A Couple Of 40k Captains

Space Marine Captain from the GW "Indomitus" box set - there is a lot going on with that shield...

Christmas has come and gone and 2022 approaches - I need to cram a few more posts on to the Blog in order to a) make a push to increase the post count and b) clear the decks for the material that will be submitted to the 12th edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. In this post, we have some more figures I have been painting up for my 40k Raven Guard force - two different "Primaris" Captain figures, painted up for my Raven Guard.

That shield is wild...I didn't do a great job, but passable on it. It is so whacky...I just love it. 

Up first, we have another figure from the "Indomitus" box set. This Captain figure, to me, very much captures the sort of whacky affection that must have inspired the designer who came up with the Space Marine figures in that set. Not only is he a big, scary armoured Space Marine, but he has a huge sword, all sorts of flash and flare on his armour, and then there is the shield!

Not everything will be sword work...there is a heavy bolt pistol in that holster for close-range gun fights.

The Space Marines are often inspired by martyred predecessors in their Chapter. But why settle for a story, when you can just bring the martyr with you? Look at this whacky shield! Such an entertaining tribute to the Space Marine penchant for bones and other morbidly fatalistic iconography. 

Building on this whacky shield is the air of repose. This officer is between scraps, resting on his shield, like it is all just another day at the office. Because it is, right? The actual version of this figure comes with a helmeted head with the visor raised, to complete the effect, and to make it even more pronounced, there are terrain bits of wrecked neurone warriors you can add to the base. 

For my part, I like the officers in my 40k Raven Guard to sport "beakie" style helmets, so I popped one on to this fellow. But I have to hand it to GW, the Marine figures in that "Indomitus" box set are just a ton of fun to paint.

This guy turned out pretty well, but check the seam on his cloak by the left elbow...dammit...

Up next, we have a Space Marine Captain wearing "heavier" heavy armour - I think it is called "Gravis". He is also carrying a heavy bolt rifle - which is like a bolt rifle, but heavier. And of course he has the obligatory huge sword, and fancy cape to wear around on the battlefield - as one does in the 41st millennium. 

I like to include small shout-outs to the 30k-era Raven Guard on the 40k models - in this case, some XIX decals on the cloak.

There was a slight screw up in the assembly of this captain, as I managed to somehow leave a seam on the back of his cloak under the shoulder...idiotic on my part. I thought paint would cover for it, and I was too lazy to resort to green stuff...oh well...if this figure ever achieves something on the gaming table, I'll patch that over with a couple of purity seals or something.

Big gun, big sword, big armour...all set for 40k!

These are big models, lots of character and lots of fun to paint. Overall, I think the version with the big shield is a much more useful figure in the 9th edition of the 40k game, which is essentially a giant brawl on the table. In most games, heavy rifles are of limited use, while huge swords and shields will come in handy as your Marines are swarmed under by whatever they are up against. 

I hope to cram a few more posts in before the calendar turns over - but stay tuned for more from the "Indomitus" box, and from the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge! 

40k Raven Guard - Blade Guard Veterans

Blade Guard Veterans prepared for action in the grim darkness of the far future.

As 2021 draws to a close, I find myself working to build my small collection of 40k Raven Guard up to strength in order to participate in a local 40k gaming group. This inspired me to finally crack open the "Indomitus" box set - purchased back in the summer of 2020 - and get going on some of the figures inside. With the clock running out on the year, I wanted to throw up a bunch of posts highlighting some of the subsequent painting - here is the first one. This is a unit of "Blade Guard Veterans", multi-part plastic figures from the "Indomitus" box.

Shoulder insignia courtesy of "Pop Goes The Monkey"

The Space Marine models in the "Indomitus" box nearly all have a close-combat theme/look/feel. They are made for brawling, and the look and the design of the figures follows. These "Bade Guards" certainly fit that vibe - yet another new type of elite Space Marine (who are already elite, but anyway) that can certainly shoot at you, but would much rather chop you up. They have fancy shields and fancy swords to help get that job done. 

