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!

Converting Recon Marines and Chaplain Dreadnoughts

Just a quick post to show some building / converting I have done over the past two weeks: A small squad of Recon Marines with Nemesis Bolters, ready to be painted as a part of a small Raven Guard allied detachment for my Horus Heresy Blood Angels. And two Castra Ferrum Dreadnought, both of them the venerable Chaplain Dreadnought sculpt from ForgeWorld.

Pict 1469: Raven Guard Recon Marines (Conversion)

Pict 1470: Raven Guard Recon Marines (Conversion)

I had quite a few ideas floating around in my head after last month's campaign day. But one that just had to be done was to convert some Recon Marines with Nemesis Bolters. They do seem quite useful in the game and just look great! I plan to paint them as a small Raven Guard allied detachment – a small part of the shattered legion that lend their skills in forward deployment to my Blood Angels.
The models were converted using the plastic Mk VI marines. I removed some detail on the chest armour and replaced it with detailing reminicent of the Raven Guard Dark Furies. The cloaks are made with Green Stuff – at fist only the rough shape before attaching the backpack. Once that had cured I added smaller whisps of Green Stuff to the edges to make them look less uniform and lastly texturing them with a layer of Vallejo Plastic Putty roughly stippled on to hide some of the seams that I could not iron out. The Nemesis Bolters use parts of the Grey Knight's Interceptor backpacks – using the longer teleporter rods to extend the barrels and the shorter ones to create a sight on top.

Pict 1471: Mk IV Chaplain Dreadnoughts (WIP)

Whilst converting I also worked on this pair of Chaplain Dreadnoughts. Both of them are eBay rescues and one of them was in a somewhat sorry state. The one with Lascannon will be part of my Howling Griffons to represent Chaplain Dreadnought Armand Titus that was part of force that participated in the Badab War. The other one had a bit more surgery done to make it fit in more with my Heresy Blood Angels, most notably I used a Dremel to make space for one of the Forge World Mk IV Blood Angels helmets. I really enjoyed posing these two. Whilst the boxy frame can feel a bit clumsy I'm very happy with what I came up with – one of them braced on a rock to surveil the battlefield, the other leaning forward to get ready for close combat. I plan to paint at least one of them for this year's Dreadtober. Will I manage to paint both of them?

Meltas for all the Blood Angels

In the past few weeks, I was quite productive and finished up another set of Horus Heresy Blood Angels. With these under my belt, I also got around to some more Howling Griffons, that lay around for about a year.

Pict 1454: Blood Angels Melta Support Squad

Pict 1455: Blood Angels Melta Support Squad

Pict 1456: Blood Angels Melta Support Squad

I did not quite finish these Blood Angels in time for last week's Campaign day, but they were far enough to see play. After three amazing games, my mind was fired up with new ideas for my Heresy marines. And I really wanted to finish the Melta Support Squad, the Rhino and the two characters. Doing the highlighting took some time, especially glazing the red armour, but I'm very happy to have done it now. I love the way the heat bloom looks on the squad's Melta guns.

Pict 1457: Blood Angels Rhino

Pict 1458: Blood Angels Rhino

Pict 1459: Blood Angels Rhino

Pict 1460: Blood Angels Rhino

The Support Squad also got their dedicated transport of a Rhino. Again using the Mars pattern but with the ForgeWorld Icon on one side and an additional icon on the back hatch. The big flat panels of the vehicle really lend themselves to weathering such as scratches. Really god fun to paint up!

Pict 1461: Blood Angels Moritat and Boarding Marine

Pict 1462: Blood Angels Moritat and Boarding Marine

The Moritat did get to do a bit in Zone Mortalis, winning me one game by running down the enemy Warlord. They even improved over the games, since there was a character experience system in place. I was originally not perfectly happy with the pose, especially the sword is quite hidden. But theay have grown on me and I can't wait to use them in some more games.
The Boarding Marine came out great as well. I painted them up to fit into my Breacher squad but I guess they will see litte time on the gaming table. It's really a shame that there is no regular way to kit out a Breacher squad with melee weapons.

Pict 1463: Howling Griffons Veterans purging a Zone Mortalis

Pict 1464: Howling Griffons Veterans

After finishing the Blood Angels, I got right onto another set of Space Marines and finished up six more Howling Griffons that I started last October. I said back then, that the highlights should not take long. And in fact I managed to do it during the course of a morning – only about a year later... Nevertheless, I'm very happy with the way they came out. They are a bit rougher than the Blood Angels – perfectly fitting for smaller games set during the Badab War!

