Word Bearers Praetor Malach Varn.

 “Ashes of Iax”

The sky above Iax burned the colour of old bruises.

Praetor Malach Varn strode through drifting ash, and the fields of once-perfect Ultramar lay trampled beneath the boots of the XVII Legion. The agri-spires that had fed a hundred systems were aflame, their sacrifices rendered up to thirsting gods of darkness.

His Tartaros Terminator armour growled with each step.

Not the clean whirr of loyalist plate—but a predatory, grinding snarl, as if the ceramite itself resented stillness. Pistons flexed like sinew beneath crimson lacquer. Scripture crawled across every plate in burning runes, lit by the brazier mounted upon his shoulders. Its fire guttered but did not diminish, fed by oils rendered from sacrifices offered before planetfall.

Before him stood the sons of Guilliman.
A shieldwall of Ultramarines advanced through the orchard ruins— Tactical squads formed disciplined firing ranks while a Contemptor Dreadnought strode at their centre, its fists crackling with power fields.

“Word Bearers,” came the vox-hail, calm and clipped. “In the name of the XIII Legion, for the crimes against Calth and Ultramar, stand down and be judged.”

Varn laughed. The sound boomed from his helm grille, layered with a second voice beneath it—something older and wet with mirth, as the brazier burst into renewed flame in challenge.
“Judgement has already come,” he replied.

*****

Having a Horus Heresy moment finishing off this Word Bearers Praetor for a friend.

He'd done most of the work but didn't want to attempt the flames and was going to paint them black as smoke, I offered and the result is here.

When I next visit Duncan, probably for our next Element Games Stockport meet up, I'll have to make sure to take a few photos of his entire Word Bearers Legion, as he's got quite a bit finished.

*****

The Ultramarines opened fire.

Bolter shells struck his armour in disciplined volleys. Ceramite flared, scripture ignited and burned brighter where rounds impacted. The Tartaros plate snarled as it absorbed the punishment, servos howling as Varn surged forward through the storm.

His combi-bolter barked in reply—mass-reactive detonations punching through blue armour, precise and unhurried. An Ultramarine fell.

At thirty metres, he triggered the melta.

Sunfire lanced out. The Contemptor’s torso became incandescent ruin. Adamantium ran like wax; the Dreadnought staggered, reactor screaming, before collapsing into the orchard in a wash of molten slag.

Still the XIII held formation.

Varn met them at the irrigation canal.

His crozius fell.

Warp-flame roared outward in a hungry arc. An Ultramarine sergeant raised his power sword to parry; the blade shattered on impact, and the crozius crushed helm and skull in a single, contemptuous blow. The brazier-fire flared in answer, as if fed by the death.

A second Ultramarine drove a combat blade into the joint at Varn’s waist. The Tartaros armour shrieked in outrage. Varn seized the warrior by the throat and lifted him one-handed. 

He crushed the loyalist’s gorget and cast the body aside.

The remaining Ultramarines closed, disciplined to the last. A bolt round found a candle and extinguished it, a second found a dent in his armour, for a moment, the Praetor staggered.

Wax and blood mixed beneath his boots.

Then the crozius blazed white-hot.

The flames leapt from weapon to brazier, from brazier to the scriptures carved across his plate. The runes ignited like a constellation. The air grew thick, trembling with unseen syllables.

The Ultramarines hesitated.

That was enough.

Fire exploded outward in a halo of empyric heat. Blue armour blackened and split. Three warriors fell at once, their forms wreathed in unearthly flame that did not consume flesh so much as unmake it.

Silence settled over the orchard.

The agri-fields burned.

Praetor Malach Varn stood amidst the dead, armour grinding as he turned toward the distant spires of Iax’s primary hive. The brazier atop his shoulders guttered low, then flared anew as if inhaling the smoke of the battlefield.

“Let Guilliman reap what he has sown,” he murmured.

Behind him, the Word Bearers advanced through fire and ash, chanting litanies that rolled across the dying fields of Ultramar like a second, darker harvest.

