40K Chronicles: Deathwing Dreadnought Horatio Complete!

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Where oh where did the month of March go??? I was finally able to sit down and look at my blog and realized that it had been over a month since I last posted. As most of us usually encounter, Life has stepped in and taken over a lot of my time and has left with little left over to paint. My bro came down and visited a few weeks ago, I found out I was moving back across the country in a less than 2 months, had another in-law come visit, and then St. Patty’s day came and went… All of that (plus more stuff I haven’t mentioned) has left me with little time to do some modeling / painting. So this morning I found myself alone and decided to finish the Dreadnought that I began a few weeks ago. It was almost like it was taunting me each and every time I walked into my office and it sat there… half painted… So I set to work this morning and told myself that I wouldn’t stop until it’s been done.

Before I get into the actual painting of it, I want this post to also serve as an update to my 2012 Gaming Resolutions. As you’ve already discovered from the words above, I didn’t do much of anything in the month of March so it really set me back. It has actually been about 3 weeks since I last played a game as well… and that was a game of Warmachine. There are no upcoming tournaments so it has been really hard to get focused on one thing since I don’t have the tournament in place to keep me motivated to get my things painted. That said, I won’t be able to make Adepticon this year… even though I paid for it… I knew it was going to be a long shot and then when I thought there was a chance I was going to make it, I find out that I’m going back to Seattle in June. So I decided to start saving as much money as I can in order to get a house when I get back there… and spending $300 on a plane ticket to Chicago didn’t seem like the practical thing to do. So anyways, I’ll just have to check the several blogs of people that will attend next weekend and get and idea of how it went. Hopefully next year… Here’s the 2012 Gaming Resolutions list so far:

- Paint 50 points of Trollbloods (WarmaHordes – In Work)

- Paint 2,500 points of Orcs & Goblins (Warhammer Fantasy)

- Paint 2,000 points of Deathwing (Warhammer 40K – In Work)

- Attend Games Day 2012

- Attend at least 2 major Warhammer Tournaments

- Attend at least 3 local WarmaHordes Tournaments (maybe 1 major one…) (In Work this month and next)

- Attend Adepticon (Won’t be able to make it… sigh…)

- Paint 35 points of Khador

- Start a new Warhammer Fantasy army (Done!)

- Paint a 1500 point Salamanders Army

Anyways, I set to painting Horatio this morning and went with the standard Dreadnought look. Bone armour and DA Green arms with the red storm bolter, to match the rest of the army. This is another custom base that matches the rest of the army as well… I believe it’s shale or something like that. I do have a few more variants of the arms for Horatio but I’ll usually go with the default Assault Cannon & Power Fist, so that’s what you see here. Also sticking with the rest of the army, I painted the power fist blue… to make it stand out. Here’s Horatio:

And here’s a different view:

And another view:

Up close and personal:

And another:

Sorry for the delay in posts… but March was a busy month and I anticipate the next few months will be close to the same, though I’m going to try harder to paint when I can and post more. When I have to move back to Seattle, I’m going to ship my hobby things so that I don’t have to deal with the moving company handling them the way they do. When I moved here I had several things turn up broken, so I figure that I will spend the money and pack it myself so that I’ll have the peace of mind knowing that if it does break, it was my fault… So yea, I got a lot going on and I’m looking forward to the next several months, trying to get things back in order, and starting over in Seattle again, hopefully finding a good gaming group out there (I’ll be living in a different area than where I was last time)… So there it is so far, as always, thanks for checking out my blog!

Lastly, for those of you keeping track, here’s what’s left to paint to complete my Deathwing army:

- Deathwing Grandmaster Belial

- Chaplain Cassius

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Infernus)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Barrage)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Nike)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Nixxus)

- 1 Dreadnought (Horatio)

- Land Raider Crusader (Next!)

- Land Raider Crusader

40K Chronicles: Deathwing Squad Barrage Complete!

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Continuing on the Deathwing trend this week I decided to knock out yet another squad of Deathwing Terminators. This particular squad is named Barrage and is quite fitting considering they are primarily used for ranged support. They’ve been equipped with Power Fists and Storm Bolters to add to some long range firepower, and then gave the squad the upgrade of the Cyclone Missile Launcher, to help with anti-tank abilities. The Cyclone Missile Launcher is one of my favorite models in the entire game… and being able to field them in a Deathwing army I use them as much as I can, so you will definitely see at least one more in this army. Because the termies can be equipped with either SB/PF or TH/SS – Lightning Claw combos, I decided to give the Missile Launcher Terminator the Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield combo, giving him a little better staying power as well as some offensive output, should this unit get into HtH combat (which is very likely…)

