+ inload: Leg day on Nocturne +

+ Building truescale legs from Gravis armour + 

+ A portion of yesterday's evening was spent bulking up the legs started in the previous inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. They're not yet finished as they're being built up in stages – I long ago learned the pitfalls of squishing previous work when trying to do too much in one go! +

+ The pict-capture above is interesting to compare with that below; pre-greenstuff. You can see the difference the additional bulk around the thighs makes. I've tried to keep as much of the 'greebling' detail of the existing legs, so most of the work was really built around integrating the additional reinforcing layers that are a feature of Mark X armour in general and the Gravis variant in particular. +

+ Ultimately, I'm pleased that the legs look more like Mark VII – absent of any scale comparisons, I think they'd fit nicely in place  with the plastic Tactical squad that came out in 3rd edition; if roughly a third larger again. These Salamanders are going to be quite chunky! +

+++

+ Iterative improvement +

+ One thing that I have been trying to improve here is my green stuff work, and I'm finding taking photographs of progress helps keep me honest with myself. Below is the shot I took when I first felt I had finished. I was pleased – but  under the camera lens they looked so lumpy! I went back to refine and smooth them a little more, which is the shot you can see above. Still not perfect, but a little better. +

+ While the difference is subtle, I think little iterative improvements like this is what's going to help me get better. A job for another evening is to fill the gap between the bottom of the shin plate and that first additional plate; leaving a single, rather than double, plate above the boot.  +

+ After that, perhaps onto the torsos... +

+++

+ And for no other reason than Kroot are cool, here's a picture of one riding a Knarloc. I brought him in from the happy hunting grounds (my garage) and decided to take a picture. +

+ inload: Iron Warriors commission +

+ Getting back to the Officio +

+ I was commissioned through this blog to build a trio of Iron Warriors line officers, along the lines of my own Officio Monstrosa project [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Happily, the chap who's retained me is happy with how they're looking, so thought I'd share them here to talk through a few notes, in case they're of interest to anyone. +

+ After a bit of discussion back and forth, the brief was pleasingly open – three Iron Warriors that could conceivably be loyal to the Emperor or Horus (so no obvious Chaos symbols or motations), each armed with chainsword and bolt pistol, and with the cool helm with the additional Legion symbol mask from the  Forge World Iron Warrior upgrade pack. The figures would be used as sergeants or similar, so needed to be fairly restrained in pose – bothing too dynamic. Beyond that, and urban rubble basing, I was given free reign. +

+ I don't do a lot of commission pieces, but the principle I always apply to them is 'would I want this in my personal army?' To that end, I spent some time roughing out some ideas, then got stuck in. Coming back to older techniques or processes – in this case Terminator-based Trusecale (you can find the process yourself through here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) – is always interesting, as you find ways to refine or go further as new options open up, or you simply refine your skills. +

+ This marine, who I mentally named Ostrod while working, uses one of the Terminators from Space Marine Heroes series 2 for the legs. These figures have much more interesting poses than most Terminators, and come with rather nice integrated bases. As with the others, you'll note he's missing his backpack – they hadn't yet arrived, so will be added after the rest of the model is painted in each case.+

+ I've tried to keep the pose fairly neutral, so that he looks good during games. Whether pictured in combat, mid-strike, or simply advancing warily, he should provide a nice focal point for a squad  without standing out too much. The addition of a bit spiky pauldron – as usual, from Master-Crafted Miniatures – gives him a suitably brutal feel without being too obviously Chaotic. +

+ Iron Armour and Iron Warriors go together like particularly violent ice-cream and jelly, so a warrior in Mark III – Konstantz – in mid-strike seemed fitting. The torso's a cast of a converted torso I used for my own army, which married the bottom of plastic torso with a sculpted upper. The legs here are from the Grey Knight Terminator set, with the thighs considerably bulked-up. I've added to the heavy, solid feeling with plenty of pouches and an arm from the Gorgon Terminator kit.+

+ The final marine is levelling his bolt pistol, as though to execute a downed enemy. This sort of pose looks good in isolation or as part of a dedicated vignette, but can look odd in-game. To avoid any visual awkwardness, I placed him on a slightly modified Stormcast base. This raised him up a little further than the others, which makes the pistol gesture make sense outside of the very specific places he might otherwise need to be in. +

