King Fluff's Pick n' Mix

Good evening everyone.

I did intend for tonight's post to be solely about the boys in (dark) blue but being the hobby butterfly that I am I just couldn't steer clear of various other projects on the hobby bench.

As you know I've been working on a unit of jetbikes for my Night Lords, and a contemptor talon. Well progress hasn't been as forthcoming as I'd expected, primarily late night shifts throwing out my painting routine. I've do far managed to get the metals and wash done on two contemptors and part painted the jetbikes in batches. I stalled a little with the jetbikes as I was scratching around for bases for them to test out the magnets I brought to aid in a more dynamic pose for them.

I've also been plugging away at more Mechanicum, building, priming, base coating and washing my Archmagos Prime, 2 more Thallax and a second Domitar. These will be getting the finishing touches whilst I build the third Thanator.

And lastly I've finally begin the Thousand Sons. My initial builds will be fairly generic to allow for future releases to feature in my army but my initial idea was to build an army based on the HHCCG artwork, so I've begun with a 10 man unit who may well become a tactical support squad, a Praetor and a Xiphon. I may well use the 10 men for the first half of a tactical squad - which would allow what I've got so far to be used as an allied detachment for either my Night Lords or my Mechanicum.

I'm still to test out some painting techniques on them and which washes I want to use as I don't want them too light or too dark but with more definition than my previous army which was Blood Red washed with Flesh Wash.

I guess tonight has been more of a portentous post, whispering promises of future posts.

Forgive the tease.

I've a free day tomorrow so I plan to hobby my socks off and get you some pics of the xiphon and completed jetbikes.

And remember if someone asks if you're a god, you say "YES!".

KF out

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

Sons of Nostramo #13: The Leviathan Walks

Good evening all.

I'm here to deliver on a promise - I said I wouldn't be posting anymore WIP shots of the leviathan before he was finished, and now he is...

I've thoroughly enjoyed painting and converting the model - this will be the primary engine for my talon and so the others will be less time consuming.

One of the most time consuming aspects  was the scenic base, adding on the detailing and bulking out the texture to allow for a natural stance. I particularly enjoyed painting up the musculature on 'Frank's' face.

I was unsure about how much lightning to add to the finished job but with the wealth of corpses on the carapace I thought that the armour plates could take  a fair bit of detailing - I think the others may be less so in the future.

I went for minimal transfers to add the odd flourish here and there but that wouldn't overpower the end result.

And so here he is in all his corpse laden glory (or should that be gory). I'm sure I'll return to it to snag fix certain bits but I can call him done (for now).

Stay tuned for more 8th legion walkers and other weapon options for the Leviathan.

Ohh and if you were wondering 'Frank' is from the 1st Legion...

Let me know what you think guys in the comments below.

Drop it like it's hot

KF

Edit* now with added mud to blend him into his base...