Astral Claws Project Part 2

Despite the longer than normal breaks between my postings I am still working on the Astral Claws. The latest addition to my army is a unit of assault terminators. I envisioned them striding alongside Lugft Huron wreaking face.

Eventually I would like to have all of them mounted in a Land Raider Crusader since that is the best means of taking assault terminators into combat. It would be a great fire magnet, albeit expensive one.

I had a lot of fun painting this unit up and it was a nice break from painting ordinary line marines. The blue and the gun metal layered easily over the black primer. The only challenging part is the gold bits. I still use an old pot of citadel Burnished Gold, which is reaching the end of it's life sadly. I have to start with Vallejo copper, the work my way up to Shining Gold, and finally to Burnished with some 50/50 Mithral Silver highlights. I use plenty of Nuln Oil wash over 90 percent of the model.

If I am able to keep my motivation towards this project going I hope to finish up my line marines and start building up some transports. If I capitulate it will be because I couldn't resist the lure of the Genestealer Cult!

Astral Claws project

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any content, but rest assured I’ve been active with hobby projects. Having hit past 2500 points on my Horus Heresy Emperor’s Children I found that I really needed a break from painting purple marines. I decided to get back to work on one of my old projects that I wished I put more effort into, the Astral Claws. I’m sticking with marines, but a largely metallic paint scheme is easier to work with and a nice change of pace. I’ve always wanted to represent a marine chapter apart from the standard well-known first founding variety.

I’m very close to hitting 1000 points of completed marines. Here is a selection of my first batch, where I started with a tactical squad.

After the tac squad I hadn’t put any serious work into this army for about 3 years so you may be able to tell with subtle color differences as I’m moving away from using only Citadel paints. I really like Vallejo paints, expect the gun metal, which I plan to go back to Citadel Boltgun or whatever they call it these days.

I’m quite happy with my Captain. I used the limited edition metal marine from the 2005 Space Marine army box and Korhil’s Cloak from High Elves. I thought the lion theme worked well since that was the pre-Huron chapter icon.

I also am fond of contemptor dreds so why not include one.

Valthex is also another HQ addition. Eventually I would like to run a 2^nd techmarine and have more vehicles to create some synergy.

I am mostly finished with my command squad. I did a lot of freehand work on my banner since the Astral Claws waterslide transfer was too big to fit. I look for shortcuts when I can, but taking the time to do some freehand work always makes the army look extra snazzy.

There will be more to come for sure on this project. If you haven’t read the Forge World Badab War books I highly recommend you check them out. They are chock full with great info on this period of 40K. I would very much like to see more of this support when the Horus Heresy has run it’s course.

Horus Heresy Project: Phoenix Spear Conversion

I was looking for a helpful conversion article on making Phoenix Spears because I was building an Emperor's Children veteran unit out of the Horus Heresy: Battle for Calth boxed set. I definitely wanted to have an outflanking unit of vets with a Phoenix Spear wielding sergeant that would strike vulnerable units unexpectedly. Sadly I found nothing so I started pouring through my bitz bin to see if I can throw something together.

After plenty of searching I decided to use a Dark Eldar Venom banner pole for the haft, a talos blade bit for the cutting edge, and a crozius bit from the BoC chaplain. After some cutting and gluing I had my Phoenix Spear. It is not quite as ornate compared to the Phoenix Guard termie's, but it fits well in the hands of a powered armor marine.

 Tactically speaking, taking some Phoenix Spears for your various sergeants and champions is a good idea when paired with the sonic shrieker upgrade. You will usually strike first on the charge at AP2, which will typically take out a few marines or win you a challenge. It is one of the few advantages the Emperor's Children generals have compared to the other legions.

Hopefully you know someone who plays Dark Eldar and has some of these bitz laying around. It was give you a cheap and effective upgrade for you Emperor's Children Legion!

Horus Heresy Project: Fulgrim the Illuminator Complete

I feel like a mini celebration is in order. I have completed the Emperor's Children Primarch after hours of meticulous detail work. After many months of waiting until I had painted up some other legion marines I thought the time was right to tackle Fulgrim. He will definitely be the centerpiece of my growing army.