*****

Until next time, have nice day...

World Eaters Lord Invocatus.

 

The offerings to Khorne had been great...

Centurion Skaldast, elevated to one of Khorne's favoured champions now rode maniacally down the Imperial defence line, slicing heads and arms with his massive eviscerator chainsword as he went. His Juggernaut goring at Imperial soldiers or trampling the wounded into a bloody paste as it charged, the heating from it's furnace body cooking off munitions as it passed

Ahead, a tight knot of guardsmen were forming around an Autocannon team, being commanded by a Commissar. Rounds sparked from the iron hide of the beast and Skaldast's armour as they hunkered down into a full speed charge.

A lucky shot smacked into the meat of his arm, piercing the soft seal of the elbow joint. Skaldast grunted at the momentary pain and braced to take the Commissar's head.

Like a force of nature the superheated daemonic monster hit the soldiers, crushing two which were unlucky enough to be caught by iron shod hooves the size of their chest. It lashed out and kicked the Autocannon mounting into the air, the weight of the weapon slamming another guardsman into a paste.

As the Juggernaut reared and swung it's head in a vicious arc, a guardsman close to it was blow apart by his lasrifles cooking off and exploding against his chest as Skaldast launched himself from it's back, bringing his chainsword down in a two handed swing.

He missed his target as the Commissar stepped aside, and the chainsword bit angrily into the churned earth, revving loudly as it threw soil and blood about in equal measure.

With a riposte and strike, the Commissars own chainsword swung and sparked along Skaldast's shoulder plates, marking the rune of Khorne embossed in brass. He struck again hitting the side of Skaldast's helmet and momentarily causing the helmet lenses to fill with interference.

The butcher's nails were screaming in the back of Skaldast's skull, demanding he do something to this upstart mortal who has struck him twice.

Blindingly fast, he ripped the eviscerator from the ground, whirled it over his head and slammed it through the chainsword of the Commissar, causing the lesser weapons motors to explode, taking the Commissars hand with it.

With a roll of his shoulders, Skaldast redirected the momentum of the swing and separated the head from neck of his prey.

Stopping to retrieve the head, and Commissariat cap, he turned to find his Juggernaut waiting for him, impatiently pawing at the earth, digging huge clops of turf from the ground each time.

Around them was pure carnage as body parts mingled amongst a growing pool of blood, as the attack moved on again...

*****

Back with another World Eaters model and another Character.

This time a Lord Invocatus*, the character who could have easily been an Aspiring Champion mounted on a Juggernaut.

I used the same red scheme as I did in my last post about the Master of Executions, basically Flesh Tearers Red, Berzerker Bloodshade but this time I layered back up with a little Khorne Red, on the top third of the armour panel.

Likewise the bronze is same scheme being Retributor Armour and Berzerker Bloodshade.

The main difference here though is the Juggernaut, being coal black and having a furnace type look to the rest of the body.

The furnace glow had to be tackled first, and started with a basecoat of Gryph Hound Orange, this was then stippled with Trollslayer Orange, Fire Dragon Bright and then Averland Sunset.

It was then washed with Berzerker Bloodshade, before having a very light drybrush with Averland Sunset again.

The main armour panels were tackled after all this was done, starting with a layer of Corvus Black and then washed with Berzerker Bloodshade, finally being layered back on with Corvus Black, but only a third of the way down each panel.

Metals are the same Bronze as the Lord and the silver is simply Leadbelcher washed with Berzerker Bloodshade, I also took the time to pick out the various trophy skulls and the World Eaters symbol** on his shoulder.

Basing is the usual rocky/deserty scrubland, I used some extra grass tufts which i haven't before on this model, the slightly darker ones.

I normally buy from Warpainter.net 

These new ones I bought from a model railway shop in Caistor, North Lincolnshire, whilst at work*** and they are produced by the model railway manufacturer Peco.

