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With the return of 30k on the horizon, I have been lured back into tabletop gaming once again after an 8 year break. With school and then work and then grad school taking over my life, I took a long step back from the hobby. But I'm incredibly excited to return to the hobby, especially since my love of the Horus Heresy has remained strong via the black library series. My FLGS has a burgeoning 30k scene growing with the release of the new kit and rules. And as the designated "old fart" gamer (one of only a few who's been around since 5th ed 40k), I wanted to provide the guys, gals, and pals with something non-marine for them to blow off the table.

So I've picked up my long neglected militia and cultist army. I collected a ton of models back when the first edition of 30k came out. It's a mix of GS miners, chaos cultists from the old starter set, necromunda gangers, WHF empire militia, and some old metal models I've collected just cause I like their vibes for the army. I'm hoping that I can blend them all into a semi-cohesive 'army' of rabble and scum.

The general goal for the army is 3-fold:
1) Represent a group of civilians in rebellion. That means avoiding the normal guard look and trying to convey a bunch of workers and civilians who are fed up and riling for a fight. I will not be using the overtly military units such as fliers and super heavies. Converted civilian/work vehicles are the order of the day.
2) No model will look the same! I'm using a lot of mono-pose models in the army. But I want to make each of them look unique. So pretty much everything with have at least some light conversion work on it.
3) Neutral alliances. I don't want to make this rabble obviously chaosy. I want the flexibility to play with most of the unique rules for IMC as well as to fight/ally with either traitors or loyalists. Makes it easier to get pick-up games and to fit into narrative games.

That's enough writing for now, as I'm sure most people aren't here for a wall of text. Instead, I'd like to present my first painted models in almost a decade.

First up is my alpha psyker. This little guy is a mix of a familar-esque figure from the original GSC release and some cultist bits from the old chaos starter. I like to imagine him functioning almost like a pet to the force commander. Except he's a pet that can make people's heads explode from the inside. Until I get a real name for him, I've been calling him Gollum for obvious reasons.



I wanted to give him a grubby, dingy look like he's been crawling around the battlefield gibbering all afternoon. I worked in a little of the purple wash to his face, neck, and sunken areas to give a slight sense of power radiating from his body. It's a bit too subtle in person, unfortunately, but I'm still happy with his overall look.

Secondly I have my medic. The plan is to have this guy leading the squad of up to 5 medbots to tend to the troops (and harvest the good stuff for later experiments). Most of the model is some GSC leader I bought a while ago, though I forgot what it actually is. Went for a injector of questionable substances in one hand and a "surgery tool" in the other. Clearly from his face and coat, it's been a busy day of work.




I particularly love the blood spray on his face. To me, it makes it look like he loves his work. I wish we all could love it as much as him!


Thanks for reading through my first post. I would love comments, critiques, advice, encouragement, etc. I'm hoping that by posting to dakka again, I'll be motivated to keep working on this army. The goal is to have all my HQs and elite squads painted by the end of the month. Just in time to play some of the new zone mortalis rules!

Until next time

Love the detailing on the medic, all the blood splatters and dirt- grouesome!

 lordbickerstaff wrote:
Love the detailing on the medic, all the blood splatters and dirt- grouesome!

Appreciate it! I love models that look like they've lived through a battlefield. It's also nice that that style of painting hides more of my mistakes

Surprising myself, I have more updates after only 2 days. In a frenzy of painting motivation, I have finished working on the rest of the medic squad. My idea for the squad was that it would be a human medic leading a team of medibots that have been repurposed from whatever factory/hospital they were stolen from. It let me switch up a bit of painting from the normal human flesh, as well as do some fun homages to some other sci-fi universes I enjoy. As droids, it will also make them stand out from the units I attach them to. That way I don't forget about the 5+ FNP mid-game

All of these models I picked up from a couple etsy stores that I then kitbashed together (since I can't leave much of anything stock-standard). This was also my first time sponging on battle damage, which was a fun new experiment.

First up is a little droid from a universe far far away. He's clearly been very busy with some clients this battle
I had to base him on a larger base than is legal (since he's so chunky), but my normal opponents won't care.


