Iron Hands Ironclad

The first Iron Hands dreadnought I built was an Ironclad. This one is equipped with the Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and Seismic Hammer. It also has a Heavy Flamer and Meltagun. One thing this army will lack is ranged punch, especially with bolter marines making up the Troops choices. Keeping that in mind, I added the two Hunter Killer Missiles to the Ironclad as well.

I waited to build the Ironclad until I had received a sheet of Iron Hands brass etched from Forge World. Most of the icons are too big for the Ironclad equipped as this one is, but the pieces designed for standard Space Marines fit nicely. I decided to use one of the clan symbols (the one with the three hexagons in it) and an Iron Hands symbol and that was all for this model.

This model was primed Black with Duplicolor Sandable primer. Then it was given coats of GW Boltgun and P3 Hammerfeld Khaki, followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. The Iron Hands symbols were painted with P3 Morrow White, the black areas with GW Chaos Black, followed by a layer of P3 Coal Black and an extreme highlight of GW Codex Grey. The bone a final layer of GW Bleached Bone and the silver a final coat of GW Chainmail. As a small aside, I do know that the new GW paints are out, but not being extravagant, I've chosen to run down my current supplies and then replace them.

Void Stalker

Aaron Dembski-Bowden's latest offering is Void Stalker, the third book in his Night Lords' series. This novel sees the tenth Company returning to Tsagualsa - the place of their Primarch's demise - only to find it populated. What follows is a campaign of terror followed by the predicted appearance of the Eldar to make things interesting. I have mixed feelings about this novel. For one thing, the rumors which floated my way turned out to not be true in regards to its plot, or at least only held fragments of what would be involved - the Eldar. By this point I'm also kind of disappointed with Talos' development as a character. The continuation of his denied role as leader or prophet to his legion is so anti-protaganistic it gets frustrating. Still, I found the plot and action of the novel to be fast paced and have enough inertia to move the story forward with some tantalizing foreshadowing. The later half of the novel is especially well done, and worth plodding through the maudlin beginning to get to.

Space Wolf Fenrisian Wolves

The next unit I worked on for my Space Wolves was a unit of Fenrisian Wolves. Eventually, I plan to add Canis Wolfborn, so these guys will magically transform into a Troops choice then. These were some of the easiest models GW has turned out in a while, with only four parts to build, to for the body and two for the head.



Along with the ease of construction, these are also pretty easy models to paint as well. I started with a coat of P3 Hammerfeld Khaki on the teeth and nails, and then a coat of GW Devlan Mud followed by a layer of P3 Menoth Basecoat. Next I painted layers of P3 Khardi Flesh and Midlund Flesh on the inside of the open mouths. The eyes were painted with layers of P3 Sulfuric Yellow and then a layer of GW Golden Yellow, followed by a black dot with a Micron Pen.



The base was painted with layers of GW Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown and Snakebite leather. The wolf fur was painted with layers of P3 Cryx Bane Base, Bastion Grey, Cryx Bane Highlight and then an extreme highlight of GW Codex Grey. All told, I think it took me about an hour and a half to paint the whole unit assembly line style.

Iron Hands Tactical Squad

When I was envisioning an Iron Hands army (or even toying with a later founding army), I really wanted to do something that was more dreadnought and techmarine oriented. Starting with just 1000 points, I decided that the two troops choices should be minimum Tactical squads in order to be able to have as many dreadnoughts as possible.



In building the squads, I made sure each model had at least one bionic piece included. I was kind of surprised at how much this stretched my bitz, but was able to accomplish it. Four have bionic eyes, and one has a bionic arm from the Forge World character kit.



The models were painted pretty simply, with base coats of GW Boltgun Metal and P3 Hammerfeld Khaki, followed by a wash of GW Devlan Mud. Next, layers of GW Chainmail and P3 Menoth Basecoat are applied to the silver and bone areas. The black is painted with layers of GW Chaos Black, P3 Coal Black and and extreme highlight of GW Codex Grey. Finally, the white is painted with P3 Morrow White and the base was painted with layers of GW Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown and Snakebite Leather.

Forge World Techmarine

I decided to build the Valthex model as an Ultramarine, replacing the shoulder pads with a techmarine shoulder pad and an Ultramarine shoulder pad from the Space Marine Captain boxed set. I also replaced the whip arms with regular space marine arms. One holding a bolt pistol, the other is holding a slightly modified daemon hammer.



I started out with base coats of GW Boltgun Metal and P3 Hammerfeld Khaki. I then gave the model a wash of GW Devlan Mud. Next I paint the silver areas with GW Chaimail, and the bone areas with P3 Menoth Base. I painted the eyes with layers of P3 Gnarls Green, Iosan Green, Ordic Olive and then a dot of Necrotite Green.



Next the base was painted with layers of GW Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown and then a highlight of Snakebite Leather. The handle of the Deamon Hammer was painted the same way. The blue areas were painted with layers of GW Regal Blue, Ultramarines Blue, a 50:50 mix of Ultramarines Blue and Ice Blue and then an extreme highlight of Ice Blue. The red areas were painted with P3 Sanguine Base, Sanguine Highlight, Khador Base Red and Khador Red Highlight. Finally, the black areas were painted with GW Chaos Black.

