Intercessor



Intercessor – Right View

This again is too close up and shows granularity that is not noticeable on the actual model.



Intercessor – Right Rear View



Intercessor – Front View



Intercessor - Rear View

The Red Spot



Red Spot at Feet of Aggressor Squad

This picture was posted before but I am reposting it because of the red spot on the pavement. Notice the red spot on the mat, just under the aggressor on the right. Look at the spot itself. It is yellow white in the middle. Then it has a red splat surrounding the white spot. Even more interesting, it has a third region where the red is blended with the gray pavement. This color arrangement makes this seem as if this particular part of the pavement is still hot, either from an incoming round or lava seeping up from the depths of an unstable planet or moon. This spot give real interest and depth to this urban map.

While I was experimenting with pigments on the flamers, I used a little rust red and a drop of it got on the base. Notice the red spot on the base below. The spot is red in the middle but the pigment spread into the gray base material so that it also looks like the pavement is heated.



Base with Red Dot

I am working on some new models, Hellblasters. I am going to experiment with molten areas of their bases using my red and white pigments. This could be fun. I will post the results in several weeks.



Base with a Red Molten Spot

Intercessor - ACE

Just a good old Intercessor with the name ACE on his boltgun.



Ace the Intercessor – Right Side View

The gunmetal blue and the bronze/brass look good together.



Ace the Intercessor - Left Side View

This base and the model capture the effect that I want. The terrain is rough and dirty and his boots are rough and dirty. This models reflect my fluff, a no-name space marine chapter created to perform for the Lord High Admiral the grubby little missions that other space marine chapter’s refuse to take. When the Master of the Administratum for the Imperium requested that certain other chapters provide space marines for this unnamed chapter, the other chapter masters took advantage of this to get rid of their troublemakers, hot-dogs, and embarrassments. These soldiers are not Adeptus Custodes, golden soldiers to guard the Emperor’s Golden Throne. Instead, these are the soldiers that are called to clean up an Ork or Demon infestation on a space station or abandoned space cruiser lost in the Dead Zone.



Ace the Intercessor - Front View

Another Intercessor



Intercessor – Front View



Intercessor – Right Side View



Intercessor – Rear View

Intercessor with Auxiliary Grenade Launcher



Grenadier – Front View



Grenadier – Rear View



Grenadier – Left Side View



Grenadier – Right Side View

Second Intercessor Sergeant - Cups



Intercessor Sergeant – Front View

He must be a sergeant. He has the key.



Intercessor Sergeant – Left Side View



Intercessor Sergeant – Right Side View

Now you know his name – Sergeant Cups because his bolt rifle has the name CUPS on it.

Intercessor Mangled Face



Mangle Face – Front View



Mangle Face – Rear View


Mangle Face – Right View

Second Intercessor with Auxiliary Grenade Launcher




Grenadier – Front View



Grenadier – Right Side View



Grenadier – Right Rear View



Grenadier – Rear View



Grenadier - Left Front View

Last Intercessor




The Last Intercessor – Front View



The Last Intercessor – Right Side View



The Last Intercessor – Rear View



The Last Intercessor – Left Side View

The Apothecary

I have experimented with an apothecary. Although a primaris apothecary may be a better fighter and has an additional wound, the standard apothecary may a better deal. Both have the Narthecium that allows them to heal but the standard apothecary is cheaper. I built a standard apothecary out of some spare parts I had laying around.



The Apothecary – Front View

The head is a squire’s head from a spruce of the old Bretonnia knights.



The Apothecary – Rear View



The Apothecary – Right Front View



The Apothecary – Right View

Painting mistakes show up in the close-up view.

The biggest problem with this model is that he looks like a dwarf when he is next to a Primaris space marine model.

The Lieutenant



The Lieutenant – Front View

The Lieutenant has tactical precision so you can re-roll rolls of one for related units that are within 6” of the lieutenant. The primaris lieutenant has the same ability, is a more robust and deadly fighter, but is 20 points more. Since Games Workshop sells a primaris lieutenant but not a regular lieutenant, I made one from a company champion, some Dark Angel’s parts, and a head from an old Bretonnia squire.



The Lieutenant – Left Side View

The pointing finger is always a great. It may be the best single bit for a model and always make the model look great.



The Lieutenant – Rear View



The Lieutenant – Right Side View

The strap for the bolter was made of floral wire.

The Primaris Master (or Captain)

This model is the Primaris Captain if you are a space marine or a Primaris Master if you are a Dark Angel. Regardless, this is a great looking model. I really like the pointing finger.



The Primaris Master – Left Front View



The Primaris Master –Front View



The Primaris Master –Rear View

I replaced his cape with one I made from green stuff and floral wire.



The Primaris Master – Left Rear View

This one show some details of the cape



The Primaris Master – Left Side View

He may be a captain or a master but he has the same grubby appearance as my other space marines.

Lava on the Base

A few posts ago I mentioned the red spot on my gaming mat that had the appearance of heated rock or lava. I noted a red spot on one of my bases and considered playing with such spot to give my bases a look of lava. I did so with two of my models, the primaris captain or master and one of the intercessors. Below is the intercessor.



Intercessor on Lava Base – Front View

I used a combination of washes and pigments to create the red spots on the bases.



Intercessor on Lava Base – Left Side View



Intercessor on Lava Base –Right Side View

This was a fun effect but I was not wowed by the results. This effect may be more impressive on a display board or panoramic background. I will keep the technique in mind but will probably not use it regularly on my bases.

The Primaris Master (or Captain) with Lava

In the pictures below, I played with placing a red lava spot on the base of my Primaris Master (or for those familiar with lesser chapters than Dark Angels, a Primaris Captain.) The color is interesting but not great. It may work better if I had not gone back and put a final coat of bright red around the white. Again, I was not wowed with the results but may still play around with it.



Primaris Master with Lava Base – Right Side View



Primaris Master with Lava Base – Front View


The bright red looks more like blood than lava.

Azrael – The Suffering Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels – The Keeper of the Truth

I have always enjoyed the Dark Angels, both the models and the fluff. Religious mysticism, especially Jewish and Christian intrigues me. The Dark Angels are the most religious faction of the 40K universe with its Chaplains and Interrogator-Chaplains, its concern with religious themes such as the Fallen, heresy, redemption, and forgiveness or the withholding of forgiveness, and the rich use of religiously significant names. El is a name for God and names ending in El, such as Azrael, Ezekiel, and Sammael signify a relationship with God. Azrael is the name of Angel of Death in the Hebrew Bible and means help of God. Samael is an archangel who is an accuser, seducer, and destroyer, whose name means venom or poison of God. Ezekiel is a Bible prophet who has one of the strangest visions of heaven in Bible and whose name means strength of God or God will strengthen.

As I built my Azrael, I wanted my Azrael to look like this picture in the Dark Angels Codex.



Picture of Azrael Found in the Dark Angels Codex.

I was unhappy with the metal Azrael and felt that it lacked the power and authority of the above picture. Below is a picture of the metal Azrael painted by one of Games Workshop’s master painters. He looks evil and angry but lack the authority shown in the above picture.



Picture of Metal Azrael

Although I already own a metal Azrael, I decided to use a primaris captain to make Azrael rather than to use the metal model. I am pleased with the results but this new Azrael turned out much different than I expected.



New Azrael - The Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels

Notice that there is almost an anguish in his face. He appears as the suffering servant, a martyr for Imperium of Man, not a martyr for own his death but for his willingness to bear those burdens of command even over the most condemned and chosen servants of the Imperium, even the Dark Angels themselves.



New Azrael and the Relic Bearer with the Lion’s Helm

The Face of Azrael

One question is why the head of my Azrael appears to be anguished even though the identical head on my primaris captain does not? Compare the two pictures below.



The Head of New Azrael



The Head of the Primaris Captain

Why the difference? There are at least three possible reasons.

1) My Painting

I glued the head on the captain and then painted the face. This is how I usually paint my models. The advantage is that the head is on a solid mount so I don’t have to figure out how to hold the head in place. Also, the head is painted with the rest of the model so it has the same shadows and the same ambiance. The disadvantage, however, it that the model's body blocks my brush so that I cannot place my brush to get to the face from certain angles.

For Azrael and my latest models, I started painting the heads separately and then glued them to the model.

The advantage of painting the head before mounting it on the model is that I can get to each head from almost any angle and can really focus on certain details. In the picture of the captain and Azrael above, compare the eyes and the beard. The captain’s eyes are too big. It is almost impossible not to paint the eyes too big but with the head unmounted, I can paint from underneath the head to put skin tones around the eyes to shrink them down to the proper size and shape. The beard, or more accurately, the five o-clock shadow, was easier to paint in the free head than the mounted head. So was the mouth which means that I was able to bring out details in the lower portions of the face that really give the face its expression.



Heads Painted on the Spruce – the Azrael Head is the Un-spruced Head with a Notched Neck

2) The mounting

For most space marine models, the head has a rounded neck so the face can be placed looking in any reasonable direction. For the primaris captain model, however, the neck is notched so that it only faces one way when mounted. When I mounted the head on the captain, I placed it so that the notch fit and the head was lower in the model. This covered up the expressive neck and lower mouth and jaw line.

For Azrael, I placed the head facing forward. I did not trim the notch so the head was held up higher on the model. To see this, compare the head on the right side view of Azrael with the right side view of the Captain’s face.



Azrael – Right Side View



Captain – Right Side View of the Face

Notice how much lower the face is in the Captain than in Azrael and how the anguished mouth is hidden. Also note with the head higher, Azrael has a much longer neck which gives him an El Greco type appearance. The elongated neck on Azrael makes him appear mystic and combined with his expressive mouth, gives an expression of passionate suffering.

3) The Pose

The Captain is posed with the pointing finger. With the strong pointing finger, the Captain appears to be barking out an order. His mouth is open to project his orders.
Azrael’s pose is more serene. He appears to be quietly observing the battlefield so his open mouth become a look of anguish rather than yelling out a command.

More Views of the New Azrael – The Suffering Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels – The Keeper of the Truth




New Azrael with Relic Bearer with Lion Helm

I have to figure out what I did to get the blue effect on the blade of the Sword of Secrets and see if I can expand it on other blades.



