Let’s jump into Wave 2!
The acrid reek of ozone hung low on the ridge as Lord Geronitan stepped past the mangled chassis of a Rapier Laser Destroyer. Its quad barrels were split apart, cabling spilling out like intestines. Glassified earth crackled beneath his armored tread. The gunline had been a bulwark, holding the line against the enemy’s armoured spearhead. Now it was wreckage. Nearby, the shattered remains of servitors lay like broken dolls. Geronitan paused, just for a moment, head cocked ever so slightly. The sight was pitiful.
“Gun emplacement’s seen better days, for sure” Ferric muttered, his voice crackling over the vox-link in his characteristic Cydonian drawl. The Marshal stomped forward on piston-driven legs, servo-claws twitching. He prodded a half-buried skull. “Ain’t natural, neither. Clean cut, but then… necrotised. Whatever did this left no room for take-backsies.”
Geronitan didn’t reply. Four Grey Knights lay fallen in a semi-circle, having fought to the last, in a formation they held even in death. He recognised their armor markings. A gauntlet twitched and Geronitan stepped quickly to the side of a fallen knight, kneeling. Pieter, the swordsman, was a master of the blade and a contemplative soul. Now, half his face was gone, helm split, chest carved open by something large and jagged. His remaining eye fluttered, as his gaze fixed upon something no mortal could see this side of the veil. Geronitan placed a gauntleted hand on his shoulder. “Brother.”
Pieters’ lips moved. No litany. No curse. Just one word, whispered in a hollow voice.
“Aldric.”
Geronitan rose, slowly turning to the west. On the far edge of the ravine, something immense stirred. A shape once familiar, now a grotesque parody, was rising amid a pall of roiling flies. Armoured plate sloughed away. Muscles ballooned. Bones twisted. The figure expanded exponentially, its mass swelling like a corpse in stagnant water.
Justiciar Aldric Vael was becoming something else.
A single, damnable horn burst from his skull. His bloated belly tore open to reveal a brood of grinning, grasping things. Arms unfurled like diseased branches. Laughter, not Aldric’s, boomed across the canyon. Wet. Guttural. Eternal.
Geronitan’s grip tightened around the haft of his Nemesis force sword. Ferric tilted his head back, letting out a long whistle. “Well, that’s a big ol’ slab of heresy right there.” He rolled his shoulders forward a few times, as if preparing to step into a cage fight, and powered up his plasma pistol until it hissed. “So, do ya have any advice on how to bring it down? It’s got to have some kind of a weakness, right?”
Geronitan said nothing. His silence was answer enough.
Support Weapon squad (3 x Rapier Laser Destroyers with Servitor crews): 162
Tech-Priest Engineer (power axe, laspistol, power armour, conversion field, bionic eye, bionic leg, servo arm): 62
Total points: 224
Model count: 10
Wachtmeister: As always I love M4cr0Dutch’s super clean painting style. His Grey Knight silver is exemplary and the reds he uses are just perfect. They are so perfect I had to ask for his recipe and hope to do them justice on a piece next month. Wish me luck!
Chaos had come quickly, indescribable horrors appeared through the warp and descended on the Biel Tan craftworld.
Zhaarn T’Vok had fought with all his psychic abilities but was finally overwhelmed and, knowing he was more use alive than dead, he transported himself, not knowing where he would end up.
He awoke to snorting sounds and the feeling of hot breath on his face, he jumped up thinking he’d been captured by Orks.
It wasn’t Orks, it was dragons. He was on an Exodite world.
The leader of the troop of exodites spoke up, ‘we have heard of your struggles with chaos and we offer you our allegiance, the chaos is coming here soon we have seen it in visions, come with us and we fight together’
Zhaarn T’Vok stood up, feeling for his sword, ‘I will fight with you, for your land and for Biel Tan!’
Zhaarn T’Vok felt his powers returning, he sensed that peace would return once more, one day, this hope would drive his fury to kill anything that came between.
Wow, I’ve completed the challenge, I really can’t believe how much I’ve managed to get done since the beginning!
This month is my Farseer and a unit of Exodites, the Exodites were really fun to do, a few bits of bending and converting, it was a nice break from just painting. They weren’t planned for the challenge but by chance I found the riding lizards for a great price and it all just came together.
