+ inload: Rise of the God-machines +

+ Sons of the Temple: Legio Nikator +

+ All hail the god of machines! + 

+ Following a weekend of gaming, painting and building enthusiasm, progress continues on the Titans of my Legio. + 

+ I've really been feeling my way around these models; diving in and out and developing areas in isolation. Quite an organic approach, which has advantages and disadvantages. +

+ The panels of off-white were fun. Once a flat surface was achieved and allowed to dry, I drew a brush loaded with sepia ink and flow improver downwards, leaving these attractive streaks of weathering. While wet, I rinsed and dried the brush to lift out pooling areas to avoid backruns. +

+ Bright and colourful and cartoony! The chainfist panelling is unweathered; showing how the armour looks before I go in with the inks and so forth. I used this area to test out the Legio symbol, a hand grasping a crown. I worked freehand, adjusting as I went, so it's not quite right here. I think I'll sketch in onto the carapaces first to make sure it's more symmetrical. +

+ The pauldron and head here show a little highlighting and weathering, while the carapace has received another layer. Building it up gradually like this allows me a bit of control over how weathered the final result appears. +

+ A rear shot shows how some panels are more developed than others. I think I need to incorporate more of the white areas here and there. I'm also in two minds on whether to build up heat glow etc. around the exhausts. +

+ A detail from another work-in-progress Reaver, this kneepad was a fun bit of freehand, based on heraldic 'furs'. Tempted to expand the use of this – perhaps on the carapace of one? +

+ inload: Prelude to Qu'Ba +

+ Heyn'Am Rim +

Today regarded as the breadbasket of the Tzi'Na Enclave, a province of the Tau's Brightsword Protectorate, this promisingly rich and fertile system was discovered by Imperial explorators in M38, and earmarked for forcible induction to the Imperium at least twice. In both cases, its position equidistant between the two rival Imperial subsectors – Starfire and Hesiod-Siculus – saw much political sabre-rattling, and the invasion was postponed.

It bears an unusual population of abhumans alongside at least two xenos species. The three species seem to have a commensual relationship, all living and working together; benefitting from each others' protection and – mostly – using different resources. Imperial hopes that the humans could be recovered and re-indoctrinated proved fruitless after investigation found the humans to be hopelessly corrupted by intentional genehancing – hence their classification to abhumans.  

The agriworld – or rather sept – is known to the Tau as Heyn'Am, a transliteration of the inhabitants' own name. The world did not voluntarily join the Greater Good, and its population still harbours ill-will towards their new rulers.

Extr. Howtopher Buxcraft's Later Histories of Antona Australis vol. VII

+++

Shambling onwards – work-in-progress Death Guard of the Bleak Vespers.

+ The Feverdream Episode +

The septworld of Heyn’Am was the scene of a flashpoint during the Tzi'Na Crisis. The Space Hulk Feverdream's drift took it through the Heyn'Am Rim, trapping the region between the space hulk and advancing elements of the Curdling Armada. Primed by the threat both in the void, the already-discontented native population was incited to open rebellion against their Tau masters by insurgent elements.

Alarmed by a sudden cessation in contact from their command centre on the island of Qu’Ba, local Brightsword forces hastily assembled to assist the encamped planetary suppression units. Whilst preparing for a full-scale assault on the Bayeaux Pigues region, orbital scans revealed construction of what appeared to be a large military facility further inland on Qu’ba. Fearing that delaying action would have disastrous consequences, contact was made with reliable alien agents planetside (the Bo’Than movement). Construction plans were appropriated and, although many Bo’Thans died in their retrieval, the T’au infiltrators escaped to the rendezvous point at Qi Liym Bay.

