28 Oct 2020

Dreadtober 2016-2020 Recap - Six Dreadnoughts in 5 Years

Hi Dreadtober-teers, thanks for dropping by, since I finished this year's pledge a week early I thought I'd continue my Dreadtober posts this week with the re-cap of my offerings over the years of participating with this fine friendly hobby event - as you can see from the photo above, the event has been fruitful and I am six Dreadnoughts better off for my five years of participation.
2020 - Relic Leviathan Dreadnought with Grav-Flux Bombards


2018 - MKIV Ironclad Dreadnought from Forge World

2017 - Modern Deredeo with Space Marine Casualty

2016 - Plastic Contemptor Dreadnought with re-posed legs

Cheers, and great work to all the Dreadtober-teers this year, thanks for the inspiration and the Dreads! And not forgetting it was 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.

Cheers, Siph.

26 Oct 2020

Necrons - Canoptek Scarabs and Canoptek Reanimator

Hello All, thanks for dropping by. I started on my Indomitus Necrons and the first out the box was the 'War of the Worlds' Canoptek Reanimator. Love this new aspect of the Necrons, very alien looking, great miniature. But first, I painted the new Canoptek Scarabs.
The new Canoptek Scarabs come as blobs of Scarabs to look more like the swarms they are, a vast improvement on the single 4 Scarabs per base of the old Warriors. I added at least six to each of my bases to make more swarm-like. But these look great 'out of the box'.
To blend them in to the masses of old Scrab bases I have, I added some old spare Scarabs and some of the smaller spare Scarabs from the Tesseract Vault.
The new piles of Scarabs look great
Here is a shot of the entire Swarm of Scarabs, they fit in nicely. 
And the new addition to the Necron forces, a Canoptek Reanimator, to boost the reanimation protocols of the nearby units. I added more spare pieces of a Kastelan Robot to the ruins of the base, a head unit and a spare arm-thumb piece.
I love the tall gangly looking aspect of this one, so much different from the rest of the Necron range, I can't wait for his bigger brother, the 'Canoptek Doomstalker' with the 'Doomsday Blaster' cannon atop - coming soon, who doesn't want a 48in Heavy D6 S10 -5AP D6dmg gun. OOoooh-LAAaaaa (War of the Worlds ref.)
Image from Games Workshop Warhammer Community
Here you can see the unfortunate Kastelan robot, he is slowly being phased away by the feeder tendrils of some Scarabs. converting his mass into energy.
I added two spare Tesseract Vault Scarabs to the base on the re-bar and Kastelan head. There are two more small Scarabs moulded onto the base as well. My second Canoptek Reanimator will have some scrap Necron Warrior parts on the base to substitute this terrain and a spare head from the Canoptek Spyder kit to make both models different.
"No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinised, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us." (War of the Worlds)
Dun Dun Durr.... Dun Dun Durr....

Cheers, Siph (17pts)

21 Oct 2020

Dreadtober 2020 - Week 3 - Pledge Complete - Relictors Leviathan Dreadnought

  

Hello Dreadtober-teers!

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, going throughout October and hopefully completing 31st Oct (Halloween/All Hallows Eve) with lots of progress shots and encouragement along the way :) Check out the Dreadtober Blog in the Sidebar >>>>>
So, I really knuckled down and before I knew it, I had finished the pledge ahead of time! Meet the newest addition to the 4th Company Relictors Space Marines, a Relic Leviathan armed with twin Heavy Flamers and two Grav-Flux Bombards! Close range heavy-death for anyone who strays too close, heavy infantry, hordes and Imperial Knights, we care not!
The Grav-Flux Bombard received some brasswork and green 'grav' gubbins akin to the rest of my force's Grav Weapons, all which have a brass muzzle and green workings - stands out from the blue Plasma effects elsewhere.
The Green is also replicated in the 4th Company's codex compliant coulour markings, along with some big '4's if you were in doubt!
The base received some slate chips unpainted just drybrushed with the base highlights of Karak Stone and Ushabti Bone to link it into the rest of the base, simple and effective. 
The base also got some "Gamer's Grass" tufts and a big giant skull from the Box of Skulls kit. 
The black kneepad is the Chapter badge, white skull on back field. (For ease I used the decal skulls, not a sideways skull as Relictors should really have but I have 10yrs of Relictors - I'm not going to change anytime soon! - until GW supports with decals?!)
I have also magnetised the Grav Flux Bombards so I can re-fit with Close Combat or Melta Lance dependent on the battle and delivery in a Dreadnought Drop Pod.
And here he is alongside his Brother from 5th Company, two 'thicc chonky bois'... Thanks for dropping by and keep going Dreadtober-teers! Another week to progress where you are at!

