Horus: The Heretic Ascendant

The next Primarch I’ve finished is the infamous Horus Ascendant, the new kit for the Horus Heresy. I’ve done the old Horus as Primarch of the Black Legion, but here is Horus at the height of his power.

Here Horus strides through a field of corpses, Marines, Militia, whoever stands before him. Like the other Primarch models he’s gigantic, easily three times the size of a Marine.The scenic base has more bodies than full squads of infantry…

I added a mix of Legions in the pile, with parts from a Son of Horus, Blood Angel, and even an Imperial Fist. An Imperial Solar Auxilia member lays by his banner, like the rest seared to the bone.

Horus himself wears gleaming black armor with tons of gold and brass decoration. I used a couple different golds and brasses so he wasn’t so monochromatic. The most used gold has a red tint to it to reinforce his sinister look. The eyes on his armor glow red, and his head is backlit in red as well. The final red is his richly crimson cape, lined with gold trim.

The other detail is the wolf pelt across his shoulders. The pelt is a dark grey-brown, a nice change from the black, gold, and red.

Horus of course has a 40mm base for use in the game, fitting into his scenic base. Even that small base has parts of dead enemies and the Son of Horus.

For his bare head, I made his complexion warm, to continue the red theme. His head is backlit with red from inside the Terminator armor.

This guy was a chore…

Horus Heresy: KHAAAAN!

I’ve finally finished he last Primarch for the Horus Heresy. This time we have Jaghatai Khan, lord of the White Scars Legion of Space Marines. The miniature is the last of the Forgeworld line. With the new Horus Heresy rules coming out, I figure the Primarchs will be hitting the table once again.

The Great Khan wears highly elaborate power armor, trimmed with gold and bronze. Of all the Primarchs I’ve done, he’s arguably got the most decorated armor. Amazingly enough, his armor is white, but there is little visible, instead it is layered with Asian-inspired banded mail, a studded leather coat, and of course a huge fur-lined cape. His hands are covered in bright red gloves.

A repeated trigram pattern features on his armor, backpack, and even hanging from his cape.

Like the other Primarchs he has a 40mm base for tabletop gaming, and a 60mm decorative base. He stands on the rubble of the Heresy battlefields, in this case probably the killing fields of Istavann. Blasted concrete and exposed girders pile around him, with a fallen Death Guard laying at his feet.

The Death Guard marine is also in white armor, but his is a warmer off-white, with green pauldrons and bronze edging. His split abdomen spills out his guts, giving that little bit of color among all that grey.

I painted Khan with a ruddier complexion, similar to the complexion the Mongolians get from a lifetime in the harsh winds of the steppes.

Crimson Fists: Red Crusade

I’ve added a flurry of Crimson Fists Space Marines to the army I’ve been painting for a client for the last few years. At this point, I’ve painted several Companies of Marines.

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I’ve painted a few more models from the Indomitus box, as well as the Shadowspear box set.

The Ancient carries his standard proudly. Like the Captain I painted earlier, he seems to favor carrying a literal corpse into battle, an honored hero of the Imperium whose pretense will inspire the Brothers in battle. Like the other characters from the Indomitus box, he wears a white robe, here more like a cassock. He also bears personal iconography on the shield warn on his chest. He carries an appropriate silvered skeletal hand as another icon.

The next model is a Primaris Lieutenant, also from Indomitus. As a Lieutenant, he wears a white and red stripe on his helmet, as well as a person heraldry on his armor. The tower shield he carries is a bright bone and brass. He also carries an ancient volkite pistol. The scroll work on his shield and shoulder pad are blank at the moment; I was awaiting the names that client wanted.

The last of this group is the Vanguard Librarian from the Shadowspear box. He wears Phobos armor and a dark cloak. In order to show his proper status as a Crimson Fist veteran, he wears red gloves over his armored gauntlets. His force sword was given a cool blue tone, blended from black, to blue, to white at the tip. To showcase the strange quality of the psyker weapon, some of the ‘highlights’ are edged in black.

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The last character of this batch is the Primaris Techmarine. This huge guy wears the brick-red hues of the Techpriests of Mars, different than the deep crimson of his chapter’s iconography. His armor carries multiple extra limbs, including a shoulder-mounted heavy bolter, servo claw, and mechadendrite. All this extra metal was given a simple coat of P3 Pig Iron with Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade wash to properly age it.

In addition to characters, I finished a squad of Primaris Inceptors. These are the Inceptors carrying plasma guns instead of bolters. Their Gravis armor is super bulky, and the jump packs give them a look akin to a small hovering aircraft. The stabilizer fines were done in red to break up all that dark blue. I included a full squad as well as a detail with other angles. The Sergeant of the unit has his blast helmet open for the usual Space Marine reasons, but I was able to suggest his proper red Sergeant’s helmet with a stripe on the center of the helmet, as well as a iconic triangle on the hood of the armor.

