Leviathan Terminator Librarian (Part 2)

 Here is more work-in-progress on this chap continuing on from the last post.  In this first pic I added some more white ink, mostly to the hand. White was added to the skull on the ground as well as this dude's face. Base coats were also applied to the purity seals also. 

Guliman Flesh Contrast Paint was washed over the face. This is probably my favorite of the Contrast Paints, it never fails to give me the results that I want. The tubes that run down his sides got a coat of White as well. Macrage Blue layered onto the armor at this stage. 

For this next step I used Retributor Gold on the ornamentation that adorns this majestic suit. On the armor I once again telied on my mid-'90s Ultramarines Blue. That is still the best paint for Ultramarines, you can't convince me otherwise. 

Contrast paints were used on the tubes. I think this was a good choice, as the colors really pop and it took little time to accomplish. The skull was give a cost or two of Skeleton Horde Contrast Paint. I live that color also. I am thinking about trying it out on a Deathwing Terminator that I have hanging around to see how well it will work, but that's for another time.

Most of you probably tuned in to see if I pulled off the Psychic energy painting, and I am sorry to say that hasn't happened yet. Mostly due to me not having the proper paint color (or even a good analog for it). 30 years in this hobby and I simply didn't have those colors.. So I eventually made it to a game store and picked up a few that should do the trick. I will attempt that in the next part of this series which, hopefully, will see this guy wrapped up. 

Until then, have a merry one! 

Leviathan Terminator Librarian (Part 1)

 

Freshly assembled. 

My brother's birthday was back in August, and all he asked for from me was a painted Terminator Librarian painted in Ultramarines colors. Long-time readers might recall that he passed his old Ultramarines army to me about ten years ago. This was his primary army back when we played together (1st thru 3rd editions of WH40k).  Having a cool model to display in his office was something that he's wanted for a while now. 

Gritted up and Prined. 

And his most successful hero from that time had to be his Chief Librarian in Terminator Armor. The model he used was the original plastic one that we got in the RTB16 Terminators and Tyranids boxed set. I was up to the challenge, and at the time the 10th edtion launch box, Leviathan, was still quite fresh from it's recent launch, so I was able to acquire the Terminator Librarian from eBay with relative ease. 

Base coat on the armor.

This model has got to be the best Terminator Librarian model ever. And I was a big fan of some of the older versions. But painting those runic recesses with psychicly charged energy was immediately intimidating. I stalled myself by deciding that I needed to freshen up my Ultramarines paint scheme, this is why I pushed my Assault Intercessors up in the queue. During this time I found an inspiring tutorial on how to do the pychicly charged runes on the Terminator armor. I have seen a lot tutorials that used inks that seemed to flow off of the brush into the grooves of whatever model they were working on. They made it look easy. So much so that I figured I would give it a shot myself. I figured I would this model, using that technique  as I didn't see many other alternatives that I liked. 

Real white ink. 

I had some white ink in my art supplies that I use for my 2-D B/W art that thought might do the trick. This stuff was a bit thick so I added a dot of water to my mix to get the flow I wanted, but not so thin so as to undermine it's opaque nature.

White ink applied.

And that's as far as I have gotten with him. As I waited for the ink to dry, other matters called me to attention. But I wanted to share some sort of progress with you all, so here it is. My goal is to try to get this guy done by Christmas but it's feeling unrealistic.  Maybe by New Year''s Day so he can make the 2023 year-end review? We'll see...

Ultramarines Assault Intercessors

 

I had prepped these guys last fall (2022) to paint during the winter of 2023, but I just wasn't able to make it happen. Inspired by the performance of Cheef's Assault Intercessors in our last game I couldn't help but pull these guys out and knock  out their paint jobs. 

It happened so quickly that I didn't attempt any stage-by-stage  progress shots, but if you want to know my formula, check out the test model I did a few years ago.  Or the 2nd edition model from the summer of 2023. 

