Painting Challenge Submission #10 - Raven Guard Assault Optae

"Assault Optae" - Raven Guard Space Marine officer - multi-part plastic kit from GW with slight conversions.

This submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was just a single figure - but it is one I have been looking forward to posting as it is connected to Curt and Sarah's recent visit to my place in Toronto! As Curt mentioned in his post earlier in the challenge, he and Sarah would be stopping for a short visit here in Toronto on their way back to Regina, and we will be looking to squeeze in as much gaming as possible amid good food and wine. As part of the hospitality, I have painted this figure up as a gift to Curt, so he can join the ranks of his new Horus Heresy "Kill Team" Project. 

It's just one figure. But even a single figure can still throw up a larger word count...so...buckle up...

The Basics

This is Space Marine Centurion in Mark II power armour, a slight conversion of a multi-part plastic kit from GW's latest "Age of Darkness" starter box. The figure is meant to be wearing a massive, billowing cloak (as one does) while sporting an insane vexilla on the top of a slightly fancy version of the power pack commonly seen on Space Marine power armour. I have done away with the cloak and some of those other bibs and bobs to give him the jump pack of an assault marine instead. This was done for a few reasons.

Legion numeral on the shoulder plate - and a nice view of the insane jump pack. 

The first reason is the most important: I wanted him to fit in! Curt's initial "Shattered Legions" Raven Guard force for "Kill Team" looks to be built mostly around Raven Guard assault marines - the crazy(er) ones who wear "jump packs" and to get to grips with their enemies at close range. So if this fellow is going to participate in Curt's squad, he should be wearing the appropriate gear. In their recent wave of releases GW has issued a new set of plastic kit assault marines in Mk II armour (they are awesome - just haven't got around to panting any of em' yet), and the whacky jump pack from those kits fits perfectly on this fellow's armour. 

I added a custom shoulder plate with the embossed Raven Guard legion symbol to complete effect. I also tried my best to match the dark colours and dark look Curt achieved on his guys. Critically, I was able to find a washer-type base, so hopefully he'll fit in without too much trouble. 

Another view of the crazy jump pack - and we can see the "power maul" is large enough to be wielded with both hands, should the occasion call for it.

The MkII armour has lots to recommend it to fans of the Horus Heresy setting. Lots of segments and plates, a less-efficient-yet-more menacing overall appearance. This centurion model retains all of those elements, but adds heaps the "bling" associated with Space Marine Legion officers. The effect is tremendous in my opinion. You can't see his face, but he still "looks" annoyed. It's a great miniature, and really neat that GW has taken the time issue plastic kits for the Mk II marines.

And yet...up above, I say, "the first reason". That implies more than one reason I did not build this kit as GW intended...read on...

Adventures In Modern Plastic Modeling

I mentioned above that this figure, as originally designed, is wearing a big cape (as one does), vexilla etc. He even has a friendly servo-skull (probably an old friend that he wanted to, er, "keep around").  The "intended" finished figure is indeed a fine-looking 30k specimen, sporting all of the very best, whacky 30k Space Marine silliness that Horus Heresy fans enjoy. I did manage to complete a version of this original figure. Here is how he turned out, painted in the colours of the VI Legion Astartes, the Space Wolves.

Space Wolf Centurion wearing Mk II armour, accompanied by his buddy, a floating skull because 30k. Painted last summer/fall. 

He turned out OK. But it was a hell of an adventure to get here - and required a replacement of the left shoulder plate (of course, I am the sort of dork who would have plenty of those handy, but still). You see, the original figure, as conceived by GW, looks beautiful in theory but is almost impossible to assemble as-is in practice. There is no way in which one can assemble the cape, the power pack and the shoulder plates in a fashion even remotely/distantly resembling the method laid out instructions. 

There is no physical way to get this...

...when trying to follow this....

Trying to follow those instructions lead to desperate repair attempts. The cloak needs to, at once, go under AND over the vents of the power pack. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE once the power pack itself is already fastened to the back of the model. Even proceeding cautiously ended in desperate repair attempts as it became clear I had made a major mistake by following the published instructions..such repair attempts don't always go well, as we see here... 

For f*ck sakes!! This is what happens when you need to make repairs...

This is why you often see alternate versions of this figure posted online, as I have done here - because the cape, power pack and shoulder plates defy assembly in any reasonable fashion, or even an unreasonable one for that matter. This is what happens when the people who design things with computers are not the ones who have to build and paint them, IMO. Oh well. 

