Poisonblood

Work continues on the new Coven, the new haemonculus model is real lovely, not quite as convertible as I might like in terms of pose, but the overall mood of the model more than makes up for that.  I was unsure how to paint the eyes at first as they looked really boring in plain white and didn't stand out in black, in the end I

Hit on the idea of watering down pink as a layer over the White and then adding a tin pupil for the really blood shot look, I'm really happy with how it turned out!

The new plastic Wracks are incredible models, I'm loving the store of spare bits I'm building up the more boxes I open, I've got ten painted so far, and I'm working on the next five, I'm planning to run a scalpel squadron with an Acothyst with hexrifle and Ossefactor in each Venom (dual splinter cannons of course.)

Initially I was planning on a squad of ten with three liquifiers to accompany a we way portal haemonculi, but I'm leaning more towards a squad of nine in a raider now, the Dark Artisan seems more fit for deep striking shinanigans.  The army Is shaping up well so far, and I've almost finished my Crypt Horror Grotesques so they will be posted very soon!

Fleshcraft

Back at the painting desk, after a short break away, I've got a battle report that I've been meaning to post for ages as well, my first game of 7th against a friend's Grey Knights with the Marines Exemplar.

With the release of the new Dark Eldar book I'm finally free to resume work on a Haemonculus Coven army for 40k, with plastic Wracks and a new Haemonculus as well as Wrack crew for the ships, the army will be a lot closer to what I was hoping first time round!

I've already got ten new Wracks painted as well as two haemonculi and a Venom, with my Grotesque squad that I recently converted from Crypt Horrors waiting patiently to be finished off, pictures to follow!

Centurion Annihilator, Rexus

For a little while now, i've thought that the Inquisitor Tyrus model from the now defunct 50mm Skirmish-roleplay-em-up game Inquisitor would make a great 40k model, but obviously with it's sheer size it would have difficulty coming off as any of the regular infantry sized models, as it's way more huge than even a beefy Terminator suit.

And then the Centurions came out and i painted a squad up for the Marines Exemplar, they weren't far off the size, but still a little too small.

Anyway, i was selling off some old Inquisitor bits and bobs on Ebay that i will never have a use for and typically i did some searches to see what the models were going for, and then i saw a slightly damaged, child-painted model of Tyrus, complete with horrific head conversion with elongated neck.  But the Basic body was intact even if the shoulder pauldrons were missing. 

I managed to win it for next to nothing ( i don't think most people could be bothered with the renovation work or trying to find alternate parts. ) But for me i was intending to convert it anyway, and when it arrived i searched in my gargantuan bits box of ages past and managed to find a complete set of two Tyrus shoulder Pauldrons even though i didn't have the rest of the model ( i believe i ordered them when such a thing was still possible for a conversion that never materialised.)  But after that stroke of good luck i got to chopping the model and adding parts to make it look like a marine inside a massive warsuit.   And i think the end result is quite good!

I'll use him as a dreadnought (he's on a 60mm base) and bulk-wise he is probably most similar to a dreadnought (and the generic dreadnought models just look a bit bland nowadays, in my opinion.) In terms of background i imagine him to be in a similar vein to the "Punisher Attack Bikes" that the Marines Exemplar have, a lone marine in search of glory, but only able to attain access to the heaviest equipment once he has proven himself.

Big Guns Never Tire - The Devastator Corps of the Marines Exemplar

Marines Exemplar 1st Company Devastators

As i've said before, one of my favourite parts about collecting an established army with no canon is that i get to add it myself, and most of the time this works out great as Games Workshop generally never round out the background for 2nd founding onwards Chapters.

I find that thinking up this background helps me to envision the army as i build it and reason what would "fit" into my army selection, i've become more and more defined for my vision of the Marines Exemplar and wanted them to have a strong vein of Imperial Fists Character running through them, but with their own twist.

Where Daemons tread... - Inquisitor Coteaz Conversion

Lord Inquisitor Geralt Oviron, of the Ordo Malleus

I recently picked up (downloaded? acquired?) the new Codex: Inquisition, after slight initial disappointment at the lack of new toys (i don't really know what people were expecting, they were hardly going to release a new line of Inquisition models when there are so many weird old ones sitting around doing nothing.) i quickly grew to love the book though, it's infinitely closer to my idea of Inquisitors in the background of the 40k universe than any of their other appearances so far (well, apart from maybe 2nd ed.?)

Arrogance as a Virtue - The Chronicles of the Marines Exemplar

1500 Point Marines Exemplar Army, ready for battle

The Marines Exemplar are going strong!   One of the most rewarding Hobby projects i have had in a long time, i can't stop painting units for them!

I guess i've always been a huge fan of Space Marines and with that, 2nd and 3rd founding chapters in particular.

The best part of collecting these guys has been thinking up my own background for them as the army takes shape, all from the original picture i saw in the 6th edition 40k Rulebook when it first came out!

Marines Exemplar Attack Bikes - The Punisher Biker Corps.

"Punisher" class Attack Bike

Within my Marines Exemplar army, throughout the games i have been playing lately, it became more and more clear that the force was lacking in smaller "support elements", units that while not costing a ton of points or being the most effective in terms of decimating entire units in a phase, would be vital to shoring up any weaknesses in my battle line.  Speed is also an important element as they need to be able to react to the enemy battleplan.