029 - Event Only Cataphractii

Having kept up to date on the Forge World Bulletin we got a sneak preview of the event only miniature that is being released first at Warhammerfest.

He is an absolute beast. With all the equipment built into his Cataphractii  armour I can see a few people using him as a Siege Breaker. The event only miniatures are a nice treat and aren't usally too expensive.  I really like the model and will definitely be picking him up!

028 - Deamons In Another Day

Continuing on my Nurgle Deamon army I have finished some more of Papa Nurgle's minions. 

As before with the Plaguebearers I used the ghostly technique of a white undercoat, a wash of Nilhiakh Oxide then a drybrush of white.

The first guy up is 1980s Great Unclean One. In game terms I will use him as a Deamon Prince as he is a little small compared to the more modern Greater Deamons. I stuck a spare metal Nurgling on the base for flavour.

The guy with the scythe is actually an old Epic model of Mortarion the Death Guard Primarch. I got this guy in the early 90s and used him as a Nurgle Chaos Sorcerer. However nowadays he is a Herald of Nurgle.

I had an Ebay splurge at New Year and got this Nurgle Champion. I love the face on this guy. Again he is going to be used as a Herald of Nurgle.

These are my HQ choices. I may add more in the future but I think they look great. Now I have to do a load of little Nurglings. Go team Nurgle!

027 - Warhammerfest!

Warhammerfest is coming to Coventry again after more than 18 months!

Due to the Wasps and Coventry City sharing the ground the schedule has been tighter so the event has been moved to May. Last time I went it was a really good event with quite a few different things to do and see. I much preferred the more chilled out pace of Warhammerfest than the urgent nature of Games Day.
They have the Golden Demon on Sunday. I'm don't really bother with it as its quite hard to see the models but it's a welcome addition nonetheless.
I really liked last Warhammerfest's seminars. I will attempt to go to the Heresy one and also see what other seminars are on. Other things to do include the White Dwarf area, Black Library and painting workshops.
There is also a large retail space with a ForgeWorld area, which is great as it means no postage!
So grab a ticket if you still want to go, it's awesome!

026 - Freaking Warhounds!

I'll come right out and say it as it's no surprise for most people in this hobby. Games Workshop kits are amazing. They seem to get better year on year. They have extra bits to convert your models. The CAD design process has helped them get more detail on each sprue.  They are a cut above other models available.
However some kits are a little "meh".
I recently bought five plastic Warhounds off Ebay and then bought some of the new oval bases that have been released for Age Of Sigmar. Thinking they would be a quick project to get a small unit on the table which I could expand with a ten model box set if they were quite fun to assemble and paint I set to work.
The models were quite easy to put together but as they were in two pieces there was a line running straight down the centre of the model. I had similar problems with the fur lined capes of my chaos warriors with a massive gap in quite a prominent location. I had to get the sculpting tool  and green stuff and fill in the gaps. To be fair this is a slightly older kit and the more recent efforts from Games Workshop have slightly more clever  pieces so things like fur and armour detail are not interrupted by a injection mark or a mould line.
This is how they turned out:

With the Warhounds I got them finished in the end but it was definitely a case of  finish them to a decent standard and hope nobody looks too closely. It's not my best work but sometimes you just have to push through the pain barrier to get a unit done.

025 - Beastlord Addition

One thing that I really like about the Age Of Sigmar is the army selection. With most armies in 40k and 30k it is very structured but you can just choose what you want in Age Of Sigmar. it's quite liberating at first. I'm a big fan of the size of the armies. It makes it easy it to finish an army. You don't have to have  a certain points value in mind you can just say enough is enough.
With my Tzeench war-band I wanted to add some Beastmen. I was a big fan of the old Chaos army where you could add Deamons, Beastmen and Warriors of Chaos to a whole army. This was brought back in The End Times but can easily be adapted to Age Of Sigmar by just sticking to the Chaos faction.
I had a hunt on Ebay and found a bargain of a Beastlord. I think it makes a great hard hitting alternative to the more magic focused Tzeench heroes which will be in the Tzeench contingent of my Chaos army.
Here he is in all his beastly glory.

