Word Bearers Legion - First project for 2022

 I'll always begin the new year with a new hobby project, and this time will be the legion that orchestrated the Horus Heresy itself - the Word Bearers. I've always fascinated with this legion, being the baddest of them all but there's a certain tragedy to them. They were the most loyal of all the legions until the Emperor chastised them for revering him as a god. I mean, they could be a better diplomatic way to tell them to stop, but NOO, you chastised them after they've worked so so hard to build the Imperium. I don't have to tell you the outcome of that result...

I've decided to themed my Bearers beginning with the assault on Calth and towards the end of the Heresy when they all have embraced Chaos. I guess this will be easier as I can mix match bits and sprues from my Chaos Space Marines collection. The three models below will be my HQ choices which is the Praetor, Chaplain and Diabolist. I'm quite happy with my conversion and paintjob on these traitors. They have that evil malevolence and grimdark feel to them 😈

Hope to field them in my upcoming 30k game soon. Till then...

Praetor

Chaplain

Diabolist

I'm still here! Alive and "hobbying"!

8 years...has it been that long since my last post here? Sorry blog, I've abandoned you for far too long. Hopefully I can post regularly from now on. The last 8 years, things have come and go, so it seems. Warhammer Fantasy is gone and replaced by Age of Sigmar (AOS), and 40k was revamped to a degree in 9th edition I'm ok with the change but some of my veteran hobby colleagues are a bit hesitant. I'm more into 30k now (played almost every other week!) but the with the advent of the new Aeldari Codex, I might be playing more 40k. (and yes! I've started an Eldar force!) 

As for me, I've continued "hobbying" and rolling them dices and also more armies have been added to my collection; Emperor's Children (came and went, sold it!), Thousand Sons and as mentioned above, Aeldari. There are also updates on my existing armies such as my Space Wolves. The good thing of not posting in a while is that I have tons of material to post especially my completed projects. I'm happy with GW and where they stood right now, I think they're going in the right direction especially with their rollout of new and gorgeous miniatures, specialist games and edition updates. It is a good time indeed to be in the 40k/30k and AOS universe at the moment!

Oh, I've also started dabbling in scale modelling as well, particularly with World War 2 models. I will post them when I have the time. In the meantime, do checkout my Instagram posts in  the widget I've added to the sidebar on my blog ----------->

Till then..

Pre Heresy Emperor's Children: Scimitar Jetbikes Completed

It took me awhile, but managed to finish the 1st scimitar jetbike squadron during the weekend. I can say its been a labor of love thus far and I really enjoy painting the sons of Fulgrim in comparison to my Vlka Fenryka. I'm  particularly satisfied how the purple turns out and don't mind to have settled for a clean painting finishing rather the extreme weathering style for most of miniature collections.

The squad is lead by Sergeant Ilios Maros, and the white heraldry on his power armor helmet and stripes at the front portion of his jetbike, marked his veteran status among his squad members. Also, his aquila etched on his breastplate further signify his status and his artificer armor. 

I've also used decals from various sets to further signify these Emperor's Children company. The Emperor's Children symbol on their left shoulder pads were from Chaos Space Marines decal set, and the III symbols from Imperial Guard Leman Russ set. I begin with a light coat of Ard'coat on the decal's surface. After the decal is positioned and dried, a light spray of Tamiya Flat Clear to reduced the gloss of Ard'coat and the decal. To further bring out the decal effect, I lightly paint over the decals.

I'm trying to maximize my resources as much as I can because building a Pre Heresy army from my part of the world, is not cheap. Furthermore, I have tons of those decals and about high time I use them for something. To reflect this cost cutting effort, the next Tactical Squad will be a mixture of FW models with my existing CSM models and at the same time maintaining the Pre Heresy aesthetic, I will post more on that later.

Next, will be the 21st Millennial's 2nd Company Captain (Praetor) Amori Sendax. Hopefully, I can finish him by the end of the week. Have also other projects in my mind, like building another scratch built Warhound Titan specially for the 21st Millennial Titan cohorts...laters..

