2023 - a recap

 I've never done a new years recap before, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

I've probably had the most productive year in a very long time - thinking back, I don't think I've done as much hobbying in 10 years! It started out with me starting and finishing my Death Guard Kill Team in january - and getting so excited about actually getting something painted, that I proudly proclaimed to Allan that my goal for 2023 was to paint a Kill Team each month (which I would, of course, miserably fail to do). However, it was motivation enough that I've actually started and finished 5(!) whole Kill Teams this year. By the way, the reasonable thing to do would of course be to just go ahead and paint some of the 6+ already built Kill Teams I have on my shelf of potential (I refuse to call it shelf of shame!), but being the mad kitbasher I am, I had to build all the teams beside the Nurgle legionaries I've painted this year too! (The truth is, that me being ever the hobby-butterfly, my motivation to paint is so much improved when I build something new and exciting, so I decided to just go with it.) Here they are: 

Death Guard Nurgle Legionaries

White Templars Intercession

Necron Hierotek Circle

Mechanicus Strike Team (counts as Hive Fleet)

Inquisitor Ivana Fyodorovas Retinue (counts as Strike Force Justian)

Besides getting a (for me) impressive amount of painting done, and actually finishing stuff, I've managed to build some cool teams, that are now waiting in the painting que: 

Inquisitorial Interrogation Kill Team

Gellerpox

Word Bearers Legionaries

Moreover, I've gotten hold of a cool rustique gaming table, inspired by the awesome stuff I see a lot of the Inq28 conneisseurs play on - basically a used coffee table, with IKEA legs, but it certainly looks the part. 

Yes, I am aware that my Zone Mortalis setup is still very much unpainted. I am intending to remedy that, and have actually gotten to taking it all apart and giving it all base coats with spray cans. It took 8(!) full cans of varying colours to paint it all:

1/4 of the terrain pieces I've sprayed...

Lastly, I've gotten hold of some old Cities of Death terrain - quite a lot actually, and very cheap to boot. Why? Because I wanted a open board table setup, that isn't as locked or claustrophobic as my Zone Mortalis board. The reason why I've chosen the old CoD is because of the height of it. While the new Sector Imperialis terrain looks amazing, each level is 5" tall. That may be great for 40k, so big monsters and Dreadnoughts can walk under it, but I find it much too tall for Kill Team. Each level is almost exactly the same as the Octarius terrain, making it perfect for KT. Why not just use Octarius then? Because I'm not the biggest fan of things that are super orkish - I wanted a destroyed Imperial City. 

I'm very happy with it, I got a full tables worth for very little money, plus a lot of pieces to spare. They're pretty well painted to, and I'm still debating whether or not to repaint it. 

Ripping the pieces of the bases... 

Oh, and my new battle mat - again, found it for a great price, I just need to cut it to size: 

Well, that pretty much sums up 2023, hobbywise, for me. It's been one of my most productive years in a looooong time, and I'm very pleased with how much I've gotten done. 

So, how about 2024? Well, during the last week of this year, I've started painting my Word Bearers team, which I hope to finish in January, to have them ready for a Chill Team get-together weekend (the guys I meet up with to paint and chat online). When they are done, I probably should get my terrain together, but there's also the Gellerpox calling to me, and I have a great idea (at least on paper) for a speedpaint scheme for my Hand of The Archon team... So many models, so little time. 

Anyway, I hope you have a happy new year, and hopefully more updates from me soon! I'll leave you with this small teaser of a Word Bearer with paint on: 

Best regards, Rasmus. 

Word Bearers - old hate for the Imperium never dies

"Excuse me, good sir, do you have a moment to speak about our lord and savior, Lorgar?"

Since spending all my pocket money on a Night Lords army in 2nd edition, I've always loved Chaos Space Marines. I never saw the reason why anyone liked the Word Bearers though. Since reading Anthony Reynolds' Word Bearer trilogy about ten years ago, they've been my favourite legion. No other legion are as evil, fanatic, religiously devout and well... Chaotic as the Word Bearers. They have preachers, possessed, grisly trophies, they use torture, build gigantic shrines using ground up mortals as mortar... What more could you want from a traitor legion? 

 
I built a Word Bearers team at the launch of Kill Team '21. They were fine, but I find that in order to really get bitten by a project, I have to LOVE the miniatures. So, since getting quite a few cool teams done this year, I thought it was time to reboot them and make an AWESOME Word Bearers team, to be my go-to team.

 
I think I've accomplished that - at least in my own opinion. I can't wait to start painting them, and I really like the look of every single model.

From left to right: 
First Acolyte Ereshkigal, Icon Bearer Garash, Plasma Gunner Eshkar, Coryphaeus Kor Gahal, Possessed Torek Rak'Shal, Shrivetalon Tilhar and Heavy Gunner Serakh.

