From GregB - XV Legion Master of Signals (5 points)

Master of Signals from the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. 

Ah, the mad final dash to score a few more points during AHPC XV has arrived at last! And with this in mind, I present to you...er...a solitary 28mm figure. Kind of underwhelming - but we go with what we've got! This is a Legion Master of Signals, painted in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, known as the Thousand Sons. This is a multi-part 28mm resin figure, available at one time from GW's Forge World studio.  

Handy bolt pistol, and communications bits...

Everyone hates dropped calls. Purging the galaxy in the name of The Emperor is already hard work, and the task doesn't get any easier when you can't communicate with your battle brothers. Enter the Legion Master of Signals, a specialist command figure who will help your Space Marines get the widest and fastest available 5G+ wireless data speeds even as they empty their bolt guns and flamers into to midst of whatever pack of fools took the fatally foolish decision to stand against the Sons of Magnus. 

There is a lot happening on this power pack! I accidentally cut off one of the cables during my prep work...but it is still fine overall. 

This is an old figure - circa 2014, somewhere around there. I loved it when it first came out. Not only do all of the assorted whacky antennae and communications bits look great, but this figure was, in fact, a quiet little tribute to GW's early Warhammer 40k period, the time of "Rogue Trader" - see "Communications Officer Orinoco".  I love this figure so much that I painted one for my Sons of Horus (obvs) and another for the Imperial Fists. Since I wanted to try and add to my XV Legion during AHPC XV, I thought it would be fun to paint another one for the Thousand Sons.

"Ahriman - can you hear me now?"

The Thousand Sons are known for their mastery of obscure lore and dangerous powers - standard communications doesn't really come to mind when you think of their story. After all, who needs wi-fi when you can just use telepathy to communicate with your buddies. That said, use of warp powers can have, um, lets call it "occasional side effects", so ensuring you have a full suite of standard communications is still really important, even if you are an armoured space wizard.

"Hey, cool! Horus 'liked' my last online post! Also we have jammed the enemy's comms!"

In playing the current edition of the 30k game, I have also found the Master of Signal is ridiculously useful to have around. The game offers all sorts of terrifying means to deploy - drop pod assaults, underground termite assaults, mass teleport assaults etc. The Master of Signals increases the chances that the other player's assault will get a bit jammed up in addition to other benefits. Useful to have around. 

So for scoring...well, it's pretty boring. Just a single 28mm foot figure, so that is good for five points. But wait, there's more! He also has TWO skullz on his armour (one on the vambrace, and the other on his chest plate) - so hopefully a bit more for my skullz tally! 

The brushes are still bending...here's hoping I can squeeze one or two more posts in before we wrap up!

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Fabulous work, Greg! As you can see from my post earlier today you are in good company with quixotic, single figure entries. As any stage producer would say, you gotta tease them with the small acts before you come in with the big closing number.

I love this guy, especially as he's a nod to those heady, wild-and-whacky days of Rogue Trader. The super saturated red and yellow of his armour is ace, and that pose is definitely on-point, 'If I get another busy signal I swear to Horus I'm going to call in a air strike on this f*&$er...' 

Well done dude!

- Curt

From GregB - Legion Cataphractii Command Squad for 30k Thousand Sons (15 points)

Legion Terminator command squad for the XV Legion Astartes. 

Sadly not too much to share painting-wise this week - but at least the figures are rather large chaps! We have a Legion Command Squad wearing terrifying Cataphractii terminator plate and resplendent in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. These are multi-part plastic 28mm figures from GW's "Age of Darkness" range for gaming the Horus Heresy setting. 

View showing the not-quite-net-zero-compliant power systems of the armour.

Since it is AHPC XV, I am making an effort to get my XV Legion collection to the next level in terms of size/capability. This command squad will help in that regard, bulking out the command element on the table. They accompany their boss (usually a Praetor or Centurion) to battle. I try to have a command squad like this for each Space Marine Legion I collect, because they all feature a silly banner, and I just love the large, silly banners in the Horus Heresy. They really capture the blend of dark-age-war-approach with high-tech-weapons that is a cornerstone of the delightful absurdity that is 30k!

Banner bearer, ready to inspire his brother Marines.

Closer look at the banner bearer.