The flying stands are a nice design, allowing for a more natural attitude for the models. However, the contact points are terrible…I pined for the old plug into a socket from the old flight stands.

The Lion: Primarch of the Dark Angels

I’ve finished yet another Primarch of the Space Marines Legions for Warhammer 30,000. By now the Horus Heresy battlefield is getting a bit crowded.

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This time around it’s Lion El’Johnson, Lord of the Dark Angels. First Primarch, grand strategist, knightly warrior, and apparently a real beast in close combat, as evidenced by the bodies piled around him.

The Lion’s armor is fairly simple, compared to some of the other Primarchs, but it still has plenty of details to have to worry about.The black plating is offset by metal ribbing (it looks like a artificer version of Mk 2 power armor?). Befitting a knight, he wears a surcoat wrapped around him, along with a giant cape with lion’s fur trim.

The first pics include the scenic base his 40mm base clips into. Depicting the Lion in the middle of the fight, he cuts rebel Night Lords Marines down left and right. It should be said, in all the scenic bases covered in slaughtered Marines I’ve done (more than you’d think), this is the one with the most gruesome carnage. Severed arms, legs, disembowelment, even a head mid-bisected. Their armor is pitted and bullet-ridden, and they lay sprawled in a heap of rubble at the Lion’s feet. One lone survivor valiantly (insanely?) levels a volkite pistol at the Primarch.

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The Primarch has 2 options for heads, one with helmet, one without, and 2 sword options, the Lion Sword, a broadsword, and the Wolf Blade, a giant chainsword. I added detail pics featuring all the options. All the optional parts got rare earth magnets to allow them to be swappable.

Like all the Primarchs, this miniature was a beast to paint. Being a Forgeworld piece, it was highly detailed. Also, because it was Foreworld, there was the inevitable casting problems. I have yet to see a complicate Forceworld piece that fit together properly without some work. The extremely narrow tolerance for fitting is often undone by wonky casting. The cape and fur coat were especially hard to fit right.

Only a few more Primarchs to go. Next up will be the Khan. If he gets a bike, it will be as big as a Rhino.

Crimson Fists: Indomitus

I’ve been working on the new Primaris Marines from the Indomitus box. The minies in that box are pretty incredible.

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The first pic is the Indomitus Captain, bearing a power sword and the most ostentatious shield imaginable. The great tower shield has the revered skeletal remains of a Marine hero strapped to it, covered in purity seals and devotional wrapping.

In fact, the Captain here is also just covered in detail, from his campaign badge, his multiple purity seals, his tabard/loincloth, extra cruxes, and even a meters-long purity seal wrapped around his left arm, punctuated by a vial containing what I imagine some sacred oils or blood of a Hero of the Imperium. There’s no understatement here. Despite the over-the-top nature, it’s a nice sculpt. His brooding power radiates as he considers the battlefield. The bare head the client chose also helps give him personality (and breaks up the deep blue coloration that a helmet would continue).

Next are members of the Assault Intercessors from the box. These are the standard ‘Tactical’ Primaris Marines, but equipped for choppy close combat. The poses are pretty good, definitely making them completely visually different from their bolt rifle armed brethrens’ more upright and stiff poses.

The Sergeant rushes forward with his chainsword held aloft, plasma pistol at the ready. Though bare-headed, he still carries along his red Sergeant helmet. The other bare-headed Marine of the squad has a bit of a story- his helmet took a round or bit of shrapnel, causing him to take off the helmet even in the middle of combat (based off his pistol-wielding pose and body twist). I painted the gash across his forehead to correspond with the damage to the helmet.

More to come. There’s several more characters from the Indomitus box to do.

Crimson Fists: Death and Fire

 

More Crimson Fists Space Marines…

I’ve wanted to get to the Primaris Chaplain from the 8th edition box for some time. Finally I get to paint the spooky cloaked Chaplain with his huge death-cane. The Primaris proportions really suit him, with the taller stance and smaller helmet. I liked his leather duster worn over his black armor, which reinforces the bones and skull mask. He got an appropriate amount of bronze, gold, and silver decoration. The cane’s handle was painted purple to help it stand out from his red gauntlet.

Next is another Eliminator squad. The army at this time has 3 units of these snipers, so I’m sure it can lay some fire down range. These Marines were apinted in the same fashion as the other squads, including their urban camouflage cloaks.

Last are a unit of Hellblasters. Not much to say about them, seeing as they follow the standard Crimson Fists color scheme, though they do get a Support chevron on their right shoulders.

More to come- The Indomitus box set calls.

Crimson Fists: Eliminate!

