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Since I've finally started to make some progress on my Thousand Son CSM army I thought I might as well get a blog started. Only got a 1000pt army at the moment all in various stages of completion, everything aside from the Defiler is built (and the defiler only needs a little more work). Painting however has been slower, so far only the Daemon Prince which leads the army and one of the two Rhinoes have recieved any attention from the paint brush. The Rhino is still at the very early stages of painting as my focus has been on the DP. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to get more work done on the rest of the army.

So since it's the only model to have had much work here's my DP, I still need to put on a few highlights and touch ups and then base it but for the most part I'm happy with it.






The only part of the model I'm really not happy about is the eyes, I'm aiming for a bird like look and the dark pits the model currently has don't really do much for me, if anyone's got any thoughts on how to improve them I'd be very grateful.

Pretty kick ass bird.

Quick non insulting thing.

Did you consider using the chaos spawn bird head? Its very birdy.


Loving the mini, I particularly like the wings.

Yes I'm fully aware of my inability to scuplt green stuff, it took me a fortnight just to get the heard to that low level of detail. I must admit I never looked at the Spawn kit but since the only way I'll ever use Spawn is through the Gift of Chaos power (which doesn't appear in my list atm) I think you'll understand why I overlooked it.

I actually think it's great! Better than the spawn head.
With regards to the eyes to you want him to have eye balls then? If so you could either roll out a couple of little GS balls, leave them to set and then glue them into place or you could use pins with round heads and jab them into the sockets (better to drill out a hole for the shaft if you have a hobby drill).

Well I've tried the ball of green stuff idea (sadly I had no pins with a small enough head) and that looked worse, still the time wasn't wasted as I was able to finish the eyes off. Instead of bird like eyes I've gone for more of a feline vibe which for some reason suits the model a bit better. I'll highlight the pupil with some white to finish it off.

Looking at the entire Model, I think it's fantastic. It's only when you really focus in on the Head that it looks 'Strange' or 'Bad'. Don't beat yourself up about it too much, it won't be a big issue when he's surrounded by the rest of the Thousand Sons. Speaking of which... how's the progress with the TS Infantry?

Got 2 squads built and ready to be primed, annoyingly that's all I'm able to squeeze in at 1000pts.

I love the look of that DP.

Looks neat. Mixing the lord of change is a cool idea too

For me, the strangeness of the head almost adds to the "Tzeentch-ness" of the model.

Good work on the DP. I can't say I'm really a fan of the new sculpt (I like parts, but the whole kit doesn't really do it for me), but your work makes it look pretty sweet.

Xca|iber wrote:For me, the strangeness of the head almost adds to the "Tzeentch-ness" of the model.

Good work on the DP. I can't say I'm really a fan of the new sculpt (I like parts, but the whole kit doesn't really do it for me), but your work makes it look pretty sweet.

I'll take that as a compliment.

I personally prefer the new version. However I have found one issue with it, because it's plastic the metal Lord of Change wings do make the final model a little top heavy. Luckily that was easily fixed with a lump of lead under the base.

I'm liking the Bird Lord, but I'm wondering if his armor aint alittle to black? I'm looking forward to seeing some TS squads!

The armour is slightly lighter in real life, the lighting around my modelling desk is absolutely awful for photographs and I don't really want to bother with setting up proper lighting etc for work in progress shots. However the armour is darker than is usual for something Thousand Son related. Mainly because I'm not particularly fond of the fairly light blue the GW likes to suggest for the models, I also feel that the darker blue gives the armour a more ornate appearance which suits the Thousand Sons quite nicely.

Anyway here's an update on the DP, I just need to get the washes out again to recolour the touch ups on the skin and loin cloth and then paint the edge of the base and he'll be finished. Speaking of the base has anyone got any idea of what colour I should paint it? I'm going for a desert feel and whilst I'm happy with the top of hte base I can't think of the right colour to paint the edge.



Also here's a quick photo of my whole army, as you can see I've got a lot of painting to do and yes the bolters are only stuck on temporarily and will be removed for painting.



I hope to have got all the priming done over the next couple of days but before that I've got to finish the defiler which will have it's head lightly modified to look like a typical TS head.

Looking really nice so far!! Really like the deamon prince!!

Right I've got one final update on the DP for you lot, as far as I'm concerned the model is finished, I know I could add more detail but I'd never see it on the table top (my eyes they are useless!).



Speaking of table tops I got my first game with the army last night, I got thrashed by Mephiston, if we'd been using a larger board I reckon I would have had a better chance as I wouldn't have got Mephiston in the face in turn one. The rest of the BA army (aside from a couple of marines on an objective) I was facing was wiped out pretty quickly by the Defiler and one of the Thousand Sons squads. The Defiler in particularl performed well so I'm glad I've taken one but I definitely need Lascannons somewhere in the army so I'll be grabbing a Predator at some point. Sadly I lost the DP to a lucky Death Company marine but he did take the rest of the squad down before he was banished back to the warp. The Death Company marine then got ripped to pieces by the Defiler. The Rhino's did surprisingly well, on of them took out 6 Marines with it's Havok Launcher. However nothing was getting really getting wounds on Mephiston (aside from one really lucky Rubric Marine!), with the only AP1 weapon I had tied up by the Death Company Mephiston simply ran amok taking down both Thousand Son squads and eventually the Defiler too.