I like to drop the old Legion Numeral here and there on my 40k models...always nice to nod toward 30k inspiration.

These models are all push-fit assembly (although I still use a bit of glue because) and are covered in all manner of baroque details, including many things familiar to 40k players (many skullz, for example). In all, the effect is to bring the feel of a "Space Knight", something that for Space Marines had been more restricted previously to certain Chapters, like the Dark Angels and Grey Knights. With the tabards, shields and swords, these fellows have a different vibe from standard Marines for sure. I quite enjoy the sculpts, I think they are very well done.

Newly-painted elite models. What could go wrong?

For colours, I used my alternate (i.e. dark grey instead of black) take on the Raven Guard colour scheme, and used these particular figures to drop in a touch more colour (albeit still darker) here and there.

These three Marines will be joined shortly by reinforcements - stay tuned for more on that!

Second World War Soviets

 The Analogue Painting Challenge is about to kick off next week, and this year I am looking at expanding my Bolt Action Second World War collection starting with my Soviet horde. Here is the current array on parade. The infantry are primarily from Black Tree Design, with a few riflemen and the majority of the heavy weapons from Battle Honors. The platoon of T34/76 tanks consists of a 1/50 Corgi, two 1/50 Solido, and 1/48 Bandai. The Bandai T34 and the 'captured' Kubelwagen are recent additions, but most of the figures and tanks were painted over a decade ago and saw much action on the table top with the after school wargames club I organized.

 

A group photo of my Soviets: four rifle squads of nine men each, one SMG squad of eight men, two medium mortars, one heavy machine gun, one medium machine gun, one 76mm divisional gun, a headquarters, a captured Kubelwagen, and four T34-76 tanks, ready to repel the Fascist invaders.

A close up of one of the rifle squads, the 76mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3), and two 82mm 82-BM-37 battalion mortars. The Battle Honors mortar teams came with figures to either be 'on the go' or 'deployed'.

Another two rifle squads each consisting of a section leader with a submachine gun, six riflemen, and a DP-28 light machine gun. Behind them are a DShK 1938 heavy machine gun team, and a PM M1910 medium machine gun team. The machine teams again came with enough figures to be either 'on the go' or 'deployed'.

A fourth rifle squad in front, a squad armed with PPSh-41 submachine guns behind them, and a platoon of T34-76s at the back.

A stern commander with his captured Kubelwagen staff car, and a small escort of riflemen.

A group of 'character figures' from Black Tree Design. You can just smell the bacon frying. 

A close up of the two medium mortar teams from Battle Honors.

A close up of the two machine gun teams, heavy machine gun on the left, medium machine gun on the right.

A close up of two 1/50 diecast T34s from Solido (closest to the camera) and Corgi. The Corgi is a later model with two hatches in the turret.

The last two T34s, a plastic 1/48 Bandai kit, and a 1/50 Solido diecast model. Both are the early version with the single turret hatch.

 

So what's on the workbench for the next few months? Soviet infantry in summer uniforms, Soviet infantry in winter uniforms, Siberian veterans, a variety of support weapons, more tanks, and an armoured car or two. Below are just a few of the projects I hope to have rolling off the assembly line soon.

Soviet Infantry (Winter) and Siberian Veterans from Warlord Games, and another T34/76, this time from Tamiya. I plan to do this one in Winter camouflage.

 

Russian Infantry in Summer Uniforms, Russian Infantry Heavy Weapons, and a pair of Russian 45mm Anti-Tank Guns, all from Plastic Soldier Company, and a KV-1 from Hobby Boss.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. As projects are completed I will post them on the blog to keep you up to date on my painting challenge progress.