They are darker then my usual go to tufts and a lot more rigid as I cut them in half to make better positioning around the rocky surface I built up using cork.

Whilst slightly more expensive, being 60 tufts for £6 instead of 114 tufts for £5 from Warpainter, I do recommend the Peco tufts for variety and quality.

So, Centurion Skaldast gives me another 20 points for my OPC total for the Plastic Crack podcast, I'm well down on my target, but the year is only halfway gone.

Until next time, have nice day...

*GWs naming convention gets worse and worse.

**I would have preferred generic chaos shoulder pads, but Fraser had already built everything before giving me his army, so I can't complain really (and I wasn't about to fuck around and find out, trying to get the pads off these models and ruining a lot of models in the process... I'll keep them as World Eaters, just allied alongside my Black Legion).

***Being a modeller and Wargamer I am always on the lookout for model supplies wherever I can find them.

The fact that I was driving to Boston to work the Steel Coil train and passed the model shop on the way was a bonus, I called in on my way back to our home yard at Scunthorpe and ended up in a conversation with the elderly man who owned the shop about working on the railway as a career.

Building a better Master of Executions - part 2.

 

"Brace, Brace, Brace for impact" the monotone warning from the servitor sounded within the Deathclaw troop compartment.

Kail stood at ease in his restraints, he hefted his executioner axe and felt the weight of the ancient weapon, passed through the hands of his predecessors.

With a bone jarring impact the assault pod slammed into the enemy cruiser and fired it's metal charges breaching the outer hull.

Every Berzerker within stumbled upon impact causing curses as the nails bit deep at the affront.

They heard the percussive thump of Heavy Bolter fire as the point defences opened up as the servitor droned on.

"Impact successful, creating vacuum proof seal, defences firing, defences firing, defences firing, ten seconds until vacuum seal established"

Kail almost tore his restraint from the wall as he moved, other Berzerkers were with him, but none got in his way, not after the butchery he meted out on his last challenger, who's freshly polished skull now adorned Kail's backpack.

"Five seconds"

The nails dug into the meat of his head, desperate for him to unleash any sort of violence. Other members of the warband we're cursing at the delay, almost coming to blows.

"Four seconds"

Kail backhanded on Berzerker who was trying to punch the warrior next to him.

"Three seconds"

"Control yourself" Kail boxed, shaking his head he added, "pathetic wretch".

Through force of willpower he fought the nails, their base urge to spill blood tore at him, he held it back down, holding it until the enemy were within sight.

"Two seconds"

He gripped the haft of his axe so tight, the bindings creaked, threatening to tear within his grip. The motor for the chain teeth revved, sounding like a predatory animal growling low, waiting.

"One second"

The jostling of bodies stopped as all the Berserkers went still as one, waiting for that delicious moment when...

"Vacuum seal formed, opening Assault Doors"

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

Kail screamed as he led the charge, forcing the doors open even as the motors whined and moved the thick blast proof steel.

"SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

A tide of bloodthirsty Astartes surged into the decks of the enemy ship and the slaughter began...

*****

It's been a while since I posted anything, but real life tends to get in the way sometimes.

Anyway, the drought is over and the river flows once again.

So, a while ago I converted up a Khornate Master of Executions and then...did nothing with him...

Well, Kail (as I pulled up on a name generator) has been painted and finished for about six or seven weeks now, I just haven't had time to post him up. Until now...

I went for red and brass, and the off-white armour to make him stand out amongst the rank and file Berzerkers to come.

I also wanted a darker red then official GW paint scheme as the newer World Eaters just look like spiky Blood Angels.

I am starting with a Flesh Tearers Red basecoat, along with Retributor Armour and then washing them with Berzerker Bloodshade to give a really deep feel to the colours.

Whilst I didn't highlight the gold, leaving it that grungy bronze colour, I added a sporadic highlight of Evil Sunz Scarlet here and there to him to add that extra level of detail a character model deserves.

