Here is wave 2 of the #40k2ndAC IV for April. We have 11 entries in this wave. The flag above the badge denotes where the participant is currently operating, while a small terminator honours logo means that the participant has been honoured by his peers for a previous entry.

Armorcast models in 2nd Edition 40k are a bit of an oddity. At the time, Armorcast and a couple of other companies had licences to produce larger resin models for 40K. They came with their own set of official rules, with datafaxes also being published in Inquisitor magazine (Issues 16 and 17, for the Tyranids, if I remember correctly).

The models themselves aren’t really the same quality as Citadel models from the same time period, some of the sculpting is really simplistic, but they are so much fun to work on and play with. As an Epic 40K player back in the day, I love the idea of using models from that game at different scales.

This month, I spent most of my time working on a Tyranid Haruspex from Armorcast. When ramming and attacking in close combat, it hits like a ton of bricks. It also has an acid spray attack, which can chew through large groups of weak enemies pretty quick, or deal two powerful hits to more armoured targets. I didn’t quite realise how big it was until I finished assembling all the painted parts! The colour scheme is an extension of the one used on my smaller Nids; this was a real exercise in trusting the process.

In the last couple of days I also managed to paint a second model, this time one from Forge World (not that Forge World). The Dactylis is a bio-artillary piece that chucks pods of bile at the enemy. The potential splat zone for those weapons is… impressive.

The model itself is incredibly ugly and I was really worried during the last couple of hours of painting. I ended up changing a few colours around at the last minute, but I was really happy with the result. Next month I am hoping to create some custom datafaxes for these models, as finding the complete rules for them was a pain!

Challenge models: 1

Challenge points: 250

Actual models: 2

Actual points: 450

This mouth I painted the second half of the Chais marine unit, arm with Chain Swords and bolt pistols and a heavy missile launcher, the champion with a mighty power fist ! 

Great minders these and always enjoy doing them. 

To go with these I made a bonus Chaos lord 

Using an old techmarine who has fallen to the powers of the warpsmith and keep your eyes peeled for these guys return in the last months entry as he might have a bonus unit to go with him ….

This month also see me finish to sub goals 1st being making markers/tokens to use in games , I went for a couple of smoke markers also double up as explosion markers . 

The last was to paint 3 vehicles . So please see 3x ancient Rhinos . Also like bring these back to life. 

As always can’t wait to see everyone’s entry’s and if you like my stuff please check out my instagram https://instagram.com/ebpminis?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Month 4 has been another enjoyable month. Only one model painted, but I have managed to decide what to do for the diorama base and have made a big dent in getting it built.

The model is a classic Rhino that has been stripped back to the bare plastic. I’ve no idea what the original owner used to build it, but in a first for an eBay rescue it was rubbish and the entire model fell apart almost completely in the paint stripper! As a result I managed to rebuild it filling most of the gaps and making some minor improvements. The side rail and top hatch handles have been replaced with metal versions – the original plastics are so fragile! The top bolters have been replaced with those from the current Demios kit and as it was missing one of the exhaust tops I’ve given it straight through pipes all round. I’ve added a couple of chaos plates to the front glacis, but in general I’ve tried to keep the chaos stuff to a minimum, as I this fits my post-rubric image of the Thousand Sons as one of minimal mutation. Painting was fairly quick – all the armour was done with the airbrush then just a fair bit of edge highlighting and finishing off the details.

The rest of the month has been taken up with the construction of the diorama base. I may have got slightly carried away here, as I’ve decided to build a temple to Tzeentch that is big enough to fit the entire army in and around. Drawing on my classical education the inspiration is from the Hellenic world. The initial plan is a stepped base with eight columns. I’ve managed to get the base almost done, but the columns I ordered were about half the size I was expecting so I’ve not quite managed to get it done in time for the end of the month. Still, gives me the time to do my classic scope creep and come up with a design for a roof complete with pediment frieze…

Models Completed – Month 4

1 x Chaos Rhino with twin linked bolters (50 points Tom…)

Subgoals Completed

None (50% of the way through the diorama base though!)

Here’s to Month 5 – more demons and many different colours!!!

Thanks,

Tom

Hello.

