Some Thousand Sons Reinforcements - Part 1, Contemptor Dreadnought

"Your library fines are overdue" - Thousand Sons' Contemptor Dreadnought - multipart resin kit from Forge World.

Well, about a year (give or take) after some fuzzy photos first leaked online, a new edition of the Horus Heresy rules is about to be released. I wish I was connected enough to have somehow scored some preview miniatures myself (being online, as a fan you feel like somehow literally everyone else got some), I have channelled my excitement instead toward chipping away at my already-existing pile of 30k stuff to paint. Here we have a Contemptor Dreadnought painted in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes - the "Thousand Sons". This is a multi-part resin kit from GW's Forge World studios.

I love "volkite" weapons! What fun to equip one on a Contemptor Dreadnought!

My Thousand Sons collection started small (don't they all?) - based around the figures and units that came with the excellent box game "The Burning of Prospero". Over the years, I have been inspired to try and build this small cadre into a force that can play in a standard game of 30k. I have also sought out various means whereby I could try and achieve a metallic-looking red for the Thousand Sons' armour without resorting to the headaches of an airbrush. 

Chainfists do seem a touch uncivilized, but just because this guy enjoys books doesn't mean he can't also enjoy carnage.

I have played around with various approaches that involve GW's relatively new line of "Contrast" paints, and IMO the results have been OK - in fact, I think that approach can look really sharp with practice. The problem arises with vehicles - "Contrast" paints have many uses, but in general look like crap on vehicles (or anything where there are larger, flat panels). This model, in my opinion, shows some of those limitations - the red is metallic enough, but a touch blotchy in places (despite my best, careful efforts) as "Contrast" paints just don't know what to do with flat surfaces.

Low-emission power plant...

Even with the challenges of using the "Contrast" paints, it was still a fun bit of kit to work on. I enjoy the pseudo-Egyptian glyphs, icons and symbols used by the Thousand Sons - it's not just that they revere knowing, but they specifically revere knowing more than you do. The weapons are fun too - heavy volkite weaponry, and a crazy chain-fist. This guy won't burn books, but he will burn you, and everyone around you...finishing this model significant increases the combat power of my small-but-growing Thousand Sons force. It's big enough now that I might even call is a "cabal"!

The leadership of my own Prosperine "cabal" taking shape...

And being part of the Thousand Sons legion, you can also make the "pilot" a psyker - so not only is this thing blasting the bodies of its enemies, but also their minds! And, as we know, there are never any downsides to using psyker powers in the Warhammer 30k setting - everything always works out fine, with 100% safety, with no negative after-effects.

Stay tuned for some more Thousand Sons reinforcements, and more about the elusive search for the no-airbrush-but-still-cool-metallic-red...until then, thanks for reading!