Grey Knights Again

Not much time for hobby this past month or 2 due to illness in family, but yesterday there was finally some time to photograph 2 projects. A Brother Captain "Stern". Fine cast is a nightmare to paint as the greasy surface needs good preparation before painting. Any tips. A spray of hardcote before the undercoat perhaps.

Secondly the Razorback transport for the Strike Squad, customised with some spare bits from the Dread Knight and some transfers.  Next Strike squad #2 is to be assembled  etc. And then another Razorback. After that a large transport either a Landraider or a Stormraven. The Stormraven is currently favourite. Next month marks the 7th year of this blog and only 2 more posts before the 250th. How much longer should it go on I wonder.

Grey Knights that is what is on my table

The plastic Grey Knights mini sculpts are excellent for detail and for posing and detailing.  Followers of this blog will know that some of the metal grey knight minis have been painted previously when the Daemon hunters codexs were released. Now with the new Grey Knights and Inquisition codexs there is a need to collect more Grey Knight minis to expand to a bound Grey Knights strike force. First addition was a Venerable Dreadnought. Then a Nemesis Dreadknight, Now a 10 mini Grey Knights Strike force. 5 of the minis have been assembled and 99% painted. Some details to complete, but only after all squads have been assembled and painted. Here are the first 5 minis plus an older "spare" metal grey knight. Which is it? No prizes.

It has been a while

Finally to have some time for the hobby.


Firstly the Greater Daemon of Khorne seems to be unbending after being forced to roost like a bat. The question to answer now is how to keep it standing up when placed back on its own 2 feet. Lots of thought is required. Bracing of some sort - internal or part of a scenic base.

 Secondly in time for the new Grey Knoights codex a completed Dreadknight with gatling psilencer and Deamon Hammer. Look out Daemons. 
     

Grey Knight Dreadnoughts

It has been a bit of a gap since the last post here. No excuses the reason is called "XCOM Enemy Unknown". A Christmas present and for those unfamiliar with it, it is a very addictive turn based squad sized tactical scifi game for the PC.

Regardless some progress has been made on the various 40k projects. The Grey Knights Deardnought is completed. One thing that is irritating about the current Grey Knights codex is that Dreadnoughts do not get Psycannons although Forgeworld does make one. Forge world also supplies rules for this so here it is if anyone is interested. These are experimental rules for a Deimos-Lux pattern psycannon, stamped as Imperial Sanction not yet granted.

                    Range       Strength          AP          Type
Psycannon :    24"               7                 4            Heavy 4, Rending

Cost for a Dreadnought Psycannon is 20 points.

 


One other project, the Ecclesiarchy Immolator is also taking shape as seen below.

The Imperial Knights, Astra Militarum and Militarum Tempestus codexes have been making interesting reading. Particularly as the ally with the Inquisition in all its forms. Some pluses and some minuses. Here one plus is definitely the HQ choice of a Tank Commander giving BS skill 4 to Leman Russ and a General for a Tank Army.

What is done and What is not done

Its near the end of 2012. So here it was thought that there should be a review of what had been completed. This thought was initiated by a review of posts being viewed yesterday. One from the list was titled project pipeline:- here  This was a post in 2011. And there has been little progress with the three projects mentioned therein.

But there has been progress elsewhere. 2012 has been the year when the Grey Knights project's shape took form and the Sisters of Battle and the Steel Legion projects came close to completion. Ideas in planning include an Ogre Warhammer army and a 40k minimal, veteran artillery allied army for the Sisters of Battle, more terminators for the Grey Knights, and some tweaks to the Steel Legion to add more special and assault weapons, plus of course the 3 projects still in the pipeline, and then there are still the Space Hulk minis to paint. Ideas come faster that the time available to paint, as ever.

Have a good 2013 when it comes and thanks for reading this blog.

Metal or Plastic or Finecast or?

Which is best?

