Betrayer

Betrayer, by Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the latest novel in the Horus Heresy series. It picks up on the events of Butcher's Nails (didn't hear, it don't worry, it adds color, but doesn't take anything away from this novel) and continues the Lorgar and Angron attack through the Ultima Segmentum and into Ultramar. For World Eater, Chaos or even just Warhammer 40,000 fans the word Betrayer is probably synonymous with Kharn. Never fear, he is a pivotal character in the novel, and the snippets seen of him during Galaxy in Flames. More than that, this novel depicts the World Eaters as a chapter teetering on the edge, and whichever way their Primarch falls, so shall they. There are a lot of interesting concepts at play in this novel, moreover it was a great read and well worth the hard cover price.

Thousand Sons Helldrake

Of all the new Chaos models, the Helldrake appealed to me the most. For one thing it is a flyer, for another it looks like a dragon. So I knew I had to add one to my Chaos army.

Upon building the model, I was some what disappointed. For one thing, the way the wings layer on to the model makes posing it fairly static. For another, the lack of weapon options makes it either a ground attack aircraft or an anti-aircraft flyer. While I chose the anti-air build, I have heard the flamer can be quite devastating in game.

I stuck to the same pallet as the other Thousand Sons models. The final result I think worked pretty well, however I don't know if I will add another to the force.

Grey Knight Command Squad

One of the units on my Grey Knights bucket list has been a command squad. For one thing, I wanted to have more terminators in the force, for another, I like the uniqueness that a command squad can bring to an otherwise monotone army.

I opted for a simple pallet when it came to the company standard, keeping it red and white and possibly evoking a Knights Templar type feel. The Red was done using Khorne Red, Wazdakka Red and a highlight of Troll Slayer Orange. The white is a layer of Ceramite white, and then another layer of White Scar.

The Nemesis weapons were painted using layers of Thunderhawk Blue and Lothern Blue. The main silver was done with a layer of Leadbelcher, a wash of Asurmen Blue and then a coat of Chainmail. Notice I am still hanging on to some old GW paints, however, as they get used up I will switch to the new GW paint closest.

1000 Sons Warp Talons

One of the areas the Thousand Sons have been weakest in for a long time is close assault or close combat punch. When looking at continuing my army, I wanted to be able to address this deficiency and two choices were possible. One was the Maulerfiend, the other the Warp Talons.

I thought it highly plausible that some of the Raptors from the Thousand Sons who survived the Space Wolves assault on Prospero would have looked to deamonic alliances on the Planet of the Sorcerors to augment or protect their power. Eventually they would evolve into Warp Talons, surviving Ahriman's rubric by nature of their pact.

When I went to paint these models, I stuck to the Thousand Sons pallet, using Kantor Blue and Altdorf Guard Blue as the blue, and Dwarf Bronze, Gehenna's Gold and Burnished Gold for the gold colors.

The Seige of Castellax

The Seige of Castellax, by CL Werner is the latest in the Space Marines Battle series. While Iron Warriors fans may find this to be an interesting work, I personally felt that it leaned heavily on Graham McNiell's Iron Warriors stories, and really adds little to our knowledge of the legion as a whole. Beyond that, i found it to be a plodding novel that characterized the Iron Warriors as stereotypical chaos marines that could be transplanted into any legion and act as characters or villains. Beyond that, the Ork invasion and the plot itself creates a desperate battle that reverses the roles the Iron Warriors normally play. Personally, I don't feel like I can recommend this novel.

Andy SMillie's Flesh of Cretacia

Andy Smillie's Flesh of Cretacia is the story of how the Flesh Tearers find their home world. The story is set after the Horus Heresy, the Flesh Tearers are a second founding chapter led by their Chapter Master, Amit. Those who have red Fear to Tread will recognize him as the Blood Angels captain whose cognomen was the flesh tearer. In a battle to survive against a hostile death world, Amit still has time to dwell on the events of the second founding and the events of Fear to Tread which have been formative for himself and his chapter. This was a good novel, interesting in its perspective and entertaining for the action. I recommend it to all BL fans, but especially Blood Angels and Flesh Tearer fans.