Next up is the little droids friend. He is one of the few that can walk and talk, but I don't think he's happy about being in a warzone. But he needs to make sure the blue bot gets home safely.
This is also the only etsy model I didnt convert. Love the little details they added to the legs and backpack.

I'm now seeing the first pic is a bit blurry. I'll see if I can fix this and update this post later. My apologies

Pulling up in third is a yellow roller that, according to his handler, will not shut up. He keeps trying to call the shots and tell his handler something about a vault and pandora. Whatever that means.
This droid is a complete kitbash from 3 separate models. I couldn't make him look exactly Claptrap, but I hope the resemblance is close enough for an occasional laugh from my opponents.


Floating up the rear is this green drone. No inspiration for this guy; I just liked the model and love this dark green color.


And finally, the whole squad together with their handler. My plan is to do the bases in large batches later on so that I can give them some consistency. I think my general dirty style helps them all blend together, despite the vastly different paint schemes and models.


I also have an update on a previous model. It's very hard for me sometimes to finish a model. I keep coming back to make little edits. Oftentimes this leads me to ruin the model. Despite my previous mistakes, I went back to touch-up the psyker. I've added some blood god technical paints to the fleshy bits of the base in order to make them more creepy. I'm also hoping the blood will tie it into the rest of the army, as many models will have some blood on them one way or the other.


Again, I would love comments, advice, criticisms, etc. from whoever reads this. Since I'm coming back to the hobby, I know my skills are pretty rough still. But seeing people enjoy my work or help me improve really helps me stick with painting. I've always been more of a list builder and gamer in this hobby than the creative aspects like painting. But I'm hoping to change that!

Thanks for reading, and until next time

Hello again. It is miserably hot here. Too hot to do anything after work other than sit indoors in the shade. While I have not been enjoying the weather as a whole, a small benefit is that I've had more time to dedicate towards painting this week. With very few distractions, I've made a good amount of progress. So I would like to present to you my next HQ choice.

The IMC list (for now, we'll see about the new PDF being released this month) lets you run up to 5 discipline masters as a squad. Like the medic squad, you can split each one off and attach them to infantry squads. They work as pseudo commissars, providing a Ld buff and a reroll on Ld tests. So VERY helpful in a horde list. All of these models are some of the old school metal cultists from back in the day. I did a few minor conversions to replace missing weapons and make them not look identical, but I wanted to keep the spirit of these models close to the original designs.

I like to imagine these guys as the inner circle of the cult leading the rebellion. They know what's going on, even if the vast majority of fighters don't know the true cause of revolt. They are truly dedicated to the cause and will die (and kill) for it, whether it's the chaos gods, liberty, or just madness. Therefore, I wanted to make them stand out in a few ways. First, all of them heavily feature the cult colors (the light and dark purples). Second, they all have some significant gold bling. The vast majority of the army will be poor civilians, so the fact that they are showing off gold armor and occult pieces is a signal of their favor from the force commander. Third, all of their weapons are significantly more bloody. I want to show that they've been hard at work encouraging their fellow men and women to strive towards victory. Or death. Whichever comes first

I set a goal of myself to practice different painting skills with each unit. For the psyker, it was the ethereal glow. For the medibots, it was mechanical wear and tear. For these guys, I wanted to practice different skin tones. It makes sense that a hive world in the far future would feature a variety of humans. I want to actively make sure that my army isn't just a sea of the same pale skin tones. Lastly, I also tried my hand at freehanding some random designs on the robes to create something more interesting than one flat color. This was my first attempt at freehand ever.

So without further ado, I present my full discipline master cadre.

I have mixed feelings about this squad. I'm very happy with how the different skin tones came out. I'm also pretty disappointed with my freehand attempt. I don't hate it enough to repaint the robes at the moment, but I know I'll want to come back to them at some point... Overall though, I'm glad to have finished another important piece of the army. Progress is progress!

Here's a look at each one. Enforcer 1 is pretty straightforward. Gave him a slight cut on his chest and that's about it.


Enforcer 2 has a couple of interesting changes for his model. I converted his weapon to a DE whip, which looks convincingly menacing. I also painted him with a very bloody eye. The backstory being that he 'liberated' this whip from his former factory manager/overseer and is still learning to use it properly. Mistakes happen This skin color was difficult to pull off because this specific paint was ruined. It's probably 10+ years old and was WAY too runny. So it took me a lot of layers to get it to cover properly. But I think it turned out alright.


