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Legions Imperialis – Painting Tiny Tanks is EPIC!

Posted by johnnya10 on 18/11/2023
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Product Reviews. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Hello hobby pals! Games Workshop were good enough to send me a copy of the new big box full of tiny toy soldiers – Legions Imperialis (and some smaller boxes of equally tiny toy soldiers), and I have been having plenty of fun painting the miniest of minis. So today, I’m going to show you some of the mini-projects I’ve been working on.

legions imperialis box

I could take you through the rules and the like, but others will be doing that who are far better than me at such things. And aside from a few Nostalgia pangs, I don’t know what I’d really comment on. It looks like a really solidly worked game to me. I love that it brings Aeronautica Imperialis and Adeptus Titanicus together with the tanks and little people, and that its name gives my spellchecker as much of a headache as those previous titles. It even comes with whippy sticks, just to give your nostalgia feels an extra bit of excitement. Therefore, I shall leave the rules to the experts and focus on putting brush to plastic with a selection of fun things that I’ve been putting together. Now, where to start…

The Glorious IXth Legion

Well, I wasn’t going to not paint some Blood Angels, was I? I had lots of fun working on this small force, but I certainly have plans to expand it. And if you’re interested in how I painted them, I have an article on How To Paint Blood Angels ready for you.

legions imperialis blood angels

The tiny Contemptors were a highlight for sure. Long time fans of the blog will know that the bigger versions of these are among my favourite miniatures ever, and the tiny ones had me grinning and sawing “Awwwwww…” quite a bit. You need four of them for a full talon and honestly, it was a treat to work on each. Alongside those, a full 20 man tactical squad and 10 terminators rounded out the Infantry element before I started work on the command squad.

legions imperialis blood angels command squad

So can you do freehand work on such a small set of models? Damn right you can. And did I give my captain here a leopard skin cloak? You know I did! All of the tiny men were so much fun to paint, and what I really like about this is the sort of instant gratification you get. If I were painting 10 terminators at Heroic Scale, that would take me more than a month, most likely – maybe even two. These guys took me less than an afternoon, and I’m happy with them. That is one of the true joys of Epic scale painting.

legions imperialis blood angels tanks

And for a bit of armour, I’ve got a couple of Kratos tanks armed with their plus-size melta guns, and a lone rhino to help the command squad get around. The tanks were so much fun to put together and as fast to paint as the infantry too. They look amazing as well. Am I tempted by a full on Battle of Tallarn build? You better believe it.

What About the Leftovers on the Sprue?

legions imperalis shattered legions

As I was building and painting my Blood Angels, I noticed that I was left with quite a few spares – a nice touch that allows you to do alternative builds. But what to do with the leftovers? I decided to have some fun and put together a little base of Shattered Legions marines. It gave me a chance to paint some different colours, and I might use them as a fun little addition to some narrative games. I painted the base for these a little different – to represent the Dropsite Massacre, but if you liked the bases I did for my Blood Angels, I’ve got a tutorial on how I based my Legions Imperialis miniatures for you to enjoy too.

A Bit of Nostalgia

For many, many years now, I’ve kept hold of my ancient Citadel Combat cards. They’re a fantastic resource of Oldhammer paint schemes and ideas, and the miniatures remind me of my childhood too. When I found out that I’d be getting the new Legions Imperialis Baneblades, I knew exactly how I wanted to paint it up…

retro baneblade paintscheme

It’s such a treat recreating the old with the advantages of the new. I had to make my own little flag (plasticard and paperclips are versatile things), but otherwise, it was pretty easy to map the whole thing over. I updated the painting style a bit, but it’s again mainly just drybrushing and contrast paints with a few minor details picked out here and there. As more bits and pieces come out for this game, I may well do a few more of these.

legions imperialis baneblade

And speaking of old models, as I have a small but growing force of old-fashioned epic Blood Angels, I thought I could give you a good sense of the scale shift. The older stuff is a lot smaller than the new things, and yet those old bases seem to be a lot more intrusive in size, but that might just be the Goblin Green and flock. It’s interesting to see though, and you can rest assured that the quality of the new stuff is lightyears ahead of the older bits and pieces.

old and new epic scale warhammer

If you want some tips and tricks to painting miniatures at this smaller scale, I’ve got an article on that too.

