World Eaters Tartaros Terminator with Lightning Claws

Another World Eater today, to add to the growing terminator squad. This one is decked out in twin lightning claws which in game go well with the armour type to try to get that sweep in. 

The painting follows the standard pattern that I've established for this legion, replete with the blue shoulder pads and the grime look that has accumulated in the recesses of the otherwise off-white armour. The blood for the blood god paint is dribbled over the claws and down the marine's side suggestive of recent action. Decals from the official range are on both shoulders and both shin pads here (roman numeral, along with the crossed chains which indicates a gladiatorial win against a fellow world eater). The black splotches were added with a sponge application in a similar manner to the dreadnought from dreadtober earlier in the year. 

The base meanwhile is relatively simple with technical paint and dry brushing to give it the overall effect. A black base rim rounds out the miniature - largely because I can't imagine it being another colour (let's not mention goblin green in the 1980s/1990s, okay?). 

World Eaters Terminator with Power Maul

The conversion from yesterday is now fully painted! This is a World Eaters terminator decked out in the pre-heresy colour scheme for the legion, but also replete with a lot of dirt and blood to give it a grime filled, mid-action look. 

The decals are direct from the World Eaters range, and the blood is, of course, Blood for the Blood God which is simply amazing for this kind of work. I've applied it in both clumps of large gore, as well as splattering it across key areas in a lighter handed manner. I am very pleased with the vibe here and the theme. Even for pre-heresy, this is a nasty terminator who can readily be imagined bringing compliance in the only way that this legion knows how to do. Up close and personal without remorse or quarter. 

Tartaros Terminator with Power Maul / Mace

I've borrowed a little bit of inspiration - and bits - from the Dark Angels range for this terminator conversion. The basis is a normal Tartaros Terminator in plastic, but with a right hand swap for a Dark Angels power weapon. 

The difficult part of the conversion is the ranged weapon. Here, I have taken the combi-bolter and attached it to the left hand of the sergeant's power sword hand in order to create a left handed ranged weapon. This involved some careful slicing of the hand away from the power sword, and disguising it through an appropriate pose where the focus is on the melee power weapon.

This marine will be part of my World Eaters force (allied detachment) that I am constructing. 

Wargames Gallery: Is There Such A Thing As Too Many Lernaeans?

Is there such a thing as too many Lernaeans?

Possibly. Or Not?

Iron Warriors Cataphractii Terminators

Finished painting the squad of Iron Warriors Cataphractii Terminators!

These hardened warriors are kitted out for close combat duty with 4 of them sporting twin lightning claws, and the fifth a heavy flamer and power fist. Perhaps in hind sight I should have just gone with all five of them as lightning claws, but I do like the heavy flamer in a close combat squad regardless. Not only for softening up the enemy before charging, but also as an anti-charge deterrent. 

Perhaps the most novel feature of the paint scheme here is the wet blending on the lightning claws, combined with dry brushing of reds up the arms to where the yellow and black hazard stripes are located. It is meant to give off a theme of red hot claws capable of slicing through anything. The chaos lord arms in particular work very well here indeed. I've also applied the same approach to the flamer. I am not quite as sold on the approach here, but what it does do well is to tie the squad together in a cohesive painting scheme which the bases round off nicely. 

Wargames Gallery: Salamanders Contemptor Onslaught

The Iron Warriors look on grimly as the Salamanders' contemptor enters firing mode on the unit in front of him - there are no reactions left to be executed other than to stand there and take the shots. 

Alpha Legion Lernaeans

The final painting post of 2023: Alpha Legion Lernaeans!

Enjoyed painting these up immensely! I have more Lernaeans in the collection that these will join and probably enough for 2 or 3 deadly squads worth. Love the sculpts, and they were a pleasure to paint. 

Lernaean Terminators: Conversion Beamer and Harrower

And just before Christmas, here are two more Lernaean Alpha Legion terminators painted up.

The man on the left is toting a conversion beamer with a power axe. He might or might not get too much use depending on whether I'm thinking of a back line squad, or something much more aggressive.

The man on the right is intended to be the sergeant / harrower of the unit. There's a power dagger hooked on the right of his tabard which in game will generate a handy extra attack -- even with the chain fist that he is wearing. Indeed, the power dagger upgrade is almost always going to be worth taking for a character model in the Alpha Legion. 

Painted Volkite Culverin Lernaean Terminator

It seems like a long time ago since I posted the conversion I did for an Alpha Legion Lernaean terminator toting a volkite culverin! Regardless, here is the painted up outcome ready for the table top.