Caught between pursuing Qu’Bans and an approaching hurricane, the evacuation seemed to be heading for calamity when th+++ [+/!queryerror!/+] +++ides were turned by the arrival o+++ [+/!nonbinary expression executed!/+] +++ [+/!external override detected!/+] +++ [+/connection lost/+] +++

[+Colour text courtesy of Warmtamale+] 

+++

+ Prepping for a game +

+ The PCRC are meeting up for one of our periodic get-togethers, and Warmtamale will be GMing use through The Qu'Ban Laser Crisis. I've been plugging away to get some more Plague Marines ready [+vizref: above+], and have also finally polished off the build for my Chaos Lord, Simargi of Moroz-Morok: 

+ No plan survives contact with the enemy. His planned armament – a blade and bludgeon – went out the window after they looked a bit crap. I ended up going with a giant axe and combi-bolter; and, as you can see, I also gave him his own little death-knell bell. The bells have turned up in quite a few places as part of the visual theme, so it only seemed fitting for SImargi to have one of his own. +

+ The two accompanying him are a second Blightbringer – again, I really like the tocsins, so another bell-carrier was a given – and a Putrifier, a sort of ex-techmarine (and a very kind gift from my brother and nephews – cheers lads). The conversion here is fairly subtle – adjusting the pose of the arm and replacing the head with the more standardised one I like best. +

+ In addition to the other close combat Plague Marines that are on the painting desk, I've also got this fella with a huge cleaver. +

+ ...and finally for today, a squad of Terminators, made with a mix of the Blightlord weapons (kindly donated by Lucifer216) and the new Chaos Terminator kit. +

+ inload: Dwarfs for Warhammer Underworlds +

+ 'Let me sing you the song of our people' +

+  Not being the biggest fan of the 'all slayers, all the time' look of the Fyreslayer dwarfs for Age of Sigmar, a while back I converted the Shadespire warband [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. I finally got round to painting them up. +

+ Not the most free-flowing of painting sessions, these were a bit frustrating to paint. I got there in the end, and painted is better than perfect, as the saying goes. +

+ One of the main stumbling blocks was simply that I don't have a handle on dwarf colour schemes. I keep thinking them through, and changing my mind halfway in, or finding they don't work, and... urgh. In the end, I went for ornamanted but uncoloured metal (as these will probably find a home in my Throng of Nog, made up almost entirely of fully-armoured dwarfs), and picked out the clothing in muted creams, blues, greens and browns. +

+ In addition to letting me experiment with and explore potential colour schemes, this slightly hotch-potch result turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I think the scheme fits the feel of these four as adventurers and treasure-hunters rather than professional soldiers. +

+ With such small faces – and even those mostly hidden beneath helms – I decided to make the beards the focal points of the figures, bringing in some natural variation. +

+ Since I've changed the background to make these proper hill dwarfs rather than the more high fantasy Fyreslayers, I didn't think the embedded gold runes made sense, so I painted them up as tattoos. +

+ inload: On the workbench, and experiments with GW's Contrast paint +

+ Experimenting and expanding armies +

+ Games Workshop recently released their 'Contrast' range of paints. I'm always interested in new developments of mediums and ranges, so picked up a few pots to play around with. +

+ The range is explicitly designed to make painting quick, the carrier working to deposit the pigment in a way that suggests natural highlights and shadows – a sort of bizarro-glaze. Where glazing aims to get the pigment applied as evenly as possible across a miniature's surface, the Contrast paints are designed to recede from ridges and deposit in crevices. The result is something that is intended to simulates the same effect as you'd get from laying down a base coat, then adding shading tones to the recesses and layering highlights to the raised areas. +

+ I've been looking for an excuse to paint these figures – lovely characterful sculpts that I've had waiting patiently for a project. Robes seemed like the perfect testing ground for this new product, as working out how the tones should be applied amongst their folds and creases can be challenging. +

+ I can see Gryph-hound Orange taking a permanent place in my palette. It's a lovely warm rusty muted earth-orange, a bit like the sadly-lamented Solar Macharius Orange from the Foundation range. The picture above shows it applied as a single layer over a Halford's white undercoat. You work straight from the pot, so it's quite an odd experience, but it applies nicely, with the right balance between flow and surface tension to stay where you put it. +

+ The effect above was very quick. It took – quite literally – seconds to get an equivalent effect to a more traditional base coat and wash. +