New Azrael – Right Side View Showing Details of the Lion’s Wrath

I had to do some real cutting to put together the Lion’s Wrath, Azrael’s Combi-Plasma Gun.



New Azrael- Left Side View

To mount the skull on his backpack, I had to drill a hole on the backpack to mount the skull in rather than try to shape the skull to the backpack. The skull was too small to carve into shape.



New Azrael – Back View

I left the back of the banner somewhat sloppy. I am not sure I want to fix it or not.

The Relic Bearer with Lion Helm

A number of years ago, I bought the metal Azrael which came with a Relic Bearer and Lion’s Helm. Although I have not painted up the metal Azrael, I painted up the Relic Bearer.



New Azrael with Relic Bearer with Lion Helm



Relic Bearer with Lion Helm

You can see why I am not a big fan of metal models. It is already chipped. I may have to cover these models with varnish to preserve them. I have never done that with my models but it may be time.

The Azrael Banner

Below is a picture of the Azrael Banner that comes with the metal Azrael.



Picture of Painted Up Azrael Banner

Several years ago, I painted this banner up and mounted it on a bike. To be honest, I hated it and stripped it down. I still have the banner and have it drilled out so it could have been mounted on the pole behind my Azrael. Instead, I decided instead to make a new banner and use my own decals.



Green Stuff Banner

The cross bar is made of some plastic tubing that I have. The upright pole is piano wire that I bent into shape so it is fitted into the base. See picture below which shows how I fitted it although it is for another model not for this banner.



Fitted Piano Wire

The big King Kong skull is from the Citadel Skulls kit which contains all sorts of skulls. Most of the skulls I have on my bases and the skulls on Azrael’s backpack are from this kit. This is a great kit for modifying your models if you are into skulls.



New Azrael Banner – Front View



New Azrael Banner – Side View

This picture also shows a nice view of the back of Azrael’s robe and the big King Kong like skull.

New Azrael and Friends

Here is a picture of my new Azrael posing with two squads of Hellblasters. One is armed with heavy plasma incinerators, the other with standard plasma incinerators. I will be experimenting with both.



Azrael and His Friends



Azrael and Hellblaster Squad with Heavy Incinerators

I don’t have a picture of Azrael with just the standard incinerators. I take a lot of pictures and delete those that are out of focus. With these close-ups, I always have to delete about a fourth of the pictures. I probably deleted the pictures of Azrael with just the standard incinerator Hellblasters.

Primaris Hellblasters

I have just painted up two hellblaster squads. One is armed with heavy plasma incinerators. The other is with standard plasma incinerators. I made none with the assault plasma incinerators. I plan to play them and see which ones I like better. I suspect that both are useful.



Hellblaster Squad with Heavy Incinerators

I tried several new techniques. I painted the heads separate from the bodies and generally like the results. I painted the plasma incinerators with metallic blue with the corrugated section with white overlaid with fluorescent blue to create a glow. I also tried highlighting portions of the armor with the fluorescent blue to try to give the effect of glowing light. It isn’t perfect and may have looked better with a fluorescent green.



Hellblaster Squad with Standard Incinerators

I put pigments on the base and the lower legs of the primaris models to give the models a grubbier appearance. I had fun with the decals which I often painted over with a wash.

Hellblaster with Heavy Incinerator – False Eye

If you look closely at this model, you will see that he has an artificial eye. The front view shows the decal on his tasset, the armor plate protecting his upper legs. I painted a wash over the decal to give it a more worn look. I added white highlights covered with a fluorescent green and blue washes on the bevor (neck piece armor), pauldron (shoulder plate) and the upper arm to represent the reflected glow from the plasma incinerator.



False Eye – Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Front View



False Eye – Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Lower Front View

This view better shows the scar on his face over the artificial eye. Presumably, this scar is from the same wound that gauged out his real eye.

The hose is shown below in these right side views.



False Eye – Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Side View

His hair is a mixture of dull orange and yellow paints and so he ended up a ginger or redhead, perhaps as a tribute to my wife who is also a redhead. It really isn’t much of a tribute since she is totally indifferent to miniatures and war gaming.



False Eye – Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Side View

I have a number of duplicate pictures of this model. This is because I take my picture of my finished models outside. I started taking pictures of him and a storm came up and threatened to knock down my panorama so I stopped. When I took my pictures again, I forgot that I already had pictures of this model.



False Eye – Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Side View

This view shows the wash on over the flowered skull on the shoulder plate. Also, the upper flowers on the skull have a wash of fluorescent magenta paint.



False Eye – Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Rear View

Hellblaster with Heavy Incinerator – The Sergeant


I took a lot of pictures of this Hellblaster but that is okay since I really like how he turned out. He is the sergeant. How do you know he is the sergeant? It is pretty subtle but look at the small skull icon on the lower edge of his pauldron (shoulder plate) and the icon in the box hanging from his belt.



Primaris Hellblaster Sergeant with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Front View



Primaris Hellblaster Sergeant with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Side View

This view shows the wash on over the flowered skull on the shoulder plate. Also, the upper flowers on the skull have a wash of fluorescent magenta paint.



Primaris Hellblaster Sergeant with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Rear View



Primaris Hellblaster Sergeant with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Rear View



Primaris Hellblaster Sergeant with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Front View

Note the one horn cyclops skull on his base. It appears that the skull has one horn because the other broke off but the skull has one eye socket.



Primaris Hellblaster Sergeant with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View

This has a good view of face. I really like the left eye. Not all the eyes on my latest models look this good so it has to be a little bit of dumb luck.

Hellblaster with Heavy Incinerator – Another Redhead

One of the biggest challenges of painting faces are the eyes. The problem is that when we look at another human being, we look at the face and in particular the eyes. But eyes are really small. If you compare a head to the rest of the figure, the head is about 1/7 or 1/6 the body length. Except for space marines, the head is about 1/3 the body width. The head for a space marine is thinner in proportion to the body. This means from any view the head is about 1/20 the size of the body. The eyes are even smaller. For the average space, each eye is about 1/10 the height of the head and about ¼ the width of the head. So the eye is about 1/40 the size of the head. Doing the math, each eye is about 1/800 of the size of the body and that is figuring it out in only two dimensions. If calculated in three dimensions, the eyes are even more proportionally smaller.

Look at any of these pictures I have posted lately. Each eye is barely a dot size, the size of the tip of one of the fingers, the size of a single grain of ballast on the base. If I put a black dot any place on the model other than the face, it would disappear. In fact if you look at some of the pictures, there are many with little blips of misplaced paint. Such mistakes are barely noticeable but these blips are bigger than the eyes. I have found that to paint the pupil of the eye I have to have a tiny drop of paint on a single hair of my paintbrush. In fact, for painting eyes, it doesn’t matter if my brush is a 2 as opposed to a 000 in size since I am only painting with the longest single strain. I don’t know if I got the eye right until I either use a magnifying glass or take a picture and blow it up. I cannot see the error on the model at arms distance. Still, if the eye is not right, the model as not quite right.

This next model has a bad eye. The model has a tip of dark on the eyebrow and the eyes are too opened, making him looked weird and startled looking. On the table top, he looks okay. Even if you are viewing this picture on a smartphone, it may look okay. On a large screen, however, the eyes are wrong.



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Front View



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Side View



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Rear View



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Rear View

Hellblaster with Heavy Incinerator – Another Baldy



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View

In this one, the reflection of the plasma incinerator is a little more subtle than some of my other hellblasters.



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Rear View



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Rear View

It is hard not to have a kink where the two parts of the hose join each other. I should have put some green stuff on the kink and smoothed it out.



Primaris Hellblaster with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View

Hellblaster with Heavy Incinerator – Mohawk



Primaris Hellblaster in Mohawk with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Front View

The Devil decal on the tasset, the armor plate protecting his upper legs, has gaps. I should fix this. I can go and paint in some browns to cover the gaps.



Primaris Hellblaster in Mohawk with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Front View



Primaris Hellblaster in Mohawk with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View



Primaris Hellblaster in Mohawk with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Rear View



Primaris Hellblaster in Mohawk with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Left Side View



Primaris Hellblaster in Mohawk with Heavy Plasma Incinerator – Right Rear View

Work in Progress - Assassins

I have been painting camouflage space marines or equivalents for years. I am getting a little tired of it and have been trying to branch out. I have started to work on assassins. I still use the camouflage pattern as a base so that they look like they are part of my army. Still, they are not space marines and they are a nice break. Below are some that I am working on.



Four Assassins



Culexus Assassin

I haven’t gotten too far on my culexus assassin, just the basic camouflage pattern and a base coat of tin bits which will undercoat my metals. The tin bits gives depth to the steel, silver, gold, or bronze that will be painted over it.

Work in Progress – Eversor Assassin

This Eversor Assassin is further along than some of my other assassins. Most of the basic colors are in place. I need to add highlights to the colors and some pigments to the base to make the model really pop.



Eversor Assassin

This closeup makes his oversize head look even bigger.



Eversor Assassin - Closeup



Eversor Assassin – Happy in His Work

Last week my wife dragged me to see the ballet Swan Lake. We watched a bunch of men dressed in tights prance around. If you look at the assassins, you'll notice that they're running around in tights. I thought that the ballet would be improved if they put some skulls on the men’s heads, gave them some executioner pistols and neuro-gantlets, and let them take out Von Rothbart, the evil and powerful sorcerer, in proper style. Of course, it would be even better if Rothbart had been dressed as a Demon Prince rather than as a ugly crow.

Adeptus Custodes Shield Captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes

As I wrote in my last post, I am getting tired of painting space marines in camouflage. So I am painting up some Vertus Praetors as Shield Captains on Jetbikes. Below are three unpainted jetbikes. Notice that I haven’t added their heads. They are pretty much stock except I have mounted the helmets on the bikes so that they are accessible to the Shield Captains although all three will be bareheaded. I have adjusted the shoulders so that all the interceptor lances are all level. I also cut out the plastic shafts of the interceptor lances and replaced them with heavy piano wire. This last step will make them less brittle for transport.



