Finishing Squads - Kataphron Breachers and Sicarian Ruststalkers

It's about time I got some of these units finished! As part of an ongoing build 'n' paint campaign with a group of friends I have been trying to finish off the odd model here or there that will allow me to field complete units. I have a bad habit of painting 80% of a squad and then never finishing the last one or two models.

The last Breacher is finally finished!

With that in mind I have been working on my third Kataphron Breacher, a squad that I started painting back in April this year! I'm really happy to have finished these guys. Although I am pleased with how they turned out, they aren't my favourite models and finishing the squad really felt like an uphill struggle at times. Hopefully they will redeem themselves on the tabletop and gain some favour in my eyes.

Having said that, he does look pretty.

I've also finished painting a squad of Sicarian Ruststalkers. Now these guys do include one of my favourite models in the form of the Ruststalker Princeps. I love the dynamic posing of these models and the detailing. Like most of the Skitarii stuff they really are superb.

General Grievous? Never heard of her!

Anyway, all of those odd models brings my painted total up to 915 points. I feel like I've come a long way since I posted about completing 500 points back in September. It certainly puts me in a good place for playing 1000 point games with a fully painted army during December.

Chop chop!

As far as the Ruststalkers are concerned, they're probably the least competitive variant of the Sicarian kit under the current rules. They don't cause enough mortal wounds to be truly threatening because they don't have chordclaws. They also lack the ranged weapons and deepstriking abilities which make Infiltrators so useful. Nonetheless I'm determined to keep fielding them and I'm sure I will figure out how best to use them eventually.


Stay tuned to see what comes off of the painting block next!

Painting Kataphron Breachers - Adeptus April week 3

Phew! These painting challenges are starting to feel like hard work! Those of you that are paying attention will have noticed I missed week 2. This is due to a number of factors, most of which are wargaming related. First off I've actually been playing some 40k (pause for applause), secondly I've been distracted by my Infinity Nomads and thirdly I'm all giddy for Salute this weekend and am struggling to concentrate. Nonetheless I present my unworthy offering below.

Two down, one to go.

In other Adeptus April news someone has been good enough to join me for this painting challenge. Namely the talented (not to mention speedy) Cylde Ar from Mastodontica. If you follow the link you will see that he has already completed the monthly challenge. What a show off! I'd better get a move on if I don't want to be utterly crushed by my own painting challenge!

Cylde's cool looking Librarian.

As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of the Exo Lords range from Anvil Industry and I've used their parts extensively with my Heresy era Night Lords. I'm pleased to see that Cylde is also a fan of their parts and has used plenty of them to make this awesome looking guy. Speaking of Anvil, I'm off to Salute tomorrow to pick up some more of their stuff and say hi to the guys in person.


All that aside, my own progress with Adeptus April has been slower than I would have liked. I have to give big thanks to Cylde for appearing out of the blue and giving me the push I needed to get this far. I just hope the motivation will last and I can finish the last breacher before the end of the month.


The breachers themselves continue to be fun to work with. The details are nice and the paint scheme isn't too taxing. I was lucky enough to be able to get these guys on the field a couple of weeks ago where they totally wrecked face! Knocking out a Contemptor Dreadnought in a single volley and then going on to destroy a second dreadnought and a Rhino. Not bad for an 'uncompetitive' weapon loadout!

What a difference a head swap makes!

So, once again we're going to end on a nail biter. Will I get the squad finished by next week? Only time, and my fickle attention span, will tell.


If you missed the fist part of Adeptus April, you can find it here.

Painting Kataphron Breachers - Adeptus April Week 1

Howdy y'all! It's been another rootin' tootin' week of progress for me! Under the self appointed banner of 'Adeptus April' I've made a start on a unit of Kataphron Breachers for my ever growing Adeptus Mechanicus force.

Haywire to the max!

As you can see from the above I've gone for arc rifles and arc claws for maximum haywire goodness. Now before anyone starts, yes, I know destroyers and more competitive and, yes, I know they can have heavy grav cannons. But the thought of battering my opponents with 18 grav shots a turn makes me feel a little bit sick. So I've decided to go with the haywire breachers. It's not all bad, they do get a better armour save which is important as these guys don't have feel no pain. They should be the bane of enemy vehicles of any type with 6 haywire shots and 6 haywire attacks (on the charge) tanks have something to fear. You can also pull a funny trick if you combine breachers with a Magos Dominus allowing their weapons to gain the cognis special rule. Suddenly your snap shots hit on a 5+ and can be re-rolled with the right canticle allowing you to threaten aircraft too.


All in all I'm expecting these guys to do pretty well on the battlefield, in fact I have my first game with them tonight (albeit the unit is not yet fully painted).

Does anybody remember TankJr?

As for the models themselves, I've never really been a fan of the battle servitors. I've always preferred the way the breachers look because of their heavier armour. However, after buying the kit I decided that most of my gripes could be solved with a simple head swap. After thinking about it a bit further, I considered what would happen to Skitarii that had been damaged beyond repair. Obviously their spare parts would be turned into Servitors! Hence the vanguard heads on the squad.




Really like this servo arm detail.

As for the paint scheme, I've followed my usual green and brass theme with pink accents. These kits were somewhat unusual for me in that I've painted them in parts before final assembly. This is a huge departure for me as my models are normally fully assembled before I begin to paint. To be honest I'm happy with the method so I probably won't change it for the rest of the squad. I even partially painted some of the parts while they were still on sprue! Something I thought I would never do.


Work continues on the rest of the squad and I hope to have another model done by this time next week. Until then, wish me luck and don't forget to tune in for the rest of Adeptus April!