045 - Ebay to the rescue!

SO it recently got to the point where gaming wise I hit critical mass. The gaming desk was full and the top of it was piled to the ceiling. I had also looked at the bank balance and saw how much I was spending. Extra things and no money? Ebay to the rescue!
So I was honest with myself. Was I really going to paint that 40k Space Wolves army? Did I even want a Rogue Trader Blood Angels force? Not in a million years says Mr Honesty. So on Ebay they go.
I had a big long thought about my limited edition models still in clam-packs. I have a Navigator and a Space Marine Captain from the new Forge World website. Both great miniatures but I feel I will paint the marine but not the Navigator so on Ebay he goes.
Tabletop Minions do a great video about not hording miniatures here. It's good advice and I definitely opened up some room on the gaming desk!
It also allowed me to buy this beauty!

With the money I made off the sale of my old models I wanted to get a big model like a Knight which is more likely a model which I'd paint. It's huge but I have more of a compulsion to paint this than two armies I'm not that invested in.

044 - Best Book Ever!

I finally got my grubby little paws on the Crusade Imperialis book for the  Horus Hersey. It's absolutely brilliant. I got it mainly for the militia list to add a few extra units to my 30k armies as allies but was blown away by the quality of the whole book. It has three complete army lists in it, the Solar Auxilia Crusade Army List, the Questoris Knights Crusade Army List and the Imperialis Militia and Cults Army List.

The first section is the Solar Auxillia. I really like these guys especially the Ogryns! Sadly until I get a lottery win I have no chance as they are very expensive to buy from Forge World. The models are beautiful and some of the colour schemes I have seen really make them standout from other armies.The second is the  Questoris Knights and while I have not had a massive yearning for an army of super heavy walkers this updated section makes me want to add a Knight to my Word Bearers which you can do with the newly released Age of Darkness Army List book.
My favourite section is the Imperialis Militia & Cults. The list is one of the most versatile and flexible army lists I have seen in all the years I have been involved in the hobby. The wide selection of troops and the way you can customise them with both wargear and provenances of war open up massive opportunities. You can go from swarms of rabble to power armoured elites and pretty much everything in between.
The Militia list would be an excellent choice for a guard player who wanted to port their army over from 40k but equally could be used with other units that Games Workshop sell. For example, got a Beastman army? You can now represent it in 30k? Same with Flesh Eater courts or even a Bloodbound force. Obviously not everything will fit in but use your imagination and you can have a really crazy army with a really strong theme in no time.
After a round up of spare cultists models in my collection and small splurge on Ebay I have quite alot of cultists ready to go. I can do some allies for my Word Bearers and see where I end up. With the large squad sizes in 30k I will be doing a fair bit of speed painting to get them table top ready but the advantage of having 50 models in a unit is that the eye looks at the whole rather than just individual models.
So I have a few more of these guys to paint up!

The red books are excellent value. They may not have any fluff but that's what the big books are for. With these red books you can have almost a complete new game system for just over £30. They are an absolute bargain and I would recommend them to anyone interested in playing 30k!

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!