+ inload: Speak not its name, for it is Xenos +

+ Speak not, think not, know not of  Xenos. Its very nature is a lie + 

+ Long buried beneath new exciting projects for the best part of a hundred millenia two years, the Necrons were understandably miffed about being left out of plans for 2023 [+Ref: prev inload+], and while they're unlikely to be taking centre stage for me, I thought it only fair to exhume them for a bit. You know how these enthusiasms take hold. +

+ Designation Samaritan [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], pictured above gathering his forces, remains the sole fully-painted model in the force – though they have progressed a teensy-tiny bit since this one, in that they're now accompanied by considerably more friends (for whatever value of friends eternally-trapped and technologically-mangled souls can have). +

+  Bob Hunk offered me the Necron side from Indomitus, so the army virtually doubled in size. Designation Samaritan is the herald of his master, himself a thrall of the enigmatic Ur-dimmu; and since I already had one stock model of a Lord, I thought it'd be nice to use the duplicate sculpt to convert up a more unique Lord. +

+ Forget about me, would they? Well, they'll pay – Just you wait... +

+ The new (well, relatively) Necron range is quite extensive now, so things have opened up to make converting a lot easier. The range's design consolidation means that parts from the larger Lords and Nobles can be more easily interchanged. Whether this chap will prove to be the Overlord (I suspect not...) is up to fate, but you never know. In either case, it'll be nice to have some fun converting new models. +

+ Standing beside the partially-resurrected Lord is a Cryptek. He's a special character whose name I definitely remember, *mumblemumble* the Crooked. I trimmed off the odd forearm cloak/decoration, as I felt is rather hid some nice internal details. The Crypteks in general have very much grown on me. I wasn't all that fond of them, but there's a surprising amount of character in these peculiar advisor/priest/scientists sculpts. +

+ A Destroyer Lord, converted to have a Dawn of War-style helm/headpiece/face stands beside some underlings. +

+ Said underlings have received a lick of paint. The new Necron warriors have a lot of character for such zombie-like sculpts. Regular inloaders will know I like masses of infantry, so some variation in their detailing will probably go a long way to keeping me involved. +

+ The scheme is a simple one that emphasises contrast and texture. I want my troops to look properly ancient! +

+ ...and to close out this inload, here's a picture of a Gatebreaker besides a big mech-skeleton and a little mech-skeleton. Best wishes for a great Christmas, all! +

+ inload: Tanks across the ages +

+ Armoured Warfare +

+ It's like a psychedelic refight of the Battle of Tallarn on my painting desk at the moment, with tanks of all scales and schemes receiving some attention. +

+ Clockwise from top left, we've got a Silver Stars Predator, a Gatebreakers Land Raider and an Emperor's Children armoured infantry column for the PCRC's 15mm project. +

+ Combining my painting bugbears – tanks and batch painting – proved to be surprisingly productive. Nothing's quite finished, but everything progressed. Sometimes that's all you need to do to get a sense of satisfaction. Above you'll see two Rhinos and a Land Raider. They've received base coats of Screamer Pink covered with Druchii Violet wash, and the 'black' bits are a mix of Incubi Darkness and burnt sienna. The deep green and warm red-brown combine to make a lovely dark neutral. It's just off-black, so you can still shade it. +

+ ...and emerging from the depths of the forges once more is the Gatebreaker Land Raider kindly gifted to me by Warmtamale. The honoured spirit of this ancient beast  has lingered fitfully, half-coloured yellow. I cracked on to get the first layer of green and the metallics to the next stage. +

+ Lots more to do, but given the amount of stowage I've added, there's plenty of fun detail coming up. I'll need to work out what's meant to be in all those boxes! +

+ Lastly, the Silver Stars Predator. There's not a huge change apparent since the last time I posted an update on it, but a surprising amount of ticking around the edges has taken place. +

+ I'm really growing quite fond of the Silver Stars scheme. I managed to find a squad of the new Mark VI Marines that I'll likely paint up to represent the Silver Stars fighting around Coldforge. +

