Deathwatch vs. The Lions of Harlech (Battle Report)

 Check it out, Kushial and his Lions of Harlech are back. We had a small game last week to ease him back into the far future of endless war. The battle report page is updated with a link to this report and the previous one as well. 

The Fallen Moon Page 19 (Art Monday)

 

And here's your combat! This was such a satisfying page to draw and all these years later I think I'm still very satisfied with it. I mean, blowing up Eldar? How could I not be overjoyed? Fun bit of trivia: when I drew this the Falcon model kit was yet to be released for Warhammer 40,000. I drew these based off of the images in White Dwarf of the Epic models. I think they worked out well in the end. Oh, and my Imperial Guardsmen are totally based off of the Rogue Trader era design, which is still my favorite. 

Black Legion Terminator Sorcerer

This one was in the queue for a very long time. Since late 2018 actually. I had a series of photos for the start of a post that was going to detail how I painted the big chunk of marble that this guy is standing on. However my phone died while I was training in Indianapolis for a job I had at the time and I lost everything that was on it. Soured by that situation I let the whole model languish ever since. 

Fast forward to 2022 and with my grimey hands on the 9th edition Chaos Codex I felt inspired to get a few of those neglected Black Legion projects out of the queue. And this guy just jumped out at me and in an inspired burst I got him knocked out. 

Pull yourself together already!

I kept playing around with the positioning of the miniature, and although I preferred this spot I had to lower it to accommodate the cape. Also in this pic is the basecoat of the cape. I used Kabalite Green with a Nuln Oil wash for this stage. 

Kabalite Green was applied again in two layers. I liked how it look at this step didn't take the highlight any higher. 

I used the same Kabalite Green technique on the familiar's robes as also. I thought it's flesh ought to be purple to contrast against that dark greenish color. I used a technique similar  to how I painted my Daemonettes.  However I didn't take it to the highlight stage as I wanted to have it look darker.

I altered my recipe for the gilding and trim. The basecoat is still Tin Bitz but I now use Retributor Copper as the mid coat. I top this with a highlight of Shining Gold. 

All of the eyes that appear all over this model were painted in blue. This contrasts nicely against the coppery tones of the gilding. I originally thought it would've been awesome to paint them like the burning eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings but color theory won out in the end. 

The blue was done by using Citadel Caledor Sky as a base and Thousand Sons Blue on top of that with a subtle highlight of Fenrisian Grey. 

I put the yellow and black stripes on the chain blade because I wanted something to contrast against everything else. But really, I just thought it looked cool and it's easy to do.  Also the irony of a warning symbol on an instrument designed to kill (and kill brutally) was too ironic to pass. I can totally see now the appeal of the Iron Warriors scheme.

I mounted him to his big chunk of rubble and assembled him after that. I wasn't sure how well the cape was going to work so I had to mount the body first to make sure. 

The  center of blue eyes on this miniature had a black cat-like pupil drawn on them using a Micron Pen. They were given a coat or two of 'ard Coat to give 'em a wet glossy look. 

And that's essentially it! Hopefully I can get him into a battle sooner than later. Maybe he can earn a name at that point also. 

The Fallen Moon Page 18 (Art Monday)

 

And here is Colonel Roel in his glory. I love this page and I think about it often. If I were to redo this story I would start it here and make these two my lead characters. 

Until, I believe, the 5th edition Imperial Guard there never was any proper depictions of Imperial Guard landing vehicles. So instead of making up my own version I just kept it vague. I think it works. 

This artwork is unofficial and is not endorsed by Games-Workshop. Furthermore this blog and this post generates no revenue for it's owner and is strictly used for, and as, a free entertainment resource in support of games by, but again not official or endorsed, by Games-Workshop. 

