Cerastus Knight Atropos - Painted

Greetings all! Sorry posts have been a bit few and far between, I've been working from home these last few months and it's been a bit disruptive for my blogging schedule. I haven't been idle on the hobby front though. I used the time to break out my Cerastus Knight Atropos and get her painted.

Hazardous!

The Atropos is my favourite pattern of Imperial Knight so I pulled out all the stops to try and do the model justice. I tried really hard with the hazard chevrons and the checkerboard and overall I'm really pleased with the way she turned out.

Some tasty transfers too.

The kit itself was delightful, absolutely festooned with quirky Mechanicum details. Anyone who's handled one knows that the Cerastus kits are immensely poseable and I tried to get some dynamism into mine without going too crazy.

Profile shot.

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will be familiar with the green and beige scheme common to my knights and adeptus mechanicus. I've used the same scheme here and I've tried to add some more interest with the patterned panels and transfers. I tried to make the base interesting too by adding a small piece of terrain and some rocky debris.

Detail of the base.

I'm really thrilled to have added the Atropos to my collection. I've had the kit for a couple of years but was put off from attempting it because I wanted to do it justice. Now that it's complete I'm pretty damn happy with the finished product.

Right side.

As far as the tabletop goes, 9th edition is looming and we are supposed to be getting revamped rules for all Forgeworld models. I'm not sure what this will mean for the Atropos, but even if her rules are rubbish I'll still love her.

Hopefully I will be doing another post shortly showing off some of the other things I've been painting while at home. Come back soon and check it out!

Acastus Knight Porphyrion - Complete at last!

If you've read any of my posts over the last month or so you'll know I've been slaving away on my Knight Porphrion. Well, behold the fruits of my labours!

She's such a bruiser.

I started painting her at the College of Artisans event at Warhammer World and made some good progress. This is such a huge detailed miniature though that even with a jump start it still took ages for me to finish. Still, I feel it was worth the effort.

Feels like it's been a long time coming.

The paint scheme uses a lot of the same colours as my Imperial Knights and Adeptus Mechanicus models. However, I added some hazard striping borrowed from my 30k models and tried for a bit of a heat staining effect on the magna-lascannon barrels too. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

I wore my paintbrush down to a nub.

I also tried to be a bit more creative with the base. For those that aren't aware, the Porphyrion isn't supplied with a base so I had to source one separately. In the end I opted for a laser cut mdf oval which I found on Ebay for a few quid. It seems to have suited my purposes pretty well. However, it is an absolutely huge area of base to cover, so I added, rocks, terrain, grass tufts and some splashes of different colours in an effort to break it up and make it look more realistic. I don't know if it really worked, but I feel like I was able to stretch myself as a painter and modeller when doing it.

Detail of the base.

I have become accustomed to smothering my Imperial Knights with transfers and the Porphyrion is no exception. I even treated myself to a horribly expensive transfer sheet from Forgeworld with which to decorate her. I have to say, despite the price, the Forgeworld transfers are really nice to work with and go on very smoothly. If you can afford it then they're well worth springing for.

Note the gold transfer on the face guard.

I have found that working on a model of this size leads to a bit of scale blindness after a while. So once I was done, I dug out one of my other knights to do a bit of comparison.

Truly titanic!

I hope you all like her. For me, it's been a bit of an arduous journey and I think I'm going to go and lie down in the recovery position for a little while. We'll see what emerges next once I recover my painting mojo.

College of Artisans - A week of painting at Warhammer World!

I've mentioned this a couple of times, but I figured I should do a post about it. In early August I was lucky enough to attend College of Artisans at Warhammer World!

How posh!

For those that are unaware, College of Artisans is a five day painting event held at Warhammer World for a small group of hobbyists. Basically, you bring a project (or two) with you and spend the week working on it alongside the Games Workshop studio painters and the 'Eavy Metal team.

Day 1: The painting area set up in the events hall.

I chose to bring my Acastus Knight Porphyrion to work on during the week. I didn't think I would get it finished, but I was determined to put in a good week's work. I also hoped to get a few painting tips from the 'Eavy Metal team.

I played around with some hazard stripes early on.

To my surprise, the event was sold out, with the maximum ten participants. Speaking with the team at Warhammer World, they hope to increase the capacity next year to allow more people to participate.

The new Primaris vs Chaos display in the exhibition.

Included in the ticket price is a guided tour of the Warhammer World exhibition with one of the curators and a member of the diorama building team. This was a really enjoyable experience and gave me the opportunity to ask questions about how the dioramas are made and what happens to them when they are retired. Horrifyingly, most of them end up in the trash compactor! I'm sure there must be a better home for these gorgeous dioramas once they reach the end of their lives.

