XVI Legion Veteran Tactical Squad

A Veteran Tactical Squad for the Sons of Horus. 28mm figures from Forge World

Some more reinforcement for the XVI Legion Astrates - a Veteran Tactical Squad, wearing Mark II power armour, carrying later model bolt guns. The squad includes a meltagunner and a heavy bolter, and the Marines themselves enhanced with a number of small accent bits from different packs of GW and Forge World bits.

Trooper carrying a meltagun, flanked by Marines carrying fancy bolt guns.

Lots of intricacies on the power packs - you also can see the handy chainswords carried by the veteran troopers.

I have painted a fair bit of Horus Heresy stuff over the years, but this is the first squad I have painted wearing the Mark II armour. I do like the look of the armour design, but I have to say, from a subjective point of view, the Mark III variant armour is probably still more appealing. Like the Mark III variant, The Mark II power armour has a very segmented look, with lots of seams and rivets, but it does not look as heavy as the Mark III. One other feature I find a bit defining for the Mark II plate is the "monobrow" look to the helmet visor, which has just a single vision slit. On the whole, it is a very sort of proto-medieval sci-fi kind of look - well done by the sculptors.

Vox operator on the left, Vexillary on the right.

More detail on the backpacks - I quite like the bizarre little details on the communications pack.

The squad sergeant's ominous "power claws" and plasma pistol point, while in the background you see the trooper with the heavy bolter, a support weapon.

A lot of rivets and segments in the Mark II power armour...a bit of a challenge to paint, and I was pretty rusty in terms of painting these guys, but they still came out OK.

These marine may be wearing "early" pattern armour, but carrying "later" patterns of bolt guns, with box magainzes. The chainswords they are carrying are spares from the plastic Mark III marine figure set, as are the special weapons seen on the officer. The heavy bolter is a plastic accessory from the plastic Mark IV marine figure set. So a lot of different component packs came together here, which was great. Besides, I figure veterans would be the sort to keep the older armour, but ensure they got their choice of the nicest/newest weapons :)

Horus for hope!

You may see that the transfers are still quite glossy in these photos - it has not been "safe" to spray the final coat of matte spray on these figures - it has somehow managed to be at once too cool and too humid outside to safely spray on the Krylon, so that may wait for some time - it is something I will get to at a later date.

The embossed shoulder armour plates are great - not the cheapest thing to decide to like, but I do love them. Once you put them on one squad, however, you find yourself making excuses that you need them for every squad...oh well :)

Like the Moritat I posted earlier, these figures had been sitting primed for a while before finally getting under the paintbrush. It is always good to get these "pending" projects finished with! And now that I've opened up the 30k supply box, I find I am suddenly working on a bunch of new 30k projects for this summer, as we continue to stagger through this interminable pandemic.

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is doing well out there. 

XVI Legion Moritat for Horus Heresy

"Moritat" in the colours of the XVI Legion Astrates - the Sons of Horus.

Having gone through some Adeptus Titanicus projects in recent weeks, my hobby attentions have turned to related areas of hobby interest - namely, the Horus Heresy in 28mm. This is a 28mm Space Marine "Moritat", painted in the colours of the XVIth Legion Astrates, the "Sons of Horus", the Warmaster's very own Legion.

Guns drawn, ready to fire...and the helmet of a previous victim lying on the base...

So what is a "Moritat"? Well, the "Horus Heresy" was a giant civil war which tore the Imperium apart. Space Marine Legions fought against Space Marine Legions, and the fighting caused the odd Space Marine here and there to crack up a bit, the nature of the conflict being such that it wrecked the careful mental/psychological conditioning/programming that was part of their creation. While still physically fit, such mentally damaged Marines could no longer be fully relied upon to fight effectively as part of their units, and so were pulled from the battle line. The Legions would never "waste" an asset, however - a Space Marine is still a Space Marine...and so such mentally fractured Marines are made in "Moritats", and sent to battle as one-man armies. Not suicide missions per se...just loners at the fringe of the battle plan. If they survive, great. If not...well, they will still have cause serious issues for the enemies of the Legion.

The cabling is a pain the @ss...some crude "green stuff" repairs were needed - I've got no skill using "green stuff", but you have to start somewhere? Practice is practice.

