Heresy Death Guard: Contemptor Dreadnought (DreadTober 2017 - Part 5. Finished)

Hi all.

Here is the - somewhat belatedly - finished product for my contribution to DreadTober 2017.

Life went to hell in a handbasket a few weeks ago when a family member was hospitalised. We had to make significant changes to our home and schedules in order to provide care for her. Wargaming, painting and modelling had to take a back seat.

Whilst we're still mired in the situation, I did manage to find a few minutes yesterday to photograph some of the models I'd been working on at the time so that I can upload something new to the blog instead of re-sharing finished projects from days of yore (that said I've got a few more of those to share so I'll drop one in from time to time).

Anyway, here is the finished product:

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:
More DreadTober 2017 stuff:

Heresy Death Guard: Contemptor Dreadnought (DreadTober 2017 - Part 4)

Getting near the end now. In my last post I laid down all the flat base colours. The model still looked pretty ropey at that point (some may argue it still looks ropey now!).

Since last time, some washes have been applied, some drybrushing on the metallic bits, the lenses, buboes and Nurgle's Rot has been painted. A little drybrushing has been done on the base too. It's shaping up and the final form is becoming more obvious.

SO, I need to find somewhere to apply a decal (not easy on this model), apply some weathering and do some more work on the basing (there's a dead Marine down there somewhere, remember) to finish it off.

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:
More DreadTober 2017 stuff:

Heresy Death Guard: Contemptor Dreadnought (DreadTober 2017 - Part 3)

It's DreadTober 2017 Week 3 and my aim for this week was to block in the model with colours - no shading or highlighting, just base colours so everything would at least suggest the final look of the model.

So, things definitely don't look too spectacular at this stage, but as I'm really just working out where each colour will fall I'm happy enough.

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:
More DreadTober 2017 stuff:

Heresy Death Guard: Contemptor Dreadnought (DreadTober 2017 - Part 2)

It's week 2 of DreadTober 2017 and things are going to schedule.

My collection of bits & pieces has now been assembled into a viable model. The model is intended to represent a dreadnought for the Death Guard Legion from the Horus Heresy so I have added a very few Nurgle-y embellishments (a few buboes on the top, a bit of Nurgle's Rot on the left foot and (just visible from the rear) a suspiciously fleshy-looking gash on the left hip.

As the old Rogue Trader dreadnoughts came with two different lengths of legs (yes - really. You can see one of the taller versions as part of my other Marine army here) and this is the shorter version of the two, I needed to boost it up a bit. Anyway, they were quite a bit smaller than a modern dreadnought model. So, I've used the builders' foam to build a rocky base to give the model a bit of loft.

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:
More DreadTober 2017 stuff:

Heresy Death Guard: Contemptor Dreadnought (Dreadtober 2017 - Part 1)

Woohoo! It's Dreadtober time again!

I had a blast doing this last year and have been looking forward to it again since.

I'm only doing one model this time.

One of my (many) projects at the moment which is just getting underway is a Death Guard army to represent a Heresy-era Legion.

My intention is to (as far as possible) build this legion using models from the Rogue Trader period - First Edition Warhammer 40K stuff.

So, with that aim in mind, I've been digging out all my old RTB01 Marines and picking up bits and bobs from eBay.

For DreadTober, that manifests as a Contemptor Dreadnought, armed with what were (in the day) twin-linked bolters on each arm, but (using current rules) will count as a pair of close-combat fists with a storm bolter on each.

Here is the pile of bits I'm planning to use:

You can probably spot some RTB01 Marine parts and a chunk of
builders' foam in the pile. These will form some basing details.

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:
More DreadTober 2017 stuff:

Heresy Death Guard: Primarch Mortarion

I was browsing around ebay looking for viable models to represent Mortarion when I stumbled across this guy. He is apparently a model made by Reaper and now long OOP. Being a pewter model he has some serious heft to him!

I stripped off the original paintjob which was, to be honest, a bit of a mess. He was disassembled, drilled, pinned painted and reassembled.

This model (especially as I am using him as a Heresy-era Mortarion) is clearly in a post Isstvan state - Nurgle has visited many gifts upon him. I kept him painted in regular Death Guard colours as I wanted cohesion on the tabletop.

Wings? Why not. They sprout from his backpack and clearly have mechanical elements to them. To my mind they make him look a lot more impressive and they can represent his "fleet" rule.

"Silence" his war-scythe is clearly represented on the model, but - sadly - "The Lantern" his hand-gun isn't.

You can't have everything, I guess.

I've photographed him alongside my test model in order to show scale.

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:

Heresy Death Guard: Test model

Again! I've done it again! What a muppet!