Lunch was also included in the price. Yum!

I tried hard on these lenses after some advice from the studio team.

I progressed well with the Porphyrion over the week. I have to say though, painting for eight hours a day is quite challenging and I found myself pretty exhausted on a couple of evenings. Still, it was delightful to be able to carve out such a big slice of hobby time.

Bob Ross was always on hand to motivate me when things got tough.

Getting to meet the 'Eavy Metal team was a delight though. I got a few good tips as well as a couple of 'Eavy Metal brushes to take home with me. Now all I have to do is find a model worthy of being touched by one! It was interesting to handle some of the miniatures which grace the front of the boxes in person as well; you get a much better sense of the techniques used when seen with the naked eye.

A huge pile of Rhino halves ready for the weathering tutorial.

There was a painting tutorial on weathering and battle damage one evening which I hope to use to paint some terrain pieces to add to the base of my Porphyrion. We'll see how it comes out when she's done.

This was as far as I managed to get in the week.

All in all, College of Artisans was a brilliant event run by a team of enthusiastic staff. I was really happy with my progress during the week and it certainly gave a kick start to a huge miniature which might otherwise have been daunting. 

Life permitting, I will certainly want to attend next year.

Questoris Knight Gallant Conversion - Two Thunderstrike Gauntlets!

I finished building and painting this fine lady a few weeks ago but didn't have the chance to take photos of her until now. I am proud to present Caestus, a Knight Gallant with two Thunderstrike Gauntlets.

Finally, a knight that can applaud.

The conversion was inspired by this post from Stepping Between Games (thanks again Rory). Basically, I just thought it was a cool idea and decided to go for it. I had wanted to add a Gallant to my army for a while and this gave me the push I needed to commit to it.

The left hand which comes with the kit.

I tried to go for as dynamic a pose as possible without extensively converting the legs. I wanted her to look like she is striding forward ready to pummel something with those massive armoured fists.

And the right, which is converted from a spare left hand.

Converting the right hand proved to be a fairly simple matter. Once the thumb was removed it was easy enough to swap to the other side of the palm and then fill the gaps with greenstuff. The trickiest part was fabricating the armour plate which goes on the back of the gauntlet. This had to be cut to shape and then rebuilt with greenstuff. However I think it turned out pretty well in the end.

I think my lettering is improving too.

As for the paint scheme, she follows in the tradition of my other knights, with the usual green and beige livery. I did make one small change here, which was to add some hazard stripes to the back of each gauntlet, just because I wanted them to look extra menacing.

I also added a couple of stripes to her tilting shield using Tamiya masking tape. I think it breaks up the flat area a little and creates some interest. I did go to the trouble of putting a magnet in the top of the carapace so that a missile pod can be added in the future if desired. Currently though I'm planning to run her as cheaply as possible, so carapace mounts are out.

Obviously, crunch-wise it's illegal to have a pair of Gauntlets on a knight. So on the tabletop she's just a normal Gallant who happens never to use a reaper chainsword. I don't think any of my usual opponents will have too much of an issue with that (at least until after she's finished crushing their tanks like tin cans).

Stomp stomp, punch punch.

I've already had the pleasure of fielding this beauty where she performed admirably; punching a Wraithknight to pieces two games in a row. Here's hoping we have several more fun games together.

The Grand Army of the Mechanicus!

I've been meaning to post up some photos of the current state of my Adeptus Mechanicus forces for a while and finally got the chance to snap a few over the weekend. Without further ado, I am proud to present, the Grand Army of the Mechanicus!

Still needs more Skitarii.

If you read this blog regularly, you will have seen this lot come together over the last couple of years. Currently the army stands at 3500 points and I have plenty more models still to build and paint.

The knights have been a great addition to the army.

The list is still very top heavy and feels like it needs a lot more infantry. To that end I plan to paint up some more Skitarii, some Electropriests and another squad of Infiltrators. Hopefully that will help balance things out a bit.

I think the colour scheme has translated well across all the models.

The most recent HQ choices in the army.

From a personal standpoint; having a large, nicely painted army is something I've wanted for a long time. Ever since seeing the armies displayed in White Dwarf every month when I was a teenager (Fred Reed's Howling Griffons anyone?) So, getting a collection like this together is enormously satisfying. I can't wait to add more to it this year.

I have plans to add another Onager or two.

Despite wanting to add many more Adeptus Mechanicus units; the Imperial Knights have been immensely satisfying modelling projects. In the queue to be built and painted I have a Cerastus Knight Atropos along with another Armiger Warglaive. The Atropos in particular I am very much looking forward to because I absolutely adore the model.

General's eye view.

