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Weekly pick-and-mix

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 January is often a mixed month for hobby progress. For me at least. Short days, back to work, sudden cold snap. Sounds like excuses. A little, probably. But more it means I'm treading water until energy levels recharge. So I have been building more than painting past couple of weeks. There's a backlog of Warhammer character kits that have been sat on the shelf for an age, so I am assembling them as project fillers, palette cleansers and just out and out chill painting projects when I fancy a break from army painting. They really are gorgeous kits, so it was nice just grabbing one off the shelf occasional evenings, cleaning them up and putting them together.  I'm particularly impressed by this years Warhammer+ kits which are stunning designs. Both the Inquisitor and retinue and the Witch Hunter with companion. I have literally no idea how I plan to use any of them in games. Probably won't, but the Inquisitor and the Cadian (Kasrkin?) I see potential for a gang retinue, ...
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Happy New Solar Auxilia Year

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Well, we survived 2024 it appears. Although I have managed to pick up a bit of a temperature after the New Year festivities. I'll take that as nothing more than a small blessing from Nurgle. Firstly Happy New Year to the handful of you that follow my erratic painting exploits. I hope you managed to get some hobby, or even better gaming in over the festive break? I'm kicking off the next solar orbit with some loyalist Auxilia. This lot have been on and off the painting station more times than I care to admit over December. I just could not settle on a palette and theme I liked. The original plan was I was going to do them as traitor auxilia to ally with the Emperor's Children and legios Mortis and Fureans. I tested out a gold and purple scheme that worked ok with the Emperor's Children. It was a bit fiddly, but worked ok. Thing is I just wasn't feeling it. Then the Mechanicum and Dark Mechanicum units were revealed, at which point I pivoted. Dark Mechanicum will make...
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Legio Metalica Reaver 'Carnivore'

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My final post for this year, but don't worry. Plenty more to come in 2025. I've a backlog you wouldn't believe. Oh, wait. You probably would. The Reaver is done. No kill banners yet; I'm going to add them at the same time for all three Titans, so they are consistent. It also makes sense because I can paint them all same time on a single sheet of paper. This is the first of the three re-imagined Metalica engines, inspired by a battle report in White Dwarf issue 179 as promised. Unusually for me, I've not had to name this one, as it already had a name given in the article; "Carnivore". The middle of the three engines at the back, I've tried to retain as much of the original's colour and markings as possible. The slightly different profile, especially in the leg armour made this tricky, so I took a couple of artistic liberties where the knees were concerned. Was really pleased with the updated 'Opus Titanica' on the left knee plate with the cl...
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Legio Fureans Reaver Chimaera Invicta

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 I present the Legio Fureans (cognomen: Tiger Eyes) Reaver Titan "Chimaera Invicta". Literal translation "Unconquered Chimera".  This is the first, of what I hope will a small maniple of Tigers Eyes engines. At least, that's the plan anyway. The Tigers Eyes scheme is proper old school original Titanicus, with a storied history going all the way back to the late 80's and the games first edition. Re-imagining some of these classic photos, I think, is going to be a bit of an ongoing hobby themes going into 2025. I still find it incredible I am painting the spiritual successors to miniatures I started collecting thirty-seven years ago.    The palette for Legio Fureans has evolved a bit since the photo above, but the core yellow and black elements still remain. The modern Specialist Games artwork has reduced the intensity of the yellow to something a little less eye-searing, and the repeating flames motif is now more prominent on the armour. I do love the origina...
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Holiday hobby time and melted cheese

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 Ho, ho, hobby time at last. So the first of the Metalica Reavers is now assembled and looking great already. I have all the armour panels on and am just tinkering with the final pose. The head needs some detailing work, but other than that it's really at the finishing detailing stage and weathering. If there are no major distractions this weekend, I hope to get the trim refined, scratches and oil/pigment weathering done. Plan to add a couple of banners to this one. No carapace flags this time as the original source doesn't have one. Instead a suitably retro groin banner and maybe a couple of simple kill banners for the weapons. Definitely the former though. Stalkers Cracked open one of the Dark Mechanicum constructs boxes today, just to have a break from the brushwork. Really impressed how easily the constructs go together. Require a delicate touch as the models are quite spindly, but they really look great on the bases. The words 'skittering' and 'menacing' co...
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Twas the weekend before Christmas

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This is my favourite weekend of the year. Simply because I know I only have a few days left at work before I can truly unwind and enjoy the holiday spirit. Although it's a bit frenetic, you know, last minute stuff to organise and all that, I managed to sneak a good slab of painting in today. Not only are the first loyalist formations of Solar Auxilia game ready, but also the armour colours are now on the first of the Metalica Reavers. This is evidenced by the quite noticeable spiking of the workshops air scrubbers from all the Tamiya I've blasted through the airbrush today. This is why I use a decent respirator!  Can literally see what time the colours went on. So that would be pre-shade for lunch, then the reds early afternoon, before stripes before tea. Totally worth it.  I've added the decals I want, these I always add as early as possible so I can blend them into the underlying scheme. I don't worry about damaging them during all the handling while I paint, they hav...
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Replicating Reavers

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I have a small confession to make. Although the Warmaster I showed last update was a passion project rather than part of a specific event army, it does belong to a project in a sense. Let me elaborate. This picture from Titanicus and Space Marine era White Dwarf features some of those iconic Metallica engines I mentioned in the last post, as well as a Knight banner of House Krast and the studio's Blood Angels. So, I'm thinking wouldn't it be cool to re-imagine this force using the amazing plastic kits now available in Legions Imperialis?  Feels like a project I could really get behind. Some of the detachments I've already painted now I think about it, much of the Blood Angels for example. There are a few units I would still need to add, such as the Proteus pattern Speeders and whatever the heck is behind them (still trying to figure out what infantry unit that is from the photo). There is no Imperator unfortunately, but I think the Heavy Warmaster 'Interfector Trium...
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