Golden Demons 2013 - Harlequin Wraithguard

Hey guys,

Last summer I attended the Games Day Germany for the 4th time. After years of talking about entering the Golden Demons I never managed to enter anything, until this year! I decided to paint something relatively simple (ie. no conversions) to avoid running out of time once again. Now I do have to say that I painted this miniature in about a week, due to me slacking once again. Unfortunately my model didn’t get through the first cut, but I didn’t mind. My goal for this year was to finish something for the Golden Demons and actually enter something - and now I did - I do feel proud of my accomplishment.

Now this model is supposed to be a Harlequin-inspired Wraithguard. My initial idea was to do checker patterns throughout the model. However, due to my limited timeframe I decided to skip that. This model was quite a challenge because I never actually blended a miniature before, so with a lot of trial and error the blending came out quite well.

Once again, I’d like to know what you think! :)

PS. Guess how many gems this model has!

Badab War - Mantis Warriors Contemptor Dreadnought finished!

Hey guys,

I finally managed to finish the Contemptor Dreadnought for my Mantis Warriors, just in time for The Fang Painting Competition 2013 – I placed second in the Warhammer 40,000 Vehicle category! The reason the model turned out semi-glossy is because I didn’t shake my Lahmian Medium before usage.. I’m scared to use matt varnish as I’ve heard it usually ruins the metallics – any suggestions for a matt varnish that is safe to use?

Badab War - Mantis Warriors Contemptor Dreadnought WIP

Hey guys,

It's been about 1.5 month since the last update so I thought I'd show you guys some progress. I've mostly been working on my Contemptor Dreadnought for my Mantis Warriors, I've had this particular kit for over a year now so it was about time I'd start cracking on it! Personally, I'd had a hard time getting the legs right - it just didn't seem to work the way I had in mind! Eventually I got the pose I wanted, I'm quite happy how he turned out but I'll probably put more thought in my next Contemptor Dreadnought (that's right, another Contemptor!).

I magnetised the arms so I'll be able to field my Contemptor with whatever weapons I feel like using - at the moment I only have the fist and the Assault Cannon. At the moment he's mostly held together with blu-tack. Unfortunately the cast of the fist wasn't great, it was terrible to say the least. You can see I fixed most parts with Milliput, but it was in terrible condition when I received it. I was thinking about giving Forge World a call but unfortunately I bought this one off eBay, I'm pretty sure they ask for a order number to help you or to send a replacement kit.

Anyway, onto the pictures! Everything is obviously WIP, the dead marine will probably hail from the Minotaurs chapter!

Badab War - Mantis Warriors Combat Squad finished

Hey guys,

It's been quiet on the Mantis Warriors front. I actually finished the first 5 Mantis Warriors way back in March, I just forgot to post pictures of them. I blame the summer and the great weather, and maybe my lack of motivation. However, with summer almost gone I guess it's time to get back into gear.

I do have to mention that I actually finished them in time for the "Lage Landen" Painting Competition, and was fortunate enough to place second in the Warhammer 40,000 Squad category! At the event they actually took professional pictures of the unit - they also posted them on the Games Workshop website. The pictures didn't turn out as good as I expected so I decided to take some myself.

Believe it or not, but I would love to make a playable army of these guys. At this pace it might take a while, but eventually I'll get there. I do still have a Contemptor Dreadnought lying around which I'm planning to assemble pretty soon. Also an additional 5 Marines to finish this unit off, some special and heavy weapons might be a nice addition.

I'd love to know your thoughts!

The Badab War - more Mantis Warriors!

Hey guys, 

It's been way too long since my last post! So I figured that I should be working on a couple more Mantis Warriors for my army, I really dig this colour scheme! This unit of 4 + a Sergeant will be one of my entries of this years "De Lage Landen" Painting Competition 2012. For those not familiar with this competition you read more about it here.

They're obviously still WIP, painting the chapter symbol on the other marines will be a paint in the butt though!

The Badab War - Mantis Warrior

Hey guys,

Ever since I saw the new Imperial Armour Badab War books I’ve been tempted to start a Badab War army. This is a test miniature from the Mantis Warriors, one of the four secessionist chapters who rebelled against the imperium. I really liked their fluff and the colour scheme got a nice update from the Forge World team, I didn’t really like the older colours. I want to do a couple more chapters to see which one I can paint relatively fast and see if I can paint an army of them!