The Legion Command squads are supposed to wear similar armour to the commander they accompany. As my Thousand Sons have gone to battle so far under the leadership of a Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator armour, his command flunkies would need to have the same kit. I have plenty of plastic Terminators sitting around in the shelves, and the banner was an easy swap in from the standard Space Marine command accessory sprue. The excellent Thousand Sons decal sheet from Forge World had a handy large-sized transfer that fit the big silly banner perfectly, and I'm pleased with how it all turned out.

I love this pose. "Hey, over there - someone shoot that guy!"

The Cataphractii Terminator armour is one of those systems that reads as terrifying in the lore and the stories but never matches up to that sort of experience when you actually deploy them on the table in the game. In a game system where "points" are used to create balance, the Terminators cost far too many points relative to what they manage to achieve in a given game. That said, they look super cool - the Cataphractii armour variant in particular is just delightful in its air of slab-sided menace. 

Another dramatic pose - figured a drama-adjacent sort like this fellow should be in the command squad...

The big, dramatic banner provides some morale and associated buffs for fellow Thousand Sons Space Marines on the table. The chap carrying it has a nice big power sword to smack people with, while the other two - "chosen" - act as general bodyguards, with combi-bolters to and power fists to deal with matters arising on the battlefields of the grim and dark far future.

Some great waterslide transfers do the heavy-lifting on the big, silly banner...

An additional advantage for these sorts of units in the Thousand Sons is that nearly all of the members of the Legion have spooky psychic powers, which they use despite the serious risks involved in messing with the warp with no problems at all everything always works out just fine...it provides these chaps with an extra edge in the battle, particularly in the company of their scary boss. Terminators can already be a handful, but Terminators with spooky powers? Whatever happens on the table, rest assured it will be dramatic!

A photo with the boss! The Praetor was not painted as part of the Painting Challenge, but still fun to pose him with his brand-new set of command flunkies!

Scoring-wise, we have three 28mm infantry models. Chunky models perhaps, but 28mm infantry all the same, and so we have 15 points! That's it for this week...I'm hoping, as all Challengers hope, to be making a last big splash prior to the end of AHPC XV...but real life may not agree, so we'll see. But thanks for reading, and keep those brushes going!

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From GregB - Thousand Sons Automata & Apothecary (65 points)

"No need to worry - they're with me..."

For my first submission today we have some more kit from GW's "Horus Heresy" setting. There are three Castellax-Achea Automata and an Apothecary, all wearing the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. These are all multi-part resin models from GW/Forge World. 

Castellax-Achea Automata

Achean-Force claws, Mauler-pattern Bolt Cannon...ready for all kinds of automated fun!

GW's Space Marines are so conditioned for battle in the name of The Emperor that they come across as if they are nearly soulless killing machines. Note that descriptor - "nearly". The individual Space Marines is still a human, in a sense. But don't worry. When all-the-way-soulless-killing is called for, the Space Marines send in the Automata.

Designed and built by the various Mechanicum Forge Worlds, Automata come in all manner of shapes and sizes. Automata attached to the various Space Marine Legions are employed by their commanders either to augment otherwise limited numbers of troops or for use in combat situations considered too extreme even for the fabled Space Marines themselves. 

View of the guts on the reverse side of the armoured plates...and a glowing little crystal to help with warp-energy control...I'm sure that won't cause any problems...

The Thousand Sons applied their own little twist to the whole Automata phenomenon. Their Primarch, Magnus the Red, pitched some Mechanicum types on Automata systems that made use of psychic energy. Usually the Mechanicum Forge Lord types reject any idea which they didn't devise themselves as heretical, but in this case Magnus found a particular - and apparently isolated - Forge World that heard him out and said "hey, sounds great, we'll work that up for up for you." Behold the Castellax-Achea pattern Automata.

"WHO WANTS A HUG?"

These are essentially killer robots, with the advantage that they can be guided by their controllers using psychic means rather than more standard communications protocols. What could possible go wrong? With Automata like these around, the Thousand Sons can spend a bit of extra time reading forbidden books while the robots handle some of the tedious fighting for them.

Apothecary

Apothecary in Mk VI power armour - with handy chain sword. Of course.

Not a whole lot to say about this fellow. The Apothecaries are Legion specialists charged with ensuring the physical health of their battle brothers. In practice, this seems to work out to about 20% healing/80% recovering critical bits from seriously wounded brethren for use in creating future replacement Space Marines. 