Three Unfinished Shield Captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes

As an acknowledgement to the camouflage of my army, I have painted a small portion of these models in camouflage. The bulk of the model, however, will be gold. I am using a more intense and dark gold paint than the light gold paint used by Games Workshop. After undercoating all the metal areas with tin bits, I used a Vallejo Gold as my base gold color. I mixed the gold with MSP high intensity Core Color purple for my shadows and with MSP high intensity Core Color for the highlights.



Bottles with Gold Paint and MSP Core purple and yellow
.
The picture below shows my wet pallet with the gold mixes. The standard base gold is in the middle, the mixture of core purple and gold is on the left with a blob of core purple underneath and the mixture of gold and core yellow is on the right with the core yellow just above it. The blue stain in the middle bottom is just a dried out stain that had no effect.



Gold Shade, Base, and Highlight on Pallet

The gold was difficult to paint. It usually took several coats to cover the surface. I am painting the model from front to back. In the picture below, the first two panels and the eagle wing and heads have several coats, the middle panel two coats, and the last two panels have one coat. The little recess between the panels have the purple gold mix. Most of the rest of the model has the camouflage or tin bits painted, at least in the expected shadow areas.



Gold Painting on Cowl of Dawneagle JetBike

The feathers on the eagle have a mixture of the purple gold and base gold mix interwoven to bring out the shape of the feathers. The top of the eagles head, the tops of the wings, and the first two panels also have some of the yellow gold to bring them out.



Dawneagle Jetbike with Gold Paint – Left Side View



Dawneagle Jetbike with Gold Paint – Right Side View



Dawneagle Jetbike with Gold Paint – Front View

I have only painted one bike so far with the gold paint since it takes a while to do the paint job. For the gold on this picture, there are both natural shadows and painted on shadows. Without the painted on shadow, this model would appear dull and flat.

Shield Captain on Dawneagle Bike – Model in Progress

I have been working on this bike. Although I built three bikes and am planning on deploying it as a three bike squad, I am painting up one bike at a time. Since I have never painted an Adepus Custodes model, I am experimenting with my metals and other effects. I had fun painting the gold. Now I am working on Vallejo Model Color gunmetal blue with gold trim for the spear. I also used Vallejo gunmetal gray and oily steel for some details. For highlights on the gunmetal blue, I mixed the blue with silver. The effect is subtle but rounds out the lance handle.



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Close up of Details

I also used gunmetal gray, oily steel, and silver on some of the pipes and other non-gold metals.



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Right Side View



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Right Rear View



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Under View

This view shows the underside of the jetbike. The underside is painted with Vallejo Game Color Tinny Tin, dry brushed with gold and other metallic colors. It gives the underside both a shaded look and an engine grim look.



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Left Side View

The jewels are painted in red with the highlights being white overlaid with fluorescent magenta mixed with a little fluorescent orange.



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Close-up of Shoulder



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Front View

This view shows the hurricane bolter. They are painted in gunmetal blue with a mixture of silver and gunmetal blue for the highlights.



Vertus Praetor with Interceptor Lance – Right Front View

My New Lamps

A few weeks ago, I bought two new lamps for my work area. I bought the first and then realized that I wanted one with a magnifying glass so I bought another one. I have discovered that I like having the two lamps in my work area. The one that looks like a toilet seat has the magnifying glass.



The Two New Lamps in My Workspace

I always like to see pictures of an artist’s workspace. It appeal to my inner voyeur.

Hellblaster with Standard Plasma Incinerator

I built a squad of five Hellblasters with the standard Plasma Incinerator. I will probably get another set and run them as a squad of ten. As a model, I think I like the heavy slightly better, but I think the standard will be more useful in actual games.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View

The model is grubby. I like my models to look like they have been in combat for a while. This is one of my grubbiest models and it looks like the paint on his power armor is wearing off. His eyes are a little too big. The light reflection from his plasma gun isn’t quite right.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left Rear View

I messed up on the reflection from the plasma incinerator. The bluish white is in the wrong place. It should be on the upper surface of his arm, not the side.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Right View

Actually, I do like the look of the standard plasma incinerator.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Rear View

Second Hellblaster with Standard Plasma Incinerator



Second Hellblaster with Standard Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View

This is one of my favorite of the Hellblasters. I like his face.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Right Side View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Front View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left Side View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Right Rear View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Rear View

Third Hellblaster with Standard Plasma Incinerator

The third Hellblaster has the big bird skull at his feet.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator –Front View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left View

His eyes are weird.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Right Front View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View

Fourth Hellblaster with Standard Plasma Incinerator

The fourth Hellblaster has the big Orc skull at his feet.



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator –Right Front View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Right View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left Front View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Left Rear View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Rear View



Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerator – Right Rear View

There are actually five Hellblaster with Plasma Incinerators. I only show pictures for four. I deleted all my out of focus pictures and may have deleted one model. Or I counted two models as one.

Assassins

I finally finished four assassins, two Eversors and two Culexuses, at least for taking pictures. Here they are standing on a moon of a distant gas giant.



Four Assassins

The Eversor Assassin

The Eversor Assassins were fun to paint. I am not sure that I am finished and I am not sure that I will use them in a game. I may make a Callidus Assassin to freeze up command points.



Eversor Assassin - Front View

Notice that the needle on his executioner pistol is broken. I may replace it with a steel needle or pin but that does get a little more dangerous to game with.



Eversor Assassin – Right Side View



Eversor Assassin – Left Side View



Eversor Assassin – Rear View

He looks happy in his work.

The Other Eversor Assassin



Eversor Assassin –Left Side View

The needle on his Executionor Pistol has not broken off yet. It will. I love the hypodermic syringe fingers on the left hand.



Eversor Assassin –Right Side View

The Culexus Assassin

I need something to shut down Psykers. I don’t really use Psykers because I haven’t really mastered that part of the game. (Actually I have mastered very little of the actual game.) So since I don’t use them, I may use this Culexus Assassins to neutralize the psykic threat.



Culexus Assassin – Left Side View

I thought these were pretty weird looking models and I wasn’t sure I liked them. At first, I liked the Eversor models better. Now that I have them painted up, however, I really like these models. This model takes advantage of five techniques that I am using that are fun. The first is the camouflage pattern on the uniform. This really fits assassins and especially this model. The second is the use of black and gray basecoats to have dark and light areas on the models. This is especially good for the Culexus Assassin with its dark body and bright head and grenades. The third is bases which include pigments. The fourth is the used of metallic paint. I have been experimenting with metallic paints. The fifth is use of fluorescent paints and bright colors high intensity paints for highlights and light sources.



Culexus Assassin – Front View

This view shows the use of bright colors and lights, the clear reds on the hand grenades and the light on his weird eyepiece on his head. This is the ugly faced model.



Culexus Assassin –Rear View



Culexus Assassin – Right Side View

These view shows a little of the effect of the metallic paint. I actually blend and layer the metallic paints. The base coat is laid down with tinny tin which is a dark brownish metallic. This makes a nice shadow for all the metallic surfaces.



Culexus Assassin with Tinny Tin Base Coat

I used gunmetal blue on the animus speculum as the main color and then used it blended with silver for the nightlights. I also added a little high intensity blue paints to enhance the gunmetal blue. I did the same with some of the other metal surface, blending the steels paints and silver and then covering them with fluorescent washes.

The Smiling Culexus Assassin

The smiling Culexus Assassin is one of my favorites. In part, it is because the model is fun and really lends itself to the techniques I have been working with. This front view shows the use of the high intensity colors on the red hand grenades and the fluorescent green paint to make parts of the model pop.



Smiling Culexus Assassin – Front View



Smiling Culexus Assassin – Front View



Smiling Culexus Assassin – Left Side View



Smiling Culexus Assassin – Right Side View

Skitarii Vanguard




Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Right Side View

I am getting a little tired of painting space marines so I am branching out. Several years ago, I purchased two boxes of Skitarii infantry. I started building them the way I built old space marines which is to ignore the instructions which were not very good anyway and just build them. The space marine parts are all interchangeable with the legs, tarsals, arms, and heads easily fitting each other. This is not true of Games Workshop’s later models. The instructions have improved and most of the parts are not easily interchangeable. So I built an army of Skitarii legs and started putting on the great coats without matching them to the legs and found that these parts are not all interchangeable. So I stopped working on them with the models from one box only partly built.

For NOVA 2018, however, I signed up for the Narrative Recon Patrol which has a two hundred point limit. After playing with some possible army lists I decided to build the other box of Skitarii infantry. This time I followed the instructions. I am pleased with the results. These models are really fun to paint.



Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Front View



Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Rear View



Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Left Side View

Building the Skitarii

These are some of my pictures showing the Skitarii as I painted them. The first is the models with just the black gray basecoat.



Skitarii models with Black/Gray Base Coat.

Since the view of these models is from the front, the models look gray.



Skitarii with Transuranic Arquebus

Notice how much darker these models look. It is the lighting. The base coats is a mixture of black and white but the black just looks like shadows.



Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether - Front View

I am utterly enthralled by your work. Your use of transfers is amazing, and makes your miniatures really come to life. I don't think I've ever seen miniatures represent 40k artwork as well as these guys, with an amazing amount of expression and feeling coming from each model. Keep up the great work! (also I might steal the whole transfer thing you've got going on here )

 tarar2d2 wrote:
I am utterly enthralled by your work. Your use of transfers is amazing, and makes your miniatures really come to life. I don't think I've ever seen miniatures represent 40k artwork as well as these guys, with an amazing amount of expression and feeling coming from each model. Keep up the great work! (also I might steal the whole transfer thing you've got going on here )

Thank you for your kind remarks. I appreciate the compliment especially after looking at your Adeptus Custodes. I also admire your work. You do wonderful faces and I love how each character has a individual personality. I like the falcon. It looks like it is from the old bretonnian knights. These are some of my favorite bits. “Good Artists copy. Great Artists Steal.” Pablo Picasso.

Building the Skitarii – Camouflage and Tinny Tin Undercoats

These pictures show the tinny tin undercoat for the metallic surfaces. This base coat gives depth to the upper layers of metal.



Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether with Tinny Tin Base Coat



Skitarii with Transuranic Arquebus with Tinny Tin Base Coat

Skitarii Vanguard Alpha



Skitarii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Front View

Skitarii infantry is fun to paint. The camouflage pattern on the great coats matches these models to my already built armies. The models have armor which really allows me to play with my metallic paints. The models have glowing parts such as lenses and glowing weapons that work with fluorescent paints. The best part is the dirt and mud and rust using pigments and pastels to give contrast between the dull and shiny parts.



Skitarii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Left Front View

This has a nice view of the Taser Goad and the dirt on the bottom of the great coat. It also shows the details of the arc pistol with its glow and reflection.



Skitarii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Rear View



Skitarii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Right Front View



Skitarii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Right Side View

This has a nice view of the purity seals which are also fun to work with.



Skitarii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Left Side View

This view shows the skull decal covered with dirt. I often apply the decals and either highlight it with fluorescent magenta or cover it with a pigment or wash. Here I did both fluorescent highlight on the roses and dirt covering a portion of the skull.

Dirt



Skitarii Vanguard with Dirty Base and Great Coat – Left Front View

Look at the dirt on the model’s base, feet, and the bottom of the great coat.

I have been working with pigments and some pigment fixer that I bought from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I had taken a class on pigments from Justin McCoy, founder of Secret Weapon Miniatures, and found it a great way to weather my models and especially my bases.

Then I found an old baby food jar of pastel grinds that I had kept from a pastel class that I took years ago. Pastels are basically pigments in a stick form that are painted on a rough sandpaper like surface. The rough surface grinds down the pastels holding the pigment in the sandpaper but giving off a lot of grinds. I collected my grinds in that baby food jar. Since pastels are all different colors and since all colors mixed together are brown, the grinds look like dirt.



Baby Food Jar full of Pastel Grinds next to a Jar of Pigment Fixer

In the above picture, the pastel grinds have been poured on a base. Notice that the grinds are dirty looking and of different sizes.



Adding Pigment Fixer to Pastel Grinds on Base

After pouring on the grinds, I added the pigment fixer to the pastel grinds to hold them in place and poured on more grinds to fill in any gaps. Actually, I held the bristles of an cheap brush filled with the pigment fixer next to the pastel grinds on the base and allowed the capillary effect to pull the liquid pigment fixer into the grinds. The pastel grinds make great dirt. I added a little green pigment over the dirt to make it appear like the dirt is mossy or covered with grass. I also splattered grinds against the feet and bottom of the coats of the models with the excess pastel grime in my paint brush to give those coats and feet a dirty look.

I still have my pastels sticks and am thinking of how I could use them for miniature gaming. I don’t think I can use them on individual models but I could use them on bases, displays, and playing surfaces especially if the pastel pigment are held by some type of pigment fixer, either spray or liquid.

Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Right Side View



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Rear View



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Left Rear Side View



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Right Front View

Second Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Right Side View



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Rear View



Skitarii Vanguard with Plasma Caliver – Left Side View

Second Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine




Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Right Front View




Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Rear View




Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Left View




Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine – Right Front View

The left foot is pinned to the base since the right foot is raised and not supporting the model.

Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether



Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether – Front View

He also has a radium carbine.



Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether – Right View



Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether – Rear View

I have done very little customizing of these models. Still, I cut off the regular antenna and added a longer antenna made of piano wire with a skull head form the skull package I have. It is less breakable and longer.



Skitarii Vanguard with Enhanced Data-tether – Left Front View

Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle




Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Right Side View

Like the Vanguard, the Skitarii Rangers are fun to paint. It is especially fun to do the trim on the Galvanic Rifles. My understanding is that the Ranger and Vanguard are some of the best infantry in the 8th Edition but that cheap hoard infantry is even better for board control and in the 8th, good infantry dies about as fast as cheap infantry. The Skitarii also suffer because for some reason, Ad Mech has no vehicles. For recon patrol missions of 200 points, however, good leg infantry may be very effective. We shall see.



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Front Side View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle – Left Side View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle – Left Rear View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle – Right Rear View

Second Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle




Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Right Side View

Skitarii Rangers look so much alike I had to put these images side by side with the prior post to make sure that I wasn't posting the same model twice. This second Skitarii Rangel is almost identical to the first Skitarii Range I posted a few days ago. These are like some of those kids puzzles where you have to find a difference. One has a purity seal, the other does not. One has the skull a little bit closer to his feet and a lump of dirt.



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Right Rear View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Rear View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle – Left Rear View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle – Left Front View

Third Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle




Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Right Side View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle - Left Side View

Skitarii Ranger Alpha




Skitarii Ranger Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Front View

His arc pistol did not turn out as nice as the one for the Skitarii Vanguard Alpha. I suspect, however, that I will not play him and use the Skitarii Ranger with the Omnispex as my Alpha. I am cutting back on the ranger and Vanguard squads to include a couple of Sicarian Infiltrators. Infiltrators look fun to make and should add a little more mobility to the recon patrol.



Skitarii Ranger Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad – Right Front View

This picture is taken from a lousy angle. The arc pistol is blocking his face. It does show the dirt on his great coat.



Skitarii Ranger Alpha with Arc Pistol and Taser Goad –Rear View

Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus

I made two Skitarii Rangers, each with an arguebus. I think they are neat but I will probably only use one in my recon patrol since the arguebus takes up too many points and I can field a Sicarian infiltrator for less than an arquebus. Still, this weapon is too neat to not take. This was a fun model to paint.



Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Right Side View

The support pole for the arquebus was made from piano wire so that the model is a little less breakable.



Piano Wire bent to create a support pole for the Transuranic Arguebus



Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Front View



Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Left Front View

I used the half face for my Arguebus gunners because I like to paint faces. Notice that this model is bent in a somewhat awkward position which is why I will probably use the other gunner rather than this one.



Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Right Rear View

Second Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus




Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Right Rear View



Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Front View

Not all of my pictures are great. This one is too far away.



Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Arquebus – Left Rear View

Skitarii Ranger with Transuranic Omnispex




Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle and Transuranic Omnispex – Front View

This model shows the metallic paints and the florescent paints to help the model glow.



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle and Transuranic Omnispex – Right Side View

This picture shows the detail of the galvanic rifle. The metallic parts are painted with shades of gunmetal blue and brass over a tinny tin base. The stock of the rifle is a sepia wash over the gray and black base coat. The next picture shows the metallic parts of the model painted with tinny tin base before adding the other metallic paints.



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle and Transuranic Omnispex – Tinny Tin Base Coat



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle and Transuranic Omnispex – Rear View



Skitarii Ranger with Galvanic Rifle and Transuranic Omnispex – Left Side View

Skitarii Ranger Sniper Team with Transuranic Arquebusses




Skitarii Ranger Sniper Team with Twin Transuranic Arquebusses

The idea of two arquebusses sniping together has appeal. But it may be too pricey for a 200 point recon squad game.



Skitarii Ranger Sniper Team with Omnispex and Twin Transuranic Arquebusses

Callidus Assassin

With her ability to muck up enemy kill points, the Callidus Assassin may be worth taking. This was an okay model to build and was somewhat fun to paint. Maybe because she is so skinny, I had trouble focusing on her when I took her picture so I only got one picture of her.



Callidus Assassin

Sicarian Infiltrators

I am somewhat excited about the new Kill Team manual and plan to do some Kill Teams patrols during the narrative event at the NOVA open. I plan to use my Sicarian Vanguards and Rangers in the Kill Team but I will add a few Sicarian Infiltrators. I just finished a squad.



Sicarian Infiltrator – Front View

I haven’t really finished him. I need to paint in the lights on his scope but it is good enough for now. Actually, I am not really fond of these models. They are awkward on their oversized horse feet. They are also brittle and will quickly break.



Sicarian Infiltrator – Right Side View



Sicarian Infiltrator – Left Side View



Sicarian Infiltrator – Rear View

Second Sicarian Infiltrator

For my Kill Squad, I need only one of the four Infiltrators in this squad. The kill team will have two infiltrators but the other will be the Princeps. This one will probably not be picked because he is too hunched over and is missing his long whip antenna.



Sicarian Infiltrator – Front View



Sicarian Infiltrator – Right Side View



Sicarian Infiltrator – Left Side View



Sicarian Infiltrator – Rear View

Sicarian Infiltrator – The Princeps

This is my favorite of the Sicarian Infiltrators.



Princeps – Front View



Princeps – Right Side View



Princeps – Left Front View



Princeps – Left Rear Side View



Princeps – Rear View

Third Sicarian Infiltrator

For the Kill Squad, I need only one of the four Infiltrators in this squad. The kill team will have two infiltrators but the other will be the Princeps. This one might be the one since he is standing reasonably straight and has the long whip antenna.



Sicarian Infiltrator – Front View




Sicarian Infiltrator – Right Side View




Sicarian Infiltrator – Left Side View




Sicarian Infiltrator – Rear View

Fourth Sicarian Infiltrator

For the Kill Squad, I need only one of the four Infiltrators in this squad. The kill team will have two infiltrators but the other will be the Princeps. This one will probably not be picked because he is missing the long whip antenna and his small antenna is bent.



Sicarian Infiltrator – Front View




Sicarian Infiltrator – Right Side View




Sicarian Infiltrator – Left Side View




Sicarian Infiltrator – Rear View

Building Games Workshop Models – New and Old




Sicarian Infiltrator and Space Marine Bike Tires

While I was building the Skitarri Sicarian Infiltrators, I was also building Space Marine Scout Bikers. These are really two different type models. The Infiltrators are new GW models; the bikes are old style models. The new GW models are detailed, precise, fussy, and the parts fit tightly together. The old models are easier to assemble but need more brute force to finish. The new instruction booklets are more detailed than the old instructions but need to be followed closely since the new models fit together only one way.

I used a clamp to hold the bike tires together while the glue dried. Notice the seam where the left and right side of the tires join.



Clamped Bike Tire

I filed down the seam to even it up.



Filed Tire with Files

Now imagine what would happen if I put the clamps on and tried to file down this model.



Unfinished Princeps

In building both at the same time, I was really impressed with how different these models are. I am less inclined to modify the new models but they are more finished to begin with and need less customizing than the older models.