+ As noted elsewhere in the blog, I tend to prime figures before considering them completely finalised, as it helps to stop your eye being thrown off by all the different colours or plastic, resin and putty. While I remained happy with the other two, this figure (Ubricz) was the only one of the three that I altered after priming. The original, with a chainsword, is shown above, the final version below. +

+ Why the change to chainaxe? Mostly, it was to better convey the almost casual disdain with which this marine is treating his downed foe. For me, the slung chainaxe resting on the shoulder better encapsulates the arrogance and cruelty of the Iron Warriors. Secondly, the more relaxed pose fit better with the posture of his legs. I thought he looked too alert and wary before, with his chainsword down, which didn't 'read right' with the ponderous confidence suggested by his legs. +

+ Secondly, I thought the chainaxe was both a bit different – while part of the Iron Warriors 'thing' is a mass of faceless soldiers, complete uniformity of armament is a bit boring. It's easy enough to 'count-as' a chainsword, but adds a flavourful Horus Heresy-era touch. Together with a small skull trophy slung on his shoulder pad, it also hints as background influences on the Legion, with Khorne berserkers a part of the Iron Warriors. Is this warrior a future axe-happy lunatic, lost in slaughter? Will his discipline survive? Little things like this add much to the story of a piece. +

+++

+ Painting next; as per request I'll be using the same approach as for my own army – so keep an eye out for another inload soon. +

+ inload: Captain Steloc Aethon +

+ Captain Steloc Aethon +

+ [Buildprogressvalue: complete.] +

+ A little greenstuff work to get the pteruges (the little dangly straps below the pauldrons) and add some detail here and there, and the noble Captain is ready for painting. +

+ The Custodes Aquilon Terminator that makes up the base for this conversion (you can find the tutorial here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]) gives him great stature. He's suitably towering over the Victoria miniatures baseline human soldier next to him, and he's substantially bulkier than my Astartes, too. As usual with Terminator conversions, my intention is to balance raw size against some measure of plausibility within the universe. Much bigger than this and the Terminator starts to look less intimidatingly large, and more simply a different scale. +

+ To balance this, I try to ensure that the eyeline of the Terminator isn't far off the power-armoured figures – perhaps a touch higher, to take into account thicker soles to the books, but not too much. That said, this particular example has had a slight spacer added between the upper torso and waist; just to nudge him higher than his rank-and-file comrades, so he stands out on the field. +

+ I'm no great sculptor, so the greenstuff work is mainly concerned with adding simple geometric shapes to suggest detail. Paintwork will develop these further. The rough work on the cape means it's perforce going to be painted dark in tone; perhaps a similar leather to my iteration Kurtha Sedd's [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Looks like I need more practice. +

+ Anyway, I hope the resulting figure strikes a nice balance between display and gaming piece, ready for us in the Betrayal at Calth boardgame and in everyday Horus-heresy era 40k. +

+ inload: The Five Hundred Worlds +

+ The Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar +

+ Apropos of nothing, here's a picture of Primarch Guilliman leading a force through the ruins of Armatura. I'm treating this very much not as a side-track, but rather a natural extension of Betrayal at Calth. +

Mission1: Ready for action

+ ...and speaking of which, with the figures for Mission 1 complete [VIZREF the previous inload], I've moved on to Mission 2, which involves the Word Bearers being confronted by the cream of the Ultramarines: Captain Aethon and five Ultramarine terminators. +

+ The Terminators will be supplied using the following figures, who need a bit of polish and a repaint:

+ Apologies for the ancient pic! + 

[+noospherinloadlink embedded+]

+ Aethon, however, needs to be made from whole cloth. +

+++

+WIP Captain Aethon +

+ The character of Captain Aethon has been handled by a number of authors – I think his first brief appearance is at the head of the 19th Company in Aaron Dembski-Bowden's The First Heretic; and he then appears in cameo in Dan Abnett's Know No Fear. These are two of my favourite novels – Horus Heresy or otherwise. I believe he also turns up in some short stories, and the duology of novellas The Honoured and The Unburdened that came out with the release of the Betrayal at Calth box set; though I haven't read the latter two. Anyone know if they're worth picking up? +

