Imperial Beasts

Hi all. Sorry it's been quiet here recently. I've got lots of good stuff coming I promise! Anyhow, remember those Imperial Beastmen/Phagons I did during lockdown? Well a good matey is having a 40th birthday 40K extravaganza shortly for which I needed a warband so I decided to do something with the Urban War Viridian riding beasts and Knightmare Miniatures cyber minotaurs that I've had kicking around for a while.

 

Imperial Beasts

The rebel guard- an old school imperial army platoon

Another long-standing project has been brought to a (for now) close during lockdown. This time some imperial guardsmen to accompany the Phagons, Commissar and BOYL miniatures I painted a couple of years back. These are all ex-Grenadier future warrior troopers by Mark Copplestone, now available from Moonraker Miniatures. They're a great match stylistically with the Citadel imperial army soldiers whilst being easier to come by and significantly cheaper. I was first drawn to the range by one of the scanner operators and troopers whose helmets had those distinctive side bulges such a feature of the first wave of guardsmen. Unfortunately, for some reason, the others didn't so I had to do a bit of green stuffing prior to painting.

These are the spacefaring mercenaries known as the "Rebels with a cause", or "the Rebels" for short. Rumour has it they took their red-stripe helmet design from an ancient cultural relic. A former imperial guard unit the Rebels went AWOL after they were assigned escort to a powerful inquisitor. Once he had no further use for them they were to be disposed of, they had seen things that the imperium did not want to acknowledge. Unfortunately for him the inquisitor had put too much trust in the blind loyalty of the troops, and especially in their commissar. Who knew they would rather betray their emperor than die? Now they wander from world to world raising funds and awareness of the imperium's misdeeds, fighting for whoever will put money in their coffers and not ask questions. Following the liberation of a number of beastmen from the extremist martian cult the Brotherhood of the Iron Road they have bolstered their numbers to almost their original complement. 

Blue and Yellow squads form the regular core of the force. Each is lead by an officer and consists of a comms expert, missile launcher, four regular guardsmen, two beastmen with lasguns and a beastman with a plasma rifle. Blue squad contains a flamethrower. Standard armament for the guardsmen is the autogun, ammunition for which can be picked up pretty much anywhere with few questions asked.

Green squad are a specialist covert engagement squad. Their armaments are a mix of lasguns, shotguns, autoguns, sniper rifles and a missile launcher so they have options to fit their situation. Their officer Hannah Solow is notorious for her furiosity and is accompanied everywhere by her beastman sidekick Baccychewa.

The Rebels are lead by ex-commissar Leigha Ratmiana Chutyaboloxov, known to her followers as 'the Princess'. Her command squad consists of the platoon's veterans plus the mysterious Navigator, another 'desertee' member of the former-inquisitorial retinue.

The rebel guard- an old school imperial army platoon

Inquisimunding- the return of the AdMech

Many, many months ago a friend brought it to my attention that GW were releasing boxed plastic Skitarii, and that, since I have an AdMech army, I should get some. I did. They sat in a box, unopened, until last weekend when Iw as spurred on by an invite from the same firend to go play some Inquisimunda. I needed an AdMech warband and, whilst I could pick from among the 3000 points of AdMech I already have, I never pass up an opportunity for some modelling, so I dived for the box of Skitarii rangers along with some other recent acquisitions from Ramshackle Games and ebay to see what I could whip up:

 

 

Here's the warband then. A Warfactory/Lancer cultist (from among our own community, and part of a great little but expanding range of cultists) with a Space Crusade fusion gun and Skitarii breastplate is my Genetor. His able assistants are all abhumans which he has 'purified' through technology, the exception being the Arcoflagellant (Ramshackle with my own chainsaw added and the sensers from the Skitarii backpacks) who is an old flame of his. Two Ramshackle squat-types had some Skitarii bits added and the other two are unmodified Bob Olley Scrunts. Lastly there's an Ogryn Gun Servitor with a heavy bolter (modified Hordes Trollkin). Well that was fun, but wait! There are pieces left....:

 

EM4 mixed with Ramshackle and Space Marine bitz to make some Ruststalkers.

