***

Awoken from stasis, I prepared for the usual routines that met our deployment into a war zone. When we boarded the Cetaceus-Class Transporter, the regiment were briefed and prepared to perform a clear and protect campaign. It would be a death world deemed important enough for someone high up to call on the Catachan XCVIII to act as protection detail for the Imperial authorities accompanying us. However, it soon became clear that everything was not routine.

Our dropship had not been activated and those in charge had decided to head down to the planet with only a skeleton defence detail. None of the usual protocols had been adhered to, and now there was no word from the planet. The rest of my squad don’t seam too worried about this, and the Sgt. is quick to remind me that such matters are the last of my concerns. But still I can help but have a bad feeling about this as we, normally the first into the fray had to get ready to clean up the mess. 

– Recovered personal vox recording : Trooper Karbeiss Gravers, Catachan XCVIII Regiment, Red Company, Blue Platoon, 2nd Squad, taken D-3 from the Nedirid Incident. 

***

So here it is! Month 1 of the challenge completed and the first slice submitted. I decided to ease myself in with just a single squad of troops this month (including the concerned Karbeiss Gravers – the squads 3rd gunner) who I wanted to get painted up alongside  couple of my sub-goal challenges. I wanted to get the sub-goals (terrain and objectives) done so as to help provide a decent backdrop to the models moving through the challenge – plus the building of the terrain was a little concerning in terms of completing the challenge as it can be the sort of thing that takes forever to get off the ground, or from concept to execution so I wanted to hit the ground running. 

The Squad is your standard death dealing bunch of maniacs…or as they are otherwise known a 100pt Imperial Guard unit. They are equipped with a Sgt. armed with the classic bolt pistol and chainsword, plus a melta special weapon and mortar heavy weapon team. I like the idea of multiple mortars raining unseen death down alongside the other barrage’s the IG have available, so this will not be the last of these you see in this army.  This means my first slice comes in at a rather modest 130 points! 

There is a reason I went for the gamers pledge rather than the painters, and that is because I tend to not have the patience to spend much time on a single model, always wanting to quickly have a painted force on the table, rather than slowly gather a well painted force. Anyway, I still decided to take a little more time than normal on these guys, with the main focus on the skin tones and fatigues. I worked the skin up over several layers working up from Bestial Brown to Elf flesh or Dryad Bark to Bestial Brown depending on the desired skin tone. I found batch painting elements of the unit stage by stage, starting with the bases, then skin, then fatigues and finally the weapons and equipment made things go pretty quick and kept it varied – despite the similarity of the models (which is handy as I’ve got around 100 lined up to paint when bonus models are taken into account). 

With the objectives, I used some of the fauna extra’s that come on the more recent Jungle Fighter sprue’s and add both some battlefield storage and artificial plants to a set of 50mm bases. The reasoning being that anyone fighting in a jungle would need to ensure that supplies were not running low and so I figured that weapon and fuel cache’s would be the most vital objective on the battlefield.  

The terrain needed to be faction specific – so had to be jungle based for the Catachan’s, and I really wanted to get a classic from the Rouge Trader to the table – the Catachan Devil. The ferocious, territorial carnivore makes for a fitting centrepiece on the table, as well as opening up possibilities for some narrative scenario’s where the large S7 T7 W8 creature gets involved! The model is a Reaper Miniatures Frost Wyrm. I figured having such creatures around is more of an everyday occurrence to the Catachans, so they would not really see any issue with building a recon station next to the creatures nest! The nest was built up from several layers of thick cardboard and then covered in filler to harden it. For the recon outpost, a couple of the classic Necromunda bulkheads and accessories from various kits were called upon and the ability to call down extra firepower was complete, just so long a you don’t get devoured!

If your interested in more pics and some further updates moving forwards you can find me on instagram as ad80_herohammer 

Starting off the first month either nice early finish! That feels good. Now admittedly I didn’t have a helluva lot to paint! 3 warp spiders and their exarch.

These are the first Eldar models my hands have ever painted so it was quite a change up from my usual. They also right out of the gate provided a need for some free hand and more gems in a single model than I’ve possibly ever painted in my life! 