+ Either way, he's an interesting background character, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to make my interpretation of a fairly loosely-sketched figure, who nevertheless has an 'official' figure, which you can see on the GW website [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. Now, while he does have a model, I suspect that the figure was sculpted without particular reference to the character, and more as a fairly generic leader to whom the character was then written. + 

+ Whether that is the case or not, I want to echo the broad strokes of that model – Cataphractii armour; bare, bald head; and similar weapons. Building on the same basis as my other Terminators – step-by-step walkthrough here: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – I'm going to do some additional work to bring the figure closer to the original. +

+ The WIP you can see above has had the original detailing removed, ready for sculpting. I am making some 'editorial' changes to taste – I won't include the gorget of the original, so that the face can be better seen, for example – but I'm doing my best to make sure that my model clearly comes from the same source. The head, incidentally, is from Forge World's Terminator Praetor figure. It's got such a fantastic grumpy expression, which I thought perfectly suited this (very angry) Ultramarine. +

+ I'm not enamoured of the figure's armament – chainfist and combi-melta – as they don't seem very fitting for an officer; but perhaps that's all the more reason to follow them closely: trying things outside your comfort zone is always interesting, whether it's successful or a failure. +

+++

+ inload: Objective creep +

+ The Mazzikim – and historical accuracy in a future war +

+ Markings, weathering and a few little details to go +

+ More painting, more progress. While still WIP, these chaps are crawling along. However, with just twenty-one (and a Dreadnought) to paint, they're not an insurmountable project. I definitely find it easier to push myself on a slog when a project has a definite scope. +

+ The WIP shot about shows ten marines, including a couple of specialists (flamer, heavy bolter and possessed), so getting near to being halfway through. The majority of these will likely end up in the Mazzikim – one of two hotch-potch remnant squads fighting in the Underworld War – but at least one will need to join the other squad, in order to create space for a Sergeant. +

• Sergeant Clotho Harphagos
• Mugla of the Blasted Cedar – boltgun
• Kimon of the Inscribed – boltgun
• Coran of the Blasted Cedar – boltgun
• Arrian the Medean – boltgun
• Urka Madis – boltgun 
• Bac Vorkar of the Third Hand – heavy bolter
• Vannis Gen of the Inscribed – boltgun
• Tantal – boltgun
• Sart Kayi – flamer

+ Emboldened names here are figures that were already ready for play (i.e. they just need finishing touches). I now need to pick who's who for the three in the picture at the top. Since I have some WIP shots, here's a pic of them a bit earlier in the painting process, with just the red done:

+ After this, I played around with some more glazes and final highlights, then painted in the metals. Adding the metals and eyes goes a surprising way to getting these near completion. +

+ Objective creep +

+ We've all been there – you put your main projects to one side in favour of 'a quick sideproject'. It's 'just come off the backburner'; you wanted 'a quick palette cleanser' before getting back to your main project... only it isn't. The side project catches your imagination, and before you know, you've got really deep into the lore, ordered a load of extra bits, and the project's taken on a life of its own. The infamous hobby butterfly strikes again! +

+ Not inherently a problem, of course – and I'm an advocate of running with your enthusiasms where possible. Few things are more tiresome than having to force yourself to paint – it makes your hobby a job. +

+ The problem I do have with this is that indulging the hobby butterfly can mean that early parts of the project end up looking a bit half-hearted. As mentioned in an earlier inload, these Word Bearers were intended as a quick side-project; minimal conversion in order to get them on the table. In practice, I found myself enjoying the process, and have been lavishing more attention on the more recent members. +

+ Here, I think the painting has remained relatively consistent, but the underlying conversion work is gradually becoming more complex, hiding more of the Mark X basis of the figure, and drawing out more of the familiar Horus-Heresy look. Finding a balance between time available and simply getting figures done has become more important for me in recent years, so the underlying figures above have not been converted to the extent that I might once have done, as shown in a couple of examples below. +

+ Mark II Crusade plate – a conversion that led to Praetor plate becoming 'canon'. +

