Solstice28 Idols

One last post for 2024 – finishing up some more Middle-earth miniatures, that had been unfinished for some time. Also getting to the Solstice28 Icons to do some more terrain!

Pict 1518: Orcs and Wargs

Pict 1519: Solstice28 Icons

Pict 1520: Solstice28 Icons

Since it is that time of the year, I got out the Solstice28 icons sculpted by @4ydra and quickly painted them. They are done in the same way that I had painted for example the Garden of Morr and should fit in nicely on my Realm of Battle board.

Pict 1521: Sharku, Wild Warg Chieftain, Orc Shaman on Warg

These four Wargs / Orcs had also been started this spring and had lain about since then. After finishing the Orcs, I showed of in the last post, I also finished this Wild Warg Chieftain, Orc Shaman on Warg as well as Sharku over a few evenings. The new edition is generally looking quite good and I look forward to adding a dew more pieces here and there to my armies to get them up to speed in the new year!

Pict 1522: Gríma Wormtongue (WIP)

The first of these small additions will be Gríma Wormtongue to slot into my Isengard army. Odd that it should take me this long to paint him up since he performs quite a nice role. But to be honest, I didn't even remember I had this metal sculpt stashed away in one of my boxes...

Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

These past two weeks, I completed the paintjob on the Legio Solaria Warlord. Afterwards, I also finished up a few more projects that had been lying around, some of them for quite some time.

Pict 1503: Legio Solaria Warlord supporting Blood Angels

Pict 1504: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1505: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1506: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1507: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1508: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1509: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

Pict 1510: Legio Solaria Warlord Titan

That's my first finished Titan – ready to be used in games of Legions Imperialis. Such a great looking model! The little Marines on the base help to sell the scale even more. As you can see from the pictures, the arms are magnetised; the shoulder mounted guns are as well. I can see myself getting some of the more exotic arms made by ForgeWorld. I am also looking at adding in at least some Warhounds and Knights of House Procon Vi to get the collection ready for Adeptus Titanicus as well.

Pict 1511: Mordor Orcs and Warg Riders

Pict 1512: Mordor Orcs

Pict 1513: Warg Riders

With the new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle game, I also finally finished the remaining four Warg Riders that have been in my box of current projects for over three years now. It feels great to have them finished now. I even got to play a game with them yesterday as part of the new Army of the White Hand. I also took this chance to finish some more Orc Warriors that I had laying around half-finished for a few months. These conversions of Orcs with both spears and shields might not see that much play, however, since the load out has been removed by the new edition.

Pict 1514: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1515: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1516: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Pict 1517: Zone Mortalis Reactor Tile

Lastly, I also put the finishing touches on this Zone Mortalis tile, I had started sometime during the summer. I'm quite happy with the result! After the oilwash, I only picked out a few more details and then added the grey weathering powder that I use for my 30k/40k minatures.

With these ones finished, I have managed to hit my goal of painting 100 miniatures this year – just in time for the look back I will do at the start of January!

DreadTober Pickups and the Raven Guard Delegatus

These past two weeks, I focused on finishing up the two Dreadnoughts that I had planned as strech goals for this years DreadTober. You have to strike the iron while it is hot – and it is always better to finish up a project before starting a new one.

Pict 1496: Blood Angels Dreadnoughts

Pict 1497: Blood Angels Contemptor

Pict 1498: Blood Angels Contemptor

Pict 1499: Blood Angels Castraferrum Dreadnought

These two Dreadnoughts are left over from last month's DreadTober. I got quite far along with them and put in the time to finish up the highlights, the red armour and of course the weathering during two evenings. The Blood Angels Contemptor chassy is such a beatiful miniature! It a real shame, they don't produce the full kit anymore. The Castraferrum also came out great – I could easily see me painting more of those!

Pict 1500: Raven Guard Delegatus Centurion

I also finished up the Delegatus Centurion for my Raven Guard. The zenithal spray was a bit heavy so after the wash I went in with a careful glaze of Abaddon Black over the armour to darken him down further. I'm really quite happy with the way this one turned out and I'm looking forward to trying the small allied detachment out during the next game of Heresy I get to play.

Pict 1501: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Infantry (WIP)

Again, riding the high of seeing the finished Legions' miniatures from my last post, I got to work on the basic Tactical Marines and Commanders for my second formation. I put in way to much detail into these tiny miniatures – on top of converting this batch by not only removing the filled in undercuts but also the chain bayonets to differetiate formations...

