+ inload: A trot down memory lane +

 + Space Marines, 90s-style +

+ A deep hobby rut sometime needs something completely out of the blue to blow away the cobwebs. Something, in my case, like breaking out some long-buried treasure – Space Marines from the 90s. +

+ Looking just like the RTB15 Strike Force single-piece miniatures; these are the short-lived and ill-advertised two-part marines that were (by the looks of things) made from the same dollies; plus a couple of the slightly-modified later versions. +

+ History of the models +

+ What's the difference? This is real rivet-counter stuff, and I confess to being a bit unsure about the timings. These were released towards the end of Rogue Trader, when the Marines were going through a quiet redesign and being issued what's now called Mark VII armour. I'm unsure whether the single or two-piece ones came first. +

+ I'm inclined to venture that the two-piece ones were produced following the pattern established by the RTB01 plastic marines (separate body and legs) and intended to be cross-compatible with the RTB01 sprue, but that they were subsequently repackaged as the Beakies were quietly retired in favour of Mark VII, and re-cast as single-piece models. Eventually, as GW moved over to a commercial model of single casts with a different (flat-shouldered) arm sprue, the single-piece models were converted and re-cast again. +

+ A pile of potential +

+ If you're a collector, the key difference between the early and later ones is the shoulders. Both the single-part Strike Force Marines and two-part versions had a raised bobble that was intended to be used with a short-lived arm sprue that accompanied them. The later recut had flat shoulders, so they could be used with the later plastic arm sprue. You can see some of the arms from that later sprue above: they're the ones in grey (though unhelpfully I've shot them all shoulder-part down; you'll have to trust me that they're flat!)+

+++

+ Our Presence Remakes the Past +

+ I'd had a set of the Strike Force Marines many years ago, and I'd idly wondered since whether they would work with the RTB01 plastic arms. If my hunch was correct, and the two-part marines were produced as a compatible expansion, the early plastic arms should marry up nicely –  or at least as closely as any models did back then! +

+ My own Strike Force Marines, alas, are largely scattered to the winds and lost to history (with the exception of Brother Engel [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]), so I owe these figures to the boundless generosity of the PCRC; Stuntwedge (for the lead). +

A spot of retro glue fits in rather nicely, no? 

+ The backpack is the style supplied with the Strike Force models; but I'd have been interested in trying the RTB01 backpack or the earlier metal ones as well. +

Built and unprimed, on the original 25mm bases. The grey boltgun is from a Rhino.

+ The experiment proved a success. The arms seem to fit nicely – and if you'll excuse a little editorial opinion, I think the proportions are actually a bit nicer than the arms with which the models were actually supplied. +

+ It was an experience coming back to working with lead/plastic combination minis. I have hazy memories of getting the whole strike force assembled and handed over to my big brother to spray them within about an hour of getting the box home (which perhaps explains the rather 'interesting' pose Engel has), but I took my time over these relics of a past age, and it took me an entire evening to get the five assembled. +

+ Flash and mouldlines needed trimming and filing, but the majority of the time was spent wrestling with the poses and adjusting slightly shonky casting. The fixed-forward nature of the marines' poses meant that any pose besides 'stoically menacing' is pretty hard to pull off, a problem exacerbated by the limited bits I had to work with and limited poses of the RTB01 arms. +

+ It's easy to start treating old miniatures like treasure, but that's precisely why these old veterans have never seen paint. Rather than being too precious with them, I decided to take advantage of the soft lead and cut off the bare head to allow a better pose. I also cut and repositioned the RTB01 boltgun magazine – another bugbear of mine – in each case. Slightly infuriatingly, repositioning the magazine backwards actually means that the accompanying arm fits and grips it a lot better! +

+++

+ Fall in, Marines +

+ After rebasing onto 32mm bases – purists may recoil, but I like the additional framing these offer – I gave the models a prime of Grey Seer, partly for retro theme (my 90s models were always primed white), but mostly because it was the nearest I had to hand. +