I quite like the pose of the model although the way the axe is positioned I had to paint the model in it's component parts. The colour scheme is a little wacky but I wanted the skin tone to match the Tzeench Sorcerer Lord that I have already painted.
I am already looking at adding a couple of Beastmen units to the army as the Beastlord's contingent. As a whole I am enjoy the Age of Sigmar army build experience because I don't have to worry about any of the constraints of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles army selection so I can basically pick whatever I want and in the future I want Beastmen!

024 - Dreadnoughts on Parade

I really love collecting Dreadnoughts.They are one of the most original and iconic vehicles in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The idea that a Space Marine isn't just laid to rest but can be interred within an armoured sarcophagus so they can continue to fight is fascinating to me.
The flip side of the Chaos Dreadnoughts is also quite cool. Where the Imperial Dreadnoughts suffer tremendous pain all the time they see it as an honour to be able to carry on the Chaos Dreadnoughts hate it and after 10,000 years trapped in a metal box they have gone absolutely bonkers, having to be chained down while not in battle.
I'd thought I would share a few pictures of my ever growing collection of walking metal boxes!

First up my Space Wolves Dreadnought Talon:

This is the first Dreadnought I made for my 30k Wolves. It's based on the plastic Dreadnought kit. It was originally a Grey Knight Dreadnought but I re purposed it for the Heresy. I have a more in depth look at the rescue job here.

This one is based on the plastic Ironclad kit and is slightly more beefy than the other two Dreadnoughts in the talon. I went for the siege wrecker and close combat weapon and gave both arms heavy flamers. Very up close and personal!

The final Space Wolves Dreadnought has two close combat weapons. It is the old metal Bjorn model with the metal Furioso arms added. It weighs a tonne!

This is the Dark Vengeance Helbrute model. In my opinion it is a fantastic piece. It's so dynamic and looks so different to the old Chaos Dreadnoughts and also the Imperial ones. Like the other models from Dark Vengeance it has an amazing level of detail. I am quite happy with the paint job on this one.

This is the first of my Metal Chaos Dreadnoughts. I really like these models as they fit in brilliantly with the aesthetic of the Iron Warriors. They look brutal!

This is the second metal Chaos Dreadnought. They were both Ebay rescue jobs but I couldn't get the feet off without them being damaged so I ended up with a slightly sheepish looking 15ft killing machine

Finally this is my Contemptor Dreadnought from the Betrayal at Calth box. I decided to do a Word Bearers force for the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge. I am so pleased with the paint job. I think I put about six layers of red on some parts to get a smooth finish. I just hope the rest of the force looks as good as this!

So there you go. That was my Dreadnoughts on parade. I definitely have more to come in the future. Until next time!

023 - Refurbishing Dreadnoughts

I have recently been scouring my model collection for additions to my 30k Space Wolves army. I have found some good models that will be able to be used with my army , however some need a little more work than others.
One of the pieces I found was an old plastic Grey Knight Dreadnought. It was a Mk V Castraferrum  Dreadnought so I had a look to see if they were suitable for 30k. After a bit of research I found that the boxy models of Castraferrum Dreadnoughts were in use well before the Contemptor Dreadnoughts which was quite surprising!
As you can see the Dreadnought is firmly in a Grey Knights colour scheme:

I repainted the main armour panels and took off all of the purity seals as they didn't fit in with the rest of the army. I had to clear off quite a few mould lines and clean up a few bits where it hadn't been put together carefully. I added a few bits of wolf paraphernalia to spice it up a bit. I kept the original front panel as it looking very legion looking.
I was going to add a havoc missile launcher made from an old Whirlwind tank but felt it was a little too big for it!

I finished off the painting with a couple of red jags to break up the dull grey. After a little drama rebasing it I had one finished Dreadnought!

I really like the look of the model so I'm going to have a good look at adding a couple more so I have a full Dreadnought Talon. And after that possibly a few Contemptors if my wallet can take the strain!