Were it not for those 2 marines on the objective though I'd have forced a draw which isn't bad for a notoriously bad army against one of the more powerful ones, particularly as that was only my second game of 40k since 3rd edition. I reckon had I had another turn of shooting with the defiler or one of the Rhinos I would have forced a draw so it was tight. Ah well it is all part of Tzeentch's plan so I can take the loss in my stride.

Next up for me will be finishing the WIP Rhino and then I'll move on to the first Thousand Sons squad. Oh and there's the small matter of an Imperial Guard army that I've started on a whim, should be getting the basis of the first infantry platoon tomorrow.

I like it although I'd make him look a little more cross... he actually looks pleasant, the sort of daemon I'd sit down with and have a cup of tea!

I do like it and look forward to seeing more. Its nice to see something different... I'm getting bored of seeing the new daemon prince everywhere...

Erm it IS the new DP. Just with Lord of Change wings and a custom head.

Nick Ellingworth wrote:Erm it IS the new DP. Just with Lord of Change wings and a custom head.

I know. I just mean its nice to see something different from the various choice you have from the box.... almost everyone at my Local GW has a new daemon prince with NO conversion work and built in one of the ways suggested on the box. I'm getting bored of seeing those... not yours

Ah right, I've only seen one non converted new DP at my local GW and that's the store's own model, then again including that and my one I've only seen 3 there and the third is used as an Ogre Maneater (in the army fluff it mutated in the chaos wastes).

DP looks great in general, its just the head makes me think "Hench Pigeon" rather than Tzeentch Deamon.

Big fan of the new DP model (though it's a bitch to GS all those gaps together), and your conversion is extra nice. Are you carrying the raven theme throughout the army? As simple as the black/gold armor, or even more head-swaps for champs and such??

- Salvage

No I won't be keeping up the bird theme for the regular Thousand Sons I don't have the talent to convert metal miniatures such as the Aspiring Sorcerers that lead each TS squad.

I think part of the inevitable expansion to 1500pts has already been decided, I managed to get my hands on a nearly complete land raider kit (it's missing the lascannons) from my local GWs bits box, along with a few other bits and pieces.

Time for another small update. I've not had the time to do much since the last update due to other things taking up my time however as of today painting on the Thousand Sons is under way. No pictures of them yet though as I'm having problems with lighting. The first Rhino is also progressing fairly well and I hope to finish it by the weekend.

The Land Raider I got from the local GW bits box is now technically complete but I'm going to order the forgeworld Thousand Sons doors rather than use the standard ones which will delay things slightly. Still that gives me plenty of time to paint the interior. Here's a quick photo of what I've done so far.



The blue thing on the defaced ad mech logo is the start of a mark of Tzeentch as are the black squiggles on the "impurity seals." I may not do much more to them since it will be nearly impossible to see them one the model is finished.

I've also got an IG project on the go alongside my Thousand Sons so from now on I'll be posting pics of that in this thread as well. I've done even less of the IG than I have of the Thousand Sons but I think that's excusable since I only got the first models on Saturday. So far I've got everything I need for the first platoon and the sole tank I'll be using at 1000pts. I still need to buy the second platoon and the command squad. Of course since this is a footslogging army it's been rather expensive just to get the platoon and tank. Although the expense is my own fault as I thought it would be a good idea to got for the metal and therefore expensive Tallarn models and the even more expensive Forgeworld Armageddon Pattern Medusa. I'll post some background details for my IG once I've written it, as it stands I've not even named the army.

Anyway here's the first guardsman showing my planned colour scheme.



Sorry about the poor quality of the above photo my camera isn't really good enough for close ups like this and I don't have access to one that is. The colours on the model in real life are much more distinct than they appear here. He's still cock eyed though.

Hmm a triple post....

Anyway after a few days of not having any time to paint stuff I've finally got something finished. So here's the first part of the Thousand Son motor pool.




Any feedback on the Rhino would be appreciated, again I apologise for the poor lighting.

The other Rhino is coming along nicely and I finally have all the parts needed (forgeworld doors) for the Land Raider so that should start to get some attention shortly. I've still not done anything to the infantry though and I really ought too. Particularly since my local GW is running an army building comp in November and I want this lot to be finished before that project gets started. I've not forgotten about the IG either they're rumbling along slowly. I've almost got the first Platoon Command Squad finished and will post some photos soon... ok some time in the next month.

I really ought to rename this thread at some point as it's not just about Thousand Sons any more.

I like the start on the Thousand Sons. Is the Rhino a dark blue or black w/ drybrush? The lighting makes it difficult to discern.

Looking forward to the Land Raider. I've never painted a LR interior, so it will be nice to see how the effect turns out when it's completely assembled.

It's a very dark Blue (Necron Abyss with Mordian Blue highlights), this photo should show the actual colour.

Consider throwing a light wash (Devlan mud?) over the beige portions of your Rhino, or doing something else with the symbology. Otherwise, everything's looking great!

--B.

Briancj wrote:Consider throwing a light wash (Devlan mud?) over the beige portions of your Rhino, or doing something else with the symbology. Otherwise, everything's looking great!

--B.

Beige? Do you mean the weathered bit round the bottom? I do know that needs a little work but given the colour of my armies bases I don't think that Devlan Mud would really work, I might have a go with a slightly lighter wash though. Thanks for the suggestion.

The symbols are something I've struggled with, metallics don't really work and I'm not sure which colours I would suit them.