2nd Edition Army Challenge: Tactical Squad Progress

 

Hi folks,

It has been a while since I posted last because the last couple of weeks have been a hot mess. Just over two weeks ago my supervisor passed away suddenly during a game of indoor soccer, leaving a gaping hole in the universe. Between his tragic passing and his memorial, I went away for a school camp with a young group of children (including one of his little ones). As you can imagine, the word exhaustion doesn't even come close to how I feel, physically, mentally and emotionally. I have passed beyond the point of "running on vapours".

Just before I left, I spent a whole day consumed by painting this combat squad. It was something I had to do to get my head in a different space, that would provide me with some kind of peace that I could draw upon while I was away supervising 24 hours a day. The result, if not perfect, is very cathartic. I think I have captured the 2nd edition vibe well, particularly with the gold trim on the shoulder pads and the skittles flavoured plasma pistol.

Next month I will be working on the final 5 figures, including a lascannon and a meltagun marine. They will be the final models in my 1000 point list for the challenge, leaving me with an extra month to paint a bonus project. I am torn between working on a special character or a vehicle... perhaps I'll do both?

See you across the table,

Marc

9th Edition Dark Angels: Phobos Ezekiel TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

Backing up after DreadTober I knew I had a pretty sharp deadline. Today was the final day of submissions for a psyker/priest/wizard themed painting competition at my local GW. I have been entering these local comps pretty frequently to help support the community, store and also give myself some motivation. Well, having narrowly completed by Imperial Knight last month, I can tell you there wasn't much in the tank.

But it is not in me to withdraw, sooo...

To kick off the project I sculpted a bionic eye out of green stuff. It didn't have to be perfect as it is in Ezekiel's background that the bionic eye is crude; he refuses to update it in honour of his dead comrades (I nearly said Fallen comrades just then, and that just wouldn't do. I salvaged an old Veteran DA backpack with candles (because that is the most sensible thing to help you read a 10 000 year old chapter relic book). I also converted a new right arm to hold a sword from the Ravenwing Knights sprue and found a large plastic book to represent the Book of Salvation. Conversions complete, I then painted him over about 5 hours. I am really happy with the finished product, particularly the close resemblance to Ezekiel. The name on the shoulder-pad scroll work will have to be re-done, I think. I made the mistake of painting the K in the centre first. Whilst this was logical at the time, it didn't take into consideration the extra space two E's and a Z take up on one side! I am still happy I gave it a red-hot go though, as I have never written anything so small before.

Even though I have done this conversion, I am still hanging out for GW to produce a modern version of Ezekiel, my favourite Dark Angels character. I will definitely buy it when it is released and use this as a Phobos Librarian, who I have already jokingly named "Incognekiel". 

In terms of the competition, I don't think I have much chance of winning. But considering the point was to try some things that you have never done, and that I have had this conversion on my mind since the Phobos Librarian figure was released, I feel really happy about my entry. It will be a treasured piece in my 9th Edition "Last of the Plains People" army.

See you across the table,

Marc

DreadTober 2020: "Achilles" Aeternum TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

Real life sure did get busy in October, which is a challenge when so many great 40k community events are scheduled. DreadTober has been a priority for me this year, and this particular project has been on my To-Do list for a long time. Before heading down the coast for the weekend, I added the final touches to the las-impulsor, which I ordered several months ago from Taro Modelmaker. As with all of my knights, I have added red as a spot colour to one weapon, mainly to contrast against the colder blue and silver. I added some bright blue to the the space between the coils, as well as a central energy capacitor.

Achilles is also armed with a reaper chainsword (though I prefer to use the stomp attack for most combat). I didn't have a thunderstrike gauntlet to spare, to make some kind of counts-as Canis Rex, and liked the idea of making something unique anyway. The image of Achilles with twin swords had stuck with me for a long time, so that is what I went with.

Now, for those of you who have seen my other knights, you will know that there is one (well, three...) quirky details I have added to each of them. One is that I try to include a snake somewhere, to reflect the close ties these knights have to the Iron Snakes chapter. I paint them up as Bandy-Bandy snakes, thanks to the suggestion a mate gave to me the first time around. Here is Achilles snake, warming itself under the fusion generator:

 

That's a big DreadTober project complete, in half the time it took me to do the last one. I have one more unit to go before my 1500 pt Imperial Knight Army, "The Walls of Ithaka", is complete and ready for games. But, for now, it is time to give myself a badge and set my sites on the next GW painting competition: psykers!

See you across the table,

Marc

DreadTober: Free-hand Shenanigans

 

Hi folks,

We are now into the final week of Dreadtober! October has gone by crazy quickly and I am a fair few steps behind where I would have liked to be at this stage with my Imperial Knight. It doesn't bother me though, painting a Knight in 4 weeks was always going to be an ambitious goal. 

To move me a little closer, I spent a couple of hours on Sunday completing the free-hand images on the shoulder armour. This step is always the one that makes me a little nervous, but I know that once it is done everything else is comparatively easy, so I tackled it early to get my mojo flowing. I won't include too much commentary and just let the pictures do the talking. It is another one of those processes where it looks really bad for a long time! Hopefully this will inspire some other people to push through the early agony to reach the rewards at the end. Here we go...

Here is the reference image I used while I was painting; it is a shower curtain 😂

I compressed the main a little to fit the space and didn't quite nail the angle, but that just helps make it my own. 

I also managed to get some construction done, so (at the moment) "Achilles" Aeternum is looking something like this:

Now, it is definitely time for sleep. Hopefully, if I get all of my work done tomorrow, I'll be able to push the project forward a little further by finishing the legs and sketching out the base.

See you across the table,

Marc