Enforcer 3 also has a nasty DE weapon, basically a smaller version of an eviscerator. Therefore, I gave him an appropriately bloody weapon and hand to match the work he's been doing on the battlefield.


Enforcer 4 is probably my favorite of the lot. I think the skin tone came out really good and defined.


And lastly enforcer 5. He's got the most decoration with his skull friend and the flesh sheath. I painted the eyes and mouth of the sheath bleeding to show some 'otherworldy force' continuing to torture the poor donor. His drybrushing was a little too aggressive. But luckily he looks fine from a foot away.


I'm happy with the progress I've made so far. This is the most I've painted in probably 10 years, and it's been nice to get back into the swing of things.

It's too hot to prime anything all week. So more than likely, I'll start painting my force commander/cult leader next. It's quite intimidating for me to start him, as I want him to look the best in the army. I kind of want to put off doing the model still... but if I can't prime anything else, I guess I gotta force myself to start him

Thanks again for reading through this. If you have any comments or feedback, I appreciate it.
Until next time

Hello all. I'm still putting off starting the force commander, as I want a couple of fun necromunda bits to do a bit more customization and I'm getting those next week. So instead, I have a surprise model that I bought on a whim.

There are only a few HQ choices available for the IMC book (unless they add more in the upcoming PDF, but I doubt they will). You must run a force commander and then you have options for a discipline cadre (which was my last post) and - if you're running a cult horde - a psyker (which you've seen in the first post). The remaining options are a command cadre, similar to the CCS for IG, and a navigator. I was always planning on doing a CC, and the new traitor guard kill team is absolutely perfect for conversion. These will be pretty much the only guard units I'll use in the whole army, as thematically it makes sense for the few rebels with military training being quickly promoted to leading the horde on the battlefield. Plus the ogryn is a good start for my future ogryn bodyguard unit. But that unit will have to wait until later, as I won't be able to get my hands on them for another week.

So I was sitting at my desk trying to figure out what to work on next, and my eyes fell to the last remaining HQ choice: the navigator. To be honest, it's not a good unit on the table. I've never been motivated to make room for him in my list vs things like the discipline cadre and the psyker. However, I do want to be able to run every option from the army eventually, and the navigator model from Blackstone Fortress is delightfully full of character. Even if he doesn't fit the lore of my army the best, it's still reasonable that a convincing (either via charisma or intimidation) cult leader would be able to sway a navigator to his side. It certainly makes for a good backup plan to get off-world in case things go belly-up. So after a quick ebay purchase and a few very busy work days, I had him sitting on my table ready for primer.

All of this lead up to say that I now present to you Senior Enricio Sextus Delanore VaanDamne, esteemed Duke of the VaanDamne navigator house.
The sixth son of the leading navigator for the system, Enricio had little expected of him from his family. What were the odds that all of his older brothers and sisters would be so useless to the family that they would need him? With plenty of time to contemplate the unnecessariness of his existence, Enricio spent his early life exploring all that wealth and a family name could bring him. He slowly declined from unnecessary to unliked to a black sheep as he fell in with the wrong crowd in certain circles. But no one fathomed what he was capable of. When the rebellion began, the government found that none of their ships could leave the port. The reason? All of the children of the VaanDamne house had met unfortunate accidents in the early hours of the rebellions. Additionally, the head of the household, Enricio's father, was found laying in his estate with all 3 of his eyes gouged out. Even stranger was that none of the entryways had been forced open by the attacker. With the route to space cut off, the government had little hope for escape when the horde started pounding at the imperial gates...


This model is beautiful, which made it much easier to paint than some of the older stuff I've been working with recently. I went with a slightly cleaner look for the navigator (though there's still obviously a lot of grime) than the rest of the army has, as I assume someone of his stature would be able to keep their nicer clothes more regularly cleaned. I did a series of multiple drybushes and washes to keep the grimy look while still being able to bring up some of the edges. I'm particularly happy with how the wash has settled in the folds of his clothes. I also attempted some more freehand on his tabard, turning it into a scroll of some sort. Perhaps a replicant of the original contract that was given to his house by the Emperor in the early days? The cloak could use a bit more drybrushing, but I need a better green than I was using before I can do another round.

