Assault Marines for 30k Space Wolves

Assault Marines in Mark IV armour for the VI Legion.

No surprise here - some more 30k painting to share in this post. Since the spring, I have been on quite the 30k painting jag. With a few exceptions, I have been working on 30k stuff - some new, others things which have been lying around for over a year (or years). I think I have been inspired, in part, by rumours of a new plastic set coming for the Horus Heresy, but it has also just been fun to root around in my pile of 30k stuff and to keep adding to the painted part of the collection. Here are some reinforcements for the VI Legion Astartes, the "Space Wolves". This is an assault squad wearing Mark IV armour. The figures are resin sculpts from Forge World.

Close up view of the squad commander.

Nothing like a huge hammer to sort things out up close!

The assault squad is a classic Space Marine unit - troops equipped with short-range pistols, grenades and close-combat weapons, using their jump packs to "hop" across the battlefield in order to settle matters up close and personal. It's kind of silly - and so it fits very well into the Horus Heresy! I do love it, and it is the sort of tactical approach that suits the "character" of most the the Space Marine Legions in the Horus Heresy setting. Certainly the dreaded Vylka Fenryka of the VI Legion would consider any sort of tactics involving mass use of chain swords to be a worthwhile battlefield application. I had not yet painted an assault squad for any loyalists in my collection, so I thought these guys would do well with The Rout.

Two of the marines - one carrying a plasma pistol. The embossed shoulder pauldrons are from Forge World.

In the GW's "Age of Darkness" rules for the Horus Heresy, the Assault Squad counts as a core troop selection for your detachment. The squads are 10 strong, can be expanded in size, including as many as 20 marines (no half measures in 30k!). The basic assault marine carries a bolt pistol, a chain sword, and grenades. You can also select from limited special weapon options to alter/improve the short range firepower impact (you will see a few plasma pistols mixed in with the group here). The officer also has the option of upgrading his close combat weapon - I opted for a "thunder hammer" for him because...well, I like the look, and it seems like the sort of silly thing a Space Wolf marine would love to use.

Ready for action on the gaming table...hopefully someday soon...

The jump packs worn by the Mark IV marines are pretty large - and yet quite small, almost compact, compared to the other variants out there.

If you are in North America, these figures are very, very hard to find right now. Forge World's supply of the figures has become quite constricted, and most of the Horus Heresy models in Forge World's web store tend to be listed as "out of stock" or even "no longer available". Reasons include supply and production disruptions stemming from anti-COVID health measures (understandable - which industry hasn't been hit hard by these problems?) and also murkier rumours and nonsense tied to the ongoing evolution of the opaque relationship between the Forge World studio and GW itself - which owns Forge World, but sort of...doesn't, or something? Whatever...bottom line, hard to get these in North America, but they are still available in the UK. So my thanks to Jamie M, for helping me get these figures!

Chainswords revving, pistols charged and/or loaded, ready for action!

Thanks for reading! I hope folks are managing to enjoy their summer. I look forward to sharing some more 30k stuff soon - although something new is coming which may knock my brushes back toward historical subjects by the fall...we'll see. Cheers!

Battlefleet Gothic Ordnance and Light Cruiser

I finished a set of ordnance markers for Battlefleet Gothic. In the game there is an entire phase dedicated to launching torpedoes, breaching pods, fighters, bombers and for space marines, Thunderhawk gunships. These allow you to land spacemarines on enemy ships and they proceed to wreak havoc all over the ship. All the models are from Vanguard Miniatures cast in pewter and they have excellent detail. I especially like the not-thunderhawks. I also added a light cruiser to the Imperial fleet. The model is also from Vanguard and comes with various weapon options including gun batteries, lances and fighter hangers. I magnetized for maximum customization!

I have plans to paint up some more fighter and bomber stands and add a 2nd strike cruiser to the space marine fleet. Thanks for visiting!

Star Wars Legion Rebel Veterans

Well, I suppose it was somewhat inevitable that if one of the Conscripts got into a new Star Wars miniatures game (DAVE V.), I would also eventually get sucked in. I managed to avoid the Imperial Assault quicksand but the Legion models are just so nice I had to take the plunge.

 

The major hurdle I felt in jumping into Legion was the question of scale. Years back, I'd amassed a fairly sizeable collection of the WotC "Star Wars Miniature Battles" pre-painted soft-plastic figures and Conscript Towers saw A LOT of games played with these models. Then along came Imperial Assault in a slightly larger scale, ensuring that no mixing between the WotC models and FFG models could occur, and this helped me resist assimilation.

But now we have Star Wars Legion and the models are soooooo nice that it's practically impossible to resist picking some up, if only just to paint and admire.

I've decided that this is what I'm doing with this project. Conscript Dave V. has amassed a very impressive and comprehensive collection and I can't wait for him to put on a game or two for us. One thing that Dave's very into is the third-party 3D printed model producers, and I made the mistake of taking a troll on eBay a couple weeks ago for Legion 3D prints. I found a really lovely set of Han, Luke and Leia all in their Hoth garb and bought it, and of course thought it would be irresponsible not to also buy some Hoth Rebels to support them. So here we are.