The web designs were fun to try and hard in practice to apply to their shells but I gave it my best. I went for a paint scheme from the Codex showing one of the alternative themes. 

Onwards to month 2! I just have to remember what that I chose .. 

Asuramandos Sul stood before a dark and twisted altar, surrounded by the burnt-out ruins of an Imperial shrine. The Sorcerer had defiled the holy ground, desecrating it with the blood of sacrifices and the symbols of Khorne, the Lord of Skulls.

The Night Lord raised his arms, and began to chant ancient words of power. The symbols on the altar began to glow ominously, and the ground beneath the Sorcerer’s feet began to shake. The air grew thick and hot, as if it were alive with energy.

Suddenly, a crimson red portal opened, and a pack of Bloodletters emerged. The daemons were tall, muscular and had red skin. In their clawed hands they carried massive, razor-sharp blades that seemed to somehow have a life of their own.

The Bloodletters let out a deafening roar, their voices echoing through the shrine. They quickly turned their gaze on the Sorcerer, snarling as they approached with weapons raised. 

The Sorcerer calmly raised his staff, using the power of the Warp to bend the daemons to his will. 

Asuramandos sent a telepathic command.

++Halt! Your master will not claim my skull this day.++

The daemons hissed, but came no closer.

++Go now. Your quarry awaits.++

With a gesture of his hand, the Sorcerer sent the Bloodletters on their mission. The daemons disappeared into the portal, ready to wreak havoc on a nearby PDF outpost in the name of the Blood God.

***

My first slice consists of a pack of four Bloodletters of Khorne. These daemons are armed with deadly Hellblades which give them +1S, cause D3 wounds and grant Parry! 

I wanted to stick to the GW Studio colour scheme on these, so I used photos in the Warhammer Fantasy 5th edition Battle Book and Codex: Chaos as reference. I also used my Nostalgia ’88 paints for that old school feel. These models are mainly red, so once the skin was done there wasn’t a lot left to do! The biggest challenge was the dark green swords since I wanted to try some blending on them. I mixed black and green for the first stages and added in some yellow as I went along. It turned out alright I think!

***

The Chosen of Khorne

4x Bloodletters with Hellblades (140)

Total: 140 points

***

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddgits.hut

Cheers!

/Ted

I’ve painted 367 points of Alaitoc Eldar for this month, if you include the 20 points I’ve added on to my Farseer to complete the pledge to design a special character.  Usually when I paint an army, I pick one or two colours to use throughout (I’m going with yellow), and also one or two colours to avoid, to help visually tie the army together.  I’ve decided to avoid metallics and red, painting weapons with a bone colour instead.  In a further deviation from 2nd edition, I’ve also gone for slightly larger, non-green bases – after starting to re-base my orks, I definitely prefer it when models’ feet aren’t hanging over the edge of the bases, and the bases need to match my table.  I hope the classic models and bright colours still have a kind of old-school look!

There are a couple of small conversions; replacing Eldrad’s broken staff and missing sword arm with a spear head and shuriken pistol from another Farseer model, and converting a guardian to hold a banner in tribute to the picture that I look back fondly on:

Aethesir Starguide 

190 points, +25 points Singing Spear [215 points]

Before following the Path of the Seer, Aethesir spent many human lifetimes wandering far from his home craftworld as a Scout.  He rarely speaks of his time following the path of the outcast, and has never as to what lead him to return Alaitoc.  He is a cautious commander, wary to commit to attack, but skilled in interpreting the strands of fate to predict the movement of enemy troops and position his forces to ambush them.

Farseer: M5, WS7, BS7, S4, T5, W4, I9, A3, Ld10

WEAPONS: Shuriken Pistol.

ARMOUR: Rune Armour (4+ unmodified save).

WARGEAR: Aethesir may carry three items of wargear.  One of these must be a Singing Spear.

STRATEGY: Aethesir has a strategy rating of 4.  When you roll off for first turn, subtract 1 from your roll.