+++

+ inload: Various projects +

+ A Gathering of Might +

+ A hotch-potch update of what's on the hobby desk. For whatever reason, the hobby butterfly has been fluttering from project to project and not settling. Rather than force it, I've been doing little bits here and there. +

+ Kroot Killteam +

+ I like Killteam, and I like Kroot. With the new kit coming out imminently, I wanted to get ahead of the game and paint up some of these models. In particular, I wanted to make sure I had some kroothounds sorted out, as I'm not so fond of the previewed plastics as the originals. In terms of paint scheme, I'll be going with brown-oranges for the skin. +

+ I'm always a little sad that the Kroot never got a Codex of their own. Brian Nelson's sculpts are stellar, even now; and the background is characterful and compelling. I think the Kroot could have been a wonderful xenos faction all of their own. +

+++

+ Endworlds and the War of the False Primarch +

+ The Gatebreakers haven't had any reinforcements or attention for a long time – back around the dying months of 2020, I think; but in pulling the Silver Stars out of storage for the long-delayed Stage IV of War of the False Primarch, I ended up putting in a little more effort on the Gatebreakers' Land Raider. Not vast quantities of progress, but I have since the picture below developed the base a little. I think this is one of those deceptive projects which is suddenly going to fall into place. We'll see. +

+ ... and last and probably least, I also pulled the Vrag-Rana out into the light, to carry on with the Kill Team vibe. +

+ Lots to work on – to mention nothing of the 15mm Emperor's Children and Salamanders – but perhaps the best idea is picking one and putting away all the other distractions! 

+++

+ inload: Endworlds +

+ Whatever happened to Barbari Kills? +

The cover was up. For whatever reason, humans did not adapt well to the empty night skies of the galaxy's rim. Haim felt it. They all had; though in different ways. She had tried to explain it to Brunski, a few weeks back, as the ship glided silently through the black, empty void. 

"Like... being watched; but not enough? Do you–" She had paused; started again. "It's just as though there's nothing holding me down; no anchor. Nothing secure. It's all too..." she had waved her hands in slow, loose, frustrated circles. 

Brunski had just grunted, got up and left.

+++

Lowering her weatherhood, she cast a glance over her shoulder. A nod to Brunski saw him holster his rifle. He and Castaway turned and went back out; hoods up, eyes down. 

The sign read, in the peculiar glyphs of the backwater, 'Teleroftaels'. It wasn't hard to see the derivation – particularly not for an ideodact like Haim. Teller of tales. A village bard, then, she supposed; some sort of archivist, she dared to hope. A job as old as humanity. 

From the rear of the spare, stone building, came a voice. "Come; come." The voice was surprisingly deep, and rich; though it was cut through with a scratch. Haim was reminded, for a brief, absurd moment, of her father's audiorepeater. "The arrangement details are all in order; you are well come here." 

The woman's smile was warm; her skin folded and tanned like soft leather. Her head was shaved completely bald, save for two tufts at the other edges of her eyes, where the remnants of her eyebrows had been extended into short, beaded braids. A bold stripe, darker brown than the rest of her skin, ran over the crest of her head. Paint? Make-up? Some sort of tattoo? 

If she noticed Haim's vacant look, the teleroftael's face showed no sign. Her smile remained soft, unwavering. 

"Ti?" 

Haim blinked, and embarrassedly demurred the offer; waving away the proffered cup. The water here required adaptation. Inquisitrix Barbari Kills hadn't intended to stay longer than was necessary; and so nor did her team. 

"No, no; thank you. Do you mind if–?" Haim gestured at her own flask, securely gathered on her webbing. The teleroftaels nodded permission. You'll have my gratitude for information, rather than refreshment, mam. Even so; thank-you." At the other woman's gesture, Haim looked for a place to sit. There was a brief, awkward pause before the teleroftaels smiled apologetically, and lifted aside a pile of soiled textiles from what turned out to be a low bench.

Stepping back, the teleroftaels squinted gnomically, assessing Haim. The moment stretched. Just before Haim spoke, the teleroftaels announced, "You'll be want the history." 