All the tools of the trade mounted on his left arm, with lamps and sensors on the power unit on the back.

I love the "beakie" Space Marines, and when GW released a new Horus Heresy Apothecary figure wearing the Mark VI "beakie" power armour I naturally over-supplied on the models. Since I was doing some Thousand Sons Automata, I thought I might as well get this fellow painted while I was at it. 

Safety fluids galore!

The Apothecaries are great fun to employ in 30k games, almost invariably driving your opponent bonkers by sparing Space Marines who otherwise would have been obliterated. You can deploy a little pack of them to roam among your detachments and I have found them to be fun and useful in all sorts of ways. This is a second Apothecary for my Thousand Sons - so now the medical experts can do consults.  

The armour details did not leave a lot of room for Legion symbols, but I managed to get to pseudo-heiroglyph symbols on the leg greave.

For scoring, these models are much heftier than the standard 28mm Space Marines, but still not as big as the Dreadnoughts (which have counted as "vehicles"), so I'll propose to count the Automata as 54mm foot figures. 

3 x 54mm infantry = 30 points

1 x 28mm infantry = 5 points

Total= 35 points

Bonus - the Apothecary has four skullz!!

Thanks for reading - I have one more post still to come for today - stay tuned for that!

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Fab additions to your Legion Greg! The Automata are excellent - such a thematic element to break up all those Astartes. I've been meaning to add some to my World Eaters, where their high casualty rates mean that their Legion relies on some less berserk (ie reliable) firepower. 

The Apothecary is a lovely addition too. True, they seem to spend more time in the fiction harvesting organs in a non-consensual kind of way from their enemies, but then again all bleeding stopes eventually. One way or another.

Given the intricacies of the Automata, I've counted them as vehicles. Great entry!

- Paul

From GregB - Space Marine APC and Librarian (25 Points)

Thousand Sons Librarian Consul and Deimos-Pattern Rhino APC - models from GW.

For my third submission I'll be sticking to GW's "Horus Heresy" setting as I continue to try and clear off some projects which have been sitting in the "pending pile" for weeks - or even months - leading up to the start of AHPC XV. Here we have a Rhino APC and a Librarian Consul, both painted in the colours of the XV Legion Astartes, the Thousand Sons. The vehicle is a multi-part plastic kit, and the foot figure is a multi-part resin kit - both are from GW.

It's not a fancy ride by the standards of the Space Marine Legions, but it is still the first vehicle for the Thousand Sons in my collection!

Some esoteric markings on the door...probably safety instructions, and nothing to do with using spooky powers or anything like that...

The Rhino is the classic APC of GW's Space Marine forces, and this plastic "Deimos pattern" of the vehicle is very much a loving homage to the original plastic Rhino model kits of GW's much earlier days. I had built this model back in the summer, determined to paint it promptly but...of course I did not, and it sat there on the shelf for months. 

View showing the iconography of the Thousand Sons on the vehicle. I was pretty sparing with the markings (I find the Thousand Sons tanks in the GW/Forge World books to be a touch too whacky/busy for my liking and prefer to keep it simple).

My collection of Horus-Heresy-era Thousand Sons has, up to this point, comprised solely of infantry models. This is mostly because it grew out of the infantry-focused box game "The Burning of Prospero" (which I highly recommend) so I would add infantry and characters, but never got around to painting any vehicles for them. No doubt my Sons of Prospero will be pleased to have the opportunity to at last catch a ride on the table!

Love the post of this sculpt...he is about to unleash some warp fun on you!

The character figure is a "Librarian Consul" from the updated "Age of Darkness" range. This figure was intended to be generic in that he has no specific markings for any of the particular factions in the setting so you could paint him up for any Legion. In the 30k setting, "Librarians" are not mere civil servants checking books in and out - they are powerful adepts skilled in manipulating the dangerous energies of the warp. This fellow has the trappings associated with Space Marine Librarians...fancy armour, fancy cloak, a helmet with some slight extra fluff, and esoteric bits like old keys, a spooky old hard-cover leather-bound book, and, naturally, a couple skulls...because they...help...or something.

Big, pimped-out cloak? Check! But I really love the spell book chained on to the power pack unit (which has some further embellishments of its own as well - like I said, awesome sculpt). 