SPECIAL RULES: Aethesir may command your army if it does not include an Avatar. 
He is a psyker with a mastery level of 4.
D3 Scout units in your army may deploy on overwatch.
One guardian unit in your army may use the Infiltration rule as described in the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook.

10 Guardians, 2 Flamers, 6 Chainswords, 2 Power Swords [152 points]

Next month: jetbikes!

Slice one! Took a while to get started on these guys due to work. I think Dr the Viking was beginning to worry! Haha! Well, fear not, good doctor, I’ve managed to get my first slice finished with time to spare!
As I’ve opted to do the Painter’s Challenge I knew I would have to push myself. I had to really concentrate on stopping myself from rushing through this squad, especially as I really enjoyed painting them!
I had a couple of ways I wanted to try to improve my painting. The first was to really thin my paints and build up colours in multiple thin coats. I also wanted to try to shade manually rather than using my main crutch of ink washing.
I’m not sure whether it’s actually turned put better or worse than my usual style. The red in particular took a long time but does it look better than a single coat of Blood Angels Red contrast?
One area where I really need to improve is highlighting. I struggle with both light placement and general neatness. That being said I am happy with how the models have turned out and I think they look like they could have been painted in the nineties, which is what I was hoping!

As one of my three extra challenges I opted to do scenic bases. This caused me a bit of a headache in the lead up to the challenge as I had no idea what to do!
Initially, when I was thinking about painting my Blood Angels I was considering doing the traditional goblin green bases. The choice to go for scenic bases meant this was a no-go, so I had to think of something that would look cool but wouldnt be too much of a chore to do on the rest of the army. I have a lot of marines that aren’t part of the challenge and didnt want to be put off painting them by having to build up complex bases. In the end I decided that I could still do an homage to  the classic green bases but just take it to the next level, with a forest theme.
I used small pebbles as rocks and some 3d printed tree stumps. Around these I slathered some mud textured paint from Vallejo. The whole base was then basecoated black. I built up the colours on all sections with layers of drybrushing. I used blues, greys and reds on the rock, browns and greys on the tree stumps and various shades of green and yellow on the ground.
Finishing touches were added in the form of some leaf scatter and a few yellow flower tufts.
Must say I’m really, really happy with how the bases have turned out! I think there’s a depth and a realism which provides a counterbalance to the more cartoony painting of the models without being jarring.
So, happy with the first slice, next up I’ll be starting my second slice which will be the first four members of the Devastator Squad.

www.instagram.com/grimslath

“The wheels of fate spin relentlessly and all things will eventually come to pass and then in turn pass themselves. So many beings will not live to see what our dear masters have in store for this universe. I, however, do not intend to be one of those who will be crushed by the cycles of entropy and left as a mere footnote in the tale of another. Your suffering, little one, is merely another step on my path to eternal glory. Do not cry, not yet. Here, let me help you sing us both into the loving arms of She Who Thirsts “

Urien, Virtuoso of Agony at the storming of Cybercity One on the planet Oedo.

Welcome dear acolytes of the Ruinous Powers! How are your mutations coming along? Slimy and bifurcated I trust? Excellent! Let us look and see how the forces of Chaos are faring after month one.

So this month I completed the eight Plague Marines and three stands of Nurglings that I had set out to do, but the gods smiled on me and I continued to work on more followers for them. They took the form of eight Thousand Sons but they are not the Rubric marines that many of us are familiar with. These poor lost souls are from a time before the great Rubric of Ahriman, when mutation was rampant amongst the legion. If you look closely, you’ll notice Brother-Captain Karlsen and Brother-Sergeant Caine in there who appeared in the early stories of the legion that featured in the story boxes of White Dwarf and even in the Wargear book of 2nd edition 40k. I also received another boon in the form of a Mighty Champion of Khorne riding a Juggernaut. Praise the Lord of Skulls!