Haim nodded. Odd phrasing, but for such an isolated region, it was reassuring to find anyone that spoke anything resembling Gothic. Most of the populations Corewards of Saxa Tarpeia had been utterly incomprehensible to Kills and her team. 

"Thank you, yes. Solid form if you have it. I tell you," she continued. "It's been a hell of a time getting any cartography or records of this entire region." The teleroftael's smile broadened, perhaps in pride. Haim carried on. "It's such a relief to find an historical repository. Even if it's just the local... " She stopped herself as she watched the teleroftaels shuffle backwards towards the back of the room; clearly uncomfortable with  turning her back on her guest. "Sorry; I'm gabbling. It's been a long search. I'm just excited. Should I ask my colleague to help carry them?"

The teleroftael's smile slipped for a moment; wrong-footed. Haim wondered if she had strayed over some cultural boundary. 

"Not think that'll be needed."

Unsure, Haim made a small half-hearted nod; and the teleroftaels disappeared behind a curtain. 

+++

"Rimworlds, you Imperials call 'em. Most here just call it Edgeside. Out beyond the galaxy's rim. It's an... odd place. Liminal; know what I mean? Out beyond it's the big black. Just nothing. Sounds simple when I say that, but it's..." she paused. "Heh. Comes to something when even my words fall into the black."

"Like I say, it's odd. The big black. It's the end of it all, see? Sure, there's other galaxies out there, but they're just like us. Little island universes gradually wearing away. And make no mistake –" she waved a finger in the Rogue Trader's face, "It sure is wearing away." She paused, looking out of the colossal window once more. "Look far enough, and you can see it happening. Slowly, sure, and dust – just dust. Trickling away from the galaxy's edge into the true void. But nothing comes back in."

Her faraway gaze suddenly switched; as though a lever had gone off in the back of her mind. Fear. That was all Taiwo saw in her eyes.

"Nothing you want to meet, anyway."

+++

+ inload: Flotsam and Jetsam +

+ On the Rubricist's desk +

'Oi, Roboute, stop hogging the blog!' – [Attr. Volnoscere. Likely apocryphal]

+ Coo, doesn't the dust gather quickly? I'd blame Easter for preventing me from updating more frequently, but in truth it's been our daughter blog, + Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten + that's been receiving my updates. Over there, we've seen the War of the False Primarch begin to unfold, with new posts on:

• The Quadrargenta – the first four Chapters to declare for the False Primarch (or not false, I guess, from their point of view);
• The Extinction Armada – the High Lords of Terra's understandably heavy-handed response to rebellion;
• ...and a rather lovely look into the Tom K's awesome Marines Saturnine.

+++

+ But I've not just been writing; rather I've also been doing some bits and pieces across my hobby spectrum. For the Endworlds, my Gatebreakers' Land Raider has received a base and a hint more paint:

+ The Order of Solar Ascendant [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] have received an unexpected batch of reinforcements, courtesy of a kind birthday gift:

+ Heads are coming, don't panic. +

+ ... and over in the War of the False Primarch, I've had a great deal of fun painting up some forumware Epic miniatures:

+ These were both a lot of fun to paint, and a successful experiment in using  the Contrast range. I heartily recommend their use for Epic scale: it's absolutely ideal. +

+ Whether these marines will ever see play is uncertain at the mo; but I hope I can get some games in soon. At the very least, they'll make for a nice backdrop to suggest scale in the project. +

+ Still with the War of the False Primarch, I also painted up a Sister of Silence. The project is proving hugely flexible and fun for me – and hopefully others too. +

+ The size and scope of the war gives a great excuse to paint up some odd one-off models. Not that you ever really need an excuse, of course; but it's certainly giving me reason to churn through a bit of the backlog. +

+++

+ inload: [SCRAPSHUNTERROABORT] +

 + [/.../]ceiving? Is this thing on[/..../]+

+ Ah, much better. Apologies for the vox-silence recently; as you'll all likely be experiencing, things in the real world have been a bit complicated recently! While my hobby time has been substantially curtailed, I'm happy to say that all is safe and well in the Rubricist's quarters. +

