Tag: warhammer 40k

Foetid Bloat-Drone

Another Know No Fear staple! And the…fourth Daemon Engine I think that I’ve put together in Nurgle’s service. When I started this army, my intent was not to pour all of my points into Fast Attack, but here we are, and if nothing else these are really fantastic-looking models with some great dakka on the tabletop. I like the Horus Heresy look on my troops but decided to go with a more solid green color scheme for the vehicles, just to break things up and allow for a little bit of color contrast in my army.

Pictured: Here they come, to wreck your daaaaay!

I think some of what stands out best on this model is the rusty effects that come from using Nihilakh Oxide over a coppery surface. Nihilakh Oxide at this point has to be one of my favorite technical paints, and it really shines both over the nitty-gritty detail of the guns and the flat surfaces on the drone’s fuselage. Does that count as a fuselage? Maybe, technically? In any case, I found this pretty straightforward to do up, though I had the repeat issue of the guns breaking off of the sides, or not staying intact.

Pictured: Guns, and no shortage of Nihilakh Oxide on the rusty colors.

I really like the design of this kit from a visual perspective, and now that I’ve finished one I might have to look into picking up another one or two down the road. From a game standpoint they’re pretty swell, and especially after being all painted up I feel like it’s a model with a lot of personality. As always, Nurgle’s Daemon Engines are great to look at, and are small enough that they don’t feel like a chore to paint up along with another batch.

Labouring through the air on buzzing turbines and driven by the trapped essence of a Nurgle Daemon, the Foetid Bloat-drone drifts toward the enemy like an armoured plague fly.

Look, Ma, I’m on a Website – Again!

A shout-out and a thank you to Evan Designs, who posted some of my completed work on their website in their Sci-Fi gallery! You might remember me referring back to Evan Designs back when I bought all my LED’s for the Fire Prism – they’re a great resource if you’re trying to light up a kit. They were fantastic to work with to purchase the LED’s, and the equipment they give you is easy to work with. (I’m a casual hobbyist at best and didn’t burn the apartment down during my build – doesn’t get more idiot-proof than that!)

Pictured: My work, up there with some other Sci-Fi greats.

I’m still thrilled with the way that the Fire Prism turned out, even if there are still some things I could have done better. I have another grav tank planned for the new year, sort of – it’s an old rescue kit that I’m finally going to give the elbow grease that it deserves, and I’ll hopefully have yet another party bus for my Howling Banshees. I’ve picked a lane, and I’m staying in it.

Malignant Plaguecaster

And with this, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve painted all the Death Guard characters out of the 2017 starter sets! Not that I’m keeping track or anything. Out of the three, admittedly, the Malignant Plaguecaster was my least favorite sculpt but I think out of the three they’re probably the one that turned out the best, and that I got to have the most fun with. Models with lots of flame, smoke, or cloth bits are fun like that, and a nice break from doing the armor colors over and over.

Pictured: Just a couple Death Guard characters, being characters.

As much as I like how this model turned out, the Great Varnish Disaster of Christmas 2020 still muted out a little more detail than I’m happy with, especially in areas like the staff. That being said, I still think this is an improvement from earlier work in Nurgle’s service, and makes me look forward to how much better my next batch of anything Death Guard-related is going to turn out. And in terms of Crusade games, this is finally going to provide my Death Guard some much-needed psychic support and shenanigans.

Lord of Contagion

Starting my Death Guard galleries in 2021 off with a classic! Does the Lord of Contagion count as a classic? I mean, it’s been four years since 8th Edition, and the Know No Fear box set, so…maybe? Regardless, this is the first part of my Know No Fear batch of Plague Marines and I went into this with a goal in mind: to try and unseat Lord Felthius. For whatever strange reason, Lord Felthius and the Tainted Cohort have become the most clicked gallery on my website. As cool as that is, I wanted to see if I could finally throw together a Lord of Contagion that would unseat him from that spot on the website, or maybe in my Crusade Army.

Pictured: Cruelty to Nurglings, shameful since Nurglings are my favorite part of any Death Guard army.

The model itself came together brilliantly, and everything went great on the process work up until the eleventh hour when I sloshed way too much varnish on. As always, a big shout-out to Spekd for the “sponge” method that’s become the bread and butter of my Death Guard army. I will say in terms of the comparisons between models that I like the overall color balance, palette, and scheme better from this batch of Plague Marines than the last, but have I succeeded in a model that will unseat Lord Felthius? The varnish issue puts a damper on that from a Crusade and visual perspective, I think, and as for the website we’ll just have to wait and see.

Pictured: The Lords of Contagion, side by side.