With all of that, I actually managed to complete an unintended subgoal of converting an entire squad as those Thousand Sons all have at least something added to them but for the most part are total kitbashes based on the 5th edition fantasy Chaos Warriors. Phew, good to come out swinging this month! The rest of the stats are below, but until next month I hope you remain devoted to the dark gods 😀

Eight Plague Marines (one with a MK1 plasma gun) (288pts) led by an Aspiring Champion with a power fist (40pts). 

Three stands of Nurglings (45pts).

Eight Thousand Sons Marines (one meltagun, two swords, two axes, two MK1 plasma pistols, four bolters) (274pts).

Mighty Champion of Khorne with a power axe and MK1 plasma pistol riding a Juggernaut (150pts).

Total points: 797pts

Total model count: 27

Apothecary – 40 points chainsword 2

Lexicanium Librarian 53 Force Sword 5

Slice 1 – 100 points

My first chunk isn’t big.  Only two figures.  That did give me the benefit of not having to decide on chapter emblem this month.  I think however, I will probably use the left pad as the chapter emblem and put squad markings on the right?  The back banner I did this month has a design based on it so it sort of makes sense.

First was deciding for sure on the paint scheme.  The blue and grey I was 90% set on, but I considered changing the blue to red for a good few days.  Being characters, both these figures needed specialty colouring.  I decided on right arms for specialty.  Blue for Librarian, red for apothecary.  Just like on ultramarines- blue barely makes a difference with this paint scheme.

I really tried to up my painting on these.  The blue has several glazes to smooth the blends for example.  I wish I could do more but there isn’t much to these figures.  Really happy with how the apothecary’s extractor thingy turned out – not looking up what it’s called right now.

I was a bit annoyed at the centering of the design on the force sword.  

Being the characters I decided to do my back banner challenge, seemed more logical than just on a regular marine.  I’m relatively happy with the final result and the various gliphs at the bottom are from a search of random marine banners on the net.

Back next month with a heartier chunk which is started, also working on the conversions of several later chunks.  

Thanks

Adrian.

The energy beam lanced, blink-quick in the air. I flinched, and am not ashamed to say so, as shards of ice sprayed across my suit’s faceplate. Its infrared HUD automatically triangulated the source of the shot. White hot heat, radiantly silhouetted against the icy blackness of the snow. Shuriken barked, blades winging through the air. White sprayed across the black.   “He’s down. Piel, you still up?” Comms. My fellow guardians. “Ialin! Speak to us!” “Still up,” I grunted. I hit a toggle, and my maroon HUD dropped to the brilliant blue and white of Bethalmae snow, luminous even in these icebound caves. I laughed to myself. Caves. Hardly appropriate. These were massive ecosystems, carved out of ice, their ceiling hidden under a fog of condensing snow and vapor. The shape was organic and reminded me of the winding wraithbone of Mymeara’s corridors, if a bit smaller.

Comms chattered again. Back to infrared. A dull, white glow showed on the horizon, toward the back of the cave. “Tracked vehicles!” That was the gruff voice Talenn Illad, our detachment’s leader. “Humans. What primitive technology.” The rest of Illad’s comments, and Illad himself, drowned in an avalanche of ice and snow as we were hammered by a volley of high-powered projectiles. Where to go? Our bodysuits dispersed our heat signature, but we still stood out like candles in the night.

Darkness. The flash from that last hit – so close! – had completely overloaded my suit’s visuals. I shrugged off my helmet to see… wraithbone? A long hand had enclosed me, taking the brunt of the blast. Silently, the enigmatic Dreadnought towered toward the enemy, D-cannon and shuriken blasting. Behind him strode two war walkers. “Form up! This is it! Forward for Mymeara!”

***

This month I have painted two units of 7 guardians. One unit is equipped with las pistols for 77 points, one unit has shuriken catapults for 98 points. I really got into these models, and enjoyed the proto-avengers best – even if o e ir two of their poses were a bit fallen over. I had some extra time due to a work trip which gave me hours of uninterrupted painting periods in the hotel room. I took advantage of that to paint a bonus guardian with las pistol for 11 more points. Our local scene plays much more 9th edition 40k than anything else, so the extra guardian and platform crew (coming later!) will let me field a full unit of 10 guardians as well as use the proto-avengers as dire avengers.