This month saw me inches away from throwing in the towel. Lately life has just been pushing too much compared to gaming and painting. Heavy stuff like having a family member in and out of hospital and after that I stupidly went out and had a drunken falling accident leaving me with pains and pressed ribs, not able to do anything sensible for a long time.

Anyway I wasn’t really able to paint and not very much in the mood either. Considering my entries haven’t really been satisfying to me since the first one it would deffinately have been easier to just call it quits. But as things turn out I kind of got my mojo back in last minute after a discord chat session with The Dr The Viking and churning on I once again come up with an almost done entry in last minute.

This time I have Part 5: Assault Squad, Tarantula, Servitor, Apothecary.

Apothecary with a chainsword and handflamer 49pts, Tarantula with Twin Lascannons and Servitor at 75pts, Assault Squad led by Veteran Sergeant and a mixed armament of 10 bolt pistols, 8 Chainswords, 2 Power Fists, 1 Hand Flamer and 1 Plasma Pistol bringing this squad to a total of 403pts

I really miss the mulligan month, but then again it would probably make no different really. My hopes are mostly to either get all models up to 100% before the end of the challenge or right after.

Total: 527pts

Models Count: 12 + Tarantula = 14

This month I started to paint my regular Infantry squad. I was also able to knock out the terrain. I got motivated, watching everyone on the Discord work on terrain! I used Vallejo snow effects which it turns out I’m not a fan of. Still it’s easier to use and cheaper than the crushed glass and for terrain it does the job. I’m still hoping to get some bonus models done although entering month 5 things are getting tight. Still, another month down and a step closer to finishing off the Space Wolf Curse!

Blood Claws with 2 chainswords, 1 power fist, hand flamer, plasma pistol – 104 points

Terrain sub-goal

3 Models

https://www.hmgs.org/blogpost/1767208/The-Wachtmeister-s-Patrol

-Wachtmeister 

Greetings to all those following along.  Another month adds to the swelling ranks of my Ork warband, this time with some ‘eavy support in the form of a Death Skulls mob.  Taking their lore role as looters seriously (and also due to my lack of authentic Ork heavy weapons from the time period) this mob is armed with one kustom kombi-weapon and three different looted imperial heavy bolters.  More kitbashed than converting, I leveraged my thirty years of bitz to arm the Death Skull boyz with a RT era heavy bolter, a scout heavy bolter, and a metal sponson mount heavy bolter from somewhere around 3rd or 4th edition.  Combined with the metal Death Skull Nob model, this unit comes across as pretty unique looking even before they got their coats of paint.  Although the look of many 2nd edition Death Skulls is a patchwork of looted uniform bits, I was intimidated by trying to pull off that style and opted instead for painting them more in the style of the Death Skulls on the cover of ‘Ere We Go.  Muted browns, blacks, and khaki for their paints and tunic, and bold blue vertical stripes on their faces to indicate their clan allegiance. 

Since I know my main opponents in the near future will be large guard armies, I will need the blessings of Mork and Gork on the sustained fire dice to use these looted imperial weapons to mow down their former bearers. 

Next month I am painting a Wartrak Scorcha and my first oddboy for this army.  Once again I did not complete any subgoals so I’ve got to get on these before it leads to complete failure! 

Thanks to the excellent Dr the Viking for coordinating this amazing challenge for the 4th time and good luck to all those still left in month 4.  Follow my painting adventures at 1stlegionchronicles.blogspot.com

Krag Garluta : DeathSkulls Nob – Power Sword and Kustom Kombi-weapon, 3 boyz Heavy Bolters, 1 boy Kustom Kombi-weapon –        142 points. 

80…. 80 Valhallans in a month…. The madnessFinally, after 2 months of no shows the Valhallans return to this Valhallan Army project! After last month’s pledge that consisted of newer tank models, with only the tank commander counting towards 2nd edition this month required extreme measures to salvage my ruined 2nd ed Cred! In order to do this, I needed as many 2nd edition models as I could muster, falling back on my stocks of cleaned/paint stripped models I was able to gather up an additional 60 models for a hobbying hell month. Valhallans will always be plural in this household! 

To describe the process:

-Have an airbrush, seriously if washes are liquid skill then airbrushes are purchased talent. I was able to Base coat the uniforms of 80 models in 2 hours, insanely productive.