+ Once sprayed, the differences between the materials is obscured, and the results were pretty good, I think. +

+ The bare-headed sergeant is interesting, as they were only ever available in the two-part versions. I remember looking at the Blood Angels in WD139 and wondering how the painters had converted their marines to have a bare head. It's a shame, as the sculpt is really characterful. I went for a fairly conservative pose, and added a little heraldic shield as a nod to modernity. As noted above, it's easy to let nostalgia or notions of 'what's correct' stop you from making the models you actually want to build. +

+ This marine is reloading his boltgun; a pose intended to make the most of the fact the two-part marines can turn. The spare magazine is also from the RTB01 kit, as are the bolt pistols and other kit on the squad. +

+ An example of the difficulties of getting dynamic poses from these miniatures, this was an attempt to have the marine aiming, which involved cutting the gun arm at the shoulder and wrist. You can't get the marine looking down the boltgun without cutting the helmet off, so the result is a bit of a compromise. Still pleased with him, though; a nice in-between pose, gun up and scanning the area. +

+ When looking at these pictures, I had the weirdest impression that I was looking at Epic marines. I guess over the years I've played about with different scales of marines, and so without some sort of reference, I can't quite tell what's what! It's interesting to think about 'truescale' here; because it was the giant heads and hands and tiny legs of later models that first spurred me into more ambitious converting – but while the proportions here are clearly exaggerated, these marines don't strike me as stylised as later ones. Perhaps it's the use of the RTB01 arms, with less detail, slim arms, and smaller pauldrons and hands, that makes them read slightly more realistically than the later releases. +

+ The plasma gun here is one of the few touches of modernity; it's from the Mark IV Horus Heresy kit, I think, and included simply because I happened to find it while digging these models out. I'm half-tempted to find a period gun, but it strikes me that some source lighting glow might be fun to play with. +

+ ... and someone's got to be last, so here's a marine performing the rite of 'technical knock' on his blessed battlegear. Partly forced by lack of parts, and partly for the challenge of having a left-handed marine (repositioning the thumb was an experience), I'm pleased with the result. It also leaves the chest decoration visible – and that's noteworthy because it's got that distinctive gem that seemed almost a Jes Goodwin hallmark around this time. +

+++

+ inload: That Rogue Trader taste – Alaitoc +

 + More Guardians +

+ It's not just lasguns that Eldar were armed with in Rogue Trader – half of your squads could have the rightly-feared shuriken catapults, and that's how my new Alaitoc project [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] is progressing. +

+ Guardian Battle squad +

+ Squads armed with shuriken catapults (as opposed to lasguns) were termed 'Battle squads', something that I think went the way of the dodo in second edition – though as I never played against an Eldar army in either Rogue Trader or second edition, I'd take that cum grano salis. +

+ The Mike McVey original above, and my homage/update below. As with the other squad in the previous inload, I've tried to evoke the pose, armament and details while making the most of the lovely modern sculpt. I'm struck with how naturally the old weapons, despite being much less bulky than their modern counterparts, still slot into the hands without any modification needed to the shoulders or elbows to accommodate it. In fact, the only conversion needed is a fiddly bit of cutting, trimming and drilling to get the gripping hand off the new shuriken catapult – after that, the old guns slot right in. +

+++

+ Guardian Assault squad +

+ ...and just as there were other terms for Guardians with shuriken catapults, so what are now called Storm Guardians were simply 'Guardian Assault squads', which were armed with pistols and swords, or dual pistols. The GW studio army had five armed with power swords and laspistols (eat your heart out Howling Banshees), with the squad leader wearing a power glove. +

+ The old eldar power glove is one of those peculiar bits that I absolutely adore. I've always, always liked it, and never had a chance to use it. Perhaps there's a similar particular piece of equipment in your bits box, that you've been saving for years but never quite commit to using? +

