Next on the painting table...

It's been a bit quiet here in my house for the last couple of weeks in terms of hobby progress. After knocking out Leman Russ over two weeks of evenings I was a bit hobbied out. But, gotta get back on the hobby horse at some point!

So, I thought I'd share what I am painting next: Plasma Gun Tactical Support Squad, 5-man rotor cannon squad and a couple of repair jobs.

Space Wolves Terminators

Just thought I'd share these guys with you.

I brought this squad when the cataphractii terminators were first released. I just love the aesthetic of the armour. When you've grown up reading Horus Heresy: Collected Visions over and over, this is what you want your terminators to look like.

I very rarely use terminators these days, which is why the squad hasn't grown. However, with a new found addiction to Zone Mortalis games, its gonna be terminators and boarding marines all the way!
How does the saying go, "assault marines in the field, boarding marines in the bedroom". Something like that I think...

Ah, yes, the reason I'm sharing them is that I have updated them. Rebased them, added some new decals and then some weathering powder and power weapon glowing bits. I still feel the bases need something though, a 40mm base for a terminator is too much really. I'll have a look at basing options, maybe some runes or something.

These guys faced their first opponents at Warhammer World on Sunday, against some lovely painted Thousand Sons owned by Jason.

 

The Wolves and Sons finally come in to contact in the underground catacombs of Prospero...

You might notice there's a few less Sons in this photo... But the Wolves are no where near the objective and it's the end of Turn 4....

 

Who needs fair odds...

Classic pincer movement, there's nowhere for the Wolves to turn!

Dave

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

Leman Russ, Lord of the Rout

I finally finished Russ. Here he is! I'm looking forward to getting him out on the battle field now. Maybe I've finally got something that can slay Dad Rich's Sigismund (other than a Fellblade accelerator cannon to the face... followed by a demolisher cannon to the face... seemed to do the trick!)

Master of the Space Wolves Legion and Lord of icy Death World of Fenris, Leman Russ was an incomparable warlord, ferocious beyond measure and faultlessly loyal to the Emperor and his Imperium. Known as the Wolf King and the Lord of Winter and Ruin, as undoubtedly as savage as Leman Russ was, he was also wise beyond his Legion’s barbaric appearances and self-aware to a degree few guessed at, which made him doubly dangerous.

 At Prospero his loyalty and foresight were used against him by the machinations of Horus, as he was loosed upon his brother Magnus. What was to follow was one of the darkest hours of the Imperium’s history, as Space Marine was set against Space Marine in war unto the death. The Burning of Prospero was a conflict eclipsed only by the nightmare civil war that came after.

Fighting with a ferocity and skill far beyond anything human, Leman Russ wields the sword of Balenight, known as Mjalnar, an ancient blade whose dark legend stretched back to the Age of Strife; and Helwinter, Russ’ great frost axe, its murderous edge made with the kraken-teeth of a mighty beast Russ slew himself. His warplate is a suit of singular artificer power armour, incorporating unique exothermic field generators, otherwise unknown of in the Imperium’s arsenal of technology.
 

I really enjoyed painting this miniature, I really pushed my abilities. It is probably the most time I have spent on a single miniature for a long time, but I cut no corners and spared no expense in getting this to look how I wanted it to.

There looks like there are a lot of colours there, but it all ties together, yet stands out from the rest on the army in a good way. The basic palette is grey (armour and ruins), brown (fur and mud), gold (details) and red (cape, leather and blood), using a variety of shades of each. The spot colour is blue, used on the gems and differently on the power weapon's energy source. There are a lot of textures around the model and trying to do them all justice was difficult.

The runes, I wanted them to look like marble so I tried sponging. That didn't look quite right, so I added some layering, to look like the saw cuts you see in polished marble.

I'm happy with him anyway!

Comments and criticisms welcome. Fluff is from the Forge World Website.

Dave
 
fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

Leman Russ Update 2

Sorry it's been a bit quiet in my corner of the Dad camp, I've been busily working away on Leman Russ in my spare time. As I've not finished him, I haven't shared anything!

However, here's an update.

Usually I am looking for quick techniques that get my miniatures looking somewhere slightly better than table top standard, but this guy is the pinnacle of my army, and so he needs to be the pinnacle of my painting.

I'm trying all sorts of techniques I've never done before. Two that I'll share now are:

Hair: usually the hair on my minis is brown, black or bleached bone. The Forge World version of Leman Russ has blonde hair, so I thought I'd attempt it. The scheme I used is undercoat white, wash with Agrax Earthshade, wash with Lamenters Yellow. Using yellow on hair is my worst nightmare but I was assured by the Twitter crowd that this is how to do it. And I think it looks ok. I could have made it brighter I guess, but I only did one layer of white, so some of the grey base coat is still showing through.

Armour: usually I go for mechanicum standard grey base, then two dry brushes of successively lighter grey, then Agrax Earthshade wash. That looks good, but I wanted Leman Russ to stand out. The Forge World version has a slightly greenish tint, I wanted to go for a blue tint. So I went for the grey base and two-stage dry brush, then applied a 65:35 mix of Nuln Oil and blue glaze. I think it looks pretty good. It's not as blue as I wanted but I'm happy with it.

For the base I am going for white columns and brown earth to tie Russ in to the rest of my force.

I still have the skin, gold elements and weapons to go. Even the wolf pelts I am trying something different.

Next week I've arranged to meet a guy at Warhammer World for a game, so am also making sure I have the whole of that force painted up. It's a 1250pt Zone Mortalis game, which I'm looking forward to. Should be a good warm up for the game I've got planned with Dad Rich in December. I'll write up a short battle report.