The off-white is actually Wraithbone, washed with Bloodshade and then layered back up with Pallid Wych Flesh, finally with Ulthuan Grey on the very highest, light catching areas of his armour.

His greatcoat is Snakebite Leather washed with Earthshade and highlighted with Baneblade Brown to finish off.

Basing in my usual desert/scrubland style with a black rim on the edge of the base.

This model was a joy to kitbash/convert with the spare parts I had at the time. He's got a real, striding to meet the enemy character pose about him and works really well at the head of a World Eaters warband.

He adds 10 points to my hobby total for the year and I've kept track of that during my absence.

As Fraser GAVE* me his World Eaters army the just other week back, I've started work on a few more of the models, but think I'll leave Angron** until last, or very nearly...

Until next time, have nice day.

.

*"I have too many unpainted armies, and I don't play the World Eaters anyway, now that I have my Battle Sister force, do you want them?"

Seriously that was how he opened that conversation.

**Yes he gave me the fucking Daemon Primarch as well....

Building a better Master of Executions.

 

Eyes gritty with cyclic blown dust opened and stared at the blood covered hands held before them. Knuckles bleeding and raw, blood spatter up to the elbow, beyond them the ruined form of an opponent littered the floor. Almost unrecognisable in it's destruction, only the ports of the Black Carapace gave away it's Astartes heritage. 

As the adrenaline subsided, senses began to rush back. The smell of a large group of people, sweat, bile, blood from the corpse. The clanging of metal upon metal, and chanting roared through the air.

"Kail, Kail, Kail" 

The unarmoured World Eater stood tall in the pool of offal he had created. The fighting pits were used to displays of violence, but this had drawn a larger crowd then most as of late. They could all feel the immaterium pulsing closely nearby, straining at the veil to push through and revel in the carnage unfolding.

Kail turned and marches from the pit, snatching up his stormcoat at the entrance, his left eye began to tick as the Butchers Nails began to take hold again and pulse their migraine rhythm into his brain.

"The matter is settled ?" A growled voice asked from the corridor.

"The fool is dead, what do you think Skaldast? If there are any who would challenge for Master of Execution, they will meet the same fate" Kail snapped back, ignoring the squeak from his bronze plated teeth as he spoke.

"There are no more challenges to your rank, maybe one to the warband though. There is noise of a Black Legion upstart gathering forces to raid the Imperium. There is a call for all warbands to attend a meeting at the Veiled Locus" Skaldast said. Now that the thrill of violence had subsided, the Nails in his own head sympathetically pulsing along with Kail's.

"Black Legion" Kail practically spat the words, "As long as they bring slaughter, I don't care".

***** 

So the last time I visited Fraser we played a game of 10th Edition 40k in which I borrowed his World Eaters force.

Now ANGRON, Kharn and company are all cool World Eaters models, but there is one character in his collection which can be used across multiple armies* from the get go, and that is the Master of Executions.

He's a cool character who is a character hunter and has the ability to always fight first, regardless of people charging him.

However, personally I am rather underwhelmed by the official model. He's a bit too generic bad guy for my liking, and wanting to get back into the swing of things and build up my own Black Crusade force, I decided to kitbash my own character to join the Khornate warband.

The starting point for the build, with the parts laid out;

• Old Chaos Backpack.
• Old Berzerker Shoulder Plate.
• New Khorne Berzerker Head.
• New Khorne Berzerker Shoulder Plate.
• Chaos Raptor Bolt Pistol and Arm.
• New Khorne Berzerker Chainaxe.
• Skull details from new Khorne Berzerkers.
• Space Marine Judiciar Body.
• Various Spikes and Skulls.

Reasoning that the backpack would be easiest to begin with, I wanted to add this spiked armour panel taken from the Traitor Guard Killteam box:

The Circle shows one of the cables which has had to be cut away and scraped down to make room. I don't mind doing this, as I think that Chaos models look better without symmetry:

Once I had the front and back of the body glued together and cleaned up, I cut away the dangling details from the Judiciar's belt in order to make room for the skull/chain decoration:

Some test fitting later and it was glued in place, already looking less loyalist for it:

Happy with the other details, I glued on the Chainaxe arm, as this would dictate the flow of the model. I wanted him to be brandishing the axe in a challenge and looking past it to his target.