As always, C&C is welcome and appreciated.
Until next time

Navigator looks ace!
If you don't have the colours you want, don't be afraid to mix a few paints now and then, a spot of pale brown or cream mixed into your green might do the trick for you...
Test it somewhere first though...

cool project for a cult army.
GSC lend themselves well for bits indeed.
The doc turned out awesome, but maybee you should've scratched away the gsc grooves on his forehead a bit?


Those old school cultists are an awesome rariety.

I am looking most forward to your infantry, finding that many unique looking civilians / militia models will be an endeavour.

Guardling wrote:Navigator looks ace!
If you don't have the colours you want, don't be afraid to mix a few paints now and then, a spot of pale brown or cream mixed into your green might do the trick for you...
Test it somewhere first though...

Thanks! I've been enjoying reading your blog. Lots of very cool conversions. Definitely been giving me some inspiration.
I'll give that a try next time. I'm always a bit worried about mixing paints because I feel like I'll never be able to match the color again. But it's definitely worth a try.

Not Online!!! wrote:The doc turned out awesome, but maybee you should've scratched away the gsc grooves on his forehead a bit?
... I am looking most forward to your infantry, finding that many unique looking civilians / militia models will be an endeavour.

Appreciate the feedback. I didn't mind the grooves on him, since I wanted to go for a bit of an abhuman look for the army. But I'll definitely been smoothing out a lot of the normal GSC militia.
And yes, it will be a challenge! I don't know how I'll manage painting 120-250 troops at 2 points a pop. Probably why I'm starting with the HQs and elites first


Bit of a different update this time. Work has been incredibly busy, so I haven't much time to paint. But I did want to show off some of the conversion work I've been doing/cleaning up in preparation for paint. As I said before, this army is going to be almost entirely converted as I hate having multiple same-pose models in a unit. Everything will be a big mash up of chaos cultists, GSC, WHF, and random old school models along with whatever new kits catch my eye.

With that in mind, let me introduce you to a few of my friends. First up are the champions of my militia/levy squads.

Starting on the left, we have one of the champions from the old chaos cultist kit. He's been converted to have a new, suitably brutal axe and a fancy head from the WHF militia kit. I also shaved off his cool chaos tattoo (can't have that on this 'renegade' force).
Second, we have a base chaos cultist champion. I kept him standard because I really liked the overall feel of this model. I wouldn't want to face him in a dark alley. Removed all the random chaos bits as well.
Third is GSC miner who's been given a fancy hat from the militia kit as well. For weapons he has an armored arm + power sword from the brettonian knights kit paired with a pistol from the militia kit that will count as a las lock.
Fourth is the same cultist as the first guy. Instead, he has basic hatchet from a random WHF kit as well as a catchan bandana head that oozes smugness. Perfect for rebel scum.
Last is the cultist champion from earlier. This time he's been given a chaosy sword from a different cultist as well as a basic auto pistol from my bits box. I also filled in the chaos symbol on his bracer.
The plan is to convert up one more champion to lead the last squad from the cawdor ganger kit that I have coming this weekend. Stay tuned

Next up is my test model for my command cadre squad. I had a spare guard model from who knows where. Smashed together with half a dozen bits, and we have this:

He's been given 2 random arms from a WHF kit that had matching bracers. I feel like it dresses down the armor and makes him look more irregular. I also love this head from the IG. I know it's supposed to be a visor thing, but to me he looks like he's been blinded. I'm going to paint it as a wound, like he's been relegated to vox duty due to his injury. Lastly, some random IG bit (I think a lascannon pack?) has been converted into a vox backpack. I may add a bit of paper clip as an antenna to finish the look, but overall I'm very happy with him.

Reminder that the CC unit is the only one of the army that will look like professional military. I'm planning on using the new traitor guardsmen kill team kit for conversion fodder. I still want to make them look like a PDF/irregular force, so I'll be dressing the unit down and making them look less like they are fresh off the factory floor. I'm sure my pile of cultist bits + the new necromunda kits will be very helpful with that.