+ GW advise you to work over one of their proprietary off-white sprays, as the paint relies on having a completely smooth surface. You can see here what happens over a standard pure white spray – there's a certain graininess to the finish. You'd want to avoid this if you're using this purely to speed up your workflow, so in those cases I would recommend the GW spray. However, if you're looking to add it as another string to your painting bow, you might find this an advantage. I quite like the effect it has on the fabric here; adding very subtle surface texture and still working into the folds. +

+ The big advantage I see for me here is that the Contrast paint has established the areas of shade and highlight in one quick, clean movement – which means I can now use other techniques to push those areas without second-guessing myself on how the light should fall. Very useful – almost like a 'light map'. +

+ This kroot was an experiment in using the paint wet-in-wet; something that suits these fluid paints nicely. Snakebite leather (no, not that one) is the brown here, and Apothecary white for the belly. You can see how the colours have flowed and merged nicely in the recesses of the belly – something I find very promising. +

+ Again, it's the speed – something all but impossible to show here – that's the impressive thing. He (she?) must have taken two minutes at most; and while not great, it's a hell of a better base layer than I would be able to create with traditional paints and techniques. The figure above is ripe for further development – and when time is at a premium, being able to shave time off the dull 'grunt work' of base-coating to give you more finishing time is very valuable. +

+++

+ My initial conclusions? The Contrast range are a useful new tool. While not miraculous, equally they're definitely not a case of 'emperor's new clothes'. I can see them working very nicely in batch-painting (something I find terribly tedious), and in combination with other techniques, will help out a lot for particular effects. As with any tool, then, it's more down to getting familiar with them, and working out how you can use it for something creative and personal. +

+++

+ Expansion +

+ Painting's been mostly off the boil owing to the heat, but I have got some more building done for various armies. Too many unbuilt kits! +

+ Lamb's World +

+ More Lamb's Worlders – a combination of Forge World Elysians, Cadians and Van Saar, plus Victoria Minature bits. It was nice to build some more basic troops. +

+ Something a bit different – a dog handler. The dog's from Anvil Industries, the handler's head from Victoria Miniatures. Not sure what he'll count as, but the important thing is he was fun to make. +

+ Bleak Vespers +

+ Ho ho ho. Grandfather Nurgle's forces gather in the Warp. A nice ol' pile of Death Guard get their bases and undercoat done, ready for the main painting [+noosphericinload link embedded+]. +

+ A quick close-up of the first few off the priming pad – mostly specialists. +

+ ... and apropos of nothing, this chap got built. Using far more mutated and warped parts than the rest of the (relatively restrained) Bleak Vespers, he'll perhaps be a Lord or Greater Possessed. +

+ Ambull +

+ Giant rock-boring pile of bad attitude. What's not to like? +

+ inload: Continuing campaigns of the Alien Wars +

+ Requesting fire support! +

+ Further following the Lamb's Worlders around, I wanted to add some thanks to the contributions and brilliant conversions for various Guard regiments I've seen on the + Death of a Rubricist + Facebook group [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

 +++

+ Highside +

Circa 379.M34 Highside made contact with the outside. Hesitant at first when the bubble of reality began to break down and fragments of the greater galaxy broke through. Had the traitors won? Did the Imperium stand? 

Sadly, the genetic forces of the Geno Zweitausend, lauded and hailed as heroes on Highside, were seen as aberrants and walking visions of distrust in the Imperium of today. 

Sidelined out of the Imperial forces they remain as the PDF of Highside.

Extr. Liber Corvus – Scribator Tewarts Finlay-Dye

The Highside Reintegration Campigns were a series of hard-fought battles between Regiments loyal to the Old Imperium, who invaded the long-lost Forge World with the intention of housing settlers displaced by warfare with Nova Terra. The Highside defenders – only recently finding the world's place in the Imperium – fought the clearances bitterly amongst the highlands and rocky places of their planet.

At the core of the – eventually successful – resistance, were the Geno Zweitausend; a genetically modified elite corps that outmatched even the Lamb's World own elite Grenadier corps.