So yea… it’s been hard for me to get over the hump of constantly painting bone armour… so I’m going to mix it up and start on one of the Land Raider Crusaders next. I might even throw in a Trollblood or two… but I’m really wanting to finish off this army so I can have it 100% complete… I went ahead and got the basecoats of all the remaining terminators done… so that at least helps me there… so I really just have details to pick out on the other 2 squads, less a little bit of armour touch-up. Anyways, check back soon because I hope to have the Crusader done by this weekend. Here’s a pic of Deathwing Terminator Squad Barrage:

And here’s some close-ups of the Captain and one of the Terminators:

And the Cyclone Missle Launcher and another with Storm Bolter & Power Fist:

When the Space Hulk game came out a few years ago I wanted to get my hands on it but it came and went pretty quickly, as people swooped it up with the quickness… I remember asking for it and people laughing at me, saying there was no way I could get it because it was already sold out. Well… the reason wasn’t so much for the game as it is for the actual Terminators that come with the box. They have very dynamic poses and fit in perfectly with an All-Terminator Deathwing army. Fast forward a few years and I’m able to find a couple of them – for cheap – on eBay! So one of them is in the squad and this is the guy who has the severed Tyranid head in his left power fist hand… One of my favorite models and an excellent standout model to go with my army, I think. So here’s that model, which fits in nicely with the army:

Here’s another shot of him:

And another:

And one more of the entire squad again, with a slightly different angle:

Lastly, for those of you keeping track, here’s what’s left to paint to complete my Deathwing army:

- Deathwing Grandmaster Belial

- Chaplain Cassius

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Infernus)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Barrage)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Nike)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Nixxus)

- 1 Dreadnought

- Land Raider Crusader (Next!)

- Land Raider Crusader

2012 Gaming Resolutions Update #2: Deathwing Grandmaster Belial Complete.

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Finally got around to finishing up the leader of the Deathwing army, Belial. I had recently done some work on him to give him interchangeable arms so that he can wield either a set of lightning claws or a Thunder Hammer and a Storm Shield. Well, I have been pretty busy with friends in town and also figuring out what to do with my living situation, as well as been pretty immersed on my Orcs & Goblins army and getting in a few games with them.

So I decided to do an update to my 2012 Gaming Resolutions as well as an update on the current project: The Deathwing. I must admit that February was a pretty slow month but it only looks that way on the blog… I’ve been doing a ton of things behind the scenes with some other armies of mine like the Beastmen, Daemons of Chaos, and the O&G’s. I’ve also been touching up on my Warmachine / Hordes Mercenaries army and have even started getting things together with the Trollbloods. So while I haven’t posted much on here, rest assured that a lot is going on behind the scenes. Anyways, here’s the ongoing list of things I plan on doing for 2012:

- Paint 50 points of Trollbloods (WarmaHordes)

- Paint 2,500 points of Orcs & Goblins (Warhammer Fantasy)

- Paint 2,000 points of Deathwing (Warhammer 40K – In Work)

- Attend Games Day 2012

- Attend at least 2 major Warhammer Tournaments

- Attend at least 3 local WarmaHordes Tournaments (maybe 1 major one…) (In Work this month and next)

- Attend Adepticon (In my sights!)

- Paint 35 points of Khador

- Start a new Warhammer Fantasy army (Got the Daemons of Chaos In Work!)

- ***New*** Paint a 1500 point Salamanders Army

To knock out a point on the “Attend at least 3 local tournaments” bullet, I’ll hopefully be attending a local tournament held at the Game Vault in Fredericksburg, VA later this month (24th) for a 40k tournament. That will also kick my butt in gear and get these damn Deathwing done… which brings to another bullet, “Paint 2000 points of Deathwing”… so it’ll be like killing 2 birds with one stone if I can pull these off this month. The quest for Adepticon is in sights, and, although I haven’t booked my ticket just yet, I’m still planning on making it at this point, so I’ll keep you in the loop on that one. There are also some local tournaments for WarmaHordes both this month and next, so getting that knocked out shouldn’t be too difficult. So I feel like my 2012 progress is going pretty well, although slow in some areas. I’m hoping March will be a better month – painting-wise.

As for something that I actually did finish, I give you Belial, the Grandmaster of the Deathwing. I finished him off last night and thought I’d snap a couple pics so you can see the finished product. I didn’t finish the TH/SS yet but that won’t take long at all, and I plan on painting it at the same time I’m painting the next squad, which is ready to go tonight. I tried to spell out “Belial” and “Deathwing” on his leg and shoulder litanies… and they turned out ok, but not great. I’m pleased with them though. I’d like to add a cape or something later on to make him stand out a little bit more, he seems to blend right into the rest of the army and I feel like he should be standing out in some way since he’s the leader… I’ll think of something.

