As the Emperor Wills

So, midway through last month (January 2024) I bought a copy of White Dwarf 496. I'm very haphazard regarding such purchases but, on this occasion, there was something inside which really intrigued me: the rules for the S olarien Task Force. While I haven't done so yet, I am eager to get into the playing side of the hobby. However, when (or more likely 'if') I get to playing for the first time, I want to start small and what smaller than a Combat Patrol. At this point, I already have a full combat patrol for Adepta Sororitas but, with their rules on miracle dice seeming a little complex, I wanted to maybe start simple with some of the Space Marine miniatures I already have. This is what made the Solarien Task Force both intriguing and tempting; because so far I already have a painted Phobos Lieutenant, a squad of Infiltrators and a Librarian (although Legends instead of Phobos. But I can proxy, right?) All that's left is the Suppressors, and I have a trio of those w...

When I took up this hobby nearly two years ago, the first full set I bought was the Space Marine Tactical Squad. Since then, my building and painting of the miniatures has been somewhat piecemeal. While I immediately built and painted all ten at the time, the paint scheme I used was a little more original as I had planned to create my own custom chapter. However, plans changed and now all of my painted models are Ultramarines, it became a thing that the previously painted needed to be amended, a job that took time as I focused on newer models. Well, eventually, the paint scheme was amended on my Tactical Marines but one thing I had never done to them was either shade or highlight. Again, this became something of a piecemeal effort, leading to only three of the ten being completed by the end of 2023. But now 2024 was here, I decided to make a concerted effort to get this long gestating miniatures finished completely, planning to get the entire unit finished. First up was the power armou...

With 2024 having now arrived, I had made myself a big plan for how to use the year. This started with finishing units which were still in progress by the end of 2023. My Infiltrators and my Tactical Squad (although, I'll talk about that later). My Primaris Infiltrators were seven tenths complete as the New Year arrived and while I wanted to work hard at ensuring some uniformity in their look, I also wanted to work through my remaining miniatures improving my painting skills as I went. Therefore, I started in much the same way as I had with all previous Infiltrators. Having primed them all in Chaos Black spray back in the summer, I made a start by applying two thin coats of Macragge Blue all over. This was followed with an all over wash of Drakenhof Nightshade before drybrushing Macragge Blue in order to return the armour back to that original colour. I followed this up with the drybrushing of Calgar Blue and then (to a lesser extent) Fenrisian Grey in order to apply the hig...

2024 is only a few hours away as I write this and I thought I'd put my thoughts down in writing for what I wanted to do in the new year. 2023 has seen me paint 44 new models since this time last year. From a whole new army in the form of the Adepta Sororitas (or at least most of one), a transport, several units where I attempted to improve my painting skills and, to finish off the year, a hero model in the form of Captain Messinius. So, with all of that behind me, I wanted to go bigger for 2024. As such, the following, are what I hope to accomplish: Paint up my backlog Like many others that I've seen over the internet, I have my own backlog of models in need of painting. Some, like my Tactical Squad, have been partially painted. However, the vast majority of my outstanding models have barely been started (apart from a few primed Vanguard models). At the moment, my list is: 3 x Infiltrators 7 x Tactical Squad 3 x Eliminators 3 x Suppressors 1 x Attack Bike 1 x Uriel Ventris 3 x ...

For the past month, I've been working on Captain Vitrian Messinius, the model released earlier this year as the 2023 Black Library celebration. Since working on my Librarian, I've been burning through my Ultramarines Infiltrator Squad. Using the technique I'd practiced on the Librarian again on the Infiltrators, I'd managed to complete seven of the ten-man squad back-to-back (interspersed with the painting of my Sororitas Rhino). Now, I had planned to finish the unit in the lead up to Christmas but, with the realisation that I had a lot of presents to wrap for my kids, as well as a desire to paint something different, I decided to paint the last remaining non-Ultramarine miniature I had: Messinius (although, I do have a bunch of random models in various places, but I fancied started someth9ng from scratch). So, with the model having been previously undercoated with White Scar, and the paint list supplied by Citadel Colour's app, I got work. First up, following the r...

Throughout October, I attempted to focus on one specific model: The Adepta Sororitas Rhino Having bought it back in August, I really wanted to get it completed and ensure I had a fully prepared Combat Patrol for when I finally had the bottle to ask my wife's permission to leave her with the kids and go to my local wargaming club (it'll never happen, I'm too dedicated to doing my bit around the house. But still ...). Therefore, almost immediately, I primed the entire Rhino (including the interior) with Chaos Black spray. However, rather than begin painting immediately, I decided to hold off, painting my Librarian and a few Infiltrators first. The reason; I wanted to make some 'modifications' to my Rhino. This was nothing extreme by any means. However, I wanted to give myself a few different options of display if I wanted to, such as removing the gunner, the hunter killer missile and the side doors. So, with a selection of two differently sized Magnetics, I went to wo...

For the last couple of weeks, I've been working, almost exclusively (save for a bit of highlighting of my Assault Intercessors) on my Ultramarines Librarian. This had not been my initial plan for I had intended to work on my suppressors (or even my Eliminators). However, I also wanted to work on my painting technique and, in the aftermath of most first born models no longer being worthy (apparently), I decided instead to paint this outstanding Librarian and try a new technique (as if I screwed it up then the model isn't important anymore). So, I got to work, starting with a couple of coats of Macragge Blue on everything but the miniatures staff and cherub (who was left unattached and painted separately). This was followed by and all over wash (of the blue sections) with Drakenhof Nightshade. Now, this is where I differed from my previous painting works, as I applied a dry brush coat (or two) of Macragge Blue, in order to return the initial colour to Giles' (his name, becaus...