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...

Mr Dreadtober On Doomsday

 Red Corsairs Helbrute - To-Done?

Typing the text before I even have the pictures to go with it since I will still be madly painting tonight.  I'm not sure when Macrodutch will compile the End of Dreadtober post for the site, so I wanted to have the most recent work pictured even though I don't think I will be 100% finished when the pictures go into this post.  The model is certainly "battle-ready" in GW's parlance, but I think I'll spend the weekend trying to finish the details on this monster.  Happy Halloween!

Squad Scalprum Minor Build To-Done

 Drilling and Slicing My Way Through October 

It still counts as a monthly goal even if the arc of kitbashing stretches from 1999 to present day, right?

Being a fan of low hanging fruit here at the 1st Legion headquarters, I am tagging my first hobby season goal of Dreadtober with the big build (minor) completion of my Devastator Squad for the WH40K 2nd Edition army challenge this month.  There is quite a bit of conversion and modeling work in these five marines so I’m going to take it as a goal completion for this month even if one of the models was converted 20 years ago. Follow along after the jump if you want to hear about the deceptive amount of drilling and kit bashing contained in this months army challenge goal…

2020/2021 Hobby Season Kick Off And To-Do List

 The Big Leagues

As I began to read more and more hobby blogs in the last few years I spotted these badges on a few of my favorite blogs.  They were an enticingly cool way to keep track of hobby progress through the year, but I didn't want to go the typical internet route to steal the badges and start using them with out understanding more about ''hobby season".  Fortunately I had my ear to the proverbial hobby blog street at the right time this year, and the excellent Confessions Of A 40k Addict blog revealed the secrets of inclusion in hobby season I had been seeking.  Read the preceding link for more information on hobby season and follow along after the jump for my personal hobby goals of the 2020-2021 hobby season...

40k 2nd Edition Army Challenge Second Month Completed

 Tactical Squad Zanthor 

Since ten marines used to cost more than 350 points in second edition, the banner per combat squad at least made them look a little larger than life on the battlefield.

September saw the completion of my first full squad for the 2nd Edition Army painting challenge.  Squad Zanthor will also fit into my ongoing Dark Angels Battle Company project so this unit will get a full bells and whistles write up in a few days.  I'm just throwing this quick post up since other participants have been posting this months progress on Facebook and the army challenge was also featured in the Crown of Command podcast.

Inquisitional Conclave 2020 Completed!

 Inquisitor Jorus Rhyloth, Ordo Xenos

"He almost took my head off the first time he unsheathed that damned-fool giant sword of his in the narrow corridor of Stack Nineteen. The orbital station chief had warned me that old Jorus could act with the impulses of a man a quarter of his age, but I always assumed an Inquisitor would have been more... restrained in his choice of actions.  As soon as we arrived at the meet, I had a suspicion something wasn’t quite, ah, completely human about Karde and his men.  Fast as that realization had dawned on me the old man was moving even faster and if my ears hadn’t caught the hum of that power sword igniting I’d be several inches shorter and just as deceased as Karde and his men were a few seconds later.  Although Jorus had told the planetary governor he was on the trail of dangerous xenos technology being sold on the black market, he was actually masking his true purpose, unsure of how far the influence of the conspiracy reached.  What Inquisitor Ryloth had actually been seeking was sprayed all over the nearest bulkheads when he cut through Karde’s gang, blood that even in the dim light of the hallway we could see had too much purple in it to be the right color for a man. 

His superiors at the Ordo Xenos needed visible confirmation of what his investigation of the last few months had led him to: Refinery Stack Nineteen and its surrounding hab blocks had been the sight of a growing xenos infestation for some time. Before the sanitation techs had arrived to scrub the hallway, our squad had already been given orders to accompany Jorus and a regiment from the PDF to lock down all the access in and out of the western rim of the station.  The surprises kept on coming that day, it turned out Ryloth had more than a score of Astartes hidden away on the naval cruiser that had brought him to the station.  Once the combined forces of the Arbites and PDF had sealed off Stacks Fifteen to Twenty-One, he strode in with those armoured giants in a suit of his own jet black power armor to cleanse all those infected by the genestealer cult.  Don’t even get me started on that ridiculously huge banner he wore while leading the sons of the emperor into battle…”

Arbites Legate Bor Tarkin, Orbital Station Delta, Hexos System

40k 2nd Edition Army Challenge First Month Completed

 Combat Squad Zanthor 

Pictures like these make me think the whole Goblin Green bases we nostalgically love so much were just a photographic expediency because every table at the White Dwarf studio in 1990 was covered in bright green flock.