The Future…

Well, I’ve still got a lot of Blood Angels to paint, but I’ve got a few other things I’d like to try too. I’ve been playing around with some test paint jobs for other legions already, and as mentioned, I’ve got some retro-inspired paint jobs I’d like to try out as new models get released.

legions imperialis rhinos

Other than that, well, I have about six Warhound Titans now so I guess I should start thinking about those at some point. And I have no idea what I’ll do with my Solar Auxilia, so I’ll have to have a think there.

What I want to leave you with is that I am having so much fun with these models. The scale is challenging, yet freeing and easy to work with. The game looks like a tactical dream, and I can’t wait to see folks playing some truly massive games with all the planes and titans… This feels like the first really “Fun” with a capital “F” games that have come out for a while, and with the miniatures being so much fun to paint, I can’t wait for more of it. Onwards!

How to paint Legions Imperialis Blood Angels

Posted by johnnya10 on 18/11/2023
Posted in: Tutorials. Tagged: , . 1 Comment
blood angels for legions imperialis

Hey friends! As GW were kind enough to send me the new Legions Imperialis boxes, and because I’ve been very much enjoying painting up some Blood Angels, I thought I’d put together an article all about how I’ve been painting them. If you’re looking to paint up some extra-tiny IXth Legion, I hope this little walk through will help you out!

I should also point out that this is a basic tutorial – this isn’t going to win you any awards, but it should help you have a lot of fun getting your army done quickly. So let’s get to it…

Prep the Sprue

prepped legion imperialis sprue

Ok, so painting on the sprue requires some minor prep work. Before starting with the paints, you need to remove the mold lines, if a tiny mini is connected to the sprue anywhere else than the base, you’ll need to snip and clean that, and if any minis come in two parts, it’s worth actually building them on the sprue. For that last one, think of the heavy weapons support squads on the Space Marine sprue – stick the Missile Launcher onto the Devestator before undercoating. Once all of that is done (it really doesn’t take long), you’re ready to start spraying.

Black Then White Spray

undercoated legions imperialis terminators

I started off with a light spray of Chaos Black, Spraying up the sprue from below. You don’t want a thick coat – you just want to fill in the shadows really. Let the black dry and then hit them from above with a healthy coat of White Scar. You want to cover over 90%(ish) of that black, but keep it in those shadows. Let that dry, and get your brushes ready!

Blood Angels Red

base coated legions imperialis terminators

You’re going to want that magical “one thick coat” of this read all over the miniature. Don’t worry about trying to avoid anything – we’ll use thicker paints for later steps and they’ll cover this easily. So get that appropriately named paint all over.

Fire Dragon Bright

And once the red is dry, crack open the Fire Dragon Bright, work some into the bristles of your favourite dry-brushing brush, and give the mini a light dry brush all over. And the red is done!

Block in the Black

I wanted black knees, bolters, and shoulders on these terminators, so I blocked those in here with Abaddon black. Once the black was dry, I added some highlights with Dawnstone on the edges. And we can call that done!

Silver and Leather

For any areas that were going to be metallic, I simply applied a coat of Leadbelcher, and for the leather straps on their arms, I gave these a covering of Rhinox Hide, before putting down some tiny lines of XV88 to highlight these. I then gave the leather areas a thin wash of Seraphim Sepia, and the Leadbelcher was given a thin coat of Nuln Oil.

Stripy Fists

Next up, I went to work on those power/chain fists. I carefully painted on a couple of thin coats of Averland Sunset, and once this was dry, I did a couple of thin lines of Abaddon black. Remember; at this scale, you don’t need to be hyper-accurate to get things looking good.

Clean the Bases

The last little step is to clean up the little bit of base that’s actually on the model – the bit between the feet. My bases start off with Grey Seer, so I just painted these over with a couple of coats of that. And once this is dry, you can stick your minis to their base and get ready to finish them off. But we’ll save the basing for another article…

painted legions imperialis terminators ready for basing

That base was pre-painted with Grey Seer before the terminators were stuck down – that makes things soooooo much easier.

There you have it! I hope this was fun and enjoyable to read through, and that it’s inspired you to tackle your own teeny termies with some added confidence. These models and this scale is very forgiving, so I really suggest just diving straight in. Onwards!

Horus Heresy: When Will We See The Blood Angels – And What Will The legion Include?