I love the figure - he has a "beakie" helmet, awesome! - and had already painted one of these fellows for my Loyalist Imperial Fists. Given that the Thousand Sons are noted for their preponderance of psychic-power practitioners (what could go wrong with that?), I thought I would paint this second figure to join them (and take his place with the other, legion-specific psyker model for the XV Legion). 

"I foresee...getting a ride for once! About damn time!"

For scoring we have a single 28mm vehicle and a single 28mm foot figure, so that should amount to 25 points. And a few more skulls...hey, I'll take em! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more soon - I hope!

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Lovely work on these two models dude. As an archivist I can't help myself in shaking my head at GW's decision to call the Space Marian psykers 'Librarians', like WTAF? I have yet to meet a librarian who can hoist a stack of books without quivering in near collapse much less wear power armour and haul around huge melee weapons. 'Don't make me release the awesome power of the Dewey Decimal System on you!' *eyeroll* Anyway, my peccadilloes aside, your Librarian is a wonderfully painted example of the breed. Like you I really enjoy all the details of the sculpt, very characterful and dynamic. And what Marine wouldn't appreciate resting their armoured-shod feet with a ride in a Rhino such as this. The Dodge Caravan of the 30th millennia. Great work dude!

- Curt

From GregB - Thousand Sons Tactical Squad (100 points)

Thousand Sons Space Marines of the XV Legion Astartes. 28mm figures from GW.

For this week's submission I am back to a familiar setting, GW's "Horus Heresy" setting. This is a tactical squad of Space Marines belonging to the XV Legion Astartes, known as the "Thousand Sons". These Marines are wearing Mark VI power armour, known by fans of the setting as "beakie" armour for the pointed faceplate on the helmets. These are multi-part plastic 28mm, with some themed resin helmets and shoulder plates. 

A couple of the individual Marines.

View of the power packs.

I have painted a great number of these models since GW released them a couple of years ago, and I can't seem to ever get tired of them. I have always loved the classic "beakie" Space Marine armour pattern, and I have also been a huge fan of the Horus Heresy for a long, long time. So when GW finally brought these classic models back specifically for the Horus Heresy setting I was super-duper hooked, and have accumulated a rather, um, shall we say "significant" stockpile of these figures.

I love these particular poses.

Nice view of the embossed Legion symbol on the custom shoulder pads. Love these things - plus it saves on the decals a bit.

The Thousand Sons Legion is great fun, combining all of the violent combat potential of the Space Marines with an assortment of spooky psychic powers. They pursue and accumulate knowledge, as opposed to the other Space Marines who otherwise struggle to stand out from one another via varying degrees to which they are either violent, stoic, or violently stoic. 

Officer on the left, with a power sword (sporting a SKULL in the hilt!).

Of course, in GW's universe of the future, learning and knowing things doesn't tend to work out well for you in the end, and so it is for the Thousand Sons. By the "time" of Warhammer 40k, the remnant Thousand Sons are basically Flanderized parodies of their former selves. 

A sort of "must-have" for these big tactical squads - a vox operator and vexillary.

But during the "Age of Darkness", the Thousand Sons are wearing cool armour, with fun Egyptian-themed accents and all sorts of symbols etc. The custom enhancements are part of that, and I love how they look on the Marines.

The Heresy-era Thousand Sons are often seen sporting an awesome, metallic candy-red on their powered armour and vehicles. I love how that looks, but to do it properly, you need to use an airbrush, especially on vehicles. I had experimented with different possible approaches, but in the end have settled for a nice, basic red with white and gold accents, relying on the custom symbols to help them stand out from the other Space Marines who also use red (such as the Blood Angels). 

Vox operator (with a skull, because obviously) and vexillary at the front of the squad.

So for scoring, we have 20 infantry models in 28mm scale, which comes to 100 points. That's all for this week - thanks for reading! We also get THREE SKULLS. Not much, but I'll take it.

For a moment I was at a loss whether I was being buttered up or insulted, but having looked up "Flanderized" my mind is completely at rest now. Which is just as well, because now I can enjoy the lovely work you are presenting to us today, Greg. A great assembly of beaky Space Marines, I think they look splendid in their red armour suits and your painting is meticulous and crisp as ever. A great addition  to your large collection, and 100 well earned points!