Back on Crimson Fists Marines. The army I’ve done for the client is just huge at his point.

First up are a couple squads of Eliminators. These snipers are pretty nice, with the tacticool detail we’ve come to expect with the Primaris units. They are as stealthy as an 8′ tall soldier with a bright red left gauntlet can be, though the urban camo cloak might help a little. The grey with dark grey splotches matches the rubble on their bases at least.

I added a pic comparing the current sizing for Marines (Heroic 28mm) versus a WW1 German Sniper from my Blood & Valor army (true 25mm). The poor normal human looks like a hobbit next to that blue gorilla.

Last up is yet another Primaris Lieutenant, this time wearing Phobos pattern armor. He also wears the skull mask of a Reiver. I love his dynamic pose, leaping off another tactical piece of rubble in the process of shanking someone with his giant knife. There is lots of detail, with purity seals swirling in the air. His armor and sheath bare a red diamond to show his personal heraldry (as befitting a Lieutenant) but I kept it subtle to allow even the possibility of him being a stealthy infiltrating type.

More to come. I’ve started work on models from the Indomitus box set. Looking forward to them.

WH40K: Crimson

Back to the Crimson Fists! With the 9th edition coming, I’m working on my backlog to clear up for the new stuff incoming.

Here is another grouping of Primaris Aggressors, armed this time with flamestorm gauntlets. The previous unit I posted a while back were armed with boltstorms. This group has two Sergeants, so I guess could be fielded in units of 3.

After that we have the Vanguard Lieutenant. He’s pretty nicely detailed, with all the tacticool elements that are the hallmarks of the Primaris. His Lieutenant decoration gives him more variety of color, with the white and red striped helmet and his personal red/black quartered heraldry on the right shoulder and left knee.

 

Then we have another Lieutenant; GW sure loves their Lieutenants… There are more Lieutenant sculpts that some armies’ entire model lines. This Lieutenant hefts his bolt rifle in a proper badass pose, with his helmet tucked under his arm. Like the Vanguard Lieutenant before, he has enough detail to give him some color. The heraldry on his right shoulder was sculpted on, so that kept it simple. The iron halo also appears on his left knee.

Last of this batch is a Veteran Intercessor Sergeant. This guy was one of the limited edition minies released some time ago. Like a proper Vet Sergeant, he bears two red gauntlets and a red helmet.

More to come.

Crimson Fists: Aggression

 

More Crimson Fists Space Marines!

I’ve gotten back to working on the huge Fists army, filling in the Primaris units.

First is a Chapter Ancient, a veteran tasked with carrying the army’s standard. He gets the veterans’ red right gauntlet (in addition to the left one all Marines wear), as well as unique heraldry on his right shoulder. A simplified version appears on his left knee pad. Last he gets a red stripe on his helmet, similar to the markings of a Lieutenant.

His banner bears the word ‘Invicta’ meaning unbroken.

Next are the other half of an Infiltrators squad I painted a while back. Not much to say but I do like the pistol shooting pose.

Last are a unit of Aggressors. These guys are big and chunky, marching forward with guns blazing. I like some of the details, but I think the weapon harness is a bit over-designed. I don’t think they need the wire running down the ammo feed. Anyway, I made the wire yellow to make them stand out better, and bringing some other color to the otherwise dark backs.

They all wear icons hanging off their waists. One of them was missing theirs, so a quick dive in the bits box gave him some prayer scrolls. The Sergeant of the unit has lots of decoration to make him stand out, since he doesn’t have his red helmet.

Sanguinius: The Blood Angel

 

I’ve been slow to update recently, with several long-term projects being worked on.

Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels Legion of the Space Marines is the latest Primarch I’ve finished. The Primarchs of the Horus Heresy era are all big, complicated models, covered in detail. Sanguinius here is no exception.

He has a full set of bright gold power armor, offset by his big white angel’s wings. The pteruges (the leather strips flying off his shoulders and from his belt) follow the rule of complements, being purple to the ‘yellow’ of the armor. The only real other color to the armor are spots of bright red, including the legion symbols on his shoulder pads. The armor is covered in the winged blood drop symbol and little ruby blood drops, extending to his weapons.

The wings got a wash of blue over the light grey, followed by highlights of pure white. I wanted his wings to be angelic, but also a little otherwordly.

He wears the hide of a clouded leopard, wrapped around his armor. I picked the dull warm grey of the clouded leopard hide so it would stand out from the bright gold armor. I included a detail pic to show off the spotting.

The model comes with two weapn options- The Blade Encarmine and the Spear of Telesto. The hands are magnetized to allow them to switch as the client desires. Technically he should only wear the Moonsilver Blade when paired with the Spear, but I included it because it looked better in the scabbard.

There’s still some more Primarchs in store. Coming soon.