Horus Heresy 30k Projects, Mechanicus and getting ready for Briscon : Dark Mechanicus Painting Part 4 + Painting a Knight Atrapos in 2 Days.

Briscon is quickly approaching and Operation Molten Storm 30k event with it! A narrative 2 day 30k event with 5 games played and lots of cool dudes looking to roll dice with other cool dudes. Army lists are 2.5k with a optional LOW slot............. shit........ I need a LOW....... a Dark Mechanicus LOW. I kind of have a half painted Chaos Knight, but that just doesn't feel mean enough, how about that Knight Atrapos I have sitting unpainted on my shelf with less than 5 days to go to the event and more than half my infantry still to be painted and based as well?

Challenge Accepted!

So I had a long weekend in hand and a goal, lets get to this. Army scheme is carried over with beaten brass/copper with slick black stripes or face plates to give it a slightly more sinister look. I also punched out the primary painting of some Vultarax as well.

 Vultarax with a quick glossy black stripe ties them to the theme of the rest of the army, I was slack and haven't set up my new airbrush kit since moving so just did the stripe with some tape and brushwork.

Hammered out the main paint job on a Triarios as well.

 Rebased and primarily finished the Usarax squad, just needs decals now

Same story on the Thallax squads, only decals to go!

 Hoplites are decal ready as well, they will be traveling in the Triarios

And a quick progress shot of the Mad Malagra Magos Coatl + his four themed Cyber-Occularis, also the Myrmidons are like 80% finished.

So now onto how I did the Atrapos in 2 days..... I literally woke up on the weekend before Briscon and just had to take him in the army nothing less would suffice. As with all Knight Painting you should start by base coating the skeleton and armor plates separately. This allows for a much tidier painting routine and better access and coverage for the model. I base coated him silver and then gave that silver a heavy black wash followed by a spot wash of brown to dirty him up some.

 The I hit all the panels with 2 coats of bronze to get an even coverage.

 The bronze plates then got a heavy wash of nuln oil and started on the green gun sections.

 Black stripe was done in the same manner as the Vultarax, painters tape and brush work.

 Weathering on the bronze is done with a old scruffy brush and some silver, I tried to make it look like the scrapes are legit wear and tear. Also started highlighting the green sections and glossed up the black stripes.

 Did up a nuclear winter themed base with a couple of ruins and skulls scattered around, no the most striking base but fits in with the rest of the force and was very quick to get done in a limited time frame!

So there you go, 2 days to the basics of a Knight Atrapos and most of my 2500 worth of Dark Mech! The Atrapos has a huge amount of detail yet to complete but this was all about getting him table top ready. Once the event is over I will have plenty on time to go back and flesh out the cabling, read panel detail and even the pilots seat of the interior. I will try and get some decent pics of the whole force together come event day and do a quick write up of the whole event plus pics galore of all the armies present!

Death Guard Horus Heresy 30k Project: Part 2, Weathering Heights

New post for the new year! I finished weathering and painting for my nascent Death Guard 30k Heresy force. Painting these guys has been an absolute treat and hence the quick completion time for once. Nothing like smashing out the core troops and a HQ so you can move on to the fun toys next.

The weathering was always going to be the sticky part of this paint scheme, I tried a few different colors and weathering styles on some test models and was happiest with a simple rhinox hide first dabbed on spots and likely wear areas followed up by a very small detailed brush with leadbelcher. I tried to keep with the old style of highlighting the larger rhinox hide splotches to make them more 3d with the bare metal scratched look. I also used the leadbelcher to highlight the bronze trims on all the marines to make them look a bit more beaten and worn as well.

So yeah there you go, 20 tac marines and a HQ selection complete apart from transfers which I will get done when more of the force is complete. Time to get in some sneaky Zone Mortalis games I think!

Death Guard Horus Heresy 30k Project: Part 1 "What Paint Scheme?"

New year incoming so it feels like just the right time for a new project! Enter a Death Guard 30k Army to the list of things I start and have trouble finishing then! I will be building this force up to a 3k point all kitting up to use the Sacrificial Traitor Right of War, so lots of filthy expendable cultists and all the legion assets outflanking for some random fun. I have 3 Contemptor dreads and a leviathan as well for some added outflanking punch. Those will come later once I get the paint scheme down pat.

I got my hands on a pretty cheap Burning of Prospero boxed set and with 30 mark 3 marines to play around with plus my assorted left over bits and pieces from a few other projects I embarked on a 30k Death Guard test painting session.

I started with the standard base coating via an airbrush, Brown followed by a zenith grey highlight and then of course a strong white zenith highlight. This was all then heavily washed with Sepia Brown. After the Sepia was dry I gave each model a vigorous drybrushing of Pallid Wych Flesh. 

The green I was looking for the shoulder/legion marking was very much a departure from the usual drab washed out colors many others typically choose for 30k and even 40k Death Guard. I wanted something that would stand out and look particularly infectious and virulent, I ended up using Warp Stone followed with a green wash and then a thinned follow up coat of warpstone to get the desired green I was chasing.

I am still testing a weathering method/color I am happy with and will report back soon!

Brothers Revenge 2 ElectricBoogaLoo 30k Horus Heresy Doubles Event!

So Yesterday was the second 30k event for the Warrior Lodge club here in sunny Brisbane, Australia. We have been working hard to bring a friendly and chilled atmosphere to the 30k scene and to the club as a general rule

I finally finished painting my Scoria delivery system army and had a blast watching him eat all the HQs and elite units people would feed him only to find out his hunger for tears is infinite.

We had a great turn out with a good diversity of lists and all the painted armies on the painted terrain with FAT MATS was a nerds dream to see and play on. The work that has gone into furnishing the clubs gear has really paid off. If your in the area hit up TheWarriorLodge on facebook for times and days or just a chat. We play almost all the major systems out there not just Heresy.

Anyway here some of the pics I took on the day, I was going to get heaps more but I was hellishly sick the whole day and was just happy to be present and able to roll dice!

And here are some "action" shots of my teams games

Word Bearers Horus Heresy 30k Project: Word Bearer Cataphractii Terminators Conversion

What to do when you have some spare betrayal at calth terminators lying around? turn them into dirty traitors and convert them with dark angels terminator bits of course!

These guys were a combination of the deathwing 40k kit and the calth cataphractii termi 30k kit. I took the front of the deathwing models and shaved the back so it was flush with the rear torso of the cataphractii kit. Also I had to cut away most of the leg to chest lug off the cataphractii kit because it no longer fit in snug with the new converted torso or robes. 

Paint was done with a airbrush base of black, then top down highlight of white, then mahogany red, then top down highlight of a crimson red then washed with drakenhoff nightshade to blend it all together and give that darker look I have been chasing with the rest of the army.