I also have a few Mechanicum 30k robots on the back burner. Rumour has it that these will get rules for 40k in the future and it will be excellent to add these gorgeous models to the collection. In particular, I have a Thanatar Siege Automata which I would love to have painted.

That's a lot of green robots.

Anyway, that concludes this little self-indulgent ramble. Here's to the next 3500 points!

First Model of 2019 - Dominus Knight Valiant

Ok, so this is a bit of a technicality, but my first completed miniature of the year is this monster!

Hope you like barbeque!

As most of you know, I've been painting her for a while (since September in fact) and was hoping to finish before the end of the year. As it happens, I missed that target by one day and finished up the paint and transfers on New Year's Day!

Now with orange background!

Progress on this one has come in fits and starts. I quick work of the legs and main hull, but the arms and weapons were a real stumbling block. Hardly surprising considering that this is my third 'full sized' knight in 10 months. But it was very frustrating.

Over the Christmas break I managed to get the thundercoil harpoon painted and the rest of the model came together fairly quickly.

Some sort of drunken close-up.

The colour scheme is the usual green/brass/tan of my Mechanicus forces. With the sexy pink accent used for lenses and power coils etc. The only real change is the gold hazard stripes on the front halves of the pauldrons. This was done using some colour change paint from Turbodork, but the photos don't really do it justice.

Facing off with my Questoris Knight Errant.

As you can see from the above, she's a big girl. Not much taller than your standard knight, but significantly bulkier. All 'dat ass' comes at a pretty penny too, 594 points all in. Unfortunately that means that I probably won't get too much tabletop play out of her. Especially considering that most of my games are around the 1000 point mark.

Nonetheless, when she does hit the field I am prepared to be impressed. The conflagration cannon is the star of the show with 3d6 damage 2 auto-hits. The thundercoil harpoon is the crowd pleaser with that big fat 10 damage. I'm not convinced it will achieve much, but it will be awesome if it connects with the right target. She's also packing an array of small arms including four meltaguns and four siegebreaker cannons which should be quite nasty.

All my procrastinating aside, this was a fun project. It's the first knight I've had from new and it was delightful to build. I will undoubtedly do more knights in the future, but I'm feeling pretty burned out with the big stuff right now, so I'm going to paint a few Skitarii for a Tale of Four Warlords that I've started up with some buddies.

Stay tuned for more progress! 

Hobby Update: Dominus Knight Valiant

Once again, things have been a bit quiet here on the blog. There are a number of contributing factors but rest assured I have been hobbying away quietly in the background. I'm working on a handful of small commissions alongside a Dominus Knight Valiant for my growing Knight household.

Knight Valiant! Most of the parts aren't glued on.

I was fortunate enough to receive the Knight Valiant as a Birthday gift (thanks Blazmo!) and have been excitedly working on it ever since. This is the first Imperial Knight kit I've had from new and it was a delight to build. The instructions are clear and luxurious and the design of the components is perfect. As is my preference when painting large models, I've built it in sub-assemblies which will be glued in place only once they are painted.

Looks a bit weird without the arms.

I've now made some headway with the painting. As with my previous knights I'm using a spreadsheet to track the progress and by my estimate I'm now 51% complete! Not bad if I do say so myself! I find tracking the progress of these models is essential so that I don't become disheartened and give up because it can feel like slow progress at times.

Stripy!

As you can see I've tried my hand at a bit of blingy hazard striping on the shoulders. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I think it will look ok as part of the finished model.

The legs are now virtually finished.

Once again, following the process of my previous knights, I'm painting from the ground up. The legs are now done and I've started working on the body armour. The next big step will be the arms and weapons.

Armour approaching completion.

I need to find time to polish off those commissions as it isn't fair to have paying customers waiting while I mess about with my own stuff. But for now, the Valiant has captured my interest. Wish me luck as I try to polish off this beast in the next couple of weeks!


Oh, and as an aside, I did consider entering this bad boy in Dreadtober but it would have been a very challenging model to complete in the month. It's a shame, as I love the community painting events but I felt like it would be too much pressure this time around.

Hobby Update - What have I been up to this Summer?

Things have been a bit quiet around here lately; I think that's due to a variety of different factors. All the usual mundane stuff, work, home life etc etc. I've been trying to work towards a 3000 point army of combined Adeptus Mechanicus and Knights which has consumed all of my hobby time but has been a lot of fun. All of the knights have appeared on this blog and I've really enjoyed painting these amazing models. However, it has left a bit of an unhealthy bias in my army as I hardly have any painted infantry to stand alongside these leviathans!

Time to paint some infantry then!