This week my galleries will be all Lord of Contagion stuff, and probably with my Malignant Plague Caster stuff the week after, then my Plague Marines the week after, and I have some other fun stuff planned down the pipeline. Might be slow for a while after these galleries all the same, where my funding as a grad student has run out and I am working on finding new work. But hopefully, somewhere in there, I’ll still be able to make time for painting and posting! (Especially since I want to get in on that new year’s contest Ann’s Immaterium suggested to kick off 2021.)

Truly, Nurgle has blessed the Death Guard – their flesh bulging with corruption – and they wish to share these gifts of virulence across the galaxy.

Merry Christmas from the Death Guard!

What could be more 2020 than finding Plague Marines of all things under the Christmas tree? When I started this batch I was going for an old Horus Heresy look but the longer I kept at it the more I felt like they were taking on a festive life of their own. I’m happy with how this batch turned out, though (in typical fashion) I tripped over the finish line and applied the varnish way too thick on the last couple steps and had to go back and fix a few resulting defects.

Pictured: You get an HQ, and you get an HQ, and look under your chair – it’s another HQ!

I wanted to post this to give a taste of what’s coming in 2021 for individual galleries – Death Guard, Death Guard, and lots of Death Guard, with battle reports and comparisons as well between what I’ve painted before and what I accomplished with this batch. All things considered I’m very happy with how they turned out and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how they do on the tabletop – and I’m very happy with my new Artel W proxy units, including a Sister Pestilencia model from kinpatsusamurai!

Pictured: Sister Pestilencia, who is…definitely the only Battle Sister I’ll own in the new year. Yup. Nothing to see here…

2020 has been…it’s been a year, alright. And while I think I weathered it okay, it leaves me in a pretty iffy space heading into the next year. My funding runs out at the end of this month, my Master’s is still incomplete, and I don’t have a stable job at the moment, but…all the same thankful for the friends, family, and all the other good things in my life. Here’s hoping that 2021 is a more gracious year than the one now past!


We wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year!

Armies on Parade 2020!

I’m a casual hobbyist at best (and definitely no better as a photographer), but when I saw that Games Workshop was running Armies on Parade online this year, I decided I was gonna throw my name into the hat, and share pictures of the two armies that I’ve managed to finish this year. It’s been a long strange trip but I’m happy with how both of them have turned out so far – and I have plans to add a few new reinforcements to my Eldar, and a big expansion on my Death Guard army, too, in 2021. The Long War never ends.

Pictured: A whole bunch of elves pouring out of the Webway Gate.

Out of the two I definitely think my Death Guard army is more photogenic, ironically. I’m happier with how it turned out and how coherent it all looks together, even though I do love my multicolored Aspect Warriors for Eldar. On the Death Guard side, I think I’m most proud of my vehicles – the Blight-Haulers and the Rhino really stand out, and I’m still a sucker for my Lord of Contagion, too. Papa Nurgle’s blessings on Lord Felthius and his creepy-ass smile.

Pictured: Where the trouble began. That smile. That damned smile…

On the Eldar side, I think my space elves suffer from a slight lack of coherency in their colors. I’m very happy with my Fire-Falcon-Rainbow-Prism, my Storm Guardians, my Howling Banshees, and my HQs, but I think in the new year the Dire Avengers, Wave Serpent, and my back left Wraithlord are going to be in need of a little love and a facelift. In a way, though, this is a good problem to have – it makes me feel like I’ve improved and that it shows in my recent painting.

(More fluff and new content to come soon! Made a lot of headway in real-life stuff and I’ve got builds done on some projects I’m hoping to paint up soon. December’s going to be a good month, especially with the new Death Guard releases coming up…)

Double-Feature Eldar Crusade Report!

The bad news with writing a Masters’ draft the last month is I did very little painting. The good news is that I got a couple of great games in, playing at Noble Miniatures with KinpatsuSamurai and playing Floorhammer at my apartment with my roommate. In both games I ran my Craftworld Ulthwe Eldar, with wildly varying results. They still hold their own decently against the Sisters of Battle, but I am in desperate need of a solution to to army’s kryptonite – Tyranids.

Pictured: An image taken moments before disaster

Both games were in the Crusade format, and the first involved getting my Warlord – in this case Jain Zar – to cast a ritual using the Webway Gate, which we busted out because it fit the mission type and…I will take absolutely any excuse to use my Webway Gate. I sorely underestimated the amount of damage KinpatsuSamurai’s Exorcist could put out, and I paid dearly for it in the first turn of the game. My Banshees took a beating from Repentia Sisters and other close-combat units, but I think what really shone this game were my Storm Guardians. They’re really starting to grow on me.

Pictured: My surviving elves by the game’s end, and smoking legs where a Penitent Engine used to be, courtesy of the Storm Guardians. The exploded Falcon also did not survive.

