The 40k 2nd Edition Challenge – Mark VI – Month 3 – Wave 1 was slightly delayed due to my drip to Adepticon, but now that it’s here you can check out the great entries!
Back on course. Having failed to finish my entry for last month, I decided to go easy on myself. Finish last months entry and enter my smallest slice – my army commander.
This figure has some history. This is the second time I have attempted a renegades army and the second time I have painted specifically several of these nurgle figures. I have no memory of what happened to those figures but I don’t have them and I don’t know what happened to them.
Back in the day I bought a heartbreaker chaos knight. I added a bolter and chaos backpack and did one of the best paintjobs I had done at that time. I was so very proud of that figure. This is my attempt at recreating that figure and paintjob. I am pretty pleased with the result although it will never quite have the nostalgia of the original.
In addition I have finished the last 3 nurgle matines from last months slice and have added a bonus squad of satry art studios plaguebearers (great rt style plaguebearers). I am really pleased with how the banner came out. (Although this brings me to 28 painted plaguebearers in the last year – how many do I need?).
I am already working on next months slice (another marine squad) and have put some more time into my big nurgle dreadnaught conversion which I want to finish painting at least by the last month.
3 plague marines 105
7 plague bearers 245
Master Sorcerer, mk of nurgle, force sword. 181
Total 531
Wachtmeister: Adrian really caught up and did so in style. I could tell he wanted to redeem himself as his entry was in before the halfway point of the month! The freehand on the Plaguebearer banner is terrific but the gangster shooting sorcerer really wins the entry for me! Looks like he needs a ride in a Genestealer Cult limo with that shooting style!
———— Transmission Begins ————
With the completion of this month’s pledge, I have broken my two-month pattern… I finished before deadline day and wasn’t rushing to finish! Wow, wow—truly, I must be blessed by the Emperor.
Or… is it perhaps that this month I was only painting two models? Who’s to say? I’m going with the “blessed by the Emperor” option.
For March, I wanted to add some more heavy firepower to my army—and what’s heavier and more second edition than a metal Dreadnought? Alongside him, I painted a Techmarine to keep my Chapter Ancient in tip-top shape.
This month’s 200 pt breakdown:
- Dreadnought with assault cannon and power fist – 185 pts
- Techmarine with servo arm – 45 pts
Total: 230 pts
I’m looking forward to next month, when I get to add some light reconnaissance in the form of Scouts—and a leader for my army, a mighty Space Marine Captain!
Remember: “It is better to die for the Emperor than to live for yourself.”
— Sam
———— Transmission Ends ————
Wachtmeister: Sam continues to paint great 2nd Edition figures in his crisp style. I don’t think I’ve seen a more 2nd Edition red on a techmarine outside of the various White Dwarf magazines and Codices. I hope that is a strong servo-arm to pick up that brick of a Dreadnought for repair!
So another month done and quite the challenge for me. Not painted a 40k tanks fors yrs. Wanted to push myself alittle this time as March was a long month. Instead of drybrushing every thing like I would of back in the day, I decided to edge highlight. I thought it would be very daunting but was quite suprised to find it quite relaxing. Was thinking of coping the Razorback in the AOD codex but went for something else instead. The red hatches were inspired by a guy on FB(sadly can’t remember who) and as this Razorback would be supporting the 3rd company tactical combat squad, I gave him the same markings.
Photo does not show up well but I was really happy with the winged skull on the gun shield. In fact, I am quite chuffed with the end result.
Next month a chaplin and the most feared gun in 40k deathwing terminator with an assault cannon.
Pts 150
Model count total 1
Wachtmeister: Richard’s edge highlights are super crisp, considering he says he doesn’t normally edge highlight I’m jealous! I love his take with the red doors and the metal rivets. I’ve always loved the Razorback even if it is a bit silly as a concept. It can only transport half a squad of marines, and has an odd mix of weapons in the open topped turret. It’s glorious 2nd Edition all the way, no wonder it hasn’t made it to other editions!
“Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled, it may have but become transfigured into some still subtler form”
Last month I managed to get 12 mini’s painted up and with 2 months done I had left myself with only needing to paint 5 miniatures left from my original army list! A great start, however, can leave you feeling somewhat over confident and thats how this month proved. With the pull of other projects keeping me occupied a little longer than they should have to be honest. It took me much longer into the month that I am used to, to get started as I (wrongly) assumed that I could get this month finished quickly, and some planned bonus miniatures this month just didn’t end up happening.