The Fallen Moon Page 17 (Art Monday)

 

I'm proud of the layout on this one, but I would definitely change things if I did this now. Most obviously I would make her bum a bit more subtle as I doubt it's possible to get that form-fitting with a coat like that.  I think I was inspired by some of Howard Chaykin's women.... and, well, left. Artistic license and whatnot. I love doing the dialog in the way I did between the Captain and the Navigator. I believe I was inspired by the Dark Knight Returns, which uses a lot of this kind of thing. I can't help but wonder if the dialog would work better under the images or not, but I suppose it's fine here.

This artwork is unofficial and is not endorsed by Games-Workshop. Furthermore this blog and this post generates no revenue for it's owner and is strictly used for, and as, a free entertainment resource in support of games by, but again not official or endorsed, by Games-Workshop. 

Feeling Khorney (Part 11)

This series continues onward*, but now we are focusing on the Khornate Dancers, A.K.A. the 3rd edition era (and still, as of now, current) Khorne Berserkers. The fact that GW has recently announced a Worldeaters Codex has spurred me on to trying to finish these guys. I guarantee when I see the new sculpts I will likely lose interest in finishing these murder bunnys.** 

 

Sometime in the past four years I finished their bases and worked on their basecoats and midcoats. This happened before I changed out cutting mats on my workbench, so quite some time ago indeed. This was a sloppy stage and I had minimal desire to blog about it. 

Bases and basecoats. 

So I broke these guys out and started tightening up the red on their armor.

The assembly line for the Blood God.

Some of these backpacks do not fit well on the models so I had to cut and file them to get them to do so. It's a weird mistake to see in a GW kit, especially one that had stayed in production as long as this one has. 

Misfit backpacks.

I decided to jam a few of these out and focused on three models at a time instead of all twelve at once. Here are the results so far:

They're a chunky trio, but I think they turned out alright. That 2nd edition-era scheme works well on them. 

I will put the extra bitz like the execution swords, holsters and grenades on them after I finish the whole squad. 

And of course, the decals will be the old 2nd edition styles ones also. But that will probably be the last thing I do to these guys. 

That's three down, nine to go...

*What? It's only been 4 years since the last part in this series! 

** And since I have written this, yeah, I saw them. And so far I have resisted!

The 2022 Inquisitional Conclave

 

At the secret asteroid stronghold deep in the galactic south, a number of ships transition from the warp into realspace. After identification codes have been traded, and vetted to every party's satisfaction, smaller vessels are launched toward the base. 

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Wezley Sharlz Vinderthoff the III was the first arrive with the bombastic flare of one of his station. A chorus of servo skull vox casters played orchestral music with all the pomp and pageantry one expects from this distinguished Inquisitor, but being the first Inquisitor to arrive ment that none of the others could actually witness this grand arrival.

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Wezley Sharlz Vinderthoff the III. By Da Masta Cheef.

Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Tibadaux was the next to arrive, whipping her slower servitor attendants along.

Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Tibadaux. By Da Masta Cheef. 

She was followeded a motley retinue if Throne Agents although it seemed unclear who they answered too. Nevertheless they arrived and were ready to receive their next orders. It's assumed that Inquisitor Othias may have sent them in his stead.

Just a Retinue. By Da Masta Cheef 

Fresh from the Devos IV campaign an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, dressed suspiciously like a xenos, arrived with his retinue. The Inquisitor declined to declare a name, instead flashing a rosette and proceeded to the meeting chamber. 

An assortment of agents by Zzzzzz 

The final shuttle was revealed to be hosting Lord Inquisitor Kyra Draxus, now sporting a big mohawk, who took to the meeting chamber some haste. It was a fairly small gathered this year, but there were enough characters here to proceed with this year's agenda. 

Lord Inquisitor Kyra Draxus. By Neverness.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Ok, that was a fun one. This year was a low turn out, but those of us who did this had some fun doing it. A few folks reached out to me to say that they weren't able to get their Inquisitor done on time for a variety of reasons or hope to participate next year instead.  It's  a cool to me, I do hope we get more next year, but regardless I have enough Inquisitors to keep this up for a few more years. 

If you enjoy these kind of challenges the next one coming up that I intend to participate in is Dreadtober. I think I got mine already figured out too...