The Moritat seen here wears Mark IV power armour, with extra plating. He is equipped with a jump pack to get close to the enemy as fast as he can and start shooting. He is equipped with volkite weapons that are pretty deadly at short range, and has a variety of extra targeting kit to help his shots land more accurately.

Putting a Space Marine together is usually pretty straightforward, but there was a particular challenge with this figure - the cables running from the weapons to the backpack of the armour. Powered weapons with cables connected to some manner of backpack on the power armour are a feature of a number of the special weapon/heavy weapon figures in Forge World's Horus Heresy range. Resin features like this are not easy to assemble, and even with careful use of hot water etc. the cables can break because one carefully tries to bend/turn them into position before gluing them into place. I am envious of how Mike, Dallas, Byron and others manage to work well on these sorts of tricky figures. With this figure, one cable worked out fine, but the other broke in two places, and "green stuff" was needed...I'm not very confident using that either, but I managed to bodge it together.

For the Warmaster!

It has been a while since I last painted some 30k figures (last November, it seems), so it was fun to dig into the packing crate and pull out some figures like this one. This figure has been waiting for paint for just over a year - first assembled it during a previous burst of 30k output in the spring last year. When I pulled this figure out, there were a few other 30k items in the tray as well, so I'm hoping to share those soon.

Thanks for reading everyone - hope you are well! My thoughts in particular are with my friends back in Manitoba as the COVID pandemic continues to wreak particular havoc there.  

Gaslands Subaru Impreza 22B and Ford GT40

Picking up the brushes for the first time in awhile with a couple of cars acquired for use in the excellent "Gaslands" vehicle combat game. As I am a motor racing enthusiast, most of the cars I paint have their basis in current or historical motorsport competition, and these are no exception.

Enthusiasts of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) will recognize this car as one driven by one of rallying's GOATs... the late Colin McRae.

While this WRC Impreza is resplendent in the Subaru team's iconic "555" cigarette livery, Colin and his co-driver Nicky Grist never had twin machine guns to assist them.

The model is from Hot Wheels and is really quite good. I repainted it in Kantor Blue (analog to Subaru's "World Rally Blue") with 555 livery freehanded. I just got some new Kolinsky Sable brushes from Rosemary & Co and they seem to be working pretty well.

The other car to be painted is supposed to be a Ford GT40, also from Hot Wheels. While the body shape is "GT40-like" for sure, it's not quite right for the GT40 I remember best. In any case, it could only be painted in Gulf Oil livery, of course.

This GT40 is also equipped with twin MGs but also carries a mine/oil dropper out back. I thought it made sense to have a rear-facing weapon since this car will probably be out front anyway. All of the weapons added to these cars are from the superlative "Implements of Carnage" sprues from North Star.

Again, detail work is freehanded.

A good view here of the weapons.

One more pic of the Impreza. I didn't do much (any) weathering on these cars as I wanted to focus on the livery, but it's not out of the question that I may go back and do some.

Anyway there's two more cars painted for what that's worth... hopefully we can get together to play later this year but the numbers here in Manitoba are dire, so that ain't happening anytime soon.

Stay safe everyone...

Minotaurs Tactical Squad #2

 Painting progress has been slow since the Province suspended in class learning for elementary school kids. Despite this challenge, I've managed to complete another tactical squad for my Minotaurs Chapter. This includes a Multi-melta, meltagun and flamer alternative. The sergeant is armed with a plasma pistol and power fist. I also gave him a Mark IV helmet. The boltguns are from the Mark III space marine box. I had dozens of them left over from my Imperial Fists.

 Thanks for visiting.

Yet More AT18 - Acastus Knights

Acastus Knights for Adeptus Titanicus - kits from GW.

My late spring painting run Adeptus Titanicus continues! Once more, these are reinforcements for the Loyalist side of my collection, a pair "Acastus" Knights. They are multi-part plastic kits from GW, part of the model range for the game Adeptus Titanicus.

Rear view showing the armour plates on the back of the torso and legs.

The Acastus-type Knight is about as big as a Knight can be without being a small Titan. I painted two of these types of Knights for the Rebel forces in my collection last year, so these two will balance things out for the Loyalist side.

Energy weapons ready to blast enemies to particles.