Cheers, Siph (5pts)


19 Oct 2020

Legio Astorum - Reaver Titan "Aquila Oculus" - WIP #7 - Legs Complete

Hello Titanseers, the legs for 'Aquila Oculus' are now completed. She will soon Walk... just the small matter of Torso, Weapons, a base and power coupling hoses to do...
Last month, this was where I was, matching pairs of Leg Armour, each pair has a larger indent and a smaller indent piece, and the pairs match up so both the larger indents go in the inside leg.
I used rattle can sprays to achieve a red fade and a vinyl stencil for flames. Spray all the plate black, the top end white, then spray entire plate red except the upper most section. This gives a natural darkening to the base, getting brighter up the plate. The top was then sprayed Yellow. The white makes the uppermost flame parts brighter yellow. The red underneath, slightly orange yellows. Then stencil for flames was placed over the yellow/red fade, and the bottom half masked off. Then the stencil and top half is sprayed black, then brushed blue. Peel off the tape and stencil and you have the classic Legio Astorum flames - yes I know natural flames have yellow hearts and dark red extremities, but the Legio Astorum flames are red fading to yellow at the top, to contrast against the blue field.
A great effect and not an airbrush in sight, I must actually use it at some point, I've reached my zenith when it comes to rattle cans now!
The groin hoses were a bugger - all needed bending via a hair dryer and shaped into place, I then drilled and pinned and painted, then glued into place. The photo makes the hoses look 3D printed, they are not - they are ribbed and the light tricks the eye in the above photo.
Here you can see the drilling for the pins and the paint scratches for the other groin armour plate, this ensures a strong bond with the JB Weld onto the roughened resin surface, not to the paint layer.
And here are the final Legs posed in a stride forward (to the left in above image). The hip pistons will be counter-angled to ensure the torso is not leaning over so the movement is clear but the balance is not compromised.
Here you can see the stride out more clearly and the nice red fade. A nice set of legs...

Cheers, Princeps Seniores Siph.

14 Oct 2020

Dreadtober 2020 - Week 2 - Progress from the ground up

  

Hello Dreadtober-teers!

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, going throughout October and hopefully completing 31st Oct (Halloween/All Hallows Eve) with lots of progress shots and encouragement along the way :) Check out the Dreadtober Blog in the Sidebar >>>>>
I'm pleased to say I completed my exam at work and that freed up some hobby time for Dreadtober progress, I started with the ground up, a suitable base with slate chips and a skull from the Box o'Skulls set from GW. I then posed the legs and painted them, next I need to finish around the foot now the legs are glued to the base, some sand and PVA and then the Mournfang Brown/Karak Stone/Ushabti Bone drybrush to blend in.
Whilst the base was drying I took the time to magnetise the Grav-Flux Bombard arms as I can see in the future with my Dreadnought Drop Pod I might want to re-arm (literally) this Leviathan to have the Claw and Drill or Melta Lance if its to get up close and personal. As I can only justify one Relic Leviathan per Battle Company, this one will be attached to 4th Company so I will have to add a touch of green somewhere as well as the green 'grav' effect I have on my existing Grav weapons...

Keep going Dreadtober-teers, plenty of time to progress those brutes! I'm enjoying seeing peoples updates.

Cheers, Siph.

12 Oct 2020

Imperial Knights - Armiger Helverin #1 #2 and #3 - Vassal Knights of Legio Astorum

Hello All, thanks for dropping by. A rather nice addition to my Imperial Knights force, my Vassal Knights of Legio Astorum. I am a big fan of Armigers, so naturally I wanted to expand my force of Armigers beyond two Armiger Warglaives with some much needed and longer range firepower.
Here is #1, Armiger Helverin 'Knave Luxious' riding 'Fury of Thaemar'. These three follow the same scheme as the first pair, with Astorum Blues and Golds and yellow head cowlings.
The heraldic halves of the pads are done in a similar way to the larger Knights, with Imperial Aquila's showing their unyielding loyalty to the Emperor.
I picked out the Reactor with brass and the black and white cog motif of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Each Armiger Helverin has a small sunburst halo on the carapace denoting the Engine number, #1, #2 or #3 of the Squadron. I decorated the base with some slate chips to break up the large expanse of sand and PVA.
Squadron member, 'Lady Irmaa' riding 'War Strider', No.2 denoted by the two small sunburst halo's on the edge of the carapace.
I added heat staining effects to the barrels and stubber up top too.
I love the double drum magazines these Armiger Autocannons have, a nice look.
Squadron Member #3, 'Lady Melandra' riding 'Blue Jackal', the names are from the Imperial Knights Name Generator in the Psychic Awakening Engine War book. 
As well as the heat stained barrels I also soot stained the exhausts.
The half cog motif on the shoulder was from the Imperial Armiger transfer sheet.
Here is all three showing some unique motifs on the carapace as well as a better look at the heraldic shoulder plates.
And a nice in battle shot of the Armiger force so far, Helverins for fire support whilst the Warglaives charge the enemies lines.
And the Armiger Helverins accompanying their larger Charge, a smaller Titan, a Scout Warhound Titan of the Legio Astorum - that's a lot of firepower in that picture!

Cheers, Siph (15pts - 5 each, Dreadnought sized)