The first month pf the 2nd Edition Army challenge is in the bag and it was a lot of fun.  My army has always been in a color scheme that predates even 2nd edition, and my Space Marine weapons have been painted in a style that slightly exaggerates the already bright weapons of the "Red Period" of GW studio army painters so this challenge was the perfect fit for my style.  The community of painters in the challenge has been very fun to interact with since everyone shares a love of the old models and painting schemes.  

Facebook Trading Groups Can Be A Dangerous Place

My Burgeoning Insanity 

The chaplain is on the sprue out of frame to the right.

I had been successful in resisting the siren call of Indomitus so far, the bikes didn't get me excited and I wasn't going to spend $200 plus to get the new rules and end up with a bunch of Necron stuff I was trying to find a home for.  However then social media struck a blow for the power of plastic crack.  While I was perusing my feed last Thursday, I saw a Facebook trading post minutes after it went online and the seller was in a town 30 minutes from me.  Usually I am hesitant to buy unless I see an amazing deal because dealing with extra costs for shipping can be a hassle and I'm waiting for the day when someone doesn't hold up there end of a deal negotiated on Facebook. However the seller was close enough to meet in person and was offering the parts of the box set I was most interested in. After some negotiating over messenger for some extra models not in the original offer, I was in a parking lot three hours later exchanging money for miniatures.  The crack comparisons are not unwarranted...

Follow along after the jump for a full accounting of the haul and a hobby challenge I need some advice on

Epic Proportions First Unit Completed

4th Vindicator Squadron, Salamanders 1st Company Support 

I can't tell if I lose some resolution when I crop and enlarge the photos, or if the closer view emphasizes how much work I still need to do in controlling my edge highlight lines. It's probably the latter...

My first unit for the Epic Proportions challenge is finished and I'm pretty pleased with the results.  It was also very satisfying to set out to complete a unit and pull it off in just a few hours of painting.  Epic was always the scale where you could feasibly have the units you could never afford in full size when you were a money poor teenager, and now as a more organized adult painter it seems like a quick route to the great feeling you get when a unit is completed. This challenge may be more fun than I originally imagined. There are many more pictures after the jump...

Scenic Distractions V

Imperial Army Checkpoint TK 421

Not a mighty fortress just yet, but certainly enough for a security perimeter around a supply depot...

This Imperial Guard checkpoint is a perfect example of the way your hobby can spiral out of control in a constructive way sometimes if you follow your imagination.  All these items came in a sampler pack of terrain from Ender Toys Terrain which I have mentioned on this blog before.  When I first looked at buying some Ender Toys Terrain on Amazon, I was a little cautious because of how low their prices were so I bought a variety pack that contained a wide range of their terrain items so I could gauge the quality of their offerings. These pieces were primed white for a year after buying the set, but as I started taking in game pictures for this blog the bright whiteness of the bunker in particular was driving me crazy.  On a mostly basecoated board with a lot of the other terrain in various stages of painting, the primer white bunker stood out like a sore thumb.  Follow along after the jump if you want to know more about the rabbit hole I fell down thanks to these scenery items...

3rd Squad, 4th Company

Tactical Squad Peliel Part II

Since I mentioned my aversion to painting bare heads in an earlier post, you know one of the first things I did was head swap the sergeant.

Like the Sex Pistols repeatedly selling the same songs on albums with different names, I'm revisiting the third squad with detailed pictures of their finished paint jobs.  Since I dove deep into 40K history and the reasons behind my middlehammer unit markings in the first post about this unit, now I can do what people normally do on these sorts of blogs, namely post pictures of miniatures and talk about paint.  So follow along after the jump if you read the first artcle about this unit and kept shouting at your computer screen, "but when is he going to tell us what color green that is!"

Epic Proportions

A Get Back Into The Epic 40,000 Universe Army Challenge

Tiny Space Marines, Attack!!

Hello hallucinatory chums!  Since painting my Dark Angels, plus some scenery, the game board itself, and mechs for our ongoing Battletech campaign were apparently not enough for my hobby butterfly, I have joined in on an Epic Army Painting challenge.  This friendly challenge is being coordinated by the excellent blog, Dr The Vikings Miniatures Games Hell (try saying that five times fast).  If you love Epic 40K in any of it's many incarnations or if you just love tiny miniatures you should head over to his blog and check it out.  There are more pictures after the jump but I will save the long story about my excitement for this project, my long time love of epic, and why these tiny space marines are Salamanders and not Dark Angels for future posts ...