I have yet to use this type of Knight in a game of Adeptus Titanicus, but it certainly seems like they will be hard-hitting elements. Their weapons can cause heavy damage to enemy Knights, and are a threat to Titans as well. 

There are some rocket launchers mounted on the top of the hull...you can model them closed up, but where is the fun in that? :)

Acastus Knights also seem like they can even take a bit of a beating, but are not as mobile (even if they are much more mobile than the huge Titans). Acastus commanders, like the pilots of the other Knights, will need to take care on the battlefields of Adeptus Titanicus.

These two Knights are painted in the red-and-black-gold colours I use for the loyalist Knights in my Adeptus Titanicus collection.

Ready to fight in the name of The Emperor. I'm sure Horus is laughing somewhere...

These kits are very, very nicely done by GW. Real beauties to work on, with tons of tiny details. As far as backstories go in GW's 30k/40k setting, I am indifferent to the stories of the Knights (the Titan Legions are SO much cooler), but there are also many hobbyists out there who enjoy all of the details of the Knights. If you are one of those folks, you will be blown away by these kits. The detail is insane - you even get a choice of different auxiliary weapons (either lascannons or autocannons). Wow. 

"Family photo" of my upgraded loyalists for Adeptus Titanicus.

With these two Knights now stepping into the line, the rebel and loyalist sides to my collection are balanced out, with the same amount of God Engines and Knights available to each side. I'm not sure why that should matter - we can't even get together to game anyway - but is it the sort of thing that lingers in my hobby brain. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this recent run of Adeptus Titanicus kit. I think some other GW subjects will soon. Thanks for reading - stay sane everyone.

More AT18 Reinforcements - Nemesis Warbringer Titan

More reinforcements for Legio Gyphonicus - a Nemesis Warbringer Titan.

Another God Machine has stepped off the painting tables here in Northern Ontario, ready to do battle in the world of GW's Adeptus Titanicus. This is a "Nemesis Warbringer" class Titan, a multi-part plastic kit from GW. This is another Titan for Legio Gyphonicus, the "War Griffons", a loyalist Titan Legio that fought on the side of The Emperor during the wars of the Horus Heresy. I am continuing my efforts to even out the Rebel and Loyalist sides of my Adeptus Titanicus collection - this new Titan will balance off the Warbringer I painted for Legio Mortis last year.

The new Warbringer, together with the Reaver Titan from my previous submission.

This Titan class is slightly larger than the Reaver Titans, but still smaller than the Warlord Titans. It is  covered in heavy weaponry, of course! You can see all sorts of big guns all over this thing. The arm weapons are the same as those available to the Reaver Titans - with the important exception that it cannot mount the "close combat" chain/fist weapons. The carapace, on the other hand, mounts a weapon that is on par with the heavy weaponry of the Warlord Titans.

Now THAT is a big gun!

A lot going on up there on top of this Titan...

There are even some anti-aircraft batteries up there...just in case!

It is clearly weapon mount on the top of the Titan that "makes" the model. This is a "quake cannon" - no need to get into the specifics here, but you can tell that it is a really big gun, and be assured it has really satisfying big-gun-type effects in the game. There is an option to mount a volcano cannon as well - which is another scary sort of big gun - but this option does not come with the kit (this option is, in fact, shortly to be available from Forge World...will be interesting to see if they actually provide you with all of the parts you would truly need to make the weapon interchangeable, but anyway...).

You can just make out the crew access hatch in this view...

This is a beautiful model kit from GW, but the assembly for this requires, IMO, more caution in terms of hobby pace than the other large Titan models I have built to date. Many of the components/armour plates overlap, but do not cover completely, the various sections where they are mounted. I get obsessive about these situations, and end up wanting to be sure everything is painted, even if there is only a 0.000005% anyone will see one of these mostly-covered areas. So there is a lot of painting sub-assemblies with this beast.

So much great detail on the armour plates...really great job by GW on these kits.

Lots of overlapping plate armour on the legs and torso.

So putting one of these together and painting it is a bit of a slow process, at least for me - I paint a lot of the components (like the armour plates) separately from the base structure, and then assemble afterwards. That takes more time, and is more fiddly for sure. But it is worth it in the end - I really like the model, and I'm glad to have one of these available for my loyalist forces. I have nearly balanced/evened up my Legio Gryphonicus forces, and the paint brushes are continuing on AT18 topics, so I look forward to sharing more soon.