-I broke the models down by pose as anyone who has painted Valhallans knows that they have different wargear between models and having a consistent set of details to work on allowed me to avoid going back to fix missed parts. (Also you can see the cast quality change over years, 1999 being horrible casts).

-Assembly line painting in batches is a huge bonus. Grouping models into sets of 20 allowed me to paint without getting disheartened or needing breaks mid color.

-I’ve always committed to painting for 30 minutes a day, to get into a rhythm and make it a habit. Though in fairness this lot was closer to an hour a day and greatly helped by several weekends/easter holidays. 

-Split up heavy weapons into their own month, a constant slow down for my army style is the scenic bases, so my heavy weapons will be party to their own speed painting process.

I have to add minor highlights but these guys are fully table ready in my eyes.

Sadly though I wasn’t able to convert my special character, so he and his squad will be showing up in a later month. I was able to slot in the Black Library Sgt from the lone wolves set, which is a fun model I’ve been meaning to paint up.

Huge thanks to Dr.TV, this great challenge has been phenomenal for getting me to work through my stocks of Valhallans, I have churned out legions of these troops thanks to this motivation.  Now I’ll have enough painted models to drown Wachtmeister & Mcmaster in a tide of Space Soviets. 

Follow along at my instagram, https://www.instagram.com/valhallan_winter/ to see more close up shots.  

Pledge

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Bolt Pistol & chainsword, Melta 110pts

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Hand Flamer & Sword, Flamer 114pts

Bonus

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Bolt Pistol & Chainsword, Melta 110pts

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Bolt Pistol & Chainsword, 104pts

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Bolt Pistol & Chainsword, Grenade Launcher 114pts

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Laspistol & Sword, Melta 108pts

Valhallan Infantry Squad – Plasma pistol & Sword, Flamer 112pts

Valhallan Infantry Squad –  Bolter, Grenade Launcher- 113

Total points- 885 pts

80 models

Completed Pledged Subgoals-

Gamer- Paint 30 Models in a month

The fourth month of the challenge has been, again, almost a failure, and for exactly the same reason: Great start followed from real life biting my ass the last two weeks of the month. And again, I have almost no time to write!

This slice was seven Striking Scorpions (but as I painted them I realized that perhaps one of them is an Exarch!). I went for the usual “Scorpion Green” these models are usually painted, with parts of the body armour in bright yellows and reds to make them more interesting. Weapons, webbing, etc. were done with the same colours of the rest of the army. No decals since I have no time!

As a bonus I did some last touches to the Dire Avengers of last month in order to get them to the standard set by the first one of them (this was at the very beginning of the month).

So:

Slice 4

7 Striking Scorpions = 182 points.

Bonus

5 Dire Avengers = 0 points (no new models).

See you next month!

So… April!

This was the largest number of models yet – a squad of seven plague marines, including Aspiring Champion, Plasma Gunner and an Icon Bearer. You may notice a few bits here and there from different editions – not least of all “Tube Head” from the Chaos Renegade line / Rogue Trader period. 

The plasma gun (and pistol to a small degree) fulfill my OSL sub goal, leaving the banner for the Juggernaut Lord, and a scenic base for a unit left to do still. Also painted but not shown is the army Icon Bearer, minus the Icon itself, which can’t be found anywhere in my bits box… I’ll have to improvise with something else, and will share a pic once it’s fully completed. 

Overall, I feel like I’m almost on the home straight now! Along with the aforementioned stuff, I have the Sorcerer + 5 Monopose metal Thousand Sons and two tanks left to do. 

Points for this month: 

7 x Plague Marines inc Aspiring Champion w. Mark of Nurgle, Plasma gun, Banner, Plasma Pistol Champ – 263 pts

Cheers!

This month was kind of special, Wraithguard and Wraithlords/Dreadnoughts are amongst my favorite models in Warhammer and a significant part of why I play Eldar and Iyanden. The story potential of using ancestors as warriors out of necessity is matched only by the awesome might and resilience these relatively ponderous units can bring to your Eldar army.

A full 10-robot-strong unit of Wraithguard was a fixture in my army rosters, providing a wraithbone anvil for my mechanized force and giving my footslogging guardians a walking wall for refuge. Wraithguard are slow but tough enough to shrug off most small-arms fire. However, their slow speed and short range means you might only get one volley of wraithcannons on target but it will probably be worth the price of admission given the firepower.

