Painting Challenge Submission #4 - "Axehole - The Sequel"

"Saturnine Praetor" for the XV Legion Astartes. Multi-part plastic kit from GW. 

In strict technical marketing terms, this Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge submission consists of a "Saturnine Praetor" kit for Games Workshop's "Age of Darkness" setting (a.k.a the Horus Heresy). He is wearing the colours and symbols of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons.This is a multi-part (like, a LOT of parts) plastic kit from GW. 

But never mind what it said on the box. Let's call this figure for what it is: I give you "Axehole: The Sequel". 

NOTE: You may be asking: "Sequel? Who/what was the first one?" See the original "Axehole"at this link. 

"And I took that personally" - a lot going here. I was disappointed that the decals did not show well on the scroll of the chest plate...I might go back and work on that.

In the "Age of Darkness", the Space Marine Legions ape the terminology of ancient Rome's military structure. Thus the Praetor is a senior command figure for your Space Marine Legion force. Nicer armour, fancier kit, more capabilities etc. all designed to have him stand out from his fellows. Like the original Axehole, this figure was included as part of a core Horus Heresy box set, in this case the 3.0 edition (which dropped last year). 

You will surely have observed the powered armour this fellow is wearing is rather bonkers, even by the already rather bonkers standards of GW. This is the "Saturnine" armour, and it was the "big new thing" clumsily and careless retconned into the setting and included with the 3.0 edition of the rules. Now you don't even have to be a fan of the setting to see this and think "wait, WTF? Saturnine what?"

Example of an original "Saturnine" EXO ARMOUR figure from the Rogue Trader era. Metal figure on a 25mm round base.

It is always funny to contrast the lackadaisical approach GW's studio types take to the treatment of their own established lore and stories for their various settings with the absurdly aggressive posture of the corporate office who unleashes lawyers on any outside party who tries to do anything with it. The studio will retcon anything with little regard to impact on the story as established, while the GW lawyers will sue anyone out there making their own twist on the existing story through products or small add-ons...but I digress...

How does "Saturnine" armour fit in all of this? Well, I should be fair - it wasn't just pulled out of thin air. It has roots in the era very early 40k sculpts. They were, near as I can tell, the very first of what would evolve into "Terminator" armour.  The "Saturnine" sculpts, with their bonkers shoulders and big double-looking boaters were the original proto-terminators.

By brining them back in multi-part plastic form the GW studio is going "Hey, cool more nostalgia! Just like the plastic 'beakie' Marines from version 2.0!" But the similarities between the Saturnine kits and the new/old plastic "beakies" end right there IMO. 

Hobbyists clamoured for years for a return of the "beakie" armour, but nobody ever gave a sh*t about the old Saturnine designs -mostly because they sucked hard.  I will readily acknowledge that a few 3rd party sculptors were out there with some interesting, Saturnine-style sculpts, but on the whole this kind of armour was a fringe interest.

A look at his whacky cape!

What was more jarring was that the Black Library has something like ten years (or more) of Horus Heresy novels where "Saturnine Armour" did not ever come up, at least to my knowledge - through like 40 or 50 novels and novellas etc. This includes the Siege of Terra novel actually titled "Saturnine"  in which the most elite forces of the Warmaster confront the most elite forces of the Loyalist defence, in the "Saturnine District" of the Imperial palace, and nobody on either side is using this amazing, elite, super powerful armour...it is never mentioned. 

So...that is cartoonishly clumsy retcon work. Just lazy. But...whatever..."Saturnine Armour" is "back". 

But let's put the retcon clownf*ckery to the side. One thing that I feel unites the core of 30k fans around the world is a shared fear of the game becoming "like 40k" (i.e. unplayable trash). If GW's studio wants to ignore the Black Library, that's one thing, but when they act to wreck what made playing 30k games so fun and special, that is of much greater concern. 

A tool fit for an Axehole!

Now, I acknowledge - one set of models doesn't "wreck" anything. But it points to a direction of travel for the game. "Saturnine" units are popping up on Horus Heresy gaming tables, and while they are technically 30k models, they have 40k "vibes". This includes, but is not limited to:

- The blind indifference to the established story (note: "well they have always changed the story" does not equate to "every change they make is great - or even good"). 

- The scale creep (that fellow is on a 50mm base). The over-the-top weapons (I'm SURE that axe isn't compensating for any emotional problems, right?). 

