Black Crusade Charity - part V

As most of you have probably seen, the Black Crusade Charity has officially been extended for a couple of weeks. Cue an little something extra from me for the grand army - one, converted Forge World Decimator:

 Mind, the litte guy is still in the midst of being build, but I am rather happy with the menacing pose thus far. One thing I can say though, is that the Decimator is an amazing, yet difficult kit to put together. There are just so many separate, not entirely fitting, parts in the legs that I've had to pin and strengthen each and every joint on this mini. Though it did take most of the afternoon sorting this out, the extra support will ensure that the model will survive transport and the test of time.

 Design wise I deviated a tad from the basic Decimator design, not in the least as adding horns to the head to make it fit in with the rest of Tzeentch units means the heads needed to be moved forward. The shoulderpads are just too bulky to work with pretty much any other shape of helmet. On the plus side, it has worked out quite well for the feel of the model.

 Secondly I put together some unique arms, both as I really do not like the Forge World options and because adding an organic element would link the Decimator quite nicely with Lamenter's Tzeentch character for the army (link). Adding both a wicked looking arm and gatling type of weapon will also enable the army's winner to field the Decimator in a wide range of manners as both arms could easily count as most of the available weaponry (rules pdf).

 Tomorrow evening I hope to sort out the final details on the mini, which include:
- Bulking out the neck segment:
- Properly attach the right arm to the elbow joint:
- Add some extra barding to gatling gun/arm:
- Fill a few remaining gaps and holes.

Finally a quick detail shot of the Decimator's chest crest, which takes the place of the original neck joint. Some of you may recognize this shield, that's right it is oop Acheaon, Lord of the End Times', shield. Makes for a nice solution for that gaping hole and is a nice Black Legion reference while we're at it.

And that does it for the fifth Black Crusade Charity update already. Next time I'd better get busy on painting, that deadline is creeping closer and closer!

Black Crusade Charity - part IV

Looks like it is official, the charity is going to get a little extension. So that means more time to work on stuff and an extra unit from me for the grand army. Time for another teaser pic!

Black Crusade Charity - part III

Time for another quick update, this time during late lunchtime at work. Today we'll have a quick look at the little, extra I promised I would add to my contribution for the Black Crusade Charity. Probably not a huge surprize, but say hello to one Black Legion, Tzeentch-dedicated Chaos Rhino to help lug around that Thousand Sons squad.

Originally this Rhino started out as a support unit for my own Iron Warriors. Never got around to finishing or painting the thing, so it made for an ideal starting point for a transport for the Rubric Marines. 

Some of the addition to the vehicle include a snorkel/exhaust system, cyclopean front viewing port (a theme which works great for Iron Warriors, Nurgle- and Tzeentch-units), extra armour plating on top, chaos shields on the side with the Eye of Horus(leftover from a Banelegions character), as well as a Warpfire altar on top.

There's still  a bit of cleaning up work left here and there, but it should be ready for paint by tomorrow evening. Particularly looking forward to working on the battle damage and some general weathering effect. This may actually be the time for me to break out that set of Secret Weapon weathering powders I've had around for months now. Quite frankly the prospect of using weathering powders has had me a bit worried. Never worked with stuff like this, at the same time I do have a fair amount of spare stuff around and SW have a few very helpful tutorials online. The big question for me does remain what fixer to use. I think I may have a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the medkit, which should do the trick quite nicely. Time for some trail-and-error I think!

This little beauty will get a colourscheme very similar to the Thousand Sons squad, though it will lean a bit more towards the traditional Black Legion scheme. That way it can easily be used by any other squad that may need it. After all, I can definitely imagine that somebody would prefer to leave the Thousand Sons on foot, perhaps guarding an objective, while the Rhino helps out a more fighty unit.

Finally there's something extra I hope to squeeze into the time left for this project. I've managed to get my hand on some extra part, hence if time permits I'll be adding an extra. Time for a teaser:

So, next update I'll either have some shot of this additional unit or the painting in progres on the Thousand Sons squad. By the way, it is also well worth checking out the Black Crusade blog (link), tons of great minis, prizes and previews have gone up this last week. I know one thing for sure, whomever wins the grand army will have a ton of fantastic Chaos minis to show off!

Black Crusade Charity Thousand Sons Squad - part II

Time for another update on the squad. Work is progressing steadily and I'm confident the whole batch will be ready for painting by tomorrow evening. So despite my slow painting speed, the squad (and little, extra suprize) will be done in time for the end of the Black Crusade Charity!

 

I've spent most of my time since the last update correcting little mistakes, adding pins between weaker parts (that icon bearer's staff, for example, is thoroughly pinned now) and adding a few extra details here and there. Most of the truly fiddly work has gone into turning those fantasy helmets into stuff suitable to the harsh conditions of the 41st millennium.

