It's that time of year - Dreadtober 2020

Hello Dreadtober-teers! My favourite hobby event of the calendar year is back again for another installment, feel free to click on the sidebar picture for a link to the main Dreadtober site, this year being run by Marc (Old School Gaming) so a massive thanks to him for keeping the hobby event alive for another year! And thanks to the founder Greggles, and Joe B and Todd (Sincain40K) and Joel (Mordian7th) for their contributions through the years too.

Dreadtober is an annual event held over the month of October where hobbyists pledge to do a dreadnought-sized model from the to-do pile and get it finished, starting 1st Oct (tomorrow) and hopefully completing 31st Oct (Halloween/All Hallows Eve) with lots of progress shots and encouragement along the way :) and I like to partake in Dreadtober, and have done for a few years, you can see the fruits of this labour in the picture below.

This year I have got a Space Marine Leviathan Dreadnought out of the to-do pile and onto the hobby desk, armed with the fearsome close-ranged Grav Flux Bombards, 18in of pure heavy death!

The state of play today

The fearsome Grav-Flux Bombard arms

Box of resin joy.

Wish me good luck and plenty of hobby time, and to all the Dreadtober-teers, many successes with your own projects!

Cheers, Siph

Chaos Daemons - Daemonettes of Slaanesh

Hello All, thanks for dropping by. The latest offering to the Dark Gods is a squad of Slaaneshi Daemonettes. I painted these using Contrast Paints and normal layer paints, and a tutorial can be found here Painting Daemonettes.

A rather striking mix of heady purples and bright shocking pinks, and a few golds - very excess, very Slaanesh.

Daemonettes are Slaanesh's Lesser Daemons and the most numerous of all his servants. Possessed of the hypnotic glamour for which all Daemons of Slaanesh are abhorred, they are vicious, merciless fighters who attack with astounding speed and grace - according to GW. Well on the battlefield they do have quite a punch, its just getting them into combat is the kicker - they melt under Bolter fire.

I've included an Instrument of Chaos and an Icon of Chaos so when mixed with my existing squad of 10 to make an indecent blob of 20 - they will get across the table and reap a nice tally. Well, that's the plan...

Cheers, Siph (10pts)

Lord Halfpenny - Moving House

Hello all!

This weeks post is a little different, the geek hobby room is fully packed (almost) and ready for a new adventure! We are moving to a place where I will be able to have a full bespoke hobby room which I will be designing. The plan is to get a hobby space up and going to allow me to crack on with some painting whilst the Techpriests get on with building the new geek space. I'll be adding details as the big project comes together.

(Note - the picture is from google images, not mine - with the amount of 40k stuff I have I need a Leviathan to move it)

Wish me luck. Cheers, Lord Halfpenny

Terrain and Scenery - Scatter Terrain/Objectives Ammo Crates

Hi all, thanks for dropping by. I bought some new GW dice to fit my Relictors, Black with white Skulls, and Grey with White Skulls so I had quite a lot of dice to retire. When they arrived they came in nice Skull motif lid boxes. So, I had to use them and a thought crossed my mind - supply crates for Relictors!

Here is the boxes as is. I removed the dice (obviously) and noted that GW insists on motifs on 'one' face, I'd prefer a motif on 'six' face but as they are skulls and one usually means failed and death, I'm happy enough in this case!

The lid tabs were cut off, minor damage on this one, but adds to the crow-bar opened crate effect... The nice skull embossed motif - had to be used!

With some of the spare plain retired dice I partially filled a box and added some spare bitz.

Once painted and the bits drybrushed and lid glued down covering the most obvious dice, the crate looks full of weapons, ammo and supplies. I drybrushed a little Leadbelcher around the edges and some Mournfang Brown on the lower edge. Added a suitable decal and picked out the Skull. Simple and effective terrain.

Hopefully this inspires someone out there to do some cheap terrain - its the third army on the field and enhances the game. And in 9th Edition actually has some proper game effects.

Cheers, Siph (5pts)

Deathwatch - Primaris Aggressors - WIP

Hello!

A really quick post, due to moving house, my hobby time has been limited however, I did try something new this week. I recently saw a video online using make up brushes for drybrushing. I thought I'd give it a go on my Aggressors. This was the first coat, and I am planning on doing a second drybrush before going back onto the details.

The brush is softer than a normal brush, and looks to pick out more details. I do plan to do a full post with better quality pics to demonstrate. I opted for a 4 brush set from a local shop, which price wise wasn't too expensive at £15.