The Rebel Veterans set consists of seven infantry models, including one shown here with a CM-0/93 blaster, and one crewing a tripod-mounted Mark II Medium Blaster. The rest carry A-280 blaster rifles.

There's even a Sullustan Rebel Veteran! Since there's already a "Nien Nunb" and "Ten Nunb", maybe this guy is "Elephen Nunb"? Dunno, but it's cool that FFG are introducing some diversity into the Rebel forces.

The models are cast in a soft-ish plastic that caused me some worry. This will be immediately understood by anyone familiar with the bendy garbage from Warlord Games. Fortunately the FFG models aren't too soft or bendy - they're not as hard as injection-molded plastic models from, say, Games Workshop, but are close.

 

The models assemble very easily and the sculpting is top-notch. Really nice.

There were just a couple of bendy muzzles that resisted hot-water straightening but fortunately they aren't too noticeable.

The section leader is really a great model too. I love the screen-accurate moustache as well.

I really like this set and will probably paint more Rebels for Hoth battles. One of the cool things about the Legion Rebel troop assortment is that even the basic troopers or even Commandos will fit into a Hoth environment by just painting their uniforms in similar colours. The Rebels were a bit of a rag-tag bunch after all, and not everybody need look the same.

So there we go... maybe some snowy Imperials next...?

Battlefleet Gothic Game

 On Monday I had a friend over and I put on a Battlelfeet Gothic game. It's an old game that hasn't been supported by GW for over a decade. At the start of the pandemic I had bought a bunch of 3rd party ships to represent forces of the Space Marines and Imperial Navy to represent conflict during the Badab War. the game included 3 Imperial Cruisers against 3 light cruisers, 3 escorts and 1 space marine strike cruiser.

The Imperial Fleet started off by launching some torpedoes. The range was too far and they ended up flying off into space.

 

 

The space marine cobras launched torpedoes as well. Some of these managed to land a few hits resulting in further damage to an Imperial Cruiser which was already damaged form some weapon battery fire.

 

Further damage to the Imperial Fleet.

The space marine strike cruiser took a few turns to get into position, but once it did, it started taking a toll on the Imperial Ships. It launched some thunderhawk gunships which delivered a squad of space marines to the ship who proceeded to light fires and destroy my Port weapon batteries. By this point I was able to destroy on space marine light cruiser and a single cobra destroyer.

We danced around each other a bit and tried to avoid the ever expanding blast markers from the  damaged Imperial ships

The Imperial Cruisers finally got into position to rake the strike cruiser with lance and battery fire, but dismal dice rolling on my part resulted in only one shield being hit.

The return fire from the strike cruiser was devastating with the bombardment cannon scoring several critical hits resulting in fires throughout the ship and a destroyed bridge. Only one hull point remained, which was probably going to be lost to the fire.

My second cruiser fared little better and was bombarded by torpedoes from behind, resulting in massive damage.

My final functioning cruiser was hit in the side by the remaining space marine cobras who managed to let off a torpedo barrage which crippled the ship. With all 3 cruisers crippled and facing destruction, I conceded the game. 

Thanks for visiting.

Inferalti Hussars Grenadier Squad

 It's been a while since I've added a unit to my 30k Imperial Militia army, but I've found the motivation to finish the last couple units I have for this army. If yop remember, I was working on an army representing the Imperial Army regiment, The Inferalti Hussars. they feature in the book Praetorian of Dorn and helped defend Pluto from the Alpha Legion. They are a regiment from the 'Old Hundred" which is made up of Terran regiments who fought with the Emperor during the Unification Wars. Rules wise the army list uses Provenances of War that let you customize the army. One provenance is "Survivors of the Dark Age" which allows the army to use Rhinos and Land Raiders and increases their save by 1. It's meant to represent an army that kept their more advance tech during the Age of Strife.

 This is the fist of 2 grenadier squads I have left to complete. The models are form Anvil Industries regiments line. They fit in nicely with GW models, though they are a bit on the small side. This works out great standing next to Space Marines models as they make the marine look quite bulky. The only 'problem' with the AI models is the guns are small compared to GW. By small, I actually mean well proportioned to the model as GW guns are quite oversized. To fix this I gave the squad boltguns form the Mark IV marines set. 

One more squad to go!

Contemptor Dreadnought for 30k Raven Guard

Contemptor Dreadnought for the XIX Legion - model from Forge World.

No surprise here with this posting - some more 30k work from the painting desk. This is a Contemptor Dreadnought, with bespoke features for the XIX Legion Astrates, the Raven Guard. This is a resin model from Forge World - a gift, in fact, given years ago! I am shamefully slow at painting figures and models I receive as gifts - I don't know why, but I am. I came across this model - assembled, primed, although damaged during the move - while rummaging around my 30k "pending pile" earlier this summer. Since it had been so long since receiving this gift, and since I had not added reinforcements to my small assortment of 30k Raven Guard since May of 2016 (five years ago!), I thought it was time to get it finished.

Raven imagery and inconography on the dreadnought frame.

