Imperial Knight - Warglaives in manufactorum pt.1

As mentioned in my Hierophant post the Warglaives have taken most of my attention since Forgebane arrived, which was to be expected really. These two beauties can provide me with a Super Heavy Detachment alongside my two Knights so it was imperative they get a head start. I got the bodies built up.

Did a lot of the weapons and hips. I eventually magnetised the weapons and arm joints because we know those new weapon options will be sweeeeet when the proper Warglaive kit is released.

And then the big delay - the pose. In reality these are not the poses I was after. I wanted something more full-tilt motion, even to the extent of having one leaping off a shard of slate. Unfortunately the hock [the reverese knee joint] was problematic so I opted to just 'manspread' a bit and clumsily greenstuff some extra pipework between the hip joint. I also had to add some extra metal rod to the piston connecting the pelvis to the inside leg. You can also see I decided to add sprue to the waist ball joint so I could 'lock and key' the body to it.

Best laid plans - I had to hold the body on the left as the ball joint stud provided so much movement the body won't stay upright. I removed the sutd on the left Warglaive but it's still free to move and there needs to be some friction to keep it in place, I may have to glue it if I can't solve the problem.

As you can see one of these Warglaives has been very naughty and daren't look us in the eye.

Basing next, solve the waist problem and prime them, busy, busy lots to do!

'nids part 246 - Biotitan Tyranid Hierophant pt.3 - washes done

I'm sure I had a pet name for this at one stage but I can't remember what it was, it might have been Brenda, for reasons but I felt in the world of binary genders it was actually he-titan. I don't know so much now.

I don't want to be taking too many of these full body shots but the completion of the washes felt like a significant milestone to warrant the effort. I've even painted the [our] left front talons/spikes and [our] back right talons/spikes black but I'll save doing that for the other parts until after highlights.

I'll probably end up flitting between stages next - doing a chitin highlight here a bone highlight there, anything to prevent it becoming monotonous. Luckily I have three exciting project on the go so I can easily shift focus should it become a chore.

I know it's not colour accurate as I added a filter to my pics but I love nids at this stage, especially the bone colours. At some point I think I need to try and paint just with washes and basecoats - maybe one day if I ever decide to do an inquisitorial band or some other small grimdark unit.

I need to get some Army Painter Skeleton Bone paint for the next highlights. I'm not a particular fan of it, but it's darker/yellower than my Valejo Bonewhite and I thinkk in this instance it could be effective in settign up a three way highlight which might make him [see I called it him] look darker and more aged in appearance.

Not sure the raw red flesh bits inside the rib cages will be as visible as I'd hoped but maybe some careful application of Tamiya Clear red X-27 might solve that.

The Forgebane Warglaives have jumped the queue on this now it's at a 'savepoint' but they've been built and based, just need to prime and then I'll start on the highlights and potentially find out hiw daunting the task is ahead.

Fingers crossed it won't be too bad but I'm well aware of the pitfalls and finally ready to tackle it :)


Part 1. | Part 2. |

'nids part 245 - Biotitan Tyranid Hierophant pt.2 - washes

I think I may have been a little optimistic about this as even the simple things seem to be taking a bit longer than I imagined. The washes in particular are time consuming as I need to allow certain parts to dry before I paint the remainder. The last thing I want is massive pools of wash in the wrong place or dripping on my already messy workspace! So the torso is done, the tail needs finishing.

Front legs and bio-plasma cannons.

Back legs, now you should be able to see the lower leg has both Soft and Strong Tone washes on the Chitin plates [sepia and Agrax]. The upper leg only has Soft tone. This gives extra depth to the underlying blue, but it does mean I've gone through at least one bottle of each wash!

This is the carapace after just the Soft tone wash, you can see how messy it is but that's nto a problem as it only serves as an 'interference pattern' behind the eventual turquoise highlights. I'll probably be doing green toxic plasma glow on all the vents.

I've kept the log of my efforts so far but haven't typed it up/photographed it but I will as it's reasonably interesting. I often get asked how long things take to do so its nice to have a major benchmark to record, even if it's an extreme project.

Part 1. |

Deatwatch Overkillin'

I finished all the Deathwatch Overkill boxset [except the 2 Purestrains] quite a while back but never had the chance to play since. Luckily I bullied Ben in to having a go, he really likes the Deathwatch Marines I did so I didn't have to twist his arm too much. We started off the first mission, which I still believe you have to be some kind of special unlucky to lose as the Marines. I think he chose a couple of guys at random and some just because he liked the models but his squad was:

• Jetek Suberei - White Scar biker
• Ennox Sorrlock - Iron Hands combi-melta
• Edryc Setorax - Raven Guard, jump pack and lightning claws
• Garran Branatar - Salamander Termintaor with Flamer, Melta-gun and power fist

The Free Radical Collective emerged from the bowls of the underhive.

Interestingly discovered these are open gantries, not enclosed rooms as PeteB and I always played - so no LoS blocking walls!

