+ inload: Lamb's World camouflage tutorial test +

+ Mustering the Guard +


Dearest beluft Sîa,

It hath bene many a moonth synse last I wrot. And forre it I am sorrowed. Ther hath bene scant chans. Butte now Worron hath lendedde me hys pensil and I have savedd some offe my rashion pacc cardbord onne wych to write. And so here is my letter. Wrytting is not come natural to me as you knowwe well, beluft. But I was torn and wont to you to write.
[…]

The vittels are scant, but good. We drinc well, and so far we haff not found the [REDACTED] we arre tolt we are to fyte.

And soe we slepe in the baracs (a sort of grete living hutte like ourres but to hous not a famillie but three-scorre menne) and feast in the messehall. Ydris is the cooc and, when stocc is ryte, he coocs dyshes of Lammb’s World. Of home.

Over the droppe scones the others oft fyt forre a sore remyinder of home they arre; but to me they are ascces in my mouth, for they remind me only offe you, beluft. And howwe apart we arre. Throne willingge, home to you schalle I come in somme days.
[…]’

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+ The Bolter and Chainsword forum is running a 'Muster the Guard' hobby challenge [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+], which invites you to paint any Imperial Guard models to help celebrate the release of the new Codex. It seemed the perfect excuse to deploy some Guardsmen from sentry duty in the Cupboard of Opportunity, so above you can see a twenty-five (twenty-six, if you include the dog) strong platoon of Lamb's World Guardsmen, who've been malingering in the barracks for too long. +

+ One of the very first inloads on this blog, back in (coo) 2013, was a camouflage tutorial for the Lamb's World desert camouflage. You can find it here: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ One of my older models – the result of following the tutorial. +


+ Coming back to a paint scheme some years later inevitably raises the question of whether to try to match the original, do a sort of 'redux' version that benefits from developments in the materials, techniques and – of course – one's own experience, or to throw everything out and start from first principles. I usually err on the side of the latter, but here I was interested to see whether the blog could live up to its original vision. 

Death of a Rubricist started out as a place for me to record my paint recipes, techniques and ideas for when I wanted to scribble something down.  Useful when trying to work out what paint I'd used on a particular army, for example. It's grown a bit in scope since, but using 2013 me's advice would be fun, I thought. +

+ My plan, therefore, was to try to follow the tutorial. Of course, some things in life are inevitable: the sun rises, the world turns, and GW updates their paint range. As a result, a lot of the paints are no longer extant. I'm planning to work through a squad this week, so I'll see what tweaks I need to make. +

+++

+ Seeing how it works +

+ The numbering below relates to that in the original tutorial; I've simply appended my additional comments here.

_I–IV
+ The models were built, primed with Halfords Grey and undercoated with Humbrol Desert Yellow 93, both of which I'm pleased to see are still around.


_V–VI
The first stage of the fatigues used to use Scorched Brown and Gryphonne Sepia, both of which have been replaced. In place of Scorched Brown, I'd suggest you use Rhinox Hide or Mournfang Brown, though the principles apply to any dark tone. I used the former here. 

Gryphonne Sepia has been replaced with Seraphim Sepia. I was initially sceptical of this wash, but after a few years I've either succumbed to Stockholm syndrome or Seraphim Sepia has proven a worthy successor, so it works just as well here.


+ More to come over the next few days, I hope. Once I've worked through, should I update the old tutorial or write a new article out? +

+++



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+ inload: Imperial Navy +

+ Voidsmen +


+ Hooray! I found the upgrade sprue for my Navy Voidsmen, so pictured here are the courageous warriors who have to clear out nasties from Imperial Navy craft – or take the fight to the enemy in the depths of space. +

+ It's a lovely kit, with plenty of variety. If you're teetering on the edge of whether to pick it up because you're concerned about posability, I can reassure you that, with the notable exceptions of the chap with the big shield and the heavy weapon guy, the arms fit neatly on any body. The usual provisos apply, that you should dry fit things, but it's not the case here that there are loads of awkwardly-cut limbs that only fit particular bodies. +



+ The kit comes with a lovely variety of heads – sufficient helms to have an all-enclosed force, or bare heads to allow for a bit more character. There's a great variety of male and female heads, and I'm saving some of these for the upcoming Guard... which, as you can probably guess, I am extremely excited about! +

+ Pictured here are a couple of standard voidsmen with shotguns, plus one who's a bit handy with an axe. The kit has a nice amount of pouches and kit, so your forces can look really self-sufficient. +