 

 

At first I had completely assembled Fulgrim before painting. After making some progress I decided it would be better to partially disassemble in order to catch the details easier. 

 

I am a big fan of Vallejo paints and used the copper metallic as a basecoat for my gold. The purples are done using old Citadel Liche Purple which has just the right hue that I was looking for. Everything else on the paint conversion charts doesn't quite match exactly. I also applied a lot of washes on most of the model, the exception being the pteruges, the hair, and the feathers.

The Forge World Primarch's out of the character series are some of the most impressive models I have seen. I look forward to finally using one of these legendary characters in my army after years of wishing Games Workshop would make them playable.

Horus Heresy Project: Lord Commander Eidolon Complete

Moving forward with adding traitors to my Emperor’s Children Legion I have finally completed Lord Commander Eidolon! This project started months ago (original post here) and put on the back burner in order to finish some of my loyalist units first. Right now Eidolon does not have a miniature, but there are lots of great bits out there to convert him. I wasn’t too keen on some of the old artwork on him and preferred to base my conversion off of the descriptions listed in the novels (the few that exist). He is described as wearing ornate power-armour decked out in gilded decorations and is taller than most astartes. He also favours wielding a thunder hammer and has the patrician features of his Primarch Fulgrim. In addition to the descriptions I also wanted to give him a jump pack upgrade so he can join my assault marine squad and give them added value. He also employs the bio-modification bestowed by Fabius Bile, the death-scream. It is only fitting that I have him without a helmet so he can effectively use his sonic attack.

 

 

 

This conversion is an amalgamation of various bitz. The body is from a palatine blade, the hammer arm is from one of the chapter masters set, and the pointing arm and head is from the space marine command squad box. I used some of the Emperor’s Children brass etch from Forge World on the jump pack and left pauldron. The only part that I had to sculpt was the hair. I used green stuff for my sculpting.

 

I decided to do a fair amount of freehand painting because this is one of my HQ options and wanted it to stand out apart from the other marines. I attempted a marbling effect on one of the pauldrons because I thought that plain white would be too bland for someone like a lord commander. The opposite pauldron has the eye of Horus to show the bond between the two legions and the knee pad has an eagle’s head profile. I also added some line designs to the loin cloth.

 

 

Horus Heresy Project: The Kakophoni

The Emperor's Children Kakophoni are the newest addition to my growing army and the first exclusive traitor element so far. My intent was to start off with a core of loyalist units led by Rylanor and Saul Tarvitz and then finish the army off with all of the traitorous elements. I liked the idea of having some flexibility to play in support of either faction if I were to take part in any future campaigns.

 

 


I really enjoyed painting this unit up because it was nice change from painting basic legion marines. My army lacked long range anti-infantry firepower and the Kakophoni are designed to wreak havoc on infantry.

 

I have a 40k Chaos Marine army with some Slaanesh elements and wanted to show a progression from Proto Noise-marine to current Chaos Noise-marine.

Horus Heresy Project: Ancient Rylanor Completed

After many long weeks I have finally finished my Emperor's Children Rylanor the Unyielding. You can check out my original post here:

http://fulgrimsstage.blogspot.com/2015/03/horus-heresy-project-ancient-rylanor-in.html

I truly enjoyed building and painting this model. The Contemptor Dreadnought is one of my favorite models and the Emperor's Children variant is one of the most detailed. Rylanor is at the top of my list for most liked characters out of the Horus Heresy novel series and I wanted to make sure my table top version looked presentable. When considering how I would paint him I consulted some of the references out of Vol I, Betrayal.

Dreadnought image out of Vol. I Betrayal

I was impressed with the lion etchings in the knee joint so I did some freehand work in an attempt to capture this image.










I added a brass etch laurel on the left arm to set Rylanor apart from the other contemptor dreadnought that I am near completion on.

Now that I have completed the last elements of my loyalist Emperor's Children I will begin working on the traitors. I've painted enough Emperor's Children at this point where I feel comfortable enough to get Fulgrim completed along with his Phoenix Guard retinue.