The answer is that there isn't any best. It comes down to a subjective choice of what the individual modeller prefers. At my local (independent) store some preferred plastics while here at Artificer's Workshop metal minis are the preferred option. In a sense this post is academic as metal is on the way out as far as games workshop is concerned. And to be fair and impartial the quality of the latest plastic releases have been superb. No doubt everyone has their own preferences but here the plastic Grey Knight Terminators are recognised as superb. 

(Why does blogger insist on american spelling when american english is more and more infiltrated by britishisms these days - a bit like the french hatred for franglais, see recognised. By the way I know the answer - rhetorical question directed at blogger.)

Back to topic. The future as far as metal goes is undoubtedly finecast. Here despite reservations identified in previous blogs it is recognised (that "misspelled" word again) that this is the future. Current problems will doubtless be ironed out.

The question posed on this blog is really what do you prefer to play with on the table top. The answer here is metal minis - hence the focus on Sister of Battle and Steel Legion and Bob Olley Rogue Trader era minis. Why because they are heavier and subjectively seem more substantial when placed on the table. Plastic minis here and there are definitely plenty of them often have a coin glued inside their GW base to give more weight when deploying on the table. Does anyone else do this? Does it produce more wins on the table top - probably. Try and see.    

Inquisitor Karamazov Finished and 150th Post!

The Inquisition is one of the best bits of fluff in the 40k lexicanum. So it was disappointing that the Daemon Hunters Codex became obsolete. And so did some of the previously collected minis. The Grey Knights codex, however can be built either way. A hard as you can make it Grey Knights force, or a fluffy mitt hiding a vicious iron fist Inquisitorial force. The latter appeals to any Inquisitor hiding within. A recent reading of the Grey Knights Codex revealed that an inquisitor's retinue could ride in any of the transports. This includes razorbacks.

Here is the finished Karamazov ready to take his place as the HQ choice of the re-nascent Inquisitorial force.

Inquisitor Karamazov Progress

Karamazov on the painting table today after the main components which had been painted individually were glued together. While White Dwarf often recommends assembly then painting it often is easier to paint discrete sub components and then paint. For Karamazov these were the legs of the throne, the throne its self minus the engine and exhausts, Karamazov him self and the 2 servitors individually and also the multimelta gun.

Karamzov is the sole finecast mini tried so far. As previous posts have indicated this has been a disappointing first finecast mini. Yes some detail is nice and sharp but there a plentiful mould lines and flashing to be trimmed off. The quality of the moulding seems no better than the previous older metal minis. Perhaps GW is using the same moulds hence the same casting problems remain. Perhaps minis that a originals in finecast come out better.

Why choose Karamazov over Coteaz for a Grey Knight's Inquisitor. Coteaz at 100 points is half the price of Karamazov and allows the use of multiple henchmen war bands as troop choices. In a Grey Knight force expendable IG stormtroopers are of limited value when terminators and purifiers can be taken as troops choices. Karamazov is a complete army by himself. A close combat monster with  a master crafted power weapon, WS 4 strength 5, wounds 4  and a 2+ save. He is also shooty with a master crafted multimelta and to cap it all he can bring down artillery in the form of an orbital strike. Whats not to like.

Here are the previously blogged images of Karamazov showing the amount of flashing and the poor fit of components:

Purity Seals

Certainly  purity seals are the bling of the Inquisition, Grey Knights and Sisters of Battle. The question is can they get enough of them. The GW provides molded on purity seals on some minis and customizable purity seals for some such as Grey Knights. But if you want to up the purity and worship of the Dead Emperor stakes more purity seals are needed. There are a number of options to getting more purity seals to add to minis. ForgeWorld sell a packet of resin purity seals for £6.50 plus p&p. These seals are well sculpted as might be expected but are a bit pricey for what you get. 

Grey Knight Terminators and perhaps other Grey Knight plastic sets also have spare purity seals that can be used elsewhere.

Finally it is possible to make your own purity seals with paper superglue and some green stuff. Here are some made recently. 
 The pictures speak for themselves I think. Stick the bits of paper together

 Add the green stuff and depress the center with the end of a paint brush handle.

Undercoat and then paint.

