Imperial Knight - Armiger Helverins base colours & texture #Dreadtober part 2

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's the 'second' of #Dreadtober and I'm continuing my #Imperial Knights Armiger Helverins. I primed these - red oxide for the armour plates and I got two cans of Simoniz Matt black for the metals, but neither of them have had particular great coverage. The Red Oxide appears to be trying to behave like Contrast paint and the matt black appears to scratch off quite easily. I've pressed on regardless. Vermilion sponged on both and then one had Gamboge, as it will be full chevron.

I have 3 tubes of my signature Home & Bargain Vermilion Art Acrylic left. I couldn't find the opened ones so went to one of the newest. Bizarrely it is no longer the consistency of wet toothpaste and more like cream cheese. I tried mixing it with a big bottle of Vermilion I got from the Works, which is slightly thinner. It has the texture I'm after but did come out matt. There will be teething issues as I slowly transition from the H&B stuff so it's worth noting. Also, the red Helverin does have its smoke stacks switched so they're angled backwards, rather than vertically. It required a small trim of the pipes and some greenstuff to fit them around the arm mounts but it was just a test to see if it was possible.

Gamboge stippled on. I can pencil in the chevrons next to do the black lines and then already start highlighting the yellow!

All the armour plates are still attached to sprue so they're less fiddly to paint. I recall I glued them onto the model quite early on my Warglaives but I'll see how things go this way. I think I need some more sponging for the texture and all the metallic edges will be challenging,

This feels like I've made huge progress, in reality I'm probably not even 20% done. I've made more choices at adding the yellow and black chevrons on. I think that will help differentiate the units a bit more and give them more of an identity.

The guns are also getting up to speed and the shoulder joints too, but I haven't taken pics yet. Rough Iron metallics next and maybe add some highlight to the reds. I think I need to go back to my Warglaives to remind myself of the process... just for peace of mind.

• https://www.40kaddict.uk/2018/05/imperial-knight-warglaives-in.html
• https://www.40kaddict.uk/2018/06/imperial-knight-warglaives-in.html
• https://www.40kaddict.uk/2018/06/imperial-knight-warglaives-in_4.html
• https://www.40kaddict.uk/2018/06/imperial-knight-warglaives-in_6.html

Imperial Knight - Armiger Helverins Big Build BASE TO DONE! #Dreadtober part 1

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's the first of #Dreadtober and I've been Red Planet basing my two Armiger Helverins. It's quite a challenge to get the order right as both the basing and the metallics will require sponging/stippling and there will be mishaps.

I also hope to do the tiles as red marble, which will be difficult as the scale of the tiles is much smaller than my display board. I'll work it out though.

The second Helverin, the base has come out really cool considering it's scratch built. Hopefully the torso and guns will help balance how far back it looks. Of course I was planning on a different pose so it's composition is a bit odd now.

You see it looks like there's a lot of space on that side. It feels like it need a corpse in it. Maybe something to consider after it's finished.

Army Painter Rough Iron [Warplock Bronze equivalent] will be next on all the legs and ffet.

With that first post out of the way hopefully that shows my commitment to the month. Granted I haven't posted or done much hobby recently - mojo is low and I'm finding social media less pleasant than I'd like so I'm trying to take a break from it. But this community project is worthwhile and should help me get back into things in the right way. I also have a bit more time as my eldest is back at Uni. 

Here's my Great Big Big Build Base BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval.

Blackstone Fortress - Stronghold 1

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity This post is so old that it didn't even come with my templated intro text! Basically, we had a game of Blackstone Fortress before COVID, and I never even wrote down what happened, just took some pics. It's been sat in draft form for so long I just can't bear to see it unfinished anymore. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can recall much of what happened but I just need to publish it to try and whittle down my 14 drafts posts that have never seen the light of day.

So, pre-COVID the five of us attempted our first Stronghold mission. Now I think this might have been the one with some shady shenanigans by Ben with the lift and where everyone was positioned meant some of us started wounded or something.