This meant cutting down the next joint but by bit to get the angle needed:

He's beginning to look like a champion of the Blood God.

I didn't photo it, but I added another skull to the rosary chain on the other side of his belt, as the space Marine symbol there was one which I missed on my first pass over the model:

With that done, it was just a matter of adding the Bolt Pistol arm in a complementary fashion and then the Shoulder Plates. I also took pains to carve out the pistol handle on his holster, as the model has his pistol on his hand!

Now onto the base, and a suitable base can make or break a figure.

The Judiciar has a very determined forward step to him, so leaning into that I built up a cork "rock" platform, ensuring that I got good contact between his feet and the cork to keep him stable. I always like to mount my characters a little higher then the rank and file to show off their status.

Builders sand was lastly glued onto the base and the base edge cleaned up to leave me with the following model:

His backpack has been left separate for painting.

Speaking of painting, I'm not entirely sure how to paint him yet. He's primed, but I'm not sure whether I want to go with the classic Red and Brass, the 30k Blue and White, Black Legion Black and Gold or some other colour scheme.

Leave a comment if you have any idea?

Until next time, have nice day...

*Yes I know technically Berzerkers can be used in a normal Chaos army, I am talking specifically about the character models.

ANGRON, Kharn and the Lord Invocatus are World Eaters only choices. 

The Master of Executions is a generic chaos character in comparison, much like a Chaos Lord or Sorcerer.

Black Legion Commanders.

 

Lightning flashed in the dark clouds high above the embattled ruins of Kasr Krast. Static electric arced between anything metallic and the air was heavy with the threat of rain, a by product of an orbital assault due to dumping so many thousands of tonnes of equipment into a planet's atmosphere.

The flashes lit up a nightmare scene on the ground as they fully illuminated the chaos forces advanced, rather then just the flashes from muzzles of weapons.

Streaks of bright white lasfire flashed across the ruins as the dug in Cadians defended their homeworld desperately. Reinforcement tank squadron's were apparently on their way, but no sign of their arrival had been spotted yet.

The chaos Astartes stalked through the ruins and over the plaza towards the imperial line. Flashes from Boltgun muzzles strobing across their twisted armour.

Sergeant Sern barked out orders to his squad, "The Emperor is watching you, do your duty and hold the line!".

He was anxiously turning to reload when he heard an ominous hissing noise gradually rising in pitch, and the air became heated as the noise transformed into an angry roar.

Before he could shout a warning, trooper Kratz, head and shoulders above the parapet to fire his rifle, became a dried husk of a person as a blast from a melta-weapon evaporated all the moisture from his body, before disintegrating it into a cloud of ash flakes on the wind.

Sern angrily snatched at his bolt pistol where he had dropped it on the edge of the firing parapet.

A huge riveted boot crunched down on both weapon and wrist, shattering all the bones at once.

A black armoured figure leered down at the Cadian sergeant, fear suppressing the pain his body was feeling as the giant warrior growled a laugh through the vox emitters in its bionic face.

A slimy, horrid looking creature skipped and slithered its way around the warriors feet and with a start he realised that a cloak of sewn Hunan skin flowed in the air around the warrior.

At this point he finally cried out and lost control of his bowels looking up at a nightmare made manifest.

Having savoured the moment, the Chaos marine raised his bolter and fired on the stricken Sergeant, before turning the rest of the magazine on the other Cadians in the trench...

*****

After finishing off Dreadtober I decided to pick up a couple of models which I had nearly finished painting, just before I had to take some forced time off work due to being ill.

During that time I decided to paint up the Tyranid army, because they were new and shiny, but also I wanted to do something completely new and different to take my mind off of everything happening.