And finally cut out of backing paper ready to apply.

To this.

Finecast continued

What are the problems with finecast. One of the consequences of the enhanced detail inherent in finecast are the plethora of mould injection points. Secondly the finecast material is softer than even the plastic that GW uses. This makes it easy to accidentally damage the components as they are removed from the sprue or while cleaning flashing from components.

Secondly and worse is the discovery that fine cast is not so fine cast. Components from the above kit required a good bit of green stuff and trimming to align the front and rear arms of the throne of judgement. If this is a consistent finding with finecast then its not so fine.

Fine Cast - Is That So - Inquisitor Karamazov

Those of you who have followed this blog will know that a fine cast Inquistor Karamazov had been acquired some time ago. The cycle of construction has taken this mini on to the work table finally. Pictures of the kit were posted here some time ago. The finecast components were as advertised finely detailed - but some problems arose with the finecast material. More later.

Grey Knight Terminators

The Terminators are basically done. What is not yet doe is naming the minis. Artificer struggles to create appropriate names for these minis. They are therefore the Anomes of the Grey Knights. In this squad we have 3 with force halberds, one psycannon, one deamon hammer and one warding stave and 5 storm bolters. Total 250 points if the Justicar has a master crafted weapon. Great.

Each of the bases has been sculped with liquid green stuff. The outcomes have been great for a first attempt. Liguid green stuff is definitely something to use.

Here are some images of the individual minis.

Grey Knight Terminators Progress and Green Stuff Basing

Here they are on the painting table. There is still a bit of detailing to do. The colour scheme is straightforward with mainly metallics and some reds. The tips from "From the Warp" regarding base coating the eyes and the flexi connectors between the armour have proved most helpful. On thing that was problematic was the the bases for the minis. These are such finely sculpted and dynamic figures that covering the bases with gravel as usual seemed inappropriate. Liquid green stuff the the rescue. The two bases in this image have been contoured by paining them with liquid green stuff and then shaping it as desired. The paining was then the usual base colour plus some washes to pick out detail and make the overall effect more interesting. Removing the old bases from the minis also had the benefit of allowing easier touching up of some of the more inaccessible parts of the minis.

Grey Knight Terminators - The archetype approaches

When starting a new series of minis a pilot model is often painted to try out the colour scheme or technique. So it goes with the Grey Knights. Last week all 5 were undercoated and then given a careful boltgun metal over coat except for the embossed text on the armour which along with the weapon got a coat of dwarf bronze mixed 50:50 with tin bitz. Then came the archetype. A wash with devlan mud followed by a thin highlight of boltgun metal on raised armour surfaces or a thin coat of mithril silver on shiny bits of the armour or weapons such as
the blade of the halberd. Some red for the purity seals and power cables, a light dry brush with shining gold on the decorative lettering and that's it so far.

The remaining 4 terminators in the kit are now getting their devlan mud wash while the heraldry is planned. Next up however is an improved base. Looking at the mini it seems that a standard dry brushed sand base would not do it justice. What seems better might be a base that combines the styles of the daemon hosts and Grey Knight Dreadnought that have been used before.

Grey Knight Terminators Progress 2

First pass paint on the Grey Knight Terminators. The idea was to use the "From the Warp" paint suggestions. It is possible that the minis might have strayed from this excellent advice. Anyway all the base colours are on. Next to come are some washes and highlights or highlights then washes to pull all together. The question is should the armour wash be devlan mud or badab black.

Sisters of Battle Immolator Treadhead Madness, Grey Knight Sanity

The Sisters of the Order of the Verdant Deed started as a single Immolator with rhino extra armour and the Forgeworld rhino large dozer blade. The Order has expanded to include 2 SoB squads mounted in rhinos, a celestinian squad, a cannoness with command squad body guard, a squad of 8 seraphim, a penitent engine and an Exorcist as well as a couple of priests. Most have featured in this blog at some time or other.