This model came from the 9th edition 'Get Started' pack which came with this single marine and a necron warrior.  He had a molded base but I still added a little bit of grit to make this model conform better with the others. 

This miniature, as well as the next two, came with issue 2 of Imperium Magazine. These guys have the Assault and Ultramarines Icon molded onto their paldrons. 

I had a difficult time painting those icons, but these came out decent enough. Despite my gripes, I think I prefer transfers. 

A Sergeant was needed to round out the unit and I found this one on eBay.  His helmet was made more red that the weapons carried by this team by using a classic '90s Citadel Colour called Ruby Red. 

 

The disgarded  Terminator shoulder pad is a leftover bit from my Deathwatch project. 

The joy of decals (apply sarcasm here) was felt again as I some how almost ruined the Sergeant's chapter badge. Ultimately it works just fine, but know now not to try to blend my techniques. 

The checker pattern on his lil' shield is a decal that I trimmed - carefully-  after it dried. I like how this turned out, I think it gives him a bit of flair fitting for his station as a Sergeant.

And here we are, another squad of Primaris marines joins the family of completed Ultramarines in my force.  I have many more to go, but I am undecided on which unit to do next. I think I will whip up a Primaris Lieutenant...

The Dominus from Voss Prime

 Gotta have a leader right?

Thermistorix Rob  

This model came with the collection of Adeptus Mechanicus that Da Masta Cheef gave me for my birthday.  Having a day to stay at home to prep for a medical produce (hail Nurgle!) and no immediate art assignments on my docket, I decided to work on some miniatures. And this guy volunteered himself for the honor. He was pre-assembled and primed, but, thankfully, not attached to his base. 

And despite how he might appear in these pics, he is very much still unattached. This made it easier to get to those places on the model that he's hunched over. 

All-in-all I found this model to be an absolute, and surprising, joy to paint. I mostly used the same steps that I employed on Vox Prime Skitarii Rangers.  

The exposed arm,  probably the last bit of meat on this guy, was painted using Coelia Greenshade over Corax White with a highlight  of Death Guard Green.  I was quite pleased with how that turned out.

The plasma coil was painted using a new technique I decided to try. I painted the coild white then I applied Ultramarines Blue Contrast Paint over it. A subtle layer of Caledor Blue and slight highlight of white and it was done. 

There isn't a whole lot more to really say so I've  let the pictures do most of the talking.  I decided to name after Rob, the model's original owner. He runs a restaurant and over the decades that I have known him he's had issues with the walk-in freezer.  I searched on Google for a list of freezer parts and thought thermistor looked like a cool base for a name. Thus the christening* of Thermistorix Rob! I look forward to getting him in the Rogues Gallery once he's earned his place. 

*or is it Omnissiahening? 

Only Bad Dice

 Da Masta Cheef and I were able to find a moment to get in a game of Warhammer 40,000 10th edition. This is only my second game of this edition and I'm still shakey on some of the rules changes. But the best way to learn a game is to play a game. We chose 1,000 points to play with and mustered our forces at The Outpost.

This time I decided to try out the Deathwatch. Led by a Librarian, two units of Deathwatch Terminators with three plasma cannons and thunderhammers and stormshields on the remaining guy and the Sergeant. Six DW Vet Bikers, a squad of DW Vets with a Razorback and a boxnaught fresh from the ashes of dreadtober.

They seemed like a solid tough nut of an army. 

The Cheef returned with his Black Dragons, still gleaming with the ichor of slaughtered xenos. This force outnumbers mine considerably, but then they're all fairly basic units. The army was led by the Chaplain who was attached to a unit of Assault Intercessors. A Primaris Lieutenant was attached to a 10-man unit of Intercessors. The units were a squad of Hellblasters accompanied by an Apothecary, an Infernus squad,  a smaller unit of Intercessors and finally the mighty Ballistus Dreadnought rounded out the force. 

Deathwatch deployment.

Black Dragons deployment.

We decided to play the Only War scenario from the main rulebook. It's simple and to the point, and that appeals to us currently. After set-up I won the role-off to go first. 