Dave

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

Space Wolves Progress Update - November

Just a quick one from me this week.

I started out with the intention of painting up my Fellblade.  was a bit bored of painting infantry (still so much more to go though... I am NOT buying any more until I have completed what I have...)...

But then got somewhat distracted!

I have actually made quite a bit more progress on Russ than this photo shows, but this was the last photo I took last night.

I've been looking around the web at what other people have been doing with him for a bit of inspiration, which has inspired to me to attempt a few new techniques. In particular I'm going for white marble on the stonework, and blonde hair, which these guys have done really well:

@atChrisMc

@DarkOneUK

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

The Wolves are... nearly here!

Well well well, it was a big weekend in Horus Heresy Land, especially for me with Leman Russ and the Burning of Prospero box coming along.

I've got my pre-order in, like everyone else I imagine, and I've booked Monday off. I don't usually get a day to myself but have been meaning to take one for a couple of weeks, so this is great timing!

My plan is to get Russ himself washed, stuck together and then at least base coated. I'm thinking of adding a couple of conversions to the model, if only because I imagine half the world will be buying this one and I want mine to look a little different. Any suggestions?

Look at this miniature though, how nice is that?!


I'll also be picking up the Burning of Prospero. I think I will be turning all of those Mk3 models in to Boarding marines, I want two squads of those in my army in total. The terminators I am hoping to swap with Dad Rich for his Cataphractii from Betrayal at Calth. If not, I actually kinda like them so may keep them or eBay them (I prefer the Cataphractii armour myself).

I do have one question, you could say it's a 'burning' question (we're dads, I can tell dad jokes...)
Is this guy the first 28mm scale space marine to have eyebrows sculpted on him?!


It won't really matter to me though as I'll be switching his head out for a helmet (I just can't do bare heads justice...).

That's it from me, just a short one today. Have you got your pre-orders in? What are your plans for the box set? Let us know in the comments below.

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.com – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

Progress - 19/10/2016

I must admit, it's been quiet here at Dad HQ. No one has really made any progress on anything this last week.

Yesterday I took the day off. I needed a day off after the last couple of weeks (5 birthday parties in 6 weeks! My toddler has a better social life than me!!). I decided to head over to Warhammer World and do some painting (as per the above, with a toddler at home, finding a quiet space for some time to myself for a couple of hours just ain't gonna happen). GW HQ is only 10 minutes from my house so shifting my painting tray there for the day isn't really a hardship.

Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't really that great. the painting desks are lined up against the edge of the main hall, so as you sit there, your body is between the lights and the desk, so whatever you're painting is in shadow. If you're reading this Warhammer World, please turn these desks around. No only will the light be better, but you can then watch what's going on around the hall whilst you paint. I know we're all geeks but we don't need to always sit with our backs to the crowd :-)

As a result, I didn't get much done at all on my Fellblade and Rhino

 

 

I'm thinking these are the last two things I'm going to get finished before Christmas. If I get time I'll also rebase my Landspeeders and Storm Eagle, so hat I can quickly tick another two units off the list.

 

That said, I'm also eagerly awaiting the release of Leman Russ and the Burning of Prospero this month. I really cannot wait to get my hands on Russ! As for the guys in the box set, I've decided to turn them all in to Boarding Marines, but am awaiting the re-release of the boarding shields (I'm wondering if they'll just make these out of plastic? They are pretty simple to do).

 

So, that's about it from us this week. Come back soon for a first look at Russ and the new boxed game. I'll do a review as soon as they are in my hands.

 

Dave 

Vlka Fenryka Update

This is the last one from me for while, I promise...

Whilst finishing off the other squads for my hobby challenge, I also re-based these guys and added some weathering to tie them in with the rest of the force.

This guy started out as a Ragnar Blackmane conversion using Gabriel Seth as a base, but has now had 6th Legion markings added and is ready for 30k war.

 

This is my Master of Signal. I might convert another up as their Orbital Bombardment on the battlefield is a game changer when used at the right time.

 

I got rid of most of my Rune Priests when I stared concentrating on 30k, but kept this guy for some reason. I never use them...

And lastly this is my alternative Standard Bearer. His company title is Bearer of the Eternal Flame.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Dave

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.com – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

Vlka Fenryka Legion Breacher Squad

I've been waiting long while to share these, so here they are finally.

I loved the concept of a shield wall, and really liked the sculpts of these shields when they first came out. I was most looking forward to the fun I could have with decorating the shields. In my mind I had the images of traditional Viking shields, using quartered colours, but the rectangular shape of the boarding shield with a gun slot in one quarter would have made it look a bit strange in my opinion.



In the end I decided to go with a red and gold theme, as per the rest of my army, and settled on using icons, which fitted in with my new found love of using decals...

There are purposely no unified squad markings, because in my head, when a ship is boarded, whoever is closest is the one to pick up a shield and repel the boarding party, so there would be a mixture of squads.

Without further ado, here's my 13 man squad.

 

The Sergeant is the FW limited edition miniature with a wolfy head swap and a fist instead of a hammer (which I stole for my wolf lord)

 

Below are some front and side shots of each sub-team so you can see what's going on behind the shield

If I would do anything differently, I would scrape off the moulded details on the shields, so that there was more room for the icons. I was a bit disappointed when some of the decals I wanted to use were slightly too big for the available space.

I will paint up another 7, to give a full 20 man squad, but I am waiting to see if there are any legion specific shields released. Maybe some circular ones? I may even equip some with spears next time too. Lots of ideas...

Dave