Posted by johnnya10 on 15/09/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: . 3 Comments
forge world logo
We’ve been long been assured that the next Horus Heresy Big Black Book (or BBB for short) from Forge World will include the Blood Angels and Dark Angels amongst other things. We’ve known this for quite some time, but does anyone else feel like we’ve been waiting quite a long time for this book? And with no real gossip, rumours or leaks to keep us going? Maybe it’s just because I’m a collector and painter of the IXth Legion, but it feels like an age since the book’s confirmation. So what’s the hold up?
A Busy Schedule
forge world busy schedule
Forge Worlds like Mars, Metalica and Lucius are well known for their relentless output, but our own Forge World Nottingham has been pumping out rather a lot of hardware recently too. By all accounts, no one at GW HQ expected Blood Bowl to be as popular as it has been, and with FW leading the charge on that game, it’s understandable that the presses have been running red hot churning out Blitzers and Linemen of various races. Then there’s all the work going into Adeptus Titanicus which was underestimated by Forge World who are determined to get it all looking amazing. This game has been pushed back to next year, but then Necromunda is only just around the corner now. Add into this all of the Lord of the Rings work that’s going on, as well as continuing to support and release models from the last BBB for the Space Poodles, Golden Boys, Quiet Girls and Psychic Space Egyptians.
That’s not a bad churn for a “Sister company”. But has anyone else noticed a little bit of a general Heresy slow down of late? Black Library were churning out so many 30k novels that I could barely keep up, and yet they’ve gone relatively quiet of late. Yes, there are the ‘Tales of the Primarchs’ novels, and a few other bits and pieces, but few of the big, meaty novels that progress the story closer to Terra have been appearing of late. Forge World continue to give us a a few Heresy units too, but what with everything else, this has quietened a little as well. Are they building up to something big? Once this BBB drops, will we be heading to the Siege of Terra? Will we get a “Year of Heresy”?
But We’re Still Being Teased
Yep. We’ve known the next book will include the Blood Angels for a while now, and all those months ago when the Deredeo Dread was released, we got our first glimpse of Forge World’s colouring for the Blood Angels.
blood angels deredeo dreadnought form forge world
…or did we? Look at the above image compared to one of the latest Sicaran battle tank:
blood angels sicaran tank by forge world
The reds are completely different so does this mean things have had to be redone? Was that Deredeo paint scheme just a test? It’s all rather intriguing, especially when coupled with no new BA miniatures appearing at the Open Day. I was sure we’d see at least an early sculpt of something but nothing showed. But then we did have rather a lot of everything else to look at.
So, What Do We Want To See?
Ok, so taking Sanguinius out of the equation (because pretty much everyone wants to see what he looks like – and yes, I shall be purchasing), what do we want, or expect to see? I’ve picked out a couple of units/characters that I really want to see come out of this book, and be supported with miniatures from Forge World. Here goes:
Raldoron – One of my favourite characters from the books so far, and Sanguinius’ First Captain. I want to see Cataphractii armour, a few animal skins (sorry, Peta) and a stern face. He always strikes me as the most sober and least flamboyant of the IXth Legion so it will be good to have someone to counter all the fanciness that’s going on everywhere else.
sanguinary guard models
Sanguinary Guard – Ok, so there’s a GW kit for these guys, but that kit is starting to look a little tired these days and a Forge World interpretation would be darn fancy. I’d expect a few more white robes along with the classic gold armour. Oh, and some bigger, more dynamic wings on the jump packs too. Throw in Ezkailon for good measure as well.
Captain Amit – Who doesn’t want to see the Flesh Tearer himself rendered in resin? Nassir Amit would look great in his battered armour, and whether armed with a power sword or his twin chainfists (I know these came later, but come on – how cool would it look?!), he’s going to be a beast. Would love to set him up opposite Kharn and see who wins that fight.
captain amit
Unique Assault Troops – Loads of different weapons and some fun designs on the armour would make this a great unit to take. It’s the Blood Angels’ signature troop choice and having some cool load-out options (I’m thinking extra flamers with added flamers) and you can just shut up and take my money.
And So Now We Wait…
bored sanguinius
That’s all we have left to do. Wishlist and wait. I’m sure Dark Angels players are feeling the same way as I do at the moment; Eager, a little desperate for some gossip, and ready to get going on their legion specific . I can’t wait to pick up this book and plenty of forces to go along with my 30k Blood Angels army. I’d just love to hear a bit more about when this is going to happen so that I can plan my budget accordingly. The last book hit in Q1 (I think) of this year, so will we get in a second book this year with everything else FW have got going on? We shall wait and see. Onwards.

