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Some long-time readers of this blog might remember that a few years ago I got hold of a bunch of abused Rhinos. One of them was ripped apart and changed into something completely different.

That poor tank has finally gotten the attention it deserved. Roll out, Scorpius '44!









I really like the silhouette of this brutalistic piece of work, though it is still sadly lacking the crewmen. Put a few marines toting lascannons and a mug of joe in there and it's a Plagueburst Crawler just as well

The paintjob is a sloppy one-day work, a literal toil of sweat and tears as I also attended a remote funeral of an old friend while preparing for the next day's game. Crying doesn't really help painting details, but hey.

As for that game, the '44 actually survived its first outing! While new model syndrome tends to strike anyway, in this particular case it was even more remarkable since it was a big 3000 point narrative game of urban defence where I was up against a constantly reinforced flood of enemies With a combined force of Iron Warriors and (Blue)Blood Angels crashing against OUR turf, the Echoes rose to the occasion and held out doggedly. Exploding tanks, maimed corpses and falling debris filled the streets, but by the blood-red sunset, the proud banner of skull and black sunburst still flew defiantly over the ruins.

Global problems pushed the intended Unification Wars campaign off earlier in the year, but it's looking better on that front again. So, in preparation for June's high octane rad-waste showdown, my objectives for May:

- paint the redneck cannibal crew
- build a Thunder Legion crew
- prepare a good amount of terrain for KT

Nachmund terrain is catching my eye, might have to get me some utility box buildings.

A pile of Nachmund plastic crack acquired, so that's progressing

Meanwhile, gaming!

In the aftermath of the repelled assault on the Death Guard city, siegemaster Aleksy of Iron Warriors is hounded by the vengeful scions of the XIV in the bombed out suburbs. The noose tightens around the Iron Warriors' position. The first wave of light tactical groups is driven off with a handful of losses, but the second charges in soon after with heavier terminator and psyker support. The IW terminators bear the first hit, but soon fall under the caresses of the half-man abominations sent against them. A larger counter-charge is attempted in the courtyard, but falters before the Death Guard's witchcraft while the previously wounded men fight desperately from their stretchers in a makeshift hospice as terminators barge through its walls.

With Aleksy and his men captured, there were some very favourable deals to be had with the Iron Warriors' factories later on in exchange for their sorry butts...

Such a beautiful battle. Fantastic minis and terrain. I like how the normal troopers make the marines look much more epic.

Cheers Illumini. It's worth my time to field mortal auxiliaries for that visual effect alone, even if cultist rules are pretty crud

Glorious battle shots and sounds like a fun game. But has no one ever told the commander that you don't come with a scion to a power armor battle...

 Viterbi wrote:
Glorious battle shots and sounds like a fun game. But has no one ever told the commander that you don't come with a scion to a power armor battle...

"Not that kind of a scion"

Thanks Vi, narrative bashes are always fun.

Moar madness from the Old Night!
Bare-footed thunder warriors! Null Maidens! Hotshot enforcers of a smaller warlord!

This time I went mostly with Iron Golems, with some Krieg Veteran bits on the thugs for a bit more regular look. Sure they are just as backwards and insane as the previous posses, but with at least some semblance of an ordered society

The rest of the bully guard:

Those are some phenomenal conversions. Can't imagine how wild they will look once they are painted.

Thanks, youwashock. I'll try to get on it soon

Really flavorful conversions. The iron golem + techno bits does techno-barbarian really well.

Very cool conversions, looking forward to seeing them painted

Cheers ph34r and Guardling

Amazing conversions, you should be so proud of these ones in particular!

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
Amazing conversions, you should be so proud of these ones in particular!

Just for you, maybe I should

Thanks!

Today I tried out a scheme for some terrain, ought to paint enough stuff to fill two tables in a couple of weeks. Here we come, rad wastes!

Terrain looks very cool, any chance of a breakdown?

 Guardling wrote:
Terrain looks very cool, any chance of a breakdown?

Nothing too fancy for these test bits:

- Primed with rattle cans. Solid chocolate brown, followed by zenithal beige and pale yellow. Not necessarily the most effective combo, felt a bit like grey with extra steps, but that happens every now and then.
- Drybrushed two or three times with light beige and bone. Keeping the brushstrokes downward helps with the rundown look.
- Base colours for details like wires and electrical boxes down before an indiscriminate brown washing. Metal bits are Hashut Copper and Nihilac Oxide, just to test and use up the random pots I got from one jobslot. Brown, likewise, was just some Army Painter crap that's so bad I don't want to use it on normal models.
- Lots of edge highlighting with Vallejo's Ghost Grey, my favoured not-quite-white.
- Watery pigments, mostly oxidized earth, over the walls.

Overall, some gradients in whatever beige-ish over brown drybrushed lighter and washed brownish again

This week begins with some smaller bits like fences and 1-6 barrel objective markers. Only took a few years for them to end up painted

Love the atmospheric lighting.

Looking good!

Thanks youwashock and Boringstuff, being atmospheric is half the effort in this endeavour

Looking to get a piece or two more done tomorrow, which brings the current total up to one pretty full Kill Team board's worth. The second half will then be more in line with inside spaces, like ZM.

A tower element ready as well.

So much great stuff, the conversions look suitably mad!

And good to see so much painted and fitting terrain.

Cheers Viterbi, hoping to keep that up when they get their turn on the painting station

Eyy, progress!

Another batch of buildings and walls for the M29 madness has been completed and I'm ready to take this pile for a ride. It should be enough for two Kill Team tables, given some more scatter terrain in addition. In some later day I'll have to paint a bucketload of that myself as well, but not today.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter! Death to the Lord of Lightning!

Wow that's a lot of cool work there!

Great terrain that should make for very atmospheric battles!

Guardling wrote:Wow that's a lot of cool work there!

Viterbi wrote:Great terrain that should make for very atmospheric battles!

Cheers Guardling and Viterbi. Gaming on this stuff has indeed been pretty great, and will only get better with more scatter terrain and ZM compatible bulkheads later on.

Talking about ZM, I might have gone and bought some stuff for Heresy 2.0 that may make an entrance towards the end of the year... we'll see how the autumn shapes up after the July rush at work clears

Edit:
Also, 100k views reached! Heartfelt thanks for everyone who has spent their limited time on this Earth looking at my dabblings. For that reason, I'll let you guys pick the first priority on the Heresy train:

Should my next work be a:
1. Spartan! Transports are cool!
2. Contemptor! More dreads is always great!
3. Infantry support with guns! Death Guard needs plenty of relentless firepower.
4. Infantry squad with fisticuffs! With access to rad grenades, Destroyers and what not for dirty tricks, we're ready to punch as well.

All comments taken to account over the next week and a bit