In an effort to remedy this, I've added a handful of Skitarii to my 3000 point plan and have begun painting them. I completed the chap above sometime in July along with a few of his comrades but I still have another five to do to complete 'the plan'. I love the Skitarii models to bits, but there's something a little unsatisfying about finishing one and thinking 'well, that's another eight points in the list' when the last model you turned out was worth around 500! Still, I will persevere and get some meaningful blocks of troops on the table!


Speaking of on the table, I've managed to play a few games of 40k which continues to be a heck of a good time. Long live 8th edition! The photo below was taken at my FLGS when my Knight Errant took on 500 points of Orks just for a laugh.

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew!

This was the situation after a massive mob of 40 Orks used 'da jump' to pounce on my poor unsuspecting knight. Not a situation I could really prevent but it certainly made me laugh. I actually went on to win the game in spite of being assaulted by these guys and a Shokk Attack Gun armed big Mek rolling two volleys with a strength of 10 or higher!


I also went up to Warhammer World for the Specialist Games open day with a bunch of the lads. It was my first visit to Warhammer World and I was certainly not disappointed! Meeting the designers was a lot of fun and I spent quite some time chatting to the guys working on designs for the Horus Heresy and Necromunda. I also got to meet Louise Sugden who is an incredible miniatures painter working for Forgeworld (go follow her instagram if you don't already).

Titan table at WHW.

I got a couple of games in at Warhammer World, one of which was on top of the amazing fallen Warlord Titan pictured above.


The exhibition at Warhammer World is not to be missed and I took hundreds of blurry photos of all the amazing displays which look surprisingly similar to other photos taken by nerds from around the globe. A couple below for your amusement.

Leviathan Dreadnought wrecking face in the Burning of Prospero

Lizardmen Diorama from back in the day.

A bunch of amazing Eldar.

Other than all of that? I've made a start painting the big boy of the Mechanicus himself - none other than Belisarius Cawl. He certainly is a daunting miniature with all his many arms and appendages but I'm making decent progress so far. A couple more photos below in case you don't believe me.

Half of  Big-Boy Belisarius

And most of the other half.

He's progressing pretty well in spite of the complexity of the miniature and I hope to have him finished off in a week or so.


Well there you have it, a brief roundup of my hobbying from the last month or so. Stay tuned for another update next week when I hope to have some proper completed photos of the Archmagos.

Hobby Update - A Knight Household

Things have been a bit quiet around the blog lately, so what have I been up to?




Lords of War anyone?

The photo above should make it pretty obvious that I've been building my knight household! Regular readers may know that I painted the Cerastus Knight Castigator as part of Monster March back in.........well March. Since then I've added an Armiger Warglaive from the Forgebane box set and a Questoris Knight Errant which I picked up from a friend for a knock down price. At the time I really didn't need it but it had exactly the loadout I wanted and it was in decent condition too.

The pre-owned Knight Errant. 

As it turned out there was a bit more rebuilding work needed on the Errant than I had anticipated. The waist joint had been stuck together using unmixed green stuff (WTF!?) and so had the Icarus Autocannons. Speaking of the Autocannons, they had been assembled completely upside down! Which meant the barrels didn't align properly. At any rate, after a bit of scraping, cutting and gluing I managed to get it back into shape and ready for painting.

The rebuilt autocannons.

As for the Armiger Warglaive, I had it fresh from the Forgebane box. It was a lovely kit to work with and you may have seen my work in progress Armiger Helverin conversion which will be the fate of the second Armiger from the box.

Striding past some Mechanicus oil derricks.

The Armiger is currently very lackluster on the tabletop but I'm hoping the new Imperial Knights codex will change all that. If not? Well, I guess I'll just have to play with beautiful models that are a bit uncompetitive. It could be worse!

Reconnaissance footage from a Mechanicus aerial drone. 

Speaking of the tabletop, none of these models have been used in battle yet. It's a bit of a first for me to have painted over 1000 points worth of miniatures and never used any of them for gaming. I'm hoping I can convince my gaming buddies to take on some (or all!) of them soon.




Showing off my new terrain too.

These knights were originally conceived as Lords of War to add to my Adeptus Mechanicus forces. I have purposely matched the colour schemes so that they can be used alongside one another. However, the knights seem to have become an army in their own right! So much so, that putting them next to the Mechanicus makes the army look very unbalanced; I guess I need to paint a lot more Skitarii!

Badass!

I never really thought I would be a fan of Imperial Knights. The kits are lovely but I've always thought of them as a bit unwieldy for everyday play. They cost a lot of points and don't really make for a 'balanced' force on the tabletop. Somehow though, I've painted three of the things and really enjoyed doing it. Not only that, one of my hobby resolutions this year was to paint a Lord of War and now I have three of them!


Here's hoping they get to stride out across the tabletop sometime soon!