- The terrain built into the base (FFS, STOP DOING THIS - IT MAKES EVERYONE'S MODELS LOOK THE SAME). I enjoy goofy models and silly guns, but like all recipes, a balance of ingredients is important - even too much good stuff can throw things off. This one...I'm not sure...

- The worst part: comically over-powered rules for these new models on the tabletop - rules that are "broken" right out of the gate, and the new "Saturnine Terminator" units slaughter everything on the table. 

And just wait until you see the "Saturnine" dreadnought...

"Where is my latte???"

"Greg, you're a ranting nut, just take a chill pill man - it can't be all that bad."

Fair counterpoint, imaginary intervenor. Look, it's not all bad. I am just one ranting nut. Many, many 30k players seem excited about these new models - whatever I think (not sure "excitement" is a word I would use for the new rules, but that is for another time).  People are painting them up, gaming with them, modifying them and coming up with their own cool conversions. People are just making up some of their own head-cannon and fitting them in. Is that so wrong? No. 

I did get a starter box of the 3.0 edition, so I have some of these "Saturnine" models, and after ignoring them for months, I figured the Painting Challenge might be a way to get them under the brush. I am in the process of continuing to expand my Thousand Sons Legion forces, and I thought I might as well designate this chap to join them! Why not let this Legion have a taste of the insane power of these new models, if only just for fun. 

Size comparison - on the left that is a Sekhmet Cabal Terminator, previously the "big guys" of the collection...well, there is a new boss.

These "Saturnine" models are not easy to assemble...they are designed to be flexible in their posing, and yet they are SO large that the real scope of their poses is extremely limited. Like any model type, the more you work on them, the easier they get, but these Praetor ones in particular are a bit tricky, and probably best painted in sub-assemblies - although I rushed on this one and only painted his cape seperately.

Sweet, sweet SKULLZ. Guaranteed to make your axe even axe-ier.

So, "The Axehole" is ready to march to war! As a newly-painted figure, I've no doubt he will do just fine. Look at all of that armour. What could go wrong?

Painting Challenge Submission #3 - Onmyoji for "Hametsu"

Carrying a tune en route to a confrontation with evil in feudal Japan...

If you peruse the archives of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and scan Curt's entries you will see a lot of cool stuff he has worked on over the years. One area he has explored in his hobby efforts involved medieval Japanese terrain and an amazing assortment of Japanese medieval fantasy heroes and demons. He uses these to play the excellent game "Hametsu" - a really cool, cooperative game featuring bands of heroes working to slay the evil Oni who threaten the survivors living in a post-apocalyptic feudal Japan. 

In 2025 Curt shared this game to a group of us scattered in Canada and Europe - Byron, Jamie, Nick and I have been pursuing a Hametsu campaign, with Curt hosting the table via Zoom! Zoom gaming came into many of our lives during the pandemic, and while the COVID nonsense is thankfully in the rearview now, use of Zoom-type platforms to bring friends together for a game is still with us. Not every kind of tabletop wargame will work well over Zoom-type set-ups, but "Hametsu", fortunately is one such game.

And what a break, because "Hametsu" is awesome! Our group of heroes has been pursuing their respective "Path(s) of Legend", confronting fantastical evil demons. I've been playing an Onmyoji, a spellcaster skilled in the manipulation of energy, and the campaign has been a blast! An electric blast, specifically...Onmyoji can manipulate electricity, and my character has really leaned into this ability, cooking a fair number of demons!

Assortment of supplies to keep things ticking along.

Curt has a beautiful and complete collection of figures for the game, and his Onmyoji figure has done sterling work. But I have enjoyed the games so much I thought it would be super fun to paint my own Onmyioji figure. So I asked Curt to 3D print one for me, and he kindly obliged, and sent it my way. I thought "Awesome, THIS guy is going to be my first figure for the Painting Challenge this year!".

Don't let that strange helmet fool you - this guy is coming to bring the pain...

Um...so...painting a single 28mm figure should be a pretty straightforward exercise. But in a kind of weird "art-imitating-the-campaign" sort of thing, this poor figure has experienced a level of abuse somewhat reminiscent of what happened to my Onmyoji in one of our recent "Hametsu" games, which saw the poor spellcaster take a tumble down a mountain.

For F*CK SAKES! I HATE IT WHEN I DROP MINIATURES!