Getting a Head in Life


Since in the 8th edition, scouts are probably the most point effective troops available for Space Marines and Dark Angels, I decided to make another scout squad. A problem is that I really don’t like the Games Workshop scout heads. So I ordered some new heads from Puppets War in Poland. I ordered four sets of heads, the guerilla heads (old version), the mercenary heads, the patrol cap heads, and the officer heads. The order took some time. I finally emailed them and asked about the order because I had waited a couple weeks with no notice of them mailing my product. They responded that they made each order a special order and were just getting ready to ship the heads.

Finally, the heads arrived and I was glad I ordered them. While the guerrilla heads (old version) are okay, the others are great. Still, I will use the guerrilla heads on my scouts because I like their boonies caps.

The other three sets are wonderful. I have started painting them and mounting them on my models. I paint the heads separately from the rest of the model.



The Patrol Cap Heads

I really like how these models painted up. The heads are made from resin (the material that GW calls finecast). Resin has its problems. Resin models are often distorted so flat surfaces become round and round surfaces twisted. The casting requires lots of lead lines so that there is a lot of bling to cut away on each model. Finally, the mold line are terrible and require a lot of scraping to remove.

On the other hand, however, resin loves paint and paint loves resin. I am not sure why but I think that the sharp edges on a resin model pick up paint much better than either metal or the standard modeling plastic. So the details on a resin head really pop.

Because the heads are so small, the disadvantages of resin is negligible and the mold lines and the bling are easily cut away. In fact, I think all models should have a plastic body and a resin head.



The Mercenary Heads

I love these mercenary heads. Again, the resin loves paint and these heads have lots of personality. I used these heads on my last squad of Hellblasters.



The Officers Heads

I also love these heads. Note the details including the cigar on the left head, the beards, and the insignia on the caps. I used one head on my primaris ancient and the other three on my Dawneagle Jetbike Shield Captains.



Guerrilla Heads (Old Style)

These last heads are less exciting. I have not yet mounted them but will on a scout squad I just built. We’ll see what they look like when they are mounted.

Looking at these heads, it almost appears that the artist who sculptured these heads had a creative leap from okay average heads in the old style to really inspired and dynamic new heads. I will definitely order more heads from Puppets War in spite of the wait. I love the new heads.

I found the best way to paint these heads was to mount them on an old Styrofoam block that I had. I simply pushed each head into the Styrofoam so that each sat in a little depression. I would then spray paint them and then later paint them with little or no movement. Otherwise, especially with spray paint, the heads are so small that they go flying when I try to paint them.



Heads on a Styrofoam Box

Primaris Ancient




Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner – Front View

This Primaris Ancient uses one of the Puppets War Officer Heads. The body is from the 30 Years of Warhammer 40,000 Primaris Intercessor Veteran Sergeant kit with some other bits from other kits. The flag is made from green stuff. I am really pleased with this model.




Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner – Close Up of Front View


This picture shows the details of the head



Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner – Close Up – Right Side View

The arm is from an old Bretonnian knight set.




Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner – Close Up – Left Side View




Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner – Close Up – Right Rear Side View




Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner – Rear View


For detailed instructions on how to make the Astartes Banner, see my post How to Make a Cape out of Green Stuff: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/671876.page#8288936. The flag is made the same way as a cape. Both are fairly easy to make and require no special sculpting skill.




Hellblasters with Azrael and Primaris Ancient with Astartes Banner

This model really looks good as part of a formation with my Hellblasters and Azrael.

First Scout Biker


Scout bikers are fun to make. For some reason, biker scouts now come with bigger oval bases so I was able to experiment making the bases with tire tracks and skulls. The first scout biker is carrying a shotgun. He has one of the Puppet War patrol cap heads with a big grin.




Biker Scout – Front View




Biker Scout – Left Front View




Biker Scout – Right Front View


This shows the holster for the shotgun. Since he is holding the shotgun, I had to carve out the shotgun handle out of its holster. The dirt on the tires and on the ground are my left over pastels grinds that I saved from a pastels class I took several years ago.




Biker Scout – Right Rear View


This shows the skulls on the base as well as the tire tracks.




Biker Scout – Left Rear View


This shows the tire tracks and the dirt on the tire, exhaust bike and boots of the biker.




Biker Scout – Rear View


The tire tracks are made by rolling the tires over some green stuff. The next picture shows the unpainted bases with the green stuff tracks.




Green Stuff Tracks on Bases


I then painted on a gesso base coat mixed with ballast to cover up the green stuff except for the tracks. The gesso also helped bury the skulls to make them part of the landscape.




Unpainted Biker Base

Second Scout Biker

The second scout biker is carrying a combat blade and a bolt pistol.



Biker Scout – Front View





Biker Scout – Left Front View

Notice that the knife handle is carved out of the scabbard on the bike since he is already carrying a knife in his hand.




Biker Scout – Right Front View

Notice that the shotgun is in the holster. Since he isn’t carrying the shotgun in his hand, it didn’t have to be carved out.




Biker Scout – Rear View

This view really shows the tire tracks.





Unpainted Biker Base

Scout Biker Sergeant




Biker Scout Sergeant – Front View



Biker Scout Sergeant – Right Front View



Biker Scout Sergeant – Left Front View



Biker Scout Sergeant – Right Rear View



Biker Scout Sergeant – Left Rear View



Unpainted Biker Base

Making the Scout Biker Sergeant Arm


The Biker Sergeant was tricky. I had to work to get the Scout Biker sergeant’s pointing arm right. I used a pointing arm from a Primaris set but it turned out to be too big.




Unfinished Biker Sergeant with Pointing Arm

So I cut off the arm.




Biker Sergeant with Amputated Arm


I then cut off the arm from the hand and kept the hand with the pointing finger.



The Amputated Arm and Hand


I then re-attached the hand using paper clip wires and floral wire.



Biker Sergeant with Re-attached Hand




Painted Biker Sergeant with Re-attached Hand




Biker Scout Sergeant – Left Front View

Hellblasters




The Hellblaster Squad

I had fun making the last squad of hellblasters. I used the Puppet War mercenary heads and perhaps too dramatic use of OSL (object source lighting) from the plasma incinerators. These models are not subtle. My favorite is the sergeant with the pointing finger but I love them all.




The Hellblaster Sergeant




Hellblaster with Mercenary Head

The Hellblaster Sergeant




The Hellblaster Sergeant – Front View


Here I pushed every technique to the limit – the weird but great Puppet War mercenary head, the decals, the faces with blends of colors, the OSL (object source lighting) from the plasma incinerator perhaps overly dramatic and exaggerated, the base skulls, the dirt on the boots and the base, and the greatest single bit in the Games workshop arsenal – the pointing finger. He is a little cartoony but fun.




The Hellblaster Sergeant – Right Front View




The Hellblaster Sergeant – Left Front View




The Hellblaster Sergeant – Left Rear View




The Hellblaster Sergeant – Right Rear View




The Hellblaster Sergeant – Rear View

First Hellblaster with Mercenary Head – The Mohawk


These new hellblasters with the mercenary head are almost too cartoon-like for dark angel space marines but they were fun to paint. I may have overdone the OSL (Object Source Lighting) from the Plasma Gun. I like the crazy Mohawk.



Hellblaster – Close-up




Hellblaster – Front View




Hellblaster – Left Front View




Hellblaster – Left Rear View




Hellblaster – Right Rear View

This has a nice view of his helmet strapped to his belt.




Hellblaster – Rear View

Second Hellblaster with Mercenary Head - The Old Man


This is another fun model with his old looking mercenary head.



Hellblaster – Lower Front View




Hellblaster – Right Front View




Hellblaster – Right Rear View




Hellblaster – Left Rear View

This has a nice view of his footprint on the base.




Hellblaster – Rear View



Hellblaster – Front View

Third Hellblaster with Mercenary Head – Iron Face




Hellblaster – Front View

What could be better than a Hellblaster with an iron face and curly hair?




Hellblaster – Right Front View




Hellblaster – Left Front View




Hellblaster –Right View




Hellblaster – Right Rear View




Hellblaster – Rear View

Fourth Hellblaster with Mercenary Head- Square Head

Square Head is the Hellblaster who looks most like me. Kind of ugly, isn’t he?




Hellblaster – Front View




Hellblaster – Left Front View




Hellblaster – Left View




Hellblaster – Right Rear View

This is a good view of his helmet hanging from his belt.




Hellblaster – Right View

This is a good view of the skulls at his feet.




Hellblaster – Front Right View




Hellblaster – Rear View

Five Other Hellblasters Reworked

I plan to employ my Hellblasters in a ten man squad so I have combined my five mercenary heads Hellblasters with the five other Hellblasters that I have already made and shown on this blog. Since I shared these models, however, I have redone the base and repainted the OSL (object source light from the plasma) to match my mercenary head models. These are the updated models.




First Updated Hellblaster




Second Updated Hellblaster




Third Updated Hellblaster




Fourth Updated Hellblaster




Fifth Updated Hellblaster

Azrael Reworked


Since Azrael is deployed with the Hellblasters and since Azrael has a plasma gun, I reworked my Azrael to match the Hellblasters squad by adding the new base colors and the OSL from his plasma gun.



Updated Azrael - Front View




Updated Azrael – Side View

Painting Shield Captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes



Three Shield Captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes


Adeptus Custodes Shield Captains are all the rage right now. I painted them gold but I kept their robes and uniforms in the camouflage to better match the rest of my army. I have never painted so much gold before and it presented several challenges. The first is that it took a number of coats to cover the surface of the model. Second, the gold needed to be shadowed if it was appear three dimensional.

After painting on the camouflage, I undercoated the shadow area of the metal portions of the models in Vallejo game color tin bits to dull and darken the shaded areas.




Shield Captain with Tin Bits Undercoat




Vallejo Model Color Gold, MSP Core Color Purple and Yellow


To paint the gold, I originally mixed the following colors, Vallejo Model Color Gold, MSP Core Color Purple, and MSP Core Color Yellow.




My Original Palette


I mixed the gold with the purple for shadow areas and with the yellow for highlights. It seemed to work if I painted several layers but later I mixed in Vallejo Model Color Silver with the Gold to create more defined highlight.

