Reiving and pillaging

The first rievier squad is done! Had a go at batchpainting the last three but to be honest I think it´s more time effective to paint them individually as I find working on several models at the same time so abysmally tedious...

Oh well - this small army is now up to ten models with more on the way!

I´ve also started work on a Deathwatch lieutenant - I´ll have a few of these guys in the army as the idea is that the Metatron has extremely close ties with the Ordo Xenos and virtually all of the chapters veterans has served in the Deathwatch. Some are allowed to retain their armour and equipment when they go back to the home chapter.

Last but not least (though somewhat vertically challenged compared to the primarines) is a hardy squat warrior I threw together for my long gestating band of mercenaries. He´s based on one of the new Duardin Overlords with a headswap and armed with a Phobos pattern bolter - incidentally my favourite bolter design.

Really like how this crew is shaping up - there´s something no-nonsense and down to earth about these guys.

Sarge!

A determined sergeant joins the reiver squad.

He came out fine but I like the first reiver better for some reason. Might be the mask. Oh well... 

Anyway - three to go for a full squad. Having a go at batch painting them this time. Well see how that goes - I do not enjoy batch painting...

Astartes in colores

As promised, here some technicolor shots of the first Metatron squad!

But that's not all - I've also finished my first reiver.

These guys are amazing up close. Love 'em. They're just so quintessentially "Goodwinesque" - a bit like the original 90s assassins. He simply screamed out for a black paintscheme so black it had to be (kept the Metatron grey on the knee and right shoulderpad though).

I converted the boltpistol somewhat to make the profile sleeker, but it's still the only thing about the design I don't quite like. Might replace them with standard bolt pistols on the other guys.

First astartes squad done

Well, that took a little more time than expected. In part this was due to a rather severe cut in my left thumb, incurred while trying to work with the awful, abominable, rock hard, probably adamantium laced plastic that makes up GWs scenic base kits. Hobby models really shouldn't need diamond tipped instruments to cut them. 

Anyway, now I've finished the first squad for my Metatron chapter. None of the photos I took last night came out the way I wanted them to, so you'll have to make do with a monochrome sneak peak for now. I'll be back with technicolour pics soon. 

Three down...

Two to go, for a full squad.
After that we´ll see what happens - might do more of these guys or move on to something else. I´m sort of waiting for the full kit so I can really go to town on some properly sized deathwatch models. In any case I´ve got some of my hobby mojo back!

And they shall know no fear

Wow. Haven´t updated this poor blog since mid-april. I guess time flies when your work consists of drawing pterodactyls...


But - nothing to shake one out of ones hobby slump like the arrival of GW´s first official true scale marines!


As far as I'm concerned the sculptors utterly nailed the stature and proportions of these guys - they´re exactly as big as I've always felt an astartes should be. The primaris are simply great models (if a bit too "techy" for my taste). The contrived background for them is another story, but that´s been discussed to death elsewhere. I´m just gonna ignore it and view these as regular properly dimensioned marines.

So without further ado here´s my first take on the new and improved defenders of humanity. It's built straight out of the box, apart from the helmet which I swapped for a Mk IV (my favourite mark).

The iconography and paint scheme was inspired in part by the bearded true scale Questing Grey Knight I did a few years ago. https://convertorum.blogspot.se/2013/10/good-knight-part-iii.html

Not sure about what I should call the chapter, but leaning towards "Metatron something, something" (Metatron as we all know being the biblical archangel acting as The Voice of God). Either Knights of Metatron or Sons of Metatron - or simply the Metatron chapter. Something along those lines at least.

Plagueborg

I've got a huge and rather different Nurgle project in the pipeline. 

More on this soon, but as a warm up I cobbled together this plagueborg for my long gestating nurgly dark mechanicvm gang. He/it came out slightly more saturated than his fellows, but I'm still pretty pleased with the result. 

Second mini of 2017

Hi guys! 

Yes yes. It's been very quiet, I know. Haven't done much hobbying lately, but a new exiting communal project "Tor Megiddo" masterminded by Alexander jolted me back into action. Check it out here: http://s3.zetaboards.com/The_Ammobunker/topic/9023310/1/

Just to get back on the horse I picked up an unpainted mercenary and slapped on some paint. Not my best work but it was fun to break out the brushes and just zone out. 

More to come soon. 

Hopefully. 

I'm in White Dwarf (again)

I finally got my hands on the february issue of White Dwarf (the mag's been sold out in every hobby store in Stockholm). Apart from the rather nice feature on The Fracture of Biel-Tan, this month sees a new installment of Blanchitsu with yet another look at some of the retinues from the Pilgrym game. 

And lo and behold - this time the focus is on my Black Ship crew along with Migs Alpha Legion. I'm very pleased with the article - the pictures turned out great and the text really gives you a good understanding of the faction and their agenda. 

 

This marks the fourth time in as many years I'm featured in WD if my calculations are correct. Yay for me!

 

Inquisitorial infiltrator

Finished up this guy rather quickly. First mini of 2017 done!

Didn't manage to replicate that nice grey hue of the shotgun wielding veterans robes (though not for lack of trying) - but apart from that he turned out pretty much as planned. 

I see this guy as an inquisitoral acolyte infiltrating the mercenaries. The question is which master he serves and what his mission is... 

First mini of 2017!

I hope the new year has been treating you all well this far!

2016 was an interesting year for me hobby wise - even though my production of miniatures has been decidedly erratic I've managed to partake in some really cool communal projects. In early 2016 me Erik and Alexander had our Path of Glory campaign for wich I managed to build a Nurgle warband in just a few months. First real army I've done in ages. The game also gave us a chance to try out the Age of Sigmar rules (it was a lot of fun). 

After that it was time for the big one. 

The Pilgrym. 

This massive inquisimunda game masterminded by Migsula, PDH and John Blanche is one of the coolest projects I've ever had the honour to particiate in. I think that sentiment goes for everyone who took part. It is currently being documented in a series of White Dwarf articles - I think Lazaros and crew will be featured in the next issue.
The gaming board and the hundreds of miniatures made for the game is currently on display at the Warhammer World Museum. 

After that I jumped straight into the next collaborative project. Outgard was initially just supposed to be a small game of inquisimunda set on a remote medeival world somewhere in the 40k universe, but it quickly evolved into something much bigger involving hobbyists from all around the northern countries. In the end I unfortunately couldn't participate in the actual game in Helsinki but I still managed to contribute with some artwork and a trio of models. 

All in all it's been a good year. All these big collaborative projects have been very rewarding. Perhaps the coolest thing about them is that they've all seem to have served as inspiration to others. Similar collaborations have been popping up everywhere taking cues from Path to Glory, Outgard and of course, The Pilgrym. 

These huge undertakings have also been rather exhausting - my hobby mojo has been waxing and waning as a consequence. This year I'll probably focus on smaller personal projects. I'd love to start up a league and do a Blood Bowl team. I'll also continue adding to the mercenary band I started in november. Here's the third member - first mini of 2017!

There's a new sheriff in town

Hello all!

Haven't had much time for painting these last months, but tonight I managed to finish this guy. 

He's a member of my new band of mercenaries. I see this guy as an old gnarled enforcer from a backwater planet, dishing out his own brand of frontier justice. 

+updated with larger pics+

Mercs

I've been out of mojo for quite a while, but a look at PDHs new mercenaries gave me a much needed dose of inspiration. (They can be viewed here: http://s3.zetaboards.com/The_Ammobunker/topic/7506461/46/ )

I bought a box of the new 'stealer cultists and got going. Here's the first one: 

And here's a work in progress shot of the second one: 

Well see where this is going... nice being back to modelling at any rate!