James Swallow's Sword of Truth

James Swallow's Sword of Truth is the next audio drama in the adventures of Nathaniel Garro. This audio drama goes back to the time period where Garro has just returned from Calth, with the former Ultramarine Rubio. Now he is told there is a flotilla of ships at the edge of the Kaiper belt, all seeking refuge from Horus. His mission, to determine who is loyal and who is not. Chronologically, this audio drama belongs in between the first and second Garro stories. It is good, and as usual, I enjoyed listening to it while I was painting.

Dan Abnett's Pariah

Dan Abnett's novel Pariah is the first in a new trilogy pitting the Inquisitors Eisenhorn and Ravenor against each other. The main character in this series is Beta Bequin, who is living in the city of Queen Mab on a planet in the Angelus Sub sector. The novel starts out slowly, showing how Beta is studying "functions" in her training to be an agent of the Inquisition. However, her world is quickly thrown into an uproar when various forces begin to act in the city of Queen Mab. This was a good novel, and what I hope will be a great beginning on a new series.

Ultramarines Razorback

This model was a project long in the making. Back when I decided to purchase the Land Raider Achilles, I also got a Land Raider Crusader kit with the intention of building two Land Raiders and this Razorback.

The Achilles and Land Raider (it's the one for my Salamanders) were built months ago. This kit has been waiting for me to build it, and during a binge of model building when I bought Dark Vengeance this was produced. Now I only have a few models left to build or paint on my painting desk.

This razorback was painted with the same pigments as I have been using on my other Ultramarine models. After sealing the model once, I then applied Decal Set, applied water slide transfers and then Decal set on top. Finally, the models were given a second coat of Dullcote.

Pre Heresy Predator

This is the Predator I have been waiting for. Not so much the Deimos pattern, as the Executioner pattern. The Plasma Cannon is my all time favorite weapon, and to have it on a Predator made this a model I had to have.

I used the standard Ultramarine coats for this model: Macragge Blue, Altdorf Guard Blue and an edge highlight of Calgar Blue. While these shades are lighter than the old colors, this is still a good approximation, and the edge highlight looks a lot more natural on the models.

I saved the conversion beamer weapon for a future project, so expect to see another Predator with lascannons and a conversion beamer some time in the future.

Pre Heresy Tactical Marines

One lesson working on the infantry component of my Pre-Heresy Ultramarines has taught me is - wait for the book. I made the foolish assumption that the basic unit of the Space Marine Legions would be the same as those of the Space Marine Chapters. The truth is they are completely different. Legion tactical squads either get Bolters or Bolt pistol and close combat weapon.

Having built the first ten marines with a plasma gun and missile launcher, I was forced to pull those two models out. leaving me with an initial eight tactical marines. Following on the five assault marines I already built and painted, these marines are given the same colors, being from the same company.

I painted the squad with the same GW paint colors as I have been using on the Ultramarines since the color change over. The lettering and numbers were done with a Micron pen, and then painted with Ceramite white and then White Scar.

Angel Exterminatus

While it took me a bit of time to read, I think Angel Exterminatus is one of Graham McNiell's best Horus Heresy novels to date. The main plot of this novel is the teaming up of Fulgrim and Perturabo as they venture into the Eye of Terror to discover some Eldar super weapons. back stabbing and lies ensue between the brothers while a force of Iron Hands seeks to disrupt there venture. What follows is a well executed and entertaining story that gives insight into one of the more mysterious of the primarchs, Perturabo.

Dark Vengeance Characters

Despite the order in which I have been posting model pictures, I actually alternated between chaos and Disciples of Caliban figures. I picked up the Limited Edition of Dark Vengeance purely for the Interrogator Chaplain. This model is a beauty to behold. I love painting it, and it was the second model I worked on after the Hellbrute.

The Master was a fun model to work on, and rather straight forward. I love the pose, and how it is reminiscent of Asmodai.