Anyways, here’s a pic of Belial:

And the shoulder pad that says “Deathwing”:

And another:

And a last shot of Belial:

Thanks for checking  up and let me know what you think. More to come soon!

40K Chronicles: WIP Belial, Master of the Deathwing!

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Next up on the painting block for me is Belial, Master of the Deathwing. Since there is no “actual” Belial model yet (and I doubt there ever will be…) I came across this guy. I inherited this entire army so some things were already there, like the Deathwing shoulderpads… and now a custom made Belial. I don’t have any problems with how he’s modeled so I kept him the way that he is. I really like the shoulderpads on him… I think they are from a Dreadnought… but I’m not certain…

In any case, I’ve been working on a lot of other things lately. Alas, I’m not going to make it to the tournament at The Game Vault this weekend because – as you can tell – I’m not done with my Deathwing army. I had full intentions of at least being 80% complete but life got in the way as it usually does. If you haven’t seen the progress on the army yet then you can check out Chaplain Cassius and Deathwing Squad Infernus. Also, I’m going to be working on the Trollbloods at the same time because of the tournament on March 17th… I’m determine to get them all done but I’m going to work on both armies at the same time. I just felt like working on Belial at the moment. So anyways, I’m not done with the Deatwhing yet… but I’m still moving forward, and this is what’s up for show today… a WIP Belial…

In his stats, Belial can take a Storm Bolter & the Sword of Secrets, a pair of Lightning Claws, or a Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield. I have never been a fan of the Sword of Secrets so I never intend on using it. Why take it when every other option he gets is a power weapon as well? The re-roll on To Hit is nice, but I like the save from the TH/SS and the re-rolls on wounds (and extra attack) that Lightning Claws gives me. Maybe at some point I’ll add it in just to have the trio of weapon choices… But for now, I decided to give myself the flexibility of using either the TH/SS or the pair of Lightning Claws. I remember that I have a slew of rare earth magnets so I set to work on magnetizing Belial’s arms so that he can be equipped with either piece of the deadly combos! Here’s a shot of the magnets I used to get this to work:

I just drilled 2 small holes into the side of the torso then set the 2 magnets in it and did the same for each pair of weaponry. Very quick to do and it will be effective because it’ll give me the option of going with either.

So here’s Belial with the Lightning Claws:

And here he is with the Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield:

Now all that’s left is to paint him. Hopefully I’ll get to him later this week, possibly even tonight! But just wanted to share the WIP of him so far and show you what I got going on! Let me know what you think! Standby for the painted Belial!

Also, for those keeping track, this is what’s left to do:

- Belial (In work)

- Chaplain Cassius

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Infernus)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Barrage)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Nike)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (To be named)

- 1 Dreadnought

- Land Raider Crusader

- Land Raider Crusader

40K Chronicles: Deathwing Chaplain Cassius To Arms!

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In keeping in line with the Assault Terminators that were completed the other day, today I was able to paint up the Chaplain that will be leading them: Chaplain Cassius! Ever since this model was released a few years ago it has been one of my favorite ones. I have always enjoyed the fluff of the Chaplains… how they wear jet black armor and skull masks to separate them from the rest of their Space Marine brothers. Plus, having one of them in my Deathwing army is an absolute must, as he and his retinue are able to deal out some serious death, bringing a total of 24 power weapon attacks on the charge!

So anyways, I set to work on him this morning and started by adding some gray to black to make it set out a little bit. Black has always been one of the hardest colors to make look good so I figured putting a little bit of blending out to a dull gray would fit just right on here. It’s hard to tell it in these pictures but up close you can see where it fades out to gray. I used a lot of Gryphonne Sepia on this model, moreso than on any other model before but that’s because I was out of Devlan Mud. If you haven’t used them both, there’s definitely an orange tint in the Sepia as opposed to a dark brown from the Devlan. Either way, it turned out ok I think. So here’s a side view of Cassius:

And here’s another one from the back view, showing where I picked out some litanies on the many scrolls and purity seals he has adorned on his black armor:

And another:

And finally, a close, close-up:

Now 1 full squad and a Chaplain have been completed. This is what’s left to do:

- Belial

- Chaplain Cassius

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Infernus)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Barrage)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (Nike)

- 5 man Terminator Squad (To be named)

- 1 Dreadnought

- Land Raider Crusader

- Land Raider Crusader

40K Chronicles: Deathwing Squad Infernus Complete.

