rescue – Twitchy Bristles

Chaos Rhino (Kitbashed)

Pictured: A Very Useful Daemon Engine of Nurgle.

This one is a kitbash that came to me as soon as I started working on my first few Death Guard. I built my Eldar army to be very refined, serious, lore-heavy, and my best-foot-forward into the hobby, but with Death Guard I wanted to be able to give myself a little more wiggle room and have a little more fun. The result was this crime against nature. And I think this is some of the most fun with miniatures I’ve ever had.

*Thomas had never seen such bullsh*t before.*

Thomas is equipped with a Combi-Plasma and Combi-Bolter, and usually also equipped with a “Strolling Through Ultramar”-style saxophone marine for good measure. The weathered, grimy and textured-looking paint scheme was heavily inspired by Spekd at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLsaW52-xDnFL2WsLhe0bmQ, who I can’t recommend highly enough. He does awesome tutorials, reviews, and has built a great community.

*It was time for Thomas to leave. He had seen everything.*

Death Guard (Chaos Lord and Plague Marine Kitbashes)

Pictured, left to right: a Chaos Lord w/ Balesword and Power Fist, and two Plague Marines.

When I started getting back into 40k and painting I thought I was gonna go all in on an Eldar army and not really work on much else – but a local friend I play with had other ideas, and gifted me some Chaos Space Marine bits to play with. I was immediately hooked. The bits I was gifted turned into my first step into a tremendously fun, almost year-long painting project.

Pictured: A Plague Marine with a Plasma Gun on a Very Useful Engine ™.

A lot of the painting was done with sponge work – which was a new tool for me but I learned a lot by doing it, and ended up with some really interesting results. Drew a lot of painting inspiration from Spekd on Youtube (who is awesome, by the way – you can check out his community, reviews, and painting tutorials at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLsaW52-xDnFL2WsLhe0bmQ)!

The Heretic Astartes, also known as Chaos Space Marines, are fearsome foes. They have a Space Marine’s abilities, along with his gear of war, but since turning to the darker powers many also now bear powerful mutations or gifts from their patron Chaos Gods, making them mightier still.

Objective Markers

Jain Zar turned slowly, seeing row after row of cadaverous faces leering down at her from the stands – a crowd of the deceased, some little more than dead skin on skeletons, others with split skulls, gashed faces, slit throats, pierced breastbones and savaged ribcages. Her opponents. Her victims.

Since Howling Banshees were a big chunk of my Eldar work over the last while, I decided I wanted to have some nifty new objective markers done up for them – and this also gave me something to do with some old, 1-2 ed. Banshees that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get around to!

Pictured are markers one, two, and three, distinguished by the number of minis on them. I’m so clever sometimes.

I also used a miniature I got free a while back because they looked ancient and elven and fit the rest of the aesthetic here enough – and because thematically it fits with my army, since my Spiritseer wields Kurnous’ Bow instead of a regular shuriken pistol. These were super easy and quick to do, because Nihilakh Oxide is magical stuff.

Wave Serpent

The Wave Serpent “Jorel’s Ancient” is one of the hardest and most rewarding rescues I’ve worked on to date. When I got a hold of this it was second-hand, and many of the parts had been haphazardly glued to each other in the wrong order. I took it apart, put it back together, gave it plenty of love and a few extra plastic bits, and I’m very happy with the end result.

*Asuryani missile launchers are also superior to the Imperium’s own, using complex chambered pods that contain several different types of ammunition, all but eliminating the need to reload.*

The only thing I’d change on this if I were to do it over is using a lighter base color than black – I’d been hoping to make a design like a tree with autumn leaves, but on a stark black background it looks a little more like fire, which has caused it to be dubbed by at least one art friend “THE HELL TREE.”

Gliding over a planet’s surface like a shoal of predatory fish, the grav-tanks of the craftworlds are a formidable addition to the warhosts. Whether acting as battle tanks, transports, tank destroyers or assault craft, the sight of these distinctive armoured vehicles skimming over the horizon has filled many enemies of the Asuryani with dread.

Wraithlord “Big Sister”

“Big Sister,” pictured equipped with two Shuriken Cannons and her trusty Banshee mask.

A couple Christmases ago, a local friend I play 40k with gave me a few old metal models to rescue/repair, and I couldn’t have been happier to take this on. This model is probably held together with more green stuff, putty, and glue than actual metal, but she’s all done and magnetized and ready for the tabletop. Had the chance to go back recently and give her a couple touch-ups before picture day, too.

“Big Sister” and all of her little sisters, pictured about to ruin somebody’s day.

Towering over her former squadmates and equipped with a pair of Shuriken Cannons, a Shuriken Catapult, and a Flamer, I imagine Big Sister having been a Howling Banshee in life who’s been called back by the Infinity Circuit to stand with her sisters even in death.

I know it’s objectively goofier than the sleek new 4th ed. one, but I love the design of the old wraithlords and I’m really happy with how she turned out – especially with the addition of a few Craftworlds and Age of Sigmar bits for flavor.