The model follows my newer approach to the metallic blue for the Alpha Legion (which is to say using contrast paints). This has come out well but is a touch darker than some of my earlier terminators. I can live with that since the Alpha Legion is notorious for slightly different armourial colours and iconography. 

The silver edgings are reasonable, but I think they could do with a touch more edge highlighting as this is lost in the distance. The Alpha Legion icon on the knee is something that I might come back to to pick out in gold as well. Other than these minor issues, I think that this one is safely done and dusted. I'm very pleased with the base in particular which blends in with the ruined Imperial Sector terrain that I own in terms of colour scheme. 

To Whom Does the Blood Belong?

Finally finished painting most of the Lernaean Terminator squad for the Alpha Legion. This particular battle brother seems to have splatters of blood streaking down an otherwise freshly washed and ironed cloth hanging between his legs. The main question is whether this blood is his own, or that of his enemy. And if the latter, which enemy was it? So many questions!

Reasonably satisfied with the paint job here even if the photograph doesn't quite do it justice. The colours are nice and crisp, and the base has come out exactly how I wanted it to, including the tuft of grass that has been squashed by the steel plating falling on to the ground. I will have to photograph the whole squad together at some point!

Lernaean Progress

I've made quite a bit of progress on painting the Lernaeans over the weekend. This marine is just one example of many. 

To state up front: they're not finished yet.

Tasks left to do include, but are not limited to: fine highlights, gun lenses, base shading and highlights as well as finishing, decals, blood for the blood god technical paint accents, and doing something with those white clothes between the legs. 

But regardless of all of those tasks, I'm pleased with the progress made so far considering how many I've been processing in parallel as part of the painting process!

Horus Heresy 2e Review: Inner Circle Knights Cenobium

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4/5 stars. The rules are good, but there's probably only a couple of orders that you are going to take. 

Background.

There are wheels within wheels, and there are orders within the Dark Angels. The Inner Circle Knights Cenobium are those orders militant within and dedicated to unique martial skills. 

Strengths.

The plasma casters that they carry as standard are effectively flamers with breaching, but what is really cool are the standard terranic greatswords. These terminators come as standard with 2 wounds and WS=5, but the preceptor has an amazing WS=6 which blows away much of the competition. 

Not only can they take the hexagrammaton upgrades, but they get their pick of Orders as well. 

Augurs of Weakness: Get a bonus against AV=11 or higher. You will want Iron Wing and some hammers here. But note there are better tools in the box for tank hunting than these guys - this is a bit of a waste.

Icons of Resolve: Ld+1 when charged is not worth taking. Skip this.

Slayers of Kings: Re-rolling of 1's to hit against WS=5 or higher or in a challenge is hilarious. Take with death wing. Don't forget Terranic Greatsword bonus. Take this almost every time!

Hunters of Beasts: I'm a bit neutral on the worth of re-rolling to wound rolls of 1's against T=5 or higher. I mean, if you know you're facing lots of beasts, then yes sure. But otherwise probably not quite worth it.

Reapers of Hosts: A+1 against they have base to base contact with more than one enemy is cool. Take it if you're not wanting Slayers of Kings. Great against horde armies, of course.

Breakers of Witches: re-rolls against deamons, psykers, and corrupted is highly situational. Of course, if you know you're against daemons of the ruinstorm, it is a no-brainer. Thousand Sons will hate you for it too. As will plenty of Word Bearer armies, and certain Sons of Horus builds. 

Weaknesses.

Lots of points cost here, and they can not sweep!

Builds.

5 Inner Circle Knights Cenobium, 1 Legion Vexilla, Preceptor with Grenade Harness (290 points).

There's honestly not many other builds to consider. Add extra bodies to taste. Swap out a greatsword for a thunder hammer (perhaps 1 only) if desired otherwise retain those greatswords all round.

Hobby: Iron Warriors Terminator Squad

A complete cataphractii terminator squad for the Iron Warriors!

Squad composition:

1x reaper autocannon, chain fist

2x thunder hammer

2x chain fists

Total points cost = 265 points.

Yes, it is a bit expensive, but the idea here is to be able to tackle some of the tougher nuts to crack in the game such as dreadnoughts as they charge out from a land raider of one type or another. Also very content to teleport onto the field of battle when and where permitted and needed. I might touch up some of the paint work yet, and I will also add some sparse greenery to the bases to better tie them in to the other miniatures I've completed for this force. Happy with the outcome here though! 

Hobby: Iron Warriors Legion Thunder Hammer Terminator Number 2

Matching and complementing the previous thunder hammer terminator, this particular marine has dispensed with his helm in order to survey the field with his own eye(s). 