I finally settled on painting up the Whirlwind tank, thinking that the work I had done on the Rhino from month one would put me in a great position to get this done quickly. However it quickly became apparent that this would not be the case as I struggled to match the same colour of the other tank. Initially I put it down to the large flat surfaces and not being able to get the mix of colours I had employed so far to work again for some reason. I always try to keep a record of my paint schemes to allow me to come back to painting an army again – but for some reason this time the mix I had used previously wasn’t giving me the results I was after and so had to re-work this tank more than once. It was then that I started to wonder if something else was up, and remembered that my traditional primer spray of choice (Halfords here in the UK) had recently changed their range and while initially I had just assumed one type of black would be like another…but maybe this wasn’t the case. So totally back to the drawing board and another spray undercoat required.
Also, to compound the issues – I somehow managed to mis-place the small radar dish that sits at the front of the tank, and my storage solution for the tanks failed to stand up to much scrutiny as the thin rails both snapped off while being put away. Each of these things chipped away at me, as I considered holding off with the tank for another month and how to repair it but this deliberation just meant that things were taking even longer to get done than I’d have liked, and I even considered if this was when I would need to take my first mulligan over my three years in the 40K2ndac.
I do have a bit of a reputation for getting things done quickly in the challenge, and admit its nice to see my write up make the first batch of the months write up’s. Not that it should play a part in how I paint the mini’s up but I defiantly felt the little voice on my shoulder reminding me that I needed to get on with things quicker than they were coming together and that I had wasted over a week at the start of the month. This came to a bit of a head when I realised that was risking this Blood Angel challenge to run away from me, so taking stock I decided to push on without rails (because frankly how many of those have survived from the 90’s anyway) and also the radar dish – as if it ever turned up, it would be a quick fix to add it to the model. With that problem tackled in my mind and a fresh undercoat on the model, I was able to start achieving the results I wanted and with a little time left I turned to the prospect of adding something extra to the months slice.
For this I looked no further than a project from a few years back when I painted up the Advanced Space Crusade box set, and tried to bring the Blood Angel scout squad that I painted up more in line with this paint scheme, re-working the reds and giving them a little tidy up. So, in the end I managed to get this month finished fairly successfully and was (eventually) happy with how the whirlwind turned out and I managed to keep going forwards with this challenge!
3rd Month
Whirlwind Tank 150 points
Scout Squad with Chain Sword and Heavy Bolter 117 points
Month 3 total – 6 models and 267 points
As always, feel free to follow along with my progress and various other Oldhammer projects over on Instagram @ad80_herohammer. Thanks for reading!
Wachtmeister: I think it was a bold move for Adrian to change Halfords prime just to knock Alex out of first place for this months submission, but then again, “fortune favors the bold.” Alex did a great job of struggling through a difficult period and showed the benefit of getting an early start to the painting challenge each month! He even pulled ahead and knocked out a bonus entry, in this case some of the best work I’ve seen on this particular batch of scouts!
This month, Terminators!
The 2nd Edition Chaos Terminators have always been some of my favourite models GW ever made. My introduction to the hobby was finding White Dwarf issue 200 in my local newsagent, which I read cover to cover many times. In it was a Battle Report using the recently released Codex Chaos, with both Night Lords and Black Legion Terminators in the army list picked by Andy Chambers.
While I definitely knew I wanted to do some as part of this Khorne army, my only issue with the models is their somewhat diminutive stature. Even compared to standard Chaos Marines from the same era, side by side they look a bit short and hunched. With this in mind I decided to give them a milliput height boost, with thicker boots, and a torso that’s been built up a lot. The heads and surrounding cowling have been moved upwards to reduce the hunched look. After this, “ears” from sacrificed Berzerker helmets were added to give them some Khornate flavour. Along with 40mm bases, they make an imposing sight!
For once I actually finished this month’s pledge ahead of time. That’s because the heaviest pledge of all comes next.. a squad of 8 Khorne Berzerkers!
Onto April!
Cheers!
—————————————-
Points painted this month:
3x Chaos Terminators, Khorne Berzerker Upgrades, Chainfist, Powerfist, Reaper Autocannon, 2x naughty non Codex complaint (sorry mum!) Lighting Claws (same cost as Chainfists) – 276 points
Wachtmeister: Mark’s subtle conversion work, coupled with the less subtle headgear really does make these models more imposing. They are so imposing even his mum doesn’t want to say anything! I hope Mark has better luck with his Berserkers than the other contestants, but even if he doesn’t I’m sure they will look terrific!
Now that I’ve excepted that my models have been at war in the warp for the past 30 years I’ve finally got a method and can knock them out fairly easy. I even managed to work ahead a little bit. Most of the painting was done in only a couple days. 3 more Night Lord Terminators to do, then on to the dreadnaught.
On the 8th… get it for the 8th legion.. I have a tattooed scheduled…
Wachtmeister: DJ is cruising along now that he has the color scheme and pattern down! I know we have more Terminators next month but I’m looking forward to seeing the giant brick of metal that makes up the Chaos Dreadnought!