Rogal Dorn

My Imperial Fists have been my main effort since I started with 30k. I think I have over 5000 points worth of stuff which is more way more than can be reasonably gamed with. Just putting it all on the table might take half an hour! It's been a rewarding army to paint, but there comes a point where it's just silly to add more. There are other ptojects and other legions to paint! The only models left are the ones I've been dreading a bit. This is due either to their size or percieved complexity. I've finally decided to suck it up and just get them done. The first up is Primarch Rogal Dorn designed by Forgeworld. Anyone familiar with the model will notice it's missing something. Dorn's supposed to be wearing a cape. Forgeworld loves their capes on guys in power armour! I challenge anyone to tie a large piece of cloth to a backhoe and see how long it manages to stay on. I'm pretty sure the second Dorn sits down and shifts his weight, he's tearing that thing off. Despite this I did try to use it, but I just couldn't get the damn thing to fit under Dron's backpack. It just wasn't going to happen and I have to thank my daughter for halping me make up my mind to just leave it off. She felt that it was a bit silly to wear both a cape and a backpack at the same time. She also felt it looked a bit too "busy." Good enough for me. I also didn't go nuts with the face. Faces aren't my strong suit and I didn't see Dorn chaning that fact, so I just slapped a few flesh tones on him, added a wash and left it at that. I didn't even consider doing the eyes or his teeth. I'm happy this model is dinally done and I think it really adds to the collection. These Primarch models are a bit silly, so I don't see myself getting another, but I think the Fists deserved their Primarch on the display shelf. Last up with be the Fellblade. The yellow is going to take a while so I doubt I'll get it done before the painting challenge starts, but I'll be happy to at least make some progress on it. Thanks for visiting.

Another Squad of Silver Stars

A squad of Silver Star Marines, wearing Mark III power armour.

As winter arrives, I have been working on a new project - The War of The False Primarch. This project, like all of the others, starts small in my mind - "hey, I'll just paint a Kill Team" - and then from there, just a little bit larger - "hey, a second squad would be fun". Here in this post are photos of this second step - a 10-man squad of Silver Star Space Marines wearing Mark III power armour, mysterious followers of the mysterious returned true Son of the Emperor. These figures combine legs and torsos from Tortuga Gamestable with components and bits from GW Mark III kits, as well as a few Forge World accessories. There are also a number of decals, courtesy of a great community member who printed them up and shipped them to me!

Sergeant with plasma pistol, and thunder hammer - to really give it to someone...

Selection of marines...love that classic "Shark Fin" style missile launcher from Forge World - still makes me think of the old RTB 01 kits.

I love painting Space Marines, and particularly enjoy painting Horus-Heresy-era armour kits - with the Mark III probably being my absolute favourite - and so far, the pictures of Silver Star Marines I had seen online had been wearing Mark II armour, so it was fun to work these fellows up. I love the colour scheme of these Marines - devised by the incredible Rubricist - and I think it looks even sharper on the Mark III armour :-)

Some more of the Marines - I love the torso/leg poses from Tortuga Gamestable.

The Tortuga Gamestable core kits are just excellent - I really love the poses, a lot, and I thought setting of The War of The False Primarch would be an ideal setting to paint up these kits - a small force that will be fun to work up, and hopefully use in a game at some point, but also be fun to share online and have in the collection. 

Another assortment of squad members - and I am so thankful for the decals!

I designed this group to be a basic, classic 10-man tactical squad. The officer has a special weapon and a close combat weapon. There is support - one marine sporting a missile launcher (in this case, a Forge World "shark fin" launcher), another marine with a plasma gun - and a marine with a communication set up on his power pack.

Ready to deploy for the Partisan cause!

With this squad, we move up from a Kill Team toward the beginning of a small force (something like 25 PL) to play a "combat patrol" in 40k. You know, still a "small force", but just a "few more elements" LOL. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Who Are The Silver Stars? And What Is The War Of The False Primarch?

A Kill Team of Silver Stars prepares for action.