So here I am with a whole bunch of active projects on the go, and I have added more to my worksheet. Why? Because I made the mistake of starting to read the Horus Heresy series after picking up the first 15 novels as eBooks due to the "Humble Bundle" charity. I'm afraid this particular bundle is over now, but the site is well worth keeping an eye on.

Anyway. A few years back I decided to start a Heresy army. I wanted to do it (as always) on the cheap. I'd also just signed up to the "Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader Style" Google+ Community so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I spent a small amount of money on a large amount of models (thanks again, eBay) and added them to some models I already had.

The promptly went into "the dettol-bucket of shame" and have stayed there since.

Until now!

I proudly present my test model for the army: a metal model from about 30 years ago. He will most likely become the sergeant for my first tactical squad.

More Heresy Death Guard stuff:

Epic: Chaos Marines - Whole Army

As a closing post on the Epic Chaos project, I thought I'd sign off with some photos of the whole army gathered en-masse.

Personal events have overtaken me so I'm not sure when these guys will actually get to take to the field - it could be some time before I get to actually play again - so I thought I'd grab some quick snaps of the army as the chances of me getting any "in action" photos are slim for the foreseeable future.

And just for a laugh, I thought I'd do it with a little bit of fiction, inspired by a comment my would-be opponent Mike made when I sent him one of these photos. If you laugh at the end of this, it's all down to Mike.

---

This is Recon flight one-alpha-seven. Do you read me, Command?
Command reading you twenty-by-twenty. All still quiet?
Not sure, Command. Reading something over a ridge a few clicks South West. It's outside my grid and I'm pretty much off the clock here. I'm heading back in. I'm transmitting the Bogey's co-ordinates now so you can get one-alpha-twelve to check it out - it's in her grid.
Negative, one-alpha-seven. We lost contact with one-alpha-twelve a couple of minutes ago. We need to you check out that Bogey, but proceed with caution.
OK Command. Going into overtime.
The Emperor doesn't pay overtime, one-alpha-seven. Adjust your heading and report back ASAP. Out.

One-alpha-seven laid in a course to take him on a circuit around the ridge, his Valkyrie bucking and juddering as it got nearer the location he was scouting. That in itself was unusual - the Valkyrie's sleek design and powerful engines normally cut through atmospheric turbulence as though it wasn't there. More unusual were the energy disturbances his dials were starting to show. He almost didn't notice the fact that the sky was brightening up to daytime levels even though it was 02:00.

For the love of the Emperor! Command! Command!
What is it, one-alpha-seven?
Chaos force pouring out of a fissure in the sky! Massive numbers - Titans, Tanks and foot troops. Too many to count. Going to get some images and get the hell back. Transmitting scans, data and images back now. Confirm receipt.
Confirmed - we see it. Good work. Get out of there.
Coming under fire. Doing my best. <FOOM> Damn! That was close!

One-alpha-seven made it back. The maintenance crew weren't quite sure how.

Command this is flight-deck maintenance. Reporting in as directed. We're stumped on how one-alpha-seven made it back. His Valkyrie was almost completely out of fuel, its afterburners are completely burnt out. He must have given it some hammer getting out of there. It's going to need a complete refit. As for the interior - could you dispatch a seat-cleaning servitor down here?

---

+++ Images received +++

+++ Transmission Ends +++

---

Overall working time on this lot - 3.5 months. That's about 45 mins per day, 4 or 5 days per week. So roughly speaking, about 54 hours work (so about 3.5 models per hour given that it's an army consisting of 183 playing pieces). I'm happy with that, especially given all the build-and-conversion work I did on the Command Tanks, Titans and Death Wheels.

The complete list of posts (including links) for the project is as follows:

• Epic: Chaos Marines - Whole Army (This post)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Bloodthirsters (Greater Daemons of Khorne)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Havok Marines (3 of 3)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Havok Marines (2 of 3)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Havok Marines (1 of 3)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Rhinos (also Post Number 100!)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Land Raiders
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Beastmen (3 of 3)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Beastmen (2 of 3)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Beastmen (1 of 3)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Daemon Engines of Khorne (4 of 4 - Cannons of Khorne)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Daemon Engines of Khorne (3 of 4 - Death Dealers)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Daemon Engines of Khorne (2 of 4 - Cauldrons of Blood)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Daemon Engines of Khorne (1 of 4 - Towers of Skulls)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Command Stands
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warhound Titans - Complete
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warhound Titans - WIP (Part 1: Building)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - Complete!
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - WIP (Part 4c: Third Titan painted)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - WIP (Part 4b: Second Titan painted)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - WIP (Part 4a: First Titan painted)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - WIP (Part 3: More Green Stuff and some Bitz)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - WIP (Part 2: Green Stuff)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Warlord Titans - WIP (Part 1: Magnets)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Death Wheels
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Death Wheels - WIP
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Minotaurs Squad 3 & 4
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Minotaurs Squad 1 & 2
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Trolls Squad 2
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Whirlwinds
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Trolls Squad 1
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Tactical Squad 3
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Tactical Squad 2
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Tactical Squad 1
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Tactical Squads (WIP)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Raptors
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Fleshhounds
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Squats
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Bloodletters (Completed)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Juggernauts (Completed)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Bloodletters (WIP)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - Juggernauts (WIP)
• Epic: Chaos Marines - "Tanks a lot"
• Epic: Chaos Marines (my next project)