The Final Bit - A Back Story

OK. Enough about the modeling - let's get back to this specific miniature! I know Curt loves the story aspect of gaming, and so this fellow would need a back story too. While I have not named him, I have that story ready...

I see him as an "Assault Optae", a veteran of The Emperor's Great Crusade, hailing from Terra! He has served in the XIX Legion for centuries of fighting! This sort of provenance would be ideal in a warrior, one would think, but...well, in the Horus Heresy story, this would actually breed division within the Legions. 

The Great Crusade lasted centuries. The Space Marines Legions all started with Terran "recruits", but as the Crusade expanded across the galaxy, the sources of recruits expanded too, and ultimately shifted to whichever homeworld their Primarchs were discovered on. As Primarchs took over their legions, they tended to distrust those Terra-born officers who had been serving with the Legion prior to their arrival - they looked rather to the fellow Marines raised on the Legion's new homeworld.  

Now, those "Terrans" were still loyal - and desperate to prove it - but these were among the issues that led to divisions building slowly within the Legions over the decades, ones the Horus and his dark allies would ultimately exploit. The "Terran core" of each legion was gradually sidelined.

Handy Raven Guard symbol embossed on the shoulder plate.

Different Legions handled this generational distrust in different ways. In some, these Terran veteran officers were merely sidelined, while in others they were sent toward certain death in battle. Some were sent off on pointless missions to the other side of the galaxy. Some were just quietly fragged and re-processed. 

Corax, Primarch of the Raven Guard, took the "I'll just let attrition handle some and sideline the others" approach. I see this fellow as a survivor of that process. So he was still around when word of Horus' betrayal broke, and the Raven Guard were mustered to attack the Traitor Legions on Istvaan V. 

As Corax mobilized the Legion, this fellow was among the few thousand Marines left behind as part of the garrison to keep an eye on the Raven Guard homeworld. Nothing personal, of course, no official reason - someone has to keep watch, after all - but he would know why, everyone would know why. 

Crazy gun? Check. Crazy "power maul"? Check. Let's get some revenge...

Betrayed at Istvaan V, the shattered survivors of the Raven Guard would have been rescued by guys like this officer! So he is at the forefront now...he'll still never be fully trusted by Corax, but there really are not many officers left...not many Raven Guard left in general! This guy is now at the forefront of the vengeful battle to bleed and harry the forces of The Warmaster as they march across the galaxy toward Terra and destiny. 

He is gutted that he was not there to face the dire fate of the Raven Guard on Istvaan V. Even though he helped rescue the survivors, this twisted survivor guilt drives him. Maybe he will never prove himself to his Primarch - not fully - but he will work to ease his guilt by opening the skulls of as many traitor Marines as he can manage...the fan-made version of "Kill Team" is perfect for games/scenarios with these sort of dynamics at play. I hope Curt enjoys him!

Thanks for reading - watch for more AHPC catch up soon!

Painting Challenge Submission #9 - More Legions Imperialis Marines

Some more "Legions Imperialis" Space Marines - these ones in the lovely green of the Warmaster's own legion, the Sons of Horus.

With this submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge I'm back with only a few odds and ends from GW's "Legions Imperialis" game, the reboot of the classic small-scale "Epic" game set in the Horus Heresy setting. There are elements from two different Legions Astartes - the Sons of Horus and the Thousand Sons. 

XVI Legion - The Sons of Horus

High command base for the Sons of Horus.

To the surprise of nobody, I already have a chunk of figures painted for this, the finest of the Legions Astartes. But you can always use more basic infantry. And in the case of the Sons of Horus, my initial efforts really disappointed me...I was pleased with the vehicles, but my method on the original infantry looked sloppy - I didn't care for how the green turned out. And if you don't like the green...well...the Warmaster won't be pleased, will he?

Tactical Marines and their Rhino APCs.

I had assumed I would not be able to replicate the green recipe from my 28mm collection on these smaller troops. But decided to experiment with it...and...well, it's actually not too bad! I like these much more. I painted up a high-command stand, and then a tactical detachment comprised of four bases. They also have Rhino APCs to give them a ride on the battlefield. 

Re-painted dreadnoughts - I like these much better!

Chuffed with the results on the infantry, I pulled the dreadnoughts I had completed before out of the box...knowing now that I could have done the nicer green on them drove me nuts - the OCD hobby monkey in mind started to scream and break things, so I opted to do a re-paint on them. Boom - OCD monkey at peace...for now...

Mobile fire support - Rapier on the right, "Quad Launcher" on the left.