My efforts for Orktober then I guess! Ork bodies, Warzone Mutant Chronicles heads, Skitarii legs and big guns...need a lot of green stuffing! Gun servitors.

Ironstriders made from EM4 bits and Void Vasa riders.

 

Some Iron Guard types, experimenting blending the very old with the very new (Heresy!). Green stuff groins will be required as their hip had to shrink somewhat to fit in the Skitarii robes!

 

So, a weekend of fun painting coming up then, maybe. And after all the hype and expectation, how did I finally find the Skitarii box? Well, honestly, a bit rubbish. The details nice and I'm sure they fit together well to make up the models on the box, but as the useful conversion bitz box I hoped it would prove it was a big disappointment. No useful servo skulls or bits of armour to pop on things, no flexible arms, no multi-use torsos. The heads are about the most useful bit and they're all a bit samey. Not wanting to moan too much about the big GW, this does seem to fit the pattern of giving you nicely designed kits to make the stock figures or, at best, do a little kit bashing by changing a pair of arms or a head. This was definitely not a box designed to give you lots of opportunities to AdMech up other figures. Which is a shame, because surely people who want to have AdMech want to play with converting their own unique force don't they? I'd have thought the theme and reputation of the Mechanicus makes it a perfect modellers/converters army- none of which is helped by the very specifically-fitting components of the rangers box. Ah well. Back to Mutant Chronicles/Void for those opportunities then!

Inquisimunding- the return of the AdMech

OrKtober- Full Moons on Halloween...

A month ago I pulled this little pile of soon-to-be-greenskins out of a box:

 



Nice little project, RT Ork army in a month. And now it's the end of Orc(k)tober so it's all finished. Errrrr.... no. But then, as someone rightly said on the forum, what self-respecting Ork has a calendar?

So what did I get done?

As you can see, most of what was assembled in the picture above is at least underway. There are loads of boyz still on sprues and I haven't got to the bikes or wagons yet but I think it's not bad progress for what little of the month I had free to spend time on them!

 

 

Sticking with the Bucky O' Hare theme these two toads... er, Orks!... have been painted up as Air Marshalls. Actually it was these miniatures painted by someone on the forum (I forget who, sorry) that first put me on to the idea of a toad/Ork army. I was going to Toadborg-up the old SM dread but since the Nobs were in that scheme I decide to pain him as another Komplex-to-go to kompliment the warboss. There are also 12 more Boyz in this lot which I did last week.

 

I'm currently painting Gretchin, which will be done tonight but since the light was going about 5 I had to snap some shots before it got dark. The Goff Rokkers probably won't get finished tonight, they're among my favourite models ever and I want to pay proper time and attention to them. It seemed fitting to start them on Halloween though, listening my way through the entire works on The Mission (in preparation for going dancing to some good ol' Batcave classics tonight, hooray!).

In addition to painting I ACTUALLY PLAYED TWO GAMES (!) with these guys on Monday night. Using 7th Ed rules but nevertheless, I have never played as Orks before and it was a refreshing change from my much-abused Guard force. Yes they got pummelled, but gloriously and appropriately for Orks. The Nobz held off and butchered two squads of Khorne Berzerkers and a squad of Chaos Space Marine Bikes before they were brought down and the hopeless carnage of the second game was only because of a Stormraven Gunship....

OrKtober- Full Moons on Halloween...

OrKtober: Da Deff Kommandos- Maim! Mangle! Masticate!

First 20 Bad Moons done... well, done for now! I'll probably go back and refine them later but for now I'm happy to consider these guys ready for basing. Not bad for a day's painting.

 

I was surprised how well the Space Crusade Orks fit with the RT plastics once painted up. There are many, many more RT Orks to do so the SC models will be even more diluted across the squads. Really enjoyed doing the two metal Orks as the unit leaders as well, great Orkish models.







 

 



The colour scheme, as I mentioned in my previous post, is based on the Toads from Larry Hama's Bucky O' Hare comic (and subsequent tv series). Earlier this year Continuity offered me a license to produce a range of Bucky models and ruleset but a bit of market research suggested there wasn't enough of a market for them. I may still do a couple of sculpts just for myself as a big fan of the comic and cartoon series. I've gone with a halfway comics/tv colour scheme for the Orks, limiting the purple to the eyes and goggles and keeping the guns blue. The organic quality of the RT Ork weapons works really well here, although I need to do some more drybrushing and inking on them. I have gone for a dark blue rather than black for the base uniform though as it's a)easier to shade/highlight and b)more in keeping with the Bad Moon clan I think.