Horus Heresy Project: Emperor's Children Xiphon Interceptor

I had just completed the assembly of the Forge World Xiphon Interceptor and I'm looking forward to getting this easy to assemble kit painted. I think the quality on recent FW products has improved considering the fact that my lascannons came nice and straight. I only have to fill some gaps in the wings and vertical fin.

I'm a big fan of brass etched iconography and added enough on so there would be no confusion as to which legion this fighter belonged to. I might add some smaller decals in places when I'm almost finished.

I decided to paint the pilot separately since I wanted to detail the cockpit interior

Rules wise I think this fighter will be a good counter to the Fire Raptor, which will be included in one of my friend's heresy army in the near future. I get a jink bonus for added defensive bonus and my rotary missile launcher rolls 3 dice instead of 1 on the vehicle damage chart.

Horus Heresy Project: Tactical Support Squad

My Emperor’s Children army continues to grow with the addition of a tactical support squad. Currently in 30k most armies that people are playing are marine legions. This may change down the road as 30k opens up to more xenos choices, but until then it is good to be running some plasma gunners in any army. This unit is quite high in points for just 5 marines so I’m looking at getting them a transport in the near future to give them some added protection and mobility.

 

As far as painting technique goes I’m getting more comfortable with applying some source lighting on my models. I like how the plasma coils pop out more because of it. I decided to model the sergeant with a combi-bolter because I wanted him to stand apart aesthetically and didn’t want to lose him to an overheating gun.

 

I haven’t used this unit in a game yet because I’ve been holding myself up to a very high standard of only using fully painted models in my 30K games so I’m excited to bring this level of firepower in. Hopefully I won’t suffer from plasma overheating to often!

Horus Heresy Project: Emperor's Children Chaplain

My Emperor’s Children chaplain is now complete. I originally wasn’t planning on including a chaplain into my army, but started to like the idea of having one because of some of the background in the early Horus Heresy novels includes an Emperor’s Children Chaplain by the name of Charmosian.

Chaplain Charmosian

Spoiler Alert! Charmosion dies in the battle for Istvaan III so I thought that my Chaplain would be his replacement in Fulgrim’s Honour Guard later in the Heresy.

I was able to grab an old metal chaplain off of ebay, which is no longer in production. I considered the new plastic version, but opted for the better priced option. I liked this particular model because it required minimal converting since his armour is Mk 6, very new during the Heresy. I added some etched brass on the banner and pauldron, and then painted in typical chaplain colors.

Forge World currently doesn’t have a heresy era chaplain kit so converting is really the only option right now. This was an easy and cost effective addition to my army and will add a bit of variety in my presentation.

Horus Heresy Project: Ancient Rylanor in-progress

I recently built up an Ancient Rylanor for my Emperor's Children army. I had tentative plans to include him in my army down the road, but a generous friend of mine donated his Emperor's Children Contemptor to me so I thought, "why not?" and started this side project. My loyalist Emperor's Children will be pleased to have Rylanor supporting them from here on!




Original Rylanor artwork

Rylanor doesn't have an "official" model, but he does have rules listed in Horus Heresy Vol I: Betrayal. He is equipped with a Kheres Autocannon and a CCW with in-built flamer. Building him was fairly easy now since I have built 2 contemptors before him. In my experience it's best to start with the feet first and work your way up. The Forge World Contemptor has excellent posability which is a blessing and a curse. I have had to break parts a few times just to repose it just right. It's good to be conservative with that super glue!

Since I didn't have to do a lot of conversion on the model itself I decided to add a more flare to the base itself. I liked the idea of special characters getting additional decoration in order to set them apart from the basic units of my army.

 

I might just move Rylanor up in the paint schedule since he is one of my favorite characters from the novel series. Hopefully I will have painted pics to show off here in the near future.

Progress on the Emperor's Children

I'm getting a lot done on my 30K Emperor's Children army and wanted to show off some works in progress. I am nearly done with my assault marine and while I'm adding the finishing touches on that unit I am also making a lot of progress with Lord Commander Eidolon and my Lascannon toting Contemptor Dred.

I would say that I'm about 60% done with this guy. I'm down to the initial shading and highlighting.
I am a huge fan of the Contemptor and knew that my army would be including one.

 

Eidolon is also coming along well. If I can free up enough time this week I will most likely complete my first traitor HQ.