+ With thanks to Andy of Corvuspaints for the fantastic setting. I hope to feature his Highsiders as a guestinload soon. +

+ XXIX: Braxas Bree. Highside Reitegration Campaigns. KIA confirmed – punjee trap +

+ XVII: Chastener Abrams Meph. Highside Reintegration Campaigns. KIA confirmed – martyred by ploughshare. +

+ XXX and XXXI: Ob Cwmbrae and Maras Fell. Highside Reintegration Campaigns. KIA confirmed – counter battery fire. +

+ XXXII and XXXIII: Zara Fanwy and Teeh Senwicce. Highside Reintegration Campaigns. KIA unconfirmed – MIA. +

+ XXXIV: Breffy Ap Tyl. Highside Reintegration Campaigns. KIA confirmed – blood loss. +

+ LeGuin's Star campaign +

Lamb's World forces were deployed alongside the Salizar 71st and 13th during the attempted Pacification of Urras. They operated with distinction under the command of Salizarian General Lõpez. The death of the reactionary Caef-Maior Tunte early in the war saw a brevet promotion for an up-and-coming officer Rhian ap Humphrey. Her canny leadership improved relations with the Salizarian forces, and saw LeGuin's Star won for the Nova Terrans in short order. +

+ XXXV: Briony Van Dam. LeGuin's Star campaign. KIA confirmed – Multiple bayonet wounds. +

+ XXXVI: Osc Druit. LeGuin's Star campaign. KIA confirmed – Decapitation. +

+ XXXVI: Keel Taif. LeGuin's Star campaign. KIA unconfirmed +

+ XXXVII: Genny Isdda . LeGuin's Star campaign. KIA confirmed – Insubordiation  +

+ Chu Tzu Offensive +

The chem-swamps of Chu Tzu – a 'protectorate' of the little-known Fomor species – proved a deadly deathtrap for the Lamb's World 103rd; with the regiment suffering near total losses in the brief hours of the initial offensive. Specialists from Veet Ling and abhumans from Balzene were deployed in support, but the campaign settled into a bloody quagmire for years afterwards. Hundreds dies of swamprot and fever; but many thousands more simply vanished into the mists during patrols.

+ XXXVIII: Mothy Shirefew. Chu Tzu Offensive. KIA confirmed – battlefield execution following being rendered unfit for service through limb loss. +

+ XXXIX: Bran Shummer. Chu Tzu Offensive. KIA unconfirmed + 

+ XL: Mothy Shirefew. Chu Tzu Offensive. KIA unconfirmed. +

+ Camazotz War +

Fought against the Krell over the previously-Imperial world of Camazotz, the Lamb's Worlders found themselves in a good position to finish the job begun by the Stellar Steeds Chapter Astartes. Deployed in an anti-insurgency role, the Lamb's Worlders took part in only one set-piece battle, a one-sided affair that saw the herds of dominated citizenry sent across a desert plain against the long-range specialists of the Lamb's World 88th.

+  XLI: Soddo Caprig. Camazotz War. KIA confirmed – battlefield execution. +

+ XLII: Bantas Toast. Camazotz War. KIA confirmed: caught in explosion. +

+ XLIII: Capy Fenton. Camazotz War. KIA confirmed: limb loss. +

+ Neomunda +

The Lamb's World 12th Armoured Corps were deployed to the borderworld of Neomunda (formerly New Mundus; renamed following its double-secession from both Old Imperium and subsequently Nova Terran forces). A month-long three-way armoured duel began between the forces of the Old Imperium, Nova Terrans and the Neomundan's own Stalk-Brigades.

+ XLIV: Caspor Brokenspar. Neomunda. KIA confirmed – catastrophic haemorrhage +

+ XLV: Crew of the Delivery Service. Neomunda. Lost with all hands – artillery strike. +

+ XLVI: Isti Vayl, Commander of the Echo of Breakers. Neomunda. KIA – asphyxiation. +

+ XLVII: Remaining crew of the Echo of Breakers. Neomunda. Lost with all hands – unidentified cause. +

+ XLVIII: Crew of the Lamb of the God-Emperor. Neomunda. Lost with all hands – magazine detonation. +

+ XLIX: Crew of the Lovely Girl. Neomunda. Lost with all hands – boarded. +

+ L: Enders Walt. Neomunda. KIA – mass-driver strike. +

+ LI: Erun Iax. Neomunda. KIA – dehydration. +

+++