Pre Heresy Emperor's Children: Tactical Squad Completed

It took me some time but I managed to finish painting the squad last weekend. I loved how the squad turned out especially the purple element really worked with the gold contrast. I named this squad as Squad Alkanex in honor of their praefector. Below are more pics of the squad. Appreciate your comments guys.

Next, I will start work on the Scimitar jetbikes. I've been hearing comments on how ugly the jetbike looks, not sleek enough but personally I love it (plus I'm paying quite a premium for these). I'm done with the jetbikes' bases and will work on the jetbikes soon enough. Till then, laters..

Praefector Alkanex- Emperor's Children

I've finished assembling and painting the Praefector last weekend. Painting him was fairly easy, similar to other Emperor's Children legionnaires. I try to distinguished him from the rest of his squad, signifying his heroic and loyal service to the III legion. Alkanex's power armor is a Mark IV pattern and equipped with the more advanced Anvilus pattern life support pack. He has the honor of carrying the sacred Aquila symbol on his breastplate and a customised shoulder pad with the legion winged symbol (also representing his artificer armor). Finally, I armed with a finely crafted power axe to further signify his veteran status among his squad.

The model was kit bashed from various sprues as per below:

1) Legs and backpack: Chaos Space Marines

2) Torso and pouch: Space Marines

3) Head, winged shoulder, power axe and bolter: Sanguinary Guard BAs

I wanted him to look regal befitting an Emperor's Children veteran legionnaire, and the Sang. Guard sprues worked perfectly. Of course I have to scrape off the Blood Angels signia and symbols but it wasn't difficult. CSM parts will help to maintain the heresy look and yes the Anvilus backpack is already in service during the great crusade.

Praefector Alkanex leading his squad

Enjoy the pics and will see you guys in the next post. Laters..

2nd Company Tactical Squad - Emperor's Children

Just finished 3 more legionaries this weekend. I'm loving the progress and currently waiting for the next shipment of FW stuffs to come in. Hopefully soon as I really want to complete this 10 man tactical squad. In the meantime I'm working on Praefector Alkanex (Sergeant), who leads this tactical squad.

I will post more update on Praefector Alkanex soon. Enjoy the pics and see you in the next post.

Millennial 21st, 2nd Company Tactical Squad - Emperor's Children

Just finished painting a second legionaire yesterday, loving the momentum and targeting to finish 3 more models by the end of the week. Slight addition to the gold portion of the models, after highliting stage with Gehenna gold, an additional highlight of Auric Armor Gold to further bring out the gold color. Will post more updates soon. Laters..

Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children

I've started a new project, pre-heresy Emperor's Children Legion. I've been wanting to do a pre-heresy army using Forge World stuffs but couldn't get around to do it plus I've been re-reading all the early Horus Heresy novels which spur further my interest. The army that fascinated me the most would be the sons of Fulgrim. The Emperor's Children before their downfall was a strong, unified and loyal army of the Emperor, strive for perfection in every aspect of their military tactics. It's just sad what happened to them in the end. I wanted to capture that moment in time when the EC were loyal thus selected them for my project.

I'm going for pure pre-heresy for this project hence the Astartes' armaments such as armor and weapons should reflect that era accordingly.  The legionnaire below is using the MK II Early Crusade pattern and armed with a Phobos pattern bolter. I've started painting a test model as per the pics below in which I used painting methods from Forge World.  

For the purple armor, I started off with a black basecoat and then proceeded with a basecoat of Xereus purple. Next a heavy wash of Druchii Violet. The next step is a bit tricky where I  used a 50/50 mix of Xereus purple and Genestealer purple for layering. You can use a syringe to get the right mixing portion. After layering, a 25/75 mix of Xereus purple and Genestealer purple for highlighting. For the gold, a basecoat of Gehenna gold, wash of Reikland Fleshade and a highlight of Gehenna gold to bring out the gold color.

Completed purple armor

I loved how the purple color turned out and for me it really depicts the EC legion with its martial perfection. I'm not too sure about shoulder pads however, still contemplating to add a bright color such as white to contrast with the purple and include the Legion's III symbol over it. I'll experiment with that later.   