Deathwatch Turn One. 

I  believe this first turn set me up for a brutal uphill climb all thanks to my dice. During my movement phase I had the DW Vets jump out of the Razorback and take an Objective.  The Razorback move up and took some shots at the Black Dragons Dreadnought. Now, my first mistake was forgetting Oath of .Moment. (Oops) which might have made a difference. My dice were so cold that I have doubts that OOM would've made a huge difference, but it's worth noting anyway.  The Razorback fired it's twin-linked Las Cannons and rolled a 1. Ok, so it fired the storm bolter and rolled double-twos. Rolled a two for the Hunter Killer Missile, which actually hits, and rolled another 2 foe the Toughness test. I was laughing at how spectacularly these rolls were...surely this was just a fluke? The DW Vet Bikers fired into the Hellblasters but only killed a single guy. So, at the end of my turn, after the smoke cleared, I only had a single casualty to my credit. 

The dice say no.

Black Dragons Turn one. 

The Apothecary revives the one guy I had killed. We had a food laugh over that. And so far we had been laughing at the hilarity of my poor die rolls. Although my ability to make saves was definitely an improvement over my ability to hit and damage, Cheef's dice were comparatively HOT! The Razorback was blown apart with ease, and 1/3 of the DW Vet Bikers, the Black Dragon Oath Of Moment target for this turn*, were killed by the massive attack sent their way. 

Slicing and dicing. 

The Chaplain and his Assault Intercessors surged forth and engaged the bikers in close quarter combat, leaving just two alive and taking the nearby objective. A strong first turn for the Black Dragons. 

My Turn 2, and I received 2 VPs for holding objectives.  As lI looked over my Deathwatch assets I realized I forgot to execute my plan to bring in the DW Terminators in the Black Dragon movement phase via the teleport homers. In the pic above you can see the homers next to both objectives on the left side of the photo..

Even this early into the game I realized that this just was not going to work.  I could see that the Black Dragons were going to out pace me on objectives and if I just kept the boxnaught and the DW Vets in the back field holding on to them that they would be quickly over ran.  So I moved them up to try to get closer to the ememy.

I really was distracted by the Ballistus Dreadnought and declared it to be the Deathwatch Oath Of Moment target for the round.  The Terminators were brought in, and in my typically ballsy/suicidal way, I placed on close to the enemy fire lines on the hill in their deployment zone and the other close to where the Razorback was destroyed. These guys led the shooting and despite the OOM rerolls they only managed to hurt the Ballistus. 

During my turn Chaplain Swink of the Black Dragons and his Assault Intercessors wiped out the DW Vet Bikers and consolidated onto the objective in the ruins. 

The worst blow against the DW Terminators was the Gernade Stratagem that resulted in a few dea Terminators. That thing is brutal! 

The Black Dragons Turn 2, and every foot soldier within range turned on the Terminators on hill behind them, declared Oath Of Moment on them and threw everything they had at them. Despite my bad dice, I only lost two Terminators. 

New target acquired.

On the other side, the second group of Terminators were tangling with the Reivers who proved to be far more annoying than they ever were to my nids.  By the time the Reivers had engaged them they were down to just two models and Battleshocked.

Damn those scary masks!

Turn three, and finally I was able to get the Deathwatch to kill off a unit. The boxnaught and the DW Vets with the Librarian eliminated the Chaplain and his Assault Intercessors. 

Objective cleared.

This was a short lived triumph however as the Black Dragons defense continued to stymie the Deathwatch, even taking out a Deathwatch Terminator with Overwatch as they charged into the Infernus Marines. 

They seemed less scary without paint...

On the following turn, the Black Dragons maneuvered into tactical position to maximize their fire potential. It's also worth noting that I stopped tracking VPs, it was clear that the Deathwatch were not going to win with VPs as the Black Dragons soured into an unsurmountable lead. It was all about the attrition at this point! 