I replicated this game-setting event in real life by finding a way to knock it over on the painting table - THREE times! Somewhere the evil Oni are celebrating! The 3d print figure was solid enough, but it still has a couple of delicate points, particularly the ankles - and it wasn't designed to be dropped - much less repeatedly. The figure duly snapped at the ankles. Again. And Again. And again. The hilts of his katana blades snapped as well, and so did the bell on his wind instrument. I was able to reconnect - mostly - the sword hilts, and to get the poor fellow standing on his own feet (three times)...but the bell of the wind instrument disappeared into the carpet, never to be seen again, I expect. 

Another step in the Path of Legend...evil will be slain and banished!

I almost gave up...but I didn't want to let the spirit of the sinister Oni win, so I buckled down and finished painting him. Thus he became my third submission, instead of my first, and his instrument has been, well, let's say "customized". Now I just need to find a way to get this thing safely off to Curt...needless to say, given what this miniature has already been through, I'm a little nervous trusting that process...

Stay tuned for further Painting Challenge updates!

Painting Challenge Submission #2 - Mydas the Mean, Mercenary Paymaster

Mydas the Mean, Sheikh Yadosh and a bodyguard unit, ready to ensure the gold is collected and the payroll is made!

My second submission for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge featured another addition to my old-school GW Dogs of War project.

Mydas the Mean - great at financing, and also pretty good at fighting! He keeps the key to his pay chest close, where he can be sure it is safe...

Another view of Midas, with his wicked mace, ready to resolve pay disputes...

Ask anyone in business, large or small - payroll is a real administrative pain in the @ss! Everyone wants to get paid, and if you can't make payroll, you'll have "employee engagement" problems. If those employees are heavily armed Tilean mercenaries, "employee engagement" problems will get pretty violent, pretty fast...enter Mydas the Mean, mercenary paymaster. Mydas is accompanied by Sheikh Yadosh, his trusty money lender, and a group of bodyguards. 

Sheikh Yadosh showcasing the goods!

Mydas, Sheik Yadosh and the mercenary pay chest are part of the classic GW Dogs of War figure range. In the Dogs of War mercenary army, the pay chest takes the place of the army standard bearer in other armies - after all, what would be more important for the mercenaries than making sure they get paid? Mydas is on hand to make sure all of the Regiments of Renown get their fair share when payday arrives - one of the more feared paymasters in all of Tilea! He's great at gathering the money, a lot more careful on the cash outflows.

Bodyguards ready to defend the pay chest - these are metal castings from Perry Miniatures' Italian Wars range.

The money lender, Sheikh Yadosh, is a creditor of Mydas', following him around during his various military adventures across the Old World and lending money to mercenaries who need a temporary cash boost while purchasing supplies...or gambling...probably more of the latter than the former!

Ready for action - heavy armour, bright colours, and some serious weapons.

Of course, payday can get pretty rowdy, and a chest full of treasure needs protection, so the paymaster can be accompanied by a unit of bodyguards. In the game, the bodyguard can serve as a small unit of troops, taking their place in the battle line to guard the pay chest while it projects its morale-boosting effects out to the mercenary troops. 

Multi-part plastic figures from Perry Miniatures' - perfect command group for the bodyguards! They have expensive armour - after all, Mydas has the money to kit them out. 

Mydas, Yadosh, the pay chest and the humble donkey were one of the original box sets GW released as part of their "Dogs of War" miniature range. They did not, however, release any bodyguard figures specific to this miniature range. And maybe they never intended to? Why would they? In the rules, they are specific that the guards would wear heavy armour and carry halberds, as opposed to pikes, and this kind of makes sense when you consider that the main worry of the bodyguards is probably the other mercenaries :) 

The classic figures from the "Mydas the Mean" box set.

At any rate, there were a whole ton of halrberdier figures to be sourced from the Empire figure range of the day, so I suspect this is why they never released specific bodyguards. Today, however, those companion metal halberdier sculpts are long-gone (sniff!). Yes, the new "Old World" game is out and about, complete with Empire figures, but these current Empire figures are a poor match to the old Tilean sculpts. 

What to do? Well, I spotted an ideal solution in a Dogs of War Facebook group - another hobbyist just used some figures from the Perry Miniatures' Italian Wars range, and it looked perfect! After all, the Perrys sculpted the Dogs of War figures, and "Tilea" is just the Old World's answer to Italy, so the figures made for perfect bodyguards for the pay chest!

One more group photo...

The guards are a mix of metal halberdiers and a plastic command group. The banner is from an actual Italian Wars range...I thought it fit fine in the Tilean setting, and I really pleased with how the gang looks! These modern Perry sculpts are a little taller than the old GW sculpts, but then I can imagine Mydas would only hire the biggest fellows he could find to guard his pay chest!