All in all, this month worked out to 15 models and 186 points! I am really very happy with how these models are turning out and am enjoying painting the cooler colored scheme, as that was my own personal challenge for this event. Good luck to everyone and may February Mulligans stay far away from us all!

As nerve-wracking as it was to finish, it was also a genuine joy to complete everything I did. Thank you, Dr. The Viking, for arranging this challenge! My initial plan was to just paint a mob of 6 Blood Axe Kommandos (“Kor’s Kommandos”) and 1 Ork Battlewagon (“Painkiller”), and that was it.

The mob was pretty straightforward, but it took me a couple weeks to decide what I wanted to do as far as a recipe for their skin since I would be carrying that through all the rest of the army. I want the overall force to have the Rogue Trader Ork aesthetic, when Orks were a gnarly, unpredictable, armed biker gang in space.

The Armorcast Battlewagon was a new painting experience for me. I’m a Tyranid player, so vehicle painting was never something I needed to do. I used a technique I’d seen model railroaders use with salt to simulate paint chipping and rust spots. Since the model was from around 1989 it seemed only proper to adhere to what my 1990s-era self would’ve wanted it to look like, so it’s got a Judas Priest homage. I styled the name on the front of the vehicle and the banner after JP’s 1990 album “Painkiller.” I made the banner from styrene that I shaped with a heat gun, mounted on brass rod, added some resin skulls, painted it up, and “Painkiller” was finished. My big mistake was making it a flying style flag rather than a hanging banner, which neccessitated me painting the JP scene twice, one for each side!

One of my subgoals for the challenge was to create a painted backdrop to photograph my miniatures (from the “Common Subgoals” list). So I painted a war-torn background using Procreate on an iPad using a stylus. The finished illustration is 32×22 inches (81×55 cm). I exported the file and printed it on a large format printer. I will post the time-lapse of the drawing process on the Discord channel if anyone is interested in the process. I will also post the finished art file there in case anyone wants to use it or modify it.

After finishing the backdrop painting I thought it might look better when photographing the finished models to have a full display board with the backdrop hanging behind it, so I decided to give it a try. I added a section of plastic gothic ruins from Pegasus Hobbies, and a 3D-printed ruined tower that I acquired a couple years ago. I think it’ll be more fun to share my monthly pics using that display board instead of just the backdrop. I didn’t intend to do the army display board (from the “Gamer’s Subgoal” list). I’m glad I did, but it was way more work than I should’ve taken on.

Last thing I did (which was actually the first thing I did, since I created them on New Years Day) was complete my subgoal to build usable game tokens (from the “Common Subgoals” list). I own a button-making press for 25mm buttons. So after creating the designs for each token, I scaled the icons to the right size, printed them, punched out the designs, and pressed them into buttons. I skipped adding any pins to the back, and voila! The buttons are the same size as 25mm round bases. Since I created all the images from scratch I’m happy to share the files freely with anyone who wants them to use with a button maker of their own, or modify as they like for some other 40k project. I’ll post the files as a PDF in the Discord, but if anyone needs the original vector files, let me know and I can send you the EPS files. The game tokens I made are Ork-themed green tokens (including tokens for the various psychology/madboy effects) but the file will also include a set of the same tokens in a variety of colors for the non-Orky folks.

CHECK PYGMY’S AWESOME GAME TOKENS HERE:

Next month I’ll start on my second block of minis which will be 2 Ork Dreadnoughts and 1 Ork Battlewagon. Painting those will also complete my third (fourth?) subgoal of “Paint three vehicles in one month.”

MODELS AND POINTS:

Blood Axe Kommando Mob (6 @ 14) 84
Power Axes (6 @ 6) 36
Bolter (1 @ 1) 1

Ork Battlewagon 50

Points: 171
Models: 10 (equivalent)

SUBGOALS COMPLETED:

Common Subgoal – “Paint a backdrop for your army”
Common Subgoal – “Build usable game tokens”
Gamer’s Subgoal – “Make an army display board” (not one of my initially declared subgoals)

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