Blood Angels Veteran Tactical Squad

Posted by johnnya10 on 09/05/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

blood angels veteran tactical squad

Finally! My Blood Angels Veteran Tactical Squad is, at last, done. The Horus Heresy now welcomes Squad Castor – The Black Helms, 1st Squad of the XIIIth Chapter of the IX Legion. It’s a bit of a long title, so let’s just call them the Black Helms, shall we? It’s taken me a couple of months to find the time to finish them, but I’m happy I took the time – not too shabby looking, and certainly unique, even if I do say so myself.

This marks the last bit of the Betrayal of Calth box and the penultimate unit of ‘Phase 1’ of my 30k Blood Angels Legion project. And boy, do these chaps like setting fire to things. I showed them off in the WIP from last month, but you can see better above that these guys are certainly packing plenty of templates (which should still be around in 30k for a little while at least, even if they’re not long for 40k). Let’s take a look at the rest of the squad shall we?

veteran tactical blood angels

So, why the black helmets? Well, I initially planned to paint them gold, as per the conventions regarding Blood Angels vets, but for whatever reason, this didn’t sit quite right when I was imagining them. This project, as long term readers will recall, has drawn a lot from the 2nd Ed 40k box art from John Blanche, and there’s not a whole lot of gold going on there. I guess there could be, but there isn’t and the effect felt a little alien to the rest of the army’s aesthetics. Then I realised that, without the Death Company around in this era, and with no other unit claiming the colour for their helmets, I thought; why not? I used mostly Forge World upgrade BA heads and I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. Also, this can add to the unique narrative I’m forging for the XIIIth of the IX. Black means death to the Blood Angels, and maybe these warriors have cheated death for so long, that they wear its own colours in defiance. Something like that, anyway.

I also wanted a bit of yellow throughout to make them pop. Maybe this shows off that they have the ability to operate as assault vets, though on this occasion they’re favouring a tactical load out. The knee pads, and yellow blood drops on their shoulders help to liven them up a bit, and help to tie them in to the themes of my army as a whole.

blood angels flamers

You’ll notice that my Legion Vexilla is a little different for this squad too – a piece borrowed from the Sanguinary Guard kit that helps these guys to both fit in and stand out in the army. The heavy flamers are a great looking bit of kit but if you want to avoid hobby-inspired rage, you should be warned that fitting the fuel line from the tanks on their backs to the weapons can be a nightmare. They actually led to me thumping a model with my fist (don’t worry, I pulled the punch) for the first time in decades. “Fiddly” doesn’t begin to describe it. But hey, that’s what super glue, green stuff and therapy are for, right? Oh, and as with other minis in this army, heavy flamers mean white flames and their shoulder pads do help them to pop a little more.

I’ve given the squad a bit of height and variation with some very simple but effective basing too. Half on slate, half not – it’s a very easy way to keep things interesting and it takes very little effort to do. Oh, and the sergeant is wearing the Master of Signals’ backpack. It was meant to be the nuncio vox upgrade from Forge World, but I mixed them up, and in the end decided to stick with this. I’m not intending on using my Master of Signals any time soon, and it does look rather fancy – again, it helps to make him a little different from the other sergeants.

blood angels legion veteran sergeant

Speaking of the sarge, meet Sergeant Castor. He’s got his black flames, yellow cloth, and even a golden Sanguinius mask to be getting along with. He also has his trusty hand flamer and a stonking great power fist for no other reason than it looks cool, and when you’re packing a squad like this full of bells and whistles, the additional points involved with power fists… well, you just think ‘Why not?’. And there’s the “SaOlNpS hOaF lHeOgRiUoSn” (read the caps and lower case letters separately) helmet on his base, with its bolt hole. I’m really happy with various parts of this particular mini. The power fist looks good, it’s one of the best bare heads I’ve done, and that’s some of my best ever script work on both the fist and his shoulder. Winner.

horus heresy blood angels

And there you have them! All done, and on to the next project. Which will definitely not be another 10 man squad. Not for a while at least. No, I think these guys need a unique and fancy ride… but more on that later.