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In preparation for the upcoming Warhammer 40k tournament at The Game Vault, I am slowly starting to finish off my Deathwing army and in doing so I finished off the first of 4 Terminator Squads. I give to you… the well-equipped-for-an-assault Deathwing Squad Infernus! If you looked at my post with the lightbox you’ll have already seen the veteran sergeant in that one. The bases are from Dragon Forge and my entire Deathwing army will be equipped with them. Very good investment. I really like the work this guy does… Now here’s the rest of the squad to fill it out!

In gaming terms, I put these guys into a Land Raider Crusader with a Chaplain! The Chaplain, because of his special rule Litanies of Hate, gets to re-roll failed rolls To Hit on the charge. And because they have lightning claws they are already re-rolling failed rolls To Wound. That means, when this unit gets off the charge, we’re talking about 24 re-rollable failed To Hit and To Wound Power Weapon attacks… Nasty! Here’s a slightly different angle of Squad Infernus:

Deathwing Assault Squad Infernus.

And 2 of the regular Deathwing:

And the 2 others:

Lastly, here’s a pic of the Sergeant, which is pretty much identical to the one I posted a few days ago:

Veteran Sergeant Laertes.

I plan on putting banners on each of the squad sergeants to signify who’s who. I will do that eventually, I just wanted to get ‘em done first though. Also, the Deathwing banner will be separate from the regular standards in the army when it’s done. Next up is the Chaplain. Should be an update later this week. Let me know what you think!

40k Chronicles: Salamanders Devastator Squad.

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It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post and a lot has been going on that’s prevented me from getting to work on some painting. I’m currently a part of 2 campaigns… one for Warhammer 40k and another for WarmaHordes. Actually playing in those campaigns takes up a good amount of my time and then there’s also the NFL playoffs and another venture that I just began: Star Wars: The Old Republic. Man… it’s an awesome game and I’ve put some of my time into that as well. So now I’m having to find a balance between several things that I enjoy doing…

So yesterday morning I decided that I’m going to begin working on my Salamanders. I’ve been looking at some articles online about Salamanders and it’s always been an army that has intrigued me. I like the color scheme and their fluff. So after perusing some other sites and borrowing a few ideas on how to paint these guys I set to work on my first unit for them: A Devastator Squad. If you’re like me, I don’t really think about how well the unit will perform during the course of a game… rather, I really like the models and that’s how I go about creating my army. So the plan right now is to create about 1,500 points worth of Salamanders, using what I already have.

I’ll post the list at another time but from what I can tell it’s not going to be very competitive, which is ok with me. I am really looking forward to just having a painted Salamanders army. Seriously, it’s been about 5 years that I’ve said I’m going to paint a Salamanders army so now that I’m actually doing it is a relief! So without getting into too much detail I have 3 Tac Squads, 1 unit of Assault Termies, A land speeder Typhoon, a Rhino, and a Dreadnought… and I think an Assault Squad. So the Dev squad was the first to be painted.

Like I said, I don’t really care about how it’ll do on the field, I really just enjoy the models and for whatever reason, I’ve always been drawn to the Devastators. I think it has something to do with the huge guns they carry and the way they look on the battlefield. Also, the stories indicate that a SM Brother that carries a Devastator weapon into battle is highly regarded as a seasoned veteran to his battle brothers. The sound of that makes it very cool. So anyways, I decided to go with 2 Lascannons, a Missile Launcher, and a Plasma Cannon. The Sergeant (not pictured… he’s next…) will have a Storm Bolter and a Power Fist.

I went with flames on the left shoulder pads of the SMs. I tried to paint the Salamander Icon on there at first but I decided that doing that for the entire army would be tough for me as I’m not a very skilled painter in that regard. A lot of the Salamanders fluff has to do with their home planet and it tells of how there’s volcanoes and hot magma and all that good stuff. So I have some ideas in mind of some conversions that I plan on doing (having plenty of LM bits might come in handy here!) I went with the standard “triangle” marking for the Dev squad on the right shoulder pad.

Here’s some pics and I’ll apologize in advance for some of the blurriness and lack of lighting… I took these last night when the sun had already gone down so they’re not the best quality. As I said earlier, the sergeant is coming up next and I’ll hopefully be able to knock him out tonight. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think!

40K Chronicles: Converted Space Marine Librarian.

