Imperial Fist Command Squad

Painting has been slow the last few months for a variety of reasons and I've spent most of my time on side projects that have been gathering dust for years. As such my 30k Legion project has been delayed. With the changing weather I decided to complete the last infantry models I have for the Imperial Fists. I have almost 5000 points painted, but I've lacked a large HQ unit. My terminator Centurion has been in an acting Praetor position for a while now and it's time the force had a proper HQ. The command squad below are the last infantry models I have for the Fists. After this I have some Rhino's, Stormraven and a Fellblade to finish, but I'll be holding off working on those so I can hopefully finish my Adeptus Titanicus maniple.

More Firepower

I finally got some more Imperial Fist reinforcements completed. These have mostly been done for a few weeks, but Ive been putting off basing for a while in favor of a new terrain project that I will share when it's a little further along. My army has lacked some punch on the table, but I believe these units will correct that.

 These Mark III marines are part of a bunch of models I got used on Ebay. The price was right and they were advertised as primed only. Once I got them it was obvious they had been primed over a base coat of some red metallic paint. They were also glued together with what may well have been Portland cement which made swapping the bolters for plasma guns a bit tricky. All considered, I think the rehab project came out nicely.

 The Ryza plasma gun squad is from my original purchase last summer. Re-forming the resin hose was a nightmare and these are the first models I've assembled with the aid of boiling water. Despite my efforts, the hoses broke on several models and it was up to green stuff and superglue to finish the job.

A full squad of Ryza Lascannons for long range firepower. The lascannon cables worked much better at bending to form than the plasma cannons. They aren't segmented like the plasma cannons which keeps them from breaking.

These are the last of the Mark III marines I have for this army. I must say that although I love the look of them, I found them a real slog to paint. Looking forward the the Mark IV units I have in the pipe.

20 Marine Imperial Fist Legion Tactical Squad

I finished this unit about a week ago, but only got around to basing them today. It took me a long time to complete this unit, but I'm happy with the results. Next up is a Terminator squad, Contemptor and terminator Centurion. I'm hoping they go a bit quicker.

Raven Guard Heavy Support - Autocannons Galore

Some heavy hitting support for Corax's fellows...

Ten guys with autocannons? Ten guys with autocannons.  Gotta love the Horus Heresy!

Work has been pretty nuts lately, diverting me from much hobby time for painting (much less gaming).  But I whittled a gun out of a bar of soap, bluffed the guards, and managed to get a few things finished.  Here is a Raven Guard heavy support squad armed wall-to-wall with autocannons.  The Marines are wearing Mk III armour.

Embossed shoulder plates add the perfect touch as always

I had finished a few of these guys for a Rogue Trader game we played not that long ago (although it seems like ages ago), but managed to round out the whole group of ten models just recently.

Sergeant with crazy comb and crazy gun

The original autocannon models called for the ammo can to be mounted off the back of the Marine armour, with a kind of belt feed mechanism working around to connect under the front of the weapon.  While possible in theory, the reality of the models and of Forge World's "quality" (great sculptors, wonderful designers, but clearly they don't give much of a sh*t about consistent casting) was such that there was not enough heat guns, boiling water and fast timing in the world to get even a single model assembled that way, much less ten of them.  So I just cut them up and mounted the ammo cans right below the autocannon.

I like the little targeting device they include for officers...

I like how it turned out - makes the gun even more impractical looking, which in turn (to my mind at least) makes it look like something the Imperium would have approved. "Sure, nobody can really use this in a practical way, but these are Space Marines we are talking about - commence production immediately."

Practical weapons of the 30th millenium...

Continue to love the MkIII armour - the best models out there!

The tactical usefulness of this unit will be, well, "interesting". They will blow away things like Rhinos and bikes - fun!  But mostly I just like the crazy appearance.  It underscores the dark, armed excess of the heresy setting and the Space Marine Legions.  Why send one guy with an autocannon, after all, when you could send ten? I mean, do you love the Emperor or not?

Ready to make a stand on Istvaan...