Martijn

From ScottR December Painting (470 Points)

Well its taken awhile to get thinks started this year.  However, I managed to get my Wild West painting sorted out to run a game from Wargames Foundry called 'Rules with No Name'.  I had painted up some western figures during my year studying in the UK.  I then attended a game at Historicon last year and really enjoyed it.  So for the start of the challenge I figured I would add all the painting work i have been doing for the game.

So here is the Town for the first game.  Most of the buildings here were painted for the game.  The mexican style buildings on the left side have not been finished yet.  

This was the table layout for the second game after the cactus plants and outcrops had been printed and painted.

First off, i managed to pick up a few MDF buildings at Historicon and they sat around until I had the time to get them done.  I spent half a day just building them and working out what they needed to be, Undertaker, Bank etc.  I base coated them in a few different browns and then went on to do the different colour frontages.  After that was some minor detail work like windows, doors and posters.  Here are some photos of the MDF buildings.

The centre building.  The Barber shop even had some NPCs done up to add some character.  This included a barber and a customer in the barber chair.

The barber, customer, chair, wagon, barrels and standing horses are all 3D prints.  The two figures are metals with one from Colonel Bills and the other is from Wargames Foundry I think.

Part of the game is to have factions consisting of three, four or five members.

These are the lawmen, 3D prints.

Comanches', 3D prints.

Comancheros, 3D prints.

Oh and While I dont have a Saloon yet, I do have some of the staff with these Can Can Girls and the Piano and Piano player, also 3D prints.

I needed some specific terrain to give the table the proper look.  The next step was to find some suitable terrain pieces to add to the game table.   I found some individual Cactus's and clusters which printed and painted up nicely.  A wagon, some horses, water troughs and barrels.  I need to find some more items and add some extras later but for now. here is what's been done.

Final casting, getting ready for the undercoat.

  

So here is the game in progress with one of the new buildings and the cactus adding a bit of character to the table.

Ok so now for the second part of the article.  Yes I could have done a completely new article but hey.  

Next up.  A few of us are old 40K players and decided after 10 years to jump back into 10th edition.  For me I started with a Sisters of Battle Force, a few marines on the side and for a second force the Eldar which are now called Aeldari.  I managed to finish off some small units to fit out my 1000 point starting force.

So like all, there is always the preparation.  With Games Workshops new plastic miniatures, I like the build these days.  They are easier to clean and the figures go together really well.  There is a little bit of gap filling to be done but this is fairly easy to do.

Then of course base coating or undercoating and then the real fun begins with the painting.

First up was a unit of Dire Avengers.  This were done with a two layer coat of citadel contrast paint to give it the dark but rich blue that they are best known for.

The next unit off the bench was a unit of wraithguard.  these were fairly easy to do as they have far less attachments and they consist of mainly wraithbone armour and weapon system.

The last unit out and by far one of my favourites was a unit of Howling banshees.  The red hair on these is awesome.  I tried to keep the brightness with a small amount of shade at the base only.

I have included the 3 veteran blade guard marines I did as test figures.  The armour colour was taken from a mix of Imperial Fists and Salamanders.  I have kept the Salamander iconography and written a small amount of lore to support the establishment of a sub chapter of the Salamanders called the Basilisks.

So thats it for this one.  Up next will be some more 40K.  With the Eldaeri done for now, well a few more but not a priority.  No, next up will be some Thousand Sons.  Rubic Marines, Scarab Terminators, Ahriman, chaos spawn and an infernal master.

As to points:

5 Buildings that are 5" x 11" so say 30 points each = 150 points
1 building 4" x 3" 10 points
Scatter cactus terrain 8 pieces 20 points.
2 walkways 6" long by 2"wide each so 12 x 4 maybe 10 points
Carriage vehicle 15 or 20 points
Cactus large pieces x 3 each is about 5-6" round say 15 each for 45 points
24 western 28mm figures 5 each for 120 points
20 40K figures 5 each for 100 points

Total points 470 points roughly, maybe....

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In the flurry of under-the-wire posts last week I regrettably forgot to upload this one from Scott - my most sincere apologies sir!

You may have been holding back but the wait was well worth it. Wow, what a tremendous amount of wonderful work. Your Western town along with its various protagonists and antagonists are excellent, though I must say my favourites have to be your large cactus bases - those outcrops are magnificent. 

With the outriders of Eldar and Space Marines on offer I very much look forward to seeing your upcoming 40K submissions. 

Well done, Scott!

- Curt