Was a pleasure working on these, and I hope you like them too. Any comments, or questions, just let me know in the section below. I hope your own hobby efforts are bringing you plenty of satisfaction. Onwards!

WIP – BA Veteran Squad

Posted by johnnya10 on 13/04/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

hh ba vets wip

So, it’s been a little while since I gave you an update on my hobby progress and I wanted to share with you where I am with my BA Vets. The good news is that the torsos and weapons (between them the longest, most time consuming and frustrating parts of the process) are now almost complete. As you can see above, these guys are a little fancier than the standard tactical squads, and I’ve added plenty of yellows, and even a dash or two of gold to help them stand out.

IMG_2382

And yes, you can see two heavy flamers in this squad. These are Blood Angels vets – they know a thing or two about shock and awe, and they do like setting fire to things, so I expect to have some real fun with these fellows drop-podding in and burninating everyone around them. It will of course make this one hell of an expensive squad to bring to the table, but the rule of cool dictates that it must be done. But what of their own mighty leader…

blood angel power fist

Yep, that power fist is going to make them even more expensive. But it looks so cool. I can win games with ‘cool’, right? Also happy with the helmet on his base there. Is it Sons of Horus, or is it Alpha Legion…? Well, instead of trying to be mysterious, I’ll just say that it kind of works as either. Which is fine. I mixed the paint myself so it’s a little too green for Alpha Legion and a little too blue for the SoH. Works either way, so I’m calling that a win. And what will my sergeant have in his other hand?

forge world hand flamer

Yes indeed, that is a hand flamer. Because why have two template weapons in a squad when you can have three? And again, it looks cool. Winning.

Once this is painted up and put in place, it will be shoulders, backpacks and heads. Of course, I will keep you up to date with progress here as and when I can. I hope your own hobby-related endeavours are going well for you. Onwards!

Blood Angels Spartan

Posted by johnnya10 on 15/02/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 2 Comments

blood angels spartan

And it is done. Finally, after well over a month of avoiding the damned lump, my Blood Angels Spartan is now complete and ready to join the ranks of my slowly growing IXth Legion army. And now that it’s been in front of the camera and had its glamour shots, I can take you through it all right here.

Firstly, this is a beast of a kit, and Forge World have done yet another fantastic job on bringing a rather chunky beast to life. It weighs enough to club a man to death with, and despite my best efforts, there are still a couple of mould lines here and there, but for the most part it’s looking good (which is a miracle considering I assembled it in a grumpy and hungover mood – see previous WIP post).

spartan assault tank

As mentioned in a previous post, this kit has helped me to realise that I’m not a huge fan of working on big kits (a bit of an issue considering that there’s a titan still waiting to be built/painted) but I’m relatively happy with how this turned out. Yes, it does have a bit of a wobble (my fault), and It’s about 10% green stuff (still my fault) but weathering hides a multitude of sins. I used the same weathering techniques that I used when I did my rhinos, and it’s worked out really nicely. I’m especially happy with how that weathering worked on the tracks too. Dulling them down with Typhus Corrosion and those dry-brushed greys really takes the edge off the silver colours.

forge world blood angels land raider doors

I’d also forgotten that, having painted more than a couple of Land Raiders over the years, I really hate painting the sponson weapons that come with those. Those las-cannons are always so fiddly to get right, and the Spartan of course, comes with twice as many. I kept it simple and I can live with them. I also have to say that the FW Land Raider doors look great on this assault tank. I thought about going crazy with the freehand here, but I’m glad I didn’t. The White Stripe and the doors do enough for the sides. This is a workhorse vehicle – not a fancy pants tank. I am getting an itch to do a bit more freehand now though…

spartan assault tank rear

I have to say, despite my previously professed adoration for Mephiston Red as a colour, I’m getting a little tired of it now – after this. It’s still glorious but I think I’m starting to dream in Mephiston Red. There is definitely a change due soon – if only for a short break.