Scenic Distractions IV

Can I Get A Forestry Service Merit Badge For This?

Since I stay home with my kids, on my birthday my wife gives me a day to just go out and pursue my interests kid free which usually involves trying to hunt out a new hobby shop in my region that either I have never been to before or possibly haven't been to in years.  I really lucked out this year and found a huge gaming store about 45 minutes from my house, Huzzah Hobbies.

Great Rao! The tornado swept almost all the trees off the hillside...

3rd Squad, 4th Company

Or Why Do I Paint All The Chest Eagles And Pauldron Edges Yellow? Part I

Veteran Sergeant Peliel, Squad Standard Bearer Areli, Squad Support Gunner Thaddeus

Plasma Cannon Gunner Nahum

Hello phantasmal readers, the blog has been filled with some non-GW content lately that's frankly far faster and easier to produce, but today we return to our first order of business - painted Dark Angels miniatures!  Also today we will answer the question on the minds of everyone (all four of you) reading this blog: why do my Dark Angels look so colorful?  The answers will involve a deep dive into the history of space marine paint schemes and some pictures of my most recently completed unit Squad Peliel of the fourth company.

WIP Scenic Distractions

Kingdom of Foam

Why is it that you don't think about where you're going to store 2' x 2' x 1' hill board sections until after you build them?

Scenic Distractions III

Heroes Of The Imperium

The tribesmen of Craxis would always remember the sky gods and their firecasters that had cleansed their world of the four armed claw beasts that had long haunted the deep forests and dark places.

This conversion was the result of getting an EnderToys scenery sampler pack and not knowing what to do with the one half classic column that came with the set.  Then I remembered I had a lot of the old push to fit, 2nd edition Space Marines waiting for a purpose.   After some careful slicing with a box cutter to match the angle of the space marines feet to the angle of the top of the column, I glued one of the flamer marines onto the column.  Before painting I added some Armageddon Dust around the base and at the feet of the miniature to make the angled surface of the top of the column look more textured.

The statue was painted with Screaming Bell, drybrushed Brazen Brass, and light drybrushed Boltgun Metal for the final highlight.  The column is Zandri Dust, Ushabti Bone, and then Screaming Skull highlights.  I think the static monopose of the original miniature lends credibility to it achieving the desired look of a statue.  All in all, not a bad result for a few hours painting and converting a piece that did not initially look like it would fit into the world of the Grimdark.

WIP

Tripping The Natural Light Fantastic

Squad Peliel carefully moved across the strange surface of the alien world on which their drop pod had deposited them.  According to auspex readouts the ground was made up of intensely compacted layers of paper fiber and was covered in strange runes the size of an Astartes...

Scenic Distractions I

Another Brick In The Wall?

I expended an absurd amount of time trying to get the brickiest shade of red on these rubble walls...

WIP

Dark Angels Razorback

I was pleased to find that the decals I've been hanging onto since I bought this tank in 1999 still worked well.

I focus so much on finished products for this site, I feel like I've been neglecting in progress shots of things I'm working on.  Technically this Middlehammer beauty and the accompanying squad of marines (who can be seen out of focus in the background) are supposed to be my current project.  However the last two months have seen me painting a lot of scenery pieces which will turn up hereabouts in picture form soon.  It was supposed to be a fast and temporary distraction from endless rounds of highlighting Caliban Green in order to attempt to make the scenery backgrounds of in game pictures look better but it's morphed into a junkyard scenery painting addiction/distraction.  I've got to get the scenery monkey off my back so I can give this long in progress squad and vehicle the finish they deserve.

Heretics!

Part Two

The 2nd and 3rd gentlemen from the left are the only metal models in this unit.

Previously on 1st Legion Chronicles ...Staring down my first ever entry into the Nova Open and knowing I would be playing next to the corrupted forces of my friend's Death Guard Army I was unable to bring myself to field my Dark Angels army in concert with the decrepit heretics...

There was a solution to my problem that would involve a race against the clock hobby project for what remained of the spring and the summer before Nova 19 in August.  When 3rd edition 40K came out in the late 90's my brother, his dad, and I played 40K on an almost weekly basis for a few years.  At the time my brother played a Chaos Space Marine army as they were known in the days before the addition of extraneous latin for the purposes of copyright differentiation.  His army served him well for a few years and traveled with us along with mine when we moved to Colorado in 2002.