Iron Hands Terminators

 There was a lot of debate for me over whether I should use these models in my Ultramarines army or in my Iron Hands. Ultimately, the promise of more upgrade kits for the Forge World terminator kit is what swayed me. This kit is really cool, with the add on chain fist bitz and additional shoulder pad to give them the Pre-Heresy feel.

 

 The models are made with Finecast resin, though the only area I had any issue with was on the sergeant's sword. When I went to remove the flash from clipping the blade, and sand it, extra resin flaked away. Otherwise the models came out nicely without any apparent flaws.



 I used the same paint pallet for the terminators as I did the rest of the army. The main difference here, is that i have started using the new GW textured paint as a base. In this case, Stirland Mud. I then added layers of Bestial Brown and Snakebite Leather to finish it off. While I like the extra texture, and am still experimenting with it, I'm not convinced that it is a good replacement for ballast on a base. Time will tell though if it grows on me.

Iron Hands Iron Father

The decision to use a Master of the Forge as the Iron Hands HQ choice was a no brainer for me. Mainly for the multiple dreadnoughts at higher point levels. Not wanting to use a Finecast Techmarine out of the box, I decided to kit bash one.



 The legs are from a standard Tactical marine kit, as is the back torso. The front chest piece is from a vehicle accessory sprue, and the head from one of the Blood Angels vehicle accessory sprue kit. The arms and Thunder Hammer are from the Death Company boxed set.


 Finally, I ordered the Conversion Beamer upgrade kit from Chapterhouse Studios. One nice thing about that kit, is that it also comes with a servo arm as well, which will come in handy down the line on another project. The detail is nice and the price is a great value, I would recommend it to anyone on a budget who doesn't want to order the Forge World model.

The Emperor's Gift

Aaron Dembski-Bowden's latest offering is the Emperor's Gift. This novel is the tale of a squad of Grey Knights before the First Battle of Armageddon, and follows all the way through the aftermath. For those not so familiar with the First Battle, there are lots of places that recount that war, however it has never been told from this vantage point. This novel is everything that Void Stalker should have been - in terms of story and flow - but it is really the freshness of the tale that makes it so worth reading.

Death Spectre's Captain

Ever since I saw the entry in the Space Marine Codex, I have considered building an army representing this chapter. The only thing holding me back, the chapter symbol looked like a pain to free hand. Then Games Workshop decides to release a water slide transfer sheet for them. As a hedge against me building a force for that chapter, I picked up three of them.

Having not added a non-Ultramarines version of Sicarius anywhere yet, I decided this would be a good opportunity to do so. I was inspired by a conversion I saw on Bolter & Chainsword where some one had pretty much destroyed the model to give it a running pose. I didn't want to go this far, so I did a sword swap first off. Next I changed out the head for one from the Grey Hunters sprue that I liked for its lack of Space Wolfiness. Finally I kept Sicarius' plasma pistol and gave the model a simple backpack.

I kept the paint scheme simple, using golds on the right shoulder pad to emphasize the Captain's rank. The left shoulder pad was painted white so that I could put the Chapter Symbol there. I slit one of the transfers so that it would be partially visible on that side. The colors are layered using colors that I have done in the past. I'm still on the fence as to whether this Chapter is my next project, but it was a fun experiment.

Second Iron hands Tactical Squad

When i went to build this second Iron Hands Tactical Squad, I found myself running low on bionic bitz for this army. I made do with a few bionic heads, but I wish I could have added more. Of course a week after I'm done painting them, GW releases the Iron hands upgrade kit in Finecast - something to keep in mind for the future if I decide to expand this army.

This is a pretty simple army, however the free handed clan symbol and chapter symbol are the part that give me fits. I used a .005 Micron pen for these, and then painted the white. Once that was done I used the black to cut in and clean it up. Finishing it off with white touch up.

The painting is pretty straight forward, prime black. Next paint the silver with a layer of Boltgun metal, and the bone with a layer of Zandri Dust. Then give them a wash of Argax Earhshade. Finish the silver with Chainmail, and add layers of Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull. The White is a layer of Ceramite White and then White Scar. Finally paint the black Abaddon Black.

Space Wolf Scouts

For my Space Wolf Scouts, I wanted to use mingle the bitz from the Land Speeder Storm I had built earlier with the bitz on the Grey Hunters sprues. In order to use the scouts from the Land Speeder Storm, I had to use Chaos bitz so that they were all standing on pieces, or sitting on them, to make the poses look natural. A little bit of ballast finishes off the bases to hide some of the gaps and help the textured bases match the rest of the army.

I have a lot of memories of Space Wolf Scouts from past games. They have always been behind the lines spoilers - destroying vehicles and tying up units that were needed elsewhere. To that end, I made sure to have a meltagun in the squad, as well as a power weapon for close combat situations. I then painted them with the same pallet as the rest of the army.

The last element of these models are the water slide transfers. I ordered a single sheet of the Harald Deathwolf transfers for this army. I used the small, scout sized company symbols and wolf paws to denote Great Company and squad. These transfers work pretty well, the only down side is that unlike other Games Workshop transfer sheets, where the whole sheet isn't carrier film, this sheet has it across the entirety. It made cutting the decals close as close as possible a necessity.

Christian Dunn edited the latest Horus Heresy collection of short stories entitled The Primarchs. It has four short stories in it, I could take or leave most of them, but they do a good job of adding to or resolving issues in the Horus Heresy. The first is about the Emperors Children and how they come to suspect that their Primarch is not the same being that he was before the Laer war. Lucius especially is featured in this story. For the most part, this is an okay story, but the end is worth making it through. The second story is an Iron Hands tale, set before the Heresy begins. Ferrus Manus is fighting the eldar and seeking to capture some kind of node. But the Eldar have set a trap for him. This is probably the first time a real look at the Iron Hands is taken during the Horus Heresy 0 despite the parts of Fulgrim. The third story is about Lion'el Johnson and his discovery that the Death Guard and Iron Hands are fighting over a secret installation. Johnson decides to intervene in this action, and his stance is an interesting one. Gav Thorpe does a good job with this story, answering some outstanding questions left from Descent of Angels. The fourth story is an Alpha Legion story. The legion of secrecy might have been infiltrated, and a top secret installation vital to Horus' war effort is at risk. How will Omegon deal with the situation? This last story was the best in my opinion, not only does it show how a legion would fight itself, but it has some deep implications at the end. All in all, this is a novel worth reading, especially for HH fans. It took a bit of research for me to get it on to my Kindle, but in the end I figured it out and it will be easier for me to read BL books now in the future.

Ultramarines Deimos Patter Predator

The Deimos Pattern Predator that Forge World makes is a pretty cool model. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to have at least one. Good for Forge World, not so much for my wallet. A little more patience would have seen me probably picking up the Exterminator variant over the classic re-imagining, but then again, Christmas is coming.

The model is a fairly easy build, however I made one mistake. The mantlets that go in front of the sponson weapons require that you place the weapons - in this case the Lascannons - in a certain way. This fact I completely ignored until it was time to add those mantlet pieces. Luckily, I was able to disassemble the pieces in order to build them correctly.

This model was my first foray at using the new GW paints for painting Ultramarine models. I started with a base coat of old Macragge Blue. Then I added layers of Altdorf Guard Blue and Calgar Blue. While the highlighting is a bit more subtle this way, I like it. Especially since there isn't as much a need for an extreme highlight. The rest of the colors for this model were painted with the same layers that I normally use.

This model was a lot of fun to build, and with the lessons learned, I'm looking forward to picking up the exterminator variant down the line.