Chaos Obliterator WIP

I've gotten used to people complaining about the chaos obliterators on forums and blogs. Until now I was in agreement. However after picking one up and hitting it with washes, and bone, and oranges, I've changed my mind. The sculpts are hard to work with, but I think the pose and the design lends a sense of weight. Regardless, I had one, and after reading a twitter from a poster about painting it I decided to give it a go. The lighting makes it very difficult to capture the shading, but the basic idea is there. Posed next to my plague marines, or my traitor dark angles, I think it will look pretty good. (I know I said guard were next on my painting list, but I picked up the chaos marine codex and realized I only needed a few more units to have a playable force!)

Glass Display Cases

So I have have finally reached the point where I am not terribly embarrassed for people to know that I paint toy soldiers. This may be the result of having two serious surgeries and ceasing to care what people think of my hobbies, or maybe I have matured a bit on the way. My wife is very supportive of the hobby, so when it came time to furnish our new condo, in addition to all of the regular furniture, I decided to hunt out and buy some display cases. Since I don't game that often, they would allow me to see what I had accomplished painting-wise. The key for me was getting some nice glass cases with doors that could keep the dust off of the miniatures. I was also hoping to find a case or cases that did not ruin the look of my office.

Years ago I used to store my figs on a bookshelf, but over time they accrued dust with the adhesion properties of glue. It turns out that glass display cases are a pain to find, especially ones that could fit in my corner pie shaped office. After hunting long and hard I just broke down and bought the ikea display cases pictured here. They were inexpensive, costing two for the price of one and third baneblades. I've just finished building them, but have not populated them yet.

Oh, the other thing about surgery. It led me to just go out and purchase all the minis I ever wanted to paint guilt free. The more unpacking I do the more surprises I find. I know it is gauche to show one's loot, but think of this as a preview of what I will be painting. I have a small Grey Knights detachment, Krashkin storm troopers, Valhallan ice troopers, and a large amount of voystroyan. These guys will all be painted up to go with my ruined city bases for use with my cadians. The voystroyans will be painted in a cleaner fashion, allowing the cadians to look more like grungy mud troops. I think the traditional voystroyan paint scheme will look really nice with the grey knights. As usual, I will try to keep the reds similar so there is a cohesive look to the force. I think it will be really cool to field an IG based army with each of the different IG models Games Worship has produced. Of course, that would require me to get in a game or two every few months. Anyone up for a game in DC?

*EDIT added photos of guard and blood angels in the case!

Grey Knight Dreadnought

I am in some kind of rush painting today, and just randomly tackled the grey knight dreadnought that I converted from the AoBR set. I also speed painted some guardsman built out of random old bits mixed with the new Cadian set. I am not sure if anyone else gets this way, but I think I pressed on with my painting when I should have stopped. The paint is quite thick in some places, kind of a departure. On the other side of things, I did enjoy just slopping the wash on the imperial guard. Sometimes it just feels good.

Psyker Update and Dreadnought Grey Knight Conversion

I've got a few updates. I just spent a hour fitting the dreadnought together. I am not sure about some things, but overall I am happy with the repose. I cut las cannon barrels off of a razor back spru and glued them to the multi-melta, as well as adding assorted bits. I am not sure where I will get a missile launcher. Maybe this guy will only have one long rang weapon.

My psyker is going well. I painted his force staff, and did some metal clean up. He still needs facial hair. I am thinking a nice orange color would look nice.

Dreadnought Sarcophagus WIP

I have an unpainted AoBR dreadnought, and all the miniatures for a grey knights army, so I thought I would see if I could convincingly convert the dread to be a grey knight hero's final resting place. I am not sure if I like the design, it seems a little long, but it does look doable. Anyone have any good links to grey knights dreads?

So far I am thinking I need to shave off most of the existing sarcophagus so I get a nice flat perpendicular surface. After that I can add the new one, and then green stuff the edges. I am not sure what to use to make all of the cables though.

The force so far.

1x Grand Master Stern

10x Terminators (1 psi cannon)

18x PA Grey Knights (3 psi cannons and 1 incinerator)

1x Inquisitor (will borrow from imperial guard army to make retinue)

1x Dread (I am think las cannon and missile launcher)

(lots of voystroyans that could be inducted IG)

Armageddon Steel Legion With Psyker

I could not resist seeing what the Psyker would look like with my Steel Legion Squad. I have been building up a composite Imperial Guard army for some time. All of the units use red for their las gun housings and are on the same ruined city bases. Before surgery I went on a voystroyan buying spree, so I will have those to paint up to use as part of the army as well. I even used simple green on some original plastic guard to make some grizzled veterans. I think I may want to use ruined city bases for my blood angels.

Primaris Psykers

Still keeping away from red. I pulled this mini out of my half unpacked Imperial guard box and decided to give it a go. I used blending, followed by washes followed by blending. I hope to finish this so I can finally have an HQ choice for the army. My guard are muddy, dirty, and muted, so I kept the palette simple.

Blood Angels Chaplain With Skeleton Jump Pack

I am in the mode now where I just want to finish the honor guard. I have one more to go. (I finished another one without posting it) As a way to break up the monotony, I decided to paint a chaplain I had lying around. All of my Death Company have old style backpacks with skeleton heads and arms. The old jump packs had cool ridges that sort of look like a spine when painted to look like bone. As usual I have touch up work to do, but I wanted to post this guys as a way to break with all of the red.

Now what to do with the bases. My first try at using green stuff was on all of my original BA bases. I think it might be time to rebase all of these guys. I may have to make some temporary bases to use until I figure out what to do.