At some point there was a lengthy debate about whether you remains inspired from mission to mission, right when we were about to face or strongest ever adversaries AND having suffered some significant wounds, because of the lift debacle. I think this is finishing off the first mission in the Stronghold.

Later I would research this online and discover that we do indeed retain our Inspired nature from mission to mission. Here we are in the second mission of the Stronghold.

We clearly managed to whittle away the cultists, psykers and Beastmen. Like I said I can't really remember what went on, it's like 18 months ago now! 😂 I just needed to not see 'draft' next to it.

This is where my character was at the end of the game.

Balckstone Fortress is such a great game for us, we could get 4 of the crew gaming together, collaboratively and although the rules were a bit convoluted, there wasn't half the issues that 40k was bringing to the table with stratagems and buff upon buff. Of course since COVID, we considered trying to play it over video, but that just didn't seem workable. We had some great Middle Earth Role-Playing sessions but that's been a challenge to reconvene. More recently Middle Earth Battle Companies has been something we could do and even though it was slightly competitive again, the short games, limited figure count and ability to get in a couple of battles between friends has made it popular. 

I'm not sure when we'll get to play again, whether we'll finish up our MERP campaign or return to Blackstone Fortress, but hopefully we can do something soon.

Imperial Knight - Armiger Helverin Big Build TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity having gone standard with the other Helverin  I went back to the 'leaping' one to try and get it right. As you can see I didn't quite crack the pose but hopefully I can explain why.

At some point I was looking at these two options, with the foot backwards or the foot splayed forwards. I couldn't quite decide which was the better option and the practicalities of it - preventing the model from breaking or ease of transport made me rethink.

I ended up with this pose, as if it was in mid turn and it had acquired a target. It seemed so right, made more sense as a Helverin and of course it did, because it was very much still the pose of the standard model, doh! I even ended up with both Helverins being right foot forward, losing some variety.

It was really annoying, but all the faffing, cutting the legs, reposing them, splitting the toes, pinning and resculpting bits was becoming so overwhelming I just had to grit my teeth and get it done.

I'm a little disappointed I don't have one that is leaping, or even 'loping' along to give that famed impression of the Armiger's speed and 'pack hunting' behaviour. But this is a nice compromise thanks to the forward lean giving it momentum.

The greenstuff inbetween the toes is a bit ham-fisted but shouldn't be too noticeable once it's painted. Now, I'm just awaiting some black spray so I can get them primed. Naturally they'll both be based and I may even get the bronze base colours and stipple the vermillion craft acrylic on ahead of Dreadtober; that's the only way I can see them achievable in the timescale. But I won't do any more updates until then, which may leave the blog a little sparse.

Until then - Great Big Big Build BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval.

Imperial Knight - Armiger Helverin Big Build TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity it's been a while but I haven't been doing so much hobby over the last few weeks. With the end of the hobby season it felt like a nice opportunity to take a break. I have my Ravenwing Talonmaster to do but I wasn't inspired to crack on with it. I was however anxious to get the Armiger Helverins built and ready for Dreadtober. I know it's supposed to be built and paint over the month but I also know my limitations. So I started on one of the Helverin, having it jump off a cork cliff face, but it was becoming too challenging so I just went and built this one in an almost stock pose, just a little 'man-spreading' at the hips. The base was off ebay and raises it up a good centimetre or two, so it's a little more imposing.

Great Big Big Build BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamp of Approval, just to get me off the line.

To Do List 2021/22

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity having covered my achievements over the past hobby season, it's now that I look forward to the new one.

As usual my list is pretty much everything I still haven't completed from previous seasons. But, as you saw from last season's review I blitzed a fair few of those projects. In fact, apart from the Tyranid Promethium Relay Pipes I finished every bit of bug related TO DO's I set myself. Luckily, I have some more I can come up with now the decks are clear. I'm also adding numerous items that were WiP from last season. Anything in bold is a priority, everything else is nice to have.