+ Many happy returns; and while the annus horribilis that was 2020 staggers onwards, zombie-like, into the new year, I live in hope that things'll get better. What's that 40k line? Hope is the first step on the road to... Huh, maybe I won't invoke that, then! +

+++

+ Minimal time; maximum breadth +

+ With time and energy at a premium, I've got a little area set up so that I can work for a few minutes whenever the urge hits me. That proved a great way to keep my spirits up in the last lockdown, and so far it's buoying me up now, too. +

+ Thus, it's been a year of oddments so far:

+ Exhibit one: an extremely large miniature, and one that I definitely can't get away with pretending isn't a toy. So far Brother Caban here has turned up all over the house, having various adventures. I'm planning to paint him up as a Gatebreaker, but need to get him primed and prepped. +

+ Next up was polishing off a techpriest; one I picked up from Anvil Industry's kickstarter. Lovely little model, and a fun testing ground for Contrast paints. She's sat half-completed for a while, and a half-hour stint got her here. Nothing particularly of note except for the sigil on the paper – that of an extremely mysterious figure... +

+ Back on solid ground, a hefty techpriest and his servitor, along with a strangely archaic marine. Those of you who've followed my stuff for a while might rememeber the [REDACTED], which I'll be [REDACTED] this year so I hope that [REDACTED]. +

+ [/.../] Ah, c'mon, I can't post that and then not reveal [REDACTED], can I? Oh, it turns out that [REDACTED]. Who knew? +

+ Best of luck for the new year; and remember – Some Things Are Best Left Forgotten... +

+ inload: Painting Inquisitrix Barbari Kills +

+ Inquisitrix Barbari Kills +

 There's subtlety in the application of the Emperor's will – just as there's good hard work in interpreting it. 

'Righteousness, willpower, divine grace... You'll hear them all used as justifications for why you should do as an Inquisitor says; but right now, the fact I've got an n-point discharge derringer pressed to your forehead is all I need.'

+++

+ Well, all painted up and ready to wage a one-woman war on the Endworlds – I'm pleased with how Barbari Kills has come out. My notes on building the conversion are here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], so I'll concentrate on painting in this inload. +

+ The first thing you'll notice is the drab scheme. The plan was for the poncho to be a muted brown leather, with a bright inner lining – the idea being that this anonymous-looking figure suddenly threw back her cloak to reveal a big gun and bright colours. In the end, I think I got a bit carried away with the detailing and washes on the lining, so it's more muted than I had intended. +

+ The heraldic ermine pattern has got a bit lost, and has ended up looking a bit blurry... but them's the breaks when you experiment. I'm still pleased with the result, which has plenty of impact and contrast, if not precisely how I'd planned it! +

+ The face came out well, I felt. I've experimented with a lot of different skintones in the Gatebreaker project, but with the marines I'm guaranteed a contrasting tone near the face owing to the quartered bright yellow and dark green scheme. Not so here, so I had to work carefully to make sure her dark skin didn't get lost against the fabric. Note the embroidered details on her collar (touches of freehand help to identify something as non-skin), and the use of the brighter inner lining of the cloak near the collar, too. +

+ A few flashes of colour are dotted around the figure to make things slightly less realistic and more obviously sci-fi: the orange band on the gun; the gold Inquisition symbol on her loincloth; the red rubricising (see what I did there?) and bookmark ribbon on the book; and – of course – her blue hair. +

+ Typically, eye-catching 'hot spots' are bright, warm colours; but as long as they contrast with the overall scheme, they can be any colour. The scheme here as a whole is a warm sepia-yellow tint; almost nicotine-stained. Blue (or green, or pink) would all work to contrast. +

+ The image above shows the skin best, too. Subtle spot-glazes of red applied to the lower lip and cheeks are all that are needed to give a healthy complexion. Kills doesn't strike me as a striking make-up sort of girl. +

