Sons of Horus Go To War

The jet bikes need proper bases, and there are loads of little details to touch up before completion, but  overall I am happy with how far this has come. It is going to be a bear to maneuver this thing around the Narrative event!

NOVA Open Narrative Event Display Board WIP

It is that time of year again, when hundreds of people head over to the NOVA Open and  have a weekend of gaming, friends, and far too little sleep. At the NOVA Last year I decided to paint up a 30k Emperor's Children force for this years event. Instead of purple, I decided to paint up the Warmaster's sea green legion instead.

This display board was meant to evoke the Forgeworld Istavaan III drop site massacre. If you have not seen the FW diorama, then you really should check it out. For those who don't know, the traitor legions had to first purge their ranks of loyalists before they could focus on brining war to the Imperium at large. I built my force to be a loyalist force, but will be fielding Horus as my Lord of War.

The board itself is not complete yet. I have  chipping and smoke streaking on the thunderhawk, and then another round of weathering powders.  Saturday I will test fit the models, and touch up some of the units. I am not sure if I should try and paint the edges of the board black or if they should stay rough and dirty, blending into the rest of the diorama.

I hope I get the chance to meet a bunch of you guys at the convention. Maybe one of you will be lucky enough to win the Ultramarines charity army supporting Doctors Without Borders. It is a magnificent army, and is supports a really good cause.

Sons of Horus Scimitar Jet Bikes

As might be evident from reading this blog, I don't play a whole lot of the actual game, instead  focussing on painting. Once or twice a year this changes, and I get the chance to bring out an Army and engage with the gamer side of the community.

The downside, is that my list building skills are non existent. My goal is to make sure my opponent and I have a good game. Part of that though, is not bringing such a bad list, that there is no fun for the other player. This cuts both ways. The list needs to be solidly middle ground, neither broken, nor cakewalk. Aside  from Horus, who should be a death dealing machine, my NOVA Narrative list looked pretty lacking in AV14 abilities. It was also lacking in speed. Hopefully this squad of jet bikes will solve my fast moving scoring and melts-bombing capabilities.

Now for the question. I had the choice of replacing one of the heavy bolters with a melta gun, but instead I opted to give the squad melta bombs. Is this practical? I could scrimp and scrape and have a melta gun and melta bombs but it would leave my large tac squad vulnerable to walkers.

Ok.. time for everyone to snicker at these models. Go ahead, FW deserves that. In game these guys are basically single shot highly explosive suicide mission troops. The leave as fast as they come.

Horus The Warmaster

My Lord of War choice for the NOVA Open narrative event is now completed to a playable level. I have some work to do to complete the model, but since this was a last minute list change, I thought it important to get 99% of the way done. Horus still need to have final face highlights, and then dust applied to his legs. After that I think he will be fit to lead the Legion into battle.

Initially I was really worried about making the scenic base fit with the rest of the army, but I think the application of green earth weathering powders did the trick.

On to the jet bikes!

Look Who's Coming to Dinner At the NOVA Open Narrative Event

The NOVA Open Narrative event allows FW and Lords of War. Since I am playing in the Warlord track, it seemed reasonable for me to bring the one true Warmaster himself. Why dicker around with a titan when when I can bring 500 points of doom on a 50mm base. I know it will be trivially easy for opponents to avoid the uber death star that is Horus with terminators, but I think it will be really fun to give people the ability kill the man himself.

Horus fights for humanity.

Repainting A Dave Taylor Masterpiece

Several years ago I visited the GW Battle Bunker in Glen Burnie Maryland, where  I discovered that Dave Taylor had an incredible Ultramarines force on display. Until then I had not liked Ultramarines, and had gone so far as to be proud of the fact that I had never painted a 'blue' marine.  A little context, if you were painting back in those days, you might remember how much nerd-rage the Ultramarines took.  Dave's force changed my opinion. His was one of the first beautifully painted forces I had seen. His army was awe inspiring, and my Ultramarines force was started specifically because of his

Rather than duplicate Dave's force, I decided to focus on weathering the models. Almost by accident I picked up a military modeling magazine and saw what the historical guys were doing with air brushes.

So fast forward a few years (and two Blood Angles, One Dark Angels, and one Tau army) later, and my Ultramarines force began hitting its stride. I had been working on the Ultras start and stop fashion in between other army projects, and by 2013 they were ready for the Nova Open Narrative event. The army went on to win two painting competitions, and inspired the Nova Open Charitable Foundation to pick an Ultramarines force for one of the next charity army projects.

I've had the privilege of working with Dave Taylor on a variety of charity projects, all the way back to the Storm Wardens. This time he did the unthinkable. He asked me to provide my painting recipes to the UM group. We have come full circle. Like all painters I remember earlier work with rose colored goggles. Context is everything. Dave had the idea to update the quintessential piece from his ultramarines force, blending both of our current styles.

In our division of labor my task is color modulation, grime streaking, and dust. The goal is to update the model to the blue recipe used in the NOVACF force, and then hand the model off to Dave to work his detail magic.

I can't wait to see how this tank turns out! So get out there and donate some money for charity. You might win this army or one of the other expertly painted ones!

Emperor's Children Loyalist Rhino

The havoc launcher is not complete, but enough of the tank is weathered and rain streaked that it was time for a progress shot. Well into painting I was surprised by some GW purity seal frosting the model. The entire top section turned white! A quick coat of gloss varnish restored the color, and then matte removed the gloss. I think this model has more varnish on it than paint!

I hope I managed to bring some realism to what is a purple tank for giant post-human warriors firm in the belief that visibility play no role on the battlefield.

Emperors Children Test Rhino

Sometimes you just have to jump feet first. I do not like how this rhino is turning out, and I have struggled with nearly every step. On the other hand, I am committed to completing the model, and seeing if success if layers of weathering, streaks, and powders is enough to bring it back in line with my other pre-heresy work.

One of the many surprises while painting this model was the behavior of vallejo paint with their airbrush thinner. Until now I have used liquitex airbrush medium instead, and I developed good control with how the paint game out using it. However a quick jaunt to Amazon left me with Vallajo's airbrush thinner. The bottle says that it improves flow. They are not kidding. The velocity of the paint leaving the airbrush is much higher, and the paint dries much slower. This rhino has fingerprints all over it where I was surprised to find out that the paint hat not dried. I think the Vallejo product will help in the long term, but right now it makes my airbrush behave in surprising ways.

So, keep calm and carry on. There is always a vat of simple green over the next hill.