Thanks for looking! Cheers, Lord Halfpenny.

Legio Astorum - Reaver Titan "Aquila Oculus" - WIP #6 - Legs

Hello Titanseers and all, welcome back to this week's Titan installment, I have made the plunge and opted for Legio Astorum flame red lower leg armour, therefore needed to paint the Toe Piston Armour red too.

It certainly feels strange painting red for Legio Astorum, but I love the finish that the Citadel Mephiston Red spray has achieved and on the larger Front Toe Piston Armour I used a Black to White pre-shade underneath to achieve a slight gradient of colour. The whole leg plate will have to go from Dark Red to Bright Yellow so this was the first step of that experimentation.

The edges of the red were highlighted Evil Sunz Red to bring out the edges, and only the front toes are being glued in these photos, so I had to dry fit the other toes to ensure the correct line up, this foot being raised hence the angle of the front toe.

The brasswork was basecoat of Warplock Bronze over the Leadblecher, with heavy drybrush of Balthasar Gold and highlight of Fulgurite Copper. I used some chestnut Ink to mark a line of oil debris at the piston extremity.

Lots of toe pistons needed to be cut to length and dry fitted, so its a slow process of cutting fitting and gluing at this stage.

And the fiddly armour fixing points to the shins, ensuring a sound and tight fit between the two plates at the front of the leg takes time and patience... don't rush this step if you want nicely aligned frontal armour. The armour is also in pairs, one recess is larger than the other, count the rivets on the armour trim, (pair 11+13 and 10+12 go together) and the larger recess of each pair goes in the inside leg (pieces 13 and 12).

Thanks for stopping by, "Aquila Oculus" will Walk soon...

Cheers, Princeps Seniores Siph

Deathwatch - Hades Breaching Drill - WIP

Hello one and all,

I've decided to add a Hades Breaching Drill to my Deathwatch force, the rules don't allow this, but I really love the look of the tank and really wanted to find somewhere to add it. I might 'in game' use this as a Drop Pod - however I love the thought of a squad of Deathwatch appearing under the opposition.

The tank has had the same scheme as the other Deathwatch tanks, and will be completed as them, with the drill details picked out with Leadbelcher, and then washed to add a dirty appearance.

Thanks for stopping by! Lord Halfpenny.

Relictors Space Marines - Librarian on Bike

Hello All, thanks for dropping by. This week's addition to my ever growing Battle Company (+PLUS) is a firstborn / old school / old-marine Librarian on a Space Marine Bike, a Index option soon to be Legends option only I guess, but I had it in the to-do pile for several years! Must finish Bikes before I do the Indomitus Primaris Bikes!

The base kit was a Ravenwing AOBR bike with the rider torso removed, different handlebars and shaved front fender icons - I added a 3rd Party Librarian torso and Power Stave and converted the backpack with a resin book and bit of chain.

The Ravenwing bikes are quite suitable for all my Characters and Sergeants, to make them different from the rank and file, feathers were Hawk Turquoise washed Nuln. The leather is Mournfang Brown, washed Nuln and highlighted Balor Brown.

I added Assault Markings though strictly not true, he is an HQ option, but I see it as a Vanguard Detachment, therefore fast attack options. The slate is a resin base, so Chaos Black drybrushed Eshin Grey and Dawnstone then coated with Contrast Shylish Purple and some Magos Purple, then drybrushed my usual base colours to blend in with Karak Stone and Ushabti Bone. The greys allow the purple to show over the blacks.

The Headlight was a new method I was trying and quite like! Just Ulthuan Grey base with a thin coat of FW Clear Calth Blue Airbrush Paint brushed on and allowed to rest in the recesses, a nice effect. I also did the same for his warp-manifesting eyes!

Anyway, another cool character and finally off the to-do Pile! Cheers, Siph (10pts)

The Emperor of Mankind! (3rd party proxy) - WIP 2

 Hello one and all,

Another quick update on my Emperor of Mankind model, I've applied washes and highlights to the armour and the cape, with then details picked out. The cape and leather details picked out to compliment each other. The Emperor's Sword has had fiery colours used from black to reds through to orange and yellow to show that the blade is alive with fire. The edge had a yellow highlight, and will be finished with a white.

The Emperors Talon contrasts with the sword to have cool blues highlighted up to white. Bizarrely I think the contrast really works well here.

The face is to be done, and detail on the rear of the cape to complete, plus a base that needs to be ordered.

Cheers, Lord Halfpenny