+ Another little flash of red; the Inquisitorial sigil of the Ordo Propter. Again, hidden beneath the cloak until the dramatic reveal. Note the profusion of pouches and webbing; I wanted Barbari Kills to look prepared for anything. This shot shows the ermine decoration on the cloak a little better, too. +

+ The basing is similar to most I do; a warm brown highlighted up with cream, then dotted with a mix of flock tufts and scatter foliage. +

+ ... and here she is pictured alongside Castaway, Coriolanus and Septival. She's starting to build up a little entourage. I must return to Haim and Brunski soon. +

+ inload: Gatebreaker infantry +

 + Another step closer +

The claviger-wielding Rift Team had come through here; as evinced by the heavy percussion fractures in the solid plate of the deck and walls – and the aerosolised gore still hanging in the microgravity. 

Member-Cardinal Boegnor picked his way over the brittle bodies of the Sa; the rest of the sweep group following in his footsteps. His face was puckered into its usual scowl as he took in the dead; his unflickering eyes set deep in creased, leathery skin. 

'Just dead Stilties,' he growled, 'Nothing of salvage here. Move on'. He waved his squadmates forward, two fingers of his bionic hand indicating the route.

+++

+ Five more Gatebreakers polished off; which makes for three ten-man squads ready for the field. As before, these are a mix of easy-build Assault Intercessors with bits and bobs from various other kits; all with the aim of suggesting the Gatebreakers' poor supply lines – and looking cool, of course! +

+ I quite like incorporating asymmetry – like this Mark III helm – into this army, as it adds to the hodgepodge, salvaged feel. While this force's bases show scrubby plants and soil, this sort of look also helps to reflect the Chapter's void-boarding specialism. +

+ Use of reliable close-in weapons like flamers and snub-bolters help this group fit in with the background, too. Besides the equally low-tech grenade launchers, this is the only special weapon in the army so far. Not sure whether to embrace the reliance on small arms, or scatter a few special weapons in. What do you reckon? +

+ Mark VII helm, pauldrons reinforced with molecular bonding studs, and a backpack covered with extracts from the Tenets of the Ten Divine Princes. Again, nothing hugely remarkable, but little variations and details like this add up across the army. +

+ I've deliberately used pieces from various different Chapter and Legion upgrades. The main advantage is giving me access to loads of cool bits; but it also stops the Gatebreakers from looking like they owe too much to any one particular Legion or Primarch; which in turn hopefully raises some questions and makes the army more engaging visually and conceptually. +

+ The flip side of using such a wide range of material is that you need to be careful to make it a bit more neutral. This White Scar helm, for example, has has the cheek decorations trimmed away, the radio ridge on top squared off, the topknot plucked, and generally been tidied up to make it less distinctively of the Fifth Legion. I find converting pieces like this quite fun – you're basically cutting away the bells and whistles to find the form beneath. +

+ ...and last today, Member-Cardinal Boegnor; one of the officers of the Gatebreakers Ninth Strikeforce. I've used an arm from the Space Wolf Primaris upgrade spread here, though you'd be hard-pushed to tell: the stock component is completely lacking any features that would identify it as such. +

+ This is the other nice part of expanding your eye to look at other ranges and sub-factions when building your models; you realise that there's frequently nothing beyond the label that identifies a particular component as 'belonging' to a particular group. It's easiest to see on Space Marines, but the principle applies across the GW range – and beyond. +

+ inload: Bludgeoning force +

+ More Gatebreakers +

+ Having rested on my laurels for the past few days, I picked up a brush while chatting with the PCRC last night and polished off a few new Gatebreakers. +

+ Adding new figures to a playable force can sometimes be a bit of motivational challenge; particularly when you've taken a break in working on them. I felt a bit rusty working on these, but soon got into the swing of things. +

+ Emblem WIP +

+ One figure that gave me no hesitation was Emblem [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who is ticking along nicely. Although the basing is done, the model himself is not quite complete – I just wanted to complete the base while I was doing a small batch. +

+ The mysterious sigil-blade (probably not that mysterious if you've been following the Endworlds story)was painted using the same method as K0rdhal's Necrons; namely working red into the recesses of a dark metal. +