Cleaning my hobby desk about a week ago after Dreadtober, I came across two character models for the Black Legion I had been working on, and decided to get them finished off as they were about three-quarters done.

The first is Luthran, Aspiring Champion, Executioner and second in command of the warband:

The second is the Chaos lord himself, Gan Ashahl, The Eternal Claw:

I'm particularly happy with how Gan Ashahl turned out, being based off of a Huron Blackheart conversion I picked up second hand in March or April. I gave him a headswap for one from a Kataphron Destroyer, as well as a Chainsword from the Raptors kit. 

My favourite part of the kitbash though are the cloaks, which were made from chopped up Nighthaunt spares, to get the torn, flowing material look, which I then painted as flayed skin for a true early 2000s vibe to the models.

Both the leader models follow the same Black Legion scheme i was painting nearly a year ago now, with Corvus Black and Retributor Armour as the main colours and washed over entirely with Earthshade. I decided to mix things up a little and include a bit more red in areas on these models to vary up the colours. Something I may go back to do to the already painted members of the warband (maybe?).

The entire Warband as they stand at the moment. I am working on a few Marines to fill out the two units I started and have a couple of Terminators waiting to be built to fill out that unit, there are also a couple of Defiler's, hidden away in the cupboard of opportunity, but I have a slightly different plan for them...something involving Iron within and without...

This is just a quick victory getting the two characters finished off and cleared off the painting desk.

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 4.

 

A rythmic pounding sound echoed from the stricken drop pod as Ghrast scrambled back over the rubble. It was clear that Dhekarst wasn't going to wait to be released from the transport, rather punch his was clear.

Oresk was busily butchering a scouting party which had found them even as Ghrast crested the wall of the ruined manufactory, the piercing shriek of tormented metal announced that Brother Dhekarst was now free.

A blinding flash erupted as he fired his Lascannon as something Ghrast couldn't see, sparking off an explosion as the high powered laser slammed into the ruins.

Ghrast ripped his bolt pistol from its holster and shot a charging Infantryman, sending the body tumbling through the air, limbs flailing with the freedom of death.

He thumbed on his Auspex scanner and turned trying to see some form of numbers of enemies.

Perhaps a platoon worth of mortal troops had stumbled upon them, armoured vehicles in tow, no doubt hoping to destroy the World Eaters who had become separated from the main force.

Dhekarst fired his heavy Lascannon again, a deeper explosion answering as he definitely hit something this time.

Oresk stomped his was forward, bloody smears ground into the dirt beneath the weight of the machine.

Ghrast felt the Butcher's Nails beginning to dig into his skull as the carnage erupted.

Without realising, he was charging forwards into the mortals, firing his pistol wildly.

His axe swung, separating head from neck, arm from torso and body from waist.

He saw only red and didn't register the burning promethium falling around him as both Oresk and Dhekarst stalked forward firing their Lascnnons in unison. Touching off a fuel storage tank and lighting the entire ruined building with hellish firelight.

*****

Phew, this was cutting it close this year, but both Dreadnaughts are fully completed for the deadline (Dreadline?) and ready to serve on the battlefields of Terra:

Brother Dhekarst in all his glory:

He uses the same techniques as detailed in my previous post for Dreadtober, just this time with a lot more red as he's further along the eightfold path then the previous dreadnaught.

I have three remaining Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts left over from the box I got from my friend. The state of these three shows you how much work went into the two World Eater ones featured for Dreadtober this year:

Everything completed so far for the Twelfth Legion:

Half of the next unit for this army is on the way as well now, I'm starting to bring in some Troops choices, considering most of the HQ and Elite sections are done now, just a second Apothecary to go.

These follow the ethos of mixing and matching any marine/chaos and Berzerker parts I can get my hand on, with a few 3D printed heads thrown in as well:

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 3.

 

Ghrast stood at the edge of the crater looking at the second drop pod. He had already been working fifteen minutes opening up the first pod as its doors had locked slightly open due to the damage caused upon its arrival planetside.