The librarian was a nice break from the other models, as it was almost like painting an Ultramarine. Those who know me personally know how much Ultramarines Blue once ran through my veins, now I guess it is Altdorf Guard Blue. Hard to tell.

Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad

The Dark Vengeance tactical squad is probably my ideal configuration. Put aside thoughts about point costs, min/max or in game value. I love plasma weapons. Period, end of story. My arch-nemesis HuronBH can attest to this, as I used to have an all plasma armed Ultramarines army that i ran - my fifth company.

I opted against modifying the models, mainly out of laziness, both in terms of the effort it would take to remove them, and in how much a pain in the butt it is to free hand the Disciples of Caliban chapter symbol.

The paint scheme I used was the same as for the other models in the chapter, substituting new GW paints where I have had to due to running out of P3 paints.

Dark Vengeance Bike Squad

The easiest models in the Dark Vengeance boxed set are by far the space marines. While at once detailed and simple, they make for ideal starters for any new player. Quite the contrast with the heavily baroque chaos models.

The Ravenwing element of the Disciples of Caliban was the one element stopping me from finishing up the one thousand point block I had envisioned building. However, when I finally was coming around to building something, previews for Dark Vengeance were popping up all over the internet. So I decided to wait.

While the Ravenwing bikes were painted similarly to the rest of the army, I did transition from P3 to the new GW paints for a lot of the Dark Vengeance models. Especially using Caliban Green and Warpstone Glow to replace the greens for my Disciples of Caliban. Like the terminators, the bikes are painted exactly like the rest of the army - this concept comes from some fluff I cam across on Bolter & Chainsword.

Dark Vengeance Chosen

After the Hellbrute, the Chosen models are my favorite of the Dark Vengeance chaos models. I especially like how the unit leader's third eye fits with the mystical theme of the Thousand Sons.

The detailing was especially tricky, but I like how the gold brings that out in the models. These were some of the first models I began painting with the new GW's gold metallics.

In the end I'm happy with the results, though i am not so sure how viable the unit is in game.

Dark Vengeance Chaos Cultists

Probably my least favorite part of the Dark Vengeance boxed set was the chaos cultists. While I do like the heavy weapon models, I'm not particularly found of the unit leader models. Regardless, I ended up painting the cloth dark blue and much of the metallics were painted gold to reflect their Tzeentchian character and match the 1000 Sons army.

Chaos Space Marine Codex

With the release of the Forge World Horus Heresy book series, my copy of the Chaos Space Marines codex got shelved. In fairness, I'm still making my way through some of the fluff areas, but on the whole I am a fan of the new additions to the list. The Helldrake in particular is on my list of additions for the 1000 Sons. The fluff areas are decent, but the studio bias towards Khorne and Nurgle is pretty evident with a lack of an Tzeentchian traitor space marine chapters. On the whole, a good offering, but ultimately eclipsed by Forge World.

Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal

I am guessing that books ship from Great Britain faster than resin models, as I had to wait barely a week for my copy of Horus Heresy book One: Betrayal to arrive. For book lovers, this is a well crafted piece, with silver gilt on the edges, and a stamped silver eagles at the corner. There is also a red bookmark of cloth as well. As befits a work like this, the background information is a lot more condensed than the actual Black Library novels, but it purports to be drawn from extant sources a mere hundred years or so after the Heresy is over. Thus making it more apocryphal than the BL novels which are more immediate, first hand narrations. As for the army lists, there is a lot to digest, my initial impression is that the economy of the Thirty First millennium is a lot stronger than this one, as marine squad are much more specialized, as a basic tactical squad either has bolters or bolt pistol and close combat weapon and can be between ten and twenty men. Now some items overlap, drop pods for instance are the exact same mark as currently used. However, that being said, there are so many elements of a space marine legion that I am coveting, I'm glad they haven't been released yet. In summation, what GW fandom has been clamoring is here, Horus Heresy era models complete with Primarchs, careful what you wish for right?