Grave Guards: Legio Throwdown Special Entry

I've completed the first batch of my Grave Guard for the said entry. As similar to my Iron Warriors painting scheme, I maintaned that dark mood color scheme to reflect the Grave Guard's aging and rustic armor. The blue shimmering tones on the eyes to reflect the baleful energy within the wights and magical weaponary in which they can inflict killing blow on any enemy they encounter. I'm not too sure on the banner though since this is the first time I painted such details on a banner. Enjoy the pics below and appreciate your comments. See you guys in the next post.

Terrain Building: Ruined Temple

Hi all, I got side tracked a bit from my Legio Throwdown project by building a simple ruined temple. As mentioned in the previous post I'm kinda interested in building terrains again after reading the old but invaluable "How to make wargames terrain" book by Nigel Stillman. I've already started with the foundation in the last post and the end result as per the pics below. I laid in some ameoba shape tiles by using cardboards within the ruin and  flocked sands in the outer perimeter of the ruin with PVA glue. That's it! And the paint job did the rest.

It was easy to build, cost me almost nothing and yet the end result is amazing. All you need is some corrugated cardboards, slightly thick cardboards for the tiles, ready mixed filler, pva glue and sands for flocking. Most households have these items or you could just go and buy them, its dirt cheap.

I will post more on my terrain projects as I'm planning to build more soon. For now this will accompany my Crypt Ghouls in the Throwdown event this Friday. That's it for now, laters..

Crypt Ghouls 2nd Batch

Just finished these last night and I'm good for the first Legio Throwdown core entry. Pics per below.

I'm building a simple scenery which is a ruin temple to compliment all my VC entries. Any of you guys remember the "How to make Wargames Terrains" by Nigel Stillman way back in 1996? Well, I still have that book and reading it again revived my interest in building terrains. Maybe a wargame table. For now I'm starting slowly with the ruin temple per below.

The base and the ruin itself was made out of corrugated cardboard. The white residue you see on the terrain is actually water mixed plaster powder to cover the gaps of the cardboard. I'm going to get a ready made filler which is much simpler to use and less messy than the plaster powder. I will write more in the next post. Till then, laters...

Crypt Ghouls: Legio Throwdown Core Entry

 

Here's the first batch for my Vampire Counts Legio Throwdown Core entry. In actual, I already have a completely painted VC army but to my surprise, I still have many unpainted VC miniatures up to a point I can build another army. So for the Throwdown I'm fielding a 2000 points Ghoul themed army starting with the Ghouls in the pics below. The first batch is complete and I'm moving on to the second batch soon.

Normally, I would opted the easy way by painting flesh colors, and simply dip the minis in Minwax to get that instant wash effect. But this time I'm ditching the Minwax and went traditional. For the main Ghoul body, I started with Abadon Black as base, then Ungor Flesh for the second layer. Then a light drybrush of Ulthuan Grey and moved on to a heavy wash of Reikland Flesh Shade. After the wash dried up, a highlight of Ungor Flesh and further highlight of Screaming Skull to finish.

2nd batch

Seeing my limited hobby time nowadays, the quick painting scheme above does provide me ample time for me to finish the Ghouls quickly, hopefully. I've started the layering of Ungor Flesh on the second batch and aiming to finish by this week before the Force Recon tourney at Hobby Forge. I'm planning to throw in a scenery or terrain as well to compliment the Ghouls during the Throwdown if time permits. That's my update so far, I'll see you guys in the next post. Laters.....

Iron Warriors Legion Terminators

I managed this about a week ago but was not in time for the Legio Throwdown. Did a few conversions on them using SM Terminators, coupled with my old metal CSM Terminators bits, Warriors of Chaos heads and the ever important green stuff. Enjoy the pics below.

For my IW project, I'm stopping here for now. My next target would be the Obliterators but Fantasy is suddenly picking up steam again in our hobby locale here, so I guess I'm going back to my Vampire Counts and finish up what I had left off about a year ago. See you in the next post.