“Ishtar, the orcs are mounting their assault on the shrine. And I’m concerned that we cannot repulse them.”
“Sister, we can’t but we shall delay them, that is all that is asked. We cannot do war with the Orc, they thrive on it. But delay and bore them and we have a chance”
“Well, shall we?, dance with them in the pale moonlight”
Well, this month provided to be more of a challenge on the scheme. Life really got in the way but I’m proud to say we won and persevered on . I found trying the turquoise to be a challenge. But I found a great tutorial and bingo we got it done.
Wachtmeister: These Exodites certainly have an excellent turquoise to them, they will really pop on the battlefield! I think the pattern on the riders crests are terrific as well!
Thalor signalled to the others that it was time to go, he could sense the alien presence and knew they were about to emerge through the thick undergrowth a few hundred meters away.
They fired up the warp generators and promptly vanished from their position on the other side of the clearing.
They reappeared to be faced by a mass of Genestealers, they fired but the Genestealers nimbly dodged the thousands of tiny filaments.
Thalor order his men to warp out of there, anywhere, their usually impressive weapons were ineffectual here.
Thalor’s men vanished as he was torn to shreds by the ravenous creatures.
This month is Warp Spiders and an Exarch.
I’m yet to play a game as Eldar but I read a lot about these guys being overpowered and potentially quite beardy, as I mostly play against my brother and his Tyranids that sounded perfect to me, ha ha ha!
I re-read the rules and noted that it was based on an initiative role, Tyranids are quick. I could be wrong but it doesn’t seem they will be much help, oh well. He does have space marines too, ha ha ha!
To get inspiration for the colour scheme I looked up ‘jumping spiders’ and came across the Green Jumping Spider – Morpsus Mormon, native to the Brisbane area of Australia. It is predominantly green with differing shades of red, white and black patterns. It seemed perfect as it fits with the generally green theme of the army and also the commonly used colours for Warp Spiders.
I had a crack at some doodles on the back plates, nothing like the beautiful patterns on the real thing but I like them.
Though not many models I definitely felt the pressure of the challenge this month, they felt a bit of a slog to do but I’m really pleased how they turned out.
I did plan to get another Jetbike completed, I’ve very nearly finished two more but not done enough to make the cut this month.
Next month – Dreadnought, I’m really looking forward to this as it’s up there with my favourites.
Exarch with Warp Spider jump generator and +2 Death Spinners – 90pts
3 x Warp Spiders – 123pts
Total – 213pts
Wachtmeiser: I love Justin’s unique take on these Warp Spiders color scheme, and I’m sure the Australian contingent of the challenge is honored that one of the 18 billion animals that can kill you on their continent is being represented here! The symbols on the Warp Generators are quite terrific and really help break up the large surface area.
March report,
I have slowed down a bit, did finish a dreadnought, as well as 5 marines for my devastator squad. I also finished up a monopose flamer for my monopose squad. I did add a few models, one being a Terminator Captain, and the other a Terminator Librarian. This challenge has spurred me to complete my project. I am so happy I have been admitted.
Dreadnought 195 points
Terminator Captain 125
Terminator Librarian 142
Total points painted 492. That includes the extra marine with Flamer.
Wachtmeister: Damien’s slowing down is still nine models, including two characters and the giant chunk of metal dreadnought, meanwhile I have yet to top 10 models in a month and I’m painting guard! Great job Damien!
This month I painted the last three remaining Necron Warriors of the 13 on my list. I’m glad they’re done. And I have this challenge to thank for that. They were a bit of a grind and a fairly dull process that I’d probably have abandoned without this blog and group holding me to account. So thank you, Dear Reader. I’m pleased how they look as a unified army. Quite satisfying!
With them done, it meant I could look at some of the more exciting options. So I took the opportunity to paint the leader of the force – the Necron Lord. I’m excited to get him on the table, zapping and whacking stuff with his magical staff, like some kind of mad space wizard. Can’t wait.
These four models come in at a combined 217 points. It marks the completion of all the infantry and brings my combined army total to 657.
Wachtmeister: I love the classic look Brawlerguts is going for with his Necrons. The Lord is a particular favorite of mine, he takes a big step away from “terminator” and brings us the look of imperious ancient Egyptians. Just look at his robotic majesty as he directs his underlings!
With that Month 3 Wave 1 is complete. I’ll see you all back on schedule next Wednesday with Wave 2!
If you are interested in my trip to Adepticon I posted daily entries to this very blog while I was there. You can find them on the home page, or by clicking the links below:
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 
Excellent work all around. I especially love Adrian’s plague sorcerer and banner. Superb!
LikeLiked by 1 person