Painting follows my now standard approach to the Iron Warriors which can be seen in the previous post but in general is lead belcher and lighter silvers with the trusty old Nuln oil. The blue of the thunder hammer could do with a bit more work admittedly, but it stands out nicely compared to the rest of the colour scheme and the Armageddon dunes basing that I have gone for - a good contrast. 

The squad is almost ready - more on this later in the weekend I feel!

Hobby: Iron Warriors Legion Reaper Autocannon Terminator

While I am still enjoying a bit of a break, here's yet another conversion that I undertook and painted up. This one is a reaper autocannon terminator for the Iron Warriors. I have taken the reaper autocannon from the older chaos space marine terminator set. It is not a fit by any means, so it had to be extensively filed down and even some green stuff used to paper over the cracks between each of the parts. Can't recommend doing this conversion unless you are like me and really keen for the aesthetic.

 

So why this particular look then? Well, as with some of my Alpha Legion forces, I wanted to have a few marines in the Iron Warriors force that resemble or give a hint at what they might ultimately become. This particular marine is obviously not there yet, but perhaps heralds what might come. The chain fist on the left arm is to go with the rest of the squad which is dedicated to dreadnought hunting (or similar). The painting scheme follows my now standard approach for this army of using lead belcher as the base and working up from there with different silvers. This particular marine does have a few more hazard stripes than the standard marine, but that's fine. Back to regular posts next week - promise!

Hobby: Iron Warriors Legion Thunder Hammer Terminator

A small hobby update for the long holiday weekend - a painted Iron Warriors legion thunder hammer terminator!

Painting follows a fairly standard formula for the Iron Warriors featuring lead belcher as the primary base and layer, followed by highlighting in progressively lighter tones of silver. I've selected some blues for the tip of the thunder hammer to give it a bit of an accent among the rest of the painting which sets it off very nicely, without actually having lightning cascading around the weapon. Not quite sure if I like it or not, but I can live with it. Decals are from the forge world Iron Warriors sheet and the base is Armageddon dunes with highlighting and dry brushing in elf flesh. I might add a bit more to the base, but otherwise I'm calling this one done and table top ready. 

Hobby: Lernaean Volkite Culverin

Today, a second Lernaean conversion armed with a Volite Culverin, and a chain fist. 

This one follows the same basic approach as the first Lernaean Volkite Culverin. The right arm is in a different pose to the first one and the basic issue with the conversion is getting the wrist of the weapon to sit flush with the terminus of the right arm. In this case, I have pinned the joint to supply more strength. I might yet add a touch of liquid green stuff to ensure that the joint is sufficient hidden for the painting stage, as well as more stones on the base. The handle of the Culverin has had the left hand removed for obvious reasons. It has been shortened, but I have retained the end of the handle which now looks a bit like a sight or a scope light? Meanwhile the left arm is simple a plastic chain fist and the head from the same terminator range. The idea behind this squad is to have them all chain fist armed and ready for close combat or tearing apart vehicles and dreadnoughts at close range whilst retaining anti-infantry fire power.

Painted Siege Tyrant Squad

After what seems like too long, I have managed to complete painting the Siege Tyrant squad to a good table top standard.

I could probably go a bit further with these miniatures to be honest. There's a lot of counter shading that I could do and armour extreme highlighting coupled with scratch deep blends. But they're done as they're going to get since I'm hardly aiming for Golden Demon with these and its already been a slog to get them to this standard!

I will be using these in two ways. Both as part of my newer Iron Warriors force, and as a rewards of treason / coils of the hydra unit for my much larger Alpha Legion army. I'm happy either way with them!

Hobby Update: Siege Tyrant

A small hobby update today: a singular Siege Tyrant. 

This one is done in traditional Iron Warriors colours of silvers and greys mixed in with the yellow and black hazard stripes. The work is not one hundred per cent complete just yet. I need to go over the highlighting once more and blend in some of the colours a little better. But as a work in progress, I'm pretty pleased and its certainly more than battlefield ready!

Wargames Gallery: Alpha Legion Lernaean Conversion Beamer

Following a harrowing encounter for the enemy, the Alpha Legion Lernaean Terminator positions himself on the upper level of the ruined Forge World building. His conversion beamer takes aim at a target at long range away from himself. 

I think this might be the first time I've actually posted an image of my painted Lernaean Terminators? If so, then the painting scheme follows a typical approach but with some choice locations for Blood for the Blood god added in here and there - most especially visible on the tabard. The base has also been painted to try to reflect the painting scheme of the ruins as well. Not sure what colour the conversion beamer is supposed to be, so I just followed the hint from Forge World themselves on this and used a golden colour that gives a certain antique look to the weapon.