OrKtober: Da Deff Kommandos- Maim! Mangle! Masticate!

Gears of war.... the stormtroopers

Quick snap of some guys I spent a few hours making up last night after deciding I needed some deep striking AP3 weapons to help with some Blood Angels next week. These are pretty much the last of the box of plastic Warzone figures I got back in November, their arms replaced with some old Necromunda guns, Catachan bitz and weapons from the Dark Vengeance cultists. The heads are more of my own cast servitor heads. These were really fun to make up, I love how the different heads and weapons really alter the poses from the ranks and file and veteran squads in the army. The Warzone figures have been really versatile and definitely a top buy for making up the mainstay of an army which could have been very pricey indeed.

Gears of war.... the stormtroopers

The Exalted Performers

As I mentioned a long, long time ago, I have a friend who is building a circussy Harlequin Eldar army. His is one of the forces participating in our little campaign and as part of the campaign we are each selecting a small warband for some Inquisitoresque gaming. My matey wants to have a warband formed of Exarchs of each of the Aspects. He already has Warp Spider and Fire Dragon Exarch models but was struggling to find affordable minis for the others.

Now, I happen to have a more modern Harley troupe and a few (nasty) finecast Eldar bits hanging around and I just thought, hey, what if I built Exarchs from the Harlies to reinforce the troupe theme? They're due to be handed over tomorrow, so here are some photos of what I came up with last night, playing around with some bitz and putty.

The collected wartroupe of Exarchs

Dire Avengers Exarch built from a finecast Autarch, guardian bitz and the axe of a Phoenix Guard.

Striking Scorpion- A Harley torso on Guardian legs with mandiblasters built from more Guardian bitz and some putty.

Howling Banshee- Pretty much a standard Harley with a banshee mask and tabard built on and plastic back banners from a samurai set.

Dark Reaper- Finecast Death Jester with weapon swap and tombstone from an old Skelly sprue. I've built out the helmet into more of a point and added the samurai-style side pieces typical of classic Reapers, but kept them subtle so as not to look cartoony or dominate the figure.

Swooping Hawk- Troupe master with the wings from the Autarch and a lance I had in my bitz bix... is it a shining spear? Not sure. This guy's my favourite, I love how he looks like he's coming in to land.

The Exalted Performers

Rise of the machines!

Getting close to having all the units painted for the AdMech now, mainly the Arcotechton and the vehicles to finish off. Here are the most recent additions to the force:

Vexillarius Sepulchrade and his Aurer attendant. The perspex top of the ensign has a green LED set into it  for extra special glowy effect.

 This nice little Warzone figure is counting as Marbo. In the one and only game I have fielded him in he managed to overshoot a squad of biovores with his demolition charge and spectacularly failed to slay a lone Termagant... hmm.

The Drogues- special weapon squads equipped with experimental weaponry. A mix of modified Catachans and Dark Vengeance Cultists.

8 servitors for the Enginseers, 4 with servo-arm-type-things and 4 with heavy weapons. Don't know if they'll ever get used but they look pretty.

Rise of the machines!

The Emperor's Seraphim- Astartes Praeses

The tome known as the Mythos Angelica Mortis records twenty Astartes Chapters which it calls the Astartes Praeses. These Space Marine Chapters were founded to provide constant watch over the Eye of Terror against the incursions of Chaos. Among this list are the Marines Exemplar, the Night Watch, the Relictors, the Subjugators and the White Consuls. Not listed in the tome are the Emperor's Seraphim. The Seraphim were indeed part of the original founding- guardians of the Scelus Sub-Sector assigned to stand sentinel against the threat of the Black Crusades. The Seraphim are known to have been equipped for specialist ship-borne combat, with advanced Tactical Dreadnought armour and close assault weaponry issued as standard. It is also recorded that their Chapter Master, Leopus Nix, was a potent psyker and was reported to have forbidden the use of scanners in boarding actions when he was present, guiding his squads more accurately by sense alone. Yet the Seraphim disappeared from their posts and history does not reveal their fate.