That is all for this submission - stay tuned for more "catch up" posts soon!

Painting Challenge Submission #1 - Borgio the Besieger

Borgio the Besieger, ready to lead a mercenary army on a Warhammer Fantasy Battle table!

Well, Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is underway! In fact, it has been on already for over a month. As ever, a group of Conscripts are sawing away with their brushes and seeking to tackle their assorted new projects and piles of unpainted metal, resin and plastic! It's about time I started sharing some of my submissions - or, indeed, posting anything as I have just been generally delinquent in that regard as of late. So here we go....

I opened this edition of the AHPC with a character figure that will join a project I commenced in AHPC XV - an old-school Dogs of War army from the distant days of the fourth edition of GW's Warhammer Fantasy Battle. This is Borgio the Besieger, and he is here to wreck your sh*t. 

Yet another classic 28mm sculpt from the Perry brothers. The Dogs of War were one of the best ranges GW ever released.

Borgio is a military legend in Tilea, a veteran of a great many military campaigns, nearly all of them successful. He rose to lead the Principality of Miragliano, and ruled "rather tyrannically". He was popular with his mercenary soldiers, but disliked by his many rivals among the noble classes, although was notoriously difficult to kill. Multiple assassination attempts ended in tears - for the assassin - until one day he was finally stabbed while in the bath. Such a fitting end to a Tilean legend.

Close up of Borgio's giant mace - fashioned from a cannonball that "nearly" killed him during a siege at Remas!

His battlefield kit speaks to this reputation. That huge mace? Apparently fashioned from a cannon ball which nearly killed him. I suppose he resorts to smashing people with it AFTER he has run enemies down with that lance? His "Monstrous Mask" helm causes fear among his enemies, and his glorious armour brushes aside even the worst blows - even those, it would appear, which arrive courtesy of cannons!

Massive mace AND a lance. Because of course!

I made a decent start on my Dogs of War force in the last Challenge, and this year I am hoping to really fill it out. I've been working through the fall to get the models based and primed, and over the next couple of months I am planning to bring more Regiments of Renown into the battle line!

You can run...but you can't hide...

For scoring purposes, we have a single 28mm mounted figure, good for 10 points, and a chance to get on the board! My target for this edition of the Challenge was 1200 points' worth of painting...so obviously a long way to go, but a start is a start, right! Stay tuned for more...

Dug-In Bolt Action Panther Tank

 

--- TRIGGER WARNING - Previously posted to the Analogue Painting Challenge Blog ---

 

Visitors to my house will likely recognize this model - it's been sitting on the sideboard primed for two years? Three years? Since the Earth began to cool? Who knows. But it's painted now. (In fact it had some grey drybrushing on the pavers but I re-primed over that a couple days ago). It's the "Dug-In Panther" model from Warlord Games' Bolt Action range. Can't remember where I got it (someone gave it to me as I know I'd never have bought it) but it's kinda neat all the same.

It's a resin casting, base and turret separate. The idea here of course is that the Germans have dug in a Panther tank basically as a bunker. Presumably the tank was nearly out of fuel with no chance of resupply, or suffered some nearly terminal mechanical problem, so the defenders dug a shallow ditch in the middle of the street, drove it in, and piled the paving stones back up around it.

I painted it in three-colour camo - base is GW Tallarn Sand, the green is Castellan Green/Death World Forest, brown is Vallejo Dark Brown/Steel Legion Drab. Then the model was washed with Agrax Earthshade, the dunkelgelb highlighted Tallarn again, and some sponge chips applied with AK German Camo Black-Brown.

 

The engine was done Mechanicus Standard Grey with Nuln Oil. Paving stones AK Dark Rubber/MSG/Dawnstone/Celestra Grey, and dirt started Rhinox Hide up through Dark Brown to Steel Legion Drab.

Honestly I can't see a great deal of use for the model on our gaming table as most of our WW2 games are set in countryside. But if we have a Berlin '45 game (ever) this will look pretty cool, as the Volkssturm gathered around it demonstrate.

Onwards and upwards! 