Space Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf

Right now I am pretty torn, the new Space Wolf Thunder Wolf cavalry, the Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf and the Fenrisian Wolves are the new hotness. However, I also want to start work on 1000 points of Iron Hands, as I got a sheet of Iron hands brass etched from Forge World as well. So I've decided to alternate between armies in order to satisfy both urges.



First off, I started with the Wolf Lord on Thunder Wolf, who I built as Harald Deathwolf. Since I first got my hands on the Space Wolf Codex, I knew I wanted to do a wolf themed codex, and Harald is definitely the Wolf Lord for that. Sadly, there are some miscasting elements on his backpack that left it pitted in some spots. I kind of treated these as battle damage and just got on with the painting.



To paint the model, I decided to base the model in P3 Ironhull Grey. The wolf was then given layers of Bane Highlight and GW Codex Grey. The Frost Blade and scaled cloak were given layers of P3 Trollblood Base, Meridius Blue and then GW Ice Blue. The Space Wolf armor was given layers of P3 Underbelly Blue and GW Space Wolf Grey. The gold is GW Dwarven Bronze, Shining Gold and Beaten Gold; and the silver is GW Boltgun Metal, Devlan Mud and Chainmail. I didn't want the Thousand Son to be blue lime my Thousand Sons army, so he was painted red, with layers of P3 Sanguine Base and Sanguine Highlight, and a repetition of the gold layers.

Second Mantis Warriors Vanguard Squad

The last Mantis Warriors unit in this 1000 point block is a second vanguard squad. This one has three power fists, one with a storm shield and two power weapons. I mix and matched bitz from the Assault Squad and Death Company boxed sets to finish the squads.



I stuck to the same colors from both GW and P3 as I have been using for the whole army. While it had been suggested I try giving the models a green wash to tone them down a bit, I've found myself like the lighter green and decided not to experiment with it.



While this army started out being inspired by my friend HuronBH over at Blood&Blades, I've definitely decided to move in a different direction. I see it more of an outflanking and mobile army than one that uses Khan as a spearheading assault element. To that end, I plan to make sure just about every unit will be mobile when the army is expanded.



When I come back to this army, I will be adding three razorbacks, either an assault squad or a third vanguard squad, and then some heavier fire power in the form of a predator or whirlwind. Using Ko'sarro Khan, will let the army outflank every time, and the vanguard squads will either deep strike or outflank as well. The last unit that would probably be added would either be a scout squad or full tactical squad to hold an objective in those type of missions.

Legion of the Damned

After reading Phalanx and being pretty disappointed, I found Legion of the Damned to be quite refreshing. This is the story of a mausoleum world of the Ecclisiarchy being attacked by a Khornate Blood Crusade and how it is mysteriously defeated despite all of the Excoriator space marines, and every other being on the planet, being wiped out. The novel opens with both the Inquisition and the Exoriators investigating on the planet. I found it to be an entertaining, and fast paced read, with some interesting backstory to add to the Imperial Fists. For those who enjoy space marine novels, this is definitely a good buy.

First Mantis Warriors Vanguard Squad

One of the last two squads for my 1000 point Mantis Warriors army is one of two Vanguard squads. Initially I built five models with power weapons, and then five models with power fists, but I decided it would be smarter to mix and match them as well. This squad has three power weapons, two power fists; with one of the power fists also having a storm shield.



There wasn't an example of the veteran squad shoulder pads in the second Badab War IA book, so I turned to my copy of Insignum Astartes. Most of the Veteran shoulder pads are variants of the Crux Terminatus, but the least stylized is a simple cross across the shoulder pad. This is what i chose for the veterans in this army.



The storm shield was painted with a horizontal line, somewhat inspired by pictures in the second Badab War IA book. Only after the fact did I realize it was done diagonally, but a horizontal line is just as good to me. Otherwise, the models are painted like the rest of the army.

New Forge World Toys

My latest Forge World order arrived the other day. In it were three items, two of which are shown on this blog post. First is the MKI Predator, which will make a nice addition to my Pre-Heresy army.



This is a great kit, offering the builder the chance to make either an Annihilator or Destructor. There are those who believe that the autocannon, lascannon sponson build is the most economical, however I've always been a purest when it comes to Predators. To that end, I will probably build the anti-tank variant, as the Pre-Heresy army I've been slowly building seems to have a good amount of anti-infantry ability.



I've been wanting the Valspex model for quite a while, but just hadn't gotten around to picking it up. Mainly for the conversion beamer, which I think looks real cool despite not being that effective a weapon. But it does add a completeness element to my Ultramarines collection.



I initially built the model witha pointing power fist, however I suppose I should have read through the codex to double check a Master of the Forge's wargear choices, as it is illegal. So I went back and made some changes.



I used a daemon hammer from the Grey Knight's kit and shaved off the Inquisition symbols on the end. Then added the the Ultramarines and Machina Opus shoulder pads to finish the model. I have other plans for the whip arms, so expect to see them in a future project.