Stay tuned for more reinforcements for the Raven Guard..

(More) Sons Of Horus Tactical Marines - Warhammer 30k

Horus for hope!

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything, but "1-to-1" scale issues have prevented me from painting at my preferred pace (i.e. all the damn time).  Work has been nuts, blah blah but finally I have finished another unit - a squad of Tactical Marines from the 16th Legion, the Sons of Horus.  These are Forge World figures, Marines equipped with Mark IV power armour.

Tactical Marines in Mark IV armour from the 16th Legion

Another reason these fellows took a little longer to paint is that I have started to mess around with a new painting technique - "glazing".  I don't know much about it, other than it is something that actual artists and pro-type miniature painters seem to do.  I could never tell the difference between glazing and washing, so I just avoided it.

A mid-point in the glazing process...seems...OK

Daze of glaze...

But I have found that my general painting approach suffers a bit with the broad, curved surfaces on the Space Marine power armour.  The edge highlighting approach I was using before was OK, but I wanted to try and up my game a little - so I tried to mess around with "glazing".  I used the same GW paints, but now tried to blend them with glazing medium to build some gradual highlights on certain parts of the power armour.

Almost ready to move on to the final colours...

Comparison - old style on the right, new style on the left...kind of...the same, but the newer style does seem a little more subtle in some respects...

Did it make much a difference? It did a bit, I think. But as they say, "you're not doing it right", and this is a bit of a trial and error process.  On some of the figures it worked better than others.  One thing I am learning about glazing (and that I already hate about glazing) is that getting the mix right isn't simple, and getting it consistent across 10 models is even less simple...I hope with experience I will get better at this.  Or at least not worse.

I just love the wacky combs on the officers with 30k marines...

Tried to weather these fellows up a bit...I find that to be difficult with Space Marines...

But they'll still do fine for the gaming table!  Another set of stout lads ready to fight for Humanity's Last Hope, Horus Lupercal, the Warmaster!

The embossed shoulder plates are addictive - and the Eye of Horus is fantastically menacing and spooky warm and inviting for Horus' 16th Legion

Dallas and I continue with our arms race to load for big mega-game (or perhaps even mini-campaign-linked-to-mega-game) for sometime later this year.  Dallas' Blood Drinkers are looking excellent, and while I have a wide assortment of Legion figures painted, it is not yet a coherent force for a game, so I'm trying to catch up.

Couple of individual marines - I experimented with a metal face plate for the fellow on the right. I like how it turned out.

Worst part of these figures was the casting quality on the back packs...lots of miscast vents etc. But overall they were decent to work with.

The Sons of Horus now have two 10-man tactical squads, a 10-man assault squad, a 5-man tactical support squad and a 5-man devastator squad, along with a Land Raider.  And of course they can call out "El Booze". This is a good base of stuff to build around, and that is what I'm going to try to keep focused on this summer.

Preview model from my next unit...

The next squad is already moving along the painting desk (see above for a preview), while other goodies are waiting for primer... I hope to post some photos of another finished bunch soon...or at least at a better pace than I have managed in the past month!

Ninth Painting Challenge Entry - Solar Auxilia Lasrifle Section

The Solar Auxilia, 28mm figures from GW's Forge World

This submission is a Solar Auxilia Lasrifle section.  These are 28mm resin figures from Forge World, the small subsidiary (or division or whatever it is these days) of Games Workshop. These figures are some of the most recent releases from Forge World's every-expanding (for now, at least) Horus Heresy range of figures.

I call this groundwork combination "Autumn on Rijel 7"

Introduced in the most recent Forge World Horus Heresy book, the Solar Auxilia are meant to represent impressive soldiers who are nonetheless still well short of the strength of ability of the Marines.  In this sense they are the precursors to the Imperial Army, the standing force that would represent the bulk of the Imperial armed forces. The Marines would do the rough work, taking out whatever recedivist/alien/heretic/democratically elected regime was in the way, and forces like the Solar Auxilia would follow and take up garrison and patrol duties, and defend in any attack, holding out until Marines came to help. 