I’m quite happy with the engine stack. I feel I could have done more with it, but I don’t think anyone will be looking at it too much, and it fits with the other tanks that I’ve worked on, so I’m not too bothered about it.

spartan transporting terminators

I am looking forward to seeing this on the table top. The idea of it disgorging my terminators onto the battlefield, right in the heart of the enemy ranks, gives me a wicked smile. And for that reason, I actually painted a bit of the inside as well. It’s basic, but it’s better to do it – it makes the model feel more complete. The Cataphractii Terminators do look massive next to this tank though. Even so, it’s a lot of awesomeness.

blood angels tank

And that’s that finished! On to the next project, which will almost certainly also be Blood Angels related, though hopefully not this big. I fancy working on something small and interesting that won’t take me a month to work through. Something with no side sponsons, mould lines, interiors or green stuff. But I shall leave that until the next post. I hope your projects are going well, and until next time; Onwards!

WIP: BA Spartan

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/01/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

As it’s going to take me a little while to get this finished, and as a nice Friday treat, I thought I’d share with you a couple of images of my latest project – A Spartan for my IXth Legion. Here it is in very little of its glory:

spartan wip

Thankfully, a lot of the leg work is done here. All the base coats are on, and the silver areas, and the top of the hull, have all seen some wash, but boy did it take some effort to get to this point. You know when you get a perfect storm of issues that lead to a project being a lot less fun than it ought to be? Well, that’s what I’ve been going through with this.

It started on Boxing Day (26th of Dec for those who don’t box), when I put this kit together. I was hungover and grumpy from a lot of festive celebrations so I was less than caring when assembling things. Entirely my own stupid fault, and I have plenty of regrets. It’s a gorgeous kit, and I owed it more TLC during assembly. But I will forever be reminded of this as there’s a little bit of wonkiness running through everything. Not overly noticeable to most (I hope) but I’ll know. There are also a lot of mould lines that I have spent a lot of time removing and this thing is now more green stuff than resin in some places, and some of the lines are still there. Weathering will save the day in the end, I’m sure.

Blood Angels Land Raider Door

I wanted to get one bit of it finished just to have some sense of true accomplishment, and so I have done the upper front door, which is one of the Forge World upgrades meant for Land Raiders. This is ever so slightly wonky, as it was a tad too thin and so I had to add a couple of millimetres of green stuff down one side. But that is literally the one bit that is done. All the rest of the tank is still to do and it’s going to take a while. I haven’t even built the guns yet!

fullsizerender-2

So this is what will be keeping me busy for the foreseeable future. And speaking of those guns, they’ve come in classic curly FW styling so they’ll be getting a dunking in boiling water before I even start with those. But yeah, it’s a beast. A huge kit that will be fun, but I am realising more and more that I do prefer working on smaller miniatures. I don’t mean epic scale or anything like that – but I get a lot more enjoyment out of working on a single character than a big tank. I’ll still enjoy the tank, but I’ll enjoy painting a single dude a lot more. It’s important to learn these things about oneself.

There you have it then. That’s what I’ll be struggling through, and you will see the completed monster here soon(ish). May your own projects go well and speedily for you. Onwards!

Blood Angels Rhino 2

Posted by johnnya10 on 18/01/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 6 Comments

blood angels deimos rhino with combi bolter

How’s that for a quick turnaround, eh? My second Blood Angels Deimos Rhino in as many weeks! Done, and looking dusty in record time, I now have to try and make this blog post interesting seeing as I just wrote a post about a very similar tank last week. Let’s see how that goes.

As with the last post, I can say that the kit looks great, and is a little tricky to assemble if you don’t read the instructions. It is a joy to look at when finished though, and while the GW variant is a classic, this Forge World version just looks so cool. Classic styling with modern design aesthetics – very nice.

the front of a rhino

So, yeah, it’s the front of a rhino again. I suppose the weathering is a little different, and the missing paint on the white stripe is also a little different… yeah, it’s a little different. Oh, yes, and there isn’t a flamer on this one. I almost forgot that. This tank sticks to the combi bolters. This was done because I thought it was only right because one ought to have a pure, basic variant. Also, Forge World doesn’t give you enough hatches in the pintle mounted weapons set to allow you to do too many of these – the one minor drawback of a great little upgrade kit.

the side of a rhino

The weathering was fun to do, again. Beaten up brushes, sponges, blacks, greys and Typhus Corrosion in generous but subtle amounts. Also, again I’d like to give a shout out to Mephiston Red spray – such a wonderful product. Were I to do it again though, I might not cover the silver parts with it. A bit of masking tape might mean a single coat of silver rather than a couple. I could knock these out even faster!