Over the years Forge World has released bespoke Contemptor Dreadnought hulls for each of the Legions who participated in the Horus Heresy (these are hard to come by on their somewhat barren web site these days). The Raven-themed imagery can be seen on the torso, legs and shoulders - very nicely sculpted, lines up well with the look and feel of the XIX Legion. For weapons I picked a power fist/kheres-pattern combo - pretty common selection, but it is a good mix for the dreadnought to use on the battlefield.

The good ol' power fist, useful for smashing all sorts of things.

The non-carbon-neutral power system for the dreadnought frame.

In addition to the slow journey to the painting table, this model has another kind of entertaining quirk - if you look closely, you will see this fellow has two right hips! Not a big problem, given the modular nature of these Forge World Contemptor models. I tried to hide it by posing the model with some motion...not sure I was successful, but at least it looks a lot more lively than the wooden pose of the plastic Contemptor kit from the old "Betrayal at Calth" box set.

Ready to seek vengeance for the events of Istvaan V....

I'm sure my 30k Raven Guard figures, having languished for years without receiving any new kit, will be pleased to get some reinforcements. They might even dare to hope for more...we'll see where my brushes turn next this summer. Thanks for reading, and take care everyone! 

Star Wars Legion - “Somebody has to save our skins!”

Star Wars: Legion does not have official models for Leia, Luke, and Han as they appeared in the original 'Star Wars' movie (Episode IV: A New Hope).

These recently released figures are three of eight(!) different poses Felipe Manivel created for the trio in ANH (here, Leia in her iconic “cinnamon bun” hairdo and Luke and Han wearing stolen Stormtrooper armour). I love the anatomy and detailing. I purchased 3D prints from Order66 Miniatures and BigFatChefsCustoms, both on Etsy. 

I did my usual black priming with Chaos Black, and airbrushed zenithal highlights with Vallejo greys and whites. I laid in basic tones in acrylics, then used oils for blending, especially the flesh tones and various neutrals and greys for the robe and armour.

I have now painted up four different versions of Luke from the original trilogy.

Sehkmet Terminators for 30k Thousand Sons

Sehkmet Terminators for Heresy-era Thousand Sons.

Some more 30k work in this posting - here are some Sehkmet Terminators from the XV Legion Astrates, the "Thousand Sons" from GW's Horus Heresy setting. These 28mm figures combine the plastic Cataphractii Terminator kits from GW with bespoke bits from Forgeworld - torsos, arms and weapons sporting the specific themed imagery and inconography of the heresy-era Thousand Sons Space Marines.

White armour plates to pick out the officer in command of the "cabal."

Nearly every Space Marine legion in 30k has their own elite Terminator-armoured type formation (Justaerin, etc.), and Forge World has done either conversion sets (or complete sculpts, depending on the theme) for nearly all of them. My recent fiddling with some Thousand Sons inspired me to dig out my Sehkmet kit, put them together and paint them up. 

Combi-bolters, force weapons and an implacable aura on these fellows...

The backstory of the Thousand Sons is one of sorcery, psychic power and knowledge. As such the Legion featured a number of "cabals" within its ranks, and the Sehkmet was one of the most prominent ones. The Sehkmet terminators therefore combine the "terminator" elements that 30k/40k fans are all familiar with (i.e. even bigger power armour and even bigger guns) with pyschic powers and force blades. The only downside is they don't carry weapons like heavy flamers or reaper autocannons - but if you are a scary battle wizard, who needs that stuff, right?

Not so glamourous frm the back...whatever wizardry is going on inside the armour, these models retain the same machinery and power units in their Cataphractii plate.

While the sculpting is lovely, the Cataphractii models are pretty wooden in their poses - considering they are huge slabs of armour, this makes some sense, I guess...

These models are quite ornate, and were not the easiest to paint. Part of the challenge continues to be my struggles with the colour white (I guess I haven't painted Austrians in quite a while!), but the casting of the bespoke torsos, while quite neat, was also a challenge...the head and torso are all cast in one piece designed to fir the plastic Cataphractii kit, and so the helmet - often recessed in behind the huge slab-style shoulder plates - was not easy to get to with the brush. The khopesh-style blades are also a concern - the fit the "space Egypt" theme nicely, but they are resin, and resin blades are brittle things...I worry about transporting these, and worry about a mishap on the table...

I worry about those resin weapon blades...they are so thin...

All Space Marine players are familiar with the futility of Terminators within the actual game - generally they teleport/deep strike to the table, and are shot to pieces within the same turn. I'm not sure things will be different with these models should they ever get the opportunity to deploy to the gaming table, but the possibility of psychic power mayhem might increase their chances of survival and of making an impact.

The Praetor I painted earlier this summer joins the Sehkmet for this photo.

Thanks for reading - I hope everyone out there is having a good summer. I am counting down to my second vaccine dose, and then hoping to make a couple of trips to see some folks. Take care!

Anyway, it was fun to fiddle around with these figures, and continue to experiment with a different painting style. I'm not 100% sold on it, but I am happy enough with it to keep trying.