+ Mark IV Maximus plate; full conversion +

+ Anvils of Konor picked up on this on a post I put up on Instagram last night to say that they're not as obviously Horus Heresy-era as they could be. By the time I got back to the picture this morning, it had escalated into quite a heated discussion on the relative merits of what makes a figure fit into the Horus Heresy or not, and it was interesting to see the back and forth. +

+ Altogether simpler – Mark IV Maximus with minimal sculpting. +

+ I hasten to make it clear there's no hard feelings on either side. AoK is a fantastically talented converter and painter, well-known for the care and attention he pays to his miniatures – I'd thoroughly recommend your check out his stuff. +

+ He (quite unnecessarily, but very kindly) got in touch to apologise about what he felt was his slightly abrupt phrasing, and we fell to chatting about 'historical accuracy' within the HH era, a topic that has popped up a few times, and tends to end up with two entrenched camps. He and I are going to put together a future inload to discuss this concept of historical accuracy in Horus Heresy-era gaming, and in wargaming in general. +

+ It's an issue that's got more complexity than the partisan issue of 'rivet-counters' vs. 'lazy modellers' it often devolves into, so I'm hoping we can put together a more nuanced discussion of the topic; one with a vibe that's more 'friendly chat around the fire with a brandy' than 'debate with the enemy'! +

+ Best of all, I hope I'll be able to showcase some of AoK's stunning work here, and share it with you. +

+++

+ Ahead of the article, I'd love to hear your thoughts on 'pseudo-historical accuracy' within wargames in general, in order to get as broad a set of discussion points as possible. +

• How important is personal creativity and individuality to your hobby? How does that relate to fitting your models in with the established universe?
• How far do you consider compatibility with others' work when painting, modelling or gaming? 
• Do you like playing with and against more familiar 'canon' figures and armies, or more unusual and individualistic 'counts-as' forces?
• How does it relate to the implied social contract of gaming or sharing your work? 
• Where does the line lie for you between including everyone and setting particular standards?
• Do you see the official lore/'canon' simply as a starting point, or a common factor to be included where possible?

+ inload: Bristol Silence, the genestealer threat, and The Alien Wars +

+ Chrono-shunt active: Deadline deployed +

+ As the pict-capture below shows, it's not all games and theory for me – though if you fancy trying out some Gargant rules for the new Adeptus Titanicus, I'd very much appreciate your input [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – I'm also (slowly) getting on with my infiltrated PDF force for the Bristol Silence campaign. +

+ The only model that's recently reached a finished (bar the base) state is the officer above, thought the long and tedious batch-painting on the remaining infantry is starting to bear fruit. They've all reached what I consider the base-coat stage. The officer above was a test of how far I can realistically take such base-coated figures in a short period of time, and I'm pleased to say that he took only around twenty minutes to take to this state. That's given me a realistic target to aim for for the remainder; and I think I can probably tackle half a squad or so in an evening going forward. +

+ The second part of the force I'll be taking to Bristol is the genestealers, of course; but it wouldn't be me if they weren't converted or altered in some way – particularly since the Steel Legion models I'm using for the infiltrated PDF are for the most part unaltered. + 

+ Just as the Steel Legion will see double-duty in my Alien Wars project [REF: tab-bar at the top of the page – +noosphericinloadlink embedded+]as the ldebaran 4th/5th; so too will some of the genestealers appear in another project. +

+ As a little work-in-progress preview, here's the King of Beasts:

+++

+ LOOPACTIVE: Procrastination subroutine  +

+ As is traditional, in trying to finish the Steel Legion, I had the sudden urge to clear up other bits and bobs. The Blood Angels 3rd gained a lieutenant:

+ Fairly simple stuff, using the new Blood Angels lieutenant as the base, but with a few bits and bobs to make him fit in with the rest of the army. I wasn't a huge fan of the original's pose – the head in particular looks really awkward; and so I've opted for a more open feel, as though urging on his comrades. Creating M35 marines (for The Alien Wars project) is interesting – not quite so uniform as HH marines, nor so opulent as M41. +

+ ...And having popped open the Dark Imperium box to get sprues to build the Blood Angels lieutenant, the inevitable happened, and I got sidetracked building Death Guard. +