Next Project: Warhammer 40,000 Tau. Stay tuned.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Bloodthirsters (Greater Daemons of Khorne)

This is it - the end - the last of my Epic Chaos models all painted up and ready to murder stuff.

So here we have two Bloodthirsters (Greater Daemons of Khorne).

Painting these took me back about twenty years to when I painted the full-size counterpart that I use these days as a "counts as Daemon Prince" model in my Fantasy Warriors of Chaos army. I tried to keep the colour scheme as close to my original model as possible, just 'cos I liked it.

So aside from a "whole army" family photo post, I'm done with this project.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Havok Marines (3 of 3)

Here is the third and final unit of Havok Marines:

So nearly finished...

Just two Bloodthirsters left to go to finish this army off!

I'll try and get the Bloodthirsters and a whole army pic posted up next week.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Havok Marines (2 of 3)

Here is the second of my three Havok units:

One more to go.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Havok Marines (1 of 3)

This is the beginning of the end - the penultimate troop-type for this army.

I have three units of Havok (a.k.a. Devastator) Marines so will put one post up for each over the next few days.

Here's the first unit:

 Unit 2 later this week.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Rhinos (also Post Number 100!)

Wow - my 100th post! 

I never thought when I started that my little blog about my painting and modelling activities would be as well received as it has been. Thanks to anyone who's ever looked in and a special thanks to those of you who have "followed", "+1d", left feedback, added me to your circles or visited more than once. I'm honestly grateful.

Now, on with the Chaos!

I've done a little more work on my Rhinos which is the unit that started all this Epic Chaos work off.

I've added some colour to the top-hatches and side-doors in order to show unit membership (there are loads more Rhinos than this in my collection, but you get the gist from this shot showing two units of three Rhinos:

I've also done as I did with the Land Raiders and added some tentacles and chains to denote Rhinos that will be carrying Command Stands:

My next post will be about my penultimate unit in this army: Havok squads (a.k.a. Devastators, in Imerial parlance).

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Land Raiders

Here's an update from my earlier "Tanks a lot" post.

I've added some unit markings to my Land Raiders - slightly indistinct from the photos but they are Roman numerals.

Each Land Raider company consists of 10 tanks - three detachments of three tanks plus a command tank shown here with chains and tentacles added. 

I have two companies like the one above.

Next post - Rhinos.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Beastmen (3 of 3)

The third and final unit of Beastmen for my Epic Chaos army:

That just leaves updates to my Land Raiders/Rhinos (unit markings, command tanks), Havoc squads (devastator marines) and a couple of greater daemons to go to finish this project off.

Nearly there.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Beastmen (2 of 3)

More Beasties for the Chaos army:

I've got one more unit of these guys to upload later in the week. Stay tuned for further bulletins.

After that, I'm going to revisit my Land Raiders and Rhinos in order to give them a bit of an uplift - I need to decorate some to represent vehicles that commanders might ride in and add some unit markings so that the others can be put in recognisable battlefield units and distinguised between.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Beastmen (1 of 3)

Time (long past time, in fact) for another update on my rapidly-nearing-completion Epic Chaos Marines force.

It's been two full weeks since my last update - not due to idleness - these guys for some reason just took a long while to paint.

As I have one more, similarly sized unit to go after these guys and I don't want another long gap between posts I'm going to drip-feed these guys out in three instalments.

So without further ado - meet the Beasts!

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Daemon Engines of Khorne (4 of 4 - Cannons of Khorne)

Here's the last of my Daemon Engine units - Cannons of Khorne:

Now that these are all out of the way it's time to get on with some more infantry!

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff

Epic: Chaos Marines - Daemon Engines of Khorne (3 of 4 - Death Dealers)

More Epic Death of a Chaosy bent: Death Dealers!

These guys are horribly-beweaponed siege towers with a giant possessed Chaos robot nailed to the front for good measure:

I think they may have been the inspiration for the much later produced "Lord of Skulls" model:

This isn't mine - this pic was nicked from the GW website

The Death Dealers will sit alongside the Cauldrons of Blood and Towers of Skulls models to form two Daemon Engines units.

Other Epic: Chaos-related stuff