+ Well, here was the chance – where better? +

+ My interpretation uses the original equipment – a power sword and power glove – but I've opted to update the pose. Part of this is laziness – the new kit includes much more dynamic options so it was an easier choice than paintstakingly converting it back to the standing pose – but it's also a nice way to update the model. The old Guardians didn't have a great range of poses, but I can take advantage of the modern sculpts to make a more dynamic mobile-looking assault squad. +

+ Baldness and topknots weren't nearly so de rigeur for the Eldar in the 90s, so I also took the opportunity to add a little hair with a spot of greenstuff. +

+++

+ Greenstuff +

+ As with the Blood Angels [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I wanted to keep the conversion work fairly minimal for the bulk of this Alaitoc army – time, space and inclination all work against more involved conversions for everyone – and in this, I think it fits with the spirit of the inspiration, which (refreshingly) encouraged you to put down some very basic colours and then get playing. +

+ With that said, that has to be balanced against creating something specifically 'retrohammer' – a rather nebulous term that I use to mean something 'feels right'. I mentioned in my previous inload that part of that involves the banners, and I'm pleased to say that I've now sourced some pins ready to get those sorted. +

+ The other part was the backpack vanes. These are absent in the old guardians, but quite prominent in the new. I took the plunge and trimmed them away, which I think goes a surprisingly long way to changing the silhouette. You be the judge. +

+ Of course, I couldn't leave ruddy great gaping holes in the back, so I prepped some greenstuff and popped them in place. Using the point of a rat-tail file, I then added a few dots to emulate the 'tea strainer' vents of the originals. +

+ Here's the result – and I'm please with them. As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts. +

+++

+ inload: Squad Lazarus completed +

 + Updates from the front:
The Alien Wars continue +

+ Following the last inload, in which the Blood Angels emerged from induced hibernation, I've managed to polish off the second tactical squad – which gave me some much-needed practise in colour-matching. I'm pleased with the result; I think the four new marines match the existing figures well, despite using a different set of paints. +

+++

+ Sergeant Lazarus (Melchizadek 8:15) +

+ Touches of contrasting blue are used here as accents to draw the eye. With a big banner, the focal point (the head) needed a bit of extra help to stand out. The inspiration has a helmet, so unlike his comrade, Sergeant Furiel [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], I didn't want to use a bare head to draw the eye. Instead, I built a lot of lines converging on the head – the gun and blade do, as does the large blooddrop jewel on the banner. I really hammered the point home with the veteran sergeant freehand on the breastplate, too. This was taken from the Age of Darkness books; which themselves have a nod to Rogue Trader. I was tempted to go further, but restrained myself – I want to leave some design space for the officers without going really over the top. +

+ I think I've hit the balance of ornamentation and keeping things close to the inspiration right; but judge for yourself. The original models are pictured above. Hopefully the poses are evocative enough of the original, even if they're not identical. +

+ It's been so long since I've worked on this army that I'd forgotten whether it was the personal name (i.e. Lazarus) or the ritual apotropaic name (Melchizadek) that should identify the squad. Judging from how I did Furiel, I think it should have been the other way round. Still; this is the sort of mistake that – firstly – can be justified fairly easily in-universe (some sort of tradition of the squad, or a personal affectation); and secondly, would likely have never been noticed by anyone but me! +

+ Getting the text onto the hand-painted scroll sent me cross-eyed. I was cursing myself for blithely giving him the apotropaic name 'Melchizadek' to fit on there. Still; it did mean the blackletter script on his banner had the easier name to fit! +

+ As per the paint scheme of the time, the sergeant has a yellow Chapter symbol on a black field. You'll note that the rim is two-tone; red and gold. I thought making it all metal would have been a bit much, and similarly all-red would have looked odd. +

+ I like the bolter strap here – it gives a sense of dynamism to an otherwise very still figure, suggesting that the boltgun is in motion; perhaps being swung to fire. +