So I was rummaging through some old stuff and came across this converted Space Marine Librarian that I put together about 4 – 5 years ago. He was originally intended to be in my Blood Angels army but after I did away with that project I kept him and he was transferred to a new chapter: The Salamanders. Once I get my Deathwing painted (next in line!) then I’m going to move onto Cygnar, Beastmen, O&G’s and then somewhere in there I’ll finally get to painting my Salamanders army. So anyways, this Librarian was a result of me wanting to do a little conversion work because I don’t like the looks of some of the librarian models. I also like having a Librarian in my army because the distinct blue armour that they wear makes them stand out from the rest of the army and shows their rank within it. Also, they’re not bad characters that can do some considerable damage if used correctly.

 

I used the SM commander kit and some spare things I had laying around. The two wires that run from his backpack to his helmet are pieces of used guitar string. Simple and effective way to really bring out a model, I think. I found the two books from a bits box and decided to add them onto the model, really helps to drive home the “Librarian” theme. I scratch built the weapon / scepter / staff / whatever out of some spare bits and I used plasticard for the little piece on top. Green stuff was used for the gems that are at the ends. After looking back over the model I have decided to go back and remove the left arm because 1) I did a crappy job painting it and 2) My sculpting skills are much better now so I want to upgrade it to a much better looking arm. That’s next in line for when I start working on the Salamanders. Lastly, I took small pieces of plasticard and put them in the joints of the model and even on the bottom of the feet to make it appear bigger.

Converted SM Librarian.

Anyways, just wanted to share an old model that I remember converting and actually enjoyed. It’s still one of my favorite models and I think some of the conversions on him really make him stand out. I’ll keep you updated when I change out the arm and get it painted. Enjoy!

 

40K Chronicles: WIP Deathwing Terminator.

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Welp… It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to make a post… There’s been so much going on with me and the fam lately… Where to begin? I was sent to Washington D.C. for two weeks and, needless to say, I didn’t have any Warhammer stuff with me; I was too busy working the entire time so it would have been pointless anyways. So I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t drag some stuff with me all the way across the entire country. I’ve had very little time lately to do anything… I’m in the process of moving (to D.C.) and have been working on finding a new place to stay, trying to start packing some things up, and working with the relocation folks that it has literally taken all of my time to do anything… But today I was intent on getting some painting in… First, If you have been following my blog I want to apologize since it’s been a few weeks since I had an update and about a month or so since I actually had an update that was worthwhile. Sadly, I must admit that I won’t be updating as much as I’d like over the next month until all gets settled and I’m set up and ready to go… The good news, however, is that I’ll have my own “Man Cave” when I get to my new dwelling so no more makeshift paint station. I’m excited to get my own room again and I’ll definitely be looking forward to setting up my work station and getting it all situated. It’ll be good to finish working on something and just close the paint, dry off the paint brush, and then walk off to another room… I can’t wait! (Currently I have to clean up my work area, put up all the paint and paintbrushes, pick up the mini’s, put it all in a big box, break down the table and chair, and then store it in the closet…. only to take it out all over again when I want to paint…) So, as you can imagine, it’s long overdue and I can’t wait to get it set up the way I want.

So tonight’s menu included the start of my Deathwing army. Yes, yes… I know… it’s Warhammer 40K… If you’ve seen my last few posts you’ll know that I’m starting on my O&G army since my LM are all finished up (less a few tweaks here and there). But, before I go deep into the Greenskin realm I want to finish my Deathwing army so I can have an army for each game system. Back in the day, I played both Fantasy and 40K religiously… but in recent years I have found that Fantasy is just a much better game (IMO anyways) and eventually found myself getting rid of all my 40K armies and sticking solely to Fantasy. I’ve always loved the models in 40K and really enjoy the futuristic / tank-y / robot feel that is a huge part of the 40K world. I knew that I would eventually go back to 40K and that it was just a matter of time. So, I acquired a Deathwing army (Thanks, Khorne53!) and have now decided to get to work. I wanted to paint a prototype of this army and that’s exactly what this guy is… I’m trying some new painting techniques on this army and want to try it out on one model instead of going to town on the entire army (all 24 models, LOL!) So, here’s a few pics so that you can see what I got going on. It’s still a WIP so there’s gonna be some changes / additions to it but it’s the best I could do with 1.5 hours of free time (less 20ish minutes for set up / teardown time of my painting station). More to come soon.

Once this guy is complete, I plan on having Belial, either a Librarian or Chaplain (I have both), 4 units of Deathwing Terminators, 2 Land Raider Crusaders, and a Dreadnought. I’ve always enjoyed the Deathwing army and how they are a small, assault army. Plus, it gives me a chance to spend more time on each model and really pay attention to detail. I have some cool conversions in mind also. Anyways, check out what I got so far and let me know what you think. Peace!