DreadTober TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

DreadTober is finished for another year, and what a year it has been!! The entries have just been fantastic, with some great variety on offer and serious hobby skill on display. I managed to complete my pledge fairly early this year, thanks primarily to the mostly black paint scheme.

Moriar the Chosen is the sole Dreadnought inducted into the Death Company. Having succumbed to the Black Rage, he is a brutal engine of woe on the battlefield. Wielding the legendary Blood Talons, he is able to rend his enemies apart, utilising his heavy flamer and meltagun to purge infantry and vehicles alike. His sarcophagus has been modified so that he can partake of vital fluids when the Red Thirst takes him.

Towards the end of the challenge DAM, from over at 262nd Death Korps of Krieg, offered to send me an old Forgeworld Chaplain Dreadnought he had stashed away. I once had the chance to get one, but chose to buy a Contempor instead. Now with the Chaplain Dread OOP and Contemptors everywhere, that had become a regrettable decision! The model reached me in record time, and I set about painting it with about 3 nights to go in the challenge. Several long painting sessions later, Damodred, Light of Baal, has awoken!!

This has to be the most detailed model I have ever painted. It was utterly enjoyable to work on. I'm hoping to send something back DAM's way to honour the favour!!

See you across the table,

Marc

DreadTober: Week 3 Progress

  

Hi folks,

Just a quick post tonight because it is getting late. I managed to get quite a bit done on Moriar the Chosen during the weekend, most of which I have not taken photos of yet. The sarcophagus is pretty much finished, depending on how cleanly the assembly goes. I have been varnishing the parts as I finish them; a trick I learned working on the Tyranid Warriors a few years ago. Unfortunately, when you construct metal models, there is always a chance you are going to knock something and end up having to repair chips in the paint job. 

Thankfully, the decals I ordered last week have been delivered. They are from the new Death Company set and they look excellent. I have actually put them on the model already, but I'll have to show that off next time I post. I also received the static grass I needed to finish the base off in the style that I wanted. I did actually end up going back and warming up the colour of the dirt on the base by dry-brushing with XV-88.

The arms were pretty quick to paint until I got up to the claws, which took me ages to blend and highlight. Here is how they looked the step before the claws were worked on, including a neat little free-hand blood drop.

See you across the table,

Marc

DreadTober: Week 2 Progress

 

Hi folks,

The past week went by in a blur. It was the last week of the school holidays for me, which is a time when I start preparing for the new term whilst trying to cram in as much "holiday" as I can around it. I marked a huge amount of school work, set up a vegetable garden with my daughter and managed to chip away at the paint job of my Dreadnought.

My mantra with painting Moriar has been "less is more". I have stuck pretty strictly to a limited palette and added just a couple of free-hand details that help tell the story.

The legs have free-hand saltires to represent Moriar's place in the Death Company. The black is highlighted with Thunderhawk Grey to add that tinge of blue. A lot of the parts that I would add a spot colour to were painted black on this model, as it has enough spot colours in its heraldry and claws; more would be too busy I think.

I painted the banner pole to match the Crozius Arcanum that Lemartes has on the cover of the Angels of Death Codex; again, the black wings freaked me out a little bit. I was so driven to paint them white instead!

I added a simple free-hand blood drop to the exhaust unit on the Dreadnought's back. All of these pieces will probably need some white decals to finish them off, which I have ordered on eBay. Hopefully they make it to me in time for the challenge. Fingers crossed!

I have an old copy of the Collecting and Painting Wargames Armies from 1998. It had some nice variations on the classic Goblin Green bases that I was keen to try. This base riffs off the ones used on an Ork army (Page 24) by Jakob Nielsen. I think the dirt colour is a little desaturated on my base, but overall I am happy with it so far. I am just waiting on some more static grass to add the finishing touches (my son used my entire supply on a diorama at some point...).

That's the first half of the challenge down. I have "just the sarcophagus and the arms to go, but I get the feeling they are all going to require a bunch of painting.

See you across the table, 

Marc

DreadTober: Week 1 Progress

 

Hi folks,

My project for DreadTober this year is to build an old school version of the Death Company Dreadnought Moriar the Chosen. 

I have always liked the idea of a Dreadnought with two lighting claws, so much so that I built my own using the plastic Blood Angels kit and painted it as a Deathwing Dreadnought called "Hawk Talon". To make a version that would fit in a 2nd Edition army, though, I would need some rarer metal parts. The main part of the model was a "Furioso" Dreadnought from 3rd Edition that I hunted down on eBay. The weapons are all the old 2nd Ed. sculpts, e.g. the heavy flamer is the old double-barreled version. The rest of the model is indistinguishable from the older sculpt, apart from the additional close combat arm. I got the model fairly cheaply because it was missing the ends of the close combat weapons (which I wanted to replace anyway) and the feet (which I already had in my bitz box). To replace the feet I used some spare plastic parts which I drilled to fit the leg pegs:

To replace the "hands", I managed to get a full left arm from the old metal Bjorn the Fell-Handed model, as well as a second spare set of claws from the same model. It almost hurts to think that two Bjorn models will never have their claws, or that I have made it that much harder for Space Wolf players to secure these parts. I was very excited to make my dream project a reality, though!!

To fit the claws I used some spare plastic parts from my old Blood Angels kit to fill in the gaps under the wrist mount, after measuring them up carefully, cutting some pilot grooves with a hobby knife and using my razor saw to finish them off.

To "ease" myself into painting I took on (potential) the most challenging aspect of the model; the banner. I found a picture of the banner online and shrink it to size in a document. After printing I painted over the top to match the shades I'll be using on the model: 

I may add some blue/grey highlights to the black areas of the banner, depending on how the model itself turns out. Overall, I am very happy with how the project has started and I'm looking forward to getting the painting started in earnest. 

See you across the table,

Marc