So in this post I want to use these Marines to introduce a new project - they are painted in the colours of the Silver Stars, key players, the War Of The False Primarch. These particular figures combine Mark II power armour marine body kits from Tortuga Bay, while the arms, helmets, weapons and other accessories all come from various GW sources, ranging from Forge World 30k kits to the new Primaris Intercessor 40k kits.

What Is The War Of The False Primarch?

Test model for the Silver Stars.

The War of The False Primarch is an instance of civil war that disrupted the Imperium around the time of the 33rd millennium. Nothing so large as the Horus Heresy, maybe closer to a Badab-War sort of thing. It is a piece of formal lore for the 40k history, but of course an obscure one compared to the various campaigns and sub-settings that have received official attention from GW's marketing efforts over the years. 

Marine in action during a Kill Team game.

In the 33rd millennium, a group of Space Marine chapters rallied around a figure acclaimed as a lost Primarch, a returned Son of The Emperor - perhaps one of the "crossed out" Legions we see on those lists of initial Space Marine Legions in our Horus Heresy books? Who can know the truth of that? But this so-called Primarch did have his own Legion, or at least pseudo-Legion, and rallied other chapters to his cause - these were the Partisans.

A Sergeant directs his unit.

Opposing them were the High Lords of Terra, who dispatched five fresh and full strength chapters to impose a brutal blockade and purge, expunging this dangerous deviant and his followers from the Imperium in the name of The Emperor. This core force of Chapters were known as The Pentarchy.

Volkite Caliver, still handy during the 33rd millennium...

I learned of all of this through work of a blogger known as The Rubricist. Dallas first turned me on to his blog years ago, and I have been a keen follower of  the blog for some time. The Rubricist's blog posts are an entertaining and eclectic mix of 30k and 40k projects, and the great modelling and painting on display on the blog are matched by the quality of writing with a great flare for the lore of the settings. The Rubricist enjoys not only the modelling and painting, but the setting as well, and is keen to inspire others. In this, he succeeded where I am concerned with The Silver Stars.

Who Are The Silver Stars?

Pict capture of a possible Siver Star banner - source [+REDACTED+]

The Silver Stars are the Legion of the returned Son. Driven by mystery and symbology, few records survive regarding The Silver Stars and their ways. Often equipped with Legion-era equipment last seen during the Wars of the Horus Heresy and the subsequent Great Scouring, the Stars formed the bulk of the Partisan resistance during the War.

Ready for another game of Kill Team.

When the Rubricist premiered the Silver Stars on his blog, I thought they were really cool. I loved the look, the colours, and the lore around them and the setting. The Rubricist tells a story in a way that leaves lots of room for conjecture - and thus room for your own ideas, if you want. In fact, that is one of the neatest aspects of this project. 

A Community-Driven GW Story

A preview-pict grab of an advisor to the lost legion.

With the Rubricist and a few others at its core, there is a small community around the world who have joined this sort of grassroots project to create the story of The War of The False Primarch. They leverage the 40k-setting-Inquisition's tendency to suppress and repress everything to present the story of the war as a series of recovered stories, reports and anecdotes, to give the feeling of a scholar in the 41st millennium looking through records that are dangerous and unwise to acknowledge and access. The vibe is fun, and allows great scope for creativity and individual approaches to a community-driven story.

You can tell it has really grabbed some people's attention, and inspired them to chip in with neat supports - like custom decals! A fellow in the Facebook group just whipped up custom decals for all of the units in the story, and made them available! The four-pointed star design you can see on the shoulders come from those decals. 

Another snippet preview of a Silver Star figure...more to come...

I really can't do justice to the project here in this post - and besides, it would be much more fun for you to check it out yourself. I encourage you to check out Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten, the blog that is the beating heart of this effort. There you will find deeper background on the story, profiles of key characters and forces in the conflict, and see the efforts of the many different hobbyists bringing the War Of The False Primarch to life in their painting and gaming tables. You should also follow the Death Of A Rubricist blog, where you will see many figures painted for this project, as well as many other fantastic 30k and 40k modelling and painting efforts. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram, under hashtags such as #somethingsarebestleftforgotten.