Deathwatch attack and I lose all but 3 hybrids in the middle of the board.

Jetek surges ahead to confront the cult deep in their territory.

But he had been lured into an ambush as two Abberants surged out of the gloom. Jetek struck one of them dead but couldn't kill them both.

I had a gambit that allowed models to strike twice, which was sufficient to put the White Scar down through weight of attacks.

Branatar and Setorax had struggled to keep up with their watch brother, covering their rear.

Having killed the biker the cultists advanced to add weight of number against the three remaining Marines.

And yet more cultists appeared from the hive.

The Kill team had to respond

Branatar's flamer immolating four in one blast of holy Promethium. Meanwhile an Abberant skulked off into the network of tunnels to ambush the squad when and where they least expected.

The cultists that survived continued to press the 3 marines in an attempt to swamp them. Two Abberants appeared next to Ennox Sorrlock and Setorax, but Setorax was attacked from his flank as a third Aberrant appeared from the tunnels.

Setorax was able to counter the newly arrived Abberant and further kills ensured that the Kill Team met their target of 30 dead cultists.

It's difficult to convey but this was in the balance at one stage. Although I hadn't played in a while I was quick to suss how some of the Gambits could work quite well and used them to great effect - overwhelming Jetek Suberei for instance but Ben brought it back at the end as my cultists sold their lives cheaply.

With his eye in we set up mission two to control the four vox devices oin the top right board. Ben chose a new Kill Team of:

• Garran Branatar - Salamander Termintaor with Flamer, Melta-gun and power fist
• Ortan Cassius - Ultramarine Chaplain
• Rodricus Grytt - Imperial Fist, Frag Cannon
• Drenn Redblade - Space Wolf, chainsword
• Zameon Gydrael - Dark Angel Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
• Antor Delassio - Blood Angel, Jump Pack, chainsword and hand flamer

With seven cards to draw and five to play my ambush looked pretty impressive first turn.

But the Kill Team was more than ready as they moved forward to secure their hive section.

All the ambushes in their deployment were wiped out.

But some long range speculative fire was able to take down Rodricus Grytt and remove the Frag Cannon from play.

The squad advanced deeper into the hive and on towards their objective.

The Vox Controls were guarded by two Aberrants and hybrids but I had to stall their advance and moved the Aberrants forward.

These beasts were backed up by a Purestrain Genestealer and yet more Hybrids as they attacked the squad, which had just leapt the chasm between the gantries [while Branatar arrived via teleport].

Further support moved into the Vox room to defend the controls. Meanwhile, a pair of Hybrids shadowed the Kill Team on the far side of the gantries and more cultists arrived from the Deathwatch deployment zone.

With brutal efficiency the Deathwatch purged the Xenos, Chaplain Cassius inciting new levels of violence in his squad.

With their path clear the Kill Team deployed into the Vox room. Two more Aberrants and two Purestrains rushed to prevent them controlling the Vox, they surged forward and the attack twice gambit allowed them to take down the Blood Angel.

But he was quickly replaced by Brannatar and all my heavy hitters were destroyed, with my next round of ambushes being mainly Elites - the Magus and Primus. The Magus managed to cast Dominion on Branatar, removing his potent flamer from combat. Meanwhile an Aberrant reached the fray thanks to a double move Gambit that put Drenn Redblade in the meat grinder.

With the third squad member dead there was no way Kill Team Cassius could complete their mission to control all four Vox and the game was over.

Ben was really unlucky to lose Rodricus Grytt so early on, without that casualty he would probably have made it. It's also worth noting when the 2 Purestrains came on I had another ambush for a third, now you only get 2 Purestrains in the box but obviously I've loads of Genestealers so we initially had the third one come on but their efficacy was unreal and would have wiped out two squad members in one turn, so it was easy enough to pretend it never happened, rewind and stick to the units you get in the box in future.

Anyway, Ben liked it so hopefully we'll continue the missions next time.

'nids part 244 - Biotitan Tyranid Hierophant pt.1

I don't know if I'm deluding myself but right now this beast seems really easy to do. I started with the bio-cannons. I think that was just half an hour's work to get the Bonewhite on the arms. Then I did the legs. I am actually going to note down the rough painting time as I think it'll be far less than you would expect

Front legs are also 'boned' up

And this is the slightly more difficult stage, picking out all the torso ribs and the tail is also done. can't wait to get onto the blue areas so it can start coming together. I'm pretty sure the washes will be a challenge so that it's not dripping everywhere.

Then I'll be doing the black claws and spikes but will also shade the Razorback. This is just a diversion from the Razorback at the moment. I know where my muse is and I'm going with it but the Razorback is definitely something that will be finished alongside this. As I began this seems easy but I'm well aware that when I start those chitin highlights I will get very bored and the Razorback will be a suitable escape so I don't go too crazy.

Forgebane

My order of Forgebane has just arrived, along with some industrial sized pots of Valejo Black and Sepia Wash! You'll have already seen some unboxings and reviews online but I thought I'd just share mine.