To keep building up the firepower we have a couple of tracked fire-support platforms. Long-time Space Marine fans will probaly recognize the Rapier. The other one is a "quad launcher" - heir to the famous "Thudd Guns" of yore. There are supposed to be four tracked platforms in the unit, but I f*cked up a pair of the chassis from the box, so the XVI Legion will have to settle for a pair of them for now. 

Ready to drop some ordnance on those who would defy the Warmaster!

Finally, the Whirlwind is a classic mobile artillery support system for the Space Marines. The plastic kists for these are just lovely, and they allow for you to make two variants. These are "Scorpius" variants, with ammunition that hits vehicles a little harder at the expense of covering a much smaller target area. I just love the look of these things. Again...the kits have LOTS of tiny pieces, so assemble with care, but, wow, credit where credit is due - these are just a real treat to paint up.

XV Legion Astartes

A bit more fire support for Magnus' sons. 

A much smaller component for the Thousand Sons, but considering this collection is just getting started, they'll take it!

Beakies with shark-fin-style missile launchers - a classic!

Rhino APC with fancy markings for the "devestator" unit. 

Up first we have heavy support marines and their Rhino APC. If you look carefully, fans will recognize the classic "shark-fin" style missile launcher has been replicated in this scale. Now, this is a bit of a b*tch, as they come in two parts! But whatever frustration caused in gluing these tiny Marines together is lost once you are painting them - just wonderful to have "beakie" style Marines with these weapons. 

Mobile rocket artillery for the Thousand Sons.

Even space wizards need mobile firepower...

Finally, since I had assembled all of the Whirlwinds from the box, I thought I would paint two of them up for the Thousand Sons as well. You get eight models in a box, so there is still more to do there - maybe I'll even paint some for the poor loyalists? 

That's all for this one - watch for more soon!

Painting Challenge Submission #8 - Ricco's Republican Guard

Ricco's Republican Guard stand ready for contact!

With this submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge another Regiment of Renown takes its place in the line. Fantasy warlords with high cash flow rejoice! Ricco's Republican Guard are here to serve your military requirements. These are 28mm figures from GW's long-gone "Dogs of War" collection - beautiful, beautiful metal castings from the late 1990s! This whole project is a mega-nostalgia-trip for me, but this unit really stands out, as my original "Dogs of War" force had this unit as one of its core formations.

Pikes lowered for action!

Hailing from the wealthy Tilean Republic of Remas, the Republican Guard represent the higher-end of the Dogs of War mercenary pike regiments. Whereas the Alcatani Fellowship are kind of a "pike-block-on-a-budget", the Ricco's Republican Guard are the choice of the discerning military commanders of the Old World who have cash to burn. The Republican Guard have higher levels of training and wear heavy armour - and once you factor in the pikes, they make for a terrifying unit on the Warhammer Fantasy Battle gaming table. 

Ricco and his unit got their start in Remas, but ultimately had a falling-out with the ruling council - they tried to have Ricco executed because he would not share his loot with them! His loyal soldiers would have none of that, and so they liberated him from the jail. Now he leads his Republican Guard into battle across the Old Word. Ricco himself still brandishes a bloody rag going into battle, a tribute to their roots in the revolutionary street fighting in Remas.

A view of some of the pikemen.

Love the heavy armour on these guys.

Throughout this project I have been singing the praises of GW's classic Dogs of War figure range - and I will do it again here! Sculpted by the Perry Brothers, these miniatures were an absolute joy to paint. I just love the look of the Italian (Tilean) style heavy plate armour worn by these figures - and then all of the classic Warhammer accents such as the feathers and the varied bags and sacks. They have a uniform look and yet there are many subtle variants to be found among the sculpts. 

"Steady lads!"

Getting these fellows built in such a way they can be packed into ranks took a bit of work, and this was a particularly tricky unit because all of the castings had some variant of a lowered pike pose (as opposed to the other pike units, which have more sculpts where the pikemen are standing at ease). Fortunately I recalled the troubles I had back in the late 90s and planned ahead this time, ensuring a functional mix of front rankers and was able to vary the positions on the bases so they could crowd together in the unit. 

A silver trumpet to inspire the men - and a handy mace to back up any missed musical notes.

Ricco and his bloodied rag are ready to engage.

Standard bearer.

Flank view of the Republican Guard, in formation.

"Liberty! Equity! Liquidity!"

That's it for this post - thanks for reading - watch for more AHPC content soon. Cheers! 