These Marines have already seen action in a few games of Kill Team here in Sault Ste Marie. I will be adding a few more elements to them here and there over the coming weeks and months. 

That's all for now - thanks for reading!   

Alpha Legion Finished!

The 12th painting Challenge approaches and I've been preparing various projects to work on over the winter. I've also been trying to clean out the last pieces of some old projects that have been lingering for a while. One of these projects is my 30k Alpha Legion. I've finally managed to complete the last unit I intend to build for them them. This is a unit of Lernaean Terminators from Forgeworld. They come equipped with power axes and volkite charges. They also come equipped with a conversion beamer which is a bit silly such a close combat oriented unit. As such I converted the beamer to look a little vague so it could reasonably represent several of the available weapon options.

I had originally earmarked some other models for this army, but I received some unexpected reinforcements from GregB when he moved. About half the infantry and a few of the vehicles are Greg's Alpha Legion. Our painting style are a bit different, but I used the same colour scheme and the two groups blend together fairly well I think. This isn't it for 30k however. As I mentioned above, I had other models earmarked for the Alpha Legion and those are being diverted to a new legion project that I hope to start some time next year.

Thanks for visiting

Star Wars Legion Probot and Snowtrooper Squad from Wargames3D

So the Battle of Hoth Star wars Legion project draws near to its close, as I've now received and painted some 3D prints from licensed printer Wargames3D on Etsy - an Imperial probe droid (designed by Skull Forge) and another squad of Snowtroopers (designed by Dark Fire).  

First - the Probot (OK, the "Arakyd Industries Viper Probe Droid"). This is a model that's currently missing from the official SW Legion range, but one that every Legion enthusiast will want in their collection... just a super-cool looking droid.

The model was 3D printed in resin and comes in several parts - the "head", "body", and five "legs". A printed resin support stand is included but I substituted my own clear plastic stand. Please don't mind how it's sitting a bit crooked, that's been fixed in post :-)

Size comparison with a Legion infantry model. Not much work required on the Probot - I drilled two small holes in the top to fit synthetic broom-bristle antennae, and magnetized the head-body join so the head can rotate. Painting consisted of a basecoat of Vallejo Dark Rubber, light drybrush of Leadbelcher, and a Nuln Oil wash, followed by picking out wear points with Mithril Silver. A couple of the lenses were painted Evil Sunz Orange and Corax White, the rest were painted black. The model was sprayed with Testors Dullcote and the lenses hit with 'Ardcoat gloss finish - done. 

Next up was the Snowtrooper squad. This consisted of seven troopers, two of which tote heavy/special weapons, a nice change from the flamethrowers in the official SW Legion squad mix. These are all one-piece models and came ready to paint, with supports and flash all removed - nice. 

I painted them in my standard Hoth Snowtrooper scheme - basically painting the whole model Rakarth Flesh, and hitting the white armour and face shield with Corax and then White Scar. The RF parts were washed with Agrax Earthshade and re-highlighted with RF. Weapons are black, drybrushed with Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Here are the special weapon troopers.

And a couple squaddies with blaster rifles.

Size comparison - official SW Legion trooper on left, Dark Fire 3D print on right.

If I had a criticism of the Dark Fire models it's that they're not as detailed as the official models - note the relative detail on the backpack and blaster holster. It's too bad that DF didn't include some of this detail - particularly considering the price point for the squad - it was more expensive than a box of Snowtroopers from FFG. But I think they'll mix together OK and the differences aren't too noticeable.

So I think that's about it for the Imperial side - I now have four seven-man squads, an E-web blaster, a Probot, a command squad, a K-series security droid, an AT-ST, Veers, and Vader. That should be enough for a game at long last!