Horus Heresy Night Lords - Painting Showcase

I'm back with some more Night Lords. There's a real mix here, some of these were completed prior to the release of the Age of Darkness box; some are miniatures from the boxed set; and some are new kits that I've since bought and painted.

First up is a unit of Tartaros terminators which I've had ever since the Burning of Prospero set was released. I wanted to get these done before the second edition of the game and I'm pleased to say I did exactly that.

The first three squad members

They've been constructed with a bit of a strange mixed loadout, I think I just went for whatever I thought was cool at the time. Not the most efficient by any means and, as I've yet to try them out in battle, I can't really comment on their tabletop prowess.

And from the side

As with all my Night Lords I added trophies taken from a variety of different sources. I'm particularly pleased with the flayed skin cape on the power sword wielding model.

The unit as a whole

Next up is the Spartan Assault Tank from the Age of Darkness box. Like many Heresy players, this was the model I was most excited to get my hands on and it certainly didn't disappoint.

A big chunky beast

The below shows some more photos of the Spartan.

I've added an apothecary with a jump pack in an effort to keep my assault marines alive.

Then there's this fun little graviton rapier carrier proxy. I got this from Anvil Industry years ago.

I also built a terror squad using the mk6 bodies from the Age of Darkness box. A variety of other parts were used to make these look legion specific.

This rhino was made from a chaos rhino kit which I picked up on the cheap along with some (now OOP) legion specific upgrades from Forgeworld.

The recon squad are another purchase from Anvil Industry which I made on a Black Friday several years ago. I added a beaky helmet from an old marine sprue.

A second apothecary made from a mk6 body with a smattering of other parts.

I love volkite weapons, so a full squad of volkite culverins was a no brainer. These have been absolutely lethal on the tabletop.

I built myself some Contekar using 3d printed parts and plastic Tartaros bodies. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

The below is just the current plastic predator kit. This was lovely to build and has been a powerhouse on the battlefield. A source of cheap anti-tank is always useful.

Then we have the Kratos, the not-quite superheavy of the plastic tank range. I love the way this thing looks and it's an absolute menace on the table.

From large to small, next is a sabre strike tank. This was 3d printed by a friend and then I added a couple of plastic bits. A great little tank which I have used frequently.

Continuing with 3d prints, we have a Seeker squad. These have also proven quite effective with their rending bolts and high ballistic skill. Really good for removing key enemy infantry units.

Finally some dreadnoughts. The below is a plastic Leviathan fitted with resin weapons simply because I had them handy.

Very finally is a 3d printed contemptor with double power fists. I'm pleased with the print quality on this one and he's been very useful as a melee threat on the table.

If you made it to the end of this photo-dump, thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed seeing an update on my Night Lords Legion collection.

Space Wolves Wolf Guard Terminators

Adding more to the space wolves, I've painted up a selection of Wolf Guard Terminators.

Chunky, yet tiny.

These guys are quite charming on their little 25mm bases. A stark contrast to the 40mm which was used in later editions. They are also surprisingly hefty, being metal casts.

Armament wise they probably aren't the most competitive (but then, what is in 2nd edition?) The lightning claws haven't proven to be particularly special and I could really do with a couple more stormbolters or an assault cannon.

I'm still working on my Space Wolves and will have more to share soon.

Ragnar Blackmane

Following on from my previous post, I've also added Ragnar Blackmane to my Space Wolves collection.

Not sure if 'Blackmane' is really appropriate.

Another really lovely detailed sculpt from the 90s. The twin banner poles are the very epitome of second edition 40k. Obviously I had to add authentic paper banners as well.

The plan is that Ragnar will lead my Space Wolf forces in most of their battles. Usually I don't care for special characters, but most of the ones from second edition 40k don't seem especially powerful. Also it would be a shame to ignore such wonderful models.

Bjorn the Fell-handed

I've been messing around with second edition 40k recently, including building up a few armies painted in the classic, brightly coloured style. Over the weekend I finished off an old metal Bjorn to join my growing Space Wolves army.

In glorious technicolour.