+ Pictured here is a CAT and controller, plus another regular breacher. You can assemble the kit as a Kill Team or as a bare-bones squad armed with shotguns. +

+++

+ ... and at another time, in another place... +


+ A selection of Star Wardens – their gilded arms declaring loyalty to Volnoscere – are on the painting bench. All been a bit disrupted recently, but I'm glad to have some hobby time back. +

+ inload: Painting the Partisans II – Iron Guard +

+ Painting the Partisans II + 

+ Iron Guard Astartes +

+ Time's wingéd chariot flits ever onwards, and we go crashing into the mid-Autumn period... The War of the False Primarch is firmly in stage IV, where (spoiler warning) pretty much everything starts to go wrong for the 'Primarch'. +

+ An Inquisitor and his bodyguard advance alongside a Reaver Titan of the Amber Kings (Legio Validus) +


+ Of course, there's not much warfare if we don't know what the Chapters look like! In an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], we looked at painting the Inheritors, Void Barons and Silver Stars. Today its the turn of the Iron Guard. +


+ Painting the Iron Guard +

'Csak vass, semmi kevesebb'
+ ...and it's a two-for-one here, as the Iron Guard – creation of Michael M_R [+Instagram handle: @studio_fatfingers], and whose Index Astartes you can read here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – have two schemes. The first is as they appear during the start of the war, and the second is their later Partisan appearance. This is a bit of a preview, as the article that explains the latter is on its way. +

+ Pre-war +


+ I sprayed the figure with Halford's matt black undercoat, then applied a layer of Ironbreaker, which was then highlighted with Stormhost Silver. +

+ I then washed the whole figure with Drakenhof Nightshade to give a blue steely finish, adding a hint of Druchii Violet wash in the recesses. Once dry, I re-established the highlights with Stormhost Silver, and added some silver acrylic ink for the brightest highlights. +

+ The boltgun casing, pouches and soft armour were painted with Charadon Granite and washed with Agrax Earthshade; while the workings of the boltgun and shoulder trim were Ironbreaker washed with Agrax Earthshade. +

+ Details were picked out with Yriel Yellow and Macragge Blue, and the eyes painted with Fire Dragon Orange. +

+ The tactical marking is a vertical double-headed arrow, and the Chapter symbol a solid 'rook' icon. Be careful not to confuse it with the Star Wardens' similar castle symbol. +



+ During the war +

+ The techniques and colours were identical for the later scheme. Redolent of rust, the main (and obvious!) difference is the orange torso and helm – a slight echo of the Silver Stars' scheme. +

+ If you're planning on joining the War of the False Primarch, this is probably the best scheme to use. +


+ This is simply two layers of Fire Dragon Orange (I think Troll Slayer Orange is the new version), followed by a wash of Agrax Earthshade. This was then highlighted with another layer of Troll Slayer Orange with a hint of white added. + 

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+ 15mm Horus Heresy Gaming +

+ Another enjoyable 15mm HH game of my Emperor's Children against Bob Hunk's Imperial Fists last week. We tried out the tweaks mentioned in an earlier inload, and it's all starting to come together rather nicely, with the tweaks making Space Marines a bit more killy against each other. +

+ We also trialled having some Order dice rerolls (1 per FL, so we each had 3), though practise is clearly needed, as for the first couple of turns we were making order rolls for all units, not just those with blast markers. As a result, both sides were a bit hesitant to get stuck in. Once we'd remembered that units without blast markers don't need to test, it was all much more dynamic. We'll chalk that up to experience, I think. +


+ We used a rather old-school method of deploying the objectives – by holding a handful of old Epic order dice about a foot above the table and dropping them. Mouse-material mats turn out to be quite good for this! +

+ As you can see above, my poor Rhino came under quite a lot of fire... I mooted Rhinos being changed from a MOD (multi-order dice) unit to a single dice unit – mainly to make them less 'important.' Thoughts and opinions on this potential change would be appreciated. +


+ Lovely Imperial Fist tanks – I do love how 15mm games look. +

+++

+ Silver Stars +

+ Crossing the streams a little, I've also been building (and paintign) more of the strange pseudolegion in both 15mm and 32mm scale. +


+ The 15mm versions are in Crusade Armour, just like their bigger counterparts. +


+ Nothing hugely insightful to say here, but it was nice to finally assemble one with a grav gun, a weapon I've been meaning to use on the Silver Stars for a while. +

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