Painting Challenge Submission #7 - Thousand Sons Detachment for Epic 30k

A detachment of Thousand Sons Space Marines ready to deploy to an Epic30k gaming table

This submission to the AHPC contains - surprise! - more Space Marines. Once again they are from the XV Legion Astartes - but we leave 28nm behind - these are little 6mm chaps! All of these are plastic figures from Games Workshop's "Legions Imperialis" game range. The assorted elements portrayed here include a high-command stand, two units of tactical marines, a small group of tactical support marines, and Rhino APCs to haul the lot of them. They are supported by a group of "Tarantula"-type automated weapon turrets and some assorted dreadnoughts. 

High-command base with a hero, flunkies - and their own Rhino to ride around in.

Sylvain, our Wednesday Minion, is quite the master of 6mm painting and basing, and each Painting Challenge I enjoy seeing the material expansions to his massive historical 6mm collections. Inspired by Sylvain's tremendous small-scale work I thought it would be good to continue with efforts to expand my own 6mm Horus Heresy collection during this edition of the AHPC. 

A tactical squad - 20 little marines and a pair of APCs to transport them.

These miniatures are for "Legions Imperialis", a specialist-type game released by GW a couple of year ago. It is meant to be a re-boot of the old-time "Epic" game, a truly classic and fun set of rules from GWs older 1990s/early 2000s era. Indeed, the GW studio has often demonstrated an ability to release some really outstanding rules over the years. The state of the 40k rules has ranged from "difficult" to today's "unplayable", but games like Epic/Space Marine, Battlefleet Gothic, Warmaster, Space Hulk and others were creative, fun, engaging and fantastic. The more recent re-boot of "Adeptus Titanicus" had a few issues, but was, in general, outstanding! I had high hope for this game when it was (at last) re-released...

Tactical squad number two...looking a lot like the other one because...well...they have the same kit and same ride :)

Sadly, "Legions Imperialis" did not live up to the legacy of the 90s/2000s specialist games studio. The rollout of the game was a complete fiasco. The "Legions Imperialis" rules themselves are deeply disappointing and highly excremental. They are poorly written and generally very bad even once you "understand" them. One run through the game will be more than enough for most folks.  

Tactical support Marines sporting plasma guns - and, naturally, their own APC!

Yet, even while the rules are trash, the miniatures for the game are just excellent! Small, of course, and with a number of fiddly bits that will easily disappear into ANY carpet...but they are just great! Wonderful little tributes to the Horus Heresy, each of them! These things are just great IMO. 

Was it a bit of a process to get there with the models? Yes. At first, I was concerned that there had been a "re-scaling"...but the effect, especially for the infantry, has been slight-to-nothing. There are also some tricky models...some of the infantry bits are two-piece kits, and all of the vehicles have very small components. I struggle with this...but odds are, you won't. I am not a very good model-builder - have always been "average" at best. My frustration with that aspect is an outlier...I might suck with these, but you'll do fine.

"Tarantula" automated turrets - these can be left to cover objectives etc. while the Marines themselves head to deal with matters requiring personal attention...

Sane hobbyists would just speed paint these things, I suppose. I find I cannot...rather, I paint these little guys in batches of two and three infantry or vehicles at a time, in no particular rush. I amazed at the level of details the sculptors managed to place on them all, and I like to make an effort to catch it (even if that effort often comes up short). The results in a tremendously slow/plodding pace to my accumulation of completed units with which to expand my collection, but that doesn't worry me too much.  

"Contemptor" type dreadnoughts - mix of fire-support and close action help for the Marines.

"Deredeo" type dreadnoughts - lots and lots of firepower here.

So if the rules are hot garbage, why bother with the figures? Well, the good news is that great rules ALREADY existed with which to use these models - namely "Epic: Armageddon" and its fan-made 30k mods. I also understand there is a sci-fi mini-scale game from Mantic that also has excellent rules, and frameworks exist to adapt this to 30k, so that is something I will be looking to try as well. Trust me, if you like the Horus Heresy, you will love "Epic 30k" and you will love these little figures. 

Close up of the supreme command guy with all of this troops...

One last aerial shot of the whole group!

Stay tuned for more AHPC catch-up posts...the dash to the finish is nearly upon us, as spring is allegedly around the corner...but that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Painting Challenge Submission #6 - Contemptor-Osiron Pattern Dreadnought for 30k-era Thousand Sons

"That museum exhibit has armed itself! Run for your life!" - A Thousand Sons Contemptor-Osiron pattern dreadnought.