+ Such cool models! I've done some minor conversion work (altering poses I found awkward, and making the heads a bit more uniform) but the underlying models are so gorgeous (in a horrid gribbly way) that they just work. +

+ The design has some great callbacks to Jes' classic Plague Marine sculpt. I've no great plans for anything big with these, but they were a genuine delight to put together. If they're fun to paint, I might expand them a little. +

 + Like much of GW's recent Chaos releases, the dolorous chap carrying the great bell has an wonderfully over-the-top and silly name – my main objection to the Death Guard release was the stupid naming – but the figure itself is fantastic. The conversion work here was mainly trimming off the really over-the-top elements to reveal the underlying silhouette. A headswap to more closely match the iconic Death Guard helm gives him a bit of individuality, and I twisted the arm to give a swaggering motion. +

+ inload: Things to do on Ba'al Prime when you're dead +

+ Imperial Religion M35 +

The Alien Wars occurred during, and were in many ways predicated upon, a galaxy-wide spiritual crisis afflicting the Imperium that led to its division during the Nova Terra Interregnum. While the sheer scale, variety of cultures and conflicting philosophies of the Imperium makes generalities difficult, the question of the Emperor's nature – whether man or god – was the root of the crisis.

While the Ecclesiarchy had been formally recognised since M32 as the Adeptus Ministorum, and its beliefs accepted as the state religion of the Imperium, this monolithic entity was far from coherent. Only the broadest strokes of shared rites – a recognition of the Emperor as a God; and the importance of offering praise to him alone – could be inculcated across the Imperium.

While the High Lords and the Ministorum's senior ministers pursued an aggressively detailed methodology for conversion, most missionaries on the ground – mindful of their vulnerability – pursued a more pragmatic approach: they would earn the trust of the natives, learn about the local religion, and inveigle the Emperor as godhead in place of the aboriginal chief deity. Rites, celebrations and festivals would continue as before. This was, broadly-speaking, a successful project. 

The more avowedly secular or irreligious human societies proved harder to convert; and these became grinding campaigns by the Ecclesiarchy, devouring as much wealth and as many men as the physical wars of the Imperial Guard. Hundreds of millions of both pro- and anti-Eccelisarchical groups fled persecution from across the human galaxy, and the displaced – or 'pilgrim armadas' – of the period were a hugely disruptive cultural influence on worlds on which they arrived. Some were welcomed with open arms, but other planets treated these refugees as invaders; blockading their ports, exploiting the refugees, or even opening fire on their ships. Imperial shipping lanes became thick with homeless fleets, and with xenos species increasingly bold and daring, predation upon the relatively defenseless pilgrim fleets was inevitable. 

+++

+ M35 Funerary Rites of the Blood Angels +

+ While I think the new Primaris apothecary is a cool model, one detail I didn't like was the triumphant posture over the dead Battle Brother. I guess it could look as though the Apothecary is more concerned with the geneseed than the corpse, but to me it just felt a little disrespectful. As a result, 

I've used the dead body to construct some injury markers instead. +

+ I applied the same conversion techniques to the dead marines as the live ones; and took the opportunity to try sculpting some Mark VI cabling. Markers like this are a good chance to try things out. If they don't work; it's easy to scuff it up as further damage. +

+ In-game, these will likely be simply aesthetic – basically a bit of extra terrain. However, they could be used as casualty markers to help jog my memory when the Battleshock/morale phase rolls around. +

+ Terminators +

+ The summer heat clearly got to my cogitators; I couldn't resist building a few more Terminators using the conversion process detailed a few inloads ago [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] +

+ inload: Tutorial – Converting squats from Kharadron Arkanauts

+ Step-by-step conversion: Squats +

For the thronghold and the ancestors! To arms!