This second drop pod had smashed through four floors and was buried beneath the rubble, as well as broken manufacturing equipment which had fallen in as well. He could hear the straining of servo's as the machine spirit kept trying to open doors which were lodged shut by debris.

"Brother Oresk, I will be sometime freeing the other drop pod, I will need covering to keep the enemies at bay whilst I work" Ghrast voxed to the already freed Dreadnaught.

The box like silhouette stamping its way through the murk simply raised its huge Powerfist in response and began a patrol.

Ghrast began smashing rubble with his Omnissian Axe and lifting chunks with his servo-arm. He estimated perhaps twenty, twenty-five minutes before be could open one of the doors.

If they had that long...

*****

Seventeen minutes exactly and the counter attack began.

Ghrast first heard it through the booming of nearby launched mortar shells exploding. Severely off the target of course, but still that meant enemies were nearby.

"Brother Oresk, do you read me?" He voxed, he'd managed to dig out most of the door, but hadn't began ministrations to get the damn thing open yet.

A bark of Storm Bolter fire echoed before Ghrast's vox link crackled into life.

A shrill scream erupted in his earpiece before being silenced and the deep baritone voice of the dreadnaught sounded.

"What is it Techmarine? I've got enemies to kill"

Despite the situation Ghrast smiled, "Understood Brother, Ghrast out".

A whirring power build drew his attention towards the stricken transport pod. It seemed it's occupant had survived the misdrop and was waking up.

"This is Techmarine Ghrast, Brother Dhekarst, are you recieving me?"

"Yes Brother, I appear to be in one piece, but unable to exit the drop pod"

"Yes, I am working on that, the machine spirit of the drop pod was offended by it's landing, it will be some time before I can open it"

"STAND ASIDE"

*****

Well, we're nearly at the end of October, which means we're also nearly at the end of Dreadtober.

Sadly, due to the extremely unsettled weather here in the UK recently, I haven't had as much time to hobby as I would have liked, due to rail lines and yards being flooded, and stricken freight trains to secure either in our yards or stable in sidings nearest to them.

I have however managed to get Brother Oresk fully finished and matching the previous World Eaters I had painted for this project:

The off white from the "Marine-Juice" wash really shows up on these larger models.

I'm pleased with how this started as a generic Assault of Black Reach dreadnaught from all those years ago, and has now been recycled and converted up into this Warmachine of the Twelfth Legion, the centre of the sarcophagus received those armour panels because of damage the dreadnaught had suffered before when someone obviously tried to grind away the winged skull which should have been there.

A lot of the symbology, like the ravening jaws are made from plasticard, with the rivets and spike being of all things, supports from 3D printed models!

I'm particularly fond of the skulls attached to the side of the Lascannon, being cut in half and filed flat before being glued to the trophy slot I built there.

If Dreadtober ends tomorrow at midnight, I'm not entirely sure when it does actually end as we normally go until the end of October, which falls on a Tuesday and then do the finished updates the following weekend. I can say that I am happy I got at least one of the Dreadnaughts finished with the second one, just needing a few highlights to be done 

Hopefully I can get Brother Dhekarst finished and have him added to the end of project update, but we'll see, back on night shifts at work which eat up a lot of my hobby time due to the altered schedule you're on, simply by working during the night and sleeping the morning away.

Until next time, have nice day...

Dreadtober 2023 - part 2.

 

Techmarine Ghrast ground his teeth as he listened to the report from the ship in low-orbit. Both of the assault forces Dreadnaughts had been dropped off target and we're not responding, and even though he fought the fog in his head caused by the Butcher's Nails, he knew that they would need the firepower of the venerable brothers in the near future.

"I'll handle it, Ghrast out" he growled into the vox link, his bronze teeth chinking as they clicked together.

He checked his position from the co-ordinates he had been sent and started the loping, ground eating stride Astartes adopted when they ran.