+++

+ Brother Ilean (Rasa 1:01) +

+ Mark VI plate doesn't turn up in the Tactical squads of the original army, so I was in two minds whether to include it. In the end, I squared the circle by keeping the details minor – if you compare these figures with the ones in the Devastator squad, you'll note that the Tactical ones simply have Mark VI helmets, and are otherwise identical to the rest of the squad; whereas the Devastators are converted more faithfully, with chest cables, single-piece greaves etc. +

+ The variation helps to blend the army together, rather than having the armour marks artificially separated. In my vision of Space Marines, their armour is fairly hotch-potch – some wearing full newly-produced suits of a particular armour mark; others inheriting bits and pieces from previous brethren; or augmenting their armour themselves with recourse to the Chapter forge. As a result, the idea of a whole squad – let alone a whole army – being identically equipped just chimes wrongly to me. It would feel rather too uniform and modern, and not properly evoke the pseudo-mediaeval Dark Age feel. +

+ Of course, some uniformity is desirable, or they'll end up looking like a rag-tag warband – cool for some Chapters or periods in the 40k universe's history (the Horus Heresy period can suit the identikit Stormtrooper look, for example), but not for Nova Terra Interregnum-period Blood Angels, I think. The Chapter badge and overall clean look of the paintjob is thus important to establishing the group's retrohammer-themed identity. +

+++

+ Brother Verroccio (Ambriel 4:11) +

+ The big ol' missile launchers used throughout the army help to evoke the Rogue Trader-period inspiration. 'Proteus-pattern' is GW's in-house term for modern designs based on the older stuff, and I really like this conceit. It's a very clever way to explain the difference between older and modern designs without invalidating anything in-universe. +

+ You'll notice more tiny writing on the pauldron nameplate; again, cursing myself for including so many curly 'c's and 'o's in his name! I've added a little skull on the pistol pouch to break it up a bit – note it echoes the squad kneepad honorific. The missile launcher cowling has the same yellow stripe as in the first squad – though I've added two here. It's a minor detail that makes no odds to the background, but will be useful in-game. Simple visual indicators like this – along with squad banner and honorifics – is a nice way to help both you and the other players keep track of which squad is what. +

+ The power pack is a holdover from 2nd edition. Note also the little trigger mechanism/remote he's carrying in his left hand. That's a nod to the similar details of the single-piece missile launchers from the later 2nd ed. boxed set. I made it from an auspex, with various bits trimmed off and replaced. +

+++

+ Brother Brunellecci (Hamurabbas 1:03) +

+ The other beakie helm in the squad. There's a balance to strike – it's nice to have some variation, but too much spoils the uniformity. With both sergeant and squad leader in Mark VII, I felt I could get away with a few more than in the first Tactical squad. There's a Mark IV helm, too (see Brother Zoma below), though since this is much less distinctively different to Mark VII, it stands out less. +

+ As with Verroccio above, Brunellecci has a small personalisation on his pistol holster, though here it's a blood drop. I think little details like this, the script on the boltgun, the black-wax purity seal and so forth really help to give some realism and make the model feel like an individual. +

+ I like this Intercessor pose. I think the arms (and possibly the whole thing) are from the easy-build marines – either the three-man kit that popped up everywhere or the Dark Imperium starter – which just goes to show how easily these can be repeatedly integrated into an army without it looking like an army of clones. +

+++

+ Tactical II: Squad Lazarus +

+ And so we come to the complete Squad Lazarus, Third Company – or to use the apotropaic nomenclature: Mano Sacra, under Lord Dahavauron, Prince of the Erelim, 3rd Strateia of the Host of Angels +

+ Back row, left to right: Brother Verroccio (Ambriel 4:11); Brother Schirru (Ixael 6:05); Sergeant Lazarus (Melchizadek 8:15); Brother Pappacordo (Zether 1:09); Brother Brunellecci (Hamurabbas 1:03) +

+ Front row, left to right: Brother Ornaghi (Utchael 3:04); Brother Ilean (Rasa 1:01); Brother Simnal (Saditel 2:02); Brother Cleon (Sanael 1:02); Brother Zoma (Caraniel 9:01) + 