It's not a direct copy of the original second edition paint scheme, but I feel I've captured the spirit of the thing. I even went so far as to make a banner pole from brass rod and add a paper banner, because it's not second edition without giant paper banners fluttering everywhere.

As many of you know, these old metal dreadnoughts are weighty things. I did have to give my wrist a break after a couple of longer painting sessions.

Stomp stomp.

As for other modelling choices, I went with a round base just because I felt it looked best. I'm sure many purists feel that this should be square or even non-existent. I also chose not to drill the smoke launcher as it felt more authentic this way; that and I was worried I'd misalign one of them and it would throw the whole thing off.

I've painted a few more Space Wolves to join this army as well as a bunch of old Necrons. I'm hoping to do some more posts this month to show them off.

Dreadtober 2025 - Introduction

It's that time of year again. Time to blow the dust off another Dreadnought and replace it with a layer of paint. My painting mojo has been a little lacking of late, so I'm using Dreadtober as an excuse to get the brush moving again. I also have an excess of unpainted Dreadnoughts laying around, so this will hopefully move another one into the painted pile.

With thanks to Marc over on the Dreadtober blog.

I'm going to be doing another Contemptor Dread for my Night Lords Heresy force this time around. I already have three painted, so he'll be in good company. This one is armed with a Gravis Autocannon and Power Fist just because it looks cool.

Built and ready to go.

As you can see from the above, the model is built and undercoated, so all I have to do is slap some paint on it. How hard could that be? Well, I suppose we'll find out.

See you in a week for a progress (or lack of progress) update!

Nagash: Supreme Lord of the Undead

Further to my post last week about my Tomb Kings army, I thought that this guy deserved a post of his very own. That's right, it's Nagash, the Supreme Lord of the Undead! I was very lucky to be given this classic metal model by a friend and wasted no time (well okay, a few months) stripping off the old paint and getting him ready for the battlefield once more.

Menacing or goofy, you decide

I grew up with this model leering at me from the pages of White Dwarf and the old Fantasy rulebook. Over the years he's been much maligned by the online community and topped the "worst model ever" list several times. Despite all of that, I find him rather charming.

He would have made an imposing figure back in the day

Rather than mimic the classic colour scheme I decided to paint him in a similar way to the rest of my tomb kings. I always enjoyed seeing him ranked up inside a unit of skeletons, so it was important to me that I could pull this off. I was a bit worried that he might end up looking drab with all the bone, khaki, and brass, so I added a few spots of green to give him a bit of colour.

I've yet to try him out on the battlefield as we don't generally use special characters in our games. However in this case I'm sure we'll make an exception. He's a monstrous prospect in 5th edition, with all sorts of special rules and a wizard level of 5. He also costs nearly 800 points by himself - that's a lot of power packed into a 40mm square base!

The scourge of the Old World

 

Warhammer Fantasy - Classic High Elves

Something different today with a few classic plastic miniatures. I grew up playing fantasy battles in Warhammer 5th edition, so these high elves are highly nostalgic for me. I have painted a few High elf models previously from the Island of Blood set, and although the models are nice, I found them very time consuming to paint.

With that in mind I decided to try batch painting the old monopose plastic archers, to see if I could get a good, efficient result.

Classic colours, blue and white

With the use of a few contrast paints, I was able to turn these around in a reasonable time frame. I was surprised how well the old plastics have held up. Some of the features are a little large, but overall they're still good models. It's great to have a finished unit which looks as though it might have graced the battlefield back in the day.

I then turned my attention to some of the plastic spearmen. If anything I'd say these are even better than the archers in terms of model quality. The features seem a little finer and they have quite a lot of sculpted detail.

The static pose is quite nice for High Elves too.

I was lucky enough to be given a collection of metal High Elf models which contained enough for a full command group for this unit. I later learned that the champion pictured above is actually an old High Elf Lord model, so he could lead the army if needed. However I'm determined to add a mounted general at some point.

The unit reached 15 models in all with a full command. However I don't seem to have taken a photo of them, so you'll just have to make do with these 8.

Just imagine there's 7 more of them