I really enjoyed painting the farseer too, an all time classic miniature, mine came with a missing pointy finger so didn’t cost the earth, I replaced it with the only other similarly pointing finger I could find, I think it’s a ghoul or something, I did have a go at sculpting one but it was crap…
Next month, bonus month, torn between a couple of options so I’m just going to take some time out for a bit.
This month’s pledge –
Farseer with displacer field, las pistol, power sword – 197pts
Exodite Hero with laser lance, refractor field – 70pts
Exodite knights x 4 with laser lance – 144pts
Total points – 411pts
Wactmeister: It’s fun to see some more Exodites show up for the challenge, it seems like getting motivated by the other contestants is a theme this year! The Dark Eldar models certainly look the part of Exodites and with the color scheme Justin has selected they don’t look like dino riding Dark Eldar, they look like Exodites. It’s amazing the change a weapon swap and a different color scheme can make on a model. Oh, and mounting them on a dinosaur of course!
Maddix, Orphidian 7th (Imperial Guard Black Codex – It’s 2nd Edition!!)
<<<Message begins>>>
Our landing force is now fully deployed and no breaches of the perimeter have occurred, despite the best efforts of the enemy. We managed to reinforce the line with the veterans of 2nd Platoon and are awaiting further instructions
The Emperor Protects.
<<<Message ends>>>
Month 5, Slice 5. End of the line?
160pts Veteran Squad of 10 & Lascannon, Grenade Launcher
10 models
Well, that’s the end of my committed slices. I have gone back and added Squad insignia on them, and appropriate squad colours (helmet stripes etc), with a few bonus models along the way. I have also managed to acquire some more Early 2nd ed/Rogue Trader era Imperials and am aiming to get those finished next month too. Still got a few things to try and get for the army, but next month you will see almost a completed force (missing some Vehicles, pretty much). It’ll be nice to get another force almost done, as my plans this year mean finishing off painted armies!
No bonus models this month, as I’m aiming to do them all next month!
Maddix
P.s. Next month will be a full shot of the army.. with bonuses. And all fancy.
Wachtmeister: Maddix continues to give me déjà vu with his Imperial Guard entry, just like I’m sure I’m giving him with my Mordian squads every month. I really like that he went in and added things to his previous entries, I look forward to seeing the end of challenge picture!
Greetings fellow four-armed grease monkeys! How are your STCs going? Nice and corrupted I trust? Excellent, let us begin!
My own tinkering have finally paid dividends over the last few weeks, with my counts-as Land Raider scratch-build finally being completed! This has been something I’ve wanted to try for a looooong time, so I am over the moon that I can cross this off the list and move onto the next project.
Speaking of which, there’s only bonus models left for me to finish off for the final month, and I am determined to finish off the last models I have left lying around for this army. No idea if I’ll get them all done or not, but let’s see how deep the Cult’s clawed hands can grasp huh?
Thanks for reading, and catch you next month!
Tain
Slice 5:
Land Raider (220pts)
Wachtmeister: I’ve really enjoyed following Martin’s progress on this counts-as Land Raider. His paint and the conversion he has done really took what could have looked like a pile of random junk and made it into a coherent vehicle for a group of back water world cultists. This really does scream 2nd Edition and I absolutely love it! That purple is just so nice!
Wachmeister-
This is it! The final miniature that I pledged to paint! I was sure that I was going to need my mulligan, but this challenge motivated me to paint way more often than I normally would! Thanks, Wachmeister! Hobby motivation had been hitting a low for me before this challenge started and I’ve really enjoyed having a reason to paint… it’s made it a lot harder to put it off as a luxury with something on the line (not to mention the shame and mockery I would get from you on game nights!). All that being said, I’m pretty sure I’m going to put in a few bonus models next month as I have more pointy ears to get done for this army, and after taking it for a spin last weekend, I really need something with speed to keep me from getting heavy weaponed to death before I’m in range!
This month, we have the old doorstop falcon grav tank! I’d like to say that I was able to source the original armourcast version, but alas, this one came from my 3D printer. There’s a number of supports that I struggled to get rid of on this, but I plowed ahead anyway. Next one I print, I’ll try fewer supports and clean it up before curing… this is the first big model I’ve printed and it’s definitely been a learning experience. I’m particularly proud of the pulse laser and its gem.
The details:
Falcon Grav Tank with scatter laser and twin-linked shuriken catapults – 233pts
Wachtmeister: This Falcoln looks terrific in both pictures and in real life. Those gems are really nice, I can see why Deacon is proud of them. I am certainly not looking forward to seeing this thing pop up in one of our upcoming battles though!
