WH40K Second Edition Army Challenge Complete!

 The Lion’s Blade...

There were so few bodies for 1,000 points in the space marine armies of old...

Wow, It is hard to believe the six months of the 2nd edition army challenge are over.  Participating in the challenge has been the best experience I've had so far since I started this blog to be part of the wider hobby community.  There was a great feeling of camaraderie among the participants, probably partially thanks to the niche interest that is loving 2nd edition minis and the infamous "red period" of the GW studio's painting and marketing departments.  Much encouragement and joking went on via a group chat thread that continued from before the challenge started right up to the end.  It was a great way to refine ideas for the challenge through discussion and find inspiration to stick with one project over six months.  Thanks to this challenge I attempted many new techniques I hadn't tried before and really enjoyed being able to experiment with things like wet blending and freehand designs.  Plus I was able to paint miniatures I've owned for many years while also using the painting of those models to add two more squads along with two characters to my ongoing project to paint all of the 4th company of the Dark Angels.  I will milk the end of the challenge for a few more days, the warm fuzzies of accomplishment deserve a few more posts after half a year of work.  Be sure to check out the final post for the challenge, all the participants did an amazing job:

https://c0wabunga.com/2nd-ed-armychallenge-1-final-month/

Here is the 2nd edition army list for the force pictured above:

Army list Dark Angels 4th Company 1003 points

Company Master Zakeal Korlael 123 points
Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, Member of the Deathwing

Techmarine Hephaestus 43 points
Servo Arm, Bolt Pistol

Tactical Squad Zanthor 357points
Sergeant with chain sword and bolt pistol
Meltagun, Missile Launcher with Frag and Krak

Devastator Squad Scalprum 480 points
Sergeant with Power Axe and Boltgun
Multi-Melta, Lascannon, Missile Launcher, Heavy Bolter

Thanks for following along, and watch out for the WH40K Army Challenge Season 2 coming in March!

Where it all started six months ago...

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge Final Month WIP

 Characterful Sculpts Require A Lot Of Painting...

In the strange vagaries of the -blog publishing/photo taking/progress on a project- warp of the space time continuum, here are pictures from a few days ago that are for a challenge with a due date a few days from now.  Now that we've accelerated to the verbal equivalent of ludicrous speed, a few words about the models in question.  Both of these models have been in my collection since the late 90's, but due to my earlier expressed worries about painting character models, these two have been unpainted for 20 years.  However as my recent musings on the army challenge have pondered, in the end I think this will only benefit me since my painting skills have finally caught up to what I wanted them to be at the time I actually purchased these models.  Plus since they were second edition models that were still on the pegs at the start of third edition, they were perfect character models for my entry in 40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge.  All that being said, there are a lot of tiny details on these models to finish up in the last few days before the deadline and then I need to take a dramatic full army picture for the close of the challenge.  After that, in March it will be onto Season 2 of the 2nd edition army challenge!

Wave That Flag...

 Squad Scalprum Gets Their Banners 

The slow moving servitors and adepts of the Banneratorum have finally completed their work on the standards of Squad Scalprum.  The 9th squad of the 4th company get two banners in traditional second edition style.  The sergeant's banner is in a style lifted from the third edition Dark Angels codex, with the yellow of the 4th Company edging the banner and the bend sinister in the center.  The lower edge of the banner carries the Devastator symbol and the squad number.

The second combat squad's banner uses the more modern company markings for the 4th company, black and white checks over a field of bone white, with a roundel of the chapter symbol in the middle.  This lower edge then mimics the sergeant's banner with the Devastator designation and squad number.  I have used the black and white checks on many of the 4th company banners and coincidentally have used more and more rows of checks for the higher squad numbers.  This occurred without planning as I kept adding more and smaller checks just to challenge my painting skills, but now I think I will stick with the theme of more or less rows of checks depending on the squad number.  Thanks for following along, a full post on my recently completed Devastator squad should be along soon.  Stay safe out there...

Imperial Knights

My Warlord Titans Need Some Sidekicks 

I would love to pick up some of these models to field in my games of Epic but they are currently way to pricey on Ebay...

Twelve Days Of Deathwing - Day Nine

 Dark Vengeance Is A Dish Best Served Cold, Like At Least Six Years Cold 

Today's slightly blurry picture features the closest I've come to fulfilling my dream of even fielding Deathwing miniatures in the recent past.  I got back into the hobby in earnest in 2014 coincidentally at the same time the Dark Vengeance box set came out to kick off seventh edition.  At the time these gorgeously sculpted, Deathwing specific Terminators blew my mind; having not been in contact with the game ,other than Black Library novels, since the end of 3rd edition around 2000.  I was really impressed by the strides GW had made with push to fit models in the 14 years I hadn't played the game.  As you can see from the pictures above I started painting these models straight away, but the combination of patience needed to achieve a layered bone white look along with my rusty painting skills from years away from the hobby table led to me stalling out and painting all the other Dark Angels models in the box instead.  

Coming back to them with a mass Deathwing project on the table these will probably be the first models I finish off since they are 60 percent of the way there already.  I need to rethink some wacky ideas I had a few years ago, primary among them my odd colored purity seal scrolls.  At the time I was baffled how I was going to paint two different whites next to each other and not have them be indistinguishable.   There will also be some shuffling around of a miniature or two because I think I can field a five man squad with chainfists if I transfer the chap carrying one in this unit to another unit that already has two marines with chainfists.  Thanks for following along and click on the Deathwing tab above if you want to see the current scope of the project.

Twelve Days Of Deathwing - Day Eight

 Thunderstruck!

The sergeant's pose reminds me of a cleric using a light spell on his warhammer to illuminate the party's dungeon crawling.

Stretching this metaphor for as long as history said it's more traditional equivalent would run, today features some slightly sub-standard photos of the second part of the Close Assault squad.  Four Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield armed marines backed up by the classic Terminator heavy weapon choice, the Heavy Flamer.  More slightly fuzzy pictures after the jump...

Twelve Days Of Deathwing - Day Seven

They're The Best There Is At What They Do, But What They Do Best Isn't Very Nice...

Until now I've never given mch thought to how much my love of Wolverine as a pre-teen may have influenced my obsession with Lightning Claws... 

Twelve Days Of Deathwing - Day Six

Call The Banners...

Why does his pose make me think he's the Babe Ruth of the grimdark, arrogantly calling out which skulls he's going to crush when he's up to "bat"?

Twelve Days Of Deathwing - Day Five

Though I Know That The Magnetized Never Lie...

Twelve Days of Deathwing - Part Four

Just Because You Are A Character Does Not Mean You Have Character...

So this picture teaches us the important lesson that painting only the space marine's eyes and doing that poorly can leave an honorable battle brother looking rather clownish...