+ I like how he's coming along overall; the additions will be minor – working up the coat more, and adding a few markings. Not quite sure what to put on his right pauldron... As a wandering Eremite [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], he doesn't really have a rank per se. Perhaps I'll have a play with some freehand. +

+++ 

+ Members-Ordinary +

+ The standard 'battle-brothers' of the Chapter, the Members-Ordinary are always fun to paint. The squads are a mongrel mix of Chapter 333 Primaris Intercessors and uplifted Astartes of the original Chapter; so to represent that I've included a mix of armour marks, helms and boltgun types led by nothing other than random whim while building. This is probably not the clearest on the field, but then I've got other armies for that – the Gatebreakers are an unapologetically freeform project. +

+ This marine has a Mark II 'Crusade-pattern' helm. Up to this point I haven't used too many bits that are so old in-universe; instead sticking with a preponderance of shiny new Tacticus helms [vizref: below] punctuated with the occasional Mark VI and VII helms. That's deliberate – I want the army to visually reflect that the Gatebreakers have either willingly adopted the new armour, or have been forced to do so through damage and disrepair. The scattered few non-Mark X helms are thus presumably either owing to battlefield necessity or the wearer's stubbornness. +

+ However, a select few older bits here and there – there are so far just two marines with helms so old – also help reflect the patchwork nature of the Gatebreakers. More importantly, they add some visual flavour, which is really the important bit. The cycloptic Crusade helm is lovely, and it's been a treat to paint it up in the grass green and sun yellow of the Chapter. +

+ The Tacticus helm is, after all, a lovely design. It combines the cool grille of the Mark IV Maximus with the batlike ear-coverings of Mark VIII; design features that give it a simultaneously novel and familiar impression. This marine is built using one of the new Assault Intercessor models – the easy-build ones from the Indomitus box set. As with different armour bits (like the shoulder pad), varying the poses within squads helps to give a slightly less-disciplined impression that fits with the Chapter's demeanour. +

+ Speaking of Chapter style, this marine is a Member-Cardinal; an equivalent to a sergeant. I've built two of these; and will add them to the existing squads. I've taken a rather (dare-I-say?) chaotic approach to building this army; simply making individual models without planning out how they'll fit into squads and so forth.  Partially this was just to provide me with a break from the extremely formal and structured approach I was taking with the Blood Angels [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and partially it was because I think this is going to be my primary 'Crusade gaming' army for a while. I therefore wanted to make sure that it was game-legal. +

+ Having bought the new Codex: Space Marines (more on this in a future inload, I think), I'm pleased to see that the Successor Chapter Tactics – that is, the Chapter's special rules – I picked for the army's first game, Massacre at Phen Mun [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], are still there. These are, for the record, Rapid Assault, which reflects the Chapter's mobile small-arms-led approach, and Stalwart, which represents their historical desperation to endure in the face of extinction. +

+ Coming back to the Member-Cardinal models, I think I will eventually come back to the squads to add some squad and rank markings and organise them more permanently. I really like adding these markings and details, and I think that it'll be a lovely way to reflect their growing history: picking out new skills learned and battle scars endured. +

+ I promise I'll stop banging on about the minutiae of Space Marine helmets soon, but this last group picture shows how much personality a few select pieces can add to a uniform group. The simple inclusion of different helmets, weapons, shoulder pads and similar details really helps them to look a bit ramshackle and hotch-potch, without making them look out-and-out orky. +

+ Mark X is exctiging and new; Mark VI has retro appeal; Mark IV is perfect for fans of clean sci-fi; Marks II and III look pleasingly crude; and Mark V is wonderfully brutal... but having been the default for so long, Mark VII is rarely celebrated in the same way as the other armour types. The Mark VII helm on the Member-Cardinal is a reminder to me of how much I like Armorum Impetor. Now that it's starting to be phased out, I've realised that the bulldog snout and frowning mask is the classic image of Astartes for me. I'll have to make a mental note to include a few more of these. +