Section command - officer in front, comms trooper at the back on the right, and vexilla at the back on the left

Comms trooper with helmet raised - that doesn't seem like a good idea in the Warhammer 40k universe, but I like to have one or two open helmets when the figure options allow, and you get a couple of these types of head in the package

Still a bit of a bend in a couple of the laser rifles...oh well...

The rules call for them to deploy in sections of 20 models (!), so they are sold in packs of 20.  This submission is a single pack, and with Forge World the quality of the casting is hit and miss, but fortunately more "hit" than "miss" in this case (I only had to straighten about five of the rifles under hot water).  There is one officer figure (with a sidearm and a sword), a figure with a comms-set on his back pack, and a fellow mounting a "vexilla".

Volley fire in the grim darkness of the far future...

There are a number of small little wargear blips and special rules for the Solar Auxilia, designed to incent the player to keep these units in large line formation blocks, firing away with their laser rifles.  It's sort of nice that they tried, but a "super charged" lasgun is still really just a lasgun and I don't see that these would be effective in any serious way on the table top.  A Solar Auxilia army will depend on vehicles to achieve anything, and in this way it is identical to 40k Imperial Guard force.

The fellow on the front right is reloading his rifle

The Imperial Army/Imperial Guard of Warhammer 40k is a long time favourite collection of mine in this hobby going back to the Rogue Trader days.  As I worked on my Legion project, I was waiting and watching to see when the "army" might appear in Forge World's Horus Heresy efforts. I have to say I was quite excited as soon as I saw these - a total dork about it, in fact. 

I love the bonkers back packs on these figures

The designer, Edgar Skomorowski, hit these out of the park in my opinion.  They seem part Victorian Sci-Fi, part Dr. Who, part Captain Nemo shock troop, and of course part Imperial Guardsman, all in the right balance.  They are armoured and impressive, but still appear slightly awkward.  They are futuristic and baroque. The laser rifles have a flintlock-style cut to the stocks.  The backpacks have some manner of bonkers pulley/bellows/system.  I love these figures!

Another shot of the packs...you can sort of make out the pulley/bellows thing on the back - ridiculous - I love it!

Example of a single trooper - you can hopefully see the grenade dangling from his left hip.  The uniform is a sort of space suit with padded/quilted sections, and armour plates hanging over

You can kind of see the elegant, baroque curves on the laser weapon - very lovely

 

The backpack has some manner of pulley-bellows contraption - I love the look of it.  Respirator maybe? Who knows...

There is a lot of excellent detail on these figures, and only a few skulls to boot! They are a lot of fun to paint.  Assembly was not quite so easy, even with only two "parts" - the body and the weapon - it was not always easy to get a clear match at the "cuffs", so there are a few figures where hoses mysteriously stop etc. because I made a mistake or was over-enthusiastic while trimming.  But those mistakes mostly hide in the mass of the 20-man section.
 

"Hey, those Space Marine guys can't be that tough, right?"

In the actual game these figures will be torn to pieces in no time at all, particularly if they go up against Marines.  But I don't worry much about that. I am very much enjoying painting these and I am planning to have a chunk of them ready to play in some games set during the Horus Heresy.  More have been primed, so I hope to see quite a few more finished during Curt's painting Challenge.

Eighth Painting Challenge Entry - Reaver Class Titan from Armorcast

Reaver Class Battle Titan from Armorcast

So far my entries to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge have been mostly 20mm figures, and it has been a lot of fun.  But I mentioned at the tag end of my last entry that I was getting an itch to switch over to some sci-fi. Well I decided to do so in a big way (literally) with this entry.  This is a Reaver class battle titan from, a giant fighting machine from Games Worskhop's Warhammer 40k setting. The model, from Armorcast, is 13 and a half inches tall, from the toes to the top of the missile launcher on the top carapace. It's a big sucker!

Crew would be inside the "head"

Regular visitors to the blog will have perhaps noted references here and there to Reaver Titans.  Well, we weren't kidding!