Lastly, I am finally ready to feature the big man himself. I've played with this model a lot, but I think I finally have him in a spot that I'm happy with. He's got to look good to lead an entire cult, after all.


The base model is one of the GSC original starter kit. (I think the magos?) I clipped off the top of the staff and added on a bonesword from another GSC character. I think this gives it a suitably nasty look, since most of the time I'll be running him with a tainted weapon. I also replaced the normal bald head with one from the chaos champions I showed early. The mask will be painted bright and will really show off on the end model. Lastly I removed all the GSC obvious bits like the tyranid symbol necklace.
This model is gorgeous btw. It has so many cool bits that really give it character. The random vials, the details on the sheathed sword, the trim of the vestments. It intimidates me as a painter, but I'm very excited to take my time and really make this my best model of the army (at least for now).

So what's next? I'm hoping to paint the CC vox model this weekend so that I have the color scheme down. I'll definitely post that once I do. Otherwise, I'll be spending some time this weekend finally playing some games and getting some well deserved reinforcements. I made some deals with the community at I play with at the FLGS. I'll be adding 9 ogryn to run a full bodyguard unit, a traitor guard kill team to convert into the CC, and about 2 dozen cawdor redemptionists for random meat shields to the to-do list. So many juicy new bits

Until next time

Great looking minis Freytag. Nice mix of old classic models in there. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. Good luck!

 Olthannon wrote:
Great looking minis Freytag. Nice mix of old classic models in there. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. Good luck!

Thanks! I definitely have a soft spot for some of the old metal models. I've been playing 40k/WHFB for the past 15+ years and there's a lot of nostalgia with some of these models.

I have a short update for today. As promised, I completed my test model for the command cadre. Take a look!


I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. I wanted to avoid the black armor = evil look that is pretty typical with traitor guard. So instead, I went with basic white and grey. I imagine this is some cheap, assembly line armor that is handed out to the planetary defense force since it's not good enough for the guard. So there's not a lot of decoration or detail to be bothered with. But hey, it's better than what 90% of the army has

I'm planning on making the PDF less dirty than the majority of the army, as they probably get to avoid the worst of combat/ditch digging duties. I'm also particularly pleased with how the blindfold turned out. The blood looks great in person. Despite his injury, he's ready to continue giving to the cause and directing troop movements. Not sure what he'll do with his axe when he can't see, but I'm not gonna argue with him

I was able to pick up a lot of supplies this weekend as planned. Though unfortunately my traitor guard kill team got delayed, so I won't be able to finish the squad to pair with this guy. I did, however, grab a bunch of cawdor redemptionists along with more GSC miners to add to horde, plus a full 9 man squad of ogryn. The horde grows every day

I think I'll take a crack at the GSC models next, as it's a bit easier to assembly line them with the same miner outfit across the squads. I think I'm sitting at around 50-60 miners at the moment. I'll pull them all out, build out some conversions with the new ones to mix it up, then start doing some test models.

Appreciate the comments and advice I've been getting on recent posts. Definitely motivates me to keep going on the days that I have no motivation to paint.
Until next time

Hello dakka. We've been celebrating independence day here in the US, so there's been lots of other duties on my plate this week. But the plus side to that is that I've had a lot of time off of work. So in order to challenge myself, I took on a much bigger project than usual.

Back in the day when I started the hobby, I had a thing for hordes. I loved the look of the entire army dominating the table. It made the game feel more like armies clashing rather than just a few squads fighting a skirmish. Also the reason I played a lot of apoc games as well. I loved planning out big expansive armies and doing multiple kit conversions to make each model my own. The problem was when it came to painting them. I could never motivate myself to paint more than a model or 2 at a time. Whenever I tried to force myself to batch paint, I'd quickly lose interest and give up. Multiple horde armies sat collecting dust because I couldn't get them more than 10% painted.

Fast forward to today, and I once again have a horde army. Funny how things work But I've been making progress on the army over the past month as shown above. With having an extra long weekend, I wanted to challenge myself to make a dent in my pile of grey plastic on my workbench. So, as promised, I finally dove into my GSC squads.