Pict 1465: Blood Angels Kharybdis Assault Claw (WIP)

One last thing, the campaign day inspired me to do, was to stick together this Kharybdis Assault Claw. Its a massive beast, weighing in at pretty much exactly one kilogram of ForgeWorld resin! I purchased the Kharybdis used and took it apart at the start of the year. And having now put it together and even started basecoating it, I'm super happy with it and can't wait to get it to th tabletop once more. (Of course it saw about five minutes of game time before getting shot out of the sky...)

Catching up: Legions Imperialis, an Ent and more Badab Enforcers

Summer has almost begun and travels, the good weather and the Real Life™ have taken their toll on my hobby time. While I did not paint that much since my last post (Six weeks ago! I do apologize!), I was not idle but managed to build quite a lot for my Legions Imperialis Blood Angels, play a few games and work on other, smaller projects.

Pict 1440: Legions Imperialis Drop Pods and Fast Attack (WIP)

First up, I built and primed a set of Dreadnought Drop Pods as well as two sets of the Legion Fast Attack box. I will have to get another box of the former and I'm once again very impressed with the detail on these small miniatures. I also got to use some of them in a game already and I was quite impressed with the Jetbikes – they have quite the output with their bolters!

Pict 1441: Legions Imperialis Missile Launcher Support Marines (WIP)

Speaking of games - these Missile Launcher Support Marines do put in the work every time. Their ability to ignore cover makes them great at clearing out infantry out of buildings. Because of that I decided to make them the next few miniatures to finish up.

Pict 1442: Ent (Reposed)

Whilst building the Legions minis, I also reposed this plastic Ent to fill out my Fangorn collection. I think this one will be painted up as a birch. There is a bit of variety in the kit – but I feel like it does show its age and the poses you can get out of it just stock are limited. Nevertheless with a bit of wire and Green Stuff you can get them to be a bit more dynamic.

Pict 1443: Badab Enforcers Subjugators and Tauros Venator (WIP)

Lastly I found some second hand Subjugators for my Badab Enforcers and also got one of the Tauros Venators for the group. A lovely kit and I'm very much looking forward to painting them all up!

The Butterfly's Tally 2023

Happy New Year! As is tradition, the start of a year calls for reflection on the past and for plans on what to do in the upcoming cycle around the sun. I'm really quite happy with what I have achieved in 2023 and am looking forward to the projects in 2024!

Pict 1404: Sanguinius leading the Blood Angels

The Hobby Tally 2023

So to have a look back, this is what I set out to do at the start of the year and how I did:

• Paint and play at least the first of the two Cursed City expansions (it's only 6 miniatures: 3 giant bats, Radukar the Beast, Lady Annika and Carmilla DuSang)
• I managed to paint all of these, but decided against playing just the one expansion. Ideally I'd like to start a fresh campaign with both expansions painted.
  I did, however, play one session over Halloween, which was great!

Pict 1405: Cursed City Villains of 2023

• Paint 5 Infinity miniatures and play a game with them
• In the end I painted 11 Infinity miniatures and even had a few games scheduled in, but they all did not work out in the end. I will have to be better with getting together with people to play these games!

Pict 1406: Haqqislam, Dahshat and Kaplans of 2023

• Paint 10 MESBG miniatures
• I painted 16 MESBG miniatures - not as many as in prior years, but I'm still happy with them! Again, having a game scheduled makes for great motivation to paint at least some of the miniatures you need.

Pict 1407: Mordor Orcs and Rohan Heroes of 2023

• Paint 3 more tiles of the modular gaming board as well as the rest of the Garden of Morr (that's 6 pieces of wall)
• This is probably the biggest achievement of this year! I'm super glad to have finished a 4x4 gaming board and the Garden of Morr pieces. I still have quite a few more pieces of terrain fitting in with the collection, but I can play games at home, which is amazing.

Pict 1408: Garden of Morr Scenery 2023

• Paint at least 100 miniatures in total
• 100 is always a good and round number to aim for and of course I managed to smash this goal as well with 176 miniatures painted in total!

Looking at these resolutions and my way of achieving them makes me really happy. I did not go for to many specific projects because I know, I will get distracted over the course of the year. What could have gone better is gaming – while certainly also a question of free time, I could have been more agressive in getting together with friends. But in the final days of the year I managed to get to hobby club about an hour away and get in my first Heresy game. I do hope to contiune this trend!