New Year’s Day Game: Warhammer 40k 5th Ed - Sisters of Battle vs Red Star Orks

So in accordance with ancient tradition, I hosted a game on New Year's Day. We've had some really fun ones in the (fifteen or more?) years I've hosted them, but the best ones were those that my late wife Pam helped organize. While I'd plan the game, she would plan a menu appropriate to the setting. Operation Sea Lion? British pub food and the best pork-and-apple pie I've ever tasted. Winter War? Finnish cuisine, but delicious meatballs and such, not disgusting herrings kept in a jar under the stairs for a year. Chicago gangster skirmish? Why deep-dish pizza of course. And there were many more. The meals were always awesome and it was so much fun to have the boys' spouses come by after the game to visit and enjoy the food. Now it's typically pizza, which is great, but working together with Pam on planning the game and food is just another one of the innumerable things I miss.

Anyway... this year I wanted to have a 5th Ed Warhammer 40K game. I've written here before that for me, 5th Ed is the best edition of 40K. We played a lot of it back in the day and the rules come back to mind pretty quickly. Also there's no mind-numbing Command Points, Strategems, or other mind-bending complications apparently lifted from competitive card gaming. Just pretty straightforward miniatures gaming. Yes there's some special rules, and we always forget some in the course of the afternoon, but nothing too taxing on the noggin. Plus it lets me get out the old metal models from my favourite period of 40K history.

I also wanted to inaugurate the Cathedral shown in the picture above... so it made the most sense to have a game where a couple units of Sisters were holding out against an Ork horde while both sides' reinforcements came on from Reserve. The scenario was based on one in the Bolt Action 3rd Ed rulebook that we've played before. It was a pretty big game too - just about 10 points shy of 2,000 points a side.

Half of the Orks came on in the first turn and the rest were in Reserve. Conscripts Mike and Hugh ran the Ork side while Dave and Chris played the Sisters. They chose a squad of Battle Sisters and a Retributor (heavy weapons) squad to start in the Cathedral while the rest would come on later. The Orks sent two Battlewagons (one carrying the Mega-Nobz, Warboss Ugrod Neksnappa and Big Mek Tarik Gutsmirk, and the other with a mob of 15 Boyz), another mob of Boyz, the Stormboyz, and a Deff Dread straight towards the Cathedral. You can see them in the first picture at the top of the post.

 

The Orks got to deploy their Kommando squad as Infiltrators and Scouts which was fun. They started on the far side of the Cathedral.

Eventually more Sisters arrived, followed by an Ork Deff Dread that appeared uncomfortably close to the Exorcist. Unfortunately for the Orks it was only able to immobilize the vehicle.

A buggy squadron also came on from Reserve on the same short table edge!

Meanwhile the Seraphim dropped in from Deep Strike to take on the Ork Stormboyz.

Back on the south side of the table the Penitent Engines charged the Deff Dread... while we all expected the Dread to be annihilated it actually took out one of the Engines!

The Seraphim were overwhelmed by the Mega-nobz with some help from the Kommandos.

 

Meanwhile north of the Cathedral things were going little better for the Sisters as a squad was charged and wiped out by a 15-strong mob of Boyz...

On the second-last turn of the game, though, Uriah Jacobus and nine Arco-Flagellants arrived and they were looking to get stuck in...

On the last turn the ideal opportunity presented itself with a mob of 15 'Ard Boyz just on the other side of the Blasted Terrace. The Arcos just needed a decent charge roll to get into close combat.

Back up north the Tankbusta Mob disembarked from their looted Rhino and started blasting away, while the Sisters who'd come in behind them set up a gunline.

You can see the charge roll for difficult terrain at the top of the photo... four inches was enough to get the Arco-Flagellants stuck in.

It wasn't even a contest. With Uriah Jacobus' Banner of Sanctity and the charge the nine Arcos added two more attacks to the four already on their profile... so that's 54 WS5 S4 attacks, plus four more from Uriah himself. Even with 'eavy armour giving them a 4+ save, the 'Ard Boyz were never gonna stand up to that.

Here's some more pictures of the battlefield at the end of the game:

Each side scored one VP for each enemy unit completely destroyed. As always happens in that kind of game there's always a couple units that are just barely hanging on with a couple of models left alive... but those don't count for any VPs. The final score was Orks 5VP, Sisters 3VP.

Although Conscript John visited before the game and Conscript Hugh had to leave near the end, we had a good visit and a fun game. Above (L to R) you can see me, Chris, Dave and Mike.

I love hosting the New Year's Day game and it was unfortunate that some of the guys were sick and couldn't make it. But I have resolved to try and host more games this year so we'll see how that goes.

Happy New Year and all the best in 2026!