Of Space Marines, Xenos and eventually men... of metal and plastic

 Well while I've been busy with real life and all that jazz, that doesn't mean I've been idle on the hobby front. On the Deathwatch side of things I've been able to scratch alot of things off my to-do list including a few more Kill Team members as well as a Watch Commander model.

As with all of my previous Deatwatch models, the Ultramarine and Marauder have been magnetized, allowing me to switch their loadouts.

 In addition to finishing some new members, I also managed to go back and work on some of my older models as well. I had some issues with the Dark Angel Librarian and decided that his sword arm needed to be reposed to a more relaxed angle.

 With my Watch Commander model I wanted to do something different, rather then have him be a founding chapter member I thought it would be interesting to make him a Successor chapter member, but one with a more interesting colour scheme. To that end I chose a chapter whose lineage I was not completely sure of (although they're probably Ultramarine sucessors now), I chose the Howling Griffons.

I also chose them because I wanted to take a crack at freehanding their Chapter logo, the infamous Griffon. I think it worked out really well and I'm pleased with the overall result.

With these members done my Deathwatch are starting to turn into a more sizeable force, and if the recent release of Deathwatch Overkill, the rules to use those models as a unit in 40k and rumours of a potential Codex in the future, I might be able to use them on the table top at some point and not just as display pieces.

Aside from the Xenos hunters, I've also been working on some foul Xenos for them to hunt after. I entered a character painting competition at my local Games Workshop and decided that rather than use a pre-exisiting mini (which I was allowed to do btw), I felt I should enter with something different. After a quick trawl through Ebay I managed to come across a metal Dark Eldar Mandrake model.

 

I've always wanted to paint one of these since I first seen them in White Dwarf after the Dark Eldar got their new codex and felt that they were a cool element of the pointy eared slavers forces. They always reminded me of one of the characters from the Legacy of Kain (mainly the mysterious blue dude that looks a bit like a Protoss reject) and after reading the World Bearers Ominbus not too long ago where they encounter a Mandrake who I imagined did the teleportation trick ala X-Men's Night Crawler (Bamf!), I knew I just had to paint one up. After deciding on the colour scheme, I realised I wanted to base him as though he were prowling the streets of Commorragh as well as provided some interesting details such as OSL from the flames in his hands as well as his eyes. The detailing for the underside of the skull was a cool little test in detail work and gave me an excuse to ask my Medical Artist, girlfriend for advice.

After looking through my bitz boxes recently I found that I have alot of leftover metal minatures, mainly Imperial Guard ( I refuse to call them Astra Mila whatever they call them now) and took the time to base them all. However they will have to go on the back burner as I have more pressing projects to work on.

*Edit
However there is one other project that I did finish that is not 40k related and that is a miniature for my good friend and aspiring fiction writer Myk Pilgrim. You can check out his writing blog as well as his musings on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

I am Alpharius

This dude was inspired by the representation of the Alpha Legion in this piece of artwork by Nicolas R Giacondino also known as Aerion the Faithful. I really liked this idea of the Alpha Legionnaires being almost faceless and if I had the money, I would build a whole force of these guys, each of them using the same parts. For now I'll just have to settle with this single Alpha Legionnaire. Out of all of them this model is the only one that doesn't have an alternate head, to further emphasise the secretive nature of the Legion.

 I even wrote a little background info on this model

Alpha Legionary, “Zero”

 Not much is known about this shadowy member of the infamous XX Legion during or before the Heresy and those sparse records that have managed to survive through data loss, censorship by the Inquisition or corruption over the course of the millennia cites a particular Legionary that has been mentioned in several after action reports and Remembrancers notes. These references are often counted as being conflicted or inaccurate, as it makes mention of his presence in numerous conflict zones over the course of the Heresy, from Istvaan III, Calth, Armatura, even right up to the final Seige of Terra. This has led many scholars to theorize that this single legionary may in fact be many, as there have been noted instances where he was present in more than one place at the same time if the date stamps of the records are to be believed. Alas these have been endlessly debated by Archivists new and old and there is little hope the truth of the matter will ever be verified. What is known is that in all instances of his mention, he was often been seen observing the forces involved on both sides of the conflict, engaging only when actively threatened and never removing his helmet to reveal his face, further adding speculation as to his true identity. When asked for identification, the legionary was noted to speak only the following:

 “I am no one and everyone. The beginning and the end. I am Alpharius”

From The faces of Treachery by Darius O’Loren, redacted by the Inquisition M32.