tactical marking on a rhino

And (again – sorry about all the repetition) there are some tactical arrows on the roof to go along with the unit that will be riding around in this thing. And, that’s about it. For all other details, rather than repeat myself, please see the post about the first rhino from last week. But, as a treat, here are a couple of snaps of both APCs together.

blood angels rhinos

a pair of space marine rhinos

That’s me done with Rhinos for a little while at least. Bigger fish to fry. Well, one bigger fish anyway. That has taken up a lot of liquid green stuff – but more about that later. In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the Gathering Storm as much as I am (you have no idea how much I want to talk about it but I’m going to wait so as to not give away spoilers). Lots to look forward to there. More on that, and my Blood Angels in the upcoming posts. Onwards!

Blood Angels Rhino 1

Posted by johnnya10 on 09/01/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 2 Comments

blood angels rhino

I decided that my Blood Angels needed some wheels (well, cat tracks anyway) and so I’ve put together my first Rhino transport vehicle for them. And, as it happens, I’m pretty happy with it. What’s more, I learned a couple of lessons with this one, that I shall happily share with you here.

But before that, let’s talk inspiration. As you will know if you’ve been following the progress of this army, I’ve been using classic 2nd Ed Blood Angels as an inspiration for this army, and it’s no different here. I took the classic Rhino APC from the below image and updated it a bit, and did a fair bit of weathering too. See if you can spot some similarities.

2nd edition blood angels rhino apc

Now obviously there are some differences – a lot of them really, but this was where my ideas started. The tactical arrows on the roof, the symbols on the front, the general colouring… this was in my head when the project kicked off.

deimos pattern rhino

So first lesson to impart; read the instruction that come in the box when assembling. I’ve put together many a rhino over the years, but with this kit, things are a little different. I of course charged into it thinking ‘I know how to do this!’ and then came a cropper when I went to go and put one of the side panels. It’s a lot easier if you do it the way they tell you in the instructions. Just so you know.

Second lesson; Mephiston Red spray is brilliant. A couple of thin coats of it, and you’ll have saved your brushes a lot of time. Heck, you’ll have even saved time with your airbrushes if you’re that way inclined. What’s more, with a slightly elevated angle, you get some great natural shadows in there. So glad I picked it up, and will definitely be using it again.

forge world rhino

With this kit, I used a couple of extra bits as well. The pintle mounted heavy flamer (because you can never have too many flamers) comes from the FW upgrade clam pack, and that’s some etched brass on the front piece there. As with any FW kit, there’s a lot of swearing involved in assembly, and plenty of mould lines to clean up, but of course you also get an amazing looking miniature when all of that’s done. I much prefer this kit to the one you get from GW when it comes to looks and design.

blood angels transport

I’m really happy with the weathering job here. Typhus Corrosion is a great pot of paint and appears all over this tank, but the effect I really like was required by using a couple of grey paints to give the lower parts of this vehicle a dusty look. I’ve used it on my dreadnoughts before now, and it fits in with the basing of my other minis, so it’s great for tying the army together.

Now, why didn’t I do the big white Blood Drops on the doors? A, the door teeth make that a bit difficult, and B, putting white paint onto a red surface is not easy. And by that stage, I’d done enough of it, as you can see from the picture below.

rhino top hatch

When I worked out that painting white onto red was difficult (which I always knew but we oft relearn this sort of lesson), it gave me a bit of idea. It would be plenty tough for the guys maintaining the armoury on a space marine ship as well. Especially if they’re constantly coming in and out of battle. Sure, the important vehicles would get perfect spray jobs, but rhinos? The workhorses? Maybe when all the paint was being retouched, it left marks, where the new paint was slightly different or applied too thinly or heavily. So I added this to my weathering plan and it worked really nicely I think. Breaks up the flat red surfaces a bit at least. Won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I like it.

rhino back door

And so I shall leave you with the back end of a rhino to look at. Don’t fret though – you’ll have a new front end to look at soon enough. Like the titles says, this is rhino ‘1’. The next one is primed and ready for a bit of attention so I shall get to work on that soon enough. For the time being, I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at this one, and I hope your own painting projects are going well. Onwards!