  
(They should be pretty self explanatory, except the guy with lightning claws - he counts as a Shrivetalon. The Icon Bearer is holding a "Heavy Bolter Lite" (Bolter with Tainted Rounds)

Nobody expects the counts-as Inquisition!

Aaaaand... They're finally done!

 
Prologue:

I kind of like Strike Team Justian - but I already HAVE ONE Space Marine KT (my White Templars - Intercession). So I decided to do something different. Since I am knee deep in “Counts as”-Kill Teams already, I figured one more couldn’t hurt - right?

The team is lead by Ordo Malleus Inquisitrix Ivana Fyodorova (Captain Justian - her thunder hammer, Izgonját, represents the Power Fist). Probably 30-40 standard Terran years older than her looks lead one to believe, thanks to rejuvanat treatments, she is an experienced Inquisitor, who tirelessly hunts the Daemon and the Heretic.

Furthermore, she employs the Vindicare Assassin ‘Tarim’ (Eliminator) and a hulking brute of a close combat servitor, designation ‘Gedeon-527’ (Assault Marine), enhanced far beyond their usual combat capabilities, gifted to her by a Mechanicus Magos as a token of gratitude for banishing a cohort of data daemons many years prior.

 
Furthermore, she is joined by a retinue of 3 Astartes of the Exorcists chapter, who regularly sends aid to Inquisitors, due to their close bond to the Inquisition, Malleus in particular. These are Sergeant Lysos, Heavy Gunner Brother Asheras and Brother Daecath.

Painting them was a bit of a mixed bag - I've found a recipe for painting red, that I really enjoy (I cannot stand bright red, always been more partial to a burgundy tone), but the very clean Eavy Metal-esque style takes forever, and I'm not sure I really like the result as much as my usual, a little grimier style. However, the vials on the servitor and the active camo/cloaking effect on the assassin was lots of fun to try. 

I hope you like them!

The Vindicare Assassin Tarim, Inquisitrix Ivana Fyodorova and Gedeon 527

Heavy Gunner Brother Asheras, Sergeant Lysos and Brother Daecath.

+++ Blessid is the Omnissiah +++

"From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine.”
I've been working on a Mechanicus Kill Team. Problem is, I don't find the Hunter Clade very inspiring. I know they're pretty good ruleswise, but I felt like I wanted something more - the Hunter Clade feels a bit like a "slightly better than human" team to me, and I wanted to convey the weirdness that is AdMech - big robots, strange combat-automatas, etc.


I know it's a bit of a stretch, but the closest thing I could find to what I wanted was actually Hive Fleet (Tyranids). They have big guys, smaller warriors and Synapse rules, which convey noosphere communication pretty well, IMO.
Without further ado - here they are:
Magos Rho Verulac, flanked by the two Confrontation-Class Combat Automatas, W4LL4C3 and 6R0M1T (Tyranid Warrior Leader, Warrior and Gunner) and 5 Electro-Gheists (Genestealers)


They were NOT a speed paint project like my Necrons, but I really like the result, and the muted red tones combined with the green glow.


Rho Verulac is based on Belisarius Cawl, mostly with parts removed from him (the original model is a mess, imo), the Automatas are Necromunda Enforcer Automatas, with shoulders removed, lots of reposing, and a new head from some Necron vehicle, and the Electro-Gheists are Nighthaunt bladegheists, with arms from ruststalkers, Puppetswar heads and Electropriests generator backpacks, wires and halos.

The whole Kill Team

Electro Gheists

Magos Rho Verulac and Confrontation-Class Combat Automatas

 I’ve done it! Painted a Kill Team in less than a week! That’s a first for me. 



I got really inspired by the Pariah Nexus animation on Warhammer+ and felt a sudden urge to make a Hierotek Circle Kill Team. I had 5 immortals lying about from an abandoned project a long time ago, and a royal warden plus various other bits from when the Indomitus box was the hottest new thing. I realised I only needed a cryptek to have a complete kill team, and an idea formed. 



I’m not too crazy about the crypteks, except for the psychomancer - that miniature is amazing. On the other hand I’ve been thinking about the Hexmark since he came out, and wondering what I could use it for. I had the Psychomancer lying around (used the body for another project), and I bought a Hexmark and set about making a “mini Illuminor Szeras”. 



The Deathmark needed to come out of a portal, courtesy of Pariah Nexus. That is just the coolest thing ever, and the ploy even lets me do it in the game. I sanded him flat on one side, mounted him on a thin piece of plasticard and tried my best to paint it like a portal. Originally I wanted it to be geometrical shapes, ala the animation, but I soon realised that there was no way I could paint neat geometrical shapes, with the Deathmark already glued to the portal. 



I hope you like it - 5 nights (about 3-4 hours a night) - that’s definitely speed-paint for me (I usually spend a month or two on a Kill Team) and I quite like the look and the “pop” of the green glow. They’re primarily contrast on leadbelcher, except for the green, which is layed and glazed greens.