+++

Very pleased with these, and with a second squad completed, I've now got an officer to pick out and paint. For those who wanted to see the Scouts completed, they'll be the next squad – I started on them at the same time as the four above, so shouldn't be too long, either. +

+ inload: Blood Angels progress +

+ A return to blood +

+ The Alien Wars, a setting based around the actions of armies during the Nova Terra Interregnum, has been ticking over in the background. You can read about the broad scope of the project in the tab at the top of the blog (and check out the awesome aliens people have made!). Part of this is my Blood Angels army [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ They've been a bit neglected this year, but I dug them out last night to assess where I'd got to with them. +

+ The first tactical squad is completed. The army was intended to be an exercise in painting a neater, cleaner style, and I found it very slow going. Neverthless, pulling these lads out of mothballs was very rewarding; and a reminder of why I decided I was going to really try my hardest with this force. I don't think they've quite got the visual impact and 'pop' of my Gatebreakers [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], but they scratch that retrohammer itch and have a lovely warmth to them. After playing around with oils, it's also nice to see what I could – and hopefully can still – achieve with acrylics. +

+ The second Tactical squad is more than half complete. I think I must have got fed up with the remaining four; and this is likely where I'll start again. Small goals, in my experience, are much more sensible to set! +

+ I keep spotting little details like the banners and flamer, and wondering how I did them; or whether all four of the remaining figures have been taken to the same painting standard. This is a problem with breaking off a project halfway through! +

+ If you'll excuse a little self-congratulation, I think the Devastators look awesome together. Painting this Mark VI-themed squad – like the rest of the army, an homage to the RTB-01 models used in the GW studio army detailed in WD139 – should be fun. +

+ I've finally decided how I'll tackle the blue helms, and that's to take a leaf from the Swedish artist Anders Zorn, who used a very restricted palette of just four colours: yellow ochre, vermilion, titanium white and ivory black. Lacking any blue, it's a palette that still allows for a wonderful variety of hues. +

+ Now, I'm not going to be quite so restrictive as to remove all blues from my palette – not only am I no master artist, but my aim is to have tight control over the notoriously variable colour red, not make things harder for myself. I will, however, be using a muted, desaturated grey-blue (typical of the Zorn palette) to stand in for the vibrant primary blues of the inspiration. +

+ I used to really dislike the style of these models – the combination of ruffles and earrings and mohawk/ponytail combos just seemed weird – but now they've got a real retro appeal for me. While I like the 'tacticool' design of the modern sculpts, sculpts like these Renaissance-flavoured scouts really capture the outré, ritualistic feel of 40k's semi-barabaric dark age much better. I'm looking forward to painting these the most, so I might skip ahead to tackle them and get my hand back in for painting in this style. +

+ Having mentioned using acrylics above, I'm wondering if I might get away with using oils for this army, too. The red seems like it'd be ideal to enrich with burnt umber [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and it'd go a long way to making this project more enjoyable. (You can read about my thoughts on changing style, here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) +

+ If I decide to do so – and it's a big if; consistency here is important, and I want to persevere with the approach – then these scouts seem an ideal place to try it. By their nature, they'll look different to the rest of the army, and an all-over burnt umber oil wash will help to tie together different areas. +

+ Ah, the Terminators of Squad Redemptor. Back in 2018 I wrote a tutorial for converting Terminators large enough to sit alongside Primaris, and then they lurked, victims of imposter syndrome as I thought I'd never be able to do them justice in paint. The tutorial [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] has long been the most-viewed inload on the site, so I really ought to pull my finger out and get them done. Apart from anything else, it'd let me play Space Hulk again! +

+ The characters. I said I'd reward myself by painting one every time I completed a squad, which rather shows how slowly this army has been progressing... Rather like the look of them all gathered together – I'm glad that I decided to go 'all-banner all the time'. +