Blood Angels Land Speeder – The Hammer

Posted by johnnya10 on 21/12/2016
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

Blood Angels Land Speeder

What weighs half a tonne, is made of metal and is a real pain to paint? My Blood Angels Land Speeder for my Horus Heresy/30K force, that’s what. It’s been really fun to work on this, but also a real struggle too because of, well, plenty of reasons that I’ll get to in a short while. Anyway, without further ado, let us take a closer look at the model that I’m calling ‘The Hammer’.

old metal land speeder

As you may well know, your 30k legion armies can take Land Speeder Javelins and they make an excellent addition to any force. The Forge World model looks amazing and you can take some real firepower with each one. I wanted to add one of these to my Blood Angels force as I felt I needed some Fast Attack, but, you see, there’s always been one type of Land Speeder that I’ve always wanted to paint and play with since I was a wee nipper and you’re looking at it.

I picked this up from Ebay for less than £15 (plus shipping) and I got a pretty good deal as it was missing its weapons – parts I wasn’t going to need anyway. I picked up the pintle mounted weapons set from Forge World for another project (as yet unstarted) and one of the Contemptor Dreadnought missile racks as well. These have given me a tank hunting speeder that can dash into the back lines and start taking apart some armour.

space marine land speeder

I also used an arm from a 40k space marine, an icon from the Blood Angels upgrade pack, some shoulder pads and some etched brass from Forge World to add some details to the kit. The old metal mini weighs so much that your wrist starts to hurt if you’ve been holding it for more than 5 minutes, but it’s also a little light on details, so these little embellishments helped to bring it up to snuff. They also added to the weight, so a wrist support was used at all times. Seriously, if anyone calls a Stormraven a ‘flying brick’ again, get them to pick up one of these.

I’ve named it the ‘Land Speeder Hammer’ as opposed to the Javelin and I like to think that it’s an experimental mark that the Blood Angels are testing out for the Mechanicum. Also, I’m pretty sure I could use it to bang a nail into a wall. And I’m not talking plaster – I’m talking brick.

land speeder hammer

So you might have noticed the flames. Yes, they are very cool. I’m really happy with the way they turned out and it really helps to make the model a little less bland. The yellow helmets were something that I ‘ummed’ and ‘aahed’ about for a little while, but they work so I’m glad I went in that direction. That being said, I hate painting yellow – it’s a knack I don’t have yet as I don’t get a lot of practice with it. I also painted the flying stand black. I hate the look of the clear plastic stands and this works fine for me. Will a truly elegant solution ever be found? Well, there’s that guy who used magnets to make his Eldar jetbike float but I don’t think there are any magnets strong enough to lift this thing.

old school land speeder

There’s lots of light weathering too. Mainly because it fits in with the army and looks good, but also because it hides a lot of issues with the old metal. Weird lines, lumps and scratches. They don’t build them like they used to, and that’s a good thing. Although the old styling is still pretty boss.

I was reminded again that I hate painting metal minis. I love the nostalgia, but in practice, they’re a pain. When someone says ‘but if it’s got undercoat on it, isn’t it the same as painting plastic’ you may laugh in their face. The brush moves differently, the paint sits and dries differently, and details get lost fast. I’m really looking forward to working on a plastic mini next, and preferably not one with so many hard to reach spots. Half of the parts needed to be attached, detached and reattached all over again just so that I could get to everywhere that needed painting. Not fun. Long live plastic minis.

land speeder javelin alternative

And etched brass can be a pain too. But even with all of that in mind, it was still great to finally paint one of these minis. I’ve wanted to paint one of these since I was a kid, and I actually love the blocky looks. And I’m thrilled with how the underslung missile pod looks – I love it when a plan comes together. Another childhood dream realised – always a nice feeling.

blood angels converted land speeder

With that, I think I’m done for the year when it comes to Blood Angels. Well, at least when it comes to posting things up here. Let’s just say that I’ve been scrubbing a bit more resin lately. Anyway, I hope you like the Land Speeder – it really was great fun to see it come to life, even with all of its flaws.

I thought I’d end this post with a group shot of all the Blood Angels I’ve done so far. These have all been done this year, and all of them have been shared here. More will come in 2017, so keep your eyes open for those. All that’s left to do is for me to wish you a very merry Christmas. Onwards!

john ashton blood angels