AHPC Submission #18 - Thousand Sons Legion Master of Signals

Master of Signals from the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. 

My 18th submission to AHPC XV was pretty underwhelming in terms of numbers - just a solitary 28mm figure - but we go with what we've got! This is a Legion Master of Signals, painted in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, known as the Thousand Sons. This is a multi-part 28mm resin figure, available at one time from GW's Forge World studio.  

Handy bolt pistol, and communications bits...

Everyone hates dropped calls. Purging the galaxy in the name of The Emperor is already hard work, and the task doesn't get any easier when you can't communicate with your battle brothers. Enter the Legion Master of Signals, a specialist command figure who will help your Space Marines get the widest and fastest available 5G+ wireless data speeds even as they empty their bolt guns and flamers into to midst of whatever pack of fools took the fatally foolish decision to stand against the Sons of Magnus. 

There is a lot happening on this power pack! I accidentally cut off one of the cables during my prep work...but it is still fine overall. 

This is an old figure - circa 2014, somewhere around there. I loved it when it first came out. Not only do all of the assorted whacky antennae and communications bits look great, but this figure was, in fact, a quiet little tribute to GW's early Warhammer 40k period, the time of "Rogue Trader" - see "Communications Officer Orinoco".  I love this figure so much that I painted one for my Sons of Horus (obvs) and another for the Imperial Fists. Since I wanted to try and add to my XV Legion during AHPC XV, I thought it would be fun to paint another one for the Thousand Sons.

"Ahriman - can you hear me now?"

The Thousand Sons are known for their mastery of obscure lore and dangerous powers - standard communications doesn't really come to mind when you think of their story. After all, who needs wi-fi when you can just use telepathy to communicate with your buddies. That said, use of warp powers can have, um, lets call it "occasional side effects", so ensuring you have a full suite of standard communications is still really important, even if you are an armoured space wizard.

"Hey, cool! Horus 'liked' my last online post! Also we have jammed the enemy's comms!"

In playing the current edition of the 30k game, I have also found the Master of Signal is ridiculously useful to have around. The game offers all sorts of terrifying means to deploy - drop pod assaults, underground termite assaults, mass teleport assaults etc. The Master of Signals increases the chances that the other player's assault will get a bit jammed up in addition to other benefits. Useful to have around. 

The run of AHPC submissions is nearly at an end - just a couple more to go. Thanks for reading!

AHPC XV Submission #8 - 15mm American Civil War Cavalry

 

 My eighth submission of this year's challenge is a collection of 15mm American Civil War Cavalry, both Union and Confederate. The figures are from a variety of manufacturers, although I have only been able to identify those by Old Glory and Essex.  I think the bulk of the Union cavalry are by Falcon, but I am not certain regarding that. Perhaps some of the "grognards" out there can provide some insight as to their origin.

 With terrain being dropped from the point tally, I needed to do a last minute course change, and found all these figures in a box in one of my storage drawers, already primed and glued onto popsicle sticks for ease of handling. They had been prepped some thirty years ago when I was gaming with a group that did a lot of American Civil War using 'Johnnie Reb' rules, but for some reason (available time, family obligations, the new 'shiny', etc.) that was as far as they got. 

 As mentioned above they were already primed black with a rattle can. I then painted them with Vallejo acrylics. The Union cavalry was the easiest to paint, both in terms of the standard colour palette, and the poses. The Confederate cavalry was more challenging as I tried to put some variety into the uniform colours with different shades of brown and grey, plus some of the poses made it difficult to get the brush into some of the deeper recesses. Regarding the sculpts, I liked the Essex and Falcon(?) the best. The riders were separate from the horse and saddle, and the poses and detail were easy to paint. The Old Glory sculpts were much more animated, but the fit of the rider and saddle (which came as one piece) to the horse often had large gaps between the saddle cloth and the horse's body. I would also describe the sculpts as a bit more 'rough and ready'.

Here are the final results - four 15 figure Union cavalry regiments, one 15 figure dismounted Union cavalry regiment, one 15 figure Confederate cavalry regiment, two 11 figure Confederate cavalry regiments. 

Encounter in the East Cavalry Field

Confederate troopers of General Jeb Stuart

US troopers of General David Gregg

Union cavalry brigade deploying

Union cavalry regiment No. 1

Union cavalry regiment No. 2

Union cavalry regiment No. 3

Union cavalry regiment No. 4

Dismounted Union cavalry with horse holder in the background

Confederate cavalry regiment No. 1

Confederate cavalry regiment No. 2

Confederate cavalry regiment No. 3

Anyone recognize the manufacturer?

Anyone recognize the manufacturer?

Thanks for stopping by.

AHPC Submission #17 - Braganza's Besiegers

Braganza's Besiegers, ready to hold the line!

For my 17th submission to the recently completed Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I was very pleased to have completed another Regiment of Renown for my Dogs of War project...here we have Braganza's Besiegers! These are lovely (and hefty!) 28mm metal castings from GW. 

Luka Braganza shouting instructions to his company.