I had to paint it several times to get it the gold solid. Notice in the picture below, I am painting from the front to rear. Since I painted the gold over the front several time it is solid gold. Note those back plates on the hood that show the base color coming through. These need another layer of gold.




Gold Surface on Hood of the Jetbike

First Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Close-up Front Left View


This picture shows one of the Shield Captains on his Dawneagle jetbike. The head is one of the officer heads from Puppet War. His uniform is camouflaged to match the rest of my army although the bike and much of his armor is gold. The jetbike is armed with a Hurricane bolter.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Front Right View


If you look carefully, you will see that this model has a cigar in his mouth. This shows the details of the interceptor lance. Notice also his helmet mounted on the back of the jetbike.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Right Rear View


This view shows his helmet, the detail on his interceptor lance, and the contrasting metals on his exhaust pipes. It also show a little of the base.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Front Left View




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Left Rear View


If you look closely, you can see the hilt of his misericordia just behind his left arm

Second Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike with Salvo Launcher




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike with Salvo Launcher

Notice the red tipped missiles in the Salvo Launcher. I made one jetbike with the Salvo Launcher. All the posts I have read on Adeptus Custodes recommend using the Hurricane Bolter. I actually built the model so I can replace the Salvo Launcher with the Hurricane Bolter. In this case, I didn’t use magnets. The parts fit so closely that they simply snap in and out.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Left Front View

This view shows the mutton chops on this Shield Captain.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Right Front View




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Right Close-up View




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Right Rear View

This shows his helmet attached to the back of the jetbike.

Third Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Front View


This last shield captain was a little tricky to make. In the other models, the left hand is grapping the handle of the jetbike. I wanted one model with a pointing finger. I had the pointing finger but I had to cut off the hand from the handle so the handle was free. The picture below shows the carved down handle. It turned out okay.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Front Left View with Pointing Finger


This picture also shows some the details of the face. He looks like he is yelling or laughing. I must admit that these Puppet War officers’ heads give real personality to each model.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Left Rear View with Pointing Finger


This view shows the hilt of his misericordia just behind his left arm.




Shield Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike – Front Top View with Pointing Finger


This view shows the tip of the interceptor lance and a clear shot of the base and of the hurricane bolters.

Putting Details on the Shield Captains on their Dawneagle Jetbikes


These pictures show painting and placing some of the details on the Shield Captains.




Interceptor Lance


The interceptor lance is painted with Vallejo gunmetal blue and trimmed with Vallejo gold. Highlights are a mixture of Vallejo silver and gunmetal blue. I also used various Vallejo steel paints for some contrasting metal parts such as the hurricane bolters.




The Ruby Jewels


The Ruby Jewels have various reds highlighted with fluorescent magenta over white.




Left Over Pastel Grinds, Pigment Fixer, and Pigment with Base


The bases are colored with old leftover grinds from a pastel class mixed with Pigment Fixer and sewage muck (green) pigment from Secret Weapon miniatures.




Preparing the Base for the Dawneagle JetBike

Ravenwing Talonmaster

It is painting and styling that make each model unique. This is the Ravenwing Talonmaster although it is painted with a camouflage pattern rather than the traditional Ravenwing Black and White scheme. The heads are PuppetWar heads rather than the traditional 40K space marines.




Ravenwing Talonmaster – Top Front View




Ravenwing Talonmaster – Right Sidet View




Ravenwing Talonmaster – Rear View




Ravenwing Talonmaster – Left Rear View




Ravenwing Talonmaster – Left Side View


Their helmets are pinned on the side just below the cockpit.

Sammael in Sableclaw

For modeling, the difference between Sammael in Sableclaw and a Ravenwing Talonmaster is just a matter of styling. Although it seems to be missing in the newest Dark Angel Codex, the older codex give Sammael a special cloak called the Adamantine Mantle. The Sammael model on the jetbike, Corvex, has the Adamantine Mantle. It also shows Sammael with long hair. These are two of the styling details that I added to the model to indicate that it was Sammael in Sableclaw.




Sammael in Sableclaw – Right Front View

The head is from the old Warhammer Bretonnia® knight’s set. Games Workshop has discontinued the old Bretonnia knights but I bought a few bits for conversions and find them useful. I added two more details: 1) the book on the hood of the Sableclaw which is identical to the book on the hood of the Talonmaster, and 2) the winged Dark Angel Captain Helmet from the Dark Angels Upgrade Pack. The winged helmet is mounted on the side of the Sableclaw.




Sableclaw – Right Side View


The sword is also from the Dark Angels Upgrade Pack.




Sableclaw – Left Side View


A regular Dark Angels helmet is mounted on the left side for the pilot.




Sableclaw – Front View




Sableclaw – Rear View

More Views of Sammael in Sableclaw


I took a lot of pictures of Sableclaw. Here are some more views.




Sableclaw – Right Front View




Sableclaw- Right Rear View




Sableclaw – Left Front View

Something Different – Genestealer Cult

I really like Kill Team. Not only are the games easier and quicker than traditional 40K, it is easy to try out new armies. When I play for 2000 points, I pretty much have to stick to my old Space Marines since it would take so much time and investment to start a new 2000 point army from scratch. Even when I added a few Ad Mech models, I painted them the same as my space marines so that they would match my current army on the playing field.

For the 100 point Kill Team, however, one can easily put together a whole new army with a completely different paint scheme and play it. So which army should I start with? I like models that have reasonably human heads since I really enjoy painting them. But I also want something with a totally different feel. So I decided to paint up a genestealer cult. I already purchased the kill team starter kit which includes the neophyte hybrid squad. I am tired of camouflage and want a completely new color scheme. I decided to use orange and blue as my basic colors, orange for the uniforms and gunmetal blue for the guns and armor.




Gene stealer Cult Squad


This change is freeing, fun, and difficult. I had gotten into a comfortable old rut with my old paint scheme and knew which colors to paint with little thought. With this new scheme, I really had to think out my colors. Orange is a bright and difficult color but is fun. I bought a jar of Golden Cadmium Orange acrylic paint. Although reds and oranges are not color fast, cadmium reds and oranges will last. I tamed its brightness with a blue for light shadows and with a cobalt black for dark shadows.




My Workspace


Above is my workspace with my open wet palette. The mixtures of cadmium orange are on the left and the mixtures of the gunmetal blue on the right. Below the orange are some of the flesh tones. Other colors are throughout the palette. I use the lid of the wet palette in the upper right of the picture as a base for the washes.




My Workspace – Second View




Models in Progress


Because I need to be able to angle my brush when I paint faces, I paint heads separate from the rest of the body. This also gives me some flexibility especially since Games Workshop tends to include more heads than bodies in their kits. I paint up all or most of the heads and pick the ones I like best for the bodies. If I botch a head I don’t have to use it. I paint the rest of the model’s body already assembled so that the shadows and highlights are consistent on the model. After I glue on the head, I add any necessary shadows and colors to blend it into the body.


In the kit for the Neophyte Hybrids, there are two types of heads, one for the 4th generation who have reasonably normal human heads and one for the 3rd generation that are more Tyranid-like.

I was pleased with the results. The heads turned out okay. On the bodies, I was able to deal with the orange paint scheme although I was afraid at times that it would overwhelm the models.




Three Cultists




Four Cultists




Genestealer Cultists with Tyranid Genestealer


Note the camouflaged scouts in the background. I actually used the same left over pastel grinds on base for the scouts and on the bases for the cultist except I added green pigment to scouts. I added rust pigment, and a little violet pigment, and a little blue pigment to the bases of the Cultists.




Cultists and Scouts


The scouts look like they are jungle fighters, the cultists desert fighters.

Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Side View


In these models, I play with complementary colors, the blue in the band, the armor and the autogun verses the orange in the uniform. Although I bring in some other colors, I use a fairly limited palette. Still I use shades and highlights to make the colors, especially the bright orange, more realistic.

I like the big hands on these models. I also have big hands which my daughter has inherited. Sometimes when she feels bad that she didn’t get petite hands like some of her friends, I flex my hands and tell her, these are strangler’s hands. This makes her feel better because, like me, she knows a few people who should be strangled and with our hands, we have that option (assuming no pesky legal problems).




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Front View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Front View


One thing about taking photographs of models, you can easily see errors that you don’t see otherwise. I painted the eyes fluorescent green but some of the green paints got on the skin under the eyes.

This model is only 5 points in Kill Team. There could be up to twenty cultist on a kill team although with upgrades, leaders, and specialist models, the average for a genestealer cult built around neophyte hybrids is about thirteen to fourteen models. Compare this to about four to five models on a Space Marine kill team or eight models on an Admech kill team.

Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Left Right View


Notice that his 3rd generation head is more Tyranid-like than the heads of his 4th generation counter-parts. I keep the same flesh pallet that I did for the 4th generation which is the same flesh pallet I use for my space marine heads. I did brush in a little orange in his forehead scales to give him a more Tyranid type look.

Also note a few errors including the bullets at the top of the ammo feed which I missed and the little red smear on his cheek. I have since painted the bullets and added a red wash to the gun barrel. I will take some more pictures to show these changes.




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Left Front View


I missed a seam on his pocket that I need to remove.




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Front View




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Left Rear View


The left hand and the left arm don’t quite mesh on the model. I have since smoothed it out with some Milliput Yellow-Gray which works like green stuff but is water soluble so it can be used like liquid green stuff as well as regular green stuff. Now, I need to repaint the arm and take new pictures.




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Rear View

Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber, Part 2


Since my last post, I have fixed some of the flaws in the Heavy Stubber model. All the bullets have been painted, a red smear removed from his face, the seam removed from his pocket, and his hand fixed up. I have some new pictures although they don’t show his fixed up hand.




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Right Side View




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Right Front View




Neophyte Hybrid with Heavy Stubber – Close Up - Right Side View

Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol



Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol – Front View




Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol – Right View


I really enjoyed painting these genestealers. I like the bright colors. Notice the secondary group of complementary colors, red and green, on this and some of the other genestealers.




Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol – Right Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol – Left Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol – Right Front View




Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Chainsword and Web Pistol – Left Front View

3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun


Although this is only a five point model, it is fun to paint and use.