———— Transmission Begins ————
And we’ve made it! By the narrowest of narrow margins I was able to finish up the final model for the challenge!
Made it through the entire challenge without having to use a mulligan! And now I am the proud owner of 1000 points of fully painted second edition Ultramarines.
Certainly there is more to add to the army, but for the next little while I can lay my brushes to rest. And basic in the Blue Glory of the emperors finest.
This month’s 200 pt breakdown:
– Space Marine Predator w/ lascannon sponsors – 180
Total: 180 pts
I am 20 points under this month, but the rest of the challenge I’ve painted more than the required 200 pts so I’ve completed the 1k army plus I suppose I could aways add in vehicle upgrades…
Remember, “ His soldiers will strike you down. His war machines will crush you under their treads.”
— Sam
———— Transmission Ends ————
Wachtmeister: Wow. I was just looking at a figure I painted in full screen size thinking how terrible it looks at that size. I opened my email to see Sams wonderful Predator full screen and was amazed at how clean it looks even at that size. Congratulations Sam on finishing your army, I look forward to seeing them all arrayed together for war! I’m even willing to forgive the 20 points under thing. I’ve totally been tracking minuscule points the whole challenge. Totally. Don’t look at my entries….
Having moved house has resulted in minimal hobby time. This month I managed to finish the final five of my imperial guard squad, which are the convict legion wardens, kitted out in the best tech available from Necromunda (Van Saar).
I also prepared all the other troops and my Leman Russ for next month.
Picture taken with rest of the squad.
Total 50pts
5 models
This month was a bit of a bust, my mental health has taken a bit of a hit lately. Trying to keep on top of things has been fairly difficult as a result. I didn’t manage to get this month’s pledge finished so instead you get a pic of the partly completed pledge and the WiP bonus models I have on my bench. This month’s pledge was the Pulsa Rokkit and 5 Boarboys. The Pulsar Rokkit is hands down one of my favourite Orky bits of tech ever since one of my first games of 40k2 back in the way when. In that game it hit my Hive Tyrant, some genestealers and some warriors for multiple turns.
The Pulse effect can potentially last multiple turns I wanted a marker for it. One quick digital kitbash later and I was mostly there. The grot riding it initially misprinted so some spare boots and one rude gesture later I had my landed rokkit. I then painted both rokkits to look the same and am super happy with the result.
I have made some decent progress on the Boarboyz it isn’t enough that I’ll get them done in time.
As for the bonus models the grots, dread, painboy and Nazdreg’s banner grot are all from last month that I didn’t finish. The Weirdboy and heavy weapon toting Mega Nobs are a new addition for this month, although now I suppose they will be next month’s effort.
May pledge:
Pulsar Rokkit 50pts
Number of models painted: 4
Wachtmeister: Ever get a pizza where the person who cut the pizza didn’t understand the slices should be even? I know I have, and if I grab the small piece you better believe I’ll be grabbing the larger piece next to it for sure! Georg ended up with a small piece this month, I’m confident he’ll grab the big piece next month! I really love his Pulsa Rocket marker, it is both super fun and super creative! Jon McMaster, you are on notice, you need to make a cool marker for your army for next game we play!
This month I added one of the most second-editiony Ork models that ever second-editioned: Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka! An iconic chonk of an Ork, Ghazghkull Thraka was pictured in every GW publication they could manage to place him in. Obviously Ghazghkull by himself would seem lonely without sidekick extrordinaire, Makari. In the past I was never impressed by the Ghazghkull Thraka model due to his static pose, weird proportions, and absurd costuming. But present-day PygmyHippo is in the grip of nostalgia, and I can now look upon the model with fondness. Makari, on the other hand, has ALWAYS looked great. Look at goofy face! What’s not to love?
“Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka” (180 pts.) & standard bearer “Makari” (70 pts.)
Total: 250 points
You can follow my hobby progress on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pygmyhippo/
And you can find many more photos of my miniatures and hobbies on my blog at https://giantpygmy.com
Wachtmeister: I had the chance to see PygmyHippo’s take on Ghazghkull Thraka, and the real boss Makari in a game not too long ago and I assure you they look just as terrific in person as they do in pictures!
Don’t forget to check back next month for Wave 3!
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 