043 - Objective Markers

For the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge 2016 one of the extra "achievements" is to create some themed objective markers for your army.
Here they are:

I went for some kind of sacrificial stones with either a skull from the Ungors set, a marine helmet or a Vexella. The numbers are in dried blood which fitted in quite nicely!

The helmets were going to be Ultramarines but the paint scheme didn't quite match so ended up being Alpha Legion!
The Hobby Progress Challenge has been great fun this year. Check out the Independent Characters here.  They have a great community and a great podcast.

042 - Attic Treasure!

I was in the attic looking for some important documents and lo and behold I found a Black Orc nestled in between my degree and my bronze swimming certificate. Turns out it was the 2000 Game Day miniature sculpted by the very talented Brian Nelson!

I must have painted him back when I was in university. I was quite happy with the paint job I did back in the day so this guy has gone into the display cabinet. It's brighter base makes it really stand out on the Age of Sigmar shelf.

Its great to see a model that I painted a long time ago. I may even dig out some models from when I was obsessed with the Inquistion and take a few photos. I just have to fight my way through some really old bubble wrap!

041 - Smugface

I now officially have a smugface due to getting my last commitment into the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge2016. The Independent Characters website is here.  I started the army in February and had to do a commitment a month until I have 10 completed commitments. As you can see I have got done quite early. This is mainly because I have made quite manageable commitments because I knew if I fell behind at all I wouldn't get the project done. But I did complete it and here is the army in all it's glory:

I chose 30k Word Bearers on a bit of a whim due to the fact they are in the Betrayal at Calth. I really got into the army while I was painting it up. 

I was really happy with the colour scheme and the red that I managed to get on the models. The shoulder pads are red rather than black but I just wanted my models to stand out a little.

The  army is a little light on infantry but I find painting big blocks of small models quite a chore and that the quality really starts to suffer after a while so I tried to mix it up with different unit types.

I am super chuffed with the army. It was a sprint finish at the end but it's completed to a decent tabletop standard which is what I was aiming for. I am going to do some objective markers and possibly a display board soon but I'm proper chuffed to have got the models done. I may add new units in the future but right now I think I need to paint something that isn't red!
I'm not a very good nor fast painter so it is a bit of a chore to me, so doing the HPC was a revelation. I was so motivated and really hope to do it next year but maybe be a little more ambitious with my commitments. Big loves to all the commentors with the advice and really friendly comments and finally a big thanks to Loopy on the forums for setting this up. You are awesome man! I can't wait for next year!

040 - Rhino Rush (Well not quite)

I am currently finishing off my Word Bearers force for the IC's Hobby Progress Challenge. I haven't used the newer Rhino kit which is a bit sad as it came out about fifteen years ago! Here is a work in progress shot:

They were really good models to put together and relatively easy. I could see these being a mainstay of any future Marine armies I do.
However the basic Rhino costs 35pts and the real life cost from Games Workshop is £22.50 it make it one of the poorest pounds to points models in the entire range. Not quite as bad as Mechanicum Thralls but getting there!
I fancy doing a few more of these in the future and possibly even some of the variants suh as Razorbacks and Vindicators.
I only have a couple of more
units to go before my Hobby Progress Challenge is completed so I better get cracking!

039 - HPC Halfway

So in January I decided to get a little more structured with what I was going to paint. I started recording my painting progress with a Kaban board and keeping a better record of what I have done. I have also joined the Independent Characters 2016 Hobby Progress Challenge. The Independent Characters is an amazing podcast that is back after a year long hiatus. The website for the podcast is here and the forums for the Hobby Progress Challenge can be found here. The rules are simple, you just commit to painting a unit (or units) each month and post a  photo of the unpainted miniatures on the forums. You have a month to paint them and when they are done you post a photo up of them completed. 

So lets have a look at my first five commitments:

January was a Betrayal at Calth Contemptor Dreadnought. I really like the model and feel like people were a little down on it compared to the rest of the boxed set but it ticks all the boxes for me. I did quite a few layers of Khorne Red to get the smooth surface on the model.

My second model in the challenge was a Land Speeder that I had leftover from another project and I used mk4 armour to model the crew. I like the fact a "Chaos" army can use a Land Speeder and was quite happy to put the Octed symbol right on the front of the model. I am going to go back and add a havoc launcher to it so it has a little extra firepower than a single heavy bolter.

I converted this Mortis Comtemptor from the Betrayl at Calth Dreadnought by just swapping over the close combat weapon with a spare assault cannon. I also popped a radar dish on the top to represent the Helicial Targeting Array.

This is my first tactical squad.I kept them quite simple to paint with minimal equipment modelled on them. I wanted them to look like foot sloggers rather than the super elite of the legion. 

This the second tactical squad. I have painted them shoulder pads red rather than black as i wanted them to look slightly different to other Word Bearers armies. I like the fact there are hundreds of thousands of marines in a legion so there can be some variation with the colour schemes.

Doing this challenge has been a great shot in the arm and I will have a decent looking army by the end of the year if all goes to plan which for a slow painter like me is very exciting. I would recommend this kind of scheme for projects. Next up are some characters to lead the force. Maybe even some tanks as well!

038 - Deathwatch Marines

I was really excited when Deathwatch: Overkill came out. The game looked good but the thing that seemed to really catch people's eye was the miniatures. The Genestealer Cult is great. It is an update of iconic models and concepts which were a fundamental part of what defined Warhammer 40,000 when I first got into the hobby. However the thing that really got me was the Deathwatch!
The Deathwatch are a cool idea and the new models represent the diverse chapters working as different parts to become more effective as a whole. This mirrors how the original twenty legions were designed by the Emperor to work together and compliment the strengths and inherent abilities of each other.
One Deathwatch marine stood out for me was the Iron Hand Ennox Sorrlock. I wanted to use that model as the basis for a Heresy era Techmarine. The body fit in with the right armour but this left me two Deathwatch arms and and a combimelta which didn't fit in with the time period. So having a few marine spares I cobbled together a Deathwatch Iron Hands marine which I intended to be just a one off model for a bit of fun.
But Games Workshop brilliantly released rules for both factions in the board game. So armed with rules I began thinking I could make my own Deathwatch team with the same wargear and use the rules that have been released.
It may only be eleven models but I can stretch this out and do a few models at a time and use it as a bit of palette cleanser between bigger squads and vehicles for other projects. I won't feasibly be able to substitute certain models without putting in alot of work so the Salamander, Imperial Fist and White Scar will be bought off Ebay and converted somehow to make them look a little more individual.
So my first models that are going to get made is my version of squad Donatus.

I have the basis for the models and the parts for the weapons in my bits box. I will have to buy the Deathwatch upgrade sprue for the shoulder pads but I am okay with that. as that will give me enough pads for all eleven and a few spares as well. 

Here is a quick work in progress picture of my Dark Angel, Space Wolves and Iron Hands marines.

I am quite excited about this small project and hopefully it will keep my creative juices flowing in the future. 

037 - 2016 Half Century

So it's 2016 and I said at the start of the year I would document my painting progress. Having a quick look at my makeshift Kanban Board I realised that I was on my 50th model for the year. Luckily it was a nice character model. So say hello to my 50th model, my 30k Word Bearers Chaplain.

I was quite happy with the paint job and it all seemed to work out so go me!

However I have to try and paint 100 models or more for the entire year. Boo pressure!