Wraithlords can be potent wrecking machines or stable fire platforms; I usually had more luck with the former. Wading forward to smash something big and expensive, Wraithlords don’t need much more than their bare hands and maybe a heavy weapon for potshots on the approach. Beware anti-tank weapons, your armor is impervious to most weapons but almost useless against the heaviest armaments. Hunting characters and bullying elite infantry is ideal since they often struggle to fight back.

Wraith units benefit greatly from psyker support, both directly from beneficial powers cast their direction and from their rules representing the guidance seers provide to their Wraithsight. As Wraiths are Eldar ghosts and spirits, they “see” through the eyes of an ethereal specter to perceive living beings as souls flickering like candles in a shadowy landscape. Psykers have stronger soul-lights, Eldar souls burn brighter and Eldar psykers act as beacons, usually aiding the Wraith units somehow depending on the ruleset. Using wraiths to weather the small-arms that would shred a vulnerable Warlock and using the runic protections of the Warlock to absorb the few potent shots directed at the walking tanks is an excellent example of Eldar synergy.

Points:

350 Wraithguard x10

205 Eldar Dreadnought, Power Fist x2, Flamer x2, Missile Launcher w/ Frag and Krak missiles

160 Eldar Dreadnought, Power Fist x2, Shuriken Catapult x2

Thanks!

Hey everyone! Teleport on 3… one… THREE!!! So here we are, 10 terminators more under the belt. This makes it a whopping 15 done so far for my Dark Angels army. I have mixed feelings about “spending” all my terminators this way, but if not Dark Angels then what… I mean – the Deathwing are synonymous with terminators.

Painting wise, I was well on my way to use the same method I used for the first 5 assault terminators. So, an offwhite undercoat and then details+oil bath. BUT… on a whim, I decided to do something do something else entirely. My friend Daniel has been busy painting Nurgle miniatures and using “streaking grime” for it. I thought it was so inspirational, that after a painting session with him, I went out and bought a bottle of grime.

Instead of the “bright” 2nd ed style I went all over board with chipping and weathering. I know it is more “rogue trader” style (maybe) than 2nd ed… or maybe it is more modern than old. Either way and whatever it is, I thoroughly enjoy it!

I decided to field one squad – Zakariel – with a assault cannon. This is a bastard of a gun and I really think it fits the terminator image all the way. The chainfist in this squad was something of an afterthought, and tactically might not make a lot of sense. But on the other hand, chainfists always make good sense.

Squad Beletan got the fettered Cyclone Missile Launcher. Now, this weapon can probably ruin any good game or friendship if overused. It is brutal. I don’t think I will be fielding it every time I play. But, again, it is an iconic piece of gear. And sometimes you just meet a Genestealer anyway.

I have spend a lot of time detailing and decaling these guys, even if it is actually a Gamer’s Pledge. The only place where I might have skipped something is the photography. I really wish I had bought a DSLR, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. It is a bit of a downer, spending all that time, and then taking shitty images on the phone. But hey!

What’s sub…goal!

I also managed to finish my first subgoal this month! I had to write an entry for and paint my own character. I decided to make it a unit – The Four Brothers of Kawah. Of course! Right? So basically, these guys are very old Dark Horse figures from the 80s and they’re inspired by the ealry TMNT comics. Back then, the turtles were not 2 meter tall giants like in the recent Bay films, but rather small creatures. Also, they all had red head bands.

This set is inspired by one of the first comics where the Turtles have their first encounter with the Triceraton – a race of dinosaur-like humanoids from another dimension. They steal some of their weapons and flee. I decided to give them different colours on the head bands, as this works better for gaming, rather than 4 reds. I have an additional set of Dark Horse turtles (and two additional sets of other turtles) that might get red bands though.

Here’s a link to the unit:

In total:

Terminator squad, 5 models, 340 points, chainfist 12 pts, assault cannon 41 pts. 393 points in total

Terminator squad, 5 models, 340 points, Cyclone missile launcher 59 pts. 399 points in total

The Four Brothers of Kawah. 4 models, 300 points.

Total 15 models, 1092 points.