However, I'm going to be mainly going with the flow, real life is still very much the priority so I need to focus on these two…

1. Develop a more healthy hobby/life balance - go to bed at a decent hour[ish]
2. Find time to play some games, so I can have some fun among the daily grind...
   This is a tough one considering, we still have no idea about COVID and I am at the mercy of my gaming crew on how we can meet up and arrange these things. Where possible I will snatch these opportunities up though.

But for my Dark Angels I'll be looking at these:

1. Dark Angel - Ravenwing Talonmaster
2. Dark Angel - 3 x Ravenwing Attack Bike[s]
3. Dark Angel - 3 x Ravenwing Black Knights
4. Dark Angel - Old skool Crayola Whirlwind
5. Dark Angel - Proteus Land Raider

The remaining nid and terrain based items are these:

1. Genestealer Cult Sentinels
2. Tyranid Promethium Relay Pipes
3. Tyranid Warriors

My other 2021/22 WiPs that I want to tackle and get done:

1. 2 x Armiger Helverins [Dreadtober 2021]
2. Halfling Blood Bowl Team
3. Orc Blood Bowl Team
4. Blood Bowl Troll
5. Adeptus Titanicus Reaver Titan
6. Adeptus Titanicus Warhound Titans
7. Death Guard Kill Team
8. TT Combat terrain
9. Sector Imperialis terrain

Pipe dream items - these are things that have been on my list and in all honesty I'm not likely to tackle this year [or any other...] but I do not want them forgotten so I'll just note them as things I'll eventually do, one day:

1. Tyranid Bastion Crater [I have zero intent to do this this season, if ever, just want to remind myself it exists]

The Big Build will continue this season. Still a lot of what was not complete from previous lists but  the principle is sound and pays dividends with those items that tend to be off-list that get built through to painting and completion.

• Ravenwing bikes
• Dark Angel Crayola Whirlwind
• Build some new terrain? 
• Shrine of the Aquila
• Galvanic Magnavent
• Remaining Deathwing Terminators
• Genestealer Cult Neophytes
• Genestealer Cult Acolytes

Some of the previous season's Big Build items that I never got round to and are highly unlikely but thought I'd just add them in secondary list for records:

• Space Hulk Genestealers - get them based!
• 3 Tyranid Lictors
• 3 Tyranid Warriors (it was actually 5)
• 3 Tyranid Shrikes
• 5 Dark Angel Veterans/Command Squad

So that's me for 2021/22 again a lot for me, especially when you take into account I need to continue to balance things more. Also worth noting - zero from my Indomitus boxset - remind me, why on Earth did I get that? All the best for your own efforts this season.

Imperial Knights - House Corvus Preceptor Weapons - TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #ImperialKnight Preceptor weaponry and the Las-impulsor and multi-laser are complete.

Here it is attached to Ser Ellenbogen, who would most likely be my Preceptor, although even with the chevrons I think I could also put it on my Freeblade Euronymous

I love how massive this gun is, such an imposing weapon.

I didn't realise quite how much this would add to the yellow and black already on the model. 

I do fancy a Castellan at some point. I can't imagine using it but I want to paint one and add it to the army with some extra bits to make it more imposing , the resin base I've seen is £20 alone!

So the cost is a little hard to justify but it's carapace would be almost completely yellow and black, which would be a real challenge.

The Preceptor is a good choice though and gives me a reason to get the Helverins ready for Dreadtober.

I love the idea of him marshalling the impetuous little knights eager to prove themselves on the battlefield.

When I do finally play 9th edition and Knights get a new Code I hope there are some improvements to make them more playable. I think I've read there are some objectives they can't even score and there low numbers make them highly vulnerable.

I don't know whether including Armigers of any type make them more viable or you still have to ally with Adeptus Mechanicus to solve some of those issues, but I can at some point add a few of them in, which would look cool.

Here's the last Great Big Granite Stamp of Approval for Hobby Season 2020/21.