With the new additions I picked up last month, I was able to build out the units to 2 squads of 30 each. Most of them are the old push-to-fit cultists that came out back during the original GSC release. But having 2 sets of the new fully modern plastic kits has been especially helpful with converting up the push-to-fits. Slap in a bunch of random WHF/other cultist bits for more variety, and we have some meatshields ready to catch bolter rounds! I plan to run them either as 20 man militia squads or 30 man inducted levies, so either way their job is to take a beating and maybe swarm down a few marines in the process.

So what have I actually gotten done in the past week? Well let me show you. First, as I said, I built the new models and fixed up some of the second-hand models (some of them were in ROUGH shape from a bad case of glue face). I then went through and did some customization to some of my older models, adding in some of the new GSC bits from the kits. Then I cleaned mold lines and based everything in white. The next (and most time consuming step) was to block out all the major colors.

The first painting step was to paint the clothing/jump suits. I want a variety of colors to give the units a feel of mishmash and unprofessionalism. So a mix of orange, yellow, and green jumpsuits with purple and grey work coats. Also, it was hard to get a good picture of all 60 models at once while still showing some of the details, so forgive me for the WIP pics


Next was all the grey armor. Like the command model I painted earlier, I want all armor to look like it's basic level and mass-produced. Nothing fancy for the normal troops. This step took forever and honestly almost made me quit. SO MUCH of these models are armor.


Afterwards came the skin and leather. I used a variety of skin tones like before, as well as some of the browns/tans doing double duty for boots, bags, belts, and pistol holsters.


Next was black and all the metals. Black for the casings of the weapons, leadbelcher for the gun barrels and tips, plus random metal chains and bits. I left off most of the armor detailing at this step, as I want to do a second coat of grey before getting into the details. More on this later.


Lastly was adding in the cult color, genestealer purple. This is a spot color that will be featured throughout the entire army as a way to tie the motely crew together. Most of the higher-tier units will have this purple prominently. But for basic troops, it will be sparsely sprinkled throughout the units on tabards, ribbons, bandanas, and arm bands.


So as you can see, there's still a good amount of work to be done. There are plenty of details to still be picked out to bring these models to life, as well as some clear cleaning up where paint splashed over. But I have to keep reminding myself that the majority of work has been completed for these 2 units. It's all smooth sailing from here! My biggest focus for these units has been 'progress over perfection'. At the end of the day, each of these models are 2-3 points. They are going to pulled off the table in droves. Tabletop quality is what I'm aiming for for my troops, and I don't need to stress about the little stuff like I do for the HQs

My plan for the next week or two is to work on a handful of models at a time, cleaning them up and adding the last details like grenades, gas masks, and metal piping. Once a chunk are ready to go, I'll batch wash them and do a brief rough drybrush for the armor, clothes, and skin. I've learned from the past month that a little goes a long way.

I leave for a 2 week vacation in two and a half weeks. So I'll set a goal for myself to have the entire 60 man horde done before I set off. If I keep myself out of my perfection paralysis, that's very doable. At the very least I've started to put the horde in my cult horde finally.

Thanks again for those who read this blog. Until next time

Looking good!

Not Online!!! wrote:
Looking good!

Thanks!

Hello again Dakka. I took a bit of a break, since doing the basecoat and color blocking was more draining that what I'm normally used to. But I have returned bearing fruit: the first of the completed miners!
While listening to youtube videos, I was able to do the details for the first 20 of the GSC miners. Take a look.

I'm pretty happy with the variety that I was able to turnout for the squad. There are dominant colors that tie them all together: orange, grey, purple. But there's enough variation between models that they feel different from each other. Particularly because a lot in this first batch are the old push-to-fit models. I think that as I complete more of the newer models, they'll start to look like a proper rabble of pissed off workers.

These were also pretty easy to finish. Blocking the colors last week meant that it only took me about 7-8 hours over the past 3 days of detailing to wrap these guys up.
Here's some more detailed pics



There are obviously some mistakes on these guys that stand out when you see them this close. But as I said before, I have to remind myself that these are my meatshields. They are 2 points a body and will be wiped off the table by the handful. It's much better to have them at tabletop standard than not painted at all like my previous armies

Here's a different look at the 2 important models of the squad: the vexilla and the custodian

The custodian has an antique version of a power sword that's connected to his armored arm (made from an Bret knight kit). He's holding a las lock made from a WHF pistol in the other hand. I thought it gave him a more rustic yet techie feel. Clearly he's a bit of a fashionable fellow, since he's wearing a stylish hat to match.