3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid – Right Side View




3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid – Right Rear View




3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid – Rear View




3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid – Left Front View




3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid – Front View




3rd Generation Neophyte Hybrid – Right Front View


The orange tinted scales on his forehead help to match him to the Tyranids genestealers.

Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons


Purebred Tyranid genestealers give the genestealer cult kill team assault power. I used the same colors for these Purebreds as I had for the neophyte hybrid models, including the flesh colors for the head. On the scales on the head, I dry brushed in some orange. I also added orange to its snout and cheekbones. I really like how this model turned out.




Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons – Right Side View




Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons – Front View




Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons – Right Side View




Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons – Left Rear View




Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons – Right Rear View


I was pleased how my Purebred genestealers turned out. The colors blended together to make it appear realistic. Too many Tyranid armies look like the cooties in the old Cooties Game that we played as kids.




Old Cooties




Purebred Genestealer with Rending Claws and Scything Talons – Right Side View

Another Neophyte Hybrid




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Front View


This is another 4th generation hybrid with an autogun.




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Side View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Side View


I assume that the round red grenade on his belt is the blasting charge since the blasting charge is used like a hand grenade. I don’t know what the blue cylinder on his belt is. Perhaps it is the blasting charge. Maybe the red grenade and the blue cylinder work together to make up the blasting charge. Sometimes with Games Workshop models, I have had to look through several caudexes to figure out which piece of equipment is what. So far I have found none that identify the blasting charge.




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Front View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Front View

Neophyte Hybrid – The Tongue





Neophyte Hybrid – Right Side View


This is a 3rd generation neophyte hybrid with autogun. This is another five point model. My favorite feature is the long tongue.




Neophyte Hybrid – Right Front View




Neophyte Hybrid – Left Side View




Neophyte Hybrid – Front View




Neophyte Hybrid – Rear View

Neophyte Hybrid with Grenade Launcher




Neophyte Hybrid with Grenade Launcher – Right Front View


Appearance wise, this is a good solid model. The grenade launcher is huge. Assuming he is a normal sized human being and the grenade launcher is made of steel and other heavy metals, what would this grenade launcher weigh in real life? I like his head, especially the googles.




Neophyte Hybrid with Grenade Launcher – Right View




Neophyte Hybrid with Grenade Launcher – Front View




Neophyte Hybrid with Grenade Launcher – Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid with Grenade Launcher – Right Rear View

Neophyte Hybrid with Flamer




Neophyte Hybrid with Flamer


I only have one picture of this model. Actually, I am missing another cultist model completely. I assume since I discard any out of focus pictures, that I discarded the missing pictures.

Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser




Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser - Right Side View


This is one of my favorite models. I like the weapon. I like the extra arm. I like the head. I like the boney fingers. I like the artistic three on the model – the three arms and hands, the three white and red batteries on the mining laser, and the three skulls in the dirt. The picture and model have both balance and movement or direction.




Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser – Front Right View




Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser –Left Front View




Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser – Left Side View




Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser – Rear View




Neophyte Hybrid with Mining Laser – Right Rear View

Purebred Genestealer with Flesh Hooks

I never thought I would want to build a Tyranid army. The models are okay but I don’t really like the fluff. I guess I am really a human at heart and find it hard to support those creatures, even in my imagination, that would destroy the human race. So I am a fan of space marines and the Imperium. I think I would like building Chaos Marines because they are still human and more than that, they represent the free spirit of mankind, as opposed to the regimented oppression of the Imperium. I am less enthused about spending the time to build alien races although some have enough human characteristics to be fun.

Still, I have been delighted by how my three Purebred genestealers turned out. I am especially delighted with the heads and faces.




Purebred Genestealer with Flesh Hooks - Right Front View


I am pleased with the coloring of the face. It looks realistic. I colored the heads in the exact same way that I colored space marine heads with two exceptions. The first is that I put fluorescent green into the eyes. The second is that I blended in orange into the face and scales on the forehead of the model. This blended the head into the rest of the model.




Purebred Genestealer with Flesh Hooks – Left Side View


I use the same reds for the mouth and the grey for the teeth that I do on space marine. Of course, this creature has the flesh hooks coming out of his mouth which is typically missing from a space marine. But if a space marine had flesh hooks, I would paint them the same way.




Purebred Genestealer with Flesh Hooks – Left Front View




Purebred Genestealer with Toxin Sacs – Rear View


The Toxin Sacs are highlighted with fluorescent green.




Purebred Genestealer with Flesh Hooks – Right Side View

The Last Neophyte Hybrid

Because I take my pictures close up with a digital camera with an automatic focus, I often end up with several out of focused pictures in each batch. I eliminate the out of focus pictures as I review them and upload them to the Dakka Dakka site. Sometimes, this means that I have few or no pictures of one of the models. In my last batch, all of the pictures of one of my models was out of focus so I had no pictures of this model I wanted to share. In this batch of pictures, I retook pictures of this model. I actually took more than I intended and most turned out.




4th Generation Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Front View


Although I like this model, the face is hard to read. He has a large mask that comes up to his eyes. His googles are on his forehead. Unfortunately, many who look at this model see the googles as eyes since they are so much easier to see then his eye right above his mask.




4th Generation Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Left Side View




4th Generation Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Rear View




4th Generation Neophyte Hybrid with Autogun – Right Side View


He is another 5 point model.

The Acolyte Hybrid with Autopistol and Cultist Knife




The Acolyte Hybrid with Autopistol and Cultist Knife – Front Right View


Note the horn on his head. This head is actually for the Acolyte Leader but I found it too much for the leader and placed it on a standard Acolyte Hybrid. The horn forces the face of the model to look down rather than out. A leader should look out rather than down. But a regular acolyte hybrid can look down and the horned head is fun.




Acolyte Hybrid Bodies and Heads


I paint up the bodies for the models and their heads separately and usually paint up a lot more heads than bodies. This allows me to pick my heads to best match the model’s body. I don’t always pick the head that the instructions say should be with the body. I pick out that head that best matches the mode and theme of each model.




The Acolyte Hybrid with Autopistol and Cultist Knife – Front Left View




The Acolyte Hybrid with Autopistol and Cultist Knife – Left Side View




The Acolyte Hybrid with Autopistol and Cultist Knife – Rear View


I like his cherry red blasting charge.

Purebred Genestealer with Acid Maw




Purebred Genestealer with Acid Maw - Front View


This is the last of the three Purebred Genestealers I have made so far. For now, three is sufficient for Kill Team but I might create a whole genestealer cult army and make up the other Purebreds that I have.




Purebred Genestealer with Acid Maw – Right Front View





Purebred Genestealer with Acid Maw – Left Side View




Purebred Genestealer with Acid Maw - Rear View


This has a nice view of the toxin sacs, at least what I assume are toxin sacs. The instructions for this model are sparse and it don’t label all the extra pieces. Sometimes I make an army list with the weapons selected and then make the models. On the instructions for the older models, they have pictures of the alternative weapons but they don’t label them. Sometimes you can go to the Codex and see a picture of the desired weapon. Sometimes you just have to guess. The instructions for the newer models are better about labeling the weapon choices.




Purebred Genestealer with Acid Maw – Left Front View

Acolyte Iconward





Acolyte Iconward - Front View


I was not sure what an Acolyte Iconward was when I built this model. I bought this model and assumed it was the same as an Acolyte Hybrid with a Cult Icon but the Acolyte kit also has an Acolyte Hybrid with a smaller cult icon. The two models are different but I don’t know if they fulfilled the same function. I built both and figured I would take my favorite. I like both. I did not use the head that came with the model but instead used another hornless and simpler Acolyte Head because I liked it better.

I have since reviewed the Index and discovered that an Acolyte Iconward is a Headquarters unit that functions differently than a Neophyte Hybrid with an Icon. They have two different roles. My focus has been on Kill Team, which doesn’t use the Acolyte Iconward, but I am eagerly awaiting the Genestealer Cult Codex that may be coming out in the next few months and may build a complete genestealer cult army.




Acolyte Iconward - Left Front View




Acolyte Iconward - Left Side View




Acolyte Iconward – Left Rear View




Acolyte Iconward – Rear View




Acolyte Iconward – Right Side View




Acolyte Iconward – Close Up

Acolyte Hybrid Leader





Acolyte Hybrid Leader with Bonesword – Front View




Acolyte Hybrid Leader with Bonesword and Lash Whip – Left Side View


I used a different head than the horned leader head which I used on another model. I like this head better on the leader. I have painted the heads on all these cultist and genestealers with the same colors and techniques that I used for space marine heads except that I added a little orange to the scales on the forehead and around the eyes and painted the eyes a fluorescent green. The combination works better than I expected. The color don’t look human like even if they are the same colors as space marine flesh. Still, the technique does produce realistic looking heads. I am considering experimenting with Orc heads using the same color scheme but highlighting with green and washing its face with green shade. I am curious whether this technique will turn out life like Orc faces.




Acolyte Hybrid Leader with Bonesword and Lash Whip – Left Front View


The lash whip makes this a difficult model to photograph.




Acolyte Hybrid Leader with Bonesword and Lash Whip – Right Rear View

Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Right Side View


This is one of my favorite models. The colors are perfect. The lines are clean. The heavy rock drill looks good. I really like the face although it has no teeth or horns showing. The respirator works on this model since the heavy rock drill would produce so much dust.
Because I like this model so much, I took more pictures and am going to share them all even though some of them are almost the same.




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill - Left Front View




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Right Front View




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Left Side View




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Right Rear View




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Rear View




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Right Rear Side View




Acolyte Hybrid Fighter with Heavy Rock Drill – Close-Up

Acolyte Hybrid with Cult Icon




Acolyte Hybrid with Cult Icon – Right Front View


When I built this model I was not sure if this model fulfils the same battlefield roll as the Acolyte Iconward that I displayed earlier. Since I like both models I hoped I can find room for both. I have since learned that the Iconward is a headquarter character while this model is part of the Acolyte hybrid infantry troop. So they do have separate roles in the cult. I really like the head, especially the lips and teeth on this model.




Acolyte Hybrid with Cult Icon - Front View

The face is out of focus on this front view of the model.