The main trick used is adding lenses to helmets, a simple visual element (though quite challenging modelling-wise) that makes the piece feel more at home in the unit and also adds a common detail between all squad members.

There is of course also something as taking a concept to far, which I fear I may have done with the last helmet:

Personally I love the effect, though it does need some further cleaning up. I do really wonder if it will work with the rest of the unit though, something tells me this won't become clear till there is a nice coat of paint on these guys. In case it doesn't work, there's nothing stopping me from replacing the entire helmet after all. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but also nothing lost in this case. One thing is certain though, I will be adding an extra Chaos Space Marine with a similar helmet to my small collection of Wordbearers somewhere down the line!

The second thing needing extra attention was the basing. Originally the plan was to use Secret Weapon Bonefield Bases for the unit (link), which Falk was kind enough to order for me. It seems though that the damned things have gotten lost in the mail, although lost may not be the correct word. Delayed may be more correct, as I'm waiting for 3-4 other packages from people I've regularly dealt with. There's a lot of stuff brewing in the Dutch delivery market and delivery has been hazzy at best these last 2-3 weeks, but I digress.

I'm a huge fan of spending extra time and effort on scenic bases, however trying to come up with something that catches the vibe and detailing of MrJustin's excellent bases is challenging. In the end I've gone with sanded down bases, filled with skeletal remains from various sources including Secret Weapon's own Bag-O-Skulls, followed up with some modelling putty and pva glue for addition texture. It will require quite a  bit of extra painting effort, but I'm confident that the end result will fit in well with the rest of the grand army. And there's also a silver lining, doing this stuff myself allowed for easier posing of the Thousand Sons and, well, it was quite a lot of fun figuring out what did and didn't work on each base.

And that does it for this update, more coming in a couple of days, including more info on the extra, little thing I'll be adding to the army and hopefully some paint-in-progres shots! In addition, I'll also do a bits breakdown somewhere down the line for those interested in finding out where all those random bits and bobs have come from. That just leaves two extra pics of the Icon Bearer and the essential, half-blown up Thousand Sons each unit of Thousand Sons in my opinion deserves and needs. Great fun to put together, challenging to paint, and he certainly helps bring across the idea that these guys will not go down easily!

Black Crusade Charity Thousand Sons Squad - Part I

It has been quite a while since my last blog update, funny how real life can take up so much time. I've been spending the last two months working my butt off for my third and final graduation. Still, in between writing and studying I've managed to find some time to give a little something back to the community.

As some of you may have noticed a new charity project has recently launched - the Black Crusade Charity. Following the example of the Storm Wardens and Heroes of Armageddon-campaigns, the project aims to raise funds for charity by selling tickets for a series of prizes as well as a full blown Chaos Space Marine army that is being build by a range of different people from the online community.

One of the main guys running this campaign is Falk from TableTop Fix (link), pretty much my favorite wargaming news site. Way back in the day I was lucky enough to win a Dystopian Wars-set during one of the site's contests. A while back I ended up with a Mantic Undead Warhost set and felt I could return the favour by donating it as a prize for a future contest. The set ended up being the first prize for the Black Crusade give-away.

Quite frankly I felt I could be doing something more than just donating a random, abide cool, prize, so I offered to build an extra squad for the grand Chaos Space Marine army. Turns out there was a lack of Tzeentch-themed materials, as a result I'm now in the midst of putting together a Black Legion squad of Thousand Sons.

I happily discovered that Lamenter from the Master of the Forge blog (link) would be tackling the second Tzeentch entry in the army - a Chaos Sorceror on Disc. And I have to say, he has done a terrific job putting together a great character:

Pic courtesy of Lamenter

Figuring it would enhance the feel of this segment of the army I've decided to use a lot of similar design element as Lamenter has used. In addition, I'll be using the same Black Legion-variant colourscheme. So that means lots of horned helmets, vertical lines and robes for the next week or two, as well as a few interesting blog posts.

Managed to squeeze in some hobby time this past weekend and got a very decent start on the Thousand Sons squad (click pic for a closer look):

They're not quite there yet with still quite a few holes, gapes and sculpting needing to be taken care off. The bases also need some extra attention as the original Secret Weapon set (Bone Fields) seems to have gotten lost in the mail.....damned liberalized market! Still, nothing I can't handy with a handful of leftover skulls and skeletons!

The squad consists of 9 Rubric Marines and a Sorcerer to lead the bunch. In addition, one of the regular Thousand Sons also carries with him a standard or Icon. So, if the lucky winner would want to field that as regular Chaos Space Marines with a Tzeentch Icon. And when used as the real deal it just adds a bit of extra flavor to the unit. Though, looking at the new 6th edition rules, I for one would stick with Thousand Sons  ;-)

More details following later in the week. In the mean time, any and all comments and feedback are of course very welcome. Want to both push my 'skills' to the max and put together a unit the lucky winner will be able to enjoy for a long time!