The new madness is the decision to add a second Immolator, a second Exorcist and a third Rhino simultaneously. 2 Immolator kits have been started and a third has been ordered with Exorcist bits. But Forgeworld had stopped producing Rhino extra armour, and the Predator extra armour package. Bargain extra armour on ebay slipped through the workshops fingers literally while the bits shown in the image on ebay were checked against the requirements. Gnashing of teeth.

All that was left was to buy the Chaos Rhino extra armour package from Forgeworld and tweak it for the Immolator. That path was chosen, bits arrived and started in to the production line. And what happens next is that Forgeworld announces new predator/rhino extra armour priced slightly less than the stuff just bought. More gnashing and some foaming at the mouth. Anyway the path has been chosen and lets see if a better cooler magnetised second SoB Immolator can be made with these bits. If not it's back to spending with Forgeworld. Below in order is the archetype, next is what has been bought from Forgeworld after washing in detergent and while drying on some kitchen roll, and finally what is also on the painting table for moments of sanity - some Grey Knight Terminators to be painted a la "From the Warp" tutorial about painting metals.
Busy times.

Finecast Inquisitor Karamazov and Grey Knights Inquisitorial Warbands

The new and only Inquisitor finecast mini has reached the Artificer. The GW site states that due to the expected demand orders for finecast are limited to 5 per customer. In the local independent stockist the boxes sit on the shelf, no restrictions and a 10% discount from list price. Why would anyone want 5 Karamazovs anyway? As a independent character and as a legendary individual how could you field more than one anyway. Actually this is a question I have never seen asked anywhere probably because the rules clearly identify unique characters of which only one is allowed per army. So why would anyone want more than one.

The box was disappointingly small for the price. There is one concept that GW have dropped at the moment which is value added. If the mini had come with a unique sculpted base that would be something perhaps, or a bit of scenery etc. Here are the contents of the box :

The components are highly detailed as promised. The attachments to the sprues and the mould lines on the components suggest a degree of skill required to assemble and paint this satisfactorily. The progress of this mini will feature on the blog, like the immolator and the exorcist - which is still finishing up.

The www has had some debate regarding the worthiness of Karamazov inclusion in a competitive listing. A number of reasons have been suggested but.... In the Grey Knights codex Inquisitorial henchmen warbands listing the Jokaero weaponsmith the question is does the inconceivable customisation rule apply to Inquisitors that join this unit. And if not why not. Imagine Karamazov with a 1+ save, or an on the move multimelta with rending, or an invulnerable save. Worthy of thought. Why shouldn't the JRO not customise his employing inquisitor. It makes no sense that the warband gets it but the Inquisitor does not.

Change in Focus or Not

The workshop has realised that over the past 4 years of blogging that the GW world has moved on. The Daemonhunters and Witch Hunters codices have gone. In came this year the Grey Knights with their own codex, and now through White Dwarf a release of of dedicated Sisters of Battle codex.

The Daemonhunters are dead! The Witch Hunters are dead!

Long Live the Inquistion! Long live the Inquisition!

The inquisition in the mordant and morbid universe of 40k is the superglue cement that fixes the order of the Imperium together through the living manifestation of the Emperor's will, his arm of justice and worship of the true believers. Decay, disorder, corruption and Chaos manifests elsewhere within the defenders of humanity including all Space Marine Chapters, the Imperial Guard and the vile alien menaces.

The Inquisition is the truth and the life of Humanity!

The change in the codices has resulted in some losses and some gains. The SoBs have a more Ecclesiarchial face now - hurrah. Sadly the Inquisition appears to be described as an appendage to the Grey Knights in their codex whereas in reality the reverse is true.However see the previous post suggesting ways around this.

Grey Knights Codex

The new Grey Knights Codex has arrived via advance order today. Cool codex 96 pages. 7 types of nemesis force weapons. Terminators as troop choices. Orbital Relay Strikes, Heavy Support includes the obvious Landraider, Landraider crusader and a Landraider Redeemer with flamestorm cannons. Choice of Inquisitors and assassins. Seems Daemon hosts are OK with Grey Knights now and more and more and more.