Acolyte Hybrid with Cult Icon – Right Side View




Acolyte Hybrid with Cult Icon – Left Side View




Acolyte Hybrid with Cult Icon – Rear View

Scouts \

I ordered four sets of heads from Puppets War in Poland. I have used heads from each of the four sets of heads, the guerilla heads (old version), the mercenary heads, the patrol cap heads, and the officer heads. The guerilla heads were my least favorite but I used them on my scouts because I like their boonies caps. Although the individual models are somewhat crummy looking, they actually look pretty good on the gaming table.


Although the individual models are not really that great, I will share my pictures of them.




First Scout – Front View




First Scout – Right Side View




First Scout – Rear View




First Scout Right Side View


These scout models are not great but good enough for playing.

Another Scout with Ranger Hat


After my bright orange Gene Stealer Cult models, I find my camouflage based model dull and boring. This is especially true with these scouts who I painted up because I needed scouts for gaming, not because I really like the models. I replaced the heads with heads from Puppet War. I painted up five heads with boonie hats but lost one so I used a head with a patrol cap for this model. It is okay.




Second Scout with Patrol Cap – Right View




Second Scout with Patrol Cap – Front Right View




Second Scout with Patrol Cap – Front Left View




Second Scout with Patrol Cap – Rear View

Scout with Heavy Bolter

This is another model that is not pretty but is serviceable for gaming. I do like the muddy boots.




Scout with Heavy Bolter – Right Front




Scout with Heavy Bolter – Right




Scout with Heavy Bolter –Left


The head and face is terrible. It just wouldn’t come together when I painted it.




Scout with Heavy Bolter –Rear

Fourth Scout


One thing about close-up shots is that the mistakes show up. In this first picture, the mold lines are clearly seen on the front of the bolter. The mold lines on bolters are easy to miss and difficult to remove. Still, this is more a playing model than a show model.




Scout – Front




Scout - Left




Scout – Rear

Fifth Scout

Again, this model is more for playing than display. Actually all my models are intended for playing but I primarily had to hurry these scouts to have them finished for the 2018 NOVA Open.




Scout - Right




Scout - Rear




Scout – Left

My favorite detail is the dirty boots. This is the last of my scouts. I will probably focus on my genestealer cult models for now.

Genestealer Cult Army – Brood Brothers




On the Workbench - Brood Brothers Imperial Guard


I really like my Genestealer cult figures and have decided to build a Genestealer cult army for the next Nova Open. Although the next Nova Open starts the last week in August, building a new army by then, especially a Genestealer cult army will be a real challenge. Besides the normal crush of work, family, church, and life, building this army poses several challenges.


1) This army requires lots of new figures. I have tentatively written up a 1500 point army. For just the infantry squads, it would require 60 figures of which so far I have made about 20, not all of which are useable since some of them are designed for kill team which rewards using special weapons on infantry characters as opposed to the standard 40K where the points are better spent elsewhere.

2) The Genestealer Manual is expected to come out in the new month or two. This means that any figures I build now may be obsolete. Games Workshop has already shown several new models that I may be wanting.

3) This is a whole new army for me. I have been building camouflage space marines for years and have hundreds of models. Typically when I build my army, I add a few new models to the old army. This project requires all new models.


My plan includes a detachment of Imperial Guard brood brother’s allies. The Imperial Guard will support the Genestealers Cult army by providing a buffer during the initial phase since most of the Genestealer Cult army want to be in reserve and deep strike into assault positions. The Imperial Guard also provides what I really like, powerful shooting units. I especially like the artillery indirect fire to do unto other what has been done unto me, blasting away critical units in the first turn. I plan to include lots of indirect fire in the Imperial Guard army, including Basilisks to shake up and remove critical enemy units and weapons squads armed with mortars to remove as much bubble wrap surrounding critical targets that I want to attack with my Abominants, Aberrants, and pure strain Genestealers.




Brood Brothers – Infantry Squad




On the Workbench - Aberrants

Brood Brothers – Heavy Weapons Team with Mortars

The first units I started building for the brood brothers were heavy weapons teams with mortars. I built three teams so far although I plan to field six teams. Their primary mission is to remove cheap infantry bubble wrap surrounding critical enemy targets. Their secondary missions are to hit other infantry targets and to help fill in the backfield against deep striking units.

I substituted some figures from the infantry squad to add some variety to the teams. These teams got a little tedious to make because they have lots of individual parts.




First Heavy Weapons Team - Unpainted


All the figures are kneeling in the first team.




Second Heavy Weapons Team - Unpainted


The gunner is standing on this team.




Third Heavy Weapons Team - Unpainted


The gunner is kneeling and the assistant is standing.




Third Heavy Weapons Team - Painted




Heavy Weapons Squad with Three Teams - Painted

Brood Brothers - First Heavy Weapons Mortar Team

This the standard heavy weapons team with all the figures kneeling. These weapons teams are old style Games Workshop models with lots of finicky bits for modification but none really fit together that well. I actually like the new style kits better. They are not easily customized like the old kits but they fit together easier and generally look better.




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Front


All the gunners and assistants in the mortar team have gas masks. All the heads and bits are from the Genestealer Cults Upgrade Frame.




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Front Left




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Left




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Rear




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Right


It took me a few minutes to figure out what that the grey thing on the assistant’s back was. It is the butt of his rifle. It needs some work.

That dirty look works so well on the genestealers.

Brood Brothers - Second Heavy Weapons Mortar Team


I used the legs from a rifleman in the infantry squad kit to replace the kneeling gunner with a standing gunner.




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Front




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Left




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Left Rear




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Rear View




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Right Rear View




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Right




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Right Front


What happened to the kneeling figure for the gunner that I replaced for the mortar team? He ended up being an infantry soldier.




Brood Brother Rifleman – Infantry Squad

Brood Brothers - Third Heavy Weapons Mortar Team

In the third heavy weapons mortar team, I replaced the assistant gunner with a standing figure.




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Front




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Right




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Rear




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Left Rear


This view shows the shovel in the dirt. This is the advantage of the bits in the old kits. They can be adapted for all sorts of interesting effects.




Heavy Weapons Mortar Team – Left


What happened to the kneeling figure for the assistant gunner that I replaced for the mortar team? He ended up being an infantry soldier.




Brood Brother Rifleman – Infantry Squad

Oldmanronald,

Nice work on the mortar teams.

Cheers,

CB

Genestealers Cult – Magus with Force Stave



Magus – Front


This was a fun model to paint. It has lots of details that lend themselves to different painting techniques. My favorite details are the blue emeralds in his sword, breastplate, and staff. These were painted with a first layer of dark blue, white highlights, and then the gem was covered with Vallejo fluorescent blue




Magus – Front Right




Magus - Right




Magus - Rear




Magus – Left Rear




Magus - Left




Magus – Left Front


This next picture was a mistake and I almost deleted it. I clicked the camera as I was setting up the picture. I got my thumb and index finger. I kept the picture because it reminds me of how small these figures really are and why it is so difficult sometimes to paint the details on our models.




Magus with Thumb

Primus


This is the Primus. Unlike the Magus which is one of my favorite, this one is just a good competent playing piece whose traits support and compliment a Genestealer cult army. I do like his face except for the little microphone piece on his chin that looks like a blotch.




Primus - Front




Primus – Right Front


I forgot to paint the jewel on his bonesword so it is just white. I have added it since but haven't taken a picture of the updated model.




Primus – Left Front


This picture is slightly out of focus.




Primus - Rear




Primuis – Right Side

Very nice, would you tell me how you did the green goggles they are nice also. Cheers

Painting the Googles

Fifty, Captain Brown, and Stormatious. Thanks for the encouraging remarks.

In answer to Stormatious’s question, the googles were painted in three steps.

Step 1: Put a drop of green paint on the lenses. I used old Warhammer Scorpion Green but any yellowish green would do. With the raised rim around the googles, the effect was really nice since the paint tended to flow to the edge so that the thickest paint is around the rim.

Step 2: Put small dot of pure white in the middle of each lens. Use the tip of the brush.

Step 3: After the first two coats dry, put a drop of florescent green paint over the lens. I used Vallejo Green Flo. Let it dry and repeat several times. The florescent green paint is transparent so use several layers. Since the googles were slightly raised, I was able to really put a lot of wet florescent green on each lens, almost a puddle.

I find that I have the best control over the paint using a size 0 or 1 or 2 kolinsky red sable brush. My default for most detail work is size 1 or 2 although when I am painting, I really don’t notice which of the three sizes I am using. These sizes maintain the proper curvature for a narrow tip while smaller brushes such as size 00 or 000 quickly lose their shape. Some experienced model painters even recommend a size 3. I have a size 3 but haven’t started using it since I am cheap and am waiting for my other brushes to wear out first.

Brood Brothers – Grunt Infantry


These next several posts are of a brood brothers infantry squad, basically a Cadian infantry squad with the Genestealer Cult upgrade frame. I don’t like them as well as the Neophyte Hybrids but they will be great as a Brood Brothers Imperial Guard Detachment. Although not as fine as the regular Neophyte Hybrids, they painted up reasonably nice. The squad has ten models and all but three of them are almost the same so I will just share the pictures without trying to separate each model into its own post.




Grunt Infantry - Right




Grunt Infantry – Right Rear




Grunt Infantry – Rear




Grunt Infantry – Left




Grunt Infantry - Front

Brood Brothers – More Grunt Infantry




Grunt Infantry - Left




Grunt Infantry – Front




Grunt Infantry – Right Rear




Grunt Infantry – Rear




Grunt Infantry – Left Rear




Grunt Infantry – Left Front

Brood Brothers – Even More Grunt Infantry




Grunt Infantry – Front




Grunt Infantry – Front Left

Brood Brothers – Kneeling Grunt Infantry


I switched two standing bodies from the infantry squad for the kneeling bodies in the heavy weapons squads so I have some kneeling infantry and some standing mortar men.




Grunt Infantry – Front




Grunt Infantry - Rear




Grunt Infantry – Right Rear




Grunt Infantry – Right




Grunt Infantry – Right Front




Grunt Infantry – Left