+ Bases on tanks? Yes, I thought this was a neat way to give the Rhino a bit more presence. Long-time inloaders will know how much I dread painting vehicles, but this might be another excuse to try out using oils, since it doesn't need to exactly match the infantry. Perhaps I'll find a method of painting tanks that I enjoy? +

+ Rather ugly lower legs there. I think I'll need to return and fix that before progressing with the speeder. Half tempted to paint the speeder yellow – it'd make the marines stand out, and I always rather liked the idea that the heraldic colours were reserved for the Astartes themselves, rather than their equipment. What do you reckon?+

+ ...and last but not least, the casualties – including one interred safely in a Dreadnought. Safely for him, that is; not the enemies of the Emperor! Looking more closely at this, you can see that this must have been the last thing I painted before packing the army away – the upper half is the Mephiston Red spray, while the lower part has received two coats of the Mephiston Red and Vallejo vermillion mix I use, as detailed in my painting red tutorial here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+++

+ It's nice to have everything collected together again for a once-over. The imminent release of the Primaris Techmarine means I'll have a figure available to plug the last gap in the WD139 force; the techmarine manning the Thudd Gun. That seems a good enough motivation for me to get chugging along with the army once more. What would you like to see me tackle first? Finish off Tactical squad II, paint the scouts or polish off the Dreadnought? +

+ inload: Blood Angels retrohammer Dreadnought +

+ Furibundus-Perfidium Dreadnought +

+ A real blast from the pa... no, wait, a beautifully executed fan-resculpt; an affectionate update of the classic Rogue Trader-era Dreadnought. I'm blocking in a few bits here and there, and thoroughly enjoying it. +

+ Painting is progressing fairly slowly as I feel my way around the sculpt. This is, I hasten to add, no fault of the sculpting (great) or casting (beautifully clean), but simply that it's fun to work on a model that updates a real childhood favourite. +

+ The image above it quite a good example of what layering translucent paint layers (I hesitate to call it glazing, as the layers aren't as dilute) can do. The lower half has a couple of additional layers of Vallejo's Flat Red; the upper part is just Mephiston Red undercoat. +

[+ACT=NOSTALGIAFILE: SPOOLING+]

+ Spot-On Models in Swindon was the only place I could buy models for many years (likely owing to the appearance of GW Swindon, it now specialises as a model train shop), and in amongst the racks of blisters from the likes of Grenadier, Marauder, Citadel and Old Crow was a second-hand area. +

+ Clutching a birthday fiver, I bought a Dreadnought from this stash, beautifully-painted in red. It got used as a robot for my Imperial Guard; turned up in Space Crusade games as a counterpoint to the ED-209 Chaos Dreadnought; and at my dogged insistence* once appeared in my (very indulgent brother's) Advanced Heroquest dungeon. It got boxed-up, uncovered, dropped, repaired, repainted into a quartered scheme – and then I lost it. +

+ A quick scale comparison shot +

+ Even through the mists of nostalgia, I can recognise that the original sculpt was fairly crude, but it's lovely to have a modern version. To modern eyes it may be blocky and unrefined, but it just absolutely radiates the Rogue Trader era to me. I'm delighted to have it in my army! + 


* Whinging.

+++

+ inload: Lamb's World recruitment +

+ It's all been a bit quiet while I grind away at the next entry in the Creating your own army series [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], so I thought I'd post up some miscellaneous bits and bobs to feast your occulo-visors on; and look at some more of my Imperial Guard from Lamb's World – because who doesn't love the poor bloody infantry struggling through the grim darkness of the far future? +

+ New Recruits +

+ I've used the models of this latest Lamb's World army to represent different regiments – a new commander and some thematic auxiliaries/additions is enough to give an army a fresh feel for a different time period. This works particularly well for monolithic or unchanging organisations like the Imperial Guard or Necrons; letting you try a different approach with your force without painting a whole new army. +