Conclusion: I really dig the scheme, the fluff is also very nice as mentioned. They’re a successor chapter of the White Scars, which means they are mongolian-like in appearance which I like a lot! However, the chapter symbol takes a long time to do properly and I still feel like I could’ve done a better job on it. I’d love to do an army of them if Forge World decides to make a decal sheet for them (as they did for the Carcharodons, Astral Claws etc.), but for now it’s probably a no..

The next test model will probably be either a Lamenter or Carcharodon.

I’d love to know your thoughts!

Demon Challenge - Contemptor Dreadnought

Hi everyone,

This project is something I'm really excited about. I've been to Games Day four times now (two times Games Day UK and two times Games Day Germany). However, every time I'm at Games Day I regret that I didn't enter anything for the Golden Demons. Winning a Golden Demon is something I've been willing to do for quite some time now, but somehow I never got around to enter a miniature. So, right after Games Day Germany 2011 I came up with some plans for my entry. While I was waiting in line for the Forge World stand I saw two examples of the new Contemptor Dreadnoughts, I knew I had to have one and I knew what my entry for next year would be. I bought one with the addition of two Contemptor Pattern Kheres Assault Cannon arms, however I was thinking about ordering the Close Combat Arm (Fist) as well, I think it gives the miniature more diversity. I don't play Space Marines myself but I figured out that painting a miniature of an army I don't play would give me a lot of freedom and opportunities, it would also be something to keep myself motivated between other projects. I hope that makes sense! The idea is to enter it either at Games Day UK 2012, or Games Day Germany 2012.


I. Colour scheme and modelling opportunities

Now I had to think of a Legion or Chapter for the Contemptor Dreadnought. The miniature is an excellent Pre-Heresy Dreadnought (minus the Imperial Eagle) so I figured I had to do one of the original 20 Legions (-2 of the unknown ones, of course!). Though it would also be possible to have a Chapter from the Second Founding, as they were founded right after the Heresy. I settled for a First Founding Legion, though. These are the possibilities I'm considering, I'd like to know what your thoughts are! There are some Legion specific details I had in mind if I were to choose that specific Legion;

Pre-heresy Death Guard

I never really tried painting white armour, though I really like the look and the weathering possibilities. Barbarus was Feral World where the atmosphere was thick with virulent gases and a constant fog was spread across the planet. It makes a lot of sense that their armour would be corroded, even before the Heresy. This gives me a lot of opportunity to try different weathering techniques for the armour. Modelling-wise I was thinking about sculpting the Death Guard symbol on the front of the body, where the Imperial Eagle currently sits. I would also probably convert the head to make it subtly different from the original, although the original head already looks pretty Death Guard-ish.

Great Crusade-era Imperial Fists

While I was browsing through my Index Astartes copies I noticed a very interesting type of armour used by the Imperial Fists during the Great Crusade. I liked the mechanical and unique appearance a lot. Yellow is also a colour I haven't done much, which also gives great possibilities for weathering. The black, red and white also serve for great contrast pieces for the yellow armour. 

Pre-Heresy Iron Hands

I always liked the idea behind a bionic-heavy Chapter. This gives me some great possibilities for converting the Dreadnought, bionic scopes and lenses for the head, old-skool Devastator leg detail, etc. Black is a very difficult colour to get just right. Weathering is also hard to see on black armour, so this is why the white parts come in handy. It certainly breaks up the colour scheme and makes the weathering come out a lot better than just plain black.

Pre-Heresy Space Wolves

Space Wolves give a lot of possibilities as well, their armour is subtly different, they can have engraved runes in their armour, and of course the wolf-theme! Grey is a great colour for weathering and also compliments cold colours for the shadows and warm colours for the highlights, this is obviously harder to achieve with black or white. The red details also provide some great contrast and spot-colours.

The new Contemptor Dreadnought is highly posable, which makes the kit even more awesome!

II. The base

The base of the miniature depends entirely on what Legion/Chapter I'm picking for the project. I was thinking about giving the miniature a base themed around their homeworld. Barbarus: Death World/Desert-like for Death Guard, Terra: Industrial for the Imperial Fists, Medusa: tech-deck/industrial for Iron Hands, Fenris: Snow/ice for Space Wolves etc.

I'd love to know what your thoughts are, suggestions are especially appreciated!

Regards,

Rens