Heavy laser cannon of some sort on the left arm

In Warhammer 40k setting there is always a bigger gun. No part of the setting embodies this more than the Titans. Massive machines, armed with very heavy and powerful armaments. Organized in pseudo-monastic formations, each pledged to a particular "Forge World" (i.e. planet or system given over completely to the manufacturing of arms and munitions), Titans are the "killer app" of the Warhammer 40k universe.  Whoever or whatever human faction or alien race is resisting the Imperium in any given conflict is unlikely to last long against whole detachments of machines like this.

View from the top

Titans look like killer robots, but are in fact vehicles, walkers with crews - a commander ("Princeps"), gunners and tech-types ("Moderatii") and a few unpleasant/unfortunate former humans who are essentially just installed directly into the machine ("Servitors" - yuck).  This Titan, a Reaver class, is a very large fighting machine, but is actually classified as a "medium" class (!) battle titan.

These figures are just to show the size, but they are actual Titan Crew figures from GW's Rogue Trader period; I painted them years ago - now they have an actual Titan to crew!

The Titans first came to the GW gaming table in 1988 as part of a game called "Adeptus Titanicus".   The game featured large walking machines battling each other on the table in 1/300 or 6mm scale/size.  Fun! The first model Titans were about three inches tall.  In time, this game expanded - infantry were added, tanks were added, and more Titans, for the humans and the aliens, were added to the figure line.  The game evolved and went through many name changes, but would be known by most GW players as "Epic".  Epic was a great game, and because GW today is singularly incapable of supporting anything people enjoy, Epic now sits, to borrow a phrase from Curt, "mouldering in GW's IP graveyard." For a relatively recent example of an Epic game featuring a number of Titans on the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts table, see here.

An example of the "tech guys" who would help maintain the Titan from the Adeptus Mechanicus; the figure on the right is a Rogue Trader vintage, but I'm not certain of the origin of the one on the left. UPDATE: that is a Rogue Trader era Servitor - "Bob Olley", vintage 1989 - thanks Dave for the info

So how did the 1/300 combat walkers make it to the 25mm/28mm gaming tables? Well, there was a period (in the 90s, I think) when GW had issued/sold a license to a company called Armorcast to make 40k models.  I was just getting into gaming at this time, and I can remember cruising their web site looking at all of these models I was sure I would never own. Armorcast had set out to make 28mm-scale versions of the super-heavy vehicles
which had started to appear in GW's "Epic" game.  Included among these were models of the Titans.  

"Before" - this the model after it arrived via EBay

So this model is very old - perhaps as much as 20 years old.  I can't recall how long ago the Armorcast license expired, but GW has subsequently issued many, many new models, including many new version of models that were once sold by Armorcast (such as the Baneblade - a really large tank).  It also offers models of some of the Titans through Forge World, although those models are very, very expensive and beyond my skill and patience to properly assemble or paint.

A WIP shot of the torso and legs receiving base colour coats

So why, all these years later, track one down and paint one up now? Why, it's all Dallas' fault, of course. 

Well, more than that obviously.  First of all, I really have a soft spot for the old GW "Rogue Trader" era and I actively collect and paint figures from that period.  But a second jolt has more to do with a decision last year to dive into collecting figures for the Horus Heresy in 28mm - see here for more on that.

Basic colours on the head

It was Dallas who suggested that, if we really wanted to go nuts with Horus Heresy stuff in 28mm, we would get Titans for a "really, really big game".  I thought he was kidding - maybe he was at first - but he wasn't!  He tracked down a model on E-bay.  I was shocked - while Dallas is prone to provocational collection escalation, this was a new level entirely! I couldn't let that stand! Dallas connected me with the same seller.  So before we knew it, we had Armorcast titans to paint up!