The Ballistus Dreadnought, from the other side of the board, lanced the boxnaught with his twin-linked Las Cannons, bringing it's stompy existence to a sudden end. 

It's a generational comment ultimately.

With the dice against me, and Infernus Squad having eliminated the Terminators (and my ability to roll an extraordinarily amount of static defying  1's) I had the death or glory approach to final round of the game. My DW Vets moved forward and obliterated the small Intercessors unit. 

The crater is clear!

...only to have the remaining Infernus and Hellblasters units surround them and bathe them in deadly heat! 

Just add a Whoosh! onomatopoeia.

But it was the last DW Terminator who held on, vainly, with the last of the Black Dragons firing at him with everything  they had. It was a total victory for the Black Dragons! 

Total victory.

Wow. Again, my dice were cold, and Cheef's were hot. Particularly when he had to  make saves. With a week to think about this game as I pecked and poked at writing this report, I clearly made some Tactical blunders. A lot of which I feel come from the learning pains of this edition change, but some were just errors on part. I think I should have realized the amount of firepower was going to overwhelm my ability to make saves. Even with bad dice rolling, the math wasn't going to  be on my side, and slapping  my Terminators down with a "bring it" attitude in front of a force that can absolutely bring it, well, you end up with dead Marines. 

Forgetting to take advantage of my teleport homers was also a big blunder on my part, but I am not sure how well the outcome would have changed. 

I think really, my biggest blunder was not keeping my force close and tight focused, instead of spread out and thin. I was using a force that didn't have a lot of long ranged firepower, and  I needed to get them closer to maximize their effectiveness. I think in hindsight I should have  thrown everything at one side of his army and focused on eliminating units as opposed to being distracted by the Ballistus, who ultimately wasn't hampered by the wounds it received. 

Flare for the flare god.

Cheef's strategy was flawless. All he had to do was react to my feeble dice flailing and hold onto objectives.  Well done indeed. 

This was my second game of 40k 10th edition, and my second tabled fight in a row. Interestingly my nids did far more damage to the Black Dragons than the Deathwatch although they too were tabled.  I need to get a few more games in to work out my edition-change kinks. Oh, and I need new dice. 

The Men/Machines from Voss Prime (Part 2)

 

I just can't get enough of these guys. So much so that found myself almost finishing a ten man/machine squad of these thing.  I say "almost" because I have the transuranic arquebus  left to do. 

Early in the base coat stage.

Unlike the previous trio of Skitarii, I primed these and did all of there base coats my self. stage. Used the yellow contrast paint over pink technique on all of the guy's yellow areas. 

Some of these guys have marine parts scattered on their bases. After some consideration I opted to use the Dark Angels scheme on these chunks of battle debris as I have killed a lot of them over the years. I suppose it's inevitable that these Skitarii will be killing their share of them in their future as well.

I think this guy's hand-scope-thing was assembled backwards. Whatever, I made the best of it and I like how it's turned out. I don't know what it does yet, but I like to imagine it's akin to a Phantom Zone Projector. 

In addition to the yellow and black banded wires, I had to have some white with blue striped ones also. Or are they blue with white stripes?* Either way, I'm sure many adepts have blown themselves up attempting to figure it out. 

Both the assembled leader guys had Vanguard heads. Of the two, I went with the one that felt the most Ranger like. The Vanguard I am going to build and paint are going to have this exact scheme so I suppose it's not going  to matter ultimately. 

I chose the taser goad weilding guy. This was an easy one to paint. I painted it silver, then the areas that I was going to electrify I painted over with White Scar. After this I used Ultramarines Blue Contrast Paint. This work very well! A slight white highlight after it was dried completed the effect. 

Oops, missed the scrawl on the purity seal! 

After the above pics were taken I realized I missed the red/yellows line on the hems of their robes. A quick fix later and these were ready for their group shot. 

Nine little Skitarii sitting on Mars...

So, yeah, I like painting these guys. A lot. *sigh* I suppose I have officially started a new army now...

*This joke will never cease to amuse me.