Happy to have gotten back into the painting routine after my break. The plan is to keep spending a couple hours each night finishing off a group of 5-6 models. If I can manage that consistently, I'll be finished with the full platoon with a few days to spare before my vacation. A man can dream Once the full 60 are done, I'll start looking into basing the 2 squads so that it's easy to tell who's in which squad.

Until next time

Hello Dakka. I'm back sooner than expected. Was really able to crank out the painting this week, as I finished another 20 GSC miners in the past 2 days.

Here's the full squad in all their glory

These were a bit more fun to paint, as there are more of the new multipose plastic kits in this group. I can definitely feel myself getting better at batch painting and assembly lining the process.

These are 5 of my favorites. One is the custodian with the same antique power sword as the other guy along with some fresh dynamite. I'm not sure it's as strong as a melta bomb, but it will have to make due for tanks
You can also see some of the variety in this bunch. Different heads from different kits (including one from a Frostgave box), a mix of techie and rustic, plus the variety of color schemes in the work clothes. I'm definitely happy with this lot.


Some other close ups of the meatshields



So good progress so far. 40/60 completed in the 5 days! I think I'll be able to crank out the last 20 by mid-week. The last step before I leave for vacation will be to matt varnish them all to protect them while playing/transporting. I don't want my hard work to be chipped off every time I pull them out, and a friend recommended this as the best solution. I've already varnished the HQs and Elites that I painted earlier and everything came out fine.

Nothing much else to show. Progress is progress, and I'm just trying to take advantage of being motivated while I can.
Until next time

Hello again. I'm back even quicker this time. Forcing myself to get into the regular habit of painted has done a couple of things for me as a hobbyist. First, its become something I look forward to. A nice break from the day to sit down, put on a podcast or video, and just paint. Second, it's made me a lot faster and more efficient while painting. This set of 20 went by even quicker than the previous sets. I'm no longer dreading starting the task. Third, obviously I've been able to make a lot of progress this month on the army.

So here are the completed final 20 man unit of the GSC miners. Take a look

Nothing too much more to say about them that I haven't said already. Really just 2 new points. First, I tried adding some of the technical oxidizer paint to the vexilla for a contrast color. Second, I just noticed while uploading these photos that I missed a white spot on one of the front guys heads. Oop I'll go fix that once I finish this post.

More close-ups of the models. There's a good variety in these guys via poses, heads, and mixing up the work clothes colors.




And with that, the painting of the first horde is complete. I was able to set them all up on my bookshelf to get them off my workdesk, and they look pretty impressive when all together.

I'm very happy with the progress that I've been able to make with the army. This is the most I've painted in probably a decade, and I'm happy with the overall, gritty look of the army. It's gone much smoother than I thought it would, and the end results are better. Not a bad combo!

So what's next? Nothing much exciting to be honest. If the weather permits, I'm going to varnish all the models. That way I can get them on the tabletop without worrying about undoing my hard work. After that, I'll be leaving for a nearly 2 week vacation, so I won't be doing any hobbying at all. I'll miss it, but a vacation is definitely needed from real life obligations I do plan to do the bases soon, along with my other finished models. I'll probably set aside a week to do that sometime in mid-August.

Once I get back, I'll have to see what piques my interest. On my to-do list, I still have 40 farmers/peasants/rabble and 35 or so ex-chaos cultists. Plus the new cawdor gangers I picked up at the beginning of the month. Or I could take a break from troops and work on customizing my new ogryns. Or maybe I'll finally pick up that traitor guard kill team I wanted and do the command cadre I tested earlier. So many options... We'll just have to see what my eyes settle on.

I do wish that GW would finally release the updated IMC PDF. I really want to know that what I'm painting is still valid in HH 2.0. I'm sure things like troops will still be usable in some form, of course. But I don't want to paint up 200 cultists and then find out they changed the max squad size to 20, meaning I have an extra 80 cultists I can't use in normal games. You never know. Nothing I can do until then however.

