Sons of Nostramo #14

Good evening all.

As you know of late I've been devoting some time to my Graian Mechanicum force but this left me feeling guilty that I hadn't done much with the 8th, and hobby guilt is the worst.

So I'm here to give you not one, not two, not three but four unit updates for the boys in midnight clad. 

I was concious that I'd started a fair few units that had been back burnered for other things so I made a concerted effort to start to clear some of the half do e projects residing in shelves in Cassa Del Fluff.

First up is my Contemptor Talon. Ever since building the Leviathan I've been hot and heavy to get on with other walkers so I decided to push forward. I've based my talon on the Night Lords contemptors in the HH black books.

I basically kit bashed my spare leviathan bits, the Betrayal at Calth contrmptor and two Noght Lords contemptors to try to get close to the artwork.

The conversion was simple enough with just the one cut at the waist.

I then added the ball joint from the other set to allow for motion on the plastic legs.

I also magnetised the arms so I can switch out load outs between games if desired. I use Neodynium magnets which have s great strength at a small size - perfect for Wargaming purposes.

The magnets can be off set on both the shoulder and torso to give some of the range of movement available through the ball and socket joint. 

While I was at it I also got the combat arms the leviathan done too...

So a little leadbelcher and agrax and they'll all be at the blue stage so I can batch paint them.

Next unit up is my Night Raptors. The intention is to make a flexible 15 man unit which can be broken down into 2 or 3 squads depending on what's needed. I've gone for 4 marines with lightning claws and 1 with a chainglaive in every 5. I'm using a mix of mk4 marines and the specific Night Raptors to give some variety. I've built and primed 5 marines with lightning claws, which when painted will give me a unit of 10 marines, 9 equipped with death dealing claws of power and awesomeness. The reason for such a big unit (and expensive points wise) is that with small units they invariably get wiped out before getting into combat - if I can use 5 to absorb wounds and get 5 into combat they WILL make a mess.

I've used the plastic sanguinary guard jump packs as I think these look more fitting that the Night Raptor ones and they're also easier to get hold of. I've also used the Raptor/Warp Talon lightning claws which I sourced from a bits site as there's only one set of 'normal' claws in each box.

It was simply a case of clipping off the Night Raptor arm stumps and trimming off the chaos bits from the claws, cutting the arms off at the elbow and flying together - I think they should look pretty menacing as a unit.

And the unit awaiting their colours...

The next unit I've been working on is my long standing tactical squad. I have two 18 man tactical squads designed to be transported in my Stirm Eagles but for some reason I really hit a painting block when I sit down to work on them - so in the interests of my sanity I decided to batch paint the metals on the marines for one of the squads (before being distracted by the next unit I'm posting). I managed to get it done but now I need to trim and clean all the back packs and bolters then paint on the top blue and add transfers and detailing before moving on to their scenic bases.

Here's where they are to date...

I've used a mix of space wolf plastic heads with the more flamboyant hair on these guys to represent the gang/under give scum aspect of their origins. Not sure what colours to paint them as yet though...

And last but not least my main focus for the last few days - a Sky Hunter squad.

These are custom made jetbikes to more closely represent the nostalgic versions seen in Collected Visions.

I've designated them as Rapier pattern, faster and more agile than the Scimitar patterns and better suited to the 8th's modus operandi in the theatre of war.

My main desire was to have riders who look like they're at speed rather than the usual 'easy rider' pose that all marines bikers seem to adopt.

So far I've built a unit of 4 but I intend to add a further 8 to this number with the inclusion if some special weapons mounted on the prow instead of the bolters.

Here are my work in progress shots...

And the remainder of the unit...

I'm now considering taking a Praetor on jetbike to use just this element as a fast attack aligned ally force utilising some of the new rites of war.

So that is where I'm at so far - lots more still to bring you (not to mention an eventual Thunderhawk Gunship). Hope you like what you've seen and look coward to your comments.

Remember a rolling stone gathers no moss.

KF