+ Adapting an army for a different setting – and it doesn't need to be a completely different time period; it may simply be a different region of your campaign – changing the personalities at the top goes a long way to giving a sense of realism and verisimilitude. After all, your colonel/warboss isn't going to deal with everything personally, and can't be everywhere at once: it's good to let trusted underlings take charge. This also adds to a sense of scale; preventing your campaigns turning into the same old characters fighting each other, with all the tension of a saturday-morning cartoon. +

+ Introducing new characters – and allowing them to be captured, injured or even die – can be very immersive and enjoyable. The figures above show some reinforcements for Lamb's World, who will represent the army during the M35 time period. To fit with the Nova Terra Interregnum's 'retrohammer' concept (that is, to evoke the Rogue Trader background using modern miniatures), I've drafted in some classic Mark Copplestone sculpts kindly given to me by Stuntwedge. They're front and centre of the image above, and will be Caef Whittaker (named after the Commander of my very first guard army back in the 90s) and his trusted banner bearer. Note I've used Elysian arms, shoulder guards and weaponry to update them a bit, without compromising what I like about the originals. The other figures are a motley mix of bits and bobs, mostly Victoria Miniatures' awesome Arcadian Guard (and a characterful dog from Anvil Industries), and will swell the ranks of the infantry. +

+ To make sure that the Victoria Miniatures figures blend in with the existing guardsmen of the army – mostly based on Forge World's Elysian – I'm also building some figures that overlap and combine bits from both Forge World and Victoria Miniatures. +

+ Sicarian Infiltrator: Bezoa Forge [Pict-capture: Lucifer216] +

+ Why the renewed interest in Lamb's World? Well, fellow PCRC member Lucifer216 has recently completed a rather gorgeous Adeptus Mechanicus army from his Forgeworld of Bezoa [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – you can see an example of his beautiful work to the right – and we thought we'd get a big game in. +

+ We're aiming for 150 power level, which is certainly the biggest game I've played for a long while – and possibly the largest I've ever played one-on-one. My aim is to get some shots for a battle report that I can post up here; so watch this space. +

+ My existing army just about reaches that level, but if I can get some extra stuff painted before the game (it's nice to field something new for a big game like this), that'd be the aromatic unguents on the tech-altar . +

+++

+ For every battle honour, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered. +

+ I've been posting up shots of individual Guardsmen – and how they mey their inevitable ends – on the Death_of_a_Rubricist Instagram account recently, so I wanted to make sure the main blog readers didn't miss out. +

+ XI: Morus Llew. Bezoa. KIA confirmed – background rads. +

+ XII and XIII:  Osto Eo and Broker Wyn. Bezoa. KIA unconfirmed – artillery strike. +

+ XIV: Harris Cain. Battle of Blosto Plains. KIA – confirmed.

+ XV: Zor Pirkens. Luther MacIntyre IX. KIA confirmed – local fauna. +

+ XVI: Asc Oakentop. Luther MacIntyre IX. KIA confirmed. +

+++

+ Also in the forges +

+ Some other projects that are bubbling under: +

+ Mordheim XIX +

+ The basic shapes of the warband are in place – some greenstuff work and then onto paint. +

+ Allies and enemies +

+ How's a Space Marine to show off how tough he is without guardsmen to provide contrast? These two are from Victoria Miniatures' [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] Arcadian line – a thoroughly awesome homage to the Cadian miniatures of late 2nd edition: perfect for the Nova Terra Interregnum period of my setting. +

+ A scale shot helps drive home the physical size of the underlying Plague Marine model. +

+ But being big isn't necessarily enough when you're fighting the worst the rim can throw at you. This space-fimir is from Knightmare Miniatures [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who also made the Saharduin figures in this inload. He (and his species) will get an 'Anatomy' inload of his own sometime. +

+ A very cool figure with a great mix of pulp sci-fi and prehistoric Celtic detailing, I'm going to try out some green-grey glazing on the skin. I've therefore created a much lighter underlayer than I normally would. +

+++