Until next time dakka

Hello. I have returned, though much later than I originally had planned. This was for once not due to me procrastinating. Instead, I just got extremely unlucky. About a week into my vacation, I unfortunately caught a pretty serious case of COVID. This of course meant I missed out on everything else planned for the vacation. Since I was abroad, I had to quarantine for 10 days before I could come back to the states. All together, I wound up spending an extra week sitting in a hotel room and missed out on most of my vacation. Unlucky
The worst part honestly was that I had all the free time in the world and nothing to do with it. If I had been home, I could have at least made some serious painting progress. But alas, it was not to be.

So now I'm finally home and settled. Still recovering from the plague, so having to take it easy. But I did want to give a quick update on a couple things I was able to get done in the few days I had before I left and the couple I've had since returning.

Progress #1, I was able to get back to my first love of the hobby, kitbashing. Its always been the thing I've enjoyed the most. I just start looking at my bits box and get itchy fingers. This round of kitbashing was for my 2 rabble squads. Here's an overall shot:

Not the best picture, but I wanted to give a visual while I explain. These guys will represent the second pillar of core support for the rebellion. The first obviously were the blue collar miners that I finished earlier. These are the farmers and the local priesthood. Real salt of the earth guys and gals that have had enough and picked up a pitchfork. They won't be as well equipped or as techie as the miners, but they'll still do the job as meatshields just as good


The models are a mix of a few kits. First and foremost is the old WHF militia kit. I ADORE this kit. So many cool bits and random weapons that I've thrown into different conversions. They also really give the look of poor farmers, which is perfect for what I'm going for. The second group of major kits are the Cawdor Necromunda gangers. These will represent the priests that are leading the farmers out of the fields and onto the battlefield. I'm hoping that the 2 will mix together and give the feel of a poor, rural mob. Lastly there's some random bits from WHF kits like the Empire Flagellants and some Frostgrave cultist heads that I've thrown in.

I've mixed in a ton of melee weapons, everything from 2 handed chainswords to spears and wooden clubs. All of the ranged weapons are exclusively WHF pistols, which will look like the old-school las locks once finished. When properly painted, I'm hoping these guys will look poor, dirty, and pissed off. They've just grabbed whatever they could find and marched out together because they've had enough. In the 2 pictures above, you can see the 2 gang leaders and the vexillas. I'll give more detailed pictures once I start painting. Unfortunately that will have to wait until the weekend, as I've run out of a primer spray and needed to order more. Oops.

In addition, I've demoted the old enforcer squad to be the final 5 members of these levies. I think with a quick touch-up, these guys will blend right in with the the rest of the priests. Plus that makes the squads nice and even at 30 models each.


So you may be asking why they've been demoted. I like these models, but I don't think they'll stand out enough on the tabletop when playing. Instead, I wanted to go a little more upscale and detailed to have some true enforcers to really keep the rabble in line. Ones that will be easier to see when surrounded by a squad of 30 militia. To that end, I have created those tough guys.


I want the enforcers to look like they've been promoted out of the ranks of the regular militia. Maybe they're workers who became fanatical about the beliefs of the cult and were promoted. Maybe they're just ones who showed a particular interest in violence and sadism. Either way, they're the big bads now and their word is law. You can see that one is the Cawdor gang leader, 1 is a GSC leader, and 2 are priests based off of the GSC magos. I'm also going to add the medic I painted earlier as the final member of the cadre.

I'm doing this because I really really want the new biophagus GSC model and I think he fits better as the medic. So this is more of a side-grade for the old medic. Did a lot of shaving and trimming to make the 2 GSC leaders look different from each other as well as the 2 magos characters. I think I changed up their silhouettes enough that they won't look identical.

Hopefully this will all end up with 5 beautifully detailed models that are 1) blinged out enough to visually be leaders but also 2) can clearly trace their origins back to their squadmates.

Apologies for the increase in the text-to-picture ratio for this post. Hopefully I'll be able to continue to recover and get back on the hobbying horse. I've got a narrative battle scheduled sometime in mid-September with my FLGS. So my goal is to have 1k points painted by then. Unfortunately my troops are only 2 points a model, so that's still a lot to paint. But that's the curse of running horde armies

Until next time