My sixth submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge features some more kit for my growing collection of XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons, in GW's Horus Heresy setting. This is a "Contemptor-Osiron pattern" dreadnought, a 28mm multi-part resin kit (with plastic weapons) from Games Workshop's "Age of Darkness" figure range. This was originally a Forge World model, now available from GW at-large.

Autocannons, ready for action!

The dreadnoughts of the 30k setting are functionally heavy combat armour suits used by the Space Marines for various battlefield support purposes. There is a "pilot" in there, so to speak, but there is a catch (because of course there is!). This "pilot" is actually near-dead Space Marine, rescued from battlefield wounds that were somehow not quite terrible enough to kill him but still terrible enough to put him near-death. What happens to these fellows? Why they just get plugged into a dreadnought, and, voila! Your existence of endless warfare in The Emperor's name can continue! Lucky you! 

"I'm FINE. Yes. Really.STOP ASKING."

In the case of the Thousand Sons, there is an extra wrinkle. Sometimes this nearly-dead-but-not-totally-dead XV Legion Space Marine is also a capable psyker. What to do then? Why, plug his bits into one of these special "Osiron" dreadnoughts, of course! That way he can wander around the battlefield shooting things, punching things AND leveraging his mastery of mysterious warp powers! It's the best of all worlds! Unless you are the one trapped in this thing...but hey...I think everyone can relax. I mean, it's not like having psychic abilities and visions while trapped inside an armoured sarcophagus for near-eternity would cause any sort of extra mental stress or trauma. Right? I'm sure it's all fine...and we all know everything turned out great for the Thousand Sons in the end.

Also equipped for...close combat? Harvesting grain? Maybe both?

All of the Space Marine Legion collections in the Horus Heresy have custom bits designed for them, capturing the look that makes them "unique". In the case of the Thousand Sons, that "unique" look is generally an answer to the question "what would happen if the local ancient Egyptian history exhibit somehow came alive and armed itself with futuristic science-fiction weapons"? It is more than a little silly, but I love it and I'm here all day for it! 

The Forge World sculptors went to town on this crazy thing. We get a lot of whacky pseudo-ancient-Egypt accents - which are great - on various parts of the armour (mysterious etching, scarabs galore). We get a pile of extra cables and extra connectors near the "helmet", speaking to the extra bits in the armour helping to manage the psychic capabilities of the "pilot". Finally, to make things extra nuts, there is the end-of-days-sized khopesh-style blade affixed to the end of the power fist. 

Like...how does that even work? Do you impale enemies on the blade, and then...punch them...somehow? Or is that not even for combat, but some kind of agriculture-related side gig the dreadnought handles between missions? 

No matter - the "pilot" will have a near-eternity to figure it out, after all. Hopefully he can still use that Thousand-Sons-mind-relaxation technique he learned in his pre-dreadnought career...

Gotta love the vestments on this crazy thing!

And topping it all off, he has VESTMENTS. Because obviously! What kind of near-dead-psychic combat master goes to battle entombed in a battlesuit WITHOUT a prayer cloth? That would be crazy!

Woohoo! Magnets without a total catastrophe!!

Modelling-wise, I was chuffed that I managed to figure out how to install magnets on the ranged-weapon mount of the right arm! Most normal hobbyists are able to make use of magnets with no problem, but I am, at best, a very "average" model-builder, and tend to be a total f*cking disaster with magnets, no matter how careful I am. This time it worked out! I'll paint up some more ranged weapon options for this fellow at a later point - for now, the paired auto-cannons will do. 

Pseudo-Egyptian glyphs etched into the armour.

I hoped to get a bit of an interesting effect with the markings etched into the legs and shoulder. It was a chance to try and make use of the Contrast Paint/Speed Paints at last! I have always found these to be a hobby product that is a solution-looking-for-a-problem sort of tool. The results were...mostly just OK, but in aggregate I still like how the effect came out.

Now THAT is a can-opener...

I also wanted to make the whacky khopesh look a little more dramatic, so I added decals along the blade, and tried to have a little fun with them. Once more, Contrast Paints were applied in the hopes of achieving something of an "effect. Again the result is...OK...I should try and catch a tutorial on how to do cool blade effects sometime...but for now this will do, as the overall model is just so whacky.

Size comparison with "The Axehole", painted earlier. Things will get dramatic when these two hit the town!

This was painted a few weeks ago now, but has yet to see service on the table. As a newly-painted model, I'm confident this fellow will have no problems at all when he makes his battlefield debut! Right?