If you want so look back at my painting progress of previous years, here are the links to the tallies of the past: The Tally 2017, The Tally 2018, The Tally 2019, The Tally 2020, The Tally 2021, The Tally 2022

Other Big Projects of this Year

Pict 1409: Horus Heresy Blood Angels of 2023

I added quite a bit to my Blood Angels army this year: Aster Crohne, 1 Consul, 10 Mortalis Destroyers, 5 Assault Destroyers as Zephon's retinue, 1 Castra Ferrum Dreadnought, 15 Inductii Despoilers, 10 Scouts, 15 Assault Marines, 1 Rhino, 6 Seekers, 1 Avenger Strike Fighter and of course Sanguinius!
All in all 67 miniatures – quite the collection seeing it tallied up like this!

Pict 1410: Tyranids of 2023

With the new models coming for the tenth edition of 40k, I also did some work on my Tyranids. While I'm still not that enamoured with 40k, these were quite fun to get back to.

Pict 1411: Badab Enforcers of 2023

I have gotten quite a good start to a Necromunda collection without even intending to do so. I plan to use these as the bad guys in a Inquisitor game but they could also see use as a Badab War Kill Team. I should really get onto painting the Inquisitor, the retinue and some more terrain I have sloted for that project...

Hobby Plans for 2024

Which brings me nicely to the plans for the coming year. I will once again try to not be too specific and be ok with getting distracted. I also want to try and not get to swept up an the hype of new miniatures and get to the projects I already have at home. And I do want to play more games

• Paint 2 pieces of terrain each for the SciFi and the Fantasy collection
  
• Finish up the Cursed City collection. This is 10 Grave Guard, 5 Direwolves, 3 Vargheists and a Necromancer – 19 miniatures in total, the should be doable!
  
• Once again paint more than 100 miniatures
  
• Lastly, make a concerted effort to buy less new stuff, paint the stuff I have and play with it
   

Starting DreadTober 2023: A Castra Ferrum for the Blood Angels

It's the start of October and that does mean, among other things, it's the start of DreadTober, one of the fun community challanges of the hobby year. This time around I will paint up a boxy Castra Ferrum Dreadnought for my Blood Angels. A stretch goal will be a Dreadnought Drop Pod as a delivery system. But I do also want to finish some squads for my Blood Angels Legion to play them in an upcoming tournament.

Pict 1359: Blood Angels MK IV Castra Ferrum Dreadnought (WIP)

So, onto the juicy bits: After showing the Castra Ferrum conversion last post, I primed him up and started to put some paint on him. I really love the boxnought's silhouette and I'm very happy with the conversion. The painting process really just flows along. The basecolours are almost done. After that I will put on decals and an oilwash. This sould all go rather fast. It's super enjoyable!

Pict 1360: Deadnought Drop Pod (WIP)

To keep things interesting, I want to add this Dreadnought Drop Pod as a stretch goal to this years Dreadtober. Once again, I got this miniature for rather cheap on the second hand market. It was, however, in a really sorry state. One of the hinges was broken so the previous owner glued the doors shut and covered all of the hinges in a layer of milliput.
I have by now managed to disasseble the whole thing and have gotten rid of the paintjob as well as the putty. There will probably be some residual super glue on the doors but I can live with that. The next steps will be to finish repairing the broken hinge, installing some magnets and metal pieces to keep the doors shut and then reassembling the miniature.

Pict 1361: Blood Angels Inductii Despoilers and Consul (WIP)

The Inductii Despoilers and the Consul sat somewhat idely during the last two weeks. They have had their oilwash done and had a first layer of varnish to seal the oils in. After that, however, they collected dust. I find myself in the mode to basecoat, being less careful and not using the wet palette I'd use for highlighting.

Pict 1362: Blood Angels Mortalis Destryers and Aster Crohne (WIP)

Pict 1363: Blood Angels Rhino with Reinforced Armour (WIP)

As I mentioned in my last post, I have signed up for a Heresy tournament. I easily have the required 2000 points painted, but why not use that opportunity to finish some more of the backlog. After the Inductii Despoilers, I also want to finish these ten Destryoers and their Rhino. And of course I also added in the appropriate character in the form of Aster Crohne, even if he will probably not be part of my tournament list. So while putting the base colours on the Dreadnought, I did the same to them. The tournament is at the start of November – we'll see how far I can get until then!

Pict 1364: Howling Griffons Veterans and Captain (WIP)

Lastly, since I'm clearly not working on enough Space Marines, I also put the base colours and an oil wash on some more Howling Griffons. I had started the black armour quite a while ago and they should be done rather quickly now as well.