games Workshop miniature of all time. This guy:

This model is a savant from the Daemon Hunters from 3rd edition. I love the way he is hunched over and quite grumpy looking. He is such an evocative model with tonnes of personality.
I should have really finished the base though!

059 - Inquisition Excitment

So Codex: Imperial Agents is out soon and boy am I excited. I have always loved the Inquisition from back when I first got into the universe of Warhammer 40,000. I remember reading the stories featuring them in White Dwarf and being really intrigued. The thing that made me fall in love with them was this page from the Codex Imperialis from the 2nd edition game.

The Inquisitors were really exciting and I had a metal Inquisitor in Terminator armour that I used in my 2nd edition games. Unfortunately he was lost in a house move somewhere.
Fast forward a few years and the Inquisitor game came out. It had loads of background and really highlighted the political infighting between the factions of the Inquisition. At this time the Eisenhorn novels came out in support of the game. Dan Abnett  wrote a trilogy which is one of the best stories I have ever read. It gave me such a interest in the universe after a bit of a slow patch. I would recommend these books to anyone who hasn't read them.
As the codex was coming out I decided to dust off some of my old models. Here are some of my Inquisition warband members

This guy is converted from a Mordhiem Witch Hunters Warrior Priest.

This used to be a Necromunda Redemptionist however I think he is definitely a WIP.

I really liked using the Redemptionists as henchmen. I think they really look the part.

This is a metal Space Marine scout with a green stuff fur cape and a enlarged shoulder pad.

Finally this assassin was the original Rogue Trader assassin that came out before the assassins were revamped in the mid 90s.
So that is a few of my Inquisition models. I am really excited about the new codex as I rarely get to field such an eclectic range of models in a cohesive force.

058 - My Favorite Iron Warriors Units

As the new Iron Warriors are being created I think it is time to consign the old models to storage to make way for the new guys. I have painted up quite nearly 150 models for this army with painting ranging from "okay" to "my first paint job". But before they go into a KR case here are my three favourite units from the army.

The Heldrake was the first big kit that I had to put together and man is it complicated. Its looks huge when it is finally completed. Just don't try and pick it up without using the flying stand!

The cultists get in here not just because of the natty paint scheme but because this is when I felt i had cracked batch painting and could churn out a decent amount of models at a good pace.

The Helbrute was one of the more complicated miniatures with alot of detail to paint but I feel I did model justice. The dynamic pose is pretty cool too!
Despite the Iron Warriors being a little rough round the edges I will always have a soft spot for this army due to it being the one that got me back into the hobby. However I feel it has had it's day and I now have to crack on with my 30k Iron Warriors and do the sons of Olympus justice!

057 - Iron Warriors Daemon Prince Conversion

After finishing my Daemon Prince I had quite alot of spare bits leftover. I wanted to use these in something but didn't have any success. Inspiration stuck however and I popped the arms and a head on a Dark Vengeance Helbrute and with a little bit of hobby magic here we are!

The idea behind this model was rooted in the rules for the Ferrum Infernus Dreadnought from Imperial Armour 13 where they can become a Daemon Prince or a spawn. Obviously this guy rolled the right number!
This was a fun little conversion that worked out nicely and shows that taking a risk and doing something that seems a little crazy can really pay off!

056 - Minotaurs Test Model

I finished my Minotaur test model which is a metal Space Marine Captain. I was quite happy with the finished paint job and it wasn't too difficult to complete. The bronze went on quite well and I can do the red easily as well.

I think this colour scheme is easy enough for me to complete a whole army with. I am going to do a tactical squad of old plastic marines next just to make sure the colour scheme is okay for a group of miniatures.
Overall I am quite happy with this test and can't wait to make a start on the rest of the army!

055 - Maybe Minotaurs?

I love Space Marines in 40k. Well what's not to love about an armour genetically enhanced super warrior? They are such a deeply developed faction with great power and horrendous flaws. As iconic factions go Space Marines are the poster boys of the universe. Stripped of their humanity they are the bulwark against the dark for all of the people of the Imperium.
As you probably know the Space Marines were organised into many different chapters after the events of the Horus Heresy. They all have different character depending on the chapter and are fairly autonomous however some are rigidly adherent to the Codex Astartes than others.
I chose my chapter from an existing one rather than create my own. I saw the Minotaurs in the Badab war books and was bowled over. The High Lords of Terra use them as their personal attack dogs and they put chapters which don't tow the line back unto place. They have the pick of equipment and fight as a whole chapter rather than break off which makes them a little different to normal chapters. The psycho-indoctrination process is more rigorous and this makes them ultra loyal to the High Lords.
So with this background floating around my head I cracked on with my first model. Here is a work in progress picture of the test model.

I wanted to do a test model as the main thing I look for when starting an army is if I like doing a colour scheme and find it fun to paint. I will do this guy and a small squad of plastic marines to see if I can stomach doing fifty or more of these guys.
Hopefully this will turn out well and lead to a whole new army.

054 - The End Of The Stormcast?

Following  a problem with my last unit of Stormcast Eternals that ended up ruining my Prosecutors I have decided I am going to leave my Stormcast army as it is for the time being. The Lord Celestant and the Lord Relictor seem like amazing models but I think they will suffer from the same problems as the Prosecutors did with regards to assembly and me being a clumsy oaf. 

So I have fourteen big Order miniatures painted which is just under 500 points. This will be a large chunk of a decent sized Order Grand Alliance force. 

I will definitely add more Order dudes at some point and tie them in with the bases and colour scheme. I think Flagellants and a Warrior Priest may be a good choice but one of the great things with Age of Sigmar is that the choices are wide open. Did some one say Sylvaneth?

053 - Procesutor Pains

I had that really annoying moment when you damage a model so badly it can't be completed. I've been able to repair most of the damage I've done to models with dropping and such but the one I have just destroyed was the Prosecutor Prime from the Age Of Sigmar boxed set.
I have enjoyed assembling the Stormcast models and painting them. However I felt the Prosecutors were too flimsy and had to many details that could snap or chip. Especially those big old wings. They look great but are super delicate. Unfortunately I was rushing the assembly and messed up the gluing of the wings. They are all fused at the back and it's a shame I was unable to fix them.
I will probably turn the other two Prosecutors that went together fine into some scenery. I could do some pretty good statues with them. I don't fancy buying anymore to make a unit of five as I was dreading painting them.

They are great models but just not for me. I think I will stick to ground based units from now on. There are quite a few models in the Order Grand Alliance that I like so I have quite alot of choice to make a great army.

052 - More Liberators

I have completed my second unit of Stormcast Liberators for my starter set of Age of Sigmar, They were pretty good to paint as I like the slightly bigger models with lots of flat armour. The colour scheme really works with the weathering and is relatively simple to do. 

The bases are pretty good as I can add new troops from other Order factions and they will tie in with the rest of the army. I have my eye on some wizards, Elves or possibly even flagellants when I have completed the models from the boxed set. Watch this space!

051 - Stormcast Retributors

Next up on the Stormcast conveyor belt are a unit of three Retributors. They are great hulking models with their massive warhammers and bulky armour. I painted the backpack separately then assembled them and weathered the model as a whole.

In matched play they are not a full unit so until I get another two it's not optimising the points. However I will still take them as they are quite cool and are visually quite impressive. I am really enjoying the weathering process and can't wait to crack on with the next models.