Pict 1502: Legio Solaria Warlord (WIP)

And while painting small scale – why not paint another big miniature? I finally started to work on my Legio Solaria Warlord Titan; I remember that I had this one primed and ready during 2023's DreadTober and it's really good to get to it now! I managed to put on the base colours; stippling the green armour panels instantly brought the model life! Getting through all the trim did take quite a bit of persistence. Next up will be the decals and the oil wash. I plan to do only a small bit of weathering and highlighting afterwards, so I hope to have broken the back of this project!

Pict 1503: Skulls!

Lastly I painted up these two little skulls. I had scuplted them with left over green stuff after seeing Trent from Miscast's video on making miniatures. I don't have a use for them quit yet – maybe as wound markers sometime – but I'm like them nonetheless. It's fun to have something entirely made by your hands!

Legions Imperialis Support Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders

These past two weeks, I once again did not have that much time to paint. But the time I spent, was really quite effective. I finished up the Leviathans and Deredeos for my Legions Imperialis Blood Angels and even got to the box of Land Raiders from the same collection.

Pict 1494: Legions Imperials Blood Angels Leviathans and Deredeos

The first thing I finished this time around were these Legions Imperialis Support Dreadnoughts – four Leviathans and four Deredeos. I had started them to fit in with DreadTober and I'm quite happy to have finished them in good time! Again, lovely models - its really quite impressive, what the scupltors and mold engineers manage with these miniscule figures. I really should get a second support box, to round out the detachments.

Pict 1495: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Land Raider Explorators

Again, seeing finished models is an amazing boost of dopamine. And I went right ahead and started putting the base colours on a box of Land Raider Explorators. I intentionally went for a squad that I thought should paint up rather fast. And as you can see, I managed to finish the six Land Raiders as well! Really quite fun to decide on two distinct squad markings as well as individual bits of heraldry with the decals. (This time around I remebered the correct order of operations here and put them on before the wash...)

Blood Angels Dreadnoughts big and small

Only a quick update today to tie a bow on my DreadTober activities: I had hoped to finish at least one of my Blood Angels Dreadnoughts as a stretch goal. Real Life™, however, interferred and I had only very little time to paint.

Pict 1491: DreadTober Blood Angels Dreadnoughts (WIP)

I did only a bit of work on these two – mainly on the gold parts. It should not take to long to finish them, but we'll have to see how much I can get done in the coming weeks... Still, I'm very happy with the progress I managed during this October!

Pict 1492: Legions Imperialis Leviathan and Deredeo Dreadnoughts (WIP)

But I did spent the time to put the remaining base colours and washes on these Legions Imperials Dreadnoughts from the support box. Annoyingly I forgot to add the decals to the models before the wash, which would be my usual work flow. I'll try and do them just before the weathering and hope it will come out similar enough.

Pict 1493: Raven Guard Delegatus (WIP)

Whilst doing the base coats on the little Dreadnoughts, I also put some colours on the Raven Guard Delegatus. At least, I did not just slap on the oilwash since the model is also missing the decals. I might try and do them when I do them on the Legions miniatures as well.

DreadTober Week Three: Armand Titus, Howling Griffons Chaplain Dreadnough

This week, I managed to finish the first DreadTober miniature: Armand Titus, the Howling Griffon Champlain Dreadnought, that will lead my small contingent of the chapter set during the Badab War. I also made some more headway on the Dreadnoughts for my Blood Angels.

Pict 1486: Armand Titus leading a squad of Howling Griffons

Pict 1487: Armand Titus, Howling Griffons Chaplain Dreadnought

Pict 1488: Armand Titus, Howling Griffons Chaplain Dreadnought

Pict 1489: Armand Titus, Howling Griffons Chaplain Dreadnought

Putting the finishing touches on Titus really only took one evening – completing my (initial) DreadTober pledge and readying him up to lead my growing Howling Griffons collection! After highlighting the important details I also put on some free-hand writing: the nubers on the skulls and most importantly his name on the left shoulder pad to mirror the one artwork he appears in. His right shoulder only has a decal of the number four since he is part of the chapter's fourth company. I also could not help myself and dated him on the exhaust to remind myself that he is this year's DreadTober miniature. I'm really quite pleased with the miniature – reviving my Chaplain Dreadnought of yore after quite some time collecting the correct OOP ForgeWorld pieces.