Hailing from the fair city of Miragliano, Luka Braganza and his company are a widely feared bunch, seen at famous sieges in Tilea and other places around the Old World - and always on the winning side! Clad in heavy armour, bearing swords and crossbows and protected by large pavisse-type shields, the Besiegers can hold just about any position, come what may...

Pavisse providing plenty of protection...

A view of some of the Besiegers.

These old Dogs of War miniatures really are great fun to paint - I know I've already said that, but it bears repeating one more time! The sculpts have lovely detail, stunning character and crisp lines that only proper metal figures can have! I'll be the first to concede that these fellow did not fit all that well on to their 20mm square bases - and you can see in the photo that keeping the ranks tight is not really workable due to all the kit. But I just love this group of figures and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. 

Musician close up. Even he is heavily armoured!

Captain Luka Braganza. Love the pistol strapped to his chest!

Bannerman is ready to hold the line as well.

The Dogs of War were just so unique - the Besiegers were no exception. This combination of weapons and armour is just not very common on Warhammer gaming tables, and opponents struggled to deal with Braganza and his lads. Often your missile troops are lightly armoured and equipped, with little expectation they would last in a melee...

The ranks don't quite fit close together...but it still works out nicely.

But that is not the case with Braganza's Besiegers! When charged they could unleash a volley of crossbow fire - as any missile unit might. But thanks to their heavy armour and pavisses, they are really difficult to bring down. As such you had the flexibility of placing this missile unit in the part of your battle line where you might expect the heaviest contact to take place, knowing they will give your opponent some heartburn as they struggle with the riddle of heavy missile troops.

"Take careful aim..."

So for AHPC XV that was three Regiments of Renown and a smattering of characters painted up - not a bad start to this new project. That's all for this post - more to come soon, thanks for reading!

AHPC XV Submission #7 - Gunfighters of the Old West

 In the Spring of last year I picked up the rules for 'What A Cowboy' from TooFatLardies. The mechanics of the game has similarities with their 'What A Tanker' rules, which I enjoy playing with the local gang of Fawcett Avenue Conscripts. However I didn't have any appropriate figures to go with the rules. While on my re-enacting travels I came across two sets of multipart plastic figures from Great Escape Games to go with their Dead Man's Hand rules. Each box contains two identical sprues with five sets of legs and torsos, but with enough options of heads, arms, and weapons to build ten unique figures. They have since come out with a box of mounted gunfighters, but the heads, and torsos match those in the first of the two sets. That is definitely a future project of building mounted versions of the gunfighters I have just painted.

 All the figures came with small oval bases, so they got glued onto larger 25mm round bases, and a layer of fine sand was then added to the bases with PVA glue. They were primed black with a rattle can before being painted with a variety of Vallejo and Army Painter acrylics. All the figures were given a coat of Army Painter Soft Tone Wash. The bases were painted with craft acrylics and a few tufts of dry grass were added. Here is the final result.

21 unique gunfighters of the Old West

 Here are some closeups of the figures built from the Gunfighters box. There were two figures where I didn't like the fit of the neck to the torso, so I covered up the area with a bandana sculpted out of epoxy putty. I have arranged the figures in the two photos so that the legs match from left to right. I was able to create ten unique figures from the options available.

Gunfighters - Group A

Gunfighters - Group B

 

 Here are some closeups of the figures built from the Gunfighters II box. Again I have arranged the figures in the two photos so that the legs match from left to right. It shows the variety that can be created from the options available to once more give ten unique figures.

 

Lady Gunfighters - Group A

Lady Gunfighters - Group B

In July I attended Historicon and the theme was 'From Hollywood to Historicon". Their 40th Anniversary Mini was a figure of ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ sculpted by Paul Hicks. It will be a useful addition to all the other gunfighters.

"Well, you gonna pull those pistols, or whistle 'Dixie'?"

 Thanks for stopping by.

AHPC Submission #16 - Thousand Sons Legion Cataphractii Command Squad

Legion Terminator command squad for the XV Legion Astartes. 

My 16th submission to the recent AHPC included some rather large chaps! We have a Legion Command Squad wearing terrifying Cataphractii terminator plate and resplendent in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. These are multi-part plastic 28mm figures from GW's "Age of Darkness" range for gaming the Horus Heresy setting. 

View showing the not-quite-net-zero-compliant power systems of the armour.

Since it is AHPC XV, I was making an effort to get my XV Legion collection to the next level in terms of size/capability. Not sure I made a lot of progress toward that goal, but this command squad will help in that regard, bulking out the command element on the table. They accompany their boss (usually a Praetor or Centurion) to battle. I try to have a command squad like this for each Space Marine Legion I collect, because they all feature a silly banner, and I just love the large, silly banners in the Horus Heresy. They really capture the blend of dark-age-war-approach with high-tech-weapons that is a cornerstone of the delightful absurdity that is 30k!

Banner bearer, ready to inspire his brother Marines.

Closer look at the banner bearer.