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My first Space Marine army was the Terminatrus Chapter- cheesy I know, but I was about 10! When I got back into 3rd Ed they were reinvented as the Emperor's Seraphim and were comprised as entirely of Terminators as the Army Lists would allow. Now just recently I have got inspired again to play some Space Hulk and, even better, some Space Crusade. To this end I have stripped the Emperor's Seraphim again, and as I have no real interest in picking up a Marine army (too busy with the Mechanicus) my plan is to paint up both sets as purely for use in the board games. I'll be doing Ultramarines and Blood Angels for SC- but there's a dilemma. I see SC as being set pre-Heresy, as part of the Great Crusade. I'm going to use Mark VI armour (not pre-Heresy I know, but my favourite armour type) but I've never been keen on the Imperial Fists so was going to switch to the enigmatic Mentor Legion which has always been a preference of mine. But ML aren't a part of the first founding so do I go for the Fists because it's more accurate to the fluff or for the Mentors because they're so much cooler? Hmm.

Anyhow, back on topic, I'm going to be painting up a squad of 10 Blood Angels Termies and 10 Deathwing Termies for Space Hulk but I've got some nice early metal Termies that I'm going to paint up again as Emperor's Seraphim, hopefully doing a better job this time. The Seraphim are a part of the Astartes Praeses who slipped up on one occasion, letting a Hulk drift through from the Warp, past their cordon and into Imperial Space.

Realising their mistake too late they pursued the trail of the craft, but by the time they reached it the Hulk had made landfall on a primitive but loyal Imperial world. The devastation was complete. The Seraphim were not equipped to carry out the rites of Exterminatus, but in the name of the Emperor they could not allow the abominations that were spawning upon that world to survive. The Seraphim spent a decade cleansing the planet thoroughly, square mile by square mile, preserving their ammunition by engaging at close quarters with merciful death. This was a scar which would never fade for the Seraphim. For shame they could not return to their posts, nor would they abandon other worlds to the same fate. They swore, standing among the wreckage of the planet, that they would suffer no Hulks to go unchallenged in Imperial space but to hunt and cleanse them until the darkness took them.

Other Chapters have reported the appearance of unmarked but distinctively Imperial ships in the vicinity of Hulks they have been dispatched to investigate. As squads board the Hulks they find themselves joined by mysterious Terminator-suited figures bearing the badge of a fiery, winged axe. These Marines offer no communication and stay hidden in the shadows but the evidence of their presence is always accompanied by carnage- Xenos of all manner; Orks, Eldar, Tyranid and the abhorrent forces of Chaos, slain in the most brutal of fashions, their threat utterly annihilated.

The Emperor's Seraphim- Astartes Praeses

Happy 10,000th view day to you!

Hooray! Today the GamesOrkshop passed it's 10,000th view... thanks everyone who turned up and made it happen! To celebrate, and in commemoration of the 21st joinee (Headnhalf of ilikepaintinglead, welcome) I decided to get all my (painted) Mechanicus out and have a big battle between them and the Fimir... Who will win?

 

 

 

The Fimm and the Mistmor launch their assault on the Mechanicus' right flank.

 

 On the left flank the Bansidheia, Tuatha and Shearl , supported by a Jabberwock and Dirach, come up against plasma weapons and Colossi.

 

The Dirach's daemonic magic holds off the Colossi... for the moment.

 Whilst the ancient plasma weapons of the veteran Skitarri keep the Jabberwock at bay.

The clan Drui stands alone...

...against a horde of Interiti!

 Fimir slavers lead units of Bolg and Tuatha to his defence.

The Fianna Fimm stand resolute against a Servitor Interiti maniple lead by a fearsome Magos and his retinue.

Archmagos Ferrestrix and Signifer Romulus oversee the Mechanicus assault.

Kelpies appear from the bogs at the rear of the Mechanicus' line.

 

The Marsh Chariot ploughs through the front ranks of the Skitarri.

 And just because I haven't posted these guys painted here yet... some Colossi- Forge World mining constructs appropriated for military use.

Happy 10,000th view day to you!