Thanks for reading! Hope you are all well out there.  

New Reaver Titan for the War Griffons

Reaver Titan from Games Workshop - standing with some alternative weapon options. This is a plastic GW kit.

Hello again everyone. More Adeptus Titanicus production to share with you in this post. With that last batch of WW1 figures completed, my paint brushes have now been turned over fully toward Adeptus Titanicus and the towering war engines of the Mechanicum. It has been about a year since I last completed a round of reinforcements/expansion for my AT18 collection, and I felt it was about time for more. Since my last efforts were (mostly) focused on the rebels of Legio Mortis, I thought it would be best to balance things out, so we start with this new Reaver Titan for the loyalists of Legio Gryphonicus.

A closer view, showing the various energy weapons mounted on the Titan.

Progress was a little rusty at first on this machine, but I got back into the groove eventually, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

A closer view showing the "Volcano Cannon" on the left arm...a scary weapon, but one that tends to put pressure on the Titan's reactor.

This is the third Reaver I have painted for the loyalist side of my collection. The best part is that its weapon points are fully magnetized, so players can now choose from the steadily growing assortment of weapons that are available.

Another view, showing some alternate weapons - including a giant chainsword hand! Good times!

The Reaver is a great model and these kits really are excellent. As always, I find the feet of the Reaver Titans to be particularly tricky, but lucky for me I managed to get it right this time around.

Another weapon option - a large calibre, multi-barrel cannon - good times!

You can see some of the different weapon options available for this machine - picking a favourite weapon configuration is a great part of the game, and now players using this loyalist machine will have a choice of the weapons seen here, as well as some others painted previously. 

A "family photo" of my Loyalist Titan collection...Knights in the front, Warhounds behind them, then the Reaver Titans, including the newest one on the left, and finally the Warlord Titans at the back.

Adeptus Titanicus is a fantastic game, a great set of rules and models from GW. It has been fun to get back to this model range over the past couple of weeks, and I look forward to sharing more towering war machines from the grim and dark far future as they come off the hobby desk! Thanks for reading, and be well.   

More 12mm German WW1 Infantry

In this squinty photo are more 12mm early-WW1 German troops - nearly all from Kallistra.

Hi everyone. I have been slacking off when it comes to blogging, but I've still been painting. The more stressful things get, the more I try to paint. I mean, I love painting and I am always trying to paint, but sometimes I just need to paint more to stay sane. Suffice to say, recent conditions continue to encourage much painting...with this is mind, here are some more 12mm Germans for my early WW1 project. 

There is a bit of a twist compared to my previous posts on this subject - where my previous figures had been from Great Escape Games, nearly all of the figures you glimpse here are from Kallistra's 12mm WW1 range (the lone exception is the MG08 gunner - an extra I had found in one of my packs from Great Escape Games - always nice to get a surprise like that :) 

View of the infantry elements - the MG08 on the right is from great Escape Games - everything else is from Kallistra.

Most of the basing is consistent with the game "1914" from Great Escape Games, but there is one square base in the group - I intend to use this as a "Regimental Command" for games of "Great War Speahead". Overall, for "1914" there is a unit of infantry, a command base, and a regiment of cavalry, both mounted and dismounted.

The Kallistra sculpts are very nice, and there is a bit more variety of poses available.

The Kallistra castings are a little thinner than the ones from Great Escape Games, but also have a bit more variety of poses. The range is a more established one, and it just has some more variety to it.

German Dragoons - mounted.

The German cavalry is a good example. They could/would represent some German Dragoons - either mounted or dismounted - to give some variety to go with the Uhlans on the table. It's an example of how the Kallistra range is just a little more rounded out than Great Escape's (although, again, both are excellent - I recommend both). 

Side view of the Dragoons.

German Dragoons - dismounted. I might paint a base of horse-holders or something at some point...

It's been quite a dash to start this project. I have made good progress - the German side is certainly all set for a game of "1914". But I feel a bit of exhaustion when it comes to this project for now. You can see with few posts I have made prior to this one,  my painting interests are moving back toward other subjects for a time - likely more Adeptus Titanicus stuff, but probably some other 30k things as well. 

Thanks for reading - stay safe, and stay sane out there.