The Legion Command squads are supposed to wear similar armour to the commander they accompany. As my Thousand Sons have gone to battle so far under the leadership of a Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator armour, his command flunkies would need to have the same kit. I have plenty of plastic Terminators sitting around in the shelves, and the banner was an easy swap in from the standard Space Marine command accessory sprue. The excellent Thousand Sons decal sheet from Forge World had a handy large-sized transfer that fit the big silly banner perfectly, and I'm pleased with how it all turned out.

I love this pose. "Hey, over there - someone shoot that guy!"

The Cataphractii Terminator armour is one of those systems that reads as terrifying in the lore and the stories but never matches up to that sort of experience when you actually deploy them on the table in the game. In a game system where "points" are used to create balance, the Terminators cost far too many points relative to what they manage to achieve in a given game. That said, they look super cool - the Cataphractii armour variant in particular is just delightful in its air of slab-sided menace. 

Another dramatic pose - figured a drama-adjacent sort like this fellow should be in the command squad...

The big, dramatic banner provides some morale and associated buffs for fellow Thousand Sons Space Marines on the table. The chap carrying it has a nice big power sword to smack people with, while the other two - "chosen" - act as general bodyguards, with combi-bolters to and power fists to deal with matters arising on the battlefields of the grim and dark far future.

Some great waterslide transfers do the heavy-lifting on the big, silly banner...

An additional advantage for these sorts of units in the Thousand Sons is that nearly all of the members of the Legion have spooky psychic powers, which they use despite the serious risks involved in messing with the warp with no problems at all everything always works out just fine...it provides these chaps with an extra edge in the battle, particularly in the company of their scary boss. Terminators can already be a handful, but Terminators with spooky powers? Whatever happens on the table, rest assured it will be dramatic!

A photo with the boss! The Praetor was not painted as part of the Painting Challenge, but still fun to pose him with his brand-new set of command flunkies!

Great fun to have some bodyguards around to join the Praetor on the table. That's it for this post - thanks for reading, and as usual, stay tuned for more!

AHPC XV Submission #6 - Early WW2 French Motorcycle Troops

 

My sixth submission for AHPC XV is a group of reinforcements for the early war French Division Légère Mécanique that I painted last year. To add to the tanks and motorized troops, I have added a small platoon of a headquarters and two sections on motorcycles. The figures are a mix of metal minis from Crusader Miniatures and 3D prints using STL files purchased from MyMiniFactory for a total of 24 foot and 23 'mounted' figures. I really liked the Crusader motorcyclist, which will be a good match for the dragons porté I painted. The 3D prints also go well with the metal minis, but I have two minor criticisms regarding the files: (1) 'slung weapons' have no slings, and (2) most of the carbines have the bolts on the wrong side.

In the case of the dismounted motorcyclists, I cleaned up the figures and glued them onto 1" fender washers. I then added some fine sand to the base with PVA glue. In the case of the 3D figures, these were printed by a friend of mine who has done a number of projects for me in the past. He did most of the cleanup prior to delivery, but I went over them again to remove any missed supports and make a few repairs. These were glued to popsicle sticks with PVA glue to give me something to handle while priming and painting. I made bases for all of them using the plastic from old restaurant gift cards. I can get three bases from one card. I did all the ground work on these bases separately and glued the motorcycles on once all the painting was complete.

All the figures were primed with Vallejo USA Olive Drab Surface Primer using an airbrush. The bodies of the motorcycles were left that base colour. I then painted the rest primarily with Vallejo acrylics (unless indicated otherwise) as follows: faces and hands - Flat Flesh; uniform - Green Grey; boots - Chocolate Brown; belt, pistol holster, and ammo pouches - Leather Brown; leather pad on helmet, chin strap, gauntlets, and motorbike seat - Army Painter Leather Brown; canteen cover - English Uniform; gas mask bag - German Camo Beige; saddle bags - German Camo Orange Ochre; goggle frames, engine and muffler - Army Painter Plate Mail Metal; helmet - Olive Grey; goggles strap, scarf, and jacket buttons - Tan Earth; goggle lenses - Army Painter Runic Cobalt; rifle stocks - Beige Brown; motorcycle tires - Black; pistols and metal on weapons - German Grey; highlights on SMG and LMG - Gungrey. Once completed, everything got the ol' "Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade" treatment. When that was dry, the motorcycles were removed from the popsicle sticks and glued to their bases with Super Glue. Here are the final results.

French motorcycle platoon mounted and dismounted

View from the right

View from the left

No. 1 Section dismounted

 

Platoon Headquarters dismounted

No. 2 Section dismounted

No. 1 Section on their bikes

No. 2 Section on their bikes

No. 2 Section on their bikes (flip side)

My one attempt to hand-paint a licence plate

French motorcycle troops halted while the officer consults his map

The last figure for this post is an officer that came from the box of Wargames Atlantic French Infantry that I painted at the beginning of the challenge. Rather than paint him in Horizon Blue, I have done him in colours appropriate for May 1940. 

Thanks for stopping by.