I managed to just barely win out through time and technicality against KinpatsuSamurai. My roommate is a different story. With her Tyranids, it’s never a question of whether or not I’m going to win, it’s a question of how long the game go on until she tables me and has her run of my objectives! The Banshees probably did best out of my units in this game, but that’s not saying much – we got halfway through turn three when I was wiped off the board. One of these days I’ll figure out how to hold my own against Tyranids – but today is not that day, and tomorrow doesn’t look good either.

Pictured: Jain Zar and a squad of Howling Banshees against a Broodlord, which was the only one of my roommate’s units I defeated this game. The only one. Definitely not salty.
(No fluff this week! Me and KinpatsuSamurai have to hammer out the results of the last narrative game, and given the way the last match ended that may involve an Eldar vs. Sisters rematch. Fortunately, I have a few reinforcements on the way to help my elves out!)

Plague Surgeon and Noxious Blightbringer

After writing last week’s battle report, I realized I’d missed a few essential characters in my Death Guard army when I did up my galleries – sort of! They showed up in the background of some of the other pictures but I wanted to give them a dedicated spot of their own to shine. They’re two of my favorite miniature designs in the Death Guard line – though all of the recent Death Guard Elite characters are pretty great in that regard.

Pictured: Nurglings, still being my favorite part of painting Death Guard.

And now with my whole batch posted, I find myself thinking about what I’m going to do with the next batch, once my Masters’ is done and once I have more free time on my hands. As it stands I have the Death Guard half of a Know No Fear starter still needing painting (along with a few fun other models), and as good as my first “batch” has turned out I want my next Plague Marines to stand out even more.

Pictured: My typical Death Guard character lineup.

As much as I like the color scheme that I went with generally and the rust effects, I think my next batch is going to emphasize a more Horus Heresy color scheme, where armor is visible, and I also think I’m going to try and switch up the brown color I used for cloth. It blends too much with the other colors, and when I’ve seen people go for violet or red-colored cloaks it looks like it pops much better. Maybe something like a wine-red? We’ll see.

Sinister, hooded figures, Plague Surgeons drift through the mayhem of battle like ghoulish spectres of death. They were once Death Guard Apothecaries who brought healing to those who could be saved, and absolution to those who could not. Damnation transformed their order, rendering them the dark antithesis of what they once were.

Crusade Continues – Mistakes Were Made!

I’ve been playing Eldar for a long time – maybe a little too long! Taking my Death Guard out for a spin over the last couple Crusade games with KinpatsuSamurai has been a blast, but it’s definitely come with a sharp, blight-ridden learning curve. The first game against the Sisters of Battle was a train wreck – pun intended – with my Thomas the Chaos Rhino and Plague Marines all being bogged down in Repentia Sisters while the Sisters’ Immolator picked off cherished Nurgly characters.

Pictured: “Thomas had never heard of such bullsh*t before.”

I think in some ways I learned more in the second game, on a much more open board, against the Death Watch. Compared to Eldar, I definitely need to be more conscious of movement limitations, and I need a solid “delivery method” for my heavy hitters. KinpatsuSamurai won this one by a pretty wide margin, but the final melee between the Death Watch and my Biologus Putrifier and Foul Blightspawn was – pun once again intended – a blast.

Pictured: Two Elite Death Guard characters, soon reduced thereafter to mist and bone chips.

As always, Noble Miniatures in Paradise, just outside of St. John’s, was a fantastic location for the games and the setup for both games was great. I’d like to extend a thanks and a shout-out to KinpatsuSamurai for the awesome match, and for doing a battle report of his own on the second game, which is hosted on the Rolling Intentions website. They’re a group of awesome people writing on the tabletop scene in my neck of the woods, and definitely worth checking out!

The Death Guard on Castiel thought they had found hosts for their innumerable plagues, and passengers for their dreams of a planetary railway industry. Instead, they found a thrashing at the hands of the Adeptas Sororitas and the Death Watch. They will return – the Death Guard are nothing if not disgustingly resilient.

Preview: Taste the Rainbow Cannon!

This is a model I’ve poured a lot of effort into over the last month – originally I was going to build it after I finished writing my Masters’ research project as a reward, but then a local painting contest came up and I thought it would be a great chance to get some local exposure for my work. The contest is part of the Sci-Fi @ Home convention, based out of St. John’s. I’ll have a proper gallery done up soon, but in the meantime, here’s the video that I sent in as a demo of the lighting system!

Pictured: The lighting demo for my Eldar Fire Prism, in Craftworld Ulthwe colors.

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=67FDkVV4CgY if you can’t see the embed.)

Thrilled to get my name out there as a painter, and I’m excited to run this in my Eldar army soon! Full gallery on this coming next week!