+ I thought the release of the first new squat for 25 years deserved a bit of fanfare from hobbyists, so I built the squad above using Kharadon Overlords and Genestealer cultist spares. I've documented the process to share, in case you fancy having a go yourself. +

+ What do I need? +

+ As usual, the fun of conversion is getting your own ideas into the figures; so please use this tutorial as a springboard rather than 'holy writ'. Feel free to vary the parts used based on what you have, to embellish and improve on the basic squat I show here. +

+ For this tutorial you will need: 

• Greenstuff putty
• Superglue
• Craft knife and cutting mat
• Polystyrene cement
• A tub of lip balm (or similar lubricant)
• A sculpting tool with a point, edge and smooth end; such as this [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]
• The body and legs from the Kharadron Arkanaut kit

+++

[VAL-request=OPTIONAL] + If you find this tutorial useful, please consider using this Ko-fi exloadlink to support the blog's free tutorials. + [+exload:GRATITUDESPOOL//+]

+++

+ Part 1 +

I_ Mix up your putty and apply it over the torso, aiming to fill the space between the collar and belt as shown. You don't need a huge amount.

+ Note that I've filled the neck area; that's because I'm using a flat-bottomed head from the Hammerer/Longbeard kit. Depending on which heads you're using, you may or may not need to do this. +

 II_ Use the smooth end of the sculpting tool to spread out the putt evenly over the area, working into the crevices. Leave a fine gap at the edges. If you've added a little too much putty, simply smooth it so that it overflow the area, then use the sharp edge of the sculpting tool to trim it away neatly.

 III_ Use the smooth end of the tool to gently push the surface of the putty towards the middle. This will create a raised hump, which you then gently flatten to create the impression of a strap. Note that the arkanaut bodies vary – some have two straps. You can sculpt them how you wish, but there are buckles on the collars that provide handy guidance on the placement of the straps, and help you to ensure a uniform thickness.

IV_ Use the blade of the sculpting tool to draw diagonal lines. Keep them as evenly-spaced as you can,and avoid the strap.

 V_ Work back the other way, making diagonal lines running in the opposite direction to create the quilted effect.

VI_ Roll a tiny ball of putty and place it on the upper left chest.

VII_ Use small circular motions of the smooth end of the tool to gently flatten out the ball into a circle. This will be the regimental/thronghold badge.

 VIII_ Use the craft knife to trim away the little bobble at the back of the neck (the part where the backpack is intended to attach). Next, lay a small amount of putty between the belt and collar at the back, just like in step I.

 IX_ Repeat the quilting process (steps II–V above) on the back, then add a small ball of putty where you trimmed away the backpack attachment. Smooth it out into a rough rectangle, then use the flat edge of the tool to refine and sharpen the edges.

 X_ Returning to the front, wrap a small amount of putty around the upper legs, just below the belt. Smooth this into a flat tunic. As you can see, I didn't add enough putty initially, so it doesn't wrap all the way round (you can see the unsculpted end on the left of the picture). It's better to work gradually and add a little more at a time; as it's easier to add and smooth in small amounts than trim away excess neatly.

XI_ Once you have laid in the basic shape, repeat the quilting to pattern the bottom of the tunic all the way round the body. Because there's no break between the front and back, you can work round in one go. Try to match the spacing of the squares you're creating to the size of the existing quilting on the front and back. 

XII_ Gently run the blade of the sculpting tool round the edges of the tunic bottom  to create a border. Use the smooth end of the tool to gently erase any overlapping marks to finish.

+END OF SEQUENCE+

+GOTO 10+

+ The finished models +

+ Finishing the models is now relatively quick work, with little sculpting. Once the putty has cured, you can add whatever suitable head, arms and weapons you wish. The example here use heads from the Hammerer/Longbeard and Ironbreaker/Irondrake boxes – the only addition is a simple blast visor made from a rectangle of putty, similar to that added in step IX. +

+ The arms come from a variety of sources – Mantic Forgefathers, genestealer cultists and the Arkanaut box itself. The shoulder pads here are mostly from the Imperial Guard Valkyrie kit, but that's simply because I had them handy. A more economical way would be to use the  more ornate ones from the Ironbreaker/Irondrake box, as shown on the squad leader in the centre. +

+ The weapons are a similar mix, with autoguns and pistols from the genestealer cultist box and suitably-sized boltguns from the Sisters of Silence kit). +

+ I hope the tutorial's useful – if you have a go, please do share what you make. These chaps will be popping up in the Alien Wars soon – why not have a bash at making one of these little bits of history yourself? +