They're Finished... for now

After a bit of a hiatus from my hobby I managed to sit down and continue work on the Heresy Marines Project. With my initial quota finished, I can now present the finished articles here.

Legionnes Astartes from left to right: Alpha Legion, World Eater, Iron Warrior, Imperial Fist, Dark Angel, Space Wolf

Loyalists: Imperial Fist, Dark Angel, Space Wolf

Traitors: Alpha Legion, World Eater, Iron Warrior

 As I've stated previously this started out as a little side project to make a Heresy Era representative character for myself (the Imperial Fist) and expanded itself into a sort of March of the Legions. An idea that I had after reading some Horus Heresy novels would be that these guys would be representatives from their respective Legions on a mission from Malcador the Sigilitte, coming to investigate rumours that something was about to happen at Calth and were caught up in the following conflict. Which leads to the fact that there are two spaces in the display base that are empty. These spaces have been reserved for the two Legions involved in the Battle of Calth, the Ultramarines and the Word Bearers. I already have some ideas on how to make the legionnaires, I just need to get the appropriate bits together. For now though please enjoy the pics and stay tuned as I'll be delving into each one with the ideas behind them.

Unhelmeted versions

The Mighty (and time consuming) Adeptus Astartes

Well after having a busy Christmas and New Years, I've kind of left this a little to the wayside. However I'm back to it and with more images and random musings to share.

It goes without saying that Space Marines are one of the most popular factions of the 41st Millennium and I'd guess that everyone that paints Games Workshop miniatures has owned one these iconic warriors at some point or another. For me my first Space Marines were a pair of metal Blood Angels and since then I've been building and painting numerous Space Marines in whatever scheme took my fancy.

A Blood Raven Force that I painted when the original DOW games were out

 Being the hobbyist that can't help but start a new project half way through a pre-exisiting one, I've been unable to restrict myself to painting just one chapter in order to build a playable force (although there was the above Blood Ravens as well as a mild stint at Black Consuls that managed to last a whole two years before I decided to repaint them as Novamarines). However with the advent of my DeathWatch project, I've found something that has managed to temper my rampant chapter-change and have been inspired to take on making a force of Novamarines.

My Initial Kill Team models for an RPG project, and the below Techmarine mini which sparked into my Novamarines project that has stuck with me since then.

 

Initially I was going to paint my Novamarines in the traditional Bone and Blue scheme, however after having painted the Captain model as a test piece (not enjoying the prospect of building from a Black undercoat to Brown base and then Bone for the whole force) and seeing Apologist's take on them, I decided to use a Grey/White and Blue colour scheme instead.

A demi-squad of Novas awaiting paint

While this is my long-term project, I have found myself wandering into my current project that is Heresy Era minis. This I blame on browsing too many Heresy Era plogs as well as GW's recent Betrayal at Calth release.

Heresy Era minis on the left along some mid painting DeathWatch minis

 Progress on these guys has been slow but I've been enjoying building and painting them, to bring out the character of each of the Legions has been fun in itself. Also being able to switch their heads out with magnets has really allowed me to go to town on each of them as well as get rid of alot of spare heads that have been lying around in my bits box.

 Recently I made a vow to the +Walls Fail, Fists do not+ challenge on Bolter and Chainsword, where I need to build a single infantry sized model representing my favourite Chapter, the Imperial Fists. The deadline is 17th January (a few days from now). I decided that it would be a good boost for me, to see if I can build and paint something in less than a month (unlike another project that I tried to do but will elaborate more on later).

Parts for the conversion: Dark Vengeance Tactical Marine, FW Mk IV Backpack, Imperial Fist & Death Watch shoulder pads, pouches, knife and meltabomb.

After alot of careful cutting and filing, I have the model without his shouler pads.

 

  I still have some gaps to fill with Greenstuff and paint to apply but I'm keen to get this guy done. The end goal of all of this is to get all these projects done at some point in the near future and is part of my new years resolution for this year.