Smashing through ruins with his axe rather then going around, the Techmarine cut a strange sight as he bounded along, in a completely different direction to the main assault. Servo-arm tucked against his back to make better speed.

He'd made better time than he hoped as he had not run into any enemy patrol's, they were all too busy countering the orbital drop of the main force as he closed in on the transponder signals of the drop pods.

The report was accurate, the dreadnaught drop pods had both landed within fifty yards of each other and within the same manufactorum, bringing the roof down and a fair portion of the walls. This was the cause of the non-responses from the Dreadnaughts, trapped by rubble the doors of the pods couldn't open.

Heaving himself alongside one of the stricken drop pods, Ghrast immediately began throwing chunks of rubble away and his servo-arm sprang into action lifting steel girders out of the way with little effort.

As he found he had room, he jammed the end of his axe into the seam of the drop pod door and proceeded to force it open, the way a mortal would open an ammunition crate using a crowbar.

A huge white slab of armour greeted his efforts, bronze trimmed and battle scarred, the venerable machine sat waiting. The sky blue of the legion colour slowing being replaced by a deep blood red as the legion transformed by the will of their new patron.

The view-slit on the sarcophagus lit up an angry orange as the growing electrical whine signalled a full power up of the machine. Heat distortion rippling from the turbine exhausts and the engine spooled up.

"YOU TOOK YOUR TIME TECHMARINE"...

*****

The forge has been busy this past week working up some armour Anti-Tank support for the Twelfth Legion.

I know that you can field havoc/heavy support squads in any Legion, but I never felt that they fit the theme of the World Eaters*, especially by the time they get to Terra and have fallen fully into the embrace of Khorne.

The infantry with the Butcher's Nails forcing their actions, in my opinion, wouldn't be able to hold a good firing position and not succumb to the temptation to charge headfirst at the first target to come close to melee range.

Instead I wanted to use vehicles for that role in my army, and with it being Dreadtober, what better way then to get some Anti-Tank support through the Castra-Ferrum Dreadnaughts.

My rationale is that they have some sort of circuitry over-riding the nails until they are released by the Techmarine present and given over to melee like the rest of the legion.

So after a week and a bit of chopping plasticard and adding details, the two Dreadnaughts for my army are here in their painting sub-phases:

A close look, the skulls added to the sides of the arms were chopped in half removing the rear rounded portion and filed flat, before being glued inside the boxed off area, which was made from 1mm strips of plasticard cut to size.

The Powerfist sides of the Dreadnaughts had much the same work done, one had a piece of banding added around the fist by adding another strip of plasticard:

And the business end, the front facings.

The dreadnaught on the left has had its sarcophagus left as was, but the armour planels each side have been paneled over and a Khornate symbol added using plasticard. 

Lots of trophy chains taken from various chaos vehicle kits were then slung under the chassis, all swinging the same direction to convey movement.

The right hand dreadnaught had some damage to the sarcophagus, so this was scraped flat and then a detail added through the plasticard method.

This time the armour planels got a World Eaters symbol and a spare Khorne Crest from a Blood Warrior was added above.

Both dreadnaught have skulls mounted on spikes above the sarcophagi, the spikes made from 3D print supports of all things, the various rivets added to the plates are also from the same source:

The bases, as it normal for my urban assault force, are made from cut up and torn up cork sheeting, along with some random dotted skulls and the "rebar" poking up is actually detonator wire which came from a mine which was closing down.

Alongside Dreadtober, I've also been assembling an Death Korps of Krieg army for a friend in order to play a game against Cardboard Fortress's Guard later in the month when we have another gaming day, so that's why it's taken a little longer then it normally would have to get to this stage.

So next steps are to start painting the pair and getting them ready to face the loyalists across the battlefields of the 31st millennium.

Until next time, have nice day...

* I know, I know, I am trying to add logic and reason to a make believe military force.

It's my hobby and I'll rationalize it anyway I want to thank you.