Pict 1490: DreadTober Blood Angels Dreadnoughts (WIP)

The two Blood Angels Dreadnoughts had the last remaining base colours done – especially cleaning up the red armour around the gold trim took some time. The decals as well as the oilwash are on them now and I can see myself finish at least the Boxnought until the end of the month. But I also recently saw a great Conversion of a 30k Castraferrum that sported the Havoc launcher from the vehicle sprue, so I might just go ahead and add that on this one as well...

The Dreadnought Drop Pod might have to be sidelined for now. Even so, I'm glad to have started painting it. If I can muster the motivation, I'd like to paint the thing next month alongside my Kharybids... We'll see how it goes!

DreadTober Week Two: Blood Angels Flyers and a whole host of Dreadnoughts

This week was quite effective: I finally finished some Aeronautica / Legions Imperialis flyers for my small scale Blood Angels and got some good work done on the next few dreadnoughts (big and small)!

Pict 1477: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Air Support

Pict 1478: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Thunderhawk

Pict 1479: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Thunderhawk

Pict 1480: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Fire Raptors

Pict 1481: Legions Imperialis Blood Angels Storm Eagles

First up: I managed to finish this collection of Aeronautica planes that form the backbone of my aerial assault formation in Legions Imperialis. They were half painted on my desk for quite a while (I last showed them in June but I started painting them last December...) and I'm really happy now that they are done. I'm really looking forward to using them in the next game and then painting the last three Xiphons that are still missing to complete my flyers.

Pict 1482: DreadTober Blood Angels Dreadnoughts (WIP)

As promised in last week's post, I got to work on the Blood Angel Dreadnought. Whilst working on the Castra Ferrum's basecolours, I also did the same colours on one more Contemptor and the Dreadnought Drop Pod I had wanted to paint as a strech goal last year. It would be great to get them done during October as well, but I'm not holding my breath. As long as I can get some progress on them, I'm happy!

Pict 1483: Howling Griffons Chaplain Dreadnought (WIP)

The Howling Griffons Chaplain Dreadnought meanwhile has been oiled up and is already looking quite goot. I'm confident this one will be done quite fast!

Pict 1484: Rados Cults Scourgers (WIP)

I also got a first wave of additional miniatures for my Rados Cults. These three Scourgers are pretty basic troops and now have the first few colours on them. Since I plan to play a lot more Alkemy, I'm sure they will get done sooner rather than later. As long as I don't get to distracted...

Pict 1485: Legions Imperialis Leviathan and Deredeo Dreadnoughts (WIP)

Lastly I also started on some small scale Dreadnoughts to keep in the spirit of DreadTober whilst still cashing in on the motivation from finishing the Aeronautica/Imperialis flyers.

Raven Guard Recons and DreadTober begins!

Sometimes you just really get into a project – this happened to me these past two weeks and I quickly finished the Raven Guard Recon Marines, I had converted and shown of in the last post and built a Centurion to lead them. I also got a start on my DreadTober Dreadnoughts!

Pict 1472: Ravan Guard Recons securinh a communications shrine

Pict 1473: Raven Guard Recon Squad

Pict 1474: Raven Guard Recon Squad

These really painted up quite fast! I managed to put on the base colours more neatly after a black prime and the grey zenithal. This left me with only a few touch ups and detailwork to do after an oil wash. As always, I documented the steps of painting in a recipe to remember them for later. They are a bit simpler than my Blood Angels but since I kept the bases the same, they should fit right in nonetheless.

Pict 1475: Chaplain Dreadnoughts (WIP)

I also put the base colours and transfers on my Howling Griffons Chaplain - these went on really quickly! The next step will be the oilwash. But I also might get moving with the Blood Angel Dreadnought I want to paint as a strech goal. With the good progess so far, the additional goal seems not that far off!

Pict 1476: Raven Guard Delegatus Centorion (WIP)

After painting the Recons, I had to also think about a HQ unit to lead them as an allied detachement. While a Vigilator sure would make sense to put with them, I also would like to be able to run them as an actual Recon Company with the Rite of War. This means either using a Praetor or the Centurion Delegatus as the budget version. I liked the idea of the latter and looked for inspiration to show the Centurion's station. As far as I can see the only miniature released as a Delegatus is the 2015 event-exclusive Alpha Legion Autilon Skorr. He is sporting a baton which I liked and repeated on my conversion. Other than that the base model is the venerable ForgeWorld production MkV with some added green stuff at the hips and neck for additional hight. I also kept the option to run him as a Vigilator open and gave him a Nemesis bolter converted in the same manner to ones on my Recon Marines. I'm pretty happy with the way he's looking and can't wait to paint him up and more importantly run him in a game!