More WIP - one of the weapon/arms and the shoulder carapace plates

But as happens so often with hobby projects, it took a while to get it under the paint brush. I haven't painted any Legion figures in a while, mostly completing a long run of WW2 stuff, and the Titan was waiting and waiting. A few weeks ago Dallas finished off his Stompa (it is awesome) and he seemed likely to jump from there to painting up his Titan - hinting as much in his blog post.  I suddenly felt the race was on.  Having completed a long run of 20mm stuff during Curt's Challenge, it was time to hit sci-fi again, and so I painted this model.

Last week - basic colours and highlighting applied, waiting for decals, weathering and other finishing touches

The colour scheme, and markings, are for a formation known as "Legio Mortis". This Titan unit sided with the Warmaster Horus and his rebellion against the Imperium, so this machine is one of the bad guys.  The Titan itself is named "Ferrum Mori".  I haven't the slightest idea if those words actually mean anything, but this was apparently the name of a Titan among the forces sent down to finish off loyalist troops in Horus' first action in his rebellion - the purging of his own forces on a world called Istvaan. I thought this name would make as much sense as anything else I might try.

Another view of the laser weapon on the left "arm" - sadly this weapon has just the slightest bend in the casting...

Assembly of this model is interesting.  The model is cast in a very, very solid resin, and the components are bolted together.  This allows different parts to be swapped out. This is the only war gaming model I have which needs a ratchet :) I tried to use some rare earth magnets, but it was far too complicated and I didn't want to risk damaging the model while doing modifications, so I stuck with the original tried-and-true bolts.

No magnets on this sucker...you literally bolt it together!

You can see the bolt in the shoulder holding the weapon in place; unscrew the bolt, and you can switch the weapon

The model came with three arm options - two different gun mounts (I believe one would be classes as a "Vulcan Mega-Bolter" and the other as a "Turbo Laser Destructor") and a giant powered fist, useful for smashing opposing Titans, whole city blocks, or whatever other multi-story obstructions might be encountered in the grim darkness of the far future.  This is absurd, of course, but I love it and it adds to the enjoyment.  After all, if there is a Titan on each side, well, they just have to fight it each other in close action.  Anything less would be a travesty!

The "power fist" - an arm specifically designed to allow this Titan to tear apart other Titans it encounters on the battlefield; the decal is from the Imperial Knight kit, but I freehand painted the name and banner - I'm surprised at how well it turned out

The decals are mostly spare ones from GW's Imperial Knight model kit, with some assorted ones coming from spare model aircraft kits. The "Eye of Horus" decals are from the Forge World transfer sheets. I tried to give the machine a little wear, but in the end I did not weather it too much.  For all of the combat action these things would see, there are casts of hundreds of mechanics who (literally) worship the thing and bring it back to snuff after every single battle. With that in mind, I mostly tried to scuff up the feet a bit, chipped the power first a little bit, and left it at that.

Another view of the "power fist"

Credible intelligence reports indicate Dallas is already painting his Titan - it will represent one of the Loyalist Titan orders from the Horus Heresy.  While details are still fuzzy, we do aim to have a "rather large" 40k game sometime where we can put these bonkers things on to a gaming table for a scrap set in the Horus Heresy - that will be quite a day!

I purchased a spare banner from a GW Imperial Knight kit to add some flair;  drawings in the books show much larger banners, but those are hard to do and make this even harder to put on a table - or even a shelf - I like how this turned out

In terms of using this in a "skirmish" game, well, other than perhaps an immobilised objective of sorts, it has little or no practical application.  There are rules in 40k to put this beast on the table, but the statistics of the armour, void shields and weapons reflect its stature on the battlefield. This thing would blow away entire segments of an enemy force with every turn.  To take just one example, the launcher up on the carapace is called an "apocalypse launcher".  How will your infantry squad do under fire from that? Not a fun game. 

But a fight against another Titan? Well, that will be fun!

Cousins - the smaller model is a Reaver Titan from GW's Epic figure line...

I know Dallas will do an awesome job on his machine, and I look forward to our Horus Heresy "mega-game", whenever that will be. In the interim, I want to try and cook up an Istvaan III scenario where this thing is perhaps damaged and waiting for help, and surviving Loyalists sieze the opportunity to move up and try to take it out.